The Dictatorship
‘86 47’: How Trump’s war on dissent gave his opponents a political rallying cry
In 2003, Barbra Streisand sued a photographer for $50 million after an aerial photo of her cliffside Malibu mansion appeared online. The lawsuit was ineffectual; not only did Streisand lose, but the ensuing publicity drew hundreds of thousands of eyes to the image, which until then had only been viewed six times.
The press called it the “Streisand effect”: when attempts to censor information only bring it more attention. And today, President Donald Trump is grappling with the phenomenon, as his heavy-handed campaign to bury a meme — and his political opponents — has amplified the term “86 47” from a small bit of political speech to an international symbol of protest and defiance.
Last May, while strolling on a beach on the North Carolina shore, former FBI Director James Comey snapped a photo of seashells arranged in the sand that read “86 47,” and posted the shot to Instagram. The numerals represent an abbreviated Trump protest; “86” is restaurant jargon for an item that should be removed from service or nixed, and “47” refers to the 47th president.
The Trump administration cast “86 47” as a threat to kill the president, and within hours, Comey’s post was the right-wing media’s cause célèbre. Tulsi Gabbard, then the director of national intelligence, said Comey should be “put behind bars.” Trump himself told Fox News that the post “meant assassination, and it says it loud and clear.” The Secret Service launched an investigation.
For his part, Comey deleted the post and issued a statement on May 15, saying, “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.”
But Trump — who had long expressed anger at Comey over the FBI’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election — did not let the post go. A little less than a year later, Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly making threats against the president. “86 47,” the Justice Department argued, amounted to “a serious expression of an intent to do harm to President Trump.”
The indictment came amid the Trump administration’s growing focus on political violence, targeted specifically — and, some experts argue, solely — on the president’s political opponents, usually groups and individuals deemed leftist or liberal. The White House designated the decentralized antifascist movement “antifa” a terrorist organization last year, and released a separate “domestic terrorism” memo that positions a number of speech and religious issues under that terrorism umbrella, including “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity.” And on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was set to host delegates from more than 70 countries for a summit on combating “transnational far-left terrorism.”
Comey maintains that his post had no violent intent. He told Stephen Colbert last year that he saw the shell arrangement as nothing more than a “clever political message,” and argued during an appearance on “Meet the Press” this year that it was within his rights as a private citizen to post partisan messaging to his social media accounts. The federal criminal case against him remains active, though his lawyers recently filed motions to dismiss the charges, arguing that he is being prosecuted vindictively.
Democrats and political experts have lined up to defend Comey. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., said on Facebook that he believed the indictment was nothing more than Trump using the federal government to “arrest and potentially jail those expressing dissenting views.”
“Nobody seriously believes that the former director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations is inciting violence against the president of the United States,” Peter Loge, a professor of political communication at George Washington University, told MS NOW. “That doesn’t even pass the sniff test.”
The Comey indictment is part of a pattern of retribution from Trump and his administration, Loge said. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating its online criticsadministration officials reportedly encouraged reprisals against individuals who posted condemnations of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and, as with the frenzy over “86 47,” the president released a memorandum decrying the antifascist movement as a “rallying cry used by domestic terrorists to wage a violent assault” against the core principles of the country.
“The administration has shown that they are not necessarily afraid to take unorthodox approaches towards quashing disagreement or dissent,” Luke Baumgartner, an extremism researcher at GWU, told MS NOW. He suggested that the average American sees the Comey indictment as politically motivated.
Loge also argues that there’s an ulterior motive behind the Comey indictment: It’s a signal to Trump’s critics in Washington that dissent will be met with prosecutorial force.
However, in the months since the charges against Comey were filed, “86 47” has instead become a rallying cry for the anti-Trump movement and has made a variety of appearances in the nation’s capital over the past couple of months.
In early June, visitors to the top of the Washington Monument were greeted by an unusual sight: dead grass in the open space between the obelisk and the World War II Memorial. Upon examination, the discoloration appeared to spell out Comey’s catchphrase. The National Park Service announced that it would investigate the alleged vandalism, but did not respond to a request for comment regarding the status of the case.
The numbers then reappeared a little farther down the National Mall as members of the press and public alike flocked to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to see its new sea-green hue. Multiple witnesses told MS NOW that an individual had drawn “86 47” in algae on the bottom of the pool, before it was ultimately scrubbed away by the cleaning staff on site. Then the message surfaced at the Great American State Fair, at an interactive graffiti exhibit within the Texas tent, Forbes reported.
Tourists arriving for America’s 250th were greeted by the digits cast upon the side of the National Gallery of Art earlier this month, and protesters chanted the phrase as they marched down Constitution Avenue during the semiquincentennial celebration. The numbers have been spotted on protest signs, banners and flags across the district in recent months, including outside the Supreme Court.
That latter instance led to a legal clash between the organization behind the protests, Accountability NOW USA, a group that advocates for Trump’s impeachment and removal from the presidency, and the Interior Department, which sought to ban “86 47” from material included in a planned protest that received a National Park Service permit, due to its alleged violent connotation.
In June a federal judge disagreed with the department’s assessment. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss ruled that the organization’s “signs and flag fall well within the heartland of protected First Amendment speech” and ordered that the park service allow protesters to use the four-digit code in their demonstrations.
Outside the district, however, federal law enforcement still appears to be taking seriously the alleged threat posed by Comey’s phrase. Last week, a man in Mattituck, New York, was reportedly interviewed by two Secret Service agents after he added “86 47” to a flag hanging above his farm, according to The Suffolk Timesa local Long Island publication.
It seems unlikely that Comey’s seashell arrangement would have inspired such a prevalent new motto for the anti-Trump resistance on its own. Comey is hardly a social media star, with under 200,000 followers, and many of his posts fail to crack even 1,000 likes.
Instead, it appears that the Justice Department’s indictment and the Trump administration’s reaction to the post had the same effect as Streisand’s $50 million lawsuit: a surge of media coverage and a lot more attention on the very conduct that was meant to be punished.
MS NOW Newsgathering Intern Tyler Iglesias contributed to this report.
Adam Hudacek is a desk associate for MS NOW covering national politics in Washington, D.C.
The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, a spokesperson said late Wednesday, as two retiring Republicans on the panel dug in over President Donald Trump’s personal “anti-weaponization” deal with the government he runs.
Sen. Chuck Grassley’s decision to delay the committee vote that had been set for Thursday marks a setback for one of Trump’s highest-profile Cabinet nominees, at the hands of Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a pair of Republicans set to leave the chamber next year.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement,” the committee spokesperson said.
Blanche’s nomination to permanently head the Department of Justice needs the support of either Cornyn or Tillis to make it out of the committee to a vote by the full Senate, assuming all Democrats remain opposed.
“Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for,” Cornyn told reporters Wednesday afternoon amid the hardening standoff over his demand that Blanche and the DOJ put in writing a commitment never to pursue the president’s prized “anti-weaponization” fund, and to clarify the terms of Trump’s personal deal with the Internal Revenue Service.
Tillis told MS NOW that the conversations were complicated by the need for the Justice Department to get “several parties” to agree on the language of the statement Cornyn and Tillis are seeking.
“What I’ve advised the chair, and I would assume Senator Cornyn said something similar, is that we’re not prepared to vote yes yet,” he added.
“The Department has been in regular communication with Committee members for weeks, and we look forward to continuing to work productively with Senators to address any concerns,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in response to the decision to postpone the committee vote.
Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday morning, but the meeting was called off after Blanche failed to meet the senator’s demand for written proposals to modify the controversial settlement agreement he brokered between Trump and the IRS. The Republican senator is set to leave Congress when his term ends in January after a bruising May primary loss to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters Wednesday afternoon in the Oval Office. “I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I heard (Blanche) is going through quite nicely.”
Cornyn made clear to Blanche during his confirmation hearing that he will not get his support until he agrees to reopen and modify the settlement. Due to the committee’s narrow Republican majority, one GOP “no” vote is enough to sink Blanche’s nomination.
The senator has asked Blanche to provide proof that the proposed nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund established as part of the deal between Trump and the IRS is formally dead, and he has also demanded Blanche narrow the tax audit immunity provisions the settlement afforded to Trump and his family.
Blanche has publicly stated that his department has dropped the fund, but he and the DOJ have dodged requests from Cornyn and a federal judge to put that in writing.
After announcing his meeting with Blanche would not take place Wednesday morning, Cornyn told reporters that changes from Blanche “in a modified release form” would be acceptable, but that “for some reason … they simply refuse to do it,” referring to the DOJ.
Shortly after the meeting was called off, a Justice Department official told MS NOW that the department “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office.”
Cornyn said that proposal was “not responsive” to his demands because it did not address the tax audit immunity provisions in the settlement, one of his key demands.
In May, Blanche signed an addendum as part of the deal that granted Trump, his family and his businesses immunity from pending IRS tax audits. That agreement, which has been decried by former IRS officials and legal experts as unlawful self-dealing, is being contested in federal court.
Cornyn noted that Blanche testified under oath that he could meet the request during his confirmation hearing.
“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said when asked why he thinks the DOJ could be slow-walking his request.
Kevin Frey contributed to this report.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.
Mychael Schnell is a reporter for MS NOW.
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked at BLN as a campaign reporter covering elections and politics.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived this week for his tour of Washington, he may have had a mission in mind.
Netanyahu needed to overcome his newly diminished stature and waning influence over his once close friend President Donald Trump as both leaders grapple with the unpopularity of a war they started together and is escaping their control.
His meeting at the White House with Trump on Tuesday, which was closed to the press, was the first face-to-face encounter between the two allies since the U.S. and Israel launched a joint attack against Iran on Feb. 28.
Trump gave him a muted welcome and afterwards simply described the meeting as “very good.” “Obviously, many important subjects were discussed,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Rather than an intimate one-on-one setting, the Oval Office was full of top U.S. officials — Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
But Netanyahu continued the full court press on the Trump administration.
Over the course of two days, in addition to seeing Trump and attending Sen. Lindsey Graham’s funeral at the Capitol, Netanyahu also met separately with Vance, Hegseth, and Rubio, White House and Israeli officials confirmed to MS NOW.
The Israeli prime minister’s slate of meetings with key U.S. national security officials comes at a pivotal moment in the Iran conflict as tensions escalate in the region and Americans increasingly sour on the war. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows 60% of American voters opposing U.S. military action against Iran and 74% against sending U.S. ground troops into Iran.
Not only does Trump face pressure as Republicans face an uphill battle to retain congressional control in this fall’s midterms, Netanyahu’s fate as prime minister is at stake in Israel’s upcoming September elections – and he can’t afford to lose Trump’s favor.
The talks largely focused on what to do next as Iran continues to menace shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retaliate against American bases in the region and launch attacks on Gulf allies.
According to a senior Israeli official who was granted anonymity to describe the closed-door meeting, President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu did not come to a final decision after discussing three paths forward: get a “good deal” focused on Iran’s nuclear program and enriched material, have no deal and instead continue the blockade and economic pressure, or take escalated military action.
But Netanyahu did not tell Trump what he should do – nor did he express a preference.
The senior Israeli official noted Netanyahu has not ruled out diplomacy – as long as it is coupled with “very strong pressures,” calling the push to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program “a contest of will and a contest of force.”
“There are ways of squeezing them and squeezing them and squeezing them and negotiating at the same time,” the official said.
Netanyahu did not present President Trump with new intelligence regarding the underground Iranian nuclear facility Pickaxe Mountain, per the senior Israeli official, noting the U.S. and Israel already are constantly sharing intelligence – and know where Iran’s highly enriched material is. “We don’t think it’s moved, and I think we have a pretty good grasp on that,” the official said.
During their meeting on Tuesday, Trump and Netanyahu discussed ways Israel and the U.S. can work together to stop Iran’s nuclear program and get the Strait of Hormuz open to maritime trade, the senior Israeli official said.
The two leaders also discussed a third goal: to continue to undermine the Iranian regime and “possibly create future conditions for a change in that area.” U.S. officials have backed away from pursuing paths that would overthrow the current leadership, but Netanyahu still believes that could happen.
“The chasm that has been created between the people and the regime is not about to be closed,” the senior Israeli official said of Netanyahu’s thinking.
Netanyahu advised Trump in February that Israeli intelligence indicated launching strikes against Iran would lead to the toppling of the Islamic Republic’s regime – and five months later, the slain ayatollah’s son retains power with a close circle of hardliners, calling into question the accuracy of Israel’s intelligence apparatus.
But the senior Israeli official said at the time, Netanyahu did not promise the Iranian people would take fate into their own hands following a coordinated attack. Rather, he chose his words carefully and said that an attack could create conditions to “advance the probability or the possibility that that would happen.”
The conditions needed for the Iranian regime to fall, “did not materialize,” the official told MS NOW, adding, “not for lack of insight, but for either operational failure or decisions that were made.”
Despite Netanyahu insisting Israel and the U.S. are on the same page, differences still remain: the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey and the Saudi nuclear arrangement did not come up during Wednesday’s White House meeting, according to a second Israeli official granted anonymity to describe sensitive discussions.
Meanwhile, the conflict continues to spread, with an Iranian drone attacking a U.S. gas storage tanker off the coast of Egypt on Wednesday.
Trump indicated he would not let Iran’s latest action slide, telling reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. would retaliate against Iran even as he leaves room for diplomatic talks to resume.
“It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point,” Trump said. “But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
As for what it would take for Israel to join the U.S. strikes, the senior Israeli official said that if Israel is attacked by Iran, “We will respond very, very forcefully and very quickly. And I think Iran would make a great mistake.”
Julia Jester covers politics for MS NOW and is based in Washington, D.C.
International rage over FIFA’s close ties to President Donald Trump has reached a fever pitch after soccer’s governing body announced a plan to sell a significant stake to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
The president and his family have all but turned the White House into their personal piggy bank. And FIFA — which has its own sordid history of corruption — seems to have made itself a party to Trump’s self-enrichment under Gianni Infantino’s leadership, such as by paying for space inside Trump Tower in New York. (The organization has defended the office rental as a World Cup outpost.)
Soccer is seen by many as a unifying game. But Trump’s incorporation of FIFA into his political dynasty is threatening that idea.
FIFA has announced plans to sell a large minority stake in a new company that will run its main events, including the World Cup and Club World Cup, as part of a plan to triple the amount of development money it dishes out to its 211 member associations.
Under the proposals — which are subject to approval by a majority of those national associations and FIFA’s 37-member council — a new entity called FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) will take over all commercial operations, while FIFA remains the game’s global governing body and retains a majority stake in FFE.
A press release from FIFA confirmed the plans and said Thrive Eternal, which was launched by Joshua Kushner, is expected to lead the investment group that would control FIFA Forward Enterprise. FIFA did not clarify why Thrive Eternal was selected, and Kushner was already dabbling in sports.
But Trump basically has already given son-in-law Jared Kushner carte blanche to dictate U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East while simultaneously hatching business plans in the region. (Jared Kushner has denied any conflicts of interest.)
Joshua Kushner reportedly has been a major donor to Democrats. But, predictably, the idea of another Kushner becoming financially entwined with the World Cup — the world’s most popular sporting event — and basically being dropped into a position of global significance isn’t going over well. Several other soccer governing bodies have expressed concerns, including Europe’s UEFA.
“This crosses a line that football’s governing institutions should never cross,” UEFA said in a statement about The Athletic’s report, adding: “The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade — especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell.”
Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee also rebuked the plan, writing on X: “Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough — now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a multibillion-dollar deal with Jared Kushner’s brother to sell ownership stakes in the World Cup to private investors.”
FIFA, Donald Trump’s favorite corrupt racketeering enterprise in world sports, is now going directly into business with the Trump family!
Apparently the fake Peace Prize and giant lease with Trump Tower weren’t enough—now Infantino performs a kickback hat trick by pursuing a… https://t.co/knSZibuMea
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) July 28, 2026
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., has already launched an investigation into the FIFA leader’s relationship with the Trump administration, while dozens of European lawmakers — citing concerns about “potential breaches of political neutrality” — have called for the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate Infantino. This new proposal seems unlikely to assuage those concerns.
But what it does seem likely to do is fuel global anger toward the U.S. — the kind that has been growing since Trump retook office.
And when you consider that, it’s truly remarkable how the same MAGA movement whose members whined for years about politics mixing with sports is now in lockstep with a president who seems dead-set on casting his shadow over every sports event he can.
This post on X basically sums up the foul stench around FIFA’s latest proposal.
Sepp Blatter was Infantino’s predecessor as FIFA president and oversaw the organization amid some of its many scandals. When heof all people, is warning about how Trump and Infantino’s relationship is “deeply damaging” soccer, it’s a sign of how far FIFA has descended into the gutter.
Ja’han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut Blog.
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