President Trump and the federal government are policing speech, morality, and punishment of individual citizens at a level of micromanagement rarely, if ever, witnessed in America, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column.

• Why it matters: We've written extensively about the unprecedented new powers seized or granted to Trump and future presidents in the past eight months alone.

But few throw America deeper into new, uncharted waters than making presidents and the executive branch the judge, jury and executioner of words and behavior.

• These actions, all public, fall into three categories: punishing individual critics ... freeing allies convicted of crimes ... and policing speech.
• Before we detail them, it's important to remember that the power of the presidency was growing long before Trump. Under all five of the presidents the two of us have covered, we've seen an ever-expanding imperial presidency.

But Trump has stretched both power and punishment routinely and, in some cases, dramatically. As we've written, the founders never envisioned a federal government this big and this powerful, or a president this unchecked.

• The result: Trump and future presidents hold the power, backed by precedent, to wield their vast authority to harm critics, help allies and chill free speech. Remember the payback precedent: When you get power back, at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, do unto the other what they've been doing to you!

👀 Behind the scenes: A longtime Trump adviser told us the president's mindset has always been to "never allow any free shots on goal." This insider acknowledged that no president has told his government so publicly, with such specificity: "These are the people you should be getting after."

• On MAGA stifling dissent, the insider said conservatives distinguish between the cancel culture they mocked and "consequence culture," where critics are being held to account for what they say or threaten, not what they think or believe.

The adviser says Trump sees the small-c conservatives of the old Republican establishment, who spent decades pushing government restraint, as naive: "Congratulations on preserving your norms — while you're losing your civilization."

• White House communications director Steven Cheung told us: "With a more experienced White House and complete unity with Trump's agenda— something absent during the first term — the administration knows how to pull the levers of government to achieve what they want."

⬇️ Column continues below.

Nearly every day brings new instances of Trump flexing, Jim and Mike continue:

1. Punishing individual critics: Trump's steady push for the prosecution of enemies is no surprise to anyone who paid attention during the campaign, when he vowed — 100+ times, by one count — to investigate, imprison or prosecute certain political opponents, protesters, prosecutors, tech moguls and former intelligence officials. It's a clear example of Trump delivering on campaign vows more methodically than in his first term.

• James Comey, fired by Trump as FBI director in 2017, was indicted last month on charges of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation — just five days after Trump's Truth Social post urging Attorney General Pam Bondi to hurry up and prosecute Comey. FBI director Kash Patel said the prosecution was part of holding to account perpetrators of the "Russiagate hoax." Comey pleaded not guilty.
• New York Attorney General Tish James (D), who was also singled out in Trump's message to Bondi, was charged with bank fraud early this month. She said the charges are "baseless." James is a longtime nemesis of Trump: As soon as she took office, she vowed to scrutinize him, then brought a civil case against him. She won a civil fraud judgment that was later thrown out.
• John Bolton, fired by Trump as national security adviser in his first term, was charged last week with 18 counts of mishandling classified information, including using AOL and Gmail accounts to share classified info. Bolton pleaded not guilty.
• Trump has also reached settlements with law firms and media companies he said had undermined him.

2. Freeing allies convicted of crimes. Last Friday evening, former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), serving time for financial fraud, became the latest convict to successfully court Trump and win a commutation. Santos, who was released within hours after Trump's Truth Social post urging him to "have a great life," had lavished praise on Trump from behind bars, calling him "the only leader who truly put this nation, and her people, first." Santos appeared live yesterday on the couch of "Fox & Friends Weekend" to thank Trump and vow he is "not going to disappoint him."

• One of Trump's sweeping Day 1 actions set the tone: pardons and commutations of most Jan. 6 rioters, including some who had attacked police, to rectify what he called "a grave national injustice."

3. Policing speech: "Cancel culture" — policing the words of critics, and shaming and banishing transgressors — was a hallmark of the intellectual left before Trump won.

• Those cases were often as cultural as party-driven. But Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last year in a letter to Congress that in 2021, "senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire."
• MAGA has responded punitively to people who condoned the assassination of Charlie Kirk, and some who criticized his work and rhetoric. 145+ people were fired or disciplined in the two weeks after he was killed.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X about reports of military personnel mocking the assassination: "We are tracking all these very closely — and will address, immediately. Completely unacceptable." Since then, the Pentagon has investigated nearly 300 service members, civilian workers and contractors for online comments after Kirk's death, The Washington Post reports. The inquiry is ongoing and has resulted in a smattering of disciplinary action so far, The Post says.

The bottom line: There's no effort to camouflage any of this. At the memorial service for Charlie Kirk, which included a Christian altar call, Trump reminded the audience: "I hate my opponent."

• On Saturday night, after huge "No Kings" rallies drew massive crowds across the nation, Trump leaned into the king motif to troll his foes. The president reposted an AI video — posted earlier by Vice President Vance — showing Trump donning a bejeweled crown and regal robe, and brandishing a sword as Democrat leaders kneeled. The accompanying track: "Hail to the King."

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Poker players — both professional and amateur — are coming under siege from Uncle Sam, YouTube and state regulators.

• Why it matters: Poker players say policies and crackdowns aimed at gambling are threatening livelihoods, driving fans offline, and reshaping how millions of people watch and play, Axios' Nathan Bomey writes.

The war on poker has multiple fronts:

1. A change in tax law stuffed into President Trump's "big beautiful bill" at the last minute could put professional poker players out of work and saddle amateurs with hefty tax bills.
2. YouTube is cracking down on poker videos, shutting down some vloggers and limiting the audience of others.
3. A growing number of states are taking steps to ban websites that allow users to play poker for sweepstakes coins that can be converted into real money.

Between the lines: Poker players have long argued their game involves substantial skill and so shouldn't be treated the same as ones where the house always wins in the long run — blackjack, roulette, slots.

• Keep reading.

More U.S. homebuyers are chasing fixer-uppers than four years ago, when mortgage rates were lower and houses were more affordable, Axios' Sami Sparber writes from Realtor.com data.

• Why it matters: For first-time buyers, fixer-uppers (smaller, older homes that need work) can offer a cheaper entry point. For flippers, they're a chance to profit.

🧮 By the numbers: Keyword searches for "fixer-upper" have more than tripled since 2021, even as those listings become a bit harder to find, according to the real estate site's analysis.

• Fixer-uppers now draw 52% more page views per property than similarly aged, affordable listings.

The median fixer-upper was priced at $200,000 as of July, less than half the $436,250 median for all single-family homes.

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Eight objects belonging to France's historic collection of crown jewels at the Louvre were stolen from the world's most-visited museum in a brazen daylight raid 30 minutes after it opened.

• Why it matters: It's among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory. Louvre staff had complained that crowding and thin staffing were straining security, AP reports.

The robbery unfolded just 270 yards from the "Mona Lisa," in what France's culture minister described as a professional "four-minute operation."

• A sapphire crown, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense.
• An emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife.
• A reliquary brooch.
• Empress Eugénie's crown.
• Empress Eugénie's large corsage-bow brooch.

Keep reading ... What the room looks like.

Food allergies in children have dropped dramatically since new guidelines recommended introducing infants to foods — especially peanuts — early on, the N.Y. Times reports from a new study in the journal Pediatrics.

• Why it matters: Researchers said the "rate of allergy reduction in this study corresponded to about 57,000 fewer children with food allergies."

The study revealed a 36% reduction in all food allergies and a 43% drop in peanut allergies.

• Researchers also found that eggs have surpassed peanuts as the leading food allergen among young children.

Current guidance suggests introducing infants to common allergens like peanuts and eggs between 4 to 6 months old.

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John Kirby — a retired Navy rear admiral who became well known as a national security spokesman at the White House podium during the Biden administration — will become director of the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics on Nov. 15, Axios has learned.

• Kirby will move to Chicago to head the nonpartisan organization, which was founded by David Axelrod in 2013 with the aim of fostering students' "passion for public service and active engagement in our democracy."

Kirby — a former senior spokesman for the Pentagon, State Department and White House — succeeds former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), who departed as IOP director last month.

• Axelrod told me: "John's whole life has been about public service. He's a seasoned leader and mentor, whose remarkable experience is matched by his curiosity, openness and humility. All of these qualities will make him a great director of the IOP."

Kirby, who has been a lecturer at Georgetown and has been doing some public speaking, told me: "I'm really excited to be back among students again. I know they will inspire me."

Longtime Royal Caribbean Group leader Richard Fain, who served as CEO for 33 years and is the current board chair, says in his new book — "Delivering the Wow," out tomorrow — that the cruise company's rise came from bold design risks, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.

• He writes in the book — part leadership playbook and part cruise-industry retrospective — that Royal Caribbean's success stems from building ships that are experiences in themselves, massive "floating cities" like the world's largest, the new Star of the Seas.

Why it matters: The company's stock has jumped 400% in five years. It's now worth more than Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line combined.

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