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An official who oversees the appointments of thousands of Trump aides had kept his origins secret.
As Donald Trump’s director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, Sergio Gor has been called “the most powerful man you’ve never heard of.”
His role gives him access to the intimate secrets of those who want to work for Trump.
But until Tuesday, the country where he was born was itself a secret.
Charlie Kirk’s death became a stage-managed resurrection, where faith, politics, and even artificial intelligence collided to transform grie
Michael Cohen at MeidasTouch:
Charlie Kirk’s assassination was a tragedy. No one should confuse that. No one should celebrate it. A man in his early thirties, a husband, a father, and yes, a political activist, gunned down because this country is sick with rage and division. That reality deserves a pause. But what we saw at his memorial was not a pause. It was not mourning. It was not reflection. It was theater, carefully choreographed to transform grief into political fuel and one man’s death into a rallying cry for MAGA’s survival. President Trump’s speech made it plain. This wasn’t about Charlie Kirk the human being, it was about Charlie Kirk the symbol. “Charlie's murder was not just an attack on one man or one movement. It was an attack on our entire nation,” he thundered. He teased an autism announcement. He attacked his opponents. He framed Charlie’s death as a bullet aimed at all of us; a metaphor designed to conflate Kirk’s assassination with the fate of MAGA itself. He promised the Presidential Medal of Freedom, dangling it like a relic to be blessed in “the very safe Washington, D.C.,” a city Trump now boasts of controlling after his federal police takeover.
The memorial was billed as unity, but it was division draped in scripture. Erika Kirk, in her grief, offered forgiveness to her husband’s killer. Her words were powerful, raw, genuine, human. But the stage around her was filled with voices who have built careers sowing the very rage and discord that made Charlie Kirk a target in the first place. Vice President JD Vance, Health Secretary RFK Jr., DNI Tulsi Gabbard, Tucker Carlson—each spoke with reverence about Charlie’s kindness, faith, and bravery. Each painted him as a modern-day disciple who died “with his boots on.” And yet, every single one of them has spent years weaponizing grievance, demonizing opponents, and poisoning the well of public discourse. And then there was the spectacle that unfolded far from Arizona but carried the same signature of manipulation: at Prestonwood Baptist in Texas, Pastor Jack Graham introduced an AI-generated Charlie Kirk, preaching from beyond the grave. His voice urged the congregation to “pick up your cross and get back in the fight.” The clip was fake—everybody knew it—but the congregation gave a standing ovation anyway, treating lines of code as holy writ. The moment was recorded, shared on social media, and now dozens of other churches are replicating it. The message wasn’t subtle: Charlie may be gone, but he still speaks, and his words are now immortal, available for endless remix and reuse.
This is quickly becoming the new normal: using the tragic death of a young man not for sober reflection but as an opportunity to instill loyalty, faith, and political commitment. Instead of mourning, congregations are handed AI simulations that sanctify grief and recycle it into propaganda. Instead of acknowledging senseless loss, they’re told to celebrate a martyr who keeps preaching from heaven, blessing MAGA from the digital clouds. It’s not about Kirk the person; it’s about what his image, voice, and resurrection can sell. The irony was almost unbearable. Tulsi Gabbard lecturing about protecting free speech when she’s made a career out of vilifying critics as traitors. RFK Jr. recalling talks with Kirk about dying with honor—then pivoting to warn about children raised as “slaves” if America strays from their version of liberty. Anna Paulina Luna crowning herself as Kirk’s legacy, proclaiming, “We are all Charlie Kirk now.” This wasn’t grief. It was branding.
Charlie Kirk’s widow spoke of his faint smile, a mercy from God, proof he didn’t suffer. That image is searing, heartbreaking, unavoidably human. But what MAGA has done is take that humanity and package it for distribution. His death has become a backdrop, a set piece in a performance designed to canonize Kirk as a martyr and rally the base. The rhetoric of discipleship and martyrdom wasn’t accidental. “Charlie was a modern-day disciple,” Sergio Gor declared, echoing the tone of revivalist religion. “He embodied the MAGA warrior,” he added, sanctifying Kirk’s loyalty to Trump as the highest virtue. This wasn’t a memorial; it was a production meant to keep Turning Point USA alive and keep Gen Z within the fold. It was spectacle substituting for substance. Because here’s the truth: one production doesn’t make a movement, and one tragic death doesn’t make a martyr. Charlie Kirk’s life ended violently, and that should trouble us all. But the very people now elevating him to sainthood are the same people who built the ecosystem of hate and vitriol that defined his career and created the climate in which political assassination is possible.
Michael Cohen has yet another gem of a column for MeidasTouch about the MAGA’s canonization of the late Charlie Kirk as a saint and a martyr.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/us/politics/sergio-gor-ambassador-india.html
Republicans Aren't Sending Their Best People: Published 9/1/25 AM
The 38-year-old head of the personnel office endeared himself to Trump by demanding loyalty in hiring.
Scavino replaces Sergio Gor, who was tapped last week to serve as ambassador to India and as special envoy for South and Central Asian affai
The White House needed a U.S. ambassador to India. Sergio Gor, Team Trump’s personnel director, might not have been the best choice.
Rachel Maddow takes a closer look at Donald Trump's apparent practice in his second term of moving people into ambassadorships instead of fi
I don't like the ableist headline, but I think the contents are important enough to post.
Opinion: Once MAGA sees the A-gays are nothing more than DEI hires, Trump will fire them all, writes John Casey.
A political storm has erupted in Washington DC, over the true nationality of Sergio Gor, one of the most powerful officials in the second Do
A political storm has erupted in Washington DC, over the true nationality of Sergio Gor, one of the most powerful officials in the second Donald Trump administration, known among White House insiders as ‘Mr Malta’.
Appointed as President Trump’s Director of Presidential Personnel, Gor, whose full name is Gorokhovsky, is responsible for vetting thousands of White House staffers. However, he has so far refused to disclose his birthplace despite referring to himself as Maltese.
The issue arose when the 38-year-old failed to submit his ‘Form 86’, which is necessary for obtaining a security clearance for all White House staffers and includes a thorough background check by the FBI.
According to the New York Post, Gor’s difficulties with this form stem from his birthplace and the required declarations regarding any connections he may have had with foreign countries. The publication also reported that although Gor claims to be from Malta, “there is no evidence that he was born on the island.”
Gor declined to reveal his place of birth, stating only that he ‘was not from Russia’.
Research by The Shift indicates that, although national newspapers such as The Times of Malta and interviews on ONE TV refer to Gor as Maltese-born, this claim seems to be inaccurate, as there is no document in the public registry confirming that the US President’s aide was born in Malta.
Sergio Gor helped facilitate the termination of Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA head — a pick Musk had pushed.
Elon Musk may have stopped sparring with President Donald Trump online, but the former presidential adviser and megabacker isn’t done publicly sniping at members of Trump’s administration.
The former DOGE chief slammed Sergio Gor, a top Trump adviser who played a role in his split with the president, bashing him as a “snake” late Wednesday night.
“He’s a snake,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X, replying to a New York Post story reporting that Gor, who serves as the director of the White House personnel office, has not himself been properly vetted.
According to the Post, Gor has not submitted the requisite paperwork to obtain a permanent security clearance, even as he presides over the screening process for thousands of White House staffers.
But the White House maintained that Gor has an active security clearance and is “fully compliant” with the necessary requirements.
“Mr. Gor is fully compliant with all applicable ethical and legal obligations. His security clearance is active, any insinuation he doesn’t maintain a clearance is false,” White House counsel David Warrington said.
Vice President JD Vance also stood by Gor, lauding his “effort to ensure committed, principled America First advocates staff the President’s government,” adding for good measure, “he’s done a great job, and will continue to do so.”
After multiple Trump administration national security crises including SignalGate, GmailGate, the passwords scandal, and new revelations tha
David Badash at NCRM:
After multiple Trump administration national security crises including SignalGate, GmailGate, the passwords scandal, and new revelations that the National Security Advisor’s team set up at least 20 Signal chats to handle crises, President Donald Trump reportedly has fired three national security officials for “disloyalty.” “President Donald Trump has moved to fire several senior White House National Security Council officials soon after he was urged by far-right activist Laura Loomer to purge staffers she deemed insufficiently committed to his Make America Great Again agenda, according to several people familiar with the matter Thursday,” the Associated Press reports. Loomer, who promotes conspiracy theories and appeared to be close to the President near the end of the 2024 campaign, met with Trump, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Sergio Gor, the director of the Presidential Personnel Office, according to the AP. Loomer reportedly presented her “research” to the President. It does not appear Trump has fired anyone for the growing list of national security breaches that experts say have put the nation, the military, and other nations at risk. CNN reports the three fired officials include “Brian Walsh, a director for intelligence and a former top staffer for now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the Senate Intelligence Committee; Thomas Boodry, a senior director for legislative affairs who previously served as Waltz’s legislative director in Congress; and David Feith, a senior director overseeing technology and national security who served in the State Department during Trump’s first administration.” A fourth, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Alex Wong,”was not among those who had been dismissed on Wednesday, however, one White House official speculated to CNN Thursday that Wong could be out as soon as today, though a final decision remains to be seen.”
Many, including some Republicans, have expressed concern over National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who admitted to setting up the Signal chat that mistakenly included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Waltz was not fired on Thursday, despite reports of bipartisan calls for his dismissal or resignation. Those calls included Vice President JD Vance, chief of staff Susie Wiles, and top personnel official Sergio Gor, in a private meeting, according to Politico. “The president agreed that Waltz had messed up,” Politico reported, “but Trump ultimately decided not to fire him for one reason — for now: Like hell he’d give the liberal media and pearl-clutching Democrats a win.”
Donald Trump fired at least three national security officials, at the behest of Laura Loomer, over “disloyalty”, amid multiple national security crises engulfing his administration.
See Also:
Daily Kos: Notorious internet bigot Laura Loomer is now advising Trump on national security
The Guardian: Trump fires national security officials after far-right activist Laura Loomer urged him to in meeting – report
Exclusive: move to purge those who worked for Jack Smith came from Trump, sources say, in show of unchecked power
Hugo Lowell at The Guardian:
The US justice department fired more than a dozen prosecutors who worked on the criminal cases against Donald Trump hours after the president directly ordered it from the Oval Office, according to two people familiar with the intervention. The move to purge people who worked for former special counsel Jack Smith had ostensibly come from the acting attorney general, James McHenry, who sent the formal termination notices that said they could not be trusted to implement Trump’s agenda. But the genesis for the firings was Trump himself, the people said, in a demonstration of Trump’s unchecked power as he ushers in a new chapter for the justice department where it is directly answerable to the White House, a realm where past presidents have hesitated to tread.
The end goal of Trump’s team is for the president to have at his disposal a justice department that plays a leading role in enforcing his wishes and doing his bidding, under their version of a unitary executive, where the president directs every agency. Trump’s intervention to remove the prosecutors in Smith’s office was seen by some of his advisers as the start of their efforts to make it normal practice to have the attorney general work with the West Wing to enforce and enact its political agenda. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. After Trump instructed his advisers that he wanted the prosecutors gone, the White House presidential personnel office, led by longtime Trump ally Sergio Gor, issued a memo that directed the justice department to proceed and gave the move a degree of legal cover. The memo was then sent to the acting attorney general’s office, which issued the actual termination notices to those still at the department. The precise number is unclear because the department did not release names, but the trial team consisted of at least 18 lawyers. The justice department has gone through seismic change in the first days of Trump’s second term, with top officials demoted out of the deputy attorney general’s office and ousted from top positions in key components including the criminal, civil and national security divisions. Once the wider purges are completed, the expectation is for lawyers loyal to Trump to be installed in the vacancies. They could end up serving there for years, putting their own stamp on the department and transforming its future legal ideology to be aligned with Trump’s agenda. [...] The Trump White House then sent the memo to fire any remaining members of Smith’s team on Monday, a particularly aggressive move because they too were career prosecutors who in theory had civil service protections from being fired on political grounds.
The Guardian reports that Donald Trump personally ordered the firings of prosecutors who worked on the Jack Smith Special Counsel Investigations so that he can launch a power grab over the DOJ and turn it into his personal protection racket scheme.
