Senate Republicans rammed through the first procedural hurdle on their road to confirming nearly 100 of President Donald Trump’s nominees on Wednesday.

The move tees up a later vote on 97 of Trump’s picks and marks the third time Senate Republicans advanced a bloc of the president’s nominees since changing the confirmation rules in September.

The final vote to confirm the latest tranche of picks is expected next week. Once Republicans clear this latest package, they will have confirmed over 400 of Trump’s picks during the first year of his second term.

That benchmark would place him well ahead of former President Joe Biden, who at the same point in his presidency had 350 of his nominees confirmed.

Among the list of nominees are former Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., to serve as inspector general at the Department of Labor, and two picks for the National Labor Relations Board, James Murphy and Scott Mayer, among several others across nearly every federal agency.

The inclusion of Murphy and Mayer in the package comes after Trump fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox, a move that was ultimately found to be legal by the Supreme Court earlier this year.

It’s also Senate Republicans’ second attempt to move this package after Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., objected last week in a bid to derail the process.

Senate Republicans went nuclear and changed the rules surrounding the confirmation process in a bid to break through Senate Democrats’ monthslong blockade of Trump’s nominees and limited the scope to only sub-Cabinet-level positions that would be advanced through a simple, 50-vote majority.

But one of the nominees in the original package, Sara Carter, a former Fox News contributor whose legal name is Sara Bailey, was considered a ‘Level 1’ nominee, meaning she would hold a Cabinet-level position.

Trump tapped Carter in March to be his drug czar as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Carter’s inclusion in the package meant that if Republicans wanted to confirm the 87 other nominees and her, they would have to break the 60-vote filibuster threshold. That outcome was highly unlikely, given Senate Democrats’ near-universal disapproval of several of Trump’s picks and accusations that many were not qualified to serve in the positions they had been tapped to fill.

Senate Republicans took advantage of the opportunity, however, and moved instead to offer a new, more beefed-up package that added nine more nominees.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned on Wednesday that Moscow will retaliate if European governments deploy troops to Ukraine or seize frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv, according to Reuters.

Lavrov delivered the remarks before the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, outlining Moscow’s stance on the war and its clash with the West. Reuters reported that Lavrov insisted Russia does not seek war with Europe but is prepared to act if it views Western countries as escalating the conflict.

‘We will respond to any hostile steps, including the deployment of European military contingents in Ukraine and the expropriation of Russian assets. And we are already prepared for this response,’ Lavrov said, according to Reuters.

Lavrov also praised President Donald Trump’s approach to a potential settlement, calling him the ‘only Western leader’ who understands what he described as the reasons the war was ‘inevitable.’ He said Moscow appreciates Trump’s interest in dialogue but noted Trump is ‘not only in no hurry to lift, but is actually increasing’ sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.

His comments referenced Trump’s criticism of Europe earlier this week. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Trump said European leaders ‘talk but they don’t produce,’ describing them as ‘weak’ and focused on being ‘politically correct.’ He added that he plans to continue endorsing European political figures who share his views, even if it ‘provokes pushback.’

European Council President António Costa rebuked Trump’s remarks, telling an audience at the Jacques Delors Institute conference in Paris on Monday: ‘If we are allies, we must act as such — and allies do not threaten to interfere in each other’s domestic political life and democratic choices,’ according to Reuters. Costa added that Europe and the U.S. ‘no longer share’ the same vision of the international order.

As Lavrov accused Europe of obstructing peace efforts, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced what he called the first formal meeting with senior Trump administration officials on Ukraine’s reconstruction.

In a post on X on Wednesday, Zelenskyy wrote: ‘Together with our team, I held a productive discussion with the American side… In fact, this could be considered the first meeting of the group that will work on a document concerning the reconstruction and economic recovery of Ukraine.’

He said they discussed ‘key elements for recovery, various mechanisms, and visions for reconstruction’ and reviewed updates to the ’20 points of the framework document for ending the war.’ Zelenskyy added that ‘overall security… will determine economic security and underpin a safe business environment.’

The Ukrainian president said both sides agreed to continue talks, adding: ‘As always, there will be no delays on our side. We are working to deliver results.’ He closed by thanking Trump, writing: ‘I thank President Trump and his team for their substantive work and support.’

Reuters contributed to this article.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles and ordered them returned to the control of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

The order, handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer, is a blow to the Trump administration, and comes six months after the president in June deployed thousands of federalized National Guard troops to the city in response to a wave of immigration protests.

Breyer on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s claim that the demonstrations in Los Angeles amount to a ‘rebellion’ sufficient to justify the president’s continued deployment of National Guard troops in the city under U.S.C. Section 12406, which allows a sitting president to call up or federalize National Guard troops during instances of a foreign invasion or in instances when the president is ‘unable to execute the law.’

Breyer said in the 35-page order that the deployment runs ‘contrary to law’ and risks ‘creating a national police force made up of state troops.’ 

‘The founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balance,’ Breyer said Wednesday. ‘Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.’

White House officials told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that they looked forward to ‘ultimate victory’ on the issue, suggesting they are likely to appeal the order to a higher court for review. 

‘President Trump exercised his lawful authority to deploy National Guard troops to support federal officers and assets following violent riots that local leaders like ‘Newscum’ refused to stop,’ White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital in response to the ruling. ‘We look forward to ultimate victory on the issue.’

Breyer, the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, had issued a temporary restraining order in June blocking Trump’s National Guard deployment from immediately taking effect in California. 

That order was quickly stayed by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, and Trump ultimately deployed roughly 5,000 troops in Los Angeles over the summer, as the protests continued, including 4,000 California National Guard troops and roughly 700 U.S. Marines.

‘Six months after they first federalized the California National Guard, Defendants still retain control of approximately 300 Guardsmen, despite no evidence that execution of federal law is impeded in any way—let alone significantly,’ Breyer said Wednesday.

In anticipation of another appeal, Breyer stayed the new preliminary injunction from taking force through Dec. 15.  

The new order comes as Trump’s National Guard deployment has sparked fierce backlash from officials from California and other Democratic-led states where Trump launched similar federalization efforts this year, including Oregon and Illinois. 

Newsom, who immediately sued to block the effort in his state, has continued to assail the effort as both unprecedented and illegal. 

Senior Trump administration officials have argued that the deployment is a necessary step to crack down on what they say is an uptick in violent crime and protect against threats from protesters, including anti-ICE demonstrations in many downtown areas, including Los Angeles.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is coming under fire for allegedly becoming ‘one of the biggest engines driving woke corporate America’ amid the Trump administration’s battle to strip diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from the fabric of industry and government, a conservative watchdog alleges. 

‘Once a voice for small businesses and Main Street, the Chamber now advocates for DEI mandates, (environmental, social and governance) investment schemes, and radical climate policies that punish consumers,’ said Will Hild, the executive director of Consumers’ Research, a free-market-oriented nonprofit focused on consumer advocacy. 

ESG is an investing framework focused on prioritizing environmental, social and governance investments.

‘They have strayed far from their original mission of advocating for free markets in favor of a political agenda,’ he continued. ‘Now, that the Chamber has made itself a leader in pushing woke policies in corporate boardrooms, it should come as no surprise that they are also supporting legislation to cripple litigation finance, one of the few tools consumers have to hold woke corporations accountable for pushing political ideology. Consumers’ Research will continue to call out organizations like the Chamber for pushing a woke agenda.’ 

Hild’s comments come as Consumers’ Research published a ‘Woke Alert’ this week accusing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce of being ‘totally woke, pushing DEI and a left-wing climate agenda.’

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a business association that represents and lobbies for the interests of local and national companies in Washington, D.C., and operates in a nonpartisan manner. The chamber has received praise and criticism from both Republicans and Democrats across the years for its various politically focused initiatives. 

Consumers’ Research, as part of its mission to strip ‘woke’ ideology from the fabric of American businesses, publishes ‘Woke Alerts’ sounding the alarm on practices the group views as harmful to consumers or serving ‘woke politicians.’ The latest alert focuses on the Chamber of Commerce’s promotion of DEI initiatives, as well as prioritizing ‘a radical climate agenda.’ 

The alert pointed to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s website stating that ‘diversity is America’s strength’ in its mission to remove DEI initiatives, which conservatives argue promotes group-based preferences and ideological conformity over individual merit, free speech and equal treatment. 

‘Diversity is America’s strength, spurring the innovation and creativity that have made the U.S. economy the most vibrant and dynamic in history,’ the Chamber’s website declares. ‘When businesses recognize and embrace different perspectives, they are better able to create value, serve customers, support employees, and solve problems. By providing opportunities for everyone, businesses help lift communities and strengthen the health, prosperity, and competitiveness of our nation and our society.’ 

The Chamber’s push on DEI came as such race-based workplace initiatives were promoted from the highest echelons of industry down to grade school classrooms in the 2020 era, especially after the police-involved killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, when ‘defund the police’ and Black Lives Matter dominated the news cycle with protests and riots. 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was among the flood of industries that heightened their promotion DEI policies, including the Chamber reporting in a 2021 video that Floyd’s death helped spark its launch of the ‘Equality of Opportunity Initiative.’ 

Fox News Digital reviewed archived links to the Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Equality of Opportunity Initiative’ and found that it focused on efforts to ‘develop real, sustainable solutions to help close race-based opportunity gaps in six key areas: education, employment, entrepreneurship, criminal justice, health, and wealth.’

The link to the former website page redirects users to the chamber’s website homepage, with archived links showing the race-based URL was still active in January. The chamber launched the effort in June 2020, just days after Floyd’s death. 

‘This work is a priority for the chamber and our members because as we all know its not just a moral imperative, it’s an economic imperative,’ U.S. Chamber President Suzanne Clark said in 2021 during the 2nd Annual National Summit on Equality of Opportunity of DEI practices. 

Consumers’ Research also flagged the chamber’s 2022 impact report, which said it helped deliver $8.1 million in race-based grants to 1,414 Black-owned small businesses across 42 states. The alert also noted that the chamber has promoted reading materials such as a 2021 guide on DEI, and publicly supported the ‘Equality Act’ in 2021 — legislation Consumers’ Research described as ‘radical’ and claimed would ‘enshrine in federal law a right for males to participate in women’s sports and lead to the punishment of small business owners based on their religious beliefs.’

When asked about the Woke Alert, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce took issue with Hild arguing that the business group is ‘supporting legislation to cripple litigation finance,’ which Hild said ‘is one of the few tools consumers have to hold woke corporations accountable for pushing political ideology.’ 

‘It is sad this organization has become a mouthpiece for trial lawyers whose tactics have imposed a stealth tax on American families who are paying up to $4,200 extra a year for insurance, food, clothing and other items as a result of sham lawsuits that only line the pockets of trial lawyers,’ Stephen Waguespack, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform, said. ‘These lawyers, who donate overwhelmingly to progressive causes and candidates, and those who align with them, are undermining President Trump’s efforts to lower costs for American families.’

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports a Republican-introduced bill, the Litigation Transparency Act of 2025, which aims to ensure greater transparency in litigation by requiring parties receiving payment in lawsuits to disclose their identities. 

Consumers’ Research has used litigation finance in recent years to push back against ‘woke capitalism’ to counter ESG and DEI policies, Fox News Digital previously reported, with Hild saying that he views the legislation as an ‘attack’ on one of the ‘few tools Americans have to hold powerful, woke corporations accountable.’

The new criticisms land as President Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office in January marked an end to DEI initiatives at the federal level and set off a sweeping effect on private industries as well.

Trump has moved to systematically unwind DEI programs across the federal government, signing a pair of executive orders in January that direct agencies to identify and shut down DEI offices, terminate equity-focused grants and contracts, and scrap long-standing affirmative action-style requirements for federal contractors in favor of what the White House calls ‘colorblind’ merit based rules.

While Consumers’ Research is now attacking the chamber from the right, the organization has previously faced scrutiny from Democrats as well. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., led the charge in a 2019 letter demanding the group ‘accept that human-caused climate change is real and warrants immediate action,’ claiming the chamber ‘marshaled considerable lobbying resources on behalf’ of companies working to ‘oppose congressional, executive, and judicial actions that would meaningfully address climate change,’ according to the letter.

The Chamber has been lauded by other prominent U.S. leaders, such as former President Barack Obama in 2011, when he thanked the group for pushing Congress on infrastructure investments. He said during an address focused on resetting relations with corporate America following the recession that had rocked the U.S. that the White House and the Chamber ‘must work together’ on the economy.

Consumers’ Research also knocked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over its climate agenda, saying the group has paired its DEI push with aggressive environmental goals. A 2023 blog post on the chamber’s website titled ‘Fostering a Sustainable and Inclusive Energy Future’ promoted prioritizing and working with ‘diverse suppliers’ to strengthen businesses.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also attended the United Nations Climate Change Conference earlier in 2025, which the Trump administration effectively boycotted by not sending a delegation to the annual conference. Instead, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom attended the event in the federal government’s absence, where he took shots at Trump for his environmental policies. 

‘Our climate is changing and humans are contributing to these changes. Inaction is simply not an option,’ the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s website. ‘Combating climate change will require citizens, government, and business to work together. American businesses play a vital role in creating innovative solutions to protect our planet.’ 

Fox News Digital’s Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report. 

Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania condemned an attack against Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, whose assassination shocked the world earlier this year.

‘It’s gross and dehumanizing to attack a widow with young children after just witnessing his public assassination,’ the senator noted in a post on X.

‘It shouldn’t be controversial to put our political views aside and extend the grace for a deeply traumatized family to grieve,’ he added.

He made the comments when sharing a screenshot of a Fox News Digital article headline that read, ‘Liberal podcaster labels widow Erika Kirk a ‘grifter’ who should be ‘kicked to the curb.”

‘This woman should be kicked to the curb,’ Jennifer Welch said on her ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast. ‘She is an absolute grifter, just like Donald Trump, and just like her unrepentant, racist, homophobic husband was,’ she said of Erika Kirk.

GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who is running for governor, responded to Fetterman’s post by thanking the senator.

Fox News Channel political analyst Gianno Caldwell expressed full agreement with Fetterman’s comments.

Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, was fatally shot during an event at Utah Valley University in September. He and his wife Erika had two children.

A federal judge has cleared the Justice Department to release secret grand jury transcripts from Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 sex trafficking case on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman reversed his earlier decision to keep the transcripts under wraps, citing Congress’s recent action on the Epstein files. Berman had previously warned that the contents of the roughly 70 pages of grandjury materials contain little new information.

The move comes just one day after Judge Paul Engelmayer granted the DOJ’s motion to unseal separate grand jury transcripts and exhibits in Maxwell’s criminal case. Last week, Judge Rodney Smith also moved to allow the DOJ to release transcripts from an abandoned federal grand jury probe from the 2000s.

Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking charges in December 2021, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence. Her attorney said that she took no position on the requested unsealing of records but noted that the release could harm Maxwell’s plan to file a habeas petition, according to The Associated Press.

The Epstein Files Transparency Act requires the DOJ ‘to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ’s possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.’

The act was passed in November and paves the way for the public to have more insight into the infamous cases against the late disgraced financier.

The law places a deadline for releasing files on Dec. 19.

The DOJ is reportedly working with survivors and their attorneys to redact records to protect survivors’ identities and prevent the dissemination of sexualized images, according to the AP.

Fox News’ Rachel Wolf contributed to this report.

A new bill could see part of the national capital renamed after slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, introduced three months after his assassination.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is introducing legislation to rename the area that until recently had been known as ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza,’ she first told Fox News Digital.

‘Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization that wants to defund the police and take your speech away,’ Mace argued. ‘And what I want to do on the three-month anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s political assassination is celebrate him and the First Amendment and freedom of speech by renaming the plaza after him.’

Black Lives Matter is a far-left activist group that gained traction after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a White police officer.

It is not designated as a terrorist organization, but people on the right and even some Democrats have criticized it for going too far with calls to ‘defund the police,’ while questions have also been raised in the past about how it spends its funding.

A two-block area of Washington, D.C., was renamed Black Lives Matter Plaza by the city’s government in June 2020 amid nationwide protests over Floyd’s killing.

It was marked by a massive mural depicting the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ in the middle of the street.

That was reversed in March of this year after pressure from Republicans, including President Donald Trump, amid a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts across the country.

Mace suggested she was not optimistic that her bill would get a House-wide vote but said she would ‘fight like hell’ for it.

It comes three months after Kirk was assassinated while speaking at a college free-speech event in Utah. Both Republicans and Democrats have condemned the killing as a tragedy and an attack on free speech.

Prosecutors in Utah are seeking the death penalty against Tyler James Robinson, Kirk’s accused killer.

Mace’s bill is one of several pieces of legislation introduced to memorialize Kirk in the wake of his death.

‘I think members of Congress have done their part, rank-and-file members. But there’s still more to do yet. And we need to make sure that we continue his legacy forever,’ Mace said.

A resolution honoring Kirk passed the House of Representatives in September with support from all Republicans and 95 Democrats. Fifty-eight Democrats voted against it, while another 38 voted ‘present.’

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky announced on Tuesday that he had introduced a measure to remove the U.S. from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, arguing that the decades-old alliance is obsolete, has been costly for American taxpayers and puts the nation at risk of engagement in foreign wars.

‘NATO is a Cold War relic. The United States should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our country, not socialist countries. Today, I introduced HR 6508 to end our NATO membership,’ Massie said in a post on X.

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida shared Massie’s post and wrote, ‘Co-sponsoring this.’

‘NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over thirty years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk U.S. involvement in foreign wars. Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket—especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense,’ Massie said, according to a press release.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah introduced the ‘Not a Trusted Organization Act,’ or ‘NATO Act’ in the Senate earlier this year — Massie is now fielding companion legislation in the House.

Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty stipulates that ‘After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation.’

The proposal advanced by Lee and Massie would use this escape hatch to extract the U.S. from the longstanding NATO alliance.

‘Consistent with Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington April 4, 1949, not later than 30 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall give notice of denunciation of the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of withdrawing the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,’ the proposal declares.

‘No funds authorized to be appropriated, appropriated, or otherwise made available by any Act may be used to fund, directly or indirectly, United States contributions to the common-funded budgets of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, including the civil budget, the military budget, or the Security Investment Program,’ the text of the measure stipulates.

When the South Korean boy band/K-pop sensation BTS takes the stage in Seoul this June, ending a four-year touring hiatus, it will mark more than just a comeback — it will validate one of the shrewdest soft-power decisions in recent memory.  

In 2022, at the absolute apex of their global dominance, the group’s seven members chose to fulfill their mandatory military service rather than seek exemptions, which would almost certainly been granted. Their management company, HYBE, supported the decision. The world got a masterclass in how cultural power is created. 

The cynics predicted career suicide. Instead, BTS demonstrated that soft power isn’t built on avoiding obligations — it’s built on embracing them. When they reunite on stage, they’ll do so with enhanced credibility, having proven their success didn’t exempt them from the responsibilities of ordinary citizens. Americans remember Elvis taking a similar course at the height of his fame.  

The great thing about soft power is that, while generated by creative individuals and companies, it’s to the entire nation’s benefit. Like economic and martial power, soft power generates influence that can be used to bolster a nation’s standing. Examples of soft power abound from Britain’s cricket legacy and rock ’n’ roll ‘invasion’ of the 1960s to French and Italian cinema to America’s NBA, jazz music and Hollywood’s entertainment machine. Now, South Korea is stepping up.

Thus, it is almost tragic that while BTS was serving in the military, the ecosystem that made the band possible faces mounting scrutiny. South Korea has become expert at creating cultural phenomena that captivate the world — and equally expert at treating the architects of that success with suspicion once they achieve scale. This is a pattern South Korea cannot afford.   

South Korea’s cultural preeminence did not emerge from a government plan. It sprang from creative ambition, commercial ruthlessness, and just enough regulatory space for experimentation. The K-pop system requires massive capital investment, sophisticated global distribution and executives willing to bet nine figures on whether teenagers in Jakarta and São Paulo will stream the same songs. 

Yet, there’s a reflex in South Korean public life that treats popularity itself as evidence of wrongdoing. Bang Si-hyuk, the producer who built HYBE and shaped BTS into a global phenomenon, now faces legal scrutiny over stock transactions — the kind of corporate governance questions that seem to emerge almost inevitably once South Korean companies achieve sufficient scale.   

The particulars matter less than the pattern: bold risk-taking generates soft power, then invites investigation once it succeeds. 

Executives who might build the next BTS or international TV steaming sensation like, ‘Crash Landing on You,’ watch what happens to those who came before and recalibrate their ambition accordingly. In cultural soft power, this reflex is potentially fatal. 

South Korea’s competitors are watching. China has spent billions trying to manufacture soft power through state-directed enterprises. The PRC has largely failed — because audiences smell propaganda. South Korean free enterprise is succeeding in creating cultural exports that are simultaneously local and universal, specific enough to feel authentic in Seoul and accessible enough to travel across the globe.  

This is South Korea’s opportunity. Japan was given a similar window in the 1990s with anime and video games, but largely failed to capitalize on the trend because of governmental missteps. South Korea could easily repeat that mistake and lose the global influence that comes with serious national soft power. 

South Korea needs to recognize soft-power assets as strategic resources. France protects its luxury brands because Paris recognizes these companies project French taste globally in ways no government agency could. South Korea should ask: What institutional arrangements allow us to maintain standards while protecting our champions? 

South Korea’s cultural preeminence did not emerge from a government plan. It sprang from creative ambition, commercial ruthlessness, and just enough regulatory space for experimentation. 

BTS’s decision to fulfill their national military service obligations demonstrates what’s possible when artists, companies and national interest align voluntarily. HYBE supported that choice. But South Korea can’t count on such choices being made repeatedly if the system treats success as inherently suspect.

In June 2026, when BTS embarks on a global tour generating billions in economic impact and incalculable goodwill toward South Korea, remember this moment almost didn’t happen. The members could have sought exemptions. Instead, they chose service and came back stronger. 

But South Korea can’t count on such choices if the message to cultural entrepreneurs is that success invites scrutiny. The next generation is watching, deciding whether to aim for global impact or settle for domestic safety.

South Korea stumbled into becoming a cultural superpower. It doesn’t have to stumble out of it. But that requires recognizing that the bold, imperfect figures who build global cultural enterprises are assets to be protected, not problems to be managed. 

BTS made their choice — they bet on their country. Now, South Korea needs to decide if it’s going to bet on the people who create the next BTS, or put them under investigation instead.