Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about the Trump Institute of Peace.

The Trump administration has apparently decided to rename the U.S. Institute for Peace,

the Trump Institute for Peace, because of course they did.

The announcement comes as the Trump administration is embroiled in defending its definitely

not peaceful initiatives down south. The irony of this move is that it seems pretty clear

that the Trump administration may not be entirely familiar with the

nonpartisan Independent Institute. Based on the name, you'd be forgiven for assuming that the

entity was a product of Camelot-era programs from Kennedy. The Institute is supposed to be

governed by a bipartisan board of directors

with 15 members. Some of the board's membership is mandated. The Secretary of Defense

and the President of the National Defense University must be on the board. The entity isn't some hyper-left agency. It was established by

legislation signed by Ronald Reagan. Its original mission, as outlined, was to, quote,

serve the people of the government through the widest possible range of education and training,

basic and applied research opportunities,

and peace information services on the means to promote international peace,

and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world,

without recourse to violence.

In recent years, the Institute has had a budget of roughly 50 million a year, plus or minus.

But it also picks up some additional funding from entities like the Department of State, U.S. aid, and the Department

of Defense. You might be getting some spooky vibes from this information. So, just to be clear,

the Institute does actually perform operations in support of bringing about peaceful, non-violent resolutions to conflict.

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