Thursday, May 28, 2026

Chump and his love slaves Prissy Pete and Miss Sassy

First up, Katie Phang.




Chump's a con artist and even the judiciary can see it.  Now for Prissy Petey Hegseth.  Prissy gave an address over the weekend to West Point. Robert Davis (RAW STORY) reports:

But it was the Secretary's comments about the Trump administration's support for military members that alarmed Gen. Mark Hertling, the former commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe.
"No matter what, President [Donald] Trump and I will have your back when tough decisions are made," Hegseth said during his speech. "Especially decisions made in a split second in the heat of battle. No matter what. No matter if it's the right decision or the wrong decision. If it's made by the right person or the wrong person. For the right reasons or the wrong reasons. Your hands are untied. No matter what, we will have your back."

Hertling reacted to Hegseth's speech during a new episode of the "Bulwark Takes" podcast. He agreed with co-host Ben Parker's assessment that Hegseth had just given the military an "open invitation to commit war crimes."

Prissy Pete is such an ass kisser. Maria Villarroel (THE MIRROR) reports:


Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was dubbed a “boot licker” after he praised President Donald Trump on his efforts in the Iran war and the remodeling of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., comparing him to the likes of former Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Cabinet members met at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the administration’s most pressing issues. Throughout the meeting, the president called on everyone at the table to give updates on their departments. However, the updates quickly turned into a compliment fest, as the members took up a large chunk of their time applauding the president’s work.

When it was Hegseth’s turn, the secretary of defense did not shy away from lauding Trump, likening him to some of the country’s most celebrated presidents in history.
“I think actually your efforts on the reflecting pool are actually a great segue. If you look at Washington and Lincoln, these are two men that faced monumental tasks and stood up in historic fashion and delivered for the American people,” Hegseth said.

Chump is a con man and Hegseth is his moll.  Prissy Pete acts like he's Chump's love slave.  Everyone knows that's Miss Sassy's job.  Jack Hobbs & Maria Villarroel (IRISH STAR) report on Miss Sassy:

Vice President JD Vance quipped that he cannot be booed by an audience at the Air Force Academy graduation because "I'm the Vice President of the United States."

Vance delivered the Air Force Academy commencement address on Thursday in Colorado. As he prepared to praise artificial intelligence as a valuable tool for incoming Air Force officers, he acknowledged that several commencement speakers had faced backlash at the mere mention of the technology, and he hoped his experience would differ.

"This is the only commencement speech I'm giving this year, so I've watched a few highlights of graduation speeches where someone will discuss artificial intelligence and be met with literal boos," Vance said. This comes after a doctor shed light on Trump's 'painful and disabling' chronic disease following his 3-hour hospital visit.

"Now you can't boo me. I'm the Vice President of the United States," he added jokingly, pausing with a grin to allow the audience to laugh. The crowd, however, responded with only a few awkward, subdued chuckles.

Social media users were quick to pile on over the vice president's uncomfortable moment, reports the Mirror US. "It's a good job he said so because no one remembers who he is or what he does," one user remarked, alluding to widespread speculation that Vance remains sidelined from the Trump administration's critical decisions on key issues, including the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Nobody takes Miss Sassy seriously.  They didn't during the campaign and they don't know that he's Vice President.  He was a liar back then, he's a liar now.  


Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Thursday, May 28, 2026.  Chumps strikes Iran again, his slush fund is universally despised as is Todd Blanche, the economy remains in the toilet, and much more.










Iran said it had retaliated on Thursday against the United States by targeting an unnamed American base in response to strikes in southern Iran, escalating tensions amid negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the war.

In recent days, Washington and Tehran have suggested that they were close to agreeing on a narrow agreement to allow commercial shipping to resume in the strait. But on Wednesday, U.S. forces launched new strikes and President Trump reiterated that he did not want the waterway to be under Iranian control.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards said on Thursday that it had targeted a base where the U.S. strikes originated but did not say where that was or how it had been attacked. The guards warned that further U.S. strikes would be met by an even “more decisive” response.

On Thursday morning, the Kuwaiti military said that its air defenses had intercepted hostile drones and missiles, but did not specify the origin or extent of the attack. The United States has five military bases in Kuwait.

Hours earlier, American forces conducted strikes in southern Iran, the second round of attacks this week. The United States knocked down four attack drones that a U.S. official said Iran had launched over the Strait of Hormuz.



Iran said it targeted an American airbase Thursday, a response to new U.S. attacks that it called a “blatant violation” of both the shaky ceasefire between the two countries and international law.

The latest military exchange, which appeared to draw in the United States’ ally of Kuwait, raised further doubts about diplomatic efforts to end the war and reopen the crucial Strait of Hormuz.

Hours earlier, President Donald Trump signaled an agreement between the two sides wasn’t close, and that he would not be rushed by either international economic pressure or the political pressure of upcoming midterm elections.  

Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz — which it has effectively shut off in response to the U.S.-Israeli attack late February — has caused a global economic shock, with prices rising for oil, natural gas, fertilizer and other essential goods.

Trump also warned Oman, another U.S. ally in the region, against partnering with Iran to jointly control the Strait. “Oman will behave just like everybody else or we’ll have to blow them up,” he said during a Cabinet meeting, before adding, “They understand that. They’ll be fine.”


Chump is a con man, grifter and liar and he's assembled people like him to staff the administration.  Which is how we get Pete Hegseth and others who lie about the amount of weapons.  We called it out at the start of the Iran War -- they were running out of weapons.  Ben Finley (AP) reports now:

U.S. military contractors need at least three years to replenish stockpiles of three key weapons systems used heavily in the Iran war, according to an analysis released Wednesday, adding to concerns that American forces would have limited firepower in any future conflict with China.
The weapons systems are Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are used to strike targets deep inside enemy territory, and Patriot and THAAD interceptors that defend against incoming missiles and drones.

“The United States has enough munitions for any plausible scenario in the Iran war, but the depleted inventories have created a window of vulnerability for a potential Western Pacific conflict,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in its new report, provided to The Associated Press. “The time needed to rebuild those inventories has thus become a major concern.”


The US and Israel are "burning through" their supply of Tomahawk and interceptor missiles in their war on Iran, alarming some in the Pentagon.

According to officials speaking to the Washington Post, the US has fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in four weeks of its war with Iran.

Only a few hundred of the cruise missiles are manufactured each year and while the Pentagon does not publicly disclose its numbers, one official told the news outlet the number of Tomahawks left in the Middle East is “alarmingly low”.

Tomahawks can travel more than 1,000 miles, which allows the US military to hit targets in Iran without sending pilots into a hostile airspace.

It has only gotten worse since then.  


And as Ben Finley notes in his new report, the issue is not money, the issue is the time it takes to manufacture Tomahawks.  


Chump can't focus on the war -- not even in a cabinet meeting.  David Edwards (RAW STORY) notes: 


President Donald Trump spent roughly 10 minutes of a high-stakes cabinet meeting on Wednesday — convened amid delicate negotiations to end the U.S. war with Iran — ranting about his efforts to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, falsely claiming predecessors wasted "hundreds of millions" on the landmark and repeatedly comparing it to a swimming pool.
"From 1922 on, it really never worked," Trump told cabinet members, calling the pool — which he repeatedly referred to as a "reflecting lake" — an embarrassment. "It was filthy dirty. It was Biden."

[. . .]
Trump claimed the project would cost "like $10,000,000, maybe $12,000,000." But federal records show the no-bid contract awarded to Atlantic Industrial Coatings — a Virginia firm Trump chose because it had worked on pools at his golf club — has already climbed to $13.1 million, more than seven times his original estimate of $1.8 million. Critics also note that Trump's plan does not address the pool's faulty filtration system, which has caused chronic leaks for decades.





Turning to Chump's slush fund, Malcolm Ferguson (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports: 

GOP Representative Mike Flood had yet another disastrous town hall in Norfolk, Nebraska, on Tuesday, as his constituents drowned him out with grievances regarding the war on Iran, the White House ballroom, Jeffrey Epstein, and President Trump’s “anti-weaponization” slush fund.
[. . .]

The only thing Flood seemed to fully agree with the crowd on was Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund—a shameless plan to direct billions of taxpayer dollars to Trump’s supporters who felt wronged or targeted by the Biden administration—even those who attacked Capitol Police on January 6.

“I do not think we should be creating a fund for people that commit physical violence against law enforcement,” he said. “The Senate is opening an oversight effort. And we in the House have to determine whether we do the same in the Judiciary Committee or in the Oversight Committee. I clearly think Congress needs to have an oversight role in this before I can sign off or support this.”

The slush fund is deeply unpopular.  With Americans period.  Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:

President Donald Trump’s $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” is even more disliked among voters than previously known, according to new internal GOP polling that has circulated among prominent GOP organizations “in recent days,” sending several Republican operatives into an all-out panic, Zeteo reported Wednesday.
“This could really f--- us,” a “well-connected national GOP consultant” told Zeteo, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Why do you think everyone’s so upset?”
[. . .]
“Far too many Americans now view President Trump as corrupt, and that is going to be a significant hurdle for Republicans this year at a time when the voters want to be hearing about how you are making life easier and cheaper for them or how you’re making the country safe – not about a f------ ballroom,” said a former Trump administration official familiar with the internal polling, speaking with Zeteo on the condition of anonymity.

“This fund business just adds to that perception. And Donald Trump isn’t the one whose name is on the ballot this year, so he’s not going to be the one who really loses from his decisions or rhetoric.”


Chump shares the blame for this move with Acting Attorney General and Acting Fool Todd Blanche.  Blanche knows that Chump did not have grounds for a lawsuit.  As Dan Abrams pointed out early on in the discussion, Chump's IRS leak took place in his first term so, when he started saying he was going to sue this past January, the two year limit to file any kind of lawsuit had passed.  Chump got into trouble with a judge who questioned how he could sue the government and be the one deciding on settling with him?  He was the prosecutor and the defendant.  Then Chump announced he was withdrawing his lawsuit (which would not have been allowed to go through to begin with) and instead taking $1.776 billion for a fund that would be overseen by people picked out by Blanche and that Chump could fire at will who would award it to those poor January 6th insurrectionists who had faced trials and jail time for attacking the Capitol police and terrorizing Josh Hawley and assorted other members of Congress.  Oh, and the cherry on top, Chump and his family can never be audited by the IRS and any ongoing audits would cease.  Even the editorial board of THE NEW YORK POST is aghast, "The Trump Justice Department settlement of the Trump IRS lawsuit looks terrible.  A blanket guarantee that the prez and his family will never ever face an IRS audit? A $1.8 billon 'anti-weaponization fund,' courtesy of the taxpayers, to be doled out to people who claim they were victimized by Biden-era 'lawfare' -- with no evident need to even show evidence?" 


The shocker is that, suddenly, congressional Republicans have taken a stand against the madness that has infected the Justice Department (one strain of it, at least). Democrats — and virtually every other human with a brain and a pulse — were immediately outraged last week when the DoJ unveiled a $1.776 billion (get it? 1776??) “anti-weaponization” fund that would serve as a cash trough for January 6 rioters, including those who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and assaulted police officers, among others. Don’t fret, though. As Blanche confidently reassured CNN’s Paula Reid, “Just to be clear, people who hurt police get money all the time, okay?” (Okay, name one.)

But outrage from the minority party in Congress mostly generates rhetoric and headlines. It takes the party in power to actually do something. And late last week, initial tremors from congressional Republicans swelled into a full-blown earthquake. Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune tiptoed cautiously at first toward dissent, noting that he was “not a big fan” of the fund and that “our members have very legitimate questions” about it. One of those members, Senator Thom Tillis, phrased it better: “I think it’s stupid on stilts.”


The situation devolved quickly for Blanche. The New York Times reported the acting AG’s frantic effort to reassure Senate Republicans — who may someday vote on his confirmation — went quite poorly. According to the Times, the meeting turned into “a two-hour blowup in which dozens of Republican senators vented their anger and concern about the president’s fund at Mr. Blanche. They questioned its legal basis, whom it would pay and how the process would work. And they made it clear they wanted no part of the plan, the product of a deal struck between Mr. Trump’s lawyers and his own administration.” Senator Ted Cruz confirmed that Republican lawmakers were “screaming” at Blanche and that the Trump administration’s slush fund could provoke “a full-on revolt in the Senate.”

Now Blanche finds himself in a tricky spot. He can’t stand behind the slush fund and still realistically hope to be confirmed by the Senate as attorney general, should he be nominated. Republicans hold a 53-47 edge, but already at least four Republican senators are on record against the fund in its current iteration. So Blanche will either have to stick with the scheme and sacrifice his own shot at the top job — unlikely, given that he has already shown he’ll do whatever it takes to advance — or have to back off. Whether that means modifying the plan or abandoning it altogether, it’s increasingly unlikely the slush fund will become reality as presently constituted.




Liz Oyer, former pardon attorney at the Justice Department, called it a criminal conspiracy. Former deputy U.S. solicitor general Philip Allen Lacovara wrote that it looks like “a classic example of a ‘collusive settlement,'” which is “a species of fraud” that “[m]ost typically … involve[s] self-interested deals in which a person with insurance agrees to settle a bogus claim or commits to an unreasonable payment in the home of foisting the costs on an insurance company.” 

And as Anna Bower and Eric Columbus of Lawfare noted, if payouts are made to Trump-aligned individuals and companies, including people pardoned for crimes associated with the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, it could violate the Antideficiency Act, which makes “a federal crime to ‘knowingly and willfully‘ spend money not appropriated by Congress.”

Second, although Trump is operating as if he is above the law, there is room for future courts to find liability for “creative crimes” he commits while in the White House. In giving Trump criminal immunity for official acts in July of 2024, the Supreme Court made clear that former presidents can still be prosecuted for crimes involving unofficial acts. This could theoretically cover even actions taken by Trump to minimize his personal tax liability.

During Trump’s first term, even the friendly majority on the Supreme Court refused to protect his personal accounting firm from having to turn over his tax returns to a number of congressional committees. In 2022, it refused to block a lower court ruling that Trump must disclose his tax returns and other financial records to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Those decisions signal a potential willingness on the part of five justices to recognize a sliver of accountability for presidents even after their disastrous criminal immunity decision in Trump v. U.S.

Third, Trump’s self-serving deal for IRS immunity might not hold up in the long run. The real question right now is not whether Trump has the constitutional authority to grant himself tax immunity and extend it to his sons and his business (he doesn’t), but whether voters will one day elect an administration willing to bring cases ostensibly covered by the addendum. If that happens, Trump’s defense team would undoubtedly seek to have them thrown out under the terms of the addendum. In response, the government would argue that the addendum should be given no weight because Trump had no legal authority to grant himself such immunity in the first place. The whole thing is bogus, so any attempt to use it as a valid legal defense is bogus, too.









Blanche is infamous for saying "I love you, sir" to Chump.  Kiss up or latent behavior -- who knows?  But it's not the behavior of an Attorney General.  And, sadly, that's no longer one of the big problems facing Blanche.  Colin Kalmbacher (LAW & CRIME) reports:

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche is now the subject of a bar complaint filed with authorities in New York, according to a nonprofit government watchdog that is requesting an investigation.

The 11-page complaint is premised on Blanche's role in the Trump administration's failed efforts to prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia for human smuggling in the Tennessee federal court system.
"Blanche's conduct potentially violated numerous Rules of Professional Conduct," the complaint reads. "Blanche's conduct in connection with the Abrego Garcia matter is a serious abuse of public office, undermines the integrity of the Department of Justice, and erodes public confidence in the legal profession and in the fair administration of justice."
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr., a Barack Obama appointee, determined the evidence before the court "sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power." The court went on to dismiss the indictment – finding the prosecution vindictive and selective.

"The Court does not reach its conclusion lightly," Crenshaw wrote in the memorandum opinion. "The objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego's successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador, the Government would not have brought this prosecution."


Back to Chump's war of choice.  Senator Tammy Baldwin notes the impact this war is having on farmers:

WISCONSIN – Today, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) visited two farms in Janesville and Sharon to hear from Wisconsin farmers about how President Trump’s war of choice in Iran is jacking up the cost of fertilizer and fuel and hurting their operations. Senator Baldwin visited Rebout Farms in Janesville, Wisconsin, which raises 4,200 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat in Rock County, and Frontier Farms in Sharon, Wisconsin, which specializes in soybeans, corn, and winter wheat.

“Wisconsin farmers work hard to produce world-class products that feed the world and power our rural economies. On top of Donald Trump’s reckless trade war that shut off places to sell their products and jacked up costs, Wisconsin’s farmers are now paying record high costs for diesel and fertilizer in the middle of spring planting because of this illegal war in Iran,” said Senator Baldwin. “Today, I visited two Wisconsin farms to understand how Donald Trump’s war of choice has created even more headwinds for Wisconsin farmers. This much is clear: this war needs to end.” 

One-third?of the world’s fertilizer passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and since the attacks on the shipping lane, prices have gone up?25%. Diesel prices have?also?jumped?75%?in the last?three?months, dramatically increasing?farmers’?costs?to?operate?their machinery.?Senator Baldwin has?repeatedly forced votes?in the Senate to end Trump’s war in Iran that is hurting Wisconsin farmers, families, and servicemembers. Senator Baldwin also leads bipartisan legislation that would provide American producers with more accurate information on prices for fertilizer and fertilizer products in response to longstanding concerns over rising input costs.

###




As Americans confront a surge in prices at the pump, another inflation wave is headed for the grocery store.
A combination of factors including bad weather, tariffs and a dwindling cattle herd are already pushing up grocery prices at an above-average pace. In April, they rose by the most in nearly four years, and economists say the impact of the Iran war and a potential El Niño weather pattern will only add to pressures into 2027.

The hit to US household finances from higher grocery bills is set to intensify just ahead of the November midterm elections, amplifying affordability as a defining issue. And to a greater extent than the surge in gas prices, the slower-moving food shock will be difficult to reverse quickly because the size of autumn harvests is determined by planting decisions made in the spring.

“It’s going to be a challenging year,” said Ricky Volpe, an agribusiness professor at California Polytechnic State University who previously worked at the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. “Food is going to become less affordable, and consumers should be prepared for it.”


Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

“If we overhaul our tax code and tax AI, we can use that money to build a country that works for everyone.”

“The American people deserve to share in the success of this technology.”

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) published an op-ed in TIME making the case that any solution to the problems posed by AI must include taxing AI and investing in people.

Specifically, the senator calls for overhauling the rigged tax code, including by taxing the wealthy and making corporations pay their fair share, to ensure the economic gains from AI benefit all Americans. The senator also calls for a new tax on AI companies that would tax the energy usage of data centers powering AI.

Read the full op-ed here and below:

TIME - Why We Need to Tax AI
May 27, 2026 

Americans are hanging on by their fingernails in an economy that funnels wealth to the ultra-rich and leaves crumbs for working people. AI threatens to supercharge this divide: tech executives have warned that AI could lead to “a level of wealth concentration that will break society” and create a “permanent underclass.”

I refuse to accept that future. Building an economy that works for all of us will require multiple policy responses. But it starts by acknowledging: it’s time to tax AI and invest in people.

AI holds tremendous promise. At the same time, Americans are rightly concerned that AI could further rig our economy. The technology is creating dozens of tech billionaires, while companies are laying off workers in the name of AI. Meanwhile, AI data centers are jacking up utility bills; for families living near large data centers, electricity costs have skyrocketed by as much as 267% over the past five years. It’s no surprise that Americans are showing up at town meetings to protest data centers and communities across the country are fighting for data center moratoriums.

Big Tech CEOs say this is only the beginning, predicting that AI will soon automate most white-collar tasks. Yes, some of this may be hyperbole. But there is no denying that AI is already changing the labor market. And because health care is often tied to a job, an AI wave could cost a family more than a lost paycheck. Even those whose jobs and insurance remain intact could be hit: experts warn that the hype around AI is fueling a financial bubble that threatens another economic crash.

Policymakers undoubtedly need to regulate AI and protect against its worst-case harms, like cyber attacks, which could impact our financial system and national security. We must also tackle the problem of AI’s accelerating demand for energy and ensure that families’ utility bills don’t skyrocket. And we need greater scrutiny of the murky world of private credit that finances a big chunk of AI deals so they don’t topple our economy.

But any response to a looming AI crisis must also tackle our rigged tax code.

Taxing AI is one way we make sure the winnings from AI benefit all Americans, rather than channeling them only to the wealthy few. If millions of people lose their jobs to AI, we’ll need the funds to deliver universal health care so those workers are not bankrupted by a visit to the doctor. If AI transforms the future of work, we'll need to invest in free education and apprenticeships and a new jobs guarantee so that all Americans have good-paying work. And while workers get back on their feet, we’ll need the revenue to bolster unemployment insurance to keep families afloat. The only way we can get there is by overhauling our tax code.

We can start by making corporations pay their fair share. Right now, companies pay payroll taxes for their workers but get tax breaks for investing in technology—effectively, a tax penalty for hiring human beings and a tax break for buying equipment. In an AI world, that means our tax code is incentivizing corporations to fire people and replace them with AI. That’s wrong. We need to level the playing field by raising taxes on corporations and capital gains and closing corporate loopholes. One way to tackle those loopholes? Strengthen the minimum tax for billionaire corporations, which I helped pass into law.

But there’s more. Some of the wealthiest individuals in America get away with paying lower tax rates than a Boston public school teacher because our system taxes income but not wealth. AI billionaires are running the same playbook: get rich off massive stock valuations and avoid paying the taxes that would be owed if those funds were earned as salary. If it wasn’t clear before, there’s no question in a world of AI: we need a wealth tax. Jeff Bezos and Sam Altman shouldn’t pay lower tax rates than the workers they fire.

Rethinking our tax code must also include going to the source: that means taxing AI companies directly, which can start with taxing AI data centers. The majority of AI data centers are controlled or operated by trillion-dollar companies. By imposing a reasonable excise tax on the energy used by data centers, families could recoup some of the gains of AI, while America continues to stay competitive in the AI race. A well-designed tax would focus on the companies that can afford it and scale with AI’s impact: the bigger the data center, the more they pay.

We can't be afraid to consider even bigger and bolder proposals to tax AI too, including ideas that sound radical today but may quickly become common sense. Because here’s what I see clearly: if we overhaul our tax code and tax AI, we can use that money to build a country that works for everyone. A country where health care is treated as a human right, where every American is guaranteed a good job, and where education isn’t a privilege reserved for the wealthy. That’s what I believe taxing AI promises.

AI was trained on human creativity and intelligence, AI was funded in part by federal investments in scientific research, and AI is powered by data centers that are built on American land and use our shared electric grid. The American people deserve to share in the success of this technology. And I’m willing to work with anyone to get it done.

###


The following sites -- plus Ruth's "Chump's grift entitled The Board of Peace" and Elaine's "Who is Chump sleeping with?" -- updated:



Posted by at

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

An administration full of screw ups and grifters

First up, Katie Phang.





Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth came together to push Donald Trump into what I think is the worst military decision ever made by a U.S. president.

Netanyahu has long wanted Iran in a war with the United States and Israel, and pushed Trump to start that conflict. Netanyahu continues to press Trump to bomb Iran, so Trump turned to Hegseth for advice. Hegseth advised Trump the war would be over in no time because of U.S. military capability. It was a supposedly a no risk proposition.
The threat of the Iranians closing the Strait of Hormuz to disrupt the flow of oil and create a worldwide energy crisis was also dismissed by Hegseth, as it did not fit his theory that the war would be conducted “on our timeline and at our choosing.”

Trump bowed to Netanyahu, bombed Iran on Feb. 28 and immediately saw how bad that decision was. For weeks, Trump offered shifting explanations of why he started this war, because he could not admit he did it to support Netanyahu. Finally, they contrived that the reason was to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon. This was offered even though U.S. intelligence showed Iran posed no immanent nuclear threat to America.

While Hegseth promised Trump a short, focused military encounter at most, even intellectually challenged Trump might not have started this war with Iran had the defense secretary accurately predicted where the war would be after 90 days. The Pentagon said this month the war had cost at least $29 billion so far, and we are spending as much as $2 billion every day. Thirteen service members have been killed, and hundreds more wounded. Despite these facts, Iran is stronger today than before Trump started this war. And, Trump does not have a clue how to end the conflict until Netanyahu tells him to do that.


Moore's right.  Chump's an idiot and a fool.  In other news of his failures, Finn Hartnett (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

Either Donald Trump himself wrote the Justice Department’s latest court filing, or whoever did is a big fan of his writing style.

MeidasTouch correspondent Scott MacFarlane flagged the strange similarities between Trump’s syntax and a Sunday filing submitted to a Washington, D.C., district court regarding his presidential ballroom.
The four-page document is littered with the unnecessary capitalization of terms such as “Project” and “Top Secret.” Trump, too, loves capitalizing random words in his social media posts.

The document contains multiple run-on sentences full of commas, another Trumpian quirk of grammar. The best example of this is an almost Joyceian line on page three:

This meritless Lawsuit has been a great attack on our Country in that the Military, Secret Service, and Law Enforcement are not happy that all of these Top Secret features have been revealed to potential enemies, criminals, and all others, including the fact that there will be a major drone port and Government sniper facilities on the heavily secured roof of the Ballroom, all for the sake of an unhappy passerby, a woman with absolutely no standing, represented by the “National Trust,” which was defunded by Congress due to a total lack of respect for them.

Just as striking as the syntax is the document’s claims about the ballroom. The filing boldly asserts that “without the construction of this great Project, the President cannot safely conduct the business of the United States.” It also contains wild architectural specifications, such as that the ballroom roof “be hermetically sealed to prevent malign forces from contaminating the circulating air.”


If they're letting Chump write court filings, they are really going to end up screwed.  Meanwhile squirly Ka$h Patel is acting the fool again.  William Vaillancourt (DAILY BEAST) notes:

FBI Director Kash Patel fired a top intelligence analyst who had worked on the bureau’s report on the 2017 shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise—an assessment which angered Republicans.

Patel fired Deputy Assistant Director Emily Morales last week, MS NOW reported, citing four people familiar with the matter. Morales had a role in the FBI’s determination that the shooting during House Republicans’ baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, was not domestic terrorism, but “suicide by cop.”
Morales’ firing, sources told the outlet, was perceived by many in the FBI as another example of Patel terminating agents who ran afoul of Donald Trump or Republicans. He and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche have bragged about letting go agents involved in any of the investigations into Trump. Some have sued, claiming political retaliation.


The entire administration is a bunch of screw ups and grifters.


Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"


Wednesday, May 27, 2026.  Chump continues to destroy the economy while his administration continues to lie about it, he wants to impose NDAs on all federal workers, and much more.





That's Ben breaking down the latest on Iran this morning for MEIDASTOUCH NEWS.

Chump's losing in Iran and his economy is losing as well.  Steve Benen (MS NOW) notes:


For reasons that have never been altogether clear, Donald Trump has repeatedly boasted that he’s successfully lowered the price of groceries. American consumers know better, and their perceptions are bolstered by real-world data. The Hill reported last week, “Federal inflation data confirms what you may have been feeling already: Groceries are getting more expensive. Unfortunately, things may be about to get a whole lot worse, economists are warning.”
A few days later, a national CNN poll found that 61% of Americans said they’ve had to cut back on groceries due to price concerns.

Feeding a family currently may take some creativity.  Cam Deal (THE COOL DOWN) reports:

A simple grocery-store habit is getting fresh attention online: buying soon-to-expire food at a discount and freezing it before it goes bad.

For budget-conscious shoppers, the appeal is straightforward. The strategy can turn markdown meat, deli items, and prepared foods into meals that cost a fraction of full price.

In a recent post on Reddit's r/Frugal forum, one shopper said they make "a lap around the grocery store" to look for foods nearing their sell-by date and stock up when markdowns are steep.




Memorial Day is supposed to feel like a victory lap into summer: gas tank full, cooler packed, suitcase in the trunk. This year, it feels like sticker shock. A snapshot circulated by Ed Elson, host of the Prof G Markets podcast, on X on May 25, lined up seven everyday inflation categories against last year's holiday weekend and the numbers landed with a thud.
The headline movers: gas up 28%, flights up 21%, coffee up 18%, beef up 16%, hot dogs up 11%, hotels up 4%. The surprise sitting atop the pile is tomatoes. A pound of tomatoes costs 40% more than it did last Memorial Day, the largest single move in the data set and a number that's gotten very little airtime so far.



Texas BBQ joints are getting smoked by skyrocketing beef prices, with some saying the iconic Texas brisket boom could be headed for a painful bust — forcing owners to consider raising prices, changing menus or even shutting down.

“This is as bad as it gets,” Houston pitmaster Russell Roegels told The Washington Post. (1)“Everybody’s at risk these days. You’re one bad week from closing.”
Roegels, owner of Roegels Barbecue Co., says in the past year, the wholesale price he pays for brisket has shot up by 28% to $5.56 per pound. He recently raised his menu prices for brisket by 6% to $35 per pound, but fears that could drive customers away.

And he’s not the only one who is worried. The meat-price crisis has already pushed several Texas barbecue spots out of business, including Brett’s BBQ Shop, Kirby’s BBQ, Sabar BBQ and Wright on Taco & BBQ.


In Portland, they're feeling it as well.  Tim Cebula (PRESS HERALD) reports:

To explain the dilemma of setting menu prices in the current economic climate, Isaac MacDougal points to limes.

“A couple months ago, a case of limes was $50,” said MacDougal, founder of Cocktail Mary and co-owner of Supper Club Cocktail Lounge. Now, because of drought and supply chain kinks, it’s over $100. He figures when you factor in the labor cost to squeeze big batches, “the lime juice in a cocktail is more expensive, a lot of time, than the spirit that goes into it.”

But soaring food costs are just one piece of the puzzle for restaurant and bar owners struggling to keep their menu prices in check. Since the pandemic, they’ve been at the mercy of upsurges to practically all of their costs, including labor, rent, utilities, taxes, insurance, swipe fees and packaging.



Since Trump regained office in January 2025, food inflation has increased 3.16%.

Trump ran on a platform to “defeat inflation,” but, as food prices climbed, he said affordability was a “con job.”

Part of the reason for higher food prices is the war Trump started with Iran, which predictably closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping route. The war has led to high gas prices across the country, and food prices have followed suit.

Recently, Trump was asked whether “Americans’ financial situations” affected his decision-making when it came to ending the war in Iran, according to NBC News.

“Not even a little bit,” Trump replied.

Trump said the “only thing that matters” is stopping Iran from having a nuclear weapon. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” he added. “I don’t think about anybody.”



But  Chump and his administration are thinking about it now and they're lying about it.  Brendan Rascius (INDEPENDENT) reports:


As Americans grapple with rising prices at gas pumps and grocery stores, President Donald Trump's top economic adviser has framed elevated consumer spending as a sign of the country’s resilience.

During an interview with Fox Business on Tuesday, Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett doubled down on his upbeat view of the economy, arguing that the knock-on effects of the Iran war are only a “temporary circumstance.”
“While people have been spending more money at gas stations, they’ve been spending more money on everything else, which means that they’re still very, very optimistic about the state of the economy, and they should be,” Hassett told Maria Bartiromo, while grinning outside the White House.

What a moron.  What an idiot.  Kevin Hassett is a fool if he thinks the American people are stupid enough to fall for that.  They've been "spending more money on everything else" because "everything else" is also soaring.  Ruth Igielnik (NEW YORK TIMES) reported Saturday:

Concern about rising prices has reached a fever pitch as Americans sit down to Memorial Day barbecues across the country. A majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents said that they had changed their purchases from grocery stores to stay within budget in the last several months, according to polling from CNN.

Another 59 percent of Americans said they had cut back on extras and entertainment.

More than three quarters of Americans, including 55 percent of Republicans, said President Trump’s policies had increased the cost of living in their community.

Survey after survey has found that Americans are feeling growing financial uncertainty. Nearly half of all voters gave the economy the lowest rating, “poor,” in the latest New York Times/Siena poll, up 11 percentage points since January.

And economic confidence has hit a four-year low, according to Gallup.


Kevin Hassett better accept the reality that the American people are not buying the lies that he is selling.  

 
And things could get worse.  Alexander Willis (RAW STORY) notes:

A growing number of CEOs suspect a market crash is imminent but have been “scared” to say so publicly out of fear of retaliation from President Donald Trump, and on Tuesday, one security expert warned that such a crash may not only be imminent, but “permanent.”

“If nothing is done about the current situation, Trump’s looming recession could blow a deep hole in the economy,” warned former Homeland Security senior official Miles Taylor in an analysis published Tuesday on his Substack. “So deep that – if it happens before we’re ready – many folks may never be able to crawl back out. That’s because two explosions could hit the U.S. economy at the same time.”


Chump doesn't care about the average American.  He cares about building his ballroom and he cares about creating his slush fund.  










He cares about his slush fund, he just doesn't care about the average American.  He's too busy figuring out ways to enrich his own pocket to actually focus on the needs of the American people. 



“The GOP is in a silent state of panic.” That’s what a former 2016 and 2020 top Trump presidential campaign official told me this morning. And you don’t need a Princeton PhD in political science to understand why. The president's political position as of late May 2026 is the worst of his career, and the people inside his own party who track these numbers professionally have stopped pretending otherwise. 
The most recent aggregate of Gallup, Reuters/Ipsos, YouGov, Quinnipiac, and Morning Consult places Trump's approval at 38.6 percent against 58.2 percent disapproval, a net rating of minus 19.6 that exceeds anything either of Trump's terms has produced before. 

The New York Times/Siena College poll conducted between May 11 and May 15 recorded the highest disapproval figure in the survey's history at 59 percent. 

An AP/NORC poll conducted between May 14 and May 18 registered a 22-point net increase in disapproval, with only 38 percent of respondents approving of the president's job performance compared to 60 percent disapproving.
These are not soft margins driven by sampling noise. 

The Reuters/Ipsos, Marist, AP-NORC, and YouGov surveys are independently arriving at the same picture from different methodological positions, which is the polling pattern that tends to precede a genuine political crisis rather than the kind of temporary slump that recovers within a news cycle or two.

The American people get it  Chump is corrupt and focused on enriching himself.  Everything he does is about bringing in funds to himself.  Michael Luciano (MEDIAITE) notes:

“Trump brought the NVIDIA CEO on his trip to China to lobby Xi Jinping to buy advanced AI chips, even though it would create a U.S. national security threat,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) tweeted on Friday, referring to the president’s trip to China, where he was accompanied by Jensen Huang and other U.S. business executives, as well as Eric Trump, who has business ties to the Chinese Communist Party. “It turns out Trump also bought millions in NVIDIA’s stock.”

Eric Trump responded to the post by saying all family assets are in a blind trust and are “in broad market indexes,” as opposed to individual stocks:


All of our assets are invested in a blind trust by the largest financial institutions in broad market indexes. To suggest that individual stocks are being bought or sold, at the discretion of any member of the Trump family, would be a lie and blatantly false. Using a silly example, if you buy the “Schwab 1000,” you will get some exposure to Nvidia – as well as a 1,000 other U.S. companies large- and mid-cap stocks. It’s completely disingenuous to represent anything to the contrary. Please be better than this…


Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) responded by linking to the disclosure signed by Donald Trump himself.

“Outright lies,” Beyer said. “Trump’s assets aren’t in a blind trust, and he bought and sold individual Nvidia stock in 15 separate transactions totaling millions of dollars. That’s what Trump’s financial disclosure – which has his signature – says. See for yourself.”

The disclosure, which is 113 pages long, shows 2,345 purchases, mostly of individual stocks, and 1,296 sales, mostly of individual stocks.

According to Fortune, Donald Trump is the first president since at least Lyndon Johnson to trade individual securities. Since Johnson, every president has placed their assets in a blind trust managed by independent trustees. Trump claimed during his first term that his assets were kept in such an arrangement, but Fortune noted that Walter Shaub, the head of the Office of Government Ethics, resigned in July 2017 and concluded that the blind trust was “not even halfway blind.”



Chump is a con man and a liar.  And both count on silence to get away with their actions.  It's for that reason that Chump is now attempting to gag the federal workforce.  Alex Woodward (INDEPENDENT) reports:


Donald Trump’s administration is proposing a government-wide mandate to require all federal workers to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent the spread of “confidential government information” to journalists.

Tuesday’s draft notice of the proposal would require new and existing workers to sign an agreement to “safeguard” a broad range of government information from reaching the public after a series of high-profile “leaks” to news organizations.
The document broadly defines “confidential government information” to include a vast amount of information, documents and communications beyond typical classified and unclassified labels.


No.  No, you piece of garbage, Chump.  You're not going to do that to our federal workforce.  You're not going to hide from sunshine laws.  You are human garbage and you will remain in the sewer but you're not going to drag our government down with you.  Brianna Tucker (HUFFINGTON POST) adds that the big exposures came from Chump's own people like Pete Hegseth::


The controversial form is a stark contrast to the way confidential information has been handled within the Trump administration, from contractors to cabinet officials.

Last year, cabinet officials accidentally texted the top editor of The Atlantic about active military strike plans on an app the Pentagon had just warned was being targeted by Russia.

Federal investigations and court filings earlier this year also revealed that DOGE operatives improperly accessed, shared, and stored sensitive personal data while working inside federal agencies.



It's a tactic Trump has deployed for years. During his first term, he became the first president to require private sector-style NDAs from White House staff — senior aides and interns alike. Legal scholars at Cornell Law School called those agreements likely unconstitutional.

His most famous NDA battle came with former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who refused to sign a post-departure NDA tied to a $15,000-a-month campaign job offer — an agreement that would have barred her from disclosing details of her White House tenure. She wrote a tell-all book instead. An arbitrator later ruled the NDA "invalid" and its terms "vague and unenforceable."

Legal experts have long warned that the government cannot impose NDAs on federal employees for unclassified information, no matter how sensitive or embarrassing. Critics warn that the sweeping language in the new proposal could be weaponized to suppress whistleblowers and shield government misconduct from public scrutiny.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed rule before it can be finalized.



Adam Lynch informs on the social media reaction to Chump's latest nonsense:

Social media critics whaled on the proposal, with the Freedom of the Press Foundation calling it “not just absurd, it’s unnecessary and dangerously secretive.”

“This policy would kneecap whistleblower protections, undermine the First Amendment, and wrongly inhibit the public’s right to know,” the association added on Bluesky.

Washington D.C. attorney Bradley Moss also blasted the proposal on Bluesky: “Federal employees operate under an array of statutory, regulatory and policy restrictions on the unauthorized disclosure of unclassified information. The only reason to add this NDA would be to undercut lawful … disclosures to the media that SCOTUS approved.”
Former U.S. diplomat William Gill pointed out on X that “This obviously begs the question, what are they trying to hide now? Federal employees are barred from unauthorized disclosures of classified information but they’re also covered by whistleblower protections regarding waste, fraud and abuse. That’s the likely area being targeted.”


Chump is an anchor around the necks of the GOP going into the midterms and he's not their only problem.  Their own mouths are getting them into trouble as well.  For example, Troy Matthews (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reports:


Republican Senator Jon Husted voted for Trump's One Big Beautiful Budget bill which threw half-a-million people off of Medicaid in his state of Ohio, then he said those who lost their healthcare access didn't deserve to be on the program in the first place. He later reiterated his support for kicking people off their healthcare by saying on a radio interview, "I love doing that kind of stuff."
[. . .]
“Jon Husted is once again saying the quiet part out loud, claiming the half a million Ohioans he’s kicking off their health care are not people who deserve health care coverage," Ohio Democratic Party spokesperson Tony Wen said in a statement. "Jon Husted could not be more out of touch with the people of Ohio, and they will vote him out in November.”

Husted was appointed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to fill the Senate seat vacated in 2025 by JD Vance. He is running to be elected U.S. Senator from Ohio in his right in November.



Let's wind down with this from Senator Ron Wyden's office:


Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., voted against advancing the 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act out of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he announced today.

“The bill is a dramatic retreat for congressional oversight, at precisely the moment when scrutiny of Intelligence Community activities is needed most,” Wyden said. “This bill would deny the U.S. Senate any opportunity to scrutinize and vet key Intelligence Community leaders. It also omits critical, bipartisan whistleblower protections that have been included in the Committee-reported bill for years. The Committee’s retreat from its long-standing bipartisan approach to whistleblower protection legislation is especially troubling during an administration that commits so many abuses.”

Wyden highlighted multiple troubling provisions in the bill:

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the general counsels of the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. At a time of rampant lawbreaking by the Trump Administration, it is especially troubling that the only Intelligence Community general counsels currently subject to Senate confirmation - the people responsible for offering legal advice on secret, potentially controversial intelligence activities - would be appointed without any congressional or public input or scrutiny.

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center at a time in which the Center is expanding its activities into the realm of domestic law enforcement, particularly through the NCTC Intelligence Fusion Center, in a manner that poses a real danger to Americans’ rights.

  • Eliminates Senate confirmation for the Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, even as the bill puts the Director in charge of a new Intelligence Community Counterintelligence Office in the Department of Commerce, a wrongheaded and unnecessary expansion of the Intelligence Community.

  • The bill also excludes a critically important provision that was included in last year’s bill that stated that, if a company wants to be an Intelligence Community contractor, it can’t also be a data broker selling the location data of intelligence officers.

###









The following sites -- plus Ann's "The corrupt fish rots from the head," Ruth's "Chump The Miserable," Kat's "Linda Perry gets on my bad side" and Betty's "Crooked Clarence Thomas of the Crooked Court"  -- updated:




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