Trump had his 4th physical exam this term last Tuesday. The White House claims he is in excellent health, but he hasn’t been seen in public for 7 days since the checkup. He has been posting on Truth Social, but no public appearances.
President Trump has no public events on his schedule again today. That means it has now been one week since he has appeared publicly for anything besides a pre-taped interview. His last public event was his cabinet meeting last Wednesday, one day after his trip to Walter Reed.
The Mirror US reports that Trump last held a public event on May 27, when he met with his cabinet.
The meeting came a day after Trump had a medical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, an exam that the president said showed that he was in tip-top shape.
But critics aren’t buying it.
“They are lying to us about Donald Trump’s health,” one social media user said.
Said another: “Six days between public appearances feels like a long time for a president. Wonder if something is up or if this is just how his schedule works now.”
It’s been a troubling week for Trump regardless of the speculation over the medical exam.
The president in recent days has canceled a planned America 250 concert after a number of performers dropped out and he also pulled the plug on his $1.8 billion fund to compensate Americans who claimed to have had the federal government “weaponized” against them.
There have also been questions raised about Trump’s staging of a UFC match on the grounds of the White House.
But eyebrows were raised when the White House took longer than usual to release the results of the exam.
US Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, Trump’s doctor, said the president “remains in excellent health” and has “strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function.”
But some doctors said that the report was almost too good to be true for a man of Trump’s age.
There’s more at the link.
Today, Trump again has no public events on his schedule.
Concerns over Donald Trump’s health are mounting as the president goes more than a week without making any public appearances
Trump, who turns 80 next week, has a packed schedule on Wednesday. He will start the morning by participating in “executive time,” followed by in-town pool call time, the daily arrival or briefing time for the rotating journalists covering the President.
He will then participate in a policy meeting from 11am until 2pm, before signing executive orders in the Oval Office at 3pm and having another policy meeting at 4:30pm. Finally, he will attend a dinner with his so-called Rose Garden Club at 7pm.
But there’s something unusual about the schedule for his busy day, every single event, with the exception of the in-town pool call time, is closed to members of the press. Trump has not made any public appearances since May 27, when he attended his Cabinet meeting.
Since that time, the president has only been seen in a pre-taped interview. His last public appearance came just a day after he made an hours-long visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — his third such visit within a year.
President Donald Trump had another medical exam on Tuesday, his fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term.
The 79-year-old president spent more than three hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House described as preventive medical and dental checkups.
In a social media post after the visit, Trump said that he had just finished his “6 month physical” and that “Everything checked out PERFECTLY.”
Trump, a Republican, turns 80 next month and was the oldest person elected U.S. president….
For a president of Trump’s age, a complete physical would be expected to include advanced heart testing, screening for common cancers and a cognitive assessment, along with basics like height, weight and blood pressure, according to Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman.
“President Trump is the sharpest and most accessible President in American history who is working nonstop to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and he remains in excellent health,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement.
Several days went by before the White House released a report on Trump’s physical, and some doctors were skeptical about its contents.
look at how swollen the area under Trump's right eye is in his latest podcast appearance
Doctors who reviewed Donald Trump’s latest medical report say it is conspicuously short on the clinical specifics that would support its rosy conclusions.
Trump’s personal physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, wrote in a memorandum that the 79-year-old president “remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function,” after a roughly three-hour examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Trump’s neck rash
The memo reported a perfect cognitive score, enviable low cholesterol levels, and a heart that an AI analysis estimated to be 14 years younger than the rest of him….
That last claim drew immediate ridicule from cardiologists.
“When I discuss [sic] this with some of my colleagues in cardiology, everyone laughed!” Dr. Jonathan Reiner, who was former Vice President Dick a cardiologist, told CNN’s Laura Coates Live.
The memo cited results from a coronary CT angiography, an echocardiogram, and the AI-enhanced electrocardiogram—but omitted the specific metrics physicians said they would expect to see from those tests. There was no calcium score, no description of arterial plaque, and no CAD-RADS score, which would assess arterial narrowing. The report simply stated there is “no arterial obstruction or structural abnormalities,” language doctors said could mean only that there is no total blockage, not that the arteries are clean.
“If I was creating a report to send to another physician, I would have mentioned a little bit more about the carotid ultrasound,” Dr. William Shutze, a Texas vascular surgeon, told The Wall Street Journal. “What amount of plaque there is going to be—because almost all of us are going to have some buildup there.”
The echocardiogram results were similarly sparse. Trump’s 2018 report included an ejection fraction, the percentage of blood the heart pumps with each contraction, but this one did not….
The report was also notably silent on Trump’s neck rash, which appeared earlier this year and prompted a memo from Barbabella saying the president was using a preventive cream for an unspecified skin condition. Prior physicals noted sun damage and benign skin lesions in some detail, while this one didn’t mention the rash at all.
Trump’s bruised left hand without makeup. I don’t think that’s from handshaking.
The report did note bruising on Trump’s hands, which Barbabella attributed to “frequent handshaking” and aspirin therapy.
On his leg swelling, a condition diagnosed last year as chronic venous insufficiency, a common circulatory problem in older patients, the report noted “slight lower leg swelling” and “improvement from last year” without explaining why….
The cholesterol numbers were exceptional: an HDL of 70 mg/dL and an LDL of 53 mg/dL. “He’s got like the best cholesterol numbers you’ll see,” said Dr. Daniel Torrent, a Georgia vascular surgeon, who called it unusual for medication to produce such results. “We don’t usually manage people to the point where they’re that good.” [….]
Trump’s physical included a prostate-specific antigen score, reported at 1 ng/mL, elevated from prior scores but still well within a healthy range.
Taken together, the doctors said, the Trump report paints an oddly perfect picture with suspiciously little supporting evidence.
“That report is almost too good to be true for somebody of his age,” Shutze said. “This seems to be a filtered narrative.”
If Trump is in such great health, why has he disappeared from public view? I’m sure the White House is lying. There is a long history of presidents’ medical problems being covered up by their doctors. But we can’t avoid noticing the problems that can easily be seen in the photos I’ve posted.Trump is nearly 80 years old. He has observable issues–the bruised hands, the gait problems, his falling asleep in meetings, and his verbal difficulties–incoherent rambling and general inability to stay on topic or even finish a sentence. And why are they giving him a dementia test with each physical? This is the fourth one that has been reported. That suggests that they are monitoring the progress of his dementia.
Here’s a video of Trump’s gait issues.
In my opinion, the bruising on Trump’s hands is likely caused by medicine being given to him by infusion, likely for dementia. The neck rash and the bumps that periodically show up on his face I have no clue about.
I know I’ve spent a lot of time on this issue, but I think it’s important and the legacy media organizations should be covering it more.
In other news, there were primaries in several states yesterday, and Democrats generally did well. The big races California are still undecided. For now, I’ll just post this gift article from The Washington Post by Theodoric Meyer, Dan Merica, and Hannah Knowles: Nine takeaways from a big primary night in Iowa, California and more.
Here are nine takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:
1. A Schumer critic loses in Iowa
Turek defeated state Sen. Zach Wahls, a Schumer critic, in the Democratic primary for an open Senate seat in Iowa.
Turek will face Rep. Ashley Hinson, who won the Republican primary, in November. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) decided not to run for reelection.
2. Trump’s pick for Iowa governor flames out
Trump endorsed Feenstra last week in the race to succeed Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) — but Feenstra lost to Zach Lahn, a businessman and farmer whose slogan is “Iowa First.”
It marked a rare primary defeat for Trump, whose endorsement typically carries enormous weight in Republican contests.
3. Hilton, Becerra lead in California governor’s race
The race to succeed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was rocked in April when Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the leading Democratic candidates, was accused of sexual assault and dropped out. His exit made room for Becerra, a former congressman and state attorney generalwho served as President Joe Biden’s health secretary, to rise in the polls.
Hilton and Becerra were leading the wide field of candidates early Wednesday morning. Tom Steyer, a billionaireDemocratic donor and former presidential candidate, trailed behind them. California is often slow to count ballots, and the results could shift as more are tallied.
4. Political newcomer advances in South Dakota governor’s race
Toby Doeden, a car salesman whose campaign pitch relied on describing himself as a “total political outsider” with fierce conservative values, advanced to a runoff in South Dakota’s gubernatorial race.
His lead has left three other Republicans vying for the second spot in the runoff. The trio includes incumbent Larry Rhoden, who became South Dakota governor when Kristi L. Noem resigned to become the homeland security secretary, Rep. Dusty Johnson and state Rep. Jon Hansen. The race has not yet been called, but Rhoden held the second-highest percentage of votes with most counted.
5. A strong night for former Biden Cabinet members
Becerra was not the only former Biden Cabinet member on primary ballots Tuesday. Deb Haaland, who served as Biden’s interior secretary, won the Democratic primary for New Mexico governor. She will face Greggory Hull, the former Rio Rancho mayor, in November but is heavily favored in the Democratic-leaning state.
6. Absent GOP congressman lands an opponent
Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, won the Democratic primary in a swing House seat in New Jersey. She will face Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who has drawn attention for disappearing from public view.
Kean has not voted in Congress or appeared in public in nearly three months as he deals with what he described in April as “a personal medical issue” that he has declined to disclose. Republicans have grown increasingly worried that his absence could cost them his seat — and possibly their House majority.
7. Los Angeles mayor’s race remains uncalled
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, was facing two challengers on Tuesday: Spencer Pratt, a Republican who became famous on MTV’s reality TV show “The Hills,” and Nithya Raman, a Democratic city council member. Pratt lost his home last year in the Pacific Palisades Fire and has aggressively criticized Bass’s handling of the fire and leadership more broadly.
Bass was leading Pratt early Wednesday morning with nearly half of ballots counted, with Raman trailing in third. If no one wins more than 50 percent of the vote, which appears likely, the top two finishers face off in November.
8. An unusual three-way Senate race in Montana
Alani Bankhead, an Air Force veteran, won the Democratic primary for an open Senate seat in Montana — and now the biggest question about the race is whether she will drop out.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Montana), who was expected to run for reelection, withdrew in March minutes before the filing deadline, denying Democrats the opportunity to recruit a well-known candidate. Kurt Alme, a former U.S. attorney, filed to run for the seat right before the filing deadline after coordinating with Daines and easily won the Republican primary on Tuesday.
Alme and Bankhead will face an independent candidate, Seth Bodnar, former president of the University of Montana who has raised more than $2 million — far more than Bankhead. Bodnar’s strength has fueled speculation that Bankhead could drop out so Democrats could unite behind Bodnar, which she has repeatedly denied.
9. Another Israel critic is likely to join New Jersey’s delegation
Adam Hamawy, an Army veteran, won the crowded Democratic primary race in New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District, to succeed retiring Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D). Hamawy will face Republican Gregg Mele, a perennial candidate, in the general election, but the district is reliably Democratic.
This means the New Jersey delegation will probably gain another vocal critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. Like Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-New Jersey) — who recently won a special election and secured the Democratic nomination Tuesday for a full term — Hamawy has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
You can read more details at the gift link above, if you’re interested.
Yesterday, Trump named his chosen successor to Tulsi Gabbard–someone even less qualified than she was.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday named an ally with no background in intelligence to oversee the nation’s spy agencies, taking the helm as the U.S. remains at war with Iran after a fresh round of peace talks stalled.
Bill Pulte is the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and in that position, he has helped the Trump administration compile information to fuel investigations into the president’s perceived political enemies.
Bill Pulte
As acting director of national intelligence, Pulte will be the highest-ranking intelligence official, overseeing a vast network of 18 agencies, including the CIA and the National Security Agency. He will also be the president’s principal adviser on intelligence issues and will manage the daily intelligence briefing for the president.
Trump announced on social media that Pulte will remain as director of the housing finance agency, as well as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-sponsored enterprises created by Congress to support the mortgage market.
The director of national intelligence was created after 9/11 and is a Cabinet-level role that requires Senate confirmation, but naming Pulte in an acting capacity allows the president to bypass that process for now. It was not immediately clear if Pulte will be Trump’s permanent pick for the job.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed the decision, saying in a statement that Pulte was not only unqualified, but that he was chosen “precisely because the White House believes he will provide the narrative it wants, not the intelligence we need,” Warner said.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte would become acting director of national intelligence. Pulte is stepping in to replace Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned from her post last month. Though Trump claimed his appointee “has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America,” he’ll take the position with literally zero relevant experience for coordinating 17 American intelligence agencies’ work.
But Pulte’s appointment makes slightly more sense when you consider his place in Trump’s orbit. The 38-year-old heir to his family’s massive home construction company shares the president’s love of social media bullying, golf and abusing power for personal gain. In currying Trump’s favor, he’s become the boy who cried “fraud,” using his limited portfolio to find leverage against the president’s enemies. With the broader remit his new perch provides, Pulte could do much more harm that he already has, opening the door to threats both foreign and domestic….
Before Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche would have been the slam-dunk pick for most dangerous sycophant Trump has installed. Pulte’s new appointment challenges that claim. Since stepping into his role at the FHFA — which he will still hold while overseeing America’s intelligence operation — he has acted as though he is part of the president’s law enforcement team.
Over the past year, Pulte has referred at least four members of Trump’s enemies list — New York Attorney General Letitia James, then-Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis — to the Justice Department for investigation for alleged mortgage fraud.
In all but one of the cases he has passed on to prosecutors, no charges have come about — a testament to the flimsiness of the evidence Pulte provided in his. A federal grand jury handed up charges against James in Virginia, but they were later thrown out and two subsequent grand juries refused to indict her. Undeterred, Pulte pushed a new criminal referral against James for alleged insurance fraud earlier this year.
It should be obvious that drawing predetermined conclusions, then searching for evidence, isn’t ideal when dealing with the life-and-death stakes of foreign intelligence. Pulte appears to have done just that from his position overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, prompting concerns from internal watchdogs about just how he gathered the mortgage documents he then passed on to prosecutors. Last year, the Government Accountability Office opened an investigation into Pulte’s actions and a federal grand jury began investigating whether he illegally shared grand jury information, though neither have issued any conclusion.
Pulte has also stretched beyond the confines of his remit in the name of pleasing Trump. Last year, Pulte inserted himself into the president’s war against the Federal Reserve’s then-Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting interest rates quickly enough. The New York Times noted in July that he would leap to echo any of Trump’s gripes about interest rates “with a post demanding Mr. Powell’s resignation.” The Times also reported Pulte drafted a letter for Trump to fire Powell that was never issued, but made its way to the Resolute Desk. Alongside the previously mentioned fraud claims, he has also targeted Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook for investigation. (Any wrongdoing proved on Cook’s part freeing up her seat for Trump to appoint a replacement would surely only be a knock-on effect.)
Since Pulte will be acting DNI, he won’t have to be confirmed by the Senate. We just have to hope that some Republicans will push back on this appointment.
One more big story: you probably heard that CBS has fired 60 Minutes star Scott Pelley because he criticized the network’s changes to the long-time new program.
CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, jettisoning one of the network’s best-known journalists in a clash over the future of “60 Minutes,” the country’s top-rated news program.
Mr. Pelley, 68, a “60 Minutes” correspondent and a former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” joined the network in 1989. At a staff meeting on Monday, he accused the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” citing the ouster last week of the program’s leadership team and two on-air correspondents.
Scott Pelley
“We have parted ways with Scott Pelley,” Nick Bilton, the tech journalist who was hired last week as the new “60 Minutes” executive producer, wrote in a memo to the show’s staff on Tuesday night.
CBS News declined to comment. In a formal letter to Mr. Pelley, which was obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Bilton wrote that the correspondent had been “terminated for cause effective immediately.”
Mr. Pelley, in a telephone interview on Tuesday evening shortly after he was fired, said he had devoted decades of his life to “60 Minutes,” which he said he still cared about deeply.
“I have been in combat in Afghanistan,” Mr. Pelley said. “I have been in combat in Iraq. I have been in the war zone in Ukraine multiple times, risking my life and the happiness of my family because of my devotion to the broadcast.”
The firing of Mr. Pelley is among the most consequential moves of Ms. Weiss’s rocky tenure at CBS. And it is almost certain to spike tensions that have coursed through the network for months.
It also raises the stakes of Ms. Weiss’s surprising decision to replace the entire leadership team at “60 Minutes,” CBS News’s most successful franchise, and hire Mr. Bilton, who has no experience in broadcast TV, to oversee the show. The program’s viewership was up 9 percent this past season from a year prior, and the show is routinely among the nation’s highest-rated weekly broadcasts, according to Nielsen.
Those viewers are accustomed to familiar faces like Mr. Pelley, who has contributed to the program since 2004. The “60 Minutes” staff prides itself on autonomy, and it is not clear how the show’s production team may react to the firing of Mr. Pelley.
At the staff meeting on Monday, which Ms. Weiss did not attend, Mr. Pelley repeatedly pressed Mr. Bilton about the network’s decision to fire Tanya Simon, the show’s previous executive producer. He also told Mr. Bilton that he had “slender” qualifications to oversee the show and that he would “never be welcome” at “60 Minutes.”
It’s not just 60 Minutes that is being murdered. It’s CBS itself.
That’s all I have for today. What stories have you been following?
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“What a glorious time to be alive. We’re living the dream!” John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
With so much winning, you have to wonder when it’s going to end! Today’s top headline shows we’re seriously losing Cadet Bonespur’s Iran Adventure. We’ve attacked Iran again, and this time we’ve managed to stop missiles aimed at Kuwait. This war got hot really quickly.
Don’t be distracted by all the bulldozing going on around the White House and the amazing number of has-beens that refuse to sing at his shindig. Although, damn, who asked for all this tacky shit like a Mixed Martial Arts Arena on the White House lawn or another Kid Rock concert? Doesn’t the Reflecting Pool look like it’s been filled with blue Gatorade? Why are we paying for shit we do not need or want? We are just funding Orange Caligula’s wet dreams!
Okay, let’s try Iran first. This is from CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger. I now have a daily ritual of being thankful I don’t have a car, while living on a bus line in an urban area. “Iran stops negotiations with U.S., vows to ‘completely’ block Strait of Hormuz: State media.” This is winning?
Iranian negotiators will stop exchanging messages with the U.S. through intermediaries, and Tehran will move to fully close the Strait of Hormuz, in retaliation for ongoing ceasefire violations, Iran’s state-affiliated news outlet Tasnim said Monday.
The report, in a translated post on the social media site Telegram, homed in on Israel’s military operations in Lebanon against the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah.
“No dialogue will take place” until Israel fully withdraws from occupied areas in Lebanon and stops all attacks in both Lebanon and Gaza, per Tasnim.
“Also, the resistance front and Iran have resolved to completely block the Strait of Hormuz and activate other fronts including the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, in order to punish the Zionists and their supporters,” the report said.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a trade chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Oil prices leapt more than 7% higher following Tasnim’s report, which signaled a breakdown in efforts to reach a diplomatic end to the war that is now in its fourth month.
The AP reports that Iran sent bombs towards Kuwait, just as US Bombs were dropped on some of Iran’s military sites. “US bombs Iranian military sites, then downs missiles Tehran fired at troops in Kuwait.” Jon Gambrell has the lede.
The United States said Monday that it bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone over the weekend. Iran then said it targeted American soldiers in Kuwait with missiles, which the U.S. says it shot down.
The nominal ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. has been repeatedly tested with such back-and-forth attacks, even as officials from both countries try to negotiate an end to the war. It’s not clear how close they are to a deal — and there is always the risk that an attack could derail those talks.
In the meantime, Iran has maintained its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting global energy supplies and driving up the price of fuel around the world, with far-reaching consequences. A cargo ship came under attack off Iraq Monday afternoon, the British military said.
Fighting has also escalated between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, despite their nominal ceasefire. Israel has extended its occupation deep into Lebanon, and Hezbollah — which joined the war in support of its main backer, Iran — continues to launch drones into Israel.
The fighting in Lebanon could threaten the emerging deal to extend the Iran war ceasefire. Tehran wants any agreement to include Lebanon.
Are we winning yet? You may read the details of all this at the link. Let’s move over to Slate where Dahlia Litwick and Mark Joseph Stern partner up with a story that’s a must-read. Thank goodness for the independent press. “The John Roberts vs. Donald Trump Story Conceals Something More Sinister.” See what hides behind all that destruction of our nation’s house and its norms?
This is part of Opinionpalooza, Slate’s coverage of the major decisions from the Supreme Court. The best way to support our work—and unlock exclusive legal analysis—is by joining Slate Plus. (If you are already a member, consider a donation or merch!)
On this week’s episode of Amicus, co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern kicked off Opinionpalooza by discussing the court’s dangerous game of enabling the president right up until he imperils its own prerogatives. An excerpt of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Dahlia Lithwick: The Supreme Court keeps aligning with Donald Trump on this maximalist view of the imperial presidency, both in front of the curtain and behind it. For every case on the merits docket that gives Trump a big win in public, there are shadow docket cases that do the same in secret. It feels like any appearance of conflict between the president and the court is stage-managed, with lots of invisible wires we don’t always pay attention to
The Supreme Court has entered its final stretch of the term, with about two dozen opinions to hand down before the justices flee for their summer break at the end of June. At Slate, we call this mad dash to the finish line “Opinionpalooza,” and we approach it with equal parts fascination, skepticism, and dread every year. These remaining cases have massive implications for democracy, civil liberties, and the fundamental question of who gets to be an American; they include disputes over birthright citizenship, voting rights, immigration, and executive authority. Many will test Donald Trump’s ability to collapse the separation of powers into an autocratic presidency with no real limits on his rule. The justices will likely imposesome restraints on Trump’s supersized monarchical ambitions in the weeks ahead, especially when they threaten judicial supremacy. All told, however, they will still hand him more victories in his larger assault on constitutional constraints. And where the ambitions of the MAGA wing of the court dovetail with Trump’s goals, Trumpism will run the table.
Mark Joseph Stern: This is one reason why, if the justices do strike down his attack on birthright citizenship, nobody should say: “Look, they’re putting Trump in his place! He’s really not a king!” Because there are so many other cases where the court is absolutely making him a king. It’s allowing him to consolidate so much power in the executive branch and specifically in the person of the president, and to run roughshod over all of these checks and balances that Congress enacted to prevent a monarchical or authoritarian president from abusing his power. And the Supreme Court is almost entirely aligned with Trump on this stuff, especially over the shadow docket, where that consolidation continues.
John Roberts does this magic trick: Do something small, get people accustomed to it, then do it big. We’ve seen this pattern in cases over the years where the Supreme Court makes a tiny tweak to prepare the country for when you later do the big thing. Then it’s less of a surprise and almost looks like it flows logically from when the court did it in a lesser way. The shadow docket has become the way you do that now, right? You seed the ground on the shadow docket and say: “Well, this is the law now.” This process used to take four or five years—do it small, wait a couple terms, then do it big. Now, with the shadow docket, you can do it within the same term, and make it look as though it’s inevitable or inexorable.
It leads to this interplay between the shadow docket and the merits docket. Roberts’ great gift is that he’s a master of optics and PR. He must know there was a huge outcry against the incredibly fast pace with which questions were being decided on the shadow docket: If Trump wanted something, the court saw it as an emergency; it assumed the president was always harmed, but ignored harm to the other parties. This second half of the term, there has been a pumping of the brakes on deciding big, existential questions over the shadow docket. Why is that?
I have a very cynical view of this: It’s less that the court has learned its lesson or become more solicitous toward lower court judges, and more that the court already accomplished a huge amount of what it wanted in terms of giving Trump what he sought. Trump came in and had expansive ideas about the scope of his executive power—impounding federal funds, firing executive officials, rewriting immigration laws—and by and large, the Supreme Court let him do it. The conservative supermajority issued all these shadow docket orders clearing the way for that to happen. Now it has happened; Trump’s takeover of the federal government is largely complete. So I just don’t think the court needs to issue nearly as many shadow docket orders as it did during that shock-and-awe campaign; it has already achieved its objectives.
You may head to Slate and catch all of the opinions on this very important subject. I have to mention the absolute shit show that was to be Trump’s Freedom 250 music concert. Social Media is just full of all the musicians who were listed but never contacted, dead but couldn’t be contacted, and, of course, wouldn’t be caught dead doing anything positive for Orange Caliguala. It’s meme heaven on there on this topic. Public Notice has this headline up. Paul Waldman has the story. “Trump’s ‘Freedom 250’ concert implodes spectacularly. His quest to dominate culture the way he dominates politics keeps going badly.”
It was going to be so beautiful: A spectacular concert to celebrate 250 years of freedom and democracy, featuring some of the greatest musical acts this nation has produced.
Okay, maybe not the greatest, but they were definitely musical acts! Depending on whether you count Milli Vanilli, or more accurately, one of the two guys who pretended to sing in Milli Vanilli. Along with a guy who was in C+C Music Factory. And Bret Michaels of Poison. For anyone itching to stand outside in the baking Washington summer sun to hear some guys in their 60s wheeze their way through “Girl You Know It’s True” and “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” the disappointment must be crushing.
It now appears that this concert, part of the Freedom 250 celebration and the most awe-inspiring assemblage of talent since your local middle school’s last Battle of the Bands, will not be taking place after all. One after another, the 1990s-era performers pulled out, many saying that when they booked the event they didn’t know it was going to be political.
In other words, once they realized the event was all about Donald Trump, most of them wanted nothing to do with it.
Despite the fact that Vanilla Ice was still planning to perform, Trump announced on Saturday that he was pulling the plug, and would instead make the event just another Trump rally:
Trump: “I understand Artists are getting ‘the yips’ having to do with their performance on Wednesday, so I am thinking about bringing the Number One Attraction anywhere in the World, the man who gets much larger audiences than Elvis in his prime, and he does so without a guitar, DONALD J. TRUMP”
Does this sound like someone who is grounded in reality or sanity?
Max Boot sure has changed since his days of being a staunch movement conservative. He wrote this Op-Ed for the Washington Post. “Trump is taking a wrecking ball to U.S. alliances around the world. Trashing America’s European partners while undermining its Asian allies’ security.” This should be obvious to everyone. But here we are back with the legacy media, finding that they’ll publish something harsh ever so often.
The “secret sauce” of American power in the post-1945 era has been the country’s network of alliances. The Soviet Union had satrapies in Eastern Europe, but few real friends. Russia doesn’t even have satellite states anymore, aside from Belarus. It does have an increasingly warm but still wary relationship with China. Beijing, in turn, is close to just a handful of other countries; North Korea is its only treaty ally.
The United States, by contrast, has 51 treaty allies all over the world. Advantage, America. But good news for America’s enemies: President Donald Trump appears intent on doing to U.S. alliances what he has already done to the East Wing of the White House. Let’s take a tour of the world to see the damage he is inflicting with his wrecking-ball diplomacy.
Start in Europe. Trump did possibly irreparable damage to the transatlantic alliance when he threatened to annex Greenland. In January, Denmark, a NATO ally, was getting ready to fight U.S. troops if they invaded Greenland. After backing off, Trump is now making fresh demands — such as guaranteeing U.S. troops access to Greenland even if it becomes independent — that Greenland officials view as a major imposition on their sovereignty.
Trump has also ratcheted up his attacks on NATO for not doing more to support the reckless war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran. He focuses on countries such as Italy and Spain that have blocked access to their bases, while ignoring NATO countries such as Britain and Germany that remain major hubs of the U.S. war effort. He has even demanded that NATO countries reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a mission the U.S. Navy hasn’t dared to take on. In late March, Trump said of NATO: “Why would we be there for them, if they’re not there for us?”
Since then, his administration has announced plans to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany and canceled the deployment of a brigade to Poland, although Trump subsequently said he would send more troops to Poland, perhaps from Germany. There are also reports that the administration wants to substantially reduce the number of U.S. warplanes and warships committed to Europe in a crisis. Trump has blocked new U.S. aid for Ukraine, and hasn’t condemned Vladimir Putin’s recent missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian civilians — and now on an apartment building in Romania. He doesn’t even call out Putin for helping Iran target U.S. forces. How could anyone have any confidence that, if Russia were to start a war with NATO, the U.S. would come to its defense?
This is my last offering, although wow, this week’s headlines are sure to continue to shock and awe the globe. Don Monihan has this analysis up on his SubStackabout the War against Science. This is, again, an important subject. We can always drain the Reflecting Pool of its Blue Gatorade after he’s gone. “The Creep of Politicization. A new assault on science highlights a broader pattern.”
The White House proposed new policies governing the federal funding of American science. You’ve already heard about the funding cuts, de facto impoundments of funds, funding freezes to disfavored universities, and cancelation of grants that include the long list of the Trump’s forbidden words.
I think the level of alarm is appropriate, but I also want to place it into a broader context. Instinctively, scientists know this policy is not a stand-alone, but the ratcheting of the vice-grips of politicization. Trump has assembled five distinct tactics of politicization that are now starting to work in tandem with one another.
As Trump’s politicization tactics operate together, they begin to generate more interactive effects, reinforcing one another.The creep of politicization seeps into every office and decision, choking any views other than those of Trump and his army of loyalists.
Politicization can mean different things. The classic pre-Trump and mostly bipartisan Presidential tactics of politicization are:
Tactic #1: Centralization of policymaking into the White House, moving power from agencies
Tactic #2: Strategic use of political appointees, moving power away from distrusted career employees
Tactic #3: Building a personalist regime centered on loyalty to a single person.
Tactic #4: Governing by fearvia conspiratorial messaging and threat.
Tactic #5: Weakening the protections of civil servants to effectively make them at will employees.
The nature and the scale of these tactics is really without parallel in US history, even in the spoils era. In the spoils era there was real and endemic corruption. That is occurring now, but in a more damaging and extractive way, disproportionately favoring an inner circle looking to get rich(er), not just the loyal partyman looking for a job.
The US government is also doing a lot more now than it was in the spoils era. Science is a good example. The current US scientific empire is the result of the post World War II set of arrangements that Trump and Vought are now seeking to control and corrupt for their own ends.
You may read more at the links. It’s going to be a long, hot summer. I’ve got to get my backyard peace garden into shape. I’m hoping for a more traditional 4th of July with neighbors and friends.
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Boom is right! Did you all see what hit the Boston area yesterday? BB has sent me some amazing links:
NASA has now confirmed that the unknown explosion heard Saturday afternoon over Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and other parts of the Northeastern United States, was indeed caused by the entry and burn up of a meteor, which broke up at an altitude of 40 miles over Northeastern Massachusetts.
🌠 BOOM! Bright meteor over Boston today — flash caught by NOAA GOES lightning sensor, boom recorded by Raspberry Shake!GOES shows stunning white-blue flash w/ purple halo over New England. Waveform from AM.R199D spikes at ~18:11 UTC.#Meteor #Boston
Wait for it! Another angle of the meteor passing through the atmosphere just east of Boston on Saturday afternoon. #mawx #boston #meteor @bostonglobe.com
get the fuck out of hereExamination was normal, except for scarring of the right ear consistent with prior gunshot injury.Examination of the dorsal hands revealed ecchymosis (bruising), consistent with minor soft tissue irritation related to frequent handshaking
A walk in the cemetery led to Cornell researchers discovering an underground colony of bees with an estimated population of 5.5 million—one of the largest ever recorded. http://www.wired.com/story/millio…
Garlic, as your grandmother may have told you, repels mosquitoes; it also completely blocks them from mating and laying eggs. Diallyl disulfide, it turns out, deserves the credit.
“In case you’re wondering why former Attorney General Pam Bondi was allowed to be “questioned”, not under oath and in private, after being subpoenaed to appear before the House Oversight Committee about the Epstein File Coverup. John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
You’re seeing me today because of three days of fasting and a dreaded hospital procedure. Nothing serious. Just no fun at all. It’s kind of like living in this country under Orange Caligula’s craziness. Thankfully, BB came to my rescue yesterday! Now my doctor has to determine the intent of five polyps. She’s not expecting anything bad. Too bad we can’t say the same about the Trump Administration.
We still have a mostly functioning Judicial System. This New York Times headline is a keeper. “5 Takeaways From a Kennedy Center Ruling That Angered Trump. A federal judge ordered the Kennedy Center to take President Trump’s name off the building. What happens next?” Too bad we can’t get some court to stop the damage to the White House and the surrounding grounds. This analysis is by Zach Montague and Julia Jacobs.
Signed into law in 1964, only two months after Kennedy was assassinated, the legislation renamed what was first known as the National Cultural Center after a leader who had championed the performing arts.
“The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, designated by this Act,” the law read in part, “shall be the sole national memorial to the late John Fitzgerald Kennedy within the city of Washington and its environs.”
In his ruling on Friday, Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Federal District Court in Washington found that the president’s effort to rebrand the building after himself flew in the face of lawmakers’ original intent. He ordered that the 18 new letters added to the center’s white marble facade — which currently reads the “The Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts” — be removed.
The order also temporarily blocked the center from beginning a two-year closure for renovations, drawing a scathing rebuke from Mr. Trump, who has made the institution a centerpiece of his effort to transform Washington’s cultural landscape.
The judge’s decision — released on Kennedy’s birthday — boiled down to a straightforward application of the 1964 law.
“Congress made clear that the Kennedy Center would serve as both the nation’s premier performing arts center and a living memorial, the sole one dedicated to the late president in the Washington, D.C. area,” Judge Cooper wrote. “The center has played those roles for over five decades.”
But as with other projects championed by Mr. Trump, such as a ballroom for which he ordered the demolition of the East Wing of the White House, the plans to overhaul the Kennedy Center did not receive the approval of lawmakers.
While the ruling left open the possibility that the president could pursue and support some aesthetic changes at the center, it professed little doubt about the law surrounding its name, which Judge Cooper said was “crystal clear.”
It’s a long read but well worth it. The link has been gifted, so you may read the entire thing. Another bit of Trump overreach is going back to court. This is from Politico. “Judge launches inquiry into Trump-IRS settlement that led to ‘anti-weaponization’ fund. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams asked Trump’s lawyers to respond to a call for her to explore the deal that led to the $1.8 billion fund.” The job market must be booming for lawyers. The leded here is shared by Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein.
A federal judge is demanding answers to allegations that President Donald Trump defrauded her court by filing a lawsuit against the IRS as a pretext to reach a settlement that resulted in a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to make payouts to his political allies.
U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams launched the inquiry Friday, after closing the lawsuit on her docket last week. The Miami-based Obama appointee cited a request by 35 former federal judges who urged her to reopen the case to determine whether Trump’s effort amounted to “serious misconduct” and an abuse of the court system.
It’s the latest wrinkle in a developing scandal that has drawn bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill, multiple lawsuits aimed at blocking the “anti-weaponization” fund and demands for further investigation by government watchdogs and courts.
Earlier this year, Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns by a private contractor in 2019 and 2020. The lawsuit immediately triggered questions about conflicts of interest: How could the Justice Department and IRS now controlled by Trump appointees defend against a lawsuit brought by their boss?
But before the lawsuit advanced, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed that a settlement had been reached. Instead of a payout to Trump, the settlement would result in the establishment of the nearly $1.8 billion fund to make payouts to people described in the settlement as victims of government weaponization.
The announcement generated particular excitement among hundreds of people Trump pardoned for their roles in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with many announcing their intention to pursue payouts. Police officers who defended the Capitol and former Justice Department prosecutors who pursued Jan. 6 defendants sued to block the fund altogether, with another judge earlier Friday ordering a two-week pause on its establishment.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In her four-page order Friday, Williams indicated that she’s considering reopening the case. She also noted the former judges’ suggestion that Trump’s attorneys knew from the start that their lawsuit had no merit and filed it solely to justify a purported settlement that the administration wanted to announce.
This doesn’t mean that the J6 rioters are paying any attention to this ruling. This headline is from the AP. “Capitol rioters clamor for payouts from Trump’s new ‘anti-weaponization’ fund despite backlash.” Michael Kunzelman has the story.
David Johnston was a licensed attorney when he illegally entered the Capitol with a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. More than five years later, the South Carolina man is offering to help fellow “J6ers” apply for payouts from the Trump administration’s nearly $1.8 billion new fund for people claiming to be victims of a weaponized government.
He’ll do it for a 10% cut of any award, capped at $5,000 apiece.
“I think the narrative is changing” about how the history of that day is being told, Johnston said in a video he posted to social media. “I think good things are happening for us.”
Hundreds of Trump loyalists pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol, admitting under oath that they broke the law. Now pardoned by Trump, many hope to capitalize on their crimes by tapping into the $1.776 billion settlement fund designed to compensate the Republican president’s allies who believe they were politically prosecuted.
A bipartisan backlash to the fund and a legal roadblock have not dimmed the celebratory response from Jan. 6 rioters clamoring for a share of the taxpayer money. Some are staking claims even though the government has not established an application process and a judge has frozen the fund’s formation, at least temporarily.
As usual, you may read more at the link. The Orange Caligula slush fund continues to horrify most Americans. This analysis is provided by Aaron Rupar and Thor Benson writing for Public Notice. “A new low” — watchdog sounds off on Trump’s J6 slush fund. “It’s an effort to signal to the violent element of his base.”
As a weekend bonus for subscribers, we connected with Donald Sherman, president and CEO of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), for his take on President Trump’s most corrupt move yet — the theft of nearly $2 billion from taxpayers for an insurrectionist slush fund he can operate with impunity.
Sherman characterized Trump’s self-dealing “settlement” with his own government as “corruption on a scale without precedent in America,” and argued its purpose is to incentive political violence.
“It’s an effort to absolve himself and his supporters from the insurrection he incited and to signal to the violent element of his base that if you engage in violence in support of him, you will not just be safe from prosecution, but made whole and then some,” he said. “So it’s not just backward-looking, it’s forward-looking. And it follows his pardoning of the January 6ers, which was another signal.”
By launching over 600 products on his merch store this term, Trump has essentially put a "For Sale" sign on the presidency.And if 2024 is any indication (the store brought in $8.8 million that year), the grift will bring in a hefty profit.
This is the article upon which the interview was based. It’s from Citizens for Ethics. The investigation was led by Miru Osuga and Caitlin Moniz. There’s absolutely nothing that the Trump Grifting Syndicate can’t try to monetize.
In the first fourteen months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the Trump Store launched at least 622 products, costing nearly $43,000 all together, to profit off the presidency. This is an unprecedented level of monetization of the presidency, even by the standards of Trump’s own first term.
The Trump Store’s launch during his first year in office in 2017 immediately attracted ethics scrutiny as the Trump Organization—the for-profit Trump empire that directly benefits Trump and his family—found another avenue to profit off the presidency. And if sales are any indication, it’s now a well-oiled grifting machine, with Trump’s last released financial records showing that in 2024, the store brought in approximately $8.8 million, more than double the amount the store made in 2023—and more than 17 times the amount it made in its first full year of operation.
While the red “Make America Great Again” hats may now seem like the store’s obvious cash cow, during the first Trump term, these hats and others that referenced the presidency were only sold through the campaign store–a largely symbolic separation between Trump the president and Trump the businessman. But after Trump lost the 2020 election, any appearance of separation, slight as it may have been, was shattered as the store began to stock MAGA hats and never stopped.
A supporter now could buy one of each currently in-stock product and spend $91,145.12 on 1,492 items. They would receive at least 99 items that include reference to the presidency costing $7,511.28, with additional items commemorating actions that Trump took as president like a $55 “Space Force” hat or a $50 “Gulf of America – Yet Another Trump Development” ballcap.
More concerningly, they would also receive a number of items that sell the idea of an unconstitutional third presidential Trump term, including a “Four More Years!” hat, “Trump 2028” hats and can coolers, and “Trump 2028 (Rewrite The Rules)” shirts. The body of a Trump Store marketing email with the subject line “Four More Years | Trump 2028” reads: “Manifesting the future…Four More Years…A Hat for the Next Term.” There’s really only one way to take the explicit calls for a “next term” and “four more years” one year into a second presidential term: as a call for an unconstitutional third term.
You should read this article and then proceed to the interview. It’s really exceptional journalism and nothing you’d see in the legacy media these days.
We’ve all wondered about Trump’s obviously failing health. This CNN News article should not be a surprise. “White House breaks from precedent by not releasing Trump’s medical report.” Adam Cancryn has the lede.
The White House has yet to release any results from President Donald Trump’s most recent physical exam, a break from its own past practice that’s likely to fuel further questions about his health and fitness.
Trump, who is the oldest president to be inaugurated, declared on social media that he was in perfect health following an hourslong visit on Tuesday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
But despite promising to provide a summary of the checkup in “the next day or so,” the White House has since offered no additional information — nor has it confirmed that Trump’s physician plans at any point to offer a public readout.
The three-day silence marks a departure from the White House’s handling of Trump’s prior physical exams. After a visit to Walter Reed last April, personal physician Dr. Sean Barbabella summarized the results in a memo released two days later. When Trump returned for another exam in October, Barbabella’s declaration that he remained in “exceptional health” was published later the same day.
This time, Trump has so far served as the only source of information about his own health just weeks out from his 80th birthday.
“It’s unimaginable to me that the White House would not release a statement about the president’s health — even the most basic statement,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at The George Washington School of Medicine & Health Sciences who was the longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney. “It’s going to really spark concerns about the president’s fitness for office if the White House refuses to disclose his medical report.”
Trump has long been cagey about any personal health problems, placing a great deal of value on portraying himself as a pinnacle of strength and vitality. On the campaign trail and in the Oval Office, Trump has made his vigor core to his political identity, boasting frequently about his mental and physical well-being. Past medical readouts often reflected this attitude: In Trump’s first term, then-presidential physician Dr. Ronny Jackson effusively praised his “incredible genes” during an hour-long press conference solely about Trump’s health, held at the president’s insistence.
But as he approaches his eighth decade, Trump’s visible signs of aging — and at-times erratic behavior — have nevertheless intensified scrutiny of his health and demands for more disclosure. And after intense doubts swirled about the mental acuity of former President Joe Biden, the American public is perhaps particularly sensitive nowadays to questions about the commander-in-chief’s physical and cognitive health.
So, it’s business as usual on steroids at the White House. This story in Lawfare isn’t shocking in Trump time, but wow, would it be unusual under any other President? “The Justice Department Erases History; Lawfare Restores It. Last week, the Justice Department deleted thousands of press releases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and other matters. Here they are.” Tyler McBrien, Michael Feinberg, and Benjamin Wittes show us their homework.
The operation started without fanfare or formal announcement and proceeded largely unnoticed. Until, that is, journalists such as the Washington Post’s Meryl Kornfield took notice of certain press releases and other materials that had conspicuously disappeared from http://www.justice.gov.
“The Trump admin is quietly deleting info about the Capitol attack from the DOJ website as it prepares to give funds to J6ers,” Kornfield posted. “This week, DOJ deleted a press release about one man with an ongoing child solicitation case who came to the Capitol with bear spray.”
Then, with typical bombast, the Justice Department responded by taking issue with one particular aspect of Kornfield’s characterization. “Nothing ‘quiet’ about it,” the DOJ Rapid Response account replied. “We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration. We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”
We are not erasing history quietly, the Justice Department seemed to suggest. We are erasing historyloudly and proudly.
At Lawfare, we have restored the vast bulk of what was deleted. We have also started to preemptively archive a raft of material that has not yet been deleted but probably will be, given its thematic relationship to the material that was 86ed.
The Jan. 6 investigation was one of the largest investigations and collections of prosecutions in Justice Department history. In the FBI’s Washington Field Office alone, agents and analysts worked shifts to maintain a 24/7 posture identifying perpetrators. For more than a month after Jan. 6, there was never a time during day or night when roughly a third of the office was not investigating the insurrection or analyzing evidence.
All other FBI field offices, while not dealing with the same volume as the Washington Field Office, also surged agents to help identify, investigate, and apprehend any participants who had traveled to Washington, taken part in the insurrection, and then left town. Record numbers of leads and tips were provided to the FBI, and every single one of them was examined—and if merited—used to predicate a case.
For its part, the Justice Department stood up an entire new branch of prosecutors tasked specifically with these events. Assistant United States attorneys were also brought in from around the country to augment efforts.
This is the record the Justice Department is now trying to delete.
Any effort to erase history and replace it with lies warrants concerted pushback. In this case, the department has deleted a large repository of accessible public information about the storming of the Capitol and the individuals who did it. That data, unlike the court documents that lay beneath them, are in lay language. They are easily digestible by anyone interested. And they contain fair-minded summaries of evidence that—in the overwhelming majority of cases—was either proven in court beyond a reasonable doubt or pleaded to by defendants who ultimately conceded their truth.
Again, please read the details at the link. I’m pretty sure all this J6 build-up has something to do with the midterms and the next presidential election. Are they planting the seeds for more insurrection? Your guess is as good as mine!
Well, that’s it for me today. Time to get back to work on the kathouse! Hope you have a great weekend!
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The Sky Dancing banner headline uses a snippet from a work by artist Tashi Mannox called 'Rainbow Study'. The work is described as a" study of typical Tibetan rainbow clouds, that feature in Thanka painting, temple decoration and silk brocades". dakinikat was immediately drawn to the image when trying to find stylized Tibetan Clouds to represent Sky Dancing. It is probably because Tashi's practice is similar to her own. His updated take on the clouds that fill the collection of traditional thankas is quite special.
You can find his work at his website by clicking on his logo below. He is also a calligraphy artist that uses important vajrayana syllables. We encourage you to visit his on line studio.
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