Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Secret White House Strain Exposed as Trump’s Frustration Grows

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is not a happy place.

A prominent journalist has pulled back the curtain on a White House gripped by tension and led by a president who is lashing out at his staff more and more.

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, who appeared on CNN as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrapped up her final day, was asked about morale in the West Wing amid what anchor Laura Coates called “a lot of midterm anxiety.”

“It’s not a happy environment, by any of the reporting that we have,” said Haberman—whose reporting is so effective that Donald Trump has given her the nickname “Maggot Haberman.”

“The president has been in a pretty frustrated mood for a while about Iran, which, again, is of his own making.”

The Iran conflict kicked off without congressional approval on Feb. 28. Trump said it would last six weeks maximum; it has been exactly six months.

Haberman, who co-wrote the book Regime Change about Trump’s second term with fellow Times reporter Jonathan Swan, said Trump “does not have the patience for long-term diplomacy or having these lengthy conversations to try to get out of a situation.”

She noted Trump had expected the conflict in Iran “to be a quick war,” but instead the administration is contending with “a further depletion of munitions” and near-constant leaks. “He is frustrated about leaks and on and on and on,” she said. “It is very much not a happy place right now.”

Speaking separately on MS NOW, Haberman said Trump has been “lashing out” at his staff, and that “most people have decided that they want to go do something else.”

With Democrats projected to retake the House and possibly the Senate in November, she suggested the mood could sour further still. “He is not in a great place with his staff, according to everyone we talked to,” she said. “He is lashing out a lot, which tends to happen when things are not going well.”

The White House did not dispute the substance of Haberman’s reporting so much as attack her directly. “Maggie Haberman of the Failing New York Times constantly speaks like she’s a Trump psychologist when in reality she just has a creepy obsession with the President and clings onto him for relevance,” White House Spokesman Davis Ingle said on Thursday. “It’s been very sad to watch for years.”

The Daily Beast has also approached the White House for a statement.

Trump has not named a replacement for Leavitt, whose last day was Thursday. Unlike other departures from the administration, sources told the Daily Mail that Trump did not want her to go. “Trump really didn’t want her to leave, as he actually trusts her and doesn’t like having to deal with new people in his circle when he wants to focus on getting stuff done in his time left in office,” an insider told the tabloid.

Haberman echoed that assessment on CNN, saying Leavitt “had his trust in a way that most people did not in term one who served in that role, the press secretary job.”

Trump has said Leavitt will stay on as his “top outside adviser” and an “influential voice” within the Republican Party heading into the midterms, as she returns to MAGA Inc., the political action committee where she previously worked as spokesperson.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/secret-white-house-strain-exposed-as-trumps-frustration-grows/?

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Putin Given Humiliating Warning in Secret Meeting

More details about CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s shock trip to Moscow have emerged.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe’s secret trip to Moscow involved telling one of Vladimir Putin’s top officials that Russia needs to end the war in Ukraine before its economic situation worsens, according to a report.

Ratcliffe met with Aleksandr Bortnikov, director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), to deliver a warning that Russia’s military and economic situation will only get worse unless it negotiates a peace deal with Ukraine to end the four-and-a-half-year conflict, sources told The New York Times.

CIA analysts fear that Putin’s advisers are not providing the Russian leader with frank updates about how the invasion is going, as Ukraine continues to bombard the country with wave after wave of drone attacks.

Some officials believe that having Ratcliffe deliver the bleak message himself would lead the Russian president to take the warning more seriously than if it were delivered through normal diplomatic channels, according to the Times.

For years, Trump and his advisers believed that a Russian victory over Ukraine was inevitable. The Trump administration has also scaled back the amount of military aid it has sent to Ukraine as the war drags on.

However, Kyiv has changed tactics, fighting back with long-range drone strikes targeting Russia’s economy and fuel supplies that have put Moscow on the back foot. This includes repeated attacks on major Russian oil refineries, which are used to fund Moscow’s war efforts.

Ukraine has also targeted warehouses and facilities belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, which is often described as the country’s equivalent of Amazon.

Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow this week came after the CIA director suggested that Ukraine was getting the upper hand in the conflict because of its use of drones. Speaking to the Times in June, Ratcliffe said that the life expectancy of a Russian soldier on the front line in Ukraine was less than 35 minutes.

“Much of the reason is technology and how drones have become super-efficient, low-cost killing machines,” Ratcliffe said.

Ratcliffe also noted that Russia had gained only about 1 percent of Ukrainian territory since he became CIA director 18 months ago, while simultaneously suffering major losses on the battlefield.

It was previously reported that Ratcliffe’s trip on Tuesday was to warn Russia not to launch an unprovoked attack on NATO countries. It is feared that Putin could lash out and test the resolve of the military alliance by launching an attack ranging from a cyberattack to an incursion into a neighboring country.

Any scenario in which Putin attacks a member of the military alliance could have devastating consequences around the world. Under NATO’s Article 5, an attack against one NATO country is considered an attack against all 32 allied members, including the U.S.

On Thursday, The Washington Post also reported that the Kremlin considers the U.S. significantly weaker because of the Iran war and dwindling weapons stockpiles. It is feared that Putin could use this as an excuse to provoke U.S. allies in Europe, believing that any response would be severely hindered.A source told the Post that Ratcliffe’s trip to Moscow was “less about Putin being in a corner” and more because Russia believes “we are depleted and can’t intervene.”

Trump, who has downplayed the significance of Ratcliffe’s visit to Moscow, said he is not concerned that Putin will attack a NATO country.

“There is no problem,” Trump told Axios on Thursday. “Ratcliffe sees his Russian counterpart once every six months or once every year. They have a very good relationship. There was no message, and there was nothing unusual.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the CIA for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/putin-given-humiliating-ukraine-war-warning-in-secret-john-ratcliffe-meeting/?

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This Is Why Trump Surrounds Himself With Idiots

The administration’s incomparable incompetence stems from the commander in chief.

Donald Trump’s choice to raise up incompetent sycophants across his administration is an intentional one, according to his longtime biographer.

Appearing on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, author Michael Wolff said that the second Trump administration’s overwhelming ineptitude stems from the 80-year-old president’s need to be the smartest in the room.

“People have a very hard time... understanding the full sense of a man who is the President of the United States, who is—as he has said about so many other people—dumb as a brick himself,” Wolff told host Joanna Coles. “All of these issues, he does not have the information or the intelligence to appreciate and to cope with and to address. He just doesn’t.”

“And couple that with the fact that he doesn’t give anyone else around him who might, the independence and the wherewithal to deal with those issues,” he added.

Coles brought up Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, and his questionable decisions to fire seasoned military leaders amid the nearly six-month quagmire that the president’s war with Iran has become.

“What could possibly be in it for Pete Hegseth to fire these people?” she asked. “I understand wanting to bring your own team in, but it’s not like he comes in with a ton of four-star generals that he wants to put in place.”“Look at it this way—you’re in this job. You’re underqualified. You’re unqualified to hold this job. Everybody knows it,” Wolff explained. “And many of those people who you have to rely on treat you as someone who is unqualified to hold this job. So you are yourself in a constant state of absolute insecurity and unhappiness.”

“So what do you do? Well, you... get rid of the people who think you’re a lummox and who... almost borderline openly talk about your stupidity and your... failure to be able to do this job,” he said.

The author said that the issue is “binary”—saying that one either quits or gets rid of everyone who believes them to be unqualified.

“That’s one... of the management reasons why it is very bad to put someone into a position who... does not, and will not, have the respect of the people who work for him,” he explained.

Wolff said to think of Hegseth “as a kind of mini Donald Trump,” in that the secretary’s staffing decisions mirror the president’s for the exact same reason.

“Because he can’t have people who are clearly smarter than he is. He can’t have people, as in the first administration, who went around saying, ‘My God, what an idiot,’” the author said. “He understood that undermined him, to say the least.”

Reached for comment, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a frequently recycled statement: “Michael Wolff is a professional scumbag and serial liar whose brain has been completely warped by his severe and incurable disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/this-is-why-trump-surrounds-himself-with-idiots-michael-wolff/?

ps:EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!

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Trump Ditches GOP in Secret Midterm Panic

The president is leaving Republicans to sweat it out as the midterms draw near.

President Donald Trump is stoking GOP anxiety as he makes himself his party’s midterm mascot while leaving them in the lurch to chase his vanity projects.

With less than 70 days until the midterms, the 80-year-old president’s poll numbers are in the basement as voters grow frustrated with his failure to deliver on the promises that propelled him back to the White House.

But Trump, apparently unwilling to accept his own unpopularity or the damage it could do to GOP candidates across the country, continues to put himself front and center in the election fight, even headlining a “midterm convention” in Dallas next month. That has Republican strategists, desperate to keep the races focused on individual candidates rather than Trump, on edge, the Daily Beast’s Political Correspondent Farrah Tomazin said on The Daily Beast Podcast.

“A lot of strategists that I’ve spoken to are asking, ‘Why on earth are we doing this? Why are we not sort of, you know, getting out there and really sort of localizing... these debates?’” she told the Daily Beast’s Global Editorial Director Nico Hines.

But even as Trump makes himself the center of attention, he has appeared more interested in his vanity projects than helping Republicans win.

“Not only has he not delivered, but he’s also shifted the focus so much to himself that his priorities are shot, and people can see that,” Tomazin said. “I mean, this morning he spent the entire morning... posting on Truth Social images of his vanity projects: the various fountains that he’s, you know, spruced up in Washington, D.C.” Tomazin noted that Trump had promised to usher in a “Golden Age” by bringing down prices and getting the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, but instead launched a quagmire of a war against Iran, sending gas prices soaring, with inflation now higher than when he took office..

“It’s like... you promised me all this. It’s not only not happening, but you’re also now focusing your attention on expensive projects like a White House ballroom, a helipad, a big arch in honor of yourself... and not talking enough about my problems,” Tomazin said, channeling a voter’s perspective.

The billionaire president, however, has made little secret of his indifference toward winning over voters ahead of the midterms, while delivering lines like “I love the inflation,” and “I don’t care about the midterms.”

While Americans have been left footing the bill for soaring energy costs, Trump has benefited from the surge in energy stocks fueled by his war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, with his oil and gas holdings potentially gaining as much as $15.5 million this year, according to a new report from Democrats on the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle defended Trump’s building fixations and claimed the president was lowering gas prices.

“President Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time,” Ingle told the Daily Beast. “As a result, the Trump administration continues to deliver on the president’s affordability agenda by lowering drug prices, reshoring American jobs, lowering gas prices, and more. Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, no other president has done more to beautify our Nation’s interior than President Trump. From restoring our treasured landmarks, which had suffered years of abuse and vandalism, to cleaning our parks and the Reflecting Pool, President Trump’s bold vision is ensuring the People’s House and our Nation’s Capital will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-ditches-gop-in-secret-midterm-panic/?

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Trump’s Top Army Goon’s Jan. 6 Fiasco Role Revealed

The man the president and defense secretary want to lead the Army was at the heart of the Pentagon’s Capitol riot failure.

Donald Trump’s favorite general was a key player in the Pentagon’s calamitous Jan. 6 response.

General Chris LaNeve, who has been tasked by Pete Hegseth to lead the Army, was a central figure in the most disputed moment of the Pentagon’s botched intervention, documents reviewed by PunchUp show.

It comes after reports of a reason behind LaNeve’s predecessor as Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George’s dismissal: his desire to push forward with the investigation of a bizarre Apache helicopter flyby of MAGA singer Kid Rock’s Tennessee estate.

Days before George was dismissed as Army chief of staff in April, LaNeve, 59, reportedly told him the defense secretary did not want the probe to go ahead. Concerned, George confided in colleagues, only to be fired on Apr. 2, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. George also refused to strike two Black and two female officers from a promotion list.

LaNeve, Hegseth’s former military aide who was handed his job in an acting capacity and is in line to keep it permanently, was spotted by Trump on an inaugural-ball video call in January 2025 and asked the room: “Is this man central casting, or what?” Months later, LaNeve returned from South Korea as Hegseth’s senior military assistant and, by Feb. 6, had a fourth star, rising from brigadier to full general in five years.

But PunchUp, the Daily Beast’s sister investigations Substack, has uncovered documents that highlight a key role he played in the Pentagon’s ill-fated handling of the Capitol riots of Jan. 6, 2021.

By mid-afternoon that day, the D.C. National Guard was in riot gear and on buses a few miles from the Capitol, awaiting an order. It came when Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller approved the deployment at 3:04 p.m.

But Maj. Gen. William Walker, the Guard’s commanding general, did not move his men until 5:09 p.m. He says nobody told him he could. McCarthy says somebody did—and that the man he used to pass on the message was LaNeve.

Buried in the House Jan. 6 committee’s final report is the account of one phone call that could explain the bungle—about which three Army officials, including LaNeve, gave three different versions.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told investigators he issued the order telling Walker he was finally cleared to move at 4:35 p.m., and that he used LaNeve—then a one-star and his director of Army operations—as his go-between. The report states it was “a conversation Major General Walker said never happened.”

LaNeve, however, told the committee that he had called Walker at 4:25 p.m. to say his forces should “get on the bus, do not leave.” On a second call ten minutes later, he said, he heard McCarthy give the order himself, then took the phone back to pass on the rally point and the officer Walker’s troops should meet. Walker, he recalled, replied “Roger,” but LaNeve also admitted there was “mass confusion in that room.”

McCarthy says he never spoke to Walker, and Walker says neither call happened. He “never saw” LaNeve on the video teleconference that afternoon, he told the committee, and “didn’t hear General LaNeve’s voice.”

Walker’s aide-de-camp, Lt. Timothy Nick, on just his second day in the job, had been ordered to keep a handwritten log. At 4:37 p.m., he appears to have scribbled down the same details McCarthy says he asked LaNeve to relay. Walker says his aide could only have gotten it from the video call he was on. Nick put the moment the orders came at 5:09 p.m.

That was the same minute the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. James McConville, passed a teleconference screen and spotted Walker doing nothing. “General McConville came back into the call and said, ‘Hey, you’re a go,’” Walker recalled.

The Guard reached the Capitol after the fighting was effectively over, three hours and 19 minutes after the first plea for help. “It shouldn’t take three hours to respond to an urgent request,” Walker told the Senate in March 2021.

In the end, the committee gave up trying to settle the matter. The delay was “unnecessary and unacceptable,” it found, but not deliberate. The two sides held accounts that “are not reconcilable.” While the contradictions were never resolved, LaNeve was never accused of wrongdoing.

Hegseth calls LaNeve “precisely the kind of leader the U.S. Army needs right now,” dismissing critics as out-of-touch insiders. Yet five months into the acting job, LaNeve has still not been nominated.

Without unanimous Republican support, any nomination cannot clear the Senate Armed Services Committee, and several members have raised concerns about the speed of LaNeve’s rise and lack of experience.

When asked about LaNeve’s role on Jan. 6, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell did not address it, and instead told PunchUp that LaNeve “is delivering an outstanding performance,” adding the department was “actively coordinating with our Senate partners to lock in the optimal moment to formally submit his nomination.” He earlier called the Post’s reporting a “tired, old story simply to manufacture drama.”

PunchUp also approached the Army for comment. They did not respond by the time of publication.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-hegesths-top-army-goons-jan-6-national-guard-fiasco-role-revealed/?

ps:So Pathetic!!!!!

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Trump Gets a Humiliating History Lesson Over His Lake Name Change

It’s called a hydronym, Mr. President.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney taunted Donald Trump on X over his unhinged push to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”

The 80-year-old president signed an executive order amid his escalating feud and trade war with Canada. “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade,” Trump declared, as he ordered the Interior Department to update the Geographic Names Information System and adopt his newly invented moniker across the federal government.

“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” Trump said.The Canadian leader brushed off Trump’s attempt at a rebrand with a humiliating history lesson. Carney pointed out that the name Lake Ontario has survived for more than four centuries, and predates the founding of both Canada and the United States.“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big,’” Carney wrote on X, referring to the smallest of the Great Lakes. “The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”

“We know that America is changing. Their trading relationships, their foreign policies, their national monuments, their hydronyms,” Carney continued, using the proper term for the name of a body of water while making a dig at Trump’s flip-flopping policies and his makeover of national landmarks since his return to the White House to the White House last January.

Carney insisted that his country will not be adopting Trump’s made-up name.

“Canadian women and men also know that things must be called by their name, and this lake is called Lake Ontario – today and forever.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

Trump and Carney have clashed over the president’s tariffs on Canadian automobiles, with many Canadian provinces retaliating by pulling American liquor from store shelves.

Tensions escalated last week when trade talks between the two neighbors collapsed and Trump slapped 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Next month, Canada is hitting back with “dollar for dollar” counter tariffs.

Trump’s executive order gives the Interior Department 30 days to update the name change.

The aging president pulled a similar move on the first day of his second term last January, signing an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Mexico pushed back against the change, arguing that the U.S. doesn’t have the authority to alter the name of a shared body of international water.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-gets-a-humiliating-history-lesson-over-his-lake-name-change/?

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Trump administration appeals latest ruling blocking his mail voting order from taking effect

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked limitations on mail voting before the midterm elections, the latest twist in a court fight unfolding days before the first states begin sending out mail ballots for the pivotal November elections.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-voting-mail-ballots-midterms-executive-order-8ef4a669a50f3406481ffb8387ccad3c?

Thousands march in Washington to defend voting rights, in photos

Thousands of protesters gather on the National Mall in Washington for the 2026 “Defend the Vote” March on Washington, calling for voting rights and racial justice ahead of the midterm elections. This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors. Read More.   President Donald Trump loses again in bid to erase his hush money conviction A federal judge on Friday once again spurned Donald Trump’s effort to erase his hush money conviction, rejecting the president’s bid to move the state court case to federal court and have it dismissed on presidential immunity grounds. Read More.

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Trump says US has entered deal with Venezuela to take control of 65 billion barrels of oil reserves

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that his administration has entered a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that, if realized, could give the U.S. access to vast amounts of the South American country’s untapped oil reserves, at cost.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-oil-reserves-eb0ed5a1e99602c21a7f690c3368020e?

Trump announces new US oil agreement with Venezuela

US president says US will have ‘majority’ control of 65bn barrels of proven oil reserves

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/trump-venezuela-oil-agreement?

The Battle of Lake Ontario: Trump opens a new front in the war on things with names

There are moments in American history when you can almost hear the machinery of government grinding toward a solution.

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/battle-lake-ontario-trump-opens-new-front-war-things-names?

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Steering in the Wrong Direction (Rebecca Noble / Bloomberg / Getty)

View in browser Three hundred thousand metric tons of ground beef are on their way to the United States. There’s no easy way to visualize 300,000 metric tons of anything (for context, that’s about 12 times the weight of the Statue of Liberty). All of that beef could fill an important gap in the American market—but not everyone’s happy about it.   President Trump announced last Friday that he’ll be temporarily lifting some tariffs on beef and that, as part of an ambiguous deal, the imports will be sold at “25 percent below current market prices.” He was likely hoping for a political win here: Affordability has been a losing issue for Trump and his party ahead of the midterms, and increasing the beef supply in an attempt to lower prices could be one way of giving shoppers a reprieve. But industry leaders immediately condemned the move, warning that it will do little to address the underlying dynamics that have driven up prices in recent years—and their allies in Congress joined them in the revolt. Now Trump’s on-again, off-again relationship with ranchers is becoming the whole country’s problem.   There’s no great mystery as to why American beef is so expensive. The steaks we get from the supermarket represent the end product of a long, multiyear chain involving ranchers, auctioneers, feedlots, meatpackers, and grocery stores. But beef starts with cattle, and after years of drought, the number of cows now grazing on U.S. soil is the lowest it’s been in 75 years. The return of a certain flesh-eating parasite hasn’t helped things, either. This, combined with the fact that Americans are still hungry for beef, has created a basic supply-and-demand problem.   Economists told NPR this week that the president’s move, which was made official on Wednesday, may shave only a small amount off what shoppers are currently paying for ground beef at the grocery store. It’s too soon to tell whether this will actually happen—the government won’t release its August data for another few weeks—but Trump’s announcement did depress cattle prices somewhat, which suggests that traders at least think that beef could become less valuable, as the president intended. This is a problem for ranchers, who applauded last year’s restrictive Liberation Day tariffs. Most of the beef that Americans consume is produced in the United States, and the duties had been helping prevent foreign imports from undercutting domestic producers; without these protections, meat-processing companies are free to buy the cheapest option, wherever it may come from. In a joint letter to the president, the heads of four livestock-industry groups expressed “deep concern” that the plan would undermine beef producers by devaluing cattle and would prevent the rebuilding of the dwindling herd.   Ominously, the White House has declined to say where all of this beef will be coming from. When asked which countries will be supplying the beef, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters on Tuesday that she was “not part of any of those conversations” and is “not privy to talk about that.” Trump mentioned that “a few” different countries will be involved but hasn’t said which. (Thirty thousand pounds of Argentine beef were recalled earlier this month over concerns that it hadn’t been properly inspected; the White House declined to respond to my question about where the beef will be coming from but claimed, without elaborating, that the plan would reduce beef prices while allowing the U.S. cattle herd to grow.)   Despite being a core MAGA constituency, beef producers and ranchers have been periodically annoyed at Trump’s tariff changes over the past year. What’s more unusual is that high-profile Republicans have also been breaking with the president on this issue. At least 13 GOP senators have publicly criticized the tariff adjustment to varying degrees over the past week. “Beef prices are too high for a simple reason: Our cattle herd is too small,” Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X. “I have advised the President against this ill-advised action in the past and I now urge him to reconsider.” Others suggested that what Trump is doing is unfair, a way of rigging the market against American producers, who “simply want a fair marketplace,” per Senator John Barrasso. (Rollins seems to be supporting the current plan, though she reportedly opposed a similar tariff rollback in May.)   This isn’t the first time in recent months that the Trump administration—whose war with Iran has driven up consumer prices—has turned its attention to short-term solutions. As I’ve written, both Trump and Rollins have publicly praised business owners who have lowered their prices on certain goods, such as fuel and groceries. But these kinds of temporary cuts don’t amount to a lasting policy solution, and companies can’t be expected to shoulder this burden forever. The private-sector “commitment” to selling this imported beef below market price has a similarly short-term focus. The bigger issues remain unaddressed, and voters don’t believe that the administration has the economy under control.   The president attempted to make peace with ranchers this morning, writing on Truth Social that he’d give them the “right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD”—a nod to long-standing complaints about what farmers say is a monopoly among the Big Four meatpackers. But this olive branch is effectively just a promise to disrupt a different part of the industry. In trying to please everyone, Trump may end up creating even more beef. Related: Cattle ranchers are beefing with Trump. The beef administration’s blind spot ps:Wow is this man pathetic! He creates a problem on one end than try's to fix the problem on the other and screws it up there!! As I've said before whatever he puts his hands on he screws up!!

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Patel’s FBI Lowers the Bar for Applicants With Checkered Pasts

Applicants who have hired prostitutes, stolen from employers, or engaged in bestiality may no longer be automatically disqualified from joining the bureau.

Under Kash Patel, past misdeeds are no longer automatic FBI dealbreakers.

The bureau quietly loosened its hiring rules in June in an effort to boost recruitment after a wave of firings, resignations, and retirements during President Donald Trump’s second term, CBS News reported.

Under the new guidelines, applicants who have hired a prostitute, stolen from an employer, or engaged in bestiality or animal cruelty may still be eligible for FBI jobs—depending on when and under what circumstances the conduct occurred.

Multiple sources briefed on the matter told CBS that the bureau’s rules regarding applicants who have hired prostitutes would vary based on the circumstances.

Applicants may still be considered for employment if they hired a prostitute more than 10 years ago and did so less than three times. However, a person in a position of “trust” who did so would still be automatically ruled out. Those occupations include public safety, education, health, social work, finance, and law. The military is not included.

Regarding stealing from an employer, that must have occurred more than three years ago for candidates to still be considered for a job.

And as for bestiality and animal cruelty, those acts must have taken place before the applicant was 18 years old.

The Daily Beast has contacted the FBI for comment.

The FBI communicated the changes to personnel involved in vetting applicants through an internal memo dated June 16, according to CBS.

The bureau has defended the new rules as giving hiring officials more flexibility to evaluate unusual circumstances rather than automatically rejecting otherwise qualified candidates. For example, the FBI noted that an applicant may have paid for sex in a place where prostitution is legal, while some applicants may have been victims of sexual abuse involving animals.

The FBI pushed back on the characterization that it had simply lowered its hiring standards.

“It is false to suggest criminal behavior like this is no longer disqualifying at the FBI,” the bureau said in a statement to the AP, adding that “any applicant who has engaged in criminal sexual acts… would of course not be eligible for employment.”

The FBI described its background check process as “wide-ranging and extensive” and said it “has and always will maintain some of the highest suitability standards for its applicants and employees in the U.S. government.”

The FBI has been struggling to attract recruits while enduring significant personnel losses under Trump. CBS reported that 1,139 special agents left the bureau in 2025, while the agency currently has roughly 13,700 agents. Patel has argued that some longstanding hiring requirements unnecessarily eliminate potential recruits.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kash-patels-fbi-eases-hiring-rules-on-theft-prostitution-and-bestiality/?

ps:Pathetic!!!!!

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Trump Launches Vile Attack on Female Reporter for Revealing His 9/11 Diva Fit

Trump lashed out at a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer for reporting on his 9/11 plans, then seemingly proved her right.

Donald Trump unleashed a vicious attack Friday on New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman over a story about his plans for the 25th anniversary of 9/11—even as his own comments appeared to confirm the report.

Trump called Haberman “Maggot,” his longtime nickname for her, and denigrated her appearance in a lengthy Truth Social post. Haberman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-author of Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, was one of four reporters who bylined the story, but Trump singled her out.

He claimed Haberman had “made up a story” that he would not attend the World Trade Center ceremony for the 25th anniversary of the terror attacks, “because they won’t let me make a speech, and I’m going to the Pentagon in D.C., because I’m a featured speaker.”

Trump insisted in his post: “I would love not to speak, because I’m speaking all the time, and this is a day to remember the victims, and their beautiful family members.”

Yet Trump will be speaking at the Pentagon’s September 11 ceremony, where he is the featured speaker. He told reporters Friday that he won’t be going to the World Trade Center ceremony “because I’m going to the Pentagon instead.”

Two unnamed sources told the Times that Trump’s team had “signaled” to New York officials that he planned to attend their ceremony, only to change course after he learned he would not be allowed to speak.

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum has barred politicians from speaking at the annual Ground Zero commemoration since 2012, in an effort to keep the focus on victims and their families. Vice President JD Vance is now slated to attend; he will not be speaking.

In his lengthy Truth Social post, Trump blasted the Times as “failing” and a purveyor of “corrupt news,” and Haberman as a “SCAMMER” and a “PHONY.” He threatened mysterious new revelations in his ongoing $15 billion defamation and libel suit against the newspaper and book publisher Penguin Random House, alleging both sought to destroy his business and political reputation. The Times is seeking dismissal of the suit.

Trump also threatened “another new lawsuit” against the Pulitzer Prize Board, which awarded a team of Times reporters, including Haberman, for its reporting on Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Trump called Haberman a “stalker” who “should be forced to turn over any and all money that she’s made through her fake reporting on me.”

The Daily Beast reached out to the White House, The New York Times, and Haberman for comment.

Critics slammed the president’s post on social media. CNN’s Jake Tapper called Trump’s comments “disgusting and beneath the office.”

One critic wrote on X: “Calling her Maggot Hagerman is revolting. It is f---ing disgusting. [Haberman] is an incredible journalist. Donald Trump needs to shut his damn mouth.”

Another wrote: “The president treats women nastier than anyone else in politics. And I’m pretty sure [Trump aide] Natalie Harp is the stalker, not Maggie Haberman.”

Others argued that Trump’s furious response only reinforced the story he was trying to discredit.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-launches-vile-attack-on-reporter-maggie-haberman-for-revealing-his-911-diva-fit/?

ps:Seems like every time he opens his mouth he sticks his foot in it!

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Obama Judge Slaps Down SCOTUS’ Trump Decision

The District Court judge laid down “a gauntlet to the Supreme Court” in a voting rights case.

President Donald Trump’s attempt to curtail mail-in voting before the midterm elections in November has hit another obstacle.

United States District Court Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama administration appointee to the District of Massachusetts in 2014, issued a Temporary Restraining Order on Thursday night preventing the government from implementing Trump’s executive order on mail-in voting for another two weeks.

The move came after the Supreme Court overturned Talwani’s earlier injunction barring the federal government from applying the executive order’s provisions before the November election in 23 blue states (along with the District of Columbia).

Talwani’s decision included a “satisfying slap at the Court,” former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said in a Substack post explaining the ramifications of the Supreme Court’s decision, and the subsequent significance of Talwani’s new TRO.

On the same day SCOTUS overturned the injunction, the post office issued its ‘final rule’ on the way it would handle and administer mail-in ballots.

The Supreme Court, the judge argued, did not take that rule into account when making its decision.

It was not supposed to be happening, given the injunction was designed to halt all activity toward implementing the Executive Order, but since it had been done anyway, Talwani encouraged the plaintiffs to refile.

The “final rule” changed the case, Talwani’s ruling argued. The Supreme Court justices had made their decision on a “purely procedural” basis, determining the district court lacked jurisdiction to review challenges to the Executive Order’s constitutionality when the implementation of it hadn’t been finalized.

Now that the states had that information, they could determine how they might be materially affected and how it might also run afoul of the Constitution.

In these new circumstances, the judge asserted their jurisdiction to stop the administration from moving forward with the plan for at least the next two weeks.

In doing so, Vance argued, “this opinion is a signal to the Court that this case too is one where the government must be reined in, lest the Court lose all authority to act as a check and balance on an out of control executive.”

She cited Talwani’s opinion, which outlines the ramifications of the Final Rule for states trying to administer midterms in just over two months.

“Through the Final Rule, the USPS is refusing to send mail ballots to eligible voters unless States or local election officials submit their mail ballot envelopes and return envelopes and receive advance approval from the USPS without regard to impending deadlines for the Nov. 3, 2026, election,” she said, going on to outline how that would impact states.

Vance concludes that “the bottom line here is so grotesque that it’s impossible to imagine any other Justice Department advocating for such a plan, and any court taking longer than a few moments to reject it, as Judge Talwani did.”

In her decision, Talwani noted the “significant risk of disenfranchisement” the “final rule” carried with it.

Another party to the case, the League of Women Voters, “face irreparable harm for the same reasons—because they live in states that will be unable to comply with these new measures, and so, their ballots will not count,” the judge wrote, painting a bleak picture of the midterms should the final rule be implemented before then.

The Supreme Court is likely to make that decision in the coming weeks.

“We’ve now reached the point in this case where the lawfulness—or not—of what Trump wants to do to our elections takes center stage… the Court will have to decide whether the Constitution, which clearly leaves this bit of election administration up to the states, still matters,” Vance said.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said Talwani was an “activist judge,” and said she was “attempting to stop President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections.

“We will immediately appeal this unreasoned and unlawful order.”

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/obama-judge-slaps-down-scotus-trump-decision/?

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Trump’s Record of Deluded War Boasts Comes Back to Bite Him

On the six-month anniversary of the start of the U.S. conflict with Iran, there is still no end in sight.

Donald Trump has boasted about winning the war against Iran at least 66 times since launching his strikes six months ago, according to a new Daily Beast analysis.

The conflict—which has claimed the lives of 18 U.S. servicemembers—reached the milestone with peace talks in tatters and no end in sight.

And yet the 80-year-old president has continued to insist that Tehran is defeated and its military has been decimated by the U.S. attacks.

The reality is that the war the president insisted on March 1 would be over in “four to five weeks” appears to have emboldened the Iranian regime even though most of its leadership was wiped out and its military took some major hits.

Over the last six months, the president’s approval ratings have tumbled while gas prices have reached record highs because of the war and the resulting chaos in the Strait of Hormuz, a primary oil route.

Perhaps even more damaging for Trump, it has fractured his MAGA base and left Republican candidates defending a war they were not given the option of voting for or against in Congress.

In July, Hunter Biden mocked the president, saying he planned to nominate Trump for ending “the war with Iran at least 38 times.”

“No President in History has ended the same war so many times,” Biden, 56, wrote on X.

In fact, according to our research, Trump has celebrated America’s success in Iran 66 times since Feb. 28. On March 7, he dismissed Britain’s reluctance to join the attacks, saying: “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”

A few days later, on March 11, he said: “Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the—in the first hour, it was over. We won.”

By June 14, Trump was claiming on Truth Social that a peace deal with Iran was done and dusted, with America the victor. “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!” he wrote.

But on Friday, on the six-month anniversary of the first strike, true victory looked as far away as ever.

As often as Trump brags about how successful the military operation has been, the war with Iran is turning out to be the biggest blunder of his two terms in the White House. And it could prove to be the nadir of his downfall if the midterm elections become a public referendum on his decision to break his campaign promises and take America to war.

Here are the 66 times Trump has trumpeted his “victory.”

MARCH 2026

• 1st: Tells The New York Times during a private phone call that the Iran conflict should take “four to five weeks” and that it “won’t be difficult”
• 5th: During White House ceremony honoring Inter Miami CF, Trump says the U.S .is “totally demolishing the enemy far ahead of schedule and at levels that people have never seen before” and that the U.S. is “destroying more of Iran’s missile and drone capability every single hour, knocking them out like nobody thought was possible.”
• 7th: While addressing the press during the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base, “We’re winning the war by a lot. We’ve decimated their whole evil empire.” Posts on Truth Social that the U.S. does not need U.K. aid because, “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
• 9th: In phone call with CBS News, Trump says: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much…If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense.”
• 11th: During Kentucky rally, Trump states: “Let me tell you, we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won. We won. We won the—in the first hour, it was over. We won.”

• 15th: Aboard Air Force One, Trump addresses a pool of reporters and claims, “We’ve essentially defeated Iran. Uh, I guess they can have a little bit of fight back, but not much. Not much.”
• 17th: During an Oval Office meeting with the prime minister of Ireland, Micheál Martin, Trump said that “Iran is something that was essentially largely over in two or three days, because the Navy was wiped out almost immediately.”
• 19th: Trump meets with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and explains, “I mean, we’ve—we’ve demolished—that country is close to demolished. The only thing is the Strait.”
• 20th: Speaking to reporters before Marine One departure, he says: “We’ve knocked out their navy, their air force. We’ve knocked out their anti-aircraft. We’ve knocked out everything. We’re roaming free. From a military standpoint, all they’re doing is clogging up the strait. But from a military standpoint, they’re finished.”

• 23rd: Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One and claims there have been “strong talks” of a deal with Iran and that “if it goes well, we’re going to end up with settling this. Otherwise, we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.”
• 24th: Trump addresses reporters during the swearing-in ceremony of Markwayne Mullin and says: “You know, I don’t like to say this, we’ve won this—this war has been won. The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news.”
• 26th: During a Cabinet meeting, Trump says, “We estimated it would take approximately four to six weeks to achieve our mission. 26 days in, we’re extremely—really a lot ahead of schedule. The Iranian regime is now admitting to itself that they have been decisively defeated.”
• 29th: He addresses reporters before Air Force One departure and says, “I think we’ll make a deal with them, pretty sure.”
• 30th: His Truth Social post claims, “The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made.”

April 2026

• 1st: Delivers primetime address claiming: “Our armed forces have delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield, victories as few people have ever seen before. Tonight, Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is in ruins. Their leaders, most of them terrorists, regime they led are now dead. Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak.”
• 7th: Posts on Truth Social: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” He later tells Agence France-Press after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire: “Total and complete victory. 100 percent. No question about it”
• 12th: Truth Social post after Iran did not include nuclear weapons in agreement: “We are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!”
• 16th: During a roundtable on taxes and tips in Las Vegas, Trump said, “I will say the war in Iran is going along swimmingly. We can do whatever we want. And it should be, it should be ending pretty soon. It was, uh, perfect. I mean, it’s perfect. It was the power we have. Our military, we have the most powerful military anywhere in the world.”
• 17th: Gives update on Iran deal with Truth Social posts, writing that “OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE. THIS PROCESS SHOULD GO VERY QUICKLY IN THAT MOST OF THE POINTS ARE ALREADY NEGOTIATED.”
• 25th: Addresses reporters at Palm Beach Airport, “We have all the cards. They have no military left, practically. They have no leaders left. We don’t know who the leaders are. Nobody knows who the leaders—I don’t think they know who the leaders are,” and later reiterates that “We have all the cards. We’ve won everything. We have all the cards.”
• 28th: Truth Social post claiming that Iran is in a “state of collapse.”

MAY 2026

• 2nd: Speaking to reporters at Palm Beach Airport, “Doing very well with regard to just about everything, but doing very well with regard to Iran. Again, they want to make a deal. They’re decimated. They’re having a hard time figuring out who their leader is “
• 5th: Announces in a Truth Social post that Project Freedom will be paused due to “the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran.”
• 6th: During a Military Mothers event at the White House, Trump says: “We have it very much under control. The blockade is unbelievable. The Navy has been incredible. The job they did, it’s like a—it’s like a wall of steel, nobody goes through, in particular, the Iranians.” Later in an interview with PBS, Trump says that there is a “very good chance” of making a deal.
• 10th: In a Full Measure interview with Sharyl Attkisson, Trump says of Iran: “They are militarily defeated. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft weaponry. They have no radar. They have no leaders. Their leaders are gone. The first set—the A-team — is gone. The B-team is gone. And part of the C-team is gone.”

• 11th: In town pool reporting, George Condon from the National Journal writes that Trump said Iran “was defeated” and that “we’re doing a service to the world… We’re going to have a complete victory.”
• 19th: As Trump leads reporters on a tour of the White House ballroom construction site, he says: “They have a little ability. Their missiles are 82 percent gone, we estimate. Their capacity to build is very little right now because we hit all of their manufacturing areas. Same thing with drones, they’re largely gone, but they still have a little capacity, yeah. Not much, but they have a little. Their Navy is completely gone; their Air Force is completely gone.”
• 20th: During Commencement Address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, he says, “Everything’s gone. Their Navy’s gone. Their Air Force is gone. Just about everything. You know, the only question is, do we go and finish it up or are they gonna be signing a document?”
• 21st: Gives remarks in the Oval Office with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and claims: “We have total control of the Strait of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade,” and “We have the greatest military anywhere in the world. We wiped out their navy. We knocked—wiped out their air—I think they’re down to about—I would say we knocked out 85 percent of their missile capacity.”
• 23rd: In a phone interview with CBS’ Nancy Cordes, he says the U.S. is “getting closer” to signing a deal, and if not, there will be “a situation where no country will ever be hit as hard as they’re about to be hit.”
• 28th: In an interview with Lara Trump for Fox News, he says, “This is really a win already. We’ve defeated their military, essentially defeated their military.” He goes on to add: “They’re crafty. But in the end, we have all the cards because we’ve defeated them militarily. Look, they have no navy,” and “Well, we’re winning Iran. It’s a total win for us.”

JUNE 2026

• 3rd: In remarks at an Executive Order Signing Ceremony he says of negotiations: “It could happen—I mean, if it happens—and it might not happen, you know? Who knows? But if it happens, it could happen, like, over the weekend.”
• 5th: Speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One, and says that “we’re having great success with Iran. We—they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, and they’re in no position to have a nuclear weapon.”
• 7th: In a sit-down with NBC’s Kristen Welker, he claims: “I think we’re very close. We have a couple of points. They don’t even seem like big points. They’ve conceded the fact that they will not have nuclear weapons.”
• 8th: Participates by telephone in a campaign rally for Lindsey Graham and Pamela Evette. “We’re in Iran, and we’ve decimated their military. We’ve decimated their—everything there is to decimate, including their leadership. And if you take a look at it, it really is peace through strength. We’ve hit their navy. Their navy is totally gone. They had 159 ships. Every ship is underwater right now. Every ship is deep underwater. Their air force is gone, their radar is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone, and frankly, their leadership is gone at the highest level. And then they replaced them, and they’re gone, and then about half of their third tier is gone.” and “It will be a total victory. It will happen very soon, and oil prices will come tumbling down.”
• 10th: In a Truth Social post, Trump declares that “Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore—They have been completely defeated.”
• 11th: During a proclamation signing for the opening of commercial fishing in the Pacific Ocean, he says, “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran, and we’re going to be subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days. We’ll probably have a signing, maybe in Europe, and it’s a great thing.”
• 13th: Posts on Truth Social claiming that “the Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL.”
• 14th: Claims that a deal has been signed in a Truth Social post: “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. Congratulations to all!”
• 15th: Upon arriving in France for the G7 summit, Trump tells reporters, “The deal’s all signed. And the strait is already partially opened, as you know. On Friday, it’ll be completely open.”
• 18th: Posts on Truth Social: “All there is for the U.S. is Success, Lower Oil Prices, and Victory.” He later posted, “The United States is committed to PEACE, and we encourage everyone in the Middle East Region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations to beautifully unfold…We expect a complete Ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Israel.”
• 19th: While greeting United States service members at Joint Base Andrews, Trump says, “We have the greatest military anywhere in the world, and you saw that in Iran, where in one week, virtually, we knocked out their entire navy, their entire air force, their anti-missile weapons, their radar. We knocked out everything.”
• 19th: Sits down with Axios White House correspondent Marc Caputo and says: “Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.” Asked by Caputo if it really is a full surrender, Trump responds: “I think so. Look, they have no military. They’re all at the bottom of the sea. 159 ships. That’s what they had.”
• 20th: Posts on Truth Social: “Radical Left fools and Dumocrats realize how well we have done in our War against Iran, with their Country being completely defeated militarily.”
• 22nd: During an executive order signing, he tells reporters, “You know, their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their leaders are all dead. Their whole country is a mess. Their economy is shot…Their radar is gone. Everything is gone. Their leaders are gone. Their whole country is gone.”
• 23rd: Truth Social post claiming “Iran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!).”

JULY 2026

• 1st: In a speech at the Teddy Roosevelt Library ceremony, Trump says, “I’m prosecuting a war, which we’re winning very easily, by the way.”
• 2nd: In a sit-down interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen, he says: “And what have I done? I’ve defeated them militarily. They’re totally defeated militarily.”
• 6th: Address during Rose Garden lunch: “The relationship is very, very good, and we’re doing very well with Iran. We wiped out their navy, their air force, their radar, their leaders. We wiped out everybody, and then I heard they’re doing very well. No, they’re not doing well at all.”
• 13th: Greg Kelly interviews Trump on the telephone on Newsmax. Trump claims: “Their power’s been largely taken away. Now they have some left, but it’s mostly as an example. Their military: they had 159 ships. 159 ships are under the sea. They had 200 airplanes. Their airplanes are all gone. Their radar is gone. Their anti-aircraft is gone. Their weapon-making capability is largely gone.”
• 20th: Trump hosts the president of Lebanon and answers questions in the Oval Office: “They want to meet desperately to try and end it, because they’re getting decimated.” He later says, “We are doing very well. We are degrading them at levels that nobody thought was possible. They’re being degraded really so seriously.”
• 22nd: Trump delivers a speech in Marietta, Georgia, saying: “Let me tell you, they’re getting hit so hard, and they want to make a deal.”
• 24th: Speaking at the White House Correspondents dinner, he says it’s “all going extremely well. Don’t believe the fake news. You know, it’s the only thing I’ve ever- we were talking before; I said, ‘So we’ve hit Iran very hard. There are, navy is gone, air Force is gone, 250 jets no longer. 159 boats. Good boats.’”
• 27th: Trump visits General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground in Michigan and gives a speech, saying, “We’re winning big time with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we’re ensuring that they never have a nuclear weapon.”
• 31st: Trump Camp David Cabinet meeting speech, in which he says, “Iran is doing very poorly. Just in case you read incorrect stories, they’re doing very, very poorly. They’re having a hard time. They’ve been very dishonest. They’ve been very dishonorable to deal with, but that makes no difference. They’re doing very, very poorly.”

AUGUST 2026

• 2nd: Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One: “There’s a deal on Hormuz and then there will be a deal on the nuclear, or you might call it the denuclearization of Iran. I call it the denuclearization of Iran”
• 4th: Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One: “We’re moving along very nicely” on Iran.
• 5th: Interview with Tom Durian of Fox5, “I hear they’re doing very well. Iran called me. They didn’t want the biggest attack since World War II…..And they wanted to negotiate, and we’re doing that, and it seems to be working out quite well.”
• 6th: Truth Social post: “Likewise, Iran, where the country has been decimated for the purpose of NOT ALLOWING IT TO EVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, is going very well!”
• 7th: Truth Social repost of article with headline: “Donald Trump Won The Iran War”
• 9th: Trump tells Barak Ravid from Axios, “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game.”
• 11th: Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One, saying, “Iran is going fine, going just absolutely fine…We totally control the Strait of Hormuz. We have control over it. Nobody else, only us. Our Navy is unbelievable. And things are going great for our country.”
• 12th: Truth Social post: “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT…They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing, and their ‘Leadership’ is uncertain, at best! They have No Money—Their country is ‘shot.’
• 14th: Speaking at the new Nassau County Police Academy, he says, “And after we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States,” and “Nobody has any idea how successful we are. They don’t want to write it, but they know. You know who knows how well we’re doing, Iran. Iran knows. Think of it, they have no navy, it’s totally gone, 159 ships.”
• 17th: During Oval Office press conference with 16-year-old lifeguard Ryder Williams, Trump says, “I mean, we control it—we control it with the blockade. We have a blockade, we control it with the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring the territory—we can do that. We have total control over the strait.” He adds that “Iran is in big trouble. They have 300% inflation. The country’s a mess, and their military is totally defeated.”
• 19th: Truth Social post, writing “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale. Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread.”

 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-record-of-deluded-war-boasts-comes-back-to-bite-him/?

ps:So, so pathetic!! Like I've said when he opens his mouth he puts his foot into it!!

[phkrause]

Judge Delivers Brutal Humiliation to Trump Over Hush Money Conviction

This was Trump’s latest attempt to overturn the conviction that led to him becoming the first felon to occupy the White House.

Donald Trump has lost his latest long-shot bid to overturn his criminal conviction, with a federal judge delivering a brutal takedown of the president’s arguments along the way.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump’s latest attempt to erase the so-called “hush money” conviction, in which the president was found guilty in 2024 of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal with a porn star.

The blockbuster conviction made Trump the first felon in U.S. history to occupy the Oval Office, but Trump has been appealing it ever since the verdict.

He sought to move the state case to federal court after the conservative-dominated Supreme Court gave former presidents immunity for certain acts done within the scope of their constitutional office.

This was Trump’s second attempt to move the case, which would have made it easier for him to overturn the conviction altogether.

However, Hellerstein said that Trump’s actions in the case—in which he had sex with adult film star Stormy Daniels and then paid for her silence—were done in a private capacity and unrelated to his federal office.

In a blow to the president, he also said that Trump’s arguments were “neither new nor legally sufficient.”

“The People’s prosecution arises from President Trump’s private conduct surrounding the reimbursement of hush money payments to an adult film star,” the Clinton-appointed judge wrote.

“That conduct, and the challenged evidence, bears no substantive relation to his position in federal office. To consider these facts to be ‘relating to’ a federal office would give the words a definition that is ‘so broad that it is meaningless.’”

The president has already indicated that he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. But the ruling is yet another blow for Trump, who has long maintained he did nothing wrong and was the victim of a political witch-hunt.

Trump spent six weeks on the 15th floor of the Manhattan Criminal Court for the blockbuster case in 2024, listening to 22 witnesses testify about what prosecutors said was a criminal conspiracy to “catch and kill” damning stories that could have derailed his chances of becoming president in 2016.

Numerous stories were buried on Trump’s behalf, including that of an affair with former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, which National Inquirer publisher David Pecker paid $150,000 to kill, and an unverified story from a hotel doorman about a love child, which cost $30,000.

But the 34 charges against Trump specifically related to a $130,000 hush money payment Trump’s then-fixer Michael Cohen made to Daniels, who says she had sex with Trump in 2006 when he was newly married to his wife Melania.

This crossed a legal line, prosecutors said, because Trump reimbursed Cohen and falsified records to cover the whole thing up, thereby breaching electoral laws.

Cohen was the star witness in the trial, but has since claimed he was pressured to testify against Trump as he sought to make amends with his former boss.

“They threatened you with everything if you didn’t go against Trump, and you took it back,” the president told him as the pair reunited with a friendly radio interview last week.

“I wouldn’t even be talking to you right now if you didn’t.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/judge-delivers-ultimate-humiliation-to-trump-over-hush-money-conviction/?

[phkrause]

🛢️ 65 billion-barrel deal

Via Truth Social

The U.S. has struck a deal with Venezuela to take control of oil fields with 65 billion barrels of reserves, President Trump said on Truth Social yesterday. Why it matters: The unprecedented deal vastly increases U.S. energy security and dominance in the Western Hemisphere, reports Axios' Marc Caputo, who scooped Thursday that the deal was likely. 🔎 Zoom in: The details have yet to be released. But a source described the unorthodox arrangement as a type of "public-private partnership" between the U.S., private companies and Venezuela. "It's not a purchase," a U.S. government source said. "They're giving us equity. It's a type of corporate transaction where the U.S. has equity in the companies." The U.S. would have access to what's called "off-take oil," a guaranteed amount of crude that would be exchanged at cost, the source said. Keep reading.

[phkrause]

Untested in court, Trump's new tariffs on Canada raise legal questions

In firing up a trade war with Canada, President Donald Trump turned to a 96-year-old statute so obscure that many trade lawyers didn’t even know it was still on the books. Read More.   What we know about Trump's deal giving US access to vast oil reserves in Venezuela Besides a social media post from President Donald Trump, the White House has said little about what he is calling “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” in Venezuela. Read More. Noncitizen voting claims animate Trump's attacks on midterms and set up potential result challenges The drumbeat by President Donald Trump and his allies about the perceived threats of voting by people who are not U.S. citizens is getting louder as the November election approaches. Read More. Ontario premier answers Trump’s ‘Lake America’ with giant ‘Lake Ontario’ sign Ontario Premier Doug Ford answered President Donald Trump’s “Lake America” decree Saturday with a billboard-sized message on the Canadian shoreline — “Lake Ontario. Now and Always” — as Canadian leaders met the move with ridicule rather than outrage. Read More.