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

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Pentagon ruling

A federal judge has blocked the Pentagon’s latest bid to limit press access, tearing into the Department of Defense in a stinging ruling that warned “suppression of political speech is the mark of an autocracy, not a democracy.” US District Judge Paul Friedman blasted the department for attempting an end-run around his decision voiding parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, saying the Pentagon had flouted his ruling when it quickly implemented a tighter policy. The Pentagon plans to appeal the ruling, a spokesman said.

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Epstein Victim Makes Bombshell Claim About Melania Speech

As Epstein survivors call out the first lady’s statement, one victim asks a big question on social media.

One victim of Jeffrey Epstein has questioned Melania Trump’s motives for speaking out about the late sex offender and offered her own theory for the timing of the first lady’s forceful comments.

It’s not clear what prompted the surprise statement from Trump on Thursday, with the first lady denying having any kind of relationship with Epstein and saying she wanted to clear her “good name.”

Epstein victim Marina Lacerda, who has said she first met Epstein in 2002, when she was 14 years old, and suffered years of sexual abuse, said of Trump’s statement, “It sounds like you’re just trying to shift attention from something to something else.”

“So, how does this benefit the Trump family, is my question,” Lacerda said in a post on Instagram.

“The lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end today,” the first lady declared Thursday. “I have never been friends with Epstein.”

The 55-year-old then called on lawmakers to “give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony.”

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the congressional record,” she said. “Then, and only then, we will have the truth.”

The Daily Beast has contacted representatives for Melania Trump for comment on this story.

Her husband, 79, has previously called the Epstein files a “Democrat hoax” and has denied any wrongdoing over his links to Epstein, who died in 2019.

A group of Epstein survivors has called out the first lady’s statement, pointing out they have already “shown extraordinary courage” by coming forward, filing criminal reports, and giving testimony in court.

“Asking more of them now is a deflection of responsibility, not justice,” the statement read. “First Lady Melania Trump is now shifting the burden onto survivors under politicized conditions that protect those with power: the Department of Justice, law enforcement, prosecutors, and the Trump Administration, which has still not fully complied with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.”

The act was signed into law last November and led to the belated release of a tranche of documents, videos, and images by the Department of Justice relating to the investigation and prosecution of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

But the release was botched, with only 3 million of an estimated 6 million documents released. Names were frequently redacted, even though victims’ names were initially visible in one release.

The letter from the Epstein survivors said Melania’s surprise statement “also diverts attention from (former Attorney General) Pam Bondi, who must answer for withheld files and the exposure of survivors’ identities. Those failures continue to put lives at risk while shielding enablers.”

The message concluded, “Survivors have done their part. Now it’s time for those in power to do theirs.”

Epstein survivor Lacerda, who also signed the letter, released her own video on Instagram on Thursday, where she speculated about the timing of Melania Trump finally breaking her silence.

“We are supposed to testify in front of Congress under oath,” Lacerda said. “For what? Tell us why. Will it

change anything? Will people be held accountable? We had the Transparency Act passed. We had the [Epstein] files dropped. We’ve got the names on the files.”

She continued, “Nobody has done nothing. But yet, you want to retraumatize us and ask us to go in front of Congress and tell them our story, which we have told some of them already. So now you want us to tell them again, under oath, and retraumatize us and then do absolutely nothing?”

“That sounds like a s--tty idea, it sounds like you’re just trying to shift attention from something to something else. So, how does this benefit the Trump family, is my question.”

Lacerda told ABC News last year that a visit to his New York home in 2002, when she was 14, to provide massage services eventually led to years of sexual abuse.

Survivors Maria and Anna Farmer, who were signatories on the statement, also released a separate document on Thursday, calling for “accountability, transparency, and justice.”

The statement read, “The federal government has long mismanaged the Epstein investigation by repeatedly ignoring survivors, violating their privacy, and refusing to release the remaining records held by the Department of Justice — including my complete FBI records from 1996.”

The FBI failed to act on a report made by Maria Farmer in 1996, her sister Anna was abused by Epstein.

The sisters’ letter continued, “If the federal government is truly committed to supporting survivors, it would ask us what we want and should follow the facts wherever they may lead.”

Speaking on Laura Coates Live on CNN on Thursday evening, Democrat Melanie Stansbury of the House Oversight Committee said she had been on a call with Epstein survivors moments after Melania Trump’s statement.

“One of the survivors said that they felt personally offended by her statement because they felt like it was essentially saying it was on the survivors to come give public testimony, and it‘s on them to tell their stories again to the American people,” Stansbury said.

“And the entire point of this case is that there‘s been a miscarriage of justice for decades.”

Stansbury said Democrats have called for public hearings “hundreds of times”, including requesting former Attorney General Pam Bondi and her replacement, Todd Blanche.

“While we appreciate that the first lady is weighing in and asking for public hearings… we want to hear from the law enforcement who have yet to prosecute these cases.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/epstein-victim-makes-bombshell-claim-about-melania-trumps-speech/?

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Humiliated Trump Lets Slip His Iran Deal Is Falling Apart

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is nowhere near what it once was–and Trump is not happy.

The shaky ceasefire between the U.S., Israel and Iran hasn’t yet led to the resumption of oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump admitted Thursday.

Trump, 79, posted a brief message on Truth Social some 48 hours after the two sides had come to a truce that has since been threatened in part by Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The agreement was supposed to result in the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran had shut down. But it’s not going according to plan.“Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote. “That is not the agreement we have!”

Only two oil ships have passed through the strait since the ceasefire announcement, CNN reported on Thursday, while more than 100 had done so daily before the war.

Shipping company executives and analysts told CNN that there are numerous factors that make transporting oil through the vital strait too risky at the moment. What’s needed from Iran, they said, are explicit safety assurances as well as guidance on the timing and manner of shipping, for instance.

“Our top priority is the safety of our employees on land and on sea. Based on our current risk assessment we are refraining from transiting the strait,” a spokesman for Hapag-Lloyd, the world’s fifth-largest shipping company, told the network.

Global market analyst Lale Akoner of eToro estimated that normal traffic could return in six months.

Whether Trump will take action is unclear. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

Before the ceasefire, Trump also downplayed safety concerns in the strait. Amid threats of mines and strikes by Iran, he said oil tanker crews should just “show some guts.” Three cargo ships were struck soon after.

Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil supply is shipped through the strait. The disruption of traffic naturally caused oil and gas prices to spike—something the Trump administration has claimed will be worth it in the long run for a less dangerous Iran.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/humiliated-donald-trump-lets-slip-his-iran-deal-is-falling-apart/?

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Melania Trump denies ties to Jeffrey Epstein and knowledge of his sex crimes The first lady said Thursday that the “stories are completely false” and called accusations that she was somehow involved “smears about me.” Melania Trump said she and her attorneys were fighting back against “unfound and baseless lies.” Read more.

What to know: The seemingly out-of-the-blue message came as President Donald Trump and his administration had finally seemed to move past more than a year of controversy surrounding Epstein. It was not clear what prompted the first lady to revive the issue. Speaking for about five minutes, she did not take any questions, nor go into detail on the accusations against her. Melania Trump said she was not friends with Epstein or his confidant and onetime girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, but was in overlapping social circles. Melania Trump described an email reply sent to Maxwell as “casual correspondence.”   Melania Trump also called on Congress to hold a public hearing centered on survivors of Epstein’s crimes. Former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X, “I am grateful to the First Lady for her brave statement today about Epstein and his victims.” Democrats, meanwhile, jumped on Melania Trump’s comments, saying they agreed with her call for a congressional hearing.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: ‘I am not Epstein’s victim,’ Melania Trump says    IRS touts a 24% increase in tax refunds compared to the previous administration   Federal judge finds Pentagon is violating court order to restore access to reporters   Trump administration’s volume of emergency docket appeals ‘unprecedented,’ Sotomayor says   A federal judge dismisses another DOJ lawsuit seeking voter data, this time in Massachusetts   As Trump boosts coal, opponents warn of higher costs and more pollution   Louisiana GOP races to eliminate an elected office won by an exonerated man

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Frantic Trump, 79, Posts Ominous All-Caps Message in Morning Meltdown

The president offered no explanation for his unhinged update.

Donald Trump has shared a cryptic Truth Social post as the world continues to be affected by his Iran war.

In a typically unhinged all-caps social media post, the 79-year-old wrote: “WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL RESET!!! President DJT.”

Trump offered no explanation for his Friday morning update.

It follows his late-night tirade that saw him aim fire at MAGA influencers criticizing the war, and share a graphic video of a woman being beaten to death with a hammer.

The president shared the ominous Friday message amid the ongoing instability of the proposed two-week ceasefire deal with Iran.

Despite the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz being a key part of the deal, Iran has still closed off the narrow shipping route, through which around one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes, days after the ceasefire was agreed.

Tehran is also said to be weighing up charging vessels a toll to pass through the Strait, an arrangement that was not in place before Trump began the deeply unpopular multibillion-dollar Middle East conflict.

“There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait—They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday.

Trump, who hinted at the possibility of violating his own ceasefire deal, also shared other unhinged social media updates on Thursday.

They included sharing an extremely violent video of a woman being killed on the street by a man wielding a hammer. The man in the video, Haitian immigrant Rolbert Joachin, was arrested for the April 3 killing.

In the full video, which the Daily Beast is not sharing, the attacker repeatedly strikes his victim with a hammer after she falls on the ground.

Trump claimed that he had an “obligation” to share the graphic video “so that people can see what Democrats are protecting, and wanting to come into our Country.”

The president previously spread the deranged conspiracy that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s cats and dogs during the 2024 campaign.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Trump went on a near 500-word rant against high-profile MAGA figures Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones after they turned on the president over the Iran war.

“They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too,” Trump wrote.

“They don’t have what it takes, and they never did! They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some ‘free’ and cheap publicity.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/frantic-donald-trump-79-posts-ominous-all-caps-message-in-morning-meltdown/?

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Trump Blow as Gas Prices Send Inflation Soaring Over War

The new economic data show that the conflict with Iran has hit consumers’ wallets.

Inflation soared in March as President Donald Trump’s war in Iran drove up prices for Americans across the country, with energy costs skyrocketing due to the conflict.

The Consumer Price Index for March showed prices were up 3.3 percent from a year ago, as the inflation rate shot up to 0.9 percent last month, up from 0.3 percent in February.

The acceleration of price increases in March was the biggest one-month jump in costs since June 2022, despite the president’s insistence that he’s solved inflation.

Energy costs rose the most as consumers saw gas prices surge above $4 over the past month, with the war having a ripple effect across the globe.

Energy costs rose the most as consumers saw gas prices surge above $4 over the past month, with the war having a ripple effect across the globe.

The report showed annual inflation was higher last month than it was during President Joe Biden’s final month in office.

Meanwhile, consumer confidence plunged to a record low in April, a University of Michigan survey showed, as Americans fear the ongoing impact of the war.

The price of gas, according to the CPI, was up more than 21 percent last month alone. making it the largest monthly increase ever since the CPI was first published in 1967.

Meanwhile, the cost of oil soared more than 30 percent in March. It was the largest monthly increase in oil prices since February 2000 and brought the cost of oil up 40 percent from a year ago.

Overall, energy costs jumped 10.9 percent, the largest monthly increase for the index since September 2005.

While the U.S. is in a fragile ceasefire with Iran, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted even as Trump has demanded it be reopened immediately. The president even accused Iran of not keeping the agreement late Thursday, but the details around the deal remain vague.

At the same time, airfare prices were up 2.7 percent in March up from the 1.4 percent increase the month before. Airfare is up nearly 15 percent from a year ago.

While the cost of food showed no changes in price from February to March, according to the CPI, economists have already warned that the costs could go up later this spring and summer as farmers and others struggle with increased costs.

Other costs of other goods are also expected to go up as they hit shelves later this year due to the increases in the price of shipping.

While Americans are feeling the strain of the war half a world away, incomes are barely keeping up with the strain. Wage growth is up 3.5 percent year-over-year, according to the CPI, so it has been almost entirely eaten away by the higher costs of living with prices up 3.3 percent from a year ago.

In response to Daily Beast’s inquiry about the latest data showing prices up and some monthly energy cost increases being the largest in decades or in the case of gasoline ever recorded, the White House pointed to a statement on social media.

“President Trump has always been clear about short-term disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, disruptions that the Administration has been diligently working to mitigate,” spokesperson Kush Desai posted on X.

He argued that while energy costs are volatile, prices for food, prescription drugs and other household goods are down or remain stable.

“As the Administration ensures the free flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz, the American economy remains on a solid trajectory thanks to the Administration’s robust supply-side agenda of tax cuts, deregulation, and energy abundance,” he claimed.

But the timing on when there would be the “free flow” of shipping through the crucial waterway still remains unclear.

Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, appeared on Fox Business on Friday morning, where he was pressed about price increases. In the end, he resorted to talking about the lower cost of eggs, which have fallen dramatically from a year ago. It’s the same example the president repeatedly brings up when touting lower costs, even before the war.

In response, Stuart Varney even told Hassett, “That was a bit of a filibuster.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-blow-as-gas-prices-send-inflation-soaring-over-war/?

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Dr. Oz Forced to Admit Humiliating Mistake in His Big Blue State ‘Fraud’ Probe

The mistake raises questions about several Trump administration investigations.

Dr. Mehmet Oz made a glaring mistake when announcing a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program, undermining the Trump administration’s crusade to tackle abuse of federal benefits programs in blue states. Oz, who serves as President Donald Trump’s administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, made the error last month in a social media video and letter to New York’s Democratic governor.He claimed that New York’s Medicaid program provided 5 million people with personal care services, which assist people in need with basic activities such as bathing, grooming, and meal preparation.

That would have meant nearly three-quarters of the state’s 6.8 million Medicaid enrollees were using the program.

“That level of utilization is unheard of,” Oz said in the video, which was accompanied by a post saying that New York needed to “come clean about its Medicaid program.”

In fact, about 450,000 New Yorkers used the personal care services last year, or 6 to 7 percent of Medicaid enrollees, a CMS spokesman admitted to the Associated Press this week.

The agency had misidentified New York’s approach to billing codes and had since refined its methodology, spokesperson Chris Krepich told the AP.

The mistake prompted health analysts to question how many of the Trump administration’s fraud investigations—which mostly target Democrat-led states—are based on bad information.

Last month, Trump signed an executive order creating an anti-fraud task force across federal benefit programs led by Vice President JD Vance.

The New York mistake highlighted the administration’s tendency to launch attacks before verifying information, according to the AP.

“The initial claim by CMS was patently false, and are glad they now admit it,” a spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement.

Michael Kinnucan, a senior health policy adviser at the Fiscal Policy Institute who first flagged the inaccuracy, told the AP, “These numbers could have been cleared up in a phone call, so it’s really slapdash.”

Despite the mistake, CMS is moving forward with its investigation, which is also concerned that New York’s program spends more per beneficiary and per resident than the average state, has high personal care spending, and employs record numbers of personal care aides.

New York has countered that its spending reflects the high costs for services in New York and a policy choice to provide comprehensive at-home care.

In his video, Oz claimed that New York had made its screening for personal care eligibility “more lenient” by allowing patients to qualify based on problems like being “easily distracted.”

The director of the health law unit at the Legal Aid Society told the AP the program requirements have actually become stricter, not more lenient, and that “easily distracted” does not appear anywhere as a program qualification.

Oz also described personal care services as “something that our families would normally do for us, like carrying groceries.”

A quadriplegic woman with cerebral palsy told the AP that it was offensive to suggest that all Medicaid beneficiaries have family members who can care for their relatives full-time, indefinitely, and without compensation.

The Daily Beast has reached out to CMS for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/dr-oz-forced-to-admit-humiliating-mistake-in-his-big-blue-state-fraud-probe/?

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A president and a pope: The world’s most influential Americans are at odds over Iran

It’s an unprecedented situation, with the first American pope directly assailing the American president over the war in Iran, where a fragile ceasefire took hold this week. The announcement came after Pope Leo XIV declared that Trump’s belligerence was “truly unacceptable.” Never before has the relationship between Washington and the Vatican revolved around two Americans, who come from the same generation and share some common cultural roots, yet bring jarringly distinct approaches to their positions of vast power. Read more. ps:Isn't it interesting that the country that claims is a "Christian Nation" is at odds with  a Christian religion! You'd think that they would be working together? But no we back a so-called christian movement called MAGA!!!!!   AP Exclusive: Trump administration admits a glaring error in its New York health fraud accusations NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration this week acknowledged it made a significant error in figures it used to help justify a fraud probe into New York’s Medicaid program, a glaring mistake that undercuts a federal campaign to tackle waste, mostly in Democratic-led states. https://apnews.com/article/new-york-medicaid-fraud-dr-oz-trump-342285a3c5d5b71f36ce3f3c77ec72c5?

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Unemployment has increased for U.S.-born workers in the face of mass deportations

During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance promised that mass deportations and a crackdown on immigration would open up jobs for unemployed U.S. citizens. The theory was simple: remove immigrant workers, and native-born U.S. citizens would fill those open positions. Well, the results are in, and the opposite is happening.

https://www.epi.org/blog/unemployment-has-increased-for-u-s-born-workers-in-the-face-of-mass-deportations-trumps-draconian-immigration-enforcement-is-harming-all-workers/?

Trump’s deportation agenda will destroy millions of jobs

Both immigrants and U.S.-born workers would suffer job losses, particularly in construction and child care

https://www.epi.org/publication/trumps-deportation-agenda-will-destroy-millions-of-jobs-both-immigrants-and-u-s-born-workers-would-suffer-job-losses-particularly-in-construction-and-child-care/?

ps:Which was exactly said would happen, if I recall correctly??

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A Question of Political Will (AFP / Getty)

View in browser This morning, as the United States and Israel’s war with Iran neared the end of its sixth week, Vice President Vance headed for Pakistan, where he plans to sit down with Iranian officials. With a precarious two-week cease-fire in place since Tuesday, both parties are at least potentially open to a resolution—but we shouldn’t expect any immediate results.   That temporary cease-fire is already fracturing: On Wednesday, Israel conducted mass strikes on Lebanon, killing more than 300 people and wounding more than 1,000. Iran says that Lebanon was part of the deal; the U.S. and Israel disagree. In Pakistan, Vance will likely push for an outright end to Iran’s nuclear program. The Iranians want to end the strikes, to affirm their right to nuclear enrichment, to continue asserting control over the all-important Strait of Hormuz, and to collect reparations for war damages, among other concessions. Today, one Iranian official suggested that the government would delay talks until two new requests are met: an end to Israel’s assault on Lebanon, and the release of unspecified “blocked assets.” “If the Iranians are willing to negotiate in good faith, we’re certainly willing to extend the open hand,” Vance told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force Two. “If they’re gonna try to play us, then they’re gonna find that the negotiating team is not that receptive.”   When the U.S. sat down with Iran in February to negotiate an end to the country’s nuclear program, it didn’t go well: At the end of the month, the U.S. and Israel bombed Iran and killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. My colleague Nancy Youssef, a staff writer who covers the Pentagon and has been reporting on the negotiations, told me that this time, Iran has a clear upper hand. Despite President Trump’s repeated claims of victory in the war, Iran is entering the negotiations with a new measure of control over global energy markets, thanks to its blocking of ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and thanks to the country’s apparent resilience. “They were able to launch ballistic missiles despite persistent U.S. strikes,” Nancy said. “They have shown that they can endure a campaign, even one that decapitated their leadership.” Despite sustaining serious casualties, the regime remains intact.   Israel’s belligerence is another complicating factor. The country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has continued to order strikes on Lebanon throughout the week; this morning, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said that an Israeli attack on a government building killed 13 people. Meanwhile, some U.S. officials have started to act like the war is essentially over. At a press event on Wednesday, General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered a complete readout of the targets hit during the war, alongside other relevant operation stats (among them: gallons of coffee consumed). The briefing had a sense of finality, Nancy said: You’re more likely to get a full statistical count at the end of a military operation than in the middle.   The Israelis may not share that perspective, because their interests in the region are ultimately different from those of the United States. “For Israel, a spike in gas prices was a small price to pay for the elimination of what it saw as an existential threat,” Nancy explained—whereas, as nebulous as the White House’s declared aims are, we do know that “the changing price of gas was a threat to U.S. interests, and a state collapse could lead to regional instability that could threaten its allies in the region.” Israel’s goals for the war go beyond the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program—they’re also about the collapse of the Islamic Republic. Netanyahu has said that the attacks on Lebanon are aimed at Hezbollah, one of the Iranian government’s proxies. It’s precisely because the war with Iran hasn’t actually ended the regime that Israel continues its assault.   Nancy said that because the U.S. and Iran have such radically different perspectives on what might bring an end to the war, the negotiations may not wrap up this weekend. Trump has said that American military assets will stay in the Middle East until a deal is reached, but he’s also starting to think more broadly about cooperation. Earlier this week, he told ABC that he is considering a kind of “joint venture” with Iran: a toll system to charge ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. “I think he was bringing sort of a transactional approach to it, in that the war is over in his mind, and now there’s an opportunity to make deals,” Nancy said. “I don’t know that the Iranians are coming at it that way.”   What would it take for a cease-fire to last? The tension between the U.S. and Israeli perspectives on the war has already in some sense jeopardized this temporary peace. Even if America and Iran somehow find a way to work out their incompatible demands, the real obstacle, as Arash Azizi wrote yesterday, is “less in the practical details than in whether the two sides have enough political will to reconcile.” Both parties have reasons to come to the table, but a long-lasting resolution is far from guaranteed.   Related: Reasons to be hopeful in Iran Trump made a deal that gives him nothing he wanted.

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Trump news at a glance: Epstein survivors have words for Melania Trump after surprise statement

More than a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have accused Melania Trump of “shifting the burden” on to them after she called on Congress to hold public hearings with victims of Epstein’s abuse.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/10/trump-news-at-a-glance-latest-updates-today?

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Vance and Kushner Clash as Trump’s Iran Strategy Unravels

Trump’s team is headed into high-stakes talks in Iran, but is divided on what they’re even demanding.

President Donald Trump’s new strategy with Iran is already falling apart as his own team can’t agree on the basics.Vice President JD Vance and the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner appear to be pushing completely different demands in nuclear talks with Tehran, just a day before negotiations are set to resume.

Vance is insistent that Iran have zero uranium enrichment capacity, while Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff had recently floated a softer deal in which the U.S. would supply Iran with uranium for civilian use, according to Fox News.

“When JD Vance says that the president gave them clear guidelines, we understand that to mean that the U.S. needs to go in there and tell Iran: No enrichment, period,” White House correspondent Peter Doocy told America’s Newsroom.

“About six weeks ago, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were sitting there with the Iranians and said, ‘The U.S. will give you all the uranium you want for peaceful purposes. You just can’t use it to enrich a bomb.’”

Iran rejected that proposal outright, highlighting just how wide the gap remains and how muddled the U.S. position has become.

The split is emerging at a critical moment as Trump has dispatched Vance, Kushner, and Witkoff to Pakistan for ceasefire talks to stabilize a fragile truce after weeks of escalating conflict.

But even before those negotiations begin, there are signs they could unravel.

Tehran has already indicated it would prefer to deal directly with Vance over Kushner and Witkoff, reflecting deep distrust after earlier talks collapsed, according to CNN.

Iranian officials have also warned that key preconditions, including a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of frozen assets, have not been met, raising doubts that the talks will go ahead at all.

Iran’s military has warned it has its “fingers on the trigger” amid what it calls repeated breaches of trust, while regional skirmishes continue despite the supposed ceasefire.

Trump, meanwhile, has been sending a very different message.

“The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

“The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate!”

“The Iranians are better at handling the Fake News Media, and ‘Public Relations,’ than they are at fighting!” he wrote in another post.

The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.

The mixed messaging, with hardline demands from one envoy, concessions from another, and threats from the president, has left the administration looking divided heading into one of the most delicate negotiations of Trump’s presidency.

With so much still unresolved, the biggest obstacle to a deal may not be Iran, but the lack of a clear U.S. position.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vance-and-kushner-clash-as-trumps-iran-strategy-unravels/?

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Trump-Pope tension deepens

Pope Leo XIV. Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images Pope Leo XIV and President Trump are escalating a high-stakes clash over immigration and the Iran war, exposing a rare and widening divide between the Vatican and the White House, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. Why it matters: The standoff pits the Vatican's moral authority against Washington's political and military power as both shape global narratives on war, diplomacy and human dignity. ⚡ It's one of the sharpest public divides between a pope and a U.S. president in decades, spanning both foreign policy and domestic immigration fights. While Catholic leaders are framing the Iran war in terms of just war theory and civilian protection, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has infused the conflict with Christian nationalist rhetoric and a "maximum lethality" approach. Leading U.S. cardinals, including Chicago's Cardinal Blase Cupich and Washington's Cardinal Robert McElroy, have publicly reinforced Pope Leo's criticism of the Iran war. ⛪ This week, Leo delivered his sharpest rebuke of Trump, calling the president's threat to destroy Iran's civilization "truly unacceptable." "Attacks on civilian infrastructure are against international law, and ... are also a sign of the hatred, division, and destruction that the human being is capable of," the pope told reporters in Italy on Tuesday. The pope was reacting to Trump's post that a "whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." 🕊️ Leo has repeatedly urged peace, diplomacy and rejection of war rhetoric. Yesterday, the pope tweeted: "God does not bless any conflict. ... Military action will not create space for freedom or times of peace." The other side: The White House rejected the premise of a clash, emphasizing cooperation with the Vatican and defending Trump's policies: "All of President Trump's foreign policy actions have made the world safer, more stable, and more prosperous," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Axios. "Catholic Americans resoundingly supported President Trump in 2024, and the President's administration has a positive relationship with the Vatican." 📉 Reality check: Various surveys show Trump is losing support among Catholics — even white Catholics, a majority who voted for the president in 2024. Only 18% of Hispanic Catholics, a fast-growing segment in the U.S., supported the president's agenda. A March NBC News poll found Leo with a +34 favorability rating — far higher than Trump's.

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🦅 1 for the road: "Arc de Trump"

Rendering: Harrison Design via U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The Trump administration yesterday released plans for a 250-foot "Triumphal Arch" near Arlington Memorial Bridge. Think Parisian monument vibes, but with two eagles, a golden angel and "One Nation Under God" carved into the stone. Rendering: Harrison Design via U.S. Commission of Fine Arts The project is framed as a celebration of America's 250th anniversary. And it's part of President Trump's broader campaign to remake Washington in his image. ⚖️ Vietnam veterans have sued to block the arch, arguing it would obstruct views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery and that Congress never signed off. What's next: The design goes before the Commission of Fine Arts next week. Trump has filled the panel with allies. Go deeper (N.Y. Times gift link) ... More renderings.

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Trump Struts Around UFC Cage Match as Vance Flees Peace Talks

While the president smiled ringside in Miami, the vice president shared that peace talks had collapsed in Islamabad.

President Donald Trump was ringside at a UFC fight in Miami on Saturday night as high-stakes peace talks with Iran unraveled on the other side of the world.

Vice President JD Vance said negotiations broke down after roughly 21 hours, when Tehran refused to commit to abandoning nuclear weapons development.

Trump had already waved off the talks earlier in the day, telling reporters, “I don’t care.”

“Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” he added.

Hours later, he arrived at Miami’s Kaseya Center for UFC 327 to a blaring soundtrack of Kid Rock, greeting podcaster Joe Rogan as he took his seat.

Meanwhile, the Iran talks continued for approximately 21 hours in Islamabad before ending where they started—without a deal.

“The bad news is that we have not reached a deal,” Vance told reporters.

“I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America.”

Flanked by the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and real estate developer-turned-Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Vance said the Iranians had chosen not to accept the United States’ terms.

“We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.”

When pressed by a reporter on what, exactly, Iran had rejected, Vance declined to spell it out, saying he would not “negotiate in public.”

Instead, he pointed back to the same broad demand that Iran would not pursue a nuclear weapon or the means to quickly build one.

The demand is striking, given that Iran had made such a commitment before.

Under the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration, Tehran committed to not building a nuclear weapon, slashed its uranium stockpile, and opened its facilities to international inspections.

Iranian state media reported that officials accused Washington of “looking for an excuse” to walk away from negotiations rather than compromise.

“Iran presented reasonable initiatives and proposals in the negotiations. The ball is in America’s court to look at the issues realistically,” a source told the Tasnim News Agency.

Back in Miami, the scene couldn’t have been more different.

Trump walked into the arena with UFC president Dana White, pumping his fist and pointing to fans as he made his way to his seat, surrounded by a rotating cast of family and MAGA allies.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio hovered nearby, at one point leaning in to show the president something on his phone while Trump’s children, including Don Jr., Ivanka, and Tiffany, moved in and out of his orbit.

The president showed little outward reaction, offering tight smiles for the cameras, a thumbs-up for the winners, and otherwise keeping his focus on the fights unfolding in front of him rather than those 8,000 miles away.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-struts-around-ufc-cage-match-as-peace-talks-fail-8000-miles-away/?

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Trump Throws Vance Under the Bus With Bonkers Iran Taunt

The 79-year-old president is upping the stakes after joking that he’d make his VP take the fall for any failures.

President Donald Trump has undermined his vice president while he is in the middle of peace talks with a Truth Social rant invoking Allah to brag about killing Iranian leaders.

“The Fake News Media has lost total credibility, not that they had any to begin with,” Trump, 79, wrote in a Saturday morning rant. “Because of their massive Trump Derangement Syndrome (Sometimes referred to as TDS!), they love saying that Iran is ‘winning’ when, in fact, everyone knows that they are LOSING, and LOSING BIG!”

Trump went on to claim that Iran’s “Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft apparatus is nonexistent, Radar is dead, their Missile and Drone Factories have been largely obliterated along with the Missiles and Drones themselves and, most importantly, their longtime ‘Leaders’ are no longer with us, praise be to Allah!”The president’s post came just as talks between Iranian and U.S. officials began in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday. Trump’s post made no mention of the negotiations that Vice President JD Vance is spearheading along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Vance’s demands have been different from those pushed by Kushner and Witkoff ahead of the negotiations.

The vice president has been adamant that Iran must have no uranium enrichment capacity, the material used to make nuclear weapons, while Kushner and Witkoff have floated a softer deal in which the U.S. would actually supply Iran with uranium for civilian use.

Kushner and Witkoff had been leading negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, but those efforts were presumably going nowhere when Trump launched his unauthorized war with the country on Feb. 28.

Iran has since said it would prefer not to deal with the president’s son-in-law, or Witkoff, as regime officials said they viewed negotiations with Kushner and Witkoff as a front by the Trump administration to trick Iran into thinking they were negotiating in good faith, when the U.S. really just wanted to launch an attack.

Iran has said it would prefer to negotiate only with Vance, who has long expressed opposition to U.S. military interventions in the Middle East.

The president’s post also claimed that the U.S. was working to reopen the Strait of Hormuz “as a favor” to the country’s allies and adversaries—not because average U.S. gas prices spiked more in March than in any other month since 1967.

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others. Incredibly, they don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves,” Trump wrote.

It’s unclear exactly what “clearing out” the Strait entails.

Iran effectively closed the all-important shipping lane as a result of Trump’s war. It has emerged as a key lever for Tehran as gas and oil prices continue to rocket worldwide.

The president added, “Very interestingly, however, empty Oil carrying ships from many Nations are all heading to the United States of America to LOAD UP with Oil.”

Trump has been begging U.S. allies to help him open the Strait, but they have largely been reluctant to do so. As a result, his administration is reportedly weighing punishments for NATO allies that do not give their full support to the president’s war in Iran.

The Strait has been such a headache for Trump that he threatened to kill off the entire Iranian civilization if it did not open back up, a threat he later walked back as the U.S. and Iran came to a ceasefire agreement of sorts.

In another post on Truth Social Saturday morning, Trump made a pitch for “sweet” American crude oil.

“Massive numbers of completely empty oil tankers, some of the largest anywhere in the World, are heading, right now, to the United States to load up with the best and ‘sweetest’ oil (and gas!) anywhere in the World,” he said.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-throws-vance-under-the-bus-with-bonkers-iran-taunt/?

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Trump Touts Strait of Hormuz Mission After Caving on His Threats

The president accused NATO allies of not having “the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”

President Donald Trump says the U.S. military has begun clearing the Strait of Hormuz of mines despite his earlier brag that other countries would do that for him.

“We’re now starting the process of clearing out the Strait of Hormuz as a favor to Countries all over the World, including China, Japan, South Korea, France, Germany, and many others,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday, adding that they “don’t have the Courage or Will to do this work themselves.”

U.S. Central Command confirmed the mission, writing that Navy ships “began setting conditions for clearing mines in the Strait of Hormuz.” It added that two warships, the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. and USS Michael Murphy, had transited the passage already.

The Strait of Hormuz, largely closed since Trump’s war with Iran began on Feb. 28, was effectively closed after Iran placed mines throughout much of the waterway, bringing a critical passage for roughly one-fifth of global oil shipments to a standstill.

Trump demanded in March that NATO allies help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, claiming the U.S. “shouldn’t be there at all” because “we have a lot of oil.” However, the strait’s closure spiked the average cost of a gallon of gas in the United States more in March than in any other month since 1967.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Some top NATO allies rejected the president’s calls for help in the region.

“This is not our war,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, according to The Independent. “We have ⁠not started it.”

With countries refusing to get involved and Trump reportedly furious with them, the White House is considering measures against allies that do not back its war with Iran, including the possible withdrawal of American troops from NATO states, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Top U.S. officials, including Vice President JD Vance, met with Iranian officials in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday to hold peace negotiations.

There was no immediate word on how the in-person peace talks went.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-touts-strait-of-hormuz-mission-after-caving-on-his-threats/?

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No deal! Trump announces blockade

🚨 Several hours after peace talks in Pakistan ended in failure, President Trump announced the U.S. is imposing a naval blockade on Iran, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

• Why it matters: The move would prevent Iran from exporting its oil as long as other countries are prevented from doing so.

🚢 Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. Navy will immediately "begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz," where traffic has fallen to a trickle.

• Saying this weekend's Iran-U.S. peace talks in Pakistan failed over the nuclear issue, Trump added: "We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!"

The backdrop: The U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement after 21 hours of face-to-face talks — leaving the two-week ceasefire in limbo, with the possibility of renewed and escalating warfare.

• Vice President Vance flew out of Islamabad after saying the parties had "substantive discussions" but couldn't bridge the gaps.

☢️ According to a source briefed on the talks, some of the disagreements had to do with Iran's demand to control the Strait of Hormuz and refusal to give up its enriched uranium stockpile.

• Vance said: "This is bad news for Iran much more than this is bad news for the U.S. ... We have made very clear what our red lines are ... and they have chosen not to accept our terms."
• He said the U.S. wants a long-term "affirmative commitment" from the Iranians not to seek a nuclear weapon or tools to produce one quickly: "We haven't seen that yet. We hope that we will."

The other side: Several Iranian media outlets said after Vance's press conference that the talks failed because the U.S. side wasn't realistic and made "excessive demands."

The bottom line: No one expected a final agreement yesterday. But the U.S. side hoped for enough momentum to keep negotiating, even if that meant extending the ceasefire. Vance's brief remarks conveyed little such optimism, though he didn't say the U.S. is walking away.

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Trump approves disaster requests for at least 7 states. Others await aid decisions

The Trump administration approved major disaster declaration requests for at least seven states this week, according to information released Saturday by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, allowing affected communities to access federal support. About 15 requests for assistance from others states and tribes for extreme weather events this year and last seem to be pending, along with three appeals of previous denials.

https://apnews.com/article/fema-trump-disaster-aid-mullin-dhs-shutdown-f69f9fefcc75214011c142e57273d19f?

ps:Why not for all the states like every other President??????????

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🥊 Trump's papal broadside

President Trump lashed out against Pope Leo XIV last night, calling him "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy."

• Why it matters: The comments escalate already high tensions between the president and the first U.S.-born pope, who has spoken out on Trump administration immigration policies and the Iran war.

Pope Leo, speaking today on a flight to Algeria, said he has "no fear of the Trump administration" and that the Church's role is as "a peacemaker," not a political actor, per OSV News.

• The pope, urging people of goodwill to pray for peace, had said Saturday: "It is here that we find a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive."

Screenshot: Truth Social

In a 300+-word Truth Social post, Trump criticized the pope on matters including the Catholic Church's stance during the COVID pandemic and said he likes Leo's "brother Louis much better" than him because, he claimed, he's "all MAGA."

⏱️ Shortly before Trump's papal post, CBS News' "60 Minutes" aired interviews by Norah O'Donnell with three U.S. cardinals on "why Pope Leo's church has emerged as a voice of moral opposition to the war in Iran and the crackdown on immigration." Read/watch the segment, "Pope Leo's Church."

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Trump Praises Pope’s MAGA Brother Who Shared C-Word Rant About Pelosi

The president is complaining that God’s representative on Earth simply doesn’t understand him.

Donald Trump was up late Sunday night rage-posting about how much he prefers the Pope’s brother over the supreme pontiff himself.

“I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis is all MAGA,” the president posted on Truth Social. “He gets it, and Leo doesn’t!”

Lou Prevost, the eldest brother of Pope Leo XIV, does indeed have a cozier relationship with Trump. Prevost has repeatedly praised the Republican leader in online posts, applauding his attacks on the trans community and the Democratic Party, and once even shared a video that referred to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a “c--t.”

“These f---ing liberals crying about tariffs is just unreal,” the caption under the video read. “Do they not know that there is a thing called video? Just listen to what this drunk c--- has to say in the mid-90’s long before her husband had grindr dates.”

Prevost’s efforts, first revealed in the Daily Beast in May 2025, quickly earned him an invitation to the White House, and to a Mar-a-Lago bash hosted by the president in December.

Trump’s comments came in the midst of an unhinged 334-word rant against the Bishop of Rome after CBS aired a 60 Minutes segment outlining all the ways the new leader of the Catholic Church has criticized the president’s policies.

The Chicago-born pontiff, who last May became history’s first American pope, has fast emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent critics. He has repeatedly condemned the administration’s war with Iran, its January invasion of Venezuela to capture despot Nicolás Maduro, and its hardline immigration crackdown, which Leo has called out as “extremely disrespectful.”Just last week, the Pope branded Trump’s threat to “wipe out” Iranian civilization “truly unacceptable,” and on Saturday told worshippers at the Vatican to reject the “delusion of omnipotence” surrounding world leaders. Sunday’s 60 Minutes segment, in which U.S. cardinals Robert McElroy, Joseph Tobin, and Blase Cupich echoed Leo’s criticisms, appears to have been the final straw for the president. In his meandering Truth Social tirade, Trump lambasted Leo on everything from Iran and Venezuela to COVID-era church closures and immigration. He claimed the pope thinks “it’s OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon,” that he is “weak on crime,” and that he was only elected “because he was an American,” and that “if I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”He soon followed up with a deeply unsettling AI-generated image of himself as the savior of the Christian faith. The picture features Trump, depicted as Christ, healing a hospital patient with hands gleaming with divine light, flanked by an American flag, bald eagles, the Statue of Liberty, and the Lincoln Memorial.The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment on this story.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-donald-trump-praises-popes-maga-brother-who-shared-c-word-rant-about-nancy-pelosi/?

ps:This is the kind of people he honors and praises!!!!!

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Manic Trump, 79, Launches Unhinged 4AM Posting Blitz

The president did not stop at attacking the pope and depicting himself as Jesus Christ.

Donald Trump has gone on a deranged social media posting spree, covering all manner of topics such as the Iran war, golf, and comparing himself to Jesus Christ.

The 79-year-old president was up until past 4 a.m. ET on Monday in an unhinged Truth Social blitz following a weekend when talks to end the deeply unpopular multibillion-dollar war in Iran broke down.

In the early hours of the morning, the president posted several links from pro-Trump websites. These included updates such as the Court of Appeals ruling that construction on Trump’s White House ballroom can continue until at least April 17, as well as Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell confirming he has suspended his campaign for California governor amid sexual assault allegations.

Other posts include a 2:37 a.m. article from JustTheNews headlined “Impeachment Bombshell: Secret memos expose Ukraine accuser’s bias, hearsay, and false claim.” The president also shared a JustTheNews article suggesting he should impose a “naval blockade” if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping route.

After a brief respite, the 79-year-old president returned to social media to share another pro-Trump article at 4:10 a.m from the New York Post headlined: “Trump brilliantly calls Iran’s bluff—with his own Strait of Hormuz blockade.”

In an earlier part of his posting spree, the president was hit with an immediate MAGA backlash for suggesting that Pope Leo XIV was “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy” before sharing an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ.

Trump’s posting marathon had a relatively normal start, with the president sharing an image of himself with Rory McIlroy and his father as the golfer was on his way to achieve historic back-to-back victories at The Masters.

“Rory, and his father Gerry, also a very good Golfer, at Trump International Golf Club, Palm Beach County, Florida,” Trump wrote Sunday night.

Trump’s Truth Social posting then took a turn as he continued his extraordinary attacks on Pope Leo XIV, as the leader of the Catholic Church has become a vocal critic of the Iran war.

The pope had also described Trump’s warning last week that “an entire civilization will die tonight” unless Iran agreed to a deal as “truly unacceptable.”

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about ‘fear’ of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else for holding Church services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty feet apart,” Trump wrote.

Trump also praised the pope’s MAGA-supporting brother, Lou Prevost, and suggested that Pope Leo was only elected to his position “because he was an American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President Donald J Trump.”

“If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican,” Trump added.

Shortly after his 334-word rant against the pope, the 79-year-old then shared an image depicting himself as Jesus Christ healing a sick man.

Trump, who was widely criticized for sharing an AI-generated image of himself as the pope soon after the death of Pope Francis, also attracted a backlash for the latest image depicting himself as a holy figure.

“It’s more than blasphemy. It’s an Antichrist spirit,” former MAGA congresswoman turned Trump critic Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X.

Trump continued his posting spree with another AI-generated image depicting a golden Trump hotel built on the moon.

Elsewhere, Trump shared an image showing how Democratic figures Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Joe Biden had been in office for 40, 52, and 50 years, respectively.

The image also noted that Trump has now been in office for a total of five years, seemingly suggesting that the 79-year-old believes his political career can continue for several more decades.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/manic-trump-79-launches-unhinged-4am-posting-blitz/?

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Judge dismisses Trump’s $10B lawsuit against WSJ, Murdoch over reporting on ties to Epstein

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge dismissed President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch on Monday over a story on his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-murdoch-wall-street-journal-lawsuit-40e7aba7731db9e8800488038cb92a66?

Trump administration agrees to return rainbow Pride flag to New York’s Stonewall monument

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it will resume flying a rainbow Pride flag on a federal flagpole at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, reversing course two months after removing the banner from the first national monument commemorating LGBTQ+ history.

https://apnews.com/article/stonewall-rainbow-flag-trump-lgbtq-historic-preservation-ac4ab59d3251476139700db6687828ca?

• 🤳 Many Christians are expressing discomfort over President Trump's since-deleted post that appeared to depict him as a Jesus-like figure. Trump, speaking to reporters this afternoon: "I did post it, and I thought it was me as a doctor." Go deeper.

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🚔 Immigration hardliners say Trump is going soft

Some conservatives are furious over what they view as President Trump backing off his deport-them-all rhetoric ahead of the midterms, Axios' Brittany Gibson reports.

Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project and leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition, tells Axios: "The truth is, the first year was not a year of mass deportation."

• "A conscious decision was made to go after the worst first, which was — we'll call it a deviation from the central campaign promise of mass deportations."

The coalition includes GOP think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, advocacy groups like the Immigration Accountability Project, and a slew of Young Republican clubs.

• 👮 The group is now pushing for at least 1 million annual deportations.

Go deeper.

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Trump's incredible shrinking tent

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Donald Trump is torching the coalition that made him president, seemingly oblivious to the depth of discontent permeating his movement, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: Trump won back the White House with the most eclectic alliance in modern politics — a blend of MAGA diehards, crypto evangelists, nonwhite men, podcast bros, anti-war populists and culture-war Christians. What Republicans celebrated as a once-in-a-generation coalition may turn out to be exactly that, never to be reassembled. 🔎 Zoom in: Over the past two weeks, Trump has tested the loyalty of MAGA's Christian base with a series of extraordinary provocations. It began on Easter, when Trump threatened to bomb Iran's power plants and bridges in a profanity-laced Truth Social post, and signed off with "Praise be to Allah." Two days later, he warned Iran that "a whole civilization will die tonight" — appalling some of his closest former allies, including Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Candace Owens. On Sunday night, Trump attacked Pope Leo XIV — the first American-born pope — as "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy," furious that Leo had condemned his threats against the people of Iran. Within the hour, Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself as a Christ-like figure — healing a bedridden man, flanked by bald eagles and the American flag. The image drew rare condemnation from MAGA loyalists, including allegations of blasphemy and even demonic possession. Trump deleted the post yesterday morning, telling reporters: "It's supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better. And I do make people better." Between the lines: Catholics, who make up roughly a fifth of the U.S. population, are America's most powerful swing religious bloc. Trump's attacks on the pope — who is far more popular than he is — could prove self-destructive in the midterms. 🔭 Zoom out: Trump's war on his own coalition extends far beyond the pews. MAGA media: Trump has lashed out at the most powerful voices in the "America First" ecosystem, disavowing erstwhile allies for their criticism of his Iran war. The fallout is forcing influencers who've spent years in lockstep to publicly pick sides. Podcast populists: Trump's 2024 campaign attracted a generation of young, nontraditional Republican voters who'd never pulled a lever for the party before. The Iran war, the Epstein files and suspicious trading activity tied to Trump announcements have shattered their fleeting trust in politicians. Crypto enthusiasts: Trump ran as the "crypto president," and the industry poured millions into his campaign. A cascade of controversies — including crashing prices and new allegations of self-dealing — has left true believers questioning whether they were ever anything more than marks. Nonwhite voters: Trump made historic inroads with Latino and Black men in 2024 on the strength of his economic message. Deep pessimism about the U.S. economy has rapidly unraveled those gains.