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

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How Trump woos Rogan

We told you yesterday about Joe Rogan's surprise Oval Office appearance for the signing of an executive order on psychedelic drugs. Axios' Alex Isenstadt has the backstory:

President Trump and his aides have been working aggressively behind the scenes to court Joe Rogan, even as the podcast titan torches the president over the Iran war.

• Why it matters: Rogan's backing — and his pull with young male listeners — helped power Trump to a second term. The president knows that keeping him close still matters.

👂 What we're hearing: The White House had been working to build bridges to Rogan for months. Trump is "frequently" in touch with the podcaster, according to a Trump aide.

• Vice President Vance and Rogan met last month during Vance's fundraising stop in Austin, where Rogan is based, according to two people familiar with the sit-down.
• RFK Jr. has also been in touch with Rogan and appeared on his show in February.
• Ditto for Calley Means, a Kennedy adviser and outspoken supporter of psychedelic therapies, who was on the podcast in 2024.

The backdrop: Rogan has been a major proponent of psychedelic therapies.

• The new executive order fast-tracks FDA review for psychedelics, designates $50 million for research into ibogaine, and orders federal agencies to expand research.

Behind the scenes: Two weekends ago, Trump was on his way to a UFC fight night in Miami, where Rogan was announcing, when he reached out to Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, about ibogaine. Kennedy and Oz then got going on the executive order.

• Trump greeted Rogan cageside later that night.
• Another Trump aide said the president and Rogan have a "legitimate friendship" fostered by UFC President Dana White, who's close to both men.
• Rogan is expected to be a commentator at the UFC Freedom 250 fight night on the White House South Lawn in June.

🎙️ Friction point: Rogan has been a vocal critic of the Iran war. "You're shooting missiles into towns and blowing things up ... What the f*** are we doing? Like, how is this still going on?" the podcaster said last week.

• Rogan said voters "feel betrayed" by Trump, who "ran on no more wars."
• Trump jabbed Rogan at Saturday's signing, saying the podcaster is "a little bit more liberal than I am."
•  More on the executive order.

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🇦🇪 UAE wants U.S. lifeline

Smoke blankets Dubai, UAE, last month after explosions rattled buildings. Photo: AFP via Getty Images The United Arab Emirates has opened talks with the U.S. about a financial backstop if the war inflicts further economic damage on the booming global financial hub, The Wall Street Journal reports (gift link). The UAE Central Bank raised the idea of a currency-swap line with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Fed officials in Washington last week. If they can't get dollars, the Emiratis said they may turn to the Chinese yuan instead. Why it matters: The dollar's global supremacy rests in part on the fact oil is bought and sold in dollars, the Journal writes. That allows the U.S. to borrow cheaply, fund its military and enforce sanctions worldwide. 💡 Intel from Jim's weekend CEO newsletter: The Gulf's massive AI buildout — billions from Microsoft, Oracle, Nvidia and others — faces indefinite geopolitical risk after Iranian strikes on AI-related targets across the region. China already has the world's second-largest AI compute capacity. It doesn't need Gulf cooperation to scale. Every dollar of Western investment that stalls in the Gulf is a dollar that doesn't build an alternative to Chinese infrastructure.

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White House Leak Reveals Trump Booted From Briefing After Hours-Long Freakout

Even the president may have doubts about his war.

Donald Trump, 79, reportedly threw such a tantrum during a fraught rescue operation in Iran that his aides banished him from the room as they were briefed.Senior administration officials told Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal that the commander-in-chief went into a frenzied state upon learning two airmen were missing when their fighter jet was downed in Iran.His hours-long tirade became such a hindrance that aides barred him from the room handling the crisis, opting instead to brief him at intervals, officials revealed to the Journal.

Before the airmen went missing, the president was already fixated on avoiding a repeat of the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis—and the failed rescue mission under former President Jimmy Carter that helped sink his reelection bid.

“If you look at what happened with Jimmy Carter…with the helicopters and the hostages, it cost them the election,” Trump said in March, according to the Journal. “What a mess.”

A frantic Trump feared the two missing airmen from the downed F-15E Strike Eagle—both eventually rescued after a high-risk recovery mission—could define his presidency, too.

The panicked president demanded the U.S. military rescue the crewmen immediately, while aides warned that the military needed time to assess terrain they hadn’t had boots on the ground in since the 1970s.

The pilot of the fallen aircraft was recovered later that day. But a two-day race against the Iranians for the second crew member ensued, with U.S. troops eventually emerging victorious.

While he waited, Trump reportedly wailed throughout a nearly empty West Wing over gas prices—which had surged to an average of $4.09—and the U.S.’s European allies, whom he has repeatedly raged at for not joining the surprise war he and Israel launched on Iran on Feb. 28.

Hours after Trump learned of the recovery mission’s success that Saturday, he kicked off Easter Sunday with a profanity-filled Truth Social tirade where he demanded Iranians “open the F—n’ Strait, you crazy b—--ds, or you’ll be living in Hell.”

He concluded the post, “Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

The president later told an adviser that he improvised the controversial post so he would be perceived as “unstable and insulting,”—which he hoped would scare Iranians to the negotiating table. At the same time, even he seemed unsure of himself, reportedly asking advisers, “How’s it playing?” as his praising of Allah on Easter Sunday sparked widespread outrage within his Christian base.

Despite that, Trump escalated further on Tuesday, writing in another impromptu Truth Social post that a “whole civilization will die tonight” in Iran if his demands were not met by Tehran.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Journal that the president “remained a steady leader our country needs.”

“President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes,” she said.

Presently, a shaky ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is set to end this week, with a deal still seemingly out of reach. Trump boasted to reporters on Friday that Iran “had agreed to everything” and that the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz—through which a fifth of the world’s oil passes—was over, calling it “a great victory.”

Less than 12 hours later, an Iranian Revolutionary Guard ship fired on a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-house-leak-reveals-trump-booted-from-briefing-after-hours-long-freakout/?

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John Bolton Warns How Trump’s Big Mouth Has Weakened U.S.

Trump’s former national security adviser said the president has given Iran “enormous leverage.”

President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser offered up a brutal conclusion on the impact of the president’s frenzied comments over his war with Iran.

John Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under President George W. Bush and as national security adviser during Trump’s first term, told CNN’s Jessica Dean on Sunday that Iranian negotiators can probably “smell panic” in the White House.

Bolton explained to Dean that the president’s countless frantic Truth Social posts have allowed Iran to see just how badly Trump wants out of the war.

“I think they smell panic in the White House,” Bolton said. “I think they can see Trump wants out of this. He‘s just he‘s broadcasting it almost every day. And it gives the Iranians enormous leverage they shouldn‘t have.”

Bolton also argued that the president is not making geostrategic decisions but rather domestic political ones, with the upcoming midterms in mind.

“A large part of this is his fault,” Bolton said of Trump’s abysmal polling following his attack on Iran in February. “He made no effort whatever in the weeks and months before the attack to build the case for whatever his objectives were.”

“We still don‘t know what his objectives were,” Bolton added. “I think the proper objective is regime change. But whatever he was after, he didn‘t bother to tell anybody until 2.30 in the morning on February the 28th, after the attacks had begun. That‘s not how you do it. That‘s just Politics 101, domestically.”

“For whatever reason, he didn‘t bother to do it. Now he can see the consequences.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

The president has claimed a number of objectives for attacking Iran, including implementing regime change, seizing control of the country’s nuclear stockpile, or as a pre-emptive strike ahead of a potential Iranian attack on the U.S.

His approval rating has suffered dramatically, falling to its lowest point in response to the conflict with Iran.

Discussing the decision to send Vice President JD Vance to Pakistan to handle negotiations with Iran, Bolton said that it was a mistake.

“You shouldn‘t send the vice president,” Bolton told Dean. “He‘s one level below the president. We don‘t know that the people the Iranians are sending have any authority to commit their government to begin with.”

“If we were going to send a high-level official, it should have been the secretary of state, not the vice president and not civilian volunteers,” he added, referring to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who will be joining Vance when he returns to Pakistan for another round of attempted negotiations this week.

Bolton has previously warned that Trump’s war with Iran threatens to expose him as a leader who is out of his depth in the war room.

Speaking to The Daily Beast Podcast, Bolton who also served under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said of Trump, “He’s the only president I’ve seen who felt uncomfortable in the Situation Room.”

“It was a different experience than I’ve seen with any other American president, both the decisions that I participated in at lower levels in the government as I worked my way through the chairs,” Bolton told host Joanna Coles. “And I think it’s a problem.”

“I think it was because there were a lot of people in the room who knew a lot more about what we were talking about than he did.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-bolton-warns-how-trumps-big-mouth-has-weakened-us/?

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Businesses can claim refunds starting Monday for Trump tariffs declared unconstitutional A refund system for businesses that paid tariffs which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled President Donald Trump imposed without the constitutional authority to do so is scheduled to launch Monday. Read more.

What to know: It’s the first step in a complicated process that also might eventually lead to refunds for consumers who were billed for some or all of the tariffs on products shipped to them from outside the United States.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US military strike on alleged drug boat kills 3 in Caribbean Sea   Carney says Canada’s economic ties with US are a weakness that must be corrected   Despite a diplomatic clash, the US is investing in an experimental South African rare earths project   Some American farmers bet on solar. Then Trump changed the rules   Trump wants data on California’s trans and abortion care. Can the state stop him?   Transgender athlete focuses on what may be her last track season as Supreme Court ruling looms   States eulogize Charlie Kirk with new laws promoting religion and free speech   A big midterms year in Arizona kicks off with the state’s largest county embroiled in election drama   WATCH: Obama and Mamdani sing Wheels on the Bus to preschoolers

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National Guard ‘follows the Constitution,’ general says of troops possibly deployed to polls

The National Guard’s top general told Congress on Friday that it would follow the Constitution and the law when he was asked about the possibility President Donald Trump would order troops to polling places for the midterm elections.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/04/17/repub/national-guard-follows-the-constitution-general-says-of-troops-possibly-deployed-to-polls/?

Homeland Security’s SAVE program divides election officials as November nears

As the midterms approach, Republican and Democratic election officials are split over a powerful federal computer program at the center of President Donald Trump’s quest to expose noncitizen voters and compile lists of voting-age Americans.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/04/17/repub/homeland-securitys-save-program-divides-election-officials-as-november-nears/?

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Keystone Kash Demands Unreal Payout in Lawsuit Over Boozing Report

The FBI director is seeking $250 million in damages over the bombshell article.

FBI director Kash Patel has filed a $250 million lawsuit over an explosive report claiming he had a drinking problem so troubling it could threaten national security.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, comes after The Atlantic published a story alleging Patel has been binge-drinking on the job, behaving erratically, and that a SWAT team asked for “breaching” gear because he was uncontactable behind a locked door.

The bombshell report cited more than two dozen anonymous sources expressing concern at the FBI director’s “conspicuous inebriation and unexplained absences” that “alarmed officials at the FBI and the Department of Justice.”

The White House, the Department of Justice and Patel all denied the allegations.

“Print it, all false, I’ll see you in court—bring your checkbook,” the FBI director warned in a statement last week.

However, The Atlantic has stood by its report and defended its journalism. Staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick, who wrote the article, also said in an interview on MS NOW on Friday night, “I stand by every word of this reporting. We have excellent attorneys.”

In his lawsuit, Patel’s lawyers described the article as a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece.” They argue The Atlantic “crossed the legal line by publishing an article replete with false and obviously fabricated allegations designed to destroy Director Patel’s reputation and drive him from office.”“Indeed, Fitzpatrick could not get a single person to go on the record in defense of these outrageous allegations, instead relying entirely on anonymous sources she knew to be both highly partisan with an ax to grind and also not in a position to know the facts,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also alleges that the magazine and Fitzpatrick published the article “despite being expressly warned, hours before publication, that the central allegations were categorically false.”

Patel is now seeking $250 million in damages over the article. In order to win the case, he must prove “actual malice,” which means the author either knew a claim was false or displayed “reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

The Daily Beast has not independently corroborated the anecdotes reported in The Atlantic’s article.

However, Fitzpatrick has said that she interviewed “more than two dozen people” about Patel’s conduct, “including current and former FBI officials, staff at law-enforcement and intelligence agencies, hospitality-industry workers, members of Congress, political operatives, lobbyists, and former advisers.”

Her report claimed Patel “is known to drink to the point of obvious intoxication, in many cases at the private club Ned’s in Washington, D.C., while in the presence of White House and other administration staff” and the Poodle Room in Las Vegas, “where he frequently spends parts of his weekends.”

“Early in his tenure, meetings and briefings had to be rescheduled for later in the day as a result of his alcohol-fueled nights,” said bombshell report, which was initially headlined “Kash Patel’s Erratic Behavior Could Cost Him His Job.”

It was not the first time Patel’s drinking has hit the headlines. Earlier this year, during a taxpayer-funded trip to Italy, he was filmed chugging a beer during a raucous locker room celebration with Team USA at the Winter Olympics.

Viral videos showed him raising his fists and beer in the air while he appears to be singing lyrics of the 2002 patriotic anthem, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American),” alongside the hockey players.

According to NBC News, president Donald Trump, who doesn’t drink, reportedly told Patel he wasn’t happy about his antics.

The FBI director has also come under fire over his taxpayer-funded plane, which he used to travel to an NHL game in Long Island and to visit his girlfriend multiple times across the country.

Patel is being represented by former Trump attorney Jesse Binnall, who represented former North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson in a failed defamation lawsuit against CNN.

Robinson, a MAGA Republican previously endorsed by Trump, had sued over claims that he posted messages on a pornography website in which he called himself a “black NAZI,” expressed support for slavery, and described Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”

“Defamatory speech is not free speech, and it is an honor to represent Kash Patel in this lawsuit seeking accountablity for The Atlantic article’s malicious falsehoods,” Binnall wrote on X.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/keystone-kash-demands-unreal-payout-in-lawsuit-over-boozing-report/?

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Flailing Trump, 79, Insists His Own Energy Chief Is ‘Totally Wrong’ About Gas Prices

The president went against Chris Wright’s assessment of when the cost would drop.

Desperate Donald Trump has humiliated his own energy secretary in a row over gas prices.

Chris Wright, 61, told CNN on Sunday that he did not think they would drop below $3 a gallon until at least 2027.

In a phone interview with The Hill, the president, 79, disputed that assessment. “No, I think he’s wrong on that. Totally wrong.”

Trump said he believed prices would dip “as soon as this ends,” in reference to his unpopular war in Iran.

This, and in particular Iran’s restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, has caused crude oil prices to spiral.

The price spike was made worse after the U.S. seized an Iranian vessel in the region on Sunday.

Wright made his downbeat forecast on Jake Tapper’s State of the Union with the U.S. pump average sitting at $4.05 a gallon, according to AAA—nearly a buck higher than 12 months ago.

The shale-gas veteran was grilled on air by Tapper about his own pledge six weeks earlier that sub-$3 fuel would return within a matter of weeks, not months, as the Daily Beast reported.

The pain at the pump has become a serious political millstone around the president’s neck. Trump’s economy approval cratered to 31 percent in a CNN poll at the start of April—a second-term floor that undercuts every reading ever posted by Joe Biden on the same measure, the Beast reported.

A JL Partners survey in December found that almost half of registered voters think life has become less affordable since Trump returned to the Oval Office.

The president has swatted away the grumbles as a Democrat “hoax” and “con job,” even as his gamble on Tehran sent pump prices above $4 a gallon for the first time since the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A 10-day truce was agreed with Iran on Thursday, though Trump on Sunday accused Iranian forces of blowing through it with fresh attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

Vice President JD Vance, 41, is due in Islamabad on Monday to head a U.S. team meeting Pakistani and Iranian officials. However, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said it had yet to sign off on whether the talks will actually happen.

The president also hit back at a separate Reuters dispatch on Monday that claimed Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir had used a phone call to urge him to rethink the American naval siege choking off Iran’s ports—with the wire service saying Trump had agreed to weigh up the intervention.

The president insisted to The Hill that Munir had not raised the subject at all, bragging that Iran was hemorrhaging $500 million every day under the clampdown. “We control it. They don’t control it,” Trump said.The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Energy for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/flailing-trump-79-insists-his-own-energy-chief-is-totally-wrong-about-gas-prices/?

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ICE Snatches Star of Painting That Celebrates Modern America

Criselda Vasquez’s father, subject of her acclaimed “New American Gothic,” was detained on his way to work.

A granddad who was the subject of a celebrated reimagining of one of America’s most iconic paintings has been detained by ICE and is facing deportation by the Trump administration.

The father of Chicana artist Criselda Vasquez—whose 2017 canvas “The New American Gothic” reimagined Grant Wood’s instantly recognizable 1930 masterpiece by putting her Mexican-born parents at its center—had lived in the United States for more than four decades.

While the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles added the painting to its permanent collection in 2021, the man’s name has never been revealed.

Now it has emerged that the father of four children who are U.S. citizens was stopped and detained on a California street in late March.

“My father and one of his workers were detained by ICE while simply on their way to work,” Vasquez wrote in an Instagram post on April 3, as reported by Migrant Insider on Sunday.

She described her family as “heartbroken” and her mother as “completely devastated.”

The arrest took place early on the morning of March 31, when federal agents pulled over Vasquez’s father in front of a neighbor’s home and detained him alongside one of his employees.

Vasquez told art publication Hyperallergic that her father had been “racially profiled on his way home from work” before agents pulled him over.

The family has declined to publicly release his name or his precise immigration status, and Migrant Insider said ICE has offered no public explanation for why he was taken into custody.

After the detention, relatives tracked him to a specific facility only by calling around and hunting through online databases, while the household’s primary breadwinner sat behind bars.

Vasquez described her father to Hyperallergic as the “hardest-working, most selfless person” she knows, a devoted husband and grandfather, and “a role model not only to his four children, all of whom are United States citizens, but also to many people he has come across.”

“My father’s hard work, dedication, and sacrifices will never be forgotten and will continue to be a long lifetime inspiration to me and my family,” Vasquez said, adding that her art tries to give visibility to families who “strive to be invisible every day.”

Relatives have set up a GoFundMe to offset legal costs and the income he would normally bring home. At the time of publication, it had raised nearly $75,000 toward an $80,000 goal.

The detention of Vasquez’s father is tinged with irony. Last year, she posted the image on Instagram, saying that under Trump 2.0, it was “as relevant as ever.”

She wrote: “As a first generation Mexican American I’ve witnessed firsthand the hard work, struggles and sacrifices that immigrants endure in this country.

“In the long tradition of immigrants that have come to this country, they come here simply to work, seek security and provide a better future for themselves and their children. There’s always been a large mischaracterization of this community. They are NOT criminals. They are human beings who deserve dignity, respect and human rights!”

The Daily Beast contacted ICE and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art for comment. ICE said it was unable to check on the status of a detainee without “their A# and country of citizenship, or full name, date of birth and country of citizenship.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-snatches-star-of-criselda-vasquezs-painting-that-celebrates-modern-america/?

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Presidential Restraint (Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty)

View in browser Earlier this month, top officials in the Trump administration were facing two problems—one distant and acute, one near and chronic. The first was that two American airmen were missing inside Iran after their jet had been shot down. Commanders were scrambling to create and execute an operation to rescue both. The second was the president’s temperament. As plans developed and went into effect, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, “aides kept the president out of the room as they got minute-by-minute updates because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, instead updating him at meaningful moments, a senior administration official said.” It’s a stunning bit of news: During a national-security crisis, top advisers decided the commander in chief’s presence was a liability. This incident is only the latest example of how Trump’s aides have been trying to keep him in the dark and build a protective bubble around him. A president whom aides do not view as reliable and steady is a danger in any situation, but the war in Iran has brought many of these issues to the fore. In the lead-up to the war, which Trump launched without consulting Congress, making a case to the American people, or assembling allies, many of his aides believed that Trump was not taking seriously the risks and trade-offs involved, according to Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times. (The fact that these aides have voiced none of these concerns publicly but said enough privately that the comments leaked later does not speak well for the Cabinet’s judgment or courage.) Once the war began, Trump received updates that were screened and bowdlerized for him. He has long been inattentive to briefings—early in his first term, aides realized that he liked maps and graphics and would glaze over if given much information in text—but he has reportedly been starting his day off with a sizzle reel of stunning explosions rather than with hard info. These clips, which show the real prowess of the American military, did not convey the ways that the U.S. was losing the war on a strategic level. According to Time, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles became “concerned aides were giving the President a rose-colored view of how the war was being perceived domestically.” Trump was reportedly shocked at how easily Iran seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, even though the military had warned of the possibility. Although Trump’s erratic and horrifying social-media posts have absorbed much of the media’s attention of late, his live appearances haven’t done a lot to assure the public of his steadiness either. He unconvincingly told reporters that he had believed that a picture that depicted him as Christlike actually showed him as a doctor. Trump has never excelled at reading from a teleprompter, often coming off as stiff and bored, but his delivery has been especially rough in recent weeks. He seemed tired and unfocused delivering lines in his April 1 White House speech, has waffled on whether the action in Iran is or isn’t a “war,” and declared the war complete even as hostilities continued. Trump also said he wasn’t made aware of a curious press statement by First Lady Melania Trump, where she denied any relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, before it was made. Every president eventually feels trapped in a bubble. In 2014, an evidently claustrophobic Barack Obama reveled in the act of just walking to Chipotle from the White House. Other predecessors have complained about receiving heavily filtered information and feeling removed from the real world. The Biden administration raised new questions of whether the president was being hidden from the public and the press—and even from some aides—to obscure physical or mental decline. Whatever the reasons for aides cloistering a president, the ramifications for democratic accountability are serious. If the president is not up to the task of governing, the public might understandably wonder if the person they elected is really in charge, or if unelected aides are in effect running the country. In 1974, worried about Richard Nixon’s drinking and paranoia, Defense Secretary James Schlesinger instructed the military not to deploy nuclear weapons without asking him or Secretary of State Henry Kissinger first. This was on the one hand a reasonable precaution—the president was unstable—and, on the other hand, a scandalous one, because Americans had elected Nixon and not Schlesinger. The Biden and Trump administrations raise the same specter. Trump, for better and worse, can’t be shut in as effectively as Biden could. For one thing, Biden’s cellphone number wasn’t in circulation among many reporters. Aides apparently didn’t consult Trump on how to handle the bizarre story of a FEMA official who claims to have teleported to Waffle House, but an understandably perplexed president learned of it anyway when CNN called him directly to ask about it. While having some sources of information beyond one’s staff is generally good, the risk is that Trump’s sources aren’t good ones. As my colleague Jonathan Lemire reported last year, Trump has mostly stopped holding the rallies that he had used as a barometer of his base. Many people who are not reporters have access to the president’s phone number. And Trump has always been susceptible to misinformation, gravitating to sources that are conspiratorial or tell him what he wants to hear rather than what is true. But if the president can’t handle reality, the problem is ultimately with him—not with the information he’s receiving. Aides’ desire to keep Trump in the dark is understandable, but it is also an affront to the constitutional system. Related: The bubble-wrapped president Everyone has Trump’s phone number now.

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Tariff Refund Reckoning

The federal government yesterday began refunding more than $166B from global tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February, with interest accruing at roughly $22M per day. Only companies that paid tariffs directly are eligible for refunds, not consumers indirectly hit by higher prices. Amid class-action lawsuits, companies including FedEx and Costco have said they may share proceeds with customers, though details are unclear. The refund timeline is also uncertain: The government estimates it will take 60 to 90 days to issue refunds, but technical challenges could cause delays. A digital claims system had to be built to identify the global tariffs, process refunds, and issue payments. That platform can currently handle about 63% of affected import filings, with the remainder to follow. After the Supreme Court's ruling, the Trump administration implemented a temporary 10% tariff on most imports and is exploring a new pathway for global tariffs under the Trade Act of 1974 (101 here).

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⚡ Trump Cabinet casualty

Via X

As we signaled yesterday, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leaving the Trump administration to take a private sector job. Steven Cheung, White House communications director, announced that Keith Sonderling will serve as acting Labor secretary. Chavez-DeRemer's departure follows repeated accusations of abusing power: Whistleblowers allege she directed staff to "make up" official trips to cover travel with family and friends. She's accused of drinking on the job, having an inappropriate relationship with a security detail member and taking staff to a strip club. Her husband was barred from Labor Department headquarters after female staffers accused him of sexual assault. She thanked President Trump in an X post. Both she and her husband deny the allegations.

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Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is leaving amid misconduct allegations Chavez-DeRemer faced multiple allegations of abusing the power of her position, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job. Read more.

Why this matters: Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.    Late Monday, on her personal X account, Chavez-DeRemer posted, “The allegations against me, my family, and my team have been peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and continue to undermine President Trump’s mission.” Both the White House and the Labor Department initially said the reports of wrongdoing were baseless. But the official denials got less full-throated as more allegations emerged.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Justice Department files complaint against Washington and its sewage authority for massive spill   Trump’s Federal Reserve nominee is set to face a tough hearing before Senate panel

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Trump Tries to Get on God’s Good Side After Week of Blasphemy

This month, the president has depicted himself as Jesus and picked a fight with the pope.

President Donald Trump is throwing himself back into religion, after he was pilloried from all angles for a stint of overt blasphemy.

The 79-year-old has, in the past, flaunted his Christian chops by hawking $60 Bibles on the campaign trail and by declaring the Good Book his favorite tome—while struggling to cite a single passage. However, his credentials suffered earlier this month when he made the ungodly decision to depict himself as Jesus Christ in an AI-generated image.

He then embarked on a public spat with none other than the leader of the Catholic Church. With his standing amongst followers of Christ potentially in the mud, his PR goons have come up with a cunning plan.

As part of a week-long Bible reading event dubbed ‘America Reads the Bible,’ POTUS will read a piece of Old Testament scripture from the Oval Office on Tuesday.

The reading, centered on 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, will be held between 6-7 p.m. ET. The passages, perhaps ironically, serve as a warning to King Solomon about abandoning God’s commands.

USA Today reported that the spectacle is pre-recorded, hopefully meaning Trump won’t go off script(ure). The recording will be streamed on the America Reads the Bible website and the Great American Pure Flix app.

“I applaud every citizen participating in the America Reads the Bible initiative,” the president said in a statement on April 17. “Together, we will honor Holy Scripture, renew our faith, usher in a historic resurgence of religion on American shores and rededicate the United States as one Nation under God.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles are also set to participate, along with other Trump administration officials. As is self-declared ‘Secretary of War’ Pete Hegseth, whose recent relationship with God has generated headlines.

Last week, Hegseth was ridiculed after he cited a prayer largely invented by film director Quentin Tarantino for the movie Pulp Fiction to praise a rescue mission during the Iran war. He has also quoted Bible verses to justify the war, calling for “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.”

But it is his boss, Trump, whose run-ins with the man upstairs have been truly questionable. The aging president posted a bizarre AI-generated image of himself as Jesus earlier this month—drawing backlash even from MAGA loyalists, before it was taken down. Trump later insisted he thought it showed him as a doctor.

“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” the president spuriously claimed of the image, which showed him with a glowing orb floating above his palm as he was surrounded by angels, and demons, descending from the sky.

He has also spent weeks fanning tensions with Pope Leo XIV. The beef started when Trump unleashed a late-night rant about the Chicago-born pontiff’s stance on Iran.

He also invented some claims the pope never made. “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump began. He added he does not want a pontiff who thinks it’s acceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, who thinks it’s “terrible that America attacked Venezuela” or “who criticizes the President of the United States.” The pope has never publicly stated that he thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

“I’m not fighting with him. The pope made a statement. He says Iran can have a nuclear weapon. I’d say Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump later claimed, in an attempted clean-up operation.

The pope has since tried to cool the feud, too, saying his comments about “tyrants” were not aimed at the president.

But Trump was back on the AI beat soon after. He posted another AI-generated image to his social media last week of himself next to Jesus. This time, the two men were in a close embrace.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-tries-to-get-on-gods-good-side-after-week-of-blasphemy/?

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Vance Humiliated as Trump’s Peace Talks Descend Into Farce

The vice president was expected to depart for Islamabad on Tuesday morning, but was in a holding pattern after it became unclear whether an Iranian delegation would show up.

Vice President JD Vance was forced to delay a trip to Pakistan for a second round of peace talks with Iran as war negotiations once again descended into farce.

The Marine Corps veteran was expected to depart for Islamabad on Tuesday morning, but was left waiting after it became unclear whether an Iranian delegation would show up.

With each hour the vice president was delayed, the ceasefire drew closer to its end as Tehran played brinkmanship with Trump, with Vance as the pawn.

As of late morning, Iran had not yet committed to sending officials to Pakistan, hours after Donald Trump insisted, yet again, that “we’ve totally won the war.”

But the White House was left scrambling after Tehran, which had initially told mediators it would send a delegation to Pakistan on Tuesday, later said it would do so only if the U.S. lifted its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.

The speaker of the nation’s parliament had also warned that the regime would not negotiate while being threatened by Trump—an apparent reference to the president’s rhetoric about “lots of bombs” going off if no deal was reached.

“Trump, by imposing a siege and violating the ceasefire, seeks to turn this negotiating table—in his own imagination—into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.

“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats, and in the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield,” he concluded.

The latest whiplash over the war came as the fragile ceasefire was set to expire on Wednesday night.

Vance reportedly had his bags packed on Tuesday, but his motorcade was spotted arriving at the White House around lunchtime, where he was set to huddle with officials to work out the next steps.

He is still expected to head to Islamabad at some point, but it is not clear when he will depart.

Confusion also gripped Washington the day before, when Trump made conflicting claims about the whereabouts of his Vice President.

On Sunday, the president said Vance wasn’t going to Pakistan to lead the peace talks with Iran due to security issues, only for his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to tell other reporters on the record that Vance was going.

And on Monday, the befuddled president said Vance was in the air, only for his vice president to turn up at the White House.

Trump was nonetheless expressing confidence about the war when he phoned in to CNBC on Tuesday morning.

In a rambling interview, he boasted that he would secure a “great deal” with Iran but added that he had “all the time in the world” to end the war with Iran.

To assert his point, the president pulled out a list of wars and compared their time frames.

“I just looked at a little chart. World War One: four years and three months. World War Two, six years. Korean War, three years. Vietnam, 19 years. Iraq, eight years. I’m five months,” Trump said, despite the fact that the Iran conflict is now in its seventh week.

“I mean, people can play games. The Democrats, they said, ‘Well, we should have done better.’ No matter what—if I did it in one week, people would have said I should have done better.”

Pakistan has urged the U.S. and Iran to extend the two-week cease-fire and continue to work toward a diplomatic solution.

But Trump told CNBC that he wants to make sure the threat from Iran ends, even if things don’t wrap up quickly. Asked if he would allow the ceasefire to continue, he said: “I don’t want to do that.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vance-humiliated-as-trumps-peace-talks-descend-into-farce/?

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Fuming Trump, 79, Rages at His Own Supreme Court Justices as Humiliating Defeat Looms

The president accused the court of lacking common sense and asking “bad questions” about his policies.

President Donald Trump has lashed out at the conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court in a wild rant ahead of another potentially humiliating legal defeat.Speaking to CNBC on Tuesday, the president embarked on an angry tirade against the court—including the justices “nominated by me”—accusing them of lacking “common sense” on tariffs and asking “bad questions” about his immigration policies.

The comments came weeks after Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court as it debated whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship.

But Trump abruptly left the April 1 hearing before it was over after some of his own conservative picks did not appear convinced by his bid to upend the policy of birthright citizenship in America.

“I’m looking to make this country strong. Supreme Court could have helped us. Now they have birthright citizenship, they’ll probably rule against us,” Trump said on Tuesday during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

“No country in the world has it. It’s horrible for our country, and I just see it, you know. I see some of these Republicans that are nominated by me asking real bad questions—and looks like maybe we’re gonna lose that one too.”

The historic hearing sparked protests outside the court, while observers inside the room included Hollywood actor Robert DeNiro, an outspoken Trump critic.

Attorney General Pam Bondi also appeared in court with Trump that day, only to be fired by the president less than 24 hours later.

But Trump nominees Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch seemed skeptical of Trump’s case, while conservative Chief Justice John Roberts had something of a mic-drop moment when the president’s lawyer, John Sauer, tried to make the point that “we’re in a new world where eight billion people are one plane ride away from having a child who’s a U.S citizen.”

“It’s a new world,” Roberts replied. “It’s the same Constitution.”

A ruling on birthright citizenship is expected in June, with the court widely tipped to go against the president, just as it did in February when it ruled 6-3 against Trump’s signature tariff policy.

As a result of that ruling, the administration now has to refund $166 billion to about 300,000 different importers, including companies such as Nike, Walmart, and Home Depot.

“If the courts had common sense, they would have done something that could have been very easy to do and made everybody happy,” Trump lamented on Tuesday.

“If they had common sense, we would not be paying back almost $200 billion in tariffs, so stupidly. In many cases, the enemy—the enemy!—is getting this money,” he added, without specifying who exactly the enemy was.

“The people that have hated the United States, we’re giving them checks for billions of dollars. It’s so sad to see. And it would be nice if the court system and the Supreme Court could have done things a little bit differently. Very sad.”

Trump nominated conservative justices Barrett, Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh in his first term, paving the way for some of the court’s most consequential modern decisions, such as the repeal of federal abortion rights.

The trio now makes up the conservative majority alongside Chief Justice John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas.

But last week, Trump floated the prospect of reshaping the Supreme Court again, suggesting that Alito, 76, and Thomas, 77, may consider stepping down because of their age.

Neither has shown they intend to do so, but according to Trump, “there’s a theory that if you reach a certain age,” people should retire from the bench to make way for a new appointee with similar political leanings.

“You make the case that, at a certain time, you give it up so that you can have a justice (on the same side)… so that your ideology, your policies, your everything, would be of the kind that we like,” he said last week.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/fuming-trump-79-rages-at-his-own-supreme-court-justices-as-humiliating-defeat-looms/?

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Draft-Dodging Trump, 79, Brags About How He Would Have Won Vietnam War in Unhinged Rant

Donald Trump avoided the military draft five times.

President Donald Trump has made the stunning assertion that he would have led the U.S. to victory in the Vietnam War within weeks.Speaking as his conflict in the Middle East entered another day, the five-time draft dodger also declared he had “all the time in the world” to end the war with Iran and warned people not to rush him as peace talks resume in Islamabad.

“I would have won Vietnam, very quickly. I would have won Iraq in the same amount of time that we we’ve won here,” he told CNBC’s Squawk Box.

The Vietnam War ran from November 1, 1955, to April 30, 1975. It was immensely costly in terms of both economics and casualties.

Trump was able to avoid being drafted for the war five times through four education deferments and one medical deferment for bone spurs in 1968.

But to reassert his point, the president pulled out a list of wars, and compared their time frames.

“I just looked at a little chart. World War One: four years and three months. World War Two, six years. Korean War, three years. Vietnam, 19 years. Iraq, eight years. I’m five months,” Trump said, despite the fact the Iran conflict is now in its seventh week.

“I mean, people can play games. The Democrats, they said, ‘well, we should have done better.’ No matter what - if I did it in one week, people would have said I should have done better.”

Trump’s comments came as the White House scrambled to project control over the conflict.

Vice President JD Vance is due to land in Islamabad within hours, leading a high-stakes U.S. delegation alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

But uncertainty clouds the talks ahead of the scheduled end of a two-week cease-fire between the two countries on Wednesday.

Iranian officials earlier threatened to boycott the negotiations altogether following the U.S. seizure of a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.

However, Trump insisted on Tuesday that he is on the brink of making “a great deal” as he pushed back on growing concerns about the need for an immediate offramp to the crisis.

“We lost 13 men, and that’s terrible - I wish we didn’t lose one - but if somebody would have said we’ve done this and obliterated that country, obliterated it, and we lost 13 men? People would have said that’s not possible to have done that,” he said.

“So we’ve done a great job and I don’t want to be rushed by people who are treasonous, as far as I’m concerned.”

Trump also suggested that the U.S. would be unwilling to extend the two-week cease-fire with Iran if it expired without a deal in place.

“I don’t want to do that,” he replied when asked if he would allow for the cease-fire to continue if progress in the talks was being made.

Trump decided to join Israel to strike Tehran on February 28. Since then, at least 13 US service officers have been killed as part of the conflict, gas prices have soared, and Republicans have become increasingly panicked about their election prospects as the midterm elections loom in November.

Meanwhile, a new poll released over the weekend showed Trump’s approval rating sinking to the lowest point of his presidency, with only 37% of Americans approving of Trump’s performance.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/draft-dodging-trump-79-brags-about-how-he-would-have-won-vietnam-war-in-unhinged-rant/?

ps:So when is the Republican party going to take a stand and remove this crazy man??????????

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Trump and other top Republicans will read passages in a marathon Bible event

President Donald Trump and many of his leading Christian supporters and top Republicans are taking part this week in a marathon reading of the Bible in an America 250-themed event billed as encouraging a “return to the spiritual foundation that has shaped our country.” The America Reads the Bible event is slated to feature a video of Trump on Tuesday evening reading a passage that called for national repentance in ancient Israel — words that have been used prominently for decades by those promoting the belief that America has been and should be a Christian nation. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

'If my people': Here's why the Bible passage Trump will read aloud is so potent and polarizing 2 CIA officers killed in Mexico vehicle crash after counterdrug operation, AP sources say Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigns amid ethics investigation Southern Poverty Law Center says it faces a Justice Department criminal probe over paid informants Trump's Fed pick Kevin Warsh vows to curb inflation as Trump renews demand for rate cuts   US military pushes for boost in 2027 spending on drones and air defenses used in Iran war U.S. military officials on Tuesday called for spending tens of billions of dollars in the next budget year on drones, air defense systems and fighter jets that have been a key part of fighting the Iran war. As part of President Donald Trump’s push to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion in the 2027 budget, the Pentagon wants to triple spending on drones and related technology to more than $74 billion and invest over $30 billion into more critical munitions, including missile interceptors, whose stockpiles have become critically low during the Iran war. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ US puts negotiations with Iran on hold as ceasefire deadline nears Flu vaccine no longer mandated for US troops, Hegseth says College student from China charged with illegally taking photos of US military planes

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• 👨‍💼 President Trump has told confidants that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is "begging" for a Trump administration job — including attorney general, Axios' Marc Caputo has learned. Go deeper.

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Labor Isn’t Working

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When Lori Chavez-DeRemer was nominated, she had a chance to be a pathbreaking secretary of labor, supposedly tasked with shepherding the Republican Party in a more worker-friendly direction. Instead, she turned out to be a typical Trump Cabinet member: disempowered and disgraced. Now she has added dismissed to that list.

Chavez-DeRemer’s departure was announced yesterday evening in an X post from White House Communications Director Steven Cheung, who said she would “take a position in the private sector.” He said that Keith Sonderling, the deputy secretary, will be acting secretary.

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration and work for the greatest President of my lifetime,” Chavez-DeRemer wrote on X.

Chavez-DeRemer is unlikely to be missed at the Labor Department, in part because it seems she was hardly ever there. Employees said that she was an absentee secretary, and Sonderling has reportedly already been effectively running the department for some time. When Chavez-DeRemer was present, she brought scandals with her. Shortly after her confirmation last spring, she threw what looked a lot like a birthday party for herself at department headquarters—on her birthday, with her picture on television screens and staffers singing “Happy Birthday.” To justify spending government funds on the bash, the department called it a swearing-in ceremony. Chavez-DeRemer told a House committee, “I did not have a birthday party,” but The New York Times obtained a picture of the secretary blowing out candles on a cake.

This episode set the pattern for Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure as secretary. In January, a complaint was filed with the department’s inspector general, an internal watchdog, and Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were placed on leave and later forced out. Among the allegations against the secretary were claims that she was having the department pay for personal trips, drinking on the job, taking staffers to strip clubs, and in a romantic relationship with a bodyguard, who was also placed on leave this past winter. In February, the Times reported that Chavez-DeRemer’s husband had been barred from Labor Department headquarters after at least two staffers alleged he had sexually assaulted them. (He has “categorically” denied the allegations.)

This spring, the Times also reported that three more employees had filed civil-rights complaints against Chavez-DeRemer, adding claims that she retaliated against staffers for cooperating with an investigation and asked some to run errands for her husband. According to the Times, investigations uncovered evidence that Chavez-DeRemer allegedly dispatched aides to bring wine to her hotel room on trips, including during the workday. Her father and husband were both said to have texted young female department employees, who were instructed by Chavez-DeRemer and an aide to “pay attention” to the two men. Chavez-DeRemer has not specifically responded to the allegations in the January complaint, but issued a “general denial” through a lawyer; she and her husband did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Times about the new allegations.

Chavez-DeRemer’s departure, as the probes into her and press scrutiny both escalated, is thus no surprise. But it’s the latest evidence that President Trump’s “no scalps” policy, in which he refused to push out aides for fear of giving wins to Democrats or the press, is defunct. What’s notable in the new era is who gets fired. Trump has pushed out Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem (who was also accused of having an affair with a staffer and abuse of public resources, which she denied), and now Chavez-DeRemer—all women.

Meanwhile, top male aides have so far escaped consequence for allegations similarly serious to the ones that got Noem and Chavez-DeRemer pushed out. As my colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick reported Friday, officials have been concerned about FBI Director Kash Patel repeatedly drinking to excess (Patel has denied this, and is suing The Atlantic); Patel has also used FBI aircraft to travel to several destinations, including to visit his girlfriend in Nashville, where FBI SWAT team members have provided security to her. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who faced numerous allegations of excessive drinking at the time of his confirmation, has also reportedly mingled family and work, bringing his wife into high-level discussions. (Hegseth has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.) The only public fallout from the “Signalgate” scandal, in which Atlantic editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg was added to a chat where highly sensitive matters were being discussed, was that National Security Adviser Mike Waltz was reassigned to a cushy post as ambassador to the United Nations.

Chavez-DeRemer has been so plagued with scandals that it’s easy to forget that her tenure began with a very different sort of controversy. Her nomination, urged by the president of the Teamsters, was seen as evidence of the Republican Party under Trump prioritizing workers’ interests. As a U.S. representative from Oregon, Chavez-DeRemer had a history of voting with Democrats. She was one of three House Republicans to co-sponsor the PRO Act, an organized-labor-backed bill to make unionizing easier. Even as many Trump picks were easily confirmed, Chavez-DeRemer faced a grilling from fellow Republicans over her stances on labor, though she ultimately won all but a handful of their votes.

But she leaves behind little legacy on policy. Maybe that’s because Chavez-DeRemer allegedly spent much of her tenure partying and then playing defense on investigations, but it’s also because Trump likes to centralize policy decisions in the White House, rather than empowering Cabinet members. And Trump himself appears to have lost interest in a worker-friendly agenda, if he ever had it in the first place. At the start of his second administration, the president fired a pro-union member of the National Labor Relations Board (though the dismissal is still being challenged in court) and slashed union protections for roughly a million federal workers.

Since then, the president’s attention has shifted from domestic politics to foreign interventions, especially the war in Iran, and GOP figures with more labor-friendly rhetoric, including Vice President Vance and Senator Josh Hawley, have put little focus on workers’ issues. Support for labor unions among Republican voters has dropped sharply, and union leaders who hoped to cultivate an alliance with Trump have mostly lost hope in him. Trump’s approval in the working class has also been dented by inflation, which has only worsened as a result of the Iran war.

With Chavez-DeRemer gone, the Labor Department will surely be a more functional and less scandal-ridden workplace. Sonderling is said to be a more traditional pro-business figure, but regardless of whom Trump nominates as a permanent leader, the department is unlikely to matter much for the rest of his presidency. The real acting secretary of labor will always be Trump himself.

Related:

• Trump’s purge may be just beginning.
• The one Trump pick Democrats actually like

ps:They were picked but only to do his bidding like puppets!! If they actually did there jobs they'd be fired for sure!!!!!

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Virginia voters approve redistricting plan in setback to Trump A constitutional amendment passed in a close vote on Tuesday will allow the use of new districts drawn by Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly. It could boost the Democrats’ chances of winning four additional U.S. House seats in November’s midterm elections. Read more.

Why this matters: The referendum was a defeat for President Trump, who kicked off a national redistricting battle last year by urging Texas Republican officials to redraw districts, which led to a burst of redistricting nationwide by both parties. The goal was to help Republicans win more seats in November and hold on to a narrow House majority amid political headwinds. But the Virginia redistricting referendum could help nullify Republican gains elsewhere, including the newly redrawn districts in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio.   The Virginia vote may not be the final word. The state Supreme Court is considering whether the plan is illegal in a case that could make the referendum results meaningless.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ How these results affect the bigger battle for control of Congress   Virginia congressional redistricting question special election results

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MAGA Melts Down After ‘Disgusting’ Blow to Trump

One of Trump’s plots has come back to bite him, and somehow Republicans are taking it out on Barack Obama.

MAGA went into meltdown after voters in Virginia turned against Donald Trump in a critical referendum that could sway the result of the midterm elections.

Virginians approved a Democratic plan to allow them to redraw the state congressional map for the remainder of the decade. Subject to a state Supreme Court hearing later this week, the plan could give the party as many as four extra seats in the House come November.

The result means that Trump’s calls for redistricting in Republican-led states—which MAGA raced to back at the time—are now backfiring on the president as Democratic states rush to follow suit.

After 97 percent of the votes were counted, 51.5 percent voted yes to redistricting, while 48.5 percent voted no.

The proposed map means Democrats could possibly win 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts, a handy boost from the current 6-5 split in the Virginia House delegation, as Republicans fight to hold onto power.

Trump administration officials stuck to the script after the defeat, describing it as an exercise in gerrymandering: altering electoral district boundaries to give one party an advantage over their rival.

Speaker Mike Johnson called the results “egregious”, claiming 46-percent of Virginia voters backed Trump. “That is why Democrats relied on rigging the ballot question in order to win. We fought this effort with money, manpower, and in the courts - and those fights will continue.”Johnson claimed Democrats broke “the law” in order to “force their radical, unwanted agenda down the throats of every American.”

Former President Barack Obama recorded TV ads in favor of the ‘yes’ vote in Virginia, which led to Republicans calling out his past comments against gerrymandering, saying it led to political polarization that makes it “harder and harder to find common ground.”

Former DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin shared Obama’s X post on Tuesday which thanked Virginians for “showing us what it looks like to stand up for our democracy and fight back.”

McLaughlin wrote: “Disenfranchising millions of voters and forcing 45-percent of Virginians to be represented by 1 congressional district and 55-percent represented by 10 is now ‘standing up for Democracy.’ Is that ‘equity’? What a farce.”

Fox News host Mark Levin also reacted to Obama’s post, calling him an “unconscionable liar, Obama” and vented about the result, saying, “You just disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of voters. Disgusting.”

MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer complained that “Democrats are stealing Virginia”—and also blamed Obama. She addedm “Virginia is about to become uninhabitable.”

Glenn Youngkin, the former Republican governor of Virginia, campaigned heavily for the ‘no’ vote. “Thank you to all the voters who turned out to vote against this egregious power grab,” he posted on X. “I urge the Virginia Supreme Court to rule against this unconstitutional process that will disenfranchise millions of Virginians.”

Indeed, several sour Republicans also pinned their hopes on the state’s Supreme Court, which is considering whether the plan is illegal and could through the result out.

“This is not over. I think the courts will rule in our favor,” Julie Perry, who is running for Congress in Virginia, posted on X. “Remember, the Virginia Supreme Court hears this case on Thursday.”

NewsNation host Katie Pavlich was trying to find positives in the result, posting on her X account that “the lobster isn’t cooked yet! It may get thrown out by the Virginia Supreme Court. The Democrat redistricting power grab has already been slapped down by a judge.”

Lawyer, and former acting deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, Ken Cuccinelli also weighed in on this week’s Supreme Court appeal, posting on X, “By the way folks, this is going to move FAST - not the usual “court speed”.

Other MAGA figures attacked Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat elected governor of Virginia last November.

Spanberger posted after the result that Virginia’s voters had “pushed back against a President who claims he is ‘entitled’ to more Republican seats in Congress.”

Fox News host Laura Ingraham shared the governor’s post and added, “You’re a fraud and you campaigned against what you did tonight—only for power. Virginia is gone."

Conservative CNN commentator Scott Jennings parroted Johnson’s language, calling the results “egregious,” and claimed Virginia previously had “the fairest maps in the nation.”

“I‘m not surprised that the ‘yes’ vote won,” Jennings said. “They had all the money and all the lies. And sometimes in politics, when you’ve got those two things, you can put something over the line, even something as egregious as this.”

He said the new maps were “a complete joke, everybody knows it.”

Former Fox News star Geraldo Rivera told CNN, “I think that gerrymandering is a cancer on politics, I don’t understand how it made it into the constitution... I think it’s really obscene.”

Video of Fox News host Jesse Watters begrudgingly reading out the live result of the Democrat victory was contrasted online against his comments from last year. “We have to gerrymander to the tilt,” he said of Republicans in 2025. “Why? Because the Democratic Party cannot be trusted to be the opposition anymore, they have to have a permanent minority.”

While some Republicans blamed Democrats, reformed MAGA supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene made a long, impassioned post after the results, blaming her former hero turned nemesis Donald Trump, for losing his supporter base.

Greene said, “A once red state is turning into one of the bluest states because people don’t want to support Republicans now.”

“Trump betraying the America First wing of MAGA is going to have devastating consequences in the midterms,” the former Georgia congresswoman wrote on X.

“I’ve been warning of this all along,” she stated, blaming Trump for starting his war on Iran, leading to rising fuel prices, as well as his stalling on the release of the Epstein files.

The Republican said these were “some of the top issues that has caused a revolt on the right and a mass exodus of America First Trump voters.”

She told MAGA to “stop lapping up their meaningless words,” adding: “Our loved military is once again fighting in the Middle East, your money is paying for Israel’s war, and once again people will suffer and die.”

Journalist Rachel Bade also said the “GOP blame game” was in full swing in Virginia after the “botched” result for the party.

Bade said local Virginia Republicans blamed everyone from Trump to the RNC, but noted on X that “Whomever they blame, they agreed on one thing: that national GOP leaders were asleep at the wheel when they were outgunned by the Dems.”

Meanwhile, Trump spent Tuesday evening posting on Truth Social about his war with Iran after again extending a ceasefire.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-melts-down-after-disgusting-blow-to-trump/?

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Trump Launches Unhinged SCOTUS Attack on ‘Stupid’ Justices He Appointed

The president went for right-leaning justices on the court over their decision to block his tariffs.

Donald Trump has launched yet another furious tirade on the U.S. Supreme Court, attacking the justices he appointed as “weak and stupid.”For the second day in a row, the president lashed out at the court for striking down his signature tariff policy and questioning his push to end birthright citizenship.

In a wild Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump lamented how liberal justices always stick together, “even that new, Low IQ person, that somehow found her way to the bench (Sleepy Joe)!”

This was a derogatory reference to Ketanji Brown Jackson, who Biden nominated, making her the first Black woman elevated to the nation’s highest court.

“The Republican Justices don’t stick together, they give the Democrats win after win, like a 159 Billion Dollar pile of cash on a completely ridiculous Tariff decision, and nasty, one sided questions on the country destroying subject of Birthright Citizenship, something which virtually NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD IS STUPID ENOUGH TO ALLOW,” Trump added.

“It was meant for the babies of slaves, not for the babies of Chinese Billionaires. No, certain “Republican” Justices have just gone weak, stupid, and bad, completely violating what they “supposedly” stood for.”

The comments come less than 24 hours after Trump launched a similar attack during a CNBC interview, accusing the justices of lacking “common sense” and asking “bad questions” about his policies.Earlier this month, Trump became the first sitting president to attend oral arguments at the Supreme Court as it debated whether all children born in the United States can continue to automatically receive citizenship.

The president attended the April 1 hearing with his then-Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and stared down the justices as they quizzed his lawyer, John Sauer, about the case.

But Trump abruptly left the hearing before it was over, after some of his own conservative picks did not appear convinced by his bid to upend the policy of birthright citizenship.

Bondi, who had come under fire for months over her handling of the Epstein files and her inability to successfully prosecute Trump’s enemies, was sacked hours later.

During the birthright citizenship hearing, Trump appointees Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch appeared skeptical of the administration’s arguments, as did fellow conservative justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

This has added to the president’s rage about the court potentially handing him another defeat, just as it did in February when it struck down his tariff policy.

The 6-3 tariff ruling was a major blow for Trump, undercutting one of his biggest tools for reshaping U.S. trade and exerting pressure on other countries.

As a result of the decision, the administration now has to refund about $160 billion to about 300,000 importers, including companies such as Nike, Walmart, and Home Depot.

“Handing over 159 Billion Dollars in Tariff refunds to people who have been Ripping Off our Country for years, is unexplainable,” he wrote on Thursday.

“One little sentence would have stopped this record setting payment from having to be made. It is a travesty!”

He added: “No, the Radical Left Democrats don’t need to “Pack the Court,” it’s already Packed!"

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-launches-unhinged-scotus-attack-on-stupid-justices-he-appointed/?

ps:I have no problem with conservative Justices, or for that matter so called "liberal" ones, but they should work for the country not trump!!!!!

[phkrause]

Trump’s $1.5-Trillion Planned Orgy of War Spending Exposed

The budget would represent the largest share of U.S. economic output devoted to defense since the Cold War.

The Pentagon is proposing a massive $1.5 trillion defense budget for next year—an increase of nearly 50 percent that would mark one of the largest military spending surges in decades.

The plan would bankroll a wide range of new initiatives backed by President Donald Trump, including major investments in next-generation weapons and large-scale defense systems.

Among them are tens of billions for the Navy’s future “Golden Fleet” battleship and F-47 Air Force fighter jet, and roughly $18 billion for a “Golden Dome” missile defense network designed to counter long-range threats using space-based sensors, interceptors, and radar systems, the Washington Post reported.

A significant portion of the funding—nearly $75 billion—is set aside for unmanned warfare, including drones, autonomous ships, and pilotless aircraft, along with systems to defend against them.

The budget also significantly boosts missile production, with some procurement levels set at 10 to 15 times higher than last year.

For example, the Navy plans to purchase 785 Tomahawk missiles next year—after buying just 88 over the past two years—while the Army is seeking more than $20 billion for Patriot and THAAD missile interceptors.

Trump unveiled the proposed spending surge in a January social media post, arguing it would enable the Pentagon to create “the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to” and better respond to rapidly changing threats across space, cyber, and drone warfare domains.

If approved, the budget would represent the largest share of U.S. economic output devoted to defense since the Cold War.

But the proposed budget, which Trump is pursuing through a process called reconciliation, faces a difficult road ahead.

Last year, lawmakers relied on the budget reconciliation process to push the Pentagon’s funding from its initial $890 billion request to more than $1 trillion—a mechanism that allows spending measures to clear the Senate with a simple 51-vote majority rather than the usual threshold.

And that process has angered some in Trump’s own party.

“There is certainly a desire to spend more on defense. How that happens is up to us, not the administration,” a GOP Senate staffer told the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, some Republicans have raised concerns that the sheer scale of the Pentagon proposal could prove difficult to justify to voters without corresponding spending cuts.

Democrats, meanwhile, have criticized several of the headline projects—such as the “Golden Dome” missile defense system and a new battleship—arguing they amount to costly showpieces rather than essential defense investments. “The reason it’s $1.5 trillion is there’s all this stuff that we don’t need and in some cases will not work,” Sen. Mark Kelly told The Post.

Even among Republicans who reject claims of waste, there is skepticism about fully endorsing the plan. Sen. John Kennedy said Congress would treat the proposal as guidance rather than a blueprint. “A president’s budget proposal ... is always instructive, in some cases persuasive but it is never dispositive,” he said.

Others are doubtful the measure will advance at all. “I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democratic member of the Senate panel overseeing defense spending.

Scrutiny of Pentagon finances has intensified in recent years. A March analysis by Open the Books found the department spent more than $93 billion in September 2025 alone—the highest monthly total in at least 15 years.

Aside from the weaponry and hardware, included in this spending was $2 million on Alaskan king crab last September alone, as well as $6.9 million on lobster tail and $1 million on salmon. The Defense Department also spent nearly $140,000 on donuts, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $26,000 on sushi preparation tables, and a whopping $15.1 million on ribeye steak.

Millions was also spent on technologies, contracts, and purchases from foreign governments and businesses, as well as musical instruments, fruit baskets, office furniture, and stickers featuring children’s characters from Dora the Explorer, Frozen, and Paw Patrol.

The department also spent $5.3 million on Apple devices, including purchasing 400 of the more expensive 512-gigabyte edition iPad Air M3s rather than cheaper models with less storage.

John Hart, CEO of Open the Books, called the Pentagon’s multibillion-dollar spending in September 2025 “unacceptable.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-15-trillion-planned-orgy-of-war-spending-exposed/?

[phkrause]

Billionaire Investor Sues Trump Family’s Crypto Project for ‘Extortion’

Justin Sun claims that WLFI sees “a golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud.”

Crypto billionaire Justin Sun has sued the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, accusing the project of “criminal extortion.”

The case, brought in a California federal court, alleges that WLFI froze Sun’s digital tokens and blocked him from cashing out a $30 million early bet that he claims could have netted him $276 million.

Sun, who became the project’s first major investor shortly after President Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024, said he remains “an ardent supporter of President Trump and the Trump family” but insisted the suit was necessary.

He alleges that company managers “see the project as a golden opportunity to leverage the Trump brand to profit through fraud.”

WLFI is a governance token allowing holders to vote on aspects of the platform. Early investors were initially barred from selling. An entity tied to Trump and his family holds roughly 38 percent of the company behind World Liberty Financial—while also securing a lucrative slice of the action. That setup entitles them to 75 percent of proceeds from WLFI token sales after costs, plus a cut of the ongoing revenue and interest generated by the project’s stablecoin.

In September, World Liberty Financial said it would permit trading of up to 20 percent of holdings—but Sun’s tokens were allegedly excluded. The company told him that his identity verification information was insufficient and declined to elaborate.

Sun claims the restrictions were retaliatory. He alleges World Liberty Financial wanted him to buy large amounts of its USD1 stablecoin and promote it on his Tron blockchain network—describing retail demand as “underwhelming.”

He said that when he declined, the company moved to limit his ability to transfer or sell his tokens. He had instead invested $100 million in the separate $TRUMP memecoin, making him its largest holder, and attended a VIP dinner with other investors at a Trump golf club.

The lawsuit further alleges that company executive Chase Herro threatened to report Sun to U.S. authorities over the identification issue if he pursued legal action. His lawyers called this “a pressure tactic that itself qualifies as criminal extortion.”

Sun said he attempted to resolve the matter in good faith but was rebuffed. “They have left me with no choice but to turn to the courts,” he said.

World Liberty Financial hit back on social media earlier this month, writing: “Justin’s favorite move is playing the victim while making baseless allegations to cover up his own misconduct. See you in court pal.”

USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin whose reserves are invested in Treasury bills, generates income for the company, with roughly $160 million in annual revenue projected from those reserves. The token carries a market value of around $4.2 billion.

At the time of his WLFI investment, Sun was facing fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission. That case was later settled without an admission of wrongdoing. World Liberty Financial has said it does not engage in conflicts of interest.

The White House has previously stated that neither the president nor his family “have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”

The Daily Beast approached WLFI and the White House for comment. The White House referred the Beast to WLFI, whose team referred the Beast to an X post by WLFI co-founder Eric Trump.

“The only thing more ridiculous than this lawsuit is spending $6 million on a banana duct-taped to a wall. We are incredibly proud of the @worldlibertyfi team…” Trump said, nailing Sun for buying a controversial art piece.

They also referred the Beast to an X post by Zach Witkoff, co-founder and CEO at WLFI, and the son of Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

“Justin Sun’s recent lawsuit against @worldlibertyfi is a desperate attempt to deflect attention from Sun’s own misconduct. His claims are entirely meritless, and World Liberty looks forward to getting the case thrown out promptly,” he wrote, adding, “He engaged in misconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users. World Liberty will continue to take all necessary steps to protect its community.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-investor-sues-trump-familys-crypto-project-for-extortion/?

ps:It's funny how concerned certain people are about fraud until it comes to man sitting in the oval office, than it's OK!!!!!