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

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Mass shootings

One month before the mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 21 others, the Trump administration cut funding for programs aimed at identifying potential mass shooters. The grants, which were part of $18.5 million in cuts at Homeland Security, funded programs at the Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office to assess and manage mass violence threats. In a letter shared with CNN, DHS alleged the money went to “openly partisan and political organizations.” But some politicians say the funding cuts left the state less equipped to prevent such attacks. Before the mass shooting at the church and school, the lawmakers had sent a letter to DHS asking for the grants to be reinstated. The letter referenced the shooting of state lawmakers in June and cited violence directed at religious groups and threats to schools. “Never in our worst nightmares could we have imagined another tragedy occurring so soon,” Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said.   Researchers shift tactics to tackle extremism as public health threat   Since the Trump administration is scrapping grants for violence prevention, state governments and local communities are filling the gap. Examples include a collaboration between the Southern Poverty Law Center and American University’s Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab, or PERIL, to treat extremism as a public-health problem. They’ve set up Community Advisory, Resource, and Education Centers in Lansing, Michigan, and Athens, Georgia, offering training, support, referrals, and resources to communities affected by hate, discrimination, and supremacist ideologies and to people susceptible to radicalization, with a focus on young people. “We’re not about, ‘How do you respond to a group of Patriot Front people marching through your town?’” says PERIL’s Pete Kurtz-Glovas. “Rather, ‘How do you respond when your son or a member of your congregation expresses some of these extremist ideas?’”

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This Is Why Trump Can’t Take a Joke: Comedian

“It’s crazy that he still cares because he doesn’t have to run again. He has nothing left to prove,” comedian Matt Friend tells The Daily Beast Podcast.

Donald Trump impressionist Matt Friend believes that the president could be a really funny person if he wasn’t so busy trying to rip everyone apart over the slightest criticism.

“My feeling on Trump is, at least according to what [comedian] Bill Maher has said about him and what everybody has said about him, is that the guy is hilarious when you’re in person,” Friend told host Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast Podcast.

However, Friend and Coles agreed that a sense of humor rarely publicly rears its head in Trumpland when the MAGA figurehead is the butt of jokes.

Friend pointed out that, unfortunately for Trump, he is the “main character of the world right now,” which means he’s going to be consistently name-dropped in late-night monologues.

In July, Trump celebrated the demise of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in a Truth Social post rubbing salt in Colbert’s wounds.

“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump said of the late-night host, who has been one of the president’s staunchest critics. Trump added, “His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!”

CBS announced that it was ending The Late Show three days after Colbert criticized a settlement between Trump and CBS parent company Paramount Global over the editing of a 60 Minutes story. The firing also came as the Trump administration approved Paramount’s $8.4 billion deal to merge with Skydance Media—which led comedians and politicos alike to decry the end of comedy under MAGA’s reign.

However, Trump insisted that Colbert’s booting wasn’t all his fault, writing in a subsequent Truth Social post that Colbert became “a victim to himself.”

The real problem, according to Friend, is that Trump can’t take a joke.

“He doesn’t like people threatening him or making fun of him, which is just such a weird, balance,” Friend explained. “Seth MacFarlane described how great Trump was at [his] Comedy Central roast, and now he’s like a different person. So it is a weird thing. There’s a weird shift, if that is the case.”

Friend added, “It also is crazy that he still cares because he doesn’t have to run again. He has nothing left to prove.”

Still, Friend admits that Trump’s temper tantrums have been comedic gold for his career as an impressionist and stand-up comic.

“Candidly, right now, nothing will ever compare to the level of absurdity, and comedic... positives of having Trump in the Oval Office or just in the culture because... it’s so crazy what he’s doing or what he’s saying that the material literally writes itself,” said Friend, who explained that he uses his Trump impression to say things “that I cannot say as myself.”

Friend added, “I didn’t say it. Trump said it. So it’s completely fine.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-donald-trump-cracks-when-hes-being-laughed-off-the-world-stage/?

ps:EXACTLY!!!!!

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6 Rioters Received Pardons—Now They Want Money

A restitution panel has been pitched to top Justice Department officials.

Jan. 6 rioters want cash to follow their newfound freedom.

Some in the group, pardoned en masse by Donald Trump within hours of the president’s January inauguration, have been lobbying the administration for restitution, The New York Times reports.

Lawyer Mark McCloskey revealed last week that he has proposed to the Justice Department a “voluntary nonjudicial resolution committee” to determine financial damages that the government would pay to the 1,500 or so individuals who had their sentences pardoned or commuted. Amounts would be settled on a case-by-case basis, he told far-right website The Gateway Pundit.

McCloskey, known for pointing a gun at social justice protesters near his house in St. Louis in 2020, added that his preference was for Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, to run the panel.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Justice Department and Pirro for comment.

McCloskey told The Pundit that though there may be some challenges to seeing the restitution committee come into fruition—a two-year statute of limitations for the claims, for instance—receptive figures inside the Justice Department would hear him out. Ed Martin, Pirro’s predecessor and currently director of the newly-formed Weaponization Working Group, was at the top of the list, he explained.

“He’s 100 percent on our side,” McCloskey said, per The Times.

Trump himself acknowledged the topic of restitution to his supporters back in March.

“A lot of the people that are in the government now talk about it because a lot of the people in government really like that group of people,” he said during a Newsmax interview. “They’re patriots as far as I’m concerned.”

Two months later, the Trump administration settled with the family of Ashli Babbitt—who was fatally shot while trying to enter the House Speaker’s lobby on Jan. 6—for nearly $5 million.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/j6-rioters-received-pardonsnow-they-want-money/?

ps:Just incredible!!!!!

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As Trump threatens more Guard troops in US cities, here’s what the law allows Since sending the National Guard to Los Angeles and Washington, President Donald Trump has openly mused about sending troops to some of the nation’s most Democratic cities. The threats to expand a federal intervention have legal experts and some military officials raising concerns that the move could set up conflicts not seen since the civil rights era. Read more.

Why this matters: While Trump pushed the limits of the law, a California lawsuit over his intervention centers on whether the president was allowed to use the Guard to closely shadow federal law enforcement and whether that runs afoul of the prohibition on using the military as law enforcement, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, said Todd Huntley, director of the National Security Law Program at the Georgetown University Law Center.   If Trump wants the freedom to use the National Guard as he pleases in Chicago, the easiest legal path is to invoke the Insurrection Act — a vaguely worded 1792 law that allows the president to deploy federal troops inside the U.S. to conduct law enforcement, an exception to the restrictions of the Posse Comitatus Act.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Maduro says Venezuela ready to respond to US military presence in the Caribbean   Palestinian president’s office urges US to reinstate his visa ahead of key UN meetings    What to know about Guatemalan migrant children and efforts to send them home   The Treasury Department wants US banks to monitor for suspected Chinese money laundering networks   Trump admin cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects as attacks on reeling industry continue   Trump administration tells states to remove references to ‘gender ideology’ from sex ed materials   What to know about a Texas bill to let residents sue out-of-state abortion pill providers   Big money and names power the campaign to influence California voters over a new congressional map   Final preparations for trial of man accused of attempting to assassinate Trump in Florida   Trump’s order on flag burning could return the question to the Supreme Court   President Donald Trump’s policies spark protests in multiple US cities on Labor Day   What Trump’s new choice of presidential hero says about his evolving goals   A walk through a Smithsonian museum reveals American genius and cruelty as Trump presses for change   City council member in Connecticut faces additional charges in absentee ballot investigation   New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler says he won’t run for reelection in 2026   A House committee investigating the Epstein case has withdrawn a subpoena to Robert Mueller   Charles Bierbauer, longtime CNN correspondent and journalism dean, dies at age 83   CBS News’ Mark Knoller, veteran White House correspondent, dies at 73   Trump says he’s awarding Rudy Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom

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Judge rules Trump administration broke law in deploying National Guard soldiers to LA this summer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration “willfully” broke federal law by sending National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area in early June after days of protests over immigration raids.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-newsom-los-angeles-national-guard-d6c8450a3ac2de34e669ef0836d22cbc?

Trump announces that Space Command is moving from Colorado to Alabama

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that U.S. Space Command will be located in Alabama, reversing a Biden-era decision to keep it at its temporary headquarters in Colorado.

https://apnews.com/article/space-command-trump-alabama-colorado-96589ce26df5ddaf59e2fc856084a8ca?

A downturn in international travel to the US may last beyond summer, experts warn

A decline in foreign visitors traveling to the United States has stretched well into the summer. And tourism experts say the downward trend that emerged after President Donald Trump returned to the White House shows no immediate signs of reversing. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Cruise industry group sues to challenge Hawaii’s tourism tax designed to deal with climate change US flight attendants are fed up like their Air Canada peers. Here’s why they are unlikely to strike Beach on a budget: Greeks settle for day trips, priced out of iconic destinations

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Major Blow to Trump as Judge Rules Troop Deployment Unlawful

A court found that Trump’s use of the military in Los Angeles violated the law.

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s use of the National Guard in Los Angeles was illegal, delivering a major blow to the president as he prepares to deploy the military to other U.S. cities.

Judge Charles Breyer found that the president’s actions violated the Posse Comitatus Act by having armed soldiers carry out domestic law enforcement activities.

In the 52-page opinion, the Clinton appointed judge noted the president has indicated plans to deploy the National Guard for “federal service in other cities across the country—including Oakland and San Francisco, here in the Northern District of California—thus creating a national police force with the President as its chief."

Trump called for the deployment of 4,000 National Guard and 700 active duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in early June in response to protests against immigration raids.

The president did not invoke the Insurrection Act but called on the military to protect ICE and other government personnel carrying out their work, including federal law enforcement, and to protect federal property.

Breyer found however that the deployed task force was “expressly instructed that it could engage in certain law enforcement activities: setting up protective perimeters, traffic blockades, crowd control, and the like” and that it executed domestic law enforcement in prohibited ways.

“Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law. Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,” he wrote.

The court described the violations as a “top-down, systemic effort” to use military troops to “execute various sectors of federal law.”

The judge noted that the trial found that the military’s federal law enforcement operations in Southern California also expanded beyond Los Angeles.

As of August 11, 300 National Guard members remain deployed in Southern California.

While the judge found that the Trump administration had violated the law, it did not order the troops to be withdrawn from Los Angeles; instead, it required that they be used more narrowly and consistently with the law, essentially allowing them to continue protecting federal property.

What the Trump administration is not allowed to do is to deploy or order the National Guard or other military troops in California to carry out the law, “including but not limited to engaging in arrests, apprehensions, searches, seizures, security patrols, traffic control, crowd control, riot control, evidence collection, interrogation, or acting as informants.”

Breyer found that if the president wants to avoid violating the Posse Comitatus Act, “he must invoke a valid exception—like the Insurrection Act, along with its requisite showing that state and local law enforcement are unable or unwilling to act."

The ruling comes as the president has indicated he wants to send the National Guard into Chicago, New York, Baltimore, and other U.S. cities after also deploying troops to the District of Columbia last month.

However, the injunction issued on Tuesday only applies to the National Guard in California, not nationally.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who sought the end of the National Guard deployment in his state, celebrated the court’s decision.

“DONALD TRUMP LOSES AGAIN,” he wrote on X. “The courts agree -- his militarization of our streets and use of the military against US citizens is ILLEGAL.”

The White House on Tuesday blasted the decision and claimed the president had “saved” Los Angeles while vowing the fight would continue.

“Once again, a rogue judge is trying to usurp the authority of the Commander-in-Chief to protect American cities from violence and destruction,” said spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement.

“While far-left courts try to stop President Trump from carrying out his mandate to Make America Safe Again, the President is committed to protecting law-abiding citizens, and this will not be the final say on the issue,” she added.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/major-blow-to-trump-as-judge-rules-troop-deployment-unlawful/?

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Trump Lashes Out After Putin and Modi Are Seen Holding Hands

The president flew into a rage after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin got cozy.

Donald Trump is not taking India’s geopolitical flirting well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin were spotted on Sunday holding hands as they walked into a meeting at a Chinese summit of anti-Western coalition leaders—a show seemingly designed to get under Trump’s skin.

It was a clear mission accomplished when the president fumed over America’s “one sided disaster” of a relationship with India in a post on Truth Social.“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” he began. “In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little - Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades.”

Trump continued: “The reason is that India has charged us, until now, such high Tariffs, the most of any country, that our businesses are unable to sell into India. It has been a totally one sided disaster! Also, India buys most of its oil and military products from Russia, very little from the U.S. They have now offered to cut their Tariffs to nothing, but it’s getting late. They should have done so years ago. Just some simple facts for people to ponder!!!”

Putin, Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping flaunted their bromance at the Shanghai Co-Operation Organization (SCO) summit, hosted by Xi as a means to showcase his vision of a new world order free from the dominance of the United States.

The trio shook hands and formed a close circle before being joined by translators at the Tianjin event. All three smiled warmly at one another and, at one point, Modi held both leaders’ hands while letting out an exaggerated laugh. It was a show of unity designed to send a message to their Western counterparts.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to request for comment.

Modi’s warmth to the two leaders signals a dramatic shift in U.S.-India relations, as New Delhi’s bureaucracy typically seeks to avoid warmth with Russia and China in an attempt to maintain close ties with Washington.

It was less than a year ago that President Joe Biden hailed Modi as a strategic partner and praised U.S.-India ties as “stronger than ever.”

But Trump’s aggressive tariff policies on India, which rose to 50 percent when he punished Modi for purchasing sanctioned Russian oil, may have pushed the world’s largest democracy closer to China’s orbit.

Putin, Xi, and Modi will continue to meet with the 20 world leaders in attendance at the summit over the coming week as they attempt to shore up the support for their new power bloc. The most significant event is scheduled for Tuesday, when the trio is set to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-lashes-out-after-putin-and-modi-are-seen-holding-hands/?

ps:Jealous that putin is now dating Modi?? So now we'll have a cat fight? How sick?? The genius did this to himself!!!!

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Trump says he’s set to order federal intervention in Chicago and Baltimore, despite local opposition

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s ready to order federal authorities to mobilize and combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition from elected leaders and many residents in both cities.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-chicago-baltimore-law-enforcement-6d7c80258f17c3d679358467531f7e9d?

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A Test Run (Blake Fagan / AFP / Getty)

View in browser The Trump administration broke the law. Its officials knew they were breaking the law. And they’ll likely try to do so again. In its most distilled form, that’s the conclusion of Charles Breyer, the federal judge overseeing a suit brought by California Governor Gavin Newsom over the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guardsmen and Marines in and around Los Angeles in June. In a scathing opinion delivered today, Breyer said that the administration had acted illegally. Deploying these service members “for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law,” Breyer wrote, “is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.” That law, passed in 1878, bars the use of the military in domestic law enforcement, except as allowed by the Constitution or by Congress. Breyer’s ruling makes plain how the administration worked to circumvent the law, and why. In its public statements, the White House continues to claim that it’s acting under long-established authorities and engaging in straightforward, limited efforts to reduce street crime. The arguments that their lawyers made in court point to a different conclusion: The Trump administration is seeking martial law, in practice if not in name. Today’s ruling might seem a bit obsolete—after all, the Marines and most of the Guardsmen have been sent home. But both Donald Trump and his critics have pointed to the deployment as a model, first for the current use of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., and now for potential deployments in cities including Chicago, San Francisco, and Baltimore. The people of the United States have been wary of the use of the military to enforce laws inside the country since even before the nation’s founding; the presence of British troops was a spur to rebellion. The Constitution grants only Congress the right to call “forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union,” although some delegates would have preferred not to allow that power at all. But it has been presidents who are more apt to use the military for law enforcement, and Congress has worked to limit their ability to do so over time. The president can call up troops under the Insurrection Act in certain circumstances, and Trump has toyed with invoking the law in the past, but he did not do so in California, nor did Congress authorize the deployment. (Trump also used his authority to federalize the California National Guard, over the objections of Newsom and local authorities who argued that the Guard wasn’t needed to enforce laws.) The impact of these choices was well understood among the leadership at the military’s Northern Command, which controlled the troops. “Everyone in U.S. Northern Command knew that the Posse Comitatus Act applied, and no one expressed a contrary view,” Breyer notes; its leaders instructed members of the Guard task force about what law-enforcement duties they could not perform. Yet officials elsewhere in the federal government felt differently. Testimony from the trial established that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was closely involved in the operation, and that he issued a memo that purported to outline what administration officials described as a “constitutional exception” to the Posse Comitatus Act. The administration then used this exception to justify sending the Guard out to support missions that were plainly law-enforcement actions—in places with no true risk of riots, some 50 and 140 miles from downtown Los Angeles. They were also involved in a sweep of MacArthur Park near downtown, called “Operation Excalibur.” As Breyer pointedly wrote in a footnote, “Excalibur is, of course, a reference to the legendary sword of King Arthur, which symbolizes his divine sovereignty as king.” When Major General Scott Sherman, a National Guard commander, West Point grad, and Iraq War veteran, cited objections to Guard involvement in an initial version of the operation, a Department of Homeland Security official responded by “questioning Sherman’s loyalty to the country.” Breyer concluded that the memo was little more than an attempt to ignore the plain language of the law. The administration argued in court that a “constitutional exception” to the Posse Comitatus Act grants the president the authority to do anything he construes as protecting federal property, personnel, or functions. “This assertion is not grounded in the history of the Act, Supreme Court jurisprudence on executive authority, or common sense,” Breyer wrote. Today’s ruling soundly rejects the Trump administration’s reasoning, and it blocks further violations of the Posse Comitatus Act in California. (Breyer stayed his ruling until September 12.) It does not, however, apply nationwide. Although Trump seems to be treating the more widespread militarization of Washington as a test run for occupations of other cities, the legal arguments in California may be more relevant to those prospects, because Trump has narrower legal authority to act in other states than he does in the District of Columbia. Even if the stated goal is preventing street crime, the expansive views of presidential power raised in this case could allow a president to deploy the National Guard in scenarios that are clearly counter to Congress’s intent, as well as outside of the force’s training. Breyer notes, for example, that if presidents are allowed to use the Guard whenever federal law is impeded, they could do so for far-fetched purposes such as enforcing tax laws or the Clean Water Act, or even to seize control over elections to prevent putative fraud. Perhaps that last one is not so far-fetched: Trump aides considered using the military to grab voting machines as part of his attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election that he lost. In June, my colleague David Frum laid out just how such a deployment could be one step in a successful bid to steal an election. Over the past few months, lower courts have repeatedly ruled against the Trump administration’s attempts to assert new powers, only for appeals courts or the Supreme Court to side with the president. The government is expected to appeal this ruling, and it could end up discarded the same way. But Breyer’s scolding provides an essential explanation of not only why Trump is overreaching but also why it is dangerous. Related: For Trump, this is a dress rehearsal, David Frum writes. What we lose by distorting the mission of the National Guard

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Trump’s Response To Video Of Items Being Thrown Out White House Window Makes It Even Weirder

Sounds a little like some beep-boop BS.

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/4210981078758-trumps-response-to-video-of-items-being-thrown-out-white-house-window-makes-it-even-weirder?

Trump says US strike on vessel in Caribbean targeted Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang, killed 11

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday the U.S. has carried out a strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang.

https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-strike-rubio-trump-0f901b2a30ee20e314bcab1385ffb0c0?

National Guard Ruling

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Trump administration illegally deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles during June protests against immigration raids.    The San Francisco-based judge said the move violated the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the use of federal troops for domestic law enforcement except in limited cases, such as an insurrection. The Justice Department, which is expected to appeal, argued the troops were needed to quell unrest and protect federal immigration agents. The 300 National Guard troops still stationed in Los Angeles may remain following yesterday’s decision, but their duties are essentially restricted to guarding federal property.    The ruling applies only to California, not the more than 2,000 National Guard troops Trump deployed to address crime in Washington, DC. He confirmed plans yesterday to send troops to Chicago and Baltimore, but did not specify a timeline.

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Parade of enemies

Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un arrive at a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, in Beijing. Photo: Alexander Kazakov/Pool The leaders of China, Russia and North Korea strode out together in Beijing today to attend a massive military parade — and send a message to President Trump. Why it matters: For the first time ever, these three nuclear-armed strongmen — long resentful of America's alliances, sanctions and "rules-based order" — are gathering to show solidarity, Axios' Dave Lawler writes. In Washington, Trump posted a Truth Social message to China's Xi Jinping last night: "Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un as you conspire against the United States of America." Screenshot: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social ? Zoom in: Dubbed the "Axis of Upheaval," along with Iran, the countries have deepened their cooperation during the war in Ukraine. North Korea sent troops, Iran provided drones, and China offered an economic and diplomatic lifeline. It's the Russia-China nexus that particularly troubles Trump's advisers, some of whom have argued that by courting Putin rather than shunning him, they can perhaps peel Russia away from China. So far, that's wishful thinking. The giant neighbors have their differences. The yawning economic imbalance is uncomfortable for Moscow, while Russia's nuclear saber-rattling and growing influence in North Korea may be unsettling for Beijing. But for now, they have much more pulling them together — not least their shared enmity toward the U.S. Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images ? State of play: The parade in Beijing this morning — to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender during World War II — was flush with VIPs and military hardware. "The Chinese nation is never intimidated by any bullies and always forges ahead," Xi declared, before newly revealed weaponry — a novel nuclear ICBM, a laser-powered interceptor, giant underwater drones — rolled through the streets. Between the lines: While photos of Xi, Putin, Kim and 20-some other leaders assembled in Beijing will make front pages all over the world, another remarkable image from a day earlier will trouble U.S. policymakers just as much. Facing tariffs and insults from Trump, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi literally held hands with Xi and Putin during an economic summit in Tianjin. Successive U.S. administrations have based their Indo-Pacific strategies largely on partnering with India in competition with China. But Xi is clearly trying to capitalize on this period of mutual hostility between the U.S. and India. It's time, he told Modi, "for the dragon and the elephant to come together." China's guest list.

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? U.S. population could fall for first time

Data: Census Bureau, American Enterprise Institute. Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios President Trump's immigration crackdown — combined with plummeting birth rates and an aging population — could make 2025 the first year on record in which the U.S. population declines, journalist and "Abundance" co-author Derek Thompson writes on his Substack. Why it matters: A declining population would come with massive economic and political consequences. The big picture: "According to our best estimates, the nation's population expanded throughout the Civil War, despite the deaths of more than 700,000 Americans," Thompson writes. "It grew throughout the Spanish Flu, both World Wars, and countless bloody entanglements with other countries. Even COVID, which killed more than a million Americans, didn't reverse the trend. But Trump's immigration crackdown may accomplish what no war, plague, or calamity has ever done." ? Zoom in: Labor shortages from fewer workers (immigrants are usually younger) can push up wages and cause inflation. Huge portions of America's economy — farming, housing, health care, hospitality — heavily rely on foreign-born workers. Fewer workers would mean a smaller tax base for schools and make it harder to pay for America's social safety net, including Social Security. Keep reading ...

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? Rocket City on steroids

Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: William DeShazer for The Washington Post via Getty Images

President Trump's decision to move Space Force headquarters to Huntsville, Ala., ends years of political wrangling and turbocharges its reputation as the Rocket City, Axios Huntsville author Derek Lacey writes. Why it matters: Huntsville has been known as Rocket City for decades, thanks to a reputation that began with NASA's Space Race-era rocket development in the region. ? Zoom in: The move, alongside work related to Trump's Golden Dome, launches a new era for the space defense economy at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Redstone Arsenal, a military base, already houses a massive federal presence that includes workers from NASA, the Justice Department and the FBI. Rep. Dale Strong, a Republican whose district includes Huntsville, said the move could bring as many as 1,600 direct jobs to the arsenal and 3,000 spin-off jobs. ?‍? The relocation reverses a decision by the Biden administration to place Space Command in Colorado Springs.

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War on drugs

The US conducted a deadly military strike on a boat allegedly tied to the Tren de Aragua drug cartel, President Trump said Tuesday. Eleven people were killed in the attack, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio said took place in the “southern Caribbean." The use of military force against a Latin American drug cartel marks a significant escalation in the US war on drugs. Trump justified the action in a post on his social media site, saying the cartel was “a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization, operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro, responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror across the United States and Western Hemisphere.” When asked by CNN about the legal authority for militarily targeting the cartels, Rubio said: “I’m not going to answer for the White House counsel, suffice it to say that all of those steps were taken in advance.”

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Epstein Prison Video Blows Up Bondi’s ‘Missing Minute’ Explanation

The footage that Trump’s attorney general said didn’t exist has just been released.

New footage released from Jeffrey Epstein’s jail unit has blown up Attorney General Pam Bondi’s explanation about why a minute was missing from a previously released video.

When the Justice Department and the FBI initially released nearly 11 hours of footage from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in July, there was a crucial one-minute gap in the security surveillance video just hours before Epstein died in 2019.

At the time, Bondi claimed the security cameras automatically cut out for one minute as part of a system reset each night. However, MAGA erupted after forensic analysis showed the video was edited repeatedly.

The new surveillance footage, which was part of the bulk online drop at 6 p.m. Tuesday, fills in that missing minute between 11:59 p.m. on August 9, 2019, and midnight on August 10, 2019.

However, the video appears to show very little. In the footage from the new files, a number of guards are visible working near Epstein’s cell.

The extra minute is contained within two additional hours of footage from the new files, according to the BBC.

The Daily Beast has contacted Bondi’s office for comment.

Outside of the missing one minute, the footage released on Tuesday also shows Epstein being walked through the detention centre to make a phone call, as reported by CBS.

The release of the missing footage has re-ignited debate online over whether Epstein took his own life when he was found unresponsive in his cell in the jail at 6.30 a.m.

The FBI stated in July that after investigating the prison footage, no one had entered or left the area where Epstein was being held, leading them to agree with the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the DOJ’s inspector general that Epstein took his own life.

As well as videos and documents, the epic file dump on Google Drive and Dropbox included audio recordings, emails, and court filings.

The Committee’s ranking Democrat, Robert Garcia, said the only new disclosure in the Tuesday dump was fewer than 1,000 pages from the Customs and Border Protection’s log of flight locations of the Epstein private plane from 2000 to 2014, as well as forms consistent with re-entry back to the U.S.

Garcia called out the Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer directly for the lack of unseen material in the files.

“The 33,000 pages of Epstein documents James Comer has decided to ‘release’ were already mostly public information. To the American people – don’t let this fool you,“ Garcia said on Tuesday in a statement.

Revealing their calculations that only 3 percent of the document dump contained any new information, he added, “There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims. House Republicans are trying to make a spectacle of releasing already-public documents.”

“Pam Bondi has said the client list was on her desk. She could release it right now if she wanted to... Pam Bondi must comply with our subpoena immediately, and release all of the documents. The American people demand it.”

Garcia posted a video on his X account stating that most of the files released this week had been given to “given to right-wing influencers back in February.”

“Release all the files NOW,” Garcia added.

Republican Thomas Massie, a regular foe of Trump, even suggested the president may have been selective about which Epstein files are released to protect his friends.

Massie said the best way for Trump to clear his name is to release all the files.

“I actually don’t think he’s done anything criminal,” Massie said on All In on MSNBC on Tuesday. “I think he may be covering for some rich and powerful people that are friends of his.”

He added, “In fact, some of those billionaires are running ads against me in Kentucky right now. One of them is in Epstein’s black book. So, we’re getting close to the center of power here. Embarrassment is not a reason to conceal all of this stuff. We’ve got to get it out in the open, regardless of whose friends might be incriminated.”

Democratic congressman Jim McGovern also posted on X, noting, “Fact check: nearly everything Republicans just supposedly ‘released’... has already been released. They are doing everything in their power to muddy the waters. RELEASE. THE. FILES.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/missing-minute-reappears-in-latest-epstein-files-dump/?

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Frantic Trump Tries to Kill Vote to Force Open Epstein Files

A rogue Republican is rounding up GOP signatures.

The White House has warned Republican rebels in Congress that pushing for the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein pedophile abuse files would be seen as “a very hostile act” by President Donald Trump.

The GOP-controlled House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more than 33,000 Epstein documents on Tuesday evening, after a closed-door meeting with multiple victims of Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Democrats complained, however, 97 percent of the documents were already in the public record, and Republican Thomas Massie, who has clashed regularly with Trump this year, stepped up his push for a House vote on the release of the documents in full.

Kentucky Rep. Massie, and Californian Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna have led a bipartisan push in the House for the GOP to be transparent about Epstein.

“People want these files released,” Massie said. “I mean, look, it’s not the biggest issue in the country. It’s taxes, jobs, the economy; those are always the big issues. But you really can’t solve any of that if this place is corrupt.”

Massie and Khanna sponsored a discharge petition on Tuesday to push for the release of all the Epstein files that the government has, with the pair scouting enough GOP signatures to force a vote on the bill.

As of Tuesday night, Republicans Massie, Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Marjorie Taylor Greene had signed. They need two more GOP signatures to hit 218 votes, assuming all 212 Democrats sign on.

Mace left the meeting with Epstein’s victims in tears on Tuesday, later explaining that she was a “recent survivor.”

Massie claimed there were concerted attempts from the Trump administration to head off the vote.

“There’s a major pressure campaign from the White House right now, and also from the speaker,” Massie said on Tuesday. “But I think there are enough Republicans who are listening to their constituents and care about these victims that we’ll get the 218 signatures we need.”

Greene, a normally full-throated Trump ally who has disagreed with him over the Epstein case, backed Massie in a post on X.

“I’m committed to doing everything possible for the victims of Jeffrey Epstein. Including exposing the cabal of rich and powerful elites that enabled this,” she wrote. “I’m proud to be signing @RepThomasMassie‘s discharge petition.”

A White House official told CNN, “Helping Thomas Massie and Liberal Democrats with their attention-seeking, while the DOJ is fully supporting a more comprehensive file release effort from the Oversight Committee, would be viewed as a very hostile act to the administration.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.

No stranger to using distraction techniques to change the subject, Trump avoided mention of the Epstein files on his Truth Social account on Tuesday.

Massie insisted Trump’s supporter base wants to know the truth about Epstein, even if the president has actively tried to avoid the topic.

“I think he thinks he can just make this go away by telling people there’s nothing here,” Massie told ABC News.

“That is why I think that my Republican colleagues will ultimately sign this discharge petition, at least six of them, because even though on this issue, they might be against what the president’s saying, they’re actually with the president’s base.”

The Epstein documents released on Tuesday were reviewed by Democrat Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee, who found that 97 percent of the contents had already been made public.

“To the American people – don’t let this fool you,“ Garcia said in a statement.

“There is no mention of any client list or anything that improves transparency or justice for victims. House Republicans are trying to make a spectacle of releasing already-public documents.”

Khanna said the information on Epstein needs to be released in full, after victims have been protected.

“The President of the United States ran on releasing the files, and the Attorney General said that there’s a client list and the files need to be released,” Khanna told MSNBC on Tuesday.

“We need to have the overarching value of trust in government be there. And in this case, as an exception, we should release everything and trust the American people to make a distinguishing discernment between someone who got a scholarship grant from Epstein and someone who was at a sex party for Epstein.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/frantic-trump-tries-to-kill-vote-to-force-open-epstein-files/?

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Unions raise wages. Tariffs don’t

In 2024, Donald Trump campaigned on the benefits of tariffs for U.S. workers. He claimed that tariffs would boost wages and create good manufacturing jobs by protecting domestic industries from unfair foreign competition. On the face of it, it might seem like tariffs would automatically protect entire industries, increasing profits for employers and wages for workers. But whether employers share the benefits of tariff protection with workers depends on their bargaining power—something very few workers have without a union.

https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-raise-wages-tariffs-dont-why-trumps-trade-policy-wont-help-u-s-workers/?

Judge reverses Trump administration’s cuts of billions of dollars to Harvard University

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge in Boston on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to reverse its cuts of more than $2.6 billion in research funding for Harvard University, delivering a significant victory to the Ivy League school in its battle with the White House.

https://apnews.com/article/harvard-trump-federal-funding-bdde8f529f01b96d5521d0e248e8fc6c?

Trump assures Polish leader of a continued robust US military presence in the European nation

President Donald Trump affirmed that the United States will keep a robust military presence in Poland as he had a warm meeting Wednesday with Karol Nawrocki, the new president of the American ally in Europe. Trump had taken the unusual step of endorsing Nawrocki in the Polish elections earlier this year. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Russia launches over 500 drones and missiles at Ukraine as Zelenskyy seeks more support Trinidad and Tobago leader praises strike and says US should kill all drug traffickers ‘violently’ Musk, a social media powerhouse, boosts fortunes of hard-right figures in Europe

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Justification by Force (Win McNamee / Getty)

View in browser Because the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt on January 6, 2021, was caught on camera, what happened isn’t really in doubt. Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was part of a crowd that stormed the U.S. Capitol that day, fighting with and attacking police, breaking windows, and then rushing into the building. She eventually ended up outside of the Speaker’s Lobby, an area just beside the House chamber. The doors were barricaded, but another member of the mob broke their glass. Police officers on the other side shouted at people not to enter, but Babbitt tried to climb through the window. When she refused to stop, a Capitol Police officer shot her in the shoulder. She died shortly thereafter. Babbitt’s death was tragic, and not simply in the sense that any needless death is. She died fighting for a lie that she apparently believed: Donald Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Trump is not always one to return a favor, but he seems determined to repay Babbitt’s devotion by making her an icon—part of a bigger project to turn January 6 into a moment of triumph. Last week, the Air Force confirmed that it would grant military-funeral honors for Babbitt, which typically involve uniformed service members being present to play “Taps,” fold an American flag, and present it to the family. The honors had been denied by the Biden administration. “After reviewing the circumstances of Ashli’s death, and considering the information that has come forward since then, I am persuaded that the previous determination was incorrect,” Matthew Lohmeier, the undersecretary of the Air Force, wrote in a letter. He also invited Babbitt’s family to visit him at the Pentagon. Lohmeier has not explained what the new information is. Even Trump’s allies understood that Babbitt was no hero. Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a MAGA loyalist who was present when she was shot, said that the officer who shot Babbitt “didn’t have a choice at that time,” adding that “his actions, I believe, saved people’s lives even more.” Nevertheless, the Trump administration settled a wrongful-death lawsuit with Babbitt’s family earlier this year, for a reported $5 million. The settlement looks like a political choice, not a legal one; until Trump took office, the Justice Department had been planning to fight the lawsuit. The president also infamously granted sweeping clemency for the rioters on his first day back in the White House, pardoning many and commuting others’ sentences. The beneficiaries include many violent offenders who Vice President J. D. Vance had said just days earlier should not receive clemency. Trump then set about purging prosecutors who had worked on the cases, including line attorneys simply doing their job. Filling their place in the DOJ are people such as Ed Martin, who was an attorney for some of the rioters and now leads the aptly named Weaponization Working Group, and Jared Wise, who NPR reported last month was caught on tape during the insurrection encouraging the mob to “kill” police officers. As if that were not enough, the right-wing lawyer Mark McCloskey, best known for illegally brandishing a gun at protesters outside his St. Louis home, said last week that he is in discussions with the DOJ about a compensation plan for the rioters, hoping to win them financial damages for supposedly wrongful prosecution. McCloskey even compared the proposed fund—I am not making this up—to the one set up to compensate victims of the September 11 attacks. (The DOJ has not commented on his remarks.) The only real connection between the events is that both were violent attacks on the United States. The difference should be obvious: The 9/11 fund compensates victims and their families, whereas any would-be January 6 fund is being dreamt up to compensate the perpetrators. The overall goal of the rioters was to prevent Congress from certifying the rightful election of Joe Biden. They wanted to prevent a constitutional process. Some carried weapons. Some beat police officers. Some called for the lynching of then–Vice President Mike Pence. In October 2021, I argued that January 6 was becoming a “New Lost Cause,” similar to the way southerners romanticized and justified the Confederacy’s defeat in the Civil War. One rioter even marched through the Capitol with the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia. Four years later, it’s not even clear that the cause lost. Trump not only won back the White House, but, with his actions, he has also managed to turn the insurrection into a delayed triumph. The perpetrators are the victims; the victims, meanwhile, are ostracized. The Trump administration isn’t really rewriting history, the way his administration is attempting to do at the Smithsonian. No one seriously contests what happened on January 6, and hardly anyone still bothers to make the case for fraud in the election. It’s simply justification by force, insisting that the bad guys were actually good. Not coincidentally, the administration is at the same time uplifting the original Lost Cause, placing a portrait of the traitor Robert E. Lee on display at West Point (in apparent defiance of a law that led to its removal) and planning to restore a monument to Confederate veterans at Arlington National Cemetery. These developments in the January 6 cases come at an eerie time. Two years after Trump’s attempted election theft, his Brazilian ally Jair Bolsonaro lost an election and then allegedly incited his supporters to try to steal it. This week, Bolsonaro’s trial on accusations of fomenting a coup is entering its final stage. Accountability is now something they might consider in foreign countries, not here. Related: Trump and the January 6 memory hole We Live Here Now: Ashli Babbitt’s mother moves into the neighborhood.

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Trump asks Supreme Court to quickly take up tariffs case and reverse ruling finding them illegal

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took the fight over tariffs to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, asking the justices to rule quickly that the president has the power to impose sweeping import taxes under federal law.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-supreme-court-emergency-powers-law-3c71bfeeeb0f9fe56652d9dc23c1991c?

Trump’s Chicago Occupation Could Cost Four Times More Than Housing City Homeless

President Donald Trump’s plan to add Chicago to the list of American cities under U.S. military occupation could cost almost $1.6 million per day, according to an expert estimate furnished exclusively to The Intercept. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/03/trump-military-occupy-dc-la-chicago/?

ps:As I've said before, we have money for this kind of bull manure, but yet we don't have money for people that actually need it!! Like for veterans, for the homeless, etc.!!!!!

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The space war president

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

President Trump added a branch (Space Force) to the U.S. military in his first term and kick-started a $175 billion missile defense initiative in his second with the same impetus in mind: Future wars will be waged from space. Why it matters: The U.S. is about to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into a zone of warfare that the world's biggest powers are racing to dominate, Axios Future of Defense author Colin Demarest writes. ? Zoom in: Trump announced Tuesday that he's moving Space Command to Huntsville, Ala., long known as Rocket City. Moving SPACECOM to Redstone Arsenal, he said, "will help America defend and dominate the high frontier." "We were losing the race in space very badly to China and to Russia, and now we're far and away No. 1 in space," Trump said. "We're [reestablishing] SPACECOM with a mission to protect American space assets and detect any threat to our homeland." The big picture: After green-lighting Space Force in his first four years, Trump has returned to office with a renewed focus on space-based warfare, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in March called "the most important domain." This term, Trump launched the Golden Dome initiative, reminiscent of the Reagan-era Star Wars project with its space-based interceptors. The president has said the futuristic missile shield will "forever [end] the missile threat to the American homeland" and be completed in just three years. Some experts are less confident. Threat level: Gen. Stephen Whiting, the commander of SPACECOM, earlier this year advocated for weapons in space — a stark statement on a topic where officials often stick to vague talking points. Victoria Samson, the chief director of space security and stability at nonprofit Secure World Foundation, told Axios: "The Space Force has been much more vocal about space being a warfighting domain, that there's going to be a war in space and that we need to be able to handle it."

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Trump's drug war looks like a real war

Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Getty Images

More missiles. Fewer arrests. President Trump's war on drugs is officially a war, not a mere law enforcement action, Axios' Marc Caputo writes. Why it matters: The U.S. has entered a new era in which narcotraffickers are classified as terrorists — and Trump is claiming the right to kill them before they or their drugs reach this country. A senior Trump administration official told Axios: "The president's overall perspective is that, if there is a terrorist threat to the homeland of the United States, he trusts the military to take that threat out — whether it's a drug boat off the coast of Venezuela or an al-Qaeda terrorist in the Middle East." ? Driving the news: On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy blew up a suspected drug-running boat off Venezuela, killing its crew of 11, according to Trump and Pentagon officials. The attack marked the first time a suspected "go-fast" drug-running boat was destroyed by a military missile, according to officials and drug-war experts. "There's more where that came from," Trump said in announcing the strike. Friction point: The attack was denounced by critics accustomed to the U.S. conducting the drug war as a law-enforcement matter in which high-seas interdictions mainly involve the Coast Guard. Until now, the goal had been to try to capture drug runners and their narcotics to build a case for federal prosecution. That thinking is no longer operative, Trump says. On Inauguration Day, he signed an executive order declaring certain drug cartels, including Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, as "foreign terrorist organizations." ? Between the lines: Trump's new drug war isn't limited to Venezuela. But in the short term, it could double as a regime-change operation to depose Venezuela's dictator, Nicolas Maduro, who's accused of stealing last year's presidential election.

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? Trade war bruises Brand USA

Data: Morning Consult. Chart: Axios Visuals Brand USA is losing its luster: There's less appetite around the world to buy American amid President Trump's trade war, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Why it matters: Companies accustomed to a boost just because they come from the U.S. are struggling to adapt. ? The big picture: "The aura around America has dimmed a bit," McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski told CNBC this week. Brown-Forman, the company that makes U.S. booze brands Jack Daniel's and Woodford Reserve, saw sales drop after American alcohol was taken off the shelves in some Canadian provinces to protest tariffs. Tesla has taken a big hit to its brand this year in Europe. ? By the numbers: Globally, average U.S. favorability is at -3.24, according to data tracked by Morning Consult. (That is, more people have a negative view than a positive one.) In January, America had a positive rating of 15.34 (charted above). Keep reading.

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Betrayed Epstein Victim Says She Voted for Trump Because She Trusted Him ‘to Protect Us’

Jena-Lisa Jones, who was abused when she was just 14, demanded to know who Trump was trying to protect.

A Jeffrey Epstein survivor who voted for Donald Trump in 2024 has called out the president for suggesting that the sex trafficker’s victims are “lying,” urging him to imagine it was his own daughters who were abused.

Jena-Lisa Jones, who was 14 when she was abused, spoke to Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word on Wednesday evening. She described speaking out in front of the Capitol with other survivors as “intense,” and said she felt she was “putting my life on the line.”

Jones and other victims, along with family members, joined members of Congress on Capitol Hill earlier on Wednesday for a press conference to recount their harrowing experiences and demand the full release of the Epstein files.

Jones became tearful when O’Donnell said she and her fellow survivors were “believed”—although the host added that President Trump doesn’t believe them.

Just after a planned flyover had disrupted the survivors speaking about their abuse, Trump lashed out in the Oval Office during a meeting with Polish President Karol Nowrocki. He dismissed the Epstein files issue as a “Democrat hoax that never ends.”

Jones responded on MSNBC. “I voted for him. I voted for Trump. And for him to say what he’s saying is beyond me, because I put my hope in him and he’s supposed to protect us,” she said.

“For him to say that this is a joke and that it’s sides, this is not sides. We will say it time and time again, none of us are up there accusing him of anything. There is no one that is accusing him of any wrongdoing, so the fact that he’s saying it’s a hoax, who are you hiding for then? Because if it’s not you, then who is it? And that scares me, who is it.”

She later declared that “the government has been protecting Jeffrey Epstein from the beginning.”

Asked what she would say to Trump, who sometimes watches The Last Word, Jones asked the president to imagine Ivanka or Tiffany Trump being abused by Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.

“You have daughters. You know what it is like to raise children and to be a parent. Outside of all this hoopla that you’re the president or you’re Donald J. Trump and you have your Trump stuff, you know what it is to be a parent. You know that. Could you imagine if that was your daughter that was trafficked to people? Could you imagine your 14-year-old daughter having to go through what we had to go through?” she said.

Returning to his cries of “hoax,” Jones added: “And then you sit here and say what you said. You should be supporting us, you should be backing us. We spoke our truth and you are telling us pretty much that we’re lying. I put my hope in you when I voted for you and you can’t even back us when we need you the most? We need to heal, we’re not healing.”

Asked about the push to release all the documents relating to Epstein’s sex trafficking operations and networks, Trump told reporters: “Nobody’s ever satisfied.”

“But it’s really a Democrat hoax, because they’re trying to get people to talk about something that’s totally irrelevant to the success that we’ve had as a nation since I’ve been president.”

The push for transparency came the day after more than 30,000 documents relating to Epstein were released by the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.

Most of the documents produced were already public, prompting Democrats to accuse Republicans of an ongoing cover-up.

“There is no hoax,” survivor Haley Robson, who introduced herself as a registered Republican, said on Capitol Hill. “The abuse was real.”

Epstein and Maxwell were both longtime friends of Trump, partying with him in New York and at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, but he has always insisted that he knew nothing about the late billionaire’s crimes.

Speaking at the press conference, survivor Chauntae Davies said that this connection was Epstein’s “biggest brag” and that he kept a framed photograph of him and Trump on his desk.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-voting-epstein-survivor-jena-lisa-jones-brutally-calls-out-president-imagine-it-was-your-daughter/?

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Trump Goes on Manic Meme Posting Spree to Distract From Epstein

The president’s nightmare news story has returned, so he’s frantically posting about everything else.

Donald Trump activated his trademark distraction mode on Wednesday as the crimes of the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein once again dominated headlines.

While the survivors of his former friend’s sexual abuse shared their harrowing stories with members of Congress, Trump was busy posting deranged memes and humblebrags on his Truth Social account.

The president cast a wide net of distraction by taking on a host of notable names including Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, actress Rosie O’Donnell, and the old man in the much-discussed Cracker Barrel logo.

He even posted a video with his head added to the body of a pole vaulter.

Taking a brief break from his usual posting of Fox News clips that praise him and listing his accomplishments, from Social Security changes to his TikTok clout, Trump spent an entire hour on Wednesday sharing increasingly bizarre videos and memes with his 10 million followers.

He began by posting a doctored clip of his Democratic enemy Adam Schiff criticizing the president on Meet the Press, the video now giving him an elongated neck.

In one of the most random posts, the 79-year-old shared a cheap-looking video where his face had been edited onto the athletic body of a pole vaulter. The routine ended with the fake Trump pulling down the recent Cracker Barrel text-only logo to reveal the original logo underneath.He is then joined by a figure with the head of Vice President JD Vance, the two carrying American flags like victorious athletes.

But Trump wasn’t finished with Cracker Barrel. The restaurant chain became a MAGA target last month after a rebrand removed the old man reclining on a barrel in its logo, leaving only text. Trump even got personally involved in the campaign for the company to drop its new branding.

The president posted a video where he and the Cracker Barrel man start dancing to MAGA-approved disco band the Village People and their ’70s hit and gay-not-gay anthem “Y.M.C.A.” The song, which the band have called “Trump’s anthem,” was also used under a video with the text ‘Trump was right about everything’ as his nothing-to-see-here posting spree dragged on.

There was also a fake video of Newsom wearing a Trump 2028 cap, over footage of him talking about being sent the merchandise by MAGA supporters. Another video showed Newsom’s head on the body of a squealing boxer, with Trump’s face on the punching bag.

Newsom’s press office X account hit back with a suitably unflattering photo of Trump.

Newsom’s press office even posted the doctored Trump 2028 cap footage, adding the caption “reduced to a reply guy … sad." They also had their own AI video, one of a Munchkin-sized Trump shaking hands with Newsom.

Also clapping back during Trump’s insult spree, comedian Rosie O’Donnell reposted the distorted image Trump shared of her on Wednesday in a post where he threatened to revoke her U.S. citizenship. She added the caption, “im the distraction - EPSTEIN SURVIVORS are the reckoning and your gold lamé throne is melting.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also featured in a strange video with his head on the body of a sumo wrestler and the theme from Chariots of Fire.

Most of the memes were made by Dilley Meme Team, who proudly call themselves “Trump’s Online War Machine.”

Trump went back to posting content from Stephen Miller and Jeanine Pirro, but still avoided the topic of Jeffrey Epstein on his social media.

It came as Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called on Trump to meet with victims of his former friends, Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

“I look forward to talking with President Trump about these women that I’ve met,” Greene told CNN on Wednesday. “I also encouraged him already this morning that he should have these women in the Oval Office. They deserve to be there.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-distracts-with-absurd-truth-social-posting-spree/?

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Trump Chickens Out After Horrific Prison Camp Is Named After Him

The notorious camp, which was shuttered after suicides, brutality, and mass staff resignations, had already been painted in Trump’s honor.

Donald Trump appears to have chickened out after Louisiana tried to name a brutal prison camp in his honor. The camp was forced to shut down due to its appalling conditions but is now reopening to host people rounded up by ICE.

The area of Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana was already painted with a sign that read “Camp 47,” in a nod to Trump, who is the 47th U.S. president, according to photos of the unit captured last week by a local news station WAFB.

However, the administration appears to have had second thoughts, and the unit was unveiled on Wednesday by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as “Camp 57”—apparently in homage to Jeff Landry, Louisiana’s 57th governor.

The rebrand comes as details emerge about the unit’s horrific past, which the White House may have deemed too bleak to be associated with Trump.

The four-block disciplinary complex—long known as Camp J—was shut down in May 2018 after a cascade of security failures, suicides, and staff fleeing.

According to Prison Legal News, Angola’s warden warned of malfunctioning locks that sometimes opened on their own and rampant weapons use, while 85 officers assigned to Camp J resigned, retired, or were terminated in a single year because the unit was deemed to be so miserable.

Mercedes Montagnes of the Promise of Justice Initiative called the unit “more akin to a dungeon.” Two men hanged themselves there on the same day in April 2016, amid concerns over the mental health of inmates.

The Department of Homeland Security is using its own branding—“Louisiana Lockup,” which is yet another alliterative title that follows the already set-to-close “Aligator Alcatraz” in Florida, Indiana’s “Speedway Slammer,” and Nebraska’s “Cornhusker Clink.”

At a press conference, Noem, Landry, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan confirmed ICE had already begun transferring detainees into the Angola unit. On its opening day, 51 people were already in custody.

DHS says the site will add up to 416 beds and is intended for “some of the worst of the worst” criminal migrants.

Noem said the notorious prison—built on a former slave plantation and still infamous for farm labor and abuse allegations—was chosen to encourage “self-deportation,” while DHS said it was part of a multi-state expansion of hard-line detention sites.

Officials say the unit has been repaired and segregated from the rest of the prison after emergency orders to fast-track fixes this summer, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.

However, Landry leaned into Angola’s fearsome reputation during a guided look inside the facility, saying: “With 18,000 acres bordered by the Mississippi River, swamps filled with alligators, and forests filled with bears, nobody really wants to leave the place.”

Bondi hailed a “historic agreement” with the state of Louisiana.

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

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-chickens-out-after-horrific-prison-camp-is-named-after-him/?