The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Free]

At least some appropriately funny things do keep happening.

MAGAs Are Fuming After Email Confirms They Will Never Get Their $500 Trump Phones or Deposits Back

Nearly 600,000 Trump supporters paid deposits for a gold smartphone that remains undelivered, sparking outrage and calls for investigation into Trump Mobile's practices.

www.ibtimes.co.uk

Nearly 600,000 Trump supporters paid £74 ($100) each towards a gold smartphone that, nearly a year on, does not exist.

The Trump Mobile T1 phone was announced in June 2025 by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump as a patriotic alternative to Apple and Samsung, retailing at £370 ($499) and promising a 'Made in the USA' build.

An estimated 590,000 buyers paid a £74 ($100) deposit to secure one, collectively handing the venture roughly £43.7 million ($59 million). As of May 2026, not a single confirmed customer has received the device. Now, a fresh wave of anger is spreading across MAGA forums after buyers received communication making clear that their money is, for all practical purposes, gone.

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Mona Eberhardt]

Oh look. The USA have expanded the scope of their bullying to legit 1st World countries like Canada (protectorates and colonies like Greece are no longer enough).

https://wesodonnell.medium.com/us-warns-canada-buy-the-f-35-or-else-e1e22a85ce0a

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Remember, Hunter’s story was about drawing a $50,000/month salary while his dad was vice president and then allegedly trying to arrange some business ventures he might cut Joe Biden in on once he was out of office. Republicans’ yearslong investigation never turned up any hard evidence of the latter, though there was enough smoke I still think the story was plausible.

Today, we’re talking about the president’s children launching multi-billion dollar business ventures — several of them — while the president is in office, and then explicitly exchanging all manner of domestic policy victories, foreign policy concessions, and literal pardons in the construction of those deals. Trump himself has all but admitted this is happening. He told The New York Times that “nobody cared” when he tried to separate his family business from his administration during his first term, so he isn’t even trying now.

I have tracked these stories with one of my senior editors for the last year and a half. The list of things that have happened is so long and shocking when you see it all together that I’m not entirely sure how to present it. I’ve gone back and forth; maybe I should build a flow chart? What about a spreadsheet? Should this be a YouTube video, instead of a written piece? Will anyone actually read the entire thing? Can anyone actually process this level of self-dealing, corruption, and shadiness at once?

https://www.readtangle.com/the-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-corruption-story/

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Kash Patel’s Personalized Bourbon Stash

The FBI director has been leaving an unusual calling card.

www.theatlantic.com

He hands out bottles of whiskey - personalized bottles branded with his name. And he's done it while on official FBI business. Not a particularly good look, considering recent news.

This administration is such a huge fucking joke but I can't even laugh at it. Case in point:

Kash Patel Lost It When Personalized Bourbon Bottle Went Missing

“It turned into a sh*tshow,” a former agent said of the scene.

newrepublic.com

I mean, what's a Liquor Cabinet without actual liquor?

 

[Free]

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)

Energy Secretary Chris Wright backs off comments he made on Meet the Price in March that gas prices would be below $3 again this summer: "I can't make any predictions about oil prices or gasoline prices"

bsky.app

Maybe you should have been as circumspect back in March, huh?

 

[Mona Eberhardt]

 

[Free]

Not The Onion™.

Susie Wiles’ Email Demanding WH Staffers Stop Leaking to Press Is Leaked to Press

 

[Cristiano]

Just saw this on Twitter:


Trump had one of his worst mental health episodes yet last night, posting over 55 times in 3 hours. Here is the list:

10:15 PM - Accuses Obama of attempting a coup in 2016
10:15 PM - Says Obama worked with CIA to overthrow Trump
10:15 PM - Reposts tweet saying Obama is a “traitor” and that he should be arrested
10:22 PM - Attacks dominion voting systems for 2020 election saying they switched votes
10:22 PM - Says Fulton County, GA had their 2020 fraud exposed (there was none)
10:23 PM - Accuses Obama of personally making $120 million from Obamacare (wtf?)
10:23 PM - Cites quack lawyer Sidney Powell on the 2020 election
10:24 PM - Posts fake JFK Jr account that says Obama wiretapped Trump Tower
10:27 PM - Demands Senator Mark Kelly resign
10:29 PM - Claims neither Biden nor Harris were in charge of the Biden admin
10:29 PM - Attacks Fulton County, GA again
10:29 PM - Posts Fox News clip of Rep Ro Khanna
10:30 PM - Demands Jack Smith be arrested
10:30 PM - Accuses Obama, Clinton, and Comey of treason
10:39 PM - Reposts a tweet from a MAGA account saying they have secret intel proving Clinton and Obama committed crimes
10:39 PM - Reposts a MAGA tweet saying Hillary Clinton should be sent to Haiti
10:40 PM - Says the DOJ is “working hard” to arrest his enemies for treason
10:40 PM - Reposts a tweet attacking his own DOJ and Todd Blanche for no arrests of political enemies
10:40 PM - Posts a TikTok video of people stealing from a convenience store
10:41 PM - Posts a TikTok of someone taking a Door Dash order
10:41 PM - accuses Obama, John Brennan, and Clinton of sedition and treason again
10:42 PM - Posts a video of a man on CCTV footage knocking over food a waiter was carrying
10:47 PM - Calls Obama the “most DEMONIC FORCE” in American politics
10:47 PM - Posts a tweet from Mike Flynn saying 2020 election wasn’t fair
10:49 PM - Attacks Dominion again claiming they stole the 2020 election (it wasn’t)
10:51 PM - Reposts a fake Charlie Kirk account that claimed Obama blocked Hillary Clinton from being prosecuted
10:53 PM - Claims Obama was part of Hillary Clinton’s emails in some way
11:28 PM - Claims a senior Democrat just testified under oath that Senator Adam Schiff leaked classified information
1:13 AM - Attacks the New York Times for reporting on the reflecting pool

This man is clearly not well.

 

[Free]

Obama is truly his white....er, I mean his bla...uhm. His obsession.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Just saw this on Twitter:


Trump had one of his worst mental health episodes yet last night, posting over 55 times in 3 hours. Here is the list:

10:15 PM - Accuses Obama of attempting a coup in 2016
10:15 PM - Says Obama worked with CIA to overthrow Trump
10:15 PM - Reposts tweet saying Obama is a “traitor” and that he should be arrested
10:22 PM - Attacks dominion voting systems for 2020 election saying they switched votes
10:22 PM - Says Fulton County, GA had their 2020 fraud exposed (there was none)
10:23 PM - Accuses Obama of personally making $120 million from Obamacare (wtf?)
10:23 PM - Cites quack lawyer Sidney Powell on the 2020 election
10:24 PM - Posts fake JFK Jr account that says Obama wiretapped Trump Tower
10:27 PM - Demands Senator Mark Kelly resign
10:29 PM - Claims neither Biden nor Harris were in charge of the Biden admin
10:29 PM - Attacks Fulton County, GA again
10:29 PM - Posts Fox News clip of Rep Ro Khanna
10:30 PM - Demands Jack Smith be arrested
10:30 PM - Accuses Obama, Clinton, and Comey of treason
10:39 PM - Reposts a tweet from a MAGA account saying they have secret intel proving Clinton and Obama committed crimes
10:39 PM - Reposts a MAGA tweet saying Hillary Clinton should be sent to Haiti
10:40 PM - Says the DOJ is “working hard” to arrest his enemies for treason
10:40 PM - Reposts a tweet attacking his own DOJ and Todd Blanche for no arrests of political enemies
10:40 PM - Posts a TikTok video of people stealing from a convenience store
10:41 PM - Posts a TikTok of someone taking a Door Dash order
10:41 PM - accuses Obama, John Brennan, and Clinton of sedition and treason again
10:42 PM - Posts a video of a man on CCTV footage knocking over food a waiter was carrying
10:47 PM - Calls Obama the “most DEMONIC FORCE” in American politics
10:47 PM - Posts a tweet from Mike Flynn saying 2020 election wasn’t fair
10:49 PM - Attacks Dominion again claiming they stole the 2020 election (it wasn’t)
10:51 PM - Reposts a fake Charlie Kirk account that claimed Obama blocked Hillary Clinton from being prosecuted
10:53 PM - Claims Obama was part of Hillary Clinton’s emails in some way
11:28 PM - Claims a senior Democrat just testified under oath that Senator Adam Schiff leaked classified information
1:13 AM - Attacks the New York Times for reporting on the reflecting pool

This man is clearly not well.

Mad as a bag of weasels.

 

[Cristiano]

Mad as a bag of weasels.

A bag of weasels with late stage dementia.

 

[Cristiano]

Democrats not playing this on loop would be major malpractice:

 

[Noodles]

Democrats not playing this on loop would be major malpractice:

They can't even slam dunk my district by running Mary "Hitler Was Right" Miller saying "Hitler was right" on a loop.

Democrats are incompetenent at advertising.

 

[Casey Pelous]

A bag of weasels with late stage dementia.

.... on meth.

 

[Free]

.... on meth.

No-cost meth.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Mad as a bag of weasels.

Nuttier than squirrel shit in a walnut factory.

 

[Free]

When it comes to the ex-administration folk, occasionally one gets fired or quits for not being evil enough.

FDA chief resigns after Trump admin forced approval of fruity e-cigs

Makary reportedly spent his year bucking Trump admin and making industry enemies.

arstechnica.com

Marty Makary on Tuesday resigned from his role as Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, days after news broke on Friday that the White House had signed off on plans to fire him.

Trump confirmed Makary’s resignation on social media, posting an image that appears to show that Makary resigned from his role over a text message. The text message begins “Dr. President Trump[sic], Please accept my resignation, effective today.”

Trump wrote in another social media post that Makary had “done a great job at the FDA,” and that he was “a hard worker, who was respected by all, and will go on to have an outstanding career in Medicine.”

Trump’s positive review of Makary stands in contrast to the news last week. As administration insiders were widely broadcasting plans for Makary’s ouster on Friday, they offered a long list of issues and instances in which Makary was at odds with the White House. And, according to those close to Makary who spoke with The New York Times today, the now-former commissioner had his own reasons for departing.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump in China: A Case Study Of US Decline

Signs of decline can be dramatic or they can be small.

phillipspobrien.substack.com

Free to read, I think.

while Trump praises and flatters, the Chinese are responding by celebrating the very decline that causes Trump to praise and flatter.

This is painful to watch. Trump has no levers of influence over China and desperate needs for Chinese support. The reality is that the US decline, which has been going on before him but which has accelerated or we might say super-charged, has fundamentally changed the balance between the two countries.