The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Free]

Ex-Republican flags 'underplayed' reason GOP lawmakers are about to walk away from Trump

New York Times columnist David French told MS NOW Monday morning that Senate Republicans are quietly reaching a breaking point with Donald Trump — not because they have suddenly grown a spine, but because they are learning that no amount of loyalty is sufficient to protect them from his...

www.rawstory.com

New York Times columnist David French told MS NOW Monday morning that Senate Republicans are quietly reaching a breaking point with Donald Trump — not because they have suddenly grown a spine, but because they are learning that no amount of loyalty is sufficient to protect them from his wrath.

French, appearing on Morning Joe with anchor Jonathan Lemire, said the dynamic driving the frustration has been largely missed in the broader political coverage.

"There's a very important distinction that a lot of these senators are very aware of that has been sort of underplayed in the public," French said. "Trump turned on senators who had, in many ways, been doing everything that they could to signal their loyalty to Trump."

 

[Free]

Pentagon press office is now a classified area and off-limits to reporters

Journalists are no longer allowed in the Pentagon press office.

The office where journalists have long been able to seek information from military officials has been deemed a classified space and off-limits to the press to make room for speechwriters who handle sensitive material, the Defense Department said Monday.

“As a result, journalists will no longer be permitted to enter the office space,” Joel Valdez, the acting press secretary, said in a statement. “There’s nothing controversial about that.”

Sure, keeping the press out of the press office. That's not controversial. At all.

What a joke Pete Hegseth and his team is.

 

[Noodles]

Pentagon press office is now a classified area and off-limits to reporters


Sure, keeping the press out of the press office. That's not controversial. At all.

What a joke Pete Hegseth and his team is.

The Scooby Doo villain energy is strong eith these jokers. Except they are probably willing to just murder those "medlesome kids."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan Changes Tune on Freedom 250 Concerts, Says He Too Is Quitting the ‘Circus,’ After Trump’s Tirade Against Artists

Milli Vanilli was one of two acts still expressing ongoing support for the Trump-backed Freedom 250 concerts in D.C., but now Fab Morvan wants out too.

variety.com

They've still got Vanilla Ice, though I really want the Iranian government to up their trolling level by booking him too

After several artists drop out of Freedom 250 concerts, Vanilla Ice says he'd "play for anybody" including Putin and Iran

 

[Noodles]

Are Kanye and Kid Rock not available?

 

[Casey Pelous]

Are Kanye and Kid Rock not available?

I think I read that Rock is big-time butthurt over being left out, so maybe there's still "hope."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

How a new court Order means Trump’s slush fund is now in peril

2nd June 2026 The judge has re-opened the supposed ‘settled’ case * In a significant development the court has now re-opened the litigation which had ended in the supposed ‘settlement’ …

theemptycity.com

There is so, so much wrong with this case, from every angle. It is like an implausible exam question for law students. This is not what litigation is for and this is not what settlements are for.

But at least now there is a chance for the court to self-correct the excesses of the parties, for if the case is struck out there cannot be a ‘settlement’ – either recognised by the court or otherwise.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

The parties "settled" the case before filings were due on jurisdiction. That also removed the next steps the court would take: first they would have to rule on the Statute of Limitations (normally 2 years if I recall correctly) and then on excessive damages (there is a $1000 limit in the IRS Code unless they can prove actual costs for credit monitoring and similar direct costs, the law does not allow punitive, reputational, or emotional damages, only direct costs).

 

[Casey Pelous]

With the Trumpenreich, one must not limit one's thinking to the box called "the law." The IRA could "settle" on the basis of, "Nice little agency ya got here. Be a shame if someone was to, you know, cut its budget to, oh, I dunno, say, zero or sumpin'....." or even just, "The boss says to write him a check for $1.7 billion."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Midweek Update #13: How Weak Is The USA?

Trump Is Creating A Scorched Earth GOP and Executive Branch—Be Afraid

phillipspobrien.substack.com

In discussing the present situation with a knowledgeable US source yesterday I asked how Trump eventually gets out of the Iran War (which as always he remains desperate to do). The response I got was fascinating. I was told: “Right now he cannot get out. It is physics.” What this person meant is that while Trump tries constantly to wriggle away, the unbreakable hold that Iran and Israel have over his power/position always sucks him back him. The US does not control its own destiny at this point in the war, indeed every day the American position is weakening. The US is in a far weaker state than it was when the ceasefire was announced on April 7, and will be in weaker position next week when I write this (unless Trump surrenders).

This story of US weakness certainly is the story of the week, maybe the year.

This weakness ties into what Trump is doing with the GOP and the federal government, which gets comment but I am not sure of the right type. People need to ask themselves why Trump is prizing absolute subservient loyalty over anything. Its not just that he wants to punish his enemies. He has always wanted to do that. No, its far more than that, Trump is setting up a parallel system to protect himself and maintain his power, and that is based on total control of the GOP and executive government. This might actually be the thing that makes US decline unstoppable. He is, as always, willing to destroy the country to save himself. And his Iran war is accelerating that.