President Donald Trump's attempt at dismissing the concerns about his Air Force One ruse was far from convincing, with the D.C. insiders at Pod Save America lambasting him for reaching a new level of idiocy and accidentally proving his critics right.

A recent report from the Washington Post revealed that Trump's efforts to evade a potential attack from Iran had been more complicated than once understood. While attempting to leave a NATO event in Turkey, reports initially suggested that fears of an attack led Trump to fly out on an older model of Air Force One, rather than the new one he received as a gift from Qatar, given that it lacked certain security features. According ot the Post, however, once onboard, he was snuck out on a catering truck and taken to a military craft that flew him to the U.K.

In carrying out this plan, Trump left numerous reporters to fly on the legacy model Air Force One, unaware that there were concerns about the craft being attacked. In response to that growing controversy, Trump attempted to argue that, in fact, he was still the one in the most danger.

"I think actually the plane that I flew on was at greater risk," Trump said. "I think it was at greater risk because that would be the plane I think that they would be more likely to go for."

On the latest episode of the Pod Save America podcast, former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer reacted to this rationale, with the former dismissing it as "the dumbest thing possible." Favreau also noted that the argument actually proved critics right, since it acknowledged that the plane presumed to have Trump on it would be the most dangerous.

"Yeah, they'd be more likely to go for the plane you were on. Of course," Favreau, Barack Obama's former director of speechwriting, said. "Which is why they tried to put you on another plane that they didn't know about... I don't know why I say that in such a shocked way, but like that is it's just like new levels of Trump being a dips——."

"On one hand, it is very, very funny that he hid in a catering cart, that he flew home on a secret plane, that he handpicked the people who would survive with him like Pete Hegseth and the woman who prints all of his documents," Pfeiffer, Obama's former senior communications adviser, added. "But then he sent Marco Rubio to die with the press, and Marco Rubio was the only one on that other plane who knew what was happening."

The pair later added that, had such a situation occurred during the Obama administration, the decisions about who would go with the president on the secret military plane would have been decided "by actual protocol and not by who he likes most."

President Donald Trump made an "oddly specific" remark about medication during a recent address, per The Daily Beast, and in doing so, reignited speculation about his alleged struggles with hair loss.

As The Daily Beast noted in a recent report, Trump on Friday gave an address to law enforcement officials in Garden City, NY, during which he touched on the modern development of stores in major population centers putting certain medical products in locked glass cases to deter shoplifting. During this bit, he made an "oddly specific" reference to products that add volume to hair.

"Every shelf has glass on it, and it has a lock and a key. I said, ‘Why do you do that? How do you live like that?’ You want a toothbrush or a little toothpaste, or you want to get a little Dove soap,” Trump said. “You want a little of that good hair that can puff up your hair a little bit more, so it makes it look like you have 4 percent more than you had—they charge you for it. Give me a break. And that’s because nothing happens to these criminals.”

This remark comes in the wake of increased public scrutiny of Trump's hair, after an appearance at an event in Las Vegas in which he seemed to have much thicker and darker hair than he did just days prior, prompting speculation about extensions or wigs. The president has been dogged by speculation for years that he goes to elaborate lengths to avoid the appearance of losing his hair. His one-time biographer, Michael Wolff, has claimed that his daughter Ivanka once mocked him for his extensive "combover" practices, while Stormy Daniels once claimed that Trump had been oddly frank with her about his struggles with hair loss later in life.

As The Daily Beast highlighted, Trump's first-term medical records may have shed some light on his hair situation, but that sort of information has vanished since the start of his second term.

"In his first term, Trump’s medical reports featured [the hair loss drug] Propecia, but since he took office a second time, the drug has not appeared in any publicly released records," the report explained. "Following a June report, the White House said that it 'reflects all medications deemed clinically relevant to disclose at this time,' adding, 'No additional undisclosed conditions or procedures materially affecting his health status were omitted from this report.'”

The report also touched on a passage from the recent Trump exposé, Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, which detailed the lengths to which he has gone to maintain his hair.

"Trump had every comfort close at hand. His longtime aide and personal valet, Walt Nauta (who bore the title director of Oval Office operations), would carry around not just the usual personal items—makeup, hairspray, Tic Tacs—but also scissors so that Trump could snip his hair when he found that it was getting too long in the back, poking over his collar," the book detailed.

President Donald Trump is facing something of an 'exodus' as several White House staff members announce their departures, and according to The Daily Beast, this is likely because he is "just meaner" now.

For the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, host Joanna Coles and executive editor Hugh Dougherty broke down the news that White House Press Secretary would be resigning from the role by the end of the month. Her announcement also came amid the departures of White House counsel David Warrington and deputy national security advisor Andy Baker, a major ally of Vice President JD Vance.

While Leavitt cited a desire to spend more time with her growing family, Coles and Dougherty explained her departure was almost certainly driven in part by the fact that Trump has become much "more unpleasant to deal with."

"He said it’s widely known among Trump’s aides that Trump is just meaner. You can see it," Coles said. "He’s more unpleasant to deal with. He yells at people. He’s always yelled at people, but he’s yelling louder and for longer... And I’m sure Karoline Leavitt, who you know, by all appearances, has a nice marriage, has a husband who’s wealthy enough that she doesn’t need to work, thought, ‘What am I doing with my life? I have these two adorable little babies at home. Why do I need to come to work and get shouted at when I could go to Fox, make more money and be just as famous?"

Dougherty responded, explaining that while Leavitt might have some personal reasons for resigning, there is "no doubt” that she “was not enjoying herself" in the Trump administration. He noted that Leavitt was reportedly bombarded with calls from Trump during her recent maternity leave and found that life did not improve upon her return to work.

"What was quite clear was that behind the scenes, she had been repeatedly phoned by Trump during that month that she was off, and... the load did not get any lighter for her," he explained. "When she came back, it got worse."

Dougherty also added that Leavitt's job and life in the White House overall would likely become markedly more miserable if Democrats sweep back into power in the coming midterms, as numerous polls suggest that they will.

"If the polls are right, it’s going to be a blue wave that’s going to be so unpleasant if you are in the West Wing, if you are Karoline Leavitt, if you are the other people who are leaving that we want to talk about as well, you don’t want to be there," Dougherty said. "First of all, he’s probably going to be throwing things, and there’s a lot of gold that can come off those walls. The internal atmosphere of a West Wing where there has been a defeat, obviously, is unpleasant."

President Donald Trump is fixated on hiring "young women" for a specific White House role, according to his one-time biographer, because he can "yell at them better."

Michael Wolff is a veteran reporter and author, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump, including several books about his tumultuous first term. Much of that reporting was based on sources close to Trump and his inner circle, as well as considerable access to Trump himself. During the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," he revealed why Trump's next pick for White House Press Secretary will most likely be another young woman, despite rumors that CNN's Scott Jennings is under consideration.

"As I say, he likes young women in this role, so I mean, that could change," Wolff said.

Karoline Leavitt announced recently that she will be departing her role as press secretary at the end of the month, citing a desire to spend more time with her family, but prompting speculation that she was being forced out for some unknown reason. Leavitt was the youngest person ever to serve in the role, starting when she was just 27.

He noted further that the role under Trump has almost exclusively been filled by women, like Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany, who are also usually on the young side. The only exception so far has been Sean Spicer, the first press secretary from his first term, and according to Wolff, his performance in the job played a big role in why Trump has only hired women since then.

"He likes women out there because actually he can yell at them better," Wolff explained. "And they seem to take it in a way that, I mean, Sean Spicer just would fall apart every time the president would yell at him. Trump would yell at him, [he'd] fall apart, be a puddle on the floor. There was... the famous thing where he hid behind the the potted plant... You know, he just he just would get too rattled. So rattled that... he couldn't get out in front of the press and deliver, deliver his lines in a in a clear and cogent way."

He continued: "Unlike Karoline Leavitt, who's kind of remarkable, she was a junior person. She really emerged out of that just as a junior level person throughout the [2024] campaign. Still a junior level, you know, one of one of a kind of stable of people who would serve in the spokesperson's role."

"Well, and she got her job there at the White House as an intern [in Trump's first term], writing back to people who'd written to the president. So she was writing endless letters every day and cards back to them from the White House," co-host Joanna Coles added.

"By the way, and that's what Trump really likes," Wolff responded. "He likes people to come up through his ranks. He doesn't like to bring in outsiders."

A surprising new report has found agreement among both Democrat and Republican voters on key issues tied to some of President Donald Trump's biggest failings, per a report from SFGate, signaling more trouble to come for the GOP in the coming midterms.

In a report published Friday, SFGate broke down the findings of a new voter survey from the Public Policy Institute of California, which sought to map out "some core findings from California’s political divide," and in the process, affirmed "many long-held stereotypes" while also uncovering "some key surprises."

The survey that several of the state's traditional "conservative stronghold" counties have seen a marked shift to left politically, with Republican voters broadly agreeing with Democrats on "three key issues."

"The majority of Californians support action on climate change and abortion access, and view immigration positively, the study found," SFGate explained. "Only Shasta County and the central eastern border of the state (including counties like Inyo and Mono counties) have support for immigrants at less than 50 percent. The highest support for independent state action on climate change is around the San Francisco and Los Angeles metropolitan areas, but 65 percent of all state residents support it. Even abortion access, a perennially controversial issue, has most Californians in agreement — 70 percent support it without restrictions or with restrictions that leave it mostly legal."

While immigration has long been thought of as Trump's best issue with voters, the overt tactics of ICE and CBP during his second term mass deportation drive have soured many voters and sent his approval on the issue underwater in several polls. Abortion rights have also been a persistent thorn in his side since his three Supreme Court justices helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Republicans have attempted to hide from the issue ever since it was widely blamed for the party's underperformance in that year's midterms.

The survey also found an overall consensus on the negative state of the economy among both red and blue voters, with most believing that tough times are ahead. This is well in line with what poll after poll has found about voter sentiment heading into the midterms, with most voters saying that the rough state of the economy is their number one issue and a growing number blaming Trump for the situation outright.

"Overall, most Californians think rough economic conditions are ahead, though the liberal areas are the most concerned," SFGate added. "Over 80 percent of parts of the Bay Area and central LA predict bad economic times ahead, and more than 60 percent think that’s true in the far north and Central Valley."

Ex-RNC Chair Michael Steele tore into President Donald Trump this week, asserting that his struggling endorsements are a sign that his influence is collapsing as his MAGA base grows "fractured and dissipated."

Trump has long boasted of his "kingmaker" status within the GOP, claiming that his endorsements are bulletproof in Republican primaries and using them to threaten lawmakers who step out of line. The current midterm cycle, however, has provided numerous examples of his waning influence, as it did on Tuesday, when his endorsed candidates fell short in Minnesota and South Carolina. Pillow salesman and election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell suffered a bruising loss in the GOP primary for the Minnesota gubernatorial race, while Sen. Darline Graham Nordone, who selected to finish her brother Lindsey Graham's final term, fell short of a definitive win in her primary, sending the race to a runoff.

During a panel segment on MS NOW's "On the Line" Wednesday, host Alicia Menendez noted how Trump seemed to try to obscure the failure of his South Carolina endorsement in particular, claiming to like all of the candidates, a move that signaled his growing insecurity.

"He knows that this question of whether or not he can be a kingmaker is now in the ether," Menendez suggested.

"It's very, very much in the ether," Steele responded. "The MAGA base has fractured and dissipated in a number of ways for a number of reasons. And... the bigger reasons are twofold. One is the downward pressure of the economy on them. You know, it didn't just hit democrats. It hit them to imagine that. And two, the Epstein files still play [as] a big, big narrative in that space. And so, you know that Trump tries to cloud the airwaves and create the noise around elections and voting and getting people riled up about something."

He continued: "But at the end of the day, you know, as he said, they're all trumpers, and he doesn't really care one way or the other who the nominee is to be. To be rather frank about it, this is the least... exciting and important thing in Donald Trump's universe, because it's not an art, it's not a ballroom. It's not something he can build and construct. He has to actually deal with human beings. And he doesn't really like that so much. So the reality for him, for those candidates, is you're out there swimming on your own."

Elsewhere in the segment, Steele also tore into Trump's endorsed candidate for governor in Wisconsin, Tom Tiffany, who won the party's nomination on Tuesday, saying it would be the "ultimate corruption" to put a known election denier in that office.

"It is the ultimate corruption of the process in the system," Steele said. "It is profoundly antithetical to what the citizens of that state decided. And that then becomes a problem for that governor. I mean, you know, these things don't happen in a vacuum. You know, if... in 2020, [Georgia Gov. Brad] Raffensperger and others decided, okay, we'll play with Donald Trump. You cannot discount the outrage from the citizenry and the voters out there when hearing that text or hearing those tapes, then realizing that their governor cheated, stole the votes from them."

He continued: "That's going to be a real impact on the state. And so what you're seeing here... is the party now is all about feeding that chaos. If it doesn't get its way, it's all about feeding that beast. That beast is Donald Trump, at the end of the day, giving him what he wants. But there are consequences for that. We see some of that play out already."

The new revelations about President Donald Trump's Air Force One ruse have exposed his "increasingly paranoid" state, and according to an analysis from The i Paper, there is one fear above all others driving this change.

The Washington Post reported this week that an incident from last month, in which Trump purportedly switched to an older Air Force One model while departing Turkey due to concerns about an attack by Iran, was actually more complicated than it seemed. It turned out that Trump had actually been covertly escorted off that older craft by the Secret Service and onto a military craft, then snuck back onto the "decoy" plane after landing in the U.K.

The incident has raised numerous alarms and questions, including why the administration has gone so hard after reporters for supposedly getting the leaked initial version of the story if they knew it was not accurate, and why they felt they could let reporters stay on the decoy Air Force One if they believed it was under threat.

In a new column for The i Paper, reporter James Ball wrote that this "staggeringly high-risk maneuver," whether it was the president's idea or his security detail's, sprang from his mounting fear of being targeted for assassination.

"Trump has reasons to fear assassination, of course," Ball explained. "In July 2024, he narrowly escaped an assassination attempt while speaking at a rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, during which a bullet seemingly grazed his ear. There have been several other attempts to target Trump since, including at his golf club in Florida in September 2024, and at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner this April, though none of these got anywhere close to the President.

Ball also argued that the entire situation was an "encapsulation of Trump’s second term," with each problem being driven by his own greed or recklessness.

"He was at risk due to a war against Iran he had launched, which he has repeatedly claimed was already won – even claiming to have agreed to a peace deal," Ball continued. "His new Air Force One, which will be owned by his presidential library for his personal use after he leaves the Oval Office, was not secure enough to use."

He concluded: "And so, to find a way out of this predicament entirely of Trump’s creation, someone conjured up a drastic plan that led to the President hiding with catering, turning journalists into human shields and breaking a decades-long precedent about not lying about the President’s whereabouts. Trump’s fear of assassination might be well-grounded – but it is leading him into some very strange places indeed."

President Donald Trump is ignoring the reality of his recent losses from the Supreme Court, according to The Hill, pushing ahead with new plans to address key goals — and immediately running into more legal pushback.

"President Trump is reframing his Supreme Court losses on tariffs, birthright citizenship and the Federal Reserve as victories in disguise," the outlet detailed in a Wednesday report. "Exuding confidence, Trump is pressing ahead with new attempts at all three. But his critics are rushing back to court. It tees up key tests of the Supreme Court’s recent blockbuster decisions, putting Trump’s agenda on the line once again."

The court previously shot down most of Trump's tariffs, finding that he lacked the authority he claimed to have to create new import taxes without congressional approval. It also pushed back against his efforts to have Lisa Cook, a Joe Biden appointee, fired from her role on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, allowing her to remain in the position while her legal challenge moved ahead. Finally, the court ruled against his executive order attempting to reshape the definition of "birthright citizenship," in direct defiance of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

As The Hill noted, Trump has a tendency to "interpret judicial rulings broadly," pushing to see how much leeway he can find to pursue his agenda items in spite of them.

"When the court stopped him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook because she was owed due process, he quickly noted that it was on a 'strictly procedural basis' and vowed to push on," the report added. "On tariffs, Trump claims the ruling invalidating his first round of global levies made his authority “more powerful and more crystal clear.” And when the majority struck down his Day 1 executive order restricting birthright citizenship, Trump latched on to Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion that found it only violated federal law."

Those who oppose Trump's goals on these fronts have been quick to respond in court. Aarti Kohli, executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, spoke with The Hill about the suit his group filed against Trump alongside the American Civil Liberties Union in opposition to Trump's new order targeting birthright citizenship again.

"This order is a desperate and brazen attempt to bypass the Supreme Court’s decision and expand a very narrow set of exceptions to the 14th Amendment," Kohli explained.

"They didn’t file a new lawsuit. Instead, they’ve returned to the trial judge who ruled against Trump last year and was ultimately affirmed by the Supreme Court," The Hill explained. "They want him to declare that Trump can’t cut off citizenship for anyone covered by that existing class-action lawsuit, no matter what new executive orders the president may sign."

Cook's legal team, led by Abbe Lowell, also spoke with The Hill about his client's ongoing situation.

"These allegations are as baseless now as they were a year ago when President Trump tried to remove Governor Cook and interfere with the independence of the Federal Reserve,” the team said in a statement. “No matter what President Trump tries to do next, this much is clear under the facts and Supreme Court precedent — there is no valid cause for removing Governor Cook.”

President Donald Trump's handling of the economy has resulted in "two Americas" being created, according to one leading economic analyst, and it is also a familiar situation that could spell doom for him and the GOP in the coming midterm elections.

During a Wednesday segment on CNN, host Sara Sidner spoke with Rana Foroohar, a global economic analyst for the network as well as an associate editor for the Financial Times, about the most recent inflation numbers. Per the latest reports, the rate of inflation slowed down for the second month in a row in July, putting the annual rate at around 3.4 percent.

Despite this trend, Sidner noted that many people "can't afford their lives," and pressed Foroohar about why things still feel "so bad" for so many consumers. The analyst explained that inflation can often be a "lagging indicator" relative to consumer sentiment, and does not represent the lived reality that people are dealing with every day when they shop for groceries or fill up their cars.

"How do you feel sitting in your office? How do you feel when you drive past the gas station and see that price? How do you feel in the grocery store?" Foroohar said. "And people have felt pinched for a long time, and it actually takes months after you begin to feel pinched and feel like, oh my gosh, I'm in a cost of living crisis. I can't afford my life. My house is too expensive. I have to think about medication costs. It takes a while for that feeling to abate. It's almost like a little bit of inflation PTSD, if you will."

Foroohar further explained how the economy under Trump has become what many economists call "K-shaped," referring to a phenomenon where the wealthiest consumers are doing well and spending more, while the rest struggle. This, she noted, explains why many people feel they are in a cost of living crisis, while things like travel spending are also reaching record numbers.

"It's been the same answer for years now. It's the bifurcation," she explained. "There really are two Americas. There is an America that, you're absolutely right, is waiting in Newark [Airport]. I just came from there and it's very crowded... It's August, people are traveling, actually. Travel is at a record, in fact... There are groups of people that have that money and can do those trips, that top 10 percent of the population, which is primarily what we're talking about, is spending 60 percent of the money in the economy."

She continued: "So you can look around and say, okay, restaurants are open, you know, things are happening, the economy is good. But the folks that are more towards the bottom in terms of wages, in terms of jobs, in terms of assets, maybe they don't have so much in the stock market. Maybe they don't own a home. They are not feeling good. They are feeling incredibly pressed."

These issues, Foroohar noted, are on full display in the midterm primary season as voters show support for candidates telling them, "we see you, we feel your pain," which is primed to doom Republicans in November.

"We've seen that movie before," she concluded.

The Trump administration has been scrambling to identify the leakers behind recent stories about his Air Force One ruse, but according to his longtime biographer, there is an "easy answer" as to who leaked the most recent "catering truck" story.

This week, the Washington Post reported about a new wrinkle in President Donald Trump's Air Force One switch-up. Prior reports had revealed that Trump flew out of Turkey last month on an older model Air Force One, due to the new one lacking security features needed in the face of alleged threats from Iran. According to the Post story, the Secret Service had gone a step further, sneaking Trump out of Air Force One on a catering truck and flying him to the U.K. on a military craft, prompting concerns about the lack of care shown for the safety of reporters left to fly out on the legacy craft.

Michael Wolff is a longtime journalist and author, best known for his extensive coverage of Trump's political career, including several books about his first term based on purported insider sources. In the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," Wolff touched on the catering truck situation, and suggested that the answer to the question of who leaked to the Post was simple: Trump himself.

"No one knows about it, and no one knows about most of these things that the Secret Service does for a very good reason,” Wolff explained. “These are all security precautions... If people know about them, then they’re no longer part of the security protocol and no longer a safe part. So people don’t know about this. The Secret Service certainly would not leak this. So who leaked it? This is an easy answer.”

"Donald Trump leaked it," co-host Joanna Coles suggested, which Wolff confirmed.

“He has a method here. And the method is, more attention on me,” Wolff added. “And also, there’s a theme here. The assassination theme has worked very well for Donald Trump. And I think that he wants people to know he’s the target. ‘I’m the main target. I’m the guy.’”

Wolff and Coles also wondered how the assembled reporters on the "decoy" Air Force One did not notice anything odd about the flight, given Trump's proclivity for talking to them, and insulting them for attention.

"They literally were on the plane," Coles said. "And they must have thought, ‘Why isn’t the president coming back to talk to us?’ Because he always goes back to talk to them because he loves it. He wants them. He loves to insult them. He knows that will be the next story."

President Donald Trump is once again musing about a plot to upend the midterm elections, but as one political scholar revealed to The New Republic, the legal logic behind the idea has a major flaw that means it is likely to be a dud.

During a recent interview, right-wing media personality Wayne Allyn Root urged Trump to declare a national emergency as a means to implement the voter ID requirements and other reforms proposed in the SAVE America Act, which has stalled out in the Senate. In response, Trump did not outright dismiss the idea and, in fact, sounded as if he was considering it.

"Let me just say, stranger things have happened, OK? I'll leave it at that," the president said.

During the Wednesday edition of The New Republic's Daily Blast podcast, host Greg Sargent talked with Rick Hasen, a legal and political scholar who specializes in election law, and pressed him about the viability of the idea that Trump could implement sweeping election reforms via national emergency. Hasen explained that, for all the presidential powers that such a declaration could unlock, it would give Trump no specific powers over elections. Elections, more generally, are also explicitly left for states to manage by the Constitution.

"So there are two reasons why declaring a national emergency doesn't make Donald Trump the election czar in this country," Hasen explained. "The first is, there's no federal statute. Of all those 50 statutes that deal with national emergencies, none prescribe any powers to the president over elections. The other reason is even more fundamental. The Constitution, the United States Constitution, does not give the president power over elections. We have a decentralized election system.”

He continued: "Most of our election rules come from states, from state legislatures passing statutes. There's a part of the Constitution — it's in Article 1, Section 4 — it says that Congress can override state rules on elections. That's when Congress, for example, requires 'motor voter'; people can register to vote at motor vehicle departments. But Congress has to do that with legislation. The president has no role to play. All that the president can do is take care to assure that the laws that Congress passes are being faithfully executed.”

Hasen also touched on Root's suggestion that this national emergency idea could work if implemented next month, as it would require both chambers of Congress to vote to undo it, and there would not be enough time before the midterms to do so. The analyst explained that, again, this notion is inherently flawed, as no such declaration can give Trump such election powers in the first place.

President Donald Trump lashed out with a new social media tantrum this week, taking aim at a think tank report that offered a sharp rebuke of his National Guard deployments, per a report from The Hill.

Trump's post was in response to a July report from the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress, which found that his deployment of the Guard to Washington D.C., had "failed to reduce violent crime despite its claims of success." His attack came after the report's author, Chandler Hall, discussed its findings during an appearance on C-SPAN.

Trump's extended post went so far as to threaten the group with a lawsuit, all while also attacking numerous entities he claimed to be funding it, from Walmart to Apple to Goldman Sachs.

"Chandler Hall, representing, on Television, the foolish Center for American Lack of Progress, stated that adding the National Guard to Cities, including our now Great Again, Washington, D.C., had 'NO impact on Crime.' How crazy is that," Trump wrote. "Hall was met with furious dissent. The report is just another Radical Left SCAM, as are the people who fund this gaggle of Lunatics, including George Soros, Bill and Melinda Gates, Google, Apple, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, WellsFargo, Bank of America, Walmart, Toyota, T-Mobile,and NBC Universal. Foreign support includes the Embassy of Japan, the Korea Foundation, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan) and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates.

He continued: "The Dumocrats love it, and are against anything 'TRUMP.' These people, and others like them, are so bad for our Country. Their stated course is anything to hate or demean 'TRUMP.' This will be met with a lawsuit, which is being drawn now. I am also strongly considering adding some of the contributors to this Fake Organization. Crime is way down since I took Office, and they know it. Liars, at this level, must be held accountable!"

The report, published on July 13, argued that "The second Trump administration is trying to take credit for the historic drop in violent crime across America," even though this trend has been ongoing for years, well before Trump's return to the White House. The administration has tried to use that preexisting trend to "justify expanding policies that are unpopular, ineffective and costly."

"Even though the data clearly show that violent crime and homicides were already dropping in American cities in 2023 and 2024, the Trump administration has continued to threaten city and state leaders and argue that its extreme actions, such as deploying the National Guard to support law enforcement operations, are improving public safety," Hall's report explained. "However, new Center for American Progress analysis finds no evidence that National Guard deployments have reduced violent crime. Moreover, if these deployments are extended and continue through the end of 2026, they could cost American taxpayers more than $1.7 billion."

President Donald Trump's latest victory in Congress is a massive "loss" for the country, according to one former federal prosecutor, who further argued that it represents the "worst appointment" yet in a long parade of terrible appointments.

James D. Zirin previously served as a prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and now regularly publishes legal analysis and op-eds for The Hill. In his latest piece for the outlet from Tuesday morning, Zirin tore into the appointment of Todd Blanche as attorney general, calling it an act worthy of "shame" for the GOP-controlled Senate, and lambasted him as the worst of Trump's second term, an achievement with an extremely high bar.

"It is to the shame of the U.S. Senate that Blanche is now confirmed," Zirin wrote. "It is the worst appointment of the second Trump administration. Yes, you heard me — worse than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard or Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem put together, because he will serve only President Trump, not our precious rule of law."

He added further: "Ask the more than 1,200 of Blanche’s Department of Justice colleagues who urged the Senate to reject his nomination. Ask the 35 former federal judges from across the country who have argued he committed a fraud on the court. Incumbent federal judges have said that the Justice Department under his aegis is no longer entitled to the presumption of regularity. He has lied to the courts once too often. In July, a judge forced Blanche’s prosecutors to withdraw subpoenas served on New York Times reporters at their homes, finding serious irregularities."

Zirin further highlighted the trend of failed grand jury indictments at the DOJ under Blanche, including the failure to convince even "a single grand juror to sign off on proposed criminal charges against six Democratic lawmakers who released a video encouraging members of the military to refuse illegal orders," and the failure to indict a man for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent. The issue, he explained, is "not that he lost," but that even tried to pursue such cases in the first place, asking, "Where is the judgment?"

"Then, there is the elephant in the room: the Epstein files, with the drip-feed, heavily redacted disclosure Blanche handled, not to mention his callous mistreatment of Epstein’s victims," he continued. "A New York Times report by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan exposed that Blanche handled the Epstein case as a matter of politics, and key decisions were made by Blanche in collaboration with the White House."

He concluded later: "In 1940, Attorney General Robert Jackson declared in the prosecutor’s creed that, 'the citizen’s safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth and not victims, who serves the law and not factional purposes, and who approaches his task with humility.' Blanche has been confirmed to serve 'factional purposes.' If he is not 'perfect,' he should not have been confirmed."

A prominent former official is sounding the alarm about President Donald Trump's increasingly tyrannical tendencies, writing for The i Paper that he has now succeeded in corrupting the two offices above all that are tasked with telling him "no."

Miles Taylor previously worked as a staffer in Trump's first administration, eventually rising to the office of chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security. His tenure was most notable, however, for an anonymous op-ed he published in the New York Times, exposing the abuses and excesses that he was witnessing behind the scenes. Since departing in 2029, he has emerged as a vocal conservative critic of Trump and his MAGA agenda.

In his latest piece for The i Paper, published on Tuesday, Taylor sounded the alarm about two recent Trump appointments, which he said represented the corruption of the two offices "more than any others — whose jobs are to tell the president of the United States 'no,'" filling them with yes-men sure to follow his every order.

"The attorney general and the White House counsel," Taylor wrote. "Those jobs exist to keep the president on the right side of the law. This weekend, two men were elevated into America’s top legal jobs after working to build literal monuments to their boss."

He continued: "On Sunday, the President announced that Will Scharf, Trump’s staff secretary and perhaps the chief 'monument man,' will become White House counsel on September 1. Americans know him, if at all, as the man standing over Trump’s shoulder in the Oval Office, narrating executive orders as the President signs them. He also chairs the National Capital Planning Commission, which oversees federal construction in the capital, a role in which he has become Trump’s personal builder. He fast-tracked the White House ballroom. He expedited review of the President’s planned triumphal arch — a 250ft 'Arc de Trump' — and personally argued it should be exempt from the century-old law capping Washington’s buildings at 130ft. Approve the arch, and the leader makes you his lawyer."

The other concerning development was the appointment of Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, as Attorney General, replacing "the last attorney general was fired for not weaponizing the Justice Department fast enough."

"Blanche is a 'monument man,' too, which is evidently a requirement for elevation," Taylor added. "When preservationists sued over Trump’s demolition of the East Wing (which he tore down to construct a 90,000 sq ft ballroom dedicated to himself), Blanche took on the case. He argued in court filings that construction must resume, portraying the President’s party palace as a matter of national security urgency."

He concluded later: "I can tell you how important these two legal jobs actually are. When I served in the first term, the lawyers willing to say 'no' were the last line of defense. The president would demand something illegal... It was a wall that held — barely — a hundred times over. Trump remembers that wall as vividly as I do. He spent his four years out of power studying where it stood and who manned it. This weekend, he finished solving the problem. The next time he goes hunting for a lawyer with an answer he likes, he won’t have to look very far. The two men who should’ve been whispering 'no' into the President’s ear got his attention by whispering 'yes, sir.' Now they’re seated at his right hand."

As President Donald Trump's declining health becomes more and more unavoidable, one top political analyst told The Daily Beast that there is one official most likely to seize power, and it is not one most might expect.

Political analyst and commentator David Rothkopf appeared as a guest on the latest episode of The Daily Beast Podcast, where he presented his argument about the top aide he believes is set to seize power from Trump amid his evident decline. Instead of the obvious candidate, Vice President JD Vance, Rothkopf suggested that it will be one of the president's most controversial and staunchly loyal aides: Stephen Miller.

“This is an 80-year-old guy who is obviously not physically or mentally healthy or up to the job he’s got,” Rothkopf said. “Trump’s schedule is so micromanaged these days, and he does a couple of hours a day, he doesn’t appear on TV, he does fewer of these open press things than he used to do, and it’s because people are sort of easing him away. This happened with Biden, by the way, where they just sort of don’t put you center stage. And it does raise a question, which is: If he declines further, if he is less capable of handling the job, who’s going to handle it for him?”

Rothkopf continued, suggesting that Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, would be the one to "handle" things with Trump incapacitated, urging staffer to "Just send those memos to me."

"We have had multiple times in our history — after Eisenhower’s heart attacks, when FDR was in his declining health at the end of his term, when Woodrow Wilson was bedridden after a stroke — where other people did the job of president. And I’ve got to tell you, you look at Donald Trump, you look at the bruises, you look at his behavior, you look at his age, you look at his family history, and we could be heading for one of these periods where somebody other than Trump is actually, behind the scenes, the acting president."

Rothkopf also delved into the things he heard about how cabinet officials and staffers handled matters when former President Ronald Reagan began to decline cognitively while still in office.

"I talked to people like Frank Carlucci was a Defense Department, the Secretary of Defense under Reagan, and Colin Powell, who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and later Secretary of State," Rothkopf explained. "And they said that after Reagan entered his decline, they had rules after 5 p.m., they didn't ask a question. They said they would try to resolve the question among themselves, and it would get passed on. And, you know, his role as president grew more diminished. They would run more things by Nancy Reagan."

He added: "Same thing happened during the Nixon administration when, as a result of Watergate, he started drinking more heavily, and there was even one instance during the Nixon administration when there was a report of an incoming Russian missile attack. Al Haig, who was acting as the chief of staff at the time, didn't call Nixon. He called [Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger. He said, what do we do with this?"

President Donald Trump has created a White House where "the buck never stops with the people who actually hold power," "a new piece from MS NOW argued, and it is a "master class" in endless blame that his Cabinet is taking to heart.

In a piece published Tuesday morning, reporter Hayes Brown detailed how Trump has made "deflecting blame for mistakes, lapses and failures ... completely normal," despite the long tradition of presidents accepting blame for their administration's shortcomings. Instead, his growing list of failed policies and ideas has been pinned on a predictable cast of scapegoats, including "underlings; Democrats (in general or specific); strawmen of any political stripe; or, in a pinch, other key members of the administration."

No mounting failure has proven more ripe for dismissal than his abysmal popularity and the effect it is set to have on the GOP in the midterms.

"Trump put on a master class of the technique during an interview with Punchbowl News last week," Brown wrote. "His abysmal polling numbers and string of unforced errors have threatened the GOP’s chances of holding control of Congress after the midterm elections. Trump insisted, though, that he isn’t the source of the problem: 'The question is, will they vote? Because a lot of them are very angry at Republicans, to be honest with you. … They’re angry at Republicans, but they’re not angry at me.'”

In response, Trump's Cabinet has proven they are "willing to take his lessons to heart," even if none of them have quite mastered the art of deflection as the president has. Under the president's model, officials have learned that "blame can be spread laterally among equals, down toward subordinates or even backward against the flow of time, but never up to the top," often leaving "Federal staffers down the chain" unable to fight back against accusations.

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been a skilled student in his time in office," Brown continued. "In the early days of the war against Iran, the Pentagon chief was full of bravado and happy to take credit for what he claimed was a swift, decisive victory. As the conflict stretched out and munitions stockpiles have reportedly been massively depleted, he’s sought to duck any criticism. While begging Congress for a cash infusion to restore the military’s weapons supply, Hegseth both denied that there is even a shortage and also blamed the Biden administration for 'four years of underinvestment and mismanagement.'”

He concluded later: "Trump’s abdication of this tenet has fostered this fecundity of finger pointing. Beyond the unnecessary drama it engenders, it is simply no way to run a government. Without accountability, failures are left to fester instead of getting fixed. Trump has crafted an administration that follows his example in shirking responsibility, placing self-interest above the interests of the nation. The buck stops nowhere in Trump’s White House."

Conservative commentator Rick Wilson said that President Donald Trump's biggest leverage over Republicans "doesn't work" as it used to, after one of his most devoted supporters went down in flames this week.

Rep. Andy Ogles, a Tennessee Republican, lost his reelection bid after falling to primary challenger Charlie Hatcher in the race for the GOP nomination. Despite Ogles' checkered past full of controversy and questionable statements, this result was still something of a surprise, considering that he was endorsed by Trump, a distinction that is often seen as make-or-break for Republican candidates.

Wilson dug into this story during the most recent episode of the "Fast Politics" podcast with host Molly Jong-Fast. He argued that Ogles' loss was more evidence that Trump's endorsements, which he has long wielded against Republicans to keep them in line, are not as powerful as they used to be.

"Andy Ogles thought he had the kiss of life, but had the kiss of death instead," Wilson said, later adding, "All of the bulls—— that was definitional to a modern Republican candidate was present there with Andy Ogles. Every single bit of it. And the truth of the matter is it didn't work, didn't help, didn't save him, didn't make it better. It turned out that nothing was going to fix it because Trump's endorsement now, while it used to be something, and it's not nothing, but ... it doesn't work like it worked before."

Wilson also noted that he has seen signs of Republicans now trying to distance themselves from a Trump endorsement, given how toxic it can be in the eyes of certain voters.

"And in fact, there are some Republicans that I know for a fact, a couple of Republican congressional candidates have been like, 'Well, I didn't ask for the endorsement, but he gave it to me.' Oh, okay. Yeah, that's going to make people feel you're not a complete Trump suck-up after all. Pretty fascinating to me."

Wilson also tore into Ogles as a lawmaker and candidate, tarring him as one of the most MAGA-devoted figures in Washington.

"Trump loved him and thought he was great, he's my guy, this and that," Wilson said. And yet, didn't work... He wanted to rewrite the Constitution. He is a complete election denier. Trump's word is law with Andy Ogles, defends everything."

Wilson and Jong-Fast mentioned Ogles' desire to "rewrite the Constitution for Trump," referencing his proposal to change the 22nd Amendment to allow presidents to run for up to three terms in office.

President Donald Trump is "almost constantly wrongfooted" as his biggest moves keep falling apart, and according to a new analysis from The i Paper, he is the last person to see these failures coming.

In a Monday piece for The i Paper, journalist James Ball called it "particularly strange" how often Trump seems taken aback by the negative reception his announcements and ideas get from other world leaders. Typically, he argued, one would assume it is difficult for presidents to be surprised by anything, given their access to the "largest and most powerful intelligence agencies in the world."

One recent example he highlighted was Trump's announcement of a "monumental" Gaza disarmament deal with Hamas, something that seemed oddly lacking in "pomp and circumstance" for such a major breakthrough, with Israel notably absent. The reason for that absence soon became clear, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bluntly shot down Trump's proposal, calling it "fictitious" and demanding a deal that went further.

"Netanyahu and Trump are supposed to be close friends," Ball explained. "Israel is the U.S.’s closest ally, and is deeply reliant on U.S. military and financial support for its survival. The US president should not be getting surprised or publicly embarrassed by Israel like this – and yet, here we are. The reality is that no one except Trump will be surprised by this: elections in Israel are just a few months away, and Benjamin Netanyahu is facing an extremely tough battle to hang on to the premiership – especially given his ongoing corruption trial, which hugely raises the stakes for him."

This example was hardly even an instance of Trump getting "played" by another country, Ball argued. Since Israel was never supportive of it, "Instead, he’s played himself."

"This kind of embarrassment is hardly an isolated incident, though," Ball added. "Trump is getting in the habit of announcing major peace plans and deals on a weekly basis, which usually fall apart within a matter of days, if not hours. He has announced peace deals with Iran – and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz – so many times now that it barely makes headlines when he does. Trump’s approach to geopolitics seems to have been reduced to merely announcing what he wants to happen, and then getting increasingly angry when it doesn’t just magically come to pass."

Trump has trapped himself in "the ultimate filter bubble," given that he reportedly no longer attends daily briefings, and instead getting new information from Fox News, "a news channel that shamelessly panders to him," as well as "from sycophantic advisers who know what happens to anyone who tells Trump something he doesn’t want to hear."

"If Trump were just another 80-year-old whiling away his retirement at home, this would be harmless enough – but he’s not," Ball concluded. "Instead, he’s trying to run the world while in this state, so out of touch that he can’t even predict what his allies will do, let alone his enemies, and unable to think even one move ahead. Donald Trump likes to think he’s the master of the great game of geopolitics. In reality, he is doing little more than constantly playing himself."

President Donald Trump has tried to make big claims about saving the economy and creating jobs, but one prominent economist has torched those claims with one brutally simple graph.

Steve Rattner is a prominent investor and MS NOW economic analyst, who also previously served as the lead adviser for former President Barack Obama's auto industry task force. In recent years, he has been highly critical of Trump's economic performance, often using clear data to demonstrate how wrong his claims have been.

On Monday, Rattner took to his official X account with a new graph, demonstrating how poor the job numbers have been under Trump, after inheriting a "strong labor market" from former President Joe Biden.

"President Trump inherited a strong labor market from President Biden," Rattner wrote. "Since his inauguration, average monthly job creation has fallen dramatically: from 122k/month in 2024 to 33k/month in 2025-26."

In the graph, Rattner compared the last year of Biden's term to the entirety of Trump's second one, so far. Overall, the average monthly numbers tracked downward as Trump's term wore on, with the monthly numbers only going into the negative once he was sworn in.

"This morning's jobs report was shockingly negative," Rattner wrote in a post from last week. "Not only did the economy lose 23,000 jobs in July — the previous estimates for May and June were revised down by 103,000. These numbers are a major red flag indicating the labor market is weaker than previously thought."

Trump and his allies, when they are not reflexively blaming Biden for most issues, have tried to claim that the DOGE layoffs were part of what drove less-than-ideal job numbers under his watch, while also claiming that major growth is just over the horizon. Critics, conversely, have attributed the decline to his erratic economic agenda, especially his tariffs.

On Friday, Rattner shared another graph, this time exposing the gradual decline of wage growth during Trump's second term, wiping out the gains workers were making before Biden left office. The start of his Iran war also led inflation to eclipse wage growth for the first time on the graph, which again dated back to the start of Biden's final year.

"Wage growth ticked below inflation again last month," Rattner explained. "That means Americans' average wages shrunk in real terms over the past year. Real wages were growing when Biden left office, but the trend flipped negative after Trump launched the Iran War.

One of President Donald Trump's newest Cabinet appointees is already facing calls to be fired, according to Axios, with his own hardline "MAGA enforcers" saying that he is "too soft" for the job.

Previously serving as a Republican senator from Oklahoma, Markwayne Mullin was Trump's choice to replace Kristi Noem at the head of the Department of Homeland Security after her departure. Following on from her tumultuous and chaotic tenure, some in Washington expressed hope that Mullin would be able to lead the agency in a more even-keeled and professional manner, but now, his approach might be too subdued for the tastes of Trump's more hardcore anti-immigration supporters.

"Just [4.5] months after replacing Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, Markwayne Mullin is feeling the heat from President Trump's MAGA enforcers," the outlet reported. "Mullin provoked border czar Tom Homan with an ICE nominee who has limited immigration experience, had to walk back changes in immigration policy, and angered the MAGA base with talk of immigration reform. Some MAGA activists see Mullin, a former U.S. senator from Oklahoma, as too soft on immigration and are already agitating for his ouster."

Mullin's conflict with Homan stems from his recent nomination of Lance Schroyer, "former Oklahoma state highway trooper and a member of Mullin's security detail," to lead ICE. Schroyer notably lacks any relevant immigration enforcement experience, "except for participating in a 287(g) agreement, a partnership that allows state and local officers to assist ICE with certain enforcement duties."

"I interviewed countless individuals, because we wanted... someone that could also be confirmed," Mullin told Fox News. "And here you have Lance that was literally right in front of me the whole time."

The nomination also drew withering criticism from Steve Bannon, the outspoken MAGA media figure and former top Trump adviser.

"ICE is an enormously complicated job," Bannon said. "And now with the heightened visibility on interior enforcement, it may be in the top three or four hardest jobs in government. You can't pick a cop from Oklahoma and think he's going to walk in and be able to do that, right? You're asking too much of somebody."

"Mullin has given Trump supporters other reasons to second-guess his decision-making at DHS," Axios added. "During a speech two weekends ago at the National Governors Association meeting in Oklahoma, Mullin suggested he backed immigration reform. MAGA's keyboard warriors saw that as Mullin supporting disguised amnesty for unauthorized immigrants, which they oppose. After fatal officer-involved shootings in Texas and Maine this summer, Mullin supported a pause on ICE agents stopping vehicles to make arrests. Trump quickly overturned the pause, with Homan's support."

Mike Howell, a former DHS attorney now heading up the Mass Deportation Coalition advocacy group, spoke about Mullin's time as DHS head, saying he "certainly hasn't given any hope to the true believers... that the [deportation] numbers will go up."

President Donald Trump and his allies have become reliant on one excuse above all others, and according to a new breakdown from The Hill, they are actually "admissions" of his biggest failures.

Opinion columnist and Marine veteran Joslin Joseph published a new piece for the outlet on Monday morning, exposing the truth behind the excuse Trump invokes almost every time someone confronts him about his administration's failures: blaming former President Joe Biden.

"It seems that no matter how badly things are going, President Trump, his administration, his army of cable news talking heads, podcasters, influencers and regular supporters have a default excuse. 'But Biden,' then fill in the blank is supposed to shut you up and accept that the current train wreck should be much, much worse," Joseph wrote. "It really doesn’t work anymore, does it?"

Joseph allowed that the excuse might have held water early on in Trump's second term as his policies began to play out, even if views differ on whether or not Biden left him a country in as bad a condition as he constantly claims. Now, however, it is a tough line to buy, given that inflation is worse than when Biden left office, prices are up, Ukraine is still at war with Russia, new wars are raging and gas prices are becoming a nightmare.

"It is now August 2026. More than 560 days have passed since Trump took office again," Joseph continued. "He has attained more power, surrounded himself with yes-men, has a Republican House and Senate, a 6-3 tilt on the Supreme Court, and no excuse to fail. But here we are, with Trump polling in Biden territory and trying to convince Americans that things are going great. And yet, when pressed, Trump and company keep defaulting to how bad things were under Biden."

Joseph further likened Trump and his allies to "kids that haven’t learned how to take responsibility for their actions," who try to pin their mistakes on anyone else in the hopes that "parents, teachers or other adults will believe them." The behavior has even extended to some of Trump's more ardent supporters.

"Now we are dealing with adults who can’t seem to take account of the fact that they voted for a disastrous president," he added. "We have seen countless Trump voters still blame others for Trump’s sole failures. From Biden to Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton to just about anyone, it has gotten quite pathetic that people just can’t come to terms with the fact that he has messed up."

New rumblings are emerging about a new political party being concocted by betrayed MAGA luminaries, but according to the D.C. insiders at Pod Save America, these rumors actually pose a disaster for President Donald Trump and his allies, as well as "a gift to Democrats like you cannot imagine."

In the latest episode of the "Pod Save America" podcast, former Obama administration officials Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer touched on the emerging rumors that ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson might be plotting a run for president, as well as the rumors about a new political party that might coalesce around him. The rumors went into overdrive after former congresswoman-turned-Trump critic Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a photo to X of herself at Carlson's Maine compound, alongside Rep. Thomas Massie and Joe Kent, along with the caption, "The movement has begun."

"MAGA was betrayed. We all were. It's time for a new path forward," she added in another post.

While Carlson has denied any presidential ambitions, he did last week release a "10-point plan for America," outlining his vision for the future of the country, something that Favreau, Obama's one-time director of speechwriting, said "sounds pretty 'I'm going to run in 2028.'"

The hosts of Pod Save America, especially former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vieter, have long despaired about the possibility of Carlson running for president, given that his established popularity with the GOP base and his well-honed media skills could make him a highly effective "demagogue." In light of this news, however, Pfieffer, Obama's former senior communications adviser, argued that Carlson's political threat to Democrats was entirely neutralized and that he would instead become a major threat to MAGA Republicans.

"There's been a lot of talk of Tucker Carlson being a formidable presidential candidate because of his media skills, mainly because of his media skills," Pfeiffer explained. "That was always under the assumption he would be the Republican nominee, right? Tucker Carlson, a third-party candidate, is a gift to Democrats like you cannot imagine."

He continued: "There aren't a lot of potential John Ossoff, [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsom, Josh Shapiro voters who are voting for Tucker Carlson, but there are a lot of disillusioned Trump 2024 voters who might vote for Tucker Carlson. That's how you win. So that would be very good news. Like, we should encourage this. This would be great... It does speak to how much the MAGA coalition has truly fractured under Trump's second term, right? Because of Epstein of Epstein, apparently because of the war, there are these incredibly prominent people with large audiences who have soured on Trump."

President Donald Trump was once again golfing over the weekend, and according to a new report from The Daily Beast, his appearance on the links reignited concerns about his declining health.

Trump on Saturday made an appearance at a tournament put on by the controversial professional league, LIV Golf, which was hosted at his own property in Bedminster, New Jersey. While there, he was photographed with his arms exposed while wearing his typical white golf shirt, and appeared to have even more "mysterious bruising" than usual.

"Donald Trump looked a little worse for wear as he bared his bruised arms during a golf outing," The Daily Beast detailed. "Not one to spend too much time on foot while golfing, Trump was photographed slouching in a golf cart, decked out in his bright white, heavily-branded presidential merch."

It continued: "With his forearms exposed by a polo shirt, Trump revealed bruises of varying sizes, alongside what looked to be a couple of scrapes. Trump also sported Band-Aids on a couple of fingers of his right hand, which he rested on his knee while squinting forward at the route ahead. While Trump is known for suspicious bruising, usually it’s the president’s hands—not arm—which draw attention."

Trump has frequently been spotted with prominent bruising on the top of his hands, or with a conspicuous layer of makeup trying to cover it up. The administration's typical response to questions about this situation has been to claim that Trump is getting bruised by the many handshakes he does every day. They have also claimed that this tendency is worsened by his taking aspirin doses, which are meant to address his confirmed case of chronic venous insufficiency.

Other observers have suggested that the bruising is consistent with the bruises patients, especially seniors with weaker skin, develop when receiving intravenous medication through veins in the tops of their hands. Some have even suggested that he might be receiving a specific anti-Alzheimer's medication, Leqembi.

"Alongside the bruising, there are many other facets of Trump’s health which don’t always quite add up, including swollen limbs, chronic sleepiness, slurring, and bouts of emotional outbursts or confusion," the report added. "Despite speculation, the White House insists that Trump is in perfect health, with spokesperson Davis Ingle saying in April: 'President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history. President Trump’s commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.'”

First Lady Melania Trump has maintained a "shockingly light" schedule of public appearances, according to an extensive "audit" conducted by The Daily Beast, revealing a major shift from past first ladies.

"The Beast has gone through her public appearances since her husband [President Donald Trump] was sworn in for a second time, and found that she has not come close to appearing publicly on 100 days in the more than year and a half of his presidency," the report detailed. "In fact, she has been seen in public on only 38 days of the year so far.

It continued: "The first lady was last seen in mid-July, when she attended the final of the soccer World Cup with her husband. But that was one of a tiny number of public appearances she has made all year. In July alone, she skipped three major events in as many weeks, bringing fresh attention to her status as one of the least-active first ladies in the country’s modern history."

According to the audit's findings, Melania Trump has only appeared at an official event or been photographed in public once every six days, on average, in 2026. Her busiest month so far was April, when she made nine appearances, after making eight appearances each in February and March.

Her schedule has slowed down considerably over the summer, as she made only four appearances in May, three in June and two in July, and has yet to make an appearance in August.

"Melania was seen in public at the World Cup Final in New Jersey on July 19," the report noted further. "She did not accompany her husband to the dignified transfer of U.S. soldiers killed by Iran on July 22, nor the rescheduled White House Correspondents’ Dinner on July 24. She also did not attend the funeral for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on July 28."

The first lady's schedule in 2026 does, however, appear to be in line with her overall cadence during her husband's second term, as she made only 47 total appearances across all of 2025, meaning that she might still eclipse that number by the end of the year. Despite that, her current schedule marks a notable shift away from those of past first ladies.

"Melania is also speaking publicly with less frequency than her predecessors," the report added. "She has delivered remarks just 29 times in MAGA 2.0, according to the University of California, Santa Barbara’s presidential database. A Daily Beast review found that in the equivalent period, from January 2009 to August 2010, Michelle Obama made 130 speeches. Jill Biden, who also worked as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College during her time as first lady, gave 43 speeches in the same 18-month period upon moving into the White House."

President Donald Trump seems to be doing everything in his power to crash the GOP's chances of success in the midterms, and as a new piece for The i Paper argued, he already has an excuse ready to absolve himself of blame when it happens.

In the piece, published Sunday, journalist Sarah Baxter wrote that Trump remains committed to taking revenge on his perceived enemies, "Whatever it costs, whatever it takes," even as his fixations continue to sink the GOP's midterm odds, and now "all his dastardly plans for revenge are going wrong." Beyond payback, she added that he also remains focused on "glorifying himself with grandiose building projects in Washington," leaving him with the combo of "renovation and revenge," at the expense of anything that might show concern for the real issues impacting voters.

"Somewhere in... Trump’s brain there ought to be room for the kitchen table concerns of voters on the economy, inflation, fuel prices – the stuff of everyday life," Baxter wrote. "They’re feeling crowded out by his petty fixations. Monthly job figures have just been revised downwards, there has been no sign of a promised World Cup hospitality and leisure industry bump, and the Iran war has passed the five-month mark. According to a Quinnipac poll, 68 per cent of voters think Trump is not focused enough on addressing their problems."

The actions of the president are often enough for voters to revolt against their party in the midterms, but Trump's petty fixations, Baxter argued, now appear to be spreading amongst other elected Republicans. Earlier this week, the Senate Homeland Committee voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt for his use of the Fifth Amendment to refuse questions at a recent hearing, which he said was motivated by Republicans' obsession with getting revenge on him for COVID-19 restrictions. This, she added, was "all a ridiculous waste of time."

"Asking Trump to stop his petty behaviour is like asking him to stop breathing," Baxter continued. "His thirst for revenge has previously served him well in business and politics. The MAGA movement loves him for it. 'I am your justice… I am your retribution,' he vowed during his campaign to take back the White House."

She added: "But the Midterms are a chance for voters to say 'what about us?' They will be asking if the US is heading in the right direction two years into Trump’s presidency."

Baxter further highlighted recent comments Trump made in an interview with Puncbowl News, which seem to be a preview of the excuse he will deploy to deflect blame for Republicans getting wiped out in the midterms.

"They’re angry at Republicans, but they’re not angry at me," Trump said.

"Nothing is ever his fault," Baxter concluded.

President Donald Trump went on a massive Truth Social tantrum about his perpetually embattled White House ballroom, and as his one-time biographer revealed, his real motivations are much simpler than anything else he has tried to put forward.

On Friday morning, Trump's ballroom received its latest and perhaps most debilitating legal blow after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that it could not proceed with construction without congressional approval. As The Daily Beast noted on Sunday, Trump responded with a massive tirade on Truth Social that was almost 500 words long, in which he called the new ruling "horrendous, politically motivated and unlawful," and tried once again to insist that the structure served a "national security" purpose.

Michael Wolff, a longtime reporter and author who has extensively covered Trump in the past, argued in the latest episode of his Daily Beast podcast, "Inside Trump's Head," that arguments about national security and every other extra feature tacked onto the project are just attempts to cover the president's real and much simpler motivation: he just really, really wants the ballroom.

“In fact, he just wants the ballroom and is trying to say, ‘Well, if there’s this and there’s this and there’s this, it’s not just the ballroom,’” Wolff explained. “But Trump just wants the ballroom.”

Wolff further touched on the other aspects of the construction project that have been used to add deeper value to the ballroom, including a new bunker and suite of medical facilities underneath it. The author argued, however, that Trump is simply "adding on these things as justifications for the ballroom."

At the end of the day, Wolff explained, the ballroom is another extension of Trump's love of big crowds, and his desire to command as much attention as possible. As with most things he is now forcing onto the nation's capital, it is all about him, and nothing else.

“He wants the ballroom because he wants, you know, big audiences. Essentially what he’s creating is a venue. That’s what he wants. He likes big events. He likes big audiences. The bigger the better,” Wolff continued. “The more people, the more opportunities for Donald Trump to appear before an audience. So this is not about national security. This is about Donald Trump.”

He added: “I’m sure Trump already has the satisfaction of knowing that this has all gone too far, that he is already significantly ahead of any decision that is going to be made,” he said. “And now this goes, of course, to the Supreme Court. This is in the hands of Trump’s judges. And the Supreme Court is going to be, I think, pretty reluctant to make this decision.”

President Donald Trump has unleashed a "volcano of corruption" as he seeks to endlessly enrich himself in his second term, and according to a new report from The Atlantic, even dedicated ethics watchdogs are admitting that they were not prepared for how far he would go.

In a piece published Sunday morning, The Atlantic spoke with government ethics watchdogs in Washington, D.C., who said that they "thought they were prepared for Trump’s second term," having "quickly learned which possible misuses of taxpayer funds to focus on, which apparent case of profiteering off the presidency to anchor a report around, and which allegations of nepotism or self-dealing to try to pitch to journalists as worthy of a story," while monitoring the now "quaint" excesses of his first term. All of that preparation, however, has proven insufficient.

"This term, the watchdogs are even more alarmed by what they’re witnessing, and they are racing to keep up," the report explained. "Public Citizen added litigators and researchers, and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) hired an expert in cryptocurrency. Last year, the Campaign Legal Center filed its highest number of ethics complaints in a single year and launched a tracker of 'corrupt transactions' to ensure that 'the exhaustion factor' doesn’t get in the way of keeping a careful count of such instances, even if the media no longer closely cover each one, Saurav Ghosh, the group’s director of federal-campaign-finance reform, told me."

“I think the big difference in this term is just how blatant all of it is," Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for CREW, told the outlet. "In the first term, there was at least a head nod towards Trump as president being separate from Trump the businessman. Now that’s gone."

The Atlantic noted how meager some of the scandals of Trump's first term now seem in hindsight, including things like Housing Secretary Ben Carson's family purchasing a $31,000 dining set, EPA Head Scott Pruitt spending $43,000 to install a phone boot amd Ivanka Trump endorsing Goya Beans after the company's leadership spoke out in support of her father. Considerable ink was also spilt reporting on his many first-term trips to his own properties and all the taxpayer dollars those trips burned through.

"A year and a half into his second term, Trump has made 270 visits to his properties, marking a 14 percent jump compared with the same point in his first term, according to the CREW tracker (which updates daily)," The Atlantic added. "Trump’s taxpayer tab for golfing trips hit $70 million last fall, HuffPost calculated. If he continues golfing and traveling at the current pace, the analysis showed, this term will run taxpayers $300 million—twice what they paid during his first term. Those costs include protecting the president and his family; the Secret Service spent nearly $100,000 at Trump-owned properties in the first five months of the second term."

It continued later: "But perhaps the most significant category of self-dealing allegations is the one with no first-term analogue. A few days before Trump’s second inauguration, an Emirati royal backed a deal to purchase a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s primary crypto venture, for half a billion dollars. The deal, reportedly signed by Eric Trump, included $187 million up front and at least $31 million set to go toward entities linked to the family of Steve Witkoff, a lead Middle East negotiator for the administration and a co-founder of the crypto firm. A majority of the wealth that Trump has amassed this term, according to financial disclosures, comes from his family’s cryptocurrency businesses."

While admitting that most conspiracy theories surrounding President Donald Trump are not convincing, the D.C. insiders at "Pod Save America" this week revealed the newest one that they actually buy into, arguing that it is something "I can see with my own eyes."

Trump on Wednesday made an appearance at a political event at the Red Rocks Casino in Las Vegas, where, amid a string of verbal struggles during his speech, he made headlines for his seemingly different head of hair. Compared with other recent appearances, where his hair appeared graying and thinner than before, his hair at the Vegas event appeared much longer and thicker, with a more youthful-looking color, leading many to suspect that he might have gotten a new wig or new hair extensions.

In the latest edition of the "Pod Save America" podcast, hosts and former Obama administration staffers Jon Favreau and Dan Pfeiffer lambasted Trump's strange new change in appearance, and argued that something had obviously changed.

"Our 80-year-old president appears to have grown a new head of hair overnight," Favreau, Obama's director of speechwriting, said, before showing a side-by-side comparison of Trump's new look from Wednesday next to an earlier appearance in the Oval Office.

"So on the left, this is the quote-unquote 'before photo,' Trump's hair is kind of a shade of gray," Pfeiffer, Obama's senior communications adviser, explained. "I'd say it is stringy. It is not covering the full scalp. He looks a little bit like a ferret that just got out of the bath with alopecia. Like, it's not a good look, right?"

He continued: "And on the right, the after photo, if you will, he has a lush head of hair that covers everything. It is flowing. It's also an entirely different color than the one from a few days ago... I think he looks like it looks like he is in a 1970s shampoo commercial. Like, that is some real hair there. He could be in the Partridge family. Like, that is good hair. I don't hate it. It's not a good color. Doesn't seem real. It's going in directions that hair should not go, but it is more hair than he had a few days before. And like I said, a very different color."

Pfeiffer further suggested that the answer to the conundrum was likely that Trump had gotten new extensions put in, and had some of his real hair colored to match them.

Favreau concluded the segment by admitting that this new hair situation had finally presented a Trump conspiracy theory that he was inclined to believe in.

"I've got to say I don't, you know, I don't usually buy into these various Trump conspiracies... but it really looks like something happened with the hair. There's no way it's not the same head of hair... I'm buying this one, hook, line and sinker... Whatever it is, I believe this one. I can see with my own eyes."