Media

President Donald Trump went on an incoherent rant on Monday that once again put on display his apparent difficulty staying focused on a single subject.

While speaking on the TV program “Fox & Friends” on Monday, Trump meandered away from discussing the two-year anniversary of the assassination attempt against him in Butler, PA in order to talk about co-host Ainsley Earhardt being engaged to his longtime friend, Fox News personality Sean Hannity.

“Well, let’s put it this way. So I’ve known Ainsley longer than the two of you. I’ve known her through a great gentleman, a very handsome man named Sean Hannity,” Trump told “Fox & Friends.” “She seemed to be attracted to him for whatever the hell reason, right?”

He continued, “So I’ve known her for a long time. And I once told her a long time ago, I said, ‘This is a very dangerous—being president is a very dangerous profession.’ I said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me that, Ainsley? I wouldn’t have run.’”

The Daily Beast called the president's answer "bizarre." In the past, Trump himself has characterized his meandering style in interviews as "the weave," while critical journalists have accused the mainstream media of "sanewashing" Trump by refusing to emphasize the unusual way he answers questions.

"As applied to Trump," Columbia Journalism Review's Jon Allsop wrote in 2024, "the idea is that major mainstream news outlets are routinely taking his incoherent, highly abnormal rants — be they on social media or at in-person events — and selectively quoting from them to emphasize lines that, in isolation, might sound coherent or normal, thus giving a misleading impression of the whole for people who didn't read or watch the entire thing. ... If journalists are sometimes sanewashing Trump, why are they doing it?"

This is not the first time in recent days that Trump has made gaffes which raise questions about the 80-year-old politician’s fitness for office. Speaking with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a NATO summit last week, Trump referred to Iran as “the Islamic Republic of Japan” and mistook Zelensky for Russian President Vladimir “Putin.”

“There was absolutely and utterly no awareness that he had said the wrong country's name… You can even see him emphasizing this fact,” psychologist and body language expert Dr. John Paul Garrison said at the time. “He does that when he feels very strongly about something. You can see he's raising his eyebrows right here — he wants everybody to hear what he's saying. And there's no attempt to correct this. He has no idea based on everything I'm seeing that he just said the wrong country's name.”

Speaking with AlterNet in May, psychiatrist Dr. Henry Abraham (formerly of Tufts University) elaborated on the traits Trump has displayed which suggest he may be declining. Abraham co-signed a May letter from a group of 36 top physicians and mental health experts urging Congress to investigate Trump’s health and remove him from power through the 25th Amendment if necessary.

“There has been a frightening progression of symptoms,” Abraham told AlterNet. “These include grandiosity without moral safeguards, paranoia, impulsivity, vindictiveness, easy misperception of being harmed, moments of omnipotence, uncontrolled rage, and sole control over the use of nuclear weapons in a time of war. As a psychiatrist reviewing these, I can only say ‘Yikes!’”

President Donald Trump's has made "casual butchery of the innocent" a common occurrence in his administration, according to a new analysis from The i Paper, which further argued that his conduct is, in key ways, even more bloodthirsty than the mob.

The piece, published on Saturday, hailed from veteran reporter Patrick Cockburn and dug into the growing list of violent acts committed against the innocent that Trump and his allies are racking up, including one which he dubbed "the worst single atrocity in U.S. military history since the Vietnam War."

"On the first day of the US-Israeli attack on Iran on [February 28], US missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyiba girls’ school in Minab in southern Iran, killing at least 168 children as they sat at their desks along with 14 teachers – according to the Iranian media – in what may be the worst single atrocity in US military history since the Vietnam War," he wrote, later adding. "The slaughter of the schoolgirls by feckless US military commanders is but one ghastly example of the moral depravity of America during Donald Trump’s second presidency. Trump boasts of assassinating the 86-year-old Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but makes no mention of the killing by his side of his daughter, daughter-in-law and a 14-month-old granddaughter whose name was Zahra Mohammadi Golpayegani."

He continued: "For the US government, casual butchery of the innocent has become the norm. In the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, US Southern Command has carried out some 196 extrajudicial killings of people in boats whom it claims, without producing any evidence, were 'narco-terrorists smuggling drugs into the US.' According to an Amnesty International report on the killings, the US has released and not prosecuted survivors from the air strikes on their boats, strongly suggesting that it has no proof they were carrying drugs."

Cockburn further cited a statement about these strikes from Amnesty International, which called them both "illegal" and "immoral," and accused the Trump administration of normalizing "extrajudicial killings." He went a step further, echoing the common comparison of Trump to a mob boss and likening his government to a "gangster underworld." However, he also argued that this comparison might, in fact, not be fair to the mob.

"This goes to the moral heart of the matter," Cockburn wrote. "The thought processes and behavior of the Trump administration in these cases resemble those of the gangster underworld, pitiless in targeting the weak and defenseless, respectful only of those who respond to violence with greater violence. If anything, the American Mafia arguably operates with greater moderation than Trump has here, making a distinction between civilians and its criminal rivals."

A Fox News contributor harshly criticized those who subscribe to conspiracy theories about the assassination of the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk, arguing that the ongoing trial of alleged assassin Tyler Robinson amply demonstrates that he acted alone.

“Just reviewing some of the courtroom notes, some of the color from the courtroom, Erika Kirk, when she walked in, there was eye contact with the judge, and you just have to wonder what’s going through her head when you think about all her battles so far battling against the defense that has been trying to delay this trial, to keep the media out of the courtroom and how hard this has been for her,” Fox News host Sandra Smith told Fox News contributor David Webb on Monday.

Webb replied, “And her statement…’The public should see this.’ This assassination was public, which speaks to the public interest. More on the process.”

The journalist then explained how the early stages of the trial have shed light on the ludicrousness of claiming that Kirk’s death was part of a greater conspiracy.

“The death penalty arguments that were initially made, the defense wanted that taken off,” Webb said. “That is a negotiation tool for prosecutors. And that’s why it should be there, in my opinion. There should be everything on the table. The fact that they’re also trying to taint this, this slow process, is about dragging it out to introduce any form of doubt, right? Oftentimes you think of jury nullification or polluting the jury pool, or even the public jury, which matters in this case.”

He added, “The evidence, by all terms so far, shows that he committed this act. I don’t think that’s the question. It’s a matter of how far the punishment goes. So they haven’t been able to take the death penalty out. Hearsay evidence is being allowed in, the testimony by [Robinson’s former roommate and romantic partner Lance] Twiggs being giving by statement. So now it’s degrees for the defense.”

Webb finally concluded, “But the fact is this is a public interest case. There have been high-profile assassinations throughout our history, unfortunately. And the public should also see this because justice has to be both public and served.”

“Yeah, amen to that,” Smith responded.

Ever since Kirk’s death, the stories around the shooting have proven to be fertile ground for conspiracy theories. In March Joe Kent, President Donald Trump’s former National Counterterrorism Center Director argued to right wing commentator Tucker Carlson that he believed a “foreign nexus” was behind Kirk’s death.

“Things really got going on Tuesday when Kent told conservative writer (and two-time failed California gubernatorial candidate) Michael Shellenberger he’d be willing to testify in accused Kirk murderer Tyler Robinson’s defense that the FBI botched the investigation,” observed The Bulwark's conservative pundit Will Sommer at the time. “Kent told Shellenberger he was warned his own inquiry into Kirk’s murder—which he operated from his government post, separately from the FBI—could hurt the prosecution against Robinson.”

Kent then added to Carlson, “I was definitely warned of that over and over again. If I end up having to [be called as a witness], then I’ll do it. It’s not something I’m seeking.”

In the classic 1950 film “Sunset Boulevard,” aging silent film star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) pretends that Hollywood is still as it was when she was at her peak, creating a grotesque charade that obscures unpleasant realities. Drawing from rumors that this is President Donald Trump’s favorite movie, conservative writer David Frum wrote in The Atlantic on Sunday that Trump’s 4th of July speech similarly ignored the ugly truth about the Republican’s second term.

“The very first sentence of the document honored on July 4 invoked ‘a decent respect for the opinions of mankind,’” Frum wrote. “Throughout their history, Americans have been highly conscious of the opinions of others about their experiment in republican government. In his first July 4 message to Congress in 1861, Abraham Lincoln declared the fate of the American Union a contest of urgent interest to ‘the whole family of man.’ Or as Ronald Reagan often said, quoting the Bible via John Winthrop: America is like a city on a hill; the eyes of the whole world are upon it.”

Yet Trump’s second term has been marked by efforts that do not reflect the best in America’s character, according to Frum. He singled out four acts of imperialist aggression, two threatened and two actualized. The threatened aggression includes bluster toward Canada, referring to America’s northern neighbor as “the 51st state” and ominously proclaiming that he is going to conquer Greenland from Denmark. He also has waged actual wars against Venezuela and Iran.

“Trump’s preferred rhetorical style on such occasions is to brag about the strength of the U.S. military, how nobody can equal it, how it crushes all before it,” Frum explained. “He reportedly tells his inner circle that he personally is a more powerful warlord than Attila the Hun or Genghis Khan. The authentic Trump does not care about any ideals beyond national fearsomeness and personal enrichment. But somebody got some ill-remembered fragments from the Before Times about freedom onto Trump’s teleprompter—and on this unusual occasion, Trump read the fragments without balking.”

He added that, much as the fictional Desmond deluded herself into believing the world was applauding her, the real Trump and his supporters refuse to admit that the president’s actions have made him unpopular rather than popular throughout the world.

“Americans may not wish to acknowledge what Trump has done to their standing in the world,” Frum wrote. “Such denial does not change reality. Norma Desmond’s last lover—and doomed narrator—delivers a verdict on the fading star’s descent from delusion into madness: “The dream she had clung to so desperately had enfolded her.”

He concluded, “Americans have not clung to their dream nearly desperately enough, but they too are now enfolded in something dark and diminished.”

The event, which was also controversial for Trump’s seemingly flippant behavior toward Gold Star Families, is not the first move associated with Trump to attract the conservative’s ire. In June 2025, Frum blasted Trump for pulling America toward a Middle Eastern war with his seemingly reckless foreign policy.

"President Donald Trump is being pulled toward war in the Middle East by his predator's eye for a victim's weakness and his ego's need to claim the work of others as his own," Frum wrote. "But since his 'unconditional surrender' social-media post on Tuesday, other Trump instincts have asserted themselves — above all, his fear of responsibility."

He added, "Trump enjoys wielding power. He flinches from accountability. Days ago, Trump seemed to hunger for entry into Israel's war. A dramatic victory seemed poised to tumble into somebody's lap. Why not his? But as the hours passed, Trump reconsidered. Instead of acting, he postponed. He said that a decision would come within 'two weeks.'"

Two months earlier, Frum claimed that Trump does not understand how energy prices work.

"On March 31, the national average price of gasoline at the pump surpassed $4, the highest level since the post-pandemic shocks of 2022," Frum wrote. "One-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas usually flows through the Strait (or Hormuz), but hasn't since Iran began impeding the waterway in early March. Yet Trump continues to insist that Iran's partial closure of the strait isn't a problem. Markets don't agree with Trump, and neither do his poll numbers."

He concluded, "How did Trump get Hormuz so wrong? The answer reveals one of Trump's most characteristic and most fateful mistakes: his steadfast refusal to acknowledge that Americans live in a world economy."

A new editorial from the Wall Street Journal has, as one reporter argued, given the game away about which Republican the Murdoch media empire wants to succeed President Donald Trump in 2028.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, a group traditionally seen as a leading voice in the American conservative movement, released a new piece titled, "Rubio Holds the Line on Hezbollah," hailing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a new deal that attempts to rein in the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, which threatened to undo the peace deal with Iran.

"The U.S. has brokered another Middle East deal and, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio taking the lead, this time the deal tries to box Iran out," the board detailed. "The U.S.-Israel-Lebanon Trilateral Framework signed Friday focuses on the only real way for Beirut to regain its sovereignty: disarming Hezbollah, Tehran’s Lebanese Shiite proxy.”

It continued later: "Some Iran analysts associated with Vice President JD Vance have criticized the framework as 'incompatible' with the memorandum of understanding with Iran. But Trump administration sources tell us this framework is the U.S. interpretation of the MOU’s language regarding Lebanon. On this the Vice President backs Mr. Rubio; nobody on the Trump team wants to force Israel to cede all of southern Lebanon to Iran’s proxy, as Iran demands... Hezbollah wants to turn Lebanon into Gaza. The Rubio accord gives Beirut and Israel the best chance in years to prevent that catastrophe.”

While the piece largely focused on praising the deal as an important step forward and did not comment on the political fortunes of those involved, some argued that such conclusions were still evident. Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired CIA official and national security contributor for MS NOW, argued that this piece was another sign of Rupert Murdoch's conservative media empire taking a side in the 2028 GOP presidential battle.

"From the WSJ Ed Board to the NYPost, pretty clear where Murdoch owned pubs are now heavily tilting for ‘28," Polymeropoulos posted to X in response to the piece. "All in on Rubio, and their disgust is palpable with JD Vance and his (now an open secret in DC) alliance with [Iran war critic Trita] Parsi…"

Vance remains the nominal favorite to succeed Trump as the 2028 GOP presidential nominee, almost exclusively because of his position as vice president. As the months wear on, however, his unpopularity has some power brokers in the party looking elsewhere, with Rubio emerging as a new favorite.

Murdoch's preference for the secretary of state is far from a new development. In their recent book about the second Trump term, journalists Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan revealed that Trump pressed the conservative media tycoon about his thoughts on Vance and Rubio right in front of the two men. Murdoch said that Vance "has the potential to be great," while he said flat out that "Rubio is brilliant."

Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume this week tore into President Donald Trump over the spiraling negotiations with Iran, saying it is clear that his administration is "being jerked around by an Iranian regime" like every other administration of the past.

Hume made an appearance on the Monday episode of Special Edition, where host Bret Baier pressed him about the current situation surrounding Iran and its unsteady ceasefire deal with the U.S. Despite being heavily touted by Trump and his allies, the deal seems to be ever on the verge of collapse, with the U.S. firing on Iran after it attacked a ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which it claimed was using an unauthorized path.

Baier shared an X post from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, in which he asserted that Iran would follow its parts of the deal if the U.S. did the same, and accused the Trump administration of "unreasonable saber-rattling and baseless threats." Hume said that it remains uncertain whether Pezeshkian, who does not appear to be in control of all the parties involved in Iran's side of the negotiations, would respect a deal that was agreed upon, arguing that Iran is "absolutely notorious for going back on deals, violating ceasefires, violating memoranda of understanding"

"And of course, there's the question of whether they have any control over the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is independent to a great extent of the broader government," Hume said. "It’s hard to resist the conclusion that the President of the United States is being jerked around by an Iranian regime in much the same way that previous administrations have been jerked around."

Hume is long-tenured veteran at Fox News, previously hosting Special Edition until 2008, and remains one of the voices on the conservative network willing to take Trump and his coalition to task for their failures. In April, he warned the GOP that, if elections were held then instead of November, it would have been almost certain that the party would lose badly.

“I think people are concerned about the economy, and the Republicans are likely to pay a price for that,” Hume said. “There’s some hope among Republicans that if we get a successful outcome of this war in Iran, or above Iran actually, that the gasoline prices and other prices will come down, people will feel better about the economy, that [President Donald Trump's] program will bring about some strengthening growth, that some of the measures he’s taken in terms of taxes and regulation will pay off, and that they’ll have a chance of doing well in the midterms.”

He added: "I think the House is a long shot for [Republicans] because the margin is so tiny and historical precedent is so strong that the in-party loses in the midterm in a new president’s first term. I think if the election were held today give how we’re in the middle of this conflict that the House would be obviously gone and a chance that the Senate would go, too.”

A Grammy-winning and platinum-selling musician has been exposed for a planned performance at a Trump-family-owned "MAGA millionaire club," according to a new report from The Daily Beast, after previously throwing their support behind President Donald Trump's political agenda.

According to the outlet's Sunday morning report, rapper and businessman Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson will put on a performance on July 3 at an expensive and exclusive Washington, D.C., club with close connections to the Trump family.

"The Grammy Award-winning rapper will take the stage at Executive Branch, the swanky Georgetown club co-owned by the president’s eldest son [Donald Trump Jr.], on July 3, sources told the Daily Beast," the outlet reported. "Trump Jr. opened the club, which charges an annual membership fee of $500,000, alongside financiers Omeed Malik and Christopher Buskirk of 1789 Capital."

As the report also noted, Jackson's support for Trump has shifted erratically over the years, often seeming highly influenced by negative public reactions.

"For his part, 50 Cent has a history of shifting his stance on Trump, 80," the report detailed. "In 2019, the rapper told The Daily Beast that Trump had offered him half a million dollars to attend his inauguration but that he turned it down because 'every dollar is not a good dollar.' The following year, he voiced support for Trump before later tweeting, 'F——k Trump, I never liked him,' reversing course amid backlash."

The report added: "While 50 Cent has not commented publicly on Trump’s politics, his appearance at the Executive Branch appears to signal a change of heart on his part. The club has become a gathering place for well-connected figures within and around the Trump administration. Members reportedly include White House artificial intelligence adviser David Sacks, crypto investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and State Department Under Secretary Jacob Helberg. Former Rep. Mike Gallagher is also said to frequent the club as a guest."

In 2024, Jackson made headlines when he claimed in an interview to have turned down a $3 million payday to perform at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. He claimed to be "afraid about politics" because of the hostile reactions any given stance could elicit, further citing the career downfall of Kanye West after he expressed strong support for Trump and the MAGA movement.

Jackson is reportedly just the latest in a string of hip-hop artists who have performed at Trump Jr's club, following on from the likes of Busta Rhymes, Ja Rule and Timbaland.

President Donald Trump's recent speech for America's 250th birthday celebration was riddled with "significant" signs of possible "neurological decline," according to one licensed pathologist, particularly his numerous slurred mispronunciations of certain words and phrases.

On Wednesday, Trump delivered a speech at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., as part of the "Great American State Fair" event that has been plagued with controversy in recent weeks. The online discourse after the event was dominated by videos that appeared to show crowds leaving midway through his speech, leading to more speculation about the event's lackluster crowd sizes, but according to one medical professional's observations, Trump's own words indicated that something could be seriously wrong with his cognitive health.

Hilary Shae is a licensed speech-language pathologist specializing in concussion recovery, and she has also emerged as a political content creator who offers professional insights into the signs that Trump may be suffering from notable physical and neurological decline. In her latest video from Saturday, she highlighted some of the things that Trump struggled to pronounce throughout the speech, including things like "250th anniversary," "magnificent," "ancient ruins," "Los Angeles" and "horizon."

In some cases, Trump's attempt to pronounce these words trailed off near the end, and in others, he mispronounced the word entirely, often not bothering to double back and try again. As Shae explained, these speech difficulties were "consistent" with certain conditions that can be caused by things like dementia or suffering a stroke, two things that she has previously suggested that Trump might be struggling with, based on his observable symptoms. These flubbed lines, she added, are often referred to as "phonemic paraphasias."

"Phonemic paraphasias are when the motor speech required to coordinate words and syllables together are not coordinated appropriately," she explained. "For example, if I wanted to say 'telephone,' but I accidentally said 'tephelone,' that would be a phonemic paraphasia, because my sounds got mixed up.

She continued: "And that is what's happening a lot of the time with Donald Trump's speech. The coordination for the syllables and order... the more syllables that you have, the higher level motor coordination is required to maintain appropriate speech-sound coordination."

Shae also suggested that this issue could be the result of dysarthria, a condition in which the weakening of muscles required for speech can cause patients to struggle speaking, causing them to sound slurred or slowed down. She argued that this is one of the more recent symptoms that Trump has shown, as is noticeable when he trails off at the ends of certain words, especially ones that are three or more syllables long.

"The fact that there are so many examples of these speech difficulties in one 30-minute speech means that Donald Trump is getting worse," Shae argued. "Whatever is going on, whether it's dementia, whether it's a stroke, whether it's a combination, whether it's congestive heart failure, whether it's whatever it might be, his neurological abilities are declining significantly."

The Great American State Fair kicked off on Wednesday night, June 24 with a speech by President Donald Trump on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The Trump administration is touting the Fair, which continues through July 10, as a celebration of the United States' 250th anniversary. But Trump's critics are arguing that the opening felt more like a partisan MAGA rally than an actual celebration of America's achievements as a democratic republic.

One of those critics is Media Matters' Matt Gertz. During a late June appearance on The New Republic's podcast "The Daily Blast," Gertz stressed that turnout at the Great American State Fair's opening was a major disappointment — citing the MAGA themes as a key factor and attacking Fox News' glowing coverage as painfully awkward.

Fox News, according to Gertz, went out of its way to "carry water" for Trump with its Fair coverage.

Gertz told podcast host Sargent, "It's been a tough few months for people who have to carry water for Donald Trump every night…. And basically, they're trying to use what should be a celebration of the Declaration of Independence, of America’s 250th birthday, as a partisan wedge issue, as a cudgel against the Democratic Party, while simultaneously talking up Donald Trump and his ability to pull a huge crowd and get them together for a big rally. So, the failure, I think, of the kickoff event is a pretty big problem for them in the medium term as they try to keep that message going over the next 10, 12 days."

Gertz described attendance on Wednesday night as a major disappointment.

The Media Matters report told Sargent, a former Washington Post columnist, "Originally, this was supposed to be a big concert with a bunch of different artists who were scheduled to play. But as it became more and more clear that these Freedom 250 events are extremely partisan, the artists decided to drop out. And eventually Trump kind of threw up his hands and said, instead of having this concert, we’re going to launch the state fair with what he called the greatest rally ever. It doesn’t seem to have worked out that way."

Sargent pointed out that Trump "seems very sensitive" about the "low turnout" on June 24, lamenting that he "tried to turn a celebration of America's 250th birthday into a Trump rally." When the "Daily Blast" host described Trump's Great American State Fair speech as an "imperial, dictatorial display of self-glorification," he got no argument from Gertz.

The Media Matters reporter told Sargent, "I mean, I think what we have here is a president who does not respect any sort of separation between himself and the country at large. And so, he views the idea of celebrating the nation's birthday as one and the same with celebrating himself. I think there's no clearer way to see that than how he decided to kick off the festivities with what he personally described as a rally speech — a partisan speech in which he sort of ran down what he claims are his accomplishments and talked about himself, rather than the nation, rather than what brings us together. And that becomes more and more fraught as he becomes more and more unpopular."

President Donald Trump's administration has reportedly been pressuring prosecutors to "come up with a case" to press against one of his top political enemies, according to MS NOW, seeking to knock down a major 2028 contender potentially.

On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, took to social media to reveal that he and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, were being investigated by Trump's Justice Department. Newsom accused the department of trying to fabricate a case that was not there, and said that this was happening not because of his viral tweets mocking the president, but because he is "considering running for President" in 2028.

"Today, my wife [and] I

joined Donald Trump’s hit list," the tweet read. "He has directed his Department of Justice to investigate us. They have not found a crime - they are simply trying to find one. He isn't coming after me because of mean tweets, but because I am considering running for President. He hates that I consistently call him out. He is simply the most corrupt President in American history. We have nothing to hide. Mr. President, come after me. I am not going anywhere. The country is watching."

In an appearance on MS NOW later in the day, Carol Leonnig, a senior investigative correspondent for the network, revealed what she fellow reporter, Erum Salam, had found out about the story from sources, backing up Newsom's claims about the DOJ "trying to find" a case against him.

"First off, I want to say that we have from sources two really important nuggets," Leonnig said. "One is that the central district of California, the U.S. district attorney's office in the central district, has been pressing the line prosecutors to come up with a case against Gavin Newsom."

Sharing a clip from that broadcast to X, Izzy Gardon, Newsom's director of communications, highlighted the "come up with" phrasing, backing up the governor's claim about the administration trying to fabricate a case against him.

"However, a source tells us that the prosecutors and investigators that have been contacting Newsom are actually based out of Sacramento, in what's called the eastern district of California," Leonnig added. "And there was an investigation of a staffer of Gavin Newsom's that was based out of that office, or if not led by that office. And now we are hearing again from one source with some reliable information, that this is the office that Newsom is referring to, although he may not know it, that the investigators who have been contacting family and friends are based out of."

Right-wing journalist Ben Domenech isn’t aligned with GOP wisdom that the Republican Party should do well in the November midterm elections. In a lengthy written conversation with The New York Times, Domenech says he is “skeptical.”

“Republicans still seem to think that, thanks to redistricting and their advantages in fund-raising, they could buck historical trends and hold on, perhaps even in the House,” Domenech told the Times’ John Guida. “They’re just scared about gas prices. Personally, I’m skeptical.”

Looking specifically at Maine, which Republicans see as the “linchpin” to holding the Senate majority, according to Guida, Domenech also sends a warning. The race will be between U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Democratic insurgent newcomer Graham Platner, who has already faced numerous scandals.

“The interesting thing about this whole focus on Maine is that if you talk to Senate Republican staff and consultants, they’re actually less worried about it than other states,” says Domenech. “This is partially because of Platner’s shall we say unique collection of scandals and challenges, but it’s also because of enormous faith in Collins as a survivor.”

Collins, 73, is running for her sixth term after being first elected in 1996.

Guida points to a Politico report on a memo that states: “the political fundamentals in Maine remain challenging, and it is a fatal mistake to assume Platner is too damaged to win.”

“I think that’s correct,” says Domenech, “and top Republicans should actually be more concerned.”

“Platner clearly has energy behind him. He speaks to a desire on the left for a strong message, and he’s shown no signs of bowing to pressure to get out for a more centrist-coded candidate,” he adds. “Collins is absolutely capable of winning, but national assumptions are taking over based on her last election, in 2020, when she came back from what seemed like a deep hole by keeping her campaign hyperlocal.”

Domenech says that Republicans do have some concerns, specifically about three states Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024: Alaska, Iowa and Ohio.

In Ohio, former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is seeking to return to the Senate, and is running against “an appointee who has never won a Senate election, Jon Husted.”

In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is running against Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent who “has the advantage there, but again, we’re talking about a unique state, and Peltola is an Alaska Native,” says Domenech. That race is now considered a “toss up” by The Center for Politics’ “Crystal Ball,” which also now rates the Ohio race as a “toss up.”

Iowa could become a difficult race for Republicans as well. Domenech warns it “could turn out to be a real test for Trump’s tariff policies, which have been a decidedly mixed bag in many of the states that backed him. The president will probably have to take that argument to the people of Iowa himself.”

Overall, says Domenech, Republicans’ confidence “comes from a belief that Democratic radicalism, particularly the various examples of what they view as a renewed cultural leftism in opposition to Trump during his first term, will play in their favor.”

Prominent conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson has a new label for President Donald Trump: “clown.”

On his Substack newsletter, Erickson slams the president over his approach to the Iran war, for which, he notes, Trump has at least 39 times in the last 65 days “declared the United States and Iran were close to a deal only to have the Iranians openly mock him and deny it.”

He notes too that Trump on Thursday morning told “Fox & Friends” that the bombing of Iran would resume. That changed quickly.

“By the afternoon, he declared bombings would cease because a deal was close,” Erickson writes. “He claimed buy-in from the Egyptians, the Emirates, the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Israelis, the Iranians, and more.”

Both Egypt and Israel said they had no knowledge of a deal.

“The President, the other days, said Iran was playing us,” says Erickson. “The only one being played is President Trump. A state of war exists between Iran and its neighbors. The ceasefire is a farce. The President has turned into a clown.”

Erickson is no moderate — he was once the editor-in-chief of the right-wing website RedState and was a Fox News contributor. His bio on Spotify says his podcast “cuts through the chaos with bold clarity and biblical conviction.”

Erickson goes on to call it “Obamaesque” to think that any negotiation with a “terrorist regime that is premised on bringing about the apocalypse” is possible.

He says Trump chose to “engage” Iran and criticizes him for dealing “a serious blow” but not a “knockout” one. And he criticizes Trump for ordering Israel “to pull its punches.”

“We have now harmed our relationships with our Middle Eastern allies who depend on us for protection,” writes Erickson. “The situation is now more unstable than before the war began and it is all because of a single person who swears he’ll get a deal any day now.”

“The President should be embarrassed,” Erickson charges. “Instead, he’ll be mad at everyone except the man in his mirror.”

President Donald Trump will hold a UFC fight card on the White House grounds to ring in his birthday this weekend, and as The Hill reported this week, newly released court documents have exposed the eye-watering price tag that the event has cost, so far.

Thanks in large part to Trump's friendship with UFC CEO and longtime political supporter Dana White, the UFC Freedom 250 show is set to take place at the White House on Sunday, June 14. The event, which has become a lightning rod for criticism and controversy, has necessitated the construction of a 5,000-seat venue, complete with a massive ring and lighting structure, amping up critiques about Trump's desecration of the White House.

The project has also racked up a hefty price tag, The Hill reported this week, based on court documents from a lawsuit brought against the National Parks Service by Virginia residents, aiming to halt the event altogether.

"Federal agencies and the UFC are spending at least $60 million to pull off the White House cage fight set to take place Sunday, which is President Trump’s birthday," The Hill detailed. "The funds have gone toward building an octagon fighting arena on the White House South Lawn, purchasing and delivering food and paying up to 900 workers to remain on-site since May 20 for the event’s success, according to court filings."

The UFC event has also required extensive help from numerous federal agencies.

"The Executive Office of the President, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Park Police, Interior Department, National Park Service, Department of Homeland Security and Federal Aviation Administration are each involved in coordinating the event — part of the administration’s celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday," the report added.

“In preparation, well over $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor have been expended," the government explained in a recent court filing. "More than 4,000 spectators are expected to attend on the South Lawn, including more than 1,000 members of our armed services, and more than 120,000 visitors are expected to watch from the nearby Ellipse after winning free tickets in a lottery... Many of the event’s attendees will visit from outside the capital region, and have already invested personal resources in lodging, air transportation, and other arrangements... Fourteen world-class athletes, who have been training for months, have traveled from all over the world to compete (including for two world championships).”

TKO, parent company of the UFC and WWE, has claimed that it will be funding the Freedom 250 event at a loss, calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime stage as a strategic investment to drive subscriber acquisition at Paramount+," the streaming service operated by Trump ally, David Ellison.

President Donald Trump prompted a firestorm of commentary and speculation after he stormed out of a major interview, but as one certified psychologist argued, his body language also exposed things about his agitated mental state.

On Sunday, NBC News's Meet the Press aired an interview with Trump conducted by Kristin Welker, in which, among other things, she pressed him about the lack of evidence for his longstanding claims that elections in the U.S. are rigged against Republicans. Trump, after growing increasingly frustrated over the tough questions, cut off the interview early, saying that Welker was either "crooked" or "stupid" before storming out.

Much has already been speculated based on this blow-up from Trump, including from Dr. John Paul Garrison, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist, who maintains a popular YouTube account, "Dr. G Explains," where he gives forensic breakdowns and body language analyses for over 700,000 subscribers. While he typically focuses on true crime stories, he also delves into politics, and recently released a video breaking down Trump's body language during his interview with Welker.

At the start of the interview, Garrison noted that "most" of Trump's visible behaviors were "pretty standard" and in line with his typical demeanor. He did note one brief movement of Trump's mouth that could potentially indicate a change in the president's motor control, but said that not much could be made of it for now. What he did put particular emphasis on, however, was the sound of rain during the interview, as it was being conducted in a Wisconsin barn during a period of extended downpours.

Garrison argued that as the noise from the rain picked up and became more intense, Trump had a harder time focusing and concentrating on the questions from Welker. While stressing that nothing could be said for sure, he argued that Trump having a greater difficulty dealing with background noise could be a sign that he suffered a neurological episode at some point.

From that point, Garrison noted numerous signs that Trump was growing more and more agitated, including him furrowing his brow, bearing his teeth and putting extra emphasis on certain words, eventually escalating to the point of "real anger" and "real fury." While he concluded that it was typical for Trump to be testy with the press, Garrison argued that he showed an "unusual" level of anger during the interview, and suggested that he might having "a harder time than he used to" dealing with things like the background noise from the rain.

Another medical expert and content creator, speech and language pathologist "Hilary M.A. CCC-SLP," also argued that the weather might have been having an outsized effect on Trump's mood, suggesting in a recent video that he was exhibiting symptoms common in dementia patients, who struggle to keep track of the time of day during periods of extended gloomy weather.

After President Donald Trump told a “bunch of lies” on “Meet the Press” — abruptly cutting off the interview and walking out — CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale zeroed in on one of the most consequential: Trump’s claim that he never promised any wars in his second term.

“First of all, I didn’t guarantee no war,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker. “So when you say I promised – I didn’t promise anything. I don’t like these endless wars. This is not an endless war.”

On Monday, Dale served up half a dozen examples from the 2024 campaign when Trump said there would be no wars, and several times when he hedged but also declared there would be no wars.

“Trump repeatedly promised in 2024 that the US would not have any wars during his second presidency,” Dale reported. “Though it’s true that he often deployed some nuance on the subject – for example, vowing to end ‘endless’ wars or prevent ‘World War III’ – he unequivocally pledged on other occasions that the US wouldn’t get involved in wars, period.”

In June 2024, as Dale noted, candidate Trump wrote on Truth Social, “As every American saw firsthand, this election is a choice between strength or weakness, competence or incompetence, peace and prosperity or war and no war.”

The following month at the Republican National Convention, Trump declared, “With our victory in November, the years of war, weakness, and chaos will be over. I don’t have wars.”

“Under Trump, we will have no more wars, no more disruptions, and we will have prosperity and peace for all,” he said in August 2024.

That same month, Trump “approvingly” cited then-Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Dale wrote, who Trump claimed to have said: “Make sure that Trump gets re-elected president and you’re not going to have any more wars.”

Trump himself “reiterated” moments later, “No more wars. No more disruptions. We will have prosperity and we will have peace.”

In October, Trump revisited those remarks: “Viktor Orbán said, ‘If Trump comes back, you won’t have any wars. You won’t have any wars.’ And he’s about as tough as they get, and he said it loud and clear and he said why. But you won’t have any wars.”

Dale continued, pointing to Trump’s “clear promise” in his November 2024 victory address.

“Four years, we had no wars, except we defeated ISIS,” Trump said. “They said, ‘He will start a war.’ I’m not going to start a war, I’m going to stop wars.”

Dale concluded that people “can have a reasonable debate about whether these kinds of comments were likely to be interpreted by some voters as a promise not to get the country involved in wars in a second term,” but, as for Trump’s “I didn’t promise anything” claim, “the record shows that Trump explicitly made a no-future-wars promise multiple times.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity on his podcast Thursday, but at the end of the interview, there was a lengthy disclaimer.

During his interview, Blanche alleged that there was a "room full of evidence" from special counsel Jack Smith's investigation, the video showed.

"It's not fair to say it was a secret room, but it's a room that had a lot of material in it," Blanche said. "It was actually from the Jack Smith investigation, and nobody knew it existed."

Hannity asked Blanche if there was damning evidence inside. Blanche claimed, "Yes, we're looking at it." However, he said that a significant amount of the files had already been turned over to Senate Republicans.

Documents and information pertaining to an investigation at the Justice Department would fall under federal guidelines for record preservation.

According to the National Archives and Records Administration, “Records include all books, papers, maps, photographs, machine readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an agency of the United States Government under Federal law or in connection with the transaction of public business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that agency or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other activities of the government or because of the informational value of data in them.”

In a separate conversation, Blanche also conceded that if President Donald Trump didn't win in 2024, he'd be facing prison time. Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He likely would have been sentenced with consequences. Another Justice Department also likely would have been able to move forward on Trump's classified documents scandal.

"There's no scenario in which he wasn't going to send President Trump to prison — and he didn't only because the president won," Blanche said of the New York case.

Blanche also tried to rewrite special counsel Robert Mueller's report, in which he said that investigators found it was a "hoax." In fact, Mueller found the opposite. He testified to the House six years ago, explaining that Russia did make outreach to the Trump campaign and meddled in the 2016 election. His full report confirms that.

After all of these allegations, Hannity then ran a disclaimer conceding that everything Blanche said could have been false. New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush discovered it and posted a screen capture of it on X.

It read: "John Brennan, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Matthew Colangelo, Arthur Engoron, and James Clapper have not been charged with any crimes in connection with any alleged conspiracy. Charges against James Comey related to alleged false statements and obstruction of justice have been dismissed. There have been no findings that Rod Rosenstein, Tim Walz, Gavin Newsom or Jacob Frey engaged in professional misconduct," it read according to a screen capture.

Thrush commented with disbelief, "This is really, actually, no-kidding the disclaimer Hannity ran after his interview with Todd Blanche."

Journalist John Harwood said, "Fox is disgusting trash."

"Astonishing disclaimer," said Paul Farhi, who writes about the news media for publications like Vanity Fair and The Atlantic. "Next question: Who made the statements Fox News is disclaiming — Blanche or Hannity? Or both?"

One X user, Greg Spencer, noted, "You do this after you get nailed with a $787 million fine." It's a reference to the lawsuits that Fox and other conservative outlets have faced from voting-software companies such as Smartmatic and Dominion Voting Systems. Several have settled suits, but the Smartmatic case against Fox remains active.

A mixed martial artist and UFC talent once known as a fierce supporter of President Donald Trump tore apart his planned UFC event on the White House grounds, saying that the event is "desecrating" a government and opening the door for it to become more "corrupted,' per a report from The New Republic.

Bryce Mitchell currently competes in UFC's male bantamweight division and boasts an 18-3 professional win-loss record. He was also an outspoken Trump supporter in the past, once claiming that he would take a bullet for the president. But more recently, he has become harshly critical as his second term has played out.

As the New Republic reported on Thursday, Mitchell once again ripped into Trump, this time as his administration is set to cross over fully with the world of MMA. UFC's Freedom 250 is an upcoming card set to take place on June 14 to mark Trump's 80th birthday, at a venue currently being built on the White House grounds. The promotion's CEO, Dana White, has been a longtime friend and supporter of Trump, and a booster of Republican politics overall. The event has drawn widespread criticism and condemnation as a borderline dystopian corruption of the presidency, even as it has also become a hot ticket among MAGA acolytes.

In a post to X, Mitchell warned that the event was opening up the Trump administration to even more grift, and "desecrating" the purpose of the government in American society.

“What I think, personally, is that our government is desecrating its role in society by entertaining sports,” Mitchell said. “Our government is to protect and serve the people, and really should be as minimal as possible."

He also added: “When you’re doing all of this stuff, hosting sporting events, it’s really outside of the goal of what the government was intended to be because our tax dollars and resources are funding this operation... The government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us"

While admitting the show was a no-brainer for the UFC business-wise, he nonetheless stressed that the federal government should not be getting involved in sporting events.

Another ex-Trump supporting MMA fighter, Sean Strickland, the current UFC middleweight champion, has also been speaking out against the Freedom 250 event. Previously claiming that he would not be participating in a show to entertain the "Epstein list," he also alleged more recently that he was blocked from the event over his critical statements against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also claims to be the only male champion banned from the event due to his Israel comments.

“UFC at the White House with [Netanyahu] in the audience," Strickland wrote about the event on Instagram. "Straight [Israel] slop.”

He added later: “The only male American champ banned at the White House because I said Trump is owned by [Netanyahu]. That’s not public opinion it’s fact.”

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to include new reporting disputing RadarOnline's report.

In addition to his work on CNN since the early 2000s, broadcast journalist Anderson Cooper spent more than two decades on CBS' News' "60 Minutes" — an association that ended with his farewell broadcast on May 17. CBS News is looking for a replacement for Cooper on "60 Minutes," and according to the Austin American-Statesman and RadarOnline, execs may be considering a prominent figure in the Manosphere: podcaster Joe Rogan.

But according to Senafor's Max Tani, CBS News is disputing that report.

On X, Tani posted a link to the American-Statemen's reporting and wrote, "A CBS News spokesperson tells me this is false."

The American-Statesman's Faith Bugenhagen explains, "RadarOnline, a celebrity and entertainment news site, reported that CBS considering Rogan, who boasts 20.9 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, 'PowerfulJRE,' and millions of viewers of his podcast, 'The Joe Rogan Experience,' would be 'strategy,' not 'stunt casting.' Rogan would bring 'a core connection to over 50 percent of the country,' an unnamed media executive told RadarOnline, saying the 58-year-old media mogul speaks to 'viewers who feel ignored or mocked by legacy media' — a viewership that, if reengaged, would solve the network's ratings and credibility problems."

During the United States' 2024 presidential election, Rogan's endorsement of Trump underscored the gains he was making with the Manosphere, independents and swing voters.

Although the 58-year-old Rogan leans to the right politically, he isn't ultra-MAGA in his views. Rogan has often been described as libertarian, and he considers himself socially liberal — supporting same-sex marriage and the legalization of recreational drug use. Rogan, however, is critical of liberals and progressives on gun control.

Rogan, as a broadcaster, is sometimes compared to others in the "hot talk" genre, including Howard Stern and Tom Leykis (who also appeal to a largely male audience). However, Stern and Leykis opposed Trump in the 2024 election, while Rogan supported him.

Trump appeared on Rogan's show during the 2024 race — an appearance that, Bugenhagen points out, is credited with helping increase Trump's appeal to young Generation Z men and the Manosphere. The Austin, Texas-based Rogan, however, has recently criticized some of Trump's policies, including mass deportations, the Iran war, and his campaign against late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.

"Austin-based actor Matthew McConaughey, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Texas native country star Miranda Lambert and state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) are among those who have been featured on the podcast," Bugenhagen notes.

Cooper, now 59, announced his retirement from "60 Minutes" in February. Post-CBS News, Cooper is still hosting the long-running "Anderson Cooper 360°" on CNN.

"60 Minutes" has been on even longer, debuting on CBS in 1968.

An ex-Marine fighter pilot tore into President Donald Trump's Pentagon during a Wednesday appearance on CNN, taking the agency to task over damning new reports about promotions being blocked for women and minority officers.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had, potentially in defiance of military rules, intervened to block nine officers from being added to a list for promotions, half of whom were either women or people of color. This revelation came amidst a growing trend of Hegseth firing, demoting or otherwise disrespecting military officers who are not white men, or those who had previously participated in pro-diversity activities.

During Wednesday's edition of The Situation Room on CNN, co-host Pamela Brown discussed the reports with Amy McGrath, who previously served as a fighter pilot for the Marine Corps and retired after 20 years of service, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. She has also become a frequent Democratic candidate for Congress from Kentucky, running unsuccessful bids for the House in 2018 and, most notably, to unseat Mitch McConnell in the Senate in 2020. She also sought the 2026 Democratic nomination for McConnell's seat, but lost in the primary to former state representative Charles Booker.

In the interview, McGrath explained how the candidates put forward for this promotion list are already the "best of the best," having "spent their entire careers in doing very hard jobs, very high performance," and added that they face the "toughest scrutiny of performance records of any profession that I know" in order to get there.

"Takes months of review, and these boards, they make sure you've done the tough jobs," McGrath said. "They make sure you've done them very well. All of these officers have done this, or they wouldn't have gotten to this point. And for the names to be pulled by Secretary Hegseth, clearly, because of race and gender, is outrageous, and it's beneath what America stands for. And unfortunately, there's not much that folks in the military can do about it."

McGrath further touched on the broader campaign by Hegseth to purge the military of what Brown called "so-called wokeness."

"Pete Hegseth and his team are trolling the military records and social media accounts of officers, and they're punishing anyone who has ever served on a diversity task force, potentially in the past, or have said anything having to do with championing diversity in the past," she explained. "They're punishing anyone who was involved in the withdrawal of Afghanistan."

She continued later: "And this sends just a chilling message to everyone in the Pentagon and everyone within DOD. They're walking around, people are walking around scared right now... trying not to get fired. And that's, you know, a problem. It's ultimately a problem for our national security writ large."

McGrath also called it "absolutely wrong and outrageous" for officers to be punished for things in the past that they had no choice but to do once given orders, likening it to the purge of the Justice Department of any employees who were assigned to the classified documents case involving President Donald Trump and his Mar-a-Lago residence.

If it seems like President Donald Trump is only getting more and more addicted to posting on social media as his second term rots away, that would be right on the money, as an extensive breakdown from the Daily Beast found his habit is officially spiraling into "mania."

Trump has long appeared to be outright addicted to posting online, dating back to his Twitter attacks against Barack Obama, and lasting all the way through his first term in the White House, when he would seem to direct official policies via personal tweets. Now, after temporarily getting banned from the platform after the Jan. 6 attacks, he does the vast majority of his posting on his own site, Truth Social, and his worst tendencies have only gotten worse during his second term.

Amidst all of that, the Daily Beast has been tracking Trump's usage of Truth Social on a month-by-month basis, and in a new report from Tuesday, revealed that his habit "exploded to an unprecedented level in May," dwarfing his own posting record from past months by a considerable margin, marking his "most prolific month" on social media since the start of his second term, when one would assume he had better things to be doing.

"We calculated that his average posts per day spiked to 27, or the equivalent of just over once every hour of every day," reporter Josh Fiallo detailed in the report. "Our analysis found that Trump posted on Truth Social an astounding 861 times last month, sharing everything from truly deranged AI-generated memes to meltdowns and even an image of him lounging shirtless in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with a bikini-clad woman."

He continued later: "Trump’s posting frequency was a sharp increase over April, when the Daily Beast calculated that Trump posted an average of 18 times a day. That month he could have received a full night’s sleep on only five nights given his late-night and early-morning posting. The Beast’s new analysis found that May was Trump’s most prolific month on Truth Social since he returned to the White House, eclipsing his previous high of 782 posts and reposts in January."

The report further compared Trump's current habits to his first term, noting that in May 2018, he posted on Twitter a total of 238 times, which would have been "widely viewed as a significant amount at the time." Even more damning, the report found that such an amount would actually represent the "quietest" month of Trump's second term if it happened now, and by a massive margin. The slowest month on Truth Social of his second term, September of last year, saw 430 posts in total.

Much of Trump's posting now is helped along by executive assistant Natalie Harp, who reportedly "brings Trump stacks of printed-out drafts of social media posts — many of them recycling content from other accounts—for him to approve."

"Sources tell the [Wall Street] Journal that Trump posts some messages himself while Harp presses publish on others without approval from Chief of Staff Susie Wiles or communications staff — something that has angered some in the president’s inner circle," the report noted. "At a minimum, Trump views every post before it goes public, the paper reported."