extremists

Many people close to President Donald Trump have criticized his foreign policy, particularly toward Russia. The concerned include Trump's first term national security adviser, John Bolton; his longtime political adviser, Steve Bannon; and two Senate Republicans who usually support him, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

Now an expert argues that Trump's desire to be buddies with Russia's dictator, Vladimir Putin, has literally reversed America's victory in the Cold War (1945-1991).

"We were taught we won the Cold War," reported The Daily Beast's David Rothkopf on Monday. "But today, the president of the United States openly serves the interests of Russia. We have become, in fact, in crucial economic and security matters, a satellite of Moscow. The U.S. chief executive has publicly and repeatedly declared his loyalty to Russia’s head of state. For more than a decade he has openly and covertly been advancing Russian foreign policy, often at the expense of the national security of the United States, the laws of the United States, and the interests of the United States and our allies."

He continued, "It is such a shocking turn of events, so inconceivable to anyone who lived through the Cold War or its aftermath, that many Americans have been in denial about it for years. But the evidence is not only incontrovertible, but in recent days, the U.S. president has made the situation more explicit."

Rothkopf proceed to denounce Trump purchasing diesel from Russia, noting that it betrays America's pro-democracy values (which should have it siding with Ukraine, a free but small nation invaded by a hostile authoritarian power). He also spoke more broadly about Trump's obvious hostility toward Ukraine, such as coordinating to weaken their infrastructure by convincing Starlink CEO and informal adviser Elon Musk to (perhaps temporarily) deny that company's services to the Ukrainian military.

"This is not the post-Cold War 'end of history' world we were led to believe would be forthcoming back in the 90s or in the years since," Rothkopf wrote. "Russia has the upper hand when it comes to the current U.S. government. America’s standing is in rapid decline, and the country is riven with division in many of the ways that might have been dictated by a Russian intelligence operation. Our institutions are under attack from within. Our military readiness is compromised by bad leadership and decisions to fire those who were competent. The values we stood for and by which we distinguished ourselves from the Soviet world—democracy, freedom, the rule of law—are disavowed by Trump and those who work with him and undermined by them in practice."

He concluded, "There is no mistaking who is in the driver’s seat in this relationship: Putin. There is no mistaking who is taking orders from the Kremlin. There is no mistaking which country benefits and which pays the price."

Rothkopf's view is shared by seasoned foreign policy professionals. Michael McFaul, a foreign policy adviser to President Barack Obama who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia from 2012 to 2014, echoed those perspectives when speaking with this journalist for Salon about Trump's evident affection for Putin. That interview occurred in 2019, during Trump's first term.

"What I do know is that things that the president says serves Russia’s national interest, as defined by Putin," McFaul said. "I want to be very clear about that: as defined by Putin. Other Russians have a different definition of the national interest. When the president, for instance, refuses to acknowledge that we were attacked in 2016, as he’s done repeatedly for years now, that serves Putin’s interest, not America’s national interest."

He continued, "When he does so standing next to President Putin at a press conference in Helsinki, and when tossed up what should have been a softball question to say he supports his intelligence community, and he chooses not to, in my view that serves Putin’s interests. That does not serve America’s national interest."

He concluded, "That raises the question , 'Why is the president consistently siding with Putin on issues where I think it’s not in America’s national interest?' And I think that deserves further examination."

A man who left President Donald Trump's Kennedy Center under a cloud of controversy, Richard Grenell, has suffered another public embarrassment after admitting that he lost another Trump administration job — and not even recently.

"A high-profile 'special envoy' for Donald Trump has admitted to the Daily Beast that his role secretly ended months ago," reported The Daily Beast's Julia Ornedo on Monday. "Ric Grenell, 60, is no longer the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions, he told the Daily Beast on Monday. A State Department official also confirmed that he is no longer employed by the agency."

Ornedo added, "Grenell said that his time had ended in February of this year and claimed his appointment as special envoy was always meant to expire when it did. The Daily Beast could find no previous public statement giving such an expiry date."

The journalist continued, "Grenell, a prolific social media poster, had never acknowledged the end of his role until now—when he finds himself in the middle of a growing scandal over allegations that cash vanished from a donation to the Kennedy Center, which he also ran under Trump."

Grenell actually left his position as President and Executive Director of the Kennedy Center after his foreign policy stint ended. Grenell left the Kennedy Center amidst a Trump-ordered investigation into whether Grenell had misused millions of donation dollars to the performing arts center during his tenure. He also struggled as Kennedy Center head to improve ticket sales, which flagged once Trump took over the center and tried to name it after himself.

He reported exploded after The Athletic reported on those lagging sales, disputing claims that they had seen a 50 percent drop and that FIFA was "paying the Kennedy Center more than $7 million to do their world-wide event FIFA draw" through various "sponsorship opportunities" and a $2.4 million donation.

"The bloggers quoted a failed dance programmer who wasn’t able to pay for the ideas she came up with at the KC - and who traveled the world watching other dance programs - expecting her salary and travel expenses to still be paid by someone," Grenell claimed. "We fired her for being unable to lead with fiscal responsibility. What these far left radical reporters never grasp is how responsible leaders must pay the bills."

The longtime politician and Republican insider, who also served as Trump's ambassador to Germany during his first term, has suffered other recent embarrassments in his career with Trump. Even though Grenell is reported to have advised against the decision, Trump chose Katherine Zacharia to be his press secretary. Zacharia was later forced to resign after her sole press conference performance was widely panned as amateurish and it came out she misled the public about going to law school.

President Donald Trump, who has openly called for violence against protesters who oppose him, gloated at the idea of anti-Trump protesters being abused by their parents during a political rally in Kansas on Monday.

"You know what he is?" Trump said about the protesters, making an accusation that he supplied without evidence. "They’re paid protestors. They’re paid protestors. Paid protestors."

He then joked, "And I always say, now he goes home to mom and dad. They slap him around. They say, 'I voted for that man. They voted for me.'"

Trump continued, "No, you know, they’re paid. They’re paid protestors. Every once in a while, you know, you see some... And it’s actually very dangerous to be at a..."

At that point, other protesters began to speak out in opposition to Trump. Like the previous protesters, who were forcibly removed from the rally, the new ones were also expelled.

"Oh, here’s another one," Trump said. "Listen to that one. I can tell by the voice they get paid. They get paid. How great is it to be at a Trump rally? Thank you. Thank you, fellas."

After a brief digression about the ongoing protests in France, which he blamed on immigration, Trump returned to the subject of the exiled protesters.

"So we have two and a half people did that, and tomorrow the headlines are gonna be, 'Trump has to go through massive protests,'" Trump said. "No, we have... You know, they have 5,000 people standing outside watching a jumbotron right now. And we love you out there too. We love you out there."

Trump has had a number of awkward encounters with protesters as he stumps for Republicans during the 2026 midterm elections. Earlier in October, Trump experienced surprising pushback when he delivered a speech at the University of Alabama. Alabama has voted overwhelmingly for Trump all three times he ran for president.

“Those who will gather in the Mitchell Center tonight, the con men, the crooks, the enablers, and the blind followers, they know in their racist old bones that their time is coming to an end,” Maura Mandyck, an organizer with Indivisible Mobile, said at the time. “It is our time now. Even more so, it is your time now.”

Also in October, a black MAGA influencer was asked to leave a Ken Paxton rally, seemingly because she was inaccurately profiled as a protester or disruptor.

“Wow. Oh my gosh. I cannot believe this... Someone just came up to me and said that Ken Paxton’s campaign manager wanted me to leave," TikToker Thelma Louise said. "I am just — my mouth is wide open right now. I really can’t believe this.”

She continued, “I was just asked to leave this event, and I did nothing wrong. I was told that Paxton’s campaign manager didn’t want me here. I’m not making any of this up... I have done nothing but support everyone on the Republican side, and this is how I get treated? I cannot believe the disrespect that I was just given. I left the Democratic Party two years ago, I have volunteered for President Trump’s campaign, and I have worked very hard promoting members of the Republican Party. I’m not quite sure what’s going on, but to be walked out of a room full of people and isolated as if I’d done something wrong — I cannot believe it.”

President Donald Trump is getting away with flirty comments that would have tanked a Democratic leader like President Barack Obama, according to a prominent lawyer and critic of the president.

After reviewing in detail his appreciation of the male physiques of Republicans like Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, Georgia Rep. Mike Collins and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, George Conway pointed out the president is avoiding questions about his sexual orientation because of a partisan double standard.

"Let’s stop for a second," Conway told Republican consultant Rick Wilson. "Let’s just stop in here for a second. This is the... He did this twice this week, where he’s talking about... He’s in Ohio... And he’s talking about Senator Husted’s a - -. And, you know, he’s on top of all the like, oh, good looking guy. You know, he talked about Arnold Palmer’s wanger in the 24th. Talk to me. Talk to me."

Wilson responded, "I think one thing you’re seeing here, Trump’s disinhibitions as whatever is wrong with his brain, he is increasingly unable to stop his mouth from saying the things his conscious mind might not want him to say. It’s almost like he’s got some sort of gay Tourette’s going on now. He can’t stop saying he’s a handsome man."

He continued, "I look It just doesn’t – it is so weird and so – especially from a party that’s so wigged out about gays in every way these days and he’s – everybody’s – Listening to this stuff in the last week or so, it’s not entirely new because I think it’s a variable of the thing we’ve all heard a hundred times. I was off stage and these big, strong, handsome security guards, these secret service agents, they’re so big and they said, sir, sir. You know, but now it’s gotten to the point where the mockery is extraordinary. I’m sure SNL is going to knock this one out of the park tonight."

Wilson later observed, "I just want to point out that if Barack Obama said... I looked at him, he was such a handsome man, a great athlete, I looked at his ass, that Fox News would have a 24-hour-a-day siren on. It would be like, homo crisis in the White House, da-da! They would lose their god - - - minds."

Conway then said, "No, it would be Barack homo Hussein Obama."

Conway and Wilson are not the first conservatives to express bewilderment at the response to Trump's comments. MS NOW's Joe Scarborough said "He has a rank" and that he has "become quite the admirer of the male physique. We hear it all the time. Loves talking about buff men. I mean, this is out of a village people video. Like every one of his events. It's like, whoa, look here, look here."

Speaking in Ohio last week, Trump said of Husted that "I'm standing over here, and I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked, and I watched up and down. I looked at his a—, and I looked at the whole — and then I looked at his hands, look at his hands. He's got these like claws. And I got it. You are a great athlete. I didn't know that because he doesn't talk about that. Congratulations. Now they finally know that was very good. John fought for Ohio. Look at that jawline. I'm telling you, I never saw that. I never studied him."

President Donald Trump has attempted to unilaterally rename Lake Ontario into "Lake America" and the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America." He lacks the legal authority to do either of these things, just as he cannot rename a state on a whim — although he is now attempting to do just that. And even many of his own supporters are turning on him over it.

"New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Monday. "We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America! The name would add great value and prestige to the State! Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag! Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!"

The right-wing website The Daily Caller used Trump's statement to point out the soaring costs of the war in Iran.

"BTW, the national average price of diesel hit an all-time high just last month, and the Iran conflict reportedly costs the average American household $2,000," The Daily Called posted on X in response to Trump's statement. New York Magazine columnist David Freedlander expressed shock by writing on X, "What is happening here[?]"

Bo French — the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner who recently lost a number of Republican endorsements after making racist comments about a group of South Asian college students — argued on X that "actually, it should be renamed to West Texas since parts of it used to be in Texas." Meanwhile The Washington Post's Dan Diamond offered an analysis on X that helped explain why some Republicans are unwilling to align with Trump's new renaming crusade.

"Trump says that New Mexico should 'immediately' change its name to 'New America,'" Diamond wrote. "State leaders have panned Trump's weeks-long focus on the name change. A GOP candidate in a close race for Congress is trying to distance himself from Trump's idea, too."

Meanwhile a New Mexico lawmaker, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), posted on X that "New Mexico’s name dates back hundreds of years, long before the United States even existed. It carries generations of history, culture, and rich traditions that continue to shape who we are."

US Army Veteran Ryan King expressed disappointment, wondering on X that "Just how out of touch is this President?" Meanwhile Trump supporter Rusty Self posted "I’m speechless, as a three time Trump voter, how detached this administration has become. Speechless." Another Trump supporter stated "What the f—— is this horses——? This is NOT what I voted for." A different Trump supporter said "New Mexico is a dumb name." Then Trump backer Aiden Davis said "this is now ridiculous. Gulf of America was cool, but these last two instances have been stupid."

Pro-Trump commentator Eric Daughtery gloated over the proposed change, saying on X that "it's time" and later adding that it was "another all-timer. Make it happen, New Mexico! Trump is on a roll." Christian right-winger Vicky Bird praised the decision by writing on X that "I love this! Just when you think President Trump is done changing names, like Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America, he comes up with another! Instead of New Mexico he wants to change it to New America, because we are not Mexico !" Gunther Eagleman, another pro-Trump commentator, lauded Trump's announcement by saying, "His point is simple: 'We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!' He already turned the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of AMERICA, and the left melted down over that too. Trump says the new name would boost home values, raise incomes and make people even prouder to salute the flag. He even says New Mexico's CROOKED ELECTIONS might finally become honest again. Honestly, it has a nice ring to it. New America. I'm in."

On Monday a photograph revealed President Donald Trump to have fresh bruises on his right hand. While the public remains in the dark as to why, one journalist speculates that Trump's brain may be addled by anything from aspirin to a stroke, at least according to one prominent journalist.

"The forthcoming midterm elections are a referendum on President Donald Trump’s policies, not his health," wrote The New Republic's Timothy Noah on Monday. "But when those policies include renaming the Atlantic 'Trump Ocean,' or affecting indifference about whether Iran might 'take out' Los Angeles or San Diego, or prohibiting nominees for executive branch positions from saying out loud, 'Joe Biden won the 2020 election,' that changes the equation. With directives like these emanating from the White House, it’s everybody’s civic duty to consider whether its occupant is a well man."

After speculating that Trump dyes his hair and either sprays or slathers his face, Noah went on to the most important part of Trump's body, as far as the American public is concerned — his brain.

"This is of course the principal area of concern. I reviewed serious reasons for worry in some detail last month ('Why Trump May Not Serve Out His Presidency')," Noah wrote. "To summarize: STAT News reported nine years ago that neurolinguistics and cognition experts comparing old videos of Trump with more recent ones observed deterioration in the complexity of Trump’s unscripted public utterances."

He added, "Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley compared Trump’s 2016 rhetorical style to 'a monkey with a machinegun.' (That’s not a medical opinion, but it’s very good.) Groups of mental health experts again declared in 2024 that Trump displayed signs of cognitive decline, and 18 months later that he’d 'deteriorated even further.' Trump falls asleep a lot during White House meetings. He says crazy stuff all the time. The latest expert to note this is Trump himself. At a MAGA rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, earlier this month, Trump said, 'I could say the stupidest things, and you’d clap me.'"

In a piece that also explores (sometimes humorously) Trump's right ear, right hand, belly, backside, legs and ankles, Noah also hit upon observations about Trump's heart and hands that could explain the recent bruising.

"So far as we know it’s in decent shape; we don’t know why Trump’s doctors last year felt it necessary to do a CT scan of it," Noah wrote of Trump's heart. "Trump takes two drugs, rosuvastatin and ezetimibe, to manage his cholesterol, which as a result is within normal range. Trump takes Bayer aspirin daily to reduce the risk of a heart attack. But for some bizarre reason his favored dose is 325 milligrams, which his doctors have repeatedly told him is about four times too much. A dose that high increases Trump’s risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. Trump’s doctors want him to drop down to 81 milligrams, but he refuses to do that. Is our teetotaling commander in chief an aspirin junkie, like the murderer Perry Smith in In Cold Blood? We can’t rule it out. Aspirin-use disorder is, according to one 2019 study, 'an underreported condition.'"

Then there are the hands. His left hand recently appeared to have bruising; per journalist Aaron Rupar on Monday, "this picture from moments ago is of Trump's LEFT hand — not the one that is usually disfigured."

Regarding that Noah added, "We’ve seen weird bruising on Trump’s right hand for well over a year now. Sometimes he covers it up with makeup, but you can still see it. The White House said it was from shaking hands, but then the condition spread to Trump’s left hand. This may indicate circulation problems. The White House said that the underlying cause was Trump’s overconsumption of aspirin, which is plausible. But if Trump refuses to cut back on his daily 325 Bayer milligrams even as it turns his hands purple, that strengthens the hypothesis that Trump is hooked on aspirin."

A National Park Service employee revealed on Monday that the administration lied when it claimed it had to remove hundreds of "falling, dangerous, disease-infested trees" at East Potomac Park's golf course.

During the hearing before Judge Ana Reyes, Dr. Kevin Griess, the superintendent of National Mall and Memorial Parks, was asked about who made the decision to remove the trees. After some back and forth where Griess denied responsibility, he did say that he made the decision along with one other person.

"Two parts. First one is myself, developed by my staff under my direction. Then approved to move forward for implementation, done by my Washington Office. Jessica Bowron" was the other. However, Griess said that the project could not go forward without Bowron.

Lawfare senior editor Molly Roberts, who was present for the court proceedings, along with Roger Parloff, recalled that Bowron testified to the opposite.

"Pull up Trump's post from yesterday morning. It says the course is in poor condition with falling diseased, dangerous trees. I thought you'd testified that diseased, dangerous trees had already been removed. That was May/Sept. removal. Correct?" the judge asked Griess.

She continued, "Currently on ground as of Oct. 5 was golf course overrun with falling, dangerous, disease-infested trees?"

Griess said there was an area called "Trash Island" that was about 21,000 sq. yards that they weren't able to access until they were inside the gates. There could have been some dangerous trees in that area.

"Okay, so, there might be one or two, but most were healthy?" the judge asked.

"Yes," Griess agreed.

The judge pointed out that there were hundreds of trees that were healthy, non-invasive that were chopped down.

She asked, "as of Friday, Oct. 9, were there, in general, falling, dangerous and disease-infested trees on the course?"

"Not to my knowledge. May have been a few, like I said," Griess said.

"Always gonna be a couple of bad trees in a forest, right?" the judge said. "To your knowledge, are there dangerous, disease-infested trees now?" She said that, based on what he was saying, it seemed that there might be one or two, but that's not what they're dealing with on the course.

Griess agreed with that assessment.

This directly contradicts President Donald Trump's claims about the trees and the Department of Interior's claim that the trees needed to be removed because they were unstable or diseased.

Griess at one point addressed the importance of the 1920s plan they designed and sought to implement. This is different from the design that the president uploaded and doesn't include the competition-style PGA course.

Judge Reyes wanted to sort through how old the trees were, and Griess said he didn't know. She asked if some of them were there before the 1920s and Griess said that it was possible. That would mean that they existed even before the 1920s plan was drawn up.

Last week, Reyes issued a temporary restraining order pausing any further work on the course. Trump's Truth Social posts over the weekend and Monday morning left plaintiffs wondering whether the court orders were being ignored. So they returned to court on Monday to discuss.

On Sunday, the Trump administration tried to have the judge removed after she reportedly yelled in court. They claimed she was too overly emotional to oversee the case. She refused to step down and issued the ruling overnight.