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Former MAGA voter apologizes for supporting unrepentant 'liar' Trump

Former MAGA adherent Rich Logis says more and more Americans are getting turned off by the sheer overtness of President Donald Trump’s corruption and self-enrichment.

His confession arrived on the heels of an MS NOW anchor comparing Trump’s modern Republican Party to the corruption-obsessed Republican Party of the Clinton years, wherein the Republican Congress dedicated four years of investigation to President Bill Clinton’s Whitewater scandal. That incident involved Clinton incorporating the Whitewater Development Corporation with the purpose of building vacation properties while Clinton was state governor.

“It literally dictated the Republican policy on Capitol Hill for much of the 90s. That [scandal] was only in the tens of thousands of dollars. This is an over $1 billion,” said the anchor, describing Trump’s demand for a $1.7 billion fund to settlement over his IRS complaint. “It looks like a total carve out and giveaway to Donald Trump. This 1.7 billion settlement would have no oversight. It's essentially a slush fund giveaway to whoever he wants.”

“Well, let me just preface by apologizing to viewers for my past MAGA activism and my support of Donald Trump,” said Logis founder of Leaving MAGA. “When Trump ran, I fell for the lies that he would drain the swamp and would root out corruption. And he was correct in pointing out the graft and the fraud and the abuse. But what he has done is he has continued to enrich himself and his own family at the expense of the American people.”

“I realized that Trump was lying and that I had allowed myself to believe these lies, which eventually led to my leaving MAGA. And I think that there are more people than ever who are in the MAGA community who right now are having doubts about their support for Donald Trump,” Logis added.

Logis then addressed other MAGA members “having doubts.”

“You're not alone,” said Logis. “And for those who might be seeing this, who right now are starting to question their beliefs, who are starting to perhaps feel confused and wondering if the MAGA movement comports with their values anymore. We want them to know that they're not alone.”

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Lawmakers panic over Trump’s 'frontal lobe dementia' in painful supercut

Congressional lawmakers and Trump’s own former lawyer are panicking over how racked President Donald Trump’s mind appears to be with illness.

“I don't know how anyone can see what he posts or watch him in any meeting and think that he's fit for office,” said one lawmaker speaking to reporters.

Another lawmaker said: “We have strategic ambiguity. But [Trump] is just … He’s confrontational, inconsistent, erratic,” said another congressman, who then fluttered his tongue in a demonstration of Trump’s lucidity.

“I don't trust that man to be able to cognitively make a complete sentence, let alone negotiate with China,” said another.

“I think he's seriously ill,” said still another. “I think Trump needs medical attention and there needs to be an intervention.”

Back in the studio, MS NOW host Ari Melber interviewed Trump’s former attorney Ty Cobb, who offered little good news to deliver on that front.

“In 2017, Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition, a well-respected psychological professional trained at Harvard and Yale and highly regarded at the national institute of mental health, and 26 of her colleagues and other respected psychiatrists around the world, posted a lengthy article commenting on Trump's malignant narcissism, and the appearance of early frontal lobe dementia,” said Cobb, who served Trump’s White House in his first term. “The symptoms have only gotten worse from there. They are remarkable at this stage of the game, and the wake sleep reversal is a very common symptom highlighted by mental health professionals when discussing Trump's cognitive decline.”

“The reality is what he does late at night causes him to sleep during the day. And that is a very well-known symptom of cognitive decline, frontal lobe dementia, and Alzheimer’s and because he has no impulse control left, he is guided solely by his malignant narcissism now,” Cobb continued.

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Caller destroys 'spineless' GOP lawmaker on live television

A caller had no patience for Republican talking points on a Friday C-SPAN show.

Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.) joined C-SPAN’s “Congressional News of the Day” show to share Republican talking points paying down the damage of President Donald’s war on Iran and the subsequent rise in gas prices and inflation at grocery stores and other consumer items.

But C-SPAN is an older format show that still fields calls from commenters, and Haridopolos found himself catching the bad end of one man’s vocal beat-down.

Haridopolos had just finished advocating for U.S. intervention in Cuba, saying “the people of Cuba are suffering,” when “Independent” voter “Roger” in Lawrenceville, Ga., phoned up and got a word in.

“Congressman, I know you are a smart guy, a former educator. Why do you guys continue to parrot trump's crazy Fox News talking points when I know you have to know right from wrong? There is just no way [you can believe that stuff].”

"Well give us a specific example," the C-SPAN host requested, cutting him off.

“For example, the 9 percent inflation under Biden [you always talk about]. You know that was Covid. Like, come on. Presidents do not affect gas prices unless they’re stupid enough to start a war in the Middle East. Trump, Biden: neither controlled it. It had to do with starting wars, and that’s why we’re dealing with these gas prices.”

“And you know your own intelligence [department] said there was no way [Iran] was close to a nuclear weapon, but you come on TV and you say the same thing [Trump says],” Roger continued. “And you guys only find a spine when you say you're going to retire. I know you have to know better.”

At that point, the host prompted Haridopolos to respond.

“It’s always nice to have strong opinions,” said Haridopolos. “They might not be backed up and fact, but I [like] a strong opinion.”

Haridopolos then claimed “gas prices were down dramatically because we were producing more oil and creating new opportunities around the world that will help us long-term” under Trump. He also claimed “the threat of Iran is real,” which justified both the invasion and the subsequent U.S. price increases.

He then claimed Democrat lawmakers were recently making the same claim about the Iranian threat, before “switching lanes.”

“It is called politics,” Haridopolos said.

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The Smithsonian fights Trump with what he hates most

During President Donald Trump’s second term, one of his key goals has involved reshaping U.S. cultural institutions to suit his ideological project, and the Smithsonian in particular has become a target of his culture war against diversity and historical narratives that he perceives to be “woke.” Shortly after he entered office, he signed an executive order calling for the museum to remove “anti-American” narratives, which took special aim at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, arguing that aspects of it portrayed American and Western values as “inherently harmful and oppressive.”

While many speculated that this could mean the closure or radical whitewashing of exhibits involving issues like slavery or the struggles of minority communities, according to the Washington Post, the Smithsonian “has managed to push back and mostly hold its ground.” While it has been impacted by what the Post describes as “a few key losses,” it has succeeded at maintaining the majority of its programming through a strategy of sticking strictly to the facts.

For example, as the Post explains, “No single exhibition in Washington may be more scrutinized than the Portrait Gallery’s ‘America’s Presidents,’ and among its critics, apparently, was Trump, whose administration took issue with the wall texts that mentioned his impeachments among other low points of his first presidency.”

He took such issue with it that the White House forced out galley head Kim Sajet last June before hanging a new portrait of Trump along with what was referred to as a “tombstone” label bearing nothing but his name and basic facts of the image, eliminating text describing his administration.

But now, after a month-long closure for renovations, the exhibit has reopened, and arguably the biggest change is the return of a textual description of Trump’s first term, “warts and all.”

According to the Post, “Curators have found an elegant way to defuse political controversy around the most recent presidents. Trump’s tombstone label is gone, replaced with longer texts, one quoting from his Jan. 19, 2021, farewell address, and another that gives a basic résumé of his life, including his education, prior experience, inauguration dates, major legislative accomplishments and notable events. The same format, including extracts from farewell addresses, is now used for all the presidents since Jimmy Carter.”

But importantly, “among the notable events listed on Trump’s CV are ones that went missing earlier this year. The first and second impeachments, the insurrection, and the George Floyd protests of 2020 are included along with the Abraham Accords and the ‘Operation Warp Speed’ initiative that developed lifesaving covid vaccines.”

As the Post notes, the facts are back, if delivered with a much-changed tone.

“For all the presidents up to Carter,” explains the Post, “the Smithsonian uses an omniscient, authoritative voice, which it abandons for the more recent ones. ‘The presidency of James K. Polk reflected his belief in Manifest Destiny,’ begins one summary; Andrew Jackson ‘campaigned for president as a self-made man,’ reads another. Museum historian Mindy Farmer, who oversaw the refresh, says the move to just-the-facts bullet points for later presidents is a virtue, given that historians haven’t yet fully processed our most recent executives.”

“We want to wait for a scholarly consensus,” she said.

While the fight isn’t over, with the White House demanding a comprehensive content review out of a clear desire to continue pushing the Smithsonian toward the administration’s nativist historical agenda, as the Post notes, further meddling means “the administration will be in the awkward position of disputing basic facts rather than the interpretation of them.”

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Trump’s 'Golden Age' killed another American company's factory in a red state

Reason Magazine reports President Donald Trump's tariffs and his war with Iran appears to have personally played a role in killing a profitable North Carolina tire factory.

“The Goodyear Rubber and Tire Co. announced this week that it would be shuttering its Fayetteville, North Carolina, plant that currently employs more than 1,700 workers,” reports Reason, before analyzing company reports to sort through the reasons.

“Translating … P.R.-speak a bit easier when you look at what company executives have been telling investors,” said Eric Boehm. “Goodyear lost $249 million during the first three months of the year — after earning a $115 million profit during the same three months last year, just prior to Trump's tariffs being announced. Along with that announcement, CEO Mark Stewart said that "higher raw material costs" due to the war would force Goodyear to take "meaningful actions to strengthen our cost structure. The 1,700 employees in Fayetteville would appear to be on the receiving end of that action — and for them, it certainly will be meaningful.”

Boehm said Trump’s tariffs delivered another significant blow. Company reps say it is expecting to receive $46 million in refunds after the Supreme Court ruled Trump's "emergency" tariffs to be unlawful. But even with that refund, Goodyear's CFO Christina Zamarro said on a recent earnings call that inflation and tariffs would contribute to economic headwinds that could total a $420 million loss over the full year.

“Simply put: you can't make tires without rubber, and it is impossible to buy rubber that isn't imported — because rubber trees do not grow in the United States,” said Boehm. “That means American tire companies import rubber from places like Thailand [which] exports a lot of … excess rubber to other parts of the world, including the United States.”

But Trump sees other countries with a surplus of rubber production as a threat to be targeted with tariffs, Boehm said. In March, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative claimed that Thailand's "trade surplus in sectors such as … rubber" was grounds for slapping higher tariffs on those imports.

It was a wooden-headed move considering tariffs on natural rubber won't bring rubber-tree plantation jobs to Minnesota or North Carolina, wrote Ed Gresser, a former assistant U.S. Trade Representative.

“But will raise costs and reduce sales for every U.S. manufacturer of airplane and truck tires, vibration dampers in bridges, specialized medical equipment, and so on,” Gresser said.

After Trump's tariffs were announced last year, Boehm said trade publications like Rubber World warned that consumers would face higher prices on both foreign-made and American-made tires.

Apparently, nobody at the White House was listening, and 1,700 red-state voters are feeling the results.

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Trump 'shakedown' gives buddies a cut of taxpayers’ money: analysis

President Donald Trump reportedly may drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in a settlement handing him control of a $1.7 billion “MAGA slush fund” to compensate victims of government abuse, according to The New Republic‘s Greg Sargent, who calls it a “shakedown.”

Citing an ABC News report, Sargent explains that the proposed settlement “would create a ‘commission’ with ‘total authority’ to settle ‘claims’ brought by those who allege such weaponization. Per ABC, this not only includes the insurrectionists; it could even settle purported claims by ‘entities associated with President Trump himself.’ By all indications it would operate with little-to-no congressional oversight.”

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Sargent it is “a shocking new betrayal of the Constitution.”

This “new MAGA slush fund,” Sargent says, would come from an existing Justice Department fund that has strict controls, including transparency requirements. But “Trump would wield quasi-direct control” over the $1.7 billion, including being able to fire commission members “without cause,” and “it wouldn’t be required to disclose its decision-making involving who gets awarded compensation.”

Raskin told Sargent, the “Judgment Fund exists to settle valid judgments against the United States government.”

Raskin said that Trump and his allies are “trying to take money from the Judgment Fund while eliminating any controls and oversight” and put it under Trump’s “direct unilateral control.”

Because Congress did not set up any fund like this it could be unconstitutional.

“Congress never would have passed a $1.7 billion slush fund for his friends—this is completely outside of our constitutional framework,” Raskin said. He called it “an outrageous desecration of congressional power of the purse.”

Raskin also noted that the Constitution’s 14th Amendment prohibits government from assuming any “obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

So if Trump wants to use the $1.7 billion to compensate the January 6 rioters, he will be “using federal taxpayer dollars to compensate people who participated in insurrection,” according to Raskin.

Trump and his lawyers “are figuring out a way to refund the January 6 militia, presumably to get them ready for the next round of battle,” Raskin said.

“So at bottom,” Sargent concludes, “payments from this fund might ultimately serve as a form of coalition management: They’ll keep large swaths of his coalition persuaded that a win for Trump, no matter how illicit or ill-gotten, is a win for them. That his corruption isn’t just in his own interests, but in theirs, too. Because, after all, they’re getting a cut of the spoils.”

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Top Republican tears apart Trump's 'slap in the face' to allies

On Friday following reports that the Trump administration had “blindsided” American allies in Europe by announcing the cancellation of troops slated for deployment to Poland, several high-ranking Republican congressional leaders have expressed outrage, promising to oppose the effort and hold the Pentagon accountable.

During a session of the House Armed Services Committee, Chair Mike Rogers (R-AL) declared, “We are going to mandate that the department follow the statutory minimums that are set in statute on force posture, and if there are attempted deviations, we will remedy them and impose pain when or if they aren't complied with.”

He is referring to a stipulation of the 2026 Pentagon funding bill that expressly forbade reducing troop levels in Europe below 76,000 without delivering an explanation to Congress, which congressional leaders say they have not received.

Congressman and HASC member Don Bacon (R-NE) was similarly angered by the Trump administration’s actions, saying, “This is reprehensible and an embarrassment to our country, what we just did to Poland. The real question is why? Why did we pull two armored brigades out of Europe? There’s no good explanation. This is a slap in the face of Poland. This is a slap in the face of our Baltic friends. I think it’s a slap to the face of this committee, because we put floors and restrictions on the Pentagon on further reductions in Europe… We've gotta hold the secretary accountable for this decision. It’s wrong.”

The Trump administration's announcement to cancel the deployment of troops to Poland has ignited significant controversy within Republican ranks, particularly among members of Congress responsible for military oversight. The decision, which caught European allies off guard, directly contradicts statutory requirements established in the 2026 Pentagon funding bill.

The funding legislation includes explicit provisions mandating that troop levels in Europe remain at or above 76,000 personnel. Any reductions below this threshold require formal notification and explanation to Congress—a requirement that lawmakers say the administration has not fulfilled. This represents a potential violation of congressional authority over military spending and force deployment decisions.

House Armed Services Committee leadership has responded with unusual severity for intra-party criticism. Chair Mike Rogers has pledged to enforce compliance through legislative action, warning of consequences for non-adherence. Similarly, committee member Don Bacon has characterized the decision as damaging to diplomatic relationships with Poland and Baltic nations, emphasizing the breach of trust with both allies and Congress itself.

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Former lawmaker shuts down GOP strategist's election scheme blame-game

Former South Carolina congressman Joe Cunningham showed little patience for podcaster and former National Republican Senatorial Committee senior advisor Matt Whitlock at a CNN panel discussion on Republican’s mid-decade gerrymandering slaughter.

The argument began after Cunnigham blamed President Donald Trump for the frenetic redistricting scrum, which kicked off in Texas after Trump demanded Republicans wrest out new districts by drowning Democratic voters in neighboring majority-Republican territory.

Whitlock took issue with who started the fight: “One thing that the congressman said that I would just challenge is [his claim] that this began with Texas. This began with New York, but it also began with the Census and the reapportionment that had so many obvious errors that landed in the side of Democrats. And so, Republicans have had frustration on that. That's, I think, what President Trump really based a lot of this frustration off of.”

But Cunningham had heard that claim before and appeared ready for it.

“Yeah. No, can I jump in here and just note that there's only one party that's put a bill on the House floor to ban gerrymandering, and that's the Democratic Party,” said Cunningham. “It's a bill that I voted for. And I think I want to reiterate why it is that Republicans in South Carolina are redistricting: It's at the behest of President Trump.”

But Cunningham delivered his information with a history lesson that should possibly scare the GOP.

“The last time that Trump meddled in a midterm election when he was president was back in 2018, when he ousted Mark Sanford in South Carolina’s first congressional district, a district that Trump carried by 13 points,” Cunningham said, incensed. “I came in and flipped that seat in 2018 because of that. So, I think people need to understand the reach and the breadth of which Democrats can attain in this redistricting process, in this environment.”

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'Uh oh': CNN data guru stunned by Trump's death spiral numbers

CNN analyst Harry Enten was dumbfounded at how deeply President Donald Trump’s approval rating has collapsed, especially among Latino voters.

“The bottom has completely fallen out when it comes to Donald Trump and Latino voters,” Enten said on Friday.

“What a different world,” he exclaimed. “Oy vey, if I’m the president of the United States, because just take a look here.”

Trump won a “record share” of Latino voters for a “Republican presidential nominee, 46 percent of the vote,” Enten said, “going all the way back since we had the advent of exit polls back in 1972.”

Trump’s job approval rating, in an average of CNN polls, is 28 percent — “an 18 point drop,” Enten explained.

Latino voters from 2024 “have abandoned him with the utmost, just, dislike of what he is doing so far — just 28 percent, a drop of 18 points.”

And with Latino men, Enten said, “Oh, my goodness gracious.”

Trump is at -41 points, a “movement of 51 points, a shift away from the president of the United States.”

“Again, the bottom has just completely fallen out, and, of course, when you look across that political map, there are so many races that will be involving a lot of Latino voters, and when you see numbers like this, I just go, ‘Uh oh,’ if I am a Republican running for Congress,” he said.

Enten also said that one of the reasons Trump had “record performance with Latinos back in 2024, was because the issue of the economy. They trusted Donald Trump by a three-point margin against Kamala Harris.”

But his net approval on the economy now? “Minus 46 points.”

“No wonder the bottom has fallen out with Latino voters and Latino men in particular,” he added.

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Former Republican demands a new word for Trump's style of 'corruption'

Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell says President Donald Trump’s shady $1.7b fund proposal is so obviously corrupt that voters should demand a new word for Trump-brand political sleaze.

“I keep sitting here being like, is there a different word that means more than corruption at this point?” Longwell demanded of Bulwark editor Jonathan V. Last.

Trump is now commanding the creation of a new taxpayer-funded fund to dole out money to friends and allies, but with minimal oversight.

“Under the terms of the potential [IRS] settlement agreement, President Trump would have the authority to remove members of the commission running the fund without cause ... and the Commission would be under no obligation to disclose its procedures or decision-making process for awarding more than a billion dollars,” Last recited, quoting a description of Trump’s proposal.

It gets worse, said Last, because the process for awarding money and the identities of the recipients could be kept private, sources said.

So, Trump gets power over the commissioners choosing who gets cash, nobody gets to see whether or not the recipients deserve the payout and the public may not even get to know who got the payout. Additionally, Trump wants the fund dissolved after it can no longer serves his purpose shortly before his term ends, said Last, “because it would be important for this fund not to exist when a different president could hand things out.”

“He's starting the slush fund that is specifically so he can give out money to the January 6th perpetrators,” said Longwell, after taking a breath. “By the way, I don't know if you've been following the trajectory of these January 6th fine people, many of whom have been picked up for subsequent crimes, many of them sex crimes against children. Because as you can imagine, people who are trying to overturn our election are not very fine people.”

“… [I]t's not just that prices are going up for all Americans, while they fraudulently steal tax dollars for their own pet stuff to bribe their friends or give out,” Longwell added. “… This is about- The Trump Organization.”

Longwell pointed out that nothing stops Trump’s kids from directly manipulating and tweaking payouts to better serve the family organization.

“This will absolutely find a way into the family's pockets,” said Longwell.

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Tiny Trump just got smaller — and weaker

Xi scolded Trump on Taiwan, while Trump got no help on Iran or anything else after gushing over the Chinese president repeatedly.

You know Donald Trump is feeling very small when he goes on a tirade against a reporter.

Afraid to stand up to President Xi, who warned him during their China summit that Trump had better tread carefully on U.S. ally Taiwan or there could be "conflict," Trump later let loose on New York Times reporter David Sanger on the way back from China, calling him "treasonous" for his reporting on Iran.

Trump to NYT's David Sanger: "I had a total military victory. But the fake news, guys like you, write incorrectly. You're a fake guy. We had a total military victory. I actually think it's sort of treasonous what you write. You should be ashamed of yourself. I actually think it's treason."

It's a familiar pattern. Trump regularly attacks the media, Democrats, and millions of other Americans as the enemy of the people while bowing to our adversaries and dictators around the world.

Trump went on a blitz on Truth Social the night before he left for China, attacking President Obama as a "traitor" who should be arrested and also accusing Hillary Clinton and James Comey of "treason." It was a 55-post vicious tirade of empty accusations.

But when Trump got to China, he told Xi, "You're a great leader. I say it to everybody: you're a great leader. Sometimes, people don't like me saying it, but I say it anyway because it's true. I only say the truth."

He gushed and gushed: "It's an honor to be with you. It's an honor to be your friend."

The Chinese leader didn't return the accolades.

At no time did Xi call Trump a great president or even acknowledge any positive personal qualities about him. Xi was not about to lie on the world stage nor let his people see him bowing to Trump with phony commendations. Chinese citizens had been mocking Trump in memes that went viral as he arrived, sarcastically using the nickname Chuan Jianguo, "nation builder," for Trump—meaning his reckless policies in the US and with regard to European allies help build the nation of China.

Xi knew that he could easily play Trump without verbally complimenting him by simply making Trump feel special, feeding his narcissism with other gestures—while maintaining dominance over him. There was a welcoming parade, with the Chinese military and crowds of children holding flowers and American flags. There was a 21-gun salute and a band played the Star-Spangled Banner.

It worked like a charm, as Trump sucked it up: "That was an honor like few I've ever seen before," he said.

So Xi, like other authoritarians who've been able to work Trump—from Benjamin Netanyahu to Mohammed bin Salman—knew how to manipulate Trump by feeding his unending need for adoration while getting precisely what he wanted from Trump.

Once the talks started, Xi made it clear who was in charge. In what foreign policy experts said was striking language, Xi warned Trump regarding Taiwan.

Xinhua, China's official news agency, released a readout of the meeting: "Handled well, the two countries can maintain stability. If handled poorly, the two countries will collide or even clash, putting the entire U.S.-China relationship in an extremely dangerous situation."

Trump bowed to Xi completely, a supplicant to the clearly stronger authoritarian, offering no response at all to this statement, per the Washington Post:

In the meeting, Trump did not respond to Xi's comments about Taiwan and moved on to the next topic without acknowledging them at all, according to a White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive closed-door meeting.

This was pathetic, and the optics of the trip for the American people heading into the mid-terms were bad from the start. Trump brought tech company CEOs, including Tim Cook, Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang of Nvidia, so they could get deals. He also brought his son Eric Trump—as one of the 30 business leaders Trump said were there with him—to cut deals for the Trump family, making the self-dealing front and center.

Some of these tech leaders want deals on precious minerals and AI. But Trump didn't even get that. He, in fact, left China without a breakthrough on AI, Iran, or Taiwan. As The Guardian explains:

The US president had gone into the two-day talks with China's Xi Jinping weakened by his prolonged war in Iran, and did little to change the perception that he and his nation are diminished on the global stage.

Instead it was Xi who delivered the sharpest rhetoric of the meeting – over the future status of the self-governing island of Taiwan, with Trump notably failing to push back.

In his final remarks in Beijing on Friday, Trump did claim that the US and China struck "fantastic trade deals", although details were scarce, and that he and Xi settled "a lot of different problems".

Trump continued giving Xi more of what the Chinese leader wants, saying on Air Force One he hadn't decided if the U.S. will move ahead with a major arms package for Taiwan that had been planned for this year. He also said he was considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies buying Iranian oil, telling Sean Hannity that Xi promised him China won't give Iran military equipment—even though Chinese companies are planning to sell arms, something that, in a communist dictatorship, can only be discussing with Xi's permission.

But Trump did get one thing out of the visit: more inspiration and encouragement for his billion-dollar ballroom that Republicans are getting cold feet about funding, posting on Truth Social as he was leaving China: "China has a Ballroom, and so should the U.S.A.!"

What a complete embarrassment. Once again the U.S. is a laughingstock on the world stage. But this time it underscored how Trump is making the U.S. weak and making our adversary, China, strong. And that has serious ramifications.

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