religious right

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth insist that they are making the U.S. Armed Forces more efficient by stamping out "woke" policies at the Pentagon and restoring what Hegseth calls a "warrior culture." But military insiders, according to CNN, fear that they are making the military dangerously unstable during wartime by firing experienced leaders.

CNN reporters Haley Britzky and Zachary Cohen point to the firing of Gen. Randy George, former U.S. Army chief of staff, in early April as a prime example of why insiders are worried. George brought many years of experience to the table, but Hegseth fired him before the general even had a chance to meet with the defense secretary and make his case.

"Hegseth has fired more than two dozen senior officers, pushed out a Navy secretary he clashed with, and reportedly intervened in promotions across the military branches directly shaping leadership," Britzky and Cohen report in a CNN article. "While the timing of George's firing was abrupt and unexpected, occurring while Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was out of town and catching senior Army leaders off guard, the firing itself was not. It was the culmination of months of tension between Hegseth and senior Army staff, and George in particular. Hegseth and other close Trump allies had been skeptical about George from the beginning, partially because George served as an aide to former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden years. The apolitical military assignment was one of several posts in a long career, which included commanding troops during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, that put George in a position to develop extensive relationships with lawmakers."

The CNN journalists add, "The firings and restricted access have been a cornerstone of Hegseth's tenure, though sources told CNN it is not limited to the secretary's office. The culture has permeated other offices in the Pentagon, creating a culture of infighting among some senior civilian leaders."

A Pentagon insider, interviewed on condition of anonymity, warned that under Hegseth's leadership, the Pentagon is suffering from "a lack of clear internal processes" that is "caused by mass paranoia."

The official told CNN, "Everything is a case-by-case basis because there's no delegation. There's no trust. And if there's no delegation or trust, policy decisions can't be made…. They act like we are the enemy."

The Pentagon official said of Hegseth, "He just has this deep-seeded distrust of the Army."

But despite all the unease at the Pentagon, Britzky and Cohen note, Trump is happy with Hegseth's performance as defense secretary.

"In his public appearances," according to the CNN reporters, "Hegseth often speaks directly to camera, and by extension, to Trump in a way the president likes, sources have told CNN. The president has thus far not shown a willingness to break with his defense secretary despite the drama simmering across the river. 'Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, central casting,' Trump said at a recent Cabinet hearing as Hegseth sat to his left. 'He loves war.'"

In late November in Jamnagar, India, the scions of two of the most powerful families in the world stood face-to-face. On one side was 30-year-old Anant Ambani, son of one the richest men in Asia. On the other was Donald Trump Jr. For months, the Trump administration had been on the offensive against the sprawling Ambani energy empire, placing it at the center of an escalating tariff campaign against India. But after Trump Jr. touched down, the two men toured the Ambanis’ private zoo, and at night they performed a Gujarati folk dance, grinning as they moved together to the music.

Four months later, an obscure Texas startup called America First Refining announced that it had received a nine-figure investment from the Ambanis’ company. The deal puzzled numerous energy investors familiar with the project, which aims to build the first major new oil refinery in the U.S. in about 50 years. The company is run by a serial entrepreneur with a history of bankruptcy and lawsuits alleging fraud. After more than a decade of failed attempts to raise money, blown deadlines and rebrands, it had been floundering.

America First Refining’s unexpected breakthrough came after it forged a previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr., who secretly acquired a stake in the startup, according to records and seven people familiar with the company. The new details reveal the role the president’s son has played in a theme of Trump’s second term: overseas investors with interests before the administration putting money into the Trump family’s business interests.

Over the past year and a half, Trump Jr. has amassed a fortune from stakes in companies ranging from crypto startups to a drone business to a firearms retailer. Some firms tied to the president’s son have received contracts or other support from the federal government, part of what critics describe as a run of Trump family self-dealing. In December, Forbes estimated that Trump Jr.’s net worth had rocketed from roughly $50 million to $300 million since the election. But the Forbes figures were based on the investments that have been publicly disclosed. The America First Refining episode suggests there is much about the family business that remains secret.

The size of Trump Jr.’s stake in America First Refining and what he paid for it remain unclear. Top executives at the startup have also said that they speak regularly with Trump Jr., according to a person close to the company. And after the Ambani investment was announced, Trump Jr.’s personal lawyer took credit on social media for playing a part in the deal.

America First Refining has flexed its Trump Jr. connections during pitch meetings with foreign officials. Early last year, Trump Jr. joined the company’s leadership for a meeting in South Florida with potential investors from Saudi Arabia, according to two people familiar with the matter. Another foreign government official pitched on the project told ProPublica that the company’s team emphasized they had backing from the Trump family and suggested that an investment would help with White House access.

The Ambanis’ investment coincided with the family’s securing major U.S. policy wins that their company, Reliance Industries, had been lobbying for. “Reliance Goes From Trump Foe to Friend With Refinery Pledge,” ran the Bloomberg headline after the deal was announced. Reliance’s intent with the deal was to “smooth out” tensions between the U.S. and India, the outlet reported.

A Trump Jr. spokesperson said that Trump Jr. “has no operational involvement in AFR and is simply a passive minority investor in an American company that aligns with his worldview.”

“The entire premise of this story relating to Don is false,” the spokesperson said, adding, “Don does not interface with the Federal Government on behalf of any company that he invests in or advises.” ProPublica did not find evidence Trump Jr. was aware of refinery executives’ suggesting that an investment would help with White House access.

In response to detailed questions, a spokesperson for America First Refining said, “The claims in this story are false,” but declined to specify what they were referring to. The company’s CEO previously denied wrongdoing in the lawsuits against him reviewed by ProPublica, and the suits were either settled or dropped.

The Ambani family had long been cultivating its relationship with the Trumps. Reliance paid $10 million to the Trump Organization in 2024 as a “development fee” for a project in Mumbai, according to the president’s financial disclosure. (Despite the payment, Reliance has not yet announced a Trump project. Reliance told ProPublica that “the real estate project is real” and “remains under development.”) Ivanka Trump attended Anant Ambani’s wedding party in India that year, where guests were treated to a Rihanna concert. Anant’s father, Mukesh — who is worth an estimated $90 billion and lives in a 27-story home — came to Washington, D.C., for Trump’s second inauguration, posing with the president at a private reception.

https://twitter.com/RIL_Updates/status/1880980010892226707

But by the summer of 2025, the family was under attack from the White House. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Reliance had reportedly made billions in profits by purchasing vast quantities of Russian oil at a discount. In August, as Trump grew frustrated with his administration’s struggles to bring the war to an end, the president doubled his tariffs on India to 50%. The move was explicitly designed to force companies like Reliance to stop buying Russian oil. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro publicly assailed “India’s politically connected energy titans” for “funding Putin’s war machine,” widely read as a reference to the Ambanis.

Amid this tension, Trump Jr. visited Anant Ambani on his November trip to India. At the end of the trip, Trump Jr.’s personal lawyer commented at a business conference in Miami: “I had a nice closing this morning with Don Trump Jr., who’s flying back from India today.” (The following week, the Texas startup — then called Element Fuels — filed paperwork to create America First Refining LLC. In an email, the attorney, John Willding, told ProPublica that there was “no transaction in India or with an Indian company that I was ever involved with.”)

Anant Ambani, who helps run Reliance’s energy business, personally worked on the Texas refinery deal for months before it was announced, a major Indian newspaper later reported.

As the Ambanis quietly finalized their deal with America First Refining, U.S.-Indian relations appeared to warm. In February, the Trump administration struck a trade deal with India, dramatically lowering tariffs, and also reportedly gave Reliance a license to buy Venezuelan oil. When the Iran war broke out and rocked global energy markets, the U.S. gave India a sanctions waiver to buy Russian crude. (The waiver was later expanded to all countries.)

In response to ProPublica’s questions, the White House said that “there are no conflicts of interest.” Reliance did not answer ProPublica’s questions about Trump Jr.’s and Anant Ambani’s roles in the investment deal, but said in a statement that the company did not receive “any unique or preferential treatment” from the U.S. government.

“There is no connection between Reliance’s investment in AFR and any unique measures associated with general U.S. trade, tariff, sanctions or licensing outcomes,” Reliance said. “The investment was evaluated and approved on its commercial merits, strategic fit and long-term value creation potential.”

In March, President Trump personally announced Reliance’s deal with the Texas startup on Truth Social, thanking the Ambani company for its “tremendous Investment.”

After the announcement, Willding, the Trump Jr. lawyer, shared the news on LinkedIn: “Just so proud to have been part of this one.”

Willding rowed back his claim in an email to ProPublica. “I have never worked for or advised AFR and had zero involvement in their deal with Reliance Energy,” he said. “I simply saw the press release and was excited for them.” America First Refining’s spokesperson called Willding’s comment “moronic and false.”

In June 2025, Willding registered a new entity in Wyoming called TX Fuels, LLC, listing the company’s address as Trump Jr.’s mansion in Jupiter, Florida. In his email, Willding said his “only involvement in AFR was handling the legal paperwork” for the Trump Jr. LLC’s investment in the startup.

Trump Jr. first hired Willding in May 2021, according to interviews the lawyer has given. A corporate deal lawyer in Dallas, Willding has referred to himself as “outside business counsel to the Trump family” and has said he talks to Trump Jr. or Eric Trump almost daily. A former Bill Clinton and Barack Obama voter who fell hard for MAGA, the attorney has installed a portrait of President Trump over the mantel in his living room.

Willding’s practice has boomed during the second Trump administration, bringing the lawyer to Argentina, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. “Everybody in the world wants to do business with the United States right now,” Willding said at a conference in June 2025. “Every company wants to do business with the Trump family.”

There are other fingerprints of the Trump world on the refinery deal.

Howard Lutnick’s firm Cantor Fitzgerald — which his sons took over when Lutnick became Trump’s commerce secretary — is working as the financial adviser to America First Refining, including on the Ambani investment deal, Cantor Fitzgerald announced. (Cantor Fitzgerald declined to comment.)

And the Trump administration played a direct role helping America First Refining find potential foreign investors, according to public comments from the company’s CEO, John Calce. “We have received support from the White House,” he told a local news outlet. The National Energy Dominance Council, led by the interior and energy secretaries, has “helped us with, candidly, introducing us and helping us meet some of these people overseas,” Calce said on an industry podcast.

America First Refining has recently explored going public, according to three people close to the company. That could allow its current investors to start cashing out even if the refinery never gets built — a milestone many energy industry insiders still view as a long shot. Reliance made its investment in the startup at a valuation of at least $1 billion, according to America First Refining’s announcement.

Building a refinery at the Port of Brownsville on the Gulf Coast has been Calce’s mission for a decade. A former Yale offensive lineman, he started his career as a high school football coach after an unsuccessful attempt to make the NFL and now describes himself as a “lifelong entrepreneur.”

The project has been serially delayed, out of money, rebranded and trailed by angry former business partners. At one point, Calce’s companies were being sued simultaneously by eight other firms. In 2022, during bankruptcy proceedings for an earlier iteration of the project, the trustee appointed to impartially oversee the case sued Calce too. The trustee alleged that Calce and other insiders had improperly siphoned away cash and other assets. (Calce denied wrongdoing. The case was ultimately settled.)

During the Biden administration, as the company sought financial support from the Department of Energy, it pitched itself as a climate-friendly green project that would also help “people of underrepresented social demographics” in Brownsville, according to records from that period. The company failed to get enough money from outside investors, and the planned construction was delayed.

By the company’s own estimate, building the refinery will take years and cost $3 billion to $4 billion. Even if it’s built, profitability could be hard to achieve. Many energy investors told ProPublica there’s a reason the U.S. hasn’t seen a major new refinery in decades. “Refineries cost a lot of money and essentially make pennies on the dollar,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist in Houston. “Wall Street is not going to finance a new refinery.”

Even after the start of the second Trump administration, the company was in jeopardy, according to interviews and documents. It laid off workers last year, and, by late 2025, with delays continuing to plague the refinery, officials at the Port of Brownsville believed the project looked to be dead, according to records reviewed by ProPublica.

That has not stopped Calce and his team from making grandiose claims to the public. Earlier this year, a website went live for another Calce company called Brownsville Energy Storage Terminals. It claims to have a far-flung network of oil storage terminals in places like the Netherlands and Singapore, more than 850 employees and a C-suite of experienced energy executives. But ProPublica could find no evidence that the executives are real people or that the storage terminals actually exist. The phone numbers on the website are also currently listed online as the contacts for a Houston baklava caterer, a Dallas-area taxi service and an OB-GYN office. The numbers are dead.

America First Refining’s political ties, though, may have boosted its standing with Texas state regulators. In February, shortly before the Ambani investment became public, the company sought an extension on its permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Inside the state agency, emails obtained by ProPublica show, officials scrambled to approve the request.

“Need to get this one logged and processed asap,” wrote one official.

“You are going to have to do this one. I will explain why in person in a few,” wrote another. “You can guess if you check out the name.”

America First Refining got its approval the next day. A spokesperson for the Texas agency did not address questions about the emails. “This request was processed quickly due to the quality of information provided,” the spokesperson said.

Yesterday I asked a group of eight specialists who have closely watched Trump over the years — two clinical psychologists, a psychiatrist, two medical doctors, and three political advisers — about their reactions to Trump’s interview that aired on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”

Here’s the part of the interview I asked them to focus on. For those of you who missed it, click to see it.

Today’s Office Hours discussion will focus on what, if anything, this interview reveals about Trump at this point in his second term.

The views expressed by my panel of medical and political experts were thoughtful and nuanced. For the sake of discussion, I’ve grouped them into the following categories:

1. Trump’s behavior was normal for Trump

Several of them said they had seen Trump behave similarly before, so it was normal behavior for Trump. They cited examples of interviews he’s done — both in recent months and also in his first term — in which he was equally angry, defensive, and dismissive. He has walked out of interviews before. They also noted that this was a particularly stressful situation because Trump was facing a national audience and may have had difficulty concentrating because of the rain.

2. Trump is planting the seeds of his strategy for discrediting the midterms.

The political advisers saw in Trump’s baseless assertion that the California election was rigged and his rehash of his lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him as intentionally sowing the seeds of doubt about the fairness of elections in Democratic cities and states. They thought this will be part of his strategy for discrediting the results of the midterms — which Democrats are likely to win. (A Justice Department official says “multiple” probes of California’s elections are now underway, following Trump’s claims.)

3. Trump is showing signs of dementia.

A fourth view is that Trump is displaying clear signs of dementia. During the interview, he had obvious difficulty following a train of thought, recalling factual details, maintaining normal reasoning (even for him), and controlling his emotions. He also displayed paranoia. Even considering the rain and the stressful situation — and even relative to the normal baseline for Trump — he showed early signs of mental decline. “He’s losing it,” said one of the psychologists I consulted with.

Hence, today’s Office Hours question: What do you think Trump reveals about himself in this interview?

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.

Republicans are escalating their attacks on elections after the recent results out of California, but as The Hill reported, they are notably rejecting President Donald Trump's latest baseless accusations of fraud.

Major primaries were held in California last week, and as has become common with the state's elections, the final results took several days to arrive as the ballots were counted, prompting a new round of vague accusations about corruption or wrongdoing in the process from the GOP. Republicans were particularly stung after their Los Angeles mayoral candidate, ex-reality TV star Spencer Pratt, was shut out of the general election after coming in third in the state's all-party primary. Incumbent Democrat Karen Bass will now face a challenge from within her own party from Nithya Raman.

Spurred on by Pratt's loss and the lengthy counting process, Republicans have renewed their attacks on California's electoral system, and elections as a whole, despite the fact that conservative gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton still appears poised to make the general. As The Hill reported Tuesday morning, there was particular rancor over Pratt's 8-point lead over Raman evaporating as votes were counted, which could amount to the typical "red mirage" phenomenon, in which mail-in votes counted later in the process heavily favor Democrats.

The report also noted that Republicans have stopped short of embracing Trump's own attacks on California, in which he has rehashed his longstanding and baseless allegations that elections in the U.S. are being rigged against Republicans. In attacking the results from California, the GOP is instead alleging "incompetence" in the mail-in vote counting process, rather than "conspiracy."

“I’m not going to defend any of California’s election process. I think it’s crazy that it takes that long to count votes, I really do,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.

When pressed about the possibility of Democrats cheating in California, however, he stopped short,

"Cheating is something, obviously, you have to prove," Thune added. "I would characterize a lot of the way California does things, including elections, as incompetence. I think that’s on full display on a lot of levels in California."

House Speaker Mike Johnson took a similar stance.

“They are counting votes weeks after the election,” Johnson said. “I’m not saying it’s rigged. I’m saying it stinks to high heaven, and everybody knows that.”

GOP strategist Brian Darling told The Hill that a similar dynamic is bound to return in November if votes take a long time to be counted.

"If we have a bunch of elections where votes are being counted a week and two weeks after the election’s closed out, I think that’s going to be a problem,” he explained. “If you have a repeat of what’s happening in the LA mayor’s race, if that happens nationwide, it’s going to feed into the idea that our elections are broken."

Ross K. Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University, also told the outlet that Trump is likely to accuse Democrats of cheating if they win the House, no matter how the vote counting goes.

“I think it’s predictable, and I think the strength of his reaction will be in direct proportion to the Democratic win because he’s going to see his program evaporating in a Congress where Democrats are in the majority, at least in one House,” Baker said. “You absolutely can count on it... I just think you’re going to see a tidal wave of litigation and investigations by the Justice Department and accusations of voter fraud."

Oysterman Graham Platner, the ostensible Democratic frontrunner in this year’s Maine Senate race, used an expletive to describe a sitting Democratic senator that previously insulted him.

“The Senate really is a place of — it’s a lot about relationships, and I, like — I don’t want to go down there and simply be non-functional,” Platner said during a recent town hall. Platner — who is facing criticisms for his past tumultuous romantic relationships, racist comments, homophobic comments, sexist comments and Nazi tattoo — is currently under fire as Democrats worry he will lose to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) if he is nominated.

“I mean, as you can all probably tell, I got a lot of criticisms about the way this government functions, but in order for us to make it functional, we’re going to have to do stuff,” Platner said at the town hall. “And you can’t just go down there and be John Fetterman, and just, and just kind of, just sort of be an a------.”

He later added that Fetterman, a Democratic senator from Pennsylvania, “said mean things about me, I’m allowed to say that.”

Fetterman previously criticized Platner, saying that “Democrats really, really like Platner in Maine but the Republicans f------- love him.”

He then continued that “if Maine wants an a‑‑hole with a Nazi tattoo on his chest, they get him.”

In contrast to Fetterman, longtime Democratic political consultant James Carville has urged Democrats to support Platner in part because of his flaws.

“I understand he’s f—— up,” Carville explained on his Politicon podcast. “Yeah, maybe we need a combat veteran right on that Senate floor, who is f—— up.”

Denouncing Collins as “the most pliable member in the history of the United States Senate,” Carville added that America is “in imminent peril — I mean, imminent peril,” adding that they should ask “Who is most likely to slow this criminal in charge?”

He continued, “I think it’s Graham Platner. I ask all of you to understand his flaws, and understand the peril that this nation is in, and maybe he might be the right guy at the right time.”

Graham Platner, a Maine oysterman, has emerged as a controversial Democratic candidate in the 2024 Senate race against incumbent Republican Susan Collins. Platner's campaign has been marked by significant scrutiny regarding his personal history, which includes documented racist, homophobic, and sexist comments, as well as a Nazi tattoo.

Despite these controversies, Platner has positioned himself as an anti-establishment figure critical of government dysfunction. His campaign has gained traction among some Democrats who view him as a combat veteran willing to challenge the status quo in the Senate. However, party strategists remain divided on his viability as a general election candidate, with concerns that his controversial background could prove damaging against Collins in a general election matchup.

President Donald Trump and his movement of MAGA Republicans are venting their rage online after Republican reality TV star Spencer Pratt lost to two Democrats, Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman, in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Because Trump has accused all of the politicians he opposes of cheating, tracing all the way back to the 2016 Republican Iowa caucus, he naturally has accused Bass and Raman of cheating Pratt. MAGA Republicans online are taking notice.

"I'm at the rare intersection of: - Was rooting for Pratt - Thought he was good for the LA political conversation - Dislike California's election administration laws and policies - But understand how the process works,” posted an X user named Stephen Richer.

Similarly Republican pollster Frank Luntz observed "reality TV star Spencer Pratt says he ‘will be done with trying to live in LA’ if he doesn't win the mayoral election. Yesterday, he was surpassed in the Los Angeles mayoral primary for the second run-off spot in November."

Another Republican wrote going by Dr. Terry Simpson on X wrote that "I'm a Republican. Los Angeles is roughly 50% Democratic and about 10% Republican. Any candidate who wants to lead this city must win support well beyond the Republican base. Spencer Pratt didn't lose because voters didn't understand he was independent. He lost.”

Other Republicans reacted with the outrage that Trump is trying to stir up, even though there is no evidence that anything illicit is occurring in the California election.

"A 43,000-vote swing just handed Nithya Raman the edge over Spencer Pratt in LA,” an X user who goes by jay plemons posted. “The exact size of the city's homeless population. Ballot harvesting from shelters, universal mail ballots, and late drops made it happen. Coincidence?"

Similarly X user Mark Mendlovitz wrote, "The large variance of Pratt and Raman but not Bass should be setting off screaming alarm bells."

Even House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested there might be fraud in California, despite the fact that he also acknowledged there is no proof. Instead he cited the absence of evidence as being in itself suspicious.

“I'm not saying it's rigged,” Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju on Monday. “I'm saying it stinks to high heaven. And everybody knows that. Let's remove the appearance of impropriety. Let's have, what a concept, let's have votes on an election the day of the election. That's what many states are able to do. I think California is playing around with this.”

After Raju asked Johnson if he had proof the election was improper, he admitted that “I don't — some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream that it is impossible to prove. But I think everybody knows instinctively something is wrong here. And that's a concern. We need people to believe in the integrity of our election system.”

Trump, who attempted a coup after he lost the 2020 presidential election to then-Vice President Joe Biden, is reportedly falsely accusing the California election of being stolen as a preparation for denying the results of the 2026 midterms, which are also expected to swing against him.

“By baselessly framing Ms. Raman’s rise as a Democratic scam, Mr. Trump extended his long-running project to erode public faith in elections — and gave an unusually clear preview of how he could greet any disappointing results for his party in November, when control of Congress is at stake,” wrote The New York Times' Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman on Monday. “He has been anything but subtle about his desire to limit the ability of Democrats to vote by mail, implying, with no evidence, that simply choosing that widely used means of casting a ballot is inherently suspect.”

Swan and Haberman added, “Addressing a gathering of Republican lawmakers in March, he said the way to hold their majority was to pass a strict voter identification law cracking down on mail ballots. ‘It’ll guarantee the midterms,’ he told them, warning that failure would bring ‘big trouble.’”

President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC News this weekend after being pushed on false claims, and according to a certified speech pathologist, there might very well have been a dementia warning sign hidden in his explosive reaction.

On Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press released a sit-down interview with Trump conducted by Kristin Welker, in which the president became increasingly frustrated over tough questions. In particular, Welker pushed back on Trump's attempt to reiterate his false claims about elections in the U.S. being rigged, which he has made since losing the 2020 presidential race, and has rehashed this week as Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt lost a spot in the general election.

When Welker pressed him for evidence of these claims, which he has never been able to provide, he chastised her as either "crooked" or "stupid" and stormed out of the interview early. This prompted many shocked reactions from observers, with an MS NOW piece calling it the beginning of the end of his credibility as president, and CNN media analyst Brian Stelter calling it "one of the wildest interviews with President Trump that I've ever seen."

Beyond the implications that the reaction had for Trump's perception and his claims about fraud, speech pathologist and political content creator "Hilary M.A. CCC-SLP" — who has highlighted numerous recent incidents as evidence of Trump's declining cognitive and physical health — argued that there was evidence to suggest that the incident was consistent with the behavior one would expect from someone struggling with dementia.

The interview with Welker took place inside a barn in Wisconsin, where Trump was visiting to take part in an event for farmers. According to the pathologist, the persistent rainy weather in the state over the weekend could have contributed to Trump's hostility towards Welker.

"For people who have dementia, changes in weather, specifically rain, can actually be really problematic for them," she explained. "When it is raining all day long, the typical lighting of the day is very disrupted. So, it is difficult to know just by looking outside, is it daytime or is it nighttime, late afternoon, that type of thing."

She continued: "With somebody who already has sundowning behaviors, as the president demonstrates he does, that can make it even worse, because the entire morning has not had the typical sunlight, his circadian rhythm is already off due to the deterioration of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, and it is very difficult when it is just gloomy, cloudy and raining all day to have any environmental supports for that."

She noted that these sorts of situations can increase a patient's frustration and agitation, which might have already been elevated for Trump, as Welker seemed to note that the interview had been delayed from when it was initially scheduled. This might have troubled Trump's "cognitive flexibility," which causes dementia patients to struggle with understanding their daily structure and makes them susceptible to heightened agitation when it is disrupted.

President Donald Trump may plan on drawing attention to himself by seeing the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden for the 2026 NBA Finals, but one former Knicks player and politician says he will never upstage Knicks fans.

Trump is “second fiddle” to the main attraction because "the people are there to see these two teams play," former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) told CBS News on Monday. "And what is compelling about the teams are the values they display like unselfishness, discipline, resilience, the kind of things that we need more of in our world at large."

Bradley spent 10 seasons in the NBA playing for the Knicks, winning two titles in the 1969-1970 and 1972-1973, which are also the last championships that the Knicks ever picked up.

"If you think of your teammate first and yourself second, that's an important thing that the Knicks today and the Knicks in the past demonstrate," Bradley explained when asked what the current Knicks time has in common with the ones for which he played. "If you're disciplined, you're not just flying off but you're playing to plan; that's another thing. So this is not rocket science. It's what a team does if they want to be a champion. And I think this team has the makings of a champion."

He also said that Madison Square Garden is a special place to play because of the attitude and behavior of the fans.

"They applaud the pass that leads to the pass that leads to the basket,” Bradley said. “They applaud boxing out on rebounds. They applaud the subtleties of the game. And they are deeply enthusiastic and loyal and dedicated to their team, and I think you'll see that in the arena tonight, as you have in all the other games."

The Knicks are currently ahead of the San Antonio Spurs with two wins to their zero wins, and the first team to win four games are declared champions.

"If the Knicks go in 3-0, I mean, I know I'm gonna be there on that fourth game expecting them to be crowned champions that night,” Bradley said. “And there'll be millions of other people who will think the same thing."

Bradley clearly hopes that his team will be able to deliver the goods for their longtime fans, who have waited more than half a century for this moment.

"It gives them something to hope for,” Bradley said. “It gives them something to believe in."

When Trump shows up on Monday night, it is widely expected that he will be greeted with a chorus of boos. According to the Washington Post reporter Dan Diamond, Trump is "widely expected to be showered with boos" even though he was invited by Knicks owner James Dolan.

"Some sports fans and analysts have urged Trump not to attend the game — commentator Stephen A. Smith said it would create an unnecessary spectacle — or pledged to jeer the president," Barrett explains in the Post. "Online betting services also predict Trump will be booed in his visit to deep-blue New York City and the Knicks' arena, Madison Square Garden. The team's fans are famously unforgiving — quick to taunt rival players, the team's own stars and recent New York mayor Eric Adams just days after his inauguration."

Barrett concluded, "As an added frustration, Trump's presence will create logistical hurdles for the roughly 20,000 other attendees, who have been told to arrive at least two hours before tip-off because of the enhanced security measures that follow the president."

Bari Weiss was hired by CBS to be editor-in-chief of CBS News in October 2025, when Paramount Skydance acquired CBS.

Weiss had no television-news experience. She was a New York Times Opinion staffer and founder of The Free Press.

In May, Weiss made Nick Bilton the new executive producer of “60 Minutes.” He has no television experience. He has no management experience, either.

I remember when CBS News was the most admired news organization in America — home to Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. They spoke truth to power. Cronkite had the guts to challenge Lyndon Johnson’s war in Vietnam. Murrow had the guts to expose Joe McCarthy and his communist witch hunt.

Now, CBS News is a disgraced shell of a news organization that last week fired famed “60 Minutes” senior correspondent Scott Pelley, after gutting most of the rest of its team.

Pelley says Weiss repeatedly interfered in stories “60 Minutes” sought to run. When, for example, the show did a piece on the murder of Renee Good in Minneapolis, Weiss wanted to make “the protesters look more violent,” and to describe Good “as driving toward the officer,” when videos show her driving away from him.

Pelley concluded that Weiss was trying to put “a thumb on the scale for the President’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I had never seen in 37 years at CBS News. … a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration. Constantly looking out for the views of the President.”

Why was Weiss doing this? Presumably because her boss, David Ellison, wants to s--- up to Trump, and hired Weiss to help him — and she hired Bilton to aid her in doing so. And she fired other staff because they wouldn’t.

Trump, meanwhile, has chosen Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence. Pulte has no background in national security. He was head of Trump’s federal housing agency. His entire professional experience before that was at companies tied to his family’s wealth.

Trump chose Pulte not because he knows anything about intelligence but because of his eagerness to advance Trump’s political revenge campaign. He used his housing office to attack Trump’s enemies, leveling accusations of mortgage fraud against people Trump considers political enemies — Letitia James, Senator Adam Schiff, and Lisa Cook, a Fed governor Trump has sought to fire.

Trump has also chosen Todd Blanche to be Attorney General. Blanche’s qualifications? As acting Attorney General, Blanche oversaw the Justice Department’s indictment of former F.B.I. director James B. Comey over a photo he posted on Instagram in May 2025 of seashells on a beach that spelled out “86 47,” which the department characterized as a threat to the president.

It was the second attempt by Trump’s Justice Department to prosecute Comey, against whom Trump has vowed retribution for Comey’s alleged disloyalty to Trump during Trump’s first administration — when Comey said Trump pressured him to drop the investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, publicly refuted Trump’s allegations that the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump, and publicly challenged Trump’s narrative regarding the Russia probe.

Before becoming Pam Bondi’s attack dog at the Justice Department, Blanche was one of Trump’s personal lawyers.

Speaking of no relevant experience, I can’t resist pointing out that Lindsey Halligan, who Trump appointed U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, had been a White House aide with no experience as a federal prosecutor before she was appointed. Halligan was tasked by Trump with prosecuting James Comey and Letitia James, after her predecessors as U.S. Attorney — Erik Siebert and Todd Gilbert — refused to do it. The ploy didn’t work. The federal courts threw out both indictments.

I could go on — Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — but you get the point. Under Trump, experience, knowledge, and talent are irrelevant. The only criterion for getting a top job is blind loyalty to Trump.

But now this poison has also leached into the private sector, in vital places such as CBS and CBS News — places where people used to be hired for their experience, knowledge, and talent. Now they’re hired for their willingness to sacrifice their integrity to s--- up to Trump.

This is how dictators poison the organizations a free society depends on. Trump is destroying CBS News by putting s---ups David Ellison and Bari Weiss in charge, just as he’s destroying the Department of Justice and the Office of National Intelligence by putting s---ups Todd Blanche and Bill Pulte in charge.

Sadly, a dictator will always be able to find people whose blind ambition exceeds their integrity.

But you and I don’t have to accept any of this.

We can boycott CBS News and its sponsors.

And we can do everything within our power to get out the vote in the midterm elections whose mail-in ballots start in four months, and put responsible people in charge of Congress who have the courage to stand up to the dictator.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com/.

One of President Donald Trump's staunchest MAGA allies lashed out after being cornered on his election lies in a NewsNation interview, insisting that there is "tons of evidence" of election fraud despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

Trump has been rehashing his debunked claims about widespread election fraud this week, spurred on by conservative gloom over GOP candidate and ex-reality TV star Spencer Pratt losing out on a spot in the Los Angeles mayoral race's general election. Trump has also claimed that his controversial acting DNI nominee, Bill Pulte, will be doing his bidding and seeking arrests linked to his false claims about the 2020 election.

One of Trump's most outspoken allies over the years has been Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who has proven himself to be an avowed promoter of conspiracy theories. He has also been closely involved with Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election results, with aides from his office allegedly being involved in a scheme to provide fake Wisconsin electors to Vice President Mike Pence as part of a plot to keep Trump in power.

On Monday, he appeared for an interview with NewsNation host Connell McShane and was pressed about the continual lack of evidence for Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud that was sufficient to tilt national election results. Johnson lashed out at the line of questioning, saying he was "getting very tired" of the argument," and insisting that there was abundant evidence.

"There's tons of evidence. There's tons of irregularities," Johnson said. "We need to take them seriously because what is absolutely true as Americans on both sides do not have confidence in our elections. That's unsustainable."

Johnson continued in a rambling fashion, claiming that allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in 2016 were "ginned up" by Hillary Clinton, calling her "the first election denier."

When McShane pressed the senator about why Trump and his allies have not presented concrete evidence of fraud during the many court hearings that have resulted from his claims, Johnson insisted that they have, but that they are ignored and not investigated further once elections are certified.

Trump himself also recently had a blow-up on national television when confronted about his election fraud claims, storming out of an interview with NBC News' Kristin Welker when she pressed him about the lack of evidence. Trump said that she was either "crooked" or "stupid" for asking him about it, and insisted that U.S. elections are still rigged.