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President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement have enjoyed some major legal victories in recent weeks, including the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling in Louisiana v. Callais — which, critics say, guts the protections of the Voting Rights Act — and a 4-3 Virginia Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state's new congressional maps.

But according to The New Republic's Matt Ford, Trump deeply resents the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing supermajority. Although the Roberts Court is voting in Trump's interests more often than not, Ford emphasizes, he is angry with the six GOP-appointed justices for voting against him at all.

Referencing a May 10 post on Trump's Truth Social platform, Ford observes, "The president gave a surprisingly frank assessment of his view of the Supreme Court — and how he expects personal loyalty from the justices that he appoints to it. In the lengthy post, Trump criticized two members of the High Court for voting in Trump v. Learning Resources, the case that nixed his purported ability to impose hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs under a Cold War-era emergency-powers law. The Supreme Court held 6-3 that Trump had exceeded the powers laid out in the statute…. It would be hard to find a better example than this of Trump's thinking that the justices that he nominated to the High Court should be personally loyal to him."

Trump, according to Ford, believes he is entitled to total obedience from Supreme Court justices "simply because he appointed them" and has the same view of lower federal court judges he chose. And in doing so, Ford laments, Trump shows a total disregard for "judicial independence."

"If this is his public thinking about the justices," Ford warns, "it casts doubt on whether any second-term Trump appointee can be trusted to place the national interest or the law ahead of Trump's personal and political goals…. If Trump is willing to demand personal loyalty from Supreme Court justices, what about his lower-court nominees?"

Trump, Ford argues, "should be thrilled with his treatment by the Supreme Court these days" but is resentful instead.

"The Supreme Court has given him nearly everything that he has wanted over the last two years — and he still isn't satisfied," Ford observes. "This is the same Supreme Court that just boosted his party's midterm chances earlier this month by demolishing what's left of the Voting Rights Act."

President Donald Trump’s massive overnight social media spree — promoting dozens of posts in a 12-hour period — has been called out in the media and by critics, but one CNN fact-checker is labeling it “detached from reality.”

“It’s hard to explain just how detached from reality President Trump’s conspiracy-theory-filled social media posting spree last night and this morning was,” wrote CNN’s Daniel Dale.

“One easy example: The president shared a completely made-up and frankly nonsensical ‘quote’ about former president Obama the post attributed to GOP Sen. John Kennedy,” Dale said. “The fake quote originated with a ‘satire’ website, basically a fakery factory, that invents stories to be shared by online conservatives.”

Dale noted that “versions of this particular fake quote have been wrongly attributed to everyone from Kash Patel to Madonna.”

The posting spree came just hours before Trump is set to board Air Force One to head to China, a critical trip for foreign relations, the war in Iran, and the U.S. economy.

“Amid the flurry of conspiracy-minded messages he reposted from followers were baseless accusations that Obama had been involved in a ‘coup plot’ by ordering the intelligence community to spy on him during his 2016 presidential run,” The Independent reported, “that he ordered his Department of Justice not to prosecute Hillary Clinton after her emails were leaked, and that he had profited illegally from the Affordable Care Act.”

Dale also said that Trump made a “false and quite bewildering claim” on Truth Social: “No Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba.”

He reported that there are “lots of examples of Republicans describing having spoken to Trump about Cuba, and obviously Republicans within his administration talk to him about Cuba.”

Dale also pointed to remarks Trump made in 2019 about then-U.S. Senator Marco Rubio talking with him about Cuba.

President Donald Trump recently threatened to hit countries that sold weapons to Iran with a 50 percent tariff. As the Financial Times noted in a new report, this threat "was quickly brushed aside," where once it might have given other nations reason to pause.

As the Financial Times explained, this is just the latest example of how Trump is still reeling from the loss of his favorite "trade superpower" after the Supreme Court shot down the broad tariff authority he had been claiming throughout his first year in office. Using a dubious emergency declaration, Trump has claimed the ability to level and remove tariffs at will, using this as a way to intimidate or retaliate against nations that ran afoul of his desires.

In a ruling from earlier this year, however, the Supreme Court found that Trump's claimed authority was illegitimate, as only Congress had the ability to create new taxes, leaving him with tariff powers much, much more limited than before. With congressional Republicans wary of new taxes ahead of the midterms, it remains highly unlikely that they would go along with his desire for massive, wide-ranging duties against most imports.

That was not the end of Trump's tariff "misery" in court, as last week, another court ruled against the blanket 10 percent tariff that he had imposed after the Supreme Court loss, using a different authority. For now, the administration is stuck trying to appeal that ruling.

“The president has lost something important to him, which is the ability to threaten tariffs on a Friday and impose them on a Monday,” Michael Smart, the managing director at Rock Creek Global Advisors, told the Financial Times.

Myron Brilliant, of the Albright Stonebridge Group, added that "other countries are already treating Washington with less deference after the Supreme Court ruling," and are "rethinking, recalibrating, revising" their prior trade deals with Trump now that his biggest threat has been neutralized.

"Now, as he prepares to meet China’s President Xi Jinping in a long-awaited summit, Trump and his administration are trying to rebuild his power to impose tariffs on imports from around the globe," the Financial Times continued. "The problem for the U.S. president is that resistance is building in Congress, the tariffs are unpopular ahead of already challenging midterm elections and replacement measures may fall far short of providing him with the room for maneuver he seeks on the world stage."

Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar (Cal.) clashed with Pentagon officials on Tuesday morning during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the president's 2027 budget and developments in the conflict with Iran.

Speaking with Secretary Pete Hegseth, Aguilar demanded details about the ceasefire. Hegseth refused to answer.

"How many pages is the ceasefire? How do we know the ceasefire is active or not active without any documentation?" the congressman asked.

"We know," Hegseth said. He then quickly added that it was "evident" the ceasefire was "in effect."

On Thursday last week, Iran launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats at the U.S. The U.S. then responded with what Trump referred to as "just a love tap," which were targeted strikes within Iran.

Those strikes prompted questions about whether the ceasefire was still in effect.

"So, we just trust the president that it's active or not active?" asked Aguilar.

"As you know, for the most part, a ceasefire means the fire is ceasing, and we know that has occurred while negotiations occur," replied Hegseth.

In an analysis, CNN correspondent Brian Todd called the back-and-forth "testy" and noted the ballooning costs of the Iran war.

"The controller, the acting controller of the Pentagon, Jay Hurst, just gave an updated figure of how much the war costs. He said it has cost about $29 billion so far. That is an updated figure from what he gave about a week and a half or so ago when he said it was $25 billion," said Todd.

Hurst told Aguilar that the costs have changed since the initial $25 billion request.

Sources have told CNN previously that it's a lowball figure and may not include the necessary construction costs from Iranian strikes of U.S. bases around the Middle East. That figure alone could be $25 to $50 billion and does not include the initial costs of the war.

Members of Congress demanded specifics on the budget as they're slated to go into markup of the additional costs by June 11. Both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate have been asking for specifics from Hegseth on the budget for weeks. As of Tuesday's hearing, Hegseth still didn't have the line items.

Ranking Member Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) listed off the specifics she wanted from Hegseth in the budget, including cost adjustments for fuel, maintenance for the ships that have been deployed to the Strait of Hormuz for the past several months, the munitions costs, rebuilding the U.S. bases and several others.

Acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll oversaw the Bureau before Kash Patel and Dan Bongino took over, and, in a new tell-all interview, he revealed a clash with President Donald Trump's administration that sought to fire anyone who didn't vote for the president.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper, Driscoll exposed the loyalty test in which he was probed over his "politics, who he voted for, when he started supporting Trump and whether he’d voted for a Democrat in recent elections."

Patel told Driscoll upon taking over the FBI that he didn't have anything to worry about "so long as he wasn’t active on social media, didn’t donate to the Democratic Party and didn’t vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election."

Driscoll confessed it made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He's prohibited from speaking about politics on the job.

"He asked me, do I agree that the agents who stormed Mar-a-Lago, his words, not mine, should be held accountable? I did answer that one with an absolute no," said Driscoll. "And then I explained to him they were doing their jobs pursuant to a predicated investigation and court order. ... And that we don't choose what cases we work. He was like, 'Okay, just tell me if you voted for a Democrat in the last five elections, this conversation is over,' and he concluded the phone call. I was just disgusted and shocked."

He also revealed that the mass-firing of FBI agents was "a White House-directed purge of the FBI aimed at punishing or removing employees involved in investigations into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot as well as the probe into Trump’s possession of classified documents after his first term."

Driscoll told Cooper that Patel claimed "the FBI tried to put the president in jail and he hasn’t forgotten it. ... It was the first time he articulated it that bluntly to me."

Before being in a lifetime position approved by the GOP-led Senate, now-Federal Judge Emile Bove was working in the new Trump Justice Department and told Driscoll that Deputy Cheif of Staff Stephen Miller wanted the FBI firings. Bove had a list of eight field leaders and executive assistant directors who had to go as a result of their ties to the Jan. 6 cases.

Bove accused Driscoll of “insubordination” and put in writing to him, “no FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties."

“It’s devastating to the workforce, not just for the morale, but also the stability of the organization and the faith in it from the people inside of it and the people outside of it," Driscoll said.

President Donald Trump's tireless campaign to stamp his name on buildings and mount disruptive construction projects stems from his view that the nation's capital is his "personal property," according to a new analysis from The Hill, which he opts to abuse whenever he gets bored with the rest of his agenda.

Bill Press is a veteran Democratic pundit and author who previously served as the chair of the California Democratic Party in the 1990s. On Tuesday, he published a new piece for The Hill, breaking down Trump's fixation on remaking Washington, D.C., in his own image, surmising that the city has become his personal "sandbox" and a way to revert to his days as a real estate developer.

"Starting on Day One of his second term, Trump has treated Washington as his personal property, where he has the power to change or destroy anything he doesn’t like," Press wrote. "For him, Washington is nothing but a sandbox which he can retreat to whenever he’s bored with deporting immigrants or waging war, and play 'Donnie the Developer.'"

Nearly a year and a half into Trump's second term, Press argued that D.C. is no longer the same city it was before he returned. He has infamously mandated that his name be added to buildings like the Kennedy Center and the Institute for Peace. He has also been pushing for his name to be added to Dulles Airport and the under-construction football arena for the Washington Commanders.

He has also adorned various buildings, like the departments of Agriculture and Labor, with massive banners featuring his face, which some critics have likened to the tendencies of authoritarian leaders. His face will soon be featured on coins and passports as well.

In other areas, Press argued that Trump has fallen back on his past country club habits to renovate the city.

"Meanwhile, he’s plowed across Washington like it’s just another of his country clubs. He tore up the Rose Garden and replaced it with a Mar-a-Lago patio," he detailed. "He planted two giant flag poles and a statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds. He turned the Oval Office into a gilded, bordello-like cocktail lounge. He tore down the entire East Wing of the White House to fulfill his dream of building a massive, 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom — for which clueless Republican senators are now asking taxpayers to cough up $1 billion."

He continued: "And he’s just getting started. Trump has also announced plans to paint the historic Old Executive Building white; replace columns on the North face of the White House; destroy the popular, affordable Hains Point golf course and replace it with a high-price championship course; build a giant Sculpture Garden in West Potomac Park; and — in a move that would make Napoleon Bonaparte blush — erect a giant, 19-stories–high arch to himself at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery."

All of these changes combined, Press concluded, have created one of the best possible arguments for granting Washington, D.C., statehood, as has been debated for decades.

"For years, a compelling case has been made to grant the District of Columbia statehood," he wrote. "Now, proponents of statehood have the strongest argument possible: to prevent any temporary occupant of the White House from rebranding the nation’s capital in his honor. Hands off, Trump — we liked Washington just the way it was."

Military reporter Jasper Craven exposes how the U.S. military has weaponized religion and hyper-masculinity to manufacture brutal obedience — and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is its poster child. In his explosive new book, God Forgives, Brothers Don’t, Craven reveals a chilling curriculum dating back to America's founding that frames violence as a "hardwired male instinct" while churning out loyalty through abusive programs like junior ROTC. From Valley Forge hazing to today's "end times" Iran war rhetoric, he argues the military isn't fixing "lost boys" — it's systematically breaking them to follow orders without question.

Craven's new book examines how the U.S. military uses religion to foster greater brutality and blind loyalty by using words like "crusade" and Hegseth's frequent Bible quotes.

Craven spoke with The New Republic's Lorraine Cademartori for a Tuesday report discussing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as the "perfect embodiment" of using religion in military training to create a stronger commitment to following orders without question.

The change in rhetoric to describe the Iran war as part of some "end times" conflict to try to convince Americans that the war is somehow necessary.

"The American public and the American military at this point is very wary of conflict.… At this point, the stakes must be ratcheted up to motivate the mission," said Craven. "When it becomes this existential, I think Hegseth and his deputies hope that it will animate the men fighting below them."

Cademartori commented that the book says “since America’s founding, military brass have painstakingly developed and refined a military curriculum that breeds loyalty, teaches obedience and constructs violence, all the while convincing the public that conflict is a hardwired male instinct."

The Founding Fathers had their own problems with this, she noted, citing "reticence toward the idea of even forming a military academy, or establishing a quasi-professional fighting force."

Craven recalled the British monarchy being "at times abusive" in its occupations around the world.

"The rebellion itself was a rejection of such tactics and such power," he said. "At the same time, this paradox forms in which the only way out of occupation is amassing of military power by the colonists. This tension has really marked America profoundly in the centuries since.… The Founding Fathers were generally really focused on ensuring that the soldier was never elevated above the citizen."

In the years since, the military has crafted programs to reach out to young people, which is what Craven said inspired the book to begin with.

In the early 1900s, "people like John Dewey were making the argument that the best way to create peace is to establish, among children, the possibility, and to show them how it can be done, and they will be the great agents in changing this violent mindset of humanity. I think the military understood that, too, and that’s exactly why they fight to control boys at such an early age."

He noted there are currently 5,200 junior ROTC and 18+ ROTC programs in the U.S.

"Seeing the raw, mutant, violent strains of masculinity that were leading to terrible abuse at Valley Forge made me want to write a book that could forcefully push back against this enduring idea that the military is this perfect catchall system for lost boys," said Craven. "Really, it just creates more dysfunction."

"To inculcate loyalty, to motivate violence, you need to use pretty harsh tools, and I’ve lost count of the times military school leaders have, in the face of severe hazing scandals, or cheating scandals, or administrative corruption allegations, pledged to end hazing, to reform these programs, to impose accountability — to fully embody the very pure ideals that these places claim to live up to — but it’s never happened, and I don’t think that’s an accident," Cravel said.

These kinds of conditions are "vital" to getting men to "secure validation," he said. "I think that is what’s most effective at forcing men to engage in really risky, violent, traumatic behavior."

On Sunday night, Netflix aired the special "The Roast of Kevin Hart," which found the Pennsylvania comedian being mocked and ridiculed by other celebrities. Hart was the main target, but one of the jokes, written by comedian Madison Sinclair, targeted comedian Tony Hinchcliffe and First Lady Melania Trump simultaneously — and ended up being cut from the special.

The joke, according to Variety, read, "Tony is like Melania: The only thing relevant about him is that he opened for Trump once."

The Melania Trump/Hinchcliffe joke is generating a lot of comments on X, formerly Twitter.

Sports/entertainment writer Frank Torres tweeted, "Tony Hinchcliffe is an absolutely rotten human being. Beyond roasting rotten. @netflix needs to stop rewarding him."

Torres also said of Hinchcliffe, "He's the friend who gets drunk and curses out his girlfriend at the party. And then wants you to go over to her house and say sorry for him."

The joke is also getting heated responses from angry MAGA supporters on X.

Corey Cherry posted, "Whew the white man stirred up some soft ass piece of s–– liberals didn't he?? You making the same articles about the Kirk joke? No because you are fake woke losers."

Keshav Maheshwari commented, "Yeah the woke is not fully dead in Hollywood but in last legs certainly."

The America Man, who describes his goal as "saving America from leftists one moron at a time," tweeted, "Good thing they cut those jokes, holy cringe batman."