20-year-old sues president for the right not to be slow‑roasted
The Yellowstone River, patiently waiting to find out if it’s a protected natural wonder or just future waterfront property for Exxon’s next drilling rig.
While most 20-year-olds are stressing over finals and whether their fake ID will work, Eva Lighthiser is busy suing the president of the United States for violating her constitutional rights by turning the federal government into a wholly owned subsidiary of the fossil fuel industry. Her case, Lighthiser v Trump, argues that Trump’s blizzard of pro–oil and gas executive orders is effectively sacrificing her generation’s lives so a few petro-oligarchs can buy their third yacht instead of just the second. The Ninth Circuit helpfully dismissed the case once, but the kids flew to Portland to ask the court to reconsider, because apparently someone in this country still believes the constitution means something beyond “whatever the president’s donors want.”
This is not Eva’s first rodeo with government-sponsored climate arson. At 14, she joined Held v Montana, a youth-led lawsuit arguing that the state’s fossil-fuel worship violated their state constitutional right to a “clean and healthful environment.” A judge actually agreed – a rare moment where the judiciary remembered that “future generations” are not a poetic flourish but actual people who would prefer not to inhale wildfire smoke as a food group. State lawmakers responded by trying to jam through new laws that directly contradict the ruling, because when young people win a basic right to breathable air, the only responsible reaction is to pass legislation saying, "no, actually, choke."
By Trump’s second term, even the lawyers were like: yeah, this has gone full climate death cult, time for a federal case. Our Children’s Trust tapped Eva early as a plaintiff, because nothing says "functioning democracy" like teenagers begging the courts to stop their own government from cooking them alive. While Trump signs executive orders like they’re autographs at a golf club buffet, a 20-year-old from Montana is out here trying to convince a panel of lifetime appointees that the federal government should maybe not have a constitutional right to set the planet on fire for short-term shareholder value. Bold, radical stuff.
#killing-democracy#anti-science
trump replaces republican primaries with loyalty tribunals
Thomas Massie watches his career get deepfaked to death by a party that thinks AI smut is a governing philosophy.
The MAGA brain trust just spent a record amount of money to convince Kentucky Republicans that Thomas Massie is in a bisexual socialist love triangle with AOC and Ilhan Omar, because that’s where the party is now: AI porn fanfic as campaign strategy. The deep crime here wasn’t the cartoonish smear, though – it was Massie’s real offense: working to expose the Epstein files and crossing Dear Leader on war and Israel. Naturally, that made him a "moron," "nut job" and "major sleazebag" in Trump-speak, which is rich coming from a guy with more indictments than policy ideas.
Trump’s revenge tour is humming along nicely. He’s already helped kneecap Indiana state senators who defied him on redistricting, helped take out Bill Cassidy for daring to vote for his conviction after January 6, and now he’s installing loyalists like Ed Gallrein and Andy Barr as if the GOP were his personal HR department. The Supreme Court is pitching in, too, obligingly gutting the Voting Rights Act so Republicans can surgically remove Black and minority voters from competitive districts while solemnly pretending it’s all about “fair maps.” Minority rule isn’t a bug of Trumpism – it’s the operating system.
Outside the MAGA bubble, though, the country is less impressed. Trump’s approval is down to 37%, his Iran war is loathed by nearly two-thirds of voters, and Democrats are leading the generic ballot by double digits. So inside the party, he’s a cult leader with 82% approval; outside, he’s the guy 6 in 10 Americans wish would log off permanently. As Chris Hayes put it, the hardcore 35–37% is effectively holding the rest of the country hostage while the Supreme Court and GOP gerrymander engineers keep refilling the ammo.
The next test is Texas, where Trump just endorsed indicted cartoon villain Ken Paxton over John Cornyn, because why not strap more dynamite to the sinking ship? Republicans now live in the Trump Trap: you need him to survive a primary, and the very fact that you survived the primary makes you easier to beat in a general election. It’s a self-tightening knot of authoritarian loyalty tests, shrinking coalitions, and AI smear ads – the kind of system you’d design if your goal was to slowly immolate a political party while still doing maximum damage to democracy on the way down.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump’s epstein ‘reading room’: 3.5m pages, zero accountability
A tasteful gallery wall helpfully reminding everyone that the president spent years pretending he barely knew the guy he partied with while the FBI quietly misplaced the part where a survivor says he raped her.
The Department of Justice, that plucky little agency now moonlighting as Trump’s personal document shredder, somehow “forgot” to release the 2019 FBI interviews of a woman alleging she was sexually abused as a minor by Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump. No real explanation, just a bureaucratic shrug while Trump issues blanket denials and then helpfully launches a likely illegal war on Iran so the news cycle has something shinier to chase than his name in sex abuse files.
Into this vacuum of accountability strolls the Donald J Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room, a pop-up in Tribeca that printed out all 3.5 million pages of the released Epstein files and stacked them into 3,437 volumes. It’s billed as “radical transparency,” which is a nice way of saying: here’s the mountain of paper your government produced while still somehow managing to misplace the part where the sitting president is accused of raping a child. Visitors can’t even freely read most of it because DOJ apparently also couldn’t manage basic redactions that protect survivors.
The exhibit surrounds you with shelves of files, a wall-length timeline of Trump–Epstein allegations and their cozy relationship he’s been trying to memory-hole for years, and 1,400 artificial candles for the victims whose justice system was too busy protecting powerful men to protect them. It’s an art installation of American impunity: millions of pages, thousands of victims, one president, and a Justice Department that can’t find key interviews but can find the time to redact survivors’ lives into oblivion.
#lawlessness#forever-grifting
trump doj and musk heroically defend ai’s right to discriminate
Elon Musk and the Trump DOJ, bravely standing between vulnerable algorithms and the terrifying prospect of not being racist.
Colorado looked at AI deciding who gets jobs, housing, and healthcare and had the outrageous idea that maybe the algorithms shouldn’t quietly redline people. So they passed SB 205, a law that says: if your high-risk AI is making consequential decisions, you have to check if it’s discriminating and, if it is, maybe stop doing that. Naturally, this triggered Elon Musk’s xAI, which raced to court to complain that not denying Black people healthcare is a "state ideology" about racial justice. One of the bill’s sponsors, Brianna Titone, had to patiently explain that the law doesn’t stop Grok from being a jerk; it just asks that AI not be a racist jerk when deciding who gets medical care.
Enter the Trump administration, which took one look at "don’t build racist decision engines" and decided the real victim here was the algorithm. Trump’s DOJ not only joined xAI’s lawsuit, it rebranded anti-discrimination checks as "state-mandated discrimination" — an impressive bit of doublespeak even by this government’s standards. The same crew that signed an executive order on "preventing woke AI" — translating to "let the bias rip" — is now using federal power to kneecap Colorado and pre-empt other states from passing similar protections, all under the banner of winning the totally unrelated "AGI race" against China.
The business panic storyline doesn’t hold up either. The Wall Street Journal dutifully wept over Colorado "killing the entrepreneurial spirit" without citing a single company actually fleeing because of the law. Palantir muttered about regulatory burdens in an SEC filing, then left for Florida for its own reasons, while Microsoft is over here warning investors that biased AI is a material risk. Meanwhile, the actual research shows that supposedly "neutral" algorithms — like a hospital tool that quietly gave Black patients half the care of equally sick white patients — bake in discrimination unless someone forces them to be fixed. Colorado tried to be that someone; Trump’s DOJ and Musk teamed up to make sure the discrimination stays innovative, efficient, and fully protected by the federal government.
So yes, the federal government is now actively intervening on the side of billionaire AI labs to stop states from asking, "Could your product maybe not be a civil rights violation in a box?" The message from Trump and Musk is clear: your landlord, your boss, and your insurer may not be allowed to discriminate openly, but their algorithms? Those are an endangered species that must be saved.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
get out of jail free, terms and conditions (and six-figure fees) apply
Trump’s face lovingly nestled inside handcuffs, like a Hallmark card from a kleptocracy: ‘Thanks for making crime profitable again.’
Welcome to Donald Trump’s Washington, where the Constitution’s pardon power has been lovingly repurposed into a boutique concierge service for white-collar felons with deep pockets and even deeper guilt. The New York Times profiles Josh Nass, a 34-year-old lawyer-lobbyist who has discovered that in MAGA America, the most lucrative real estate isn’t on Fifth Avenue, it’s in the space between your client’s prison bunk and Trump’s ear.
Nass, who helpfully markets himself as a connector to Orthodox Jews, evangelicals and Republican donors, hit the jackpot by helping nursing home magnate and $38 million tax fraudster Joseph Schwartz score a Trump pardon — for a tidy $100,000 fee. Word spread through the Otisville white-collar resort, and suddenly Nass was fielding offers like a million dollars in cash from a frantic Russian family who treated him like a human ATM for presidential mercy. He says he turned that one down, presumably because even this ecosystem of influence peddlers occasionally remembers what too on the nose looks like.
The larger picture is exactly what you’d expect from an administration that treats public office as a cross between a clearance sale and a protection racket. Desperate inmates and their families are easy prey for fast-talking “pardon brokers” promising access to Trump’s royal thumb. The upside is enormous: erase your federal crimes if you can just pay the toll to the right fixer. The downside is reserved for everyone who thought the justice system was supposed to be about law instead of proximity to a guy rage-posting on social media from the Oval Office.
So no, the pardon process is not dead — it’s just been privatized, stripped for parts, and resold as a luxury service for people whose crimes involve balance sheets instead of broken windows. The Founders imagined a sober, rare exercise of mercy; Trump imagined a loyalty program. And around him has grown a thriving ecosystem of lawyers and lobbyists who discovered that the real American dream is monetizing presidential impunity, one desperate felon at a time.
#corruption#forever-grifting
god, guns, and deregulation: trump’s atf becomes the nra’s help desk
Behold the Holy Trinity of American collapse: God, Guns, and Trump, now with 34% fewer regulations and 100% more lobbyists on stage.
The Trump administration looked at a gunman opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and apparently concluded the real victim was paperwork. Just four days later, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and freshly installed ATF chief Robert Cekada rolled out 34 regulatory changes designed to make life easier for the firearms industry, while everyone else gets to play live-action "Thoughts and Prayers: The Sequel."
Blanche declared that the Second Amendment "will never be treated as a second-class right" while standing shoulder-to-shoulder with NRA and Gun Owners of America reps, who were basically functioning as unpaid (lol, who are we kidding, very paid) co-cabinet secretaries. ATF’s stated mission is to protect public safety, but under Trump’s second term it’s been reinterpreted as protect the gun lobby from inconvenience, with DOJ proudly announcing a "new era of reform" that mostly consists of shredding rules courts had already kneecapped and calling it principled constitutionalism.
Gun groups are calling this the "golden age of the Second Amendment," which is an interesting way to describe a government that responds to a high-profile shooting by asking the industry, "So what regulations would you like us to kill next?" Federal law enforcement has effectively been repurposed into a concierge service for manufacturers and absolutists, and if that means a few more bodies on the floor, well, at least the forms will be shorter.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting#national-security
china buys 200 planes, trump sells 100% bs
Trump and Xi on a red carpet in Beijing, each getting exactly what they came for: Xi gets leverage, Trump gets a banquet and a bragging tweet.
China’s Ministry of Commerce politely set fire to Trump’s version of reality, confirming that yes, tariffs were absolutely discussed during his big summit with Xi Jinping, despite Trump telling reporters, “We didn’t discuss tariffs.” Cool, so we’re now at the stage of diplomacy where foreign governments have to fact-check the President of the United States in official statements.
While they were at it, Beijing also confirmed it’s buying 200 Boeing planes and reopening the door to U.S. beef, which Trump has been bragging about like he personally wrestled the cattle and assembled the fuselages in his spare time. China framed it as part of a broader understanding not to escalate tariffs — and then immediately warned that if Washington hikes duties again, they’ll hit back. So the White House gets to wave around a big shiny airplane order for the cameras, and China gets leverage plus public documentation that Trump promised not to screw with tariffs beyond last fall’s so-called “truce.”
In other words, Xi Jinping walks away with a strategic paper trail and trade stability, and Trump walks away with talking points, a photo on a red carpet, and one more documented instance of saying something that the other side quickly, calmly, and officially calls false. Art of the Deal now apparently means: you brag, they bank.
#trade-war#full-stupid
bryson dechambeau takes a mulligan on the moon landing
Bryson DeChambeau, noted physics major, carefully lining up his next shot at the concept of objective reality.
Golf’s self-proclaimed science guy Bryson DeChambeau went on a podcast hosted by Katie Miller — yes, the wife of Trump’s favorite white nationalist wordsmith Stephen Miller — to announce that the moon landing footage is sketchy, but interdimensional beings? Absolutely real. Apparently the Venn diagram of LIV Golf, Trumpworld, and YouTube-brained conspiracy culture is now just a perfect circle drawn on a Mar-a-Lago scorecard.
DeChambeau, a former physics major who now treats evidence like a plugged lie in a bunker, says we probably went to the moon because Elon Musk told him so, but the actual footage? Eh, not buying it. However, UAPs and interdimensional visitors are a sure thing, and thousands of NASA scientists and astronauts might just be part of an elaborate decades-long performance art piece. Truly the perfect guest for the household that helped write Muslim bans and family-separation talking points.
When he’s not implying Neil Armstrong was method acting, Bryson gushes about his friendship with Donald Trump, whom the podcast dutifully refers to as "the most powerful man in the world" — because nothing says "healthy democracy" like treating a twice-impeached coup enthusiast as your permanent supreme leader. DeChambeau’s real dilemma, though, is whether to keep playing golf for the Saudis’ collapsing LIV project or go full-time into content creation. Given how well this little reality-detached media tour went, the propaganda ecosystem is clearly begging for his services.
#anti-science#trumps-america
alabama gop holds runoff to decide which trump guy hates freedom most
Alabama AG Steve Marshall, seen here auditioning for the role of 'most serious man alive' while campaigning on turning fetuses into criminal code and civil rights into a fond memory.
Alabama Republicans are holding a Senate primary runoff to determine which man can scream "America First" the loudest while making the Constitution cry. Rep. Barry Moore, proudly endorsed on Truth Social as an "America First Patriot," is leading the pack after running on such bold policy ideas as: arresting elected officials in "lawless Democrat sanctuary" cities and prosecuting them for not worshipping ICE hard enough. He also wants to strip federal funding from anyone who doesn't join his crusade against trans people and tried to crown the AR-15 as the official "National Gun of the United States." Because nothing says stable democracy like a government-mandated murder mascot.
Trying to catch him is Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who’s built his brand on being aggressively anti-abortion, helping push the Brody Act to criminalize acts that "kill or injure" a fetus, and promising to fix gas and grocery prices through the time‑honored method of yelling about trans athletes. Also in the mix is former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, who calls himself a "warrior" ready to "stand with President Trump" and runs a firearms training organization, just in case you were worried this ballot didn't have enough guns already. The winner will be heavily favored to replace Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who is leaving the Senate — presumably after proving that one man can personally sabotage military readiness for months and still be considered a rising star in this party.
So the choice for Alabama Republicans is clear: do you want the guy who wants to arrest other elected officials for insufficient border fascism, the guy who wants to imprison people over fetal personhood while pretending he controls inflation, or the guy who promises to bring tactical cosplay and more guns to the world’s least deliberative body? No matter who wins, Trump gets another loyal soldier, democracy gets another headache, and the AR-15 gets closer to beating the bald eagle in the GOP’s national totem poll.
#fascism#trumps-america
georgia gop decides 2020 coup attempt was just a fun icebreaker
Voters patiently line up in Georgia to choose which Trump loyalist they’d like managing the next election they might not be allowed to win.
Georgia Republicans have spoken, and the message is loud, clear, and deeply stupid: the two finalists for governor are both Trump diehards, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who was investigated by federal prosecutors for allegedly serving as a fake elector in the 2020 coup cosplay. Prosecutors passed on charges in 2024, so naturally the base decided the next logical step is "give this man the keys to the entire state."
Not to be outdone in the race to the bottom, healthcare executive and self-proclaimed fellow billionaire Rick Jackson is running as Trump Without the Indictments (yet), hugging the ex-president politically while spending millions on attack ads against Jones. It’s a runoff between two guys whose main disagreement appears to be who loves Trump more, while the Republicans who actually certified Georgia’s real 2020 results — Brad Raffensperger and Chris Carr — got politely escorted off the stage for the crime of acknowledging math.
Meanwhile, Democrats are having a relatively normal primary with Keisha Lance Bottoms (backed by Biden), Geoff Duncan (a former Republican who got tired of the cult and switched teams), Jason Esteves, and Michael Thurmond. Their race is about the balance between moderates and progressives. The GOP race is about whether Georgia wants a governor who tried to help overturn an election or one who just really wishes he had. American democracy: now featuring runoff rounds for aspiring authoritarians.
#killing-democracy#fascism
president beats irs audit, wins $100 million participation trophy
Behold: a man who turned four seasons of "The Apprentice" into a tax-refund black hole and then got the U.S. government to eat the check.
Donald Trump has apparently discovered the most lucrative perk of the presidency: turning a potential $100 million IRS penalty into a fond, tax-scented memory. A long-running audit over a $72.9 million refund — based on Trump claiming $1.4 billion in business losses and the IRS suggestion that he tried to use the same losses twice — has now been "resolved" in a Justice and Treasury Department agreement that just happens to make his nine-figure problem go poof.
During Trump’s first term, records show the audit was conveniently put "on hold" while he was busy tweeting policy and rage-watching cable news from the West Wing. Whether it was frozen again in his current term or just quietly slow-walked into irrelevance, the result is the same: the guy who calls paying taxes "for losers" has now used the federal government like his personal tax attorney. The IRS insisted the Trump Organization was double-dipping on losses; Trump insisted the audit was a "disgrace." You can guess which argument won once the referee was the Justice Department he controls.
This isn’t just some dusty accounting fight — it’s the president of the United States settling a high-stakes tax case with his own executive branch, dodging a bill that could easily top $100 million including penalties and interest. Regular people forget to check a box and get steamrolled; Trump allegedly tries to recycle losses like aluminum cans and walks away with a handshake and a fresh precedent: if you don’t like the audit, sue the IRS, wait until you’re in charge of the IRS’s lawyers, and then negotiate with yourself. The art of the deal, indeed.
#forever-grifting#corruption
georgia’s mike collins auditions for senate fascist caucus
Rep. Mike Collins explains how deportation lists now apparently include bishops who hurt Donald Trump’s feelings.
Mike Collins, a second-term backbencher from rural Georgia, is trying to fail upward into the U.S. Senate by running as a “constant” Trump rally prop and human Facebook comment section. His big claim to fame: sponsoring the very first bill Trump signed after clawing his way back into office, the Laken Riley Act, which uses a horrific murder as a branding opportunity to crank the deportation machine up to 11 against undocumented immigrants charged with nonviolent crimes. Policy by Fox chyron, with legislative text attached.
The heart of Collins’s campaign is simple: scream "border" loudly enough that no one notices there’s nothing else there. He’s wrapped himself in the backing of the Border Patrol union and the grieving family whose tragedy he’s now turned into a permanent campaign prop. When the Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, dared to ask Trump to show mercy toward immigrants, Collins responded by saying she “should be added to the deportation list.” So yes, we’ve now reached the part of the movie where a sitting congressman is publicly fantasizing about deporting a U.S. citizen bishop for insufficient loyalty. The GOP used to rail about "Sharia law"; now they’re workshopping their own blasphemy code on X.
What the Times politely calls “incendiary” social media posts are really just the usual Trump-era authoritarian fan fiction: weaponize the state against critics, criminalize immigration as a category, and treat basic compassion as a national security threat. Collins is running not just as a Trump loyalist, but as proof that the party’s bench is fully stocked with people who saw January 6, family separation, and Muslim bans and thought, needs more gas pedal. If this is what passes for a mainstream Senate candidate in Georgia, the bar isn’t low anymore; it’s a chalk line on the floor.
#fascism#anti-immigration#killing-democracy
trump boldly funds 0% of his promise to house homeless vets
Artist’s rendering of Trump’s veteran housing plan: a signature on paper and a budget-shaped void where the money should be.
Donald Trump, Commander-in-Chief of Photo Ops, signed an executive order a year ago to build housing for 6,000 homeless veterans in Los Angeles. Advocates looked at the new budget to see how many of those vets would actually get housing and found the answer was a mathematically elegant zero. Not 5,000, not 600, not even 6 symbolic units of "we pretended to care" — just a clean, empty spreadsheet where funding should be.
This is the Trump governance formula in its purest form: announce big, do nothing, blame someone else. Veterans were good enough to stand behind him at rallies and in campaign ads, but when it comes time to convert executive-order theater into actual shelter, the administration suddenly discovers fiscal restraint. The message from the self-proclaimed champion of the troops is clear: thank you for your service, please enjoy continuing to sleep on the streets of the richest country on earth.
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
trump turns the reflecting pool into a family side hustle
Crews work to fix the Reflecting Pool while the Trump crew works to see how close they can get to the edge of open self-dealing without falling in.
The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a national symbol of democracy and sacrifice, is now apparently being renovated by… the guy who runs Trump’s Bedminster golf club. David Schutzenhofer, a Trump Organization employee with no known engineering or architecture credentials, “volunteered” his expertise to the Interior Department and helped connect them with one of the contractors that ultimately landed work on the project. Because when you think structural integrity and historic preservation, you obviously think “bedminster pool guy.”
Interior’s spokeswoman insists Schutzenhofer isn’t a government employee, which is extremely convenient, because that means no ethics training, no conflict-of-interest paperwork, and no pesky rules about the president’s private business quietly nudging federal contracts. He’s just an “American patriot” donating his time — and by sheer coincidence, his time involves steering taxpayer-funded work toward the same industry that services Trump’s own properties.
The White House, through spokeswoman Taylor Rogers, declared that “Thanks to President Trump, the Reflecting Pool will be restored to its proper glory!” which is a bold way to describe the president bragging that he picked a contractor because they worked on his golf club pool, then later claiming he didn’t actually know them. The Reflecting Pool has spent decades leaking water; the Trump administration has finally matched it with something that leaks ethics.
#corruption#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
trump backs indicted guy over boring senator, calls it ‘greatness’
Trump congratulates Ken Paxton for surviving indictments, impeachment, and federal investigations — the closest thing this movement has to a résumé builder.
Donald Trump has weighed in on the Texas GOP Senate runoff and, in a shocking twist to absolutely no one, he’s endorsing the guy with the sprawling rap sheet. The former president jumped in a week before voting ends to bless Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, declaring on social media that Paxton has been treated “very unfairly,” is a “Fighter,” and embodies “Loyalty to the Cause of Greatness.”
Trump is essentially trying to slam the door on the race, rewarding Paxton’s years of sycophancy and legal adventurism — from trying to overturn the 2020 election to starring in a steady stream of ethics and corruption scandals — while sidelining Cornyn, whose main crime was occasionally pretending laws exist. Republicans are reportedly fretting that a Paxton nomination is a “nightmare scenario” that could hand Democrats a shot at a Texas Senate seat, but Trump has made his priorities clear: institutional stability is out, indicted loyalists are in.
So the leader of a party drowning in indictments, civil fraud judgments, and coup attempts is now openly using his kingmaker status to elevate a state attorney general who’s been under indictment for securities fraud, investigated by the FBI after his own staff accused him of bribery and abuse of office, and impeached by his own party before the Texas Senate rescued him. Rule of law is for suckers; the MAGA job posting is very specific: must be willing to weaponize your office, undermine elections, and swear unconditional loyalty to the guy still rage-posting on Truth Social.
#lawlessness#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
trump drops $10bn tantrum, gets $1.8bn taxpayer apology instead
John Thune, bravely opposing Trump's $1.8bn loyalty fund by saying he is "not a big fan," which in Senate Republican is basically a hunger strike.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new legal doctrine: if you don't like being investigated, you just sue the government for $10bn and then "settle" by creating a $1.776bn "Anti-Weaponization Fund" that you control. In this case, Trump drops his IRS lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns and, in return, the Justice Department conjures up a giant pot of taxpayer cash supposedly to compensate people "unfairly" investigated by past administrations — you know, like some of the folks charged or convicted for trying to overturn an election on 6 January.
Even Senate Majority Leader John Thune — a man whose job description is basically "nod along" — is saying he's "not a big fan" and doesn't see "a purpose" for the fund. Democrats are calling it what it looks like: a corruption-on-autopay "slush fund" for Trump and friends, conveniently run by a five-member commission where four members are picked by Trump’s handpicked acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Blanche insists it's totally non-partisan and available to anyone, which is a very normal thing to say about a fund born from a hostage negotiation with the president's own lawsuit.
While Blanche was on the Hill explaining that this is "unusual" but "not unprecedented" — always a comforting phrase when you're talking about billion-dollar payouts to people who think consequences are unconstitutional — Treasury's general counsel Brian Morrissey abruptly resigned after just seven months. He hasn't said why, but "I didn't want my name on the $1.8bn MAGA restitution fund" feels like a strong contender. As Senator Patty Murray helpfully translated: the government writes the cheque, Trumpworld cashes it, and Americans already getting hammered by prices get to fund the great "Stop Calling Crimes Crimes" compensation project.
#corruption#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
trump’s doj builds a victimhood slush fund, says 'anybody can apply'
Bill Blanche bravely explains that 'anybody can apply' to Trump’s new DOJ grievance fund, which is exactly the problem.
Sen. Bill Blanche showed up to a Senate budget hearing to defend Trump’s shiny new “anti-weaponization” compensation fund, and promptly demonstrated he has no idea who this taxpayer cash is actually for. Pressed on eligibility, Blanche kept insisting that 'anybody can apply,' like he was pitching a sweepstakes and not describing a federal program that’s supposed to compensate people genuinely harmed by government abuse. Specific criteria? Guardrails? Definitions of 'weaponization'? That’s for losers who read statutes.
So the Trump DOJ is building a grievance ATM where the only clear standard is 'feels persecuted by the deep state.' With no real explanation of how claims will be vetted, who decides what counts as 'weaponization,' or how they’ll keep it from becoming a rewards program for MAGA loyalists and indicted cronies, the whole thing looks less like justice reform and more like a federally subsidized pity fund for people mad that laws exist. Accountability for actual abuse of power remains theoretical; payouts for politically useful victimhood are very, very real.
#corruption#killing-democracy
war talk, wedding venue
Trump explains his Iran strategy while pointing to where the really *tremendous* chandeliers will go.
Trump wandered through the White House like a discount Mar-a-Lago realtor, giving cameras a personal tour of his shiny new ballroom construction while tossing out comments about Iran, because nothing underscores serious foreign policy like hard-hat cosplay and event-space bragging rights.
As he mused about potential conflict in the Middle East, the real focus was clearly square footage, fixtures, and how presidential power can double as a renovation budget. Why separate national security briefings from self-flattering building tours when you can just mash them together into one long infomercial for the Trump Aesthetic™?
The presidency, once an office of solemn responsibility, is now basically HGTV meets "Dr. Strangelove"—a man talking about war and peace while measuring the drapes for his next taxpayer-adjacent party space.
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
trump hands the world cup to the junior varsity giuliani
Andrew Giuliani, seen here cosplaying as a serious federal official, carries bags that presumably contain his qualifications, because they’re definitely not on his résumé.
Donald Trump has apparently decided that if you’re going to turn the federal government into a family-and-friends discount club, you might as well go big: Andrew Giuliani, Rudy’s 40-year-old failson and longtime Trump mascot, is now the executive director of the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026. Yes, the man best known for growing up on camera behind a melting coup enthusiast has been put in charge of what he calls, with perfectly on-brand Trump hype, “the largest sporting event in the history of the world.” America, meet your new steward of stadium security, infrastructure coordination, and international logistics: the kid who used to smile at Trump through baby teeth in the Oval Office.
This is not a parody of cronyism, it’s the operating manual. While Rudy Giuliani lies in a Florida hospital bed so sick a priest is summoned, he wakes up just long enough to tell his son to get his ass back to D.C. — because when you’re part of this orbit, the grift never sleeps, it just gets a federal title. Trump, treating the presidency like a casting call for “The Apprentice: Nepotism Cup Edition,” publicly warns Andrew, “You better do well,” as if the whole thing is just another ratings stunt instead of a multi-country, multi-billion-dollar security and logistics nightmare. Actual professionals spend careers preparing to manage events like this; Trump hands it to the junior Giuliani like he’s tossing car keys to a 16-year-old.
The best part? This is all framed as a “big promotion” for Andrew, which is one way to describe an administration that treats the U.S. government as a rehab center for washed-up loyalists and their offspring. The World Cup is supposed to showcase a nation’s competence, coordination, and rule of law. Instead, the United States is sending a message to the world that its most high-profile international event is being overseen by the political equivalent of a legacy admissions case. Surely nothing can go wrong when Trumpworld’s least qualified guy in the room is suddenly the guy in charge of everything.
#forever-grifting#corruption
judge reminds ice that 'courthouse' is not spanish for 'hunting blind'
ICE agents glaring at a courthouse door like it just personally violated border security.
New York federal judge P. Kevin Castel has informed ICE that immigration court is where you attend a hearing, not where you get ambushed by armed federal cosplay enthusiasts. His order bans ICE from arresting immigrants in or around three Manhattan immigration courts, except in actual emergencies, which does not include "this person exists and Stephen Miller is mad about it".
The ruling, brought on by a lawsuit from the NYCLU, ACLU, Make the Road NY and others, basically says people should be able to show up to their own removal and asylum hearings without playing real-life "The Floor Is Lava" with federal agents. Castel also flagged that yanking prior limits on courthouse arrests in Trump’s second term was likely "arbitrary and capricious"—legalese for "even for this administration, this was impressively stupid and lawless".
Things got especially fun when federal prosecutors had to shuffle back into court and apologize for a "material mistaken statement of fact"—translation: they told the judge ICE rules applied one way, then discovered the Trump team’s 2025 policy didn’t actually cover immigration courts at all. The administration blamed it on "agency attorney error" and quietly withdrew chunks of four briefs, presumably while searching for lawyers who can both salivate over deportations and read their own policy memos.
The decision lands after national outrage over ICE agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis and polling showing most Americans think the agency has gone too far, even by post-2016 standards. With midterms looming, Trump shuffled ICE leadership, and now the courts are drawing bright lines around basic rule-of-law concepts like "don’t terrorize people at the courthouse door". The bar is underground, but for one brief moment, it appears someone found a shovel and started digging up.
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy#lawlessness
