You may remember mere weeks ago when Chump and Senator and closet case Lindsey Graham were punching each other on the shoulder and grabbing each other's cock. Chump needed Lindsey for his budget bill. Chump talked about how important Lindsey was to the Senate and how much he supported Lindsey.
The White House is pushing back on provisions of a Russia sanctions bill masterminded by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), claiming it would allow Congress to "micromanage" the president on foreign policy.Gram and GOP "hawks" have pushed the bill for months, according to Politico, but Trump seems to have just now had an epiphany about Russian President Vladimir Putin's duplicitous behavior when it comes to Ukraine.
[. . .]
The White House is pushing back on provisions of a Russia sanctions bill masterminded by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), claiming it would allow Congress to "micromanage" the president on foreign policy.
Chump's back to hailing Lindsey as An Enemy of the Penis.
Lindsey?
Well back in May, Krystina Alarcon Carroll (RAW STORY) reported that Lindsey wrote a letter to THE WALL STREET JOURNAL stating that, with or without Chump, he was prepared to fight to impose sanctions on Russia. If you were born this morning, you might believe that; however, the rest of us know damn well Lindsey had no spine. None at all.
By the way, watched a favorite movie I hadn't seen in a long time, from 1978, Steve McQueen in ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. I recommend the movie strongly and it gave me a good title for tonight's post so who knows what a viewing will leave you with. :D Reminder, be sure to read Ava and C.I.'s "Media: Zohran Mamdani needs to stop playing catch up and go on the offense,"
Thursday, July 10, 2025. Whistle blower Joni Ernst outed herself and
her party when she declared healthcare cuts don't matter because "we're
all going to die." That 'logic' explains the indifference to the
flooding, to the destruction of families across the country, to every
vile and evil thing the GOP is promoting in 2025.
The
tragedy in Texas continues with the death toll from the flood having
now risen to 120 and approximately 170 people still missing.
As
MEIDASTOUCH NEWS notes above, questions need to be asked and need to be
addressed. There is a failure of leadership here. It goes beyond
Chump attacking former President Joe Biden. But let's note that as
well. The first time he spoke of the flood, Chump blamed Joe and then
tried to say he wasn't blaming Joe. Joe's name came out of your moth,
no one else's and it came out of Chump's mouth again yesterday.
Less than 24 hours before Leavitt’s comments, though, it was
her boss, Trump, who was levying blame – not on the incumbent
government, but the previous one.
Trump quickly clarified that he wasn’t actually blaming
Biden – he cited the historic nature of the floods – but there is no
question he was attempting to shift potential responsibility for any
government missteps to his predecessor.
And indeed, this has become Trump’s M.O. When something bad
happens – including tragedy – Trump’s reflex has been to blame his
predecessor. And often, despite Leavitt’s admonishment, he casts blame
very quickly.
Airplane crashes and air traffic control problems
After a tragic crash in the Potomac River near Washington, DC, in late January that killed 67 people, Trump blamed the Biden administration and diversity, equity and inclusion
(DEI) policies – despite no evidence forming anything close to such a
link. He did so even as bodies were being pulled from the river.
In May, after more crashes and technical problems that in
some cases traumatized air traffic controllers, Trump added that “Biden
didn’t do a thing for four years.”
And just last week, Trump suggested air traffic controllers
would have had better equipment, but “then Biden canceled the order when
he came in.” The comment echoed previous ones from Transportation
Secretary Sean Duffy.
It’s not clear what Trump was referring to. Administrations
have for decades declined to proactively modernize air traffic control.
That included Trump proposals that were never enacted, the New York Times reported.
An antisemitic attack in Colorado
After an antisemitic firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado
last month that led to dozens of injuries and eventually a death, Trump
the next day blamed “Biden’s ridiculous Open Border Policy.”
Other top administration officials echoed that line, with
White House adviser Stephen Miller calling the suspect an “illegal
alien” who benefited from the Biden’s “suicidal immigration” policies.
The reality was more complex, as the Atlantic reported.
The Egyptian man had arrived in 2022 during the Biden administration,
but he didn’t cross the border illegally. He instead arrived on a
tourist visa that Trump’s first administration had frequently awarded,
and then applied for asylum – a process that allows one to temporarily
stay in the country. That application was still pending when the attacks
occurred.
Ruth notes that I told her how the
disgusting Secretary of Defenses Pete Hegseth can't make it through a
Congressional committee hearing without attacking Joe Biden -- and we're
not talking deep into a hearing, we're talking his opening statements,
his prepared remarks.
The GOP keeps insisting
this is being politicized. They politicized it. They went along with
DOGE cuts, they went alone with the destruction of the safety net, they
want to deregulate everything. They are responsible.
These
are not accidents, this is not they didn't have accurate information.
This is GOP not caring and not caring because "We're all going to die"
and "People die" -- they are in the US government and that's their
attitude to the chaos and misfortune they create. This is not, "Oh,
they're just msiguided." No, this is their outlook and this is their
escape that allows them to live guilt free and lie.
If
we're all going to die (yes, we are), their attitude is who cares? Who
cares about saving the planet, who cares about saving the people?
Especially when there is big money to be made.
As commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick oversees the U.S. government’s vast efforts to monitor and predict the weather.
The
billionaire also ran a financial firm, which he recently left in the
control of his adult sons, that stands to benefit if President Donald
Trump's administration follows through on a decade-long Republican
effort to privatize government weather forecasting.
Deadly weekend flooding in central Texas has drawn a spotlight to budget cuts and staff reductions
at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, two agencies housed within the Commerce
Department that provide the public with free climate and weather data
that can be crucial during natural disasters.
What’s
drawn less attention is how the downsizing appears to be part of an
effort to privatize the work of such agencies. In several instances, the
companies poised to step into the void have deep ties to people tapped
by Trump to run weather-related agencies.
Privatization
would diminish a central role the federal government has played in
weather forecasting since the 1800s, which experts say poses a particular harm for those facing financial strain who may not be able to afford commercial weather data.
The
effort also reveals the difficulty that uber wealthy members of Trump's
Cabinet have in freeing themselves from conflicts, even if they have
met the letter of federal ethics law.
“It’s
the most insidious aspect of this: Are we really talking about making
weather products available only to those who can afford it?” said Rick
Spinrad, who served as NOAA administrator under President Joe Biden, a
Democrat. “Basically turning the weather service into a subscription
streaming service? As a taxpayer, I don’t want to be in the position of
saying, ‘I get a better weather forecast because I’m willing to pay for
it.’”
That's
what they're doing, they're focusing on enriching themselves and they
don't care about public safety because "we're all going to die."
Someone
needs to make clear to the useless pieces of garbage that we were all
going to die before they ever got into office and the whole point people
into office is to make things better for us while we're alive. They
needed to be called out every time they say "thoughts and prayers"
because, for them, that is just a cop out to avoid taking
responsibility. Their actions have made things much, much worse. They
shouldn't be allowed to pretend otherwise.
Yesterday
on CNN, Bill Nye The Science Guy provided some context on the extreme
weather that we are seeing in the last seven days.
That's
reality, that's science. We need to stop letting the GOP get away with
their garbage. No more cop outs, no more pretending that because we're
all going to die they don't have to address our concerns and our
needs. If they can't offer more than that, they don't deserve to be in
office.
When you grasp that they really are
just blaming God for everything and using God as a cop out, you grasp
not only why they don't care about Medicaid, but why they don't care
about any of the damage that they inflict upon the American people.
Next topic . . .
Every couple needs their love song and Donald Chump and Pete Hegseth have theirs.
Every chain
Has got a weak link
I might be weak, yeah
But I'll give you strength
Oh, hey
You told me to leave you alone
My father said, "Come on home"
My doctor said, "Take it easy"
Oh, but your lovin' is much too strong
I'm added to your chain, chain, chain
(Chain, chain, chain)
Chain, chain, chain
(Chain, chain, chain)
Chain, chain, chain
(Chain, chain, chain)
Chain of fools
One of these mornings
The chain is gonna break
But up until the day
I'm gonna take all I can take, oh hey
For now, the chain's held but some question how much longer it will? David McAfee (RAW STORY) reports Republican
Doug Heye was on CNN yesterday and noted Hegseth's twice stopping
shipments of weapons to Ukraine without apparently informing Chump was a
"fireable offense" and "When we've seen problems in this
administration, it's always coming from the DoD... It's always the DoD.
[. . .] We have to wonder if the branch is going to break there," he
then added. "This is absolutely out of bounds."
Last
week’s halt was the third time Secretary Hegseth unilaterally decided
to stop weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to NBC News.
Pentagon
officials last week said the halt was due to concerns over U.S. weapons
stockpile levels, but NBC News reported that “an analysis by senior
military officers found that the aid package would not jeopardize the
American military’s own ammunition supplies, according to three U.S.
officials.”
Hegseth’s decision “blindsided the State Department, members of Congress, officials in Kyiv and European allies.”
Now, critics are calling for Hegseth’s resignation.
Declaring
the Defense Secretary “completely unqualified, and on an ego trip,”
U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) responded to a post about Hegseth not
informing the White House about his weapons halt.
“When is Pete Hegseth going to resign?” asked Congressman Lieu, a retired U.S. Air Force officer.
[. . .]
Iraq
War veteran Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of
America (IAVA), and host of the Independent Americans podcast, blasted
Hegseth.
“No surprise here,” he wrote, also
responding to a post about the weapons halt. “The sloppiness and
incompetence is consistent. And his flawed leadership continues to
disrupt and frustrate folks all across the Pentagon. And now, it’s also
frustrating the White House and Trump himself.”
“He is
Secretary Chaos,” Rieckhoff continued. “And every day he falls deeper
beyond his depth. We are less safe, our allies are weakened, and our
enemies are celebrating.”
Chump
and Loose lips Hegseth have always been a threat to active duty service
members. However, Chump's also a threat to veterans. Michael Embrich (ROLLING STONE) reports:
President
Donald Trump's administration has backed off its plan to fire 83,000
employees at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA will
still get rid of about 30,000 employees, a figure that includes the
thousands it has already let go.
After arguing
for months that the proposed cuts were essential to ensure the VA could
continue its mission, the administration has done a 180 on these
claims. It is unclear whether the administration has decided to back off
due to pressure from veterans groups, no longer needing the money for
their billionaire tax breaks, or pressure from Congress. It may be a
combination of all three. But it is more likely that this is a shell
game to buy Trump time.
This revised approach is
being sold as a win for efficiency, but it's actually a calculated
retreat in language - not in intent. They swapped pink slips for
attrition, hiring freezes, early retirements, and a bureaucratic
euphemism called "deferred resignation," which lets people technically
stay on the books while being paid to prepare to leave. The new plan is
not a full walk-back - it's a workaround. All this at a time when the VA
patient base is growing and its supply of doctors and nurses is
shrinking.
Frontline staffers at the VA are
sounding the alarm. Nurses and doctors are now being asked to cover
administrative duties because the people who used to handle billing or
facilities management are simply gone.
Since
January 1, the VA has lost 17,000 employees. By the end of September,
12,000 more will be gone. The administration claims these departures
won't impact veteran care. Ask any veteran waiting months for a
disability claim to be processed or stuck in a long line for an
appointment if that's true.
But
remember, kids, no complaining. Governor Asshole says trying to figure
out blame is losing the football game -- despite the fact that football
games do not involve healthcare for veterans or, for that matter,
surgery or any real knowledge of medicine. And Joni Ernst says that
we're all going to die. And that Holman says . So what's the point?
That's their attitude -- destroy people's lives and then ignore it
unless forced to comment. And if forced to comment? Just mutter
through thin lips, "Our thoughts and prayers are with them." It's the
MAGA way.
Right
now, we are witnessing the effects of Chump's attack on the US
government. It'll probably be months before we are fully seeing the
effects of his attack on the VA. I have to wonder how the GOP expects
to go into next year's mid-terms? Are they praying for mass amnesia?
That somehow the whole country forgets what's been going on and who
caused it?
For some clarity, logic and truth, let's insert Lawrence O'Donnell right here.
San
Francisco Immigration Court was again the scene of chaos and clashes
between authorities and protesters Tuesday as federal agents detained at
least one person and faced a swarm of activists trying to prevent the
arrest, including several who clung to a black van as it drove away.
Videos posted on social media
showed a tense scene Tuesday morning as roughly 30 protesters attempted
to block Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from escorting the
person to a van outside the courthouse at 100 Montgomery St. The group
screamed, physically confronted agents and tried to block the van from
departing, and ICE officers in body armor, at least some of whom wore
masks, yelled for them to stay away and forcefully pushed and moved them
away.
The arrest is the latest of at least 26
courthouse detentions in San Francisco immigration court since May,
according to Milli Atkinson, legal director at the San Francisco
Immigrant Legal Defense Collaborative, who heads up the city's Rapid
Response Network that responds to immigration enforcement actions. The
arrests in San Francisco, Concord and other cities have sparked angry
protests and near-violent confrontations at courthouses where immigrants
facing potential deportation attend hearings.
Atkinson said that the attorney of the person who was arrested Tuesday is trying to get access to the client.
In
videos, as the van departed at least two protesters can be seen
clinging to the vehicle as it accelerates past the intersection of
Montgomery and Sutter streets. One falls off the car at the crosswalk,
while the van sways side to side, seemingly attempting to rock the other
protester off of the front windshield. One video
shows the protester still clinging to the van as the vehicle approaches
the intersection of Post and Montgomery streets, one block further.
This
pushback, happening across the country, is not going to be forgotten at
the mid-terms. Families are being destroyed, communities are being
destroyed and our economy is being destroyed by Chump and Noem and
Holman's attacks on immigrants. People are outraged and they've had
enough. At THE HILL, Max Burns writes:
To
the families sent fleeing from MacArthur Park on Monday in California,
President Trump’s latest ICE raid must have seemed like an invasion. The
massive operation involved nine federal agencies, the National Guard,
local police and more than a dozen armored military vehicles. It was the kind of shock-and-awe campaign more at home in Fallujah than in a quiet Los Angeles park.
The
agencies involved sure seemed to think the raid on MacArthur Park was a
military campaign. Photos from the scene show federal agents dressed in
camouflage combat gear pouring out of armored trucks as stunned
civilians look on in disbelief. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
even gave the raid a puffy, military-sounding name: “Operation Excalibur.”
Trump’s
draconian immigration crackdowns may play well with his MAGA base, but
they’re alienating nearly everyone else — including the mainstream
conservatives Republicans will depend on to protect their fragile
congressional majorities next year.
The
agencies involved sure seemed to think the raid on MacArthur Park was a
military campaign. Photos from the scene show federal agents dressed in
camouflage combat gear pouring out of armored trucks as stunned
civilians look on in disbelief. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
even gave the raid a puffy, military-sounding name: “Operation Excalibur.”
Trump’s
draconian immigration crackdowns may play well with his MAGA base, but
they’re alienating nearly everyone else — including the mainstream
conservatives Republicans will depend on to protect their fragile
congressional majorities next year.
Prior to May, most Americans viewed ICE positively. Now the agency evokes images of masked men huddled around blacked-out vans and Alligator Alcatraz.
Agents’ refusal to identify themselves, and MAGA’s celebration of their
unaccountability, has led millions of Americans to see the agency as
little more than Trump’s personal skullcrushers. Now, 54 percent of adults say ICE’s actions have gone too far.
People also know exactly who to blame for letting ICE run wild. Six recent polls show a collapse in public support
for Trump’s immigration policies, leaving the GOP 3 points underwater
with voters on an issue they’ve dominated for years. In fact, it’s been nearly 20 years since Republicans’ immigration policies were this unpopular with voters — a dip Democrats exploited to reclaim both houses of Congress in 2006. Trump’s stumbles are setting the stage for history to repeat itself next year.
People
watch as a chaplain at Cincinnati's Children's hospital is rounded up
by ICE and they rightly think, "How is that man a 'violent criminal'?"
And they rightly conclude, "He isn't." This does not have the support
of the American people. You see it in the polling and you see it in the
rising sentiment against Chump personally.
The move, announced at a news conference earlier this week at the
Diocese of Austin, comes at a time when Catholic bishops across the
state have denounced President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.
Many influential Texas Catholics, including Gov. Greg Abbott, have
expressed support for the new administration's plans that include
allowing ICE agents into schools, hospitals and churches to make
arrests.
While the Catholic church teaches that a nation has the right to control its borders, Garcia, a 64-year-old Texas native, delivered a message in both English and Spanish
to say the church would also speak up for the "poor, the weak, and
those who live on the margins," including undocumented immigrants, per
the Catholic News Agency.
The
bishop, who is a board member of Catholic Relief Services—which faces
an uncertain future amid Trump's slashed aid funding—cited St. Vincent
de Paul during his speech, saying, "It will be the poor who will be our
entrance into heaven."
Let's wind down by noting this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
ICYMI:
At HELP Hearing, Senator Murray Presses CDC Nominee on Commitment to
Scientific Integrity, Vaccine Access, as RFK Jr. Fires ACIP Members,
Pushes Vaccine Conspiracies
Senator Murray, along with Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), authored the PREVENT Pandemics Act that made the CDC Director a Senate confirmed position for the first time starting this year
***WATCH HERE: Murray remarks at HELP markup on measles outbreak***
Washington, D.C. – Today—at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee markup
to advance the nomination of Susan Monarez, PhD to be Director of the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)—U.S. Senator Patty
Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Committee, spoke
forcefully about how measles cases in the U.S. have reached a 33-year high,
and yet our conspiracy-minded Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has only doubled down on his dangerous
anti-vaccine activism, and the Republican leadership of the HELP
Committee is refusing to exercise any serious oversight of the measles crisis or other public health disasters the Trump administration is fanning the flames of.
At the markup, the HELP committee voted 12-11 to send Dr. Monarez’s
nomination to the Senate floor—Senator Murray voted against advancing
her nomination.
The CDC Director is a Senate-confirmed position for the first time
this year thanks to a provision in Senator Murray’s bipartisan PREVENT Pandemics Act, which she negotiated and passed with former Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) in 2022.
Senator Murray’s full remarks at the HELP markup, as delivered, are below and video is HERE:
“I think it’s really important as we consider a CDC nominee today, we talk about the real elephant in the room.
“Because we could actually have the best CDC director in the world,
and it wouldn’t change the fact that we have a person leading HHS who is
an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist—and a Committee that I fear is
failing to do its bipartisan, public oversight of public health
disasters.
“Measles cases are at a record 33-year high. They have not been this high since before we eliminated the disease in 2000.
“And now we are over 1,200 cases—that is really, we believe, also an undercount.
“But instead of pounding the pavement to encourage people to
get vaccinated—the single most effective protection against measles, as
you know—RFK Jr. has been firing every single member of the CDC vaccine
advisory panel, and he loaded it up with his favorite vaccine skeptics,
so they can pursue debunked conspiracies.
“And I am concerned because this Committee, it feels like,
has all but abandoned serious oversight of this crisis. We haven’t had a
hearing on the record-breaking number of measles outbreaks.
“Or a hearing on how the CDC vaccine panel is now stacked
with people who are actually not unvetted, and all the previous board
members—every single one of them—was removed with no credible
explanation.
“So, I really believe we need public oversight.
“I really do hope that Dr. Monarez will defy my expectations, I hope she will stand up for science, and put public health first.
“But again, I have hoped that for others, and here we are today. So, I
just want to express my disappointment, and real feeling that this
committee should have oversight and do hearings before it’s too late to
do anything all.
“And I would just say, my door is open to everyone. I think that we
do need to work together and try and repair some of the harm that this
anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists are doing to our country right now,
and I hope that you take that into consideration.”
_______________
At her nomination hearing
last month, under Senator Murray’s questioning, Dr. Monarez admitted
she agreed with Senator Murray that the eight new members of the CDC’s
Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP)—which Secretary
Kennedy handpicked after firing every member of the Committee for no
reason—should go through a thorough ethics review process before
participating in ACIP meetings. At the hearing, Senator Murray also
raised alarm over Secretary Kennedy bringing Lyn Redwood in to the ACIP
meeting to give a presentation
on thimerosal in vaccines, and pressed Dr. Monarez on how changes to
the ACIP recommendation could force families to pay out of pocket for
vaccines, or forgo vaccination altogether. Senator Murray has been
speaking out for weeks against Secretary Kennedy’s reckless decision to
fire the entire slate of ACIP members without cause—holding a press call with Dr. Helen Chu of Washington state, one of the 17 ACIP members who was fired, and calling on Secretary Kennedy to reinstate the ACIP members he fired and ensure any new members undergo appropriate vetting.
Senator Murray forcefully opposed the
nomination of notorious anti-vaccine activist RFK Jr. to be Secretary
of HHS, and she has long worked to combat vaccine skepticism and highlight the importance of scientific research and vaccines. Murray was also a leading voice against the nomination of Dr. Dave Weldon to lead CDC, repeatedlyspeaking up about her serious concerns with the nominee immediately after their meeting. In 2019, Senator Murray co-led a bipartisan hearing in
the HELP Committee on vaccine hesitancy and spoke about the importance
of addressing vaccine skepticism and getting people the facts they need
to keep their families and communities safe and healthy. Ahead of the
2019 hearing, as multiple states were facing measles outbreaks in
under-vaccinated areas, Murray sent a bipartisan letter with
former HELP Committee Chair Lamar Alexander pressing Trump’s CDC
Director and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health on their efforts to
promote vaccination and vaccine confidence.
Senator Murray has been a leading voice in Congress against RFK Jr.’s
dismantling of HHS and attacks on America’s public health
infrastructure, raising the alarm over HHS’ unilateral reorganization plan and slamming the closure of
the HHS Region 10 office in Seattle and the CDC’s National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Spokane Research Laboratory.
Senator Murray has sent oversight letters and hosted numerous press conferences and events to
lay out how the administration’s reckless gutting of HHS is risking
Americans’ health and safety and will set our country back decades, and
lifting up the voices of HHS employees who were fired for no reason and
through no fault of their own.
###
The country really does owe
Senator Joni Ernst a thank you. She told her ugly truth. When her
constituents pointed out that the cuts to healthcare Chump was proposing
and Joni was supporting (and she, in fact voted for) were going to
result in the deaths of many people, she replied, "We're all going to
die."
"We're all going to die."
She's a US senator who could fight to make life brter for Americans but "we're all going to die."
A
health crisis in the country and no leadership from Secretary of Health
Junior? To Joni, it doesn't matter because "we're all going to die."
Every
thing the GOP is doing to harm and hurt this country right now? The
answer for their actions is they believe that since "we're all going to
die," they don't have to do anything for us.
Rep.
Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said she was pushing the Department of
Justice to drop charges against a doctor who injected children with
saline after parents asked for COVID-19 vaccines.
Greene revealed her defense of Utah plastic surgeon Kirk Moore in a Tuesday post on X.
"I
am writing a letter to the DOJ asking all charges be dropped against
Dr. Kirk Moore. who is facing thirty five years in federal prison for
destroying thousands of vials of COVID-19 vaccine, giving his patients
vaccine cards without taking the shots, and injecting saline into
children whose parents wanted them to believe they got vaccinated
without risking the deadly side effects," she explained. "This man is a
hero, not a criminal."
Marjorie's
an idiot. As for Dr. Moore, I'd love to know what CPT codes he billed
insurance on -- and you better believe he billed the patient's insurance
-- because there's a very good chance he committed insurance fraud.
President Donald Trump's approval rating has declined after Congress passed his "One Big Beautiful Bill."
According
to a new Morning Consult poll, Trump's approval rating has fallen by 2
percentage points in the last week. This decline comes after Congress
approved his budget plans.
The narrow passage, 218-214,
on Thursday of Trump's massive tax and spending package—nicknamed the
"One Big Beautiful Bill"—in the House of Representatives, after months
of infighting, highlights the legislation's divisiveness within the
electorate at large. Though the decline in approval rating is within the
margin of error, it could signal some dissatisfaction with Trump's
policies.
The poll of 2,203
registered voters, conducted between July 3 and July 6 showed that 45
percent of people approve of Trump while 52 percent disapprove. It has a
margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points.
When
the pollsters last surveyed Americans, from June 27 to June 29, they
found that 47 percent approved of the president while 50 percent
disapproved.
In addition, Amanda Castro (NEWSWEEK) notes another poll, "President
Donald Trump's popularity has fallen below that of former President Joe
Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, according to a
recently released YouGov ranking the most popular politicians in the
second quarter of 2025." That poll led Ruth to offer last night:
You know what that means, right? Hillary
Clinton is UGE, Joe Biden is UGE.Everyone loves them. They are bigger
than anyone ever.
If you
did not catch on, I was trying to say what Mr. Chump would say about
himself but about them since they are so much more popular than Mr.
Chump.
This follows last week's bad polling news for Chump. Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) noted polling on Republicans only, "The latest Overton Insights/Targoz Market Research poll,
conducted between June 23 and 26 among 1,200 registered voters, shows a
notable decline. In June, Trump's approval stood at 79 percent with 19
percent disapproving, yielding a net approval of +60. This marks a drop
from March, when his approval rating was higher at 86 percent, with only
13 percent disapproving, resulting in a net approval of +73."
You
would think — based on the priorities in President Trump’s budget, tax
and policy bill approved last week — that immigration is the greatest
threat to our health and security.
It’s not.
But
billions of dollars have been added for border and ICE agents while
billions more have been trimmed from medical, climate and
weather-related resources.
On
Monday morning, federal agents on horseback and in armored vehicles
descended on MacArthur Park in a show of force. Children playing in the
park were ushered to safer ground, Mayor Karen Bass said at a news
conference.
“Frankly
it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in
our parks when nothing is going on in our parks,” Bass said, adding
that she didn’t know if anyone was even detained.
“It’s a political agenda of provoking fear and terror,” she said.
The event “looked like a staging for a TikTok video,” said City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson.
Chump
is the Chump -- of all time. He's destroyed the economy. For months
now, he's flipped flopped constantly on his tariffs. He and his
administration at times have insisted this will help jobs in the US
because the US will invest into manufacturing. On MSNBC, Stephanie
Ruhle has long noted that there's no investment in factories going up
here and that building a factory is not a quickie project. In addition
to that, what's been happening is factories in the US shutting down
since January. Erin Higa (THE COCONUT MAMA) reports:
The “Made in America” label used to mean something.
But
now factory lights are going out. Jobs are disappearing. And the
country’s food manufacturing backbone is being quietly dismantled.
Five major plants have just shut down – permanently.
Here’s what closed, why it happened, and what it means for all of us…
Pillsbury’s 67-year-old plant in New Albany is no more.
The
facility – famous for cranking out cinnamon rolls, crescent dough, and
pizza crusts – has gone dark as General Mills pulls the plug.
More than 200 workers are out of a job. The company cited “efficiency” and a shift to other plants.
Translation? It’s cheaper elsewhere.
After two decades of production, TreeHouse Foods shut down its Lakeland plant in March.
This plant produced store-brand crackers and snacks for supermarkets across the country.
The reason? “Network optimization.”
Which really means: Lakeland didn’t make the cut in their cost-cutting plans.
In a blow to the small town of Federalsburg, Kraft Heinz shuttered its frozen food plant in early 2025.
The plant made Smart Ones and Budget Gourmet meals – once staples in American freezers.
Kraft is consolidating operations to a new automated facility in the Midwest.
Fewer jobs. More robots.
And on and on it goes.
It's
as though Chump's dementia and cognitive decline have led Grandpa with
the mistaken impression that it's the 1980s. He's an idiot. With a
staff of idiots
Secretary
of Commerce Howard Lutnick is in the clip above prattling on, "We need
to bring copper back home, bring copper production back home " And
there's no plan, just words, bad and empty words not unlike the social
media post Chump served up that Stephanie and her panel tried to
decipher.
We've been noting for
some time how Chump has destroyed tourism to the US. He's fat and ugly
and hated around the world and that's enough to stop some from
visiting. He's also cheap and common and people don't spend money to
travel to a country run by trash. Then we get into all of his attacks
on various counties and nationalities, his war on immigrants, his was on
the LGBTQ+ population, every repulsive thing about him and people don't
want to come.
That is a huge
financial blow to this country. Tourism generates so much money --
travel, lodging, food, souvenirs, etc. This morning, Bailey Schulz (USA TODAY) reports:
Las Vegas’ hotel-casino operators are all about the deals this summer.
Resorts World is offering up to 40% off room rates and a $75 daily resort credit, plus free self-parking through Aug. 28. The Strat's summer value package includes room rates starting at $49, plus a $25 daily dining credit. Other operators are dropping prices for locals to boost staycations.
The discounts come at a time when international
and budget-conscious travelers are hesitating to book their next trip to
the Strip.
May was the fifth consecutive
month Las Vegas has seen a year-over-year decline in tourism traffic,
with visitor volume down 6.5% to just under 3.5 million people for the
month, according to figures from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
“I
think there’s an uptick (in deals) due to the environment we’re in,”
said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the LVCVA. "The operators here
have the ability to turn a number of dials based on demand, and we’re –
like the rest of the United States – down a little bit from where we
were the past couple of years.”
The American tourism industry is being brought to its knees by President Donald Trump.
According to NBC News,
foreign travel to the United States has fallen by 10 percent since
Trump took office, and it's already having measurable effects on the
U.S. economy.
"Oxford Economics estimates
spending among international visitors to the U.S. will fall $8.5 billion
this year, as negative perceptions of the U.S. tied to trade and
immigration policy lead travelers to other destinations."
All
of this was forecast in a grim report earlier this year, which showed
Trump's tariffs alone could cause $90 billion in losses from
international tourism boycotts of the United States.
But one area that's being hit especially hard, the report noted, is LGBTQ tourism.
"Bookings
for queer-friendly housing accommodations in the U.S. on the LGBTQ+
travel platform misterb&b saw a 66% decline among Canadian users and
a 32% decline among European users from February to April, compared
with the same period last year."
Today is day 90.
Huh?
90 deals in 90 days. Chump's promise. He was going to have 90 trade deals in 90 days.
And, no surprise, he doesn't have them.
He
really has zero but those grading on a curve and feeling embarrassed
for him can say he got three. Trade deals take months and months.
Chump promised 90 days in 90 deals and he failed to meet his promise.
He fails all the time. He's now kicked the tariff dates back yet again.
"They
said it really was TACO Tuesday and I'm not talking about ground beef,"
Stephanie observed last night on MSNBC's THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE
RUHLE. TACO = Trump Always Chickens Out.
Trump was caught saying the quiet part out loud. He slipped up and said exactly what he meant. Let me explain.
Last
week, President Donald Trump toured his new immigration
detention facility at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition
Airport inside Big Cypress National Preserve. This facility is in a part
of Florida called the Everglades and is surrounded by “alligator and python-infested waters.” That is why the President refers to the facility as “Alligator Alcatraz.”
The
Trump Administration’s hardline approach to immigration was met with
protests in L.A., that he simply shrugged off. The people who caught his
attention were farmers and hotel owners who said their businesses relied on illegal immigrants. They urged the president to come up with a way for them to keep those employees while he attempts to keep the promises he made on the campaign trail.
His solution? Slavery.
You may think I’m being hard on our Commander in Chief. So let’s look at what he actually said:
“We
have a lot of cases where ICE would go into the farm, and these are
guys that are working there for 10 to 15 years, no problem…The farmers
know them. It’s called ‘farmer responsibility’ or ‘owner
responsibility,’ but they’re going to be largely responsible for these
people.”
Let’s
demystify what the man said. He is saying with his whole chest that in
order for the illegal immigrants who work in these spaces to stay in the
country, the farmers and hotel manager that employee them must
personally take responsibility for them.
They will essentially oversee them, hence the President using the phrase ‘owner responsibility.’ Let’s talk about why this is a terrible idea.
Trump
is saying that his solution to the concerns raised about his hardline
illegal immigration policy is a situation where the people who employee
them must take responsibility for them being in the country. This could
result in a horrific situation where people are scared to leave their
current job for a higher paying one because they are afraid they would
be deported from the country.
But
let’s go further. Who would put it past these employers, now that they
have all this power, to start cutting back their employee’s pay? Or to
demand the work longer hours for the same amount of pay? Who could the
workers turn to in that situation?
How does this help immigrants? It doesn't.
More
to the point, Chump is insisting criminal activities are taking place.
Compare it to prostitution. If you just arrest the prostitute, you're
not doing justice. What about the john?
And if you're going to round up immigrants for coming to this country to work, why aren't you rounding up businesses and bosses?
No
one wants to talk about that and I understand. Immigrants need jobs
and, on the left, we don't want to harm their chances of employment.
But immigrants are being imprisoned and deported to other countries and
to gulags. What bout the employers?
Why are they getting a pass? How is that fair?
You
start busting the heads of business and you better believe even the US
Supreme Court's going to find a more sympathetic approach to addressing
immigration.
Why it matters:
Since its post-9/11 creation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
has operated with broader powers and fewer restrictions than local
police — rules designed to help the FBI identify and detain terror
suspects
But under the Trump administration,
those tools have been redirected to target unauthorized immigrants,
potentially millions of them, and critics say ICE has become the closest
thing the U.S. has to a secret police force.
Zoom in: ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras,
can hide their identities, use unmarked cars and detain people without
judicial warrants — as long as they suspect someone is in the U.S.
illegally.
They're not supposed to detain U.S. citizens, but some have been caught in the dragnet due to ICE errors.
This would be a good time to again note Josh Kovensky's TPM report on how Chump now wants to explore deporting citizens:
Throughout
the campaign, Republicans teased an idea: the next Trump government
would start to remove the citizenship of naturalized Americans.
Stephen
Miller suggested it; the idea appeared in Project 2025. Online
fever-swamp entrepreneurs, like Claremont Institute donor Charles
Haywood, pushed a national “review” of everyone naturalized since 1965.
Now,
the DOJ has taken the first real step towards expanding the
government’s efforts to strip citizenship from those who applied for it
and received it — and has suggested it will be doing so for explicitly
political reasons. It came in a June 11 memo dryly titled “Civil
Division Enforcement Priorities,” written by Assistant Attorney General
Brett Shumate.
Last on the list of five
priorities is denaturalization. The memo directs the government to
“maximally” go after denaturalization cases, and ranks which kinds of
cases should receive the most attention. At the top of the list are
cases against those who “pose a potential danger to national security,
including those with a nexus to terrorism.”
Recently,
denaturalization cases have dealt with a narrow set of circumstances.
Perhaps someone lied on their citizen application, or failed to disclose
something significant enough that, had it been disclosed, the
government would have declined to grant the person citizenship. The DOJ
finds out, and files a civil lawsuit in federal court to revoke the
person’s citizenship. In many cases, this has been applied to war
criminals and people who otherwise concealed crimes that they were in
the process of committing as they applied for citizenship.
But
the June DOJ memo’s language around terrorism and national security
threats is incredibly broad. In the world of the memo, “pos[ing] a
potential danger to national security” is enough to merit a review of
your citizenship application. It raises concerns that the DOJ will seek
to use claims that a person poses such a danger to accuse naturalized
Americans of omitting key information on their citizenship applications,
which ask about ties to groups that commit terrorism or advocate for
the overthrow of the U.S. government. In the Alien Enemies Act removals,
the Trump administration twisted the definition of “invasion” to
summarily deport people it cast as invaders to CECOT; Tufts student
Rümeysa Öztürk’s pro-Palestine op-ed in a student newspaper was enough
for the administration to accuse her of supporting Hamas and revoke her
visa.
The question is whether the
administration will apply this kind of nihilistic legal maneuvering to
claim that a naturalized American who failed to disclose support for,
say, a pro-Palestine group misled the government through the omission.
Let's wind down with this press release from Senator Alex Padilla's office:
Padilla also leads 13 Democrats in letter to DHS requesting information about ICE’s use of unidentified plainclothes agents
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla
(D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration
Subcommittee, and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) introduced new legislation to
require immigration enforcement officers to display clearly visible
identification during public-facing enforcement actions. The Visible Identification Standards for Immigration-Based Law Enforcement (VISIBLE) Act of 2025
would strengthen oversight, transparency, and accountability for the
Trump Administration’s indiscriminate and alarming immigration
enforcement tactics that have terrorized communities across California
and the nation.
Under the Trump Administration’s mass deportation agenda, civil
immigration enforcement operations have increasingly involved Department
of Homeland Security (DHS) officers engaging with the public while
wearing unmarked tactical gear, concealing clothing, and face coverings
that obscure both agency affiliation and personal identity. Without
visible badges, names, or insignia, members of the public often have no
way to confirm whether they are interacting with legitimate government
officials.
This lack of transparency endangers public safety by causing
widespread confusion and fear, especially in communities already subject
to heightened immigration scrutiny. It also increases operational and
safety risks for law enforcement personnel by creating an opportunity
for immigration enforcement impersonators and compounding uncertainty in
high-stress situations. Clear, consistent, visible identification helps
reduce miscommunication during enforcement encounters, strengthens
officer credibility, and improves public cooperation, all of which are
vital to mission success. The VISIBLE Act would place a
critical check on the government’s power, ensuring basic transparency
safeguards that protect public trust and legitimacy in immigration
enforcement operations.
“When federal immigration agents show up and pull someone off the
street in plainclothes with their face obscured and no visible
identification, it only escalates tensions and spreads fear while
shielding federal agents from basic accountability,” said Senator Padilla.
“Immigration agents should be required to display their agency and name
or badge number — just like police and other local law enforcement
agencies. The VISIBLE Act’s commonsense requirements will
restore transparency and ensure impersonators can’t exploit the panic
and confusion caused by unidentifiable federal immigration enforcement
agents.”
“For weeks, Americans have watched federal agents with no visible
identification detain people off the streets and instill fear in
communities across the country. Reports of individuals impersonating ICE
officers have only increased the risk to public and officer safety. The
lack of visible identification and uniform standards for immigration
enforcement officers has created confusion, stoked fear, and undermined
public trust in law enforcement,” said Senator Booker. “The VISIBLE Act
is a necessary response grounded in law enforcement best practices that
will prohibit immigration enforcement officers from wearing face
coverings and require them to display their name or badge number and the
agency they represent. We must act to maintain trust between law
enforcement and the communities they serve, and this legislation is a
necessary step toward a more transparent, accountable, and safe
immigration enforcement system.”
“This bill is an important step toward keeping immigration
enforcement officers and all the people in America safe. Masked,
plainclothes officers create an unreasonable risk of escalating violence
and unnerve everyone who sees them,” said Scott Shuchart, Former ICE
and DHS (Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties) Official.
“As much as the cop in blues is a staple of American life, the masked
bandit is a symbol of fear, and having government agents dressed like
paramilitaries is un-American. Based on my experience in government, the
VISIBLE Act makes good sense and would be straightforward for DHS officials to implement.”
The ongoing immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles County by unidentified federal agents have stoked fear and uncertainty throughout the region amid President Trump’s unprecedented escalation of militarized tactics. Recently at Dodger Stadium,
plainclothes immigration agents parked outside of the stadium lot
without identifying themselves. In Bell, masked agents wearing fatigues detained at least three people at a car wash, and in Pasadena, an agent exited an unmarked vehicle in the middle of the road and aimed his pistol
at a group of pedestrians without identifying himself. From June 6 to
June 22, immigration enforcement agents — many lacking identifying
information — arrested 1,618 immigrants for deportation in Los Angeles County and surrounding areas.
Specifically, the VISIBLE Act:
Requires immigration enforcement officers — including DHS personnel
such as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), federal agents detailed to immigration operations,
and deputized state or local officers — to display clearly legible
identification, including their agency name or initials and either their
name or badge number, in a manner that remains visible and unobscured
by tactical gear or clothing;
Prohibits non-medical face coverings (such as masks or balaclavas)
that obscure identity or facial visibility, with exceptions for
environmental hazards or covert operations; and
Requires DHS to establish disciplinary procedures for violations,
report annually to Congress on compliance, and investigate complaints
through its Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The bill does not apply to covert or non-public facing
operations, nor does it prohibit face coverings when necessary for
officer safety. It also does not apply to enforcement actions conducted solely under criminal authority.
The VISIBLE Act is cosponsored by Senators Richard
Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii),
Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.),
Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.),
Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).
The bill is endorsed by the ACLU and Public Counsel.
Senator Padilla also led 13 Democratic Senators in a letter
criticizing ICE for engaging in counterproductive, theatrical
enforcement activities — including raids on courthouses and restaurants
— and requesting information from the agency on its mask and uniform
policies. The Senators argued that these tactics are designed to sow
fear and chaos and that allowing masked, plainclothes officers to engage
in public raids creates situations where bad actors can commit crimes
while claiming to be ICE agents.
In addition to Padilla, the letter was also signed by Senators
Blumenthal, Booker, Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Hirono, Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.),
Murray, Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Schiff, Smith, Van Hollen, Raphael Warnock
(D-Ga.), Welch, and Wyden.
Senator Padilla has been outspoken in criticizing Trump’s mass
deportations and unprecedented militarization and escalation of tensions
by deploying National Guard troops and active-duty U.S. Marines to
respond to overwhelmingly peaceful protests in Los Angeles. Padilla
recently led the entire Senate Democratic Caucus in
demanding that President Trump immediately withdraw all military forces
from Los Angeles and cease all threats to deploy the National Guard or
active-duty servicemembers to American cities. Padilla spoke on the
Senate floor following his forcible removal from Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s press conference, where he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed after attempting to ask a question. He has spoken at a spotlight hearing and on the Senate floormultipleother times to
blast President Trump for manufacturing a crisis by launching
indiscriminate ICE raids across Los Angeles and using that crisis to
dramatically expand executive power. Padilla is also leading legislation to restrict the President’s authority under the 217-year-old Insurrection Act and limit the domestic deployment of military troops for law enforcement purposes.