Sexting Déjà vu  😱 ✡️🌻😱 💣🚀🚢

Legal Trifecta:  The NY Times reports that 10,000 attorneys have left the federal government since Trump 2.0 began.  One of those lawyers is Brian Morrissey, the Treasury Department's general counsel, who resigned right after the Justice Department announced the creation of Trump’s $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization” slush fund presumably because he knew that the fund was highly questionable. Early Friday, the WSJ reported that in response to pushback mostly from Senate Republicans but also from a few at risk House members, some inside the White House were advising Trump to 💩-can or at the very least pare back the sleazy fund’s size and purpose. Their concern, that providing “restitution” awards to the January 6 “tourists” and others who’d engaged in criminal behavior while giving all the Trumps a free pass on past and future IRS audits was a campaign gift to Democrats. Then two different federal Judges weighed in on the fund.  First, Virginia’s Eastern District Judge Brinkema temporarily blocked any disbursements from the fund while legal motions against the fund were in process, then Florida District Judge Williams put a halt on the fund saying she needed time to investigate allegations that the fund had been created as the result of collusive and coercive actions between the White House and the DOJ, collusive because as president Trump was essentially negotiating with himself.  For his part, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche distanced himself from the discussions that led to the fund saying that the fund had been Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn’s brainchild and that he’d not been involved in the fund’s creation although he did sign the authorizing paperwork and defend it when asked. The two judges’ actions give the White House an out, a way to walk away from the increasingly unpopular fund but so far there’s no indication that Trump is interested in backing down so it’s likely the DOJ will appeal both judges’ actions, The fund is stalled but unfortunately it may not be gone.  Adding to Trump’s legal woes, on Friday another district court judge, DC’s Cooper ruled that Trump’s name needed to come off the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, adding that he didn’t have the authority to close the center for two years since decisions about the Center reside with Congress.  Trump threw a Truth Social tantrum over that decision, saying that he would immediately transfer all responsibility for the ”rat infested” Center that he has already eviscerated kind of the way he’s torn up the East Wing, gotten rid of the Rose Garden, and screwed around with the Reflecting Pool, back to Congress.  Over the weekend Interior Secretary Burgum said that plans to remove Trump’s name from the Center were “up in the air” pending a possible appeal. As to shifting blame, during her unsworn, untaped, closed door “testimony” to the House Oversight Committee former Attorney General Pam Bondi pointed the finger at Todd Blanche, saying that even though she was in charge of the DOJ, anything improper about the handling of the Epstein files was his fault.

Midterm Madness:  In 2020, North Carolina’s Cal Cunningham was supposed to be the Democrat who could take down Republican Senator Thom Tillis. Cuningham’s glide path to the Senate was derailed when his sexually explicit texts and then his extra marital consensual affair with a woman named Arlene Guzman Todd were revealed. He went on to lose to Tilles. Well, it looks like the Democrats are back in déjà vu territory, this time it’s not about North Carolina where former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper really does look like he’s on the glide path to win the seat being vacated by Tilles who has fallen victim to Trump’s taunts but instead it’s about Maine. This time the candidate in question is oyster farmer Graham Platner who was engaged in some extramarital sexting during the first year of his 2023 marriage. His wife says that they’ve since done some counseling and she’s over the sexts but maybe voters, particularly those key swing women won’t be. Platner, the candidate with the “accidental” Nazi era tattoo, had previously come under scrutiny for that tattoo and also for some now deleted Reddit posts where he downplayed sexual assault saying victims should “just take some responsibility for themselves” to avoid attacks and “act like an adult for f–cks sake” while also downplaying the challenges servicemembers face in reporting sexual assault. While Platner’s transgressions pale in comparison to those of Texas’ Republican Senatorial candidate Ken Paxton, Maine is not Texas where cheater Paxton is likely to get points by attacking his opponent James Talarico for being inadequately manly and maybe even a vegan (he’s not but his cute girl friend is).  Voters in Maine, particularly those who have consistently supported incumbent Senator Susan Collins might care enough to torpedo Platner’s chances. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ At the very least Platner has given Collins a lot of campaign fodder.  Maine is one of the states that Democrats need to win to retake the Senate, Governor Janet Mills the Chuck Schumer endorsed candidate who pulled herself out of contention after Platner’s polling numbers surpassed hers, may be a bit old but she’s looking better and better in comparison. The progressive squad that supported Platner, including Vermont’s Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to defend Platner’s transgressions as nothing burgers while also making hay out of the Epstein files and Trump and Ken Paxton’s sexual proclivities.  Maine’s primary is on June 9, while it’s probably too late for Mills to reenter the race, stranger things have happened.  In any case, Platner is now on the defensive, not a good position for him or his party. Somewhere in Minnesota former Senator Al Franken must be screaming.  Tomorrow is jungle primary day in California, eyes are on the Governor primary race, mostly on who will come in second to likely winner, former Biden Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and also on the weird LA mayor race, where Spencer Pratt, one of the creepiest reality TV guys is in the mix.           

More 💩:  Trump’s net worth has skyrocketed from around $2.5 billion to $6 billion since the beginning of this term helped along by his stock trades which include thousands of purchases that take have conveniently taken place right before he announces government contracts and/or investments in the companies he favors. It’s not just his personal wealth that’s grown; sons Eric and Don Jr are also benefiting. Before Trump 2.0, Eric’s net worth was estimated at $40 million; Don Jr’s at $50 million.  Their net worths are now somewhere north of $500 million each. ProPublica reports that three months before the Pentagon announced plans to lend money to rare mineral firm Vulcan Elements, Don Jr’s venture capital firm took an undisclosed stake in the company and that White House adviser Peter Navarro intervened to get the Pentagon contract, which included a $620 million loan, approved in record time. Remember all the trouble that Hunter Biden got into over his Burisma connection, a pittance in comparison.  Also, you might remember Milli Vanilli, the group that got slammed for lip synching their hit album in 1990, well they or at least the surviving member is scheduled to appear as part of Trump’s 250- year anniversary celebration, the party that also involves cage fighting, because of course Trump loves watching others get all bloody.  However, after learning that the event was being run by a MAGA aligned group rather than a non-political entity most of the rest of the scheduled performers have pulled out of the celebrations.  Trump’s response is that all of those performers were second rate hacks anyway, which, if it was true only makes it more pathetic that they were invited in the first place. He now says he’ll deliver a campaign style speech instead, maybe because his people can’t find any more credible performers, other than Lara Trump and Kid Rock.  The clashes outside of New Jersey’s Newark area INS facility where protestors for and against INS which had been refusing access to the facility to legislators ratcheted up this weekend. In response, newbie Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin who has been toying with the idea of imposing policies that limit flights to major “sanctuary cities” airports, is now threatening to withdraw critical TSA workers from Newark airport because why not hurt the already struggling economy even more in the run up to elections.  These people are not just vindictive, they’re stupid. Lastly Ebola is spreading, and a Kenyan court is pushing back at a plan by the US to hold infected US citizens in their country instead of in the special facilities set up by previous administrations in the US.       

Iran War:  Last week Trump teased that a deal, or at least an extension of the current ceasefire was imminent.  After details of that deal started to leak out and it became apparent that it deferred resolving the nuke problem while also involving a huge payment of some sort to Iran, something in the neighborhood of $300 billion, was bigly good for Iran, not so much for the US, and worse than the Obama era JCPOA, Trump held a tête-à-tête with his advisors.  Instead of signing off on the deal, he sent Iran a new term sheet and after releasing another bogus health report from his doctors, one that lied about his height, weight, and just about everything else, he headed to the golf course.  The Iranians don’t seem interested in agreeing to Trump’s newest terms.  Overnight we bombed them again.