While President Donald Trump has frequently quarreled with members of his own party, he’s increasingly lashed out at GOP lawmakers known as being among his strongest supporters, and to such an extent that prominent Democratic strategist Mike Nellis was left stunned Sunday night over what he called the president’s “crash out.”

Among Trump’s biggest targets has been Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who, despite long being a diehard supporter of the president, has drawn the president’s ire after co-sponsoring last year the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), a bill designed to force the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who also supported the EFTA against Trump’s wishes, has also caught the ire of the president, who on Saturday, lashed out at the Colorado lawmaker as “weak minded” and floated the idea of withdrawing his endorsement of her.

“Donald Trump has moved the Republican Party so far away from common sense, so far away from decency and empathy that now, people like Thomas Massie and Lauren Boebert look like the reasonable ones inside their own party! And Boebert is a nutjob!” Nellis said in a video published Sunday night on his YouTube channel.

“They're purely loyal – yea, they might be skeptical of Trump's war in Iran, they might be a little bit worried about the economy, but this is all about Epstein.”

Boebert was one of four House Republicans who became “instrumental” in advancing the EFTA, despite Trump’s aggressive campaign to sway her against supporting the legislation, which included a rare meeting in the Situation Room.

“Thomas Massie and Lauren Boebert are two of the most loyal MAGA members of the Republican Party,” Nellis continued. “If you locked me in a room with the two of them, we probably wouldn't agree on much, but the one thing we agree on is that a powerful, wealthy group of people should not be able to traffic and abuse little kids and get away with it.”

A coalition of more than 60 conservative allies is calling on President Donald Trump to require mandatory testing and government approval of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems before they reach the public.

The letter, organized by Humans First — a conservative group that advocates for technology serving people rather than replacing them — was signed by prominent Trump ally Steve Bannon, along with conservative activists Amy Kremer and Brendan Steinhauser, putting the vocal MAGA faction at direct odds with the White House's approach to AI regulation, reported Axios.

"This letter takes us next level," Bannon told Axios. "The letter lays out [that] we must have mandatory testing and government approval."

Bannon, who hosts the influential "War Room" podcast, has spent more than a year sounding alarms within MAGA circles about AI's potential to devastate American jobs.

"The most powerful AI systems, which can now, or soon will be able to, assist in designing bioweapons, breaking into critical infrastructure, or manipulating financial markets, should be treated with the same seriousness and care," the letter states. "For this reason, we support proposed policies that require mandatory testing, evaluation, vetting, and government approval of potentially dangerous frontier AI systems before they are deployed."

The letter also takes direct aim at AI company executives, accusing unnamed "unelected elites" of experimenting on the public without safeguards or accountability — framing stricter regulation as an "America First" imperative.

"America did not become the greatest nation in the world by allowing unelected elites to experiment on the public without safeguards or accountability," the letter states. "America First means American strength, American security, and the protection of our people first."

The prevailing White House view favors a light regulatory touch and has moved to roll back most state-level AI legislation, and even administration officials open to AI evaluation have stopped short of endorsing formal government approval requirements.

And now, he’s paving the way for you and me and all taxpayers to foot the bill for the enemies of democracy.

You know how the “president” filed that lawsuit in January seeking $10 billion in damages from the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department for the purported damage inflicted by his tax returns getting leaked? Well, as ABC News reported on Friday, Donald Trump is fully prepared to settle it by creating a $1.7 billion slush fund to pay off his allies, including the nearly 1,600 people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol whom he already pardoned.

This money would come from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund, a pool of taxpayer assets that serves to pay out legitimate court judgments against the country. Instead, it would remunerate Trump’s allies, essentially those who purportedly were harmed by what he calls the Biden Administration’s “weaponization” of the legal system.

Of course, it’s the president himself who is doing all of the weaponization. And it’s beyond deplorable. In this scenario, every recipient’s name would be hidden from the public record, so none of that pesky shame need be revealed as people pocket their blood money.

Who controls this “Judgment Fund”? That’s another thing. It’s a five-member commission that would have complete authority to distribute the money as they see fit. And if any of those five defy Trump? He can simply replace them. There is no oversight or transparency or accountability.

This is of course the stuff of authoritarian regimes. And that’s entirely the point.

How can this happen in the United States of America? That will perhaps be for the history books to clarify. For now, it’s inexplicable.

But let’s back up a moment.

The original $10 billion suit was filed by Trump along with sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump and the Trump Organization against a former IRS contractor named Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty in federal court of leaking the Trump tax returns. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Trump claimed the $10 billion figure to be a fair number to account for his damage to business and person over the leak. But considering it is the president’s own Department of Justice that is supposedly representing the “other side,” it’s been completely ludicrous.

Trump has been, in fact, suing himself.

It was officials in the DOJ are currently negotiating the potential settlement cited above. According to The New York Times, it could also include an agreement that the I.R.S. would drop any audits of Trump, his family members, or businesses.

Sticking with the money part, Trump has obviously been using that $10 billion figure as a bargaining chip, seemingly never imagining he’d ever be able to get away with enriching himself at such a massive figure. If he could, it would potentially more than triple his net worth – an amount that was said to be less than $3 billion when he took office in January 2025.

It is basically a government version of a no-bid contract, because sitting at the negotiating table is none other than Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s lackey who essentially does whatever the boss demands. And right now, the client’s thinking seems to be, “Hey, I’m only asking for less than $2 billion, and none of it’s directly for me.”

In TrumpWorld, this is what passes for reasoned thinking.

The federal judge overseeing the case, Kathleen Williams – an appointee of President Barack Obama in the Southern District of Florida – has requested briefs from both sides by this coming Wednesday. By “both sides,” however, we are talking about Trump and his Justice Department that is anything but non-partisan.

So, what’s the conflict? This is evidently something Williams would like to know, too. She wonders how the president can sue an agency he controls. Quite simply, it’s insane.

To put this into something approaching perspective, the largest administrative settlement the Justice Department has ever paid under the Federal Tort Claims Act was $138.7 million, split among 139 women, over the FBI’s failure to properly handle sexual assault allegations in 2015-16 in the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case involving USA Gymnastics.

Now we have a sitting U.S. President demanding more than 70 times that much – over leaked tax info. Even the payouts to the 9/11 victims’ families were rarely more than $10 million. But $10 billion would be a thousand times that much.

It happens that Littlejohn leaked the returns of thousands of high rollers and billionaires, not just the Trumps. One of those, hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin, also sued the I.R.S., settling in 2024 for zero in damages. Instead, he received a public apology from the agency, the I.R.S. having successfully argued that the government can’t be held liable for the actions of a contractor.

Somehow, though, it’s different when the plaintiff is the president. Why? There’s the 10 billion-dollar question. It shouldn’t be, of course, unless he’s outside the rule of law – which we all know Trump to be.

Expect a settlement to come by early this week, before Judge Williams officially decides the case is utterly without merit and can toss it in the trashcan.

It would be the height of irony were Trump to fleece the populace via the I.R.S., an agency he’s fought with his entire life to avoid paying his fair share. On the other hand, it would be entirely on brand for the man who claims not to think about Americans’ financial situation to negotiate himself a monstrous payoff for positively no reason whatsoever.

But again, given how the man has so effectively transformed this presidency thing into the greatest kleptocracy con going – and how the human guardrails that once hindered his greediest instincts are long gone – it would make equal sense that he’d want to create a fund where his cronies can share in the booty.

It remains flat-out astonishing that this criminal is using the legal system to extract so much wealth from a country that’s rendered itself powerless to stop him. Can anyone? In the short-term, unfortunately, it’s doubtful.

Ray Richmond is a longtime journalist/author and an adjunct professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

President Donald Trump appears to be trying to bite the hand attempting to feed his Department of Defense more money to continue the war in Iran, according to two analysts.

Eliot Cohen, professor emeritus of strategy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Eric Edelman, a contributor to The Bulwark, discussed Trump's recent social media tirade against Robert Karem, a senior aide to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), during a new episode of "The Shield of the Republic" podcast.

Karem, who previously worked in the Defense Department during Trump's first term, has been pushing for more funding for his former employer, which Cohen and Edelman noted is reportedly running low on cash reserves because of the war. The analysts noted that McConnell plays a pivotal role in securing funding because he chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"It's absurd," said Cohen. "It's aimed at someone who is trying to remedy the mess that Trump has made of defense funding."

Earlier in the week, Trump posted on Truth Social that Karem is a "never Trumper" who has been "praised relentlessly by Obama's people." He also blamed Karem for convincing McConnell to "stupidly" refuse to support ending the filibuster so Trump can pass more of his legislative priorities.

Part of the problem Trump is facing in securing new funding, according to Cohen and Edelman, is that the Pentagon decided to split defense spending between the base budget and a reconciliation package — a structure that has left lawmakers uncertain about what they are voting to fund.

"Members of Congress don't know what they're voting for and whether it's actually going to the things they're rightly concerned about," Cohen said.

"It is really symbolic of the disorder and chaos," Cohen added. "What's going on is very serious business."

President Donald Trump appears to have set a "five-alarm fire" ahead of the upcoming midterm election, and it ought to give Democrats the reality check they need, according to one expert.

Marc Elias, a voting rights attorney, warned on a new episode of the "Democracy Watch" podcast, co-hosted by Brian Tyler Cohen, that Trump's recent claim that he will "do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections" should be a hair-raising alarm for anyone concerned about democracy. Not only does it signal that Trump will challenge the midterm election results if Republicans suffer losses, but it also reveals that Democrats need a new strategy to counter Trump, Elias argued.

"We all need to take this very, very seriously," Elias said. "This is a five-alarm fire. This is an alarm in the middle of the night that is warning us that the arsonists are on the loose. They are pouring gasoline on the foundations, and they are lighting matches."

Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out sending federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the National Guard to monitor polling places across the country. Last week, Trump was asked again about his plans for the midterms, at which point he uttered his "do anything" comment.

At the same time, Elias noted Democrats appear to be relying too heavily on American institutions like the courts to thwart Trump's assault on democracy. Elias added that it shows Democrats "don't want to accept that things are as dire as they are."

"They want to assume that the institutions are strong," Elias said. "They want to assume that the guardrails will hold. And you and I have been doing this long enough to know that the guardrails are not holding. The institutions are not that strong, and some of them are in complete collapse because they've capitulated."

There has been a lot of speculation about which of President Donald Trump's cabinet members will depart the administration next, and one analyst predicts the answer may be lurking behind the Vice President's door.

JD Vance has been widely considered as the heir apparent to Trump's Make America Great Again movement, even though Trump has yet to officially endorse Vance's takeover. But liberal political commentator David Pakman noted in a new reaction video on Sunday that Vance's chances of ascending to the MAGA throne appear to be sinking as prediction markets sour on the vice president.

Pakman cited recent Kalshi data that gave Vance a 34% chance of winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2028, down from 56% or 57% at one point. He noted that the same data gave Secretary of State Marco Rubio a 30% chance of winning and right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson a 6.3% chance.

"You know that Trump is going to notice this because something Trump cannot tolerate is weakness," Pakman said.

Pakman added that the prediction market data pointed to a deeper problem with Vance, and showed that he's becoming a "political liability" for Trump.

"For months, we've seen, you know, Republicans and the right-wing media figures treat Vance like it's inevitable," Pakman said. "It's going to be JD Vance. He's young, sort of. He's aggressive. He's totally loyal to Trump. He's willing to say just about anything to stay in Donald Trump's good graces. But then reality started setting in, and JD Vance gave more of these speeches, and we realized this guy lacks all charisma."

He added that Vance's lack of entertainment value could be a death knell for his time in the Trump administration.

"Trump has an entertainment value that is an important factor in his political success," Pakman said. "JD Vance is not entertaining at all. And I wish that politics didn't come down to entertainment, but especially on the Republican side, it kind of does. And so you see that self-destruction taking place."

Republicans in Congress have a contentious couple of weeks coming up as infighting over a new spending bill heats up, according to a new report.

The Hill reported on Sunday that Republicans are trying to pass a new funding bill for the Department of Defense as a third GOP-only bill through reconciliation, the same process they used to pass President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" last year. But the move is putting Republicans at odds with one another, and is being further complicated by Trump's shifting priorities, the report added.

"That process can generally be used a limited number of times in a year, giving the GOP trifecta two more chances to use the process to usher legislation to Trump’s desk," the report reads in part. "Republicans are using the second shot at reconciliation on a 'skinny' bill to fund immigration enforcement and border security, as part of a solution to end the record-long Department of Homeland Security shutdown; and fiscal hawks are anxious to not waste their third final shot at reconciliation before the end of the year."

Even though Republicans have successfully used the reconciliation process in the past, choosing to do it again has rubbed some party members the wrong way.

“Well, show us what they want to do,” Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) told The Hill. “I’m always inclined against reconciliation bills, because I don’t like single-party solutions. I never have. I voted against multiple Democrat and Republican reconciliation bills, because they’re single-party solutions.”

Fitzpatrick's support for a bipartisan deal puts him at odds with other Republicans, such as Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), who want to complete the reconciliation process before the August recess, according to the report.

“We’re going to have to move quickly,” Arrington told the outlet. “I think we have 25 legislative days left before August break. We need to have something out of the House by then, at least. So, time is of the essence.”

This is happening at a time when Trump seems to be pulling the Republican Party in competing directions, the report noted. It pointed to issues like Trump's anti-fraud campaign at home and the war in Iran as issues that seem to be taking up a lot of airspace within the GOP.

A recent interview of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sent a long-time GOP pollster into a tailspin on Sunday.

Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark, reacted to Graham's interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday, where he claimed that Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-LA) primary loss was a good thing for the Republican Party, during a new episode of the "Bulwark Takes" podcast with Sam Stein, The Bulwark's managing editor. Longwell claimed the interview was "revolting" and showed something truly disturbing about Graham's personality.

"First of all, what an obsequious piece of garbage Lindsey Graham is," Longwell said. "That is such a revolting interview — him needing to sit down and be like, 'This is the party of Donald Trump. Let me see how hard I can kiss up to him.' I remember when Donald Trump gave out his phone number in the primary, and so people were calling him, and Lindsey Graham made a video of himself golfing, hitting his phone, and crushing it."

Graham was one of Trump's biggest critics when Trump first ran for office in 2015. Graham said at the time that the Republican Party would "get crushed" if it elected Trump as its presidential nominee.

However, Graham has since changed his tune. He has been one of the biggest supporters of Trump's highly controversial war in Iran, and has regularly defended the president from criticism on issues ranging from the economy to the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Graham's mindset shift happened as Trump sought to completely remake the Republican Party in his image. For instance, Trump endorsed state candidates in Indiana who support his redistricting scheme after he met resistance from the current statehouse.

Trump has also endorsed candidates like Navy veteran Ed Gallrein, who is running to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) after Massie publicly supported survivors of Epstein's crimes in his effort to force the Trump administration to release the Epstein files.

"The extent to which [Graham is] willing to deeply humiliate himself knows no bottom as best I can tell," Longwell said.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche just revealed what's coming next in President Donald Trump's ballot scheme with a searing dog whistle during a Fox News interview on Sunday, according to one analyst.

Blanche joined Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures," where he claimed, without evidence, that there is "a ton of evidence" that the 2020 general election was rigged against Trump.

"They’re very good at hiding up their misconduct. Hiding what they’re doing. And so that’s why we are very focused on finding out whether the right people voted,” Blanche claimed.

Blanche's comments caused political analyst Jim Acosta's ears to perk up, not just because Blanche seemed to be forgetting that the Trump administration was in office during the 2020 election and multiple Trump officials, from former Attorney General Bill Barr to cybersecurity director Chris Krebs, denied Trump's claim that the election was stolen. Blanche also appeared to be sending out a "dog whistle" that revealed the Trump administration's two-pronged plan to meddle in the upcoming midterms, Acosta argued in a new Substack essay.

"Trump has two chief goals in mind with his ballot baloney," Acosta wrote. "The first is to coax his party to disenfranchise minorities on a massive scale."

Acosta pointed to Blanche's statement that the Trump Department of Justice wanted to ensure the "right people" voted in the election, which he took to mean that only Trump supporters should be allowed to vote.

"But it is Trump who has been the voting fraudster all along," Acosta wrote. "In recent weeks, he and his political team have worked hand in glove with state legislators in the deep-red MAGA south to resurrect Jim Crow-style congressional maps that seek to eliminate minority representation in Congress. MAGA-loyalist justices on the Supreme Court and other sympathetic state judges are lending Trump a hand in his midterm meddling."

He added that there seems to be a second, and possibly more nefarious, reason Blanche made those comments.

"Trump’s second goal, of course, is to start building a case to challenge the midterm election results in the almost certain event that Democrats take control of the House and, quite possibly, the Senate," Acosta added.

Onlookers mocked Fox News host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday after she shared a startling monologue during the opening segment of her weekend show, "Sunday Morning Futures."

In the monologue, Bartiromo claimed that her show had been one of the "leading critical journalists" covering government mismanagement, ranging from the "made-up Russia collusion story" that "ripped the country apart" to the "coordinated attack on the American people" by Democrats trying to "hide serious mental incapacitation" of former President Joe Biden.

Bartiromo's comments came at a time when President Donald Trump is ramping up his attacks against Democrats as the 2026 midterm elections draw closer. The president has blamed "hate speech" by Democrats for recent episodes of political violence, including the alleged shooting that took place at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

Political analysts and observers mocked Bartiromo's comments on social media.

"Move over, North Korean state TV," journalist Aaron Rupar posted on Bluesky.

"No, Maria, this is not 'critical journalism,'" political analyst Scott Lucas posted on X. "It's lying as an outlet for a convicted felon in the White House. I trust this helps you."

"One of the jokes among my friends is that when you try to accurately describe what Trump/the GOP are doing right now, you sound like a crazy person," Jason Karsh, a former Obama administration official, posted on Bluesky. "But if you’ve ever talked to a committed Fox viewer, they will hit you with stuff like this constantly. How do you have a conversation with that?"

"Bat-s--- crazy," journalist John Harwood posted on X.

"She’s just reading Q drops now," Jim Stewartson, a political analyst, posted on X.

A Democratic candidate running for office in Colorado called for Gov. Jared Polis to be investigated and impeached after he commuted convicted felon Tina Peters' sentence.

On Friday, Polis announced that he was commuting the sentence of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk who was convicted of nine felonies for her actions to aid President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 general election. Peters was found guilty of charges related to giving unauthorized people access to her county's voting machines. Peters was unrepentant during her sentencing and was given nine years for her crimes.

Polis said he decided to commute her sentence because he thought it was too long for a "first-time, nonviolent offender." He reduced her sentence from 9 years to 4.5 years, which would allow Peters to be released on parole on June 1.

"She has crazy viewpoints, conspiratorial viewpoints that are not accurate, not true. But that is not a crime in our country or in our state," Polis told CBS Colorado. "I think as a state, we need to move past this."

Melat Kiros, a Democrat who is running to unseat Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO), called for Polis to be investigated and impeached on Sunday for his decision.

"While Governor Polis has the authority to commute that sentence, he expressed no interest in doing so until Donald Trump pressured him to," Kiros said in a post on X. "Like so many of our elected leaders in this moment, the Governor chose appeasement and capitulation over democracy."

Trump had been pressuring Polis to release Peters from state prison for months. The president initially posted a "pardon" for Peters on Truth Social and threatened "harsh measures" against Colorado if the former clerk was not released.

Kiros said Polis's decision undermined the electoral process.

"I am calling for an immediate investigation into any collusion between Jared Polis and the Trump administration," Kiros posted. "I am also calling on the Colorado State Legislature to convene a special session to consider articles of impeachment against Governor Polis."

"The election officials of Colorado fought honorably to protect your vote," she added. "Jared Polis undid that work by buckling to Trump’s threat to withhold public funds from hungry Colorado children, clean water, and disaster relief."

President Donald Trump sparked outrage on Sunday after his heavily edited recorded speech played at his national prayer event in Washington, D.C.

Trump addressed the crowd at his "Rededicate 250" event, billed as an effort to highlight "God’s presence in our national life throughout 250 years of American history," according to the event's website. It was held at the National Mall and featured appearances from Trump's Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and several prominent MAGA and Evangelical Christian figures.

In the video, Trump appears to struggle to read a Bible verse. Onlookers also noted multiple edits to the video, which called the authenticity of Trump's message into question.

Political analysts and observers mocked the clip on social media.

"Holy s---," Ron Filipkowski, editor-in-chief of the MeidasTouch Network, posted on X. "This is a prerecorded message with lots of obvious edits, and this is the best he can do? He looks like a cadaver, sounds like he's on a ventilator, and can't even properly read the sections that come from a book he's never read."

"Lmao is Trump 'reading' a Bible verse from a teleprompter," political commentary account "Wu Tang is for the Children" posted on X.

"Disturbingly theocratic," Julian Andreone, Capitol Hill reporter for Drop Site News, posted on X.

President Donald Trump called for Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to be "thrown out of office" on Sunday in a Truth Social post endorsing Massie's primary challenger.

Trump has sought to remake the Republican Party in his image during his second term in office by supporting candidates who run against Republicans who have challenged the president. For instance, Trump endorsed four candidates in Indiana's state primary race who won elections to replace Republicans who voted against Trump's redistricting push. Trump also supported Sen. Bill Cassidy's (R-LA) primary challenger because Cassidy voted to convict Trump during one of his impeachment hearings in his first administration.

Trump escalated that fight on Sunday as he called for Massie, who has voted to support numerous Trump policies, to be removed from Congress.

Massie has also voted against Trump on several key issues. The most prominent of which was his support for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a piece of legislation that forced Trump's Department of Justice to publicly release many of the Epstein files. Massie has also supported survivors of Epstein's crimes as they seek justice.

"Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won big SIX TIMES, including all Primaries, must be thrown out of office, ASAP!" Trump wrote in the post. "He is the Worst “Republican” Congressman in History, voting against Tax Cuts, the Wall, Law Enforcement, and in favor of the Transgender Mutilization of our Children, Men playing in Women’s Sports, and so many more horrible things."

Trump also used the attack to endorse Massie's primary challenger, a Navy veteran named Ed Gallrein.

"The incredible people of Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District gave us a mandate to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and the person that will help us do that is Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and Fifth Generation Kentucky Farmer, Captain Ed Gallrein, a true America First Patriot," Trump added.

Right-wing radio host Eric Metaxas told thousands gathered on the National Mall on Sunday that the Almighty spent two centuries waiting to deliver one Donald Trump so the president could finally build his $400 million ballroom.

"Yes, it's hard to believe that it would take two centuries for the Lord to raise up a great man to bring that ballroom finally to stand where it needs to stand," Metaxas said at the taxpayer-backed "Rededicate 250" prayer event. "It's extraordinary. We only had to wait 200 years."

The Bonhoeffer biographer-turned-MAGA cheerleader then pivoted, without missing a beat, from divine ballroom prophecy to the War of 1812: "So after they burned the White House, which I may have mentioned, did not at that time have a ballroom, the British turned their attentions to Baltimore and Fort McHenry."

Metaxas was sanctifying a project that the public, the courts, and even Trump's own first lady have struggled to embrace.

The East Wing — promised by the White House to remain untouched — was "suddenly and shockingly demolished in October" to make way for the ballroom. The price tag has since doubled, with Trump in December upping it to $400 million, despite his pledge of "no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever." It's not playing well at home. More than 2,000 public comments to the National Capital Planning Commission were 99% negative. A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed the project remained unpopular by a 2-to-1 margin. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled Tuesday that construction on President Trump's White House ballroom "must stop until Congress authorizes its completion."

Trump's own explanation for the project hardly screams divine commission. "It's a monument. I'm building a monument to myself – because no one else will," he reportedly told Fox News host Jesse Watters.

Meanwhile, Republicans are quietly trying to stick taxpayers with the bill anyway. The Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee has requested $1 billion in funding that could go to security related to the $400 million ballroom, more than twice the construction cost itself.

Metaxas is no stranger to grafting Trump onto sacred American history. The Yale-educated author, who once compared a Hillary Clinton victory to Germany embracing Hitler, has called Joe Biden a "puppet of the Devil" and recently claimed no violent protesters were at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

His Sunday remarks landed at an event critics already brand a church-state breach. Americans United for Separation of Church and State CEO Rachel Laser called the gathering "less a 'Jubilee of Prayer' than a 'Jubilee of Christian Nationalism.'"

The Republican Party seems to be winning the redistricting wars as the 2026 midterm elections approach, but a legal expert on Sunday compared the GOP's efforts to an own goal that will likely haunt them going forward.

So far, the Republicans have gained about seven seats in Congress through mid-cycle redistricting as states like Texas, Louisiana, and Tennessee have redrawn their maps. The Center for Politics at the University of Virginia estimates the party could gain as many as 10 total seats, even as Democrats attempt to counter the GOP's moves with new maps of their own.

The GOP began its mid-cycle redistricting efforts in an attempt to blunt Democrats' efforts to take the majority in the House of Representatives after the election, which some experts have said could be the end of the second Trump presidency. Democrats have said they will impeach Trump "on day one" if they take the House majority.

Michael Popok, a lawyer and host of "The Legal AF Podcast," warned during a new episode on Sunday that the GOP's redistricting efforts could also haunt the party going forward because it revealed an "openly racist" strategy that has destroyed the party's brand with some voters.

"Look at the damage you've done to your brand by being so openly racist," Popok said.

One group of voters the GOP's policies seem to have turned off are Hispanic and Latino voters, who swung rightward toward Trump in historic fashion during the 2024 election. Since then, swaths of Hispanic and Latino voters appear to have flipped back to supporting Democrats, according to public polls.

"This doesn't win the game," Popok said. "All this does is reveal that you are a demented, depraved, racist party. And not everybody in it. I'm not here to malign people who voted for him, because many of them regret having done so."

"It's not like they're going to be able to grab the 40 seats to counteract the number of seats that the Democrats are projected to obtain," he continued.

A prominent Evangelical reverend stunned political analysts and observers on Sunday with his speech during President Donald Trump's "Rededicate 250" prayer event at the National Mall.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the late preacher Billy Graham, spoke via a pre-recorded video at the prayer event, describing America as a country that has become "morally rotten" and "completely sick with sin." He mentioned issues like "transgenderism" and "opening women's locker rooms to men" as a couple of examples.

"Why do we need to rededicate ourselves?" Graham said. "When God sent the flood and destroyed the earth, it was because man's heart had become so evil and violent. In the news, we see unimaginable violence: rapes, murders, [and] unimaginable violence. Video games are full of violence. We have an insatiable appetite for violence."

Graham's comments came at a time when the Trump administration was receiving significant scrutiny for its handling of the war in Iran, including the president's multiple threats to annihilate the Iranian civilization.

The "Rededicate 250" event was billed as a "historic gathering of Americans" at the National Mall for worship, prayer, and "giving thanks for God’s presence in our national life throughout 250 years of American history," according to the event's website.

Political analysts and observers reacted to Graham's speech on social media.

"No mention of corruption, starting illegal wars, carpet bombing schools, funding genocide, building concentration camps, torture, destruction of the constitution, kicking people off healthcare, cutting free school meals, giving all the money to the rich? SHOCKING!" liberal political commentator Kyle Kulinski posted on X.

"Did he mention an actual sin that seems all too common—sexual abuse by clergy?" Bill Kristol, editor at large for The Bulwark, posted on X.

"It’s telling that Graham is never this concerned about poverty, health care access, or anything that would actually make people’s lives better," Hemant Mehta, a former "Jeopardy!" champion, posted on X. "Just bigotry all the way down. That’s what Jesus taught him."

Much has been written about President Donald Trump’s tendency to fudge the truth, with The Washington Post having tracked more than 30,000 individual false or misleading claims made by the president during his first term – but nearly 16 months into his second term, Americans by the millions are largely disregarding Trump’s words entirely, one columnist argued on Sunday.

“Trump’s credibility gap endangers our national security,” wrote attorney, columnist and former television host Alan Scott Bolden in an op-ed published Sunday in The Hill.

“His hyperbolic rants are so absurd – and his policy flip-flops so extreme – that our foreign allies and adversaries don’t believe much of what he says and no longer take him seriously. It’s as if the proverbial boy who cried wolf moved into the Oval Office."

Trump’s “absurd claims” have become viewed by “growing numbers of people” as “calculated lies at best – or the delusions of a 79-year-old man with declining mental health at worst,” Bolden asserted, a claim supported by a recent poll that found nearly 60% of Americans didn’t believe Trump possessed the mental sharpness to serve as president.

Beyond working-class Americans, Trump’s “lies and frequent policy changes” have also made it difficult for business executives to “plan for the future,” Bolden argued, and they’ve also permanently damaged his credibility on the world stage, undermining the United States’ ability to engage in diplomacy while also creating a threat to U.S. “national security.”

The president’s “credibility gap,” Bolden argued, could have a silver lining: a political weapon that Democrats could use to their advantage in the upcoming midterm elections.

“They can pick up votes by promising to act as a check on his misconduct and lies if they win control of one or both chambers of Congress,” Bolden wrote. “America deserves an honest president.”

Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director turned vocal Trump critic, is offering a window into what he says is President Donald Trump's secret psychological weakness — and it's not what most of the commander-in-chief's critics think.

In a lengthy post on X published Saturday, "The Mooch" argued that observers who can't fathom how Trump rose to the presidency are missing one key thing: they've never been in a room with him.

"If he walked through the door right now — even though we're always fighting — he would be disarming, gregarious, genuinely charming," Scaramucci wrote. He described Trump as a man who routinely savages opponents in public only to seek reconciliation moments later. "He calls Newsom 'Newscum' publicly and then sees him on the tarmac and says Gavin, are we good?" Scaramucci wrote.

"He'll destroy a journalist on camera and then pick up the phone five minutes later. Are we good?"

But the most revealing tell, according to Scaramucci, is what happens when Trump is surrounded by yes-men."When he's sitting at a table and everyone is telling him his invisible clothes are beautiful, he's nauseated by it," Scaramucci wrote. "He comes off the plane and finds someone real and says — can you believe how these guys talk to me? With genuine mocking derision."

Scaramucci further pointed to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as a case study, claiming Trump calls Carney "more than any other Western leader" specifically because Carney refuses to flatter him. "He craves the pushback. He just can't admit it."

A U.S. official’s statement to Axios published on Sunday has a number of journalists bracing for impact, several of whom accused the Trump administration of “misleading” the American public in a “deplorable” attempt to “justify” a U.S. invasion of a sovereign nation.

Axios’ report claims that Cuban leaders had recently discussed plans to “attack” the United States and its assets abroad using military drones, with Axios’ Marc Caputo citing an anonymous U.S. official as the source of the claim.

Despite being involved in an ongoing war against Iran, President Donald Trump has increasingly set his sights on Cuba, which his administration is currently starving of resources with crippling sanctions that have shuttered hospitals and made food scarce. Last month, reporting revealed that Trump had actively considered “another abduction operation” to capture Cuban government leaders, much as his administration had with January’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The claim from the U.S. official, however, drew immediate scrutiny from journalists who quickly noted its similarities to the lead up to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, a conflict launched on false pretenses that The Lancet estimated had killed around 600,000 Iraqis in the first 40 months.

“Real Iraq War vibes here,” wrote Dan Pfeiffer, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama and co-host of “Pod Save America.” “Classified intelligence shared with reporters to sell a war to a skeptical public.”

Journalist Ryan Grim, co-founder of Drop Site News, called Axios’ headline for the report “extremely misleading” given that by Caputo’s own words, the alleged “attack” plans were being discussed “in case hostilities erupt” amid Trump’s increasingly frequent threats towards the Caribbean nation.

“Ok but do they have yellow cake?” Grim sarcastically quipped, referencing the Bush administration’s false claim that Iraq had tried to purchase “500 tons of yellowcake uranium powder” to produce a nuclear weapon. “This headline is extremely misleading. The alleged plans involve Cuba defending itself if attacked. Seems like important context.”

Journalist Mark Ames warned of there being a “drone-age false flag incoming,” and journalist Max Blumenthal labeled the report as “recycled Cold War propaganda.”

“Axios disseminates another deplorable Trump disinfo dump, this time to justify a US invasion of Cuba,” Blumenthal wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 850,000 followers. “This recycled Cold War propaganda is an insult to everyone’s intelligence.”

The World Health Organization's declaration Sunday that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda is a Public Health Emergency of International Concern triggered a wave of panicked — and in some cases conspiratorial — reactions across the political spectrum.

Right-wing influencer Laura Loomer led the charge with a sprawling post on X that tied the outbreak to a recent scandal involving NIH virologist Vincent Munster, who was reportedly stopped at a U.S. airport with undeclared pathogen samples from the DRC.

"Were any smuggled samples related to this Bundibugyo strain?" Loomer demanded, calling for the firing of "Fauci holdovers," a ban on "foreign born nationals from working in American labs," and the shutdown of Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana. "The American people are sick of bio-terrorism cover-ups," she wrote, tagging President Donald Trump and senior White House staff.

Actor and conservative provocateur James Woods went even further, casting the outbreak as a political ploy. "The mainstream media lapdogs will ramp up the Ebola and Hantavirus 'outbreaks' for the midterms, all to promote mail-in balloting," he wrote.

"We've seen this before, guys."

Woods later added: "If this were any other area of the world where an untreatable deadly pandemic were brewing, any American president would instantly outlaw immigration from that hot zone. But, racism…"

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof offered a starkly different take, warning that Trump's dismantling of USAID and withdrawal from the WHO have left the region dangerously exposed.

"I hope Trump will reconsider his moves, work with WHO, and dispatch assistance to the Uganda/Congo border area," Kristof wrote.

Here we go. The mainstream nedia lapdogs will ramp up the Ebola and Hantavirus “outbreaks” for the midterms, all to promote mail-in balloting.

We’ve seen this before, guys. https://t.co/N3YXwsiMmB
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 17, 2026

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was asked Sunday by Fox News’ Shannon Bream whether he had a message for Black voters in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision last month and subsequent GOP gerrymandering blitz – which has disproportionately impacted Black Americans – and his answer left onlookers dumbfounded.

In late April, the Supreme Court effectively gutted a provision in the Voting Rights Act that was designed to prohibit racially discriminatory voting policies – namely, the drawing of congressional district maps. In the weeks since, Republican-led states have raced to redraw their own maps ahead of the midterm elections in such a manner as to benefit the GOP – and in most cases, at the expense of Black voters.

“The Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion and they stated the obvious: that drawing congressional lines must be fair, you cannot draw lines on the basis of race,” Johnson told Bream.

“That’s what was done in Louisiana, so they declared it to be an unconstitutional gerrymander, and it was! This brings back fairness and certainty to the system, and I think a lot of states are looking to make sure that their maps are not unconstitutional like Louisiana's was.”

Johnson’s message to Black voters – that a gerrymandering blitz critics have called "Black political extermination" would restore "fairness" – left many observers stunned.

“Incredible,” noted The Tennessee Holler, a progressive news outlet founded by former congressional candidate and television star Justin Kanew.

“WOW,” wrote political writer Mona Burns in a social media post on X to her nearly 17,000 followers.

And Brandon Wolf, a civil rights advocate and survivor of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida, took note of Johnson’s choice of words, particularly his use of the word “certainty.”

“Certainty is their goal,” Wolf wrote in a social media post on X to his more than 55,000 followers. “They want to be certain that Black and brown voters don’t ever have the final say on who represents them.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) unleashed a blistering broadside against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Saturday, ripping a series of Pentagon moves as "amateur hour at best and deadly at worst" — and triggering immediate calls from former officials for Hegseth's outright removal.

In a lengthy post on X, Tillis condemned what he called the "careless decision to reduce our force posture in Europe" and accused Hegseth and his "political henchmen" of trying to force out some of the military's most accomplished general officers.

"Hegseth continues to surprise and disrespect our greatest allies and some of our best military professionals with impulsive decisions not grounded in reality or good judgment," Tillis wrote.

The senator zeroed in on reports that Hegseth is trying to sideline Gen. Chris Donahue — a decorated combat veteran with more than 20 deployments — by downgrading U.S. Army Europe-Africa to a three-star command. Tillis called Donahue "one of our nation's finest warfighters" and said Hegseth's aides "are not qualified to carry Donahue's bag."

"Keep your word, Mr. Secretary: choose meritocracy over your mediocre yes-men," Tillis wrote.

The response was swift from military experts. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger reminded Tillis that he had voted to confirm Hegseth in the first place. "You confirmed him. This was completely foreseeable," Kinzinger wrote. "That said keep speaking loudly and get more people to do it. Then ask for his removal."

Former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos echoed the rebuke: "Are we forgetting a certain confirmation vote?"

Former U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace also weighed in, calling Donahue "one of the finest Generals of his generation" and warning that sidelining him would "help our adversaries."

Just ahead of making his appearance at a national prayer event at the nation’s capital, President Donald Trump issued yet another genocidal threat against Iran on Sunday, warning the Middle East nation that if its leaders didn’t “get moving fast” on agreeing to a deal, there would soon be nothing “left of them.”

“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump’s threat comes just ahead of Rededicate 250, a national prayer event held on the National Mall that was organized by the Trump-aligned group Freedom250, a recipient of millions of taxpayer dollars.

The threat bears similarities to Trump’s ominous message he shared this past Easter Sunday when he threatened to destroy Iran’s civilian infrastructure, actions that would likely constitute war crimes. Two days later, Trump followed those remarks with an even more ominous threat when he warned that “an entire civilization will die tonight,” comments that were widely condemned as genocidal.

Renowned international security expert Robert Pape issued a dire warning on Sunday that an irreversible “critical point” had been reached in the U.S. war against Iran, one that risks sparking global shortages and economic disruptions on a scale not seen in decades.

“Two months ago, I warned that the Iran war was not simply creating an oil price spike. It was creating the conditions for shortages, supply disruptions, and eventually economic contraction,” Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, warned in an analysis published Sunday on his Substack. “That transition is now beginning.”

Among Iran’s first responses to the “unprovoked” attack from the United States and Israel was to close the Strait of Hormuz – a critical shipping waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil trade historically flowed – to U.S.-aligned vessels. Predictably, the strait’s partial closure sent oil prices skyrocketing.

With the war now stretching into its 78th day as of Sunday, the strait’s closure has finally exhausted worldwide “buffers” that have helped to slow the economic impact from disrupting trade through what is among the busiest shipping channels on earth, Pape warned.

“The critical point is no longer oil prices alone,” Pape wrote. “The world’s emergency buffers – inventories, reserves, subsidies, and logistical workarounds – are beginning to fail simultaneously.”

Signs of existing stockpiles or resources still in transit being exhausted have already reached the United States. The final shipment of oil from the Strait of Hormuz before its partial closure arrived in California earlier this month, and reporting suggests a major shortage of motor oil may be imminent.

Kyle Rittenhouse, the conservative cause célèbre acquitted in the 2020 Kenosha shootings, is suddenly persona non grata in parts of the MAGA movement after publicly throwing his weight behind embattled U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie ahead of Kentucky's May 19 Republican primary.

Speaking May 16 at a "day at the range" event in Burlington, Kentucky, Rittenhouse called Massie "the greatest congressman, I believe, in a very long time," brushing aside attacks on the Kentucky Republican as "lies." He praised Massie for voting conservative "92% of the time," adding that "the 8% he isn't, he's voting to expose pedophiles" — a nod to the Epstein Files Transparency Act Massie championed and that Trump hated.

The endorsement put Rittenhouse on a collision course with President Donald Trump, who recruited retired Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein to challenge Massie after the congressman voted against Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill."

The backlash from MAGA influencers was swift and savage.

"Wow! Kyle Rittenhouse turned out to be a complete d-----bag, we should've left him to the liberal wolves in 2020!" posted MAGA commentator Vince Langman.

For his part, Rittenhouse responded to Langman with a screenshot of Langman's previous praise for Rittenhouse.

Pro-Trump account Catturd piled on: "Remember when I warned everyone about him and everybody threw a fit years ago — it's tiring being so right all the time."

Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis broke ranks to defend Rittenhouse, calling the pile-on "predictably gross behavior for what has become a godless populist movement." She added: "These morons ARE the leftist wolves, just in 'MAGA' clothing."

Iconic Democratic strategist James Carville gave President Donald Trump a backhanded compliment on Sunday in response to the president’s controversial remarks last week – remarks, he contended, that were perhaps the “greatest” presidential gaffe in U.S. history.

Standing on the White House lawn last Tuesday, Trump admitted that, when it came to decisions related to his unpopular war against Iran, he did not take Americans’ financial situations into account.

“Not even a little bit,” he said when asked if he thought about Americans’ finances.

The remarks, which received widespread condemnation from political commentators and figures, broke what Carville told The New York Times was a cardinal political rule: “do not confirm an existing suspicion,” the outlet reported Sunday.

“It’s what lawyers call an admission against interest,” Carville said. “It’s the greatest admission against interest in the history of the presidency.”

However, Carville did praise Trump for one aspect of his controversial remarks: they were honest and not “pandering,” he said.

Carville famously helped former President Bill Clinton secure a decisive victory in 1992, having coined the phrase “it’s the economy, stupid,” a campaign message that appears to be at direct odds with Trump’s recent rhetoric regarding the economic pain Americans are increasingly enduring.

A grim new CBS News/YouGov poll showing President Donald Trump bleeding support over his handling of the economy set off a wave of reaction online on Sunday — with pollsters and pundits alike pointing to what one Washington correspondent called "rancid numbers" for Republicans heading into the midterms.

The survey found two-thirds of Americans say Trump's policies are making the economy worse, with most describing themselves as "frustrated" or "angry" about his economic approach. Trump's overall approval has slipped to the lowest point of his second term, and even Republicans are souring on his handling of inflation, where his GOP approval has cratered to 63% — well below his 89% mark on immigration.

NBC News' Washington correspondent Scott MacFarlane summed it up bluntly on X: "Rancid numbers and trajectory in an election year."

GOP pollster Frank Luntz zeroed in on one of the most damning data points, posting that "77% of Americans say their income is not keeping up with inflation."

Another GOP pollster named Sarah Longwell, said, "Trump’s dramatic slide with white non-college voters is evidence that Trump supporters can lose faith in Trump. And there’s no more important lesson for voter’s to learn than electing people like Trump makes their lives materially worse."

Strategist Adam Carlson, in a thread reposted by veteran GOP consultant Mike Madrid, warned Democrats not to misread the moment. "Pretty much every data point shows the same thing — by and large, Americans don't like the Democratic Party or their approach, they're just extremely angry with the Republican Party at the moment," Carlson wrote.

He cautioned that the likely midterm bounce will give Democrats a "false sense of confidence" much like 2022 did. "They're punishing Republicans, the party in power," Carlson wrote. "If we want to build a durable connection with more voters than we currently have in our coalition, we have to have hard conversations."

A stunningly brazen admission from President Donald Trump last week that sent shockwaves across the nation may very well end up being the catalyst that sinks the Republican Party in the impending midterm elections come November, one GOP strategist warned on Sunday.

That admission, which Trump made in the span of five seconds when speaking with reporters on the White House lawn last Tuesday, was that he didn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation” as it relates to his ongoing and deeply unpopular war against Iran. When asked for clarification on his remarks on Friday, Trump doubled down on his statement, calling it “perfect,” and noting that he’d “make it again.”

Those remarks – which come amid soaring gas prices and inflation not seen in years – may have been a bridge too far even for a president long known for making controversial comments, argued GOP strategist Barrett Marson, speaking with The New York Times in its report Sunday.

“He flaunted his wealth, and people didn’t mind,” Marson told the Times. “But now it’s sort of like: ‘Wow, you’re really not feeling our pain, you are adding to our pain, and on top of that, you don’t care about our pain. That could lead to political problems for him. He is not on the ballot, but this is an important ballot for him.”

The blowback from Trump’s controversial remark – which Marson described as a "truth bomb" – appears to have materialized in polling, with 77% of Americans – including a majority of Republicans – putting the blame for cost-of-living increases squarely at the president’s feet, per a new CNN poll.

Two of the most influential pro-Trump voices in the podcasting world are airing their grievances in public, after Joe Rogan voiced alarm about fellow comedian Theo Von's mental health — only for Von to fire back that Rogan was full of it.

On a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan grew somber as he discussed Von's behavior since starting SSRIs, telling listeners his friend's recent comments about suicide had rattled him.

"Theo Von's going through the exact same thing, and last time he was on the podcast he was explaining it to me," Rogan said. "It freaks me out because I know Theo has had conversations before — like even publicly."

Rogan recounted a Netflix taping that he said never aired because Von "bombed," describing it as "kind of a breakdown." He claimed Von told the crowd, "Thank you. Look, I'm just trying not to take my own life."

"And like you hear stuff like that and you just go like, oh, Jesus Christ," Rogan said. "I've known too many people that I didn't think were going to kill themselves and then did."

Rogan added that Von "goes down these spirals where he starts talking about world events and freaking out," prompting him to think, "I got to help this dude."

Von wasn't having it. The comedian fired back on X with a blue cap emoji — internet shorthand for calling someone a liar.

"This is mostly [cap]," Von told his 1.7 million followers. "Sad to see this kinda stuff. Im doing great. Im a human being which is a rocky ride. But im doing fine thanks."

If you or someone you know is struggling, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline offers free, confidential support 24/7.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins took to social media Saturday to celebrate a series of new “commitments” from China – namely, the export of American beef, an announcement that came amid U.S. beef prices reaching their highest level in recorded history, sparking a considerable backlash from MAGA-aligned figures.

“Proud to confirm that our deal-maker-in-chief [President Donald Trump] has done it AGAIN!” Rollins said in a statement. “American beef – the best beef in the world! – will be back on the shelves in China soon. They are implementing beef commitments, including resuming imports from 17 states.”

The announcement came just one day after a report from Yahoo Finance that found that beef prices in the United States had eclipsed $7 per pound “for the first time in history,” leaving many conservative or MAGA-aligned figures dumbfounded.

“We just relaxed tariffs on importation of Argentinian beef because the lack of U.S. supply relative to demand was jacking up prices, but now we are going to export the U.S. beef we were told we were short on to China? Make it make sense,” wrote Sean Davis, the co-founder of the conservative magazine The Federalist who was described by The Daily Beast as a “leading MAGA mouthpiece.”

Self-described “America First” Republican and former congressional candidate David Giglio also expressed confusion at Rollins’ announcement given the historic spike in U.S. beef prices.

“How about we focus on having affordable beef on the shelves in, I don't know, America???” Giglio wrote in a social media post on X.

According to Yahoo Finance, beef prices in the United States have skyrocketed by 77% since January 2020, “when ground beef stood at $3.89 per pound.” The “beeflation,” as Yahoo Finance referred to it, could spark price increases in a number of products, including burgers from popular fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King.

Anthony Aguero, a correspondent for the right-wing news network Real America’s Voice, expressed shock at Rollins' announcement in a curse-laden social media post, and Wendy Patterson, a popular right-wing commentator and self-described MAGA supporter, called the Agriculture chief the “dumbest secretary in [Trump’s] Cabinet.”

“Beef that the American people can't afford to buy because Brooke scumbag Rollins keeps telling us that we have a shortage of American Beef because of small herd sizes,” Patterson wrote in a social media post on X to her nearly 200,000 followers.

“The small herds didn't prevent her from selling American Beef to feed CHINA. Fire her globalist a-- already.”