Independent journalist Justin Glawe flagged a telling remark from Secretary of State Marco Rubio made this week, one seemingly made to compliment President Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities – but ended up making “the opposite point,” Glawe wrote in an analysis published Saturday on his Substack.

Testifying before the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rubio was pressed on whether he’d ever witnessed Trump falling asleep during a Cabinet meeting. Rubio said he had never seen the president doze off, and that “on the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep, which is a big problem.”

“Rubio was trying to make the point that President Trump is a dynamo – a near-superhuman leader who works deep into the night on the complex issues facing the nation and world,” Glawe wrote.

“But Rubio inadvertently made the opposite point: Trump’s lack of sleep, evidenced by his frequently manic, late night Truth Social posting sessions, is a problem for the president’s clearly declining mental and physical abilities. The signs of this decline are available for anyone who chooses to see them.”

Trump’s physical health has been called into question after the president has been observed with swollen ankles, bruising on his hands, a rash on his neck and appearing to doze off during meetings. His mental health has equally been called into question as Trump nears his 80th birthday this month.

The state of Trump’s cognitive abilities has also, according to Glawe, reached a point where it’s become a legitimate threat to the United States’ national security.

“No one in the Trump administration has offered a remotely plausible explanation for Trump’s physical ailments, and any questions about his clear cognitive challenges – the reading flubs, the obvious confusion, the strange slurring, forgetting what he was talking about, flitting from one subject to another for seemingly no reason – are met by the White House with disdain, denial, mockery, and lies,” Glawe wrote.

“Anyone questioning why the US can’t seem to find a resolution to Trump’s war in Iran, rising healthcare costs, inflation, and so much else that plagues the nation has to look no further than the president himself for the answer. If you don’t believe us, spend a few days listening to him and reading his Truth Social feed. Doing so will make the primary cause of our troubles undeniably obvious.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement is facing criticism for strategic incompetence and playing it safe by concentrating its political resources on Republican primary races already destined for victory while ignoring endangered GOP candidates in crucial battleground contests.

According to a Politico analysis by Amanda Chu, the movement's political organizations—MAHA Action and MAHA Institute—have largely ducked the races that will determine congressional control, despite Kennedy's fervent supporters representing a boost in turnout that endangered Republicans desperately need.

The report singles out Tony Lyons, publisher of Kennedy's books and a lead organizer for the movement's political groups, for having failed to make use of Kennedy's appeal and turn it into the "electoral juggernaut" Republicans had hoped for.

"The majority of those candidates that got that endorsement were going to win anyway," John McCarthy, founder of McCarthy Strategic Solutions, a Republican political strategy firm in Kentucky, told Politico.

The numbers tell the story of missed opportunity. MAHA groups have endorsed just one Republican—freshman Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett—in a competitive House district, while ignoring the rest of the battleground races that will determine chamber control.

In the Senate, where Republicans must defend vulnerable seats in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas, MAHA has backed no one, with no financial support or grassroots mobilization in these critical races.

Of the 20 candidates MAHA endorsed in primary races this spring, most were establishment figures in state races already aligned with MAHA's messaging on vaccine optionality and food regulation. Few received any financial backing from the movement's organizations.

According to Politico, Kennedy's actual impact has been limited to state-level politics. He has traveled extensively to state capitals promoting his agenda, and a Politico analysis found that state lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills with bipartisan support echoing his priorities—some of which have passed.

But the movement's impact on electoral politics remains an open question. State primary races have been dominated by economic concerns, with MAHA-backed candidates who won primaries focusing overwhelmingly on issues that defined the 2024 presidential election rather than Kennedy's signature health and food policy priorities.

More than two-thirds of MAHA-endorsed candidates emphasized affordability and tax cuts on their campaign websites, while nearly half focused on immigration. Less than one-third mentioned vaccine safety or food system policies central to Kennedy and his supporters, Chu elaborated.

President Donald Trump took to social media Saturday to share a music video celebrating himself and the global 'love' he inspires – a video that one journalist called "deranged" and prompted onlookers to wonder aloud how such behavior from a sitting U.S. president had ever become “normalized.”

The song featured in the music video is simply titled “Trump,” and was written and performed by GOP congressional candidate Anthony Constantino, who scored Trump’s endorsement in April. The video, which appears to have been created using generative artificial intelligence, depicts Trump globe trotting, and the lyrics insist that people the world over “love” Trump.

“Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump, everywhere I go, they love Donald, Donald Trump,” the lyrics of the song read.

Award-winning author Jennifer Erin Valent expressed concern that such a social media post – one from a sitting U.S. president – barely drew attention from news outlets.

“Even worse than knowing my morning scroll will bring more insanity from the president is knowing it will barely even be news in a country that has largely decided to normalize that insanity,” Valent wrote Saturday in a social media post on X.

Bill Sweetman, an aerospace and defense writer and analyst, came to a similar conclusion: “The worst of this is that it seems normal,” he wrote in a social media post on X.

For Kevin Murphy, an Irish political activist and candidate for office, Trump’s social media post was a warning for something far more dire.

“He can't access the nukes, right?” Murphy quipped in a social media post on X.

A CNN panel discussion on the dilemma Democrats are facing with the candidacy of Graham Platner, who is running to oppose Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), turned into a shouting match that led to charges that Donald Trump is a racist.

On CNN’s “Table for Five,” host Abby Phillip noted there is a growing debate about “purity tests” within the Democratic Party as more revelations about Platner’s past drop prior to Tuesday’s primary.

That led CNN contributor Cari Champion to point out the bar for what is acceptable has been plunged into “hell” based on Donald Trump's rhetoric and actions, which led to an argument with Trump-defending attorney Arthur Aidala.

“No, the bar is in hell with this current administration,” she began before repeating, "The bar is in hell. We have allowed this president to come in and his blatant corruption, and we see it, not we as in you, but the people have, his loyalists have, the people who are supposed to be a part of his cabinet have. And so the bar is now in hell.”

“And so for Democrats to, to me now, and by the way, I am not excusing this man's behavior in any form or fashion … listen, look where we are, no one's perfect. [Sen. John] Fetterman said this, to your point, said this earlier today: what he was trying, I'm paraphrasing, was like, all politicians have baggage. This just happens to be a candidate that has baggage.”

“He's got an anti-Semitic tattoo on his chest. That should be automatic disqualification!” Aidala exclaimed.

”I'm not excusing this man's behavior,” Champion persisted as the attorney attempted to talk over her. “But what I am telling you is you cannot say that with this president in office.”

“No, no, you can!" Aidala fired back. “You can, you can say that, you can. You have a guy who's wearing a tattoo saying, ‘I hate people of this religion.’ That’s it, you’re done.”

"And I hate black people, [that's what] I feel like this president is saying,” Champion pushed back, which just escalated the arguing.

“He has all the power of the government,” she continued. “He's rolling back, he's rolling back civil rights. I mean I’m not excusing this man. I know, but I'm saying this is why people are okay with that.”

Attempting to calm the waters, host Phillip interjected, “You keep saying you're not excusing him, but what's happening is that he is being excused.”

- YouTube youtu.be

Former U.S. Army Major and Intelligence Officer Harrison Mann issued a grave warning Saturday over a “ticking time bomb” he argued President Donald Trump was ignoring, one that if not addressed would undoubtedly lead to an “unmistakable recession” – or worse.

“At this point, it’s hard to ignore the evidence that Trump’s lack of urgency to sign a deal with Tehran is in part because he’s been very slow to understand the actual situation on the ground,” Mann wrote in an analysis published Saturday in Zeteo.

“Trump’s trusted advisers – both in the Situation Room and on Fox News – rarely if ever deliver bad news about the war, whether out of ideological desire to see the president 'finish the job,’ or because they’re afraid he’ll shoot the messenger.”

The United States and Iran remain in a fragile ceasefire, and despite countless reports of a deal to end the conflict between Washington and Tehran being near, no such deal has materialized.

Trump's failure to close a deal with Tehran, Mann argued, stemmed not only from a steady diet of briefings that 'minimize bad news' about the conflict, but from a personal failing of the president himself – one who Mann said would “rather forget” the potentially catastrophic consequences of a prolonged Middle East war.

“The problem is that Trump apparently views today’s pseudo-ceasefire double-blockade impasse as a satisfactory solution to a problem he’d rather forget, instead of a ticking time bomb,” Mann wrote. “Unfortunately, it may take a new crisis within this crisis – an unmistakable recession or more U.S. troops killed in the Gulf – to change his mind.”

Former Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center corrections officer Tova Noel testified before the House Oversight Committee last month offering new details about the night Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019—but left unanswered questions about a cryptic image captured on surveillance footage that has fueled conspiracy theories, ABC News is reporting.

Noel has remained a central figure in Epstein's death, having been accused of falsifying logs the night the accused human trafficker died. Her involvement has made her a target for threats and speculation about whether she played a role in facilitating or covering up his death.

In November 2019, Noel and another prison guard were accused of falsifying records to create the appearance they had completed routine rounds. Prosecutors alleged both officers spent most of their shifts at their desks browsing the internet instead, leaving inmates in the Special Housing Unit unchecked for eight hours until Epstein was discovered unresponsive in his cell.

Both Noel—a National Guard veteran who served during Operation Enduring Freedom in Kuwait—and her colleague ultimately reached deals with prosecutors. Their cases were dropped in December 2021, the report notes.

According to just-released transcripts of her testimony, Noel addressed one of the most persistent mysteries surrounding Epstein's death: Department of Justice documents reveal that investigators observed "an orange-colored shape moving up a staircase toward the isolated, locked tier" where Epstein's cell was located at approximately 10:39 p.m. on August 9, 2019, according to a report from CBS News.

Noel denied any knowledge of the unexplained orange flash. "To be very honest, I don't know what it is, who it is, because I never went back to the tier, and I was never carrying anything orange at all, and I never issued anything orange to anyone in the SHU -- not just only Epstein, just anyone," she said, according to the transcript.

According to ABC News, she also disputed that the timing of the orange flash aligned with when she conducted her count that night.

Beyond the mysterious footage, Noel shifted blame to systemic failures within the facility itself. She told lawmakers that the Metropolitan Correctional Center suffered from chronic understaffing and inadequate training, and that she was never properly trained to work in the unit where Epstein was housed.

Acknowledging her own mistakes on the night of Epstein's death, Noel asked lawmakers for the opportunity to move forward and distance herself from her association with the disgraced sex offender.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the state’s GOP Senate nominee, had spent years as the state’s top law enforcement officer “waging war on Democratic and Latino-led groups” amid his amplification of false claims of widespread voter fraud, but in doing so, may have created a powerful obstacle in his bid for higher office, The New York Times reported Saturday.

“The stakes of the fight with groups determined to mobilize Texas’ fast-growing Hispanic electorate changed significantly last month when [Paxton] won the Republican Party’s nomination for Senate,” the Times’ report reads. “Now it is personal and could help determine his own political future – and which party controls the Senate.”

Paxton regularly targeted progressive Hispanic groups in Texas under a state law passed in 2021 designed to strengthen “election integrity.” The law criminalized “what had been fairly routine tools for civic groups,” and “particularly in Latino communities,” the Times wrote, resulting in “a trail of ransacked residences, shellshocked volunteers, struggling organizations and indictments.”

The result of the law was a dramatic reduction in voter outreach efforts among Hispanic communities. Jolt Initiative, for instance, the “largest youth outreach group in Texas,” typically registered more than 12,000 voters a year, but in 2025, only registered 3,586 voters.

Paxton's office did not return the Times' request for comment, but Texas Hispanic voters and advocates were eager to make clear exactly what they believe is at stake in his Senate bid.

“It doesn’t look good for us, but we are going to keep fighting,” said Gabriel Rosales, who heads the League of United Latin American Citizens in Texas as its director, speaking with the Times.

I had a great uncle who was notorious for sleeping sitting straight up in his chair. His eyes would glaze over as family conversations swirled around him. Inevitably, his eyes would shut, and whether it was a dream or the shrill sound of his wife’s laugh, his eyes would pop open.

He was always teased about his frequent chair napping, and he always, always denied he was sleeping. “Just resting my eyes,” he would insist. Then he’d “rest his eyes” again a few moments later.

Nobody was fooled.

Asked by Rep. Ted Lieu whether he’d ever seen Trump fall asleep during a Cabinet meeting, Secretary of State Rubio responded defiantly like my great uncle. “That’s false. I’ve never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn’t sleep — he calls me at 2 in the morning. He calls me at 5 in the morning.”

Lieu’s response was to pull up a clip of Trump with his eyes shut while Rubio himself was speaking at a Cabinet meeting. Then he played another one.

Rubio, it turns out, might be the one who is just resting his eyes, asleep at the switch while his hypersomniac boss drifts into never-never land.

Look, I get it. Meetings are boring, especially when you don’t have the floor. I’ve spent three decades in corporate America. I know exactly what it looks like when the boss, and myself, and others in the room, are losing the battle with drooping eyelids in a long meeting.

Most of us have been there. However, most of us weren’t 80 years old, running on a diet of fast food and anger, and posting Truth Social memes until 3 a.m., and theoretically steering the most consequential country on the planet the next day.

There is a whopping difference between a bored executive or subordinate and a president who can’t stay awake at his own events, and the documented record of the last seven months makes it impossible to look away.

November 6, 2025: During a White House drug pricing announcement in the Oval Office, Getty photographer Andrew Harnik captured Trump slumped at the Resolute Desk, eyes closed, surrounded by aides who kept right on talking. The Washington Post reviewed multiple video feeds and calculated Trump spent nearly 20 minutes fighting to keep his eyes open.

Sure sounds like Uncle Lawrence.

December 2, 2025. At a two-hour Cabinet meeting, Trump repeatedly shut his eyes while his own senior officials spoke. He later offered this explanation, which I will grant is at least honest: “They’re boring as hell.” He added: “I didn’t sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell outta here.”

Spoken like my cranky Uncle Lawrence.

February 19, 2026: Two and a half hours into his own “Board of Peace” Gaza summit — a joke of a meeting he convened, with leaders from two dozen countries that no one has heard of — cameras caught Trump with his eyes closed. He didn't sleep. He was just deeply concentrating. With his eyes shut. For an extended period.

Wake up Uncle Lawrence!

May 11, 2026: During a maternal health event in the Oval Office, video showed Trump’s eyes closed for roughly 17 seconds at the Resolute Desk. The White House’s official Rapid Response account fired back at a Reuters post, one that hadn’t even accused Trump of sleeping, just included a photo, with: *“He was blinking, you absolute moron.”

The response became an instant meme. Rep. Lieu replied: “That is a verrrrrrrrryyyyy long blink.” The Democrats’ official account dubbed him “Commander-in-Sleep.”

May 26, 2026: Memorial Day at Arlington. At the National Memorial Day Observance, with Gold Star families in the audience honoring the 13 service members killed in the Iran war, cameras caught Trump with his head bowed and eyes closed during Pete Hegseth’s remarks.

He was sleeping standing up! That’s something Uncle Lawrence could never do.

It should be noted that his third hospital visit in 13 months came the following day. The White House said he wasn’t sleeping.

This whole thing is so comatose with irony.

Trump spent years weaponizing “Sleepy Joe” against Biden. In 2021, when Biden appeared to nod off at a climate conference, Trump sent a mass email: “Nobody that has true enthusiasm and belief in a subject will ever fall asleep!”

He yammered and hammered the “Sleepy Joe” label through 2022, 2023, and deep into the 2024 campaign. “He falls asleep at every single event,” Trump barked in June 2024.

And if this doesn’t make you double-over with laughter, Trump once said, “How do you fall asleep when cameras are raging, right?”

Then, on May 7, 2026, right in the middle of his own napping spree, Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social showing Biden asleep in the Oval Office wearing pajamas, with Barack Obama wheeling in a box labeled “AUTOPEN.” Caption: *“A highly accurate depiction of the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration. Tremendous damage done but, WE’RE BACK!!!”*

Admittedly, my Uncle Lawrence was not a warm and fuzzy guy, but he wasn’t a conceited, hypocritical jerk like Donald Trump. And what’s more? Uncle Lawrence was in his mid-80s, so his battle with keeping his eyes open is a harbinger for Trump.

Trump turns 80 in a week. These incidents will not decrease. They will increase. His eyes will become heavier and heavier. The question Rep. Lieu was really asking Rubio what happens in the situation room, for example, when the cameras aren’t there. It never got answered, because Rubio just kept talking with his eyes wide shut.

So while Trump sleeps on the job, don’t worry, because your grocery bill isn't keeping him awake. Or your gas bills, your electric bills. Trump, who promised he’d fix all of it on Day One, has more pressing matters — his eye-lids pressing against each other.

The White House dismissed a report published Friday night in which two U.S. officials claimed that the Pentagon had raised its counterintelligence threat level from a top U.S. ally to “critical,” the “highest level,” according to NBC News.

Two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official, speaking with NBC News under the condition of anonymity, claimed that the Pentagon had grown “increasingly concerned about Israel ramping up its spying on the U.S.,” the outlet reported, and that in “recent weeks,” the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) had increased Israel’s threat level to the highest level.

“The designation stems from concerns within the Pentagon that Israel is making a particular effort to surveil top U.S. officials to get information on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making on the conflicts in the Middle East, the officials said,” NBC News’ report reads.

“The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document and features a chart, according to one of the current U.S. officials. The document says the assessment of Israel is that its ability to conduct human espionage and technical collection is at a ‘critical level,’ according to the official.”

While the Pentagon declined to respond to NBC News’ request for comment, the White House dismissed the outlet’s reporting entirely.

“This entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on,” a White House official told NBC News.

Israel also fiercely denied the allegation, with a spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. telling NBC News that Israel “does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials.”

Despite Israel’s claim, numerous reports have suggested Israeli operatives have engaged in “widespread surveillance” of American entities. In 2025, the scale of Israel’s alleged surveillance on U.S. service members at a U.S. military base in southern Israel had grown so expansive that U.S. Lt. Gen. Patrick Frank summoned an Israeli official for a meeting and told them that the “recording has to stop here,” The Guardian previously reported.

Violent clashes between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at Newark's Delaney Hall detention facility forced the Trump administration to deploy its top immigration official for emergency de-escalation after newly appointed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin made the situation dramatically worse.

According to Politico reporting by Myah Ward, tensions that had been escalating nightly cooled only after border czar Tom Homan was dispatched to meet with state and local officials and negotiate a resolution to the standoff.

The crisis began when images and videos surfaced showing violent clashes between pro-immigrant demonstrators and ICE agents outside the 1,000-bed, privately run detention facility. The unrest followed allegations of poor conditions inside the facility and a detainee hunger strike. Democratic lawmakers descended on the site to condemn detention conditions and accuse federal agents of violence against protesters.

Mullin's response made matters worse. The new DHS secretary threatened to pull customs staffing from Newark Liberty International Airport—a threat that shocked administration officials and sparked airline industry fears of travel chaos across the region.

The White House responded by deploying Homan, following a playbook it had previously used to defuse tensions in Minnesota. The border czar spent five days on the ground meeting with Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, police leadership, state troopers, and Gov. Mikie Sherrill to negotiate a path forward, according to Politico.

In a bid to counter allegations of unsanitary conditions, Homan made a symbolic visit to Delaney Hall, where he ate spaghetti with detainees. He subsequently claimed local officials agreed to most of his demands, including establishing designated protest zones. Democratic officials countered that the Department of Homeland Security simply agreed to restore family visitation to the facility—a demand the community had pressed.

Politico is reporting that the use of Homan underscores his "enduring influence as one of the president's top immigration policy advisers." It also reveals the administration's increasing reliance on the border czar to respond to escalating unrest surrounding federal immigration enforcement.

It sounds like a plot twist from HBO's "Veep": the invitation to a high-stakes board meeting that would decide the fate of one of America's most storied cultural institutions landed in a congresswoman's spam folder.

For Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), the 76-year-old lawmaker who has waged a monthslong legal war over the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, it was no joke. As Atlantic staff writer Janay Kingsberry reported, the misfired notice — which Kingsberry described as "a real-life Veep episode in Washington politics" — became part of Beatty's amended federal complaint, in which she argued she'd been improperly shut out of a White House board meeting where trustees were expected to rubber-stamp President Donald Trump's plan to close the center for two years.

Beatty has claimed she was forcefully muted when she tried to object during the December vote to rename the venue the "Trump Kennedy Center," before a message flashed on her screen: "You will not be unmuted."

The clash traces back to Trump's takeover of the institution after returning to office. He ousted longtime chairman David Rubenstein and President Deborah Rutter, installed himself as board chair, and packed the board with loyalists — among them White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, aide Dan Scavino, and Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham.

In May 2025, the board revised its bylaws to limit voting to presidentially appointed trustees, stripping ex officio members like Beatty. Artists later canceled performances, ticket sales slid, and the Washington National Opera severed its decades-long affiliation.

Even after finding the invite, Beatty insists the process broke protocol. "To me, it was immaterial that I found it," she told Kingsberry. "It was not sent to my chief; it was not sent to my scheduler."

A federal judge ordered Trump's name stripped from the facade and temporarily blocked the shutdown — though Beatty calls it only the "first step."

A Gold Star family was left “devastated and embittered” after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who at one point “appeared” interested in helping the family get to the bottom of the 2012 death of their family member, “ghosted” them, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

While in Afghanistan, Cmdr. Job Price, a Navy SEAL commander, was found dead in his quarters with a gunshot wound to the head. An investigator into Price’s death found “irregularities in the evidence,” the Post reported, but ultimately ruled out the possibility of foul play.

Unsatisfied with the findings of the report, Price’s family pressed for answers and managed to contact Hegseth during his time as a Fox News host in 2022, two years before he would be tapped by President Donald Trump to serve in his administration.

“Those pictures are damning for the Navy,” Hegseth wrote to Matt Cubbler, a family friend of Price’s, referencing photographs from the investigation into Price’s death, per text messages obtained by the Post.

“Nobody – nobody – would be caressing their pillow while taking their own life. I agree, it does not add up at all to suicide.”

And yet, despite the newfound optimism of Price’s family and friends that the case might be given a second look, Hegseth’s "enthusiasm seemed to wane after a few weeks,” the Post reported.

In April of 2023, in what would be one of his final messages to Cubbler, Hegseth again expressed a willingness to help Price’s family and friends.

“I hope I can help another way at some point,” Hegseth wrote in a text message to Cubbler, according to the Post.

“Eventually, though, he stopped responding,” the Post’s report reads.

“And despite his role now, leading the Pentagon in an avowedly pro-military administration, members of the Price family say they have received no indication that the case will be reopened. The lack of follow-through, they say, feels like ‘being ghosted’ by someone who styled himself as an advocate for troops and their families.”

Donald Trump is confronting a bitter irony as he seeks to extricate himself from the Iran war he initiated: reaching a peace agreement may require exactly the kind of financial concessions to Tehran that he spent years attacking the Obama administration for making.

According to Wall Street Journal reporting, the central obstacle to resolving the conflict is Tehran's insistence on immediate access to frozen assets—a demand that has created a "politically hazardous" trap for the president.

The political trap is inescapable. Any Trump decision to release Iran's frozen assets would inevitably invite comparisons to the Obama administration's 2016 nuclear accord, which Trump repeatedly vilified as "the dumbest deal perhaps I've ever seen in the history of deal-making." During a 2016 presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump specifically attacked the $1.7 billion in cash the U.S. sent to Iran, quipping it was "enough to fill up this room."

As the Journal notes, this past spring Trump vowed to negotiate a "FAR BETTER" deal than Obama's—a promise that now appears increasingly hollow as negotiations drag on via mediators between Washington and Tehran.

Iran's demands are reportedly substantial and non-negotiable, seeking $12 billion upfront and an additional $24 billion over a 60-day negotiation period to be triggered by an initial agreement. Access to tens of billions in frozen U.S. sanctions funds is described as "a critical demand for any deal," offering immediate economic relief to Iran's deeply damaged economy.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to threaten renewed military action while simultaneously predicting imminent breakthroughs—even as sporadic fighting continues across the Persian Gulf region. The Iran war itself has become deeply unpopular domestically, adding urgency to Trump's desire for a resolution.

Richard Nephew, a former top State Department sanctions official, suggested a potential workaround that might minimize political exposure. "The fastest thing they could do is to quietly remove sanctions on Iranian pots of money being held in Qatar, Oman and Iraq because it's a relatively small, discrete amount of money that is more controllable given where it's located," Nephew told the Journal.

Yet even this limited option carries significant political risk given Trump's own past denunciations of Obama-era financial arrangements with Iran.

So on Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche – a misnomer if ever there was one, as the man is “acting” nothing like an actual Attorney General – admitted defeat in declaring the nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” (better known by sane adults as the “slush fund”) permanently dead. Deceased. Scrapped. Gone. Sayonara.

And then, two days later, like a zombie rising from the grave, Senate Republicans refused to bury it for good.

In passing the $70 billion ICE funding bill, it declined to feature a provision banning the fund designed to compensate the criminals who launched an attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, only to be pardoned by President Trump.

Yeah, for all of the supposed angst that Republican lawmakers had about potentially financially rewarding the very same thugs who left the Capitol in shambles and were hellbent on hanging the Vice President of the United States, they ultimately caved because they didn’t want to hurt Little Donnie’s fragile feelings.

Mind you, this is the same appalling scheme that had generated such bipartisan concern and widespread public outrage days before. But in the end, the Republicans did what they do best. They ultimately backed down and deferred to their lord and master while exhibiting not the tiniest amount of spine, because cowardice and hypocrisy are their joint default settings.

When asked why no guardrails were put in place to protect against the fund, Senate Leader John Thune said – in referring to Blanche’s earlier statement – “I think what was talked about, and then ultimately done away with is, in my view, it’s a settled issue.”

Oh, really now?

If that’s the case, then why not get rid of it entirely so there is no danger of it coming to be in the future? Why preserve the possibility?

I think I can answer this with a measure of assurance: today’s Republican Party operates not as an independent body but merely an extension of Trump and his will. Trump not only owns the party outright; he fully owns the will of every senator and representative inside it.

Even those who have no reason to walk beside Trump in lockstep because they have no risk of being “primaried” are afraid of him, of his MAGA fanatics, of the price of defying him. And so, they leave the door open more than just a crack in case there’s a chance for this massively corrupt bill to be resurrected at some point over the next few months. Because while the brainwashed loyalists don’t need to be paid to do Trump’s violent bidding, their motivation and resolve can’t help but be increased by making a few bucks or thousands on the side.

Make no mistake, this thing remains all about stealing the midterms and Trump leaving no felonious stone unturned in making sure the election doesn’t veer dangerously into authenticity and integrity. That would prove a nightmare.

This is what gave rise to the “anti-weaponization” idea to begin with. And what a genius notion it was to make its handle the very opposite of its design. It is, in fact, the ultimate “weaponization” fund. Orwell himself couldn’t have created something with a greater sense of absurdity.

And so, the same party that has spent years screaming about government power and persecution has done its best to preserve it through legislation – or in this case, through a way to hide it going forward.

See, that’s really all that the Republicans were upset about before. It wasn’t the notion that pardoned felons were being rewarded for their handiwork, past and future; it was that they hadn’t done a good enough job disguising it. It wasn’t the degeneracy. It was the identification.

Now, by allowing the slush fund to live on, albeit more quietly, they have more time to figure out a way to attach it to some other bill and no one will notice. They just have to be more creative in their concealment.

This is what we can all glean from the fact that the people who warned us about political persecution have refused to permanently close the door on a fund designed to incentivize misconduct.

It stands as a further lesson that we should never listen to what Republicans say but watch what they do. That’s the only accurate gauge of their intent, their desires, their loyalty, their eagerness to reduce their morals and ethics to whatever can fit inside a thimble when their power is put at risk.

This is what happens when you cease to be a political party but instead a loyalty cult organized around the desires, grievances and appetites of one man.

They have all learned that when it comes to their jobs, their marching orders surround the appeasement of Donald John Trump. If what they do and say helps him, it’s good; if it doesn’t, it’s bad. Fidelity to the Constitution is irrelevant.

It now may well be up to the courts to block the fund, and we all know how that generally turns out. The lower courts will agree it’s illegal, but the Supreme Court will find it to be just fine in their shadow docket assessment as long as Trump’s name is attached to it.

The corruption lately runs deep and across all branches of government. That’s been clear since Trump took office nearly 17 months ago. What’s even more jarring is the open transparency, the hubris, the sheer chutzpah inherent in the depravity.

I posted something the other day on social media that caused numerous MAGA-ites to accuse me of having a Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) agenda. I struggled to defend myself against such a ridiculous charge, so I’d like to put in writing right here that we need a counter-argument to label their own form of madness. Something that speaks to their irrational and unbalanced infatuation with the man.

It's time for us to make Trump Obsession Syndrome (TOS) go viral.

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

President Donald Trump appointed Bill Pulte, a wealthy housing finance official and PulteGroup founder's grandson, as acting director of national intelligence without any prior security clearance or vetting process.

CNN reported that three sources confirmed Pulte had no evidence of even the lowest-level security clearance before being named to oversee all 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA and NSA.

Three sources told CNN the American businessman has no background in intelligence, espionage, or national security. One answered flatly, Pulte passed none of the prior vetting process.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed concern, arguing Pulte lacks evidence that he would respect classified information access.

Bipartisan criticism has since emerged, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) calling for professionals and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) saying Pulte has no path in the Senate.

Trump suggested election conspiracy theories motivated the pick, telling reporters on Thursday, "He may find out some things about the rigged elections."

The law creating the DNI position in 2004 states that nominees have extensive national security expertise.

Watch the video below.

The new chairman of the Federal Reserve is already expected to have a tough time following through on one of Trump's main demands, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Trump tapped Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell in January, but the economy back then looked a lot different, the Journal noted. What hasn't changed is Trump's expectation for lower interest rates, even bringing it up on Friday.

However, recent job reports and inflation are causing economists who pushed for interest rate hikes to move in a more cautious direction and to keep rates steady, per the Journal.

“The U.S. labor market has kicked into a higher gear,” Neil Dutta of Renaissance Macro Research told clients in a Friday note, according to the Journal.

The Journal warned, "The labor-market rebound is setting in motion a collision between the new Fed chair, the bond market and the White House."

White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles put out a statement on X on Friday in reaction to reporting from the Daily Mail that she was expected to leave the Trump administration soon.

"After an accomplishment filled week by President Trump, I have the pleasure of reading a piece of Friday fiction, courtesy of the Daily Mail," wrote Wiles. "To be crystal clear, I am not going anywhere. I am honored and proud to serve President Trump, proud of our team and remain fully committed to advancing his agenda on behalf of the American people."

Wiles took an additional swipe at the press in her statement, saying, "Some in the media have spent a decade trying to manufacture drama around President Trump and people who work for him. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now."

"See you Monday," she added.

According to the original reporting, Wiles, who prior to serving in the White House was a notorious campaign strategist for various Republican figures in Florida, was enraged at Trump's decision to give the Director of National Intelligence office to Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte, a scandal-plagued, hardcore partisan with no qualifications for the intelligence community.

A number of Republicans in the Senate have expressed criticism of the decision to hand the role to Pulte, with Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) telling NOTUS Senate reporter Igor Bobic he has "serious concerns."

Internal government documents reveal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, plans to distribute a "flawed" facial recognition app called the ICE Task Force Module to over 1,200 local police departments across 32 states.

The technology scans faces against a database of 250 million Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, and State Department records to identify deportation targets, requiring no warrant, consent, or notice, according to reports by 404 Media.

ICE's own privacy analysis acknowledges that U.S. citizens will inevitably be caught in scans, with all photos stored for 15 years.

The app targets 287(g) program agencies, effectively converting local officers into ICE agents.

Civil liberties groups warn the system is flawed — in April 2025, U.S. citizen Juan Carlos López-Gómez was wrongly arrested and detained 30 hours after facial recognition misidentified him.

Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's Security and Surveillance Project, warned that an earlier version of the app briefly surfaced on the Google Play Store, and compared police officers' access to such technology to asking a 16-year-old who just failed their driver's exam to pick a dozen classmates.

ACLU deputy director Nate Wessler called the plan a recipe for disaster, noting it generates false matches, terrorizes communities, and entangles untrained police in immigration decisions.

Electronic Frontier Foundation researcher Cooper Quintin warned the technology also expands "omnipresent surveillance and unjust detainment."

Watch the video below.

A clip from President Donald Trump's Friday agriculture roundtable in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, spread quickly online, with critics saying it showed the president struggling to recall the name of the Washington Monument.

The video, shared by liberal account Acyn, shows Trump holding up a picture of his Reflecting Pool renovation.

"It was going to take four years, $400 million. It took really about a month, ok? Can you imagine? Washington, between Lincoln — think of Washington, D.C. between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington ... think about this," the president said, stammering. "You know that beautiful spire in honor of the great George Washington? And the beautiful Lincoln Memorial. So between there, thousands of feet long. It was built in 1922, and to be honest, it never really worked. It leaked like a sieve."

Trump had traveled to the battleground state to court farmers facing economic strain, but spent much of the event touting his Washington beautification projects — including, per CNN, telling the room about the capital's newly working fountains and reflecting pool renovations.

That disconnect drew sharp reactions. Andrew Bates, a former Biden White House deputy press secretary, wrote that Trump's "message to the farmers paying higher prices is that he's having fun redecorating DC with taxpayer money."

The clip quickly drew a wave of mockery from Trump critics online.

Progressive influencer Harry Sisson wrote on X, "25th Amendment now. This is tough to watch."

The progressive news outlet MeidasTouch wrote, "Looks like he just failed a cognitive exam."

Progressive attorney Aaron Parnas wrote on X, "The President of the United States has serious cognitive decline and it's on full display for the world to see."

Hemant Mehta, a former Jeopardy! champion and YouTuber, wrote on X, "He’s on the verge of not being able to name the son who’s named after him."

Jim Stewartson, who writes about the psychological war on democracy, wrote on X, "This demented old man is hopped up on Adderrall which helps with energy but not cognitive decline. Watching this is deeply embarrassing. He has no idea how to escape from the mess he’s made, so he perseverates on things that give him comfort. He is completely dysfunctional."

Trump cut short an interview with NBC News as the sound of rain on a barn's metal roof kept interrupting, journalists shared.

Gabe Gutierrez, a senior White House correspondent for NBC News, revealed that the interview took place inside a Wisconsin barn "at the request of the White House," Gutierrez noted, but "rain repeatedly was hitting the metal roof of the barn."

Kristen Welker and others from the NBC News' Meet the Press team were conducting the interview with Trump, Gutierrez said.

"Trump ended an interview about fifty minutes after it began," following "multiple interruptions" from the rain. He also "disagreed" with questions during a "back and forth about election integrity" before ending the interview.

Trump reportedly showed up to planned events in Wisconsin in a bad mood.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated he is installing "roadblocks" within the Justice Department to prevent Democrats from prosecuting President Donald Trump after his presidency ends.

In an exclusive NewsNation interview with Katie Pavlich surfaced by journalist Aaron Rupar, Blanche expressed concern about the actions some Democrats might take against Trump once his presidency ends.

This marks the latest in a series of moves critics argue have converted the DOJ into Trump's personal protection service.

Previously, Blanche signed an addendum declaring the federal government "FOREVER BARRED" from pursuing IRS audits or tax claims against Trump, his family, or businesses — part of a settlement over leaked tax records.

Critics dispute whether this protection extends to future audits.

Blanche also defended a nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund before withdrawing support after Senate Republican resistance, reports Axios.

Last November, he urged lawyers at a Federalist Society conference to wage war against rogue activist judges blocking Trump's agenda, drawing rebuke from 50 former federal judges.

Blanche previously served as Trump's personal criminal defense attorney.

Watch the video below.

Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner has endured a brutal week of reporting on his personal history and unsavory interactions with women — issues that have left many people wringing their hands over the state of the race. However, MS NOW's Chris Hayes, who interviewed Platner earlier in the week, noted that Maine voters on the street largely seem unfazed.

Part of the reason, he suggested, is that there is genuine disgust with longtime GOP incumbent Susan Collins — despite their "reservations about his character."

"A lot of them ... really do not want to send Susan Collins back to the Senate," said Hayes. For all her posturing over the years as a dealmaker and moderate, she "is really a party line Republican" and "a rubber stamp for the Trump agenda during both terms."

"I also think Senate Republicans realize she's in trouble, right?" he continued. "I mean, this is a state that Donald Trump has lost three times. She managed to win in 2020, but she's got a real tough road ahead of her."

Because they realize she's in trouble, he continued, they organized a "sham vote" in the reconciliation bill for an amendment to formally restrict President Donald Trump's $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization" slush fund — and while the GOP voted it down, Collins and two other vulnerable Republicans were allowed to vote against it.

"Everyone knew that it was doomed to fail from the beginning," said Hayes, because Republicans would not let such a huge rebuke to Trump pass, even though his Justice Department is now claiming the fund won't go forward anyway. "They don't actually want to bar your money from being stolen from the government to pay off cop-beaters and seditionists. And so what they do is Collins gets to pretend to be independent when the stakes don't actually matter."

When they do, though, said Hayes, Collins reliably joins the party line — most famously being "the key vote to get Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court" while falsely assuring voters he would never restrict abortion rights.

- YouTube youtu.be

A former GOP operative predicted that Todd Blanche should expect a double blow to his career on the horizon.

"I'm going to make a prediction," Steve Schmidt said during an interview with former CNN anchor Jim Acosta. "Todd Blanche will not be confirmed as Attorney General, and I'll even lean into it more."

Blanche faced another uncomfortable hearing earlier this week. However, Schmidt said that Blanche's actions as acting AG will hurt his chances of winning the permanent role.

Trump said this week that he'll nominate Blanche for the AG role. However, Schmidt noted that Blanche still has to go through another confirmation vote, but doubted Blanche's chances.

"There's a much greater likelihood of Todd Blanche being disbarred," Schmidt said. "He's going to be disbarred not this year, but soon enough."

Schmidt said that Blanche's defense of Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund "has to be addressed in law." He described the move as "unbelievable."

Last week, a New York bar complaint was filed against Blanche by the Campaign for Accountability, a watchdog group, after a judge flagged vindictive prosecution in the case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The complaint called for an investigation into Blanche.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on Friday, claiming the Democrat had halted a renovation of golf courses at Joint Base Andrews and framing the move as an attack on the U.S. military.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said Moore "has put a halt to all work" on a project to convert the base's two ageing courses into "World Class, Jack Nicklaus Designed Courses," plus nine additional holes he said would be adapted for wounded veterans.

"By doing this, the Governor is attacking the United States Air Force, and our Military, not a smart thing to do," Trump wrote. He demanded to know why "Wounded Warriors" should "be forced to travel long distances to play Golf somewhere else or, worse yet, not play Golf at all," adding: "Our Soldiers and Veterans deserve THE BEST — NO WAITING, NO GAMES!"

Notably, Trump referenced what he called "a long Legal Review process" standing in the way — a detail suggesting the holdup may be procedural. He did not elaborate.

Trump first announced the Nicklaus project in November after an aerial tour of the base, calling the existing courses "in very bad shape." Questions about who would pay for design work on military property have gone unanswered since, even as the White House touted Trump's "champion-level" golf credentials.

The clash adds to a string of legal headaches dogging Trump's construction ambitions.

His $400 million White House ballroom has been repeatedly blocked in court, with a federal judge barring above-ground work absent congressional authorization. The friction also lands as Trump faces broader scrutiny from the legal world — a recent survey found 94% of judges and lawyers believe his second administration poses a greater threat to the rule of law than his first.

The House passed a spending bill Thursday night that included $141 million in cuts to the WIC program, which provides fruit and vegetable assistance to women, infants, and children.

The narrow 213-210 vote would not have passed without support from four House Democrats: Donald Davis (D-NC), Adam Gray (D-CA), Vicente González (D-TX), and Marie Glusenkamp Pérez (D-WA), according to The New Republic. Three of the Democrats, Gray, González, and Pérez, are members of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

The Supplemental Food Assistance Program, or SNAP, operates through the Agriculture Department, and a program within SNAP, referred to as WIC, specifically provides fruit and vegetable assistance to women, infants and children.

The cuts are considered puzzling during an economic downturn when WIC enrollment is likely to increase, and food prices remain elevated.

Observers questioned why fruit and vegetable assistance for mothers and children was deemed acceptable to reduce, particularly as the program supports vulnerable populations during financial hardship.

Watch the video below.

An influencer couple who shared a heartbreaking decision to terminate a pregnancy online has revealed they now keep a loaded gun at their bedside because of the death threats they have received.

According to TMZ, Jesse and Ashley Ridgway of New Jersey say that the hate has come thick and fast "since announcing they terminated a pregnancy because their unborn child had Down syndrome."

They also told the site that they have been flooded with anger "from people they know personally to religious critics telling them they're going to hell and that Ashley doesn't deserve to be a mother."

In a lengthy post earlier this week, Jesse announced the decision and explained why they made it.

"When I first confronted this news, I was shocked but optimistic. If they’re a little slow intellectually, then we’ll make it work. I signed on to be a parent, come what may ... but I just didn’t fully understand what Down Syndrome entailed," he said, explaining that 75 percent of people with the condition have impaired hearing, half have impaired vision or heart defects, and half of Down Syndrome pregnancies end in miscarriage. Ultimately, he noted, 90 percent of pregnancies with this diagnosis are terminated.

"To all of my fans who have weighed in on this topic who have Autism, Down Syndrome or any other conditions ... we appreciate you," he wrote. "You matter a lot and we’re glad you’re here. I commend you and your families for having the strength and courage to push forward. As for us, we made a difficult decision that we believe in the long-run will be beneficial for our family. Thankfully, we had a choice."

White House officials have responded to reports that Susie Wiles is planning to ditch her role as Trump's chief of staff.

"Total bull—," wrote the official White House Rapid Response account. "Another fake hatchet job from a wannabe reporter peddling anonymous sources who don't actually know anything."

The Daily Mail reported that Susie Wiles is plotting a post-midterms exit because she was insulted by Trump's appointment of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence.

Similarly, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair denied the story, writing that it's "both absurd and totally false" in a post on X.

"The self-serving are working overtime today," he blasted, as other MAGA accounts echoed his denial.

President Donald Trump has a reputation for bending Republicans to his will, but a political scientist said Friday there's a quiet trick Republicans use to kill his priorities — without ever casting a vote against him.

In a New York Times conversation, Good Politics/Bad Politics writer Jonathan Bernstein laid out the strategy political scientist Matthew Glassman calls "negative agenda setting." If Republicans simply never bring something to a vote, it vanishes, and no one has to go on record opposing the president.

"As Trump's unpopularity among voters starts to really sink in, Senate Republicans seem to be more willing to go public," Bernstein said. "But there are still lots of things, from nominations to specific budget requests, that just disappear."

Trump has repeatedly demanded the Senate nuke the filibuster to ram through his SAVE Act voter restrictions — and Senate leadership has simply refused to move on it. His proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund was stripped down after Senate Republicans balked, and even outgoing senators have admitted colleagues are deliberately sitting on the sidelines to avoid a public fight.

Bernstein argued that Trump makes it easy by not sweating the details. A more engaged president, he said, would fight for these items — or never propose doomed ones in the first place. Instead, they quietly die without a vote.

"If they never take an action on something, say a vote, poof, it’s gone," said John Guida, a Times Opinion editor.

WASHINGTON — A Louisiana detention center that houses roughly 1,500 immigrants failed to ensure sanitary conditions, properly store perishable food, properly notify use-of-force incidents and maintain medical records of detainees, according to a report published Thursday by the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog.

The findings stem from an unannounced visit from federal inspectors in March 2025 to the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana.

The report from the DHS Office of Inspector General comes on the heels of multiple hunger strikes from immigrants at detention centers, protests outside facilities, a rise in deaths in detention and calls from Democratic lawmakers to shut down certain sites due to poor and inhumane conditions.

In a statement, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson characterized the report as showing only “minor infractions” at the facility, but did not address the reports of improper use of force.

“These minor infractions included failing to provide detainees exercise equipment, record keeping errors, and leaking vents,” the DHS spokesperson said. “Another infraction included providing a shared computer for legal research that would allow other detainees to see other detainees’ case information.”

The spokesperson said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is working to address the issues laid out in the report, including “by adding additional training to facility staff.”

Use-of-force reporting

Facility staff did not properly notify the ICE field office of several use-of-force incidents, and videos of the incidents that inspectors tried to review were incomplete, according to the report.

The incidents the OIG reviewed included “applying a choke hold around a detainee’s neck,” and “puncturing a detainee’s skin with a pen to gain compliance.”

In the first video reviewed by inspectors, an officer applied a chokehold to stop an altercation between detainees. OIG investigators noted that the facility agreed “that the officer should receive remedial training.”

In a second video, “an officer could not close and secure a housing unit because a detainee would not remove his hand from the unit’s door. After verbally ordering the detainee to remove his hand, the officer then stabbed the detainee’s right thumb with a pen, puncturing the skin.”

OIG detailed that the “facility investigated the incident and determined that the officer required disciplinary action.”

But because the facility does not have a process to document when staff received extra training or disciplinary actions, inspectors argued they could not tell if staff who used prohibited practices or did not follow standards during use-of-force incidents received the appropriate follow-up training or disciplinary actions.

“This could lead to staff repeating inappropriate use-of-force tactics that could potentially result in property damage, injury, and death,” according to the report.

Sanitation and recreation

The report recommended that detainees be provided some recreational activities or equipment and noted that ICE complied, adding soccer balls, beanbag toss and pull-up bars.

The OIG report also found three leaking vents in the kitchen area, and raised concerns about sanitation.

“Because Winn did not conduct maintenance sufficient to prevent the leaks or repair or remove these leaking items, the facility risks food-safety hazards, such as residue leaking onto food preparation materials or into prepared food,” according to the report.

Inspectors also found the refrigerators and freezers that stored the food were not at proper temperatures.

“Storing perishable food at temperatures above the required ranges could cause food spoilage or rotting and potentially place staff and detainees at risk of food borne illnesses if served and consumed,” according to the report.

OIG made recommendations to ICE to fix the leaks and food temperature, and the agency agreed. OIG could not determine if ICE fixed the leaks, but did find ICE resolved the issue of food being stored at the proper temperature.

It's billed as the hottest ticket in Washington — but the celebrities aren't biting, according to a new report.

President Donald Trump's $60 million birthday event, a UFC cage fight on the White House South Lawn set for June 14, has the capital's power players competing for seats, Vanity Fair reports. Donors, lobbyists, and members of Congress have flooded the White House with requests, the outlet reported, with ringside seats reportedly going to those willing to pay more than $1 million in sponsorships.

But Hollywood appears to be going the other way.

UFC boss Dana White told Time magazine he'd invited a roster of A-listers, including Adam Sandler, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jared Leto, Mario Lopez, and Tom Brady. According to Vanity Fair, few if any, will actually attend, as representatives for The Rock, Sandler, Leto, and Lopez all said they won't be there.

The reluctance fits a pattern around Trump's 250th anniversary plans, the magazine noted.

A National Mall concert series fell apart this week after most of its lineup — including a Milli Vanilli singer and Bret Michaels — pulled out, with several citing Trump's partisanship. Trump responded by proposing to replace it with a MAGA rally.

The event falls on Trump's 80th birthday, with a guest list curated by Trump himself, as the war in Iran continues.