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THE BIG PICTURE
Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund is now a full-blown legal and political crisis: Capitol police officers who bled on January 6th have sued to block it, Jamie Raskin is moving to subpoena officials behind it, and even the Wall Street Journal is calling it "rotten" — while a convicted Jan. 6 rioter told HuffPost he's already expecting a check.
Meanwhile, Trump is melting down on multiple fronts simultaneously: record-low approval on the economy, a rambling Coast Guard commencement speech where he slurred his words and confused Obama with Biden, and a secret clash with Netanyahu as his Middle East strategy comes apart at the seams.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS
1. The Slush Fund Has a Lawsuit — and Its First Applicant
Since our last briefing on the $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," the story has escalated from outrage to open legal war. Capitol Police officers who defended the building on January 6 have now filed suit, calling the fund "stunningly, blindingly illegal" and arguing it violates the Constitution's explicit bar on aiding insurrectionists (Huffington Post News). The suit was filed by a retired Capitol officer and a DC officer who allege the fund is a direct taxpayer-funded reward for the mob that nearly killed them (The Guardian US).
On the Hill, Rep. Jamie Raskin is moving to subpoena the officials who engineered the deal (The New Republic), and Democrats are maneuvering to force Republicans on the record with a floor vote (The New Republic). Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal — Rupert Murdoch's own paper — called the fund "rotten" and predicted Democrats will be running ads about it straight through 2028 (The Daily Beast). JD Vance, asked directly whether Jan. 6 rioters would get payouts, refused to rule it out (Huffington Post News). And one of Trump's former staffers — Michael Caputo — is already the fund's first known applicant (The New Republic).
Why it matters: This is the corruption story of the year, and it now has plaintiffs, subpoenas, and a paper trail. The people who literally bled to defend the Capitol are the ones suing.
2. Trump's Approval on the Economy Just Hit a Record Low
A new poll shows Trump at a record low on economic approval, with even Republican voters now flashing warning signs (The Daily Beast). This lands as Trump was publicly bragging about his handling of the economy — a juxtaposition the Daily Beast clocked with precision (The Daily Beast). Trump's favorite pollster separately warned of a potential "MAGA Texas Massacre" in the Senate race, where Democrats now see their best shot at a Texas Senate seat in decades — in part because Trump just endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn, a move his own party is calling a "self-own" (The New Republic) (The Daily Beast).
Why it matters: The electoral math is starting to crack. Texas. Record-low economic numbers. A pollster Trump trusts delivering bad news. This is the midterm environment taking shape.
3. Trump Unravels at the Podium — and in Private
Trump delivered a commencement address at the Coast Guard Academy Wednesday that observers described as a slurring, rambling descent into gibberish (The Daily Beast). He confused Obama and Biden in what was framed as a "worrying war gaffe" (The Daily Beast), and the speech was overshadowed before it even began by a series of logistical disasters (The Daily Beast). Separately, a report reveals Trump watched Xi Jinping's chummy meeting with Putin on television and was left scrambling to console himself over the snub (The Daily Beast) — a striking image of a president increasingly isolated from the global order he claims to command. Behind the scenes, Trump and Netanyahu are clashing in a secret phone call as their joint strategy comes apart (The Daily Beast).
Why it matters: The cognitive and diplomatic decline is happening in public now. The Coast Guard speech is clippable. The Putin-Xi snub is symbolic. And the Netanyahu rupture signals that even the administration's most durable alliance is under strain.
4. Trump Declares War on the Senate Parliamentarian Over His Ballroom
After Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough blocked $1 billion in taxpayer funding for Trump's White House ballroom renovation, Trump publicly called for her removal (Huffington Post News) and swore "crackpot revenge" against her (The Daily Beast). Republicans were then forced to abandon their latest tactic to sneak ballroom funding through reconciliation (The New Republic). New details have also emerged that the "ballroom" project includes a sprawling underground military fortress being quietly constructed beneath the East Wing, which has triggered a genuine MAGA civil war over costs (The Daily Beast).
Why it matters: This is peak authoritarian vanity project — a secret underground fortress being funded through a reconciliation bill while the president attacks the nonpartisan official who said no. It's also a rare moment of Republican pushback that deserves documentation.
5. RFK Jr. Purges Health Screening Officials as ICE Defies Court Order
RFK Jr. fired the two leaders of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force — the independent body that determines when insurance must cover free preventive screenings like mammograms — with no explanation (AP Politics). The same day, ICE arrested an immigrant less than 24 hours after a federal judge had ordered his protection, with the man's attorneys calling it "utter contempt for the rule of law" (Huffington Post News). A separate executive order now requires banks to check customers' citizenship status — a demand experts say is operationally impossible, since banks have never collected that information (The New Republic).
Why it matters: Three stories, one pattern: the administration is systematically dismantling every institutional check — health, legal, financial — that might slow its agenda. Each item is a story on its own; together they're a drumbeat.
THINGS TO WATCH
The slush fund as constitutional stress test. Every day brings a new actor — officers, Democrats, Murdoch's paper, late-night hosts — piling on. This is developing into a genuine constitutional confrontation, not just a corruption scandal.
Trump attacking referees. The Senate parliamentarian. Federal judges. The IRS's own lawyers. The pattern of going after neutral institutional actors when they say no is accelerating — and we should be paying attention.
Republican micro-dissent is growing — slowly. A small but increasing number of Hill Republicans are breaking with Trump on specific votes. Not enough to matter yet, but worth tracking as the economic numbers worsen.
The Iran war's domestic political blowback. Trump admitted he's "in no rush" to make a deal, even as his own supporters call in to right-wing radio to contradict his claims about the Strait of Hormuz. The war is becoming a liability with his base, not just the left.
Immigration enforcement going full outlaw. ICE defying court orders, raiding ICE-watch activists' homes, ordering banks to screen citizenship: the enforcement apparatus is now operating as if judicial oversight is optional.
👀 KEPT OUT OF YOUR FEED
What the algorithm buried:
The nonprofit that's supposed to protect gambling addicts is now lobbying to expand sports betting — and The New Republic traced exactly how Big Tobacco pulled off the same playbook.
Trump voters in Georgia are begging AOC for help — and the reason why will make your blood boil.
A Tennessee man spent 37 days in jail for a Facebook post about Charlie Kirk — and just won $835,000 for it.
The US and Israel reportedly tried to install Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new leader — yes, the same guy who spent years calling for Israel's destruction.
Thousands of Mississippians are marching against the Supreme Court's gutting of the Voting Rights Act — and they held the rally at the exact building where the racist "Mississippi Plan" was born.
Marjorie Taylor Greene thinks releasing the Epstein files destroyed the Republican Party — and she's not wrong
Trump spent a Coast Guard commencement checking out cadets' bodies instead of, you know, leading the country.
The Trump admin and Israel reportedly tried to install Ahmadinejad as Iran's next leader — yes, the Holocaust denier who called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
A convicted child sex abuser is in line to collect from Trump's $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" — because Trump pardoned him for Jan. 6, and Todd Blanche confirmed rioters who assaulted cops could qualify.
The Daily Show's Ronny Chieng asked the question no one in America wants to answer after Massie got crushed for releasing the Epstein files
Jon Stewart just said the quiet part loud about CBS — and his line about why they're killing Colbert's show is genuinely savage.
Jimmy Kimmel just called Trump's $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" the "most brazenly corrupt move by any president ever" — and the part about who gets the money is even worse
NOTICE POLLING
Yesterday, we asked, Do you think Trump's "forever" IRS deal will actually hold up?
ALMOST 90% OF YOU SAID NO:
“Criminal justices are just as accountable as the rest of us ...”
- wwood
“The courts and congress both need to remove him, now… ”
- ses8726“Until trump is gone this trend will continue. It's going to take years to clean up the aftermath. ”
- callajr.jc
“It's so blantly illegal, how can it possibly stand? Eventually this evil president and regime will be gone and justice will be served. ”
- obitlinda1712
“It will hold up as long as Trump/MAGA is calling the shots. Someday, there will be accountability. ”
- capthonb3
A lot of new people joined this week. If you've been on the fence — now's a good time. Paid memberships are 50% off →
Until next time,
