Good morning and Happy Sunday! Here’s what’s on tap today:
Trump has reporters physically removed from WH grounds
Thousands encircle the Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s takeover
Trump brags about his "crazy" power, signing an executive order he's never read
GOP canvassers report: Republican enthusiasm is gone
And we’ve rounded up some other headlines you might have missed. Let’s get into it.
1. Trump bans CNN, MSNBC, and Politico from the White House — and physically removes reporters
The credentials didn't just get suspended — they got confiscated.
On Saturday morning, Secret Service agents seized the press passes of journalists from MS Now, CNN, and Politico at a security gate outside the West Wing, one day after Trump announced he was banning all three outlets from the executive branch complex.
Trump, asked which outlets he might target next, floated two more and called them "disgusting."
Brian Stelter framed the stakes cleanly: "You cannot have the attention without the accountability. Trump's been trying to figure out ways to do that." (Huffington Post News).
Rachel Maddow went further, arguing Trump's motivation is less about the coverage itself than what he extracts from the fight — the signal to his base, and the chilling effect on everyone watching.
The president is not well. Trump's mental faculties are rapidly failing and he cannot be allowed to continue as president.
Please sign our petition to invoke the 25th Amendment — help us hit our goal!
2. Thousands encircle the Kennedy Center in the weekend's most visually striking act of resistance
After Trump threatened to demolish the Kennedy Center and shut it to the public following a court ruling against his renaming bid, thousands of protesters descended on the landmark over the weekend, surrounding it completely, linking hands to create a human chain, and demanding he keep his hands off American arts and culture.
The signs were sharp ("You're No Jack Kennedy"), the turnout was huge, and the image — thousands of people physically encircling a national cultural institution against a president threatening to tear it down — was powerful.
Courts blocked the rename. The public blocked the narrative. Trump got humiliated by a crowd carrying Wicked puns.
3. Trump brags about "crazy" power, signs executive order he's never read
In a single Rose Garden evening, Trump managed to threaten to ban fishing as a demonstration of his presidential power and then, while reading aloud from his own executive order on hunting, discover in real time that it protected the use of lead ammunition — a fact he apparently learned from the teleprompter.
"I never knew this was a problem, Doug," he told Interior Secretary Burgum.
"I don't know what the hell that means, but I know one thing: You wanted it."
The man signing the orders doesn't know what's in them. The people writing the orders know he won't ask.
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