THE BIG PICTURE
Trump returned from Beijing to a country in open revolt on multiple fronts: the Long Island Rail Road is shut down by the largest commuter rail strike in North American history, the Supreme Court is systematically dismantling Black political representation, and a new disclosure reveals the president may be engineering a $1.7 billion taxpayer payout to himself and his allies through the IRS.
Meanwhile, Kash Patel snorkeled at a mass military grave and at least five pardoned January 6th rioters are already back in handcuffs.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
1. The $1.7 Billion Presidential Slush Fund
The biggest corruption story of the weekend — and possibly the year — is the emerging picture of Trump potentially settling his own lawsuit against the IRS in a deal that would create a $1.7 billion fund to compensate himself and his political allies with taxpayer money (The Guardian US). This follows Saturday's reporting on the full scale of what critics are calling a personal presidential "slush fund" (The Daily Beast).
To be direct: this is a sitting president suing his own government's tax agency and then settling with himself for billions in public money. There is no precedent for this. It deserves wall-to-wall coverage from corporate media. But will it happen?