Grifters. Chump is one and he
attracts them as a result. Michael Flynn is one of the grifters. And
he's stealing out money now thanks to Chump. Daniel Hampton (Raw Story) reports:
The
Justice Department has reportedly reached a settlement with Michael
Flynn, the retired three-star general and former Trump national security
adviser who sued the department for $50 million over what he called a
politically motivated prosecution.
Flynn filed
the suit in 2023, alleging the government "improperly and politically"
targeted him because of his ties to President Trump's 2016 campaign. He
admitted in 2017 to lying to FBI investigators about his contacts with
then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, and made a second admission of
false statements in 2018 as part of his cooperation with special counsel
Robert Mueller. However, he tried to withdraw his plea in 2020 and
accused prosecutors of "bad faith and vindictiveness."
The
DOJ moved to drop the case against Flynn in May 2020, arguing further
prosecution "would not serve the interests of justice." kicking off a
fierce legal battle. Trump ultimately pardoned Flynn in the final weeks
of his first term.
When Flynn accepted the pardon, he made an admission to guilt. That's how it works.
President
Donald Trump faced a bruising election night on Tuesday, as two
Democrats flipped seats in reliably red Florida and the North Carolina
Senate leader the president had endorsed for reelection conceded defeat
in his primary race.
The
results serve as another sign of trouble for Republicans, who are
embarking on a difficult campaign to keep control of both the House and
Senate in November’s midterm elections. Historically, the party in power
usually gives up seats in midterm elections. Trump has urged the GOP to
redraw congressional maps across the country to give Republican
candidates an advantage ahead of November’s elections, although the
effort that could end up backfiring.
Democrats
have celebrated Tuesday’s victories in Florida as another signal that
voters are turning against Trump and Republicans. They are the latest in
a series of special election victories for Democrats across the country
since the president returned to the White House more than a year ago.
Wednesday, March 25, 2026. Americans are not happy with the job market,
or the economy, or Chump's war on Immigrants or on Chump's war on Iran,
but Chump's lackey Stephen Miller is pushing against a Supreme Court
ruling to overturn education for children in the United States.
More
Americans say they are struggling at their jobs rather than thriving,
even as confidence in the job market has hit a new low, according to a
poll.
The latest Gallup poll shows that for the
first time since they began tracking U.S. workers’ life satisfaction, a
larger share say they are struggling (49 percent) than thriving (46
percent).
A year ago, 47 percent said they were struggling, while 49 percent said they were thriving.
What
happened? Donald Chump. Make America Great Again just meant bigger
tax breaks for the rich. It meant destroying federal agencies. It
meant destroying federal oversight -- protecting workers on the job,
protecting our environment. It meant putting a tag on everything and
selling it off. It meant lying to a bunch of uninformed people who will
never be rich -- or even well off -- that the destruction of our public
square was going to help them in some way.
President
Donald Trump is now underwater on every major issue tested, according
to new polling, as economic anxiety and foreign policy tensions build
ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Voters are juggling higher prices, economic unease and a widening war with Iran, and history suggests that kind of environment rarely favors the party in power.
Trump’s
approval rating has fallen to its lowest-ever level in a new survey
from media outlet The Argument, which polled 1,519 registered voters
nationwide between March 12 and March 17, 2026, with a margin of error
of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
In its latest
national survey, just 40 percent of registered voters said they approved
of Trump’s performance, while 58 percent disapproved.
That produced a net approval rating of -18, the worst result for Trump in the history of The Argument’s polling series.
While Trump has long been a polarizing figure, this moment marks uncharted territory
because, according to the outlet, no previous Trump-era poll it has
fielded—across either presidency—has produced numbers this negative.
President
Donald Trump's approval rating fell in recent days to its lowest point
since he returned to the White House, hit by a surge in fuel prices and
widespread disapproval of the war he launched on Iran, a Reuters/Ipsos
poll found.
The four-day
poll, completed on Monday, showed 36% of Americans approve of Trump's
job performance, down from 40% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last
week.
Americans' views on Trump soured
significantly with regard to his stewardship over the economy and the
cost of living, as gasoline prices have surged since the U.S. and Israel
launched coordinated strikes on Iran on February 28. Just 25% of
respondents approved of Trump's handling of the cost of living, an issue
that was at the center of his 2024 presidential election campaign.
Only
29% of the country approves of Trump's economic stewardship, the lowest
rating in either of Trump's presidential administrations and lower than
any economic approval rating of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
President
Donald Trump reportedly ordered 3,000 more U.S. troops to the Middle
East this week, reported Fox News Chief National Security Correspondent
Jennifer Griffin on Tuesday.
“Fox News has
learned that the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division Maj Gen Brandon
Tegtmeier and his ‘command element,’ members of his headquarters staff,
have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East as the Pentagon and
White House weigh whether to send the 82nd Airborne Division to the
Middle East for possible land operations,” Griffin wrote on X.
The Wall Street Journal also confirmed the report,
noting, “Officials cautioned that a decision to put boots on the ground
in Iran hasn’t been made. But deploying the 82nd opens the door to
President Trump for several strategic options.”
Pakistan’s
prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, says his country is ready to
“facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks” to end the war in the
Middle East amid attempts to push Islamabad as a possible venue for
negotiations between the US and Iran.
Pakistani
sources said the US vice-president, JD Vance, was being put forward as a
probable chief negotiator from the US side if talks went ahead. Iranian
sources have said they would refuse to sit down with Trump’s Middle
East envoy, Steve Witkoff, or Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who led
the nuclear negotiations with Iran before the war.
Officials
in Pakistan said the US and Iran could meet for negotiations in
Islamabad as early as this week to discuss an end to the war, which
began almost a month ago.
[. . .]
The
source said the Iranian side viewed Vance as a more acceptable
interlocutor. Vance is widely viewed as a sceptic of the decision to
entangle the US in a Middle East war and has largely kept quiet on the
conflict. “If the negotiations are going to have any outcome, JD Vance
should join,” they said. “With Witkoff and Kushner, nothing will come
out of it. We have seen that in the past.”
When
Joe Biden was elected president, he frequently asserted that “America
was back” and collaborating with allies again. But the fact that the
United States would elect Donald Trump once was enough to make the world
skeptical of that claim, and as the New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada writes,
not only was that mistrust “vindicated with Trump’s return to the White
House, but his second term has marked the emergence of a “post-America
world” from which there may be no recovery.
As
evidence of this, Lozada cites the recent words of Canadian Prime
Minister Mark Carney, who warned, “The old order is not coming back. We
shouldn’t mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
According
to Lozada, the “Pax Americana, that U.S.-led system of alliances and
institutions that promoted American interests and values and helped
avoid major conflicts in the decades after World War II, is gone, and
irretrievably so.” Trump’s presidency has shredded those alliances and
diminished those institutions to the point where “it is clear by now
that the United States has ceased to be the leader of the free world.”
Lozada
uses the example of Trump’s war on Iran, which Trump launched after a
year of steadily alienating allies before asking those very allies for
help. When they refused, Trump responded with characteristic bluster,
saying, “We don’t need anybody. We’re the strongest nation in the world.
We have the strongest military by far in the world. We don’t need
them.”
Chump's destroyed America's place in the world. And now? Iranian officials want to speak with . . . JD Vance.
Donald
Trump’s tirades about Iran are getting uglier. He let out one rant that
positively relished U.S. military domination of Iran and seethed about
the media’s refusal to acknowledge his greatness. He unleashed a second
tirade that dripped with bizarre triumphalism, angrily declaring the war
“won,” which raises questions about why it’s continuing. And Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a rant that was drenched in bloodlust.
This comes as a new Strength in Numbers/Verasight poll
finds Trump’s approval at 37 percent and underwater on every issue,
with majorities questioning the war’s most basic premises. That mirrors
other polls from CBS, Reuters and NBC showing him in trouble and a recent Quinnipiac poll finding his coalition fracturing over the war.
President Trump’s threat to “obliterate”
power stations in Iran if its leaders failed to open the Strait of
Hormuz suggests that the United States is willing to violate
international humanitarian law as part of its military campaign,
according to current and former human rights officials.
“If
Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within
48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America
will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE
BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday.
The
president’s threat appears to be part of his erratic messaging
campaign, which is often construed as bluster or misdirection.
“Trump
is openly threatening a war crime,” said Kenneth Roth, a former
executive director of Human Rights Watch. “And people aren’t saying
anything because they’re numb to it.”
By threatening to attack civilian
infrastructure, Mr. Trump has once again pushed the United States into
territory more familiar to its enemies than its allies.
In
2024, the International Criminal Court issued four arrest warrants to
Russian military officers and officials charging them with war crimes
for attacking “Ukrainian electric infrastructure.”
International
law, specifically Article 52 of the first additional protocol of the
Geneva Conventions, prohibits attacks on civilian objects. These laws
are meant to protect civilians and those who can no longer fight, such
as wounded soldiers, from the “barbarity of war.”
At MEIDASTOUCH NEWS this morning, Ben provides an overview of the ongoing war.
Last night on MS NOW, Lawrence O'Donnell took on the childish whines of Chump.
Today on MS NOW's MORNING JOE, they took on Pete Hegseth's immaturity and inexperience.
As the war with Iran continues and gas prices rise, Paul Krugman notes Chump's attack on energy sources that aren't fossil fuel-based:
We are now in a global fossil fuel crisis. With oil and
liquefied natural gas from the Persian Gulf unable to reach
international markets due to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz,
hydrocarbon prices have been soaring around the world and widespread
shortages are emerging. Anyone who thought that the U.S. would be
insulated from this dire picture thanks to its large domestic oil
production has had a rude awakening: the average retail price of gasoline has risen more than $1 per gallon over the past month, while the price of diesel is up $1.60.
But
the Trump administration hasn’t allowed these short-run distractions to
divert it from its long-run goals: It remains deeply committed to
killing renewable energy, especially wind power, and increasing
America’s reliance on fossil fuels.
True, some of the
administration’s attacks on wind power have failed: Its efforts to
throttle offshore wind development by ordering developers to stop work
on projects that are already underway have repeatedly been overruled by the courts. But the administration is continuing to block development of onshore wind and solar power by freezing the issuance of federal permits.
And
on Monday the Interior Department unveiled a new tactic in its war on
wind: It announced that it will pay TotalEnergies, a French energy
giant, almost $1 billion to not produce energy — specifically to abandon its plans to build two large wind farms off the East Coast.
To
understand the Trump administration’s motives in its campaign to kill
renewable energy, one must realize that this campaign is both
economically self-destructive and, despite the best efforts of the
fossil fuel industry, deeply unpopular.
Immigration. Former US Senator
Markwayne Mullin on Monday was confirmed as the new Secretary of
Homeland Security. As a former legislator, maybe the law will matter to
him in a way that it did not matter to Kristi Noem? Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Renuka Rayasam, and Amanda Seitz (CNN) report:
Carlos
arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Mexico
in December, believing he was one step closer to reuniting with his
children. By that point, his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter
had been in a federal shelter in Texas for nearly a year after crossing
the border to be with him.
“I
feel like I’m suffocating inside this shelter, trapped with no way out,”
Carlos’ son said, according to one of the teens’ attorneys, when asked
to describe how he felt after months at the Houston-area facility.
“Every day, the same routine. Every day, feeling stuck. It makes me feel
hopeless and terrified.”
During daily video
calls, Carlos, who had temporary protected status, urged the siblings to
be patient, to trust the process. Federal officials had vetted Carlos
before he could be granted custody and told him his case was complete.
He believed he would soon be back with his children, who, like him, had
sought refuge from political violence in Venezuela.
An
immigration officer called Carlos on a Friday and asked him to attend a
meeting at an ICE office the following Monday to discuss reunification
with his children. Once Carlos arrived, officers tried to force him to
sign documents he said he didn’t understand. When he refused, they
stripped off his clothes, seized his ID and belongings, and chained him
by the neck, waist, and legs.
“They
tricked me,” Carlos said in a phone call from an immigration detention
center in El Paso, Texas, where he was held for several months. “They
used my children to grab me,” he said.
In
reporting on the family’s story, KFF Health News reviewed court
documents, spoke with the family’s immigration attorneys, interviewed
Carlos, and reviewed statements from his children, translated from
Spanish. Carlos is a pseudonym, being used at the request of attorneys
concerned that speaking out could jeopardize Carlos’ immigration case or
further delay his reunion with his family.
Since
2003, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee
Resettlement has cared for immigrant children under 18 who arrive in the
country without their parents, often fleeing violence, abuse, or
trafficking. The office, which in February had more than 2,300 children
in shelters or with foster families across the country, is supposed to
promptly release them to vetted caregivers, typically parents or other
family members already living in the country.
Congress
placed this responsibility with the health agency over 20 years ago to
prioritize the well-being of unaccompanied children and separate their
care from immigration enforcement priorities.
Now
the second Trump administration is using migrant children held by the
resettlement office to lure their parents, such as Carlos, whether or
not they have a criminal record. A KFF Health News investigation found
the resettlement office, headed by a former ICE official, coordinates with the Department of Homeland Security to arrest people seeking custody of migrant children.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem may have been fired from that role
following President Donald Trump's rage over her massive taxpayer
expenditure on a commercial promoting herself, but she wasn't cast out
of the Trump administration entirely — and her new assignment was met
with widespread mockery as it was widely seen as a move to humiliate
her.
Trump initially announced her
firing as a new appointment as Special Envoy to the Shield of the
Americas — a small, made-up role that was a clear downgrade to a
Cabinet-level office. And on Tuesday, CBS News' Olivia Gazis reported
that "In her capacity as Special Envoy to Shield of the Americas Kristi
Noem will report directly to Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau, per
a State Department official."
This new development that her boss will be a deputy triggered a fresh wave of ridicule.
"Oof," wrote Politico diplomatic correspondent Felicia Schwartz.
"In
March Madness terms, this is basically like getting kicked off the
starting five and wounding up as the unlucky student who ensures the
team mascot isn't being hassled by drunk frat boys," writer Charlotte
Clymer posted.
Pam
Bondi might have just “exposed” the real mastermind behind Donald
Trump’s controversial policies, whom social media is hailing as the
“shadow president” and someone who is actually pulling the strings. She
revealed that it was none other than Stephen Miller who was the
architect behind Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.
cities.
According to The
Mirror, the President (79) was joined by top officials from his MAGA
administration at a roundtable discussion about the Memphis Safe Task
Force’s operations and successes on Monday, March 23, 2026, afternoon.
Reportedly,
Bondi (60) was one of the pivotal figures and spoke about Trump’s
decision to deploy the National Guard to the southern city. The Attorney
General revealed with great pride that United States Homeland Security
Advisor Stephen Miller (40) was the “real mastermind” behind the
decision.
Stephen
Miller was met with an “uncomfortable silence” when he tried to demand
loyalty from Texas House Republicans during a closed-door meeting,
according to reports.
The White House deputy
chief of staff met with Texas lawmakers last week to try to push them to
pass more hardline immigration policies in the red state.
The
four-hour meeting got off to an embarrassing start for the top Donald
Trump ally when Miller asked, “Do we have a RINO problem in
Texas?”—using the insulting acronym for “Republican in name only” that
MAGA supporters use against GOP lawmakers deemed too moderate or
insufficiently loyal to the president’s ultra-conservative agenda.
“There
was no answer—it was just uncomfortable silence,” State Rep. Tom
Oliverson, the chairman of the Texas House Republican Caucus, told The New York Times.
Fellow
state Rep. Charlie Geren also walked out of the room after becoming
frustrated with Miller’s questions about “RINOs” in Texas, according to
the conservative website Current Revolt, which first reported on the meeting.
Last week, Stephen Miller—Don Trump’s wartime consigliere—met with Texas’s Republican legislators and asked them why they hadn’t passed a bill that banned undocumented children from public schools.
At first glance, the answer to that question might be that in 1982, the Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe
that states were legally required to pay for the elementary school
education of children regardless of their immigration status. But, as
Tom Oliverson, the chairman of the Texas House Republican Caucus, told The New York Times yesterday, “There’s a lot of people that believe that that ruling has some pretty faulty logic associated with it.”
Well, sure. The Supreme Court clearly had a bias in favor of a generally
well-educated public, able to perform the range of jobs and tasks that a
functioning nation tends to require. That a bias in favor of a
well-educated public has seldom infected Texas Republicans, Fox News,
the MAGA movement, or Stephen Miller and his Don goes without saying.
Indeed, a well-educated public inherently poses a long-term threat to
authoritarians and authoritarian wannabes, inasmuch as such a public may
wish to have a say in many public policies.
As Mother Jones‘ Isabela Dias reported
back in 2022, this isn’t the first time that Miller has attempted this.
In 2019, during Trump’s first term, he reportedly led a similar push.
One that, according to TIME, he’d been driving at since 2017.
In the decades since Plyler, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to upend the highest court’s ruling. The current one is buoyed by the Trump administration’s multi-pronged anti-immigration campaign that has come to define his second term.
As Mother Jones‘ Isabela Dias reported
back in 2022, this isn’t the first time that Miller has attempted this.
In 2019, during Trump’s first term, he reportedly led a similar push.
One that, according to TIME, he’d been driving at since 2017.
In the decades since Plyler, there have been several unsuccessful attempts to upend the highest court’s ruling. The current one is buoyed by the Trump administration’s multi-pronged anti-immigration campaign that has come to define his second term.
Miller isn’t alone. Also this month, Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, led a House hearing to discuss how Plyler “was wrongly decided and how it harms America’s schools and students,” according to his press office.
During the meeting, Roy said in his opening statement: “It’s time for
it to go.” Roy went on to criticize programs in schools that taught
English to language learners and refugees. Roy is currently vying for
Attorney General of Texas in a runoff election.
Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, cited Roy’s hopes in his response: “Toying with children’s futures to win a primary election is the tactic of a small, sad man.”
This enlivened push to restrict access to public education comes as scores of immigrant children are already afraid to go to school across the country as Immigration and Customs Enforcement have repeatedly been seen near schools or bus stops. (The Department of Homeland Security has said
they do “NOT raid or target schools” despite “media force-feeding the
public stories about parents and children being scared to return to
school.”)
While Miller was treated like an after thought or a non-thought by Texas lawmakers, he did register with others recently. Pedro Camacho (LATIN TIMES) reports:
White
House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller ranks as the most unpopular
political figure in the United States, according to a new polling
average cited by Migrant Insider. Other high-profile figures including
Rand Paul, Scott Bessent and Pam Bondi are next in line.
The
Race to the White House polling average, which compiles multiple recent
surveys of 27 prominent political figures, found that Miller had a net
favorability of negative 36 points among voters who have formed an
opinion about him.
According to analysis by Pablo Manriquez of Migrant Insider,
68% of respondents viewed him unfavorably, while only about 18%
expressed a favorable opinion. The ranking places Miller below other
figures in the survey, including Bondi, who registered a negative 32
rating, and other administration-aligned officials. By comparison,
President Trump posted a negative 16 rating in the same dataset, while
JD Vance stood at negative 12.
Former president
Barack Obama led the poll with positive 18 points, followed by former
First Lady Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders.
Has
Donald Trump finally figured out that Stephen Miller’s fascist
cruelties have become a niggling political liability for him? Well,
maybe. A striking report
in The Wall Street Journal suggests Trump may be moving to marginalize
Miller’s influence. But Trump appears to think the difficulty can be
cured by a few optical tweaks, when the real culprit is a deeper
ideological one.
Trump wants to
“lower the profile of his mass deportation effort,” the Journal
reveals. He wants voters to think the targets of these deportations are
“bad guys,” not noncriminal undocumented residents. He wants less
visibility for ICE raids in cities, fewer public confrontations with
local officials, and less public talk about “mass deportations,” which,
he now grasps, are hideously unpopular.
Tellingly,
White House chief of staff Suzie Wiles now sees deportations as a
liability for the midterms, per the report. That Trump is siding with
her on the politics here is a sign of political panic and a rebuke to
Miller, who apparently delights in flaunting the administration’s
vicious sadism and overt white nationalism—and seems certain that latent
majorities are quietly cheering along.
We'll note some video coverage of the ongoing Epstein scandal.
Prosecuting
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on Jeffrey Epstein-related allegations may
require Congress to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of
Justice, a former federal prosecutor told Newsweek.
Britain’s
Thames Valley Police arrested Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly Prince
Andrew, in mid-February on suspicion of misconduct in a public office
related to allegations he leaked confidential government documents to
Epstein. He was released under investigation and has always denied
Epstein-related wrongdoing.
However,
Britain’s most senior police officer Sir Mark Rowley, commissioner of
the Metropolitan Police, has said that in order for a case to get to
court detectives will need access to the original, unredacted Epstein
files, which the Department of Justice has never given to a foreign
police force.
The
former Duke of York, 66, was evicted from his Royal Lodge home last
year by King Charles and was forced to move to The Firm's Sandringham
Estate.
Andrew's
new permanent home on the Norfolk property will be Marsh Farm; however,
he's currently lounging at the nearby Wood farm until renovations are
completed.
The disgraced ex-prince might be banished from Wood Farm even before restorations are done before the Easter holiday next month.
Sarah Ferguson will likely never get her old life back.
After
the U.S. Department of Justice released numerous emails highlighting
her close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the former Duchess of York’s
hope of ever returning to the royal fold was terminated.
According to brand and culture expert Nick Ede, Ferguson’s brand is forever “ruined” by her connection to the late criminal.
“Fergie
doesn’t really have any chance to redeem herself in the public eye. She
has had her name and her brand ruined and tarnished, so I don’t feel
there is any coming back from this,” he told Daily Express.
“She
may be asked by a major platform to reveal her true story and in doing
so, be paid well for it, but the majority of the general public has
totally turned against her and so has the media,” Ede noted.
And Spot On News notes that the children of Sarah and Edward have been impacted:
The
scandal surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (66) and his ex-wife
Sarah Ferguson (66) continues unabated - and has long since affected the
next generation: Princess Eugenie (36) and her sister Beatrice (37) are
coming under increasing pressure due to the ongoing revelations
surrounding the late offender Jeffrey Epstein (1953-2019). According to
the British "Daily Mail", citing several insiders, the husbands of both
sisters are now also responding with growing distance.
Jack
Brooksbank (39), Eugenie's husband and owner of a consulting firm,
stands loyally by his wife's side - but draws clear boundaries.
According to a confidant quoted by the "Daily Mail", he will not
completely abandon Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ferguson, but does not
want to put himself directly in the line of fire either. His priority
is Eugenie and their two children together.
The
potential reputational risk to his business is said to be a particular
concern for him. An insider told the newspaper that Brooksbank has
worked hard on his company and under no circumstances wants the Epstein
shadow to fall on his business relationships. He will therefore do
everything possible to remain as inconspicuous as possible in public.
There
is another delicate issue in Eugenie's household: According to
consistent reports, the couple fears that Ferguson might ask to move in
with them temporarily. Both Eugenie and Brooksbank are said to have
little enthusiasm for this idea - not out of indifference to the
mother's well-being, as an insider emphasized, but because they simply
do not want to take on the responsibility.
Wonder if Andrew and Sarah still feel they did the 'right' thing?
Tuesday, March 24, 2026. Chump has no idea what he's doing with regards
to the war on Iran, he has no concerns about how he's destroying the
economy, ICE arrests a crying woman at an airport, Kristi Noem's boytoy
is upset that the press is covering his dealings, and much more.
INDIA TODAY reports,
"The longer the Iran war continues, the more complicated it becomes for
US President Donald Trump, who is facing boiling criticism with no easy
way out in sight. Leon Panetta, former US defence secretary and Central
Intelligence Agency director, said that Donald Trump is stuck between
'a rock and a hard place' after weeks of conflict." Chump changes the
reason for the war near daily just as he changes the goal for it. He
has no idea what he's doing. Akbar Shahid Ahmed (HUFFINGTON POST) reports on the mood of some service members:
Interviews
with active duty soldiers, reservists, and advocacy groups focused on
service members found some U.S. troops who are caught up in the war are
reporting vulnerability, overwhelming stress, frustration and
disillusionment to the degree they may leave the military. The
reservists and active duty soldiers spoke on condition of anonymity for
fear of retaliation or because they were not authorized to speak to the
press.
A military official who is treating
service members evacuated from the Middle East to Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center in Germany amid Iran’s retaliation said troops are
suffering from “inadequate force protection and planning” and already
reporting a severe, destabilizing toll from Iranian ballistic missiles
and drones that have been repeatedly striking American military
facilities. Thirteen troops have been killed amid the war so far, seven
due to strikes, and at least 232 have been wounded.
A
ground operation would be “an absolute disaster… we don’t have a plan
for that,” the official said earlier this week. “We can’t even fully
defend a single land base in the theater.”
A veteran and reservist who mentors younger officers told HuffPost her contacts are expressing a loss of faith to a new degree.
“I’m
hearing out of service members’ mouths the words, ’We do not want to
die for Israel — we don’t want to be political pawns,” she said. Another
reservist in touch with current troops separately reported hearing
similar comments.
“I’ve shared conscientious
objector information six times in the past two weeks and I’ve been in
the military almost 20 years — I’ve never had people reach out this
way,” the first reservist continued.
[. . .]
The
lack of a clear, consistent narrative justifying the Iran war is a key
source of discontent among troops, the reservists said, demoralizing
those who believe a poorly planned conflict is placing them in
unnecessary danger for no identifiable strategic benefit.
His
timeline for the conflict also grew increasingly muddled. Early on,
Trump said the fighting could continue for “four weeks or so.” Not long
after, though, he claimed the campaign was “very complete, pretty much,”
before later walking that back and saying the war would not be over
that week, though it would end “very soon.”
Meanwhile,
the Pentagon has asked Congress to sign off on another $200 billion for
the Iran conflict, a massive funding request that appears at odds with
Trump’s repeated claims that the war is nearly over. The administration
is also reportedly considering sending additional air and naval assets
to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and keep the vital
shipping lane open.
Oil prices rose and global stocks ticked
higher on Tuesday, a day after President Trump set off a drastic market
reaction by backing away from a threat to strike Iranian energy
infrastructure.
On Monday, crude oil
plunged and stocks jumped after Mr. Trump said the United States and
Iran were in talks to end the war. Iran denied that negotiations were underway and accused Mr. Trump of issuing false statements to calm rattled energy markets.
Senior military
officials are weighing a possible deployment of a combat brigade from
the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and some elements of the division’s
headquarters staff to support U.S. military operations in Iran, defense
officials said.
The
officials described the military’s actions as prudent planning, noting
that nothing had been ordered by the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command,
which declined to comment. The officials spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss ongoing planning.
The
combat forces would come from the 82nd Airborne’s “Immediate Response
Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere
in the world within 18 hours. These forces could be used to seize Kharg
Island, Iran’s main oil export hub.
Another
possibility being considered, should President Trump authorize U.S.
troops to seize the island, is an attack by about 2,500 troops from the
31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which is on its way to the region.
A
conservative media personality is sounding the alarm about President
Donald Trump’s polling on key issues ahead of November’s midterm
elections.
“November is a long way away, but if
these numbers hold, we are going to get massacred in the midterms.
That’s just reality,” Jesse Kelly, host of The Jesse Kelly Show, wrote
on X, alongside the results of a new CBS News/YouGov poll that showed
Trump underwater on issues including the Iran war, the economy and
immigration.
Five
new polls have suggested that President Donald Trump’s approval rating
is falling in some cases to record lows, as America’s conflict with Iran
in the Middle East continues, and concerns about the U.S. economy are
growing nationwide.
[. . .]
One of the five new polls was a CBS News/YouGov survey,
conducted between March 17 to 20. In total, 3,335 U.S. adults
participated and the outcome revealed that 60 percent said they
disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president.
This marked a net percentage point drop in approval of 20, according
to RealClear Polling. Some 49 percent of participants also said they
“strongly disapprove” of Trump’s actions as president, while 24 percent
said they “strongly approve.”
For
the economy, inflation and immigration, more participants disapproved
than approved the way Trump was handling the policy areas.
Disapproval
of how he was handling the situation in Iran was 62 percent, while 32
percent believed the U.S. economy would be in recession next year. Of
those polled, 52 percent felt Trump’s policies were making them
“financially worse off.” The survey had a margin of error of plus or
minus 2 percent.
And on the economy? Jennifer Bowers Bahney (MEDIAITE) notes, "CNN
data guru Harry Enten claimed Donald Trump was 'last in the pack' of
all 21st century presidents when it comes to voter approval on the
economy." As Jill Lawrence (BULWARK) pointed out, "His
top economic priority has been to enrich himself and the rest of the
billionaire/(Jeffrey) Epstein class, while sharply cutting resources for
programs that help low-income people." Thomas Kika observes:
The odds that Republicans will lose both the House and the Senate in the upcoming midterm elections are increasing, and according to a new breakdown from a Fox News analyst, it will be entirely President Donald Trump's fault.
Democrats
have been tipped to retake the House majority since late last year,
when simmering voter resentment against Trump saw his approval rating
tank and led to major Democratic victories in off-year elections. Due to
an unfavorable slate of races, the Senate was seen as a long shot for
the party initially, but as Trump and his agenda have grown more and
more unpopular, the odds have slowly begun to break for Democrats, with
some polls now putting the chamber as a toss-up.
Today on MS NOW's MORNING JOE, they noted how ICE at the airport is a bad look for Republicans heading into the mid-terms.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents violently arrested a woman at an airport just one day after President Donald Trump called for them to help fill TSA staffing gaps.
Video
of the incident on Sunday night showed two plainclothes agents dragging
a sobbing woman away inside a boarding area of San Francisco
International Airport. The reason for her arrest was not officially
stated, and the agents refused to identify themselves or show an
official badge. Meanwhile, airport authorities surrounded the agents to
protect them while they kidnapped the woman—as a young girl traveling
with her stood behind them crying during the arrest.
Kristi Noem’s right-hand man—and alleged “loverboy”—had even more access to sensitive government secrets than previously known.
Corey
Lewandowski, a top aide to the ousted Homeland Security secretary,
wielded the full might of the Department of Homeland Security—sitting in
on classified briefings and weighing in on contracts approved by the
agency, The New York Times reported Saturday.
More
than 20 current and former Trump administration officials told the
Times that Lewandowski, who was brought on by Noem, 54, to serve only
130 days annually as a special government employee, built a system in
which he was privy to all the department’s resources—and secrets.
Lewandowski,
who is married, has been glued to Noem’s side since she stepped into
her role last January. During that time, the former Trump adviser
reportedly cast a powerful vote on most of the department’s ground
operations and personnel decisions and was the driving force behind
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino’s ascension to power.
Bovino
announced he was departing the agency this month following his
leadership of immigration crackdowns across the country that saw two
U.S. citizens in Minneapolis killed by federal agents.
Lewandowski
also reportedly placed employees on leave on a whim over trivial
matters, sources told the Times. Last month, the 52-year-old made
headlines for reportedly firing a U.S. Coast Guard pilot after a blanket
belonging to Noem was left behind on a different plane.
More
insight into the vast power Lewandowski wielded at DHS comes from
additional reporting alleging that he sought personal paydays by
steering companies seeking highly lucrative government contracts.
Democrats
on the House Oversight Committee have launched a new inquiry into
outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s top aide, Corey
Lewandowski, who allegedly sought personal payments from contractors, as
was outlined in an NBC News investigation last week.
On
Monday, House Oversight Democrats sent a letter to the private prison
company GEO Group asking it to disclose details of meetings and
conversations Lewandowski had with the firm both before the transition
period after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024 and during 2025.
Lewandowski
denied allegations he sought payments in exchange for favorable
contract decisions. GEO Group did not immediately respond to a request
for comment.
GEO Group is the largest owner of
detention centers in the United States, and the company plays a major
role in Trump’s mass deportation of unauthorized immigrants. The firm
holds more than a billion dollars worth of contracts with DHS.
Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform issued the following:
Washington, D.C. — Today, Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, demanded answers from GEO Group after new NBC News
reporting alleged Corey Lewandowski, a Special Government Employee at
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), attempted a pay-to-play
scheme with the private prison company over DHS contracts. Lewandowski
allegedly demanded kickbacks based on the value of GEO Group’s new or
renewed contracts with DHS. After Lewandowski rejected GEO Group’s
counteroffer to put him on retainer, Lewandowski allegedly told a senior
DHS official not to award the corporation any more contracts in an
apparent act of retaliation.
“Corey
Lewandowski appears to have engaged in deep-rooted corruption at the
Department of Homeland Security, and this massive pay-to-play scheme
should concern all Americans. We need answers directly from any
companies Lewandowski was soliciting. Oversight Democrats are going to
root out this corruption at DHS, and we won’t stop until there’s
accountability,” said Ranking Member Robert Garcia.
In
the letter to GEO Group Chairman and CEO George Zoley, Ranking Member
Garcia wrote, “Mr. Lewandowski may have used his position in the Trump
Administration and close relationships to President Trump and Secretary
Noem to enrich himself while serving as a special government employee
(SGE). If true, these allegations of Mr. Lewandowski shaking down
contractors for kickbacks represent a clear violation of the law and a
serious breach of public trust by DHS. We ask for your cooperation in
our investigation.”
This letter is an
escalation of Oversight Democrats’ investigation into Corey
Lewandowski’s role at the Department of Homeland Security. This month,
Ranking Member Garcia joined Rep. Rick Larsen, Ranking Member of the
House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and Rep. Bennie G.
Thompson, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Homeland Security,
to demand
an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office
of Inspector General into Corey Lewandowski’s employment. Additionally,
the Ranking Members wrote directly to DHS and demanded all
communications and internal records regarding Corey Lewandowski’s
involvement in DHS personnel and contracting decisions.
In August, Ranking Member Garcia wrote
to then-Secretary Kristi Noem regarding Corey Lewandowski’s employment
as a Special Government Employee, demanding a complete accounting of his
service days (including records and logs), assessment on whether he has
exceeded his 130 day limit as an SGE, all documents and communications
regarding his role in personnel decisions (firing/hiring) and grant
approvals in FEMA operations, and all documents and direct
communications between Lewandowski and any lobbying firm, lobbyist, or
government contracting consultant.
In September, Ranking Member Garcia wrote
to the Office of Government Ethics and to then Secretary Kristi Noem
demanding the public release of Corey Lewandowski’s financial
disclosures, which they have illegally failed to produce. Lewandowski
meets the qualifications to be a public filer, meaning that legally, his
financial disclosures must be made public.
Kristi
Noem’s alleged longtime lover is lashing out—threatening a legal
showdown after a bombshell report accused him of trying to cash in on
lucrative government contracts.
Corey
Lewandowski, a top Trump attack dog and adviser to the ousted Homeland
Security secretary, is threatening litigation against NBC News, which
reported that multiple companies complained to the Trump administration
that Lewandowski stood to profit from the DHS contracting process.
Former modeling agent and longtime ally to President Donald Trump,
Paolo Zampolli asked a top ICE official for help "to settle a personal
score" and have the mother of his child deported during a custody
battle, according to The New York Times.
Zampolli, a now presidential special envoy, introduced Trump to the president's now wife Melania.
He
found out that his Brazilian ex-girlfriend, Amanda Ungaro, had arrested
on charges of fraud at her work and in custody at a Miami jail — and
last year talked to a top official at ICE, David Venturella, to see if
she could be placed in ICE detention, citing that she was in the country
illegally, The Times reported.
The
two had been going through a custody battle over their teenage son and
"now he saw an opportunity" to try and get him back, Friday's report
stated.
A source familiar with Zampolli's communications and records acquired by
The Times revealed that Ungaro was picked up from a Miami jail by ICE
agents before she could make bail and later deported. Although this
could have happened without her ex-boyfriend's involvement, it raises
questions about how members of the Trump administration have used the
federal government during Trump's second term to pursue personal
vendettas.
When
Ungaro met Zampolli, she was still a teenager, and he was in his early
30s. While Zampolli insists that their courtship didn’t begin until
Ungaro was 19, certain sources imply that Ungaro was much younger when
her grooming by Epstein began.
“This is not
family drama. This is a criminal operation,” Ungaro shared in a
statement published by Bekah Day this January. “I have proof that me and
my family have faced harassment, threats, and blackmail from Paolo for
years. I have information and proof of government and public officials
being bribed by Paolo.I have proof that Paolo began trying to date me
when I was 15 years old, and it is true that I was on Jeffrey Epstein’s
plane as a teenager. I was only 16 years old the first time I was put on
his plane.”
Tr*mp and Zampolli’s longstanding
ties feature a number of fellow Epstein associates, such as magician
David Copperfield. In a 2013 email, Zampolli wrote to Melania: “As you
know Donald changed my life w/ u That night at dinner w/ Copperfild.”
During
Tr*mp’s first administration, when he put Zampolli on the board of the
Kennedy Center, Zampolli and Ungaro lived together in Washington with
their son. But by 2023, Ungaro discovered that her partner was busy
grooming other young girls, and left him. In June of 2025, he called ICE
on her.
A political analyst was taken aback on Sunday by a report that uncovered
new details about the death of disgraced financier and convicted sex
criminal Jeffrey Epstein.
On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that several bags of shredded documents were found outside of the Metropolitan Correctional Center
in Manhattan, where Epstein was being kept. Investigatory documents
obtained by the outlet revealed that at least one inmate was involved in
disposing of the documents and raised questions about the extent of the
prison guards' involvement in the ordeal.
Podcaster and owner of MSW Media, Allison Gill,
was taken aback by the report as she discussed it on a new episode of
her podcast, "The Breakdown," on Sunday. She called the report a
"massive revelation."
"If there weren't already a million really weird coincidences
surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, if there weren't a mountain of
odd coincidences, this story ... would still raise glaring alarm bells
just on its own," Gill said.
Gill noted several facts presented
in the report that seemed "pretty convenient." For instance, an inmate
named Steven Lopez was interviewed by FBI agents about the document
shredding, but was only asked yes-or-no questions. A prison lieutenant
was also present during the interview.
Donald Trump's
Justice Department is facing renewed scrutiny after a newly surfaced
report claimed officials destroyed large volumes of documents in the
days following Jeffrey Epstein's death, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The
explosive allegation, buried in a batch of records released earlier
this year, suggests key materials may have been discarded while federal
investigators were still trying to piece together what happened inside
the New York jail where the disgraced financier died.
According to the document, seen by The Daily Beast,
a Bureau of Prisons review team was sent into the Metropolitan
Correctional Center shortly after Epstein was found dead in August 2019.
But
instead of simply examining procedures, witnesses described a steady
stream of shredded paperwork being hauled out of the facility.
"[Redacted]
has never seen this amount of bags of shredded documents coming out to
be put in the dumpster at the rear gate of the MCC," the report stated.
The
activity reportedly unfolded while multiple agencies, including the FBI
and inspector general officials, were present amid the ongoing
investigation.
For those who've forgotten, Donald
Chump was president in 2019 when Epstein was jailed and died. It was
his Justice Dept that was in charge. Bill Barr and others back then told
a story that honestly doesn't hold up anymore. Samantha Ibrahim (OK!) notes:
At least one inmate was reportedly used to help discard the files, according to the DOJ.
“[Redacted] was bringing back bags of shredded papers, around 4 or 5
bags, and caller brought them into the gate to throw into the dumpster.
[Redacted] told caller that the after-action team is shredding huge
amounts of paperwork,” the files said.
“Caller
found it suspicious that an after-action team charged with
investigating would be shredding huge amounts of paperwork with all of
the officials from the AIG, FBI and BO[P] in the building in the middle
of an investigation. Those giving instructions to [redacted] said, ‘Make
sure you get that box too,’” the document read, also referring to the
Assistant Inspector General.
A CBS News investigative review of 90 post-mortem photographs,
conducted in October 2025, found that evidence markers were absent,
items had been moved, and the FBI did not arrive at the cell until 1:35
p.m., more than seven hours after Epstein's body was found. Forensic
analyst Nick Barreiro, who reviewed the photographs for CBS News, said,
'The FBI literally has all of the best tools. They have every tool you
can imagine. And they used none of it as far as we can tell.'
Nearly two years elapsed before investigators formally interviewed the
two corrections officers on duty the night Epstein died. Epstein's
brother Mark told CBS News, 'This was never properly investigated as a
proper homicide, it was never investigated.' His attorneys said DNA
tests were never confirmed as having been carried out, while former
Attorney General William Barr told investigators in a deposition that he
could not remember whether they had been performed.
Political pressure to release Epstein-related government files
intensified throughout 2025. In November of that year, the US House of
Representatives passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act,
which the Senate unanimously approved and President Donald Trump signed
into law. The legislation required the attorney general to release all
unclassified records related to Epstein, with the explicit instruction
that no document be withheld on the basis of 'embarrassment,
reputational harm, or political sensitivity.'
Allison Gill (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) reviews the details on the shredding of documents following Epstein's death.
Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:
Construction of these
facilities threatens to waste billions of taxpayer dollars; does not
advance U.S. national security or improve the military’s readiness
Migrant detention centers have been likened to “concentration camps for immigrants”
Washington, D.C. — Senator Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), both members of the Senate Armed
Services Committee, launched a new investigation into the diversion of
military resources as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is
funnels billions of dollars through a Navy contract vehicle to build a
network of migrant detention centers — some of which have been likened
to “concentration camps for immigrants.” In a new letter to Secretary of
Defense Pete Hegseth, the senators call for the Pentagon to end its
agreement with DHS.
“Diverting military resources to assist the development of ICE’s new
detention facilities does not advance U.S. national security — nor the
quality of life for our troops — and does nothing to improve the
military’s readiness for conflict,” wrote the senators.
The Worldwide Expeditionary Multiple Award Contract (WEXMAC) vehicle was created in 2021 as a tool to support naval expeditionary forces “in austere and remote locations across the globe.” The contract initially supported U.S. national security efforts in Afghanistan, Sudan, and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Since September, the Pentagon has allowed
DHS and ICE to use the program to award 120 contracts to build and
maintain a network of migrant detention centers. One recent award went
to The GEO Group, a massive private prison company with a history of unsafe and inhumane conditions.
The Pentagon has also increased the WEXMAC contract ceiling sixfold,
from $10 billion to $65 billion, since DHS and ICE began using the
program, raising concerns that the Department of Defense (DoD) is
funneling or preparing to funnel more resources from the military toward
immigration enforcement. A previous investigation led by Senator Warren and Representative John Garamendi (D-Calif.) found
DoD had diverted more than $2 billion of military funds—originally
meant for fixing military barracks, training service members, and
schools for military children—toward immigration enforcement. Pentagon
officials have admitted that the military won’t be reimbursed by DHS for those funds.
“We are [also] concerned about the lack of transparency and financial
risks associated with this contract vehicle…[which allows] DHS to
sidestep the full federal acquisition process and fast-track the
construction of migrant detention centers,” said the senators.
The WEXMAC program is structured such that it allows DHS — through
DoD — to award construction and maintenance contracts to a small set of
contractors under one large contract. After the large contract is
awarded, Pentagon officials can quickly approve work by any of these
contractors without further competition, increasing risks of taxpayer
waste. DHS officials are also reportedly
attempting to quickly award contracts and avoid federal competition
rules, which are specifically designed to avoid political favoritism.
The Pentagon also appears to be relying on uncertain legal authority to
allow DHS to use this contracting vehicle.
“We are concerned that [WEXMAC] is only the latest example of a
systemic pattern of diverting DoD resources to support DHS missions, and
that this diversion threatens military readiness,” concluded the senators.
The lawmakers asked Secretary Hegseth to end DoD support for these
programs, writing that DoD should not allow DHS to “bypass federal
acquisition procedures and fast-track the construction of migrant
detention facilities throughout the United States.” They also asked DoD
to provide clarity on its agreement with DHS, detail what actions it’s
taking to prevent the waste of taxpayer funds, and provide an accounting
of the funds and resources spent supporting DHS for the building of
detention centers by March 31, 2026.
