Raw Story

'Looks bored': Onlookers crack up as Trump appears to be asleep at event for dead soldiers

7 hours agoFar Left

Donald Trump was caught on video appearing to close his eyes during a Memorial Day ceremony honoring fallen soldiers Monday, setting off a fresh round of mockery online — and a spirited defense from his supporters, as well.The clip, shared by political video account Acyn and amplified by PatriotTakes, which tracks right-wing extremism, showed Trump seated at what appeared to be an official Memorial Day event, eyes closed, as others around him stood at attention to listen to the words of Pete Hegseth.The reaction was swift."Looks bored," PatriotTakes wrote of the video, which also shows Trump tapping his knees.Lisa, an LGBTQ rights advocate in Oklahoma, delivered the most cutting take, reviving an old joke about the president being dubbed "Don Snorleone." A political action committee called BlueRibbonPAC went further: "Donald Trump has always been this way. It's nothing new, but was always why he IS unfit for office."Independent journalist Aaron Rupar weighed in on social media with, "Trump 'blinked' for a long time during Pete Hegseth's Memorial Day speech."Conservative writer Anthony Galli chimed in with a unique reply. "It's sunny so President Trump is squinting hard to take in the patriotic message," he wrote.It is not the first time Trump has been seen closing his eyes at official events. The president has previously denied falling asleep at Cabinet meetings and Oval Office appearances, insisting he closes his eyes while listening as others speak.

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Reporter uncovers bizarre language in DOJ court filing: 'Trump's fingerprints all over it'

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Reporter uncovers bizarre language in DOJ court filing: 'Trump's fingerprints all over it'

A Justice Department court filing defending Donald Trump's controversial White House ballroom project reads less like a legal document and more like a Trump Truth Social post — complete with random capitalization, invented words, and language straight from the president's social media feed, according to an ex-CBS News reporter who reviewed the filing Monday."Trump's fingerprints are all over a new Justice Dept court filing," wrote Scott MacFarlane, who also noted the document's random capitalization and claims that Trump is providing America an "invaulable gift" — a word that does not exist in the English language.The six-page filing, submitted to defend the ongoing ballroom and East Wing construction project, also claims the project is "underbudget" — a striking assertion given that Senate Republicans recently fielded a request for $1 billion in taxpayer money to fund it, a demand so outrageous it helped trigger a Republican revolt that sent senators home for recess without passing Trump's reconciliation bill.The Justice Department also argued in the filing that "without the construction of this great Project, the President cannot safely conduct the business of the United States" — capitalizing the word "Project" in a style familiar to anyone who follows Trump's social media posts, according to MacFarlane.Perhaps most remarkably, the filing specifies that the ballroom's rooftop "will be hermetically sealed to prevent malign forces from contaminating the circulating air."The filing also cited Saturday's Secret Service shooting incident at the White House as further justification for continuing construction on the ballroom — an argument MacFarlane flagged as notable given the project's controversial status on Capitol Hill.Trump's fingerprints are all over a new Justice Dept court filing defending the Trump BallroomRandom capitalizationClaims that Trump is providing America an "invaulable gift"Claims the project is "underbudget" despite Senate request for $1 billion in taxpayer money(MORE) pic.twitter.com/92bnUyx7u5— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) May 25, 2026

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Foreign policy analyst suggests Trump might not be writing his posts on Truth Social

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Foreign policy analyst suggests Trump might not be writing his posts on Truth Social

Foreign policy analyst Trita Parsi questioned whether President Donald Trump authored his Saturday Truth Social post announcing a negotiated Iran war settlement.During his appearance in the "Breaking Points" show, Parsi highlighted the lack of characteristic misspellings, grammatical errors, and personal attacks — all typical of Trump's posts. He also noted the post correctly cited world leaders' titles and names — a stark contrast to Trump's usual social media style. Parsi suggested Trump may have allowed staff to author the post as protection against domestic right-wing figures urging him to abandon negotiations and resume military action. Parsi characterized the inclusion of nearly a dozen world leaders as a preemptive defense against inevitable accusations of abandoning Israel. The carefully crafted nature of the announcement suggests internal coordination, with Parsi criticizing previous Trump posts on Iran deals as market-manipulation tactics lacking professional review. The post's sophistication indicates significant diplomatic effort behind the scenes.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.

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Marine vet calls on Americans to resist Trump’s 'incompetence'

Alternet.org

2 hours ago

Marine vet calls on Americans to resist Trump’s 'incompetence'

According to John Keker, who served and was injured as an infantry platoon commander during the Vietnam War, it has been a difficult year to hold his usual Memorial Day remembrance due to what he calls President Donald Trump’s “reckless misuse of the military.”“As the Trump administration slashes Department of Veterans Affairs services and fires principled military leaders, we are seeing it commit the same mistakes and incompetence that got us deployed in forever wars going back to Vietnam,” writes Keker in the San Francisco Chronicle. "Trump, who famously avoided military service in Vietnam thanks to five deferments, has started a war in Iran without input from Congress or serious public discussion, and it’s clear he didn’t plan for the inevitable backlash. It is a war of choice with no clear objective, no carefully mapped-out strategy, and an ever-shifting exit plan. As almost every veteran knows, war should always be the last resort, not the first.”This war, says Keker, was launched with a confusing lack of foresight. For example, Trump “did not seem to comprehend the likelihood of the Strait of Hormuz being shut down,” even though it was the likely outcome suggested by his top advisors. What’s more, Trump’s actions have killed thousands, including a strike on a girls’ school that killed over 100 students, which “makes little sense given that Trump’s initial justification for launching the war was to help the people of Iran.”All of this, says Keker, is part of a “larger pattern” of military abuse. “Since early last year,” he explains, “Trump has expanded military operations abroad without meaningful congressional oversight or public debate. He has approved bombings in Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Iran, Venezuela, the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. He has used the military in American cities to deal with emergencies that don’t exist. He tries to politicize our military to fight battles against Americans whom he calls ‘the enemy within.’ He told a gathering of high-ranking officers at the Quantico Marine Corps Base ‘we should use some of these dangerous cities’ — specifically Democratic-run ones — ‘as training grounds for our military.’”Keker says this all feeds into Trump’s attempt to “put himself above the law,” an effort Keker says Americans must and can “resist.”“I have faith in the will of the American people to push back against autocrats,” he asserts. “The resistance in Minneapolis to Trump’s deployment of immigration agents is a good example. We should all insist that Congress reclaim its power over the use of force domestically and in war abroad, support state and local leaders who stand up to Trump and urge the military to stay loyal to the Constitution by refusing illegal orders.”It is up to those who have served in the military, he says, to push back.“Veterans who risked their lives in combat have a lifelong commitment to protect our community and our country,” Keker concludes. “We know better than anyone the tremendous human and financial cost of war, and we must call out and oppose the misuse of the military. We need to lead the resistance.”

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Senator warns that Trump is 'humiliating' the US by ending war on 'Iran's terms'

Raw Story

2 hours ago

Senator warns that Trump is 'humiliating' the US by ending war on 'Iran's terms'

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) delivered a scathing assessment of Donald Trump's Iran ceasefire Sunday, welcoming the end of the war while warning that the deal represents a humiliating capitulation to Tehran that leaves the United States weaker than when the conflict began."If this deal with Iran is real, I will welcome it because every day this insane war goes on, America gets weaker," Murphy wrote in a detailed thread on X. "But make no mistake: these are Iran's terms. Our nation emerges humiliated."Murphy laid out his case methodically. The deal, as he understands it, gives Iran billions of dollars to return to essentially the same position it was in before the war started — while reports suggest it may also codify Iran's right to control the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway that has remained at the centerpiece of the violent conflict."What a disaster this whole thing was," Murphy wrote.On the nuclear question — the issue Trump cited most prominently as justification for the war — Murphy was equally dismissive. The one reported concession from Iran, a promise to ship out enriched uranium, was already part of Barack Obama's 2015 nuclear deal. And by dropping sanctions now, Murphy argued, the United States has surrendered the leverage it would need to extract further concessions in future negotiations.Meanwhile, Murphy noted, Trump has failed to achieve a single one of his stated goals. Iran's ballistic missile and drone program remains intact. Its navy retains the ability to close the Strait. The hardline regime is still in power."They took our best shot and beat us," Murphy wrote. "Iran emerges more powerful."The Connecticut senator was careful to separate his opposition to the war from opposition to ending it. Thousands of innocent people have been killed, he noted, and the American economy has been badly damaged by the conflict. But he argued that silence about the incompetence that produced the war would be its own kind of failure."That doesn't mean we should be silent on how incompetent Trump is and how insane this war was from the start," Murphy wrote.

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Veterans furious over Trump Memorial Day post that proves he 'hates the troops'

Alternet.org

2 hours ago

Veterans furious over Trump Memorial Day post that proves he 'hates the troops'

Early Monday morning, on Memorial Day 2026, President Donald Trump sent out a series of social media posts via his Truth Social platform — including one that used the holiday to attack Democrats. And some military veterans are calling out the attack as wildly inappropriate for Memorial Day.Trump posted, "Happy Memorial Day to all, including the Dumocrats, who disrespect our Military and all of the tremendous success that it has had over the last year. God Bless those that have made the ultimate sacrifice. I love you all! President DONALD J. TRUMP."One of the vets is Naveed Shah, who served in the U.S. Army during Operation Iraqi Freedom and is director of group Common Defense.Shah didn't mince words, telling the Daily Beast that Trump has no business attacking his political opponents as unpatriotic in light of offensive things he said about veterans in the past.Shah told the Daily Beast, "Trump has demonstrated over and over again that he hates the troops…. From calling the troops who died in WWI 'suckers and losers,' to mocking (Sen.) John McCain's five years as a POW, to attacking the Gold Star Khan family, all the way back to 2016 when he lied about donating to veterans' groups. He has never missed a chance to dishonor the people he was never brave enough to stand beside."The Daily Beast's Leigh Kimmins notes that Trump, now 79, went to great lengths to avoid military service during the Vietnam War — only to insult McCain's military record during that conflict. The late Vietnam veteran McCain was tortured and abused by the Viet Cong during his time as a prisoner of war. Kimmins explains, "Trump, who received five military deferments during the 1960s, four for academic reasons and one for bone spurs, started the national holiday by airing personal grievances, rather than issuing a heartfelt tribute to the nation's fallen…. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump drew immediate condemnation when he dismissed Sen. John McCain’s five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. 'He’s not a war hero,' Trump said. 'He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured.' Veterans' groups responded with fury."The Daily Beast reporter continues, "That same campaign season, Trump attacked Khizr and Ghazala Khan — the Gold Star parents of U.S. Army Captain Humayun Khan, who was killed in Iraq in 2004 — after they criticized him at the Democratic National Convention. Trump publicly questioned why Ghazala Khan had remained silent during her husband’s speech, suggesting she had not been 'allowed' to speak. The backlash crossed party lines, with Republican senators and veterans' organizations among those condemning the remarks."

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Vietnam vets tear apart Trump in court over 'disrespectful' DC arch

Alternet.org

2 hours ago

Vietnam vets tear apart Trump in court over 'disrespectful' DC arch

On Thursday, May 21, the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts approved the "triumphal arch" that President Donald Trump is proposing for Arlington, Virginia across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. The arch would appear at one end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge next to Arlington National Cemetery. But a group of Vietnam War veterans, according to CBS News, are voicing their opposition to the project.Vietnam vets Shaun Byrnes and Jon Gundersen, along with other opponents of the arch, filed a lawsuit in February in the hope of preventing it from being constructed. And they are still expressing the reasons for their opposition.CBS News reporters Arden Farhi and Jacob Rosen explain, "They argue the project has been rushed and the administration hasn't gotten proper congressional approval. The arch, they say, would disrupt the symbolic connection between the Lincoln Memorial and the Robert E. Lee Memorial — a carefully considered sightline meant to convey unity after the Civil War. According to recent renderings, the arch would be more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial."Gundersen, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer who is now 81, views the arch as disrespectful to the many veterans buried in Arlington National Cemetery — which was opened in 1864 during the American Civil War.Gundersen told CBS News, "I think what we're doing is being loyal to the country, and loyalty can be measured in different ways."The 83-year-old Byrnes, a U.S. Navy veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, told CBS News, "It's more about the duty I feel towards my colleagues and friends who did not come home to stand up against this project, regardless of who's in charge." Byrnes, a Navy veteran who served two tours in Vietnam, said, "I think it's just disrespectful to those that I served with who didn't come back, and then, of course, to all those who are lying in Arlington National Cemetery." Farhi and Rosen note that Gundersen and Byrnes "view the arch not as a commemoration of America's 250th birthday, but as a monument to one man: Mr. Trump." Gundersen told CBS News, "We know how authoritarian dictatorships work. There's no rule of law, there's no consent of the governed, and there's monuments for the leaders there…. Even if you took private donations, is that how we want to build monuments? To the oligarchs who give money for favors? We have fought for our country. We believe in this country, and we're going to continue to the end — and I think we can change things."

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Trump Urges More Countries to Normalize Relations With Israel as Part of Iran Deal

NYT > U.S. > Politics

2 hours ago

Trump Urges More Countries to Normalize Relations With Israel as Part of Iran Deal

President Trump called for countries in the Middle East to join the Abraham Accords as part of a peace deal with Iran. Analysts say it is unlikely.

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President Trump Updates on Current Status of Negotiations With Iran and Desire to Bring all Nations into the Abraham Accords

The Last Refuge

3 hours ago

President Trump Updates on Current Status of Negotiations With Iran and Desire to Bring all Nations into the Abraham Accords

Both President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have provided updates on the current status of negotiations with the Iranian regime. President Trump delivered an update from his Truth Social Account: PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are proceeding nicely! It will only be a Great Deal for all or, […] The post President Trump Updates on Current Status of Negotiations With Iran and Desire to Bring all Nations into the Abraham Accords appeared first on The Last Refuge.

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