Pro-MAGA influencers erupted in outrage after CNN tested the bright green water in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which President Donald Trump recently renovated.Trump ordered the landmark repainted "American flag blue" for $14.2 million — far exceeding his initial $2 million estimate. Algae turned the water green within days of the pool being refilled in early June.CNN sampled the water and had it independently tested, finding phosphate levels far higher than recommended for a pool holding 6.5 million gallons."They are having a field day out here," an algae specialist told the network.Florida's Voice chief content officer Eric Daugherty griped on X that "CNN is digging deeper into water color than they dug into hundreds of billions of fraud" — a post that racked up 2 million views."Pond scum gets the full investigative treatment," Benny Johnson, host of The Benny Show and a Turning Point USA contributor, fumed on X. "Massive fraud against the American taxpayer? Crickets."Kristin Sokoloff, co-host of the Dirtyside of Leadership podcast, was blunter. "CNN [is] obsessed with Reflecting Pool paint while America burns," she posted.Retired Lt. Col. Buzz Patterson, a RedState columnist, mocked the network as "that crack journalistic enterprise that liberals and airports live on.""If only they cared this much about Hunter's laptop," Newsmax host Rob Schmitt snapped on X.
President Donald Trump said Giorgia Meloni did not let the U.S. use Italy's landing strips in its war against Iran and rejected being friends with her.
Just hours after the Strait of Hormuz was closed again as the tentative peace deal between Washington and Tehran crumbles, President Donald Trump asked his followers Saturday to weigh in on what he called a “very important matter”: whether he should insult Democrats with the nickname “Dumocrats” or “Dumbocrats.”“POLL: Which do you prefer, Dumocrat or Dumbocrat?” Trump asked his followers on his social media platform Truth Social. “In one case, you simply exchange the ‘e’ for ‘u,’ so simple and precise (Many people don’t know, or assume, that DUMB ends in ‘b’). In the other case, you spell out DUMB, but it seems to lose some of the identity to Democrats when done this way. Which is better?”Trump’s social media post also included a poll where users could select their preference for how the president should insult Democrats, along with a “thank you” from Trump for helping him address the “very important matter.” As of 9:15 a.m. ET, Trump's followers preferred the name "Dumocrat" by 66%.Iranian military officials announced that the Strait of Hormuz was closed again Saturday morning citing a violation of the first clause of the 14-point memorandum of understanding agreed to by Washington and Tehran. Within the first clause is a provision that requires Israel to halt its military operations in Lebanon, which to date it’s refused to do.
President Donald Trump’s coveted peace deal with Tehran was dealt a devastating blow Saturday after Iranian officials announced they would, again, be closing the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping vessels.In a message from the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces operational headquarters, Iranian military officials announced that the strait – a critical shipping waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil trade flows – would be closed due to the “flagrant bad faith and breach of covenant by America regarding the failure to implement the first clause of the end-of-war agreement,” according to the Iranian Fars News Agency.The first clause of the 14-point memorandum of understanding agreed to by Washington and Tehran requires Israel to halt its bombardment of Lebanon, which Israel has refused to abide by since the signing of the tentative agreement.“The brutal massacre and displacement of hundreds of thousands of the oppressed people of this land, and also in light of the occupying Zionist forces' refusal to withdraw from the lands of southern Lebanon, it declares that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed to the passage of vessels,” the Iranian military officials said, according to an English translation of Fars News Agency’s reporting.🔴 تنگۀ هرمز بسته شدقرارگاه خاتمالانبیا: نظر به بدعهدی و پیمانشکنی آشکار آمریکا نسبت به عدم اجرای بند اول تفاهمنامه پایان جنگ، و در واکنش به نقض بیوقفه و مستمر آتشبس توسط رژیم صهیونیستی در جنوب لبنان۱/۳— خبرگزاری فارس (@FarsNews_Agency) June 20, 2026
Veteran journalist Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, whose reporting has exposed a number of previously unknown revelations about Jeffrey Epstein, had her attempt to flee the United States thwarted by the Trump administration, she claimed on Saturday.In May, Valdes-Rodriguez claimed that her home was targeted in “attacks” by those she believed were “unhappy” about her reporting on Epstein, which included a report suggesting the disgraced financier may have had ties to the CIA. The attacks, she alleged, were potentially “direct energy weapon attacks,” which she claimed had left her "permanently injured.”After announcing her intention to flee the country, however, she hit a snag that she blamed directly on the Trump administration – namely, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative that was established, in part, to reduce wasteful government spending.“My departure from the US has been delayed by shocking and unexpected legal matters, including but not limited to the fact that DOGE managed to erase my father's naturalized citizenship status and records from the Social Security database,” Valdes-Rodriguez wrote in a recent statement published on Substack. “My dad has been a United States citizen since the 1960s. The Trump administration doesn't care about the law. They are illegally erasing people's citizenship. My father is unable to fight this himself due to his Alzheimer's disease.”Valdes-Rodriguez also argued that her father’s alleged citizenship status challenge was likely systemic, a claim supported by a whistleblower’s allegation that DOGE put millions of Americans’ Social Security data at risk.“The Trump administration quietly erased the legal United States citizenship of an 81-year-old retired professor emeritus in memory care, who was born in Cuba but came to the US as a child, in an attempt to deny his Social Security benefits and perhaps do worse to him,” she wrote. “I knew the issues facing us as a family would likely escalate into lawfare, but this is not the route I expected they would take, to try to make my father stateless.”My departure from the US has been delayed by shocking and unexpected legal matters, including but not limited to the fact that DOGE managed to erase my father's naturalized citizenship status and records from the Social Security database. My dad has been a United States citizen since the 1960s. The Trump administration doesn't care about the law. They are illegally erasing people's citizenship. My father is unable to fight this himself due to his Alzheimers disease. Read that again. The Trump administration quietly erased the legal United States citizenship of an 81-year-old retired professor emeritus in memory care, who was born in Cuba but came to the US as a child, in an attempt to deny his Social Security benefits and perhaps do worse to him. I knew the issues facing us as a family would likely escalate into lawfare, but this is not the route I expected they would take, to try to make my father stateless. This is precisely why I was trying to get all of us to Mexico last year, that I could see the Trump adminiatration eventually trying to revoke naturalized citizenship to fill more private prisons with progressive people of color the white Christofascists hate. This situation also places me before the very institutions looking for reasons to prevent me from leaving, as well. Please pray for my family, even if you aren't the praying type. - Alisa Valdes-RodriguezRead on Substack
President Trump seems to be trying in earnest to end the Iran war that we embarked upon on Israel’s behalf, and it’s upsetting all the right people. If New York Times columnists Bret Stephens and Thomas Friedman are disappointed, the president is doing something right. These are the Israel First type people who are anathema […]
Political strategist and commentator Keith Edwards claimed Friday that he was paid a visit by the FBI over comments he made online – more specifically, comments about President Donald Trump’s botched $14 million restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been plagued with algae and peeling paint just days after completion.On Friday morning, Edwards issued a plea on social media: he offered to pay anyone willing to send him a piece of the “‘American flag blue’ paint peeling off the reflecting pool,” insisting he “must have it and frame it.” He also offered to pay $86.47, a reference to the term the Justice Department cited in its criminal indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, which some conservatives have interpreted as a threat to Trump's life.Just hours later, Edwards took to social media again to provide his more than 175,000 followers on X an update.“The FBI just showed up at my door because I tweeted about people picking up paint debris and sending it to me,” Edwards wrote Friday evening. “I asked them where's Savannah Guthrie's mom.”Trump’s FBI has been reported to have visited the homes of other critics of the administration, including participants in the No Kings protests. The FBI has also visited Americans’ homes over social media posts critical of Israel’s ongoing siege on Gaza, which countless human rights groups and a United Nations committee have labeled a genocide.Edwards has amassed nearly 1.3 million subscribers on his political commentary YouTube channel and previously worked on Michael Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential campaign.The FBI just showed up at my door because I tweeted about people picking up paint debris and sending it to me.I asked them where's Savannah Guthrie's mom https://t.co/SejMe7W0UH— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) June 19, 2026
The president abandoned his previous positions in favor of the Iranian position on all the key issues of contention going into the war.
A report published Friday reveals how President Donald Trump’s policies have jacked up prices for a host of potential Father’s Day gifts this year.Overall, the analysis by Groundwork Collaborative, a progressive economic think tank and advocacy group, finds that prices for popular Father’s Day gifts have risen by nearly 19% on average over the last year, highlighted by a 30% increase in the price of Remington electric shavers, a 16% jump for Blackstone electric griddles, and barbecue tools up by 11%.The analysis traces price increases of popular personal care products to Trump’s global trade war, which he began last year with his “Liberation Day” tariffs levied on practically every nation in the world.“Many shavers and trimmers are imported from China, which has faced multiple layers of tariffs,” notes the report, “in addition to containing steel and aluminum components, which are also subject to additional tariffs.”The report also points out that electric shaver manufacturer Braun “increased the price of its Series 9 All-in-One Beard Trimmer by $50” last year after Trump’s big tariff announcement, and that the price has since gone up by another $10.Examining the increase in grilling product prices, the report pins the blame not only on Trump’s tariffs, but also his illegal war of choice with Iran.“The Middle East is a major producer of the petrochemical used to make plastics and synthetic fibers,” the report explains. “Trump’s reckless war on Iran has increased the price of these petroleum-derived products, helping drive up the cost of items like grilling tools, which cost nearly 22% more this year.”Elizabeth Pancotti, managing director of policy and advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative, summarized the report’s findings by warning that “Dads are in for disappointment this Father’s Day” thanks to Trump’s economic policies.“While dads across the country should be able to relax and enjoy the day with loved ones,” Pancotti added, “they’re instead forced to worry about how they’ll make ends meet in Trump’s economy.”Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war have sent inflation in the US to its highest levels in three years. As data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) last week showed, overall prices in May posted a yearly increase of 4.2%, highlighted by a 23.5% yearly increase in energy prices.Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, said last week that inflation has now grown “so high that it’s erasing all wage gains” being made by American workers.