Trump’s crusade to oust disloyal Republicans underscores the party’s dilemma: From the Politics Desk

The Week: Trump’s Primary Revenge Tour

Plus: Stephen Colbert signs off.

‘Abusively presented spat’: Judge dismisses author Michael Wolff’s suit against Melania Trump

A federal judge on Friday dismissed Michael Wolff’s lawsuit against first lady Melania Trump, launched after she threatened to sue the author for defamation.  “There are many features of this case that make it complicated: the prominence of the personalities involved, the scandalizing content of the underlying statements, and, frankly, an inappropriate level of tactical gamesmanship,” U.S. District Judge Mary Kay…

Trump's catastrophic week exposes how out of touch he is with reality

Life finally man-handled President Donald Trump like it typically abuses Democratic presidents: with pushback and disappointment. But don’t expect to see this brand of ego acknowledge it, says Washington Post writer Luke Broadwater.“By pretty much any estimation, President Trump has had a very bad week,” said Broadwater. “New poll numbers show his approval rating has hit a second-term low. He is weighing whether to restart a bombing campaign in an unpopular war against Iran. Gas prices are high and inching higher heading into Memorial Day weekend. And his grip over Republican lawmakers is beginning to slip after he proposed a pair of deeply unpopular spending items, prompting an unusual revolt from the Senate.”Normally when confronted with so intense a backlash ahead of precarious midterm elections, politicians pivot — maybe even display some humility — while redirecting their priorities to more popular policies.“But Mr. Trump has decided to double down, presenting himself as politically all-powerful even in the face of indications that he is not,” said Broadwater. Trump has proven invincible after winning re-election despite being under multiple criminal indictments. He has managed to twist the nonpolitical DOJ into his personal team of lawyers to prosecute his enemies and he has successfully targeted members of his own party for daring to oppose his policies, acknowledge his Jan. attempted coup or push for the release of the Epstein files — which for some reason Trump really wants to keep under wraps.And Trump has doubled down on his despised $1.8 billion slush fund to reward, said Broadwater, moaning that he could have simply used the taxpayer money to enrich himself. And he has sent his former personal lawyer and now acting attorney general Todd Blanche to ply Congressional Republicans to approve the fund. But what Blanche got was a verbal trouncing for daring to broach the topic.“The meeting went so poorly for Mr. Blanche that party leaders scrapped planned votes on another of Mr. Trump’s top priorities: a $72 billion immigration crackdown measure lawmakers had planned to muscle through before Memorial Day,” said Broadwater.“There’s a boiling point here,” said George Washington University political science professor Sarah Binder, driven primarily by Trump’s habit of doubles down instead of showing any sign of self-awareness or awareness in temperature changes around him. His dogged pursuit of other taxpayer-draining projects like his ballroom and the Trump Arch, while Americans struggle with his self-caused inflation and high gas prices, are other examples.And Binder says it does not appear to matter to him that he is jeopardizing the very Republican enablers that make his invincibility possible.“He’s focused on the arch. I think he’s focused on his own personal legacy. He’s focused on vengeance,” said Binder. “He doesn’t have a legislative agenda, so does he really need a Republican Senate?”

Trump’s Egregious Abuse of an Egregious Delegation

Congress never should have given away the power to appropriate unlimited settlements.

The Men of Integrity Who Fight Against Antisemitism: Donald Trump, His Administration, and the NTFCA

Trump administration eyes Cuba as possible military victory as Iran talks stall

The Trump administration has ratcheted up its pressure campaign on Cuba, the island only 90 miles from the southern tip of Florida, as talks with Iran have still not resulted in a breakthrough. President Donald Trump has tried to squeeze the communist government for months, dating back to the military’s capture of former Venezuelan dictator […]

Entire CNN panel mobs right-wing podcaster defending Trump scheme

A CNN panel found itself in the uncommon position of ganging up on one of its own panelists after she defended the proposal of a slush fund entirely orchestrated by President Donald Trump’s handpicked board members.“I mean, I would push back on that a little bit. What you call the slush fund I call the anti-weaponization fund,” right-wing podcaster Emily Austin told the “Table for Five” panel. “I'm sure on both sides of the aisle, we all have friends whose lives have been absolutely ruined, whether they were innocent. And you said that this is going to people who assaulted police officers on January 6th, But the truth is, we don't know where this money is going yet. … But I actually I view this as something very altruistic. Trump did not take the money and put it in his pocket like he could have.”“Well, there lies the root of the problem,” said U.S. Democratic candidate Isaiah Martin. “You just said the very simple fact that we're not going to know exactly who gets this money. I know that there was this testimony inside of the United States Congress in which they said that there's really no rules behind what's going to happen. … You don't think that that's absurd, that the president of the United States can create a fund and divvy payments to people, and we don't know who the money goes to?”Host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Austin her opinion of Trump’s second proposal removing the IRS's power to investigate or prosecute him or his family over taxes, forever.“Obviously, optically, it looks horrendous,” Austin answered.“Because it is horrendous,” quipped Martin.“But there's also an unprecedented amount of persecution when it comes to the Trump and the Trump family. There has never been a president that has been persecuted as much as Donald Trump,” Austin insisted.“We’ve never had a president who did what he did,” inserted author and panelist Josh Rogin, referencing Trump’s many indictments, ranging from hiding illicit hush money to attempting to overthrow a legitimate U.S. election. “… This is a pattern of the president of the United States pilfering from the national coffers to serve his own political and personal ends. We have the Board of Peace, billions of dollars of taxpayer money without any congressional authorization or oversight. You've got all of the stock trades that he's made, $750 million worth of stock trades on issues that he's adjudicating. This is a level of self-dealing and corruption that no one has seen before. And you have to view this slush fund in that context.”“If President Obama sued his own department or his own IRS and settled with himself, I guarantee you that you and every conservative on Fox would be running around screaming for impeachment,” Martin told Austin. “You guys would be trying to throw him an Alligator Alcatraz.” - YouTube youtu.be

Trump ramps up pressure on Cuba

The United States has indicted Raul Castro for his role in shooting down planes flown by emigres in 1996. The decision to indict the aging Cuban dictator is morally right and strategically sound. It is another welcome move in the Trump administration’s campaign to reassert American power, especially in the Western Hemisphere. The Department of […]