Maybe Donald Trump missed his calling in life. Maybe he secretly dreams of running a car dealership lot. Previously, he turned the White House lawn into a showroom for Teslas (as he showed his tenuous grasp of the English language, saying: "It's all computer!"). Now he has erected two very tall flagpoles on the White House grounds, complete with the sort of giant flag one usually sees from a highway to signify an auto dealership. Which means our title this week pretty much had to be based on the maxim: "Let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes!"

We're not even going to get into the idiocy and priapic monomania Trump displayed in gushing about his new poles (which was pretty laughable, but we felt the late-night comedians are already doing a stellar job of mocking Trump's flagpole-stroking monologue), because this was a serious week.

It began with a military parade, and ended with military dithering. Trump finally held his dictator-style military parade, and it was a real snoozefest. His crowds were teeny-tiny, and he had trouble staying awake for the whole thing (when he wasn't sitting there scowling at it all). Meanwhile, a record-setting five million people protested at the "No Kings" rallies held around the country (in more than 2,000 locations). Hillary Clinton had the snarkiest take on all of this, we have to say: "On the one hand, Trump's low-energy Dear Leader parade (that cost you $45 million). On the other, millions of people across the country gathering peacefully to say: Here we have no kings." You might say Trump ran his parade up the flagpole and it resulted in a big salute from America -- of the one-fingered kind.

Meanwhile, Trump sent in another 2,000 National Guard soldiers to Los Angeles, for no apparent reason. With the 700 active-duty Marines, this means there are now almost 5,000 soldiers deployed to the city, even though the protests have largely dissipated. The mayor had even lifted the nightly curfew -- before the new deployment was announced. We sincerely wish the news media would devote a little time to this story now, because they could show the ridiculousness of it all by some camera shots of hundreds of soldiers standing around with absolutely nothing to do. That would be a balance to the over-the-top reporting they did on the demonstrations, but we're not exactly holding our breath waiting to see this happen on the airwaves.

But the big military story of the week was Trump's "will he or won't he" befuddlement on what to do about Iran and the new war Israel started with them. As usual, Trump has been all over the map on the situation. Here's a quick rundown of Trump's flip-floppiness:

If there's one thing we have learned about Donald J. Trump over the last decade, it's that he loves to talk big and carry a small stick. He's a man full of bluster and dominance displays, which he employs both impulsively and tactically against friend and foe alike. But he almost always fails to follow through if he suspects that it carries the slightest risk.

Over the years, he's learned he can convince many people that he's the ultimate strongman. But in reality, he is weak and indecisive.

. . .

Once again, Trump doesn't know how to make hard decisions. He is dithering on whether to get in on the action and take credit for it, or avoid the risk of it all going sideways and being stuck with the consequences. When he saw how Fox News was celebrating the strategic genius of the Israeli strikes, his initial instinct was to join in. But then he got some blowback from his MAGA base and heard that the big bombs the Israelis want him to use to blow up Iran's underground nuclear facilities might not get the job done. At the same time, others have been pointing out that Iran is actually a formidable foe with 90 million people and a professional military that could close the Straits of Hormuz and disrupt the world's oil supply, hit some of the 40,000 troops stationed in the region or perhaps even attempt to stage a terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- which the FBI might not be able to foil since its focus has been redeployed to focus on ousting undocumented workers instead of anti-terrorism.

This, of course, is the complicated calculus one faces as president. And Trump is undoubtedly more befuddled than ever.

John Bolton, a hardcore hawk if there ever was one, and Trump's former national security advisor, explained (for the umpteenth time) how Trump is "frantic and agitated" when faced with a national security crisis: "He talks to a lot of people and he's looking for somebody who will say the magic words. He'll hear something and he'll decide: 'That's right, that's what I believe.' Which lasts until he has the next conversation."

Others have been pointing out the same thing -- that Trump has no idea what to do, is floundering around, and is just running everything up the flagpole to see who salutes. A big part of his problem is that this is already causing what some are calling a "MAGA civil war," since a whole lot of Trump's followers actually believed all that talk about "America First" meaning not ever getting in "forever wars" in the Middle East. This week we saw the extraordinary spat between Tucker Carlson and Senator Ted Cruz aired, which was just a microcosm of the schism in the MAGA ranks. Fox News is strongly behind bombing Iran, but the Proud Boys (of all people) are strongly against the idea, posting on social media: "If the United States gets directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict, the voters that voted for Trump because there was a hope that Trump was America First can no longer support Trump. America First does not mean war for Israel."

Speaking of yahoos, there was one positive development in all of this dithering. It seems Trump has sidelined the nuttiest of his nutjob advisors, circumventing Tulsi Gabbard and Pete Hegseth in favor of listening to military people with actual experience instead. This is a positive development, at least.

The real conclusion to be drawn from all of this is that the United States, under Trump, has created a power vacuum that is being exploited by strongman leaders of other countries -- both adversaries and allies:

The most glaring example of this phenomenon is in the realm of foreign policy. [Donald Trump's] bully boy posture against American allies is largely a performance he thinks makes him look like a strongman. But the real strongmen see right through him. The man who claimed he would end the war in Ukraine with one phone call on day one has been shown to be totally impotent when it comes to dealing with Russian president Vladimir Putin. After wailing for the past three years that all he wants is for "everyone to stop dying in Ukraine," Trump has been reduced to weakly mewling that Ukraine and Russia may just have to "fight it out." Since Putin knows that Trump is a paper tiger, the Russian president is doing exactly what he wants.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has clearly taken the same lesson. He tried to persuade Trump to help Israel strike Iran. Trump dithered and stalled because he thought he could make one of his vaunted "deals," so Netanyahu finally just went ahead and did it anyway. According to the New York Times, Trump was left standing limply on the sidelines, not knowing how to respond -- until he watched Fox News celebrating the brilliance of the Israeli operation and decided to jump on the bandwagon. At this point we don't know if he will cave to pressure from Netanyahu and agree to join the offensive operation. But Trump is enjoying the rush of taking credit for what Israel has done so far.

Looking forward, however, Trump still quite obviously has no clue what to do. So he did what he does best: he punted. He declared that he will make a final decision "within two weeks." This is classic Trump. But it could have an unintended consequence, since both sides in this altercation are now in danger of running out of missiles. The war may hinge on who has the bigger stockpile and who runs out of very expensive missiles first, in fact.

But back to Trump. He loves pushing contentious subjects out "two weeks," because there is always that chance that the problem will somehow resolve itself in that time frame. Even if it doesn't, the media's attention will most likely have moved on by then, and if it hasn't then Trump will gin up some other outrage or scandal to distract everyone's attention.

It's worth noting, in that vein, that two weeks from today will be July 4th, when Americans might have other things on their minds. This is theoretically the "deadline" (there is no real deadline outside of the artificial political one Trump dreamed up) for the Republican budget bill to arrive on Trump's desk.

This is a monumental bill with all sorts of things in it for people to hate. In fact, most people already do hate it. It is polling -- before most people have even started really paying attention to it -- at roughly 2-to-1 against. This is because the entire point of the bill is to take money from the poorest Americans and hand it over to the wealthiest Americans, in traditional Republican "reverse-Robin Hood" style.

In continually-alarming developments as time goes on, ICE seems to be getting more and more out of control. They refuse to identify themselves, they refuse to wear uniforms clearly marked with what agency they are from, and they wear masks -- all of which is about as un-American as you can get. Secret police belong in third-world dictatorships, not here in the U.S.A.

ICE and Customs and Border Patrol both warned that they'd be patrolling soccer games in the runup to the World Cup, which caused ticket prices to fall from $369 to "five tickets for $20." Nothing like welcoming the world's sports fans to America, eh? ICE also showed up at Dodger Stadium's parking lots, where they were refused entry. Continuing their pattern of denying and lying about pretty much everything they do, they said they hadn't even been there -- despite video clearly showing they were.

ICE detained a mayoral candidate in New York City this week, and once again lied about the entire thing -- which was also captured on video. And when members of Congress showed up at an ICE facility, they were locked out and stonewalled. Later, they announced rule changes for visits by congressional delegations, which are quite possibly illegal (since they interfere with congressional oversight duties).

What else? A vaccine specialist formerly with the C.D.C. issued a dire warning, after resigning her job in protest against R.F.K. Junior firing the entire board which makes official vaccine recommendations to the public:

If it isn't stopped, and some of this isn't reversed, like, immediately, a lot of Americans are going to die as a result of vaccine-preventable diseases.... It's a very transparent, rigorous process, and they have just taken a sledgehammer to it in the last several weeks.... I could not be party to legitimizing this new committee. I just no longer had confidence that the data that we were generating was going to be used objectively.

In other judicial news, the Florida attorney general was found to be in contempt of court for his refusal to follow court orders. Even better, Mike Lindell was found liable for defamation.

In other amusing news, Elon Musk spent the week doing what he does best -- blowing up his own rockets.

And we saved the most amusing news item for last. It seems there's a new artwork on the National Mall for visitors to enjoy:

Remember the poop statue? The curly-swirly pile of doo that sat atop a replica of former House speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-California) desk? The work of protest art placed on the National Mall last October in mock tribute to the Jan. 6 rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election?

Well, the artists responsible for the political poo plop appear to have struck again. This time with a work called "Dictator Approved," an 8-foot-tall sculpture showing a gold-painted hand with a distinctive thumbs-up squashing the sea foam green crown of the Statue of Liberty. It sits at the same location on the Mall near Third Street NW as the poop statue did last fall.

The artwork's creators intended "Dictator Approved" as a rejoinder to the June 14 military parade and authoritarianism, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service. The parade, the creators wrote in the application, "Will feature imagery similar to autocratic, oppressive regime, i.e. N. Korea, Russia, and China, marching through DC." The purpose of the statue, they continued, is to call attention to "the praising these types of oppressive leaders have given Donald Trump."

Plaques on the four sides of the artwork's base include quotes from world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin ("President Trump is a very bright and talented man."), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban ("The most respected, the most feared person is Donald Trump."), former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro ("We do have a great deal of shared values. I admire President Trump.") and North Korea's Kim Jong Un ("Your Excellency." A "special" relationship. "The extraordinary courage of President Trump.").

 

We've got a lot of Democrats to mention this week, but we start with one who gave the ultimate sacrifice in public service. Minnesota's former speaker of the legislature's lower chamber, Melissa Hortman, was mercilessly gunned down (with her husband) this week, and should be considered a martyr for American democracy. Minnesota state senator John A. Hoffman and his wife were also the targets of an assassination attempt, but both thankfully survived their wounds.

It used to be, in American politics, that both sides would equally denounce such heinous political violence, and to their credit a number of Republicans did. One, however, did not. Senator Mike Lee initially decided it was time to make jokes or make political hay out of the situation, and it took days of shaming from his fellow senators before he backed down and removed the offensive posts. This is a mark of ignoble shame which he will never be able to completely erase.

We honor the victims of this violent act, especially Melissa Hortman who was martyred for democracy's cause. She is entitled to a posthumous Democrat Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice award.

We have a few Honorable Mention awards to hand out this week, the first of which goes to New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who was manhandled and arrested this week by ICE goons who were staking out a courthouse to pick up immigrants who were trying to do the right thing by showing up for their hearings. We fully expect this to become a regular event for more Democrats, since it shows what ICE is truly like -- even to elected officials. ICE tried to claim that he was somehow "resisting" the officers, but since the entire encounter was caught on video, this was obviously a lie.

Senate Democrats refused to participate in a ridiculous hearing this week, purportedly on Joe Biden's mental state while president, where the only "witnesses" were Republican operatives. The entire thing was a farce, and only two Democrats showed up (Dick Durbin and Peter Welch) -- so that they could denounce the hearings and then walk straight out the door. Here's how Durbin characterized the fiasco:

[Ranking minority member Dick Durbin] also accused Republicans on the panel of being "asleep at the wheel," regarding their responsibilities of oversight of the current administration.

"The Republican majority on this committee has not held a single oversight hearing despite numerous critical challenges facing the nation that are under our jurisdiction," Durbin said, naming as recent examples the past weekend's assassination of a state lawmaker in Minnesota and last week's handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla at a DHS press conference. Padilla, a California Democrat, is a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Unvarnished contempt is the best possible reaction at times, and this was definitely one of those times.

Speaking of raw contempt, Senator Elissa Slotkin had a few choice words for Peter Hegseth this week, in a different Senate committee hearing. Here's the transcript of their exchange:

[SENATOR ELISSA SLOTKIN:] Have you given the order to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters, in any way? I'm just asking the question. Don't laugh. [Note: Slotkin said this in response to Hegseth laughing at her question] Like the whole country.... And by the way, my colleagues across the aisle --

[SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PETE HEGSETH:] What is that based on? What evidence would you have that an order like that has ever been given?

[SLOTKIN:] It is based on Donald Trump giving that order to your predecessor, to a Republican secretary of Defense, who I give a lot of credit to because he didn't accept the order. He had more guts and balls than you because he said: "I'm not going to send in the uniformed military to do something that I know in my gut isn't right." He was asked to shoot at their legs. He wrote that in his book. That's not hearsay. So your pooh-poohing of this -- it just shows you don't understand who we are as a country, who we are. And all of my colleagues across the aisle, especially the ones that served, should want an apolitical military and not want citizens to be scared of their own military. I love the military. I served alongside my whole life. So I'm worried about you tainting it. Have you given the order? Have you given the order that they can use lethal force against [unarmed protesters]? I want the answer to be no. Please tell me it's no. Have you given the order?

[HEGSETH:] Senator, I'd be careful what you read in books, and believing it, except for the Bible.

It's not often you get a senator (and a woman, no less) saying: "He had more guts and balls than you" straight to a guy's face in a Senate hearing, that's for sure. Hegseth's too-cute-by-half answers (and his laughing at her) just shows why it truly is a relief that Trump seems to have sidelined this buffoon in his musing about whether to bomb Iran or not.

Speaking of shaming Hegseth, also worthy of a Honorable Mention this week is Representative Jamie Raskin, who was asked about Hegseth's appearance earlier before a House committee in which he refused to fully answer whether he would comply with a court order preventing the U.S. Marines from being deployed in an American city. Here was Raskin's take: "Well, we clearly have too many 'D.U.I. hires' in the Trump administration, starting with Secretary Hegseth." That's an excellent burn, we have to admit.

But our winners of this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award are Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Ro Khanna. Both introduced measures in their respective houses of Congress that would explicitly require Donald Trump to gain congressional permission to launch a military strike on Iran -- as the War Powers Act demands. Khanna actually got a Republican co-sponsor (Thomas Massie) for his measure, which is also impressive.

No matter where you stand on whether America should attack Iran or not, this is an entirely separate issue. It's a constitutional issue, dealing with the clear separation of powers. It's an important question and has been ever since Vietnam -- who declares war in America, and what constitutes a "war" versus just a "police action" or "fighting terrorism" or any other euphemism for the president deploying troops to wage warfare? If ever there was a good time to force this issue into the spotlight, now would certainly qualify.

Attacking Iran could wind up being a precision or surgical strike, with absolutely no blowback whatsoever. Then again, it could have much more dire consequences. This is a very weighty decision, especially with the backdrop of the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan (neither of which ended well for us). Trump himself made avoiding "forever wars" part of his political brand.

So let's have that debate, in both houses of Congress. Let's have that debate in front of the American people. This time, let's discuss the possible repercussions and the plan for an endgame. Trump just said he's taking two weeks to decide, which should be plenty of time to have this debate in both houses.

For pushing the issue into the spotlight, both Senator Kaine and Representative Khanna win this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award.

[Congratulate Senator Tim Kaine on his Senate contact page, and Representative Ro Khanna on his House contact page, to let them know you appreciate their efforts.]

 

This week, ex-senator Robert "Gold Bars" Menendez finally entered prison, to begin serving his 11-year sentence for all his corruption. So what the heck, we'll give him another (Dis-)Honorable Mention award, for his sleazebaggery.

The new chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, seems to be presiding over a circular firing squad instead of putting the party front and center in the monumental political debates happening right now. After essentially forcing David Hogg out of his vice-chair spot, two other committee members quit the D.N.C. this week: Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, and Lee Saunders, who leads the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Losing important Union voices right now is not exactly a good look for the party, for obvious reasons.

Martin's chairmanship has been pretty rocky all along, and things don't seem to be getting any better as time goes on. Factional schisms within the party leadership are an enormous distraction from what Democrats should be solely focused on right now: resisting Donald Trump's overreach and lawless behavior. Instead, as one Democratic House member put it, what we're getting is: "worse than some high school student council drama."

If Democrats are going to have any sort of decent chance in next year's midterm elections, they better get their own house in order pretty quickly. So far, Martin hasn't seemed up to this task. Perhaps with the Hogg fiasco now over he'll be able to rebuild, but for this week we feel he's earned a Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award. We are tired of seeing the D.N.C. featured in headlines of stories about infighting, and would much prefer to see them get back on track and take the political fight to Trump and the Republicans.

[Contact Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin via the D.N.C.'s contact page, to let him know what you think of his actions.]

 

Volume 801 (6/20/25)

A mixed bag this week. Rinse and repeat, as always!

 

   No kings!

Finally, the Trump resistance has reasserted itself in a way that even the media can't ignore. The slogan of the rally last weekend is simple and to-the-point. So work it in, every chance you get.

"Did you hear that the 'No Kings!' rally last weekend was quite likely the largest political protest gathering in American history? Five million people took to the streets in peaceful protest. In fact, the only violence at any of the over 2,000 protests was because of people protesting the protest itself. There were no riots. There was just a fierce determination to push back on Donald Trump assuming the powers of a king -- which, as I recall, we actually fought a war against a long time ago. We're about to celebrate the success of that war in two weeks, in fact, and it is called Independence Day for a good reason. We fought to become forever independent of kings, so Americans will not sit idly by as a president tries to assume such powers. The more Trump tramples on the Constitution, the more such protests will happen. Because we will not give up our independence to a self-styled king without standing up for freedom, independence, and the United States Constitution, period. If there's one slogan every American should be able to get behind, it is: 'No Kings!'"

 

   Trump cannot unilaterally declare war

Speaking of the Constitution....

"Both the Constitution and the War Powers Act are clear as crystal -- unless America is directly attacked, the president cannot declare war against a foreign nation. That power rests with Congress, period. Iran has not attacked America. This is not an emergency situation where the president has to move quickly to send in the troops. It is the exact opposite of all that. In fact, Trump himself has now said he's going to take the next two weeks to think things over -- which is plenty of time for Congress to debate whether America should join in the war Israel began and bomb Iranian sites with U.S. warplanes. Which is exactly how the Constitution says it is supposed to happen. We don't have kings in this country, we have a Constitution, and declaring war is perhaps the most serious thing we as a nation can do. Donald Trump cannot unilaterally declare war on Iran, period. That's not the way our government is set up."

 

   "Two weeks"? Yeah, sure....

We've said this before and we'll likely say it plenty of times in the future. "Two weeks" is Trump's version of Little Orphan Annie's "Tomorrow" -- because it's always conveniently out of touch, in the future.

"How many times has Trump promised he'll make a big decision in 'two weeks,' only to forget all about it and never make any decision at all? How many times has he made the 'two week' promise and then when two weeks has passed just repeated the same brushoff -- that he'll decide in another two weeks? Remember his first term? When he kept promising he'd have a wonderful replacement for Obamacare that was cheaper, better, and would cover more people? I can't even count the times he promised his wonderful plan would be appearing in two weeks -- and we're still waiting to see it. Trump saying he'll decide something in 'two weeks' is about as trustworthy as the boy who cried 'Wolf!' After punting important decisions dozens if not hundreds of times, the only reaction he should get when he makes the same old promise all over again is to just laugh in his face."

 

   Civil war!

Of course, Democrats aren't exactly united on the subject either, but seeing such a vitriolic split in Trump's supporters is still worth of a heaping dollop of schadenfreude.

"I see that MAGA-world is in disarray over whether Trump should bomb Iran or not. In fact, some are calling it a 'MAGA civil war,' although I don't know if I'd go that far (since the question of actual war is what's driving them into two camps). But it is amusing to see Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz screaming at each other, or to see Fox News on one side and the Proud Boys on the other. It seems one faction took Trump at his word about 'America First' and staying out of Middle East wars that have the tendency to go on forever, while another faction is trying to get him to redefine the 'America First' philosophy somehow. No matter what Trump decides, he's going to seriously annoy a large portion of his own base, which is probably why he is now in a defensive crouch and has no clue what to do. One way or another, a big faction of MAGA-world is going to wind up seriously disappointed in Trump, that much seems certain."

 

   Lies, lies, and more lies

This has been going on in the background for most people, so it behooves Democrats to bring it to the fore.

"Republicans in Congress are hard at work on their 'Big Ugly Bill,' and they know how unpopular it is all going to be to the American public. Already, it's polling 2-to-1 against, and that's before most people have even figured out what's in it. So Republicans are doing what they normally do in such circumstances, which is to just flat-out lie about what's in the bill. The bill will slash funding for Medicaid, kicking over ten million people off the program. This will likely cause many rural hospitals to close -- right where a whole lot of Trump voters live. The Republicans lie about it all, but it is their new version of gutting Obamacare at heart. Their answer is: 'Hey, we're all going to die anyway, right?' Their tax plan will wind up costing poor people money, which will be handed over to the wealthiest Americans. The more people hear about what is in the Big Ugly Bill the worse it polls, which isn't too surprising since it is a gigantic transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest in American history. No wonder Republicans can't admit the truth and just spew lies about it instead."

 

   Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?

A federal judge -- one appointed by Ronald Reagan, no less -- issued a scathing ruling this week, in a case challenging two executive orders from Trump that halted research funding for racial minorities and L.G.B.T.Q. people. He ruled that blocking the funding was "illegal" and "void," but the language he used in his ruling is worth repeating (and it's also worth noting as you read this that Trump openly mocked the Juneteenth federal holiday this week, and that the Trump administration also announced this week it would be shutting down a suicide-prevention hotline for L.G.B.T.Q. callers, continuing their record of cruelty for cruelty's sake):

I've never seen a record where racial discrimination was so palpable. I've sat on this bench now for 40 years. I've never seen government racial discrimination like this.... I am hesitant to draw this conclusion -- but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it -- that this represents racial discrimination and discrimination against America's LGBTQ community. That's what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out.... You are bearing down on people of color because of their color. The Constitution will not permit that.... Have we fallen so low? Have we no shame?... We're talking about health here, the health of Americans, of our LGBTQ community. That's appalling.

 

   $10 for a head of lettuce?

Trump had a big flip-flop during the week that is going to have a big ripple effect. So point it out!

"Donald Trump actually used some common sense last week, and announced that ICE raids would not be taking place at farms and meatpacking plants and hotels and restaurants. But then he got pushback and so he quickly reversed himself and gave the green light for these workplace raids to continue. Close to half of American farmworkers are undocumented, so if they are all rounded up and deported -- or if they are too scared to go to work because of all the raids -- then it's going to have a huge impact on every American in the supermarket. With nobody to do such work, meatpacking plants will shut down and farms will have crops rotting in the fields. So in a few months when you go shopping and see a head of lettuce for 10 or 15 bucks, you'll know why. And you'll know who to blame."

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant