# The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [November 11, 2024, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068 "2024-11-11T06:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 334
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6722 "2025-07-21T18:20:55Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > What does he think we “radical leftists” are doing, sitting at home sticking hatpins into oranges? No, I am using a proper voodoo doll. > **[Doll hosted at ImgBB](https://ibb.co/5XJRdKDX)** > > Image Doll hosted in ImgBB ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6723 "2025-07-21T19:02:50Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I learned that from my last girlfriend. I feel like there’s a Stephen King story in there somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6724 "2025-07-21T19:07:13Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > What gets me is that these are pretty standard Old Man Rants that are heard and ignored all over the country, but when THIS old man yells at clouds, the clouds feel compelled to issue a statement or otherwise take them seriously. At this point, I’m fully expecting him to announce that there are too many states nowadays and that he’s eliminating three. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6725 "2025-07-21T19:38:15Z")
Well do we really need two Dakotas? But that would mean fewer Republican senators, so he won’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6726 "2025-07-21T19:39:02Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > he’s eliminating three. North and South Dakota will henceforth be one state called Trumpkota Rhode Island is not necessary and will become a county of Connecticut Hawaii will no longer be a state, or part of the US, and by that fact Obama was never president, So let it be written, so let it be done. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6727 "2025-07-21T19:58:18Z")
He could trade Washington — or Western Washington, or even the [Salish Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salish_Sea) area — to Canada for Alberta, which could then be merged with Montana. Any remnants of the former Washington could be incorporated into Greater Idaho. And any number of people I know would be happy as a bunch of clams at high tide. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6728 "2025-07-21T20:13:13Z")
I AM NOT A CRACKPOT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6729 "2025-07-21T20:17:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Hawaii will no longer be a state, or part of the US, and by that fact Obama was never president, This, for sure. If you can undo citizenship, why not statehood? ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6730 "2025-07-21T20:36:30Z")
On a semi-positive note, today (or yesterday) marks the six-month mark of the current term. 1/8 down, 7/8 to go. Not sure any of us can survive another 87.5%. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6731 "2025-07-21T20:57:27Z")
Hawai’i’s liberal tendencies, and non-white population, are okay because it’s such a useful holiday destination, and one needs staff, of course. I can see him kicking Puerto Rico out, though, for sure. [Most Liberal States 2025](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/most-liberal-states) shows that the top states aren’t exactly expendable, but folding Rhode Island into Connecticut or Massachusetts actually makes sense on a lot of levels, and people would get over it in six or seven generations. Merging Vermont and New Hampshire would also make a small but reliably Republican state, and only a few hundred thousand deeply unhappy people. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6732 "2025-07-21T21:27:07Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Merging Vermont and New Hampshire would also make a small but reliably Republican state, and only a few hundred thousand deeply unhappy people. Would the First and Second Circuits get joint custody? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6733 "2025-07-21T23:04:16Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > So …does the MAGAverse now believe that Obama is in jail? A couple years ago I advocated buying Fox News and, instead of trying to wean them from their fantasies – they are a lost cause – _give them what they want!_ AI-generated videos of the entire Demonrat side of the House and Senate being cuffed and stuffed into black vans, driven to mass graves, and shot. Fire bombers\* laying waste to New York City, Boston, and other Deep State™ bastions in half-mile swaths. Thousands of brown people being herded south at bayonet-point. You get the idea. If they ever manage to leave their TVs watching their wet-dreams unfold, people they meet outside their homes who haven’t a clue what they are talking about are delusional or being paid by Soros. This idea was pooh-poohed by many posters here. This will be a test run to see if it is feasible or not. \*Not fire _supression_ bombers ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6734 "2025-07-21T23:30:23Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > On a semi-positive note, today (or yesterday) marks the six-month mark of the current term. 1/8 down, 7/8 to go. > > Not sure any of us can survive another 87.5%. Don’t worry. If he really _is_ the Antichrist, which is my belief, he’ll only last 40 months in office, dying four months into the fourth year of his term. Not that there’ll be much left of our democracy by then. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6735 "2025-07-22T00:35:40Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > Not that there’ll be much left of our democracy by then. How much of it is left _now_? ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6736 "2025-07-22T00:48:11Z")
The Explainer in Chief! [![](https://i.imgur.com/qoMZiVR.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/qoMZiVR.jpg) It is curious that if he understands, why is it that he keeps threatening to do it? ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6737 "2025-07-22T01:08:05Z")
> [@aurora\_maire](#): > > It is curious that if he understands, why is it that he keeps threatening to do it? My general answer to questions like this is that he’s a fucking idiot who is a perfect exemplar of the Dunning–Kruger effect. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6738 "2025-07-22T01:43:10Z")
The Autopen fake scandal reaches another level, with the head of the House Oversight Committee saying that they’re going to look into _everything_ Biden signed with the Autopen and try to get it declared null and void in a court of law. Including his judicial appointments, such as the appointment of Ketanji Brown Jackson to SCOTUS. > **[Trump’s Autopen Attack Dog Vows to Review Biden’s SCOTUS Appointment](https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-autopen-attack-dog-james-comer-vows-to-review-justice-ketanji-brown-jacksons-appointment/)** > > Amid the Jeffrey Epstein saga, Rep. James Comer claimed Joe Biden’s alleged autopen use was the “biggest scandal in the history of American politics.” ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6739 "2025-07-22T02:36:38Z")
That’s a joke…right??? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6740 "2025-07-22T02:58:51Z")
Oh, sweet summer child. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-trump-administration-the-clusterfuck-continues-part-1/1010068/6741 "2025-07-22T03:08:30Z")
[Not that the felon would pay attention to those who actually know, but here’s how he can screw over the Washington Commanders.](https://www.aol.com/trumps-washington-commanders-threat-president-184723762.html) > [@](#): > > These are the paths of least resistance, though each would still require Trump to steel himself for a political fight: > > ### Lobbying D.C. Council members > > This would perhaps be the most conventional path to take, though it presents numerous challenges. The District of Columbia is negotiating directly with the Commanders on the $3.7 billion stadium proposal through the [D.C. Council,](https://dccouncil.gov/the-council/) which is the 13-member legislative branch of the District’s government. Trump could attempt to get them to vote no through various channels. & > [@](#): > > ### Withhold funding since Congress controls D.C.'s budget > > Under the [Home Rule Act of 1973,](https://dccouncil.gov/dc-home-rule/) D.C. residents can elect local officials, but the district’s budget is subject to Congressional oversight. Right now, the Senate and House of Representatives are controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, and would likely approve the blocking of funds for the Commanders’ new stadium. & > [@](#): > > ### Revert control of the RFK Stadium property > > Former president Joe Biden [signed a bill in January](https://sports.yahoo.com/joe-biden-signs-bill-that-paves-way-for-commanders-potential-return-to-washington-dc-000857323.html) that transferred control of the RFK Stadium site from the federal government to D.C. [Section J of the bill,](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/4984/text) however, outlines grounds for a reversion of control to the federal government and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, a Trump appointee. [The Second Felonials got themselves a dead Black man to divert attention from the felon-in-chief’s Epstein episode (Epsteinisode?).](https://www.aol.com/trump-administration-released-fbi-records-194607500.html) > [@](#): > > The Trump administration on Monday released records of the FBI’s surveillance of [Martin Luther King Jr.,](https://apnews.com/hub/martin-luther-king-jr) despite opposition from the slain Nobel laureate’s family and the civil rights group that he led until his 1968 assassination. > > The digital document dump includes more than 240,000 pages of records that had been under a court-imposed seal since 1977, when the FBI first gathered the records and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration. > > In a lengthy statement released Monday, King’s two living children, Martin III, 67, and Bernice, 62, said their father’s killing has been a “captivating public curiosity for decades.” But the pair emphasized the personal nature of the matter and urged that the files “be viewed within their full historical context.” > > The Kings got advance access to the records and had their own teams reviewing them. Those efforts continued even as the government granted public access. Among the documents are leads the FBI received after King’s assassination and details of the CIA’s fixation on King’s pivot to international anti-war and anti-poverty movements in the years before he was killed. It was not immediately clear whether the documents shed new light on King’s life, the Civil Rights Movement or his murder. & (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > “Trump releasing the MLK assassination files is not about transparency or justice,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. **“It’s a desperate attempt to distract people from the firestorm engulfing Trump over the Epstein files and the public unraveling of his credibility among the MAGA base.”** [Just in case you thought the felon and his accoplices actually cared about impartially performing their duties…](https://www.aol.com/flood-ice-agents-coming-cities-203052039.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > White House [border czar Tom Homan](https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/tom-homan/) is promising to “flood” cities run by Democrats with immigration agents, as the Trump administration ramps up border enforcement. > > Congress earlier this month [gave the Trump administration](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-signs-megabill-slashes-taxes-214747891.html) more than $170 billion over the next four years to dramatically scale up enforcement, detention and deportation, and Homan said Americans living in so-called “sanctuary cities” can expect to see far more agents on the street soon. > > “We’re going to flood the zone,” Homan said at a July 21 press conference. **"Sanctuary cities get exactly what they don’t want: more agents in the community and more agents in the work site.** When we arrest (a suspected illegal immigrant) in the community, if he’s with others that are in the country illegally, they’re coming too." > > The White House has repeatedly singled out cities from Los Angeles to Denver to Boston for their refusal to assist ICE agents making detentions, and **Homan has threatened to arrest elected officials who stymie the president**. [A federal judge agreed with the Second Felonial Era’s request…a thousand times (approximately).](https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-lmpd-detective-brett-hankison-221348449.html) > [@](#): > > A federal judge sentenced former Louisville Police detective Brett Hankison to 33 months in prison for the shots he fired during the fatal 2020 raid on Breonna Taylor’s apartment. > > The July 21 sentence was in defiance of a last-minute request from federal prosecutors that Hankison receive only a one-day sentence. > > Western District of Kentucky Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings said she was “troubled” by the prosecutors’ July 16 sentencing memorandum, as well as their arguments towards leniency in court on Monday. > > “The seriousness of this crime is obvious,” she said at one point. [The Second Felonial Era _broke the law_? Say it ain’t so, Joe!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/judge-rules-trump-administration-broke-144225860.html) (The **bolding** is mine; the “bazinga” is the judge’s.) > [@](#): > > A federal judge ruled the Trump administration violated federal law by[taking down a public website](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-administration-sued-taking-down-171614365.html) that showed how funding is apportioned to federal agencies, ordering its reinstatement. > > U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Monday that removal of the online database overseen by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) [violated legislation passed by Congress](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-faces-bipartisan-pressure-restore-100744514.html), which requires the OMB to make apportionment decisions publicly available within two business days. > > “There is nothing unconstitutional about Congress requiring the Executive Branch to inform the public of how it is apportioning the public’s money. **Defendants are therefore required to stop violating the law!** ” Sullivan wrote in his [60-page opinion.](https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2025cv1051-33) [FEMA Search and Rescue chief resigns. You’ll like his reasoning.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/fema-search-rescue-chief-resigns-224252589.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday. > > Ken Pagurek’s departure comes less than three weeks after a delayed FEMA response to catastrophic flooding in central Texas caused by [bureaucratic hurdles](https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/politics/fema-texas-flood-noem?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_yahoo) put in place by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the disaster response agency. > > **Pagurek told colleagues at FEMA that the delay was the tipping point that led to his voluntary departure after months of frustration with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, according to two sources familiar with his thinking.** It took more than 72 hours after the flooding for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to authorize the deployment of FEMA’s search and rescue network. [The Honorable Jasmine Crockett calls 'em as she sees 'em.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/jasmine-crockett-insult-donald-trump-222508333.html) (The **bolding** and _italicizing_ are mine; the accuracy is from the gentelwoman from Texas.) > [@](#): > > [Rep. Jasmine Crockett](https://www.buzzfeed.com/tag/jasmine-crockett) (D-Texas) dropped a damning new label for [Donald Trump](https://www.buzzfeed.com/tag/donald-trump) this weekend as she explained why she ultimately doesn’t expect Republican lawmakers to break ranks with the president over the [Jeffrey Epstein controversy](https://www.buzzfeed.com/benblanchet/daily-show-jordan-klepper-trump-epstein-files-democrats). > > Trump has recently sought to [downplay demands](https://www.buzzfeed.com/pocharaponneammanee/aoc-trump-epstein-files-rapist) for transparency around the investigations into the late convicted sex offender, his onetime close friend. > > But there’s growing anger and calls for files on Epstein to be released within [Trump’s own MAGA base](https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalisitza/viral-videos-maga-burning-hats-epstein). [Epstein died in jail in 2019](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/jeffrey-epstein-dead) while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. > > **Republicans “want to show that they are loyal to this, you know, I don’t even know what to call him. I’ve called him so many things, but this _wannabe Hitler_, for sure,” Crockett said on MSNBC this weekend, using a nickname for Trump that quickly went viral on social media.** [Yeah, felon; this really dispels the idea you’re a pedophile.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-told-howard-stern-2006-223928455.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump gave a startlingly low number when asked if he had a sexual “age limit” during a now-resurfaced interview with Howard Stern. > > Trump has been under heightened scrutiny in the weeks since the DOJ and FBI released a memo that, despite previous statements, there was no evidence of a client list from Jeffrey Epstein existed. This led many conspiracy theorists convinced of the list’s existence to assume Trump has to be on it. With this closer examination into the president’s past statements, an unearthed interview on “The Howard Stern Show” certainly paints more questions for Trump. > > “Do you think you could now be banging 24-year-olds,” Stern asked in the 2006 interview. > > “Oh, absolutely,” Trump responded “I have no trouble.” > > “Would you do it” Stern clarified. > > “I have no problem,” the future president said. > > Stern’s co-host Robin Quivers then asked, “do you have an age limit or would you…” > > **“If I- No, no, I have no age–. I mean, I have an age li…” Trump replied.** > > **Then, when asked to provide his “upper bracket,” Trump said, “I don’t want to be like Congressman Foley, with, you know, 12-year-olds.”** [Venezuela is going to investigate treatment of its citizens in the concentration camp.](https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuela-says-investigate-el-salvador-225348510.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > Venezuela says it is opening a formal investigation into several Salvadoran officials, **including President Nayib Bukele** , over the alleged abuse of Venezuelan migrants deported from the US. > > Some 252 Venezuelans, who had been imprisoned at the notorious [Cecot](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F04%2F08%2Fworld%2Fvideo%2Fel-salvador-prison-cecot-david-culver-digvid&data=05%7C02%7Cmichael.rios%40cnn.com%7C6e1d5d0bc6da4342bff808ddc8a5d858%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638887336918632919%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=mKz4P6N%2BjEVQo2nUVtt4LfEVERBBSh2CSqVjs9kZAY4%3D&reserved=0) prison in March following their deportation, were [released](https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F07%2F18%2Fpolitics%2Fvenezuela-us-prisoner-swap-trump&data=05%7C02%7Cmichael.rios%40cnn.com%7C6e1d5d0bc6da4342bff808ddc8a5d858%7C0eb48825e8714459bc72d0ecd68f1f39%7C0%7C0%7C638887336918665205%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=rhzGjndTdG5PsS3xMwkIOFAVfi9AfLyC53DMHwi%2FDcs%3D&reserved=0) and returned to their home country on Friday in exchange for 10 US nationals and dozens of Venezuelan political prisoners, US officials said. > > Venezuela has previously accused El Salvador of kidnapping the detainees after it agreed with the US to take them into custody. El Salvador claimed the detainees had ties to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, though immigration attorneys, advocates and family members have pushed back on that, claiming in many cases that the detainees had no criminal record. > > Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab held a press conference Monday to address the alleged mistreatment, showing edited footage of some of the detainees talking about their experience at the prison. Saab said officials have gathered 123 complaints of abuse, including reports of sexual assault, torture and beatings by Salvadoran prison guards. > > In one of the videos, a man says he was sexually abused. > > In another, several detainees who claim to have been beaten and shot at with pellets and pepper spray show what appear to be bruises and scars all over their bodies. > > CNN cannot independently verify the extent of the injuries, when they were sustained, or whether the men were speaking under duress. It has reached out to the Salvadoran presidency for comment. They left out one particular president in their investigation. El Salvador’s government was our felon-in-chief’s hired hand in this situation. [The felon is adding a skill to his résumé!](https://www.aol.com/trump-wants-texas-redraw-congressional-100016642.html) > [@](#): > > _Washington_ — The Texas Legislature is convening Monday for a special session where it will attempt to redraw the state’s congressional map to boost President Trump and his allies’ efforts to maintain the GOP’s grip on the U.S. House in next year’s midterm elections. > > The state’s decision to recraft the boundaries of House districts comes midway through the decade and several years after its GOP-controlled Legislature adopted a redistricting plan in the wake of the 2020 Census. > > Under that plan, Republicans hold 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats, while Democrats control 12. (The death of Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat, has left one seat open.) > > But with Republicans holding a razor-thin majority in the House, and the risk the GOP could lose control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, a reshaping of the congressional districts could give Mr. Trump’s party an edge heading into next year’s elections. > > Mr. Trump’s political team had been pushing Texas GOP leaders to look into redrawing the state’s congressional map, The New York Times [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/09/us/politics/trump-texas-redistricting.html?ftag=YHF4eb9d17) last month. Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the Legislature would undertake the effort, among 17 other agenda items, when it meets. Ahead of the start of the special session, the Texas House speaker announced the creation of a new 21-member select committee on congressional redistricting. The panel consists of 12 Republican state House members and nine Democrats. > > “I don’t think this has anything to do with Texas — this has to do with Trump,” said Joshua Blank, the research director of the Texas Politics Project. “This has nothing to do with the internal dynamics of the state, the political trajectory of the state. This is purely about this election cycle and one person’s benefit.” & > [@](#): > > Mr. Trump appears to be on board with the recrafting of Texas’ voting boundaries. Before leaving the White House on Tuesday, the president said he is looking for a “simple redrawing” where Republicans pick up five seats. > > “Texas would be the biggest one,” he said. Conman, crook, convict, and now cartographer. He’s a polymath! (Don’t you dare ask him to spell, let alone define, that word!) > [@Railer13](#): > > On a semi-positive note, today (or yesterday) marks the six-month mark of the current term. 1/8 down, 7/8 to go. > > Not sure any of us can survive another 87.5%. [No kidding!](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-posts-frenzied-truth-social-043105072.html) (The **bolding** is mine.) > [@](#): > > Donald Trump spent the evening of his six-month anniversary back in office raging on Truth Social in a torrent of boastful, conspiratorial and outright random posts. > > By the end of the day, the 79-year-old president had posted more than three dozen times. **Topics ranged from jailing political opponents to [promoting](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114888305041609390) the book of a Fox News ally, and in one case, a video collage including widely [debunked](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/did-a-sunbather-catch-a-cobra-bare-hands/) footage of a woman appearing to catch a King Cobra with her bare hands in South Africa.** Often, posts were sent minutes apart. > > Trump also posted a series of graphics celebrating “6 months of [winning](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114888040876029481),“ claiming that “America’s [decline](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114888035401340357) is over” and touting his harsh immigration policies. He shared an anniversary post from House Speaker Mike Johnson that claimed “America is safer, stronger, and more prosperous” thanks to Trump. > > **He gave particular focus to claims from his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who announced on Friday that she was referring Obama administration officials to the Justice Department for prosecution over an alleged “treasonous conspiracy” to stoke Russian election interference claims.** & > [@](#): > > \*\* Trump’s posting spree included [a deranged AI-generated video](https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-79-posts-deranged-ai-021107188.html) depicting Barack Obama’s arrest and imprisonment, as well as calls for other Democrats to be jailed.\*\* We are well and truly screwed. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I can see him kicking Puerto Rico out, though, for sure. Not until he gets a return on all the Bounty he gave them. 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