The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[Monty]

Yep, there was protest at America’s Tackiest Fawning.

Dozens of people stood across the entrance gates to the Ellipse, the park south of the White House, on Sunday afternoon, holding protest signs and chanting as the president prepared to host seven mixed martial arts fights on the lawn.

Thousands of fight fans streamed past the protesters into the sprawling public viewing area that the Trump administration and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which is hosting the fights, erected steps from the White House. The cage fights, marketed as a celebration of the country’s “fighting spirit” ahead of its 250th anniversary, are being held on Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.

Protesters held a large puppet cage of oversized figures of Trump and his cabinet members, a piece of street theater that drew looks from tourists and boos from UFC spectators.

“This reeks of corruption – way too much corruption,” said Susan Douglas, an organizer with Third Act Virginia, the progressive pro-democracy grassroots organization that organized the demonstration. “Let’s face it,” she added. “It’s for Trump’s birthday and has nothing to do with the founding of our country.”

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Protesters said that they opposed the event for a variety of reasons, including that Trump holds significant stock in TKO, the UFC’s parent company, and that that event commercializes federal park lands. Others opposed the inherently violent nature of the event, claiming that a cage fight was inappropriate for federal property, especially as the US continues to fight wars abroad.

Just because the felon is paranoid doesn’t mean, hehehehehe, he’s not being spied upon, hehehehehe.

A shocking new report in Axios claims that top White House officials believe that leaks in the West Wing now penetrate the president’s inner circle of advisers, who may have provided New York Times reporters with recordings of secure conversations inside the Situation Room.

The report, published on Sunday, paints a picture of a freakout going on behind the scenes at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where top administration officials are bracing for the release later this month of Regime Change, the latest book from two of the most well-sourced reporters in Washington, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.

According to Axios, officials now believe secret recordings were made of conversations between Trump’s top aides in the Situation Room, which would represent a serious breach of security protocol and, if the fears were to be founded, would represent the first known case of unauthorized recordings from that room, one of the most secure places on Earth, let alone that they were leaked to the media.

“We’re afraid some of our most sensitive conversations were being recorded,” an administration source told Axios. “And we have no idea which ones.”

Hehehehehe.

The petulant orange clown just might kill off FISA. (The formatting is from the linked article.)

President Trump is demanding Congress attach his sweeping voting overhaul to legislation renewing a key U.S. surveillance authority.

Why it matters: Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is among the government’s most contested surveillance authorities, long opposed by privacy advocates and supported by security hawks. Its fate now hinges on Trump’s unrelated demands for a voting bill.

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Driving the news: In a Truth Social posts Sunday, Trump tied renewal of Section 702 to the SAVE America Act, his stalled bill requiring proof of citizenship to register and photo ID to cast a ballot.

• “I’m against FISA if it doesn’t come with The Save America Act (Full version!) firmly attached to it,” Trump wrote in one post.

What a deal, what a threat, what a disaster!

Donald Trump raised the chilling specter of an “ultimate alternative” if the current deal he says is pending with Iran fails to materialize.

The president, 79, appeared to imply a nuclear attack against Iran in a Truth Social post on Saturday, after claiming the deal to end the war will be signed Sunday. His post was also critical of former President Barack Obama.

“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump wrote.

“Hopefully this process will all work out quickly, easily and smoothly,” the president posted Sunday on Truth Social. “If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again,” he added.

Why do I doubt he doesn’t want to drop a nuclear bomb?

I bet you thought the Kennedy Center saga was over. You fool!

The Kennedy Center is establishing a new endowment in President Trump’s name to support previously existing private endowments and its $257 million in federal funding.

The fund was created at a Thursday meeting of the performing arts center’s board of trustees, with the members voting unanimously to acknowledge the president’s contributions to the center by all legal means. The Kennedy Center’s board is chaired by Mr. Trump and largely made up of his allies.

And let’s check out the nonsense they spew to support this.

“We remain fully compliant with the court’s directive while we evaluate legal options regarding the Board’s unanimous vote,” said Roma Davari, Vice President of Public Relations at the Kennedy Center. “The establishment of the Trump Kennedy Center Fund is intended to recognize President Donald J. Trump’s significant contributions and dedication to America’s premier cultural center, while furthering our founding mission like never before.”

A Kennedy Center official told CBS News that the Trump Kennedy Center Fund is “a landmark commitment to securing the future of the nation’s preeminent performing arts institution and its enduring legacy of artistic excellence.” A source with knowledge of the plans for the endowment suggested it will focus on the “physical disrepair” of the building, an element the current board feels has been neglected in the past.

What contribution? Tacky ain’t excellence. And anyway, he didn’t put his fest(ering) at the Center.