The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[Monty]

But it wasn’t a {shudder} tan suit.

Pete Hegseth has sparked controversy with his fashion choice in Brussels. The Secretary of War opted for a casual look ahead of a NATO meeting, instead of standard formal attire. Critics have since slammed Hegseth’s awkward fashion moment on social media.

Pete Hegseth was spotted wearing a casual athleisure ensemble as he landed in Brussels for a NATO conference. The Secretary of War wore a red and blue plaid flannel shirt, layering it with a matching vest. He also sported a pair of gray track pants along with Nike sneakers, completing the look with a trucker hat.

I guess Vance wasn’t there to remind him about respectful attire.

The paint’s floating at the bottom of the pool!

President Donald Trump positioned himself as a swimming pool expert as he touted the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovations he ordered this year, having put in “more than 100” over his career.

But after spending $14 million in taxpayer funds, the Reflecting Pool now looks arguably worse than it did before.

Aside from the bright green hue of the water — the product of what is reportedly one of the largest algae blooms in recent years — the “industrial-grade swimming pool topping” that Trump chose is already peeling off in sheets.

Visitors took notice of the floating material on Thursday. HuffPost even observed some taking samples of the coating with them as a souvenir of Trump’s Washington.

I bet it’s lead paint.

Luckily the felon wasn’t there.

Former President Barack Obama formally opened his presidential center in Chicago on Thursday with a call to defend democracy as three former presidents joined him on stage in an extraordinary event featuring politicians, A-list celebrities, athletes and other internationally known figures.

“I hope this center will serve as an affirmation of just how special, how precious our democracy truly is and remind us what we can achieve when we embrace our shared responsibilities as citizens,” the nation’s first Black president told the crowd.

This is the best part.

“Every president here today, as different as we are, has tried our best to uphold values that John McCain and Mitt Romney believed in no less than I did,” Obama said. “It is our greatest inheritance.”

Not to worry, though; the felon was busy crowing about his power.

President Trump has shared a post claiming that he is the "most powerful person that has EVER walked this planet"​ in his latest late night Truth Social spree.

The post, attributed to "Presidential Historian Dave King,"​ comes after Trump signed a long-awaited but much-criticised deal to end the U.S.'s war with Iran on Wednesday.

King compares Trump favorably to Genghis Khan, Napoleon and Attila the Hun, among other historical figures.

“Historically, powerful people were characterised by brutal conquest and the fear they they instilled in the populations that came under their influence,” the author wrote.

“The overwhelming difference between each of the above when compared with President Trump is their lack of global reach.”

Make it stop! I cannot quote anything else from that blarney.

Secretary of Whoops! just got over a hundred warfighters sick.

An influenza outbreak has reportedly sickened more than 150 recruits in training at Lackland air force base in San Antonio, Texas.

The outbreak comes just weeks after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ended mandatory flu vaccination for the military, citing the need for bodily autonomy for servicemembers.

“We’re seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities,” said Hegseth in an April social media video. "In this case that includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.

“Your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable,” said Hegseth.

At least 159 recruits have fallen ill, according to the New York Times and ABC News. After Hegseth made influenza shots optional, only about 40% of recruits opted to get vaccinated, air force officials told the New York Times.

This next part of the article is rather concerning.

It is not clear whether the recent death of a basic military trainee was related to the outbreak. Keon McDaniel died on 16 June after experiencing a “medical emergency”. The cause is under investigation, according to an air force press release.

And who should get to choose vaccine panel members? Guess who the felon wants.

BOSTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The Trump administration is urging a U.S. appeals court to overturn a ruling that blocked Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appointees from serving on a key vaccine advisory panel, ‌saying the committee is unable to make annual recommendations on flu shots after a judge wrongly disabled it.

The U.S. ‌Department of Justice made that argument in a brief filed late on Wednesday before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its appeal of Boston-based ​U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy’s March 16 ruling, which also blocked the panel from reducing the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations.

The Justice Department said it was not challenging that aspect of Murphy’s ruling, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s January 5 move to cut the number of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations will remain on hold.

Nor is the administration challenging Murphy’s decision to set ‌aside other votes the CDC’s Advisory Committee on ⁠Immunization Practices had taken under Kennedy’s watch, including to downgrade recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines for newborns and COVID-19 shots broadly.

Instead, the Justice Department focused narrowly on Murphy’s decision to bar 13 of ⁠ACIP’s 15 members from continuing to serve on the panel after concluding they were selected through a “tainted” appointment process in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

There’s money involved? Of course the felon is playing fast and loose with it.

Donald Trump’s administration has quietly redirected $352m in federal funds designated for the Secret Service toward the president’s controversial White House ballroom project, despite repeated promises by Trump that the construction would be financed by private donations

The funds were drawn from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature tax legislation passed last summer on Republican-only votes. The law stipulates the money may only be spent on Secret Service personnel, training facilities, technology and related costs, not construction.

About $340.8m of the funding was placed into an account labeled “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements” on 12 June, according to the office of management and budget (OMB) database. Another account labeled “Operations and Support” was also approved the same day, adding another $10.75m to the budget.

The move came after Congress explicitly refused to provide $1bn in funds for the “East Wing Modernization Project”, the Trump administration’s official name for a 90,000-sq-ft ballroom being built on the site of the White House’s demolished East Wing.

Y’all remember Noem? She and the felon have about the same track record with (other) felons. (The bolding is mine.)

Two men, including one whose life sentence was commuted by then-South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, have been charged in the death of a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a rural area five days after she went missing in March.

McKenna Wendel was reported missing March 13 and last seen alive in her hometown of Sioux Falls early on March 14. Her body was found outside Brookings, an hour’s drive north of Sioux Falls, on March 19.

Wendel’s uncle, Mark Milk, 51, also of Sioux Falls, now faces five counts related to her death. Milk was almost three decades into a life term on a manslaughter conviction when Noem commuted his sentence in 2023.

Wendel was raised by her grandparents, loved animals and had a “vibrant personality and a zest for life,” according to her obituary. She and her grandparents were Rosebud Sioux Tribe members and attended powwows often.

@Czarcasm

Not your day, is it? You also misspelled “comment” as “comemnt”.

Yes, I was having quite the ruff rough day!