The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues (Part 2)

[smithsb]

New cognitive test. Place iceland, Oman, Korea, Iraq, and Venezuela on a map.

[DWMarch]

@Smapti

They did, however, forget to ask one of the acts if they actually wanted to be there.

Good, I was worried for a minute there that I was going to have to say an unkind word about Morris Day and The Time. Trump should have offered to pay him more than fifteen bucks.

[Andy_L]

Morris Day needs to be able to look himself in his MIRROR

[Smapti]

I’m curious as to how Milli Vanilli are supposed to perform, given that they didn’t sing their own songs in the first place and one of them is dead.

[Spoons]

Maybe they thought they’d be getting Otis Day and the Knights, and didn’t know the difference.

Plus Milli Vanilli? Those guys who were discredited 37 years ago for not actually performing on their records?

ETA: Beaten to Milli Vanilli by Smapti. Well, I’ll let it stand anyway.

[Happy_Lendervedder]

That list of artists reads like a bunch of scratched CDs you’d find in a box in your basement.

[aurora_maire]

So glad Morris cleared that up. Look at that lineup that I guess they think represents American music (or more likely the only people they could book). Just think what could have been if a sane administration had been putting on the 250th anniversary events. Blues, jazz, rock, pop, rap, country all represented by America’s excellent musicians. Just another way this administration has fucked up what could have been a fun celebration.

[bobot]

The Commodores??

Say it ain’t so!

[ThelmaLou]

@Smapti

I’m curious as to how Milli Vanilli are supposed to perform, given that they didn’t sing their own songs in the first place and one of them is dead.

@Spoons

Plus Milli Vanilli? Those guys who were discredited 37 years ago for not actually performing on their records?

B-b-b-but their history makes them completely appropriate.

[Guest-starring_Id]

Doesn’t Mike Huckabee play bass? Hopefully his band’s there. Headlining.

Wonder how protesting will go.

[Buck_Godot]

OK well that was a bit of an embarrassment.

I(t appears that Trump made a mistake, but Trump never makes a mistake. The obvious course of action is to order Hegseth to destroy Venezuela’s Navy and Airforce and kill Delcy Rodríguez, then everything is right as rain.

[Odesio]

@Smapti

The White House announces a concert lineup for “the great American state fair” featuring the hottest musical acts of 1990!

Young MC? Goddamn it! I love Bust-a-Move! I’m so disappointed.

[dougrb]

I had a cat named Milli Vanilli that disappeared. That would be awesome if she showed up onstage.

[WOOKINPANUBv.2]

I wonder how many acts turned them down. Or, did they even attempt to get anyone relevant, or that people actually like? What a trashy, low rent, lame “celebration”. I’ve never been hugely ‘patriotic’, but I recall the excitement and, pride, I guess, at our bicentennial in 1976. Granted, I was only ten at the time, but it sure felt different. What a pisser that this fecking regime is in power for what could have been a much needed sense of joy and unity. I’ll be here when / if the U.S. returns to normality, but for now, I’m a Californian first and don’t really even want to be associated with Amurica.

[Smapti]

@WOOKINPANUBv.2

What a trashy, low rent, lame “celebration”.

I mean, imagine the kind of lineup of American music legends you could put together with government funding if the country WASN’T being run by a senile fascist. Taylor Swift. Beyonce. Bruce Springsteen. Jay-Z. Pearl Jam. Mariah Carey. Billy Joel. The Eagles. Garth Brooks. Sabrina Carpenter. Kendrick Lamar. Justin Timberlake. Lady Gaga. I could go on.

Instead you’ve got a bunch of C-listers and one-hit wonders from nearly 40 years ago who are probably desperate for cash and don’t care about the optics as long as the check clears.

ETA: As an aside, I’d just like to say to @WOOKINPANUBv.2 that I’ve been reading your name as “Wookiee in a pub” for years now and just now realized that that’s not what it actually says. My bad.

[Der_Trihs]

@Smapti

Instead you’ve got a bunch of C-listers and one-hit wonders from nearly 40 years ago who are probably desperate for cash and don’t care about the optics as long as the check clears.

Funny thing is, knowing Trump there’s an excellent chance he’ll try to weasel out of paying them.

[Buck_Godot]

I’m surprised Kid Rock isn’t on the list given how close he seems to his orangeness.

@Der_Trihs

Funny thing is, knowing Trump there’s an excellent chance he’ll try to weasel out of paying them.

Ah, maybe that’s why. He’s close enough to know better.

[Monty]

@Smapti

I’m curious as to how Milli Vanilli are supposed to perform, given that they didn’t sing their own songs in the first place and one of them is dead.

Absolutely true story here. A friend and I were walking down Market Street in San Francisco and my friend said, “Look, it’s Milli Vanilli!” Darned if it wasn’t. When we got back to our ship, I told another friend we saw them. The second friend asked, “Did they say anything?” When I told him they didn’t, he responded, “Of course not.”

And I’m mighty happy Commodores is not involved in this newest debacle from Tan the Conman.

@Happy_Lendervedder

That list of artists reads like a bunch of scratched CDs you’d find in a box in your basement.

LPs and singles, not CDs. The luddite-in-chief surely doesn’t like anything modern.

@ThelmaLou

@Spoons

Plus Milli Vanilli? Those guys who were discredited 37 years ago for not actually performing on their records?

B-b-b-but their history makes them completely appropriate.

is this history that of being frauds just like the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a fraud?

@WOOKINPANUBv.2

What a pisser that this fecking regime is in power for what could have been a much needed sense of joy and unity.

You realize the reason for the disunity now is this particular regime, right?

@Smapti

I mean, imagine the kind of lineup of American music legends you could put together with government funding if the country WASN’T being run by a senile fascist. Taylor Swift. Beyonce. Bruce Springsteen. Jay-Z. Pearl Jam. Mariah Carey. Billy Joel. The Eagles. Garth Brooks. Sabrina Carpenter. Kendrick Lamar. Lady Gaga. I could go on.

Instead you’ve got a bunch of C-listers

Your forgot the D-lister. (D for Dead)

Department of inJustice is “investigating” E. Jean Carroll.

The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The investigation is focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to her two civil lawsuits against the president – one alleging he sexually abused Carroll in a New York department store in the mid-1990s, and a second for defaming her when in 2019 he repeatedly denied the assault, said she wasn’t his type and claimed she made it up to boost sales of a book.

Prosecutors’ theory hinges on a 2022 deposition statement by Carroll, 82, that she received no outside funding for her lawsuit, though it was later revealed that billionaire Reid Hoffman had paid some legal fees and expenses.

Carroll’s team declined to comment for this story. Attempts to reach Hoffman on Wednesday were unsuccessful.

The probe is the latest move in the department’s ceaseless, and somewhat strained, efforts to meet Trump’s demands to target his long-standing personal foes.

Under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the department has pushed to speed up Trump’s campaign of retribution. But the cases he’s brought since taking the reins of the department in April have been heavily criticized and are likely to face challenges in court over allegations of politicization.

Peace Prize recipient wannabe now wants to obliterate Oman.

Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to “blow up” the country of Oman if it didn’t bow to his wishes around control of the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. president seeks a peace agreement with Iran to reopen the strait.

The president hosted a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday and reiterated his insistence that Oman and other nations sign on to his first-term-brokered Abraham Accords, a U.S.-led treaty which encourages the normalization of diplomatic ties between Arab nations and Israel.

He also took a question from reporters, one of whom asked about a potential short-term deal that would allow for shared control of the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman, which border the key waterway. In response, the president issued a direct threat to Oman, a U.S. ally.

"Oman will behave just like everyone else, or we’ll have to blow them up,” the president stunningly warned, adding, “Nobody’s going to control it.”

His seemingly off-the-cuff remark was immediately tweeted out by the State Department’s account on X, hammering home the message.

You’ll note he also included a veiled threat against every nation: “Just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up”. Just like everybody else.

The convicted felon blows off the soldiers injuried in his vanity war.

President Trump made time to visit with U.S. service members during his trip Tuesday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but he did not see any of the 14 troops injured in the war he started with Iran who are also recovering at the hospital, according to the family of one soldier and another military official familiar with Mr. Trump’s visit.

The White House said Mr. Trump met with service members during his six-month checkup at the Army’s flagship medical center, but repeatedly declined to say whether the president saw soldiers injured in Operation Epic Fury.

“President Trump was honored to meet with our amazing service members and medical staff while at Walter Reed Medical Center,” said a White House spokesperson, who declined to provide any guidance on why the president did not meet with soldiers wounded in the Iran war.

The felon’s war on foreigners has cost the US over $8 billion.

Millions of international travelers are increasingly choosing to avoid the United States.

The United States had roughly 4 million fewer international visitors in 2025 than the year before, marking a 5.5 percent decline in overseas tourism, according to CNN. Foreign visitor spending also fell by more than $8 billion.

Aside from the collapse in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, it represents the sharpest annual drop in international tourism in roughly 20 years.

It’s almost like he’s trying to cover up Jimmy Hoffa’s burial site.

On the surface, Donald Trump’s obsession with renovating the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is a political problem for obvious reasons: The more the public expects the president to do real work on the challenges facing the public and the nation, the more the Republican fixates on personal distractions and vanity endeavors.

But the closer one looks at the no-bid contract for the dubious renovation project, the more one realizes that Trump’s tone-deaf crusade is a mess for multiple reasons.

According to the president’s initial claims, the handpicked contractor would charge only $1.8 million to repair the iconic pool. Two weeks ago, that price tag soared to $13.1 million. Last week, Trump said he thought the overall cost to American taxpayers would “probably” be “less than $20 million.”

It reached the point that the president insisted online that he wasn’t involved in choosing the contractor, whom he said he “did not know and have never used before.” He had previously said the exact opposite, sparking questions as to which version of his contradictory story was true.

I cannot quote the rest of the article but the financing is orange through and through.

Trump-backed candidate thinks racism is hilarious.

Mark Lamb did not push back when a member of a citizen militia group used a racial epithet in an online message exchange. He instead made a racist joke, a screenshot shows.

The Trump-endorsed candidate for Congress also cheered other discriminatory slurs in messages to a member of the vigilante group Border Narcotics Intelligence, messages from one of his 2016 campaign social media accounts show.

Lamb, former Pinal County sheriff, has branded himself as “America’s Sheriff” and is running to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs in Arizona’s Fifth Congressional District, just southeast of Phoenix. Builder Daniel Keenan is competing in the July 21 Republican primary.

A Facebook user named Nick Steele told Lamb that he and other group members were supporting him in his first bid for sheriff.

“BNI guys work like (N-words),” the Facebook user wrote.

“Hahahaha! So you don’t do anything?” Lamb replied, punctuating his direct message with a pair of laughing emojis.

Steele appeared surprised by the sheriff’s reply and sought to clarify.

“LOL No we work like (N-words) cuz it’s the right thing to do…” he said.

“You guys do work hard,” Lamb messaged back. “I’m impressed! And grateful!”

BNI was one of many self-appointed citizen militia groups that formed to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border that proliferated during the Obama administration and sought to clamp down on undocumented migrants.

The messages are part of a trove of digital material obtained by The Arizona Republic from a member of Lamb’s first campaign team.

Money was pledged to the felon’s “board of peace”. Guess how much was forked over.

Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace,” which vowed to help rebuild Gaza, has no real funding despite receiving billions of dollars in pledges, according to a new report.

The president formally announced the board in January. Countries could join by contributing $1 billion, and members included Azerbaijan, Israel, Qatar, and Bahrain.

Nine countries later pledged more than $9 billion toward a Gaza “relief package” for the war-torn territory following years of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

However, the Board of Peace’s World Bank-backed fund has still not received any substantial donor funding, four people familiar with the matter told The Financial Times. “Zero dollars have been deposited,” one source said.

When you have to go, you have to go…where, exactly?

There are 35 total bathrooms inside the White House, and with approximately 4,300 attendees expected at UFC Freedom 250, it would be logistically convenient to give everyone access specifically to the eight restrooms available in the West Wing.

That, of course, would figure to be a security nightmare to deal with for a one-of-a-kind event that surely faces an abundance of unprecedented logistical and security challenges.

Which begs the question then: What will the bathroom situation be like when all those people converge on the South Lawn of the White House for UFC Freedom 250 on June 14? UFC boss Dana White shed some light on the situation in a featured story published by Time magazine on Tuesday:

While most fans will not enjoy access to West Wing restrooms, White is promising high-class temporary facilities for the 4,000-plus spectators. “We’re bringing in real bathrooms,” he says.

What that means exactly isn’t clear, but it sounds like a substantial upgrade from standard Porta Potties.

The Kennedy Center is now run by lunatics.

A Trump-Kennedy Center official warned a federal judge that stripping the president’s name from the renowned arts institution would cause unbearable financial damage, marking the latest twist in a months-long legal battle.

Charles Matthew Floca, the center’s 39-year-old executive director, filed a declaration Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing the institution’s funding is inextricably linked to President Donald Trump.

“President Trump’s fundraising on behalf of the Center is exemplified by the tens of millions of dollars already raised,” Floca wrote. “Further, the President has committed to raise $150 billion on its behalf from private donors over the next two years.”

“Should President Trump’s name be removed from the Center, that vital fundraising connection will be severed, causing irreparable harm and fundamentally destabilizing the Center’s development efforts, severely impairing its trust-fund artistic programming, and rendering the continuation of ongoing trust-funded operations financially nonviable,” he continued.

Judges want the convicted fraud’s deal with IRS investigatd for, you guessed it, fraud.

Washington — A bipartisan group of 35 federal judges asked a federal court in Florida to reopen the legal case between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service and investigate whether the two parties’ out-of-court settlement was an act of fraud against the court.

In a May 27 court filing, the ex-judges contend Trump and co-plaintiffs failed to mention a planned settlement in their motion to withdraw the lawsuit against the IRS. In exchange for Trump voluntarily withdrawing the lawsuit, the Justice Department last week agreed to create a much-criticized $1.766 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that could funnel payments to Trump’s political allies.

“The Court was deceived,” the 24-page motion reads, adding that the settlement “commandeers the contrived sum of $1.776 billion from the United States Treasury, to be handed out to recipients chosen by a commission effectively controlled by the President.”

[WOOKINPANUBv.2]

Imagine how good it would have been under Obama. All those artists you mentioned and who knows who else. This “celebration” is tacky AF and definitely sending a clear message to the likes of you and me.

You’re not the first to read my name that way. I like it because I get a cute picture in my head of Wookie with a pint.

[Robot_Arm]

@DWMarch

Good, I was worried for a minute there that I was going to have to say an unkind word about Morris Day and The Time.

Are you a smooth pimp who looooooves the pussy?