Hey everyone. Welcome back. Hope your week is off to a good start.
We have got a big one today, because the losses are piling up fast for Donald Trump, and they are coming from every direction. His slush fund for January 6th rioters has officially fallen apart, a federal judge told him he cannot criminalize a protest sign, and an appeals court blocked his effort to push transgender troops out of the military. And that’s just the last 24 hours.
We will also get into Trump handing the nation’s intelligence agencies to a real estate executive with zero relevant experience, Pete Hegseth blocking promotions for qualified women and Black officers while trying to fast-track his own aide, the Homeland Security Secretary threatening to choke off a major airport to punish a city for protesting, and the latest in the mysterious case of the missing congressman.
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Let’s get to it.
1. The President Who Promised So Much Winning Can't Stop Losing
We talked last week about how a federal judge in Virginia paused the President’s slush fund. But the bigger blow has come from Trump’s own party as Senate Republicans were furious that it had derailed their immigration funding bill. After a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson, the administration began telling Republicans the fund is dead, at least for now. The Justice Department says it “disagrees strongly” with the court but will abide by the ruling.
Second, a federal judge in DC ordered the National Park Service to leave alone a group of protesters flying an 8647 flag across from the federal courthouse. The Trump administration has been treating that number as a death threat, the same theory it is using to prosecute James Comey. The Judge said no reasonable person could read that flag as a true threat, and he barred the Park Service from yanking the group’s permit.
Third, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the Pentagon from removing transgender service members already in uniform. The judges wrote that the policy “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group.” That is a federal appeals court calling the executive order what it is.
And while all of that was unfolding, Trump got on the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s expanding war in Lebanon that caused Iran to walk away from talks with the U.S. According to Axios, the call did not go well.
Trump reportedly told the Israeli Prime Minister he was crazy, that he would be in prison if it weren’t for Trump, and that everybody hates Israel now.
Netanyahu publicly shrugged it off, saying his position was unchanged and the IDF would keep operating in Lebanon as planned. Ouch.
This is a President who campaigned on winning. He promised we would get so tired of it we would beg him to stop. Five months from the midterms, the only thing piling up is the losses. With many more to come.
2. Trump Taps Housing Official and Loyalist to Run U.S. Intelligence
This morning, Trump announced that Bill Pulte will be the acting Director of National Intelligence. Who is Bill Pulte? He runs the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Before the government, he ran a construction company and a private equity firm. He has no intelligence background, no military service, and no national security experience.
What he does have is a track record of going after the president’s enemies. Pulte has used his housing job to send criminal referrals to the Justice Department against a string of Trump critics. Only one produced an indictment — and it was dismissed.
Thankfully, Dr. Oz was at the White House podium today to reassure us that Trump has excellent judgment about people:
But here is the real kicker. Pulte will keep his other jobs. Trump says he will run the country’s spy agencies, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac all at once. The President’s pitch was that Pulte has experience managing “over 10 Trillion Dollars” at the mortgage giants.
The Director of National Intelligence sits on top of the agencies that keep this country safe, including the CIA. The job was created after September 11th so that someone would connect the dots before Americans get killed.
Putting a mortgage executive in that chair because he is loyal is a naked confession about what this President actually values. And that’s loyalty over the safety of Americans.
3. Hegseth Blocked Promotions for Female, Black Officers While Pushing His Own Unqualified Aide
The New York Times reports that Pete Hegseth personally blocked the promotions of a group of Navy officers who had already been selected by a board of senior admirals. The ones he pulled were disproportionately women and Black men.
The list released at the end of May, after Hegseth was done with it, contains 22 nominees. Zero women. Only two nonwhite officers. The active duty Navy is 21 percent women and 38 percent racial minorities. The future leadership of the Navy now bears almost no resemblance to the force these admirals will lead.
The officers Hegseth pulled were not flagged for any performance issue. They were flagged because they had taken part in a diversity event in the past.
It gets worse. While Hegseth was striking decorated officers off the list, he was also pushing the Navy to add his own special assistant. The Navy declined, because he did not meet the basic criteria. Hegseth tried to put him on anyway.
Asked by Congress about all of this, Hegseth said, “I’m not aware of what you’re referring to.”
I cannot be clear enough about this: you simply cannot run a military on grievance and favoritism. The promotion board exists for a reason. When the Defense Secretary overrules it to settle ideological scores and reward his buddies, he is not making the military stronger. He is making it weaker. And ultimately the safety of the United States is what is at stake.
4. Mullin Confirms Plan to Pull Airport Customs Agents for Delaney Hall Protests
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that if local and state officials did not help break up protests at the Delaney Hall detention facility in Newark, he would pull Customs and Border Protection officers off of international flights and reassign them to the detention center.
That is Newark Liberty International, one of the busiest international airports in the country. The international airlines association warned the impact of the reassignment would be, quote, “immediate and profound”. Travelers would be stranded, airline schedules blown up, and international partners would question whether the United States can be trusted to uphold its basic aviation obligations.
And what is the trigger here? A protest. People are demonstrating outside Delaney Hall over reports of poor conditions and a hunger strike inside. According to a recent analysis of ICE data, 87 percent of the people being held there have no criminal record at all.
Though some reports suggest the threat was walked back after talks with New Jersey’s governor, Mullin made clear the plan is still on the table if needed. That is a hostage negotiation with the American public. The Secretary of Homeland Security is using your passport line as a bargaining chip.
This is what it looks like when a department designed to keep Americans safe gets pointed at Americans instead.
5. The Latest Turn in The Case of The Missing Congressman: A Trump Endorsement?
We brought you the first part of this saga a few weeks ago. Tom Kean is the Republican congressman from New Jersey’s 7th district. He has not cast a vote in the House since March 5th. He has not appeared in public in his district. He has not made a single video statement. He has missed more than 100 votes.
In late April, Kean’s office said he was dealing with an unspecified medical issue. Today is his New Jersey primary, and he still has not made an appearance.
Kean’s seat is one of the most competitive in the country, the kind of district that has flipped between Republicans and Democrats in every recent midterm. So what did the President do last night?
He went on Truth Social and endorsed him. Trump said Kean is “working tirelessly” on the America First agenda, saying “HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN.”
Tom has not been seen in nearly a hundred days. He cannot vote. Speaker Mike Johnson admitted publicly he does not know the details. Reporters who visited his home say his wife appears to be gone too, and neighbors cannot remember the last time anyone saw a car in the driveway.
I hope the congressman is okay. I hope his family is okay. I mean that. But you cannot go MIA for three months and expect no one to ask questions when the President of the United States endorses you.
Okay, that is the show for June 2nd.
Thanks for being here. If today’s show hit home, hit the like button, share it with someone who needs to hear it, and please subscribe so you do not miss what is coming.
See you then.
Some other stories that caught my eye:
The Pentagon has barred reporters from its press office, according to a Washington Post report on Monday. For years that room was where journalists could stop by the desks of public affairs officials, ask questions, and gather for off-camera briefings. Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez said the change was necessary because speechwriters now share the space and "routinely handle classified material," and going forward, access to the press secretary's office will be by appointment only. This comes after the Pentagon kicked several mainstream outlets out of their dedicated workspaces earlier in the second Trump term and handed some of those slots to friendlier outfits like Breitbart. Last year, the department also pushed reporters to sign a pledge that would have barred them from soliciting tips or even sketching what they saw inside the building. The New York Times sued over the access rules late last year, and that case is still pending.
At the Minnesota Republican Party’s state endorsement convention in Duluth on Saturday, delegates held a 10-second moment of silence for Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer serving more than 22 years for the murder of George Floyd. The motion came from the floor and was put to an informal vote by convention chair Rep. Danny Nadeau. State party chair Alex Plechash said the request came from the body, not leadership, and that it wasn’t part of the official program. The tribute landed just days after the sixth anniversary of Floyd’s death, the killing that sparked nationwide protests over policing in 2020. Chauvin is in federal prison and isn’t due for release until 2037, but some MAGA figures have publicly pushed President Trump to pardon him. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, who helped lead the prosecution, called the moment “profound cruelty” to the Floyd family.
