Donald trump

Hats off to President Trump! At the conclusion of his speech to the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, Trump donned a red cap with 2028 emblazoned upon it and declared that he had hit upon a scheme to “save” the ratings of the new media. “I am pleased to announce my intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States,” he said.  Trump evoked a few titters from the assembled press corps at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, but that was about the extent of the hijinks. In one sense, it’s no laughing matter. What will the press do without Trump? He’s correct in viewing himself as its savior. Without the 24/7 entertainment provided by the Donald, views would dwindle.

It is my solemn duty to report that, as ever in Trumpworld, the news zone has flooded and we are paddling through a reality-bending time loop. Last night, the government reapplied tariffs on more than 80 countries, on this occasion using dubious concerns about "forced labour" to justify the charges on Britain, the EU, Australia and elsewhere. Tonight, the President will attend the rearranged White House Correspondents’ Dinner, three months after the last one was canceled following another assassination attempt. The dinner will be held at the Waldorf Astoria, DC, which used to be the Trump International Hotel. The guest list and security will be tighter this time, and Donald should have a chance to make some good jokes.

“For the best night’s sleep in the whole wide world, visit mypillow.com” is a jingle that punctuates every hour of Fox News viewing. Now “MyPillow guy” Mike Lindell is changing his tune: for the best governor of Minnesota in the whole wide world, vote Mike Lindell 2026. Lindell is a Trump ally, businessman and election conspiracy theorist. He’s known for his rags-to-riches origin story, rising from a crack cocaine addiction to achieving sobriety and turning to religion. He founded My Pillow in Minnesota in 2004. For readers unfamiliar with Lindell’s political history: before his run for governor, Lindell was sued by a voting machine company, then known as Dominion Voting Systems,  for defamation pertaining to false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

David Axelrod, Barack Hussein Obama’s chief strategist, was clearly worried about Donald Trump’s prime time speech about election integrity last night. Hyperventilating on X Tuesday, he warned that “If @POTUS really trots out Pulte, Patel and a crew of political apparatchiks posing as intel experts... to announce they've uncovered ‘evidence’ of foul play in 2020, it’ll only heighten fears that he'll claim an ‘emergency’ down the line and claim extraordinary fed power over elections. If so – and there are plenty of other signs of manipulation brewing – the most important battles of the midterms may be in the courts.” Let’s begin by considering Axelrod’s rhetoric.

One of Donald Trump’s greatest strengths is his ability to repeat himself endlessly. It takes some doing. At 9 p.m. tonight, he says, he’ll give the world a big primetime showstopper announcement. It’s expected that he will reveal something about foreign influence or operations in "the stolen election" of 2020.  Escalate, threaten, befuddle, try to find an off-ramp on more agreeable terms, and if necessary bore the enemy into submission We don’t know exactly what, but we can be sure Trump will reiterate that he actually won three presidential elections, not two, and that he’ll use this stunt to push The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (SAVE) Act. That’s currently his pet obsession. And Trump just keeps going until he gets what he wants.

With all the Hollywood drama and heart-pounding music of a Mission: Impossible trailer, NATO screened a short promotional film at its Ankara summit to showcase the military hardware it plans to buy to hit Donald Trump's defense spending target. One of the aircraft featured in the mini-movie was even an A400M – the heavy-lift plane that Tom Cruise clung to the side of in the fifth installment of his action film franchise. When the lights came back up, NATO’s Secretary General, Mark Rutte, shook hands, slapped backs and made clear that NATO had not only chosen to accept Trump’s mission to boost spending, it was now delivering.

Who ever let a spot of rain get in the way of a good time? Donald Trump’s July 4 festivities were delayed by several hours due to the threat of thunderstorms. On the National Mall, Secret Service agents did their darnedest to urge some of the President’s more avid supporters toward shelter: in the Blacksonian, the Commerce Department, the IRS. Many were reluctant, despite the blackening skies and flashes of lightning in the distance. “It’s not a debate, keep moving,” agents said. Confusion filtered through the crowd as to whether the night’s celebrations were canceled or merely delayed. Attendees milled aimlessly around the Washington Monument grounds, wearing T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “The metric system can’t measure freedom.

"You can do two things," Donald Trump told reporters as he stood beside the new retrofitted Air Force One on Wednesday. "You can low-key it, or you can show it." He always does the latter. The presidential plane is, as everyone knows, a $400 million present from Qatar. The famous light blue hull is gone. It is painted in Trump’s preferred color scheme – navy blue, red, gold stripes. The Air Force says it spent less than $400 million implementing "security upgrades." And the aircraft began active service this week and will be used by the President until the end of his second term at least. It’s hard to know if Americans really care about their Commander-in-Chief flying around in a jet given to him by a sheikh who didn’t need it.