Donald Trump caused the reflecting pool to become toxic and the Strait of Hormuz to close: IOW Donald John Trump is a failure

New York Times review about the Trump failed Washington DC reflecting pool environmental crises, by Maxine Joselow and Donald A. Fahrenthold. 

Maine Writer preface: Let me get this❓On February 27, 2026, the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian Gulf (to the west) with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea (to the southeast) was open and free for international shipping.  

After Trump's illegally launched war against Iran, the shipping was shut down by Iran and the U.S. blockaded Iranian access to the Strait of Hormuz in another Trump act of war Naval Blockade.  

In other words, the attack against Iran is a complete failure and Donald Trump had to sign a surrender Memorandum of Understanding at Versailles, France for the purpose of getting Iran to negotiate about a peace deal and open the Strait of Hormuz, that had been open before his interference.  Now, Donald Trump's ego project to recreate the Washington DC reflecting pool has become a tax payer funded fiasco because too many "no bid" contractors cut corners and did not employ best practices to make the reflecting pool "USA blue". Now, the pool is half green and efforts to kill destructive algae are not working properly. In other words, the reflecting pool was beautiful, and functioning in the Washington D.C. climate and environment before Donald Trump ruined it. Meanwhile, tax payers 💲are stuck funding the failed Iranian war and for the toxic clean up in the Washington D.C. reflecting pool. 

Trump says the peeling blue coating and algae blooms that mar his $16.4 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool are the fault of vandals working with “knives” in the “dark of night.”

But government documents obtained by The New York Times show that while National Park Service workers found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints, those were not directly related to the “American flag blue” coating that is now peeling, or to the algae that has turned the pool a bright shade of green.

Even as the documents show workers were attempting to address deteriorating conditions, Trump administration officials were insisting publicly that the pool was pristine.

The cause of the cuts was unclear. While a June 9 report by the U.S. Park Police described the cuts as “razor blade slashes” made along a 20-foot-long stretch of the foam, the administration has yet to present evidence supporting that assertion. The documents reviewed by The Times described them as two 171-foot blade cuts but did not address how they were made.

By June 16, workers had noticed that chunks of blue sealant that covered the pool’s bottom were peeling and floating to the surface, the documents show. That sealant was separate from the foam in the pool’s expansion joints, which allow its concrete slabs to expand and contract.

The workers had also discovered that some devices installed to kill algae were not working as intended, according to the documents. And enormous algae blooms had turned portions of the pool bright green instead of dark blue.

But on June 15,  Trump was still declaring the renovation a success, telling reporters that “I’m very good at building things and constructing things.”

The Reflecting Pool is a centerpiece of Trump’s attempts to remake the capital in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday. The pool has been plagued by leaks and algae for decades; Trump boasted that he had repaired it quickly and affordably, but both problems have returned in force.

In fact the pool was drained, resealed and then refilled by June 5. Four days later, National Park Service workers discovered holes, cracks and peeling caulking in parts of the pool, along with cuts in sections of the foam, according to the documents.

Work to fix the problems may not be finished until after July 4 — a setback for Trump, who wanted the renovation to be completed before then.

On Saturday, Trump acknowledged the pool would have to be at least partially drained for more work. Then, on Tuesday, Trump said on social media that six people had been arrested, and seven others had been cited, for slashing the pool’s sealant with a “sharp knife or razors.”

“It was purposefully and criminally done, and somebody had to work very hard, probably in the dark of night,” he wrote.

Trump also told reporters on Monday, without offering evidence, that vandals had poured fertilizer into the pool to feed the algae.

Neither the Interior Department nor the White House would provide charging documents, citations or the names of anyone arrested. They did share the Park Police incident report, which said any suspect or suspects were unknown. The report also did not mention any damage to the pool’s blue sealant, nor did it describe any vandals dumping fertilizer.

Katie Martin, a spokeswoman for the Interior Department, did not answer specific questions about the government documents but said in an email on Tuesday that the pool was “clear” and “reflecting beautifully.”

“While Trump was restoring a crown jewel of our nation’s capital, which is supported by Americans across the country, vandals were attempting to destroy, impede and delay the ongoing work,” she said.

On Tuesday, portions of the pool appeared dark blue and reflected the Washington Monument and the overcast sky. But an enormous clump of green algae remained visible in the center.

A few curiosity seekers braved the rain to stroll around the site, which has become a sightseeing draw. They were outnumbered by throngs of law enforcement officers and other personnel, including from the National Guard, Park Police and U.S. Marshals Service. The National Guard troops were stationed around the pool’s perimeter, with some huddling under trees to stay☔🌧️ dry.

The administration is setting up fencing around the site before the July 4 fireworks display for safety reasons, Ms. Martin said. But it’s going up earlier than originally planned because of what she called an “increase in vandalism by🙄 🤥leftist activists.”

The Trump administration awarded two no-bid contracts for the Reflecting Pool renovations, bypassing the legally required process of seeking competitive bids because of what it called an urgent need to complete the project for events around the nation’s 250th birthday.

The first 💲14.7 million contract went to a Virginia-based company called Atlantic Industrial Coatings to spread the sealant in the “American flag blue” shade across the pool’s concrete slabs. The second 💲1.7 million contract went to Ohio-based Greenwater Services to install devices called nanobubblers, which infuse the water with ozone to kill algae and bacteria.

On June 15, workers discovered that one or two of the four temporary nanobubblers weren’t working at any given time because of problems with generators, and that the water was turning green. By the next day, officials had noticed blue coating peeling, as well.

Representatives for Atlantic Industrial Coatings and Greenwater Services, also known as Green Water Solutions, did not respond to requests for comment.

Though Trump claimed vandals dumped fertilizer in the pool, his administration refilled it with D.C. municipal water, which is treated with phosphate to keep lead from leaching out of old pipes. But phosphate also provides nutrients for algae, as do droppings from ducks swimming in the pool.

In a post on its website on Sunday, Atlantic Industrial Coatings said that “a very small part of the massive 7-acre project” would require repairs. The company added that it would do the work under warranty.

Anthony Flett, the chief executive of U.S. Coating Specialists, a Florida-based company that specializes in waterproofing coatings, reviewed the documents at the request of The Times. He wouldn’t dismiss vandalism, but said it appeared that the sealant may be peeling off because not enough material was applied.

“I don’t want to totally blame the vandalism,” he said. “If they put more material down, maybe none of this would be an issue.”

“There’s people in the pool industry whose whole life is polyurea, and they should have been called in,” Mr. Flett said. “They should have been there to watch over the project to make sure that these failures weren’t prevalent. I think it was just done too hastily.”

The coating was made by a California-based company called Rhino Linings. Pierre Gagnon, the president and chief executive of Rhino Linings, said in an email that the peeling appeared to be “limited to isolated areas” of the pool.

Algae has bloomed frequently in the pool for decades. Its shallow, stagnant water becomes a petri dish for the aquatic organisms in the summer sun.

Experts said the algae didn’t threaten public health because the water is not intended for swimming or drinking. But, they cautioned, if left unchecked, the blooms could give rise to cyanobacteria, which could be highly toxic to any ducks, dogs or other animals that drink the water.

“Just because it’s green algae this week doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to be cyanobacteria tomorrow,” said Ashley Bair, a senior research developer at Usalco, a company that makes coagulants and other water-treatment chemicals.

Ms. Bair, who spoke to The Times from a gathering of water-treatment experts in Washington, added that the Reflecting Pool was the talk of the conference.

Donald Trump continues to look for ways to prevent him and his crime family from IRS audits

Echo opinion letter published in the Florida Sun Sentinel news:

Donald Trump’s anti-weaponization slush💲 fund has been cancelled. (For now 😓😒)

Even usually compliant Republicans balked at rewarding Januart 6 rioters for the inconvenience they suffered being convicted of and then pardoned by Donald Trump for attacking the U.S. Capitol.

In Yiddish, rewarding criminal behavior is “chutzpah.” North Carolina’s outgoing Republican senator, Thom Tillis, called it “stupid on stilts.”

An unrelated provision, insulating Trump his family and their affiliated enterprises from IRS audits, remains intact. 

But, after criminal Trump is out of office, the IRS can return to business as usual and may begin an audit, which the Trump crime family will argue is prohibited by the dubious provision insulating them from audits.

The legality of that provision will come before the courts, so even though the provision masquerades as a legal settlement, it will not survive the legal justification that exempts Trump and associates from the IRS.

Call it “chutzpah on stilts.”

From  Sheldon I. Saitlin, Boca Raton, Florida

Donald Trump and maga cult supporters want to steal $1,8 billion of our tax money to create a slush fund and tRump is not backing down!

Echo opinion letter published in the Sun Sentinel, a South Florida newspaper:

On the infamous date of January 6, 2021, as I settled in to eat lunch and watch Congress count the presidential electoral vote on TV, I became an eyewitness to one of the worst days in our history.

I saw every frightening, disturbing moment unfold live, and I was distressed for hours. I wondered where the cavalry was to stop this violent insurrection by traitors and torture of the poor police officers and terrible threats to members of Congress running and hiding in terror.

So what insanity reigns that these dangerous violent convicted criminals, including Nazi sympathizers and racist white supremacist extremists, not only were pardoned by Trump, but now will be given $1.8 billion? It’s beyond belief.

Trump has taken huge sums of money that could pay for food for children, education and healthcare for the poor, and is giving it to vicious traitors. A special “MAGA tax” is in order to pay this outrageous loyalty payoff. The rest of us should refuse to pay taxes, like the Trump, but now will be given 💲1.8 billion❗ It’s beyond belief.

Trump has taken huge sums of money that could pay for food for children, education and healthcare for the poor, and is giving it to vicious traitors. A special “MAGA tax” is in order to pay this outrageous loyalty payoff. The rest of us should refuse to pay taxes, like the Trumps do.

From Elin Shusterman, in Boynton Beach, Florida

Donald Trump is creating a treasonous slush fund to reward criminal insurrectionist supporters- using our tax money!

Echo opinion letters published in the Sun Sentinel, a South Florida newspaper:

Maine Writer opinion:  Donald Trump is telling his storm troopers to prepare for a January 6th encore insurrection by assuring them of his intention to compensate their evil fealty. ⚠️

January 6, 2021 Trump evil storm troopers will be compensated if the slush fund is permitted. But I believe Trump also intends to use this  💲1.8 million to pay collaborators to keep Republicans in kowtow positions.

Only in the U.S.A. can you get a mob together, march to the U.S. Capitol, cause millions of dollars in damage, assault the police, have members of Congress fear for their lives and subsequently be charged, only to be pardoned by the man in the White House.

How am I doing so far❓

Now the same person sets up a “slush fund” to the tune of 💲1.8 billion, an anti-weaponization fund which is blantly illegal in return for never having to be audited by the IRS.

The same person does not care about the financial condition of the citizens of this country, but he wants to reward those who damaged the Capitol. You can bet they will apply for compensation. I wonder if that will include the families of officers who died or committed suicide.

Surely a sad 😥day in America’s history.

From — Pat Eland in Delray Beach, Florida

Trump sinks lower and lower

According to Trump, Iran’s weapons have been annihilated. We won the war. Our economy is better than ever. Food costs are down. Gas will go down soon.  So why do I feel sick to my stomach❓🤢

Because Trumpzi, his family and Cabinet are existential threats to America. We stand by and watch Trump destroy all the safeguards of our institutions while Russia and China revel in the demise of our democracy. While so many suffer, our president enriches himself, his family and his cronies. These despicable acts are the norm of this administration.

Just when I think Trump can’t sink any lower, he pulls another act of sick retribution: a slush fund for the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol. The king of criminality wants to compensate the offenders whom he has already pardoned.

Donald Trump, who called his treasonous supporters (a.k.a. "storm troopers") to arms, wants our tax dollars 💲 to compensate these tyrants. And to think he was elected twice❗ A self-proclaimed king👑 ⚠️💢will be remembered for his savage disrespect for America, its people, and all it stands for.

We must vote as one. Our lives, children’s and grandchildren’s lives depend on our actions. The only way is with truth and justice — the American way.

From — Esther Feit, Delray Beach in Florida

Donald Trump and maga Republicans are stealing taxpayer money to build ugly Trumpian "brand down" relics

A failed president and his edifice complex | Editorial

Published in the Sun Sentinel in Florida

In September 1941, the death of a family member prompted President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to say how he should be remembered.

Dump tRump #ImpeachNOW ❗

One of America’s greatest presidents wanted only a plain block of stone, about the size of his desk, to be placed on the front lawn of the National Archives Building, with the words “In memory of … ”

Friends — not the government — installed it, 20 years after he died. It’s still there, although a more elaborate memorial to one of our greatest presidents now stands beside the Tidal Basin.

An elegant simplicity

Another great president, Thomas Jefferson, also insisted on simplicity. The epitaph on his gravestone would state only that he had written the Declaration of Independence and Virginia’s Statute for Religious Freedom and had founded the University of Virginia — not that he was elected president twice.

The accidental president, Gerald Ford, pocket-vetoed a bill to name a Michigan post office for him, writing that it would be “improper for me as an incumbent president to approve legislation which places my name on a federal building. This is a precedent I do not wish to establish.”

Such modesty is lost on Donald Trump, who constantly memorializes himself with monuments to bad taste, from Washington to West Palm Beach.

He slapped his name on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; intends to build a vastly oversized ballroom in place of the White House East Wing he razed without Congress’ consent; proposes a triumphal arch larger than any that the ancient emperors built for themselves, which would crudely overshadow Arlington National Cemetery; and plans an enormous “Garden of Heroes” with 250 statutes of notable Americans among whom, one suspects, there will be yet another gilt image of Donald John Trump, fist raised.

When asked by a CBS News reporter whom the arch would honor, Trump replied ‘Me’.”

Trump's ugly and unpopular name is on a State Department building. His image is on gold commemorative coins, passports and national park passes. His signature is going on paper currency. He wants a new class of white elephant battleships to be named for him.

And the airport, of course

The licensing deal for Palm Beach International Airport to be named for him, as demanded by a law the state Legislature passed without local consent, requires a logo resembling the White House seal, in — you guessed it — gold with gold stars.

The renaming and branding will cost taxpayers $5.5 million and Trump will control who will be allowed to operate concessions there.

Trump’s personal edifice complex is unmoored to any qualifying achievements or to any corresponding esteem from any sector of the public, other than MAGA diehards.

In a new Washington Post-Ipsos poll, Trump’s approval rating has sunk to 37% and his disapproval has climbed to 62%. His approval among Republicans was 85%, but among independents it’s 25%.

Across the entire electorate, the public disapproves of how he’s handling every major issue, especially inflation, the cost of living, the overall economy and his illegal war.

He argues heedlessly that he needs the colossal ballroom to protect him from potential assassins, with the recent attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner as the pretext.

But that thought conflicts with his personality, because it presumes that he would hunker down in the White House, never leaving for MAGA rallies or rounds of golf. It would not be an acceptable venue for independent associations that need to keep a respectful distance from whoever is president. The East Room was adequate for John F. Kennedy’s state dinners and for the one to which Trump welcomed King Charles III last week.

A poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Ozymandias,” taught to generations of Florida high school students, is still listed in the state language arts curriculum. It behooves Trump to read it. It’s short enough that he could do so, without having someone read it to him:

I met a traveler from an antique land,

Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert … Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal, these words appear:

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant.

Donald Trump has a fixation on creating cruelty.

File under "You cannot make this stuff up".  

Donald Trump’s latest fantastic notion is to repurpose Alcatraz Island, one of the National Park Service’s most popular historical sites, as the remote, isolated California prison it used to be.

Nothing about it makes sense.

It was costing nearly three times as much to operate as other federal prisons, which is why Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy made the sensible decision to close it in 1963.

Every necessity, such as fuel, food and water, had to be barged in. The buildings, visibly crumbling in the salty environment of San Francisco Bay, needed major repairs. Contrary to legend, it wasn’t escape-proof, either.

A total waste of money💲💰❗

The 💲151 million that Trump is asking Congress to squander on Alcatraz would barely begin to restore it as a prison. The operating expenses would be as extreme as before, if not more so.

But at least he’s asking Congress, rather than acting by imperial fiat like he did by destroying the White House’s East Wing for a grotesquely oversized monument to bad taste.

Congress should say no.

What’s most interesting about his Alcatraz fantasy is how it displays Trump’s obsessions with symbolism and cruelty.

Trump has written of it as a “symbol of law, order and JUSTICE.” What he means is punishment as hard as possible, at least for the criminals he doesn’t see fit to pardon.

Trump was clearly under the impression that no one had ever escaped from Alcatraz. That’s debatable. Over 29 years, according to the Bureau of Prisons, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes. Five of them are still listed as “missing and presumed drowned.”

Although San Francisco Bay is cold, the fitness icon Jack La Lanne once swam to the island pulling a rowboat, and several children also made the swim.

It would disappoint Trump to know there are no man-eating sharks.

A Clint Eastwood movie: Clint Eastwood's movie “Escape from Alcatraz,” may be all Trump knows about the subject. Eastwood's movie depicts the 1962, escape of three men who broke out of the main cellblock and vaulted a fence to the water without being seen. The FBI closed that case after 17 years, believing they had drowned, but it’s still on the active books of the U.S. Marshals Service.

The Bureau of Prisons has a super-maximum facility in Florence, Colorado, that’s far tougher than Alcatraz ever was.

Inmates, including the Mexican drug czar and escape artist known as El Chapo, spends 23 hours a day in a cell roughly the size of a parking place. Their only view of the outside world is a patch of sky seen through a window four inches wide.

It’s an escape deterrent designed to keep them from knowing even what wing of the prison they’re in.

Robert Hanssen, the Soviet spy in the FBI who’s still considered the nation’s worst-ever security breach, was at ADX Colorado for 21 years until his death three years ago.

The Colorado supermax, nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies,” should satisfy anyone’s thirst for harsh punishment. As one former warden described it, “We’ve figured out a system that’s far beyond death.”

But, in Trump’s mind, the public apparently needs to see something that’s more symbolic than an out-of-the way complex in remote Colorado.

‘We think he’s mad’: As far as the public seems to be concerned, Alcatraz is perfectly fine as a historical site. Some 1.4 million people visit it every year, many of them foreign tourists, and San Francisco is aghast at the prospect of losing that revenue stream to Trump’s crazy 😠😓whims❗

The scheme is far enough along that Pam Bondi visited the island with Doug Burgum, the interior secretary, whose department owns it now. (This was before Trump fired the pathetic Pam Bondi as attorney general.)

Alcatraz began as a military fortress and lighthouse, then became a military prison, converted to civilian use in 1933. It had become a white elephant by 1962, the year the Burt Lancaster movie “Birdman of Alcatraz” was nominated for Academy Awards.

A New York Times reporter working on a story about Trump’s pipe dream interviewed a British couple, Tony and Deb Vickery, while they were visiting Alcatraz. They mentioned having sailed through the Panama Canal and Canada, two other Trump acquisition targets.

“We think he’s mad,” Ms. Vickery said. “We think he’s lost his marbles.”

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board in South Florida.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans like Senator Rick Scott and Senator Susan Collins are ignoring their constituents' voices

Echo opinion published in the Sun Sentinel Florida newspaper by Katherine "Kitty" Donovan:  This is not what Republicans voted for.

In Maine Writer's opinion, this excellent opinion could just as well have been written about Maine Senator Susan Collins.

I am a lifelong Republican from Boca Raton. I never imagined I would be writing something like this. But here we are.

Like many Floridians, I feel unrepresented — not by the opposing party, but by my own. That should alarm anyone who still believes in representative democracy. When elected officials stop listening to their constituents, we are no longer participating in governance. We are being managed.

Recently, my U.S. senator, Rick Scott, sent out an update touting his efforts to pass the SAVE Act, a bill framed as necessary to prevent noncitizens from voting. The message was urgent, emphatic and unwavering.

But, it was also deeply disconnected from reality.

There is little evidence that noncitizen voting occurs at any scale that would justify sweeping new federal restrictions. 

What the SAVE Act would do, however, is create new barriers for eligible voters — particularly married women, seniors, disabled individuals and lower-income Americans — who may face additional hurdles in proving citizenship under stricter documentation requirements.

There is also a question of scale. Even conservative-leaning data sources have documented extremely few cases of noncitizen voting over decades, compared to the billions of ballots cast nationwide in that time. Meanwhile, millions of Americans lack ready access to documents like passports or birth certificates, and tens of millions — particularly married women whose names have changed — could face additional hurdles under stricter requirements. That imbalance raises a fundamental question: Are we solving a real problem, or creating a new one?

As Republicans, we used to stand for limited government and individual freedom. We believed the burden should not fall on citizens to prove themselves again and again just to exercise a fundamental right. That principle seems to have been abandoned.

At the same time, far more urgent issues are being ignored.

We are witnessing executive actions that raise serious constitutional questions, including military engagement abroad without clear congressional authorization. 

Regardless of party, Congress has a duty to assert its role in matters of war. Silence is not leadership.

We are also seeing growing alarm from communities across the country about immigration enforcement practices — families separated, detainees held without timely charges, and reports that demand transparency and accountability. These concerns deserve serious attention, not deflection.

Yet instead of addressing these pressing issues, our leaders are doubling down on legislation that appears more about political strategy than public necessity.



This is not the Republican Party I have supported my entire life.

Across the country, Americans are exercising one of our most fundamental rights: peaceful protest. 😊❗

Demonstrations on March 28th "No Kings" 👑reflected a growing sense that voices are no longer being heard through traditional channels. Dismissing these movements does not make them disappear — it deepens the divide.

Let me be clear: This is not about abandoning conservative values. It is about reclaiming them.

We should be defending the Constitution, not sidestepping it. We should be protecting the right to vote, not making it harder. We should be demanding accountability from every branch of government, regardless of which party is in power.

And above all, our elected leaders should be listening to the people who elected them to serve.

If the Republican Party continues down this path, it risks losing not just elections but the trust of those who once stood firmly behind it.

I am one of them.

Katherine “Kitty” Donovan, of Boca Raton, is a retired Broward County school administrator with 37 years’ experience in middle schools, a grandmother of three boys and the Florida state senior ambassador for Giffords Gun Owners for Safety.

Donald Trump launched America into an illegal war with Iran and now the world is immersed living in "The Scream" painting by Poster

(Editor’s note: This editorial repeats profanity. We quote it verbatim because of the significance of the source.)

Echo opinion essay published by the Sun Sentinel's Editorial Board.

"The Scream" by Edward Munich Poster

Donald Trump talks like a genocidal maniac

Barry R McCaffrey  General, USA, Ret., "This is a continuing story of a great nation fallen mesmerized into the hands of a charlatan. We hope there are growing signs of revulsion by the American people. Bizarre. Madness. Who are these people standing with this man." 

Sun Sentinel opinion:  Never in our history has a leader made such a ghastly threat like Donald Trump did when he warned that 'a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.'

Fortunately, he backed down. Sudden wisdom, or cold feet❓

To some, it was just another TACO Tuesday (Trump Always Chickens Out). It’s preferable to think that he got wisdom rather than cold feet. Regardless, it was the right choice.

But still, it’s only an "on again off again" frail truce with Iran, a 14-day pause on what would have become — and might yet be — a monstrous war crime and an indelible stain on our nation.

It is encouraging that the Trump administration and Iran both claim victory, which would be an excuse to call off the war.

There are unconfirmed reports that some U.S. commanders were refusing to carry out genocidal orders, and that would be good news, too. (Illegal orders❗)

But the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Donald Trump seems to believe he can call on the magician 🔮🙄in Ali Babba to "open Sesame" the Strait of Hormuz.  Even following a surprise announcement by Donald Trump, who claimed the Strait of Hormuz was fully opened, and the stock market subsequently closed the April 17 week in the green, his fake proclamation fell apart by Saturday April 18, when Iran announced control over the Strait.)

Congress must intervene❗

Congress must use the respite to take Trump in hand, with a war powers resolution and a serious investigation of his mental fitness. Regardless of whether impeachment is possible, it needs to be pursued.

The nation and the world have long since become accustomed to Trump’s loutish behavior, coarse vocabulary and disrespect for the dignity of his office and America’s reputation.

But his increasingly erratic conduct of late commands the attention of Congress, because it bears unmistakable signs of worsening mental decay in someone who can singlehandedly order the use of nuclear weapons.

A telling symptoms of dementia is a loss of inhibition. Until now, presidents appreciated the power of their words, and whatever their private thoughts, none ever spoke so venomously as Trump at war.

No president has disgraced our nation with such vulgarity as his social media post on the Christian faith’s holiest day, Easter Sunday:

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP”

Whether our nation is at the whims of a madman is a question Congress should pursue.

Israel’s hidden role

The other is the extent to which Trump was led into the crisis by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who craved U.S. support for another war with Iran.

In a remarkable exposé, the New York Times described in detail how Trump secretly received Netanyahu at the White House on Feb. 11, for a hard sell on what a war might accomplish.

Netanyahu and his team framed a “near-certain victory,” (lunacy❗) the Times said. “Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. The regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assessed as minimal.”

According to the Times, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Trump some of it was “farcical” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also his national security adviser, called it “bullshit,” but Trump eventually wore down all the internal doubters except for Vice President JD Vance. Pete Hegseth, his self-styled secretary of war, was all for it.

Despite the fake truce that took effect, Hegseth threatened ground operations to seize Iran’s enriched uranium. 

So much for certain victory. None of it happened.

Trump’s outbursts bespoke the frustration of a thoroughly incompetent ruler who began a war with no plan for how to conduct or conclude it and was unprepared for Iran’s resistance.

War: What is it good for❓

Trump's illegal war's main accomplishments are to inflate energy prices, depress the stock market, destabilize the world’s economy, betray Ukraine by waiving sanctions against Russia’s oil, replace one fanatic Iranian ayatollah with another, and harden Iran’s dictatorship and nuclear ambitions.

Congress should also scrutinize how Hegseth, a man far out of his depth, has been demoralizing and destroying the Department of Defense, purging it of anyone who might question illegal orders or represent diversity. His purge of senior officers who are Black or female has been conspicuous.

His dismissal of General Randy George, the Army’s chief of staff early in his term, along with two subordinates, was without precedent. George reportedly opposed the attack on Iran.

Republican senators praised George for his service, but they failed to condemn Hegseth.

In his farewell letter to his troops, George said they deserve “leaders of character.”

So do we all.

P.S. Maine Writer question❓  Has Iran surrendered yet❓

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. 

Donald Trump needs psychiatric care and behavioral health counseling. He creates evil and Republicans must remove him from office!

Re: “Donald Trump talks like a genocidal maniac” — Sun Sentinel Editorial, April 8, 2026.

I hope Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine will find somebody to read this echo opinion letter to her, published in the Florida Sun Sentinel.

Thank you for your excellent editorial about Donald Trump’s un-fitness for office.

Trump revealed a murderous philosophy shared by other 20th century dictators: genocide. On social media he threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz and end hostilities (a war Trump himself unilaterally and illegally launched against Iran).

Trump's hideous statement was condemned around the world, and it should have shaken every American to their core.

Such an evil threat cannot be dismissed just because he failed to carry out his apocalyptic blackmail threat. 

Just the fact that he made such a dangerous declaration, and is capable of such thinking, is proof about his sociopathic mind.

As the former Yale historian Timothy Snyder, an expert on tyranny and genocide, put it, “Whatever happens tonight, or any other night in this war, is now legally defined by Donald Trump's dangerous statement.”

Snyder says Trump practices “sado-populism,” using threats and cruelty to subdue his perceived opponents while sabotaging democracy by “destroying institutional trust.” Trump has spoken. 

We must repudiate Donald Trump. Americans must reject his tyranny. #ImpeachTrumpNOW  #25thAmendment

From — June S. Neal, in Delray Beach, Florida

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must support truth about Pentagon operations and end Pete Hegseth's "Bagdhad Bob" propaganda

Editorial

Editorial Board opinion published in the Florida Sun Sentinel newspaper.

No more fitting tribute exists of Florida's Sunshine Week, the annual tribute to open government, than a judge’s refusal to let Pete Hegseth manipulate the Pentagon press.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the policy he struck down favored journalists “willing to publish only stories that are favorable or spoon-fed” by Department of Defense leaders.

Hegseth’s wrong minded aim was to make the Pentagon press a house organ for the Trump administration. The proof was in what took place after legitimate reporters turned in their passes and left the building last fall rather than fall in line.

In their place, the Pentagon handed press credentials to bizarre right-wing sycophants such as Laura Loomer, the Floridian whose hushed suspicions to Trump try to get people fired; “MyPillow Guy” Mike Lindell, who fabricates stolen election conspiracies; and Matt Gaetz, the ex-Florida congressman, too toxic to be confirmed as attorney general.
Stop the press media suppression❗

“A primary purpose of the First Amendment is to enable the press to publish what it will and the public to read what it chooses, free of any official proscription,” Friedman wrote. “Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech. That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now.”

The nation that endures partly because of that principle owes a debt of gratitude to the New York Times, which filed a First Amendment lawsuit in Friedman’s court. The judge also found a violation of the Fifth Amendment, because “any newsgathering and reporting not blessed by the Department” would become “a potential basis for the denial, suspension, or revocation” of journalistic access.

True to form, the Pentagon plans an appeal. But, Friedman should not pause his ruling and no higher court should suspend it while the appeal plays out — especially not now.

“The Court recognizes that national security must be protected, the security of our troops must be protected, and war plans must be protected,” the judge wrote. “But especially in light of the country’s recent illegal incursion into Venezuela and its ongoing Trump World War with Iran, it is more important than ever that the public have access to information from a variety of perspectives about what its government is doing — so that the public can support government policies, if it wants to support them; protest, if it wants to protest; and decide based on full, complete, and open information who they are going to vote for in the next election. As Justice Brandeis correctly observed, ‘sunlight is the most powerful of all disinfectants.’”

Judge Friedman left intact a part of Hegseth’s edict requiring reporters to have escorts near his office and certain other parts of the sprawling Pentagon building.
Few rays of sunshine🌞

The ruling was on the next-to-last day of Sunshine Week, an event coordinated by the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida, and supported by more than 100 organizations and publishers.

Rays of sunshine are rare. Trump’s war on the media is relentless. Gov. Ron DeSantis runs the most secretive administration in Florida history.

Records requests filed under Florida’s public records law routinely go unanswered, or meet with exorbitant fee demands. In the just-ended legislative session, the Senate refused to enforce compliance by not considering a House-passed bill (HB 437).💢

Our history abounds with examples of the importance of the First Amendment.

President Kennedy regretted having persuaded the New York Times to withhold what it knew of the Bay of Pigs invasion, which ended disastrously in 1961.

The Pentagon Papers, stamped “Top Secret,” told about how successive administrations led the U.S. deeper into a Vietnam war that tore the nation apart in the 1960s.

Millions of Jeffrey Epstein documents forced open by Congress exposed a staggering story, still not fully told, about the government’s multiyear failure to protect children from a wealthy, well-connected sexual predator.

The bane of every dictator is Freedom of the Press.

In his classic work, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, journalist William L. Shirer described what Hitler did: “Every morning the editors of the Berlin daily newspapers and the correspondents of those published elsewhere in the Reich gathered at the Propaganda Ministry to be told by Goebbels or by one of his aides what news to print and suppress, how to write the news and headline it, what campaigns to call off or institute and what editorials were desired for the day. In case of any misunderstanding a daily written directive was furnished along with the oral instructions.”

Pete Hegseth’s directive was not so blatant. But, it was on the same slippery slope.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board.

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must end propaganda about Trump's illegal Iran World War- one lie leads to more lies

Michael McFaul @McFaul on X/
"If we already won the war in Iran as Trump claims why are we sending more soldiers to the region❓"
Trump announced that we “militarily” won the war. 🤥
Echo opinion letter published in the Florida Sun Sentinel news.

But, obviously no one told the Iranians, who continue to inflict damage on us, Israel and their Middle East neighbors.

Iran is clearly trouble for the U.S. and for the region, but to eliminate it is a task for a competent administration requiring a well-planned military operation. We are witnessing chaos.

A Sun Sentinel reader suggested that “once the dust settles,” Iran will return to the western democracy that it once was.

Iran had a democratically elected prime minister from 1951, until a CIA-led coup ousted him and reinstalled Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi to power in 1953. So ended Iran’s “western democracy.” 

Iran has no tradition of democracy and does not know how to function as one.

Anti-American sentiment runs deep in Iran, driven by people who have no problem becoming martyrs. Its leaders on any given day know that Americans will not tolerate our young men and women being “boots on the ground,” which would lead to death or injury to our troops.

Come November, Donald Trump will get the regime change he seeks: his own.

From Bob Stein, in Boynton Beach, Florida

Maine Writer:  Donald Trump is full of bullshit.  Senator Susan Collins should be calling for his removal from office.  

Sadly, Senator Collins has no courage, she is worse than the lion character in the Wizard of Oz.  Collins is "Concerned but never corageous".

Donald Trump and maga Republicans must not put innocent immigrants in warehouses like Nazi concentration camps

Echo opinion published in the Los Angeles Times by Paul R. Reyes, attorney.

Across the country, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (aka "evil ICE") is acquiring industrial warehouses to be converted into detention facilities for people swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. 

ICE has bought at least seven facilities so far, some of which are projected to hold thousands of people. One warehouse in an Arizona town is the size of seven football fields. The new facilities are slated to be up and running by November.

These plans amount to a lose-lose proposition. Warehouses crammed full of people will not be good for local communities, nor for the detainees housed inside the facilities. Literally warehousing people is a terrible idea❗ (They are modeled after Nazi concentration camps.)

According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, in February there were about 68,000 people in immigration detention. Three-quarters of these folks have no criminal convictions. Now the administration plans to spend $38 billion to boost detention capacity to 92,000 beds.

ICE will be opening its new detention centers in Socorro, Texas, and Social Circle, Georgia., among other sites. These facilities will likely generate more problems than benefits. 

When the federal government takes over a property, it is removed from the tax rolls, so communities will lose potential tax revenue. Large detention facilities will strain local infrastructure, including water supply, sewage and emergency services. The sites may attract protests, diverting law enforcement resources away from protecting area residents.

It’s no wonder that there has been bipartisan pushback against ICE warehouses, with some sellers backing out of deals in response to public opposition.

ICE’s website states that “detention is non-punitive,” and that it is for holding people while they await court dates or deportation. 

Yet, placing people in vast buildings designed for packages will put men, women and children in danger of disease and abuse. 

Warehouses are often drafty, poorly ventilated structures with hard floors. It’s difficult to see how they can be rapidly retrofitted into safe living spaces for detainees who, the government estimates, could be held for an average of 60 days there.

The scope of ICE’s planned detention network is staggering. The agency has already bought two warehouses with capacity for 8,500 people each; by comparison, the country’s largest federal prison holds roughly 4,000 inmates.

The U.S. has not imprisoned people on such a large scale since World War II, when camps were set up to detain Japanese citizens and Japanese Americans.

Buying so many warehouses poses the risk that such facilities could be kept filled to meet quotas in an attempt to justify the huge waste of taxpayer money — a maneuver that would waste even more money. And the multimillion-dollar prices that the government is paying for these spaces don’t include the costs of equipping the buildings with restrooms, showers, kitchens, medical facilities and recreation areas. Our government is pursuing these expensive plans while many Americans struggle to pay for groceries and healthcare.

ICE is defending its decision to ramp up detention capacity. “These will not be warehouses,” an ICE spokesperson told USA Today. “They will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards.”

However, ICE has shown that it already struggles to meet its own “regular detention standards.” 

Detention centers are known for overcrowding, physical and sexual abuse, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate medical care. ICE is not taking proper care of the people it currently has in custody, and scaling up detention will only scale up its human costs.

Both of the country’s largest detention facilities, Alligator Alcatraz in Florida and Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, are plagued with health and safety issues. In February, there were reports of cases of COVID-19, measles and TB (tuberculosis) in immigration detention. Last year 32 people died in ICE custody, making it the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades.

If the administration’s goal is to remove as many undocumented people from the country as possible, why is it investing in a national gulag of warehouses to house them? The gulag strategy underscores that expanding ICE detention is not about public safety or going after “the worst of the worst.” This is an overreaching government forcing its unpopular agenda on the public and wasting taxpayer money simply because it was allotted a ridiculous $75 billion in last summer’s reckless spending bill. A January Reuters poll found that 58% of Americans say ICE crackdowns have gone too far. Only 39% approve of Trump’s immigration policies.

Concerned citizens must continue to fight the placement of ICE detention warehouses in their backyards. As a political standoff drags on a shutdown of some Homeland Security functions, lawmakers should exert pressure on ICE to redirect taxpayer money away from warehouse projects — and toward more productive efforts, such as improving existing detention conditions or financing immigration courts adequately so that individuals can get their day in court rather than languishing in a warehouse.

ICE’s planned detention expansion will be cruel, costly and harmful. Human beings do not belong in warehouses.

Raul A. Reyes is an immigration attorney and television commentator in New York City. X: @RaulAReyes; Instagram: @raulareyes1

Donald Trump and maga Republicans are hypocrites- say nothing about pardon of child sex molesters but prosecute for legal free speech

 Echo opinion letter published in the Southwest Florida News-Press

Donald Trump gave a pardon to an insurrectionist who turned out to be convicted of child sexual abuse but his corrupt administration insists on prosecuting legislative leaders who spoke truth to power. 

 

An upside-down United States: In one of the numerous Trump, politically driven, Pam Bondi directed Department of Injustice baseless persecutions of Donald Trump’s ever-expanding list of political enemies, a federal grand jury recently declined to indict six military and intelligence community veterans, real patriots who serve in Congress, for simply stating the law of the land, and on that same day here in the "free" state of Florida, Andrew Paul Johnson, a January 6th insurrectionist, a MAGA “patriot” pardoned by Trump, was convicted on five charges, including molesting a child under 12 and another under 16, as well as lewd and lascivious exhibition.  Insurrectionist Johnson is one of a number of January 6 “patriots” pardoned by our felonious president Donald Trump who has gone on to commit crimes that make being an illegal immigrant akin to being a Sunday school teacher. 

But, not a peep from our Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his attorney general, Republicans- Representative Byron Donalds or Senator Rick Scott, all of whom are like heat-seeking missiles for any nearby microphone when an illegal immigrant so much as jaywalks. 

Folks, please flock to the polls in November to deliver this country from this Trump Upside-Down Alice in Wonderland nightmare 😱 administration❗  

From:  Thomas Minor, in Bonita Springs, Florida

Donald Trump lies a lot about his excellent health but any person with eyes to see and ears to hear can observe his aging health is deteriorating

Echo opinion letter published in the Florida Sun Sentinel:

It should be painfully clear that since Donald Trump took office, he has displayed serious deterioration both mentally and physically. 

He will soon be 80 years old. (In fact, in the press conference post the illegal invasion of Venezuela and kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Celia Floes, Donald

Trump invoked a slurred reference to the "Donroe Doctrine" rather than the Monroe Doctrine. Perhaps it was deliberate but, nevertheless, his sloppy mispronunciation quickly became a euphemism for wrong minded American colonialism. Nevertheless, his slurred reference, intentional or delusional, was stupid)

It’s both alarming and troublesome for an American president, as leader of the free world, to be in such a condition. He’s not running the country as he should, and he’s ranting and raving about menial subjects while insulting and demeaning reporters who ask him relevant questions that he refuses to answer — or doesn’t know the answer to.

Congress must perform its constitutional duty and challenge this president, who continues to damage the country, which will take years to repair, if that’s at all possible.

From Sandy Shuster, in Boynton Beach, Florida

Donald Trump lies about his excellent health when any person with vision and hearing can see and hear his mental and physical health declining

Echo opinion letter published in the Sun Sentinel, in Florida:
Concerns about Donald Trump's declining health, both mental and physical, have been the subject of public discussion and media coverage since he took office. (In fact, in a press conference after the illegal invasion of Venezuela, Trump could not even refer to the Monroe Doctrine without slurring the "Don-roe Doctrine"- but now the mental slip quickly became a euphemism for wrong minded doomed to fail American colonialism). 

It is painfully clear that since Donald Trump took office, he has displayed serious health deterioration both mentally and physically.

It’s both alarming and troublesome for an American president, as leader of the free world, to be in such a deteriorating condition. 

Donald Trump is incompetent. He is not running the country as he should. Instead, he is ranting and raving about menial subjects while insulting and demeaning reporters who ask him relevant questions that he refuses to answer — or doesn’t know the answer to.

Congress must perform its constitutional duty and challenge Donald Trump, a political monster who continues to damage the country, which will take us many years to repair, if it is even, at all, possible.

From Sandy Shuster, Boynton Beach, Florida