Donald Trump's slush fund, "like breaking into Fort Knox and driving off with a truckload of bullion", editorial

Sun Sentinel: Slush fund is the biggest heist in history | Editorial

The man who boasted that he could get away with murder on Fifth Avenue is pulling off something just as brazen. 

The $1.8 billion slush fund from which corrupt Donald Trump intends to reward people who tried to steal the 2020, election for him is the biggest heist in our history. (Maine Writer- he will also grift that money to use against Republicans who he declares are "unloyal", because his use of the tax money would be unrestricted.)

It’s like breaking into Fort Knox and driving off with a truckload of bullion.

Todd Blanche, his obsequious unethical acting attorney general, also agreed to immunize America’s real-life Goldfinger, his entire family and their business from IRS audits, fines and penalties or prosecution for whatever tax violations they may have committed.

That corrupt bargain may save the Trumps $100 million, by some estimates. Al Capone’s ghost must be green with envy.

Trump was already by far the most corrupt American president. But his grifting had been largely at the expense of foreign governments and other interests.

No more. His “anti-weaponization fund” is a new frontier in graft, a direct theft from taxpayers. The most corrupt act in presidential history lacks even the pretense of the lawsuit that Trump withdrew when a federal judge saw it for a sham.

The Big Steal-  Trump deserves a third impeachment — another reason to elect a Democratic Congress in November — and one more indictment when his term ends, as this Big Steal has nothing to do with any official duty.

As for unethical Todd Blanche, he should be disbarred as fast as New York authorities can manage it. Trump is his former personal client as well as his present boss; there couldn’t be a more glaring conflict of interest for any lawyer.

Of note: Blanche’s Department of Justice is suing the District of Columbia Bar to thwart discipline of two other Trump stooges. And it proposes a regulation to suppress bar proceedings anywhere, against any present or former DOJ lawyer such as Blanche himself.

A federal court has, thankfully, already put a temporary hold on the fund until a June 12, hearing. The courts are Americans’ only hope of stopping this theft; Trump owns Congress through his control of MAGA voters who decide Republican primaries.

He’s been on a roll on that front, gloating over the defeat of such principled politicians as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to remove him from office in 2021; Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who fought to publish the Epstein files; and Brad Raffensberger in Georgia, who as Secretary of State refused to “find” phony votes for Trump in 2021, and who just ran for governor.

The coup de grace: Texas- The climax came Tuesday in Texas with Senator John Cornyn’s defeat by criminal Ken Paxton, the sleazy state attorney general, a leading election denier for Trump who had been impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature over allegations of bribery and obstruction.

Trump’s revenge tour also took down five Indiana state senators who had voted against the midterm gerrymandering to which Florida’s gutless Republicans have agreed. South Carolina’s GOP legislators deserve a special medal of courage for refusing to redistrict Jim Clyburn, a widely respected senior Black Democrat, out of his seat, too.

Belatedly, some GOP senators seem to have finally had it with Trump. They were shouting at Blanche behind closed doors last week when he refused to rule out payments to the hoodlums who tried to kill police officers protecting them on January 6, 2021.

Republican Thom Tillis, who is not running for re-election in North Carolina, called the slush fund “stupid on stilts.” He and others see the GOP losing the midterms on Trump’s account, as they should, for indulging him.

Scandals, incorporated- There’s no short list of Trump’s corruption scandals; more than 100 by one count. Some of the most glaring:

• Crippling the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to lay off the prediction markets and the cryptocurrency industry in which the Trumps are deeply involved;
• Easing AI chip sale restrictions for the United Arab Emirates after it invested 💲2 billion in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto business;
• Accepting a 💲400 million luxury jet from Qatar, a foreign government, and promising to defend it from attacks (Yet, Trump did nothing when Qatar was attacked by Iran during the launch of the Trump world war of choice❗); and
• Pardoning Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, who had been in prison for serious banking law violations. The pardon lets him run Binance again and benefit the Trumps’ crypto business.

An honest president and a responsible Congress would put a quick stop to the corruption. (Where is Maine's Republican Senator Susan Collins❓) Repairing Trump’s vandalism of the economy, the treasury, almost every agency and institution of the government, our foreign relations and our national reputation and, not least, our national self-respect, will take much longer.

None of it — not even the slush fund — is as dangerous as the political legacy Trump has created by cultivating MAGA into a cancer on the Republican Party and on the country.

Trump saw and exploited a significant bloc of voters who do not care about democracy the way Americans are supposed to. They will still be there when Trump is gone, ready for the next man on horseback to point them in the direction of their bigotries and fears.

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.

Courageous Republicans who are brave enough to abandon evil Donald Trump like Maryland Allan Kittleman

Maryland:  Allan Kittleman: Why I’m leaving the GOP (aka "Growing Old Party") | Reader Commentary published in The Baltimore Sun

After 50 years as a registered Republican, I made the difficult decision to leave the GOP party and become an unaffiliated voter.

My family spent generations helping build the Republican Party. 

My grandfather chaired his county GOP, in lowa. My father, Bob Kittleman, led the Howard County (Maryland) Republican Party and served more than two decades in the Maryland General Assembly. I followed the same path, chairing the county party, serving in the Maryland Senate — including three years as minority leader — and later as Howard County executive.

For several years, I hoped this was temporary. I stayed through 2016, through 2020, through January 6, believing the party might eventually reclaim its core values. 

But, tragically, Trump’s 2024, election and his illegal actions during the past year have made the truth unavoidable: The Republican Party has fully become the Trump maga Party. Those who refuse to fall in line are pushed out or ignored.

My own beliefs have not changed. I remain fiscally conservative and socially moderate — a combination that once had room in the GOP. It no longer does. And to be clear: I am not joining the Democratic Party. I cannot support the direction of either party, both of which have drifted toward their extremes and away from the broad middle where most Americans live.

My decision isn’t a rejection of the people in my life who remain Republicans. This is not a conversion to the other side. 

Rather, this is simply me saying I can no longer put my name next to a culture that treats disagreement as warfare and political opponents as enemies.

Yet, I try to remain optimistic about our future.

But the GOP party we devoted our lives to no longer exists.😟😥

The GOP once stood for limited government, fiscal discipline and individual liberty. Today, it is defined by loyalty to one man: Donald Trump. Principles that once guided Republican leaders — even in moments of national crisis — have been replaced by a demand for personal allegiance. The independence Republicans showed during Watergate has all but vanished. Too many elected officials now treat dissent as betrayal.

Most Americans want something better ❗than the politics of fear, outrage and blind loyalty.

What we want are leaders who tell the truth, who listen, who solve problems and who put country above personal ambition. We want public service grounded in integrity, not intimidation. I will continue to advocate for these principles and for leaders who fit this profile.

For me, leaving the Republican Party is painful. It means stepping away from a lifelong identity and a family legacy I deeply respect. But staying meant accepting what the party has become — and I refuse to do that.

From— Allan H. Kittleman, West Friendship, Maryland

Kittleman is a former Republican Senate minority leader in the Maryland General Assembly and was the Howard County executive.

Donald Trump slush fund is an evil reward to support convicted criminals and the money will be used to bribe GOP candidates

Slush fund is the biggest heist in history | Editorial

The evil Trump who boasted that he could get away with murder on Fifth Avenue is pulling off something just as brazen. 

Donald Trump intends to reward people who tried to steal the 2020, election for him is the biggest heist in our history.

It’s like breaking into Fort Knox and driving off with a truckload of bullion.

Todd Blanche, his obsequious acting attorney general, also agreed to immunize America’s real-life Goldfinger, his entire family and their business from IRS audits, fines and penalties or prosecution for whatever tax violations they may have committed.

That corrupt bargain may save the Trumps 💲100 million, by some estimates. Al Capone’s ghost must be green with envy.

DtRrump was already by far the most corrupt ❗American president. But his grifting had been largely at the expense of foreign governments and other interests.

But, no more. His “anti-weaponization (aka "slush")  fund” is a new frontier in graft, a direct theft from taxpayers. 

In fact, it is the most corrupt act in presidential history. It lacks even the pretense of the bogus lawsuit that Trump withdrew when a federal judge saw it for a sleazy sham.

The Big Steal: Trump definitely deserves a third impeachment — another reason to elect a Democratic Congress in November — and one more indictment when his term ends, as this Big Steal has nothing to do with any official duty.

As for Blanche, he should be disbarred ❗ as fast as New York authorities can manage it. Trump is his former personal client as well as his present boss; there couldn’t be a more glaring conflict of interest for any lawyer.

Of note: Blanche’s Department of Justice is suing the District of Columbia Bar to thwart discipline of two other Trump stooges. 

And it proposes a regulation to suppress bar proceedings anywhere, against any present or former DOJ lawyer such as Blanche himself.

A federal court has, thankfully, already put a temporary hold on the fund until a June 12, hearing. The courts are Americans’ only hope of stopping this theft; Trump owns Congress through his control of MAGA voters who decide Republican primaries.

He’s been on a roll on that front, gloating over the defeat of such principled politicians as Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to remove him from office in 2021; Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who fought to publish the Epstein files; and Brad Raffensperger in Georgia, who as Secretary of State refused to “find” phony votes for Trump in 2021, and who just ran for governor.

The coup de grace: Texas

The climax came Tuesday in Texas with Sen. John Cornyn’s defeat by the criminal Ken Paxton, the sleazy state attorney general, a leading election denier for Trump who had been impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature over allegations of bribery and obstruction.

Trump’s revenge tour also took down five Indiana state senators who had voted against the midterm gerrymandering to which Florida’s gutless Republicans have agreed. South Carolina’s GOP legislators deserve a special medal of courage for refusing to redistrict Jim Clyburn, a widely respected senior Black Democrat, out of his seat, too.

Belatedly, some GOP senators seem to have finally had it with Trump. They were shouting at Blanche behind closed doors last week when he refused to rule out payments to the hoodlums who tried to kill police officers protecting them on Jan. 6, 2021.

Republican Thom Tillis, who is not running for re-election in North Carolina, called the slush fund “stupid on stilts.” He and others see the GOP losing the midterms on Trump’s account, as they should, for indulging him.

Scandals, incorporated

There’s no short list of Trump’s corruption scandals; more than 100 by one count. Some of the most glaring:

• Crippling the Commodity Futures 
• Trading Commission to lay off the prediction markets 
• cryptocurrency industry in which the Trumps are deeply involved;
• Easing AI chip sale restrictions for the United Arab Emirates after it invested $2 billion in World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto business;
• Accepting a $400 million luxury jet from Qatar, a foreign government, and promising to defend it from attacks; and
• Pardoning Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, who had been in prison for serious banking law violations. The pardon lets him run Binance again and benefit the Trumps’ crypto business.

An honest president and a responsible Congress would put a quick stop to the corruption. Repairing Trump’s vandalism of the economy, the treasury, almost every agency and institution of the government, our foreign relations and our national reputation and, not least, our national self-respect, will take much longer.

None of it — not even the slush fund — is as dangerous as the political legacy Trump has created by cultivating MAGA into a cancer on the Republican Party and on the country.

Trump saw and exploited a significant bloc of voters who do not care about democracy the way Americans are supposed to. They will still be there when Trump is long gone, ready for the next man on horseback to point them in the direction of their bigotries and fears.

From the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board 

Republicans must wake up to the purpose of Donald Trump's slush fund: He will use the money to bribe fealty from the GOP

Outrage Over Trump’s 💲1.8 Billion Slush Fund

Echo opinion letters published in The New York Times

To the Editor: Re “Risking Wrath of Trump, Some in G.O.P. Push Back” (front page, May 23):

Congressional "Growing Old Party" Republicans may be nowhere near defying Donald Trump’s sweeping right-wing agenda, but the opposition of some senators to the president’s outrageous 💲1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund scheme to finance claims of mistreatment and possibly to support anew the grievances of January 6 felons is a positive departure from second-term blind subservience to Donald Trump by Republicans in both chambers.

For Donald Trump, though, pardoning the felons who desecrated the Capitol, brutalized police officers, defecating in the halls and tried to violently interfere with the certification of a presidential election was clearly not enough. Now, stooping to a new low of lawlessness himself, the president may seek to reward these people by offering them restitution, provided directly by American taxpayers.

With his years long, twisted interpretation of the horrendous attack on the Capitol, Donald Trump has sought to justify lawlessness that he personally orchestrated and encouraged. Now, finally, Senate Republicans — some of whom are taking a firm stand on the 💲1.8 billion fund — have found the courage to openly express opposition to Trump’s slush fund scheme. At long last, it’s a meaningful challenge to Trump's tight grip on them. (Maine Writer- Ya'think the maga cult knows how Trump's slush fund will also be used to keep them in kowtow positions❓)

From Roger Hirschberg in South Burlington, Vermont

To the Editor: Republican senators expressed outrage at Donald Trump’s plan to create a slush fund from which he would compensate cronies for having been investigated and in many cases convicted of crimes. So it seems that these sycophants can, indeed, distinguish between right and wrong.

The outrage was expressed mostly by senators who have either decided not to run again or who have been defeated in primaries. This scenario only underscores the cowardice of elected officials who have abandoned their sworn responsibility to serve the best interests of the nation in deference to their desire to remain in office. Shame on us for electing such corrupt people.

From Bill Gottdenker in Mountainside, New Jersey

To the Editor: Re “Curious Legal Aspects of Trump’s New Slush Fund,” by Adam Liptak (The Docket column, May 24):

Let’s use simple language to describe what is happening here: Donald Trump, aided by his sidekick Todd Blanche, is using a bogus nonadversarial court proceeding, with a too-clever “settlement,” as a fig leaf both to immunize himself, his family and his businesses from federal tax liability and audits, and to confiscate $1.776 billion of taxpayer money to be enjoyed by his friends and allies at the unreviewable discretion of a five-person commission controlled by Trump. A fairly audacious maneuver, one may say.

This travesty is, among other things, an egregious abuse of the federal court system. It is also an impeachable offense. (There has been no shortage of those in Trump’s second term to date.😡💢)

From Newman T. Halvorson Jr., Washington
The writer is a retired lawyer.

Senator Susan Collins has 28 years seniority in the senate but refuses to show courage against Donald Trump

Senator Susan Collins is facing sharp criticism for her recent votes to increase health care costs in Maine. News Center Maine reports that “more than 60,000 Mainers … are seeing their health care costs rise drastically” after Susan Collins voted with Donald Trump to take away health care tax credits. In Maine, the average premium increase is 💲886, according to a recent study by CAP. Mainers say they are already struggling to afford housing, groceries, gas and health care – and Susan Collins is making life even more expensive.

Susan Collins no longer represents Maine | Echo Letter published in CentralMaine.com

Why is Sen. Susan Collins so silent❓ Donald Trump established an unconstitutional💲 slush fund to pay his criminally convicted supporters; he takes gifts from Qataris and others; he has enriched himself by $4 billion; he enables his sons and son-in-law to profit on government contracts; he obstructs the release of the full Epstein file trove as required by law; he pardons drug lords and embezzlers who then pay his PACs; and the list goes on. But Sen. Collins has said nothing about most of these actions.

All while Mainers are losing their healthcare, paying high prices at the pump and facing growing inflation — all perpetrated by an immoral president, and Collins is silent. Senator Collins accepted a 💲6.2 million donation from the Senate Political Leadership Pac, in other words, "hush money". 

She no longer represents the hard working people of Maine.

From Paul Josephson in Vinalhaven, Maine

An excellent retrospecitve analysis about Donald Trump's failed Iran world war of choice published in Australia

Echo report published in The Interpreter by Thomas Wright*

Hubris: The January 2026, illegal raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro instilled confidence in Donald Trump to use lethal force to deliver outsized results.

Loading U.S. Air Force B-1 Lancer Bomber on tarmac at RAF Fairford in Southeast England on March 2026.

Plenty of people predicted catastrophe, just as they had predicted it ahead of the June 2025, strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but it did not occur. Trump saw both operations as clear successes. Nevertheless, regime change in Venezuela did not create a new administration. In June, 2025, Trump alone declared the Iranian nuclear enriched of uranium capacity was "annihilated- a.k.a. destroyed completely", when, clearly, by every assessment, it was not.  Trump said the strikes "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities; but as of August 2025, a final bomb damage assessment of the strikes was still ongoing.

Trump came out of these episodes with a false sense of over-confidence. He was convinced that he had developed an instinct for when force would work and when it would not. He felt confident. He was willing to roll the dice.

Shortly after, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to him with the argument that Iran was weaker than it had been at any point since the 1979, revolution – Iranian proxy groups Hezbollah and Hamas had been gutted; the pro-Iranian dictator of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, was gone; there were sustained protests in Iran – and that this was the moment to deal the regime a blow from which it would never recover. Netanyahu also reminded Trump that Iran had tried to assassinate Trump in 2024, and that this was a chance for retribution. Trump was easily deceived by Netanyahu, so he disregarded his own intillence services assessment about the plan and was receptive to launch an illegal war of choice, announced on the night of February 28, from his Mar-A-Lago Florida home and out of Congress's site.

Operation Epic Fury, launched on 28, February, was unmistakably a war of choice. The June 2025, strikes had set back not only Iran’s nuclear program but also its missile stockpiles and air defenses. The regime was indeed weakened. But precisely because of this, there was no pressing need to act militarily. 

Also, there was no urgent need to push for a comprehensive deal. A deal in which Iran gave up its enrichment program would almost certainly have required sanctions relief on a scale that would have provided the regime with an economic lifeline at the very moment its internal pressures were building. Simply staying the course – keeping the pressure on and holding open the option of further strikes if the regime tried to rebuild – was a viable strategy.

It was also, on paper, the strategy one would have expected from Trump. He had run against forever wars and regime change. He promised not to get the United States bogged down in the Middle East. When he struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025, he declared it “obliterated” and moved swiftly to impose a ceasefire on Israel and bring the war to an end, over Netanyahu’s objection.

Donald Trump has failed in Iran. His losing stragegy now has him experiencing vaious stages of grief. He has zero acceptable options while Iran hold tight to the Strait of Hormuz. War crimes were committed in the early hours of the illegal Trump war of choice, when nearly 90 school children were murdered by a U.S. tomahawk missile attack.

But by early 2026, Trump was in a super narcissistic legacy mode. He could see the outlines of a quick and historic victory: the regime that plotted to assassinate him in 2024, that sponsored Hezbollah and Hamas, that had been a thorn in the side of successive American presidents for 47 years, might be removed under his watch. The opportunity, the personal element, and the hubris arising out of the Maduro raid combined to override the instincts that had pulled him in the other direction the previous summer.

There was one more piece. In Venezuela, Trump quickly did a deal with Maduro’s deputy, Delcy Rodríguez, to work with the United States. He hoped to replicate the approach in Iran by working with a strongman who would cooperate with him on a peace deal and possibly cut the United States in on oil exploration. Trump showed little interest in backing an exiled opposition figure such as former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, and instead told the press that a new leader “from within” the regime “might be more appropriate”. 

What happened in Venezuela, he told The New York Times, would be “the perfect scenario” for Iran. The campaign was meant to be short. The successor was meant to emerge naturally from a regime under enough stress to break, but not so much stress that there was nothing left to inherit.

None of these assumptions survived contact with the war.

Tactical success, strategic setbacks

The opening days of the February 2026, campaign produced a tactical success (although the murder of about 90 school children by a U.S. tomahawk missile created a war crime to upstage the news about killing a bunch of Iranian men whose names nobody in America could pronounce❗) – the assassination of Ali Khamenei and many of his top associates was accomlished. But, for Trump, it created a problem for his preferred Venezuela-style succession scenario. As he told ABC’s Jonathan Karl: “The attack was so successful it knocked out most of the candidates. It’s not going to be anybody that we were thinking of because they are all dead. Second or third place is dead.” Obviously, nobody bothered to alert Donald Trump to the risks caused by killing Iranian leaders.

For Israel, the war would be a failure if the regime survived in any form. Tehran could bide its time, rebuild its missile program, wait for the United States to lose interest, and threaten Israel again. Israel wanted regime change, ideally to a democracy or a more benign government, but it was prepared to accept chaos in Iran, even civil war, as the price of regime destruction.

For the United States and many other countries, state collapse in Iran would be a disaster. It had the potential to flood the region with refugees, energize jihadist movements, draw in Turkey and the Gulf states, and bog down US forces in the Middle East for years, exactly the open-ended commitment that Trump had spent his political career promising to avoid.

The tension became evident in the administration’s reported plan to arm Kurdish fighters to move against the regime on the ground. At one level, this solved a problem Trump was grappling with – how to affect political change in Iran without committing American troops – but it also came with great risk. The use of the Kurds could antagonise pro-American Iranians (who are also nationalist) and boost the regime. It would anger Turkey, potentially leading to the collapse of its peace process with the Kurds, and it could lead Erdogan to intervene against them. After consulting with the Turks, Trump backed off, telling reporters “the war’s complicated enough without getting the Kurds involved”.

Early operational results were impressive in the way that early operational results often are. The US and Israel destroyed much of what remained of Iran's navy and air force. Many of Iran’s missile systems were eliminated. More senior figures across the regime were killed. Trump began to claim that the war was “already won” and “very complete”. Some leading Republicans, such as Senator Josh Hawley, urged him to declare victory. Trump told Fox (Fake❗) News that he would end the war when he felt it “in his bones”.

Yet, the costs began to accumulate in ways for which the administration had not prepared.

Iran immediately expanded the war by hitting over a dozen countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Oman, and Turkey. Iran targeted US bases but it also struck airports, energy facilities, and data centers, with a particular focus on the UAE. To some, it appeared counterproductive – Iran was uniting the region against it. But, Tehran knew that it could not win a limited war against the United States and Israel. It was taking aim at the core value proposition of many of the Gulf states – that they are safe and reliable venues for investment and in some cases tourism. Tehran also hoped that the region would pressure the United States to end the war. Trump was, by his own admission, surprised: “They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”

Iran also gained effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, denying transit to allied traffic. Iran was able to use its coastal areas to threaten ships and tankers with rockets and drones. A closure of the Strait had often been gamed out by Pentagon planners but they did not have a ready-made option to open it without the use of ground troops. In an extraordinary twist, Iran was able to keep using the Strait itself to export oil and the United States even lifted some sanctions on Iranian oil to keep it flowing into the market as prices hovered around 💲100 per barrel. Trump went through various stages of grief. He denied that it mattered at all because the United States does not get oil from the Strait. He blamed others, especially Europe, for not opening the Strait. And ultimately he would accept the closure by imposing a counter-blockade.

The deeper problem, however, was that Iran had absorbed the strikes and adapted. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), far from being broken, became even more dominant than it was under Ali Khamenei. Iran had been facing a succession crisis but the circumstances of the war meant that Mojtaba Khamenei was able to succeed his father without great unrest – partially because he was injured and lost several members of his family in the initial strikes and partially because real power seemed to lie elsewhere, with the IRGC (Republican Guard). The Iran regime, smartly, also, quickly came to understand that it had real leverage over the United States, the Gulf, and the global economy more generally.

Iran was supported, quietly but materially, by China and Russia. China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, provided Iran with chipmaking tools and technical training; satellite companies provided real-time imagery of US forces; Iran acquired a Chinese spy satellite and was able to use it to capture images that were used in drone and missile strikes; and China provided Iran with sodium perchlorate, a precursor used for solid missile propellant. Meanwhile, Russia reportedly provided Iran with targeting intelligence, spare parts, missile components, and advanced drones. Trump was largely dismissive of both countries’ efforts, saying that the United States also helped Tehran’s and Moscow’s enemies, and that their assistance was not making much of a difference anyway.
Trump in a bind

By early May 2026, Trump confronted a set of choices that ranged from poor to worse. He did not want to fight a war of attrition that could drag on for the rest of 2026, and perhaps longer. 

Yet, each alternative option had been narrowed by the choices that came before it.

Trump thought about escalating. One option was to conduct a raid on Iran’s nuclear sites to seize its highly enriched uranium. This could provide a spectacular tactical success that would allow him to declare victory and end the war.  (Rumor has it that Trump actually tried this failed tactic, but he lost when the air raid plan was foiled and several pilots were nearly killed, one went missing but was rescued.  Americans have never learned the identity of those pilots.)

But such an operation would be extremely difficult to pull off. It would likely require thousands of troops deployed to the site for up to a week, to extract hazardous material from under rubble, transport it out by air, all while under attack. Another idea was to seize Kharg Island, a critical hub for Iran’s oil industry, only giving it back to Iran after it accepts US terms. But US troops needed would find themselves within range of Iranian rockets. A third escalation option was to deploy ground forces to the coastal area of Iran near the Strait to clear out Iran’s military positions but this could lead to a protracted ground war.

Finally, having considered and discounted all of these options, Trump threatened to destroy all of Iran’s infrastructure, including its energy plants and bridges. But this appeared certain to result in Iranian retaliation against the Gulf states’ critical infrastructure, including energy and water desalination plants. On 7 April, Trump posted on Truth Social that “a whole civilisation will die tonight, never to be brought back again”, shocking many of his own supporters. As the clock ticked closer to his own deadline, he agreed to a ceasefire brokered by Pakistan.

The other option was to agree to a deal with Iran, closer to its terms. This would impose limits on Iran’s enrichment program but not abolish it entirely; it would not touch its missile program; it would recognise Tehran’s effective control over the Strait of Hormuz; and it would give Iran full sanctions relief. In the ceasefire announcement, Trump said that Iran’s 10-point plan was “a workable basis on which to negotiate”. Within days he was backing away, and in talks in Islamabad, Vice President JD Vance found that Iran had no intention of accepting US demands on its nuclear program. Trump then imposed a counter-blockade on Iran in the expectation that it would cause the regime to quickly accept his terms. It did not.

The United States had imposed significant military damage on Iran, destroying its navy and air force, much of its missile program, and its defence industrial base. Trump was puzzled that the regime was not accepting defeat. But there is a difference between tactical and strategic success. The regime had survived, which was an accomplishment in itself. It discovered the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon in its ability to close the Strait of Hormuz. And it was able to hit the Gulf states and Israel with missiles and drones throughout the war, despite the aerial bombardment. In effect, both sides sincerely believed they won and were in little mood to compromise.

The most likely outcome to the war is a settlement that satisfies no one. Either a stronger nuclear arrangement than the 2015, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, but one that involves sanctions relief and leaves Iran’s missile program untouched and the regime intact; or an arrangement closer to the offer Iran tabled in late April in which the Strait reopens and nothing else is settled.

The consequences for MAGA

The World Bank estimates that the Iran war may already be the largest ever oil supply shock. If the war drags on, the costs will mount. The brunt of it will be felt in Asia, the destination for 80% of the oil that flows through the Strait of Hormuz. There are soon likely to be shortages of key commodities, including petrochemicals and fertiliser, not just a spike in price. The United States is relatively insulated from this shock compared to some of its allies, as is Israel, but there will be upward pressure on the price of energy and inflation more generally. That is bad news for the Trump administration and Republicans as they head into the 2026, mid-term elections.

Trump’s decision to go to war against Iran alienated many of his most ardent high-profile supporters, including media figures Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, but his approval ratings among Republicans and the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement remain high. Trump has long claimed that MAGA means whatever he says it means, but the war may spark a rebellion as the 2028, primary approaches. 

Media reports have recounted Vance’s opposition to the war within the administration, which could give him an advantage over another likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But Vance is in a difficult spot, unable to criticize Trump directly and forced to defend something he doesn’t believe in. (Probably this is the reason why the former Marine Corporal J.D. Vance, our elected vice president, was not in the photo-op shown about the May 27, Trumpian boring stupid kitchen cabinet meeting. Instead, Trump was bookended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Whiskey Hegseth.)

The war is also likely to undermine political support for the US-Israel alliance among Republicans, particularly if it drags on and is perceived to go badly. Early in the conflict, Rubio told the press that the United States was compelled to strike Iran because Washington knew an Israeli strike was imminent and that Iran would retaliate against American forces.

Above all though, the Iran war is a reminder that Trump’s second term is markedly different to his first and that he is willing to take big risks on issues that he believes could build a unique legacy. These actions will have outsized geopolitical consequences. The Middle East will be different after this war ends. There may well be (and very likely will be) other shoes to drop in the next two-and-a-half years.

The Interpreter has a strong commitment to analytic integrity. Our editorial stance is independent and non-partisan, with the aim of informing and strengthening discussions about international policy.

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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 said he does not think about consumers! Yes, he said that!

Donald Trump Is Now the Un-Populist

Donald Trump, on May 12, 2026, while taking questions from reporters about the Iran conflict. When asked if he was considering Americans' financial situations during negotiations, he responded, "Not even a little bit."

Published in New York Magazine Intelligencer by Ed Kilgore

From the expensive and unnecessary ballroom to the illegal Iran war, to blatant self-dealing, Donald Trump is ignoring the will of the people — to his Growing Old Party's peril.

Less than four months from now, early voting begins in the 2026, midterm general elections. Political scientists differ on exactly when voting intentions are formed, but the consensus is that for the vast majority of the electorate, it happens well before the last-minute rush of campaigning. Most Republicans, whose control of Congress is at risk in November, are acutely aware that they are running out of time to convince swing voters that their sour perceptions of Donald Trump’s job performance — always the single most important variable affecting midterm outcomes — are erroneous. And at almost every turn, the president seems to be on a mission to make that as hard as possible.

While assessments of Trump’s handling of a broad range of issues have remained well underwater for over a year now, there are particularly and especially salient negative perceptions of how well he’s dealt with high living costs (arguably the issue that most determined his 2024 victory over Kamala Harris) and whether his strange and aimless war with Iran was a good idea. Trump’s two biggest problems are dangerously interactive, since the Iran war’s effect on global energy prices has clearly boosted domestic inflation, and his prosecution of this “war of choice” has come to symbolize his refusal to focus on the public’s actual concerns. For all the interminable discussion of a GOP “affordability agenda,” it’s getting very late in the year for that agenda to suddenly appear.

And, most recently, despite the intense loyalty congressional Republicans have consistently shown toward Trump, an unprecedented revolt has broken out, for the moment shutting down the legislative process. The growing GOP grievance is that Trump is continuing to elevate personal hobbyhorses (e.g., his White House ballroom project, which he now wants taxpayers to subsidize, and his bizarre new slush fund for alleged victims of Biden administration persecution) over the measures Republicans need to stay in office.


The implications of this revolt go beyond smooth executive-legislative relations or even the unity of the GOP. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump from the perspective of ethics, policy, the U.S. Constitution, or the health of democratic institutions, his prowess as a gut-level politician has been universally, if grudgingly, respected. An essential ingredient of the loyalty he has inspired in the Republican ranks has been his ability to bend traditional conservatism to “populism,” a voter-friendly blend of themes and proposals that probably saved the GOP from the irrelevance it seemed to be courting before he came down the escalator in 2015. He famously convinced a party in love with “entitlement reform” to lay off trying to slaughter the sacred cows of Social Security and Medicare. He talked Republicans out of a near century of free-trade orthodoxy because culturally conservative blue-collar voters hated NAFTA. And he convinced the militarist wing of the GOP that massive defense spending didn’t require actually using it in unpopular “forever wars.”

Now comes the terrifying possibility that the man who made Republicans “populists” is himself becoming the ultimate un-populist. Trump is not just ignoring (or, because he can only acknowledge praise of himself, actively denying) public opinion; he seems to be courting unpopularity. Americans really dislike his beloved tariffs, and although Trump has the perfect legal excuses to stop pursuing them, he still persists. Trump can’t stop bashing Obamacare, even though he got badly burned on the subject in his first term and has no coherent replacement for it. His war in Iran was the rare U.S. war that was unpopular from the get-go, but he can’t seem to let go of it, and it’s an even bet he’ll start another war before suppertime. The political “outsider” who was too rich to bribe is now the consummate insider grabbing money with both hands to enrich his family and friends and the most disreputable of his supporters.

Most astonishing of all, the veteran entertainer who understood the intense resentment of working people for elites who seemed to mock them while fleecing them is now becoming the elitist-in-chief. He is explicitly annoyed that people struggling to make ends meet don’t appreciate they are living in a “golden age” in which stock markets climb dizzily upward on record corporate profits. He’s angry that Americans don’t just take his word for it that they need to pay higher prices for gasoline or light and heat so that he can win some more wars and peace prizes. And he is indifferent at best to how very bad it looks that he is devoting more time to his many tacky and self-glorifying vanity projects than to his day job. Many regular folk used to enjoy watching Trump thumb his nose at the powers that be. Now he’s the Man, the very opposite of a plucky underdog.

For Republicans who desperately need his help to retain their offices and their power, it increasingly appears that Trump has lost touch with the country. Yes, he’ll help them in the midterms by rigging congressional districts and perhaps interfering with the vote itself, but not by bending to adverse public opinion. It would be one thing if like some second-term presidents of the past, he drifted toward lame-duck status and began ceding power to his allies and successors. But no: Trump dominates news media and the political landscape more forcefully and ubiquitously than ever. (The more Trump talks, the more he contradicts himself and his advisors.)

He’s in danger not only of squandering his party’s midterm-election hopes, but of handing his putative heir J.D. Vance an anvil and the GOP an indelible MAGA brand — even as the idea that he has restored “American greatness” becomes ridiculous to all but his fiercest acolytes.

It’s possible, of course, that such assessments once again underestimate the 47th. Perhaps, against all expectations, he will snap out of his extended fugue state and begin listening to the public and his party leaders. But, Donald Trump would be well advised to make his 80th-birthday wish Make Trump popular again. In the meantime, the candle  he’s already🕯️ blowing out is his own.

Donald Trump''s slush funds is a criminal use of tax payer money for him to use for his own vindiciive purposes

 Chattanooga Times Free Press editorial

Times Opinion: Trump’s new slush fund is rank corruption — public money for lawbreakers and his corrupt pals.
The dollar amount in Donald Trump's

💲1.776 Billion slush fund memorializes this nation's revolutionary break from a king; if this agreement fully goes through, we might as well be returning to an unaccountable monarchy. The origin of this corrupt pot of cash for the president to pay himself, his family and his political allies, including January 6th, rioters and other democracy enemies, was his personal lawsuit against the IRS, which has been settled with the new agreement to create the slush fund.

If there has been one through line to the second Trump administration, it is the effort to relentlessly push the boundaries of what is possible or acceptable by an executive a little further out every day. This represents one major leap in the direction of authoritarianism — Donald Trump is directly raiding the public coffers to enrich cronies, not just via his corrupt business dealings and pseudo-bribes from foreign governments, but straight up getting checks from the public treasury.

Also, we must ask what this outcome ultimately incentivizes❓ It's hard not to read it as Donald Trump paying the foot soldiers in his failed 2021, coup for t

These convicted  insurrectionists have already ensured that they won't face criminal consequences for their attempt to end American democracy during their evil January 6th attacks on the Capitol. It is impossible to understand how Republicans continue to support evil Trumpzi-ism and his corrupt intentions. 

Trump has continuously intimated that he may attempt to run for a third term; this would of course be unconstitutional, but Trump has demonstrated that he places very little stock in that document.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund (aka "slush fund") being set up in the Department of Justice will have a five-person board answering only to the attorney general, who is now Trump's former personal criminal defense lawyer Todd Blanche in an acting capacity. There will be no congressional oversight and no public accountability. It's also not clear who can seek money, but as the Daily News pointed out, Rudy Giuliani and Eric Adams seem to fit the profile.

The message of these payouts is that those who violate the law, even those who engage in violence on behalf of Trump's agenda may, not only evade consequences but be compensated with public funds, a sickening outcome. In addition, the settlement reportedly has stipulations that the IRS will forever suspend inquiries into Trump, family members and companies over past tax non-compliance. What is that if not a direct license to keep even more public money pilfered via nonpayment, and a marker that the president and his inner circle are above the law❓

Police officers who defended Congress on January 6 are suing to stop this Anti-Weaponization Fund, 💢which would reward the mob who beat them. That seems like pretty good standing to us.

Congress, of course, should also probe this extraordinarily corrupt transactionk if it is ever able to shake itself out of its stupor and engage in the checks that it is supposed to have on the executive, who has busied himself weaponizing the government for his benefit while sapping Congress' own powers.

As shocking as this slush fund is, it should best be understood as one more test for what the administration can get away with. If that test is successful, it will absolutely not be the last time that Trump raids our taxpayer dollar💲 to bolster the MAGA agenda in direct contravention to the interests of protecting American democracy.

Donald Trump has zero integrity no respect for America's fallen heroes. Memorial Day begins the cruel construction for his hideous arch

In Washington DC, the nation’s capital, this Memorial Day will be like no other. Editorial opinion published in the Boston Globe.

The once unbroken vista across the Potomac River leading to Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of 400,000 American veterans, last week became something of a construction zone — as plans proceed apace for Donald Trump’s hideous triumphal arch on Memorial Circle.

What the arch is supposed to celebrate — what “triumph,” real or imagined — is itself a matter of controversy and conjecture. What is certain is that nothing — not a lawsuit brought by veterans nor a federal court order halting its construction — will stand in the way of a president more obsessed with monuments than with honoring the fallen service members this day was set aside to honor more than 150 years ago.

Having set his sights on Memorial Circle near the entry to the Arlington military cemetery for his 250-foot arch, topped by two gilded eagles and a gold-plated Lady Liberty — all with wings extended — Trump apparently wasn’t waiting for Congress or the federal courts to give him the go-ahead.

No, exactly a week before Memorial Day 2026, the fencing went up at Memorial Circle, along with an industrial drilling rig and pink flags used by surveyors.

It was days after Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had testified at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing. And according to Representative Jared Huffman of California, “there wasn’t a project. Not even a proposal. Just a discussion,” Huffman posted on Instagram.

Asked at that hearing, “Who is the arch being built for?” Burgum responded, “For the American people.”

However, when asked last year by a CBS reporter what the monument was for, Trump pointed to himself and answered, “Me.”

And who are we to not take Trump at his word❓

The design was reportedly inspired by Trump’s fascination with the Arc de Triomphe, which began during a visit to Paris in his first term for a ceremony marking the anniversary of the end of World War I. But the Parisian landmark, its construction begun during the reign of Napoleon, is, however, only 164 feet high. It would be dwarfed by Trump’s proposed 250-foot monument — a figure that’s supposed to represent the nation’s 250th birthday and originally slated to be completed by July 4, 2026.

Meanwhile, the administration has cut medical staffing at the Veterans Affairs Department.

The arch would be more than double the size of the Lincoln Memorial and the equivalent of a 25-story office building, the lawsuit filed against its construction notes.

“Its location on Memorial Circle would situate the monument on an axis between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, obstructing a line of sight that was designed to represent the unification of the Nation following the Civil War and that has existed for nearly a century,” the suit says.

The lawsuit also charges the construction is illegal because it lacks congressional approval and ignores a host of “statutes impos[ing] procedural requirements” for construction in the area.

But mostly, the Vietnam vets and the architectural historian bringing the suit argue it “would dishonor their military and foreign service and the legacy of their comrades and other veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and would degrade their personal experience when visiting Arlington Cemetery or traveling around Memorial Circle and on the Memorial Avenue Corridor.”

And could there be a more stark contrast to the row upon row of simple white gravestones than this proposed gaudy monument to nothing more than the enormous ego of the current occupant of the White House❓🤢

It speaks volumes about the offensiveness of this ego driven project — and its location — that the administration simply couldn’t wait for this Memorial Day to pass before the very pathway to Arlington National Cemetery was desecrated with fencing and drilling equipment.

People, of course, will still come to Arlington, will still place the flags that honor loved ones, brothers and sisters in arms, fallen heroes, as they have since this sacred place was opened to honor the service of those who fought on opposite sides in a war that nearly tore this nation apart. Arlington became part of the healing process — as it was on that day in May 1868, when some 5,000 men and women walked among the then 20,000 graves of Union and Confederate soldiers, decorating them “with the choicest flowers of springtime,” former Union General John A. Logan insisted.

“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance,” he added. “Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

True then. Truer now.