The Official "Damned Trump" Thread: Phase II

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Dropping the terrorist slush fund, keeping the trump family immunity clause.  Magamerica just has to bend over and take it again and again.

I don't think the DOJ actually has any authority to tell the IRS what they can't do.

You may be right, but it’s a moot point. The IRS has no authority to bring charges. They can refer a case to Justice, but if Trump’s lap dogs decline to pursue, it goes nowhere.

Boru

[Fake Messiah]

Texas braces for 'full-blown disaster' as flesh-eating 'horror' arrives after Trump cuts

The worst fear of Texas officials may have already been realized: New World Screwworm has made a comeback.

Screwworms are the larvae of a species of fly that hatch from eggs laid in wounds or sensitive areas of warm-blooded animals, burrow their way in, and consume the animal's flesh, leaving gaping fist-sized ulcers and often causing the animal's death. Sometimes referred to as "flying piranha," they can infect a wide variety of mammals and birds, even humans, but most infamously cause devastation to cattle herds.

They have been contained to Central America for decades by U.S. agricultural programs. But after the pandemic and a round of Trump administration cuts to public programs, New World Screwworms have spread north and samples have reportedly been discovered in South Texas. A resurgence of the parasite in the United States could devastate cattle ranches, disrupt supply chains, and cause a fresh spike in the price of beef.

https://www.rawstory.com/screwworm/

[Paraselene]

'Cancel it', Trump says after artists drop out of US Freedom 250 festival

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy2z23122zo

[Mister Agenda]

'Cancel it', Trump says after artists drop out of US Freedom 250 festival

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy2z23122zo

Good, he already ruined our celebration anyway. It would have been awesome under any Democrat. Or even under previous Republican administrations.

[Angrboda]

President Trump's deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C. has reduced petty property crimes, but has had little to no effect on violent crime, despite the high cost to taxpayers, according to a new analysis from the nonpartisan think tank Niskanen Center.

The study's findings were published just weeks after federal officials announced that the number of troops in D.C. is set to double this summer to 5,000 as part of a "summer surge" of law enforcement ahead of events planned for America's 250th birthday celebration.

Trump deployed the National Guard to D.C. last August, as part of the administration's Safe and Beautiful Task Force, which he said was an effort to reduce crime and beautify the city. The task force includes hundreds of federal law enforcement — including immigration enforcement — working in conjunction with local police. It's an approach that Trump previously said he wants to carry out in "many cities," and already has in places like Memphis and New Orleans.

There are currently around 2,800 National Guard members deployed to D.C. from both the city itself and about a dozen other states, all of which have Republican governors. In contrast to other controversial National Guard deployments by Trump during his second term, the president has the authority over the Guard in D.C.

Guard members do not legally have the power to carry out arrests, but can detain individuals.

Troops — many of whom are armed — are largely carrying out what are called "high visibility patrols" to make their presence known around federal property and in residential areas, parks and city metro stations in an effort to free up D.C. police to redeploy to higher-crime areas. The report found that generally hasn't happened.

Instead, researchers found that the deployment led to a 24% drop in "opportunistic" crimes — like property crimes and vehicle break-ins. But the presence of the Guard had no effect on violent crimes, including robberies, which were already on a downward trend before Trump came back into office.

"What the Guard brought was a massive, sudden shock from the visible presence of uniformed military personnel on the streets of Washington almost overnight," researchers wrote, calling the deployment of the Guard a "blunt and expensive instrument."

A recent assessment by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that it costs the federal government around $1.5 million per day for the current number of troops deployed to D.C.

"I think on balance the National Guard's deployment is not a failure, there is success in what they've done. But I guess the point that we try to make is: compared to what?" says Richard Hahn, one of the authors of the study. "You could get the same or better outcomes, possibly much better outcomes, for much cheaper, if you just were very thoughtful about policing."

In response to NPR's request for comment about the study, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said that it "should not be taken seriously."

National Guard has done little to reduce violent crime in D.C., a new study finds

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

^

“What the Guard brought was a massive, sudden shock from the visible presence of uniformed military personnel on the streets of Washington almost overnight," researchers wrote, calling the deployment of the Guard a "blunt and expensive instrument."

America’s transition to banana republic status continues apace.

Boru

[Angrboda]

[Angrboda]

Donald Trump has dropped a common hair-loss treatment from his list of publicly disclosed medications—and nobody quite knows why.

Finasteride, an anti-balding drug sold under the brand name Propecia to millions of men in the U.S. each year, has not appeared on any of the president’s medical reports since he retook the White House last January, according to the Washington Post. That includes his latest report, released Friday.

Trump’s aides have declined to say why the medication does not feature on the list or whether its absence means the president is no longer taking it. Side effects can include depression, sexual dysfunction, and, less commonly, enlarged breasts.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-dis...h-mystery/

[Fake Messiah]

Insane corruption goes on:

More than half the donors to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just won over $50 billion in new federal contracts in six months.

And here’s the part that should make your blood boil.

Sixteen of these 27 donors were facing federal enforcement actions, antitrust reviews, labor cases, securities charges. Many of those cases have been quietly dropped or scaled back since Trump took office. You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.

The White House won’t even release the full donor list. They’re hiding it on purpose, because daylight is the one thing pay-to-play can’t survive. A federal judge already ruled ballroom construction has to stop until Congress authorizes it.

Government is supposed to serve the people, not auction itself off to the highest bidder. When access goes to whoever pays the most, working families always end up paying the price.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...port-says/

---

Trump has received new orders from Putin.

Pentagon likely to cancel missile deal with Germany over fears of Russia

The Pentagon is expected to cancel a plan to send Tomahawk missiles to Germany partly because officials are concerned Russia will view it as an escalation, a startling reversal of a long-planned agreement with one of America’s biggest allies.

U.S. officials fear Moscow will retaliate if the Trump administration follows through on the effort to deploy precision missiles in the middle of the continent, according to two European officials and one American official. But any decision not to deliver them would yank back a deal made during the Biden administration and leave Berlin without defenses German leaders say they desperately need.

The move is part of a wider American retrenchment from the NATO alliance — including canceled deployments of thousands of U.S. troops to Germany and plans to pull back certain assets — as the U.S. upends the close-knit partnerships that cemented the relationship for generations.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/04...l-00950284

"U.S. officials fear" — cowards.

[Mister Agenda]

It's always the cover-up that gets them. Not bothering to cover up the corruption is evidently the smarter way to go.