The Weekly List

This was a week full of setbacks for Trump, at home and abroad. The U.S. continued to be mired in Trump’s war of choice with Iran, which, by all appearances, the U.S. seems to be losing. As we pass the three month mark, Trump and his regime seemed to vacillate, day by day, on whether a ceasefire or escalation was near, or whether, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the war was over.
On the home front, Trump suffered two major setbacks, first with a federal judge reversing his rebranding of the Kennedy Center, and then, bowing to both political and legal pushback, Trump backed down on his so-called ‘anti-weaponization’ fund. Backed down in part — not on the immunity audit, which benefits him personally. Uncharacteristically in recent days and weeks, Trump has largely avoided the media, and spent another weekend sending a flood of AI slop on Truth Social.
Increasingly it appears that Trump, as he put it this week, does not “care about the midterms.” His focus instead seems to be on throwing himself a big 80th birthday party at the nation’s capital, putting his name and brand as many places as possible, and enriching himself, his family and allies as much as possible before the clock runs out.
What alarms me most is all that we have normalized. The Justice Department, now run by his personal lawyer, has become a cudgel for Trump’s personal vendettas. This week, he crossed the line to pursuing E. Jean Carroll, who is completely a personal target, unrelated to his time in office. He named Bill Pulte to acting director of national intelligence, handing his ally unfettered access to a gold mine of intelligence, which he would undoubtedly use to target enemies, and could also harness to impact midterms. Trump’s regime acts like a mafia organization, awarding huge government contracts and loans, as Trump places stock market bets with his personal funds on companies he then champions. Our leadership in all realms is continuing to become more white and male, and less competent.
The question now is whether Republicans will at long last stand up to Trump, as they did with his fund, or if they will revert to being compliant junior assistants. Trump made some enemies in the Senate, after endorsing primary opponents of Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Cornyn. Will the Senate at long last push back? If not, it becomes a waiting game for how much damage Trump can do before the midterm elections, just five months away.

This week the Republican Party at long last stood up to Trump. What did it take? Trump backing primary opponents of two of their own in the Senate, resulting in both losing, and another in the House. Trump’s $1.776 billion (yes, note the patriotic reference in dollar amount) so-called “anti-weaponization” fund hit roadblocks in the Senate, leading that body to adjourn for Memorial Day weekend, as did the House to avoid a vote that would have required Trump to get Congressional approval to continue his war of choice in Iran.
Trump, by all accounts, is losing the Iran War. Although the three-month old war has been stalled for weeks, Trump used the pretext of an “imminent” deal as an excuse to skip his son’s wedding on Saturday. This seemed odd enough when his schedule showed him heading to his Bedminster golf course on Friday, but when rain was predicted, he instead returned to the White House where he spent the weekend claiming to be close to a deal, then backing off, then claiming to be close again, and so on. Trump also spent his weekend continuing his ample use of Truth Social to spread unhinged, AI-generated images and videos, at all hours of the day and night. Trump visited Walter Reed this week for his fourth medical exam since returning to office, raising continued concerns about his health, after which he again refused to give accurate information on the reason for the visit.
This week the fourth Trump cabinet member was pushed out, and for the fourth time, notably, it was a woman, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Her diminished role, as well as Marco Rubio being a place holder as National Security Advisor, and Trump’s gutting of the National Security Council, led many experts to question if Trump’s shrinking circle of increasingly solely loyalists and yes men had led to his ill-advised and poorly planned Iran War. As NYT columnist Thomas Friedman put it:
Now, and forever, Iranians will know that we know that Tehran can shut off the world’s most important oil tap anytime it wants. This new source of leverage for the Iranian regime is priceless.
Trump’s failure to anticipate this is no accident. It is because he thinks he knows everything — when he doesn’t at all.

The biggest stories this week center on the blatant, unprecedented corruption by Trump, his family, and his regime. What is shocking is not only the scope, but also Trump’s willingness, even eagerness, to flaunt his kleptocracy in the light of day, seeming to regale in the fact that no one in his regime or party would dare to challenge or in any way stop him.
Notable this week was not only Trump’s disclosure that he or his agents had made more than 3,700 stock trades in the first quarter, many of which involved companies with business before his regime, but also several that he had publicly promoted or directly helped through his actions and policies. Far more brazen was his so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was poised to award $1.8 billion of taxpayer money not only to his allies, but also to Jan. 6 insurrections, whom he had already pardoned, and will now be enriched and encouraged to do the same in the future at his beck and call! This was another in the long list of examples of Trump getting away with one thing (pardons), then taking a broken norm to a next level, after little to no pushback.
These remarkable headlines sucked much of the oxygen out of other important story lines. The Iran War continued with no progress, and following the same pattern of Trump threatening strikes, then backing off (TACO), with no end in sight. Bloomberg reported financial markets had gotten desensitized to his pattern, and Trump’s words and posts were having diminishing impacts. The American public moved increasingly against not only the war, but also on Trump’s overall approval and approval on other key issues, reaching new lows.
Trump’s China Summit was by most accounts not only unproductive, but also deleterious to U.S. standing, and an embarrassment. While Trump seemed smitten by, and trying hard for a friendship with China’s president, Xi referred to the U.S. as a “declining nation,” and seemed to troll Trump throughout his visit. Meanwhile, Trump continued to pull away from our NATO allies, and took steps toward conflicts with Cuba and Greenland, which would also serve to allow him to control the narrative away from what we are no longer talking about — the Epstein files.
As a second outbreak hit this week, the Department of Health and Human Services was hit with another senior level resignation. There are other important stories as well on the dysfunction within our federal agencies, which is only getting worse. With all this happening, Trump remained focused on his ballroom, and his campaign of retribution.

Two story lines really stood out this week, in part because of their big implications for the state of things under Trump. First, bowing to pressure from Trump, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary resigned. With that resignation, the Trump regime’s Department of Health and Human Services had no Senate confirmed FDA commissioner, CDC director, surgeon general, or NIH director. Notably, this comes amid an outbreak of hantavirus, with 11 confirmed cases and three deaths, once again demonstrating the dysfunction of our federal government under Trump and his loyalists. The second is Trump saying out loud — something many had suspected through his actions — that he was indifferent to the suffering of anyone but himself. On Tuesday, the day the consumer price index showed soaring prices for energy and food, Trump was asked about “Americans’ financial situations,” and whether it was motivating him to make a deal with Iran. Trump said:
“Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran — they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing — we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.”
My emphasis added, to what truly was a remarkable, if uniquely honest, statement.
What is shocking too, is that even with that statement which cited the sole goal of disarming Iran’s nuclear capabilities, reporting this week indicates that Trump was ready to strike a deal to end the war with Iran, without achieving a single objective stated at the outset, including said elimination of nuclear. Reporting also indicated that Iran had been able to almost fully restore its military capabilities to pre-war levels, despite Trump and Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth’s repeated lies that those capabilities had been various versions of obliterated. When challenged by the truth, Trump and his regime resorted to their North Star, attacking the media, and accusing them of being traitors.
Juxtapose Trump’s callous indifference toward the American people to his focus, bordering on obsession, with spreading likenesses of himself and his name, and pursuing his perceived enemies. Our Justice Department under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is unrecognizable. They might as well take down the Justice Department words from the building, under the giant poster of Trump, and call it the Trump Organization Law Firm! Between that, and the out in the open kleptocracy, with almost no pushback to either, this week it was clear how many broken norms have for now been accepted and normalized, as if Americans who oppose Trump are just biding their time.
As Trump heads to China, traveling not with U.S.-China experts, but with his son and corporate chief executives, much is at stake. While the trip will provide Trump with a change of subject for now, there is no clear end for his Iran War, which by many accounts the U.S. seems to be losing, and Trump’s mental health, and demonstrated once again by his late night and overnight social media posting, is very much in question. He is the mad king, making all decisions, while Republicans enable him.

This week we continued down the slippery slope of the U.S. Department of Justice melding into Trump’s personal law firm. As acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seeks Trump’s nomination to run the agency, the DOJ has become unrecognizable. Any pretense of separation is gone as the gutted agency carries out Trump’s agenda and retribution campaign, however lawless.
Trump’s Iran War entered its tenth week, and Trump seemed unable to find a way out. Trump claimed to not need congressional approval despite passing the 60 day mark, citing the ceasefire, then established “Project Freedom” and unsuccessfully tried to get cargo ships through the Strait of Hormuz. By the end of the week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the war was over, and only Project Freedom remained, only to hours later have Trump post on Truth Social that Project Freedom was on pause. The narrative seems to shift daily and endlessly, most frequently with Trump leaking or posting a positive spin on ending the war before the stock market opens. Notably, also this week, Trump unilaterally pulled 5,000 troops out of Germany after their leader’s remarks about Trump failing in the Iran War.
Polling continues to fall, as the American people are increasingly unhappy with Trump, his war, and his policies. He does, however, maintain his power over the Republican Party, as demonstrated this week by a primary in Indiana, and Senate Republicans trying to push through $1 billion for his White House ballroom, despite just 28% of Americans supporting it.
Increasingly, Trump seems unhinged. A major story line this week is not only the increasing number of his Truth Social posts, but also that he is sending them often in the middle of the night, and they are becoming in many cases more alarming and bizarre. This week, Trump bragged in three separate occasions about taking cognitive tests, almost seeming to be an act of self-admittance that things are not so steady, as he has put the world and its energy prices on his shoulders, alone. With no good options for exit.
This is the longest weekly list of the second regime, so far. There is so much going on at once! I encourage you to read it, in its entirety.