Good evening, this is Really American. It is Monday, June 15, 2026. There is a lot going on today.

Trump says the Iran war is over, but Obama just went on ABC and explained why the deal America paid $29 billion and 13 lives for looks exactly like the one Trump threw in the trash in 2018. The Justice Department is now investigating Gavin Newsom and his wife in what Newsom is calling a direct political hit on his 2028 presidential ambitions. Trump landed in France for the G7 looking like he needed a full week of sleep. And before the summit even started he threatened to torch France’s entire wine industry.

Before diving into the news, we need to talk about what is happening to American media right now. Fox just announced a $22 billion deal to buy Roku. The Ellison family got DOJ approval to put Bari Weiss in charge of both CBS News and CNN. Bezos owns the Post. Murdoch runs Fox and now Roku. The billionaire conquest of American media is accelerating and the window to fight back is closing faster than most people realize. Really American exists as a direct response to all of it — fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. If you have been reading Really American on a free subscription, right now is the moment to upgrade. Not tomorrow. Today.

Subscribe now

DOJ TARGETS NEWSOM AHEAD OF 2028

Trump’s Justice Department is investigating California Governor Gavin Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, with federal agents questioning friends, former employees, and associates of the couple over the past week. Newsom went public Monday with a video and called it exactly what it is: a political hit designed to neutralize his most dangerous potential 2028 rival before the race even begins.

According to reporting from the New York Times, the probe appears focused in part on Siebel Newsom’s nonprofit organizations and their financial ties to donors with business before the state government. Newsom’s former chief of staff pleaded guilty last month to three felonies — but her own plea agreement makes clear she witnessed no criminal conduct by the governor. The latest round of federal inquiries began around the time Trump moved to nominate Todd Blanche as attorney general. Blanche previously defended Trump in three of his four criminal cases and has since signed an agreement granting Trump and his companies immunity from tax audits.

Newsom did not hold back. “Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets,” he said. “He’s coming after me because I am considering running for president. To get me, he’s coming after my wife.” He addressed Trump directly in the video: “You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on every enemies list you have. But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.” Siebel Newsom added in a statement that Trump “will stop at nothing to try to punish those who stand up to him” and that his behavior “is not presidential.”

Newsom also connected the investigation to a broader pattern — noting that Trump had already publicly called for his arrest last year and that Senator Mark Kelly, another potential 2028 Democratic candidate, has also been aggressively targeted by the administration. This is not a coincidence. This is a strategy.

If Trump will turn the Justice Department into a weapon against sitting governors with presidential ambitions, he will do it to every Democrat who threatens him. The question is who is going to stop him.

Subscribe now

OBAMA DISMANTLES TRUMP’S IRAN VICTORY LAP

Barack Obama went on ABC News Saturday and delivered a precise, devastating assessment of Trump’s Iran deal — saying publicly what the numbers already make obvious: America paid $29 billion, lost 13 lives, and endured three months of 4.2 percent inflation to end up with an agreement that looks a lot like the one Trump called the worst in history and walked away from in 2018.

According to reporting from the Daily Beast, Obama told ABC’s Robin Roberts it was “doubtful” that Trump’s new agreement would prove to be “significantly different or a significant improvement” from the 2015 nuclear accord his own administration negotiated. Obama did not stop at the Iran deal. “On a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy — you’d think we would have learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.”

The 2015 Obama deal placed strict limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment, required deep reductions in its nuclear stockpile, and established an extensive international inspection regime in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump withdrew in 2018, called it “the worst deal ever,” and replaced it with a maximum pressure campaign he promised would produce something far better. What followed was the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, $4.32 a gallon gas, the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, strikes on Iranian cities, the downing of a US Apache helicopter, and three months of the highest inflation in years. Trump’s new deal includes the Strait reopening, $25 billion in unfrozen Iranian assets, and a 60-day window to negotiate the rest — terms critics say look remarkably similar to what was already in place before the war started.

Trump responded in France on Monday by insisting his deal was “a very powerful document” while dismissing Obama’s as “a horrible deal for the United States.” He has not yet released the full text.

America went to war to get back to roughly where it started. That $29 billion came from taxpayers. Those 13 lives are not coming back.

TRUMP AT THE G7: EXHAUSTED, LIMP HANDSHAKE WITH MACRON

Trump flew overnight to Évian-les-Bains, France for the G7 summit and arrived looking every bit like a man who had spent the previous night falling asleep at his own birthday party. His handshake with French President Emmanuel Macron was so weak and low-energy that footage spread instantly across social media — and the White House responded not with a denial but with personal insults directed at the reporter who asked about it. Spokesperson Davis Ingle called the reporter “blind or stupid” and insisted it was “a perfect handshake.”

According to reporting from the Daily Beast, Trump barely put any weight into the greeting and wore a drowsy look throughout the bilateral meeting. He spent much of the time boasting about the UFC fight night and at one point told Macron: “I called last night, very late last night, to congratulate you because a French fighter won. I don’t know, is that maybe more important than the World Cup? To some people it might be.“ Macron said he did not watch the fights live. Trump did appear to recover some energy when greeting Brigitte Macron, delivering his signature aggressive 14-second handshake — a stark contrast to the limp greeting he gave her husband.

The European allies waiting for Trump are furious. Macron has publicly described Trump’s military assault on Iran as “outside the framework of international law.” Leaders across the continent were never consulted before Trump launched strikes in February. One EU official told NBC News: “There are a lot of Europeans who’ve said the U.S. has left us alone with Ukraine. And the U.S. is telling us in Europe that we need to do more in Iran. It goes both ways.” Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC he expects Trump to “vent about their lack of support in Iran” at the summit and is hoping he will “reset and re-engage on Ukraine” — which suggests even Trump’s allies are bracing for an ugly room.

The man who started a war without telling his allies just showed up to their summit too tired to shake hands. That is American leadership in 2026.

TRUMP THREATENS FRENCH WINE TO STRONG-ARM THE G7 HOST

Before the G7 summit even began, Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on French wine and champagne unless France scrapped its digital services tax on American tech companies. Macron, who is hosting the summit on the shores of Lake Geneva, pushed back immediately — making clear he was not going to be bullied on his own turf before the first meeting even started.

According to reporting from Euractiv, Macron told French television ahead of the summit that he would have “a respectful but firm discussion” with Trump. “Tariffs don’t do anyone any good, especially tariffs between G7 countries,” Macron said, adding pointedly: “It is not up to the United States to decide on the laws of Europeans, nor of the French.” The French digital levy applies only to the largest American tech platforms — Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Google — and was ruled constitutionally sound by France’s own courts in September 2025. Gabriel Picard, president of France’s wine and spirits exporters federation, called Trump’s threats “bad news” for the entire French wine industry.

This is not the first time Trump has reached for French wine as a trade weapon. He previously threatened a 200 percent levy after Macron refused to join his Middle East peace initiative. The pattern is consistent: Trump arrives at summits with allies, picks a fight before the first handshake, and leaves the economic damage for everyone else to absorb. American wine importers and consumers pay a share of that cost every time Trump decides a trading partner needs to be punished.

He did not arrive at the G7 as a partner. He arrived as a landlord demanding rent.

THE BILLIONAIRES ARE CLOSING IN. HERE IS HOW YOU FIGHT BACK.

Rupert Murdoch. Jeff Bezos. David Ellison. Bari Weiss. These are not just names in the news. They are the people systematically buying up every major information channel in America and remaking it in Trump’s image. Fox now owns Roku. The Ellisons now control CBS News and CNN. Bezos owns the Washington Post. When they finish, there will be no major outlet left that does not answer to someone in Trump’s orbit. That is not an accident. That is the plan. Independent journalism is not just a nice thing to have — it is the only thing standing between that consolidation and a media landscape where the truth gets filtered through billionaires before it reaches you. Really American does not have a hedge fund. We do not have a corporate parent. We have readers. If you have been reading for free, the most important thing you can do right now is become a paying subscriber. Not because we asked nicely. Because the window to fight back is closing and we need you in this with us.

Subscribe now

— The Really American Team

Give a gift subscription

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Monday, June 15th. The Iran war is over — or at least Trump says it is. He also fell asleep at his own birthday party.

Trump announced a deal with Iran Sunday night on his 80th birthday, declaring the Strait of Hormuz would reopen and the US naval blockade would be lifted. Barack Obama responded by pointing out that the deal America just paid $29 billion, 13 American lives, and three months of 4.2 percent inflation to achieve is essentially the same deal Trump threw away in 2018 when he called it the worst deal ever. Trump fell asleep at his own birthday UFC fight as Democrats renewed calls for the 25th Amendment. And this morning Trump is in France for the G7 summit where European allies are furious that he launched a war without consulting them, drove up global energy prices, and is now asking them to do more.

Before diving into the news, we need to talk about what is happening to American media right now. Fox just announced a $22 billion deal to buy Roku. The Ellison family got DOJ approval to put Bari Weiss in charge of both CBS News and CNN. Bezos owns the Post. Murdoch runs Fox and now Roku. The billionaire conquest of American media is accelerating and the window to fight back is closing faster than most people realize. Really American exists as a direct response to all of it — fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But we can only keep doing this work if enough readers take action today. If you have been reading Really American on a free subscription, right now is the moment to upgrade to a paying membership. Not tomorrow. Today. Every subscription goes directly toward keeping independent journalism alive at the exact moment it is needed most. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

OBAMA SLAMS TRUMP AND SAID THE US GOT NOTHING FROM THE IRAN WAR IT COULDN’T HAVE HAD WITHOUT ONE.

Former President Barack Obama delivered a pointed and devastating assessment of Trump’s Iran deal Saturday in an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts, saying it is “doubtful” that the agreement Trump just announced after three months of war, $29 billion in costs, 13 American deaths, and inflation hitting a three-year high is meaningfully better than the nuclear deal Trump threw away in 2018.

“It is doubtful that any agreement that arises is going to be significantly different or a significant improvement from the deal that we had in the first place,” Obama told Roberts, speaking one day before Trump announced the deal on Truth Social from his birthday UFC fight. “And had worked for, for a long stretch of time before we, the United States, pulled out of it.”

Obama did not hold back on the broader lesson. “On a lot of difficult foreign policy problems, the notion that we can just bully our way or bomb our way to solutions may sometimes seem appealing,” he said. “But the fact of the matter is that taking the time to explore diplomacy and exhaust the possibilities of coming up with deals that don’t solve 100 percent of the problem but solve 80, 90 percent of the problem while avoiding the necessity of going to war — you’d think we would have learned that lesson by now. But it seems like every so often we have to relearn that lesson again.”

The 2015 Obama nuclear deal — which Trump withdrew from in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever” — placed strict limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Trump replaced it with a maximum pressure campaign that he claimed would produce a better deal. What followed was three months of war, the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, strikes on Iranian cities, the downing of a US Apache helicopter, the killing of three Indian sailors, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, 4.2 percent inflation, $4.32 a gallon gas, and a deal that critics say looks remarkably similar to the one that was already in place.

Obama said we got nothing from the war we couldn’t have had without it. Trump called Obama’s deal the worst ever in 2018. The deal Trump just announced looks a lot like Obama’s deal. The war lasted 103 days and cost $29 billion.

Subscribe now

TRUMP ANNOUNCED AN IRAN DEAL ON HIS BIRTHDAY. HERE ARE THE KEY TERMS — AND WHAT THEY ACTUALLY MEAN.

President Trump announced Sunday night, from his birthday UFC fight on the White House South Lawn, that the United States and Iran had reached a deal to end the war, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and begin a 60-day negotiating period toward a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. Here is what is actually in the deal and what it means.

The Strait of Hormuz reopens immediately. Under the memorandum of understanding, Iran must reopen the strait to all commercial ships regardless of flag, while the US simultaneously lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports. This was the most critical demand of the entire conflict. The Strait carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil. Its closure pushed inflation to a three-year high and gas to $4.32 a gallon. Oil prices fell 3.9 percent to roughly $84 per barrel after the announcement — but experts warn prices will not return to pre-war levels quickly. The global oil market is still missing more than one billion barrels of supply.

The US releases $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets. The US agreed to release approximately $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets, including direct cash transfers, regional cooperation mechanisms, and financial credit lines. A senior US official pushed back on Iran’s claim that $12 billion would be transferred unconditionally before the 60-day negotiating period begins, calling it “a spin” and insisting this is “a pay-for-performance deal.”

No new US sanctions for 60 days — and all sanctions must eventually be lifted. The US has committed to imposing no new financial sanctions on Iran during the 60-day negotiating window. Once a final agreement is signed, both the US and the United Nations must remove all sanctions against Iran on a timeline yet to be determined. US oil sanctions must also be suspended, allowing Iran to export oil and collect proceeds.

Iran commits to never developing nuclear weapons — but keeps its civilian program. Iran agreed never to develop or obtain nuclear weapons. However, it will be permitted to continue operating its civilian nuclear program. It cannot enrich uranium or expand its nuclear infrastructure in any way. The US agreed to allow Iran to dilute its existing stockpile of highly enriched uranium on its own, within Iran’s borders, as part of a broader framework still under discussion.

Everything else is still being negotiated. The full scope of Iran’s nuclear program, including enrichment operations and the complete handling of its highly enriched uranium stockpile, will be on the table during the 60-day negotiating period. Both parties must finalize a deal within that window. The deal’s signing is expected in Switzerland on Friday.

The Strait is reopening. Sanctions are being lifted. $25 billion in frozen assets are being released. Iran keeps its civilian nuclear program. The full nuclear deal still needs to be negotiated in 60 days. Obama says it looks like the deal Trump threw away in 2018. Trump says nobody has ever done anything like this before.

TRUMP FELL ASLEEP AT HIS OWN BIRTHDAY UFC FIGHT. 25TH AMENDMENT CALLS ARE GROWING.

President Trump appeared to fall asleep in the front row of his own $60 million birthday UFC fight on the White House South Lawn Sunday night — slumping to one side with his eyes closed next to UFC CEO Dana White as thousands of spectators watched and cameras captured the moment — triggering a fresh wave of calls for the 25th Amendment to be invoked.

Footage shared widely on social media showed Trump appearing to doze off during the fights, which he had spent months planning and publicly anticipating as the centerpiece of his 80th birthday celebrations. He was seated in the front row next to White and his son Barron Trump.

“Oh — yeah — he’s fit to lead the country,” one X user wrote. “Someone has to be deep in the throes of dementia to fall asleep in a place like this that is extremely loud with so many people and bright lights,” another wrote. “I mean, he’s 80. He needs to resign. He’s too old, and he knows it,” a third said. Commenting on the White House birthday post, one user wrote simply: “25th amendment now.”

This is now a fully documented pattern spanning more than a year. Trump has appeared to fall asleep at Pope Francis’s funeral, a Saudi agreement signing, the Pennsylvania Energy Innovation Summit, an anti-Antifa roundtable, a weight-loss drug event, multiple Cabinet meetings, the Oval Office coal briefing, a Wisconsin farmers roundtable, Game 3 of the NBA Finals, and now his own birthday UFC fight. In every case, the White House has denied it. In multiple cases, the denial was made while video of the episode existed and spread widely.

Marco Rubio denied under oath at a congressional hearing that Trump falls asleep in meetings. Representative Ted Lieu then showed him a video of Trump falling asleep in a meeting. Rubio called it a joke. The White House has consistently described the president’s energy as “unmatched.”

Section 4 of the 25th Amendment addresses the problem of presidents who are unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office but do not recognize their disability. It would require the Vice President and a majority of Cabinet heads to declare the president’s inability to continue to the Speaker of the House and the Senate’s second-ranking official.

Trump fell asleep at his own birthday party. It is the latest in a documented year-long pattern. The White House says his energy is unmatched. Democrats are calling for the 25th Amendment. He turns 80 today and leaves for the G7 this morning.

Subscribe now

TRUMP IS IN EUROPE FOR THE G7. THE ALLIES HE DIDN’T CONSULT BEFORE STARTING THE WAR ARE WAITING FOR HIM.

President Trump flew to France overnight for the G7 summit in the Alpine resort town of Evian-les-Bains, arriving to meet a group of European allies who are furious that he launched a war against Iran without consulting them, drove up global energy prices, and is now complaining they haven’t done enough to support American war aims in a conflict they never asked for.

French President Emmanuel Macron, the summit host, has described Trump’s military assault on Iran as “outside the framework of international law.” European leaders across the continent objected that Trump did not bother to consult them before launching strikes on February 28th. “There are a lot of Europeans who’ve said the U.S. has left us alone with Ukraine,” one European Union official told NBC News. “And the U.S. is telling us in Europe that we need to do more in Iran. It goes both ways.”

Trump has responded by mocking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” he said in the spring. Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies, told NBC News he expects Trump to “vent about their lack of support in Iran” at the summit and is hoping he will “reset and re-engage on Ukraine.”

Ukraine will be the second major flashpoint. Trump famously told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy last year that he “doesn’t have the cards” and pressured him toward a ceasefire. Since then, Ukraine’s military has gained significant ground against Russia through its use of a sophisticated drone arsenal. Both Putin and Zelenskyy called Trump on his birthday Sunday — Putin to flatter him, Zelenskyy to update him on the strengthened Ukrainian battlefield position. European leaders want Trump to use Ukraine’s improved position to pressure Putin toward withdrawal. Trump wants the war to end quickly regardless of territorial concessions.

France postponed the summit by one day specifically so Trump would not have to miss his birthday UFC fight. When the summit concludes, Macron has invited Trump to a private dinner at the Palace of Versailles.

Trump went to war without telling his allies. He is now at a summit with those allies. They are furious about the war, the energy prices, and Ukraine. He is expected to vent at them. Macron is taking him to Versailles for dinner. The Iran deal still needs to be signed on Friday.

WE NEED YOU TO HELP REALLY AMERICAN RIGHT NOW

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Obama said Trump got nothing from the Iran war he couldn’t have had without one. The deal looks like the one Trump threw away in 2018. Trump fell asleep at his own birthday party and Democrats are calling for the 25th Amendment. He is now in Europe where the allies he didn’t consult before starting the war are waiting for him. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

American media is at a terrifying crossroads. Fox just announced a $22 billion deal to buy Roku. The Ellison family got DOJ approval to put Bari Weiss in charge of both CBS News and CNN. Bezos owns the Post. Murdoch runs Fox and now Roku. The consolidation of media power by people closest to Trump is accelerating and the window to fight back is closing fast. Really American is one of the last places covering the news without a billionaire or a corporate sponsor calling the shots. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade to a paying membership. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the independent journalism you just read. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Sunday, June 14th. Donald Trump turns 80 years old today.

The president is celebrating his birthday by hosting a UFC fight on the White House South Lawn despite a 60 to 70 percent chance of rain, a 2 percent tornado risk, and a 30 percent chance of damaging winds. Fighters at the event will be paid their bonuses in Trump family cryptocurrency — a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, the Trump family crypto venture that has already generated $2.3 billion for the Trumps while retail investors lost the same amount. Trump himself is turning 80 with bruised hands, swollen ankles, a pattern of falling asleep in public that his own Secretary of State denied under oath until shown video evidence, and a doctor who calls him the picture of excellent health. And in honor of the occasion, here is a brief accounting of what the man has done to this country in the past 18 months.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. Today the Ellison family — whose patriarch is a personal friend of Donald Trump — is one step closer to controlling both CBS News and CNN after the DOJ approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger without requiring a single concession. Bari Weiss, the woman who fired Scott Pelley for refusing to inject falsehoods into his reporting, is poised to run two of the last major television news networks in America. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post.

Really American was created as a direct response to all of it. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

HAPPY 80TH BIRTHDAY DONALD TRUMP. HERE IS A PARTIAL LIST OF WHAT YOU HAVE RUINED.

Donald Trump turns 80 years old today. In honor of the occasion, here is a brief and incomplete accounting of what the 47th president of the United States has done to this country, its institutions, its landmarks, and its people in the past 18 months.

He started a war with Iran that is now in its 103rd day, has cost at least $29 billion, killed 13 American troops, injured more than 400, pushed inflation to a three-year high, sent gas to $4.32 a gallon, closed the Strait of Hormuz, and killed 3 Indian sailors in a strike on a tanker this week. He said he loves the inflation. He said he doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation. He said he doesn’t care about the midterms.

He tried to put his name on the Kennedy Center. A judge said no. His name came off at 3am Friday behind white tarps while crowds chanted “take it down.” He tried to close it for two years. A judge said no. He fired the board and replaced them with loyalists. A court restored voting rights to the members he tried to silence. The Washington National Opera is now suing for $17 million in donations never returned.

He created a $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund by suing his own agency, settling with himself, and directing taxpayer money to his allies. A judge permanently blocked it. He still calls it a great idea. He gave himself permanent IRS audit immunity in the same deal. That part is still in place.

He installed Bari Weiss at CBS News. She fired Scott Pelley for refusing to inject falsehoods into his reporting. She fired the executive producer. She let Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega go. She cancelled Colbert. She installed a tech blogger to run 60 Minutes. His DOJ just approved her taking over CNN too.

He appointed a housing finance regulator with no intelligence experience to run all 18 US intelligence agencies. Seven Republican senators blocked the FISA surveillance program over it. He backed down and nominated someone else. He told the original pick to start firing people and described him as “less shackled” because he had not been confirmed.

He said he loves the inflation. He said he could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. He tried to paint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “American flag blue” for $14 million. It grew algae the next day. He wants to build a “Trump Promenade” at the Lincoln Memorial. He proposed a 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. He is building a six-story underground fortress beneath a ballroom on the White House lawn.

He fell asleep at the NBA Finals. He fell asleep in the Oval Office during a coal briefing. He fell asleep at a Wisconsin farmers roundtable while they were praising him. Marco Rubio denied under oath that Trump falls asleep in meetings. Rubio was then shown video of Trump falling asleep in a meeting. In the same meeting where Rubio was praising him.

His family made $2.3 billion from crypto ventures while retail investors lost the same amount. His son-in-law is building a $1.6 billion luxury resort on protected Mediterranean wetlands in Albania backed by Saudi money while simultaneously serving as Middle East envoy. His son’s drone company received a $620 million Pentagon contract. He bought TKO stock before announcing the White House UFC fight.

He said the Kennedy Center was dying. He ruined it. He said the reflecting pool was broken. He painted it and it grew algae. He said Iran would be dealt with in weeks. It has been 103 days. He said a deal was coming in two or three days 38 times.

He turns 80 today. His friends say he can hear the clock ticking. Many of us can too.

Subscribe now

THE UFC FIGHT IS HAPPENING TONIGHT DESPITE TORNADO RISK HAIL AND 60-70% CHANCE OF RAIN.

Donald Trump’s $60 million birthday UFC fight on the White House South Lawn is going ahead tonight despite a 60 to 70 percent chance of rain or thunderstorms, a 2 percent tornado risk, a 5 percent chance of hail, and a 30 percent chance of damaging winds — with UFC CEO Dana White declaring he does not care what the weather does.

“Listen, the show goes on on Sunday, no matter what happens,” White said Friday night after a nearby lightning strike forced the Lincoln Memorial press conference to delay for more than an hour. “We’re going. I don’t care if it rains, snows. I’m sick and tired of hearing about all the weather.”

National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Pallozzi said Friday that while Sunday’s tornado and hail risks are at their lowest possible outlook level, the primary threat of damaging winds is real. The main card is scheduled for 8pm — by which point rain chances drop to around 30 percent but are not zero. The Secret Service confirmed it has contingency plans and will have government and UFC meteorologists on site. Pallozzi said the best chance for severe weather is mid-afternoon.

The event — which features seven fights and seats 4,300 spectators — has already been the subject of a lawsuit arguing it is an “orgy of corruption” using government property for private commercial gain. The lawsuit was rejected Friday. VIP packages sold for up to $1.5 million. Paramount, owned by Trump ally David Ellison, is streaming the fights. And tonight fighters will be paid their bonuses in Trump family cryptocurrency.

60 to 70 percent chance of rain. 2 percent tornado risk. 30 percent damaging winds. Dana White does not care. The show goes on. Trump turns 80 at 8pm in a cage on the White House lawn.

Subscribe now

FIGHTERS AT TRUMP’S BIRTHDAY UFC FIGHT WILL BE PAID IN TRUMP FAMILY CRYPTO.

The UFC announced Friday that fighters at tonight’s White House birthday event will receive their performance bonuses in USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial — the Trump family cryptocurrency venture that has already generated more than $1.4 billion for the Trump family while its governance token has fallen 87 percent in value.

World Liberty Financial, co-founded by Donald Trump and his sons alongside the family of Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, announced it had become an “official sponsor” of UFC Freedom 250 on June 10th. The UFC then announced a $250,000 Performance of the Night bonus pool that would be paid out in USD1 — Trump family crypto — to fighters competing on federal government property at the president’s birthday party.

“This sounds like advertising,” Todd Phillips, a crypto expert at the Klaros Group, told the Guardian. “Paying the fighters in the USD1 stablecoin would have the same economic function as writing them a check but announcing to the world they are doing it in USD1 sounds like they are advertising to the world that USD1 is out there and that it is connected to the UFC and the White House.”

White House spokesman Davis Ingle called conflict of interest concerns “fake news” and said Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. Trump’s financial disclosure form lists his holdings in World Liberty Financial as “over $50 million.” He bought between $15,000 and $50,000 in TKO stock, UFC’s parent company, in March. Sponsorship packages for tonight’s event are selling for up to $1.5 million.

The president is hosting a fight on government property. His family’s crypto company is an official sponsor. Fighters are being paid in Trump family stablecoins. The White House says there is no conflict of interest. The president’s financial disclosure lists over $50 million in the same crypto company.

Share

TRUMP TURNS 80 WITH BRUISED HANDS SWOLLEN ANKLES AND A DOCTOR WHO CALLS HIM EXCELLENT.

Donald Trump turns 80 today — the second sitting president to reach that milestone after Joe Biden — with a set of health questions that his administration has spent the past several months alternately dismissing, denying, and deflecting, while independent physicians have raised increasingly pointed concerns about what they are actually seeing.

The bruises on Trump’s hands are visible at virtually every public appearance and have been explained by the White House as the result of a combination of aspirin use and frequent handshaking. The swelling in his ankles, which the White House denied existed until it could no longer deny it, was diagnosed last year as chronic venous insufficiency — a condition in which blood flow from the extremities back to the heart is impaired. His medical report, released at 11:36pm on a Friday night, showed a 14-pound weight gain, a rising resting heart rate, and rising triglycerides, and was missing details that appeared in last year’s version.

The report also claimed, using an AI-enhanced electrocardiogram tool, that Trump’s cardiac age is 14 years younger than his actual age. “When I discuss this with some of my colleagues in cardiology, everyone laughed,” Dr. Jonathan Reiner told CNN. “That’s not a clinically accepted or relevant tool.” Trump has now visited Walter Reed three times in 13 months. Mehmet Oz told reporters the president is tested “every single day” because “he likes the results.”

Trump has appeared to fall asleep at the NBA Finals, in the Oval Office during a coal briefing, at a Wisconsin farmers roundtable while attendees were praising him, at multiple Cabinet meetings, at Pope Francis’s funeral, and during a Saudi agreement signing. Marco Rubio denied under oath that Trump falls asleep in meetings. He was then shown video of Trump falling asleep in a meeting. He called it a joke.

Trump’s own personal physician has declared him in “excellent health” with “strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function.” Trump said he feels the same as he did 50 years ago. A longtime friend told the Atlantic that Trump “can hear the clock ticking” and is racing to accumulate as much power and wealth as he can while he can.

Trump turns 80 today. His doctor says he is excellent. Independent cardiologists laughed at his cardiac age claim. He has visited Walter Reed three times in 13 months. He falls asleep in public regularly. He says he feels the same as he did at 30. His friends say he can hear the clock ticking.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump turns 80 today with bruised hands and a birthday cage fight facing tornado warnings. His family is paying UFC fighters in Trump crypto. The Ellison family is about to control CBS and CNN. The war is 103 days old. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Saturday, June 13th. Trump turns 80 tomorrow.

At 3am this morning, workers quietly removed Donald Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center facade — hiding the process behind white tarps in an apparent attempt to shield the president from public humiliation, as crowds outside chanted “Take it down.” The Atlantic published a devastating profile of a president who friends say “can hear the clock ticking” and is cramming in as much power and wealth as he can before time runs out. The Justice Department approved the $111 billion Paramount-Warner Bros. merger — clearing the way for Bari Weiss to take editorial control of both CBS News and CNN without requiring a single concession from the Ellison family. And the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to pull its two most advanced AI models, and Anthropic pushed back publicly.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. The DOJ just approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger without requiring a single concession — meaning Bari Weiss, the woman who fired Scott Pelley for refusing to inject falsehoods into his reporting, is now on track to control both CBS News and CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. The Ellison family, whose patriarch is a personal friend of Donald Trump, is about to own two of the last major television news networks in America.

Really American was created as a direct response to all of it. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you. We need you now more than ever.

Subscribe now

TRUMP’S NAME CAME OFF THE KENNEDY CENTER AT 3AM. HIS TEAM HID IT BEHIND WHITE TARPS.

At approximately 3am Saturday morning, workers quietly removed Donald Trump’s name from the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — covering the process in heavy white tarps in an apparent attempt to prevent the public from seeing or photographing the moment, as crowds outside chanted “Take it down” and thousands more watched via live stream online.

The removal came hours after the court-ordered Friday deadline had already passed, delayed by a thunderstorm that swept through Washington on Friday evening. Trump’s lawyers had spent the day making increasingly desperate last-minute legal moves — filing an emergency motion with a federal appeals court to block the removal after a lower court denied their request for a stay — but none of it worked. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled that the Kennedy Center’s lawyers had failed to demonstrate they were likely to win their appeal or that any irreparable harm would result from the name coming down.

A Times photographer managed to catch a glimpse of the letter “A” being removed by hand through a gap in the tarps. No sound of power tools was heard. The process was carried out in near-silence in the middle of the night — a far cry from the triumphant fanfare with which Trump’s name had been installed in December, when crews had the signage ready before the board had even voted and it went up the next morning.

Trump himself posted a furious 582-word Truth Social message attacking the judge, claiming credit for saving the Kennedy Center, and threatening to hand control back to Congress if he was not allowed to run it his way. “Unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this Institution back, physically, financially, and artistically, I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into ‘NEVER NEVER LAND,’” he wrote.

Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio — the congresswoman who was muted on a Zoom call in December when she tried to vote against the renaming, filed the lawsuit that overturned it, and showed up in person to watch it through — described it as a “bittersweet” moment. “I haven’t walked on this site for over a year since he put the sign up,” said retired events worker Bonnie Berry, who had refused to work on the Kennedy Center Honors after the renaming.

Workers removed Trump’s name at 3am behind white tarps. The crowds chanted take it down. The woman who filed the lawsuit was there to see it. The Kennedy Center is the Kennedy Center again.

Subscribe now

TRUMP TURNS 80 TOMORROW. HIS FRIENDS SAY HE “CAN HEAR THE CLOCK TICKING.”

President Trump turns 80 on Sunday — making him only the second person to reach that milestone in office, after Joe Biden — and a devastating profile published by the Atlantic this week paints a portrait of a man who, according to longtime friends, “can hear the clock ticking” and is racing to accumulate presidential power and wealth for himself and his family before time runs out.

“He can read an actuarial table too,” a longtime Trump friend told the Atlantic, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Trump’s parents lived until they were 93 and 88 respectively. The friend said Trump has become increasingly aware of his mortality since he was nearly assassinated in Butler, Pennsylvania, two summers ago — and has responded by cramming his second term with more action, more spectacle, and more accumulation of power than even his first term.

The contrast with Biden’s 80th birthday could not be more stark. Biden marked the occasion with a quiet brunch, stayed out of sight, and avoided drawing attention to his age. Trump is building a $60 million illuminated octagon on the White House South Lawn and watching fighters beat each other bloody in front of 4,300 spectators. As the Atlantic puts it, he is staging a birthday celebration that is “an ideal representation of his id” and “a testament to excess at a time of war and economic worry.”

But beneath the spectacle, the picture is not flattering. Trump has cut back on domestic travel. He holds fewer rallies than he once did. He barely campaigned for the One Big Beautiful Bill. He has abandoned his promise to bring prices down and has been caught on tape mocking the affordability crisis. He said “I love the inflation” on live television. He said “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” The Iran war is not going according to plan. Republicans are panicking about November. And the president is spending his time watching UFC fights from luxury boxes and building octagonal cages on the White House lawn.

Trump turns 80 tomorrow. His friends say he can hear the clock ticking. Prices are up. The war drags on. Republicans are panicking. He is building a cage on the South Lawn. This is the YOLO presidency.

THE DOJ APPROVED THE PARAMOUNT-WARNER BROS MERGER. BARI WEISS IS NOW POISED TO RUN CBS AND CNN.

The Justice Department’s Antitrust Division on Friday approved Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery without requiring a single divestiture, behavioral remedy, or concession from the Ellison family — clearing the way for Bari Weiss, the woman who fired Scott Pelley for refusing to inject falsehoods into his reporting, to take editorial control of both CBS News and CNN in the single largest consolidation of pro-Trump media power in American history.

The deal, which will combine Paramount Pictures with Warner Bros., CBS News with CNN, and Paramount+ with HBO Max to create a streaming service with 200 million subscribers, was approved after an eight-month review in which DOJ officials concluded the transaction posed “no threat to competition.” The department reviewed more than 2 million documents and conducted hours of depositions before signing off without conditions.

Paramount CEO David Ellison — whose father Larry Ellison is a longtime personal ally of President Trump — met in person with Antitrust Division officials three weeks before the approval. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has been conducting his own investigation, said his review remains active and he could still sue to block the deal. Representatives for several other state attorneys general were monitoring the DOJ meeting.

The merger has been widely opposed in Hollywood, where workers fear another wave of mass layoffs. Critics note that combining two historic rival studios gives the merged company enormous control over what films get made and what stories get told. And as Really American has been reporting for weeks, the real story is not the business merger — it is what happens to the editorial operations. Bari Weiss is expected to oversee both CBS News and CNN once the deal closes. The same Bari Weiss who told Pelley to describe a police killing differently than what the video showed, to match what Trump said. Who fired the executive producer of 60 Minutes. Who cancelled Colbert. Who installed a tech blogger with no broadcast experience to run the most respected newsmagazine in television history.

The DOJ approved the merger without a single condition. Bari Weiss is about to run CBS and CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. The billionaire conquest of American media just took its biggest step yet.

Support Independent Media

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ORDERED ANTHROPIC TO PULL ITS BEST AI MODELS. ANTHROPIC PUSHED BACK.

The Trump administration directed AI company Anthropic to remove access to two of its most advanced models — Fable 5 and Mythos 5 — citing national security concerns about foreign nationals accessing cutting-edge AI technology, and Anthropic complied while simultaneously pushing back publicly, saying the order does not meet the appropriate standard for restricting AI access.

Anthropic said it believes the government’s order refers to a specific technique being used to bypass its Fable 5 model. “We reviewed a demonstration of this specific technique being used to identify a small number of previously known, minor vulnerabilities,” the company said in a statement. “These vulnerabilities all appear relatively simple, and we have found that other publicly-available models are able to discover them as well without requiring a bypass.”

The company said it supports the principle that governments should be able to block unsafe AI deployments — Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei had publicly supported Trump’s earlier executive order on AI oversight — but said this specific action “does not adhere to those principles” of being transparent, fair, clear, and grounded in technical facts.

This is not the first clash between Anthropic and the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk and prohibited the use of its Claude AI model following a dispute over Pentagon safeguards. Anthropic sued the administration over that designation, warning it would set “a dangerous precedent” for American companies negotiating with the federal government.

Anthropic ended its Friday statement with an apology to customers for “this disruption” and said it believes the restriction is “a misunderstanding” and is working to restore access as soon as possible.

The Trump administration ordered Anthropic to pull its best AI models. Anthropic called it a misunderstanding and pushed back. This is the second major clash between Anthropic and Trump. The models are currently unavailable.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump’s name came off the Kennedy Center at 3am behind white tarps. He turns 80 tomorrow and his friends say he can hear the clock ticking. The DOJ approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger without a single condition, clearing the way for Bari Weiss to run CBS and CNN. And the Trump administration ordered Anthropic to pull its best AI models. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

The DOJ just approved the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger without requiring a single concession, meaning Bari Weiss is now on track to control both CBS News and CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. The Ellison family is about to own two of the last major television news networks in America. Substack is how we reach you directly — no algorithm, no filter, no billionaire deciding what you see. We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good evening, this is Really American. It is Friday, June 12th. Trump is certainly having one of the worst days of his presidency.

Trump’s name is coming off the Kennedy Center tonight as thousands watch live — and the Ohio congresswoman who single-handedly took him to court and won is there to see it happen. A federal judge permanently blocked the slush fund and demanded Blanche sign the death certificate under oath. Trump’s UFC birthday bash on Sunday is facing bugs, heat, storms, a recruitment ad for the military, and a judge who just let the fight proceed anyway. And at the Texas GOP convention today, a live elephant walked onto the convention floor and urinated all over it. The Texas Democratic Party called it the perfect metaphor for the Republican Party. They are not wrong.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American's work going. Meta platforms went down this week, and it was a reminder of something important. When the platforms that control what you see go dark, or when their algorithms bury independent media like ours, you lose access to the news that matters. That is exactly why Substack is so critical to what we are building. When you subscribe here, our work comes directly to your inbox — no algorithm, no billionaire, no filter. And today the news got worse. The Justice Department — whose boss is a Trump ally — just approved the $111 billion merger of Paramount and Warner Bros., clearing the way for Bari Weiss to take editorial control of both CBS News and CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. And now the Ellison family, whose patriarch is a personal friend of Donald Trump, is about to control two of the last major television news networks in America.

Really American was created as a direct response to all of it. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you're already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can't do any of this without you. Subscribe now.

Subscribe now

TRUMP’S NAME IS COMING OFF THE KENNEDY CENTER TONIGHT. THOUSANDS ARE WATCHING. THE WOMAN WHO MADE IT HAPPEN IS THERE.

Workers erected scaffolding in front of the Kennedy Center on Friday afternoon as the court-ordered deadline to remove President Trump’s name from the building arrived — and thousands of people tuned into a live stream to watch the moment in real time, while Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio, the congresswoman who single-handedly filed the lawsuit that made it all possible, was there in person to see it through.

“In an ideal world, would I like to be there? Yes,” Beatty told Washingtonian magazine earlier this week. “This is history. This will be written down in the history of the Kennedy Center, and I think I’d like to see it through and be a part of finishing the story.”

Beatty’s story begins in December, when she called into a Kennedy Center board meeting and was muted mid-objection as Trump’s handpicked loyalists voted to rename the institution after him — a vote they later described as unanimous, despite the fact that Beatty and other ex officio members had been silenced and prevented from voting. She filed suit immediately. A federal judge sided with her on May 29th. The deadline to comply was today.

Trump’s Justice Department lawyers made a last-ditch emergency appeal to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to keep his name on the building Friday afternoon, hours after US District Judge Christopher Cooper denied the Kennedy Center board’s motion to delay the removal. Cooper ruled the board had failed to demonstrate it was likely to win its appeal or that it would suffer irreparable harm if the name came down. The appeals court had not ruled on the emergency motion as of publication.

Meanwhile the Washington National Opera filed suit against the Kennedy Center this week for more than $17 million in donor contributions it says were never returned after the two organizations split in January amid the chaos of Trump’s takeover. Dozens of artists have withdrawn from appearances. The National Symphony Orchestra has not signed long-term contracts. The center’s executive director left. And Trump’s name is coming off the building tonight.

Joyce Beatty was muted on a Zoom call in December. She filed a lawsuit. A judge sided with her. Tonight Trump’s name is coming off the Kennedy Center and she is there to watch. Thousands more are watching online. This is what fighting back looks like.

Subscribe now

A FEDERAL JUDGE PERMANENTLY BLOCKED THE SLUSH FUND AND DEMANDED BLANCHE SIGN IT UNDER OATH.

A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked Trump’s $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and issued a stinging rebuke of the administration’s attempts to claim the fund was dead without actually committing to that in writing — giving the government one week to enter a “clear, unambiguous” declaration signed under oath by both Treasury Secretary Bessent and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the fund will never be revived.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema issued a preliminary injunction at a Virginia federal court hearing Friday, forcefully rejecting the government’s argument that the case was moot. She cited Trump’s own Truth Social posts praising the fund, his Meet the Press interview in which he said the weaponization fund was “a great idea” and he would be “disappointed” if Republicans did not get it approved, and Blanche’s repeated refusal to swear under the penalty of perjury that the administration would not try to resurrect it.

“We don’t have the kind of absolute certainty that this fund wouldn’t rear its head again,” Brinkema said. She said the public interest in the case was “very, very strong” and found there was a real possibility of irreparable harm to American taxpayers and the separation of powers if the fund were allowed to proceed.

A DOJ attorney argued that his word as an officer of the court should be sufficient. Brinkema disagreed. She wants Blanche and Bessent to sign it themselves.

Senators Bill Cassidy and Cory Booker, who filed a brief in the case, called the fund a “threat to our constitutional democracy” and an “improper and unconstitutional transfer of taxpayer dollars, including to those who engaged in a violent insurrection against the United States.”

The judge blocked the fund permanently. She wants Blanche to sign it under oath. Trump called it a great idea on Meet the Press. The IRS immunity Trump gave himself is still in place. The courts keep saying no.

TRUMP’S UFC BIRTHDAY BASH IS FACING BUGS, HEAT, STORMS AND A MILITARY RECRUITMENT AD.

Trump’s White House UFC birthday fight on Sunday is increasingly looking like a spectacle no one fully planned for — with AccuWeather forecasting 91 degree heat, thunderstorms possible late in the afternoon, and an “extreme” bug risk that a University of Maryland entomologist says is a 100 percent certainty, as the administration revealed Friday that the event will also be used to run a military recruitment advertisement.

“This Sunday Night, during the historic Freedom 250 UFC Fight at the White House, The Department of War will debut their first TV Ad, entitled ‘Peace Through Strength,’” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday. “The Warrior Ethos is BACK at the War Department, and we call on our greatest young Americans to join our Great Fighting Force.”

The bug situation is genuinely alarming. AccuWeather’s bug tracker warns of “extreme” insect conditions Sunday, with mosquitoes, stink bugs, roaches, termites, midges, mayflies, stoneflies, caddisflies, winged beetles, night-flying moths, and bats all expected to descend on the South Lawn’s giant illuminated steel structure known as “The Claw.” UFC boss Dana White encountered a “holy s--t” level of gnats during a single visit to the Rose Garden earlier this year.

A lawsuit to block the event was rejected Friday by a judge who found the plaintiffs failed to show how they would be harmed. VIP packages have sold for up to $1.5 million. Paramount, owned by Trump ally David Ellison, is streaming the fights. Trump bought up to $50,000 in TKO stock, UFC’s parent company, in March.

91 degrees. Extreme bug risk. Possible thunderstorms. A military recruitment ad. A corruption lawsuit that failed. Trump’s 80th birthday party is in two days.

A REPUBLICAN ELEPHANT LITERALLY URINATED ALL OVER THE TEXAS GOP CONVENTION FLOOR.

Texas Republicans brought a live elephant onto the convention floor in Houston Friday to celebrate Governor Greg Abbott’s speech — and the elephant, named Page, responded by urinating a large puddle near the press area in what observers immediately and universally described as the perfect metaphor for the modern Republican Party.

The elephant was led through the convention hall wearing a banner reading “UNITY DRIVES VICTORY” and Greg Abbott’s campaign logo, as music blared and attendees applauded. The mood shifted quickly when Page paused mid-walk and relieved itself in front of the press section.

“The perfect metaphor for the Texas Republican Party,” the Texas Democratic Party posted alongside video of the incident.

The Texas GOP was already having a rough day before the elephant arrived. The party had ousted its chair earlier in the day amid bitter intraparty squabbling that has defined a tumultuous primary season — most notably the stunning defeat of incumbent Senator John Cornyn to Attorney General Ken Paxton in a Trump-backed primary runoff last month.

The elephant peed on the floor. The party chair was ousted. John Cornyn lost his Senate seat to Ken Paxton. The banner said Unity Drives Victory. The elephant had other ideas.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump’s name is coming off the Kennedy Center tonight. The slush fund was permanently blocked and the judge wants Blanche to sign it under oath. Trump’s birthday party is facing bugs, heat, and storms. And a Republican elephant peed all over the Texas GOP convention. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

Meta platforms went down this week and it was a reminder that when algorithms and billionaires control what you see, you lose access to the news that matters. Substack is how we get around all of it. We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Friday, June 12th. Happy Kennedy Center deadline day.

Trump flipped again on Iran Friday morning, posting a furious Truth Social rant accusing Iran of leaking fabricated deal terms less than 24 hours after claiming an agreement was near — with critics now openly calling his pattern of deal announcements and reversals a form of market manipulation as oil prices swing wildly with every post. Democrats are calling JD Vance to testify before Congress over the secret Situation Room meetings exposed by the New York Times. Trump is making a last-minute legal push to keep his name on the Kennedy Center as today’s court-ordered deadline arrives — while the Washington National Opera is suing the Kennedy Center for $17 million in donations it says were never returned. And Ariana Grande publicly told the White House to go f--k itself after they used her song for an ICE deportation video.

Before diving into the news — Meta platforms went down today, and it was a reminder of something important. When the platforms that control what you see go dark, or when their algorithms decide to bury independent media like ours, you lose access to the news that matters. That is exactly why Substack is so critical to what we are building. When you subscribe here, our work comes directly to your inbox — no algorithm, no billionaire, no filter.

Really American was created as a direct response to the consolidation of media power by the people closest to Trump. Bari Weiss is taking over CBS and CNN. Bezos owns the Post. Murdoch runs Fox. Meta controls what billions of people see every day. We answer to nobody but you. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP FLIPPED ON IRAN AGAIN. CRITICS ARE CALLING IT MARKET MANIPULATION.

President Trump woke up Friday morning and posted a furious Truth Social rant accusing Iran of leaking fabricated deal terms to the press — less than 24 hours after saying he had called off strikes and a deal was near — in the latest whiplash reversal from a president whose Iran statements have sent oil prices swinging so violently that critics are now openly questioning whether the pattern constitutes market manipulation.

“The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing,” Trump posted Friday morning. “What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth.” He called Iranians “very dishonorable people to deal with” and wrote: “With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING!”

The post came less than 24 hours after Trump appeared to announce that strikes had been called off and a deal was imminent. That announcement sent oil prices plummeting. Friday’s furious reversal sent them back up. This is now a documented pattern. Trump announces a deal. Oil prices fall. Trump reverses course. Oil prices rise. Repeat. CNN counted that Trump has claimed an Iran deal is close 38 times since the ceasefire began in April. Each announcement moves markets. Each reversal moves them back.

Critics and market analysts are increasingly calling the pattern what it looks like. Senator Adam Schiff said Friday that Trump is “telling falsehood after falsehood” about the war in Iran. Tucker Carlson — not exactly a Trump critic — said this week that Trump is “overselling” the Iran war “like an all-you-can-eat buffet” that keeps disappointing diners.

The war is now in its 103rd day. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. Inflation just hit a three-year high. Trump’s own allies privately say the economic damage may be irreversible before the midterms. And Friday morning Trump was back on Truth Social calling Iran dishonorable and amazing in the same post.

Trump announced a deal. Oil prices fell. Trump reversed course. Oil prices rose. Critics are calling it market manipulation. The deal is not signed. The war is 103 days old.

Subscribe now

DEMOCRATS ARE CALLING JD VANCE TO TESTIFY OVER THE SECRET EPSTEIN SITUATION ROOM MEETINGS.

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, led by Representative Robert Garcia, are calling on Committee Chair James Comer to summon Vice President JD Vance to testify about the Trump administration’s secret Situation Room meetings to manage the Epstein scandal — following the bombshell New York Times investigation that exposed the administration’s year-long effort to bury the files.

“Why are we having meetings in the Situation Room about the Epstein strategy?” Garcia told Punchbowl News. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether Vance would agree to appear.

The Times investigation, published Wednesday, revealed that Vance told fellow officials the Epstein crisis was a “huge problem,” pushed repeatedly for full transparency, warned that the MAGA base was turning against the administration over the issue, and privately advocated for a Tucker Carlson interview with Ghislaine Maxwell to publicly clear Trump. Meanwhile Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair initially dismissed the crisis as fringe noise — a miscalculation that Bongino screamed at them about repeatedly before being proven right.

The Epstein fallout is now consuming the political careers of the Republicans who pushed hardest for transparency. Nancy Mace lost her South Carolina primary this week, attributing her defeat directly to her support for releasing the files — after Trump endorsed her opponent. Thomas Massie, who co-authored the bipartisan Epstein Files Transparency Act with Democrat Ro Khanna, was ousted after Trump recruited a challenger to run against him. “Everybody’s paying a price for it,” Massie told NBC News. “Trump became irrationally opposed to that more than defections on the Big Beautiful Bill. It struck a nerve with him.”

Congressional investigators are simultaneously gathering fresh testimony from Epstein associates. Lesley Groff, Epstein’s longtime executive assistant, has already testified. The committee has now asked Alan Dershowitz, Epstein’s former attorney, to appear.

The Situation Room meetings are on the record. Vance is being called to testify. The Republicans who pushed for transparency are losing their seats. Trump struck a nerve. The files named him more than 38,000 times.

TRUMP IS TRYING TO KEEP HIS NAME ON THE KENNEDY CENTER AT THE LAST MINUTE. THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL OPERA IS SUING FOR $17 MILLION.

Today is the court-ordered deadline for Trump’s name to be removed from the Kennedy Center — and Trump’s hand-picked board is making a desperate last-minute legal push to keep it there, voting Thursday night to seek a stay of US District Judge Christopher Cooper’s ruling, while separately the Washington National Opera filed suit against the Kennedy Center for more than $17 million in donations it says were never returned after their split.

The board’s emergency appeal came after weeks of staff being directed to comply with the court order. The Kennedy Center’s website has dropped Trump’s name. Its YouTube page has been updated. Event invitations no longer carry the Trump branding. But the name remains on the building’s physical facade — and the board is now asking a court to let it stay there while the legal fight continues.

“The Trump administration’s 11th hour gambit after waiting nearly two weeks evinces desperation,” said Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Action. “They don’t have a legal leg to stand on. We will be vigorously contesting this latest ploy.”

Meanwhile the Washington National Opera — which spent 50 years performing at the Kennedy Center before ending its partnership in January amid the chaos of Trump’s takeover — filed suit Thursday alleging the Kennedy Center has refused to return more than $17 million in donor contributions that were made specifically to support the opera’s mission and have been held by the center for the past 15 years. “Those donors trusted that their contributions would support WNO’s artists, its performances and the education and community programs that WNO has carried out for decades,” the filing states.

The Kennedy Center’s downward spiral under Trump has been comprehensive. Dozens of artists withdrew from appearances after the renaming. The center’s executive director of the National Symphony Orchestra resigned. Scott Pelley was fired at CBS for refusing to lie. Bari Weiss is now poised to take over CNN. The arts community is in open revolt. The opera is suing for $17 million. Trump’s name is supposed to come off the building today. His lawyers filed to stop it last night.

ARIANA GRANDE TOLD THE WHITE HOUSE TO GO F--K ITSELF AFTER THEY STOLE HER SONG FOR AN ICE DEPORTATION VIDEO.

Ariana Grande publicly confronted the Trump White House Thursday after the administration used her song “bye” as the soundtrack to a TikTok video showing people being handcuffed and loaded into cars during an ICE deportation operation — posting a comment telling the administration in no uncertain terms what she thought of the decision.

“Please do not ever use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense,” Grande wrote in a comment that was later deleted. “F--k ICE,” she added.

The White House fired back. “We’ll say this one last time: what’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.

The episode is the latest in what has become one of the defining cultural dynamics of Trump’s second term — a White House that repeatedly steals artists’ music for propaganda videos, triggering furious public responses from musicians who want nothing to do with the administration’s messaging. Celine Dion, Rihanna, Jess Glynne, Olivia Rodrigo, Sabrina Carpenter, and Beyonce have all previously demanded the administration stop using their music.

Grande has been one of the most vocal celebrity critics of the ICE crackdown. She wore an “ICE OUT” pin at the Golden Globes. She has posted advice and tactics for her millions of followers on how to contact their senators if they witness a deportation. She has asked Trump voters publicly whether their lives have gotten better since he returned to power.

Her comment appears to have had some effect. At the time of publication, the TikTok clip had no audio. Grande’s team was reportedly exploring further legal options to have the song removed entirely.

The White House stole Ariana Grande’s song for an ICE video. She told them to go f--k themselves. The clip lost its audio. The White House called deportations patriotic. Grande called them barbaric. The artists keep saying no.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump is flip-flopping on Iran and critics are calling it market manipulation. Vance is being called to testify over Epstein. Trump is trying to keep his name on the Kennedy Center as the deadline arrives. The White House stole Ariana Grande’s song for a deportation video. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

Meta platforms went down this week. The algorithms are suppressing independent media every single day. Substack is how we get around all of it and deliver our work directly to you. We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good evening, this is Really American. It is Thursday, June 11th. Here is what happened today.

Trump caved on his unqualified intelligence pick, nominating former SEC chair Jay Clayton as Director of National Intelligence after a bipartisan Senate revolt and the looming expiration of the FISA surveillance program. Trump’s White House UFC birthday fight on Sunday is facing a formidable new opponent: the DC swamp, with temperatures forecast in the mid-90s, possible thunderstorms, and an entomologist who says there is a 100 percent chance of a bug invasion. Someone wrote “8647” on the National Mall in letters large enough to be seen from the Washington Monument and Trump deployed the National Guard. And Trump’s $14 million Reflecting Pool renovation grew algae the day after it was refilled.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. We want to be transparent with you about something important. Platforms like Meta are actively suppressing independent media like ours, throttling our reach and burying our posts. That is exactly why Substack is so critical to our growth. When you subscribe here, you get our work delivered directly to you — no algorithm, no billionaire deciding what you see. The Ellisons are taking over CBS and CNN. Bezos owns the Post. Murdoch runs Fox.

Really American was created as a direct response to all of it. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP CAVED ON PULTE. HE JUST NOMINATED JAY CLAYTON AS DNI.

President Trump on Thursday nominated Jay Clayton, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and current US attorney for the Southern District of New York, as the permanent Director of National Intelligence, backing away from his deeply controversial decision to install Bill Pulte, a housing finance regulator with zero intelligence experience, in the role on an acting basis.

The cave came after a bipartisan Senate revolt that blocked the extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with seven Republican senators joining Democrats to kill the procedural vote specifically because of the Pulte appointment. The FISA program, which allows US intelligence agencies to intercept foreign communications without a warrant, was set to expire Friday. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had been blunt all week: “Pulte has to go. He cannot be in the DNI role. Our national security is too important.”

Clayton, a Wall Street corporate attorney who played a pivotal role in negotiating bank bailouts during the 2008 financial crisis, immediately drew early signs of bipartisan support. Senator Mark Warner, vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, described him as a “capable public servant” while making clear that Pulte still needed to go before the Senate would move on FISA. “Before the Senate can take up a FISA extension there needs to be a clear guarantee that Mr. Pulte will not serve as acting DNI,” Warner said.

Like Pulte, Clayton has no significant operational experience in any of the 18 intelligence agencies the DNI coordinates. But unlike Pulte, who used his government position to push fraud allegations against political enemies including Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, the New York attorney general, and the Federal Reserve governor, Clayton is a mainstream Washington figure with bipartisan credibility.

Trump had spent the past week insisting Pulte was doing a great job, defending the appointment publicly while simultaneously encouraging him to start firing people across the intelligence community and suggesting he was “less shackled” because he had never been confirmed by the Senate. Trump backed down Thursday.

Trump installed an unqualified loyalist as intelligence chief. Seven Republican senators blocked FISA over it. Trump nominated someone else. Pulte is still acting DNI until Clayton is confirmed. The FISA program expires Friday.

TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE UFC BIRTHDAY FIGHT IS IN TROUBLE. THE BUGS, THE HEAT, THE STORMS AND THE LAWSUIT.

Trump’s White House UFC birthday fight on Sunday is facing a formidable new set of opponents and none of them are in the octagon. Temperatures are forecast in the mid-90s, with the possibility of late-day thunderstorms that could affect the 8pm main card. An entomologist from the University of Maryland says there is a 100 percent chance of a significant bug invasion. And a Democratic-allied watchdog group has filed a lawsuit to shut the entire event down.

UFC president Dana White has already identified his three biggest concerns as “rain, lightning and a ton of bugs.” White told the Hollywood Reporter he encountered a “holy st”** level of gnats during a visit to the renovated Rose Garden earlier this year. University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp was not reassuring. “This event is going to draw a big crowd,” Raupp told Axios. “But guess what? There are going to be even more bugs joining.” His projected insect guest list includes thousands of tiny midges, mayflies emerging from the Potomac River, stoneflies, caddisflies, winged beetles, night-flying moths, mosquitoes, biting black flies, and bats. “If you have this banquet of small flying insects,” Raupp said, “the bats are going to say, ‘Oh, baby!’”

Meanwhile the Public Integrity Project filed suit to stop the event entirely, arguing it is a money-making scheme for Trump and his allies. VIP sponsorship packages are being sold for up to $1.5 million per head. Trump purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 in TKO stock, UFC’s parent company, in March. The Trump family is selling $12,000 gold coins to commemorate the fight. A majority of Americans oppose the event, according to a new poll.

Fighter Michael Chandler expressed no concern. “I like my chances with a bug in my eye better than my opponent,” he told reporters. “I like my chances in 100-degree swampy heat better than my opponent.”

Temperatures in the mid-90s. Possible thunderstorms. A hundred percent chance of bugs. A lawsuit. $12,000 coins. Trump’s birthday fight is three days away.

SOMEONE WROTE “8647” ON THE NATIONAL MALL. TRUMP DEPLOYED THE NATIONAL GUARD OVER GRASS.

Someone traced the numbers “8647” into the grass of the National Mall in letters large enough to be visible from the top of the Washington Monument but invisible from ground level, and Trump’s administration responded by deploying the National Guard, collecting grass samples for testing, and launching a full investigation.

US Park Police responded to the scene at around 11:30am after receiving a report of vandalism at the west lawn of the Washington Monument. The numbers had apparently been there for at least two days before anyone noticed, and were visible in aerial photos taken by Reuters from the top of the Monument.

The number “86” is widely used in the service industry to mean get rid of something. Trump is the 47th president. Federal prosecutors have previously argued the combination could constitute a threat against the president, though a federal judge ruled this month that displaying an “86-47” flag near the National Mall is protected political speech, specifically protected expression advocating for Trump’s “impeachment and removal from office.”

“The deranged vandalism on our National Mall will not be tolerated,” an Interior Department spokesperson said. “Any threat against the president is taken very seriously.”

The episode comes as the same National Mall is being prepared for Trump’s America 250 birthday celebration, a celebration from which three states have already dropped out, whose concert lineup collapsed down to Vanilla Ice, and whose Great American State Fair is losing participants by the day.

Someone wrote numbers in grass. The National Guard was deployed. Grass samples were collected. A federal judge already ruled the same message is protected speech. The National Mall is being prepared for Trump’s birthday party.

Subscribe now

TRUMP’S $14 MILLION REFLECTING POOL RENOVATION GREW ALGAE THE DAY AFTER IT WAS REFILLED.

President Trump’s $14 million renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a project he repeatedly called “really beautiful” and promised would remain “perfect” while he was in office, developed a visible coating of green algae the day after it was refilled, with workers spotted skimming the growth from the water as reporters and tourists watched.

The project took six weeks and cost more than $14 million, more than seven times Trump’s original estimate, to fix structural leaks and repaint the bottom of the pool in what Trump called “American flag blue.” When the pool was finally refilled this week, visitors reported the new paint color was largely unnoticeable, appearing more like a “dark navy” than any recognizable shade of blue. Then the algae appeared.

“What you are seeing is residual algae from the supply lines, which have been sitting dormant for eight weeks while construction has been taking place,” an Interior Department spokesperson told CNN. “It’s part of the normal startup process. We are removing the algae, and the nanobubblers will maintain the pool and keep it algae free.”

The renovation contract drew scrutiny last month after reporting revealed the administration gave the contractor an unusually high profit margin and blamed the inflated cost on the rushed timeline. The Interior Department blamed Obama and Biden for the pool’s deterioration. Trump told reporters he originally wanted a lighter shade of blue but was told light colors “show leaves and garbage.”

Trump promised the pool would be perfect while he was in office. It grew algae the next day. The renovation cost $14 million. The algae appeared within 24 hours. Workers are skimming it out. The nanobubblers are on the case.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump caved on his intelligence pick after a bipartisan revolt. His UFC birthday fight is facing bugs, heat, storms and a lawsuit. Someone wrote a message in the National Mall grass and he deployed the National Guard. His $14 million reflecting pool renovation grew algae overnight. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Thursday, June 11th. Here is what you need to know today.

Trump is threatening to seize Iran’s oil fields, bomb them “very hard tonight,” and assume “total control” of Iran’s oil and gas markets — while US forces this week killed three Indian sailors in a strike on a tanker, prompting India to demand the attacks stop immediately. Reports describe a president who is completely isolated inside his own White House, surrounded by yes-men, fed AI slop on Truth Social, and unable to receive basic feedback — a man so out of touch that he blurted “I love the inflation” on live television as his own allies privately panicked. Meanwhile states are continuing to drop out of Trump’s America 250 Great American State Fair, with Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina already out. And the Trump family is selling $12,000 gold coins for the White House UFC birthday fight while pocketing FIFA rent payments for a largely empty Trump Tower office. Democrats are renewing calls for the 25th Amendment. It is Thursday morning.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American's work going. The ongoing rebellion at 60 Minutes is a perfect illustration of what happens when treasured news brands are acquired by pro-Trump billionaires. Scott Pelley was told to inject falsehoods into his reporting and fired when he refused. Jeff Bezos followed the same playbook at the Washington Post. Patrick Soon-Shiong did it at the LA Times. The Ellison family did it at CBS. Kill all the accountability reporting and fire everyone who doesn't play along. Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you're already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can't do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP IS THREATENING TO SEIZE IRAN’S OIL FIELDS AND BOMB THEM “VERY HARD TONIGHT.” US FORCES KILLED THREE INDIAN SAILORS THIS WEEK.

President Trump escalated the Iran war to alarming new heights Thursday morning, threatening to bomb Iran “very hard tonight,” seize Kharg Island where 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports are processed, and assume “total control” of Iran’s oil and gas markets — while the US military this week killed three Indian sailors in a strike on a tanker in the Gulf of Oman, prompting India to demand the attacks stop.

“The United States will be hitting Iran very hard tonight,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela.”

In a Fox News interview Thursday morning, Trump described seizing Kharg Island as always having been his “No. 1 thing.” He acknowledged the operation would likely require ground troops. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for that,” he said. He compared his ambitions to the administration’s earlier seizure of Venezuelan oil. “We’ve taken millions and millions of barrels out of Venezuela. It’s making a fortune. I like that in this case, too.” He said of Iran: “They’re in submission. They just don’t know it yet.”

Meanwhile, US forces this week fired on three Indian-crewed tankers as part of the naval blockade of Iran-linked shipping, killing three Indian sailors in one of the strikes. India’s foreign ministry demanded the attacks stop immediately. “These attacks must cease and end,” Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters. “We also call for dialogue and diplomacy so that we can have an early return to peace and stability in the region.” This came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio had visited New Delhi in May and called India one of America’s most “strategic” partners.

Trump also urged Congress Thursday to approve a $350 billion down payment on a $1.5 trillion Pentagon funding proposal, saying it would “supercharge our ammunition stockpiles” and pay for the Golden Dome missile defense system. Key GOP lawmakers said using budget reconciliation for the package is unlikely this year.

Iran denied it was still participating in negotiations. The war is now in its 103rd day. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. Inflation just hit a three-year high. And Trump is threatening to seize another country’s oil fields.

Trump threatened to bomb Iran very hard tonight. He wants to seize their oil fields. US forces killed three Indian sailors this week. India told the US to stop. The deal is not signed. The war is 103 days old.

TRUMP IS “COMPLETELY ISOLATED” IN THE WHITE HOUSE. HIS AIDES CANNOT DELIVER BAD NEWS. HE IS LIVING IN AN AI SLOP ECHO CHAMBER.

A devastating portrait of a presidency in freefall emerged Thursday morning, as reporters and analysts drawing on the bombshell Haberman and Swan book described a president who has become completely cut off from reality inside his own White House — surrounded only by people who agree with him, doing no domestic travel, receiving no honest feedback, and being fed a steady diet of AI-generated content on Truth Social that has left him dangerously out of touch.

“He’s completely isolated even inside the White House,” Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough said Thursday, referencing the Haberman and Swan reporting. “Nobody could talk to the president about what could be the biggest crisis in his presidency.”

MS NOW host Jonathan Lemire, who has reported extensively on the Trump White House, described the situation in stark terms. “He only talks to people who agree with him. He does no domestic travel anymore. None,” Lemire told the Morning Joe panel. “Instead, he’s being fed AI slop on Truth Social. That’s the only feedback he’s getting from, quote, real people. And he is completely out of touch.”

Lemire cited Trump’s “I love the inflation” comment from Wednesday as exhibit A. “It’s like Brick in Anchorman yelling ‘I love lamps’ because he didn’t know what else to say. It was just that nonsensical. And it will be featured in every possible campaign ad this fall.”

The isolation extends to the Epstein crisis. As the Haberman and Swan book revealed, Trump’s top advisers held multiple secret Situation Room meetings to manage the Epstein scandal — without telling the president what they were doing. Wiles and Blair initially convinced themselves the crisis was being driven by fringe conspiracy theorists and that Republican voters didn’t care. Bongino screamed at them that they were wrong. He was right. Trump’s own pollster found Epstein coming up in every single focus group.

“The point here is that it’s not just disconnected from voters, it’s also disconnected from what Republicans need him to be,” Lemire said. “They need him to at least pretend to care what people are thinking and feeling about. Instead, he’s consumed with foreign adventures and remaking Washington in his own image.”

Trump is isolated. His aides can’t deliver bad news. He said he loves inflation on live television. Democrats are calling for the 25th Amendment. His own pollster found Epstein in every focus group. And tonight he is threatening to bomb Iran very hard.

STATES ARE DROPPING OUT OF TRUMP’S AMERICA 250 STATE FAIR. THE CELEBRATION IS COLLAPSING.

Trump’s America 250 Great American State Fair — the centerpiece of his planned celebration of the nation’s 250th birthday on the National Mall — is falling apart, with Oregon, Washington, and North Carolina all pulling out and Pennsylvania yet to confirm participation, citing costs and growing fears that the event has become a partisan political rally rather than a genuine national celebration.

“The State of Oregon will not be participating in the Great American State Fair due to both the cost of participating in the Fair and growing concerns that the event in Washington DC is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented,” said Oregon governor Tina Kotek’s spokesperson Luke Harkin.

The collapse of the State Fair follows the near-total implosion of the opening concert, where six of the nine announced musical acts dropped out after discovering the event was organized by Trump loyalists. Bret Michaels said it had “evolved into something much more divisive than what I agreed to be a part of.” The last remaining acts are Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida. The Freedom 250 organization insisted all states would still be represented whether or not they provided input — saying “every state’s story will be told in a way that’s authentic to its people, history, and culture” even if the state itself refused to participate.

A majority of Americans oppose the UFC event on the White House South Lawn, according to a new poll. Trump’s 80th birthday is June 14th — the same day as the UFC event. The America 250 celebrations were meant to be the triumphant capstone of Trump’s second term. Vanilla Ice is the headliner. Three states have dropped out. A fourth is wavering. The concert collapsed. The State Fair is collapsing.

States are refusing to participate. The concert collapsed. Vanilla Ice is the headliner. A majority of Americans oppose the UFC event. Trump’s birthday party is four days away.

Subscribe now

THE TRUMP FAMILY IS SELLING $12,000 GOLD COINS FOR THE UFC FIGHT AND POCKETING FIFA RENT FOR AN EMPTY TRUMP TOWER OFFICE.

The Trump family’s relentless monetization of the presidency reached new heights this week as the family launched a line of commemorative gold and silver coins for the White House UFC birthday fight — with the most expensive coin priced at a staggering $12,000 — while simultaneously pocketing rent payments from FIFA for a Trump Tower office that has sat largely empty for the past year.

The coins, sold through Trump Coins in partnership with DTTM Operations LLC — the Trump family company that manages the president’s trademarks, likeness, and image rights, overseen by Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — range in price from $250 for a silver coin to $12,000 for a five-ounce gold coin featuring Trump’s image. The website describes the coins as “officially licensed” and “designed by President Trump.” The White House called concerns about conflicts of interest “fake news.”

Meanwhile Trump purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO, UFC’s parent company, in March — months before the White House UFC event was announced. VIP sponsorship packages for the event are being sold for up to $1.5 million. The Democratic-allied watchdog group Public Integrity Project sued to stop the event, calling it “a money-making scheme for Mr. Trump and his friends.”

On the World Cup front, FIFA has been quietly paying rent on a 17th-floor Trump Tower office for the past year that has sat “all but empty,” with the rent flowing directly into the Trump family business. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has made being close to Trump a top priority, lavishing him with praise, trophies, and a medal, and making repeated pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago and Trump National Doral.

This is the same week a Reuters investigation found the Trump family made $2.3 billion from four crypto ventures while retail investors lost the same amount. The same week the DOJ slush fund was revealed to have been used by a senior DOJ official for personal gain. The same week Trump proposed seizing Iran’s oil fields.

$12,000 gold coins. An empty FIFA office. $2.3 billion in crypto profits. Stock in the UFC’s parent company. The White House is a business. The presidency is the product.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO SUPPORT INDEPENDENT MEDIA

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump is threatening to bomb Iran and seize their oil fields. He is completely isolated in the White House and said he loves inflation on live television. States are dropping out of his birthday party. His family is selling $12,000 coins. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good evening, this is Really American. It is Wednesday, June 10th. Here is what you need to know.

Trump stood in the Oval Office today and said “I love the inflation” as new data showed prices have hit their highest level in three years, driven directly by his Iran war. His own allies are privately admitting the economic damage may be too deep to reverse before the midterms. A top Justice Department official planned to file a claim with Trump’s own slush fund — the same fund he was responsible for defending to Congress — before quietly recusing himself. And tonight the United States launched another round of strikes on Iran, with Trump threatening to “bomb the s* out of them tomorrow night” if they do not sign a deal.

Before we dive deeper into the news, I need to ask you right now if you can help keep Really American going. We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets in the country. We are covering the stories the billionaire-owned outlets will not touch — from the secret White House Epstein meetings to Bari Weiss’s takeover of CBS and now CNN to the real cost of Trump’s Iran war on American families. We have reporters tracking Congress, the courts, and the White House every single day. And we are just getting started. But because we don’t take billionaire money or run ads from corporate sponsors, we can’t do any of this work without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. Your support is what makes all of this possible. The link is right below. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Support Independent Media

TRUMP SAID “I LOVE THE INFLATION.” PRICES JUST HIT A THREE-YEAR HIGH.

President Trump stood in the Oval Office on Wednesday and told reporters he loves the inflation report that showed prices rising at their fastest pace in more than three years — as American families continue to absorb the devastating financial toll of his Iran war.

“No, I love it, the numbers were great,” Trump said when asked about the Consumer Price Index data released Wednesday morning. “I love the inflation.”

The numbers he claims to love show the CPI rising 4.2 percent in May compared to a year earlier — the third consecutive monthly acceleration and the fastest pace since April 2023. Prices climbed 0.5 percent in May alone. Core inflation hit 2.9 percent, its highest since September. The acceleration stems directly from Trump’s Iran war, which has snarled the world’s energy supply, sent oil and gas costs soaring, and made travel, shipping, and groceries more expensive for every American household.

Inflation had been running at just 2.4 percent before Trump launched the war in February. He once promised it would be over in weeks. It is now in its 102nd day.

When asked when he expected prices to come down, Trump predicted inflation would recede quickly once the Iran war ends. “It’s going to come down like a rock,” he said. He also claimed the situation could have been worse, bragged about financial market gains even as major indexes were falling, and called the broader debate about affordability a “con job.”

Less than a quarter of Americans approve of how Trump is managing cost-of-living issues, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released this week. The White House’s response was to note that a subset of goods, including autos, saw prices fall last month.

Trump said he loves the inflation. Prices are at a three-year high. Less than a quarter of Americans approve of his handling of the cost of living. He says it will come down like a rock once the war ends. The war is 102 days old.

Subscribe now

TRUMP’S OWN ALLIES ARE PRIVATELY ADMITTING THE ECONOMIC DAMAGE MAY BE IRREVERSIBLE BEFORE THE MIDTERMS.

Behind the public bravado, Trump allies and Republican officials are privately conceding that the economic damage from Trump’s Iran war may be too deep and too entrenched to reverse before November — and that the president is rapidly running out of time to turn the inflation story around.

“Whether it’s peak inflation or not, it doesn’t matter,” said one former Trump administration official, granted anonymity to discuss the president’s political predicament. “The die has been cast in terms of how people are looking at the economy.”

The picture is increasingly grim. Gas prices are falling slightly but few economists expect them to approach prewar levels anytime soon. Food and utility bills keep creeping higher. Wall Street is now pricing in a 67 percent probability that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates before the end of the year, the exact opposite of what Trump anticipated when he installed his handpicked Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Yields on 10-year government debt have climbed above 4.5 percent. Real wages are falling as inflation outpaces workers’ pay.

The global oil market is now missing more than one billion barrels of oil due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, according to analysis from Rystad Energy. Even if the strait partially reopens by mid-July, cumulative losses would reach two billion barrels by year’s end. “Each additional month of conflict adds roughly 350 million barrels to cumulative losses, with a growing share that will never come back,” said Rystad Energy researcher Aditya Saraswat.

Senator Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, a Republican, offered a rare moment of public candor at a Politico event Wednesday. “Inflation is the most insidious,” he said. “I know you’re feeling it on housing, I know you’re feeling it on energy prices and I know you’re feeling it on health care. Anybody that doesn’t feel that doesn’t have a finger on the pulse of what’s going on in these working communities.”

Trump’s plan, according to his advisers, is to convince voters the economy will recover once the war ends. But the war shows no signs of ending. Tonight the US launched another round of strikes on Iran.

Trump’s own allies say the die has been cast. The Fed may raise rates. Real wages are falling. The Strait is still closed. The war is 102 days old. The midterms are five months away.

Subscribe now

A TOP DOJ OFFICIAL PLANNED TO CLAIM MONEY FROM TRUMP’S OWN SLUSH FUND. THE SAME FUND HE WAS DEFENDING TO CONGRESS.

A top Justice Department official responsible for liaising with Congress planned to file a personal claim with Trump’s Anti-Weaponization Fund and asked to recuse himself from any work related to it — alarming colleagues at the DOJ who needed him to be the one defending the deeply unpopular fund to skeptical lawmakers, according to Politico.

The official, Patrick Davis, serves as the assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, a Senate-confirmed position. He raised his plan to file a claim with colleagues in May because he viewed it as a conflict of interest. His basis for filing was that his phone and email records had been subpoenaed years earlier when he was a congressional staffer investigating Russiagate. He believed that qualified him as a victim of political persecution under the fund’s terms.

The problem was obvious and immediate. Davis was the person responsible for communicating the DOJ’s reasons for setting up the fund to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. He had the relationships with the senators who were demanding answers about where the money would go and who would receive it. The moment he recused himself from defending a fund he was personally planning to benefit from, the DOJ lost its primary liaison to a deeply skeptical Congress.

“He has relationships with the senators, and it was a very tough time for him to back out,” said one official familiar with the matter. Another was blunter: “The thing was a cop-out.”

The fund was ultimately abandoned after courts blocked it and Republican senators revolted. But the episode captures everything that was wrong with it from the start. The DOJ official responsible for defending the fund to Congress was planning to take money from it himself. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche eventually told lawmakers the fund was dead. Trump then went on Meet the Press and said “I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans.”

A top DOJ official planned to personally claim money from the fund he was defending to Congress. The fund is officially dead. Trump still calls it a great idea. The IRS immunity he gave himself is still in place.

Subscribe now

THE US LAUNCHED MORE STRIKES ON IRAN TONIGHT. TRUMP THREATENED TO “BOMB THE S* OUT OF THEM TOMORROW.”

The United States launched another round of strikes on targets inside Iran Wednesday night, with US Central Command confirming hits on multiple Iranian facilities including ammunition depots, command-and-control nodes, and warehouses, as President Trump threatened to escalate further if Iran does not sign a deal.

“We’ll bomb the s* out of them tomorrow night,” Trump told Fox News’ Trey Yingst, if Iran refuses to come to terms. He told Fox News that 49 Tomahawk missiles struck targets inside Iran on Wednesday, some of them within 40 miles of Tehran, while US fighter jets struck radar and air defense systems in southwestern Iran. Iranian media reported explosions and air defense sirens in multiple cities, including Bandar Abbas, the port city abutting the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s military declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic Wednesday morning, including commercial vessels and oil tankers. US Central Command denied this, posting on X that “commercial ships are continuing to transit in and out of the Strait of Hormuz tonight.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was characteristically blunt about the administration’s strategy. “If we need to negotiate with bombs, we’ll negotiate with bombs. And we’re very good at it,” he said.

Trump had claimed earlier in the week that a deal was possible in “two or three days.” He has made that claim 38 times since the ceasefire began in April. Iran’s foreign ministry accused the US of sending contradictory messages and “damaging the diplomatic process” with the strikes. JD Vance said this week a deal could come in a week or months. The war has now been going for 102 days. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. Inflation is at a three-year high. And tonight the US is bombing Iran again.

Trump said a deal was days away. The US launched strikes. Trump threatened to bomb them again tomorrow. Hegseth said they negotiate with bombs. The deal is not signed. The war is 102 days old.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump said he loves the inflation. His own allies admit the damage may be irreversible. A top DOJ official planned to pocket money from his own slush fund. The US is bombing Iran again tonight. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Give a gift subscription

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Wednesday, June 10th. The news is moving fast.

A bombshell New York Times investigation has exposed secret White House Situation Room meetings where Trump’s inner circle scrambled to contain the Epstein scandal, with JD Vance panicking, Pam Bondi botching the response, and Dan Bongino storming out. If Trump is innocent, why did his team try so hard to bury it? Meanwhile, Trump’s Iran war just pushed inflation to its highest level in three years, with prices rising 4.2 percent annually as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and gas prices keep climbing. Bari Weiss, the woman who fired Scott Pelley for refusing to inject falsehoods into his reporting, is now poised to take editorial control of CNN on top of CBS, in what would be the most alarming expansion of pro-Trump media control in American history. And Bill Gates is being grilled by Congress today over his documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Before we go on — we created Really American as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of the media. MAGA is consolidating control of American news and the window to fight back is closing fast. Bari Weiss runs CBS and is now preparing to take over CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. The White House is escalating its attacks on any independent journalist who refuses to play along. Independent journalism like Really American is the only thing standing between state-run news and the truth. We are bringing you breaking news as soon as it happens and we have big plans to grow in 2026 — more reporters, more coverage, more stories the billionaire-owned outlets will not tell you. We only need 2 percent of our total subscribers to upgrade to a paid membership to make everything we are building possible. Subscribe or upgrade right now. Join the fight.

Subscribe now

BOMBSHELL: THE WHITE HOUSE WAS HOLDING SECRET SITUATION ROOM MEETINGS TO SHIELD TRUMP FROM EPSTEIN

A stunning New York Times investigation, drawn from reporting for an upcoming book by White House correspondents Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, has exposed a series of secret White House Situation Room meetings in which Trump’s most senior advisers desperately scrambled to contain the Epstein scandal, shield the president from damaging revelations, and manage a crisis that was, behind closed doors, consuming the highest ranks of the administration.

The first meeting was convened on July 17, 2025. Not to discuss national security. To figure out how to handle the growing public pressure over the Epstein files. Vice President JD Vance sat at the head of the table. Around him: Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Counsel David Warrington, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair, Communications Director Steven Cheung, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and others. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel joined on speakerphone.

“This is a huge problem,” Vance told the group. According to the Times, Vance appeared panicked, had privately bought into the darkest theories about Epstein, and pushed repeatedly for the administration to release all the files. Wiles later told others that Vance had “proved himself to be a major conspiracy theorist.”

The crisis had been set off by Bondi’s catastrophic mishandling of the Epstein files from the very beginning. In February 2025, she appeared on Fox News and seemed to confirm the existence of a secret client list, saying “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review.” Days later, she brought binders to a White House meeting with MAGA influencers, billing them as the Epstein files, that turned out to contain almost entirely previously public information. The influencers felt duped. The MAGA base erupted.

Then the Wall Street Journal published a story the administration had desperately tried to kill, detailing how Trump had contributed a birthday card for Epstein in 2003 depicting a nude woman, hand-drawn and inscribed with an imagined dialogue between the two men, signed with what appeared to be Trump’s signature. Trump had personally called Rupert Murdoch, the Journal’s editor, and practically shouted at her that she must “hate America” and threatened a lawsuit. It ran anyway.

Inside the Situation Room, the group debated options. Should they release grand jury materials? Interview Ghislaine Maxwell? Give Maxwell a pardon in exchange for clearing Trump? That last suggestion was immediately shot down. “Pardoning Maxwell, a trafficker of young girls, would create a huge PR problem,” Communications Director Cheung said. Blair was blunt: “We can’t offer Ghislaine Maxwell anything. If we give her any sort of break and she says nice things about us, it will feed the conspiracy theory.”

Meanwhile, Bongino, who had spent years on his podcast promising the MAGA base that a Trump administration would release everything, was furious. He had warned the White House from the beginning that the Epstein crisis was not just an online story. “You don’t understand,” he told advisers. When the Justice Department released its memo stating there was no client list and Epstein’s death was a suicide, Bongino erupted at Bondi in a Justice Department meeting. “You fucked this thing up from the start,” he shouted. He later told a confidant: “This is going to be President Trump’s Iran-Contra.”

At one surreal Situation Room meeting, officials debated whether to include in a public Epstein document database an unverified allegation from one of Epstein’s victims about a specific type of sexual abuse involving Trump. Vance said he thought it should go out. Wiles said Trump would not be OK with it. One official later described it as “surreal” to be discussing the subject in the White House Situation Room.

Trump’s own pollster Tony Fabrizio circulated an internal memo in March 2026 noting that Epstein had come up in every single focus group, ranking as the sixth most important issue among voters, behind only inflation, the economy, foreign policy, immigration, and healthcare.

Trump’s team held secret Situation Room meetings to shield him from Epstein. They tried to bury it for a year. They failed. The files named Trump more than 38,000 times. If he has nothing to hide, why did they try so hard?

Give a gift subscription

INFLATION JUST HIT A THREE-YEAR HIGH. TRUMP’S IRAN WAR IS DRIVING IT.

New data released Wednesday showed that Trump’s Iran war has pushed inflation to its highest level in more than three years, with the Consumer Price Index rising 4.2 percent in May compared to a year earlier. It is the third consecutive monthly acceleration and the fastest annual pace of inflation since April 2023.

The numbers are devastating for Republicans heading into the midterms. Inflation had been running at just 2.4 percent annually before Trump launched the Iran war in February. Months of instability and fears over global oil supplies, driven directly by the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil, have pushed prices steadily and relentlessly higher. Prices climbed 0.5 percent in May alone, with energy costs accounting for much of the monthly surge.

Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, hit 2.9 percent, its highest level since September. The data complicates Federal Reserve plans for interest rate cuts, even with Trump’s handpicked Fed Chair Kevin Warsh now leading the central bank.

Trump responded Wednesday morning with a characteristically unhinged Truth Social post. “Iran’s Military is a complete and total mess. Much of it, like their Navy and Air Force, doesn’t even exist anymore. The Bully of the Middle East is DEAD!!!” He then threatened to escalate the war further, posting that Iran had “taken too long to negotiate” and would now “have to pay the price.”

At a Wisconsin farmers roundtable last week, an event nominally about rising agricultural costs caused by his own war, Trump told struggling farmers that “we’re the strongest, we’re the hottest, and we’re the most respected country anywhere in the world” before immediately veering into a lengthy rant about the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He also dismissed cost-of-living concerns as a hoax. “I inherited all these high prices. They came in and they said, ‘affordability.’ They made up the word, because that’s the only thing they’re good at,” he said.

Inflation is at a three-year high. Trump’s Iran war is driving it. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. Trump is posting about Iran’s dead navy and threatening escalation. The midterms are five months away.

BARI WEISS IS NOW POISED TO TAKE OVER CNN ON TOP OF CBS.

Bari Weiss, the woman who fired Scott Pelley after he refused to inject falsehoods into his reporting, who fired executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, who cancelled Colbert, and who has spent the past seven months systematically dismantling the most respected television journalism brand in American history, is now poised to take editorial control of CNN as well, according to a report from Axios confirmed by the New York Post.

When Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closes, expected in the third quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approval, Weiss is expected to oversee editorial operations across both CBS News and CNN under a unified news structure. Paramount executives are currently searching for a business-side executive to run operations alongside Weiss, with candidates including current CNN CEO Mark Thompson, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde, and former NBC News chief Noah Oppenheim.

“The Paramount brass loves Bari Weiss,” a source told Axios. “She has the full confidence of David Ellison, who believes Bari has done a fantastic job as editor-in-chief.”

The prospect is staggering. Weiss would control the editorial direction of both CBS News and CNN, one of the last major television news networks not already under the thumb of a Trump-aligned billionaire. The same person who told Pelley to describe a police killing differently than what the video showed, to match what Trump said, would oversee the editorial decisions of two of the most watched news organizations in America.

California, New York, and other states are preparing a lawsuit to block the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger entirely. The DOJ is expected to make a decision on the deal soon. Bari Weiss ran CBS for seven months. She fired Pelley for refusing to lie. She is now about to get CNN too.

BILL GATES IS BEING GRILLED BY CONGRESS TODAY OVER HIS EPSTEIN TIES.

Bill Gates, the Microsoft founder and global health philanthropist whose ties to Jeffrey Epstein were documented in the millions of pages of files released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is appearing before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday for what members are promising will be an unsparing grilling over his documented relationship with the convicted sex offender.

Photographs and emails released from Epstein’s estate and the Justice Department show Gates and Epstein spent time together and corresponded. Gates’s name appears in a document that looks like an email Epstein sent himself, containing allegations which Gates has called “absolutely absurd and completely false,” that Epstein had procured medicines for Gates after the latter contracted sexually transmitted diseases from Russian girls. Two pictures show Gates standing next to women whose identities have been obscured. Gates has said he posed with them because Epstein asked him to.

“Did he ever go to the island? Did he know of other people who engaged in abusing or raping underage girls? Does he know anyone who was involved other than Epstein and Maxwell in the abuse?” asked Representative Ro Khanna, ticking off his planned questions ahead of the hearing.

Gates is not the only powerful figure facing scrutiny. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers resigned his Harvard teaching post after files revealed he had asked Epstein for advice on conducting an affair with a woman he was mentoring. Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler is resigning after files showed Epstein had given her luxury gifts. Prominent lawyer Brad Karp stepped down as chair of Paul Weiss after it emerged he had asked Epstein to help his son get a job.

Gates is testifying today. The Epstein files named Trump more than 38,000 times. The White House held secret meetings to contain the damage. The crisis is not going away.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump’s inner circle held secret Situation Room meetings to shield him from Epstein. Trump’s Iran war just pushed inflation to a three-year high. Bari Weiss is about to take over CNN. Bill Gates is testifying before Congress. These are the stories that matter and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

P.S. You can also give a gift subscription to someone you care about.

Give a gift subscription

Good afternoon, this is Really American. It is Tuesday, June 9th — and we have a lot to cover.

The United States launched retaliatory strikes against Iran Tuesday afternoon after an Iranian drone shot down a US Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz — just hours after Trump was once again claiming a deal was possible in “two or three days” and JD Vance was telling CBS News the US was “very close” to an agreement. CNN counted how many times Trump has made that same claim — a staggering 38 times. Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson is facing intense backlash after admitting on a radio show that Republicans have a secret plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid next year — then brazenly calling it fearmongering when outraged Democrats immediately flagged his own words. And the Trump family is now selling $12,000 gold coins to commemorate the White House UFC birthday fight while quietly pocketing FIFA rent payments for a largely empty Trump Tower office — the latest jaw-dropping chapter in the presidency-as-family-business story that just keeps getting worse.

Before we go on — we created Really American as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of the media. MAGA is consolidating control of American news and the window to fight back is closing fast. Bari Weiss runs CBS and is now preparing to take over CNN. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. The White House is escalating its attacks on any independent journalist who refuses to play along. Independent journalism like Really American is the only thing standing between state-run news and the truth. We are bringing you breaking news as soon as it happens and we have big plans to grow in 2026 — more reporters, more coverage, more stories the billionaire-owned outlets will not tell you. We only need 2 percent of our total subscribers to upgrade to a paid membership to make everything we are building possible. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

BREAKING: THE US JUST LAUNCHED RETALIATORY STRIKES ON IRAN. TRUMP HAD CLAIMED A DEAL WAS DAYS AWAY.

The United States launched retaliatory airstrikes against Iran Tuesday afternoon — hitting targets along Iran’s Persian Gulf coast including the city of Sirak and the island of Qeshm — after an Iranian drone shot down a US Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday night.

“The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” US Central Command said in a statement, confirming the strikes were launched at 5pm Eastern time. Iran’s state television reported explosions and air defense sirens in several cities along the Gulf coast.

Earlier in the day Trump had posted that “the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack” — though Iran denied responsibility, with an unnamed military official quoted by state broadcaster IRIB saying the country had conducted “no military operation over the strait in the last 24 hours.” The two Apache crew members were rescued by a sea drone in the first such operation ever carried out by the US military.

The strikes came as Trump was simultaneously claiming — yet again — that the war was nearly over. Monday night, leaving the Knicks game, he told reporters: “They were going back and forth, and now they both agreed, through me, to stop, and we’re in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal that will not allow in any way, shape, or form nuclear weapons — and the strait will open up right away. It’ll open up immediately upon signing, which could be in two or three days.”

The strikes also came as Israeli forces launched a devastating new wave of attacks across southern Lebanon Tuesday, ordering the complete evacuation of the entire ancient city of Tyre — including, for the first time, its Christian quarter. Iran had repeatedly warned that Israeli attacks on Lebanon would trigger another wave of retaliatory strikes. Lebanon has now suffered more than 3,600 deaths from months of relentless fighting. Israel has suffered 30.

Trump said a deal was two or three days away. Iran shot down an Apache. The US launched strikes. The deal is not signed. The Strait is still closed. The war is now in its 101st day.

TRUMP HAS CLAIMED AN IRAN DEAL IS CLOSE 38 TIMES. CNN COUNTED. JD VANCE SAYS IT COULD HAPPEN IN A WEEK OR MONTHS.

CNN counted Tuesday. Over the course of the past two months since the ceasefire began, President Trump has claimed an Iran deal is imminent a jaw-dropping 38 times. The 38th time was Tuesday morning, when he claimed a deal could come in “two or three days.” Hours later, the US launched retaliatory strikes on Iran.

“I’m really glad somebody finally took the time to count out how many times, because it felt like we were saying it every single day,” CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes said Tuesday. “And now I know it was at least 37 times in the last two months.”

Vice President JD Vance added to the mounting confusion Sunday in an interview with CBS News, simultaneously claiming the US was “very close” to a deal — before casually acknowledging it could come “in the next week” or “months from now.” Vance said he did not believe Iran was stringing Trump along, saying their system “takes a long time to reach consensus.”

The negotiations have focused on four major elements: halting Iran’s nuclear enrichment, disposing of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and establishing a framework for future compliance. Trump has repeatedly insisted the Strait will reopen “immediately upon signing.” Iran has insisted any deal must include sanctions relief and a halt to Israeli operations in Lebanon. Israel continues to operate in Lebanon. The US continues to add sanctions on Iranian actors. The Strait remains firmly closed.

Trump has claimed a deal is close 38 times. The war is 101 days old. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. The Strait is still closed. The US just launched strikes on Iran. JD Vance says the deal could come in a week or months. CNN counted.

MIKE JOHNSON ADMITTED REPUBLICANS PLAN TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE. THE BACKLASH WAS IMMEDIATE AND INTENSE.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing fierce and growing backlash after appearing on a Louisiana radio show Sunday and openly admitting that Republicans have a concrete plan — coming “next year” — to slash Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, casually describing the beloved programs as “autopilot” spending that must be “adjusted and fixed.” When outraged Democrats immediately flagged his own words, Johnson brazenly called it fearmongering.

“The largest spending items — the reason we’re in trouble — is because over 74 percent of federal spending is on autopilot. Mandatory spending. That is your entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and things like Social Security. They have to be adjusted and fixed,” Johnson said on air. “We have a plan to do that next year, and it’s critical, because we’re at $40 trillion plus in debt. Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

DNC Chair Ken Martin responded immediately and forcefully. “Mike Johnson says Republicans have a plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — after already passing the largest healthcare cut in history. Higher costs, less healthcare. That’s what Republicans are running on this November.”

Johnson then scrambled to post on X that Democrats and the media were “fearmongering” — suddenly claiming his comments were merely about addressing waste, fraud, and abuse, not cutting benefits. He pivoted to pointing at a report about alleged Medicaid fraud in Minnesota under Tim Walz as supposed justification. But the tape exists. The words are his.

The timing is catastrophic for Republicans. The party is already facing a devastating Fox News poll showing a 20-point swing toward Democrats in Ohio. Trump has said he “doesn’t care about the midterms” and “doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” Gas is a punishing $4.32 a gallon. And the Speaker of the House just told a radio audience that his party has a detailed plan to cut Social Security next year.

Johnson said Republicans have a plan to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid next year. He said it on a radio show. Democrats noticed. He called it fearmongering. The tape exists. The midterms are five months away.

THE TRUMP FAMILY IS SELLING $12,000 GOLD COINS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE UFC FIGHT AND QUIETLY POCKETING FIFA RENT FOR AN EMPTY OFFICE.

The Trump family’s relentless monetization of the presidency reached jaw-dropping new heights Tuesday on two separate fronts — with the shameless launch of $12,000 gold coins commemorating the White House UFC birthday fight and a bombshell New York Times report revealing that FIFA has been quietly paying rent to the Trump Organization for a largely empty, all-but-abandoned office in Trump Tower for the past year.

The coins — hawked through RealTrumpCoins.com, a website run by JBCZ LLC with licensing managed by the Trump Organization — range from a brazen $249.99 for a silver coin to an eye-popping $11,999.99 for a one-ounce gold coin featuring Trump’s face on one side and “250th Anniversary 1776-2026” on the other. The coins were launched the same day as the White House UFC event — scheduled for June 14th, Trump’s 80th birthday — where the Trump family is also expected to profit handsomely from ticket sales, merchandise, and broadcast deals.

Meanwhile, the Times revealed that FIFA — the governing body of international soccer, whose president Gianni Infantino has made being close to Trump “a top priority” — has been paying rent for over a year on a 17th-floor Trump Tower office that sits “all but empty.” The rent flows directly into the Trump family business. Infantino has lavished Trump with effusive praise, trophies, and a medal, and has made repeated pilgrimages to Mar-a-Lago, Trump National Doral, and even the “Melania” documentary premiere.

This comes one day after a devastating Reuters investigation found the Trump family has pocketed $2.3 billion from four crypto ventures while retail investors lost the exact same amount. It comes the same week Trump’s family is selling UFC coins, pocketing FIFA rent, running Don Jr.’s lucrative drone contracts through the Pentagon, and profiting from shady Balkans energy deals.

$12,000 gold coins. An empty FIFA office in Trump Tower. $2.3 billion in crypto profits. Don Jr.’s drone contracts. The Balkans energy deals. The IRS immunity. The presidency is the business.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. The US just launched strikes on Iran after Trump claimed a deal was days away — for the 38th time. Johnson admitted Republicans plan to cut Social Security. The Trump family launched $12,000 UFC coins while FIFA quietly pays rent on an empty Trump Tower office. The Ellisons are preparing to take over CNN. These are the stories that matter — and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

We’ll see you soon.

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Tuesday, June 9th. Who saw the video of Trump getting booed last night?

Trump was booed during the national anthem at the NBA Finals Monday night — the crowd so loud it threatened to drown out the anthem — and when the Knicks lost, fans blamed him for jinxing it. He then appeared to fall asleep in his private box during the game, prompting AOC to post “WAKE TF UP” and critics to call it the most expensive taxpayer-funded nap in history. A Reuters investigation found the Trump family has made $2.3 billion from four crypto ventures while retail investors lost the exact same amount — with little to no money invested by the Trumps themselves. And California, New York, and other states are preparing a lawsuit to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros — the deal that would give the Ellison family, who already gutted 60 Minutes, control over two of Hollywood’s four major studios.

Before we get into the news, Really American needs your help. We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country, and we have done that without taking billionaire money or running ads from corporate sponsors. But we are currently behind on our fundraising goals and we need readers just like you to make the leap to become paying subscribers to stay operational. If you have been enjoying Really American’s work on a free subscription, take a moment to upgrade to a paying membership. Every subscription dollar goes directly toward funding the work you read and enjoy every day. Subscribe or upgrade right now. We are counting on you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP WAS BOOED DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM. FANS BLAMED HIM WHEN THE KNICKS LOST.

President Trump arrived at Madison Square Garden Monday night for Game 3 of the NBA Finals — invited by Knicks owner and Trump donor James Dolan — and was greeted by thunderous boos the moment he appeared on the jumbotron during the singing of the national anthem. At times, the boos threatened to drown out the anthem itself. Fans at watch parties around the city — including at Bryant Park and in a Brooklyn bar — were recorded jeering as well.

The security operation surrounding Trump’s visit was extraordinary and deeply disruptive. Fans faced hours of TSA-style screening, a strict no-bag policy, and a several-block perimeter of closed streets and police fencing around the Garden. The arena was reportedly about half empty just an hour before tip-off. Watch parties outside the stadium had been canceled. Local bars and parking garages expecting a profitable night were caught inside the security perimeter.

“I wish he wasn’t here,” Brooklyn resident Errol Ismail — who had to try multiple entrances just to get inside — told Reuters. “He’s not a real fan, and he’s just making things awful. We’ve waited a lifetime for this, and he’s made it about himself, like everything else.”

The Spurs beat the Knicks 115 to 111 in a game that ended the team’s 13-game playoff winning streak. Fans were quick to assign blame. “So the Knicks win 13 playoff games in a row, a historic run!” basketball journalist Molly Knight wrote on Bluesky. “Then Donald Trump shows up to their first NBA finals home game this century, falls asleep, and they promptly lose.”

Trump’s border czar Tom Homan had threatened to flood New York City with ICE agents just hours before Trump arrived at the game — angering local leaders who noted the city was hosting thousands of visitors for the Finals and the upcoming World Cup. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who was also at the game, responded directly: “We will not allow ICE or anyone else to sow fear in our communities — especially at this moment.”

Trump was booed during the national anthem. The Knicks lost their first home Finals game. Fans blamed him. The watch parties were canceled. The streets were closed. He made it about himself.

Subscribe now

TRUMP APPEARED TO FALL ASLEEP AT THE NBA FINALS. CRITICS CALLED IT THE MOST EXPENSIVE TAXPAYER-FUNDED NAP IN HISTORY.

Social media lit up Monday night with clips appearing to show President Trump dozing off in his private box at Madison Square Garden during the NBA Finals — prompting the Lincoln Project to call it “the most expensive taxpayer-funded nap” in history and AOC to post a blunt “WAKE TF UP” on social media.

Social media commenters claimed they spotted the president snoozing on a video feed of the private box where Trump sat alongside Knicks owner James Dolan, his granddaughter Kai Trump, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino.

“OMG, after ALL THAT, Trump is sleeping at the Knicks game!” activist Amy Siskind wrote. “Couldn’t he have saved everyone the trouble and ‘watch it on television?’” — a reference to Trump’s recent comments telling Americans to catch the game on TV if they couldn’t afford the tickets, which ran as high as $8,000 per seat.

This is now a fully documented pattern spanning more than a year — covering events from Pope Francis’s funeral to a Saudi agreement signing to the Pennsylvania Energy Innovation Summit to an anti-Antifa roundtable to a weight-loss drug announcement to a congressional Cabinet meeting where Rubio was praising him to the Oval Office coal briefing to a Wisconsin farmers roundtable — and now the NBA Finals. In every case, the White House has denied it. In multiple cases, the denial was made while video of the episode existed and spread.

Trump closed streets, canceled watch parties, disrupted the city, caused a security lockdown, cost taxpayers millions — and then appeared to fall asleep at the game. The Knicks lost. New York is not happy.

Subscribe now

THE TRUMP FAMILY MADE $2.3 BILLION FROM CRYPTO. INVESTORS LOST $2.3 BILLION. THE TRUMPS PUT IN LITTLE TO NOTHING.

A Reuters investigation published Tuesday found that the Trump family has generated at least $2.3 billion in profit from four cryptocurrency ventures since Trump returned to the presidency — while the more than one million investors on the other side of those deals lost the exact same amount — with little to no money invested by the Trump family themselves.

The four ventures are: World Liberty Financial, a crypto governance token project that has funneled more than $1.4 billion to the Trump family while its token has fallen 87 percent in value; the $TRUMP meme coin, which generated $616 million for the Trumps while buyers lost more than $700 million — with the coin down 97 percent from its January 2025 peak; ALT5 Sigma, now renamed AI Financial Corp, whose shares collapsed more than 90 percent while still sending more than $500 million to the Trump family; and American Bitcoin, whose shares fell from $11 at launch to $1.15 by April while Eric Trump’s stake remained worth more than $70 million.

The pattern across all four ventures is identical. The Trumps risked little or no money upfront. Trump family members — primarily Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. — hyped the venture publicly. The Trumps raked in money as investors piled in. The asset price collapsed. The family kept the profits. The investors held the losses.

“The licensing deals are the best of all deals because there’s no risk,” Trump told Reuters in 2016. “The licensing deals are better because you don’t put up any capital.” Eight government ethics experts told Reuters that the Trump family enriching itself from an industry the president’s administration simultaneously regulates and champions “represents a conflict of interest unlike anything seen in modern American history.”

One 29-year-old software engineer in Santa Barbara put $2,000 of her savings into the $TRUMP coin. It is now worth less than $120. A retiree from New York put $60,000 of his retirement savings into ALT5 Sigma. It is now worth about $5,300. A machinist in Indiana put $40,000 — 30 percent of his portfolio — into ALT5 Sigma. He has lost $32,700.

The Trump family made $2.3 billion. Investors lost $2.3 billion. The Trumps put in nothing. The White House said all actions are taken in the best interest of the American people.

Subscribe now

STATES ARE PREPARING TO SUE TO BLOCK THE ELLISONS FROM BUYING WARNER BROS. THE DEAL WOULD GIVE THEM TWO OF HOLLYWOOD’S FOUR MAJOR STUDIOS.

California, New York, and other US states are preparing a lawsuit to block Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros — a deal that would give David Ellison’s family, which already gutted 60 Minutes and installed Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief, control over two of Hollywood’s four major studios, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters.

The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the coming weeks. California Attorney General Rob Bonta — who has led the charge among states concerned about the deal — has already criticized what he called Trump’s “abdication” of federal antitrust enforcement, noting that the administration’s political connections to the Ellison family have given the deal an unusually easy path to federal regulatory clearance.

David Ellison’s father Larry Ellison — the billionaire Oracle co-founder — has cultivated close ties with Trump. The DOJ is reportedly close to making a decision on the deal, having sent subpoenas in late March seeking information on how the merger would affect studio output, content rights, streaming competition, and movie theaters.

The deal has drawn opposition from actors, writers, theater owners, and Hollywood industry figures who fear job losses and reduced competition. Combining Paramount Pictures — maker of the Mission: Impossible and Top Gun franchises — with Warner Bros — maker of Harry Potter and Superman — would create a studio behemoth with enormous control over what films get made, what stories get told, and what audiences see.

The same family that told Scott Pelley to inject falsehoods into his reporting, fired him when he refused, and installed a political operative with no broadcast experience to run CBS News, is now attempting to buy Warner Bros.

California and New York are preparing to sue to stop it. The DOJ — whose boss has ties to the Ellisons — is about to decide whether to block it. The window to stop the billionaire conquest of American media is closing.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

If you found today’s newsletter valuable, the single best thing you can do to keep this work going is become a paying subscriber. Trump was booed during the national anthem and fell asleep at the game. The Trump family made $2.3 billion from crypto while a million investors lost everything. The Ellisons are trying to buy Warner Bros on top of CBS. These are the stories that matter — and Really American is covering them without a billionaire calling the shots.

We have become one of the fastest-growing independent media companies in the country without taking a dollar from billionaires or corporate sponsors. But that also means we depend entirely on readers like you. Every subscription goes directly toward funding the reporting you just read. If you have been enjoying Really American on a free subscription, today is the day to upgrade. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Good evening, or afternoon for our friends on the West Coast, this is Really American. It is Monday, June 8th. Donald Trump got slammed today

Stephen A. Smith — Trump’s own favorite sports commentator — publicly blasted the president for planning to crash the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden tonight, calling his attendance “selfish,” “narcissistic,” and “ridiculous” and saying Trump had “no business showing up in New York City.” The Kennedy Center removed Trump’s name from its website Monday as the June 12th court-ordered deadline approaches — his name still on the building’s exterior. A federal judge struck down Trump’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for skilled workers, ruling it was an illegal tax that usurped Congress’s authority. And Trump endorsed a reality TV star for Los Angeles mayor, the reality TV star lost, and now Trump is on Truth Social calling the election rigged.

Before diving in, I need to ask you to take a moment to help build Really American. In two years we have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets in the country, with 8 million followers and 750 million views a month — and we have done it all without taking on a billionaire owner or a corporate sponsor. But we are currently behind on our fundraising goals, and we need readers like you to help keep us afloat. If just five percent of the people reading this right now became paying subscribers, we could fully fund our operations through the midterms. That is just one in twenty people. Can we count on you to be the one in twenty?

Subscribe now

STEPHEN A. SMITH — TRUMP’S OWN FAVORITE SPORTS COMMENTATOR — CALLED HIS PLANNED KNICKS GAME APPEARANCE TONIGHT “SELFISH,” “NARCISSISTIC,” AND “RIDICULOUS.”

Stephen A. Smith — the ESPN sportscaster whom Trump himself has said would make a good presidential candidate — publicly unloaded on the president Monday morning over his decision to attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden tonight, calling it “selfish,” “narcissistic,” and “ridiculous” and saying Trump had “no business showing up in New York City.”

“This president has no business showing up in New York City. I am dead serious,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take Monday morning. “It is selfish, it is narcissistic, it is ridiculous that he’s coming to this game.” Smith was clear that his objection had nothing to do with politics. “I would say the same thing if it were Obama, George W., Clinton — I don’t give a damn if we went back to Reagan. This is not a football stadium in some space in Texas where you’ve got a whole bunch of outlays. This is the Garden. This is midtown Manhattan.”

Smith noted that he had been instructed to go straight to the stadium after his radio show wrapped at 3pm — despite the game’s 8:30pm tip-off — because of the security lockdown surrounding Trump’s arrival. Streets and avenues around Madison Square Garden are closed. Watch parties outside the arena have been canceled. Local bars and parking garages expecting a profitable night from the Knicks’ first Finals appearance in more than 50 years are caught inside Trump’s security perimeter.

“It’s gotten to the point where if this president passes gas, people gonna call it perfume,” Smith said. “Certain things, you’re just wrong about. You don’t do that in New York City. This is not about questioning his fandom. This is not about questioning politics. It’s questioning your selfishness.”

The White House responded that Trump was attending as “a lifelong fan” and that Secret Service and NYPD efforts would “ensure this historic game is safe for all attendees.” The Knicks lead the San Antonio Spurs 2 to 0 and are two wins away from their first NBA championship since 1973. Trump skipped his eldest child’s wedding over Memorial Day weekend because of the Iran war. He is going to the Knicks game tonight. Stephen A. Smith — his own favorite sports commentator — is already calling it selfish and narcissistic.

THE KENNEDY CENTER REMOVED TRUMP’S NAME FROM ITS WEBSITE. HIS NAME IS STILL ON THE BUILDING. THE DEADLINE IS FRIDAY.

The Kennedy Center removed President Trump’s name from its website Monday — updating its YouTube page as well — in compliance with the federal court order issued last Friday finding that Trump had violated federal law by renaming the institution after himself. As of Monday afternoon, however, Trump’s name remained on the building’s exterior, which still reads: “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.”

The June 12th deadline — this Friday — is when all remaining references to Trump’s name must be removed from signage inside and outside the building, brochures, and all other materials. The Kennedy Center has said it is complying with the court order “while evaluating all legal options.” The Justice Department said separately it would continue to fight to “defend President Trump’s ability to restore the Center to its former glory.”

The timeline of the renaming was itself a story. In February 2025, Trump purged the center’s board of trustees, replaced members with political allies, and had himself elected board chair. In December, the reconstituted board voted to rename the venue — and crews added Trump’s name to the exterior the next morning. Justice Department lawyers later conceded the signage had been “prepared and/or purchased prior to the Board’s vote the day before.”

US District Judge Christopher Cooper was unambiguous in his ruling. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name. And only Congress can change it.” The Kennedy family condemned the renaming. Arts figures condemned it. Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio filed suit and the judge sided with her.

Trump’s name is off the website. It is still on the building. The deadline is Friday. The court said Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name. Congress did not give it to Trump.

Subscribe now

A FEDERAL JUDGE STRUCK DOWN TRUMP’S $100,000 FEE ON H-1B VISAS. THE COURT CALLED IT AN ILLEGAL TAX.

A federal judge threw out the Trump administration’s $100,000 fee on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers Monday — ruling that the fee was unlawful and amounted to an illegal tax that usurped Congress’s constitutional authority to set immigration policy and raise revenue.

US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts sided with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 19 other states who had challenged the fee, agreeing that the administration had exceeded its authority in imposing what amounted to a massive new tax without congressional authorization. Before Trump’s decree, H-1B visa application fees rarely exceeded $5,000 per worker in total. Trump’s fee raised that to $100,000 — a 20-fold increase that effectively shut out many employers who rely on the visa program, including Silicon Valley tech companies, hospitals, and universities.

The Trump administration is expected to appeal. “President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” said White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers. “The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it.”

The ruling is the latest in a long string of court defeats for the Trump administration on immigration policy. Last Friday, a federal judge issued a scathing 135-page ruling striking down Trump’s sweeping immigration freeze, finding it was driven by “anti-immigration sentiments” and violated federal law. The administration has appealed that ruling as well.

A $100,000 fee to hire a skilled worker. A judge said that is an illegal tax. The court said Congress sets immigration policy, not Trump. The administration will appeal. The courts keep saying no.

Subscribe now

TRUMP HAND-PICKED A REALITY TV STAR FOR LA MAYOR. THE REALITY TV STAR LOST. NOW TRUMP IS CALLING IT RIGGED.

Donald Trump endorsed Spencer Pratt — the former reality television personality best known for his appearance on The Hills — for mayor of Los Angeles. Pratt had an early lead on election night. Mail-in ballots came in. Progressive candidate Nithya Raman surged past him. Trump immediately called it rigged.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump posted on Truth Social Monday. “3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections!” Pratt himself posted a photo comparing the vote swing to the number of homeless people in Los Angeles, suggesting without evidence that ballots had been manufactured. Far-right commentator Benny Johnson falsely claimed Raman had conceded on election night. Elon Musk amplified the conspiracy theory.

Here is what actually happened. California counts mail-in ballots after election night. Approximately 80 percent of California voters cast their ballots by mail. This is not a secret. It is state law. Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be accepted for up to a week. Raman did not concede on election night — she said there were “many thousands of votes” yet to be counted. She was right. As of Monday, Raman leads Pratt 27.1 to 26.7 percent and is projected to advance to the November general election against incumbent Karen Bass.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten called the rigged election claim the “dumbest conspiracy theory” he had ever heard — pointing out that if establishment Democrats had actually rigged the election, they would have advanced Pratt, whom Bass would beat by 18 points, rather than Raman, who could beat Bass outright.

Trump’s endorsement of Pratt almost certainly hurt him — only 15 percent of Los Angeles voters are registered Republicans and the city heavily disapproves of Trump. Pratt ran as a Trump-aligned candidate in one of the most progressive cities in America and lost by a narrow margin to a progressive candidate as mail-in ballots were counted in the normal, legal way that California has counted ballots for years.

Trump picked a reality TV star for mayor of Los Angeles. The reality TV star lost. The votes were counted the way California always counts votes. Trump called it rigged. This is democracy.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump’s own favorite sports commentator is already calling his Knicks game appearance tonight selfish and narcissistic. His name is coming off the Kennedy Center by Friday. A court called his H-1B fee an illegal tax. He picked a reality TV star for LA mayor, the reality TV star lost, and Trump called it rigged. The billionaire-owned outlets are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

Before diving in, I need to ask you to take a moment to help build Really American. In two years we have become one of the fastest-growing independent media outlets in the country, with 8 million followers and 750 million views a month — and we have done it all without taking on a billionaire owner or a corporate sponsor. But we are currently behind on our fundraising goals, and we need readers like you to help keep us afloat. If just five percent of the people reading this right now became paying subscribers, we could fully fund our operations through the midterms. That is just one in twenty people. Can we count on you to be the one in twenty?

Subscribe now

Share

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Monday, June 8th. Trump stormed off an interview because he couldn’t take getting asked tough questions.

Trump stormed off the set of Meet the Press Sunday after Kristen Welker challenged his false claims about January 6th and elections — calling her “crooked,” ripping off his microphone, and walking out — then told reporters he did it because it was raining. Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon policy overhaul excluded the Mormon church from the list of recognized Christian denominations — and two MAGA Republican senators from Utah are publicly demanding he reverse it immediately. Celebrities are bailing on Trump’s White House UFC birthday event — Dwayne Johnson, Adam Sandler, and Jared Leto are all out, with Vanity Fair reporting that few if any of the originally announced A-listers will actually show up. And Ken Paxton’s own impeachment defense lawyer just endorsed his Democratic opponent James Talarico in the Texas Senate race.

Before getting into the news, take a moment to keep Really American’s independent journalism alive. Trump just stormed off Meet the Press when a reporter asked him questions he couldn’t answer — called her crooked, ripped off his mic, and walked out. That is what happens when power goes unchallenged. At a time when even the most storied legacy media outlets like the Washington Post and the LA Times are being gobbled up by right-wing billionaires and the Ellisons are gutting 60 Minutes, independent journalism that doesn’t self-censor or pull punches to benefit the wealthiest people in America has arguably never been more essential.

We launched Really American as a direct response to MAGA billionaires’ war on the free press. We are reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means none of our work would be possible without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. If you’ve been enjoying newsletters like these on a free subscription, take a moment to update to a paying membership right now. Independent journalism doesn’t survive without your support. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

TRUMP STORMED OFF MEET THE PRESS WHEN KRISTEN WELKER CHALLENGED HIS FALSE CLAIMS. THEN HE BLAMED THE RAIN.

President Trump walked off the set of NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday after host Kristen Welker challenged his false claims about January 6th, the 2020 election, and the California primary — calling her “crooked,” ripping off his microphone, and walking out before the interview was finished — then told reporters at a farmers roundtable immediately afterward that he did it because it was raining.

The breaking point came after a tense exchange in which Welker pressed Trump on whether the 172 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers during the January 6th attack on the Capitol would be eligible for money from his Anti-Weaponization Fund. Trump declined to rule it out — claiming without evidence that FBI agents had invited rioters inside the building and that people only pleaded guilty because they were afraid of harsher sentences. Welker pointed out that there is no evidence of FBI agents ushering rioters inside the Capitol. Trump then claimed the 2020 election and last week’s California primary were “rigged.” Welker said there was no evidence to support those claims either.

“Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” Trump said. “You’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked, and so is ABC and CBS and CNN. One-sided crooked networks.” He then mockingly added: “Thank you, darling. Have a good time” — and walked off the set.

Minutes later, at the farmers roundtable, Trump explained his behavior. “Because it was raining, I got a little bit angry at them,” he said. “I was not happy with them. But we had a good time.” The interview had taken place inside a sheltered, dry barn with a metal roof — where the rain was audible but not present. Viewers on social media were quick to note the absurdity of the explanation. “Does he think NBC controls the weather?” one person wrote.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten has described a “rural revolt” against Trump, citing a “near 40-point switcheroo” in Iowa — with Trump’s net approval rating of +18 points in 2024 dropping to -14 points in May 2026. The interview was taped in a barn in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin — a state Trump needs to win. He walked out of it because it was raining.

Trump was asked about January 6th and elections. He called the reporter crooked and walked out. Then he blamed the rain. The interview was inside a barn. The rain was on the roof. The president of the United States stormed off Meet the Press because of the weather.

Share

HEGSETH’S PENTAGON EXCLUDED MORMONS FROM CHRISTIANITY. TWO MAGA SENATORS FROM UTAH ARE FURIOUS.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon policy overhaul — which reduced the number of military religious affiliation codes from more than 200 to just 31 — left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints off the list of recognized Christian denominations, triggering an immediate and furious public backlash from two of Trump’s most loyal Republican senators.

Senator Mike Lee of Utah — a practicing Mormon and one of Trump’s most reliable allies in the Senate — posted a video on X demanding the Pentagon reverse the decision immediately. “I find this offensive, not just because that happens to be my faith, not just because it happens to be the faith of tens of thousands of U.S. military personnel, but it’s also just repugnant to any sense of decency,” Lee said. “Secretary Hegseth, tear down that wall. This is not cool. Get rid of it. Get rid of it now!”

Senator John Curtis — also of Utah, also Republican — called the omission “unacceptable” and pressed the Pentagon to reverse course. “Latter-day Saints are among the most patriotic, service-oriented individuals in our country. They are also unequivocally Christian — just look at who is in the name of the Church,” Curtis posted on X.

The Pentagon defended the restructuring as an “administrative measure” rather than a judgment on religious identity — saying the changes were intended solely to help chaplains allocate resources. “We are returning to the original intent of collecting this data,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. The overhaul also affected atheists, humanists, pagans, and Unitarians. But the exclusion of the LDS Church — which is headquartered in Utah and has tens of thousands of active-duty members — drew by far the loudest response.

Hegseth excluded Mormons from Christianity in an official Pentagon policy. Two of Trump’s most loyal senators are publicly demanding he fix it. The Pentagon said it was just an administrative decision. Mike Lee said to tear down that wall.

Subscribe now

CELEBRITIES ARE BAILING ON TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE UFC BIRTHDAY EVENT. DWAYNE JOHNSON, ADAM SANDLER AND JARED LETO ARE ALL OUT.

The celebrities invited to President Trump’s White House UFC fight card on June 14th — his 80th birthday — are bailing, with Vanity Fair reporting that of the high-profile names UFC CEO Dana White announced last month, “few, if any, will actually be there.”

White had publicly announced invitations to Dwayne Johnson, Adam Sandler, Guy Ritchie, Tom Brady, Jared Leto, Jason Statham, and Mario Lopez. A source close to Johnson told Vanity Fair he would not attend. Representatives for Sandler and Leto confirmed they would not be there. A representative for Lopez previously confirmed he would miss the event because of “work commitments.” Representatives for Ritchie, Brady, and Statham did not respond.

Vanity Fair Washington correspondent Aidan McLaughlin wrote that the reluctance reflects “a growing trend in Trump’s second term” — with America’s 250th anniversary celebrations “increasingly seen as tainted by the tawdriness, hyperpartisanship, and self-obsession that have been hallmarks of Trump’s political career.”

The event itself has already attracted controversy on multiple fronts. Podcaster Joe Rogan — a longtime UFC commentator and Trump supporter — has criticized plans to stage the fights outdoors, warning about extreme heat and dehydration risks for fighters. UFC boss White acknowledged concerns that the giant lighting rig may attract swarms of bugs. Trump has also drawn criticism after suggesting the structure being built on the South Lawn could remain in place permanently.

This is the same pattern that destroyed the Freedom 250 concert — where every major announced act eventually dropped out, leaving Vanilla Ice as the headliner. Dwayne Johnson is out. Adam Sandler is out. Jared Leto is out. The Rock won’t go to the White House UFC fight. The bugs might.

KEN PAXTON’S OWN IMPEACHMENT DEFENSE LAWYER JUST ENDORSED HIS DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT IN TEXAS.

Dan Cogdell — the Houston-based defense lawyer who represented Ken Paxton in both his 2023 Texas House impeachment trial and a long-running securities fraud case — has endorsed Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, calling his former client a man who has “lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas.”

“Unlike Ken, I believe to my core that James Talarico believes in unity over division and that he knows how to assemble not only Democrats, but Independents and Republicans, and we need that right now,” Cogdell told NOTUS. Campaign finance records show Cogdell donated $6,500 to Paxton’s campaign last year — and then gave $1,000 to Talarico’s campaign in March.

Cogdell has been publicly critical of Trump for years, previously calling him “the greatest threat to Democracy our country’s ever seen.” Despite representing one of Trump’s most prominent political allies, he has consistently broken with the Republican Party when he believed principles were at stake. The National Republican Senatorial Committee used his comments in an attack ad against Paxton last year — calling Cogdell “a liberal Trump-hating trial lawyer.”

Paxton defeated incumbent Senator John Cornyn in a Republican primary runoff last month after Trump endorsed him — splitting the GOP establishment, which had backed Cornyn. Republican leaders warned privately that Paxton’s history of criminal charges and personal controversies made him a far riskier general election candidate — and that the party might have to spend more than $100 million in Texas to hold the seat.

Talarico welcomed the endorsement directly. “If you voted for John Cornyn, you have a place in this campaign. If you’re a Republican tired of the corruption you’re seeing in government, you have a place in this campaign. Even if you’re Ken Paxton’s impeachment lawyer, you have a place in this campaign.”

Paxton’s own impeachment defense lawyer endorsed his Democratic opponent. The GOP warned Paxton was too risky. Trump endorsed him anyway. Texas is now in play.

Share

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump stormed off Meet the Press and blamed the rain. Hegseth excluded Mormons from Christianity. The Rock won’t go to the White House UFC fight. Paxton’s own impeachment lawyer endorsed the Democrat. The billionaire-owned outlets are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

Before getting into the news, take a moment to keep Really American’s independent journalism alive. At a time when even the most storied legacy media outlets like the Washington Post and the LA Times are being gobbled up by right-wing billionaires and the Ellisons are gutting 60 Minutes, independent journalism that doesn’t self-censor or pull punches to benefit the wealthiest people in America has arguably never been more essential. We launched Really American as a direct response to MAGA billionaires’ war on the free press. We are reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means none of our work would be possible without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. If you’ve been enjoying newsletters like these on a free subscription, take a moment to update to a paying membership right now. Independent journalism doesn’t survive without your support. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Share

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Sunday, June 7th. Donald Trump is probably golfing this weekend, not governing, while the GOP is cracking and prices keep rising.

Pete Hegseth used the 82nd anniversary of D-Day to attack European immigration policy at the American military cemetery in Normandy — and historians immediately called it “grotesque stupidity” and an “obscene desecration” of the soldiers buried there. Scott Pelley gave his first interview since being fired from 60 Minutes — and went scorched earth on Bari Weiss, accusing her of “putting a thumb on the scale” for Trump, describing specific instances of her demanding story changes to match what the president said, and calling for her to be removed. Trump is heading to Madison Square Garden Monday for the NBA Finals — the Knicks canceled their popular watch parties because of his visit and thousands of fans who waited 50 years for this moment cannot watch outside. And a DC judge dismissed the Kennedy Center’s lawsuit against a musician who canceled his performance after Trump renamed the building — calling it “political retribution, pure and simple.”

Before getting into the news, take a moment to keep Really American’s independent journalism alive. At a time when even the most storied legacy media outlets like the Washington Post and the LA Times are being gobbled up by right-wing billionaires and the Ellisons are gutting 60 Minutes, independent journalism that doesn’t self-censor or pull punches to benefit the wealthiest people in America has arguably never been more essential.

We launched Really American as a direct response to MAGA billionaires’ war on the free press. We are reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means none of our work would be possible without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. If you’ve been enjoying newsletters like these on a free subscription, take a moment to update to a paying membership right now. Independent journalism doesn’t survive without your support. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

HEGSETH USED D-DAY TO ATTACK EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION. HISTORIANS CALLED IT “GROTESQUE Folly” AND AN “OBSCENE DESECRATION.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stood at the American military cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, on Saturday — surrounded by the graves of the soldiers who stormed the beaches of France to liberate Europe from fascism on June 6, 1944 — and used the occasion to attack European immigration policy.

“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different, dangerous ideologies,” Hegseth told those gathered for the 82nd D-Day anniversary. “Beaches in Spain, Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion, or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”

The response from historians, rights campaigners, and European officials was swift and unsparing. English historian Simon Schama described the remarks as “a special kind of loathsomeness: a blend of historical deafness, grotesque stupidity and comically ludicrous self-importance,” adding: “As if the little people’s rage against immigration somehow is superior to the war against the 3rd Reich and entitles this comic book nobody to lecture the actual heroes.”

Israeli human rights lawyer Daniel Seidemann called it “an obscene desecration of the memories of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy, and especially of those who fell.” Swedish economist Anders Åslund noted the particular absurdity of Hegseth preaching allied solidarity while having recently skipped a key NATO meeting and while Trump is cutting US troop levels in Europe. “Doesn’t Hegseth know that the most unreliable ‘ally’ by far is the US?” he wrote.

Hours before Hegseth’s speech, Vice President JD Vance posted on social media blaming immigration for the killing of an 18-year-old British student — whose killer was a British-born Sikh convicted of murder. UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said he had spoken with Vance directly to set the record straight. “This has got nothing to do with mass migration. This young man was a Brit,” Lammy said. “Let’s be clear about that. And I said: ‘Look, Mr Vice-president, you’re wrong about this.’”

In the days before Hegseth’s visit, a French residents’ association had called for his trip to be canceled. “What’s happening with the Trump administration isn’t business as usual,” said one member. “The words must be spoken, he must be called out for who he is, for the values he represents: colonial, warmongering, racist, far-right values. Silence seems to us to be the worst thing we can do.”

Hegseth stood in a cemetery full of Americans who died fighting fascism and used the moment to attack European immigration policy. Historians called it grotesque stupidity. European officials called it an obscene desecration. The White House has not responded.

SCOTT PELLEY GAVE HIS FIRST INTERVIEW SINCE BEING FIRED. HE SAID BARI WEISS WAS “PUTTING A THUMB ON THE SCALE” FOR TRUMP AND CALLED FOR HER OUSTER.

Scott Pelley sat down with the New York Times for his first interview since being fired from 60 Minutes and delivered the most detailed and explosive account yet of what Bari Weiss has been doing to CBS News — describing specific instances of her demanding story changes to match what Trump said about events that the video evidence contradicted, calling her incompetent and unqualified, and saying without hesitation that she needs to be removed.

The central example Pelley described involved a 60 Minutes segment on the protests in Minneapolis against the ICE crackdown and the police killing of Renee Good. About four hours before the show’s deadline — with the segment already locked — Weiss sent an email to Pelley’s boss, executive producer Tanya Simon, with two demands. First, she wanted the protesters depicted as more violent. Second, she wanted Good described as “driving toward the officer” — which is not what the video showed.

“On the video, you see the officer standing slightly off the front of the car. And you clearly see Ms. Good’s wheels turned completely as far as they will go, away from the officer. But he shoots her in the head, kills her,” Pelley said. “The video showed that the officer wasn’t standing in front of the car and she wasn’t driving toward him, but that’s what the president said about that, and that’s the way she wanted it described.”

Pelley was direct about what he believed was happening. “My impression at the time was that she was putting a thumb on the scale on behalf of the administration. Constantly looking out for the views of the president.”

When asked directly whether Bari Weiss needs to be removed, Pelley did not hesitate. “Oh, gosh, yes,” he said. “This is like somebody walking up to me and saying, ‘There’s a 747, there are 400 people on it, we need you to fly it to Paris.’ I’m going to decline because I don’t have a clue. And it would have been so much better if Bari Weiss had been offered this job and said, ‘Oh, that’s not for me, I don’t know how to do that.’”

CBS News denied that Weiss was acting with any political motivation, saying her editorial notes were “proposed solely to make the piece as strong, fair, and accurate as possible.” Pelley was also blunt about the incompetence he witnessed — noting that the segment came within 19 minutes of not making it to air on the night of the Grammys, for which 60 Minutes was the lead-in. “We put the entire network in jeopardy,” he said.

Pelley said Weiss wanted a killing described differently than what the video showed — to match what Trump said. He called it putting a thumb on the scale for the administration. He said she needs to go. CBS denied it. The video exists.

Share

TRUMP IS GOING TO THE KNICKS GAME MONDAY. NEW YORK IS BRACING FOR CHAOS AND THE KNICKS JUST CANCELED THE WATCH PARTIES.

President Trump confirmed this week that he will attend Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden on Monday night — invited by Knicks owner James Dolan — and New York City is already bracing for an extraordinary security operation that will affect tens of thousands of fans trying to attend or even just watch the game outside.

The Knicks canceled their popular outdoor watch parties outside Madison Square Garden over the weekend in response to Trump’s attendance — punishing thousands of fans who cannot afford to get into the arena and had planned to watch outside. The backlash was immediate. “This is a very poor decision from the Knicks PR,” one fan wrote. “Cancelling watch parties and punishing thousands of passionate fans who cannot afford Madison Square Garden’s ridiculous ticket prices just because one political figure is attending is completely unfair.” Another wrote: “Knicks fans waited 50 years for them to not even be able to afford to get in or even have a watch party.”

Fans who do have tickets were warned to expect TSA-style screening, a strict no-bag policy, and to arrive at least two hours before tip-off. Surrounding streets will be closed to vehicles and pedestrians. Hundreds of Secret Service agents and thousands of NYPD officers will be deployed. When Trump appeared at the US Open men’s final last September his presence caused massive delays and long lines — a similar scenario is expected Monday night at the Garden.

Sports commentator Stephen A. Smith used his SiriusXM radio show to urge Trump to stay away entirely. “I don’t want him there,” Smith said. “You don’t understand what Monday is going to be like in New York City. There is nothing short of madness that is coming the way of everybody come Monday.”

The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 2 to 0 and are two wins away from their first NBA championship since 1973. Trump skipped his eldest child’s wedding over Memorial Day weekend because of the Iran war. He is going to the Knicks game. The watch parties are canceled. Thousands of fans who waited 50 years for this moment cannot watch outside. Stephen A. Smith does not want him there.

Subscribe now

A JUDGE DISMISSED THE KENNEDY CENTER’S LAWSUIT AGAINST THE MUSICIAN WHO CANCELED OVER TRUMP’S RENAMING. THE JUDGE CALLED IT “POLITICAL RETRIBUTION.”

A DC superior court judge dismissed the Kennedy Center’s lawsuit against jazz drummer Chuck Redd on Friday — ruling that the center had failed to show any legally binding agreement existed and granting Redd’s motion under the District of Columbia’s anti-SLAPP law, which is designed to stop legal action taken solely to silence opposing views on matters of public interest.

Redd had canceled a Christmas Eve performance at the Kennedy Center after the White House announced Trump’s name would be added to the building. Richard Grenell — then the Kennedy Center’s president — threatened to sue Redd for $1 million in damages, calling his cancellation “classic intolerance” and “very costly to a non-profit Arts institution.” The center then filed suit and offered to settle if Redd paid $7,500, performed at this year’s concert, and agreed not to make any further “political commentary” about his decision.

Judge Tanya Jones Bosier was unsparing. “I could not find a valid breach-of-contract claim here. There’s no dispute that he did not sign the 2025 agreement.” She dismissed the case with prejudice.

“The Center sued Mr. Redd because he publicly and rightly objected to adding Donald Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center, a living memorial to former President John F. Kennedy,” said Redd’s lawyer Lisa Banks. “The lawsuit against Mr. Redd was political retribution, pure and simple, by the Trump Kennedy Center, and the Court correctly saw it as such in dismissing the case with prejudice.”

This ruling came the same week a separate federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center entirely by June 12th — finding that Trump had violated federal law by renaming the institution. Staff are already removing his name from all signage, letterhead, email signatures, voicemails, and the building itself.

The Kennedy Center sued a jazz drummer for canceling a free Christmas Eve gig. The court called it political retribution. Trump’s name is being removed from the building by June 12th. The drummer won.

Subscribe now

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Hegseth desecrated D-Day to attack immigration. Pelley revealed Weiss wanted a police killing described differently than what the video showed — to match what Trump said. The Knicks canceled watch parties for fans who waited 50 years. A court called the Kennedy Center lawsuit against a jazz drummer political retribution. The billionaire-owned outlets are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

Before getting into the news, take a moment to keep Really American’s independent journalism alive. At a time when even the most storied legacy media outlets like the Washington Post and the LA Times are being gobbled up by right-wing billionaires and the Ellisons are gutting 60 Minutes, independent journalism that doesn’t self-censor or pull punches to benefit the wealthiest people in America has arguably never been more essential.

We launched Really American as a direct response to MAGA billionaires’ war on the free press. We are reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means none of our work would be possible without readers like you stepping up to become paying subscribers. If you’ve been enjoying newsletters like these on a free subscription, take a moment to update to a paying membership right now. Independent journalism doesn’t survive without your support. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Share

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Saturday, June 6th. Trump is facing a Republican revolt.

Trump fell asleep again — this time at a Wisconsin farmers roundtable on Friday while attendees took turns praising him, less than 24 hours after the White House furiously denied he had fallen asleep at the Oval Office coal briefing. Tensions between Trump and Senate Republicans boiled over in public this week in ways that have not been seen since his second term began — with vulnerable incumbents repeatedly breaking ranks on the ballroom, the slush fund, the SAVE Act, and the surveillance bill. Trump’s obsession with DC fountains, reflecting pools, and vanity projects is alarming Republicans in competitive districts who say nobody outside the Beltway is talking about any of it. And a Washington Post investigation found that Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump Jr. both promised a Navy SEAL commander’s family they would help reopen his death investigation — and then ghosted them completely.

We created Really American as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of the media. MAGA is consolidating control of American news and the window to fight back is closing fast. Bari Weiss runs CBS. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. Independent journalism like Really American is the only thing standing between state-run news and the truth. We are bringing you breaking news as soon as it happens and we have big plans to grow and expand our operation in 2026 — more reporters, more coverage, more stories the billionaire-owned outlets will not tell you. We only need 2 percent of our total subscribers to upgrade to a paid membership to make everything we are building possible. Subscribe or upgrade right now to support our work.

Subscribe now

TRUMP FELL ASLEEP AT A WISCONSIN FARMERS ROUNDTABLE WHILE PEOPLE WERE PRAISING HIM. THE WHITE HOUSE HAD JUST DENIED HE FELL ASLEEP THE DAY BEFORE.

President Trump appeared to close his eyes and drift off during a farmers roundtable in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin on Friday — as attendees took turns praising his leadership and thanking him for his service — less than 24 hours after the White House responded to a previous sleeping video by calling reporters “dumbass mouth-breathers” and insisting his eyes were open.

The footage spread quickly online. In the video, Trump can be seen closing his eyes and tilting his head downward while agricultural leaders gathered around the conference table heaped compliments on him. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Wisconsin Republican lawmakers were also in attendance. The roundtable was focused on the impact of rising fertilizer and energy costs on farmers caused by the Iran war.

The timing was striking. Just one day earlier, the White House Rapid Response account had erupted in fury after a viral clip appeared to show Trump dozing off in the Oval Office during a coal briefing. “His eyes are literally open in the clip you posted, you dumbass mouth-breathers,” the official White House account posted on X. By Friday, there was new footage.

This is not a one-time event. It is now a documented pattern spanning more than a year. Trump has appeared to fall asleep at the funeral of Pope Francis, during a Middle East trip while touting a Saudi agreement, at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, at an anti-Antifa roundtable, at a White House event on weight-loss drug prices, during a press conference on climate regulations, at a Board of Peace inaugural meeting, at a Tennessee crime roundtable, at a Presidential Fitness Test event, at a maternal health announcement, during the Oval Office coal briefing Thursday, and now at the Wisconsin farmers roundtable Friday.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner — the longtime cardiologist to the late Vice President Dick Cheney — has classified Trump’s pattern of daytime sleeping as “severe daytime somnolence” and called it “a severe illness” that “can result in an increase in risk of dementia.” Rubio was shown video of Trump sleeping in Congress Wednesday and denied it until the tape rolled on live television. The White House called reporters glue-sniffing. Then it happened again.

Trump turns 80 in eight days. He fell asleep while people were praising him. The White House called reporters dumbasses for reporting it. Then he fell asleep again the next day.

Subscribe now

TENSIONS BETWEEN TRUMP AND SENATE REPUBLICANS ARE BOILING OVER. HERE ARE THE FIVE TAKEAWAYS.

The relationship between President Trump and Senate Republicans fractured in public this week in ways that have not been seen since his second term began — with vulnerable incumbents repeatedly breaking ranks, senators who lost their primaries to Trump-backed challengers growing increasingly assertive, and Majority Leader Thune struggling to hold together a conference being roiled by the White House’s most controversial moves.

Trump’s high-profile nominees are in trouble. Senate Republicans are already warning that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s expected nomination for the permanent AG position will face heavy scrutiny over his role in creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund. Senators want assurances he will not function as Trump’s personal lawyer. “He’s going to have to commit an understanding of the job, which is that he’s not the president’s lawyer,” said Senator John Cornyn — who lost his own primary to a Trump-backed challenger last month. Bill Pulte’s path to permanent DNI confirmation is described by multiple Republican senators as having “little to no chance.”

The ballroom and slush fund fights are not over. Democrats have promised to force Republicans to vote again and again on amendments to annual spending bills targeting both the ballroom and the fund. Trump undercut Blanche Wednesday by refusing to confirm the fund was dead — saying “I love it. I think it’s so important.” That will put continued pressure on Collins, Husted, and Sullivan to keep breaking with the president publicly.

Senators who lost primaries to Trump are becoming wildcards. Cassidy — who lost his Louisiana primary after Trump endorsed his opponent — has emerged as an assertive independent voice, voting for Democratic amendments on Medicaid, insurance denials, the anti-weaponization fund, the ballroom, and the Pulte DNI appointment. He has no regrets about voting to convict Trump at his 2021 impeachment trial and is framing all of his votes as motivated by reverence for the Constitution.

Supplemental Iran war funding is effectively dead. Republican senators say the prospects of passing Iran war funding before the midterms are “in big trouble” — with Democrats promising to use any such vote to hammer Republicans as willing to fund an unpopular war at the expense of domestic priorities. The Pentagon was weighing an $80 to $100 billion military supplemental request but has still not submitted it formally.

The SAVE Act and filibuster fight will keep burning. Trump forced a vote on the SAVE Act during the vote-a-rama specifically to identify which Republicans oppose it — with Collins, Murkowski, Tillis, and McConnell all voting against it. Trump and MAGA allies are now pushing Thune to abolish the 60-vote filibuster threshold or fire the Senate parliamentarian. Thune has so far resisted. The tension is not going away.

Trump called Senator Thom Tillis “a loser” Friday. Six senators voted against his ballroom. Seven blocked his surveillance extension. Four voted for the Iran war powers resolution. Eighteen passed Ukraine aid. The SAVE Act failed. His own party did all of it.

TRUMP’S DC BEAUTIFICATION OBSESSION IS WORRYING REPUBLICANS. NOBODY OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY IS TALKING ABOUT REFLECTING POOLS.

President Trump spent significant time at a Wisconsin farmers roundtable Friday — a meeting ostensibly focused on the devastating impact of the Iran war on agricultural costs — talking about the repair of Washington DC’s reflecting pool and holding up before-and-after photos of the Columbus Circle fountains outside Union Station. Republicans in competitive districts are increasingly alarmed.

“I was in North Carolina last week, and over the weekend, and I didn’t hear anybody talking about reflecting pools. I did hear them talk about what they spend at grocery stores,” said Republican strategist and former RNC spokesman Doug Heye. “When you are holding press gaggles in front of a ballroom construction site that no one asked for, you’re proactively sending the signal to voters: ‘I don’t know what’s important to you, but here’s what’s important to me.’”

The costs are piling up. Trump’s changes to the reflecting pool alone cost more than $13 million — with the New York Times reporting the contractor was given an inflated profit margin. The administration announced it will spend $5 million to regild the four gold-plated Arts of War and Arts of Peace equestrian statues near the Lincoln Memorial. Trump has proposed a 250-foot triumphal arch, a “Trump Promenade” at the Lincoln Memorial, a 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom that he revealed is actually a six-story underground fortress, and a statue garden — all in Washington DC. All while gas is $4.32 a gallon and food prices are up 3.2 percent year over year.

“Go into any state that has targeted races, whether it’s North Carolina, Maine, Ohio, Texas, and ask them, ‘Hey, do you think that we need a triumphant arch to be built on the Mall?’ and they’re going to look at you like you’ve just landed from Venus,” Heye said.

Trump has also said “I don’t care about the midterms” and “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation.” He called high gas prices “peanuts” compared to the threat of a nuclear Iran.

Republicans in competitive districts are not talking about reflecting pools. Their voters are talking about grocery bills. Gas is $4.32. The midterms are five months away. Trump is holding up fountain photos at a farmers roundtable.

Subscribe now

HEGSETH AND TRUMP JR. BOTH PROMISED A NAVY SEAL’S FAMILY THEY WOULD HELP REOPEN HIS DEATH INVESTIGATION. THEN THEY GHOSTED THEM.

A Washington Post investigation published Saturday found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Donald Trump Jr. both privately promised the family of Navy SEAL Commander Job Price — whose 2012 death in Afghanistan was ruled a suicide despite significant irregularities — that they would use their political influence to get the case reopened. Both men ultimately went silent and delivered nothing.

Commander Price was found in his quarters in Afghanistan on December 22, 2012, with a gunshot wound to his head and a service pistol in his hand. Military investigators ruled it a suicide. But the family has long questioned that conclusion — citing irregularities including Price’s arm appearing to clutch a pillow, a bullet casing found inexplicably under his body, blood patterns extending in multiple directions, the death scene left unattended for nine hours, and his body being washed and dressed in a uniform before arriving home despite being a critical piece of evidence.

Hegseth — then a Fox News host — received photographs from the investigation and texted a family friend: “Nobody — nobody — would be caressing their pillow while taking their own life. I agree, it does not add up at all to suicide.” He appeared bullish about pursuing the story for Fox News or another major outlet. Then he went dark. “Despite our attempts to engage with Scott Pelley and to find a way back, unfortunately we weren’t able to do so,” — wait, wrong story. Hegseth stopped responding entirely. In one of his final messages, he said he hoped to “help another way” in the future. That help never came.

Trump Jr. had an even longer history with the case. Price’s father wrote him a detailed four-page letter in 2015, and Trump Jr. responded in January 2016: “While I am not sure there is much I can do at the moment, if my father ever ends up in a position where he would be able to look into it I will certainly make sure that happens.” Trump was elected president less than a year later. His first term came and went. Harry Price — Job Price’s father — died in 2024 having never received any follow-through. Trump Jr. did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.

Price’s sister Bronwyn De Maso told the Post: “Whenever we think something is going to have a positive outcome, it just gets shut down. We’ve run into a lot of brick walls, and Pete Hegseth was someone who could have helped us and chose not to, for whatever reason.” She added: “I guess there was nothing in it for them.”

Hegseth now runs the Pentagon. Trump Jr.’s father is president again. The Price family has received no indication the case will be reopened. The father died waiting. They were ghosted.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump fell asleep while people were praising him and the White House called reporters dumbasses. Senate Republicans are in open revolt. Republicans in competitive districts are alarmed by fountains and reflecting pools while voters pay $4.32 for gas. Hegseth and Trump Jr. ghosted a Navy SEAL’s family. The billionaire-owned outlets are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

We created Really American as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of the media. MAGA is consolidating control of American news and the window to fight back is closing fast. Bari Weiss runs CBS. Murdoch runs Fox. Bezos owns the Post. Independent journalism like Really American is the only thing standing between state-run news and the truth. We are bringing you breaking news as soon as it happens and we have big plans to grow and expand our operation in 2026 — more reporters, more coverage, more stories the billionaire-owned outlets will not tell you. We only need 2 percent of our total subscribers to upgrade to a paid membership to make everything we are building possible. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Share

Good afternoon, this is Really American. It is Friday, June 5th.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal Friday that he has instructed Bill Pulte — his unqualified acting Director of National Intelligence — to start firing people across the US intelligence community, saying Pulte is “less shackled” because he was never confirmed by the Senate. A Justice Department lawyer told a federal appeals court Friday that Trump could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and nobody would have legal standing to stop him. Trump fumed on Truth Social after the stock market fell despite a strong jobs report. And a federal judge issued a scathing 135-page ruling striking down Trump’s sweeping immigration freeze — finding it was driven by “anti-immigration sentiments” and placed the lives of millions of people “on hold solely by virtue of their countries of birth.”

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. The ongoing rebellion at 60 Minutes is a perfect illustration of what happens when treasured news brands are acquired by pro-Trump billionaires. Scott Pelley was told to inject falsehoods into his reporting and fired when he refused. Jeff Bezos followed the same playbook at the Washington Post. Patrick Soon-Shiong did it at the LA Times. The Ellison family did it at CBS. Kill all the accountability reporting and fire everyone who doesn’t play along.

Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one to support our work. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP TOLD PULTE TO START FIRING INTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS. HE SAID PULTE IS “LESS SHACKLED” BECAUSE HE WASN’T CONFIRMED.

President Trump told the Wall Street Journal Friday that he has privately encouraged Bill Pulte — the housing finance regulator with zero intelligence experience he appointed as acting Director of National Intelligence this week — to begin firing employees across the US intelligence community and to start shrinking or potentially eliminating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence altogether.

“I’d like to see it smaller,” Trump told the Journal. “I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there” — specifically referencing holdovers from the Obama and Biden administrations. When asked whether he was calling for people to be fired, Trump said he wants Pulte to “start the process” and said whoever is eventually nominated permanently should continue it.

Trump suggested that Pulte’s temporary unconfirmed status actually gives him more freedom to act aggressively. “You’re less shackled,” Trump told the Journal. “It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.” He added: “Frankly, it might be good for him to shake it up before people come. Because if he reduced the size, in conjunction with me... he can do a lot of the hard work and we wouldn’t have to saddle somebody that goes in.”

Trump also floated the possibility of dramatically reducing or even eliminating ODNI altogether. “We’ve made the Department of Education much smaller, and likewise, this should be much smaller,” he said. “And this should maybe even be terminated, and we’ll make that decision.”

This came hours after seven Republican senators joined Democrats to block the extension of the government’s surveillance program specifically because of the Pulte appointment — with Senate Majority Leader Thune himself warning that “we don’t need a weaponized” intelligence director. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said Pulte was selected solely because he was “100% loyal to doing anything and everything President Trump demands” and warned his appointment amounts to “almost unilaterally disarming” against Russia, China, and Iran.

Trump appointed a housing regulator to run all 18 US intelligence agencies. He then told him to start firing people. He said the fact that nobody confirmed him makes him more powerful. Seven Republican senators blocked the surveillance extension because of it. The program expires in a week.

Subscribe now

A DOJ LAWYER TOLD A FEDERAL COURT THAT TRUMP COULD BULLDOZE THE STATUE OF LIBERTY AND NOBODY COULD STOP HIM.

A Justice Department lawyer argued before a federal appeals court Friday that President Trump could tear down the Statue of Liberty if he wanted to — and that no one would have legal standing to challenge it in court — in a stunning two-hour exchange that laid bare the administration’s sweeping claims of unchecked executive power.

The exchange occurred during oral arguments over Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom project, as DOJ Civil Division attorney Yaakov Roth defended the demolition of the 123-year-old East Wing to make way for Trump’s 90,000-square-foot vanity project. Obama-appointed Judge Patricia Millett pressed Roth with a pointed hypothetical.

“If the government decides very quickly and bulldozes the Statue of Liberty — the people whose ancestors, that was the first thing they saw coming to this country — but the government moved too fast, nothing can be done?” she asked.

“I think that’s right, yes,” Roth responded.

Millett pressed further. “As long as you move fast enough, nobody has standing to challenge it, even if they have that type of personal connection?”

“So I do think that that is correct,” Roth said.

She continued: “Imagine, statutes were as clear as could be… ‘you have no authority to do this,’ and you’ve done it. There’s nothing to be done? If this were complete lawlessness by the government, it couldn’t be stopped?”

“That is our position,” Roth replied. “This is really something that can’t be stopped in courts. It can only be stopped by Congress.”

The three-judge panel — composed of Millett, Biden appointee Bradley Garcia, and Trump appointee Neomi Rao — appeared sympathetic to the lawsuit brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation challenging the ballroom’s construction. A district judge had previously halted construction on the project, though a federal appeals court put that order on hold allowing work to resume.

The DOJ argued in open court Friday that Trump could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty and nobody could stop him. That is the official position of the United States Justice Department. The ballroom construction continues.

TRUMP FUMED AT THE STOCK MARKET AFTER A “GREAT” JOBS REPORT. THE MARKET IGNORED HIM.

President Trump took to Truth Social Friday morning to fume after the stock market fell despite a stronger than expected jobs report — posting that stocks “should go up, not down” and demanding to know “how else can a Country attain GREATNESS???”

The jobs report showed the US added 172,000 jobs in May — more than double the 85,000 projected — with unemployment holding steady at 4.3 percent. The stock market responded by falling. The S&P 500 dropped 1 percent. The Dow fell 0.2 percent. The Nasdaq dropped nearly 2 percent.

“With a great Jobs Report, like just announced, stocks should go up, not down. That’s the way it was for 200 years. Growth does not mean inflation!” Trump posted.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer offered a more grounded take, posting that he was “concerned that the administration is not sensitive to the huge number of people who are struggling because of gasoline and higher rates.” Gas is still $4.32 a gallon — up 37 percent from a year ago. The Iran war is still ongoing. The Strait of Hormuz is still effectively closed. The S&P 500 had closed above 7,600 for the first time ever earlier this week and Trump celebrated that loudly. He was less celebratory Friday.

The jobs report was strong. Gas is $4.32. The market fell. Trump posted about it. The Strait is still closed. The war is 97 days old.

Subscribe now

A FEDERAL JUDGE JUST STRUCK DOWN TRUMP’S IMMIGRATION FREEZE IN A SCATHING 135-PAGE RULING.

A federal judge in Rhode Island issued a sweeping 135-page ruling Friday striking down a slate of Trump administration immigration policies — finding they were improperly driven by “anti-immigration sentiments,” violated federal immigration law, and had placed the lives of millions of people “on hold solely by virtue of their countries of birth.”

Judge John J. McConnell Jr. — an Obama appointee — ruled that Trump’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services had illegally placed a global hold on asylum applications, paused decisions on immigration applications from the 39 countries subject to Trump’s travel ban, blocked green card approvals, and effectively halted naturalization applications for lawful permanent residents who had lived legally in the country for years.

“Over six months later, many of those individuals remain without work, without legal status and without any meaningful ability to plan for their futures,” Judge McConnell wrote. He found the measures violated the laws governing the responsibilities of USCIS and that the agency had routinely applied the law unequally.

The judge specifically cited Trump’s inflammatory public statements after an Afghan national shot two National Guard members in Washington last year — statements in which Trump blamed immigrants broadly for housing shortages and “urban decay” — as evidence that the policies were motivated by anti-immigrant animus rather than legitimate legal grounds.

In a pointed closing, he invoked the administration’s own rhetoric against it. “The court is reminded of a line often repeated in discussions around immigration policy: If people wish to immigrate to the United States, they ought to ‘follow the law’ and ‘do things the right way.’ This case serves as a perfect example of immigrants doing just that.”

The ruling effectively forces the government to return to normal adjudication and begin resolving more than one million backlogged applications. The Homeland Security Department called the decision “sabotage dressed in legal clothing.”

A federal judge said Trump’s immigration freeze was driven by anti-immigrant sentiments and violated federal law. More than one million backlogged applications must now be processed. The administration will almost certainly appeal. The courts keep saying no.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump told his unqualified intelligence pick to start firing people. His DOJ argued he could bulldoze the Statue of Liberty. The stock market ignored his jobs report celebration. A federal judge struck down his immigration freeze in a scathing 135-page ruling. The legacy media outlets owned by the people with business before this administration are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

Share

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Friday, June 5th — and Trump’s own party kept saying no.

Trump’s SAVE America Act — the sweeping voter suppression bill he called his top congressional priority and said should pass “before anything else” — failed in the Senate Thursday night. Eighteen House Republicans broke with Trump and Speaker Johnson to pass $1.3 billion in Ukraine military aid and expanded Russia sanctions — the first standalone Ukraine aid package to pass either chamber during Trump’s second term. Seven Republican senators blocked the extension of the government’s surveillance program in direct retaliation for Trump’s appointment of an unqualified loyalist as acting Director of National Intelligence. And protests in Albania are intensifying over Jared Kushner’s $1.6 billion luxury resort development on protected Mediterranean wetlands — with thousands in the streets for a third straight day and Albania’s anti-corruption body launching a formal investigation.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. The ongoing rebellion at 60 Minutes is a perfect illustration of what happens when treasured news brands are acquired by pro-Trump billionaires. Scott Pelley was told to inject falsehoods into his reporting and fired when he refused. Jeff Bezos followed the same playbook at the Washington Post. Patrick Soon-Shiong did it at the LA Times. The Ellison family did it at CBS. Kill all the accountability reporting and fire everyone who doesn’t play along.

Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you. We can’t do any of this without you. Subscribe right now.

Subscribe now

TRUMP’S VOTER SUPPRESSION BILL JUST FAILED IN THE SENATE. IT WAS HIS TOP LEGISLATIVE PRIORITY.

The SAVE America Act — the sweeping Republican election overhaul that Trump called his top congressional priority, said should pass “before anything else,” and claimed at his State of the Union was “country-saving legislation” — officially failed in the Senate Thursday night, dying as an amendment during debate over the immigration enforcement funding package.

The bill had passed the House in February on a near party-line vote. It then sat in the Senate for months as Majority Leader Thune acknowledged the math simply was not there. “It’s about the votes. It’s about the math,” Thune told reporters. “For better or worse, I’m the one who has to be the clear-eyed realist about what we can achieve here.”

The legislation would have required voters to show proof of US citizenship — such as a passport or birth certificate — when registering to vote. Research has shown millions of Americans do not have easy access to those documents. Election experts say the requirement is unnecessary because noncitizens have never been shown to vote at anything but microscopic numbers. Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck told NPR: “The alleged sin that it is trying to correct happens so infrequently that it really does seem like the solution would be much, much worse than the disease.”

The bill would also have required photo ID to cast a ballot and mandated that all states submit their voter rolls to a Department of Homeland Security tool that has repeatedly been found to erroneously flag US citizens. Trump had repeatedly posted online about the bill, saying at one point he would not sign any other legislation before it passed.

Trump called it country-saving legislation. He said it supersedes everything else. It failed in the Senate. His own party did not have the votes. It is gone.

18 REPUBLICANS JUST HELPED PASS UKRAINE AID DESPITE TRUMP AND JOHNSON. IT IS THE FIRST TIME EITHER CHAMBER HAS DONE THIS IN TRUMP’S SECOND TERM.

Eighteen House Republicans broke with President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson Thursday night to help pass $1.3 billion in military assistance for Ukraine and expanded sanctions against Russia — the first standalone Ukraine aid package to pass either chamber since Trump returned to office, in a significant bipartisan rebuke of the administration’s foreign policy.

The final vote was 226 to 195. The measure — authored by House Foreign Affairs Committee ranking member Gregory Meeks — was forced to the floor through a discharge petition that took nearly a year to complete, allowing a majority of the House to advance bills that haven’t gone through normal channels and stripping Johnson of his ability to block it.

Johnson urged members in a closed-door party meeting this week to oppose the legislation. He called it “poorly drafted” after the vote and said it was “not a reflection of Congress’ support for Ukraine.” Trump has opposed major Ukraine aid packages throughout his second term and pushed for talks to end a war now in its fifth year.

Republican Congressman Don Bacon of Nebraska — one of the Republicans who broke ranks — urged his colleagues to “stand on the right side” of history. “This is our Churchill moment or our Chamberlain moment, and by God I’m going to choose Churchill,” Bacon said on the House floor.

The bill now faces long odds in the Senate, which has sidestepped its own Russia sanctions package despite more than 80 senators signing on as co-sponsors. But the House vote itself is a landmark. This is the same week four Republicans voted to block Trump’s Iran war powers. Eighteen voted to pass Ukraine aid over his objections. His party is no longer holding the line.

Subscribe now

PROTESTS ARE GROWING IN ALBANIA OVER JARED KUSHNER’S LUXURY RESORT ON PROTECTED WETLANDS. THE ANTI-CORRUPTION BODY JUST LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION.

Thousands of Albanians took to the streets of Tirana for a third straight day Wednesday — some carrying inflatable flamingos in a nod to the threatened wildlife — as protests over Jared Kushner’s $1.6 billion luxury resort development on protected Mediterranean coastal wetlands continued to grow and Albania’s special anti-corruption prosecution body, SPAK, announced it had launched a formal investigation into controversial legislative changes adopted in 2024 that cleared the way for the project.

The development — backed by Kushner’s Affinity Partners investment firm, which is funded primarily by the Saudi Arabian government — involves two sites: the uninhabited island of Sazan, a former secretive military submarine base, and the Zvernec Peninsula, a 1,000-acre protected coastal area home to Mediterranean monk seals, flamingos, Dalmatian pelicans, and more than 200 bird species, many endangered.

Conservation groups say bulldozers have begun clearing ancient dunes and Mediterranean pine forests to make way for access roads. A concrete barbed wire fence has been erected around the site. Locals who work land in the area have been blocked from accessing it. No environmental impact report has been released publicly as normally required. No competitive tender was held.

“From start to finish there has been a total lack of transparency,” said Aleksandr Trajce of Albania’s leading conservation group. “We have seen no public consultation or public documentation regarding permits.” He added: “It’s gone beyond being an environmental issue now. It’s a citizen thing. It’s much bigger.”

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — who won a fourth term last year on a promise to get Albania into the EU by 2030 — has defended the development as a milestone for the country’s economy. But he acknowledged negotiations on a final proposal are still ongoing. “There is absolutely no chance that the investment will stop as long as I am here,” Rama said.

Ivanka Trump visited the site earlier this year with a team of architects. Kushner is simultaneously serving as Trump’s Middle East envoy — negotiating the Iran deal — while his investment firm builds luxury resorts on protected coastlines backed by Saudi money. The anti-corruption body just launched an investigation. The bulldozers are already there. The flamingos are still there too — for now.

SEVEN REPUBLICAN SENATORS JUST BLOCKED THE SURVEILLANCE BILL BECAUSE OF TRUMP’S UNQUALIFIED INTELLIGENCE PICK.

Seven Republican senators joined Democrats early Friday to block the extension of a powerful government surveillance program — Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — in a direct rebuke of Trump’s decision to appoint Bill Pulte, a major Republican donor and heir to a home construction fortune with zero intelligence experience, as acting Director of National Intelligence.

The procedural vote failed 47 to 52. The program — which allows US intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets without a warrant — is set to expire by June 12th. Senate Majority Leader Thune said the chamber “will take another run at it” next week but expressed little confidence it would pass, calling Democrats’ position “terribly irresponsible” while notably failing to mention the seven Republicans who crossed the aisle.

The Pulte appointment has alarmed members of both parties. Democratic Senator Mark Warner, vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told NPR that Pulte was selected solely because he was “100% loyal to doing anything and everything President Trump demands” and warned that appointing someone with no intelligence, law enforcement, or congressional experience would amount to “almost unilaterally disarming” against adversaries including Russia, China, and Iran. “We have no idea whether the individual even has a security clearance,” Warner said.

Thune himself warned on Tuesday that Pulte would face “a lengthy road ahead of him” if nominated permanently and that “we don’t need a weaponized” intelligence director. Trump escalated concerns Thursday by suggesting Pulte would investigate his baseless claims of election fraud. “He’s a very smart guy,” Trump said, “and you may find out some things about the rigged elections.”

Pulte is the official who used his position at the Federal Housing Finance Agency to push mortgage fraud allegations against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and Eric Swalwell. He pitched Trump on 50-year mortgages. He is now the acting head of all 18 US intelligence agencies. Seven Republican senators said no to the surveillance extension because of him. The program expires in a week.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump’s voter suppression bill failed. Ukraine aid passed over his objections. Thousands are protesting Kushner’s resort in Albania. Seven Republican senators blocked the surveillance bill over his unqualified intelligence pick. The legacy media outlets owned by the people with business before this administration are not going to give these stories the attention they deserve. Really American will.

Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you for backing independent pro-democracy media. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

Share

Good evening, this is Really American. It is Thursday, June 4th — Trump almost fell out of his chair as he fell asleep in the Oval Office today.

Trump appeared to doze off and slump to the side in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon during a briefing on coal — one day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was shown video of Trump sleeping on live television in Congress and denied it was happening. The Kennedy Center formally directed staff to remove Trump’s name from all communications, signage, and the building itself by June 12th. Six Republican senators voted to block funding for his White House ballroom — and the senators doing it are precisely the ones facing the toughest reelection races this fall. And after losing the Kennedy Center fight, Trump announced he now wants to build a “Trump Promenade” at the Lincoln Memorial.

Before diving into the news, take a moment to help keep Really American’s work going. The ongoing rebellion at 60 Minutes is a perfect illustration of what happens when treasured news brands are acquired by pro-Trump billionaires. Scott Pelley was told to inject falsehoods into his reporting and fired when he refused. It shows that even America’s most celebrated news program isn’t safe from right-wing oligarchs. Jeff Bezos followed the same playbook at the Washington Post. Patrick Soon-Shiong did it at the LA Times. The Ellison family did it at CBS. Kill all the accountability reporting and fire everyone who doesn’t play along.

Really American was created as a direct response to the billionaire conquest of legacy media. We are fully reader-supported, editorially independent, and not for sale. But that also means our work is only possible if enough readers step up to become paying subscribers. If journalism that answers to readers instead of billionaire owners matters to you, please consider clicking here to upgrade your free Really American subscription to a paying one. And if you’re already a paying subscriber, thank you for backing independent pro-democracy media. We can’t do any of this without you.

Subscribe now

TRUMP APPEARED TO FALL ASLEEP AND SLUMP TO THE SIDE IN THE OVAL OFFICE DURING A BRIEFING ON COAL. THE WHITE HOUSE CALLED REPORTERS “GLUE-SNIFFING.”

President Trump appeared to doze off and slump sideways in his chair in the Oval Office Thursday afternoon during a briefing on “Beautiful, Clean Coal” — flanked by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin — in what has become a near-daily occurrence that the White House continues to deny, dismiss, and attack reporters for covering.

Trump let his eyes rest for what witnesses described as a questionably prolonged period, leaning back and to the side in his seat while his officials spoke behind him. It happened at the Oval Office. During a briefing. On camera. One day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confronted in Congress with video of Trump sleeping at a Cabinet meeting while Rubio was praising him — and denied it was happening until Congressman Ted Lieu told him: “I’m going to show you in a moment a video that shows you just lied to Congress.”

The White House response to Thursday’s episode was predictable. Spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history. While the deranged and failing Daily Beast has their lightweight, glue-sniffing ‘reporters’ push baseless conspiracy theories — President Trump is working around the clock to make our country greater than ever before.”

The White House has now called reporters glue-sniffing conspiracy theorists, launched a “Wall of Shame” targeting journalists who covered his disappearance, posted a screenshot of a Bloomberg reporter mid-blink calling him a “third-rate loser,” and posted that CNN anchor Dana Bash “FALLS ASLEEP” ahead of her birthday — to which Bash replied: “If only! Thanks for watching.”

Dr. Jonathan Reiner — the longtime cardiologist to the late Vice President Dick Cheney — told CNN last month that Trump has “severe daytime somnolence” which he classified as a “severe illness” that “can result in an increase in risk of dementia.” Trump has now appeared to fall asleep at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day, at a maternal health event, at multiple Cabinet meetings, during a Rubio monologue, and now in the Oval Office during a coal briefing.

Trump turns 80 on June 14th. He appeared to fall asleep in the Oval Office on Thursday. The White House called reporters glue-sniffing. A top cardiologist says it is a severe illness. The cameras keep catching what the White House keeps denying.

Subscribe now

THE KENNEDY CENTER ORDERED STAFF TO REMOVE TRUMP’S NAME FROM EVERYTHING BY JUNE 12TH.

The Kennedy Center formally directed its employees Thursday to immediately remove all references to President Trump from its communications — including email signatures, letterhead, voicemails, social media accounts, press releases, brochures, and website pages — in compliance with last Friday’s federal court order finding that Trump violated federal law by renaming the institution after himself.

A memo obtained by Politico directs staffers to update all documents “to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’” Changes to physical signage inside and outside the building and website pages with Trump’s name must be completed by June 12th.

US District Judge Christopher Cooper was unambiguous in his ruling. “The Kennedy Center’s organic statute makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so,” he wrote. “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.”

Trump installed himself as board chair, fired multiple board members including longtime chair David Rubenstein, appointed loyalist trustees, and had the board vote unanimously to rename the institution “The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” Workers installed his name on the facade. The administration painted the building’s 200 original gold exterior columns white without completing the required federal historic preservation reviews. Representative Joyce Beatty filed suit and the judge sided with her.

Trump’s name must be off the Kennedy Center by June 12th. The workers are removing it. The court said Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name. Congress did not give it to Trump.

Subscribe now

SIX REPUBLICAN SENATORS VOTED TO BLOCK TRUMP’S BALLROOM. THE ONES DOING IT ARE THE ONES WHO NEED TO WIN IN NOVEMBER.

Six Republican senators voted with Democrats Thursday to block construction of Trump’s 90,000-square-foot White House ballroom unless Congress formally authorizes the project — dealing the president another rebuke from within his own party and revealing exactly which Republicans are most worried about what Trump’s vanity projects are doing to their reelection chances.

The six Republicans who voted with Democrats are Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Jon Husted of Ohio, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The amendment needed 60 votes to overcome a procedural objection and failed 52 to 47 — but the fact that six Republicans broke ranks was itself a significant rebuke.

Collins, Husted, and Sullivan are all facing tough reelection races this fall. A Fox News poll shows Husted trailing Democrat Sherrod Brown by 8 points in Ohio — a state Trump won by 11. A UMASS Lowell poll shows Democrat Graham Platner leading Collins by 5 points in Maine. A March poll in Alaska shows Democrat Mary Peltola leading Sullivan. These are the senators most at risk. These are the senators who said no to the ballroom.

Trump originally promised the ballroom would be privately financed. He later revealed it is actually a six-story underground military fortress with a hospital, classified meeting rooms, and top-secret research facilities. Senate Republicans already stripped the $1 billion in proposed taxpayer funding from the reconciliation bill earlier this week.

The senators facing the hardest reelection races just voted against Trump’s ballroom. They know what it is doing to them. Six of them said no on live television Thursday.

AFTER LOSING THE KENNEDY CENTER, TRUMP ANNOUNCED HE WANTS TO BUILD A “TRUMP PROMENADE” AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL.

One week after a federal judge ordered his name removed from the Kennedy Center and blocked his plan to put it on the building, President Trump told reporters Thursday that he wants to build a promenade connecting the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River — and that people want to call it the “Trump Promenade.”

“They want to call it the Trump Promenade,” Trump said at the White House. “It’s a beautiful project, and it’s gonna take the Lincoln Memorial right down to the Potomac.”

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed the project as completing the original vision of the McMillan Plan of 1902. Trump also touted his redesign of the reflecting pool lying east of the Lincoln Memorial and his proposed 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

The announcement came as Trump’s sweeping and legally contested transformation of Washington’s landmarks continues to face setbacks at every turn. His ballroom lost its billion-dollar Senate funding and six Republican senators voted to block it entirely Thursday. His Kennedy Center name was ordered removed. His plan to close the Kennedy Center was blocked. A court ordered his name off the building within two weeks. Workers were removing it Thursday.

A court ordered Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center on Friday. By Thursday he was proposing to name a promenade at the Lincoln Memorial after himself. The Kennedy Center is being de-Trumped by June 12th. The Lincoln Memorial promenade has not been approved by anyone. The pattern is clear.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

Trump appeared to fall asleep in the Oval Office and the White House called reporters glue-sniffing. His name is being removed from the Kennedy Center. Six of his own senators voted against his ballroom. He responded by trying to name something at the Lincoln Memorial after himself. The legacy media outlets owned by the people with business before this administration are not going to give these stories the attention they deserve. Really American will.

Really American reaches 8 million followers and 750 million views a month. No billionaire. No corporate backer. Just people who decided the truth was worth fighting for. That is you. That is what you have already built with us. If just a fraction of our readers became paid subscribers today, we could expand our coverage, grow our team, and go even harder on the stories the corporate press is too compromised to touch. We are almost at 2,000 paid subscribers. That milestone belongs to this community — and we would love for it to be you who gets us there. If you haven’t already joined as a paid subscriber, please consider clicking here to support Really American and help us keep growing. And if you’re already a Really American subscriber, thank you for backing independent pro-democracy media. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Share

Good morning, this is Really American. It is Thursday, June 4th.

Donald Trump is living through what may be the worst week of his second term — and it is not over. Courts blocked him. Congress rebuked him. His own party said no on multiple fronts. His war powers were challenged for the first time. His ballroom lost its billion dollars. His Kennedy Center name was ordered removed. His slush fund was killed. And a Fox News poll out of Ohio shows a 20-point swing toward Democrats in a state Trump won by 11 just two years ago. Trump responded to all of it by waking up Thursday morning and posting a meltdown on Truth Social calling four Republican congressmen “grandstanders” who should be “ashamed of themselves.”

Before we get to the news — Really American reaches 8 million followers and 750 million views a month. No billionaire. No corporate backer. Just people who decided the truth was worth fighting for. That is you. That is what you have already built with us. If just a fraction of our readers became paid subscribers today, we could expand our coverage, grow our team, and go even harder on the stories the corporate press is too compromised to touch. We are almost at 2,000 paid subscribers. That milestone belongs to this community — and we would love for it to be you who gets us there. If you haven’t already joined as a paid subscriber, please consider clicking here to support Really American. This is the best way to stand up to CBS. And if you’re already a Really American subscriber, thank you for backing independent pro-democracy media. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

TRUMP IS LIVING THROUGH THE WORST WEEK OF HIS SECOND TERM. HERE IS EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED.

In the span of seven days, President Trump suffered a series of legal, political, and legislative defeats that — taken together — represent the most sustained collapse of presidential authority in a single week since his second term began.

A federal judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the Kennedy Center and blocked his plan to close it for two years — writing that “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Trump responded with a rage post threatening to abandon the institution entirely.

A federal judge blocked the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund — the taxpayer-funded slush fund Trump created by suing his own agency and settling with himself. A second federal judge reopened the underlying IRS lawsuit and said the court may have been “the victim of a fraud.” The Justice Department then formally abandoned the fund after more than a dozen Republican senators demanded it be killed.

Congressional Republicans dropped the $1 billion in taxpayer funding Trump wanted for his White House ballroom — a project he originally promised would be privately financed, which he later revealed is actually a six-story underground military fortress. The Senate parliamentarian had blocked the provision, and Republicans chose not to fight for it.

The House of Representatives passed a war powers resolution to block Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran — the first time either chamber has passed such a measure since the war began more than three months ago. Four Republicans broke ranks to vote with Democrats. The Senate had advanced a similar resolution last month.

A Trump-endorsed candidate for governor in Iowa lost in the Republican primary — the first defeat of a Trump-backed candidate in the 2026 election cycle — signaling that even in deeply red states, the MAGA endorsement is no longer a guaranteed path to victory.

A federal appeals court ruled that Trump’s transgender military ban was unconstitutional, finding it was driven by “a desire to harm transgender people.” The Pentagon classified its own press office and banned journalists from entering. Scott Pelley was fired from 60 Minutes after accusing CBS of ordering him to inject falsehoods into his reporting. A Guardian investigation found Trump’s appointee running a $205 billion government agency had personal ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Trump has not made a public appearance in more than eight days.

Courts blocked him. Congress rebuked him. His own party said no. His war is 96 days old with no deal in sight. His approval rating is 34 percent. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. It was the worst week of Donald Trump’s second term.

Subscribe now

REPUBLICANS ARE PRIVATELY PANICKING ABOUT THE MIDTERMS — AND TRUMP SAID HE DOESN’T CARE.

Republican strategists, donors, and members of Congress are increasingly alarmed that Trump’s focus on the Iran war, his vanity projects, and his inflammatory public statements are setting the party up for a catastrophic midterm defeat — even as Trump has said directly that he does not care about the midterms and does not think about Americans’ financial situation.

“I don’t care about the midterms,” Trump said. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” he added in a separate comment about the Iran war’s impact on gas prices — statements that have left Republicans in competitive districts scrambling to distance themselves from their own president.

“Of course, that was frustrating,” one GOP operative told The Hill. “There is going to be a need to talk about the economy no matter what, because that’s always going to be the top issue.” Republican donor Dan Eberhart said he wanted to see the White House “laser focused on affordability.” Senator Bill Cassidy — who lost his Republican primary last month after Trump backed his challenger — made an emotional appeal on the Senate floor Wednesday, urging Trump to “get engaged” on medical debt. “Too many people have this debt, 10,000 dollars on their credit card related to paying in part for things such as medical expenses,” Cassidy said.

Meanwhile Trump has spent his public time showing off pictures of the painted Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, talking about fountain repairs in Washington DC, promoting his UFC birthday party on the White House South Lawn, and posting 52 times in a single afternoon on Truth Social — including AI images of himself riding horseback with George Washington.

Speaker Johnson insisted Wednesday that Trump is “more laser focused and more dialed in on domestic issues in one day than Joe Biden did in four.” Republicans in competitive districts are less convinced. “He will be,” one House Republican in a competitive district said drily when asked if Trump was focused enough on the midterms.

Trump said he doesn’t care about the midterms. He said he doesn’t think about Americans’ financial situation. Gas is $4.32 a gallon. Inflation is the top issue for 43 percent of voters. The midterms are five months away.

FOX NEWS POLL: SHERROD BROWN LEADS IN OHIO BY 8 POINTS. TRUMP WON OHIO BY 11. THAT IS A 20-POINT SWING.

A new Fox News poll conducted from May 28th through June 1st shows Democratic former Senator Sherrod Brown leading Republican Senator Jon Husted in Ohio’s special Senate election 53 to 45 percent — an 8-point Democratic advantage in a state Trump won by more than 11 points in 2024. That represents a nearly 20-point swing from Trump’s 2024 margin.

Brown leads with men, leads with women, ties with white voters, dominates with non-white voters 73 to 26, and crushes Husted with independents 53 to 35. Brown wins moderates by 23 points. Thirteen percent of Republicans say they would vote for Brown. Among non-MAGA Republicans, Brown gets 31 percent.

The top issue for Ohio voters is inflation and high prices — cited by 43 percent as their most important concern, followed by healthcare at 12 percent and immigration at 11 percent. Voters who ranked inflation first chose Brown by 14 points. Voters who ranked healthcare first chose Brown by 44 points. Those two issues represent more than half of all voters surveyed.

Trump’s favorability in Ohio has “deteriorated,” according to the Fox News pollsters — with Trump viewed favorably by only 42 percent and unfavorably by 57 percent in a state he won comfortably just 18 months ago. Ohio voters are more concerned about Husted being “too close to Donald Trump” than they are about Brown’s positions being too liberal.

This is a Fox News poll. Of Ohio. Showing a Democrat up 8 in a state Trump won by 11. The same Fox News that called Trump the greatest president in history. The poll says gas prices and healthcare are killing Republicans. The midterms are five months away.

Subscribe now

TRUMP MELTED DOWN ON TRUTH SOCIAL AFTER THE HOUSE VOTE. CALLED FOUR REPUBLICANS “GRANDSTANDERS” WHO SHOULD BE ASHAMED.

President Trump woke up Thursday morning and immediately attacked the four House Republicans who voted with Democrats to pass the war powers resolution blocking further Iran strikes — calling them “grandstanders” who should be “ashamed of themselves” in a classically unhinged Truth Social post at 7:13am.

“Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote. “Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand. The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story — They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves. MAGA!!!”

The four Republicans Trump attacked are Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania — all of whom cited the Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973 as the basis for their votes.

“When the members went back home, they heard from their constituents,” Massie said. “It confirmed to them that they should do the right thing.” Barrett said only Congress has “the exclusive authority under the Constitution to declare war.” Davidson said Congress must “define the mission, authorize the mission, accomplish the mission.” Fitzpatrick — one of the most centrist Republicans in the House — said simply: “We must keep the world safe, and we must also follow the law.”

The ceasefire Trump has cited to argue the war is effectively over was punctuated by the conflict’s biggest escalation in weeks on Wednesday — with US and Iranian forces exchanging missiles, drones, and retaliatory strikes, Iran launching its largest barrage since the truce, missiles and drones hitting Kuwait and Bahrain, Kuwait’s international airport temporarily shutting down, and US and Bahraini air defenses engaging.

Trump called the war powers vote “meaningless.” Iran launched its biggest barrage since the ceasefire the same day. Trump attacked four members of his own party by name at 7am. The war is 96 days old. The deal is not signed.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP TODAY

It was the worst week of Trump’s second term. His own party is panicking about the midterms. A Fox News poll shows a 20-point swing in Ohio. He woke up Thursday attacking four Republicans by name. The legacy media outlets owned by the people with business before this administration are not going to cover these stories the way they deserve. Really American will.

Really American reaches 8 million followers and 750 million views a month. No billionaire. No corporate backer. Just people who decided the truth was worth fighting for. That is you. That is what you have already built with us. If just a fraction of our readers became paid subscribers today, we could expand our coverage, grow our team, and go even harder on the stories the corporate press is too compromised to touch. We are almost at 2,000 paid subscribers. That milestone belongs to this community — and we would love for it to be you who gets us there. If you haven’t already joined as a paid subscriber, please consider clicking here to support Really American and help us keep growing. And if you’re already a Really American subscriber, thank you for backing independent pro-democracy media. Subscribe or upgrade right now.

Subscribe now

Forward this article to someone you know who cares about what is going on.

Share