National Security Journal: ‘Walls Closing in on Trump’: Trying to ‘Avoid Suffering Through Dozens of New Investigations’

Politico reported over the weekend that the president is “already obsessed” about the midterm elections.

While he was less concerned about the midterms in the first half of his first term, Trump is now “already hyper-engaged in the fight to keep the GOP’s majorities in Congress.”

The story, citing “five Republicans… including several close Trump confidants,” said that Trump has hopes of hanging onto his majorities, especially to keep committee gavels and the attached subpoena power out of the hands of Democrats starting in 2027.

Alternet: Donald Trump just can’t resist the bribes | Opinion

But one thing almost all Americans are firmly against — even many loyal Trumpers — [i]s bribery. And Trump is taking bigger and bigger bribes.

Yesterday it was reported that he’s accepting a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane worth at least $400 million from the Qatari royal family, for use during his presidency and for his personal use afterward.

Trump just can’t resist. He’s been salivating over the plane for months. It’s bigger and newer than Air Force One — and so opulently configured that it’s known as “a flying palace.” (No report on whether it contains a golden toilet.)

Apparently he’s been talking about the plane for months. In February, he toured it while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport.

He’s tried to redecorate the White House into a palace but that’s not nearly as satisfying as flying around the world in one, especially once he’s left the White House (assuming he will).

https://www.alternet.org/donald-trump-just-can-t-resist-the-bribes

Raw Story: ‘Deal is a whiff’: Onlookers blast Trump for ‘wild lies’ about his major announcement

Donald Trump on Sunday made an announcement on prescription drug price controls, resulting in mockery and backlash online.

Trump on Sunday took to his own social media site, Truth Social, and announced what he called “one of the most consequential orders in our country’s history.” It was a price control plan for prescriptions.

Problem is, King Donald has absolutely no authority to tell pharmaceutical firms how much to charge for their products.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-deal-wild-lies-drugs

The Grifter-in-Chief Goes to Qatar to Line His Pockets

US President Donald Trump heads to the Gulf this week on a visit aimed at reaching security and technology deals, with his own family’s business dealings not far from the spotlight.

Trump will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, which have collectively promised to invest more than $2 trillion in the US since he came to office. In return, Gulf states want concessions on chip sales and nuclear cooperation, Semafor’s Mohammed Sergie wrote.

The Gulf is Trump’s “happy place” because its leaders won’t criticize him, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted. That is helpful, given controversies surrounding Qatar’s offered donation of a presidential jet and his family’s crypto dealings in the region.

https://www.semafor.com/article/05/11/2025/inside-the-qatari-luxury-jet-on-offer-to-president-donald-trump

OBOXMA: It seems Zuckerberg now wants US military contracts

While Meta is mired in antitrust proceedings threatening to lead to its dismantling, Mark Zuckerberg is desperately tightening his ties with the Trump administration, which he has been trying to seduce for several months in the hope of securing highly lucrative military contracts.

Mark Zuckerberg has made one strategic rapprochement gesture after another towards Donald Trump, combining financial initiatives, internal decisions and political signals: a million-dollar donation at his inauguration in January, a meeting at Mar-a-Lago, the dismantling of Facebook’s fact-checking program, the removal of Meta’s diversity team, the appointment of people close to Trump to the board of directors, and the purchase of a house in Washington D.C.

Move over, F’Elon and Jeff! Mark Zuckerberg — the guy who stole Facebook from his Harvard schoolmate — wants a piece of your pie.

Mirror: CNN commentator goes after Donald Trump over ‘crazy dangerous’ plan

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig called out President Donald Trump and White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller’s plans to potentially suspend habeas corpus.

The legal commentator was on Friday, May 9, night’s episode of the network’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins. The anchor asked him about Stephen’s [“Goebbels'”] recent comments about habeas corpus which Elie called both “dead wrong” and “crazy dangerous.”

The WH’s deputy chief of staff of policy on May 9 said that the Trump administration is “actively looking at” suspending the legal procedure. Habeas corpus is a legal procedure that gives a person a right to challenge their detention or imprisonment.

NJ.com: Another sign that Trump bromance is hurting Elon Musk and Tesla

Despite some analysts who believe Tesla stock will make a comeback — and there are those even suggesting a bull run — some employees (who already have sold their stock) don’t have the same perspective.

According to Business Insider, Musk is telling workers in Texas to take a week off:

Tesla told Austin workers on its Model Y and Cybertruck lines to stay home for the week of Memorial Day, three workers told Business Insider.

The break is unusually long, the workers said. Production lines were up and running during the same period last year, they said.

The electric vehicle maker notified employees earlier this week. The workers, who are paid hourly, were told they could either take paid time off or come in for cleaning and training but would not be working on the production line.

The workers said their schedules had been increasingly inconsistent since February. Some said they had been sent home early on multiple occasions.

So, what could have happened between December and May that might have triggered the collapse? Here’s The Guardian’s guess:

Never before has the world’s richest person been deputized by the US president to cull the very agencies that oversee his businesses. Musk’s attempts to radically dismantle government bureaus have won him sprawling influence. His team has embedded its members in key roles across federal agencies, gained access to personal data on millions of Americans and fired tens of thousands of workers. SpaceX, where he is CEO, is now poised to take over potential government contracts worth billions. He has left a trail of chaos while seeding the government with his allies, who will probably help him profit and preserve his newfound power.

Sounds about right.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/05/another-sign-that-trump-bromance-is-hurting-elon-musk-and-tesla.html

NJ.com: Trump lied again — and Americans knew it immediately

Unless you have an electric vehicle, you know what President Donald Trump said the other day isn’t true.

“You have gasoline hit $1.98 yesterday in a couple of states,” Trump said Thursday after a reporter asked the president how long people could expect to see higher prices amid his trade war.

There wasn’t a single state that had an average gas price close to $1.98 per gallon on Wednesday. The two states with the lowest average gas price on Wednesday were Mississippi and Tennessee, which were both at $2.70 per gallon, according to data provided by AAA.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/04/trump-lied-again-and-americans-knew-it-immediately.html

NJ.com: Report: Trump double-dealing is about to reach new heights — literally

Turns out, the most corrupt presidency in American history is about to soar to even greater double-dealing heights.

What do you give to a president who already has enriched himself and his family by an average of $1 billion per month since taking office?

What could a guy — the most powerful man on the planet, who is planning 20 branded real estate projects around the globe — possibly want?

ABC News reports that Donald Trump — who told American families they’d have to cut back on dolls and pencils while accepting financial hardship for the good of the nation and his tariff-fueled ego — is about to accept a gift-wrapped $400 million “flying palace.”

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar— a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

The gift is expected to be announced next week, when Trump visits Qatar on the first foreign trip of his second term, according to sources familiar with the plans.

Trump toured the plane, which is so opulently configured it is known as “a flying palace,” while it was parked at the West Palm Beach International Airport in February.

One of those 20 planned international real estate developments includes golf course and residential project in Qatar, according to Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/05/report-trump-corruption-is-about-to-reach-new-heights-literally.html

Washington Post: Trump shut out refugees but is making White South Africans an exception

Federal and Virginia state officials are preparing to receive about 60 White South Africans at Dulles International Airport next week, government documents and emails show.

Months after the Trump administration ground U.S. refugee admissions to a halt, the program meant for people fleeing war or political persecution has restarted — but only for one group: White South Africans.

Plans are underway to fly approximately 60 Afrikaners to Dulles International Airport on a State Department-chartered plane Monday, with federal and Virginia officials preparing to receive them in a ceremonial news conference, according to documents and emails obtained by The Washington Post, as well as three government officials familiar with the preparations.

Real refugees need not apply, but South Africa’s fallen racists are welcomed.

https://archive.is/MMsu5#selection-213.0-224.0