Daily Beast: Cops Probe If Captured MAGA Assassin Is Part of ‘Broader Network’

Cops are not ruling out the possibility that the suspected Minnesota assassin is part of a “broader network.”

Vance Luther Boelter, 57, was detained in the state’s rural Sibley County on Sunday night, after an intense two-day manhunt. He is charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder.

Drew Evans, superintendent of Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, spoke at the same press conference and said that authorities are exploring the possibility that the suspect may not have acted alone.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cops-probe-if-captured-maga-assassin-is-part-of-broader-network

Raw Story: Trump just went ‘two bridges too far even for MAGA’: ex-GOP strategist

Donald Trump’s latest actions amount to “two bridges too far even for a lot of MAGA folks,” according to a former Republican strategist on Saturday.

First, Wilson noted the “assault” of Senator Padilla, who was tackled while speaking out at a press conference for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

The second, Wilson said, was sending the Marines into LA.

After it was suggested that Republicans “lost their footing” when it comes to immigration, Wilson said, “I think Senator Padilla being assaulted, to my mind, and maybe you have another moment in the week you think is different, I think the Marines being deployed and Senator Padilla being assaulted, were two bridges too far even for a lot of MAGA folks.”

Wilson’s guest agreed, calling the assault a “flex of muscle” that will backfire on the administration.

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-two-bridges-rick-wilson

Daily Beast: Trump Turns Presidency Into His Cash Cow With $600M Haul

President Donald Trump has already made a small fortune off his second go-around as commander in chief.

An annual financial disclosure shows the Republican president’s crypto ventures, golf clubs, and resorts, as well as the large fees he collects from garish MAGA-branded merch, have helped him rake in more than $600 million in income last year, Reuters reported.

Overall, Reuters calculated that Trump’s combined assets totaled $1.6 billion, with his income feeding into the Trump Organization trust operated by his three eldest children—which some said allows him to skate the Constitution’s Emoluments clause, which bars the president from benefitting financially from the office.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-turns-presidency-into-his-cash-cow-with-600m-haul

Atlantic: In Minnesota, America’s Luck Ran Out

Early this morning, a gunman apparently impersonating a police officer targeted two Democratic Minnesota state lawmakers in their homes. First, he shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, who were seriously wounded. Law-enforcement officials believe the same gunman then shot Melissa Hortman, who served as Minnesota’s speaker of the house from 2019 to 2024. She was killed, along with her husband, Mark.

The perp was a die-hard MAGA maniac Trump supporter with hit list of 70 Democrats and abortion providers to be snuffed out.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/06/in-minnesota-americas-luck-ran-out/683194

Alternet: Trump’s ‘disturbing and unethical’ new rule allows discrimination against Dems and single women

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has long had strict anti-discrimination rules. A VA center cannot refuse to treat a veteran because he or she is Black, Jewish, a woman or Latino, for example.

But according to The Guardian’s Aaron Glantz, an executive order from President Donald Trump allows some forms of discrimination.

In an article published on June 16, Glantz explains, “Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law. Language requiring health care professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated.”

The executive order that Glantz references in his article was issued by Trump on January 30 and titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government.”

Glantz notes that the “primary purpose of” Trump’s executive order was “to strip most government protections from transgender people” but warned that its “far-reaching” effects could go way beyond that.

https://www.alternet.org/msn-uk/trumps-extremely-disturbing-and-unethical-va-rule-allows-for-far-reaching-discrimination

Raw Story: ‘Deep brain rot’: Ex-Republican blasts GOP over ‘deranged’ assassin theories

Former Republicans Tim Miller and MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace were incensed by the behavior of former colleagues over the assassination and threats to Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota over the weekend.

“I mean, all the way up to Elon Musk, richest man in the world, former shadow president, two United States senators, Mike Lee and Bernie Moreno, and a bunch of other very prominent right wing media folks, are still up until this moment, trying to claim that this person is a marxist. They invented some rationale that I guess one of the victims had voted against something that Gov. Tim Walz was pushing through with regards to health care for undocumented immigrants or something.”

“I mean, this is like a deep brain rot, and it is infecting all of their followers,” Miller said. “It’s infecting people all around the country.”

He noted that these kinds of statements only “incite people more.” By claiming the left is behind the violence is “radicalizing people more towards the victims.”

https://www.rawstory.com/minnesota-assassin

Alternet: ‘Theft and destruction’: Trump’s escalating self-dealing exposed in new report

The big lie:

During his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump insisted that if he defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, he would maintain a strict separation between his business activities and the White House. And one of MAGA Republicans’ talking points is that Trump cares so deeply about the United States that he was willing to step away from his business, put his son Eric Trump in charge of the Trump Organization, and take a hit financially in order to be president and “make American great again.”

The reality:

But in fact, President Trump’s net worth has increased substantially since 2016 and continues to increase. Trump, according to his critics, is monetizing his presidency in a wide range of ways,

The Guardian reporter continues, “He incurred numerous accusations of first-term conflicts of interest, as foreign officials from 20 countries descended on his hotels, while Secret Service agents in Trump’s security detail were made to pay premium rates, pouring at least $10m into his bank account. Such unprecedented disregard for time-honored ethical boundaries was shocking at the time. Now, it looks merely quaint.”

During his second term, Pilkington notes, Trump has monetized his presidency with everything from promoting Tesla vehicles to receiving a jet as a gift from the Qatari government.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) told The Guardian that Trump is operating a “pay-for-play presidency.” And Kathleen Clark, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, laments that Trump and his allies “have mastered the technique of flooding the zone” by “doing so much so fast that they are overwhelming the ability of ethics groups and institutions to respond.”

https://www.alternet.org/trump-grifter-guardian

Atlantic: The Shame of Trump’s Parade

Today’s events are another step in an ongoing effort to turn the U.S. military into a partisan—and personal—instrument of the president.

Today—250 years since the Continental Army officially formed to fight for the independence of the American colonies against the British monarchy—marks a milestone in President Donald Trump’s effort to politicize the U.S. military. Though they are rare, military parades have happened before in Washington, D.C. For the most part, these have been celebrations of military achievements, such as the end of a war. But today is also Trump’s birthday, and what he and his supporters have planned is a celebration of Trump himself.

A mark of a free society is that its public institutions, especially its military, represent the body politic and the freedom-enabling equal rights that structure civic life. If service members and the public begin to believe that the military is not neutral but is in fact the servant of MAGA, this will threaten the military’s legitimacy and increase the likelihood of violent conflict between the military and the public. Today’s events bring us one step closer to this disaster.

And a few lies, none of which are true:

The organizers have made it abundantly clear that today’s purpose is to directly laud Trump and his politics. In promotional materials, they tell us, “Under President Trump’s leadership, the Army has been restored to strength and readiness.” They credit his “America First agenda” for military pay increases, enlarged weapons stockpiles, new technologies, and improvements in recruitment, declaring that he has “ensured our soldiers have the tools and support they need to win on any battlefield.”

As the Trump-aggrandizing bullshit piles up:

Monica Crowley, the State Department’s chief of protocol and a former Fox News host, went on Steve Bannon’s podcast WarRoom to say that the concurrence of the U.S. Army’s anniversary and Trump’s birthday is “providential.” She called it “meant to be. Hand of God, for sure.” She added, “It is really a gift, and we want to be sure that we celebrate in a manner that is fitting, not just of this extraordinary president but of our extraordinary country.” She also expressed hope that the crowd would serenade the president with “Happy Birthday.” Clearly, Trump isn’t merely the guest of honor; he is the reason for the party.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/06/250th-anniversary-army-parade/683162

Esquire: Somehow Republicans Are Defending Kristi Noem After the Forceful Removal of Senator Alex Padilla

I thought assaulting someone holding federal office was a crime. Not anymore, apparently.

So, apparently we’re bum-rushing US senators now. From The Guardian:

In video taken of the incident that has since gone viral on social media, Padilla is seen being restrained and removed from the room by Secret Service agents.“I’m Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,” Padilla shouts, as he struggles to move past the men removing him from the premises. “Hands off!” he says at one point.Emerging afterward, Padilla, who is the ranking member of the judiciary subcommittee on immigration, citizenship and border safety, said he and his colleagues had repeatedly asked DHS for more information on its “increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions” but had not received a response to his inquiries.

This tinhorn governor of a state where nobody lives, this puppy-murdering hack whose political career outside of MAGA World was as dead as Custer, now gets to sic her black-shirted thugs on the senior senator of a state that she and her criminal boss and all their attendant lords have been lying about, and about which she had flown to Los Angeles to lie about some more.

Dumbass in a ballcap says what? She just admitted they’re blowing up the town to get rid of the mayor and governor. If the courts ever get their teeth back, this gaffe will figure prominently in many filings.

Meanwhile, Padilla is hauled into a backroom and driven to the floor and handcuffed.

And not for nothing, but threatening and/or assaulting the holder of any federal office is a felony and could draw you five to ten in the pokey. And these goons are pretty identifiable.

And, of course, the administration’s prevarication mill went into full operation almost instantly. From The New Republic via Yahoo:

In posts on X, the official DHS account and Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin released a statement attempting to justify wrestling Padilla to the ground and handcuffing him. “Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” the statement read.

Tricia learned to lie like this at the AEI’s Leadership Institute.

But in a video of the altercation from Padilla’s office, the senator could be heard clearly identifying himself. “Hands off! I’m Senator Alex Padilla, and I have questions for the secretary,” said the California Democrat as a security guard pushed him out of the room.

It’s clear that the goons looked at him and just saw another angry brown face. And by their reactions, Tricia and her boss are similarly afflicted.

This is also all my bollocks. Noem knows who Padilla is and, if she doesn’t, she should, and he did identify himself. Third-rate hack with a fourth-rate alibi.

And what about Speaker Moses? What did you expect?

That sanctimonious sumbitch wants Padilla censured. And he spent the afternoon hiding. If he’s a Christian, I’m an Ostrogoth.

The day was not without its burlesque, however. In a House Oversight Committee hearing, Rep. Maxwell Frost asked Chairman James (Jughead) Comer to issue a subpoena for Noem regarding the events of the day. Comer, of course, refused, probably because Padilla was not carrying Hunter Biden’s laptop at the time. And then we were off.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a65058840/senator-padilla-kristi-noem-james-comer-marjorie-taylor-greene

Alternate: Trump ‘made a mockery of all of us’: MAGA devotees revolt over foreign policy about-face

Politico reports President Donald Trump’s own MAGA devotees warned him of Israel’s penchant for military escalation. Now the retaliation is setting in.

“The White House claims it played no part in the strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities Thursday night,” says Politico. Tehran was even slated to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff over the weekend for peace talks, but now the U.S. is in a precarious place considering it unilaterally funds nearly a third of Israel’s military machine. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s strike also threatens to pull the U.S. deeper into Middle East conflict  to the chagrin of a huge swathe of Trump’s MAGA base.

Politico reports President Donald Trump’s own MAGA devotees warned him of Israel’s penchant for military escalation. Now the retaliation is setting in.

“The White House claims it played no part in the strikes on Tehran’s nuclear facilities Thursday night,” says Politico. Tehran was even slated to meet with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff over the weekend for peace talks, but now the U.S. is in a precarious place considering it unilaterally funds nearly a third of Israel’s military machine. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s strike also threatens to pull the U.S. deeper into Middle East conflict  to the chagrin of a huge swathe of Trump’s MAGA base.

You cast your lot with a tyrant; now you are getting what you paid for! 😀

https://www.alternet.org/trump/trump-made-a-mockery-of-all-of-us-maga-already-pouncing-trumps-weakness-over-strikes