MSNBC: Pro-Trump crypto bro Justin Sun embodied MAGA palm-greasing at Trump’s crypto soiree

The investor, who has put millions into the Trump family’s crypto company, reportedly left the president’s dinner with the prize of a gold watch.

The event was a private dinner with the president at Trump National Golf Club, where “investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP meme coin to secure their seats … with the top-25 holders spending more than $111 million,” Reuters reported, citing crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital. Reuters also cited an analysis that found the Trumps have made $320.19 million in fees from their meme coins.

And the person in the photo is Justin Sun, a MAGA-aligned crypto bro who said he was “awarded” what he identified as a “Trump Gold Tourbillon” (a Trump-branded watch that retails for $100,000). The White House didn’t immediately respond to MSNBC’s question as to whether the president actually gifted this watch to Sun.

His investments in Trump have been considerable — but, for him, arguably worthwhile. Sun has been in the news in the last few months because, after he plowed $75 million into Trump family crypto, per NBC News, the SEC put a 60-day pause on the charges of market manipulation and offering unregistered securities it had been pursuing against him since 2023. 

But to really catch the flavor of what’s happening, it’s these images of brazen wealth and intolerably open corruption that one would expect from a president dead-set on dragging the United States back to the Gilded Age, an era marked by immense wealth inequality and widespread corruption.

As Chris Hayes noted on “All In” on Thursday, the contrasting images of Trump that day — whipping votes for a House budget with deep cuts to social programs, such as food aid and health care, in the morning, and in the evening reportedly helicoptering into a ritzy and self-enriching dinner for a few minutes — is too glaring to ignore.

https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/justin-sun-white-house-crypto-trump-meme-coin-rcna208769

Daily Mail: Trump’s ‘ICE Barbie’ Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem sparks liberal meltdown with vulgar two-word post: ‘Best response ever’

Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem told a bunch of illegal migrants they can ‘suck it’ on Thursday after their lawsuit against the Homeland Security chief was voluntarily dropped.

The ACLU dropped the filing because several plaintiffs were already deported while others refused to keep the case going. 

That’s when [Bimbo #2] Noem – who has been dubbed ‘ICE Barbie’ for her garish wardrobe changes – delivered her savage two-word response.

‘Suck it,’ [Bimbo #2] Noem posted along with the notice of voluntary dismissal.  

… 

A more critical commenter compared [Bimbo #2] Noem’s comment to an embarrassing story from [Bimbo #2] Noem’s past. 

‘How unprofessional. But I don’t expect anything less from someone who shoots puppies,’ the user wrote, referencing a story [Bimbo #2] Noem told about shooting her dog. 

Don’t forget her poor goat — Bimbo #2 shot one of the family’s goats, too.

[Bimbo #2] Noem has been suffering from the perception she cares more about her glam image than fulfilling her responsibility to protect the homeland and crack down on illegal immigration

Bimbo #2 is as phony as a $3 bill — ill-mannered, uncouth, ignorant, and barely educated.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14741839/ICE-Barbie-Kristi-Noem-sparks-liberal-meltdown-vulgar-two-word-post.html

Salon: Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem’s proud MAGA bimbo act builds on the legacy of Sarah Palin

Does Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem know what habeas corpus is? One thing we know for certain: She would very much like Americans to believe she does not. On Tuesday, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used a Senate hearing to insist the legal term means the opposite of its actual definition. “Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right to,” [Bimbo #2] Noem said through her unnervingly Botox-inflated lips. She was interrupted by Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., who explained to a smug-looking [Bimbo #2] Noem that, no, habeas corpus “requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people” and is the reason it’s illegal for Donald Trump to round up immigrants and imprison them in foreign gulags without offering a legal reason why.

There was much mockery of [Bimbo #2] Noem for being so dumb in mainstream and left-leaning media, but notably, neither [Bimbo #2] Noem nor her allies have shown any shame or defensiveness about her alleged mistake. Whether [Bimbo #2] Noem comes by her confusion honestly or she was just play-acting, she’s there to play the role of the proud MAGA bimbo, in the grand tradition of figures like Sarah Palin.

The MAGA bimbo isn’t just ignorant. She’s contemptuous of people who actually know what they’re talking about, especially if those facts-laden human beings are fellow women.

https://www.salon.com/2025/05/23/kristi-noems-proud-maga-bimbo-act-builds-on-the-legacy-of-sarah-palin

Associated Press: Trump’s $600 million war chest: How he plans to wield his power in the midterms and beyond

Between a barrage of executive orders, foreign trips and norm-shattering proclamations, Donald Trump has also been busy raking in cash.

The president has amassed a war chest of at least $600 million in political donations heading into the midterm elections, according to three people familiar with the matter. It’s an unprecedented sum in modern politics, particularly for a lame-duck president who is barred by the U.S. Constitution from running again.

The only way for MAGA & King Donald to survive is to buy their way through the mid-term elections in 2026.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-fundraising-midterms-leverage-ccee4d19d5b41f08504370839fb36364

MSNBC: Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem is making the homeland less secure

The former governor is overseeing a vast machine dedicated to encroaching on rights that she may not even know Americans have.

Since her confirmation as secretary of homeland security in January, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem has appeared completely over her head at her new job. Most recently, when asked to define the legal principle of “habeas corpus,” the former South Dakota governor — one of the country’s top law enforcement officials — face-planted.

It was merely the latest in a string of embarrassments that underscores that America is less safe with [Bimbo #2] Noem assigned as its chief protector. [Bimbo #2] Noem’s department — hastily founded in a moment of fear — is charged with protecting the United States from threats both external and internal. With her focus turned almost exclusively toward executing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy at all costs, the Department of Homeland Security has become a threat to our rights and liberties — many of which [Bimbo #2] Noem apparently doesn’t even know Americans possess.

But her most Trumpian public relations efforts since she took office have backfired. [Bimbo #2] Noem has been roundly mocked for her costume choices in her interviews and for wearing full-face makeup when she has tagged along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The $50,000 Rolex flashing on her wrist while she posed in front of incarcerated men at a mega-prison in El Salvador smacked of callous cruelty. And the theft of her bag — along with $3,000 cash and her work badge — while she was sitting in a Washington restaurant was peak irony for a top security official.

She’s a top-notch bimbo — what else would you expect from a blithering fool?

Meanwhile, in the halls of Congress:

“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to … ,” [Bimbo #2] Noem responded before she was cut off by Hassan.

“That’s incorrect,” the senator said.

“Habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason,” Hassan said, calling it a “foundational right.”

“So Secretary [Bimbo #2] Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides, that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone?” she asked.

[Bimbo #2] Noem responded, “I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the president of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not.

The President has no such authority.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kristi-noem-habeas-corpus-senate-deportation-rcna208009

MSNBC: Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] is making the homeland less secure

The former governor is overseeing a vast machine dedicated to encroaching on rights that she may not even know Americans have.

Since her confirmation as secretary of homeland security in January, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem has appeared completely over her head at her new job. Most recently, when asked to define the legal principle of “habeas corpus,” the former South Dakota governor — one of the country’s top law enforcement officials — face-planted.

It was merely the latest in a string of embarrassments that underscores that America is less safe with Noem assigned as its chief protector. Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] department — hastily founded in a moment of fear — is charged with protecting the United States from threats both external and internal. With her focus turned almost exclusively toward executing President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policy at all costs, the Department of Homeland Security has become a threat to our rights and liberties — many of which Noem apparently doesn’t even know Americans possess.

… over the last few years, she has systematically recrafted herself as the perfect TV-ready simulacrum of a MAGA Cabinet member. Even though her state is nowhere near the border, as governor she glommed on to the right-wing anti-immigrant fervor. Even when Trump has been skeptical of her qualifications, as during her brief time on the shortlist to be his running mate last year, he has rewarded her loyalty to the cause.

But her most Trumpian public relations efforts since she took office have backfired. Noem has been roundly mocked for her costume choices in her interviews and for wearing full-face makeup when she has tagged along on Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The $50,000 Rolex flashing on her wrist while she posed in front of incarcerated men at a mega-prison in El Salvador smacked of callous cruelty. And the theft of her bag — along with $3,000 cash and her work badge — while she was sitting in a Washington restaurant was peak irony for a top security official.

But Noem’s [Bimbo #2’s] performance in front of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday underscored how truly ill-equipped she is for this moment — or, at least, for a job to keep Americans safe. While Noem [Bimbo #2] was testifying on Trump’s budget request for the upcoming year, Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., questioned her about the ancient right to challenge an arrest or imprisonment:

“Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country, and suspend their right to … ,” Noem responded before she was cut off by Hassan.

“That’s incorrect,” the senator said.

Yes, Kristi [Bimbo #2] Noem really is that stupid!

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kristi-noem-habeas-corpus-senate-deportation-rcna208009

The Times: James Comey on Trump: ‘He’s the monster in a horror sequel’

The former FBI director was sacked in 2017, four months into Donald Trump’s first term of office. Now James Comey is at the centre of an extraordinary row about his ‘86 47’ Instagram post

When I speak to James Comey about his past battles with Donald Trump, the state of America and his new novel about free speech and its consequences, the former director of the FBI is on holiday at the beach. He is in a relaxed mood, with no reason to suspect that within hours he will be engulfed in a fresh storm.

Comey, who was sacked by Trump in his first term in dramatic circumstances, had warned before the election that the idea of Donald back in the White House “bent on retribution and destroying the system is chilling”. So I ask if he had experienced any of that retribution.

“Well, not in Trump 2.0. But with the interviews I’m doing around the launch of this book, maybe I’ll get my own executive order. We’ll see,” he says lightly. “I dealt with most of my retribution in Trump 1.0, where I was investigated repeatedly. I had the most aggressive tax audit imaginable, and they ended up owing me $347, but it cost me thousands of dollars to get to that. I went through it in Trump 1.0. I was on the enemies list before there was an enemies list. Nothing so far in 2.0, but it’s early yet.”

A few hours later, he is under investigation by the Trump administration and the Maga world is alight with calls for his arrest and jailing. This comes as a consequence of a walk on the beach and a photograph posted to Instagram — then quickly deleted — of some shells arranged to form the numbers “86 47”.

https://www.thetimes.com/us/american-politics/article/james-comey-fbi-interview-donald-trump-monster-in-horror-sequel-sbgd9t60g

Newsweek: Why do MAGA Republicans hate Europe?

In May 1988, Republican President Ronald Reagan spoke from the Oval Office in an address not targeted at the American people, but the citizens of Western Europe. The president was planning a trip to meet with Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and wanted to make his commitment to Europe clear.

Staring directly at the camera, Reagan said: “Shared [moral] standards and beliefs tie us to Europe today. They are the essence of the community of free nations to which we belong.”

Thirty years later, in July 2018, while sitting for an interview with CBS at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, Republican President Donald Trump was asked to name America’s top global foe. “Well, I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump said. “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union, but they’re a foe.”

https://www.newsweek.com/maga-republicans-donald-trump-jd-vance-europe-2071814

Independent: Trump posts fake video of him hitting Bruce Springsteen with a golf ball as their spat grows

The president has fiercely criticized Bruce Springsteen after the rocker called his administration ‘corrupt’

President Donald Trump has posted a fake video of him hitting a golf ball at singer Bruce Springsteen amid a tense public feud.

Trump posted a video to Truth Social Wednesday showing real footage of him and Springsteen that has been manipulated to depict the president striking the rock star with a golf stroke.

This immature child is our president? If Springsteen had posted a video of him striking Trump with a golf stroke, the Secret Service would be on his case investigating him.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/trump-bruce-springsteen-golf-ai-video-b2755425.html

New Republic: Transcript: Trump’s Threats to Defy Courts Suddenly Get More Dangerous

As Trump’s intent to override the courts gets more obvious, a legal commentator who closely observes MAGA lawlessness explains why the Trump-MAGA strategy here is darker than you thought.

This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.

President Donald Trump is very unhappy with how things went at the Supreme Court when it comes to his effort to end birthright citizenship. He uncorked two angry epic tirades about the High Court, essentially putting it on notice that it had better rule his way on this and other matters coming before it or else. This may look like typical Trumpian bullying and threats, but we think there’s a game going on here that people are missing. It’s that Trump is, in a very real sense, playing chicken with the Supreme Court. He’s trying to bluff the justices into constraining themselves from putting limits on Trump’s power. We’re going to explore how this really works today with one of our favorite legal commentators, Matthew Seligman, a fellow at Stanford Law School.

Best to click on the link and read the dialogue:

https://newrepublic.com/article/195392/transcript-trump-threats-defy-courts-suddenly-get-dangerous