Donald Trump

Headquarters

 - Republicans have introduced the following bills to honor Donald Trump: — Carve Trump’s face into Mount Rushmore — Replace Benjamin Franklin with Trump on $100 bills — Make Trump’s birthday a national holiday — Conduct “Trump Derangement Syndrome” research at the NIH — Give Trump a “Congressional Gold Medal” — Mint a $250 bill featuring Trump’s face — A resolution saying Trump deserves a Nobel Peace Prize — Rename Washington, DC public transit from WMATA to “WMAGA” — Award a “Donald J. Trump Peace Prize” from the State Department — Honor Trump’s efforts to annex Greenland — Rename the Kennedy Center the "Donald Trump Center for the Performing Arts" — Rename Dulles International Airport to the “Donald J. Trump International Airport” — Erase Trump’s 2019 impeachment — Erase Trump’s 2021 impeachment

New Republic - Donald Trump’s erratic behavior has gotten him exiled from critical peace negotiations with Iran. The president was removed from such talks by his own aides last month, who feared that his unpredictable style could hamper the discussions, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

The decision was informed by the president’s behavior during the search and rescue operation for the aircrew of the downed F-15 fighter jet late last month, when the president reportedly screamed at his aides for hours.* As a result, his aides “kept the president out of the room as they got minute-by-minute updates because they believed his impatience wouldn’t be helpful, instead updating him at meaningful moments,” a senior administration official told the Journal.

Shortly after the second airman was recovered, the president was back to beating his chest. In a rapid-fire series of hair-raising Truth Social posts on Easter morning, Trump pledged he would completely annihilate Iranian civilization within a couple of days. He was reportedly under the impression that appearing unstable would spur Tehran to negotiate, according to the Journal.

Alternet -   While the financing of President Donald Trump’s planned $400 million White House ballroom has been shrouded in mystery for months, government watchdog Public Citizen has obtained important new information about the project’s funding.

Public Citizen on Tuesday unveiled a copy of the funding agreement the Trump administration has used for the ballroom project after months of legal wrangling that forced the group to file a lawsuit to compel enforcement of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request it made last year.

As summarized by The Washington Post, the ballroom contract’s provisions “allow wealthy donors with business before the federal government to contribute anonymously to a sitting president’s pet project, while exempting the White House from key conflict of interest safeguards and limiting scrutiny by Congress and the public.”

While dozens of big-name corporate donors—including Amazon, Apple, Lockheed Martin, Google, Altria, and Union Pacific Railroad—have been public about their donations to the project, the fact that some donors can choose to remain anonymous is raising serious concerns among ethics experts.

Charles Tiefer, a retired law professor at the University of Baltimore with a long history of scrutinizing government contracts, told the Post that the contract’s anonymity provisions could give the Trump administration an escape hatch from future congressional scrutiny.

“If Congress knocks on the door,” Tiefer said, “the White House is going to slam it shut and say, ‘You’re not allowed to know these donors.’”