Donald Trump

The Guardian -   Donald Trump is throwing himself quite the 80th birthday party at the White House on Sunday. All he needs now is for a federal judge, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and a passing thunderstorm not to ruin it.

The watchdog group Public Integrity Project filed a lawsuit on Saturday in DC federal court, seeking an emergency injunction to halt the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Freedom 250 event before a single punch is thrown on 14 June – which is both Flag Day and the president’s birthday.

The case names the National Park Service and Department of the Interior as defendants, arguing the administration has broken multiple federal laws to accommodate what it describes as a “deeply corrupt” private commercial sporting event dressed up as a patriotic celebration.

While 4,300 military personnel are expected to be in attendance, nearly every celebrity Dana White, the UFC president, told Time magazine he had personally invited – including Johnson, Adam Sandler and Jared Leto – has reportedly declined. The event remains a coveted ticket among Washington power brokers, with donors, lobbyists and members of Congress jostling for seats.

Time -  President Donald Trump was hailed with a chorus of boos on Monday night while attending Game 3 of the NBA finals to watch his hometown New York Knicks face off against the San Antonio Spurs. Trump—the first sitting president to attend an NBA finals game—went as the guest of Knicks owner James Dolan, a long-time friend of the President who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his presidential campaigns. The Knicks ended up losing to the Spurs 115-111 in the third game of the best-of-seven series, which the Knicks lead by two games to one.

Alternet -   President Donald Trump stormed out of an interview with NBC News this weekend after being pushed on false claims, and according to a certified speech pathologist, there might very well have been a dementia warning sign hidden in his explosive reaction.

On Sunday, NBC's Meet the Press released a sit-down interview with Trump conducted by Kristin Welker, in which the president became increasingly frustrated over tough questions. In particular, Welker pushed back on Trump's attempt to reiterate his false claims about elections in the U.S. being rigged, which he has made since losing the 2020 presidential race, and has rehashed this week as Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt lost a spot in the general election.

When Welker pressed him for evidence of these claims, which he has never been able to provide, he chastised her as either "crooked" or "stupid" and stormed out of the interview early. This prompted many shocked reactions from observers, with an MS NOW piece calling it the beginning of the end of his credibility as president, and CNN media analyst Brian Stelter calling it "one of the wildest interviews with President Trump that I've ever seen."

PS: Welker and Undernews editor Sam Smith both went to Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia.

MS NOW -  Trump’s latest ‘voter fraud’ claims may backfire on him in the fall The pushback against his claims about California’s primaries will inoculate the public against similar unsupported charges in November’s midterms.

The Guardian -   Donald Trump is “inventing fraud” in California’s primary elections, and likely to ramp up unfounded allegations when more races go against him, pro-democracy experts have warned. While the US president has used this playbook for years – from his loss at the Emmys as a reality TV star to his defeat in the 2020 presidential election – election integrity campaigners fear this time could be different.

“California’s election is not the problem here,” said Omar Noureldin, senior vice-president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, a pro-democracy watchdog group. “The problem is that we have a president in the Oval Office who continues to lie and sow doubt over elections instead of facing accountability from voters.”

Trump lost his cool after a journalist pushed back on his latest attempt to sow doubt in election results, storming out of a Meet the Press interview which aired this weekend.

The outburst showcased a feature of Trump’s approach if results don’t go his way: he quickly declares them rigged, rallying his supporters and rightwing media to spread similar messages. California is the latest – and largest – test of this technique in this election cycle.

This year’s midterms will serve as an example of how the president will wield the federal government’s power at cities and states in a crusade to ensure his party maintains power.