MAGA Hats and Middle Fingers <\/p>\n
Louisiana Gov. Brad Landry (R) took a break from throwing out tens of thousands of his constituents\u2019 votes this week to take a little foray to Greenland, the off-and-on target of President Donald Trump\u2019s imperialistic whims.<\/p>\n
Predictably, the locals did not take kindly to the special envoy\u2019s visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One woman followed his entourage, reportedly<\/a> yelling at him to \u201cgo home.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In another episode that is physically uncomfortable to watch, a little boy asked whether Landry is famous. When Landry offered to take a photo with him, the boy said<\/a> no.\u00a0<\/p>\n His offer of MAGA hats to local children was reportedly rebuffed<\/a>, and he was greeted by at least one middle finger.\u00a0<\/p>\n He vented by lashing out at the journalists covering his trip, berating them for not giving Trump adequate credit for being the first president to pay attention to Greenland. That the attention was solely rapacious, he did not mention.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWho cares more about Greenlanders than the Trump administration and the president? Because it seems that before the president, no one cared,\u201d Landry exclaimed<\/a> to the scrum.<\/p>\n While Trump has backed off (read: gotten distracted from) his desire to take Greenland by conquest, the United States is demanding a permanent installation of troops, veto power over major investments on the island and a share in the country\u2019s natural resources, per the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kate Riga<\/p>\n Jan 6 Police Officers Sue Trump, Blanche and Bessent Over Slush Fund<\/p>\n Two members of law enforcement, former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Officer Daniel Hodges of Washington\u2019s Metropolitan Police, sued Trump and two other administration officials in an attempt to block the creation of the $1.776 billion \u201canti-weaponization fund\u201d that will ultimately serve as a slush fund to reward rioters and far-right militia groups that stormed the Capitol for President Trump on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century, President Donald J. Trump has created a $1.776 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/a> \u201cThe fund, styled the \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund,\u201d is illegal. No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law.\u201d <\/p>\n The lawsuit argues that the creation of the fund puts the lives of Dunn and Hodges in danger and claims that the Trump administration officials named as defendants \u2014 President Trump, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent \u2014 exceeded their statutory authority in creating the fund without the approval of Congress. <\/p>\n \u201cAlthough Trump and his cronies have been secretive about the fund\u2019s ends, reporting leaves no doubt that it will be used, among other purposes, to pay the nearly 1,600 people charged with attacking the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021,\u201d the lawsuit says.<\/p>\n Dunn and Hodges both testified before the House January 6 Select Committee as it was investigating the insurrection and Trump\u2019s role in inciting it. They described the violence they witnessed from the mob of Trump supporters that day as it breached the Capitol. The lawsuit also outlines the violence they endured personally, including photos of Hodges being \u201cnearly crushed by rioters in a Capitol door.\u201d Both have faced \u201ca series of credible death threats\u201d ever since their testimony, according to the lawsuit. (Dunn is also running as a Democrat for Congress in Maryland.)<\/p>\n While Blanche has not denied that Jan. 6 rioters and members of the militia group that stormed the Capitol that day could technically apply for compensation through the anti-weaponization fund, both he and Vice President JD Vance were skittish <\/a>about directly answering public questions about whether those who assaulted police officers would be entitled to compensation. Context, per the Times<\/a>:<\/p>\n More than 150 officers were\u00a0injured during the violence\u00a0on Jan. 6. Some were hit in the head with baseball bats, flagpoles and pipes. One lost consciousness after rioters used a metal barrier to push her down as they marched to the building.<\/p>\n \u2014 Nicole LaFond<\/p>\n Trump Wants Senate Parliamentarian Punished<\/p>\n Even though several Republican members of Congress have publicly expressed concerns about shoving an additional $1 billion in White House and Secret Service security funding, related to Trump\u2019s ballroom, into the upcoming reconciliation package, Trump is lashing out at the Senate Parliamentarian this week, blaming her for the legislation\u2019s possible demise. Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined this week that Republicans could not include that funding in the reconciliation package under Senate rules. The package is meant to try to address a handful of Trump\u2019s legislative priorities, including three years of no-strings-attached funding for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cShockingly, Republicans have kept the very important position of \u2018Parliamentarian\u2019 in the hands of a woman, Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed, long ago, by Barack Hussein Obama and a vicious Lunatic known as Senator Harry Reid, who ran the Senate for the Dumocrats with an \u2018iron fist,\u2019\u201d\u00a0Trump posted on Truth Social Wednesday.\u00a0\u201cOver the years, she has been brutal to Republicans, but not so to the Dumocrats \u2014 So why has she not been replaced?\u201d<\/p>\n Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) gave a rather bleak response to Trump\u2019s calls for her replacement, acknowledging that whether or not the ballroom funding passes is less about the parliamentarian and more about whether his caucus will support it, and suggesting that she would be kept safe after Trump\u2019s public attacks on her. Per Politico<\/a>:<\/p>\n Speaking with reporters Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota observed that it\u2019s not the first time Trump has made such a demand, adding that while \u201cthere may be some issues related to the parliamentarian, but most of the issues we have here are votes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s, I guess, his opinion. But that would create even more vote issues here if we were to try and do something like that. So we\u2019ll make sure that everybody has got security around here,\u201d Thune said, referring to concerns that MacDonough could be targeted after Trump\u2019s broadside.<\/p>\n \u2014 Nicole LaFond<\/p>\n In Case You Missed It<\/p>\n NEW from Khaya Himmelman and Josh Kovensky: Election Denialists Claim They Are Laying the Groundwork for a DOJ Probe of Michigan<\/a><\/p>\n Morning Memo: What Will Drop Next in the Corrupt Trump-IRS Deal?<\/a><\/p>\n ICYMI last night: An Ultra-MAGA Rep. and a Kemp-Backed Football Coach Fight to Face Ossoff<\/a><\/p>\n Raffensperger, Who Wouldn\u2019t Steal Election For Trump, Loses Governor Race to Two Election Denialists<\/a><\/p>\n Yesterday\u2019s Most Read Story<\/p>\n Reading the Ken Paxton-Trump Tea Leaves<\/a><\/p>\n What We Are Reading<\/p>\n The Real Reason Thomas Massie Lost<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump officials say they can build 250-foot arch without Congress\u2019s okay<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n