Trump lashed out at the New York Times and branded a reporter “ugly” after they had the stones to acknowledge he is nearly 80 years old and can’t do as much as he used to
If you were hoping Donald Trump would just have a nice, quiet Thanksgiving break, leaving his vendettas and mad urges on the shelf for a couple of quiet days with family, you haven’t been paying attention. The Devil makes work for idle hands, after all. So while Americans put their feet up, Trump has been Truth Socalling about the failing New York Times pointing out he’s nearly 80 and acting like it, musing about whether to send his son-in-law to Russia and throwing Karoline Leavitt’s relatives in immigration detention.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Trump lashes out over “tired” claims
- He floats a new name for his supporters
- Drops hints about invading Venezuela
- Vivek Ramaswami floats such a mad policy his party think he’s AI
- Mum of Leavitt’s nephew swarmed by ICE
Here’s everything you need to know
1. Trump lashes out at New York Times – and reporter who questioned his health
Last night the New York Times published a story suggesting – and backing up with evidence – that Trump, 79, was showing signs of ageing and fatigue. It noted that although he is taking more foreign trips, he has fewer public events on his schedule than in the first year of his first term. He is travelling domestically much less, and keeps a shorter daily public schedule. And it noted he often spends Oval Office events sitting down, and even then seems drowsy and to be staving off sleep.
Anyway, none of that went down well with Trump, as you might expect.
“The Creeps at the Failing New York Times are at it again. I won the 2024 Presidential Election in a Landslide, winning all Seven Swing States, the Popular Vote, and the Electoral College by a lot,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I won our Nation’s Districts by 2750 to 550, a complete wipeout. I settled 8 Wars, have 48 New Stock Market Highs, our Economy is Great, and our Country is RESPECTED AGAIN all over the World, respected like never before. The last Administration had the Highest Inflation in history – I have already brought that down to normal, and prices, including groceries, are coming down.
“To do this requires a lot of Work and Energy, and I have never worked so hard in my life. Yet despite all of this the Radical Left Lunatics in the soon to fold New York Times did a hit piece on me that I am perhaps losing my Energy, despite facts that show the exact opposite. They know this is wrong, as is almost every thing that they write about me, including election results, ALL PURPOSELY NEGATIVE. This cheap “RAG” is truly an “ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE.””
He went on to insult the appearance of the reporter behind the story, by name.
“The writer of the story, Katie Rogers, who is assigned to write only bad things about me, is a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out. Despite all of this, I have my highest Poll Numbers, ever, and with record setting investment being made in America, they should only go up. There will be a day when I run low on Energy, it happens to everyone, but with a PERFECT PHYSICAL EXAM AND A COMPREHENSIVE COGNITIVE TEST (“That was aced”) JUST RECENTLY TAKEN, it certainly is not now! GOD BLESS AMERICA & MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
2. Trump toys with a new name for his supporters
“There is a new word for a TRUMP REPUBLICAN, which is almost everyone (GREAT POLICY IS THE KEY!)” Trump mused on Truth social this afternoon. “Is it TEPUBLICAN??? Or, TPUBLICAN???”
Answers on a postcard.
3. Trump drops hints about invading Venezuela
Trump was asked whether he planned to speak to Venezuelan President tk Maduro – and he said he “might.” It was pointed out to him that the US had officially designated Maduro the head of a Foreign terrorist organisation, yet Trump repeated yes, he would probably speak to him. “If we can save lives,” he said. “If we can do things the easy way, that’s fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, that’s fine, too.” Asked what his goal for Venezuela was, he said: “I’m not going to tell you what the goal is. You should probably know what the goal is.”
4. He defended ousted Comey prosecutor – and said he still has ‘options’
Asked whether he still had faith in Lindsey Halligan, the former insurance lawyer Trump illegally installed as prosecutor in his revenge court cases against ex-FBI director James Comey and Letitia James, who prosecuted Trump during his first term, he said “Oh, she’s great.”
He added: “I think she’s great. They got out on a technicality, and you’ll see what happens from here on. But if you look at the actual charges, I think anybody that looks at it very fairly would say, boy, are they guilty. So let’s see what happens over the next week. You know, the court didn’t say you couldn’t bring the case, re-bring the case, or appeal the case. So they have a lot of options. They’re going to call that shot. I’m not calling that shot. But Lindsay is a very talented lawyer.”
5. Witkoff coached Putin aide on how to sell Ukraine deal to Trump
An extraordinary story from Bloomberg broke overnight, including a transcript of Trump’s real estate buddy turned globetrotting diplomat apparently coaching a top Putin aide on how to sell the Ukraine deal to the US President.
Envoy Steve Witkoff advised Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him and praise him for the Gaza peace deal. Trump later described Witkoff’s approach as “standard” in negotiations, which it absolutely is not.
“I haven’t heard it, no,” Trump said on Air Force One. “But that’s a standard thing, you know, because he’s got to sell this to Ukraine. He’s got to sell Ukraine to Russia. That’s what a dealmaker does. You’ve got to say, “Look, they want this, you’ve got to convince them of this.” You know, that’s a very standard form of negotiation. I haven’t heard it, but I heard it was standard negotiation. And I would imagine he’s saying the same thing to Ukraine, because each party has to give and take.”
6. Jared might be going too for some reason
If you’re asked what the next step is in anything, the answer should almost never be “Send Jared Kushner to help”. But what do you know? That’s exactly what Trump did. “They’re talking to Russia now,” he said. “Witkoff is going over, maybe with Jared – I’m not sure about Jared going, but he’s involved in the process. Smart guy. And they’re going to be meeting with President Putin, I believe, next week in Moscow.”
7. Vivek Ramaswamy came up with polices so stupid his own party thought they must be AI
Vivek Ramaswamy, who many will remember for running in the 2024 Republican primaries, is now running for governor of Ohio next year. Last night he published a video with a string of policy ideas – one of them being keeping schools open all the year round, and extending their hours from 3-4pm in the evening. Some people on the internet, including his Democrat opponent Amy Acton, singled out the idea – which would be hugely expensive and not very practical. And then it got weird. Far-right influencer Tim Pool claimed the video was AI, and others including fellow MAGA influencer Austin Padgett – who claimed it was “probably the most successful example of a political deepfake I’ve seen so far.” Unfortunately the only person who manipulated Ramaswamy’s footage was Vivek himself. The video was real – but he’d gone back in and snipped out the section on year round schooling, let he be unveiled as a madman.
8. Awakward Thanksgiving for the Leavitt Family
The mother of Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew has been detained by ICE, because she has overstayed on her visa. Bruno Ferreira, who has a child with Leavitt’s brother Michael, is from Brazil but migrated to the Boston area when she was a child. She’s now in ICE custody in Louisiana. Their son, Michael Leavitt Jr is 11 years old. She was “swarmed” after leaving home to pick her son up from school. Her sister, Graziela Dos Santos Rodrigues, told the Boston Globe: “”They were not the most gentle with her. I’m sure my sister was terrified, frantic. She’s been here since she was six years old. She’s more American than she is anything else. I’m sure she tried to just use whatever she could come up with in the moment. However, it didn’t really help very much.” A White House source said: “This individual is the mother of Karoline’s nephew and they have not spoken in many years. The child has lived full time in New Hampshire with his father since he was born. He has never resided with his mother.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said: “ICE arrested Bruna Caroline Ferreria [sic], a criminal illegal alien from Brazil. She has a previous arrest for battery. She entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to depart the US by 6 June 1999. She is currently at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center and is in removal proceedings.” They added: “Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation.”