Fox News were last night scrambling to paint Donald Trump’s tendency of dropping off during meetings as a sign of genius. Meanwhile a Trump-backed candidate won a by-election…but only just
Donald Trump is set to make an announcement today which could really tick off Elon Musk, even after the feud between the two world-class weirdos seemed to be cooling. It’s been reported Trump is planning to roll back Joe Biden’s changes to fuel economy standards in an Oval Office event tonight. Assuming, that is, he can keep his eyes open for the duration, which seems to increasingly be a problem for the President. Biden’s changes were introduced in a bid to stimulate the sale of electric vehicles in the US – something Musk is very much in favour of. Trump, not so much. He likes a gas guzzler, and has vowed to roll back basically all government support for the Electric Vehicle industry – the biggest recipient of which is Musk’s Tesla.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- Sleepy Don’s racist rant
- Pete Hegseth can’t catch a break
- Green Card applications paused
- Pop icon savages ICE vid
Here’s everything you ned to know
1. Pete Hegseth just can’t catch a break.
“SSecretary of War” Pete Hegseth remains under scrutiny over claims he ordered what could amount to a war crime during a strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September. And now a blast from the past has reared up to cause him – at the very least – quite some embarrassment. Remember Signalgate? The time Hegseth and various other senior White House officials discussed operational details of a US military strike in Yemen over Signal, a privacy focused but very much not government-grade secure messaging app. And we know this because one member accidentally invited the editor of the Atlantic into the chat. That member, then-National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, was swiftly reassigned to be Ambassador to the United Nations – probably the most humiliating “promotion” available, given it’s an Ambassadorship which doesn’t involve moving to a country more exotic than midtown Manhattan. Well, the report of an eight-month long investigation into the debacle was delivered to Hegseth yesterday – and the redacted version will be published within days.
2. Trump pauses all green card applications for people from list of countries
Trump followed through on his pledge to crack down on legal immigration to the US from countries he doesn’t like the look of last night.
The Trump Administration announced a “pause” on all green card applications and naturalisations submitted by people from the 19 countries under Trump’s travel ban.
It’s worth noting that while Somalia is on the list, pausing applications for people of Somali heritage is unlikely to have the effect Trump is hoping for, given the vast majority of people of Somali heritage in the US already hold citizenship.
The full list of countries is:
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
3. Sleepy Don
Donald Trump appeared to repeatedly doze off during last night’s cabinet meeting, as his top team took turns to shower him with gushing praise.
The President – who delighted in branding his predecessor Joe Biden “sleepy” – seemed a bit somnambular himself.
His eyes drooped shut and he frequently leaned forward, apparently close to falling asleep at the Cabinet table.
Trump, 79, has repeatedly appeared snoozy at events and meetings – many of which are live streamed by the White House.
Early in the meeting, which at the time of writing had gone on for more than an hour, Trump complained about reporting on his physical and mental condition, insisting “Trump is sharp”.
At one point he closed his eyes for an extended period while Marco Rubio waxed lyrical sitting right next to him. It was quite alarming.
4. Fox News tried to spin it into a sign of genius
The cloud of copium billowing out of the Fox News studio could be seen from space last night, as Laura Ingram and guest Dr Mark Siegel tried to make out repeatedly dropping off in the middle of a meeting was a sign of genius.
“We all know he doesn’t sleep,” Ingram said. “I’m not a big sleeper either. On occasion, I close my eyes if someone is talking too long. Big deal. The results speak for themselves. If you sleep 3-4 hours a night, you’re probably going to close your eyes.”
Siegel added, preposterously: “Edison believed in the ten minute nap. What would they say? We wouldn’t have electricity.”
5. The indignity of it
There were many notable moments of awfulness at last night’s cabinet meeting, but few can compare to the “screw it, it’ll do” vibes of printing out Pete Hegseth’s name card with a very obvious typo on it and just putting it out anyway.
6. This is somehow not a parody
If you were wondering whether I exaggerated about Trump’s cabinet meetings being an exercise of going round the table to see who can most fanatically glaze him, I enter into the record this moment from last night’s epic.
“You made it through the hurricane season without a hurricane,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristy Noem said to Trump. “You kept the hurricanes away. We appreciate that.”
7. Trump closed the meeting by being super, super racist for quite a long time
Trump unleashed probably his most racist rant since returning to office, referring to an entire group – and specifically a member of congress – as “garbage”.
The President has been launching attacks on people of Somali heritage in Minnesota. The state has the country’s biggest Somali heritage community – though it is still just 1.7% of the state’s population. Around 95% of Somali-heritage people in Minnesota are US citizens, either naturalised or by birth. But Trump has become increasingly enraged, launching attacks on the community on a daily basis.
“They contribute nothing,” Trump said. “The welfare is like 88% or something. They contribute nothing. I don’t want them in our country. Some would say that’s politically incorrect, I don’t care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Your country stinks and we don’t want them in our country.” He went on: “Our country is at a tipping point. We could go one way or the other. We’re gonna go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage into our country. Ilhan Omar is garbage. She’s garbage. Her friends are garbage. These aren’t people that work. These aren’t people who say come on, let’s make this place great. These are people who do nothing but complain. And from where they came from, they got nothing.”
8. Sabrina Carpenter must be protected at all costs
In case anyone was looking for a reason to love Sabrina Carpenter more, last night she tore the White House a new one for using one of her songs in a video of ICE deportations. Responding to the use of her song “Juno” in a video montage depicting ICE raids, Carpenter tweeted: “This video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.” In the caption for the clip, the White House quoted Carpenter’s lyrics, “Have you ever tried this one? Bye-bye.”
9. Trump-backed candidate wins by-election, but only just
There was a “special election” in Tennessee last night, to replace Republican congressman Mark Green, who departed to take a job in the private sector.
Matt Van Epps, the Republican candidate, upon whom Trump had smiled with a string of virtual campaign events, beat Democrat Aftyn Behn by 54% to 45%. Which looks like a pretty solid win, no?
Well, no. Of course, a win’s a win, and means Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson get to enjoy the same slim majority of two votes in the House that they had the day of the election. But Tennessee is a ruby-red state, and Republicans won the district by 22 points in November. If this swing to the Democrats was replicated nationwide, we’d be looking at an absolute wave of blue across the country in next year’s midterms.
10. Trump re-announces the tearing up of Biden’s orders
Trump posted on Truth Social last night, claiming “any and all Documents, Proclamations, Executive Orders, Memorandums, or Contracts, signed by Order of the now infamous and unauthorised “AUTOPEN,” within the Administration of Joseph R. Biden Jr., are hereby null, void, and of no further force or effect.” He went on: “Anyone receiving “Pardons,” “Commutations,” or any other Legal Document so signed, please be advised that said Document has been fully and completely terminated, and is of no Legal effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” All of which is very much familiar, since he posted an almost identical “announcement” last week, also on Truth Social. And if any of it were true, he wouldn’t have had to post it twice.
As we noted at the time, scrapping any of the above would require another Executive Order from Trump – but would almost certainly attract the attention of the courts.