This weekend will probably go down as one of the weirdest of Donald Trump’s second presidency. It started with him getting a made-up peace prize from his mate who owns FIFA, and it will end with him handing out a medal to Frank Spencer
As the Arctic Monkeys once sagely noted, it’s all gone a bit Frank Spencer. This weekend will probably go down as one of the weirdest of Donald Trump’s second presidency. It started with him getting a made-up peace prize from his mate who owns FIFA, and it will end with him handing out a medal to Kiss, Rocky and the Phantom of the Opera. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read on, you’re in for a treat. Or the need for an extra session with a therapist. Probably the latter
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- FIFA threw Trump a spoiled toddler’s birthday party
- He ended a crucial vaccine for babies
- A judge ordered more Epstein docs released
- Trump replaced MLK Jr Day with his own birthday
- And he’s about to give Frank Spencer a medal
Here’s what you need to know this weekend
1. Trump ends Hepatitis B vaccine for babies
Trump posted on Truth Social last night applauding the decision by his nobbled Centers for Disease Control Vaccine Committee to end the recommendation for babies to be given a vaccine against Hepatitis B. In his post, Trump claimed the vast majority of babies are at “NO RISK of Hepatitis B, a disease that is mostly transmitted sexually or through dirty needles.” Which is half true… Most babies are at no risk of Hep B…unless their mother has Hep B, at which the risk of transmission in childbirth can be as high as 70%-80%. Hep B contracted in childbirth can usually be treated pretty well …with a prompt dose of the vaccine, which is otherwise harmless. OK then, you might think, why not just give the vaccine to babies born to people with Hep B? Well, because at least 50% of people with Hep B in the US are undiagnosed and unaware that they have it. It’s often asymptomatic, and testing isn’t routine. Unless you’re a baby, that is. If you catch it when you’re a baby, there’s a high risk of developing chronic Hep B, which can lead to severe liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and premature death. He also went on to repeat some more of the nonsense he’s been fed by his anti-vaxxer Health Secretary, RFK Jr – claiming “perfectly healthy babies” are forced to have “72 jabs” as part of the American Childhood Vaccine Schedule. In reality, the recommended vaccination schedule includes 72 doses – but that’s up to the age of 18 years. That figure also includes annual doses of the flu and Covid jabs. The number of doses – including flu shots – given to babies under two is a much more understandable 28. And many of those are combined into multi-vaccine jabs to stop kids getting poked too much.
Trump, on the other hand, is suggesting elsewhere that kids getting the safe MMR jab should have it as separate injections – an option not widely available in the US. Which would mean kids got more jabs, not fewer.
2. Trump gets an extra treat from FIFA
Not satisfied with already giving him a made-up peace prize and a participation medal, and getting his favourite living opera singer – Andrea Bocelli to perform at the World Cup draw to butter him up, the event ended with an extra special treat for the President. That’s right, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino booked the Village People to play YMCA at the end of the event.
It truly couldn’t have been more ‘spoiled child’s birthday party’ if it had been held at a provincial McDonalds.
Also, anyone else remember when FIFA wouldn’t let footballers wear poppies and rainbow armbands so as not to infect the beautiful game with politics?
3. Federal judge orders Epstein transcripts released
A judge has ordered the release of transcripts of the grand jury hearings from the sex trafficking cases of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
US District Judge Rodney Smith said a recently passed law ordering the release of records related to the cases overrode a federal rule prohibiting the release of matters before a grand jury.
4. Trump replaces MLK Day celebration with his own birthday
Every year, America’s National Parks offer free entry on a string of national holidays. The free-entry days include Martin Luther King Jr Day, on the third Monday of January, and Juneteenth, a federal holiday on June 19th to celebrate the end of slavery in the US. Or at least, they used to. According to SFGate, the Trump administration has scrubbed both of those days from the list. And they’ve added…Trump’s birthday on June 14th.
Also removed were National Public Lands Day and the annversary of the Great American Outdoors Act.
5. Ice raids target Somali people after Trump’s racist rants
ICE says it arrested 12 people in Minneapolis as part – including five originally from Somalia. It comes after Trump targeted people of Somali heritage in openly racist rants. About 95% of the Somali population in Minnesota are US citizens either by birth or naturalisation. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday that the people arrested are six from Mexico, five from Somalia and one from El Salvador. ICE said in a statement that eight of them had been charged or convicted of crimes including assault, fraud, domestic violence and driving under the influence.
6. Trump gears up to give Frank Spencer a gong
The Kennedy Center, the Washington cultural centre of which Trump seized control in the opening weeks of his second Presidency, will give out its annual awards over the next couple of nights.
After overthrowing and personally replacing the board of the centre, Trump set about personally reshaping the both the “too woke” programme and the “Kennedy Center Honors”, the annual celebration of America’s cultural titans. It’s usually an A-list affair – and previous honourees have included Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, Jack Nicholson, Robert Ne Dior, Clint Eastwood, Barbara Streisand, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Katharine Hepburn, Julie Andrews, Tony Bennett, Bruce Springsteen – the list goes on.
And this year it’s gone on a little differently. Prior to the Trumpification of the centre, there was a months long judging process to come up with each year’s honourees. This year, Trump decided on them himself. Or at least he says he was “97%” behind the choices. And the choices scream “people who Trump likes who might actually turn up.” They include Sylvester Stallone, the band Kiss, country singer George Strait, Gloria Gaynor and British actor and singer Michael Crawford, known best for portraying hapless and accident-prone manchild Frank Spencer in Some Mother’s Do Ave Em, and the titular Phantom in Trump’s favourite musical.
The medals themselves will change. The iconic rainbow ribbon with gold links, which up until this year had been made by a family of artists for decades, have been dumped in favour of a gaudy gold medal made by (sigh), Tiffany&Co.
And there’ll be a big change to the ceremony, too. No longer will a big Hollywood star be giving out the gongs. No, no. The President of the United States himself is said to be conducting the ceremony tomorrow. Because he has nothing better to do. Also, there’ll be a medal ceremony in the Oval Office tonight.