Trump’s big 80th birthday celebration is just days away – but there are still a couple of things that could scupper it for him. Here’s a roundup of the latest nonsense to come out of Trump’s Washington
Donald Trump’s ludicrous UFC lighting rig looms over downtown DC like a giant, glowing alien spider on what’s left of the White House lawn.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Donald Trump wanted to have a UFC fight on the South Lawn so much he got the French to move the G7 so he wouldn’t have to miss his 80th birthday party. Erm, I mean, the 250th Anniversary celebrations. But there are a couple of factors that are still threatening to blow the whole event off course.
Meanwhile in Trumpworld
- The Tehran Hokey-cokey continues
- Trump was seen by 22 medical specialists during his last routine physical
- And someone has etched “8647” into the grass on the National Mall, just in time for Trump’s birthday
Here’s what you need to know
The Tehran Hokey-Cokey continues
At the time of writing, Trump’s position is that the Iran deal is on, and will be signed in Europe over the weekend. Which is quite the turnaround from earlier in the day.
This morning Trump called into Fox News, clearly trying to sell viewers on the idea of boots on the ground in Iran. He kept insisting Iran is still “desperate to make a deal.” He said: “They want to make a deal so badly. We dropped $250 million of bombs on them last night. They’re really in submission. They just don’t know it yet.” And he relayed a bizarre and clearly invented conversation with Iran’s leadership, who expressed surprise at the “good press” they’re getting in the States. “Behind the scenes I must tell you Iran can’t believe the press they get,” Trump claimed. “They can’t even believe it. And they told me. They said, ‘It’s amazing how well we’re doing in the papers. We’re not doing so well-‘ They’re negotiating with us to make a deal.” Is any of this actually real? Probably not. There’s nothing to suggest this will be any different from the 30 or so previous times. But at least the bombing that was planned to take place overnight has been called off for now.
Trump claims the Strait of Hormuz has been open for months
“The strait has been open for a number of months already and you didn’t know about it,” Trump said. “Reporters weren’t able to get it.” He went on to indicate that the US had been extracting thousands of barrels of oil out of Iran via the strait under cover of darkness. I’m not allowed to use emojis in copy, but if I were, this article would most be the shrugging one.
The White House UFC cage fight could be scrapped for two different reasons
This weekend, thousands of Trump cronies, MAGA faithful and UFC enthusiasts are set to gather on the grounds of the White House to watch one of the weirdest events in the history of Washington DC – a cage fight on the South Lawn to celebrate Donald Trump’s birthday. But with just days to go before the first professional, for-profit sporting event ever to take place on that hallowed ground, it could yet be cancelled for two different reasons.
The first reason which is something they really should have thought of ahead of time. It’s an open-air event, with a huge spider-shaped metal scaffolding lighting rig – and it’s Washington DC in June. As well as famously warm and humid weather, DC suffers from thunderstorms at this time of year – with a few already forecast for this very weekend.
The second is less expected. Two residents of Virginia have brought a lawsuit against the National Park Service (NPS), which oversees the South Lawn. The suit, filed last Saturday evening, argues the Trump administration bypassed federal rules and regulations to host the privately-run event on government property. NPS rules, they say, generally prohibit sporting events on federal parkland. They also complained that no congressional approval had been sought for the building of the colossal, 7,000-seater arena on the South Lawn, and neither had an environmental review been conducted before construction began. “This is fundamentally a private, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain,” said Brendan Ballou, the plaintiffs’s attorney. The Justice Department said the lawsuit was “obstructionist, baseless, and dilatory”.
60 million reasons it probably won’t be cancelled
In arguing the lawsuit has come too late, and that it would be unreasonable to block the event at this stage, the Justice Department revealed a few of the financials about the weekend’s UFC festivities. According to the legal filing, UFC and sponsors (though, it insists, not the US taxpayer) have spent $60 million on the event – with hundreds of staff working on it and seven different government agencies having input.
Trump was seen by 22 medical specialists during his last routine physical
There’s been more speculation about Donald Trump’s health today, after The Washington Post revealed he’d been seen by a whopping 22 different medical specialists at his physical examination the other week. That’s more than three times the six doctors who looked him over last time he went to Walter Reed Military Hospital for a check-up. So far the White House has kept schtum about the reason so many doctors wanted to look at the President.
8647
Someone appears to have made markings on the lawn of the National Mall – to spell out “8647”, right next to the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool Trump’s so proud of.
Speaking of the reflecting pool, officers had to return to it yesterday because there was algae growing on it already.
The meaning is unclear, but 86 is known to be used by those in the restaurant industry to stop or even get rid of something, while Trump is the 47th US President.
Trump’s cronies mount last ditch attempt to keep his name on the Kennedy Centre
The handpicked board Trump put in charge of the Kennedy Centre after his hostile takeover of the legendary arts centre, have begged a judge not to force them to take his name off the building.
As it stands, there’s a court order to have the name removed by Friday. But the judge may take a dim view of the fact that they’ve waited two weeks to submit their request for more time. US District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled on May 29 that only Congress could institute a change to the Kennedy Centre’s name and ordered references to Trump be removed by Friday. He also blocked the administration from closing the cultural and arts venue for major renovations that had been planned to start in July and last for two years.
Well, that’s a *bit* more sensible
Trump said last night that he is nominating Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as director of national intelligence. It comes after a huge backlash from congress and from the intelligence community after his first pick Bill Pulte, who has absolutely no experience of National Intelligence.