You could have predicted that Donald Trump and lackeys like little Lindsey Graham would use the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner for political purposes. At Trump’s behest, Graham is now pushing a bill to fund the proposed White House ballroom on national security grounds, noting it would then be unnecessary to hold events like Saturday night’s dinner at a less secure hotel.

There is so much fiction to unpack here. First is the security protection he’s talking about actually is in a bunker at the White House. That can be further hardened or ⁓ other improvements can be made. It works pretty well now, but that has almost nothing to do with the big gaudy ballroom that Trump has proposed, which is really about tribute to his massive ego.

And the idea of holding a lot of events at the White House ballroom, “the coat hanger is convention will be Thursday night in the White House ballroom”, is laughable. Especially egregious is the suggestion to hold the White House correspondence dinner there. First, how would you get 2,600 guests into a ballroom designed to seat 1,000? Don’t tell Trump, he might want to increase the size of this monstrosity.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is supposed to be an event honoring the First Amendment. To be held at the White House, no matter who is president, is just stupid, as is Lindsey Graham’s idea to have the ballroom picked up by the taxpayer.

Law enforcement, the Secret Service and DC police did a great job in apprehending an armed gunman that tried to break into the White House correspondent’s dinner Saturday night. But let’s knock off this stuff that the dinner was about freedom of the press and the First Amendment.

Now there are really important organizations and dinners that honor the First Amendment and a free press like the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Take a look at them, maybe even contribute. The White House Correspondents’ by contrast today, is not one. Their guest of honor was Donald Trump, who has labeled the press the enemy of the people, filed ridiculous suits to intimidate the media, and barred reporters from events for political reasons.

Worse, Paramount’s David Ellison, who’s waiting for government approval to acquire Warner Brothers, which also includes CNN and who already owns CBS, threw a dinner two nights before Saturday honoring Trump, this is a guy who was in the news business, that may be a small part of his business, but honoring the most anti-First Amendment President in history is proving a disaster for CBS, once the gold standard of broadcast news.

After Saturday’s dinner was cut short, then the chatter began about freedom of the press and we must, as Trump insists, reschedule that dinner. No, we shouldn’t. There might be a dinner honoring those brave cops who protected everyone Saturday night. That would really be worth going to. But let’s not pretend this is a dinner about the First Amendment.

Hasan Piker, a left-wing podcaster and influencer, has a huge following. Some Democrats say, hey, maybe he’s our Joe Rogan. No, No!

Piker defends Hamas, which he says is far preferable to Israel. Now, there’s a lot to criticize about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who imperils America’s long bipartisan support for the state of Israel.

But to declare Hamas terrorist, far preferable to a democratic state, is just unacceptable. He also once said America deserves the 9-11 attack and suggested if you care about Medicare fraud, you would kill Florida Republican Senator Rick Scott.

Now I am close to a free speech absolutist. I think he has every right to say all that and I don’t think he should be banned from any sites or any locations or any venues. But in a critical election, Democrats really don’t want to be associated with any of these views.

Donald Trump brags about so many unprecedented achievements it’s hard to follow. He boasts about all the wars he ended. I’ll bet you didn’t know until he told us he was able to finally end the Polyponnesian Wars. You know, there may be one legitimate record. The most and quickest cabinet departures. Already Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi have been given their walking papers.

On deck may be Laurie Chavez de Rimer, the Labor Secretary, under internal investigations for creating a toxic workplace for expense violations and an alleged affair with one of her security detail. And Kash Patel, the ethically and intellectually challenged FBI director, it was reported by the Atlantic is often MIA and seems to be a heavy boozer. Not exactly what you want with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Morale at the Bureau seems to be lower than ever according to reports. Army Secretary Driscoll, no doubt to beach himself, has turned his sights on Fox TV host, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s job.

Now instead of dumping National Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard she simply ignored. You know, let me just put something in context. In the last three administrations, pre-Trump, Bush, Obama, and Biden, there were no cabinet departures in the first year and a half. You know, this should not be a surprise.

Trump intentionally surrounded himself with people whose only loyalty was to himself, to him, thus, he got incompetent third-raters who are failing at their jobs. Its that’s simple.

Whatever you think of the politics, Washington aesthetically is a beautiful city. Flying into Reagan Airport on a clear day or even better, a clear evening and seeing the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington Cemetery, the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Monument stretching down past the beautifully manicured lawns of the mall to the United States Capitol is breathtaking, inspiring.

It won’t be if Trump gets his way and puts up a big gaudy 250 foot monumental arch on the Virginia side of the Potomac River in front of Arlington Cemetery. It’s offensive in size and design. It blocks the Lincoln Monument’s sweeping view of the majestic Arlington Cemetery, the resting place for so many courageous Americans. This is opposed by many architects, even the original proponent of an arch and veterans groups offended that it will diminish the sacred grounds of Arlington.

My wife whose television station is across the Potomac in Virginia has driven across the Memorial Bridge with that awesome setting thousands of times. I somehow don’t think she’s looking for an arch. Trump has said that the monumental arch again 250 feet is for him. Okay, fine. Build it in Mar-a-Lago where it’ll fit in.

A judge threw out Donald Trump’s $10 billion suit against the Wall Street Journal, which had reported that Trump sent ⁓ Epstein a 50th birthday message drawing of a naked woman with Trump’s signature. The federal judge in Florida found the article was not published with quote, actual malice and quote, the standard for defamation. Actually, when a copy of the birthday book was released by the House Oversight Committee, guess what? There was the Trump letter to Jeffrey Epstein with the drawing of the naked woman.

Now Trump is a bully and he believes that he can bully law firms, universities, media companies, reporters into submission. Sadly, this has worked too often. Looking at you, New York law firms, CBS, ABC. Not because there was merit to his charges, but the fear he would use the power of government aided by his ethically challenged FCC chair to punish them.

But those that stand up to a bully and stand up to this bully, like the Journal, the New York Times, the Des Moines Register, Washington law firms like Wilmer Cutler and Harvard invariably win. That’s what you do with a bully.

Three cheers from my alma mater, The Wall Street Journal.

Donald Trump is really not happy unless he’s in a fight viciously attacking someone. There’s so many targets. latest, now listen to me, you’re not gonna believe this if you don’t know it at first, his latest Pope Leo, the first American Pope. Trump says the Pope is weak on crime and nuclear weapons. He can source with losers of the left. And then he says the only reason this Pope was elected, first American Pope was in order to get along with Donald Trump.

In other words, that conclave over in Rome was all about Trump. Now I have never been to a conclave, quite clearly, but I think I can guarantee the one topic that was not a factor in the election of Pope Leo was somebody who Trump will like.

More stunning, Trump then put out this AI-generated image of him Trump as Jesus tending to the sick. I thought, who could this be? Who could this man so full of hate? Who could he be comforting? Then I got it. Viktor Orban, the right-wing corrupt pro-Putin Hungarian autocrat who got trounced yesterday. Despite the all-out support of Trump world, starting with the president, he even sent his boys Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance over there to campaign for Orban.

The result was a landslide. The autocrat lost. Now back to the Pope and the president. I just wonder if we’ll hear from the Catholics in this administration over the president’s personal attacks on the Holy Father. You know, where are you? What do you have to say Marco Rubio, J.D. Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Melania Trump? I suspect what they have to say will basically be silence.

If you had any doubt that yesterday was April Fool’s Day, I hope you saw Donald Trump’s speech from the White House last night. It may go down in history as one of the worst presidential addresses ever. America has been at war now for over a month and the President of the United States has never explained why. Actually, he’s offered multiple, often conflicting, rationales.

He had a chance last night to level with the American people on where we are in this war and where he expects to go. He abysmally failed. He simply wasted 19 minutes of prime time television with the same contradictions and lies. As an aside, he said inflation is over. No, it’s not, Mr. President. Iran has not had any regime change despite what he says. They’ve just promoted the taxi squad when the first team was killed.

He has not, as promised ended their missile capacity. Missiles were being fired as he was giving his speech. He distorted Obama’s deal with the Iranians some years ago. The money he talked about giving them actually was Iranian frozen assets and the nuclear deal negotiated back then by all accounts was working. On Tuesday, the Straits of Hormuz, which 20 % of the world’s oil supplies flow, he said had to be reopened by Wednesday, it’s no big deal. Let’s remember the Straits were open before Trump went to war.

He still won’t tell us why American blood or treasure should be lost in a region where Saudi Arabia and Israel have far more assets than Iran. What Trump really displayed again last night, he is a commander in chief who has no idea how or what to command.

No American blood should be spilled for MBS. The New York Times lead story yesterday said that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is pressuring and influencing Donald Trump to escalate the Iranian war until he wipes out the Tehran regime, whatever it takes. This was a very well-sourced piece. A few facts. Saudi Arabia is a very rich country with the seventh largest defense budget in the world, much higher than Iran.

MBS is a vicious autocrat who suppresses dissent and we should not forget ordered the murder of an American journalist some years ago for his criticism of that repressive regime. If MBS wants to continue the war and further dismantle Iran’s capacities, go to it Mr. Crown Prince. I actually feel the same way about the Israelis too though I have great respect for that society unlike Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis and MBS’s orders already cut a sweetheart financial deal for Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and have other financial arrangements with Trump. I wonder what else he may be offering Trump personally at this stage. Whatever it would be, it’s a disgrace for any American soldier to lose their life to help a ruthless dictator who won’t do it himself.

One of the top schools in the state of Alabama with almost 100 % college acceptance is Islamic Academy of Alabama, located in a Birmingham suburb. With their success, they want to expand and they found a good site nearby. Then the bigots, the successors to the Ku Klux Klan of last century weighed in, opposing the site and even the existence of the school.

Quote, the only place this Islamic academy should be moving is out of Alabama, end quote, said Senator Tommy Tuberville. Now Tuberville, who could be the next governor of the state, has an IQ of room temperature. He thought the three branches of government were the House, the Senate, and the executive. But this is just hatred. This is pure hatred. Recall after 9-11 when anti-Islam feeling was off the charts President George W. Bush visited an Islamic center, tamping down the tensions.

By contrast, Trump does nothing but fuel the venom, encouraging lightweights like Tuberville. Alabama, you’re better than this. You’ve changed from the days of Bull Connor and the attack dogs. Stand up for this admirable Islamic academy and these young, high-performing kids who want a better life.

The Trump administration we know has contempt for the rule of law and any sense of ethics. The president, according to Forbes, has seen his net worth rise by $1.4 billion, or more than 27%, since taking office, fueled by investments like his crypto scam. Don Jr. and Eric Trump are big investors in a new drone company.

Do you think there is any chance that Pete Hegseth’s Defense Department will award a drone contract to a competitor of theirs. But the one that bothers me the most, Jared Kushner, Trump’s war peace negotiator, along with Steve Wittkopf, who said that he’s really trust Vladimir Putin. But on the Middle East, they’re the negotiators and they were the ones that failed to reach a deal with Iran.

Kushner, we find out at the same time he’s representing the United States interest over there in war and peace, is also trying to raise money for his private equity firm from countries like Saudi Arabia that are deeply affected by all this. Now, what would be Kushner’s priority? His private equity riches or the American men and women in uniform over there? It’s disgraceful to even have to ask that question.

Okay, lying is a way of life for Donald J. Trump. It’s been well documented and it doesn’t seem to faze his supporters. But when he takes us to war, it should be a higher standard.

He still can’t give any explanation or rationale for the Iranian war. Read Judd Legum in Popular Information today. He points out 17 different explanations they’ve given. That really reflects incompetence and carelessness. But on the question of who bombed the Iranian school that killed 165 schoolgirls, that’s different.

The New York Times, CNN and Reuters all have carefully examined and documented this and concluded it was committed by US forces, by Tomahawk missiles. Now, yet Trump says it was the Iranians who killed their own school children. His puppet defense secretary, Hegseth, nods approvingly. Now, I don’t think the school was bombed intentionally. I think it was by mistake. That’s common, or it’s not uncommon at least in the fog of war. And if the United States should be strong enough to acknowledge a mistake, America should apologize for that action.

But for Trump, contrition and that old phrase is bullshit. That’s another reason he is such a totally inadequate commander in chief.

We have a president who lies repeatedly, certifiably, and proven. A Justice Department and FBI who believes its mission is not to represent the public, but to serve as a partisan attack dog for Trump. What makes this worse is a congressional majority with only a few exceptions, lacks any courage and real integrity. The latest example is Congressman Barry Loudermilk of Georgia.

Little context here. When he first ran for Congress The Atlanta newspapers revealed that he misrepresented his military background. In Congress, he’s considered a lightweight. He has been embraced and embraces David Barton, the wacky historian and Christian nationalist who claims that the founders ⁓ didn’t care about separation of church and state. Somebody forgot to tell Thomas Jefferson.

But now as chairman of a committee because of seniority, he’s trying to find out what quote, really happened January 6th. So he is forwarding to the Justice Department a criminal referral against young Cassidy Hutchison, a White House aide who had the temerity to tell the truth about what was going on on that day of infamy, January 6th, 2001. She was honest about it. But what, what Loudermilk and others are trying to do is rewrite history revisionism of the worst sort.

Now if you tell a big lie, the theory goes enough people will soon start to believe it. Mr. Loudermilk who gave Trumpers an unusual tour of the Capitol the night before the January 6th violence, says he wants to quote, find out what really happened, end quote, January 6th. Now the Georgia congressman is not the brightest bulb in the closet, but maybe someone should send him all the videos of those criminals savaging and beating police officers and knocking down the doors, threatening members, all encouraged by Donald Trump.

I don’t know, maybe old Barry still wouldn’t get it.

The Trump Justice Department, the worst in history probably, had a momentary moment of ⁓ sanity when they dropped their case against four Washington law firms. Courts rejected these shakedowns, even this Supreme Court will side with these firms, that had the courage and character to stand up to Trump’s bullying.

But then the Justice Department reversed itself and said, no, we’re not going to give in. They’re going to lose. And these firms that stood up deserve the credit. Wilmer Hale, Sussman Godfrey, Perkins Coy, and Jenner and Block. They’re going to win. And I’m sorry, Pan Bondi, you know, keep at it because baby, you’re going to get rolled.

Conversely, let’s look at those big firms, mainly in New York, that sold their soul for what they saw as bigger riches and capitulated. They include Skadden Arps, Paul Wise, Wilkie Farr, and others. The grandchildren of those first four firms are going to be proud someday, not so for the capitulators.

Hungary’s autocratic ruler, Viktor Orbán, a favorite of Donald Trump, JD Vance and Marco Rubio, faces reelection April 12. Polls show Orbán may well lose, even decisively. That would end his 16-year rule that has seen the erosion of democracy, the rule of law, higher education and a free press.

He has tried to fix elections in the past, or at least he’s messed with them, and already there are fears that he may go further this time, maybe even cancel the election, as he’s warning falsely that if he’s not reelected, Hungary will be drawn into the Russian-Ukraine war.

You know, it looks like none of this will work, although with Orbán you can’t bet that way. He’s desperate to hold power. Autocrats always are. So watch these next few weeks carefully to see what a desperate man might do. And unfortunately, it might be a leading indicator for what happens here in America.

Are you ready for a non-surprise? It turns out the Justice Department withheld, seemingly removed, dozens of pages from the Epstein files. Now that’s in violation of the congressionally approved law and contradicts what Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanch asserted that no records were withheld on the basis of politics or embarrassment. Thanks to an NPR report, we learned that that is not true.

Shocking. But guess what the missing pages include? I’ll bet you got it. Interviews and notes from a woman who accused Donald Trump of sexual abuse. Now, if you go back over the last year, there’s a reason that Trump and Bondi and Blanche stonewalled these releases for a long time until Congressman Ro Khanna and Tom Massey forced the issue on Congress and then on them.

Why? Why are they stonewalled? What were they trying to hide? Could it have been some of these pages that have been removed and they still haven’t released yet relating to Donald Trump? Now, of course, that wouldn’t be either embarrassing or political, would it? Of course not.

Congressman Massey and Congressman Khanna you’ve still got a lot of work to do and I know you’re going to be there.

A message to congressional Democrats. Sit still and shut up at the State of the Union tomorrow night. When someone is doing themselves in, don’t get in the way. Trump is acting crazier than ever. Witness his Supreme Court rant last week. He’s dying for Democrats at the State of the Union to offer him a foil. Instead, they should just sit quietly, watch his antics, see if he goes after the Supreme Court Justices who will be sitting right in front of him.

You know he’ll go on a rant about quote, illegal immigrants end quote, and all the problems sleepy Joe Biden caused, the way he’s resolved more wars than we really knew existed. Perhaps he might even renew his insistence that he received a congressional medal of honor. I guess his bone spurs have healed. What he won’t mention and won’t be showcased in the gallery will be any of the women.

victimized by sexual predators Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell or his broken promises to end inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the first month of his presidency. I doubt he’ll even cite FBI Director Kash Patel taking time off from his supposed duties to chug beer in Italy with the U.S. hockey team. Hakeem Jeffries should tell firebrands like Al Green and Jasmine Crockett to save their antics for later. Trump will provide plenty tomorrow evening.

Jesse Lewis Jackson, a poor kid from Greenville, South Carolina, rose to become one of the most important figures of the last half century. Only 26, he was at that Memphis Motel balcony when Martin Luther King was murdered. Of all Dr. King’s disciples, Jackson went on to the greatest prominence. Baptist minister and civil rights activist ran for the Democratic nomination for presidency twice, finishing third in 1984 and aheavyweight field, a former presidential nominee, a former vice president, two governors, three senators, and a national hero. In 1988, he finished second.

He made some big mistakes, some embarrassing mistakes, but more importantly, he inspired millions of Americans and I think he helped pave the way to elect the first black president, Barack Obama, 20 years later. For the next 30 years Jackson championed the oppressed, the victims of racism, mainly in the United States, but globally too. Like his mentor, Dr. King, he always advocated peaceful demonstrations. He wasn’t perfect, but his cause was.

There is sadness today to see much of what Jackson and King fought for being unraveled by the Trump administration. But on the long arc of history, these causes and these contributions will prevail.

Hey, here is a weekly quiz on Trump bottom dwelling, which is the weirdest, most disturbing of the Trumpites actions this past week. Number one, Robert F. Kennedy, the secretary of health and human services reveals that he used to snort cocaine off a toilet seat.

Number two, with 10 of the Epstein victims sitting 15 feet behind her at a house judiciary committee, attorney general, Pam Bondi sneered to members that they ought to focus on their rise in the stock market rather than on the Epstein scandal.

Three, Trump consigliere Steve Bannon revealed that he and Jeffrey Epstein were plotting a plot, a coup, were plotting a coup against, listen to this, Pope Francis. So which was the most disturbing, the weirdest of these three? And if you want to participate, send your responses to politicswarroom@gmail.com

When I was covering Congress some time ago, Tennessee had some of the most influential and able United States senators, Republicans Howard Baker and Bill Brock, Democrats Al Gore and Jim Sasser. One of their successors is Marsha Blackburn. It’s a really steep decline. Senator Blackburn, a few days ago, called for an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Katanji Brown Jackson for, you’re think I’m making this up, I’m not, for attending the Grammy Awards, which the Tennessee Senator charged celebrated far left anti-ice and anti-American views.

Nevermind that distortion, what Blackburn either didn’t know or chose to ignore is that Justice Jackson was there because her audio book of her memoir was nominated for a Grammy. Nominees usually attend events where they are candidates. Senator Blackburn, maybe you don’t understand that. More appalling, the substantively challenged Tennessee senator said this was far more serious than the quote, meritless, merit-less charges against Republican justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. Alito wanted a private jet to Alaska for a fishing trip paid for by a wealthy hedge fund executive and a big Republican donor. I don’t believe there was any Alaska fish that nominated Alito for an award. Clarence Thomas, for decades, failed to disclose trips on private jets, stays on yachts, and luxury hotels, courtesy of rich donors like Harlan Crowe.

Sweetheart real estate deals also picking up the tab for his son’s private school tuition, and more. To Senator Blackburn, all this is nothing, without compared to attending an awards dinner where you were a nominee.

Oh, do we miss the Baker’s & Gore’s