Derby Winner

Book: Apprentice in Wonderland

"I lost the election."

This book, ©2024, focuses on Donald Trump as a reality TV star of The Apprentice. The author is a journalist and co-editor in chief of "Variety," a magazine that focuses on the entertainment industry. Since the show's beginnings in 2004, the author conducted hours of interviews with Trump, his "boardroom advisers," Eric Trump, and some of the memorable contestants. The author shares untold tales from this legendary show that has left its mark on popular culture and shaped the legend of its star.

Trump actually said "... I lost the election." The author taped the many interviews he had with Trump. At one point when discussing Geraldo Rivera, he forgot and uttered those words.

(page 191)

Maybe He Thinks So

So many names for this idiot.

Sitting Around

Clinical depression on a toilet --

What is Wrong with This Man?

 Trump issued this threat two days ago.

Many people and organizations reacted:  The killing of an entire "civilization" would clearly constitute a genocide. Congress and the entire nation must renounce these threats. Our country's armed forces must be prepared to resist illegal orders to carry out a genocidal attack or any similar blanket attacks on civilian infrastructure amounting to war crimes.

Yesterday, as the deadline approached, Trump announced he had pulled back from this threat. Since the war began, trump has repeatedly imposed deadlines linked to threats only to extend them. The president said in his social media post that Iran has presented "a workable basis on which to negotiate."

In Rome, Pope Leo said Tuesday that the threats were "truly unacceptable" and that such attacks would violate international law. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that attacks targeting civilian and energy infrastructure would constitute a war crime. Trump has said he's "not at all" concerned about committing war crimes. A spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply troubled" by the threats, saying no military objective justified targeting civilian infrastructure.

Potty Mouth

Trump's early morning Easter Sunday Truth Social tirade has backfired spectacularly. At 8 a.m. on Sunday, the president posted an expletive-laden rant featuring a warning for Iran that the county would be "living in hell" if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz:

If the president intended for his incendiary post to calm the markets, it has had the opposite effect, instead sending oil prices even higher on Sunday. Gas prices are at their highest since June 2022, having risen by over 38 percent since the war began to a national average of $4.11 on Sunday. Meanwhile, stock fell on Sunday with Dow futures down 0.69 percent, S&P futures down 0.76, and Nasdaq futures down 0.91 percent.

An Iranian official responded to Trump's Truth Social post by asserting that the strait will remain closed until the country is "fully compensated" for the damage it has suffered during Trump's war. He also dismissed Trump's threats as a sign that the U.S. has "resorted to obscenities and nonsense out of sheer desperation and anger."

The renewed threats came less than a week after the president claimed that the U.S. did not need the Strait of Hormuz in his Wednesday address to the nation. "The United States imports almost no oil through the Hormuz Strait and won't be taking any in the future. We don't need it," Trump said.

The president has repeatedly leveled threats at Iran in an attempt to force it to reopen the strait, including threatening to strike vital infrastructure, despite warnings that such acts could constitute war crimes. "International law protects from attack objects indispensable to the survival of civilians, and the attacks threatened by Trump, if implemented, could entail war crimes," the international law experts wrote in response to the president's initial threats against Iran's power plants.

-- The Daily Beast

Nap Time

Bogus Gold Award

The trophy-obsessed president has been awarded another meaningless prize.

Speaker Mike Johnson announced the inaugural "America First" award as a "token of appreciation" for the president's leadership.

“Tonight we have created a new award,” Johnson told attendees at the lavish dinner. “We are going to do something we’ve never done before. We’re going to honor him with a new award that we will present annually from this point forward. He is the suitable and fitting recipient of the first-ever America First award. We can think of no better title for what that is.”

In addition to accepting manufactured awards, the president has sought to seize awards earned by others, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Mariá Corina Machado.

Reactions:

--  MS NOW host Jen Psaki: “Little Mike Johnson and all those Republicans have just created yet another participation trophy to give their very special boy in the White House to make sure he feels good about himself.” She went on to say: “Trump's many awards are like the EGOT for insecure man-baby presidents.”

--  U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor: More gold statues for Donald Trump while TSA agents wait for paychecks?! How very out of touch.

--  Ahmed Baba: Trump's team is briefing him daily with 2-minute montages of only the successful Iran strikes. The Republican Party is making up fake awards to glaze him. This wartime president's fragile ego is being managed like he's a child, and we're supposed to pretend this is normal?

Slimeball

A slimeball describes a person who is considered extremely unpleasant, dishonest, immoral, or untrustworthy. It implies that someone is sleazy, sneaky, or despicable in their behavior and character.

Robert Mueller was a man who served and sacrificed for his country. He was the only FBI Director to be unanimously confirmed twice by the U.S. Senate and also be nominated by presidents from two different political parties, 98-0 in 2001 for the George W. Bush Administration and 100-0 in 2011 for the Barack Obama Administration.

Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, wrote about Trump, "You are a vile disgusting man. Petty and pathetic, you are a hypocrite who reeks of weakness and insecurities with no moral core. Regardless of the politics, the American people should be embarrassed and ashamed for ever having entrusted you with leadership."

Rick Wilson, a political strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, described Mueller as a "hero" and warned Trump: "When you die, Americans and people around the world will dance in the streets for weeks because you're a low, degenerate, criminal fraud who left a full state on the presidency.

Alex Vindman, a Democrat running for Senate and a military veteran, posted "Draft-dodger saying this about a Vietnam combat vet and career public servant. Despicable and disqualifying in any other decade."

But Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, suspected that Trump's constantly shocking provocations have a political motive. "The cruelty is the point. Trump's goal is to distract you from rising gas prices, his aimless war, ICE abuses, and the Epstein files. Don't give him what he wants. And may Rober Mueller, a US marine and lifelong public servant, rest in peace."

Learn to Spell

"It's Strait, not Straight. This dude doesn't even know that! Such a disaster," wrote one person.

Another said, "I think he's actually mad that it's curved and not in a straight line. Because he has the critical thinking ability of a 5-year-old."

A third person said, "Somebody please tell Trump that his use of scare quotation marks and random capitalization makes him even less credible."

While someone else said, "OMG, it's just unbelievable that we have a president that is this stupid."

The typo itself might have been minor, but given how quick Trump is to tease and mock people, social media was not about to let him live this down.

Big Liar

What is wrong with him? He has got to know that making a statement about recently talking to a former president is easily fact-checked. He must have a huge imagination. Or he's just a liar who cannot stop.

Twice on Monday, President Donald Trump said he’d wrangled a confession of sorts from an Oval Office predecessor who he said had expressed regret in a private conversation about not attacking Iran the way Trump has been doing for more than two weeks.

But there’s just a little problem: Representatives for the four living former presidents — three Democrats and one Republican — said none have been in touch with Trump recently.

Trump declined to name the former president when reporters asked who it was, saying he didn’t want to “embarrass him.”

The Republican president first told the story during extended remarks about the Iran war as he opened a meeting of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center. Trump is chairman of the board and held the meeting at the White House.

He repeated that Iran had been a threat to the United States for decades but said he is the only president who had the courage to do something about it.

“Look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I’m doing, and they should have done it a long time ago,” he said. “It would have been a lot easier. There’s no president that wanted to do it.

“And yet every president knew. I’ve spoken to a certain president, who I like, actually, a past president, a former president. He said, ‘I wish I did it, I wish I did,’ but they didn’t do it. I’m doing it,” Trump continued.

Asked which former president he’d spoken to, Trump said: “I can’t tell you that. I don’t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he’s got no career.”

Representatives for each of former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden said they had not spoken with Trump recently. The individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the former presidents’ private conversations.

(To be fair, I suppose it is possible the "representatives for each former president" may have spoken inaccurately.)

I'll Give Myself an Honor

During his remarks at the Kennedy Center last year in August, Donald Trump revealed the reason why he appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center. "I wanted one [a Kennedy Center Honor]. I was never able to get one..... I waited and waited and waited and I said, "The hell with it! I'll become chairman, and give myself an honor," Trump rambled.

Since then, Trump has rebranded the Center with his name:

The Center's webpage logo also reflects this name change.

HOWEVER

The recent attempt to change the name of the Kennedy Center to include Donald Trump's name was not legal, according to lawsuits filed by members of Congress and legal experts, who argue that only Congress can alter the name of the national memorial, as established by federal law. A lawsuit claims the Board's vote and subsequent signage change are unlawful, violating the statute that designated it as a memorial to President John F. Kennedy, and seeks to have the name restored.

Note: The statute (act of Congress) that designated the National Cultural Center as a living memorial to President Kennedy was signed into law on January 23, 1964, by President Lyndon B. Johnson, just two months after the President's assassination.

What's in a Name?

Buildings and Landmarks Renamed After Trump

Donald J. Trump U.S. Institute of Peace  -  The State Department formally rebranded the U.S. Institute of Peace as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, placing President Trump’s name on the building after his administration took control of the congressionally created body. Former staff and leadership are challenging the administration’s actions in court amid an ongoing legal battle over control of the institute.

Trump–Kennedy Center  -  The Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted to rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly referred to as the Trump‑Kennedy Center. Representative Joyce Beatty filed a lawsuit seeking to block the renaming, arguing that federal law requires congressional approval and saying she was muted during the board meeting and prevented from objecting.

Government programs

Trump Gold Card  -  The Department of Homeland Security launched the Trump Gold Card program, a fast‑track pathway to U.S. permanent residency that requires wealthy individuals to pay a $1 million contribution — on top of a processing fee and vetting — to receive legal resident status.

National park passes featuring Trump’s portrait  -  The Interior Department unveiled redesigned America the Beautiful national park passes featuring a portrait of President Trump alongside other imagery.

Don't gag, George

Proposed renaming

Washington Dulles International Airport

Washington, D.C., Metro System

Currency proposal  -  The Golden Age Act of 2025 proposed placing Trump’s image on the $100 bill, and separate bills in Congress would create a new $250 note bearing his portrait.

Legal limitation  -  Many efforts to attach Trump’s name to public institutions face significant legal and political hurdles. Major landmarks, currency, and permanent memorials typically require congressional approval, not unilateral action by federal agencies, and several proposals are already tied up in court. There is a clear distinction between administrative branding changes and actions that require legislation. Federal agencies can rename programs or update materials, but changes involving currency, transportation systems, or permanent memorials must be approved by Congress, and bills introduced in Congress do not automatically make them law.