President Donald Trump was lashed with insults Wednesday by two Floridians who voted for him in the past.
In a clip shared by MS NOW host Stephanie Ruhle on Wednesday morning, one self-identified Trump voter let his annoyance with the Iran war grow into an angry rant about gas prices.
Asked by MS NOW’s Alex Tabet about the war the Trump voter gave the MS NOW reporter an earful.
“I think what Trump's doing now, I'm kind of having a about-face,” he admitted.
"You know, we started a war over there in Iran we can't possibly finish,” he continued. “You should know more about history — I know you're not going to sort these people out over there.”
“Are you benefiting from this war?” Tabet pressed.
“No!” the Florida man exclaimed. “Who's benefiting from it? Look at fuel prices! We went to Costco yesterday and it was ridiculous. And everything's expensive! Where does it end, right?”
A woman then told Tabet, “Gas shouldn't be that high, but everything, groceries, everything.”
President Donald Trump spent 30 minutes Wednesday raving about granite at his nearly finished White House helipad, guaranteeing reporters they would "never see a crack" in the stone.
Trump had invited the press not to discuss policy, but to watch him sign his name to the back of a granite slab being carved into a giant eagle's head — the centerpiece of the new helipad's presidential seal.
The back of the slab, the side that will face the ground, already had his name carved into it.
The helipad is a $5 million to $6 million project funded by Sikorsky Aircraft, the Lockheed Martin subsidiary that manufactures the new VH-92A presidential helicopters, according to Time. The new aircraft proved so powerful they shredded the South Lawn during landings, prompting the project.
"And we are building a great heliport," Trump said, before pivoting almost immediately to the stone.
"This granite has a million-year life," he said. "It's a very strong stone. It will never break. It will never leak."
"It's 35,000 pounds per square inch," Trump said of the granite. "If you look at hard concrete, hard concrete is 5,000 pounds. This is 35,000. So nature is stronger than what the human can produce."
"That stone — if you took a hammer and you started hammering right now, all day long, you would not see where you've hit it," he continued. "I don't care how strong you are. You wouldn't see a mark on it, literally," he added. "So in ten years, if you see a crack, you'll say, well, Trump just said you'll never see a crack. You'll never see a crack on this granite. I guess nothing's indestructible, but it's pretty close."
The visit had been planned as a private signing until Trump decided the press should see it.
Workers were carving the eagle's head at the center of the pad. Trump signed the back of the slab — the side that will never be seen once it is set in place, with his name already cut into the stone beneath his signature.
"All of these letters are hand-carved and put into the black stone, which is also about 35,000 pounds per square inch," Trump said of the seal. "These are done by brilliant artists, really."
"Now you could do a much better state arrival," he said of the finished surface. "They can have people go there for cocktails and then walk to the ballroom after that's finished."
Trump said the South Lawn grass was donated by Scotts Miracle-Gro, quoting his groundskeeper Dale — who has worked at the White House for 54 years — as saying grass "has a life like humans have a life."
"A lot of good ingredients in that earth for grass," Trump said. "If you're grass, you're very happy."
He also disclosed that Scotts had contributed to his campaign.
"They actually contributed to my campaign," Trump said. "I must be honest."
He added that he personally donated the flagpoles, declaring he is "very good at flagpoles."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) wrote on X in July that the project was a "joke," saying Trump "has refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill that would lower costs for working Americans, build more housing, and stop private equity from buying up homes. But he's laser-focused on building a new helipad."
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) wrote on X that Trump was "charging taxpayers an extra $875,000 just to speed up construction of his private White House helipad."
Trump said he hopes the pad will be done by Sept. 21, in time for a planned visit from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell leveled more potshots at President Donald Trump on Tuesday night as she filled in for vacationing ABC host Jimmy Kimmel.
The guest host started by thanking the president, long a nemesis, for keeping her in the headlines as she has dialed back her career.
“I’m so grateful to be filling in for Jimmy and to be hosting a talk show on network TV once again,” she began before adding, “This has been kind of a strange experience for me because all of a sudden I’m re-famous.”
She then took aim at reports of Trump being spirited away from his luxury jet, which was gifted to him from Qatar, to Air Force One via a catering container over fears there was a plot by Iranto have him killed.
“I’m back in the spotlight, all thanks to President Oompa J. Loompa, who is watching us this evening from inside a catering cart,” she remarked to laughter and applause.
Making light of more administration failings, she added, “You know, I couldn’t have done it without you, sweetie. You brought me back, just like you did with fascism and the measles.”
President Donald Trump was needled Wednesday over his boast that he has the “golden touch” when it comes to endorsements — only to face-plant in Tuesday’s primaries.
Worse still, two losses were in his backyard making it doubly humiliating.
MS NOW “Money Power Politics” host Stephanie Ruhle gleefully recalled an interview she conducted with the president months ago where he boasted about his powers as a kingmaker.
On Tuesday, Trump suffered a blow when Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL) lost to former TV reporter Ryan Elijah despite getting the presidential nod.
Then former Commerce Department adviser Catalina Lauf failed in her bid to run for the seat being vacated by outgoing Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL).
Noting the losses, Ruhle recalled for her panel that she interviewed with the president three to four months ago.
“I wasn't even asking him about endorsing candidates. He went out of my way to tell me about the golden touch he has; he's so good at endorsing candidates,” she stated with a smile. “He was then endorsing them internationally in other countries, helping people win. And he had an almost 100 percent hit ratio.”
A federal judge has ordered an unusual review of grand jury materials tied to the indictment of several media figures in a case stemming from a January protest in Minnesota.
Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko in a rare move ordered the Department of Justice to turn over testimony and evidence presented to a grand jury in the conspiracy case against former CNN anchor Don Lemon and dozens of other people accused of disrupting a church service during the protest, CNN reported Wednesday.
"They say they were covering the protests as journalists, which Don is now," said CNN's Kate Bolduan. "This new order, described as extraordinary, compels the Justice Department to provide the judge with the presentations DOJ made to the grand jury in January and February that resulted in Lemon's indictment."
According to the order, the materials must include any introduction, legal instructions on the two counts, witness testimony, closing arguments, and answers to grand jurors' questions.
CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson argued the order reflects broader unease among judges about whether the Justice Department under President Donald Trump is operating independently of the White House, pointing to cases involving James Comey and Letitia James as context fueling that scrutiny.
He explained that grand jury proceedings are normally shielded from outside review, with prosecutors alone controlling what evidence and legal instructions jurors receive, since defense attorneys and defendants are barred from the room.
Jackson noted the review does not mean the case will be dismissed, but said the stakes are significant. If the judge determines that DOJ improperly manipulated the grand jury process, the case could collapse entirely, he said, citing a similar dismissal in Chicago involving anti-ICE protesters after a U.S. attorney apologized for prosecutorial misconduct there.
Jackson also highlighted that the DOJ reportedly sought search and arrest warrants from two separate magistrates who denied the requests before prosecutors turned to the grand jury instead, which he said seemingly raised the judge's suspicions.
"The judge is saying, 'Hey, you went to a magistrate to get this actual to get a search warrant and to get an arrest warrant, and you went to two different ones and they said no, and then you, DOJ, bypassed that and you went to the grand jury,'" Jackson said. "'There might be something here I better look,' and that's what this judge is doing, saying, 'I want to look under the hood.'"
"I think that's the right call for justice," Jackson added.
Jackson emphasized that a grand jury indictment requires only a finding of probable cause, not guilt, and that a quorum of 16 out of 23 jurors is needed, with 12 votes required to indict. Because DOJ has sole control over evidence and instructions presented in that setting, he said, judicial oversight in cases like this exists specifically to ensure the process wasn't manipulated for political ends.
The Kennedy Center told a federal court its tarp is needed for water testing, but Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH) says the real motive is to "hide their embarrassment."
The claim came Tuesday in a joint status report filed in U.S. District Court, where U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper had ordered the center to explain why a tarp has covered its facade for more than two months.
Beatty, a Democratic congresswoman, Kennedy Center board member, and the plaintiff who sued to block Trump's takeover of the center, says the tarp is doing something else entirely — blocking the public from seeing that President John F. Kennedy's name has been restored to the building.
"Water testing and structural repairs to the roof overhang of the Center's front portico require the use of a scaffolding system, including a protective covering — a tarp — around that scaffolding," Department of Justice attorneys told the court on the center's behalf.
"The soffits are some twenty feet or more above the scaffolding," Beatty's lawyers fired back in the same filing.
The center had not erected scaffolding anywhere else on the building in months, her attorneys noted — only the section covering the facade's name.
"Defendants tellingly have not done so for months, leaving only the Center's iconic name obscured — a strong indication that this structure has nothing to do with the roof and is, instead, meant to defy a return to the status quo," Beatty's lawyers wrote.
"Courts are 'not required to exhibit a naiveté from which ordinary citizens are free,'" her attorneys added, quoting the Supreme Court.
The tarp's origins trace to February 2025, when President Donald Trump fired the Kennedy Center's bipartisan board, installed loyalists — including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and aide Dan Scavino — and elected himself chairman.
In December 2025, that board voted unanimously to rename the center after Trump, and workers added his name to the facade the very next day.
In May 2026, Cooper ruled the renaming unlawful, finding that only Congress can change the center's name, and blocked a planned two-year shutdown he called "ill-informed" and "seemingly preordained."
Workers removed Trump's name in a predawn operation on June 13, according to Beatty's lawyers — and hung a tarp that has never come down.
On August 13, with the tarp still up, the board voted to put Trump's name back in a new form, which Beatty's attorneys called a "breathtaking act of defiance."
The resolution calls for carving "Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump" below Kennedy's name on the facade, and renaming the surrounding plaza after Trump, DOJ attorneys disclosed in the filing.
A related fundraising fund, which claws back donations if Trump's name is ever removed, amounted to a "contemptuous poison pill," Beatty's lawyers charged.
The same August 13 meeting also approved a two-year full closure of the center, based on what Beatty's attorneys described as a two-slide presentation provided to board members just 48 hours before the vote.
"This case reeks of that kind of bad faith, improper motive, and formalism without consideration," Beatty's lawyers wrote.
A Florida Senatorial campaign that cost millions was shredded on air Wednesday morning.
The Florida Senate seat nomination loss by Alex Vindman was skewered on MS NOW's "Morning Joe," as Politico’s Marc Caputo parted ways with host Joe Scarborough over Vindman’s loss to progressive Angie Nixon.
“I think it's probably the biggest upset in modern Florida Democratic politics; I can't remember anything like this,” Caputo said. “Alex Vindman ran perhaps the worst campaign I've ever seen statewide in Florida — it was so bad.“
Caputo then shared an anecdote to explain his reasoning.
"It was so bad that about a week ago, I noticed that my wife, who's a Massachusetts-raised public school teacher, [my] Democrat daughter, just turned 18, registered as a Democrat, they received no touches from the campaign,” he elaborated. “No mail, no texts, no calls. I hadn't seen any ads on television.”
“I live in Miami, which is a very expensive media market,” he explained. “And so I started to call around and I thought, ‘Well, this is a problem’ because while friends of the show and viewers of the show will know who Alex Vindman is, I didn't even know he was a Florida resident until the announcement.”
“I think Axios was among the first to break the story that he's running for office, and he didn't have much of a presence,” he added. “I know he spent $9 million. I really wonder where that $9 million was spent, and now the elections last night certainly justify that question.”
CNN host Audie Cornish had to break up an argument on-air Wednesday morning as pundits hurled insults over the value of President Donald Trump's endorsement.
Anti-trans activist Terry Schilling spurred the heated debate when he questioned why Trump had thrown his support behind scandal-plagued candidates in GOP primaries.
"Look, I don't know muchabout Chuck Edwards – oh, I actually do," Schilling said, referring to a former North Carolina congressman who dropped out of his race over sexual misconduct allegations. "Yeah, well, look,[Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), I don't thinkthe campaign finance violationshad anything to do with [his primary loss]. Ithink those are other things.But, look, [Rep.] Cory Mills (R-FL) deservedto lose. He should have lost.Trump never should have endorsedhim."
Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright interrupted to underline the fact that Trump had endorsed Mills despite allegations of sexual misconduct and domestic violence against him, and he said that was part of a pattern.
"Thepresident endorsed him, heendorsed Ken Paxton, he'sstanding by [Rep.] Max Miller (R-OH)," Seawright said. "Sothere's consistent pattern ofbehavior from this president andthe serious allegations. Quitefrankly, I know Democrats whohave resigned from their seat,who've been dismissed fromtheir seats for less seriousallegations, and I think theparty of family values have someserious evaluations to do."
Schilling begged to differ.
"I just think you're doingyourself a disservice to notdistinguish between thosepeople," Schilling interjected. "Ken Paxton stands a farand above all those othercandidates because he's been aconservative warrior."
Seawright was incredulous, and he asked whether Paxton's political bona fides outweighed his indictment for securities fraud, bribery allegations, impeachment and acquittal and marital infidelity.
"So you're saying so you're saying Ken Paxton, with all of his baggage–" Seawright said.
Schilling cut in: "What I'm saying is voters care about what you're going to do in office."
"I just want to make sure Ihear you clearly," Seawright snapped back. "You're saying Ken Paxton with all of hisbaggage. You're saying thatdoes not matter, just based on his conservative record?"
"Yes, absolutely," Schilling insisted. "What we are saying is thatwhat we care about is theresults we get while in office."
"So youdon't care about the affairs?" Seawright laughed. "You don't care about the baggage?"
"Guys – pause," Cornish cut in. "Lucky for you, this Congress, there's a spectrum betweenbiblical divorce, outrightdomestic violence, and a lot inbetween, and unfortunately, inthis, I don't know what to callit – dirtbag primary. There area lot of people who haveallegations of one kind or another, and sexual misconductagainst women."
President Donald Trump was photographed clutching a briefing "cheat sheet" that Republicans once called irrefutable proof of Joe Biden's dementia.
During a Tuesday podcast episode, progressive commentator David Pakman seized on the image and hammered at what he framed as a bottomless well of Republican hypocrisy over presidential fitness. The photo was taken on Monday in the Oval Office, where Trump honored a sixteen-year-old lifeguard from California and the ten-year-old he rescued.
"There are legitimate reasons to examine Donald Trump's fitness," Pakman said. "60 percent of voters don't think he has the mental sharpness to be president."
Pakman pointed out what appeared to be "staff-prepared cards" with "photos of the two guests" and "scheduling instructions" that suggested Trump needed help remembering the details of the people he was meeting.
"It tells Trump what to do and what to say," Pakman explained. "Can Donald Trump not even remember who two people are?"
Pakman said the way he questioned the use of the cards mimicked the tone conservative media reserved for Biden.
"This is exactly the type of thing that Republicans used to say Biden had dementia," Pakman said. "The pictures would be circled in red. 'Biden needs pictures to know who he's with.' Fox News would be running it continuously, and right-wing influencers would be saying, 'Did Biden know where he was? Did Biden know who he was with?'"
Pakman recalled how the right treated Biden's note cards as medical emergencies and how "some disgraced TV doctor would diagnose advanced dementia from 3,000 miles away."
The GOP feels no shame in the contradiction, Pakman stressed, adding, "If it did prove it about Joe Biden, according to these people, it must also prove it about Donald Trump."
He ran through parallel reversals, including Biden's gas prices, teleprompter use, falling asleep in public and Barack Obama's golfing.
"What this proves is these Republicans don't believe their own stupid standards," Pakman said. "Because when Biden held a card, it was a national emergency. And when Trump holds one, he's a very busy guy."
A biographer detailed when devoted aide Natalie Harp began to emerge in President Donald Trump's circle and tied her to one of his pet projects.
During an episode of Inside Trump's Head, author Michael Wolff said that he started hearing Harp's name during the 2024 campaign, and he credited her as one of the minds behind the East Wing teardown and the push for a White House ballroom.
"People within the White House say that Natalie was one of the people who argued for the ballroom and getting rid of the East Wing," Wolff said.
"Wow!" co-host Joanna Coles said. "Natalie was really big on the ballroom and getting rid of the East Wing."
"People see this around Trump, that she is working," Wolff said. "She has worked to put herself in the position that she is the woman closest to Donald Trump."
Harp has recently found herself in the spotlight after Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) called Trump out in comments, saying, "He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar."
According to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's Regime Change, Trump's team knew that First Lady Melania Trump wouldn't be happy with the demolition of the East Wing. Wolff confirmed in the podcast, "It's really Natalie versus Melania," and that he first started hearing Harp's name in 2024.
"During the 2024 campaign, people began to talk to me because they were specifically worried about this woman, Natalie Harp," Wolff said. "No one knew exactly what she was doing there. No one knew why she was there, but she was assuming more and more authority in the campaign."
Wolff described it as "both a worry and an annoyance to many people, and so that's one of the motivations for people to speak to reporters."
A fired CIA officer revealed a detail that stunned a CNN anchor during an interview about the Trump administration.
Decorated former CIA officer Julia Curlee told CNN anchor Dana Bash in an interview on Tuesday that the Trump administration fired her shortly after she was called out publicly for being trans. However, what caught Bash by surprise was Curlee's account of how they asked her to return immediately after firing her.
"Laura Loomer had demanded my identity," Curlee said, detailing how the incident unfolded after the right-wing influencer "asked for someone to reveal [Curlee's identity] to the world so that we could drive out this trans Biden holdover."
Curlee worked in both the first and second Trump administrations. She recounted how she was a security advisor for Vice President Mike Pence and what Curlee called an "incredible" scene where Pence consoled her mom, who was having trouble dealing with Curlee's transition.
However, Bash, who agreed that Pence was "nice," was more caught off guard by how the Trump administration fired Curlee on a Saturday and asked her to come in on Monday.
"At the end of this call from my boss, who had said that my tour was over, they also had asked me to come back to work on Monday," Curlee said. "So I was fired on [Saturday] and asked to return."
"Can we just talk about that?" Bash asked. "So you're fired on a Saturday, when you're out with your family, after a not-so-subtle tweet from Laura Loomer about you, and then they said, 'But please come back on Monday anyway, even though we're firing you?'"
"Yeah, they still needed me," Curlee explained. "I was helping with a very important budget item. The new administration was still getting up and running, and we had two years of turnover to conduct."
CNN data guru Harry Enten was astounded on CNN's "The Source" as he discussed the results of Tuesday's primary elections in Florida.
MAGA candidates like Rep. Cory Mills, who is currently under investigation for domestic abuse allegations, and Catalina Lauf, a carpetbagger who had the president's endorsement, both lost their races on Tuesday. That happened even as other Trump-backed candidates, like gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds, won easily.
"I love theseelection nights because this was nutter butter,right?" Enten said as he discussed the results from Florida's 19th district.
The district included several people who recently moved to Florida and decided to run for office. For instance, former MAGA lawmaker Madison Cawthorn from North Carolina was on the ballot. Jim Oberweis, who has run for office multiple times in Illinois, was also in the race.
President Donald Trump also received a rebuke from the 19th district after Lauf lost her race to Jim Schwartzel.
"This was just anoverall kind of nutty map," Enten said.
The South Carolina Republican Senate debate turned awkward for appointed Sen. Darline Graham when she was asked about whether the U.S. has a national security interest in Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Graham was appointed to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, a famous foreign policy hawk, who died unexpectedly of an aortic dissection last month. President Donald Trump endorsed her for a full term, but much of the GOP establishment in South Carolina is unsure of her, and Rep. Ralph Norman is running against her in the runoff.
When pressed on the issue in the debate, Graham said, "I'm just going to be honest here. I'm ... not that informed on national security." She added that "I do support the military" but "I'm not a polished politician up here."
This answer failed to satisfy online commentators on both sides of the aisle.
"Please. This charade cannot continue," wrote conservative columnist Mark Davis.
"1. Why are you running for the United States Senate if you’re not up to speed on basic national security issues? 2. How are you Lindsey Graham’s sister if you’re not into national security issues??" wrote Zeteo News founder Mehdi Hasan.
"Point in favor of 'Congress is dead,'" wrote Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine. "How dare the legislature, expected to have opinions, have views on anything as highfalutin as National Security? All that matters is that you support the troops, as the Founders intended"
