Reacting to polling that shows Americans overwhelmingly oppose Donald Trump tearing down the East Wing to build a gaudy 90,000 square foot ballroom that will dwarf the White House, an MSNBC panel could not control its glee about the presidential misstep.

On ”Morning Joe,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough kicked off the pile-on over Trump’s folly after co-host Willie Geist reported that a Ipsos/Washington Post poll showed only 28 percent of those polled supported the construction of the oversized edifice.

“Never saw that coming,” Scarborough joked. “Can I ask you a question, Willie? Who is that 28 percent?” which made both of them laugh.

“I love it," Geist joked as Scarborough continued, “Are these MAGA people that are like, having trouble, like, like paying their car loans and, you know, paying their health care costs and they're going, ‘Oh, I love the idea of the president deciding in the middle of this crisis and government shutdown to tear down half of the White House and put up a Marie Antoinette Memorial Ballroom.’”

“Who are those 28 percent?” he continued.

“People who ride or die with Donald Trump?” Geist replied before reporting, “Independents, by the way, are overwhelmingly against the ballroom; 61 percent of them.”

That caused the off-screen Scarborough to snort and blurt, “Oh my god!”

“Not a huge surprise there, but just now we see it in the numbers,” Geist observed.

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A philosophical divide is tearing a rift between two liberal Supreme Court justices opposed to the right-wing slide of the institution, according to a report Friday.

Liberal Justice Elena Kagan has long navigated the Supreme Court's ideological divide with strategic restraint, carefully managing her approach to confronting the court's rightward shift. Her internal struggle was most revealing two years ago when she drafted a scathing dissent against Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. during the student loan forgiveness case, only to delete the most heated passages before publication.

But her liberal colleague, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, has taken a dramatically different approach. "I'm not afraid to use my voice," Jackson declared at a legal event, embodying a more confrontational stance. While Kagan has mostly sought to work within the system, Jackson has been more direct in her criticism.

The comparison was made by the New York Times Friday in a report that claimed differences of opinion were causing a rift over how to deal with President Donald Trump.

In one particularly pointed opinion, Jackson compared the court's decisions to Calvinball, a fictional game with no fixed rules. "Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules," she wrote. "We seem to have two: that one, and this administration always wins."

Kagan's approach has been more nuanced. As she told an audience, "Sometimes I draft dissents and then decide not to do them. Like, I draft a dissent and say, 'Really, is this worth saying? It just seems like a bunch of debaters' points.'"

The contrast between the two justices reflects a deeper philosophical divide. "You can try to hold the center together, and assume that people on the other side are acting in good faith," said Daniel Epps, a law professor, "or you can raise the fire alarm.

“It’s sort of like war. If you’re outgunned, do you try diplomacy or even appeasement, or do you make a noble charge and possibly get blown away?”

Justice Sonya Sotomayor has been somewhere in between, writing that, "Other litigants must follow the rules, but the administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial." Kagan similarly criticized the court's use of emergency applications "to reshape the nation's separation of powers."

In a pivotal moment, Jackson wrote a particularly stark dissent in a Trump-related case, declaring, "Eventually, executive power will become completely uncontainable, and our beloved constitutional Republic will be no more," signing off "with deep disillusionment, I dissent."

The underlying tension is profound. As Pamela Karlan from Stanford Law School noted, "The problem with waiting to speak frankly is that over time you normalize what's going on."

Yet Kagan remains committed to her approach, the Times wrote, telling an audience, "We're engaged in a collective endeavor of some importance. I want to participate and to continue to participate in that endeavor as best I can."

Republican strategist Lindy Li compared the 16 million children poised to lose food assistance on Saturday to “socialist beasts” during an appearance on Newsmax on Friday.

The ongoing government shutdown – sparked by a disagreement over the extension of government health care subsidies – has disrupted a number of federal programs, among them the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which provides food assistance to around 42 million Americans, including 16 million children.

Once a self-proclaimed “tree-hugging progressive” but now a fierce defender of President Donald Trump, Li pushed back on concerns over the millions of children that may go hungry amid the disruption, and one that the Trump administration could address using stopgap funds but has refused to do so.

“President Trump isn't starving kids – he's starving socialist beasts,” Li said. “He's starving the handouts for millions of illegal aliens; why are we putting them first when we have so many Americans suffering on the streets? Why are we prioritizing illegals? That is a question that Democrats need to answer.”

Li herself likely never received SNAP benefits as she came from what appears to be a wealthy family; her father was a real estate agent and a property manager, and she attended The Agnes Irwin School, a private K-12 school for girls with a tuition of $47,650 per academic year for 9th-12th graders.

As for the total number of SNAP recipients – 42 million – Li questioned that they were even eligible for the program, but for those that were, suggested that they “start making better choices” so that they didn’t “have to rely on the government.” She also spent a considerable amount of time praising Trump for his busy schedule, telling Newsmax that the president fills her “with adrenaline.”

“I'm less than half of President Trump's age, and I just want to say he puts me to shame, I'm embarrassed!” Li said. “Whenever I get tired and I get deflated, I think of his schedule and I am filled with adrenaline because he inspires me to reach my greatest potential… I don't know how he does it, it's super human strength!”