MSN

Donald Trump flew off the handle on Monday morning, attacking Van Jones, claiming the CNN personality once came to him “crying like a baby” for help, and now has deemed him a “dictator.”

Jones, who once famously praised Trump in his first term after the president honored the widow of a slain NAVY Seal during a joint session of Congress, telling his CNN colleagues, “He became President of the United States in that moment, period,” has always straddled the line between faint praise and then criticism.

As the United States’ war against Iran continues to dominate news headlines, the Trump administration is simultaneously ramping up its attacks on suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean, attacks that several legal scholars continue to call illegal.

“Many expected that the lawless strikes – which amount to killing suspected criminals without trial – would end after U.S. forces captured [Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro at the beginning of the year,” wrote foreign policy analyst Max Boot in an op-ed published Monday in The Washington Post.

According to DC insiders, the race to assume the MAGA crown from Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s 2028 presidential nomination is a two-horse race between Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

However, as longtime GOP campaign strategist Rick Wilson wrote on Monday, there is a wild card in the mix who not only could use Donald Trump’s outsider playbook from 2016, but already has a base to lean upon that could elevate him in the early primaries and clear the field: former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

The Trump administration refuted a claim Monday that a U.S. warship transiting the Strait of Hormuz was forced to retreat after being struck by Iranian-launched missiles, a denial that several critics called into serious question.

“I suspect that a US Navy ship was, indeed, hit and the Pentagon is playing wordsmith because they are attempting to avoid escalation,” argued geopolitical analyst Brandon Weichert. “We have exhausted all military options.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) faced backlash after he used the death of Nicole Brown Simpson to mock Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) over the abrupt shutdown of Spirit Airlines.

In a Monday post on X, Lee shared a photo of O.J. Simpson and Brown Simpson, suggesting that Warren killed Spirit Airlines in the same way that many people believe the former football player murdered his wife.

Democrats are feeling good about taking back control of JD Vance's old Senate seat in Ohio.

The one-time swing state has leaned heavily Republican in recent elections, but Democrats believe thing might be different in November because President Donald Trump won't be on the ballot, and they sense voters have soured on his second term in the White House and will take out their frustration on GOP candidates, reported The Guardian.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy took to Fox News Monday to boast about reliability of U.S. aviation under his watch, claiming the United States to have the “safest skies in the world” – a poorly timed remark that coincided with a split screen showing video of a plane that struck a pole in New Jersey on Sunday.

“We have the safest skies in the world here in the United States,” Duffy claimed, appearing on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends.”

President Donald Trump's deepening unpopularity is dragging down Republican chances with crucial swing voters, according to CNN's Harry Enten.

The 79-year-old president remains underwater in public opinion polling with most demographic groups, and Enten told "CNN News Central" that he's struggling with a key voter bloc that Republican congressional candidates will need in November.

U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes warned of "serious consequences" if the Trump administration failed to get her approval before renovating a Washington, D.C., golf course.

In federal court on Monday, the D.C. Preservation League argued that President Donald Trump should not be allowed to take over the East Potomac Golf Links for renovations. For months, crews have dumped debris from the destruction of the White House's East Wing at the golf course.

Comments made by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during two Sunday cable show interviews with regard to the prosecution of former James Comey likely delighted the former FBI director’s lawyers.

That is the opinion of former state attorney of Palm Beach County, Florida, Dave Aronberg, who was amused on “Morning Joe” that Blanche put himself in the position of having to awkwardly explain the reasoning for going after Comey one year after he posted a picture of seashells spelling out “8 6 4 7,” which the DOJ insists was a threat against Donald Trump.

Concerns are growing among Senate Republicans that Mike Johnson “has lost control of his conference,” potentially making his leadership a major “liability” in the upcoming midterm elections, The Hill reported Monday.

“It’s not like these things are hard,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), according to The Hill. “That’s the thing. I feel like the Senate has teed up things fairly easily for them, even to the point where if they don’t like it, they can blame us. And they still haven’t taken the opportunity to actually govern, and I do think it’s hurting the brand. The House is rowdy.”

Donald Trump Jr. was reminded that the White House was not his "dad's house" after he shared that he was having a "sleepover" with the commander-in-chief.

On Monday, the president's son shared a video of himself exiting Marine One with luggage for a stay at the White House.

With his newly announced Project Freedom – a naval operation commencing Monday to provide security for vessels traversing the Strait of Hormuz – President Donald Trump “made a public bet,” international security expert Robert Pape argued on Monday, one that has only two likely outcomes: a major military escalation or “humiliation in full view of the world.”

“He is betting that Iran will not strike a ship under American protection. If Trump wins the bet, the United States stabilizes the corridor,” Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, wrote in an analysis published on his Substack. “If it fails even once, Washington must escalate – or accept humiliation in full view of the world.”