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Exhibits at Trump’s State Fair documented by reporter: ‘Basically just put up some chairs’

Emmy Award-winning journalist Eric Flack of WUSA9, a CBS-affiliated D.C. news station, toured the Great American State Fair on the National Mall and found that the fair’s state exhibits ranged wildly in quality.

Exhibits for Connecticut and Maine, for instance, were especially empty.

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White House on defense after under-the-radar Trump memo sets off firestorm

Add anti-immigrant activists to the list of Donald Trump allies who feel betrayed by the president after he cancelled a major policy announcement in Wisconsin in early June and instead revealed it in a little-noticed memo.

At the same time, the president has aggravated a substantial number of his MAGA followers by starting a war with Iran, annoyed GOP lawmakers by insisting they pass his SAVE America Act, and seen his approval numbers crater due to the high cost of living. He now he has the Stephen Miller wing of his party mad at him.

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Iran strikes American targets as Trump’s peace deal hangs in the balance: report

Violence near the Strait of Hormuz continued for its third consecutive day Saturday after “American targets” in Bahrain were hit by suspected Iranian strikes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“Iran didn’t specifically claim responsibility for the attacks. But state media said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had carried out strikes against American targets in the region and reasserted Iran’s claim of control over traffic in the strait,” the Journal’s report reads.

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BBC turns up heat on Trump over Jan 6 phone records and diaries in courtroom demand

Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit filed against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has hit a treacherous hurdle in a new legal filing in Florida where the suit was filed.

According to The Telegraph, BBC lawyers have filed discovery demands requiring Trump to disclose his "telephone logs, calendars, schedules, and diaries," spanning November 3, 2020, through January 20, 2021—the critical period encompassing the Capitol insurrection.

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Trump dragged over low turnout to Great State Fair: ‘Seen more people at my local diner’

Critics pounced on President Donald Trump Saturday after video emerged that appeared to show less-than-anticipated crowd sizes at the Great American State Fair.

Organized by the Trump-linked group Freedom 250, the Great American State Fair officially got underway on Thursday, but had already stumbled weeks earlier when performers pulled out en masse after learning of its ties to Trump. In the wake of the mass exodus of artists, Trump floated himself as a suitable replacement.

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Conservative voters are falling out of love with 'kiss of death' Trump: report

Donald Trump's increasing unpopularity with conservative voters who are dissatisfied with his second term was given voice in interviews with Reuters, who appear to be ready to take out their frustrations on Republicans on the ballot in November.

The disaffection stems from a toxic combination of failures: the controversial Iran war agreement, punishing tariffs that have gutted small businesses, and a litany of broken campaign promises.

The Iran deal has proven particularly damaging. Trump's interim agreement to end the war with Iran—which reopened the Strait of Hormuz, lifted U.S. oil sanctions on Iran, and authorized a $300 billion reconstruction fund—has dragged his approval to historic lows.

Juan Rivera, 26, a Trump voter who recently canvassed Latino voters near San Diego, captured the sentiment bluntly, telling Reuters: "He criticized his predecessors about negotiating with terrorists, and he's basically done the same exact thing."

Rivera's frustration extended beyond hypocrisy. He recalled that conservatives are so "demoralized" by the president's handling of the war that they've lost all motivation to support Republican candidates in the midterms.

"A lot of people say: 'Why should I vote when the president's not doing what he promised?'" Rivera claimed.

Steve Egan, 65, a Tampa businessman, said he "soured on Trump" in 2025 when tariff-triggered price hikes devastated his business. The Iran deal only deepened his alienation. Egan now views the war as a "strategic failure" that accomplished nothing beyond jacking up gas prices.

"Right now it doesn't seem like it's been worth it to go through all that," Egan said, noting that the stated goal of regime change "didn't happen." His contempt for the president has reached such depths that Trump's endorsement would be "the kiss of death" for any candidate seeking his vote.

Robert Billups, 35, of Washington state, represents another crucial shift: the defection of swing voters. While cautiously optimistic the Iran peace deal might hold, he believes the war has spawned more hostility toward the United States than it prevented.

Vice President JD Vance, who led negotiations with Iran, has fallen sharply in Billups's estimation, who admitted he was wavering when it comes to the 2028 presidential election.

"Whoever has a better strategy this time, I'm gonna vote for them regardless of their party," he warned.

Reflecting Pool’s new ‘dystopian’ anti-loitering measure astounds critics: ‘Orwellian'

As the number of Americans arrested for touching the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool continues to grow, the Trump administration appears to have enacted new security measures to discourage loitering, video of which circulated online and left onlookers floored.

Freelance journalist Amanda Moore published video of the Reflecting Pool that appears to show a "surveillance machine,” as Moore described it, relaying an audible message to those passing by the water’s edge.

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'He's obviously physically unwell': Trump's facial 'drooping' singled out on MS NOW

After watching a montage of clips of Donald Trump dismissing American consumers’ economic woes, an MSNBC regular noted the president’s physical decline with a new observation.

Speaking with host Jacob Soboroff, attorney George Conway claimed, “I hear a longstandingly mentally ill man, a narcissistic sociopath who is cognitively declining in his elder years, becoming increasingly disinhibited.”

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JD Vance put on the spot in tense TV exchange with late night host: ‘How do we know that?’

Vice President JD Vance struggled to answer pointed questions about the Trump administration's tentative peace deal with Iran during a tense appearance Friday on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher,” particularly when asked about the supposed destruction of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, Mediaite reported Saturday.

Maher pressed Vance on what the administration had actually achieved, noting that a central demand going into negotiations was sending inspectors into Iranian facilities, something that has yet to happen.

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Trump display at his State Fair already falling apart after three days: report

President Trump's carefully constructed vision for transforming the nation's capital is literally falling apart.

The Great American State Fair, meant to showcase his grandiose architectural ambitions, has spiraled into a three-day disaster of musical acts boycotting, equipment failures, tiny crowds and now a deteriorating replica arch buckling under less-than-ideal weather conditions.

According to New York Times reporting, the centerpiece of Trump's fair—a scaled-down version of his proposed 250-foot "Triumphal Arch"—is already showing signs of structural failure. The vinyl covering, stapled over a wood frame and emblazoned with "One Nation Under God," had begun "buckling" under the combined assault of high temperatures, humidity, and rain.

The arch represents Trump's broader vision for the nation's capital: a planned White House ballroom, renovated golf courses, and the repainting and sealing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool – all of which have come under scrutiny and criticism.

Three days into a 16-day event, Trump's showcase for his ambitions is becoming another debacle, with sparse attendance under a sweltering sun, power failures disabling the Ferris wheel for hours, and a cancelled concert by headliner Vanilla Ice with days still to run.

Trump's opening performance set the tone. As the Times noted, "Trump gave a short campaign-style welcome speech on Wednesday before a thin crowd, asserting that in his second term he had brought back a country that was 'dead' under his predecessor."

Trump's Big Beautiful Bill is leaving low-income Americans starving: 'I weigh 102 pounds'

Nearly one year after the passage of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), close to 5 million fewer Americans received federal food assistance in March when compared with the previous year, leaving an untold number of people scrambling, The Hill reported Saturday.

Sheila Boyd, an 81-year-old New York resident, was among those who did not get booted off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) but did have her benefits significantly reduced under the OBBBA’s stricter work requirements and fewer exceptions. She previously received $298 a month, she told Nexstar’s WPIX, but abruptly had her benefits slashed to $24 a month.

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Dem lawmaker torches Epstein associate for fleeing interview: ‘Will be held accountable’

Billionaire Leon Black, the former CEO of Apollo and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, was fiercely condemned Friday after fleeing an interview with members of the House Oversight Committee.

“Leon Black had a chance to do the right thing and help us bring justice to the survivors. Instead, he ran out of the room when he was pressed for information about his non-disclosure agreements with women and his relationship with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein,” said Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking member of the committee, in a statement released Friday.

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Mike Johnson's off-hand admission 'I run the protection program' raises eyebrows

Appearing to go off-script at a conservative gathering on Friday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) suggested that he is the last thing saving Donald Trump, and just as importantly, his supporters, from new investigations because he will run interference for them.

Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's annual summit, Johnson warned supporters that if Democrats take control of the House, they would "turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body" and target "Trump, his family, his Cabinet, his donors, and his allies."

He then admitted "I run the protection program. I'll take care of you."

The phrase "protection program" caught the ear of MSNOW's Steve Benen, who noted that after Trump returned to the White House, "the GOP-led Congress continued to show very little interest in legislating, but this time, lawmakers also abandoned their oversight responsibilities to an almost cartoonish degree, pretending not to notice any of the incumbent president's many abuses and scandals."

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