Kathleen Culliton

President Donald Trump showed his bruise-covered hand when forced immigration officers to equip themselves with electric-shock gloves, a columnist argued Friday.

Salon's Amanda Marcotte slapped back at the president's disturbing decision to arm Immigration Control and Enforcement officers with the "Orwellian" weapon that cops love because it leaves no scar.

"Since Trump can’t imprison people at the scale he wants, he has to settle for harassing them instead," she wrote. "While the situation is dire, it’s also a sign that Trump is weak."

Marcotte's argument for Trump's weakness focuses on various shows of strength in court that the columnist proceeded to deflate.

Trump's repeated failures in court against an Olympian canoeist, a man who took a picture of seashells, and the state attorney general who successfully sued him for fraud have spurred him to lash out, argued Marcotte.

"Trump’s efforts to use the Justice Department to exact revenge have only backfired," wrote Marcotte. "The new ICE gloves are part of this systemic destruction, representing the pathetic means the Trump administration will use, all so they can inflict maximum punishment before the judicial system lets their targets go."

Ultimately, the gloves are meant to serve as a mere distraction — one predicted to cause much physical pain to the citizens he's sworn to serve, Marcotte concluded.

"That’s not the behavior of the all-powerful leader he was trying to be a year ago," she wrote. "They are the actions of a spoiled brat trying, and failing, to cover up the stench of losing."

Maggie Haberman revealed Friday that President Donald Trump has a boy "binkie," too.

Haberman appeared on CNN to discuss her ongoing analysis of the relationship Trump shares with aide Natalie Harp, dubbed Trump's human "binkie" by the New York Times journalist last weekend.

"There are men who have played that role for him too," Haberman said. "Sometimes you just want somebody to tell you everything is going to be okay. That is a lot of what the president values."

Haberman first made her binkie claim last weekend, when she appeared on MS NOW Sunday morning to discuss recent reporting on Trump's catering container escape — and those who made it with him.

"I can guess why Natalie Harp [was there]," said Haberman. "She is sort of his binkie for lack of a better way of putting it."

On Friday, Haberman argued Harp's ability to comfort him constantly is what Trump values in her most.

"She doesn't really do much outside of work, she works constantly for him," said Haberman. "That is something that he has a huge amount of value in."

Then she revealed the name of a man she considers Trump's masculine binkie.

"One of them would be Boris Epshteyn," she said. "The president describes him as his psychiatrist."

President Donald Trump is draining crime victims's wallets while his allies get richer, according to a new report.

Trump's pardons have robbed $1.7 billion from federal crime victims in restitution funds, according to a House Judiciary Committee report uncovered by journalist Scott MacFarlane.

"Trump’s 'get out of jail free' cards for convicted crooks are actually costing crime victims a fortune," MacFarlane wrote. "Trump’s pardons have triggered a historic and 'massive redistribution of wealth in favor of convicted criminals.'"

Trump now stands accused of demolishing the pardon system as deep-pocketed convicts lobbied him through well-paid allies of the president and his lawyers, according to the report.

Just last month, Trump pardoned Republican megadonor Adam Kidan, who pleaded guilty in the lobbyist Jack Abramoff conspiracy case, after making a $2,600 contribution to a Republican's campaign PAC.

The Judiciary Committee Democrats argued such pardons for dozens of convicted fraudsters undermine any messaging his administration might make that they are “cracking down on fraud," Macfarlane reported.

"In recent months, often to justify immigration crackdowns or cuts to health care and food assistance programs, House Republicans have, hilariously, made ‘fighting fraud’ one of their central talking points," the report states.

"This is true. But convicted fraudster Donald Trump and the MAGA pardon industrial complex are all about committing fraud, protecting fraudulent schemes, and pardoning convicted fraudsters.”

The White House is scrambling to prop up President Donald Trump's image as a figure of influence after a public gaffe spurred ripples of ridicule, according to a new report.

The gaffe was Sen. Darline Nordone's, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-NC), who Trump has endorsed to replace her brother despite some setbacks that include her openness about her own lack of qualifications, CNN reported Friday.

“The entire world is laughing at South Carolina right now and laughing at Darline Graham Nordone,” former state Rep. Adam Morgan told CNN.

Nordone — dubbed "Queen Darline" by her critics — has faced mounting criticism for admitting this week she was “not that informed about national security.”

Morgan described it as a “serious gut check” for Trump, according to CNN.

Now Trump is leaping to her defense — holding a rally with Graham on Friday — and his White House is lobbing insults at anyone who questions the power of his endorsement.

“President Trump’s endorsement is the most powerful endorsement in the history of American politics,” White House spokeswoman Allison Schuster told CNN. “Anyone claiming otherwise is a complete and utter fool.”

But Trump's endorsement this election cycle has failed to push the needle for several high-profile candidates, among them Conspiracy theorist and MyPillow founder Mike Lindell and far-right representative Andy Ogles.

And his efforts to consolidate support behind Nordone after the Aug. 11 primary, which resulted in a runoff, have been "mixed," CNN reported.

Nordone continues to face criticism and even Trump's loyal supporters are venting their frustration to CNN.

“While I am a Trump support[er] and Lexington and SC is Trump Country,” Mark Weber, the chairman of the Lexington County GOP said in a text to CNN, “SC voters don’t want anyone to twist our arms or tell us how to vote.”

A vape distributor accused of illegally peddling nicotine products to kids has found a champion in Washington, D.C., a former ally of President Donald Trump's who is raking in millions as a lobbyist.

His name is Roger Stone.

Mother Jones reported Thursday that Stone has earned more than $4 million as a lobbyist for firms such as vape-distributor Ecto World under the new administration.

"Trump’s return to the White House has been a tremendous boon to Stone, who not long ago was claiming he had been nearly bankrupted by legal fees," Mother Jones reported.

The report describes him as a "conspiracy theorist and political provocateur who was convicted of lying to Congress and witness tampering in the Trump–Russia investigation, sentenced to 40 months in prison, and subsequently pardoned by Trump."

Stone’s lobbying firm Drake Ventures has signed up a slew of clients that include the cryptocurrency investor “Bitcoin Jesus,” indicted last year on federal fraud charges, and the military junta in Myanmar, reportedly paying Stone $50,000 a month.

Crimes against humanity have spiked in the Junta since the military takeover in 2021, the report notes.

As for Ecto World, it stands accused in New York of trying to get people hooked on nicotine.

"New York State Attorney General Letitia James sued Ecto World and other vape companies for illegally distributing, marketing, and selling addictive candy- and fruit-flavored disposable nicotine products," the report states, "many produced in China, targeting sales to children and fueling the youth vaping epidemic."

Religious groups want President Donald Trump's Department of Homeland Security officials to be held in contempt, according to a new report.

A federal judge has been asked to consider this punitive move after a recording device found in a Minnesota church raised concerns Immigration Control and Enforcement agents had violated a court order barring enforcement in places of worship, according to court records Politico revealed Thursday.

"DHS’s multiple undercover operations at University Baptist Church—including an ICE agent’s intrusion into the church itself—constitute clear and egregious violations of the Court’s preliminary injunction order," wrote attorneys for the New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"Given the blatant and repeated nature of Defendants’ violations, the harm to fundamental rights of religion and expressive association, and the threat of future similar violations, Plaintiffs also respectfully request the Court’s expedited consideration of this motion."

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on ongoing investigations. The local U.S. Attorney’s office did not respond to Politico's request for comment.

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent appears to have dropped the concealed audio recorder during a "boxing/sparring" session at the Minneapolis church in May, according to a court filing in the case.

The report includes a defense of DHS's decision to send an operative into the church.

"Individuals and organized networks have exploited events to engage in acts of violence, destruction of property, intimidation of federal officers and employees, and attempts to impede federal operations," a DHS internal document states.

"This investigation is focused on identifying and disrupting sophisticated, organized campaigns supporting and engaging in this behavior."

Politico noted the alleged investigation would contradict the Trump administration's messaging that it will punish attacks on religious freedom with criminal charges.

"Details of the operation spilled out in recent days in connection with a criminal case in which the Justice Department has accused more than a dozen people of conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers," the report stated.

"Individual activists also face assault, stalking and threat-related charges in the case."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was presented a real head-scratcher on Thursday, he admitted at a press conference.

"We've got a spike in oil prices today that I don't really understand," Bessent said during a White House address.

Bessent made this bold claim as the international price benchmark for oil rose 2.4 percent to reach $93.78 per barrel just before noon, Thursday, according to CNBC.

Oil prices reached their highest level in more than three weeks earlier this week after Iran pledged the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to threaten that he would announce the “MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!”

When Politico's Dasha Burns requested comment on the threat from a source inside the White House, she was told that Trump has decided to move away from military escalation and toward economic pressure.

"That means Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is more involved in the war than Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at this point," Burns explained.

Yet, despite his position of power as both a war advisor and the leader of the department that balances (or tries to) the budget of the U.S. government, Bessent admitted he couldn't understand how continuing hostilities against a country that controls the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's primary waterway passages for the oil trade, would cause oil prices remain high.

This left viewers scratching their heads, too.

"Feels like it’s his job to know," replied political commentator Chris Robinson, "but I understand Bessent is just a humble soybean farmer who’s estimated worth is half a billion dollars,."

Another political commentator, Jim Stewartson argued that it was a question of intelligence.

"In addition to being an amoral greedmonster, " he wrote, "Scott Bessent is unbearably dumb."

But HFI Research, whose substack on energy policy reaches roughly 19,000 readers, argued it was a question of honesty, writing, "If you are going to lie, at least try."

Wild horses couldn't keep President Donald Trump away from the chance of making a kill, according to a new report.

Under his administration, thousands of wild horses have been rounded up with helicopters, packed into metal trailers, trucked hundreds of miles, and sold off to be slaughtered, the New York Times reported Thursday.

“The [Bureau of Land Management] is saying to the public that slaughter is off the table, but they’re doing it in plain sight,” Clare Staples, who runs a wild horse sanctuary, told the Times. “They are turning a blind eye. And the only ones getting punished for what is going on are the horses.”

The Bureau of Land Management has been quietly exploiting a legal loophole that bans the slaughtering of wild horses by selling them cheaply to third parties to be sold abroad and slain, according to the Times' analysis of government records.

After Trump took office, the bureau more than doubled its sales to more than 3,700 horses, according to the report.

The mustangs are sold at a huge loss, as the government can spend $3,000 to capture a mustang it will sell for as little as $25 — meanwhile, the buyer can make up to $750 per horse at a slaughter plant.

The bureau makes the investment as part of its effort to maintain sustainability for the 73,000 wild horses that roam protected public lands.

It collects about 9,500 horses every year, putting half up for adoption and the rest into a “holding system" that now stores 58,000 wild horses at an annual cost of $100 million, according to the report.

The bureau has pitched buying a gas chamber to kill the horses and cut the costs, but Congress has barred such action over fears of an outcry, according to the Times.

But Trump has long been pushing for the horses to be killed — calling for Congress to act in Project 2025, the policy paper put forth by the Heritage Foundation.

The bureau responded to the Times' request for more information with a comment.

“[The BLM] remains dedicated to placing animals into good homes," they said, "protecting their welfare and upholding its statutory responsibilities on behalf of the American public.”

A company that won a $1.5 billion government contract with help from a lobbyist who channeled millions of dollars into a Trump cabinet member's reality show has done no work — except eating some doughnuts, according to a new report.

Virginia-based contractor Peraton has infuriated Federal Aviation Administration officials with its lack of progress in overhauling the nation's air traffic control system, three sources told Politico Thursday.

One person told Politico, “Peraton has basically not done any work since they got in."

It's been eight months since the Transportation Department handed Peraton the contract to oversee the crucial work of preventing deadly midair crashes like the one Washington, D.C. witnessed in January 2025.

Sources told Politico that time has not been well spent, as Peraton failed to manage subcontractors and let schedules slip.

In one case, a Peraton manager was spotted sitting in a corner and eating doughnuts instead of managing subcontractors, according to an industry official.

FAA spokesperson Hannah Walden denied delays in a statement to Politico, claiming Peraton was “making unprecedented progress" and noted the FAA has not penalized the contractor for underperformance.

Peraton said in a statement that it is “working side-by-side with their team every day."

This report also appeared "side-by-side" with the release of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's new reality show, "The Great American Road Trip."

The show was funded by a nonprofit whose directors include Mark Bednar, the lobbyist who represented Peraton the same year the contractor won its contract, according to filings unearthed by Politico earlier this summer.

Both Boeing and Toyota have admitted they gave Great American Road Trip, Inc. $1 million each to fund the show. Forbes estimates the nonprofit could have raked in as much as $5 million from corporate sponsors.

When Peraton announced it won the $1.5 billion contract, the company called out Duffy by name for thanks.

Americans think their president's name should be Donald Swamp Monster.

That's the newest report from CNN data guru Harry Enten on Trump's latest poll numbers — and Americans' mounting frustration with what they characterize as flagrant corruption.

" Trump came into Washington on the promise of cleaning up the swamp," Enten said. "They think he is the swamp. They think he is part of that corrupt swamp."

The polls Enten used to make this claim, from Reuters/Ipsos, found a majority of Americans believe Trump profited inappropriately from his cryptocurrency business as he raked in more than $1 billion.

According to that poll, 59 percent of all Americans disapprove of Trump on corruption. Among independent voters, the number is 64 percent.

"Up like a rocket," Enten said of the data. "The American people are increasingly believing that Donald Trump is not the person to clean up the swamp."

Polls also found 69 percent of Americans and 48 percent of Republicans believe Trump's business interests influence his policy.

"When you get 69 percent overall and nearly half of your own Republican base saying that your business interests actually influence your decisions as president," Enten said, "no wonder your disapproval rating on corruption are up, like a rocket, jumping up."

Enten found himself so excited by this data, he actually leapt into the air.

Once he had landed, CNN anchor Sara Sidner replied, "And the approval rating going down, down — sinking into the swamp."

President Donald Trump's human "binkie" has a secret weapon — and it's nude.

That's according to style expert Rochelle White, who discussed aide Natalie Harp's fashion tactics in-depth with the Daily Mail on Thursday.

"By wearing nude," White argued, "she is saying 'take me seriously, not my shoes.'"

The Daily Mail report features multiple pictures of Harp in an array of outfits paired with a pair of nude stiletto high-heels.

Harp beams in a golf cart, stomps through grass, shoulders an enormous red duffle bag — all in the cream-colored kicks.

"A nude heel can be a powerful dress code as it's not the standard black that people tend to expect," White said. "However, it can be visually bold in its own way and tends to command quietly."

Harp has certainly commanded a lot of attention in recent weeks as she traveled with Trump in a catering container, hurled vulgar insults at a cameraman, and revealed her devotion to Trump in personal letters.

“You are all that matters to me,” Harp wrote in a 2023 letter to Trump viewed and confirmed as authentic by The New York Times. “I don’t ever want to let you down.”

This may be why, as the Daily Mail reports, Harp has admitted to starving herself, riding in the trunk of an SUV, sleeping in a locker room and visiting Trump's private quarters late at night.

It may also be why Harp's estranged brother Preston has argued his sister is "kind of sad."

A much-anticipated but minimally viewed reality show starring a member of President Donald Trump's cabinet was subjected to a scathing review on CNN Thursday morning.

Episodes of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's "Great American Road Trip" — sponsored by corporations he regulates who admit spending millions on the project— received as little as 400 pageviews and a one-word critique from CNN panelist Meghan Hays.

"Gross," Hays declared. "It's corrupt, it's gross."

Duffy, a former reality television star, has faced mounting criticism from Senators, watchdogs and the media, all of whom raise concerns about an executive branch official receiving gifts of hotel stays, flights and ski trips from corporations his policies impact.

Both Boeing and Toyota have admitted they spent $1 million on the Transportation secretary's series, and a list of sponsors includes Royal Caribbean Group, United Airlines and Lyft.

While the cash was run through a nonprofit, and the Transportation Department denies taxpayer money funded the series, Hays argued it was still inappropriate.

As proof, Hays pointed to a controversial clip in which Duffy tells his daughter he doesn't want her to go to Harvard — and noted his son-in-law Michael Alfonso is running for Congress in Wisconsin.

"It's highlighting them," Hays said. "This is about the Duffy family elevating themselves, let's be clear, on the backs of companies in America who want better regulations for themselves."

A Georgia Democrat's snarky quips about President Donald Trump's human "binkie" Natalie Harp are providing Democrats a blueprint to potentially reclaim the House, the Senate, and even the White House, CNN political analysts argued Thursday.

Sen. Jon Ossoff's reference to Trump's high-profile aide — "he wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace" — represented a powerful political tactic: beating Trump at his own game, analysts argued.

"He's doing exactly what President Trump does," said Ashley Davis, a former Homeland Security official. "How many times has President Trump thrown huge grenades into conversations...especially when something big happens."

Axios reporter Alex Thompson agreed.

"Former aides to Donald Trump used to say that controversy is actually not a distraction, it's a way to drive a message, and [Trump] has been a master of that," said Thompson. "Ossoff is doing the exact same thing."

Ossoff's attention-grab, the panelists argued, has inspired helpful media coverage on the right and lots of cheering from supporters on the left, the panel argued.

It even earned him coverage on Fox News, spurring CNN host Erica Hill to quip he lived "rent free in the minds of many conservatives" — which she admitted she found ironic.

"The pearl-clutching among conservatives for a comment that some people saw, certainly as insinuation, others did not, is rich," Hill said, "given what we have heard from the president and many others over the last several years."

Davis admitted she felt a little queasy about Ossoff's attack, arguing he had insinuated Trump and Harp have a romantic relationship.

"You get attributed to sleeping with your boss, just because you're a young woman," she said. "There is a part of me that feels sorry for her."

Meghan Hays, a former Biden administration official, argued that Ossoff was not the source of the rumors — Harp's colleagues were.

"Her own colleagues are leaking this," Hays said. "It is very unfair to be in this situation. But clearly, her own team and her own colleagues think this is an issue, or they would not be talking about it."

President Donald Trump's lone strategy for pumping up voter turnout is doomed, according to a new analysis.

Trump has lost his ability to control the MAGA rage he has used in past elections to get his supporters out voting for Republicans — because that rage has turned on him, MS NOW political analyst Zeeshan Aleem argued Thursday.

"He doesn’t rely on persuasion and building broad coalitions, but rather on turbocharging turnout among sympathizers and capitalizing on anger at the status quo," wrote Aleem. "That entire strategy is in trouble."

Trump in recent months has seen his approval ratings plummet as the MAGA right questions his decision to launch a war in Iran and raise their costs at the pump.

Recent polls have found Trump's hardcore base is "dissipating" and rendering the MAGA brand less potent, wrote Aleem.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll this month found that 64 percent of adults disapproved of Trump. Another recent Economist/YouGov poll put Trump's approval rate at 33 percent.

Aleem noted, "that survey also showed Trump hemorrhaging die-hard followers."

Those die-hard followers have expressed their disapproval by refusing to elect candidates Trump endorsed in recent GOP primaries, Aleem argued. That's why the analyst predicts bad news for Republicans in the midterms.

"It’s typically a tough contest for an incumbent party, so if the president’s base is burnt out on him or defecting, that could make the elections even harder to win," wrote Aleem.

"If Trump’s base is souring on him, it throws a wrench in his entire theory of winning elections."

It was 12:29 a.m., and President Donald Trump was still posting loving clips of Stephen Miller.

Over the course of just two hours and 40 minutes, Trump shared nine quotations, videos, and commentaries about the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor whose face he apparently needed the world to see.

"He's taken the fight to the drug cartels!" Miller roars in the first clip — an interview on Fox News. "Used military powers to fight these enemies!"

Besides Miller, footage rolls of Trump silently waving his hands in front of his under-construction White House helipad, where on Wednesday he invited the press to enjoy a tour and a lengthy rant about, among other things, grass, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, granite, leaks, military shelter/ballrooms and drones.

This spurred some viewers to posit Trump was "a complete lunatic."

Not, Miller.

"Nobody has done more to rebuild or save the Republican Party, since Abraham Lincoln himself!" Miller tells Fox News host Laura Ingraham in another clip. "He turned it into the working class party."

Trump faces historically low polling numbers as working class people his home state of Florida condemn his war with Iran, which they blame for mounting costs at the gas pump.

One woman recently burst into tears during a media interview — another woman reported to the Times she sells her own blood to get by after Trump's administration slashed social welfare programs such as SNAP.

Meanwhile, Trump was posting praise of Miller.

"Miller just gave an on-air masterclass," writes political commentator Benny Johnson in one of Trump's posts. Why? "The GOP is the party of Trump."