Former President Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer

The former president was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer after reporting issues to his doctors on Friday. Read more.

Sunday Scaries…

A bribe by any other name

Team Trump fanned out to the Sunday talk shows with one mission in mind: defining the president’s acceptance of a gifted private jet from Qatari leaders.

Handing over the keys to a luxury airliner that will come into Trump’s personal possession after he leaves office is about the clearest example of a bribe imaginable. With the winds of a pro-Trump judiciary at their back, however, Trump’s acolytes had no problem swaggering onto various network sets with their bog standard air of “what are you gonna do about it?” lawlessness intact.

Trump sycophants like Scott Bessent grinned their way through defenses of obvious corruption, confident that judges would wave away any bribes short of a big check with “for eventual political favors” written in the memo line.

“The French gave us the Statue of Liberty,” he smirked to CNN’s Jake Tapper. “They didn’t expect anything in return.”

Read more…

Donald Trump is not even bothering to hide the corruption this time

Trump didn’t leave all the fun word games to his subordinates over the weekend. As hosts on “Meet the Press” and other Sunday shows were digging into possible corruption, Trump was finding new ways to attack the lügenpresse.

Trump has called the press the “enemy of the people” at his rallies, levied punitive lawsuits against media organizations and sicced his Cabinet attack dogs on reporters, so it’s no surprise that he’s met reporting on his gifted jet with insults and threats of litigation. Ever the bully, Trump went after ABC, a network that has already bowed to his tactics once.

“Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News, especially since I just won $16,000,000 based on the Fake and Defamatory reporting of Liddle’ George Slopadopolus,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He was given warnings, but just couldn’t be restrained by ‘management.’ Now I see they are at it again, and I again give these SleazeBags fair warning!”

A deeper dive…

As Trump attacks press freedom, why are some media owners unwilling to fight back?

While some media organizations sue, others retreat from their public obligations. Read more

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Before you go…

Is Donald Trump's movement really a "cult"? Well, I ought to know

Jonathan Hirsch was raised to follow cult leader Adi Da Samraj, breaking with the guru as a young adult. He sees a lot of the way he was raised in the followers of Donald Trump. Read more.