By Ben Meiselas
What a day it’s been already.
Donald Trump returned to Washington on Monday morning in a state I can only describe as panic mixed with desperation. After hiding out at Mar-a-Lago all weekend on the taxpayer dime, he reemerged with a barrage of rambling social posts that paint a picture of a man spiraling under the weight of his own authoritarian impulses and legal exposure.
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Ok, let’s get into it.
I watched as Trump flooded his feed with deranged memes, one featuring the late comedian Chris Farley screaming into Attorney General Pam Bondi’s ear, captioned as an instruction to “just arrest somebody.” This is how the President of the United States now communicates orders to his Department of Justice? Through meme fantasies about arresting political enemies?
He even posted a bingo card with X’s over the faces of individuals he wants indicted, including former FBI Director James Comey. He labeled it “Obama’s Russia Hoax Treason Club.” The man is seriously unwell.
Trump then turned his ire toward Indiana, threatening to “strongly endorse against” any state lawmakers who refuse to gerrymander congressional districts to his liking. He again declared that Republicans must maintain the majority “at all costs,” a phrase that should send chills down the spine of anyone who believes elections, not intimidation, determine political power.
I’ve said it before: Donald Trump does not want free and fair elections. His language makes that obvious. He openly fantasizes about deploying federal agents to interfere in voting. He celebrates efforts to manipulate maps and distort representation. And he becomes furious when states refuse to play along. And now the very Republicans who have pledged their allegiance to Trump over the United States, and who cheered his attacks on their political enemies, are seeing what it’s like when Trump’s wrath is directed against them. We’ve reported on the threats Marjorie Taylor Greene has received as a result of Trump’s attacks, and this morning, we learned that Indiana State senator Greg Goode was the victim of a “swatting” attack following Trump tantrum about his refusal to rig the Indiana maps.
Much of this is a sign of Trump’s desperation as things continue to get worse for him. Behind the scenes, a federal magistrate judge in Virginia delivered a devastating blow to Trump’s handpicked prosecutor, Lindsey Halligan. The judge found that Halligan provided false statements of law to a grand jury in the Comey case, misstatements so severe that they may have tainted the indictment itself. The judge said Halligan’s explanations “simply make no sense,” described a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps,” and ordered the grand jury materials released to Comey’s legal team.
This is the kind of misconduct that ends careers. And it confirms what many of us warned the moment Halligan filed that indictment: Trump was preparing to use the Justice Department to criminalize dissent, and his personal lawyer-turned-prosecutor was willing to violate the law to do so. Halligan may soon join the ranks of disgraced former Trump attorneys such as Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell, and John Eastman. Was it worth it, Lindsey?
As Trump’s legal walls close in, his economic team has launched a coordinated PR offensive to distract from a weakening economy. His national economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, appeared on multiple networks insisting, against all data, that the job market is in a “quiet time,” a euphemism so absurd that even friendly hosts pushed back. Purchasing power is down. Inflation is rising. Tariffs are driving up costs. And yet the Trump administration continues to pretend otherwise, declaring the economy as a “Golden Age.”
Meanwhile, Trump allies on Capitol Hill are now claiming groceries and gas are “much lower,” a statement so unmoored from reality that it could only be intended to gaslight a public already struggling with soaring costs.
Trump then sent Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to blame former President Biden for potential spikes in beef prices, a claim immediately contradicted by the CEO of Omaha Steaks. Trump’s own trade promises also unraveled as China slow-walked soybean purchases, exposing yet another false claim about his supposed leverage on the global stage.
And yet beneath all the chaos, one story looms largest: the impending House vote on releasing the Epstein files. Trump now pretends to support disclosure because he knows he’s about to lose. He’s scrambling to claim he’ll turn over everything lawmakers are “legally entitled to,” even though he previously ordered the DOJ to investigate Democrats connected to Epstein, a move he will now use to argue that the documents can’t be released due to an “ongoing investigation.”
It’s a familiar Trump tactic: sabotage transparency, then cite your own sabotage as justification for secrecy.
The image that sticks with me from this morning is this: Trump walking across the White House lawn as one of flags he erected on the White House lawn was seen crumbled up behind him on the ground, as if it were garbage. It’s a symbol of how Trump feels about this country. A symbol of a leader who cannot sustain the weight of his own corruption and dark past coming back to haunt him.
The cracks are widening. And more people are finally seeing what has been obvious for years: when Trump feels cornered, he doesn’t steady himself. He spins out.
And that is exactly what we witnessed today.
Buckle up, it’s going to be a wild week. We’ll be covering it every step of the way.
P.S. I had an incredible conversation earlier with Senator Bernie Sanders about the threats of AI. You can listen right now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you find podcasts. I’ll also post the full interview here on Substack ad-free exclusively for this amazing community of subscribers a little later today, so stay tuned.
