By Ben Meiselas
It started at 12:37 a.m. Donald Trump, unable to sleep and clearly unraveling, took to social media to post one of his most unhinged conspiracy theories yet: “THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6. If this is so, which it is, a lot of very good people will be owed big apologies. What a SCAM - DO SOMETHING!!! President DJT”
Let’s pause right there. On January 6, 2021, Donald Trump was president. The FBI worked for him. Biden wasn’t sworn in until two weeks later. So Trump, who orchestrated and incited the insurrection, is now trying to rewrite history by blaming Biden for the chaos that happened under his own watch. And that’s aside from the fact that FBI director Kash Patel already admitted the agents were sent in response to the insurrection. Because that’s what law enforcement is supposed to do during a violence insurrection.
It’s not just deranged. It’s dangerous.
And the meltdown didn’t stop there. Hours later, Trump claimed that the “Ukraine impeachment scam” was a bigger “illegal hoax” than Watergate and demanded that Congress investigate Adam Schiff. This from the same man whose own wife, Melania, recently revealed she has been privately communicating with Vladimir Putin about “returning Russian children from Ukraine to Russia,” parroting Kremlin propaganda about the war.
Just months ago, Trump hosted Putin in Alaska, humiliating himself and the nation by rolling out the red carpet and forcing U.S. troops to kneel before the Russian dictator. And yet, Putin is still able to play Trump like a fiddle. All Putin has to do is tell Trump he deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, and Trump begins fawning over him all over again.
Trump’s new slogan posted to social media says it all: “Don’t worry, we will survive.” So I guess gone is Make America Great Again. What remains is a message of resignation. And frankly, survival feels apt for a country that’s barely holding together under his leadership. Inflation has surged, the housing market is the worst since 1995, and the U.S. is suffering through a self-inflicted trade war that’s choking small businesses. Millions stand to lose healthcare as Trump and Republicans refuse to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, while Democrats fight to restore them amid the shutdown.
Yet Trump’s surrogates, MAGA Mike Johnson and J.D. Vance, spent the morning gaslighting the American public, claiming Republicans are “fixing healthcare.” This, as rural hospitals shutter and premiums skyrocket. Vance was left stammering when NBC’s Kristen Welker reminded him that by Trump’s own standard, the shutdown chaos is his fault.
And the lies don’t stop there. Trump has consistently claimed he secured $17 or $18 trillion in foreign investment for the U.S. this yea, a number so absurd it dwarfs entire national economies. CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checked it, noting the real number the White House has provided any sort of data for is roughly $8.8 trillion, and upon a basic inspection, that memo is full of fabricated pledges and misrepresented trade figures. For context, Qatar’s entire GDP is $166 billion, yet Trump claims it pledged $1.2 trillion.
This is a Ponzi scheme in plain sight.
Every day, we see the same pattern of delusion, deception, projection. As former President Obama once said, the presidency doesn’t change who you are, it magnifies who you are. And Donald Trump has shown us, in high definition, exactly who he is: a fraud amplified by power and politicians who refuse to stand up to him as he wrecks the country.
America deserves better than to simply “survive.” We’ll keep bringing you the facts and the truth. I hope you find these mid-day news recaps helpful. Please let me know if you do! And for those who are able, consider joining as a paid subscriber or gifting subscriptions. It really helps us grow this network in a major way.
