This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 407

… Despite the best efforts of Trump, Fox and right-wing influencers to draw big crowds, Trump’s Freedom 250 Fair in DC has been attended so far by a small handful of MAGA cultists, Republican politicians, media members covering the debacle, and people with nothing else better to do.

… NYT: “On the first day of the Great American State Fair on the National Mall, there were no butter sculptures, blue-ribbon livestock or prizewinning rutabaga pies to admire. But visitors could take in a gleaming portrait of Trump, pick up a handbill promoting Turning Point USA and hear a speaker read a poem declaring every teen to be ‘a conscript in a spiritual world war.’”

… “Volunteers with the River at Tampa Bay Church in FL approached people asking if they knew that ‘Jesus loves you and has a plan for you.’ Literature was distributed proclaiming that Trump was leading the ‘Great American Comeback.’ Exhibitors included Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution, and the Museum of the Bible. On the edge of the grounds, performers sang hymns in a worship tent.”

… “Under a sweltering sun, attendance was sparse, and power failures did not help. Visitors could look at a smaller-scale model of Trump’s proposed 250-foot triumphal arch. Its vinyl covering - stapled over a wood frame and emblazoned with the words ‘One Nation Under God’ - had already started buckling.”

… “On one of the musical stages, attendees heard a band play covers of Billy Joel and the Eagles, instead of seeing live performances from artists like Martina McBride, the Commodores and Bret Michaels. They and others dropped out of the event last month, shortly after their appearances were announced, with several saying they had been misled to expect a nonpartisan event.”

… Mother Jones reporter Stephanie Mencimer posted video showing nobody at the christian worship tent. Several people on social media also noted the Israeli flag at a fair that is supposed to be about celebrating America.

… David Bier with the conservative Cato Institute: “All over the beautiful DC mall are random barriers and fences so tall you can’t see over them. It’s hard to get around and it’s ugly. Nothing says ‘freedom 250’ like miles and miles of hideous fences and barriers and soldiers. I guess that’s what Trump likes.”

… The fair also announced that they were closed for several hours today due to inclement weather, causing 10s of the attendees to leave.

… WaPo: Organizers for the NC booth at Trump’s partisan event, the Great American State Fair, had to remove an image of a Confederate flag displayed in the state’s pavilion on the National Mall. The state didn’t put it up. At least one sponsor, Mt. Olive pickles, has pulled out.

… Spokesperson for the booth: “On Friday, we became aware of an unapproved image in a video displayed inside the NC Pavilion. As soon as we were made aware, we immediately removed the video and began reviewing how it occurred. Our focus remains on celebrating America’s 250th birthday and NC’s role in our nation’s history.”

… Variety: “There was no measurable rain in DC Friday night, but even a threat of scattered showers was enough to melt Vanilla Ice‘s planned performance on the National Lawn as part of the Freedom 250 events, as the free show was called off hours before it was set to occur due to ‘inclement weather.’”

… “Vanilla Ice was one of just a couple of performers originally announced for Freedom 250 concerts who stuck with it till the end, and the only demonstrably enthusiastic one, but in the end his eagerness to go on with the show was for naught.”

… Freedom 250 issued this statement: “Due to inclement weather in the area, the Freedom 250 Great American State Fair and FIFA World Cup 2026™ Fan Zone will be closed for the rest of the day. The safety of our guests, staff, and partners remains our top priority. We are actively monitoring conditions and will provide updates as they become available. The Great American State Fair will reopen tomorrow at 10 AM.”

… “Some observers quickly took to speculating that the threat of low attendance was the real reason for the cancellation, since Freedom 250’s website promises that events will go on ‘rain or shine.’ Weather sites show no measurable rain showed up in Washington during the evening.”

… Fox hosts at their fair booth on Saturday were mocked in a viral social media clip where they claimed to their audience that the non-existent crowd was massive: “We’re celebrating at the great American state fair, we’ve got thousands of people celebrating with us.”

… A different Fox host tried again on Sunday: “Sometimes the pictures don't tell the full story because if you look behind us, a couple hundred people back there but when you make your way over here and you're in this wash of people.”

… Don’t believe your lying eyes after watching video and seeing pictures. Believe Fox.

… Influencer Scott Lobaido, who sells MAGA-themed paintings at Trump rallies and events, spoke to the crowd from the stage: “Self hating media outlets saying that this fair is a failure, get your butt down here and I will prove you wrong! This is historical. This is epic!”

… Fox issued a rare on-air apology for a segment with Mr. Not So Wonderful: “Kevin O’Leary appeared as a guest on the show and discussed the ongoing controversy surrounding his planned data center project in Utah and made claims relating to the opponents of his product. O’Leary has now corrected the record and explained he has ‘no evidence’ that they are funded by the Chinese Communist Party.”

… “Fox News media is aware of no evidence they are funded by or acting in the direction of or were in coordination with Chinese interests in opposing O’Leary’s project. Fox News Media also apologizes for the error.”

… One X user responded: “Fox News and Facebook did to our parents exactly what they said video games would do to us.”

… Trump posted about Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s best-selling book about his second term: “Based on a very quick and boring briefing concerning the Magot Hagerman book about me, it is mostly made up, Fake News, largely fiction, as have been most of the things she has written about me for so many years. She is a third rate writer and intellect, who has made a first rate income because of your favorite President, ME. She continues to spew out garbage, and people continue to buy it. And they don’t have the audio tapes that they imply they have. Just another Margot Con Job!”

We make the entire Weekend Bulletin available to everyone where about the first third of the daily Bulletins during the week are available to free subscribers. Everyone is also able to participate in the comments section to this Bulletin. If you missed Friday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

Tomorrow is also Ask the Editor where I choose 5 of your questions to answer with Meidas Capitol Hill correspondent Pablo. Please submit any question you have or just a topic you want me to talk more about in the comments to this Bulletin.

… NYT: When Howard Lutnick met with Kazakhstan’s president at the St. Regis Hotel last Sept in NY, Trump jumped in by phone as the men sealed a deal on a top priority for Washington. During the call, Trump and his team won an agreement from the Kazakh leader to give a little-known American company access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten, a metal that the US desperately needs for the production of missile warheads, fighter jets, computer chips and other critical goods.”

… “Ahead of the deal, the Trump admin approved preliminary applications for as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing for the American company, now called Kaz Resources, which plans to break ground on the project in rural Kazakhstan. It was not only Trump and Lutnick who saw an opportunity. Their sons were soon doing business with partners in a deal that their fathers were negotiating, continuing a pattern of self-enrichment in the second Trump admin that has few precedents in American history.

… “Within weeks of the St. Regis negotiations, investors with a firm called Dominari Securities, which is housed at Trump Tower in NY and partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, joined with other partners to take a 20% stake in a corporate entity related to the Kazakhstan project.

… “Around the same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment company controlled by Lutnick’s family and overseen by his sons Brandon and Kyle Lutnick, helped one of the lead investors working with Dominari on the Kazakh deal raise $210 million in new capital for a related entity.”

… “The Kazakh deal was ultimately signed 6 days after the investment involving the Trump sons and their partners, which was not publicly disclosed at the time. The arrangement is hardly an outlier. One or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies that are actively working with the federal government on critical mining deals, including the Kazakhstan project.”

… Foreign Policy: “By some accounts, Russia is now incurring 8 men killed or seriously wounded for every one lost by Ukraine. With average monthly casualties running at more than 30,000 this year, the Russian army is struggling to replace them with fresh recruits. It is offering sign-up bonuses as high as $80,000, and up to $140,000 in debt relief to encourage more men to enlist.”

… “The average life expectancy of a new Russian recruit—from arrival at a training ground to death in a combat zone—lies somewhere between 10 days and 3 weeks. Once sent onto the battlefield, they survive an average of 20 to 35 minutes.”

… Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) gave another great speech at a campaign rally this weekend as more and more people start to talk about him as a 2028 presidential contender if he takes care of business to hold his seat in a southern state:

• “This is what small men like Trump and Mike Collins will never understand. That our national greatness flows not through our blood or our genes, but through our ideas and our care for one another. Americans are not a race. We are a people united not by ethnicity, but by shared convictions.” The crowd erupted in a USA! chant.

• “A wave is building. The kind of wave that comes once a generation. And people have been pushed too far and they decide all at once, altogether, that enough is enough. We have the power not just to restore checks and balances, but to rebuke these abuses of power with such power and decision that no president dares try anything like this again for a century.”

• “I don’t know if you saw the mess in Washington last week. The president was so humiliated in Hormuz, he threw his toys out of the stroller and refused to sign the affordable housing bill. But wait, that is after he gave some felon donor a contract for the reflecting pool, and it filled up with algae, which for some reason required the deployment of the National Guard.”

• "Citizens United was the most destructive court decision in modern American history. It's unleashed a flood of secret money, corporate money, billionaire money on both sides. Trump's rise is a symptom of this deeper disease. Our task is not just to contain his wickedness, but to cure the rot that gave rise to it."

• “A few years back this degenerate political staffer named Brandon Phillips had been convicted of multiple crimes for some brutal violence. A few months later he was arrested again for an armed altercation, and again a few years later for animal cruelty. This kid was such a mess that he had to resign from the Trump campaign. But Mike Collins saw Brandon and thought he would make a great chief of staff. Fast forward 4 years, and as we speak both Brandon and Mike are under active fed investigation for illegally funneling it will tax dollars to Brandon's girlfriend.”

• “I never want to hear these two pretend they give a damn about working people again. Because while hundreds of thousands of Georgians lose their health care, Mike Collins builds Trump a ballroom. They worked harder burying the Epstein files than they ever did lowering your grocery bill.”

• “On Wed of this last week he said the war was ‘Done.’ And then on Thursday another ship was struck. On Friday the president was bombing again. This is what happens when you send your son-in-law, Jared, to cosplay as a diplomat. See, despite zero qualifications, Prince Jared was tapped to lead Middle East diplomacy.”

• “There is this beautiful little island off of the Albanian coast. And Jared Kushner wants it. So, he took his Saudi billions and he decided he and Ivanka would buy the island and build a luxury resort, and like clockwork, just a few weeks after Trump wins a second term, Albania's PM grants Jared's company strategic investor status, permitting his expedited to help the American prince develop his new island.”

• “And it turns out that ordinary Albanians are not fans of this arrangement. There are massive protests. Tens of thousands of people in the streets. They are calling at the flamingo revolution. All sparked by opposition to Kushner's land deal. Now Albania's anti-corruption police are getting ball. They froze a bank account controlled by two of Jared's investors, both Syrian billionaires. Do you think Jared Kushner would get special island-buying privileges if you were not the president's son-in-law?”

… Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was on Fox to talk about the Reflecting Pool: “When people are attacking it, it’s like an attack on our country. These are our most sacred monuments. When people are using boxcutters to do vandalism on this thing it’s the same as if they were throwing paint on Lincoln’s statue in the eyes of the law. We’ve had 7 arrests.”

… Journalist Gerren Keith Gaynor: “POTUS spotted by press pool getting out of motorcade Sunday morning to visit East Potomac Golf Links, where he reviewed blueprints of likely renovations. He is joined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.”

… He was also joined by Natalie Harp.

… Trump then posted a long screed on Truth Social updating his progress. This less than half of it:

“I just returned from a tour of various Statues, Monuments, Fountains and, most importantly, an old and run down Golf Course located throughout DC. The Reflecting Pool is now in full use after suffering great damage from Criminal, Radical Left Vandals, people that truly hate our Country. They cut the lower surface of a very expensive and strong waterproof padding, in the color of American Flag Blue, and put their hands underneath the surface, and ripped it. Likewise, they cut and butchered a 350 foot long strip, with many 1 and 2 foot individual cuts, creating great damage to this beautiful piece of art that was, last week, 100% free of leaks, and any of the other problems it has had since its building in 1922. It never worked properly until last week and, right after July 4th, when we will drain the water to treat the damage caused by these “animals,” it will again be in perfect shape. In the meantime, it is working well, the criminally made algae is gone, and the grass, which was destroyed, is being replaced shortly.”

“The visit to Lafayette Park, opposite the front entrance of the White House, which is now complete except for a replacement of some of the original pavers, was wonderful. Lafayette Park has not looked so good since its inception in 1820!

Most importantly on today’s visit, however, was the Secretary of the Interior, and his people, together with me and my staff, studying the dilapidated, worn out, and very dangerous and outdated Golf Course known as East Potomac Golf Links. Tom Fazio, the Great Golf Course Architect, and his son, Gavin, participated on the tour with us, whereupon it was determined that, on this fantastic site, with water and unparalleled views of D.C.’s Monuments, we will build one of the Greatest Golf Courses anywhere in the World which, importantly, will also be made available to the Public. When completed, this Course will have the ability to host Major Golf Tournaments, including The U.S. Open, The Ryder Cup, The PGA Championship, and other top PGA Tour events.”

… WaPo: Trump has a new side project: counting the number of trees in a public park across the street from the WH. He wants Lafayette Square to feature 47 trees - to match his 47th presidency, per people familiar.

… There are 94 trees in the park, including 81 large, beautiful, mature maple trees.

… Joe Biden gave the keynote speech at the MD State Dem Party Gala:

• “The Reflecting Pool reflects something even worse than the narcissism and incompetence at the core of this administration. It’s the corruption. The corruption. The brazen, blatant corruption. Corruption on a scale never seen before in American history in any administration.

• “Trump has made billions of dollars since returning to the WH. Simply stunning to me. He has no shame. Frankly, it’s embarrassing for the country. Trump couldn’t care less. Making money off the presidency is one of the reasons he wants to be president.”

• “Trump wants to give your money to the January 6 insurrectionists. My god. These people don’t deserve to be compensated. They deserve to be put in jail for a long, long, long time.”

• “Putting his name on the Kennedy Center. Building an arch in his own honor. Even hiring his own pool guy to fix the reflecting pool. Whoa. What a loser.”

… Influencer Scott Lobaido, who sells MAGA-themed paintings at Trump rallies and events, spoke to the crowd from the stage: “Self hating media outlets saying that this fair is a failure, get your butt down here and I will prove you wrong! This is historical. This is epic!”

… NYC Zohran Mamdani on ABC with Jonathan Karl:

• Karl: “Republicans are going to make you the poster child for the Democratic Party. Mamdani: Let them. We don’t have to ask ourselves what life looks like if a socialist wins. I won last Nov, and over the course of these last 6 months, what we’ve delivered for working people are the very things we were told were impossible.

• “We’ve delivered free child care for 2-year-olds for the first time in NYC history. We’ve delivered tens of millions of dollars back to tenants who were taken advantage of by bad landlords. We’ve delivered 165,000 potholes being paved. And we’ve done all of these things while also delivering the lowest recorded crime in our city’s history.”

• “That’s what it looks like to have democratic socialism. And what you’re seeing is that New Yorkers experienced this for 6 months and made the decision that they wanted to see more of it on the national stage as well.”

• Q - “Israel is a Jewish state. That’s in the charter. Do you support that? Mamdani: I’ve said time and again that I support the state of Israel as a state with equal rights. Q - As jewish state? Mamdani: I believe that any state that privileges one religion over another is one that I can’t tell you I support, whether it be Israel or Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. And a lot of that comes back to a fundamental belief that we should all be considered equal, no matter what our faith is.”

• Q - “So you now hit one of the constitutional requirements to run for president. But there’s another one that says you have to be a natural-born citizen. You were not born here. Do you think that’s something that should be changed in the Constitution? It would take an amendment, but do you think that’s something we should change? Mamdani: No, no. I think the Constitution looks good the way it is.”

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “Right now the biggest threat to this country are not a handful of House candidates in NY, it is the president of the US who is trying to destroy American democracy. Trump is the most unpopular president in the recent history of this country, and so he’s trying to rig the election in part by creating this national voter ID list.”

… Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) went on NBC to put his perfect Trump Cult Rating on full display:

• Q - “There's no evidence that fraudulent votes have changed any election outcomes. Are you trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist? Marshall: Look, um, we make pilots before they start flying a plane, we make them get a license to do that. We don't wait until they crash the plane.”

• Q - “Just give me one example of where there was some level of fraud that the SAVE Act would’ve prevented that would’ve altered an election. Marshall: Yeah Ryan, I guess we just look at this differently. An election process needs to be trustworthy. If what you’re saying is true, why not have voter ID?”

• Q - “If the US is still bombing Iran 120 days into this conflict, how can the Trump admin credibly say the war is over? Marshall: The major war is over. Think of this as almost just a mop up operation. Let's root for the Trump team for once rather than trying to tear them down.”

… Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) went on CNN to oppose mass deportation of Haitians: "It is not in the US's interest, certainly not in OH's interest, to have people who are working every single day, who are supporting a family, buying houses, and really are contributing, and yank them out."

… DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin on CNN: Q - Is it the position of the Trump admin that Haiti is a safe country to send these people to? Mullin: Those that are coming to this country legally, they need to be able to contribute to the US, not be a burden on the taxpayers. Q - But do you maintain that it's safe in Haiti to send these people back? The State Dept has a level 4 do not travel advisory. Mullin: Well, the do not travel is not for Haitians. That's do not travel for the US.”

… GCC Secretary General Jasem Al Budaiwi to The National on the $300 billion Iran reconstruction package announced by Trump: “For the 300, I have not seen anything. It was not introduced to me, nor to other GCC countries. We don't know anything about it. Q - Didn't you ask him? Al Budaiwi: Why would I ask him if it's not introduced to me? We don't know what is the 300, who's going to fund the 300, who's going to be the beneficiary of the 300.”

… CNBC: “Iran said it struck US military targets in Kuwait and Bahrain early Sunday following US strikes on its coastal facilities. Kuwait’s army said its air defenses were ‘confronting hostile missile and drone attacks.’”

… Bahrain’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “the renewed Iranian aggression against its territory, targeting it again with a number of ballistic missiles and drones, in a dangerous escalation. What Tehran is doing is not a passing act, nor an isolated incident, but rather a deliberate approach and a systematic pattern of repeated aggression.”

… UAE and Qatar - which have both been repeatedly struck by Iranian projectiles - condemned Iran’s attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, describing them as violations of those countries’ sovereignty and international law. Saudi Arabia also denounced Iran’s attacks, ‘as well as against the security and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.’”

… Trump posted: “US aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites, for violating the Cease Fire Agreement, AGAIN! It is very possible that they will never learn! There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!”

… Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei: “The confessions and shameless pride of some of the leaders of the American enemy and the Zionists in their crimes, which is definitely considered an admission of crime, has provided us the pretext to realize our violated rights in an appropriate manner.”

… Fox Pentagon correspondent Jennifer Griffin: “I asked a senior defense official why the US has had to go back and restrike these sites that have been hit multiple times since Feb 28 when the war began. I was told Iran has reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz since the US bombing campaign ended on April 7. That, the source said, is why the US military is now having to restrike areas like Qeshm Island and Sirik which they had struck in the past.”

… Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the IRGC: “As we anticipated, the enemy is one that breaks its commitments, acts deceitfully, and cannot be trusted. At any stage of the negotiations, and at any moment, it may resort to certain actions. We have responded, and will continue to respond, to every action the enemy takes in this regard. We reiterate: if the enemy breaks its commitments and violates the ceasefire, we will respond more forcefully than before.”

… Tanker Trackers: “Tehran has surged oil into international markets since the agreement came into force last week, exporting more than 40 million barrels, much of it the crude that had built up in storage during the US blockade.”

… Guardian: “An opaque WH office staffed largely by veterans of Elon Musk’s DOGE has quietly rebuilt some of the fed govt’s most sensitive websites – for passport applications, voter registration, prescription-drug pricing and children’s savings – in ways critics say appear to violate federal law. The National Design Studio was established by a Trump executive order last Aug, and is led by Trump-aligned Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and staffed by DOGE veterans.”

… “An investigation has found the office has apparently been developing or redeveloping sensitive fed websites, including those connecting Americans with prescription drugs, children’s savings accounts, passports and voter registration. The NDS built and now operates 4 public federal websites: ndstudio.gov, trumprx.gov, realfood.gov and trumpaccounts.gov.

… All 4 ran commercial visitor-tracking software, configured to evade the privacy tools many web users install, and none carry the public filings the law requires under laws including the Privacy Act of 1974 and the E-Government Act of 2002. Combined, the sites route sensitive interactions Americans have with their govt through infrastructure the WH apparently controls, and outside the reporting and accountability systems that normally cover fed agencies.”

… NBC: “Trump announced Saturday that he nominated Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to take over as director of ICE.”

… Immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “ICE is set to have 20,000 or more employees and a budget of over $20 billion a year, which is quite the step up for Schroyer, who has until now been a state trooper and never led a govt agency, even at the municipal level.”

… NYT: Less than 24 hours after RFK Jr. became health secretary, his press secretary delivered an order from him to the CDC: Take down your ad campaign promoting flu vaccines. That same day, the CDC reported that influenza-related ailments that season had killed 68 children - 11 that week alone - and 16,000 people overall.

… Former AZ Republican senator Jeff Flake endorsed Democrat James Talarico in the Texas US senate race.

… NOTUS: “Trump wants his name on most anything: money, buildings, airports, warships, even the nation’s 250th anniversary celebration. But one item is increasingly out of reach: newborns. In 2025, the baby name ‘Donald’ hit its lowest point of popularity in US history, according to data maintained by the Social Security Admin.”

… “The federal agency received fewer than 400 Social Security card applications for baby Donalds last year, making ‘Donald’ the nation’s 690th most popular baby name amid Trump’s return to the WH for a second term.”