This Weekend in Politics, Bulletin 133.

… Statement: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”

… This was posted by someone on Trump’s Truth Social account: “Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”

… Most likely his personal assistant Natalie Harp.

… Now CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson will head out on their book tour to talk about how Biden was senile and hurt the country, while CNN talks about the subject every day around the clock. Lovely.

… Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) summed up Trump’s Middle East trip perfectly on CBS: "Trump's visit to the Middle East - my view is the overall narrative here was selling out US national interests for the private gain of his family business. He essentially gave away the crown jewels of American AI and semiconductor technology to the Gulf in exchange for it looks like a $2 billion investment in the Trump family stablecoin venture."

… I guess I think that it was perfect because that is exactly what I have been saying in this column every single day since this trip was first announced until it ended.

… I was also saying this - Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) to NBC: "Why did Trump choose these 3 countries to go for his first major foreign trip? It's not because these are our most important allies or the most important countries in the world. It's because these are the 3 countries willing to pay him off. This is the definition of corruption."

… HuffPost on Trump’s claim that he has brought in $14 trillion in new investments to the US from foreign countries, including $4 trillion from his Middle East trip alone: “The WH press office did not respond to HuffPost’s request for a full list of the investments totaling the $14 trillion, nor one for the list of those making up $8 trillion when Trump was claiming that amount just two weeks ago.”

… “The website’s ‘Trump Effect’ page that tracks ‘major investment announcements’ that were ‘made possible by President Trump’s leadership’ lists pages of figures, including $1.2 trillion from Qatar, $500 billion from Apple, and $11 billion from Gilead Sciences clear down to $6 million from LGM Pharma. When totaled, they come to $3.9T. Even if the $200 billion in new investment claimed from the Emirates visit is added to that, it still amounts to only $4.1 trillion — about $10 trillion short of Trump’s claims.”

… Economist Justin Wolfers: “Trump has claimed a $1.2T investment deal from Qatar. Qatar’s annual GDP is a bit less than $250 billion per year. So he’s claiming an investment that would require every dollar every Qatari earned over the next 5 years. The problem is the word million, billion and trillion all sound similar. So my realistic answer is that he’s a known liar. I can also show you that he’s a lazy liar. So if your investment announcement is full of lazy lies, what part of it should we infer is true?”

… Mike Pence was asked about Trump accepting a jet from Qatar: "They support Hamas. They supported Al Qaeda. Qatar has actually financed pro-Hamas protests on college campuses across the US. So the very idea we would accept an Air Force One from Qatar I think is inconsistent with our security, intelligence needs, and my hope is the president reconsiders."

… He aint reconsidering.

… Treasury Sec Scott Bessent was asked on CNN why people shouldn’t think that Qatar is getting something in return for the jet: “The French gave us the Statue of Liberty. The British gave us the Resolute Desk. I'm not sure they asked for anything in advance."

… Bessent was asked what he would say to some Republicans in Congress who say the Qatari jet sends a message that the US can be bought, or that other countries can curry favor if they offer gifts: “I’d say that the gifts are to the American people.”

… Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was asked the same thing on ABC: "It's a perfectly legal transaction. It's been vetted. I'm not sure how anyone would see this as the Qataris looking to gain some kind of advantage."

… It was vetted by Pam Bondi. Who was paid a lot as a registered agent for Qatar before she became AG and is an intensely loyal, long-time Trump cultist.

… After ABC surrendered and settled Trump’s defamation lawsuit against them, Trump is now threatening them to stop talking about his Palace in the Sky: “Why doesn’t Chairman Bob Iger do something about ABC Fake News? I again give these SleazeBags fair warning! The wonderful country of Qatar, after agreeing to invest more than 1.4 Trillion Dollars in the US, deserves much better than Misleading (Fake!) News. Everyone, including their lawyers, has been told that ABC must not say that Qatar is giving ME a FREE Boeing 747 Airplane, because they are not.”

Just a reminder that we make 100% of this Weekend Bulletin available for free subscribers and they are able to post comments if they wish. For the daily Bulletins posted the remainder of the week, free subscribers are able to view the first 30%. If you missed Friday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.

… Scott Bessent was asked on CNN about Moody’s lowering the US’s credit rating for the first time since 1917. Naturally, he blamed Joe Biden: “Just like Sean Duffy said with our air traffic control system, we didn’t get here in the past 100 days. It’s the Biden admin and the spending that we have seen over the past 4 years. And who cares? Qatar doesn’t. Saudi doesn’t. UAE doesn’t. They’re all pushing money in.”

… Moody’s specifically said they were lowering the credit rating based on instability in the economy caused by tariffs and the astronomical debt projections in the current Republican budget framework. But blaming Biden for all of their failures is what they do.

… Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) was asked on NBC about Bessent’s comments: “I heard the Treasury Secretary say, ‘Who cares about the downgrading of our credit rating from Moody’s?’ That is a big deal. That means that we are likely headed for a recession. That probably means higher interest rates for anybody out there who is trying to start a business or to buy a home.”

… Speaker Mike Johnson seems to recognize that the credit downgrade is because of their budget: "Moody's is not incorrect, but that emphasizes the very need for the legislation we're talking about - historic spending cuts."

… But the dishonesty here from MAGA Mike is there aren’t historic spending cuts in their budget. There are small cuts here and there, and big spending increases for defense and deportations. That, and the massive Trump tax cuts, is why Moody’s downgraded us.

… Bessent: "I don't put much credence in Moody's anyway."

… Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA): “There’s no person in this country who represents more billionaires than I do. I’ve got more billionaires in my district than anyone. And I keep saying: raise their taxes. I’ve been saying it for 9 years and they keep sending me back to Congress. How is this a hard vote for anyone else? Raise the taxes of billionaires so we don’t have to cut basic healthcare from our seniors, our disabled, and Americans across this country. We’re the richest country in the world. We’re going to produce so much wealth with AI. It’s unconscionable that we can’t tax some of that wealth to provide every American with healthcare, with childcare, with education—with the things this country gave to me. That’s the fair thing to do. That’s the American thing to do. That’s the patriotic thing to do.”

… Sen. Murphy: "There's just no doubt that it was Trump who added more to the deficit than any president in the history of the country, and he is on pace to do it for a second time. It's gonna crater to the economy, and it won't have an impact on his billionaire friends.”

… Murphy: "What we're standing in the way of is the most massive transfer of wealth from the poor and middle class to the rich in the history of the country. This budget bill is an absolute disaster. These guys are running the economy recklessly because all they care about is the health of the Mar-a-Lago billionaire class."

… Trump threatened Walmart after their CEO said they were going to have to raise prices: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, ‘EAT THE TARIFFS,’ and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

… Scott Bessent on NBC: "I was on the phone with Doug McMillon, the CEO of Walmart, yesterday, and Walmart is in fact going to eat some of the tariffs, but some may get passed on to consumers.”

… MAGA influencer Catturd: “Walmart is all China junk. Stop shopping there.”

… Sen. Rand Paul was asked on ABC if Trump is right when he says we are subsidizing Canada with our trade deficit: “No. They're really not related at all. What happens if we trade with another country because they have less expensive goods is we become richer. You also have more money you can spend.”

… Paul: “Tariffs are taxes and when you put a tax on a business it's always passed through as a cost, so there will be higher prices. There's an economic fallacy here that trade deficits actually mean anything. They are an artificial accounting.”

… Mike Pence: "The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country. There's no question in this admin that he is surrounded with people that appear to nurture his more protectionist instincts."

… Pence was also asked if he will ever run for president again: “I don’t see that in my future.”

… FBI Director Kash Patel and his Deputy Dan Bongino did a joint interview on Maria Baritromo’s Fox show, and she asked them whether Jeffrey Epstein really committed suicide. Patel: “I know a suicide when I see one, and that’s what that was.”

… Dan Bongino: “He killed himself. I’ve seen the whole file - he killed himself.”

… It has been interesting to watch so many of these right-wing social media influencers who spread conspiracies for years, that Trump has put in charge of agencies who were supposed to be the ones covering it up, now having to answer to their fellow right-wingers on why there isn’t any arrests of the so-called Deep State operatives yet. MAGA is not happy with their answers on this and many other things.

…. Including why they haven’t arrested former FBI Director James Comey for his ‘86 47’ seashell photo.

… Trump reposted this on Truth Social: “Ed Martin indicated that if Comey doesn't go for jail for making the death threat (which he arranged, photographed, and disseminated) that they are looking to get him for lying to the fed agents about not knowing what he was posting. Comey knew very well what he was orchestrating and posting. He didn't post a blank picture. He just thought he could continue to get away with his crimes and lies.”

… While MAGA wants Comey locked up for seashell numerology terrorism, Trump posted this today on Truth Social.

… Patel was asked if reports were true that agents have been instructed to de-prioritize white collar crime to focus on assisting ICE with deportations and drug interdiction. He said that was correct: “Right now, the reality of where stuff is going wrong more is in the narcotics industry and the sex trafficking industry.”

… Patel: "In the first 2-3 months that we’ve been in the seat under Donald Trump’s admin, he has sealed the border. Where is the fentanyl coming from still? The northern border."

… Immigration expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: “The Director of the FBI is openly lying to the American public about Canada being a major source of fentanyl. In the first three months of 2025, a grand total of 1.35 lbs of fentanyl was seized by border officials at our border with Canada — 0.06% of total seizures.”

… Patel also dropped this about moving the FBI HQ out of DC: "I didn't know that I was going to do this, but I'm going announce it on your show anyway. This FBI is leaving the Hoover building, because this building is unsafe for our workforce."

… Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz to Meidas: “When you look at someone like Pam Bondi, she made two dozen appearances on different Fox shows over the first 100 days of the Trump admin. 1 out of every 4 days, she’s on Fox talking about whatever she says DOJ is doing. That just doesn’t add up. It’s wildly disproportionate to what we’ve seen under previous admins. That’s because the Trump admin doesn’t view itself as attempting to carry out public policy to benefit the American people. They see themselves as propagandists—spinning whatever Trump is doing to the Fox audience, to the Trump base who tunes in every day to get their news. They’re trying to keep that base intact, because they know if it cracks, they’re in a huge amount of trouble.”

… A bomb exploded near a reproductive health facility in Palm Springs, CA, killing one person and injuring at least 4 others. The FBI says it was an "intentional act of terrorism.” The person killed was near a vehicle that was blown up outside a clinic run by American Reproductive Centers.

… NBC: “The car bombing outside a CA fertility clinic appears to have been driven by anti-natalist ideology. Anti-natalism refers to the belief that no one should have children. Investigators are focusing on social media posts made by the suspect, including a 30-minute audio recording, which they say support anti-natalist views. The suspect, who has not been identified, was reportedly dealing with depression and had personal relationship issues. Authorities believe the suspect is a 25-year-old man from Twentynine Palms.”

… I will note that Trump appointed grossly unqualified right-wing talk show host Seb Gorka to be in charge of counter-terrorism operations in the US. We are off to a shaky start in the Gorka era.

… William Marshall, Dir of Fed Bureau of Prisons: “I love the way the president thinks. To have the opportunity to reopen Alcatraz, how exciting does that feel? When you think of Alcatraz, you think of Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, those types of facilities - you just get that kind of feeling about Alcatraz when you think of those historical venues. We think we can get it done - we’ve got engineering teams out there now. I’m really excited.”

… Sec of State Marco Rubio was asked on CBS why Trump is allowing White South Africans into the US because of alleged genocide when no govt agency including his says genocide is happening: “They can call it whatever they want, but these are people that on the basis of their race are having their properties taken away from them.”

… If that qualifies someone for asylum and expedited citizenship, then there are a hell of a lot more people in the world who meet that criteria far ahead of White people in South Africa.

… CNN host Victor Blackwell to DHS official Tricia McLaughlin: "You suggest that I am the one who is focused on skin color, when the president has let in Afrikaners specifically, and I'm asking, how many of those who are actually facing genocide from Sudan and the Congo are being let in under some expedited path that the president has created for Afrikaners?"

… Oklahoma’s right-wing schools chief Ryan Walters has now mandated that public schools in that state will be taught as part of social studies about “evidence” that the 2020 presidential election may have been stolen by Biden. This is the new requirement: “Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

… A group of students and teachers filed a lawsuit already, which argues that the curriculum was not properly vetted before it was unilaterally approved by Walters and “represents a distorted view of social studies that intentionally favors an outdated and blatantly biased perspective”.

… Walters has also mandated that the Bible be taught as part of the US history curriculum, purchased Trump Bibles for schools, and attempted to fund a private Catholic charter school startup with taxpayer funds before it was overturned by the state Supreme Court.

… Pope Leo XIV used his first Mass to criticize "hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth's resources and marginalizes the poorest". He sent a message to certain political leaders around the world when he said he would conduct himself as Pope "without ever yielding to the temptation to be an autocrat.”

… President Zelensky and Ukraine’s First Lady met with the Pope today.

… JD Vance also met with Zelensky while he was attending the Mass at the Vatican. It doesn’t appear he was yelling at Zelensky this time. Maybe when cameras aren’t there to put on a show for MAGA real things can actually get discussed.

… Zelensky on his meeting with Vance: “We discussed negotiations in Istanbul to where the Russians sent a low-level delegation of non-decision-makers. I reaffirmed that Ukraine is ready to be engaged in real diplomacy and underscored the importance of a full and unconditional ceasefire as soon as possible. We also touched upon the need for sanctions against Russia, bilateral trade, defense cooperation, battlefield situation and upcoming prisoners exchange. Pressure is needed against Russia until they are eager to stop the war. And, of course, we talked about our joint steps to achieve a just and durable peace.”

… WaPo reported that US Attorneys around the country may soon be able to indict members of Congress without approval from DOJ’s Public Integrity Section. It has been DOJ’s policy for decades to have an extra layer of oversight to ensure that cases against public officials are legally sound and not politically motivated. Not anymore.

… Times of Israel: “The IDF announces that it has begun broad ground operations in several areas of the Gaza Strip, as part of the opening phase of a new major offensive against Hamas dubbed ‘Operation Gideon's Chariots.’ Over the past day, IDF troops in the Southern Command, both the standing army and reserves, began a broad ground operation throughout the northern and southern Gaza Strip, as part of the start of Operation Gideon's Chariots. Over the past week, the Israeli AF struck over 670 Hamas targets in Gaza ‘in order to disrupt the enemy's preparations and assist the ground operation.’”

… Former CIA agent Marc Polymeropoulos: “This does not really mesh with Trump’s call to alleviate humanitarian conditions in Gaza. He can’t have it both ways. His silence on this Israeli offensive is not consistent with Trump’s recent comments (rendering the comments rather…meaningless?). JD Vance is visiting Israel on Tuesday - where does the US stand?”

… Trump posted in all-caps that he will finally call Putin: “I WILL BE SPEAKING, BY TELEPHONE, TO PRESIDENT PUTIN ON MONDAY, AT 10:00 A.M. THE SUBJECTS OF THE CALL WILL BE, STOPPING THE ‘BLOODBATH’ THAT IS KILLING, ON AVERAGE, MORE THAN 5000 RUSSIAN AND UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS A WEEK, AND TRADE. I WILL THEN BE SPEAKING TO PRESIDENT ZELENSKY OF UKRAINE AND WITH VARIOUS MEMBERS OF NATO. HOPEFULLY IT WILL BE A PRODUCTIVE DAY, A CEASEFIRE WILL TAKE PLACE, AND THIS VERY VIOLENT WAR, A WAR THAT SHOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED, WILL END.”

… Trump said dozens of times during the campaign that he would end the war with one phone call to Putin because, “I know just what to say to him.” So the war should be over tomorrow.

… Steve Witkoff on Trump’s upcoming call to Putin: “The president has a force of personality that is unmatched. His feeling is that he’s got to get on the phone with Putin, and that is going to clear up some of the logjams and get us to the place we need to get to. I think it’s going to be a very successful call.”

… It’s a cult.

… Boston Globe: “At a Trump rally in NYC shortly before the election last fall, Elon Musk confidently forecast that the cost-cutting operation he was preparing to lead in a new admin - DOGE - would slash ‘at least’ $2T in govt spending, more than enough to eliminate the entire deficit in the current fed budget. According to the DOGE website, meanwhile, Musk’s operation has achieved ‘estimated savings’ of $170B from ‘asset sales, contract/lease cancellations and renegotiations, fraud and improper payment deletion, grant cancellations, interest savings, programmatic changes, regulatory savings, and workforce reductions.’

… “Yet the fine print on the same web page, in what DOGE calls its ‘Wall of Receipts’, lists only a paltry $71 billion in spending reductions. And even that modest level of success is belied by the Treasury Dept’s monthly tally of federal outlays.”

… Jessica Riedl from the Manhattan Institute points out that spending under Trump and Musk is actually on pace to go up $500 billion this year, not down: “Total federal outlays in February and March were $86 billion (or 7%) higher than the levels from the same months a year ago.”

… Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) on how Musk’s master plan to privatize social security is failing because of pushback from the public and because details of it were exposed: “His plot was to disparage it with lies about fraud, trash operations with mass firings, provoke ‘interruption of benefits,’ and turn it over to tech bros/private equity.”

… Lara Trump on Fox: “I call pitbulls the Donald Trumps of the dog world because they’ve been mischaracterized by the media, they've been demonized in different ways and people have an assumption about them that really isn't true.”

… Ro Khanna: “This is my issue with JD Vance: Why are you hurting the education funding that made both your life and mine possible? We need to fund public schools in this country, especially in working-class neighborhoods. You can’t call yourself the party of the working class and then take away funding from schools that serve working-class kids. You can’t call yourself the party of the working class and then say a working-class kid who wants to go to college shouldn’t be able to get loans or scholarships to do that.”

… CNN on whether Kamala Harris will decide to run for Gov of CA next year or president in 2028: “People who have spoken with Harris have come away with the sense that the scale of the problems the next governor of California will face is convincing her that the job maybe wouldn’t be a step down, and could allow Harris to pitch herself as returning to help her home state.”

… Trump posted this on Truth Social today: