Today in Politics, Bulletin 408. 6/29/26
… The Supreme Court decision on birthright citizen is likely coming tomorrow, but today the Court released several important decisions. The most significant is the decision in Slaughter v. Trump which gives the president unlimited power to remove appointees without cause from several executive branch agencies created by Congress:
Scotus Blog: “The Supreme Court gave Trump sweeping new authority over approximately two dozen multi-member agencies that Congress intended to be independent. By a vote of 6-3, the justices struck down a federal law that bars the president from firing members of the FTC except in cases of ‘inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.’ That law, a majority of the justices ruled, violates the constitutional separation of powers between the 3 branches of govt. The court overruled its 91-year-old decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. US.
“Monday’s decision was a major victory for proponents of the ‘unitary executive’ theory – the idea that the president should have complete control over the executive branch. Under this theory, the president should be able to fire any member of the executive branch, and laws – like the one that the court struck down – that restrict his ability to do so violate the separation of powers.”
The US Supreme Court declined to hear the final appeal from Trump of the $5 million jury verdict against him from E. Jean Carroll.
They also declined to hear Alan Dershowitz’s appeal of his defamation case loss against CNN.
Scotus Blog: “The Court ruled in favor of Lisa Cook, a member of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors whom Trump had attempted to fire. By a vote of 5-4, the court held that Cook can continue to remain in her job while her challenge to Trump’s efforts to fire her moves forward.
Scotus Blog: “Just over 4 months before the 2026 midterm elections, the Court upheld a MS law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and received within 5 days of, Election Day. By a vote of 5-4, the justices in Watson v. RNC rejected an argument that fed law requires mail-in ballots to be received by Election Day.”
… Trump made two posts reacting to the decisions:
“To show the importance of the Slaughter Case, 90 years of precedent has been COMPLETELY AND UNEQUIVOCALLY OVERRULED, greatly increasing Presidential Power at a time when it is most needed!”
… Expect Trump to go on a mass firing spree at every federal agency where the Slaughter case applies.
“Surprisingly, the Supreme Court declined to ‘review’ a Fake Case brought against me by a woman I never met. I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength. This Case is really against the USA, and all it stands for, and should never be allowed to happen to another President, or Candidate to be! This Injustice cannot be allowed to stand!”
… Unqualified partisan political hack nepo baby Acting DNI Bill Pulte posted: “As I have repeatedly said, I believe Lisa Cook will be indicted for mortgage fraud.”
… The theme of the day at Trump’s Freedom 250 fair today was ‘MAHA Monday’ which was supposed to promote healthy eating. Fox was struggling with the concept. Contributor Kaylee White: “I’m a little skeptical of whether it’s actually MAHA. Here is some of the food being served at the fair: corn dogs, loaded mac and cheese, Chicago and NY-style pizza, and fries with queso.”
… Naturally, they started off the Make America Healthy Again-themed day with a pancake eating contest. Because nothing promotes healthy eating like cramming 15 pancakes down your throat in 3 minutes.
… Unsurprisingly, Trump posted that his fair flop was a huge success: “Do you think people appreciate what a fantastic job we did in building and operating the Great American State Fair at the National Mall, packed with happy people, and everybody loving it? Ask yourself this simple question, ‘DO YOU THINK THAT OBUMA OR SLEEPY JOE BIDEN COULD HAVE DONE IT?’ THE ANSWER IS NO!”
… Newsmax also had some breaking news from their Fair Correspondent: Host - “Speaking of making it safe, we still know there are some spectres cropping up of the 86 47 numbers, what do you make of that vitriol? Reporter: It is absolutely sick that these Trump-deranged whack jobs are vandalizing our monuments because they hate Trump.” They then showed a painting that had a small 86 47 written in the corner of it.
… NOTUS: “DC Mayor just said that the fireworks show on the Mall is not scheduled to begin until 11 PM on July 4th, later than previously publicized. That late hour is on top of serious new restrictions: no coolers, bags, chairs, etc. And viewers have to go through metal detectors.”
… But wait, there’s more. CNN: “America 250 flyovers and fireworks will effectively SHUT DOWN Reagan National Airport for a total of 15 hours this Thursday and Friday, the FAA says in a new release.”
… TMZ had some fun today with the Fox booth as they panned the crowd while Dr. Oz and host Dean Cain were claiming that there was a huge crown there. They just continue to insist that there are massive crowds showing up to this thing despite the fact that this is also the 200th anniversary of the invention of the camera.
… AP: “Americans have grown less proud of their country’s history or the way its democracy works over the past decade, according to a new AP-NORC poll. Americans’ pride in the US on several key attributes has dropped since 2017. New Gallup polling also finds that only 53% of US adults are ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ proud to be an American, the lowest reading in the trend dating back to 2001.”
… “The findings point to a broad decline in patriotic sentiment over a tumultuous period that included most of Trump’s first term, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising inflation that contributed to a backlash against Joe Biden. That timeframe also covers Trump’s return to the WH, where he’s taken more aggressive actions on immigration and issues abroad.”
… Jay Bookman, columnist for the Georgia Recorder: “In the end, I think I despise Trump most for sucking all the joy out of being American.”
… Dr. Oz was asked on Fox about the recent reporting that 5 million Americans have lost their health insurance because they were unable to pay their premiums after ACA subsidies were terminated by Republicans:
“But of the people who signed up for Obamacare, 40% never used the insurance. You have health insurance. Do you use it? Democrats are arguing that any people who leave Obamacare is only happening because of the premium subsidies.”
… Democratic strategist Leslie Marshall: “Yes, millions of people sign up for Obamacare (ACA) but do not use their benefits to see a doctor or fill a prescription. This phenomenon is driven by a mix of overlapping coverage and healthy individuals simply not needing medical care in a given year.”
Oz suggested a simple solution: "Walk 20 minutes a day. Just that by itself is $100 billion of savings for the healthcare system."
"Democrats are in a bind - they promised to the American people they were gonna give everyone insurance. They ended up giving people who don't want the insurance coverage because they were covered elsewhere.”
… Despite not having any media on his official schedule, Trump invited press into the Oval Office this afternoon:
Q - “Mamdani said he was open to being the poster child for socialist candidates.
Trump: It's really communism. I think it's the biggest threat to our nation since our founding—that includes World War 1, World War 2, Sept 11th. It includes the Pearl Harbor attack . I think this is the biggest threat to our nation.”Q - “Will you sign the housing bill? Trump: It’s coming to me later today and I will make a decision. To me, compared to the Save America Act, everything is a big yawn.”
Q - “Why can’t you get the SAVE Act passed? Trump: Because we have 4-5 Republican senators who just won’t vote for it. It’s crazy. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. Nobody's done more for Alaska than me . She's Trump deranged, what can I tell you.”
Q - “What do you make of the Supreme Court ruling today in regards to the mail-in ballots? Trump: The mail in ballot ruling was a little bit surprising. It gives people more time to vote illegally. I think it was very detrimental to honest elections.”
On Iran: "We're winning militarily. It's almost won militarily I would say."
… This is what Karoline Leavitt posted about the Housing Bill just 6 days ago: “Tomorrow, Trump will sign into law the Housing Act, one of the most significant pieces of housing affordability legislation in American history. It cuts unnecessary red tape, helps increase housing supply, and limits the ability of large institutional investors to purchase single-family homes. Trump promised to lower housing costs, and he is delivering. The historic bill signing is another promise made, promise kept.”
Once again it was very difficult to choose just 5 of your questions for Today’s Ask the Editor show. I wrote down 11 of them that I really liked from your comments and had to get to 5 in order to do it in 30 minutes. If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here.
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… CSPAN: “Mike Johnson said yesterday he’ll send the bipartisan affordable housing bill to Trump today, beginning the 10-day window for Trump to sign it. The House passed the Senate changes to the bill 358-32 Tuesday, a day before the President cancelled the bill signing ceremony at the US Capitol.”
… Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) talked about the housing bill on Newsmax: “My issue was if Elizabeth Warren thinks a bill is great, it probably isn’t. The enthusiasm Democrats had for this bill got me spooked. I didn’t come to Washington to work with Democrats.
