Enjoy Your Summer Holiday, Prime Minister. It Won't Last Long.
His Veep JD Vance is due across the pond next month, when he'll vacation in London, Scotland and Oxfordshire. This is no doubt to the chagrin of Ellen DeGeneres, who has confirmed she moved to the UK specifically to get away from the Trump administration and now lives in the Cotswolds, an area of rolling hills described (on its own website) as possessing 'quintessentially English towns and villages of honey-colored stone,' and where the Vance family has rented a property. The prospect of her running into the Vances in a picturesque ye olde tea room or on the lawns of a stately home is now a clear and present danger.
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USA Today
7 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump's mental decline is on vivid display as he rages about Epstein, windmills
He went on lengthy diatribes about windmills. He ranted about the ungratefulness of starving children. He forayed into nonsensical conspiracy theories regarding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. It was nice of Donald Trump to travel to Scotland and show our European allies firsthand that the United States is led by a self-absorbed and deeply weird man in obvious mental decline. Over the span of a weekend, the U.S. president's addled brain raced about like a dull-witted Labrador attempting to outsmart squirrels. He went on lengthy diatribes about windmills. He ranted about the ungratefulness of starving children. He forayed into nonsensical conspiracy theories regarding the Jeffrey Epstein scandal consuming his administration, while laughably saying upon arriving in Scotland on July 25: 'I'm not focused on conspiracy theories.' Trump's head, based on his overseas babbling, is 90% conspiracy theories and 10% brain cells. Coverage of Trump's Scotland trip doesn't show the extent of his rambling The trip was largely a taxpayer-funded chance for the grifter-in-chief to promote his Scottish golf properties, which in the realm of 'things Trump can do that no other president would ever get away with' barely registers as a blip. It was also a chance for him to talk 'deals' with the European Union and the United Kingdom, with a 'deal' being something resulting in trade tariffs that will negatively impact American consumers. Or as Trump likes to call it, 'Winning.' Opinion: MAGA is realizing Trump lies. How can they trust anything he says on Epstein? News coverage tends to trim Trump's voluminous prattling into digestible soundbites that sound vaguely sane. But if we care about a president's lack of mental acuity – and I've been told by many that we do – it's worth sticking your head in the high-pressure stream of nonsense that shoots out every time Trump opens his face hole. Trump shows he's laser-focused on the scourge of windmills On July 25, Trump deplaned in Scotland and immediately showed reporters he was armed with weapons-grade non sequiturs. 'This immigration is killing Europe,' he said, racistly. 'And the other thing, stop the windmills killing the beauty of your countries.' Two days later, he sat with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, who looked like she would love to be elsewhere, and uncorked this: 'And the other thing I say to Europe, we will not allow a windmill to be built in the United States, they're killing us. They're killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains. And I'm not talking about airplanes, I'm talking about beautiful plains, beautiful areas of the United States, and you look up and you see windmills all over the place, it's a horrible thing. It's the most expensive form of energy; it's no good. They're made in China, almost all of them. When they start to rust and rot in eight years, you can't really turn them off, you can't bury them, they won't let you. But the propellers, the props, because they're a certain type of fiber that doesn't go well with the land, that's what they say. The environmentalists say you can't bury them because the fiber doesn't go well with the land; in other words, if you bury them, it will harm our soil. The whole thing is a con job.' OK. That was a thing nobody asked for. It's also filled with lies – wind isn't the most expensive form of energy, and windmills last far longer than eight years – but who would expect honesty from someone rambling like that? Again with the windmills? Heck, just let the old man cook. And Trump wasn't done with windmills. On July 28, during his meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the president said: 'It destroys the beauty of your fields, your plains, your waterways, and look out there – there's no windmills. But if you look in another direction, you see windmills.' Are the windmills in the room with us right now, Mr. President? Propose prosecuting Beyoncé? Check! Babble incoherently? Check! Trump did take a break from talking crazy over the weekend to post something crazy on social media, writing July 27 that Beyoncé should be prosecuted for a nonexistent $11 million payment from Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. So that happened. And it's not ideal. On July 27, alongside von der Leyen, Trump was asked how he feels about the images of starving children in Gaza, to which he said: 'That whole place is a mess. The Gaza Strip, you know, was given many years ago, said that they could have peace. That didn't work out too well. When Israel gave that up, whoever was the prime minister at the time, who I know, who it was, but it was not exactly a very clever thing to do. Because that was given so that they finally have peace, but it's actually made the situation worse. But we'll see what happens. I think Iran is acting up. We have a lot of people acting, we have Venezuela acting up in a different way. They continue to send people that we rebuff at our border. They continue to send drugs into our country, Venezuela. They've been very nasty.' So when shown images of starving children in Gaza, Trump feels the place is a mess because an Israeli prime minister whose name he DEFINITELY knows but isn't going to say gave up the Gaza Strip so there could be peace but that made things worse and Iran is acting up and, hey, let me tell you about Venezuela, which is about 7,000 miles away from Gaza. Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate Republicans would have impeached Biden if he talked like Trump Had former President Joe Biden said something like that, Republicans would have either impeached him or ordered him locked in a room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It got worse when Trump was asked if Israel should be doing more to allow food into Gaza to help the aforementioned starving children. The president's few remaining brain cells decided to focus on how ungrateful all those starving people are: 'We gave $60 million two weeks ago, and nobody even acknowledged it, for food. It's terrible, you know, you really at least want to have somebody say thank you. No other country gave anything; we gave $60 million two weeks ago for food for Gaza. Nobody acknowledged it, nobody talks about it. And it makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and you have other countries not giving anything, none of the European countries, by the way, nobody gave but us, and nobody said, 'Gee, thank you very much,' and it would be nice to have at least a thank you.' During his meeting with Starmer, Trump apparently forgot he had been talking about the Gaza Strip the day before and said: 'We do have to take care of the humanitarian needs on what they used to call the Gaza Strip. You don't hear that line too much anymore. You don't hear the Gaza Strip. But it is the Gaza Strip. Amazing.' Yes. Amazing. Epstein, Epstein, Epstein. Trump can't stop talking about the scandal. Trump's mental dullness led him to keep talking about the Epstein scandal he wants everyone to stop talking about, effectively telling the world the Epstein stuff is 'not a big thing,' but probably involves former Democratic President Bill Clinton and a former president of Harvard University and 'hedge fund guys' and was probably made up by Democrats who probably put fake stuff in the Epstein files but then, I guess, didn't use any damning information against Trump before the election. He also gave a third explanation for why he stopped being friends with Epstein and said of the convicted sex offender's notorious island: 'I never had the privilege of going to his island.' The privilege? Spoken like a man whose mind has turned to mush. So nice of Trump to share his cognitive decline with the world. Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @ and on Facebook at
Fox News
8 minutes ago
- Fox News
Trump eyes Russia-Ukraine peace deal after trade agreement with EU
Fox News senior White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich reports on President Donald Trump's EU trade deal and peace goals in the Middle East and with Russia and Ukraine on 'Special Report.'
CNN
8 minutes ago
- CNN
New documents show how passport and Social Security rules would change to enforce Trump's birthright citizenship order
After months of avoiding details about a divisive plan to end birthright citizenship, President Donald Trump's administration is rolling out a series of new documents that offer a stark glimpse into how it would implement an executive order that upends the century-old understanding about the benefits of being born in the United States. The trove of documents from half a dozen federal agencies in recent days are a direct result of a blockbuster Supreme Court decision last month that allowed the administration to develop plans for ending birthright citizenship – even though the effort has once again been placed on hold. Under those guidance documents, parents of newborns – including US citizens – might be required to jump through additional hoops to verify their own immigration status to obtain a passport or Social Security number for their children. Among the documents made public in recent days is one from the State Department that explains how officials would be required to 'request original proof of parental citizenship or immigration status' to proceed with processing a passport application. 'This information will be necessary to determine if those applying for a passport are U.S. citizens,' the three-page document reads. The Social Security Administration issued similar guidance as well. 'With respect to citizenship, an SSN applicant may currently demonstrate U.S. citizenship by providing a birth certificate showing a U.S. place of birth,' the document says. 'Once the EO takes effect, a birth certificate showing a U.S. place of birth will not be sufficient documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship for persons born after the EO takes effect.' It continues: 'To comply with the EO, SSA will require evidence that such a person's mother and/or father is a U.S. citizen or in an eligible immigration status at the time of the person's birth.' Other guidance documents from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Department of Agriculture lay out how those agencies would go about verifying the citizenship of children for various social services. The agencies appear to be leaning on a four-page document issued by the Department of Homeland Security's US Citizenship and Immigration Services, which says it's meant to 'address legal questions relevant to the implementation' of Trump's order. That memo mostly contains definitions, including ones on who would be covered by the policy and who would be exempted. Among those exempted from the president's policy, according to the USCIS memo, are children of asylees and refugees. Until now, it wasn't clear whether the Trump administration would subject those groups of non-citizens to the order. Signed by Trump on January 20, the executive order 'PROTECTING THE MEANING AND VALUE OF AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP' said that the federal government will not 'issue documents recognizing United States citizenship' to any children born on American soil to parents who were in the country unlawfully, or were in the states lawfully, but temporarily. Several rulings issued by federal courts this month have ensured that that policy will not take effect for now, and the guidance documents acknowledge that reality. 'However, the government is preparing to implement the EO in the event that it is permitted to go into effect,' the USCIS memo states. Immigration rights advocates who have taken Trump to court over his order stressed on Monday that the newly released guidance is meaningless so long as the courts continue to block enforcement of the policy. 'Nothing in this guidance remotely changes the bottom line that this executive order is unconstitutional and cruel. Everyone in the country remains protected by our class action, and we will keep fighting to ensure this order never goes into effect,' said Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which convinced a federal judge in New Hampshire to block Trump's order via a class-action lawsuit. New Jersey Democratic Attorney General Matthew Platkin, who is leading a multi-state challenge to Trump's policy, told CNN that 'whatever the promises in this guidance, we remain confident that President Trump's unconstitutional attempt to terminate birthright citizenship will never take effect given the nationwide injunctions that have issued here.' 'The most important message we want to convey is: expecting parents should know their babies remain protected – and that children born in the U.S. continue to be U.S. citizens regardless of their parents' immigration status,' said Conchita Cruz, the co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, which also sued Trump over the executive order, told CNN. The guidance speaks to some of the practical concerns raised by Supreme Court justices during oral arguments in the case on birthright May, including those who ultimately sided with Trump on the issue of nationwide injunctions. Immigrant rights groups had argued that Trump's order would require every parent of a newborn child – including US citizens – to demonstrate their immigration status before obtaining a passport for their child. The memos point to changes in how parents would have to document their own citizenship status in the hospital after having a child. For decades, parents have been able to apply for a Social Security number as part of the hospital birth registration process. The Social Security Administration memo lays out a different process in which the agency would first attempt to establish parents' immigration status automatically. If that didn't work, parents would have to potentially take additional steps to verify their citizenship and obtain a Social Security number for their child. Questions about the practical implications of Trump's order prompted a key exchange between the administration's lawyer and Justice Brett Kavanaugh during the Supreme Court's oral arguments earlier this year. 'On the day after it goes into effect – this is just a very practical question, how it's going to work – what do hospitals do with a newborn, what do states do with a newborn?' Kavanaugh, a conservative who sided with Trump on the issue of nationwide injunctions, asked the lawyer for the Trump administration. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued they wouldn't do anything different because, he said, it is federal officials who will determine whether to accept birth documents. 'How are they going to know that?' Kavanaugh pressed. 'The federal officials will have to figure that out essentially,' Sauer responded. 'How?' Kavanaugh continued. Sauer said that officials could require parents to demonstrate their citizenship. 'For all the newborns?' a skeptical Kavanaugh asked. 'Is that how it's going to work?' 'Again, we don't know,' Sauer said, 'because the agencies were never given the opportunity to formulate the guidance.' Kavanaugh sided with his fellow Supreme Court conservatives to rule in Trump's favor last month.
