-The attempt to regain power by Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) continued yesterday with a typically weird and poorly manufactured to anyone outside of the MAGA PartyCult appearance in Michigan. The centerpiece was an appearance at a black church as part of an “effort” by the “campaign” to win over black voters – because as Trump has kind of said, being a Convicted Felon with a mug shot is something all Black Americans can identify with. Only … as observers and reporters noted with photographic evidence, the overwhelming race of audience members at the church where the event was held were quite Caucasian in appearance.
-Perhaps that is why, when Trump got to a microphone to start rambling, he went on an extended riff about one of his pet peeves – the lack of water pressure in homes – and claimed at length about how hard it was to get lather built while in the shower. It is difficult to know what to feel – revulsion at the thought of Trump nude, physically ill at the thought of Trump and soap, or disbelief that Trump actually showers given his lack of natural hair and reports of an ever-present stench when anyone gets within 10 feet of him.
-Then there was also the ever-present Trump/Fox/MAGA line of attack of Joe Biden being so addled with Alzheimer’s he “can’t put to sentences together” as Trump says when he can remember the phrasing. Nonetheless, Trump decided to pounce, claiming that Biden “should have to take a cognitive test” because Biden “doesn’t know the meaning of the word inflation!” (probably in relation to the latest inflation numbers that show inflation has been tamed in the last several months under Biden’s policies). Trump then tried to allude to the guy who gave him a cognitive test Trump always brags about “acing” five years ago – “Doctor Ronnie Johnson!”
-There is no Doctor Ronnie Johnson who ever gave Trump an examination of any kind. There IS, however, a Dr. Ronnie JACKSON that did. Dr. Ronnie JACKSON was the White House Doctor under Trump and Barack Obama who reported Trump weighed 215 pounds and was discharged and demoted by the U.S. Navy for “inappropriate conduct” and was cited in reports by ProPublica of running a pill mill out of the Trump White House while being the White House Doctor. He is currently a U.S. Representative from Texas, and a fawning PartyCultist who daily attacks Biden and praises Trump WITH CAPITAL LETTERS! On social media.
-So, a typical Trump appearance yesterday …
-Back to the Biden cognition thing, because over the last few days Right Wing Media and the GOP CultParty have been flogging what they claim is a video from the recently-ended G7 Economic Summit in Italy in which they claim a video shows Biden ‘wandering’ away from a group photo of G7 leaders aimlessly – The New York Post blasted a headline MEANDER IN CHIEF, and the story has been pushed for several days by the Sinclair Broadcast Group.
-The problem, of course, is that the story is an absolute lie. Multiple legitimate news outlets reporting that Biden had simply stepped away from the group to greet military parachutists who landed near the leaders as part of the ceremony they were attending – and the Post and Sinclair and others cropped photos of Biden with the airmen to not show the airmen, then edited and manipulated the video to make Biden look like he was “wandering.”
-In short … don’t believe the hype.
-Biden was not wandering last night! He was in Los Angeles as the guest star of a star-studded fundraiser for his campaign that raised at least $28 million – a record for an event that does not have oligarchs attending to bulk up the bottom line. The event, organized by this Substack’s doppelganger, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts, featured a q-and-a with Biden and Former President Barack Obama by one of Biden’s newest celebrity endorsers, Jimmy Kimmel. The Wall Street Journal reported this and then sneeringly added that the event showed Biden needed younger celebrity endorsers (Taylor Swift was not available for comment, though over the weekend Charlamagne the God – who has been quite critical of both Biden and Vice President Harris – announce he would, in fact, be voting for Biden in November).
-Trump was not meeting donors last night as far as has been reported, but on Thursday he did have a meeting with a number of CEOs who met with Trump not at all concerned about Project 2025 and the potential for a Trump-led theocratic dictatorship but super-interested in holding and expanding the 2017 tax cuts that Mitch McConnell got passed and Trump signed. But even with that major goal, a number of outlets including The New Republic report that the CEOs left the meeting decidedly unimpressed – or worse – by Trump, with none of them cutting a check or willing to support Trump after meeting him. That liberal rag CNBC reported on CEO who attended the meeting described Trump as being “all over the map,” adding that Trump “could not keep a thought straight” and described Trump as being … wait for it … “meandering.”
-Huh.
-Trump is also attempting to deny the statement he made to the PartyCult leadership on Capital Hill on Thursday calling PartyCult convention host city Milwaukee “a HORRIBLE city!” This despite numerous witnesses confirming Trump said it – and in fact said it in other venues since Thursday – and despite no PartyCult members speaking up to defend Dear Leader.
-Schlemiel! Schlamozzel! Hossenfeffer Incorporated!
-Back to Europe, where yesterday in Switzerland over 80 countries signed a communique committing support for Ukraine and demanding their “territorial integrity” be maintained in any peace agreement that is ultimately signed between them and Russia. Russia, of course, was not at the summit, nor were several other prominent countries (among them China, India, Saudi Arabia and South Africa), but the unity among most of the other countries of the world was notable. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy noted that the two sides continue to fight as Ukraine is demanding pre-2014 borders while Vladimir Putin is demanding holding territory gained at the start of the 2022 invasion by Russia – but he remained confident another peace conference will be organized this fall, by which time numerous elections will have taken place (including, of course, the U.S., where the aforementioned Trump has already announced he will cut off aid to Ukraine “before I become President” – which he can’t do, though his PartyCult minions could).
-SLAVA UKRAINI!
-We’ll end this Update with HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to one and all – I will celebrate with a boilermaker, my Dad’s fave – and a Threads recommendation! For those who don’t do Twitter or X or whatever that garbage scow of a site is, Threads is a decent alterntive – especially when they get certain feeds that are just plain fun to follow. Feeds such as “orcas.sinking.yachts.” Inspired by the spate of incidents in which pods of killer whales attacked and sunk luxury boats, the site gleefully welcomes suggestions of other ultra-rich watercraft that may deserve to be destroyed by marine mammals so super-intelligent they also maintain a social media feed that also advocates for the ecology. It’s a hoot!
-Now, save Dad the big piece of chicken!!
-On this date in 1858, Abraham Lincoln became the Senate nominee for the Republican (now Democratic) Party. On this date in 1909, Jim Thorpe pitched a professional baseball game, which would invalidate the gold medals he would win in the 1912 Olympics. On this date in 1976, an attack by South African police protesting apartheid in Soweto triggered a political uprising in that country. And on this date in 2015, Trump descended the escalator in Trump Tower to begin inflicting his disease on the body politic by declaring his candidacy for President.
-Debuts on this date: HMS PINAFORE (1879), the roller coaster (1884), Ford Motor Company (1903), IBM (1911), The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) (1933), PSYCHO (1960), women in space (1963), the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), THE RISE AND FALL OF ZIGGY STARDUST AND THE SPIDERS FROM MARS (1972), GREASE (1978), THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980).
-Happy Birthday to Geronimo, Mohammad Mosaddegh, Stan Laurel, Nelson Doubleday, Jack Albertson, Katharine Graham, Vilmos Zsigmond, August Busch III, Erich Segal, Joyce Carol Oates, Billy “Crash” Craddock, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Levert, Joan Van Ark, Kip Addotta, Ron LeFlore, Roberto Duran, Sonia Braga, Alexander Zaitzev, George Pappandreou, Gino Vanelli, Laurie Metcalf, Tree Rollins, Femi Kuti, Jurgen Klopp, MC Ren, Cobi Jones, Phil Mickelson, Tupac Shakur, Kerry Wood, Ben Kweller, and Justin Jefferson.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to George Reeves, Brian Piccolo, Nicholas Ray, Kristen Pfaff, Mel Allen, Screaming Lord Sutch, Hans Haas, Tony Gwynn, Helmut Kohl, John G. Avildsen, Stephen Furst, Frank Bonner, Daniel Ellsberg and Paxton Whitehead.
-Adam Smith was born on this date. Wehrner von Braun died on this date. You decide if they get a Happy Birthday or Rest in Peace/Power or if they Feed the Worms.
-The Number One Novel in America on this date … in 2024, ERUPTION by Michael Crichton and James Patterson … in 2014, SKIN GAME by Jim Butcher … in 2004, THE DA VINCI CODE by Dan Brown … in 1994, THE CHAMBER by John Grisham … in 1984, FULL CIRCLE by Danielle Steel … and in 1974, WATERSHIP DOWN by Richard Adams.