Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #megalomania, aggregated by home.social.
"Trump: I ‘should have won’ Nobel Peace Prize, award is ‘forever discredited’ "
#Taco #Politics #News #USA #Democrats #MAGA #UN #EU #Canada #Economics #Trade #Asia #Russia #China #Iran #War #WW3 #Palestine #Israel #Yemen #Election #Pentagon #Hormuz #Gaza #Zionism #Megalomania #Fascism
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/6140425-trump-nobel-peace-prize-criticism/
#Incompetant #Deceitful #Betrayer
"Trump announces deal for Russian diesel as Zelensky calls it a gift to Putin"
#Taco #Politics #News #USA #Democrats #MAGA #UN #EU #Canada #Economics #Trade #Asia #Russia #China #Iran #War #WW3 #Palestine #Israel #Yemen #Election #Pentagon #Hormuz #Gaza #Zionism #Megalomania #Fascism #Ukraine
#Trump starts wars, supports genocides and expects a Peace Prize- #insane
"Trump rages over Nobel Peace Prize loss"
#Taco #Politics #News #USA #Democrats #MAGA #UN #EU #Canada #Economics #Trade #Asia #Russia #China #Iran #War #WW3 #Palestine #Israel #Yemen #Election #Pentagon #Hormuz #Gaza #Zionism #Megalomania #Fascism
https://www.axios.com/2026/10/10/trump-nobel-peace-prize-reaction
Damn. I mean, that’s — at least in his own deranged mind — his sweet spot electorate…
#Flightattendants' #union flags #safety concerns over #Trump dumbass #arch
#law #megalomania #narcissism #vanity #CityPlanning #UrbanPlanning #architecture
https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-arch-reagan-7b5170c9b670119a0cca39a6e92c8ddb?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=more_org_joinmastodon_app_shareactionextension
Ya think?
#DNC sues #Trump admin, alleging #taxpayer funded #ads violate #propaganda #law
I mean seriously, “And God made Trump” ???
#megalomania #psychosis #TaxpayersMoney #USgovernment #USpol
https://apnews.com/article/trump-taxpayer-funded-ads-propaganda-lawsuit-a1e286d37989f1cb5bbe13905f8fbbf1?utm_source=app&utm_medium=iOS_share&utm_campaign=more_org_joinmastodon_app_shareactionextension
Trump’s Obsession
Mental health practitioners, of which I am not, tell me it’s called Megalomania: An obsession with the exercise of power, especially in the domination of others. Plastering a country with one’s face is a direct manifestation of grandiosity, an inflated belief in one’s supreme importance, omnipotence, and unique historical destiny.
Reporters who have spent decades reporting on the activities of Donald Trump, of which I am, know it has been one of his most visible traits throughout his career. New York is replete which examples of the Trump name on projects from one end of the city to the other. Most of these, and I inspected most of them in my Manhattan apartment hunting days, are mediocre at best and overpriced without exception.
Trump has also plastered his name on a wide variety of companies selling everything from steaks to vodka. He put his brand on a casino, an airline, and a university, among others. In my role as a reporter, I joined him at many a ribbon cutting for these various ventures. I also attended, while he was conspicuously absent, many of the bankruptcies of these projects.
The president’s obsession with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is in keeping with his desire to remake the nation’s capital, the White House, the parks, the wide boulevards and open spaces, to his own gilded, ostentatious, self-serving taste.
While it hasn’t drawn nearly as much attention as the destruction of much of the White House, the US Institute of Peace, wreck of the reflecting pool, and the plans for a triumphal arch, I find the picture above to be the most frightening of all.
The banner shows Trump, he of the woeful countenance, scowling down on everyone who enters the building generally known as “Main Justice.” That’s the Washington headquarters of the US Department of Justice. This is the part of the national government most involved with the protection of the laws and the Constitution. The message of the banner is clear. This is Trump’s DOJ now, run by Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, now Attorney General of the United States. Similar banners have appeared at other government buildings in Washington.
When I see that picture, all I can think about is “Big Brother.” That’s a reference to the all-powerful, intrusive authority or government that constantly monitors and controls its citizens featured in George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984.” In the book, Big Brother is the leader, the supreme dictator of the totalitarian state of Oceania. Public posters display his face alongside the warning: “Big Brother is watching you”.
I am also told an obsession with naming things after oneself is called toponymic narcissism. In political behavior and history, this practice is also associated with building a cult of personality, where a leader uses omnipresent branding, imagery, and naming to achieve cognitive saturation and project total control over the state. This is the mark of one sick cookie.
In China, Mao Zedong‘s image became a permanent institutional fixture. His massive portrait famously overlooks Tiananmen Square on the Tiananmen Gate, and during the Cultural Revolution, his likeness was mandated across all public infrastructure, factory floors, and schools.
In Russia, Lenin’s image remains a permanent fixture in all public buildings. However, the portraits of current leaders, like President Vdlamir Putin, are relegated to standard, framed photos inside administrative offices and schools rather than dominating public building exteriors.
And perhaps most infamously, there was Adolf Hitler. Hitler’s portrait was explicitly required and heavily displayed on public and state buildings throughout Nazi Germany. While the Nazi regime did not pass a formal law forcing private citizens to hang his picture at home, state regulations mandated that government offices, schools, and state-run facilities prominently display his likeness.
The Trump administration used at least $50,000 in taxpayer dollars to create the large banners featuring the president’s face or policies, according to a new report released by Senator Adam Schiff’s (D-Calif.) office. Schiff calls the move illegal, saying the banners amount to “propaganda” mirroring “totalitarian dictators.” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios the “report would only be valuable as toilet paper” and declined to comment on the specific claims Schiff’s office made.
After thinking of Big Brother, I move on the thinking of “Fearless Leader.” That was the dictator from the fictional country Pottsylvania, and the employer of the inept spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale. These were all comedic characters who appeared in many television and film projects featuring Jay Ward creations Rocky and Bullwinkle.
The difference is Rocky and Bullwinkle were meant to be amusing. Trump is no laughing matter.
#####
#banners #DepartmentOfJustice #fascism #Germany #history #megalomania #mentalIllness #politics #Trump #Washington
Yet-to-be-aired spots include a trio of ads highlighting the #US #military & operations in #Iran [succeeded in making Iran a world power] & #Venezuela [ #imperialism ], one called “God Made Trump” & another recapping the #UFC fight [revolting] he hosted at the White House. #Republicans & #Democrats alike have questioned the wisdom of spending so much #TaxPayersMoney on the ads, which the White House has defended as public service announcements [no].
This is sickening
‘God made Trump’ ad & at least 12 others are part of controversial taxpayer-funded ad campaign
The #Trump admin has created at least 13 #campaign style #ads as part of its controversial #taxpayer-funded, multi-million-dollar effort to promote Trump & his [failed] policies.
#megalomania #law #Congress #TaxPayersMoney
https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/02/politics/trump-taxpayer-funded-ads
More evidence that allowing a clearly deranged individual to hold, if not absolute, then considerable power in an important country is hurting the people who voted for him (most of them anyway, the rich will always have an escape route — until they do not, along with the rest of us).
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/trump-conspiratorial-attacks-repressive-playbook
To inform myself, I had a quick look at the timeline of #Trump on his truthsocial.
It is far worse than I expected.
It is not easy to find a direct economic explanation of the behaviour of the people who now rule the world. The desire for pure power seems to be much more dominant than the desire for wealth. This has often been pointed out, but curiously enough the desire for power seems to be taken for granted as a natural instinct, equally prevalent in all ages, like the desire for food. Actually it is no more natural, in the sense of being biologically necessary, than drunkenness or gambling. And if it has reached new levels of lunacy in our own age, as I think it has, then the question becomes: What is the special quality in modern life that makes a major human motive out of the impulse to bully others? If we could answer that question — seldom asked, never followed up — there might occasionally be a bit of good news on the front page of your morning paper.
George Orwell (1903-1950) English journalist, essayist, writer [pseud. of Eric Arthur Blair]
Essay (1946-11-29), “As I Please” column, Tribune Newspaper
More about this quote: wist.info/orwell-george/85229/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #orwell #georgeorwell #aggression #bullying #control #domination #humannature #megalomania #modernera #motivation #pathology #power #powerhungry #powermad #powerseeking
Trump’s proposed 250ft Washington arch clears key planning hurdle | Washington DC | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/trump-arch-washington-dc
I'm hearing that #Anthro something have just released a new #AI agent named #CHAIF (which they adapt from #CHIEF and is pronounced the same). Claims suggest that it removes the need for top level #executives including #CEOs, #directors, and #politicians including #presidents, prime #ministers.
Cited #advantages include lack of #ego, lack of #greed, lack of #corruption, lack of #megalomania.
Mass removal of a large number of these, no longer #indispensible, people is expected within weeks.
😉😉
Amiga Sequel Picks: UKGN Counts Down Games That Needed Follow-Ups
#Amiga #AmigaGames #RetroGaming #UKGN #CommodoreAmiga #MegaLoMania #Moonstone #Lionheart #Superfrog #RetroComputing
https://theoasisbbs.com/amiga-sequel-picks-ukgn-counts-down-games-that-needed-follow-ups/?fsp_sid=7561
🎯
This. As presented by Clay Jones...
What *does* he think about? These things, exactly. Nothing else. Thin-sliced: "Me me me, terrific perfect me... More!"
#megalomania #narcissism #WarCrimes #BrainSpurs #psychopathology #treason
But they touch upon 2 key nerves in the body politic: The tension in a #democracy about how & to whom credit for #public works & programs should be given, & narratives of gratitude particular to #US history, including the gratitude freely offered by #immigrants & #refugees, & the forced gratitude demanded from #enslaved people.
#Trump #narcissism #megalomania #vanity #authoritarianism #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #MadKing
…Compared with the giant banners of Trump’s glowering image hanging on federal office buildings, including the once-independent #DOJ, & the renaming for #Trump of public #landmarks & #memorials such as the #KennedyCenter for the Performing Arts, these banners are a relatively small #authoritarian incursion into the public realm.
#narcissism #megalomania #vanity #authoritarianism #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #MadKing
#Trump demands gratitude in DC. So he put up banners thanking himself.
Signs appearing around the capital twist appreciation & patriotism into an authoritarian knot.
#narcissism #megalomania #vanity #authoritarianism #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #MadKing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/05/07/signs-thanking-trump-in-washington/
#BrainSpurs #psyhopathology #TrumpVirus
Such "a stable genius! So smart.... Perfect really."
The judge wasn’t amused.
#Musk’s outsize reputation, provocative remarks & his friction with a federal #judge have dominated the trial in his case against #ChatGPT-maker #OpenAI.
#law #judiciary #tech #business #AI #TechBros #billionaires #narcissism #megalomania #assholery
https://wapo.st/4cK7rqN
Lazy Caturday Reads
Good Day!!
Girl holding a cat, by Albert Anker, 1881
There was a lot of discouraging news yesterday, as is usually the case under Trump’s presidency. An appeals court in Louisiana temporarily limited access to abortion pills; we’re still adjusting to the Supreme Court’s voting rights decision; Trump and Hegseth are pulling 5,000 troops out of Germany for no good reason; the Iran war continues, but Trump is pretending it’s over; Trump is insane and getting worse. Here’s the latest:
Tierney Sneed at CNN: Appeals court blocks FDA rule that allows women to obtain abortion drugs by mail.
A federal appeals court temporarily reinstated a nationwide requirement that abortion pills be obtained in person, undermining access to the method of abortion that has only grown more widespread since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Friday’s ruling from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals is a major victory in the anti-abortion movement’s war against medication abortion, which now accounts for roughly two-thirds of all abortions in the United States.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Louisiana last year against the US Food and Drug Administration, after President Donald Trump’s administration refused to act on calls to reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills through the regulatory process.
The opinion was written by Trump-appointed Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, joined by Circuit Judges Leslie Southwick and Kurt Engelhardt, who were appointed by Presidents George W. Bush and Trump, respectively.
Referring to Louisiana abortion prohibitions, they wrote that the current federal regulations create “an effective way for an out-of-state prescriber to place the drug in the hands of Louisianans in defiance of Louisiana law.”
Mifepristone manufacturer Danco Laboratories has asked the 5th Circuit to put its ruling on hold for seven days so it can appeal.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, abortion-seekers have been able to obtain mifepristone – one of the two drugs in the medication abortion regimen – through telehealth appointments. President Joe Biden’s administration finalized rules that ended the requirement that the pills be obtained through an in-person doctor’s visit in 2023, after the US Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe precedent protecting abortion rights nationwide with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Louisiana alleged that that regulatory maneuver was aimed at undermining the abortion ban that went into effect in the state with the reversal of Roe and says that now, hundreds of abortions are occurring every year within its borders because women are able to obtain pills via mail after telehealth visits with providers.
Read more at CNN.
Gabrielle Cannon at The Guardian: US appeals court blocks mail-order access to abortion drugs.
Access to mifepristone, the FDA-approved medication used to end pregnancy, could become severely limited following a ruling from US appeals court on Friday, which temporarily blocked the drug from being dispensed through the mail.
The decision is for now the most sweeping threat to abortion access since the supreme court rolled back abortion rights in 2022, said Kelly Baden, vice-president at the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy group.
“If allowed to stand, it would severely restrict access to mifepristone in every state, including those where abortion is broadly legal and where voters have acted to protect abortion rights,” she said.
The so-called “abortion pill” is part of a two-drug regimen backed by decades of evidence for its efficacy and safety, and is used in the majority of abortions in the US.
Usage has risen in recent years, especially in the aftermath of the 2022 ruling from the supreme court that overturned federal protections for a right to an abortion. In the year after that decision, the FDA formally modified its regulations to allow the drug to be prescribed online, expanding its use even in states where abortion care was being constricted.
The drug has become a key target for the anti-abortion movement, and a series of lawsuits have challenged the drug’s initial approval in 2000 and the subsequent rules making it easier to obtain.
And Trump controls the FDA.
Meanwhile, with the FDA now under Trump, the agency has opened a review of the medication. Once this analysis is completed, officials at the agency said, they will determine if changes to its regulations are warranted.
The Girl with the Cats, by Christian Kroag, 1909
Reproductive rights advocates have voiced concerns that the review could further limit mifepristone’s use, despite the evidence supporting its safety.
Developed in France in the 1980s, mifepristone is used around the world and is authorized in 96 countries. Its use is backed by roughly four decades of peer-reviewed research, according to a 2025 brief written by public health experts at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
“Anti-abortion politicians have just made it much harder for people everywhere in the country to get a medication that abortion and miscarriage patients have been safely using for more than 25 years,” Julia Kaye, a senior staff attorney for the Reproductive Freedom Project of the ACLU, said in a statement.
Some relevant commentary from Jessica Valenti at Abortion Everyday: My Favorite Abortion.
This week, U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill asked an understandably confused American University scholar to name her “favorite type of abortion.” Law professor Jessica Waters went before a House Judiciary subcommittee to talk about the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act; instead, she was questioned by a visibly pleased with himself Texas lawmaker who clearly crafted his question to be a viral social media moment.
When you see Rep. Gill’s shit-eating grin, you’ll know exactly who he is.
Since Rep. Gill is so interested in our favorite types of abortions, I thought I’d share a few of mine.
My favorite type of abortion is the one that prevents a raped ten-year-old from breaking her pelvis in childbirth.
I also like abortions that keep women from carrying dead fetuses for weeks on end, which is what happened to Marlena Stell in Rep. Gill’s home state of Texas.
My favorite abortions are the kind that stop women from going septic, or prevent 28-year-olds from losing both of their fallopian tubes.
Another favorite? The abortion that means a Texas 21-year-old won’t be forced to carry a fetus developing without a head.
I like the abortion that means a pregnant mother of five with cervical cancer doesn’t have to beg a hospital panel for chemotherapy.
I like the abortion that doesn’t force a woman to travel far from home when faced with a fatal fetal abnormality.
I really like the abortion that stops patients from having to plead for help in videos made in hospital parking lots.
My favorite types of abortions are the ones that allow women to live. Maybe if Candi Miller, or Amber Nicole Thurman, or Tierra Walker had access to abortion, they would still be here.
My favorite types of abortions are the ones that allow women to go to college.
My favorite types of abortions are the ones that let women leave abusive relationships.
My favorite kinds of abortions are the ones that mean women get to choose their own life path, to decide what is best for them, and to figure out if and when they want to start a family.
I suppose this case will ultimately end up in the Supreme Court. Who knows what they will do with it?
And of course we’re still dealing with the aftermath of the Roberts Court’s decision gutting the Voting Rights Act.
An opinion piece by Nikolas Bowie and Daphna Renan at The New York Times (gift link): Ruling by Ruling, the Supreme Court Is Undoing the Civil Rights Movement.
With its decision this week in Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court gutted a core part of the Voting Rights Act, Congress’s landmark prohibition on voting rules that have the effect of excluding people of color from the political process. In doing so, the court has, not for the first time, claimed an authority to reject laws passed by Congress in service of equal justice and a free society.
By Susanne Clements
And it has effectively killed the Second Reconstruction, the mid-20th-century civil rights revolution. In the face of this decision, Congress must once again defend democracy from a hostile court. A plan of action already exists.
When the Supreme Court challenged the first Reconstruction 150 years ago, abolitionists and Republicans in Congress debated measures ranging from declaring certain federal laws beyond judicial reach to changing the number of justices. The partial measures they enacted saved Reconstruction — for a time. But more relevant for us today are the comprehensive reforms they proposed but never fully enacted. These reforms offer us and our representatives in Congress the tools we need now.
In the era surrounding the Civil War, opponents of slavery confronted a Supreme Court that was threatening their life’s work. In Dred Scott v. Sandford, in 1857, the court declared unconstitutional the Missouri Compromise — a congressional statute banning the spread of slavery in federal territory. A decade later, the court similarly menaced the Reconstruction laws that Congress was enacting to begin the project of multiracial democracy amid the wreckage of the former Confederacy.
But Congress did not submit to this judicial rule. Members of an ascendant Republican Party decried a court “inflated with supremacy” and declared that whenever a decision is, “in the judgment of Congress, subversive of the rights and liberties of the people,” it is the “solemn duty of Congress” to override it. In 1862, Congress and President Abraham Lincoln enacted legislation that banned slavery in places the Dred Scott decision had protected it. Congress also drafted the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution, all of which advanced Congress’s goals of freedom and political equality while empowering Congress to enforce its terms by “appropriate legislation.”
When the postwar court appeared likely to challenge legislation Congress considered “appropriate” to enforce these amendments, Congress changed the size of the court. The House of Representatives then passed a bill that prohibited the court from invalidating any federal law without the concurrence of two-thirds of the justices. Representative John Bingham of Ohio, the primary author of the 14th Amendment, insisted that such a requirement was necessary to prevent a second Dred Scottdecision. Some members agreed but pushed for a unanimity rule (concurrence among all the justices) instead.In the Senate, the author of the 13th Amendment, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, proposed that Congress declare its Reconstruction Acts “political in their character, the propriety or validity of which no judicial tribunal is competent to question.” As the threat from one pending Supreme Court case became urgent, Congress enacted a narrower but decisive measure stripping the court of appellate jurisdiction over the particular challenge before it.
That strategy worked. Disciplined by Congress, the court declined to interfere with its abolition or Reconstruction Acts. As federal prosecutors and lower courts enforced these statutes, over 750,000 Black Americans voted for the first time. Black men even took seats in Congress, where they helped draft and pass the nation’s first national voting rights laws.
Use the gift link to read the rest if you’re interested.
Why on earth does Trump want U.S. troops out of Germany? Because German Chancellor Friedrich Merz hurt his feelings.By Nelly Tsenova, Bulgarian artist
NBC News: Trump administration is pulling 5,000 troops from Germany.
The U.S. is withdrawing approximately 5,000 troops from Germany, Pentagon officials said Friday, after President Donald Trump was angered by criticism from the German chancellor over the war with Iran.
The move would include one brigade combat team as well as other forces inside Germany, the officials said. The decision does not appear to affect the U.S. military’s massive medical support bases, like Landstuhl, where thousands of troops, including those who have been injured during the war, have been taken for medical treatment.
The decision was a direct response to comments made by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but also reflected Trump’s frustration that U.S. allies aren’t doing enough, according to a senior Pentagon official. Trump has been threatening Germany and other NATO allies over their refusal to engage in the U.S. and Israel-led war on Iran. He suggested earlier this week he might pull troops from Germany.
“The Europeans have not stepped up when America needed them,” the official said. “This cannot be a one-way street.”
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed the withdrawal figure in a statement Friday and said it would be completed over the next six months to a year.
“This decision follows a thorough review of the Department’s force posture in Europe and is in recognition of theater requirements and conditions on the ground,” he said.
I’m pretty sure that last claim is a lie.
Mark Hertling at The Bulwark: The Last Time We Reduced Troops in Europe, a War Broke Out.
ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISTAKES of my career wasn’t something I did. It was something I failed to prevent.
I was commander of U.S. Army Europe in the early 2010s when U.S. forces were being drawn down in the European theater. I argued—forcefully, with member of Congress, the administration and the Department of Defense, and even my military commanders—that we shouldn’t do it.
In the final throes of the discussion, I pleaded to keep just one more tank brigade combat team on the continent. Those tanks, armored vehicles, and supporting forces would have signaled not to our allies but to our foe, Putin, presence and commitment. I believed then, as I do now, that removing that force created an opportunity for Russia to test the NATO alliance and to pursue its longstanding objective of expanding its influence.
I wasn’t persuasive enough. My arguments fell on deaf ears, and the brigade’s soldiers were ordered to return to the United States. Not long after, Russia seized Crimea and invaded Ukraine’s Donbas region. I won’t claim that the decisions of those who were my superiors caused that aggression—but I believe it contributed to it. I remember a warning from the then-president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who told me plainly that if we pulled that kind of capability out of Europe, Moscow would act.
By Sylvia Anita, 1968
He was right. I still question myself as to how I could have been more persuasive.
On Friday night, when I heard that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a reduction of 5,000 U.S. troops in Europe based on what he called a “thorough review”—but more likely because of the desire of President Donald Trump’s retribution against German Chancellor Friedrich Merz for his recent comments about the war in Iran—I hear an echo of the argument from more than a decade ago. And I worry we are about to make an even bigger mistake.
I WOULD LIKE TO SEE the Department of Defense’s “thorough review.” Because I was part of a similar one conducted over a decade ago. I helped plan and later execute the last major transformation of U.S. Army forces in Europe—one that took that force from 90,000 troops to about 34,000 between 2004 and 2012.That wasn’t a decision made quickly or casually. It took years of analysis, coordination, and constant negotiation across governments, services, and commands. It required aligning troop movements with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan to avoid tearing apart families and units. It involved extensive consultation with host nations such as Germany and Italy, where political, legal, and economic considerations were as important as military considerations. It required detailed planning for base closures, infrastructure consolidation, and a plan for a strategic long-term presence on the continent. It also took unique action to ensure families of those forces were treated well as we hurried their return to the United States in massive waves of base and housing closures. The planning and the execution were phased deliberately, executed carefully, and constantly reassessed. Those are the kinds of procedures and actions that constitute a real, “thorough review.” I don’t believe for a second that there was anything like that kind of process before the withdrawal announcement made yesterday evening.
This decision does not bear the hallmarks of a plan that resulted from careful thought, deliberation, consultation, and diplomacy. It reflects a misunderstanding of what U.S. forces in Europe are and what they do to contribute to the security of both the United States and our European allies.
Read the rest at the Bulwark link.
The Iran war isn’t over, but Trump is trying to pretend it is. He claims he has already won it. He’s created mess and doesn’t know how to clean it up. He is truly insane and he controls our nuclear arsenal.
The Washington Post: Trump says Iran conflict is ‘terminated’ as he hits congressional deadline.
President Donald Trump claimed in a letter to Congress on Friday that hostilities with Iran have “terminated” as he reached a legal deadline that requires military operations to halt unless lawmakers authorize force.
Trump’s claim came as the United States continues to enforce a naval blockade of Iran and as he declined to rule out additional strikes on the country.
Country Girl and her Kitten, Charles Lansdelle
The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires presidents to remove U.S. forces from any conflict that Congress has not authorized within 60 days of the White House notifying Congress of hostilities — a deadline that Trump hit on Friday.
Trump wrote in his letter to lawmakers Friday that the conflict has been effectively over since the United States and Iran agreed last month to a ceasefire.
“There has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” Trump wrote in the letter, obtained by The Washington Post. “The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.”
The president’s argument echoed what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Trump also suggested Friday that he believes the requirement to withdraw U.S. forces within 60 days is unconstitutional.
“Most people consider it totally unconstitutional,” Trump told reporters. “Also, we had a ceasefire, so that gives you additional time.”
Democrats immediately pushed back. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) described Trump’s argument in a post on X as “bullshit.”
“President Trump declaring the war with Iran ‘terminated’ doesn’t reflect the reality that tens of thousands of U.S. service members in the region are still in harm’s way, that the Administration continually threatens to escalate hostilities or that the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and prices are skyrocketing at home,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement. “President Trump entered this war without a strategy and without legal authorization and today’s announcement doesn’t change either fact.”
Meanwhile:
CNN Live Updates: Iran says renewed conflict possible after Trump rejects latest peace proposal.
Here’s the latest
— Shaky peace: A senior Iranian military official has said renewed conflict with the US is possible after President Donald Trump rejected Iran’s latest peace proposal. On Friday, Trump said the US may be “better off” if no deal is reached, after stating he was unsatisfied with Tehran’s offer….
— Sanction threat: The US has warned shipping companies they could face sanctions if they pay tolls to Iran to safely use the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, analysts say the impact of the waterway’s closure on the economy will deepen in the coming weeks.
— In Lebanon: Israel’s military warned residents in southern Lebanon to evacuate amid a fragile ceasefire. Several people were killed in Israeli strikes Friday.
— A senior Iranian military official has said renewed conflict with the US is “possible” after President Donald Trump rejected the latest peace proposal from Tehran. The nations are currently observing a ceasefire.
On Friday, Trump said the US may be “better off” if no deal is reached.
Meanwhile, official Iranian outlets restated an uncompromising position on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
I’m going to end with some recent examples of Trump’s insanity.
Josh Marcus at The Independent: Trump is calling himself ‘the most powerful person to ever live’ in private conversations, allies say.
President Donald Trump, a former reality TV star known for his taste in all-gold everything, has never been one for modesty, but the Republican has in recent days begun speaking about himself as a figure of all-time historical power, according to allies.
“He’s been talking recently about how he is the most powerful person to ever live,” a Trump confidant told The Atlantic. “He wants to be remembered as the one who did things that other people couldn’t do, because of his sheer power and force of will.”
“He is unburdened by political concerns and is able to do what is truly right rather than what is in his best political interests,” an administration official added in an interview with the magazine. “Hence the decision to strike Iran.”
Unlike any U.S. leader in recent history, President Trump has pushed the boundaries of what is legal within the U.S., while making massive unilateral gambles on the world stage: threatening a U.S. takeover of allied Greenland, kidnapping the leader of Venezuela, and launching a war with Iran.
Country Girl and her Kitten, Charles Lansdelle
Unreal. The man is a megalomaniac. He’s also demonstrating that by trying to put his name on everything from the Kennedy Center to airports, National Park passes, passports, and even dollar bills.
Trump has begun holding campaign rallies again. Yesterday he gave an unhinged speech at the Villages in Florida. Dan Diamond at The Washington Post: Trump returns to public events, delivering profane speech.
President Donald Trump said Friday that he was eager to deliver his first public speech since he was hustled from a hotel stage Saturday, after an attempted shooter breached the perimeter of the White House correspondents’ dinner.
And the president picked a familiar stop for his return address: The Villages, a retirement community in Florida and a longtime Republican stronghold.
“They want me to be in a secure place. I said, ‘What’s more secure than The Villages?’” Trump said to applause, as he kicked off a 94-minute event that featured several guests — and was peppered with Trump’s profane jokes and complaints, including about the president’s microphone setup.
“Turn up the mic!” the president said, criticizing the logistics. “I don’t believe in paying people that do a bad job. … I’m screaming my ass off.” [….]
Trump seemed unburdened [by the events at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner]. He mocked Democrats in crass terms, including one unnamed lawmaker that he said was a “sleazebag,” for focusing on affordability ahead of the midterm elections.
“They’ve got one good line of bullshit,” the president said, blaming Democrats for policies that he said had led to inflation. Trump also polled the crowd on which nickname he should use to mock former president Joe Biden, who Trump said had “set a record, most falls in history.”
I don’t know how that went over in The Villages, but most voters are not going to like his attitudes about affordability. He also indicated that he’s bored by information about Medicare and Medicaid.
Trump also gestured toward some of his policies, saying that his administration was defending entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare, before acknowledging that he wasn’t particularly focused on the details.
“We have a man here who knows more about Medicaid, Medicare, medical crap than any human being. Where’s Dr. Oz? Where the hell are you, stand up,” Trump said, referring to Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “It’s the most boring trip I’ve ever made. He’s telling me about Medicare, Medicaid. All I want to do is take care of you, I don’t care. I said, ‘You work out the details.’”
He also performed his “greatest hits,” like the transgender weightlifter and “dancing” to “YMCA,” which he says people claim is a gay anthem but he loves it anyway. He also told the audience that it is “treasonous” to claim that he’s not winning the Iran war.
I could go on and on, but this getting way too long. I hope you found something here worth reading. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!
#abortionPills #catArt #caturday #CivilRights #DonaldTrump #IranWar #megalomania #mifepristone #TrumpInsanity #USTroopsInGermany #votingRights #votingRightsBill
"The fundamental bargain for a lot of Trump’s advisors, maybe the shorthand for it would be, 'He’s not a godly man, but he’s God’s man.'”
#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/5
(continued from /3)
"apart from the ways that these prophecies have impacted his existing megalomania and shaped it into a kind of Messianic narrative, and the way that he phrases that narrative is — especially in reference to the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt — as “God saved me to save America.”
#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/4
"They literally say they hear from God, direct messages for leaders, for individuals, for nations. And there are now hundreds, maybe even 1000s, of prophecies about Donald Trump, many of them that have been spoken directly to him, and I don’t think you can even make sense of the way that Donald Trump is operating in office in the second term," (continued in /4)
#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/3
"I think one of the most important things to understand, especially in the present moment, is that these leaders have functionally enshrined Trump with a certain kind of holiness, with a narrative that he is a prophesied figure, quite literally, many of the people who surround Donald Trump as advisors would also identify as prophets and not in the 'Martin Luther King was a prophetic figure' kind of way."
#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/2
Matthew Taylor notes that though Trump is heavily supported by white evangelicals, one group of evangelicals have a particular grip on him: Pentecostal-charismatic evangelicals who constitute the network called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), led by his "faith advisor" Paula Cain-White.
#Trump #WhiteEvangelicals #Pentecostals #WhiteChristianNationalism #megalomania
/1
https://www.bettedangerous.com/p/medici-white-house-and-the-pseudopropheta
"According to aides and confidants, his focus in a potential second term has shifted away from short-term political concerns toward building a lasting legacy, even as allies worry about political fallout from policies like the Iran conflict and rising costs."
Sure you are, Donald — greatest man who ever lived, reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed wrapped into one. And the white jacket they're strapping on now is a new nightgown.
"Behind the scenes, Trump has started claiming he is 'the most powerful person to ever live.' A new Atlantic report suggests that Donald Trump has increasingly framed himself as a historic, world-changing figure, reportedly comparing himself in private to leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Napoleon Bonaparte."
~ Aaron Parnas
#Trump #megalomania #narcissism #MentalDecline #MadKing
/1
https://aaronparnas.substack.com/p/news-trump-claims-he-is-the-most
OMG this muther effing craze-ballz narcissist…
Image of #Trump to be featured inside new #passports to [supposedly] mark the #US’ 250th
Trump’s likeness — along with the Declaration of Independence text [which teeny-weeny-peeny has never read] — & the flag of the United States of America will be on an inside page of new passports.
Kill me now
#law #megalomania #authoritarianism #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/28/us-passports-trump-image/