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Is Donald Trump okay?

(Washington Post) It is irresponsible to obsess over President Biden’s tendency to mangle a couple of words in a speech while Donald Trump is out there sounding detached from reality. Biden, who is old, at least makes sense. Trump, who also is old, rants like someone you’d cross the street to avoid. We in the media have failed by becoming inured to Trump’s verbal incontinence — not just the rapid-fire lies and revenge-seeking threats, but also the frightening glimpses into a mind that is, evidently, unwell. In 2016, Trump said outrageous things at his campaign rallies to be entertaining. In 2024, his tangents raise serious questions about his mental fitness.

Trump says he'll work 'side by side' with group that wants abortion 'eradicated'

(South Dakota Searchlight) Former President Donald Trump said Monday that if reelected he plans to work “side by side” with a newly formed religious organization that says abortion is the “greatest atrocity facing” the United States and should be “eradicated entirely.” “These are going to be your years because you’re going to make a comeback like just about no other group,” Trump said. “I know what’s happening. I know where you’re coming from and where you’re going. And I’ll be with you side by side.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Drops 4-Letter Word On Live TV In Blunt Message For 'Whining' Trump

(Huff Post) Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) on Monday offered some all-too-blunt advice to Donald Trump. “I got a message to Donald Trump and all his negativity and his whining,” he told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki. “Stop shit-talking America. This is the greatest country on Earth, and it’s time that we all start acting like it.” Trump has repeatedly slammed America, earlier this year saying “in many ways we’re living in hell right now.” He also wrote on Truth Social: “WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION!” But Shapiro said that’s not the reality of life in America today ― and voters in his swing state know it.

Latest great jobs report leaves GOP leaders at a loss for words

(MSNBC) The closer one looks, the better the figures appear. Over 1.2 million jobs have been created so far this year, and if this pace keeps up, the United States will see roughly 3 million new jobs this year, which is extraordinary. Based on the latest data, American job growth across the first five months of 2024 is better than the first five months of any year of Trump’s presidency. What did we hear from GOP leaders on Capitol Hill? In keeping with the recent trend, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson responded to the job numbers by saying literally nothing about the good news. No press releases, no tweets, and no public comments.

Tuesday TOONs

The Supreme Court Has Planned for a June So Awful It Will Be Impossible to Keep Up

(Slate) The Supreme Court is about to drown us in a deluge of explosive and massively consequential decisions involving some of the most controversial issues of the day. Right now, the justices are scrambling to complete blockbusters involving abortion, guns, homelessness, unions, social media, online disinformation, pollution, the administrative state—and, oh yes, hundreds of Jan. 6 prosecutions, including Donald Trump’s.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse requests information about Alito's 'improper' WSJ interview

(NBC News) Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a member of the Judiciary Committee, requested information from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito tied to an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year in which Alito questioned whether Congress has the power to impose ethics rules on the Supreme Court. In the letter made public Friday, Whitehouse, D-R.I., accused Alito of offering in an interview with the paper last year "an improper opinion regarding a question that might come before the Court" amid an ethical dilemma related to donors' funding of undisclosed gifts to Supreme Court justices.

Bannon Tells Ex-FBI Directors to Leave the Country

(USA Today) Steve Bannon, who has advised former President Donald Trump, just warned the last two ex-FBI directors to "Get your passport, get the hell out of the country because hey, we're coming,” in a second Trump term. The presumptive Republican nominee's threats about imprisoning his opponents have caused such concern among people in U.S. law enforcement and intelligence that some are talking about leaving the country to avoid unfair prosecution if Trump wins a second term, according to Andrew McCabe, the former head of the FBI.

Trump's Reckless GOP Enablers are Paving the Way for Election Violence

(US News & World Report) The incendiary reaction to Donald Trump's criminal conviction by his enablers in Congress and beyond is a dark sign of perilous times ahead in our politics. It’s also a prelude to what likely will occur if this November's election looks anything like 2020. Trump and his loyalists are attacking pillars of the Democratic system: fair elections and fair trials. Any Republican who dares to urge respect for the law, like former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, now a candidate for U.S. Senate, has been ostracized by a GOP that’s abandoned the values of its party and sits in the pocket of Trump.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s anti-NATO bill gets dozens of GOP votes

(MSNBC) A total of 46 House Republicans voted in favor of an amendment to defund NATO introduced on Tuesday night by Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a loyal Donald Trump ally who has long opposed military and financial aid to Ukraine. Greene called for an amendment which would have struck over “$433 million in NATO funding” from the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs appropriations bill, she told members of Congress while speaking on the House floor. The fact that Greene pushed this measure is not, in and of itself, surprising. What struck me as notable, however, is the striking number of House Republicans, each of whom surely knew the measure would fail, nevertheless wanted to go on record in support of the extremist congresswoman’s gambit.