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One of President Donald Trump's staunchest MAGA allies lashed out after being cornered on his election lies in a NewsNation interview, insisting that there is "tons of evidence" of election fraud despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.

Trump has been rehashing his debunked claims about widespread election fraud this week, spurred on by conservative gloom over GOP candidate and ex-reality TV star Spencer Pratt losing out on a spot in the Los Angeles mayoral race's general election. Trump has also claimed that his controversial acting DNI nominee, Bill Pulte, will be doing his bidding and seeking arrests linked to his false claims about the 2020 election.

One of Trump's most outspoken allies over the years has been Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, who has proven himself to be an avowed promoter of conspiracy theories. He has also been closely involved with Trump's efforts to undermine the 2020 election results, with aides from his office allegedly being involved in a scheme to provide fake Wisconsin electors to Vice President Mike Pence as part of a plot to keep Trump in power.

On Monday, he appeared for an interview with NewsNation host Connell McShane and was pressed about the continual lack of evidence for Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud that was sufficient to tilt national election results. Johnson lashed out at the line of questioning, saying he was "getting very tired" of the argument," and insisting that there was abundant evidence.

"There's tons of evidence. There's tons of irregularities," Johnson said. "We need to take them seriously because what is absolutely true as Americans on both sides do not have confidence in our elections. That's unsustainable."

Johnson continued in a rambling fashion, claiming that allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in 2016 were "ginned up" by Hillary Clinton, calling her "the first election denier."

When McShane pressed the senator about why Trump and his allies have not presented concrete evidence of fraud during the many court hearings that have resulted from his claims, Johnson insisted that they have, but that they are ignored and not investigated further once elections are certified.

Trump himself also recently had a blow-up on national television when confronted about his election fraud claims, storming out of an interview with NBC News' Kristin Welker when she pressed him about the lack of evidence. Trump said that she was either "crooked" or "stupid" for asking him about it, and insisted that U.S. elections are still rigged.

As California continues to count ballots, Republicans spread conspiracy theories that something shady is unfolding in the state.

California's large population has about 80 percent of its voters who vote by mail, and the state counts all ballots that were postmarked on or before election day. They give one week for the ballots to arrive.

Republicans think that because Spencer Pratt was initially in the lead and has now fallen to third place, something is afoot. Pratt was a boyfriend of a former reality TV star. In reality, only about 12 percent of voters identify as registered Republicans, the County Registrar said in a report. So, Pratt's numbers are impressive and show that he managed to encourage not only GOP voters but also other groups.

Nithya Raman has pulled ahead of Pratt, however, which isn't what Mayor Karen Bass wants to see.

CNN data analyst Harry Enten explained that Bass likely wanted Pratt to do well because she trounces him in the general election.

Still, Republicans insist that Democrats are stealing votes from Pratt.

"This is the dumbest conspiracy theory I've ever heard!" Enten exclaimed. The last person Bass wants to run against is another Democrat."

"The democratic establishment and Karen Bass wanted Spencer Pratt in the runoff. They don't want any part of Nithya Raman. Why is that? Because — just take a look here. Okay, mayor. Mayor, runoff polls, Bass versus opponent versus Pratt," he explained. "Bass would have crushed Pratt by 18 points. That's what the polling showed. Look at how she does against Nithya Raman. On the other hand, Raman is ahead by four points. Bass has a real race on her hands, if, in fact, Ramen is the one who advances. And of course, the Democratic establishment is backing Karen Bass, but versus Spencer Pratt, she was crushing him. She wanted to face Pratt."

"And that's why these conspiracy theories. Simply put, make no sense, people," he added.

Bass' favorability numbers are also considerably lower than Raman's.

Enten and co-host John Berman discussed President Donald Trump's hope for Pratt, which Enten called unsurprising. But Trump has dragged Pratt down.

"Los Angeles City voters, Trump's net approval rating in the city of Los Angeles is about 55 points underwater," Enten said. "It's so difficult — 55 points underwater and then registered as a Republican."

It was already a tough climb for Pratt, but Enten explained that there's simply no chance for a Republican.

"The only way [Bass] could lose is if she goes up against another Democrat. And you see it right here, very simply put up by four, no wonder. And that is where the results right now are moving a Ramen versus Bass general election, which I said at the top, an absolute nightmare for the Democratic establishment. And Karen Bass, they would have much preferred Spencer," he closed.

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Democratic political consultant James Carville wants Maine voters to back Graham Platner despite the candidate’s flaws — and partly because of some of them. Platner is currently the likely Democratic nominee in Maine’s U.S. Senate race. If Platner wins the primary, he will face Republican Senator Susan Collins, who was first elected in 1996.

“I understand he’s f—— up,” said Carville on his Politicon podcast. “Yeah, maybe we need a combat veteran right on that Senate floor, who is f—— up.”

Carville berated Senator Collins by calling her “the most pliable member in the history of the United States Senate.”

He warned that he believes the country is “in imminent peril — I mean, imminent peril,” and asked: “Who is most likely to slow this criminal in charge?”

“I think it’s Graham Platner.”

“I ask all of you to understand his flaws, and understand the peril that this nation is in, and maybe he might be the right guy at the right time,” said Carville.

“Graham Platner grew up, I think, pretty privileged,” Carville said, sharing some of the likely Democratic nominee’s backstory. “He went to some kind of fancy fancy boarding school. He graduated, he joined the United States Marine Corps. He was in for eight years. He had three combat deployments. He gets out of the Marine Corps, and he goes to GW.”

Then Platner “joined the Maryland National Guard. Oh, you know what happened? He gets deployed a fourth time.”

“He’s f—— up,” said Carville. “He’s been shot at. He’s a veteran. All right? He’s got a little bit weird. He’s an oysterman. I know what oystermen do. I live in Louisiana. I think that oyster harvesting is the same the world over, it’s hard a—— work.”

Carville acknowledged that he has concerns, but said that maybe senators “need to look at this guy before they start sending young people off to fight wars, and see what the consequence of it is. Maybe he ought to run and say, ‘You don’t know, I’m gonna be on a veterans affairs committee, and I wanna be on a mental health subcommittee, ’cause I know something about… Yeah, I might be five degrees off dead center. So f—— what?’ They need that.”

He said he doesn’t agree with Platner’s economic stances, that they are “to the left of anything I’d say I’m for.”

“But you know what? He recognizes this horrific inequality in this country. And it actually would do some good to have somebody in there.”

Carville called Platner’s tattoo “very troubling.”

He said, “what I have to consider first, is this country is about to lose it. The whole goddamn thing.”

“Okay, we gotta win this,” Carville concluded. “And if we got a person who’s understandably got issues, yeah, good. And maybe people ought to see it, and maybe we ought to just be reminded of what these stupid wars have brought about in the consequence of said stupid wars. It’s [what] stupid Susan Collin's been for all her political life.”

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San Francisco Gate reports employees are searching for someone who appears to have illegally driven a car through the delicate bristlecone pines ecosystem of the Inyo National Forest.

“Adam Leidy, Inyo National Forest’s off-highway vehicle and over-snow vehicle program manager, posted two videos to his Facebook account in late May — one flagging tire marks on the wrong side of some ‘no motor vehicles’ signs and another one showing a Subaru on the move,” reports SF Gate. “Leidy asked anyone with information about the driver to contact Inyo’s dispatch at 760-873-2405.”

“Scientifically, I’m appalled,” said Jeff Holmquist, a researcher for the White Mountain Research Center, told SFGATE. “In my view, it’s obscenely damaging and extremely unfortunate.”

Home to some of the oldest trees on earth, the alpine region of the Inyo National Forest has remarkably vulnerable soil. Between the revered, ancient trees lies a fragile biocrust, a thin layer of living material consisting of algae, moss and lichen that binds the topsoil and protects it from harsh highland wind and sparse rain.

“Vehicle tires can compact soils and damage root systems — making it more difficult for plants to absorb water and nutrients — and also leave behind seeds of invasive species, according to a park spokesperson. “In high-elevation settings — especially in Bristlecone Pine forests and alpine tundra — this damage is particularly severe,” Inyo National Forest personnel told SFGATE. “These plants grow extremely slowly. A single vehicle driving just a short distance off-road can kill or damage hundreds of small plants and shrubs. Recovery of soils in these ecosystems can take decades or even centuries.”

Car tires carousing though restricted sections can damage slow-growing seedlings, or blast roots that would sooner rot away than recover. They certainly damaged the fragile biocrust, said the park spokesperson.

“My guess is that the tracks that this vehicle left will be there for the rest of my life and probably yours, too,” Holmquist told the paper. “… It’s a horrible thing, and I say that both as somebody who has a real reverence for the natural world and as a scientist. We’re ants compared to these ancient trees, in terms of size but particularly in terms of longevity. It’s such a peaceful, serene place. You have a sense of deep time as you sit at the base of these trees.”

Despite the destruction, SF Gate reports the citation for driving a vehicle off the road in a way that disturbs land, wildlife or vegetation only comes with a $250 fine. The agency’s main tool for against degrading the precious environment and filling it with invasive bramble is education, starting with clear signage.

“We also install physical barriers — rocks, bollards, and other structures — to discourage off-road driving,” the spokesperson told SFGATE. “And we invest in public education, because most visitors want to recreate responsibly; they just need clear guidance.”

CNN host Dana Bash on Friday mocked members of the MAGA movement who appear to assume California is taking a long time to count votes because political hijinks are afoot.

Fox News host Jesse Waters explained, "I can't prove it — but everybody watching thinks there's shenanigans when it takes this long."

Fox's Greg Gutfeld similarly proclaimed, "You know what that means," when he was told it would take a week or more to count the ballots.

"These are baseless, fraud claims," Bash explained.

California elections have always taken this long, largely due to the massive counties with populations of over 5 million people. Los Angeles County, for example, has a population of 9.6 to 9.8 million people. It's twice the size of Oklahoma.

CNN's Elex Michaelson did an explainer video in which he said that about 80 percent of the voters cast ballots by mail. Each mail-in ballot goes through a signature verification process. There are more than 5.9 million registered voters in Los Angeles County. The single county is larger than 41 U.S. states.

So, he said, there are many steps to prevent voter fraud.

CNN's Aaron Blake showed a post from Gov. Ron DeSantis "who was never a big election denier" during the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. The Florida Republican asked whether California simply keeps counting until it gets the result it wants.

Bash again reiterated that the comments aren't "based on anything that's actually happening."

Time and time again, she said that California votes appear heavily Republican at the beginning and then slowly become more Democratic. If 80 percent of people vote by mail, those votes take longer to count because the ballot must be verified as authentic. Fewer Republicans vote by mail, according to an MIT Election Lab study.

"And part of the reason is that Donald Trump has spent years discouraging Republicans from returning mail ballots. And so, when you're counting these mail ballots late, they tend to be more Democratic-leaning," Blake said.

He added that it has become commonplace for Republicans to seed suspicion that something untoward is happening, even if those conspiracy theories have tons of evidence to the contrary.

The Iowa primary election ended President Donald Trump's sweep of his endorsed candidates, with a non-Trump endorsed candidate winning after GOP voters cast ballots for them over the president's pick. Now, CNN's data guru is looking at how Trump is working out for those in farm country.

"You know, Iowa has been traditionally a field of dreams for the president of the United States. But it's quickly turning into a potential field of nightmares," said data analyst Harry Enten on Friday.

Enten thinks that it's as a result of a " rural revolt" that is unfolding against Trump.

"Take a look here. Rural voters and Trump look, according to Fox News, he was easily winning them back in October of 2024 versus Kamala Harris, 18 points ahead. The exit poll even had it by a bigger margin. But look at where he is now. Whew! Down there underwater, underneath the cornfields. He's now 14 points underwater," continued Enten.

It's a 30-point drop for Trump on whether people trust him to navigate the economy. It proves to Enten that there is a "rural revolt" against Trump.

One of the factors is that rural voters simply didn't like the Democratic nominee in 2024. Under Trump, however, the economy and inflation are the largest factors working against him.

Enten looked specifically at rural America's attitudes on those issues, showing that Trump was up 37 points, and now is down 17. It's an over-50-point drop.

"Rural voters, like the rest of the country, are turning against Trump on the key issue that got him elected to a second term back in 2024," Enten said.

CNN host John Berman was shocked to see the significant drop in the numbers.

Ironically, the candidate Trump endorsed won the "vote by mail" ballots, while the candidate he didn't support won as a result of the vote on Election Day cast in person.

"It seemed to me that Iowa Republicans said, you know what? We hear you, Donald Trump, but you know what? We're dismissing that message again, part of a larger picture in my mind of rural voters not tuning in to what Donald Trump is telling them at this point," explained Enten.

Enten then suggested the idea that it could put the Iowa Senate race in jeopardy for Republicans.

"If, all of a sudden, you're able to put Iowa on the board, if you're a democrat hoping to win back control of the United States Senate, that would be a massive piece of the puzzle. And the last time Iowa elected a Democratic governor was all the way back in 2006. And that looks like a more likely possibility than not," Enten closed, citing the prediction markets.

President Donald Trump has picked Todd Blanche as his permanent attorney general, according to a top political scientist, because ex-Attorney General Pam Bondi was not corrupt enough for him.

“What everyone needs to understand is the danger here and what the Senate is concerned about. Todd Blanche — he's not a new bestie, he's a true bestie,” Morgan State University political scientist Dr. Jason Johnson told MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Thursday. “He was Trump's lawyer. His entire reason for being in this job is to protect this president, because he agrees with him ideologically, because he sees a kindred spirit with him morally, and because he sees his job as not serving the country but serving Trump.”

He elaborated on how Blanche was accused by Bondi of playing a key role in covering up Trump’s relationship with convicted sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. He also mentioned that Blanche had a two-day sit-down meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, seemingly for the purpose of finding out how she could protect the president.

“I wish that would be enough to keep him from being confirmed, but it may not be,” Johnson told Wallace. “It may be his position on the slush fund and January 6th that keeps this man from being in the position of the most important attorney in the United States of America.”

Regarding the slush fund, Johnson referred to Blanche’s well-documented role in settling a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS for $10 billion. Trump sued his own agency because, during his first term, an independent contractor affiliated with them leaked his tax returns, proving that he had filed far less than most Americans in most years and had a number of undisclosed business failures. Because Trump controls both the IRS and the Department of Justice, which in theory would defend the IRS from litigation, critics claimed there was a conflict of interest and that any settlement would involve self-dealing.

When the presiding judge, concerned about those accusations, ordered all parties involved to appear before her bench, Blanche rushed through a settlement for $1.8 billion that would go to Trump-affiliated institutions and Trump supporters who claimed to have been victims of government weaponization.

“What do you think of the sort of one-sided politics here?” Wallace asked Johnson about the lack of Republican outrage over Blanche’s actions in terms of potential conflicts of interest. “Republicans made hay when Obama's attorney general Loretta Lynch had what appeared to be a spontaneous run-in with Bill Clinton ... And here, of course, the levels of this — the personal lawyer being the attorney general — it melts it all down as a farce.”

Johnson agreed with Wallace.

“This was Trump's personal attorney,” Johnson said. “He's doing podcasts with Sean Hannity. He's trying to create a slush fund for the president of the United States. He said, ‘Hey, we should send ICE agents to polls.’ He says that his job is to serve this president as opposed to the people. So there is no comparison. I think that's so important for people to understand — not anyone that Barack Obama had. We have never had an attorney, and possibly a full attorney general, who has made it so nakedly obvious that his goal was to be the personal lawyer of the president, as opposed to even serving the [Department of Justice].”

Earlier this month, reporter Asawin Suebsaeng's Zeteo newsletter revealed that Trump agreed to appoint Blanche because he hopes Blanche will succeed in prosecuting Trump’s perceived political enemies.

"Trump and his White House are coaxing with a very simple message: the boss will be monumentally livid at you if you don’t get very serious – very soon – about jailing his political enemies," Suebsaeng reported. He later added that an adviser told Zeteo that Trump’s instructions to Blanche were, “You cannot f—— up like Pam."

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Politicos and pundits say the Republican Party has hopelessly welded its wagon to President Donald Trump to the point that there’s no going back over the summer.

I mean, so unless you believe that Republicans are doing so well right now that they are going to hold the House despite historical trends, despite high gas inflation, bad poll numbers for the president, and just a natural desire to have a check on a president — a relatively unpopular president — then fine, then Republicans can keep the House. Other than that, I just think it's going to be really difficult. And then add on to that a war,” reported MS NOW anchor Jake Sherman.

Veteran Republican strategist Rick Wilson said Republicans are also in a bad spot because “Trump's not giving them anything to run on.”

“They are not going to go home and campaign on the ballroom and the reflecting pool and the arch. They're really in a tough spot right now,” Wilson told MS NOW anchor Katy Tur.

Additionally, Wilson warned that Republicans may have compromised their chances in their mid-decade gerrymandering effort by “spreading the peanut butter too thin” and putting too many swingy voters into red districts. This, said Wilson, puts new so-called “Republican-friendly” districts in jeopardy in Texas — particularly those with a high count of Latino voters, who are currently swinging hard away from the GOP.

Former U.S. Rep. Max Rose (D-N.Y.) said there is also the matter of the hot season falling over the nation like a blanket.

Summer months, they say, is the time when voters distract themselves with things beyond politics, and whatever opinions they entered the season with are usually the ones with which they exit.

“There's still a lot of time to go. But here's the interesting thing about elections, particularly midterm elections: They are based around how mobilized and exuberant your base is,” said Rose. “Democrats have never seen levels of this base enthusiasm. And we also traditionally find that sentiments get burned in by the summertime. You can't rebound.”

“Not when people go on vacation,” said Tur. “They tune out. They give themselves a mental break.”

“God bless them,” said Rose, with a smile. “They deserve it.”

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New Fox News polling is showing a top red state may be lost to Republicans.

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) is eight points above the appointed incumbent Republican senator, Jon Husted. This is a new bent for a state that has remained reliably Republican, with voters there overwhelmingly choosing President Donald Trump in 2024 by about 11 points.

Andrew Desiderio from Punchbowl News said on Thursday that he spoke to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was initially fearful that the year would be a disaster for Democrats because of the seats up for election. Now he believes Democrats can win the majority.

"And I was like, okay, yeah, okay, buddy, we'll see," said Desiderio. "We'll see about that. And now, a year later, we are a few months out from the election, and Trump's poll numbers have plummeted. Ohio is seemingly in play."

Trump's approval in Ohio has dropped ten points from Nov 2024 to June 2026.

Overcoming that 11-point advantage Trump had in 2024 was "unthinkable" last year. Voters, Desiderio said, don't merely blame Trump for all their problems; they also believe that Republicans should be fighting for their best interests, particularly on affordability issues.

Jamie Gangel, CNN special correspondent, agreed, it's clear Trump has been a huge benefit to Democrats, but the popularity of Brown can't be overstated.

"He has repeatedly done in Ohio what other Democrats haven't been able to do. I spoke to a Democratic leader this morning, though, who was very happy to talk about Ohio, but did not want to talk about Maine, where they really see a disaster," she noted.

Husted was appointed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine after JD Vance won the vice presidency on Trump's ticket. In the two years he's been in office, Husted hasn't established himself to the degree that Brown has in public office for nearly 50 years during his combined terms in the U.S. House and Senate.

Voters consistently indicate that economic issues are top of mind, with the affordability crisis at the forefront. The second issue is the Iran War, which has driven up gas prices in Ohio from $3.06 last year to $4.18 on Thursday, the AAA gas prices site says.

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Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins struggled on Thursday during a House Agriculture Committee hearing when asked basic questions about her department's own data.

Rep. Angie Craig, a member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party in Minnesota, probed Rollins about allegations of fraud involving recipients of SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. Rollins tried to parrot conservative talking points, but got a little mixed up with the data coming from her own department.

Craig hammered Rollins on how many farms have failed in the past year

She then moved on to ask whether Rollins knows that "farmers say they can't afford fertilizer as a result of the president's war in Iran?"

Rollins claimed that it differed by geographic region, implying that some farmers have one demand while others have another.

A frustrated Craig asserted, "Oh, my gosh! Seventy percent is the answer."

Then she pivoted to SNAP benefits, with the committee's top Democrat asking whether Rollins knew the fraud rate among SNAP recipients.

Rollins said that the data is based on information that is "missing from the states that we can't verify. That's the whole point of this is with no ability to verify California, Minnesota—"

Craig cut in, "1.6 percent according to USDA."

Rollins claimed that Minnesota is reporting a low fraud rate, which she considers "an absolute joke."

"I'll say it again. The USDA's own data found 1.6 percent," Craig said.

Rollins tried to cut in and claim that Craig's data showed that. In fact, a 2025 fact sheet from the USDA confirms the data.

The release goes so far as to say that fraud "occurs relatively infrequently."

"I don't think you understand the difference between an error rate and a fraud rate. I honestly don't. It is one of the lowest programs — the lowest fraud rate in any program in America, is the SNAP program," Craig explained.

"You can't be serious," Rollins responded.

"Your own data says 1.6 percent," Craig said.

Rollins claimed that the reason it's so low is that states don't allow the federal government to "confirm" the information, presumably with their own investigations. That same 2025 fact sheet from Rollins' own office brags about the department's efforts to reduce "infrequent" fraud.

After a back and forth, Craig cut in, "Look, Madam Secretary, I'm asking you these questions because these issues are personal," Craig said.

Rollins accused her of not asking for legitimate answers.

Former U.S. Army major and former executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency Harrison Mann made it clear that President Donald Trump's war against Iran has become so stupid that even Republicans are backing away.

It was reported on Wednesday that Trump had reached an agreement a month ago but didn't like it being compared to the previous Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), negotiated, in part, by President Barack Obama's administration.

Mann explained that the "so-called sticking point was a demand from before the war ... When Trump did the surprise attack with Israel in February, what the U.S. and Iran were discussing was some kind of sanctions relief, which would be a de facto release of funds in exchange for a freeze on Iran's nuclear enrichment. And so I think it's, in my mind, a little misleading to say that this thing that we've known has always been an Iranian demand is a sticking point. I think really the principal sticking point remains Trump's lack of interest in pushing for it."

Indeed, for the past several weeks, reports have revealed that Trump is growing "bored" with the Iran War.

Mann fears that Trump is alone in believing the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is working and sustainable in the long term.

"The Iranians don't believe either. I think they're pretty confident in their ability to withstand, you know, some loss of oil sales. And they really don't like the status quo," he said. "It seems like Trump kind of thinks he basically ended the war and, you know, occasional tit-for-tat strikes can go on really forever. The Iranians don't want that. They think they've got an advantage and they want to press it."

Also on Wednesday, four GOP members of the House of Representatives voted to block further Iran War, delivering enough votes for the Democrats to reassert congressional authority over the president.

Mann thinks that this bill passed as a result of two major reasons.

"One, the costs of the war, and the ... stupidity of the war have become impossible to ignore," he said. "We're three months in. You can't pretend Trump's got a plan. You can't ignore the very visible and tangible economic effects."

It isn't merely the gas prices, it's also the cost of fertilizer that has dramatically increased, all of which is putting pressure on American farmers.

On Wednesday, four House Republican members voted with Democrats to block Trump from ordering more strikes on Iran.

“It’s very powerful,” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). “We’re inching closer to having both chambers of Congress declare this an illegal war. That’s huge. It’s just becoming more and more untenable, what he has done.”

On a CNN panel Thursday morning, Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Calf.), who recently switched from Republican to Independent as a result of redistricting in the state, said he wanted something "that has real teeth." He did not vote for the resolution, and instead suggested a focus on the budget process, which would pull funding away from Iran.

The panel discussed Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is retiring at the end of the year. He's clashed with President Donald Trump several times over the years and was among the first in the so-called "You Only Live Once (YOLO) Caucus." Some of these members have been ousted in primaries, while others are retiring. But all of them are willing to fight against Trump now that they are no longer running for reelection.

The so-called YOLO Caucus is likely to oppose Trump nominee Bill Pulte, who was announced as the new Director of National Intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard. Pulte has no defense or intelligence experienced, which is required by law.

Kiley echoed statements from Tillis, saying, "There is a need to, sort of, have a paradigm of competence and experience and effectiveness when it comes to these top positions. And when you see a nomination like that, a lot of people think that's not what's happening."

Former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke said there's currently no pushback in the White House when one of Trump's wild ideas is proposed.

"There should be some individuals [who] stand up and say, let's think about that. Let's look at the broader picture here than just making one nomination, because things do affect each other," Dubke said.

He went on to explain that there is growing opposition to Trump now because Republicans feel they are protected from his wrath.

"What we've seen, we're moving now on the election calendar. We're five months out from the midterms. Filing deadlines are over. Most primaries are over. The strength that the president had for long-term gain by nominating and praising several of these of these individuals [is] causing short-term pain right now and will for the next five months," said Dubke.

Former Biden White House director of messaging and planning Meghan Hays called it "gross."

"I mean, it's wildly incompetent. These people are so incompetent. But I don't understand why we are now a year and a half into the administration, and Congress is just starting to be like, four people are like, 'we're going to vote against the War Powers Act. We're just finding our backbone.''"

Dubke reiterated his point, "Filing deadlines are over, the primaries are over."

"Also, gross, ok," said Hays. "You work for the people not the party."

Republican strategist Rina Shah says there are very clear reasons President Donald Trump got dunked by his own party on Wednesday, and he has no one to blame but himself.

House Republicans, for the first time in months, failed to block a Democratic effort to halt the Iran war. The four Republican defectors who joined Democrats in tanking the GOP shutout are the latest sign that members of the president’s own party are willing to buck him on key policies.

The Wednesday loss, the latest in Trump’s recent losing streak, was made possible by swing district Republicans Tom Barrett of Michigan, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and Warren Davidson of Ohio, joined by Tom Massie (R-Ky.), who Trump got tossed from a GOP primary by endorsing his Republican rival.

The 215-208 bipartisan vote is mostly symbolic, considering Trump will likely veto legislation that restricts his authority. However, the message the vote sends to the White House is likely coming in loud and clear.

When Burnett asked Shah if Trump’s coalition is finally falling apart Shah answered “I think so, and it's because the G cubed: gas, groceries, geopolitics.”

“To me, it's the war that's done it completely,” added Shah. “Trump promised no more wars, no more endless wars. And there's an entire swath of the Republican Party that is keeping mum and just saying, ‘we could take it all, the ballroom, even a slush fund, even J6 …. But when you start to talk democracy, you lose people, especially Republican voters. So you have to talk hard costs. The hard costs of this conflict have been tremendous.”

“And what we saw on Monday, the reports out of that call with [Israeli leader] Netanyahu, have been really shocking to members of congress who are Republicans,” said Shah, citing an irate phone conversation with Trump dressing down Netanyahu for aggravating violence in southern Lebanon as Trump desperately seeks an offramp to his Iran war disaster.

“Independent Americans Podcast” host Paul Rieckhoff agreed that the Republican vote shaving Trump’s power on Tuesday is a result of a convergence of U.S. voter anger.

“This is really, really an important crossroads for America in a new phase of what could be a new forever war, because it's bigger than Iran,” said Rieckhoff. “But, but this has been amazing in that it's unified America against Trump. Republicans, Democrats, everybody in between, especially Independents, are deeply opposed to the Iran war. It's unauthorized, it's unwise, and it's deeply unpopular. And I think the politicians are actually behind the country on this. … The problem is that Trump has been all gas and no brakes, and nothing has stopped him until now.”

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Late Wednesday morning, June 3, the Washington Post reported that Elias Irizarry — who was convicted on federal charges for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building — has been given a "post in the Defense Department's Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict office." Irizarry, according to Post reporters Tara Copp and Salvador Rizzo, now says he regrets his actions that day. But Anthony Coley, a former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) official, described the reported hiring of Irizarry as "deeply, deeply troubling" during an appearance on MS NOW.

Coley appeared with Copp and MS NOW's Erielle Reshef, who was filling in for the usual host Chris Jansing. Reshef noted that "January 6 rioter" Irizarry, according to Washington Post sources, will be working in an office that handles "highly classified military operations."

Coley, who served as DOJ director of public affairs under former President Joe Biden and ex-U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, told Reshef and Copp, "This is really deeply, deeply troubling. And it represents, I think, a key difference between what we saw in Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. In Trump 1.0, we had people at the White House, at the Pentagon, who resisted Donald Trump's very worst instincts. Right? The attorney general, (Bill Barr), refused to go along with his Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The defense secretary, (Mark Esper), refused to invoke the Insurrection Act against U.S. citizens who were protesting the brutal murder of George Floyd."

The former DOJ official continued, "And Trump 2.0., what we see from the very top, the highest levels of government on down to the lowest ranks of political appointees in the Pentagon and other places — all of those people in Trump 1.0 have been placed with rank loyalists. And I'm not talking about loyalty, Erielle, in the traditional sense of the word. I'm talking about loyalty in terms of blind obedience."

The reported hiring of a January 6 rioter to a position in the U.S. Department of Defense, Coley warned, underscores a broader problem in the second Trump administration.

Coley told Reshef and Copp, "The Trump administration, (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth and others — they are putting people in place, even in these discreet departments, who will do exactly what Donald Trump wants done despite what the facts are and despite what the law demands. And what we see…. is these decisions are making our country less safe, and they are potentially even endangering our troops. This story right here — very few things surprise me anymore, but this one, this one ranks pretty high."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday to address the 2027 budget demands from his department. However, many of the questions dealt with more than the budget.

At one point, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) addressed President Donald Trump's attitudes toward NATO. She brought up one of his comments from earlier this year, in which Trump claimed NATO had never done anything for the United States. She asked whether Rubio agreed with the sentiment.

Rubio replied, "I think what the president was speaking to at that moment was that in the past NATO has allowed the U.S. to use the bases and airspace for whatever purposes it needed. That is no longer the case." Trump likely wasn't talking about that at the time, as the war with Iran didn't begin for several months later. McBride pointed out that fact.

She repeated the question, asking once more whether Rubio agreed that NATO had never done anything for the U.S.

Rubio tried to dodge the question before McBride said she was reclaiming her time.

McBride rattled off some of the facts about how NATO has stepped up to help the U.S., particularly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Many soldiers from around Europe died as part of the "War on Terror" that lasted 19 years.

But Rubio got coy when McBride asked about Greenland. "I assume you are aware that the ally that lost more [soldiers] per capita is Denmark?

"Denmark?" Rubio asked. "I thought it was — I thought the U.K. had suffered more."

McBride explained, "per capita." The U.K. has about 11 times as many people as Denmark.

"You are aware that Greenland is part of Denmark?" she asked.

"For now," Rubio quipped.

She continued the conversation, asking more about Trump's efforts to seize the island. Rubio said the president believes the U.S. must have "complete control" of the area for military purposes. There's already a shared airbase on Greenland.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calf.) hammered Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he appeared in a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Tuesday over questions about President Donald Trump's fitness for office. Rubio's reactions led Lieu to claim he was lying under oath.

Lieu showed the footage of the December Cabinet meeting in which Trump appeared to doze off next to Rubio.

"Oh my God," Rubio could be heard saying.

Lieu asked whether Rubio had "been at more than one meeting where President Trump was asleep."

"That's false," Rubio said. "That's false. I've never seen him fall asleep. On the contrary, the guy doesn't sleep, which is a big problem because he calls me at two in the morning. He calls me at five in the morning. And, you know, I like to sleep a little bit. You know, not 12 hours, but at least six."

Trump's insomnia was addressed by CNN medical expert Dr. Jonathan Reiner. Reiner said that chronic insomnia can be “a severe illness," in large part because it can add "about 3-1/2 years to one’s age and [contribute] to a decline in mental functions."

"Secretary Rubio, I'm going to show you in a moment that you just lied to Congress," Lieu cut in.

"Oh, ok," Rubio said.

"This is a Cabinet meeting from last month where Donald Trump is sleeping while you are talking. Please show this video," Lieu said. "You are literally talking about issues of war and peace, and Donald Trump is sleeping right next to you."

Rubio denied it again.

Trump's disappearance from public view is raising questions, as he hasn't held any events or press conferences in about a week. Trump did speak to the New York Post on Tuesday in a interview that revealed a new medical malady.

"If Donald Trump cannot stay awake at these important meetings where the cameras are rolling, can you imagine what he is like when the cameras are not there? Have you been at classified meanings were Donald Trump has fallen asleep?" the congressman asked.

Rubio replied again that he'd never been in any meeting in which Trump fell asleep.

"So, you are lying again? Lying consistently to Congress," Lieu responded.

He went on to say that Trump's drowsiness "caused other countries to perceive him differently." He claimed that Trump is mocked as "weak and feeble."

Lieu then showed a clip from the French News in which Trump appears to fall asleep at a Memorial Day ceremony last month. His eyes appeared to be closed for a large portion of the ceremony.

"There's something wrong with his cognitive acts, and the fact that on a number of occasions Donald Trump will contradict himself and literally — in literally the same meeting or interview," Lieu continued. He showed another clip in which Trump "says the Iranian military is both destroyed and not destroyed at the same time."

Lieu closed by praising Rubio, saying that he's done a lot to travel around the world and trying to clean up the "mess that was left to you."

President Donald Trump, who had not been seen in public for a week, appeared on a podcast with a new malady: an apparently swollen right eye — along with a recurring swollen hand.

“Trump’s right eye clearly showed puffiness and looked oddly misshapen compared to his left eye, while his right hand looked much bigger than his left,” The New Republic reported, noting the president “continues to dodge questions about his health.”

The interview with Pod Force One was taped on Tuesday, a week after Trump’s third medical checkup in 13 months, and the fourth of his second term. He told Miranda Devine, “I do physicals, because I just want, I think I have an obligation to do it, but I just came out with very, very good results, and I took a test, a cognitive test, and I got 100 percent on it. I got, as the expression goes, I aced it.”

He went on to say he has a “great memory.”

Trump, who’s quickly approaching his 80th birthday, is facing heightened scrutiny over the state of his health. The White House took several days to release doctor’s notes from his physical last week, adding to questions about his overall health.

The New Republic noted that “it’s very difficult to dispute what people can see with their own eyes, and the president’s outward physical appearance coupled with his tendency to fall asleep on camera don’t inspire confidence in his health.”

On Sunday, Axios reported that the White House physician’s health readout left “key blanks unfilled.”

The “memo from White House physician Sean Barbabella didn’t put to rest persistent questions about apparent bruising on Trump’s hands, swollen ankles and his alertness during some public events.” It “again attributed the bruising of his hands to frequent handshaking and aspirin therapy and noted ‘slight lower leg swelling’ it characterized as improved from last year.”

Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Axios, “I think it’s quite unusual for someone … who doesn’t have chronic problems that require more frequent monitoring to come in more often than every year.”

Former Republican speechwriter Tim Miller told MS NOW that there is a reason President Donald Trump keeps delegating so many jobs to so few lackeys. He says it’s all comes down to math.

Trump recently appointed Bill Pulte to oversee the entire national security apparatus of the United States. He will serve in the job while also remaining in his current job as Federal Housing Finance Agency Director. This will add to Pulte's other job as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

But Miller said there’s a reason Trump keeps nominating lackeys and yes-men to multiple positions.

“I think there is something interesting about the fact that he's going to have three jobs and … their ability to investigate enemies and go after enemies is limitless,” said Miller — adding, however, that his work “might be limited by having the horses to do so.”

“And, like, the fact that they can't find enough stooges to do all these jobs is the tiniest silver lining here, said Miller. “I expect that we'll start to hear more leaks out of DNI, and that there's some remaining people that are legitimate public service folks that's still work there. And so, you know, I'm a slightly skeptical about his ability to execute on all of this.”

But on the other side of that coin, warned Miller, the fact that Trump is spreading his stooges so thin means there is nobody competent working any particular problem at any particular time.

“Part of the reason that he can do the three jobs is that, again, like he's not gonna do the job of director of national intelligence — like he is only put in there to do the muckraking, to go after the political foes. Like that's why he's there. And I think that there's some areas of about that in particular that are pretty concerning.”

Do not expect, for example, National intelligence to astutely uncover plots to attack the U.S. homeland with any kind of deft. Miller says instead Pulte will be digging up research to sic DOJ prosecutors on Trump’s enemies, as he likely did with the DOJ’s failed investigation of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Federal Reserve board of governors member Lisa Cook on shaky mortgage charges.

“I might not be an intelligence expert … but I'm a little bit of a MAGA-ologist. And I just think back to the 2020 election fraud stuff and think about all the fake allegations of foreign interference. There were Italian satellites, the claims of Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelans had gotten inside the Dominion voting machines. There were all the Chinese bamboo ballots in Arizona. They had all these accusations that there was foreign interference on behalf of the democrats that were all false. This falls in [Pulte’s] remit no,” said Miller. “Now, you have Kash Patel and Pulte, who can either chase down these fake investigations, fabricate them, and do what they did on the mortgage documents, come up with small pieces of evidence that Democrats or election officials were communicating with overseas people in ways that might have been totally appropriate. I think that is like the real plan.”

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Graham Platner has survived a string of scandals in his run for Maine’s Democratic U.S. Senate nomination. But his latest one “looks different,” says CNN analyst Harry Enten.

Platner seemed to have survived his controversial tattoo scandal, his “angry and offensive” Reddit comments scandal, and the scandal surrounding him “amplifying a post by a notorious anti-semite on social media and appearing on a podcast with a different antisemitic conspiracy theorist,” as TIME reported last month.

Platner’s latest scandal involved his alleged sexually explicit texts to women who were not his wife, texts his wife reportedly told his campaign about last year.

Campaign aides “ultimately decided the texts were a private matter that was being handled by the couple in marriage counseling, a campaign official said,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

But now, Enten says, Google searches for “Graham Platner” and “Maine” have been up “significantly” over the past few days.

“We’re talking about up 275 percent over the last three days versus the three-month average, and more than that, more people searched for him on Sunday in Maine than at any point that I could find, even given the past revelations, about the tattoos, as well,” says Enten. “So it seems to me that this time may, in fact, be different where Mainers’ focus on Graham Platner is higher.”

Enten found that “one of our first glimpses into how this might affect Platner’s electoral fortunes is from the prediction market, so you can see that’s right here in the Kalshi prediction market, chance to win the Maine Senate race.”

“About 10 days ago, Democrats had a 70 percent chance — that’s essentially Platner — had a 70 percent chance of winning the general election. Now, that number has fallen. It’s fallen rather significantly.”

Platner has dropped from 70 percent to 59 percent against incumbent GOP Senator Susan Collins. Enten says that is now “well within the margin of error.”

“I dare say too close to call, although Platner is still favored, but his chances have gone down significantly and Collins’ have gone up significantly.”

Polls have consistently underestimated Collins, Enten noted.

Meanwhile, Puck News reports that Democrats are “fretting that their best chance in decades to unseat” Collins is being “jeopardized” by the latest Platner scandal.

Puck notes that “multiple Democrats have described a sense of resignation” that Platner “is the only candidate they’ve got.”

But Maine’s Democratic incumbent Governor Janet Mills, “who suspended her state’s Senate primary, has reminded voters her name is still on the ballot.”

President Donald Trump named Bill Pulte to oversee the entire national security apparatus of the United States. He will serve in the job while also remaining in his current job as Federal Housing Finance Agency Director. This adds to Pulte's other job, chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Pulte has a history of using his government position to aid Trump's retribution campaign, targeting Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Lisa Cook and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Cook was never charged by the Justice Department and James' charges were dismissed.

You know, to call this appointment an unorthodox one, I think, would be an understatement," said senior CNN reporter Kevin Liptak. "You know, he's the heir to a construction company, fortune. He's been in this mortgage role for the last year or so. What he is, is a real, true Trump loyalist. You know, he's a frequent guest on Air Force One and at Mar-a-Lago. And what you've seen him doing is leveraging this role that he's in at the mortgage agency to try and go after some of Trump's perceived enemies..."

While the Cook efforts have failed, Liptak said that it has likely "engendered an enormous amount of goodwill towards him by the president."

He noted the seriousness of the Director of National Intelligence post, overseeing 17 intelligence agencies. The post was created after Sept. 11, 2001, when a report found there was intelligence ahead of time that an attack was imminent, but that bureaucratic silos prevented the various intelligence agencies from connecting all of the dots.

Liptak said that Trump has relied more on the CIA for international intelligence than he did on Gabbard.

"He looked to her to, sort of, go after some of his obsessions, whether it's to try and advance claims of voting fraud, whether it was to try and downplay allegations of Russian election meddling," said Liptak. "This, I think, suggests that the president will put in this position someone who has gone after this retribution campaign, who has advanced some ideas of vindication against some of his enemies. [Trump] doesn't say whether he will be appointing him to the permanent job, but because Bill Pulte was already approved by the Senate for his current job, he will be able to stay in this position for quite some time."

CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked whether the White House had yet to explain what qualifies Pulte to run the nation's intelligence apparatus.

"The only qualifications that the White House has specified is what President Trump is pointing out on his Truth Social, which is what he calls experience 'managing the most sensitive matters in America,'" Liptak said.

"I do think you can read into what Pulte has used his job to do as how President Trump views the DNI position," Liptak continued. "He has used his access to the mortgage information in his current position to go after Trump's perceived enemies. And I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that he would use his access as the intelligence director to also potentially advance the retribution campaign. That has been the most prominent way we have seen Bill Pulte act in the job that he is currently in."

Trump, he explained, has put a "premium on trying to go after his enemies, but also has been frustrated that [it's] not been particularly effective or particularly quick so far in his term."

It's one of the reasons Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Pulte, wrote Will Neal for the Daily Beast in November, "has reportedly made such a song and dance of pandering to the president that it’s starting to drive other aides insane."