Trump Fumbles ‘Congratulations’ To Education Pick In Massive Announcement Goof-Up

Posted on 19/01/2025 by Boris Clair

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday used his Truth Social platform to reveal that he wants “Peggy Schwinn” to serve as the deputy secretary of education in his new administration.

But his announcement didn’t get a passing grade, as he misstated the name of his own pick, former Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn.

Trump, who praised Schwinn’s “strong record of delivering results for children and families” and pointed to her résumé, repeatedly referred to his pick as “Peggy” in the post.

“A former teacher herself, Peggy became the founding principal of a charter school, because she believes in the power of School Choice, and is committed to delivering the American Dream to the next Generation by returning Education BACK TO THE STATES,” Trump wrote.

“Congratulations to Peggy and her wonderful family!”

The post with the “Peggy” error remained on Truth Social as of early Saturday morning.

Trump has a history of fumbling or outright forgetting names, once misspelling his own name on social media.

Last year, after questioning President Joe Biden’s mental acuity and urging him to take a cognitive test, Trump referred to Representative Ronny Jackson — a White House physician for part of his own first term in the Oval Office — as “Ronny Johnson.”

Trump, while on the 2024 campaign trail, memorably mixed up the names of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before suggesting that he “purposely” meant to “interpose” their names. (Critics noted that he didn’t accurately use the word “interpose” at the time).

Trump has also called officials by the wrong name as they sat next to him, referred to his future vice presidential running mate JD Vance as “JP” and “JD Mandel,” called former President Jimmy Carter “Jimmy Connors” and used the name “Rick Gates” while talking about then-Representative Matt Gaetz.

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Verbal Spin On Donald Trump Leaves Critics Dizzy

Posted on 16/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Conspiracy theory-peddling Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (Republican, Georgia) on Wednesday raised eyebrows with her attempted spin on Donald Trump’s reported walking back of one of his campaign vows.

The president-elect had promised to immediately “fix” and settle the Russia-Ukraine war (which Russia began with its invasion in February 2022) on his return to the White House.

“I would fix that within 24 hours, and if I win, before I get into the office, I will have that war settled,” Trump at one point even boasted to Fox News’ Sean Hannity.

But, this week, days before Trump’s return to the Oval Office, his advisers admitted it would take months to stop the fighting because the situation was more complex than Trump had talked about on the trail.

Greene defended the walk-back by claiming Trump hadn’t actually promised what he had actually promised.

“I think you need to understand language,” Greene told the non-profit news organisation NOTUS. “And everyone else in America understands that language.”

“I don’t think the media pressing Day One is specifically ‘Day One,’” Greene continued. “But he’s talking about that as one of his first roles as president, and there are many. He’s going to be writing hundreds of executive orders but, yes, ending that war is important.”

Trump will “be the one that ends that war,” she added.

‘Very Unsatisfied’: Michael Cohen Reacts To Trump Sentencing In Hush Money Trial

Posted on 12/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Michael Cohen, an ex-personal attorney and former fixer for Donald Trump who pled guilty and served time in prison for charges tied to a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, said he feels “very unsatisfied” after the president-elect was sentenced without penalty in a historic New York trial.

Cohen told MSNBC’s The Weekend on Saturday that there should’ve been “accountability” or the case should’ve been dismissed.

“I believe that if there’s no accountability, there’s no deterrence. And if there’s no deterrence, no accountability, what’s the point to have the case anyway? So that we can all just turn around and refer to him now as the felon president?” said Cohen.

Friday’s sentencing arrived after a jury convicted Trump last year of 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection to the payment made in the final days of his 2016 campaign.

The president-elect would took to his Truth Social platform Friday to vow that he’ll “appeal this Hoax” after he was sentenced to an unconditional discharge, or effectively no punishment.

Cohen declared on MSNBC that “nobody in this country” — whether they’re a Republican, Democrat or independent — should take “solace” in the fact that Trump is a convicted felon when he takes office in just over a week.

Cohen, who was disbarred from practicing law in New York State and has been a fierce Trump critic since being sentenced in 2018, said he’s “never heard” of an unconditional discharge in his “entire life” before adding that he couldn’t find a single case with such a sentence when he searched for one on ChatGPT.

He declared that Trump should’ve been sentenced to a “conditional discharge” and suggested that the president-elect be asked to work in a soup kitchen or to pick up garbage on the side of the West Side Highway in New York City.

“I did six years, three years of incarceration and three years of supervised release without a single second, not a second, not a minute, not an hour off of my sentence and he doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist. So I feel unsatisfied,” Cohen said.

Cohen later declared that Trump, who has complained about being the victim of a two-tiered justice system, has “taught us all” that there are people above the law.

“When you hear, ‘We’re a country of laws without justice’ — yeah, that’s an accurate statement. And worse than that is that the law is not applied equally to all citizens,” he said.

“There are three sets of laws — there’s for you and for me and for the average Joe and Jane, there’s for those that are powerful whether it’s politically powerful or financially super powerful and then, of course, there’s Donald Trump. He stands unique and alone.”

He went on to acknowledge that Trump’s election win was the one way he could’ve avoided incarceration, probation or responsibility despite “everything that was thrown against him.”

“All of this somehow managed to become inconsequential to a plurality of Americans who voted for him based upon three words: gasoline and groceries. That’s an amazing trick,” Cohen said.

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Here’s Why Michelle Obama, Who Would Have Sat By Trump, Skipped Carter’s Funeral

Posted on 12/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Michelle Obama did not attend former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral on Thursday due to a scheduling conflict, aides to the former first lady told CNN.

She was in Hawaii at the time on an extended holiday vacation, her advisers told CNN’s Jeff Zeleny.

“Mrs Obama sends her thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former President,” Crystal Carson, a spokesperson for Michelle Obama, said in a statement to Politico.

Her husband, Barack Obama, did attend the event, and sat beside President-elect Donald Trump. Michelle Obama apparently would have been seated there had she attended. All five living presidents were at the ceremony; Michelle Obama was the only spouse who did not attend.

Trump and the Obamas do not have a friendly history. Trump routinely attacks his predecessor and for years pushed a racist conspiracy theory that he was not born in the US.

The Obamas campaigned fiercely against Trump in the past two elections. Barack Obama warned in August that another Trump term would mean “four more years of bluster and bumbling and chaos.” His wife, in her own speech at the Democratic National Convention, said Trump has done “everything in his power to try and make people fear us.”

“His limited narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by two hardworking, successful people who happened to be Black,” she said.

On the campaign trail, Trump called her “nasty” and asked if he was “allowed to hit her” back, a turn of phrase that many interpreted as a threat.

Trump and Barack Obama were seen chatting, smiling and laughing together at the funeral in an exchange that went viral. Trump later addressed the moment, saying, “It did look very friendly, I must say. I didn’t realise how friendly it looked.”

“We met backstage, as you know, before we went on. And I thought it was a beautiful service. But we all got along very well, which is good,” he added.

Donald Trump Addresses That Viral Video With Chuckling Barack Obama

Posted on 10/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Asked at a presser on Thursday about the details of the exchange, the president-elect replied:

“It did look very friendly, I must say. I didn’t realise how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network just a little while ago before I came in and I said, ‘Boy, they look like two people who like each other.’”

“And we probably do,” Trump continued. “We have a little different philosophies, right? But we probably do. I don’t know. We just got along. But I got along with just about everybody. We met backstage, as you know, before we went on. And I thought it was a beautiful service. But we all got along very well, which is good.”

Obama himself has not commented on the interaction.

But the 44th president drew some criticism for what some said looked like his friendly demeanour to the man who for years pushed the racist Birther conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the United States. Others suggested he was only humoring Trump.

Trump repeatedly drew Obama’s ire during the 2024 election, with Obama at one point slamming his successor in the White House as a “billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago.”

‘Fatal Mistake’: Democrats Blame Justice Department As Trump Escapes Accountability For Jan. 6

Posted on 05/01/2025 by Boris Clair

After a mob of his supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, it looked like Donald Trump’s political career was over.

Democrats and Republicans alike blamed Trump for inciting the attack, and he only escaped conviction at his Senate impeachment trial — which would have barred him from the presidency forever — because Republican senators insisted it was too late to convict a president who had already left office.

Besides, then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argued at the time, Trump would face another kind of reckoning.

“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being held accountable by either one,” McConnell said.

That never happened, and many Democrats are ready to place the blame on one man: Attorney General Merrick Garland. They argue he waited too long to appoint a special prosecutor, which allowed Trump and his legal team to stall the case long enough for Trump to win the presidency a second time. Garland made the appointment in November 2022, saying he’d done so partly because Trump had just formalised his bid for the presidency.

The announcement also followed a series of high-profile public hearings by a bipartisan House committee airing the evidence against the former president.

“Garland only started the prosecution after he was in effect forced to by the report of the January 6 committee and the criminal referral,” former House Judiciary Committee chair Jerrold Nadler told HuffPost. “The evidence the January 6 committee used was available from the beginning.”

“Had they proceeded with those prosecutions, I think he would have been convicted and we’d have a different president now,” Nadler said. “Merrick Garland wasted a year.”

Nadler is not alone in thinking so. The Washington Post reported last month that President Joe Biden has expressed regret about picking Garland, believing the nation’s top law enforcement officer took too long to pursue Trump after January 6.

Representatives Bennie Thompson and Zoe Lofgren, members of the January 6 committee, also told HuffPost they thought Garland waited too long.

“I didn’t realise that they were not looking at the whole picture,” Lofgren said. “I think they were taking a look at the foot soldiers.”

While the Justice Department indicted Trump for the mob attack on the Capitol and other crimes related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, it did not do so until August 2023, long after the Republican Party had purged most members who spoke out against Trump.

A Supreme Court decision relating to presidential immunity created further delays, and ultimately, Trump won the 2024 election before the case could finish up and he could stand trial. Since longstanding Justice Department policy bars prosecuting a sitting president, the Department of Justice dropped the case after Trump’s November victory, allowing him to escape responsibility and walk back into the White House.

Garland reportedly told prosecutors early on in 2021 that they could pursue cases against people involved in the January 6 riot wherever the evidence led, even if it implicated the former president. But it turned out investigators couldn’t pinpoint financial ties between Trump and key players on the ground.

Prosecutors apparently did not initially consider building a case out of Trump’s public election-fraud lies, or his well-publicised efforts to coerce various officials into undoing the 2020 election, including his demand during a phone call that Georgia’s secretary of state fraudulently “find” him 11,000 votes. Details of the call became public within a day. That material became a key component of special counsel Jack Smith’s eventual case.

Still, it was likely inevitable that if the Justice Department prosecuted a former president, the Supreme Court could get involved to settle questions of presidential immunity that Trump would raise in court. It’s possible that even if the Justice Department had acted swiftly, appeals to the Supreme Court could have bogged the case for years.

The Justice Department declined to comment for this story.

Trump is now expected to continue his efforts to rewrite history by following through on pardons for those who participated in the attack ― whom he has hailed as “heroes” and “patriots” ― after his swearing-in on Jan. 20 at the East Front of the Capitol, the very scene of the crime.

Democrat Senator Adam Schiff, who served on the House select committee that investigated the attack, said the Justice Department “moved with expedition when it came to the people who broke into the building, but were those at a higher level, they waited almost a year on.”

“That was a fatal mistake,” he added.

Federal prosecutors have secured more than 1,000 convictions so far relating to the Jan. 6 attack, and more than 600 rioters have been sentenced to prison, with terms ranging from a few days behind bars to 22 years in federal prison for the head of the Proud Boys.

Still, when it comes to the person who spread dangerous lies about the 2020 presidential election, and who urged hundreds of his supporters to march on the Capitol in protest of Biden’s electoral certification, the same cannot be said.

“I think the department was so focused on being kind of by the book, and being so clear that there wasn’t any political interference,” said Democrat Senator Tina Smith. “I really worry that, you know, he’ll become president, and he’s going to pardon a bunch of people and [a] great sort of whitewashing of what happened will continue.”

Other Democrats were more charitable toward the Justice Department, noting that ― unfairly or not ― Trump was reelected with a popular-vote win over Vice President Kamala Harris even in spite of his role in the Jan. 6 attack and his efforts to fraudulently overturn an election.

“This isn’t about the DOJ. This is about Trump being successful in rewriting history,” Senator Peter Welch said. “He’s validated the folks who attacked the Capitol, and I don’t think a month earlier, a month later, six months earlier, that would have made a difference.”

“The reality is the American people reelected him after that. Who would have thought that?” Welch added. “Trump insisted that this was a peaceful demonstration, continued to insist that the election was stolen, he hasn’t backed down from that at all ― and he got reelected.”

Trump’s reelection, however, largely happened despite the American public’s disapproval of his behavior on January 6. Roughly two-thirds of the people who voted in the 2024 election believed Trump had “a lot” or “some” responsibility for violence on January 6, according to exit polls. The problem for Trump’s opponent is that 70% of those who believed he had some responsibility for the violence voted for him anyway.

Similarly, two-thirds of American adults oppose Trump’s plans to pardon people convicted of crimes related to the insurrection, according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland survey last month.

Though the criminal cases against Trump are all but dead, he could be on the hook for damages as a result of a handful of civil lawsuits brought against him relating to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including by law enforcement officers, congressional Democrats and the estate of a police officer who died. Unlike federal suits, civil litigation can proceed against a sitting president.

Moreover, outgoing Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who voted to convict Trump over the January 6 attack, said he believes history will judge Trump’s wrongdoing harshly.

“I think the people who write history are serious people, and they will recognize, as the world does, that it was a terrible assault on the world’s model democracy,” Romney said. “It will be seen as such, and the effort to try and pretend it was something else will fly in the face of reality.”

Will Trump’s Ukraine Peace Deal Effectively Be A Form Of Putin Appeasement?

Posted on 02/01/2025 by Boris Clair

His 2024 election campaign was no exception, only this time, he was promising to stop wars, too.

Trump claims to be such a good mediator that he is not even afraid to do deals with ruthless dictators – like Vladimir Putin.

While the rest of Ukraine’s allies have refused to consider organising a truce with the Kremlin until Kyiv initiates it, Trump has already pledged to end the three-year war within his day.

But, with his inauguration less than a month away, just how likely is it that Trump will be able to secure a deal?

And will actually stop the war – or just appease Putin, temporarily?

Will Trump actually be able to set up some kind of Ukraine-Russia peace deal?

That depends on your definition of a deal.

According to senior consulting fellow of Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme, Keir Giles, Trump will probably be able to force Moscow and Kyiv to agree to something which he can portray as a deal.

However, Giles told HuffPost UK: “Is it going to be something that is durable, sustainable and actually ensures fighting comes to an end on a more or less permanent basis? Almost certainly not.”

Giles said it all comes down to the US president-elect and the Russian president finding a “mutual point of interest that sells”.

For Trump, that most likely means living up to his own promises of ending the war – at least, for now – while, for Putin, it means weakening Ukraine and taking as much of its land as he can.

Giles also warned: “Putin has given every indication during Trump’s first presidency that he knew precisely how to play him in order to get the maximum possible benefit function.”

There is a chance the Russian president may be able to get his way in exchange just for appearing to stop the war – while possibly still hoping to take more of eastern Europe.

It is worth remembering that Trump and Putin appeared to strike up quite the friendship during the Republican’s first term in office, and the president-elect even praised Putin’s invasion in 2022, calling it “genius” and “savvy”.

Putin has also said he was “ready” to talk to Trump – but a deal depends on more than just those two.

There is, of course, a third albeit less powerful player in these negotiations, Ukraine, who previously refused to negotiate with Putin unless all Russian troops were withdrawn from Ukrainian land.

“There’s a mutual interest between Trump and Putin to do something but of course the wild card is Ukraine, which would prefer to survive,” Giles said, adding: “The likelihood of Ukraine agreeing to something that blights its future permanently is pretty slim.”

President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin

Why would Putin agree to a pause in the fighting?

Putin has made it clear that his main objective is to seize the whole of Ukraine.

But almost three years later, his army is drained of both resources and personnel – and he is having to rely on troops from North Korea.

So Putin may be more inclined to press pause on the conflict, so he can keep his troops in the occupied parts of Ukraine.

Giles also noted there would be some diplomatic benefit to freezing the war, saying: “To some extent Putin will want to make Trump look good if they’re looking for future cooperation.”

Meanwhile, Steve Forbes, of Forbes Media, claimed Putin would be rooting for the kind of deal Hitler got from Neville Chamberlain in Munich 1938 – in exchange for a chunk of Czechoslovakia – which only lasted a few months before World War 2 began.

As Forbes claimed: “Like Hitler, Putin won’t be appeased, that’s why he must be thwarted.”

Giles also seemed questioned the idea of just trying to placate the Russian president because of the impact it would have on the rest of Europe.

He said: “The problem is it also buys time for Putin to rebuild its forces without Ukraine destroying them almost as fast as they can be rebuilt.

“And precedent suggests the danger is that as soon as a ceasefire is declared, whether or not is a real and durable one, that will give western Europe the opportunity to pretend the problem has gone away and to ease off its own paltry efforts to actually rebuild its defence.”

Former adviser to the Ukrainian government, Yuliya Kazdobina claimed Putin does not have any interest at all in ending his invasion long-term.

Writing for the Atlantic Council earlier this month, she said: “Putin appears to be as committed as ever to his goal of extinguishing Ukrainian statehood entirely.”

She said: “As Donald Trump attempts to implement his campaign promise and end the war in Ukraine, he is likely to discover that his famed deal-making skills are no match for Putin’s single-minded obsession with the destruction of Ukraine.

“In words and deeds, Putin has repeatedly demonstrated his commitment to wiping Ukraine off the map.

“In such circumstances, any talk of a compromise settlement is dangerously delusional.

“Until Putin is forced to recognise Ukraine’s right to exist, any peace deals will be temporary and the threat of further Russian aggression will remain.”

Similarly, a Western military source told HuffPost UK: “If negotiation means capitulation on his terms, I think he’s ready to do that. But he is not ready for a genuine negotiation about Ukraine’s future sovereignty.”

Soldiers of Ukraine's 1st Separate Mechanised Battalion — Soldiers of Ukraine’s 1st Separate Mechanised Battalion

Is a Trump peace deal the best option for Ukraine?

The best outcome for Ukraine would be if Trump were to reject any request from Putin, throw his weight fully behind Ukraine and lift any restrictions on US weaponry to Kyiv – but that’s pretty unlikely to happen considering the recent promises from his incoming administration.

The details of the president-elect’s potential agreement are still unclear, but it’s believed he wants to take Ukraine’s potential Nato membership off the table and propose Zelenskyy concedes some land to Moscow – even though that was a red line for Kyiv in the past.

According to Forbes, Trump can still get a “great deal” for Kyiv without asking all the Russian forces in Crimea and the eastern part of the country.

He said: “Indeed a settlement will realistically involve the Kremlin getting formal control of a few pieces of territory in the east, where it can claim the population is predominantly Russian.

“But either way the people there should have the right to emigrate elsewhere.”

He claimed that Ukrainians might have to pull out of Kursk, the Russian region which Kyiv seized in August.

“But the final deal must unmistakably leave Ukraine an independent nation with strong security arrangements,” he said.

He also suggested Ukraine could avoid Nato membership – one of Putin’s red lines – by having permanent military bases in the country, funded by frozen Russian assets.

However, others believe Ukraine should not be forced into any kind of negotiation.

The EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told the FT: “There’s no point pushing Zelenskyy to talk when Putin doesn’t want to talk.

“We can’t talk about peacekeepers when there’s no peace. And why is there no peace? Because Russia does not want peace.”

Labour MP David Taylor told HuffPost UK: “Talks of any form of deal are for the Ukrainian people and their president.

“They are the ones who have been engaged in a bloody war, fighting tooth and nail for freedom against Russian tyranny.”

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks addresses a media conference during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks addresses a media conference during an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024.

What happens if Ukraine rejects any peace deal?

In the unlikely scenario that Ukraine rejects any deal with Russia, Giles suggested the White House might utilise the authority it has over Kyiv as the country’s most powerful ally.

He said: “Trump can use leverage against Kyiv far more effectively than he can on Putin for example, by freezing aide to Ukraine.”

Without the US, Kyiv would be less restrained in terms of how it fights Moscow.

For instance, Washington famously dragged its feet when it came to authorising Kyiv’s use of its long-range missiles against Russia, and only gave its permission in November after months of pleading from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

But Giles said: “Ukraine will be able to continue fighting with or without support [from the US].

“Let’s not forget that in the run up to the full scale invasion when all the predictions that were coming from the US in particular – not from the UK – was that Ukraine would be overrun swiftly, all of the planning and support for Ukraine was for after it was overrun.

“The last time that happened, 1944-45, resistance actually continued for more than a decade afterwards.”

Yet, Giles was wary that Ukraine can only succeed if it still has the backing from its other allies.

He added: “If Europe is unable to or unwilling to step up to fill the gap [from the US], then the prospects for Ukraine are dire.”

However, Kyiv may well choose to discard its own red lines rather than lose the US as an ally.

Zelenskyy has been presenting Trump with his “victory plan” for months, and appears to softening his language around negotiations.

While making it clear he does not want any other country to negotiate with Putin without Ukraine’s backing, he pointed out that Kyiv is not exactly in a strong position right now.

“Are we in NATO? We don’t know. Will we be part of the EU? Yes, in the future, but when?” he said.

“Under these circumstances, sitting down at the negotiating table with Putin means giving him the right to dictate terms in our part of the world.

“First, we need to develop a model, an action plan, or a peace plan – call it what you will. Then we can present it to Putin or, more broadly, to the Russians.”

He said in December that his troops can only count on “diplomatic pressures” to oust Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories, as his troops “do not have the strength” to remove them by force.

As Giles explained: “Ukraine might at some point reach the calculus that it is better to freeze the conflict for the sake of national survival.

“But that certainly won’t be an end of the long-term war.”

Former President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 — Former President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, Friday, Sept. 27, 2024

Trump Responds To Claim Biden Would’ve Beat Him If He Stayed In The Race

Posted on 02/01/2025 by Boris Clair

President Joe Biden reportedly believes he would’ve defeated Donald Trump if he didn’t drop out of the race after a disastrous debate performance over the summer.

Trump, naturally, disagrees.

“Well, he was way behind, he would’ve really, I assume, not had a chance,” the president-elect told reporters at a Mar-a-Lago New Year’s Eve party when asked about the report.

“I wish him well,” Trump added. “He had a chance to do it in the debate, and that didn’t work out too well for him. That was, I guess, the reason that really led to his downfall.”

Biden’s approval ratings sagged through much of his presidency and he was behind Trump in a number of polls when the two met for what would turn out to be a fateful debate in June.

Biden did so poorly there were calls for him to abandon his reelection campaign.

The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Biden and some of his aides believe he would have won had he stayed in the race but admits he “screwed up” in the debate.

NYT Report Describes Elon Musk As Trump’s ‘Tenant,’ And Critics Have Thoughts

Posted on 01/01/2025 by Boris Clair

Elon Musk has been staying in an expensive cottage at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, giving him “easy access” to the president-elect, The New York Times reported on Monday.

“Elon Musk plays many roles with President-elect Donald J. Trump. He is Mr. Trump’s most important donor, most influential social media promoter and a key adviser on policy and personnel,” the Times began its report.

“For most of the time since Election Day, he has also been Mr. Trump’s tenant,” it added.

The cottage, named Banyan, has reportedly rented for at least $2,000 a night in the past, though it’s not clear what Musk’s arrangement is, or whether Trump will charge him at all. It’s a few hundred feet from the main house at the Florida estate, a source told the Times.

Around the club, Musk has become known to make requests such as meals outside normal kitchen hours, the Times reported. He stayed there until Christmas and is apparently expected to return within days.

The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO — who spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump — has been prominently involved with Trump’s transition, involving himself in conversations with foreign leaders, dropping in on meetings, weighing in on staffing decisions, and exerting his influence to the extent that he’s been called Trump’s “shadow president.”

Those accusations are reportedly getting on Trump’s nerves.

Musk’s apparent accommodation arrangement alarmed critics, many of whom cast it as yet another way for Musk to buy influence.

“So basically Trump is annoyed by this Musk-as-co-president thing but he’s putting up with it because he needs the rent money,” Philadelphia Inquirer opinion columnist Will Bunch wrote on Bluesky. “Perfectly normal way to launch your next presidency.”

See a snapshot of the reactions below.

Megadonor To Democrats Has Surprise 2-Word Description Of Donald Trump

Posted on 31/12/2024 by Boris Clair

The president-elect is a “fucking genius,” John Morgan told Politico for an article published on Sunday that explored the potential toxicity of the Democratic brand.

“I don’t know if Trump is a stable genius, but he’s a fucking genius,” Morgan said. “He tapped into something the Republicans never saw, which was anger and populism on that side.”

Florida-based fundraiser Morgan has previously donated to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, state Democrats and to push other causes championed by the party.

But he actually quit the Democratic Party and become an independent voter in 2017, citing at the time a “lack of enthusiasm for any of today’s politicians” although saying he’d still support candidates he “likes personally.”

Morgan, who is once again considering a run for Florida governor, teased to Politico launching a new “Capitalist Party” for which he would campaign as a “compassionate capitalist.”

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