Greg Pliska

Music (IMAX, CBS Evening News, B'way, Hem), Puzzles (@oflarks, aka Daedalus). THE PUZZLER PODCAST, your daily puzzle fix.

[Rep. Melanie Stansbury @Rep_Stansbury]

THIS ⬇️ is why we have a free press. To all our journalists out there—and especially our women journalists (we see you!)—don’t stop asking the hard questions! 💅

[Mehdi Hasan @mehdirhasan]

As I said to @patrickbetdavid, and I as I have said to everyone who asks me if I’d like to one day interview Trump and what I’d ask him if he ever (lol) agreed, it would last like two mins tops.

The guy is a snowflake. He’d walk out, I always say. And here he is walking out:

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

Welker: "You insisted no new wars."

Trump: "First of all, I didn't guarantee no war."

Welker: "You said it over and over again."

[Ali Velshi @AliVelshi]

Hey friends. Signed off of @VelshiMSNBC today but I’m not going far. I’m taking the helm of @11thHour Mon through Friday starting June 15. Please join me there.

[WSJ Tech @WSJTech]

Anthropic Urges Global Pause in AI Development, Flags ‘Self-Improvement’ Risk https://t.co/NRvGFK7zQC

[Acyn @Acyn]

Hayes: If Republicans hold the senate, it seems essentially assured that both men will announce their retirement. Donald Trump will replace them with ideological zealots and Susan Collins will hem and haw about how concerned she is, and then she will vote to confirm them anyway, as she did with Brett Kavanaugh.

[Glenn Thrush @GlennThrush]

This is really, actually, no-kidding the disclaimer Hannity ran after his interview with Todd Blanche

[Kaitlan Collins @kaitlancollins]

"I'm not committing to doing anything in writing," Acting AG Todd Blanche says when asked about formally rescinding the $1.8 billion fund.

[Citizens for Ethics @CREWcrew]

Stephen Miller blatantly violated the Hatch Act in a recent Fox News appearance where he made partisan, bigoted comments against Senate candidate James Talarico.

So we filed a complaint. https://t.co/42VzFMSKFF

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

BREAKING: Financial disclosures show Trump bought stock in UFC’s parent company, TKO Group, before announcing a UFC event on the White House South Lawn, giving massive publicity to a company in which he has a financial stake.

Under any other president, this would be a major scandal.

Source: HuffPost

[David French @DavidAFrench]

Can we be done with the pretense that Republican primary voters vote for MAGA candidates in spite of their apostasy and corruption? The transgression is a feature, not a bug. It tells voters they don't care about law or morality. Only power.

[Sam Stein @samstein]

ICE pepper sprayed a US Senator today (@AndyKimNJ)

https://t.co/6K1Ov14HVU

[Richard Hanania @RichardHanania]

This is amazing.

The New York Times put together a graphic of how much time cabinet members spend kissing up to Trump in meetings.

"On average, at least one of every six sentences either flattered Mr. Trump, gave him credit or criticized his political opponents."

North Korea.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

Trump is now reportedly responsible for roughly 27.7% of the entire U.S. national debt accumulated under all presidents combined.

That is an astonishing figure historically.

The national debt just crossed $39 trillion.

President Trump has added roughly $12–13 trillion to the debt across his two terms in office.

That’s approximately 30% of ALL U.S. national debt accumulated since 1789.

In 2016, Trump said he would pay down the national debt “over a period of eight years.”

Instead:

- First term: +$7.8 trillion
- Second term: roughly +$4–5 trillion already

And yes, COVID affected first-term spending.

It does not explain adding another trillion dollars every five months without a pandemic.

A political movement built on:
“fiscal conservatism”
“small government”
“balanced budgets”

has now overseen the largest debt expansion tied to any single presidency in American history.

[John Harwood @JohnJHarwood]

Biden was not president
when Trump's tax returns were leaked

Trump was

the lying by Republicans like Mike Lawler is utterly shameless

[Steve Gelbs @SteveGelbs]

Walk off grand slam. Swept by the Marlins in Miami. A grand total of two runs scored in the three games for the Mets. In a season of a lot of lows, this is right there with the toughest pills to swallow so far.

[Mary Peltola @MaryPeltola]

Deliver, or go home.

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

🚨 TRUMP SURRENDER?!

Trump just claimed the Strait of Hormuz “will be opened” under a new deal with Iran. But Iran’s state-run Fars News says Tehran would still control passage routes, permits, timing, and access through the strait.

And now even figures close to Trump are sounding the alarm, warning that if these reports are true, the “deal” amounts to total capitulation and surrender — handing Iran sanctions relief and long-term leverage over one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes after months of war.

[Jemele Hill @jemelehill]

Let’s not do that thing where we’re trying to pretend this isn’t what it looks like. Abdul Carter is a Black man and a Muslim and given the things that Trump has said about/done when it comes to both groups, it’s fair (and also not surprising) that he has a problem with it.

[Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @ReichlinMelnick]

Todd Blanche signed a legal document claiming that $1.776 billion was “the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims,” a statement that is so obviously a bald-faced lie that it makes the entire thing even more obviously corrupt.