Trail Notes
Master of mendacity / Collateral disaster / In Russia we trust / Trump high anxiety / Not so mass deportations / Trumps drone on / ICE SUVs on ice / DOD shopping spree
Master of mendacity
Say what you will about Donald Trump, no other president has been able to spew as many lies in one breath. His speech in Kentucky Wednesday was a master class in mendacity.
“There’s never been a better year for a president,” he gushed. “…There’s never been a better year than what we had. That includes the stoppage of eight wars with a ninth to come. The economy is roaring. It’s phenomenal…. This [Iran war] is an excursion, a little excursion, and I think it’s only that.”
By the way, the first six days of his “little excursion” cost U.S. taxpayers $11.3 billion, according to Pentagon officials who spoke at a private briefing with senators on Tuesday.
Collateral disaster
The Pentagon’s investigation of the missile strike that killed at least 175 people—mostly children— in an Iranian school determined that it most likely was a U.S. Tomahawk, which cost about $2.5 million each. The president originally blamed the attack on Iran, which has no Tomahawk missiles.
The strike at the school would be the most civilians killed in a single attack by the U.S. military in decades. How could the Pentagon have made such a disastrous mistake? Its program designed to prevent civilian casualties during military operations was scrapped last year when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made “lethality” a top priority.
In Russia we trust
When asked if Russia has provided intelligence to Iran, real-estate-developer-turned-America’s-top-negotiator Steve Witkoff replied: “The Russians said they haven’t been sharing. So, we can take them at their word.”
Trump high anxiety
Besides his “little excursion,” what seems to be front and center in Trump’s mind these days is the upcoming midterm elections and his obsession that voter fraud torpedoed his 2020 presidential bid.
You may remember when the FBI, ostensibly to placate Trump, raided election office in Fulton County, Georgia, in late January and confiscated hundreds of boxes of ballots to find evidence of fraud. Shortly after the raid, Trump called for “nationalizing” elections, saying he could think of 15 states where the federal government should take over voting (which, it turns out, would be unconstitutional).
Now it appears the FBI is at it again.
Earlier this week, the Republican president of the Arizona State Senate announced that he had complied with an FBI subpoena and turned over voting records from the 2020 election. Back then, the Arizona Senate—with funding from Trump supporters—brought in Cyber Ninjas, a security company with no experience auditing elections, to review voting in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. The company ultimately determined that not only did Trump lose the county, it also wound up finding a few more votes for Joe Biden.
“Maricopa County runs elections in accordance with the law,” said Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, in response to the FBI subpoena. “What the Trump administration appears to be pursuing now is not a legitimate law enforcement inquiry. It is the weaponization of federal law enforcement in service of crackpots and lies.”
Democrats see Trump administration’s recent moves as less about trying to change the results of the 2020 election and more about pounding the voter-fraud drum to justify more aggressive intervention as the midterms approach.
Not so mass deportations
So much for the “mass deportations” talk. During a meeting with House Republicans at their annual retreat in Florida earlier this week, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair advised them to back off speechifying about shipping millions of migrants out of the country. That’s not playing well politically at the moment, Blair said, and this being an election year, as the president reminds us daily, better to stick to the “worst of the worst” mantra. Indeed, the latest polls show that nearly half of Americans now believe ICE and Border Patrol agents have been too aggressive, particularly in chasing down people with no criminal record.
Trump boys drone on
There’s no question that a huge chunk of Defense Department money in the coming years will be earmarked for companies manufacturing military drones, particularly now that the Trump administration has banned purchasing drones from China. In fact, the Pentagon has already set aside $1.1 billion to build up U.S. drone-making capability.
Guess who’s been investing heavily in that business lately. None other than the president’s sons, Donald, Jr. and Eric. Earlier this week, it was revealed the boys are key investors in the Powerus Corporation, which plans to expand into the military drone market. And that’s just their latest related venture. Just last month, they invested in another drone company called Xtend, and Donald Jr. is a stakeholder in and on the advisory board of Unusual Machines, which makes drone components. War is good for the Trump family business.
ICE SUVs on ice
Remember when Kristi Noem was head of Homeland Security? Good times. Like in the early days of her tenure, when her deputy director, Madison Sheahan, thought it would be really cool if ICE agents could carry out their deportation sweeps in slick new SUVs emblazoned with the agency’s name, logo and motto, “Defend the Homeland,” on their side door panels. She even arranged to have Donald Trump’s name embossed on their back windows.
Sheahan ordered 2,500 vehicles, but it soon became clear that the last thing ICE agents wanted was to roll up in cars screaming “ICE.” So, those shiny cars are now sitting in parking garages, largely unused. As one source put it, it’s “ridiculous” for ICE agents to drive around in marked cars because “you don’t want to advertise what you’re doing.” So, if you’re looking for a bargain on a slightly used, pimped-out SUV, keep your eyes peeled for an announcement about when they’re going to be auctioned off.
DOD shopping spree
Here’s something to ponder as you prepare to pay your income taxes. According to analysis by the government watchdog Open the Books, the Department of Defense spent $93 billion last September, the most by the Pentagon in one month since 2008. And it wasn’t all for hair products for Pete “Swagger Boy” Hegseth.
More than half of the $93 billion went for grants and contracts, but it also spent nearly $7 million on lobster tails, $15 million on ribeye steaks, and $139,000 on doughnuts. One particularly intriguing purchase: A $98,000 Steinway piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home. Other expenses included $225 million for furniture and $12,000 for fruit basket stands.
Hegseth shoots down shooters
Uh-oh, Swagger Boy is miffed. After briefing reporters on March 2, the defense secretary was not pleased with some of the photos of him that made it into the news. He considered them “unflattering.” So, since then, the Pentagon has banned photographers from major wire services, including the Associated Press, Getty Images and Reuters, from attending Hegseth’s briefings. Now only Defense Department photographers are allowed take his picture.
If the shoe doesn’t fit, wear it anyway
In the Trump White House, loyalty is a head-to-toe thing. Literally.
The Wall Street Journal reports that many of the men in his cabinet are now wearing the same style $145 Florsheim shoes, a gift from the president himself. Trump at one point told JD Vance and Marco Rubio that he thought they were wearing “shitty” shoes, so he bought them the same kind he wears. But Trump apparently didn’t bother to get their shoe sizes, and a photo has been circulating on social media showing Little Marco walking around in a pair he’ll just have to grow into.
“It’s hysterical,” said an unnamed White House source. “Because everyone’s afraid not to wear them.”
Arch enemies
For some reason, not everyone is crazy about Donald Trump’s $100-million, 250-foot tall lawn ornament, the Arc de Trump he wants to erect just outside the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery. Hard to believe, considering that we all voted for it, right? Anyhow, a group of Democrats in Congress filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit filed by three Vietnam veterans and an architectural historian contending the project requires congressional approval.
“This is not Pyongyang,” noted California Rep. Jared Huffman, referencing North Korea’s capital. “Most Americans want to be able to appreciate the view of Arlington Cemetery without a massive eyesore.”
The White House responded to the Democrats’ legal challenge with its characteristically clever, high-level banter, calling them “America Last losers.”
Refilling fed jobs
A little more than a year ago, Elon Musk did his strange little dance with a chain saw. He was celebrating how his DOGE teams would save so much taxpayer money by cutting away federal government employees like rotting wood. But whaddya know. Now the Trump administration is starting to refill those positions.
“We probably have some skills we need to hire back, quite frankly,” Scott Kupor, the head of the Office of Personnel Management, told The Washington Post. “There’s no question anytime you do restructurings … sometimes you over-restructure.”
But the Trump administration is filling those positions under new rules that make it easier to hire staff aligned with Trump’s priorities and get rid of those who aren’t. One reason federal employees have long had job protection was to ensure civil servants were nonpartisan and not changing with every new administration. Those days are over, at least for now.
Randy Rieland is a former columnist at Smithsonian magazine, website director at the Discovery Channel, and senior writer at Washingtonian magazine.
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