U.S. Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO) called for President Donald Trump and his senior administration officials to treat House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer in the same manner they treated Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this year when they appeared to gang up on and berate the Ukrainian president.

President Trump has not met with the Democratic leaders since he took office in January, and canceled a meeting with them slated for last week. They will be meeting in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon to discuss ways to avert a federal government shutdown at midnight on Tuesday.

Congressman Alford, a member of the far-right Republican Study Committee, told NewsNation on Monday, “let’s give them a little taste of what we gave Zelenskyy back in the spring.”

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President Trump has falsely claimed that Democrats are “threatening” to shut down the government “unless they can have over $1 Trillion Dollars in new spending to continue free healthcare for Illegal Aliens.”

He, also wrongly, has claimed Democrats want to “force Taxpayers to fund Transgender surgery for minors, have dead people on the Medicaid roles, allow Illegal Alien Criminals to steal Billions of Dollars in American Taxpayer Benefits, try to force our Country to again open our Borders to Criminals and to the World, allow men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody.”

Congressman Alford echoed some of those allegations in his Monday remarks.

“So, this is what they wanted, all this crazy spending, going back to the woke policies and giving illegal aliens health care. Trump said, ‘There’s no way, why should I meet with them?'” Alford said.

“I think, over the last couple of days, he’s rethought that. Let’s bring them into the Oval Office. Let’s give them a little taste of what we gave Zelenskyy back in the spring,” the Missouri Republican declared.

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“This is going to be live viewing, I believe, in the Oval Office,” Alford said, “like you’ve never seen before, maybe an hour long meeting, and the American people can see for themselves the ridiculous request and demands as the Democrats hold them hostage.”

Leader Jeffries on Monday told reporters, “We’re headed into the meeting [with Trump] to have a good faith negotiation about landing the plane in a way that avoids a government shutdown but does not continue the Republican assault on the healthcare of the American people.”

Democrats are “using one of their few points of leverage to demand Congress take up legislation to extend health care benefits,” PBS News reported. “Trump has shown little interest in entertaining Democrats’ demands on health care, even as he agreed to hold a sit-down meeting Monday with Schumer, along with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries. The Republican president has said repeatedly he fully expects the government to enter a shutdown this week.”

Rep. Mark Alford on Trump’s meeting today with Democratic leaders: “Let’s bring them into the Oval Office, let’s give them a little taste of what we gave Zelenskyy back in the spring.” pic.twitter.com/mfYT5TXLjH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 29, 2025

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Image via Shutterstock 

There were six mass shootings across the United States over the weekend — two in Louisiana, two in North Carolina, one in Texas, and the most widely covered, at a church in Michigan. President Donald Trump is facing criticism for largely ignoring the gun violence — as well as the growing cost of groceries — while boasting instead about the gold fixtures he’s installed throughout the Oval Office and Cabinet Room.

A gunman who drove his truck into a Michigan church on Sunday morning as hundreds worshipped reportedly shot and killed at least four people, set the building on fire, and wounded another eight people. Police, according to ABC News, said they expect to find more victims.

Just after 1:00 PM on Sunday, Trump posted to his social media site, calling the mass shooting “yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America,” while demanding an end to the “epidemic of violence in our country.”

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It does not appear that the President has acknowledged the other five shootings, but just hours after mentioning the Michigan church shooting, the President gloated about the White House gold.

“Some of the highest quality 24 Karat Gold used in the Oval Office and Cabinet Room of the White House,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Foreign Leaders, and everyone else, ‘freak out’ when they see the quality and beauty. Best Oval Office ever, in terms of success and look!!!”

The President also added a video.

Critics blasted Trump.

“How tone-deaf can you get? Americans can’t afford groceries or housing, but Trump posts video showing off more gold trinkets he’s plastering the White House walls with,” wrote former NBCUniversal executive Mike Sington, who also reposted the Trump video.

How tone-deaf can you get? Americans can’t afford groceries or housing, but Trump posts video showing off more gold trinkets he’s plastering the White House walls with. pic.twitter.com/Wh5Z1lExLY

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 29, 2025

“While Americans struggle to feed their families and keep the lights on, and Trump just signed billionaire tax cuts adding $4 trillion to the debt, Trump is very proud of the gold he installed in the new White House ballroom aka Mar-a-Lago North,” observed former Biden White House official Jesse Lee.

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Another social media user wrote on X: “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump hugs his gold while Americans are shot dead.”

“Multiple mass shootings over the last 24 hours, and Donald Trump is online bragging about the amount of gold in his office,” wrote social media commentator Alex Cole.

The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted, “Trump posting about the quality of the 24 karat gold he’s adorning the White House with is the type of tone deaf stuff that only he seems to get away with.”

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul also blasted the President over the cost of living as he posted about White House gold in this post on X:

PRICES HAVEN’T GONE DOWN, BUT GOOD NEWS: pic.twitter.com/9ek27bw5LE

— Governor Hochul Press Office (@NYGovPress) September 28, 2025

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Speculation has been swirling after U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth abruptly ordered roughly 800 top officers from around the globe to return to the U.S. next week for a meeting — with no explanation or agenda provided.

“Hegseth’s orders,” The Washington Post reported on Friday in an exclusive, “require anyone in a command position with the rank of one-star general or rear admiral and above, as well as their senior enlisted leaders, to be at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.”

Experts have expressed that the national security concerns alone are disturbing — every top officer in all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces — and their support staff — away from their posts and together in one room.

Others expressed concerns that the nation’s top military brass might be asked to take a loyalty pledge — not to the Constitution but to the President or to his ideology. Some suggested it might be to refocus the officers on domestic U.S. issues rather than external threats or enemies.

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Instead, the meeting, according to the Washington Post’s report, will be for all 800 or so generals and admirals to listen to Secretary Hegseth speak about his own beliefs regarding what the U.S. military should be — his “warrior ethos” ideology.

The speech is expected to last less than one hour.

As The Washington Post reported on Thursday, the Defense Department “possesses highly secure videoconferencing technology that enables military officials, regardless of their location, to discuss sensitive matters with the White House, the Pentagon or both.”

The Defense Secretary’s “directive comes in the wake of Hegseth’s firing of numerous senior military officers without cause this year, upending military norms and creating a culture of fear in the Pentagon, the people familiar with the matter said,” the Post also reported on Friday. “The recent firings of top military officers and the unusual nature of the order has stirred widespread concern among military officials that Hegseth may also have [an] additional surprise in store.”

READ MORE: ‘They’ll Be Others’: Trump Says More Indictments — of Democrats — to Come

Hegseth appeared to respond to — or at least acknowledge — concerns the meeting might include a loyalty pledge on Friday, when retired United States Army officer Ben Hodges, who served as commanding general, United States Army Europe, posted to social media remarks that echoed concerns of others:

“July 1935 German generals were called to a surprise assembly in Berlin and informed that their previous oath to the Weimar constitution was void and that they would be required to swear a personal oath to the Führer. Most generals took the new oath to keep their positions,” he wrote.

Secretary Hegseth mocked General Hodges’ remarks:

“Cool story, General,” he wrote.

Hegseth was quickly chastised.

“You are pathetic,” declared Fred Wellman, a graduate of West Point and the Harvard Kennedy School, and a 22-year combat veteran who is now the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”

“Supposed to be leading the largest department of our government with millions of troops and civilians and you are trolling retired generals who served honorably longer and more heroically than you could,” Wellman added. “You’re not even a good squad leader.”

Fred Guttenberg, the well-known anti-gun-violence activist, noted that Hegseth’s remarks were “not a denial.”

Other critics responded to the Post’s reporting.

“Yes, totally worth the cost and time and effort to pull hundreds of people away from their commands to listen to Hegseth and his deep thoughts about being a warrior,” snarked The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, a retired U.S. Naval War College professor.

“So it’s a juvenile Rah Rah high school football speech, that cost[s] a ton of money, takes leaders out of positions in where they [are] managing crises, and puts a massive target on Quantico,” remarked Marc Polymeropoulos, a retired senior U.S. Intelligence Service officer. “Plus they all gonna get stuck when govt shuts down. Genius all around.”

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Image via Reuters