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Rick Perry: My Book “Fed Up!” Is, It Turns Out, A Work Of Fiction

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Republican Rick Perry, whose book Fed Up!: Our Fight to Save America from Washington was published just nine-months ago, and who has been promoting the $21.99 tome at book signings and on his presidential campaign trail since he announced nine days ago, now is claiming the concepts he espoused in the book aren’t his real views. Or, something like that.

READ: Rick Perry Just Ended His Campaign For President.

The book, which bears a foreword by his Republican presidential opponent Newt Gingrich, is, as Think Progress writes, “a 240-page ode to tentherism, which argues that everything from child labor laws to the Clean Air Act to Medicare violates the Constitution.”

“Fed Up is not some 20-year-old graduate school thesis that Perry wrote before he served in elected office. It is a substantial, nationally published manifesto that Perry was proudly signing at book tours just a few months ago. Indeed, as recently as last Monday, Perry was on the campaign trail citing Fed Up for the unusual proposition that ‘I don’t think the federal government has a role in your children’s education’,” Think Progress notes.

Perry, in a Newsweek interview last year given to promote Fed Up! said,

“I don’t think our founding fathers when they were putting the term “general welfare” in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care. What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government. I stand very clear on that. From my perspective, the states could substantially better operate those programs if that’s what those states decided to do.”

“Whether it’s Social Security, whether it’s Medicaid, whether it’s Medicare. You’ve got $115 trillion worth of unfunded liability in those three. They’re bankrupt. They’re a Ponzi scheme. I challenge anybody to stand up and defend the Social Security program that we have today — and particularly defend it to a 27-​year-​old young man who’s just gotten married and is trying to get his life headed in the right direction economically. I happen to think that the Progressive movement was the beginning of the deterioration of our Constitution from the standpoint of it being abused and misused to do things that Congress wanted to do, and/​or the Supreme Court wanted to implement. The New Deal was the launching pad for the Washington largesse as we know it today. And I think we should have a legitimate, honest, national discussion about Washington’s continuing to spend money we don’t have on programs that we don’t need.”

But The Wall Street Journal reports,

Texas Gov. Rick Perry used to be pretty frank when it came to the country’s Social Security system. In his fiery anti-Washington book, “Fed Up!”, published last fall when he had no plans to run for president, Mr. Perry called the program, which turned 76 on Monday, “a crumbling monument to the failure of the New Deal.”

He suggested the program’s creation violated the Constitution. The program was put in place, “at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government,” he wrote, comparing the program to a “bad disease” that has continued to spread. Instead of “a retirement system that is no longer set up like an illegal Ponzi scheme,” he wrote, he would prefer a system that “will allow individuals to own and control their own retirement.”

But since jumping into the 2012 GOP nomination race on Saturday, Mr. Perry has tempered his Social Security views. His communications director, Ray Sullivan, said Thursday that he had “never heard” the governor suggest the program was unconstitutional. Not only that, Mr. Sullivan said, but “Fed Up!” is not meant to reflect the governor’s current views on how to fix the program.”

And they add,

In an interview, Mr. Sullivan acknowledged that many passages in Mr. Perry’s “Fed Up!” could dog his presidential campaign. The book, Mr. Sullivan said, “is a look back, not a path forward.” It was written “as a review and critique of 50 years of federal excesses, not in any way as a 2012 campaign blueprint or manifesto,” Mr. Sullivan said.

The campaign’s disavowal of “Fed Up!” is itself very new. On Sunday evening, at Mr. Perry’s first campaign stop in Iowa, a questioner asked the governor to talk about how he would fix the country’s rickety entitlement programs. Mr. Perry shot back: “Have you read my book, ‘Fed Up!’ Get a copy and read it.”

In the book, Mr. Perry dings politicians who don’t have the courage to take on Social Security. So what is his position now? “The governor wants to see the benefits for existing retirees and those close to Social Security be strongly protected,” Mr. Sullivan said. Beyond that, “he believes a full review and discussion of entitlement reforms need to be had, aimed at seeing that programs like Social Security and Medicare are fiscally responsible and actuarially sound.”

The Huffington Post adds,

In fact, Social Security is decades away from running out of money, and would remain solvent for the next 75 years if all earnings were subject to the payroll tax and the base was retained for benefit calculations, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Freshman Reps. Young, Heck and Ribble have also compared Social Security to a Ponzi scheme, arguing it should be phased out over time.

“I envision a shift in how that system works so that by the time you get there you’re not only responsible for your own but we’ve made tax law available to help you be responsible for your own, and that the government can’t take that money from you and give it to somebody else,” Ribble said at a candidate forum last November. “That is in fact a Ponzi scheme.”

Heck, meanwhile, called Social Security a “pyramid scheme” at a forum in May. He then backtracked, issuing a flier saying he “chose [his] words poorly,” the Las Vegas Sun later reported.

Young told supporters in June that the government had been raiding the coffers of Social Security.

“Social Security, as so many of you know, is a Ponzi scheme,” Young said at an event. “We pay our payroll taxes, it says it’s going to Social Security. ‘Oh, I must have an account up in Washington that has my name on it.’ I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, they’ve been raiding that for years.”

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‘Supremely Disappointed’: Republicans Furious Over Latest Trump Endorsement

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May 19, 2026

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President Donald Trump’s 11th-hour endorsement in the Texas GOP primary went to far-right Attorney General Ken Paxton over establishment Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn, dealing an severe blow to the lawmaker’s chances, angering some prominent GOP lawmakers, and likely boosting the chances of underdog Democrat James Talarico winning the seat in the red Lone Star State.

“Ton of concern among GOP [senators] about Trump’s endorsement of Paxton,” CNN’s Manu Raju reported. “Fear it will cost them a lot more money to save a seat in a red state.”

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said that Trump’s Paxton endorsement “puts that seat in jeopardy” and asked, “how does that help strengthen the president’s hand when we lose a state like Texas?”

“Supremely disappointed,” is how she characterized her reaction.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) declared Paxton is “an ethically challenged individual,” reports Semafor congressional bureau chief Burgess Everett.

“John Cornyn is an outstanding senator and deserved, in my judgment, the president’s support,” she said. “Obviously, it’s the president’s call, but I’m disappointed that he did it.”

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a top Trump ally, said, “I think Paxton can win. I think it’d be three times more expensive.”

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson said he was “speechless” and added, “really have no comment.”

Described as “not happy looking,” Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who has supported Senator Cornyn, acknowledged it was President Trump’s decision to make.

Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio reported that Thune was “stone-faced” after the endorsement, and appeared “pretty deep” in anger.

“Most GOP senators really want him to endorse Cornyn,” Everett had reported about 90 minutes before the Trump-Paxton endorsement dropped.

U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) had said, “I would like to see him support John Cornyn in Texas. I’ve made that clear.”

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) had said, “I am hopeful that he backs Sen. Cornyn. John has been a steadfast ally of the president and I hope the president sees that.”

Congressional reporter Jamie Dupree described U.S. Senator Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) response as “stone cold silent.”

Professor Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, called Trump’s endorsement of Paxton “Great News for Talarico,” “Bad News for GOP money reserves,” and declared, “If ever there’s a year when a D can win statewide in TX, it’s 2026.”

Talarico responded to the Trump endorsement: “As I said on primary night, it doesn’t matter who wins this runoff. We already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.”

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

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Trump: $400 Million White House Ballroom Is ‘My Gift to the United States of America’

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May 19, 2026

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President Donald Trump took time on Tuesday to share with the press pool precise details about the ballroom he is having built where the East Wing of the White House once stood.

Trump “is currently giving the pool an in-depth presentation on the new ballroom construction, down to the location of the AC units and thickness of the glass,” reported Wall Street Journal White House reporter Meridith McGraw.

The ballroom is “going to be something incredible — you see the quality of it,” he said, standing on the construction site. On the ballroom’s roof “we’re going to have the greatest drone empire that you’ve ever seen, and it’s going to protect Washington.”

“They’re building a hospital,” he added. “It’s a military hospital. They’re building all sorts of research facilities, also meeting rooms and rooms that go hand-in-hand for the military.”

“The ballroom is really a shield and protecting all of the things that are built here.” 

He said the construction goes “six stories deep.”

Trump discussed the two facades the building will have, one facing the Washington Monument, the other, the Lincoln Memorial.

He said, “the roof is a barrier. It’s a shield, because it’s made out of the side walls of steel, impenetrable steel, and also impenetrable glass. The glass is approximately four inches thick. And yet, it’s amazing, you can see through it as though it didn’t exist. It’s amazing. And it can stop just about anything. Just about anything.”

“On the other side of the glass,” he continued, “we have steel and concrete. So that the glass is very powerful, what’s holding the glass is equally as powerful.”

“All of these columns, they go directly right to the roof of the building,” he said. “And again, we call it a drone port. It’s set up for unlimited numbers of drones.”

“When this is finished,” he said, “my term ends shortly after that. This is really for other presidents, this is not for me. This is my gift to the United States of America. I’m going to be able to use it very little.”

“This is all my money and donors’ money,” he said. “This is tax free.”

While Trump said that he and other benefactors will be paying the cost of the ballroom, reportedly $400 million, he has been pushing Congress to spend $1 billion for security enhancements apart from the ballroom itself.

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

 

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‘I Won’t Participate’: Greenland’s Prime Minister Gives US the Cold Shoulder

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May 19, 2026

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The Prime Minister of Greenland, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, says he will not attend Thursday’s opening of the new American consulate in the capital city of Nuuk.

According to a Google translation of a report from the Greenlandic news outlet Sermitsiaq, other members of the government may also refuse to participate.

“We haven’t made a decision in principle, but I won’t participate,” the prime minister told Sermitsiaq.

The consulate has extended a large invitation list, but the news outlet reports that “a significant portion of those invited have chosen to decline.”

The political situation between the U.S. and Greenland has been tense, after President Donald Trump pursued a campaign to take control of the autonomous territory which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Member of parliament Naaja H. Nathanielsen announced she too would not attend.

“I have explained it by saying that the situation between our countries is difficult right now,” Nathanielsen wrote on social media.

On Monday, President Trump’s Special Envoy to Greenland, Republican Governor Jeff Landry, spoke with several Greenlandic children, offering them chocolate chip cookies if they visited the governor’s mansion.

“If you come to Louisiana,” Governor Landry said, “and you come to the governor’s mansion — all the chocolate chip cookies you can eat.”

His remarks landed poorly.

Prime Minister Nielsen on Monday said Greenland would not become part of the U.S., “no matter how many ‘chocolate cookies’ we get,” according to the Times-Picayune.

In January, Trump vowed to do “something” with Greenland, which he has suggested the U.S. could purchase or take over militarily. The vast majority of Greenlanders oppose becoming part of the U.S.

“I would like to make a deal,” Trump said. “You know, the easy way, but if we don’t do it the easy way we’re gonna do it the hard way.”

“I’m a fan of Denmark, too, I have to tell you, and, you know, they’ve been very nice to me,” Trump continued. “I’m a big fan, but, you know, the fact that they had a boat land there 500 years ago doesn’t mean that they own the land, uh, sure, we had lots of boats go there also.”

“We’re not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that’s what they’re gonna do if we don’t,” Trump insisted. “So we’re gonna be doing something with Greenland, either the nice way or the more difficult way.”

 

Image by European Parliament via Wikimedia Commons and a Creative Commons license

 

 

 

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