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As Mayor of San Juan Sends an SOS to the President on ‘Maddow’ Trump Is Feverishly Tweeting

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On the Crisis in Puerto Rico a ‘Sense of Urgency Didn’t Begin to Penetrate the White House Until Monday’

Every hour that goes by reveals, more and more, the dire emergency the people of Puerto Rico are experiencing, and just how poorly the Trump administration has and is handling this humanitarian crisis. As President Donald Trump one week ago Friday was attacking NFL quarterback Colin Kapernick at a campaign rally for Alabama’s Luther Strange, who would go on to lose to “Judge” Roy Moore, the U.S. territory was just regaining contact with the mainland U.S. after Hurricane Maria, the second massive storm to attack the island.

Trump would continue his attack on NFL players silently protesting police killings of often unarmed Black people for seven days, on Twitter and to the press, while the crisis in Puerto Rico was getting worse, not better.

In fact, just hours ago, The Washington Post reported that Trump spent last weekend at his golf club which “hurt the response to Maria.”

Even though local officials had said publicly as early as Sept. 20, the day of the storm, that the island was “destroyed,” the sense of urgency didn’t begin to penetrate the White House until Monday, when images of the utter destruction and desperation — and criticism of the administration’s response — began to appear on television, one senior administration official said.

Reports show the Trump administration had been repeatedly warned many times in the week before Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico that this was a storm of historic proportions, yet they did little to nothing as the president focused on tweeting his demands the NFL fire players who, as he said, were disrespecting America.

One way to respect America, of course, is to protect its people. In fact, President Trump wrongly has stated many times that his number one job and responsibility is to protect the American people.

(For the record, the oath of office states the President’s job is to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” which he also has not done.)

The mayor of San Juan has spent the past few days literally begging the federal government for help. Friday afternoon she gave up trying to be “politically correct,” as she said, and told the federal government at a press conference, “We are dying and you are killing us with the inefficiency.”

That mayor, Carmen Yulín Cruz, appeared on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” hours later, explaining in greater detail her anger and frustration. She said FEMA is asking the victims of Hurricane Maria to register online before they receive supplies, like food, water, and medicines. There is essentially no electricity in Puerto Rico, and therefore no internet. 

But literally at the same time as Mayor Yulín Cruz was desperately communicating the absolute disaster she and her fellow mayors and their people are facing, what was the president doing?

Tweeting.

In a barrage of retweets of posts tweeted first by his social media director, President Trump – as the mayor of San Juan was trying to get help via her interview with Rachel Maddow, to keep her people and the 3.5 million people on Puerto Rico alive – posted seven tweets.

The first was video of Kellyanne Conway telling Fox News how great the president’s tax plan is. Then, not one but two tweets literally advertising his son Eric’s appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity,” the Sean Hannity show that just moved to 9 PM. 

The fourth retweet was a video clip of Trump’s weekend address, talking about Puerto Rico. Falsely, Trump’s 58 second message ends with him saying, “It’s getting better on a daily basis.”

Not according to Mayor Yulín Cruz, who told Rachel Maddow it’s getting worse, not better.

Trump’s fifth retweet was an article from the far right wing website Washington Free Beacon, about manufacturer optimism. His sixth retweet was, again, of a Fox News story, this time touting the stock market records broken under Trump. And the seventh and so far last retweet was video of a Navy hospital ship’s captain – still in Virginia, ten days after Hurricane Maria – talking about what they will do once they get to Puerto Rico. Why they had time to talk to reporters, why they weren’t in Puerto Rico a week ago is anyone’s guess, but you can be darn sure one of the reasons they weren’t is because the Commander-in-Chief was on a seven-day racist rant about football players who understand that we show our respect for our flag by protecting and respecting our people.

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Just 100 Days in and Trump White House Is Already Prepping for Impeachment: Report

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April 29, 2025

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President Donald Trump has reached the 100-day mark of his second term, and already administration officials are preparing for an impeachment defense—despite the fact that the House and the Senate are under Republican control, and the midterm elections are more than 18 months away.

Trump’s advisors “are seriously considering the likelihood that he would be impeached again if Democrats take the House next year,” Axios reports.

“I’m certain,” Trump’s longtime pollster, John McLaughlin, told Axios—an opinion reportedly shared by others in Trump’s “orbit.”

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt blasted U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI), who filed seven articles of impeachment against President Trump on Monday.

READ MORE: ‘Rank Incompetence’: Trump Says Hegseth Is ‘Safe’ Just Before Navy ‘Loses’ $60 Million Jet

“Who the hell is this lunatic?” the Press Secretary asked, according to Axios.

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) on Friday signaled support for a Trump impeachment, becoming the first swing state Senator to do so.

“The threat of impeachment has added urgency to the Trump administration’s push to get as much of his agenda through Congress as possible before the 2026 midterms — especially his plan to extend his 2017 tax cuts,” Axios noted.

“We need to pass the tax cuts and avoid a recession,” McLaughlin said. “That’s the high stakes here. We cannot lose the midterms.”

Some economic experts say a recession may now be the best possible outcome, not just in the U.S., but globally, driven by President Trump’s tariff and trade wars. Others are raising alarms about the risk of “stagflation.”

READ MORE: ‘Heads on Pikes’: Trump White House Accused of ‘Vaguely Fascist’ Display

Trump insiders reportedly also feel an impeachment threat could help solidify the MAGA base, and be a fundraising boon.

“Trump’s attacks on due process, birthright citizenship, humanitarian aid, and the courts are not ‘politics,'” Congressman Thanedar wrote on Monday. “They are a direct attack on our democracy. Enough is enough.”

Meanwhile, at The Bulwark, Jill Lawrence writes that she took a “look at all the impeachment articles against presidents and figure[d] out how many Trump has already matched or surpassed.”

“Spoiler: It has not been fun. And the answer is pretty much all of them—from Andrew Johnson in 1868 to the charges in Trump’s own pair of impeachments a few short years ago. How do we know? Because it’s all unfolding publicly and blatantly in real time.”

RELATED: ‘Authoritarian Takeover’: Legal Scholars Warn of Trump’s ‘100 Days of Lawlessness’

 

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‘Rank Incompetence’: Trump Says Hegseth Is ‘Safe’ Just Before Navy ‘Loses’ $60 Million Jet

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16 hours ago

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April 28, 2025

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Editor’s note: A typo in the headline has been corrected.

Just hours after President Donald Trump declared in a newly published interview that he believes Pete Hegseth is “gonna get it together” and described his embattled Defense Secretary’s job as “safe,” the U.S. Navy accidentally lost a $60 million fighter jet when it fell into the Red Sea.

“A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet has been ‘lost’ at sea after it fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board, the Navy said in a statement on Monday,” according to CNN. Reports also indicate that “the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard.”

The jet is said to have sunk.

In their interview, The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker told Trump, “You’re a big supporter of Pete Hegseth’s, but he’s fired three top advisers in recent weeks, he rotated out his chief of staff, he installed a makeup studio at the Pentagon, he put attack plans in two different Signal chats, including one with his wife and personal attorney. Have you had a talk with him about getting things together?”

READ MORE: ‘Heads on Pikes’: Trump White House Accused of ‘Vaguely Fascist’ Display

“Yeah, I have,” the Commander-in-Chief replied.

Asked, “What did you say?” Trump replied: “Pete’s gone through a hard time. I think he’s gonna get it together. I think he’s a smart guy. He is a talented guy. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been beat up by this, very much so. But I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him.”

And when asked if, “for now, you think Hegseth stays?” Trump replied: “Yeah, he’s safe.”

Critics were quick to weigh in.

“This is why I said @petehegseth’s rank incompetence needs closer scrutiny here,” wrote national security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler. “He keeps claiming his half-a—- campaign against the Houthis is having success. But s— like this keeps happening, planes dropping off aircraft carriers.”

“These are the sailors Whiskey Pete put at risk with his reckless treatment of classified information,” Wheeler added.

“Another win for this super competent national security team,” mocked U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). “I thought our strikes in Yemen were ‘restoring deterrence’.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian Takeover’: Legal Scholars Warn of Trump’s ‘100 Days of Lawlessness’

Democratic political strategist Chris D. Jackson adds, “This is what happens when Trump and Pete Hegseth treated military leadership like a frat house. Unqualified leadership has real-world consequences.”

Barbara Starr, the former CNN national security reporter for more than two decades, strongly suggested there is more here than may appear.

“IMPORTANT: IF [the] Truman had to make a sudden hard turn to avoid enemy fire this is extremely significant. The goal for US troops is to always bring down the enemy as far away as possible NOT close in. And this potentially suggests further improvements in Houthi guidance and targeting. Def more to learn here.”

“Moreover,” Starr continued, “and equally important why does the military press statement not disclose this possibility?”

HuffPost’s White House correspondent S.V. Dáte commented, “Back when the Navy was woke I don’t recall them dropping an F-18 overboard.”

READ MORE: Trump Calls to ‘Immediately’ Eject ‘Disruptors’ as GOP Congressman Faces Boos, Backlash

 

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‘Heads on Pikes’: Trump White House Accused of ‘Vaguely Fascist’ Display

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18 hours ago

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April 28, 2025

By

The Trump White House is under fire after Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a video showing lawn signs lining the White House driveway, bearing the photos of allegedly undocumented immigrants, the charges against them, and the word “ARRESTED” in bold, capital letters.

The posters do not indicate the immigrants were convicted, only arrested, for various major crimes.

ABC News described them as “100 posters of alleged criminal migrants.” Axios, which first reported on the posters, called it “a provocative, sure-to-be-controversial move.”

“This morning,” the White House said in a statement, “images of the worst of the worst criminal illegal immigrants arrested since President Donald J. Trump took office were placed on the lawn of the White House for the world to see — highlighting the Trump Administration’s unprecedented effort to secure our homeland and send these vicious criminals back where they belong.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian Takeover’: Legal Scholars Warn of Trump’s ‘100 Days of Lawlessness’

Leavitt posted the video gleefully declaring, “Good Morning from The White House!”

Critics blasted her and the administration.

“These are fake charges with out due process you are lying karoline! 99% of immigrants are law abiding, loving, family oriented members of society! Stop spreading hate!” wrote actor and activist John Leguizamo.

Immigration attorney Allen Orr, Jr. added, “Arrests are not convictions. In addition, how much does this cost, and for what purpose does it serve?”

Alexander Aviña, an associate professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University commented, “historically not a good sign when governments start doing this.”

Former U.S. Ambassador Luis Moreno observed, “The Romans, and others throughout history, used to mount their enemies heads on pikes. This is the 2025 version.”

READ MORE: Trump Calls to ‘Immediately’ Eject ‘Disruptors’ as GOP Congressman Faces Boos, Backlash

“The Trump Administration’s response to deporting a 4 year old American with cancer? Put up yard signs!” commented Fox News co-host Jessica Tarlov.

“Well this is vaguely fascist,” remarked MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen.

“And here comes the 100 lawsuits based on the liberty clause. This is disgusting behavior by our chief executive,” wrote Washburn University School of Law Professor Joseph Mastrosimone.

“Reminder that 90% of those supposed criminal deportees to El Salvador had no criminal record at all and the rest were mostly for immigration violations,” noted Virginia Commonwealth University Associate Professor of Political Science Michael Paarlberg.

Legal reporter Amy Miller wrote, “fear mongering works, and they know it.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘What Fascism Looks Like’: Bondi’s War on Judiciary Is ‘Red Line’ for Democrats

 

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