The White House went on the attack on Tuesday, lashing out at CNN and others for questioning the president’s health after he went to Walter Reed for his third checkup in 13 months.

The Rapid Response 47 social media account, an official Trump White House account, posted numerous screenshots of CNN reporters and commentators with their eyes closed, while claiming that they had taken a “nap” on-air, or “fell asleep,” while accusing them of “baselessly speculating about President Trump’s health.”

“Did @KateBolduan and her guest on Fake News CNN just fall asleep mid-interview? Their eyes are closed! What are they hiding about their health?” one post read.

“.@DanaBashCNN falls asleep ahead of her 55th birthday next month. What is going on?” another asked in all-caps.

“Is ‘Dr. Jeremy Faust’ sundowning?” questioned a third.

“Brianna Keilar says nap went ‘perfectly’ after falling asleep live on air. Rumor is she also failed her cognitive exam (unlike President Trump— whose was perfect!)” declared still another.

Mediaite had reported that “CNN’s medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner delivered a startling health assessment of President Donald Trump ahead of another physical exam for the commander in chief at Walter Reed Medical Center.”

“And finally, the president has severe daytime somnolence,” Reiner said, as Alternet reported. “He falls asleep very often. He’s fallen asleep in the Oval Office on multiple occasions with people talking to him in the Cabinet Room, and was concerned yesterday that he might have fallen asleep at Arlington National Cemetery during Memorial Day observances, and chronic insomnia is a severe illness. It can result in an increase in risk of dementia, a decrease in cognitive effects in older people,” he continued.

After Trump’s physical exam, the White House declared the president received a “perfect bill of health” from his doctors.

Renowned health expert @jdawsey1 falls asleep on the air. Sad! pic.twitter.com/D8kQIELkVb

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 26, 2026

Image via Reuters

President Donald Trump went on the attack against the media and Democrats on Tuesday, furious over coverage of his repeated claims that a deal to end the Iran war was near.

He suggested that even if Iran surrendered unconditionally, the media and “Dumacrats” would claim Iran had won.

“If Iran surrenders, admits their Navy is gone and resting at the bottom of the sea, and their Air Force is no longer with us, and if their entire Military walks out of Tehran, weapons dropped and hands held high, each shouting ‘I surrender, I surrender’ while wildly waving the representative White Flag, and if their entire remaining Leadership signs all necessary ‘Documents of Surrender,’ and admit their defeat to the great power and force of the magnificent U.S.A.,” Trump wrote, “The Failing New York Times, The China Street Journal (WSJ!), Corrupt and now Irrelevant CNN, and all other members of the Fake News Media, will headline that Iran had a Masterful and Brilliant Victory over The United States of America, it wasn’t even close. The Dumacrats and Media have totally lost their way. They have gone absolutely crazy!!!”

In March, Axios reported that Trump had claimed the Iran war was close to an end 12 times.

The current ceasefire is tenuous, as Iran is now warning of retaliation after the U.S. performed limited strikes on Monday, NewsNation reported.

READ MORE: Trump’s Texas Endorsement Was Designed to Punish His Own Party: Report

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President Donald Trump’s $1.776 billion “slush fund” is a “multitool for corruption and maintaining MAGA discipline,” argues The Bulwark‘s editor, Jonathan V. Last, suggesting there are multiple ways Trump can use the fund — all involving corruption.

One of the obvious ways is bribery, writes Last. Another way is “more subtle,” he says. “It’s about holding people on side.”

Last reminds readers the president figured out that by using private lawsuits in civil court, he could “legalize bribery and extortion.” He explains, “that’s what his defamation suits against CBS and ABC were.”

“Trump understood that while it might be illegal to go to CBS and ABC and demand that they pay him protection money, he could use a civil lawsuit as justification for creating a private legal contract that amounted to the same thing,” writes Last. “He further understood that if he filed a civil suit against the U.S. government and then became president, he could direct the government to settle with him on whatever terms he desired.”

That’s how the $1.776 billion fund was created.

Last notes that Trump’s fund sunsets — disappears — just before he leaves office, so no other president can use it. But there’s another reason.

“If you were Trump, would you pay out money before your last days in office?” Last asks. “Because I would not.”

He argues that it’s more effective to pay out a few people early during the life of the fund to establish its legitimacy, then stop.

By stopping, you turn the problem of having just “1,700 million-dollar portions” into “tens of billions of dollars worth of promises.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you; you just have to wait a little bit longer,” Trump might say, while those who filed claims could be “thinking that, since he’s going to pay up at the very end, there’s enough cash for them to get theirs.”

That is how Trump can use the fund to solve the problem of being a “politically weak” lame duck president.

“Maybe the POTUS is becoming unpopular, so candidates need to distance themselves from him,” Last writes. “Maybe party elites are thinking about the future and how to take over once the old man is gone.”

The fund offers “the promise of a tangible reward for Republicans to stay on his side. Be nice to him. Do what he asks. Don’t freelance. And maybe there’s a pot of gold for you at the end of the rainbow.”

“It will encourage them to modulate what they say. And within the rest of the Republican ecosystem, having more people on-side than there otherwise would be will have a force-multiplier effect. Seeing people stick with Trump will cause more people to stick with Trump.”

Image via Reuters