THE DAILY BLAST with Greg Sargent

Donald Trump has insisted six people have been arrested and many more have been given citations for vandalizing the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. This allegedly includes carving a 350-foot gash in the pool’s sealant, and in a dark and angry tirade, Trump just described these people as akin to enemies of the state. But The New York Times just obtained a new statement from federal prosecutors. While they confirmed some citations, the Times also reports that administration officials and prosecutors are refusing to provide a single detail about what happened, refusing to divulge anything about who’s been targeted or what their offenses were, and refusing to confirm any arrests of any kind. As former prosecutor Ankush Khardori tells us in today’s episode, this is deeply strange. We discuss why it’s unusual for officials to clam up about such a high-profile claim, how this raises unnerving possibilities about the unhinged despot in the Oval Office, and why it all points to a deeper rot of Trumpian corruption.

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After Donald Trump kicked off his personalized celebration of America’s 250th birthday with a rally on the National Mall on Wednesday night, news accounts described the event as very sparsely attended. Trump himself practically begged for more people to show up to the next event set for July 4. Amusingly, this comes after Fox News madly hyped the Wednesday rally in an effort to drum up excitement. But then, as Matt Gertz of Media Matters reports in a good piece on all this, Fox grappled with the bad initial turnout by largely avoiding any discussion of it. We think that’s pretty revealing. So we talked to Gertz about all of it: We discuss why Trump’s whole gala is so important for the broader, more sinister Trump-Fox project that's underway, the real reason Trump-Fox want our the 250th anniversary to be a celebration of Trump’s “personalist” rule, and what it will really mean if it’s all a bust. 

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Donald Trump was all set to sign a bill passed by Congress that’s designed to reduce housing costs for the American people. But an angry Trump abruptly canceled the signing and blurted out a demand that Republicans pass voter suppression legislation instead. This surprised Trump’s own advisers and shocked Republicans in Congress. Why? They apparently couldn’t fathom that he’d so openly prioritize disenfranchising voters over helping Americans overcome their economic travails. We talked about all of it with Salon’s Amanda Marcotte, author of a new piece on Trump’s narcissism as the through line for many recent follies. We discuss now Trump’s pathological self-regard led right to this moment, why this voter suppression effort would likely backfire on Trump if it were to pass, and what’s likely to come next as Republicans seek to flatter their way out of this latest impasse. 

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Donald Trump’s anger at the media over his Iran fiasco is mounting. He snapped at a reporter for noting that Americans might not support spending $80 billion more on the war, as the Pentagon has requested. Trump even dubiously claimed the public would gladly support this. Then, at a rally, Trump seethed at the media for not being worshipful of his handling of the Iran talks. He also nonsensically suggested he’s solved the nuclear issue entirely. Trump is under immense pressure to show results: In a devastating segment, a Fox News anchor pointed to a new poll showing Trump’s approval on the economy at 33 percent. Then the anchor said this is lower than Joe Biden ever was at his absolute worst point, the most cutting piece of news Fox could have delivered. We talked to international relations expert Nicholas Grossman. We discuss his new piece explaining why time is not on Trump’s side in these talks, how all this is breaking up the Trump coalition in new ways, and what a disaster it could prove for JD Vance’s coming presidential run.

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Donald Trump’s renovation of the Reflecting Pool is a major fiasco, and it’s getting him angrier. In Truth Social posts, he raged at a journalist for covering the story. He fulminated that vandals had cut at 250-foot gash in the facade (which is entirely unverified). He hailed multiple arrests at the scene. He even angrily threatened 10 years in jail. Yet these arrests are only growing more questionable. One man detained is a 67-year-old former Olympian who said he just wanted to examine the peeling coating. Another person detained said she was merely pulling a piece of paint out of the water. These explanations, plus the tenuousness of Trump’s claims of vandalism, suggest a darker turn in the story. We talked to New Republic editor Michael Tomasky about his good piece on this whole mess. We discuss why Trump doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt on the arrests, why this story has deeper resonance for many ordinary people, and what it captures about Trump’s effort to destroy republican governance and turn Washington into an imperial capital, with himself in the role of “czar.”

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