Week 84 - The Return
Trump moves to end the war he started, without accomplishing any of his stated goals
Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.
This week, after days of strikes on Iran, which included a precision strike on a water plant serving 20,000 Iranians, Trump announced a “deal” with Iran on his 80th birthday. While Trump, and his front man on the deal, Vice President JD Vance, trumpeted the one-and-a-half page long memorandum of understanding, they also refused to release it publicly, even to members of the Gang of Eight, even days later.
Terms of the MOU did start to leak out nonetheless, with the NYT describing the deal as Trump winding down a war he started, with all his stated goals unmet. Trump’s main goal of ending Iran’s nuclear program, which he had claimed last June to having “obliterated,” was notably not addressed in any way. Trump continued to tout his deal as superior to former President Barack Obama’s JCPOA, which was negotiated without a war, but emerging details did not back that claim.
Meanwhile, Trump held an unprecedented spectacle on White House grounds for his birthday, incorporating the U.S. military, and using the White House as changing rooms for UFC fighters, in what critics called undignified and worse. The event culminated in the winning fighter referring to former First Lady Michelle Obama as a “man,” which Trump and his regime refused to condemn, and seemed to have been the main lingering vibe of the event. While the White House anticipated 125,000 would attend, the crowd was limited to thousands.
Meanwhile, the rest of Trump’s DC projects were in disarray. After spending $14.2 million to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in flag blue, days later the pool turned green as it filled with algae. Trump tried to avoid removing his name from the Kennedy Center, but lost, and so instructed the regime to cover the center with a giant tarp. Trump continued to fight for his White House ballroom, which he had repeatedly promised would be funded by donations, but as it turns out, looks to cost $600 million, not $400 million, half of which would be covered by taxpayers.
This week, when pressed on the impact of his policies and war on affordability for Americans, Trump said, “I love inflation,” a line likely to be widely featured in Democrats’ midterms advertisements. Trump was, for the first time, losing ground not only with white working-class voters, but also with rural voters. Meanwhile, this week’s list is full of examples of insiders like Elon Musk having the regime do his bidding, and Trump using the apparatus of the federal government to pursue his enemies.
Those of us old enough remember the bicentennial celebration in 1976, when Americans were treated to years-long events in celebration across the country, a time of unity and pride. Fifty years later, the country is in disarray, inequality reigns, corruption rules, and Trump this week threw away all pretensions and announced the July 4th event planned on the National Mall would be a “Trump rally.” That’s where our country finds itself at its 250th anniversary.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that just 16% of Americans said it was appropriate for Trump to hold UFC fights at the White House coinciding with his 80th birthday, including 31% of Republicans and 11% of Independents, while 46% said it was inappropriate.
NYT reported for the first time, Trump was losing ground with white working-class voters over his handling of the economy, viewed by voters as the most pressing issue. An NPR/PBS/Marist poll found 44% of these voters were more likely to vote for Democrats, up from 30% in 2018.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found that Trump’s approval in rural America was also at an all time low, as farmers facedhigher fuel and fertilizer costs and low crop prices. In February 2025, 60% of rural voters approved, 34% disapproved. In June 2026, 50% approved, while 48% disapproved.
On Thursday, WSJ reported that Trump allies were working on a plan to have GOP lawmakers pass a resolution that would effectively expunge Trump’s two first term impeachments. Experts on the Constitution said no procedure for removing an impeachment existed.
When asked about the resolution, Trump said, “It should be done because I did nothing wrong,” and “It was a rigged deal — it was a whole rigged situation.” The plan, which marked Trump and his regime’s latest effort to rewrite history, would be considered after midterms.
Shortly after, in a 195-word Truth Social rant, Trump attacked Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, who was involved with Trump’s impeachment trial, calling him a “loser in life, who worked endlessly during my First Term to impeach me, and failed miserably,” adding, “EXPEL THE BUM.”
On Friday, a federal judge extended her block on Trump ‘anti-weaponization’ fund indefinitely, after expressing frustration that none of the statements made by acting Attorney General Todd Blanche “have been made under the penalty of perjury.”
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a video that the DOJ had questioned friends and associates of him and his wife, claiming Trump was using the DOJ to seek retribution against his political enemies, especially as Newsom considered running for president.
Newsom’s office said the inquiries started around the time Trump said he planned to nominate Blanche, whom Newsom referred to as “the guy covering up the Epstein Files,” as attorney general. The probe was said to center on his wife.
Propublica reported that the EPA and a section of the DOJ, then under Deputy AG Blanche, dismissed a criminal probe over serial pollution offenses by coal mines owned by Republican Sen. Jim Justice, a Trump ally, despite prosecutors saying they had a strong case.
In a highly unusual move, the DOJ intervened in a pollution lawsuit against Trump donor Elon Musk’s data center in Mississippi for violating the Clean Air Act, saying Musk had the right to run dozens of polluting gas-burning turbines despite not having permits.
The DOJ memo, signed by Stanley Woodward Jr., the №3 DOJ official, also argued that the federal government should have unchallenged authority to stop environmental lawsuits brought by private groups or individuals. The NAACP called the intervention “remarkable.”
A Reuters analysis found that 96% of Trump’s clemency grants during his second regime went to recipients who had access to his inner circles, but did not meet longstanding DOJ guidelines. During his first regime, just 14% did not meet the guidelines. For Joe Biden it was 1%.
