Tuesday, June 16, 2026

The Snapshot

Tuesday, June 16, 2026.  Chump's 'deal' with Iran remains shrouded in secrecy, news of JD Vance advocating to implement the Insurrection Act hits the news cycle just as he was presenting a kinder and gentler fake JD in his new book, the administration considered suspending habeas corpus and much more.


The 'deal' that we were told would be reached over last weekend hasn't been.  It's said now that it will be released on Friday at which point, We The People will know what our government agreed to.  Ben (MEIDASTOUCH NEWS) covers it in the video below. 





Several high-ranking U.S. officials are privately skeptical of the memorandum of understanding with Iran signed by the Trump administration, Axios reported on Monday.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance signed the memo with Iranian officials to put the countries on a pathway to end the war. Details of the arrangement are sparse, but it reportedly involves Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and agreeing to nuclear inspections. In exchange, the U.S. will end the naval blockade of Iran, unfreeze Iranian assets, and allow the country access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund. The latter provision has been both floated by Vance and denied by Trump.

Politicians and pundits have called on the administration to release the text of the memo.

On Monday, Axios reported that top officials in Trump’s circle have serious doubts about the deal. These include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. 



President Donald Trump isn’t likely to admit he shares a penchant for dealmaking with one of his predecessors, Bill Clinton, that’s become more evident with the opaque agreement to end the U.S. war with Iran.

The deal, which has lifted Asian and European stocks to record highs and looks set to power U.S. stocks back towards their record peaks of early June, takes a page out of Clinton’s Middle East playbook by unveiling a sweeping agreement on a key principal, but leaving the more difficult—and potentially deal-breaking—discussions for another day.



Further details will be sorted out in the next phase of negotiations, which is expected to last for roughly 60 days. That includes ironing out the process for destroying and disposing of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile.

“Our expectation is that the strait is going to be opened in a toll-free way for the long term, and that’s the sort of thing that we’re going to figure out in these technical negotiations,” Vance said, adding that the U.S. has “all the cards” in the talks.

Trump muddied matters Sunday by saying that Iran could immediately resume oil exports and that the U.S. would lift its blockade of Iranian ports once the agreement was signed. For weeks, administration officials asserted Iran would get no financial lifeline or relief from the blockade until it had followed through on dismantling its nuclear work. Iran insisted it would first get at least $12 billion from its frozen assets abroad before fresh nuclear talks begin, a statement U.S. officials quickly denied.

American lawmakers are already angling to have their say in approving or scuttling the accord. Democrats who opposed the war met Trump’s announcement with tepid support in hopes of reopening the strait. But some Republicans, largely supportive of Trump, still signaled their reservations.

“Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote,” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a prominent Iran hawk and Trump ally, said in a social-media post Sunday. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress.”






On the heels of his disappointing nonsense on Sunday, Chump is now planning a July 4th event -- a rally at the Lincoln Memorial entitled "Tribute to America." Riya Misra (POLITICO) notes:


It’s his latest effort to cast the nation’s marquee anniversary in his own likeness. On his 80th birthday Sunday, Trump transformed the White House lawn into a fighting ring, officially kicking off the birthday celebrations — both America’s and his — with one of his favorite sports. (Trump has been a decades-long fixture at Ultimate Fighting Championship matches, and CEO Dana White is a close friend).

“More than 300 Members of our strong and talented Military Bands, Orchestras, and Ceremonial Units, will perform Patriotic Melodies and American Classics,” he wrote, “and my Playlist (We will have none of those people that put you to sleep and constantly complain!) ....”

“Do not miss it,” he continued.

His face will be stamped on America 250-themed passports and coinage. And he’ll personally headline the Great American State Fair, a two-week showcase on the National Mall, after half of the event’s performers withdrew, citing concerns about the fair’s ties to Trump. Meanwhile, the fair will feature a slate of conservative outlets, including evangelical and religious groups, political advocacy organizations and an anti-LGBTQ+ ministry.


Only some people, please note, are invited to celebrate.  Leave it to Chump and his posse of hatred to bring in anti-LGBTQ+ ministry.   Hafiz Rashid (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:

One day after celebrating his 80th birthday with a UFC spectacle on the White House lawn, President Trump looked like he was feeling every bit his age while visiting France for the G7 summit.

Speaking with the media with French President Emmanuel Macron Monday, Trump was struggling to keep his eyes open as Macron praised the developments on peace with Iran, even as Macron often turned to Trump to acknowledge his efforts.
Later, appearing outdoors with Macron and his wife Brigitte, Trump looked tired and his right hand appeared swollen and discolored.

Sagging worse than Chump at the G7?  His poll numbers.  Cameron Adams (DAILY BEAST) notes:

Donald Trump has received an unwanted birthday present—a new poll showing his approval rating has hit a new low in his second term as president.

Trump, who turned 80 on Sunday, crashed out in the latest NBC News poll, awkwardly released on his birthday.

The polling found his approval rating among all American adults currently sits at 39 percent. Trump’s approval rating among registered voters dropped to 42 percent, matching his lowest point from July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and the reaction to the murder of George Floyd.
Almost two-thirds of independent voters disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, and there has been a slight fall in his support from Republicans.

Meanwhile Miss Sassy JD Vance is out promoting his latest book.  He talks about his "cat lady" remarks and calls it a mistake he's learned from.  He says nothing similar about the lie that Haitian immigrants were eating cats in Ohio.  More to the point, he says nothing about the Insurrection Act.  Something he called for invoking months ago.  



Top White House officials reportedly debated whether Donald Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act after federal agents killed two protesters in Minnesota, but feared the political and public relations blowback over images of U.S. troops on American streets.

The president repeatedly threatened to invoke the law in his nationwide campaign to rapidly deport tens of thousands of people from Democratic-led cities patrolled by hundreds of masked and heavily armed officers.
But discussions reportedly came to a head after federal immigration agents fatally shot Renee Good and Alex Pretti during January’s demonstrations in Minneapolis, according to Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of The New York Times for their forthcoming book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

Days after Pretti was killed, Vice President JD Vance reportedly walked into the office of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles to make the case that the president should send a message to protesters by invoking the Insurrection Act.

Trump’s opponents warned for months that a surge of militarized Homeland Security officers would only stir up more unrest, giving the president an opening to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty troops into cities run by his political enemies.

A previously unreported confidential memo was circulated among White House officials in October 2025 as the president publicly declared his right to invoke the Insurrection Act to crush protests against his mass deportation efforts.


That was only one of the horrendous things the administration was plotting.  Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

Last spring, Will Scharf, an arch-conservative lawyer serving as the White House staff secretary, wrote a secret memo to the chief of staff that reflected growing unease in the West Wing about one of the extreme measures being weighed by Stephen Miller, the powerful adviser driving President Trump’s deportation campaign.

Dated April 29, 2025, and stamped “confidential,” the memo was careful and lawyerly but amounted to a warning against end-running the rule of law. The subject line read: “THE WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS.”

Habeas corpus — the centuries-old right to force the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked a person up — is enshrined in Article I of the Constitution. Mr. Scharf’s memo, in its unassuming way, was a blinking red warning light. The second Trump White House was deliberating an explosive new claim of presidential power: the suspension of habeas rights for unauthorized immigrants.

The suspension of habeas corpus has occurred just a handful of times in U.S. history, and always under the most dire circumstances of war or invasion. Yet to a greater degree than previously known, administration officials, encouraged by Mr. Trump, actively weighed taking that step in the early months of his second term — this time to accelerate the mass deportation of immigrants in the country illegally.

[. . .]

The Constitution, Mr. Scharf wrote in his memo to Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, permits suspension of habeas corpus only in cases of rebellion or invasion. Courts have almost uniformly held that only Congress can do it.

He added: “Even where Congress has explicitly suspended habeas corpus rights, the Supreme Court has held that some alternative process must be provided to defendants, with procedural safeguards akin to a habeas corpus action.”


Some members of the administration were angling to throw out the Constitution.  So when one of them says that -- "thorw out the Constitution" -- in a live interview on TV, we need to be alarmed.  Sunday, a Cabinet Secretary did just that.  In other news, Alex Galbraith (SALON) notes:

Department of Homeland Security head Markwayne Mullin said he’s willing to go to extreme lengths to fight the nonexistent scourge of voter fraud in the upcoming midterm elections.

The Republican senator from Oklahoma told CNN‘s Dana Bash that he’s ready to “throw out the Constitution” to make sure “only citizens of the United States are voting.”

“What we want to make sure is that every vote actually counts, that we’re not having games like you might see in sanctuary cities. I’m not saying they are,” he said. “Democrats always want to throw out the Constitution all the time. Well, great, let’s throw out the Constitution.”

When Bash gave Mullin a questioning look, he immediately backpedaled.

“I mean, not throw it out. Throw it out as an argument,” he said. “I’m glad you had that look on your face.”


No, he meant throw out the Constitution.  He's an idiot.  He took an oath to the Constitution when he was sworn in the US Senate and he took an oath to it when he became Secretary of Homeland Security.  Someone doesn't appear smart enough to grasp what taking an oath means. 

The next time he appears before Congress, he needs to be asked about those remarks. 







Meanwhile, Aaron Blake (CNN) examines Chump's vainty projects:


President Donald Trump’s efforts to turn his second term into a big vanity project largely focused on himself are looking increasingly messy.

It would be one thing for him to go to such great lengths to build an elaborate White House ballroom and slap his name on buildings in the best of times; but Trump’s timing would seem exceedingly tone deaf, given most Americans are more concerned about their own pocketbooks than honoring a historically unpopular president.

And repeatedly in recent days and weeks, the administration’s initiatives have run into roadblocks and its efforts to embellish Washington, DC, (often by skirting the law) have looked rather haphazard.

Perhaps most striking was Trump’s setback at the Kennedy Center.

After he effectively hijacked the center’s board by installing loyalists, the board moved to — surprise! — put Trump’s name on the building late last year. They added it alongside the deceased president whose name was on the building as a matter of federal law.

But after the courts predictably ruled that was illegal, the administration has had to confront the optics of taking Trump’s name off the building. As I wrote earlier this month, that removal threatened to be “an indelible — and telling — image.”

And lo, when the Kennedy Center was compelled to take Trump’s name off the building this weekend, it was conveniently done in the middle of the night. Scaffolding was constructed and tarps were hung to obstruct those assembled from viewing it.

By Monday, the face of the building was still covered up.

Speaking of things not exactly going according to plan: Trump and many allies have celebrated his administration’s legally dubious effort to paint the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial’s Reflecting Pool dark blue.

While perhaps a commendable idea, the cost of the project ballooned from Trump’s initial estimate of $1.8 million to more than $14 million. The contractor was also given a no-bid contract, which is generally reserved for special circumstances. The New York Times also reported that the company was allowed a profit margin much higher than normal, according to a National Park Service analysis.

And now, less than a week after Trump announced the project was finished, the Reflecting Pool has been overrun with algae, turning the water a familiar shade of green.


With more on The Kennedy Center, let's note Liz Dye (ABOVE THE LAW): 



This weekend, two formerly lauded public institutions humiliated themselves in spectacular fashion. By Sunday, one was shrouded in thousands of yards of tarpaulin — a translucent prophylactic, hiding an old man’s flaccid defeat. The other dangled limply in the breeze, its useless degradation on full display.

The occasion of this display of onanism was the courts’ refusal to let Trump rechristen the Kennedy Center in honor of himself. After booting the prior board, he filled out the roster with cronies and wives of cronies, led by “an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” His henchmen, including sentient s[**]tpost Ric Grenell, as executive director, set about alienating every artist to the left of Lee Greenwood. By happenstance, the patriotic pop singer is the only artist currently on the Kennedy Center’s Board.

In December, the Board announced that it had agreed to rename the institution “The Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.” The decision was “unanimous,” thanks to the recently amended bylaws, which purported to strip voting rights from ex officio trustees. The steady trickle of artist cancellations increased to a tsunami. Faced with the evaporation of the 2026 season, the Board voted to shut the Center down entirely for two years, accelerating a planned renovation that had been scheduled to take place in stages to allow performances to continue.

Rep. Joyce Beatty, one of those disenfranchised ex officio board members, sued to block the changes, and on May 29, she won. Judge Christopher Cooper granted summary judgment on the name change and the voting issue, ruling that the Board’s actions violated the plain language of the Kennedy Center’s organic statute. He issued a preliminary injunction voiding the vote to shut the place down, finding that the Trump trustees violated their fiduciary duty consider the long-term health of the institution when they simply obeyed Trump’s demand to close up shop.

The judge ordered the Center to reverse the name change and remove all signage within 14 days, and initially it looked like the Board intended to comply. On June 4, management sent a memo to the remaining staff instructing them to immediately remove all references to the “Trump” Kennedy Center from the website and their email signatures. But then on June 11, just hours before the deadline, the Board noticed its appeal to the DC Circuit and requested that Judge Cooper stay his ruling.

That motion was pretty desultory, even by the low standards of the current DOJ — just five mumbled pages, rehashing rejected arguments and asserting without evidence that taking Trump’s name off the building would decimate fundraising. Judge Cooper rejected it in a cursory minute order citing “both the de minimis resources that would be required to restore the Center’s current name in the event of a successful appeal and the lack of record evidence linking increased donations to the current name.”

As this was going on, workers began constructing scaffolding in front of the building, and a crowd gathered to watch Trump’s name come down — our own little toppling of the Saddam statue. Construction stopped mid-afternoon, putatively because of a brief rain shower, but more likely because the Justice Department had filed an emergency request for a stay from the DC Circuit.


Let's wind down with this from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

New Trustees Report reveals Trump’s policies accelerate Social Security Trust Fund insolvency as top Republicans threaten Social Security benefit cuts

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) pressed President Donald Trump on Republican threats to Social Security after a new Trustees Report revealed that Republican policies are accelerating Social Security’s insolvency. The letter also follows a series of comments from Trump administration officials and Republican leaders in Congress suggesting that they support benefit cuts.

“[T]hese comments cast fresh doubt on your ‘sacred pledge’ to ‘always protect Social Security’ – and your failure to respond to our previous requests for assurances – we urge you to clarify the administration’s stance on raising the retirement age,” wrote the senators.

The Social Security Administration's 2026 Trustees Report revealed that Trump and Congressional Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) will worsen the trust fund's finances and accelerate its insolvency.

Republicans have long supported increasing the retirement age, privatizing Social Security, or otherwise cutting Social Security benefits — and some have continued to make explicit threats even after Trump promised not to ‘touch’ Social Security. Just last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson indicated that Republicans intend to cut Social Security, along with Medicare and Medicaid, if they are in a position to do so next Congress. Social Security Commissioner Frank Bisignano previously indicated that raising the retirement age — a critical cut to Americans’ benefits — is under consideration.

A Senate Republican in a March Budget Committee hearing also suggested raising the retirement age — which would, in practice, reduce the median retiree’s monthly benefits and disproportionately harm low-income seniors. And Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mehmet Oz called for Americans to delay their retirement and work longer in order to pay for the federal deficit, which Trump’s OBBBA increased.

“The new estimates showing that your OBBBA will hasten the demise of the Social Security trust fund, the ongoing pattern of comments suggesting that Republicans will seek to increase the retirement age or otherwise cut Social Security benefits, and the SSA customer service chaos that is occurring under your watch and making it more difficult for older Americans to interact with the agency when they need assistance raise new questions about whether you will break – or are already – breaking your promise to ‘not touch’ Social Security,” wrote the senators.

"Raising the retirement age – or otherwise cutting benefits – only worsens the looming retirement income crisis, and, as we outlined in our initial letter to you, doing so hurts older Americans, cutting monthly benefits and forcing millions into poverty," continued the senators.

The senators pressed President Trump for answers to a series of questions regarding the administration's plans for Social Security, including whether he supports raising the retirement age, whether he would veto legislation that increases the age of eligibility for Social Security, and whether White House officials have discussed raising the retirement age with Administrator Oz. The senators requested a response by June 27, 2026.

Senator Warren has introduced legislation that would expand Social Security benefits by $2,400 a year and ensure Social Security is fully funded for the next 75 years while not raising taxes on over 91 percent of American households.

Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room coordinates Democrats’ fight to defend Social Security, encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them, and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits:

  • In June 2026, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), pressed Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano and three former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers on an alarming new whistleblower account detailing Trump administration plans to mark 2.7 million people as dead in a Social Security database as part of its immigration enforcement agenda.

  • In April 2026, Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, led by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), published a new report highlighting how, in its first year, it has fought to protect Americans’ Social Security benefits.

  • In March 2026, at a hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Dan Adcock of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare about Republicans’ plans to raise the retirement age.

  • In March 2026, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Ranking Member of the Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Ranking Member of the Committee on Finance Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) launched a new investigation into the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ongoing customer service crisis reaching new extremes, the latest from Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room.

  • In March 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representatives Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), and James Moylan (R-GU) led over 30 lawmakers in introducing the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Restoration Act, a bipartisan bill to strengthen critical SSI benefits that support nearly 8 million seniors and Americans with disabilities.

  • In December 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), a member of the Senate Finance Committee, and U.S. Representative Gabe Amo (D-RI-01) introduced the Social Security Survivor Benefits Equity Act, bicameral legislation to increase the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) lump-sum death benefit, which covers costs associated with cremation or burials for surviving family members, to account for inflation.

  • In December 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.); Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee; Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP); and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, wrote to Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano, pressing him on reports that the agency has a new goal of slashing field office visits by nearly 15 million annually.

  • In November 2025, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), both leading members of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, launched a probe into Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano’s tenure as chief executive officer at Fiserv.

  • In October 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) led Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), and Senators Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) in introducing the Social Security Emergency Inflation Relief Act.

  • In September 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy, and Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room leaders today introduced the Keep Billionaires Out of Social Security Act.

  • In July 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leader of the Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, secured key commitments and admissions from Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Frank Bisignano during a private meeting.

  • In June 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, pressed top Trump administration officials on how President Trump’s chaotic tariffs — paired with his efforts to dismantle the Social Security Administration — are harming America’s seniors.

  • In May 2025, U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member on the Senate Aging Committee, pressed new Commissioner of the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano on reported plans to recategorize thousands of workers as Schedule F “policy-making” employees.

  • In May 2025, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Aging Committee Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) welcomed newly-confirmed Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Frank Bisignano to the agency with copies of 17 letters — containing nearly 200 unanswered questions — the lawmakers had previously sent to the SSA under Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek.

  • In April 2026, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Ranking Member on the Senate Special Committee on Aging Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) led a coalition of over 100 Congressional Democrats in writing to the Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Leland Dudek, to demand that he keep Social Security field offices open.

###






The following sites -- plus Ann's "Chump, Rogan and Hokit" and Rebecca's "chump is a failure" --  updated:



at