May 23, 2026

Darlene Superville & Alanna Richer of the AP: “The U.S. Secret Service shot a person near the White House on Saturday, and a bystander also was shot, a law enforcement official said. Both individuals were said to be in critical condition, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. Journalists working at the White House on Saturday reported hearing a series of gunshots and were told to seek shelter inside the press briefing room. On X, the Secret Service said it was 'aware of reports of shots fired near 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW' — one block from the White House — and was 'working to corroborate the information with personnel on the ground.' It said it will have an update shortly.” ~~~

     ~~~ Christopher Mele of the New York Times: “Allison Robbert, a photographer for The New York Times, said that about 20 to 30 gunshots were heard from the north lawn of the White House. 'Journalists heard it from outside the press room and were ushered inside by Secret Service,' she said in a text message.... [Donald] Trump was at the White House at the time. Selina Wang, a senior White House correspondent for ABC News, posted a video on social media of her recording a report when what sounds like gunfire can be heard in the background.” At 8:00 pm ET Saturday, this is a breaking news story. A breaking news Washington Post story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: At 8:00 pm ET, I'm hearing an MS NOW report that the person with the gun was taken to a hospital and died there. 

Marie: I have seen reporting since this morning that the White House posted Trump's violent slop on its Website. This matters because we taxpayers are paying for the maintenance and updating of that site. It's disgusting.

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Better Than Jesus. Heather Cox Richardson on Lyndon Johnson's hopes for a "Great Society," articulated in a commencement address on May 22, 1964. Marie: I don't really mean here that Johnson was "better than Jesus." For one thing, I am pretty convinced that Jesus is a literary character and was not a real person (or at least was an amalgam of a number of real messianic pretenders, to whom a lot of imaginary accomplishments were ascribed). What I mean instead is that the Gospel writer Matthew claimed Jesus said, "The poor you will always have with you." Johnson said to the graduates, "not necessarily": "You have the chance never before afforded to any people in any age.... Will you join in the battle to give every citizen an escape from the crushing weight of poverty?... There are those timid souls who say this battle cannot be won; that we are condemned to a soulless wealth. I do not agree. We have the power to shape the civilization that we want. But we need your will, your labor, your hearts, if we are to build that kind of society." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Johnson's initiatives made great progress. But it turns out that there is a huge swath of Americans who are not timid, after all; they are aggressively opposed to equal opportunity, equal justice and most democratic values. You see these confederates still dominating the South, currently running the White House and the Supreme Court, controlling Congress. I think Richardson means to say that what the country needs again is "your will, your labor, your hearts" to rebuild the great society Johnson envisioned.  

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: “By pretty much any estimation..., [Donald] Trump has had a very bad week. New poll numbers show his approval rating has hit a second-term low. He is weighing whether to restart a bombing campaign in an unpopular war against Iran. Gas prices are high and inching higher heading into Memorial Day weekend. And his grip over Republican lawmakers is beginning to slip after he proposed a pair of deeply unpopular spending items, prompting an unusual revolt from the Senate. When faced with such a backlash ahead of midterm elections, many politicians would pivot, redirecting their focus to issues they are on stronger footing with. But Mr. Trump has decided to double down, presenting himself as politically all-powerful even in the face of indications that he is not.... He seems comfortable burning whatever political capital he has in order to leave his legacy, even if it drags his party down in the process.”

He Really Doesn't Know What's Going On. Sadiba Hasan & Tammy LaGorce of the New York Times: “Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, married Bettina Anderson, a Palm Beach socialite and influencer, on Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla., according to Palm Beach County marriage records. The marriage certificate listed Brad McPherson, a real estate attorney who has worked with the Trump family and is married to Anderson’s sister, as the officiant. The couple was believed to be heading to a private island in the Bahamas, where a larger celebration was reportedly planned. Although ... [Donald] Trump[, Sr.] said he would not be attending the wedding celebrations, he offered the couple his blessing in a post on Truth Social on Friday. 'While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Jr., and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon-to-be wife, Bettina,' he wrote, 'circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Um, the kids got married on Thursday, and on Friday Pops -- a/k/a the POTUS* -- still doesn't know it? Why is that? On its face, it appears Donnie J. & Bettina didn't invite Dad to the wedding. To keep the nuptials a secret from the old man is a fairly extreme way of saying "You're not welcome here." I remember when we had a real president and the kids loved him: ~~~

⭐Warren Strobel of the Washington Post: “Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is resigning from the Trump administration, she said Friday, after her husband was diagnosed with an extremely rare bone cancer. Gabbard informed the White House that June 30 would be her last day as the U.S. intelligence czar. Her departure ends a stormy 15-month tenure in which the former Democratic congresswoman was largely excluded from ... Donald Trump’s inner national security circle, even as she pushed his political priorities on election security, declassification and Russia’s role in the 2016 presidential contest.” At 2:00 pm ET, this was a developing story. (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ From a New York Times liveblog. Tyler Pager: “In a post on Truth Social..., [Donald] Trump shared Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation letter and thanked her for her service in the administration as the director of national intelligence. 'Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her,' he wrote. The president said Gabbard’s deputy, Aaron Lukas, will take over as the acting director.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Jonathan Landay & Erin Banco of Reuters, published by Yahoo! News: "A source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House.... A senior White House ‌official said then that Trump had expressed displeasure with Gabbard in recent months. Another source with direct knowledge of the matter said the president had asked allies for their thoughts on potential replacements for his intelligence chief.” 

Dustin Volz & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “The White House has approved a secret $9 billion request to acquire the cutting-edge computer chips that America’s spy agencies need to tap into the full capabilities of the latest artificial intelligence models, according to current and former U.S. officials. New A.I. models use enormous amounts of computer power, more than many technology experts anticipated even a year or two ago. That has fueled concerns in the White House and in Congress that a chip shortage is causing intelligence agencies to fall behind in testing and deploying the tools for top-secret espionage work, the officials said. The additional funding reflects how integral A.I. platforms have become to national security. The technology has helped the military and spy agencies sift through massive amounts of intelligence and is particularly valuable for tasks like finding overlooked communications intercepts.

“The $9 billion request is intended in part to boost the availability of infrastructure that can support Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell superchip, which requires data centers that can supply enormous amounts of electrical energy and specialized liquid cooling systems. Congress still must approve that funding, but the administration is also reprogramming $800 million for a more rapid acquisition of computing capacity.Even larger sums will likely be needed in the future, according to experts.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Since the request, when approved, will funnel billions to Nvidia, I'd assume that this plan has been in the pipeline since before Trump made some or all of his big Nvidia stock buys earlier this year. 

Ryan Reilly & Kyla Guilfoil of NBC News: “The Justice Department has removed press releases detailing the charges against hundreds of individuals who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot from its website, the department confirmed Friday.... 'We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration,' [a] post [on a DOJ X account read]. 'We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.'... The move to wipe hundreds of press releases from the official government site is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to reframe the Jan. 6 siege and to paint the rioters who participated in it as victims.”   

Oh my, Toady Todd had a very bad week: ~~~ 

~~~⭐Alan Feuer of the New York Times: “A federal judge on Friday dismissed the criminal case against the immigrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, ruling that the Trump administration had brought human smuggling charges against him as part of a vindictive effort to punish him for challenging his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year. The ruling by the judge, Waverly D. Crenshaw Jr., was a stinging rebuke of both the Justice Department and its top official, Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general. Judge Crenshaw singled out Mr. Blanche for criticism in his 32-page opinion, pointing to statements he had made that prosecutors reawakened a dormant investigation into Mr. Abrego Garcia only after a different judge in Maryland questioned the administration’s decision to deport him — along with scores of other immigrants — to a notorious Salvadoran prison in March 2025. The decision, filed in Federal District Court in Nashville, marked the first time that a judge had dismissed a case brought by ... [Donald] Trump’s Justice Department for being rooted in vindictive motives.” (Also linked yesterday.) the AP's story is here.

Brennan Leach & Kyla Guilfoil of NBC News: “Screaming, yelling and accusations of self-dealing. That’s how Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday described a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund that’s drawn bipartisan opposition. On his podcast 'Verdict with Ted Cruz,' the Texas senator described the meeting as 'one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.... My guess is there’re probably 45 senators in the room, at least half of them were blasting the attorney general, and they were pissed.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Don't think this means Spineless Ted has had a backbone implant. Here's what else he said: "They were screaming at the acting attorney general, and he was trying to lay out the legal basis... The legal basis is quite sound.” 

Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A coalition of individuals and groups says it was targeted by an overzealous Justice Department under ... [Donald] Trump in a lawsuit filed on Friday, challenging the $1.8 billion fund the president said would be created for victims of a 'weaponized' federal government. The lawsuit presented a novel approach to challenging the fund, which legal experts have warned could be hard to fight in court because of the difficulty of pointing to an individual or group directly harmed by the fund.... The Trump administration has left little doubt that the fund is designed to steer money toward many of Mr. Trump’s supporters, including those convicted of breaking the law on the president’s behalf. The lawsuit filed Friday claims that explicit partisan favoritism, alone, could make the fund illegal. 'By its own terms, the anti-weaponization fund is available only to claimants who assert that they were targeted by “Democrat” administrations, even though the current administration has weaponized the awesome power of the federal government against its perceived political opponents like no other administration before it,' the lawsuit said.” Here's an NBC News story by Ryan Reilly.

Marie: Yesterday I linked a New York Times op-ed by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) re: Don's Giant Slush Fund. Here's a new link that appears to be a gift link.  

The Cruelty Is the Point. Madeleine Ngo & Albert Sun of the New York Times: “The Trump administration said on Friday that most foreigners seeking green cards will have to return to their home countries to apply, an extraordinary change that could make it more difficult for hundreds of thousands of people to obtain permanent residency. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that oversees the legal immigration system, said it would grant green cards to people inside the country only in 'extraordinary circumstances.' People applying for permanent residency will have to go through consular processing outside the country instead, according to a memo issued by the agency.” (Also linked yesterday.) A Guardian story is here.

Apoorva Mandavilli & Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Friday said that it would block entry into the country for some legal permanent residents who had been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan, citing a limited ability to screen and monitor people who may have been exposed to Ebola. The announcement by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was a response to a rapidly accelerating Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is estimated to have sickened 750 people and killed 177. Health officials think that the deadly virus may have been spreading for weeks or even months. Two cases have been reported in neighboring Uganda.”

How to Quash an Investigation? Try Giving the Investigators $5 Million. Theodore Schleifer & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Howard Lutnick..., [Donald] Trump’s secretary of commerce, made a $5 million donation last month to a committee supporting House Republicans, an unusually large contribution for a sitting cabinet secretary. The donation was made on April 1, four weeks after the House Oversight Committee arranged to interview Mr. Lutnick about his ties to the sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein. The closed-door interview took place on May 6. Mr. Lutnick gave the money to the Congressional Leadership Fund, the main super PAC behind House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson, according to a new filing made public on Thursday.... Lawmakers have been scrutinizing his ties to Mr. Epstein since January, when the government released millions of pages of records related to Mr. Epstein. Mr. Lutnick[’s] ... name appeared in more than 250 documents in the Epstein files....”  (Also linked yesterday.) 

Marie: Some of the people's representatives are pretty damned stupid. But some are also insane. Answering questions of reporters outside the Capitol on Thursday, Rep.  Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said, "January 6th was an issue that was made up in the first place.... That was a staged thing from day one.... There was a riot there, but it was a self-made riot by members [of the House] who hate Trump." The thing is, it appears that Norman was at the Capitol during the insurrection. He experienced it first-hand. And here's what he wrote about it that day. ~~~

     ~~~ digby points out that Rep. Norman had a much different perspective on January 6, 2021. Here's what he wrote in a two-part X post: "This is utterly unacceptable.... I condemn in the STRONGEST possible terms the actions of rioters who have breached the Capitol Building, attacked US Capitol Police, and in doing so, have jeopardized the safety and lives of everyone on Capitol Hill.... As the U.S. Capitol Police and other supporting law enforcement agencies get this situation under control, I cannot say enough about their bravery and heroism. Thank God for these men and women." He included a screenshot of a Fox "News" report that shows federal agents, their guns drawn, defending the doors of the House Chamber. Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ MB: digby attributes Norman's remarks yesterday to his membership in a Trump cult. Cult or not, I think Norman is insane. Maybe the experience of the insurrection was so traumatic it caused him to suffer a form of PTSD; maybe it's something else. But he's crazy. He is not fit for public office.

Jasmine Fernandez of the Independent: “... Donald Trump has shared a heavily edited, AI-generated video on Truth Social Friday evening, targeting Stephen Colbert following the final broadcast of The Late Show the night before. The doctored clip depicts the president walking up behind the late-night host, physically lifting him and depositing him into a dumpster. The video then cuts to Trump dancing to the song 'YMCA' by the Village People before a cheering crowd.... Following the show’s final broadcast Thursday, Trump praised the conclusion of the program on social media, writing that Colbert was a 'total jerk' with 'no talent, no ratings, no life.' 'Thank goodness he’s finally gone!' Trump wrote on Truth Social.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I wouldn't normally post slop like this, but I think you should see what the violent old fart who pretends to be president does. I started the video at the critical point. The bit Trump published lasts only a few seconds: ~~~

 

John Koblin of the New York Times: “Stephen Colbert wrapped up his tenure as host of 'The Late Show' with his most-watched show in more than a decade. The series finale of 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' drew 6.7 million viewers on Thursday night, the biggest audience for his show since a post-Super Bowl episode in February 2016, according to preliminary data from Nielsen. The finale was Mr. Colbert’s most-watched weeknight episode on record. The audience total will only grow in the coming days when additional data is factored in.... Thursday’s episode tripled his usual audience this season, when Mr. Colbert averaged 2.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen. (When delayed viewing is factored in, Mr. Colbert’s audience is roughly 2.7 million viewers.)... But ... Thursday’s viewership was nowhere close to the audiences that Jay Leno and David Letterman amassed for their final episodes several years ago.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's the late-nite finale I remember. It was pretty fine. 

“Good night, and good luck.” Jasmine Fernandez of the Independent: “CBS News Radio will cease operations Friday night, marking the end of nearly a century of broadcasting across the United States. The service, which provided news programming to an estimated 700 stations nationwide, is shutting down due to financial pressures, as reported by CBS News. The closure was announced in March, with parent company executives citing 'challenging economic realities' as the reason for the decision. First hitting the airwaves in September 1927, the network became a cornerstone of American media. CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said in a joint statement that the radio service 'served as the foundation for everything we have built since 1927.' They stated that its signature broadcast, the World News Roundup, finishes its run as the longest-running newscast in the country.” ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The "challenging economic reality" is that CBS is owned by a philistine billionaire who cares only about "revenue streams" and has absolutely no sense of public responsibility.  

Sulzberger Names Names. Gregory Svirnovskiy of Politico: “New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger slammed ... Donald Trump’s incursions on press freedom and chastised the news outlets he accused of caving to White House pressure in a speech Thursday night.... 'It serves no one to sidestep the reality that President Trump has used an increasingly broad suite of tools and powers to go after the press far more aggressively than his modern predecessors,' Sulzberger said at a Yale Law School event in New York City, according to a transcript of his remarks posted by the Times. He listed off the Pentagon’s loyalty policy for the press, which a federal judge ruled unconstitutional in March; Trump’s lawsuits against the Des Moines Register, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC; and CBS’s altered programming, personnel and policies under its new owner, David Ellison. Sulzberger reprehended publications he said have settled 'winnable cases' with the president, refocused their editorial pages away from White House criticism and adopted Trump’s favored language in their reporting, such as swapping out the Gulf of Mexico for the Gulf of America — all to 'appease the administration or advance their business interests.'”

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Cuba. David Adams, et al., of the New York Times: “People in Cuba are enduring food shortages, near-constant blackouts and suffocating heat. For many, the only relief comes in packages from relatives hundreds of miles away in Miami. As the island nation faces economic collapse under the U.S. oil blockade, South Floridians are rushing to ship ... staples to hungry relatives.... Some pay off-the-books couriers known as 'mulas,' or mules, who fly to Cuba to deliver goods or envelopes of American cash.” Sending food to Cubans is controversial for a number of reasons.