HERE COMES TUESDAY

There are 181 days to the mid terms.

A new poll finds most Americans say they believe Trump is mentally and physically unfit to serve as president. The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll found 59% of respondents said Trump does not have the mental sharpness it takes to lead the country; 40% said he is mentally equipped for leadership; 55% said Trump is not in good enough physical health to serve as president, 44% disagreed. 54% said they do not believe he is a strong leader. 67% said they don’t think Trump carefully considers important decisions.

The fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is under threat of falling apart after Trump declared the U.S. would “guide” vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in an effort he called “Project Freedom.” In response, Iran’s armed forces said they would not allow passage to American combat forces or commercial ships without their authorization. Iran opened fire on U.S. warships in the Middle East on Monday and the U.S. military retaliated, destroying six Iranian small boats, according to Centcom leader Adm. Brad Cooper. The U.S. intercepted Iranian cruise missiles and drones as the Maladministration II launched “Operation Freedom,” an effort to get ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Multiple U.S. Navy destroyers are positioned in the Persian Gulf, Cooper said, adding the U.S. has cleared an “effective pathway” through Iran’s mines for commercial ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The vessels in the Persian Gulf represent 87 different countries, Cooper said. He added that the U.S. military has reached out to dozens of ships and shipping companies in the last 12 hours to “encourage traffic flow” through the Strait of Hormuz. With Iranians demonstrating they have the ability to attack shipping, it is unlikely many will use this option, since insurance would not cover a loss in this situation.

One of the points of governing that Trump has never grasped is that threats are not a form of policy. Trump’s War has been characterized by him threatening to drop more bombs. Iran has responded to these threats by ignoring or mocking them. Threats are only effective if they are taken seriously. Trump has been threatening for months, but he never follows through, so Iran doesn’t seem to believe him. After the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz, Trump responded with a blockade of the Strait that he said was designed to force the Iranians to the negotiating table, because they would run out of storage capacity for their oil, and be forced to shut down production. Trump’s new efforts to reopen the Strait are an admission that the blockade failed: The push to re-open the Strait of Hormuz with two US warship crossing it and two US-flagged merchant vessels, signals the Maladministration II realizes it can not keep waiting for the blockade to force Iran into the negotiation table. The timeline of what the blockade would do to the Iranian oil industry was completely wrong. The blockade was intended to instill urgency in Iran to end the war, but since it didn’t work, Trump is returning to threatening Iran. This is because he has no strategy or plan to end his war. Interviewed on Fux Snooze Monday, he issued a new threat, saying if the Iranians try to target US ships in this area, they will be, “ blown off the face of the earth.” He fails to understand that international displomacy doesn’t work with the same rules he used to skip payments to contractors in his Real Estate Mogul days. There is no plan; it’s just one desperate move after another while he gets more desperate to not be seen as the all-time loser he has always been.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continues to prove there is no connection between the brain and the bank account, saying Monday that “help is on the way” when it comes to gas prices. “Help is on the way as of today. The way to think about it is the market, because of the conflict around the strait, is in deficit about 10 million barrels a day, between 8 million and 10 million barrels a day right now,” Bessent said on Fux Snooze’s America’s Newsroom. “So, every crew carrier that goes through has about 2 million barrels, so four or five crew carriers a day coming through, of the pent-up demand, we think they’re more than 150, 200 crew carriers that can come out. So, I think the market’s going to be very well supplied.” That piece of bullshit is wholly depending on oil carriers’ insurance companies deciding that “Operation Freedom” will protect the ships, a fact not in evidence.

The alleged gunman charged in the storming of the WHCA Dinner may have just put Trump’s (In)Justice Department in an awkward position, according to a new legal analysis in MS NOW. If the Cole Allen assassination case goes to trial, prosecutors working for TrumpDOJ may find themselves in the uncomfortable position of reading accusations that the president is a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor” out loud to a jury to prove Allen intended to kill him, legal analyst Jordan Rubin laid out. Allen’s alleged manifesto, which prosecutors have cited in court filings to establish his intent, describes a “pedophile, rapist, and traitor” in a passage that DOJ lawyers have treated as a reference to the president, even as it never directly names Trump. “Again, the question in Allen’s case is not whether the president is any of those things. But if the case goes to trial, then prosecutors may find themselves in the unenviable position of having to explain that to a jury, while Pirro may find herself having to explain to Trump why he keeps hearing about it,” Rubin said.

Three nonprofits associated with dark money megadonor and architect of the conservative Supreme Court supermajority Leonard Leo funneled more than $50 million into the world’s largest lay Catholic organization, whose donations, in turn, advanced anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ+ causes, according to analysis of the two most recent years of tax returns. The Knights of Columbus, the all-male Catholic service organization commonly associated with local Tootsie Roll fundraisers and pancake breakfasts, spent eight figures on funding unregulated pregnancy centers, political initiatives campaigning against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and donated money to nonprofits directly tied to Leo, according to tax filings from 2023 and 2024.

Leo has a well-documented history of using his networks to funnel money to ultraconservative causes from working to limit access to abortion medication to supporting anti-trans laws.

U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes warned Monday of “serious consequences” if Maladministration II failed to get her approval before renovating a Washington, D.C., golf course. The D.C. Preservation League argued that Trump should not be allowed to take over the East Potomac Golf Links for renovations. For months, crews have dumped debris from the destruction of the White House’s East Wing at the golf course. “Despite attestations to the court, the Trump-Vance administration appears to be moving forward aggressively to shut down DC’s largest public golf course to explore another of the president’s pet projects to benefit himself,” the watchdog group said in a court filing. Reyes said it was too early to issue an emergency injunction but insisted there would be “serious consequences” if more than 10 trees were destroyed without her approval. “Attorneys for Trump Admin don’t have clear answers for why there were closure signs on the golf course,” correspondent Scott MacFarlane reported. “Judge is now concerned about a ‘surprise’ move against the golf course by Team Trump. Judge Reyes says she DOES NOT want surprises.”

The guy who thinks he’s the Big Bad Wolf is huffing and puffing again: Trump took a shot at Alison K. Hoagland, an architectural historian at the center of a lawsuit against his ballroom, after a judge blocked construction of the structure.In an opinion and order on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon said he was enjoining government officials from moving forward with the above-ground portions of ballroom construction at the White House. Trump initially reacted by pledging that no president “can ever be safe” without the ballroom. Trump returned to Truth Social later to denounce Hoagland: “The person who filed the meritless and lawless suit on the desperately needed White House Ballroom, being built as a GIFT to America (without Tax Dollars!), a woman walking her dog, has absolutely NO STANDING to bring such a monumentally important case against our Country. The Trump Hating Judge’s opinion is radically different from his first opinion, that was issued weeks ago, while still being unlawful and ambiguous, which never even addressed her COMPLETE lack of Standing. Every Political’ Pundit’ has said this case is meritless, even a JOKE, but it’s not a joke to me, or the people of America. Too much hard work, time, and money spent in order that a Judge can claim that he ruled against ‘DONALD TRUMP,’ something which I have gotten very used to, BUT WILL NOT ACCEPT!”

A new working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research, authored by Elizabeth Cox and Chloe N. East and flagged by New York Times economics reporter Lydia DePillis, suggests that not only has the mass deportation of immigrants not improved job prospects for American- born workers, it might actually be making them worse off. “In this paper, we provide the first, national, quasi-experimental evaluation of Trump 2.0’s immigration enforcement surge on the labor market outcomes of different demographic groups,” the authors wrote. “We show no evidence of positive effects of the labor market outcomes of U.S.-born workers in immigrant- heavy industries. If anything these U.S.-born workers are harmed as a result, likely due to complementarities in production between the different jobs undocumented immigrants and U.S.-born workers typically take.” In other words, the data shows the reduction in population and economic activity from deportations just causes employers to cut back operations, instead of giving those jobs to American-born workers. “Moreover, there is a negative and significant impact on employment of U.S.-born male workers with at most a high-school education, who work in likely affected sectors. This is consistent with a model where undocumented immigrants and U.S.-born workers are complements, rather than substitutes for each other in the labor market. We see no evidence that employers increase wages to attract U.S.-born workers to fill these jobs in the face of immigration enforcement. Instead, our results are consistent with employers reducing labor demand overall, including for jobs more often taken by U.S.-born workers.”

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore just made it harder for Trump to mess with the 2026 election, signing the Maryland Voting Rights Act of 2026 to ban election methods designed to reduce Black and minority voting power. The law also gives Maryland the authority to take violators to court before they can do damage. And it gives Moore a new path to redraw congressional districts ahead of November. Moore was clear about the stakes: “The voting rights we hold today are heirlooms fought for and secured by the generations before us, and we will not sit on the sidelines when those fundamental rights are threatened.” Moore didn’t stop there, slamming Trump directly: “I will not bend the knee. I think he’s very quickly learning that I’m a Marylander and I’m built different.” The regime’s midterm strategy just ran into a Maryland firewall. Other states should enact similar laws. Quickly.

Despite having been recently “swatted” at her home and being threatened with loss of her job by Bari Weiss, CBS 60 Minutes reporter Sharyn Alfonsi walked into the National Press Club where she accepted the Ridenhour Prize for Truth-Telling last Thursday. “Our industry is afraid of the wrong things - offending power, losing access. But what we should all be afraid of is silence. There is a fine line between being a team player and being an accomplice.”

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose, a Biden appointee based in Rhode Island, said Monday the “patently false” April 30 DHS press release headlined “Activist Biden Judge Releases Violent Criminal Illegal Alien Wanted for Murder” put her personal safety at risk and was still on the government’s website as of Monday’s hearing. The judge is considering holding Maladministration II officials in contempt of court after the DHS posted the press release, a claim the TrumpDOJ’s own attorney admitted in open court was false. “The April 30th, completely erroneous and dangerous press release is still on their website,” the judge complained. “It puts people at risk. It’s a threat to judicial security. I’m not trying to make this political. It’s also very important that the public has the facts. As long as this particular post is out there, it’s setting up a false narrative.” DOJ attorney Kevin Bolan apologized, acknowledging the release “simply was not true” and admitting he withheld knowledge of a Dominican Republic murder warrant from the judge on instructions from ICE, even though DHS had already publicly disclosed the warrant’s existence in an earlier press release. The judge noted Bolan could have simply filed the information under seal if confidentiality was a genuine concern. “There was a serious breakdown in the ethical codes here, a massive breach of this court’s trust.”

Jenna Ellis, the former attorney who defended Trump during his attempts to overturn the 2020 general election, claimed during her radio show “Jenna Ellis In The Morning,” that America’s freedom of religion protections are intended to allow Christians to “evangelize” their faith. She also called on Christians to be “more authoritative” in the public square. “The whole point of having a civil society that recognizes the principles of religious freedom is so that we can go and evangelize, so that we can practice our faith, so that we can train up our children in the way they should go. It’s so that we can preserve and protect the Christian way of life. We don’t have all of these protections for our rights that our founders recognize come from God, our creator, so that we can go out and live in a pluralistic society and say, ‘Well, let’s recognize the dignity of Islam. That’s not the point. That’s not the purpose whatsoever. We have a civil government that protects the right of Christians to be able to live and work.” I soo fucking hate “evangelical” christianists.

The UnSupreme Court cleared the way Monday for Louisiana to redraw its congressional map and dismantle a majority-Black district. The court’s brief order - declaring that the decision took effect “immediately” - was issued 6-3 along ideological lines, and was only the third time the court has allowed such rapid response to a ruling, this one gutted the VRA and returned American politics to the era of Jim Crow. Jackson, the lone dissenter, accused the majority of taking steps “to influence its implementation” of the ruling and suggested the court should have stayed out of it to avoid the appearance of partiality. “Not content to have decided the law,” Jackson wrote of the majority, “it now takes steps to influence its implementation.” The high court’s decision to “buck our usual practice,” she added, was “tantamount to an approval of Louisiana’s rush to pause the ongoing election in order to pass a new map.” Alito fired back, calling Jackson’s points in her dissent “trivial at best,” and “baseless and insulting.” “The dissent goes on to claim that our decision represents an unprincipled use of power,” Alito wrote in a concurrence joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. “That is a groundless and utterly irresponsible charge.” I always love how huffy con-servatives get when their “con” is exposed.

Democrats are feeling good about taking back control of JD Vance’s old Senate seat in Ohio. The one-time swing state has leaned heavily Republican in recent elections, but Democrats believe thing might be different in November because President Donald Trump won’t be on the ballot, and they sense voters have soured on his second term in the White House and will take out their frustration on GOP candidates. “We haven’t had any success in a long time,” said Chris Redfern, who chaired Ohio’s Democratic Party when Barack Obama won there in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections. “For me, it feels like there is a wave coming, and I’m not sure there’s anything Donald Trump and the MAGA right can do to stop it.” Cracks are showing. Lifelong Youngstown area resident Ron Yacobony, who backed Trump and Bernie Moreno in 2024, said he now plans to vote straight Democratic. “Republicans are so way out of line. I have to go all Democrat,” said the 71-year-old . “I try and change from time to time, depending on the situation, but we have to get some change in Washington, so I’m gonna go with as many Democrats as I can.”

Justice Alito granted an administrative stay of the 5th Circuit ruling banning mailing of Mifepristone. The timing suggests he was reluctantly dragged into granting the stay. Alito frequently acts within an hour or two when he is presented with a request for an administrative stay. In this case, he waited 48 hours before granting the stay, during which time patients and providers were adrift without guidance from the Supreme Court. The fact Alito was forced to grant an administrative stay suggests telehealth dispensing of Mifepristone is supported by at least five justices. That five conservative Catholic men control the reproductive rights of all women in America is another reason the Court must be radically reformed in 2029. Every Democratic national candidate in 2026 and 2026 must state their position on this issue or they should not receive your vote.

Remember, you are not the crazy ones, and we were made for these times.

“Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty, as we understand it.” - Abraham Lincoln

Dave Conant’s Fox and Ollie

The current media scene is a stark reminder of the importance of independent journalism. No billionaires. No oligarchs. No corporate media. No dark money PACS. None of us can do it alone. You are not the crazy ones. These are truly the times that try men’s and women’s souls. This is the fight of our lifetimes, and the challenge of our generation. I realize times are getting harder, which is why some readers understandably didn’t renew their subscriptions. There are free subscribers who read TAFM daily according to the site stats. If you folks happen to be in a position to help make up the gap, please consider joining the other paid subscribers here at That’s Another Fine Mess to keep things going. Across Substack, authors like me need your help! It’s only 21 cents a day. I am deeply thankful to those who have done so. Remember, independent media brought down Viktor Orbán - we can bring down Trump, with your support.

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