Category: Bullying

Donald Trump’s rhetorical style is straight out of middle school. He’s like an eighth-grade girl.

Trump Threatens Iran After Escalating Military Strikes

Trump threatened Iran with unspecified consequences for negotiation delays, stating “Iran will pay the price” after weeks of claiming a deal was imminent. His warning followed U.S. military strikes against Iran on Tuesday in response to Iran downing an Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz, after which Iran launched retaliatory strikes on American bases in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait early Wednesday. The escalation tested a ceasefire that began April 8, though a Qatari delegation arrived in Tehran Wednesday to attempt bridging remaining gaps between U.S. and Iranian negotiators.

Trump’s threat marked a sharp reversal from his repeated claims over two months that a breakthrough was imminent. Just 48 hours before his “pay the price” post, Trump had claimed 38 times in two months that a deal was days away, and expressed reluctance about renewed military action. Yet after the helicopter incident, he authorized fresh strikes framed as a warning and did not rule out further targeting of Iranian infrastructure, telling Fox News on Wednesday “I may keep going.”

Fundamental disputes block agreement, including control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear program, with the Trump administration’s wil

(Source: https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/09/world/live-news/iran-war-trump-israel)lingness to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets remaining contested. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the U.S. and Israel of “repeated ceasefire violations” and stated diplomacy cannot “take place in a vacuum,” signaling Tehran’s willingness to continue talks despite the military exchange. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for moving beyond the current “state of neither war nor peace,” suggesting negotiations remain the path forward.

The strikes damaged Iranian infrastructure, with at least 20,000 Iranians losing access to drinking water after two reservoirs were struck. Regional condemnation of Iran’s retaliatory action was swift: Egypt’s foreign ministry condemned the strikes “in the strongest terms,” while Qatar described them as a “flagrant breach of international law.” Energy forecasters warned oil prices will remain elevated through at least July, with Brent crude expected to average $105 per barrel, contradicting Trump’s repeated claims that prices will plunge once an Iran deal materializes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Israeli military actions in Syria and Lebanon, warning of regional consequences and accusing Israel of pursuing delusions about territorial expansion. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by attacking Erdogan as an “antisemitic dictator” and reaffirming Israel’s intent to continue military operations against Iran and its proxies. The competing regional dynamics underscore the complexity of achieving a sustainable agreement amid escalating tensions across multiple fronts.

Wall Street Falls as Strong Jobs Data Signals Fed Rate Hikes

Wall Street experienced a sharp sell-off Friday after the U.S. economy added 172,000 jobs in May, nearly double the expected 88,000, triggering investor concerns about higher interest rates. The Dow Jones declined 0.55%, the Nasdaq fell 3%, and the S&P 500 dropped almost 2% as traders bet the Federal Reserve would raise rates from the current 3.5-3.75% range to 3.75-4% by December. Higher borrowing costs directly threaten tech companies' massive AI infrastructure investments, which currently rely on hundreds of billions in loans.

President Trump responded to the market decline by stating "stocks should go up, not down" and claiming "Growth does not mean inflation," contradicting basic economic relationships between employment, demand, and price pressures that inform Fed decision-making. Trump's assertion that strong job growth automatically benefits stock valuations ignored the market's rational response to inflation signals and the Fed's inflation-fighting mandate.

The Friday downturn extended a broader market decline driven by concerns over tech sector valuations. Microchip maker Broadcom's underwhelming earnings report Thursday sparked fears of overvaluation among major technology firms, erasing over $650 billion from the value of America's semiconductor giants in a single trading session.

Tech stocks face compounding headwinds from rising interest rate expectations and deteriorating earnings outlooks. The sector's reliance on cheap capital to fund AI expansion becomes untenable as borrowing costs rise, forcing a reckoning with inflated asset valuations that assumed continued low-rate financing.

Brendan Carr slams fired CBS journalist Scott Pelley’s remarks

FCC Chair Brendan Carr attacked Scott Pelley, the veteran CBS News correspondent fired on June 5, 2026, after the journalist told the New York Times he had not anticipated his termination. Carr, speaking on social platform X, declared that Pelley was “completely out of touch” and claimed his surprise at being fired demonstrated why “trust in media is so low,” asserting that such conduct would be unacceptable “at any run of the mill job.”

Pelley’s firing followed his criticism of CBS News Editor-In-Chief Bari Weiss and Nick Bilton, the newly appointed “60 Minutes” executive producer, during a staff meeting, which he characterized as “contentious.” In his New York Times interview, Pelley said he entered a subsequent meeting with CBS News President Tom Cibrowski unprepared for dismissal. Cibrowski accused Pelley of “physically abusing” Bilton, a claim Pelley directly refuted, stating he “didn’t come within 10 feet of Nick Bilton” and had “never put my hands on anyone in anger.” When confronted with this alleged falsehood, Cibrowski reportedly retracted the accusation.

The firing is the latest in a series of personnel changes at “60 Minutes” since Weiss assumed leadership in October 2025 under new ownership by billionaire David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance. The company has signaled a shift toward serving a “more politically diverse viewership,” resulting in the removal of correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega, along with executive producer Tanya Simon’s ouster and replacement by Bilton, a former New York Times technology columnist.

Carr’s statement functioned as a defense of the network’s institutional restructuring and a dismissal of Pelley’s accountability concerns, characterizing the veteran journalist’s bewilderment at his firing as evidence of journalist(Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5914770-brendan-carr-scott-pelley-60-minutes/?fbclid=IwdGRleASUQAhleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeuSL0Cs4wCqbIX9EWfk851cFPqQr5WMnkng8F7B16OTTquAhGxDWCkJrmUX4_aem_LnBMYRKVkTLyTe5ehnZC2A)ic detachment rather than addressing substantive questions about the decision-making process itself.

Trump Demands Thune Fire Parliamentarian Blocking Funds

President Donald Trump attacked Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Truth Social Monday, demanding he fire Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough and accusing her of treating Republicans “horribly” while favoring Democrats. Trump’s post also targeted Senator Mitch McConnell, describing him as “very disloyal” to Thune and claiming McConnell allowed MacDonough to remain in her position to direct “trillions of dollars to the Democrats.” Trump has rarely attacked McConnell during his second term, making this public strike notable.

MacDonough blocked $1 billion in taxpayer funding for Trump’s ballroom project from a budget reconciliation bill, determining it violated the Byrd Rule prohibiting non-budgetary items from passing with a simple majority vote. Trump framed her ruling as evidence of bias, claiming she would have approved the proposal “easily” and that her continued tenure prevents passage of his “SAVE AMERICA ACT.” Trump previously demanded Thune fire MacDonough after she blocked the ballroom funds, threatening Republicans they would be “looking for a job much sooner than you thought possible” if they refused.

McConnell recently contradicted Trump by denouncing his anti-weaponization fund as “morally wrong,” directly criticizing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for requesting a “slush fund to pay people who assault cops.” McConnell, who announced last year he would not seek reelection, has positioned himself as an occasional check on Trump’s most extreme demands, though he served as Senate leader while MacDonough worked under Democratic leadership and Trump has repeatedly pressured Republicans to remove her.

The demands to remove MacDonough represent Trump’s ongoing pressure on Republican leadership to eliminate institutional guardrails protecting the budget process. MacDonough, appointed during the Obama administration, has functioned as an independent arbiter applying the Byrd Rule to both parties’ proposals. Trump’s insistence that she be replaced with someone “favorable to his agenda” directly attacks the parliamentary independence designed to maintain legislative integrity.

Government watchdog reports show donors to Trump’s ballroom project secured over $50 billion in new or expanded federal contracts within six months, demonstrating the scale of personal enrichment at stake in removing budget constraints. Trump’s personal financial interest in the ballroom funding conflicts directly with his authority over federal spending, yet he demands loyalty from Senate Republicans to override parliamentary safeguards that prevent his self-dealing.(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-takes-a-swing-at-mitch-mcconnell-in-fiery-call-for-gop-to-fire-senate-parliamentarian/)

Trump Exits NBC Interview When Pressed on Election Fraud Claims

President Donald Trump walked out of an NBC “Meet the Press” interview on June 7, 2026, after reporter Kristen Welker pressed him for evidence supporting his claims that the 2020 election was rigged and that January 6 Capitol rioters were ushered inside by the FBI. Trump provided no substantiation for either assertion, instead attacking Welker and the network as “crooked” before crushing his lapel microphone underfoot as he exited the Wisconsin farm taping.

The interview centered on Trump’s $1.776 billion “weaponization” fund, a settlement provision intended to compensate people Trump claims were victims of political persecution, including convicted rioters who assaulted police during the Capitol attack. Trump stated he would “pay them the kind of money that they deserve,” citing unsubstantiated claims of destroyed lives and suicides, though the fund was blocked in court last month and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced it was permanently halted.

When Welker repeatedly asked Trump for evidence of election fraud, he deflected by claiming California’s ongoing vote count in primary elections constituted cheating. Trump alleged that Democratic candidates’ vote totals surging after late-arriving ballots are counted represents wrongdoing, ignoring that California’s mail-ballot system legally accepts ballots postmarked by election day and arriving within a week. Pressed again for proof, Trump responded only that he would “look” and “listen to people,” offering no documentation.

The walkout followed Trump’s pattern of avoiding sustained questioning from female journalists. Trump has repeatedly made baseless fraud claims for years without presenting viable evidence in court, yet continues to advance them publicly. His previous attack on CNN’s Kaitlan Collins during an Oval Office press session demonstrated similar hostility when pressed on his abandoned “Anti-Weaponization fund” and allegations against the Biden administration.

The settlement establishing the weaponization fund also includes a provision permanently shielding Trump, his family members, and related business entities from tax audits and enforcement actions on returns filed before the agreement. The fund has drawn bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill, with many Republicans opposing the White House on the measure.(Source: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/06/07/trump-election-fraud-doj-fund-weaponization-storms-out.html)

Trump Imagines Obama Library Will Be a Giant Dumpster

President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting former President Barack Obama’s presidential library as a giant dumpster surrounded by homeless encampments and tents, captioning it “The Barack Hussein Obama Library, in 10 years, when fully matured!” This marks the second time Trump has circulated dehumanizing fabricated imagery attacking Obama’s library project, which is scheduled to open June 19 in Chicago.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Obama library’s construction, previously labeling it a “disaster” despite claiming he could have built it better as a “really good builder.” He specifically criticized the Obama Foundation’s commitment to contracting with minority-owned businesses, claiming Obama wanted “woke people” to build the facility. USA Today reported that the foundation stated approximately 35% of subcontractors would be minority-owned businesses, 15% women-owned, and 9% from the greater Chicago area.

The 19-acre Obama presidential library’s final cost reached $850 million, significantly above its initial $300 million projection. Trump’s attacks conflate the library’s legitimate cost increases with inflammatory false imagery designed to demean both Obama and unhoused people, weaponizing homelessness as a rhetorical prop.

Trump announced his own presidential library would “most likely” function as a hotel, with his son Eric unveiling designs for a Miami facility modeled after One World Trade Center in New York City. This arrangement raises direct questions about Trump’s use of presidential projects for personal commercial enrichment, contrasting sharply with traditional presidential libraries operated as nonprofit institutions.

The repeated circulation of fabricated imagery attacking Obama exemplifies Trump’s pattern of using AI-generated deepfakes to attack political opponents and marginalized populations without factual basis. Trump previously shared AI-generated mugshot imagery of Obama and other political figure(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-imagines-obama-library-will-be-a-giant-dumpster-surrounded-by-homeless-tents/)s, demonstrating an escalating reliance on synthetic media to spread dehumanizing content.

Donald Trump Demands Fox News Get Rid of Karl Rove

President Donald Trump demanded Thursday that Fox News remove Karl Rove after the GOP strategist appeared on the network’s “America’s Newsroom” and discussed Democratic electoral prospects. Rove analyzed polling data showing Trump’s unfavorability rating at 40 percent compared to the Democratic Party’s unfavorability below 37 percent, noting this dynamic could affect House election outcomes.

Trump posted on Truth Social that Fox News should “get rid of sloppy RINO Karl Rove,” accusing the strategist of calling him and MAGA “wrong for 11 years” and suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump ordered Rove “out to pasture, NOW,” calling him “a LOSER, and he always will be.”

Rove represents the Republican establishment that Trump has systematically purged from party and administration leadership. In 2019, Rove told National Review that “The Republican Party is going to have to recreate itself after Donald Trump leaves office,” predicting the conservative movement’s future would depend on the character of Trump’s successor and his “dark charisma.”

This demand exemplifies Trump’s broader campaign to eliminate dissent within Fox News and the GOP. Trump has previously targeted other network figures who fail to provide absolute loyalty, enforcing party orthodoxy through public denunciation and pressure on media executives to comply. Similar loyalty metrics have been implemented across federal agencies, requiring employees to “(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/loser-trump-demands-fox-news-get-rid-of-sloppy-rino-karl-rove/)clearly and demonstrably support” Trump’s agenda as a condition of employment and advancement.

Trump Attacks CNN’s Collins as Hateful During Oval Office Press

During an Oval Office question-and-answer session on Wednesday, President Trump attacked CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins while discussing his abandoned "Anti-Weaponization fund," a Department of Justice initiative he had claimed would address alleged persecution of his supporters. Trump stated that people aligned with him were "weaponized by the Biden administration" and destroyed through prosecutions, then pivoted to attack Collins directly, describing her as someone with "hatred in her eyes" who "never smiles" and opposing his administration's policies on borders, military strength, and tax cuts.

Trump's assault on Collins exemplifies his pattern of weaponizing the presidency against critical press coverage. His rhetoric conflates legitimate law enforcement actions, including the execution of a lawful search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago residence, with fabricated claims of persecution. He accused CNN of being "crooked as hell" and "a very corrupt organization," extending his long-standing campaign to delegitimize independent journalism and undermine public trust in factual reporting.

The attack on Collins as an individual, focusing on her appearance and emotional expression rather than her reporting, demonstrates Trump's reliance on personal intimidation to silence critical inquiry. CNN responded by defending Collins as "an exceptional journalist" whose reporting from the White House and field maintains credibility with global audiences. This incident reflects Trump's broader assault on the free press as a counter-majoritarian check on executive power.

Trump's invocation of his electoral performance, claiming he "won 87% of the counties" and won by a "massive landslide," continued his pattern of inflating his political mandate to justify authoritarian governance. He framed border enforcement, military expansion, and tax cuts for his interests as popular mandates while dismissing press scrutiny as motivated by hatred rather than professional responsibility, attempting to redefine journalism itself as an enemy of the state.

The incident underscores how Trump exploits the presidency to punish media outlets and individual journalists for coverage he views as unfavorable. By using the Oval Office as a platform for personal attacks against a reporter doing her job, Trump normalizes the conflation of political opposition with disloyalty and redefines the scope of acceptable presidential conduct in ways consistent with authoritarian governance models.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/hatred-in-her-eyes-trump-suddenly-starts-berating-cnns-kaitlan-collins-during-fiery-oval-office-qa/)

Trump Demands Prosecution Be Erased After Felony Conviction

Donald Trump used Truth Social to attack prosecutors, judges, and media figures in a late-night post series, claiming he is an "innocent man" despite his May 2024 conviction on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payoff to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump falsely asserted that his former personal attorney Michael Cohen stated he was "pressured and coerced" to testify, mischaracterizing Cohen's podcast comments to Sirius XM host Michael Smerconish as exoneration when Cohen detailed his own decision to provide truthful testimony.

Trump demanded Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and New York Attorney General Letitia James be fired, claiming they invented charges "that nobody has ever been charged with in the History of Manhattan" and transformed nonexistent "misdemeanors" into felonies. He made no factual distinction between the charges he faced and any prior cases, instead advancing the baseless argument that prosecution itself constitutes persecution targeting him personally.

The posts included links to six articles from the conservative outlet Just the News focused on Democratic corruption allegations, Trump's cognitive test results, the 2022 FBI search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents, Hunter Biden, and Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis's efforts to prosecute Trump for election interference. Trump continued his decade-long campaign against mainstream media outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN, claiming they would frame even an Iranian surrender as a victory against the United States.

Trump boasted of orchestrating political retribution against Republican officials including Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, characterizing these actions as "taking out" enemies. He also claimed credit for deterring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a "major raid" on Beirut, Lebanon, contradicting reporting of a contentious phone call between the two leaders on Monday.

The posting spree demonstrated Trump's reliance on unsubstantiated claims and distortion of factual record while seeking to reshape legal accountability as political weaponization, continuing his pattern of attacking institutions and individuals who have enforced laws against him or refused his demands for personal loyalty.

(Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-truth-social-michael-cohen-b2987736.html)(Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-truth-social-michael-cohen-b2987736.html)

Trump Brags About Cognitive Test Says He Got Perfect Score

President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social on Saturday claiming he achieved a perfect score on a cognitive test, stating he answered all 120 questions correctly across four separate examinations. Trump characterized the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) as a "high difficulty" exam and declared the perfect score represented "extreme intelligence," while calling for all presidential and congressional candidates to undergo similar testing.

CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner questioned why Trump was administered the dementia screening test repeatedly, noting the president had taken it three times previously. Reiner clarified in a follow-up post that the MoCA is specifically a dementia screening tool, not an IQ assessment, and that a score of 26 or higher constitutes normal cognitive performance rather than evidence of exceptional intelligence.

Trump has a history of publicly emphasizing his cognitive test results, frequently referencing them in statements and social media posts. The president's latest boast comes amid continued assertions about his mental acuity and fitness for office, which he contrasts with other presidents he claims have never taken such examinations.

The specificity of Reiner's medical critique undermines Trump's interpretation of the test results, exposing a fundamental mischaracterization of what the MoCA measures and what constitutes a meaningful score on the assessment. Trump's repeated emphasis on perfect or near-perfect scores, combined with the clinical purpose of the screening tool, suggests either a misunderstanding of the test's design or deliberate misrepresentation of its implications.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/120-correct-answers-out-of-120-trump-boasts-about-his-latest-cognitive-test-in-late-night-truth-social-screed/)

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