You may have been thinking Donald Trump would take it easy on his first weekend in office.
But even a trip to Las Vegas couldn’t stop him saying outrageous things and doing borderline illegal things.
The new US President moaned about not being able to sexually harass women any more, claimed sole responsibility for the release of Israreli hostages and threatened to send America’s tax collectors to work at the border. He also gave a far-right leader a VIP seat at his latest rally.
Here’s a roundup of the unhinged things Donald Trump did while you were asleep – that you need to know about today.
1. He hit the casinos in Las Vegas
Donald Trump spent his Saturday flying out to Las Vegas, where he has quite a nice hotel.
After taking a tour of the tables in a casino he does not own, he spoke to a medium-sized rally in a conference room – repeating his promise to abolish income tax on tips.
You know, to help people working in the service and entertainment industries.
Thing is, though, about 32,000 people working in the service, entertainment and transportation industries in Sin City are undocumented.
If Trump goes ahead with deporting them all, as he has promised, there’s every chance the Las Vegas strip would crumble into the desert.
2. Gave a far-right leader a VIP seat on stage with him
Stewart Rhodes, founder of far-right group the Oath Keepers was in the audience for Trump’s speech in Vegas.
Until Monday Rhodes was serving 18 years for seditious conspiracy for his involvement in January 6th. Trump gave him an unconditional pardon, and last night he sat on stage behind him during his speech.
3. Threatened to move tax collecting agents to the border
Trump told the crowd he planed to can 88,000 tax collectors – and even mulled sending them to police the US border with Mexico
instead.
He said: “On day one I automatically halted the hiring of any new IRS agents. You know they hired, or tried to hire, 88,000 new workers to go after you.
“And we’re in the process of developing a plan to either terminate all of them or maybe we’ll move them to the border.”
BLUESKY: Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here – Lizzy Buchan, Jason Beattie, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke, Ashley Cowburn, Mikey Smith
POLITICS WHATSAPP: Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
NEWSLETTER: Or sign up here to the Mirror’s Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox.
PODCAST: And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday.
4. Complained for a long time about how you can’t even sexually harass waitresses any more
We’re just going to leave this quote here in full:
“You used to be able to say a young beautiful waitress. This was a young beautiful waitress but I will not say that because I want to continue my political career. If you call a woman beautiful today, it is the end of your political career so I will not do it.
“I think you can call her young. You are probably not even supposed to say young. You are probably supposed to say a waitress.”
5. Claimed personal, sole credit for more Israeli hostages being released
Donald Trump may have sent an envoy to work with the Biden administration’s negotiators, but he wasn’t President when the deal was agreed.
So his statement on the release of more hostages yesterday, which celebrates how great he is before celebrating the actual freeing of captives, raised a few eyebrows.
In an official White House statement, he wrote: “Today the world celebrates as President Trump secured the release of four more Israeli hostages who were, for far too long, held against their will by Hamas in horrific conditions.
“The United States will continue with its great partner Israel to push for the release of all remaining hostages and the pursuit of peace throughout the region.”
6. He joked about staying in the White House for a third or fourth term
He told the crowd in Las Vegas: “It would be the greatest honour of my life to serve not once but twice – or three times or four times.”
He said he was joking – just creating “headlines for the fake news”
And, of course, he definitely was joking. Sure he was. He almost certainly isn’t even thinking about it.
Meanwhile, a member of the House of Representatives has introduced a constitutional amendment that very specifically would allow Trump to run for a third term…but not Barack Obama.
7. Suggested Gaza be ‘cleaned out’ and everyone moved to Jordan or Egypt
Trump spoke to King Abdullah II of Jordan – and claimed he said everyone should be moved out of Gaza to Jordan or Egypt.
“I said to him that I’d love you to take on more, because I’m looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now and it’s a mess, it’s a real mess,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
He said he would speak to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi about it today. “You’re talking about a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing,” Trump said.
“Something has to happen, but it’s literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything’s demolished and people are dying there, so I’d rather get involved with some of the Arab nations and build housing in a different location where I think they could maybe live in peace for a change.”
8. He *finally* mentioned Keir Starmer
Donald Trump lavished praise on Keir Starmer, saying the Prime Minister has done a “very good job thus far”.
The US President said the pair get along well – despite Mr Starmer being “liberal, which is a bit different from me”. Speaking onboard Air Force One, Mr Trump told the broadcaster that he would have a phone call “over the next 24 hours” with the Prime Minister.
Of course he has already spoken to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the President of El Salvador and the King of Jordan before getting round to it…
9. Said he’ll repaint Air Force One to be “power blue”
Turning his focus to the stuff that matters, Trump said he wanted to paint the presidential plane as he spoke to reporters on Air Force One.
“We want power blue, not baby blue,” Trump said. “Everything has its time and place. We’ll be changing the colours.”
Meanwhile, Elon Musk urges German far-right supporters to move beyond ‘past guilt’
Trump’s ally Elon Musk, who has been accused of apparently making a Nazi salute, made a surprise appearance at a far-right campaign rally in Germany.
Speaking via video link to 4,500 Alternative for Germany (AfD) supporters, Musk said: “It’s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything.”
In an apparent nod to the Nazis, he said “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great grandparents”.
He added: “There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that.”
