Not being dead is pretty much the only thing that’s gone Donald Trump’s way in the last 24 hours – here’s a roundup of everything you need to know
Some people thought Donald Trump was dead today. Turns out he was just getting ready to play golf.
But being not dead is one of the only things that’s gone Trump’s way in the last 24 hours or so.
He’s had two judges rule against him.
One put a temporary stop to his ‘expedited’ deportations. The other has the potential to have even more dramatic consequences.
Meanwhile in Trump World:
- The Epstein book is coming
- Trump being alive didn’t stop him fundraising on the rumour he was dead
- Vance wasn’t exactly helping with the rumours
- Nigel Farage is going to help him meddle in UK politics
- RFK’s new health chief has no medical experience
- Republicans are getting a rough ride back home
Here’s all that and more, as we round up everything that happened in the last 24 hours that you need to know about.
1. The Epstein birthday book is being released to congress
Rep. Robert Garcia, the most senior Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, says the Epstein estate will be giving them access to the Epstein birthday book. You know, the one with the Trump doodle and weird poem in it.
The one the White House said doesn’t exist.
“They’re going to be providing the actual Epstein book,” he told MSNBC.
“he estate is actually going to actually now get us that book and a bunch of other documents that they have that’s actually not been reported yet. We’re going to get those documents as we understand it now on September the 8th.”
2. Trump was merely pining for the fjords
Turns out Donald Trump isn’t dead.
A rash of rumours spread overnight – mainly prompted by the fact that Trump hadn’t been seen for days already, and the White House announced no public events on his schedule until at least Tuesday – that he had ceased to be. That he had run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. That he was an ex-President.
It’s certainly unusual for a President to be out of the public eye for that long. Not to mention the fact that he hasn’t left Washington for a holiday this year – he did so in August every year of his first term.
But photos of him going to play golf confirmed earlier that he was just resting. No need to nail his feet to the bar just yet.
3. Didn’t stop him fundraising off the rumour though
First thing this morning, Trump’s campaign team looked at the rumour mill and saw an opportunity.
So a fundraising email was sent out – the usual grift fare pressuring his supporters to give him cash.
The subject line of the email was “I want to try and get to Heaven”.
4. Vance insists his boss is in ‘good shape’ – but he’s ready to step up
JD Vance, helpfully, last night insisted his boss was in “good shape”.
But he went on to say he was ready to take on the Presidency should the worst happen to his boss.
He said: “He’s got incredible energy, and while most of the people who work around the President of the United States are younger than he is, I think we find that he actually is the last person who goes to sleep, he’s the last person making phone calls at night, and he’s the first person who wakes up and the first person making phone calls in the morning.
“Yes, terrible tragedies happen, but I feel very confident the President of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people.
“And if, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days.”
And if there weren’t rumours before that…
5. Nigel Farage is going to be a good little helper
‘Patriot’ Nigel Farage has been accused of skipping the return of Parliament this week to badmouth Britain in the US and help Donald Trump’s White House meddle in our politics.
The Reform UK leader will spend the first two sitting days after MPs return from the Summer break not in Westminster, but in Washington, doubling down on his crusade against migrants and arguing against Britain’s online safety and anti-hate speech laws.
Farage is slated to speak about “getting mass deportations done” at the National Conservatism conference in the US capital on Tuesday.
And on Wednesday he’ll testify before congress on the subject of “free speech” – defending Lucy Connolly, who admitted and was convicted of publishing written material that incited racial hatred after calling for migrant hotels to be set on fire on Twitter.
Lib Dem Culture spokesman Max Wilkinson said: “He should put his constituents first and do his job in Parliament, rather than flying to America to help his mates Trump and Vance meddle in British politics.”
Read the full story here…
6. Republicans are having a rough ride back home
Please enjoy this compilation of clips of Republican politicians being laughed at, jeered at and booed at Town Hall meetings.
7. Judge rules tariffs are illegal
A Judge last night ruled Trump’s tariffs are illegal and unconstitutional.
Which is awkward, since it’s already been established that scrapping them and paying them back would effectively bankrupt the United States.
“If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America,” Trump said in response to the ruling on Truth Social.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that the president had no legal right to impose the sweeping tariffs but left in place for now his effort to build a protectionist wall around the economy.
The court found that Trump was not legally allowed to declare national emergencies and impose import taxes on almost every country, largely upholding a decision by a specialised federal trade court.
But the court tossed out a part of that ruling striking down the tariffs immediately, allowing the administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The decision complicates Trump’s ambitions to upend decades of trade policy unilaterally. Trump has alternative laws for imposing import taxes, but they would limit the speed and severity with which he could act.
His tariffs – and their erratic rollout – have shaken global markets, alienated trading partners and allies and raised fears of inflation and slower economic growth.
8. There’s a new health chief in town. Have a guess whether he’s a medical professional…
Jim O’Neill, a former investor and critic of health regulations is taking control of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) following a tumultuous week in which its director was forced out.
He also happens to be brain-wormed bear botherer and anti-vaxxer in chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s deputy,
O’Neill was picked to be interim director, supplanting Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist who been director for less than a month. Her lawyers said she refused “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.”
A former associate of billionaire tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, O’Neill previously helped run one of Thiel’s investment funds and later managed several other projects. He has no training in medicine or health care and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in humanities.
O’Neill said Friday on social media that he looks forward to working with CDC staff and “announcing additions to the senior leadership in the weeks ahead.” He is to remain as HHS deputy.
9. Another Judge blocks ‘speedy’ deportations
A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out speedy deportations of undocumented migrants without letting them see a judge first.
US District Judge Jia Cobb suggested the administration’s expanded use of the expedited removal of migrants is trampling on individuals’ due process rights.
“In defending this skimpy process, the Government makes a truly startling argument: that those who entered the country illegally are entitled to no process under the Fifth Amendment, but instead must accept whatever grace Congress affords them,”
Cobb wrote in a 48-page opinion issued Friday night. “Were that right, not only noncitizens, but everyone would be at risk.”