Just don’t talk about changing gun safety laws, or documented allegations that the President of the United States is a pedophile. On today’s BradCast, we talk about both, and more, in light of what happened over the weekend in D.C. that Trump and MAGA immediately (and laughably) weaponized for Trump’s corrupt ends. [Audio link to full show follows this summary.]
On Saturday, Donald Trump was set to make his first appearance as President at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, after they agreed to break with decades of tradition and have no comedian featured who might make fun of the thin-skinned President. Instead, it would be Trump himself, we were told, revenge-attacking the media, who he describes as “the enemy of the people”, in his own remarks.
The event was ironically billed as a “celebration of the First Amendment.” It turned out to be a tribute to the Second Amendment instead.
Among the related stories discussed on today’s show before we turn to callers for a few minutes at the end…
- Remember the kid, from a very Trumpy family in North Carolina who was killed by the Secret Service inside Mar-a-Lago in Florida just two months ago when we he was trying to kill Donald Trump? The one who claimed to be enraged by disclosures in the Epstein Files that, he charged, revealed “evil is real and unmistakable”? Me neither. But we’ve got a reminder for you today, thanks to our friend Digby.
- Meanwhile, a guy from Los Angeles County reportedly took his two legally purchased guns on a train across the country with an apparent plan to kill the President and/or members of his Administration at the White House Correspondents Dinner in D.C. on Saturday night. He was stopped by the Secret Service on a separate floor from where Trump was located. But shots fired by him and/or law enforcement led to the cancellation — and subsequent weaponization — of the event by the White House and its opportunistic supporters.
- Less than two minutes into Trump’s White House presser on Saturday following the cancellation of the event at the Washington Hilton, he turned the failed assassination attempt into a disingenuous argument why his giant White House ballroom had to be built immediately. For security purposes! The Military is demanding it, he lied. His sycophantic social media followers took their cue and have been demanding we “BUILD THE BALLROOM!” ever since.
- According to the New York Times [free link] on Saturday, that proposed ballroom, in the footsteps of the demolished East Wing of the White House and currently being challenged in court, is set to be built by a company named Clark Construction which was given the job in a no-bid contract. It is the same company that Trump paid $17.4 million to for refurbishing a fountain near the White House that was estimated by the Biden Administration in 2022 to cost just $3.3 million to repair.
- And, as Washington Post reported [free link] last week, the purported $400 million in private donations to cover the cost of Trump’s ballroom are being allowed to remain anonymous. The agreement to collect the funds avoids all standard conflict-of-interest probes for the White House, everyone who works there, and about 14 executive agencies overseen by Trump. The several high-profile donors that we know — Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Palantir, Google have billons of dollars of business with and before the federal government, and many are seeking favorable decisions from the Administration. Trump’s agreement with those donors bars you from knowing about them, who they are, or how much money they are giving Trump.
- The suspect that attempted to breach the security perimeter at the Washington Hilton on Saturday, where the President, Vice President, U.S. House Speaker, Secretary of State — and many others in both the line of succession and in the Administration — were present, reportedly penned a “manifesto” before the shooting. In it, the 31-year old suspect charged today with attempting to assassinate the President, declared himself to be a “Friendly Federal Assassin” and declared: “I am no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.” Trump was asked about that statement on CBS’ 60 Minutes on Sunday and was not happy about that…though he did make the assumption the guy was talking about him in those remarks, which he denied.
That’s just a taste. Callers ring in at the end. Give it a listen, and please share your thoughts, if you like, in our all-new Comment system below!…
