Dear Everybody:

The big news today is that Trump won the golf tournament at his own golf course Sunday:

–Trump who is known to cheat shamelessly at golf (there’s even been a whole book written about it) and has been known to have golf tournaments in which he’s the only participant so he put another championship plaque on the wall, claimed he shot a 70 in the tournament on a day when the Iran war is expanding and the economy is crashing.

He then posted what may be THE most disgusting post he has ever written (and I know there’s a lot of competition out there!) Trump: “The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! Thank you very much to all of those who participated. I won with a score of 70, and am so honored in that, unlike the rest of the field, I’m given very little time to practice because I’m forced on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!”

–This was almost as great a performance as that of North Korean Kim Jong Un’s father, Kim Jong Il, who hit eleven holes in one on 18 holes for a score of 34 on his very first try at golf.

–Mary Hehman: “Commander in Cheat, Trump enjoys stuffing his crazy golf lies in the faces of his rich buddies. Trump tacitly dares people to challenge his incessant cheating.”

–Norm Wilmer: “A bottomless pit of need.”

–Jennifer Erin Valent: “Every time I think he can’t get more pathetic, he manages to prove me wrong.”

–leemarvinoswald: “Every. Single. Fucking. Day.”

The other big news was another liar doing a 20-minute live stream defending himself against charges of wife and child abuse:

–Max Miller, the GOP rep accused of pouring scalding water on his wife and breaking his two-year-old daughter’s collarbone, had posted that he was going to make an announcement on Sunday, and everybody assumed that meant he was going to withdraw from the race for Representative from Ohio, but instead he live-streamed a 20-minute speech defending his innocence.

–Miller blamed the left wing media and called his ex-wife crazy, said she was mentally ill, and claimed that the fact that she never went to a doctor proved that he didn’t abuse her. He claimed that it was daycare workers who broke his two-year-old’s shoulder, but he said nothing about suing those workers or changing daycares or anything. In fact, he did not seem to show any interest in finding out HOW her collarbone got broken. He also brought up a brand new incident, in which there was a bruise on his daughter’s neck, but said it wasn’t a bruise, it was paint from fingerpainting.

–Interestingly, he didn’t deny any of the incidents, he simply downplayed them or gave what I call “shaken baby” defenses, which is when the person confesses to a part of the crime–“I may have shaken the baby a little bit, but not hard enough to hurt her.” He claimed the scalding incident was “horseplay,” and that other incidents were completely misinterpreted.

–Miller waved a bunch of documents around, claiming they proved everything he was saying. He said he had ringtone doorbell footage that showed him going to the house the day he was accused of assaulting his wife (but didn’t show it) and that it showed her calm when she opened the door and calm when he left, which proved he didn’t assault her. He said she went to a birthday party later that day, which also proved there was no abuse. (None of that proves anything.)

–Miller also released audio recordings of conversations he had secretly recorded of his wife, including one in which she accuses him of secretly recording their calls, and he says, “I have never recorded our conversations.”

–Miller: “If I had assaulted her, would she have offered to cook me dinner 6 days later?” He also said the fact that she made him empanadas was proof he had never abused her. (Note: Abuse victims will do literally anything to keep the abuser from getting angry, including making empanadas. This woman also had her child’s safety to consider, and the fact that if she made him mad, he might take off with the child.)

–MuellerSheWrote: “I made dinner for abuser a bunch of times. You have to play nice while you’re planning your escape so you don’t get dead. Max Miller is a textbook abuser.”

–He did not address any of the accusations made by Stephanie Grisham, other women he’s dated, a girl in high school and one in college who say he assaulted them. And he did not address the fact that his daughter had said, “Daddy kill mommy,” or “Daddy’s house is scary.”

–cameragirl: “His daughter is afraid of him.”

–Miller’s wife’s spokesman said it was “shameful for him to go on a bizarre and lie-filled rant about his ex-wife to desperately try to save his political career.”

–Adam Parkhomenko: “The Miller Twitter live stream was creepy as hell and also very incriminating…Watch at your own risk. then share and help expose this trash.”

–Besides the live stream, Miller is also going on the offensive and has sued his wife for defamation.

After the live-stream his father-in-law GOP Senator Bernie Merino came out and issued a statement of his own:

–In the statement Moreno said that Miller has displayed “increasingly erratic and dangerous behavior…he is a danger to my daughter, and I hold my breath every minute his has custody of my granddaughter…I believe Max Miller needs to seek professional help to end the clear pattern of abuse he has left in his wake,. I believe he should not be free to continue endangering others until he does.”

–Jonathan Larsen: “Bernie Moreno reveals he covered up Rep Max Miller’s abuse for 2 years.”

–He’s not the only one covering it up. News reports say that rumors about Miller’s violent and abusive behavior have been common knowledge in the Capitol for years, and that George Santos specifically brought the issue up on the House floor. (Santos was expelled in 2023.)

–Raw Story–“By leaning on the base’s distrust of mainstream media, Miller has kept Republicans from organizing against him.”

–Noah Berlatsky said that because Miller has been operating solely in the right-wing bubble of Fox New he’s been protected by MAGA and Republicans and oblivious to what the rest of the world thinks. “That’s why Max Miller may be on the verge of losing a seat the GOP expected to win. And that’s why Republicans’ fascist propaganda may, for once, be not a life raft but an anchor when the blue wave hits.”

–When asked about whether Miller should drop out of the race, Trump downplayed the allegations. (Because of course he did.) Trump: “Well, I’m going to look at it. So far it’s accusations.” (I seem to recall him and all the other Republicans saying that about the allegations of Trump’s raping a thirteen-year-old. And all the other allegations of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.) This morning he repeated it, saying, “I know Max. He’s a very good person. I’m going to let the families figure that out…it’s accusations.”

–Wajahat Ali: “A rapist and an abuser protecting another abuser. Family values!”

–Noah Berlatsky: “Were Republican officials to credit reports about miller’s unfitness, they would essentially be taking sides against Trump and GOP identity itself. To admit the accusations require moral action is to admit all those things the media has been saying about Trump might also be true. That is unendurable.”

The other other big new is that Trump supposedly caved and agreed to end the slush fund in writing so the Senate would vote for his confirmation, but actually not:

–According to the fine print in the agreement, the DOJ can reinstate the slush fund immediately after Blanche is confirmed. It may not even have officially terminated the fund because it was not signed by all the parties, which was required to rescind the agreement under the terms of the original agreement.

–Meidas Touch: “This is an unenforceable sham document.”

–The deal also did not terminate Trump’s immunity deal. Instead, it reaffirmed it.

–Dean Obeidallah: “Todd Blanche’s ‘agreement’ committing to end the $1.8 billion slush fund Trump wanted is BS. it is not enforceable. Trump could simply say we are spending this money to pay the J6 terrorists from another source. He could direct DHS or another agency to pay it. It’s meaningless political theater.”

–Meidas Touch: “Look what they just tried to sneak through at midnight. What a scam!”

In Iran war news:

–On Friday Trump announced that he was going to hit Iran with a major attack, only to back off a few hours later and announce that he WASN’T attacking because we were very close to a deal with Iran. Then this morning (Monday, right before the stock market opened) he announced that we had a deal. This is a familiar pattern which he has followed at least eleven times.

–Reporter: “This is at least the fifth time you turned off airstrikes against Iran since April. What’s your message to your American people about what has changed this time?” Trump: “Well, I don’t know. I want to give them every last chance before decapitation.” (Did you hear that? DECAPITATION! And it’s not the fifth time.)

–He also said the attack he had planned for Iran last night would’ve destroyed the country. “There’d be nothing left.” And he said this would be “by far the biggest attack since World War II.”

–Trump then posted an AI painting of him, Lincoln, and Washington at a table signing a document with quill pens.

–Heather Delaney Reese: “There is no version of history where Donald Trump belongs beside those two men. He could not and never will earn that accomplishment honestly, so he keeps creating false moments to give it to himself anyway because he desperately wants to feel that level of historical significance, one that he will never achieve in real life…The mere fact that he had this image created, or approved it to be posted for the world to see, is dangerous and reveals the limitations of Trump’s judgment and state of mind.”

–When asked about the Strait of Hormuz tolls, Trump said he was negotiating with Iran to reopen the strait, then moments later, “We have total control.”

–Trump is so far out of the loop that when he was told about Iran attacking US forces in Jordan, he said, “Was this an April Fool’s joke?”

In Epstein/Trump news:

–Friday was the deadline for the DOJ to turn over all unredacted Epstein files pertaining to Epstein’s Zorro Ranch in New Mexico. They completely blew off the deadline. New Mexico’s Attorney General said they had only received 31 documents from the DOJ over the course of this investigation instead of the thousands they were requesting, and those were mostly old news clippings and heavily redacted pages of little use to state investigators.

–The Guardian reported in February that recent releases of the Epstein files included thousands of mentions of the ranch, and numerous photographs of men and young girls there. A succession of survivors had previously given testimony about abuse they were subjected to.

–The AG said, “I’m not taking anything off the table. I’m not ruling out a lawsuit…It appears that the administration has been really focused on the management of communications around the Epstein case, rather than acting in a way that demonstrates a commitment to getting at the truth and getting to accountability.”

–The first investigation of the ranch after Epstein was arrested had been thwarted by the DOJ, who stepped in and said to back off, that they were taking over the investigation. They then dropped the investigation altogether.

–(Note: Every action Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, and the DOJ and FBI have taken in regard to the Epstein files screams “COVER UP!” With this New Mexico development, there’s no longer any doubt.)

In economic news:

–In a new poll, 23% of Americans thought the economy was very or somewhat good. 77% thought it was poor. And the GDP for the second quarter was only 1.5%, well below what had been expected.

–But you’d never know it listening to Trump’s spokesmen.

–Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett: “Right now the economy does look amazing to me…I think that you’re seeing really, really strong growth.”

–Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “”President Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton could ot have imagined the economy that we would have created. it is the envy of the world.”

–Maria Bartiromo asked Kevin Hassett: “Last time we spoke, you told me you were expecting 4% growth in the second half of the year. The number was way lower. How would you address that?” Hassett: “The reason why the number was 1.5% was because we imported so many capital goods because we’re building factories so fast.”

–CNN: “77% of Americans say economic conditions are poor. That’s the lowest of Trump’s second term. Is this the ‘amazing economy’ the administration thought you’d be boasting about?” Hassett: “Right now the economy does look amazing to me.”

–CNN: “65 % of Americans say Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions, that’s 10% more than in the final months of the Biden administration. What do you say to that person who’s part of that 65%?” Hassett: I just don’t believe a poll like that.”

–Howard Lutnick earlier in the year: “Look for the second quarter of 2026 to be amazing.”

–George Orwell: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

In historical news:

–Today in 1900 John T. Scopes was born. He went to school in Kentucky, became a football coach and substitute high school teacher, and in 1925 found himself the center of a still-talked about trial when he taught a lesson on evolution to his high school students and was arrested for violating the Butler Act, a Tennessee state law outlawing the teach of evolution in the public schools, and the ACLU decided to take his case in order to challenge the constitutionality of the law.

–The trial quickly became a cause celebre when William Jennings Bryan decided to appear for the prosecution (and against evolution) and Clarence Darrow, the most famous lawyer of his time, came to the little town of Dayton, Tennessee to defend Scopes. But the one most responsible for making it world-famous was reporter H.L. Mencken, who covered every moment of the trial in news stories which ended up making a laughing-stock out of the good people of Dayton and driving a stake through the cause of creationism.

–Darrow lost the case (Scopes was convicted and fined $100, and the case was appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court, who upheld the conviction, but overturned the verdict on a technicality, and the Butler Law was not declared unconstitutional until 1968) but he won the case decisively in the court of public opinion.

–There have been lots of books written about the trial, but my favorite was written by a science fiction author, L. Sprague de Camp–THE GREAT MONKEY TRIAL.

–The play INHERIT THE WIND was based on the Scopes trial, and it was made into a wonderful movie starring Spencer Tracy as Clarence Darrow (with a different name), Fredric March as William Jennings Bryan, and Gene Kelly as H.L. Mencken, who at one point has a conversation with a townswoman who is taking advantage of all the visitors in town to rent rooms: “Are you looking for a nice, clean place to stay?” Gene Kelly: “I had a nice, clean place to stay, and I left it to come here.”

–Clarence Darrow: “You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.”

In other news:

–The Trump administration has changed Medicaid requirements so that a diagnosis of a terminal disease is not enough to make people eligible for benefits. Even if you have terminal cancer, Parkinson’s, or some other diagnosis, the new rule says you must still work 80 hours a week unless you can prove you’re too ill to do that.

–GOP Rep Mike Flood held a town hall back home in his district and was met with loud boos when he attempted to defend Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. He was asked by a constituent what he would do to provide insurance benefits to people with disabilities, and when he said, “Well, the One Big Beautiful Bill…” the audience erupted in boos.

–As Trump continued to rail against communism, the Commerce Department quietly announced 7 new equity stakes in private companies. This is “seizing the means of production,” a hallmark of communist governments.

In good news:
–An appeals court rejected Trump’s bid to restore his name to the Kennedy Center.

–Even Scott Jennings, Trump’s toady on CNN, says that David Hearn should sue the Trump administration for arresting him and charging him with vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.

–Trump has now lost 21 straight attempts in 21 different states to get his hands on the states’ voter rolls.

Best comment of the day, from INHERIT THE WIND: “Can’t you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the public schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we’ll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind!”

Keep calm and carry on,

Connie Willis