Two days ago, on May 17th, President Trump posted the following image on his social media platform, Truth Social. The image showed the length of wars through American history--including, as indicated, the "Iran Excursion," one of Trump's preferred phrases for the current war.
Two days ago marked the 79th day of the war with Iran--which is roughly eleven weeks. The May 17th image indicated that the war has been in process for six weeks.
Was this a sleight-of-hand effort to misstate the war's length? Did the president think nobody would notice the discrepancy?
Or was Trump not even aware of the discrepancy?
Perhaps he was too busy thinking about the construction of his ballroom--which he discusses incessantly--or the changes at the Reflecting Pool, or the new Washington, DC passports bearing his image, or the currency which will soon bear his signature. Or maybe he was, at the time of the post, wrapped up in his belief, despite all evidence, that he actually won the 2020 election--which he talks about all the time. Or maybe he was busy thinking about the $1.776 billion fund--announced the day after the above post appeared--created for Trump supporters, who will be able to file claims asserting they were wronged by the Department of Justice during previous administrations--which would include the rioters at the Capitol on January 6th.
Trump says this, of the nearly two billion dollar fund: "I know very little about it...I wasn’t involved in the whole creation of it and the negotiation, but this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated."
The idea of the fund is just sickening.
We also learned today that the plan includes the following addendum, providing potential enormous benefits to Trump, as described in this New York Times report:
The Justice Department has granted President Trump, his family and businesses immunity from ongoing inquiries into their taxes, a potentially lucrative arrangement that could shield the president from significant financial liability.
The provision, quietly inserted on Tuesday as a supplement to a remarkable deal that also created a $1.8 billion compensation fund aimed at benefiting Mr. Trump’s allies, protects the president, his relatives and his businesses from pending audits and tax prosecutions.
The one-page document, signed by the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, said that the government would be “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing” pending tax claims against Mr. Trump, his family members and businesses.
Evidently, the prohibitions outlined in the addendum do not include potential investigations of Trump, his family and businesses that might concern future tax returns, but that is small comfort. The deal given to Trump, et al., as part of the $1.776 billion plan (like so much of what Trump says, does, or signs off on), is jarring, and alarming.
