* The WSJ’s Peggy Noonan nailed it. “Mr. Trump puts stock in the Madman Theory—that a leader gains an edge when foes fear he’ll do something insane.”
* Another Trump endorsement: “Keep Making America Great. I’m ready to go.”—Last words of serial killer Glen Rogers before his Florida execution this month.
* Air Farce One: The president was all hyped up about accepting a super luxury jumbo jet from Qatar. So hyped that his chat with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani went beyond his usual awkward small talk. “You folks are so creative,” Trump reportedly said. “I love your creativity. It’s great. Who would have thought anyone could look so good in a tablecloth and a fan belt?!”
* “It’s hard to see how Trump would have acted any differently if he were a Russian asset than how he has acted in the first 100 days of his second term.”—Ivo Daalder, chief executive of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and former ambassador to NATO under President Obama.
* Planning continues apace for the National Garden of American Heroes as part of Trump’s plans for the 250th anniversary of American independence next year. Among those rumored to be immortalized: King George III, Hank & Aaron Burr, Jefferson Davis, Andrew Johnson, D.W. Griffith, Huey Long, Al Jolson, Tonto, Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Amos & Andy, Lester Maddux, Bull Connor, George Wallace, Gen. William Westmoreland., Strom Thurmond, Col. Sanders, The McDonald Brothers, Richard Nixon, G. Gordon Liddy, Rush Limbaugh, Mike Tyson, Hannibal Lector, Jeffrey Epstein, Roger Stone, Michael Flynn, Jeanine Pirro, Barbie, Don King, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sean Hannity and Clarence Thomas.
* “I think we have a ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ situation going on in the White House.”—Liz Cheney.
* Given who he is and what he is, what would it take for MAGA cult followers to turn away from Trump? Perhaps, dressing like John Fetterman. Perhaps.
* Crypto-grifting: $TRUMP–That’s the website that promotes Trump’s “memecoin.” Should AG Pam Bondi join in the promotion, look for a website change: $TRUMPET.
*Name games update: Trump said the U.S. will now refer to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. Take that, Iran. Lawrence of America?
*Canadian PM Mark Carey on making Canada the 51st state: “Not for sale.”
President Donald Trump on making Canada the 51st state: “Time will tell.”
*One sign of (somewhat) improved relations with Canada: Trump doesn’t refer to Carey, the new PM, as “governor.”
* Perhaps it’s more karmic hope than reality, but there are those who believe fervently that tariffs will be Trump’s Achilles’ heel. We already know he’s made it through bone-spurs patriotism.
* Trump’s tax shill is known officially and fawningly as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Seriously.
* The minimum annual salary in the NFL: $840,000. The salary for POTUS: $400,000. For many, that’s an example of distorted American priorities. Trump, however, is overcompensated simply by being out of jail.
* Trump signed an executive order reinstating a federal law that requires commercial truck drivers to be proficient in English. The rule had been removed in 2016 under the Obama Administration.
* BTW, 18% of U.S. truck drivers are foreign born, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
* For the record—as well as for what remains of “old school” Republicans—the nation’s debt now stands at $36 trillion.
* No yoke: U.S. egg prices fell 12.7% in April.
* For what it’s worth to this administration, birthright citizenship has been, uh, enshrined in the U.S. Constitution—via the 14th Amendment—since 1868.