Today in Politics, Bulletin 149. 6/10/25 NO KINGS DAY SATURDAY JUNE 14

Today in Politics, Bulletin 149. 6/10/25 Ron Filipkowski Jun 10     ∙ … Speaker Mike Johnson said that CA Gov Gavin Newsom should be tarred and feathered. He was asked today if he agreed with Trump and Tom Homan that Newsom should be arrested: “Um, that's not my lane. I'm not going give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested. But he ought to be tar and feathered, I'll say that.” … Cool, just skip over arrests and due process to summary medieval punishments. … Newsom responded: “Good to know we’re skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700’s style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the GOP wants to bring our country back to the 18th Century.” … Trump was asked today when he last spoke to Newsom: “A day ago. Called him up to tell him - you got to do a better job. He's doing a bad job. Causing a lot of death and potential death.” … There is no death. And he didn’t call him. …. Newsom responded: “There was no call. Not even a voicemail. Americans should be alarmed that a President deploying Marines onto our streets doesn’t even know who he’s talking to.” … One thing Newsom has shown is the key to effectively deal with Trump and the MAGA propaganda machine: You must respond immediately and call out the lies. He has done that. He puts out responses minutes after Trump and his minions make statements. He jumps on podcasts and TV right away. You can’t wait until hours or days later, then answer in a press conference, statement, or scripted speech. All Dems should learn from it - especially the leaders in Congress, who don’t seem to understand that in the social media era of politics, you can’t do things the way you did 15-20 years ago. … DHS Sec Kristi Noem then violated the Hatch Act in the Oval Office of the WH while standing next to Trump: “Gov Newsom has been an incompetent governor of CA for many years. The people there should never elect him into a leadership position ever again.” … He’s term limited, but I’m more focused on the DHS Sec politicking in the Oval. The president and VP are allowed under the law. Nobody else. … Trump issued a warning to anyone who plans to protest the military parade on his birthday: “We’re going to be celebrating big on Saturday. And if there’s any protestor who wants to come out, they will be met with very big force. This is people who hate our country. But they will be met with heavy force.” … The First Amendment specifically states that the government cannot use force to suppress the ability of people to protest the government. That is the primary reason why the free speech clause was put into the very first amendment that James Madison wrote to the Constitution. … But Trump claims that the military parade in DC is not really about his birthday: “We’re celebrating the Army on Flag Day - not my birthday. It is my birthday, but I’m not celebrating my birthday, I’m celebrating Flag Day. It happens to be the same day so I take a little heat, but Flag Day is the appropriate day.” … I’m sure we all believe that. … Axios: “The parade is set to begin at 6:30 pm, and will start at 23rd Street and Constitution Avenue NW and end at 15th and Constitution Avenue NW. The parade will include 28 M1A1 Abrams tanks, 28 M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, and 4 Paladin Howitzers. There will be 8 CH-47 Chinook helicopters, 16 AH-64 Apache helicopters, and 16 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters.” … Sen Bernie Sanders (I-VT): “We all like to enjoy a nice birthday party. But most of us don't celebrate with a $45 million taxpayer-funded military parade. Save taxpayer money. Have a birthday cake and blow out a few candles. Don’t shut down the capital and roll out 60-ton tanks through the streets.” … Sen Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI): “For the first time in 30 years, a Vietnam Veterans ceremony must relocate from DC to Virginia - so Vietnam Draft Dodger Trump can throw himself the world’s creepiest birthday party.” … Walmart heiress Christy Walton is funding full page ads in the NYT this week for “No Kings Day,” which is a series of nationwide counter-protests scheduled for Trump’s birthday. … Breitbart editor Matthew Boyle: “Given that Walmart fortune heiress Christy Walton is funding them, and the fact that Walmart CEO Doug McMillon is now outright refusing to condemn violence against law enforcement per spokeswoman Lauren Willis, it’s time to start calling them the Mexican Flag Walmart Riots.” … Sen Josh Hawley (R-MO): “These LA rioters love waving their foreign flags while they burn ours. If you burn the American flag in furtherance of a crime, you ought to get your prison sentence doubled.” … Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) posted this: “On June 7-9 and June 14 there will be protests across the country. Some of these are being backed by a communist group tied to the CCP. These groups are using ICE protests as a ruse. MAGA: DO NOT SHOW UP IN GEAR. IF YOU DO ATTEND AND WITNESS ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, RECORD FACES AND LICENSE PLATES. We will ask you to submit footage and information to the FBI. THIS IS ORCHESTRATED.” … Kristi Noem was talking tough on Fox: “The more that people conduct violence against law enforcement officers, boy, we’re going to hit ‘em back, and we’re going to hit ‘em back harder than we ever have before.” … Noem on LA and Mayor Karen Bass: “She’s holding press conferences talking about the fact that people have the right to peacefully protest and that they’re a city of immigrants. Well, they’re not a city of immigrants, they’re a city of criminals, because she has protected them for so many years.” … AG Pam Bondi to Fox on the LA protests: “It looks like a Third World country, and it’s not. It’s the United States of America. We are not standing for it.” … SecDef Pete Hegseth testified for the first time today before the House. He was supposed to talk about the DOD budget, but wanted to spend his time trashing Biden and “woke ideology.” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) finally had enough: “Please, I want your plan! I’ve had difficulty with the prior admin and I don’t mind calling them out. But what is your plan for the future! Can we get that in writing on paper so we know where you’re going, because we don’t have anything today. Zip. Nada. Give us details!” … Veterans activist Fred Wellman: “He showed up at the budget hearing with all of his usual bullshit talking points but none of the actual budget. He hasn’t bothered. His priority is prayer meetings, workouts, book banning, and travel. He does videos in his office but none of the actual boring work of a Cabinet Secretary.” … Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA) asked Hegseth about Trump using the Nat Guard in CA: “The basis that the president used cites 3 examples in circumstances for the Guard: 1. Invasion by a foreign nation. 2. Rebellion against the govt. 3. The president is unable with regular forces to execute the laws of the nation. Which is triggered here?” HEGSETH: “Sounds like all three.” Aguilar: “You think the president is unable to execute the laws of the US?” … ABC’s chief political correspondent Terry Moran was fired today by ABC for his post about Stephen Miller. I thought they’d give him a one-week suspension given his long track record as an excellent reporter, but ABC caved again to Trump. Sad. These are the days I’m glad I’m not a corporate journalist. Reminder no Bulletin tomorrow because I do my podcast Uncovered where we do a deeper dive into the Top 10 stories of the week. We are also adding a new ‘Ask Me Anything’ weekly show starting tomorrow after Uncovered where paid subscribers can submit questions to Ben and I will be answer them from you with Ben moderating. (Everyone can watch of course). Nothing is off limits and I won’t know what’s coming - so you can test my range of knowledge! Thanks again truly for everyone who supports my work so I don’t have to worry about being Terry Moran! If you missed yesterday’s Bulletin, you can find it here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Politico on CA’s lawsuit against Trump asserting that his order to federalize the Guard violated the law: “Gavin Newsom's lawsuit against Trump goes to Judge Charles Breyer, brother of the Supreme Court justice and appointee of Bill Clinton.” … Aguilar asked Hegseth’s Undersecretary Bryn MacDonnell how much it will cost taxpayers to deploy the Nat Guard and the Marines to LA: “The current estimated cost is $134 million.” … Trump was asked how long the Nat Guard is going to stay on the streets of LA: “Until there’s no danger. You would’ve had a horrible situation had I not sent them.” … Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA): “On January 6th, we begged the president of the United States to send in the National Guard. He would not do it. And yet, in a contra-constitutional way, he has sent the Nat Guard into California. Something is very wrong with this picture." … Newsom to Meidas: “There were 2,000 Nat Guardsmen deployed, but they cannot operationalize the needs for more than 300 of them—meaning 1,700 have not been utilized in any meaningful way. Just moments ago, they called up an additional 2,000 Nat Guard troops. So now it’s 4,000 total—of which only 300 have actually been operationalized. And guess what? Yesterday, LAPD had to use their already scarce resources to protect those Nat Guardsmen and women.” … Trump went to Ft. Bragg today where he gave an overtly partisan political speech to active duty troops, which is something George Washington in his farewell address to the nation said a president should never do: “In LA the governor of California, the mayor—they're incompetent and they paid troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists, they're engaged in this willful attempt to nullify federal law and aid the occupation of the city by criminal invaders.” … WSJ on the new deportation edict from Stephen Miller: "Agents didn’t need to develop target lists of immigrants suspected of being in the US illegally, a longstanding practice. Instead, he directed them to target Home Depot, where day laborers typically gather for hire, or 7-Eleven convenience stores. Miller bet that he and a handful of agents could go out on the streets of DC and arrest 30 people right away." … "The admin’s immigration enforcement is a sharp break with past govt practices, according to attorneys, immigration advocates and officials from previous admins. Fed agents make warrantless arrests. Masked agents take people into custody without identifying themselves. Plainclothes agents in at least a dozen cities have arrested migrants who showed up to their court hearings. And across the US, people suspected of being in the country illegally are disappearing into the fed detention system without notice to families or lawyers, according to attorneys, witnesses and officials." … Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) broke ranks with Trump, Miller and Homan on deportations in his district: “I remain concerned about ongoing ICE operations throughout CA and will continue my conversations with the admin - urging them to prioritize the removal of known criminals over the hardworking people who have lived peacefully in the Valley for years.” … Steve Bannon told BBC that CEOs who hire migrants should be prosecuted: “The problem we have in this country is that the capitalists and the business class are the people that want illegal immigration more than even the far-left radicals because they want cheap labor. The CEOs that are hiring them are breaking the law.” … CNN’s Manu Raju asked senator and physician Bill Cassidy (R-LA) if he regrets his vote to confirm RFK Jr. after he disbanded the CDC vaccine advisory board yesterday: “I’m just not going to comment on that." … Very courageous, as always. … Sen. Lisa Murkowski to CNN on RFK Jr.’s move: "I am concerned that by dismissing everybody, as he has done, that he will not achieve the goal he's seeking - to 'reestablish credibility and trust'.” … DNI Tulsi Gabbard posted an unhinged video of Putin talking points where she went through how bad a nuclear war with Russia would be and finished with this: “As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers. Perhaps because they are confident that they will have access to nuclear shelters for themselves and their families that regular people won’t have access to.” … Almost word-for-word the messaging that comes from the Kremlin to scare the west into surrendering Ukraine. … Josh Hawley co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) to raise the fed minimum wage to $15 per hour. To CBS: "For decades, working Americans have seen their wages flatline. One major culprit of this is the failure of the federal minimum wage to keep up with the economic reality facing hard-working Americans every day." … But Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) on Fox said he doesn’t think there should be any minimum wage at all: "I don't even know why we have a 'federal minimum wage' to be honest. I think the market works really well. I just think manipulating markets with mandatory wages doesn't make any sense." … Sen. John Fetterman (D?-PA) set off another firestorm and got lots of Republican praise for this post about the LA protests: “I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration - but this is not that. This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.” … There is no anarchy. And Democrats universally have condemned the violence and vandalism. Fetterman continues to go out of his way to do this over and over. Maybe most of his news each day comes from Fox. It sure seems like it. I also missed the part where Fetterman condemned Trump’s abuse of power in all this. … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) to CNN on Fetterman’s statement: “We can do two things at one time. We can condemn protests that get out of control, and we can acknowledge that Donald Trump has no interest in standing up to violent protesters because he pardoned every single violent protester from January 6th.” … Sen Dick Durbin (D-IL) to NIH Dir Jay Bhattacharya at a Senate hearing today: "I can't understand it. I disagree with this admin on so many things. But this is the one that really gets to me personally. To think that this nation would walk away from medical research. For God's sake - cancer? Your budget requests a 38% cut to the National Cancer Institute!" … Trump said he wants to disband FEMA so he can dole out disaster funds to state and local officials who kiss his ass sufficiently: “We want to wean off of FEMA and bring it down to the state level so the governors can handle it. If they can’t handle it, they shouldn’t be governor.” … Dan Koh: “As someone who worked on disaster response in the last admin, I can say unequivocally that eliminating FEMA would be a debacle and cost lives. We should all be gravely concerned about this admin's readiness for the first major storm. Nothing indicates they are.” … Steve Bannon continued his war with Elon Musk. To BBC: “Elon's security clearance should be suspended immediately. There’s gotta be investigation into his drug abuse and citizen status. I am calling for a formal investigation. He asked for a top-secret briefing on war plans against China. What defense contractor needs that?” … Former Mike Lindell associate Jovan Pulitzer, who ran the infamous AZ election “audit” in 2021, is thoroughly dissillusioned in the Pillow Man after his testimony in the Dominion trial: “Mike promoted everywhere for weeks that he “had all the data." Now in court under oath we find out he NEVER DID? WTF. I cant post anymore on Lindell today - I am just heartbroken. We were all played BIG TIME in so so so many ways.” … Who could’ve seen that coming? … Some nuggets from the courtroom today as Lindell continued his testimony in his defamation trial, courtesy of NextOn9News’ Kyle Clark: Lindell has called the plaintiff, ex Dominion Voting Systems exec Eric Coomer, a traitor. Lindell testifies he has called 50-100 people a traitor, including journalists. Now to his “crimes against humanity” claim about Coomer. Says it also applies to two journalists in the room. Lindell says it was (now-disgraced) Trump attorney Sidney Powell who got him to dive deeper into claims that voting machines are rigging elections. Lindell says he took what he believed was evidence to the White House and was “devastated” when Trump didn’t act on it. Lindell is now contradicting his own testimony. First, he insisted he had no control over who took the stage with various election rigging claims at his Cyber Symposium. Later, he claimed he personally told now-convicted felon Tina Peters to get on stage and share her story. Lindell testifies he was never warned by his own team against going ahead with his Cyber Symposium for lack of evidence. Multiple witnesses have testified that Lindell was warned he didn’t have the data to back up his claims.