Today in Politics, Bulletin 154. 6/19/25 Ron Filipkowski Jun 19 ∙ … India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri says that Trump lied about an imminent trade deal with India and also lied about brokering a peace deal between India and Pakistan: “PM Modi clearly told President Trump that during this entire episode, there was never any discussion at any level about an India-US trade deal or US mediation between India and Pakistan. The discussion to halt military action occurred directly between India and Pakistan through existing channels between both armies and was made at Pakistan's request.” … Today is Day 69 since the Trump admin announced that they expected to sign 90 trade deals in 90 days. So far we have one with the UK that is probably better for them than us. … Interior Secretary Doug Burgum was asked on CNN about Trump statement two months ago that at least 200 countries were begging to make trade deals with him: “Well, there is all kinds of countries that are showing up at the doorstep.” … Maybe two more weeks. … Statement from the Los Angeles Dodgers: “This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled.” … WaPo reported that Trump has sidelined SecDef Pete Hegseth on crucial decisions regarding the situation in Iran, and is relying primarily on two 4-star generals for advice. One official: “Nobody is talking to Hegseth. There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all.” … The report says that Trump’s primary advisors are US Central Commanding Gen Erik “The Gorilla” Kurilla, and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen Dan “Raisin” Caine. … Naturally, Hegseth’s spokesman denies the story: “The Secretary is speaking with the President multiple times a day and has been with the President in the Situation Room this week. Secretary Hegseth is providing the leadership DOD and our Armed Forces need, and he will continue to work diligently in support of President Trump’s peace-through-strength agenda.” … Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) continues to post maniacally about Tucker Carlson since he was destroyed in his debate with him about the situation in Iran and Israel: “Tucker Carlson is obsessed with defending Russia and the KGB thug that runs it.” … Good thing Trump doesn’t do that. … World Independent News: “Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) was scheduled to interview with Tucker Carlson but the interview was cancelled at the recommendation of AIPAC, Ben Shapiro, others feeling he was ‘unprepared.’” … They are clearly worried because Fine is the most reprehensible member of their coalition, is a complete moron, and they know Tucker would humiliate him which would damage their position. Fine posted this last year: “There’s a reason the first time I shook Netanyahu’s hand I did not wash it until I could touch the heads of my children.” … Politico reported that Trump is furious at the video posted by DNI Tulsi Gabbard last week warning about the impact of a nuclear war. She said that we have never been closer to one, which is not the message Trump wants right now from his DNI. … A senior Trump admin official: “I don’t think Trump dislikes Tulsi as a person. But certainly the video made him not super hot on her, and he doesn’t like it when people are off message. Many took that video as trying to correct the administration’s position.” … Another WH official: "He’s not interested in firing her at this moment because she’s not doing any harm. I think he’s questioning her viewpoint as a value, especially after that video.” … CBS: “Trump has been briefed on both the risks and the benefits of bombing Fordo, Iran's most heavily secured nuclear facility, and his mindset is that disabling it is necessary because of the risk of weapons being produced in a relatively short period of time. Trump is aware of the diplomatic effort being undertaken with EU officials meeting with the Iranian foreign minister in Switzerland on Friday.” … “John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, has said in closed-door settings that Iran is viewed as being very close to possessing nuclear weapons, despite the official line from the intelligence community that Iran's leadership hasn't given a formal order to build bombs. Trump has been briefed on both the risks and the benefits of bombing the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran and his mindset is that disabling it is necessary.” Source: “He believes there’s not much choice. Finishing the job means destroying Fordo.” … Trump was asked if a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities by the US is imminent: “I may do it, I may not do it. Nobody knows what I'm going to do. Iran's got a lot of trouble.” … Press Sec Karoline Leavitt: “Regarding Iran, I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, ‘Based on the fact that there is a chance of substantial negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks." … Reporter: If the US were to take some sort of military action, would the president go to Congress to seek war authority? Leavitt: “I will not engage in hypotheticals. I gave you the statement from the president. He will make a decision in two weeks.” … Two weeks. … Reporter to Leavitt: “President Trump has said previously several times in regards to sanctions on Russia that they would be imposed in two weeks. He used that ‘two weeks’ phrase several times, then it was another two weeks, and another two weeks. So how can we be sure that he will stick to this deadline?” … Trump’s former NSA John Bolton: “Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, because Barack Obama received one. He won't get it for solving the Russian-Ukraine war. He tried unsuccessfully to claim credit for the recent India-Pakistan cease fire. He’s now failing to reach an agreement with Iran, and is being asked by Israel to help destroy Tehran's nuclear-weapons program.” … While the Trump admin has talked about nuclear deterrence at the reason for US involvement in a war against Iran, Republican Senators continue to call for regime change. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) joined the chorus to CNN: “It is time for regime change, and I believe that this president should be given a fair amount of leeway to affect that.” … Fox continues to beat the drums of war 24/7, with 100% of their hosts, guests and contributors wanting to go all-in despite the fact that a big chunk of the Republican Party is against that. It is 2002 all over again when they did the same thing. Sean Hannity to Iran: “You've been warned. At best your economy will be destroyed. Your refineries will be up in smoke. Your infrastructure will be in tatters. You won't have lights to turn on if you keep going the way you're going.” … The position of Republicans in the House and Senate (other than Thomas Massie) is pretty simple - Trust in Trump. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) was asked her position on Fox: “Well, this will be entirely up to the president. Whatever the call that is made by President Donald Trump, I will be supportive of.” … NPR: “Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said he thinks Iran ‘likely’ has a nuclear weapons program—but he sees so many questions about how a strike would work, retaliation, a wider war and boots on the ground that he concludes: ‘I do not think that we should do this.’ Smith is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, respected on defense issues. He cast doubt that the US could simply send a plane over Fordo with one big bomb and solve the problem. He says troops may be needed, there may be other sites, and Iran may escalate.” … Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH): “The Iron Dome - the munitions that are required to sustain this are large. Some of them Israel has purchased, some the US has given. We want to be supportive of our friends, but we need to be clear that you can’t just start a war, get it going, and then count on the US to show up and finish it for you.” … MAGA influencer and podcaster Laura Loomer: “I wish I didn’t have the displeasure of having to meet most of the people I have met in conservative media over the last 10 years. Literally the worst people you’ll ever meet in your life.” … While speaking to reporters at the unveiling of his two new flagpoles outside the WH, Trump griped that he is worried about being able to maintain his streak of golf championships at his club because he hasn’t been practicing: “35 Club Championships, but I haven't hit a ball in 3 weeks, 4 weeks.” … Which I’m sure were totally legit. … CBS today: “Trump is leaving for his golf club in Bedminster, NJ tomorrow.” … Trump was crying about the latest dismal Fox poll: “The Crooked FoxNews Polls have been biased against me for years. They are always wrong and negative. It’s why MAGA HATES FoxNews, even though their anchors are GREAT. This has gone on for years, but they never change the incompetent polling company that does their work. Now a new FoxNews poll comes out this morning giving me a little more than 50% at the Border, and yet the Border is miraculously perfect, NOBODY WAS ABLE TO COME IN LAST MONTH. 60,000 people came in with Sleepy Joe in the same month last year.” … With inflation rising again and Fed Chair Jerome Powell warning it could get worse because of tariffs so he isn’t prepared to cut interest rates yet, Trump was fuming: “Too Late—Powell is the WORST. A real dummy, who’s costing America $Billions!” … He wasn’t done. Another one: “'Too Late Jerome Powell is costing our Country Hundreds of Billions of Dollars. He is truly one of the dumbest, and most destructive, people in Government, and the Fed Board is complicit. Europe has had 10 cuts, we have had none. We should be 2.5 Points lower, and save $BILLIONS on all of Biden’s Short Term Debt. We have LOW inflation! TOO LATE’s an American Disgrace!” … Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): “Today’s a great day to fire Jerome Powell.” … Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN): “Let Trump run the Fed and purge the globalists for good. He rebuilt the economy after Democrats wrecked it—now let him slash the rates and finish the job. America First!!!” … JD Vance opened up an account on Bluesky yesterday. It was suspended until the platform could verify that it wasn’t an impersonator account, then immediately reinstated. Naturally, the brief suspension launched a series of conspiracies from the usual suspects. Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT): “Why did it take BlueSky 17 whole minutes to ban JD Vance? What kind of self-respecting, leftist censorship takes that long to stamp out free speech?” … Charlie Kirk: “It took 17 minutes for Bluesky to ban the sitting VP for offending them. And thanks to Elon Musk, we get to point and laugh at them instead of howling in anger about censorship. And thanks to us using our free speech on 𝕏, mocking and laughing at them, they’ve been forced to reinstate him! Be grateful every day for what Musk did to liberate free speech online.” … He currently has about 9,000 followers on Bluesky and is not following anyone. … Trump extended TikTok divestiture another 90 days. This was a law passed by Congress. The deadline for divesture was January 21. Trump has granted two extensions. There is no provision for allowing enforcement of the law to be extended. The Supreme Court upheld the law 9-0. But Trump is just ignoring it and nobody is saying anything about it. … And China is blocking any sale indefinitely because of Trump’s tariffs. … Jeff Mason with Reuters noticed that on a wall in the WH where portraits of First Ladies are displayed, Trump removed the official portrait of Hillary Clinton and replaced it with a painting of himself. Thanks for so many of the great questions you submitted for yesterday’s ‘Ask the Editor’ segment I had with Ben. I picked 5 of your questions to answer and the video is about 15 minutes. The link to that is here. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … George Clooney’s documentary “Surviving Ohio State” on the cover-up at the school of a doctor molesting athletes has been released. It implicates former OSU wrestling coach and current Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as someone who had direct knowledge that it was happening while discouraging young men from reporting it. It is now airing in HBO. … Another one of Elon Musk’s taxpayer funded rockets blew up last night. USA Today: “The explosion is not the first for SpaceX and comes on the heels of a string of set backs for the 400-foot rocket system this year. The company designs, builds and manufactures advanced rockets with the end goal of enabling people to live on other planets.” … Statement from SpaceX: “The Starship preparing for the tenth flight test experienced a major anomaly while on a test stand at Starbase. Our Starbase team is actively working to safe the test site and the immediate surrounding area in conjunction with local officials. There are no hazards to residents in surrounding communities, and we ask that individuals do not attempt to approach the area while safing operations continue.” … Just a reminder that Trump essentially deregulated SpaceX and its launches right after he took office while Musk was working in the WH. Musk complained for years that there were too many safety restrictions being put on them which was slowing his progress. Now he is pretty much free to do what he wants. What could go wrong? … Politico: “Elon Musk may have stopped sparring with Trump online, but the former presidential adviser and megabacker isn’t done publicly sniping at members of Trump’s admin. The former DOGE chief slammed Sergio Gor, a top Trump adviser who played a role in his split with the president, bashing him as a ‘snake’ late Wed night. Tensions between the two advisers had long simmered, with Musk refusing to work with Gor after a March Cabinet meeting in which the billionaire clashed with other Cabinet members.” … “But the situation bubbled over when Gor helped facilitate the termination of Jared Isaacman’s nomination for NASA head — a pick Musk had pushed. The decision to pull Isaacman’s nomination appeared to be the last straw for Musk, who shortly thereafter launched a social media spree attacking the president and the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ he was drumming up support to push through Congress.” … Rep. Nancy Mace was on a podcast claiming that she owned MN Gov Tim Walz when he testified last week when she asked him 'what is a woman'?: "I buried him. If you can't define a woman, you can't defend our rights as women. I emasculated him so badly over the question. I embarrassed him. He got completely emasculated- something I enjoy doing." … Really shocking that Mace has had so much relationship drama with men over the years. Her recent engagement ended in a series of nasty lawsuits with wild accusations on both sides. … Mace also told a women’s prayer breakfast in SC previously that she was almost late for it because her fiancé wanted morning sex. I could go on and on, but I will stop there. … Chicago Sun-Times: “Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL), who is 83, said today that he's still deciding whether he'll run for reelection: ‘I'll decide in a few more weeks.’” … Davis has been in Congress for 29 years. … Social media has been on fire with theories and speculation after yet another photo of Trump’s hand at the G7 Summit in Canada showed it swollen and discolored. We have seen this before from time to time with his hand, but not sure if it has been this bad in the past. Of course, no member of the media will ask him about it. … Melania Trump’s crypto is down 98% since it was launched the day before the inauguration on Jan 19. The rubes who decided to buy it as a tribute to their beloved First Lady now have two cents for every dollar they put in. Thoughts and prayers. … NY Post: “Russia and Iran are targeting the MAGA movement and trying to ‘destabilize the right from within, according to a new report. Both rogue states are using tens of thousands of social media bots to amplify untrue voices and opinions ‘masquerading as MAGA loyalists,’ to cause chaos and confusion and question US leadership. … “The bots are automated software applications that mimic human activity on social media. They are used to amplify real-life influencers who post untrue ‘false flag’ narratives designed to discredit President Trump and his conservative stalwarts, according to a bombshell new report from the Network Contagion Research Institute, a politically neutral nonprofit who study extremism on the web.” … “Working through firebrand right wing social media influencers, Kremlin-affiliated propagandists also conducted ‘a coordinated assault’ against Trump. It’s a combination of an artificial voice with a real voice. It destroyed the Democratic party and now they are going after MAGA. The network is quick to jump on and twist almost any story in the news cycle, and have recently trained their sights on President Trump, NCRI says. … “The network’s goals extend beyond crisis exploitation. After leveraging the false-flag frame to pose as MAGA loyalists, the same actors pivoted to accuse Trump of pedophilia and to disseminate Iranian state leaks portraying IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) as an Israeli proxy.” … I think the term for this is ‘karma’.