<<<<<<This week’s commentaries lead off with contributing pundit Sharon Lintner (Left) on a report that the Department of Homeland Security is considering a pitch for a reality competition show in which the prize is US citizenship (scroll down this column for details) and a review and commentary by contributing pundit Rich Corbett (Right) of President Trump’s Arab Gulf trip last week.>>>>>
TUESDAY 5/20/25
UPDATE: The UK and the European Union have responded to results, or lack thereof, of Monday’s Trump-Putin call with a new round of sanctions, The Guardian reports.
Sanctions will target dozens of institutions, the UK Foreign Office said in a statement, including those “supporting Russia’s military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin’s war in Ukraine.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kalla said the EU has approved sanctions to target Russia’s shadow fleet, with more sanctions in the pipeline.
“The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response,” Kalla said.
“Putin so far has not put in place the full, unconditional ceasefire that President Trump has called for,” the UK’s Foreign Office said, “and President Zelenskyy endorsed more than two months ago.”
Putin’s Choice – After a two-hour phone call between President Trump and Russian President/dictator Vladimir Putin Monday afternoon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy apparently is left with two possible outcomes. Either Ukraine cedes territory already lost to Russia and hopes Russia lets it alone. Or there is no ceasefire deal and Russia continues to burrow into Ukraine as it tries to rebuild its empire.
The Trump-Putin call “yielded no breakthroughs” on a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reports, though apparently the White House now thinks the two countries will work something out by themselves. Maybe if they meet at the Vatican, as Pope Leo XIV has offered.
And it was just last Friday when Trump said Putin did not show up for talks with Zelenskyy in Turkey because Trump didn’t show up there. But perhaps Trump might have showed up in Istanbul if only Putin had shown up.
That’s the recipe for peace in Ukraine.
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Deficit Decption – Monday morning, after the Budget Committee moved the Trump-backed Big, Beautiful Bill to the full House by 17-16 vote, a reporter asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt (above) whether President Trump is “okay” with the budget reconciliation bill adding to the deficit?
Not going to happen, Leavitt replied, citing a Council of Economic Advisors’ estimate it will bring in $1.6 trillion in savings against the current deficit of $36.8 trillion.
“That’s the largest savings for any legislation that has ever passed Capitol Hill in our nation’s history,” Leavitt said.
Not true, says The New Republic and just about every other publication with a firm grasp of economics. Final price tag is TBD, but according to the left-leaning publication, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates it is expected to add $3.8 trillion to $5.3 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years.
--TL
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Committee Advances Reconciliation Package
MONDAY 5/19/25
‘Big, Beautiful’ and Passed by Committee – Four Freedom Caucus members voted “present” in order to get the Trump-backed reconciliation package, the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” out of committee and on to the full House late Sunday evening, CQ Roll Call reports. The Budget Committee passed B3, 17-16, with Republican Reps. Chip Roy (TX), Andrew Clyde (GA), Ralph Norman (SC) and Josh Brecheen (OK) voting “present” after they were sufficiently satisfied with changes that committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said will be outlined later this week in the manager’s amendment. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) plans to bring the bill before the full House before Memorial Day.
Meanwhile ... The investment service Moody's became the last of three major agencies to downgrade the credit rating for the US, Reuters reports. On Friday, it dropped the rating from AAA to Aa1.
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Biden Has Cancer – Former President Joe Biden, 82, has an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer, his office said Sunday (per The Associate Press).
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” the statement says. “The president and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physician.”
This comes hot… on the heels of release of Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson hitting store bookshelves Tuesday, chronicling the cover-up of the 46th president’s cognitive decline by his family and closest advisors.
For Trump supporters and never-Trumpers alike, the book appears to raise the question of how fatal a blow to a.) the Democratic Party and b.) our democracy it was that Biden didn’t stick with his promise to make that single term his one and only term, that it would serve as a transition to a more progressive – not more populist, and certainly not authoritarian – America.
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About That Reality Show – (See Sharon Lintner’s commentary in the left column) … No, it’s not an Onion headline. Rather, according to the ǔber-tabloid Daily Mail, “ICE Barbie,” better known as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “is backing an insane reality TV show online where immigrants compete for fast-tracked citizenship.”
For losers on the show, does that mean, “Your Deported!”?
Apparently, no.
The increasingly indispensable conspiracy theory/urban myth-busting website Snopes reported that DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that the show is “in the very beginning stages” of the department’s vetting process and not only has not received approval, but also that Noem has not “backed” or is even aware of the pitch of any scripted or reality show.
The pitcher, incidentally, is Rob Worsoff, 49, a Canadian-American producer responsible for Duck Dynasty and Dating Naked.
The New York Times was a bit more assertive than Snopes, reporting that Worsoff described the show, to be called The American, as a competition among immigrants, in trivia and in challenges in certain states. The winner would be sworn in as a US citizen but no runners-up would be penalized or deported.
The assistant secretary, McLaughlin, said that DHS is happy to review “out of the box pitches,” according to the NYT’s report, particularly those that celebrate “what it means to be an American.”
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The Reality of Tariffs – Even during the Trump administration’s 90-day suspension of 145% tariffs on Chinese imports, there remains a 30% tariff on said goods. That’s not unsubstantial, and on a first-quarter earnings call last Thursday, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned investors the world’s biggest retailer will have to raise prices on groceries and merchandise, despite a 2.5% increase in the company’s net income.
That set off President Trump, who took to his social media platform to respond: “Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected.”
--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa