Trump Is Ready to Throw JD Vance Under the Bus Over Iran

President Donald Trump said that if there’s no deal with Iran, then he’ll blame Vice President JD Vance.

Speaking at an Easter lunch Wednesday, Trump asked Vance for an update on negotiations with Iran in front of his guests.

“He’s working on the deal, right? How’s that moving? Is it OK? The big deal?” Trump said.

“It’s going good, sir,” Vance said from the audience.

“Do you see that happening?” Trump pressed.

“We’re gonna brief you too,” Vance said.

“So, if it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance. If it does happen, I’m taking full credit,” Trump said to laughter.

“No, I think it’ll be uh. I think it has to happen. I think they’re desperate,” he added.

Not desperate enough, it seems. Multiple U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that Iran believes it is still in a strong position and is not currently willing to engage in substantial negotiations to end the U.S. and Israel’s military onslaught, U.S. officials told The New York Times Wednesday.

Trump has claimed that the U.S. has satisfied nearly all its objectives in the region—but will continue to hit Iran very hard over the next two weeks. Meanwhile, he has offered no plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Donald Trump doesn’t think the federal government should fund childcare, Medicare, or Medicaid.

At an Easter lunch reception at the White House Wednesday, the president told guests exactly what he thought about what the U.S. should be prioritizing, and it doesn’t bode well for the government’s most widely used and popular social programs.

“I said to [Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought], ‘Don’t send any money for daycare because the United States can’t take care of daycare.’ That has to be up to a state. We can’t take care of daycare. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people,” Trump said. “We’re fighting wars. We can’t take care of daycare. You got to let a state take care of daycare, and they should pay for it too. They should pay. They’ll have to raise their taxes, but they should pay for it. And we could lower our taxes a little bit to them to make up.

“It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country. But all these little things, all these little scams that have taken place … you have to let states take care of them,” Trump continued.

It’s a glaring admission from Trump, who confessed point-blank that he thinks the government’s only responsibility is to fund the military. It explains why he supported a bloated military budget even before starting the war in Iran. It also explains why he didn’t seem to mind massive cuts to Medicare and Medicaid with his “big, beautiful bill” last year. The White House’s YouTube account, after broadcasting Trump’s remarks live, has made the video private on the website.

The Trump administration tried to use childcare funding as a way to punish five Democratic-led states earlier this year, suspending federal funding for public welfare programs in New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota and making false claims about fraud. While that decision was struck down by a federal judge on Tuesday, his comments about Medicare and Medicaid don’t bode well for the millions of Americans who depend on them. How will Trump’s fellow Republicans, and the rest of the country, take these disturbing remarks?

This story has been updated.

House Republicans have finally caved, agreeing to pass a bill to end the shutdown without additional funding for ICE and parts of Customs and Border Protection.

House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced in a joint statement Wednesday that instead of holding the nation hostage on this issue, they will later fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through appropriations and reconciliation, a longer process has more administrative hurdles than a normal budget bill, but only requires a simple majority in the Senate rather than a filibuster-proof 60 votes.

This is the same proposal from Senate Democrats—and Republicans—that Johnson rejected days ago, calling it a “crap sandwich.”

Last week, Republicans in each legislative chamber were at odds, as the Senate passed a bill that would fund DHS without additional funding for ICE and CBP, a sticking point for Democrats who have called out the agencies’ violence and legally questionable tactics.

The House, meanwhile, passed a bill that would fully fund DHS (ICE and Border Patrol included) for 60 days, which would require enough Senate votes to avoid a filibuster, given Democratic opposition. The impasse meant the shutdown extended through yet another weekend, and that long security lines taxing unpaid TSA agents continued. Oddly, many Senate Republicans still decided to travel out of town before the week was out.

But now, Johnson and Thune have agreed on something that could have happened on Friday, or even weeks before. The sudden reversal seems to have come after Trump’s own 180, as he blessed Republicans on Wednesday to move forward with the two-track approach, and demanded a bill to fund DHS on his desk by June 1.

“Unlike Republicans, Democrats want to DEFUND the Police, Border Patrol, and all Immigration Enforcement. They want to allow Criminals, the Mentally Insane, and Lunatics from all over the World to come into our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, putting Americans in serious danger,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “That’s why we are going forward to fund our incredible ICE Agents and Border Patrol through a process that doesn’t need Radical Left Democrat votes, and bypasses the Senate Filibuster (which should be repealed, IMMEDIATELY!), working in close conjunction with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Leader John Thune.”

In short, Johnson and Thune kept government workers unpaid and traveling Americans frustrated, all because Republicans couldn’t agree on how to ignore the serious issues with ICE. Now, instead of addressing those concerns, they’ll try to ram through funding for immigration enforcement over any opposition.

Some of Donald Trump’s biggest supporters now believe he has no political future.

Alex Jones, the bankrupt host of InfoWars, claimed that Trump is “done” and too sick to remain in the Oval Office.

“When your ankles swell up three times the size they were before, that means heart failure,” Jones said on an episode of the Alex Jones Show Tuesday. “And he does look sick. He does babble and sound like the brain’s not doing too hot. And so, we just cut bait on Trump, and we just mobilize against the Democrats. And we mobilize against the neocons, we primary them, and we just fight even harder.”

Jones noted that there was a new conservative wave taking over the country that has involved a “Christian reawakening” that Trump has nothing to do with.

“Trump is just a minor figure in all of that now,” Jones said. “We need to be sad about Trump. This is not funny, this is not good, but he’s gone. And that’s it.”

Jones went on to compare Trump to his own grandfather, who Jones said was “not there” in the last year of his life due to dementia.

He also suggested that members of Trump’s Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were “freaked out” about Trump’s health but too loyal to speak out.

“We need to pray for other people to be awakened … because we’re in so much danger,” Jones said.

The 79-year-old president has repeatedly claimed that he is in pristine condition, brushing off public alarm over his deteriorating body, but several health scares over the last several months have sparked questions over his ability to remain in office.

The large bruises on his hands—often covered with ill-matched makeup—have become a near routine fixture on the president’s aging body as they shift from hand to hand. The White House has blamed the superficial injuries on handshaking and aspirin, though doctors have suggested that the bruises could be a warning sign of something more serious.

Other symptoms of Trump’s deteriorating condition have been more concerning, such as the sagging mouth and drooping expression he sported in September during 9/11 memorial ceremonies, causing some onlookers to suggest that the president could have suffered a stroke.

The next month, Trump spent hours at Walter Reed Medical Center. The White House refused to disclose the reason, but eventually Trump let slip that he had received MRI scans, the results of which he said came back “perfect.” At least one former White House physician questioned the timeline of Trump’s appointment, pointing out that his four-hour visit to the hospital was far longer than would be required by an MRI test. Trump later revealed he might not have gotten an MRI at all, but something “less than” that.

Trump has also appeared discombobulated and lethargic during critical meetings with world leaders. Over the course of the last year, Trump has fallen asleep roughly a dozen times during critical public appearances. It has happened during Cabinet meetings, in the middle of bombastic military parades, while meeting leaders of critical allies, and even during the Pope’s funeral.

As the U.S. job market continues to crumble, Donald Trump’s White House is looking to hire a new batch of sycophant interns—but won’t pay them for their devotion or their time.

The White House Internship Program offers young Americans full of vim and vigor a full-time, 10- to 12-week stint working in person for one of the many offices of the White House. One need only glance at the application’s short-answer questions to get a sense of exactly who the White House is hoping to enlist.

“Describe how President Trump’s vision for the country has influenced your decision to apply to the White House Internship Program,” read one prompt.

“In your view, which current Cabinet Secretary do you most admire and believe best demonstrates effective leadership?” asked another.

Should one select the labor secretary accused of using government funds for a birthday party and having an alleged affair with her security guard, or the trigger-happy Christian nationalist waging Trump’s reckless war in Iran? Maybe one could choose the secretary of state who wants to take over Cuba in clown shoes? How about the hapless secretary of transportation, or the clueless director of intelligence? There are just too many great options! How will one ever decide?

Notably, the posting for the White House’s internship program made no mention of payment or a stipend, while during President Joe Biden’s administration, White House interns were paid a stipend of $750 per week. A June 2022 press release announcing the paid internships stated that unpaid federal internships had been a “barrier to hardworking and talented students and professionals.”

“This significant milestone of paying White House interns will help remove barriers to equal opportunity for low-income students and first-generation professionals at the beginnings of their careers and help to ensure that those who receive internships at the White House—and who will be a significant part of the leadership pipeline across the entire federal government—reflect the diversity of America,” the press release said.

The White House’s apparent move back to unpaid internships is a pretty bad look considering the fact that Trump has laid waste to the U.S. job market and decimated the federal workforce. If these kids are looking for full-time jobs, they’ll probably have to look elsewhere.