Missing GOP Representative Has Time to Thank Trump for Endorsement

Representative Tom Kean Jr. just earned the president’s endorsement—despite the fact that the New Jersey Republican hasn’t been seen in three months.

Kean has been missing in action since March 5, has so far missed 104 House votes, and hasn’t been seen in Washington for more than 89 days. He has offered up thin excuses for his prolonged, mysterious absence, vaguely claiming that he has been dealing with an unspecified “personal health matter.”

Yet despite being completely gone from the picture, Kean still has Donald Trump’s support.

“A Tremendous Advocate of our America First Agenda, Tom is working tirelessly to Keep our Border SECURE, Stop Migrant Crime, Grow our Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Champion Small Business, Unleash American Energy DOMINANCE, Support our Brave Military and Veterans, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late Monday.

Kean retweeted the endorsement and circulated his own message on his official X account, thanking Trump for the midterm blessing.

“Thank you for your support, President Trump! Primary Election Day is tomorrow—get out and vote!” Kean posted. His primary election is Tuesday night.

Who knows if Kean actually wrote the missive, however? The lawmaker’s staff has been issuing newsletters and fundraising messages from his office for weeks, all written in the first person so as to suggest that the lawmaker is still capable of not just his job but also running for reelection.

Kean told The New Jersey Globe last month that his health prognosis was “good” and that he would be transparent about his illness soon. He also said that he planned to return to Washington—and the campaign trail—in the coming weeks, though he has so far failed to do either.

Yet the political intrigue around Kean’s sudden disappearance goes deeper. Although he’s supposed to be sick, the 57-year-old took Amtrak rides and used several ride-share apps around San Francisco during the month of April, according to pre-primary reports that Kean filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Kean’s staff have also been traversing the country with their boss’s express approval. His chief of staff, Dan Scharfenberger, obtained Kean’s signature in early March for at least two trips funded by special interest groups. They include a jaunt to Las Vegas, paid for by the Republican Main Street Partnership, and a trip to Middleburg, Virginia, for a “spring issues conference” sponsored by bipartisan policy organization Center Forward, reported NOTUS.

Kean has also been trading stocks during his prolonged absence, buying and selling shares of Amcor, Chubb Limited, First Citizens BancShares, Johnson & Johnson, and PepsiCo, according to congressional financial records obtained by NOTUS. The combined value of the trades ranges from $50,008 to $190,000.

MAGA isn’t happy with Michael Flynn after discovering he’s a registered foreign agent.

Far-right blogger Scott McMahan posted a Foreign Agents Registration Act form Monday that was dated October 2025, and stated that Donald Trump’s former national security adviser was now making $100,000 per month from the Republic of Srpska. The confederated entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina is run by Milorad Dodik, a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“$100,000 per month?” right-wing troll Phillip Buchanan, known as Catturd, wrote on X in response.

Sebastian Gorka, the pugnacious far-right influencer angling to be the next head of the National Counterterrorism Center, pointed out that Flynn may very well have broken the law.

“A reminder: When I joined the first Trump Administration, I was asked to sign two documents. In one I promised to not work as a lobbyist for a decade. In the second, I promised to never work for another government,” Gorka wrote in a post on X. “I was happy to do sign both. I presume GEN Flynn also signed similar documents.”

Flynn previously alleged he was wrongfully prosecuted for making false statements to federal agents as part of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—even though he pleaded guilty to lying, twice.

If MAGA is upset that Flynn is working on behalf of a Russian ally, just wait until they realize all the ways Trump has stuck his neck out for Putin—and he’s doing it for free!

President Trump has appointed Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence following Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation last week. 

Trump announced the move in a Truth Social post Tuesday morning, and said Pulte would keep his existing jobs as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as head of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency. 

“William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets, and over 10 Trillion Dollars at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago,” Trump posted. 

It’s an odd choice for the sensitive position, which concerns foreign intelligence and would appear to require a military or intelligence background, which Pulte doesn’t have. Instead, he has built up a reputation of targeting Trump’s political enemies using his authority at the housing agency, and has become unpopular among Republican lawmakers for working his way into Trump’s inner circle. 

Last month, Pulte drew the attention of Democrats in Congress for a suspicious charity donation that may have funneled money into Trump’s pockets, and for sharing an AI image with the president depicting Trump as Jesus Christ. Trump then posted the image on his Truth Social platform, causing a backlash from across the political spectrum, particularly from Trump’s supporters on the Christian right.

Pulte will now be holding a sensitive intelligence position while juggling  his other positions. It’s more evidence that Trump prizes loyalty above competence and experience, but could also indicate that Trump is planning a more sinister use of Pulte’s authority. Gabbard was involved in investigating election fraud conspiracies during her tenure as Director of National Intelligence, and Pulte could pick up where she left off. 

This story has been updated.

President Trump went on a long Truth Social rant at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning after Michael Cohen—Trump’s former lawyer, who went to jail for his role in a hush-money payment to adult actress Stormy Daniels—said he was coerced into testifying against Trump on Michael Smerconish’s podcast.

“When a Star Witness totally recants, and in every way reveals that he was pressured and coerced to give testimony, and when the Prosecutor admits that this Witness was the single reason that the case was brought, there was no other, how can that Case not be immediately dismissed,” Trump asked, suggesting that he should be retroactively forgiven for the 34 counts he was convicted of in 2024.

“Michael Cohen has come out and unequivocally stated that the Radical Left Prosecutors, Tish James and Alvin Bragg, pressured and coerced him to testify against your favorite President, ME, when they made him the key player in their Political Witch Hunts,” Trump continued. “Now that his testimony is wiped away, and the unAmerican, Political Charade ‘Cases’ are even further discredited, they should be put out of their misery, and dismissed, once and for all.”

It’s unclear how much begging and how many Truth Social tantrums it’ll take for anything Trump’s talking about here to actually happen. Cohen’s testimony—and the massive civil and criminal court losses that made Trump the very first felon in office—don’t just get “wiped away” because of a podcast.

Republican Representative Ashley Hinson was caught on tape last week saying that President Trump’s Iran war will be a “political liability” if it continues any longer.

Politico reports that Hinson, who will be the likely Republican nominee in Iowa’s Senate race after Tuesday’s primary, told voters in a private meet and greet in the state on Thursday that she hopes a peace deal in the war can be “done by the next couple of weeks.

“If it drags on beyond that, it’s a political liability for us too, because we’ve lost Iowa soldiers. I’ve been to four funerals since December, it’s awful,” Hinson said in Webster County, responding to a question about a timeline for the war.

Hinson has been a staunch supporter of the president and the war, voting against war powers resolutions to limit Trump’s military authority. In her Thursday remarks, she stressed that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” and that the families of fallen Iowa soldiers “all said that we need to finish the job.”

Her remarks are a clear admission that Trump’s war is not helping Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections, and is contributing to his, as well as the party’s, flagging poll numbers. Trump endorsed Hinson last year, and repeated his support for her in a Truth Social post on Monday.

“I know Ashley well, and she is a WINNER! A Loving Wife and Proud Mother of two sons, Ashley is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Iowa, and will continue doing so in the United States Senate,” Trump posted.

Hinson is expected to handily win Tuesday’s primary election, but early general election polls show only a couple of percentage points between her and a Democratic challenger, which will be either state Senator Zach Wahls or state Representative Josh Turek. If the Iran war stretches longer or produces a peace deal disliked by Trump’s MAGA base, not only could Hinson lose her race, but Republicans could lose control of Congress.