Trump Announces Another Renovation Project in the Middle of a War

President Trump has announced yet another renovation project that will cost billions, while in the midst of a failing, unpopular war with Iran.

The president revealed plans for a $22.5 billion renovation of Dulles International Airport at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon alongside Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby.

“This is all about the Dulles Airport.… It’s considered one of the worst airports anywhere in the world. We’re gonna make it maybe the best, with some hard work and some good thought process,” Trump said to open the presser. He described the plan as a “major, and long overdue, renovation and reconstruction of Washington’s really horribly thought-of Dulles International Airport.”

Trump plans to add over five million square feet of newly renovated space, replacing the airport’s C and D concourses and constructing a multistory above-ground parking garage connected to them. He wants a new air train and new restaurants and lounges. Mock-ups of the renovation also feature Trump’s classic gold styling throughout the airport.

Trump claims the airport’s renovation will be bonded and thus not need federal funds, with participating airlines paying for the whole project. “Cost was no object, unfortunately or fortunately,” he said.

“It’s gonna be so efficient. Right now it’s totally inefficient,” he continued. “Between the trams and the Star Wars thing … elevated buses, nobody knows what’s going on, it’s a real mess.”

Regardless of how good or bad you think Dulles is, the level of priority this project has taken on—much like the White House ballroom, the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, and Trump’s desired “Triumphal Arch”—is very questionable given the state of the war on Iran, the economy, and upcoming midterm elections. Especially at that price. Construction is expected to begin next year.

Texas’s Republican Senate nominee, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is struggling to raise funds thanks to his scandal-laden career and a nasty primary.

The New York Times reports Wednesday that major Republican donors have so far refused to spend money on Paxton’s campaign, where he is polling behind James Talarico, who could be the first Democrat Texas sends to the Senate since 1993. Those donors had spent money in the state’s Republican primary, which placed a spotlight on Paxton’s extramarital affair and criminal charges over alleged state securities fraud.

After Paxton narrowly secured the GOP nomination following a runoff with incumbent Senator John Cornyn, these donors’ opinions haven’t changed, especially since the attorney general has been seen traveling with his lover and now has been accused of committing voter fraud.

Two of the GOP’s biggest money committees, the Senate Leadership Fund and MAGA Inc., haven’t spent any money on Paxton’s campaign despite President Donald Trump backing him. It’s become an open secret that each is waiting for the other super PAC to pony up millions of dollars, according to the Times. The former is run by people close to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and who backed Cornyn in the primary, while the latter is run by Trump advisers.

“Somebody is going to have to spend big money,” Dan Eberhart, an oil executive raising funds for Paxton, told the Times. “We’ll see who blinks.”

Other national Republican groups plan to spend money on other Senate races in Ohio and Kansas, even though those races aren’t as close as Texas. As of early July, Talarico has nine times as much cash in his main campaign account as Paxton does, and has already spent $12 million in ads. He also continues to rake in money from wealthy Democrats in places such as Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard. Will Trump and the GOP step up to bail out Paxton?

American taxpayers are about to get hit with additional charges for the Trump administration’s Great American State Fair.

The Department of the Interior asked Congress for an additional $10 million to cover portions of the Freedom 250 event, including the state fair, a prayer event, and a massive July 4 fireworks display that tried to break the world record (but has still not been recognized by Guinness three weeks after the fact).

Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, told The Washington Post Wednesday that the administration had initially presented the funding need as part of a broader stopgap funding measure for the whole government. It asked for an unspecified amount of funding “to recoup costs associated with support of events celebrating America’s semiquincentennial,” according to Merkley.

But that only raised questions about the administration’s spending habits—particularly since Trump’s One Big Beautiful Act set aside $150 million last year specifically to cover the semiquincentennial’s expenses. Most of that financial support was redirected to Freedom 250, a Trump-backed public-private partnership that largely replaced the congressionally created bipartisan America 250 group that was organizing the historic anniversary celebration, according to the Post.

But that’s not all the money that went into funding the president’s highly politicized, poorly attended 250th celebration. In June, Trump officials diverted roughly $90 million away from the National Park Service, utilizing entry fees to some of the country’s most popular parks—such as Yellowstone and Yosemite—to fund anniversary-related projects.

Private donors also contributed a significant sum to the event: Freedom 250 has accepted donations from corporate sponsors that are currently doing business with the Trump administration, including Palantir, Boeing, Chevron, Lockheed Martin, and more, according to the Freedom 250 website.

Administration officials offered up more details about the new funding request in a follow-up meeting with Merkley’s office, clarifying that they needed the money to cover routine National Park Service costs incurred during the events.

But the Department of the Interior offered a different reason entirely to the Post. When reached for comment, the agency claimed that the funding was needed to address heightened security needs in light of recent threats leveled at the president, citing the Ultimate Fighting Championship event held on the White House lawn in June and the assassination attempt during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April.

“Given the elevated security threats against high-profile events in Washington, D.C. … an elevated security posture was needed to ensure the safety of the public at these events. This funding would help address the expenditures associated with the elevated security posture,” the department wrote in an email.

In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum shared with the Post, Merkley wrote that it is “unacceptable to ask the American people to bail out Freedom 250.”

Republican Senator Bernie Moreno is getting blasted for losing his temper at Dr. Anthony Fauci during a Senate hearing Wednesday, while remaining silent on the alleged abuse of his daughter by her ex-husband, Republican Representative Max Miller.

Fauci continually pleaded the Fifth rather than answer invasive questions from Senate Republicans who accuse him of a cover-up with the Covid-19 pandemic, and Moreno flipped out.

“Who the fuck do you think you were for doing that? It is a total disgrace what you did to this country, and then my Democrat colleagues are standing there defending you,” Moreno said. “You may have had a 50-plus year legacy of public service, but it ends in total and complete disgrace.”

It’s harsher language than anything Moreno has said about Miller, who has a long list of alleged abuse against his ex-wife, Moreno’s daughter Emily. Miller allegedly threw boiling water from a skillet onto Emily Moreno’s chest, scalding her; put a gun to her head; pushed her against a wall, hitting her head; and fractured their two-year-old daughter’s collarbone and bruised her shoulder. Several people on social media quickly pointed this out.

Senator Moreno seems more concerned with scoring political points against one of the GOP’s favorite punching bags than he is with defending his daughter. Miller not only denies the allegations against him, but he claims Emily is lying, has bipolar disorder, is stalking him, and is trying to damage his reputation. Miller and Emily Moreno’s daughter even told her mother, according to court documents, “Daddy kill you.”

Todd Blanche’s chance at becoming attorney general is in genuine jeopardy after  Republican Senator John Cornyn canceled a meeting with the nominee amid an ongoing standoff over President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Cornyn was approached by CNN’s Manu Raju in the Senate halls on Wednesday after news that his morning meeting with Blanche had been canceled.

“So, are you a ‘no’? Are you a ‘no’ tomorrow if this comes to a vote?” Raju asked. 

“Well, [Senate Judiciary Committee Chair] Grassley tells me that we need to know by four o’clock this afternoon whether the markup is still on. So we’ve still got a little time,” Cornyn responded. “And hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this, and will be responding.” 

“But if it stands as it is now … right now, would you vote ‘no’?”

“I’m not prepared to vote ‘yes,’ lemme put it that way,” Cornyn said. 

Cornyn, along with Senator Thom Tillis, has been demanding written termination of Trump’s $1.776 slush fund to help his allies. Tillis told Semafor on Wednesday that there’s “no daylight” between himself and Cornyn on the anti-weaponization fund’s termination. 

Even one Republican “no” vote would effectively kill Blanche’s nomination, as he needs the support of all 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to move forward, assuming every Democrat votes ‘no.’ All Blanche has to do is deliver a written statement assuring them that Trump’s fund is dead—and yet he’s refusing. 

“We’ve still got what, about another five or six hours?  That’s plenty of time to resolve this,” Cornyn continued. “There’s no real need to have a meeting if they will just produce the documentation that we’ve requested—and that he testified to under oath during his hearing.”

“Sir, you’ve been incredibly clear with what you would like Todd Blanche to do … for days now,” another reporter asked. “What do you think the holdup is here?”

“Beats me. Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken.”