Donald Trump is an old man backed into a corner, and he’s grasping for anything he can control
(Image: Pool/ABACA/Shutterstock)
Donald Trump has suffered a series of humiliations over the last few weeks. From the Supreme Court ruling his plan to screw up the midterms by making postal voting insanely complicated couldn’t be implemented in time, to his hand-picked Fed chair voting through a rate increase…to another judge saying he can’t write his name on the memorial to a dead president, it’s been defeat after defeat.
And despite offering the American people a $5,000 bribe each and urging them to pretend he’s on the ballot, it looks increasingly like his Republican Party is going to lose both houses of Congress in November’s election.
And when you’re an old man backed into a corner, being told left and right that you can’t do the things you want to do, you grab onto pretty much anything you can control.
And that’s probably why Trump announced last night that three news outlets would be banned from the White House and made out a fairly benign treaty extension with Denmark was a major shift in power over Greenland.
Here’s how Trump’s week spiralled, and how he’s now trying to claw his way back.
“Oh, the ban on the free press?”
Donald Trump last night announced he was throwing CNN, Politico and MS Now out of the White House, something he genuinely referred to as a “ban on the free press.”
Why? Well, because he doesn’t like the things they write.
Claiming the outlets were “unfair” and “dishonest”, Trump said it was a “very simple ban. I don’t want them in my office, I don’t want them here. I would say the ban will go as far as you can. If they could straighten themselves out I’d love it.”
He went on to warn the New York Times and Washington Post they could be next.
Trump tried to ban now former CNN reporter Jim Acosta from the White House during his first term, taking his White House pass away from him.
But the move was blocked by a federal court after Acosta argued it infringed on his rights under the first amendment (freedom of the press) and fifth amendment (due process).
Asked if he was trying to “intimidate” the press, Trump said: “No, no, no. I dislike dishonest press, like you, I think you’re terrible. I like to see honest press.”
Asked how the move was constitutional, Trump said: “I don’t think someone should be allowed to come in and write fake stories….It’s sick. There’s something wrong with a country that can allow people to write purposely negative stories. Now, if they want to write them that’s fine, but I don’t have to let them into my…into the people’s house.”
At the time of writing, reporters are starting to arrive at the White House to find their passes have been deactivated.
As it stands, CNN is still down to be the nominated pool outlet travelling with Trump on Monday, so we’ll see.
“We’ve got Greenland!”
Trump last night posted a message on Truth Social that seemed to suggest Denmark had kind of given Greenland to the US. He followed that up by posting a map of the country overlaid with the Stars and Stripes.
And it’s certainly been taken that way by a decent chunk of MAGA – with Utah Senator Mike Lee tweeting: “We’ve got Greenland! This is what winning looks like.”
But it ain’t really so, though, Joe.
Trump said on Friday that the agreement would give the United States “permanent control over security, and all other needs, in Greenland, completely addressing ALL of our many US concerns.”Denmark and the US already have a long-standing security agreement that has allowed the US to deploy forces in Greenland, and it was not immediately clear how this deal was different from that.
The deal is expected to be signed at the UN General Assembly in New York, which Trump will attend from Monday.
“Sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift”
So you might remember earlier this year that Donald Trump’s adult son, Don Jr, got married for the second time. It made a bit of news at the time, because the ceremony took place in the Bahamas and Trump…the father of the groom…did not go.
His excuse was that he was a little busy with the Iran war. And, sure, maybe.
But we learned this week that while the wedding itself was a smallish affair in a chapel on a private island, there was a two-day after party on a different island, which was paid for by Umar Kremlev a Russian Oligarch with close ties to Vladimir Putin.
The island rents for about a hundred thousand dollars a night, and other costs covered by Kremlev are said to have included a fireworks display that cost another 70 grand.
Jr’s new wife Bettina, described Kremlev as a “dear friend” and said he “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us after our wedding.”
She went on to say: “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful”
Jr’s people said he and Kremlev are “personal friends” but don’t have a business relationship.
And the happy couple added: “It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from.
“Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”
So who is this guy? Well, Kremlev runs the International Boxing Association, which is funded by the Russian state-backed energy firm Gazprom.
The group has been suspended by the Olympics, in part, for failing to report its ties to Gazprom.
As recently as this year, Kremlev was part of a Russian delegation to China led by Putin himself. Putin has also given Kremlev the Order of Friendship, one of the Russian Federation’s highest honours.
Donald Trump senior said: “I have no idea who Umar is, never heard of him, and he didn’t pay for Don and Bettina’s wedding, which took place at a totally different location, and on a different day.”
And last night in the Oval Office Trump said he had “heard” that Don Jr had reimbursed Kremlev for the cost of the festivities – which, assuming it’s true (and we shouldn’t assume that…) raises the question of…why? If it’s all totally above board and fine, why pay it back?
Also, the Trump family is, famously, a billionaire family. Jr’s personal net worth is in the region of $300 million.
Why didn’t he just pay for his own party? I suspect we’ll find out one day. Maybe some time before the LA Olympics.
“I think the Trump administration should be recognised as having saved the Kennedy Center”
Long term readers will recall that Donald Trump has an obsession with the Kennedy Centre.
For newcomers, a quick recap: The Kennedy Centre is – or was – America’s most renowned performing arts venue and organisation. A bit like The Barbican, except it’s also the official national monument for John F Kennedy – one of America’s most beloved presidents. A President, we should note, whose disappointing adult nephew serves in Trump’s cabinet. More of him in a moment.
Trump set his sights on it from day one of his second Presidency, mounting a coup to stuff the board with his own cronies and installing himself as chairman. He set about reforming it in his own image, changing the programme in a way that prompted a huge backlash plunging ticket sales. He also, in the dead of night, added his own name above the door – so it was officially called the Donald J Trump and the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Literally people woke up to find he’d slapped his name on a presidential memorial. Why is he so obsessed with taking over this hallowed institution? Well, nobody really knows. But throughout history dictators have seized control of the creative arts to suppress dissent and break up alternatives to state propaganda. To be clear, I’m not saying Trump is a dictator. But I am saying he’s read a few pages from the big book of things that dictators do.
Anyway, the courts, unsurprisingly told him, nah, can’t do that. See congress if you want to change the name. So the name had to come down. Fast forward to a month or so ago and Trump’s handpicked board came up with another plan. According to them, the building is in drastic need of repair. Now, we only have their word and some CCTV footage of bits falling off the ceiling for that. And this is the trump administration, so we definitely shouldn’t take that at face value. Remember the thing with the reflecting pool?
They said Trump was willing to close the centre for repairs, and he’d ensure the funding was there to renovate – IF the courts agree to put his name back up on the wall. In smaller letters this time, and underneath JFK’s name rather than on top. And a federal judge blocked both the closure and the name change.
On Tuesday, the board closed the building anyway, in defiance of the judge’s ruling. The same day, there was a reportedly chaotic meeting of the centre’s board, during which they voted for a third time to close the building. This was opposed by Representative Joyce Beatty, a Democrat ex officio board member, who is behind the lawsuit that is blocking the process in the courts.
After that, Trump issued a pretty ominous statement on Truth Social. If the courts ruled against his appeal, and refused to let him put his name on the wall, he said, “the reconstruction and the renovation of the Kennedy Center will not take place.” The centre would close “immediately” – and there was no indication of when…or if.. it would reopen.
And then came the photos. Trump landed at Andrews Air Force Base after a speech in North Carolina, and a photographer snapped him looking at a big poster board, on which is clearly written “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED”. The picture isn’t clear, but it appears to be a manipulated image of the centre.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he was willing to save the centre, which he claimed was losing money. He did not address a question about demolishing it.
“We have a lot of people working very hard on it to save it,” he said. “I can save it easily, but why should we be doing that and then raise money for the rest of our lives to keep it afloat? Because that’s what you have to do, if we get no recognition. I think the Trump administration should be recognised as having saved the Kennedy Center.”
Later last night, supporters and patrons descended on the legendary building, forming a human chain around it in protest against Trump’s apparent plans.
Remember what happened with the East Wing. Do not be surprised if you wake up one morning in the near future to see footage of bulldozers.
“You’ve got a friend in the White House”
Robert F Kennedy Jr told members of an anti-vaccine group he founded that they have a “steadfast friend at the White House”.
RFK, who is Donald Trump’s health secretary, was speaking at a convention of Children’s Health Defense, which he led for nearly a decade.
His speech came after four people did of measles in Pennsylvania, in the worst outbreak of the disease in decades.
“Let me be clear: You have a strong and steadfast friend in the White House. We’ve accomplished in 19 months things that would have seemed unthinkable two years ago,” he said.
Kennedy, who is not a medical professional, raised a string of baseless questions about long-established vaccine safety.
He boasted about how the Trump administration, under his guidance, had limited the number of life-saving vaccines routinely given to children in the US – including scrapping regular shots for hepatitis A and B and meningococcal, the rare virus that causes meningitis.
President Trump has made repeated and unfounded claims that the vaccine scheme was “dangerous” and contributed to increased autism diagnoses.
And Trump suggested falsely that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine could be “quite lethal” if taken as combined injection, and called for it to be split in to three separate shots.
Some 3,294 cases of measles have been confirmed in the US so far in 2026, up from 2,289 in the whole of 2025. according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Nearly half of the 2026 cases (45%) were in children and young people aged 5-19, with 18% of the cases affecting the under 5s.
Some 95% of the cases were in unvaccinated people, or people whose vaccination status was unknown. Just 3% had had both doses of MMR. Of the 2026 cases, 267 people were hospitalised, including 66 children under 5.
In 2024, the year before Trump returned to office, there were 285 cases, and in 2023 just 59. More cases of measles have been confirmed in the US so far this year than in the decade from 2014 to 2024.
RFK spoke alongside Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced British former doctor whose fabricated research first popularised the false claim that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism.
After being struck off in the UK, and ostracised by the medical community, Wakefield moved to the US, where he has since become a minor celebrity in the anti-vaccine world.
