Idiocracy

The Guardian reports: The Trump White House on Saturday omitted Gauthier Destenay, the husband of Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel, from the caption to an official photograph of the spouses of Nato leaders, taken at this week’s summit in Brussels. Destenay, a Belgian architect, married Bettel in 2015, becoming the first same-sex spouse of a leader of a European Union …

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump on Saturday said his maiden first trip abroad was a “home run” and he vowed to overcome the threat of terrorism, concluding a grueling five-stop sprint that ended with the promise of an imminent decision on the much-discussed Paris climate accord. Trump ended his nine-day trip with a speech to U.S. troops in …

Hmm. The Hill reports: President Trump has canceled a campaign rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that was previously scheduled to be held next week. “Due to an unfortunate change in President Trump’s schedule, we will need to unfortunately postpone the previously schedule rally in Cedar Rapids,” a statement from the Trump campaign read. “President Trump will see you in Iowa …

CNBC reports: The White House is considering having a team of lawyers approve Donald Trump’s tweets, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing an advisor to the president. Although the idea is under consideration, Trump aides told the Journal that such a procedure would be hard to put in place. If implemented, the move would certainly lift a burden …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump issued a statement on Ramadan — a holy month of fasting and prayer for Muslims around the world — that focused primarily on violence and terrorism. His statement was a stark contrast from the Ramadan message President George W. Bush issued in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, in which he emphasized how millions …

NBC News reports: Former House Speaker John Boehner says that aside from international affairs and foreign policy, President Donald Trump’s time in office has so far been a “complete disaster.” Speaking at an energy conference Thursday in Houston, Boehner praised Trump for his approach abroad and his aggressiveness in fighting Islamic State militants, according to the energy publication Rigzone. “Everything …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump is ready to fight Germany in an auto battle according to Germany’s Der Spiegel. Trump got a chilly reception at the NATO summit in Belgium after attacking fellow members. But he was caught pledging a battle with German automakers as part of his anger with “back dues” he feels the country owes to NATO. …

Politico Europe reports: U.S President Donald Trump congratulated newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron for his “tremendous victory” and “incredible campaign” as they met for the first time over lunch in Brussels on Thursday. Speaking alongside Macron at the U.S. embassy, Trump said: “It is my great honor to be with the newly elected president of France, who ran an …

Moments after his Brussels speech in which he attacked NATO leaders over their defense budgets, Trump brusquely shoved aside Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic in order to be seen standing in front of the group.  After the shove, Trump adjusts his coat and preens for the cameras. Watch below.

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump Thursday ordered the Justice Department and other agencies to conduct a “complete review” of government leaks of sensitive information and hunt for culprits in the wake of a furor with Great Britain over publicly revealed intelligence. “The alleged leaks coming out of government agencies are deeply troubling,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “These …

Foreign Policy reports: Donald Trump disclosure of top secret Israeli intelligence to top Russian officials during a meeting in the Oval Office is not without repercussions. On Wednesday, Israeli Defense chief Avigdor Lieberman said his country tweaked its intelligence-sharing protocols with the United States after Trump’s off-script remarks. “I can confirm that we did a spot repair and that there’s …

CNBC reports: The current Republican bill to repeal and replace major parts of Obamacare will lead to 23 million more Americans not having health insurance coverage by 2026 if it becomes law, the Congressional Budget Office projected Wednesday. That is only 1 million fewer uninsured people than the 24 million people more uninsured that had been projected for an earlier …

Business Insider reports: “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin and star of the HBO series Kit Harington don’t think highly of President Donald Trump. In a new profile of Harington for Esquire, the two men weighed in on comparisons between the HBO hit fantasy drama and today’s politics. “I think Joffrey is now the king in America,” Martin told …

CNN reports: Texas Rep. Blake Farenthold, during an appearance on CNN Wednesday morning, offered what seemed to be a wink and nod to the debunked conspiracy theories surrounding the murder of former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich. Here’s the exchange with CNN’s Poppy Harlow and John Berman: FARENTHOLD: “My fear is our constant focusing on the Russians is deflecting …

TIME Magazine reports: President Trump’s budget includes simple accounting error that adds up to a $2 trillion oversight. Under the proposed budget released Tuesday, the Trump Administration’s proposed tax cuts would boost economic growth enough to pay for $1.3 trillion in spending by 2027. But the tax cuts are also supposed to be revenue-neutral, meaning that trillion dollars is already …

Politico reports: Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross marveled Monday morning that there was not even “a single hint or a protester” anywhere in Saudi Arabia during President Donald Trump’s visit there over the weekend, conceding only at a CNBC anchor’s prodding that the lack of unrest could have been due to the Islamic kingdom’s lack of protections for freedom of …

The Hill reports: President Trump said Monday that he never mentioned Israel during an Oval Office meeting when he disclosed highly classified intelligence to Russian diplomats, which has never been claimed. “I never mentioned the word or the name Israel. Never mentioned during that conversation,” Trump said in Jerusalem during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “They’re all …

Reuters reports: Images of U.S. President Donald Trump placing his hands on a glowing orb has set alight the internet, prompting comparisons to science fiction and fantasy villains. The pictures were taken while Trump – on a nine-day trip to the Middle East and Europe – along with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited …

John Aravosis reports at AmericaBlog: Conservative media is crowing that unlike President Obama, Donald Trump did not “bow” to the Saudi King. And they’re right. He curtsied. Mind you, Trump’s odd genuflect to the Saudi king comes after a campaign in which Trump regularly savaged the Saudis as sexist homophobes. Trump did this in an attempt to suggest that Hillary …

The Hill reports: President Trump’s advisers reportedly held an intervention to tame his use of Twitter. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that aides called for an “intervention” to urge the president to use restraint on the social media platform, specifically pointing to some of his more incendiary claims posted there. Aides told Trump that his unfiltered tweets could “paint …