Trump Whines About Person Who Appointed Powell, Forgetting It Was Him

President Trump once again raised questions surrounding his mental acuity after he seemed to forget that he was the person who appointed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, while he was in the middle of admonishing Powell for not capitulating to his economic plan.

“He’s a terrible, he’s a terrible fed chair,” Trump said of Powell on Wednesday. “I’m surprised he was appointed, I was surprised frankly that Biden put him in and extended him.” 

It was in fact Trump, not Biden, who put Powell “in.” The president nominated Powell for Fed chair in November of 2017, to replace Janet Yellen. 

The incident came just after multiple reports revealed that Trump has a secret letter firing Powell, and he has been asking Republican lawmakers whether he should send it.

This is also a major slip-up from Trump, the result of both his strong inclination to blame anything he doesn’t like on the previous administration and genuine mental decline. This is not the first time Trump’s mental fog has shown itself, even as he is just barely halfway through the first year of his second term. He went on an unrelated tangent about his summer vacation plans earlier this month when he was asked a very basic question about how long detainees would be kept in the Alligator Alcatraz detention camp, and famously confused Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley up at a campaign event last year. These are just one of many examples. Who knows what Trump’s mind will look like at the end of this term.  

The Department of Homeland Security used a painting to evoke themes of xenophobia, white supremacy, and a glorification of Manifest Destiny—all without seeking the approval of Morgan Weistling, the artist who painted it. 

On Monday, the DHS posted Weistling’s painting with an incorrect title, calling it “New Life in a New Land,” rather than the original “A Prayer for New Life.” 

Weistling made himself and his grievances known shortly thereafter. 

“Attention!  I DID NOT give the DHS permission to use my painting in their recent postings on their official web platforms,” he wrote on his website. “They used a painting I did 5 years ago and re-titled it and posted it without my permission. It is a violation of my copyright on the painting.  It was a surprise to me and I am trying to gather how this happen and what to do next. Thank you for those of you that let me know about it.” Weistling posted similar statements on Facebook and Instagram, adding that the news ruined his family vacation.

The DHS post is troubling for a few reasons. What made them change the title of the painting to a much more land-centered, migration-centered message? Did they just think that Weistling would have no issue with having his painting used without permission and compensation? But most troubling in all this is the timing, as the incendiary, thinly-veiled white supremacist language comes as the Trump administration is in the midst of a massive immigration crackdown in which ICE has effectively opened a concentration camp, set wild new arrest quotas, and openly admitted to racial profiling Latinos. 

“I am amazed that they thought they could randomly post an artist’s painting without permission,” Weistling said in his Instagram post. “They even re-titled it.”

The president would apparently rather disparage his base than release the case files pertaining to child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking with reporters at the White House Wednesday, Trump said that he had “lost a lot of faith” in his supporters, calling the controversy surrounding Epstein a “hoax” and accusing some conservatives of being “duped” by Democrats.

“You mentioned ‘past’ supporters when you were talking about the Epstein issue. Does that mean you are effectively disowning any supporters?” asked one reporter, referring to a lengthy rant Trump posted on Truth Social earlier in the day.

“Well, I lost a lot of faith in certain people, yeah,” Trump said. “Because they got duped by the Democrats. The Democrats are good for nothing. They almost destroyed our country.”

But that wasn’t the only insult Trump threw around.

“It is a hoax started by Democrats, it’s been run by Democrats for four years. You had Christopher Wray and Comey before him. It’s a bad group,” Trump said, likening his administration’s home-brewed fiasco to the Trump-Russia dossier. “Some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net. And so they try to do the Democrats’ work.”

That last comment actually also applies to several MAGA politicos in leadership positions, including Vice President JD Vance and Trump himself, who jointly campaigned on repeat promises to release the Epstein files.

Much to Trump’s chagrin, the botched rollout of the Epstein files has continued to plague his administration. A Morning Consult poll conducted earlier this month found that Trump’s popularity had tanked by six points since the Justice Department contradicted Attorney General Pam Bondi on the existence of Epstein’s so-called “client list.”

The fallout has been so substantial that the president directed Fox News and some commentators such as Charlie Kirk to stop discussing the topic altogether, though that hasn’t played well with some of the mouthier personalities on the far-right.

“Yelling at me to stop talking about a subject is the number one way to make sure that I keep talking about the subject,” Matt Walsh posted on X Wednesday.

And last month, Elon Musk accused Trump of being mentioned by name in the Epstein files, claiming that Trump’s alleged attachment to the disgraced financier was the real reason why the details of the case had not yet been made public.

But Republicans have unquestioningly fallen in line behind their leader: on Tuesday, the party blocked a Democrat-led effort to release the Epstein files. The final vote was 211 to 210—just one dissenting Republican would have tipped the scales.

QAnon believers—who turned out at the polls in November to re-elect Trump—have believed for years that the 79-year-old billionaire politician would rid the world of Satan-worshiping, liberal-minded pedophiles who run the government and media. But Trump’s sudden refusal to offer up what he has promised his conspiratorial followers has cast his messiah-like status with the group into doubt.

A reminder that prior to his death, Epstein described himself as one of Trump’s “closest friends.” The socialites were named and photographed together, and Trump reportedly slept with his now-wife Melania for the first time aboard Epstein’s plane, nicknamed the “Lolita Express.”

But Trump also has a terrible track record with how he treats women outside of Epstein’s world: the current president was found liable by a jury for sexually abusing Elle columnist E. Jean Carrol last year, was convicted as a felon for crimes relating to his affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, and famously boasted on a hot mic before his ascent to America’s political vanguard that he grabs women “by the pussy.”

Another ex-NYPD official has filed a lawsuit accusing Mayor Eric Adams of overseeing a “coordinated criminal conspiracy” at the nation’s largest police department.

Former Police Commissioner Thomas G. Donlon, whose tenure lasted mere weeks in the fall of 2024, says the NYPD, under the watch of Adams, “functions as a racketeering enterprise in violation of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).”

Donlon went on to state that he “uncovered systemic corruption and criminal conduct being perpetrated by the NYPD’s leadership,” and that Adams “condoned the misconduct.”

The 251-page lawsuit details wire, mail, and honest services fraud, retaliation against whistleblowers, and obstruction of justice, all from the top down. Top police officials allegedly blocked disciplinary referrals for officers, and even forged Donlon’s official department stamp on important documents. These experiences have led to Donlon throwing weighty RICO allegations against his former NYPD colleagues.

“Specifically, Donlon informed Defendant ADAMS of fabricated promotions, systemic fraud, retaliatory policing, and the obstruction of internal investigations by high-ranking officials—most notably Defendant [Tarik] Sheppard, who had a documented history of unlawful violence, including the tasering and false arrest of protestors, resulting in civil rights lawsuits and monetary settlements,” the lawsuit stated. “Defendant ADAMS took no action in response. Instead, he condoned the misconduct and allowed the NYPD to function as a criminal enterprise. As a direct result of Defendant ADAMS’s failure and unwillingness to manage the NYPD, Defendant Sheppard fraudulently orchestrated his own promotion—granting himself greater authority and a higher salary.”

Donlon said he was completely frozen out by NYPD leadership after confronting Sheppard about his promotion scam, and they allegedly even carried out an unlawful arrest of Donlon’s wife as retaliation.

“[Donlon’s] professional reputation—built over decades of federal and state law enforcement and intelligence service—was deliberately destroyed. The emotional toll of the retaliation against his entire family was and is incalculable,” the lawsuit read. “These were precisely the kinds of injuries RICO was designed to remedy, and this Complaint seeks redress for Donlon, whose unwavering aspiration from the beginning was to protect and serve the NYPD’s Finest.”

The Adams administration remains indignant.

“These are baseless accusations from a disgruntled former employee who — when given the opportunity to lead the greatest police department in the world — proved himself to be ineffective,” spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak Altus said on the mayor’s behalf. “This suit is nothing more than an attempt to seek compensation at the taxpayer’s expense after Mr. Donlon was rightfully removed from the role of interim police commissioner.”

This is the fifth lawsuit filed against Adams’s NYPD in just two weeks. Four former senior NYPD officers filed separate lawsuits against Adams, also accusing him of corruption, cronyism, and whistleblower intimidation. This all comes as the mayor is preparing to run as an independent against Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who has zeroed in mercilessly on the mayor’s misconduct.

Adams would very likely be under federal investigation by the Justice Department if they hadn’t (rather controversially) dismissed his federal corruption charges in exchange for loyalty and aid in Trump’s brutal immigration crackdown. Corruption has followed Adams for the entirety of his tenure. We can only wait until November to see if voters give him another.

Donald Trump was spotted sporting a poorly concealed bruise on his hand, and the White House has the weirdest excuse for why that is the case.

While speaking to reporters outside the White House Tuesday evening before boarding Marine One, a cameraperson zoomed in on the president’s hand. A large patch of makeup that did not match Trump’s skin tone was clearly evident on the back of his hand.

No one asked Trump about it in the moment, but when asked later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told The Daily Beast that Trump was covering up a bruise from too much handshaking.

“President Trump is a man of the people, and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history,” Leavitt told the Beast. “His commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.”

This is neither the first time Trump has had a large bruise on the back of his right hand, nor the first time Leavitt has made this bizarre excuse. The bruise first appeared in spring 2024, and appears to pop back up every few months. Since taking office, Trump has been spotted with the bruise in at least February, April, and June.

Trump was also spotted with scabbed red marks on the palm and fingers of his right hand in January 2024, sparking concerns that he had syphilis.

Leavitt made her initial claim about too much gladhanding after the February bruise appearance, when Trump tried to cover the blemish with makeup approximately the color of wet brown cardboard.

Dr. Neal Patel, a primary care physician at Providence St. Joseph Hospital in California, told the Daily Mail in February that handshaking on its own was unlikely to have caused the bruising.

“I see a lot of patients who are businessmen, and I’ve never really seen them getting bruising from too much handshaking,” he said. “I guess it’s possible, but that would really not be on my list of ideas of what causes it.”

Patel and Dr. Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician in New York, both said that Trump’s advanced age was the likelier cause of bruising. As people age, it causes their blood vessels to become more “brittle,” Fischer explained to the Mail. That makes bruising more likely—and more intense when it does happen.

If Leavitt isn’t going to provide Trump with a decent excuse for the bruise, the least she (or literally anyone else at the White House) could do is find him some makeup that better matches his skin tone.

Sephora was hit with calls for a boycott shortly after the 2024 election when a series of social media posts alleging the makeup retail giant had donated to Trump’s campaign. Sephora has since said it “does not make corporate donations to political candidates.” Brendan Glavin, deputy research director at campaign finance watchdog group OpenSecrets, explained to CBS in November that any lump donations from “Sephora” (or any company) were likely an “aggregation of all the money that employees of the organization gave to the candidate.”

That means that there’s at least one Sephora employee who would happily color-match Trump’s skin tone. Maybe they can help him with his foundation and bronzer next.