Over the weekend, I watched the video Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s posted on social media X in which he declared that the Medals of Honor granted to members of the 7th Calvary involved in the so-called Battle of Wounded Knee will not be rescinded. Hegseth said the soldiers involved in the incident deserved them. 

The medals were awarded in 1890, shortly after the “battle” took place. At the time, the U.S. government was on a campaign of genocide against Indigenous people in the West. The “battle” took place after the U.S. chose to violate a treaty that gave Indigenous people ownership of vast territories.

Hegseth was prompted to issue his “final” decision because his predecessor, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, had declined to accept a report that recommended the medals not be rescinded.

Why was the 21st century Department of Defense looking at rescinding medals? Oliver “O.J.” Semans Sr., an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and a former U.S. Navy firefighter who witnessed the aftermath of “the Battle,” wrote President Trump in 2019 to urge him to rescind the medals. Semans wrote:

“The ‘Battle at Wounded Knee’ on December 29, 1890, was no battle. It was a massacre. … The 7th Cavalry, which was obligated by treaty to protect my ancestors, instead hunted my ancestors, surrounded them, and gunned hundreds of them down. This included terrified women and children who fled—defenseless—through the snow, forever stained by their blood.”

President Trump declined to rescind the medals. Notably, Seman’s letter followed a statement by Trump ridiculing Senator Elizabeth Warren as she announced a run for the 2020 Democratic Presidential nomination. Trump said Warren should have filmed her announcement to establish a presidential exploratory committee while standing in front of a backdrop of Bighorn or Wounded Knee with her husband dressed in full Indian garb, instead of making the announcement in her own kitchen.

How does Hegseth effectively condoning a massacre align with the warrior culture he lectured military Generals and Admirals about yesterday? Not very well. If the soldiers involved in the “battle” at Wounded Knee deserved medals, so too does Lt. William Calley, the perpetrator of the My  Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War.

Over the weekend, I also read about worries within the Pentagon centering on Secretary Hegseth’s behavior. He is reportedly prone to tantrums and frequently yells at subordinates. Many staff have quit their jobs. Others question Hegseth’s mental health or speculate that he may have returned to excessive drinking. (Evidence of Hegseth drinking since his confirmation has not surfaced.)

Should a “Department of War” be led by a hot-headed Secretary answerable only to a 79-year-old President who himself shows signs of mental decline and who has involved the military in actions against American citizens and others? I don’t think so.

When lecturing Generals and Admirals yesterday, Hegseth may have had the least military command experience of anyone else in the room except for President Trump (bone spurs) and the enlisted personal working to staff the gathering. He also had no relevant executive experience before his nomination to head what used to be called DoD before Trump nominated him to the post in 2021. Hegseth, as you may recall, was a Fox News weekend anchor. President Trump liked what he said on the air and no doubt thought he looked the part.

All of us should support a strong and ready military, but Hegseth’s advocacy for a “warrior culture” that would remove woman from combat, limit leadership roles for people of color (many of whom might prove to be outstanding military leaders if given the chance to lead) and taking other actions that would ban gay and trans people, as well as people who are not Christians from serving.  That is not an effective strategy to build a strong military.

I’m not holding my breath, but I want to hear Donald Trump say “You’re Fired” again. The words should be directed at Mr. Hegseth.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government and other subjects. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

On Saturday morning, before getting out of bed, I read the news on an app called Flipboard. Like dozens of other sites, Flipboard collects “news” from various sources and publishes it in a magazine corresponding to the interests or tastes of the reader. For good or ill, I read a lot about President Trump. As a result, Flipboard serves up several articles about Trump each day. Some are positive. Others, less so.

The first article on Saturday was a picture of President Trump stuffing his mouth full of spaghetti while King Charles III was speaking. The image showed Trump oblivious to the King and the King looking down at Trump while Trump struggled with the spaghetti. 

I immediately doubted the authenticity of the photo, but others had not. The article included a series of social media posts condemning the President for his eating habits and declaring him to be an embarrassment to the United States. 

Later on Saturday, I confirmed the image was fake. Honestly, I should have known that immediately (as opposed to suspecting it). President Trump may be many things, but it is hard to imagine that he never learned to eat spaghetti.

Hopefully, the media will cover what I will call the Spaghetti Picture and report that Trump is the victim of a hoax. What I am wondering, however, is whether the President will direct Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to find the party (poor choice of words here) responsible for posting the photo and prosecute him or her.

Is ridiculing the President with a doctored photo a crime? Of course not. I remember doctored photos of President Carter being attacked by a giant rabbit while fishing. I remember multiple pictures of Richard Nixon that elongated his ski-jump shaped nose. 

President Reagan also was subject to the publication of photos of him with his one-time co-star, Bonzo, a chimpanzee. Those photos were real—Reagan actually starred in a film with Bonzo as his co-star.  The photo was a publicity shot. Reagan never threatened anyone who published it during his political career.

More importantly, do images of this type, especially the Spaghetti Picture, constitute “hate speech?”  There isn’t, of course, a clear legal definition of hate speech and words and images that don’t incite violence are legal. (I hope that, after reflection, Pam Bondi might even agree.) So, should the Spaghetti Picture go without punishment?

President Trump in recent weeks has exploded, repeatedly, at the media, especially comedians, who ridicule him. Colbert was fired by CBS and Kimmel joined him, before ABC relented in the face of a boycott of ABC’s parent, Disney.

The President is threatening to revoke broadcast licenses to stem negative coverage of his administration and its handiwork. Will Trump order the prosecution of the creator of the Spaghetti Picture? Will he sue whoever asked AI to create it for $15 billion?  Will he ask Pam Bondi if AI can be sued?

Let’s hope not, but Trump’s now-dismissed $15 billion lawsuit against the New York Times and the chilling words of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who exploded after Jimmy Kimmel commented on the murder of Charlie Kirk suggest otherwise.  Carr called Kimmel’s remarks (intentionally not repeated here) “the sickest comments possible.”

Carr went on to say, “This is a very, very serious issue right now for Disney [the owner of ABC, the network that broadcasted Jimmy Kimmel Live!]. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to change conduct and take action, frankly, on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”

Carr’s comments were condemned by—surprise–Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who described Carr’s comments as “dangerous as hell.”

I agree with Ted Cruz. I also hope he might advise President Trump to not to overreact to the Spaghetti picture. 

I am sure President Trump is angry about the image. I do not blame him for that. But I will blame him if he does anything about it. 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

There’s nothing like a horrific murder to get our attention. That murder happened last Wednesday, and because you already know about it, we don’t have to discuss it here. But what I’m watching is how the crime is impacting the rest of the news, things like Israel’s attack on Hamas in Qatar, the pending government shutdown, and even last weekend’s Emmy Awards.

I see broadcasters tiptoeing through the news, especially from reporters who might already have felt some degree of intimidation by the Trump administration or the political force that increasingly just describes itself as MAGA. President Trump, Vice President Vance, and many other Republicans have suggested that “the left” somehow set the stage for the events in Utah last week. Although the evidence to date suggests the shooter acted alone, Trump and his allies suggest the existence of opposition to MAGA “radicalized” the shooter and thus “the left” should share the blame for the most prominent political murder in recent memory.

President Trump suggested last weekend that 93-year-old George Soros should be jailed for funding Democratic and pro-democracy groups. Jailed. I politely disagree. 

Erika Kirk, Charlie Kirk’s wife, told Fox News “evildoers” were behind her husband’s murder and that they “should all know this: If you thought my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea. You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, and this world.” I wonder if Kirk would have approved.  It sounds like a threat, not a call for civil discourse.

A little less politely, I condemn Stephen Miller’s call for “the left” to be “dismantled,” because he says, “the left” foments violence and encourages “terrorism.”  Ironically, Miller’s words might terrify people who are even mildly left leaning because “dismantling” sounds like a call for political violence. I have never met anyone who wanted to be “dismantled.”

Since September 10, Democrats, with exceptions, have wisely been cautious in discussing last Wednesday’s shooting. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jefffries, for example, said, “I am shocked by the murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University. Political violence of any kind and against any individual is unacceptable and completely incompatible with American values. We pray for his family during this tragedy. “ 

Appropriately, no mention was made of Kirk’s sometimes racist, transphobic and homophobic rhetoric, but Jeffries should have at least mentioned political disagreements. He unintentionally contributed to what some are referring to as the canonization of Kirk.

Matthew Dowd of MSNBC got fired for saying, “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. You can’t stop with these sorts of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”

In firing Matthew Dowd, MSNBC called his comments “inappropriate, insensitive, and unacceptable.”  Did you know that Dowd worked for Republican George W. Bush? The words that got him fired don’t read as a call to violence or a suggestion that advocates of controversial political positions deserve to be shot.

In firing Dowd, MSNBC is tiptoeing around the news. I sense that while the network has repeatedly reported on “the right’s” political rhetoric and condemned it, it is increasingly intimidated from doing so. And given that President Trump has repeatedly threatened networks with revocation of broadcast licenses and personally called for the firing of journalists (and comedians), MSNBC may be wise to avoid “poking the bear.”

For the last week, I haven’t seen much about efforts of red states to redraw districting maps to eliminate Democratic seats in the House of Representatives. That story may be seen as an attack on the right from Democrats since the implication is that the Republicans seek to avoid electoral defeat in 2026 by rewriting the rules for the election. 

We need to hear about what’s going on. We also need to read about the President’s health, about the release of the Epstein files (remember those?), jobs statistics, inflation, and things like Andy Harris saying western Maryland doesn’t need FEMA disaster assistance because the state can pay for it with Wes Moore’s tax increase.

I condemn all political violence and would like to see the right and left (and the middle) tone down the rhetoric, but I don’t want to see the news media tiptoe around the news. We need to count on the press and our two-party political system to serve as a check and balance against the powers that are in power. 

We need to avoid tiptoeing. Abdication will not save American democracy. We need free, vigorous, and civil political debate and news reporting. Violence should have no place in our political system. Neither should intimidation. 

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

Breaking News! Those of us who regularly write about the Trump administration often imply that nothing can be done to stop, or even slow down, Trumpism. The unintended message in stories about Trump’s complete dominance of the Republican party is that our situation is hopeless. We are doomed to watch Trump and his party destroy democracy over the next few years. Not so fast.

A few weeks ago, a Spy reader reached out to me about an initiative that could get the wheels of America back on track. The idea is a simple one and is based on hard truths about today’s politics. The country is badly divided. For many Republican voters, little that is being said about Trump and his policies that appears to move them to abandon the MAGA dogma. Plus, in the 2026 mid-term elections, there are shockingly few seats that can be described as competitive.

The truth of the 2026 mid-terms is that a handful of House races will determine whether the country is liberated from Speaker Mike Johnson’s (Trump’s) death grip on the House of Representatives. If Democrats win in November 2026, President Trump can no longer count on Mr. Johnson to pass legislation such as the comically named Big Beautiful Bill.

More importantly, a Democrat-controlled House would mean that the Trump administration will be held accountable for its actions. Democrats will be empowered to issue subpoenas to get the information needed to determine whether the President is faithfully executing the laws of the United States. In short, there will be a new sheriff in town. Not necessarily one that will be able to stop everything destructive that the administration attempts, but one that is able to stop much of the MAGAnification of America. In short, the liberation of the federal government will have been launched. 

William Galston of the Brookings Institution wrote this last month:

“The president’s party almost always loses ground in midterm House elections, as has happened in 20 of the past 22 midterm elections stretching back to 1938, and both exceptions reflected unusual circumstances.

The president’s job approval has a strong impact on the outcome of midterm House elections.

The odds that public sentiment will shift enough to extend Republicans’ control of the House seem low, an assessment reinforced by the parties’ changing demographic bases.”

I agree. So, too, does President Trump. That explains the Congressional redistricting efforts in Texas, Missouri and other states and Trump’s calling mail-in voting “fraud.”

A group called Enough! has launched a campaign to target “swing” Congressional districts in the hopes of securing a Democratic majority. Eighteen House districts have been identified, including both Republican seats won by a narrow margin and similarly vulnerable Democratic seats. Enough! will attempt to persuade voters in those districts through targeted media campaigns that Trump’s policies, broken promises, and lies are hurting Americans.

The weapon that Enough! and other groups planning a similar strategy will use is truth. If voters are reminded—or informed- of how Trump policies are increasing prices, denying people health care, disrupting the rule of law, and otherwise jeopardizing America’s future, they will see Trump for who he is—an oligarch out for himself.

Notably, Andy “Handgun” Harris (R-MD) is not on the group’s list. I would like to see him targeted. Harris hasn’t represented the Eastern Shore for some time. As Chairman of the Freedom Caucus, he has become one of Trump’s top foot-soldiers on the Hill. 

Harris’ tenure in Congress could also end if Maryland, like Texas, California and other states revises Congressional districts before the 2026 mid-term elections.

I will be keeping an eye on Enough! and other groups that are working to end the GOP regime in the House of Representatives. 

Can these campaigns succeed? I would say yes, but even if they don’t, they will help slow down Trumpism. Republicans in swing districts will respond to pressure from constituents who are unhappy about Trump’s policies and angry that their representatives voted for the “Big Beautiful Bill.”  If one more Republican had voted no on Trump’s massive debt-increasing bill, it would have been defeated. 

The Cook Political Report analyzes House races and publishes a list of competitive races. See the list here.

If you are among the millions of Americans unhappy with Trump and MAGA, do not give up hope. We can all see what is happening. We need to do something about it. Working to ensure a positive outcome in the 2026 mid-term elections is a good place to start.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack. He expects the 2026 mid-term elections to provide some relief from Trumpism.

Donald Trump has more than seven months under his belt in his second term as president. For six of those months, the President’s supporters regularly threw around the term “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Anyone with a criticism or uncharitable comment about the President was dismissed as a victim of TDS. 

August ended without anyone accusing me of TDS. What gives? I worry—and write-about–Trump more than ever. My theory is that while Trump critics have not changed, the President and his policies—mostly things that he talked about during his campaign that are now the heart of the Trump legacy—are no longer surprises. We once wondered what Trump would do next. Now we know—or think we do. 

The second-term Trump, a decade later than when the flamboyant TV personality rode the golden escalator down to the lobby of Trump Tower in 2015 to announce he was running for president, is much different than the first-term edition. The 2015 Trump engaged in a publicity stunt and believed running for president would boost his brand, even if he lost. Some say he never even expected to win, and I agree. That Trump had a few campaign themes—mostly based on hate—but otherwise had no vision for an administration. He hadn’t even figured out how to use the powers of the Presidency to make billions for himself and his family.

Since 2015, Trump has ceased to be the publicity hound who demanded a cameo in Home Alone 2 as a condition of allowing a scene to be filmed in the Plaza Hotel lobby. That was the pre- “I am your retribution Trump” who had not sent a mob to the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election to the presidency. That Trump had not been found guilty on 34 felony counts for business fraud or defamation and was called a rapist by a judge in the E. Jean Carroll case. And so on.

Fast forward to 2025. Trump implausibly won the presidency despite his impeachments, convictions, indictments, and a track record of creating chaos and cuddling up to Vladimir Putin. The public bought into Trump’s message of hate. Democrats, America haters that they are, were out to wreck America, Trump said. Their weapons were DEI, environmental regulations, medical research, foreign aid, and immigration policies. One Trumper told me in 2022, after assuring me that he was not a racist, that Joe Biden would not be happy until everyone who worked for the federal government was Black.

Many of us tired of Trump before voting against him in 2024. There were 75,017,613 of us. There was no Trump landslide in the election. No Trump mandate to remake the federal government. And certainly nothing to justify suspending basic civil rights and launching an assault on democracy.

Criticism of Trump 2.0 largely took the form of condemning the Heritage Foundation owner’s manual, labeled Project 2025, created in the belief that if Trump won the presidency, he needed a set of ideas (other than just retribution, racism, and self-enrichment) to guide his second term.  Trump of course, denied that was the case. He even claimed, plausibly, that he hadn’t read Project 2025, but then selected Russell Vought, a principal author of Project 2025, to head the Office of Management and Budget. Vought is the man behind 350,000 federal workers being fired or forced out of their jobs. 

Trumpers today imply that “Trump-hating” is based on his sleezy personality, his lying, his cheating at golf, his greed, and his penchant for name-calling. “What about his policies?” they ask. I answer that Trump’s second-term policies are worse than the President’s smell. Whatever caused the stench that former Representative Adam Kinzinger detected when he met Trump cannot be worse than the odor coming from tariffs that are already driving up prices and immigration policies that will create a labor shortage that will surely boost inflation. Or from the miasma of Alligator Alcatraz and the denial of due process to ICE-arrested deportees.

Trump Fatigue is about weariness of both Trump and his handiwork—the mess he is creating that will take generations to clean up. 

One of the signs of Trump Fatigue in August included reports last week that the increasingly exhausted-looking Trump had died. They pointed to the absence of public scheduled events for several days, a nasty bruise on Trump’s hand, and those swollen ankles. Some also pointed to the deterioration in Trump’s golf game. He let himself get videoed cheating several times—in one case, whiffing (swinging and missing the ball altogether). Winners of dozens of golf championships, such as Trump, usually are not whiffers.

I have also read recently—in news sources that Karoline Leavitt would condemn as fake news—that Trump shows signs of senility and insanity by posting dozens of rants at 2 a.m.on his social media site. Yes, the President of the United States studied Seth Meyers’ ratings and is outraged that his contract was renewed. 

I could write about the gold in the Oval Office, the UFC cage match scheduled to be held on the White House lawn on July 4, 2026, and plans for another massive military parade, this one featuring the Navy, to be held on Trump’s 80th birthday. But it’s not necessary. 

All these things, and more, are outrageous, but are now expected. If Trump were to announce tomorrow that he was “eliminating” the Department of State and painting the White House green (his favorite color), I would shrug my shoulders. I have Trump Fatigue. And people are not talking about TDS anymore because commenting on Trump, the motley cast of misfits he has assembled as an administration, and his destructive policies are starting to raise questions for more of us, including hard-core Trumpers.

Trump Derangement Syndrome, I think, is dead, but maybe that’s just my TDS. I deny that but fess up to suffering from Trump Fatigue. And if you remain a Trump supporter, watch out, it’s contagious.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack. He suffers from Trump Fatigue, but hopes the 2026 mid-term elections will provide some relief. 

A wave of hopelessness is descending on Americans troubled by the MAGAfication of the United States. I think of the 1987 Kevin Costner movie No Way Out because, well, a convincing strategy to stop Donald Trump’s assault on democracy, civility, and truth has not yet been found. Not that a few courageous people are not trying. 

One of those people is California Governor Gavin Newsom. After Texas reworked its Congressional Districts to pick up five more Republican seats in the House of Representatives in next year’s mid-term elections, Newsom followed suit. If Texas is going to Gerrymander, California will too. 

Newsom also writes his own social media posts, matching Trump’s skill at random CAPITALIZATION and name-calling. Newsom posts on X rival Trump’s for outrageousness. In June, for example, after Alabama Senator, former football coach, and Trump ally Tommy Tuberville called for Newsom’s arrest, Newsom responded: “Alabama has 3X the homicide rate of California. Its murder rate is ranked third in the entire country. Stick to football, bro.”

Newsom also has not hesitated to file lawsuits against Trump administration actions, including a challenge to Trump’s deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles.

And, just to remind the public of Trump’s grift, Newsom is offering merchandise inspired by Trump, including $100 Bibles with his signature and hats reading “Newsom Was Right About Everything.”

Unfortunately, Newsom’s tactics are not likely to end the Trump regime or change his policies. Only the election of a Democratic House or Senate, and preferably both, will do that. And even if Democrats win control of Congress, there is no guarantee that Trump won’t continue to attempt to run the government through executive orders and judicial decrees issued by judges like Aileen Cannon, the Florida judge who spared Trump accountability in the Mar-a-Lago documents case.

Recently, the producers of the TV series South Park have taken on Trump with ridicule. An article in Slate magazine reports, “South Park’s New Episode Takes on the Ass-Kissers Surrounding Trump.” People are talking about the episodes, but will they make a difference? Trump’s artificially colored orange complexion and bizarre hairstyle failed to prevent his election in 2016 and 2024 as did reports of grift, tax-evasion, sexual assault, and marital infidelity.

For the last two months, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein has returned to haunt Trump. Many of us suspect that not only did Mr. Epstein maintain a “client list,” but Donald Trump was on it. Trump’s campaign of distraction has motivated things like a major, albeit unsuccessful, push to end the war in Ukraine and an FBI raid on the home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton. And let’s not forget the military takeover of the Washington, D.C. police. If you are looking for a word to describe all three events, try “distraction.”

If you are counting on Epstein’s ghost to stop Trump, don’t hold your breath. The Epstein scandal is slowly fading from the public’s attention as it prepares for Labor Day. As fall approaches, Trump’s minions at the Department of Justice, FBI, and Congress will announce that all investigations of the matter are over and that everything appropriate to share with the public has been released. Case closed, or so Trump hopes.

Are we doomed to lose our Constitution? Is America fated to following the path of 1920s Italy and 1930s Germany into a “Golden Age” that destroys democracy? Let’s hope not.

I am heartened by the continued growth of the Indivisible movement. In the face of a relentless Trump, this group has not quit. I also am finding that other people, including many not yet engaged with Indivisible or any other anti-Trump movement, are questioning fines levied against elite universities, the termination of NIH research, the surrender in the fight against climate change, the ironic war against crime in D.C. (and soon Chicago and other cities, including Baltimore) launched by a convicted criminal, and all that gold decoration in the White House. 

 I sense that Trump may be edging closer to a tipping point—the point where even people who like some of his policies such as “border security,” will say, “enough” or conclude that Trump really does want to be a dictator or, due to mental illness and debilitation, think he already is one.

Let’s hope there is a way out before it is too late. The Trump administration is not the yang to the Democrats’ yin. It is an assault on democracy.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack. Dean fondly remembers when the Republican Party accepted democracy, civility, and the rule of law. 

Are we sure we want to know what went on in Anchorage last Friday? Yes, I know, President Trump met with Vladimir Putin, and no agreement on anything was reached. And we also know that pundits are trying to figure out what, if any, progress may have been made towards securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. But I am wrestling with the optics of what we saw. There’s a story there, and it is an ugly one.

I tuned into news coverage of the meeting at about 2:00 p.m. or so, figuring that how the two heads of state greeted each other could signal whether some sort of agreement would be reached when the meeting began. My hopes for a successful meeting evaporated when I saw how orchestrated “the arrival” was. 

Putin apparently insisted that any meeting with Trump take place on American soil. That, some say, was a victory in itself for Putin, who is a convicted war criminal (The World Court) and is persona non grata in countries other than North Korea, China, and a few others. But Putin wanted more. After Trump’s 747 arrived (the Qatari one is still undergoing renovation, and awaits a paint job and serious upgrades), Trump was left waiting in it for a half hour until Putin’s jet arrived. 

That must have angered the volatile Mr. Trump. F-bombs must have been flying.

Once Putin’s plane finally arrived, Trump awkwardly descended the steps from his plane onto a red carpet leading to a podium. A similar red carpet was provided for Putin. I would describe it as blood red, but that may be taking things too far.

Trump attempted to time his walk towards Putin so that they would meet at the podium at the same time. Trump is apparently a poor judge at figuring out how fast to walk. He took a number of baby steps and then started to zig-zag from one side of the red carpet to the other. He looked ridiculous.

Eventually, the two heads of state met. Some have criticized how Trump shook Putin’s hand, but other than to consider it awkward, I’m not sure what the problem was. Personally speaking, I would not have shaken Putin’s hand given the number of deaths for which he is responsible.

As the two leaders met, Trump had arranged a fly-over of a B-2 stealth bomber flanked with four F-35 stealth fighters. Call this a little one-upmanship by our Commander-in-Chief. To reiterate his point—that America is better armed than Russia—a few F-22 fighters were parked nearby.

Military experts have commented that it might not have been the greatest idea to give the Russian staff accompanying Putin an opportunity for a close look at the F-22, but maybe there were no new insights to be gathered. Personally speaking, I would have forgone both the fly-over and displaying F-22s.

Once the pair got to the meeting site, there were signs reading “Pursuing Peace” prominently displayed. These were nice signs, but Putin is not pursuing peace. That is why the one outcome of the meeting that was figured out quickly was that Trump is no longer demanding an immediate ceasefire as a prelude to peace negotiations. 

The two leaders spoke for three hours, but when they held what was billed as a press conference afterwards, no details of what they talked about were shared. Putin gave a short lecture on the history of Russia, including a reference to the fact that Alaska was once part of Russia. As Putin spoke, Trump looked alternatively angry and disturbed.

Once Putin shut-up, Trump recited a few pleasantries before the pair of “world leaders” left the stage. No questions were answered.

Did Putin humiliate Trump at the meeting? I would not go that far. What I would say is that America was disadvantaged by having a negotiator who has little respect for foreign policy experts. Trump has yet to learn that the types of negotiations he did as a New York real estate developer don’t work when negotiating with former KGB officers.

So, where are we? The war in Ukraine goes on. Putin, best I can tell, has not made any concessions other than to say that he will end the war when all his demands are met. More Ukrainians—and Russians—will die. If there is a “light at the end of the tunnel,” I don’t see it yet.

Do I blame Trump for the war continuing? No. I blame Putin. (But I disagree with the claim that the war is “Biden’s war” and choked when Putin expressed agreement with Trump’s claim that the war would never have started had Trump been president.)

Monday: An Intervention or Progress Towards Peace?

Much to my surprise, Friday’s debacle in Anchorage was followed by another, more serious meeting on Monday. This meeting offered hope, but unfortunately, not the expectation that the war would end soon. 

I watched the string of black Chevrolet Suburbans pull up to the South Portico of the White House Monday as more than a half dozen European Leaders arrived to support Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his meeting with Donald Trump. My theory is that the various heads of state, Secretary General of NATO, and the President of the European Union were there for two reasons—to prevent Donald Trump from inflicting another round of humiliation and abuse on Zelenskyy and, more importantly, to host an intervention with Donald Trump.

Intervention? Think about the interventions taken to rescue alcoholics from destroying their own and other lives. In Monday’s case, the goal was to stop Trump from acting as Putin’s agent in the “negotiations” to end the war in Ukraine. The intervention was prompted by Trump’s sudden reversal on the question of whether a ceasefire must precede the start of peace negotiations and Trump’s advocacy for Ukraine to surrender territory to Russia in exchange for an end to the war. 

The Europeans were successful in saving Zelenskyy from more abuse, at least more abuse of the public, televised kind. Unfortunately, Trump continues to push Putin’s criminal agenda. 

There will be no ceasefire this week. And as the discussions in Washington were taking place, Putin’s military continued its destruction of Ukraine. Every new inch of territory won by Putin before a peace agreement is reached (if it is ever reached) makes the Russian Empire a little bigger.

Trump remains in full appeasement mode, ala Neville Chamberlain. That is one reason a video (who knows if it is real?) was posted on the web of a Russian military vehicle racing down a Ukrainian road with both Russian and American flags waving from it.

Putin has a friend in Trump and that should trouble us all.

All that having been said, everyone that I have spoken to, hopes that despite (or because) of Trump, the war will eventually end. My problem with giving Putin his entire wish list is that in short order he will develop a new one that could include annexing Estonia, parts or all of Poland, and the rest of Ukraine.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack. Dean fondly remembers his last trip to Kyiv, taken before Vladimir Putin’s ongoing campaign to obliterate it. 

What a busy week President Trump is having. Yesterday he “federalized” the District of Columbia police force, effectively ending Home Rule for D.C.’s estimated 695,000 residents. And then there’s his meeting with war criminal and dictator Vladimir Putin in Alaska, where Trump hopes to end the war in Ukraine by declaring Putin the winner. It is almost as though the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is over.

The ghost of Mr. Epstein has not yet been banished, but let’s give the president a gold star (the only type acceptable to him) for trying. Many of us disagree on almost everything with our MAGA friends and neighbors, but we all agree that sexual assault of young girls is heinous. 

But what about declaring an emergency to legitimize a federal takeover of D.C.? For me, and many of us on the Eastern Shore who have lived or worked in D.C., this is also heinous.

D.C. crime is not out of control. Violent crime has decreased 26 percent in 2025 compared to 2024. Robberies have decreased by 26 percent. The Trump administration, as you might expect, challenges these statistics, which were reported by the D.C. Metropolitan Police. 

Violent crime was and likely would have continued to drop even without the deployment of the National Guard and officers from the Park Police, ATF, Secret Service, ICE, and FBI to the streets of D.C. (I am relieved that U.S. Space Force Guardians are not part of Trump’s show of force.)

I lived in D.C. for several years and worked there for more than 30 years. Like President Trump, I did not like seeing drunks, homeless people, or beggars on the streets, but I never once wanted to see homeless people “removed immediately, far away from our beautiful capital city” or 14-year-olds prosecuted as adults even if charged with violent crimes. 

In coming weeks—and maybe even before you read this column—you will read or hear White House officials announce that the takeover of D.C. has resulted in hundreds of arrests and a sharp drop in violent crime. But I also suspect there will be instances of people—some involved in committing crimes—who will be shot and killed and other instances where people will get arrested or “roughed-up,” as the President likes to say. Those instances, representing civil rights violations and police abuse, are not acceptable, to me and many others.

As has already been pointed out, National Guardsmen are not trained police officers. Neither are FBI agents, who, it must be noted, did not seek careers at the Agency to be deployed to fight street crime in D.C. Thus, I worry that many officers, some of whom will be sweltering in bullet-proof vests in 95-degree temperatures, will not be happy. And unhappy police officers are more likely to make bad judgments than appropriately trained happy ones.

I recall driving to work in 2001, right after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. There were National Guardsmen with M-16s on what appeared to be every corner for blocks in downtown Washington. The sight of the U.S. military patrolling D.C. streets was deeply disturbing, but necessary. The 9/11 terrorist attacks were an emergency that necessitated the actions taken. There is no emergency justifying Trump’s actions in D.C.

Trump’s takeover of D.C. will go down in history as unjustified and unwise. Hopefully, that history will not include police violence and unjustified shootings. I also wonder if historians will come to see the “D.C. crackdown” as part of the campaign of distraction now underway directed by a failing 79-year-old president who can’t shake the Epstein scandal.

As someone with special ties to D.C, that include being born there, attending college and law school there, and working there for decades, I want D.C. residents to control their city—just like I want Eastern Shore residents to enjoy self-rule. 

Donald Trump is denying Washingtonians a basic right, but he doesn’t care. D.C. voters rejected Trump in 2024. He won only 6.6 percent of the vote, 21,076 votes, as compared to Kamala Harris’ 92.5 percent. D.C. residents are throw-aways to Trump. I can imagine Trump saying they are too stupid be allowed to govern themselves.

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J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

I remember watching one of Karoline Leavitt’s news briefing where she stated that Donald Trump, one of the most successful businessmen of all time, loves America so much that he stepped away from the businesses that made him billions to serve as America’s President. 

Leavitt went on to describe the $200 million ballroom the President was donating to the American people which Leavitt claimed that Trump is paying for it out of his own pocket. 

If one calculated the gifts made by every U.S. President other than Trump, none of them compare. Abraham Lincoln may have saved the union and ended slavery, but I ask you did he put up giant American flags on either side of White House at his own expense or think of building a ballroom?

As an American citizen I don’t want the “gifts” Trump keeps on giving. I didn’t want a Mar-a-Lago-esque ballroom any more than I would want Trump’s face chiseled into Mount Rushmore–even if Trump volunteered to pay for it. I also don’t want the Qatari 747 curiously donated to the United States to serve as a new Air Force One after over $100 million in government-paid-for upgrades, and subject to transfer to the Trump Presidential Library once Trump leaves office. 

 Gifts are not always a good thing. We all know this whenever we are given something that may have ulterior motives. 

Over the years, I never read anything that suggested Trump is a generous man. I read about his rebuilding of the Wollman Skating Rink in New York, but that was done to pressure officials to grant building permits for developments that otherwise might not have been approved. 

I also understand that Trump University sometimes gave out scholarships . . . Let’s not go there. Trump University was proven to be a fraud.

So, has Donald Trump suddenly become one of the world’s greatest philanthropists? Of course not. The author of The Art of the Deal doesn’t do anything without the expectation of getting something bigger—usually something much bigger—in return.

Here’s a theory. Trump is making billions while serving as President. Many of those billions are through involvement in cryptocurrency. Trump Media and Technology, the company that gave us the ironically named “Truth Social,” has a “treasury” of more than two billion in Bitcoin. 

Thanks to Trump’s regulatory policy, Bitcoin is booming. It is Springtime for Bitcoin. Trump has created an ideal regulatory environment for Bitcoin investors, including himself and his family. 

When critics—never Trumpers like myself—suggest Trump is enriching himself through official acts as president, Trump’s press secretary and others can point to the ballroom and ask, “Can you name another President who has given so much to America?”

And I suspect that Trump thinks he is owed something—a cut—from all the “governmental efficiencies” that DOGE implemented. Think of the money saved by effectively ending USAID and rescinding funding for public broadcasting. Isn’t it only fair that Trump spends some of the “savings” on himself?

Trump is not only making a lot of money as President for himself, he is spending a lot of Americans’ money on himself. Nearly every weekend Trump flies to Mar-a-Lago or to Bedminster, New Jersey to play golf. These trips have cost taxpayers more than $30 million. (Trump’s trip to Scotland alone to open another golf course is estimated to have cost American taxpayers more than $10 million.) Another example was the Washington, D.C. military parade held ostensibly to honor the U.S. Army but coincidentally held on Trump’s birthday with estimated costs of more than $25 million.

How can you fault President Trump for playing a little golf when he has given America so much out of his own pocket?

And let me also share one other perspective, one offered as a response to another piece I wrote criticizing Trump wanting to hold a G20 summit meeting at one of his golf clubs. (Trump proposed holding such a summit at his Doral golf facility during his first term as President, but the idea was shot down. He just made the same proposal for the G7 meeting to be held next year.)  The perspective offered was that even if it is unethical for Trump to hold government meetings at his facilities to generate revenue for them, the practice is legal because Trump “can do anything he wants.” 

Trump has made government ethics—at least those applicable to the White House—a joke. But he will never be prosecuted for it. The Supreme Court has ruled that anything Trump does as President is exempt from prosecution. 

If Trump chose to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York, he is immune from prosecution provided he could argue that the act was done in his official capacity. 

America is in trouble. If everything that appears to be going on, is going on, a gangster resides in the White House. 

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.

I was in Europe last week, welcoming a respite from the chaos of American politics.  I had feared a frosty reception from the locals, but never heard the word “Trump” once from anyone but Americans during the trip. Unlike in a similar trip I took during President Trump’s first term in office, Europeans now seem to know who Trump is.  The need to ask Americans, “How on Earth did this man get elected?” or “Did he really say that?” no longer exists.

I sense that Europeans, kind souls that most of them are, do not hold regular Americans responsible for the tariff wars and consider the worst of Trump’s second term (to date) something other than their business.  I’m talking about things like attacks on the independence of American higher education, brutal practices to enforce border security, and the cascade of bizarre cabinet appointments and executive orders.  

If Europeans are amused or even just curious about things like Trump pushing to rename the Opera House in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after his wife, they did not ask me about it.

My conclusion is that Europeans are acclimated to Trump, but also afraid of him. The tariff war, America’s support for Netanyahu in Gaza, and the progressive decline in support for Ukraine have convinced Europe that Trump is not their friend. 

Mr. Putin is much hated in Europe. The locals I met with think he is mad and fear him. Many Europeans believe that their country could be next on Putin’s list, meaning that despite the revival of NATO, they lack the confidence that Putin, like Hitler 85 years ago, can be stopped.  And it gets worse. Europeans believe that Russian aggression would continue even if Putin were “taken out,” as one historian explained. They agree with Ronald Reagan’s assessment that Russia is an evil empire.  (Yes, I know Reagan was talking about the Soviet Union.)

I did not hear one European comment that they were lucky because America had their back.  My fear is that Europeans don’t believe we do.  They are keenly aware of the shift in U.S. support for Ukraine and believe, I sensed, that it is only a matter of time before Ukraine is defeated.

If you live in a tiny country like Estonia, the fall of Ukraine would be scary indeed.  Would the U.S. honor its NATO commitments and attack Russia should it decide to add Estonia, a country of only 1.5 million people, to its portfolio?  Fortunately, nobody asked me to opine on that question.

As I left Europe to return home last Friday, my thought was that the temperature is rising in Europe, meaning that I wondered if my trip could be my last for a while.  War is not good for tourism.

Upon returning to the U.S. I “plugged back in” to American news.  I had skimmed the news while in Europe but did not watch a single newscast (via internet) or read American newspapers while on the trip.  I was in for a shock when I caught up.

The Jeffrey Epstein scandal was just starting when I left.  You know where it is now.  I also had not read the latest about Trump’s declining physical and mental health.  

I could say that the “Trump News” is nothing new. All of us, including those who think of themselves as supporters of the President, now expect the President to say weird things, stick his nose in subjects where it has no business (think of Trump’s demand that Washington’s football team restore its former, racist name), launch wild accusations against former President Obama, or get caught cheating at golf in Scotland during a trip costing taxpayers more than $10 million.

I’d say the temperature is rising for Donald J. Trump.  Even his supporters are asking questions Trump doesn’t want raised.

But Putin and Trump are not the only people feeling the heat.  I am not enjoying the weather on the Eastern Shore this week.  It’s been miserable—it makes me miss the “cool” 80-degree temperatures I experienced in Europe.  

Don’t forget that Donald Trump denies climate change and, between rounds of golf, is dismantling both efforts to address it and the means to monitor it.  

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J.E. Dean writes on politics and government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.