Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump may be 78 years old, but he kept up the whirlwind pace of his second term with another week of drama, hot scandal, and surprises.
National Security Advisor Mike Waltz took responsibility for adding a journalist to a chat group of officials planning US strikes in Yemen. The messages revealed some informality, including when Waltz wrote a garbled message and Vance replied “What?” Waltz explained he was “typing too fast.” The chat users celebrated after the attacks with emojis of a fist, an American flag, a muscled arm, and a flame.
Colorado removed an official portrait of Trump from display in the state Capitol after the president complained that it was “purposefully distorted.” “The artist also did President Obama, and he looks wonderful, but the one on me is truly the worst,” Trump said. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently presented another portrait to Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during their meeting in Moscow. Witkoff said that Trump “was clearly touched” by the portrait, which he described as “beautiful.”
Homeland Security Chief Kristi Noem visited the prison in El Salvador where Venezuelans are held after being summarily deported from the United States on unproven allegations they belong to criminal gangs. Standing in front of a cell of silent inmates stripped to the waist, revealing their tattooed torsos, Noem recorded a video message telling others that they risked the same consequences. Noem wore a gold Rolex watch worth $50,000 for the visit, reported the Washington Post and other US media.
The Smithsonian museums—among the most prestigious in the world—were hit in Trump’s expanding conservative clampdown on cultural institutions. Trump, who has sought to root out what he called “woke” thinking, accused the Smithsonian of trying to rewrite American history on issues of race and gender. He also recently took over the chairmanship of the Kennedy Center in Washington, a famed arts venue, after complaining that it was too liberal.
Usha Vance, the vice president’s wife, was due to attend a dogsledding race in Greenland—an island that her husband and Donald Trump want to take over. US officials perhaps got cold feet when locals planned protests at the event. Instead, Usha and Vice President JD Vance visited the safer location of the US Pituffik Space Base on the island. Earlier in the week, VP Vance—a former Marine—opened fire with an automatic rifle at a military range in Virginia.
Is there no end to the Trump stories? Tiger Woods confirmed he is romancing the president’s former daughter-in-law. Golf superstar Woods—renowned for jealously guarding his private life over the years—posted on X that he is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr. Vanessa Trump, who divorced Donald Trump Jr. in 2018 after a 13-year marriage, also posted a picture of her and Woods together on her Instagram account.
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