The mess Trump is making of the USA and upon global stock markets apart, possibly more dangerous is the influence to copy his behaviour is having on other regimes.
Some of today’s news
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After total failure to end the Ukraine war Trump has announced that he is fed up with “crazy” Putin yet he is imposing far stronger financial sanctions (by way of tariffs) on Europe than Russia. So if he thinks Putin is “crazy” what does he think of us Europeans?
Blah! Blah! Blah!
All the strong words with no action. Something, we may hazard a guess ‘who’, must be holding him back. A bully met by a bigger bully.
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Apparently he really hates the TACO label.
Oh dear, how sad, never mind.
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He does seem to like Mexican food, though. Taco Bell…
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The Daily Mirror headlines it just right, but do you see Trump’s inverted lower fangs?
True or false I don’t know, but ChatGPT says “No — that’s not how his teeth normally look in standard, unaltered photos. This is a classic example of British tabloid image editing. Publications like the Mirror often exaggerate features to underline their editorial slant or inject a little visual satire, especially with public figures like Trump”.
I don’t think true or fase matters here - he certainly has his fangs in everything.
Now Jupiter’s winding up Trump…
Sorry, but unable to provide a free link this time -there’ll be plenty about it tomorrow in the French press
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The last bit is absolutely priceless.
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Trump’s Big Beautiful Birthday US Army Parade.
Trump looked like the birthday boy who after opening his birthday present was visibly disappointed. A Kim Jong Un Parade it was not, if that was what he was expecting.
It was boring. Rubio and others of Trump’s team, looked bored – Rubio with a half sigh/half yawn, Trump looking gloomy most of the time.
Various media outlets reported that the US Army estimated a public attendance figure of 200,000 for logistical purposes in planning the event, but no figures are given for the actual public attendance. The US Army do not count attendance numbers – that’s political. Fox News showed no video evidence of huge public attendance that I could find. I’ve heard, unofficially, that a public attendance count was specifically not asked for.
The NYT reported “The spectacle was limited”. “Reporters for The New York Times who attended the parade described an at-times underwhelming performance and crowds dispersing early amid a light drizzle.”
Not his day!
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I’ve seen a figure of 3,000 for the actual crowd size, but have no idea if it’s accurate. Sounds plausible!
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For Trump that would be 30,000 to 300,000.
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I believe the final tally was 8,947 or close to that. Meanwhile, the estimates for #NoKings rallies is in the 1.1 - 1.4% of the total US population range. Incredible. I am trying to find that course from Bluesky and will post it if I can find it again.
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Including Donnie, Melania, Pete, Kristi and 2000 security guards? 
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Not only was it boring but I’ve never seen such a shoddy, ramshackle and utterly unprofessional military display. It’s almost like the army said yes, he’ll get a procession but it’s going to be the bare minimum. I take it that US soldiers aren’t trained to march.
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I researched via a source and here’s its answer. Looks good to me.
The claim that the “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. included about 1.1–1.4% of the population (roughly 3.7–4.7 million people) is plausible based on current estimates.
** A wide range of credible outlets report “millions” nationwide:*
- Reuters/AP: “millions” across the U.S. theguardian.com+15apnews.com+15fox5atlanta.com+15
- Financial Times, Guardian, Time, and others cite over 5 million participants ctinsider.com+5theguardian.com+5ft.com+5
- The Daily Beast estimates 4–6 million, which represents roughly 1.1–1.8% of the ~332 million U.S. population
- Wikipedia and Axios also report “over 5 million people participated” economictimes.indiatimes.com+9en.wikipedia.org+9en.wikipedia.org+9.
So if we take 5 million participants, that’s ~1.5%. A conservative figure of 4 million is about 1.2%, and even the lower bound of 3.7 million gives approximately 1.1%. Thus the 1.1–1.4% range aligns well with all credible data.
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No doubt doctored photos of a celebrity concerts will soon surface 
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I read that the total was around 4,000, IF you take away members of congress, families of the participants, etc - in other words, just people that were unaffiliated and wanted to go watch. It was certainly underwhelming. The quotes that I read from international sources regarding the soldiers’ marching skills were hilarious.
The New York Times
Mr. Trump’s reviewing stand was flanked by two tanks and two giant video screens — both pairs, in Mr. Trump’s politics, a form of weaponry. The stage gleamed with the gold tones that he has favored for his convention stages, for Mar-a-Lago and for his Oval Office. The color scheme may have been a coincidence — black and gold are the official Army colors — but if so, another one that happened to match Mr. Trump’s tastes.
At times, the announcer interrupted the narration to thank corporate sponsors, including Coinbase, Oracle and the UFC, their names flashing in huge letters on the screens. War may be hell, but military parades, in this media era, are promotional opportunities. (On Newsmax, the parachutist display aired side-by-side with an ad for Trump watches.)
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It is a shame the Champs Elysee parade for Fete National is not shown on US television.
Great example how to celebrate the armed forces and history of a proud nation. I enjoy watching and look forward to this years spectacle.
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