Dan Friedman
@dfriedman
Mother Jones reporter. Covering corruption, foreign influence. Derrick White enthusiast. Signal: danfriedman.67
Trump can't order changes to Smithsonian exhibits, so he's having NPS basically heckle the museum via signs outside.
Trump orders the National Park Service to post signs attacking the Smithsonian. www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Interesting suggestion here that bitterness drove Woolsey's move from Clinton Democrat to neocon Iraq War fan and Trump backer. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/u...
A top Dem called Friday for DHS to cancel a huge contract awarded to an upstart firm to implement Trump's "self-deportation" program. The owner of the company blamed criticism of his work on competitors he says want to protect profits from mandatory deportations. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A top official of the Israel Justice Organization, which has the stated purpose of influencing the executive branch to favor pro-Israeli policies, is also the personal broker of Pete Hegseth, who pushed harder than anyone in Trump's cabinet for attacking Iran. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
He's attempting international extortion to drive up prices on 1/4 of the world's oil.
DC was controlled by a shifting alliance of leather clad coed antifa gangs until Trump made it safe and beautiful by scaring them off with a endless series of military flyovers and 1am fireworks shows.
No one involved in these readouts seems to consider that most people want the White House to stay out of the World Cup . This is a Republican administration that wants to touch everything, private enterprise, high school swim meets, the country's anniversary, the World Cup.
"Go fuck yourself San Diego." Here's a chart we made showing White House spox Karoline Leavitt, a few years ago, put her name on op-eds repeating whatever kooky bullshit followers of Miles Guo, who Mon was sentenced to 30 years in prison for fraud, wrote down. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Guo built his movement and fraudulent schemes in part by touting perceived ties to MAGA figures. He and his orgs hired or paid: Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Flynn, Peter Navarro, Jason Miller, and Karoline Leavitt. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Who stole the duckling that mysteriously died in the Reflecting Pool? And why? Is that person, or agency, the killer? Here is some background. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
That's the same press office that routinely responds to questions, including about NPS sign removals, by declaring: "We are focused on implementing the agenda of President Trump – the most iconic and accomplished President in the history of our great nation.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
As NPS sorta complies with a judge's order to undo their national park sign censorship, they're coughing up info on signs they've "discarded." www.sfgate.com/national-par... And in an affidavit yesterday, an NPS official revealed that the Interior Dept's press office is involved in those decisions.
Maybe the Interior Dept's business with this retailer of Trump campaign merch helps explain why their press office hotly denied that they're making Park Service employees BUY Freedom 250 pins- something I hadn't asked. I asked if they're making NPS employees WEAR the pins. They didn't answer that.
The "Freedom 250 commemorative pins" Park Service employees have been ordered to wear are provided by Ace Specialties. That company says it specializes in selling Trump-campaign merchandise “including the iconic MAGA hat," and other apparel “for Republicans.” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Trump administration is ordering federal employees to wear "Freedom 250" pins - at events celebrating the Declaration of Independence. And threatening them with disciplinary action if they decline. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
As the White House runs this public informercial for a company that says it's donating sod to replace the grass the UFC/Trump birthday fight killed, I will note that, per a source, the administration has also looked into just dyeing dead WH grass green.
This is not at all surprising, but it's worth noting that Freedom 250 flacks are out there saying the group, which is organizing the July 4 event, is nonpartisan. Making the official July 4 event in Washington into a TRUMP rally doesn't seem nonpartisan.
The president's announcement that the July 4th event in DC celebrating the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence will be a "TRUMP RALLY" completes the MAGA takeover of the country's birthday that started last year. www.motherjones.com/politics/202....
Gwyneth Paltrow has moved from hawking vaginal eggs to drones. And that actually makes total sense: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
This does not sound like that clever a con. www.npr.org/2026/06/02/n...
US Attorney in Eastern District of NY: FIFA corruption "doesn’t fit with the administration’s priorities." www.cnn.com/2026/05/27/p... NBA player gambling: Throw away the key. www.nytimes.com/athletic/731...
Young MC is right. The Great American State Fair is Trump-backed and politically charged. It's organized by Freedom250, a dark money group the WH created to run 250 events without oversight by a congressional commission or ensuring events are bipartisan. Bust a move. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcMG...
David Fahrenhold keeps writing about the Reflecting Pool. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/27/u... And Trump keeps talking about it. apnews.com/video/trump-....
"Naps cannot be longer than seven minutes before children are awakened to resume therapy....[That] allows the clinic to bill insurers or Medicaid for more hours." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/h...
This could certainly be true. People do lots of nonsensical stuff. But why would the FBS use an actual human asset to secretly photograph the contact information of a journalist? Most are pretty easy to reach. www.occrp.org/en/news/russ...
Gabbard's legacy is getting totally sidelined from her nominal job and trying to maintain influence with ridiculous efforts to pursue Trump's grievances v. Obama and his 2020 defeat. But the key takeaway today is the complete defeat of the "anti-war" folks and whole "Peace President" thing.