Letters from an American - As Trump Takes Hits, He Lashes Out

Episode Date: May 30, 2026

May 29, 2026The war in Iran and the rising cost of living are costing Trump support, While there is talk of an agreement with Iran, there are no signs that it is real, Public opinion is causing support to dwindle for Trump’s wish to be on the face of a new $250 bill, Trump lost in court on changing the name of the Kennedy Center and on closing the center for two years, Trump’s plans for a Freedom 250 celebration are fizzling, too, The Department of Justice has been temporarily stopped from creating or operating Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund, Thirty-five federal judges have asked US District Judge Williams to reopen the legal case that the Trumps brought against the IRS, Trump and his loyalists are taking other actions, some of which have the potential to have wide repercussions. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

May 29, 26. This morning, Senator John Cornyn, a Republican of Texas, who just lost his primary after President Donald J. Trump endorsed Republican challenger Ken Paxton, posted, An old but apt fable. A scorpion wants to cross a river but cannot swim, so it asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates, afraid that the scorpion might sting it, but the scorpion promises not to. pointing out that it would drown if it killed the frog in the middle of the river. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. Midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog anyway, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung despite knowing the consequence. To which, the scorpion replies,

I'm sorry, but I couldn't help myself. It's my character. Cornyn appears to be firing a shot across the president's bow, and now that Trump has alienated Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Cornyn of Texas by endorsing their opponents. There are six Republican senators who may be willing to stop moving in lockstep with him. Trump's war in Iran and the rising prices Americans are enduring in its wake are costing him support from all but his most fervent base, and there is no immediate solution that will make those problems go away.

As Noah Berlowski noted in public notice yesterday, no matter what he does in Iran, Trump will leave that situation with a loss. If Trump escalates, people are going to hate him. If he surrenders, people are going to hate him. If he dithers, people are going to hate him. He has no good options, Berlatsky wrote, which is why he's spinning in place, hoping, Someone, anyone, will rescue him.

There's been more noise today about how the U.S. and Iran are on the verge of an agreement, but so far it has come to naught. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times reported today that Trump met with advisors for two hours today in the situation room to discuss the agreement but came to no decision about it. What did happen today is that officials from both Chevron and Exxon warned that oil invalien inventories are dangerously low, raising concerns about dramatic price spikes. As Americans sour on Trump's economy, lawmakers are backing away from his self-aggrandizing plans for a new $250 bill with his face on it for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While the administration, including

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is touting the plan, Scott McFarlane of Midas touch, notes that the necessary congressional approval is not forthcoming, as lawmakers recognize that releasing a $250 bill raises images of gilded ballrooms and extravagance at a time when Americans are having trouble paying for gas and groceries. It is currently against the law to put a living president on currency, so it will take an act of Congress to create this new bill. But so far, only 15 Republicans.

have co-sponsored a bill to create the Trump $250 bill. Trump's other plans for demonstrating his power also took, at least symbolic, hits today. Today, Judge Christopher Cooper of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to remove Trump's name from the building and from all official materials and signage within 14 days and blocked its plans. to close for two years. As Chris Geidner of Law Dork explained, Cooper stood firm on Congress's authority over the Kennedy Center.

Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, he wrote, and only Congress can change it. Cooper also found that the board of the Kennedy Center agreed to close it for two years without advice of legal counsel, and that Matt Floca, the Kennedy Center's executive director and chief operating officer,

since Trump appointee Rick Grinnell left, had served in the role of Kennedy Center Executive Director for all of a few minutes before suggesting that the institution be shut down for years. Yesterday, Trump's Freedom 250 organization, which he set up to compete with the bipartisan America 250 celebration of the nation's birthday, announced that nine musical artists would perform

at a 16-day Great American State Fair it was sponsoring on the National Mall. By today, most of the performers had pulled out after realizing that they had not been invited to be part of the nonpartisan America 250, but instead had been invited to Trump's personal version of the anniversary celebration. Dan Lamoth and Alex Horton of the Washington Post

reported today that Trump is working hard for a certain kind of vibe at another Freedom 250 event. His ultimate fighting championship matches at the White House for his 80th birthday on June 14th. They reported that the Pentagon is trying to recruit hundreds of troops to show up to watch the matches in their uniforms. In addition to paying for their own travel,

those military personnel must meet height and weight requirements. U.S. District Judge for the East District Judge for the East District of Virginia, Lainey M. Brinkama, temporarily stopped the Department of Justice from creating or operating the so-called anti-weaponization fund, the $1.776 billion slush fund the administration created to pay off those convicted of committing crimes to help President Donald J. Trump overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The administration cannot transfer money to the fund, consider any claims for payments from it, or pay out any money from it. Louise Radnowski and Lydia Wheeler of the Wall Street Journal

report that those challenging the fund are people and entities prosecuted or threatened by the Trump administration. The plaintiffs say the government is not treating them on a par with Trump loyalists as worthy of compensation for government weaponization. Brinkuma has scheduled a hearing on the case. case for June 12th. This afternoon, yesterday's request by 35 federal judges that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams reopened the legal case Trump, his oldest sons, and the Trump Organization had brought against the IRS bore fruit. Although the Trumps dropped the suit, the Department of Justice used it as justification for the establishment of the $1.776 billion slush fund to pay

those who claimed the country's legal system had been weaponized against them because they were convicted of crimes related to their actions to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Today, Williams ordered Trump's lawyers to respond to the judge's filing by June 12th and to address the judge's claims that the two sides in the case, the Trump's on the one hand and the Internal Revenue Service, which Trump oversees on the other, were not, in fact, adversaries in the case. Josh Dossie, Sadie German, and C. Ryan Barber of the Wall Street Journal reported that more than a dozen Republican senators have privately asked Trump advisors

to get rid of the slush fund, suggesting it will be hard to defend on the campaign trail before this fall's midterm elections. As the courts and the American people challenged Trump, he is lashing out. He responded to the judge's order to take his name off the Kennedy Center with a long social media screed in which he insisted that he alone was saving a dying performance arts center and said he would transfer this failing institution back to Congress, although of course it was never his to command.

There has never been a president of the United States who has been treated so unfairly by the courts as I, but that's okay, I will continue to do what is considered to be a great job for the wonderful people of our country. Then, in another long screed, he complained that the New York Times is doing everything possible to criticize the magnificent restoration of the reflecting pool. But as Trump lashes out, his loyalists are working to consolidate their power. The Office of Management and Budget, overseen by Director Russell Vote, who was instrumental in the construction of Project 2025, has proposed a sweeping change in federal rules that would put Trump's appointees in charge of billions of dollars of federal grants.

According to Ryan Quinn of Inside Higher Ed, the change would empower Trump's appointees to kill grants that aren't aligned with Trump's priorities. That includes grants awarded to universities through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Earlier this month, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, President Sally Cornblath, said that federally funded research at MIT is down 20% compared to last year. That is a striking loss for one of the most influential and productive research communities in the world, she said. The number of graduate students MIT takes on will also drop by about 20%, or about 500 fewer. As Erica Orden of Politico reported yesterday, in the case of the firing of former FBI Director James Comey's daughter, Maureen Comey, from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York,

Karen Lass Barron, a lawyer for the Department of Justice, told Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that the government's position is that Trump has the power to fire anyone, even if he is doing so for political reasons. When Furman asked, if there were any limits to that power, could he fire people to kill? create an all-white executive branch, or all-black, he asked, less parents avoided the question. Comey's lawyer said the Justice Department's position was a novel and breathtaking theory about the scope of presidential power.

Trump and his loyalists have tried for months now to get control of state voter lists, but have lost repeatedly in court since the Constitution establishes that states run elections. Today, the United States Postal Service said that it plans to send mail-in ballots only to voters who are registered with the federal government. As Jacob Newtson and Jim Saxa of Democracy Docket Note, this would represent a massive expansion of federal control over voting without congressional authorization.

Letters from an American was written, and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.