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| Karoline Leavitt |
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that there’s never been a harder working president than her boss. “I witness it with my own two eyes every day,” she said. “That man is working around the clock. He hardly ever sleeps.”
She is in need of a pair of glasses.
Most of Trump’s time is spent watching cable TV, bloviating on Truth Social, staging photo-ops for executive order signings, or playing golf.
The HuffPost has reported that the president played golf 40 of his first 175 days in office.
Does Leavitt consider Trump’s crazed appearance at the White House Faith Office lunch on July 14 as an example of his nose-to-the-grindstone attitude?
The spinmeisters at the White House offered a one-paragraph recap of the event.
Here it is: “At the White House Faith Office Luncheon with business leaders, President Trump delivered powerful remarks on the foundation of the American spirit: 'Today, we celebrate the core values that built this country: freedom, hard work, risk-taking, & above all, trust in almighty God.'”
It skipped the part of Trump calling the indictments against him as “bull——.”
The president also compared himself to gangster Al Capone.
He said he has been investigated more than the “late, great” Alphonse Capone. “Think of it. Al Capone would kill people for dinner. If he left the room and he didn’t like him, he’d have him shot, killed, buried under a building someplace, as part of the foundation of a building. They’re all over the place. And I said I had more time under investigation than the legendary Alphonse Capone, or probably anybody else.”
A saving grace for the audience: Trump didn’t say he was persecuted more than Jesus Christ.
Broadway bound… Transparency International and eQualitie are behind the digital billboard in Times Square urging Congress to restore cuts in foreign aid.
The three-month effort follows the near decimation of the US Agency for International Development that was initiated by Elon Musk’s DOGE, and cuts by the State Dept.
TI executive director Gary Kalman noted that foreign aid delivers some of the highest returns on investment when it comes to protecting US jobs, countering authoritarian regimes and promoting global stability.
Defunding those programs undermines US security and puts global progress at risk.
Foreign assistance helps build the conditions for open markets and economic growth, said Alex Dalessio, executive director of eQualitie. “That kind of stability depends on informed communities, independent media and secure infrastructure,” he added.
TI is part of a coalition dedicated to fighting corruption in more than 100 counties. eQualitie develops open and reusable digital infrastructure to strengthen independent media and civil society in some of the world’s most challenging environments.
Public affairs hero… Patty Hartman, who was fired by Attorney General Pam Bondi this month, fears for the future of America’s democracy.
The 17-year Justice Dept. veteran believes she was fired in retribution for writing press releases for some of the 1,500 Jan. 16 rioters who were prosecuted for their actions. They were pardoned by Trump.
While writing a press release, Hartman’s computer powered down, and she was then handed a termination letter that was signed by Bondi.
On social media, Hartman wrote: We appear to be driving straight into an abyss that holds no memory of what democracy is, was or should be.”
The people who swore an oath to protect the nation and Constitution “now use the Constitution as a weapon to suit their own ends. And the most terrifying fact is, their road is very long.”
Once again, we’ve been warned.
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