Declaring the ‘Iran Excursion’ over, Trump chills with a blast of memesThe ‘Iran Excursion’ as he called it was ‘over,’ or so he declared. Cousin King Charles had returned after taking a few subtle digs at him. And there were no executive orders for the POTUS to sign on the Resolute Desk.Time to chill after a hard week’s work. Presumably sitting on his golden throne in the renovated Lincoln bathroom, Donald Trump posted 11 times in a 41-minute span late Friday night, according to a Daily Beast count.Among them an AI-generated image depicting Trump with a broad grin, giving a thumbs-up as he reclines on a golden inflatable lounger while floating in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall with three top cabinet members.A couple of days later, Trump, who is renovating the pool with an “American flag blue” surface, at an estimated $1.5 million price tag actually took a drive on the newly laid track even “as upgrades continue 🇺🇸” with lots of pictures on Truth Social.Trump’s posting blitz included a photo of himself pasted on Mount Rushmore alongside Abraham Lincoln and another smirking while holding Uno cards, referring to his claims to “have all the cards” in negotiations with Iran.Back in the Oval Office bright and fresh Monday, Trump focused on more pressing matters of national interest like making Washington, “D. C. beautiful again” for America’s 250th birthday on July 4 even as U.S. debt reached an alarming milestone surpassing the nation’s total economic output.Courts would not let him build without Congressional approval a big beautiful 90,000 square-foot White House ballroom that he promised would cost the public nothing. So he got Senate Republicans to propose a new immigration enforcement funding package including $1 billion in public funds for new security enhancements at the White House.The ballroom is “a little bit ahead of schedule, right on budget, but it’s going to be great,” Trump told reporters. Asked by PBS later whether he was concerned about the cost, he said dismissively, “It’s a tiny — it’s one one-millionth of a percent of what we do. That’s a small deal. And I’m putting up a lot of money myself.”What was first described as a room to seat 200 guests soon grew to 400 and is now designed for 1,000 people with the cost ballooning from $400 million in private donations to $1 billion in public funds with ‘security enhancements’ justified by the April 25 assassination attempt at the White House correspondents dinner.Another pet Trump project, National Garden of American Heroes too is growing larger and more expensive by the day, with the latest plans calling for reflecting pools, dining facilities and an amphitheater alongside 250 life-size statues of notable Americans. These alone could cost more than the $40 million approved for the project by Congress, according to a New York Times report.Trump also wants to paint Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the White House compound a matching white for $7.5 million. His proposed Triumphal Arch in Washington, nicknamed ‘Arc de Trump’ too has grown from 7o to 250‑foot‑tall with a price tag of at least $100 million.And as the PGA Tour returned to Trump National Doral in Miami after ten years, a triumphant Trump posted a picture of a golden statue of his captioned, “The Real Deal – GOLD – At Doral in Miami. Put there by great American Patriots!!! President DJT”Promoting a UFC fight at the White House on Flag Day, June 14, which is also Trump’s birthday, he showed off a host of UFC fighters photo renderings of the stadium to hold 4,000 being built there for the fight.Meanwhile, even as rising fuel prices and economic woes worried aides ahead of November midterm elections, as per the Wall Street Journal, an itchy fingered Trump issued Iran another warning to “allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL.”“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before,” he wrote. But even as U.S. and Iran traded strikes near the Strait of Hormuz, amid peace talks, Trump insisted cease-fire remains intact while threatening more hits if Iran didn’t agree to a peace offer.And as Trump’s job disapproval reached a new high of 62% with a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll finding highest levels of disapproval for his handling of the cost of living (76%), inflation (72%) and the war with Iran (66%), it was all thumbs on the deck.Over the week, Trump posted another blast of AI generated memes making fun of from his predecessors, “traitor” Barack Obama bowing to an Ayatollah, and “autopen sleepy Joe” Biden, to “illegal immigrant loving” Democratic Congressional leaders and others suffering from ‘TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME!”Come Star Wars Day, he posted an AI-generated image depicting Trump in a suit of armor holding an American flag alongside a Baby Yoda captioned, “In a galaxy that demands strength – America stands ready” and “This is the way. May the 4th be with you.’Then on Friday, Pentagon on Trump’s orders started releasing the first tranche of the UFO/UAP files “related to Alien and Extraterrestrial Life, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, and Unidentified Flying Objects.”These included Buzz Aldrin observing a “fairly bright light source” while aboard the Apollo 11. A mysterious object making “multiple 90-degree turns” at a speedy clip and a blaring bright object doing corkscrew twists over the skies in Kazakhstan.“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, ‘WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?’ Have Fun and Enjoy!” Trump posted on Truth Social.Indeed! Conspiracy theories are dark and deep; Have fun fueling them with a torrent of memes!(With apologies to Robert Frost)(By arrangement with The American Bazaar)
