The Dictatorship
‘Clobbered’: Trump vows Cassidy will lose Louisiana’s Senate GOP primary
“Bill Cassidy is a sleazebag, a terrible guy, who is BAD FOR LOUISIANA.”
And so began President Donald Trump’s social media rant on Saturday, fresh off his trip to Chinaback in Washington and waging his revenge tour in full force on a day when fealty to the president is on the ballot in the Bayou State.
“Now he’s going to get CLOBBERED, hopefully, in today’s BIG election, by two great people!!!” the president continued in his Truth Social postasking GOP voters in Louisiana to cast their ballots for Rep. Julia Letlow, R-La., the candidate Trump is backing to win the high-profile Senate GOP primary contest in a key test of his strength within the Republican Party as he seeks to punish Cassidy for his betrayal.
In his first Truth Social post aimed at Cassidy since returning to U.S. soil, Trump pointed to the two-term senator’s biggest sin: His 2021 vote to convict Trump on impeachment charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana is a disloyal disaster. His entire past campaign for the Senate was about ‘TRUMP,’ how he’s with me all the way, and then, after winning, he turned around and voted to IMPEACH me for something that has now proven to be total ‘bullshit!’” Trump wrote.
A third candidate, Louisiana state treasurer John Fleming is also seeking the GOP Senate nomination, and recent polling from Emerson College shows both challengers ahead of Cassidy.
Still, Cassidy has continued to reach out to MAGA voters, saying Friday that the race “is not me versus Donald Trump.”
“If somebody wants someone who can work with President Trump for the good of our country and the good of our state, I’m your candidate,” Cassidy told MS NOW. He did not comment on whether the Republican party has room for those that cross Trump. When asked for comment on the president’s criticism posted Saturday, Cassidy’s campaign responded with a video of Letlow referring to herself as a “progressive leader.”
Cassidy’s battle for political survival illustrates the stark divide within the Republican Party between the establishment and true believers in the MAGA movement.
Richard Logis, a former MAGA activist who defected from Trump’s movement, said Saturday that he believes the MAGA wing of the GOP, which prides itself on being a big-tent party, will continue to splinter as the president’s popularity sinks.
“I do believe that the cracks are there right now,” Logis said on MS NOW’s “The Weekend,” adding, “I think the schisms and the chasms are widening.”
Logis and members of his organization, called Leaving MAGA, are part of a small but vocal community of Republicans mounting an effort to redirect the future of the GOP away from the MAGA movement that Trump created, but their mission faces long odds.
According to polling by YouGov63% of Republicans today identify as MAGA, up from 53% in 2025 and 38% back in 2023, a year after Logis left the movement. However, MAGA identification among registered independent voters remains low in the latest polling data — just 12% — and overall, only one in four voters in the U.S. identifies as MAGA.
Trump has spent much of his second term punishing those within his party who broke with his agenda, including a handful of state senators in Indiana who rejected his push to redraw the state’s congressional map. Of the seven state senators who were challenged by Trump-backed candidates, five lost their reelection bids.
The ideological battle within the GOP came into focus early in Trump’s second term. Multiple Republican lawmakers, including onetime MAGA firebrand former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., either resigned or announced their retirement after breaking with the president.
Greene, who publicly fell out with the president over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, said in January that “MAGA purity tests and loyalty demands are going to cost the Republican Party votes.” She left Congress after Trump labeled her a “traitor” for criticizing his administration’s handling of the Epstein files and backed a GOP primary challenger in her district.
The president’s pattern of political retribution began in force following his departure from the White House in 2021, when he used his influence to oust prominent GOP incumbents who voted for his impeachment or conviction, including former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming.
On Saturday night in Louisiana after the polls have closed and the counting is done, Cassidy, one of three Republican senators remaining who voted to convict Trump, may find out whether he’s joining Cheney in early retirement.
Mychael Schnell and Syedah Asghar contributed to this report.
Adam Hudacek is a desk associate for MS NOW covering national politics in Washington, D.C.
Over the course of June, Donald Trump spent nearly every day focusing attention on assorted construction and beautification projects, emphasizing the unavoidable conclusion that the president takes his renovation crusade very seriously.
His allies aren’t necessarily pleased. The Hill recently reported that Republican officials, worried about the midterm elections and maintaining partisan control, have been “thrown off-balance” by, among other things, Trump’s focus on “pet projects” instead of more meaningful national priorities.
The list of projects keeps growing nevertheless. It includes (but is by no means limited to) the ballroomthe Reflecting Poolthe “triumphal arch,” the fountainsthe horse statuesthe “Trump Promenade,” the “statue garden” and the dozen or so additional renovation projects he’s prioritized in and around the White House complex.
But let’s also not forget the helipad.
A couple of months ago, The Washington PostThe Wall Street Journal and The New York Times separately published similar reports about Trump hoping to build a permanent helicopter landing site on the White House grounds. Evidently, those plans have now advanced to the construction stage. The Post reported this week:
President Donald Trump has begun construction on a new White House helipad, his latest change to the historic grounds, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the project publicly.
Construction crews worked into the night Monday on the White House’s South Lawn, with the project blocked off by a large fence.
The report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the project hasn’t yet been formally announced by the White House, even as construction is apparently underway.
It’s not yet clear how much the project will cost, who will pick the tab and whether this has joined the growing list of no-bid contracts.
Unlike some of the president’s other priorities, there is a legitimate issue here — the latest generation of helicopters really do damage the White House lawn — although this doesn’t answer the other lingering questions or explain why Team Trump hasn’t acknowledged the existence of the project.
What’s more, this almost certainly won’t be the last of the Republican’s projects.
Earlier this week, the president used his social media platform to promote an artificial intelligence-generated image of a gold eagle affixed to the White House exterior. Trump added in his online image, “A Golden Gift to the White House for its 250th Birthday Year!”
The text (which erroneously said the White House is celebrating its semiquincentennial) suggested the president intends to add this gaudy addition to his ambitious renovation agenda.
Recent polling has found two-thirds of Americans are convinced their unpopular president simply has the wrong priorities. Trump could take steps to change their mind, but he apparently doesn’t want to.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
The Dictatorship
Hegseth blasts protesters at ceremony for D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force: ‘Ingrates’
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday derided protesters at an event in Washington, D.C., tied to the America 250 celebrationscalling the demonstrators “ingrates” who are “blinded by ideology.”
The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force event in Meridian Hill Park was set to begin at 9 a.m. ET but did not start until roughly 30 minutes later, as members of the National Guard waited for Hegseth’s arrival amid a brutal heat wave. Protesters shouted during his brief address, in which he said he was to blame for the delay and praised the troops for their service.
“In fact, this background noise this morning is perfect,” Hegseth said about the protesters, with White House adviser Stephen Miller and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche standing behind him.
“It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them,” Hegseth said. “That there’s nothing ideological about this group, there’s nothing political about this exercise.”
Some protesters could be heard shouting “Shame!” and “Guard, go home!”
Pete Hegseth: “This background noise is perfect. It’s the sound of ingrates, of ingratitude, of people who are so blinded by ideology they can’t see law and order and common sense in front of them.” pic.twitter.com/aWt5ciuRG3
—Aaron Rupar (@atrupar)”https://x.com/atrupar/status/2072679604184109222?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 2, 2026
National Guard troops have been deployed to assist with America 250 celebrations in the capital, though some Democratic governors have warned against their guard members being utilized for a larger federal joint task force to tackle what the Trump administration has called“rampant crime” in Washington.
Many Washington residents are not thrilled with the National Guard’s presence. The controversial America 250 festivities have also sparked criticism from Democrats who accuse President Donald Trump of putting himself at the center of the celebrations.
At the Thursday ceremony, Hegseth suggested the protesters were not from Washington.
“These ingrates will fade away; they’ll go back to wherever they came from,” he said, before asserting that National Guard troops have brought the crime rate down in the capital — a claim that at least one study has found to be inaccurate.
“The crime rate here has dropped in staggering amounts, and the media won’t want to admit it because, of course, they’d have to give credit to President Trump, and then they’d have to give credit to the Department of War or to Stephen Miller,” Hegseth said. “But courageous men like President Trump and Stephen, who said enough is enough, are the reason why this city is a safe and beautiful place.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
Stephanie Ruhle said she was left “almost speechless” after the release of Donald Trump’s new financial disclosureswhich reported he raked in more than $2 billion since returning to the White House. “Man, it looks good to be president,” the “Money, Power, Politics” host said Wednesday.
According to the 927-page document released Tuesday, Trump’s income has only increased since retaking the White House. The president reported almost $575 million in real estate and golf-related income and another $68.6 million in royalties and licensing fees.
But, as Ruhle pointed out, $1.4 billion of Trump’s 2025 total comes directly from one industry: crypto.
Despite having called that industry a “scam” and a “disaster waiting to happen” in 2021, Trump has in recent years appeared to have a change of heart about digital currency.
“That was just five years ago, but now he is a major crypto industry operator and essentially its top policy maker,” the MS NOW host said. “Remember, he is the one who appointed regulators that changed the rules to hugely benefit the crypto industry, and since he came back to office, he has either completely dropped or settled a whole lot of cases with crypto companies.”
As Trump rakes in more cash, Ruhle said the American people are not experiencing the same kind of prosperity, in part because of the administration’s policies. “[They] are suffering, whether it’s because of tariffs, whether it’s because of inflation, whether it’s because of increased costs, because of the war in Iran,” she said.
While Ruhle noted the president has said he does not choose his investments and has said they are in a “blind account,” she said the American people should not ignore how much Trump has profited since returning to the White House.
“Here’s what you need to know: All of this would be a major conflict of interest — a huge scandal — if it were any other presidency,” she argued.
You can watch Ruhle’s full breakdown in the clip below.
Allison Detzel is an editor/producer for MS NOW. She was previously a segment producer for “AYMAN” and “The Mehdi Hasan Show.”
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- Hegseth blasts protesters at ceremony for D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force: ‘Ingrates’
- Stephanie Ruhle breaks down what to know about Trump’s financial disclosures
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