Weekend Report: What's happening?

Trump rewarding Maxwell while he can't shake Epstein saga. The MAGA economy has arrived and it's a disaster. The torture of Venezuelans in El Salvador prison revealed.

Back from vacation and reinvigorated. Thanks to all for keeping the conversation going!

The news that Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender, was moved to a cushy minimum security prison camp in Texas after speaking with Donald Trump’s deputy attorney general is yet another example of how Trump is desperately trying to manage the Jeffrey Esptein saga. It’s clear that Trump is looking to Epstein’s co-conspirator to clear him. But who will believe her? And what is he so deathly afraid of? His comments in the past week give us a hint and they show at the very least he likely knew Epstein was abusing young women—whether or not Trump was sexually assaulting them too—and did nothing about it, something that may be buried in those files.

As Trump moved forward with tariffs across the globe—with threats of even greater tariffs on many countries—reports of GDP growth slowing, prices skyrocketing and hiring coming almost to a standstill—the true impact on the economy of Trump’s polices is coming into view, and it’s pretty dismal. Both Fox News and the White House were stunned by the monthly jobs report. And Trump was so unhinged and angry—and refuses to accept blame—that he even fired the Commissioner of Labor Statistics in what seems like a precursor to attempting to cook the books.

Trump’s sick brutality was also further highlighted this week as we learned of the terrible beatings and abuse experienced by Venezuelan migrants—the vast majority having committed no crimes—sent by Trump to El Salvador’s torture prison, CECOT. We can never forget that the President of the United States did this, illegally sending people to a foreign prison where they were brutalized. Andry Hernandez Romero, the gay make-up artist held there whose story had resonated around the world, is among those speaking out about both physical attacks he ensured and sexual assault by the prison guards.