Donald Trump has taken a series of actions this week that, even by his standards, go beyond erratic and bizarre and cross the border into corrupt, obscene and dangerous - both to America and the world. He has cosied up to Putin, announced live-streamed public executions and invited election deniers to the Oval Office. He keeps teasing a "surprise," which is making people extremely nervous.
Diesel Deal with Russia
Trump appears to have relaxed sanctions on Russia in order to buy hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel - and release hundreds of thousands more into the global market. The move will see the United States directly funding Putin's war machine by an undisclosed sum - as well as undermining years of pressure on the Russian tyrant from the international community over his war in Ukraine.
Trump had already made several moves to "normalise" Putin's behaviour - meeting with him on American soil last year and inviting him to December's G20 summit in Miami. But handing him cash in the hope that Russia will help him reduce American diesel prices in time for the midterms is shocking, even by Trump's standards.
Announcing the "deal," Trump wrote on Truth Social: "I have just concluded a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, wherein it was agreed that Russia will immediately supply over 300,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel to the American and Global Marketplace, another 500,000 Tons during the month of November, and 1,000,000 Tons immediately thereafter. Additionally, based on the condition of their Diesel Refineries, Russia will then deliver, within a short period of time, 3,000,000 Tons of Diesel Fuel. Between our TOTAL CONTROL of the Strait of Hormuz, and this great announcement on Russian Energy, Diesel Prices for Americans and, indeed, the World, will be COMING DOWN, IN RECORD NUMBERS, AND FAST! Lower prices for Americans, especially our Great Farmers, Ranchers, and Truckers, is my Greatest Priority. This is a very big and important announcement. Additionally, it must be understood, that Iran will not have a Nuclear Weapon! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Public Execution Announced
Pete Hegseth gleefully announced on Thursday that America is going to hold its first public execution in about 90 years. In fact, it's probably the first public military execution since the Civil War. The condemned man is Nidal Hasan, a former US Army psychologist who was convicted of killing 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in 2009.
Hasan is on the US Military's death row now, and the Pentagon announced yesterday that his execution has been scheduled for December 3rd. Hegseth confirmed in an interview last night that the execution will be by firing squad - the first time the military have used that method since 1945. It will take place at Fort Hood, the base where he committed his crime, and soldiers - presumably stationed at the base - will perform it.
The last public execution in the United States was in 1936 - it's 90 years since that particular barbaric ritual was done away with. Hegseth's justification was that: "People need to understand that there's serious consequences for these types of things."
AI Renamed and Medal Ceremony
Trump posted alarming messages on Truth Social almost every day - but one he posted this week was of a different order. He decreed that the White House will consider anyone who continues to call AI "SI" to be "the enemy." Given absolutely nobody is going to call it SI, there's every chance he's going to use this new designation as an excuse to get rid of more of the critical media he hates so much.
Trump held an event on Wednesday to mark the 'dawn of a new golden age'. During the ceremony he handed the Presidential Medal for Science to his on-again-off-again bromantic partner, Elon Musk. The event also arranged to have the science medal awarded to his uncle, John G Trump - whom he rarely shuts up about - framed and handed to the President before the medals were handed out.
Election Deniers and a Teased Surprise
Trump met with Tina Peters, a former elections official from Colorado who was convicted in 2024 and sentenced to 9 years in prison for helping to breach the election computer systems in Mesa County, Colorado. Her sentence was commuted earlier this year after Trump put Colorado's governor under months of sustained public pressure and threats. She served less than a quarter of her sentence. According to reports, on Monday she was in the Oval Office, talking to Donald Trump about "the plans" for the midterms.
On Tuesday, Trump gave a speech at a shipyard in Baltimore, during which he shouted out a guy called Russel Vought - ominously telling the crowd that he and Russ had cooked up a "surprise" for in a couple of weeks time. He teased this a second time at the Columbus Day event on Friday, saying Vought was "going to be making a tremendous announcement soon. He'll be even more important than Chris [Columbus] if he pulls this off. He's working on something that's going to be so good for our country."
Vought is best known as the architect of Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation's blueprint for a second Trump term. About two thirds of Trump's executive orders are aligned with the plans set out in Project 2025.
In another deeply troubling move, for the first time in 20 years, the US has not invited election monitors from the OSCE - an international body that monitors elections around the world - to scrutinise the midterms. Every US national election since 2002 has allowed OSCE monitors to observe. Instead, the Department of Justice will be sending its own poll monitors to polls and counts in many states - which is prompting concerns of voter intimidation.
Trump announced the new White House Press Secretary will be MAGA-talking head Katie Zacharia. If that name sounds familiar, it's because she was (briefly) Kristi Noem's spokesperson while she was at Homeland Security.
