The Patriot Post® · Monday: Below the Fold
Tariff revenue turns a May deficit into a June surplus: The U.S. government saw a $316 billion deficit in May, but June brought a $27 billion surplus, the first since 2017. June’s outlays totaled $499 billion, while revenue was $526 billion; that $27 billion surplus is precisely equal to the amount of “customs duties” (tariffs) collected in June. While President Donald Trump has floated the idea of eventually allowing tariff income to replace the income tax, such a change is still a long way off. Still, in June 2025, 301% more in customs duties were collected than in June 2024.
Ukraine weapons reversal: Following Donald Trump’s recent comments expressing his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for his unwillingness to pursue a peace deal and Russia’s continued aerial strikes on Ukraine’s population centers, Trump signaled a plan to increase U.S. support for Ukraine. He promised to send defensive Patriot missiles to Ukraine, along with a new NATO deal that will allow the U.S. to send more offensive weapons to the beleaguered nation. “We basically are going to send them various pieces of very sophisticated military equipment,” Trump said. “They are going to pay us 100% for that.” Actually, NATO’s European nations will pay. What Trump appears to have recognized is that Putin has no intention of ending the war before getting all of Ukraine, saying, “He wants to take all of it.”
State Dept. layoffs: On Friday, more than 1,300 State Department employees were laid off as part of the Trump administration’s effort to downsize and streamline a bloated federal workforce. The size of the State Department had ballooned to 80,000 employees, adding some 11,000 since the Obama administration. While Democrats decried the cuts as weakening America’s diplomatic capabilities, the reality of the situation has much more to do with the policy and agenda being promoted abroad. Pushing DEI, climate alarmism, and the LGBTQ agenda is no longer a priority. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that the overhaul is “probably in the most deliberate way of anyone that’s done one.” Media pundit Meghan McCain observed, “One thing I never realized until I moved to the DC area is the absolutely insane amount of people who think they are entitled to a job in government — forever.”
President Autopen goes on the defensive: Former President Joe “Autopen” Biden interviewed with The New York Times (paywalled) last week, defending his increasing use of the autopen in the latter half of his term. The majority of his executive orders in 2023 and 2024 were autopenned, as well as all of his 2025 orders. Over his last two months in office, he personally signed only the pardon of Hunter Biden. He did not personally sign the preemptive pardons for Anthony Fauci or other family members. Biden assured the credulous Times reporters that he “made every decision” on his own, including signing off on the criteria for issuing more than 10,000 clemencies, eliminating the need for him to sign off on each case. President Trump has launched an investigation into the autopen abuse, contending that Biden staffers used it to cover for Biden’s evident cognitive decline.
AOC slanders president: New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may want to check herself before she wrecks herself, as she posted a defamatory comment against Donald Trump on X that could have her in legal hot water. Last Friday, in response to the Trump administration’s failure to provide a Jeffrey Epstein “client list,” AOC posted, “Wow who would have thought that electing a rapist would have complicated the release of the Epstein Files?” She made the post on her personal X account and not her congressional account, making it harder for her to claim congressional immunity. Remember, ABC News reached a $15 million settlement with Trump after he sued the Leftmedia outlet over George Stephanopoulos’s defaming him by falsely claiming that Trump had been found “liable for rape.” If AOC faces a similar defamation lawsuit, she may spin it as evidence of a lawfare campaign against her.
Harris PAC apologizes for hijacking Billy Graham: A political action committee that dubbed itself “Evangelicals for Harris” during the 2024 presidential election and has since renamed itself “Evangelicals for America” issued a public apology for having used clips from Billy Graham’s sermons in political ads supporting Kamala Harris. The apology comes after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) sent a letter calling on the PAC to end the use of its copyrighted material. In its apology, the PAC acknowledged that Graham “never politicized the Gospel of Jesus Christ or the works he created through BGEA.” When the PAC first ran the political ads, Graham’s son Franklin observed that they were misleading and that his father’s values and opinions would not have changed from what they were in 2016, when he supported the conservative values and policies that Trump espoused.
California worker dies after falling off a roof trying to evade ICE: A presumed illegal immigrant man has died after attempting last Thursday to flee ICE during a raid on a cannabis farm in California. Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Jaime Alanís Garcia was not being pursued by law enforcement when he climbed on a greenhouse roof, where he fell 30 feet, suffering a broken neck and skull. CBP agents immediately called a medevac for Garcia. Despite media reports on Friday claiming his death, Garcia survived until Saturday afternoon.
Psaki flops on MSNBC: Former Biden Press Secretary Jen Psaki fled his administration for greener pastures in the media business only to find those pastures drying up. Two months into a primetime role at MSNBC — Rachel Maddow’s former spot — Psaki’s “The Briefing” averaged only 1.1 million viewers, down from Maddow’s 1.8 million. Fox News’s “Hannity” is in the same 9:00 p.m. time slot and averages 2.9 million viewers. CNN’s “The Source” is doing even worse, with only half a million viewers. Psaki performed particularly poorly with the demographic advertisers target the most, netting just 90,000 people ages 25-54.
Follow-up on Texas flooding and deaths: Austin, Texas, Fire Chief Joel Baker — yet another anti-Trump DEI hire — is under fire for not sending his skilled boat teams of rescuers to assist with the search and rescue efforts in Kerr County after multiple urgent requests. According to Austin Firefighters union president Bob Nicks, “We were the best rescue team in the best position to help those little girls. Before the [chief’s] moratorium, this was a routine request, and we would have deployed.” Nicks added, “We explicitly trained with San Antonio for response to the Hill Country because it’s in our backyard. So we have the resources, we have the training, we have the personnel. We are absolutely geared to doing in that area of work. The notion that a department of our size can’t send a few boat crews is ludicrous.” Baker and his Democrat boss, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, have denied the charges.
Headlines
Trump announces significant 30% tariffs against Mexico, EU to begin next month (Fox Business)
Multiple pardons granted by autopen without Biden approving recipients, staff admit (The Federalist)
New report shows Secret Service had threat intelligence 10 days before Trump assassination attempt (Just the News)
Person kills two, wounds two at Lexington church after shooting Kentucky state trooper (Fox News)
Pentagon pulls all military speakers from “globalist” Aspen Security Forum (Just the News)
Trump admin announces major visa restrictions for Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Nigeria (Newsweek)
Federal government investigates 45 universities over Title VI (Center Square)
Inside the FTC’s workshop on “gender-affirming care” (Daily Wire)
Satire: CNN marks one-year anniversary of Trump falling down after loud popping noises (Babylon Bee)
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