‘He looks like hell’: Trump bashes legendary comedian after stinging rebuke
President Donald Trump uncorked an attack on David Letterman a day after the legendary late-night comedian delivered blistering criticism of Jimmy Kimmel's abrupt suspension from ABC.
When asked Thursday at The Atlantic Festival 2025 his thoughts on Kimmel being yanked off the air, Letterman replied, “This is misery."
“I feel bad about this,” he said. “We see where this is all going, correct? It’s managed media. And it’s no good. It’s silly. It’s ridiculous. And you can’t go around firing somebody because you’re fearful or trying to suck up to an authoritarian criminal administration in the Oval Office. That’s just not how this works."
Letterman warned comedians won't be the only ones targeted by the Trump administration.
“In the world of somebody who is an authoritarian, maybe a dictatorship, sooner or later, everyone is going to be touched,” he said.
He then scolded Trump some more, and called it a "premeditated" ouster.
“The institution of the president of the United States ought to be bigger than a guy doing a talk show.”
Kimmel’s show was suspended indefinitely over his remarks after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Kimmel’s monologue accused MAGA supporters of exploiting Kirk’s death for political gain and mocked how Trump publicly grieved the loss.
In classic Trump fashion, the president took to his Truth Social platform to attack Letterman.
"Whatever happened to the very highly overrated David Letterman, whose ratings were never very good, either. He looks like hell, but at least he knew when to quit. LOSER!!!"
Charlie Kirk statues would be mandated on every campus with red state’s new legislation
One Republican state lawmaker in Oklahoma now wants to require every public university in the state to erect statues to slain far-right activist Charlie Kirk.
On Friday, Jeffrey Sachs — an assistant professor at Nova Scotia's Acadia University — called attention to a bill by Oklahoma state senators Shane Jett (R) and Dana Prieto (R) that would mandate every public university in the Sooner State build a "Charlie Kirk Memorial Plaza." The bill, which has been filed as Senate Bill 1187 and does not yet have a formal name, would force universities to set aside a portion of real estate in a visible public location — like the quad, the student union or main entrance pathways — "to maximize public awareness and utilization."
Senate Bill 1187 would also make it a requirement for schools to erect a statue of both Kirk and his family, and to include a plaque honoring Kirk as "a voice of a generation, modern civil rights leader, vocal Christian, martyr for truth and faith, and free speech advocate."
"Square or plaza plans shall include a statue of Charlie Kirk sitting at a table with an empty seat across from him or a statue of Charlie Kirk and his wife standing and holding their children in their arms as a central element of the square or plaza design. The statue design and size shall be approved by the Legislature as part of the overall design review and approval process," the bill reads.
Universities would be authorized to accept donations to fund the cost of the monuments "from the National Endowment for the Arts and any private, corporate, or public source to fund the development, maintenance, and enhancement of the squares or plazas and any associated statues." It also stipulated that the state legislature may appropriate tax dollars as a "donation matching funds" as a way of showing "broad-based support for the squares or plazas."
Additionally, the bill makes it clear that any "student, employee or faculty member" who vandalizes or defaces statues of Kirk on their campuses could face steep punishment, including immediate termination of their enrollment or employment. And the legislation even includes an emergency declaration it deems "necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health or safety," in order to immediately have the legislation go into effect.
In July, WalletHub found Oklahoma ranked 50th out of 51 states (when including Washington D.C.) in public education. Only New Mexico ranked further behind the Sooner State. Criteria used to determine rankings included "test scores, graduation rates, school safety and bullying rates."
‘Unbelievable’: Senator scorches Trump for firing prosecutor who couldn’t charge adversary
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) responded with outrage on Friday evening to the news that President Donald Trump strong-armed his own hand-picked U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, into resigning — out of anger that Siebert couldn't muster the evidence to charge New York Attorney General Letitia James with mortgage fraud.
"Unbelievable," Warner posted to X. "Trump has now announced he is pushing out a U.S. Attorney because he refused to prosecute Trump’s political enemies."
"The message is clear: Trump will punish anyone who has the independence to challenge his baseless vendettas," he added.
James, who has launched multiple investigations into the Trump family and won a half-billion-dollar civil fraud judgment against them, is one of a number of Trump adversaries that the president's controversial Federal Housing Finance Agency director, Bill Pulte, has accused of fraud by hunting through old real estate paperwork — in this case, claiming that she improperly classified a residence in Virginia as a primary home. James has denied any wrongdoing.
So far, none of the criminal complaints lodged by Pulte have resulted in actual charges against Trump's rivals, and Reuters cast serious doubt on the validity of his allegation against Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook.
Many legal experts are horrified by Trump's effort to oust a prosecutor in retaliation for not finding the evidence to bring a criminal case the administration wanted to bring against a political opponent, with some outright calling it an impeachable offense.
‘You were wrong, Mr. President!’ CNN warns Trump his big push has become ‘political loser’
President Donald Trump has continued to lean into his use of the military to crack down on crime in Democrat-run cities — once a politically-strong issue for him — but new data reviewed by CNN Monday shows Americans’ are quickly souring on the moves.
Trump’s latest pledge to deploy federal troops to the city of Portland, Oregon comes after his federal takeover of Washington, D.C., which itself came after Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, California. New polling, however, shows that the continued use of the military may now be doing more harm than good for Trump’s favorability.
“If Donald Trump thinks that potentially sending in the National Guard into cities like Portland is a winning political issue, the polling says you are wrong Mr. President!” said CNN’s Harry Enten.
According to the new polling data shared by Enten, Trump’s use of federal troops is now well underwater, with 58% of voters opposed. Among independent voters, that opposition rises to 64%.
“We've heard this song before, and what happened the last time that Trump sent National Guard [members] into a national city?” Enten continued.
“Well, look at the change in Trump's net approval: overall, it dropped four points! How about immigration? It dropped by seven points! We have a history of Trump sending the National Guard into a western city and what happened was there were clear political ramifications for the president of the United States, and they were not good ramifications.”
The souring of American voters on Trump’s antics also extended to Immigration Customs and Enforcement, the nation’s chief immigration agency. Enten shared data that showed net approval of ICE during Trump’s first term was at 0 points, but now, has reached a net negative 14.
“Down it goes because of their actions during the second Trump term. In fact, the Pew Research Center polled 16 different agencies; ICE's net popularity rating was 15th out of 16th, it was close to being the least popular of them all,” Enten said.
“Bottom line is the president may think this is a politically winning issue for him, but the numbers tell a very different story. It's, in fact, a political loser.”
