Let's all say it... "HE IS A FUCKING IDIOT!"

NATO allies temper expectations for summit after Trump’s angry entrance

Whether the summit ends in reassurance or rupture may come down to Wednesday, when Trump meets Ukraine’s president and weighs in on the future of U.S. forces in Europe.

By Felicia Schwartz, Paul McLeary and Jack Detsch

America’s NATO allies had hoped President Donald Trump would arrive in Turkey’s capital in a dealmaking mood. Instead he came out swinging, leaving allies once again guessing at his commitment to their defense.

Trump revived a host of grievances against NATO within hours of landing. He said what happens in Ukraine doesn’t affect Washington and repeated his assertions that Greenland should be controlled by the United States.

NATO allies announced billions in new weapons deals and laid out plans for increased spending. And across the grounds of the Bestepe Presidential Compound, many attendees were hanging on to hope that the outcome of the summit could still be positive — but frustrated that the mood had soured so quickly.

“We’re all doing exactly what the Americans demanded and what we have to do for our own security,” a NATO diplomat said. “But a morning of big new defense spending is now overshadowed by complaints over Greenland.”

Allies were especially surprised given Trump’s aides had said ahead of the summit that the U.S. was looking for a constructive two days.

“He’s already taken us off a unifying positive objective,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D.-Del.) “It is so often the case that the president provides his own counter-programming to his own administration.”

NATO’s members have made considerable effort to keep this week’s summit low-key, hoping like last year, that Trump will leave striking a positive tone and without causing any lasting damage to the alliance.

A number of attendees at the meeting of the 32-member alliance worried that Trump’s sour mood would carry over into Wednesday, when they are looking for him to clarify Washington’s intentions for troop pullbacks in Europe, voice support for Ukraine at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and hold a news conference before he returns to Washington.

Even if Trump’s comments cast a shadow over the proceedings, his grievances and posturing are not a surprise, said a former NATO official, who like others, was granted anonymity to to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

“It’s all priced in by this point. Everyone expects it,” the official said.

Denmark’s prime minister Mette Frederiksen said her country’s position on Greenland hasn’t changed, even as Trump has continued to advocate for American control of the strategic territory.

“I hope it is just as well known that the position of the Kingdom of Denmark is that this is not going to happen,” she said, adding that Denmark wants to expand its cooperation with the U.S. in the Arctic.

Allies are hoping this year’s summit will be successful like last year’s, a second former NATO official said.

Last year after a combination of charm and flattery from Rutte, an alliance commitment to 5 percent defense spending and a similarly short program, Trump went home declaring the summit a win.

The former official noted that in Trump’s first term, the second NATO summit he attended was the toughest. Trump berated Germany as “captive” to Russia in that meeting, escalated his spending demand to 4 percent, and privately warned allies he’d “go it alone” if they didn’t pay up. Then he went to Helsinki and embraced Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Is the same happening?” the former official said. “Everyone will try to bury it/ignore it because the priority is to avoid tensions and let it pass.”

The NATO leaders’ statement is longer than last year’s but still shorter than the summits of years past. A draft viewed by POLITICO contains only six points. The participants, including Trump, reaffirmed their commitment to the Article 5 mutual defense pact and agreed that Russia poses a long-term threat to NATO’s members. It also states that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.

Some attendees focused on the bright spots. Even if Trump threw out early punches on Tuesday evening, his mere presence sends a strong positive signal, said Giedrimas Jeglinskas, a former NATO official and Lithuanian parliamentarian.

“The bigger message of reassurance is a simple fact that President Trump is in Ankara for the leaders’ summit,” Jeglinskas said. “There is a positive momentum in Ukraine, which received Trump’s nod. The summit declaration is short and sweet and, importantly, touches on all the right themes.”

Is he dead?

Mitch McConnell’s absence is throwing Trump’s Pentagon budget boost in doubt

The former GOP leader has been absent as the bipartisan appropriations process he helps oversee has run aground.

By Leo Shane III, Connor O'Brien and Jordain Carney

Sen. Mitch McConnell’s three-week hospitalization and uncertain health status is threatening to upend the defense budget process at a critical moment ahead of the midterm elections.

The 84-year-old Kentucky Republican was admitted to a Washington hospital June 14 for undisclosed medical issues. His staff maintain that McConnell remains engaged in Senate work but have not offered any information on when he will return to Capitol Hill.

His absence, and a lack of details around what caused his hospitalization, has prompted speculation on social media about the severity of his condition and his ability to serve out the rest of his term. And it comes at a pivotal moment for President Donald Trump and defense hawks’ often conflicting visions for building up the military.

McConnell — who chairs the Senate Appropriations panel that controls Pentagon spending — has been a powerful critic of the administration’s approach to securing a $1.5 trillion boost for the military. His support will be key in moving any funding plan forward, and his absence could stall or kill those hopes.

In an email to reporters Tuesday, McConnell spokespeople pointed back to a statement released Thursday that said the senator was still in the hospital but “continues to improve and is working closely with his staff.”

After finishing 18 years as top Republican leader, McConnell announced in February 2025 that he would step down from his seat in January 2027, ending his four-decade career in the chamber.

GOP colleagues have largely said they are in the dark about his health. But the top two Senate Republicans — Majority Leader John Thune and Majority Whip John Barrasso — said Tuesday that they had spoken with McConnell this week after initially speaking with the Kentucky Republican a day after his hospitalization. Neither spokespeople for Thune or Barrasso, nor McConnell’s staff, indicated Tuesday when McConnell would return. They “discussed the Senate’s July work period, including the need to pass the NDAA,” said Kate Noyes, a spokesperson for Barrasso.

This is not his first major medical scare. McConnell spent several weeks in the hospital after a fall in March 2023. Later that year, he froze during a news conference, prompting questions about his mental acuity and overall health. Since then, he has frequently relied on a wheelchair and his Capitol Police detail to get around given his mobility issues.

“Our prayers are with him,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told reporters late last week when asked if he had heard from McConnell. “Again, it’s sad. I will say, there’s nothing good about getting old. It’s been hard to watch, you know, kind of what happened after his fall and stuff.”

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), responding to the online speculation, said in an X post Tuesday, “Many of us aren’t speaking about Mitch McConnell’s condition because we know nothing about his condition.”

His hospitalization coincides with the administration’s latest push for a third party-line budget reconciliation measure, one that would supply about $350 billion in extra funding for the Defense Department. Lawmakers are already moving a fiscal 2027 spending bill that would provide a record $1.15 trillion budget for the military.

Trump wrote on social media Tuesday that he is “calling on House and Senate Leadership to make this their Number One Priority, and ensure that 350 Billion Dollars in Recon 3.0 moves out of the Budget Committee as soon as Congress is back in session.”

But McConnell has downplayed the idea, saying at an Air Force budget hearing just days before his hospitalization that “it’s safe to conclude there will not be another reconciliation bill.”

Since stepping down from GOP leadership last year, McConnell has frequently advocated for increased defense spending. But that approach has focused on growing the Defense Department’s base budget, not using reconciliation or other nontraditional funding gambits to boost military funding.

Over a series of budget hearings, McConnell has highlighted concerns about several major priorities — including the development of advanced fighter jets and missile production — that administration officials have proposed funding through the complex budget reconciliation process.

The senior senator has argued that taking those out of the traditional bipartisan appropriations process risks forgoing proper oversight and prioritization of those critical items, given the political uncertainty associated with a GOP-only path.

“The reliance of this budget request on one-time reconciliation spending is really quite a risky approach,” he warned Army leaders during a May hearing on their funding requests.

Trump lashed out at McConnell during a June 11 Oval Office meeting with reporters, calling him an “angry man” who is “disloyal” to the Republican Party.

The White House doesn’t necessarily need McConnell’s vote to advance a third reconciliation bill. But his absence is another complication for GOP leaders, who are already facing a tough path to convincing 50 of their 53 members to rally behind a plan. With McConnell absent, Thune can only lose two senators.

While Thune hasn’t ruled out a third bill, he’s also been clear that he doesn’t yet see a plan that can pass — and most Senate Republicans want to see what can first get through the House.

McConnell has aggressively advocated for an internationalist approach to national security, particularly defending U.S. involvement in NATO, as Trump pursues more isolationist policies. He has backed efforts to arm Ukraine and criticized the president’s efforts to negotiate an end to the war with Russia.

McConnell’s hospitalization coincides with a partisan standoff over defense spending that has ground the appropriations process to a halt in the Senate.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) delayed a markup scheduled for late June because McConnell’s absence meant Republicans could not advance their proposals on party lines with Collins and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the top Appropriations Democrat, at loggerheads over spending levels.

The setback came after Collins initially delayed an early June markup for the measures, which cover the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Commerce and Justice, among other agencies, because of the standoff with Democrats over defense and nondefense spending levels.

Asked Tuesday about the status of the defense bill, a McConnell aide, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, pointed back to the larger appropriations stalemate, not the Kentucky Republican’s absence, as the holdup.

His absence has impacted other chamber business. The Senate last month approved a resolution to cut off military operations against Iran, a major, if symbolic, rebuke that could have been defeated with full GOP attendance. McConnell was one of two Republicans to miss that vote.

He, too, could be a key Republican vote in favor of the administration’s proposed $88 billion supplemental funding package, which would help cover the costs of the Iran war, as well as aid for farmers and Ebola virus prevention.

Though he was already hospitalized when the White House made that funding request, McConnell had previously voiced his support for the Iran war and the necessity of paying for military expenditures associated with it.

“With more funding, there’s spare production capacity to be tapped this year, in FY26. We can build more munitions, produce more spare parts for airplanes, repair ships, invest in dilapidated military infrastructure, and deepen our cooperation and co-production with allies. We shouldn’t wait another year to seize these opportunities,” McConnell said March 4 during one of only five floor speeches he has given this year.

G189.6+3.3

What happens when one of the stars in a binary goes supernova? This image combines visible (yellow), ultraviolet (purple) and infrared light (cyan, red and orange) to show two supernova remnants and their surrounding environment, about 6,000 light-years away. The younger one is the well-known Jellyfish Nebula in the center (mostly in yellow). If we could see it by eye, it would appear larger than the full moon in the sky. The filament shown in purple is part of an older, overlapping supernova remnant, G189.6+3.3. A new study used data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope to piece together their story. Astronomers believe that there were two stars in a binary system, then the first one exploded as a supernova, kicking away its companion, which also exploded as a supernova tens of thousands of years later, creating the superimposed supernova remnants we see today. The bright star on the right is actually a triple star system named Propus.

NGC 6769 and NGC 6770

Some 190 million light-years away, far beyond the bright stars and nebulae of the Milky Way, these three galaxies are drawn together by gravity in a mesmerizing cosmic dance. Clearly distorted by galactic-scale gravitational interactions, large spiral galaxies NGC 6769 and NGC 6770 are seen face-on, with luminous galactic disks scarred by obscuring interstellar dust lanes. Their young blue star clusters along drawn out spiral arms are spawned in star forming regions that resulted from collisions of massive molecular clouds. Below, spiral NGC 6771 presents a more edge-on perspective, its boxy central bulge due to tidal star streams. Of course, in the distant future a merger of the three galaxies is inevitable. At the estimated distance of this galaxy trio, known to some as the Devil's Mask, the sharp telescopic frame spans over 300 thousand light-years within the boundaries of the far southern constellation Pavo.

NGC 6188

Where can you find dragons fighting in the night sky? In the southern constellation of the Altar: Ara. The dragons are, of course, actually made of suggestively shaped gas and dust. The celestial home of the mythological battling beasts is cataloged as NGC 6188 and located about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed there only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas, visible toward the lower right, is unusual emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region's massive stars. This impressively wide field picture, captured from Queensland, Australia, spans over 2 degrees (four full Moons).

Holiday and stuff

 Been out for the holiday and other things.. What did I miss?? Is Mitch dead yet?