What Happened Today - 22 Oct 2025
What Happened Today – 22 Oct 2025
Trump, “I deserve $230M…give it to me”
MAGA Mike got served…
The Lies he told yesterday (Trump)…
Updates on ending the “97th war” this week…
Some Good News…and a strong stance against Racist GOP members
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Trump, “I deserve 230M…give it to me”
Trump is now demanding a staggering $230 million from his own Justice Department as a “payback” for all the federal investigations that targeted him—those Russia probe messes, the Mar-a-Lago classified docs raid, basically the whole mountain of legal drama he’s been through. He’s spinning it like those investigations were baseless political attacks and says, since he beat the charges and got re-elected, Uncle Sam owes him big—and he’s got the lawyers already working the administrative channels to line up that cash.
Trump gets out there in the Oval—just like you’d expect—and acts casual about the whole thing, saying he doesn’t know the exact numbers (yeah, right) and that he’s not even after the money for himself, he’d toss it to charity or maybe use it towards the new ballroom at the White House. Of course, that doesn’t stop his crew from treating this like some righteous crusade, all while pretty much everyone outside his circle is losing their minds at the idea of a sitting president demanding massive taxpayer payouts just for being investigated.
The backlash is instant and nuclear. Legal experts are screaming “corruption” and “conflict of interest” because—get this—the people who’d have to sign off on any settlement are Trump’s own appointees, some of whom were literally his defense lawyers before landing cushy DOJ gigs. The optics could not be worse. Even career attorneys inside DOJ are reportedly sick about it, worried the department’s mission is being torched for one man’s ego.
As far as regular Americans go, they’re split as ever. MAGA folks are totally buying the narrative—he’s a victim, the deep state owes him, blah blah—while pretty much everyone else is horrified. Social media’s on fire with people calling it “absurd,” “unbelievable,” and “dangerous.” Some are even joking Trump could shoot someone and demand reimbursement for the mess. Veteran legal activists want DOJ brass to recuse themselves, while good government types say this is a textbook betrayal of public trust.
So, in pure Trump drama fashion, this is now the hottest circus act in D.C.—one side crowning him the ultimate winner for “escaping” the legal tripwires, the other watching in disbelief as the potential for personal payout to the president gets actually debated inside his own administration. Stay tuned, because if his buddies running DOJ cut that check, it’s going to melt down whatever’s left of our sense of separation between law, politics, and personal gain.
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MAGA Mike got served…
Mike Johnson is officially being sued by Adelita Grijalva and the Arizona delegation because Johnson’s holding up her swearing-in as a member of the House. The whole mess started when Grijalva won her seat fair and square, but Johnson refused to let her take the oath, claiming some procedural “precedent” and trying to play it off like Pelosi did something similar years ago—which is complete fiction. This blockade is now a high-profile lawsuit, with Arizona’s attorney general and civil rights groups calling Johnson’s move both unconstitutional and pure political obstruction.
Grijalva’s suit argues that Johnson is disenfranchising Arizona voters and sabotaging Congress just to cling to power in the shutdown standoff. Johnson’s team is claiming he’s simply being “careful” and “thorough,” but everyone sees it for what it is: a hardball MAGA tactic, blocking a certified winner who’d threaten the GOP’s tiny majority and potentially shake loose secrets like the Epstein files.
Johnson’s maneuver to block Grijalva from being sworn in is blowing up in his face. Legal experts are roasting his flimsy constitutional arguments, and there’s not a shred of actual precedent supporting a Speaker’s right to stonewall a duly elected, certified candidate. Arizona’s attorney general and the civil rights coalition smell blood—they’ve filed suit, and the federal judges so far are openly skeptical of Johnson’s excuses.
Democrats are circling the wagons around Grijalva, calling the move an assault on democracy, and even a few Senate Republicans are quietly admitting this has gone way off the rails. House Republicans are split—a handful love the defiance, but many are already whispering about how legally disastrous it looks, especially now that the government’s still shut down and this circus is dragging on even longer.
The buzz in court is that Johnson’s going to lose. The legal consensus is that he’ll be forced to seat Grijalva soon, with the court likely to smack down what’s widely seen as a naked political stunt. Johnson thought he could stall forever and ride out the outrage, but now he’s teed up a public humiliation and a big-handed rebuke from the judiciary. When this blows over, he’s got to go back to the MAGA crowd and explain why his “tough” play totally backfired and handed the other side a big win
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The Lies he told yesterday (Trump)…
Here are the lies and mistruths Trump told in front of cameras on October 20th, along with explanations for why each was false or misleading:
1. “If I invoke the Insurrection Act, then there are no more court cases—nobody can stop me.”
- Why this is a lie: The Insurrection Act does not grant the president unchecked powers or let him override the courts. Any use of the act is still subject to judicial review and can be legally challenged. Multiple fact-checkers (including CNN and ABC) have flagged this as dangerously false because the courts absolutely retain oversight.
2. “I’ve slashed prescription drug prices by up to 800%.”
- Why this is a lie: It’s mathematically impossible to reduce a price by more than 100% (that would mean paying people to take the drugs). Official data show minor decreases or even price hikes in key drug categories. No credible analysis supports Trump’s wild numbers.
3. “Democrats want to give $1.5 trillion to undocumented immigrants in the shutdown budget.”
- Why this is a lie: There is no such provision or proposal anywhere. Independent reviews and budget breakdowns show the claim is pure fiction—just meant to rile his base.
4. “The boat strikes off Venezuela are stopping 25,000 overdose deaths with each hit.”
- Why this is a lie: Experts say there’s no way to even estimate these numbers. Most fentanyl and deadly drugs come by land, not sea. Aerial footage of Trump’s showy boat strikes showed zero evidence of “bags of fentanyl floating everywhere” as he claimed.
5. “I warned about Osama bin Laden in my book in 2000.”
- Why this is a lie: Numerous fact-checks and textual analysis of Trump’s book confirm bin Laden isn’t mentioned, and there’s no warning or prediction about him.
6. “Ballroom construction at the White House won’t affect access or disrupt the current building.”
- Why this is a lie: Construction photos and independent reports have shown major portions of the East Wing already under demolition, with closures impacting staff and ongoing operations.
7. “Under me, the economy’s had more investments than in any year before—$17 trillion this year alone.”
- Why this is a lie: That number is massively inflated and nearly double even the White House’s own exaggerated totals. Economists and independent analysts put the real number much lower.
8. “I ended eight wars.”
- Why this is a lie: Trump has counted ongoing skirmishes, diplomatic disputes, and conflicts that were resolved before his term as “wars he ended”—no official sources agree with his list.
Each of these claims has been thoroughly debunked by independent fact-checkers, legal experts, and journalists. Trump delivered a pile of misdirection and exaggeration in that one public appearance, and every one of these falsehoods is already being picked apart by the press.
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Updates on ending the “97th war” this week…
Trump’s much-hyped Budapest summit with Vladimir Putin is now officially scrapped, and the White House spin is that it’s “unnecessary” after what they called a “productive” phone call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov. But the reality is simpler: Putin’s making it clear he’s not backing down, demanding more Ukrainian concessions and flat-out dismissing U.S. requests for a ceasefire. The Kremlin mocked the cancellation, saying, “You can’t postpone what was not scheduled.” Reports out of Washington say Trump was furious behind the scenes, calling the whole thing a “waste of time.” It’s the second time this year he’s been burned by Putin after an earlier Alaska meeting fizzled out. Meanwhile, Trump’s trying to keep the upper hand by blaming Ukraine for “stalling peace,” but that’s not flying with Zelenskyy — who’s demanding the U.S. ramp up support instead of playing diplomat on mute.
Last night’s Russian missile and drone blitz across Ukraine sharpened all of this. The strikes killed at least six people — including two children — and hit a kindergarten in Kharkiv. Kyiv and several other cities lost power again, prompting Zelenskyy to lash out publicly, saying his country’s allies “must stop being afraid of Putin.” He’s angry that Trump’s cancellation came within hours of the attacks, seeing it as Moscow’s green light to keep escalating. European diplomats are privately saying it’s “a gift to the Kremlin” — proof that Trump’s peace rhetoric isn’t matched by pressure.
And while all that’s unfolding, Trump is gearing up for his next global photo-op in Tokyo. Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi — a right-wing hardliner and the country’s first female leader — plans to tell Trump that Japan’s cranking up military spending. They’re ditching their old 1% defense cap and shooting for 2–5% of GDP, which Trump has been demanding for years. Expect him to take full credit for the shift, probably claiming it as proof of his “tough love diplomacy.” Tokyo insiders say the meeting will focus heavily on military cooperation and China’s aggressions, with Trump scheduled to tour a U.S. naval base to hammer home that “America and Japan are ready to stand strong.”
Now onto JD Vance, who’s currently strutting through Israel trying to keep the Trump administration’s fragile Gaza ceasefire from imploding. Israeli airstrikes killed several Palestinians over the weekend after Hamas allegedly attacked IDF troops, and the truce was teetering. Vance is trying to project calm, telling reporters the situation is “going better than expected,” even as Trump officials privately worry Netanyahu’s about to blow the deal. Behind the scenes, it’s all optics — Vance wants to look like the foreign policy grown-up while Trump’s skipping summits left and right. He even told Israelis, “You’re not a vassal state,” which played well in Jerusalem but ruffled feathers back home.
And then there’s the strange new drama involving Usha Vance, all thanks to Jen Psaki. On her podcast, Psaki joked that Usha should “blink four times if she needs saving” from her husband, calling JD “scarier in some ways than Trump.” Predictably, MAGA world exploded. Trump’s communications chief, Steven Cheung, fired off a venomous tweet calling Psaki a “moron” and “dumbass” who’s projecting her own issues. Conservatives rallied behind Usha, while liberals doubled down on the snark, making Psaki’s jab the meme of the week. It’s ridiculous but perfectly on-brand for this crew — foreign crises raging while the right’s busiest fighting cable news jokes.
The canceled Putin summit signals crumbling diplomacy just as fighting flares in Ukraine. Vance is out playing amateur Secretary of State while Trump preps for a Japan trip that’ll mix tough talk with ego stroking. And at home, the MAGA media war machine is running full blast — because when the foreign policy flops, they always pivot to outrage.
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Some Good News…and a strong stance against Racist GOP members
The Paul Ingrassia debacle has blown up into a full-blown embarrassment for Trump’s administration, the Senate GOP, and the MAGA machine. Ingrassia — a 30-year-old lawyer and self-proclaimed “constitutional scholar” — was supposed to be Trump’s pick to head the Office of Special Counsel, a federal watchdog agency that handles whistleblower complaints. But his nomination completely imploded after a Politico report exposed text messages where he called Martin Luther King Jr. “the 1960s George Floyd” and said his holiday should be “thrown into the seventh circle of hell.” He also described himself as having “a Nazi streak,” which is just as disgusting as it sounds. One of his chatmates reportedly told him he belonged in “the Hitler Youth with Steve Bannon,” and instead of pushing back, Ingrassia allegedly replied, “I do have a Nazi streak in me from time to time, I will admit it.”
Within hours of those messages surfacing, Senate Republicans started bailing hard. Majority Leader John Thune called the situation “untenable,” and even staunch Trump allies like Josh Hawley and Ron Johnson hinted they wouldn’t back the nomination. GOP members of the Homeland Security Committee flat-out said they didn’t have the votes, forcing Ingrassia to withdraw from his confirmation hearing just one day before it was scheduled. In a post on Truth Social, he claimed he was stepping down because “there aren’t enough Republican votes right now,” adding that he’d “continue to serve President Trump and Make America Great Again.” That spin didn’t fool anyone — he was pushed out, plain and simple.
The texts go even deeper than those comments. Reportedly, he also used Italian racial slurs for Black people and made antisemitic jokes, all while pretending it was “satire.” His lawyer tried to pass it off as “self-deprecating humor mocking liberal cancel culture,” which might’ve worked in a group chat, but not when you’re up for a Senate-confirmed government ethics job. The White House originally stood by him, stressing his “academic brilliance,” but after Jewish and civil rights organizations came out enraged, even Trump’s team pulled the plug. Multiple Jewish advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and Republican Jewish Coalition, blasted the appointment, saying his words showed “a disturbing lack of morality and judgment.”
Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance jumped on Fox News to defend Ingrassia, calling the controversy “overblown” and the texts “youthful mistakes.” He went further in another interview, saying, “People said edgy things as kids — it doesn’t define them.” But this isn’t college-dorm humor — this guy had been serving as Trump’s liaison to Homeland Security, representing the administration on serious issues. Vance’s attempt to normalize it has landed terribly with moderate Republicans, who are tired of defending this endless parade of extremists.
Behind closed doors, insiders say Trump was fuming — not about the content, but about the “weak-kneed senators” who pulled support. He reportedly told aides that “Democrats say worse stuff all the time and stay in office.” The fallout has already sparked whispers that Trump will retaliate by nominating someone even more hardline to prove a point.
The broader takeaway? This episode shows just how toxic and chaotic Trump’s personnel machine still is. They keep recycling the same Youtube-edgy, far-right personalities with no vetting, and the cracks keep showing. Ingrassia’s implosion wasn’t just predictable — it’s emblematic of the Trump era’s worst habit: confusing cruelty for strength and controversy for competence.
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Keep using your voice – it’s the most powerful thing we have right now….and it’s gaining momentum.
Speak Truth! Keep speaking TRUTH!
Go Cause Good Trouble, with Your Elbows Up!
**These are facts that I researched and verified – AI helped put together some sentence structure, but the words and tone are mine. These are my views based upon facts, research and thoughtful consideration using logic. I own the copyright to any images used. I’m comfortable to stand alone to uphold truth. Feel free to check me, but do not attack me. I am only causing good trouble.**