A poster depicting the Gold Dome is displayed as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FOR PETE’S SAKE
Donald Trump has an ambitious plan to build a missile defense system in space to protect America… and most people have no idea what it is.
- President Donald Trump is teleporting America back to the 1980s — at least when it comes to space. Back then, former President Ronald Reagan had a fantastical idea: Place lasers in orbit to deflect any nukes tossed toward Washington. It was dubbed the “Star Wars” plan and (surprise!) failed to come to fruition. Today, Trump is revamping those Cold War vibes with the so-called Golden Dome: A system that would be able to shoot long-range missiles and drones out of the sky using “next-generation technologies,” he said.
- It’s a wildly ambitious plan with an eye-popping $175 billion price tag. What’s more, Trump wants Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to finish building it in three years. But the details are vague, to say the least. Just ask the lawmakers who should know this stuff!
- Golden Dome is “a concept, not a plan,” Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) told Hegseth during a hearing today. “We still … haven’t seen a clear definition of what it is,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) added. It’s a tad unsettling when Republicans and Democrats agree that Trump’s grand plan to protect the United States is nonexistent!
- Hegseth came across flustered at times. There are “many specifics” that can’t be made public, he told one lawmaker. But the Pentagon has an idea of what Golden Dome’s “architecture” will look like, he said. Oh, awesome. That answers all my questions. Thank you, Mr. Secretary! (The Pentagon didn’t respond to What A Day’s request for comment.)
What’s Hegseth’s deal? He simply might not know what’s going on.
- “There is a plan, but it’s clear Pete doesn’t know any details about anything,” Colin Carroll, an ousted Hegseth adviser who ran the Golden Dome program, told What A Day. “Pete isn’t a details person. It’s okay though.” He added: The program “will be fine.”
- But people who work on missile defense are calling BS. “The rhetoric around it is ridiculous,” one expert, granted anonymity to speak candidly, told What A Day. That’s the consensus among his colleagues. “There is no one who actually believes that this will be an impenetrable shield. Literally no one who is experienced in this believes that it will catch everything.”
- Side note: The White House is having a really hard time finding anyone who’s willing to be a top Hegseth advisor, according to NBC News. These jobs, including chief of staff, are usually highly sought-after, prestigious gigs. But three people have already turned down the role, the outlet reports.
Come on, guys! I’m sure you’d be able to get glammed up in Hegseth’s makeup studio. Think of the perks!
How far will Donald Trump go in Los Angeles?
He’s still considering his options, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows the president to deploy the full U.S. military to suppress unrest. “If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” Trump told reporters today.
Politicians are waiting to see whether Trump will take that drastic measure.
“He doesn’t see any reason to use the Insurrection Act now, but that could change in a heartbeat,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told What A Day.
The Pentagon is sending 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines there to defend federal agents and property. (It’s a legally dubious move that’s likely to play out in court.) The troops will stay in Los Angeles for 60 days, Hegseth said.
Angelenos are on edge. The Trump administration has already deported some migrants detained in ICE raids. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem reportedly asked Hegseth to direct the military to detain or arrest “lawbreakers.” Noem pledged to conduct even more workplace immigration raids, which sparked the protests in the first place.
“It’s my biggest fear when we start to militarize our streets,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) told Pod Save America. “We’ve got elements now coming in that are intentionally trying to create chaos and putting people in harm’s way … Trump knows this. It’s what he wants.”
There are fresh calls for Trump’s impeachment over his actions. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) said the National Guard deployment “definitely” is grounds for impeachment. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY), lead counsel in Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, struck a similar tone.
“If the House Republicans had any spine … they would initiate an investigation into what is clearly a violation of the law,” he told What A Day. “There are numerous impeachable offenses that Donald Trump has committed over the first five months of his administration … We can turn to holding him accountable for what did happen when we take the majority next November.”
GOLDEN STATE OF EMERGENCY
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"They will be met with very big force.”
— Donald Trump, on protesters who disrupt his birthday parade in Washington, D.C. this weekend.
NEWS NEWS NEWS
Donald Trump announced that he’ll restore the names of several military bases to honor Robert E. Lee and other Confederate war leaders. “We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change,” he said during a celebration of the Army’s 250th birthday at Fort Bragg.
The World Bank slashed its global growth forecast today, warning that Trump’s tariff war and global uncertainty will cause “significant headwind” for most economies. The Bank didn’t predict a recession, but said this year will be the weakest for global economic growth since 2008.
The Biden administration tracked foreign nationals who visited Elon Musk’s properties in 2022 and 2023, the Wall Street Journal reports. While the investigation didn’t bring any charges, it shows how concerned the U.S. was about Musk being influenced — only one year before spent hundreds of millions to elect Trump.
Speak of the devil, Musk took his ongoing feud with MAGA Godfather Steve Bannon to a new level today: Bannon is “dumb as fuck” for suggesting that SpaceX should be nationalized because of Musk’s alleged drug use. “Bannon is such a r******d liar. Dumber than a doorstop.” As Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) would say, “The girls are fighting.”
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) introduced a bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour starting next year. The move aligns one of Capitol Hill’s most prominent conservatives with many progressives. The bill was even co-sponsored by Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT)! Is Hawley slowly morphing into a Vermont liberal? Not even close… but I don’t mind whatever he’s doing here.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) was spotted dining at MAGA’s favorite Washington, D.C. restaurant with Breitbart’s Washington Bureau Chief. No one’s totally sure what’s going on with Fetterman these days, but I can’t imagine progressives are super thrilled to learn that the dude is publicly slurping bone marrow and pork cheeks (I assume) with a far-right journo.
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