Donald Trump: More Dangerous Than Hitler (His Words)

Trump's ballroom took $352 million from the Secret Service, SCOTUS upheld marijuana users' right to bear arms, and a Mississippi officer fatally shot a one-year-old

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

Trump reposted a letter declaring him more dangerous than Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Khan, and replied “Sounds good to me.” The administration quietly redirected $352 million from Secret Service recruitment to help fund Trump’s $600 million ballroom. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that marijuana users cannot be categorically barred from owning guns. And a Mississippi officer shot into a fleeing car over allegedly stolen diapers, killing a one-year-old.

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Now, let’s dive in.

Trump Endorses Claim He’s More Dangerous Than Hitler and Stalin

Most men hit 80 and start worrying about their legacy. Donald Trump hit 80 and decided his legacy is “more dangerous than Genghis Khan.”

During an overnight flight from France, the president spent the hours awake on Truth Social, where he reposted a letter ranking him above history’s worst butchers. The author, identified only as “Dave King,” argued that Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Attila the Hun, Napoleon, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin all suffered from one fatal weakness: insufficient global reach.

Trump, the letter explained, has no such limitation. He commands “modern logistics, manpower, technology, and the global economic muscle” the old tyrants could only dream of. That, King concluded, makes Trump “by far the most powerful person that has EVER walked this planet.”

“Presidential Historian Dave King — Sounds good to me,” Trump wrote.

There is a Harvard historian named David King. There is no evidence he wrote any of this.

Trump’s critics have long compared him to Hitler over his immigration policies. So did JD Vance, who called him “America’s Hitler” in 2016. That comparison usually arrives as an insult. Trump frames it as a compliment. No further editorialization required.

The Secret Service Lost $352 Million. The Ballroom Found It.

Nothing says “I take assassination attempts seriously” like defunding your own bodyguards to build a dance floor.

The Office of Management and Budget revealed it has shifted $352 million away from Secret Service recruitment and training toward “White House security measures.” A source told The Washington Post the funds will help build Trump’s new East Wing and its 90,000-square-foot ballroom.

That $352 million equals more than one-tenth of the entire Secret Service budget. It came from the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which earmarked the money to strengthen the agency after two assassination attempts on Trump.

The price tag tells its own story. Trump first promised the ballroom would cost $200 million, funded entirely by private donations. Then it became $400 million. Internal projections now put it at $600 million, with taxpayers covering roughly half.

Even Republicans noticed. Senator Susan Collins reminded everyone Trump “promised only private donations would be used for the ballroom.” Senator Jeff Merkley called it a “vanity project.”

In an April poll, 56 percent of Americans opposed the project. The other 44 percent are still waiting on their invite.

We don’t have a 90,000-square-foot ballroom. We don’t even have a break room. But we do have reporters who track where your tax dollars actually go. That costs a lot less than $600 million, and unlike the ballroom, it’s funded entirely by the people who use it. Subscribe today and keep it that way.

The Supreme Court Says Marijuana Smokers Can Keep Their Guns

It is not every day the ACLU and the NRA file on the same side, but apparently nothing unites America like a Texas man, a joint, and a firearm.

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that a federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users violates the Second Amendment. The case was brought by Ali Danial Hemani, who was not charged with any other crime or accused of using a weapon while impaired.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the opinion, noting that millions of Americans now use marijuana, which is broadly legal in about half the states. The federal government, he wrote, “helped fuel” that shift.

That left Washington “awkwardly positioned” to argue that those same millions are “categorically and unusually dangerous.” It was a loss for the Trump administration, which defended the 1968 law even while arguing against other gun restrictions. Gorsuch said its core argument “fails under every measure.”

The same law was once used to convict Hunter Biden of buying a gun while addicted to cocaine. His father later pardoned him.

The court has spent years expanding gun rights since 2022. It has now decided that the right to bear arms officially includes the right to bear bongs.

Mississippi Officer Kills 1-Year-Old Over Allegedly Stolen Diapers

One-year-old Kohen Wiley was killed Sunday afternoon outside a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, after an officer opened fire on a supposedly fleeing vehicle. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation said officers responded to a shoplifting call and tried to stop a car they say drove toward them. The officer fired, killing Kohen and critically injuring a family friend.

Attorney Ben Crump, retained by the family, said Kohen’s mother has not been charged with any crime. She says she was trying to tell officers there was a baby in the car. “They fired anyway,” Crump said.

The mother, Vellesiya Wiley, described it in a video. “I raised my baby up trying to show them that he was in the car,” she said. “By the time I sat my baby down, it was like three to four shots. One of the shots hit him in his ribcage.”

She said the car was driven by her friend, who was being pursued for allegedly shoplifting diapers. The officer has been placed on administrative leave. His name has not been released.

Protesters gathered outside City Hall and in the Walmart parking lot, holding signs reading “Justice for Kohen.” Officers in riot helmets and gas masks lined the store doors and at one point fired tear gas.

He was one year old. The diapers were never recovered, because the diapers were never the point.

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Thanks for reading. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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California Billionaire Tax Moves Closer to a November Ballot. A proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ net worth has officially qualified for California’s Nov. 3 general election ballot, Secretary of State Shirley Weber announced Wednesday. The measure cleared the 962,106-signature threshold and was put forward by Suzanne Jimenez, chief of staff of the SEIU-UHW health care workers’ union. Standing in its way is Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has lined up Planned Parenthood and the state’s largest teachers’ union against it and privately assured a donor it would be “negotiated away” before the June 25 deadline. A possible 2028 presidential hopeful fighting a tax on billionaires is, at the very least, a clarifying spectacle.