Trump's Own Aides Call Him 'Post-Sexual' and Alone

A commissioner in N.C. is under fire for calling Juneteenth "based on a lie," an arrest has been made after a video of a burning cross in Chicago went viral, and food pantries are on their last legs

Good morning. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America. To those who celebrate, Happy Juneteenth.

Michael Wolff says Trump’s own staff now describe the 80-year-old President as “post-sexual” and alone in the White House. A North Carolina commissioner cast the lone vote against a Juneteenth resolution, calling the holiday “based on a lie.” A 21-year-old senior at the University of Illinois Chicago has been arrested for burning a cross in Grant Park. And food pantries are swapping ground beef for hot dogs as 4 million Americans lose SNAP benefits.

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Now, let’s dive in.

Trump’s Own Aides Reportedly Call Him ‘Post-Sexual’ and Alone

Of all the leaks to come out of this White House, “post-sexual” is the one nobody rushed to deny.

That’s the label Michael Wolff says Trump’s own staff now use behind closed doors. Wolff, the author of Fire and Fury and three other books on Trumpworld, told colleague Joanna Cole that there is “nobody who is whispering he has a sexual relationship with anyone.”

The picture Wolff paints is of a man who is, in his telling, simply alone. No personal life. No warmth. No one to tend to him inside a building swarming with staff and security.

Wolff says the public show never drops, even in private. The 80-year-old President remains a “public man” even “lying in bed,” posting on Truth Social into the night.

He also claims Melania was effectively absent from the 2024 campaign, appearing only in the final week, declining to sit beside her husband at rallies, and entering the VIP box only after he had left to speak.

The Trump camp has not responded to the new claims. None of this has been independently confirmed, and Wolff’s flair for drama is well documented, so take the character sketch with the usual caution. To be fair to Trump, lying alone in bed, posting into the void is the most relatable thing about him.

N.C. Commissioner Calls Juneteenth ‘Based on a Lie’

There is a certain confidence required to inform Black Americans that they are celebrating their own freedom on the wrong day.

Larry Pittman, a commissioner in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, found it. On Monday he cast the lone vote against a resolution recognizing Juneteenth, arguing the holiday is “based on a lie.”

“People were not set free by the Emancipation Proclamation,” Pittman said. “If you want to celebrate the slaves being set free, I want to celebrate with you, but get the right date, Dec. 18.”

Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops reached Galveston and told enslaved people they were free, more than two years after Lincoln’s proclamation. It became a federal holiday in 2021. Pittman would prefer the ratification of the 13th Amendment.

The resolution passed anyway. The county issued a statement noting the board’s majority recognizes the day’s significance, and added that any comment on the dissenting vote “should come from the individual who cast that vote.”

Rev. Theron Smoutherson, president of the Cabarrus County NAACP, said his initial reaction was anger. “Who is he to tell us when and what we can celebrate?”

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UIC Student Arrested After Burning Cross Video Goes Viral

If your political protest requires a footnote explaining you’re not in the Klan, you should pick a different protest.

Merlin Lu, a senior at the University of Illinois Chicago, was arrested on four felony counts and four misdemeanor counts after admitting he set fire to a large cross in Grant Park on June 9. Two of the felony counts are hate crime charges; the others cover arson and damage to city property.

Lu told NBC Chicago he was responsible, but insisted it was a protest of the federal government, not a hate crime. He said he topped the cross with a red MAGA hat, which was not visible in many shots of the scene.

He told the station the idea “came up to my head one day,” and that he wanted to do something “by myself, like no organization, no friends.” In a video, he denied any affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan and apologized to anyone offended. He also said of Trump, “I want him gone right now.”

Lu acknowledged he knew the historical relevance “beforehand,” but said he “didn’t know the severity.” He also told the station he did not know a burning cross is a symbol of the KKK. Somewhere, a high school history teacher is asking not to be named.

Food Pantries Are Swapping Ground Beef for Hot Dogs as SNAP Vanishes

The new American safety net is a food pantry quietly downgrading from chicken legs to hot dogs and hoping you don’t notice.

That is the menu now at the Ritenour Co-Care Food Pantry outside St. Louis, where rising costs and surging demand have forced cheaper substitutes. “We have to adapt just like everybody else,” Executive Director Angela Gabel said.

The pantry spent about $120,000 on food last year. It budgeted $180,000 this year, and Gabel said that may not be enough. On a recent morning it signed up seven new families and expected fifteen by day’s end.

More than 4 million Americans lost SNAP benefits between February 2025 and this February. The numbers are expected to climb as states cut the rolls further under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which ended work-requirement exemptions for older adults, homeless people and veterans.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found a “remarkable” rise in food insecurity, with more people struggling than at the peak of the pandemic. The average SNAP benefit works out to about $6.17 per person per day.

Congress found $600 million for a ballroom. SNAP found $6.17 for your dinner.

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