Managing editorMichelle Piniexamines recent White House events and considers whether Americans are finally waking up to the MAGA cult.

IT'S A STRANGE WORLD when a president of the United States a self-proclaimed nation of patriots, most of them armed, who vow revenge if one of their own is harmed by aforeigner goes out of his way to defend someonenamedby U.S. intelligence as having approvedthe killing of Washington Post journalistJamal Khashoggi.

Yet in this new world, much of it ruled by a convicted felon, up is down, night is day (though black can never be white) and well, things happen.

MURDER AND A NEW BESTIE FOR THE POTUS

Nonetheless, yesterday, Trump gaveCrown PrinceMohammed bin Salmanof Saudi Arabia a true royal welcome to the White House and went out of his way to show bygones are bygones, as hetoldassembled media:

Interestingly, the things that happened, in this case, involved the brutal murder and dismemberment oftheWashingtonPost reporter on October 2, 2018, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

In 2021, the CIA concluded that the Crown Prince had approved the journalist's assassination, which the Saudi Government went to great lengths tocover up.

Unsurprisingly, this marred relations between the two countries. Until now, as, apparently, Trump no longer believes his own intelligence agencies and feels the need to defend a foreign leaders involvement in a violent, premeditated murder.

Managing editor Michelle Pini discusses Donald Trump's burgeoning dictatorship and what Australia's response might mean for the future of democracy.

But, well, a lot of people didnt like that gentleman,so now its smiles all around. Whats a dead journo between friends and former enemies? After all, theres money to be made. In this case, in the form of promised Saudi investment to the tune of $11 trillion.

Smiling all the way to the bank, it seems, given Trumps family business interests involving the Saudis, but you know, nothing to see there!

And once the deal was done, Trump said to the Prince:

THE GOLDEN BALLROOM

The chumminess and honouring didnt stop there. There was also a black tie gala dinner to honour the Saudi Crown Prince in the evening.

No doubt $11 trillion buys a lot of ties.

It will likely also help with the completion of the plannedpalace-style ballroom, which Trump lamented wasnt ready in time to host the Prince and would have been far more appropriate, since it would accommodate a lot more ties.

The planned golden ballroom is expected to cost $300 million. Never mind that, even as it approved the palatial ballroom, the Trump Administration also placed a freeze on funding for food aid, relied on by 42 million Americans.

Trumps base may finally be seeing whats always been obvious and its not just the emperor whos exposed.

THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY FILES

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congressvotedoverwhelmingly to release theU.S. Justice Department's(unclassified) fileson late sex offender and former long-time friend of TrumpJeffrey Epstein, which are believed to include details ofEpstein's sex trafficking and child pornography activities.The Senate then also announced itwould pass the Bill, even before it was officially received.

This is, of course, great news for Epstein survivors. Not that anyone is holding their breath just yet. After all, first, Trump campaigned to release the files. Then, after he was elected, he opposed their release with far greater vigour, disparaging the move as a "Democrat hoax" and labelling anyone who daredchampion it as traitors.

Finally, with the writing clearly on the wall and Trump not wanting to be seen to lose a Congress vote, he did another complete turnaround a couple of days ago, and announcedhe would no longeroppose the release of the Epstein Files if the Bill was passed.

We have nothing to hide, said the POTUS.

But regardless of what the files might be hiding,in Trumps White House, the weather is alwaysunstableand the files cannot be released withoutTrump's signature. Basically,it aint over till we see 'em. And even then, hopefully, everything in them will not have already been redacted.

Nonetheless, an almost-unanimous vote (bar one) in Congress on a measure to which Trump is vehemently opposed is, well, a crack in the MAGA armour.

One former devoted cult member, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene now branded a traitor by Trump was flanked by Epstein's abuse victimsoutside the U.S. Capitol as she addressed members of thepress.

Taylor Greensaid:

Americans are apparently likewise unimpressed with Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation.

As the golden ballroom nears, they are also unimpressed with the skyrocketingpricesandweakened job market. It seems even someRepublicans may be waking up, with Trump'sapproval ratingnow at itslowest since his return to power.

It may be pertinent to point out that many Australianconservativesand not just the Far-Right nut jobs still laud this POTUS and seek to emulate his methods here.

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