Donald Trump’s critics have accused him of making a mess at the White House. As he destroys part of the East Wing, those assessments have now become literal.

President Donald Trump is under fire after a New York Times bombshell revealed he wants $230 million from the Justice Department over two investigations targeting him during his campaign. The Times explained that there is “no parallel in American history, as Mr. Trump, a presidential candidate, was pursued by federal law enforcement and eventually won the election, taking over the very government that must now review his claims.” The paper of record also called it “the starkest example yet of potential ethical conflicts created by installing the president’s former lawyers atop the Justice Department.” Critics are blasting the president. “It’s hard to think of an action more purely corrupt than a …. president ordering the executive branch to pay him hundreds of millions of dollars,” wrote David French, a New York Times opinion columnist. “I cannot wait to read the MAGA defenses of this (and there will be many). They’ll display Soviet levels of sycophancy.” READ MORE: Not a ‘Gut-Wrenching’ Problem: Ron Johnson Shrugs Off Millions Losing Subsidies Attorney Andrew Weinstein, a former Obama and Biden appointee, noted that “$230 million could feed every homeless veteran in America for more than 3 years.” Jesse Lee, a former Obama and Biden official, remarked, “What a g– crook.” Marlow Stern, who teaches at the Columbia Journalism School and is a former Rolling Stone senior editor, asked, “now he’s extorting… the u.s. justice department?” Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman quoted the Trump White House Press Secretary: “’I think it’s frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit,’ Karoline Leavitt said in May. ‘He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service.'” Political historian Brian Rosenwald commented, “Like come the f– on, this is the most blatant corruption in American history. He’s just stealing from us the taxpayers.” Derek Martin, founder and president of Pathfinder Research, wrote: “Trump is demanding taxpayers write him a check for $230 million while Republicans tell us they can’t afford to help ordinary Americans pay for health insurance. Cartoonishly evil.” Jeff Hauser, who writes the Revolving Door Project on Substack, observed: “The dude is desecrating the White House and extorting the Treasury during a shutdown [after] several million Americans protested him. It’s kind of now or never for an opposition party to be provocative in attacking corruption. Trump is too busy enriching himself to govern.” Media Matters’ Matthew Gertz wrote: “The president of the United States is attempting a smash-and-grab on the U.S. Treasury, and the people with the ability to say no are his former personal lawyers, this is insane.” READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Jeffries Torches Trump’s ‘Out of Control’ Press Secretary

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British newspaper The Telegraph has written a scathing rebuke of President Donald Trump's "anti-tourism" measures, saying they have turned America into "one of the world's least welcoming countries." "Donald Trump’s anti-tourism measures and a federal lock down are making travel to the States increasingly fraught – and that’s a shame," writes TheTelegraph's Robert Jackman. The government shutdown, Jackman sarcastically says, is good news, because "you shouldn’t encounter any problems getting to America in the first place, given that both airport security and border control are deemed essential services (and thus are expected to be running as normal)." For visitors to Washington D.C., "on nearby Capitol Hill, the visitor centre has already closed down in what will be a crushing blow for any West Wing obsessives," he says. And while national parks can't shut down like a visitor's center can, Jackman says, "Europe has history, while America has geography – meaning that the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park are as important to America’s tourism sector as stately homes are to ours." "Now just imagine if Blenheim Palace had to warn visitors to stay away because [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer had suspended its funding until MPs agreed to pass his budget," he writes. Wondering if the Trump administration has become "too cavalier"when it comes to America's tourism industry, Jackman notes that "it wouldn’t be the first time that the White House had chosen to sacrifice the US tourism sector in order to pursue its wider Maga agenda." One example Jackman cites is Trump's "enthusiasm to tighten visa rules – including those which apply to standard tourists – to extreme ends in order to reduce any risk of illegal immigration," and the new requirement "for certain visa applicants to deposit a hefty fee (at least $250, and up to $10,000 in some cases) to prove they won’t abscond when they enter the States." And though these fees don't apply to British tourists, Jackman says, they do "send a strong sign as to where Trump’s priorities lie." Another example of America pulling away the welcome mat is seen in "travelers being detained and deported for what most of us would consider careless behavior at worst," such as a 28-year-old Welsh tourist who was detained for 19 days when immigration officials discovered she was planning to undertake voluntary work in the US in return for free boarding. The scrutiny of tourists' social media feeds has also turned off visitors and been cause for confusion, Jackman says, because "given the President himself has called for those expressing anti-American views to have their visas revoked, it’s hardly implausible that a border officer might jump the gun a bit." Just last week, when the NFL announced Puerto Rican megastar Bad Bunny as the Super Bowl's halftime headliner, homeland security secretary Kristi Noem warned that only “law-abiding Americans” should attend, insisting immigration authorities will be patrolling the stadium. "Did Secretary Noem mean to imply that non-nationals aren’t welcome at one of the biggest sporting events in America?" Jackson ponders. "You can understand why some travllers – particularly those from south of the border – might think twice about making the trip to California." As the numbers continue to show plummeting rates of tourism in hot spots like Las Vegas, Miami and California, based on Trump's policies and international tourist reaction to them, things are only expected to get worse, Jackman says. "You’d think that a President who has spent five decades leveraging his own personal brand to such brilliant effect would see the value in protecting America’s reputation for friendliness to tourists," he says. "Instead the White House seems content to sit back while friendly foreigners are turned off by a barrage of negative stories about what might await them if they make the trip," he adds.

This is the first time six former surgeons general have linked arms and urged the public to recognize the nation’s health secretary, RFK Jr., as dangerous.

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The Republican budget bill is stuffed with terrible policies, but Democrats have been largely silent on perhaps its most destructive component.