Somewhere in the midst of all the fireworks and monument upgrades, the competing nonpartisan and partisan 250th birthday celebrations, the gilding and ballroom-building, and the Octagon-style cage matches on the White House lawn, is a weakened, tired, mentally-challenged old man, tuning 80 and facing his mortality. Badly.
The defining feature of the second Trump administration so far has been the Retribution Comeback Tour, with Trump venting his rage on any and all who have ever opposed him, from prosecutors to pundits and politicians, many in his own Party. But providing the backbeat has been an increasingly obvious obsession with gold and gilding. As a metaphor for wealth generally, one of very few things Trump truly seems to care about, gold is certainly apt, but there’s a limit, and Trump doesn’t seem to have found it. From tacky scrollwork embellishments and knickknacks in the Oval Office, to a golden Marie Antoinette-style White House Ballroom, a proposed gold-accented massive Triumphal Arch near Arlington National Cemetery, regilding the equine statues by the Lincoln Memorial, even a larger-than-life gold statue of himself at his Doral golf club, Trump is cranking out more gold than Midas himself would know what to do with.
So little time, so many stories. Once again, AAA plays catch-up with some skipped news over the final weeks of May 2026. Included: a pair of top-level Summit meetings in Beijing; the death of a long-term progressive Congressman, a leading light in the fight for gay rights; and the grand finale of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
So many stories, so little time! In Part Two of this catchall conglomeration, we’re looking at developments in late April, US-based, including a federal reclassification of marijuana, another failed Trump assassination attempt, and a gentle monarchical rebuke.
It’s been a head-spinning few weeks, with rising gas and energy prices, increased inflation, and the war with Iran, but somehow, America’s sweethearts, Donald and Melania Trump, have managed to keep us entertained.
After a fashion. From threatening genocide to profane tweets on the holiest day of the Christian calendar, ramshackle ceasefires and blaspheming memes, and vigorous denials of accusations of wrongdoing that haven’t been made, the Trumps have outdone themselves in this first half of April 2026. What follows is a barebones overview of the high jinks and shenanigans.
It’s another catch-up edition of Cosmic Grab Bag, where AAA delves into previously skipped stories, to set the celestial record straight! This issue is all about protest and insanity, with a successful, bloodless revolution in Bulgaria, and an ongoing, bloody protest in Iran; and two Trumpian moments of note.
