May 30, 2026
This week, Trump had one of the worst stretches of his presidency, and Lev — who’s lived inside the machine — walked us through exactly how the gears are grinding. Here’s everything we covered.
Nobody Is Showing Up to His Birthday Party
You cannot script this. Trump’s White House launched Freedom 250 — a marquee concert series on the National Mall for America’s 250th birthday, June 25 through July 10. They announced the lineup on Wednesday. By the weekend, two-thirds of it had bailed.
The Commodores. Martina McBride. Morris Day & the Time. Young MC. Milli Vanilli. And — chef’s kiss — Bret Michaels of Poison. Most of them said the same thing: they were sold a nonpartisan celebration, then found out it was a MAGA rally with a stage. McBride flat-out said she’d been misled. What’s left of the headliner slot? Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida. That’s the lineup. Vanilla Ice and Flo Rida.
So what does the self-described greatest showman on earth do when the actual performers run for the exits? He nominates himself. On Truth Social, Trump floated scrapping the concerts entirely and just giving a speech, because — and I promise I’m quoting the energy here — he considers himself the number one attraction in the world, pulls bigger crowds than Elvis in his prime, and does it “without a guitar.” He’s now ordered his people to look into an “America Is Back” rally instead.
Let that land. He couldn’t keep his name on a building this week, and he couldn’t keep a single A-lister on a stage. So the plan is now: Donald Trump, live, no opening act, because nobody else would come. LOL. The man is throwing himself a birthday party for the country and he’s the only one who RSVP’d yes.
They Took His Name Off the Kennedy Center
On Friday, a federal judge ordered Trump’s name stripped from the Kennedy Center. Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, ruled that Trump’s handpicked board never had the authority to rename the place — only Congress does. He gave them two weeks to pull the signage off the facade and blocked the planned two-year closure, all in a decision issued on JFK’s birthday. The suit came from Rep. Joyce Beatty, who said it best: the Kennedy Center belongs to the American people, not Donald Trump. Trump’s response? He’d hand the “failing institution” back to Congress. Translation: if I can’t put my name on it, I don’t want it.
The $1.8 Billion Slush Fund
Here’s the big one. Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns, then “withdrew” it — and the DOJ turned around and settled by creating a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” (the exact figure floating around is $1.776 billion — subtle as a brick). Read that again: Trump sued the government he runs, then settled with himself for nearly two billion dollars in a fund his own people control. Critics in both parties call it what it is — a slush fund — with real fear that the money flows to January 6 rioters.
Then the cavalry showed up. Thirty-five former federal judges moved to reopen the case, arguing the whole lawsuit is a fraud on the court and that Todd Blanche’s legal justification requires real litigation, not a collusive setup. On Friday, it landed: Judge Kathleen Williams ordered Trump to answer the fraud allegations directly, and a separate judge has already frozen the fund. The walls are doing something.
The Revenge Tour: Carroll, Brennan, Clapper, Obama
This is where it gets dark — and where Lev’s firsthand experience matters, because he’s been the target of exactly this.
Let’s be precise, because precision is the point: juries found Trump liable for raping E. Jean Carroll, and for defaming her, to the tune of $5 million and $83.3 million, both upheld on appeal. Now the DOJ has opened a criminal investigation into her — the woman a jury found he abused — chasing a perjury theory tied to a donor who helped fund her legal bills.
But the real kicker is Fort Pierce. The separate “Grand Conspiracy” probe into Brennan, Clapper, Comey, and Obama is being routed through a tiny Florida courthouse with exactly one sitting judge: Aileen Cannon — the same Trump appointee who killed his classified-documents case. Prosecutors have a name for picking that courthouse on purpose: venue shopping. Brennan’s own lawyers flagged it in writing.
This is the machine Lev knows cold. The point was never convictions — it’s the process as the punishment: the legal bills, the chaos, the fear, the years of your life gone. Lev named his own former lawyers, Todd Blanche and Joe DiGenova, as the architects handing Trump these “trophies.” Inflict maximum pain on as many people as possible while rewriting reality in real time.
Why Lev is Building Deep State Media
Which brings us to the announcement. Lev is launching Deep State Media with David Sugarman, Jonathan Hay, and Daniel Parnas.
The thesis is simple: end the partisan media bullshit and call balls and strikes. Be the better angels. Go after corruption wherever it lives. And fight a class war, not a culture war. Because the Deep State isn’t some boogeyman — it IS the GOP, it IS the Democratic Party, and the elites and oligarchs who own both. The culture war is the magic trick they wave in your face so you don’t notice whose hand is in your pocket.
Where to Find Everybody & Subscribe
Lev Parnas — levremembers.substack.com • Lev Parnas • LevRemembers.com (grab his book Shadow Diplomacy). He’s running for Congress in Florida’s 27th.
Daniel Parnas — This young man is coming for Andrew Tate. He’s a Parnas, so he’ll win.
@Nick Paro / “Sick of This Shit” - US Army Vet, owner of Sick Of This Shit on Substack
Deep State Media — Right VS Wrong, Not Right VS Left
Coffee & Tea with Lev and Dean — subscribe right here at DeanBlundell.Substack.com or Lev Parnas
It’s not left vs. right. It’s the people who tell the truth vs. the people who profit from the lie. Pour a coffee, pour a tea, and stay in it with us.
Thank you Ellie Leonard, Nick Paro, Cat: Poli-Psych, Lyudmila and Daniel, LC - Silence is Complicity, and many others for tuning into my live video with Lev Parnas! Join me for my next live video in the app.
