Donald Trump wants to crush The Swamp. The leaks, the sneaks, and the secrets are all there. Our writers, David Gardner, Farrah Tomazin, Sarah Ewall-Wice, and Laura Esposito, are sifting through the ooze so you don’t have to. Don’t miss out.
In this week’s news from the ooze: Melania Trump, James Talarico, Neal Cochran, Michael Whatley, Gregory Bovino, Abdul E-Sayed, Steve Smotheron, Gabe Vasquez, and Ken Paxton.
Everything’s Bigger in Texas Except Trump’s Fake Convention
Dallas is preparing for Trump-a-palooza – and the whole thing is starting to look less like a political Super Bowl and more like the Fyre Festival of Republican politics.
The Republican National Committee boldly promised an unprecedented, history-making convention ahead of the November 3 midterms.
Indeed, it promised its “biggest ever” midterm convention (easily achieved, because there is no such thing as a midterm convention). Featured speakers? Donald Trump, Donald Trump, and err, some other guys (trust us, mostly guys, and definitely not Melania Trump.)
But when The Swamp checked around downtown Dallas, we found hotel rooms still available at about 180 properties including the Crowne Plaza, the Marriott, the Sheraton, and even the ever-reliable Holiday Inn.
Restaurants near the American Airlines Center where the two-day confab takes place were also hardly bursting at the seams: Ocean Prime, a favorite for GOP donors and operatives, still had reservations available both days, as did the nearby North Italia, and as the popular Rodeo Bar (the place for “tight jeans and loose morals”).
And as the Daily Beast already revealed, organizers are scrambling to fill the 21,000-capacity arena, even using a public lottery with the promise of VIP treatment and blasting out unsolicited text messages screaming “FREE TICKETS.” Not taking up the free tickets? Most Republican senators and House members, who have suddenly discovered urgent pre-existing entanglements.
Could they just be watching football like the rest of us? Wednesday night at Trump-a-palooza, in which the president will give the keynote speech, goes head-to-head with the New England Patriots taking on the Super Bowl Champions Seattle Seahawks. On Thursday, while Trump and JD Vance attempt to gin up the crowd, most Americans will be watching the 49ers-LA Rams game.
Even Texas Republicans seem to be admitting defeat: There’s a “watch party” that the Collin County GOP is hosting at the Studio Movie Grill in Plano, just 20 miles north of downtown, suggesting they can’t even round up a posse from the Dallas suburbs.
Meanwhile, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is offering Texans a rather different kind of political theater: a food drive.
Talarico, who is locked in a surprisingly tight race with MAGA Republican Ken Paxton, is hosting a statewide “Love Thy Neighbor” drive, with volunteers collecting, sorting, and distributing groceries to Texans struggling with the rising cost of food.
A group of House Democrats are also headed down to Dallas to talk about affordability and corruption. Expect to see Rep. Robert Garcia, ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, along with Reps. Jason Crow, Madeleine Dean, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, holding events over the two days to push back on the inevitable lies that come out of the midterm “convention.” Meanwhile, the increasingly svelte Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is also headed south for some clap back.
And some anti-Trumpers, such as the Democrat-aligned AB PAC, have cooked up their own version of the convention, albeit with a better agenda.
The PAC has put up a satirical offering called The Real* RNC 2026 Midterm Convention, with sessions titled: “Blame Biden”; “Blame Biden Again, But Angrier”; “Ken Paxton’s Guide to Integrity” and a prayer breakfast including “Grant Us the Serenity to Ignore Your Polling.”
If you’re ready to attend that conference, we regret to inform you that no tickets are available to
The Real RNC Midterm Convention because, as the website explains, “contrary to the name, the event is not real.”
Which kind of reminds The Swamp of the actual “midterm convention”...
The crowds might be staying away from MAGA Fyre Fest, but The Swamp is drawn like a moth to the flame. We’ll be there to dig out all the dirty secrets—and we’ll be reporting back in our exclusive new pop-up Midterms Meltdown newsletter on Friday. Stay tuned, because our Texas dispatch is going to be like the scene in the best cue joint: Smokin’!
Trump-a-palooza Speakers Pay Price of Desperation
Did we mention it’s costing Republican candidates $25,000 to attend the MAGA-fest? It’s not Trump, sorry chump, change to most of them, which may explain why they’re staying away. But two who are willing to open their wallets are Senate hopefuls Mike Rogers of Michigan and Michael Whatley of North Carolina. Rogers is the only Republican who right now pollsters could plausibly flip a Senate seat. And Whatley should be in a tight race… but the polls say he isn’t. So both of them seem to be coughing up in the hope of reminding Trump that they could do with some of the $400 million cash his MAGA Inc. PAC has, and so far isn’t spending.
It’s not the first time they’ve been willing to spend to get in Trump’s line of sight. The latest FEC filings show Rogers’ Team Rogers PAC spent $4,355.85 for catering and facility rental at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club on April 21. The PAC also spent $12,780.00 there on April 1, the report shows. Whatley’s joint fundraising committee also spent $2,640.39 there on June 2 for catering services. He also spent $13,142.10 at Mar-a-Lago in February and at Trump’s hotel in Chicago in March, totaling $10,444. Will this latest investment in traveling to Trump’s presence work out for the candidates? Unclear. But, hey, at least someone’s winning out of the midterms!
Speaking of Florida, er Michigan…
When Mike Rogers posts about Michigan, it might be worth checking his receipts.
The Republican candidate has long been accused by critics of moving back to Michigan just to run for the Senate. Rogers is a Michigan native who represented the central part of the state including Saginaw and Midland until 2015. In 2022, records show he bought a five-bedroom mansion for nearly $1.6 million in Cape Coral, Florida, known for its boating community. His Florida property has been a headache first for his failed 2024 Senate bid and is now causing headaches for his 2026 ambitions. Rogers and his wife also bought a four-bedroom home in White Lake, MI, a leafy outskirt of the Detroit metro area in 2023. But his Democratic rival Abdul El-Sayed has referred to him as “Florida man.” Now his own FEC filings have provided some receipts—because they show that when his social media posts suggested he was in Michigan, he was actually in Florida. “Made a pit stop to see our friends at Circle K in Midland. All across the state, Michiganders tell me the same thing: they’re ready for a Senator who understands the realities we face each day,” Rogers wrote on X on April 23. However, that same day, Holtzman Vogel posted about hosting Rogers for a business community lunch at their Miami office. Now his FEC filings show Rogers’ campaign spent $1,273.95 on being shuttled around by a chauffeur in Miami, Florida that day and $567.00 for a hotel in West Palm Beach. It’s not the only time Rogers’ campaign has posted about Michigan while spending in Florida. On May 22, he posted a short clip on X of him telling a group of what looks like Michiganders a joke. Well, if you thought he was in Michigan, joke’s on you… he was being driven about at vast expense in Florida. That day his campaign registered $5,283 on travel in West Palm Beach, including $2,856 at the Tideline Palm Beach Ocean Resort, $2,030 for T & T Elite Transportation limousine service and another $396 for another chauffeur on May 22, his FEC report showed.
In total, Rogers’ campaign and leadership PAC spent $28,498 in Florida according to the most recent quarterly FEC reports. The Swamp asked the campaign to explain the Michigan posts while spending in Florida as well as what his payments to Trump’s club were for. No reply… perhaps we’ll try floating a message in a bottle on the Intracoastal.
Pour One Out for Bovino 2028
When the Daily Beast revealed in June that Gregory K. Bovino was keen to add the title of President of the United States to his resume, it seemed likely we would be following this newly minted 2028 contender for the long haul. Yes, he was that Greg Bovino, the Border Patrol “commander at large” whose career foundered after his invasion of Minneapolis ended with American blood on the streets. Yes, he was too media-thirsty even for the Trump orbit. Yes, a judge said he had lied to a court. Surely then the credentials of a man who could rise in the age of MAGA. Alas, The Swamp has sad news for those looking forward to buying Bovino bumper stickers.
Bovino’s aspirations to sit behind the Resolute Desk (probably in uniform) appear to be over. Bovino has suffered a bitter fallout with his campaign manager, Jacob Engels, who has accused “Commander Bovino” of folding to pressure from (of all people) Susie Wiles and betraying his base. In a lengthy statement to The Swamp, Engels discloses that the campaign raised a total of $150, and accuses him of leaving “boxes of unused merchandise, a massive volunteer network, and countless supporters who had invested their time and faith in what we were building.” The bad news for Bovino? Engels is threatening to release his texts and DMs. The good news? He’s now selling branded bourbon, so relax and sip some Commander’s Reserve as you watch his campaign implode. Cheers!
Troubles Mount for Trump-Backed Candidate
As Republicans brace for what friends and foes alike claim will be a big, blue wave come November, there was one small sliver of hope in New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, where Trump-backed candidate Greg Cunningham is looking to unseat Democrat Gabe Vasquez. There was hope, certainly, until Trump proposed renaming the state “New America,” causing an uproar in the Southwest and putting Cunningham in an, er, awkward position.
Then, lightning struck twice.
The heavily tattooed Cunningham has centered his campaign on affordability and the economy—all the kitchen-table issues that Trump finds “boring.” But The Swamp has learned that the congressional hopeful has “faithfully served” Legacy Church, which is led by pastor Steve Smothermon. Smothermon ticks off the usual things you’d expect from a MAGA-megachurch pastor—abolish gay marriage, outlaw all abortion—but also has a YouTube career. His biggest hit? I’m a Right-Wing Extremist and Here’s Why! Just what those swing voters want to hear from Cunningham in the Land of Enchantment.
