| | | | | President Donald Trump marks Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is second from left. Credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images | | | Ivanka Trump's Having a Win Some/Lose Some Week: Her company was granted new trademarks in China, but she's been pummeled on social media
Former Western White House for Sale: Nixon's California home on the market for $63.5 million
The Border Wall Mural the US Wanted Taken Down: It's still up, and deported vets gathered to repaint it | | | What the White House Is Talking About:
President Donald Trump heads to Nashville today for two fundraising events and later a "Make America Great Again" rally.
What the White House Press Corps Is Talking About:
The status of the North Korea summit in Singapore (and every TV network's insanely complicated travel logistics that hang in the balance.)
So, North Korea Talks Happening?:
A top North Korean official is heading to the United States, presumably to continue talks in the hopes of either confirming or squashing for good the planned June 12 Singapore summit. Kim Young Chol should arrive in New York shortly, according to a tweet from the President. "Solid response to my letter, thank you!"
"I'm President!":
Two hours after tweeting he had to get back to focusing on, um, his job, Trump tweeted this, which quickly made it onto my list of Top 10 Trump tweets. | | Credit: @realDonaldTrump/Twitter
A New Storyline Emerges:
This morning Trump proposed a new -- and totally unsupported -- story about special counsel Robert Mueller. The President tweeted Mueller would be meddling in the midterm elections, an accusation aimed at dismantling the credibility of the Russia investigation.
Read This Stephen Miller Profile:
Because you will enjoy it. The Atlantic's McKay Coppins has a great way of isolating the details to make you understand Stephen Miller's psyche as an uber-conservative. I particularly liked the parts about his younger days in high school in Santa Monica, California, where Trump's future adviser once "jumped into the homestretch of a girls' track race, evidently to prove male athletic superiority." I mean, 😳 .
Or, this:
"More often, though, Miller's stunts elicited hostility -- just as he intended. In perhaps his most memorable act of teenage trolling, he ran for student government on a platform that included increasing the janitorial staff's workload. Speaking to an amphitheater full of privilege-checking peers, he asked, 'Am I the only one who is sick and tired of being told to pick up my trash when we have plenty of janitors who are paid to do it for us?' The crowd erupted in boos and Miller, looking pleased with himself, was forcibly removed from the stage."
All the while, don't let the entertainment value overshadow the fact Miller is one of Trump's most trusted senior advisers and his chief speechwriter. | | Former Western White House for Sale:
Richard Nixon's beloved San Clemente, California, compound is on the market. The oceanside mansion sits on five-plus acres of prime real estate. Nixon bought the place in 1969 and hosted world leaders and celebrities there while he was President; he sold it to the head of the Allergan pharmaceutical company in the 1980s. The property is listed for $63.5 million. Here's what it looks like: | | Credit: redfin.com
Ivanka Trump's Having a Win Some/Lose Some Week:
In the win column, her company was granted seven new trademarks in China, which means more products, and, thus, ultimately more money. Of course, it also means she was granted them by the Chinese government at the same time her father has been discussing trade negotiations with that country.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In the lose column, she's been pummeled on social media for what many see as a tone-deaf social media post of her kissing her youngest son in the midst of stories and images of young children being separated from their parents who illegally immigrated into the United States. And Chelsea Clinton did an interview where she called out the first daughter for basically being complicit in some of her dad's policies. Ivanka posted three chin-up, buttercup, tweets this morning, presumably in response to her no good, horrible, very bad Memorial Day. | | Credit: @ivankatrump/Twitter
Meghan Dolls:
I am equal parts creeped out and curious about which of the newly unveiled Meghan Markle dolls you like best. | | Credit: danburymint.com, hamiltoncollection.com, ashtondrake.com, internet
OK, OK, the bottom right one is sort of a joke, but it's kind of the winner. | | What Washington Is Talking About:
The Washington Capitals lost to the Vegas Golden Knights in the first game of the Stanley Cup finals, and both chambers of Congress are on recess this week.
What America Is Talking About:
Two journalists, anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer, were killed covering the storm Alberto, which was downgraded to a tropical depression Monday. And the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors are headed to their fourth straight NBA finals.
Poll of the Day:
The percentage of Americans who believe it's important for the President to provide "moral leadership for the country" has fallen since the Clinton administration, from 72% to 66%, according to a Gallup Poll released today. That drop is due in large part to a 23% drop among Republicans, but offset by a 13% increase among Democrats. | | Credit: Gallup
What You Missed in the Russia Investigation:
Our Marshall Cohen has a primer on Mueller news you may have missed over the Memorial Day weekend, including that Mueller's team is investigating Roger Stone's personal finances and Rudy Giuliani admitted on CNN that Trump's attacks on the investigation are a PR move. ("It is [for] the public opinion, because eventually the decision here is going to be impeach or not impeach," Giuliani said.)
English Teacher Gives Trump a D:
Former Advanced Placement English teacher Yvonne Mason wrote a letter to Trump asking him to visit every Parkland, Florida, family who lost a child in the February shooting and got the below letter back signed by POTUS himself. She marked it up, as any English teacher would do, dinging him especially for unnecessary capitalization. She told CNN this morning, "I hate to give a grade because this is so incredibly public," but said she'd go with a D. "I don't imagine I'm the only English teacher to mark up his papers." She sent the letter back to the White House but hasn't received a response. | | Credit: Yvonne Mason/Facebook
Street Art Sighting:
A group of deported US veterans gathered Saturday at Friendship Park in Tijuana, Mexico, before Memorial Day to repaint a mural of an upside-down American flag. The park sits at the edge of the US-Mexico border, where a wall juts out into the Pacific.
The mural, faded and covered in graffiti, is the park's centerpiece. An upside-down flag is a sign of distress, and the crosses in place of stars are symbols of those who die trying to cross the border, said Amos Gregory, the mural's artist and a Navy veteran. "We're touching it up," Gregory said. "We try to do it at least yearly, to get down here together." | | | The mural before and after. Credit: Hunter Schwarz
They planned to repaint it last month, but that was put on hold after the US Border Patrol indicated it was considering whether to remove or alter Gregory's mural. Though on the Mexican side of the wall, it's on US property, one of multiple layers of fences the United States has up around the area, and Border Patrol received a complaint. "We're back here doing this regularly scheduled painting, but we have this backdrop now," Gregory said. He said he thinks they're in the clear after Border Patrol didn't do anything following a 48-hour window in which the mural was supposed to be gone. | | Credit: Hunter Schwarz
So the deported vets who gathered got to work repainting. Jose Cardenas, who was drafted out of high school and served in the Army's 82 Airborne Division from 1970 to 1972, was one of them. The reason they take care of the mural is because it is a vehicle for getting their message out, he said. A lot of people don't realize US veterans can get deported.
"We try to keep this alive," Cardenas said. "That's why we come every year and we do it because people from the United States and people from all over, they come up here, they take pictures. That way we can let everybody know that we are American veterans that got deported."
On Sunday, after the mural was touched up, they planned to have a memorial for a deported vet who recently died. "After you die, you become American because they send you back to the United States," Cardenas said. "We don't want to go up there dead; we want to go up there alive." | | Credit: Nick Stone
The flag mural was one of many I saw this weekend in Tijuana. You can view galleries of more wall art here.
If you spot political street art, tweet me @hunterschwarz, tag me on Instagram @hunterschwarz or email me at coverlinehunter@cnn.com with your sighting so I can feature it in COVER/LINE.
P.S.:
In between trying to keep the dream of a Trump-Kim summit alive, South Korean President Moon Jae-in also congratulated K-pop boy band BTS for going No. 1 in the United States. The group's new album, "Love Yourself: Tear," is the first K-pop album to top the Billboard 200 chart, and Moon wrote on Facebook, "Thank you to BTS for spreading joy across Korea and the world with your great performances." | | | | | | |
