The White House called him a “commie.” Trump threatened to bankrupt New York City if voters elected him. On the eve of the election, the president personally endorsed disgraced ex-governor Andrew Cuomo over him. Zohran Mamdani won anyway with 50.4% in the highest turnout NYC election in over half a century—then walked into the Oval Office and made Trump fold.
That closed-door meeting Friday afternoon tells you everything about this presidency. Trump runs his mouth from the safety of Truth Social, but the moment he faces someone who won’t blink, he crumbles. Low energy. Servile body language. The 34-year-old democratic socialist standing while Trump sits, looking every bit the paper tiger he’s always been.
5️⃣ THE COAST GUARD’S SWASTIKA STUNT
The U.S. Coast Guard tried to reclassify swastikas and nooses as merely “potentially divisive” symbols rather than hate symbols in new harassment guidelines. After The Washington Post broke the story Thursday morning, the backlash was so immediate the Coast Guard completely reversed course by Thursday night. But here’s the tell: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s spokesperson attacked the Post as publishing “baseless smears and revolting lies” even as the Coast Guard confirmed the policy existed and then changed it. This is the same Coast Guard that fired its first female commandant on Trump’s first day in office for focusing on diversity initiatives. When your military can’t decide if swastikas represent hate, the rot runs deep.
4️⃣ PENTAGON “ACCIDENTALLY” INVADES MEXICO
U.S. Defense Department contractors in masks landed on Playa Bagdad in Tamaulipas, Mexico this week and hammered six signs into the sand declaring it “Department of Defense Property.” They were a dozen miles south of the actual border. Mexican Navy Marines showed up with machine guns, yanked out all the signs, and the contractors sped off while the Pentagon claimed “altered perception of the international boundary’s location” caused by shifting sandbars. This happened less than 48 hours after Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told Trump that cooperation on cartels is fine, but U.S. military strikes on Mexican soil are absolutely not happening. The operation appears to have been staged from Elon Musk’s Starbase facility—a deliberate test of whether Mexico would push back. They did.
3️⃣ VANCE ATTACKS CANADA’S “DIVERSITY INSANITY”
Vice President JD Vance spent the week attacking Canada, claiming “no nation has leaned more into ‘diversity is our strength’ immigration insanity than Canada” and calling it a “prime example of self-destruction after blindly following left ideology.” He told Canadians their “stagnating living standards have nothing to do with Donald Trump.” This came literally the same week Canada locked in $50 billion from the UAE, tens of billions from Sweden for fighter jet production, and over $1 billion from Germany for naval systems. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s stated goal is to double non-U.S. exports within a decade. While Vance blames diversity for Canada’s problems, Canada is building an economic architecture that doesn’t need America—and it’s working.
2️⃣ TRUMP THREATENS TO HANG DEMOCRATS
The president retweeted a Nazi account calling for Democrats to be hanged “like George Washington would,” adding his own endorsement. This came after multiple Democrats released a video featuring former CIA operative and Navy legal expert explaining that Trump has already committed over 150 unlawful acts and urging military personnel not to follow unlawful orders. Now a Democratic challenger in North Carolina’s District 5 is running explicitly on “impeach, convict, remove” as his entire platform. David Clayton dumped his prepared speech and told voters that on day one of winning his race, he’ll introduce articles of impeachment. When the president threatens to hang you for opposing him, maybe Democrats need to stop pretending this is normal politics.
1️⃣ THE EPSTEIN FILES ARE COMING
This was Trump’s worst week of his presidency. Not because of the death threats or the Mexico invasion or even Mamdani embarrassing him. It was worst because both the House and Senate voted unanimously to force the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files—and Trump had to sign it into law. There’s no procedural trick left. No executive privilege maneuver. The files are coming, likely within 30 days, and they contain what one person close to the situation called “the dirtiest things about him that nobody ever knew.”
Trump spent Friday throwing red meat to Fox News about socialism and New York’s mayor-elect, desperately trying to change the subject from the unanimous bipartisan vote that just guaranteed his Epstein nightmare goes public. He can stage meetings with Mamdani. He can threaten Democrats. He can let his Pentagon play invasion games in Mexico. But he can’t stop what’s coming—and he knows it.
The paper tiger presidency is unraveling in real time. Low energy. Discolored hands. Disassociative outbursts. And the Epstein files ticking like a bomb he can’t defuse.
The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Advertising inquiries email next@narativ.org. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.
SHOW NOTES SUMMARY
Trump’s worst week culminates in a closed-door meeting with NYC’s 34-year-old socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani—the man Trump tried everything to defeat and couldn’t intimidate. We break down the Coast Guard’s swastika policy flip, the Pentagon’s “accidental” invasion of Mexico staged from Musk’s facility, JD Vance attacking Canada the same week it secured $70B in deals that cut America out, Trump threatening to hang Democrats, and the real story: unanimous House and Senate votes forcing Epstein file disclosure within 30 days. The paper tiger presidency is unraveling.
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