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Goofy ‘God’s Army’ convoy on Texas border shows Trump’s MAGA movement is just one long con

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Goofy ‘God’s Army’ convoy on Texas border shows Trump’s MAGA movement is just one long con


Convoy riders came, in underwhelming numbers, and accomplished little beyond showing everyone how tragically gullible they are. That’s MAGA in a nutshell: loud and, in the end, impotent.

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It’s time for non-brainwashed Americans and the media at large to accept something: Former President Donald Trump’s “MAGA movement” is a tissue-paper tiger.

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This was on vivid display in Texas over the weekend. A much-ballyhooed convoy of MAGA patriots descended on a town near the southern border, ostensibly ready to protect America from what right-wing politicians like Gov. Greg Abbott cynically, dangerously and falsely call “an invasion.”

The “God’s Army” convoy was supposed to be a mighty force of 700,000 or more people from every corner of America. It wound up being maybe a couple hundred vehicles parked at a rural ranch in Quemado, Texas – basically a Trump rally without a Trump, but with plenty of hucksters selling MAGA merch and grifting the easily grifted.

MAGA was promised a Texas border ‘invasion,’ but it wasn’t there

Some actually visited the border in nearby Eagle Pass, Texas, and were surprised to not witness the invasion they had been promised.

Convoy-goer Misty Gregory told MSNBC: “It’s not what I expected, but then again I don’t know what I expected. I can tell you it’s not as bad as what I thought, so that’s kind of eye-opening in itself.”

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Abbott and about a dozen other pro-razor-wire GOP governors were in Eagle Pass on Sunday, hollering and whatnot. Some residents said the recent invasion of Trump supporters from the convoy had been downright scary.

“We are constantly being told that we’re being invaded, and that never felt true until today, when the convoy came to town in anticipation of the governors’ event,” Jessie F. Fuentes told WOAI NBC News Channel 4. “This is political theater by outsiders. The reality is that it has brought dangerous, violent groups into our beautiful, peaceful city. Eagle Pass is safer than most cities in America if you look at crime statistics. This is just a fact. We don’t appreciate these staged events that dramatically misrepresent our reality on the border and that invite extremist groups that pose a real danger to people in our community.”

In Texas, the MAGA movement again reveals its impotence

So God’s Army’s foot soldiers came, in underwhelming numbers, and accomplished little beyond showing everyone how tragically gullible they are and making the locals twitchy. That’s MAGA in a nutshell: loud, threatening and, in the end, impotent.

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Trump won the presidency in 2016, and he hasn’t won a thing since. He’s the face of this supposedly forceful political movement, but the movement mirrors its creator, a loudmouth con artist who overpromises and rarely delivers a thing.

The wall? Mexico paying for the wall? The border crisis fixed? Nope, nope and nope.

Why politicians take action: Fixing the border crisis is bad for Trump and good for Biden. That’s the problem.

The ‘God’s Army’ convoy, like all things MAGA, was a grift

MAGA is and always has been a con to line the pockets of Trump and others who saw a swath of Americans waiting to be fleeced. The fact that our border is not now lined with big, strong, gun-toting patriots willing to defend America at all costs is not surprising.

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MAGA says: “WE ARE COMING BY THE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS!” Then MAGA delivers a crowd that resembles a small county fair on a slow day, populated by a mix of conspiracy theorists, angry xenophobes and slightly befuddled hangers-on who didn’t get what they were promised. 

Bipartisan border bill shows actual attempt to address crisis

On Sunday in Washington, D.C., a bipartisan Senate bill to address the border crisis was released. It’s a serious piece of legislation that includes about $20 billion in border funds. It deserves strong consideration, but the Trump loyalists in the House have already declared it dead on arrival.

After the Senate bill was released, President Joe Biden said: “The United States Senate has done the hard work it takes to reach a bipartisan agreement. Now, House Republicans have to decide. Do they want to solve the problem? Or do they want to keep playing politics with the border?”

Oh, they’ll definitely want to keep playing politics with the border. Because that’s what Trump – the MAGA king – has told them to do. 

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People treat MAGA like an unstoppable force, but it’s not

But they are being cowed by a weenie movement that’s all smoke and mirrors. There are loud influencers who puff up the strength of MAGA, and there are, sadly, many in the political press who buy in and amplify that belief.

But MAGA, at least since Trump first took office, has been a losing movement. It’s not unstoppable. It’s not a 700,000-person convoy of devoted citizen soldiers descending on Texas in a show of force.

Biden’s woke economy: True MAGA patriots must remove themselves from Biden’s booming economy, cash out 401(k)s

It’s a comically disorganized and useless parade of con artists and the conned, drifting from one apocalyptic grievance to the next.

The border is a serious issue. But God’s Army and Trump and his slavish enablers in the House are not serious people.

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MAGA, for all its bluster, is a joke without a punchline. The sooner people recognize that the better.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on X, formerly Twitter, @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

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Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes

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Inside Trump’s Touring Exhibition of American Heroes

Video by Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.

A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”

The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.

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Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.

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MOUNT RUSHMORE, 1927

1936-1937

1933-1934

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1939

MOUNT RUSHMORE, 2025

Some of those featured are American icons who would be on just about anyone’s list of the country’s heroes. Many are already honored with monuments, holidays or their faces on coins.

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Photo cards show Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., the Wright Brothers, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton and Sacagawea.

But nine of the 51 people fit one surprising mold: They were all in show business in the 1960s.

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Photo cards show John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin, Walt Disney, Irving Berlin, Elvis Presley and Louis Armstrong.

The list also focuses on just one of America’s wars. All four people shown in military uniform served in World War II.

Photo cards show George S. Patton, Louis Zamperini, Audie Murphy and Grace Hopper.

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All four religious leaders on the wall are Christian.

The wall also features some of the wealthiest people of their time.

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Cards show Steve Jobs, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford.

Tens of millions of people have immigrated to America in the past 250 years. But the “Wall of American Heroes” includes only four immigrants, all white men born in the 19th century.

Photo cards show Irving Berlin, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie and Albert Einstein.

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The center of the display includes a long quotation by President Trump.

A wall featuring 51 photographs of people, with the space in the middle dedicated to a quotation from President Trump.

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The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.

A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.

But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.

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In May, a Freedom Truck stopped at the Villages Public Library in Wildwood, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.

By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.

“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”

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The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.

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Virginia’s display of heroes highlights little-known figures. Jason Andrew for The New York Times

Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”

The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.

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The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.

The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.

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Explore the Wall of Heroes

Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.

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Zack Wittman for The New York Times

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GOP Rep. Tom Kean, missing from Congress for months, set to return on June 30

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GOP Rep. Tom Kean, missing from Congress for months, set to return on June 30

Washington — Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey will return to Congress on June 30, his spokesperson said, after being away since March in an unexplained absence that has confounded Capitol Hill.

“Congressman Kean is eager to return to in person work on June 30 and resume a full schedule,” Kean’s spokesperson, Harrison Neely, told CBS News on Thursday. The New Jersey Globe first reported on his return date. 

Kean’s whereabouts since he last voted on March 5 have not been disclosed. When he first made a statement about the absence in late April, the New Jersey Republican said he was addressing a “personal medical issue.” 

Kean said earlier this month that he would return to Washington within a matter of weeks, at which point he would provide more details about his health.

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“Right now I am focused on my recovery and under the advice of healthcare professionals, I will transition from virtual work to in person work within a matter of weeks. At that time I will be completely transparent as to the nature of my medical condition,” Kean said in a June 2 statement released by his campaign.

The statement came hours before polls closed in New Jersey’s GOP primary for his seat, in which he ran unopposed. 

He has missed more than 130 votes during his absence.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters earlier this month that he had recently spoken with Kean. Johnson said he was aware of the health issue, but would not disclose the details. 

“What he’s dealing with is not very common and not a big thing,” Johnson said.

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Video: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago

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Video: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago

new video loaded: Obama Presidential Center Opens in Chicago

The grand opening for the Obama Presidential Center is on Thursday. Several celebrities and four living presidents, excluding President Trump, are expected to attend.

By Shawn Paik

June 18, 2026

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