Will Weissert, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - From left, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, look at portraits of former presidents as President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, May 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Trump on past presidents: Ike was ‘underrated,’ FDR ‘amazing,’ Polk ‘sort of a real-estate guy’

July 8, 2025

President Donald Trump has shared his unique takes on past presidents and their portraits while discussing his White House redecorating efforts. Speaking during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump explained how he personally selected portraits to redecorate the White House’s Cabinet Room, and admitted to sometimes liking the frames as much as the portraits they surrounded. He noted that James K. Polk was “sort of a real estate guy,” and called Dwight Eisenhower underrated. He referred to the “Great Andrew Jackson” and said that Franklin D. Roosevelt was “amazing.” As he has in the past, Trump also heaped praise on William McKinley and his love of tariffs.

‘Dear Donald.’ Trump posts fawning private text from NATO chief on social media

June 24, 2025

A message from NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte to President Donald Trump heaps praise on him as he heads to a two-day NATO summit. The message starts by congratulating Trump on his “decisive action in Iran” and then gets even more flattering, gushing about perhaps achieving “something NO American president in decades could have done.” Rutte says Trump’s ordered U.S. bombing in Iran “makes us all safer.” The Republican president posted the message on his social media site Tuesday. The message appeared to be sent via Signal, a private messaging app that sparked scandal for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. NATO and the White House won’t say how the message was sent.

Trump says Gabbard was ‘wrong’ about Iran and Israeli strikes could be ‘very hard to stop’

June 20, 2025

President Donald Trump says his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was “wrong” when she previously said that the U.S. believed Iran wasn’t building a nuclear weapon. In comments Friday before an evening fundraiser in New Jersey, Trump also suggested that it would be “very hard to stop” Israel’s strikes on Iran in order to negotiate a possible ceasefire. Trump has recently taken a more aggressive public stance toward Tehran as he’s asked for more time to weigh whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility. The facility is buried under a mountain and believed to be out of the reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs.

A fan takes a photo with Savannah Chrisley, daughter of reality television star Todd Chrisley, after she spoke outside the Federal Prison Camp, Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Pensacola, Fla. (AP Photo/Dan Anderson)

Trump issues series of pardons for politicians, a union leader and a rapper

May 28, 2025

President Donald Trump has issued a new series of pardons, awarding them to a former New York congressman, a Connecticut governor, a rapper known as “NBA YoungBoy,” a labor union leader and a onetime Army officer who flaunted safety measures during the coronavirus pandemic. Trump also commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader serving a life sentence. Trump’s actions mixed his willingness to pardon high-profile Republicans and other supporters, donors and friends with the influence of Alice Marie Johnson, whom Trump recently named his pardons czar after he offered a pardon to her in 2020.

President Donald Trump gestures while answering a reporter's question during an event in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Monday, May 12, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Trump relishes uttering the outlandish. Here’s where some of his most showstopping comments stand

May 22, 2025

It may start as a casual aside, a wee-hours social media post or a much hyped announcement. Whatever the delivery mechanism, President Donald Trump loves to toss out startling ideas aimed at dropping jaws, commanding headlines and bolstering his political brand. His sometimes implausible notions may turn into reality, or — through repetition — no longer sound so outlandish. At other times, Trump just moves on. Some ideas just seem to fade away or go underground. From U.S. annexation of Canada, Greenland and Panama to checking out Fort Knox to see if the gold is still there, some of Trump’s jaw-droppers are still going, while others came to nothing.

President Donald Trump speaks as he hosts the 2025 NCAA Champion, University of Florida men's basketball team in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump hosts NCAA basketball champion Florida Gators at the White House

May 21, 2025

President Donald Trump has honored the 2025 NCAA basketball champion Florida Gators at the White House, proclaiming that “lesser teams would have crumbled” during its nail-biting title game victory. “It was looking bad,” Trump said, noting that Houston led by as many as 12 points in a game Florida rallied to win 65-63 in San Antonio in April. ”Did you think you were going to win?” Wednesday’s East Room ceremony featured top Trump administration leaders from Florida, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody.

President Donald Trump speaks during a Kennedy Center board dinner in the State Dining Room at the White House, Monday, May 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Trump vows to turn the Kennedy Center around as he seeks to remake arts and culture in America

May 20, 2025

President Donald Trump hosted the Kennedy Center’s leadership, reinforcing how much time he’s devoting to remaking one of the nation’s premier cultural centers in a larger effort to ideologically and socially overhaul the nation’s arts scene. Monday night’s meeting in the White House’s State Dining room of the center’s board of trustees follows Trump firing its previous members and announcing that he’d serve as chair. Trump called it a “hot board” and said of the center, “We’re gonna turn it around.” He also said of running the board, “When I said, ‘I’ll do this,’ I hadn’t been there” and joked, “That’s the last time I’ll take a job without looking at it.”

Will Weissert.

Trump on past presidents: Ike was ‘underrated,’ FDR ‘amazing,’ Polk ‘sort of a real-estate guy’

‘Dear Donald.’ Trump posts fawning private text from NATO chief on social media

Trump says Gabbard was ‘wrong’ about Iran and Israeli strikes could be ‘very hard to stop’

Trump issues series of pardons for politicians, a union leader and a rapper

Trump relishes uttering the outlandish. Here’s where some of his most showstopping comments stand

Trump hosts NCAA basketball champion Florida Gators at the White House

Trump vows to turn the Kennedy Center around as he seeks to remake arts and culture in America

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