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When Donald Trump was preparing to announce his third run for office, he likely assumed the announcement would spark the beginning of a two-year period in which he would be fted the world over. Everywhere he went, people would spontaneously break into song and dance, thanking their favorite president for stepping up to rescue the country. In towns and villages throughout the United States, parades would be thrown daily in his honor, and not the kind featuring balloons depicting him as a giant, angry baby. No, these would be extremely flattering ones, giving him six-pack abs and hair that doesnt look like it could blow away in the wind. Hed call into Fox News and theyd tell the audience, We are in the presence of greatness!The Republican Party would introduce legislation abolishing the presidential primary, and just give him the nomination. And maybe theyd throw in an addendum that, once he won the general, theyd get rid of the entire electoral process.

Of course, in reality, things didnt entirely pan out that way. Almost no one in the GOP has come out to support his bid, despite his threats to punish Republicans who dont endorse him ASAP. Rupert Murdochs media empire has spent considerable time and effort telling people hes a loser. A Yahoo News/YouGov pollreleased Thursday had Florida governor Ron DeSantis beating him in 2024 by five points. Instead of 24/7 parades, he was hit this week with a guilty conviction for his family business, which a jury said committed 17 different crimes. His own daughter, the one he really likes, wouldnt even show up to his big announcement and has made it clear she wants nothing to do with his future political endeavors.

And while no one would ever accuse Donald Trump of accurately reading a room or having even the slightest grasp on reality, theres at least one indication he seems to have an inkling of an idea that his candidacy has not been as well-received as hed hoped: the fact that he reportedly has barely left the house in nearly a month.

Yes, The Washington Post reports that since kicking off his third White House bid three weeks ago, Donald Trump has barely left his private South Florida clubexcept to play golf at his course across Lake Worth Lagoon, a situation that underscores his current pariah status within the GOP.

Per The Post:

Trumps seclusion within the ornate walls of his club and a series of controversiesfrom the dinner with antisemites Ye and Nick Fuentes to a social media postsuggesting the termination of the Constitutionhave left him increasingly isolated within his party as he tries to mount a political comeback. [Herschel] Walkers loss in a Tuesday runoffelectionbecame the latest blow, prompting more Republicans to join the chorus faulting him for dragging down the partys performance in this yearsmidterms. The former president presents our biggest risk of losing for 2024, and conservatives are tired of losing, said Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Family Leader, an Iowa-based social conservative group. Even the former presidents announcement is being greeted like it never happened. Theres no buzz amongst my network at all.

The criticism of Trump for hurting Republicans at the ballot box is showing no sign of abating, and grew even louder after [the Georgia loss on] Tuesday. Its a formula that doesnt work, said Brian Robinson, a GOP operative in Georgia, explaining that the partys candidates needed to reach voters outside the Trump base. I dont think moving forward youre going to have another primary season where the litmus test is vowing to talk about the 2020 election.

For its part, Team Trump insists that the fact that the ex-president has basically become a shut-in at Mar-a-Lago is nothing to read into, with The Post reporting that they never planned to follow up his announcement with a bunch of rallies or public events. Were still two years out, the official told the outlet. Therell be a time to do events and a time to do rallies.

And of course, no one should assume that the GOP currently giving Trump the cold shoulder actually means anything when it comes to 2024. While its true that few if any people are enthused about his candidacy, thats more or less what happened when he announced his first run in 2015before they all got on board. Still, theres no harm in hoping his Howard Hughes era becomes permanent!

On the other hand, Mitt Romney would like to go on the record that hed sooner vote for Seamus the roof-shitting Irish setter for president than Trump

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Report: Trump Has Been Hibernating at Home for Almost a Month

Well, it looks like Donald Trump is under fire yet again. This time its from the House Oversight Committee, which released documents about the high rates the Trump Organization charged the Secret Service at the hotels the family owns.

This isnt the first time there have been complaints about the former president creating a taxpayer-funded windfall for himself. He reportedly charged the Secret Service upwards of $1,185 per night even though his company claimed early on in his presidency that federal employees would stay for free or at cost, according to the report. New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the panels chairwoman, noted, The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former Presidents self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trumps struggling businesses.

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The committee believes that the Secret Service agency may have spent over $1.4 million of taxpayer money to stay at Trump properties. This is of grave concern to legislators because they want to curb this practice now, so it doesnt become a habit, and future presidents are prevented from exercising undue influence on Secret Service spending.

This issue of charging the Secret Service top dollar to stay at his hotels never bothered Donald Trump and his five children, who all had protection up until July 2021. The former president has continued the practice since he has Secret Service detail for life and hes raking in the dough because the Trump Organization still isnt cutting the federal organization a deal.

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Before you go, click here to see photos of Donald Trumps family over the years.

Ivana Trump, Donald Trump

Launch Gallery: Donald & Ivana Trump's Life in Photos: A Timeline of Their Marriage & Divorce

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Donald Trump Comes Under Fire for Reportedly Charging Secret Service ...

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Former President Donald Trump is holding a rally in Texas two days before early voting starts for the November election.

The rally will be Saturday in Robstown, outside Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast. Republicans are targeting districts in the area as they try to take over South Texas congressional seats.

The rally will start at 7 p.m. at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds, according to a media advisory. Trump's team announced Tuesday that additional speakers would include Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Gov. Greg Abbott said he would not be able to attend due to an out-of-state fundraising trip.

The advisory said Trump would speak in support of his unprecedented effort to advance the MAGA agenda by energizing voters and highlighting the slate of 33-0 Trump Endorsed America First candidates in the Great State of Texas. The 33-0 figure refers to his endorsement record in the Texas primaries and runoff earlier this year, which included some incumbents who faced nominal or no opposition.

Among Trumps endorsees is Abbott who is fighting against Democrat Beto ORourke for a third term.

"I welcome President Trump back to Texas, though I wont be able to welcome him personally since I will be out-of-state for a pre-planned fundraising trip to Florida," Abbott said in a statement.

Trump carried Texas twice, but he is not particularly popular these days. The latest poll from the University of Texas at Austin found that 41% of registered voters had a favorable opinion of Trump, while 50% had an unfavorable opinion.

But Trump remains popular with the GOP base, though, and his endorsement was highly sought-after during the primaries. His last rally in Texas was ahead of the March primary, and it was held in the Houston suburbs. Abbott spoke at that rally.

In addition to Patrick and Paxton, the Saturday rally's speakers will include U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria; Tom Homan, the former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump; and Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council.

The speaking list did not include any candidates from the South Texas races that Republicans are targeting. Among them, Trump has endorsed Monica De La Cruz, a Republican running for an open seat that runs from the Rio Grande Valley up to outside San Antonio.

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Trump to hold rally in South Texas two days before early voting - The Texas Tribune

Billed by Axios as the book Donald Trump fears most, Maggie HabermansConfidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America debutedlastweek asNo. 1best-seller on Amazon and the New York Times. At 508 pages, its a challenge. But its worth the slog: the best book yet on the mystery man whostill remains, two years after being rejected for a second term, the most dominant force in American politics.

The most striking thing about the book is its title. Consider: For the New York Times, Haberman covered Donald Trump full-time for six years. During his four years in the White House, she averaged more than one Trump story a day. She was the Timess most-read reporter. Shes interviewed Trump dozens of times. Hescalled her a third-rate reporter,but he gave her three interviews for this book alonethefirst onerequestedby himbefore she even asked.

Haberman knows Trump better than any other reporter. Yet, after all that access and all that time, what words did she choose to describe Trump? TheConfidence Man,which is hardly a compliment.Merriam-Webster defines a confidence man as a person who tricks other people in order to get their money. And that, my friends, as Haberman skillfully and exhaustively relates, is Donald Trumpin a nutshell.

Habermansgreat insight, and her bookscentral premise,is that you cant understand Trump unless you track him from the beginning of his professional career, when he, somewhat reluctantly,joined his fathers real estate firm. (He originally wanted to become an actor.)Fromthat point on, she argues, hes frozen in time.Recounting countless episodes from his New York developer days, she concludes: He was interested primarily in money, dominance, power, bullying and himself. He treated rules and regulations as unnecessary obstacles rather than constraints on his behavior He sought anendless stream of praise His thirst for fame seemed to grow each time he tasted more of it.

Donald Trump the developer was Donald Trump the president. HisM.O. never changed.

Filing countless, worthless lawsuits? It didnt start in the White House, it started in Queens, when he sued every reporter, contractor ordeveloper who wouldnt accede to his demands. Notbecause he expected to winjust to intimidate them. Or, as he admitted after suing his biographer, Tim OBrien, just to make his life miserable.

Telling lies? It didnt start with the size of the crowd at his Inauguration. As a developer, he allegedlylied aboutmany things, according to Habermans and others reporting:his net worth, the value of properties, his ties to the mafia, his prowess with women.

Haberman opens her book with a string of lies an 18-year-old Donald Trump apparentlytoldabout the dedication of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, which he attended with this father.

Haberman reminds us that, essentially, Donald Trump believes in nothing but hisown greatness. Everything about him is transactional.He was a Republican before joining the Reform Party before becoming a Democrat before becominga Republican again. Hesupported abortion rightsbefore he was anti-abortion. He was for universal health care beforetrying to killObamaCare. According to Haberman, he wasnt even convincedabout building a wallasapolitical issueuntil he saw the enthusiastic responseitgenerated at campaign rallies.

Trumpisnot the first confidence man weve encountered. As chronicled by Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Thomas Mann and others, theyre a peculiarly American phenomenon. The only difference is, to our eternal regret, we elected this confidence manpresident of the United States.

Pressis host of TheBillPressPod. He is the author of From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.

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Press: Donald Trump, Confidence Man, then and now - The Hill

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) A jury on Tuesday acquitted a think tank analyst accused of lying to the FBI about his role in the creation of a discredited dossier about former President Donald Trump.

The case against Igor Danchenko was the third and possibly final case brought by Special Counsel John Durham as part of his probe into how the FBI conducted its own investigation into allegations of collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

Thefirst two cases ended in an acquittal and a guilty pleawith a sentence of probation.

Danchenko betrayed no emotion as the verdict was read. His wife wiped away tears after the clerk read the final not guilty to the four counts he faced.

WATCH: Brooks and Capehart on the Jan. 6 subpoena of Trump and whats at stake in the midterms

Danchenko didnt comment after the hearing, but his lawyer, Stuart Sears, spoke briefly to reporters, saying, Weve known all along that Mr. Danchenko is innocent. Were happy now that the American public knows that as well.

The jury reached its verdict after roughly nine hours of deliberations over two days. One juror, Joel Greene of Vienna, Virginia, said there were no real disputes among the jury and that jurors just wanted to be thorough in reviewing the four counts.

The acquittal marked a significant setback for Durham. Despite hopes by Trump supporters that the prosecutor would uncover a sweeping conspiracy within the FBI and other agencies to derail his candidacy, the three-year investigation failed to produce evidence that met those expectations. The sole conviction an FBI lawyer admitted altering an email related to the surveillance of a former Trump aide was for conduct uncovered not by Durham but by the Justice Departments inspector general, and the two cases that Durham took to trials ended in full acquittals.

Durham declined comment after the hearing, but he said in a statement issued through the Justice Department: While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the jurys decision and thank them for their service. I also want to recognize and thank the investigators and the prosecution team for their dedicated efforts in seeking truth and justice in this case.

He issued an identical statement after the first trial ended in acquittal.

The Danchenko case was the first of the three to delve deeply into the origins of the Steele dossier, a compendium of allegations that Trumps 2016 presidential campaign was colluding with the Kremlin.

WATCH: Jan. 6 committee votes unanimously to subpoena Trump

Most famously, it alleged that the Russians could have blackmail material on Trump for his supposed interactions with prostitutes in a Moscow hotel. Trump derided the dossier as fake news and a political witch hunt when it became public in 2017.

Danchenko, by his own admission, was responsible for 80 percent of the raw intelligence in the dossier and half of the accompanying analysis, though trial testimony indicated that Danchenko was shocked and dismayed about how Steele presented the material and portrayed it as factual when Danchenko considered it more to be rumor and speculation.

Prosecutors said that if Danchenko had been more honest about his sources, the FBI might not have treated the dossier so credulously. As it turned out, the FBI used material from the dossier to support applications for warrantless surveillance of a Trump campaign official, Carter Page, even though the FBI never was able to corroborate a single allegation in the dossier.

Prosecutors said Danchenko lied about the identity of his own sources for the material he gave to Steele. The specific charges against Danchenko allege that he essentially fabricated one of his sources when the FBI interviewed him to determine how he derived the material he provided for the dossier.

Danchenko told the FBI that some of the material came when he received an anonymous call from a man he believed to be Sergei Millian, a former president of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce.

Prosecutors said Danchenkos story made no sense. They said that phone records show no evidence of a call, and that Danchenko had no reason to believe Millian, a Trump supporter hed never met, was suddenly going to be willing to provide disparaging information about Trump to a stranger.

WATCH: How the anti-Trump dossier came to be

Danchenkos lawyers, as a starting point, maintain that Danchenko never said he talked with Millian. He only guessed that Millian might have been the caller when the FBI asked him to speculate. And they said he shouldnt be convicted of a crime for making a guess at the FBIs invitation.

That said, Danchenkos lawyers say, he had good reason to believe the caller may well have been Millian. The call came just a few days after Danchenko had reached out to Millian over email after a mutual acquaintance brokered a connection over email.

And Danchenkos lawyers say its irrelevant that his phone records dont show a call because Danchenko told the FBI from the start that the call might have taken place over a secure mobile app for which he had no records.

The jury began deliberations Monday afternoon after hearing closing arguments on four counts. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trengathrew out a fifth count, saying prosecutors had failed to prove it as a matter of law.

Trenga nearly threw out all of the charges before the trial began, citing the legal strength of Danchenkos defense, but allowed the case to proceed in what he described as an extremely close call.

Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.

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Think tank analyst acquitted in trial over discredited Donald Trump dossier - PBS NewsHour