President Trump

President Trump was dead-on when he said calling himself a "nationalist" is old-fashioned, but the old era he's referring to is called Nazi Germany ... according to Congressman Eric Swalwell.

Rep. Swalwell was on TMZ Live talking about Trump bragging he's a proud nationalist, who doesn't so much care about the rest of the world. Swalwell says that kind of rhetoric is best left in the past ... just like Nazism and slavery.

The Congressman says POTUS needs to understand there's a clear difference between patriotism and nationalism -- namely, that one is rooted in believing there are superior cultures.

Eric also takes issue with the President's response -- or lack thereof -- to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside Saudi Arabia's Turkish consulate.

Before President Trump enacts new policies essentially erasing the transgender community ... Carmen Carrera wants one swing -- a diplomatic one -- at convincing him he's dead wrong.

The "RuPaul's Drag Race" star tells TMZ ... she's willing to sit down with POTUS -- despite their huge differences -- and make it clear to him that trans people DO exist and it's their right to self-identify. ICYMI, Trump's administration is reportedly considering a policy that would identify everyone by their genitalia at birth.

That's pissed off the trans community, including actress Candis Cayne who ripped Trump a new one. Carmen, however, comes in peace, and hopes 45 or his peeps are down to start a conversation with her.

Yes, he broke bread with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West with highly publicized Oval Office visits, but let's be honest -- Trump inviting Carmen, Caitlyn Jenner or anyone in the transgender community to the White House seems far-fetched.

Ball's in his court.

Actress Candis Cayne is outraged at President Trump's reported plan to enforce strict new guidelines about transgender people -- because she says his real goal is silencing the community.

Candis -- who is transgender and was featured on her pal Caitlyn Jenner's reality show -- went on "The Morning Beat" with Jai and Mikalah Monday on Out Now Radio ... and ripped Trump. She thinks it's obvious he wants to shut down any national conversation about trans people, and adds ... the policy change could have bigger implications for our democracy.

If you missed it, the Trump administration is considering a plan that would identify everyone by their genitalia ... at birth, according to a NY Times report. The trans community is pissed, as you'd expect.

Although Caitlyn had been a vocal Trump supporter, she's flipped lately -- at least on some issues -- and on Monday afternoon, she made it clear she's lockstep with Candis on Trump's reported new policy.

The woman playing the role of Melania Trump and T.I.'s personal lap dancer in the rapper's salacious video has no regrets taking the gig, despite getting a bunch of death threats.

Melanie Marden tells TMZ ... her life has been threatened on a daily basis. She can't believe people are so riled up they're going after an actress just trying to make a living.

And, speaking of people with time on their hands, Melanie takes aim at the First Lady's reps for taking the rap vid waaaay too seriously.

The actress thinks everyone needs to chill and focus on real problems, like finding a cure for cancer.

Padma Lakshmi says things are so bad in the U.S. of A. now, she and lots of others have lost their ability to laugh.

We got the "Top Chef" host Thursday in NYC, and she doubled down on her take that Donald Trump is a racist and a bigot.

Beyond that ... Padma bemoans that it's hard to laugh and be funny with Trump at the helm.

Arkansas Rep. French Hill says he had absolutely nothing to do with the shocking radio ad targeting black voters with threats of white Democrats lynching black men accused of rape by white women.

French called the political ad appalling and outrageous ... saying there's no room in his state for this nonsense and making clear he in no way supports the messages.

The ad is running on Arkansas radio stations popular within the black community.

Basically, the ad suggests French and the GOP will protect black men against white women making unfounded claims of rape.

The leader of the free world is a racist, and Donald Trump's history of prejudice against minorities dates back long before he became POTUS ... so says Rep. Cedric Richmond.

The U.S. Congressman and Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus didn't dance around the subject ... saying on "TMZ Live" Wednesday Trump is a racist and racially challenged, and the terms are interchangeable when it comes to 45.

Check out the clip ... Cedric says Trump's racism stretches back over three decades to the Central Park 5, and continued through his Presidency with Charlottesville and his attacks against Maxine Waters, Don Lemon and LeBron James.

Cedric says Trump presumes guilt when any minority is accused of a crime, because DT views black people as criminals ... adding Trump's hypocrisy is evident to this day with his defense of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and the Saudi Arabian Crowned Prince.

Melania Trump's flight was cut short Wednesday morning when her plane suffered a "mechanical issue" that pumped smoke into the main cabin.

The First Lady was on her way to Philly for an event and, just 10 minutes into the flight, the pilot turned the jet back to Andrews Air Force base to deal with the mechanical problem.

A FOX News reporter aboard the flight says Secret Service handed the press corps wet towels to put over their faces to deal with the smell of smoke.

The flight landed safely, and Melania didn't seem too concerned as she deplaned.

Grab your popcorn -- President Trump and Stormy Daniels are trading biting insults, directly at each other, and as you'd probably expect he started it, she finished with ... a d**k joke.

First, POTUS did what he does Tuesday morning ... brag about his victory over Stormy in her defamation lawsuit. As we reported, it was dismissed Monday -- and he celebrated by tweeting "Now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas."

Ouch, right?

Not to worry, Stormy fired back, "In addition to his ...umm...shortcomings, he demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality."

Gotta give her 2 bonus points for the self-effacing humor. Her final low blow? "Game on, Tiny."

Here's how we're scoring it at the buzzer:
Trump - 1
Daniels - 3

We hope suspect this ain't over, though.

James Prince thinks it's stupid to avoid interacting with people who have a different world view, and that's why the rap mogul tells us he's willing to have a conversation with President Trump in the Oval.

J Prince was on Van Lathan's 'Red Pill Podcast' talking about his new book, 'The Art & Science of Respect,' when he said he'd accept an invitation to the White House ... promising to lobby for the black community if he goes to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The Rap-A-Lot Records CEO has tons of experience with famous rap beefs ... so he's no stranger to reaching across the aisle to try and ease tension and settle differences.

Some critics have said Kanye West brought a circus to the Oval, but J Prince says his visit would be totally different.

Check out the full episode with James below, and catch 'The Red Pill' weekly on SoundCloud.

8:20 AM PT -- Stephanie Grisham has elaborated on her initial tweet by releasing a statement, saying, "Like it or not, she is the First Lady and this is the White House. It's disrespectful and disgusting to portray her this way simply because of politics."

She continued, "These kinds of vulgar attacks only further the divisiveness and bias in our country - it needs to stop."

T.I. is going directly after President Trump and the First Lady with a salacious video of a Melania look-alike stripping in the Oval Office ... for T.I.!!!

Melania's office is firing back at Tip for the video he released over the weekend ... it shows him in the Oval, kicking back smoking a cigar. After Trump leaves the White House, "Melania" walks in wearing nothing but her infamous "I Really Don't Care" jacket ... but only for a few seconds.

Suddenly, she's naked and on the Presidential desk giving T.I. full view of ... everything.

T.I. was clearly trying to draw the ire of POTUS ... slapping the caption "Dear 45, I ain't Kanye" on the video.

Melania's rep Stephanie Grisham tweeted, "How is this acceptable? #disgusting #boycottT.I."

No response yet from T.I. ... but seems like mission accomplished for him.

George Lopez had a terrible time at Hooters, thanks to one giant boob who goaded him into a fight ... and TMZ has the video.

The incident went down Sunday night in New Mexico, where George had spent the week filming the movie "Walking with Herb." As you can see ... the guy was lying in wait for George when he started recording.

That's when you hear the guy say, "Here comes my boy, George," and then all hell breaks loose. You get a glimpse of George grabbing the back of the guy's neck.

A source close to George tells TMZ the guy had been in the comedian's face all night, making pro-Trump comments and yelling "MAGA." George finally had it and went HAM.

President Trump's painting featuring him with Grand Old Party presidents set the internet ablaze during his "60 Minutes" interview -- but it also lined the painter's wallet with cash.

During 45's interview Sunday night, a lot of people noticed Trump had hung up a fantasy painting on a wall somewhere in the White House. It shows Trump drinking what appears to be a non-alcoholic beverage with guys like Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, the Bushes, Ronald Reagan, Teddy Roosevelt and other Republican presidents ... who all got booze nearby.

Many art aficionados mocked 45's vanity and called the painting "tacky" and "trashy" -- and also ridiculously and slimmingly flattering. There are, however, fans ... 'cause Missouri-based artist Andy Thomas tells us business has been booming in the 24 hours since his artwork aired on TV.

Andy says he and his wife woke up Monday morning with 25 new orders for prints of his "Republican Club" painting. They typically get only 3 orders a day. He tells us 60 additional orders came rolling in an hour later.

It isn't just the GOP boys getting love -- Andy says prints of another painting he did depicting Obama and famous Democratic presidents have been flying off his digital shelves from his website.

Ronan and Mia Farrow think President Trump's painted himself into a diplomatic corner when it comes to dealing with Saudi Arabia over the apparent murder of a journalist.

We spoke to Ronan and his mom on Sunday afternoon about the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and, specifically, how the Trump administration is handling it. The Pulitzer Prize winner told us it's high time to start calling out the Saudis and other allies who have a horrible record on human rights.

As the Pulitzer Prize winner put it ... there "needs to be accountability in our foreign policy." He added, the proper response would be to send skilled and experienced diplomats to negotiate, but watch ... Ronan says Trump's already screwed himself in that department.

Reports surfaced Monday the Saudi government was preparing to admit Jamal Khashoggi was killed during an interrogation at its Istanbul embassy.

Donald Trump revealed on "60 Minutes" ... he had to mock Dr. Christine Blasey Ford at a Mississippi rally in order to get the necessary votes to put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court.

It was a stunning revelation ... Lesley Stahl grilled Trump like a cheeseburger over the now infamous campaign rally ... where Trump suggested Dr. Ford was a liar, to the delight of thousands who cackled their approval.

Stahl reminded the Prez Ford had told Senators the worst part of her high school encounter was the laughter by her assailants, and what she heard from the Mississippi crowd was laughter. Watch Trump's reaction to Stahl as he shrugs off the criticism.

Trump confessed, "Had we not made that speech we would not have won." As you know, the margin of victory was razor thin.

Prince's estate is sick of President Trump playing The Purple One's music at his rallies and is demanding he stop STAT.

The late singer's half-brother, Omarr Baker, just said on behalf of the estate ... "The Prince Estate has never given permission to President Trump or the White House to use Prince's song and have requested that they cease all use immediately."

Trump played "Purple Rain" at his rally last week in South Haven, Mississippi. It's frequently played at his rallies ... and it's not the first time 45's been told to knock it off. Steven Tyler's lawyer fired off cease and desist letters after Trump played several of his songs, including "Livin' on the Edge."

The Rolling Stones also fired off a letter during the 2016 campaign after Trump used "Start Me Up" to get the crowd revved up.