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Pete Buttigieg says he was floored to see President Trump use the military as prop to help him get re-elected.

We talked to the former Democratic presidential candidate Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and he talked about how hurtful it was for him -- an Afghanistan war vet -- to see the 2 military men open the doors for Trump during what some are calling a stunt -- swearing people in as American citizens as part of the show.

A White House official skirted the issue, saying the campaign only capitalized on what was already a planned WH event. But, this wasn't on Trump's public schedule, so ...

Mayor Pete had some props for Melania Trump and her speech ... problem is, according to PB, she could not have been talking about her husband.

Kinda funny ... he says he'd like to meet the guy Melania was talking about.

Kanye West is pulling out all the stops to get on the ballot in a crucial swing state that he sorta needs to have half a chance at this thing ... and it's home to the Grand Canyon!

Sources tell TMZ ... Ye and his campaign are doing a full blitz to get his name in front Arizona voters' eyes come November, and a big part of that will lie in what KW and co. are willing to spend to get it done. Brace yourself ... we hear they'll drop half a mil if needed.

The devil's in the details ... we're told the 3rd-party petitioning group Ye has hired to gather signatures, Let the Voters Decide, is sending upwards of 100 people into the Copper State over the next week to try and gather 37,769 names ... the required number to get in.

Our sources say petitioners on the ground are getting paid $8 for every signature collected, so if you do the math ... that adds up quick. Ye's got money to blow though, obviously. Fact is ... Kanye needs Arizona considering he's been booted off nearly as many ballots he's on.

If you've been keeping counts ... Ye has qualified to appear on November ballots in eight states thus far, and he's been nixed from seven others. Arizona's a major swing state, so he's gotta lock this down if he seriously wants to contend. He's almost breaking even here.

Bette Midler is under fire for making xenophobic comments during Melania Trump's RNC speech, tweeting, "Get that illegal alien off the stage!" and "Oh, God. She still can't speak English."

The First Lady gave her speech in the rose garden of The White House, something that has never been done before. There has always been a figurative wall between 1600 Pennsylvania and campaign speeches. President Trump also appeared during the broadcast in The White House, and he drew fire dragging the military into the campaign. Two members of the military opened the doors as Trump made his entrance.

As for Midler's comments ... she is in fact an American citizen. As some pointed out in reacting to Midler ... Mrs. Trump speaks 5 languages, Slovenian, English, German, French and Italian.

Kellyanne Conway's abrupt resignation from The White House may not be enough to save her family, because her daughter still wants to be emancipated ... she fiercely wants it.

15-year-old Claudia Conway went back on her favorite platform -- TikTok -- to bemoan her family situation and is pleading with her fans to hook her up with a lawyer so she can free herself from her family.

Claudia says the strife in her family is out of control ... adding it's so bad she's become numb to crying.

You'd think Claudia would side with her dad, George, because they both despise Donald Trump ... but Claudia says her dad doesn't care about her and has even been abusive to her, although she offered no evidence. She also says her mom got her arrested.

George has also left The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump org ... again, it seems so he can repair his family, but it doesn't seem to be working.

It sounds like Claudia is on her way to emancipation ... at least financially. She says she pays for everything -- phone bills, hair, etc. She even just landed a new job to pay for things.

Kellyanne and George Conway's daughter says she's reached her breaking point and wants to be emancipated from her parents.

As you know by know, 15-year-old Claudia Conway has been in a TikTok war with her parents, and it's all rooted in politics and Donald Trump ... something that has deeply divided the family.

Claudia hates -- HATES -- Trump. She's a supporter of Black Lives Matter, and a big fan of AOC -- Claudia once tweeted the Congresswoman asking her to adopt the 15-year-old. Claudia's views are the polar opposite of her mom's ... thus the epic feud.

Claudia tweeted, “I’m officially pushing for emancipation. Buckle up because this is probably going to be public one way or another, unfortunately. Welcome to my life,” Kellyanne has tried keeping her daughter off social media, but not only didn't it work ... it backfired in a big way.

Claudia's views are definitely more in sync with her dad's ... who started the Lincoln Project for Republicans who despise Trump. But, she has also taken aim at her father's Republican beliefs as well.

Donald Trump's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, scorched her brother in hours of conversations which she did not know were being recorded, essentially saying he has lied and cheated his way through life.

Maryanne had various conversations with Trump's niece, Mary Trump ... never knowing Mary was pulling a Linda Tripp and recording everything, and boy did she unload.

She said as a kid her brother was a brat, and she believes he had a guy named Joe Shapiro take his SAT test, something Shapiro's widow denies. For her part, she says she did his homework.

Maryanne, who retired as a federal judge last year, was beside herself with Trump's tweets, saying, "His goddamned tweeting and lying, oh my God."  She also said, "He has no principles. None. None."

BTW ... the conversations were recorded in New York, where one party can legally record the other party without saying so. Mary Trump said she recorded Maryanne in the middle of a fight over a family inheritance, where Mary felt she was getting screwed.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is back in town to help save the Postal Service from being gutted -- and she's got a word of advice for those who wanna help, including Cher.

We got AOC Saturday on Capitol Hill, where she and other House Dems convened a rare session to pass a $25B emergency relief bill to keep the tattered USPS intact through November ... this after alleged attempts at dismantling under the Trump administration.

She tells us what her party wants to see with the money they hope to get passed -- and it goes beyond just stopping any more drastic changes than what has reportedly taken place ... AKA, removing mailboxes and sorting machines, cutting overtime for employees, etc.

AOC says this bill seeks to bring all of those things BACK to handle the influx of mail-in ballots and other Postal Service products people usually expect to be up and running ... especially ahead of a crucial presidential election. Time will tell if it passes the Senate.

Now, as for what people can do on the ground to help the cause -- like Cher recently expressed interest in doing -- Rep. Ocasio-Cortez keeps it real ... but practical too.

Kanye West may have missed another important deadline in his presidential run, and this one certainly suggests his campaign is on the rocks.

Kanye, the presidential candidate, is required by FEC rules to file a financial report if he raises or spends $100k on his campaign.

The filing deadline was August 20, but according to an FEC official ... the agency hasn't received it.

So this means one of 2 things, and neither is good for Kanye -- either he missed the filing deadline or he didn't raise $100k ... and how do you run for Prez if you can't raise $100k?

As we reported, Kanye really ramped up his campaign in late July after his off-the-rails rally in South Carolina, hiring a third-party group called Let the Voters Decide to help get him on the ballot in several states.  He's also hired a team of political advisors.

Ye spent at least $30k to get on the ballot in Illinois ... but it didn't pay off.

Kanye West will not be playing Presidential spoiler in Wisconsin ... election officials just booted him off the ballot in that crucial swing state.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission gave Kanye the heave-ho Thursday, voting by a 5-to-1 margin to exclude him from the state's ballot because he did not file signatures and paperwork before the state's August 5 deadline for independent candidates.

We'd say it's another crushing blow for Kanye's campaign if he really had a shot at winning ... which he doesn't. However, Wisconsin, and its 10 electoral votes, is a crucial battleground state in the Presidential race.

TMZ broke the story ... Kanye accused the Wisconsin Democratic Party of spying on his presidential campaign after an official complaint was filed asking the Elections Commission to check his paperwork for fake signatures.

You'll recall, Badger State Democratic officials came right out and accused Trump operatives of supporting Ye's campaign in Wisconsin purely to draw votes from Joe Biden.

The Susan B. Anthony Museum's telling President Trump to kick rocks when it comes to pardoning the activist ... essentially saying it's unwanted, much less needed.

The museum's president and CEO, Deborah Hughes, said Tuesday, in no uncertain terms, "Objection! Mr. President, Susan B. Anthony must decline your offer of a pardon." She explained ... "Anthony wrote in her diary in 1873 that her trial for voting was 'The greatest outrage History ever witnessed.' She was not allowed to speak as a witness in her own defense, because she was a woman."

Hughes continued in her blog, "At the conclusion of arguments, Judge Hunt dismissed the jury and pronounced [Susan] guilty. She was outraged to be denied a trial by jury. She proclaimed, 'I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty.' To pay would have been to validate the proceedings. To pardon Susan B. Anthony does the same."

As we reported ... Trump on Tuesday pardoned the women's rights activist for illegally casting her ballot in 1872. Remember ... it was illegal for women to vote back then.

The odd choice to pardon Susan came on the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment ... so to many, it came off like pandering.

Hughes says there's a better way the President can honor Susan ... "Enforcement and expansion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 would be celebrated, we must assure that states respect the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendments to the United States Constitution. Support for the Equal Rights Amendment would be well received."

Kamala Harris has made history ... she is the first Black female ever nominated on a major Presidential ticket, and her acceptance speech was a call to action to save America.

Harris' speech capped off a DNC night that honored women. She did not mince words, saying "Donald Trump's leadership has cost lives and livelihoods."

She spent a fair amount of time talking about her family ... especially her late mother, whom she calls the most important person in her life. Her mother raised Harris and her siblings, and wished she could have watched her accept the nomination.

Harris spent time talking about the civil rights struggle in this country, and playing off the country's struggles over the COVID pandemic, she said, "There is no vaccine for racism. We've gotta do the work."

And, on the subject of foreign relations, the shot at Trump was obvious when she said, "We [will] stand with our allies and stand up to our adversaries."

Harris' speech followed former President Obama, who made what may have been his most powerful speech ever. Obama used numerous historical references to underscore what he says are the many failings of a Trump who did not grow into the office.

Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention will be a blistering, all-out admonishment of Donald Trump ... no punches pulled.

Excerpts from the former President's upcoming DNC speech have been released, and if it stays true to form, what Obama's got to say is jaw-dropping ... and 45's not going to be pleased.

Obama obviously knows Joe Biden and supports him, but he says he held out hope Trump would rise to the occasion when he took office and take the job seriously for the sake of the country ... but it didn't happen.

He says Trump shows no interest in his job, in putting in the work or finding common ground. Obama accuses Trump of being divisive, disrespectful and using his power to help himself and his friends.

Obama claims Trump has "no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves."

Even more bluntly ... Obama says Trump hasn't grown into the job of POTUS simply because he can't do it, and points to the dire consequences he believes are the result of his incompetence.

The former Prez then addresses those who are still undecided on who to vote for -- or possibly just feel defeated at this point -- by praising and vouching for his good buddy, Joe ... who he believes can "lead this country out of dark times and build it back better."

Barack's speech comes on the heels of his wife, Michelle, also taking direct aim at Trump's failures and ripping on his poor performance in The White House

Kamala Harris is the subject of a heinous, misogynistic attack ... this one on a t-shirt that had been hawked on Amazon until moments ago.

The shirts with the phrase "Joe and the Hoe" were being sold on the mega online merchandiser's site this week before Twitter users took notice and demanded the items be removed immediately. One of the shirts even had a vile subtitle attached ... "Sniff & Blow."

Amazon tells us it removed the shirts from circulation Wednesday, and said all retailers were subject to following their sellers' guidelines ... which appear to bar this sort of blatant smear.

Still, the fact this type of product can make its way onto Amazon at all before having to be called out seems problematic to say the least. We've seen this type of stuff make it onto the site before -- outright outlandish products and/or descriptions seem to slip through the cracks pretty often.

Sad fact is ... Senator Harris' character and gender have been targeted from the moment Joe Biden announced her as his Vice President. Scores of memes vilifying her immediately went into the ether -- some of that to be expected, it's politics, after all.

But, stooping to referring to a female candidate as a "hoe," clearly crosses the line from simple political discourse.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's love of Shark Week could not be contained -- even as she was about to speak to the DNC -- and now she's got a new catchphrase with some bite ... with the Discovery Channel's stamp of approval!

The Guv was about to deliver her live speech Monday night in support of Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president when she decided to let her Shark Week flag fly, saying ... "It's not just Shark Week, it's Shark week *mouths expletive for 'mother f*****s'*"

Her joke drew big laughs from the room as she acknowledged she knew her mic was on. The way it seems to us ... she was warming up the crowd -- comprised mostly of auto workers -- and it worked.

The moment didn't air on live TV ... but thanks to the magic of live streaming, it's gone viral, already garnering merchandise production in her home state.

Not only has the Governor's remark resonated with Shark Week fans and her constituents, but our sources at Discovery tell us the channel is thrilled at Gretchen's hot mic moment.

Of course, Shark Week 2020 just ended ... but it's never too early to hype up 2021.

President Trump's new Postmaster General is doing a major about-face ... suspending all major changes to the USPS until after the November election.

Louis DeJoy announced Tuesday that in order to avoid even the appearance of voter suppression, he's immediately suspending the curtailing of retail hours at the post office, vowing to keep mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes in place ... and overtime for postal workers will continue to be approved as needed.

He also says no mail processing facilities will be closed.

Good for the country ... but there's a caveat. DeJoy said these measures will go into effect after the election, so ultimately it sounds like it'll be bad news for USPS employees ... it's just been delayed.

No word on whether the Post Office will bring back the blue collection boxes it has already removed across the country. Some blue collection boxes have also reportedly been locked in some cities, including Los Angeles.

DeJoy -- a longtime Trump ally with zero experience in the Post Office -- made the move just days before he's set to testify in front of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. That hearing, and a Congressional hearing next week, are being held following accusations DeJoy's intentionally hindering the USPS's ability to handle the expected mass volume of mail-in voting this year.

President Trump has revealed whom he's going to pardon this week -- and no, it's not Joe Exotic ... strangely, it's Susan B. Anthony.

DT made the announcement Tuesday after hyping up the fact the day prior he was going to pardon someone major, saying Anthony shouldn't have been found guilty for casting a vote in the presidential election of 1872 ... which was illegal for women to do back then.

It's a bizarre choice and comes off as a desperate appeal to women before the November election -- especially on the 100-year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. We get it ... but fact is, there's plenty of still-living people that could've used the pardon now.

Still, since we're talking SBA -- here's the story on her conviction ... which was issued under sketchy circumstances and probably didn't need official rectifying all these years later.

Susan broke the voting law in protest that year when Ulysses S. Grant was facing off against Horace Greeley. Like we said, only men were allowed to cast ballots in those times -- but the women's suffrage movement was in full swing ... and Susan was leading the charge. She and about a dozen other women were given access to the booths.

She was one of many arrested and tried for voting -- but the judge presiding over her case actually directed the jury to hand down a guilty verdict, which they did. All she had to do was pay a $100 fine, but she resisted ... standing on principle she'd done nothing wrong.