Soon after President Trump and Pete Hegseth launched their “excursion” into Iran, a fundraising email was sent out to MAGA supporters, announcing a “massive and ongoing operation” against that country, with a warning that “Democrats want to see us divided.” It encouraged supporters not to “stay silent at this moment,” and to support Trump personally by supporting US troops in carrying out Trump’s new war. The email begins, “It’s Team Trump, and we’re asking every SINGLE Trump supporter who stands with President Trump and our brave US troops in carrying out this mission to let us know by signing the Official Trump Supporter List NOW.” You guessed it! The “supporter list” is a donation form to send cash for Trump’s campaign cash flow — and to support US troops in the process? Trump is calling attention to our military that he placed in harm’s way, in a supposed bipartisan duty, to link their deployment and military actions to his partisan cash grifting. Hardly ethical, you think?

This is all a part of a Trump call for “Team Effort,” as he asks other countries to help him secure the Hormuz Strait out of responsibility — to do their part to get him out of a jam. The US “decimated” Iran, so they owe us, but then failing to mention that the only thing decimated is the taxpayers’ wallets. The president has alienated other countries with his insults, his disrespectful comments, and has dismissed them and pushed them away with unfair tariffs to the point that his depravity disgusts them — a storm cloud in his own private Idaho, as Bocha Blue writes on the Palmer Report. Trying to turn things around isn’t working for him, as he had no plan to start with. His childlike confusion and misjudgment on tariffs broke the US economy which is now in worse shape with soaring gas prices, and consumer goods becoming less affordable as economic growth hits a downward spiral. And despite the ‘Help me!‘ sign he’s waving, even a red-tipped white cane and dark glasses will do Humpty Trumpy no good.

Bill Palmer says Trump appeared even dumber last week, when he attempted to highlight the fact that he gifted his cabinet members with new shoes — probably from a closeout sale, so sizing didn’t matter. Palmer mentions an interview the president did with Jake Paul, an actor and professional boxer, with an internet presence. Palmer says Paul is also famous for being an idiot, so the interview was likened to a Richard Nixon sit-down with the Three Stooges, who he reminds us were merely actors. In the interview, Trump claimed that as many as seventeen hundred Iranian sleeper cells existed in the US — news that we could have used sooner, exclaims Palmer — so, perhaps Trump, Noem, and Bovino could have used their thugs to smoke out the sleeper cells instead of rounding up Hispanic-looking people and murdering white onlookers. Palmer points to Benjamin Netanyahu for giving Trump the sleeper cell rumor, but that we shouldn’t worry regardless, with Jake Paul’s entry into the case.

Daily Dose of Democracy says the war has finished its third week with no end in sight, even with Trump asking for global ‘partners’ to help secure the Hormuz Strait against a “decimated Iran” to release oil tankers to guarantee the global energy supply. President ‘No New Wars’ Trump thumbed his nose at US intelligence, thanks to ‘Bibi’ Netanyahu, and threatening supposed close allies with an “or else” demand is getting him nowhere in cleaning up his mess. Former US allies are forming new partnerships without us because of the chaos, the instability, and the reckless handling of the Iran conflict. Recently Trump remarked that he would know the Iran war was over when he “feels it in his bones,” but we shouldn’t feel assured since he probably is waiting for his bone spurs to reappear.

Satirist Andy Borowitz offers his take on Trump’s Iran debacle: “Washington – Confirming the suspicions of many in the international community, on Monday Donald J. Trump revealed that intelligence played ‘no role’ in his decision to go to war with Iran. ‘People keep asking me about intelligence,’ he told reporters on Air Force One. ‘I made this call with no intelligence whatsoever. Quite frankly, every decision I’ve ever made in my life I’ve made without intelligence,’ he boasted. ‘Intelligence is for losers.’ Trump added that ‘I don’t trust people who have intelligence, which is why I love Pete.””

Australian Richard Quick posted on Quora: “Alright, this one’s for the MAGA crowd. Sit down, shut up, and pay attention because I’m only going to explain this once and I’m using small words so the flag emoji patriots can follow along. Your boy just let the International Energy Agency announce the biggest emergency oil release in its 50 year history. 400 million barrels. Pooled together from 32 countries. And your lot lost your collective minds like Daddy just saved the world. Let’s do the math that none of you peanuts can do: The world uses about 105 million barrels of oil a day. That means your big beautiful release is less than four days of global supply. That’s not a solution…that’s a long weekend. The entire IEA strategic reserve across all 32 countries is only 1.2 billion barrels, so this one release just burned through a third of the whole planet’s emergency safety net in one go. One crisis. One third of the cupboard…gone.”

Quick continues: “But it gets dumber. Keep up. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Twenty percent of the world’s oil flows through that strait, right now none is moving. Citigroup estimates somewhere between 11 and 16 million barrels a day is being choked off the market. So even if you’re just trying to plug the gap from the strait, 400 million barrels buys you roughly a month. But it gets dumber. America’s share of this is coming from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which only holds 415 million barrels right now. That’s 58% of capacity because your guy never actually refilled the thing despite telling you he did. If the US shoulders the biggest chunk of this release, your tank is basically empty. And then what happens when the NEXT crisis hits? Because there’s always a next one.”

Quick’s post adds: “And the US can only physically pump oil out of the reserve at 4.4 million barrels a day, and it takes 13 days from a presidential order before a single barrel reaches the market. So even if they turned on the taps right now, the cavalry doesn’t arrive for two weeks and when it does it can’t keep up with the shortfall. Meanwhile the bloke who started the war that closed the strait in the first place is on local TV In Cincinnati going ‘we’ll reduce it a little bit then fill it up again,’ like he’s talking about the fuel tank on his golf cart. And you clapped. You actually clapped. This isn’t a rescue plan. It’s a press release designed to keep the stock market calm for 48 hours. A band-aid on an arterial bleed. Thirty two countries just torched a third of the world’s emergency oil supply because your president started a war he can’t finish, and if this drags past summer, the cupboard is bare, prices are in triple digits, and there is no Plan B. So, yeah champ, pop a Bud Light. Slap a bumper sticker on it. The adults are definitely in charge.”

HuffPost’s Lee Moran calls our attention to The New York Times‘ editorial board’s damning assessment of Trump’s false claims about the US-Israeli attack on Iran in an opinion piece that warns of the dangers of an ultimate backfire. There’s nothing new about the conflict in the president’s “stream of falsehoods,” since “Lying is standard behavior for Mr. Trump, of course,” the board suggests, noting the 30,000 misleading or untruthful claims from his first term as compiled by The Washington Post. The Times’ board argues that, “Lying about war is uniquely corrosive, creating a culture in which deadly mistakes and even war crimes can become more common, ultimately undermining American values and interests.”

The editorial board acknowledges, “There is reasonable debate to have about the wisdom of this war, given what is described as Iran’s ‘murderous’ government and threats to people at home and abroad. But Trump is not making that case, and is just lying about the reasons for the war and about its progress, in an attempt to disguise his poor planning and the war’s questionable basis.” Trump and his MAGA mob have given so many different answers for the various aspects of the incursion, what its actual objectives are, and how long it’s projected to last, that they’ve run out of fingers on which to count motives. Pointing to past conflicts, the board says that Vietnam and Iraq should have reminded leaders that falsehoods can boomerang on the perpetrators who tell them. “Whatever short-term gain Mr. Trump thinks he is getting by lying about the war in Iran is far exceeded by the cost to him, the country, and the world,” the Times concludes.

In one of his unhinged threats to Iran, last week Trump threatened to take out the country’s electrical grid and energy infrastructure “after 48 hours” if they didn’t capitulate and open the Hormuz Strait for oil tanker access. However, the threatened strikes were postponed when Trump announced that talks had made Iran “keen to make a deal.” “Major points of agreement” were said to have been reached, but Iran’s media poured cold water on the president’s announcement, saying there has been no “direct or indirect communication” between parties. After Trump’s post on social media, oil prices declined and the stock market responded positively, but many remained skeptical about the accuracy of the president’s comments. His claim that US envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were in touch with “a top person” representing Iran for the backchannel talks — not Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

President Trump claims that “regime change” is underway in light of the peace talks — an unidentified leader, Trump calling him “the most respected, and the leader,” who gets five days to produce results, or “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.” Khamenei hasn’t been seen since he was selected to take his father’s place, and as far as his control goes, most believe the Revolutionary Guard are calling the shots. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, says he has spoken to Hakan Fidan, his Turkish counterpart who has served as an intermediary in negotiations between Tehran and Washington, with Trump claiming that it’s difficult to find somebody to talk with since most of the Iranian leadership has been wiped out. John Byrne of Raw America says, “The question of whether this ends well for Iran is open. The US has significant military advantages it hasn’t fully deployed. But what isn’t open is whether this war is going the way Trump promised. It isn’t. And everyday the strait stays closed, Iran’s leverage grows.”

Anthony Davis on Substack, says Trump is demented and deluded, and thinks he’s hosting a reality show. Trump developed some “swagger in his real estate dealings, being performative, a little slippery, and often effective,” but that same instinct doesn’t transplant onto international diplomacy. “It doesn’t make you a savvy negotiator — it makes you unreliable, sometimes dangerously so,” says Davis. Therein lies the problem with Trump’s claims that the US is engaged in productive conversations with Iran, with Tehran’s complete denial of any talks. In a real estate deal or on a reality show such as The Apprentice, this might work, but right now, “those decisions are not abstract. The backdrop here is an active conflict: airstrikes, missile attacks, threats to obliterate infrastructure, and warnings of a regional escalation. In that environment, words are not cheap. They are signals. When a president says talks are underway and progress is being made, it suggests de-escalation,” observes Davis.

If those talks don’t exist, the signal is false — it’s destabilizing — and intermediaries trying to broker something real are left to clean up the narrative mess, and Iran has every incentive to dig in further rather than play along with a fiction resembling a reality TV show with no commercial breaks. Davis asserts, “Credibility, in this context, is currency. Not a moral virtue, not even trust in the traditional sense, but predictability. Other actors need to believe that when you say something publicly, it roughly corresponds to reality. That doesn’t mean full transparency — diplomacy often requires secrecy — but it does mean avoiding statements that are flatly contradicted by the other side. When that baseline collapses, every future statement is discounted.” It signals that there may be no real process at all, especially since Trump said just last week that we have no one to talk to since we’ve killed them all.

It is impossible to close a “deal” with a country that insists no deal is being discussed, and if those claims drift from the truth, the cost is embarrassment, confusion, miscalculation, and escalation. Davis concludes, “If there is a path out of a conflict as volatile as this one, it will to be paved with bravado. It will require quiet channels, verifiable steps, and a level of message discipline that resists the urge to declare victory before a conversation has even begun. Anything less isn’t negotiation. It’s performance — and Trump just wants to be the star of the show.”

Even without a resolution on the Iran war, Trump is rubbing his hands together about his next target. Talking to reporters, he said, “Cuba’s a failed nation. Cuba also wants to make a deal and I think we will pretty soon — make a deal or do whatever we have to do. I think something will happen with Cuba pretty quickly.” Being cut off from its oil supply from Venezuela which is  now under US control, the country has had rolling blackouts and suspended air links. Cuba has been existing under a 1960s embargo emplaced by the US, with only hit and miss support from Russia or China, so Trump is ready to carry out a “friendly takeover” of the island as a neighborly gesture to ease their pain — and find Castro’s stash of gold. Thom Hartmann of Raw America says, “We need to understand what’s really happening here. It’s not just foreign policy. It’s a pattern of a president who’s discovered he can use military force without consequence, without congressional pushback, and without a media willing to challenge him. Once a democracy lets that become normal, it’s very hard to walk it back.” See you in C-U-B-A!

Borrowing a line from comedian Steven Wright who said, “The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese,” we might classify President Donald Trump as the early bird in his June 2025 bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, as the first mouse, the president is caught in his own trap, as Benjamin Netanyahu sweeps in to claim his prize of deciding who gets credit for initiating the second incursion into Iran — in the planning stages since November. As John Stoehr of The Editorial Board states, our ally put Trump in a no-win situation toward launching an illegal war, though Trump could have condemned Netanyahu after the fact; but, apparently the appeal of being in a war had a greater influence on the commander of the world’s mightiest military. Allowing the foreign head of state to lead him around by the nose has resulted in a plethora reasons for entering into combat, and no matter how unconvincing those reasons put forth by him and his cabinet may be, it still draws attention — in the views of many — that Trump is probably not entirely in charge. It’s like Netanyahu told him, “I couldn’t repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder.”

That viewpoint is problematic for many in Congress who declare that if Trump was not acting in our self-defense, then this is a war of choice which did not receive the consent of that governing body. Now, Trump will have to explain himself, risking his being held accountable for consumer prices, the rocky Wall Street situation, and chaos and destruction all around the Middle East as the war spreads. The best White House rationale for the war is that the US was forced to attack, because if Iran was forced to defend itself against a lone Israeli attack, they would also launch attacks on US facilities in the region. Trump asserted to CNN that in his opinion “Iran was going to attack first if the US didn’t.” If the MAGA crowd has faith in this lie, Trump will have affirmed his dominance. If he’s seen as Netanyahu’s puppet, this will be problematic far beyond the abstract debates in Congress over war powers. The problem the president has initiated for himself is not rooted in high-minded principles like freedom and national sovereignty, but in conspiracy theory and antisemitism — terms given the veneer of respectability by right-wing intellectuals and gullible reporters.

The largely ignored isolationist group, America First Committee, has an unshakeable belief in a global Jewish conspiracy against America, which was beneath the drive to release the Epstein files in the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump represented the God-sent hero to fulfill a prophecy to save America from a secret cabal of powerful Jews involved in sex-trafficking young girls to untouchable elites, with Jeffrey Epstein heading this syndicate. John Stoehr says, “Once reelected, Trump was supposed to bring them all to justice. When he didn’t, he triggered a crisis of faith that can be registered in polling that lumps him in with the rest of the ‘wealthy elites’ who act with impunity for the law — the so-called ‘Epstein class.'” However, these supporters can shift from anti-war to pro-war as smoothly as has the president; but not being rooted in high-minded principles — only Jew-hate — supporters are not going to warm up to the appearance of an American president seeming to take orders from the leader of a Jewish state. Instead, they might see Trump doing to believers in America First what he has done to supporters who demanded the release of the Epstein files. Thus, the president’s lie that he forced Netanyahu’s hand. Yet, this assertion of dominance is compounded by his heel-turn in the Epstein files case — the crisis of faith within MAGA leaves a growing suspicion that instead of destroying the global Jewish conspiracy against America, he has joined it.

The host of Anchor Watch on Lincoln Square, retired Navy commander Bobby Jones, offered his opinion on a week’s worth of warfare with Iran: “It’s important that people understand this is not going to be something that is a shot-term or easy operation to get out from under. If we’re not careful, it’s going to make Afghanistan and Iraq look like a church picnic.” To emphasize the lack of leadership, Jones says, “Depending on which one of the three — Trump, Hegseth, or Rubio — you’re talking to, you get a different justification for why these actions are taking place, which is a telltale sign that strategically, people are not aligned across the board.” Donald Trump’s claims of an imminent Iranian threat are so unbelievable that the Associated Press had given him personal ownership of the fiasco, reporting that Republicans in Congress stopped a war-powers vote last week concluding efforts to end ‘Donald Trump’s war against Iran.’ Pete Hegseth, obviously replaying one of his favorite video games, said, “This was never meant to be a fair fight. And it is not a fair fight. We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

The Raw America blog reports that as President Trump was threatening Iran with annihilation on Truth Social, the “White House was quietly doing something that should alarm every mayor, police chief, and sheriff in America: blocking the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center from warning local law enforcement that his war has raised the terror threat on American soil.” The Daily Mail reported that the three agencies had prepared a five-page joint intelligence bulletin entitled ‘A Public Safety Awareness Report: Elevated Threat in the United States During US-Iran Conflict’ to send to state and local authorities. Detailed were elevated threats from Iranian government operatives, Iranian proxies, threats to Jewish and Israeli institutions, and the danger that radicalized individuals of varying ideologies might use as cover for their violence. Local law enforcement will never know how to respond because the bulletin never went out — Department of Homeland Security gave the White House a heads-up beforehand and Trump’s cronies put it on hold.

The White House didn’t deny killing the bulletin, with spokeswoman Abigail Jackson offering that the administration was “ensuring information being disseminated is accurate, up to date, and has been properly vetted.” A senior DHS official slammed the decision with, “They don’t want anything getting out that says what they’re doing in Iran is raising the threat level at home.” Such bulletins are meant to be politically untouched — neutral, fact-based, and issued without White House input. Such speculation was borne out in an Austin, Texas bar after Operation Epic Fury was launched, when a gun-toting supporter of the Iranian regime opened fire, killing three people and wounding fifteen before law enforcement dispatched him. Following the incident, FBI Director Kash Patel placed counterterrorism teams on high alert nationwide. As Raw America says, “The threat is real. The bulletin was real. And the White House sat on it.”

Hegseth’s accusations against the Islamic Republic that it is “hell-bent on prophetic Islamic delusions,” and Rubio’s statement that the country needed to be attacked now because “that entire regime is led by radical clerics who make decisions based on their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one,” stand in contrast to the executors of the war which phrase the conflict in apocalyptic terms of their own — that they are fulfilling the promises of their own holy books, and that their justice is in fact God’s. As Séamus Malekafzali, journalist and writer focusing on Middle East politics, writes in The Nation, “Both the US and Israel have long asserted the right to commit imperial violence with impunity, while expecting other countries to pay a high price if they do the same. Now that double standard is being applied to the idea of holy war itself. Theocracy, it would seem, is wrong only when some people do it. To play an old trope: ‘The apocalyptic prophecies are coming from inside the house.‘”

The Raw America site exposes the central horror of this moment: “Plainly, we are fighting a war under the direction of a man whose motivations nobody — not his allies, not his Cabinet, not the people who work for him every single day — can fully explain. Trump has made something of a brand out of this. He brags, openly, that nobody knows what he’s going to do because he doesn’t know what he’s going to do. In a previous life, in a different kind of man, that might be strategic ambiguity. In Donald Trump, it is simply the truth.” As for the people around him, Marco Rubio wears the expression of a man who has realized the building is on fire. JD Vance has pivoted so many times he’s lost track of which direction he’s facing. And even Benjamin Netanyahu, after wanting American military action for decades, has the energy of a man attempting to cash a check before the bank changes its mind.

It comes down to one person who understands Trump most clearly — Jared Kushner — who is not in the government but is likely running foreign policy for his father-in-law. Jared collecting a $2B investment from a Saudi-backed fund after leaving office in Trump’s first tenure, earned Trump’s respect, despite not being a pART of the DEAL — or was he? The Donald’s reaction was  blissful unawareness in his expression of satisfaction: “Jared can really work the Arabs. They like Jews to handle the money.” For some — who question what Trump sees in this war — it has nothing to do with strategic interest, security, or regional stability, but something far simpler: what’s in it for him! The oil in Iran (which the Israelis are burning, to his horror), reconstruction money, and Persian Gulf sovereign wealth funds looking for a post-war landscape to invest in. Perhaps Trump can’t explain why he’s taken us to war, but his son-in-law will figure out what it all means and how to profit from it.

As Steve Schmidt tells us in The Warning, “Only a fool would be surprised to discover that Jared Kushner is at the center of a growing scandal around highly sensitive national security matters — a torrent of corruption that follows in the footsteps of Kushner and Trump’s Middle East negotiator, Steve Witkoff.” Schmidt says it is stunning, with no words to adequately describe the depravity of the theft and their betrayal of the USA, as the full details of the sale of America’s most sensitive computer chips to the UAE become known. It is estimated that the Trump and Witkoff families pocketed $187 million and $31 million, respectively, in the sellout of American security, not in a corrupt business deal, but in an act of espionage. While The New York Times detailed Kushner’s $2 billion deal in April 2022, no one seemed to care, but Schmidt calls the corruption so gargantuan that it is beyond comprehension.

Trump has shattered every convention and tradition that requires dignity and integrity, while obliterating the law, duty, responsibility and obligation. Even the honor of being twice-elected to the presidency only bolstered his belief that his temporary power was a license to take, steal, smash, punish, destroy and avenge, with the current term experiencing his unleashing of cruel Gestapo-like secret police to terrorize the American people. Kushner has been an abhorrent contributor to American decline and division over the last eleven years, a sinister and corrupt figure who perfectly represents the fantastical levels of corruption that have engulfed Washington, DC in the Trump years. Schmidt describes Kushner as a soft-handed and fragile-boned child of privilege, whose only skill is the flattery of sociopathic egos. His family’s wealth obscured his mediocrity as he entered Harvard University, before diving into the “jungles of Manhattan” where he continued to prove that any child of an indulgent billionaire parent can make it anywhere…’New York, New York!‘

Kushner’s failed business decisions found him drifting into the Oval Office with Donald Trump, where they have done more damage to the US than any people since Secession, adding $6.7 trillion to the national debt, but parlaying $2.4 billion in personal income into their pockets. Anything and everything was for sale, with the American people being cut out of the equation, as the government was only for the Trump Crime Syndicate and the MAGA movement, with Kushner serving as an “informal advisor.” The ‘advisor’ was denied a security clearance, failing background investigations, as security officials deemed him untrustworthy and not to be trusted with classified information. Not a problem for father-in-law Don who then gave him the highest level security clearances, leading the classified-briefings-loving Jared to request them more often than any staff member as he began his flitting around the world as an architect of Middle East ‘peace.’ Both Jared and wife, Ivanka Trump, were “mediocrities who were unread, inexperienced, sheltered, arrogant beyond measure, and surprisingly simple fraudsters who didn’t know very much about anything except where to look for money,” says Schmidt.

Understood by most, that the US Congress is a thoroughly broken institution, though shining through is the January 6 Committee which showed what is possible when honorable men and women come together, putting America ahead of political parties and cults of personality. Schmidt says that in this vein, the Kushner payoff deserves scrutiny by Congress, counter intelligence officials, and the media until every detail comes out. Extremist movements are always corrupt and corrupt movements always become extremist movements — the NRA and CPAC being perfect examples of this circumstance. We should all care about knowing the details of what Jared Kushner did to get this money, as well as the reasoning behind Director of National Intelligence’s Tulsi Gabbard locking away in a safe a whistleblower’s report about Kushner.

President Trump has been insisting that he must be personally involved in the process of selecting a new leader in Iran, and that the Iranians are “wasting their time” in considering the 56-year old son of the late Ayatollah, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the likely replacement. Trump said, “We want someone that will bring peace and harmony to Iran — Khamenei’s son is a lightweight. Potential future leaders keep dying — everyone who wants to be leader ends up dead.” There was some political dissension among leaders in Iran about the hereditary selection of the Ayatollah’s son, which resembled a clerical version of the rule of the shah who was toppled in the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the leadership of the Assembly of Experts were in favor of this appointment for prosecution of the war. So, in the end Mojtaba was chosen to be in charge of Iran’s armed forces and any decision regarding pursuit of Tehran’s nuclear program. The successor has never held any governmental post, either elective or appointive, and he is said to be even more hard-line than his father, which will put him directly in the gunsights of the Israelis, but Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Hezbollah both issued statements of support.

Trump’s pronouncement insisting on his involvement in choosing a successor was likely to complicate efforts to end the ongoing conflict, but now that Mojtaba has been selected, our president will view him as a “transitional figure” with a bullseye on his back, even as some Iranians are “chanting for his death.” The Trump administration may be willing to keep the Iranian regime in place if they accede to US demands involving the enrichment of uranium, ending their ballistic missile program, and an end to terrorist proxies around the world. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria termed Mojtaba’s appointment “a very bad sign for the war” in that Iran’s hardliners now have the upper hand, “showing that the Iranian regime is dug in.”

So we’ll just have to wait for a slithering Trump to provide us with an answer or justification for going to war, even as he demands “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” from the Iranians. Satirist Andy Borowitz offers his take on the new Iranian leader with this: “In a blistering takedown of Iran’s new Supreme Leader, on Sunday Eric Trump claimed that the late Ayatollah’s son was an incompetent idiot who only attained his position through nepotism. ‘The last thing the world needs is yet another total bonehead getting a leg up just because of who his dad is,’ Trump said. ‘If this dope’s last name was Henderson instead of Khamenei, he wouldn’t even be in the conversation.’ He added that giving someone control over massive sums of money just because he had a powerful father is ‘a recipe for disaster.’ ‘What kind of backward country showers someone with riches because of who his dad is?’ Trump asked. ‘All I can say is, congratulations, Iran: you just chose a member of the Lucky Sperm Club.'”

LAP DOGS, WATCHING A CHILD, PILLARS CRUMBLING

President Trump received his comeuppance from the Supreme Court last week, when they handed back to him his unlawful tariffs on a fool’s gold platter. As Bill Maher joked on his show, the court told him not to mess with the money and he took it very well…NOT! The president called the ruling a disgrace, cursing at the courts. Maher mused, “He’s such a Karen. You know, I mean, everything he does. Everything is always, ‘I want to speak to the manager.’ And the Supreme Court said, ‘We’re the manager.’ After this whole year of tariffs we’ve been going through, have you been thinking to yourself, ‘why didn’t other presidents think of doing this and not confiding in Congress when the Constitution says they have to?’ They did think of it. They thought it was illegal, so they didn’t do it. Now, the president says there are other ways he can get what he wants with the tariffs. I don’t know what they are, but…if you’ve ever been to Washington, DC, and you’ve seen that majestic Supreme Court building, it’s going to make a lovely ballroom.”

David McAfee writes on Raw Story that the Supreme Court justices may be fearing for their lives after Donald Trump’s response to their legal smackdown. The impending danger possibility was broached by Temidayo Aganga-Williams, an attorney who served as an investigator for the House J6 Committee, in his appearance on MS NOW, when he was asked about Trump’s response to the court ruling against his acting on a whim. The attorney says the president went personal because he nominated two of the justices, and there could be dangerous consequences. “It’s always about the person. And I think what’s stark is that he cannot hide behind who appointed them. These are folks that he appointed, that he picked, that he shook hands with, nominating them, and espousing how great they are. And even they came down against him. So he has to go down to attacking them personally, which I think is incredibly, incredibly dangerous because it’s one thing to say a judge got it wrong, but when you attack the person, you suggest that the way to rectify this is with that person. And in a world of political violence, I think we get closer to teaching the American people that what they have to do to rectify their needs is not to go through institutions, but instead something far more dangerous. And I think that’s the path we’re down.”

Trump continues to be filled with rage at the six court judges who ruled that he exceeded his authority by imposing tariffs based on a “national emergency,” which then prompted him to immediately institute a global 10% tariff, before he decided to increase the rate to 15% the following day. He lashed out at justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in particular, saying their “families should be ashamed” of their decisions, calling them “lap dogs,” “a disgrace to our nation,” and “disloyal to the Constitution.” Joanna Coles of The Daily Beast  said that watching Trump’s news conference was like “watching a child,” threatening to do tariffs anyway. “It absolutely is the mad queen from Alice in Wonderland. ‘Off with their heads, off with their heads.'” Author Michael Wolff commented that “he wears it all on his sleeve…done that for years now,” noting that his erratic strategy can be hard for the opposition to combat. Trump now has a new enemy in Chief Justice John Roberts, in direct contrast to the friendliness seen between the two following last year’s State of the Union speech when all seemed to be peaches and cream.

Attorney Neal Katyal, who successfully argued against Trump’s tariffs before the Supreme Court, argues against the new 15% global tariffs the president wants to impose as problematic. The particular statute Trump wants to use has “no obvious application here,” and, “If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires,” said Katyal. Democratic strategist Jon Cooper responded that “Trump CANNOT legally impose a global tariff because the US doesn’t meet the clear emergency economic conditions envisioned by Section 122, and if  he tries to invoke it, it would certainly face immediate legal challenges, economic pushback, and potential congressional scrutiny.” Author James Surowiecki called the imposition of global tariffs “just ridiculous,” since Trump has made it clear that his action is for ‘retribution.’ Journalist David Stockman had the most observant solution, saying, “Help…the man needs his meds!!”

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PROTRACTED DISTRACTION, OPEN BETRAYAL, COLD WAR MOMENT

Last Monday, NPR’s revelation that their investigation into Trump’s Justice Department showed removal of Epstein files that contain allegations of sexual abuse against Donald Trump — at least 50 pages of FBI interviews with a woman who accused the current president of sexually assaulting her when she was 13 years old — gone! She was interviewed four times, resulting in documents with cross-referencing serial number stamps, which proved to NPR that those pages had vanished. Representative James Comer agreed to investigate and, remarkably, both political parties wanted answers about why the files were hiding Trump’s name. A few days later, The Washington Post reported that the Justice Department was investigating in an internal review to determine if the missing documents were wrongly withheld — Trump’s walls were closing in.

Hillary Clinton, after much fanfare back-and-forth, relented to sit for a closed-door House Oversight Committee deposition last week regarding her ties with Jeffrey Epstein, and the GOP’s attempt at humiliating her was handily turned around by her six-hour ordeal. With The New York Times‘ news that Trump, Melania, Mar-a-Lago and related terms appeared in the Epstein files more than 38,000 times, Clinton accused the committee of using her to distract from Trump’s ties to the accused pedophile/trafficker. The committee scheduled Bill Clinton for his closed-door session on Friday, with not much to show for that deposition, either. But things were working in the background with the Trumpers, and even with Oman’s foreign minister’s statement that negotiations between the US and Iran were making progress, the president later announced that he was “not happy” and would allow more time for discussions. Just hours later, he wagged the dog — he chose war.

Military strikes on Iran began early Saturday morning, as millions of Iranians were commuting to work or dropping kids at schools, without warning. Trump’s video statement calling on Iranian citizens to shelter in place accomplished little, as the first confirmed civilian casualties were at a girls’ elementary school in Minab, near the Strait of Hormuz. Initially, Iran’s state media reported 40 students killed, then 53, and by day’s end 85 killed and 63 wounded, as the detritus was scoured by rescuers. The death toll by morning was over 150. Of course, none of these actions were authorized by the US Congress, and curiously a vote on war powers resolutions had been scheduled to restrict exactly what Trump’s unconstitutional bullying had wrought. So now we are in a regional war caused by a president who is in cahoots with a Justice Department who chose to hide his presence in the Epstein files.

President Trump now faces a political minefield with this second strike on Iran, particularly after his claim that the Iranian nuclear threat was destroyed in June of last year. Conservative and MAGA voters were promised no new foreign wars during his ’24 campaign, and this new adventurism has created a firestorm within his base. According to Politico’s Erin Doherty, “The political damage is substantial and immediate action is necessary.” This global news and information company found in a recent poll that only half of Trump voters would support military action against Iran, with 30 percent opposed. Doherty wrote, “Those fractures, combined with largely unified Democrats, meant Americans broadly did not want an attack on Iran.” An Economist/YouGov poll also confirmed broad public opposition to action in the region. The future seems particularly dire for the GOP as they head into the midterm elections, and even small rebellions within the 2024 coalition will carry hefty consequences. Trump’s support within this coalition was tepid before his decision for war, resulting in a volatile situation depending on the aftermath. Republican strategist Jason Roe said, “The political risk depends on the outcome. If we break Iran without terrorist attacks coming to America or harm coming to allies in the region, it will be a political win for Trump. If this expands into a protracted conflict, or ends up with troops on the ground, it will be a liability.”

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If only this headline from The Onion were true: “Terrified Conservatives Lose Ability To Speak English After Exposure To Bad Bunny Performance — ‘Dios Mio!’ Cry Millions of Panicking Republicans.” Conservatives are struggling in their ranks over Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance as they observe President Trump’s criticism of him and his stage act in light of the rapidly dwindling loss of Hispanic voters. Trump termed the all-Spanish language performance an “affront” to the country and “one of the worst of the worst,” also echoed by many in his MAGA entourage. “It makes no sense, is an affront to the greatness of America, and doesn’t represent our standards of Success, Creativity, or Excellence. Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” read the president’s Truth Social post. Caroline Sunshine, a deputy communications director in Trump’s presidential campaign, also a staffer who later worked in his first term in office, lauded Bad Bunny for featuring an actual wedding ceremony onstage, saying, “Unpopular but interesting take: there was only one Super Bowl halftime show this year that highlighted the institution of marriage. And it wasn’t the Turning Point halftime show.”

The late Charlie Kirk’s conservative group, Turning Point USA, staged an alternative halftime show featuring Kid Rock, that was solidly panned by most, and it was whispered about that Trump was a viewer of the entire Bad Bunny presentation, which gave rise to his irate foaming at the mouth commentary. Harrison Fields, a former Trump staffer provided no mention of Bad Bunny, but felt it noteworthy to mention his Puerto Rico-born grandmother as a full American citizen, who happened to vote for Trump. Republicans are grimacing at Trump’s disgorging of anti-Latino gibberish with his disapproval rating among Latinos hovering at 70 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Republican strategist and Trump critic, Mike Madrid, questions the calculus of fighting over Bad Bunny in front of tens of millions of Americans. “If the Republicans don’t stop hemorrhaging with young, male Latinos thirty years old and younger, they’re cooked,” says Madrid. “This shows that they’re not even aware of the size of the problem they have.”

On the face of it, the Super Bowl show was less political than BB’s acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards, when he denounced Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say: ICE out, we’re not savages. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens.” As might be expected, the veins on the necks of the MAGA faithful stood out as they voiced their condemnation en masse, but conservatives were divided on the Super Bowl presentation. Conservative commentator and sports journalist, Emily Austin was impressed that Bad Bunny, carrying a US flag, led a parade of flag bearers with flags from the Western Hemisphere — which garnered Austin’s disapproval with followers, unsubscribing from her posts. In her defense, she responded, “Not everyone who loves America and loves our President thinks the same way on everything. Different perspectives and shared love of our country is our strength.” Conservative media star Meghan McCain also defended the performance in a post on X, saying, “Everything in life doesn’t have to be ruined by politics. I’m sorry, but I just genuinely question your taste level if you didn’t enjoy the Bad Bunny halftime show.”

Most people consider the conclusion of football season coinciding with the Super Bowl victor being decided — except for Donald Trump, who continued the celebration by pardoning five former NFL players for various criminal convictions, including drug trafficking and perjury. White House pardon czar, Alice Marie Johnson, posted on social media, “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation. Grateful to @POTUS for his continued commitment to second chances. Mercy changes lives.” Now the four survivors can look forward to winning again, something the president hopes is in his future. Recently, the White House published an ‘article’ attempting to assure some unnamed people that Donald Trump is winning. It should be obvious — if you’re winning you don’t have to explain why, and there should be no need to dissuade voters from panicking, a lie which is done only when you’re losing. And Trump is losing.

Except that our golden boy did manage to pick up more bling last week, another trophy invented just for the occasion of naming him ‘Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal.’ Lobbyists from the pro-coal organization, the Washington Coal Club, were on hand to present the winning trophy as the president signed an order requiring the Department of Defense to buy billions of dollars worth of coal-fired energy. As Lisa Needham of Daily Kos writes, “Nothing like using the full force of government to prop up a dying industry, right? And hey, if it comes with a cool trophy, all the better.” Needham says this seems to be the only thing the Coal group has done lately, having a dead website, and $23,192 in assets according to ProPublica. She discloses that the organization gave out another “doofus-y” award in 2017, a lifetime achievement award to Robert Murray, a coal company CEO and climate change denier whose company declared bankruptcy in 2019.

Needham feels that Trump is a worthy successor to Murray’s Lifetime award, but Washington Coal Club felt the need to create a new one for a very special boy. Trump’s ego hardly needs a boost, nor does he need encouragement to promote coal usage, though it’s apparent that the country doesn’t want it. Throwing open public lands for private companies to bid on for mining was a total bust, and as utility companies decommission their coal burning plants, Trump has tried to force one to stay open, which will result in higher consumer costs. Needham concludes by saying, “It’s fitting that Trump is falling all over himself to accept an award as champion of something that doesn’t really exist, but Trump will always be a champion, and no one can take that fake award away from him.”

After all is said and done, the coal trophy might be of some consequence as we find that the administration has now unravelled most of the climate change regulations — not a voter-driven subject by any stretch of the imagination. However, Democrats are attempting to make a case about Trump’s links to powerful interests, and in particular Big Oil, in light of his campaign ask for a billion dollars from the industry in the lead-up to the 2024 election. About the president’s move to repeal the ‘endangerment finding,’ the notable legal finding that climate change is a threat to the public, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse made the terse comment, “Corrupted.” The finding is/was the underpinning of the country’s climate rules, and in particular those rules governing cars and trucks – wiped out like the oil on a crankcase dipstick. Senator Chuck Schumer describes the dissolution of the rules as a “corrupt giveaway to Big Oil, an industry which has worked tirelessly to undermine rules that protect against emissions, and now that they have their guy in the White House, they are taking their biggest swing yet.”

Gas powered vehicles can now be expected to bolster the consumption of oil-based fuels, with the auto industry relaxing their shift toward EVs to meet required standards. Senator Ed Markey told The Hill that the change is “just another payback by the Trump administration to the oil, gas and coal industry.” Get ready to preview the all-new Trump coal-fired autos coming to a dealer near you! In his announcement, Trump said, “We are officially terminating the so-called ‘endangerment finding,’ a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” as he scoffed at environmental and health concerns, calling them “a giant scam.” Representative Sean Casten told The Hill that in spite of Trump and his MAGA backers, the US will still make climate progress in the coming years. “We are decarbonizing in spite of this setback, because markets want cheap stuff, and cheap stuff is clean stuff.” Casten believes the pace is slowed because of subsidization of Trump’s buddies, who will not be able to compete in the market, but the absence of leadership remains depressing.

Feef, a contributor on Quora brings to our attention an advertisement for Brits who might wish to ship baggage ahead in order to travel light to the USA. The ad asks, “Moving to the USA?,” as it provides a link to get a shipping quote. Clicking on the comments section of the company’s website, we find quite a collection of interesting opinions: “Maybe after the lobotomy but for now I’ll pass…thanks!,” “Yes please, can’t wait. I have friends in El Salvador,” “North Korea sounds more appetising at the moment to be honest, thanks though,” “Did you know Canada is lovely and sane?,” “This is brilliant, thank you I need a laugh,” “Yep. Can’t wait to move to Gilead,” “Just packing my black shirt and some books to burn, I’ll be right over,” “Yeah great idea…why did I not think of that before?,” and “The US has plenty of its own baggage; it doesn’t need mine too.” Risky decision? Sure! But as Neil Simon said, “If no one ever took risks, Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine Chapel floor.”

Much of the snark above may have to do with a news story about an Irish citizen with legal permission to work in the US, who has spent nearly five months in a Texas ICE detention facility. Seamus Culleton describes the conditions in the “modern-day concentration camp” in an interview that details widespread illness, and competition for food as the meals are small and everybody’s always hungry and tired. Toilets and showers are described as “completely nasty” since they are very rarely cleaned. Most detainees fear for their safety and their very lives, with security staff being accused of killing people — “you don’t know what’s going to happen here on a day-to-day basis…it’s a nightmare,” Culleton says. Married to an American citizen, he has been in the country for nearly 20 years, and despite holding a valid work permit, and being in the final stages of receiving a green card — with no criminal record — he was detained by ICE as he drove to work. Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs is engaging “at a senior level” with the US about Culleton’s case, and the Irish prime minister has plans to raise it directly with President Trump in a March meeting. As is often heard: “This is Trump’s vision for America, folks. Any questions?”

Canada no longer has any questions about trade with the US. As Thom Hartmann writes on Raw America, “Economist Dean Baker summed it up perfectly: Trump negates trade pacts with Canada and then gets upset when Canada looks elsewhere for partnerships. Kick your allies in the teeth, then complain when they find a better deal.” The president has turned his attention to our northern neighbor again, to make demands that would be laughable if they weren’t coming from our irrational Oval Office occupant. In a Truth Social post , he has threatened to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe Bridge connecting Windsor to Detroit unless Canada hands over partial ownership — the $5.7 project being funded by Canada’s taxpayers, who expect to recoup the costs through tolls. Trump also claimed that Xi Jinping would “terminate ALL ice hockey being played in Canada” if Prime Minister Carney completes the trade deal with China. Catherine McKenna, former environment minister, summed it all up with, “It’s all a grift.”

In a guest article on MeidasTouch, California Representative Ami Bera writes that he is torn, as a member of Congress, on his obligation to attend the upcoming State of the Union address by President Trump. Bera has decided to make this year different after watching the president “run roughshod over the Constitution, display utter disregard for Congress, and openly engage in corruption as he and his family use the office to enrich themselves and tarnish this country that I love. I will not give him the dignity of my presence at the State of the Union.” He calls Trump a troll, who will spend his time at the podium trolling Democrats and Republicans alike, making outrageous and inflammatory statements. “I expect him to make outright lies and exaggerations, boastfully talk about his brilliance, and stare down my Republican colleagues until they stand, applaud feverishly, and demonstrate their fealty to this malignant narcissist.” Bera still believes that America is that “shining city on a hill,” believing that “who we are as a nation is reflected in our Pledge of Allegiance,” wishing that only if the president believed these words. “Donald Trump does not define the United States of America. We do.” Inscribe this message on that empty seat!

Follow the bouncing ball if you dare: Trump’s Truth Social post depicting the Obamas as apes went from 1) A ‘Lion King‘ meme, so stop being such sensitive you snowflakes, 2) A young, rogue staffer is to blame, 3) The President posted it without viewing it in its entirety, but no apology is forthcoming because the portion about the 2020 Big Lie Election Conspiracy is true. And there you have it — a despicable presentation by shameless, malignant racists. Roxane Gay on Bluesky punches back with her take: 1) It was not an accident, 2) It was not a staffer, 3) While the president may have dementia, his racism is not due to dementia, 4) He isn’t sorry; he means every racist thought he shares, 5) His base agrees with him, 6) He will do it again, 7) No one in power will hold him accountable.

Anthony Davis also fires back on his Substack post entitled ‘This Is Exactly Who We Are,’ subtitled, ‘Trump’s post depicting the Obamas as apes is not new.’ He writes, “Every time Donald Trump does something overtly racist, a familiar chorus rises up from pundits, politicians, and the professionally aghast: ‘This is not who we are as Americans.’ It’s a comforting phrase. It reassures the speaker that the rot is external, temporary, an infection rather than a condition. And yet, after nearly a decade of Trump’s racial provocations — rewarded, normalized, and repeatedly excused — the line sounds less like a moral claim and more like a lie we tell ourselves to avoid reckoning with reality. Trump’s repost of a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes should have been disqualifying on its face. The imagery is not subtle. It draws on one of the oldest racist tropes in Western history, a dehumanizing comparison used to justify enslavement, segregation, and violence. That the targets were the country’s first Black president and First Lady only sharpened the insult. This was not edgy humor or political satire. It was naked racial contempt.”

Elliot Kirschner prefaces his Through the Fog post on Substack with ‘venality and vanity, hatred and hubris, and farce and fascism.’ He questions whether we are able to take in the scale of this miserable tableau as we seesaw “between the ridiculous and the reprehensible, feeling the urge to both laugh and cry, recoil and bear witness.” His worry is that one of the most enduring failures of the MAGA era has been the inability of everyone to find an aperture wide enough to let in the full extent of Trump’s moral, psychological, constitutional, temperamental unfitness for the office of president. Kirschner concludes that, “He would fail even the lowest bar for any role of significance or power in a fair, decent, and just society. We have never seen in a president such a toxic mixture of petulance, pettiness, puerility, and perversity. Metaphors struggle to keep pace. Whatever bounds of credulity we inherited from past generations are stretched to a breaking point by what is before us now.”

As authoritarianism expert, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, writes in her New York Times essay, “Trump is falling into the same trap that has undone authoritarian-minded leaders throughout history — he believes his own hype, despite declining approval ratings.” Ben-Ghiat, author of ‘Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present’, has followed strongman megalomania and observed the adverse effects it has on leaders and their governments, and in her lectures at New York University, she describes the phenomenon as “autocratic backfire.” Trump has fallen into this trap by cutting himself off from expert advice and objective feedback, then “doubling down and engaging in even riskier behavior.” Ben-Ghiat sees the result in “a disillusioned population that loses faith in the leader and elites who begin to rethink their support,” citing Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and Russian President Vladimir Putin as historical examples of the pattern she sees emerging around Donald Trump. Drawing parallels between Trump and past dictators, she notes that the president’s pompous self-praise echoes a fascist slogan from Mussolini’s Italy: “Mussolini is always right.”

Garry Kasparov writes on his ‘The Next Move‘ blog that though we are seeing the evisceration of the American news media with its alarming headlines and push notifications amid eroding journalistic standards, his personal antidote to being overwhelmed is in reading history. While this doesn’t guarantee a happy ending for the present situation, it can provide structure to strategies to be drawn from those who experienced similarities in the past. Authoritarians try to cultivate a sense of aimlessness by committing outrage after outrage, normalizing transgressions and numbing the senses — a new Watergate every hour, as Kasparov terms it. Though consequences are in short supply at present, we can only hope that the same fates await Trump and his MAGA crooks that befell Tricky Dick Nixon and his covert operatives.

Trump’s range of destruction and debasement is purposely overwhelming — the chaos serves his quest for power, to stay on the offensive, to move fast and break things such as doors, windows, bones, and skulls with no apologies. Never let the opposition gain a foothold and keep those federal forces on the march into local communities such as Minneapolis, and ignore the voices of dissent. The president did make a concession by replacing the Nazi-like Bovino with Border Czar Homan in the Twin Cities area, who then announced that 700 ICE agents would be sent packing — only 2,000 more to go, points out Jimmy Kimmel! In his monologue, Kimmel said, “Never in my lifetime did I imagine that we’d be celebrating a troop withdrawal from Minnesota, but 700 agents, as we speak, are packing up their 48″ waist, 28″ inch inseam Carhartt pants and their XXL Punisher T-shirts and heading home. Get ready, 700 moms of ICE agents. Your boys are coming back home to the basement.” And we might conclude that if the moms don’t lock the basement doors, her Proud Boy(s) will be using their baseball bats and flag staffs to disrupt the midterm elections.

The Lincoln Project sarcastically commended Trump for “firing the guy who walked like a Nazi, talked like a Nazi, and even dressed like a Nazi after he oversaw his SECOND murder in January. Kudos, fatso. You did the thing everybody else would’ve done a month ago. Second, we’d like to express our (expected) disappointment with Trump’s follow-up hire, Tom Homan. Also known as the only guy in this administration who gives Trump a run for his money as the most corrupt person in Washington. Come on, Tom. $50,000 in a fast food bag? From undercover agents? On video? And your defense is ‘I didn’t do it’? No wonder you’re in this bonehead administration. Seriously, though. Did Trump have to hire another criminal to head this thing up? Did he have to take the most dysfunctional and deadly area of our government and say, ‘Yeah, put the bribery guy in charge’?”

Satirist Andy Borowitz had to get in on this one: “As part of the DHS drawdown from Minneapolis, on Thursday Tom Homan ordered all 700 ICE agents leaving the city to return their signing bonuses to him in a paper bag. In a memo sent to all departing officers, the border czar instructed them to place $50,000 in a paper bag from the restaurant chain Cava, and meet him in the DHS parking lot after sundown. ‘And make sure no one’s freaking filming us,’ he added. While some ICE agents grumbled about transferring their signing bonuses to Homan, he sternly reminded them, ‘Taking away people’s freedom isn’t free.'”

Nick Turse on The Intercept has an unsettling story about the use of the ace of spades playing card — popularly known as a ‘death card‘ — by ICE officers in Eagle County, Colorado. Motor vehicles were discovered on the roadside, engines idling, hazard light flashing, and no occupants or drivers nearby. Family members arrived at the scene to discover that loved ones had been stopped by the notorious ‘fake traffic stops‘ used by ICE agents who then leave behind a customized ace of spades that read ‘ICE Denver Field Office‘ in place of the abducted vehicle occupants. “Leaving behind a racist death card after targeting Latino workers is an act of intimidation. This is not about public safety. It is about fear and control. It’s rooted in a very long history of racial violence,” said president Alex Sánchez of Voces Unitas, an immigrant rights group. “We are disgusted by ICE’s actions in Eagle County.”

During the Vietnam War, US troops were known to embellish corpses with ‘death cards,’ and the US Playing Card Company furnished thousands of these cards free to servicemen who requested them. Alex Sánchez has been given identical cards found by two different families, with the impression that the cards appear to be designed solely for use by the Denver ICE agents. A DHS spokesperson told the local NBC affiliate that the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility will “conduct a thorough investigation and will take appropriate and swift action.” One federal official pointed out that the ace of spades, in Spades, is the trump card and it’s possible the death card is an homage to President Trump — “these guys are not too subtle, to be honest.” Colorado’s Senator John Hickenlooper denounced the ICE calling cards since they have a history of being used by white supremacist groups for intimidation.

“Uh oh. Somebody’s about to get audited,” Sha Val posted on Bluesky after Illinois Representative Jonathan Jackson prayed to God to improve the president’s moral failings, with Trump standing just a few feet away after he had addressed the gathering at the bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast. Jackson prayed that God might open the president’s heart to greater compassion as he stood behind the representative, eyes cast down with pure venom in his closed heart, his eyebrows raising as if had been scolded. Jackson was applauded for his courage to call out the president amid the gathering of religious and political leaders with one observer saying, “This brave man has single-handedly salvaged what little was left of any genuine spirituality at the breakfast.”. “This is speaking truth to power in the best tradition of MLK,” applauded retired librarian morereading.” “Of course, we’ll hear about it in a late night rant,” posted Bluesky user Sure Bongiovi. “When you’re almost 80, old ducks rarely change their ways, especially malignant dementia-addled narcissistic ones.” “Representative Jackson: ‘We pray that you lead this president to greater levels of compassion,'” wrote Illinois State professor Yusuf Sarfati. “God: ‘Sorry, that’s above my pay grade.'”

A writer on Quora posted: “Trump has been vile since birth, and parading it for decades as a well-known public figure, MAGA seeing exactly what we see in Trump — the difference is they love it! So it’s best to face up to certain realities: MAGA worships Trump because of, not in spite of how vile he is; no amount of proof in the vileness area, not even some unlikely smoking gun surfacing from the recent flood of Epstein files, is going to dissuade the worshippers.” It’s pointless to expect MAGA’s regretfulness, since they are the ones most responsible for our current state. If the political pendulum swings one more time, we may yet save our democracy. If it doesn’t, worshipping Trump may soon become what is expected of all of us — only in public, of course.

In his analysis, The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith, says Trump exposed the religious right’s “devil’s pact” in his performance at the National Prayer Breakfast, hurling insults at political enemies, taking swipes at “transgender insanity,” and quoting right-wing evangelist, Baptist Robert Jeffries. Trump hasn’t forgotten that Jeffries praised him, saying, “He may not be as good with the Bible as some of them. He may not have read the Bible as much as some of them. In fact, he may not have ever read the Bible, but he will be a much stronger messenger for us and he will get things done that no other man has the ability to get done.” Trump boasted, “You know, I didn’t want to admit anything, but that was very interesting and I think we’ve gotten more done than anybody could have ever gotten done.” So sayeth the religious right’s chosen instrument to turn the tide against liberal, godless America. Oh, and don’t worry about those shards of the Ten Commandments strewn in the pathway!

Emily Singer of Daily Kos covered the recent press conference in defense of Donald Trump’s “partying” — as Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche debased himself — with Jeffrey Epstein and underaged girls that were trafficked. Blanche offered that it wasn’t a crime to “party,” nor is it “a crime to email with Mr. Epstein.” Trump and his wife, once close friends of Epstein, are referenced more than 38,000 times in files released so far according to The New York Times. Despite Blanche’s discounting that Trump’s actions aren’t necessarily a crime, on a basic human level, it looks horrible to have been a close associate of Epstein, traveling to his party island steeped in criminality. Democratic Representative Robert Garcia called Blanche’s comments “gross and sick” and he owes an apology to all the survivors who are seeking justice. Singer says, “Ultimately, the latest dump of Epstein files looks really bad for Trump and the people he surrounds himself with. And Blanche’s tone-deaf defense won’t do anything to change that.”

Andy Borowitz gets the last word on the Epstein affair as seen across the pond: “King Charles III of the United Kingdom announced on Tuesday that he was cancelling his upcoming trip to the United States and would send his disgraced brother, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, in his place. Charles gave no reason for the abrupt cancellation, saying only that Andrew was a ‘better fit’ for a visit to Donald J. Trump. ‘I’m sure they’ll have plenty to reminisce about,’ Charles said. ‘And if they run out of activities, Trump can always give Andrew a Sharpie and put him to work redacting those bloody files.'”

FACE OFF, LINES DRAWN, WISDOM FOR A PRISONER

Judging by many of the letter writers to local newspapers, it seems that many of our Santa Cruz Countians assume that the USA is still a democratic republic — a view taken for granted for too long. Those writers praising President Trump’s one-year accomplishments, including DOGE’s tidying up the ‘deep state’ by firing workers which then necessitated call-backs of employees to right the ship of state — hardly a cost-saving maneuver. Closing the border and arresting the “worst of the worst” is a joke as Proud Boys/ICE hooligans attack, arrest, and kill US citizens, never to be considered a proud moment in our history. Invading Democratic Party controlled states and cities with National Guard troops and large contingents of ICE goons purportedly to ‘control crime’ is only a cover for political harassment. ‘Drug boat strikes’ with no proof of criminality, and killing survivors struggling in the water is a violation of the ‘rules of war’!? What should we think about a deranged, senile, grifting, narcissistic dictator who is untrustworthy about keeping his finger away from the red button on the doomsday football if the Epstein files begin to become too incriminating?

Isaac Asimov once warned that one of the dangers of a democracy is that for some, ‘democracy’ translates to “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” If we persist in this direction we might one day wake up without a democracy, and finally realize that our persistent disregard for the careful and reasoned cultivation of the truth plays right into the hands of a dictator. Bertrand Russell is quoted as saying, “First, they fascinate the fools. Then, they muzzle the intelligent.” This brings up the farcical case(s) of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort being arrested for reporting on a Minneapolis church congregation’s protest against their pastor. The Trump administration has used the FACE Act in the charges, but the act itself was written, being passed in 1994, with a very specific purpose of protecting those who seek abortions without restricting First Amendment-protected speech. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances resulted after a string of attacks on reproductive care facilities and providers across the country; but, Trump is twisting its purpose to chill dissent by prosecuting two independent journalists for the crime of reporting, even though the supposed crime was a start-to-finish livestream on the protest from an organizational meeting and its conclusion at the Cities Church in St. Paul.

Allegations by federal prosecutors is that Lemon and Fort approached the part-time pastor, whose day job is running the local Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, in ‘close proximity’ as they oppressed and intimidated him with questions. Shocking! What reporters won’t do to get to the truth! US Attorney Pam Bondi interprets their actions as violations of the FACE act, which has a provision focused on houses of worship, despite the fact that the act protects ‘expressive conduct (including peaceful picketing or other peaceful demonstration) from the jeopardy of prosecution. A federal magistrate and an appellate court, both refused to issue a warrant for arrests, interpreting the act as it was written, so Bondi’s Justice Department convinced a grand jury to indict the pair. In viewing the video of the protest, it’s plain that the two journalist were not interfering, obstructing, or intimidating attendees that would violate the FACE Act, regardless of the poignancy of their questioning — it’s what journalists do.

This is only one of the indicators which means a closer watch on the 2026 midterms is necessary, a Trump warning shot across the bow in which a sitting president is willing to use federal law enforcement as a secret weapon to silence his critics. This is the playbook of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Turkey’s Erdogan, and Russia’s Putin where they have arrested journalists, intimidated the opposition, and consolidated power — a line that separates democracy from autocracy. “The past weeks have seen an escalation in ICE enforcement that should terrify anyone who cares about due process,” says John Byrne of Raw America. “Reports emerged from multiple cities of immigration agents conducting questionable searches, agents entering homes without probable cause, detaining individuals based on nothing more that suspicion. This is not law enforcement — this is state-sanctioned intimidation.” Byrne goes on top say, “And where is the mainstream media in all this? Largely silent. Or worse: normalizing. Major networks don’t treat this as the incredibly damaging threat to our democracy that it is. It’s just part of their daily broadcasts, and some have stopped pushing back entirely. When autocracy creeps forward, it relies on a press that’s either too intimidated or too distracted to sound the alarm. Cruelty is the point. Punish the opposition and reward the loyal. This is governance by vendetta.”

So, using two dozen federal law enforcement officers to arrest a single journalist is not only apprehending a suspect — the message is that no journalist is safe from retribution in America, in which case we may as well crumple up the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and kick them to the curb along with Don Lemon. Trump has hated Lemon from his political beginnings, since Lemon was on his case from the start. And besides, a gay, Black, independent mainstream journalist with no corporate backing is the perfect victim for retribution. The absurdity in this whole episode is that the charges were announced by the Department of Homeland Security, and not the Justice Department. Important to note, as reported by NPR, two other reporters were arrested for covering the protest — Trahern Jean Crews and Jamael Lydell Lundy, both Black. A quote attributed to Nelson Mandela seems relevant for our time: “Minds that seek revenge destroy states, while those that seek reconciliation build nations. Walking out the door to my freedom, I knew that if I didn’t leave all the anger, hatred and resentment behind me, I would still be a prisoner.” Words of wisdom for Prisoner Trump?

Perfect for the occasion, satirist Andy Borowitz writes: “Hoping to calm nerves after his government arrested reporters Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, on Friday Donald J. Trump reassured the staff at Fox News Channel that he does not consider them journalists. ‘It’s true that I’m engaging in a systematic attack on the First Amendment rights of journalists,’ he told Fox employees. ‘But obviously none of that applies to you.’ Offering further comfort, Trump added, ‘I would never have hired Pete Hegseth if I thought he was a journalist.’ In a sentiment widely echoed by his colleagues, ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Steve Doocy responded, ‘Mr. President, we weren’t really worried.’ At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that Trump had sent a similar message of reassurance to CBS News chief Bari Weiss.”

Last week Trump launched yet another criminal investigation into the 2020 election by sending his FBI to search the Fulton County Georgia election center, confiscating boxes of envelopes, and raising another red flag as we look toward the midterms. The biggest red flag during the raid was the presence of Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard — not a ceremonial visit by any means. She was messaging that Trump’s political appointees are now embedded in law enforcement operations, personally overseeing investigations that align with the administration’s enemies list — political persecution with a federal badge, with justice in the rear view mirror. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche told CNN’s Dana Bash he was unsure of the purpose of Gabbard’s visit to Fulton County, saying that, “She’s an expert.” Who knew that Trump University even offered a degree in election integrity to insure free and fair elections? Of course, Blanche said he believes Trump was not involved in the decision toward this action, though the president was quoted as saying, “Investigators got a signed judges order in Georgia and you’re going to see some interesting things happening.” Things like redactions?

Reuters photographer Elijah Nouvelage released a shot of Gabbard, clad in a dark jacket and a baseball cap, speaking on her phone outside the Fulton County election office, spurring Democrats to call for her to testify about the record search. The search was conducted pursuant to a warrant seeking 2020 election records authorized by US Magistrate Judge Catherine Salinas. The Deputy AG called it a “criminal investigation, tightly held under law. It’s a criminal investigation, and that’s how we’re proceeding,” Political activist Greg Palast says the real agenda behind the FBI raid is just a legal excuse for “storm trooping.” He writes, “This is NOT, as the media seems to think, about Trump’s attempt to prove he won the 2020 race, as if he’s some political Captain Ahab trying to chase the Moby Dick of 2020 revenge.” Palast believes that it’s all about 2026 and 2028, advising us to look at the map of Fulton County — the heart of ‘Blacklanta,’ with Atlanta being the electoral heart of Georgia.

Palast goes on to call Georgia “the swingiest of swing states,” and if the GOP fails to cut down on the Black vote in Atlanta, they lose the crucial seat now held by Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff — leading to a 2028 loss of the White House if they don’t suppress the vote in Fulton County. Fulton was the fulcrum of Trump’s loss in 2020, spelling a doomsday for MAGA in 2028, all because of voting drop-boxes. African-American voters are under such rigid rules, with fewer polling places which result in long lines on Election Day, that early voting has become the norm, with over one million ballots being cast in drop-boxes in the Fulton-Atlanta area in 2020. As a result, Governor Brian Kemp signed the infamous SB202 bill, his opening shot in the war against early voting — especially in secure drop-boxes which were reduced in number by 77%, and early voting days cut from 60 to only 7. To make matters worse, voters who can only vote after their workday were out of luck, as the boxes were sealed up at night in state office buildings.

In 2022 the new restrictions reduced mail-in ballots cast by 83%. Conspiracy theorists convinced MAGA — through their slippery documentary, ‘2000 Mules,’ that 2000 Black men were paid $10 each to stuff drop-boxes with tens of thousands of fraudulent ballots, targeting Fulton County. Lack of evidence didn’t sway the MAGA Mob, even though every drop-box had a video camera to prevent wrong-doing, with videos being available for public examination. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation proceeded to arrest alleged Black ballot box stuffers statewide, only to find that the accused were innocent, legal voters. The state of Georgia, in a recount failed to find any forged ballots! Joe Biden can claim that early voters were key to his 2020 election success, and voter suppression in 2024 led to Trump’s victory. After the 2020 election, over 20 Red States passed laws eliminating or restricting drop-boxes, citing the ‘evidence’ of the ‘2000 Mules’ documentary.

Palast feels that Democrats don’t get the importance of early drop-off votes, especially when it comes to Black and student communities, but the GOP certainly gets the message. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says that had he not gone to court to stop Houston from mailing out absentee ballots to voters, “Donald Trump would have lost Texas,” Houston’s population of Black voters being the largest in any American city. Palast sees Attorney General Bondi as saving her job by suppressing early voting, and saving the GOP from the wrath of an angry electorate, especially as she demands that Minnesota hand over its voter rolls. Bondi’s seizure of Minnesota voter files has to do with the restoration of more trickery — the return of ‘Interstate Crosscheck,’ a purging program that was once ruled illegal, but is now back in operation. ‘Crosscheck’ in 2016 was key to Trump’s first election, costing almost one million voters their registrations prior to the election according to Palast’s investigation as seen in Rolling Stone magazine.

Miles Taylor on his Defiance blog, writes that a few weeks ago Trump openly said he wished he had seized the ballots in the 2020 election, having “authority to do so.” Taylor says this is not the case, since he “helped write the executive order” to which the president referred in 2018 — Executive Order 13848. Trump and his cronies believe the president has the power to intervene in elections, even to the point of seizing voting machines or ballots. Taylor says, “I co-drafted the order alongside experts from DHS, DOJ, the Intelligence Community, and other agencies. The central idea was to make it easier for a president to impose real consequences on foreign actors who interfered in US elections. NOT to revisit vote counts. NOT to rummage through ballot boxes. And certainly NOT to allow a president to deploy the military against local election infrastructure because he didn’t like the outcome.” Taylor goes on to say that Trump was annoyed with being presented the executive order, not wanting to sign it, probably because he didn’t want to punish Russia for its help in his election success.

But now, Trump is conveniently reinterpreting the order as an “all-powerful election snooping tool.” Taylor wants us to understand that the order resulted from foreign interference in 2016 to make it easier for the executive to impose sanctions on foreign actors meddling in our elections — NOT to confer domestic law-enforcement authority; NOT to override state and local control of elections; NOT to authorize seizure of voting machines by the National Guard, or anyone else. The order stresses the need to “maintain an appropriate separation between intelligence functions and policy and legal judgements,” emphasizing insulation from political bias. It explicitly states that nothing creates new rights or benefits or alters existing legal authorities — certainly no new right for presidents to go rummaging about in ballot boxes. So the president wishing to do something like seize ballots is only an admission he wishes to make an illegal act and pretend the law would sanction doing so.

Senator Mark Warner is alarmed that Gabbard’s presence during the raid is either because she believes that some foreign intelligence nexus justifies her being there, or she’s dragging the intelligence community into a domestic political stunt to legitimize conspiracy theories. Miles Taylor believes her skulking about in a baseball cap means she didn’t wish to be seen, and that a Congressional oversight committee should announce an investigation immediately, calling Gabbard to explain her presence and under what directives she was acting. Since the Constitution places administration of elections with the states, the raid could be a violation of state law, and state and local prosecutors are responding by announcing action by Fight Against Federal Overreach, a national coalition of district attorneys seeking to hold federal officials accountable when they exceed their lawful authority.

ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR, EMPTY BOXES, BOTOX

Events of the past week or so bring to mind the Mike Luckovich political cartoon, where he illustrates the Devil looking into an empty box labeled ‘Trump’s Soul,’ with the realization that he has just been suckered. Many of us have read the January 8 two-hour interview with the president in The New York Times where he was asked if there are any limits to his power following his destruction of Venezuelan boats and the raid on that country when President Maduro was kidnapped. “Yeah,” was his reply, “There is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” As Kristin Monroe writes on MS NOW online, “Apparently we can all now rest assured, knowing that Trump’s finely tuned sense of morality will guide him as he navigates his Machiavellian world of might-makes-right, with or without the constraints of international law. Clearly, with Trump’s sense of morality as a guide, the US no longer needs to stay in the dozens of international organizations from which Trump just withdrew us.”

Monroe goes on to say that Trump is at odds with the reality of what Americans consider moral, and based on psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s study, our president’s moral development resembles that of a toddler — not of a seasoned statesman or thoughtful head of state. Kohlberg’s study led him to develop a six-stage theory describing an individual’s morality as evolving sequentially, the subsequent stages building on earlier reasoning, with Stage 1 involving avoiding trouble and following authority figures. Stage 2 finds individuals seeking reward and personal gain, after which Stage 3 will result in subjects seeking approval and wishing to be judged ‘good’ by their peers. Stage 4 eludes Donald Trump, as it calls for respect for authority, a wish to maintain social order and obey laws out of a sense of duty. Rarer are the later stages which require individuals to contemplate abstract principles — such as justice, extremely rare for Trump, as Stage 5 recognizes the greater good in recognizing the importance of individuals rights. The pinnacle of Stage 6 shows universal ethical principles emerging, care about concepts such as justice and human rights.

President Trump seems to be stuck at Stage 2, with only a glimmer of stepping into Stage 3, as he behaves like a child who expects the world to reward him with what is best only for him. He lacks compassion with not a concern for justice and human rights, with no understanding of America’s outrage over the Minneapolis killing by ICE agents, a mother who drove her car into a chaotic scene spawned by Trump and his gang. Stripping away health care and food benefits, separating immigrant families and putting the desaparecidos into cages gets no sympathy from Donald. He has no understanding about Canadians or Greenlanders feeling threatened by his annexation threats — Canada should relish being the 51st state and Greenland should be just fine with acceptance of US greenbacks for taking over their country.

Monroe believes Trump’s greatest crime might not be the damage he has inflicted on our political system or desecration of our democracy, but what he has meted out to us by altering how we see the world and leading us to believe what was once intolerable to us morally, is now perfectly acceptable behavior. On a positive note, she thinks Trump has misjudged Americans, and even his Congressional supporters are starting to break ranks to escape his trap of ‘morality.’ Based upon her interviews with Holocaust survivors, she is convinced that there are absolute moral values; and though leaders like Trump can ignore truth and human decency, to manipulate words and try to legislate away morality, moral values still exist and that innate human desire to protect and promote human flourishing is in our DNA. She cites the January 6 Insurrection as crossing the line for most of our citizens.

Political slogans may bombard us, “but a desire for warmth, compassion and kindness exists in all except the psychopaths among us,” Monroe says. And we know who they are! “We are born wanting to be loved. Most of us eventually learn that we cannot expect to receive love unless we are willing and able to give love in return. Claiming humanity in ourselves means recognizing and honoring it in others. Trump ignores this reality. He doesn’t see the disconnect between what he finds acceptable moral behavior and what the American public considers moral behavior,” Monroe concludes.

Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, on the other hand is assuredly forever doomed by having an empty box labeled ‘Miller’s Soul.’ And Satan will not be fooled as he cheers from the sidelines. On Fox News he greenlighted abuse in his message to ICE officers in a Will Cain interview. He maintains that ICE agents have “federal immunity in the conduct of your duties,” declaring that anyone who so much as touches or obstructs the is “committing a felony.” Legal experts have fired back by stressing that prosecution is possible, though difficult in the present political climate. Critics of Miller’s comments called his statements “utterly chilling,” amounting to “open season on immigrants AND citizens alike,” as he encouraged officers to “go and spread violence and terror.”

Miller’s stridency was especially noteworthy as he made comments amid the heightened criticism and scrutiny after ICE killed Minneapolis’ Renee Good. Trump’s deputy told ICE officers, “You have immunity to perform your duties, and no one — no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist — can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.” He assured officers that anyone crossing the line “will face justice.” The Department of Homeland Security has also shared the Fox footage on X as a “REMINDER” to ICE officers.

Slate journalist, Laura Jedeed, conducted her own investigation into the ICE hiring process, and in her exposé, she was able to get a job offer despite failing a drug test and without completing any of the background checks. In attending an ICE recruitment session, she found that the process was “astonishingly superficial,” even after she had overlooked the initially emailed paperwork and was using cannabis before the event, which should have disqualified her. Nevertheless, in checking back she found that she had been offered a job as a deportation officer — no completed paperwork, no background check, no identification verification. Jedeed wrote, “By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.”

The article brings to light the dangerously minimal vetting in ICE recruiting, and pinpoints why the agency’s confrontations with everyday Americans have grown more violent. Improper screening allows anyone, regardless of history, criminal record, or personal beliefs to walk out with a badge, a gun and the power to enforce deportations. Incompetence? Assuredly, but it’s a policy choice as Trump and Kristi Noem recruit those willing to intimidate and harm communities with no accountability, endangering everyone in its path.

Targeting Kristi Noem, satirist Andy Borowitz tells us in The Borowitz Report: “A new study published on Wednesday by Harvard Medical School has found a link between the overuse of Botox and pathological lying. “Repeated injections of Botox to the face interact with proteins in the brain,” Professor Harland Dorrinson, who supervised the study, said. “The result is an acute allergic reaction to the truth.” Though over-injecting Botox makes it difficult for a user to move the facial muscles necessary for speech, he said, “to the extent that the person’s mouth is capable of moving, it will be lying.” The study revealed other negative side effects of Botox, such as swelling in the cranium that requires the user to wear an enormous hat.”

In a turn away from Trump, podcaster Joe Rogan voiced sympathy with Americans who have expressed anger and frustration at the way Trump’s administration has conducted immigration enforcement. “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be US citizens that just don’t have their papers on them,” Rogan said on his podcast. He added, “Are we really gonna be Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” Being a prominent media voice with young men in particular, Rogan has been outspoken on a number of issues, breaking with the president even after supporting him in the 2024 campaign. Just before the election, Trump gave Rogan a three-hour interview as he attempted to shore up his support among younger members of the electorate.

Since the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, a revolt within the Department of Justice has resulted in the resignation of six senior career officials from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Harry Litman, a contributor on Substack, wrote on Bluesky that the resignations were “metastatic and spreading quickly. Clearly one of 2-3 biggest scandals in DOJ history.” Following the Trump administrations justification of Good’s death, Litman wrote, “First, the highest government officials circled the wagons around Ross,” relating how both Trump and VP Vance blamed Good for her death, and Secretary Noem labeling the incident “domestic terrorism.” “At the same time, leadership of the Civil Rights Division, under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, informed the Criminal Section that it would not be investigating the case at all — a spectacular departure from past practice. Multiple career prosecutors offered to go to the scene but were told not to,” Litman wrote.

Litman added, “It was like a fire chief watching smoke pour from a burning building and ordering the crew not to respond, even as firefighters volunteered to go in. The resigning officials, then were not merely objecting to a particular judgement call. In effect, they were saying that if the Criminal Section does not have jurisdiction over a case like this, its role has been reduced to near irrelevance. Excessive force by officers is not new. What is novel for the United States is the use of federal power afterward to stifle investigation and shield wrongdoing. That turn — from lethal force to enforced impunity — is an abuse of authority and a hallmark of authoritarian governance.”

Scary turn of events! About all we can do now is follow one of the final quotes of the late recording artist Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”

A PALACE IN CARACAS, FREE CUBA, WORLD COP TO WORLD BULLY

Anthony Davis wrote on his Substack blog that Donald Trump finally solved the annoying constitutional problem which states that presidents are supposed to consult Congress before taking the nation into war — simple: don’t ask! Trump demonstrated that a ‘war powers’ discussion is only theoretical — just be loudly confident and “sufficiently uninterested” in being told ‘no’. So, no consultation, no vote, no pretense of deliberation. The sovereign state of Venezuela became the victim of executive power on full volume, with the triumvirate of Trump, Miller and Hegseth flexing their ‘unitary government’ model for the whole world, flying a kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro, his wife to be held as prisoners in New York, pending their courtroom appearances.

In a November Vanity Fair interview, White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles explained that land strikes in Venezuela would require Congressional approval, because “it’s war” that needs legal justification. Trump privately admitted to Congress members the same song and dance as he continued to blow ‘drug smuggler’s’ boats to smithereens; then came the recent announcement that docks, ‘drug warehouses’ and ‘drug boats’ on Venezuela’s shores had been destroyed. The new year then brought the “large scale strike against Venezuela.” the regime change abduction of its president, and Trump’s announcement that his administration would “run the country and take over its oil reserves.” CNN reported in early November that the administration was seeking opinions from DOJ for such strikes, so quite obviously they came up with the language the president and his plotters needed to initiate the action. At his rambling press conference following the action, Trump made the comments that the strikes were about more than stopping the threat of a small-time drug-running head of state who was endangering lives of Americans.

So far, the administration has offered remarkably little care in explaining their justifications or a legal framework — it depends on who you might ask which only adds to the confusion. Vice President Vance is quoted as saying, “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.” Secretary of State Rubio picked up on a line that seems to be echoed by others that, “the military had been supporting a law enforcement function,” noting that Maduro was under indictment in the first Trump administration. That’s woeful news for individuals in other countries that are also under indictments — do we have enough equipment, personnel, and money to also go after them? Yikes!

One of Trump’s early suggestions was that strikes might be justified because Venezuela was sending “bad people” into the US, downplaying any role of that country’s oil reserves, but then a revision occurred — the president voiced his opinion that we needed to reclaim “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” A confused Senator Lindsey Graham indicated that the administration lacked “clarity” in the messaging. He said, “I want clarity here. President Trump saying Maduro’s days are numbered. That seems to me that he’s gotta go. If it’s the goal of taking him out because it’s a threat to our country, then say it. And what happens next? Don’t you think most people want to know that?” It is interesting to note that following the Venezuela action, Graham posted on X: “Free Cuba.”

The attempt to keep the focus on the law enforcement aspect of the operation during the Saturday morning press conference became a shambles as Trump kept wandering off script to emphasize how his administration would temporarily run the government of Venezuela, with repetitious references to the oil reserves and how Venezuelans would become “rich,” all of which begs the question: If he and his bumbling gang can’t run this country successfully, how does that translate to another mismanaged country? And restructuring the Venezuelan oil industry, which is reportedly decrepit and out of date, is another question entirely. “We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure. We’re going to run the country right,” said Trump without a whisper of any justification, let alone a plan of action to accomplish this. Venezuela’s large geographical size could prove difficult to control, and because of its significant oil wealth, other countries will take an interest in how our government moves. China has chimed in, calling the attack a “blatant use of force against a sovereign state.”

Of course, the blustering Trump has threatened the possibility of further military options beyond kidnapping and destruction of Venezuela’s industrial and military infrastructure, making it clear that he intends to continue testing the limits his presidential authority and Americans‘ tolerance for his stretching the law. Yet, Americans probably can still be shocked and horrified at his undeclared, unprovoked, and illegal attacks, but we should recognize that this puts us on the same moral and legal footing as Putin’s Russia in their war of pure aggression against Ukraine. Senator Ruben Gallego, in a post where he remarks about his service in the Iraq War, wrote, “Second unjustified war in my life time. This was is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

Jennifer Rubin writes in The Contrarian on Substack, “It is hard not to conclude that the action is a ‘wag the dog moment’ aimed at distracting the public from the Epstein files, the rotten economy, and Trump’s declining health. It very well could supercharge Trump’s lawless and violent domestic policies against migrants, civil society groups, and others on grounds that they are authorized by wartime powers. His rickety tower of constitutional rubbish will continue to build.” Rubin feels that we should have no expectation that congressional Republicans will do anything to thwart Trump, since they have repeatedly caved in allowing his illegal attacks on boats, even killing survivors in the sea.

With tongue firmly in cheek, the Daily Dose of Democracy site posts, “Whew! It’s almost as if there’s a festering scandal dogging the embattled president on the domestic front and his regime is desperately looking for cover wherever it can find it. Almost.” The writer says that America’s wannabe dictator is feeling frisky after the Venezuela action and is hellbent on continuing his imperial march across the planet — no matter the cost. Trump admitted that US military action against Colombia “sounds good to me,” with an ominous warning to Cuba, and a repeat statement that taking over Greenland is important for our national security. Another repeat was the threat toward Iran should that country’s  crackdown on protesters get out of hand. Unable to stop his ranting, he issued another warning to Mexico over drug trafficking, telling them to “get their act together, or else.”

The attack on Venezuela Rubin blames on the MAGA Supreme Court majority, and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. specifically, who granted broad immunity never envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution, and now Trump has taken that and made a run headfirst into war. AG Pam Bondi ran headfirst to X, writing, “Nicholás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machine-guns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machine-guns and Destructive Devices against the United States.” She then added, “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire US DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.”

Conservative commenters, concerned that New York justice would let down the country, and that Maduro wouldn’t “feel the full wrath of American justice” that Bondi seeks, posted: “So we just hyper complicated this case to a jurisdiction power struggle? In S NY? Well alrighty then;” “Indicted in SDNY? Is that to ensure something does or doesn’t happen?” Another sarcastically posted, “Hopefully not the ‘full wrath’ Ghislaine Maxwell is getting.” Ben Meiselas on MeidasTouch wrote, “I thought the American justice system was supposed to be about ‘due process’ and not ‘wrath,'” as he points out the irony in Trump’s pardon of the convicted drug trafficking Honduran president. One poster on X commented, “The Sackler family has done more to fuel the fentanyl epidemic in America than Venezuela. Can we conduct a midnight raid to arrest them too?”

The president told Fox News there were no US casualties in the raid, though helicopter troops were hurt when their craft was hit, but no Americans were killed. Venezuelan officials denounced the operation as military aggression, calling for mobilization, with reports of around forty deaths and many injuries which are still being assessed. The government’s inner circle is still intact, with vice president Delcy Rodriguez being secretly sworn in as interim president, after which she appeared on state television calling the US action “a brutal attack.” Trump later claimed she had spoken to Marco Rubio and was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary,” but that claim raises more questions than it answers, especially with all the confusion we’ve seen within the administration over the last few days as they attempt to present a convincing plan for the future.

What could be more Trumpian than The Washington Post’s report that the president has iced out opposition leader, and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado as a successor to Maduro? Her unforgivable sin of accepting the Prize rather than demanding it be given to Trump has resulted in her being thrown under the bus, with Trump stating, “It’d be very tough for her to be the leader because she doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.” Opposition leaders were stunned because expectations that Washington would rally behind her were dashed. Daily Dose of Democracy calls this newsworthy with the president’s petulant self-serving behavior being truly unmatched — a stark reminder to anyone on the world stage willing to play ball with The Donald, that his ego and self-interest are job numero uno.

The administration’s insistence that the Venezuela action was simply to make an arrest — sure, with helicopters, fighter planes, missiles and bombs, and an armada of support ships in the sea — begs the question: Why is it necessary to now run the country? Trump insists, “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” He and Secretary of State Rubio need to get their stories on the same page! Senator Chuck Schumer tweeted, “The idea that Trump plans now to run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.” Keep the repeating the mantra: He can’t even run THIS country!

Several MAGA dissidents oppose Trump’s attack, one arguing that, “Most Americans are enraged. American disgust with our own government’s never-ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it, and both parties — Republican and Democrat — always keep the Washington military machine funded and going.” Outgoing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X: “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy, were we wrong!” Podcaster and MAGA influencer Candace Owens suggested that the Trump administration had carried out the attack “at the behest of globalist psychopaths.” She says that Venezuela has been ‘liberated’ like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq with the CIA staging another hostile takeover. “That’s it. That’s what is happening, always, and everywhere,” she said. Democrat Ro Khanna argues that Trump has “betrayed” his MAGA base by launching a war to bring regime change to Venezuela. He said that we keep voting against dumb wars, but our presidents get us entangled in conflicts abroad, while ignoring the lack of good jobs and high costs for Americans at home.

At the unhinged, reckless press conference — as described by Ben Meiselas — Trump appeared to be dozing off for extended periods of time as the military details of the operation were presented by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. “Nothing says end of empire like a grasping regime change war launched by an aging leader who can’t even stay awake for the announcement,” posted on X by MS Now host, Krystal Ball. “A literal coup isn’t thrilling enough to keep him awake,” wrote journalist Peter Rothpletz. Given the severity of the events revealed at the press conference, author Aaron Bastani wrote on social media, “Trump sounds exhausted while talking, and can’t keep is eyes open. The neocons got what they wanted. Curious to see when he’s disposed of.”

Substack’s Anthony Davis posted: “The larger concern is not just Venezuela, but the precedent. If the world’s most powerful country can bomb a capital city, kidnap a sitting president and face little more than sternly worded statements, others may take notes. Some warn that China may see this moment as proof that force, when wielded by the powerful, comes with few consequences.” Davis observes that Trump appears increasingly comfortable with military theatrics, and positively energized by the operation to use ground forces if needed. His falling approval ratings and domestic scandals only increase the temptation to project strength abroad. Venezuela is a stress test for the international system — if the rules only apply when convenient, then there are no rules at all, only suggestions for smaller countries. Davis concludes: “Trump’s fascist playbook now extends beyond US borders, as he assumes the role of CEO of Venezuela, replacing one dictator with another.”

A RED SIREN, DEFENSIBLE, DELUSIONAL, STOP YELLING!

The synopsis by Ben Meiselas of MeidasTouch of President Trump’s recent 18-minute address from the White House pretty much sums up its value as “a tantrum with a teleprompter.” “A grievance sermon delivered at warp speed, yelled at the American people, as if your bank account personally insulted him,” summarizes Ben. “It was a hostage video starring facts bound, gagged, and shoved into the trunk of a golf cart.” Meiselas surmises that Trump chose the prime time slot — sorry, fans of ‘Survivor‘ — because his “poll numbers are underwater and sinking fast,” and not because of the national emergency of a sinking economy. With sixty percent of the country disapproving of his actions — not a rounding error, but a flashing red siren screaming ‘we don’t believe you‘ — he decides to yell louder at his victims. As if speed-reading a grocery receipt he picked up in a parking lot, he spouted prices of items, and screeched that expenses are falling fast, but Meiselas points out, “You can’t shout inflation into submission. And you definitely can’t bully people into believing their expenses are cheaper just because you said so.” And adding, “Believe me,” doesn’t cut it.

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TIRING OF FEAR, MAKE YOUR OWN WEATHER, BUBBLING ORANGE PUDDLE

Democratic think tanks make the case that the party needs to move to the right in order to win back voters in ’26 and ’28, trying to prove that voters are more moderate on many social and cultural issues, but a counterargument in The New Republic by Monica Potts provides a road map for candidates that won’t require candidates to throw vulnerable coalition members under the bus. A compilation and analysis of the surveys and focus groups done since the 2024 election by Way to Win, a left-leaning ‘strategic donor collaborative and strategy hub,’ founded after the 2016 election, looks at swing voters including 2020 Biden voters in addition to those who sat out the election. This analysis provides a fuller picture than the conclusion that the electorate swung right in November, concluding that those who sat out the election are much more politically aligned with Democrats but weren’t motivated to vote for Kamala Harris and downballot Democrats, while determining what they want from future candidates.

Way to Win pinpoints several problems: Voters were upset about rising prices and longer-term economic trends — movements on the left around issues like Gaza, racial and economic justice and immigration weren’t aligned with the party. Potts says, “Fundamental to the report is an important corrective. While many Democrats lost last year because the party had moved too far left, Way to Win makes the case that voters don’t actually apply neatly defined ideological frames when they evaluate candidates’ policies and choose whom to vote for. Their decisions are more complex and filtered through their social, family, and work lives — a conclusion supported by much political science research. ‘When you go knock on doors, you hear all kinds of stories, but they almost never have to do with detailed policies or ideological framing,’ the report says.”

A path forward suggests moderation on some issues like immigration, the environment, or trans rights, and while it might be true that the party’s positions are to the left of the majority on some specific issues, there’s no evidence that those issues drove decision-making in November. Jennifer Fernandez Ancona of Way to Win found that other issues highlighted in their report are much bigger factors, especially true of those who failed to vote — they didn’t want moderation, but a stronger economic message and Democrats who would fight for them, who had failed to deliver in the past. By moderating, it was more likely to reinforce Republican talking points, weakening the Democrats’ position. Fernandez Ancona says, “We’re really saying we need to actually go towards strength, which is what we define in the report as basically standing for what you believe in.” The perception of Democrats as weak was partly shaped by Republican attacks rather than Democratic messages themselves, and Harris didn’t work to counter that impression, her campaign messaging failing to break through.

The issue of economic equality is a major factor to Democrat voters who want a strengthened enforcement against wealthy tax cheats, and making the wealthy pay what they owe. Fernandez Ancona says, “It’s making the case that the system is not working for a lot of people because of this inequality and this imbalance, and we have to make that more fair.” Political strategist Anat Shenker-Osorio believes Democrats need to embrace ‘magnetism,’ which is similar to the ‘strength’ that Way to Win advocates in staking out forceful positions that risk pushing some voters away but are also much more likely to attract voters than simply taking whatever positions the polls suggest. These arguments are strengthened by wins of Zohran Mamdani, Mikie Sherrill, and Abigail Spanberger in recent elections, despite the fact that they had ideological differences, but share an approach to politics that was combative on behalf of their constituents, by promising to tackle the big issues like affordability, and working hard to deliver without ceding ideological ground to Republicans. As Fernandez Ancona offers, “They actually went after it head-on by standing up for their values and who they were. The playbook going forward is, name it, call it out for what it is — because the voters don’t like this fear and division. They’re tired of it.”

The havoc and wreckage of the second Trump administration is motivating voters to show up for Democrats, evidenced in the recent elections, but to win big and retain power, the party must work harder to build a party brand that answers voters’ real concerns, differentiating them from the GOP. Potts concludes, “That doesn’t mean behaving like a weather vane, turning in whichever direction the political winds blow. It means having the courage and strength to make your own weather.”

David Rothkopf on The Daily Beast says, “It is hard to know whether Donald Trump or the MAGA movement he created is falling apart faster.” The 79-year old president is deteriorating rapidly — puffy cankles, bruises with bandages and makeup, slurring of speech, erratic behavior and conspicuous naps during televised events — not to mention his painful sensitivity to his health issues, suggesting that those who mention it are guilty of treason. As Rothkopf says, “Of course, every effort he makes to prove he’s not one step away from melting into a bubbling orange puddle seems to make it clear he’s losing it.” He points out that prominent Republicans are defecting at a rapid clip, former loyalists are willing to stand up to The Donald, with several speaking out against Trump’s opposition to extending health subsidies, and the courts have shot down many of his cases — most noteworthy being the James Comey and Letitia James retribution fabrications.

Trump is losing at the ballot box, suggesting that he is now electoral poison. The economy is floundering. Deficits are exploding. Tariffs are unpopular. His inhumane and draconian immigration crackdowns are alienating many, and his foreign policy has alienated allies and empowered adversaries. His overt corruption, his grifting, and catering to billionaires at the expense of our citizens is driving a tangible backlash — not to mention opinion regarding his mega-ballroom and turning the Oval Office into a gilded ‘Nawlins-looking bawdy-house. As Rothkopf says, a common view held by over 40% of Americans, is that humans and dinosaurs coexisted, making it likely that Fred and Wilma Flintstone live alongside their pet snorkasaurus — a larger percentage than those who believe Trump’s lies that he has made America the hottest economy in the world. Even so, it’s worth mentioning that when he wishes to placate his base he moves to attack science-based policies such as vaccines or climate change.

Rothkopf ends his piece with: “What those of us who do believe in empirical facts can see that the president and his movement are in deep trouble. They are entering uncharted territory in which even some of the most gullible among us are no longer buying what our president is selling. That is not to say Trump and MAGA have no future. Their presence will likely be felt by most of us for years to come, like a shiver down our collective spine. And that’s not just because something like 60% of Americans believe in ghosts.”

Andrew Egger points out in The Bulwark that the House passed a bill overturning a Trump executive order stripping union protection from some federal workers, a bill that began as a petition circulated by Democratic Representative Jared Golden of Maine. This was a slap in the face for House Speaker Johnson who has been able, up to now, to keep things clicking away for Trump. Only now is he being seen in the spot where many expected him to be from day one — a weak speaker who leads a fractious party who basically ignores him to do what they wish. Egger brings up the pessimistic assessments of party members who see a “looming disaster” headed their way, “facing certain defeat,” and “going down hard.” He says those statements would be expected from disgruntled GOP operatives outside of MAGA, but coming from Joe Gruters, a die-hard Trumper and chair of the RNC, expounding on conservative radio is pretty crazy.

Gruters isn’t throwing Trump under the bus with his statements; rather, he is making a specific case to the party, that, “The only person that could bring the nose up and help us win is the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.” Predicting doom risks further depressing GOP voters and encourages office holders to retire early, and it is far from clear who the party needs to step up to get elected, repairing their predicament. In speaking to swing-state GOP operatives, they told Egger bluntly that it isn’t the historical mid-term dilemma facing them, it is the world that Trump has built for them in competing for public office. One operative said, “His message sucks. It’s absolute trash. Nobody believes the economy and particularly affordability is getting better.”

Another strategist feels Republicans will be in particularly bad shape in ’26 because Trump demands that they stay loyal to him. Past presidents have accepted some disrespect, or strategic distancing, simply to have congressional majorities without enforcing personal purity tests — hardly what Donald Trump wants. This panic has led Republicans to take steps to get the president to at least change his messaging, and treat affordability as a major concern. As he headed to Pennsylvania last week for a speech purporting to focus on that topic, he revealed that he had been advised not to call it a hoax — contrary to his earlier statements. “I can’t call it a hoax, because they’ll misconstrue that,” he said. Trump still maintains that he inherited the “worst inflation in history,” but ‘tariff’ is still his favorite word, with that commitment creating the headaches we now suffer.

The GOP can only grit their teeth, cross their fingers and hope against hope that the economy will improve down the line. One of the GOP operatives interviews stated, “This isn’t going to get any better unless he either, one, shuts off the tariffs and starts a real economic turnaround, or two — well, I don’t know what two is — the GOP is looking at a very rough midterm.” So the party isn’t looking for a number three, obviously! After The Bulwark published their story, RNC spokesperson Kiersten Pels commented that The Bulwark is a bunch of shameless hacks, and that, “Republicans will defy history because of President Trump and the successful policies of the America First movement.” And number three is…?

Amie Parnes writes in The Hill that public interest lies in a third party for both Republicans and Democrats as well as those who didn’t vote in the ’24 presidential election, according to a survey released by Voto Latino. The number three we are looking for? Last month’s survey revealed that 9% of US respondents were open to a third party candidate for the next presidential election. Of those who did vote last year, 7% voiced support for a third-party candidate, with voters across party lines being concerned that both parties are doing a poor job — 45% pointing fingers at the Dems, and 50% frowning at the GOP. A majority also said both parties have become too extreme, the Democrats too liberal or progressive, with Republicans being too conservative or right wing. “Neither party is cutting it,” says Maria Teresa Kumar, CEO of Voto Latino. She felt that Biden’s economic agenda was headed in the right direction but didn’t translate fast enough to benefit local economies.

Kumar accuses the Democrats of trying to sell a poverty agenda — not what Americans want to hear, and Trump’s success at selling “a false good” only resulted in inflation, inviting criticism of his unaffordable tariff hikes. The poll also revealed that Black and Latino respondents had skipped meals to conserve money reserves. Both groups also indicated that side jobs, or side hustles, were important in making ends meet. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to come up with a thriving economic agenda. Now is the time to think really big and offer voters something,” said Kumar. She pointed to the winning campaigns of Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdami, who did “a good job” of speaking about economic issues and seeing voters where they are. “There’s no other place but to go up. People stay home because there’s nothing to go vote for,” Kumar concludes.

As America looks forward to abandonment of our healthcare by the Trump administration, and his lackey Robert Kennedy, Jr.’s Make America Unhealthy Again thrust, satirist Andy Borowitz has come up with a perfect solution: “After decades of anticipation, on Monday congressional Republicans finally unveiled their healthcare plan, urging all Americans who seek coverage to move to Canada. ‘Under this plan, the American people will gain full access to the doctors, hospitals, and medications they deserve,’ House Speaker Mike Johnson declared. ‘They just need to wear lots of layers.’ The proposal drew widespread support from Americans, a majority asserting that they had already considered implementing such a plan since January of this year. But it sparked a strong pushback from Canadians, who called on Prime Minister Carney to build a wall.”

Cities with Democratic Party mayors have been on President Trump’s enemies list for a considerable amount of time, with one of his threats being withdrawal of the June 2026 World Cup matches from their locales. But rather than push back or intervene in any way, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has chosen to offer The Don a pacifier in the form of a specially created peace prize medal for “making the world a safer place.” The pathetic looking gold bling was awarded by FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, in the bootlicking ceremony held at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commenting that Trump had been selected “in recognition of his exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world.” This was yet another attempt, as we have witnessed over the past year, in which other major institutions, companies, and prominent individuals have bent over backwards in a transparent effort to gain favor and purchase themselves immunity from either Trump’s political retribution or criminal prosecution — an embarrassing new low for FIFA.

As Daily Dose of Democracy’s post reads, “One of the world’s most corrupt sports organizations decided to create a participation Nobel Peace Prize to give to Donald.” Dave Braneck of Jacobin writes, “There’s a lot to dislike about the FIFA World Cup. A bloated forty-eight-team tournament spanning all of North America would be tough to pull off in the best of conditions. FIFA openly ripping off fans and charging thousands for tickets ensures that it’ll be, at base, and ugly cash grab. But there are also ills facing fans such as the United States’ immigration regime, roaming National Guard deployments throughout the country’s urban landscapes, and disconcertingly persistent threats to move match venues at President Trump’s whim. The world’s biggest sporting event will have one of its most authoritarian backdrops yet. FIFA president Infantino has responded to concerning developments in the cohost country the same way he responds to despots the world over — shameless groveling.” Braneck asks, “What could be unserious about an award presented ‘on behalf of the billions of people who love this game and want peace?‘”

He goes on to say that Trump was so “jazzed” about “one of the great honors of his life,” that he even stayed awake long enough to graciously accept it. The medal ceremony was squeezed into the formal World Cup draw, providing a bit of levity in the boring lead-in to the tourney proceedings and furnishing a look at “Trump’s authoritarian lurches and FIFA’s sycophancy.” Braneck concludes, “Faced with all this, fans need to exert their power before a terrible World Cup renders the game fully unrecognizable.” Tournaments in previous years faced more criticisms than the upcoming events, those being held in Russia and Qatar, and instead of getting pushbacks fans simply asked with a bemused, “can you believe this crap?” Sports bars in Germany even refused to show the matches on their TVs for the clientele. While Trump doesn’t seem particularly concerned with how he’s perceived prior to the upcoming tournaments, it still is feared that he could continue his threats to Democrat-run cities after the kick-offs. VP Vance offers his comforting words about foreign visitors, “They’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to Secretary Kristi Noem.” Sure, if there IS a next time for her!

The anti-immigrant policies and a proliferation of masked ICE agents throughout the country aren’t especially welcoming, and many foreign fans will be unable to even consider attending FIFA matches — Iran and Haiti citizens are banned from entering the country, a disappointment for Haitians whose team has qualified for the first time in fifty years. FIFA’s Infantino has chosen not to mitigate the situation, lauding his great relationship with Trump and prompting him to book the Village People as ‘entertainment‘ for the World Cup draw to please our brutish president. California’s Governor Newsom mocked FIFA’s ‘peace prize’ award, calling it a participation trophy that means little. However, Newsom’s press team piled on as they reimagined a rendering of a medallion, inscribed ‘If You Had Fun, You Won!‘ — accompanied with a cartoonish and smiling gold star.

Basking in the flood of flattery from Infantino, Trump commented that the sport of American football needs to change its name to allow the current terminology of ‘soccer’ be changed to ‘football’ to replicate that of its global counterparts. “When you think about it, shouldn’t it really be called, I mean, this is football, there’s no question about it. We have to come up with another name. It really doesn’t make sense when you think about it. This is really football.” Got that? Maybe we can call it Kennedyball since that name will soon be discarded at the Kennedy Center…or how about Donnyball…or perhaps Pardonsball? Count on the prez to come up with a self-congratulatory honorific.

After Trump appointed himself chairman of the board at DC’s Kennedy Center, dismissing all Biden appointees, he had no qualms giving FIFA exclusive use of the Center’s Concert Hall for the World Cup draw from November 24 to December 12, reportedly allowing the organization use of the prestigious center for the week. A leaked copy of the FIFA contract involves no rental fees for its use, which was offset by a $2.4 million donation and $5 million in sponsorship opportunities, for a total of $7.4 million for the Center, with FIFA covering event operational costs and security. This deal disrupted Kennedy Center programming, drawing the ire of Senate Democrats for potentially sacrificing millions in revenue for favorable political optics. It should be pointed out that the Center provided staff, utilities, and basic services at its own cost.

Eleanor Clift of The Daily Beast suggests it’s time someone red-carded Donald Trump. She reports that The Concert Hall, which seats 2,465, has been repurposed for the main event, with the Eisenhower Theatre serving as an overflow hall, and that the Roof Terrace Restaurant was reserved for a ‘VVIP‘ dinner. FIFA team seminars were held in the Terrace Theatre, along with a broadcast compound and a media center. A ‘green carpet’ will welcome arrivals, and a few fortunates will have access to a ‘Legends Lounge‘ to meet soccer greats and sports admirers from the Trump world who are lucky enough to be granted access to the inner sanctum.

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, ex-officio member of the Kennedy Center’s board and ranking member on the Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee, which oversees all public buildings owned by the government, last month launched a ‘cronyism and corruption‘ investigation into the center’s management under former ambassador Germany Ric Grenell, a Trump choice. The Senator is demanding cost estimates to show the impact of the FIFA accommodations, asserting that contracts and invoices reveal the center is being used as “a playground for the President of the United States and is allies,” and is “being looted to the tune of millions of dollars…an unprecedented pattern of self-dealing, favoritism and waste.” Whitehouse alleges the FIFA event amounts to over $5 million in losses, amid broader reputational suffering and declining sales. Eleanor Clift writes that FIFA is the big winner, gaining prestige cost-free, and Trump is a winner as well, gaining a trophy, and wheeling and dealing to one of the world’s biggest sports events. “But he’s also scoring a goal by reducing a world-famous venue for the arts to another crassly branded saloon.”

According to CNN, ticket sales to this season’s ‘The Nutcracker‘ are down by 33% compared to tickets sales seen in 2002 through 2024, echoing problems of other productions since the Trump takeover. Even with a sellout on the ‘Nutcracker,’ production costs would outweigh revenue from ticket sales, and other productions have been cancelled due to the imposition of a new policy requiring all performances to ‘break even,’ or from artists resigning their leadership roles for previously scheduled events — ‘Hamilton‘ being a notable cancellation. Broadway productions touring schedules are eliminating Kennedy Center as a venue, and with Trump’s board of trustees vetting performers for their gender identities, the Center is not viewed as a safe venue.

As the Daily Dose of Democracy blog reports, “the cat’s out of the bag on our vainglorious nincompoop-in-chief’s lates pathetic move to deify himself. Having already gone to great lengths to destroy the reputation and prestige of America’s preeminent performing arts center, the MAGA cult leader ‘accidentally’ let slip just what he has in store next. During a speech at the US Institute of Peace yesterday, which he had his name slapped on earlier this week, Trump said with a chuckle, ‘You have a big event on Friday at the Trump-Kennedy Center — op, excuse me. The Kennedy Center. Pardon me, such a terrible mistake.’ Donald’s constant need for praise and validation is without parallel, and he’s not about to leave the myth-making and memorializing to posthumous chance. SAD!”

In renaming the above-mentioned Institute of Peace building, adding the ‘Trump‘ monicker, the White House called it “a powerful reminder of what strong leadership can accomplish for global stability.” Or, as Robert Reich termed it, “It’s a reminder of what a strong malignant narcissist can accomplish when untethered from reality.” The absurdity of renaming the Institute building and FIFA’s medal award are part of Trump’s effort to get the Nobel Peace Prize to keep up with President Obama. He sees himself as a valid candidate despite his declaration of war against Venezuela, sans congressional approval, and for allowing SecDef Pete Hegseth to blow over 80 people to kingdom come for ‘drug smuggling‘ — or using the incorrect bait on their fishing equipment, perhaps. Did Vladimir Putin’s flattery, for ending their war against Ukraine, persuad Trump to allow takeover of Ukrainian territory? That must count for something — if we ignore son-in-law Jared Kushner’s wheeling and dealing for business deals with Putin.

Reich asks, “Peace Prize? Please. Trump is taking credit for achieving ‘peace’ between nations that weren’t even at war. According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is awarded to the person who in the preceding year ‘shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.’ Nobel’s will further specified that the prize be awarded by a committee of five people chosen by the Norwegian Parliament. Memo to Norwegian Parliament and the Nobel committee: No president in American history deserves the Nobel Peace Prize less than does Donald J. Trump.”

In the midst of his myth-making efforts, Trump recently mused about his eternal fate during a White House news conference when asked about about the ‘America Prays‘ initiative which “invites America’s great religious communities to pray for our nation and for our people” as we approach next year’s semiquincentennial. Trump is quoted as saying, “You know, there’s a reason to be good,” and he wants to be good to prove to God that he deserves a heavenly reward. He seems to be preoccupied with the afterlife of late, especially after his close call on the campaign trail in Butler, Pennsylvania last year; and, he told Fox News he has anxiety about gaining entry to heaven upon his demise since “I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole.” He feels he was saved from death by assassination to carry out his ultimate mission of saving America, which prompted him to make yet another appeal to his faithful — ‘send  cold, hard cash to help get the job done.‘ The grift is great, the grift is GOOD!

Satirist Andy Borowitz was inspired to fantasize Trump’s reaction upon the death of Dick Cheney: “Donald J. Trump boasted that his funeral would draw a ‘much bigger crowd’ than former Vice President Dick Cheney’s. ‘Dick Cheney, who was a loser and a terrible person, will be lucky to get a thousand people at this funeral,’ Trump posted on Truth Social. ‘My funeral will draw MILLIONS!’ Remarking that ‘nobody cares’ about Cheney’s funeral, Trump said he expects the turnout at his funeral to set records, noting, ‘Every day, people say to me, ‘Sir, I can’t wait for that day to come.‘”

Lincoln Square’s Rick Wilson speculates about what happens when ‘that day‘ comes in his piece entitled ‘When Trump Dies.‘ He writes, “Every aging dictator, every long-in-the-tooth autocrat, every once-terrifying strongman eventually feels the cold hand of Death reaching out to tap them on the shoulder and whisper, ‘It’s time.‘” Wilson says that we all understand mortality, but we should consider what comes after that tap on the shoulder with the collapse of systems built around that leader. The entire structure that pretended to be a unified movement reveals itself for what it was in actuality: a feeding frenzy for sycophants who think they were born to inherit the golden scepter. As for what happens in the post-Trump era, his daily outrages and excesses make succession the survivors unsolved problem. Reich concludes: “Autocrats are very good at seizing power and holding it. They are very bad at leaving it behind without blowing something up on the way out — personality cult regimes are especially fragile at succession because the leader spends his life eliminating rivals rather than training successors. Trump is not unique. He is just the latest in an ancient story.” What happens next will be ugly and dangerous.