A BRIONI TUTU, GOLDEN AGED EGGS, 400 YEARS, ANOTHER DIRTY WORD

It appears that Donald and Elon, along with the Project 2025 mob, have resurrected ‘The New Pledge’ which ran in Matt Groening’s Life in Hell comic strip back on December 16, 1994. The pledge reads: “I pledge allegiance to and wrap myself in the flag of the United States Against Anything Un-American, and to the Republicans for which it stands, two nations, under Jesus, rich against poor with curtailed liberty and justice for all, except for Blacks, homosexuals, women who want abortions, Communists, welfare queens, tree huggers, feminazis, illegal immigrants, children of illegal immigrants, and you if you don’t watch your step.” Our current government makeup didn’t miss a beat in the intervening thirty years, and we can bet with assurance that they have a New Constitution waiting in the wings.

Gregory E. Sterling, dean of the Yale Divinity School, in an article on the MSNBC website says that the US Agency for International Development being cast into the “wood chipper” by Musk is a sign that a core Christian value of caring for others “is under threat.” Distressing to Sterling is the alarming and tacit support of many, including Trump’s evangelical horde, who proclaim the Gospels as their guide, and by doing so “have sold their souls in a Faustian deal for political power.” Cited is an NBC News exit poll in the presidential election with the upshot that 63% of voters in the “Protestant or other Christians” demographic supported the new administration — and if restricted to Whites, the number climbs to 72%. In the Catholic fold, 59% supported Trump, with 63% of White Catholics voting for the convicted felon. But — yikes! — 82% of White evangelicals went for King Donald. The Dean is concerned that many will associate Christianity with the worrisome programs of the MAGA administration, and that the “younger generation will either come to dismiss Christianity as amoral or identify with it for its relationship to political power rather than its moral and spiritual principles” — neither of which he finds acceptable.

A colleague of Sterling’s, Phil Gorski, author of ‘The Flag and the Cross,’ an exploration of the rise of Christian nationalism, seconds the concern about Christianity becoming a “dirty word,” and, an acquaintance who is senior pastor of a large Manhattan church now describes himself as a “follower of Jesus Christ,” abandoning his descriptor as ‘Christian.’ Sterling closes his piece by saying that the “closure of USAID and the pulling of funds from other agencies and groups that care for the ‘hungry…thirsty…stranger…naked…ill…imprisoned’ is anti-Christian at its core. It reflects a rejection of a basic value that Jews and Christians hold sacred. Christians may disagree about a number of important issues, but the imperative to care for the downtrodden is not one of them.” A recent caller from Georgia on C-SPAN with right-wing pundit Armstrong Williams recalled his family’s vacations in the Great Smoky Mountains, when they would feed bears at the side of the road — until it was declared illegal. He claims that once this largesse was terminated the bears starved to death because they didn’t know how to fend for themselves, referring to the old proverb about teaching a man how to fish. Host Williams called his story well taken, saying, “The best Department of Health, Education and Welfare I had growing up was my mother and my father.” Right! Empathy is for losers! Ignore those roadside cadgers!

During Trump’s 2016 campaign he sought the backing of the religious right, granting them unprecedented access to empower their agenda during his first term; therefore, they poured millions in contributions toward his 2024 campaign to reseat themselves in the White House to continue their oppressive agenda to strip away rights and freedoms, and to make it safe to “once again” to say, “Merry CHRISTmas!” The level of influence held by the religious right turned the Executive branch into a virtual policy-making arm of their movement in Trump’s first term, and with their continuing domination we see the appointment of lifetime federal judges from religious-right legal groups who will further dismantle church-state separation and undermine our freedoms. With Trump’s favoritism toward these groups, their appetites for even more power and control has brought an uptick in overt and aggressive Christian nationalism, a threat not only to freedom and core democratic values, but non-acceptance of religious pluralism. This movement is also more likely to support authoritarianism and political violence, while nurturing racial resentment and hostility toward immigrants in their so-called “biblical worldview.” Their belief that Trump has been anointed by God to lead the country once again was recently mirrored by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson — genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Raymond De Vries who calls himself “a sad observer of political decline” posts on Quora in response to a questioner who asked, “How can you call yourself Christian and not support our most Christian president yet, Donald J. Trump?” His answer: “You seem to think a Christian is someone who says the homeless ‘will be arrested, but they will be given the option to accept treatment and services if they’re willing to be rehabilitated.’ And, it’s just fine for Christians to praise war-waging invaders as ‘genius’ and ‘savvy’ and refer to the displaced and dead in the invaded country as ‘independent.’ Or skipping community services to play golf, and call military service members who gave their lives for their country, ‘suckers’ and ‘losers.’ And since when is it Christian for someone claiming to be a multi-billionaire to beg for the charity of wool-pulled-over-their-eyes sheeple who donate millions of dollars (or buy overpriced Bibles and other tchotchkes) to cover his legal defense costs against charges of rape, financial fraud and insurrection? And asking, ‘Why do I have to repent, to ask forgiveness if I’m not making mistakes?’ But methinks anyone who thinks Donald Trump is a Christian has been possessed by the devil….”

But we know that Trump likes the title, employing the tactics of a mob boss, as demonstrated in many of his proclamations and threats, one of the latest being against Ukraine president Zelensky after he criticized The Don for siding with Russia in the ongoing war. Ukraine has been particularly critical of the supposed ‘peace talks’ between only Russia and the US — no Ukrainians allowed, please. Trump calls Zelensky a “modestly successful comedian” who conned the US out of $350 billion to fight a “war that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a war that he, without the US and TRUMP, will never be able to settle.” He also whined that the US spent $200 billion more than European nations contributed as a guaranteed loan, while the US will get nothing back. In a peacetime scenario, Zelensky would have termed-out of office, and despite Trump’s calls for wartime elections due to a “4% approval rating,” the Ukrainians show support at around 60% with no calls for an election, though Zelensky has offered to step down “in the interest of peace if necessary.” Trump called the Ukrainian president a dictator who is responsible for starting the war — words straight from the Putin playbook. British satirical magazine, Private Eye, ran its latest cover with a poke at the Trump/Zelensky standoff. A photo of Trump and Zelensky walking side by side has word balloons added with Trump asking, “Guess what the deal is?” Zelensky replies, “I give in.” “Correct,” Trump agrees. Even the Rupert Murdoch Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called Trump’s criticism of Zelensky an “assault,” warning that his “seeming desperation for a peace deal could come at the expense of his own presidency.” The board wrote: “The only dictator in the war is Mr. Putin, who poisons exiled Russians on foreign soil and banishes opponents to Arctic prison camps.” And a punch to Trump’s gut: “Call us when he holds a free election.” Further, Trump’s attempt to turn the Ukrainians against Zelensky is likely to have the opposite effect, and they agreed with Zelenksy’s “retort to Trump which suggests he’s living in a ‘disinformation bubble.'” WSJ board sums it up with: “Ultimately, any deal that results in Ukraine’s surrender will be a blow to American power — the opposite of Mr. Trump’s promise to restore a golden age of US prestige and world calm.”

A couple of weeks back The Don was facing criticism and mockery on social platforms for calling the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts a “woke” venue, though he admitted he has never attended any events — only that he “got reports” and that “people said the shows were terrible, a disgrace.” Consequently, he announced some new board appointees after “reports” of drag performances, and expressing his desire to become board chair “to make sure it runs properly. We don’t need ‘woke’ at the center.” Social media sprung into action, calling his comments “MAGA movement in a nutshell.” GenXGuy posted, “He heard it from many people the shows were terrible…big strong men…with tears in their eyes…’sir, these shows are terrible. Only you can save the Kennedy Center.'” True to form, satirist Andy Borowitz of The Borowitz Report posted: “Donald J. Trump tightened his grip on the American arts scene on Monday by naming himself principal ballerina of the Kennedy Center Ballet. Announcing a purge of the company’s ballerinas, Trump declared on Truth Social, ‘I will soon be announcing a new roster of ballerinas, with an amazing ballerina, DONALD J. TRUMP.’ He said he was ‘disgusted’ to discover that all of the company’s current ballerinas were women, a state of affairs that he blamed on DEI. Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center has surprised millions of Americans, who previously thought that the worst thing that could happen to the Kennedy brand was JFK’s nephew strapping a dismembered whale’s head to his minivan.”

Of Trump’s intrusion into the arts, The Daily Beast website said, “Revenge, as the saying goes, is a dish best served cold and in Washington time always a moveable feast…When Donald Trump seized control of the performing arts venue, unseating David Rubinstein as chairman, it quickly became clear among the Democrat board members (and some Republicans) there was little they could do to prevent it. And so they will do what the true establishment does; they will bide their time…DC’s permanent elite believe Trump’s sudden, random interest in the center had little to do with content, and more to do with his own, more obvious, payback. The insiders didn’t accept him last time around and they won’t this, and it prickles under his skin like a rash that won’t go away. His own redress is to try to take away their toys. ‘He has kicked over a beehive,’ said one knowing person, ‘but he won’t know until it stings him in the ass.’ They will forgive the intrusion for now…but they won’t forget…even if the Kennedy Center morphs into the Trump Center overnight. ‘This isn’t the Deep State,’ said one insider. ‘This is Deep Society.’ However, if Trump thinks his coup is bloodless, at least for now, then he’d better look closer to home. Melania had apparently told friends she wanted to become more involved in the Kennedy Center and was already on the board as an honorary trustee along with other former first ladies Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton. Now her husband has stolen her thunder once again. She’d probably get a warmer welcome at the Women’s National Democratic Club.” Strike up the US Marine Corps band! Or how about Trump’s J6 Prison Choir? Never grow tired of those guys, do we?

Steve Schmidt couldn’t refrain from heralding the new Chairman Trump: “Donald Trump, chairman of the Kennedy Center, is a man with no taste and less integrity, who buried his first wife on a New Jersey golf course. Easily distracted and perpetually bored, Donald Trump has given away the powers of his presidency to Elon Musk, while using the prerogatives of his high office to launch meme coins and install himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center. Donald Trump may soon demand that his slow shuffle and jerky spasms to the songs of ‘The Village People’ tunes be called ballet. When this happens 49% of the country will wear leotards on their heads, and cheer for the most beautiful ballerina in the land — the one dressed like a schlub in an oversized Brioni suit, with a too-long tie made in China. It is in this moment that Trump will do for the arts what Tulsi Gabbard is going to do to the intelligence agencies, RFK is going to do to the public health agencies, Kash Patel is going to do to the FBI, and Pete Hegseth is going to do to the military.”

We all remember how Elon Musk flew to Germany to campaign for the ultra-right wing AfD party in the lead up to their national elections, and how he then flew back to DC to stand beside the Resolute desk and lord it over a seated Trump, with Elon’s son, X, wiping his boogers on the desk and telling Trump his time in the chair was about to end? Well, it happened again — this time in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity. According to Leigh Kimmins on The Daily Beast, Trump looked like he was hung out to dry by Musk and Hannity, as they ignored the president, or interrupted him in this high-profile sit-down take-down. Hannity’s softball questions in the Roosevelt Room in the White House briefly became a love-in, but further in it became apparent that the president was being shunted aside, with Musk portraying himself as a hero to save America in his indiscriminate machete-wielding attack on government departments. Trump attempted to chime in about Europe “taking advantage of us,” but bosom-buddy Musk shot him a look in order to keep up his own diatribe. Trump again tried to compliment Musk on his achievements, but was interrupted by Hannity who looked at Musk to ask if he was “trying to be president, as the media suggests.” Another Trump attempt to join in was interrupted by Hannity who wanted to talk to Musk about sending ships to Mars. Their chat rambled on, with Trump blasting left-leaning outlets, and feeding tired, classic lines to his voter base…gotta keep ’em happy, you know! After viewing the interview, Tom Nichols of The Atlantic wrote: “Like many Americans lately, I am seized with curiosity about who is actually running the government of the United States. But I am still not sure who’s in charge.” The official answer from the White House says Trump’s in charge, and that Musk isn’t even in charge of DOGE, or involved in the agency at all — only a “senior adviser to the president with no actual or formal authority to make government decisions himself.” Time to disarm Musk of his machete? Let’s ask Hannity!

Text for a much-needed bumper sticker: MUSK — THE MAN WHO SAVED CANCER! A bill that was up for a 2024 renewal of funding for the Gabriella Miller Kids First Pediatric Research Program was trimmed of this $190 million amount last year because Elon didn’t like the bipartisan effort under President Obama that established the program. The original bill, as presented by Republicans, included the renewal but Musk and former Republican Leader Eric Cantor drove forces that led to its being cut. Musk showed his cruelty by posting on X, photos of the two versions side by side, captioned “Yesterday’s bill vs today’s bill,” accompanied by a laughing emoji. Ultimately, the House rejected the new bill 174-235, with nearly 30 Republicans joining Democrats in voting against it. House Republican Leader Steve Scalise said the same bill will not be brought forward for a vote. Not discouraged by this failure, Musk and his DOGEs have hobbled a federal government facility that does critical research into Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. According to Greg Sargent of The New Republic, the “Trump-Musk cuts” have resulted in the firing of numerous top researchers at the National Institute of Health, “a prediction of big setbacks to fighting dementias.” “The Trump-Musk rationales for deep cuts to spending on medical research are an insultingly ridiculous farce,” Sargent alleges. “Republicans once lavished praise on this research. Trump and Musk are hobbling it. What will those Republicans say now?” Any suggestions, Hannity? How about we start a GoFundMe to buy Musk a seat on his first rocket to Mars — the first Earthling to set foot on the Red Planet — irresistible!

Stephen Miller, Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, got some acerbic replies to his post on X directed at his one million followers, when he asked, “Are you enjoying America’s new Golden Age?” The critics seem to think Trump’s term number two is, so far, a case of all glitter and no real gold. Hunter Petro suggests, “Call it the ‘Golden Age’ because it takes a bag of gold bars to afford a dozen eggs,” and Ron Smith offers, “NO, President Musk is a terrible president.” Gojo18 posts a question, “Are we living in the same country?” Eleazar’s Virgins claims, “Yeah, now that USAID has been shuttered, pronouns banned, racists applauded, and water has been poured out of California’s reservoirs, my life is so much better.” Nicadispatch feels as many of us do by requesting, “Let me know when it starts.” Miller, whose title conceals the massive influence he actually commands with Trump and throughout the administration, is helping to drive a maximalist immigration enforcement agenda from which he obviously derives immense sadistic satisfaction. He spearheaded efforts to enact sweeping changes in presidential authority for the dismantling of the federal bureaucracy and to reduce or eliminate entire departments. Miller has worked on his plan for years — prior to his first gig with Trump’s first term — and has now had four years between terms to perfect his plan. He unapologetically pushes traditional boundaries to test the waters, and he avoids the limelight to avoid outshining the boss. In the effort to overwhelm the administration’s opponents, Miller worked to have in place for signatures, on Day One, the dozens of executive orders of which Trump made a spectacle as he signed. “Hello to the Golden Age of America and welcome back Donald J. Trump,” Miller said as he addressed the crowd at Capitol One Arena in DC on inauguration day. “It’s been four long years. It’s felt like 400 years.”  On the other hand, it’s been four long weeks and it seems like 400!

In an essay in the Ohio Capital Journal, David DeWitt writes that in January 2020, he wrote about how politics of stupidity and crankery in America was degrading us as a society and as human beings. He concludes his latest piece with, “America’s love affair with swaggering ignorance and confident stupidity continues to reach awful new heights. The bill will come due. The piper will need to be paid. The damage will be extensive.” As if to second DeWitt’s statement, Donald Trump on Saturday made his own statement that stunned observers, in posting on social media, “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes attributes this loosely to both France’s King Louis XIV, and Navarre, saying, “L’etat c’est moi,” translation being “I myself am the nation.” Columnist Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times called it “the single most un-American and anti-Constitutional statement ever uttered by an American president.” Conservative anti-Trumper Bill Kristol said, “We’re getting into real Führerprinzip territory here.” Tech reporter Matt Novak offered, “Dude is quoting Napoleon now. When do we get to the exile portion of the Napoleon timeline?” In a darker vein, writer and actor Bill Corbett adds, “Trump making an excellent argument for his own assassination — good one, dummy!”

In a podcast interview prior to the election, Trump’s FBI deputy director, Andrew McCabe who was fired in 2018, was asked if he thought Trump is a Russian asset, to which he answered, “I do, I do. I don’t know if I would characterize it as an active, recruited, knowing asset in the way people in the intelligence community think of that term…he has given us many reasons to question his approach to the Russia problem, and I think his approach to interacting with Putin, be it phone calls, face-to-face meetings, the things he has said in public about Putin, all raise significant questions.” McCabe also questioned Trump’s approach to his supporting Ukraine and NATO in the face of Russia’s aggression, and certainly in light of his claim that Russia would have avoided aggressive action into its neighboring country had he been president. Trump still maintains that all he wants is “peace — and Ukraine’s rare metals deposits — negotiate, and get this over with!” We have to remember Kamala Harris ridiculing Trump during their presidential debate that his so-called friendship with a known dictator would only result with his being eaten for lunch. McCabe ended his interview, declaring that Russia’s “interest is just simply sowing chaos and division and polarization. If they can do that, it’s a win. If they can actually hurt a candidate they don’t like, or help one that they do like, that’s an even bigger win.” Score one for the dictator(s)!

The Daily Beast columnist, Julia Davis, who monitors Russian media, has reported that there is glee in the Kremlin regarding Trump’s cabinet choices, an ominous sign for the USA. Vladimir Solovyov, on his show ‘Sunday,’ said, “What an excellent team is coming along with Trump! Not with respect to Ukraine, but as far as everything else goes. If they are allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America, brick by brick. They are so great.” TV host Olga Skabeeva enthusiastically pronounced the cabinet picks, “…totally wonderful!” And her husband, Evgeny Popov who is host of Russia’s ‘60 Minutes,’ agreed, calling Trump’s selections his “…radical dream team. All of them personally despise Zelensky,” and on a cautionary note adds, “They aren’t friends of Russia, except for Tulsi Gabbard.” How does that phrase go — ‘Forewarned is fore…‘ — never mind! Russia’s predictions are already being borne out by the actions of those put in place by the GOP-dominated Senate, hellbent on undermining the very agencies they ‘lead,’ brick-by-brick, stone-by-stone. Ja’han Jones of MSNBC says, “Trump is constructing a kakistocracy — a government filled with incompetent or otherwise unsuitable characters. And based on Russian state TV, the Kremlin couldn’t be happier.”

Julia writes that Moscow was initially unsettled by Trump’s stern proclamations regarding the Russia/Ukraine impasse, but his latest actions have transformed into pure joy as he self-destructs America’s standing as a global superpower. The new-old president is also well into his plan to undermine international relationships with our long-standing allies, exceeding Russian expectations. Propagandist Vladimir Solovyov gloated over these developments, saying, “It’s awesome, right? The Canadians and the Mexicans thought all was well, but Trump told them ‘By the way, I don’t like you either.'” This statement provoked jolly laughter from the other pundits in the studio. Putin called President Zelensky’s tenure “illegitimate,” prompting US envoy Keith Kellogg to suggest Ukraine hold a presidential election since “…most democratic nations have elections in their time of war. I think it is important to do so.” Solovyov takes this as a US adoption of the Russian view, and Dean Henry Sardaryan of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations agrees that serious efforts behind the scenes have led to a seismic shift in the American approach. Sardaryan has interpreted words of Secretary of State Rubio to mean the US is abdicating its global leadership position in favor of multipolarity, with Tucker Carlson being “unleashed” to publicly “demolish Zelensky” in order to sway citizens to accept Trump’s future decisions toward Ukraine. Moscow is looking forward to stepping into the void left by the demise of USAID, by creating a tool to exercise influence over other countries, much like China has been doing for years.

By Trump’s outright rejection of bipartisanship in his first term, political scientist Dmitry Evstafiev had predicted the disintegration of existing political institutions in the USA, to be replaced by an authoritarian system — now, to the delight of Russian experts, Trump isn’t letting them down. Andrey Sidorov notes that the US is rapidly moving into a dictatorship, with Americans unable to reverse this trajectory by the usual democratic means. Current Russian prediction for the US: “everything is excellent.” Co-president Elon Musk has co-president Trump’s blessing to dismantle the government and to gut popular programs — a decision that will likely come back to haunt him says the Washington Post’s Philip Bump. Bump suggests Musk is taking his cues from X, where he has cast himself as the main character in a rightwing bubble, and he is being disingenuous or ignorant if he believes his unscientific polls on the platform represent the desires of Americans — not just his echo chamber. According to Bump, Musk seems to believe Americans want less out of government, rather than better — a fatal misreading. “While a significant portion of those who did vote approved of the idea that Trump would overhaul the government, many were voting for other reasons. There’s a reason the bureaucracy exists at the scale it does, which is that constituencies and advocates have convinced representatives that those programs are worth funding. As Musk himself pointed out, when funding stops, complaints start. We can expect a staggering number of complaints over the coming months.” And it has already started — several Red States have dared to criticize the gutting of programs. Musk is following the same stratagems as when he took over Twitter, by slashing budgets, engaging in massive layoffs, while ignoring the long term effects to create his own world, rather than the one the end users want. Bump cautions, “…this is governance, not a right-wing social club. If X crashes, users shrug. If the government crashes, people die. The former is not good for business. The latter is not good for politicians.”

On ‘The Last Word,’ MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell had much to say about the joint Trump/Musk Oval Office press conference last week, pointing out the power displayed by Musk over the sitting president. Elon stood beside the Resolute desk expounding to the press (with 3,666 words), and a seated Trump (who spoke only 2,487 words), that the non-official DOGE is saving American taxpayers trillions of dollars — no breakdown, just take his word for it and ignore the suffering and chaos. O’Donnell described the scene as “a picture of presidential subservience the likes of which we have never seen, the most powerless image of a President of the United States ever created by a camera.” The t-shirted, MAGA-hatted Musk conveyed, with his son X in tow, without saying a word, that “Donald Trump is not the boss of me.” Trump’s first-term Vice President Mike Pence “never had a day like that in the Oval Office with Donald Trump,” and current VP JD Vance “will never have a day like that in the Oval Office with Donald Trump because Donald Trump is the boss of JD Vance,” O’Donnell added. To top it off, Musk’s son was rumored to have admonished Trump with, “Shush your mouth,” when he started to speak. Roy Wood, Jr. appeared on the ‘Daily Show’ giving his take on how much control President Trump has over the DOGE leader as he runs roughshod over the federal government, saying, “I look at this Trump-Elon relationship — you ever had a homeboy who had a girlfriend nobody liked? And the friend has to act as if ‘Oh, we’re fine. We’re happy.’ It is going to take a consecutive series of brave people to keep this administration from going off the rails. You’re going to need a bunch of brave judges because he’s going to come for their heads, too.”

In the aftermath of the joint Oval Office press conference, where Trump also made a big show of signing various death sentences for government agencies, satirist Andy Borowitz wrote a dateline Washington coverage in his The Borowitz Report: “Boasting that it was ‘like taking candy from a baby,’ on Wednesday Elon Musk tricked Donald J Trump into signing a reverse mortgage on the White House. ‘All these years, you’ve fixed it, you’ve taken care of it. Maybe it’s time for your home to start taking care of you. There you go,’ he whispered into Trump’s ear, putting the pen in his tiny hand. Assuming ownership of the White House was just the latest real estate coup for Musk, who earlier in the week tricked Trump into signing over the deed to Mar-a-Lago.”

Former RNC chairman and current MSNBC host, Michael Steele, took a Saturday morning discussion into a blistering tirade against both Democrats and Republicans for groveling beneath Donald Trump’s relentless destruction of democracy. ‘Weekend‘ co-host Alicia Menendez read from The Nation’s recent report which said “the courts cannot save us,” spurring Steele to hit the ceiling. Co-host Symone Sanders Townsend asked him, “What would you have us do?” Steele blasted back, “I would like you to show that you give a damn! That you got a little emotion about the fact that people are losing their jobs indiscriminately. That this individual sitting down at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has given absolute power to one man who brings his son into the Oval Office, whose son says to him, ‘You’re not the president, you shouldn’t be in that chair.’ Now, where did he get that from? He got it from his daddy, because that’s what his daddy thinks of the man who brought him into the Oval Office. So, I’d just like to see somebody wake the hell up and get excited about the fact that your country is under assault! They’re not at the gate anymore, they’re in your bedrooms, they’re in your living rooms, they’re in your businesses, they got your data, they got all your stuff. Elon Musk has his tentacles in everything you’re doing, not just off of X, but now he’s in the Treasury Department, he’s in the Labor Department, he’s in the Department of Homeland Security and nobody seems to give a damn, so that’s all I want. Somebody to show that they care enough to get off their fat ass and say something about it.” When co-host Menendez attempted to interject and point the finger at complicit Republicans, Steele went off again, “The hell with Republicans! They’re not going to do anything, they’re the problem!”

Along with Democrats, Alaska’s conservative Senator Lisa Murkowski is lamenting and criticizing the Trump administrations’s terminating the employment of about 200,000 civil service workers who were in their probationary periods. Murkowski warned of negative repercussions in Alaska with potentially 100 or so in her state being fired. She posted on X, “Any of these abrupt terminations will do more harm than good, stunting opportunities in Alaska and leaving holes in our communities,” continuing that she shares “the administration’s goal of reducing the size of federal government, but this approach is bringing confusion, anxiety, and now trauma to our civil servants.” Some X users were not having her “whining,” and arguing that she and her party are the ones inflicting damage. One post reads, “Your party & you propping Trump up has allowed this to happen. Stop whining about something you enabled.” Another reads, “I didn’t think the leopard would eat MY face,” while another reads, “You failed Alaskans and all Americans by voting for his Russian assets, Fox pundits, election deniers, conspiracy theorists, useful idiots, DOGE and other frauds. What could possibly go wrong?”

Steve Schmidt wrote in his The Warning blog that it was clear in watching Trump’s meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan, the king was “struggling to maintain his composure and dignity as the American president blustered like a fool about a vision for the future of the world that is both utterly insane, and would be a disaster for the USA, Israel, Egypt, Europe, Jordan and the Palestinian people, who would live in ignominy as a crime against humanity,” getting resettled from their homeland. “It is also a repudiation of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, architected by the US. Think about the arrogance at hand. We are witnessing a historic moment. Before it is over, we will all have a role to play. Trust me on this. The king knows what is coming. He just doesn’t know what to say. What can be said? Whatever must be said, it must be said by an American first. The world is waiting to hear a sound, even if it is a whisper. It is the sound of an opposition stirring that makes clear that liberty is not a hollow faith. Or is it?”

On The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon joked that on Valentine’s Day Melania asked Donald if he forgot again. He was quick to say, “Oh no — I got Elon something.” And Andy Borowitz strikes again, posting, “Melania Trump has determined that the Valentine’s Day card she received on Friday could not possibly be from her husband because her name was spelled correctly, the First Lady has confirmed. ‘If it spelled ‘Melanie,’ ‘Melanin,’ or ‘Malala,’ then I’d know it from him,’ she said. ‘It was signed ‘the President,’ she continued. ‘So guess it from Elon. I wish Justin Trudeau send me card one day,’ she added wistfully. ‘That be best.'”

SPECIAL PROJECTS, SQUIRRELS, MISSING MEL, SELF-LOATHING

On a recent edition of the ‘Late Show,’ Stephen Colbert said in his opening monologue that he didn’t want to “cause panic” as he began to relate all the panic-inducing illegal and unconstitutional actions of the Trump administration. As for the firing of all the Justice Department personnel who investigated the J6 Insurrection case, Colbert said there will be nobody left, necessitating a name change to “the Department-Of-Just-This-Guy,” adding, “The firings are probably illegal, and it’s clearly retribution — unless you ask a Republican like Congressman Dan Crenshaw.” A video clip of Crenshaw, asked about the retribution aspect, said, “Who knows if it’s revenge. I think it’s open to interpretation,” to which Colbert added, “Sure. Who knows? It’s just like that movie ‘V for Vambiguous.’” He decried the administration’s ‘Special Project’ of launching investigations of specific prosecutors who were just doing their job. “Going after honest civil servants doing their job is not a special project. It is a disgrace. A special project is when, to protect you from bullies on the playground, instead of going to recess, you get to help Miss Brogdon clean the erasers,” he explained.

The Bully-On-The-Playground Trump ignores the laws, adhering to the ugly habits that he can’t abandon, even a law that Congress passed as a reform simply because of his behavior during his first term in office. So he charges ahead with his corruption,  not caring, joined by an uncaring electorate who isn’t paying attention anyway. His recent firing of fifteen inspectors general, those independent watchdogs heading agencies of the executive branch to monitor waste and corruption, purging some who were appointees from his first term, is only a continuation of his ripping out the guardrails — no walls here, please! The inspectors came into being in 1978 as a deterrent to scofflaw presidencies, such as Richard Nixon’s, against the abuse of executive power. Originally, there were only twelve inspectors, but over the years that  number grew to 73 — inspectors general for the inspectors generals? The current issue is that under the law, a president had to give Congress 30 days’ notice regarding an intent to fire an I.G., providing some vague reason why it is necessary. Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith wrote at Lawfare in 2022, “More frequently than prior presidents, Trump manipulated vacancies and related laws to fire or dismiss disliked inspectors general and replace them, pursuant to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, with a more like-minded or pliant official.” This prompted Congress to amend the law by replacing the word ‘reasons‘ with the phrase ‘substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons.’ In spite of the law’s change, strengthened because of Trump’s actions, he has mocked it by flouting the original law. No 30 days’ notice, no rationale — he just did it, telling the press that it was all fine and, “It’s a very common thing to do,” which became the catchword for Republicans, Fox News, Sinclair, and the remainder of the propaganda chorus. As you might expect, Senator Lindsey Graham admitted that Trump broke the law, “technically,” but chuckled that he wasn’t losing any sleep as a result.

We can expect the president’s new I.G. appointees to turn a blind eye to petty corruption, but these dark-of-night actions foretell that more serious and aggressive acts are in the offing a la Project 2025, such as attacking executive agencies, as Michael Tomasky wrote in The New Republic. Tomasky says that’s only a guess, “Not being an evil genius myself, I have trouble keeping up with these people.” He accuses the Democrats of “being their usual wobbly selves, with mealy-mouthed vows to work with the administration, not understanding the situation we’re in.” Sounds very much like most of the media prior to the election, treating the presidential race as a business-as-usual quadrennial event — ho-hum, let’s move along, nothing to see here, it’ll all work out, la-la-la-la-la. Tomasky says, “The situation is this. Trump takes up about 80 percent of the oxygen. His craven party and the right-wing media will applaud everything he does, legal or not, and invent some justification for it. The half of the country who voted for him will agree and approve. They assume, for example in the case of the inspectors general, that these people are corrupt deep-staters who are standing in Trump’s way, so good riddance, law schmaw. They don’t need to be galvanized, in other words. As long as Trump’s getting his way, they’re in the game, and they’re content.” He goes on to say that those who voted against Trump need to be galvanized, but some are still hurting from the election results, others don’t want to engage, while many feel there’s no hope. But somebody needs to step up and lead, choosing issues that will galvanize the anti-Trumpers, instead of ignoring Trump’s missteps as part of the game. Tomasky characterizes this as “such a passive, Democratic way to look at this. There’s always an excuse not to act, if not acting is what you want to do.” He closes by adding, “The president broke the law. Clearly and unambiguously. On his fifth day in office. In what democracy is that NOT an issue? I fear we know the answer.”

To smooth over some of the rough edges of his new tenancy, Trump continues to reach out with his being “saved by God” mantra, which he emphasized in his inauguration “weave.” So now we have, by executive order no less, a new ‘Faith Office’ in the White House to be led by televangelist Paula White-Cain, who has been Trump’s so-called spiritual advisor, with Attorney General Pam Bondi running interference with a task force to root out “persecution” of America’s Christians. These actions will sit well with Christian nationalist cabinet members, and Trumpster Dumpster/Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, despite Trump’s sketchy relationship with religion. His flirting with religion during his first term, is noted by his tear-gassing demonstrators to clear the path to allow him to clutch an upside down Bible in front of a church for a photo-op. Other photo-ops show him praying with evangelicals in the oval office, after which he derided the event, in essence, asking aides, “How do these people believe this stuff?” He recently told a crowd at a prayer breakfast in DC, that he has had a religious awakening, especially since the assassination attempt in Butler, PA during a campaign rally. Evidently, he wasn’t awakened enough to heed Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon when she called for him to show “mercy” toward immigrants and LGBTQ citizens. Many of his appointees and hangers-on have ties to the New Apostolic Reformation Church, which as a Christian Nationalist movement is calling for government and society come under their control. Notably, House Speaker Mike Johnson is linked to this group, as is ‘Faith Office’ leader Paula White-Cain. Secretary of Defense Hegseth belongs to a church affiliated with the right-wing Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches — you guessed it — a Christian nationalist front, calling for reestablishment of Biblical law, and possible repeal of women’s right to vote. For the moment, Trump is not espousing these views, but he continues to please the religious right with his accommodations — he’s easy! In his prayer breakfast speech, he explicitly called for an increased role in religion, saying, “We have to bring religion back. Let’s bring God back into our lives.” Also hinting that we need to bring him back to a third term in the Oval Office — identity confusion?

Florida’s megachurch preacher, Paula White-Cain, as a proponent of ‘prosperity theology’ fits right into Trump’s credo that God rewards the faithful with material wealth and personal success. Many of Trump’s MAGA supporters are disappointed that White-Cain is now embedded in the Oval Office, considering her theology as heretical by blaming financial woes as a lack of faith, which will only be used to exploit vulnerable churchgoers. Christian podcast host, John Mason, wrote on X, “Paula is a known heretic and known false teacher who has no regard for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Self-described ‘Orthodox Christian’ and leadership coach Scott Ross, agrees that White-Cain is a heretic, calling Trump’s appointment “an abomination, utterly opposed to authentic Christianity, she has had multiple husbands, twisting the Gospel for profit.” Curiously, Paula is currently married to guitarist Jonathan Cain, of the San Francisco-based band, Journey. Ruth Ben-Ghiat whose blog is ‘Lucid‘ via Substack posted on Reddit about an email from a reader recently. The reader states, “I have prayed about writing you. I know you are a liberal but you are also a historian. I want you to know that God himself spared Trump twice from death at the hands of another. This means he has blessing and approval from the Almighty just like George Washington. I think you should recognize that, and admit God wants him as our salvation.” Ruth replied, “Well, Hitler survived six serious attempts and at least 42 plots. God also allowed him to live. Do you think God approved of what he was doing? Do you think he was Germany’s salvation?” Crickets.

The biggest bit of news has been the establishment of a new branch of government to join the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial — the MuskRat, headed by slasher Dork Lord, and now co-president Elon Musk (or Leon, as Trump calls him), and his fake departmental DOGE team of unvetted, non-security-cleared teens and twenty-somethings who are rummaging through the files of governmental departments with their computers and portable hard drives. Hold ’em high guys, for the highest bidder — what say you Mr. Putin? The Blitzkrieg Team has had a field day with access to sensitive Treasury Department data, paramount in that treasury trove being Social Security and Medicare information. Musk and his DOGiEs demanded access to the files, resulting in a refusal from 30-year veteran Deputy Secretary David Lebryk, and upon his refusal to do so, he was put on administrative leave before being forced to resign. Following the DOGE raid, Senator Ron Wyden sent a letter of outrage to Trump’s new Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, indignant that “officials associated with Musk may have intended to access these payment systems to illegally withhold payments to any number of programs. To put it bluntly, these payment systems cannot fail, and any politically motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country  and the economy. I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access. Sources tell my office that DOGE was granted full access to this system — Social Security, Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk’s own companies.” Wyden goes on to point out that Medicaid portals in all 50 states were shut down when Trump unsuccessfully attempted to freeze all grant and loan payments, and has concerns that Musk is seeking to gain access to and potentially control the Fiscal Service’s payment systems in order to carry out a political agenda in violation of the law. The senator says it appears that Musk is forcing out qualified and experienced public servants in order to get his way and fulfill Trump’s goal of eviscerating the federal budget, including potentially by cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits for millions of Americans. Perhaps instead of four branches of government we are really looking at only one — headed by two individuals? Just remember, Trump’s first lie of his second term was the oath of office.

Elon Musk revealed that he and Trump were in agreement to shut down the foreign aid agency known as USAID, telling employees not to report to work, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio then declaring that he had taken over as acting administrator of the agency, ending its largely independent status. Without warning, senior officials and hundreds of civil servants have been suspended and eliminated, though Rubio said many of the programs would continue, even as he blamed the radical change on “worker insubordination.” Many USAID employees and Democratic lawmakers gathered in front of the agency’s headquarters in DC, denouncing the shutdown as illegal because Congress created, and funds, the agency as a distinct entity. Over the past several months the omnipresent Musk has gained a growing list of critics, but a voice from his past has been brutal in an analysis of his former confidant’s character. CEO Philip Low, of NeuroVigil, a Bay Area startup, posted on Facebook that Musk tried to undermine the business even after investing in it, because of his own rival business, NeuraLink. Low’s post has less to do with the two enterprises, which only have similar products with different marketing bases, than about personality, as he terms Musk to be “a total miserable self-loathing poser.” Low claims that the 14-year relationship of the two allowed them to share personal problems, with both men having violent fathers who lost their fortunes, both being bullied in high school, then ending up in similar environments in Silicon Valley. He portrays Musk as self-centered, believing he is above everyone else, as a power hungry and cynical individual who persuades people toward far-right political leanings world-wide. Low attributes Musk’s two Nazi salutes at Trump’s inauguration festivities, to his being a thrill-seeker who knew exactly what he was doing, as he tried to ingratiate himself to the Nazis in the MAGA movement. He says Musk was likely disappointed when the audience didn’t return his gestures to show his complete control and domination over them — and raising his leverage over Trump in the process. The post ends with Low’s warning that Musk readers should stop working for him, not supporting Tesla and X, saying, “He only wants to control, dominate, and use you — don’t let him. Cut him and his businesses out of your, and your loved ones, lives entirely. Unless you happen to be a self-loathing loser, too, he will be much more afraid of you than you should be of him.” But as Rex Huppke posted on Bluesky, “These are not good people. And the time to panic is right freakin’ now!” 

The Little-Day-One-Dictator (you think he meant to say One-A-Day-Dictator?) still has his greedy territorial expansionist gears turning in his head from Canada to Panama to Greenland to Gaza, which can become the Riviera of the Middle East after ethnic cleansing, bomb and land mine clearance, and bulldozing for removal of megatons of debris from demolished buildings. No mention of a wall to prevent residents from returning, or to keep spies, saboteurs and bomb squads at bay. Senator Amy Klobuchar, speaking at the Washington Press Club Foundation Annual Congressional Dinner, mentioned that the organization dates back to a time when the US was comprised of only 46 states, sarcastically joking that the US would be adding more states thanks to Trump’s roving eye to other lands. “Speaking of Greenland, there’s a question for you that I want to pose. What’s the difference between Greenland and Donald Trump? Greenland is not for sale!” she gloatingly cracked. This was met with a chorus of boos from the GOPers in the audience, to whom she said, “OK, to any Republican and Trump administrators out there, who might want to throw eggs at me for that joke — you can’t, because they’re too expensive.” ‘Late Show‘ host Stephen Colbert suggested that Trump probably wants to change Canada’s name should it become our 51st state, and since it’s just above Minnesota, it could be called Maxisota. Then again, Trump might want to investigate leftover names suggested by Thomas Jefferson in 1784, for some of the western territories, a grid divided into sixteen regions. Jefferson submitted ten names, two of which, Michigania and Illinoia survived with editing, but other baroque offerings as Pelisipia, Assensipia, and Cherronesus only made it into the circular file. The Donald will probably grace any new states with names based on his DEI hires: Don, Eric and Ivanka.

President Trump has chosen his next battle to be with paper straws, saying an executive order would “end the push for Paper Straws. BACK TO PLASTIC!” People posting on media could hardly believe it: “This takes an executive order?”, “Clutching at straws, literally,” “Focusing on what really matters!”, “Politics aside, this genuinely reads like a toddler upset at school lunch,” “This is what you voted for?”, and “Congrats, America!” With the flood of executive orders so massive that Trump can’t remember them all, a Congressman said, “They’re running low on squirrels they hope we chase.”

Satirist Andy Borowitz, in his Report a few weeks ago wrote: “In a bid to reassure the nation, Pete Hegseth said if confirmed as Secretary of Defense, he will connect a breathalyzer device to the nation’s nuclear arsenal…instead of being on a car it would be on nuclear weapons. Hegseth added that he would submit to a daily phone conversation with his mother, and ‘if Mom says I don’t sound right, I won’t go near any nukes. Besides, if I’m hung over, I won’t set off anything loud.’ In a final pledge, Hegseth said, ‘I promise the American people: if I’m drunk in the morning, I’ll have someone else drive me to the Pentagon.’” In a subsequent satire, Borowitz indicates things went awry, writing: “Pete Hegseth’s tenure as Secretary of Defense got off to a wobbly start on Monday after he was arrested on suspicion of DUI for crashing an M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tank into the Pentagon. The arresting officer, Harland Dorrinson, arrived at the Pentagon shortly after receiving reports of a large battle tank making figure 8s in the parking lot. Finding the smoldering Abrams protruding from the side of  the building, Dorrinson said Hegseth was ‘extremely combative when I asked him to step out of the tank.’ Hegseth was later booked, released, and driven home by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”

Mr. Trump became the first sitting US president to attend football’s Super Bowl on February 9, and amazingly he managed to make it all about him! He erroneously chose the Kansas City Chiefs to win the game in a pre-game interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, giving high praise to quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He revived his grudge against pop singer, Taylor Swift, when she was shown on the Jumbotron and was soundly booed by Eagles fans in the stands because of her relationship with the Chiefs. Trump turned this negative reaction toward himself when he claimed she was being booed for supporting Kamala Harris in the presidential sweepstakes, saying, “MAGA is very unforgiving! Only the Chiefs had a rougher night.” Raise this man’s golden high chair before he throws another ketchup-laden plate of french fries onto the field! And where was Melania? In the cheap seats?!

UNELECTED BARNACLE, IT’S A COUP, IMPEACHMENT?

Couple of valid entries on social media last week: “They should invent a January that doesn’t drain your will to live!” Sort of fits in with some of the other mopey posts in evidence. And a perfect companion would be this: “Anyone know which wine pairs with societal collapse?” That one may be more valid when we examine what is coming to pass in DC with King Donald and the unelected co-president Elon Musk. Steve Schmidt on his The Warning blog writes that the two, along with Musk’s goons, are locking government officials out of their computers, offices and buildings as they demand access to the governments payment systems, asserting powers they have no right to assert. To which Schmidt declares, “Heil Trump! King Donald has stomped and huffed and shaken things up.” One outstanding question: Has Musk taken an oath, like the federal workers he has plans to fire, to uphold the Constitution? Musk, an unelected barnacle (as Rolling Stone’s Nikki Ramirez calls him) to King Donald is now ensconced as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) despite lacking Congressional approval, being tasked by Trump to find ways to slash government spending, reduce bureaucracy, and do away with regulations. As Ramirez notes, DOGE has little legal authority to execute cuts, and no mandate to meddle with the Treasury, but his entanglement with the administration has him influencing every aspect of policy. According to The Washington Post, after Trump’s November victory, Musk and his thug team have been requesting access to payment systems under the Bureau of the Fiscal Service which controls distribution of more than $6 trillion in annual funds, such as Social Security, Medicare benefits, tax refunds, and federal salaries. Now he has crashed through the doorway with complete control.

Treasury official, Mark Mazur, told The Post, “This is a mechanical job, paying benefits, vendors, whatever. It’s not one where there’s a role for non-mechanical things, at least from a career standpoint — your whole job is to pay the bills as they are due. It’s never been used in a way to execute a partisan agenda. You have to really put bad intentions in place for that to be the case.” Which calls into question why Musk/DOGE are seeking access in Trump’s hard-right takeover of the government. According to Wired magazine, Musk has been able to place three close allies at the head of the Office of Personnel Management, who has sent emails to employees encouraging them to resign, offering them several months of paid leave, but as Rolling Stone reports, “While the administration is pitching the resignation offers as ‘a nice vacation,’ they could still be forced to work.” This resignation letter is quite similar to the one Musk sent to Twitter employees after he bought the social media platform — we saw how that all went down — or came down!  Musk is getting off on his newfound power, but word is circulating that Trump’s inner circle is getting frustrated with Musk’s abuses of his proximity to the president. One Trump ally said to Politico that abuse is clear, however the president has no leverage over the situation and Elon couldn’t care less. So, here we are with the world’s richest man whose companies have grown fat on US government contracts, and now he has a greater financial interest in how the government operates than your average naturalized immigrant. Rolling Stone’s Ramirez asks, “Is it a blatant conflict of interest to have the world’s richest man continue to profit off his investments while serving in a uniquely powerful and virtually unchecked role over US policy, regulation, government spending, and investment? Yes! Will Republicans do anything to stop it? Don’t hold your breath.”

Back in November, Musk and his then-partner in DOGE, Vivek Ramaswamy, laid out some of their ideas to the Wall Street Journal about their plans. First, mass firings were threatened to reduce employment by resignations to the minimum to accomplish the constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions, after which Trump could suspend worker protections to enforce a “mass head-count reduction across the federal bureaucracy.” In light of recent events, how many air traffic controllers does he think might be the absolute minimum? With help from the Supreme Court they hoped to usurp new power with would allow Trump to ignore Congress and not spend money, something called impoundment. A $500B cut in spending would target items like foreign aid and public broadcasting, already evidenced by Trump’s attempt to throttle federal grants. Some targets might have merit, such as examination of federal contracting and procurement, but when Medicare becomes a subject of discussion it gets scary, despite Trump’s pledge to protect safety net spending. As Senator Ron Wyden said, “I can think of no good reason why political operators who have demonstrated a blatant disregard for the law would need access to these sensitive, mission-critical systems. Americans don’t want an unelected and unaccountable billionaire dictating what working families can and cannot afford.” Fears are heightened that Musk and Trump’s cronies are attempting to gain authoritarian control over the government by ousting or sidelining career civil servants and undermining Congress, which has the constitutional authority to decided how the government should spend its money. Representative Pramila Jayapal wrote, “Musk is rooting around in Social Security and Medicare payment systems. He’s reaching his hands into our pockets and firing anyone who tries to stop him. This reeks of corruption — it must stop.” Senator Elizabeth Warren called for this “alarming” news to be investigated by Congress.

The New York Times was told that no payments had yet been blocked and that the stated mission of DOGE is to review payments, not stop them. Musk suggested on X that he was only looking for inappropriate expenditures, but also that blocking funds might be appropriate. He went on to say that it was discovered that payment approval officers at Treasury were instructed always to approve payments — they literally never denied a payment in their entire career. Former Treasury officials told the Times that funds are dispersed by a comparatively small staff who rely on the agencies that earmark the funds to vet them, and while there are certain automatic safeguards in place, it was not the role of Treasury to approve or reject specific payments. Lindsay Owens of Groundwork Collaborative wrote: “The Treasury system cuts the checks — Musk has infiltrated the system to stop payments. It’s a COUP!” Owens in an op-ed seen on MSNBC outlined three reasons why Musk might want to access the Treasury payment system: 1) Stop payments to certain programs in order to work around the courts’ block on the administration’s spending freeze. 2) Access list of blacklisted federal contractors in order to boost his own or friend’s companies and harm his competitors. 3) Reduce Social Security or Medicare payments as part of DOGE’s goal of cutting $2 trillion from federal spending. Owens notes that Musk isn’t “chasing these cuts for their own sake. He’s helping congressional Republicans attempt to pay for a new round of tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy — including himself.” A recent poll finding reveals that only around one-third of Americans approve of DOGE and that 52% disapprove of Musk. Olivia Rosane of Common Dreams offers, “If Musk is going to continue running the government like one of his failed businesses, perhaps someone should force his ‘resignation’ too,” and as Michael Phelan of Social Security Works says, “We need to raise holy hell to STOP this.” Asha Rangrappa of The Freedom Academy offers, “In the end, ending this insanity will likely be up to us, the people. Perhaps when people see that their own bottom line is under the control of an unelected, unconfirmed, foreign national billionaire who has no allegiance to the US government, it will spur action in the streets.”

The non-profit Free Speech for People is heading up a new nonpartisan campaign to solicit support for President Trump’s removal from office — ‘Impeach Trump Again’ — with a report that over 100,000 signatures have been obtained on their petition. The group is encouraging Congress to launch an impeachment investigation, claiming that their petition shows “widespread support,” and that the public is unwilling to accept a King Trump. “We need bold leaders in Congress willing to stand up and hold Trump accountable for his abuses of power and initiate an inquiry,” said director Alexandra Flores-Quilty. Sadly, we are in short supply of bold leaders. A post on Quora asks if Trump can be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, drawing this reply: “Last time I checked, it is explicitly illegal to bury someone anywhere who is still alive. However, former presidents CAN be buried there, though it could contaminate the ground, insulting every other human being interred in that sacred ground. Arlington is primarily for military veterans who served honorably, veterans who were decorated during their service; so since Trump is a cowardly, lying draft dodger who has insulted, demeaned, and degraded veterans, having his body anywhere around that hallowed ground would be a slap in the face to every veteran and their family who had ever served this country.”

At this writing, the country and the world, are reeling from Trump’s calamitous misadventure of implementing tariffs upon our three biggest trading partners: Canada, Mexico, and China, all of whom have promised retaliatory measures. Canada and Mexico said their responses would be implementation of their own tariffs against the US, with China saying it would file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization and enact “necessary countermeasures.” Like taking over the Pana-MAGA Canal? Trump gave a start date of last Tuesday, pronouncing the levies would remain in place “until the crisis is alleviated,” meaning the flow of drugs and undocumented immigrants into this country. Tit-for-tat tariffs from this trio of trading partners could send prices soaring for consumers in the US and world-wide. A press conference by Prime Minister Trudeau indicated Canada would levy tariffs on Tuesday on $30B worth of US goods, with additional tariffs in the coming weeks “to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek alternatives.” Trudeau said the long history of the US-Canada alliance should lead to a better path without Trump’s punishment, while warning US citizens that this move “will have real consequences for you, the American people.” He also encouraged Canadians to opt for Canadian-made goods over American products, or changing summer vacation plans to stay in Canada. No comments were forthcoming from the White House.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on X that she has instructed the implementation of Plan B, which has been standing by in anticipation of Trump’s tariffs. The plan includes “tariffs and non-tariffs in defense of Mexico’s interests,” but no details were announced. Sheinbaum slammed the tariffs, saying in her X post, “We categorically reject the White House’s slander of the Government of Mexico alleging alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention to interfere in our territory,” adding, “Mexico not only does not want fentanyl to reach the US, it does not want it reach anywhere. Therefore, if the US wants to combat the criminal groups that traffic drugs and generate violence, we must work together in a comprehensive manner, but always under the principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust, collaboration and above all, respect for sovereignty, which is non-negotiable. Coordination, yes; subordination, no.” Trump is probably still wrestling with his Webster’s to understand what she posted, or perhaps texting Elon for answers, but then again, he probably doesn’t care.

China’s filing a lawsuit with the WTO may have little effect since the US has blocked the appointment of appellate judges to the organization for years, which leaves it unable to mediate international trade disputes. Therefore, China’s action may only serve to gather international support against Trump’s tariffs. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, “China calls on the US to correct its mistakes, work toward mutual understanding, engage in candid dialogue, strengthen cooperation, and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, and mutual respect. Additional tariffs are not constructive and bound to affect and harm the counternarcotics cooperation between the two sides in the future.” Of course, none of those words and phrases are in Trump’s vocabulary and it’s way too late for him to implement any of them personally, or in his business practices, or in his destruction of the federal government. Both China and Mexico say they have taken steps to address the flow of fentanyl and to stem international flow of the precursor ingredients, so it’s up to the US to address its own domestic demand for the drug. The Chinese government may try to side-step a trade war, since it is still struggling to recover from the COVID pandemic, but pressure will likely mount, giving the Chinese government the impetus to respond, using a new December 1 law which gives it explicit authority to do so.

As for the tariffs, Trump says, “We will make America great again, and it will all be worth the price that must be paid, we are a country that is now being run with common sense — and the results will be spectacular!!!” No one knows exactly what the impact will be on American consumers, nor how long the tariffs will be in play, but if they should remain if effect for a long period, Trump’s “pain” will become a solid reality. Your next cup of coffee may be more expensive, with prices increasing after Trump and Colombia had a spat over deportation flights — the president reversed a 25% tariff on the country when an agreement was reached. So even though the tariff never happened, coffee markets were rattled by the aspect of tariffs, resulting in price increases in coffee futures. Coffee prices have been increasing over the past several months due to bad weather which has reduced growers’ yield, so Trump’s threat threw unexpected uncertainty into the global trade system which is racing to keep up with increasing demand. Producers will probably continue to gradually increase prices simply as a hedge against the possibility of tariffs, though companies such as Keurig, Starbucks and Nestle lock in prices years in advance which will make them immune, for awhile, to the dynamics of the Trump administration.

About Trump’s tariffs (“the most beautiful word in the dictionary,” he says) announcement, journalist SV Dáte wrote that Trump announced he has increased taxes on Americans by $297B a year. Conservative Bill Kristol said, “If only we had a body, with democratic legitimacy and powers conferred by a Constitution, that could overrule a president who seeks to impose arbitrary tariffs and to deport people who fled here to escape oppression. It could be called the Congress of the United States.” Economist Marc Lévesque chimed in, “So, it’s official. Trump just violated the Canada-US-Mexico Free Trade agreement that he himself signed.” Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers called Trump’s tariffs “a self-inflicted wound to the American economy.” Trump posted, “We pay billions of dollars to subsidize Canada. Why? There is no reason. We don’t need anything they have. Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada…and NO TARIFFS!” To this post, Steve Schmidt says, “My friends, this is vile. In fact, it is evil. They are the words of a Putin or Xi. They are the words of international gangsterism and thuggery. These are the words of a Hitler. They are the words of the president of the United States, and they are repugnant. These are the words of expansionism and tyranny. These are the words of derangement.” Schmidt’s essay is lengthy, but poignantly he declares, “Why is this happening?…it is happening because the American Republic is collapsing. It is being destroyed from within, as Lincoln predicted in 1838: ‘…if destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher…'”

We might reflect on the words of Ronald Reagan who said, “Our peaceful trading partners aren’t our enemies; they are our allies. We should beware of he demagogues who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends — weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world — all while cynically waving the American flag.” Or perhaps as Steve Schmidt says, “Fascism has come to America and it is wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” And as Trump says, “Let them eat cake!”

With markets and businesses awakening on Monday morning to the advent of the tariffs, stocks fell, energy costs surged, but word of an agreement from Trump and Mexico’s Sheinbaum to delay tariffs with Mexico agreeing to place 10,000 troops at the border, securing it from migrants, seemed to calm nerves — for now. Same goes for Canada: a 30 day reprieve with promised border security. But don’t relax just yet! That sound of hammering and objects hitting the floor and doors being slammed? That’s Elon Musk and his goons chipping away at our government. Gosh, if only we had a body we might call the Congress of the United States!

ZORRO IMPERSONATOR, WHOPPER OVERLOAD, BEYONCÉ VICTORY

Has it been four years yet? That’s a question raised by a poster on X at the end of an exhausting week of Trump and his antics following his inauguration. It’s certainly a worthy query as many of us will agree. The Crazy Eight website evaluated it with, “In his inaugural speech Donald Trump called for a ‘Revolution of Common Sense,’ where apparently truth is stranger than fiction, and reality is more alarming than satire…His first priorities? Helping everyday Americans struggling to pay their bills by renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America AND profiting billions from his new cryptocurrency! Ain’t that swell?”

Buzzfeed selected a few of its favorite Tweets of the Week: “I don’t care who’s trans, bro — I want doctor’s appointments for $5”; “There’s not going to be lower grocery prices, you stupid slut”; “Being a person with a brain and someone who can read during this period of history is really, really difficult”; “Nobody is telling men they’re losers, and that’s the problem”; “I’d rather get a pap smear from Edward Scissorhands than watch any second of the inauguration”; “Melania’s looking like a smooth criminal”; Referring to the announcement that Trump’s inauguration would be moved indoors, one poster asks, “And, ya’ll want to invade Canada?”; “My BF keeps muttering to himself, ‘We had to get through Hoover to get to FDR,’ like it’s a prayer.” Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update anchor, Michael Che, showing a Tesla Cybertruck picture, said, “Musk can’t be a Nazi, because the Nazis made nice cars.”

The TV ratings are available for the inauguration, and Trump has to be disappointed that no Sean Spicer has stepped up to convince the world that records were broken. According to The Wrap, combined cable and network news totals amount to 24.59M, with Fox News unsurprisingly accounting for 10.3M, nearly half of the viewership, between 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Morgan Stephens of Daily Kos observes “that more people watched Beyoncé’s Christmas halftime show than the 47th president’s inauguration.” Trump’s viewer ratings are well below his own 2017 inauguration (and Joe Biden’s in 2021), garnering only 7.2% of the US population to see that he didn’t place his hand on the Bible and air-kissing Melania in her Zorro hat. Stephens attributes the dip in viewership to general apathy, despondency, Trump fatigue or his polarizing presence, combined with loss of appetite for his theatrics.

Trump made it clear that his second term will be more of the same, as he added to his collection of false and misleading claims, estimated by the Washington Post that during his first Oval Office occupancy he spewed 30,573 whoppers. One critic dubbed him “America’s Liar-In-Chief,” as he launched into his inaugural address about immigration, the economy, electric vehicles, the Panama Canal, his 2020 stolen election, and the January 6 insurrection. His brazen mendacity is not only habitual, but strategic as we see within the MAGA mob’s tactics. A former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, says, “It’s a continuation of Donald Trump’s brand. He knows that sunlight is the best disinfectant, so he’s going to continue to lie to mask what he’s doing. If you can undermine institutions and credible sources of information, you can get away with lying and deceiving people. We’re watching that mass delusion happen right before our eyes in the Trump administration 2.0.” During the following week with reporters, Trump continued to spew misleading assertions, wild exaggerations and blatant lies, culminating on Fox News with his explanation for the blanket pardon of the January 6 rioters and their attacks on police as “very minor incidents.”

CNN reports that Trump, in his attempt to rewrite history detailing the attack on the US Capitol, had a database detailing the array of criminal charges and successful convictions of the January 6 rioters removed from the Department of Justice’s website. That searchable database served as an easily accessible repository of all cases prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia — which declined to comment! Removal of the site coincides with Trump’s decision to pardon all convicted defendants, plus early release of 14 members of far-right extremist groups, including 10 convicted of seditious conspiracy, and a request to dismiss more than 300 unresolved cases. This ‘whitewashing’ of the mob attack wipes out cases against some of the most violent rioters who injured police, and was celebrated in particular by the pardoned Brandon Straka for his role on J6. Straka proclaimed it a “huge victory,” saying that the site was a “weapon of harassment” used by the government to make life impossible for its “targets from J6.”

Acting US attorney, Ed Martin, known for his organizing the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement and being involved in financing the 2021 Trump rally on the Ellipse, is given credit for removing the DOJ website. Straka had campaigned for the site’s removal because the information was available to potential employers, landlords, and social or business contacts, complicating the lives of the J6 participants. Details of the J6 cases are still accessible on the DOJ’s website in the form of press releases about charges and convictions, and are available through court records and services such as Pacer.

David Smith in the Guardian reports that even the White House website has been compromised, with a Trump biography claim that a 2024 “landslide victory defines the American success story.” Omitting the ‘big lie’ regarding the 2020 election, his victory came “a second time despite several assassination attempts and the unprecedented weaponization of law fare against him.” While fact-checkers attempt to hold Trump to account, Republicans are less willing than ever to correct his falsehoods in this now fragmented media environment, with MAGA influencers only too eager to amplify them. Kurt Bardella, Democratic strategist and media relations consultant, says, “If there’s any lasting impact from Donald Trump’s time on the political stage, it’s that we live in a world now where you can just make up your own facts, and truth is however you decide to bend it. There are content creators and content machines that exist solely for the purpose of laundering anything that Donald Trump says and making it true to a certain degree. It’s a play off the Richard Nixon quote: ‘If the president does it, it is legal; well, if the president says it, it’s true. That’s the world that we live in now.'”

Sara Boboltz of B writes, “as President Donald Trump settles into his second term and world leaders ponder what the next four years have in store, some British officials who have dealt with him in the past are sharing words of advice: ‘Expect chaos, but also laughs.’ Workers in the British prime minister’s office during Trump’s first term told Politico EU that small crowds of civil servants and advisers would gather to listen in on phone calls with Trump. ‘The calls were extraordinary — brilliant. Everyone was in there with tears of laughter because they were hilarious.’ Two listeners said that whatever agenda had been planned ‘would quite quickly fall by the wayside’ and the calls ‘were never what you wanted them to be about, broadly.’ Americans are already well-versed in Trump’s meandering style of speech, surprising gaffes and penchant for jumping between topics at whim, which he calls ‘the weave’ with his claims that he always ends up hitting his intended points in the end. One person contributed, ‘Yes, he will say some mad or unpredictable things, but there’s almost always an underlying argument or basis for a negotiation, and if the conversation goes south, Trump is always happy to discuss his UK golf courses.'”

British satirical magazine, ‘Private Eye,’ printed its latest cover with an apology to Donald Trump, headlined ‘Donald Trump: An Apology.’ The document reads: “In common with all other media organisations, we may in the past have given the impression that we thought Mr. Trump was a sleazy, deranged, orange-faced man-baby who was a threat to democracy and who should be in jail rather than the White House. We now realise, in the light of his return to supreme power, that he is in fact a political colossus, the voice of sanity, a champion of liberty, a model of probity and the saviour of the Western world. He is also slim, handsome and young. We would like to apologize unreservedly for any confusion caused by our previous statements and thank President Trump for his kind invitation to give him 94 million pounds to attend his inauguration event.” In smaller print at the bottom of the page, it reads: “This statement has not been fact-checked.”

James Austin Johnson, portraying Trump on Saturday Night Live said, “Just like my founding fathers, I am creating a new country as well. And just like them, we’re doing it very white-ly. Workplaces must go back to looking like the TV show ‘The Office.’ Mostly white people but with one funny Black guy who’s having a really bad time.” Johnson/Trump called his inauguration “a tremendous success,” being held inside “due to cold and fear. We got a lot of surprise guests, like Melania!” He pointed out the presence of his billionaire buddies, “Zuck, Bezos, and of course, Elon. We love Elon, but to quote some of his own children, ‘I do not want him in my life.” Johnson/Trump shared his views about only two genders, “one to work, and one to cook. We’re going back to common sense in regard to gender. No more makeup on men, unless you need it to be president.” On his cabinet appointees, he boasted, “We’re filling my cabinet with some of the best people. They’re all very good except for most of them. How great is Pete Hegseth? He said he’s going to stop drinking if he gets the job, and that’s all I needed to hear.” And, “Who would’ve thought it easier to get a cease-fire in Gaza than lower the price of eggs?” Satirist Andy Borowitz writes that Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman is asking Trump for a pardon out of ‘professional courtesy,’ claiming that he was a DC riot participant. Ready to turn over a new leaf, Borowitz says Guzman promises to stop selling drugs and focus on crypto, while acknowledging he is a controversial figure but, “I’m not some total maniac like Hegseth.”

Stephen Colbert of the ‘Late Show’ ripped into Republicans who showed absolutely no outrage with Trump’s pardoning of 1,500 January 6 rioters who attacked the US Capitol, some of whom assaulted several police officers. Colbert quoted House Speaker Mike Johnson with saying it was not his “place” to question Trump’s decision. “Not your place? They attacked the House of Representatives! That is literally YOUR place!” The Tonight Show host, Jimmy Fallon, says Trump’s granting of clemency took his allies by surprise, with one adviser revealing the president simply said, “Release them all.” Must have been too much trouble to read all those pages of names which would keep him away from his grifting. Fallon noted, “At this point the only prisoner Trump hasn’t released is Melania.”

President Joe Biden was given a sendoff by Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update with Colin Jost saying, “President Biden said that the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks were one of the toughest negotiations he had ever experienced. The hardest part was convincing both sides that he was still president.” Jost’s co-host, Michael Che, reported that Biden, after delivering his farewell address from the Oval Office, “triumphantly rode off into the pavement,” showing older footage of him crashing his bike. Che added, “Biden defended his administration’s accomplishments by ending every sentence with, ‘You ungrateful bastards.'” Taking a potshot at incoming Donald Trump, Jost’s reaction to the newly released official inaugural portrait, a scowling takeoff on his Georgia booking photo, offered, “Trump is trying to look so hardcore in this photo, I’m surprised he didn’t add a parental advisory sticker and a durag.”

The Biden administration recently announced that the president had commuted the sentences of about 1,500 people, with pardons of 39 individuals convicted of crimes such as drug offenses. These acts follow the earlier pardon of his son, Hunter, which stirred quite a controversy. On his show, Stephen Colbert commented, “Wow! I didn’t know he had 39 sons. That’s impressive. What Biden did today is the largest single-day act of clemency in modern history. I believe that is an emphatic and generous act of forgiveness and hope. That will be knocked out of the headlines as soon as Trump threatens to bomb Manila because he cut himself on one of their envelopes. You know that’s coming.”

James Carville in a video interview for Politicon says President Biden is the “most tragic” political figure of his lifetime, not because he pardoned Hunter, but because his dropping from his presidential candidacy came too late for Democrats to put together a competitive race against Trump. “I actually feel for Biden,” he said, knowing full well that he spoiled Harris‘ chances. “He wasn’t crooked, he didn’t pursue bad policies, he is the most tolerant, loving, caring, non-prejudiced person you can imagine, and this is what he’s faced with,” Carville remarked. Biden’s pledges to run for reelection and not to interfere in his son’s legal cases, both reversed, lead Carville to believe Biden’s wavering resulted in the Democratic loss despite a strong and admirable race. Unconcerned about Hunter being let off the hook, Carville rationalized the act by saying, “Ok, everybody’s going to do whatever they’re gonna do with their own children.” But he goes on to say that had Joe made his announcement to drop out several months earlier, the election result would have been different, arguing, “And it wouldn’t have been that close because we would’ve had so many talented frickin’ people running.” After which, he maintains, Biden could have left the White House “on a high note” as “the toast of Washington,” having landmarks named after him, with a future Democratic president pardoning Hunter.

“What’s so sad is it didn’t have to be this way. He brought it all on himself. All of this is self-inflicted. It’s tragic, it’s sad, and of course everything about him is…it’ll be six years before somebody comes back and talks about all of the stunning things Biden accomplished.” Carville’s deep respect for Biden made the election result even more devastating for him, and though he had predicted an unequivocal win for Harris/Walz, he admitted that the lack of primaries left many Democrats feeling they had been co-opted. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, last week on his The Last Word show, had an exclusive interview with the outgoing president, where he complemented Biden on his many accomplishments, many having received little fanfare during his tenure. To his regret, Biden admits he did “too little politicking” in communicating his achievements, while expressing his concerns about democracy as we move into the Trump regime.

Steve Schmidt writes on his The Warning blog, “The American people are fickle, and soon the majority will bear the economic, security and moral consequences of their vote.” He regrets that two long years await us before voters can cast ballots for or against the MAGA dominated governance. Schmidt sees Trump stepping into the Oval Office as a “political colossus, an angry, vengeful Caesar, who will tear down America’s institutions that have been in effect since FDR.” He points to MAGA as “a propaganda machine that depicted the most powerful nation in world history as a rotten hells cape, immoral, corrupt, failing and occupied by an ‘enemy within.'” This machine prevailed because it is stronger, more powerful and better funded than anything that exists in opposition, that has been building for 30 years to bring about a different America. Schmidt doesn’t hold back about Trump, pronouncing him as being a chilling choice of the voters, who is a man-child who has never worked an hour in his life, never succeeded at anything, whose life is a tabloid joke, and is as ignorant about the world as a person could conceivably be, a father who indulges his children in order of their nitwittery.

Schmidt decries the impending cruelty of MAGA in their handling of migrants, and Trump’s ‘zero tolerance’ family separation policy — the cruelty being a permanent feature of MAGA culture. He maintains that MAGA has not been shy regarding its declarations that ‘might makes right,’ ‘the strong inherit the Earth,’ and ‘the rich have a right to rule over their lessers’ — as long as they are obedient to Donald Trump. Schmidt adds, “Donald Trump is going to create the most extreme and servile administration in history. It will be utterly lawless. It is going to smash every institution, collective security agreement and scientific agency it can. The first year of the Trump presidency will seed the catastrophe to come. At first the people will cheer, but then it will start to slip away each day. Trump will be undone by his overreach, arrogance and insecurities. Musk and Vance will destabilize the administration, and bring it to its tip-over point at a rapid pace. Trump has the ball, and it’s of the wrecking variety. He intends to use it.” He concludes, “Donald Trump is writing our future. It’s what we chose as a country. What a shameful act. The price will be immense.”

Economist Paul Krugman predicted on ‘The Daily Blast’ podcast, “A lot of people” who voted for Trump “are going to get brutally scammed” upon Trump’s return to the Oval Office, when he enacts his “really radical” and “terrible” economic policies. Raising tariffs and cutting taxes on high income earners will batter the working class, and the deportation of millions of immigrants will have an even worse effect on the economy. There are no Wall Street “heavyweights” to “steer him away” from his destructive instincts to redistribute income, and small business owners who are “the most fervent MAGA types out there” will suffer, just as small local businesses have been targeted for scams throughout Trump’s business career by not getting paid for their work.

So why do Republicans fall so quickly for ‘information’ that simply isn’t true? A problem with reality is that it’s just a bridge too far? Henry Morgan posted on Quora that the 1976 presidential election loss to a peanut farmer rocked their very souls, which led them to use focus group studies to put them on a winning track. The result was a decision to divide the country along the lines of religion, switching from fiscal conservatives to religious conservatives, fundamentally changing the nature of the party from a pragmatic group of people searching for workable solutions to the country’s problems. This new faith community believed the most important issues to Republicans were group loyalty and shared belief. A group centered on its beliefs as opposed to its goals quickly finds it is difficult to change beliefs if the facts don’t line up, and in particular if the beliefs are wrapped in religion — handed down by God! Solution? ‘Alternative facts’ — beliefs are important, facts are less so. The party was more willing to create facts that align with their beliefs, and then believing those ‘facts.’ Morgan calls this ‘cowardice,’ predicting ever worse disasters for the country, because policy has to align with real facts. Beliefs are not terribly important in politics — facts and aligned policies need to be the focus. The religious right has changed the way people discuss positions, with the Trump cult being an extension of this — con men making a profession of manipulating voters through their feelings and beliefs, with half the country under the spell of an imbecile. In conclusion, Morgan tells Republicans to remember that ‘whataboutism‘ is simply an indication that you are wrong, without a leg to stand on!

A few weeks ago, Stephen Colbert brought attention to what he called Donald Trump’s “farm-team of far-right weirdos” who are vying for attention in hopes of gaining a spot in his administration. One wannabe is ultra-conservative Christian nationalist, Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters who has made headlines for attempting to push Christianity into the state’s classrooms, mandating Bibles be placed into classrooms along with lessons. Colbert said, “Yes, because Bibles always make places more holy. That’s why only wholesome stuff happens in motels.” Responding to news that Superintendent Walters was also demanding that students watch a video of himself praying for Trump, Colbert said, “OK, that’s a weird thing to force public school kids to watch. But you know what? I pray. I’ll even pray for Donald Trump right now,” and clasping his hands together, bowing his head, he asked, “Dear Lord. Do you know Donald Trump? God, help us.” In his monologue, Colbert pointed out that a paperback Bible can be purchased for $1.99, and that Walters spent “a whopping $60 apiece” on Trump Bibles, using money from the state treasury.

It is rumored that Trump will take the oath of office on one of his Trump Bibles — never hurts to do a bit of free telemarketing when you have a captive audience of billions. Perhaps the Bible, the guitar, the tennis shoes, the watches, and NFTs are old hat by now with market saturation, but never fear! Last week he announced a new grift by releasing a new meme coin. He TRUMPeted on social media, “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Have fun!” Republicans Against Trump immediately posted: “You’re nothing but a shameless grifter. Truly pathetic.” The coin features an image drawn from the July assassination attempt, blurring the line between his government role and the continued effort of his family to profit from his power and global fame. Getting into the game, Melania announced her $Melania coin later. This is simply a sign that the Trump Crime Family will be less hesitant in his second term to bend or breach traditional ethical boundaries, in particular because this coin is issued as cryptocurrency, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Anybody willing to take them to court on this? Probably not, since it was disclosed that he intends to name cryptocurrency advocate, Paul Atkins, to the SEC chairmanship.

President-elect Trump was royally roasted across social media after announcing that his inauguration would be moved indoors due to “very cold weather,” expected to be the coldest inauguration day in 40 years according to ABC News. Trump was eager to show a photo of the weather forecast, minus any suspicious black Sharpie marks, and revealing that “various dignitaries and guests” will be “brought into the Capitol,” adding, “This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience.” Social media commenters pointed out that previous inaugurations took place outside in equally frigid weather, and that Trump was more fearful of a low turnout as in 2017, when Sean ‘Spicey’ Spicer had to cover for low crowd size without benefit of a black Sharpie. Political strategist David Axelrod pointed at Trump’s age as being a factor, but another responder added, “For an administration all about tough guy culture, they certainly don’t seem that tough. Guess he fears his cult followers won’t be that dedicated and that his hair will get messed up with a hat.” Minnesota Governor Tim Walz trolled by posting a photo of himself covered in snow flurries, writing, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing.” It should be noted that Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman wore shorts, sneakers and a hooded sweatshirt, viewing Trump’s swearing-in ceremony from the front row of seats. Good clothing for the event! An out-of-country poster speculated that Trump didn’t wish to be cold, but with hotel bookings at a record low, the attendance was going to be pathetic. Trump also predicted a turnout of 200,000 to 600,000 to watch the inaugural parade, to be held indoors (in a venue that holds 20,000!), and it will be embarrassing to hear him make excuses for those unable to attend as he touts unprecedented ratings for online and TV viewers. This poster says other presidents have held ceremonies in the cold, but then other presidents have been mostly honorable men, with Trump being the most objectionable, unpresidential creature to squat in the Oval Office, and while the world laughs at Trump, there is grieving for the US.

Melania attracted much attention for her Inaugural Day outfit — a dark navy coat, matching navy hat with a white stripe, dark navy heels and black gloves. The hat drew the most attention, some calling it “stunning” and “classy.” Others were quick to point out that the first lady resembled the McDonald’s Hamburglar character, minus the mask. Another asked, “Why is she dressed like Michael Jackson? She looks Smooth Criminal era Michael Jackson at a funeral.” A VP Harris supporter added, “Melania is in mourning today. Four more years stuck next to this clown!”

Satirical writer Andy Borowitz in his The Borowitz Report says: “In an eleventh-hour decision on Sunday, the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump has been moved from the Capitol Rotunda to the interior of a Tesla Cybertruck. The change of venue, dictated by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), means that only people with a net worth of over $100 billion will be able to attend. “There’s room for me, Zuckerberg, and Bezos, but, unfortunately, no JD Vance,” Musk said. “I usually don’t let employees work remotely, but JD will be allowed to call in.” The decision to hold the inauguration inside the electric vehicle pleased Trump, who estimated the number of people inside the truck at 4 million.”

Nations ’round the globe are perking up their collective ears with Trump’s spouting off about his territorial expansion wishes, prompting Seth Meyers on his The Late Night show to throw in a few comments regarding Greenland, which Trump has been eyeing since his first term. Meyers goaded Trump with, “I’d like to say something to Donald Trump about his threat to take Greenland by military force that might take some of our viewers by surprise — DO IT!” Continuing his encouragement to Trump, he said, “Go get Greenland, you coward…don’t show me your face ever again…I’m calling your bluff. Stop making these crazy promises. Do it. I want it. Go get it.” In a taunting tone, Meyers added, “Why won’t you get it? You afraid of Denmark, bro? You starting to remember they got those big-ass dogs,” as he showed a picture of a tough-looking Great Dane. Meyers joked that Trump will “keep downgrading” his threats to “smaller and smaller countries,” predicting that “Russia’s going to do whatever it wants while he threatens Peru with, ‘We’re coming. We’re going to get Macchu Picchu back where it belongs.'” To Trump’s suggestion that NHL legend Wayne Gretzky should be Canada’s new Prime Minister, Meyers argued, “I think Trump picked Gretzky because that’s the only Canadian he knows,” suggesting that Trump probably wants the Prime Minister to Ireland be the Lucky Charms mascot. Many readers were delighted when The New York Post ran a front page cartoon of Trump using a pointer on a world map with a renamed Greenland as ‘Our Land,’ Canada as ’51st State,’ the Gulf of Mexico as ‘Gulf of America,’ and the Panama Canal as ‘Pana-MAGA Canal.’

What started as the MAGA-in-Chief’s calamitously ignorant, and incredibly exorbitant 25% tariff threats to our allies has degraded into his hazardous expansionist dreams. Canada was quick to defy his bullying over a new tax policy proposal. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau immediately became a target for Trump who called him “Governor Trudeau” with a suggestion that Canada become the US’s 51st state. Trudeau had been under tremendous pressure to resign, and after deputy prime minister Freeland resigned under protest, and with concerns over Trump’s tariff increases threat, the calls for him to step down became too overwhelming for him to ignore, so he made his announcement to resign. Immediately, Trump launched into posts on Truth Social, proclaiming what a great nation could result from a US/Canada merger, with no tariffs, reduced taxes, and security from Russian and Chinese threats. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene proclaimed Donald Trump as ‘Canada’s liberator,’ accusing Trudeau of “tyrannical COVID abuse, destroying free speech, and being Zelenskyii’s biggest cheerleader. Trudeau RESIGNS!”

Elizabeth May, a Green Party member of Canada’s Parliament, recently held a news conference where she voiced a hard “NO…thanks, but no thanks,” to Trump’s proposal for Canadian statehood, citing his “monumental ignorance” of Canadian politics and the five different parties in their “sovereign nation,” which, by the way, has no need for “braggarts, bullies, or dictators.” “No one runs for Prime Minister in Canada!” she emphasized, referring to Trump’s Wayne Gretzky plug, and suggesting he borrow one of his grandchildren’s school books to brush up on his history. She proposed that perhaps California, Oregon and Washington might care to join their provinces where they have universal health care, safe streets, gun laws, and where women have health rights which are going by the wayside in the US…and that perhaps a Province of Vermont could be included? Also, no ‘Go Fund Me’ posts needed to rescue patients denied medical care by greedy insurance companies! May emphasized that the two countries, who have been good friends and allies, should continue to be trading partners, not combatants, since Canadian goods are a bargain for the US, based on the current exchange rates of their respective dollars, and that perhaps Trump might even prefer they join the EU! May goes on to say that if The Don’s 51st state proposal was a joke, it failed miserably, and that Trump is not acting as a president-elect should conduct himself with his disrespectful comments, and that she, for one, will not throw Mexico under his bus!

Trump has also used his threat to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico unless that country stops migrants and drugs from crossing into the US, suggesting that they are not currently cooperating to do so…a total lie particularly aimed at US voters. Mexico’s President Sheinbaum responded sharply with her claim that American gun trafficking to her country is fueling crime and violence among gangs who smuggle drugs into US markets. She noted, “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demands in yours.” Sheinbaum suggests that the two nations’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trump’s insults and confrontational attitude. She uses US statistics to make her point that border crossings are down, since Mexico is acting to prevent travel across their own southern border, thwarting migrants who want to head to the US…hardly an “invasion” as Trump is claiming. As reported in both The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the Mexican government security operations shuttle migrants back to the south and away from our border in what they call ‘El Carrousel.’ Experts see President Biden’s efforts at cracking down on illegal crossings as succeeding greater than any past efforts, all without tariffs.

However, Trump and his MAGA gang are ignoring the success, pretending nothing is being accomplished, while scamming behind the smokescreen of denial, a swindle that is focused on tariffs. Arianna Huffington wrote back in 2000 in her book ‘How to Overthrow the Government,’ “Our political landscape is so littered with duplicity and deceit, we’ve actually come to expect our leaders to lie. What once would have shocked us now barely registers. We’ve become inured to wrongdoing. So politicians mangle the truth — call it ‘spin’ — and the public lets it slide, too numb to care…it’s because, even though we don’t like it, we don’t consider it really damaging. Spinning sounds cute, almost constructive…something that should engender indulgent smiles rather than outrage.” Huffington said it should be termed ‘propaganda’ where the propagandist succeeds by claiming to be nothing more than the humble mouthpiece of ‘the people.’ The more the public is duped, the more its deceivers can claim to express the public’s will which only brings forth an orgy of euphemisms. “Humpty Dumpty would have been right a home,” Huffington declares, “when he told Alice, ‘When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

Greg Sargent writes in The New Republic, “All this paves the way for larger deceptions later. Bank on it: The moment Trump takes office, the lower apprehension numbers will magically become real metrics. Fox News will start trumpeting them and he’ll start claiming the border has achieved pacification due to his strength. Indeed, Trump very well may credit his current threat of tariffs with ‘forcing’ Mexico to make the lower numbers of border crossings a reality.” During a recent conversation between Trump and Sheinbaum, she explained to him Mexico’s strategy to address the migration phenomenon, observing human rights, while not closing the border but instead building bridges between government and people. But we find Trump crowing that she agreed to close the border, taking credit for something in which he hasn’t even been a participant. No need to let a troublesome thing like ‘reality’ get in the way of building a house of delusions, eh?

Brad Reed writes in Raw Story that some MAGAs are eager to start launching military operations inside Mexico to take out drug cartel leaders, though experts believe it would do little to stop the supply of drugs coming into the US. Mexico has found this approach to be a failure, which only started an explosion of violence within the cartel, so killing off capos within the gangs is not new, only a failed strategy. One military veteran declared the strategy as being, “Iraq all over again. We’re not fighting an army. We’re fighting poverty. Let’s fight desperation. Let’s fight hopelessness. That sounds a whole lot like what we did in Afghanistan for 20 years unsuccessfully.”

During his 1976 campaign for US Senator from California, Samuel Hayakawa said of the proposed transfer of the Panama Canal from the US to Panama: “We should keep the Panama Canal. After all, we stole it fair and square.” It should be noted that a few years later, Senator Hayakawa helped win approval for the transfer; but now we find that president-elect Trump is railing for a reversal of the ownership. Trump feels the Canal authority is charging “exorbitant prices and rates of passage” on US naval and merchant ships, demanding that fees either be lowered, or give it back to this country. The US is the canal’s biggest customer and Trump’s fear is that the passage is in danger of falling under China’s control as the second-biggest customer. Failing to get much attention is the outstanding tax evasion case against Trump, Trump Panama Hotel Management LLC, and Trump International Hotels who are accused of not paying the required 12.5% tax rate to the Panamanian government. The lawsuit alleges the companies kept the money, “intentionally evading taxes” and leaving the new owner liable for millions. According to Malcolm Ferguson in The New Republic, a tax audit of the hotels submitted as evidence found massive inconsistencies in the case still pending in New York District Court. In 2018, Panamanian officials stepped in, stripping the Trump name from the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower.

Co-president-elect Musk, donning his own global expansionist/interference cloak, is asking whether the US should “liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government” as he launched into a series of X posts to call for the release of a jailed right-wing activist, and the imprisonment of a junior minister of the Labour government. The Tesla head-honcho is calling for the jailing of Jess Phillips, a member of Prime Minister Starmer’s cabinet, calling her a “rape genocide apologist” over her handling of investigations into organized gangs accused of systematic rape of young women. The Labour government says it is focused on enacting recommendations of a 2022 study, which were not implemented by the previous Conservative government, as Starmer rebukes Musk for grandstanding, taking advantage of an “utterly sickening issue” for his own advantage: “Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and wide as possible are not interested in victims, they’re interested in themselves.” A propagandist — neither more nor less?

Musk has spoken out for Islamophobic fascist activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by his pseudonym, Tommy Robinson. Robinson, a member of the fascist British National Party was convicted of mortgage fraud and assault for stalking a female journalist at her residence, and is now serving 18 months in prison for repeating false allegations against a Syrian refugee. Musk disagrees with his incarceration, but MAGA-lover Nigel Farage of Britain’s right-wing Reform Party can’t abide Robinson. Farage’s outspokenness spurred Musk to call for his ouster as Reform Party leader. A few weeks ago, Musk meddled in German politics, endorsing the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, to which Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in an interview said he finds it “worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and large financial resources is so directly involved in the internal affairs of other countries.” So, it’s destined to be a complete Barnum & Bailey three-ringer — who’s next?

Dr. Jo posts on Quora that despite Trump’s appointment of a lot of real clowns to his cabinet, creating the most dangerous circus in the history of the world, it’s not a circus…not even close. To wit: appearance and apparent clumsiness hide the fact that real circus clowns are capable and competent; circus acts are carefully scripted; circuses have rules and mechanisms for safety. Trump has initiated a reality show, with supporters who have yet to cope with his narcissism, as he sees the whole of reality as reality TV, himself being the hero, consequently, many of his selections are sycophantic Fox News presenters. But, however self-indulgent, it’s not totally a reality show which can be arbitrary and bizarre, with many people behind the scenes to capture and edit any bad things before damage control is needed. In Trump 2.0, we find that the safety nets are absent, wild animals are free to roam, emergency exits are blocked, fire hazards are acute…equipment wasn’t checked because nobody cares, appointees/performers are hardly competent…existing just for show — the competent ones have left or are about to leave, or will be fired by Musk, and no script…which is done daily upon the whims of Trump.

Dr. Jo concludes, however, that the reality show is funny…or will be funny when the “legion of spiteful, vindictive” Trumpers in the crowd realize what is really happening. Sooner, rather than later, almost everyone who voted for Trumpy McTrumpface will be quite surprised. They are currently sharing in the reality-impaired delusion…until they get a drubbing. Repeatedly, the US will be managed into the ground, just like Twitter X, until there is nothing left of value, except that anything of value will be in the pockets of Trump and his gang. Time to grab your peanuts, popcorn and cotton candy and watch from afar, preferably from a parallel universe, because it ain’t gonna be pretty.

TV host Stephen Colbert on The Late Show last week, reported that President Biden was in California, “doing what presidents should do: pledging federal disaster support to a stricken state.” At a press conference, Biden also announced that he was officially the first sitting president to become a great-grandfather, as is eldest granddaughter gave birth to a baby boy. “And with under two weeks left, there’s still time for Joe to set more old-man presidential records,” Colbert suggested, such as “most Malt-o-Meals consumed at 4 a.m., most rubber bands collected in an old cigar box, first president ever to fall asleep at a picnic and be carried away by ants.” As Nietzsche asked, “Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?”

Well, it had to happen…Donald Trump’s election victory was certified by a joint meeting of Congress presided over by his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, a thirty minute tragedy that was only delayed for a couple of minutes by unhappy Blue Staters trying to crash the proceedings by breaking down the doors…naaahhh, that didn’t happen! But the peacefulness and decorum of the process was in stark contrast to that of the “normal day in DC” of 2020, as now described by MAGAs of course. Those charged with crimes during the storming of the Capitol are in Trump’s sights to avoid accountability with his pardons…as many as 1500 may avoid charges, slates wiped clean from the ugliness of that day. As Representative Jamie Raskin, a former member of the House Select Committee said, “This is an asymmetry we’ve been pointing out from the beginning that there has been relative accountability up until this point for the people who smashed the police officers over the head with Confederate battle flags or speared them with Trump flags or stormed the Capitol and so on — vis a vis the masterminds behind the whole process.”

Trump’s indictments for his role in seeking to block the peaceful transfer of power in Georgia have hit a snag, and Special Prosecutor Smith’s request to dismiss the J6 case without prejudice, leaves the door open for possible refilings in the future, but admittedly, the likelihood fades with the passage of time. Representative Zoe Lofgren, another House Select Committee member, adds, “Trump won the election…it is pretty pathetic that the officers who defended our lives are so disrespected and that the criminal who egged them on is now going back into the White House. You know, he has vowed to pardon the criminals who attacked the Capitol. People died. I always make a point of calling some of the officers who were injured on the sixth so they know it’s not the whole world that has forgotten their sacrifice.” Federal prosecutor Mary McCord, former acting head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division warns, “There’s no question that some of the defendants are currently still very empowered, and you have to imagine that they’re not going to be nearly as deterred from engaging in behavior that violates the law — particularly something that Trump may want them to do — in the future.” Former federal prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in DC, Rizwan Qureshi, declared, “I think the bedrock of a true democracy is a peaceful transition of power. That’s why those who engaged in actual violent conduct on that date need to be held accountable…because accountability and respect for rule of law are necessary to deterring violence and preserving our democracy that I think we take for granted every day.”

The rule of law was dealt a poke in the eye with a secretive Saturday night party at Mar-a-Lago, reportedly celebrating efforts to overturn the 2020 election…no publicity, no press invitations, just attended by the likes of John Eastman, Michael Flynn, Jeffrey Clark, Rudy Giuliani, and Peter Navarro as they watched a documentary film about Eastman. Attorney Eastman was delegated to pressure Vice President Pence not to certify the results of the presidential vote of 2020, to the praise of Trump’s introductory remarks on Saturday. “I’m a big fan of John Eastman. Y’know, he was right. He happened to be right. That’s why they changed the law and nobody wants to talk about that. They said he’s not allowed to do it, he’s not allowed to do it, and they convinced him he’s not allowed to do it, our vice president, then right after the election they changed the law so he can’t do it.” Hosts of MSNBC Weekend, in discussing it on Sunday, prompted Michael Steele to ask, “What was the sense in this room, what was the purpose of this gathering, is it just an in-your-face-moment or just a tale of things to come?” Vaughn Hilyard’s take is that it was clear from Trump’s guest list that it was no coincidence about the purpose. Symone Sanders Townsend tersely responded, “Let’s just put a finer point on it, this is sickening! This is sickening, I am sick. Navarro, Clark, the people that went to the Capitol to take up arms against the US government, because the president at the time lied to them, that’s what happened. Those are not patriots. What Donald Trump did last night is a disgrace to the country and Constitution, and the fact that they didn’t tell anybody about it lets you know that they knew what they were doing was untoward, and they wanted to do it anyway.”

Steve Schmidt writes on The Warning that many have called for President Biden to issue preemptive pardons for the likely targets included in Trump’s promised retributions in his abuse of presidential powers. Schmidt is against such action, calling the Constitution and our own dignity as our protectors. Accepting a pardon means admitting a crime, and the necessity of opposing Donald Trump is not a crime. It is necessary, and will continue to be necessary, he maintains. Opposition to Donald Trump doesn’t need explanation or justification, so fight against criminalization of matters of conscience under a regime that doesn’t tolerate criticism or dissent. The fear that Trumpers have instilled throughout America “isn’t just unseemly…it is disconcerting, pathetic at some level and cynical at another,” Schmidt says. The premise that Biden should issue preemptive pardons is “among the worst ideas ever floated. It is a gateway to banana republicanism through a side door.”

Andy Borowitz writes in The Borowitz Report, “In a series of scathing Truth Social posts on Tuesday, Donald J Trump lambasted President Biden for issuing a pardon without being paid for it. ‘Pardoning someone for free was an incredibly selfish act,’ Trump wrote. ‘This will lower the market value of every future pardon I give. The framers of the Constitution gave the president pardon power for one reason: to make money,’ Trump continued. ‘I have too much respect for the Constitution to pardon people for free.’ In perhaps the strongest denunciation of Biden’s actions, he added, ‘Any decent father would have made Hunter ambassador to France.'”

In response to Trump’s promise of pardons, bootlicking Republicans are sucking up to him in a time-honored and traditional way: by being cowards. And, all those Senators and Representatives who hunkered down for safety on January 6, 2021, are all lined up to show him they can roll over for him. Senator Lindsey Graham said, “We’ll see what he does. I mean it’s been four or five years (since J6). The ones that hurt cops, they’d be in a different category for me, but we’ll leave that up to him.” Trump’s charge that the House Select Committee destroyed evidence that would have exonerated him, and fantasizing Liz Cheney before a firing squad, all seem to be fine with the GOP. The detailed events in the 850-page report from the committee were terrifying, illuminating and damning, and most voters oppose Trump’s plan to pardon insurrectionists, but what most voters want has never been the Republican Party’s bag, writes Walter Einenkel on Daily Kos.

Author Charles Pierce, in discussing presidents of his lifetime, says they were not perfect men, but for the most part, “they approached the job, and they took to the podium, with all the gravitas they could muster as appropriate for the job. They tried, at least, to reach for something in the presidency that was beyond their grasp as ordinary human beings. They were not all ennobled by the attempt, but they tried nonetheless.” Looking at our current prospect, he moans, “And comes now this hopeless, vicious buffoon, and the audience of equally hopeless and vicious buffoons who laughed and cheered when he made sport of a woman whose lasting memory of the trauma she suffered is the laughter of the perpetrators. Now he comes, a man swathed in scandal, with no interest beyond what he can put in his pocket and what he can put over on a universe of suckers, and he does something like this while occupying an office that we gave him, and while endowed with a public trust that he dishonors every day he wakes up in the White House. The scion of a multigenerational criminal enterprise, the parameters of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. A vessel for all the worst elements of the American condition. And a cheap, soulless bully besides…Watch how a republic dies in the empty eyes of an empty man who feels nothing but his own imaginary greatness, and who cannot find in himself the decency simply to shut up even when it is in his best interest to do so…Watch him behind the seal of the President of the United States. Isn’t he a funny man? Isn’t what happened to that lady hilarious? Watch the assembled morons cheer. This is the only story now.”

As if to echo Pierce’s words, the president-elect will be attending an interfaith prayer service in DC the day before he is inaugurated — his wealthiest supporters are invited if they write a big enough check. This news is reported by Religion News Service, which gathered the information from Trump’s inaugural committee which has a list of different tiers of ‘benefits‘ for the various donor contribution amounts. On January 18, donors can get tickets to a ‘Make America Great Again Rally,’ a cabinet reception and a dinner with VP-elect Vance, to be followed the next day with the “pay-to-pray” event, so dubbed by RNS reporter Jack Jenkins.

Humorist Dave Barry had the perfect summation of the 2024 election season in his 2024 yearly wrap:  “But what made 2024 truly special, in terms of sustained idiocy, was that it was an election year. This meant that day after day, month after month, the average American voter was subjected to a relentless gushing spew of campaign messaging created by political professionals who—no matter what side they’re on—all share one unshakeable core belief, which is that the average American voter has the intellectual capacity of a potted fern. It was a brutal, depressing slog, and it felt as though it would never end. In fact it may still be going on in California, a state that apparently tabulates its ballots on a defective Etch-a-Sketch.”

Well, the electorate has spoken — a mandate according to the MAGAts, putting the man from Mar-a-Lago back into the Oval Office! But wait! It turns out The Man at Mar-a-Lago is none other than Elon Musk hibernating in one of the cottages onsite! Is he president, co-president, vice president or VP-in-waiting? It’s all very suspicious in light of all the shenanigans being pulled by this “high status male” peering over Mr. Trump’s shoulder and whispering in his good ear. During the recent presidential campaign, Musk used his X social media platform to promote the theory that a free-thinking ‘Republic’ can only exist under the decision-making of “high status males,” excluding women or “low T men,” of course. The theory was derived from 4chan, first seen in 2021 on that social media site, posted by an anonymous user who suggested that the only people able to think freely are “high testosterone alpha males” who would be qualified to a run a “Republic” designated “only for those who are free to think.” “People who can’t defend themselves physically (women and low T men) parse information through a consensus filter as a safety mechanism,” says the anonymous poster. “Only high T alpha males and aneurotypical people are actually free to parse new information with an objecive ‘is this true?’ filter,” they add. “This is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.” “Aneurotypical” is not a word but it is assumed the writer meant neurodivergent individuals.

This theory, and others similar, promote hegemonic masculinity, being criticized for being sexist, exclusionary, not realistic and “toxic,” all popular in alt-right communities. “Interesting observation,” said Musk of this post. Mr. Tesla views such controversial or offensive positions as ‘free speech’ and should be allowed on his own platform even if it holds false or misleading information. The 4chan site itself is a hub of internet subculture, influenced by hacktivist and political movements, such as Anonymous and the alt-right. Posting can be done anonymously, a mainstay of the site, which has resulted in harmful content from a toxic community, which is emboldened to post hateful and abusive messages without fear of reprisal, with burgeoning of cyberbullying, harassment, and illegal activities; indeed, incidents of violence and harm must be taken into account. But now, talk about “interesting observations,” president-elect Trump has chosen to put Musk in charge of a ‘government efficiency commission‘ to audit the entire federal government, implementing “drastic reforms,” bringing with him his track record of bristling against regulation and government intervention. His efficiency in running a business and his abysmal stewardship of X should raise a few red flags, as we examine his repeated employee pay cuts and mass layoffs which resulted in a sputtering and barely functional social media site. Millions of previous users have abandoned the platform which is now a cesspool of hate speech, disinformation, and propaganda…the main proponent being Musk himself. His confounding missteps and micromanagement style may eventually eat away at the successes of SpaceX and Tesla, which may suggest that his real motivation in accepting Trump’s invitation is to deconstruct government from the very center rather than saving it money to continue operating. But, what the heck…with a former reality TV star president with an erratic business record, what could go wrong?

Former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, on his Countdown podcast, is afraid there’s nothing to stop Musk from buying his former, troubled cable news network, though it is not technically up for grabs. Olbermann asks, “Is there anybody to stop someone, Musk or not, from buying MSNBC and turning it into pro-Trump propaganda? Well, who stopped Musk from doing that to Twitter?” Musk suggested the idea after Donald Trump, Jr. joked that making that purchase would be “the funniest idea ever!!!” Olbermann’s comments about a degraded Twitter note that it is now basically a place for Musk to talk to bots and “fellow brain-dead tech bros.” Fidelity Investments estimates that X is now worth 80% less than when Elon got his mitts on it. Comcast has plans to spin off most of its struggling cable networks into standalone entities owned solely by existing shareholders, and may ultimately divest from cable completely. However, Musk is already spread incredibly thin with all his enterprises, so MSNBC is in no danger…yet…only our government should fear his clutches.

And the clutches of his designated partner, Vivek Ramaswamy, in the new non-agency called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)…not legally recognized as yet. The two co-leaders are making a list and checking it twice of government employees they intend to fire when Trump is sworn in to the presidency, actually two lists obtained from former administration workers. The first lists people who they served with who would make possible political appointees; the other list grades people they worked with, with an ‘A’ for those who should stay, and a ‘B’ for those who should be ‘blacklisted or fired.’ Typically, civil servants or career officials are protected from political raids at agencies, but Trump has claimed he can use Schedule F, an executive order that would make them fireable, and most certain to end up before the court. Many applicants are seeking work in the DOGE inquisition agency, but few who are willing to work for free, as are Musk and Ramaswamy. M & R are eager to start their new assignments as they goad their adherents to start cyberbullying government employees, calling their positions “fake.” Some may remember that in 2022, Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of trust and safety, was targeted by Musk who charged Roth was endangering children, which led to a multitude of haters accusing him of being a pedophile and calling for his death. Roth was chased away from Twitter after the Musk takeover, and had to relocate for his safety after the billionaire’s cyber campaign, a sign of what may lie ahead with M & R’s ‘efficiency’ moves.

The two claim to have a mandate from the American people and the Supreme Court as they try to reshape the federal government. They are advancing legally questionable arguments on tactics, but as ‘outside volunteers,’ they have no authority to actually cut anything or fire anyone. Those powers lie with Trump, Congress, federal agency heads, or anyone with actual power to do so; yet, the two imply that they will take a much more direct roles to personally achieve their desired result. It is estimated that Musk spent in excess of $200M to buy Trump’s presidency, so in return Trump is giving Musk free rein to reshape federal agencies that regulate Musk’s companies by purging the civil service that awards him lucrative government contracts. According to odactionnews, DOGE is not aiming to eliminate a wasteful, lawless, and antidemocratic bureaucracy in Washington — it is hoping to become one. Conservative critic George Conway joked, “It’s weird to think that Elon Musk will end up having paid far less for the United States government than he did for Twitter.”

Musk has proven his power by killing a bipartisan government funding bill that was set to be voted on, avoiding a government shutdown. His over-the-top social media posting spree encouraging Republican members of Congress to vote against the proposed plan succeeded, and it took several days to get it back on track in the nick of time. Stephen Colbert wasn’t surprised by his action, saying that the billionaire has a history of blowing things up…“particularly on the launch pad,” he joked by showing a SpaceX rocket failure in Cape Canaveral. Colbert continued, “I’m sure the founders are spinning in their graves with joy at the way all of this is playing out. After all, the Constitution does start with ‘We the people do whatever rich boy tells us. Rich boy makes the big square truck! And we obey! We the people, obey rich boy.” He then pointed out that Trump weighed in on the bill’s failure, echoing Musk’s posts, which then spurred comments of “President Musk, and Vice President Trump.” “Woof, well, if he’s gonna be the guy running everything, I’m gonna have to work on my Elon Musk impression. Here goes,” as he jumped into the air in mockery of Musk’s jumping on stage during a Trump rally. Senator Bernie Sanders posted, “Democrats and Republicans spent months negotiating a bipartisan agreement to fund our government. President Elon Musk doesn’t like it. Will Republicans kiss the ring?”

Elon is facing accusations of political meddling not only in this country, but across Europe, including the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Britains’s Reform UK parties. “Only AfD can save Germany,” Musk has written on X, leading one senior German politician to remark, “Stay out, Elon.” It is reported that Musk is considering a donation of $100M to the anti-immigration Reform UK after meeting that party’s leader at his new digs in Mar-a-Lago. Wary politicians in Italy, Ireland, and France have told him “hands off” our domestic politics. Back in the USA, many are saying it’s Musk’s House now, with many Republicans proposing a Speaker of the House Musk, though he is backpedaling with Trump to make his actions on the funding bill appear to be Democrats‘ fault. Tiny cracks are beginning to appear in the GOP, stimulating calls for a Civil War within the party, which will make Trump a lamer duck than he desired to be. Trump wanted the world’s richest man as his sidekick, for the glamor and the fat wallet, and now it’s about to blow up on the launch pad. With Musk’s perceived clout, who owns the MAGA brand? Former MSNBC anchor and political analyst Chris Matthews called out Musk for tanking the funding bill by saying, “You’ve heard of a bull in a china ship — this guy is an elephant in a china shop.” Steve Schmidt on The Warning blog, speculates that, “Maybe we should call Elon ‘Daddy.’ I bet that’s what Trump calls him in private. Barron too.”

Satirist Andy Borowitz writes, “Elon Musk’s strenuous efforts to obtain power have dismally failed to make him an interesting person, a leading expert revealed. Professor Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, a scholar who has written the definitive study about tedious graspers, said that Musk has made ‘the classic misjudgment that many boring people make: believing that access to power would make them less boring. He is still the reason all his employees want to work remotely.’ In more upbeat news for the Tesla CEO, Donald J. Trump has tapped Musk to mastermind mass deportations, arguing, ‘Elon already got millions of people to leave Twitter.'”

TEMPORARY PARALYSIS, TRUMP’S WORLD, MUGWUMPS, ONE TRUCK

Last week from the Borowitz Report, dateline Paris: “The much-anticipated reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral on Saturday was ruined by the appearance of the Antichrist, observers said. Beelzebub, who had traveled form Palm Beach, was heard loudly complaining that he had come ‘all the way to Notre Dame and there was no football game.’ He late disrupted the ceremony by loudly hawking a shipment of $60 Bibles he had just received from China. French President Emmanuel Macron apologized to the world for inviting the Archfiend, but added, ‘At least he didn’t bring Elon.'”

Following the election of the Antichrist, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, said of the upcoming Trump administration, “This isn’t the end. I promise you, this is not the end. And we have to regroup, and we have to continue to fight, and continue to work day in and day out to create a better society for our children, for this world,” telling the studio audience, “…you just have temporary anxiety and paralysis that comes with disappointment and just a soupçon of despair…like we just looked down and realized there’s nothing beneath our feet,” ala the Roadrunner and Coyote at cliffside. Describing his own feelings about the election, he said, “In the joint custody agreement we now have in America, the kids are going to have to live with Dad for the summer and you just have to…eat it.”

A Fox News poll has reported that a majority of Americans are hopeful about the re-election of President-elect Donald Trump, they are divided when it comes to the top nominees he has named for his administration, with 47% approving and 50% disapproving. His handling of the transition period has a 55% approval rating, higher than was the case in his previous transition to the high office, but far behind the approvals experienced by other recent presidents according to CNN. A Marist Poll records 86% approval on the Republican side, a 72% Democrat disapproval, and among independents, 43% disapproval and 38% approval which indicates a wait-and-see attitude. Trump’s choices have been named at a faster pace than eight years ago, but setbacks are likely, with Matt Gaetz already being eliminated…rather quickly.

USA Today columnist Nicole Russell says, “Donald Trump is still only the president-elect, but global leaders already are treating the incoming 47th president as America’s top leader. That bodes well for the Trump administration for the next four years, but it also raises the questions about the capacity for leadership of the Oval Office’s current occupant. That’s Joe Biden, by the way. Remember him?” Russell says that Biden and VP Harris have all but disappeared since the November election, with a month to go before the regime changeover. Trump was in the spotlight in Paris at Notre Dame, with Jill Biden being practically ignored by world leaders who flocked to Trump. French president Macron and Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy held talks with him and the UK’s Prince William had a brief meeting, as Trump smilingly enjoyed the much-desired attention. His reception clearly shows that the sitting US president has been abandoned for his lack of leadership. Russell asks, “If Democrats are already so irrelevant despite holding the Oval Office, what happens to them after Biden has left the building? But within the Democratic Party, on Capitol Hill – and even within his own administration – it feels like he left the Oval Office weeks ago.”

“As we’ve seen with Trump’s rambling speeches and news conferences, more isn’t always better. But disappearing from the public eye and from accountability via media engagement also is a bad look,” Russell continued. She mentions Joe’s pardon of his son, Hunter, as a strike against his legacy and at a cost to the public’s trust. In her view, “Global leaders’ deference to Trump says everything we need to know about the perception the world holds about Biden’s strength versus Trump’s. That is a good sign for America’s future as we leave behind the failures of the recent past. Joe Biden is still president, but it’s already Donald Trump’s world.” Sad, but true?

Chris Lehmann of The Nation magazine writes, “The air is still thick with postmortems of the 2024 election, but there’s already another mystery of public opinion that deserves at least as much scrutiny as the dismal outcome of presidential balloting. Americans beholding the squalid, bottom-feeding composition of the Trump cabinet-in-waiting – a grim panoply of grifters, self-dealing hacks, and sexual assaulters – report that they like what they see. Fifty-three percent of respondents say they’re optimistic or excited about the prospects for a second term – a photographic negative of the initial dawn of the Trump era, where that same majority said that it scared or concerned them. These findings come in the wake of a series of objectively awful appointments and botched and corrupt follow-throughs…this is to say nothing, of course, of the woeful unpreparedness of cabinet nominees for the consequential posts they’re assuming.” Lehmann ponders the public embrace of government corruption in examining Trump’s “bad-boys-fixation,” as characterized by Axios’ Jim Van De Hei and Mike Allen, who theorize that the “cabinet picks are a hit with male supporters who rally to brash confrontation as a political virtue.” Still, The Don is quite popular with white women voters, even though “characters like Musk, Oz and Ramaswamy are hardly swaggering studies in traditional machismo.”

Lehmann feels that the appeal of Trump’s named team is the force that fuels Trump’s popularity: his frontal assault of the ideology of meritocracy, as he insists that the political and business establishments are rigged against the public interest. “If the foundations of public life were mobbed-up, Trump argues, the trick is to have a mobbed-up insider using his influence on behalf of forgotten ordinary Americans. The pitch was essentially a dumbed-down version of FDR’s pledge to govern as a traitor to his moneyed class, except that Trump has proceeded to cultivate cronyism, using the powers of the state to reward personal fealty and punish what he views as ungrateful betrayals of his beneficence,” Lehmann writes. He feels that the assault on meritocracy by Trump and his cronies is a vision of government by and for the mobbed-up, that John Ganz terms the gangster Gemeinshcaft – a rigged system devised to ensure that insiders clean up at the expense of everybody else. In a message to the Democrats, who still cling to the core precepts of meritocratic rule, Lehmann remarks that to pull voters back into their fold, “there is no mystic messaging strategy or savvy payback tactic that will get this done in a single campaign; instead, the party needs to take a long, hard look at its own massive and deliberate retreat from a vital working-class politics in its elite-driven repudiation of the Bernie Sanders movement. A party movement that lives by meritocracy can very easily die by it. Just ask the Mugwups.”

In the continuing adventures of 2020 Election Denier, cash-strapped Mike Lindell, of MyPillow fame: he has filed a lawsuit against a corporate payday lender who “deceived” his company into accepting a $1.6M loan with a 409% annual interest rate. Lindell claims not to have any money as he juggles three other loans through the courts. Eighteen corporate entitles, plus MyPillow, claim that Cobalt Funding Solutions, and Streamline Advance also being involved, engaged in racketeering by extending a high-interest merchant cash advance, taking advantage of cash-strapped businesses that needed funds quickly. In October, Lifetime Funding accused Lindell of defaulting on a $600,000 advance, and Shine Capital Group filed suit on a default of $2M from July. MyPillow borrowed $10M in 2022, later being dumped by lawyers for non-payment of legal expenses. Seeking cash advances can only mean that his situation has worsened, and as Lindell told NBC News earlier this year he “has no money and is down to his house and his truck.” Guess it means that the man who won the ‘Prove Mike Wrong‘ contest by proving that Mike’s evidence for the stolen election was useless won’t be getting his $5M payoff?

The Wall Street Journal has reported that president-elect Trump has been lobbying Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis to consider appointing his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump to finish the last two years of Senator Marco Rubio’s term should Rubio be approved for the secretary of state position on Trump’s cabinet. Lara resigned from her Republican National Committee position to be ready for any movement in that direction, saying the Senate seat is “something I would seriously consider.” Many Republicans have been pushing the idea – currying favor with The Don – because her main qualification is that she married into the Trump family. She is also noted for producing and hosting a pro-Trump video program for her father-in-law’s campaign, and as co-chair of the RNC, she directed donations for the Republican Party into Trump-oriented goals such as paying off his legal bills. Best forgotten is her attempt at a music career which was blown to smithereens by her cringey music video about firefighters. During the presidential campaign she claimed that Kamala Harris didn’t get her jobs based on merit, but only because she’s a woman, while saying, “Do me a favor. Don’t ever give me a position based on the fact that I’m a woman. Either I earned it, or I didn’t – and that’s it. That’s all I need.” Jimmy Kimmel joked on his show, “Well, may I introduce Senator Lara Trump, ladies and gentlemen: graduated with a BA in communications at NC State, studied at the French Culinary Institute. Get that lady in government right away. Maybe it’s Trump’s way of telling her to please stop singing. I don’t know.” On the bright side, Kimmel said that the Florida Senate seat won’t go to former congressman Matt Gaetz, since he starts hosting a show on One America News in January. He adds, “For those who aren’t familiar with OAN, it’s like Fox News but crazier and younger, which is just the way Matt Gaetz likes it.”

Our community is a sadder place this month…remember Bruce!