Wednesday, September 09, 2026

“I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday, For An Election Victory Today “

Well, yeah. Well, for you. Ew. 

And then Trump remembers why he’s in Texas.
But enough about him. I’m guessing he went off script right around here: The issues the electorate are most concerned about., because: His money? Huh?
MacCallum: Is the rebate an acknowledgment that the war is not gong to be over for a while and gas prices will be elevated for some time?

Vance: If the American people give Republicans another chance to govern, to create more prosperity, we want the American people to share in that prosperity. Tariffs have done two things, generate revenue for the federal government but more importantly it has caused $20 trillion of new investment to come to the country.
When even FoxNews is skeptical….
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A New Theological Controversy

Unless you attack the capitol. Who’s the lion?🦁  From lower gas prices? Yeah, it got weird enough for me. I’ve been accused of that. When I had a pulpit. When you’ve lost NewsNation. Pretty sure if that happens, we’ll be the ones who did it.
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Can You Feed A Family of Four On A Starbucks Latte?

FOX: With the in-between comment, I know you are a preacher, but Mark 10:6, “From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female,” appears clearly in the Bible. It does not state that in-between.

Talarico: God is so much bigger than every single category. God is bigger than any of our understandings, and it’s important for us to remember that when having these discussions. What is clear from Scripture is that we are commanded to love thy neighbor as thyself.
This clip that aired on @FoxNews is edited.

Here is @JamesTalarico ’s full answer: “I was being provocative with that statement. I get that. What I was trying to say is that we can’t use human categories to define God, and that's not controversial theologically. In fact, the way Charlie Kirk, the way Pope Benedict, all said the same thing. And again, these comments are being put out of context to try to distract from him back to his career of corruption. You mentioned him being acquitted in the State Senate. That was after two of his billionaire mega donors gave the lieutenant governor a $3 million check to buy his acquittal. So Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in Texas, and he's going to try to flip some of my comments, including comments where I was being a little provocative, in order to try to distract from that corruption.”
How many people are in there, again? Doesn’t he mean this morning? Is that socialism? Or regulation? And isn’t regulation of insurance a state issue? Or do we want the Feds trampling on the states? And isn’t that socialism? Oh, he’s just delusional. Unless you’re last name is Trump? 🤦‍♂️  Know your candidate: Not even in primetime.
Brooke Rollins: "There is more beef being consumed today than ever before. The price remains where the price is, but people keep buying it. Normally you have a price go up and demand goes down, but it's the opposite. $6.50 for a pound of ground beef, which by the way is less than a latte from Starbucks, feeds a family of four. The protein is excellent."
Can you feed a family of four on a Starbucks latte?
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😎

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🎶.Big D, little A, double L, a-s🎶

The temperature in Dallas is 99. The heat index (temperature plus humidity) is 106. Bringing the best to Big D. It hasn’t been an especially hot summer, but Texas doesn’t cool down (and that’s relatively speaking) until Thanksgiving, if then. The people who planned this thing (if you can call it that), are idiots. And if your number isn’t called? Sucks to be you 

I feel sorry for the people who wanted free tickets for this. But it is a fine example of how Trump can’t organize a two car funeral procession. And proves his “state fair” was not a one-off.
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🐈‍⬛ 🐁

Jeanine Pirro: "If you know somebody that thinks they've got an opportunity that's too good to be true. They've been contacted by someone who has got the in on cryptocurrency -- because none of us really understand cryptocurrency as much as we'd like to -- you've gotta tell them to stop ... do not send a penny."
The entire Trump family sells crypto, including Melania.
How do you think he made so much money so quickly? Is what Pirro didn’t say.

It started as farce, and then turned into a bad sitcom scenario:
Q: The president wants you to revisit the reflecting pool case----

JEANINE PIRRO: Ugh. That's why I didn't call on your first. I'm not here to talk about that

Q: President Trump has made it clear it's very important to him

PIRRO: The president has the right to decide what he wants to do. Next.
Next: Anyone else? It’s like watching a cat 🐈‍⬛ play with a mouse 🐁 before eating it. Alive.
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Tuesday, September 08, 2026

Back in “Big D”

Trump now claims “everybody” wants to attend his midterm convention in Dallas, but says he is only inviting a select group of candidates to speak.

The claim comes after a survey found 45 of 70+ Republican lawmakers and candidates contacted planned to skip the event, while a Washington Post analysis found at least seven GOP House candidates in battleground races have removed or downplayed Trump references on their campaign websites.
Will she be there? And does she think OBL is still alive? (This woman was at the event Trump spoke at in NYC. A decent POTUS would disavow her racism.) Granted, she is very Trumpy.
While I didn’t catch the entire broadcast last night, I did see this part and there’s a chance this is what Trump really didn’t like:

I've been to 100 of these things. I have to tell you, the energy in the room was really, really low. The place was not packed, the seats were full, but the back half of the convention center was empty. And I was going around talking to people, doing interviews, and usually at a Trump rally, you have to scratch kind of hard and ask four or 5 or 6 questions to get the people who were there to say anything sort of nuanced or, um, you know, truthful about how they really feel about something going on with him. On this one, it was like one question, how do you think it's going so far? And a lot of them were saying things like the economy's not as good as I thought it was going to be…. And these are people wearing t-shirts with pictures of his face.
Trump probably won’t be happy with the convention, either.

The theme is masculinity.
NEWS: MAGA activist Brilyn Hollyhand is now in Dallas, arriving one day after right wing organizer Scott Presler announced plans to head to the city.

In his announcement, Hollyhand targeted Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico by falsely portraying him as vegan, as prominent MAGA activists increasingly try to make masculinity and cultural identity part of the Texas Senate race.
NEWS: MAGA activists Scott Presler, Brilyn Hollyhand, and Benny Johnson will all be in Dallas this week for the Trump Midterm Convention, where they aim to make the U.S. Senate race in Texas a referendum on masculinity.
The former Texas Ranger is in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame. He notified the FBI of Paxton’s corruption, and lost his job for his trouble. That frankly means a lot more to voters Talarico is trying to appeal to, than the ones he already appeals to. My point exactly. Funny thing. None of these speakers are from Texas. And yet this supposed to boost turnout in Texas? (Else why hold it here?) Texas is fairly parochial about its politics, especially when the highest office on the ballot is the U.S. Senator from Texas. Voters don’t tend to have much interest in what outsiders tell ‘em to do.

Abbott will certainly speak at some point. Paxton may (doubtful, though). But 8 speakers giving keynotes at a convention lasting only two days? How many speeches will there be by people nobody wants to hear from?

This is gonna be a joke.
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“We’re Gonna Do What Trump Is Doing.”

Okay..... Like that? (Trump has to be the corpse at every funeral.)
More evidence that the president of the United States is psychotic. He’s been called out on this lie for many years. Once upon a time he knew he was bullshitting. But he has convinced himself of it now, as he has with all of the other fantasies with which he today soothes his fragile ego and that the world watches and listens to every day.

That’s the end stage of narcissistic sociopathy, of malignant narcissism. He’s rapidly decompensating into psychosis, and it’s accelerating.

Are we really still going to entrust him with the nuclear codes?

Is the media still not going to talk about the president’s depleted mental health?
Not until George Clooney gives Jake Tapper permission to go after Joe Biden.

But is the GOP gonna be psychotic? (I know, trick question.)
  Hey, Sen. Scott, are Republicans going to do this in Dallas? Or prate ignorantly about international trade and “trade deficits”?
“Everyone knows that Canada doesn’t let our Great Dairy Farmers sell into the Canadian Market,” Trump wrote Tuesday on his social media platform. He also claimed that Canada only produces automobiles “because of previous disastrous Trade Agreements while other Presidents were in Office.”

“Canada has been ripping us off for years, but what many do not realize is that the Canadian Government, including Canadian Provinces, have banned American Small Businesses and Companies from selling into their Government Procurement Markets,” he added.

“That is not reciprocity; it is a Canadian Trade Scam,” Trump declared. “From now on, NO RECIPROCITY – NO ACCESS!”
‘Cause that’s not gonna help the economy before November. Or Christmas, for that matter. Okay, we can agree to follow Trump that way.
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Follow The Bouncing Ball

Wow, Luke Radel really grilled Homan here.

Radel: Do you believe that ICE should be arresting parents in front of their children at school bus stops?

Homan: Has ICE arrested parents at school bus stops?

Radel: In Bridgeport, Connecticut, last week.

Homan: I’m not aware of that. Are they in the country illegally?

Radel: He was in the country illegally for 20 years but did not commit any other crimes while in the interior of the United States.

Homan: Is he here in violation of the law?

Radel: Should he be arrested in front of his 16-year-old daughter at the school bus stop?

Homan: I’m not aware of that.

Radel: ICE confirmed it in a statement.

Homan: Here’s the issue: If the message you want to send to the whole world is, “Enter the country illegally, it’s a crime, it’s okay. If you get an order of removal, ignore it,”

Rade: What message does it send to children at school bus stops to see migrants arrested?

Homan: Have a citizen child and you’re off the table? That’s the message you want to send the whole world.

Radel: Is there anywhere that ICE won’t arrest parents of children, at the school, in a hospital and in a church?

Homan: Have we arrested somebody at a school?

Radel: At a school bus stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut?

Homan: Have we arrested somebody at a school?

Radel: I’m asking, is that a line for you to cross?

Homan: We have not arrested anybody at a school. No one’s been arrested at a church. No one’s been arrested at a hospital.

Radel: Would they be?

Homan: If you’re a significant public safety threat, national security threat, there is no sanctuary. But I point out to the fact ICE agents are doing the right thing. You can’t give me one example where someone’s been arrested in those areas.

Radel: I gave you an example of someone at a school bus stop, and you said you hadn’t heard of it.

Homan: I haven’t heard of it.

Radel: You were asked about it on CNN last week. It was at a school bus stop with their 16-year-old daughter.

Homan: I’m not aware of every arrest.

Radel: Are you going to go check on it?

Homan: I sent it to ICE to run it down and get the information.

Radel: You haven’t gotten anything back yet?

Homan: No, I have not.

Radel: Okay. Because ICE released a statement about it last week.

Homan: But the basic question is, there is no sanctuary for public safety threats and national security threats in this country…

Radel: Do you think a father who’s been here for 20 years is a national security threat to the country?

Homan: Pardon me?

Radel: Do you think that someone who’s been in the country for 20 years, has a 16-year-old daughter, has a family in the community in Bridgeport, Connecticut, are they a significant national security threat? Someone that ICE should prioritize arresting at a school bus stop? https://x.com/lukeradel/status/2097423853748130011/video/1
Persons who enter the country without permission, or who overstay visas, are not in violation of criminal law. That’s why immigration courts are administrative, not Art. III courts. The proceedings conform to administrative law, not criminal law.

And immigrants without authorization (improper entry on visa violations) are not per se national security or public safety risks. Homan is just using that language to make himself look tough and important, a man on that wall Jack Nicholson ranted about. In this case, protecting whiter America from scary, brown foreigners.

Nicholson’s character was an ignorant ass, too. But not necessarily a racist. Which makes Homan worse.

Homan is a nincompoop unfit for government office. He fits right in with this Administration.
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Just Another Day

Trump on 9/11: I was building a big building in New York, and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened., Wasn't too much we could do. We had other buildings, the United States steel building was creaking. I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us, and two firemen. Big, strong guys. And I'm not the smallest guy in the world. They grabbed me under the arms. They got to get out of here. And they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself.
“It’s not a lie, if you believe it.”—George Costanza 
President Trump was not in the vicinity of the World Trade Center when it was hit. He was in Trump Tower, miles away from the towers and nearby One Liberty Plaza, which is/was also known as the US Steel building.

There was public concern in the days following the attack that One Liberty Plaza might collapse, but the authorities repeatedly said it was structurally sound, and there's not currently any public evidence Trump went into it amid these collapse worries (?), much less that he was rushed out by firefighters. In varying language, he has repeatedly claimed for years he was at Ground Zero with a large crew of his workers helping with the recovery in the days after 9/11, but people who were definititely on site have said they never saw him or a Trump-organized crew on site and that it wouldn't make sense for them to have had access; there are pictures and videos of Trump in the neighborhood in the following days, in a clean suit, but not on the actual site.

While campaigning in 2016, he told a version of today's story about being whisked away from One Liberty Plaza by big firemen, but he said in 2016 that the alleged incident happened "a couple of days" after 9/11 and claimed the creaky building was "not so far from us," instead of leaving open the impression he might've been a) inside it b) on 9/11 itself.
Like government ownership of private companies and a single leader controlling national elections and the country’s ability to go to war?

Why Trump is there (aside from the fact he can’t speak at the NYC 9/11 memorial on Friday):
101,000? All NYC residents? In a city of 8.6 million?

Okay.

So we’ve identified 101,000 racists in NYC. Trump wants a copy of that list.
She seems nice.
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Propaganda Wars

😵‍💫 “You are young. You are vital. You want to work an extra year. You don’t want Medicare. You don’t want Social Security. You want to work to sustain the Motherland. You are getting sleepy. When I snap my fingers, you will awake!” 😵‍💫
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“Over Several Years …”

Pretty sure Congress can drown this one in a bathtub.
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Trump: “It’s My Money.”

 First day of early voting in Texas is October 19, 2026. That’s 41 days from today. There are five major urban TV markets, and all the rural areas far outside those markets.

Those ads had better hurry.

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So Much Winning!

Trump on Labor Day:
"Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country," Trump wrote.

"These Deranged People, after fighting for 10 years, should finally acknowledge that your Favorite President (ME!), knows how to WIN," Trump wrote.
Does he now? And when is that winning going to take place? The USS Abraham Lincoln was not a one off, or a failure of ship’s command. There were reports of other ships with similar problems, though that has all faded from the headlines now.  It’s a result of the blockade, and incompetence in command starting with the SOD; and probably due to damage/loss of bases in the area, also a consequence of the war that isn’t a war, and the aforementioned incompetence. A new Congress could investigate these matters, and even order an end to the blockade that is only costing the U.S., not benefiting it.

We can’t keep the blockade up indefinitely, and we don’t control the Strait of Hormuz. The only reasonable solution now is a multinational one. Trump and Hegseth are fighting with plastic Army men in a sandbox; except, of course, they aren’t at all. But it’s past time to treat them like they are, and to take their toys away. The President may be the point man on foreign policy, but Congress holds the whip hand, and Roberts is not going to intrude his “unitary executive” into international relations. Not unless he really wants to get slapped down.
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Did You Notice…

... included Iceland? Iceland 🇮🇸 did: And they didn’t think it was funny. 

To be fair, I don’t think Trump could spot Iceland on a map if you gave him the map with Iceland clearly labeled. He’d probably think the name was for an iceberg, anyway.

It is unclear whether Trump intended to include Iceland in his doctored map of North America. Trump has appeared to confuse Iceland with Greenland in previous remarks. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January, Trump said that NATO “loved” him until he “told them about Iceland,” claiming that all he was “asking for is a piece of ice.”
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What-A-Palooza

And their message is going to be: And please enjoy this giant fundraiser where we will mock Talarico for not looking “manly.” 🤷‍♂️ 
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Why We Need AI That Is “MADE IN AMERICA”

(The Community Note points out the image, which doesn’t show any workers, is also probably AI generated.) Ah, here we are: "Donald Trump” pens, no less. They just keep digging that hole…🕳️
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Monday, September 07, 2026

Come To The Dallas 2-Day Mini-Convention!

At which absolutely nothing will happen and a lot of politicians will shout and blather, but the room needs to be full so as not to embarrass the President!

Tim Bates, a 65-year-old longtime Collin County GOP precinct chair, wanted in on the Republican Party's first-ever midterm convention in Dallas — just not badly enough to pay for it, The Dallas Morning News reported Monday.

"I was not going to pay $5,000," Bates told the Morning News.
That’s right, you’ve got to pay the rich guy for the privilege of having him shout inanities at you for 2 hours every night.

Even Melania doesn’t want to sit through that.

Did I mention an empty room would embarrass the President?
Tickets costing thousands of dollars turned off plenty of Texas Republicans interested in attending "Trump-a-Palooza," so organizers set up a lottery for free tickets instead, according to the report.

The state party had flagged the free-ticket signup for Trump's rally and Bates "forwarded it to fellow precinct chairs."

No standard Texas delegation exists, and a seat can come half a dozen different ways. The state GOP sold "honorary delegate" packages for $10,000, half the $20,000 first advertised, while others got tickets, invites, registration links, or the free lottery.
Not every Republican in Texas lives in the Metroplex. It just sometimes seems like it. And anybody in Texas who can pay $10,000 for two nights in Dallas (not including hotel, parking, or food), can afford higher property taxes. Just sayin’…

And it’s a lottery! You get a chance to win a ticket nobody wants to pay for! To spend two nights in a convention center in Dallas! Maybe.
The event is already under threat of GOP lawmakers who have balked at attending, choosing instead to be with their families or campaigning with the midterms weeks away.

One Republican lawmaker dismissed the entire project as a "waste of time" and even Melania Trump is opting to skip it.
The free ticket’s no good if the place fills up with paying customers.  So come to Dallas and wait outside on standby! This is the GOP! They don’t need no steenken’ freeloaders!

Well, unless the room looks empty. Then I suspect they’ll be dragging in the homeless; or locking down the cameras so they can’t turn.
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But! Hasan Piker!!

Elmo needs to put his money where his mouth is, and take his case to court. See how far that gets him.

On a related note, AfD won seats in a regional German election, and promptly thanked Elmo for his support. I seem to remember he tried the same thing in a state election here a few years ago, and he came a cropper. The right wing is seen as accelerating in Europe, while it eats its own tail here.

I’m not rejoicing over the situation in Germany, but here, nobody pays much attention to Elmo.

😎
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🃏

He just sent the Haitians home. And he doesn’t want anyone south of the Rio Grande coming here. So does he even know where Haiti is?

This would give Miller more brown people to deport. Probably the idea. Miller needs a buffer zone, and the oceans aren’t enough.

Or Trump is a childish megalomaniac. Probably more comforting to think it’s a sop to Miller.
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And Now, A Labor Day Message From The President Of The United States

Truth Antisocial:
"Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country," Trump wrote.

"These Deranged People, after fighting for 10 years, should finally acknowledge that your Favorite President (ME!), knows how to WIN," Trump wrote.

Trump did not praise American workers — his post did not include that word — rather, her hurled vague threats about the upcoming midterm election.

"They should be exhausted by now but, sadly, they’re not," Trump wrote. "They’re going to give it one last shot at ruining America, but we’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to win the Midterms, BIG, and SAVE AMERICA!"
We can expect to hear more of the same for two nights in Dallas (who’s going to attend that thing? Besides politicians, I mean.), and from now until November. Real GOTV stuff! Because it’s not about the country or we, the people! It’s about Trump!

Right?  Right?

“SAVE AMERICA!” From what? Republicans? I agree. Make it happen!
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Everything Old Is Old Again

Under J. Edgar, the FBI “Most Wanted” list was a publicity stunt. The faces that appeared on it were people the FBI was about to arrest, which is pretty much what made them “Most Wanted.”

Hoover made sure it got in the news, too. And it became a standard of FBI excellence. A fairly hollow standard that the FBI finally quit publicizing and, when traffic at post offices decreased, even quit posting there. (I remember seeing them at post offices from childhood on, but I haven’t seen one now for decades.)

And now it’s back, functioning just like it did when J. Edgar started it. The only difference is, the FBI is publicizing it on Twitter. Which just convinces me that 99% of the country doesn’t know what Xitter is.

I mean, I find it useful (obviously), but in modern comic book movie/TeeVee terms, Xitter is a pocket universe.
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“In Case Facts Still Matter”

Someone tell the president renaming lakes and states won't do it in November. Unfortunately, attacking @hasanthehun every minute of every day probably won't either. I know it's a hard sell (the tariffs made it harder because the admin took its eye off prices still being elevated when it took over; endorsing weird candidates like Paxton is an issue as well; Iran is a net negative for now) but I don't hear Team Trump emphasize enough the decent top line econ numbers and how that could get dramatically worse under the Dems. Also with Iran neutered the world will be a safer place--oil price WILL be coming down. Make the arguments before it's too late
Yes, please, talk about how much worse it would be under a Democratic president. P.S. No one knows who Hasan Piker is; or cares.
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Trump Is The Blackest Night

As fair as the criticism of the guy who approves them. Vote like this guy is on the ballot. Vote like this guy is in the most important position in the world..

It’s the only way to be sure.
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Sunday, September 06, 2026

Which Is More Pathetic, Part II

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Which Is More Pathetic?

That? 👆 Or this? 👇
“Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”
Nobody else does. Good to know Trump is focused on the issues that matter to the country. And Paxton is running on the issues that matter to Texans.
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But The War Will Be Over Soon..:

...and the price of gas will drop to 30 cents a gallon and socialism will be vanquished and we’ll all have eggs in our beer, and no nasty immigrants living on welfare and driving up the cost of housing.
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Grandpa Needs A Nap

(He knows those “Space Force” uniforms are the attire of the Empire lackeys in “Star Wars,” right? Right? And is he going after “New Mexico” next? Maybe he just wants to simplify the spelling of “Albuquerque.”)

A frozen version:
Google and Apple are already falling into line.
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Just In Time To Turn Our Attention To The Midterms

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“I Don’t Do Things Like That…”

Trump: Upon his death, I gave Congressman John Dingell, the Royal Sendoff, MAXED OUT! His wife, Debbie Dingbat, called me and thanked me profusely, while crying uncontrollably. She couldn't believe I would do such a nice thing! Since then, she says nothing but bad about your favorite President, ME! Every time I see that Third Rate Loser ripping me, I'm amazed, because I'm a loyal person, I don't do things like that but, that's OK — It's Politics. However, it shouldn't be that way!
Says the leopard eating people’s faces….

“Debbie Dingbat” needs to be told it shouldn’t be that way, says the Toddler-in-Chief.
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How It’s Going 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 🇺🇸

There is quite a bit of symbolism in how Witkoff and Kushner arrived in Kyiv today. Ukraine had prepared its airports to receive the U.S. delegation by air, but Russia struck them.

Zelensky now says those strikes made the planned flight impossible, forcing the Americans to enter Ukraine by train instead.

Then, hours later, Putin sat across from the same American negotiators in Moscow, declared his “full trust” in U.S. mediation and promised to ensure the safety of the diplomatic process.

Whatever Moscow's precise targeting calculus was, the message of power was difficult to miss: The Americans could fly into Putin's Moscow. They had to take a train into Zelensky's Kyiv.

And that was the physical reality surrounding a negotiation supposedly intended to end the war.
Zelenskyy also said Ukraine would suspend attacks while the Americans were in Moscow, and asked Putin to reciprocate.
Witkoff: "President Putin, thank you so much for having us. We were sitting outside just now, me, Jared, Kirill, Yuri, and we were talking about, when we retire, we'll have all these incredible stories and memories, and yours will be right at the top of it all."

Just sickening! So much butt-licking toward a literal war criminal.

Your stories will be of trying to force the victim of horrible aggression to surrender while cozying up to the biggest monster of our time.
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Kristen Welker Wants To Sit With The Kewl Kids

And even the old guard is catching on.
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So, When Do We Declare “Victory!,” And Go Home?

BTW, the correct answer is: “Probably not.”
Following the U.S. targeting of three Iranian oil tankers, Iran’s IRGC has responded by saying that the IRGC Navy targeted six tankers in the Strait of Hormuz today. Additional reports from Iranian news outlets are now also saying that the IRGC has threatened even more actions against the region should such attacks continue.
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The Rick Perry Failure

The Energy Department replaced the old Atomic Energy Commission. Its purpose was to make oversight of the nation’s nuclear stores a Cabinet level concern.

Rick Perry never understood that, and tried to make it about oil because he was from Texas, and he was “Gov, Goodhair” (Molly Ivins). She meant that’s all his head was good for. Perry started us down this road of Energy Secretaries opining on gas prices, because they can’t really talk about the nuclear stockpile.

Chris Wright should be concerned with his department’s remit. He has as much authority over gas prices as he does over the phases of the moon.🌖 
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“Tell Me You Don’t Know Anything About Elections…”

 Professor Vladeck keeps us up to date:

The Trump administration has just filed its 37th #SCOTUS emergency application, this one seeking to put back into effect the USPS’s new rule re: mail-in ballots—even though (1) the First Circuit hasn’t denied a stay yet; & (2) Judge Talwani may shortly convert her TRO into a preliminary injunction.

Justice Jackson (as Circuit Justice for the First Circuit) has called for a response to the government’s application by Tuesday morning—but did *not* issue the immediate “administrative” stay that DOJ asked for.

There’s a lot of (baseless) chatter on the right that Justice Jackson has abused the timing of emergency applications. The fact that she called for a response by Tuesday (the end of a holiday weekend) ought to dispel that charge, at least if the people making them cared about facts.
Wisconsin and North Carolina have already mailed out ballots (the USPS rule is stayed by the TRO, which Jackson has not ruled against):
“There’s no practical way for Wisconsin clerks to comply,” said Republican Don Millis, chairman of Wisconsin’s elections board.

Millis criticized Trump's proposed policies, arguing they would “hurt the Republican turnout more than the Democratic turnout.”

Gerry Cohen, a Democrat on an elections board in North Carolina, also criticized the Postal Service's plans to receive updates on voter lists, noting his county receives about 1,500 registrations a week.

“Tell me you don’t know anything about elections without telling me you don’t know anything about elections,” he said.
The irony is, Trump is racing to build his ballroom and arch, betting the courts won’t order him to tear them down. Wisconsin and North Carolina are arguably doing the same, except they are following the law. 

And to the excuse that Trump really just wants this rule for 2028: it’s an EO. Congress can override it. And probably will. 
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Jawbone Of An Ass

Here’s a list of Scott Bessent’s wrong predictions and/or promises that didn’t happen:

February 5, 2025: Long-term interest rates would come down as Trump’s economic policies took effect.

Spring 2025: The federal deficit would move toward 3% of GDP.

Spring 2025: Trump’s policies would produce roughly 3% sustained real GDP growth.

July 8, 2025: The U.S. would collect well over $300 billion in tariff revenue in 2025.

September 1, 2025: The Supreme Court would uphold Trump’s emergency tariffs.

September 7, 2025: The economy would see a “substantial acceleration” in Q4 2025.

December 7–16, 2025: 2025 would finish with 3% to 3.5% real GDP growth.

December 16, 2025: Inflation would see a substantial drop in the first six months of 2026.

February 20, 2026: The economy could grow at least 3.5% in 2026.

April 14, 2026: 2026 GDP growth could easily exceed 3% or 3.5%.

April 14, 2026: Core inflation was falling and the Federal Reserve would need to cut interest rates.

April 14, 2026: Trump’s tariffs could be restored to their previous levels by the beginning of July.

June 2026: Again maintained that 2026 growth could reach roughly 3% to 3.5%.

2025–26: Lower energy prices, fiscal restraint and Trump’s policies would bring down long-term Treasury yields.

2025–26: Faster growth and tariff revenue would materially improve the federal deficit.

And now we get to track this one:

September 5, 2026: Oil could eventually fall to $40–$50 per barrel after the Iran war ends. The economy is now “in the liftoff phase.”
From that same interview: ???? Statistically, the economy was in good shape under Biden. Turns out, you can’t eat statistics. Statistically speaking.

And when does this war that isn’t a war end, if we have to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz to keep the oil flowing and the blockade working?

🤡🎪
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