President Musk held his first Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and Donald Trump was asked
a question about widely
reported cuts to the federal workforce. An unidentified reporter said “You
mentioned you’re interested in doing another round of this email. When would
you like to see that? What would be the deadline? And this time would it be
mandatory?”
“I think Elon wants to and I think it’s a good idea because,
you know, those people, as I said before, they’re on the bubble,” Trump
replied.”You got a lot of people that have not responded. So we’re trying to
figure out — Do they exist? Who are
they? And it’s possible that a lot of those people will be actually fired. And
if that happened, that’s okay, because that’s what we’re trying to do.”
“This country has gotten bloated, fat, disgusting, and
incompetently run,” Trump added, before insulting Biden. “I think we had the
worst president in the history of our country. He just left office. I think
he’s a disgrace what he’s done to our country by allowing millions of people to
come into our country like that and all of the other things he inflation, which
he caused because of energy and stupid spending to spend hundreds of millions,
trillions and trillions of dollars on the green new scam, a total scam.”
"Bloated, fat, (and) disgusting?" One is tempted to suggest that Trump has reached a new low, but he's always reaching a new low, and we've been down this road before. As outlined in The Guardian during the President's first term, Trump's contempt for the USA has been on display for years.
It seems to have begun early in the last decade but became more evident when in his inaugural address in 2016, he referred to "American carnage." Asked by Bill O'Reilly in 2017 whether Vladimir Putin is "a killer," the President replied "There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" (On a positive note, Trump likes Putin's ruthlessness, so there is that.)
This reporter, having been written in 2019, omits Donald Trump's Truth Social post on October 30, 2022, when he characterized "Our Country" as "Rigged, Crooked, and Evil." (Five weeks later, he would call for the "termination" of the Constitution- but absolutely not a fascist.)
In January, 2023, after being arraigned for what is euphemistically referred to as "mishandling" classified documents, he complained "we have a rigged country, we have a country that is corrupt." Not a corrupt President or a rigged Justice Department or justice system- a rigged country, the USA.
President Trump claims to love his country. So someone needs to ask President Trump why, in light of his frequently negative depictions of the United States of America, he hates this country- or at least, why he believes we are "evil." Failing that, he could at least be asked whether he believes that "evil" or "corrupt" or "rigged" is actually a bad thing.
This blog will be on hiatus for a few days. (Or maybe it's that I will be.) Anyway, please return next week.
Last March, amid speculation that Marco Rubio would be considered Donald Trump's vice-presidential running mate, The Independent recalled
In September 2015, in an interview with “Kilmeade &
Friends” on Fox News Radio, Mr Trump remarked after a GOP debate: “Marco Rubio,
I’ve never seen anybody sweat like that and you know a lot of these guys are
serious sweaters.”
Then Mr Trump attacked his record.
Mr Trump called the Florida Senator “Marco ‘amnesty’ Rubio”
in a tweet, describing him as having the “worst voting record in [the] Senate.”
Days later, the New York real estate magnate called him “just another all talk,
no action, politician.”
He also called Mr Rubio a “lightweight” and “overly
ambitious, too young” at a rally.
Then, Mr Trump went back to targeting the Florida lawmaker’s
sweat.
“He sweats more than any young person I’ve ever seen in my
life,” Mr Trump said that same month on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “I’ve never seen a
person sweat -- I’ve never seen a guy down water like he downs water. I’ve
never seen -- they bring it in in buckets for this guy.”
In October, he even went so far as to send “Trump Ice
Natural Spring Water” to his Republican rival along with the message: “Since
you’re always sweating, we thought you could use some water. Enjoy!”
Rubio responded, ineffectually, and
By February 2016, the name-calling had escalated further.
Mr Trump tweeted about how the Florida Senator looked at a
debate, “Lightweight choker Marco Rubio looks like a little boy on stage. Not
presidential material!”
After the Florida senator lamely attacked Trump
Mr Trump had called Mr Rubio “little Marco,” prompting the
Florida Senator to throw hands.
“He’s always calling me Little Marco. And I’ll admit he’s
taller than me. He’s like 6’2, which is why I don’t understand why his hands
are the size of someone who is 5’2,” Mr Rubio said at a Virginia rally. “And
you know what they say about men with small hands? You can’t trust them.”
At the next debate in early March, Mr Trump tried to dispel
any rumours linking hand size to the size of a reproductive body part: “I
guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee it.”
Marco Rubio on his worst day has more integrity than does Donald Trump, probably more than does Chris Christie, and could not be a worse Secretary of State than Christie was a governor. Still, facts are facts, history is history, and this is how it went on February 6, 2016:
And this history is why former US Representative and Tea Party charter member turned Never Trump Republican is right.
No. No he doesn’t. Marco doesn’t have a “lion in him.” And if Marco ever did have a lion in him, that lion left Marco about 7 or 8 yrs ago. https://t.co/4UozBohVXs
He once told us that he's "the Chosen One." More recently, he emulated Napoleon Bonaparte by tweeting (all capitalization his, obviously) "he who saves his Country does not violate any Law." A few days afterward, he tweeted "CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan,and all of New York,is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!" So it was only a matter of time that a confrontation would take place:
Maine’s Democratic governor and President Donald Trump got
into a tense exchange at the White House Friday morning after Trump threatened
to withhold federal funding unless Maine complies with his recent executive
order barring transgender athletes from competing on women’s sports teams
consistent with their gender identity.
“You better do it because you’re not going to get federal
funding,” Trump told Gov. Janet Mills during an event with the National
Governors Association captured by a press pool recording.
“We’re going to follow the law sir. We’ll see you in court,”
replied Mills, who is attending the organization’s winter summit.
“Enjoy your life after governor, because I don’t think
you’ll be an elected official afterwards,” Trump responded.
Before the exchange, Mills and other Maine officials said
the state would not be intimidated by Trump after the president singled out
Maine during a Thursday speech at the Republican Governors Association meeting.
“Anyone here from Maine?” the president asked the crowd.
“They are still saying they want men to play in women’s sports and I cannot
believe that they are doing that…so we’re not gonna give them any federal
funding until they clean that up.”
The executive order, which the president signed on Feb. 5 as
part of the administration’s broader anti-trans agenda, rescinds federal funds
from “educational programs” if schools fail to adhere to the ban.
The administration is asking federal agencies to interpret
Title IX — a federal civil rights law barring schools that receive federal
funding from practicing sex-based discrimination — in a way that complies with
the order.
In a statement shared early Friday, Mills said “the State of
Maine will not be intimidated by the president’s threats.”
“If the president attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine
school children of the benefit of federal funding, my administration and the
attorney general will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to
restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides,” Mills said.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey said any attempt by the
president to cut federal funding to Maine over the issue “would be illegal and
in direct violation of federal court orders.”
“Fortunately,” Frey wrote in a statement, “the rule of law
still applies in this country, and I will do everything in my power to defend
Maine’s laws and block efforts by the president to bully and threaten us.”
He added, “It is disturbing that President Trump would use
children as pawns in advancing his political agenda"...
The Maine Principals Association’s transgender participation
policy was in effect from 2013 to 2021, when the Maine Human Rights Act was
amended to include gender identity as a protected class. As the Bangor Daily
News pointed out, in 2023, the organization testified that during the time
their policy was in place, they heard from “56 transgender students wishing to
participate in high school athletics with four being transgender girls.”
Later on Friday, the USA Department of Education (still in existence) notified its counterpart in Maine that it had been directed to investigate the state because of its policy. Then in response to the controversy, Governor Mills identified the both the immediate issue in play when she noted
No President – Republican or Democrat – can withhold Federal
funding authorized and appropriated by Congress and paid for by Maine taxpayers
in an attempt to coerce someone into compliance with his will. It is a
violation of our Constitution and of our laws, which I took an oath to uphold.
Though as a Democratic politician she cannot directly acknowledge it, Mills understands that the immediate issue is a narrow one: "this is not just about who can compete on the athletic field." Recognizing the larger issue, she continued
Maine may be one of the first states to undergo an
investigation by his Administration, but we won’t be the last. Today, the
President of the United States has targeted one particular group on one
particular issue which Maine law has addressed. But you must ask yourself: who
and what will he target next, and what will he do? Will it be you? Will it be
because of your race or your religion? Will it be because you look different or
think differently? Where does it end?
This harkens back to a voice from history, Reverend Martin Niemoller, a German theologian and Lutheran minister and early critic of Adolf Hitler, who retrospectively- and probably, presciently- wrote in 1946:
First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.
First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.. Then they came
Then they came for me- and there was no one left to speak for me.
Less prophetic, but similarly eloquently, the sanguine Sammy Johns in 1984 (1984? Really?) wrote America, about America, for Waylon Jennings, who sang
Some have said down through history
If you last, it's a mystery
But I guess they don't know what they're talking about.
That was in 1984. Extended forty-one years, it has been a good run. However, it turns out they did know what they were talking about because in the age of Trump-Musk, it's going to take many more people like Janet Mills for Martin Niemoller not to be proven prophetic.
One of the Republican Party's chief snowflakes is at it again.
🚨JD Vance goes BEAST-MODE on Zelenskyy trying to sabotage a Trump Peace deal:
“His country wouldn’t exist without the generosity of the United States of America. Say thank you. It’s stupid. Badmouthing Trump in public will not change his mind. Zelenskyy needs better consultants pic.twitter.com/96yzVIYKYn
"'Badmouthing' the President of the United States?" Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy let Donald Trump off easy. As The Hill recounts
A testy back-and-forth has quickly escalated after Ukraine
was left out of talks between U.S. and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia
earlier this week, drawing a rebuke from Zelensky.
Trump responded Tuesday with unfounded allegations that
Zelensky “started” the war, with the Ukrainian leader responding Wednesday that
the U.S. president was living in a “web of disinformation.” Trump sent his
angry Truth Social post hours later.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special representative for
Ukraine and Russia, said in an interview that the United States would like to
see elections in Ukraine, possibly by the end of the year, following a
potential cease-fire agreement: “Most democratic nations have elections in
their time of war. I think it is important they do so...
As discussed elsewhere, the prohibition of wartime elections
is established in Ukraine’s statutory law. Ukraine’s Constitution does not
explicitly address the issue of wartime elections, except for Article 83(4)
that provides for the extension of the Parliament’s powers until the day of the
first meeting of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (the
Ukrainian Parliament), elected after the termination of martial law or state of
emergency. Nothing similar is made with respect to the president. According to
one of the drafters of the Constitution, this special treatment of Parliament
was originally aimed to enhance Parliament’s standing in the constellation of
powers and prevent possible abuses during wartime or national emergency.
Law of Ukraine “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law” (2015)
prohibits the holding of elections during martial law and the Electoral Code of
Ukraine (2019) ordains suspension of all elections during such period. This is
not an arbitrary political decision but a constitutionally viable solution
aimed at ensuring stability in times of crisis. The law prevents governance
from collapsing into uncertainty while the country is under extreme conditions.
As discussed elsewhere, conducting elections under the
current conditions of war in Ukraine can undermine democratic principles and,
therefore, is unconstitutional. Holding elections amid ongoing hostilities
poses significant challenges to ensuring free and fair electoral processes,
potentially leading to democratic erosion. In such volatile conditions,
elections may not reflect the genuine will of the people, thereby compromising
the legitimacy of the democratic system. Ukraine’s wartime conditions, thus, make
elections both unconstitutional and unfeasible, with ongoing hostilities, mass
displacement, security risks, and occupied territories undermining electoral
integrity and legitimacy.
Though the last paragraph seems to be a bit of rationalization, Ukrainian law evidently encourages this "constitutionally viable solution." Further, knocking Zelenskyy or his nation for not adhering strictly to traditional democratic norms during wartime is a little rich coming from an appointee of President Donald Trump.
Having encouraged the insurrection of January 6, 2021 to prevent a peaceful transition of power, the man who labeled the Democratic Party the "party of crime," Trump pardoned rioters who "violently assaulted police officers and those with long criminal records." Vice-President J.D. Vance has both defended the pardon of such criminals and denied the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The President who endorses an attempted coup at home so that he can remain in power blames Ukraine for starting the war with Russia and calls its leader a "dictator without elections." And no one in his Administration will concede that Vladimir Putin is himself a dictator.
I would prefer Ukraine hold elections because of the likelihood that, were Donald Trump still to be alive and kicking in autumn of 2028, he will try to remain in office by canceling the presidential election while possibly making a false analogy to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.. (Article 14 of the USA Constitution limits an individual from being elected more than twice. The document is silent on the number of terms or length of time a President can serve.)
But facts are facts, and the fact is that Ukraine was invaded by a country the current American President holds blameless. He has accused his counterpart of having been on the "gravy train" during the Biden Administration and says he "better move fast (or) he's not going to have a country left." The mob boss masquerading as macho President has tried to shake down Zelenskyy, demanding ownership of 50% of Ukraine's mineral reserves because "I want it back."
Yet, a top representative of this Administration whines about "badmouthing Trump in public." Like President, like sycophant: always the victim.
Veteran strategist James Carville argued during a podcast
episode that Democrats are “overwhelmed” and that he has not figured out a way
the party can combat the flurry of news President Trump has made since
returning to the White House.
“Bannon is right. We are flooded in s— and we are searching
for a way to deal with this. These are extraordinarily difficult times,”
Carville said Thursday on the “Politics War Room” podcast which he co-hosts
with Al Hunt.
Carville was referencing former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s
quote from 2018 when he said “the way to
deal with [the media] is to flood the zone with s—.”
The long-time Democratic operative, who steered former
President Clinton’s campaign, said that Democrats are “getting overwhelmed and
that “things that we thought that would kill a political career, would be
poisonous for whatever reason, this guy [Trump] keeps chugging along.”
Since Trump’s second White House term started on Jan. 20,
Democrats have failed to coalesce around a unified message to effectively
oppose the president, who has moved to reshape the government.
They still have not. However, Carville has at least diagnosed the problem, which Fox News host/propagandist Jesse Waters revealed a month ago:
Watters: We are waging a 21st century information warfare campaign against the left…What you're seeing on the right is asymmetrical… Someone says something on social media, Musk retweets it, Rogan podcasts it, Fox broadcasts it.. and by the time it reaches everybody, millions… pic.twitter.com/EccQutLW0J
A Trump supporter says on social media something absurd, which is then retweeted on X, after which Joe Rogan repeats it on his podcast, and Fox thereafter broadcasts it. Millions of voters hear it, and the lie reaches even more people if the fact-based media reports on it, critically or otherwise.
Whether it's a celebrity or not a celebrity, whether it's a
normal Senator politician, you need Democrats who are not afraid to say wild
shit. Focus group bullshit has got to stop. Like, it's got to be- I said this in
2016- Democrats to go on Meet the Press and say "we're going to have a $25
minimum wage" or "we're going to spend a trillion dollars on health
care."
"How are you going to pay for it?" "We just will. Trust me."
How are you going to pay for it?" Canada's going to pay for it."
Just say absolute bullshit. Trump has set the bar. Say
whatever the hell you want. I'm so fed up with a political system, this
assymetric warfare which Donald Trump gets up and says "I'm going to buy
Greenland and then we have serious discussions about him buying Greenland.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris produces a 27-page
policy document on child care fully costed.
That's assymetric warfare, right? It just seems to be it
needs to be apresidential candidate who says "vote for me and I'll make
sure $30 minimum wage. I'll make sure everyone has the best health care in the
history of the world." Just say wild things because that's apparently what
the American public wants and that's what social media is mainly.
Yet, there is a way to counteract this, as Mehdi Hasan argued last month (beginning at 3:32 of the video below) and I noticed a few days afterward.
It's a good prescription issued by Hasan for the problem diagnosed by Carville. As the Trump-Musk Administration hurtles to authoritarianism, it's crystal clear that the Republican Party will do nothing except sit on the sidelines and applaud. Whether the Democratic Party is all in to stop this or prefers to play according to Hoyle and remain polite and gentle is still to be determined.
We owe President Donald Trump a debt of gratitude.
He pardoned 1500 criminals involved in the 1/6/21 insurrection, including many who pled guilty to assaulting police officers that day, and commuted the sentence of 15 others. Then he fired prosecutors assigned to the case and demanded the names of the prosecutors involved in the probe. And why not? They were "hostages," he unbelievably claimed.
the attempted elimination of birthright citizenship to the freezing of federal grants and funds – and the accessing of sensitive computer systems and data by unofficial entities.
Trump’s wrecking ball approach since his 20 January inauguration continued this week with deeper infiltration by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) into federal institutions – and the latest firings of vast numbers of employees.
On Sunday, Bloomberg reported a wave of new dismissals at health department agencies including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Other agencies where the workforce has, or will be, slashed include the homeland security department, the Food and Drug Administration, US Forest Service and National Park Service, the US Agency for International Development (USAid), and the Department of Education.
Critics believe that a hollowing out of many essential taxpayer-funded services, especially in healthcare, support for veterans, and military and defense expenditure, will come with a lucrative corresponding financial windfall for private companies, including those owned by Musk.
Echoing France's Napoleon Bonaparte, U.S. President Donald
Trump on Saturday took to social media to signal continued resistance to limits
on his executive authority in the face of multiple legal challenges.
"He who saves his Country does not violate any
Law," Trump, a Republican, proclaimed on his Truth Social network. The
White House did not respond to a request for more details.
The phrase, attributed to the French military leader who
created the Napoleonic Code of civil law in 1804 before declaring himself
emperor, drew immediate criticism from Democrats.
However, comparing the President merely to Bonaparte risks missing minimizing a portion of the identity he is crafting for himself. For it was on Holy Monday, in the midst of civil trial for steering hush money payments to Stormy Daniels that Trump that Trump on Truth Social tweeted
Received this morning- Beautiful, thank you! 'It's ironic that Christ walked through His greatest persecution the very week they are trying to steal your property from you. But have you seen this verse....?'"
Of course, the tweeter did not mean "ironic" but rather "fitting" because he was comparing the defendant to Jesus Christ, an identity his subject already had chosen for himself.
Trump, who apparently identifies as a great conqueror blessed with God's approval, borrowed the tweet from Napoleon (and others). It was first posted on Truth Social, then X, afterward pinned to the top of Truth Social, then finally posted on the White House's X account. Consequently, we should be grateful to Donald Trump. He has made clear his intention for all those who care to notice.
President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon of World Wrestling Entertainment fame and wife of Vince, testified Thursday before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. NPR noted
Several senators asked McMahon about her position on whether
families should be allowed to use public dollars to send their children to any
school they choose, including private and religious schools. Currently, the
federal government can do very little to encourage this kind of private school
choice, but Trump wants to change that.
During the hearing, McMahon favored an expansive view of
school choice.
"Parents look at their children and say, 'I want that
for my child. My school is failing my child.' " In that situation, McMahon
said, parents deserve a multitude of options, from education savings accounts
to vouchers, charter schools and even access to multiple public schools.
"I know that if I could get my child to that next school, they would be
better off. Every parent wants that opportunity for their child."
They have options in Louisiana. So how is that working out?
The private schools that get about $6,800 per voucher
student face scant oversight. Unlike public schools, most don’t receive state
ratings because they enroll too few voucher students. But 30 private schools
were graded last year, and nearly 80% earned Ds or Fs.
State regulations forbid F-rated private schools from
enrolling new voucher students. (Superintendent of Education Cade) Brumley waived that rule in recent years,
allowing even the worst-performing schools to take in more students and tax
dollars.
Now, Louisiana is set to pump more public money into private
schools — an approach that President Donald Trump urged more states to adopt in
a recent executive order.
In March, the state will launch the LA GATOR Scholarship
Program, which will cover students’ tuition and other private education
expenses. State officials expect it to cost nearly $94 million next school
year, more than double the annual price of vouchers.
Test scores are very much an imperfect means to evaluate student achievement. Nonetheless, it is not comforting that "while the scholarship program will replace vouchers, many of the same private schools already have signed up- including over 20 with D or F ratings."
"Oh, the games people play now," wrote Joe South. The game here is fairly simple. Take money out of the public schools in order to fund charters, private schools, and whatever else can be done in support of the holy grail of "school choice. Meanwhile, profits are padded for potential donors to the campaigns of public officials promoting school "reform." Students at traditional public schools suffer, enabling school "reformers" claim that the traditional schools have failed students. Pour more money into alternative schools; lather, rinse, repeat. Private profit is the means to an end, and the opportunity for corruption proliferates.
Vouchers, charter schools, and funding for religious and other private schools undermine traditional public education, thereby eroding community and connection among individuals. American society degenerates into warring camps whose members are increasingly deprived of the shared norms and values previously taught for generations in the neighborhood school.
Meanwhile, most measures of educational performance have shown no improvement or deterioration even as the impact upon society is disregarded. Last month, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled "Expanding Educational Freedom and Opportunity for Families," even as he is moving to close down the Department of Education. And that, even more than the nomination of mediocre right-winger Linda McMahon, clarifies the intentions of the "school choice" activists.
The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban
militants on Saturday aimed at bringing an end to 18 years of bloodshed in
Afghanistan and allowing U.S. troops to return home from America's longest war.
Under the agreement, the U.S. would draw its forces down to 8,600 from 13,000
in the next 3-4 months, with the remaining U.S. forces withdrawing in 14
months.
The complete pullout, however, would depend on the Taliban
meeting their commitments to prevent terrorism.
The following month, Bruce Reidel of the Center for 21st
Century Security and Intelligence and the Center for Middle East Policy wrote
The fundamental flaw in this agreement is that the
internationally recognized Afghan government, led by Ashraf Ghani, was not
included in the negotiations. By accepting the Taliban demand to exclude the
Afghan government, the Trump administration betrayed our ally and elevated the
Taliban to our equal. It is worth remembering that at the height of their power
in 2000, only three governments — Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab
Emirates — recognized the Taliban as a legitimate government. Excluding the
Afghan government is strikingly reminiscent of the Nixon administration’s deal
with North Vietnam in 1973, which excluded the South Vietnam government.
Moving west from Asia,signs point to the same play being run from the same playbook in that on Wednesday
Trump took the world by surprise as he announced the phone
call on his Truth Social platform earlier, saying he and Putin had "both
agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with
Russia/Ukraine," using an unconfirmed figure for the toll in the conflict.
The US president said they had agreed to "work together
very closely, including visiting each other's Nations" and to "have
our respective teams start negotiations immediately" on Ukraine,
Trump later called Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not included on the call with Putin.
On a positive note, on Thursday Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth walked back his dangerous remarks of the day before
that the U.S. would not accept NATO membership for Ukraine
or provide peacekeeping troops, and warned the country would not return to its
pre-2014 borders. He also said NATO peacekeeping troops in Ukraine would not be
covered by Article 5, a bedrock principle of the alliance that declares any
attack on one nation is an attack on all.
On a negative note, Hegseth also acknowledged "what he decides to allow or not allow is at the purview of President Trump," rendering virtually anything stated by Hegseth as meaningless as we all knew it is in an Administration characterized by a Trump/Musk co-presidency. The two latter guys have plenty on the line with their business interests and ego, and Hegseth is to the elected, de jure President merely an alcoholic who looks good on television.
Putting all this aside:
Again, none of this is a surprise. He blames Ukraine for the war, and he says it’s up to Ukraine to “make peace.” Quit beating around the fucking bush: Donald Trump works for Vladimir Putin. Period. https://t.co/9EaS7LjtcA
Paula White, famous in part for speaking in tongues during sermons, has been appointed by President Donald Trump as head of a White House Faith Office. The controversial figure
played a key role in Trump's evangelical outreach, serving
as the chair of his evangelical advisory board during the 2016 campaign. In
2017, she delivered the invocation at Trump's inauguration, becoming the first
female clergy member to do so. In November 2019, Trump appointed her as his
special advisor to the Faith and Opportunity Initiative at the White House.
The selection has been slammed by many right-wing supporters of the President who, while gravely misguided politically, seem to have a clue about Christianity. White
is a proponent of “prosperity theology,” which teaches
that God rewards the truly faithful with material wealth and personal success.
Critics say that by blaming financial woes on a lack of
faith, prosperity theology can be used to exploit vulnerable churchgoers. Many
Christians consider it a form of heresy, according to The New York Times.
Some of Trump’s Christian MAGA supporters took to social
media to express their disappointment in the president’s pick.
“Even though President Trump is enforcing laws that line up
with our values, that doesn’t mean he has any clue what biblical Christianity
is or why it matters,” Christian podcast host John Mason wrote on X. “Paula
White is a known heretic and known false teacher who has no regard for the
Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Scott Ross, a Texas-based leadership coach and
self-described “Orthodox Christian,” called the move “an abomination.”
“Paula White, head of Trump’s White House Faith Office, is
no Christian leader,” he wrote. “She preaches the heresies of Word of Faith
& Prosperity Gospel, both utterly opposed to authentic Christianity. Worse,
she has lived a life of scandal, with multiple husbands, twisting the Gospel
for profit.”
White-Cain, who is twice-divorced, is currently
married to Journey guitarist Jonathan Cain
Yet, the appointment may be precisely because she "is no Christian leader." Before her appearance at the Rose Garden on May 7, 2020, White
asked that "wicked" leaders be removed from government positions. She commanded the coronavirus to "be done, to be gone.... We say it is enough! Die now, coronavirus 19! We command right now that this virus stop. There will be no more spread, in the name of Jesus."
In the USA, there had been approximately 75,000 deaths from Covid-19 when White beseeched God to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As of earlier this month, there were 1,221,863 individuals for whom the cause of death was Covid-19 or for whom it was listed as a contributing cause. Unfortunately, her plea was either not heard or not heeded.
Nonetheless, there is a facet of her ministry in which the very wealthy White excels, in that
White’s prosperity gospel theology (a label she rejects, and
that many mainstream theologians regard as a form of charlatanism ) makes her a
good fit for Trump. She says that God “gives you the power to acquire wealth to
establish His covenant,” but that first you need to give wealth to God, though
her organization: “Give your very best as a first fruits offering and watch
God's unlimited blessings pour into your life and your family. WATCH IT! WATCH
WHAT GOD WILL DO! I BELIEVE…”
Five years ago, researching an article for Mother Jones, Stephanie Mencimer wrote
Just out of curiosity, I recently made a prayer request
through her website, asking her to pray for a family member. I got an email in
return promising that White and her prayer intercessors would “deploy the Blood
of Jesus on your behalf for your peace.” White also thanked me for “agreeing to
pray for President Trump and his family on June 2nd.” Apparently, the form
letter hasn’t been updated since last summer. Less than an hour later, I got
another email from White asking me to send her a “favor seed” of $50 or more so
that she could “Activate supernatural favor” on my behalf. “Favor will make you
a household name overnight,” she writes knowingly.
A proverb from Solomon (probably): "Before a downfall the heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor." According to the prophet Micah, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love merc .and to walk humbly with your God. "Jesus' half-brother James is credited with writing "But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, 'God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble'". And Paul (Romans 12:16) warns "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited."
And- well, you get it. An impressive performer, White and Trump have much in common, and not because she is a "White." Called to be humble, live in harmony, and associate with people of low position, Paula White pals around with Donald "I am the Chosen One" Trump. Scam artist meets scam artist.
No doubt you heard the ridiculous and effective GOP talking point about $50 million sent to Hamas for condoms. Nearly every lie has an expiration date, however, and this one transitioned nicely from one terrorist group to another. Thus, while questioned on Thursday by CNN's Rick Sanchez about the Agency for International Development, Republican US Representative Buddy Sanchez of Georgia stated
.... I mean, $15 million for condoms for the Taliban,” Carter
declared.“Sir! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! $15 million for condoms for the
Taliban?” Sanchez fired back.
“That’s what we’re hearing! That’s what they discovered,”
the congressman maintained.
“Are you conflating things? Are you talking about the $50
million that was supposedly meant for condoms in Gaza? Are you conflating those
two things, sir?” Sanchez retorted, offering Carter an opportunity to back away
from his claim.
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
asserted in her debut press briefing that DOGE had “found that there was about
to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in
Gaza.”
Trump would later repeat this claim during the Laken Riley
Act signing ceremony, saying his administration had “identified and stopped $50
million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas.” Later on, he would double
this total to $100 million.
All three target Elon Musk, and none will be passed in a GOP-controlled Congress in thrall with Donald Trump and with President Musk. Obviously, the primary sponsors (respectively, New Mexico's Melanie Stansbury and Maryland's Jamie Raskin; California's Nancy Pelosi; Wisconsin's Mark Pocan), all U.S. Representatives, understand that.
As the cliche goes, it's all good- but inadequate to the task of alerting the public of the danger of an unelected chief executive. The nearly incomparable blogger Steve M. believes individuals should place the TIME magazine cover (below) into an envelope and mail it either to "President Donald J. Trump, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500" or to "President Elon Musk, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500."
Even better: "I'd give a sizable contribution to anyone willing to erect
billboards in all fifty states that say ELON MUSK IS PRESIDENT. That would piss
Trump off."
Oh, it would. Donald Trump hates sharing the spotlight with anyone. And it would undermine his image of being the strongman, the guy in charge, the macho, macho man, another hit by Trump's new fave.
It also would undercut the very basis of Donald Trump's popularity. In a post in which he cites a poll indicating that the President is more popular than are his policies, S.M. notes
.... there's a lesson here for Democrats who think they can watch
all the madness and just shout, "What about egg prices?" Trump isn't
addressing voters' #1 issue in the 2024 election, and the respondents in this
poll know that -- and yet his job approval is positive. That tells me that
voters are pleased to have a president who's taking some kind of decisive
action and making sure we know he's taking decisive action -- unlike Joe Biden.
President Bill Clinton once said that in appealing to the public which feels insecure, "strong and wrong beats weak and right." Democrats may not be able to convince the public that they're wrong. But they must begin the task of convincing Americans that the actor playing the tough guy in Washington is the weakling who has turned much of his presidency over to an unelected multi-billionaire.
This is so funny- and so apt- Senator Amy Klobuchar must have heard this somewhere before.
Technically, Donald Trump is not for sale, though only because he is owned by President Musk. Yet to be fair, before Musk, another plutocrat owned a little piece of Mr. Trump. You may have heard of Jeff Yass
Cofounder of investment company and trading firm Susquehanna
International Group, Yass has an estimated net worth just shy of $50 billion.
Much of the Pennsylvania-based billionaire’s wealth is tied up in no other than
TikTok, as Forbes reports that Susquehanna’s most valuable holding is
ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. Susquehanna holds a 15% stake in ByteDance,
a source “familiar with the investment,” told the New York Times. And Yass
himself owns 7%....
Yass started funneling money into the 2024 election early;
at one point in March he was the biggest donor to outside spending groups. He,
alongside wife Janine Yass, were No. 6 in top contributors to the election,
contributing in total more than $96 million to Republican causes, per nonprofit
tracker of campaign lobbying Open Secrets.
The mega-donor might be somewhat connected to Trump's
invitation to conservative PAC Club for Growth’s retreat in Breakers this past
year, Bloomberg suggests in a recent article. In 2023, Trump wasn’t invited to
said event. Yass, who has donated more than $60 million to Club for Growth
since 2016, found an ally in Trump.
Not long after the event in Breakers, Trump publicly changed
his stance on TikTok, Bloomberg notes. “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and
Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “I
don’t want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a
true Enemy of the People!”
Under terms of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Act passed by Congress (and later upheld by the Supreme Court), TikTok was to have been banned in the USA as of January 19 unless sold to a US buyer(s). No deal was made and on January 21, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General not to enforce the law for 75 days while an American buyer might be found.
So as of now, American youth and juveniles at heart still are enjoying the application owned by a Chinese company, which exists at the pleasure of the Chinese government and turns over to it any and all information "requested." That pleases President Trump, and not only because he's aware of the tens of millions of Americans, a few of whom even vote, who regularly use the app. It's also because of Jeff Yass, the Club for Greed, and Elon Musk, prompting the sober observation of Amy Klobuchar and others that this President is always up for sale to the highest bidder.
Racist? No. Inaccurate? Well, no. But from the spokesman for President Trump, he who (successfully) nominated Marco Rubio for Secretary of State? Hell, yes.
Decoding Fox News is wrong.
This is how a legitimate news source, PBS News Hour, reported on the incredibly racist statement of Karoline Leavitt the new White House Press Secretary. Someone should ask her why the Titanic sank. I'm pretty sure everyone in charge of that disaster was a straight white man. pic.twitter.com/SbBheGj2aY
It is neither "incredibly racist" nor slightly racist to say
When you are flying on an airplane with your loved ones, which everyone of us in this room has, do you pray that your plane lands safely snf you get to your destination or that your pilot has a certain skin color? I think that we all know the answer to that question and as President Trump said yesterday, it's common sense.
Nonetheless, it is hypocritical for someone representing Donald Trump to pretend that the Administration doesn't care about an individual's skin color. According toSemafor
Secretary of State Marco rubio will appoint Darren Beattie, a speechwriter in President Donald Trump's first term, acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy, two people briefed on the plans said.
Beattie is notorious for his affiliations with some of the
most noxious corners of Trumpworld, and his appointment to the influential
State Department role has revived scrutiny on his past writings and statements.
In October, for example, Beattie wrote on X: “Competent
white men must be in charge if you want things to work. Unfortunately, our
entire national ideology is predicated on coddling the feelings of women and
minorities, and demoralizing competent white men.”
His fixation on denigrating racial minorities and women is
longstanding. On Jan. 6, 2021, while rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt
to prevent the Electoral College certification of President Joe Biden, Beattie
spent the day tweeting at prominent Black political figures and organizations,
telling them they needed to “learn their place,” and “bend the knee to MAGA.”
Ibram Kendi needs to learn his place and take a knee to
MAGA. Learn his proper role in our society,” he wrote of the famed Black
author.
In May 2023, Beattie wrote: “Middle class and working class
white men are treated far worse in America than Uiguhrs are in China,” a
reference to the Turkish-descendent ethnic group targeted by Chinese
government’s ethnic cleansing campaigns….
This appointment was not made by Donald Trump or President Musk. It appears to have been made by Marco Rubio, who was supposed to be the President's "good" Cabinet appointee. As The New York Times reported, with the support of all forty-seven democrats
The Senate confirmed Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of
Florida, on Monday as America’s 72nd secretary of state, putting a former
political rival of President Trump at the helm of American diplomacy.
Mr. Rubio, 53, was unanimously confirmed in a 99-to-0 vote,
becoming the first Latino to occupy the job and Mr. Trump’s first cabinet
secretary to be confirmed.
In his last act as a sitting senator, Mr. Rubio voted for
himself, giving the Senate clerks a thumbs up as colleagues from both parties
applauded.
No doubt many of those Democrats and Republicans were thrilled to be able to vote for "the first Latino to occupy the job." Evidently, he also will become the first Secretary of State to nominate for a high-ranking position an individual insisting "competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work."
This is in an Administration whose chief spokesperson asks "When you are flying on an airplane with your loved ones, which everyone of us in this room has, do you pray that your plane lands safely snf you get to your destination or that your pilot has a certain skin color?"" Maybe she should be asked how Donald Trump, the boss of our new Secretary of State, would answer that question.
“I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume
I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100% sure,” Trump told House Republicans at
a gathering here, one week after he was sworn into office for a second term. “I
think I’m not allowed to run again.”
Trump continued to entertain the prospect of yet another
presidential run, prodding Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who moments earlier had
introduced him onstage, to promise a “new renaissance.”
“Am I allowed to run again?” Trump asked. “Mike, I better
not get you involved in that.”
A former constitutional lawyer, Johnson, standing on stage
with Trump, chuckled at Trump's comments. Other GOP lawmakers present also
laughed.
Lefty "Ring of Fire" podcaster Farron Cousins argues
There is a threat in that statement but it's not the threat of him running for a third term. And the threat was very subtle and it didn't come across as a threat. But I' gonna tell you what it was. Donald Trump is speaking to a group of Republicans that he needs to keep in line. He knows that the House of Represpresentatives has a razor-thin majority that he can't afford to lose more than two Republicans. the threat is, I've raised a ot of money for the next race.And the subtlw underlying threat of that is (that) if you don't go with me 100% of the time, I will fund a primary challenger to you.
That is what the media missed in reporting on this story. They're too hypwer-focused on, oh my God, he's threateing to run for a third term. No, he is theatening, but he is threatening the Republicans in the House that I won't give you any of the money I've raised if you don't go along with me. Because he's admitting- he's like, I can't use it on myself, so who am I gonna spend it on?
Cousins correctly identifies Trump's primary (pun intended) objective in making this remark. The President wants to make sure that every Republican support him unconditionally and each understands that if he or she wavers, President Trump will finance a primary opponent.
Nonetheless, there is another threat there, one which Cousins explicitly rejects. He sttates that the President wants people to believe that he's "gonna do a third term" but
It cannot happen. It will not happen. I am not certain about many things with the Trump Administration but this one I am certain of so don't waste your time freaking out about it. There's plenty of other crap to freak out about, trust me. But this ain't it.
The President does want to persuade Senators that he is not necessarily a lame-duck President while the conventional wisdom is that he is, unable constitutionally to serve another term. However, the Twenty-Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is silent on the issue of the number of terms a President might serve. In total, Section 1 reads (with the relevant portion in italics and in bold)
No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this Article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this Article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not preventt any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this Article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.
The Constitution thus prohibits an individual from being elected to the office of the President more than twice. It does not prevent him (or her) from serving more than two terms, or ten years.
Throughout American history, it seemed preposterous that a President would attempt to serve more than two terms. It also would have seemed preposterous that any President would: break the lawby "freezing trillions of dollars in federal spending and dismissing members of the national Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC); that his Administration would order the removal of all prosecutors involved in investigating an attempted coup against the US government and a list of all FBI agents who worked on it with the aim of dismissing many from employment; that he would defy the plain language of statue that he notify Congress beforehand with "a substantive rationale" before firing Inspectors General; or disregard the Constitution's plain language that anyone born in the USA is an American citizen.
These are only the most publicized, clearly illegal and/or unconstitutional acts taken in the first two weeks of the new Administration. Removing civil service protections from federal employees so they can be fired at will and replaced by toadies, withdrawing from the World Health Organization, imposing steep tariffs on allies, attempting to intimidate them and others, and the list goes on.
Representative Andy Ogles of Georgia has introduced a resolution to amend the US Constitution to remove the prohibition on a President being elected to a third term. That is unlikely to prevail and with dozens of moves, ranging from the reckless to worse, made by the White House, there is- as Cousins maintians- no reason to "freak out" about the third term thing. Yet.
There are other ways to remain in power which, especially with the the Supreme Court's ruling last July in Trump v. United States, which eliminated virtually any check on criminal conduct by a President. Donald Trump is a very elderly man and if physical appearance is any indication (often not), he may not make it tanother four years.
Yet if he remains on two feet, he's not going anywhere. That's his goal and if the courts, law enforcement, and other institutions do not stand up to the despot, by that time all resistance may be futile.
You will not be surprised that President Donald Trump and the White House press secretary lie like a rug. However, there is something basic to policy hidden here.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, made a
similar claim on Tuesday during her debut news briefing. She stated that the
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) “found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that
went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza.”
That would be an awful lot of sex, though "awful" and "sex" probably shouldn't be in the same phrase.The following day, the President, a little more weirdly, himself boasted "we identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas. They used them as a method of making bombs. How about that?"
Though not most important to the story, the Trump-Leavitt claim was inaccurate, as explained by The Times of the United Kingdom. There is a province in Mozambique and
In this Gaza, and the adjoining Inhambane province, about a
quarter of the adult population is HIV positive, and since 2021 the Elizabeth
Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation has received more than $82 million from USAid,
in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to
operate reproductive health projects there. The support was expected to
continue until 2026.
A comprehensive report issued in September by USAid was
reviewed by The Times. Some $60.8 million in funding was allocated for condoms
and female contraceptives in 2023, but not a cent of that seems to have gone to
Gaza.
In fact, no condoms were sent to any part of the Middle East
and just one small shipment — $45,680 in oral and injectable contraceptives —
was sent to the region, all of it distributed to the government of Jordan.
The most common form of contraceptive paid for with USAid
money was contraceptive implants for women ($23 million), followed by
injectable ones ($17 million). Only about $7 million was allocated for “male
condoms”.
Dan Evon, of the non-profit News Literacy Project, said:
“It’s also worth noting that this is not a Biden programme. Trump, too, spent
funds on sending contraceptives around the globe. In 2019, about $40 million
was spent on contraceptives by the Trump administration.
Sending money "to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas" would be ridiculous policy. Sending money to Gaza to buy condoms for whomever probably also would be unswise because the millions would more likely be used for weapons or tunnels than for contraceptives.
Nonetheless, sending condoms themselves to Gaza is not such a crazy idea. At worse, they'd go unused, disposed of by Hamas or unused by the populace. At best, however, it would be vey wise strategic policy.
As a vice-presidential candidate, J.D. Vance said "We owe something to our country. We owe something to our future. The best way to invest in it is to ensure the next generation actually exists. I think we have to go to war against the anti-child ideology that exists in our country."
Your mileage may differ. However, ridiculous hyperbole aside, the aggressively pro-natalist Vance arguably has a point, in that the USA- as nearly all of the West- has a fertility rate below replacement level. This affluent nation can afford to have a higher birth rate (or not).
The USA, with an estimated 12.2 births per 1,000 people, in 2024 ranked 145 out of 228 entities in fertility rate. However, the two entities most closely associated with having a "Palestinian" population, Gaza and the West Bank, do it differently. The Gaza Strip is #38 with 26.8 births per 1,000 while the West Bank comes in at #22 with 27.8 births per 1,000 people.
That's a lot of little children. That's not only a lot of mouths to feed, but also a tremendous number of children who grow up, potentially to become terrorists or, at least, voters.
This does not sit well with Jordan, whose population already is approximately half "Palestinian." (How one can be a Palestinan though never living in Palestine is an issue for another time.) President Trump stated that he pitched to Jordan's King Abdullah the idea of sending displaced Gazans to Jordan and
"I said to him, 'I'd love for you to
take on more because I'm looking at the whole Gaza Strip right now, and it's a
mess.'"
He said he was making a similar appeal to Egyptian President
Abdel Fattah el-Sissi during a conversation they were having while Trump was at
his Doral resort in Florida on Sunday. Mr. Trump said he would "like Egypt
to take people and I'd like Jordan to take people."
Jordan's foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, said Sunday that
his country's opposition to what Trump floated was "firm and
unwavering"...
Egypt's foreign minister issued a statement saying that the
temporary or long-term transfer of Palestinians "risks expanding the
conflict in the region
This can be roughly, yet accurately, translated as "There are too darn many of them." The more individuals of an ethnic group in a country, the more influence, and eventually power, they can potentially wield. As is not fully appreciated, Jordan doesn't want Palestinians. Egypt doesn't want Palestinians. The Arab/Persian world doesn't want Palestinians, and we already know that Israel doesn't want any more of them.
Short-term, sending Gazans to Egypt and/or Jordan would be a boon to the region because those individuals would at least be living in a region not beset by war or the destruction it wrought. It would be a convenient solution for the USA because its President would claim to have ended the wr and brought peace to the Middle East. And it woul assist the Israelis, who would face less threat of a terrorist attack and would not have to do as much as quickly to a place which has suffered tremendously from Israeli attack in retaliation to a brutal and evil attack from Hamas.
But it's not going to happen. There is not a small number of Gazans, whom the world considers Palestinian, and they do not possess the "anti-chid ideology" which the American vice-president claims exist in the USA. They present a short-term, medium-term, and long-term threat to various nations in the Middle East and especially to the countries in which they reside.
That's the dirty little secret of all of this. The Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, is deeply unpopular there and is not self-sufficient, relying on Israeli help. Gaza is controlled and dominated by the deeply unpopular, deeply terroristic Hamas. Amd the growth of Israeli settlements in the West Bank renders establishment of a Palestinian state there highly unlikely.
Exacerbating these realities is the growht rate among residents of both the West Bank and Gaza. "For years," USA Today notes, "the U.S. government has provided millions of dollars worth of condoms and other contraceptives to foreign countries as a way to help prevent the spread of AIDS and HIV and to make sure that family planning is available in developing nations." If condoms actually could get past Hamas and into the hands (and elsewhere) of residents of Gaza, it would be a wise investment.
