The Trump Follies

Some might say every day but I would say maybe every three days or so I see a strange Trump headline.  It's totally random and without reason.  One day he might outlaw Smokey the Bear.  He might rename a bridge after Melania or build an ICE center in the Grand Canyon.  It could be whatever.  He might wake up one morning and decide the American Triangle is a more fitting name than the Bermuda Triangle.  I've taken some editorial license here but Junior ICE agents might be a real thing.  So now the latest blurb I've seen is the FBI raids the Maryland home of former National Security Advisor John Bolton who served under Trump the first time.  Many times now I just read the headline and don't delve much into the story.  I had thought now that we're into Trump's second and hopefully final term the weirdness would peter out after awhile and we could return to normal governing but no.  The current surreal landscape of American politics.  Like Dali applied to Trump.  It's an art form.

Trump's half-assed Alaskan summit with Putin

 In a weak bid for the Nobel Peace Prize President Trump met with Vladimir Putin last Friday in Alaska.  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet with Trump tomorrow in Washington D.C.  By all accounts Trump feels Zelensky should cede part of Ukrainian territory to Russia.  This would be like if we were willing to give up a piece of Poland to Hitler.  Judging by Trump and Putin's firm handshake on the tarmac what else could we expect?

Zelensky looks like he shops at Target.  BB once wondered if he even owns a shirt with a collar.  I'd go with at least a light gray seasonal turtleneck would look nice.  One comedian joked he looks like he belongs on the set of Star Trek.  Wonders why he's not taken seriously. 

In other news FL Rep. Anna Paulina Luna told Joe Rogan she believes interdimensional beings exist and that she has seen photographic evidence of a spaceship.  But are they here legally?

Not getting the Stephen Colbert brouhaha

 So the guy's Late Show was canceled.  Lost millions of dollars for CBS.  Was never into him.  Didn't find him funny.  Past my bedtime.  Leno wondering why late-night comedians turn so partisan and lose half their audience.  The one thing I remember about Colbert is he had on some cringeworthy covidian vax dancers sketch once.   The demise of Colbert.  There are more important things to protest.

Why the Epstein Files matter

 OK so Trump's name is on the List.  According to the WSJ Bondi told him this some time ago.  A fairly common reaction I'm seeing though is why does it matter?  I'm seeing this at some conservative blogs I peruse from time to time like the Left is using this against Trump and that's all it is but the Democratic chef at work yesterday who hates Trump with a passion also said he's tired of hearing about Epstein and everyone knows he cheated so what does it matter?  There's some serious conflation going on here.  People are putting this on the same level as if Trump made numerous visits to the Playboy Mansion and played polo ponies with Hef and made business deals in the grotto.  Epstein/Maxwell involved sex trafficking of underage girls on a mass scale which by definition involves lack of consent.  It's like I remember some comedian I forget the name and he made fun of what he called Japanese creepy porn and said they look like they're not enjoying themselves.  So with Epstein we were not dealing with high-priced consenting escorts but very young girls probably under duress.

Tired of the Epstein Files?  You risk looking like a perv.  It matters.  The Left had nothing to do with it.  The deification of Trump is weird and cultlike.  We like to deal with facts here.

At this stage of the game if you still have Trump bumper stickers on your vehicle you're a cultist

 I know at least two people like this.  One at my workplace and the other one a neighbor.  After only a few months into Trump's second term any reasonable person left right or middle would have concerns.  I get the denialism up to a point but something has to give.  Trump sending illegals to places other than their home countries how is this even legal?  Trump now suing the WSJ over its factual reporting on his long-standing friendship with Jeffrey Epstein he's trying to chill a free press and the list goes on.  I'm not big on political bumper stickers but sometimes there comes a time you have to scrape them off.  The Trump cult scene at this point it kind of has the feel of the acid scene in the cemetery in Easy Rider.  I just long for the days when we can get a mature adult of whatever political persuasion in the WH again.  You ever notice Rubio's face?  Every once in a while you get that WTF's going on look.

Trump wants DOJ to reveal what Epstein had for breakfast

 Always skirting the issue.  He has asked Pam Bondi to release the grand jury transcripts in the Jeffrey Epstein case even though nobody asked for that.  The Guardian reports that Trump and Epstein were BFFs for 15 years and the WSJ says Trump once sent him a racy card for his birthday.  Other than that they were barely acquaintances.  Trump wants to sue the WSJ btw.  What else is new.

Don't cry for me Maurene Comey.  Daughter of former FBI head James Comey the DOJ has fired her as a federal prosecutor.  She did a half-assed job in the Diddy case.  Not gonna lose sleep.

Trump wants to re-open the legendary Alcatraz to the tune of $2 billion.  Where is the money gonna come from out of his ass?

The surreal Trump Administration continues......

Can Homan and Hannity be deported to Iceland?

 Homan is a scary dude.  Imagine going home and finding him in your closet.  The next Halloween mask?  So according to the Washington Post there's an internal ICE memo circulating to send some illegals to countries where they're not even citizens.  But doesn't this increase illegal immigration in those countries because they're not even citizens there?  So the cycle perpetuates itself.  Stupid me and my dictionary definitions I thought to deport someone meant to send them back to their home country from which they came.  The Homan game plan only complicates matters immeasurably.  Are atolls in the Pacific included?  Makes no sense.  I don't even think ICE goes after real criminals because they're afraid.  Leave that to real law enforcement.  Oh Trump and Noem will say they do but I think they're more comfortable harassing random undocumented people on farms and in the street.  Basically a rogue agency that Dr. Phil is in love with.  Bunch of amateurs who look like they were just hired walking around in neck gaiters in 95 degree weather surrounding and bothering people.

Any ideas where we can send Charlie Kirk?

The media is weirdly uninterested in Jeffrey Epstein

 I get news updates on my devices of course and being a busy man I often just scan them.  A quick perusal however seems to show much of the MSM taking the position of the Trump Administration on the matter of the Jeffrey Epstein Files.  MAGA is in a major rift as you probably heard as what was promised was not delivered exactly.  The media is treating it all as just another fevered conspiracy theory from the Far Right but I would frame it somewhat differently.  Going forward are the customers or clients of a major sex trafficking ring now routinely to be let off the hook?  WHY?  Legit legal question.  Can't be that hard for the federal government to figure out who was in that customer base or at least some of the players.  Diddy too was recently brought to trial on running a sex trafficking ring as well.  He was pretty much acquitted on that but as a theoretical question why was no one else brought to trial just him?  Only the figureheads or alleged figureheads.  It's not the least bit conspiracy-minded to ask such questions.  The media like CNN is framing this as only MAGA cares.  It's time to stop controlling the narrative at the behest of the Trump Administration and just ask simple basic and logical questions.  That's all for today folks.

Mass deportations, mass amnesty or mass amnesia?

 So I can't make heads or tails out of this now.  Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk says the push is on for Trump to pull a Reagan and grant amnesty to 25 million illegal aliens or whatever the number is.  Pressure from the business community.  Trump is working on the legislation now or else it's somewhere in the big beautiful bill.  The calculus is it would help the midterms which don't bode well for Republicans.  In MAGAville even such talk is considered A Bad Thing.  Meanwhile Homan continues to bother the livestock in CA.  Maybe Homan's real purpose is to create a shitshow thus the need for amnesty.  Is Trump at heart an ideologue or a pragmatist?  Will he betray MAGA?  All I know is that in 10, 15 years we won't remember a damn thing.

The ascendancy of the weird Right - it now IS the Right

 The latest examples being "Alligator Alcatraz" and those racist conservatives who want to deport NYC Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.  My friend has imbibed deeply of the Fox News propaganda.  For him Iran was on the verge, the very cusp of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead to hit NYC.  For Mark Levin if you opposed Trump bombing Iran's nuclear facilities you're an unpatriotic American.  Levin gives off this vague creepy psycho vibe and said to MTG after their recent dust-up "you're on my radar."  Hmmmmm......Hannity is somewhat milder but his aging blockhead fills the screen as he constantly beats the drums for war in the Middle East or at least a bomb here and there.  The Senate now seems okay with Trump's giant sausage of a bill thus mortgaging our future and our children's future.  Musk continues to attack the bill and he is right for once.  At this rate the midterms may turn out to be a big blue tsunami.  The rise of Mamdani represents a left-wing populism not to be ignored.

It's all very depressing but this too shall pass.  Hopefully next time we'll get somebody better.

Holy shit Batman maybe we can deport Mamdani!

 Former and disgraced Governor of NYS Andrew Cuomo refuses to accept the fate of the politically damned.  Despite a healthy second place showing in the recent NYC Mayoralty Primary voting he lost to the Zohran.   The groper is very ambitious.  He now plans to run against Mamdani as an independent.  Mamdani has rocked the political establishment.   Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk thinks he's a terrorist and some Republicans want him stripped of his US citizenship and deported.  Could be Homan's next project.  Special assignment for Homan's Raiders.  Trump is looking into ways of disqualifying him for being a communist.  Sweet McCarthyism!  All for not being a Zionist.  For his part Cuomo is willing to serve on Benjamin Netanyahu's legal defense team before the ICC should it come to that.  You can't cancel Mamdani out though.  As even my rock-ribbed conservative friend says give the people what they want.

How best to describe Trump's second term?  Conservative Candace Owens who voted for Trump as did I recently told Piers Morgan Trump is "a chronic disappointment. "  That about fits.

I was having some trouble sleeping and thought it was my mattress

 Mark Levin over at Fox says we can all sleep better at night knowing Trump took out Iran's nuclear facilities.  Turns out we don't need the My Pillow guy after all.  MTG rips Trump a new one.  She may have said some loopy things in the past but she's 100% right.  Same with Tucker.  Some dispute over the exact damage to those three Iranian nuclear facilities.  Not exactly obliterated despite the hyperbole.  Also Trump's big mouth gave them advanced notice to put the enriched uranium someplace else.  Neocon warmongers who never picked up a rifle themselves.  Hannity probably wouldn't even know what to do with a home intruder.  Fox News - We Decide Then Report;)

"Russia just sent a nuclear missile over but first we have a weather alert"

 It's amazing how much time the news devotes to the weather.  At the top of most newscasts these days.  "A house exploded in Brooklyn today but first we have a weather alert."  They constantly catastrophize normal weather patterns.  It's gonna be hot it's gonna be cold it's gonna rain.  So next four days it's gonna be in the 90s up here in the Northeast with some humidity.  OK.  Gotta talk about it every 15 minutes though.  It's not like it's never happened before.  Lots of the more celeb weather people pull in good salaries I guess they gotta put on a show.  Unless there's gonna be a major weather event the weather should be treated  more like sports.  I don't understand the jetstream I just wanna know if I should bring an umbrella with me today or not.

Is ICE going rogue or is Trump bipolar?

 It's all so confusing.  Just the other day President Trump directed all ICE offices to NOT conduct workplace raids at agricultural sites, hotels and restaurants.   Now CNN reports ICE will continue doing just that.  Is Trump's whole term going to revolve around chasing down the illegals?  That's not feasible or practical or cost effective.   Now I go on YouTube and Homan is holding yet  another press briefing urging the aliens to go on the app and self-deport.  Get your affairs in order the stern one warns.  Nothing constructive.  You can't make this shit up.  How many illegals are buried in cemeteries?  Does he want to dig them up too and send them home?  What would Jesus do?  No immigration reform, no path to citizenship just paleo-conservatism at its most rabid.  Why do I get the impression ICE enjoys their work a little too much?  Do they need a shaving of Prozac?

Don't hate.  Participate:)

The Home Depot - how Tom Homan gets more done

 Trump now says we have to use lots of common sense about the illegals.  The migrant farm workers and those in the hospitality and leisure industries are essential workers hard to replace they're telling him.  Will we see a change in direction, of tone? So Trump is still lagging behind Biden's deportation numbers this is not a sports contest.  Homan and crew should be helping them pick the vegetables and ask them how their day is going not loading them into paddy wagons.  Homan laying down the law at a press briefing.  There's no grayscale with him just be a hardass.  Watched some NYC ICE footage last night on the news.  The always masked ICE agents lack simple basic professionalism and seem to have an apelike intelligence.  Dr. Phil has sure taken a hard turn to the Right but he's from Texas.  As they used to say in the Old West f#@k you and the horse you rode in on.

Are we EVER gonna get to the cost-of-living?

Are Trump and Musk still hot for each other?

 Musk has expressed misgivings, deleted some tweets and says he may have gone too far.  Trump says he might be open to a reconciliation.  Defense Sec'y Hegseth says the US has contingency plans to occupy Greenland if necessary.   Israel attacked Tehran targeting their nuclear facilities and chain of command.  ICE agents are chasing farm laborers through strawberry fields and going into meat production plants.  Big military parade tomorrow.   Trump's birthday.  DHS Sec'y Kristi Noem doesn't like to be interrupted.  What's up with Dr. Phil?

Trump is at war with his own country

 It might be any day now Marines come up the Hudson River to land at the Yonkers City Pier.  As I said in my last post the majority of today's conservatives ain't that freedom loving to begin with.  Yes I'm looking at you Hannity.  They have no issues with the Trump Administration censoring pro-Palestinian speech on campus.  They're ok with the Administration monitoring the social media posts of foreign students.  They're down with the possible militarization of major US cities in response to the growing ICE protests.  No libertarian concerns whatsoever.

One of the first things any would be dictator/fascist does is go after freedom of speech.  MAGA is just a bunch of gutless wonders, a cult at this point.  In my view Trump is a hater and a joyless prick no matter how FOX News and Dr. Phil try to spin it.

Gen. Trump wants to send more troops into American cities

 I guess the National Guard isn't good enough.  I thought they were troops.  Trump wants to militarize more US cities in response to the growing ICE protests coast to coast.  ICE is actually a kind of rogue agency created in the wake of 9/11, an offshoot of DHS.  Basically what Trump wants to do is set up a police, a military state with a vast ai surveillance system, an Orwellian database of every single living American courtesy of Palantir Tech.  Laura Loomer is down with this.  So why do the vast majority of conservatives still support Trump despite these existential threats to freedom and privacy?  They're not really that libertarian to begin with.  This is not to say they need to be full-blown libertarian but they should be more libertarian than they are.  More stuff should bother them but it doesn't.  Instead they constantly fall back on blaming the media and the Democrats.  So what happens if Trump gives the go-ahead for Marines to shoot rioters in US cities?  Will Charlie Kirk cheer?

Dark days ahead.  I hope I'm wrong.

If this is conservatism then I have tits

 Got off the Trump train awhile back ever since Gulf of America.  Many of you are still on it happily blowing the whistle.  A new OTA channel came on my TV the other night - Newsmax 2.  Must be important.  Watched a little bit and my impression is I don't think Newsmax fully understands the idea that people have the right to protest proposed Medicaid cuts.  A few channels over I have OAN.  It's usually at this time I'll watch the infomercial for Omega XL or the Emeril Lagasse air fryer.  Don't know why almost the whole conservative movement has hitched their wagon to Trump.  Sure there are some lone critics and holdouts here and there like Glenn Greenwald and Candace Owens but for the most part it's this massive nonstop collective right-wing orgasm.  A real freakoff.

I'm not against the idea of a Golden Dome but how do you fire tens of thousands of federal workers shutter entire agencies and then say we need a multi-billion dollar Golden Dome to maybe even include our neighbor up North? The tariffs are confusing and need to end but Trump wants businesses to just shut up and absorb the extra costs without passing them along to the consumer.  Executive orders don't strike me as having the quality of durable law, comes totally out of his whimsy and not the Congress but he feels this is the way to govern and on and on it goes.

Geeeeeez......

This blog lags behind a little bit

 I'm not a political junkie.  I follow politics in a tangential general sort of way but I don't follow say every bill working its way through the Congress.  My cats need to eat.  I have yardwork to do.  I'm not like the old people who look at the TV screen all day and follow the news 24/7.  I see the headlines on my devices that's enough.  Ok so the leader of South Africa met with Trump at the WH.  Trump has given refugee status to some white Afrikaaners.  Trump has accused the leader of some kind of genocide.  Perhaps Trump is projecting onto him what he should be saying to Bibi but I'm not a shrink.  I know way back in the day the South African government was harassing the white landowners but again I'm too busy of late to dive down these rabbit holes.  Media calling it false.  Again I'm not up to speed on a lot of stuff.  I'm more likely to google lizards of New York State as I have varied interests.   I don't discuss politics with my vet or when getting an oil change.  FWIW I don't think Biden was healthy enough to hold the most important position in the land but at the same time I don't think it amounts to treason so you can call me not a team player.

Just some light opining here.  Pour yourself a drink and let's have a chat.  Not everything is binary.