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Created
Tue, 11/02/2025 - 00:00

Dear Mr. Plant,

I wanted to talk with you in person, but you haven’t been around much lately. Hair salon or at J. R. R. Tolkien book club, I’m told. There are things we need to figure out, but you only seem to want to communicate through songs. I have received your tape, which I think addresses our project from your perspective. It’s not all that helpful.

First of all, yes, I understand that your wife (or “lady,” as you say) was excited about purchasing a glittery golden stairway. Well, it arrived, and I hate to tell you this, but it’s not gold. Someone just put gold glitter on a stairway made of plywood and old loading pallets, and that’s what got delivered.

But that’s not the big problem here. The big problem is that the stairway is infinity feet tall. It goes all the way to heaven. I didn’t even know they made those. I cannot get it into the house. It already breaks every kind of building code and zoning rule. It’s the tallest thing ever made. Impossibly tall and, really, an affront to God. Right now, it’s in the side yard, creaking.

Created
Mon, 10/02/2025 - 11:30
Gabe Sherman at Vanity Fair has many contacts in Trump world. He reports on Elon Musk’s crazed rampage in detail and asks whether Trump’s on board: “Trump is the king on the chessboard and Elon is a bishop. Sometimes the bishop takes the lead,” the Republican said. Plus, it’s useful for Trump if Musk takes political heat. “Trump can let the public hate Elon and Elon doesn’t care. So then Trump can come in and save a few programs and look like the restrained one. He can be ‘Trump the Merciful King.’” But other Republicans I spoke to said Trump can’t––or won’t––challenge Musk because Trump understands Musk’s unprecedented power. Musk is reportedly worth nearly $400 billion and has more than 216 million followers on X. (Trump has less than half that follower count on X, plus an audience of 8.8 million on Truth Social.) “How can he say no to Elon?” a former Trump campaign staffer said.
Created
Mon, 10/02/2025 - 10:00
I think we can see where this is leading: “let them enforce it” Ever since Justice it was understood that the ultimate interpreter of the executive’s “legitimate power” under the Constitution (specifically Article II) was the Supreme Court. I think we’re about to see that concept contested, which has kept our system more or less stable short of civil war, in a way we’ve never seen. It could be the whole ballgame. By the way, Elon responded to that tweet: The gall.