I had no idea how much people loathed the elderly until recently when I saw a lot of comments like that during the pandemic. Even now, you’ll hear echoes of it when people point out that at least a third of Medicaid spending is for people in nursing homes. (I won’t even mention the way even decent, liberal minded people casually and crudely insult old people in regular conversation.) Let’s just say there isn’t much respect, much less simple human empathy, for people over 65 in America. I hope every American will be lucky enough to be a billionaire when they get old, (or are lucky enough to die young) because being dependent on people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk to uphold programs you depend on is no way to live. And I’m not honestly not sure anymore that a majority of this country would object all that strenuously to ending them.
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Jesus H. Christ: U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday floated the idea of replacing a visa program for foreign investors with a so-called “gold card” that could be bought for $5 million as a route to American citizenship. Trump told reporters he will replace the “EB-5” immigrant investor visa program, which allows foreign investors of large sums of money that create or preserve U.S. jobs to become permanent residents, with a so-called “gold card.” “We are going to be selling a gold card,” Trump said. “We are going to be putting a price on that card of about $5 million,” he added. “It’s going to give you green card privileges plus its going to be a route to (American) citizenship, and wealthy people would be coming into our country by buying this card,” Trump said, adding that details about the scheme will come out in two weeks. I honestly have no words except Jesus H. Christ. Trump added it is possible Russian oligarchs could qualify for the gold cards, when asked by a journalist if those people would be eligible. “Yeah, possibly. Hey.
Michelle Goldberg on the appointment of the internet troll Dan Bongino to be the second in command of the FBI. Oh boy: In writing about our country’s rapid self-immolation, I try to ration Hannah Arendt references, lest every column be about the ways “The Origins of Totalitarianism,” published in 1951, foreshadows the waking nightmare that is this government. But contemplating Bongino’s ascension, it’s hard to avoid the famous Arendt quote, “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.” Trump could have found a smoother and more sophisticated ideologue to help him transform the F.B.I. into a tool of his will, perhaps someone from the Claremont Institute ready to put an erudite spin on authoritarianism. He wanted the jacked-up hothead. This administration professes a devotion to merit-based hiring, blaming diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for fostering mediocrity.
“Message received” MSNBC’s new network president, Rebecca Kutler, saluted He Who Would Be King last week and said, “Yes, Sir! How low?” Kutler offered in sacrifice a half-dozen of its anchors (and their production teams). The network plans to relocate some to new ensemble-format shows. Former Obama administration official, Brandon Friedman, posted an image of ousted anchors (above) and remarked, “Seen together, hoo boy. Message received.” Timothy Snyder warned us. And warned us again. And again. “Do Not Obey in Advance.” Democracy Now! spoke with Snyder back in December on how corporate America was “bending” to Donald Trump “following ABC News’s decision to settle a Trump defamation case by donating $15 million to his future presidential library.” “There is a problem when the people who have the most money set the example of yielding to power first,” Snyder said. “It’s textbook anticipatory obedience.” Lester Holt is exiting his slot as anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News” after a decade.
In the middle of delicate negotiations, he posts this: Complete batshit lunacy on the president's Truth Social account. Yes, he really posted this. pic.twitter.com/MaFIqUH1r0 — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 26, 2025 Tell me he isn’t suffering from extreme delusions of grandeur. Between the gutting of the Intelligence community and the FBI and the crude, dismissive way he’s dealing with the Palestinians, it will be a miracle if we don’t have a catastrophic terrorist attack.
A smattering of the egregious tap-dancing from the Trumpers to give Putin the big win they all want him to have. FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it's a very complicated situation. pic.twitter.com/GyXUJQc4uJ — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 FOX: But fair to say Russia attacked unprovoked into Ukraine? PETE HEGSETH: Fair to say it’s a very complicated situation. Witkoff: "The war didn't need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn't necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn't need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians." pic.twitter.com/ZimoQk7wbV — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 23, 2025 Trump’s special envoy to hell Steve Witkoff, real estate developer. He says: “The war didn’t need to happen. It was provoked. It doesn’t necessarily mean it was provoked by the Russians. There were all kinds of conversations back then about Ukraine joining NATO. That didn’t need to happen. It basically became a threat to the Russians.
Remember when Trump ordered that nursing babies be yanked away from their mothers during the first term? Yeah, that was really popular. Now they’re going after the unaccompanied minors who are in the U.S. usually living with relatives: The Trump administration is directing immigration agents to track down hundreds of thousands of migrant children who entered the United States without their parents, expanding the president’s mass deportation effort, according to an internal memo reviewed by Reuters. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo outlines an unprecedented push to target migrant children who crossed the border illegally as unaccompanied minors. It lays out four phases of implementation, beginning with a planning phase on January 27, though it did not provide a start date for enforcement operations. More than 600,000 immigrant children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or legal guardian since 2019, according to government data, as the number of migrants caught crossing illegally reached record levels.
Enrique Tarrio, a domestic terrorist is wandering around Washington getting in the faces of Capitol Police officers: Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio—released last month after Trump pardoned him along with 1,500 other Jan. 6 rioters—confronted ex-Capitol police officer Michael Fanone, who was injured defending the Capitol from criminals like Tarrio. Fanone: “You are a fuc*ing traitor to… pic.twitter.com/HKGXVJzgnq — Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) February 23, 2025 Fanone responded: “You are a fucking traitor to this country.” He actually is a real life seditionist, convicted by a jury of his peers and sentenced to 22 years in prison. Trump pardoned him. Now he’s stalking people who defended the Capitol. That happened today at the Never Trumper Principles First confab: Meanwhile, check out who’s manning top jobs at ICE: Fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids began to spread the day after President Donald Trump was inaugurated for the second time.
And it’s extremely dangerous I wrote earlier about the reporting that Musk is threatening to shut down Starlink, his satellite service on which Ukraine depends for all its communications unless they capitulate to Trump’s demands to allow him to seize whatever natural resources he wants and hand their country to Putin. The idea that this man has such power over world events is like something out of a James Bond film. Only there’s no James Bond, just GOP cowards, feckless Democrats and a plodding judiciary. It’s actually much worse than I realized. Josh Marshall wrote this thread on BlueSky last night, jumping off an earlier post about what historically happens when someone becomes more powerful than the sovereign (“over-mighty subjects”) which, in our American democracy, is something called “the American people.” Musk is a quintessential “over-mighty subject” perhaps the mightiest ever: A couple years ago the Times did a really strong package about the power of SpaceX. Not only is SpaceX.
I think we knew that the feds under Trump would not zealously go after gun crimes. It was always going to be a free-for-all. But this is a little bit different. President Donald Trump’s newly-confirmed FBI director, Kash Patel, is expected to take on another top law enforcement role in the administration as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to a White House official and two other sources familiar with the plan. Patel’s appointment could be made official as soon as next week with a swearing-in ceremony, the sources said. The ATF, a law enforcement agency housed in the Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing federal laws regarding the illegal use, sale and trafficking of firearms and explosives, as well as the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products. It has been a frequent target of Republican lawmakers who perceive the agency as infringing on the Second Amendment, particularly as former President Joe Biden empowered it to regulate the sale of “ghost guns” and close a loophole that eased the process of buying a firearm.