Trump’s “intramural kampf” goes national Mongol General : Conan! What is best in life? Conan : To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women. In his first unexpected term, JV Last explains, Trump discovered to his disappointment that, while his party superficially supported him, there were pockets of energy-sucking resistance that needed purging before he could fully work his will. Plus, there were “two other spheres in which structures prevented a president from acting as emperor”: the federal government and the broader culture of decency and honesty upon which he’d long preyed. Now with the Republican Party fully subjugated, “he’s going to war against America.” Last outlines a strategy I’ve watched North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature pursue for over a decade. Take actions that starve blue cities of revenue to induce budget crises. Force cities to raise taxes, cut services, or both, generating popular discontent. By the time the crises bite, voters have forgotten whose actions precpitated them.
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Why would we expect anything different? President Donald Trump’s transition team and outside allies have been signaling for weeks that they were planning to “flood the zone” in the first 100 days of the new administration. Former senior adviser and activist Steve Bannon had pushed this idea during Trump’s first term, telling author and journalist Michael Lewis, “the Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” He called it “shock and awe” which was described by historian Douglas Brinkley as: [B]izarre, rapid-fire presidential policy making …every day there’s a new, radical initiative, and it doesn’t give journalists or the public a chance to get a grip on what just happened. Current senior adviser Stephen Miller has refined the idea for the second term. He recently told the NY Times that he believes that “those he regards as Mr.
But whatever. Trump’s just blathering about the “valve” Make it stop. Please.
Trump is too stupid and narcissistic to even vaguely understand or care what this man is up to. But it’s where the real action is going to be taking place. If he gets away with it the federal government will be turned into the corrupt patronage system that the oligarchs have always dreamed of. I wrote this about Vought many months ago: Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s Beth Reinhard published an excellent article about one of Donald Trump’s most visionary advisers, an obscure figure named Russ Vought. He was a boring Republican bureaucrat who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 until Trump left office. He previously served as deputy director and acting director at OMB and prior to his stint in the White House worked at Heritage Action, the activist arm of the Heritage Foundation, where he was budget director for the Republican Study Group in Congress.
Al Sussman chats with Bill King about his days covering popular music, as well as some of the big names that are featured in the book “LARGE TIME: On the Southern Music Beat, 1976-1986” (available on Amazon). For those who … Continue reading
It couldn’t hurt Andy Borowitz: Inauguration Forecast Shows Temperature and IQ in the Twenties Here with the wind chill, it’s like 2 deg outside. And still I think I’ll attend our local MLK peace march and rally (if it’s still on) rather than throw shit at my TV. I need a stiff shot of not-crazy. I just need to remember to leave the TV on tuned to Animal Planet. He’ll lie about his inauguration’s ratings anyway, but what the hell. Make the “blackout” meme trend. It’s like chicken soup…. I know several couples of means who’ve already fled the country. But for the rest of us, Brian Klaas (okay, from England) offers suggestions for surviving the next four years now that tweets about “shooting shoplifters without a trial and executing America’s top general” barely register, and the Saudis can now bribe Trump without needing “to pretend to stay at a Trump hotel.” Klaas, with a Ph.D. earned in studying authoritarian regimes, knows whereof he speaks. He offers a few suggestions: Never Doomscroll: Smarter Engagement, Real “Self Care” Stay informed, but not constantly.
I hope the American Prospect won’t mind that I am reposting this entire piece by Rick Perlstein from a while back. It’s really important on a day like today. (Be sure to click over to read all the other great stuff on the site all of which are equally important as we face the coming apocalypse.) What will you do if men in uniforms arrive in your neighborhood, and an immigrant neighbor gets a knock on the door and is led away in handcuffs? Or if the uniforms are not police uniforms, and there is not even a knock? What if the knock is for your daughter, and they’re coming for her because of a pill that she took? Will you open the door? Or if your teenage granddaughter, alone and afraid, calls you and begs you to drive her to a state where abortion is legal? Your governor has signed a bill making such “abortion trafficking” illegal, stipulating a penalty of 15 years. What will you do if you’re called to serve on the jury hearing the grandmother’s case? She is guilty beyond a hint of a reasonable doubt; no way around that. Do you vote to convict her, or do you hold out against 11 of your peers?
Billionaire Elon Musk gave what appeared to be a fascist salute Monday while making a speech at the post-inauguration celebration for President Donald Trump at the Capital One Arena. “Some elections are important, some are not. But this one, this one really mattered and I just want to say thank you for making it happen,” Musk said before putting his hand on his chest and then raising it in a salute that appeared similar to the “Sieg Heil” used by Nazis at their victory rallies. “It is thanks to you that the future of civilization is assured,” Musk said. I’ve just heard one Democrat after the other go on television and say that they will reach out their hands to work with Trump to lower prices and crime and illegal immigration (I’m not kidding) but they will oppose him if he goes over the line. Will they reach out their hands like Musk does above?
Instead of following the news, I’ve been watching The Equalizer. I like when complex problems are wrapped up in under an hour! I loved Leverage more, less killing. Leverage PREPARED for what the bad guys would likely say and do, then busted them harder when they did. The reveal at the end showed our heroes knew their mark and used it against them. They often got the mark in trouble in ways the legal systems wouldn’t. Today my friend Cliff Schecter talked about Pam Bondi’s hearing and how Adam Schiff prepared for her hearing and busted her. Cliff points out she was a lobbyist for Qatar in 2019, ( you know, Qatar where it’s illegal to be gay.) There were paying her a fee of $115,000 a month. Listen to Cliff point out all the problems with Bondi here. The exchange reminded me of a joke I wrote during the 1st Impeachment hearing. Pam Bondi says “Do you expect me to tell the truth.?” Adam Schiff, “No Ms. Bondi, I expect you to lie!” I posted this and someone said, “Goldfinger, right?” Correct! Here is the scene.
At least we know what’s expected. And it’s interesting that it’s not just votes, we have to give money to Republicans as well. Good to know.