The Trump administration continues to produce news where the common theme, at least from where we sit, is "the
opposite of good governance." Under normal circumstances, any one of these stories might have gotten its own item. But
these are not normal circumstances, as Donald Trump & Co. continue with the rapid-fire approach that has been
characteristic of the early weeks of Trump v2.0 (and, for that matter, the early weeks of Trump v1.0). This being the
case, all we can do is run down the long list of stuff that's built up in the past few days:
Pardon Me, Part I: Truth be told, we thought former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich had
already been pardoned, during Trump's first term. It was actually a commutation, though, which meant that yesterday, a
convicted felon was able to
make his buddy
a former convicted felon, by virtue of a full pardon.
In explaining the pardon, Trump remarked: "I think he's a very fine person. This shouldn't have happened to him." Nobody
can take that seriously. Blagojevich got caught red-handed trying to sell Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat to the
highest bidder. At very least, Trump's motivation here was to reward a former participant in The Celebrity
Apprentice. However, it is almost certainly more than that, as Trump does not typically remember, and reward,
"favors" that happened more than a decade ago. It is probable that pardoning Blagojevich also serves to peddle Trump's
narrative of a corrupt deep state that unfairly targets politicians... like Donald Trump. And it is nearly certain that
Trump wants to add Blago to the stable of "MAGA Democrats" who can go on podcasts and "news" programs and sell the
administration's agenda as "bipartisan."
Pardon Me, Part II: On that same point, it's not technically a pardon, but yesterday the
Justice Department
dropped
its five-count corruption indictment against the wildly corrupt New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Presumably Adams is expected to do duty as another MAGA Democrat, with Blagojevich, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi
Gabbard, etc. On top of that, at least for now, he leads a big, blue city that is home to many immigrants, documented
and otherwise. And the Mayor has already made very clear that he understands what services will be wanted from him in
order to pay back Don Trumpeone. Adams
has advised
his underlings that they are not, under any circumstances, to criticize Trump, and that they must, under all
circumstances, cooperate with ICE.
You're Fired, Part I: Over the weekend, Trump
announced
that he was firing several members of the Board of Directors of the Kennedy Center, and installing himself as Chair.
Yesterday, he followed up on that change
by naming
Trump insider Ric Grenell as executive director. Having at least some insight into Trump's thought processes, we would
be willing to bet large sums of money that what he said to himself was something along the lines of "The arts plus a gay
guy? It's perfect."
Exactly what put the Kennedy Center in Trump's crosshairs is not 100% clear. Broadly speaking, the President has
tried to establish that he is somehow the true heir of the Kennedy legacy. So, maybe that's part of it. It is also the
case that he and his administration see little value in spending money on the arts. So, maybe this is prelude to
slashing the Kennedy Center's budget, or even shutting it down.
However, the preeminent motivation is probably, in essence, score-settling. The Kennedy Center is something of a
gatekeeper of "high culture," and Trump is definitely an outsider there, and knows it. During his first presidency, he
skipped all four Kennedy Center honors ceremonies, primarily because the various artists being honored didn't want him
there, and there was an excellent chance he'd be booed by the crowd.
We'll add one other thing that might be in play here. Last week, the Kennedy Center hosted a series of performances from
the National Ballet of China. And that prompted Reps. Christopher Smith (R-NJ) and John Moolenaar (R-MI) to
send a letter
to the now-former chair of the Center, David M. Rubenstein, accusing him of "subsidizing Chinese Communist Party
propaganda." In case you would like to put that sort of weird propaganda/fearmongering in some context, the Kennedy
Center hosted the (Russian) Bolshoi Ballet several times at the height of the Cold War, and... nobody said anything.
Even a noted red-baiter like, say, William Jenner knew that sometimes a ballet is just a ballet.
You're Fired, Part II: This isn't a firing yet, but it looks to be laying the groundwork.
The White House
has demanded,
and received, a list of FBI employees who are in their probationary period, or have been with the Bureau for less than 2
years. These will be the easiest people to fire, as the administration either tries to cut spending, or tries to stack
the Bureau with Trump-loyal staffers, or maybe both.
You're Fired, Part III: Yesterday, Trump
also fired
the boards of visitors for all of the U.S. military's service academies. Those are advisory panels made up of outsiders
who help manage academic programs and student life.
The explanation for the firings is "Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last
four years." Because if you're trying to find unfettered left-wing activism, the service academies are always the first
place to look. Who can forget all those West Point plebes burning their bras in support of the budding feminist movement
in the 1960s? (Please do not e-mail us to point out that women could not enroll at West Point until 1975; we know.) It
is certainly possible that Trump really believes this sort of nonsense about "Woke Leftist Ideologues." It's also
possible that he's doing everything he can to stack the military establishment (like the FBI) with MAGA loyalists. Truth
be told, it's probably both.
You're Fired, Part IV: David Huitema is the director of the Office of Government Ethics,
which means he's responsible for managing the people who keep an eye on the federal government, constantly on the
lookout for unethical or illegal behavior. There is NOTHING about that mission that sounds good to Trump, and so
he fired
Huitema on Friday, just a few months into what is supposed to be a 5-year term.
It is possible for Trump to fire Huitema, but there are procedures that have to be followed and, yet again, the
administration did not follow them. So, Huitema
has already been reinstated,
at least temporarily, while Judge Amy Berman Jackson (a Barack Obama appointee) takes a look at the situation.
You're Fired, Part V: Here's a termination that you can tell is on the up and up, as the
White House announced it on Friday night (a.k.a. the deadest part of the news cycle). Archivist of the United States
Colleen J. Shogan
is now
former Archivist of the United States Colleen J. Shogan, having been relieved of her duties, effective immediately.
Other members of her staff
are expected
to be axed in the near future.
It is possible that Trump has some future chicanery in mind, though it's hard for us to see what could be accomplished
by a (hypothetical) corrupt National Archivist. It's also possible that Trump and his allies were worried that Shogan
might take action on the Equal Rights Amendment, and declare it to be ratified. These are potential secondary
considerations, though they are entirely guesses. The primary consideration, on the other hand, is beyond all doubt.
Shogan was, by virtue of her position, a central figure in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Now, Trump has settled that
particular score.
Score Settling, Part I: On the subject of score-settling, Trump also
revoked
the security clearances of several people over the weekend, among them Joe Biden, former secretary of state Antony
Blinken, New York AG Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
With a list like that, you don't need us to tell you that this was a case of Trump lashing out at his "enemies." In the
case of Biden, in particular, this development was also an absolute inevitability. Although #46 did not cancel the
security clearance of #45/#47, he did significantly limit the information that was provided. That insult must be
punished. Further, Trump very badly wants to make people believe that Biden's mishandling of classified documents, as a
civilian, was orders of magnitudes worse than Trump's mishandling of classified documents, as a civilian. Revoking
Biden's clearance, on the basis that he is some sort of national security threat, is part of that argument.
Note that, even if it is obvious what is going on, you would be wise not to point it out in Trump's presence. A reporter
had the temerity to ask
if this was about retribution, and Trump blew a gasket:
There are people that we don't respect, if there are people that we thought that were breaking the law, came very close to it in previous years, we do it, and we've done it with some people.
We've done it with Biden himself. Biden himself. We think our country is not as safe when you gave him clearance.
We don't think he knows what he's doing and what he's done to this country is a disgrace!
And what he's done in terms of allowing criminals, murders, drug wars, into our country, people from mental institutions into our country, he should be ashamed of himself!
We would agree with Trump that there is a person who is still alive, who served as president prior to January 20, 2025,
and who is a risk to weaken national security by spilling classified information. We would disagree with him, however,
that the person in question is Biden.
Score Settling, Part II: Trump also loathes Kamala Harris, though he has relatively
few ways to target her. One of the few options available, even if it's indirect, is his ongoing nuisance lawsuit
against CBS and 60 Minutes, in which he argues that the news program edited their interview with her in
such a manner that it makes them civilly liable for damages.
Late Friday (again, a pretty good clue as to how Team Trump feels about its actions), the President's lawyers
amended their complaint
against CBS/Viacom. The first change is that Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) has been added as a co-plaintiff. This is to try
to blunt CBS' argument that Trump filed the case in Texas because he was venue shopping. The second change is that Trump
is now claiming that 60 Minutes drove people away from using Truth Social. This is a dubious assertion, and
nearly impossible to prove, but it's been thrown in there to try to allow Trump to establish damages. The third, and
final, change is that Trump has decided that the amount he was asking for, $10 BILLION, was not appropriate. So now he's
asking for... $20 BILLION.
As readers presumably know by now, Viacom is trying to merge with Skydance, a maneuver that will have to be approved by
the Trump-loyal Department of Justice. So, the primary purpose of the lawsuit is to cause Viacom to settle, so that
their merger won't be mysteriously rejected. You could call it a bribe, and we wouldn't object. With Don Trumpeone, you
could also call it protection money. You know, along the same lines as, "You gotta nice business here, Mr. Jones. Big
plate glass display window, nice paint job on the store front, very nice neon sign. If you want it to stay nice, you're
gonna hafta pay us $200/month for 'insurance.'"
Meanwhile, a secondary benefit here is that any news outlet that is pondering an interview with a Democrat, particularly
a very prominent Democrat Trump does not like (Harris, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, etc.), has to think long and hard
about whether they want to take a risk that they will be sued by Trump under some silly cause of action. Remember that
every single one of the major non-right-wing news outlets has a corporate parent with either a merger in the works, or
significant regulatory interests that will be before the federal government in the next year or two, or both.
Score Settling, Part III: Any media outlet that is not pumping out right-wing propaganda
is, in the eyes of Trump and his minions, a left-wing commie pinko Democrat-enabling rag. That includes Politico, which is
owned by a foreign concern, and is actually somewhere between "center" and "center-right."
Combine this MAGA tendency with the propensity to buy into conspiracy theories, and you have a
bit of nuttiness
that is a hard to believe, but absolutely true. In short, Politico missed payroll last week. The outlet says it was
a processing error, and the matter was resolved later that same day. However, a bunch of eX-Twitterers noticed that
this happened at exactly the same time USAID's funding was being frozen. Their conclusion was that Politico
is being funded by USAID. Elon Musk apparently got ahold of this, and went running to Trump with it.
It is true that several agencies did have Politico subscriptions, with a total price tag running into
the millions of dollars. For those who don't know, the site offers a service called Politico Pro, which
has all sorts of fine-grained insider reporting. It's like having access to Bloomberg Terminal or LexisNexis—very
useful for professionals who need it, but also very pricey. Anyhow, on orders from the White House, all Politico
subscriptions held by federal agencies are now canceled. So, hundreds of thousands of government employees will
be deprived of information that helps them to do their jobs better, in service of (conspiratorially) slaying
the USAID dragon.
State-Run Media, Part I: That covers the treatment of the non-Trumpy media. But how
about the other side of the street? Well, late last week, Fox announced that
it was hiring
First Daughter-in-Law Lara Trump to be part of its stable of entertainers. Matt Gertz, normally of Media Matters, but
writing for MSNBC,
had a pretty on-point critique:
Media observers have long recognized that Fox News effectively serves as an arm of President Donald Trump's political
apparatus. But with Wednesday's announcement that the network has tapped his daughter-in-law, Lara, to host a weekly
show, it's clear Fox has abandoned any pretense that it functions as something other than a state TV channel...
Indeed, this deal is almost comically corrupt. No one should have any illusions that Fox has hired Lara Trump to produce
anything other than crude propaganda for her father-in-law and his administration. And the arrangement for Fox to put
money into the president's family member's bank account became public two days after Donald Trump met with network owner
Rupert Murdoch in the Oval Office and publicly criticized his Wall Street Journal's editorial board.
No credible news outlet would employ the president's relative as a host. But Fox doesn't function like a normal news
outlet, and its executives apparently no longer care to pretend otherwise. Turning over airtime to Lara Trump is simply
a natural progression for a network that merged with the White House during the president's first term and is returning
to that form for his second.
If you are trying to figure out if Gertz has the right of it, all you really have to do is imagine what would have
happened if MSNBC had hired Hunter Biden as a staffer in, say, 2021.
State-Run Media, Part II: Still more evidence that there will be a "favored media" and
a "non-favored media" during the Trump years
came from the Pentagon yesterday.
On the orders of drunken, woman-abusing Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, The New York Times, The Washington
Post, NBC, CNN, Politico, The Hill, The War Zone, and NPR have been ordered to vacate the office space that
was being provided to them by the Department of Defense.
Taking over the soon-to-be-available space are The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, OAN, Newsmax,
The Huffington Post, The Free Press, The Daily Caller and Breitbart. In case you are wondering how the generally
lefty Huffington Post snuck in there, it's a transparent attempt to set up the claim: "Hey, we didn't favor right-wing
media! See, we gave office space to the HuffPost, too!" It's kind of the same thing as that racist white guy who
couldn't possibly be racist because, after all, he has a (single) Black friend. In any event, you don't end up with a
list that is otherwise that overwhelmingly right-leaning by accident.
Penny Pinching: Yesterday, Trump
ordered the U.S. Mint
to stop making pennies, using his boutique social media site to explain: "For far too long the United States has minted
pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents. This is so wasteful!"
Note that this is not inherently a crazypants moment. It is true that pennies cost more to make than they are worth
(though it's actually more like 3½ cents each, not 2 cents). It is also true that their functionality in the
modern world is limited, at best. So, getting rid of pennies is a justifiable policy choice. However, there are two
things that take this move into bad governance territory. The first is that if pennies disappear, then people will rely
much more on nickels (since transactions would be rounded to the nearest five cents). And nickels are actually a bigger
loser per coin for the Treasury than pennies are (they cost about 14 cents each to make). If the goal is to actually save money,
then the U.S. would need to go to, in effect, a base-10 economy, with the dime as the smallest denomination. For the
record, each dime costs 5½ cents to make.
The second issue is that the rules about what coins to make are set by Congress, not the president. So, Trump is likely
assuming the prerogatives of the legislative branch, once again. Of course, given the many and varied and quite serious
ways he's doing this in other areas, this particular discussion is pretty quaint, like arguing about how many angels can
dance on the head of a pin.
Serving Two Masters: Recently, Trump observed that "tariff" is the fourth most beautiful
word in the English language, behind "God," "religion" and "love." Do you think that anyone actually believes him when
he says things like this? We are absolutely confident that anyone reading this site does not believe, for one
microsecond, that Trump places God, religion and love above all else. But do you think the True Believers buy it? Can
the brain actually resolve cognitive dissonance that is that powerful?
An interesting indication of where his sentiments really lie, and where those of the Christian MAGA Militia really
lie, is provided by an announcement made late Friday afternoon (ahem...). Trying to pander to the Jesus faction,
he announced the creation of the White House Faith Office. But then, to lead the new agency,
he chose
Pastor Paula White-Cain, who is his "spiritual adviser." She is an outspoken proponent of the "prosperity gospel,"
which argues that since God rewards people with wealth, then being wealthy is a sign of Godliness, while being
poor is a sign of sinfulness. Hard to imagine why Trump would prefer her version of religious "truth."
The problem here is that a lot of evangelicals really, really hate prosperity theology. And in trying to sneak it in
there on Friday, the White House apparently forgot that church services are held on Sundays. Hard to imagine why Trump
is rusty on the fundamentals of Christian religious practice. In any case, quite a few MAGA megapastors blasted the
appointment of White-Cain. Christian podcast host John Mason decreed: "Paula White is a known heretic and known false
teacher who has no regard for the Gospel of Jesus Christ." Scott Ross, a pastor in Texas, described the choice of
White-Cain as an "abomination." Jon Root, who is basically a Christian pundit, made sure to remind everyone of the
patriarchal angle: "Paula White is a heretic, who pedals [sic] the prosperity gospel. Plus, women should not be pastors
according to The Bible."
All of this said, if there's anyone on Earth who has a black belt in resolving cognitive dissonance, it's pro-Trump
Christians. So, we very seriously doubt this will hurt the President, long-term.
The Last Straw: Paper straws are one of the many right-wing bugaboos that have become
part of the culture wars. True fact: If a MAGA Republican sees a trans person sipping a Starbucks soy milk latte,
in a non-religion-specific holiday cup, while using a paper straw, and reading a book on Critical Race Theory,
their head instantly explodes. It's very much like when you put mentos in Diet Coke—the outcome is inevitable.
Trump has made much hay out of paper straws over the years, up to and including selling plastic Trump-branded
straws on his website. He hates paper straws, in part, because they are "woke," and in part because Joe Biden
required federal agencies to use them while he was president. Yesterday, Trump struck a blow for plastic
strawdom, issuing
an executive order
on paper straws. The XO forbids federal agencies from purchasing or providing paper straws, and requires them
to provide plastic straws instead. Trump bragged, via social media:
Crooked Joe's MANDATE, "NO PLASTIC STRAWS, ONLY PAPER," IS DEAD! Enjoy your next drink without a straw that disgustingly
dissolves in your mouth!!!
The XO also requires "the development of a National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws." What we're wondering is
this: If you're the poor schmuck who gets stuck writing that document, is that something you put on your CV?
Braggadocio: Those readers familiar with the show Cheers (hat tip to sometime
reader J.L.K. in Los Angeles, who had a recurring role on the show), there is an episode where a loudmouth played
by a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards shows up to claim his "winnings" from a bet he made with the owner of the
bar, Sam Malone. It would seem that a year earlier, a drunken Malone, before he had commenced his recovery from
alcoholism, had bet that he would marry Jacqueline Bisset within the year, or would give his bar to the Richards character.
The situation is resolved by the gang at the bar getting out many different cities' White Pages (remember those?),
finding a non-famous Jacqueline Bisset, and persuading her to marry Malone. Inasmuch as this would fulfill the letter
of the bet (albeit not the spirit), the Richards character agrees to drop the matter, and the faux marriage is not
necessary.
We bring this up because yesterday Pete Hegseth
made official
that Fort Liberty in North Carolina will once again be known as Fort Bragg. However, and here's the surprise ending, it
will not honor Confederate general (and white supremacist) Braxton Bragg. Instead, it will honor World War II veteran
Roland Bragg.
There is no question that Roland Bragg is a war hero; he was a paratrooper who was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple
Heart. That said, there were hundreds of thousands of war heroes in World War II who compiled résumés just
like that, and nobody is clamoring to name major military bases after them. To put it another way, Roland Bragg did not
have
a Wikipedia entry
until... yesterday around 2:00 in the morning. Undoubtedly, we all know what Hegseth was trying to do as he
pored through DoD records looking for someone, anyone named Jacqueline Bisset
Bragg.
Newspeak: The administration has continued its efforts to eliminate, and maybe eventually
outlaw, "woke" language. While the NSA waits for Tulsi Gabbard to get confirmed, it is
working
to remove 27 disfavored words from all agency websites and documents. The 27 dirty words are:
Anti-Racism
Racism
Allyship
Bias
DEI
Diversity
Diverse
Confirmation Bias
Equity
Equitableness
Feminism
Gender
Gender Identity
Inclusion
Inclusive
All-Inclusive
Inclusivity
Injustice
Intersectionality
Prejudice
Privilege
Racial Identity
Sexuality
Stereotypes
Pronouns
Transgender
Equality
We wonder: How many people working in the White House right now would actually be able to define
"Intersectionality"?
Indebted, Part I: Soon-to-be HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has some pretty serious
credit card debt; according to
news that came out
over the weekend, he is carrying a staggering $1.2 million balance. We don't know about you, but whenever OUR balance
gets above $1 million, we always pay it off immediately.
We point this news out for two reasons. First, government employees who are in deep debt are targets for various
forms of corruption, including bribes and blackmail. This is why someone with a $1.2 million credit card balance
would have great difficulty getting a security clearance. Second, Kennedy does have the necessary income to be able
to manage that balance. That said, his government salary of $246,400 (or so) isn't going to get it done. He'll need
his business to continue to be highly profitable in order to be able to service his debt. His business, of course,
is peddling anti-vaxx products. Wonder if there's anything an HHS Secretary can do to try to give a boost to someone
who is in the anti-vaxx business...
Indebted, Part II: Kennedy isn't the only one who will be indebted in a year or two,
if things continue according to plan. Quite a few Americans will join him, particularly if prices for staples (like
eggs) remain as high as they are. Fox's Bret Baier interviewed Donald Trump over the weekend, and
asked
when prices would come down. Given who Baier is, and given who his employer is, this was supposed to be
a softball question meant to let Trump deliver some of his talking points. However, what actually happened was
this exchange:
BAIER: You said that tariff is a beautiful word. There are some signs in the market, consumer confidence that
they're a little jittery. So, if all goes to plan, when do you think families would be able to feel prices going down,
groceries, energy? Or are you kind of saying to them, hang on, inflation may get worse until it gets better?
TRUMP: No, I think we're going to become a rich—and look, we're not that rich right now. We owe $36
trillion. That's because we let all these nations take advantage of us. Same thing, like 200 billion with Canada. We owe
300—we have a deficit with Mexico of $350 billion. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to let that happen.
For those readers who do not closely follow the academic literature, we will tell you that is an example of what
scholars call "changing the subject" (sorry for the technical jargon). Trump knows full well that he has no real power
to deliver on his promises, and that things are likely to get worse before they get better (if they do). And so... HEY!
LOOK OVER THERE!
Before we wrap this up, we want to note a couple of things. First, it is entirely possible that we are misreading at
least one of these stories, and giving Trump less credit and/or more criticism than is his due. Fair enough, but we're
pretty confident we are not misreading ALL of them, or even MOST of them.
Second, we also recognize that every president engages in some behavior along these lines, whether it's pursuing
favored initiatives (even if they are trivial), giving boons to supporters, etc. But the extent to which certain themes
run through Trump's governance—score-settling, deciding which media are "in" and which are "out," terminating very
capable people due to personal grievances, etc.—cannot be denied. It's not normal, and it's definitely not good
governance. (Z)
We got a late start tonight, and items like the one above actually take a very long time to write. So, we're just
going to add a little bit of a palate cleanser to today's posting and call it a night. The other items we had planned,
on Gaza, and on J.D. Vance, and some other subjects, we'll do tomorrow.
And so, let us pass on
a story
that could work for either schadenfreude or freudenfreude if we held it to Friday. In service of a pro-Denmarkification agenda,
some folks in Denmark have organized
a petition
and a fundraising drive meant to raise "$1 trillion (give or take a few billion)." They observe that it should not be
too hard to reach this total: "That's just 200,000 kroner from every Dane. Skip a few lattes, and you're golden." In
case you are wondering, 200,000 kroner is about $28,000, or roughly 11 Starbucks venti, triple-shot, half-caf, no foam,
extra hot, soy milk lattes.
What do they wish to Denmarkify? Why, California of course. They observe that Donald Trump doesn't like the Golden
State anyhow, and so speculate that it might be for sale. The Danes promise to send their "bestest negotiators," namely
Lego executives and the cast of Borgen. They say that California will be known as "New Denmark" while Los Angeles will
be re-christened as "Løs Ångeles." They promise to bring "hygge to Hollywood, bike lanes to Beverly Hills,
and organic smørrebrød to every street corner," although they admit that "Rule of law, universal health
care and fact-based politics might apply."
What's in it for the Danes? To start, they look forward to trading their "cozy" weather for "300 days of sunshine a
year." They add: "Imagine swapping your rain boots for flip-flops!" The organizers also observe, quite correctly, that
California grows 90% of the United States' avocados. "That's right," they write, "We'll never run out of avocado toast!"
They also look forward to exporting Danish freedom, which they describe as "the best freedom. Colossal freedom." (They
seem to have forgotten that it's also bigly freedom). And the crown jewel, of course, is Disneyland, which will become
Hans Christian Andersenland. Mickey Mouse will be allowed to remain, even though he's not an Andersen character, but he
will have to start wearing a Viking helmet.
All of this seems perfectly reasonable to us, so we bring it to readers' attention, in case anyone would like to toss in
a few kroner to help Måke Califørnia Great Ægain. (Z)