If anyone really wanted to start a war against the U.S., or a war involving a U.S. interest, now would be the time. The U.S. military is a mess, thanks to Trump and Hegseth. I recommend Hegseth’s Pentagon Lurches off the Rails by Tom Nichols at The Atlantic.

It’s gotten so bad that some top brass warned Hegseth that the Iran war cannot continue as it has for much longer, as it’s draining the military to a ruinous degree. “Hegseth’s response to this story was to send his spokespeople out to castigate the press for revealing classified information,” Nichols writes.

Hegseth has purged many top-ranked, seasoned officers in favor of people who are loyal to him. The result, as we’ve seen, is a military that can’t even manage basic logistics. The Iran debacle has depleted the nation of weapons and oil. Assets have been pulled away from other parts of the world and sent to Iran, leaving areas especially vulnerable to other powers, such as China. It’s a terrible mess.

The result of all this is that the United States is losing a war to a third-rate power in the Middle East. The Russians, meanwhile, are continuing their rampage in Europe and apparently considering things so perilous that the CIA director had to fly to Moscow just to warn the Kremlin off of whatever it was thinking of doing. The Chinese are watching as Trump and Hegseth have stripped the Pacific theater of its only American aircraft carrier. In the midst of this chaos, Hegseth does chin-ups while he ponders calling all of America’s admirals and generals back to another mass meeting so he can again carp at them about fat soldiers and bearded sailors.

See also Military Officers Can’t Look Away From This Any Longer by Frank Kendell in the New York Times. Kendell was the secretary of the Air Force from 2021 to 2025, and he. says too many officers are still trying to pretend that everything is normal, as if clinging to the appearance of normality will save them.

Many lower-level officers I have spoken with are privately appalled but afraid to challenge what they are seeing. The collective hope seems to be that if they can all just go on as if nothing unusual is occurring, that this time will pass and nothing bad will happen to them — no loss of position, no demotion or forced retirement, no loss of reputation, no removal from a promotion list by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

I question whether this state of denial or whatever it is can last for 28 more months, to the end of Trump’s term, without major breakdowns. Indeed, we’re having some breakdowns already.

Meanwhile, Mary Ilyushina reports in the Washington Post that Putin pledges support to Iran, rallies leaders to challenge U.S. Will Trump notice and respond to this? I’m not holding my breath. Trump is still pretending that Putin is his good buddy. He even invited the Russian finance minister to a G20 meeting this week, much to the outrage of the rest of the attendees. For that matter, China is still buying Iran’s oil and keeping Iran’s economy from total collapse. And Trump is still pretending that Xi Xinping is his good buddy, too. Is there any precedent for this? That the U.S. is at war with some other country but acting as if the enemy’s allies are our BFFs? It’s just so … odd.

Elsewhere — as my fundraiser is kind of dying I will talk it up some more. I don’t like to complain about being poor, but today was the day I got a free ride to a grocery store, courtesy of a local government program. But I’m a couple of days away from my social security deposit. So I was a bit nervous about whether I could afford groceries. But by being very careful I managed to not overdraw what’s left in my bank account. This is my life. But I won’t starve, anyway.

I’m having a small fundraiser because I have a couple of medical bills Medicare/Medicaid didn’t cover, totaling $180. A bigger bill is for an identity protection plan I took out a couple of years ago after someone made charges on one of my credit cards. The bank caught it, so I didn’t lose any money, but I was rattled enough to want help. But it’s due for annual renewal soon at $200. If I have to cancel it so be it, but I’d like to keep it. Later this month I have an appointment to audition for a local community chorus, because singing is one of my favorite things, but if they accept my I’ll have to pay $150 in dues for the semester. Plus I’ve got a ton of doctor’s appointments this month and no car, So I’m anticipating transportation expenses. And I’m trying to not run up the credit cards in case of a dire emergency, such as my aging laptop crashing. I am hoping to scare up a little extra to get me through the month, and then I should be good for a while. And as you can see I have no advertisements and don’t ask people to subscribe. Here is a GoFundMe link, or you can use the donate buttons on the top right-hand column of the home page. Thamks for all  help.

Many years ago I worked for a textbook company that was producing a middle-school social studies textbook on countries in the Western Hemisphere that are not the U.S. This was long enough ago that my 46-year-old daughter used that textbook in her middle school classes. Most of the book focused on Central and South America, obviously. I remember spending an inordinate about of time trying to determine if the animals in the photos were llamas or alpacas. I still can’t tell. But what made the book really challenging is that several countries being covered in the book had revolutions and overthrew their governments while we were trying to put the book together. This called for scrapping lots of pages and starting over. I wanted to send someone a sternly worded memo to stop having revolutions until the books were printed, at least. (At which point they were a sales/marketing problem, not mine.)

I thought of that today when I read that Venezuelans are furious at Trump’s takeover of their oil.  Julie Turkewitz reports for the New York Times;

Many Venezuelans suspected that there was going to be a price to pay for President Trump’s brazen capture of their autocratic leader, Nicolás Maduro, who was arrested by U.S. forces in January.

On Friday, that cost became clear when Mr. Trump announced that the U.S. would be taking majority control of a vast part of Venezuela’s oil reserves — national resources long considered by many in the country to be a birthright.

By Saturday, many Venezuelans were grappling with whether they were willing to pay that price. So far, the U.S. ouster of the autocrat has done little to change the country — Mr. Maduro’s successor, Delcy Rodríguez, remains in power, while millions of everyday Venezuelans remain in poverty, electricity blackouts continue to plague the nation and no date has been set for an election.

The new deal could bring major investment. But many Venezuelans want overall economic and political change. The accord guarantees neither and could deepen the relationship between Mr. Trump and Ms. Rodríguez, further entrenching her in power.

Further entrenching her in power? Or marking her for overthrow?

The article goes on to say that Venezuelans want democratic reforms. If they’re expecting democratic reforms from Trump — well, peeps, don’t hold your breaths.

There’s still a lot about this alleged deal that isn’t clear to me. Turns out it’s not clear to a lot of people. There’s a good background article on the deal at al Jazeera, What’s behind the US deal to seize control of Venezuelan oil reserves? Indeed, some people are questioning whether there’s a deal at all.

But some analysts have questioned the 65-billion-barrel total Trump announced. With no fixed terms released, there has been speculation that Trump may have made a splashy announcement to help jumpstart the US economy.

“The 65 billion barrel number is a red herring and will have little relevance to any actual deals — the real relevant details of which are still almost entirely unknown,” oil market researcher Rory Johnston said in a social media post.

“It’s just a classic big number that Trump was sure to jump all over and will repeat ad nauseam going forward.”

It’s also the case that Trump and his people believe all the oil in Venezuela rightly belongs to the U.S. “Trump and his allies advanced an argument that Venezuela’s oil supplies belonged to the US, due to a history of early fuel exploration in the country,” al Jazeera says. “His adviser, Stephen Miller, separately called the nationalisation of Venezuela’s oil industry ‘the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property’.” However, International law says the oil is Venezuela’s.

The deal isn’t a complete fantasy, however, because President Rodríguez made a statement about it on Saturday.

“The agreement is based on a very simple premise,” she said. “Each party contributes what it does best. Venezuela contributes oil, its industry and the experience of its workers accumulated over more than 100 years. The United States contributes the capital and technology needed to recover and develop those assets.”

Rodríguez added that in return, “Venezuela receives production, jobs, investment in infrastructure, increased revenue for the government and productive linkages for domestic industry.”

So she’s expecting the U.S. to invest a lot of money into rebuilding and upgrading the oil field infrastructure that can pump super-heavy Venezuelan crude out of the ground and ship it to refineries. And Trump is saying that this deal won’t cost taxpayers anything. Right.

Trump is also acting as if our strategic oil reserve shortage problem is now solved. But as I noted yesterday, Venezuela lacks the infrastructure to extract all but a trickle of oil at a time. Most of that oil that Trump thinks is his is going to be in the ground for a while.

See also Venezuela vowed not to ‘hand over’ its oil. Trump aims to grab a windfall. by Samantha Schmidt and Helena Carpio at the Washington Post.

As I mentioned in the last post I do need to do a small fundraiser to get me through some extra expenses that will be coming due soon. These include a medical bill and some other irregular costs that are all ganging up at once. So I’ve set up a Gofundme . If you don’t like Gofundme the donate links in the upper right hand column to go Paypal. All help is deeply appreciated.

So Trump blew up at Maggie Haberman of the New York Times. She was one of four reporters who wrote that Trump will not be attending the September 11 memorial service in NYC because he won’t be allowed to speak.

President Trump is not planning to attend a ceremony in Manhattan for the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, in part because he wanted to deliver a speech and the annual event has long barred remarks, according to four people with knowledge of the events.

Mr. Trump’s team had conducted advance visits at the site and had initially signaled to officials in New York and in Washington that the president intended to visit the memorial space known as ground zero, two of the people with knowledge of the events said.

The president’s interest in speaking on Sept. 11 was conveyed to memorial planners in recent weeks, three of the people with knowledge of the events said. But since 2012, politicians have been barred from speaking at the site. The National September 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, has worked rigorously to keep the venue nonpartisan and focused on the solemnity of the day.

I’m sure everyone in NYC is not disappointed that he won’t be allowed to whine for three hours about how he was cheated out of the 2020 election.

The upcoming observance will be the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, so it’s going to be a big deal. I understand ex-presidents Clinton, Bush II, and Obama will be there. Ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be there, plus governors Hochul of New York and Sherrill of New Jersey. J.D. Vance the Veep will be in New York to represent the Regime. None will speak. And I believe the New York Times report, because that is so Trump. Instead he’s going to appear at the Pentagon where he will be allowed to whine into a microphone all he wants.

Mayor Mamdani will also be there, as he should be, and I sincerely hope some bigots don’t show up to protest the Muslim mayor. Some of the families of the victims — not all of the families — circulated a petition asking that Mayor Mamdani not attend. It’s never been made public how many people signed. The guy who originated the petition claimed 60,000 signatures, but Snopes says there is no way to know how many of those signatures are from 9//11 family members, and the originator guy hasn’t been forthcoming with that number. This suggests to me a lot of the families didn’t sign.

Note that on September 11, 2001, the future Mayor Mamdani was nine years old and enrolled in elementary school on the Upper West Side.

The other big news is that Trump announced he has gained control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil.

“This Historic Transaction MORE THAN DOUBLES American Oil Reserves, greatly increases our Oil Supply, and will substantially lower Gas Prices for all Americans, long into the future, while helping to continue to set Venezuela on a course toward Tremendous Success and Great Prosperity,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

There are a couple of catches here. One is that these alleged 65 billion barrels are not actually 65 billion barrels of oil yet. This is potentially the amount of oil Venezuela has in the ground. It needs to be pumped out and refined before it’s usable.

We went through all this after Trump’s raid on Venezuela in January. You’ll remember that Trump rounded up oil execs and proudly told them they could now reclaim their old digs in Venezuela. But the U.S. oil companies didn’t jump at the chance. They considered it too risky, and took a pass.

Here’s the issue explained in the Washington Post:

Interesting read — See David Frum, What Might Happen to Trump’s Ill-Gotten Gains at The Atlantic. Frum tells us that other countries have clawed back wealth that was stolen or swindled by corrupt ex-rulers. But it’s messy.

Note that I’m also working up to starting a short fundraiser, as I’m facing some extra expenses in September. But I haven’t gotten around to setting it up yet. But the “donate” buttons on the top of the right-hand column still work, I’m pretty sure. 🙂

I’m picking up more details about Trump’s trade war with Canada. One bit I didn’t notice right away is that Trump’s 50 percent tariffs don’t go into effect until January 1. He’s hoping for another shot at subjugating Canada, I take it. But the retaliatory tariffs Canada is putting on U.S. imports begin September 8. Prime Minister Carney is looking to mess with the midterms, obviously. Trump can’t think more than a half step ahead of anything and no doubt never anticipated Canada could mess with the midterms.

In recent days, Trump has announced plans for tariff relief on some ground beef imports, enraging cattle producers in states such as Iowa and Nebraska, and launched a new trade war with Canada, rattling manufacturers and businesses in border states including Maine, Michigan, Alaska and Ohio. Those states are all Senate battlegrounds crucial to Democrats’ strategy to retake the chamber.

The Guardian is reporting that the U.S. is about to face surging toilet paper prices, but of course that’s just the beginning. The economies of the U.S. and Canada are intertwined in multiple ways, and I’m not sure where the damage is going to show up first. I understand auto parts manufacturing in particular is integrated between the two countries and will likely get messed up. Very likely Trump doesn’t comprehend this.

And I’m not sure Trump’s cabinet is much brighter than Trump is. The Guardian is reporting that the administration is certain that U.S. consumers won’t be affected by the trade war. That means we’re doomed, folks.

The New York Times has put together a long article about the negotiations that places a lot of the blame on Utterly Useless Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — UUCS is his full, official title, IMO —  but of course it’s Trump’s vision of totally dominating North America that is the basic theme here.

See also Josh Marshall, Trump’s Idiotic Trade War Is a Bigger Political Opening Than You Think at TPM and Zack Beauchamp, The bizarre roots of Trump’s trade war on Canada at Vox.

Speaking of the midterms, Trump has decided that the best way to help Republicans win is to make the midterms all about him. See Trump Plans to Buy Midterm Ads About His Own Record at The Atlantic. Yes, he’s going to make ads touting his accomplishments in office and run them all over the country to help Republican candidates. The candidates are not entirely thrilled.

Trump’s lawyers are also threatening to tear down the Kennedy Center if courts don’t let Trump go ahead with a massive renovation of the building that would include having his name engraved on the building. I’m waiting for the Kennedy family to get involved here.

See also Paul Krugman, Der Untergang. Basically Krugman is saying that as it sinks into Trump that he is losing his grip on power, he will try to destroy as much as possible before he leaves.

A pure soul. We need more like her.

Trump has managed to alienate Canada from the U.S., for no discernible reason. It’s like he just enjoys pissing people off.

The trade talks–  over a policy that Trump initiated in his first term, mind you — broke down. The Canadians say this was over last-minute unreasonable demands from the U.S.. I say it all boils down to Trump thinking he owns the Western Hemisphere now.

What happened? The talks appeared to be going well, and then suddenly Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked out of them, and Trump blew up and declared a (no doubt illegal) 50 percent tariff on Canada. Canada has since announced a retaliatory tariff on the U.S. And this is going to cost both countries a lot of money.

I’m reading conflicting stories in the news, and I suspect a lot of details have not been made public. Both sides are accusing the other side of making unreasonable last-minute demands.  Let’s just say I am inclined to believe the Canadians on this one. Springing unreasonable last-minute demands during negotiations is a long-standing Trump trick.  Among other things, PM Carney is saying that the U.S. wanted to restrict Canada’s ability to make separate trade deals with other countries.

Carney said Washington introduced language in the final hours of negotiations that would have restricted Canada’s ability to make trade deals with other countries. He said that demand was “unacceptable” and “a question of sovereignty.”

British Columbia Premier David Eby said accepting such a condition would have reduced Canada “to the economic equivalent of the 51st state” — a status Trump has mused about often. 

Trump had a meltdown.

The president has repeatedly talked about making Canada the 51st U.S. state and dismissed the allies’ border as artificial. On Sunday, Trump returned to that theme, writing on Truth Social that “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” and accusing Canada of charging U.S. farmers “massive amounts” of tariffs for years. “No more!!!” he wrote.

I checked on Trump’s claims about tariffs on U.S. agriculture. Canada has charged tariffs on U.S. dairy, poultry, and eggs to protect Canadian dairy and chicken farmers. On other agricultural products the high tariffs kicked in only if the imports went over a predetermined quota. Which sounds to me like discouraging the U.S. from dumping surplus unsold corn or soybeans or whatever on Canada.

Further, the Montreal Gazette is reporting that the U.S. “wanted concessions on Quebec’s rules for appliances and instruction manuals, as well as its law promoting French-language cultural content.” What the bleep?

It also sounds as if there may have been too many cooks in the kitchen on the U.S. side. The chief negotiator was U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick got involved also. And I’m reading between the lines a bit here, but it sounds as if these three may not have been on the same page. But as I’ve said, I don’t think we have the whole story yet.

Note also there is widespread reporting that Canadians are supporting Carney for standing up to Trump. The political fallout for Trump is yet to fall.

See also:

David Frum, How to Lose a Trade War at The Atlantic.

Josh Marshall, What Did Trump Do That Made Carney Walk Away? at TPM.

Update: Do read Thank You for Your Inattention to This Matter by David Graham at The Atlantic. It sounds as if the world is already moving on from Trump.

Can you remember when Republicans called themselves the “Party of Ideas”? That started back in the 1970s, I believe, and fizzled out sometimes in the 1990s. I found a Boston Review article from 2020 that discusses the “Party of Ideas” phenomenon and also reminds us that “many of the GOP’s celebrated ‘new ideas’ of the 1970s and ’80s were not novel but standard elements of a previously unpopular, anti–New Deal ideology then in the process of becoming dominant.”

I’m not sure Republicans have had an actual “new idea” since Calvin Coolidge, if then. They’ve still got cutting taxes on great wealth and kicking as many people as possible off of health benefits and food aid. Those ideas clearly are very important to Republicans. But I understand they aren’t running on those ideas all that much, for some reason.

Regarding health care, this NPR article reminds us that the GOP attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act in Trump’s first term is a big reason the Dems picked up 41 seats in the House in the 2018 midterms. In this term, millions of people who had health insurance policies through the ACA have had to give him up, or cut back to policies with less coverage, and they are not happy. And it’s going to get worse next year.

If you think back to past election years when a Republican was in the White House, I’m sure you remember the way Republican politicians, state and federal, all appeared to be singing from the same hymnal. The Bush II White House was a messaging machine. Dubya or Dick the Dick would drop some talking points and soon those talking points would be everywhere, endlessly repeated. But the Trump White House isn’t giving Republican politicians much to work with these days. The war? All the data centers Trump wants built? How about the ballroom? And I hear there are Indy car races going on in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Lots going on, but not much a Republican would want to put in a campaign ad.

So what are Republicans running on? Since I don’t watch Fox News and am not seeing many Republican campaign ads on television, I really had no idea. But after cruising around the web looking for clues, I came up with two big issues that Republicans are exploiting for all they are worth. And these are Islamophobia and the WNBA.

You may scoff at the WNBA, but if you listened to some Republicans you’d think no one born with a uterus is allowed on a professional women’s basketball team any more.  And Republicans are ready to march in the streets about it. In fact, there are no trans women playing in the WNBA, and there never have been, unless you count Layshia Clarendon, who was born female but identifies as “non-binary.” Really, the players are women. They play basketball. that’s it. But Republicans are concerned, and not just about transgenderism. They think the Black women players are too rough on the White women players. I’m serous.

Do read What’s Happening to the WNBA Isn’t Normal by Jemele Hill at The Atlantic. Here’s just a bit:

In early July, a group of 11 Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Cathy Engelbert, the WNBA’s commissioner, demanding that she be held accountable for not adequately addressing “repeated acts of unnecessary physical hostility and violence” on the court against the Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, who has emerged as one of the league’s most popular players. The letter also suggested that these acts may be “racially motivated” against Clark, who is white, and called for the Department of Justice to investigate. And right before the All-Star Game, Clark’s teammate Sophie Cunningham told ESPN, “I want to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn’t have to go against biological men,” which immediately became a massive talking point around and outside the league. Shortly thereafter, multiple rallies sprang up in support of Cunningham; Celeste Keaton, a co-owner of the Seattle Storm, was suspended after verbally confronting a pair of teenage fans during a game who were holding signs supporting Cunningham.

So all their concerns kind of mush together. Then a bit later in the article —

The heated environment can be seen as part of a larger outcry. The league is about 70 percent Black, and anywhere from 25 to 35 percent queer; historically, its players have embraced progressive issues. In 2016, the Minnesota Lynx wore T-shirts calling for justice and accountability following the police-related deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. A few years later, Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, a Republican, wrote a letter to Engelbert criticizing the league’s support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In response, players backed Raphael Warnock, who eventually won the seat from Loeffler in the 2020 election.

This history has made the WNBA low-hanging fruit for MAGA figures, whether politicians or commentators, who use it to score cheap points with their base. Critics lacking a serious investment in women’s basketball can conveniently swoop in to recite their spiel, and pay no attention to the sport itself. 

It’s gotten so nuts that when DiJonai Carrington of the Chicago Sky fouled Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever, the attorney general of Florida (the game was not played in Florida) announced the incident ought to be investigated, and if the game had been in Florida he’d be charging people with assault. Carrington is Black; Cunningham is White. The Atlantic article also says that Black WNBA players have received death threats after fouling White players. See also Why the Right Is Going All-in on Stoking the WNBA Culture Wars at Talking Points Memo.

Regarding Islamophobia, for now I’m just going to post some links. I may return to this issue as the general election gets closer, though.

From ‘terror threat’ to ‘civilizational threat,’ top Republicans escalate anti-Muslim rhetoric by Jack Jenkins and Ulaa Kuziez, Religion News Service

Islamophobia’s Rise in Texas: ‘I Won’t Rest Until Every Muslim Is Gone’ by multiple reporters at The New York Times.

The smear campaign against Abdul El-Sayed is built on lies, Islamophobia and hate by Steve Neavling at the Detroit Metro Times

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott takes aim at Muslim washing stations in airports by Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Michelle Boorstein at The Washington Post.

On Sunday Trump announced the U.S. would be scaling back long-planned military exercises with South Korea, just hours before they were to begin. Trump also made it clear he was doing this to please Kim Jong Un of North Korea. CNN:

“Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”

Trump doesn’t understand strategic alliances, and he doesn’t know history from dental floss. This move not only infuriated our good ally South Korea, it reinforced the growing world opinion that the U.S. can’t be counted on for anything.

And then Trump began telling people that he and Kim Jong Un had been in touch and would be meeting soon. Clearly, Trump wants to rekindle the bromance. But Kim Yo Jong, sister and close confidant of Kim Jong Un, issued a statement saying she is “completely unaware” her brother and Trump had been in contact. I don’t believe she said anything about a meeting.

Oh, and Trump also blabbed that North Korea has 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. This was probably classified information, although knowing Trump, he got the number wrong.  South Korea thinks he has more. But I kind of dimly remember that Trump’s meetings with Kim Jong Un during his first term were supposed to be about nuclear disarmament. His, not ours. In fact, back in 2018 Trump announced that Kim had agreed to “denuclearization.” I guess not.

One might ask what Trump is thinking. It may be that in Trump’s mind, his détente with Kim was a huge diplomatic success in his first term, and he could use another success right about now. Also, he may be pissed at South Korea.

Analysts say a summit with Kim, irrespective of its outcome, would be a useful feather in Trump’s cap, particularly as Washington’s unpopular war on Iran stands unresolved and his electoral pledge to end the Ukraine war remains unfulfilled.

Yet, Trump’s effort to cosy up to Kim may also have to do with exercising leverage vis-a-vis South Korea, in a typical example of the US president’s transactional approach to diplomacy.

“Trump may want to put pressure on South Korea … following [Seoul]’s reluctance to cooperate with the US in the Iran war and the slow progress in South Korean investment in the United States,” Yong-Chool Ha, director of the Center for Korean Studies at the Henry M Jackson School of International Studies in Washington, DC, told Al Jazeera.

“This could be seen as a form of tit-for-tat diplomacy, despite the ongoing alliance between the two countries.”

It appears, though, that Kim doesn’t need Trump any more.

Kim has fully inserted himself into the war in Ukraine by supporting Putin’s war machine and has boosted his nuclear weapons program with Russian assistance. Buoyed by cryptocurrency heists and remote IT worker schemes, North Korean cyber criminals continue to generate considerable revenue for the regime. Compared to their previous round of diplomacy, Kim is in a far stronger negotiating position and sees little need for U.S. sanctions relief or a meeting with the unpredictable U.S. president.  …

… Trump seems to think that diplomacy with the North Korean leader will be easier and smoother than the last time because Kim allegedly treated him with “great respect.”

Unfortunately for Trump, Kim is likely to ignore his overture. The war in Ukraine allowed Kim to reduce his economic dependence on China and expand his economy. By providing weapons and soldiers to Russia, Kim has reaped massive economic benefits. Kim has rejuvenated the domestic defense manufacturing base and expanded access to Russian markets. Since 2022, North Korea’s economy has grown by over 3 percent annually. Even North Korea’s rural regions, long seen by the regime as potential hotspots of discontent and thus neglected economically, have recently seen development, with new medical facilities being built across the country.

So Trump went to all the trouble to limit the joint military exercise to please Kim Jong Un, and he’s getting no response from Kim Jong Un. The Bromance is over. So sad. I hope the press corps asks Trump when he’s going to meet with Kim every day for the rest of his term. Rub it in.

In other news — I see the FBI has searched Eric Swalwell’s home and seized his phone. They are investigating sexual misconduct allegaations against him. I’m glad the FBI is taking sexual misconduct allegations seriously. Now, when will they visit people named in the Epstein files and search their homes?

In more other news — Do read Homeland Security Made a Big Claim About Noncitizen Voting. Now It Can’t Prove It. at The New York Times.

A month after the Trump administration declared without evidence that thousands of noncitizens had illegally registered to vote in Nevada, officials with the Department of Homeland Security were unable to substantiate the claim.

The administration claimed to have identified 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states, including an exact number of 15,903 in Nevada. But during a meeting last week with state election administrators, Homeland Security officials said they had identified just 185 potential noncitizens in the state so far, according to emails as well as recordings of the meeting obtained by The New York Times.

The federal officials said they were still considering 14,000 names for further review, according to one of the emails. In the virtual meeting, federal officials told Nevada that the nearly 16,000 they had originally identified represented “the ceiling” of potential noncitizens.

But the list the Homeland Security Department shared with Nevada is incomplete — it doesn’t even include names — and is nearly impossible to verify, according to files released by the secretary of state’s office. Nevada officials have requested more information, but the department has not yet offered it.

Do read the whole thing. It’s more than obvious that the DHS has no idea if there are any noncitizen voters anywhere. They threw out a big number and now they’re walking it back, carefully, without actually admitting they don’t have the proof.

One thing we’re learning from this year’s primaries is that old-fashioned organizing can beat television advertising. In primaries, anyway. This may be good news, as campaign television ads tend to be more manipulative than informative. It also means the candidate with less money can win. See The Left Notches Another Win With This Secret Weapon: Old-Fashioned Organizing at the New York Times.

Now, let’s talk about Natalie Harp. Paul Waldman says we absolutely should talk about Natalie Harp. Ever since Jon Ossoff brought her up in a speech a few days ago, all of a sudden there are headlines about Natalie Harp all over the place. Which is interesting, because the press has known about Natalie Harp for a long time. Vanity Fair even ran a feature story on her back in February 2025. She just wasn’t all that newsworthy until Sen. Ossoff talked about her, I guess.

If you haven’t heard, Natalie Harp is, basically, Trump’s security blanket. She’s called the “human printer” because she carries around a portable printer so she can print out items flattering to Trump for him to read. Apparently her primary job is to placate Trump and try to keep him cheerful, if that’s possible. She also keyboards his Truth Social posts. She texts world leaders on Trump’s behalf. And she’s with him pretty much constantly, by all accounts. While no one claims she is any kind of policy adviser, her proximity to Trump does raise questions about whether, for example, her role as gatekeeper of good or bad news affects his decisions. Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman discuss this issue with each other at The New Republic.

But before we go any further, what was it Jon Ossoff said that has, apparently, touched off a media frenzy? Simply this — speaking of Trump, Sen. Ossoff said, “He doesn’t want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the emir of Qatar.”

At the Cross Section, Paul Waldman wrote,

It’s remarkable that all Ossoff had to do was say Natalie Harp’s name and Republicans immediately lost their minds. White House communications director Steven Cheung mustered all the class and professionalism for which he is known and tweeted “John Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics.” …

…Republicans in the media chimed in with their own eruption of rage, pretending to be feminist allies defending Harp’s wounded honor against Ossoff’s horrifying attack. “What a gross misogynistic thing to say,” said Marc Thiessen. “You ow [sic] this young woman an apology.” “Who accuses women of behaving like that because he doesn’t like their boss” said Ari Fleischer. “This guy should be ashamed.”

Pardon, behaving like what? Who’s the one making assumptions here?

As far as I’ve seen, no one on the Democratic side or in media has accused Trump and Harp of having an affair. But the fact that she goes everywhere he goes is undeniable. She was even among the chosen few who hid with Trump in the famous catering truck. So Jon Ossoff wasn’t accusing her of anything but simply stating observable fact.

But when CNN reporter Kristen Holmes asked Trump for a comment on Ossoff’s remarks, Trump threw on of his signature fits.

“Quiet, quiet, quiet. You’re very disrespectful.” After she told him she worked for CNN, he responded: “Fake news, you’re fake news, you’re a loud boisterous person. You’re fake news. Be quiet. Be quiet. You’re a fake reporter and you report fake news.” He talked over her as she tried to ask a question.

And, y’know what? I personally don’t care whether they’re having an affair or not. I’m more interested in what role Harp plays in keeping Trump insulated from reality.

But here’s what freaks me out even more. You remember David Axelrod? Axelrod is a Democratic party strategist best know for working for President Obama in various capacities. And Axelrod thinks that Jon Ossoff should have not brought up Natalie Harp. Mention of her was a “distraction” and a “detraction; from the issues and from Ossoff’s message.

Going back to something Greg Sargent said at The New Republic,

Jon Ossoff said three words, poked the bear, and as a result, he’s getting viciously abused across the internet and across the airwaves, but he forced a conversation over what we’re talking about. And that strikes me as something Democrats should learn from.

I have this sort of formula in my head where Democrats spend a little too much time denying the false things that are said about them, and not enough time kind of forcing Trump and Republicans to deny true things about themselves. Does that make sense, Paul?

In other words, what we see here is what happens when a Democrat speaks plain truths about the president. It forces the discussion in a direction that puts Trump on the defensive and reveals things about Trump and the MAGA movement. I think Democrats can learn from that.

And Paul Waldman responds,

But I think that it was incredibly revealing, the way that the White House and basically the entire conservative movement just kind of exploded in anger at this. That really shows that you’ve struck a nerve. And so I think Democrats should think about, you know, what other nerves they want to strike.

Now we’re talking. We need more Democrats speaking the plain truth about what a disaster this Trump Administration has been.

Instead of apologizing, the Dems need to double down — how is Trump really spending his time? He’s focused on the ballroom and the arch and getting his name on the Kennedy Center and his fancy flying palace Air Force One. Not on the business of the people. And maybe this Natalie Harp person is part of the problem. Maybe she’s protecting him from too much bad news. He appears to have no idea what’s really going on. Can we get some answers about this stuff? And since when has anyone working in the White House been off limits?

So what’s next? Let’s have some major Democratic figures like Ossoff or Newsom or Mark Kelly in a major speech question why Trump takes so many cognitive tests. Is he in early stage Alzheimer’s (I wouldn’t be surprised)? The American people have a right to know. And what about the billions the Trump family is making directly from Trump’s position? Let’s stop tip-toeing around that and just go straight to accusation. Yes, it’s been reported in the press. But let’s see how that issue can be used by Democrats to strike some Repulican nerves. Don’t be shy.

What do active-duty military think of Trump these days? There was a time when I had family members who were career army, but they’re no longer serving. so I have no idea.

The treatment of the service people on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and other ships stationed in the Arabian Sea is just plain callous. I do not believe any previous presidents ever brushed off concern for the well-being of troops as coldly as Trump did.

Trump was asked by reporters Friday whether the USS Lincoln’s deployment had gone on too long.

“No, not nearly long enough,” Trump said.

Today he’s calling reports about conditions on the Lincoln “fake news.”

It’s not clear to me if the situation — which I’m reading is affecting other ships — is being properly addressed. The U.S.S. George Washington is said to be on its way to the Arabian Sea to relieve the Lincoln, but there are problems on other ships as well. And it’s obvious nothing would have been done had families not gone to the media and made a stink about it.

Do read or listen to Paul Krugman’s column or podcast — it’s a podcast with a transcript — The Misery Will Continue Until Morale Improves. It begins —

According to an old military maxim, amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics. But these days we need a third category: Immature, insecure guys think that war is about acting tough and looking cool.

I have no military experience, but I’ve read enough history to know that lots of battles, and wars, were lost because of failures in logistics.

Krugman goes on to say that “Trump and company are eviscerating the military.” We’ve burned through weapons and equipment for no good reason, and we’re subjecting the seamen to horrific conditions — inadequate food, flooding toilets, no time off for months.

And then we have the stories about Trump intervening. Demanding, first, that the Navy construct a whole new class of ships, Trump-class battleships, which are useless and would be sitting ducks. Then demanding that the Navy replace modern catapults with steam catapults, which he thinks are cooler. And then demanding that they relocate the command tower on aircraft carriers because he wants them to look more like the way they looked during World War II.

Yes, those are Trump’s priorities regarding the military. Basically he’s an eight-year-old boy in an 80 year old body who has seen a lot of World War II movies, I guess.

Krugman goes on to say that Trump is not in charge of his faculties. I’m not sure he ever had that many faculties. With him it’s hard to tell what might be dementia and what might be plain old stupid.  But he keeps creating his own crises with bad decisions and then doesn’t know how to address them. If he ever had to deal with a real threat, some Cuban-Missile-Crisis level event, we’re doomed..