Pete Hegseth is in the news again. It’s been discovered that some weeks ago he randomly stopped shipments of weapons to Ukraine that had already been approved, catching even the White House off guard. He’s also decided the Army has too many four-star generals and admirals, and he’s cutting their ranks by 20 percent. But CNN says there are only 37 four-star generals and admirals across the entire military. That really doesn’t seem an excessive number, considering the size of the U.S. military. One wonders if the boy’s hitting the bottle again.
Incompetence abounds. I take it the House has really hit a wall over cutting Medicaid. Yesterday Trump released a budget calling for massive cuts to medical services, but he’s saying benefits won’t be cut. But nobody with any sense thinks he can have his cuts without impairing benefits. He wants women to be having more babies, but Medicaid is paying for more than 40 percent of American births (nearly 50 percent in rural areas). Plus, the economic anxiety his policies are creating aren’t exactly conducive to long-term commitments, like a baby.
Trump wants to bring back coal mining. But he’s also cutting safety regulations in coal mines. Coal mining can be deadly. Before there were regulations, thousands of miners died every year. And then there’s black lung. Trump has cut programs that screened miners for black lung and provided treatment. Miners were stunned.
These guys think Trump will reinstate the program if someone just explains it to him. They still haven’t figured out what he is.
He doesn’t care, and he also doesn’t connect one thing with another. He’s not bright enough to think comprehensively. He wants coal miners to love him, so he promises to bring back coal mining. He wants mine owners to like him, so he cuts regulations. He wants to fund his tax cuts, so let’s cut all these health programs he doesn’t understand. This is not 12-dimensional chess. It’s just stupid.
He keeps saying he has made hundreds of tariff deals, but won’t announce them. But if you listen to these remarks he made today, it’s pretty clear he hasn’t made any deals at all. He thinks he can just set terms, and countries can work with us, or not. But it’s really American consumers are the ones who have to pay the price.
He has no idea what he’s talking about. In his meeting today with Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, he actually said, “We don’t do much business with Canada from our standpoint. They do a lot of business with us. We’re at like 4%.” Canada is the top buyer of U.S. exports.
I keep reading articles that try to explain “why” Trump is taking this or that destructive position. There is no “why.” He’s an idiot.
There must be at least some Republicans in Congress who realize he is an idiot. Some of them are nearly as dumb as he is, but I don’t think they all are. Some of them must realize how much he’s screwing up. Maybe they think their voters won’t notice.
See also Philip Bump on American’s Least American President.
Going down the list… Pete probably figured that Trump had committed to Putin to throw Ukraine under the bus. IMO, Trump wanted something from Putin for cutting off aid OR Trump wanted something from Ukraine for continuing shipments. Oddly, Putin did not just buy Trump off – probably Putin does not want to set the precedent of bribing Trump or the list Putin has could get expensive. Or it's a matter of pride to Putin. He thinks he owns Trump and Trump should know his place.
My guess is that there are women and people of color in the top ranks. I don't have the quote at hand but Petie is unhappy that there are "woke" generals and admirals who are tools of Soros. Or something. So he wants to axe seven or so, and the complexion and gender stats will make the new policy clear without having to put it in writing.
Medicaid. IMO, the Speaker advanced a generic bill to the Senate after promising that the reservations of moderates and the Freedom Caucus would be addressed when they had to specify amounts and programs. And it's insoluble. So the Speaker will work out final numbers with Trump and turn over the process of bribery and extortion to the White House. But it's not gonna be easy the margin is sooooo slim. If there's ten total (just to pick a number) who refuse to vote for the bill, for Trump to send MAGA at these people will be foolish because they will have to rewrite the bill and some of the ten may take offense at WH sponsored domestic terrorism against members of Congress. I consider failure to be an option with the budget bill – if the economy tanks, the GOP might not subordinate totally to the Executive.
Coal is dead. If Trump can't create a huge market for coal, digging more coal will only drive down the price.
I think it was the Commerce Secretary yesterday who admitted there are no trade talks with China and there are no talks with China about having trade talks. IMO, the handwriting is on the wall. The US is going to have some bare shelves and higher prices SOON. Anybody who makes a deal this week is giving Trump breathing space when Trump may soon have to totally reverse the tariff rhetoric. Note that the Canadian PM today in talks with Trump did NOT indicate any urgency in making a deal.
Regarding Republicans in Congress who must realize Trump is completely out of his depth…. I suspect they are not being critical (usually) they are being cooperative (leaving the emergency power to do tariffs in place – barely) to give Trump all the rope ne needs to hang himself. MAGA is still too thrilled with the cruelty to have felt the consequences. So far. Letting Trump slash essential programs (and people) by Executive Order is fine because Congress won't catch the blame for the pain.
Maddow was on the story of Trump's Birthday Parade last night. Looks like the message will be "No Kings!" If the messaging stays smart, it will remind the troops that they answer to the people, not the king. I think the timing is VERY good, as prices start to climb, to show resistance in DC. I also think Miller will think the timing is good for a show of force against demonstrators. It may be "Bunker Hill" for the resistance.
Going down the list… Pete probably figured that Trump had committed to Putin to throw Ukraine under the bus. IMO, Trump wanted something from Putin for cutting off aid OR Trump wanted something from Ukraine for continuing shipments. Oddly, Putin did not just buy Trump off – probably Putin does not want to set the precedent of bribing Trump or the list Putin has could get expensive. Or it's a matter of pride to Putin. He thinks he owns Trump and Trump should know his place.
My guess is that there are women and people of color in the top ranks. I don't have the quote at hand but Petie is unhappy that there are "woke" generals and admirals who are tools of Soros. Or something. So he wants to axe seven or so, and the complexion and gender stats will make the new policy clear without having to put it in writing.
Medicaid. IMO, the Speaker advanced a generic bill to the Senate after promising that the reservations of moderates and the Freedom Caucus would be addressed when they had to specify amounts and programs. And it's insoluble. So the Speaker will work out final numbers with Trump and turn over the process of bribery and extortion to the White House. But it's not gonna be easy the margin is sooooo slim. If there's ten total (just to pick a number) who refuse to vote for the bill, for Trump to send MAGA at these people will be foolish because they will have to rewrite the bill and some of the ten may take offense at WH sponsored domestic terrorism against members of Congress. I consider failure to be an option with the budget bill – if the economy tanks, the GOP might not subordinate totally to the Executive.
Coal is dead. If Trump can't create a huge market for coal, digging more coal will only drive down the price.
I think it was the Commerce Secretary yesterday who admitted there are no trade talks with China and there are no talks with China about having trade talks. IMO, the handwriting is on the wall. The US is going to have some bare shelves and higher prices SOON. Anybody who makes a deal this week is giving Trump breathing space when Trump may soon have to totally reverse the tariff rhetoric. Note that the Canadian PM today in talks with Trump did NOT indicate any urgency in making a deal.
Regarding Republicans in Congress who must realize Trump is completely out of his depth…. I suspect they are not being critical (usually) they are being cooperative (leaving the emergency power to do tariffs in place – barely) to give Trump all the rope ne needs to hang himself. MAGA is still too thrilled with the cruelty to have felt the consequences. So far. Letting Trump slash essential programs (and people) by Executive Order is fine because Congress won't catch the blame for the pain.
Maddow was on the story of Trump's Birthday Parade last night. Looks like the message will be "No Kings!" If the messaging stays smart, it will remind the troops that they answer to the people, not the king. I think the timing is VERY good, as prices start to climb, to show resistance in DC. I also think Miller will think the timing is good for a show of force against demonstrators. It may be "Bunker Hill" for the resistance.
(The Continental Army "lost" the battle – they were driven back when they ran out of ammo. But they did considerably more harm to the British Army than the Brits did to the untrained colonists. So even the "lost" battle was a rallying cry for the revolution. Peaceful protesters could suffer considerable personal injury if federal cops are given the green light to spill blood but the media will be there in force and everyone with a phone is a witness to the facts. Turning the public against Trump is the objective worth the risk of personal injury.)
When I get my ration book, I will know how many eggs and pencils I will get to live on for the rest of the year. If I should get a coupon for a doll or two, I won't need them and will be willing to trade them for something I might be short on. It will be an adjustment to get into a trade war mentality, but what else can we do. If life deals you tariffs, your cupboards look like Mother Hubbard's. Nothing new for me, as I have learned long ago to quench my thirst from an empty cup. Here in the great American desert rain does not fall so often. Doing without is what we do. It will be tougher for those who get less practice.
I just wish someone would tell me what it the hell we are fighting for. I really don't care about cyber coin collecting or the potential of speculative mining for bitcoin in Greenland if that's what it is about. I am going to stick with my current decorative style and really abhor the trend toward god-awful gaudy. It is hopefully a passing fad or better a rare aberration, unworthy of even a tussle much less a war. If this is what they meant when they promised a golden age, I'll just pass. At least in Vietnam they gave us bogus domino theory. Now they wage war on reason without reason. Each day another day of watch me tantrum. Yesterday he blew up when he got told he couldn't have Canada. Today his Alcatraz bubble might get busted. Spoiled rotten, so that's all we get…bare cupboards and lots of tantrums.