The Trump-Mamdani meeting is over, and apparently nothing bad happened. I’m saying somebody slipped Trump some Valium before the meeting.
You may have missed it, but recently the Department of Defense invaded Mexico. This was allegedly an accident. On Monday or thereabouts Mexican naval personnel found a bunch of DoJ contractors posting signs on a Mexican beach declaring the area — roughly twelve miles south of the U.S.-Mexico border — to be U.S. Department of Defense property and restricted. It turns out the contractors were lost, or at least that’s what they said. They took their signs down and marched back across the border.
However, the story as reported in Mexico News Daily makes it sound more like a deliberate provocation.
Playa Bagdad is located where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. The river, which originates in south-central Colorado in the United States and is called the Río Bravo on the Mexican side, forms the border between the two countries for a long stretch.
Reports of unidentified men arriving at the beach by boat to install signs prompted the response from Mexico’s Naval Ministry (Semar).
The signs reportedly stated in Spanish and English that the area was Department of Defense property and a “Restricted Area” by order of “the commander.” They also said that “unauthorized entry is prohibited,” as are photography or drawings, and stated, “If you are found here, you may be detained and searched.”
Sheinbaum said her government was communicating with U.S. authorities in order to get an explanation.
“First, the consulate was consulted, then the embassy,” she said. “They hadn’t issued an official report, so the signs were removed. Later, a U.S. government agency stated that a company had indeed been hired to put them up.”
Trump has been pushing Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to allow U.S. troops on Mexican soil to go after drug cartels. President Sheinbaum says no way. But the official excuse from the DoJ is that the contractors were lost and didn’t realize they were in Mexico.
Anything is possible, frankly. This story has been reported, but I’m just now noticing it. There’s no much other news it kind of got lost. In normal times it would have been a big deal.
But during the Trump Administration, it’s normal. We keep hearing that, about all kinds of news stories — if this had happened with any other President … Lawrence O’Donnell opened his show last night pointing out that if any other president had called for members of Congress to be executed there would have been massive banner headlines across the country. But in the Trump Administration, it’s just Thursday. What will it take for the media to begin to treat Trump just as they’ve treated any other president?
And then there’s this. This is a screen grab from the Memeorandum news aggregate site.
Yesterday swastikas and nooses were no longer hate symbols. Oops! today they’re hate symbols. Why was this even an issue? Incompetence abounds.
It feels as if the entire Right is beginning to flail around. See Philip Bump at MSNow.
Unlike most past chief executives, Trump’s power depends on strict loyalty from congressional Republicans. He’s pushed — and flown past — traditional boundaries of presidential power largely because Congress won’t do anything about it. No more than a handful of Republicans tried to hold him to account when he stoked a violent attack on the results of the 2020 presidential contest. You think they’re going to vote to impeach because he’s stealing their authority to raise and spend revenue?
That loyalty has depended on the perception that Trump holds enormous power; specifically, power over the Republican electorate. But Epstein is not the only issue on which Trump has faced headwinds of late: As inflation and prices remain high, he has struggled to convince Americans there are no affordability issues. His suggestion last week that skilled immigrants are necessary workers roiled his MAGA base.
Trump’s polling numbers are dropping like a rock. He’s deeply underwater on every issue. His brilliant initiatives keep failing. Even a lot of the MAGA influencers who helped Trump win in 2024 are questioning his competence. And we are just under a year to the midterms. I believe we’ve reached the point at which Republican legislators facing re-election next year are thinking hard about how much space they may need between themselves and their dear leader.
Update: MTG is resigning from Congress.
Re MTG – I started to notice that her face changed, beginning about 3 – 6 months ago. It softened, like she wasn't so aggressively on the warpath, the way she carried on previously. If you turned down the sound she just looks more open and attractive, instead of being hideously abrasive. I think she learned to get along better with her peers. I don't think her motivations have changed at all, she's still completely opportunistic, right wing. But I have to give her credit for reading the room, speaking out, and being able to change course on a dime.
I hope she reads the Epstein victims and the names of their rapists on the Congressional floor, as she has threatened, before she leaves. She has that rare legal protection that the victims lack, and I hope she makes good on her promise.
Re the other items in your post. When I lived in California, I got familiar with two kinds of earthquakes. The first is a horizontal shock wave, that slams into one side of your dwelling, passes through it, and exits the opposite side – all within a couple of seconds.
The other is where the floor turns into ball bearings, jiggling mostly vertically. Something formerly solid beneath your feet is phase shifting into fluid, then solid, then fluid. It can last for quite a few seconds. That's what these news events seem like. It's a chaotic system that is flipping between two attractors, and will eventually choose one.
Interesting what you say about MTGs looks, I had a passing thought on this the other day and attributed it to her taking less steroids (she did make her money off of gym ownership), or something. I would rather hope that it would be the reflection of inner growth, or something like that, instead.
And, yes, the earthquake analogy is apt, but I am waiting for the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the event. Also, remember "disaster capitalism" where the rich folks use emergencies of all types to buy up all of the real assets. If old man puddin' brains goes, we get JD who is a puppet of the silicon valley money monsters.
I think Trump was hoping to charm Mandani into thinking Trump is a trustworthy friend and asset. Trump will offer to let NY have what they are entitled to in exchange for NYC law enforcement backing ICE. Trump wil act shocked and betrayed when Mamdani refuses.
Also, Trump may have been told that an organized nonviolent resistance is hurting every way they can count. It's harder to keep up the pace when US citizens actively and legally tip off residents where ICE is. Your rights are being advertised and broadcast – what ICE can and can't legally do. Attempts to arrest and intimidate are resulting in suits and legal rebukes. Trump's signature issue is getting less and less popular – it stands to cost him in the midterms if US Hispanic voters turn out in large numbers against Trump. (TX may be a bloodbath for the US House.) Miller is replacing ICE management with more violent and aggressive Border Police. Which will create MORE backlash.
Trump blew it yesterday when Dems in Congress, with the military chops to make the statement, reminded the US military to refuse illegal orders. (There's no grounds for prosecution in that, but Trump wants it, I think.) By talking about hanging members of Congress, Trump put a spotlight on the issue he should have kept in the shadows. Trump, when finally cornered, will try to crush public demonstrations against him with military force. In the endgame, Trump will try to retain power by military coup. Trump is counting on blind obedience – pro-democracy leaders are pushing senior military leadership to think it through NOW. In the press, this is already in the rear view, but not for senior officers whose futures will be destroyed by a bad choice. If Trump fails, they will be held responsible for what they decided when illegal orders hit their desks.
The swastikas and nooses is a hint of the turmoil in the new Department of War. It's interesting that there's no 'background' to the story. In my experience in the military, I'd point out that it has the characteristics of the Vatican as far as change is concerned. When radical, sudden change happens in doctrine, it comes from the top. So I would guess, this came from Whisky Pete and the COast Guard was selected because it's the smallest branch. It was supposed to be internal and quiet – a chance in the category. Displaying a noose would NOT be grounds for dismissal. (See it – tight there in black and white.) If you are offended, there's the door. If you hung the noose, Whisky Pete wants to talk to you. A simple rule change and they can ID the 'woke' officers and the bigots in one move.
As long as I'm pontificating, somebody in the Coast Guard went to a trusted Congressperson. That congressperson went to the media. (People in the miltary don't have major media people on their Rolodex.) Admirals in the Coast Guard who had not been in the loop, were informed by the story when it broke. WTF?!!! Whisky Pete had a mutiny on his hands – he could continue, which would mean having to defend institutional racism at his direction and face full-throated public opposition from the senior ranks of the Coast Guard. Or reverse the decision fast enough to bury the story.
The Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force now have advance warning. Pete does not know who leaked – he can't end anyone's career (which he was expecting.) And Pete is too stupid to realize he's messing with people who study strategy, and he's playing checkers poorly.
You may have missed it, but recently the Department of Defense invaded Mexico.
The simplest explanation is that they got lost.
If you had bothered to read further, you'll notice that I covered the "they got lost" theory, which is probable, but that Mexico disagrees.
PFKA in sheep's clothing looking for a new facade. His women are all CINO's and his men all PILPO's.
PFKA's crass history gets an inamorata, as he struggles with words like groceries and affordability.
Meanwhile I struggle with AI interference to write a comment.
Beri gets credit for the blockquote.
Maureen Dowd for inamorata with reference to Stormy Daniels.
Linda J defines CINO's as Christians in neckless only and PILPO's as Politicians in lapel pins only.
Too bad all-caps is not political capital, the president formerly known as fearless leader would not be bankrupt.
Too bad for me I don't know how to shut off all this AI "help". Help!