The Conversation -- July 28, 2025
Waste, Fraud and Abuse, All on a Sunday Afternoon. In Sunday afternoon's top stories, we find Donald Trump (1) imposing billions of dollars in taxes/tariffs on U.S. consumers & businesses; (2) wasting a billion dollars of taxpayer money on a vanity project for the benefit of no one but Trump; and (3) just tossing $10MM taxpayer dollars out the window (and depriving families of needed contraceptives).
(1) Cat Zakrzewski & Ellen Francis of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump said Sunday he reached a trade agreement with the European Union, following months of contentious negotiations with one of the United States’ top trading partners.... Trump said he would impose a 15 percent duty on imports from the European Union, down from his latest threat of 30 percent. The White House did not immediately release specific details of the trade agreement, which are traditionally hundreds of pages long and take years to negotiate. 'I don’t think there are too many other factors, other than we’re going to get along great,' Trump said. U.S. importers will be paying the tariffs, whose costs are often passed along to consumers or businesses that buy the imported products. Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Trump Turnberry, one of several golf courses that the president owns in Scotland.” (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's report is here.
(2) A “Gift” to Trump Costs Taxpayers $1BB. David Sanger & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: “To hide the cost of renovating the plane Qatar donated to ... [Donald] Trump, the Air Force appears to have tucked it inside an over-budget, behind-schedule nuclear modernization program. [Mr.] Trump makes no secret of his displeasure over the cost of renovating the Federal Reserve headquarters.... But getting the White House to discuss another of Washington’s expensive renovation projects, the cost of refurbishing a 'free' Air Force One from Qatar, is quite another matter. Officially, and conveniently, the price tag has been classified. But even by Washington standards..., the techniques being used to hide the cost of Mr. Trump’s pet project are inventive. Which may explain why no one wants to discuss a mysterious, $934 million transfer of funds from one of the Pentagon’s most over-budget, out-of-control projects — the modernization of America’s aging, ground-based nuclear missiles.... Congressional budget sleuths have come to think that amount, slipped into an obscure Pentagon document sent to Capitol Hill as a 'transfer' to an unnamed classified project, almost certainly includes the renovation of the new, gold-adorned Air Force One that Mr. Trump desperately wants in the air before his term is over.” (Also linked yesterday.)
(3) Maham Javaid, et al., of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration is set to destroy a large stockpile of U.S.-funded contraceptives stored at a warehouse in Belgium, which says it has 'explored all possible options to prevent the destruction.' The family-planning supplies, which include more than 50,000 intrauterine devices, nearly 2 million doses of injectable contraceptives, nearly 900,000 implantable contraceptive devices and more than 2 million packets of oral birth control, are worth about $9.7 million, according to an internal accounting in April, The Washington Post reported. 'The State Department confirms that a preliminary decision was made to destroy certain abortifacient birth control commodities from terminated Biden-era USAID contracts,' a spokesperson said in a statement.” (Also linked yesterday.)
“Commander in Cheat.” Josh Marcus of the Independent: “Social media users pounced on a clip that appears to show Donald Trump cheating on the golf course during his ongoing trip to Scotland, the latest in a long line of accusations that the president cheats on the fairway. In the video circulated by liberal commentators, a caddy appears to walk ahead of the golf-loving president in his golf cart and drop a ball behind him as the president approaches.... 'The video of Trump’s caddy doing an Oddjob Slazenger drop isn’t a big deal; cheating at golf isn’t nearly the worst thing about Trump,' wrote The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols. 'But watching the cult of personality try to explain it away is really some creepy North Korean level stuff.'”
Watch the caddy, then follow the bouncing ball ~~~
~~~ Here's a video exposition of Trump's history of cheating at golf. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I found it thoroughly enjoyable to listen to these two Scotsmen: ~~~
Lies, Damned Lies & Imaginary Numbers. Naftali Bendavid of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump made a promise at a reception last week for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500 percent — 'numbers that are not even thought to be achievable,' he said. A price cannot drop by more than 100 percent, but Trump went on to make several other precise but clearly false numerical claims. The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was over $3 in every state. Businesses had invested $16 trillion in America in the past four months, he added; the entire U.S. economy last year was worth less than $30 trillion.... Trump ... attaches precise numbers to his claims with unusual frequency, giving the assertions an air of authority and credibility — yet the numbers often end up being incorrect or not even plausible.... Trump has made little secret of his disdain for research and expertise. Yet he routinely reaches for numbers or statistics, often grandiose ones, when seeking to hammer home the failures of his adversaries, the grandeur of his accomplishments or the boldness of his promises.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you wonder how Trump's business ventures could have failed so many times, perhaps part of the answer is that he can't do seventh-grade arithmetic. (While a price cannot decrease by 1,500 percent, it can increase by 1,500 percent; that is, the price of a $1 item would go to $15.)
Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: “Top officials from the Trump administration will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Sweden this week for their third formal round of economic talks since President Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports to triple-digit levels this year. The primary goal is to extend a fragile trade truce that has prevented a devastating clash between the world’s largest economies.... The negotiations come during a pivotal week for the global economy, which has been gripped by uncertainty as a result of Mr. Trump’s chaotic trade agenda. The Trump administration has been trying to win concessions from many countries before an Aug. 1 deadline for reimposing tariffs announced in April. Those levies were suspended in order to reach trade deals. Over the last week, the Trump administration has announced deals with some of America’s biggest trading partners in quick succession.”
Freedom, Slip-Slidin' Away. Charlie English in a New York Times op-ed: “... the very same [book] titles and authors the C.I.A. sent [into the Communist Eastern Bloc] during the Cold War — including '1984'— are now deemed objectionable by a network of conservative groups across the United States.... Orwell’s novel describes the dystopian world of Oceania, a totalitarian state where the protagonist ... works in a huge government department called the Ministry of Truth. The ministry is ironically named: Its role is not to safeguard the truth but to destroy it.... In the real Soviet system, every country had its equivalent of the Ministry of Truth, modeled on the Moscow template.... In the mid-2020s..., censorship efforts are mostly driven by Republican state legislators and parental-rights groups. Florida takes the lead, with more than 4,561 book bans recorded in that school year — including in one case a graphic novel adaptation of '1984' — via a combination of new state laws and parental pressure. Next come Iowa (with 3,671 book bans that year), Texas (538), Wisconsin (408), Virginia (121) and Kentucky (100)....
“This year, after Mr. Trump signed three executive orders aimed at combating 'wokeness,' the Department of Defense’s education agency removed and reviewed more than 500 titles from its school system, including, according to one report, Aldous Huxley’s 'Brave New World,' which the C.I.A. had sent to the Eastern Bloc.... Mr. Trump, JD Vance, Ron DeSantis and their fellow travelers expound the virtues of the First Amendment while dismantling guardrails against disinformation and working to suppress political ideas they oppose. Book bans aren’t their only tool. They also block access for independent journalists, intimidate news organizations and defund outlets they perceive as hostile to the MAGA agenda, including NPR, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.”
~~~ Marie: I constantly wonder if Trump understands what he is doing. For instance, did Trump name his Twitter knockoff "Truth Social" in the tradition of the Ministry of Truth? Or did someone else suggest the name & Trump is oblivious to its heritage?
Zeesham Aleem in an MSNBC opinion piece (July 26): “... on Wednesday [The Department of Homeland Security] posted an image of an old oil painting ... titled 'American Progress,' ... an iconic representation of American westward expansion ... painted by John Gast in 1872.... 'American Progress' shows a gigantic and angelic-looking blond woman with fair skin striding westward across the American plains.... Behind her, in the East, are trains, farms and boats lit up by a rising sun. At her feet are settlers heading West on wagons. And in front of her — the West — are Native Americans, along with buffalo and other wild animals, cast in darkness and beneath an overcast sky. In its post of the painting, DHS ... wrote: 'A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending.'... And earlier in July, DHS posted another oil painting — which it mistitled — of a settler couple in the West holding a baby in a covered wagon.... [Posting the paintings] gives the public plenty of clues about who DHS thinks belongs in America as it presides over a brutal mass deportation operation.... [DHS] is promoting the idea that America’s most authentic heritage can be traced back to its history of ethnic cleansing, racist social hierarchies and racial domination.... The 'homeland' is to be expropriated and protected from savages, and the people who most belong are the European settler class.” ~~~
~~~ Heather Cox Richardson expands on Aleem's theme, providing more evidence of "the use of American iconography to push ... [white nationalists] ... 'blood and soil' ideology.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: As Aleem implies with the quotation marks he places around the word "homeland," the very name of the department is a loaded term, as "homeland" "often has ethnic nationalist connotations." People objected to its use when Dubya began using the term after 9/11. "In an August 5, 2002, speech, President Bush said: 'We are fighting ... to secure freedom in the homeland.' Prior to the creation of DHS, U.S. Presidents had referred to the U.S. as 'the nation' or 'the republic' and to its internal policies as 'domestic'. Also unprecedented was the use, from 2002, of the phrase 'the homeland' by White House spokespeople." The word "homeland" still makes me wince today.
Katie Shepherd of the Washington Post: “The residents of Westernport, Maryland, overwhelmingly voted for Trump. But after FEMA denied its aid request, the town feels like the president has turned his back on them.... Westernport town administrator Laura Freeman Legge said she estimated the town’s damages at $10 million, not including the damage to peoples’ homes and personal property. For a town with an annual budget of about $2 million, many repairs will need to be put on hold, potentially for years.” Now, they're complaining that Westernport should get aid because, even though the state voted Democratic, they voted for Trump. MB: Selfish bastids. FEMA aid is not supposed to be dependent upon a region or state's voting record but on need. Besides, these whiney Trumpists aren't the only people Trump "abandoned." He hurt all of us everywhere.
Bible Mike Goes Off-Message Again. Sam Levine of the Guardian: “The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, said on Sunday he would have 'great pause' about granting a pardon or commutation to Ghislaine Maxwell.... Donald Trump and his allies, including Johnson, have been under immense pressure to disclose more information about Epstein for weeks, especially amid scrutiny over the extent of Trump’s relationship with Epstein. The splits over what to do with Maxwell illustrate the complicated challenge posed by the scandal for Trump, his Maga base and the broader Republican party. Johnson weighed in on the possibility of a pardon after Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, met with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, over two days last week.... Johnson adjourned the US House of Representatives early last week to avoid a vote on releasing Epstein files. He said on Sunday he favored 'maximum disclosure'. During his appearance on Meet the Press, he defended that decision, saying the legislation being pushed by [members of both parties] would require the release of uncorroborated information and could harm the victims of Epstein and Maxwell’s crimes.”
Richard Severo & Peter Keepnews of the New York Times: “Tom Lehrer, the Harvard-trained mathematician whose wickedly iconoclastic songs made him a favorite satirist in the 1950s and ’60s on college campuses and in all the Greenwich Villages of the country, died on Saturday at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 97.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Coincidences abound. Just as Mr. Lehrer was breathing his last breath Saturday, I happened to find myself singing, sotto voce, "Alma," which Lehrer says he based on "... the juiciest, spiciest, racist obituary it has been my pleasure to read." ~~~
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Israel/Palestine/U.S. Richard Escobedo & Mia Salenetri of CBS News: "A group of Democratic senators led by Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland is urging the Trump administration to suspend American financial support for the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private food distribution organization that has been heavily criticized for the way it delivers food aid to Gazans and because so many have been killed trying to reach its distribution sites. The U.S. and Israel have advocated for the recently established GHF to replace the United Nations, which has built an extensive network of humanitarian workers inside Gaza over decades. Israel accuses the U.N. of bias and collusion with Hamas. In a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio Sunday, the 21 senators expressed 'grave' concerns about 'the U.S. role in and financial support for the troubled GHF.' 'We urge you to immediately cease all U.S. funding for GHF and resume support for the existing UN-led aid coordination mechanisms with enhanced oversight to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches civilians in need,' the letter reads." ~~~
~~~ Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: “Major global news organizations are calling on Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip and on the movement of reporters in and out of the enclave as Palestinian reporters there struggle to survive amid extreme privation. International leaders and humanitarian organizations have sounded alarms about Gaza’s rapidly worsening hunger crisis, which has led to dozens of hunger-related deaths this month, according to the local health authorities. Now news organizations, including The New York Times, have also begun weighing in, noting that Israel has restricted international reporters from independently entering the enclave during the war and that local reporters are trapped there without enough food to live or work.... The Foreign Press Association in Israel, a nonprofit that represents hundreds of journalists from more than 100 news outlets, has long sought permission for journalists to enter Gaza, but it has been deterred by the government and the Supreme Court.” ~~~
~~~ Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: “Israel said it paused military activity in parts of Gaza on Sunday to allow in international aid, amid growing outrage over the severe hunger faced by Palestinians in the territory. The decision was a reversal by Israel that followed growing pressure over the dire conditions in Gaza, where nearly one in three people has not been eating 'for multiple days in a row,' according to the World Food Program, an arm of the United Nations. Many countries, including some of Israel’s traditional allies, blame Israel for the widespread hunger crisis. The Israeli government blocked almost all aid to Gaza from March through May in an effort to squeeze concessions from Hamas, and has restricted aid deliveries into the territory since then.”
Thailand/Cambodia. Edward Wong & Sui-Lee Wee of the New York Times: “Thailand and Cambodia agreed to a cease-fire starting at midnight on Monday, the leaders of both countries said, after the deadliest conflict between their two countries in more than a decade killed at least 36 people and prompted hundreds of thousands of civilians to flee the area. Thailand’s acting prime minister, Phumtham Wechayachai, and Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Manet, shook hands with each other after holding talks in person for the first time since the fighting broke out five days ago along the countries’ disputed border. Since last Thursday, both countries have pounded each other with attacks, which at times included airstrikes and rockets fired.”
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Reader Comments (3)
Found the net for a minute or two and thought this relevant:
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Screw those assholes in their little Maryland town. For years now many Republicans have voted against aid for anyone who wasn't in their state or sometimes Red states. While on the other hand Democrats always voted to help all the communities hit by disasters. Democrats protected Americans from the votes of Republicans. The People did not have to suffer the consequences of their own choices and their own votes because the "adults in the room" mostly nullified the worst, both common and extraordinary, that the Republicans tried to push on the country year after year. Maybe if some of these losers had had to see and deal with what Republicans truly wanted to do to them and have tried to impose on the nation they wouldn't have been so enthusiastic to vote for Republicans year after year. I hope they personally get everything they've been voting for their entire life. I'm tired of protecting all this stupid scum from themselves. Let them run with their scissors and see how long they have to drive to find a hospital when they inevitably fall on their face. And I hope the security cameras capture the moment that they are told that the hospital is out of coverage and they need money up front just to be allow them in the door. Let's see how ruggedly American they really are when they spend a Maryland winter without a water heater, 1776!
Trumpbots
I guess we know how Trump "wins" all those golf tournaments. It is all in the caddie.