The Conversation -- May 6, 2025
Aishvarya Kavi of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said on Monday that he 'had nothing to do with' a depiction of himself as the pope that was shared on his and White House social media accounts over the weekend, distancing himself from the apparently A.I.-generated image that has agitated Catholics. 'I had nothing to do with it,' Mr. Trump said while taking questions in the Oval Office. 'Somebody made up a picture of me dressed like the pope, and they put it out on the internet. That’s not me that did it, I have no idea where it came from — maybe it was A.I. But I have no idea where it came from.' Mr. Trump, responding to a question about Catholics who are displeased with the image of him dressed in white papal robes and a ceremonial headdress, also attempted to downplay the mounting criticism. 'They can’t take a joke,' Mr. Trump said, quickly telling the reporter, 'You don’t mean the Catholics; you mean the fake news media. The Catholics loved it.'” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So let me get this straight: an A.I. gnome or gnomes hacked into both Trump's personal social media account and his White House account and posted a picture of him decked out as Pope Francis?? And Press Secretary Barbie Blondie didn't immediately put out a statement denouncing the hacks & gnomes? Very credible, Donnie; very credible.
Marie: I skipped over the Big News Sunday that Trump said he would not seek a third term. That was my mistake. Here's why: his full answer is one that only someone far too ignorant to be president* could utter: ~~~
~~~ “Donald Trump offered his clearest indication yet that he will leave the White House at the end of his second term ... in an ... interview with NBC News’ 'Meet the Press.'... 'It’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do. I don’t know if that’s constitutional that they’re not allowing you to do it or anything else,' Trump said.” Emphasis added. A YouTube short video is here for the listening, in case you can't believe he said that. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I do understand that ordinary Americans might not be able to cite the 22nd Amendment, it content or its history. But anyone who even thinks about running for POTUS must know the job is term-limited and should know, in general, why that is. I don't see how it's possible for someone who has publicly flirted with a third term not to know that it's unconstitutional. BTW, I've never thought Trump would go to the trouble of running for a third term. If he's still alive in 2028, he'll very likely declare a national emergency (he does that a lot already) and attempt to stay on. He is just the more ignorant ass who ever wore out the leather in the chair behind the Resolute desk.
Dozens of people escaped the island when the U.S. Army operated it as a military prison, and at least five disappeared while Alcatraz was operated as a federal prison. -- John Martini, an Alcatraz historian, paraphrase
Nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there, but they — as you know the story — they found his clothing rather badly ripped up. It was a lot of shark bites, a lot of problems. -- Donald Trump, an ignorant nincompoop
Typically absurd. -- Rafael Mandelman, Chair of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on Trump's order to reopen Alcatraz as a prison
~~~ Heather Knight of the New York Times: Tourists visiting Alcatraz Island couldn't believe Donald Trump wanted to turn Alcatraz back into a prison. The prison is a ruin, “with some buildings deteriorating so badly they no longer have roofs or complete walls. The cells have broken toilets, if they have any at all, with no running water or sewage system. The exterior walls of the cellblocks are so weak that they are reinforced with netting to prevent chunks of concrete from crumbling onto tourists’ heads. Bird deposits coat much of the island.... Alcatraz has been practically frozen in time since the day that the storied prison saw its last inmate 62 years ago. When the federal government closed the facility, officials had deemed it a deteriorated relic that was insufficient for housing inmates.... Alcatraz Island was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1986 and hosts 1.4 million visitors a year.”
Carl Zimmer & Emily Anthes of the New York Times: Donald “Trump signed an executive order on Monday evening to further restrict experiments on pathogens and toxins that could make them more harmful. For over a decade, scientists have debated the risks and benefits of so-called 'gain of function' research.... [Mr. Trump] claims [it] caused the coronavirus pandemic.”
Naftali Bendavid of the Washington Post: “During his campaign and the early part of his current presidency..., Donald Trump promised an economic boom that would take off upon his return to the White House — reviving the American Dream and producing four years of unparalleled prosperity.... But Trump’s tone, and that of his aides, has shifted notably in recent weeks, as they warn of sacrifice and 'transition' until, by their telling, his heavy tariffs pave the way for a boom. Trump has ... suggested a short-term recession might be an acceptable cost for the prosperity he predicts will come.... 'I don’t think [the message] will resonate very well,' said Marc Short, a longtime top adviser to former vice president Mike Pence. 'I think it’s particularly optically difficult when the president is earning a billion dollars in crypto while asking Americans to cut back on toys and products for kids....'”
Former Sycophant Disses Trump. Kelly Cho of the Washington Post: “Former vice president Mike Pence on Monday criticized ... Donald Trump’s wavering support for Ukraine as well as his broad-based tariffs, saying in an interview on CNN that the Trump administration 'has only emboldened Russia' and that the president’s trade policies 'will harm consumers and ultimately harm the American economy.' Pence also expressed concern over Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine skepticism and dismissed the idea of the United States using military force to take control of Greenland. In the interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Pence — who this week received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for bucking Trump’s unfounded claims that he won the 2020 election — broadly praised Trump’s immigration policies and said the two had a 'great working relationship' when they were in office together.”
Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “The Trump administration is offering a cash stipend and travel home to undocumented immigrants who willingly leave the United States, officials said on Monday, its latest effort to increase deportations. The policy, which will offer $1,000 and a flight home to each immigrant who leaves, is part of the Trump administration’s push to persuade immigrants to deport themselves as a way to help the president meet lofty immigration promises.” (Also linked yesterday.)
The right of ‘due process’ is to protect citizens from their government, not to protect foreign trespassers from removal.... Due process guarantees the rights of a criminal defendant facing prosecution, not an illegal alien facing deportation. -- Stephen Miller, xenophobe, social media post Monday, with his own special legal "analysis" ~~~
~~~ Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “On Inauguration Day..., [Donald] Trump ... swore to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.' But in an interview with NBC News that aired Sunday, Mr. Trump said 'I don’t know' when asked whether he needed to uphold the Constitution as his administration tries to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history. His remark came as part of a broader exchange over due process and who is afforded it, even though the Fifth Amendment guarantees it for every individual on American soil. Mr. Trump repeatedly said he wasn’t sure whether everyone is entitled to due process. Mr. Trump’s extraordinary stance on the issue provides a window into his belief that the legal system should not prevent him from immediately deporting people who entered the United States illegally.
“On Monday, Mr. Trump once again cast doubt on due process and how it would impede his mass deportation campaign, demonstrating he has little patience for individuals to have their day in court. 'The courts have all of a sudden, out of nowhere, they’ve said maybe you’re going to have to have trials,' the president said Monday in the Oval Office. 'We’re going to have five million trials?' Even as they have faced legal setbacks, some of which they have ignored, Mr. Trump and his allies have portrayed their efforts as necessary for national security. Mr. Trump regularly paints migrants as 'monsters' and 'murderers,' describing them as 'some of the worst people on Earth.'”
~~~ Marie: The Supremes didn't come "out of nowhere" to declare immigrants had a right to due process. They came out of the Constitution and out of a line of precedents upholding the Constitutional rights of non-citizens residing in or visiting the United States.
Intel Agencies Call Bull on Trump. Charlie Savage & Julian Barnes of the New York Times: “A newly declassified memo released on Monday confirms that U.S. intelligence agencies rejected a key claim ... [Donald] Trump put forth to justify invoking a wartime statute to summarily deport Venezuelans to a prison in El Salvador. The memo, dovetailing with intelligence findings first reported by The New York Times in March, states that spy agencies do not believe that the administration of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, controls a criminal gang, Tren de Aragua. That determination contradicts what Mr. Trump asserted when he invoked the deportation law, the Alien Enemies Act. 'While Venezuela’s permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States,' the memo said.
“The memo’s release further undercuts the Trump administration’s rationale for using the Alien Enemies Act and calls into question its forceful criticism of the ensuing coverage. After The Times published its article, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation and portrayed the reporting as misleading and harmful. The administration doubled down a month later after similar coverage in The Washington Post, citing the disclosures in both articles as a reason to relax limits on leak investigations.” ~~~
The memo, via the NYT, is here.
The circumstances of Judge Dugan’s arrest make it clear that it was nothing but an effort to threaten and intimidate the state and federal judiciaries into submitting to the administration.... This cynical effort undermines the rule of law and destroys the trust the American people have in the nation’s judges to administer justice in the courtrooms and in the halls of justice across the land. -- Former Judges, letter to Pam Bondi ~~~
~~~ Julie Bosman of the New York Times: “More than 150 former state and federal judges have signed a letter to Pam Bondi, the attorney general, condemning the Trump administration’s escalating battles with the judiciary and calling the recent arrest of a sitting state court judge in Milwaukee an attempt to intimidate. The judge, Hannah C. Dugan of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, was arrested by F.B.I. agents in April on charges of obstructing immigration agents. Judge Dugan is accused of directing an undocumented immigrant to leave through a side door in her courtroom while agents waited to arrest him. The group of judges signing the letter was led by Nancy Gertner, a former federal judge, and J. Michael Luttig, a former assistant attorney general and federal judge. The former federal judges who signed the letter included those appointed by members of both political parties.” ~~~
~~~ The letter, via the former judges, is here.
Helene Cooper of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a 20 percent reduction of four-star officers — the military’s senior ranks — continuing the wide swath of job reductions and firings that have marked his three months at the helm of the Pentagon. In a memo on Monday, Mr. Hegseth also ordered a 10 percent reduction of overall general-level officers in the military, and a 20 percent cut of four-star positions in the National Guard.... Mr. Hegseth has already fired a raft of military leaders, many of them people of color and women.... Last week he boasted on social media that he had 'proudly' canceled a program encouraging more women to take roles in national security.... It was unclear how Mr. Hegseth planned to cut the positions. Because general officers serve at the pleasure of the president, they can sometimes be easier to fire than lower-ranked service members.” Politico's report is here.
Kevin Collier & Ben Goggin of NBC News: "TeleMessage, the app that President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Mike Waltz, appeared to use to archive his group chats, has suspended all services after hackers claimed to have stolen files from it.
Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “The Trump administration has temporarily suspended an air-quality monitoring program at national parks across the country.... The Interior Department, which includes the National Park Service, issued stop-work orders last week to the two contractors running the program, the email shows. The move adds to the chaos and uncertainty at many national parks that are already reeling from widespread layoffs ahead of the busy summer season. The National Park Service and Interior did not initially respond to requests for comment. After this article was published, however, Park Service spokeswoman Rachel Pawlitz said in an email that the stop-work orders would be reversed and that 'contractors will be notified immediately.'” Thanks to Ken W. for the link.
Michael Bender & Alan Blinder of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Monday sought to force Harvard University back to the negotiating table by informing the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college that it would not be eligible for any new federal grants. That decision was relayed in a contentious letter to Alan M. Garber, the president of Harvard, from Linda McMahon, the education secretary, who blasted the school for 'disastrous mismanagement.'... Ms. McMahon’s three-page letter, which deployed the use of all-capital letters to emphasize words, overflowed with familiar grievances from Mr. Trump and other conservative critics of Harvard. The missive said the college had 'made a mockery of this country’s higher education system.' It accused the university of 'ugly racism,' mentioned 'humiliating plagiarism scandals' and lashed out at the university’s leadership.” Politico's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Here's McMahon's letter, via the Education Department. (You have to click on it to blow it up to readable size.) (Also linked yesterday.)
David Yaffe-Bellany & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: “Senate Democrats are demanding changes to cryptocurrency legislation pending in Congress, responding partly to growing evidence that the Trump family is using its connections and ... [Donald] Trump’s power to profit from crypto trading. The pushback intensified late last week after a closed-door meeting among Senate Democrats in which Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, told colleagues they should not commit to voting for the so-called GENIUS Act, a bill backed by the crypto industry. For months, the bill had appeared to be gliding toward passage, with support from both parties, and it was scheduled for a procedural vote this week. But in the meeting, Senate Democrats expressed concern that the legislation would directly benefit the Trump family’s crypto business, citing reporting by The New York Times.... Those ethical concerns have contributed to a broader unease about the bill among Democrats. Several senators have also pointed to other issues, arguing that the legislation lacks sufficient protections against money laundering.” (Also linked yesterday.)
Pam Belluck of the New York Times: “The Trump administration on Monday asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to sharply restrict access to the abortion pill mifepristone — taking the same position as the Biden administration in a closely watched case that has major implications for abortion access. The court filing by the Justice Department is striking, given that ... [Donald] Trump and a number of officials in his administration have forcefully opposed abortion rights.... And so far in his second term, his administration has taken steps to curtail programs that support reproductive health. The court filing was the first time the Trump administration has weighed in on the lawsuit, which seeks to reverse numerous regulatory changes that the Food and Drug Administration made, starting in 2016, that greatly expanded access to mifepristone. The Trump administration’s request made no mention of the merits of the case.... Rather, echoing the argument that the Biden administration made shortly before Mr. Trump took office, the court filing asserts that the case does not meet the legal standard to be heard in the federal district court in which it was filed.” (Also linked yesterday.)
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North Carolina. Carolina Journal: “A federal judge has ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Democrat Allison Riggs as the winner of the 2024 state Supreme Court election. The decision rejects ballot challenges from Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin. US Chief District Judge Richard Myers placed a one-week hold on his decision to give Griffin time to appeal. Myers rejected a state Supreme Court decision in April that placed at least 1,675 and as many as 5,700 ballots from the fall election in question. The state’s highest court endorsed a ballot 'cure' process to deal with the disputed ballots. Most of those ballots were tied to overseas voters who provided no photo identification. A smaller number involved 'never residents' who had checked a box on a voter form indicating they had never lived in North Carolina or the United States. Myers’ decision preserves Riggs’ 734-vote lead over Griffin out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast last fall.” (Also linked yesterday.) The Washington Post's story is here. ~~~
~~~ Judge Myers' order is here, via the Carolina Journal. (Also linked yesterday.)
12 Comments
Reader Comments (12)
Once again, as he has so many times in the past, Fat Hitler shows himself to be a craven coward and (as always) a bald-faced liar.
He puts out that picture of himself as Pope Dunce I, and when he doesn’t get the expected pats on the back with MILLIONS of likes and comments about what a great pope he’d make, oops! It wasn’t his fault, he was hatcked, he had nothing to do with it, oooh, but the Catholics LOVED IT!
No, dipshit. They didn’t. No one did except your equally craven lackeys and moral dead-zone enablers.
The media were simply reporting on the outrage and dismay of millions who saw your latest self-aggrandizing and shameful stunt as puerile disrespect.
Prick.
Had someone actually hacked your stupid account, you would have immediately removed this image of yourself as the leader of a billion Catholics, with an appropriate message ensuring one and all that you weren’t that stupid and insulting.
But no. It wasn’t until the umbrage washed over your fat ass like a wave at Waikiki that you fumbled up this latest lie.
Two words:
You.Suck.
Trump's financial incentive to the undocumented to self deport has the smell of a poorly hidden trap. What's to stop them from seizing an applicant when they apply and shipping them off to gods know where or directly out of the country?
@Akhilleus: Yes to all that. Trump is such a liar that he tells two contradictory lies: (1) that an evil AI bot hacked his accounts & posted the pictures, and (2) all the Catholics loved what the evil AI bot did. He is such a dunce he doesn't know which lie to tell, so he tells 'em both!
Marie,
Quite. The first lie is to absolve himself of any responsibility. He’s never responsible for anything with less than salutary results. He only takes credit for good things others do.
The second is to assure himself that he was right all along to post that fake picture. He’s a genius and everyone loves him almost as much as he loves himself. Besides, he’d make a great pope, and look at all that gold stuff in St. Peter’s, it would be all his! Not to mention all that Vatican money. To hell with any programs for the poor. Programs for little Donald! Now you’re talkin’!
BobbyLee,
Exactly. With that fat douchebag there’s always a catch, always a con somewhere. The large print giveth and the small print taketh away.
And don’t worry, if this is a scheme cooked up by Dead Eyes Heinrich Miller, no one would get a penny anyway.
I see where the Reich is in talks with Rwanda to set up a gulag in the jungle. I’m sure this has extra appeal for these evil schmucks. I imagine they love the idea of sending anyone they don’t like to a shithole prison in a shithole country where the guards will use them for machete practice.
If there was a scale for inhumanity, these crooks and liars would be far below sea level. Closing in on the Mariana Trench.
Also it is not as if Fat Hitler's floating himself as Pope was a one time thing. It was a stupid idea that he brought up multiple times.
Parade Daydreams
Transnational Organizations
"The Trump administration is “decommissioning” a Department of Justice unit that has long been at the center of dismantling transnational organized crime networks, drug cartels and human trafficking rings.
Leaders of the unit, called the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, or OCDETF, were told they had until Sept. 30 to shut down operations, people familiar with the matter said. The people asked not to be identified, citing concerns over potential retribution."
Almost as if the talk of human trafficking and invading gangs wasn't a real concern of theirs...
Maybe they should have done something rather than nothing.
"Relatively few voters regret their decision in November; however, three in ten non-voters regret not turning out to vote last fall.
Nearly all Americans who voted for Kamala Harris (95%) and Donald Trump (92%) are satisfied with their decision to vote or how they voted, as well as 85% of those who voted for another candidate.
Thirty-one percent of non-voting Americans say they regret their decision not to vote, compared with 56% who say they are satisfied."
Would Big Balls and Chainsaw Elmo allow this?
How “efficient” is this?
Let’s take a dilapidated, falling down former prison—on an island—and pour $100 million into renovation and expansion. Remember every piece of lumber, steel, every ounce of concrete, every rivet, every light fixture, every torture device, every construction worker, truck, crane, wheelbarrow and shovel, would have to be transported by ship, every single day of however long this construction project lasts.
So there’s that. Then you have operating costs, no doubt through the roof. Add in the cost of fixing problems in the original design (there’ll be a ton; it’s a Trump Project after all).
Then subtract the $60 million in EZ money the National Parks department brings in from tourist visits to the old prison every year.
Over time we’re taking hundreds of millions in the red.
Just so Fatty can say he reopened….ALCATRAZ (cue opening chords of “Dragnet”).
Efficient?
What’s that, Big Balls? I can’t understand you with a mouthful of taxpayer pizza…
Seth Meyers on the idiocy of FH
They literally tried the Alcatraz thing already, it is called Guantanamo. It was wildly expensive and it would be wildly expensive. So they decided to stop the ridiculously overpriced flights for a couple dozen migrants at a time. Probably because of bad press and maybe some military people used some of their 250 pencils to draw a picture that got through the dumbass's overinflated head how sending twenty million people there wouldn't work. Either he saw a movie on Alcatraz the other night or someone reminded him that his good friend Al Capone was sent to the island prison. Or maybe it is a threat to the private prison guys. Maybe they haven't been bribing him enough and so he floats the idea of giving the big money contracts to a government run prison, though one that no longer exists. Because FH is a genius negotiator like that.