The Conversation -- July 14, 2025
Erica Green of the New York Times: Donald “Trump said he would help Europe speed more weapons to Ukraine and warned Russia that if it did not agree to a peace deal within 50 days, he would impose a new round of punishing sanctions. Speaking from the Oval Office, where he met with NATO’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, Mr. Trump said the weapons would be “quickly distributed to the battlefield.” He also threatened to impose secondary sanctions, which are penalties imposed on other countries or parties that trade with nations under sanctions. 'I’m disappointed in President Putin, because I thought we would have had a deal two months ago, but it doesn’t seem to get there,” Mr. Trump said.”
Peter Baker in the New York Times: “It should come as no surprise that Mr. Trump would try to undo much of what President Joseph R. Biden Jr. did over the past four years. What is so striking in Mr. Trump’s second term is how much he is trying to undo changes that happened years and even decades before that. At times, it seems as if he is trying to repeal much of the 20th century. On matters big and small, Mr. Trump has hit the rewind button. At the broadest level, he has endeavored to reverse the globalization and internationalism that have defined U.S. leadership around the globe since World War II, under presidents of both parties. But even at a more prosaic level, it has become evident that Mr. Trump, 79, the oldest president ever inaugurated, simply prefers things the way he remembers them from his youth, or even before that.” Baker cites many, many examples of Trump's turn-back-the-clock "agenda." This is a gift link. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I don't think Trump's preference for "the good old days" is primarily an exercise in conservatism or even in nostalgia for a false memory of a country that never existed. While it's certainly steeped in racism & misogyny & wealth-elitism, that's not really the half of it. Rather, what we're looking at is senility. The poor old duffer wants to go back to the days when a sporty car's dashboard was loaded with mechanial instruments, and it was not true that "Everything's computer!"
Linda Greenouse of the New York Times: “People of a certain age might remember the songwriter Jimmy Webb’s weirdly compelling 'MacArthur Park,' with its refrain that begins, 'MacArthur’s Park is melting in the dark.' Growing up in the east, I had never heard of MacArthur Park when the song hit the charts in 1968, and I wasn’t sure it was a real place. All these years later, something real is melting for sure. It is the glue that holds civil society together.”
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Lisa Friedman, et al., of the New York Times: “In an effort to shrink the federal government..., [Donald] Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps that are diluting the country’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, disaster experts say. Staff reductions, budget cuts and other changes made by the administration since January have already created holes at the National Weather Service, which forecasts and warns of dangerous weather. Mr. Trump’s budget proposal for the next fiscal year would close 10 laboratories run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that research the ways a warming planet is changing weather, among other things.... The president is also envisioning a dramatically scaled-down Federal Emergency Management Agency that would shift the costs of disaster response and recovery from the federal government to the states.... The federal government’s retrenchment arrives at a time when climate change is making extreme weather more frequent and severe. Last year, the United States experienced 27 disasters that cost more than $1 billion each.”
Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “Sunday’s FIFA Club World Cup final at MetLife Stadium [in New Jersey] ... was something of a test run for the World Cup, which will include many of the same top names in the sport playing on behalf of their national teams.... Some on Sunday cheered [Donald Trump's] attendance, chanted 'USA! USA!' and turned to take photos. But when he appeared on the jumbo screen during the national anthem, boos rose up before the camera quickly turned elsewhere. As Trump took the field with FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the match for the medal ceremony the crowd loudly booed Trump again as he pumped his fists and took the stage. Chelsea players gave one another confused looks as Trump continued to linger while they raised the trophy in celebration.... The World Cup is likely to bring a host of ... organizational and political challenges, especially amid the Trump administration’s harsh crackdown on immigration.” ~~~
~~~ David Gilmour of Mediaite: “FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s attempt to discreetly usher ... Donald Trump off the stage failed Sunday night, leaving Chelsea soccer players visibly baffled as Trump lingered and remained front and center during their ceremonial Club World Cup trophy lift. After handing team captain Reece James the trophy following Chelsea’s 3–0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain, Trump remained among the players – despite protocol dictating a swift exit.” MB: Viser does not make clear why Chelsea players were “confused.” Gilmour does. Trump is not going to miss a chance to bask in -- and appear to be part of --somebody else's glory.
Ha Ha. Colby Hall of Mediaite: “In a rare and telling moment, the president got ratioed [over the Epstein brouhaha] on the very social platform he owns, Truth Social, by the very MAGA loyalists he once could count on to amplify every post. So it’s not just the vocal MAGA influencers who aren’t buying it, it’s the very rabble he loves to rouse who are calling bullshit. For the uninitiated, getting 'ratioed' is social media shorthand for when a post receives far more replies than likes or reposts — usually a sign that the audience disagrees with, or is angry about the content.... The backlash [after Trump's post defending Pam Bondi] was immediate. The post was swarmed with angry and skeptical comments, vastly outnumbering the likes and reposts. This kind of ratio isn’t just a matter of bad optics — it’s a warning flare from Trump’s base. The digital loyalty he once commanded without question is now, at least on this issue, showing serious cracks.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is all SO stupid! These nitwits aren't upset Trump lies to them ten times a day; they aren't upset he has scammed them again and again with his cheesy merch; they aren't upset his megabill will do harm to them and their families; they aren't upset his goons are picking up & deporting mostly regular people, not criminals. Nope. They're upset they're not going to find out what they already know: that men associated with Jeffrey Epstein are skank.
~~~ Tom Sullivan of digby's Hullabaloo has more. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ AND Steve M. found a response to a Laura Loomer post that he writes, "is more revealing of the MAGA mindset than all the New York Times diner safaris and Trump-voter focus groups combined. For much of MAGA, there aren't multiple conspiracies. There's just one big conspiracy: the Deep State runs everything, and Donald Trump is tasked by God with dismantling it and bringing the malefactors to judgment.... The problem for Trump now is that his voters have been led to believe that the Epstein client list and the Deep State are exactly the same thing.... MAGA believes that Epstein was a procurer only for people MAGA hates, and that the entire Deep State was in on this, because child exploitation is central to how the rich and powerful operate.... Trump and the party established unrealistic expectations for their voters -- and now they're beginning to pay the price for that." MB: Steve's explanation makes sense, & it answers questions I raised along the lines of "Why would MAGA care about Epstein?" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Steve M. says the pipedream of MAGA falling apart over the Epstein files is not going to happen: "... Trump doesn't always determine what MAGA believes. MAGA turned against vaccines long before Trump did -- he continued to speak favorably about the COVID vaccines that were developed during his first administration until booing crowds persuaded him to stop. Trump also followed other right-wing influencers on subjects such as DEI and trans rights.... The right-wing grievance machine predates Trump's entry into politcs by decades, and will exist long after he's gone.... Trump seems to have been the party's sole leader for a decade, but he actually shares the leadership role now with the likes of Chris Rufo, Charlie Kirk, Chaya Raichik, and the Heritage Foundation, and the messages are channeled through Fox (for old people), purely ideological podcasts such as Steve Bannon's War Room for the middle-aged, and bro podcasts and social media posts for the young. And all this is bankrolled by billionaires who largely stay out of the public eye but ensure that culture wars steer voters to the GOP and the GOP directs money into their pockets. There's no crackup coming." ~~~
~~~ Marie: If you're wondering, "How could democracy fail like this?", I think Steve has your answer: a huge chuck of the voting public is unacquainted with reality. (And they are aided and abetted by another huge chunk who doesn't take the time to care.)
Your Tax Dollars -- Supporting Crazy Trump Conspiracy Theories. Naftali Bendavid of the Washington Post: “After ... Donald Trump wrongly suggested that Social Security funds were going to millions of dead people, his administration spent weeks revamping the agency’s database. When Trump seized on a debunked claim that South Africa’s government was systematically massacring White farmers, U.S. officials developed plans to resettle 1,000 of them. And in recent days, the Justice Department wrapped up an investigation that took several months and considerable FBI resources by announcing that — contrary to an internet conspiracy theory pushed by many Trump allies — the department was not concealing an explosive list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients and the alleged sex trafficker had not been secretly murdered. As the administration approaches its six-month mark, Trump officials have regularly shown they are willing to throw the machinery of government into gear — redirecting employees, spending taxpayer money and in some cases changing policy — in the service of conspiracy theories or easily disproven assertions.”
Tim Cunningham, who is a professional clown, objects in a Washington Post op-ed to all the characterizations of Donald Trump as a clown. “For centuries, clowns have been uniting people in laughter, levity and creativity. That’s what real clowns have to offer. If you’re still stuck on the broken comparison ingrained in our national dialogue, here’s an alternative: Try 'buffoon.'” MB: Cunningham probably doesn't appreciate “Fuckface von Clownstick,” either. Ah, well.
U.S.A., the Lonely Country. Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times: “Trade chaos is forcing America’s allies closer together, and further from the United States. And as that happens, the European Union is trying to position itself at the center of a new global trade map. The bloc learned this weekend that Washington would subject it to 30 percent tariffs starting Aug. 1. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the E.U. executive branch, responded with a pledge to keep negotiating ... [but also] would continue to draw up plans to hit back with force. But that was not the entire strategy. Europe, like many of the United States’ trading partners, is also looking for more reliable friends.... Just as ... [Donald] Trump threatens to put hefty tariffs on many countries, including Indonesia, the European Union is working to relax trade barriers and deepen economic relations. 'In hard times, some turn inward, toward isolation and fragmentation,' Ms. von der Leyen said. Then, in a message implicitly extended to world leaders who have been jolted by Mr. Trump’s tariffs, she added, 'You are always welcome here, and you can count on Europe.'” This appears to be a gift link.
David Fahrenthold, et al., of the New York Times: “Over the past six months, The New York Times has documented how [DOGE]’s Wall of Receipts, the only public accounting of DOGE’s work, has been plagued by errors. To understand why, The Times looked closely at claims submitted by the V.A., which has accounted for one of the highest totals of canceled contracts on the wall, but also some of its bigger mistakes. That analysis revealed two levels of failure, which only seemed to accelerate in recent weeks. The V.A. submitted a raft of flawed claims that inflated its progress. Then..., DOGE was supposed to fact-check these claims. Instead, The Times found, it amplified them.... The sole public source of information [-- the Wall of Receipts --] about one of the Trump administration’s most controversial and disruptive efforts remains unreliable six months into its work.”
Joe My God republishes a bit of a Bloomberg story: "Attorney General Pam Bondi has fired her personal ethics adviser, removing the Justice Department’s top official responsible for counseling the most senior political appointees, according to two people familiar with the move. Joseph Tirrell, a career attorney who’d spent nearly 20 years at the department, received a termination letter from Bondi July 11 that didn’t state a reason for his immediate removal from federal service." MB: I don't see the problem. Obviously, an ethics advisor whose job it was to advise "Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other DOJ leaders" is a complete waste of taxpayer dollars. Kinda like, say, if the government paid a fact-checker to advise Donald Trump (and other Trump staff).
Lizzie Johnson, et al., of the Washington Post: “... Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv a day after Trump said the United States would soon send Patriot missiles to Ukraine — marking an optimistic turn for the country in a brutal summer of deadly aerial attacks and demoralizing news from Washington.... While he had not 'agreed on the number yet,' Trump said the United States would soon send Patriots to Ukraine, paid for by the European Union, to help stop Russian missiles.”
Alyce McFadden of the New York Times: “Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, defended the federal government’s response on Sunday to catastrophic flooding in Texas that left more than 120 dead. She dismissed as 'absolutely false' reports that recent policy changes slowed the deployment of critical disaster aid. In an appearance on NBC’s 'Meet the Press,' Ms. Noem denied that a new policy requiring her personal approval for contracts larger than $100,000 had left Federal Emergency Management Agency call centers understaffed for days after floodwaters swept through Texas’ Hill Country on July 4 and 5. The New York Times reported that on July 6 and 7, thousands of calls to the agency went unanswered because hundreds of contractors had been fired when their contracts lapsed on July 5. 'False reporting, fake news,' Ms. Noem said. Experts and current and former FEMA employees have said the agency was slow to deploy response and search-and-rescue coordination teams. But Ms. Noem insisted that FEMA, which is a part of the Department of Homeland Security, had responded to the Texas flooding better than it had to any other disaster in 'many, many years' and dismissed claims to the contrary as attacks by the Trump administration’s political opponents.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Noem is sort of a comical liar. First, it's the media fault. Then somehow she knows that every prior FEMA operation was worse than the response to Texas flooding. Really? What are her criteria? Where are her data?
Paul Krugman: “... the call for mass deportations and/or imprisonment was based on a lie — the claim that America is facing a huge immigrant crime wave. 'They’re not a city of immigrants, they’re a city of criminals,' declared Kristi Noem about Los Angeles last month. Last week city officials reported that LA is on track to have the fewest homicides in 60 years.... According to the Miami Herald, only around a third of the people being held in 'Alligator Alcatraz' — a cute name, but it’s a concentration camp, pure and simple — have any kind of criminal conviction. Why aren’t they rounding up more undocumented criminals? Because that would be hard work, and anyway there aren’t that many of them.... And the Trumpies — for whom, as Adam Serwer famously observed, the cruelty is the point — are inadvertently humanizing immigrants for Americans who don’t have ... daily experience [with them].... Harsh anti-immigrant policies are looking like a political loser, not a winner.”
“A New Era of Hunger Has Begun.” Tracy Kidder in the New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s law, signed on Independence Day, is the latest and largest of all the cyclical attempts to reduce the size and cost of America’s so-called safety net — to winnow the various social programs established by President Lyndon Johnson’s 'Great Society' program. Among other things, the law begins to dismember the federal program once known as food stamps, now known, in an age of prolixity, as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The program distributes money for food — an average of $187 a month per person. About 42 million Americans rely on it.... Cutting SNAP will dramatically increase the pressure on food banks.... According to Feeding America, which oversees food banks across the country, SNAP [currently] provides nine times more food than all of its 200 food banks combined.... Because ... the funds are quickly spent..., each $1 in SNAP benefits adds as much as $1.50 to the country’s gross domestic product.”
Rebecca Solnit: "... too many of the powerful voices in this country are downplaying the crisis we're in, and that tamps down the reactions that could save us.... Two things under attack are the rule of law and the separation of powers, but the impact is largely downplayed.... Congress could take its powers back if it didn't have a submissive Republican majority in both houses.... The tariffs are now routinely treated as [Trump's] prerogative, rather than an illicit power grab (that we should be hounding Congress to fight or blaming for not fighting).... While most of the judiciary is upholding the rule of law, the rogue six in the Supreme Court are bending and twisting laws and precedents to hand unchecked power to the president... The Trumpists are increasingly disregarding the law.... ICE is given a shocking amount of money in the BBB, and the apparent plan is to have an unaccountable, lawless gangster army rove the streets of this country. I have not seen mainstream media stories on what this could look like, but I know authoritarianism comes when the authoritarian sweeps aside all limits on his power, all forms of accountability.... [The media are] downplaying Trump's massive corruption of his office...." Thanks to laura h. for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Charlie Savage & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is escalating his battle against Republican claims that he might not have been in control of high-profile clemency decisions issued under his name at the end of his term and, more generally, that his cognitive state impaired his functioning in office. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Biden said that he had orally granted all the pardons and commutations issued at the end of his term, calling ... [Donald] Trump and other Republicans 'liars' for claiming his aides had used an autopen to do so without his authorization.... Asked what evidence the Trump White House has that Mr. Biden did not authorize the clemency actions, a spokesman, Harrison Fields, said on Sunday that Mr. Biden 'should not be trusted,' adding, 'The truth will come out about who was, in fact, running the country.'” MB: IOW, No evidence.
Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: “For more than 60 years, the CIA claimed it had little or no knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. That wasn’t true, new documents unearthed by a House task force prove. The revelation raises further questions about the agency’s awareness of — or involvement in — the plot to murder the president. The documents confirm that George Joannides, a CIA agent based in Miami in 1963, was helping finance and oversee a group of Cuban students opposed to the ascension of Fidel Castro. Joannides had a covert assignment to manage anti-Castro propaganda and disrupt pro-Castro groups, even as the CIA was prohibited from domestic spying. The CIA-backed group known as DRE was aware of Oswald as he publicly promoted a pro-Castro policy for the U.S., and its members physically clashed with him three months before the assassination. And then, a DRE member said, Oswald approached them and offered his help, possibly to work as a mole within his pro-Castro group, the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. The CIA had long denied any involvement with the Cuban group, or any awareness of Oswald’s pro-Cuba advocacy.” The link is a gift link.
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Arizona. Felicia Fonseca & Jaimie Ding of the AP: “A fast-moving wildfire destroyed a historic lodge and dozens of other structures on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim, forcing officials to close access to that area for the season, the park said Sunday. The Grand Canyon Lodge, the only lodging inside the park at the North Rim, was consumed by the flames, park Superintendent Ed Keable told park residents, staff and others in a meeting Sunday morning. He said the visitor center, the gas station, a waste water treatment plant, an administrative building and some employee housing were among the 50 to 80 structures lost. 'Numerous' historic cabins in the area also were destroyed, the park said.... Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs [D] called on the federal government late Sunday to investigate the National Park Service’s response to the wildfire. 'They must first take aggressive action to end the wildfire and prevent further damage,' she said in a post on X. 'But Arizonans deserve answers for how this fire was allowed to decimate the Grand Canyon National Park.'”
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France. Roger Cohen of the New York Times: “President Emmanuel Macron of France, painting a somber picture of a threatening world, announced a sharp increase in military spending on Sunday in his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday. 'Our freedom has never been so threatened,' Mr. Macron said. 'There are no more rules, it’s the law of the strongest that wins.' In this context, he added, 'We Europeans must assure our security ourselves.' His speech amounted to the strongest statement yet of the French view that old partnerships, particularly with ... [Donald] Trump’s America, have eroded; that the threat from Russia is acute; and that inhibitions over recourse to force in the world have disappeared. 'You have to be feared in this world,' Mr. Macron said. 'And to be feared you have to be strong.' He added that 'American disengagement' left Europe with no choice but to defend itself. Mr. Macron announced that, given the mounting threats, military spending would accelerate to reach $74.8 billion by 2027, when Mr. Macron, who is term limited, will leave office.... Military spending stood at $37.64 billion in 2017 when Mr. Macron took office, so it will in effect have doubled in a decade. But it still represents only 2 percent of total economic output today.”
Israel/Palestine. Miriam Berger, et al., of the Washington Post: “Ten people, many of them children, were killed in a strike at a water distribution site in central Gaza on Sunday, local health officials said, in a deadly incident the Israeli military said was the result of a 'technical error' with a munition.... The Israel Defense Forces said it launched “a strike targeting an Islamic Jihad terrorist” on Sunday, but that 'as a result of a technical error with the munition, the munition fell dozens of meters from the target.' The Israeli military said it was 'aware of the claim regarding casualties' and is investigating the incident. 'The IDF regrets any harm to uninvolved civilians.'”
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Reader Comments (17)
The Epstein brouhaha is just more proof that distractions aren't always a cynical Rightist ploy designed to distract the body politic from the real issues the Right would rather ignore. Instead, distractions, real or imagined, comprise the world the Right lives in.
The Deep State. The invasion of hordes of criminal immigrants. Pedophilic Democrats. The contrails that are killing us. Vaccines and autism. Take your pick. They define Rightwing world. Nuts is where they live.
Thursday Good Trouble
Those soccer players found out what the Fox and Friends already knew, it us hard to get rid of Trump. He doesn't really do anything despite being president and is the guy at the party that cannot take the hint of it being time for him to leave. Also he loves basking in other people's glory because he is a narcissist and most of his glories are shallow and fake. But you can't just hang up on Trump when he is there in person. Donnie you're out of your element.
"Why Kristi Noem hates FEMA
Mainstream media reports that Donald Trump has “backed away” or “scrapped” plans to destroy the Federal Emergency Management Agency are greatly exaggerated. Trump is just doing what he always does when faced with intense public scrutiny of his unpopular positions: Lying. As usual, he will go right back to doing the bad thing as soon as the news cycle moves on to something else.
To people outside of the paranoid MAGA conspiracist bubble, Noem’s obsession with destroying FEMA makes no sense. The mission of FEMA is broadly popular, with 8 in 10 Americans agreeing that the federal government should have a “major role” in helping Americans after a disaster.
But this is a White House that feels beholden to loony far-right conspiracy theorists, and not ordinary Americans. That’s why they’re embracing fringe ideas, from mass deportations to taking away vaccines, that most people reject. Killing FEMA has been a long-time goal of the crank right, especially those with white nationalist leanings. That’s a big reason Noem and Trump want to end the agency."
From Jeanna Smialek of the NYT above:
"Europe, like many of the United States’ trading partners, is also looking for more reliable friends."
The oval office occupier is destroying every last bit of goodwill our country has built over the last 80 years.
Stupid v Evil
In 1943, the first Hitler executed a theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Bonhoeffer had no use for the Nazis’ vilification of Jews and anyone who didn’t goose step along with Hitler’s every narcissistic, hate fueled whim. He had to disappear.
During his time in prison awaiting execution, Bonhoeffer wrote down his thoughts on the general state of things in the Third Reich. A lot of what he had to say applies equally well to the Reich of the current fascist dictator.
I read today that Stoopid Eric has announced that he may decide to be dictator after Fat Hitler goose steps off. He believes it’ll be a piece of cake.
Then I thought of the clips I saw of all those idiots in Texas who were up in arms about Joe Biden handing them $10 million for a flood alert system, screeching that he was a no good Commie and that god would hate them for taking his dirty money.
Now I hear that Jeffrey Epstein was somehow an Israeli secret agent (because aren’t Jews to blame for everything?).
Top this off with the millions of morons who voted to put that dangerous lunatic back in office after everything they know about him—the lies, the fraud convictions, the rape conviction, the Covid disaster!
It’s a plague of Stoopid.
Bonhoeffer had some thoughts on stupidity:
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease.
Against stupidity we are defenseless.
Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.
For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous…”
Bonhoeffer goes on to suggest that stupid people are even more dangerous than evil ones. As he points out, evil creates a psychological unease that can lead to its destruction.
But not stupidity. The stupid person believes they are doing good, that they are righteous, and that others are evil for not seeing things the way they do.
Sound familiar? But as I’m reading this. I’m thinking, “Yeah, but what if the stupids are led by evil? Then I came to this:
“The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.”
And that’s where we are today.
MAGA cannot be reasoned with. They will excuse pretty much anything as long as their worldview can remain intact.
Evil knows this.
And it’s not just MAGAts who are susceptible to stupidity. As pointed out in Laura’s linked piece, media types who downplay the existential crisis we are in are just as stupid as some drooling MAGA moron. As Bonhoeffer indicates, very smart people can also be stupid.
And as long as stupidity reigns, evil is having a field day.
Say hello to President Eric the Stoopid, or someone just as moronic.
Christ. We’re fucked. It would be great if Democrats got it together to put up a good fight, but as long as the media remains mired in the stupid, that fight is a lot harder.
Bonhoeffer recognized this as the first Hitler hanged him alongside a resistance fighter and an honest judge.
You can bet Himmler Miller is planning on some hangings of his own.
It’s not so much stupid versus evil, it’s stupid following evil that we have to worry about.
Joshua Tait, in The Bulwark, writes a pretty detailed essay on Curtis Yarvin's influence Cranky Yearnings
"Yarvin’s not a serious theorist. Philosophers, historians, public intellectuals, and even rival right-wing thinkers tend to dismiss him rather than take his worldview seriously. Despite his earnest efforts, his cobbled-together, gonzo theories won’t leave behind a school of thought. We won’t be reckoning with the implications of his ideas for decades to come. Indeed, we wouldn’t be doing it now if it weren’t for the need to explain Trump. Yarvin parlayed scores of ten-thousandword posts into the simulation of an intellectual career. Jury-rigged from sources he’d gleaned online, Yarvin’s thought exists entirely divorced from the ivory tower he resents. He’s a subject, not an interlocutor.
....
As is the case for virtually all would-be intellectuals, Yarvin’s influence is indirect. But it is real. So, while I am skeptical of Yarvin as a Rasputin-like figure, I do think Yarvin has played a role in encouraging the direction of right-wing politics at an elite level and in creating permission structures, especially for major investors and influencers in Silicon Valley, to embrace Trumpian politics.
By permission structure, I mean a framework that provides justifications that allow someone to change their views and behaviors.
Yarvin provides permission structures in at least three places: first, in rejecting mainstream norms about information; second, in his calls for DOGE-like cuts to the government; and third, in legitimizing Donald Trump’s autocratic tendencies."
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07/14/us/trump-news
Typical bluster, but...
https://www.worldstopexports.com/us-most-valuable-imports-exports-with-russia/
The very definition of any empty threat.
Group Therapy
Erasers to the rescue!
My guess is that the fat pedophile (can you even believe how far we’ve fallen that a rapist and pedophile is in the White House?) will instruct Eva Braun Bondi to release a bowdlerized version of the Epstein File with all mention of him scrubbed from little black books, appointment notes, flight logs, etc. and for the official storyline to be that all the dozens of photos of Fatty partying with Epstein be declared deep state fakery.
Nothing to see here.
After reading about Curtis Yarvin, Ross Douthat's interview with Peter Thiel a couple of weeks ago, the plague of Stoopid Akhilleus points out ^^^, then hearing gobbledygook about trade from the president* on the tv news, this long and cranky essay by Edward Zitron, writing in his newletter Where's Your Ed At, caught my attention. Zitron is described as a journalist and critic of the tech industry and especially AI.
Make Fun of Them
"It’s tempting to believe that there is some sort of intellectual barrier between you and the powerful — that the confusing and obtuse way that they speak is the sound of genius, rather than somebody who has learned a lot of smart-sounding words without ever learning what they mean.
....
These [AI] companies are predominantly unprofitable, perpetually searching for product-market fit, and even when they find it, seem incapable of generating revenue numbers that remotely justify their valuations.
....
What we’re watching is a mountain of waste perpetuated by the least-charming failsons of our generation. Nobody should be giving Satya Nadella or Sam Altman a glossy profile — they should be asking direct, brutal questions, much like Joanna Stern just did of Apple’s Craig Federighi, who had absolutely fucking nothing to share because he has never been pushed like this.
Put aside the money for a second and be honest: these men are pathetic, unimpressive, uninventive, and dreadfully, dreadfully boring. Anthropic’s Wario (Sorry, Dario) Amodei and OpenAI’s Sam Altman have far more in common with televangelist Joel Olstein than they’ll ever have with Steve Jobs or any number of people that have actually invented things, and they got that way because we took them seriously instead of saying “wait, what do you mean?” To a single one of their wrongheaded, oafish and dim-witted hype-burps. "
The latest c.s. moves by the Supremes and the executive.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07/14/us/trump-news?
Name 5 things you accomplished for the federal government thus week.
Fat Hitler celebrates another golf championship. What does FH as president do other than blindly sign anything put in front of him by the ghouls actually in charge? The rest is just celebrity tweeting.
"Two-thirds of the DOJ unit defending Trump policies in court have quit
"Many of these people came to work at Federal Programs to defend aspects of our constitutional system," said one lawyer who left the unit during Trump's second term. "How could they participate in the project of tearing it down?"
The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies - such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University - has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to a list seen by Reuters.
Sixty-nine of the roughly 110 lawyers in the Federal Programs Branch have voluntarily left the unit since President Donald Trump's election in November or have announced plans to leave, according to the list compiled by former Justice Department lawyers and reviewed by Reuters."
FIFA Champs Got Replica Trophy, Trump Kept Original
"President Trump has revealed that the champions of the Club World Cup won’t be getting the original trophy, because he’s keeping it. English club Chelsea easily dispatched France’s Paris Saint-Germain in the final of the tournament in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday, with Trump joining the players for the trophy lift—much to their confusion.
It has since been revealed that the intricate prize hoisted aloft by the London club’s captain, Reece James, was a replica because the president of football’s governing body, FIFA, has let Trump use the original as an ornament in the Oval Office.
“They [FIFA] said: ‘Could you hold this trophy for a little while?’ We put it in the Oval Office and then I said: ‘When are you going to pick up the trophy’, and [FIFA President Gianni Infantino] said: ‘We’re never going to pick it up, you can have it forever in the Oval Office,’” Trump explained in a mid-game chat with the broadcaster, DAZN.
He then revealed to reporter Emily Austin that the victor, Chelsea, actually received a replica of the original for winning the tournament.
The Athletic was among several outlets to report that Infantino kept a medal aside for his friend, handing it to him after the trophy-lifting ceremony."
The corrupt bowing to the corrupt.
Will the Olympics make duplicate gold medals for each contest so that he can show the medals off as his own, next to the golf and world cup trophies and fake Time covers and what not (and take it all home in 01/29 .... assuming he goes home). A small thing compared to all the damage he is doing but a perfect symbol of how he must view the presidency. What a sicko and embarassment.
Guaranteed gulags:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/07/14/ice-trump-undocumented-immigrants-bond-hearings/?
Private prisons' wet dream.