What Mandate?
49.9%
50.1%
“It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up. You know, it’s very hard.”
ABC Caves
WaPo, The LA Times, Morning Joe, and now ABC caves. ABC agreed to pay $15M to settle a lawsuit it was almost certain to win. The tribute to a nonexistent Trump library sure looks like another case of commercial media’s “anticipatory obedience.” On This Week, George Stephanopoulos pressed Nancy Mace on why she, as a victim of sexual assault, would support a candidate who was “found liable for rape.” A jury concluded that Trump digitally penetrated E. Jean Carroll, whereas New York’s strict legal definition requires penile penetration. The trial judge, Lewis Kaplan, declared the act to be “rape” as it is commonly interpreted. “The finding that Ms. Carroll failed to prove that she was “raped” within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump “raped” her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’ Indeed, as the evidence at trial recounted below makes clear, the jury found that Mr. Trump in fact did exactly that.” News organizations have resisted frivolous libel suits because they know that once they’ve conceded to one of them, others will follow. Trump has another frivolous suit before a MAGA judge in North Texas against CBS for election interference by favorably editing the Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview. Trump has now filed suit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling firm, and the Des Moines Register, whose pre-election Iowa poll gave false hope to Dems but was a total fail (CNN). Trump has long railed against New York Times v. Sullivan, which applies a higher standard of “actual malice” when adjudicating libel of public figures. He would like nothing better than for the current MAGA SCOTUS to reverse it. (Public Notice)
Party Like 1899
Well, that didn’t last long. Within days of victory, Trumpist reactionaries were gloating about implementing Project 2025. One example of many: right-wingnut pod boy Matt Walsh wrote on Xitter, “Now that the election is over I think we can finally say that yeah actually Project 2025 is the agenda. Lol.” Trump wasted no time appointing creatures from the rightwing swamp associated with the plan to “rescue the country” by creating an Imperial Presidency, replacing a professional civil service with a spoils system, and weakening independent media.
misogynoir
“I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. Sick people. Radical left. Lunatics. And it should be very easily handled by — if necessary — National Guard or, if really necessary, by military.”
Trump to His Cult Followers on Faux News
Der FührerundLebensraum
Chaos, Corruption, Cruelty
Following DonOLD’s lead, the MAGAts falsely blamed the southern border for the New Year’s Day terrorist attacks, railing against President Biden’s immigration policies. However, the ISIS sympathizer who drove his truck into a crowd in New Orleans, killing at least 15 people, has been identified as Shamsud-Din Jabbar — a U.S. citizen and Army vet from Texas. Matthew Livelsberger, the Tesla Cybertruck driver who triggered the fiery explosion outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, was a Green Beret from Colorado. Moreover, Livelsberger appears to have been a right-wingnut, who left a note calling the attack a “wake-up call.” “Try peaceful means first,” he wrote, “but be prepared to fight to get the Dems out of the fed government and military by any means necessary. They all must go and a hard reset must occur for our country to avoid collapse.” (Nevada Current)
- The future president is a billionaire.
- The future shadow president, charged with cutting $2T from the U.S. budget, is the world’s richest man.
- The future secretary of commerce is a billionaire.
- The future secretary of the treasury is a billionaire.
- The future secretary of the interior is a billionaire.
- The future secretary of education is a billionaire.
- The future administrator of the Small Business Administration
- The future director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) is a billionaire.
- The future AI and Crypto Czar (WTF?) is a billionaire.
- The future Middle East envoy is a billionaire.
- The future NASA administrator is a billionaire.
- The deputy secretary of defense is a billionaire.
- The future head of Social Security is an almost billionaire.
- The future ambassador to France is a billionaire.
- The future ambassador to the United Kingdom is a billionaire.
- The future ambassador to Turkey is a billionaire.
PolitiFact announced it’s lie of the year and in no surprise it went to His Lieness DonOLD Trump and Swarmy What’s-His-Name-Now. With so many to choose from PolitiFact opted for the lie about the diet of Haitian immigrants. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs,” Trump said while losing the debate to Harris. “The people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in our country. And it’s a shame.” Swarmy Vance even admitted his dishonesty, saying “I have to create stories” to get the media’s attention. In the fifteen year history of the award, the Lying GOAT has won the laurels four times, while figuring prominently three other years. (PolitiFact)
Return of the “stable genius.”
To implement his populist agenda, Don the Con has assembled an administration worth over $360B, higher than the GDP of Finland, Chile, or New Zealand. Excluding Shadow President Elon Musk, DoGE Bro Ramaswarmy, and The Don himself, there are 11 billionaires in Trump’s Reich Chancellery. Their total net worth is about $23B. The total net worth of Biden’s Cabinet was about $118 million. The Don’s government is pay to play. Business Insider lists 40 Trump megadonors who will want return on investment. Musk spent $44B to buy the failing Xitter but only $278M to buy the presidency. Much of Musk’s wealth was abetted by government help. If he can convince The Don to send undocumented immigrants to Mars via SpaceX, Musk could reap upwards of $250B.