Unsightly Mental Blemishes

I’ve been half-watching CNN and other media today as I worked and attended to other things, and so I’ve noted reporting on the alleged wannabe Presidential assassin’s social media writings, note to family members, etc, if in passing, but it’s all sounded very convincing as to the authenticity of the incident.

And then I see something like this:

Two hours after the shooting, Trump, still dressed in his tuxedo and standing alongside multiple members of his Cabinet in the White House press briefing room, said his plans for the 90,000-square-foot ballroom, which is currently tied up in litigation, must move forward.

“It’s drone-proof, it’s bulletproof glass. We need the ballroom,” Trump said. “That’s why [the] Secret Service, that’s why the military are demanding it.” …

But according to Trump, building his ballroom is the panacea for stopping those who want to do him, or any president, harm. [MS NOW]

And all my intuition, ready to be convinced by the reporting, reverts back to Hollywood script. And then notes how well this can play into Trump’s egotistical need to build a ballroom to replace the East Wing.

Yeah, yeah, I’m sure this isn’t a conspiracy.

But the circumstantial evidence is startling.

Maybe I need more startle-reflex therapy.

Remember the Administration’s gold card proposal, wherein for $5 million a wannabe immigrant could have immediate citizenship? How’s that going?

President Donald Trump’s “gold card” visa, where a foreigner can shell out at least $1 million to legally live and work in the U.S., has been approved for one person, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Thursday — appearing to fall a bit short of an earlier claim.

After it launched in December, Lutnick said that the government had sold $1.3 billion “worth” in just several days, as Trump stood by holding up the gilded ticket and said, “essentially it’s the green card on steroids.”

Lutnick did not address the apparent discrepancy in an exchange with a congresswoman at Thursday’s committee hearing. [AP]

That’s what I’d call a commentary on the desirability of the United States as a permanent home under the Republicans.

Buff:

• noun, informal
  a person who knows a lot about and is very interested in a particular subject:
  a computer/opera/film buff
• adjective
  of a pale, yellowish-brown colour:
  a buff envelope
  
• adjective
  If a man is buff, he has a body that is a good shape, and looks as if he has done a lot of exercise:
  He was spotted on the beach looking extremely buff.
• verb
  To rub an object made of metal, wood, or leather in order to make it shine, using a soft, dry cloth
• [etc] [Cambridge Dictionary]

I wonder if younger readers know this meaning of buff, seeing as I hadn’t run across it myself in decades. Noted in this Stephen Colbert / Pete Buttigieg half-interview.

Pete continues to impress as a guest.

This story is not in what’s said, but what’s implied:

A new Fox News poll found Democrats have the edge over Republicans on economic issues for the first time since 2010.

The survey, released Wednesday, found that 52 percent of respondents think Democrats would do a better job on the economy, while 48 percent backed Republicans on the issue.

The last time Fox News recorded a Democratic edge on the economy, it was May 2010 — as the country was emerging from the Great Recession. Since then, the outlet had conducted 10 polls on the subject until the latest one, with the GOP holding the advantage on each and holding as high as a 15-point edge on the economy in January 2022 and February 2023. [The Hill]

What’s important here?

• Fox News polls generally rank highly in terms of accuracy.
• Fox News is best thought of as a conservative news organ, although with some important cracks in the facade, such as making moderate, gay Democrat Pete Buttigieg a frequent guest during the Biden Administration, when he was Secretary of the Department of Transportation.
• The implied trend line is towards the Democrats.

Those readers who know the economy under Democratic management has, for decades, done better than under Republican management, and are shrugging at this story are missing the real point: Most voters make decisions based on personal perceptions, not on research. Nation-wide price research? Stock market valuations?

No.

What are the prices down at the grocery store? How are my stocks or mutual funds doing?

This result suggests the independents, and even parts of the Republican base, are realizing the Republicans really are a pack of fourth-raters.

And they’re led by Mr Amateur-hour himself, President Trump.

So the implied story is that cowering in front of a bully doesn’t appease them, it simply whets their appetite for more. I’ll add that training your voters to disregard such issues as competence, honesty, and credentials in favor of a list of positions on such issues as abortion, transgender, gay marriage, and many others I’ve discussed on this blog will result in voters who’ve lost the facility to assess candidates based on the critical attributes that we want in our leaders, local and national, and this is happening in the Age of Information.

I’ll add that this is a vulnerability no matter whether you lean left or right. Confirmation bias and ego-needs, emotional manipulation and informational deception are devilish tactics, and some folks might be better served ignoring Web-based news sources in favor of a local news source that may be in danger of collapsing, or being bought out.

Are the Republicans capable of recognizing the vast damage inflicted upon them by Donald J. Trump? Or will the Republicans sink into the swamp, being replaced by moderate Republicans flying a new flag?

I’m betting on the latter. It’ll take a few years, probably. But that’s where I’d put my $5.

Amateurism strikes again, I suppose, on this thread concerning the company Anthropic’s moral principles and the lack thereof on the part of the Trump Administration:

An artificial intelligence researcher hired by the Commerce Department to run a key federal technology center lasted just four days on the job before being replaced, according to four people familiar with the situation.

Collin Burns, who previously worked at the AI firm Anthropic, started work Monday at the Center for AI Standards and Innovation but was pushed out Thursday by the White House, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations.

Officials were concerned about Burns having worked at the AI company, which has fought bitterly with the Trump administration in recent months, according to one of the people and another person. That person said some senior figures at the White House had not been briefed on Burns’s selection in advance, and were concerned about anyone from a major lab being in a position required to work so closely with the industry. [WaPo]

While some may argue that the Administration did the right thing, it’s really nothing more than guilt through association. Like a Mafia organization, Trump didn’t get what he wanted from Anthropic, and so anyone with an association with Anthropic will be made to pay. Defiance of a bully carries a certain charm; Trump’s Administration is trying to make that charm unaffordable.

They won’t win with Anthropic, I’d guess, but the real targets are tomorrow’s vendors, who must be made to understand that they will cater to Trump’s every need, or they face commercial extinction.

Probably not, but emphasis on probably. I’m referring to an apparent attempted assassination of President Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner:

Former Senator Kerry has some nasty humor that I wasn’t expecting:

It made me laugh.

While watching, I looked up the former Secretary of State, and he’s the very pinnacle of privilege.

Yet he served in the Navy, front line, took wounds, and won medals. An impressive showing.

“Could be a mummy. Could be full of beetles. The Egyptians had a grotesque sense of humor. One tomb we opened years ago was full of … Play-Doh. We lost three men that day. Why do I keep coming on these expeditions?”
“Because you throw your money away on cursed monkey paws. Now please shut up!”

The Pharaoh’s Curse (1957) is part of the never-ending cauldron of cursed life that are the royal families of Egypt; or, an addition to the legions of deathly curses. British Captain Storm,, stationed in Cairo, is sent to fetch an archaeological team home from its unsanctioned dig in the desert. Hampered by a mysterious Egyptian lady and someone’s sabotage, Captain Storm and his team fight their way through the Arizona desert, at a guess, and arrives just in time to witness the first curse of the game, as the American archaeological team is too avaricious to take the standard-issue warning, from way too long ago, seriously.

Their Egyptian assistant goes down, fights for his life, but fulfills his destiny of becoming a dried up withered husk overnight.

Despite this salutary lesson, Dr. Quentin and his team, not including his wife, who came with Captain Storm, but does little of importance in this story, continue scrabbling about the maze of tunnels, searching for the tomb of Rahateb, and have the profound bad luck of finding it. That costs a life or two, including that of the frantic Dr. Quentin, and the rest finally take the hint and leave with what little dignity is left them.

The cinematography was nice. My Arts Editor loathed what passed for the funerary Egyptian art. The actors tried, but the characters don’t become three dimensional, just dull cardboard. I liked the French artist drawing pictures of the dig site, but not much else. The plot doesn’t really take the role of motivation seriously, and it all becomes a dreary mess.

Don’t bother.

The Words Of Wise Guys

Long-time readers know I don’t much care for Senator Tuberville (R-AL). His seat in the Senate has been little more than a trophy, although he did abuse it to interfere with military promotions during the Biden Administration when the military promised to transport service members who need abortions to locations that would provide them.

But, as he prepares to leave the Senate for a gubernatorial run, he couldn’t keep toeing the Republican line.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) said Wednesday the Republican Party was fractured and has not accomplished “anything” despite their majority in both the House and Senate.

“Everything that goes on up here … is about, ‘Oh, we got to get reelected. We got to keep the majority.’ Well, hell, we ain’t done anything in the majority. Why would she, why would, should we keep majority?” Tuberville said during a Wednesday appearance on Benny Johnson’s podcast. [The Hill]

In a Republican controlled Congress of which House Speaker Johnson (R-LA) claimed high productivity, the Senator has provided an unexpected breath of fresh air: a House not really under Johnson’s control, between the grasping Trump and the various House members who refuse to cooperate, or have resigned, makes it hard to be productive. Given the shift in the character of the Republicans in just the last few years, it’s not surprising that they find it hard to agree, to compromise; when the shift involves power-hungry politicos that really don’t seem to grasp that they’ve signed up for big responsibilities, and not big prizes, their failure should not surprise.

Can the GOP caucus in the legislature pull it together in the end?

However, Trump has said he’ll focus on campaigning for GOP Senate lawmakers facing reelection bids to secure the party’s majority amid midterm elections.

I’ll say it again: Trump is a burden on conservatives, because he’s not a conservative. He’s a grifter with acting skills. But folks are figuring that out.

Including the GOP, as this Politico article delivers.

There’s a growing anxiety gnawing at battleground Republicans: Maybe their Senate majority isn’t as safe as they once thought.

Democrats still face steep odds in their bid to flip the chamber, but interviews with nearly two dozen GOP operatives, party chairs and strategists across the country’s battlegrounds found a persistent concern that the longer the Iran war drags on and the economy sputters, the more it could complicate their path to keeping their majority in November.

This May Not End Well

This sounds like it may end in corruption charges for someone – or some well-heeled donors will come looking for someone’s head.

… the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which paid Better Mousetrap Digital more than $117,000 in “digital fundraising fees” from November through February. The NRSC did not respond to questions about why it continues doing business with Daly and if it plans to continue paying Better Mousetrap Digital for services. [NOTUS]

Better Mousetrap Digital is run by Jack Daly, who reportedly plead guilty to fraud charges, as explained at the above link. Is the Republican Senatorial Committee sinking into chaos, confusion, and corruption? And what will that mean for funding Senate candidates if emergencies arise, as may happen with an angry electorate? How will conservative voters react if this becomes a big story in conservative circles?

Back to the minutiae of life.

• In the last update, Data For Progress listed the top three Michigan Democratic primary candidates as essentially tied. The more than respectable Emerson College Polling disagrees:
  

  A new Emerson College Polling/WOOD-TV survey of Michigan likely primary voters finds 24% support Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow in the August Democratic U.S. Senate Primary, while 13% support Haley Stevens. Thirty-six percent are undecided. Support for El-Sayed increased eight points since the January Emerson College poll, while support for McMorrow increased two points and support for Stevens decreased four points.

  An eight point jump for El-Sayed is attention-getting, of course; he lists his religion as Islam, so the Islamophobe wing of the Republicans seem likely to pick up on that and attempt to bring it to the attention of Michigan independents. Or they may wait until after the primary, which is on 4 August.

  For those voters who consider experience important, El-Sayed does not seem to have served in elective office, while McMorrow is a member of the Michigan Senate, and Rep Stevens is a member of the US House of Representatives.

  In the same Emerson College poll, former Rep Mike Rogers (R) leads the Michigan Republican primary field by 53 points. I don’t see any of his fellow Republicans catching him unless self-inflicted wounds appear on Rogers’ hide. Whether his big primary lead will translate into enough votes in the general election is another matter.

• In Texas, the Democrats are not about to be shut out in the money game:
  

  State Rep. James Talarico raised $27 million in the first three months of 2026 in his bid to flip Texas, according to his campaign.

  The Austin Democrat’s haul is the largest-ever sum for a Senate candidate — in any state — in the first quarter of an election year. He outraised other Democrats this cycle who posted impressive hauls of their own in competitive Senate races where Democrats have better odds, including Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, and more than doubled the totals of former Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola.

  Talarico significantly outpaced Texas’ last two Democratic Senate candidates to win their primaries outright — both strong fundraisers. Colin Allred raised over $9.5 million in the first quarter of 2024, and Beto O’Rourke brought in $6.7 million in 2018 — though both ultimately lost. [The Texas Tribune]

  Notably, Talarico won the Democratic primary outright, beating Rep Crockett (D), while the Republican primary has resulted in a runoff. But, as I’ve said before, money does not buy votes. It gets a candidate’s voice out there, but mature voters will analyze positions and try to assess honesty, and not be influenced by sheer volume or entertainment value. Or so I’d like to believe.

  And, of course, money flows across borders relatively easily. So does this mean all that much?

  Talarico also continued his streak of outraising his potential Republican opponents, tripling Sen. John Cornyn’s haul and beating Attorney General Ken Paxton by twelvefold. Cornyn, who is locked in a bitter runoff battle with Paxton, raised nearly $9 million in the first quarter across his fundraising apparatus, including $3.4 million in the weeks after the primary, his campaign announced. Paxton raised $2.2 million.

  It’s tempting to say No, and tempting to say Yes. Neither applies without context, so here’s a heaping spoonful of context:

  The $27 million quarter brings Talarico’s total fundraising for the race, since he got in last September, to over $40 million. Talarico’s campaign said that over the course of the race, he has received donations from over 540,000 individual contributors, and from 246 of Texas’ 254 counties, according to his campaign.

  That’s somewhere in the $74 per contributor range, suggesting the contributors are not rich people trying to influence the race, but middle class folks contributing to someone they approve of.

• The venerable University of New Hampshire polled the New Hampshire Senate seat potential contests of Rep Pappas (D-NH) vs former Senator Sununu (R-NH) and vs former Senator Brown (R-MA during his single term in the Senate, now R-NH), finding Pappas leads Brown by 14 points, 52-38, and Sununu by 7 points, 49-42. Pappas has a large primary lead, while Sununu leads Brown by 37 points. At this snapshot of voter sentiment, it’ll be Pappas vs Sununu.The primary is on September 8, a long ways off.
• University of New Hampshire polled the Rhode Island Senate seat contests, potential and otherwise. Incumbent Senator Reed (D) leads primary challenger Burbridge (D), 65-15; Republican primary polling results were not mentioned. In the potential contest of Reed vs Raymond McKay (R), Reed holds a 52-34 lead.

  The primary is on September 9. Careful readers will note the variance with New Hampshire, above. My reference is Ballotpedia.

• University of New Hampshire polled the Massachusetts Senate seat contests, potential and otherwise. Senator Markey (D) holds comfortable leads over challenger Rep Moulton (D) and Republican likely nominee John Deaton.

  The primary is September 1.

• Alaska Survey Research has Alaska’s former Rep Peltola (D) leading incumbent Senator Sullivan (R) 49-43. That must be an unwelcome surprise in this red state.

And back to the spring gardening.

A month and a half ago I experienced a meltdown of my primary computer; a local computer repair shop could not repair it, and were a bit slow in informing me. A week or so ago I placed an order for a new computer equipped with the latest Fedora release of Linux, because at this age I want to skip the mucking about with Windows anything and the mucking about with installing Fedora. I asked them to salvage the hard drives and graphics card; on their own, they tried to access the SDD and, where the first shop failed, they succeeded. As the SDD was all over the place at the first shop, both the shop and I think they just got a bit lucky; they grasped the luck bull by both horns and pulled backups of /home.

After one false start, it appears their work has been successful. Vivaldi’s being stubborn about my home page, and I’m not near to finishing installing the backup, but at last I’m not slowed down by the work computer I’ve had to substitute.

What does this mean for you? Nothing? Not quite. I have access to my cache of pictures, which are mostly of our backyard. They’ll be inserted into random posts again. If I’m still happy in a few days, I’ll mention the name of the place. They’re new and need the business traffic, I’m sure.

And I’ll be less cranky now.

From a recent AP/ NORC poll:

Yes, the President is closing in on the hallowed negative number territory of electorate approval. Will he take responsibility for this historic failure? Well, judging from his reaction to the narrow Democratic victory in Virginia’s referendum on redistricting,

A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA! All day long Republicans were winning, the Spirit was unbelievable, until the very end when, of course, there was a massive ‘Mail In Ballot Drop!’ Where have I heard that before — And the Democrats eked out another Crooked Victory! … Let’s see if the Courts will fix this travesty of ‘Justice.’ [Truth Social via Maddowblog for technical reasons]

… I’d say no.

It’s all he knows, lie and lie and lie, so when I see a frantic appeal to confirmation bias, I don’t feel any need to wait for a confirmation, or denial, from Virginia Elections, that the events happened as he claims.

I particularly like … the Spirit was unbelievable … because, for those of us who consider what’s said, it appears to be a claim that the Christian Holy Spirit can be defeated by cheaters.

That ain’t Godly. That’s blasphemy. Or there’s no Divine. Trump puts himself in a lose-lose situation with that one.

In any case, the lyin’ President appears to be swirlin’ about in a toilet flush of his lies. Prosecutors await him at one exit, angry citizens, including MAGA and former MAGA, at another – and he has to take one of them.

Arrant:

• downright; thorough; unmitigated; notorious.
  an arrant fool.
• wandering; errant. [Dictionary.com]

I don’t often reference myself. “Telling It Like It Is,” Hue White, Unsightly Mental Blemishes:

His failure to attain regime change has left [President Trump], despite copious bombast, looking like a loser, an amateur-hour loser. No glory, no victory, just a bum who should never have been elected. In his cancellation of the JCPOA, aka the Iran nuclear deal of the Obama era, his defeat really approaches ‘utter,’ doesn’t it? Only in the American Civil War have we seen such arrant incompetence.

In the famous Hollywood movie Trump vs Iran, the two sides are not struggling over the same prize. In a Joe Scarborough interview, David Ignatius demonstrates he gets it:

[President Trump’s] only real option becomes negotiating a way out. And the Iranians see that — that he needs an exit more than they do. For Iran, you don’t have to win this war, you just have to survive. And that’s what they’re doing. That’s why they have the leverage right now.

It’s an important point, perhaps the most important point to realize before Trump entered into this war. Given the perceived military advantages, he needed to have a quick, painless regime change in order to be the victorious leader; they only needed to survive, a principle laid down long ago by General Sun Tzu in The Art of War.

His failure to attain regime change has left him, despite copious bombast, looking like a loser, an amateur-hour loser. No glory, no victory, just a bum who should never have been elected. In his cancellation of the JCPOA, aka the Iran nuclear deal of the Obama era, his defeat really approaches ‘utter,’ doesn’t it? Only in the American Civil War have we seen such arrant incompetence.

In Roman times, failed generals often didn’t have to be executed, they died on the battlefield, sometimes purposefully.

In any case, I like the brevity of Mr Ignatius summary.

I’ve been noting members of Trump’s 2.0 Cabinet falling off, and now the Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R), is leaving for a private sector job. Much like AG Bondi and DHS‘s Kristi Noem, a cloud is following her around:

Accusations that Chavez-DeRemer had engaged in misconduct, including personal travel during taxpayer-funded trips, surfaced in a complaint filed with the Labor Department’s inspector general that was first reported by the New York Post. The complaint led to the suspension of several top aides and surfaced sexual misconduct allegations against Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn DeRemer. [WaPo]

I don’t know there’s anything particularly noteworthy concerning Chavez-DeRember’s, or her husband’s, misconduct; it merely throws into sharp relief Trump’s first term claim that he’d be hiring only the best, and, in his estimation, corrupt, law-breaking officials are the best.

If that seems mundane, even unimportant, my reader should take themselves offline for a couple of weeks and examine how they’ve been captured and, well, converted.

I think we have a repeat nominee for the Landgrebe award:

And, in case it’s erased by the embarrassed Representative:

GOP congressman Troy Nehls says Trump is “almost the second coming” of Christ

An amazing stretch by Rep Nehls to equate the Mendacity Machine, aka President Trump, with Jesus Christ.

It’s time to step back and evaluate the status of Trump’s War. Keep in mind, this is not an easy thing to do for working dudes like me and, probably, you, because I have neither expertise nor access to sources confidential. All I have to is forty+ years of watching politics and the occasional war, and anything that goes with it.

Here’s what I observe: After something like eight weeks of war …

1. We’ve seen President Trump set his goal to be unconditional surrender. For us civilian types, it’s generally perceived as a sexy, we-are-dominant hurdle that’s easy to understand. The President has proclaimed we’ve achieved it – at multiple points in the war. Remember, this President has not served, yet during his 2016 campaign claimed his time in a military-oriented school qualified him on matters military better than most serving, a remark that should have caused his supporters to desert him because it’s so laughable. We can deduce that he didn’t use the phrase to keep it simple for the electorate, but to keep it simple for himself. After eight weeks of repeated proclamations of victory, have we achieved it? No.
2. We have claims of leadership decapitation and regime change, two closely associated phrases. Accomplished? Certainly, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed early on, along with many of his organizational leaders. However, the framework on which the Iranian theocracy braced its power does not appear to have been seriously damaged; in fact, it appears a successor plan kicked in at most or all organizations, resulting not in regime change, but regime continuation. Khamenei himself was replaced by a favored son.
3. Destruction of the (Persian) civilization has been threatened by President Trump. Was this wise? The rest of the world denounced it as the actions of a barbarian. So? So long-term success comes from picking the right allies, not from being the biggest bully on the block, and the pool of allies begins shrinking once they perceive our sense of honor is defective. Such allies are not only a military force, but allies from which to build prosperity through trade. If people no longer trust us, they may no longer trade with us, and so much the worse for us.
4. Trump likes to swagger about, enjoying the glory of nearly unlimited power, right up until he, and the rest of the world, discovers it’s not. Our earlier complete obliteration of their nuclear purification sites wasn’t. Now the world is discovering, right along with Trump, American military limits, from destroying hardened targets to the difficulties of operating bleeding edge military technology (see: American naval air units being lost off of carriers). I’m not dissing the military, they are doing hard, hard things. But pay attention: President Theodore Roosevelt famously said, Speak softly and carry a big stick. A related thought is that a big stick unswung is far scarier than a hollow tube that busted on first use. The latter is President Trump running his mouth and giving away the game.

For more on Trump’s idiot proclamations, see Steve Benen’s thoughts.

We’re two months into a war that I’ll bet was forecast to last not more than a week; much like the lead character in Putin’s War, in which officers were ordered to bring their dress uniforms so they could be worn at the victory parades forecast to occur a week later, Trump is finding out that war plans rarely survive first contact with adversaries.

One more thought, since I can see some MAGA-affiliated readers shaking their heads. Remember, Trump’s greatest skill isn’t being a military leader, a business boss, or even a golf champ. No.

After conning his father into giving him money, his greatest skill is as an actor. Not that he’s any great shakes, and in my lone theater course in college, the prof would have downgraded him to performer, because he’s very one note.

But that doesn’t mean he’s not honed those skills. He can deliver loony crap in a business like tone that seems believable. I’ve seen him do it. SecDef Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has that skill, too. But under analysis, threats to destroy civilizations no longer seem reasonable; they are the babble of a bully hoping he can talk his way out of a situation.

And that all means Iran is winning. They took a heavy punch, then they took the Strait of Hormuz, then they took a cease-fire, all while making Trump look the fool – and, by extension, MAGA, and then all Americans.

Hey, long time readers know I hate theocracies, and Iran may have been the worst of the lot. But I’m running a dispassionate analysis here, as much as I can, and Iran’s playing the long game far better than Trump.

Limn:

to draw or paint something:
There was no painter present to limn the scene.
Leonardo da Vinci limned in his notebooks painstaking studies that explored the intricacies of human anatomy.
[Cambridge Dictionary]

Noted in “And Augustine Wept,” Andrew Sullivan, The Weekly Dish:

In fact, Leo started his religious life as a member of the Order of Saint Augustine, following the theologian who famously limned the tragedy of a Christian man in a fallen world, and understood the awful necessity in rare cases for collective violence. (Serendipitously, Leo was even visiting Augustine’s original church this week.)

It’s been about a month since I last nattered on about DJT, the stock of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp, and related matters. Last time, DJT‘s price was $8.58, near it’s all-time low and, thus, well off its high. How’s it doing as of last Friday?

It’s at $10.26/sh^[1]. That’s a 19.5% jump in value, and quite a nice result for the investor who bought at $8.58.

Notably, it’s a wheeze for the investors, especially those of MAGA, who bought at $70/sh and have held on in loyalty to DJT‘s primary asset, which happens to be the President of the United States.

So what’s going on?

I’ll tell you what. DJT happens to fall into a small category of stocks which are predicated more on non-economic factors than is normal. Some stocks in this category include those associated with legendary investor and businessman Warren Buffett, stocks associated with companies that issue quarterly dividends that have grown for N years, stocks associated with this or that social trend, and a few other reasons that don’t come to mind at the moment.

Owning DJT, for many in MAGA, is a form of virtue signaling, a way to signal allegiance to the President and his alleged ideals.

The President, in the opinion of many, including myself, is a grifter. This should come as no surprise to readers of this blog. But the problem of DJT is worse than just that. Here’s two headlines and accompanying text found in the news section^[2] of the yahoo! finance page for DJT:

The Trumps have lost more than $1 billion on bitcoin since the president’s return to office. What’s behind the huge loss (MoneyWise)

My attribution. A bit of content:

“Never sell your bitcoin,” Trump told [crypto summit he hosted] attendees.

He may regret those words now — after his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. gambled $2.4 billion of the family’s fortune to buy bitcoin at its peak last year.

As Forbes reports (2), it originally looked like their gamble would pay off, with a potential $1 billion return. Instead, the Trumps have lost more than $1 billion.

Directly below it came this:

How The Trump Family’s Crypto Play Allegedly Became A Money Printer (Moby)

Again, my attribution. Content:

Last week, CoinDesk broke a story about World Liberty Financial, the Trump family–backed crypto venture. The story alleges a scheme to print money out of thin air via their governance token WLFI.

The total amount, around $40 million, was moved to Coinbase Prime for what could have been OTC conversion, custody, or trading by a series of deposits of World Liberty Financial’s governance token, WLFI.

That’s not really the point, though. If these allegations are true, as even Tron CEO Justin Sun (and WLFI’s largest backer) publicly said they are, it means the president and his family are in the middle of one of the biggest self-dealing loops in history.

In the face of headlines selling competing stories, from news sources with ill-defined motivations, it’s hard to really understand whether Trump Media & Technology Group Corp even has a future, much less its present proper valuation. Currently, the market is $2.8B. Maybe it has a crypto treasury worth as much as that, or maybe not. Maybe it’ll merge with a fusion power company, or maybe not – and that fusion power company is a huge question mark in itself, as there are no commercial fusion power plants functioning at the moment.

And their biggest asset, President Trump. Well, even if you like him, and most of the American public seems to have lost their patience with him, there is no denying his age. He has no long-term future, and I mean no disrespect, that’s simply a fact of nature.

Valuations of DJT are exceedingly difficult, and, you know what? If you really are an investor and are not a virtue signaler, there are thousands of other possibilities that are easier to evaluate. Why get involved with a company featuring someone of dubious character, even if you disagree with me?

Virtue signaling can be an expensive hobby.

As always, I’m not a financial professional, just another guy with eyeballs, a brain, and an opinion.

¹ Forgive the lack of a chart image from yahoo! finance. Technical difficulties.

² This is a dynamic page, so what you find may not be what I find.

Red Joan (2018) dramatizes the true story of a British physicist who conveyed critical information to the Soviet Union, during and after World War II, concerning British efforts to develop a nuclear fission bomb, an effort motivated by Nazi efforts to accomplish the same. Joan, the fictionalized protagonist, is a mixture of A-level intellect and the emotions of a woman hungry for intimacy, pursued by Soviet agents for her position in the British effort – and maybe their own, personal purposes. Those interactions draw thoughts concerning how the differing morality systems of England and the USSR interact, much to the detriment of those at the tip of the morality spear, demanding all of the tangible and / or intangible assets of their various operatives.

When the Americans hit Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she’s horrified at the slaughter and resolves to find a way to balance the international battlefield; or, maybe, she’s mislead concerning Soviet, and Leader Stalin’s, intentions. Much like international relations, her relations are murky, and her choices and maneuvering, well, are they successful? Did she make wise choices?

We’re mostly all still here, one can note, but then we must ask if that is a negative or a positive.

It’s a demurely intense story, touching on well-used topics such as male patronization of women and treatment of homosexuals in British society of the time (think Alan Turing), as well as the age-old interactions of hormonal needs with morality systems, actions taken based on imperfect information and ill-supported assumptions, and the morality of blackmail.

I wasn’t inspired by it, but I thought it was well-done and not all that historically inaccurate. You might not enjoy it, but it may make you think.

The recent preaching from the Pope on War has caused some upset in conservative ranks. and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops felt it necessary to defend the Pope:

“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war. A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308). That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”

My bold.

Quite frankly, the subject of the applied bold should bring to the fore an important point that I have yet to see in my limited reading, and it’s this:

The JCPOA, aka the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the Iran Nuclear deal, was a peace effort that was succeeding. By all disinterested party accounts that I recall, Iran was not building nuclear weapons and was behaving in conformance to the treaty.

All Trump had to do was keep the treaty going and we wouldn’t be dealing with inflation, supply interruptions, and, most importantly, war casualties.

This is what happens when a public servant substitutes their own interests for the national interest. MAGA should be holding him accountable, for this and whatever is in the Epstein Files, rather than shivering in their shoes.

Foie gras is made from fatty liver, with the goose being, ah, force-fed. Blech.

And that’s how I feel, mixed feelings, about this writer:

Democrats talk endlessly of courting young voters, but are losing my generation because they miss the point entirely. They don’t just have a young voter problem — they have an attention problem.

It’s not just what they’re up against, but how they’re communicating. Crying “constitutional crisis” won’t win votes — it’s hardly enough to get likes.

In the digital age, attention is earned, not assumed. In 2025, Media Matters reported that right-leaning digital programs commanded audiences nearly five times the size of those on the left — a disparity amplified by placement on social media. As MS NOW host Chris Hayes puts it, “if you can’t be heard, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

I know from experience. I study film and digital media, and as a young voter, I’ve scrolled past lifeless Democratic content, noticing how much more engaging posts from conservatives feel. It’s like eyeing your dinner companion’s unhealthy meal — you know it’s not good for you, but it looks so much better than what’s on your plate. [WaPo]

Why mixed feelings? Been there, done that – that is, felt that politics is entertainment (PIE).

For decades.

I used to have a catchphrase for PIE, but it escapes me. Shame on me. I’m sincere. Just not very good at self-shaming.

Look, I’m not blaming this dude, an Ethan Norton. I have no kids, but I’ll say it anyways: we’ve raised a generation of kids whose value system is predicated on the entertainment value of presentations. More entertaining means they’re more likely to follow along.

Speaking as an agnostic, I’m sure that the devil knows the best dirty jokes.

I’m of two or three minds on whether or not this is inevitable and why. Behavior is shaped by feedback, and, these days, there’s not much dying from picking the wrong ideology to suck in through your earbuds.

This rant could go on for a very long time, but I have to get to work. You’ll have to do your own thinking on this subject.

And be careful of taking a bite of PIE.

Anhedonia:

Anhedonia is the inability to experience joy or pleasure. You may feel numb or less interested in things that you once enjoyed. It’s a common symptom of many mental health conditions like depression. Treatment is available to help you regain interest in life’s activities, like being around loved ones or listening to music. [Cleveland Clinic]

Noted in “What is ‘Ozempic personality,’ and why does it make life feel ‘meh’?” Ariana Eunjung Cha, WaPo:

Doctors say they’ve begun hearing similar accounts: a kind of emotional flattening, a dulled response not just to food but to other sources of joy such as reading, listening to music, dancing, gardening — or even sex. Some users also blamed the medications for falling out of love. Online, the phenomenon has taken on a name — anhedonia — and, more colloquially, “Ozempic personality.”

And can you dance to it?

I’ve not been watching the skeptic’s movement lately, but I’m guessing the above caused some chatter. For me, it’s the first time I’ve heard a song incorporate the Establishment Clause, one of the most important segments of the Constitution, into a song.

But Are Voters For Sale?

Cleveland.com reports:

The U.S. Senate Republicans’ main super PAC, the Senate Leadership Fund, announced Monday that about $79 million of $342 million in planned spending ahead of the November general election in eight battleground races will be on behalf of U.S. Sen. Jon Husted – more than any other candidate. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the move indicates how much of a threat national Republicans see in likely Democratic nominee Sherrod Brown, who so far has trounced Husted in fundraising.

But marginal returns swiftly shrink as more money is added if voters are well-informed and enraged than average – and I think both are true this time around. That the incumbent, although appointed, Senator of Ohio is receiving an eye-watering amount of money suggests GOP internal polling may have Husted down, as the last poll from Emerson College dates back to December, and Republicans, who have worked very hard to capture Ohio over the last couple of decades or so, fear losing it. However, they have not helped their cause with political incidents like this one, entitled:

Former Ohio House Speaker sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading racketeering conspiracy involving $60 million in bribes [United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio]

That’s dated 2023, and thus memorable to many Ohioans.

I find it disturbing that this much money is being spent on political contests, although I do have to carefully remember that increases in productivity and population will of course mean there’s more wealth in general. But it’s still a tremendous chunk of money, and may have come from relatively few people – wealthy voters or even foreign entities looking for influence.

But that’s only part of the story – are we going to have tell China or Russia to menace us with nuclear weapons just to remind our stubborn political class, and, yes, I mean both sides, that we do have existential enemies and we need to move forward in a wise manner, through debate and compromise, and not by indulging our desire for social prestige through advocacy of irrationality and amateurism?

I suspect the Epstein child sex ring originated following the fall of our most apparent existential enemy, the USSR. Will dreadful self-indulgence, self-importance, and immorality mark periods in the United States in which existential enemies are not perceived to exist? See Secular Cycles or War and Peace and War by Turchin, et al.

It’s Better to Buy Newsprint Than Ego-Boosting Drugs

Just like last week, in the face of the above irrelevancy, flies this news, engines blasting!

• Turbulence in Maine? The Portland Press Herald reports:
  

  Gov. Janet Mills is not dropping out of the U.S. Senate race despite trailing in the polls and having no advertisements booked after Wednesday [April 8, I believe], her campaign spokesperson said.

  Speculation online about the potential for Mills to drop out, fueled primarily by supporters of her competitor, Graham Platner, mounted this week as ad spending data compiled by AdImpact showed Mills having no ads booked in the coming days.

  “As the only Democrat elected statewide in Maine in the past 20 years, Janet Mills knows how to win tough battles and deliver results — and that’s why she’s the best candidate to beat Susan Collins in November and is running full steam ahead to defeat her,” Tommy Garcia said in a written statement.

  Platner beating Governor Mills and then Senator Collins would be a kick in the pants for boomers, inevitably on the way out, to scurry even faster. Later in the article the Mills campaign sounds a trifle bitter. Would Mills support Platner in the general election? Would he need it if the younger segment of the electorate buys in on the oyster farmer and former Marine?

• In related news, a poll by progressive Maine People’s Resource Center (MPRC) gives Graham Platner (D) a 9 point lead over incumbent Senator Collins (R), assuming he wins the Democratic primary, and a 33 point lead over Governor Mills (D) in the primary. Mills trails Collins by 3 points in a general election polling, although it’s important to remember it’s early days.  The June 9th Democratic primary should prove interesting; Senator Collins has no primary opponents as of this writing.I’ve never heard of MPRC that I can recall, so are they worth recognizing as a data source?
• I now count eight candidates in the South Carolina general election for Senator Graham’s (R) seat, and he’s running for reelection.

  And primaries have not yet been held! Senator Graham is facing five challengers in the primary, which I think guarantees he’ll win the primary as the challengers split any protest vote; there are also currently five Democrats in their primary. None of the names are familiar.Is this a symptom of deep discontent with Senator Graham? Or just normal South Carolina politics? I recall reading somewhere, long ago, that South Carolinian politics resembles the old Bedlam asylum, so perhaps this is normal.

  A Week, Give Or Take, Later: One of Senator Graham’s primary challengers, Paul Dans, …  who oversaw the conservative policy blueprint known as Project 2025 …, has dropped out of the race. But it’s important to note his incendiary language, which I’d expect from someone involved with Project 2025:

  Dans, noting he was recently endorsed by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, wrote in a post on X that he was dropping out of the race “because we cannot Make America Great Again until Lady Graham is taken out of office. @MarkLynchSC has the resources to make that happen.”

  Dans launched his campaign last year, telling NBC News that he was running because “we need to have a government of, by and for the people, again. Not by swamp critters like Lindsey Graham.” [NBC News]

  The words of someone with utter contempt for anyone to their left, including right-wingers like Graham; long-time readers will be unsurprised at the behavior of far-right-wingers, hungry for power and the respect they think they deserve. This leads to the question of whether Dans’ failure to gain traction was due to his Project 2025 involvement, or reasons less tangible, i.e., abrasive character, or both. This is all in the face of approving words, if not a formal endorsement, from President Trump, although I tend to see endorsements from Trump as burdens and not boons; notably, while Dans rival Lynch received Dans’ endorsement, Trump’s words for Lynch have been hostile.

  There’s a good chance South Carolinians, having a taste of Project 2025 over the last year+, decided those associated with it are repugnant and boosted Dans out.

• Two polling firms make for better polls? Even an examination of the Edge website didn’t yield its bias, if any, but MDW admits to being progressive, and Florida Politics is reporting on their joint poll in Florida:
  

  Independent voters are breaking sharply toward Democrats, a shift pollsters say could reshape Florida’s political map after years of Republican dominance.

  Democrats may be better positioned than they have been in years to compete — and potentially win — across Florida in the 2026 Midterms, buoyed by Republican weaknesses and a decisive shift among independent voters, new polling shows.

  South Florida-based EDGE Communications and MDW Communications polled 1,834 likely Florida voters between March 27 and April 3. The poll, which carried a 2-percentage-point margin of error, found a political environment that appears increasingly competitive for Democrats in a state long dominated by Republicans.

  The Trump effect

  At the center of the findings is a warning sign for Republicans: President Donald Trump is underwater with Florida voters, and pollsters say that dynamic could have ripple effects down the ballot.

  It’s certainly a plausible report, but I remain uncertain as to an appropriate confidence level given that MDW is a progressive-biased pollster conducting a poll with a result positive for progressives. I also note the lack of mention of the implicit conclusion concerning Democrats, that being their popularity is not due to superior positions or remanding past fundamental errors, but purely off of dislike and, yes, loathing of President Trump.

  Some may say a win is a win, but a win on these conditions will make for a bumpy future ride for everyone, as neither side finds fundamental improvements nor discards dumbass ideas, such as being anti-vaxx. Then again, American politics is usually a bumpy ride.

• Unsurprisingly, in Massachusetts Senator Markey (D) leads primary challenger Rep Seth Moulton (D) by 17 points, according to a poll from respected pollster Suffolk University, 47%-30%. I’m not trying to disparage Rep Moulton, who I actually rather like as he had at least enough insight to raise questions concerning the transgender and sports, even if he didn’t seem to see the heart of the matter. It’s simply hard to beat an unblemished incumbent such as Senator Markey.

  Incidentally, 62.8% of those polled lean Democratic, whether or not they are registered as Democrats.

• In the Democratic primary for the to-be-open Senate seat from Michigan, Data For Progress, lefty-aligned, has McMorrow, Stevens, and El-Sayed in a virtual tie at roughly 22% or 23%. Not Sure has a 33% share, with the caveat that the polling question yielding these numbers did not list any other candidates. This poll did not address the Republican primary.
• Finally, in Kansas Senator Marshall (R), running for re-election, may have put his foot in his mouth as far as the independent crowd goes, if not Republican voters:
  

  Republican Senator Roger Marshall wants Americans to stop complaining about gas prices because they’re necessary for “national security.”

  Speaking on Newsmax’s Wake Up America Tuesday morning, Marshall was asked about the Iran war, and the Kansas politician was dismissive of its negative economic effects on the American people.

  “I’m sorry the gas prices are going up, but help is on its way, and your national security, yes, is even more important than your pocketbook,” Marshall said. [The New Republic]

  Funny thing is, out of context he’s right. Better to exist and pay high prices than not exist and pay low prices.

  But, per usual, context matters. Trump’s War, started, in my opinion, in reaction to Trump’s  desperate search for Hollywood glory and not for any valid, good reason, even if the Iranian leadership is bad guys, renders Marshall’s Trump-faithful rhetoric false. We didn’t need this war, weapon depletion renders us vulnerable to truly dangerous national actors, and they’ve caused inflation that infuriates American consumers. It’s entirely valid for them to complain, and to vote against the Republicans.

  But I’m talking about my perception of the context. Do a large percentage of Kansas voters share that perception? Or do they still think President Trump, who recently spat all over Christians, is a good guy, despite the clear indications otherwise?

  And, I have to say, NewsMax‘s Wake Up America could be renamed Go To Sleep America, at least for that episode.

That’s enough of that, folks. Have yourselves a good day. I now get to take the tattered carcass of my burned out computer over to a joint that’ll build me a new one. I hope it’s a good day for me.