Unsightly Mental Blemishes

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.

Glocalization:

Glocalization merges globalization and localization, allowing products and services to be tailored to local markets while maintaining a global presence. This strategy adapts global offerings to meet local regulations, cultural preferences, and consumer needs, making them more appealing to diverse audiences across different regions.

A common example would be cars that are sold worldwide but adjusted to meet local criteria, such as emissions standards or what side the steering wheel is located. It could also focus on more cultural aspects, such as a global fast-food chain offering geographically specific menu items that cater to local tastes.

Glocalization often includes culturally targeted media and ads to help local audiences accept foreign products. [Investopedia]

A new word for an old concept. I ran across this word on a survey and had to look it up, and shan’t be providing a quote.

My reader may have heard about President Trump’s attempt to usurp the religious right’s power:

This didn’t go well:

Although Trump deleted the post — depicting the president in white robes laying hands on a man in a hospital bed, with a backdrop full of Americana — the damage is already done: Prominent MAGA influencers and Christian leaders took to social media to publicly air their distaste for the image and disappointment in the president.

“God, we might have made a mistake and accidentally elected the Antichrist,” Christian influencer Mandy Arthur wrote in a post on X.

“There’s not context where this is acceptable,” said Sean Feucht, a conservative Christian activist and longtime MAGA surrogate, calling for the image to be “deleted immediately.”

“A little humility would serve him well,” said Riley Gaines, a Turning Point USA contributor who opposes transgender rights.

“More deportations less Jesus comparisons,” said Republican National Committee youth advisory council co-chair Brilyn Hollyhand.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump claimed he didn’t know the image portrayed him as a Christlike figure and blamed the “fake news” for its negative reception. [MS NOW]

Being agnostic, I have my doubts about theological concepts such as anti-Christ. Speaking as a Western Civ human, though, I’d say the keyword here is humility, which is to say, What does President Trump lack?

We may see more of these sorts of messages. President Trump, in line with many such wannabe dictators, feels it necessary to scurry about suppressing power centers as potential threats to his own alleged power center, because, to these sorts of people, allies are always temporary, and as allies they are more vulnerable to Trump’s depradations than as enemies.

Note the last paragraph quoted, above. Shifting the blame to the constructed, or faux, enemy of the left of center in American politics reminds his offended allies of their shared adversary, shifting their attention from his own attack on themselves. Whether this is successful remains to be seen, and probably won’t be – events come at frantic speed from the President who still can’t deal with the Epstein Files, and has managed to kill thousands of Iranians in his desperate attempts to bury his presence in said Files. Especially for working dudes like myself and my reader.

If this sounds like the actions of a mentally ill person, well, yes. As a friend noted back in 2015 or 2016, he strongly appears to be a pathological narcissist. From such a position it’s not hard to understand that, for him, attention is great, but there’s a difference between attention via intermediaries, such as those quoted above and his personal corp of clerics such as Paula White-Cain, and the sweet, undiluted adoration of the masses, who come to the Trump performances, where, unconstrained by Holy Books, custom, or  good taste, Trump can gather balm for a spirit that is only calm when it’s at the center of a hurricane of grasping greed.

As I noted, we can expect more of this in the near future.

War scholars frequently worry about wars “spiraling” out of control, and I find this report alarming:

Iraq’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia has been summoned by the Saudi foreign ministry, it said in a post on X today, because of reported “attacks and flagrant threats” toward the country and its neighbors from “Iraqi territories.”

Saudi Arabia “condemns and denounces the attacks that were launched from Iraqi territories on the Kingdom and other Gulf nations,” the post said.

The country’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Saud Al-Sati, highlighted to the Iraqi Ambassador that Baghdad should handle the attacks “responsibly,” it continued. [CNN]

Taking an opportunity to extract a bit of flesh in revenge for some insult may seem wise under cover of an unrelated war, but sometimes weapons, and wars, can go side ways, mistakes made, and neutrals mistaken as allies.

Followed by an overwhelming, anger-driven response.

I hope we don’t see this happening here, but the Middle East is full of pride-driven leaders who must been seen as responding to attacks in such a way as to discourage future attacks.

Ditto the other side.

So for all those self-righteous, angry amateurs out there: don’t be. Even the professionals can screw these things up, as history shows, and when it’s an amateur coursing after glory, bad things can happen.

This appeared in Morning Joe:

But the analysis missed an important point:

The world does not respect Republican leadership.

The whys and wherefores of those polled is not explicated, but I’d guess it’s mostly arrogance.

Headline from the CNN front page:

Trump says US will blockade the Strait of Hormuz

I mean, sure, I’ll supply the context for readers-of-the-future.

We’re in the midst of the US & Israel attacking Iran, bombing, missile strikes, whatever. I don’t know what historians will call this, but I call it Trump’s War.

For maybe the last couple of weeks, Iran has used mines and missiles to stop shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. As a large percentage of world-wide shipping transits the Strait for shipping time reasons, including nitrogen-based fertilizer as well as oil tankers, price inflation is occurring and threatens to get worse – all attributable to the actions of the US and Israel.

A few days ago a cease-fire was agreed to between Israel and the US and Iran; the latter was to stop attacking shipping, thus saving Trump’s bacon.

Peace talks began in Pakistan, but now CNN notes in a picture caption:

The move comes after US-Iran peace talks collapsed

Oh, sure, I can see the ham-handed attempt to win is explained thusly:

• Blockade in the strait: President Donald Trump said the US Navy will start preventing ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, risking an even greater spike to oil and gas prices as he seeks to maximize leverage over Tehran. The US and other countries will sweep for mines in the vital waterway during the blockade, Trump said.

And it might be right; experts on this sort of thing are far and few between, and I’m not one of them. But if I were the Iranian government, I’d just tell the missile sites to shutdown and have a cup of coffee, ‘cuz the Americans are doing your jobs for you.

And this all comes off as Trump trotting behind everyone else, watching everyone ahead of him in the race take a left turn, and singing out ten seconds later,

Quick, everyone, take a left turn!

I should mail him a big plastic red nose.

Star Force (2000) is a story about the competition between a system in which cut-throat competition for power and wealth dominates, and a system based on loyalty & honor. Do I want to tell you how it goes?

No. Bad acting, dated dialog delivered poorly, really bad computer graphics of space battles, bland indifference to plot holes such as why bad guys are lurking in stable sectors, and their ambush is not reported by the trainees who encounter them.

The whole thing is painfully silly.

And it’s too bad because there’s enough plot deception that it could have been fun – even good, with proper attention to motivation.

But this is so bad I won’t bother to dig up a picture.

It’s just one of those comments that leaves me … bemused.

In a brief phone call with NBC News, Trump declined to provide any update on the status of negotiations with the Iranians, but he sharply criticized Iran’s call for young people to line up as human shields around power plants.

“Totally illegal,” he said. “They’re not allowed to do that.”  [NBC News]

Symptomatic of … do I have to say it?

A temper-tantrum.

The little kid isn’t getting his way and demands that he should.

As for what motivated him to post this morning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” — a comment that has drawn backlash from around the world — he would only say: “You’ll have to figure that out.”

Easy. You’re a fucking bully trying to beat up on another bully and discovering this nut doesn’t crack when yelled at, or even bombed.

Obama did this so much better, and he didn’t have the Epstein Files hanging over his head. Sure, that’s gratuitous. Sue me, dear reader.

But only after you run this bozo out of office.

Decimate:

1. history : to select by lot and kill every tenth member of
   decimate a regiment
2. : to exact a tax of 10 percent from
   … poor as a decimated Cavalier …
   – John Dryden
3. a : to reduce drastically especially in number
   An outbreak of cholera decimated the population.
   Kamieniecki’s return comes at a crucial time for a pitching staff that has been decimated by injuries.
   – Jason Diamos
   b : to cause great destruction or harm to
   A fire decimated the city.
   an industry decimated by recession

I’ve noticed the word decimate has been coming into vogue recently. Each time someone on the television uses it, either I or my Arts Editor howls at the television that it’s not a synonym for destroy, but for destroying 10% of something, as a trace of the word’s etymology reveals.

Today, I decided to check it, keeping in mind that a word’s origins are not the last word in definition, but .. oh, you get it. Good.

So, as we see above, the third definition, down in the list, makes their use, well, valid. Those using the word still come across as poseurs, but in our current era that’s hardly a surprise. People claw for recognition these days, from influencers to reporters, because prestige and power can originate from simply rising above the general run of humanity.

Noted in “White House picks a fight over its ‘objectives’ in Iran, but reality stands in its way,” Steve Benen, Maddowblog:

Iran’s navy has certainly been decimated, but the other four objectives — the ones outlined on, to borrow Hegseth’s phrasing, “day one” — have plainly not been met.

I know she’s almost certainly AI, but this one amused me

The questions posed in the initial post on this thread has been avoided as, if my reader was distracted last night, it was announced that Iran and the United States have agreed to a two week ceased-fire and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz will not be interrupted.

The questions, being whether or not the International Criminal Court would be issuing a warrant for President Trump’s arrest for war crimes, along with whether or not he would actually try to go through with his threat, were quite fascinating, but I’m relieved we don’t have answers to the Will he or won’t he? If the military had received illegal orders, how would they react?

That said, if we’re to believe Julianne McShane, President Trump may be metaphorically gushing vital fluids out of his spleen:

President Donald Trump’s threats to destroy Iranian civilization have accomplished what nothing over the past year could — turning some of the most prominent voices in his own MAGA base against him.

“This is evil and madness.” “He is a genocidal lunatic.” “Vile on every level.”

These aren’t quotes from Democrats; they’re some of Trump’s most loyal adherents, who are both fed up with what they see as the president’s abandonment of his “America First” platform and alarmed by the destruction he has promised to unleash as his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, looms. [MS NOW]

Not many people are actual sociopaths/psychopaths like President Trump. Most are just people with varying levels of knowledge about what concerns them, and as Trump has paid attention to their concerns and echoed their reasoning back to them, they supported him.

This is true of most of the leaders of MAGA. I was a little surprised to see Alex Jones, who I do take for a psychopath, expressing horror at the above link; there are others, such as the Proud Boys leadership, who may defend the President – or suggest the President is too soft on the Iranian leadership.

But, defenders or not, Trump continues to alienate his base. We may see his approval rating dropping below 30%, a level unheard of in modern American Presidential politics. He’s winning a game he had not planned to play, because winning this one will shorten his Presidential term.

And so long as Speaker Johnson (R-LA) and the Republicans, House & Senate, fail to remove Trump from the Oval Office, they’ll be sustaining reputational damage as the do-nothing political party. Make no mistake, Republican townhalls in all but the most Republican districts will become one-note nightmares:

“Why haven’t you removed President Trump?!”

The leaders who are responsible for the continuance of the Republican Party had best bestir themselves, or they won’t have a Party worthy of the name to lead.

Of course, I may have spoken too soon. This just came up on CNN:

• Strait of Hormuz: Iran stopped oil tanker traffic through the crucial waterway after Israel attacked Lebanon, semi-official news agency Fars reported. According to Fars, just two oil tankers had crossed the strait since the ceasefire came into effect.

Look for more frantic threats from President Trump.

Zeeshan Aleem of MS NOW presents a summary of possible results if President Trump follows through on his threat for tonight, successfully or not:

Even if Trump does order a massive attack on civilian infrastructure, the odds that it will make Tehran budge on opening up the Strait of Hormuz are slim. Historically, the use of air power in this fashion causes the civilian population to side with a government, even one it dislikes, against a dangerous foreign intruder. Iran’s government would be a political beneficiary of such a dynamic. And Trump’s mix of bluffing, extending and disappearing deadlines and sudden attacks means Tehran now refuses to trust the U.S. will keep a temporary ceasefire.

And, should the International Criminal Court (ICC) choose to view such an action as a war crime, we may have served ourselves a deeply unsavory dish: A President, a chronic liar and arrogant, yet clueless, man-child whose greatest un-secret fear may be going to prison and its consequent loss of social prestige. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s used the Presidency to insulate himself from incarceration, manipulating a cooperative majority wing of SCOTUS to produce laughable arguments, supposedly of a legal nature, protecting him from the consequences of his own actions.

If the ICC issues a warrant for his arrest and delivery to The Hague in the Netherlands, though, Trump will either run for a country which won’t extradite him, or, more likely at his age, cling that much more tightly to his position, doing just about anything to retain it. The law will not be an obstacle unless law enforcement decides the law is its goal, rather than the President. Which way will that fall out? I don’t know.

This has the potential to get messy fairly quickly, depending on how fast our court system and Congress decide not to bounce the President out on his ear. If they defy my expectations and actually do remove him from office, then he’ll have to be put on trial for war crimes.

That’s all assuming he follows through with his barbaric threat.

When everyone around you has frozen, you know horror is right around the corner.

The Evil Eye (or The Girl Who Knew Too Much; Italian; 1963) chronicles a visit to Rome in the 1950s by a young American girl, Nora. Her aunt dies; she’s mugged; she witnesses a murder, a knife plum in the back; doubting police; noises in the night at domiciles; etc etc.

And all of this, why? I’m not sure. It does seem to belong in the horror genre, but of a different era, as she’s not so much emotionally blasted as puzzled. Wikipedia calls it giallo …

… a genre that often contains slasher, thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural horror elements.

I didn’t notice any of the supernatural horror elements, but we viewed this a while ago, too, so I may have forgotten them. I recall there’s some spooky noises. Sort of. It’s not all that memorable.

I thought it was well-acted, with a view into the post-war Italian culture. Perhaps the horror is a metaphor for the recent war, or the madness of putting Mussolini in charge prior; however, I have little contact with Italian culture, now or then, so I have no certainty.

And will it appeal to you? Do you like old horror? The answer to the latter may also appeal to the former.

Enjoy.

Sucker Punched

Who are the suckers? Those GOP candidates who depended on the President to see them through to the other side. Instead, gas over $4/gallon, inflation, lack of new job growth, a tremendous punch to the ego of MAGA voters every time they think of the Epstein Files, those same voters hard-put to find any win and hardly has had a chance to become tired of winning, and a foreign war started by a President who spouts semi-gibberish at every opportunity … and apologists who gabble desperately about 12 dimensional chess.

What to do? Descend into Orwellian doublespeak. MS NOW has an article on GOP doublespeak here.

But some of the electorate likes neither Party and are faced with selecting a lesser evil. Indeed, they may be the final arbiter of power in many elections in November. They may have put the Republicans in power in 2024, but given the poor performance of the Democrats, I find it hard to blame them, given the complexities of modern life.

But Republicans are not only performing much worse than the Democrats, they also behave worse as well – inevitable for a group that believes differentiating themselves from professional politicians, in any way, is a virtue. CNN reports on an SSRS poll of interest:

Americans’ views of both the Democratic and Republican parties remain deeply negative, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. And in an election year that may turn on which party voters see as the lesser of two evils, the Democrats hold an early advantage.

About one-quarter of the public holds a negative view of both parties – so-called double haters. Voters in that group prefer the Democrats in the upcoming midterms by 31 points.

My bold. In an environment like this, where things are going to pot and the current crop of incumbents are getting the blame, I’m inclined to believe the deciding factor in any given election is the personal connection voters feel towards an incumbent. If they feel like they have one and it’s positive then an incumbent, Republican or Democrat, may breach expectations and win. Most non-incumbents will lack that connection, although there are exceptions, such as Senator Klobuchar and the Minnesota gubernatorial race.

By positive personal connection I mean the politician convincingly displays concern for citizen problems only soluble through government action, and they’re someone you’d like to talk with over a cup of coffee. The traditional definition, as it were.

This, then, is the problem for Republicans: they’re amateurs. Build a personal connection? Many are tone deaf, contemptuous of their left-leaning constituents, and hastening to display that contempt because that’s what they think politicians should do. You see this, on occasion, from Democrats as well, up to and including Presidents, such as Obama. While a few constituents will like that attitude, many won’t – and those caught accidentally in the metaphorical gun sights may profoundly resent it, and newly appreciate fellow citizens they may have formerly despised.

And, yes, I ranted about this in a separate post, where I noted concrete consequences of amateurism is government, in the form of a Gallup poll, were now appearing.

I Didn’t Think Of This

I don’t subscribe to The New York Times, so I can’t read more than the headline:

Liberal Group Warns That Trump Could Have Two More Supreme Court Picks; Demand Justice plans to tie Republicans running for Senate this year to a possible fight to fill vacancies that could emerge on the Supreme Court

But it’s more or less self-explanatory if you know the context, and the context is simple: President Trump is not running for office in 2026. The history of the Republicans since Trump came on the scene is that his influence is strong but limited. If he doesn’t appear on the ballot, his base, by and large, doesn’t come out to vote for him, but if his name does then they do come out, and vote Republican down the line.

So the solution to this conundrum facing the Republicans, or so they think, is that they’ll get Trump virtually on the ballot by opening up spots on SCOTUS (the Supreme Court of the United States) via conservative wing resignations, and tell Republican voters that if they don’t vote for Trump’s picks for the Senate then the Senate will switch hands and SCOTUS will be at risk of switching hands in the near future.

Presently, conservatives control SCOTUS 6-3, and I’ll skip the condemnation rant of Senator and former Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY). I wrote that years ago and don’t need to boost my blood pressure again.

But past performance is not indicative of future performance. As I noted above, the reputation of President Trump and his Party is decaying quickly as he, and they, make mistake after mistake that endangers the Nation and its prosperity, from tariffs to babying a President who thinks vengeance on enemies is a higher priority than leading the Country. While a Democratic Senate cannot formally emplace Justices on the Court, they can reject Trump’s selections until he stops horsing around or leaves office and is replaced by a President more attentive to the future of the Country.

That, of course, depends on the voters and on the electoral machinery remaining under State control.

Look for Justices Thomas and Alito being pressured to leave, as the eldest Justices. Roberts is also reaching that age; Gorsuch, Barrett, and Kavanaugh are much younger and unlikely to be pressured to resign, unless they rule against Trump on any matter, no matter how small.

Speaking Of That Jump Scare

Frightening voters, as with SCOTUS above, is a time-honored political tactic. In this vein, I’m waiting for Republicans to bring up the Impeachment tactic.

This is mostly a House issue, as Impeachment is a House power, but as I feel 40-60 House seats are

Polls, Polls, Polls?

Yes, polls are being issued. I am not reporting all of them, but I did change my criteria a bit. Respectable pollsters are reported, such as Emerson College or Sienna. Pollsters of unknown provenance to me and not described in some source are ignored.

But what of those known to lean one way or another, such as Rasmussen? I’ve decided I’ll report those if the result is interesting. In the last three, I think, national elections we saw conservative firms skew results in an attempt to influence voters, and, no doubt, attract clients via confirmation bias. I am sure left leaning firms engaged in similar behaviors, based on the number of surprises in the last election.

But if a firm is reporting results contrary to their clients expectations, that suggests a client in deep trouble, even if a general bias is the only a priori knowledge available. That’s worth reporting.

Punched Suckers

Oh, yeah, I’m a delivery boy, aren’t I?

• From the I’m Tone Deaf department:
  

  “Maybe you take one less trip to Starbucks and so that gas goes a little further,” Michele Tafoya said on a radio show recently, advising listeners to be “patriots” and keep a “stiff upper lip” until fuel prices come back down. [MS NOW]

  Tafoya is a GOP candidate for the to-be-open Minnesota Senate seat. I’m sure some GOP voters will be amused, right until it’s fill-up time for them. It’s not so much doublespeak as a contemptuous remark that any voter driving a fossil-fuel vehicle who doesn’t have mounds of spare cash laying around can take legitimate offense at.

  Or eats food.

• According to Emerson College Polling, in Kentucky Rep Andy Barr (R) leads the Republican primary field for the to-be-open Senate seat with 28% of the voters, the next being former Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron (R) with 21%. Leading both, though, is Undecideds, with 38%, so this race is not close to decided.

  Incidentally, remember Elon Musk donated $10 million to a super PAC dedicated to putting Nate Morris (R-KY), “CEO of Morris Industries,” in the Senate? It appears those surveyed are not impressed, as Morris languishes in third with a 15% share of said surveyed.

  In the Democratic primary former Kentucky House member Charles Booker (D) is building a large lead at 36% of Democratic primary voters; former fighter pilot Amy McGrath (D) is second at 18%. Undecideds are at 38%, so there is still room for change.

  The primary is May 19th.

• A University of North Florida poll finds Florida Senator Moody (R) has a lead over her prospective Democratic opponents:
  

  Ashley Moody is up by 8 points against Alexander Vindman, and 7 against Angie Nixon.

  Angie Nixon (D) is a member of the Florida House. The poll certainly suggests the Democrats have a hill to climb. The primary election is August 18th.

Let’s call that a wrap. But I will say that if the Republicans fail to remove President Trump from office, their electoral results do not appear to be promising.