Trump’s cabinet picks are uniformly terrible. We’ve got the “A1” rasslin’ lady in charge of dismantling the Department of Education and Lil’ Marco (and Musk) on track to rack up a Pol Pot-scale body count with abrupt cuts to lifesaving international aid.
There are the financial geniuses tanking the economy with Trump’s dumb tariff war and RFK Jr. (who may be an actual serial killer — I can’t shake that suspicion) decimating public health resources while presiding over a huge measles outbreak, etc. The list of horribles goes on much longer than the fortitude required to comprehensively list The Horrors.
But for sheer incompetence, can any cabinet member beat Pete Hegseth, the black-out drunk sex pest who used to provide weekend couch ballast at Fox & Friends before he got the Pentagon gig? In case you missed it, SecDef Hairgel is embroiled in a freshly reported Signalgate scandal as he (or probably his handlers) undertakes a purge that is ostensibly about ousting “leakers.”
WSJ: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth created a Signal chat with his wife, his personal lawyer and others, and posted sensitive military information into it, people familiar with the matter said Sunday, a revelation that has added to the increasing scrutiny of the novice leader.
Hegseth was already facing questions for writing flight plans and other details about a military operation ahead of U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen into a Signal chat with senior Trump administration officials. Hegseth posted nearly the same information into another chat featuring his wife and other aides that don’t require real-time knowledge of the mission, a person familiar with the chat said.
The disclosure of the Signal chat comes after an unusual number of top political appointees have either been removed from the Pentagon or resigned just in the past few weeks, some with little explanation.
The “leaker” is almost certainly Hegseth himself. He may not even know it!
A Politico report published yesterday notes that one of the ousted officials, John Ullyot, says that the Pentagon is in “total chaos” and that Hegseth likely won’t remain in his role.
“The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.”
Ullyot served as spokesman for the NSC and VA during Trump’s previous term. He’s dead wrong above — this is exactly the “leadership” Trump deserves since Trump was the one who hired the alcoholic serial abuser whose only previous “leadership” experience was running two right-wing charities into the ground.
If Ullyot was delusional enough to believe it would help his standing in MAGAworld to pretend Trump is ill-served by the incompetent creep he personally insisted on for the post, the chinless disappointment dashed that hope this morning:
“Officially exiled,” LMAO.
Anyhoo, every single Democrat (and Dem-caucusing independent) in the Senate voted against Hegseth, and I think the wisdom of that decision will reverberate through the ages. For what it’s worth, Repubs Murkowski, Collins and McConnell also found Hegseth a bridge too far.
But for my money, the best comment on the latest l’affaire Hegseth belongs to Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), quoted in the NYT:
What she said.
This morning, Trump’s serial liar press secretary (whose name I can’t be arsed to remember) said Trump “absolutely has confidence” in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.” He’s going down, y’all.
Open thread.
Belafon
Republicans still believing that Trump is in the room with the Republican party, and not the other way around.
prostratedragon
Pitchbot:
J.
Which Fox News or Fox & Friends host will replace him? Or do you think Trump will choose someone from Newsmax or RT?
SiubhanDuinne
KKKaroline Something
bbleh
Seems to me the qualifications for a Cabinet job under the Orange Guy are:
1. Look good on TV
2. Do as you’re told
3. Praise the Orange Guy loudly and constantly
4. Absorb flak (and continue to perform #3 even when you’re finally jettisoned)
Actual competence running a department doesn’t even figure on the list (except maybe implicitly insofar as it assists with #4). The Orange Guy Does. Not. Care. about government, functional or otherwise, except as a tool for revenge and personal enrichment.
Jeffro
“officially exiled”…there are not enough eyerolls in all the world…
I hope trumpov & Co stick with Hegseth, honestly. Anything that helps highlight their colossal stupidity and corruption for the rubes to see
Chief Oshkosh
It would be so, so sweet if, after he gets tossed out of the Cabinet, Kegsketh gets his ass kicked by the husband of the woman who says Kegsketh raped her.
AM in NC
EVERY single comment I make about this in MSM outlets mentions NC Senator THOM TILLIS and his vote to confirm someone he knew was unfit.
EVERY Republican needs to be tied to the NatSec threats they enabled.
Will be calling Tillis and Budd today about this AND, even more importantly, about the NLRB whistle-bower who revealed an enormous data harvest by DODGE, followed 15 minutes later by massive Russian hacking attack, using actual passwords from the data harvest by DODGE. Either DODGE left the data totally vulnerable to foreign hostile attack OR they are actively collaborating with our geopolitical enemies. Either way – DODGE is a direct threat to US NatSec.
I hate all of these people so fucking much.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Jeffro: “Officially exiled,” yes, but did he say “hereby”?
Jeffro
It would be great if they gave Homan the job of SecDef on top of his other job as Border Czar or whatever…the theory being that the additional stress could potentially cause him to stroke out.
(applies to any of them, really)
Betty Cracker
Dow is down 600 and T$LA is at $225 a share right now. Come on, baybee! Break through that $220 barrier and drop like a fucking rock
@AM in NC:
Same.
CaseyL
Trump’s Cabinet was chosen for the specific purpose of destroying the agencies they oversee. Seen in that light, his picks are perfect.
And I have a sneaking suspicion RFKjr’s ambitions are higher than merely burning down HHS.
Remember that he used to be an environmental attorney, a career he pursued before his brain congealed into Lime Jello. It’s quite possible that he realized somewhere along the line that the best way to save the environment is to radically reduce the human population. Eliminating public health infrastructure – even better: subverting it by spreading false epidemiological information – is a pathway to that end.
Chief Oshkosh
@AM in NC: I didn’t hear about the NRLB whistleblower story. Geeze Louise…
AM in NC
@Chief Oshkosh: I think NPR did the original investigation. Just shocking.
Betty Cracker
@CaseyL: Concur on RFK Jr. He’s a twisted mofo who might actually be a would-be Thanos. Oh well. His cousin Caroline tried to warn us.
ETA: I never really understood the Kennedy family worship in the first place, but what an ignominious end to that legacy.
Mr. Mack
Any Jackals out there own/operate a tractor? I haz questions. Farm tractor not truck.
jonas
Which, ironically, would put him at odds with the rest of MAGA and people like Musk who want to dragoon women into mass breeding programs or whatever. But maybe that’s just to populate Mars. It’s hard to keep up with these weirdos.
Sandia Blanca
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And did he say, “THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER “?
narya
Anybody want some bread? I have two loaves of Pain de Campagne in the oven, two Sesame Wheat waiting for the oven, and two Birdseed in the freezer. I like giving my starter a workout, but I don’t know how much more bread I can keep around . . .
And I really have to do something to Not Think About the current horrors. It’s draining my mental energy so very much, and it feels inescapable. I’m stuck between one person who immediately assumes everything is going to have the worst possible outcome and another person who thinks it’s all going to be fine (“they won’t touch SocSec” even though they already HAVE).
lowtechcyclist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Nah, this was Junior. ‘Hereby’ is strictly reserved for Daddy. ;-)
Professor Bigfoot
@Jeffro: But you see, it’s not stressful at all if you don’t give a damn.
It’s kinda like a mobster’s “no-show” or “no-work” jobs.
jonas
@AM in NC: DOGE and Hegseth, Gabbard et al. have set us up for the biggest NatSec crisis in US history. Russian and Chinese cyberintelligence is almost certainly buried deep inside the federal government at this point. DOD, DOE, DHS — it’s all been compromised by their idiocy. At the flip of a switch, they’ll be able to bring the US government and military to its knees and who knows if it will ever be repairable. Cybersecurity experts have been shitting themselves the past couple of weeks and there’s no sign there’s anyone left on the inside who 1. gives a shit or 2. knows how to fix it. They’ve all been fired.
dmsilev
Speaking of the singularity of stupid and the leadership that Trump deserves, check out this from the Post:
The federal ‘5 things’ emails have fallen apart, as Elon Musk readies exit
Suck it up, snowflake.
lowtechcyclist
@narya:
Wouldn’t turn down a loaf or three! The Pain de Campagne sounds especially good!
AM in NC
@narya: Do you live within driving distance of the NC Piedmont? Because there is not much better than homemade bread!!!
jonas
@Professor Bigfoot: But they care a lot about hurting poor people and minorities. It keeps them up at night, kind of like Schindler tormented about whether he could have saved another person: “That one kid was crying so hard when they led his mother away to be deported. But I could have made so many more cry…”
AM in NC
@Jonas: It really is just astounding/enraging. That Republicans have this completely unwarranted reputation as being strong on US NatSec, when they have been doing everything in their power to weaken our country is enraging. Same thing with the economy.
Billionaire and Church-owned propaganda is a hell of a drug. And it’s killing US.
Professor Bigfoot
@Betty Cracker: Third. And in light of recent health events, I am trying really hard to let go of the hate and rage I feel thanks to those vile sonsabitches… and especially how I feel it towards the ones I see every damn day with their lifted trucks and their ballcaps and their wraparound gas-station sunglasses and their civil war beards…
<stops… breathes deep… “ommmmmmm…” {sigh}>
narya
@lowtechcyclist: This is my FOURTH attempt at the Pan de Campagne; looks like it might be more successful than the previous attempts, but still not picture perfect.
@AM in NC: I’m in Chicago . . . so no. But I wish I could! I’m such an introvert that I just don’t see that many people IRL. Maybe I can give some away at the Beer from the Basement party this weekend–party favors to take home, i.e., yeast in a different form factor.
BritinChicago
It’s not clear (to me, anyway) who uttered the words: “The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president — who deserves better from his senior leadership.” In any case, I disagree: I think this president deserves all the incompetence, stupidity, and corruption that we see in his senior (and not so senior) leadership. It’s the American people who deserve better (some of them, at least).
catclub
I had not made the connection that the Russian hacker login was made using the exfiltrated date from DOGE.
narya
@catclub: Track down Maddow’s interview with the guy. It’s terrifying.
Professor Bigfoot
@jonas: I swear it hit me like a brick between the eyes when I saw the “MASS DEPORTATION NOW” signs at their convention.
They’re Nazis. Just straight up *nazis.*
Nazi rhetoric: “Vermin! Poisoning the Blood of our Country!”
Nazi policy prescriptions: “MASS DEPORTATION NOW”
Nazi threats of political violence: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by!”
And step by stupid step they’re leading us right down the same path as the OG NAZIs.
It’s said that anger is just fear’s bodyguard; and I am so very *angry.
lowtechcyclist
@narya:
A bit of a ways from southern MD, so maybe not! But I’m sure you can find takers closer at hand.
Old Man Shadow
Ignorance can be remedied.
Stupidity or foolishness is a choice and no amount of facts or reason can cure it.
We are being led by very stupid people.
Melancholy Jaques
@AM in NC:
There is some kind of interplay or overlap with those with an authoritarian mindset & the belief that bellicose remarks, ignorance about other countries, & flag pins means strong on foreign policy.
Melancholy Jaques
@Professor Bigfoot:
And it is very telling & infuriating that all that was treated the same as any other political argument, like lowering taxes or fixing the roads.
lowtechcyclist
@AM in NC:
Link? My Googling isn’t turning up anything recent.
Jackie
FFOTUS is going to fire the entire DOD and replace them with his pardoned J6 insurrectionists, isn’t he.
Professor Bigfoot
@Old Man Shadow: If they were actually working directly for Vladimir Putin, what would they be doing differently?
But since they now control all the security services, we have no way to actually even investigate these connections.
The first thing the Leader must do is get unrestricted control of the security services; DOJ, FBI, DoD, NSC; and who has bee put in charge of each of those agencies?
Hegseth is a drunken idiot but that’s all you need to keep DoD (and the generals 250 year long tradition of never interfering in political affairs) out of play.
Toolsi, for example, is far from stupid. Likewise Bondi. Kash Patel, while an unreconstructed ass, is also not stupid. THEY, at least, are far more dangerous and evil than Kegsbreath.
schrodingers_cat
It is not stupidity if destroying the government was their intention. People knew this and voted for this. Other people knew this and encouraged others to sit this one out. Were the people who are acting outraged or surprised now asleep the last 8 years?
Media people acting surprised can STFU you are fooling no one.
dc
@lowtechcyclist:
Cheryl Rofer has this post with links at LGM: https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/04/150244
Melancholy Jaques
And it is those people we have to deal with because it is those people who have to change.
mappy!
To paraphrase something Hillary noted, Republicans can stop all this any time. Bears repeating over and over…
bobbo1
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And did they end the message with “thank you for your attention to this matter!”?
TS
@Betty Cracker:
Trump is attacking the fed chair Powell (who he appointed) because he continues to explain that the tariffs are causing most of the market disasters, a rise in inflation & a lower $$. He seems to be following basic economics rather than trump which is not allowed in this administration.
Can trump fire him & put in someone who will reduce interest rates and probably crash the markets and the $ faster than is happening at the minute?
Baud
@Melancholy Jaques:
There’s the rub. A lot of those people won’t give up their love of scolding Dems no matter baldy Republicans behave. But maybe some will.
Another Scott
Hard to think of a more deserving guy to be the target of these memes…
Best wishes,
Scott.
Salty Sam
Easy there big fella- there’s people on this forum who will “tone police” you for calling a Nazi a… Nazi!
Ksmiami06
@Professor Bigfoot: yes and this is why we need to fucking destroy them
YY_Sima Qian
@jonas: Russian, Chinese, Israeli, Indian, Saudi, Emirati, Qatari, the list goes on & on. It’s a free for all for foreign intelligence agencies, adversaries, rivals, neutrals, [ex-]partners & [former] allies alike.
Old Man Shadow
Legally, no.
But that hasn’t stopped anyone in this administration from doing illegal things so far. Nor have they paid any price for it.
NotMax
@TS
He can try but there is no legal path nor mechanism to fire him. And any attempt would plop the markets (both domestic and global) directly into the proverbial sh*tter.
Scout211
In the Trump 1.0 administration, this would mean he would soon be leaving to spend more time with his booze. But Trump 2.0 needs him in order to f*ck up the military chain of command, so maybe he stays?
Professor Bigfoot
@Ksmiami06: I’m reminded of an old saying: “What’s the best way to win a gunfight? Avoid getting into one.”
I’m sure you’re speaking rhetorically, here, of course.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Anyway
My version of doom-scrolling is checking T$LA — it’s not falling fast enough for me….
As kay would say this administration is full of “low-quality hires” starting at the very top …
Steve LaBonne
@NotMax: And if Ron Vara, and not Bessent, happens to be the last person the orange moron talks to before making up his so-called mind, he’ll (purport to) fire Powell regardless, and the resulting market meltdown will make the one that brought down Liz Truss look like a rally. Wheeee!
schrodingers_cat
@Anyway: Tesla is way overpriced at$225. It is overpriced $25 FWIW.
NotMax
@Scout211
SecDef Hulk Hogan?
Scout211
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was about to post that and was looking for a link when I found this about Noem.
Has this been posted here? (Originally posted at the Daily Beast)
It would be irresponsible not to speculate and gossip.
TS
@Old Man Shadow:
@NotMax:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/21/investing/us-stock-market/index.html
I was reading this article about the markets/economy and quoted trump as saying he could “get him out”. I’m assuming that trump thinks he will resign if he just keeps attacking him.
If the US economy, $ & trade is to collapse – taking the rest of the world with them, I’m thinking better sooner than later – might hasten the collapse of MAGA – and allow regrowth to begin.
Jackie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
BWAAHAHAHAHAAAA!
That purse snatcher is my new hero!
frosty
@prostratedragon: Of course it’s the Pitchbot! Well done!
TS
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Who wanders around with $3000 cash in their bag. What would it be needed for?
NotMax
@TS
Heavy tipper?
//
frosty
@Jeffro: But I fear the rubes won’t see it. This stuff won’t make it through their news media bottleneck.
Betty Cracker
I’m not a good enough historian to compare the rise of Nazi Germany as it was gearing up to menace the world with what’s happening in the U.S. now. The impression I got from reading about it is that the Nazis were uniquely competent fascists. The Trump people’s sheer stupidity might limit the blast radius. But their rise sure has brought home the lesson that Nazism wasn’t anything endemic to Germany. It can happen here. It has happened here in other forms. It can happen — and has happened — everywhere.
The Other Bob
@Scout211:
I know someone who has unsolicited dick picks from that guy. Not that that gets anyone fired anymore.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: They were not competent.
EthylEster
One of your best posts ever, BC.
Focused, substantive, just the right length.
Kudos.
I read the piece by Ullyot yesterday. He’s a stupid fuck if he thinks Rs want to hear what he said. And he took a few swipes at Ds as well. As if this was anyone’s fault beside Trump.
Matt McIrvin
@Betty Cracker: There was a lot of incompetence among the Nazis because that kind of ideology does make you stupid. The whole Führerprinzip, the idea that every organization is a self-similar hierarchy of little dictatorships with no accountability from below, meant that stupid stuff happened.
But one thing they tried really hard to do was keep life materially good for the people in their good Aryan circle (until the war started to go really bad). Trump doesn’t seem to think that’s necessary.
mapanghimagsik
@Betty Cracker: down 900 when I looked. Wow.
lowtechcyclist
@dc:
Thank you. I’ve read her post. Holy fucking shit.
All I can say is, thank goodness this was ‘only’ NLRB, rather than DOD or NSA.
That we know of, anyway.
They Call Me Noni
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Oh the irony! The Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security had her purse stolen.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
The cause for my hope is that we really do not need that many of them.
They Call Me Noni
@TS: Perhaps she has been on the receiving end of some sort of pay-off.
lowtechcyclist
@jonas:
Can’t wait for nuclear warheads to explode in missile silos all across North Dakota.
EthylEster
@Another Scott: I think it was JD telling the Pope he prayed for him everyday that killed the Pope.
Only kidding a little.
cmorenc
@AM in NC:
Tillis is definitely very concerned about his re-election prospects – he is already heavily running TV ads focusing on all the purported work he’s doing protecting seniors’ social security and medicare, with naught a frog-fart’s worth of any specific things he’s been doing toward those ends.
– he is already the subject of negative TV ads by some presumably progressive PAC demanding that he not support huge tax cuts for billionaires at the expense of ordinary citizens.
I sure hope recent ex-Gov Roy Cooper decides he’s up for taking on Tillis. Cooper has twice been elected governor in recent election cycles that otherwise favored GOP candidates. In 2020, Tillis narrowly won against a D Senatorial candidate (Cal Cunningham) whose campaign based on charactter and his military background was impaired by revelation a month or so out of his involvement in a messy extramarital affair, plus being the beneficiary of Trump’s late 2000 Presidential campaign concentration in redder parts of NC, when it seemed possible Biden might edge him out in NC.
Steve LaBonne
@Matt McIrvin: Krugman today compares MAGA governance to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, which seems to me a more apt comparison than Nazi Germany.
lowtechcyclist
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Who walks around with $3000 in cash on them? (ETA: Beaten to it by TS.)
For that matter, who walks around with checks anymore, but that’s just being a Luddite.
Chief Oshkosh
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Medication? Man, that could be excellent information. It’s probably ketamine, but maybe something more interesting?…
And $3,000 in cash? What, was she going to see her supplier later that day? Or maybe she was planning a trip to the BSM leather shop and wanted to be somewhat discrete.
oldgold
@Betty Cracker: The Democrats have an extremely target rich environment for attacking Trump. In fact, it is probably too rich.
If I were in charge of the opposition, I would focus on how his tariff policy is ruining the present economy and our brand going forward.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia/ El Salvador, Whiskey Pete, DOGE and the rest of the idiotic malfeasance are important, but if you want to bring Trump to heel, in my opinion, you focus like a laser beam on the economy. Carville was right, for the most part in American politics, “It’s the economy, Stupid.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: The German civil service was quite conservative to begin with so all the Nazis need to do was put their people at the head of each department.
The biggest bit of Nazis idiocy was, all the horse breeders were Jewish, so then the Nazis drove them out of business the Germany army had a horse shortage which (and the Germany army in WW2 was a horse drawn one). The second was getting into war with the UK, because all the Nazis knew from personally experience that it was only two to three years before Germany would start starving after the blockade started.
TS
@mapanghimagsik:
About to hit -1000Dow Just passed -1000NASDAQ down a larger % -3.09%
Melancholy Jaques
@Steve LaBonne:
Agree, but I don’t think either comparison has much currency with the electorate.
Belafon
@oldgold: Not yet. The economy hasn’t hit most people. And the ones it currently has hit, beyond the stupid firings of knowledgeable people in the US government, are the farmers and Truckers that think Trump will make magic and make everything great. For the rest of America, we’re not there yet.
Matt McIrvin
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: They drove a lot of nuclear scientists out too, denounced relativity as “Jewish science”, pushed Albert Einstein to America. Do the math…
Steve LaBonne
@Melancholy Jaques: Sadly I think we have to rely on an economic crisis to get the normies’ attention. “Fortunately” I think we will get it, and soon.
Belafon
@TS: According to CNBC, it’s Trump’s attacks on Powell, which are causing uncertainty, that are driving the markets down.
Ruckus
@bbleh:
The Orange Guy Does. Not. Care. about government, functional or otherwise, except as a tool for revenge and personal enrichment.
Actual competence?
Those two words in a comment about shitforbrains or his assistants? I mean I know that you are saying that no one in this maladministration has the competence to even actually breathe on their own without outside influence but still, even saying the words – Actual Competence? They are all, each and every one, like a rich kid neighbor who breaks every toy he touches so that he can demand more.
Omnes Omnibus
@Salty Sam: Who? Who will do that?
dm
One of the local news blogs came up with “Pol Potbelly” for the figurehead of what they consistently refer to as “the regime”.
Belafon
@Belafon:
Titles of articles include:
‘Severe’ market reaction if Trump tries to fire Powell
Goolsbee says Fed independence ‘critically important’ for inflation fight
U.S. dollar falls to three year low in response to Trump’s Powell threats
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
They wouldn’t be rubes if they could see and understand.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Steve at # 81 said Mao was a better comparison.
Melancholy Jaques
@oldgold:
We first need to agree on what “the economy” refers to. Apparently it does not mean low unemployment, stock market up, & inflation down.
Montanareddog
@lowtechcyclist:
Somebody on Bluesky suggested that it could be simply her scamming her insurance company.
Baud
@Belafon:
I wish the markets had my back like that.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I blame Biden.
oldgold
@Belafon: Somewhat true, however, have you checked the Dow and or/your 201K?
That expressed, much worse is coming and soon, now is the time to set the table.
Ruckus
@Old Man Shadow:
Nor have they paid any price for it.
Who is in a position to actually stop them?
Steve LaBonne
@Baud: Which, for the record, is not citing a lesser evil. Mao was a mass murderer multiple times over.
Montanareddog
@Baud:
That’s a given. Noem surely only eats in restaurants that are fully-booked when a Black customer requests a table.
Ruckus
@Anyway:
It’s not “low quality” it’s they have less than zero positive quality.
Far less.
Steve LaBonne
@Ruckus: This is the dirty little secret of all forms of constitutional / rule of law government. If enemies of the rule of law have fanatical support both from a sizable, compact minority of the population and from a big chunk of the military and police, there is no institutional framework that can withstand them if they manage to seize power.
Baud
I assume once Trump’s insiders buy up all the low priced stock, Trump will sing Powell’s praises.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Jackie: More evidence that the Secret Service is incompetent.
scav
@Belafon: Ah yes, there is always a simple, singular reason for “the market’s” entire behavior and it so very often reflects the financial journalist’s current hobby. Amazing that!
Ruckus
@Melancholy Jaques:
This.
In shitforbrains world the only economy that matters is his. He doesn’t give a rat’s butt about anyone or any thing except himself. Not even his helpers. In his mind, such as it is, the world rotates about the stick up his hinny. It’s one of the shitty things that makes him who/what he is.
Steve LaBonne
@scav: It is highly unusual for stocks, bonds, and the dollar to tank at the same time- that’s the kind of thing that happens in emerging-market financial crises. It’s crystal clear that loss of confidence is the reason for this.
TS
@Belafon: Doing the opposite of what trump wants – seems about right.
scav
@Steve LaBonne: As if there was a single cause for this lack of confidence!
eta, I mean, tariffs, lack of coherent sustained government policy, trade wars, blah blah blah, who cares, what’s really important is the head of a single institution.
rikyrah
Turnbull
@cturnbull1968
The Japanese trade delegation came to meet in good faith with Trump’s economic team and after a while, they realized that Trump’s team didn’t know what they wanted and lacked any authority to reach a deal. So they just left.
That’s where we are in our tariff negotiations. 🫠
https://x.com/cturnbull1968/status/1913970680904745379
Baud
What does the market have against future Fed chair Kidd Rock?
Steve LaBonne
@scav: There most certainly is. Its name is “Donald Trump”.
TS
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
No ID – under GOP laws she won’t be able to vote
Professor Bigfoot
@oldgold: I made a point of clearing out my 401Ks before the turn of the year. That decision was taken in mid November; because I knew that sooner or later things were going to go to shit.
And, well, here we are, we haven’t reached shit but we’re pickin’ up speed…
rikyrah
Maxwell Alejandro Frost
@MaxwellFrostFL
We have arrived in El Salvador.
Trump is illegally arresting, jailing, & deporting people with no due process. We must hold the Administration accountable for these illegal acts and demand Kilmar’s release. Today it’s him, tomorrow it could be anyone else.
https://x.com/MaxwellFrostFL/status/1914321852920479774
Steve LaBonne
@rikyrah: “A big strong Japanese man came up to me with tears in his eyes…”
Belafon
@oldgold: I’m watching the middle class voters around me who are still acting like things like abortion, school vouchers, and “but he has tattoos” are the important things going on.
Belafon
@scav: There’s often a single reason for the market’s behavior at the moment we look, but it can change within 30 minutes.
jonas
@YY_Sima Qian: And we can also ask how many people even here domestically now have access to systems at Ag, Commerce, and Labor where key reports and forecasts are kept that could trigger huge sways in equity and commodity markets.
scav
@Steve LaBonne: See eta. Also, the sainted journalist went with head of a department.
Baud
@Belafon:
Abortion and school vouchers are pretty important but I assume your neighbors are on the wrong side of those things.
Steve LaBonne
@Belafon: We’ll see how they feel when they’re all unemployed and can’t afford eggs at all.
Belafon
@Baud: One word: Texas.
jonas
One of the frontpagers over at Wonkette just called Hegseth a “low-quality DUI hire”. They owe me a new keyboard.
Baud
@Steve LaBonne:
Eggs will probably replace dollars as the new reserve currency.
Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
Well if shitforbrains gets his way sure – but.
I don’t call him shitforbrains for no reason. Now I don’t disagree that this entire mess may be what can/might destroy our government and country – but.
These dipshits are often their own worst enemies.
They are hustlers, con men and idiots who ONLY think about themselves. Not even the con they are attempting but only themselves. How do they come out on top as individuals in a situation that requires actual competence to pull off when they have none?
And no I’m not saying they won’t destroy a lot/everything, just that it will be obvious who, what, when, why and how. They are their own worst enemies.
scav
@Belafon: Well, due to automated trading, sure, because they all embody similar embedded theories, and are attached to the same firehose of information, pulling on the same variables, but with actual people? (professional traders just being inept slower versions of the automated ones with more variance in theories). There are people staggering around out there still believing this shit show is act one of renewed imperial greatness.
Belafon
@scav: Yep, the same people who can’t figure out why their insurance rates are going up now that all of the climate scientists have been fired.
Steve LaBonne
@Ruckus: Which will be a great comfort when we’re all living either in a Salvadoran gulag or in a cardboard box.
Ksmiami06
@Betty Cracker: Hypatia would like a word…. Lumpenproletariat populism is bad for everyone
catclub
Senator Rick Scott… represent!
Baud
@catclub:
Heh. Best typo. Scott has been quiet lately.
catclub
@Belafon:
All the climate scientists got hired by the insurance companies? And told them how bad it will be where they are insuring houses?
Ruckus
@Professor Bigfoot:
Oh I think we’ve at least reached the smell stage of shitforbrains. Sure he’s always had a smell stage, one reason I call him that. But in total, their entire premise is actually not theft and walking away, but to destroy and plant their victory flag. IOW we will know who, what, when, why and how, every step on the way down. And yes the direction this goes is only down.
Bill Arnold
@lowtechcyclist:
Here. There was a good NPR piece, as well.
IMO, all DOGE people including Mr. Musk should be flown to Gitmo and
waterboardedinterrogated, through enhanced means, until they confess. Then interrogated for at least another decade.Transcript of testimony to congress:
DECLARATION OF DANIEL J. BERULIS – RE: Disclosure of Cyber Security Breach and Data Exfiltration through DOGE Systems and Whistleblower/Witness Intimidation (PDF)
Thread (threadreader). (Images aren’t showing for me, but do on X/twitter)
THREAD: A federal whistleblower just dropped one of the most disturbing cybersecurity disclosures I’ve ever read.
Belafon
@catclub: No, all the ones that were misinforming the government that climate change was real.
Anyway
Boeing 737 MAax intended for a Chinese airline returned to sender – bwahahaha!
Ruckus
@Steve LaBonne:
Hey, I never stated that it will be good or in any way positive, because it will not be.
But get used to the smell of cardboard…..
Baud
@Ruckus:
🎶Sparrows roasting on a curtain rod
Joy in neighbor having none…🎶
catclub
@Bill Arnold:
And US-CERT investigation turned off from above!
frosty
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The Secret Service wasn’t attentive enough to notice she was being robbed? I’m not sure I’d want them as a bodyguard!
Origuy
It doesn’t matter, she’ll be gone in another half Scaramucci.
Jeffro
@Dorothy A. Winsor: ‘medication’
hmmmmmm
RevRick
@Betty Cracker: While the Dow is now down 1,000, the real portent is the utter collapse of truck shipments out of the Port of Los Angeles. It’s worse than the depths of COVID. Both Mussolini and Hitler embarked on massive infrastructure projects that created jobs. Tanking the economy was the last thing they wanted to do. But the singularity of stupidity is not Hegseth; it’s Trump himself.
Since the 1980s, he’s believed in the magic power of tariffs to bring back manufacturing jobs and he keeps going back to that crackpot notion.
Some suggest that crashing the economy is part of some grand plan so that billionaires can buy up the country on the cheap. But I think that is hogwash. No further explanation is needed beyond the utter stupidity of Donald J Trump.
Belafon
@frosty: They could have had a member who might have thought to watch the purse, but that would have been a DEI hire.
Jeffro
Isn’t trumpov’s idea of a tariff ‘deal’ = “Country X gives the United States money, I skim off of that, and X tells the world I’m awesome”?
Josie
@frosty:
This was my first thought upon reading the post. What kind of agents fail to notice the theft of your purse? Also, how did she not notice it? i always have my purse hooked around my knee or foot in a restaurant, and I’m sure not carrying that much money.
Jackie
@lowtechcyclist: Isn’t she protected by SS? They must hate her.
Belafon
@RevRick: Remember, the Bible that some of them follow, Atlas Shrugged, is based on collapsing the economy so it can be rebuilt into a libertarian ideal.
Geminid
@rikyrah: Japanese trade negotiator channeling Casey Stengel:
oklahomo
@RevRick: Tariffs are to Trump what lebensraum was to Hitler. Hitler couldn’t let go of that, even after he had most of Europe under his thumb.
Jackie
@TS:
Nor enter any federal buildings.
Chief Oshkosh
@RevRick:
I think Trump is aware enough, and certainly is likely to have been told by various rich psychofants [sic], that “hey, even if things get bad for the economy, we’ll at least get some good deals.”
But that aside, whether Trump has a plan or not is immaterial. He’s not really setting policy. A handful of people who know how to push his buttons are. And those guys absolutely know that they are going get a lot of things at fire sale prices.
Josie
@Bill Arnold:
This is mind blowing and should be all over the news. But no, reporters are too busy transcribing the latest inanities from his social media statements.
artem1s
I’ll give him a half a Scaramucci before he discovers he has a family to ‘spend more time with’.
artem1s
@dmsilev:
The billionaire is ready to exit because he is tired of
fielding what he views as a slew of nasty and unethical attacks from the political left,having to work and justify what he’s doing like a common serf. Also, despite the fact he’s getting paid 1,000,000X the average SS earner, he’s pissed one told him government pay was so shitty.RevRick
@Chief Oshkosh: October 1929 would like to have a word with this thesis. The Northeast is littered with grand estates built before then being abandoned because the owners could no longer afford the upkeep.
Citizen Alan
@Melancholy Jaques: As far as I can tell, “the economy” consists entirely of the “vibes” of journalists, most of whom are right-leaning whether they admit it or not. One of the most exasperating things about the 2024 election is the realization that no amount of success by Democrats will have any effect on the electorate if the MSM refuses to acknowledge those successes and insists that everything is terrible.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Just came from Zumba. The teacher’s daughter is a junior at UIC. She’s having trouble finishing a paper because she needs a book that’s been removed from the library shelves for mentioning transgender.
Gvg
@CaseyL: that was a Clancy plot. Used Ebola. They extra judicially exiled the leaders of the plot to somewhere in the amazon rainforest where they didn’t survive. The whistle blower was a former KGB agent they recruited who decided they were dangerous nuts. I don’t recall all the plot but unsurprisingly the bio weapon wasn’t going to work the way the plotters planned and there was a bunch of sacrificing of too trusting lower level idealists while the important people thought just they would survive.
artem1s
@TS:
fire fed chair
Powell addressed the potential for political pressure during his speech in Chicago.
“Our independence is a matter of law,” Powell said, explaining that the Fed governors are not removable except “for cause,” as determined by law.
I doubt any Fed Chair would cave and let themselves be ‘you’re fired’ the way a common federal worker would. They are even more full of themselves than SCOTUS justices.
RevRick
@oklahomo: Great analogy. The thing about stupid people in power is that they’re victims of their own grandiosity. They just can’t let it go. The fascist regimes that lasted were Franco’s Spain and Salazar’s Portugal.
Citizen Alan
@Belafon: You know, as much as I despise Randian Objectivists, it had honestly not occurred to me that they were literally following the Atlas Shrugged playbook. I feel sick thinking of that.
Citizen Alan
It may or may not be a Grand Plan, but that is certainly what’s going to happen next.
oklahomo
@RevRick: The term I’ve heard used on YouTube and various podcasts is referring to them as “Smooth-Brained Dictators.”
suzanne
@RevRick:
Sounds like he hasn’t gone outside since the 1980s.
I listened to the latest episode of the Focus Group podcast yesterday. (Always like to keep my finger on the pulse of the dumbness going around.) As will surprise no one, FFOTUS has been successful in convincing a swath of Americans that “a small recession, or a small depression” instigated by tariffs will usher in a Renaissance of American manufacturing. I don’t know why anyone who has gone to a Walmart or a Dollar General in the last three decades would think that there’s a widespread desire to pay more for American-made goods.
A few too many Dems (Whitmer, DeLuzio, etc.) have muddied the water on the tariff message right now. The message should be “not only no, but hell no” and let FFOTUS completely own this disaster.
Gvg
@Cheryl from Maryland: The secret service is not in charge of security for most government officials. Only the President, VP, possibly the majority leader of the house (line of succession) and I think the treasury secretary. They get asked to do some others from time to time when there is reason with specific threats. They aren’t a huge service.
RevRick
@Citizen Alan: Except a billionaire’s ability to scoop up assets on the cheap depends on a functional banking system. And the way Trump is rattling the markets with his stupid tariffs makes that is an open question. A billionaire’s lavish lifestyle depends on the ability to borrow against assets and no bank is going to lend when those assets are vaporizing.
RevRick
@oklahomo: Ha!
Juju
@NotMax: Emergency Botox and lip collagen injections.
rikyrah
Candidly Tiff
@tify330
Salvadoran President Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro for Venezuelan deportees
So Bukele bagged $6M and now playing let’s make a deal with Maduro with the same prisoners he has a contract to hold for a year. This guy is something else. https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-bukele-maduro-venezuela-prisoners-6728d1df2445d85bd16c6ab8a85056a8
https://x.com/tify330/status/1914123086531612718
RevRick
@suzanne: As the disaster continues to unfold, I think those Democrats will discover the power of silence.
Democrats venerate FDR, but his 1932 campaign made all sorts of contradictory claims. In fact, a lot of the first few years of the New Deal merely continued Hoover’s policies. Muddled messages are not the final word.
rikyrah
Rep. Melanie Stansbury
@Rep_Stansbury
Recently, the Trump Administration posted that they intend to sell 440 federal properties without so much as asking federal agencies what those buildings are used for and who could lose their jobs.
Interestingly, it looks like Trump’s acting GSA Administrator’s brother intends to buy a 17-acre property from the federal government at half the market value…
We have questions. That’s why
@GerryConnolly
,
@RepJasmine
and I are investigating.
5:13 PM · Apr 19, 2025
https://x.com/Rep_Stansbury/status/1913717705557028935
AM in NC
@narya: Well poop. But Chicago is such a great city! Your plan to give away “yeast in a different form” (Ha!) sounds perfect!
Raoul Paste
@Josie: Yes, it is completely mind blowing, and sounds far too much like a movie. I hope this hero whistleblower gets the movie rights
AM in NC
@lowtechcyclist: Was away from my computer doing something outside. Here’s the NPR story from last week
https://www.npr.org/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5355896/doge-nlrb-elon-musk-spacex-security
suzanne
@RevRick: Agreed.
“Never interrupt your enemy while he’s making a mistake” is really good advice, and I’d like all Dems to follow it right now.
AM in NC
@lowtechcyclist: And here’s a thread quoted at LGM about it . . .
LGM story
suzanne
Seeing our trash heap of a VP being dubbed “Justkilled Dapope Vance” and I’m smirking here in the airport.
AM in NC
@cmorenc: Yep, I agree with you that Cooper is by far our best shot. I don’t know that he wants the job, though. Would you after being Governor? No matter who the nominee is, we all have to be knocking Tillis down on the daily.
jimmiraybob
It was just 1999 when someone wrote a book called DOW 36,000 predicting the rise of markets.
I wonder if Trump’s working off this title?
jimmiraybob
@suzanne: Opus Dei be goin’ like, yowser!
jimmiraybob
@rikyrah: Con man cons con man. Now that’s the art of the deal.
Juju
@AM in NC: Wiley Nickel has declared his candidacy. What do you think about him? I’m waiting to see if Cooper is going to run before I send money to Nickel.
bbleh
@RevRick: remember Trump’s Razor: the stupidest explanation is the most likely.
laura
I am really askeered that when the low quality DUI hire at the DOD gets the hook, that he’ll get replaced by General Michael Flynn.
jimmiraybob
@RevRick: The “Plan” is some kind of stew involving Project 2025, 7 mountains mandate, shrinking the government until it can be drown in a bathtub, and dismantling the administrative state.
Timothy McVeigh was old school.
karen gail
@Betty Cracker: Am late to this; so a comment about why the Kennedy’s are so “worshipped.” We can thank Jackie for that she knew how to do PR; she is the one who turned Jack’s presidency into Camelot with Jack as “King Arthur” so that she was seen as a Queen to him. I am old enough to remember when the White House and Jack’s presidency was renamed as Camelot; I also remember adults talking about how this would hide all the bad things that were happening even more than press refusing to talk about Jack’s sexual exploits.
WTFGhost
Ah. Take a picture of the loaves this time, and they’ll be precisely as pretty as a picture. *That* is the step you’re missing!
@narya:
bbleh
@jimmiraybob: Down 1,300 as we “speak,” to below 38,000.
Trump Kill Stonks. Trump Take 401K.
catclub
@jimmiraybob: now I get it. We are getting Dow 36k on the way down. details, details
to what level??
RevRick
@jimmiraybob: Shrinking the federal government may be the ultimate conservative wet dream, but it’s a really, really stupid plan. Just about every dollar of federal spending is somebody’s job or income. Slash those and you set up a vicious cycle of economic contraction.
The only reason COVID didn’t lead to Great Depression 2 was the willingness of Congressional Democrats to pour $trillions into the economy. But Democrats don’t control the House this time.
Bupalos
Another jolt down in equities today, accompanied by schizophrenic bond action. Overall looks like another day of money just getting up and leaving the U.S.
catclub
@laura:
It is amazing and horrifying that both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone are far better choices than who we will end up with.
catclub
@RevRick:
Yes.
and one learns very soon as a Federal employee that the Federal government is designed for spending money.
many efforts to save money are not welcome.
am
Can you imagine surviving the shame of being officially exiled from a club by trump junior?
Is he the one that hunts endangered animals for fun, the one that cheated on his wife, or the coked up moron?
RevRick
@Bupalos: Bbasically GOP economic policy is the attempt to abolish arithmetic.
Geminid
@laura: I just saw a report that the White House is figuring out a replacement for Hedgseth. The report did not not mention any potential nominees, but those reports will be out soon enough.
Bupalos
It’s a handful of people who think they know how to manipulate him and are competing to manipulate him…. who themselves are probably at least as “stupid” as he is.
Again and again, a clinical psychologist specializing in NPD has by far the better insight into Donald Trump’s actions. And they’d probably tell you anyone who convinces themselves they can control and pull the strings on a full blown narcissist is about to enter the wraith zone.
Geminid
@am: This is the coked up moron who hunts endangered species for fun. Don Jr.
Anonymous At Work
You forgot serial embezzler. Ran two small charities into the ground before being kicked out for hte drunkenness, sexual harassment, AND financial mismanagement (spent on himself, his booze, and his strippers).
Professor Bigfoot
@RevRick:
William of Ockham agrees with you, but he notes that while his stupidity is the simplest explanation, it does boggle the mind, the power of malice and stupidity in high office.
RevRick
@Bupalos: And this is especially true of a malignant narcissist who brags about screwing over contractors.
Matt McIrvin
@Citizen Alan: There’s a chunk of the electorate who, when they say they care about the economy, actually mean “I want a Republican President”, and another, smaller chunk who mean “I want to live on UBI in a post-scarcity Star Trek utopia.” Neither group is going to be very interested in Democratic successes at stimulating the economy.
EthylEster
@lowtechcyclist: another person who does not carry credit cards.
Martin
@Bupalos: So, I’ve been hearing of another theory here, which is that post-great recession, the way financial institutions (including things like hedge funds, etc.) manage their liquidity has changed quite a bit, and what we may be witnessing isn’t money leaving the US, but small to midsize US financial institutions selling everything including treasuries to find liquidity to cover losses in other areas, because it’s not like these guys sit on cash reserves, even the reserves are invested, just in less risky things.
The operating theory was that you wouldn’t have all investments going down simultaneously because under any structural problem, there are always places of safety. What nobody accounted for was some asshole changing global monetary and trade policy with no underlying theory that anyone could latch onto to determine where safety lay.
So while some is likely leaving the country, a lot may simply be turning into cash unable to flow into any other investment because some of these firms seem on the brink of collapse.
Martin
Amazon and Microsoft slowing down their data center expansions. That’s an interesting area because internet traffic isn’t tariffed. This could either be:
I’m inclined toward the latter without evidence of increased data center construction outside the country.
Ruckus
@RevRick:
No further explanation is needed beyond the utter stupidity of Donald J Trump.
I agree 10,000%
He has the diplomas from schools but I wonder if they just gave him one to get rid of him. Because he’s been who he is now, his entire life. That’s been obvious from all the friends he’s made over time. He gets zero unless they think they can get something from him. So look at who wants to work for/under him. Only people that get something out of it that they never would otherwise. His companies have declared bankruptcy 4 times. That takes really positive financial planning and operational concepts. NOT.
Westyny
@suzanne: unless the mistake is going to kill us all.
Bill Arnold
@EthylEster:
The emissary of the Orange Antichrist visits the Pope. The Pope dies.
Tehanu
SecDef Hairgel is great, but I think you should add another word to make it SecDef Hairgel Tattoo.
“Trump’s serial liar press secretary (whose name I can’t be arsed to remember)” — why, that’s KKKaroline.
AM in NC
@Juju: he’s a solid Democrat who was redistricted out of his Congressional district. But nowhere close to Cooper in terms of a proven state-wide vote-getter. I’m waiting to see who all throws their hat in before I start to donate/volunteer.
rikyrah
Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) posted at 7:25 PM on Sun, Apr 20, 2025:
If you want to remove unauthorized residents at scale, what you need to do is sanction employers rather than try to deport millions of people one by one.
But this involves:
1. Fighting with business interests
2. Admitting illegals are mostly just working not “terrorists”
(https://x.com/mattyglesias/status/1914113286519284114?t=ahATanj5N3VNDtuBIa9eQw&s=03)
prostratedragon
@jimmiraybob:
Well, one of the authors of that book is currently director of the National Economic Council.
WTFGhost
@Melancholy Jaques: If you TALK about the military, people assume you CARE about the military. If you TALK about religion, people assume you CARE about religion. If you TALK about the economy, people assume you CARE about the economy.
Part of it is as simple as that.
The other part, is, when Republicans try to cut the VA, offer to run attack ads – make no legislative compromises.
“We’re going to run the one where the soldier with two missing limbs calls suicide prevention and gets put on hold, screams ‘JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!’ and then gets shot by the cops, because they neighbors felt threatened.”
“Look, I’m on the line with the VA now, I’m not going to…”
BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM (pause) BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM_and_pewpewpew.
Close up on DJT-faced actor saying “that’s one fewer gimp-vet to take the job away from an honest, hard working American! Get rid of that body – who wants to see that?”
Okay, okay, someone with actual directorial experience could probably do better, but, hey.
@TS: Trump can’t fire him, lawfully, but, the courts might find that no one has “standing” to sue the administration for firing him, so, unless/until there’s someone with standing, nothing can be done via the courts.
The courts require a real controversy – not a made up one – and they need someone who can legitimately claim some form of harm has been done. Of course, both of these things happen automatically with Republican causes of which the Republican SCOTUS approves.
@Betty Cracker: There was competence, but there was also stupidity. As is often spoken, it’s not that Nazis were stupid; it’s that the stupid tended to be Nazis, and were lauded for their “intelligence” in choosing the right side.
@lowtechcyclist: C-notes are the new $20, among the elites.
Don’t ask me why – I use cash for MJ purposes only (and I’m not cheating on that nice photojournalist, Peter Parker, for his lady love, if Pete&MJ is still a thing).
I do have to say, though: among white trash, a handful of $100s does have a hypnotic effect – you might never have carried more than one of those at a time, and here it all is, and all yours….
It wears off, after a bit, and, I imagine its wearing off happens quite quickly, after one has lost a large handful of $100s.
@Chief Oshkosh: Um – I’m a hard stop, even if it’s ketamine, though, if it’s estrogen (or testosterone, for that matter), that might deserve widespread information sharing.
@oldgold: I think you’re seeing a great time to keep the powder dry on the economy – mention it during your stump speech – but not time to try to land a blow on the “economy” because people probably don’t see it as a problem… yet.
I think you’d be better off talking about how “and Trump knows that the judge who guessed Kilmar Abrego Garcia was in a gang was wrong, but he still won’t bring him back!”
(Because I coulda screwed it up: unless I misremember my Spanish surnames, they’re compound, so the name is “Hi, Kilmar, hello Mr. Abrego Garcia”)
Everyone understands “the cops thought X, but they were wrong, so, he gets released.” Only the hardcore Trumpers believe anything else, and you know they can’t be talked to or reasoned with.
prostratedragon
@am: There is no “or” there.
Paul in KY
@lowtechcyclist: If I was in DNC, I’d want the contents of that purse.
Paul in KY
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: The biggest (IMO) was attacking USSR.
coin operated
@rikyrah: If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it a million times….
Illegal immigration will stop when Big Ag says so, and not a moment before.
Paul in KY
@karen gail: Pres. Kennedy, as flawed as he was (and he had a good number of flaws), is like Abraham Lincoln crossed with Jesus and Bismarck, compared to what we endure now.
Bill Arnold
@jimmiraybob:
Stir some Order of Nine Angles into that stew. Add some Yarvinism. And add some techbros who are hell-bent on creating a Machine God that is their slave, and are trying to get the USA to pay for it.
Baud
Not sure if this has been posted.
prostratedragon
Going by notably nonAfrican-American George Takei and Ben Stiller, I’d say Variety needs someone to start giving it the Pitchbot treatment:
Illustrated with a poster for Sinners, the new Ryan Coogler movie with Michael B. Jordan.
Geminid
@Baud: I’m gonna have to listen to WTOP Radio tonight. They’re a D.C. all news station with their own national security correspondent. J.J. Green will probably have names of possible replacements tonight.
This Pentagon pick will be like a warmup for the Papal Election; a sort of Dollar General Conclave.
Ruckus
@Martin:
I’d also go with #2.
I’d ask a question. How much money has DJT ever ACTUALLY MADE?
He inherited a bundle, that he’s seemingly lost. He seems not to know how to actually run a company. It gets more difficult the bigger the company but it isn’t all that difficult – I’ve owned 2 different companies, one manufacturing and one retail. The manufacturing company made high precision tooling for others, dad started it, I ran it/owned it longer than he did. The Northridge earthquake didn’t do me any favors. At all. The freeway to and from my business was gone. The retail one had an economic problem from the 2008 recession. You own a business, you are dependent on other companies and on the economy, often more than your average citizen.
Martin
@jimmiraybob: I’ve argued that I don’t think there is a plan, just an entirely self-focused narcissist that so transparent in his emotional needs that it has collected this constellation of other grifters, often at complete odds with each other, that individually are either ignored and allowed to do their own thing until they blow something important up, or paid attention to and it appears to be a policy objective for about 72 hours until someone else gets paid attention to.
If there appears to be an overarching plan in this mess, it’s either a coincidence, projection on our part for wanting there to be a plan, or evidence for some deeper symptom of the electorate that these people are merely channeling in some uncoordinated way (racism, sexism, greed are all contenders).
Martin
@Ruckus: That we know of – about half a billion since Inauguration Day. Possibly much more.
karen gail
@Ruckus: DJT has made money; he is a con artist and grifter. The reason he “owns” anything is due to his ability to cheat others and get others to pay the price. He got banks to loan him money so most of his “purchases” weren’t done with ‘his’ money.
He has no clue how to actually run a business, I believe he couldn’t even manage a lemonade stand; but what he does know how to do is to strong arm people, threaten people and cheat people. (I never understood with his reputation for failing to pay contractors why any contractor would do anything for him.)
karen gail
@Martin: I still believe that one reason why all those boxes of classified and top secret documents were at place in Florida was that he was selling them or copies of them.
jimmiraybob
@Bill Arnold: It’s a very rich stew. I’ll add a large dash of Ayn Rand too.
catclub
@WTFGhost:
Trump has already done this. Either FTC commissioners or NLRB commissioners. Both can only be fired for cause. Both are gone but now fighting it.
Also thousands of Federal employees denied proper review but fired.
Glidwrith
@karen gail: I think the contractors knew exactly what they were dealing with and doubled or tripled their prices, knowing he would cheat them, so they actually got the payment they needed for the work.
Bill Arnold
@jimmiraybob:
Also, for Mr. Trump (The Elder), Norman Vincent Peale. Who helped shape Trump’s selfishness and magical worldview, and officiated at his first wedding.
Barry
@NotMax: “He can try but there is no legal path nor mechanism to fire him. And any attempt would plop the markets (both domestic and global) directly into the proverbial sh*tter.”
Have federal marshalls remove people and DOGE lock them out.
Gloria DryGarden
@catclub: i saw the the director of NLRB returned to work, after she won her court case.
meanwhile ullyot saying the president deserves better? I prefer a fill in the blank sentence: the president deserves __________. Think what you will.
Kayla Rudbek
@frosty: Secret Service hires ex-football players who can take a lot of hits
Misterpuff
@prostratedragon: Judas still got his 30 pieces of bitcoin.
Paul in KY
@Martin: I think you got it! The dog caught the car and is now out for the joyride from hell, traffic laws be damned
Some of his minions do have serious and evil plans, however.