Kash Patel Is Incredibly Disqualified

 

Antisemitic far-right broadcaster Stew Peters responds to Kash Patel claiming that he is not familiar with Peters, despite appearing on his show multiple times: "Clearly, Kash Patel is lying. He absolutely does know who I am." https://t.co/gc5MlT7NVs pic.twitter.com/UqX9mAFFlE

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 30, 2025

He straight up lied. There's no beating around that point--he also lied about the 1/6 choir--he bragged about producing their single and now wants to pretend he doesn't know much about that "community".  He pretends he disagrees with Trump's clemency for the violent offenders sentenced for their 1/6 activities, but that doesn't square with his broad, conspiracy-theory based defense that the FBI (the agency he wants to lead) was behind it--

When what was behind it was Trump inviting these people to "Stop the Steal", a slogan based on a whole-ass lie, and Patel himself can't even admit Trump lost the 2020 election. 

Trump Pardons Domestic Terrorists

 

Trump and his confederates (word choice definitely intentional) like to play off what happened in 1/6 as, variously, a love-in, a prayer circle, a tourist group, but many of these people were violent, were previous offenders and some have already started being violent-minded assholes again. Take Stewart Roades of the Oath Keepers, seditious conspirator, whose sentence was actually only commuted because he really is an admitted piece of work. He was just seen at the Capitol Complex with some GOP Reps, because I guess they are some kinds of piece of work, too.

He's got family who are nervous about him being out and about, and he's not the only one.

Not Looking Back in Anger

 

The Biden Administration wasn't perfect, but it was professional. You want the most benign, bloodless take I can make on it--there you go. We'll be asking ourselves for a long time what else could have been done:

Did they do all they could to prevent Trump 2.0 and bring him to any kind of justice? Did they try hard enough to whip inflation--or at least, leave a bigger impression that's what they were doing? Did they do enough for Ukraine? Could they have done less for Israel and prevent the worst of the suffering in Gaza?

Here's what I do know; hindsight is 20/20. The Biden Administration, like Biden himself, weren't perfect and weren't able to do everything they wanted to do. Biden himself would say, "Don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative." You can pick apart what might have been different, in terms of policy, in terms of politics, that might have given us a second Democratic term. You can ask if Biden should have, oh, right about after the midterms, said that he wanted to concentrate on seeing out his term and promoting a new candidate to lead his party. 

Never Getting Over It

 

At first, I was just not going to get over 1/6/2021, but now that I think of it, I'm not getting over how in only four years, anyone convinced themselves that the disinformation-fueled violence was not just "not a Trump problem", but for some people it was even "good, actually...", so much so that if Trump pardons 1/6 rioters, some will shrug as if Trump having that power makes it right, and insurrectionist boobs like Marjorie Taylor Greene can even suggest a holiday for that event. 

Something very bad got uncorked that day, and we aren't even down to the dregs of it, I'm afraid. 

Feeling Blue Anonish

.@elonmusk conspired with foreign leaders to get Trump elected and make himself the de facto President of the U.S. There is no reason to certify the results of this election. The result was achieved via a foreign influence operation and psychological warfare on our citizens. pic.twitter.com/q3vtKOUwl8

— Andrew—New YouTube Channel @LiveFromTheResistance (@AmoneyResists) December 23, 2024

I mean, my rational brain has no proof of anything going on that would stop Trump (Musk and Vance and their various going concerns through Trump) from taking office, but some part of me really, really thinks there ought to be? 

Like it's dumb and not happening and no controlling mechanism that I know of--but still?

I would very much prefer it if a kind of lunatic corrupt, insurrectionist jackaloon was not going to be made president just because a whole bunch of my fellow countrymen seem to be dumb, spiteful, mis-and dis-informed shooting pigeons. As if there actually were grown-ups somewhere who could call a do-over or takesies-backsies or something. I know these aren't real things!

Trump on Any Day Ending in "Y"

 

Trump announces he wants to throw “everyone on the [January 6] committee” in jail. pic.twitter.com/33hEYGByu1

— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) December 8, 2024

Trump "Met the Press" and in his interview with Kristen Welker, he said all kinds of incredibly fascinating things. He still only had "concepts of a plan" with respects to health care. He's going to deport the "Dreamers" and is looking into ending birthright citizenship (which is actually in the Constitution). He lied about how many murders have been committed by undocumented migrants. He admitted he "can't guarantee" his tariffs won't raise prices (because they will).  He's going to get rid of Christopher Wray as head of the FBI for no other reason than wanting his own attack-dog there. 

Oh yes, and he wants the 1/6 Committee in prison for noticing he defrauded people by lying about the 2020 election and directed a crowd of rioters at the Capitol to "Stop the Steal (AKA the lawful certification of the election)" and then the Committee really went wild and pointed it out. 

TrumpWorld is always a bit more mad that people point out wrongdoing then that they are guilty of it. Trump is allergic to accountability. It makes him break out in vendetta.

Shit--Here's a Good TrumpWorld Final Pitch:

 

Difficult time. The US elections are in a few hours. Just want to wish you all peace, guys. But if things go bad, save your families. You know where to go. We do care of YOU.

God bless. pic.twitter.com/qZbol82lxU

— Maria Butina (@Maria_Butina) November 5, 2024

But I'm pretty sure Trump is actually headed for Venezuela because he keeps saying so. Also being back in Russia has done wonders for Butina's health you can tell. She's looking greeeaaaaaatt. 

Look, I could point to all the misogyny Trump dumped out just today, suggesting he might like to hit Michelle Obama, imagining Kamala Harris in a ring with Mike Tyson, his running mate calling Harris "trash", or his racism and the racism of his campaign, such that the campaign only just last week--the final week of the campaign, they fired a white supremacist and that the bizarrely hateful MSG rally still reverberates. 

But I'm going to point to the fact that there is something wrong with thinking after the investigation into the 2016 election, after the first impeachment, after 1/6, some people don't recognize what hundreds of national security professionals have: 

Is He Trying to Sabotage Himself?

 

Trump: We will build a missile defense shield.. We’ll put Herschel Walker in charge of that little sucker pic.twitter.com/ZN0yHTGf2M

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 4, 2024

We clearly don't have any need for the equivalent of the Iron Dome here in the continental US, but even if we did, would we want someone just walking around with CTE and a dollar store sheriff badge in charge of it? Because that would be the dumbest thing since putting roadkill-eater and brainworm-haver Bobby Kennedy in charge of anything at all to do with health--given that he has no education on the subject but "his own research" and a ton of basically shit opinions.  He'll ban fluoride, vaccines and abortion--and then, I think we might see some real fuckery. 

Look, I don't know what desperate and weird thoughts animate these kinds of celebrity stunt-casting proposals, but just like his odd McDonald's photo-op and his garbage truck bizarreness, these are things flailing campaigns might do. 

TWGB: The Russia, Russia, Russia Thing Still is Not a Hoax

 

So apparently, some fake and dumb shit is circulating on the internet that is sourced from Russia. This is no surprise after three elections with Trump, but for the newly TWGB-stooled folks, it has to do with creating election-related insecurity. Some of it has to do with Haitians--wow! Really? Following on the gross and racist lies that came from the Trump campaign recirculating white supremacist bullshit via Vance from actual white supremacists? Except in swing state Georgia, not sort of red Ohio? And the Russians pulled some shit about swing state Pennsylvania, too. 

They are being "tactical". As in, bloody obvious. 

The problem isn't whether Trump is "colluding".  It really hasn't been, although hit dogs holler. It's been "Why is Trump the guy Russia favors?" because they sure the hell don't want a strong leader for us. They would want a basically supine eager-beaver. And this is, sadly, what Trump is. Just a lil' puppy having excitement pee running down his leg to be acknowledged by someone he thinks has the kind of "real power" he wants. And this pretty much is what Neckbeard Chamberlain would be giving us as well. 

Disqualified and Murder-Minded

 

Trump on Liz Cheney: "Let's put her with a rifle standing there with 9 barrels shooting at her. Let's see how she feels about it. You know, when the guns are trained on her face." pic.twitter.com/Mtx1fbLtwE

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 1, 2024

This is not a decent human being; this is a murder-minded felon. He's out on bail and in a decent world, these threats against a person who was a public servant doing her Constitutional duty as she saw fit would get him scooped up at once for violating his conditions. 

There is not one public servant who has gone up against Trump, I will bet, who hasn't had some kind of death threat--because that violence is the point of Trumpism--not just "cruelty" but actual threats of violence.  She understood the assignment. I don't love her politics, but she served justice as she saw fit.  And Trump isn't mad about the call out being wrong--it's because he was caught dead to rights. He is an insurrectionist with no business in the highest office in the land. 

This scoundrel cannot prevail.  

TWGB: Technical Difficulties and Complicated Business

 

Whoa, whoa! New and extremely accurate Trump campaign slogan just dropped!

Actually, I'm just being an asshole. This refers to (mostly) the thing where Trump's mic conked out and he threatened he was not going to pay the contractors because not paying contractors is his favorite thing next to loving up dictators and fingering strange. 

It is definitely not a great look when someone on the Trump campaign is pouring the Sleepytime Tea. Is Don Snoreleone okay?

No, he isn't--he's falling asleep at his own rallies he shows up for. Just like he did at his hush money trial. Aw, tiny dancer, you've had a busy day today!

But maybe "complicated business" also very accurately describes the urgency of Trump's campaign to project their man is so very dominant in the  things he maybe is doing in his campaign.

Like the support of obvious Disney villain Elon Musk who wants to recycle easily debunked and very lawsuit-worthy Dominion lies and profound familial psychological study in using one's pecker like a pogo stick RFK Jr 

Tina Peters and the TrumpWorld View

 

Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters was sentenced today to nine years in prison for trying to hack voting machines in order to "prove" voter fraud, and I think what the judge had to say in her case really said a lot about TrumpWorld:

“You are no hero,” state District Court Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters. “You’re a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that’s been proven to be junk time and time again.”

“Your lies are well documented, and these convictions are serious. I’m convinced you’d do it all over again if you could,” Barrett told the 68-year-old former Mesa County clerk, who was accused of using another person’s security badge to allow someone else to gain access to her county’s election system.

 She's a hero in her own mind. Just like Mike Lindell, who has gone broke, is a hero in his own mind. Like Rudy Giuliani, broke (allegedly) and disbarred, must believe. The Big Lies of TrumpWorld, and what they would do to "prove" them, give them mission: a sense of purpose, but also--attention. 

TWGB: Resorting to Crimes

 

Former President Donald Trump "resorted to crimes" to attempt to stay in office after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, federal prosecutors allege in a newly unsealed court filing released Wednesday.

In the filing submitted by special counsel Jack Smith,… pic.twitter.com/lr2ut8tFn2

— PBS News (@NewsHour) October 2, 2024

You know, it seems like it was just yesterday that current Trump running mate JD Vance was trying to focus on the future instead of discussing whether Trump lost the 2020 election, and I love that for him. Corey Lewandowski was also stuck in the same groove when asked--unable to admit His Nibs lost in 2020. 

Judge Chutkan has done the world a favor by airing out Jack Smith's brief regarding how the Trump Team, with reckless disregard for the truth, democracy, the Constitution, public safety or any other damn thing, resorted to crimes in an attempt to defraud the American people regarding our presidential election. Trump and his people did everything they could to delay his reckoning regarding January 6th, but he can't actually delay people being forewarned and forearmed--he lied about one election, and he is just bound and determined to lie about this one. 

What Trump tried to do in 2020 was election interference. This right here right now, is letting you know what he does and plans to try again. Disenfranchising people in swing states, by fraudulently messing with our votes, is something I take very personally. He says bad things happen in Philadelphia, and I may be a bad thing happening in Philadelphia myself, but I am a very legitimate voter and you DON'T try to throw out my vote without me taking it very personally.  

My feminist foremamas didn't hit picket lines and get forcefed in prison for me to not get pissed when someone tried to first of all steal my vote and then use it to support anti-woman policies like banning abortion, birth control, or any other thing that liberates me and my sisters. And I fucking mean as a White lady to correct the past by supporting the right to vote and the right of having the votes counted of the Black and Brown people Trump (and the Republican party) want to exclude.

The VP Debate was Kind of Demure, Very Mindful

 

Moderator: Just to clarify, Springfield’s Haitian migrants have legal status

Vance: The rules were you guys weren't going to fact check pic.twitter.com/zo5W3i9HIt

— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 2, 2024

That right there? Was the most contentious the VP debate practically became. Because JD Vance stewed that he got called on the one very Big Lie thing he contributed to, because he can't understand why it is terribly wrong, bad and hurtful, and why he really did need to be checked on that very particular thing. Because he can't accept that the death threats and the bomb threats and the disruption of a whole town's active life can be marked down to his propaganda. 

Is he naïve? Does he not get that there are real-world consequences that follow from such lies, and that people with a conscience would avoid them? 

This debate didn't clue me anymore in on who Vance is, but he does remind me, oleaginously, of those old margarine commercials--it's not nice to fool Mother Nature. 

They're Eating the Dogs! Debate me!

 

What a split screen. I mean. pic.twitter.com/pKW39fDfoh

— Annika Brockschmidt (@ardenthistorian) September 11, 2024

They are not eating the dogs. Putin is eating Trump's lunch. Kamala Harris is not Joe Biden, and every state has laws against infanticide. Trump's "concepts of a plan" are not a goddamn plan and he looked weak, delusional, unfocused, changed the subject and rambled like a lunatic, and demonstrated why 81 million people voted against him four years ago. Trumps history of racism was discussed. as was his weakness and lack of patriotism. 

Vice-President Harris had reasons to smile, to express pity for delusional old Trump mingled with the satisfaction of having a new crotchet of his to seize on with any given response. He was baited on his weakness, on people leaving his rallies, on his former staff having bad things to say about him--

And he rose, or should we say, sank, to each allusion. 

He messed up by showing up thinking his act was all he needed. The ABC team did a good job of fact-checking, which Trump fans will no doubt view as putting their thumbs on the scale. I guess my point about that is--why are the facts so stubbornly aligned against what Trump says, though?  That is certainly something you might want to consider!

Maybe Trump is just a pathetic liar. 

TWGB: Winning on Character!

 

A little while ago, Rich Lowry took some heat for writing a column suggesting that Trump could "win on character", which seems stupid as hell, but meant something like using policy as demonstrating that he's steadfast to his principles or some such drivel. I noted in my last post that there was something "weird" about using hallowed ground for a campaign photo-op--but it gets worse. The Trump campaign muscled aside a civilian employee who tried to stop them from filming the event for their use. 

Well--this is consistent with Trump principles to be sure. We can all remember Trump using tear gas on protestors to clear the way for a photo op at a church and using his cabinet members and a bible like props. Maybe we also remember when he exploited a murder victim's funeral, alleging he had spoken with her family when he had not, and claiming things he had read in an obituary were memories they had shared with him. 

Trump uses people as things. That is his character. Maybe he wanted to use a photo op to counter the claim that he considers our war dead as "losers" and "suckers", which was resurrected in part by his gross assertion that the Presidential Medal of Honor, which he has awarded to political allies, is in some ways better than the Congressional Medal of Honor, awarded to military heroes of conspicuous bravery. Maybe it's to counter the book just out by his former national security adviser General McMaster. 

Come to think of it, when we look at who Trump consistently is, it really is hard to see how he could "win on character". This is the man who betrayed our Constitution over his 2020 loss by instigating a riot at the Capitol and setting in motion a plan to avoid the transfer of power despite losing his election.

Listening to the Felon

 

Trump: A criminal is a criminal, they generally stay a criminal and we do not have time to figure it out. pic.twitter.com/LJ1NRSVXtA

— Acyn (@Acyn) July 28, 2024

Trump isn't any nicer since he was shot at--he says so himself! His attacks on Vice-President Harris are nasty but unfocused. ("Low IQ"? Really?). And maybe he really did mean he would "fix" things so "his Christians" wouldn't have to vote anymore as in--there wouldn't be any more elections. But in the above clip--he really makes a point, doesn't he?

A sex pest like Trump stays a disgusting misogynist. A white-collar fraud stays a fraud. Trump's 34 convictions, like his 2020 loss and his two impeachments, stay on his record. It's completely true that SCOTUS can partially immunize this mess--but we can look right at him and realize that whatever his deal is--

We do not have time to figure it out. Trump says a lot of things. We shouldn't go tiptoeing through the tulips picking and choosing which crazy things he "really, really" means. (We are way past the "seriously" vs. "literally" question.) He's a conman and a thug, and that should be enough. We had whatever you want to call 1/6--he'd do it again. He lied about the election being stolen--he'd do it again. He took classified docs for whatever reason--he'd violate national security for his own weird reasons again. He screwed up the national response to COVID and crashed the economy--he can't be trusted in an emergency.

And We Never Mention 1/6 Again?

 

Donald Trump was shot at. I guess. Luckily, he only got a bloody ear out of it. One Trump fan died protecting his children. It's a terrible thing. A 20-year-old registered Republican with an AR-15 climbed up to a shed roof, was not stopped by local law enforcement, and fired in the direction of the stage.

That's very certainly a terrible thing. We have a problem with gun violence in this country. Senseless deaths and horrific injuries occur all the time. 

The knee-jerk response of many Trump Republicans was to immediately blame "The Left", President Biden, DEI, CRT, the Jews and Ukraine, because all the money intended for the Secret Service apparently went to missiles and now they have to hire dumb girls, or something. That's right, before they even knew who the shooter was or had any idea why he was shooting (which we still don't know).

Oh, and one more thing: we better not criticize Fearless Leader or bring up January 6th ever again. 

Needless to say, that's not something I'm about to do. Donald Trump getting shot at isn't going to make him a better person and this shooting certainly doesn't cancel out what happened on January 6th. I still believe he has no business being president and the reckless lying about election fraud that led up to the massive violence of that day, the bloodshed, the Confederate flag being led through the Capitol, the violence intended to our political system. is something the Republican party must atone for--

TWGB: With Fear for Our Democracy

 

I will respect the limits of presidential powers that I have for three and a half years. But any president, including Donald Trump, will now be free to ignore the law.

I concur with what Justice Sotomayor wrote today:

"With fear for our democracy—I dissent."

So do I. pic.twitter.com/YmrPBMQhgY

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 2, 2024

I took a weekend-sized break from commenting on the "replacing Biden" discourse in advance of this actual decision.  Chief Justice Roberts can pretend he limited the immunity of a deranged and/or criminally intentioned officeholder to their "official acts", but I fail to see a brightline or obvious test for what that actually means. It is the decision of Humpty-Dumpty: When the court uses a word (or a phrase) it means what they chose it to mean, neither more nor less.   

The contentiousness of the debate over whether Biden. finding himself tongue-tied and twisted in a 90-minute fact-free-for all against a serpent-tongued bigot, misogynist, traitor, rapist, and white collar fraud, should step down pales before this--of course Trump is a bad man and Joe Biden is a good man. But who the fuck among them believes in the American experiment of a country of the people, by the people and for the people?  Because don't be mistaken, and far too many were in 2000 and in 2016:

You aren't just voting for a person, you are voting for a government. Will that administration care about good government that tries to lift us all up because it is the right thing to do? Or are you getting a petty tyrant and corruption? (Please ask yourselves what legalizing bribes and inviting everyone to go on ahead and sue to get the law you like, the congress be damned means--draining the swamp my fat ass.) 

Our talking heads and assorted media jackals aren't up to this shit. If Trump has a political enemies list, then the press-the folks he has called "enemies of the people" are going to be on it, it's just a question of when.  And they want to talk about whether an old man with a cold who has won back our allies, stands up to our enemies, and has reinvigorated our economy glitched during a dog and pony show? 

Are they not up to this historical moment? Do they have no read on the failures of history? Are they entranced by the notion that It Can't Happen Here? 

Flagpole Sitta

 

Samuel Alito—who wrote the opinion overturning Roe v. Wade—says his wife “makes her own decisions, and I have always respected her right to do so.” pic.twitter.com/r52Yjf35ih

— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) May 29, 2024

Far be it for me to question how the Alitos manage their affairs at home--although Justice Alito certainly questions how American women and their families make other important decisions, for example, regarding their reproductive health care--but I love the idea that because the Mrs. is a property owner, he (also an owner of the same property) could not abrogate her important first amendment flag-raising choices by taking the thing down himself. 

Well, one hears of such things. A man can be, for example, top dog in his place of work, but be barely able to raise a peep, let alone lower a flag, in his own home. It appears, based on the report of the Alitos' neighbors, he might well have reason to fear her temper. 

She might have left him hardly able to comfortably sit on a bench, is what I'm getting at. Having foregone that particular conflict, however, he sees himself as still eminently qualified to rule from the highest bench in the country.

It's a matter of judgment.