europe builds a life raft while trump saws through nato
Donald Trump contemplates NATO the way he contemplates business partners: wondering which parts he can loot, which bits he can threaten, and which allies will still show up for the photo op anyway.
Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump is once again doing his favorite impression: a wrecking ball in a commander-in-chief costume. He’s musing about ditching NATO, threatening to seize Greenland from Denmark like it’s a foreclosed golf course, and offering Ukraine all the reliability of his marriages. The lesson for Britain’s new PM Andy Burnham is helpfully simple: the US under Trump is not a security guarantor, it’s a rolling security hazard with its finger on both the nuclear button and the tariffs panel.
European states, having noticed that the guy who can’t read a briefing memo now controls the alliance, are quietly building their own grown-up table. The EU is turning itself into a “security community,” pooling hundreds of billions for joint defence procurement, arming Ukraine, coordinating on energy, cyber, vaccines, climate and migration – basically all the stuff Washington used to pretend to care about before it got distracted by its latest culture war. Meanwhile, post-Brexit Britain is standing outside the club, insisting it’s very sovereign while watching all the industrial and strategic benefits flow to EU members instead.
Trump’s tariffs and economic tantrums are the other fun subplot: he’s weaponising globalisation from the US end while China tightens its grip on rare earths, and the UK discovers that being a mid‑sized economy alone in a knife fight between giants is less “Global Britain” and more “discount client state”. The op-ed’s big reveal is that the only way for Britain to reduce its exposure to Trump’s whims is to do the one thing its Brexit arsonists swore was unnecessary: rebuild deep political, economic and security integration with Europe, so one unstable US president can’t tank its economy or its security every time he gets bored.
#killing-democracy#imperialism#forever-grifting
president cyber-bully reviews minnesota’s tap water
Trump, moments before explaining that the real cybersecurity solution is electing people who compliment him more.
Trump responded to a cyberattack on Minnesota’s water systems the way any serious, responsible head of state would: by logging on and calling the entire state government "grossly incompetent" while people were wondering if their drinking water was safe. Presidential crisis management in 2026 apparently means subtweeting the infrastructure.
Rather than talk about federal responsibility for critical infrastructure, cyber defense, or how his administration plans to stop foreign hackers from turning the Midwest into a boil-water advisory, Trump focused on assigning blame to a blue state and pre-spinning the narrative for the next attack. If it’s Iran, if it’s Russia, if it’s some bored guy in a basement with a laptop — doesn’t matter, the real villain is Minnesota for existing under Democratic leadership.
The message from the White House is crystal clear, even if the water might not be: when America’s utilities get hacked, don’t expect national unity, robust federal response, or serious investment in cyber protections. Expect the president to stand at a microphone and treat a national security failure like a ratings opportunity. The pipes are vulnerable, the democracy is fragile, but the petty is rock solid.
#national-security#killing-democracy
trumpworld discovers a new thing to loot: the world cup
Gianni Infantino and Trump, seen here brainstorming new ways to turn anything that moves into a private equity product.
Gianni Infantino, the human reflection off a freshly waxed bowling ball, has decided the World Cup should work more like the Trump administration: hollow out the institution, flog the assets to private investors, and hope no one notices the Kushner connection. FIFA’s plan would sell stakes in the World Cup via a $4.2bn vehicle fronted by Donald Trump’s son-in-law’s brother, because apparently there is no corner of public life these people won’t try to turn into a strip mall REIT.
The problem for Infantino is that he tried to run the full Trump playbook without Trump’s one actual skill: counting votes. UEFA’s 55 national associations just voted unanimously to boycott FIFA tournaments if this goes ahead – meaning Spain and Portugal would boycott their own men’s World Cup. Even Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation are clutching their pearls, with Bahraini royal Sheikh Salman suddenly discovering the joys of “ethics and good governance”, which is like getting a lecture on sobriety from a Jägerbomb.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan, having solemnly promised after the European Super League fiasco that it had “learned from this”, is back at the center of the bonfire, helpfully stapling a Wall Street term sheet to the sport’s face. Trump, too busy declaring himself the architect of “historic” Middle East peace via his cosplay Board of Peace (where Infantino eagerly played background extra), hasn’t weighed in yet – but his influence is written all over this. It’s personality cult as cargo cult: Infantino and the rest of the Trump-adjacent betas watched him defy political gravity and concluded they, too, could cash out the commons and walk away whistling.
Turns out they can’t. When even global football federations, JP Morgan’s PR department, and a Bahraini prince allegedly linked to hunting down dissident athletes all think you’ve gone too far, you’ve really nailed the late-stage oligarchy vibe. Trumpism has officially expanded from looting the U.S. government to trying to securitize the World Cup. The only thing missing is a press conference at Four Seasons Total Football.
#forever-grifting#oligarchy
trump dusts off mccarthyism, adds wi-fi and a loyalty quiz
Joe McCarthy walks so Trump can run the loyalty-purge speedrun any% with better surveillance and worse lawyers.
The Trump administration looked at 1950s McCarthyism – blacklists, loyalty oaths, and J. Edgar Hoover creeping on everyone – and thought, you know what this needs? Better surveillance and fewer civil liberties. So federal workers are being grilled with "favorite Trump policy" loyalty questions, unions are screaming about unconstitutional purges, and law firms, media companies, and universities are once again folding like cheap lawn chairs at the first whiff of state intimidation. History doesn’t repeat, it just swaps out communists for "woke" and calls it national security.
Instead of the old Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations, we now get the DOJ poking around ActBlue, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations – basically treating the infrastructure of mainstream democracy funding as a terror-adjacent crime ring. While Trump believes in nothing but Trump, his pet ideologue Stephen Miller is out there declaring that the left doesn’t really have rights and that the government must be "unflinching" in pursuing these "enemies of civilization". Subtle.
For the deluxe package, Trump signed an executive order designating the non-organization "antifa" as a domestic terrorist group, then rolled out National Security Presidential Memo-7, a domestic war-on-the-left blueprint that carefully cites violence against conservatives while airbrushing out January 6 and white supremacist massacres. And because authoritarian cosplay is never enough, Marco Rubio is now hosting a global summit to "crush radical left terrorism" – a sort of international coalition of the willing-to-jail-protesters. The original Red Scare had Hoover and index cards; this one has a gargantuan carceral state, modern surveillance tech, and a ruling party that’s decided dissent is a national security threat. What could possibly go wrong?
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump slaps canada, upper michigan takes the hit
Behold the International Bridge: once a vital link between neighbors, now a monument to Trump’s theory that if you choke off commerce hard enough, somehow America wins eventually, probably, don’t ask questions.
The twin Sault Ste. Maries — the cute little cross-border family that liked to pretend the line on the map didn’t exist — just got a reality check from President Tariff Goblin. Trump jacked up tariffs on Canadian goods by 50% (plus a bonus 10% for fun) because of "discriminatory treatment" and, yes, wildfire smoke, turning a shared economic lifeline into a slow-motion demolition. The result? A 24% plunge in crossings at the Sault bridge, at least $82.9 million in lost local spending, and a publicly owned bridge now wondering how to keep the lights on while the White House cosplays trade warrior on Truth Social.
Rep. Jack Bergman, who once bragged about "millions" crossing the bridge to work, shop and live normal lives, is now doing a world-class impression of a witness protection participant. With Trump’s endorsement in his pocket, Bergman has gone nearly mute on the tariffs gutting his own district, but did find time to write the president about a supposed Venezuelan gang member at the border. Local businesses and workers are bleeding from the policy shrapnel; their congressman’s priority is feeding Fox News B-roll.
Canada, meanwhile, responded like a rational adult: emergency interventions, "buy local" campaigns, and a Canada-only ribbon cutting for the new Gordie Howe bridge after Trump’s pressure helped delay it. Canadians are simply staying home — a nationwide 25% drop in returns from the U.S. as they "vote with their feet" and avoid a country detaining their citizens in ICE facilities and charging them luxury rates to cross the border. Stronger together has been replaced with "enjoy your self-inflicted recession, neighbor," as Trump’s trade tantrum manages the rare feat of hurting both sides of the border while accomplishing absolutely nothing.
#killing-democracy#trade-war#money
trump admin discovers deporting kids is easier if they don't have lawyers
Trump officials thoughtfully streamline the immigration system by removing the one annoying obstacle to deporting children: due process.
The Trump administration has found an exciting new efficiency in immigration enforcement: just stop paying for lawyers for unaccompanied migrant kids, then fast-track their deportations. A long-standing federal contract that funded legal services for tens of thousands of children is set to expire, after the government quietly stopped paying the bill back in December and ran up a $65m tab with the Acacia Center for Justice. Naturally, there’s no plan to replace the contract, because the point isn’t justice, it’s volume.
Prosecutors who actually work human trafficking and abuse cases are spelling out what this stunt does in small, child-sized letters: it terrifies victims out of coming forward, lets abusers and traffickers skate, and makes entire communities less likely to report crimes. The administration’s response so far is a bold combination of silence and more deportations, with immigration judges now cranking out around 10,000 removal or voluntary departure orders a month for unaccompanied minors – roughly four times Trump’s last go-round.
When legal service providers refused the administration’s demand to hand over confidential client information – because "attorney-client privilege" is still technically a thing – Trump’s team just stopped paying and dared them to sue. Nonprofits are laying off lawyers, kids are showing up in court alone, and ICE is bulldozing through protections that Congress wrote specifically to shield trafficking victims and child witnesses. The laws say protect traumatized children; Trump’s government hears "great, new deportation pipeline."
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
senate decides constitution is optional, trump war with iran is not
The United States Senate heroically defending its right to complain about wars it refuses to actually stop.
The US Senate took a long, hard look at the Constitution’s war powers clause and said: nah. By a 49-50 vote, senators rejected a mostly symbolic attempt to limit Donald Trump’s authority to keep his very real, very expensive, very unauthorized war with Iran grinding along. The measure would have required explicit congressional authorization to continue hostilities, which is obviously unacceptable in a system where the president just declares the 1973 War Powers Resolution itself unconstitutional and dares anyone to stop him.
John Fetterman helpfully crossed the aisle to keep the war humming, the lone Democrat to side with Republicans, while Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul performed their semi-annual "we remember how separation of powers works" cosplay. This came after Trump personally marched up to the Capitol in June and bullied Paul and Bill Cassidy into reversing their earlier votes, turning a rare moment of congressional spine into yet another episode of "The Executive Branch Eats the Legislature." Meanwhile, the Pentagon is asking for another $80bn on top of the $37bn already torched, at least 18 US troops are dead, hundreds wounded, and thousands of Iranians are dead or maimed — but sure, let’s argue about symbolism.
Public opinion? Two-thirds of Americans think the war isn’t worth it, which in a functioning democracy might matter. Instead, the House keeps passing toothless concurrent resolutions that don’t even go to Trump’s desk, the Senate keeps failing by one vote to assert its own constitutional authority, and Trump keeps co-running a regional war with Israel that was supposed to last “four to five weeks” and is now past month five with Iran’s new leadership more interested in a nuke than before. Kirsten Gillibrand had the audacity to point out that Congress could end the war today; the Senate replied that it prefers the current system, where presidents start wars, Congress sends thoughts and prayers, and the Constitution is treated like an optional user manual nobody reads.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
obama’s ex-white house lawyer thinks the epstein victim is the credibility problem
Kathryn Ruemmler, bravely testifying that the real victim here is her reputation.
Kathryn Ruemmler – former Obama White House counsel, former Goldman Sachs general counsel, and longtime email buddy of "Uncle Jeffrey" Epstein – has informed Congress that some of Virginia Giuffre’s allegations "lacked inherent credibility". You know, the same Virginia Giuffre whose testimony helped expose a global trafficking operation, trigger over 50 resignations, and force a settlement out of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, but sure, she is the sketchy one in this story.
Ruemmler, whose name appears thousands of times in Epstein’s records, accepted gifts from him, called him "sweetie", and was at one point listed as a backup executor of his will. Now she swears she had no idea about "ongoing criminal activity" and would never turn a blind eye to abuse – she was just, apparently, offering PR coaching to a convicted sex offender on how to answer questions about his sex crimes for fun. According to her, Giuffre’s claims about being trafficked to "multiple world leaders" strain belief, unlike, say, the idea that a famously connected predator was just a misunderstood philanthropist with a private island.
Giuffre’s family called Ruemmler’s comments "reprehensible" and said the only person lacking credibility here is Ruemmler – which is a polite way of saying that when your emails to Epstein are public, maybe don’t lecture the dead woman who helped expose him. But in America’s elite accountability system, the victims die by suicide, the princes quietly settle, the banks accept your resignation, and the lawyers who helped clean up the mess get to sit in front of Congress and explain how they were the real dupes.
#perverts#forever-grifting
dhs discovers 250,000 imaginary voters with its magic racism machine
Markwayne Mullin explains DHS’s voter fraud math, seen here carefully balancing 6,600 on top of 250,000 and calling it ‘close enough for Fox.’
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has apparently discovered a new superpower: divining the citizenship status of hundreds of thousands of voters using data he won’t show anyone, from sources he won’t identify, via methods he won’t explain. Ahead of Trump’s latest primetime “the elections are rigged, trust me bro” speech, Mullin told four states — Nevada, Pennsylvania, California, and New Jersey — that they were harboring over 250,000 noncitizens on their voter rolls, then publicly threatened officials with prison time if they didn’t “secure their elections.” Because nothing says “confident in our evidence” like menacing state officials on TV while refusing to show your work.
State election chiefs, including Republicans, are now politely asking the obvious question: what the hell are you talking about? Nevada’s Cisco Aguilar and Pennsylvania’s Al Schmidt both pointed out that DHS doesn’t even have the unredacted voter rolls the Justice Department is currently suing to obtain, yet somehow it’s matching Social Security numbers and declaring people noncitizens. California’s Shirley Weber went a step further and asked Mullin to cough up the names of anyone who illegally handed over Californians’ private voter data, since that’s a crime under state law. She also asked whether DHS used artificial intelligence, which is a nice way of saying, “Did you let ChatGPT disenfranchise my voters?”
The one actual error found — in New Jersey — involved a Motor Vehicle Commission software screwup that registered about 6,600 self-identified noncitizens and resulted in roughly 400 votes over two years, a very real problem that still comes in at about one-seventh of the 35,000 Mullin claimed for the state. New Jersey’s governor Mikie Sherrill told the feds they’re not getting detailed voter info, prompting Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon to jump on X and vow that DOJ will pry it loose “through all legal means!” The Trump administration is once again screaming about “election integrity” while using secret lists, dodgy data, and federal muscle to intimidate states and challenge the eligibility of actual citizens. It’s less about finding noncitizen voters and more about building a pretext to purge the rolls — and, if needed, the election results.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
freedom 250 needs ten million more for totally normal cult pageant
Spectators on the National Mall watch fireworks while quietly wondering how many overtime cops, PR flacks, and Trump-branded ego expenses they’re being retroactively billed for.
The Trump administration would like you, the taxpayer, to reach into your wallet and tip an extra $10 million for its Freedom 250 spectacle — a Christian nationalist prayer rally, a lopsided "Great American State Fair," and a July Fourth Trump speech/fireworks show that somehow managed to set money on fire even faster than the rockets. This is part of a larger $113 million "reimbursement" request for America's Semiquincentennial, because nothing screams fiscal conservatism like turning the national birthday into a VIP donor experience and then sending the bill to everyone else.
Sen. Jeff Merkley helpfully spelled it out in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum: Freedom 250 exists because Trump created his own vanity commission to bypass the bipartisan one that already existed, then used it to stage events critics say whitewash U.S. history and sell access to the president. Now Interior admits it wants $10 million just to pay back the National Park Service for "routine" costs — cops, overtime, monitoring, and fixing the damage — even though Congress already set aside money for this in last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. So donors get the photo ops, Trump gets the branding, and the public gets the invoice.
Freedom 250 was supposed to celebrate 250 years of democracy; instead it’s a live reenactment of how grift became the state religion. The White House invented a parallel celebration machine, pumped it full of ideology and donor money, and when the numbers still didn’t add up, they went back to Congress with a straight face and asked for a bailout. Happy birthday, America — your present is paying for the party you weren’t invited to.
#forever-grifting#corruption
operation epic fury, meet operation creative accounting
Pete Hegseth studies casualty reports the way Trump studies briefing books: briefly, selectively, and with a keen eye for whatever makes the numbers look smaller.
The Trump administration’s heroic support for the troops continues: after an Iranian drone hit a US logistics hub in Kuwait on 1 March, killing six reservists from Des Moines and wounding dozens more, the wounded were left to improvise their own medical care like it was a GoFundMe campaign with guns. The unit had already asked for more medical staff and supplies and been told no. When the drone actually hit? No doctor, no fixed aid station, one ambulance, and some soldiers literally driving themselves to a hospital in Kuwait City. It then took nine days to get about two dozen of them to Landstuhl, where they were told they weren’t listed as medical evacuees or seriously injured in the Pentagon’s database, so enjoy the barracks and the limited care package.
Naturally, once they got back to the US, some were still waiting weeks to see a doctor who could diagnose traumatic brain injuries, even as they repeatedly failed post-blast cognitive tests. Families say the Army downplayed their wounds, which fits nicely with the Pentagon’s sudden decision to "fix" its casualty numbers for Trump’s US-Israel war on Iran. The official death toll for Operation Epic Fury magically dropped from 18 to 14, with four dead service members and more than 200 wounded quietly shoved into a new “Overseas Operations” category – because if you rebrand the corpses, the war’s not as bad, right?
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth is now getting a 23-question love letter from Elizabeth Warren and Pat Ryan asking why the first US combat deaths of Trump’s Iran war were followed by a medical care vacuum and a statistical shell game. They also want to know why an internal Army review looked like the classic "we investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing" routine. Meanwhile, Tim Kaine is separately asking why the Pentagon’s target list for the war’s opening strikes included a school in Minab where more than 150 civilians, mostly children, were killed. As Trump and Hegseth keep gambling with US service members’ lives in this reckless war, the administration’s priority appears to be not protecting troops, but protecting the narrative. The troops may be bleeding, but the spreadsheets are doing great.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
american pope reminds america it used to pretend to like immigrants
Pope Leo, apparently confused about the new rules, keeps talking about immigrants like they’re human beings instead of props for campaign rallies.
Pope Leo, the first US-born pope, went on NBC to perform the rarest sacrament in Trump’s America: reminding the country what its own founding ideals actually say. He talked about freedom, opportunity, and the US tradition of welcoming immigrants — you know, the stuff the administration keeps trying to swap out for razor wire and floating death buoys. Drawing on his own family history of immigrants, enslaved people, and slave owners, he managed to do what the White House never quite pulls off: acknowledge reality and moral complexity in the same sentence.
Instead of waving a little flag and shouting "USA" into the camera, Leo said he’s a pope who "just happens to be American" and that his job is to speak to the whole world. Wild concept: a public figure whose mission isn’t "own the libs" or "sell more hats". He praised America’s history of inviting people from around the globe to become part of the country — which, under Trump’s immigration regime, now sounds like fan fiction from a more civilized age.
Relations with the Trump administration, already frosty after Leo called its immigration policies "inhuman", went further downhill when he also condemned the US-Israel war on Iran. For the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, he celebrated by going to Lampedusa — a frontline for desperate migrants risking their lives at sea — instead of stopping by Trump’s America First & Last Resort. The White House has invited him over via VP J.D. Vance, and Leo says he hopes to visit the US someday, presumably once it’s decided whether it wants to be a beacon of hope or just a very large gated community with nukes.
So on one side: a pope invoking immigrant and enslaved roots to call the US back to its stated ideals. On the other: an administration whose core principle is "what if Ellis Island, but with more barbed wire and warships". Truly, a clash of worldviews.
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy
president me, myself, and iran
Trump contemplates whether the new ceremonial arch should honor the Constitution, the fallen in Iran, or his own last name in 20-foot letters. Guess which one wins.
Shocking news from the country currently on fire: three-quarters of Americans have noticed that Donald Trump is far more focused on turning Washington DC into a taxpayer-funded Trump-branded theme park than on the actual problems wrecking their lives. Only 34% approve of his performance, tying his post–January 6 insurrection low, which is quite an achievement considering you really have to work to be as unpopular as trying to overthrow an election while you’re also busy starting an unpopular war.
The Iran adventure is going about as well as every other Trump project that doesn’t involve gold leaf and unpaid contractors. Just 28% approve of his handling of the war, a mere 25% think it’s been worth the cost in money and American lives, and 74% say soaring gas prices are causing hardship. So yes, the president who promised cheaper everything has delivered body bags, $6 gas, and a Pentagon scrambling to explain away a casualty cover-up. Mission accomplished.
Even his signature cruelty brand is losing market share. Only 39% approve of his hardline immigration policies, and a majority say he’s gone too far with mass deportations. Turns out that ripping families apart and turning communities into ICE scavenger hunts doesn’t play so well once people see it up close. Meanwhile, just 17% feel good about his latest shrine-to-self projects: a taxpayer-funded White House ballroom, a botched reflecting pool renovation, and plans for a grand ceremonial arch so subtle it might as well just read “ALL THIS IS ABOUT ME.”
Asked if Trump understands the problems Americans face in their daily lives, 73% said no, presumably pausing between extra shifts and rationing groceries to answer the phone. Only 38% consider him an effective world leader, and 57% say the 80-year-old president lacks the stamina and sharpness to serve effectively. So the guy who’s too tired to process a briefing but always energized enough to redesign the capital in his own image is cruising into the midterms with a platform of war, higher prices, personality cult architecture, and deportation theater. What could possibly go wrong for him?
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
trump admin declares war on bike lanes, science, and staying alive
Artist’s rendering of a dangerous socialist menace: a painted line between a car and a human body.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new frontier in the culture war: bike lanes. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy bragged on X that he yanked $1.73bn from so-called "Biden-era DEI pet projects" and redirected it to "ROADS, BRIDGES, AND SHIPPING PORTS"—because nothing says serious policymaking like randomly declaring painted lines on asphalt to be a woke conspiracy. The administration then quietly scrubbed bike lanes and speed cameras from the Federal Highway Administration’s list of proven safety countermeasures, solving the problem of traffic deaths by pretending the data doesn’t exist.
Cities like Albuquerque and Fairfield, Alabama, had already been awarded federal grants under Biden’s RAISE program to build separated bike and pedestrian infrastructure in underserved communities—projects explicitly designed to cut crashes and expand access. The Trump team canceled them as "hostile to motor vehicles", which is a fun way of saying "we prefer people die at equitable speeds." This is happening even as research shows bike lanes can slash collision frequency by over 50%, speeds by nearly 30%, and as 75% of Americans tell pollsters they actually support bike lanes. Naturally, DOT’s explanation for how it identifies a "DEI bike lane" consists of a Daily Wire link and a lot of vibes.
So the federal government is burning political capital to make roads more dangerous, while calling it "fiscal discipline" and a victory for real America’s trucks. Safety experts point out that bike infrastructure is one of the highest-return investments we have, but the administration’s position is clear: if a project improves safety, equity, or climate, it must be stopped. The culture war has officially reached the point where protecting drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians is suspiciously inclusive—and in Trump’s America, better to keep the blood on the pavement than let Pete Buttigieg have a win.
#anti-science#killing-democracy
trump’s america has camps now, but please clap for ‘law and order’
ICE’s latest ‘detention facility,’ seen here bravely defending America from the existential threat of families seeking not to die.
The Trump administration has apparently decided that if you’re going to flirt with authoritarianism, you might as well commit. Over 65,000 people are locked up in ICE facilities that are so demeaning, dangerous, and lethal that “detention center” feels like a PR focus-grouped slur. They’re held not for crimes, but for the civil offense of existing on the wrong side of an invisible line, then disappeared into freezing boxes with no real access to lawyers, sunlight, medical care, or, in some cases, survival. At least 52 people have died in ICE custody since Trump’s second term kicked off, and tens of thousands have been thrown into solitary, because nothing says “land of the free” like sensory deprivation for asylum seekers.
Oversight has been lovingly fed into a woodchipper: members of Congress turned away, legally required data on who’s inside and what happens to them simply stopped, and reports of horrors trickling out anyway. A woman with leukemia in Arizona has been caged for 16 months, lost 70 pounds, and is vomiting blood; people in a Florida camp were allegedly tossed into a two-by-two-foot outdoor punishment cage; Texas guards reportedly tell detainees, “you’re only getting out deported or dead.” Meanwhile, the Board of Immigration Appeals tried to make no-bond, mandatory detention the default, turning civil immigration custody into an open-ended sentence without trial — a move so extreme even the Fifth Circuit had to partially reel it in, offering people the thrilling right to beg for freedom every 90 days.
The article points out the obvious: these are camps. They concentrate and immobilize a targeted civilian population, strip people of meaningful legal personhood, and suspend basic rights. That’s not some wild analogy — US officials themselves have historically used “concentration camp” for Japanese internment and refugee cages, then quietly worried that the optics of mostly Black people in “concentration camps” might be “publicly unacceptable.” So instead, every administration just kept building them. Trump’s second term is simply the logical next step: more arrests than ever, packed rooms that smell like sweat, urine, and feces, and a government that has decided immigration law is best enforced by making people vanish into a legal black hole and hoping the rest of the country is too numb, racist, or exhausted to care.
Good news, though: we can’t possibly be on a fascist trajectory, because the administration and its allies get very offended if you use the word “camp.” They prefer “detention facility,” “processing center,” or whatever the next euphemism is for “place where the right to have rights goes to die.”
#killing-democracy#fascism#anti-immigration
let them eat escalades
Trump inspects one of the 250 new Escalades purchased with your grocery budget, carefully checking if the leather screams ‘shared sacrifice.’
Trump’s Iran war is costing the average household over $1,200, gas is up nearly a dollar a gallon, mortgage rates are climbing, and Americans are drowning in an affordability crisis. The White House response? A stirring national sacrifice… by ordering 250 brand-new Cadillac Escalades for the presidential motor circus, each running up to $300,000 a pop once you armor them enough to deflect reality.
At a General Motors plant in Michigan, Trump proudly announced, “We ordered 250 Escalades… Our guys are very spoiled. They’re very spoiled. They like the Escalade. So do I.” Truly a modern Marie Antoinette moment, except instead of cake, it’s a 24-gallon tank that costs a week’s groceries to fill. This comes after he dismissed “affordability” as a fake Democratic buzzword, slapped on more tariffs to jack up prices, and refused to sign a rare bipartisan housing bill. Fiscal conservatism apparently now means conserving nothing but leather interiors and chrome trim.
The speech, allegedly about auto manufacturing, swerved off into trans rights, “Marxist protesters,” and a dystopian fantasy where Democrats win and the country instantly collapses into squalor with no police or fire departments. In the same breath, he reminded the crowd that he’s a “clean freak” and repeated his decade-old imaginary “Michigan Man of the Year” award, which, as CNN’s Daniel Dale dryly notes, does not exist and never has. Michigan doesn’t even give out such an award; Trump just likes the sound of it.
So while families choose between rent and groceries, the billionaire president is bulk-buying luxury tanks, playing make-believe about fake honors, and “tackling waste, fraud and abuse” by torching $22 million on SUVs. Next up in the morale-boosting series: a new caviar vendor for the White House and maybe some extra gold leaf for the Oval Office, just to really drive home how much he understands working-class pain.
#forever-grifting#money#trumps-america
senate gop suddenly notices $1.8bn trump slush fund, pretends to be shocked
Todd Blanche, acting attorney general and former Trump fixer, patiently explains that the $1.8bn slush fund and blanket tax immunity are totally gone, he just refuses to write that down for, you know, legal reasons.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer who is now also acting attorney general because this timeline is a parody of itself, has hit a speed bump on the way to becoming the permanent top law enforcement officer: Senate Republicans want written proof that the DOJ’s $1.8bn “anti-weaponization” slush fund is actually dead. Apparently, even Chuck Grassley and John Cornyn need something more than a pinky promise before signing off on a deal that hands Trump, his kids, and their businesses blanket immunity from IRS audits.
The fund came out of a suspiciously gentle $10bn “lawsuit” Trump filed against the IRS over leaks of his tax returns, which DOJ then declined to seriously defend, prompting a federal judge to call the whole thing brought for an “improper purpose”. The settlement created a loosely controlled $1.8bn pot for anyone who claims to be a victim of “government weaponization” and quietly slipped in tax-audit immunity for Trumpworld up to the date of the agreement. So yes, the sitting president sued the tax cops, his own Justice Department rolled over, and they all tried to walk away with a slush fund and retroactive immunity like it was a Black Friday doorbuster.
Blanche publicly announced in June that the fund was being scrapped, but has repeatedly refused to put that in writing, like a guy insisting he’ll totally pay you back while “forgetting” to open Venmo. Cornyn, fresh off losing his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, has suddenly discovered a spine and is demanding redlined language confirming the fund and the audit shield are actually dead and can’t be resurrected later for Trump or anyone else. Until DOJ coughs up the paperwork, Blanche’s coronation as attorney general is on hold — which is about as close as this administration comes to accountability: a brief pause while they negotiate the fine print on their own impunity.
#corruption#killing-democracy
trump administration literally gilds the arts of war
The Arts of War, now brought to you in premium 23.75-karat ‘we definitely don’t have better uses for this money’ gold.
The Trump Administration dropped $5.1 million to regild the Arts of War statues near the Lincoln Memorial with 23.75-karat gold, proving once again that when it comes to government priorities, potholes and poverty can wait, but shiny war horses? Immediate emergency.
Federal records confirm the cost, while the BBC wandered around DC asking regular people what they think of the makeover. Some admired the sparkle, others questioned whether turning public art into a Versailles cosplay project during a chaotic presidency was really the best use of taxpayer cash. But hey, if there’s one thing this administration understands, it’s slapping gold on symbols of militarism and calling it civilization.
It’s almost poetic: a government busy hollowing out institutions, torching norms, and shredding accountability spends millions to literally polish the iconography of war. Forget infrastructure week — welcome to gold leaf week, where the empire doesn’t just decline, it does it in high-gloss.
#forever-grifting#money
israeli envoy promises ‘more power’ for gaza, trump promises more war for everyone else
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon explains how peace works: if bombing doesn’t solve it, clearly you just haven’t bombed hard enough.
Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon went on TV to calmly announce that Israel will "apply more power" in Gaza if Hamas doesn’t disarm — because nothing says "rules-based international order" like threatening to turn a besieged strip of land into a live-fire demonstration if your demands aren’t met. It’s the kind of language that sounds a lot less like diplomacy and a lot more like a protection racket with F-16s.
While Danon is promising upgraded destruction in Gaza, the Trump administration is busy on the same broadcast cycle talking about how it’s "our turn to hit" Iran, as if global conflict is a Little League game and not, say, mass death. The White House line remains beautifully consistent: maximum threats, minimum strategy, and international law treated as a sort of optional EULA you scroll past on the way to the bombing.
So the U.S. and its favorite client state are now doing a joint PR tour where one threatens to escalate in Gaza and the other threatens to escalate with Iran, all wrapped in the usual "self-defense" branding. The message from Trump’s America to the rest of the world is clear: disarm, surrender, or we’ll help our friends "apply more power" until there’s nothing left to argue about.
#imperialism#national-security#killing-democracy
trump demands cheaper money, fed briefly remembers it’s supposed to be independent
Kevin Warsh tries to explain central bank independence while Trump wonders why the Fed can’t just love him like his margin calls do.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates parked at 3.5%-3.75%, which is rude, because Donald Trump has been very clear that he wants the lowest rates in the world so asset prices can float gently upward like his ego at a rally. Despite a US–Israel war with Iran pushing up energy prices and inflation still above target, the Fed’s open market committee voted 9-3 to hold steady, with a few hawks wanting a hike and exactly zero members voting for the "Trump 0% Forever" plan.
Under new chair Kevin Warsh, the Fed is pretending to be an actual central bank again: shorter, more boring statements, task forces of people who can read charts, and open talk about having "no tolerance" for persistent inflation. Meanwhile, Trump is doing his usual thing—demanding rate cuts, calling Fed governors "very political" for not doing his bidding, and nostalgically remembering when he tried to weaponize the Department of Justice against Jerome Powell for the crime of not juicing the stock market enough. Warsh, for his part, is praising his colleagues and talking about Congress’s mandate, which is adorable, because the president is on TV demanding a different mandate: permanent cheap money for him, and the bill for everyone else later.
So the Fed holds for now, trying to manage inflation and a war-driven energy spike, while Trump once again treats monetary policy like a loyalty test. Independent central bank on one side, a guy who already tried to criminalize interest rate decisions on the other. What could possibly go wrong in a system where the person with the nuclear codes also thinks the Fed should function like his personal casino ATM?
#killing-democracy#oligarchy
