marco rubio shuts the golden door for 75 countries
Marco Rubio’s State Department, bravely protecting America from the grave threat of families who filled out all the paperwork correctly.
The Trump administration has discovered an exciting new twist on the classic travel ban: just hit pause on immigrant visas from 75 countries and never say when you’ll press play again. The State Department, now run by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his final form as a Heritage Foundation blog post, says this indefinite freeze is needed to stop "abuse" by people who might checks notes legally immigrate and someday use public benefits. Because nothing says fiscal responsibility like blaming the federal budget on a hypothetical Somali grandmother who hasn’t even gotten a visa interview yet.
Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott proudly announced that State will use its "long-standing authority" to deem people a "public charge" and shut the door, while conveniently skipping over the part where the administration is just inventing a mass presumption of welfare fraud for entire nations. The ban hits immigrant visas only—tourist and business visas are still fine—because if you’re coming to actually live, work, and build a life here, Trump and Rubio would prefer you didn’t. Meanwhile, asylum cases, citizenship processing, and green cards from the original 19 banned countries are also on ice, expanded to even more nations and anyone with Palestinian Authority documents. In other words: the "legal pathway" they keep telling people to use is being bricked over in real time, but sure, this is all about "security" and "generosity."
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy
congress begs arsonist-in-chief to fix the fire he helped start
Marco Rubio and friends asking Donald Trump to safeguard digital freedom in Iran, like asking a pyromaniac to run the fire department because he’s got ‘experience with flames.’
In a heartwarming display of bipartisan delusion, a group of House members is politely asking Donald Trump to restore internet access in Iran—the same Iran where protests exploded after the US president ordered the bombing of three nuclear installations and helped usher in a wave of state killings. Because nothing says defending human rights like first escalating a regional war, then swooping in to offer VPNs as a consolation prize.
Democrats and Republicans alike want Trump to let the State Department team up again with the Open Technology Fund to help Iranians bypass regime censorship, effectively fast‑tracking a not-yet-passed bill, the very on-brand “Freedom Act”. They openly admit they’d like to skip that pesky legislative process and just have the executive branch improvise its own foreign cyber-ops policy—because if there’s one thing this administration has proven, it’s that nothing can possibly go wrong when Trump is given more unilateral power over shadowy tech tools abroad.
Meanwhile, human rights groups say around 2,500 people have already been killed in the crackdown, with some estimates hitting 12,000, and executions in Iran surged in 2025 after Trump’s 12-day war with Israel and those US-ordered bombings. Trump, for his part, has promised that “help is on its way” and threatened “very strong action” if Tehran executes protesters—this from the guy whose foreign policy strategy is basically sanctions, airstrikes, and Fox News hits. In other words: the guy who helped pour gasoline all over the region is now being begged to ship in fire extinguishers he’ll probably aim at the cameras instead of the flames.
#imperialism#national-security#killing-democracy
fbi raids reporter’s house to protect government from embarrassment
Pictured: American press freedom, right before the FBI asks it to step outside for a ‘quick chat’ with a warrant.
The FBI has reportedly searched the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation into a contractor leak, because nothing says "land of the free" like federal agents rummaging through a journalist’s stuff to figure out who told the public what their government is actually doing.
In classic modern American fashion, the target isn’t the people who might have abused power, wasted money, or lied to the public, but the people who talked about it. The message to sources and reporters is clear: if you expose inconvenient truths, we’ll bring a battering ram to your First Amendment. But sure, let’s keep lecturing other countries about press freedom while we turn leak investigations into a full-contact sport.
So now, contractors know they risk prosecution, journalists know they risk raids, and the only thing truly safe is the government’s ability to operate in the dark. In other words: a huge win for secrecy, intimidation, and the ongoing project of killing any remaining illusion of a free and independent press.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#fascism
trump’s epa solves air pollution by deleting the column where people die
EPA economists heroically protect industry from the crippling burden of acknowledging that dead people are a cost.
The Trump EPA has discovered a bold new way to make deadly air pollution look less bad: just stop counting the money and lives saved by rules that reduce it. The agency announced it will no longer monetize the health benefits of curbing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, but will still carefully tally the costs to industry—because nothing says “protecting human health” like only counting the part where corporations have to spend money.
Under Biden, EPA estimated up to 4,500 premature deaths prevented and a 77-to-1 health benefit payoff for every dollar spent cutting soot. Under Trump’s Lee Zeldin–run EPA, those benefits are now too “uncertain” to count, but the asthma attacks, heart disease, and premature deaths are still very real. Environmental and health groups are calling the move “reckless, dangerous and illegal,” which in this administration is less a criticism and more of a mission statement.
To showcase this new math, EPA rolled out a weaker rule for nitrogen oxide pollution from gas-burning turbines—actually loosening protections that have been in place for two decades for some plants—and then proudly declined to estimate the economic value of the health benefits it’s sacrificing. In other words, the agency created to stop companies from poisoning people is now arguing that the problem isn’t the pollution, it’s the spreadsheets that make it look bad. But sure, they “absolutely remain committed” to protecting human health—just not in any way you can measure, compare, or use to stop them.
#anti-science#killing-democracy
little marco completes full spine-removal surgery
Marco Rubio, pictured here in his natural habitat: standing behind Trump, nodding vigorously, and pretending this is all totally fine.
Marco Rubio once said Trump was a 'con artist.' Now he’s his Secretary of State and professional character witness, because nothing says 'deeply held principles' like immediately torching them for a Cabinet seat.
According to Dexter Filkins, Rubio’s journey from Trump critic to Trump champion is less a 'political evolution' and more a live-action demonstration of how fast a Republican can shed a conscience when there’s an office, a motorcade, and proximity to power on the line. The man who warned America about Trump now spends his days defending the same behavior he used to call dangerous—but don’t worry, he insists it’s all very serious and patriotic.
In other words, the former anti-Trump crusader has rebranded as the regime’s hype man abroad, laundering Trump’s image on the world stage while pretending this is all normal diplomacy and not an ongoing experiment in soft authoritarianism. Rubio didn’t change Trump; Trump changed Rubio—right into the kind of ambitious, pliable loyalist you want when you’re busy testing how far you can push the boundaries of democracy.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump probes senator for the crime of reading the constitution out loud
Elissa Slotkin, seen here committing the unspeakable crime of reminding U.S. troops they answer to the Constitution, not Donald Trump’s latest tantrum.
Michigan senator Elissa Slotkin says she’s under federal investigation for the high crime of… telling U.S. troops they have a duty to refuse illegal orders, which is a basic principle of U.S. military law, international law, and the constitution. In other words, she’s being probed for saying the quiet legal part out loud. Trump immediately branded the video “seditious behavior by traitors” that’s “punishable by death,” because nothing says normal democratic president like casually fantasizing about executing members of Congress on social media, then having the White House clarify that, no, he doesn’t actually want to kill them, he just wants them “held accountable.” Totally reassuring.
Slotkin says she learned of the investigation from the office of Trump loyalist and D.C. U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro, who wants to question her over the 90-second clip. She calls it what it is: an authoritarian president weaponizing the federal government to intimidate critics into silence. The video, featuring Slotkin, Mark Kelly, Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Chris Deluzio, and Maggie Goodlander, dared to note that “threats to our constitution” are coming from “right here at home” and that service members “must refuse illegal orders” — all while Trump was busy ordering deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. For this unforgivable act of quoting the law, Slotkin and Crow were buried in death threats, Slotkin got 24/7 Capitol Police protection, her house got a bomb threat, and her father got swatted. But sure, the real problem is a 90-second civics lesson.
Over at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Fox News turned Defense chief, because of course — called the video “despicable, reckless and false” and launched an investigation into Senator Mark Kelly. Hegseth then tried to reduce Kelly’s rank and pension as punishment for the radical statement that troops should, wait for it, follow the law. Kelly is now suing to stop this “unconstitutional crusade,” warning that Hegseth’s message to veterans is clear: speak out against the president and you risk demotion, financial punishment, or prosecution, even years after you retire. Because nothing says “land of the free” like telling retired officers their benefits depend on how enthusiastically they praise Dear Leader.
Slotkin, a former CIA officer who used to study authoritarian regimes abroad, now gets to live the fun twist where she recognizes the playbook being run at home. Legal intimidation, physical intimidation, weaponized investigations, threats to livelihood — all aimed at punishing elected officials for encouraging the military to obey the law instead of the president. The administration’s position is clear: illegal orders are fine; reminding people they’re illegal is the real sedition.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
supreme court invents ‘candidate feelings’ clause to attack mail-in voting
The Supreme Court building, where "elections have consequences" now means candidates get to sue if counting all the votes is inconvenient for their campaign schedule.
The Supreme Court just handed Trump-world a shiny new weapon, ruling 7-2 that Illinois Republican congressman Mike Bost can sue to stop mail-in ballots from being counted if they arrive after Election Day, even when they’re properly postmarked on time. In other words, if your ballot got slowed down by the DeJoy Memorial Sabotaged Postal Service, that’s your problem, because Mike Bost’s campaign staff might have to work an extra week and that’s now a constitutional injury.
Chief Justice John Roberts, doing his usual "I’m very serious about democracy" cosplay, announced that candidates have a "concrete and particularized" interest in the rules for counting votes and thus get special standing to attack them. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, joined by Sonia Sotomayor, pointed out the obvious: the Court just carved out a bespoke VIP lane for politicians to sue whenever they don’t like how votes are counted, destabilizing both standing law and elections. But sure, this is all about the "integrity" of the process, not giving sore losers a pretext to drag every close race into federal court.
This all plugs neatly into Trump’s ongoing crusade against mail-in voting, backed by his executive order instructing the attorney general to "take all necessary action" against states that count ballots received after Election Day. Sixteen states plus DC and several territories do exactly that, but the administration’s position is clear: if it makes voting easier or counting more accurate, it’s suspicious and probably illegal. Now, with the Court’s help, every Republican candidate who doesn’t like the scoreboard gets to claim hurt feelings and legal standing, because nothing says "free and fair elections" like empowering the people on the ballot to sue to stop ballots from being counted.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump’s ‘department of war’ raids a reporter’s house, because freedom
FBI agents leave a reporter’s house with her devices, her watch, and whatever was left of the First Amendment stuffed in an evidence bag.
The Trump administration’s lovingly rebranded “department of war” just did what every wannabe strongman dreams of: sent the FBI to raid a Washington Post reporter’s home at dawn. Agents tore through Hannah Natanson’s Virginia house, scooping up her phone, her laptop, even her Garmin watch—because nothing says serious national security threat like a journalist’s step count.
Attorney General Pam Bondi bragged on X that DOJ and the FBI acted at the Pentagon’s request to go after a Post reporter who was reporting on classified leaks from a government contractor now behind bars. Press freedom groups, who still remember what the First Amendment is, called it a “tremendous intrusion” and a “tremendous escalation,” which is polite-lawyer-speak for “this is what illiberal regimes do right before things go fully off the rails.”
Natanson’s beat? The federal workforce—and how Trump’s second-term wrecking crew is rewriting workplace policies, firing civil servants, and gutting agency missions. In other words, she’s been documenting the slow-motion demolition of the government, and the government has responded by showing up at her front door with a warrant. Guidelines meant to protect journalists from this kind of state harassment were already weakened by Bondi, but sure, this is totally about “protecting national security” and not about intimidating 1,169 current and former federal employees who trusted her with their stories.
As legal experts gently note that “searches of newsrooms and journalists are hallmarks of illiberal regimes,” the Trump team is busy normalizing exactly that—turning leak investigations into a convenient tool for killing democracy one raid at a time. But don’t worry, they insist, if you’re not leaking, you have nothing to fear—unless you’re reporting, reading, talking to a reporter, or thinking about it.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump admin heroically declares victory over addiction by defunding treatment
A demonstrator begs the government to care about overdose deaths, not realizing the Trump administration’s new strategy is to solve the crisis by defunding anyone trying to stop it.
The Trump administration celebrated its ongoing war on reality by dropping hundreds of surprise termination letters on mental health and addiction providers, effective immediately, because nothing says “serious governance” like nuking $2 billion in lifesaving grants with zero warning. Nonprofits from Salt Lake City to El Paso to Detroit woke up to find their funding gone and their patients—people dealing with addiction, homelessness, and severe mental illness—left to discover that the safety net has been replaced with vibes and bootstraps.
Ryan Hampton of Mobilize Recovery says his group alone lost about $500,000 overnight, and warns that overdose prevention, naloxone distribution, and peer recovery services are being forced to stop right now. In other words, the administration has chosen the middle of a declared public health emergency—at a moment when overdose deaths were finally starting to decrease—to rip out the wiring from the system and walk away. SAMHSA’s letters blandly claim these programs no longer align with the Trump administration’s "priorities," which, based on the results, appear to include increasing preventable deaths while pretending it’s just a routine “restructuring.” But sure, tell us more about how this is the pro-life, law-and-order, protect-the-people administration.
#healthcare#killing-democracy
trump shakes region, calls it 'very strong action'
Al-Udeid Air Base: America’s favorite forward-operating plot device for every president who wakes up and decides the Middle East needs a little more freedom and a lot more missiles.
Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar is getting a little less crowded, as the US and UK quietly pull some personnel out while Donald Trump does his usual "maybe I'll start a war, maybe I won't" routine over Iran's brutal crackdown on protesters. Officials are calling it a "precautionary measure" because nothing says totally normal, not-escalating-at-all foreign policy like shuffling troops around the Gulf while the president posts threats on Truth Social.
Trump is vowing "very strong action" if Iran executes protesters, while Iran calmly replies that it will, you know, hit US and Israeli bases and shipping if attacked. Reuters notes there's no repeat (yet) of last year's frantic bussing of troops out of the base before an Iranian strike, but the US embassy in Saudi Arabia is already telling people to limit travel to military installations—always a comforting sign when your own government starts acting like its bases are about to become target practice.
Meanwhile, rights groups say more than 2,400 protesters have been killed and over 18,000 arrested in Iran, which Trump is using as a handy rhetorical prop while bragging that Iranian leaders "want to negotiate" but the US "may have to act before a meeting." In other words: Washington is once again workshopping regime-change vibes in public, Tehran is promising retaliation in public, and everyone else in the region gets to sit next to the powder keg while Trump plays tough-guy on social media.
#imperialism#national-security
trump fires the race referees, then quietly rehires them
DOJ officials staring at a sign that says "America’s Peacemaker" and wondering how fast they can replace it with "America’s Culture War Department".
The Trump DOJ tried to quietly kill the Community Relations Service — a 1960s-era "America’s peacemaker" created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — by firing basically everyone and giving it zero dollars in Trump’s budget. Because nothing says "healing racial tensions" like defunding the tiny agency whose literal job is to stop racial conflict from exploding.
Unfortunately for the White House demolition crew, civil rights groups (including the Ethical Society of Police and local NAACP branches) sued and pointed out that wiping out almost all CRS staff looked an awful lot like an unlawful attempt to dismantle a congressionally created civil-rights agency. A federal judge all but said, "yeah, you’re probably going to win" — and suddenly the DOJ discovered the magic of "administrative discretion" and rescinded the layoff notices.
But don’t worry, the gaslighting is still on schedule: the DOJ told the court it’s reinstating the 13 employees, but carefully avoided saying whether they’ll actually be allowed to do CRS work again. In other words, they might get their badges back, but not their mission. Meanwhile, a bipartisan spending bill in Congress is trying to give the agency $20 million, while Trump’s budget pretends it doesn’t exist at all. So yes, the administration tried to bury a civil-rights peacekeeping agency alive — and when the judge started shoveling the dirt back out, they claimed it was all just a little HR misunderstanding.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#racism
trump declares 'absolute immunity' for federal bullets
ICE and DOJ, seen here workshopping new ways to spell 'accountability' as 'absolute immunity.'
An ICE agent shot and killed 37-year-old American mother Renee Good in Minneapolis, and within hours the Trump administration decided that was plenty of time to finish the investigation forever. Donald Trump hopped on Truth Social to brand her a "professional agitator" who "viciously" ran over the officer, while DHS Secretary Kristi Noem helpfully upgraded it to "domestic terrorism"—because nothing says fact-finding like smearing the dead before the body is cold.
Vice-president JD Vance then wandered onto TV to announce that the ICE shooter had "absolute immunity" from state prosecution, apparently having confused the Constitution with a Fox News chyron. The FBI, doing its best impression of a mob lawyer, proceeded to shut state investigators out of the case, while DOJ’s once-expert civil rights division has been systematically gutted and pointedly excluded from the investigation. Veteran prosecutors in Minnesota and in what’s left of the division are reportedly quitting over the sham.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has been quietly ignoring a growing pile of alleged federal brutality cases—from Chicago to Portland to D.C.—where federal agents have been busy gassing clergy, journalists, and peaceful protesters. In other words, the federal government has decided its officers can shoot, gas, and beat people with no real oversight, and if states try to step in, the feds slam the door. But sure, tell us more about how this crowd is "restoring law and order" while they build a system where federal badges come with a license to kill and a presidential PR team on call.
#lawlessness#fascism
trump discovers the fed is not his personal atm and loses it
Jerome Powell, apparently learning the hard way that the real crime was not cutting rates fast enough for Dear Leader.
Donald Trump has reassured the nation that everything is fine because he personally thinks everything is fine, and if there's one thing markets love, it's a president using the Justice Department to kneecap the central bank chair for not cutting rates fast enough.
Jerome Powell, the Fed chair Trump himself appointed, is now facing a DOJ "criminal investigation" over allegedly abusing taxpayer dollars on a $2.5bn renovation of the Fed's headquarters. Minor complication: Powell already told senators about the project last July, which makes the whole "he misled Congress" angle look less like a crime and more like a tantrum with subpoenas. Powell says the charges are baseless and politically motivated, i.e. punishment for not turbo-charging Trump's re‑election stock portfolio with emergency rate cuts.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon committed the unforgivable sin of saying central bank independence is important, prompting Trump to declare Dimon "wrong" and accuse him of wanting higher rates to make more money. In other words, the billionaire president who personally profits from low rates is accusing the billionaire banker of self‑interest, because nothing says "defending institutions" like projecting your own grift onto Wall Street. Trump then casually promised to replace Powell "in the next few weeks"—a nice little reminder that if you don't give him the monetary policy he wants, he'll just try to fire you and send the DOJ after you.
Other bank CEOs are politely screaming into the void about how maybe blowing up the Fed's independence could, you know, wreck the bond market and raise rates instead of lowering them. But sure, let's destabilize a century-old institution that underpins the global financial system because Trump wants cheaper money and someone told him renovations cost more than a golf course sprinkler upgrade.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
labor department goes full volk-and-heritage
The Department of Labor’s new aesthetic: AI-generated stock Nazis, but make it ‘American Dream.’
The Trump Department of Labor looked at decades of hard-won labor protections and decided what workers really need is… Nazi-adjacent propaganda. The agency blasted out a video captioned “remember who you are, American” with the slogan “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage.” — which just happens to rhyme ideologically with “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer.” But don’t worry, the DOL swears it’s just about “celebrating American workers and the American Dream,” because nothing says “workers’ rights” like dusting off the rhetorical starter pack from 1930s Germany.
Union leaders and historians are, shockingly, not thrilled. Rutgers labor historian Christopher Hayes notes the whole point is to demonize the foreign worker and reassure the white guy who loves Trump that he is the only “real American” and the only one who belongs — you know, exactly how Nazi propaganda worked. The department has already been pumping out AI-generated artwork featuring an all–white male workforce, erasing everyone else, while its social feeds rage about “Americanism,” denounce “globalism,” and push misleading claims that all job gains under Trump go to “native born” Americans. As one former staffer dryly points out, “globalism” is not-so-subtle code for “Jews,” but sure, tell us more about how this is just a patriotic jobs campaign.
Inside the agency, even the people stuck working there can see the fascist writing on the AI-generated wall. Current and former Labor staff describe the feeds as “radical and ideological,” a “whites-only era” throwback, and now just “AI slop developed by a 23-year-old with no discernible insights on work or workers.” Union leaders are connecting the dots between this fascist aesthetic and actual state violence, like the ICE killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis — because when your government starts talking in blood-and-soil slogans and broadcasting white-only imagery, it’s not a branding tweak, it’s a warning. In other words: the Department of Labor has remembered “who they are” — and it’s not the people who protect workers. It’s the people who protect the regime.
#fascism#racism
trump saves american families by exporting the landlord problem to britain
Artist’s impression of Trump heroically standing between Wall Street and American homes, while quietly pointing them toward the UK like a corrupt real estate air-traffic controller.
Donald Trump has discovered a bold new housing strategy: don’t rein in Wall Street, just ship it overseas. After years of private equity giants like Blackstone gobbling up US homes and jacking up rents, Trump is pushing a ban on institutional investors buying single-family houses in America. But instead of actually confronting the financialization of housing, the move is already encouraging those same firms to double down on the UK market, where tenants’ unions are begging politicians not to let American mega-landlords treat Britain like a foreclosure buffet.
Because nothing says “I care about working families” like telling Blackstone & friends: you can keep doing what you’re doing, just go do it to someone else’s renters. Analysts openly predict a surge of US private equity into UK build-to-rent schemes, where the business model is basically: cut corners, hike rents, and tell regulators you’re "improving affordability" while tenants complain about unsafe homes and ignored repairs. In other words, Trump isn’t stopping the housing grift – he’s just turning it into an international franchise.
#forever-grifting#money
annexing greenland to own the libs
Trump staring at a map of Greenland like it’s a foreclosure he can flip, while JD Vance helpfully labels it “freedom minerals.”
Trump has apparently decided that if you can’t run the United States competently, you might as well try conquering Greenland. He’s announced the US will seize the island “one way or the other,” because nothing says "defending freedom" like threatening to invade a NATO ally’s territory for its mineral rights and a couple of billionaire techno-playgrounds. Meanwhile, JD Vance is doing his best cosplay of a serious statesman while Europe debates whether maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop pretending this is all a normal policy disagreement and not literal imperial predation.
The Trump crew isn’t even bothering with subtlety. The white supremacist brain trust is pumping out government-branded slogans like “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage” — a totally original idea that definitely doesn’t sound like it was ripped straight from the "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer" starter kit. The grifters and techno-nihilists are drooling over the prospect of neofeudal city-states on Greenland’s coast, because what’s the point of collapsing American democracy if you don’t get a private petro-feudalist sandbox out of it? Trump helpfully clarifies that the only check on his power is “my own morality,” which, translated from Trumpese, means no check at all.
Behind the cosplay geopolitics is a very real MAGA empire fantasy. The movement’s been circulating maps based on a 1930s "Technate of America" scheme: a US-dominated super-state running from Greenland down through Canada, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela and all the way to French Guiana — inconveniently still part of France and thus a speed bump for the new "Donroe Doctrine." While Trump, Vance, and Steve Bannon work to bankroll far-right, anti-EU parties to blow up the EU from within (Putin sends his regards), Europe is being told, again, to keep calm and hope the next coup attempt is less organized.
The article’s basic argument: if Trump’s America is going full imperial fascism, Europe needs to stop acting like it’s 2013 and start acting like it’s 1938. That means kicking US military bases out, sanctioning US officials, walling off US tech oligarchs, expanding the carbon border tax, building up its own defense and intelligence union, and funding public media as information armor. In other words: cut the cord before Washington finishes turning itself into an openly hostile neo-authoritarian empire. But sure, let’s keep calling it a "special relationship" while Trump tries to annex Greenland like it’s a golf course with better lithium.
#imperialism#fascism
president of the united states flips off factory worker, republic survives somehow
The leader of the free world demonstrates his comprehensive policy on transparency, ethics, and accountability in one elegant gesture.
In Dearborn, Michigan, the dignity of the presidency made a brief, doomed appearance on the Ford factory floor before being immediately flipped off by its current occupant. While touring a Ford truck plant, Donald Trump responded to someone calling him a "pedophile protector" by literally stopping, pointing, and giving them the middle finger — on camera, of course, because this administration never misses an opportunity to turn governance into a low-rent TMZ exclusive.
The White House line, via professional spin sprinkler Steven Cheung, was that a "lunatic" was "wildly screaming expletives" and that the president delivered an "appropriate and unambiguous response" — because nothing says "steady leadership" like the commander in chief reacting to hecklers like a bored 8th grader on the back of the bus. Ford, whose "core values" allegedly include respect, bravely condemned "inappropriate" comments in their facilities while very pointedly not saying a single word about the 79-year-old man-child flipping people off on their assembly line.
Hanging over this little motor-city tantrum: Trump’s name appearing in the newly released Epstein files under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, including records indicating he flew on Epstein’s plane at least eight times in the 1990s, once with an unnamed 20-year-old woman. Authorities haven’t accused him of a crime, DOJ is waving around disclaimers about "untrue and sensationalist" claims, and Trump insists he did nothing wrong. In other words: you ask the president about a documented history of flying with Jeffrey Epstein, and what you get back is not answers, not transparency, but the presidential middle finger — a perfect visual metaphor for how this administration treats accountability.
#killing-democracy#full-stupid
president explains journalism is now a loyalty program
Donald Trump explains to Tony Dokoupil that journalism is now a performance review conducted by the president and his billionaire friends.
Donald Trump sat down with new CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil and, in classic mob-boss-meets-game-show-host fashion, informed him that his job only exists because Trump won the election. "You wouldn’t have a job right now" if Kamala Harris had won, Trump said, before clarifying that, okay, maybe Dokoupil would still have a job, but at a "lesser salary"—because nothing says independent press like the president personally rating your compensation package on live TV.
Trump then helpfully reminded Dokoupil that his billionaire boss, David Ellison, is an "amazing guy" who might be "bust" if Trump had lost. Ellison’s family just took over Paramount Global, installed Bari Weiss to "shake up" CBS News, and conveniently settled a widely derided, meritless Trump lawsuit over a 60 Minutes Kamala Harris interview for $16m—right before regulators signed off on the Ellison takeover. In other words, America’s free press is doing great: the president sues a network for covering his opponent, the network pays him off, then gets bought by his billionaire pals, who are now trying a hostile takeover of Warner Bros Discovery while the White House quietly cheers from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, CBS is under fire for its editing decisions, its 60 Minutes segment on Venezuelans in a Salvadoran hell-prison gets "postponed" for more reporting, and the Golden Globes host jokes that "the award for most editing goes to … CBS News." Dokoupil closes his broadcast by assuring viewers, "we trust you to decide for yourself"—on a network whose new owners just demonstrated that the quickest way to shape what viewers can "decide" about is to stroke the president’s ego, pay him off, and hope the regulators stay friendly. But sure, tell us more about how the real threat to democracy is student protesters and pronouns.
#oligarchy#killing-democracy
america first, venezuelans last, trump always
Tammy Duckworth patiently explaining that ‘America First’ doesn’t usually involve random Venezuela side quests for a bored wannabe strongman.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth went on TV to say the quiet part out loud: Trump’s saber-rattling and meddling in Venezuela makes his whole “America First” routine look like what it’s always been — basically bs. Because nothing says defending American workers like using a foreign crisis as a stage for cheap strongman cosplay and oil-adjacent geopolitics.
While Trump world keeps insisting this is all about “freedom” and “democracy,” Duckworth points out the obvious: if this were really about putting Americans first, maybe the administration wouldn’t be so eager to lurch into another Latin American adventure with zero coherent strategy and a whole lot of chest-thumping. In other words, it looks less like principled foreign policy and more like the usual Trump blend of distraction, ego, and made-for-Fox News imperialism.
So we get the worst of both worlds: a president who screams about endless wars while flirting with regime change, claims to hate globalism while playing Great Power games, and pretends to care about stability while lighting matches in a powder keg. But sure, tell us again how this is all about protecting the American people and not about Trump needing a new crisis to yell about on Truth Social.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
white house declares recession a ‘messaging issue,’ americans declare rent a ‘money issue’
Trump economic advisers bravely explaining that if you close your eyes and repeat "strong fundamentals" three times, your overdraft fees turn into stock gains.
Trump is reportedly "fighting a messaging war" over the state of the economy, because nothing says "serious governance" like treating people’s lost jobs, wiped-out savings, and sky-high prices as a vibes problem that can be fixed with better slogans and a fresh chyron on Fox.
Instead of, say, changing policies that shovel money to billionaires and corporate donors, the administration is workshopping talking points to convince you that your empty bank account is actually historic prosperity and that if you’d just stop looking at your bills, you’d see how great everything is. In other words, it’s not the economy that’s broken, it’s you for noticing.
So the White House comms shop is out here trying to rebrand pain as success, insisting this is all a "messaging war" while Americans are conducting a daily "how do I pay for groceries" war. But sure, if they just say "best economy ever" enough times, your rent will spontaneously drop and your credit card debt will patriotically disappear.
#forever-grifting#money#full-stupid
