MAGA in disarray!

 

One of the weirdest and therefore most amusing events of the first Trump presidency was his 2017 speech to the Boy Scout Jamboree in West Virginia.  Never having been a Scout or engaging socially with humans, he had no reminiscences to share, so he used the occasion to attack Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, to denounce Obamacare as "this horrible thing that's really hurting us" and to describe yacht parties with Steve Ross and William Levitt to the fascinated, somewhat confused boys.  

Cut to 2025 and Obamacare credits turn out to be the only way to address doubling and tripling insurance premiums short of the unthinkable Medicare for All.  The Boy Scouts are now called Scouting America.  And Pete Hegseth the "Secretary of War" wants the military to sever all ties with them because they are now "genderless" and promote the dreaded DEI, and that frightens him.  For its failure to "cultivate masculine values" Scouting America will not be allowed to meet on military property, nor will the Pentagon be associated with the annual Jamboree.

How else can Hegseth help his boss with his collapsing approval ratings?  How about attacking an astronaut?  Six veterans participated in the video message to service members about illegal orders but Hegseth singled out Captain Mark Kelly, USN (ret.), for threatened court martial.  Americans love astronauts, even the ones who aren't also decorated veterans.  "I've given too much to this country to be silenced by bullies who care more about their own power than protecting the Constitution," Kelly wrote.  

"You can't have a soldier out on the battlefield or conducting a classified order questioning whether that is lawful or whether they should follow through," said military law expert Karoline Leavitt.  She should take a look at the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Even in the most horrific circumstances the consciences of individual soldiers have been taken into account.  In his indispensable book Ordinary Men Christopher Browning describes how the men of Reserve Police Battalion 101 in Poland were told that if they could not bring themselves to participate in shooting women and children their officers would excuse them.  Not one man took advantage of this, so morally depraved was German society by then.  We demand that Americans do better, no matter what Trump and Hegseth want.

Trump must have tweeted this without reading or understanding it.

The weekend lovefest over and probably forgotten, Trump brought his signature style and grace to the most whimsical of presidential duties, the annual Turkey Pardon.  That is to say he announced that Biden's "autopen" pardons were invalid, that Gobble and Waddle should be called Chuck and Nancy ("I would never pardon those two people"), and that he had a joke about J.B. Pritzker being "a big fat slob" but wasn't going to tell it.  There were also lies about gas prices and the crime rate in Chicago and DC.  You know, festive.  We'll have to wait a day for his "Happy Thanksgiving to all America-hating liberals," or you can write it yourself.  At this point he can't pick up a phone or see a mic without bile pouring out.  Melania showed how it's done yesterday when she devoted nearly four minutes to welcoming the White House tree before bolting back inside ("Fooking Christmas").  

The Epstein vote and the surprise resignation of Margie Greene jolted many Republicans out of their coma and they're wandering around having...opinions.  Don Bacon (R-NE), the retired Air Force general, says he was so angry at the Trumputin peace proposal for Ukraine that he nearly resigned, too.  Bacon also has no time for the court martial nonsense:  "Amateur hour once again at the Department of Dense.  I thought the video by six Dems was unnecessary and foolish.  But the threats of sedition charges and courts martial in response are also crazy.  Let's show some common sense and restraint."  

Mitch McConnell (remember him?) is also disgusted with the "peace" proposal:  "Those who think pressuring the victim and appeasing the aggressor will bring peace are kidding themselves...how does limiting Ukraine's defenses against future aggression increase the likelihood of enduring peace?"  And one "senior rep" who insisted on anonymity had this to say:

"Members know they're going into the minority after the midterms."  Or sooner?  The Orlando Sentinel is calling for Rep. Cory Mills to quit now.  The special House election in the Tennessee 7th just got really special.

Mark Kelly is not up for re-election until 2028 but the threats from Trump and Hegseth are bringing donations -- which he is splitting with the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue (probably why no fewer than three Republican-led House committees are coming after them for "fraudulent or illegal" donations).  What could be fraudulent about demanding money in the name of the divine?  This week's Trump beg entreats Christians to pony up because God "tilted my head at the very last millisecond" to save him for his mission.  He wants to earn his way into heaven by "saving America" and only you can help.  This is serious:  no merch to buy, no crypto investments, straight-up money from you to him.  (Those Trump watches are coming, you can believe him.)  Trump is not up for re-election ever but maybe heaven has a cover charge.

Speaking of crypto, remember Zhao Changpeng, the founder of Binance and recipient of a shiny Trump pardon?  He's being sued for facilitating the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel.  The suit, brought by American victims of Hamas including family members of people killed, injured or taken hostage, accuses Zhao of laundering $1 billion to Hamas and other terror groups.  "Binance intentionally structured itself as a refuge for illicit activity," it says.  

Trump Media & Technology Group lost again.  Judge Hunter Carroll of Sarasota County, Florida, dismissed its suit against the Guardian, the Herald Tribune and two reporters for writing about a federal investigation into TMTG's receipt of $8 million, ruling that reporting negative information does not constitute malice.  Also this week an appeals court upheld the dismissal of Trump's 2022 suit against CNN; he wanted $475 million because they referred to his claims about the 2020 election as "The Big Lie."  The BBC issued an apology over its misleading edit of Trump's January 6 speech but says he can forget about demanding a billion dollars compensation.  They are, however, looking for a new boss.  Dutch historian Rutger Bregman gave this year's Reith Lecture on Radio 4 and was incensed when the Beeb removed his description of Trump as "the most openly corrupt president in American history."  Surely this is one area where no one would consider him second to Washington or Lincoln.

Of the CNN suit Dan Abrams had this to say:  "Guess who the original lawsuit against CNN was filed by.  Oh, her name is Lindsey Halligan!  She's the same one that screwed up the grand jury [in the criminal cases against James Comey and Letitia James]!"  Abrams added, "If a media organization on one of these meritless cases is willing to fight Trump, they'll win."  Fight fight fight.