On a high level, of course. Especially as there is no overarching global authority to enforce anything. The only real authority comes from might, whether that be economic or military. Even treaties are more of a gentleman’s agreement, and if violated often have no true consequences if someone is unwilling or unable to respond with some kind of meaningful attack (like an economic sanction that harms a country, or a military strike).
But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the childishness of threatening a war for not being given a medal. That’s not even global politics, that is literally behaving like a child. Even the pettiest leaders don’t generally act like that on the global stage. It’s indefensible and when combined with other erratic behavior, it points to a person who is mentally incompetent.
I can envision, for example in the mafia, that it might be de rigueur. I found Ben Kingsley’s acting in Sexy Beast to be terribly believable, so I wouldn’t take it as entirely unreasonable for a person of importance to have some part of his personality like that.
Based on older interviews with Trump (e.g from the 90s), I certainly do think that he’s failing mentally and reverting towards a more infantile version of himself. It’s probably always been there, just not as strongly as it is now. I don’t know, however, that that’s new to this year. Reports by his advisors in his first term confirmed that he was saying just as ridiculous and childish stuff back then as well. The primary difference is that he was stuck with people who had been approved by the Senate. This time, he’s found more ways to avoid appointments and Thune approved a rubber stamp process (I assume, in the hopes that Trump would finally sink himself, if not protected by competent advisors).
We’re not seeing something new, so far as I see it, we’re just seeing all of the things that the Republican party spent months trying to convince their electorate of, which Trump then spun as “Liberal Lies” because Fox News et. al. failed to report on, even though every report was quoting a Republican appointee (Matthis, Wray, Mueller, Rosenstein, Pence, Geoffrey Berman, John Kelly, Meadows, etc.). We saw lots of reporting about all of this, directly from people chosen by Trump, working for Trump, who only had anything to lose by talking about it to the public. They stood their ground to stop the madness, got fired, and the press reported it like Trump was kicking liberals out of his government.
I have noticed this too. I’ve noticed something else also. Any time one of them has shown their face in a friend’s comment section, they aren’t defending Trump or whatever he did this time, instead they are showing up to talk about how both sides are terrible, and they are all corrupt. Still trying to get people to hate Democrats, but without the MAGA/Trump defending. Its almost like they know this is bad, and that they made a mistake, but they simply cannot bring themselves to admit the liberals were right. Yet.
This Somali woman supported Trump because she thought it would good for her business, and she agreed with Trump’s position against gay and trans persons.
Enjoy living without a face, bitch.
Sharif, the Madina Mall shop owner who fears she may have to return to the bad old days of having a boss, gave out an exasperated sigh.
“Would you believe if I told you I voted for this man?” she said, referring to Trump.
Sharif is not politically active, but in 2024, some campaigners came to her shop and told her that Trump would be good for business and against the LGBTQ agenda.
“I was immediately hooked,” she said. She voted Republican for the first time.
Now, chagrined, she said, “I never thought the man I put in office would come for my family, make me financially struggle and cause me so much fear that I carry my passport when I go to the bathroom,” she said, pointing at the mall’s bathrooms.
“I feel as though the weapon I built is coming to kill me and my people,” she said.
They’ll never get there. It’s never easy admitting error, so they won’t. Ever. They’ll either lie or go delusional.
At best, they’ll say they didn’t support him and didn’t vote for him but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat, either. At slightly less than best, they may make up some story about how he suddenly declined but was still ok when they voted for him.
Losing the Civil War merely resulted in over a century of historical whitewashing, Jim Crow, and moaning about the “Lost Cause”; not “maybe supporting treason in the name of slavery was bad”. The Right will never admit it was wrong for supporting Trump.
Ms. Halligan’s response, in which she was joined by both the Attorney General and the
Deputy Attorney General, contains a level of vitriol more appropriate for a cable news talk show
and falls far beneath the level of advocacy expected from litigants in this Court, particularly the
Department of Justice. The Court will not engage in a similar tit-for-tat and will instead analyze
the few points that Ms. Halligan offers to justify her continued identification of her position as
United States Attorney before the Court. Ultimately, the Court concludes for the reasons that
follow that Ms. Halligan’s continued identification of herself as the United States Attorney for
this District ignores a binding court order and may not continue; otherwise, Ms. Halligan and
anyone who joins her on a pleading containing the improper moniker subjects themselves to
potential disciplinary action in this Court pursuant to the Court’s Local Rules.
concluding on page 18:
The Court recognizes that Ms. Halligan lacks the prosecutorial experience that has long
been the norm for those nominated to the position of United States Attorney in this District.
Consequently, and in light of her inexperience, the Court grants Ms. Halligan the benefit of the
doubt and refrains from referring her for further investigation and disciplinary action regarding
her misrepresentations to this Court at this time. However, this Memorandum Order provides
notice that, should Ms. Halligan persist in ignoring Judge Currie’s Orders and this Memorandum
Order in any matter before the undersigned, the Court will initiate disciplinary proceedings
against Ms. Halligan and any other signatory to an offending pleading pursuant to Federal Rule
of Disciplinary Enforcement V(A).
Der Postillon is the German equivalent of The Onion. And yes, they are often very good. This is one of those cases.
The Spanish equivalent is not bad either. Here, for instance, they report about trump giving the Nobel Peace Prize he just got from Ms Machado to Netanjahu and Ms Machado complaining that the Prize cannot be given away just like that, but only earned in earnest.
As I’ve said before, they’ll treat him the way they do George W. Bush nowadays, which is to say they’ll pretend he never existed. You don’t see Republicans these days clamoring for Bush’s endorsement or seeking his counsel. At the same time you’ll never hear Republicans say they were mistaken about Bush, that they were disappointed about Bush, that they were wrong in supporting the war in Iraq. They just don’t talk about any of that, period. Those post-9/11 years are seemingly a void in the collective Republican memory.
A new work of art has appeared on the National Mall: a 10-foot tall replica of the birthday card trump send to Epstein.
Alongside the card is a sculpture of stacked boxes and overflowing paper shreds with blacked-out words, alluding to the heavily redacted files released by the Department of Justice in December, and a selection of Sharpie markers for public use. A plaque invites visitors to “sign the birthday card with your own message to the administration” and “celebrate the birthday of President Donald Trump’s ‘closest friend,’ Jeffrey Epstein, with a larger than life tribute to their intimate correspondence.”
