Donald Trump today reiterated that we are going to get $2,000 each and added a new giveaway:
Reminds me of Huey Long:
I doubt even Ethan Hunt could fix Trump’s mess
Well, I recommend that they be given $50,000…and a puppy!
$10,000 on top of the $2,000 and the $5,000 DOGE payout?
Converting the surviving federal workforce into well-paid pro-trump workers and voters is the goal.
In many countries this works great; the entire bureaucracy backs the tyrant. In some countries the bureaucracy refuses to stay bought and needs frequent refresher payments. Hard to say which outcome we’ll have here.
It’s unsurprising, but sorta disappointing, how much the Project 2025 playbook is just using all the totalitarian takeover tricks that have worked so well in 40 other countries since e.g. 1900. They’re not even a little bit original in thought or uniquely American in their outlook, but they are diligent students of the Dark Side of history.
I’ve been making that same comparison.
It would have been so easy for to fund SNAP and be the glorious leader but Trump is such a fuck-up that he can’t even get populist fascism right.
It’s real hard to be a populist when your primary instinct is simply to steal all the money for yourself and almost no other idea intrudes for long into his shark-like one track predatory brain.
Not to mention that the word “populist” implies concern for, or at the very least, attention to other people. Nope, not here, not happenin’.
Yup.
Most populists conduct a clandestine smash-and-grab on their country’s treasury and large businesses while distracting the public with populist rhetoric and token gestures.
Our rum lot is conducting the smash and grab in plain sight while crowing about it. And much of our public is loving every bit of what they see/hear. So no need for the smasher/grabbers to think of the proles. Which is handy, since they never could / would think of them.
Yep. I said elsewhere that Trump’s biggest problem with trying to buy loyalty is that he places more value on his money than he does your loyalty. I’m pretty sure this will be the cause of his eventual downfall, if he doesn’t die first.
The federal government is suing California over its redistricting plan, claiming it’s racially motivated.
(Crossposted to a Pit thread as well)
At the same time that Trump is urging red states to begin redistricting. Jaysus holy crap Republicans are something else.
I hope that there are lawsuits against Texas and the other gerrymandering red states. I could see a situation where California gets held up by the Supreme Court through the 2026 election, while Texas redistricts successfully.
For the pleasure of those who like to parse half-truths and lies:
Discussed here:
I sort-of liked this one:
My wife and I never heard of Schnucks, so I checked and found they have around 100 or America’s 46,000 or so supermarkets. But, hey, they are one of the largest “privately held.” As if going to a supermarket that isn’t listed on the stock exchange is some kind of good-eating plus.
Meanwhile, aren’t fewer and fewer supermarkets giving their turkeys away on loss leader promotions?
Schmuck’s?
Yeah, Walmart reduced their prices by 25%… but they reduced the items in their Thanksgiving Dinner by 25% and switched to store brands instead of name brands. An analogy:
A store sells four quarters for $1. They reduce the number of quarters to three, and reduce the price to 75¢. ‘It cost 25% less! See! The economy is booming!’ Only what you get is the same price, because you’re paying 75¢ for 75¢. Same price. Only… They’re replacing the quarters with nickels. So you’re paying 75¢ for three nickels. Your Thanksgiving Dinner is actually costing you more for what you get.
The focus on the Thanksgiving Day meal – setting aside what bullshit the Trump administration is selling – reminds me of the recent release of 20,000 documents from the Epstein Estate tranche.
The analogy I use is: you’re accused of murder, and your attorney swears to High Heaven that you have cooperated fully with the police because you let them search every square inch of your house (except for that locked room in the basement).
As always, the Administration’s well-founded belief that this bullshit will work … is the ultimate in cynicism, and highlights what a silly, irrational, partisan, credulous tribal bunch so many of us (see: red hats) truly are.
"The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood—and we will protect it.”
Well, that’s not at all concerning…
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5605091-joint-task-force-southern-spear/
Not sure what the response will be if we actually start a war with Venezuela to cover up Epstein. The evil of that is beyond comprehension.
Likely response is a bump to Trump’s popularity. Which is why it’s going to happen.