The current second Trump administration: a compendium of horrors

Pinker going on a Race Science podcast to talk about ai. What a goddamned clown.

Attitudes like this from the left really bug me, because peeling voters from the other side is how the Republican party has managed to keep up its strength in recent years. They’ve done a hell of a good job of peeling white working class voters away from the Democratic Party over the past several decades. They’ve had a good deal of success peeling away Hispanic voters in the last couple of elections. And now they’re chipping away at the Black vote, which has been the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituency going back to at least the 1960s.

There are certainly people out there who are out of reach for the Democrats. The full-on Kool-Aid drinkers who believe Trump was divinely ordained to lead America to greatness, are a lost cause. But, as I’ve mentioned in a couple of other posts, there are plenty of people out there who don’t pay much attention to politics, who don’t watch Fox News, or really any news, and voted for Trump because they had heard he was going to rein in inflation, or maybe they just liked that he was so brazenly flipping his middle fingers at the establishment. If things really go south, those are people who could very well turn against Trump.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t be working our asses off to turn out the vote among the base, but the Democrats also need to be thinking about what voters they can peel away from the Republican coalition, because they certainly can’t afford to have too many more voters peeled away from them.

Gift link

The ban, which goes into effect on Monday, primarily affects travelers from countries in Africa and the Middle East. The list includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Mr. Trump also partially banned travel from several other countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The decision to ban travel from those countries comes after Mr. Trump blocked asylum at the southern border and barred international students from Harvard University, and after his administration conducted raids across the United States.

Mr. Trump’s order frames the reasoning for restricting travel as necessary because of national security threats, but critics say that the order discriminates against broad swaths of people based on their ethnicity alone.

My bold.

Ya think?

Equatorial Guinea?! Is Trump afraid of comically slow swimmers?

Polarization has increased in the sense that the most right-leaning Democratic member of Congress (Rep. Jared Golden) is probably to the left of every Republican in Congress. (And if you eliminate Golden, it’s super clear that all the Republicans are to the right of all the Democrats).

However, that doesn’t mean there are few swing voters! As Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA) says, “Most Americans are Blue Dogs.” But few Americans have a blue dog they can vote for, because blue dog types rarely win a primary anymore.

Getting back to the compendium of horrors, I see at least two more today:

Trump halts entry of foreign students seeking to attend Harvard

Trump issues new [twelve] country travel ban

As Bill Maher once said, in recent decades Democrats have moved to the right, and Republicans have moved into the mental hospital. You don’t have to be a fan of Maher to acknowledge the truth of this. This also explains how Trump can still have the unwavering support of most Republicans.

Dan Bogino may not be long for his job. After complaining on air about how hard he’s working he’s now pissing off the conspiracy nuts by saying Epstein really did kill himself.

This is not the same golf club dining facility that hosted the puke-inducing “gala dinner” previously mentioned, which was in support of the Trump cryptocurrency scam and was at the facility in Virginia. This one is in Bedminister, NJ, but it appears to conform to similar Trumpian standards:

Forbes reported Wednesday that the golf club was flagged for 18 health violations, nine of which were deemed critical, in the latest report issued by the Somerset County Department of Health.

The May 6 report, which was publicly released, rated the club a 32 out of 100 possible points - the lowest score in the county …

… Inspectors found expired milk, raw meat that was stored improperly and a dishwasher that wasn’t getting to the required temperature. Raw meats and eggs are required to be stored separately from ready-to-eat foods. In the Bedminster kitchen, raw meat was being stored above the cheese, the inspection found.

The milk being used in the kitchen had expired three days before the inspection occurred. There were four separate hand-washing violations as well. Sinks lacked soap or the required paper towels for hand drying.

Someone’s getting fired for that. Oh I don’t mean the boss of the club, I mean the boss of the inspectors.

A “Blue Dog” is just a Republican-in-all-but-name who sits with the Democrats so they can sabotage the Democrats.

And saying that most Americans are Blue Dogs is just saying that most Americans are plutocratic bigots; there’s no reason anymore for them to vote for Democrats of any sort when the Republicans have all the power and will implement the tyranny and persecution they want. Why vote for a stealth Republican with no power when you can vote for an open Republican with power who will get the slaughter rolling?

Not to mention the Burundi Liberation Front.

I thought Trump would love a country where the ruling party can sideline its opponents in elections..

Note the correlation between Blue Dog Coalition and Hispanic Caucus membership.

It would be just as mistaken for me to say that the Squad consists of Greens who sit with the Democrats so they can increase the chances of Trump’s compendium of horrors continuing ad infinitum. We can argue about the political effects, but I do not see a need to question motives here.

Trump plans to make Musk’s DOGE cuts legal

Remember when Trump illegally withheld funds from Ukraine that Congress had already appropriated? Now he’s withholding Congressionally-appropriated funds to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Democracy Fund, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and others.

Trump send a letter to Congress asking them to sign off on a rescissions package that would make Trump’s money grab legal. They have 45 days to decided, before the withholdings resume being illegal.

If Congress does not sign off on the rescissions package, Trump has a back-up plan: Ignore Congress.

To repeat, in presenting congressional Republicans with the chance to place a veneer of legality on DOGE’s actions, the White House is tacitly admitting that the power of the purse still lies in Congress’ hands. But Vought’s attitude makes it clear this is a “heads I win, tails you lose” proposition. If Congress doesn’t go along with its rescission package, the Trump administration will simply continue to do as it has done and usurp the power of appropriation for itself. The sad thing is there are surely plenty of GOP lawmakers who, to avoid risking difficult votes, are willing to surrender their awesome power.

Remember when we’d mock Trump for only hiring the “best people?” There were mumbling about “adults in the room?” No more. It’s not even funny. This appointment on its own is a recipe for future trouble, but it’s par for the course.

At least he doesn’t have douchebaggy eyebrows.

egad

ETA: Seen a couple photos of him now - waiting to see one where he doesn’t look like a smug dipshit.

Donald Trump’s Travel Ban Surprisingly Omits One Country

President Donald Trump has reinstated and expanded a travel ban targeting citizens from 12 countries, citing national security concerns following a recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado. The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) told Newsweek the move would “not make America safer.”

However, the country of origin of the attacker—Egypt—is notably absent from the list, raising questions about the ban’s effectiveness and underlying motivations.

Who bought that kid a suit and tie?

I wonder if he is any relation to Obama-era FEMA head Craig Fugate? Probably not, but it’s not the commonest surname.

I posted this over in my “corner crossing” thread, but it should probably be here.

A billionaire asshole is being nominated to lead the National Forest, an agency that he has repeatedly battled with and ignored their rules. Of course he is also a big donor to the MAGA party.

Gift link to NY Times article of rich people doing whatever the fuck they want with no consequences.

His picture screams “Smug asshole who gets his comeuppance in a cheap situation comedy-definitely one shot material”.