The Trump Administration: The Clusterfuck Continues

The pardoned January 6 rioters, represented by Mark McCloskey of the “holding a gun in his gated community” fame, are seeking restitution from the federal government for their prosecutions. They want Jeanine Pirro to lead the panel.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/31/us/politics/trump-jan-6-rioters-compensation.html

“Very fine people,” this bunch.

On Sunday, another rioter, Ryan Nichols, a former Marine who was sentenced to more than five years in prison for joining a crowd that shoved at officers in a tunnel outside the Capitol, doubled down on his attacks against the police in a post on social media.

“I’d do it again given the same situation,” Mr. Nichols said. “They attacked Americans and killed innocent protesters.” He added that “we should have” dragged foes “through the streets.”

And yet they’ve got the typical conservative persecution complex, too.

One rioter, Shane Jenkins, who was sentenced to 84 months in prison for assaulting an officer and shattering a window at the Capitol with a tomahawk on Jan. 6, spoke during the online meeting and captured the spirit of loss and disillusionment that many of the pardoned defendants seem to feel.

Mr. Jenkins compared the rioters to the biblical story of the Israelites who were enslaved and then released by God from bondage in Egypt, only to roam for decades through the desert.

“Through Trump, God pardoned us and set us free, right?” Mr. Jenkins said. “Well, then what did they do? They wandered around the desert for 40 years and I don’t think very many of them got to see the Promised Land.”

“I just feel,” he went on, “like that’s kind of where we’re at right now.”

Who is the idiot that ordered soft stone to be put down in a place of high foot traffic and a bunch of chairs?

Oh, never mind.

The dictator dictates some more.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he would sign an Executive Order requiring voter identification for all U.S. elections, a move that will likely be challenged in court as unconstitutional.

“Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS! I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End,” Trump said on Truth Social.

The president also reiterated his intention to ban voting by mail in all cases except for people who were very ill or “Far Away Military.”

Thanks for coming right out and saying you don’t get to vote, felon. I’m overseas, but I’m not active duty military.

What am I talking about? It’s not like we’re really going to have an election in 2028, after all. The only reason there will be one next year is even the competent ones (yeah, right) in the clusterfuck can’t get that canceled in time.

Judges really don’t like being lied at.

A federal judge on Sunday blocked the Trump administration from deporting potentially hundreds of unaccompanied Guatemalan children from the United States to Guatemala.

A judge had temporarily blocked the administration from removing the minors and set an emergency hearing for 3 p.m. Sunday, but U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan moved the hearing to 12:30 p.m. after the court was notified the Guatemalan children were “in the process of being removed from the U.S.”

“The Court ORDERS that the Defendants cease any ongoing efforts to transfer, repatriate, remove, or otherwise facilitate the transport of any Plaintiff or member of the putative class from the United States,” Sookananan wrote. “The putative class includes all Guatemalan unaccompanied minors in Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement custody as of 1:02 AM on August 31, 2025, the time of the filing of the Complaint, who are not subject to an executable final order of removal,” the order says.

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Sooknanan expressed skepticism during the hearing over the legality of the administration’s attempt to repatriate the children. She said she received notice of the complaint at 2 a.m. Sunday and that she personally tried to reach the U.S. attorney’s office, leaving a voice message at 3:43 a.m. saying that she wanted to hear from the government before she issued her temporary restraining order

“We are here on a holiday weekend where I have the government attempting to remove unaccompanied minors from the country in the wee hours of the morning on a holiday weekend, which is surprising, but here we are,” she said.

And here comes the lying.

Ensign argued that the Trump administration was removing the children in accordance with the law and at the request of the Guatemalan government and the legal guardians of the children.

“The government of Guatemala has requested the return of these children and all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return, and United States government is trying to facilitate the return of these children to their parents or guardians from whom they have been separated,” Ensign said.

Olivares strongly disagreed with that argument.

“Some of the children do not have either parent, some of the children have fear of returning to Guatemala so have not requested to return, do not want to return,” he said.

The judge’s response?

Sooknanan appeared to question the validity of the government’s argument.

“I have conflicting narratives from both sides here on whether what is happening here is an attempt to reunite these children with their parents or just return these children to Guatemala where they face harm,” she said.

What’re you going to do when the public keeps a record of your words? You whine for them to get rid of the record, of course!

A top official at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) demanded the removal of YouTube videos of himself that were published by a physician and writer who has been critical of medical misinformation and public health officials in the Trump administration, according to a YouTube notice that was seen by the Guardian.

Jonathan Howard, a neurologist and psychiatrist in New York City, received an email from YouTube on Friday night, which stated that Vinay Prasad, who is the FDA’s top vaccine regulator, had demanded the removal of six videos of himself from Howard’s YouTube channel.

Howard’s entire channel has now been deleted by YouTube, which cited copyright infringement.

The now-defunct channel contained about 350 videos of doctors and commentators, including Prasad, Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of health and human services, and Jay Bhattacharya, the head of the National Institutes of Health, which had been collected by Howard from their social media accounts, interviews and podcasts.

Creating the channel, Howard told Guardian in an interview, had been an attempt to “preserve” what these individuals had said during the early years of the pandemic, including comments that Howard said exaggerated the dangers of the Covid vaccine to children and – in some cases – minimized the risk of Covid infection, among other issues.

“These videos were nothing more than collections of what other doctors said during the pandemic, including doctors who are extremely influential and who are now the medical establishment,” he said.

We, as a nation, are done for.

The draft dodger wants everyone to know he’s going to war.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration is advancing plans to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing a White House official, after U.S. President Donald Trump raised the prospect on Monday.

Restoring the Department of War name for the government’s largest department would likely require congressional action, but the White House is exploring alternative methods to implement the change, the report said.

And the television show (or should I say idiot box show?) approach of the administration is appalling.

“As President Trump said, our military should be focused on offense – not just defense – which is why he has prioritized warfighters at the Pentagon instead of DEI and woke ideology. Stay tuned!” said White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, using the initials DEI to refer to programs aimed at increasing diversity, equity and inclusion.

We don’t have any choice but to “stay tuned” this rolling disaster.

Like…these very high* members are some sort of superhuman race, then? Miller? Hegseth? RFK? Standing astride, arms crossed, on wind-swept mountaintops, Frank Frazetta style? (none of that fruity ball-tanning shit, though)

*I dunno, on glue?

Some direct-to-videos* just write themselves. Actually Alex Jones would look like a good bailiff.

*ok, I realise I’m getting Neanderthal, there.

I’m questioning Killer Kennedy’s visual abilities vis-à-vis medical diagnoses. Doesn’t he have a mirror? That is not normal skin. (Nor is the felon’s, for that matter.)

Sort of reptilian-looking.

My bold.

'Cause who the heck needs Congress anyways, amirite?

Not really sure where this should go, but it’s too good not to share.

Too bad that most people won’t get the reference, but it works anyway.

Mr. Piper would be impressed.

I’m impressed, too!

Doesn’t accepting a Presidential pardon mean you are admitting guilt? How can you then demand restitution?

So He’s not dead yet?

Not in any legally binding way, from what I can gather. (I’m no expert; I just did a little googling, and the whole concept seems quite murky from a legal standpoint.)

Why wouldn’t they demand restitution? The Trump government has already settled with Ashli Babbit’s family for millions of dollars, so why wouldn’t they do the same for the rest of the J6ers? It’s not their money being given away, and “winning” in court validates their narrative of the J6ers being political prisoners who were railroaded by the Biden administration. I’m kind of amazed it took them this long to file a lawsuit.

And a two, and a theree: his numbers are perfect!

President Donald Trump has been in office for just more than seven months, and his approval ratings by many measures have plateaued after a low coinciding with the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in July.

While Congress has been on recess throughout August, Trump has deployed the National Guard in D.C. to combat crime and homelessness, and threatened to do so in other cities. He also implemented new tariffs against several countries.

Recent polls show that Americans are becoming more partisan, and have stronger feelings about Trump’s job performance than in the past.

So what do Americans think? Here is what to know:

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As of Jan. 27, Trump received a +6.2 percentage point approval rating, but as of March 13, it flipped to slightly negative, the RealClearPolitics graphics show. The approval rating reached its most negative on April 29 at -7.2 percentage points, which fell around Trump’s 100-day mark. It came close to that low again on July 22 and 23 at -7.1 percentage points, as the controversy over Epstein carried into its third week.

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A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump’s approval ratings in August of his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th presidents − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations.

In a Gallup poll conducted from Aug 1-20, 40% approved of Trump’s job performance. Here is how that compares to other presidents in August of their first year of their term, according to Gallup:

  • Joe Biden (August 2021) - 49% approve

  • Trump (August 2017) - 36% approve

  • Barack Obama (August 2009) - 53% approve

  • George W. Bush (August 2001) - 56% approve

  • Bill Clinton (August 1993) - 44% approve

  • George H.W. Bush (August 1989) - 69% approve

  • Ronald Reagan (August 1981) - 60% approve

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According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Aug. 22-24, 40% approve and 54% disapprove of Trump’s job performance. The poll surveyed 1,022 U.S. adults with a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.

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The survey found a similar plateau when it came to two of Trump’s key policy issues, immigration and the economy. Among respondents, 37% approved of his performance on the economy, with 55% disapproving. Immigration garnered slightly higher numbers, at 43% approving and 51% disapproving.

Pollsters found 38% of Americans support using troops for law enforcement in the U.S. capital, with 46% opposed. The rest were unsure or declined to answer the question.

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An Economist/YouGov poll surveyed 1,523 U.S. adult citizens between Aug. 22-25, 56% of respondents disapproved of how Trump is handling his job, compared to 41% who approved.

The poll asked if Trump had been too forceful in implementing his agenda in seven areas, and in each one, more respondents said he went too far than “about right” or “not gone far enough.”

When it came to tariffs, 52% of Americans said Trump has gone too far, compared to 31% who said it was just right and 9% who thought it was not far enough.

His numbers are perfect in that they show how the public sees the bad job he’s doing.

There were protests against the felon all over the country on Labor Day.

Labor unions and community activists gathered for mass protests on Labor Day, the latest in a series of demonstrations against the Trump administration.

On a holiday set aside to recognize and honor the contributions of American workers, hundreds and sometimes thousands turned out in rallies and political protests across the country on Sept. 1, aiming to demonstrate the power of the working class.

Large crowds turned out at rallies and marches in major cities including Boston, Chicago, Detroit, New York and others. More than a thousand "Workers Over Billionaires” themed events were planned nationwide.

Guliana to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he will award former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, two days after his longtime political ally was seriously injured in a car crash.

Certainly there’s a good reason for this. Aaah, of course. (The bolding is mine.)

The decision places the award on a man once lauded for leading New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and later sanctioned by courts and disbarred for amplifying false claims about the 2020 election. Giuliani was also criminally charged in two states; he has denied wrongdoing.

What’s it called when a government controls the press?

Donald Trump exploded at ABC News on Sunday night over contributor and longtime Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

The president demanded Brazile, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, be fired from the network following criticism of him from her on “This Week.”

But in true Donvict style, he’s one-upped (one-downed?) the dictatorship playbook.

He also called for another payment from ABC, which last year agreed to a $15 million settlement — to fund his presidential library — over an inaccurate statement made by anchor George Stephanopoulos on the air.

The full post on the felon’s Xitter clone is in the link.

In yet another stable(flloor droppings) genius move, the felon’s attempt at outsourcing concentration camps blows up in the taxpayer’s face.

A small African nation currently imprisoning five immigrants deported from the United States reportedly asked the Trump administration for half a billion dollars to detain them.

The administration resumed a policy of deporting immigrant detainees to so-called third countries in July, starting with the tiny African nation of Eswatini. Eswatini’s government at one point requested millions of dollars in exchange, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

Those documents also show that Eswatini was open to detaining 150 people from other nations for more than $10 million from the United States, the newspaper reported.

And you’ll love this bit.

Eswatini diplomats told The Independent in July that they were blindsided by the Trump administration’s plan to send a group of men with criminal convictions to their country; they had only learned about the flights from social media.

So what’s going to happen with these detainees?

Eswatini officials said they plan to arrange for those detainees to be sent back to their countries of origin, while activists in the country are challenging what they say is an unconstitutional secret agreement with the Trump administration.

The Eswatini government said the men “will be repatriated” and the United Nations International Organization for Migration is working with the country to “facilitate the transit of these inmates to their countries of origin.”

Nearly two months later, those men remain imprisoned in Eswatini.

And, get this, the felon’s been lying about the so-called detainees. (Shocker!)

Homeland Security officials labeled Etoria and the other men sent to Eswatini “depraved monsters” who are “so uniquely barbaric” that those countries won’t accept them.

Jamaican officials rejected the administration’s claim that the country is not cooperating.

“The Government has not refused the return of any of our nationals to Jamaica,” according to Jamaican foreign minister Kamina J Smith.

Jamaica will “continue its engagements” with the Trump administration to make arrangements “to facilitate the individual’s return to Jamaica,” she wrote in July.

The felon surrounds himself with “only the best”, doesn’t he?

President Donald Trump attempted to dispel brewing concerns over his health by posting a photo with a football coach who fell from grace over leaked emails containing racist, sexist, and homophobic language.

Trump touted his golf game with former Las Vegas Raiders coach Jon Gruden in a Truth Social post on Sunday.

“Great playing Golf with Jon Gruden — A really nice guy, and true character!” the president wrote, attaching a photo of himself fist-bumping with the once-venerated coach, who was wearing a Trump hat.

And, wow, this is starting to get to CSI level examination to determine what’s really happened and when with the felon and his clingon of buttkissers.

It is unclear whether the photo was taken on Sunday. Eagle-eyed social media users were quick to point out that Gruden was wearing the same outfit in an Instagram post dated Aug. 23—a day that Trump also spent at the golf course—fueling speculation that the photo was eight days old. Others mused that the image was AI-generated.

Don’t worry, Donvict. Cruella de Vile still worships you and your dictatorial infatuation.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stunned critics on Sunday with a wild, dramatic claim about Donald Trump.

During a discussion on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” about the president’s possible deployment of the National Guard to Chicago, Noem said Los Angeles “wouldn’t be standing” if Trump hadn’t mobilized troops there in June to counter protests against his anti-immigration crackdown.

“That city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state,” Noem told host Ed O’Keefe.

Here’s some advice for you, Cruella de Vile. The key to writing fiction is to write good fiction.

Donvict just might freak out at Princeton University now.

So … is Trump a dictator?

“Yes, of course,” said Kim Lane Scheppele, a professor of sociology at Princeton University who spent years researching autocracies including Hungary and Russia. Scheppele said she had been wavering on using the term “dictatorship” until recently, but said: “If I was hesitating before, it’s this mobilization of the national guard and the indication that he plans to overtake resistance by force that now means we’re in it.”

The felon’s folks are still denying entry to legislators. (The bolding is mine.)

Just days after two crew workers helping battle Washington’s largest wildfire were arrested by Border Patrol, Washington Rep. Emily Randall — who represents the district where the men are being held — was denied entry to the facility, calling the situation “disgusting” in an interview with CNN affiliate KOMO.

“This would have been my fourth visit yesterday to the ICE facility in Tacoma, there in my district,” Randall told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Sunday. “I had done two previous announced visits and one previous unannounced visit, which is the statutory authority of Congress, the oversight body of ICE and Homeland Security.”

The statute prevents the Department of Homeland Security from using its funding to stop certain people, like members of Congress, from entering facilities where immigrants are held, if they are there to do oversight, but Randall was denied entry on Saturday.

So, yes; that’s more proof the felon’s a dictator.

There doesn’t seem to be a limit on how the felon wants to control future elections.

The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to obtain personal information about tens of millions of voters across the country, including seeking sensitive data such as partial Social Security numbers.

The push, overseen by the Department of Justice, comes as President Donald Trump asserts a larger federal role in elections ahead of next year’s midterms, which are set to determine which party controls Congress during his last two years in the White House.

In recent weeks, state election officials have received letters from Harmeet Dhillon, who oversees the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, seeking unredacted copies of states’ voter registration databases. The information includes voters’ names, birthdates, addresses, and driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

The felon feels jilted!

Donald Trump is not taking India’s geopolitical flirting well.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin were spotted on Sunday holding hands as they walked into a meeting at a Chinese summit of anti-Western coalition leaders—a show seemingly designed to get under Trump’s skin.

It was a clear mission accomplished when the president fumed over America’s “one sided disaster” of a relationship with India in a post on Truth Social.

“What few people understand is that we do very little business with India, but they do a tremendous amount of business with us,” he began. “In other words, they sell us massive amounts of goods, their biggest ‘client,’ but we sell them very little - Until now a totally one sided relationship, and it has been for many decades.”

"And so my fellow Americans I am calling on each and every one to immediately stop purchasing from India and commence buying from more expensive sources, especially American produced goods NOT FROM CHINA. NO, NOT FROM CHINA. OR VIETNAM to balance our trade deficit … that’ll learn 'em. We make wonderful pharmaceuticals in this country. I don’t understand why we buy them from anywhere else. And Elon and co … keep selling them all that intellectual property and services stuff that I don’t count as trade. And don’t worry about whether your customers can pay for your stuff after we wreck their income stream. "

  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Stones and jewelry
  • Textiles/apparel
  • Industrial and electrical parts
  • Construction materials
  • Auto parts
  • Spices
  • Tea
  • Rice

Lenticular agitprop is the best agitpop!

The scariest notion is they have a whole team of immigrants from Bene Tleilax, and when one of them can no longer maintain the schtick, another one takes over.

As I understand it accepting a pardon removes your ability to defend yourself against the charges in court on the public record, and removes 5th ammendment protections, and so there may be reasons for a defendent to not want to accept a pardon, and so the court has said they are allowed to do so.

It says nothing about the actual guilt or innocence.