Sunday, August 23, 2026

QOTD: When Trump Is At "His Most Self-Destructive"

 

Hayes Brown, writing today at MS NOW, looks at the mentally unfit Malignant Fascist's hubris and belief that he's a historical world figure on a par with Napoleon, Stalin, and Hitler.  The people surrounding him and political figures that have bowed to him and flattered his bubble-thin ego have stoked his hubris in a dangerous way:

"The best leaders have people around them to bring them back to Earth, but Trump has surrounded himself with 'yes men' and sycophants. (Case in point: The list of historic figures Trump credited to a historian was compiled by David King, a businessman, so-called history buff and former caddie to one of Trump’s friends.) The seeming absence of people in his circle who might check him is dangerous. Journalist Michael Kruse tellingly wrote of Trump in 2016: 'In the mercurial life of Donald John Trump, here is one great truth: When he’s riding his highest, he is also at his most frenzied, his most volatile — his most self-destructive.'

The war with Iran, launched so cavalierly when Trump was at a peak, has helped temper the aura of invincibility he’d cultivated. Almost six months later, the technological leaps that prompted Trump to view himself as above the other historical figures on his cherished list have done little to bring about the 'unconditional surrender' he promised to extract from Tehran. The still ongoing conflict, the shutdown of trade through the Strait of Hormuz and Trump’s refusal to focus on affordability at home has helped Trump’s already weak poll numbers reach a new nadir. While he’s tried to slough off any blame for a potential shellacking in the midterms for Republicans, his unpopularity and looming lame duck status portend a second half of his term lacking the same unfettered use of his power." (our emphasis)

In large part, that's why the Natalie Harp saga has legs; her sole job is to give the MF positive feedback and to screen information he receives, no matter how fanciful or false as long as he feels good about it.  His megalomania has reached new levels in his rotten second term, allowing him to believe he can defy the law and act like an autocratic tyrant, profiting from his elected position.


Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Bill Day, caglecartoons.com;  context here)

(David Horsey, The Seattle Times)

(Christopher Weyant, caglecartoons.com)

(Robert Ariail, Spartanburg Herald-Journal, SC)

(John Buss, @repeat1968)

(Lee Judge, King Features)

(Peter Kuper, caglecartoons.com)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Michael de Adder, The Contrarian, Canada)

(Mike Smith, Las Vegas Sun)

(Patrick Chappatte, Le Canard Enchaîné, France)


Crypto's Biggest Lies (And Liars)

 

If you haven't seen a Ben McKenzie cryptocurrency explainer in the past few years, take some time and look at this interview with Vice's Shane Smith.  McKenzie, who made his name as an actor, turned filmmaker ("Everyone Is Lying To You For Money")/ author ("Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud") in order to expose the cryptocurrency grift (and the grifters who are profiting from it) that could some day bring down our entire financial system.  Please take time to watch this interview, and share!

Trump's Shady Stock Trading

 




Armed with information on foreign developments not available to other stock market investors, the corrupt and greedy Malignant Fascist continues to add and subtract from his stock portfolio, breaking precedent with every former President.  In his June financial disclosures, the MF was involved in 1,051 transactions.  From CNBC:

"President Donald Trump disclosed just over 1,000 financial transactions for the month of June in what appears to be broad reshuffling of his portfolio.

The president rotated in and out of stocks, bonds and exchange-traded funds throughout the month. The transactions totaled between $78.1 million and $263.1 million, according to Trump’s latest filing on Aug. 22, which shows a range for each sale or purchase rather than an exact figure. His securities purchases topped $49 million, while his sales totaled at least $28.5 million.

While the filing gives a window into the investment moves made on behalf of Trump, it is not a clear picture of his total portfolio holdings. The amount bought or sold isn’t specific, and there is no indication of how much Trump owns of any particular security."

The pattern that CNBC goes on to describe is one of moving in and out of stocks sometimes within 48 hours (e.g., defense contractor Northrup Grumman), some buying and selling around the time of his supposed "peace deal" with Iran on June 14.  So many red flags. 

This active stock trading by the MF will almost certainly be investigated by Congress, should the Dems win back the majority, as well it should, along with his crypto business and foreign financial entanglements, including bribes.

(photos: Alex Wong / Getty Images (Trump), Jason Larkin / Getty Images (Stock Market)


Dementia Don's Descent Into Madness -- Those "Really Dumb" Supporters Of His

 

Friday, in one of his (Natalie's?) nighttime screeds on his failing social media platform, the Malignant Fascist called out three of his former acolytes and in the process let slip what he thought of a core constituency of his, non-college-educated voters:

We noted in yesterday's QOTD that the Malignant Fascist holds members of the military and their families in contempt. You can add this non-college-educated cohort to that list now.

BONUS:  A response to the screed by Greene is especially biting.


Saturday, August 22, 2026

QOTD -- Trump Hates The Troops & They Notice

 

"... The least surprising observation you can make about Trump is that he is an asshole and a cheapskate. Still, the president’s Iranian misadventure has fully exposed both his ineptitude as commander in chief and the consequences of this lack of care for military members and their families. As conditions on U.S. ships erode, the administration is finding itself in a media war with the concerned families of troops deployed to the region. Stockpiles of vital munitions are being burned through at an alarming rate. And for some reason, Trump has picked this moment to order a bizarre retrofitting of U.S. aircraft carriers, demanding that they be kitted out with obsolete steam catapults. (TNR contributor Brynn Tannehill has the lore drop you need if you’ve been confused by this story.)

"Public opinion about the war in Iran has been consistently awful for Trump, whose overall approval hit a low of 33 percent this week. As Parsi reports, those who are stuck on the front lines of this folly are not likely to disabuse their fellow Americans of this being anything but FUBAR. As one service member told him: “What people in the media don’t understand when they compare past conflicts to this one, is this operation has no morale behind it. That makes a world of difference to service members deployed to undesirable locations indefinitely.” Parsi thinks that the only thing left to do now is to “simply end” the war. But Trump is knee-deep in this big muddy, and there truly is no end in sight." -- Jason Linkins at The New Republic Substack, on "Trump Hates the Troops. The Troops Are Taking Notice."  The narcissistic-sociopath-in-chief can't let go for the same reason he can't let go when he loses an election, a court case, a business deal, etc.  His vastly overinflated sense of himself and of his place in history, his bubble-thin ego, his band of sycophants keeping that bubble constantly inflated with the breath of bullshit, his deep ignorance, means he will only continue a course through the kind of catastrophe only someone with his unique combination of failings can bungle into and not be able to leave. The servicemembers on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and their families offered a stark reminder of the Malignant Fascist's incompetence and sociopathy in the most clear way possible when he said that they had been on deployment "not nearly long enough."  He hates, and disrespects, the troops all right.


Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Joel Pett, Tribune Content Agency)

(Chris Britt, Creators.com)

(Mike Stanfill, ragingpencils.com)

(Mike Peters, Dayton Daily News)

(Dennis Goris, @dennisgoris)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Matt Wuerker, Politico)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(Michael de Adder, caglecartoons.com)

(Adam Zyglis, The Buffalo News)

(Banx, @banxcartoons, UK)



Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Quagmire: bluff fails --


This might get underreported but take note. The USA has threatened to unleash economic hell of those who trade with Iran. The Chinese just called the US bluff. If the USA meekly accepts the Chinese rebuke (which it probably will), the US is acknowledging how weak it is. www.cnn.com/2026/08/21/w...

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— Phillips OBrien (@phillipspobrien.bsky.social) August 22, 2026 at 2:05 AM


The Malignant Fascist's insane comment about the bond market -- 


Addled Trump threatens to use the military on bond traders. bsky.app/profile/acyn...

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— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 5:28 PM

 

Some mix of a Simpsons ep or a post-war absurdist novel in which the fading insane King declares war on clouds. and yet hardly anyone notices today because this stuff happens two or three times a week.

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— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 11:33 PM


The MF's failing economy and more tariff nonsense -- 


The Trump economy: $40tn debt, 6.7% mortgages and $5 diesel ft.trib.al/yjvQxNr

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— Financial Times (@financialtimes.com) August 22, 2026 at 12:58 AM

 

Trump imposes crushing new taxes on American consumers & businesses - compounding the toll of his failed unprovoked war with Iran by escalating his failed unprovoked trade war with our longtime staunchest ally and trade partner, and advancing global disorder. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/w...

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— Philip Gourevitch (@pgourevitch.bsky.social) August 22, 2026 at 7:21 AM


The MF's war on ranchers, a constituent group of his, and mystery meat --

 

MYSTERY MEAT: Trump says he struck a deal to flood the U.S. with cheaper foreign beef. There’s just one problem: He refuses to tell Americans which countries the beef is coming from. And U.S. ranchers are furious.

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— MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) August 21, 2026 at 6:24 PM

 

This would be a very funny way for RFK to break with Trump.

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— Julian Sanchez (@normative.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 9:05 PM


Speaking of Bobby Brainworm, quack medical expert -- 


A quack ringtone interrupted RFK Jr. during a speech about autism.

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— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 6:02 PM


Another frivolous lawsuit by the MF aimed at stifling exposure of his failures -- 


Talk about a snowflake. Trump suing a think tank for a report he doesn’t like. Nobody would have likely read the thing prior to his whiny lawsuit. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/21/u...

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— John Sipher (@johnsipher.bsky.social) August 22, 2026 at 8:38 AM


Zuck's day of reckoning arriving --

 

California's Meta trial reveals Zuckerberg's corporate policies of deceit, misrepresentation and willful blindness to policies that harm small children. What a monster. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

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— Scott Horton (@robertscotthorton.bsky.social) August 22, 2026 at 7:33 AM


Billboards tell the story across the country -- 


Home of the Brave put up 300 new billboards across 16 states as part of a new $1 Million extension to our Sticker Shock Summer Campaign! All summer long, Sticker Shock Summer has been educating Americans on the real cost of the Trump administration's policies.

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— Home of the Brave (@ofthebraveusa.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 4:45 PM


License plate doesn't lie --

 



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— 𝔸𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣 𝔻𝕒𝕨𝕟 (@amberdawn1116.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 1:58 PM

 

 

 

"They're Ignoring The President Of The United States"




The delusional and narcissistic Malignant Fascist has alienated friends, encouraged our adversaries, and made a fool of himself with his idiotic tariffs and his failed war against Iran.  We're more isolated than ever in the world thanks to his ignorance and recklessness.  David Graham, writing in The Atlantic, notes that the world is used to his bullshit and posturing, and is choosing to ignore him:

"One of Donald Trump’s current favorite riffs is to contrast how (in his opinion) the United States was seen under his predecessor, Joe Biden, and how it’s seen now.

"They didn’t respect us two years ago. They laughed at us. NATO laughed at us. Everybody laughed at us,' Trump said at a summit in Turkey with allies last month. 'They don’t laugh anymore. There’s no more laughing.'

He’s right. It’s worse than laughing—they’re ignoring the president of the United States altogether. Trump styles himself as an heir to Theodore Roosevelt, but where Roosevelt said that America should speak softly and carry a big stick, Trump speaks loudly and carries a small one. Roosevelt’s bully pulpit has been reduced to a bullshit pulpit. [snip]

Trump’s credibility has been undercut by his own capriciousness. Back then, he was threatening Oman over any negotiations that would imperil the neutrality of the Strait of Hormuz. On Tuesday, however, he posted a graphic on Truth Social that declared the strait a “NEW U.S. Territory.” (He’d previously said that he would soon declare it U.S. territory.) American annexation of an international waterway would represent a major shift in maritime legal precedent and require an enormous U.S.-military presence, but everyone knew that the pronouncement was nonsense. Trump has no means of controlling the strait, and The Washington Post reports that the Defense Department is actually considering a reduced regional footprint. Trump has also repeatedly promised that a deal with Iran is near completion, but after multiple false starts, these announcements fool only the markets." (our emphasis)

Fooling the markets, and his gullible low information cult, is what it's all about for the MF. He's been described as having the instincts of a "day trader," not focused on the long term strategy, but just getting through one news cycle / Wall Street opening after another.  He's announced an impending peace "deal" dozens of time, and nothing but humiliation.  You can't say that about President Biden, who strengthened our alliances and didn't appease our adversaries. 

(photo: Keep yelling, no one believes you)

 

Trump's Mid-Term Message: Save Me From Impeachment!

 



“I’m going to be impeached. They’re going to impeach me. They have no idea why.” -- the narcissistic dolt Malignant Fascist, yesterday in Myrtle Beach, SC, campaigning for Huckleberry Graham's unqualified sister for U.S. Senate, making a desperate argument to keep the House and Senate out of Democrats' hands.  

First of all, stop threatening us with a good time!  But, actually we do know why you could be impeached, Dementia Don. Here's a starter list:

  1. Committing illegal war and humanitarian crimes

  2. Unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s power to declare war

  3. Committing treason by levying war against the United States, individual states, and their people

  4. Committing treason and abusing his power by inciting violence, including murder, in Minnesota and covering up the execution of Minnesota civilians by ICE agents

  5. Calling for the execution of Members of Congress

  6. Abusing the power of his office to unlawfully maintain political power

  7. Unconstitutionally operating U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol as unaccountable federal police forces to violate civil liberties in furtherance of Trump’s personal and political goals

  8. Illegally kidnapping, detaining, and removing U.S. residents, migrants, and asylum-seekers, including to foreign prisons

  9. Unconstitutionally and systemically violating the First Amendment

  10. Unconstitutionally usurping Congress’s powers

  11. Defying court orders, threatening judges, and unconstitutionally usurping judicial authority

  12. Abusing investigatory and prosecutorial powers

  13. Abusing his power to remove nonpartisan civil servants, punish perceived adversaries, and reshape federal agencies

  14. Engaging in unlawful extortion to co-opt law firms, the media, and private industry

  15. Engaging in corruption for his own and his close associates’ personal enrichment

  16. Co-opting and dismantling independent government oversight of businesses, government institutions, and law enforcement

  17. Imposing unlawful tariffs

  18. Receiving foreign and domestic emoluments

  19. Unconstitutionally usurping state and local authority

  20. Abusing the emergency power

  21. Abusing the pardon power

  22. Abusing his power to undermine public health and safety

  23. Abusing his power in order to deprive the American public of accurate political, historic, scientific, and medical information

  24. Unlawfully aggregating and disseminating private data, in violation of individual privacy and liberty rights

  25. Depriving citizens of their birthright citizenship

  26. Blocking efforts to secure U.S. elections

  27. Engaging in unlawful, corrupt practices during the 2024 presidential campaign

Good enough? Though we doubt if Democrats will begin their control of either house with a fruitless effort to get a conviction in a Senate where 67 votes are needed for conviction. Investigations? Yes. Impeachment? Warranted (see above), but not likely. Conviction? Not with this Republican Party/cult!

(Photo: Mandel Ngan, AFP) 

 

LA's Most Famous House

 

You know you've seen it in movies and tv shows.  It's the iconic mid-century California modern Stahl House, designed by architect Pierre Koenig, and here's your chance to find out about it's design and construction, see the view of LA, and look around.  The Stahl family wants to keep the house accessible to people wanting to experience it, so you can tour it in person.

Friday, August 21, 2026

Today's Cartoons

 

(click on images to enlarge)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

(David Rowe, Financial Review, Australia)

(Bob Englehart, caglecartoons.com)

(Pat Bagley, The Salt Lake Tribune)

(Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

(Bill Bramhall, New York Daily News)

(Ruben Bolling, gocomics.com)

(Jimmy Margulies, King Features)

(John Branch, King Features)

(John Deering, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

(Nick Anderson, The Contrarian)

(Dave Granlund, politicalcartoons.com)

(Tom Toro, @yaleclimateconnections)


QOTD: Trump's Great News For China

 



Troy Farah, writing in Salon.com, about the gift to China and North Korea from the mentally ill narcissist Malignant Fascist, in the form of our naval retreat from the Pacific, and reducing our military exercises with South Korea as a result of  the MF's petty spite:

"Donald Trump’s war against Iran is going so well that the U.S. is now yanking the USS George Washington from the western Pacific to relieve the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln, which is stationed off the Iranian coast in the Northern Arabian Sea. 

The move is significant on both fronts. While the switch will be a godsend to the weary sailors aboard the Lincoln, who have faced deteriorating living conditions and reported suicide attempts during their historic deployment of over 260 days and counting, the Washington was the Navy’s last aircraft carrier stationed in Asia. Its exit represents a remarkable abdication of American military power in the region. [snip]

This is all great news for China, which has already dispatched its top envoy to South Korea, seemingly to fill the void Trump is creating. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with Korean President Lee Jae Myung to discuss North Korea and global issues, creating an “unusually favorable moment for Beijing,” according to Han Lin, China country director at the Asia Group, who spoke to Bloomberg. [snip]

Beijing has watched closely as the U.S. and Russia, in its invasion of Ukraine, have damaged their economies, weakened their militaries and destroyed their global reputations while still losing the wars they started. No one wants to say that risk of a Taiwan invasion is completely gone, but China’s motivation to do so is likely pretty low. Why invade some place if you basically already control it? Just keep doing nothing and keep winning."  (our emphasis)

If our adversaries had designed a Manchurian Candidate to undermine America and destroy it's influence abroad, they couldn't have come up with a better one that the MF represents himself.  

(photo: the MF's body language says it all)

 

Skeets Of The Day

 

Operation Epic Fail / our national security risk is in the White House --


Great job from the president yesterday, basically telling Iran "yes, you should get a nuke ASAP, so you can get the same treatment I give my friends in North Korea." www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

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— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 1:02 PM

 

Co-President Natalie's "love letters" and strange, sick obsession --

 

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman says that letters sent by Natalie Harp to Donald Trump “alarmed” the Secret Service.

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— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 6:55 AM

 

This letter has everything: fear, devotion, self-abasement, sleep deprivation, and a desperate need for approval. The only thing missing is a lock of hair taped to the bottom.

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— 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕒𝕖 𝔾𝕦𝕣𝕝 (@sundaedivine.lol) August 21, 2026 at 7:49 AM

 

Apart from being cringe-worthy, the letters that this fruit loop has sent to Trump is the correspondence from someone with psychological problems that should be concerning. And if the unprincipled, despicable Trump is taking advantage of this vulnerable weirdo, would anyone be surprised?

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— petercott.bsky.social (@petercott.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 1:18 AM

 

The "U.S.S. Donald Trump" reactions --

 

The fucking audacity Doris “Dorie” Miller was a Black mess attendant in a segregated Navy who grabbed an anti-aircraft gun he had NEVER been trained to use and fought back during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a war hero. Trump’s 1/ A draft dodger 2/ Started a war that we’re losing

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— Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline.com) August 21, 2026 at 1:26 AM


A Black war hero's family denounced President Donald Trump's reported move to rename the USS Doris Miller.

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— Raw Story (@rawstory.com) August 21, 2026 at 1:00 AM

 

The next president is going to need a Department of Detrumpification.

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— David Corn (@davidcorn.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 7:42 AM

 

Trump's "bullshitocracy" --

 

Welcome to the bullshitocracy. My latest. www.thedailybeast.com/the-only-tru...

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— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 5:31 PM

 

Another Netanyahu bomb --


Another costly, humiliating loss for AIPAC whose primary dark $ strategy has bombed, showing its lack of influence and benefiting the least Netanyahu friendly candidates, alienating most Dems. If this was the scam to make Israel entirely partisan and benefit MAGA it will keep at it. Let’s see

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— Jen Rubin (@jenrubin.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 5:06 AM

 

We trust the people of Ireland know what to do --

 

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is said to be “looking forward to spending time in Ireland” after purchasing a castle in Co Waterford. A spokesperson said “Mark and his family are excited to continue caring for this historic home and look forward to spending time in Ireland". jrnl.ie/7136325

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— The Journal (@thejournal.ie) August 20, 2026 at 4:43 AM

 

Reminder --

 

Seems like yesterday.

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— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan.bsky.social) August 19, 2026 at 5:21 AM

 

Korean missiles hitting Kyiv as Trump calls Kim Jong-Un his friend

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— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu) August 19, 2026 at 6:07 PM

 

Cheers!  (Happy Friday!) --

 

Cheers to $4 gas!

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— Brent Terhune (@brentterhune.bsky.social) August 20, 2026 at 6:57 PM

 

 

Weekend Music

 

Liverpool's Echo & The Bunneymen have been making music since the early 80's, when new wave music was peaking in the UK and America.  Through a series of lineup changes and a hiatus, two of the band's original members -- lead guitarist Will Sergeant and vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Ian McCulloch -- have been the steady core of the group.  They have an album coming out next month, "Apples for Isaac," and have released this single, "The Light That Surrounds You," which we hope you'll enjoy.