QOTD -- A Disgusting, Reprehensible Display

"... Trump’s display, therefore, was not just embarrassing. It was disgusting. It was reprehensible. It was yet another instance of him showing disregard and contempt for our military. Indeed, while reports came in of Americans killed and missing over the course of the weekend, he played golf, he attended parties, and he could barely be bothered to comment on the tragedies unfolding thanks to his malevolence and incompetence. 'Very sad,' was all he could muster, almost dismissively as during past such instances when he shrugged off the loss of life as just the sort of thing that happens in war.

"Happens to soldiers. Happens to innocent civilians. Does not happen to serial draft dodgers or rich guys who live in gilded palaces and who care not one whit for the consequences of their actions and policies.

"It was another nauseating, Nero-fiddles-while-Rome-burns display of insensitivity from the American president. Gut-wrenching. Infuriating..." -- David Rothkopf in his "Need To Know" Substack, on the Malignant Fascist's trying to bask in Spain's glory yesterday at the World Cup final as troops die in his war with Iran, in "Ten Reasons Why The war with Iran Is Going From Bad To Worse."  Read his excellent piece, and you'll see the tie-in.

QOTD -- Trump's Gilded Ballroom/Bunker And Press Freedom

 

Journalist David Rothkopf, in his "Need to Know" Substack, gives one of his five uncomfortable truths about Saturday night's events at the WHCA dinner:

"...[I]n one of the strangest twists in a very strange Saturday night in DC, Trump during and since his post-foiled-alleged-attack press conference and celebration of his own courage, suggested that the attack actually made building his monstrosity of a White House ballroom more urgent. His implication was that the only place he, as president, could be safe was in a fortified facility on the White House grounds. While this is an implicit attack on the competence of the Secret Service that has been defending presidents as they have traveled far and wide for decades…and while it minimized Trump’s own role in fostering the dangerous atmosphere in the US from which he would like to hide in his gilded bunker…it also reflects Trump’s twisted view of the world, the presidency, and of press freedom. This is another instance in which Trump illustrated his desire to be a king in the castle rather than a servant of all Americans living in 'the people’s house.' He wouldn’t have done well in the 19^th Century when people could just wander up to and into the White House to call on the president without appointment. But it also suggests his authoritarian impulse to want to control all exposure to him. He wants events on his turf and terms. Never mind that the whole idea of the White House Correspondents dinner was that the 'fourth estate,' independent of the government, was hosting its own event to which the U.S. head of state might or might not be invited, that is was an event for and of the journalists who covered Washington. Never mind that it was a private function to which he was invited. With his orchestration of media take-overs by MAGA-loving oligarchs and his assaults on press freedom including his evisceration of the White House press corps and control of White House press events so that only shills are allowed to pose questions, Trump has demonstrated that he does not believe in the 'transparency' and 'freedom of speech' to which he mouthed lame tributes late on Saturday evening. Trump’s view of the presidency is that of a robber-baron or vulture capitalist who has conducted a take-over of the United States. His sense is that this is his country now, he owns it, he controls it, he deserves a cut of it and the government should support him and defend him in each of those desires and all of his activities..." 

It's now manifestly clear that the most important thing to the Malignant Fascist right now is building that Golden Ballroom/bunker that he obsesses about, perhaps to relieve his soggy brain of bad thoughts about the Epstein-Trump files, the Iran fiasco, tariffs and the soaring cost of living, etc.  His faithful legion of spineless lickspittles now wants to stick the majority of the cost of the Golden Ballroom ($332 million) on American taxpayers, after the Malignant Fascist promised it would be built with private donations extortion money from his pet oligarchs and cowering corporations.  The only promise we want to see followed through on -- and a litmus test for any future Democratic presidential candidate -- is the demolition of any ballroom, triumphal arch, and/or facade that the Malignant Fascist orders built or puts his name on.

QOTD -- A Time Of Lunatics And Monsters

 

"...We have, thankfully, never seen anything like this president who believes he is the last word on anything that happens in the world. A commander-in-chief who acts independently of our Congress as if he was king. A chief executive who believes his domain is limitless and behaves like the emperor of the world.

"A man who behaves like a god, who gives and takes life like a god, who determines who to lift up and who to cast down like a god, who feels there is nothing to constrain him but his own conscience… but who is too disturbed and out of touch with reality to realize has no conscience or that he is just a man and a profoundly flawed one at that.  [snip]

"And looking at what we are confronted with today and all the grim precedents in history for it, we also, if we are honest, realize that those who are most likely to argue they should hold a place above ordinary people are actually, in fact, the least of us, the most contemptible among us, the banes of our existence.

"And given that, it is up to us, if we wish to contain and ultimately defeat such threats to our well-being and to our world at large, to demythologize them and their power, to demystify their actions rather than to cloak them in the somber grey cloth of polite political discussions, to see them for who and what they are—to acknowledge them as lunatics and monsters." -- David Rothkopf, concluding an essay in his "Need to Know" Substack, on "Living in a Time of Lunatics and Monsters."  Look around.  It's not just the Malignant Fascist and his regime of lunatics and monsters.  It's all those little everyday lunatics and monsters who enable him, support him, follow him.  He may be the worst (he is), but he has plenty of company.

 

Perspectives On That National Security Scandal

 

The Daily Beast's David Rothkopf gives us his perspective on the revealing of top secret war plans on a Signal chat, and why it's not the biggest scandal produced by this clown car of "national security" incompetents and Russian tools:

... This incident is appalling in its own right—but it hardly is the administration’s biggest foreign policy blunder. Rather, it is emblematic of a dangerous pattern. Indeed, if doing damage to America’s national security interests is not the primary goal of the Trump team (and I’m not sure it’s not), it is certainly a clear consequence of many of their actions.

In just the past two months, we have seen them systematically undermine virtually every major U.S. foreign policy goal stretching back decades. We have launched trade wars and threatened the stability of an international trading system of which we were the primary architect and champion. We have gone further, threatening to invade and illegally annex the territory of allies like Canada and Denmark and of friends like Panama. We have turned our back on another friend, Ukraine, in its courageous fight to defend itself from Russian aggression.

Top administration officials have parroted Russian propaganda—as in Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff’s recent televised statement that the people of eastern Ukraine had expressed a desire to be part of Russia. The president himself has set the tone for such outrageous lies by suggesting Ukraine was at fault for Russia’s invasion, and with his public humiliation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a disastrous Oval Office meeting. 

Indeed, perhaps the most egregious foreign policy disaster among all those that have taken place under Trump’s malignant, myopic leadership is that the United States has abandoned the North Atlantic alliance it helped create—along with it, the championing of democracy and the rule of law—and, instead, has thrown in with Russia and new axis powers who seek to promote ethno-nationalist, anti-democratic despotism.

In addition, the Trump administration has made a series of decisions to weaken our defenses against our rivals—by shutting down key programs across the government and, essentially, America’s entire foreign aid apparatus, a rollback that will not only lead to the death of millions worldwide but one that will produce hostility against the U.S.

The result of these moves is the most shocking international relations turnabout in our history. (And let’s not get into the dangers associated with firing the people in charge of assuring the security of our weapons of mass destruction, or those who play a critical role in defending us against both epidemics and biowarfare.)  [snip]

Perspective remains critically important, yes, but we must not get too caught up in the story of the day. Rather, let’s be clear: This egregious national security breach, involving virtually every senior natsec official in the Trump administration, is deeply shocking and profoundly stupid. But it is probably only the twentysomething-worst foreign policy move they’ve made so far. (our emphasis)

It's no secret to us and to most sentient observers that the greatest benefactor of all of the above is the war criminal Putin and his anti-American, anti-Western democracy regime.  We don't believe the Malignant Fascist's actions taken that have weakened America and its allies while benefiting Russia are all "blunders."  In our opinion, many are the moves of actors taking their cues directly or indirectly from the Kremlin, actors who've been compromised or who are in ideological agreement with the revanchist, fascist Russian state or are just cowardly, lickspittle MAGAt worshipers of their Golden Calf (or all of the above).  Now that the point's been made abundantly clear, what are those in a position to do something about it prepared to do, or is that going to be yet another task for a grassroots movement?

BONUS:  Christopher Bates ("Z") at Electoral-vote.com adds "consequences":

... We propose above that, with the possibility of someone being thrown under the bus to protect Trump from the consequences of Signalpot Dome, the people involved in this fiasco will suffer no consequences.

That does not mean that we believe there will be no consequences, however. It was already the case that the leaders of other nations believed (with good reason) that Hegseth and Waltz are unqualified buffoons, while Gabbard (and possibly Trump himself) may be Russian assets. They also knew that this president is so lax, he literally leaves highly classified information laying around in his bathroom, where all visitors to his house potentially could see it.

Now, in addition to all of this, foreign leagers know that all (or nearly all) of the highest-ranking defense and intelligence officials in the U.S. government have a careless and cavalier attitude about intelligence, and that they are prone to stupid mistakes. Those leaders also presumably suspect, quite reasonably, that this was far from the only time that sensitive matters were discussed over exceedingly inappropriate and unsecured channels. And finally, those leaders know that when there's a huge screw-up, the response from the White House is a shrug and the observation that stuff happens.

How can any nation share anything sensitive or important with the U.S. right now? It's one thing for Americans to put Americans at risk. It's another thing for Americans to put Britons at risk, or Canadians, or Australians, or Japanese people. And the less the U.S. knows about what's going on in the world, the greater the risk of a military disaster, a terrorist attack, etc.

How, indeed. 

More later today in "Skeets of the Day."

(Image:  keeping him on a short leash)

QOTD -- "Smiling Like A Moron"

 

 

"There’s nothing funny about Trump’s desecration of Arlington National Cemetery. Except perhaps the image of clueless Trump smiling like a moron giving the thumbs up in front of row upon row of the grave markers of fallen warriors. I mean, it’s deeply offensive. Repugnant in the extreme. But it’s also the kind of dark cutting commentary on Trump’s zero I.Q. vileness that the best parodists in the world would be hard-pressed to imagine. He does this kind of thing alot, by the way. It’s because he is a monstrous person." -- David Rothkopf, in his "Need To Know" Substack.  The Malignant Loser and his campaign misfits saw the damage being done by the resurfacing of his "suckers" and "losers" comments about American war dead, as recounted by former Malignant Loser Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly (USMC Ret.).  Kelly also criticized the Malignant Loser for his equating the Congressional Medal of Honor with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  This bumbling, desecrating photo op was the campaign's response.  How's that working out for them?

Quotes Of The Day -- Saving Democracy, Again

 

"... We’re not far off from the time when the last living voices of those who fought and bled on D-Day will no longer be with us.  So, we have a special obligation.  We cannot let what happened here be lost in the silence of the years to come.  We must remember it, must honor it, and live it. 

"And we must remember: The fact that they were heroes here that day does not absolve us from what we have to do today. 

"Democracy is never guaranteed.  Every generation must preserve it, defend it, and fight for it.  That’s the test of the ages. 

"In memory of those who fought here, died here, literally saved the world here, let us be worthy of their sacrifice.  Let us be the generation that when history is written about our time — in 10, 20, 30, 50, 80 years from now — it will be said: When the moment came, we met the moment.  We stood strong.  Our alliances were made stronger.  And we saved democracy in our time as well." -- President Biden, speaking yesterday at 80th anniversary of D-Day ceremonies at the Normandy American Cemetery, Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

____________________

" ... Biden addressed the bitter irony that haunted the commemoration ceremonies. While D-Day occurred eight decades ago, America is now just five months from an election that could bring to power a man and a movement who embody and celebrate the twisted authoritarian values of the enemies we sought to defeat so long ago.

"Fascism has not gone away. The tactics of the Nazis to employ racism and demagoguery to divide society and enable their seizure of power and their gutting of democratic institutions currently are the playbook of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. [snip]

"And the implicit message for those who understand where we are today is that our generation faces a test just like those faced by our parents and grandparents in the 1930s and 1940s. How (and even whether) future memorial exercises will take place on the bluffs overlooking the beaches of Normandy will be determined by how we respond to that test.

"Unlike prior generations, however, we are fortunate. Thanks to them, at least right now, at least in the United States, we do not have to lay down our lives to defeat fascism. All we have to do is take the threat seriously and do our duty as citizens by voting.

"There could be no greater dishonor done to those who died on D-Day and around the world in World War II than to allow authoritarianism and fascism to triumph in November after so many had sacrificed so much so many years ago to defeat them." -- David Rothkopf, The Daily Beast, on Biden's text and subtext, reminding us of the imminent danger we face as we fight to save democracy in the very country those D-Day veterans were fighting for.

QOTD: Chilling

 

"...Joe Biden by any objective metric has been one of the most successful presidents in modern U.S. history. He has led the creation of more major legislative initiatives benefiting the American people than any president in 60 years. He oversaw the creation of more than 14 million jobs during his first three years in office. He has brought down inflation and reduced the prices of vital medicines to affordable levels. He has restored American leadership worldwide, expanded our vital alliances like NATO, and stood up to our enemies. All presidents face challenges and make missteps. But it is hard to deny that in the wake of the U.S. economic recovery, the passage of the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the CHIPs and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, the expansion of NATO, and the creation of new Indo-Pacific alliances, Biden’s record is formidable.

"That a president with this record is in a horse race with a candidate who is a menace to the country, who led an insurrection, who is a pathological liar whom courts have found to be a fraud and a rapist, and who has no real ideas, no credible policy proposals, no record of actually ever achieving anything for the American people is chilling...." -- David Rothkopf, The New Republic, writing that "Trump Is a Combination of Every Threat We Have Ever Faced in Our History."  He's voicing what so many of us are witnessing in America:  a degenerate menace to our country being supported by a solid 40 percent of its voters (in addition to war criminal Putin and other autocrats worldwide).  After detailing the litany of reasons the Malignant Loser is "every threat we have ever faced in our country" (please read as a refresher), he asks,

"So, ask yourself, is that enough to make you do more than you have done? Is that enough to commit for the next 10 months to do more than you have ever done during an election year? To give more? To canvas more? To spread the word more? To help get voters to the polls? To ensure every member of your family, your friends, your co-workers do the same? The stakes are too high to do less than everything you can. The stakes are too high to allow this man to continue to play any role in American public life."

If it's not enough, we don't know what would be.

QOTD -- Christofascism

 

"... The term Christofascism may seem inflammatory. It is not. It is intended to provide the most accurate possible definition of what [House Speaker "MAGA Mike"] Johnson and those in his movement wish to achieve. Like other fascists they seek to impose by whatever means necessary their views on the whole of society even if that means undoing established laws and eliminating accepted freedoms. Christofascists do so in the name of advancing their Christian ideology, asserting that all in society must be guided by their views and values whether they adhere to them or not.

"Although Johnson was little known outside Republican congressional circles (and not that well known within them), he made it clear from his first moments as speaker who he was and what kind of speaker he would be. In his opening remarks, he even suggested it was divine intervention that made him the second in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency. He said, 'I don’t believe there are any coincidences in a matter like this. I believe that scripture, the Bible, is very clear that God is the one that raises up those in authority.'”  -- David Rothkopf, in The Daily Beast, writing about why new Christofascist Speaker of the House (second in line for the Presidency) is more dangerous than the Malignant Loser.  If any more reason was needed to flip the House back to Democrats in 2024, we don't know what it would be.

QOTD -- You Accept What's Happening?

David Rothkopf has some thoughts about how the seven dwarfs on stage at tonight's Republican Presidential Debate should be questioned:

The man who is far and away the most likely candidate to represent the GOP in next year’s presidential elections has dropped all pretense of respecting American laws, values, principles, or democracy itself. He is asking to be made our Caesar. It’s not hyperbole. Accept what’s happening.

So the question before every American right now—and especially before the so-called leaders of the Republican Party—is: Do you support a president who threatens his critics with death? Do you support a president who seeks to silence freedom of speech in America? Isn’t it long past time to acknowledge the threat Donald Trump represents? To stop laughing it off or making excuses for it?

More importantly, real journalists would not only pose these questions, they would insist on real answers. They would follow up when the candidates attempted to deflect or dodge the questions. They would ask the debaters, “How many crimes does this man have to commit or threaten to commit for you to dare to criticize him?”

The questioners will be former Bush press secretary Dana Perino, imported hack Stuart Varney, and Colombian Ilia Calderon, the latter being the only one for which we would have just the slightest hope.

We won't be watching.

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/op eds.

David Rothkopf remembers Madeleine Albright:

I remember recounting to her my unease the first few times I found myself in the Situation Room during my time in the Clinton Administration; telling her how out of place I felt. She responded, “Let me tell you something, everyone in that room has impostor’s syndrome. We all think we don’t belong. We all remember who we were in high school and wonder how we got to where we are now.”

It was a great leveler. It was also the kindest and most helpful thing she could have said.

But, of course, I knew when she said it that she was anything but an impostor. She was one of those rare leaders who are set apart not just by their hard work or public achievements, but by their humanity.

For those who knew her, that is undoubtedly why she will be most missed. But for those who did not, it is also why her actions—as a diplomat, a teacher, a champion of women—will resonate with so many for so very long. She had the strength to translate compassion, decency, and values into action. In a moment as fraught as our current one, we can only hope fate sends our way more leaders like her.

We can hope, but...

Will Bunch discusses the Supreme Court's ongoing legitimacy crisis, heightened by the Ginni Thomas- Mark Meadows cuckoo coup texts:

There was an endless stream of chatter on social media this weekend about the Ginni Thomas file, yet folks had a hard time pinning a name on the great angst they were feeling. I’ll take a stab at it. The majority of Americans — the people who gave more votes to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and even more to Biden in 2020 and put the Democrats back in nominal control of Congress — are still, despite those victories, watching the car careen off the cliff, and we are unable to find the brakes. There seems to be no way or no will to hold our staggeringly corrupt leaders accountable — whether it’s Trump defrauding the banks or plotting an attempted coup from the Oval Office, or a Supreme Court justice ruling on his wife’s bat-guano crazy political crusade. And there’s seemingly no way to stop the crazy, like QAnon, from getting crazier. I’m in a total funk over the state of the union, and when I wrote that on Twitter hundreds of people agreed with me.  [snip]

It felt fitting that the high court’s legitimacy crisis was reaching a crescendo right in the middle of the fraught confirmation for a new justice, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. Her ascension — likely to occur on close to a straight party-line vote — could have been a reaffirming moment, with KBJ bringing experience, a sharp legal mind, and, most important, new perspectives as a former public defender and as the first Black woman in Supreme Court history. Instead, the hearings were a tawdry showcase for Republican senators to spout some of the same QAnon-flavored nonsense that seems to have poisoned Ginni Thomas’ brain — and a reminder of how a toxic right-wing movement has been slowly infecting our justice system for decades.

A good read, as usual.

Margaret Sullivan explains how, even after Putin shut down Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's operation in Russia, it only increased the level of traffic to the private non- profit's other outlets:

In the first three weeks after the invasion, page views from Russia to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty sites skyrocketed to 26 million, more than 50 percent more than an earlier corresponding period. Video views from Russia to their YouTube channels more than tripled to 237 million. And this was happening despite sites being blocked within Russia.

“Despite the Kremlin pressure, people are still hungry for the truth,” Fly told me. “To some extent, they see through the propaganda, and they want to explore broader sources of information.”

He and his colleagues are particularly proud of the on-the-ground reporting in Ukraine, such as a March 10 video headlined “Ukrainian Troops Attempt to Drive Russian Forces from Village Near Kyiv.” There have been thorough reports about civilian deaths in Mariupol and about mortar fire directed at Ukrainian interior minister and journalists.

Many listeners and viewers are getting around Russia’s media barricades through the use of VPNs (virtual private networks) and “mirror sites” that duplicate content but use a different URL.

Putin's attempts to turn Russia into a hermetically sealed North Korea are doing about as well as his army in Ukraine so far.

El Salvador's 40-year-old presidential bro is getting ready to crash his country's economy:

The president of El Salvador is making a huge bet on bitcoin with his country's treasury. President Nayib Bukele is hoping to launch bitcoin-backed bonds to raise $1 billion for the country.

Bukele wants to raise the funds through international cryptocurrency traders, and to avoid his critics in the United States, including at the International Monetary Fund.

Last year, Bukele got El Salvador to become the first nation to adopt bitcoin as legal tender, right alongside the national currency, the U.S. dollar.

The bitcoin bond launch would mark another first of its kind. But while these moves are welcomed by crypto enthusiasts, they've raised concerns among detractors of the popular, unregulated asset market.

El Salvador's finance minister had announced the launch would happen in mid-March, but on Tuesday, he said it was postponed because of Russia's war in Ukraine and cryptocurrency volatility, Reuters reported.

What could possibly go wrong?

Finally, we recommend a visit to Infidel 753's link round-up for a collection of links to some of the most interesting posts from around the Internet. You likely won't agree with every point of view, but the scope of what he does every week is impressive.  Also, he has another good summation of "Putin's failed war" this week.

QOTD And New Year's Resolution

David Rothkopf lists the many disqualifying, damaging and damning wrongs perpetrated by Individual 1 and concludes:

"It is easy to grow numb to this. It is possible to become distracted by rage. But remembering what is at stake, we must focus on undoing this great wrong that took place in 2016 and seeking justice for the crimes that contributed to that and have unfolded since. 

Imagine what Washington or Lincoln would say were they to see this. Worse still, imagine what our grandchildren and generations to come will say. This is the history we bequeath to them. Let it in the end be an affirmation of our institutions and our ability to repel danger. 

Let it in the end be worthy of the best of the legacy that came before. We're an imperfect society, but we should not elevate the worst among us as we have done with this man Trump and the corrupt crowd of enablers surrounding him."

We're the majority in this country. We'll see to it that Individual 1 and as many of his ugly tribe as possible are gone, sooner rather than later.  Let's all resolve to see it through to the end of this miserable time in the life of our country, and that the dark forces he's unleashed are driven back so that a better, brighter future can emerge.

Congratulations, One And All!

We have congratulations and trophies to pass along today.

Margaret Sullivan writes about how the media continues to fail our democracy, most recently in its coverage of the Singapore "summit":

All the problems the media has in conveying a true picture of Donald Trump’s presidency were on display in Singapore on Monday night. 

They were just writ larger than usual. 

And the stakes, never low with this president, were higher than ever. 

Although every legitimate news organization made efforts, some better than others, to bring context and even a measure of skepticism into their mix of stories, the event overall was a triumph of Trumpian stagecraft. 

And the media played its accustomed role.

That is:  bending over backwards to normalize the abnormal and aggrandize the superficial. Congratulations, defenders of democracy! (The media might want to reevaluate its position after this.)

Haaretz's David Rothkopf has a warning for panderers of malignant moron Donald "Rump" Trump in the Middle East:

 A deal is only as good as it is for him as long as it is good for him. Long-standing alliances?Disposable. International agreements? Unimportant. The entire international security order and America’s investment in global peace and stability of the past century? Expendable.    

Because the Trump doctrine is, "What’s in it for me?" And the events of the past couple weeks (and from all of Trump’s personal and professional endeavors throughout his life) have shown, when that calculus changes, so too can and will the actions of the president of the United States.   

So, to Bibi Netanyahu and the leaders of the Gulf, ask not for whom the news from Donald Trump’s Washington tolls, because sooner or later it will toll for thee.

Rump's doctrine his whole shallow and sordid life has been "What's in it for me?" For supposedly smarter people here in the U.S. and abroad who thought the office would change him, or that they could use/ control him, have been proven catastrophically wrong. Well done!

Republican strategist Rick Wilson has been repeatedly asked by knuckle- dragging Rump supporters to give Rump credit for his yuuuge achievements, so Wilson obliges in the way only he can:

Good job, Mr. President. You’ve terrified our allies with your cavalier and sloppy art-of-the-moron negotiating style. You’ve told American troops who will remain on the Korean Peninsula they’re no longer going to practice with their Korean counterparts as a deterrent to the North’s long, long history of aggression. I’m sure if the balloon goes up, they’ll thank you for stopping their exercises. [snip]

So congratulations, Mr. President. You spent the week deliberately wrecking American alliances and leadership, allied yourself with one of the most egregious enemies of freedom in the world, and abandoned the shared values of our friends like Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany. 

You must be so proud.

We certainly know we are! Check out all the op/ eds;  they're keepers.