Twenty-Three Long Days 😱💩✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 💩😱

The💩Show:  It’s been only twenty-three days since the beginning of Trump 2.0, yet it already feels like an eternity.  We’ve got 1,438 more days to go, assuming that Trump doesn’t run for a third term, and given his efforts to shred the Constitution, it’s fair to assume that he’ll try.  Yesterday in the Oval Office, with his four-year-old son X Æ A-12, nickname Lil X, perched on his shoulders, Elon Musk admitted that he makes a lot of things up, including his now viral claim that USAID had sent $50 million of condoms to Gaza, a number that Trump at one point inflated to $100 million while also asserting they were being used by Hamas to make incendiary bombs.  As it turns out the condoms in question were not used to make bombs and were not sent to Hamas but went to Mozambique’s Gaza Province, not for bomb production but to prevent STDs and AIDS.  Musk’s condom confusion and Trump’s bomb claims would be funny, worthy of a classic SNL Emily Litella skit, if it hadn’t been the justification for shuttering all of USAID’s programs. So far, the district courts and, as of yesterday, one appeals court, have stayed Trump and Musk’s actions, halting the breaks in funding, the NIH cuts, the “fork in the road” layoff scheme, the taking down of critical health care websites, the ending of birthright citizenship, some of the erasure of transgender rights, and the infiltration of the US Treasury payment system but despite Trump’s claim that he will “of course” obey the courts, he and Elon aren’t.  We know that because drugs and food are languishing in overseas ports awaiting unloading permits from fired USAID officials, many US social service organizations have lost access to the funding portals that provide their financial lifelines, and red slips keep being sent to government employees including inspectors general, especially the ones who’ve been investigating Elon’s misdeeds.  Also, you may recall that Treasury Secretary Bessent assured everyone that Elon’s musk🐀s had “read only” access to the Treasury’s financial system, well that was a lie too. Their intent was to shut down payments to entities that Elon didn’t want funded and it turns out that at least one musk🐀, Marko Elez, better known for his racist social posts, had “mistakenly” been given coding privileges.  As a result, a team of forensic experts are now evaluating the system to see if he introduced any new code. With Trump’s House and Senate abettors, the people who could rein him in, either too intimidated to constrain him or in agreement with his “tear down” the government activities, we’re either knee deep in a Constitutional crisis or about to be in one.  And just for good measure, the government faces a funding deadline on March 14, Republicans haven’t yet come up with a plan they can all agree to and House Democrats, whose votes are typically needed, aren’t likely to help them get whatever they hobble together passed without first getting major concessions and funding promises.

Human Resources:  Sadly, Tulsi Gabbard and RFK Jr both keep moving closer to being confirmed by the Senate because apparently Republican Senators, including pearl twirler Susan Collins, aren’t concerned about a Kremlin influenced Director of National Intelligence or an anti-vaccine Secretary of Health who advocates the drinking of raw milk and thinks viruses aren’t really a thing. However, FBI Director nominee Kash Patel’s nomination has hit a speed bump of sorts.  Despite testifying that he had nothing to do with the purge that’s currently underway at the FBI, he has been involved, and a whistle blower has leaked the meeting notes that document his involvement. That said, it’s not clear that any Republican Senators will find his obvious lying disqualifying, after all they don’t appear concerned about his Chinese income or that he was paid by a Kremlin sponsored media company for his anti-FBI documentary.  Richard Grenell, who served as US Ambassador to Germany, Special Envoy to Serbia and Kosovo and even did a brief stint as Director of National Intelligence during Trump 1.0, and who’d been hoping for a plum cabinet appointment, perhaps even Secretary of State, didn’t get one but now has been named the interim head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. All’s not lost for Grenell because it’s only a matter of time before Secretary of State Marco Rubio steps out of line, and who knows, that FBI slot could open up.  New York City’s embattled Mayor Eric Adams who has been fawning all over Trump and who earlier this week directed NYC officials to refrain from criticizing Trump and his administration is getting what he’s been begging for. The Department of Justice has directed the Southern District of New York to drop the federal corruption and bribery charges against him, but only without prejudice meaning that if Adams displeases Trump they can be brought back up.  Apparently, accepting gifts from Turkey and violating campaign finance laws are not a problem for Trump if in exchange Adams lets INS run amok in NYC, sweeping undocumented migrants, violent or not, off the streets and out of schools and places of worship.  Quid pro quo?  Adams who is up for reelection this year, is now hinting that he may run as a Republican.  Trump has also fully pardoned former Chicago Mayor Rod Blagojevich whose sentence for corruption he’d commuted during his first term. Blagojevich’s corruption included trying to sell the Senate seat that opened up when Barack Obama became president.  Also, though he pleaded guilty for fraudulently soliciting money from idiotic donors for a phony baloney “Build the wall” charity, Steve Bannon will not be going to jail, nor will he be required to pay a fine.  And keeping with the theme of crime pays, yesterday Trump paused the enforcement of the US law banning the bribery of foreign officials. One thing that doesn’t pay, is questioning Trump’s decision to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; because the Associated Press is still using the Gulf of Mexico moniker, its reporter was banned from the White House yesterday.

Fog:  Trump is still pressing his plan to rid Gaza of all Gazans, now saying they should leave permanently rather than “just” during its rebuilding.  Yesterday he tried to sell that plan to the King of Jordan who despite needing US aid to maintain the stability of his country, isn’t all that interested in upending Jordan’s fragile balance.  Trump is also pressing the not so interested President El-Sisi of Egypt, another ally who relies on US aid, to absorb Gaza’s residents. Egypt  has never been welcoming to Palestinians so it’s unlikely that they’ll step up now to help with Trump’s purge plan which is why El-Sisi has just postponed his scheduled trip to Washington. For their part, the Russians and Iranians have got to be enjoying this charade. As to the Israeli hostages held by Hamas, more were scheduled to be released this coming Saturday but now, asserting that Israel is violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas has put all releases on hold.  In response Trump is now insisting that all the hostages be released on Satruday or else, a demand that Bibi Netanhayu is now echoing. Maybe all of this is just posturing and both sides will back down and the hostage release and ceasefire will continue but then again, maybe that’s just wishful thinking. On a positive note, Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, took a side trip to Russia yesterday and returned with American teacher Marc Fogel who’d been held hostage in a Russian prison for more than three years. We don’t know what if anything was given to Putin in return for Fogel’s release but at this point we should all be happy that he’s home.

#BringThemAllHomeNow