Fungus Among Us 😱 ✡️🌻😱 🚀🚢

Weekend Fungus:  First the reflecting pond, not because the green algae bloom matters much in the scheme of things, but because Trump’s incompetent, deceitful, and corrupt handling of its “fix” is so indicative of how he deals with everything else.  He hired and overpaid a Mar a Lago corrupt crony who looks like a rejected extra from a bad gangster movie to make it beautiful for his birthday party.  Until this weekend he insisted that the pond was a beautiful blue even as it became greener than ever. He’s now blaming Democrats, or in his word those radical “Dumocrats,” for dumping chemicals and peeling off his precious blue paint, even arresting a few including a former Olympian who had the temerity to pick up a piece or two of the floating blue detritus. Odds are that the arrested won’t be indicted because Washington DC juries aren’t stupid but still being arrested isn’t fun.  By the end of the weekend, Trump admitted that the pool would have to be drained again to repair the repair job, but of course that’s the fault of those radical Dumocrats and has nothing to do with his or his overpaid contractor/thug’s incompetence.  Now on to the Iran war which does matter, not just because people have been killed but because of its impact on the economy and inflation.  Trump sent Veep Vance to Switzerland to lead the talks promised in last week’s memorandum of understanding.  As Iran said that they were reclosing the Strait of Hormuz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright was appearing on Sunday talk shows insisting that it was open and that energy prices were on their way back to normal, whatever that means.  Trump also asserted that the Strait was open but then threatened Iran for closing it, adding that if they didn’t behave he’d restart the war, seize control of the Strait, and take a share of Iran’s oil profits. In response the Iranians, who made Vance wait and then refused to shake his hand, stormed out of the Swiss talks for a few hours.  We’re now supposed to believe that the talks which resumed after all that performative foot stomping were productive even though their focus appeared to be primarily on Lebanon and the battle between Israel and what Trump correctly called Iran’s “highly paid proxies” and not on the Iran’s nuclear facilities, the issue that was the impetus for the war.  If Trump lies about blue paint why should we trust him on Iran?  If Iran is still funding surrogates, why should they be rewarded with hundreds of millions of dollars of “reconstruction” funds?  Is the Strait really open to all, or is it, as the Iranians say, still blocked, or at least blocked for most? Much as Trump is blaming radical Dumocrats for his blue paint debacle, he’ll soon be holding Vance responsible for any Iran talk failures and, of course Bibi too, who both he and Vance will blame for forcing him into this situation because the contentious and irascible Bibi is an easy target, and as Hezbollah knows, so is Northern Israel.

Peeps:  Stories about former DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s membership in an extreme secretive Hindu associated cult, the Science of Identity Foundation (SIF), led by a guru named Chris Butler aren’t new but via the Washington Post more details about her allegiance to the cult and how she took directions from Butler were published over the weekend.  Apparently, Butler has been dictating Gabbard’s political positions and talking points for years, going back to the days when she represented Hawaii in Congress. The impending release of the Washington Post article is being cited as the reason behind Gabbard’s ouster from the Trump administration. By the way Gabbard’s parting shot as she departed was to further slime Virus hero Fauci. It’s also not much of a secret that Trump sells his pardons so it’s not surprising that GPB Capital CEO David Gentile who had been convicted for a $1.6 billion Ponzi scheme was pardoned and had his $15.5 million restitution obligation wiped out after serving only twelve days behind bars. What is surprising is that according to the NY Times, his pardon was brokered by a Catholic Priest from Queens who has long been friends with Trump. Even more surprising is that some federal attorneys from the Eastern District of NY were so upset that they had the nerve to open an investigation into the pardon scheme.  Naturally, despite their compelling evidence, including jailhouse conversations by Gentile in which he talked about the $2.5 million he’d spent on what was then his expected pardon, main Justice put the kibosh on their efforts.

The Big 🍎:  Though there’s no chance of Democrats losing any Manhattan and Brooklyn seats in November, there are a few seats that are for grab in tomorrow’s NY primary. Mayor Mamdani has taken the unusual step of endorsing a few candidates over established incumbents.  Races to watch include NY 10 where Mamdani’s choice is former NYC Comptroller Brad Lander who is challenging incumbent Representative Dan Goldman. Basically, Mamdani owes Lander a favor for cross endorsing him in NY’s ranked choice mayoral election but didn’t offer him a role in his administration because he really doesn’t like him that much. Mamdani dislikes two-term Congressman Goldman, who’s a really good guy who served as the Democrats counsel on Trump’s first impeachment trial, for being pro-Israel. Sadly, Goldman who shouldn’t be at risk, is in real jeopardy because of Mamdani.  Mamdani has also endorsed Democratic Socialist Avila Chevalier, another anti-Israel candidate with lots of hateful social media posts including a few crude ones in which she mocked Kamala Harris. Chevalier is seeking to oust longtime Representative Adriano Espaillat who is more established in his NY 13 district and will probably be harder to unseat than Goldman. In the NY 7 race for retiring Congresswoman’s Nydia Velazquez’ seat. Mamdani has endorsed Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez over the more mainstream Antonio Reynoso who has both Velazquez’ and NY AG Letitia James’ endorsement. Probably because his endorsement wouldn’t carry much weight,  Mamdani has not endorsed anyone in what is expected to be a close race in the NY 12 upper east side/upper west side seat that’s open because of long-term Congressman Jerry Nadler’s decision not to seek reelection.  The NY 12 race is between the Bloomberg/Nadler endorsed Micah Lasher, nepo Kennedy Jack Schlossberg, anti-tech guy Alex Bores, and Trump hater/one-time Republican George Conway.  For the record, I am team Lasher, that Bloomberg endorsement carries lots of weight with me.   

Primary Hijinks:  Federal Election Commission filings now confirm Democratic suspicions that Lead Left PAC, Real Change PAC, and Blue California PAC have been purposefully boosting candidates perceived as weaker contenders in a general election in hopes of engineering more favorable November matchups for Republicans.  They haven’t always been successful, but they have had a few wins, though we won’t know for sure until November.  One example of their success is that they quietly backed Matt Dunlap, a possibly too progressive for the general election candidate, who went on to win the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Democrat Jared Golden in Maine’s 2^nd District.  Maine 2 is a purple district where Golden’s wins were always among the closest in the country. Trump carried it in 2024.  After Golden decided not to run for reelection, Cook Political Report shifted Maine 2 from a Toss-Up to Likely Republican, Democratic leadership, as opposed to the Bernie crowd, are now even more concerned that they will lose the seat in November.    

More 💩:  Over the weekend Trump, ever the diplomat, engaged in a war of words with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni who he offended bigly with his assertion that she’d begged him multiple times to take a photo with her during last week’s G7 economic meetings. Trump responded by questioning her popularity, she hit back, saying he should focus on his own.  Oof. Trump also engaged in another faux pas, pre-announcing that the UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer would be resigning today. While Trump jumped the gun, Starmer did resign this morning.  He lasted longer than “head of lettuce” Liz Truss, but not the five years he’d hoped.