Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and the Right’s ‘Groyper’ Problem | The Ezr...

Well worth listening to, and absolutely frightening.

Ezra Klein: What Were Democrats Thinking?

Ezra Klein looks at the state of the Democrats. . twice.

The Ezra Klein show recently ran two really interesting vlog episodes on why the Democratic Party is in the dumpster, even as the Republican Party makes the entire country a raging dumpster fire.  They're instructive, but in the case of the first one, not for the reason the guest likely hoped for.

It wasn't all that long ago, we should note, that political scientists had declared that the GOP doomed to demographic extinction.  It was, and is, a small tent party.  The party needed to reach out, it was told, and bring in all the people in the Democratic camp.  Long time readers here, of which there are likely very few, will recall that I predicated that some of the demographic  analysis was flat out wrong, and that Hispanics in particular would start moving into the Republican Party.

I was right.  

Now we live in the opposite world.  People hate the Republican Party but they hate the Democratic Party more.  Really a new party is needed, one that doesn't see global warming as a fib but which opposed abortion, for example, would have a lot of appeal.  But that's a post for some other time.

Let's look at what the experts have to say.  First, as it was first in time, is the interview with  Suzanne Mettler, a political scientist at Cornell and co-author of the new book “Rural Versus Urban: The Growing Divide That Threatens Democracy"

The interview is here.

I could tell in listening to it that Klein thinks the book is wrong, and while I haven't read it, I know it is, if it espouses the same views that Mettler did in her interview.  She looks at everything economically and that's about it. Social issues don't mean anything.

Well, I lived through this and saw a Wyoming that had a large, but minority, Democratic Party almost completely die.  Most of the major active Democrats in the party started to move to the Republican Party during the Clinton Administration and that trickle became a flood.  All sorts of respected "traditional" elder Republicans in Wyoming were once Democrats.  They left as it increasingly became impossible to be a centrist or conservative Democrat.  There's no room for a pro life Democrat, for instance, in the party anymore.  Once homosexual marriages, transgenderism, and showing up at rallies with blue hair became the norm, the normal largely dropped out and won't come back.

That's what killed the Democrats in the West.

This interview with Jared Abbott, the director of the Center for Working-Class Politics, is much better as Abbot is realistic and not hopelessly clueless, as Mettler seems to be:

Abbot actually admits that he isn't sure if the Democrats can come back from political exile in rural areas, but the examples he gives of people running from the outside are excellent.  Nebraska equivalent of Wyoming's John Barrasso, Deb Fischer, provides an interesting example as she nearly went down in defeat to independent Dan Osborn.

Osborn's race is really instructive as he wasn't a Democrat, but called bullshit on a lot of Fischer's politics.  Osborn himself is a working man, and he's pretty conservative.

And there's the real lesson.

Democrats right now can't get any traction in rural areas as frankly nobody can stand to vote for anyone they are putting up, most of the time, and then when they do put up a good candidate, the party's platform kills them.  The Democratic Party became, quite frankly, the Transgendered Vegan Party, and that's going nowhere.  It not only became that, it can't get away from it.  Look at any protest of Trump's policies that's a public one, and you'll see the usual suspects.  If there isn't a hugely overweight middle aged woman with blue hair, you just aren't looking hard enough.

Indeed, this has become so much the case that that left wing protests that are popular now are sometimes all Republican.  In Natrona County the recent Radiant Energy No Nuke protests were lead by Republicans including a Wyoming Freedom Caucus member of the legislature.  Chuck Gray came up and lead his support, sounding like he was Chuck Gray from Greenpeace.  If Democrats can't own that issue . . . .

There seems to be a little waking up, but only a little.  Public lands is what did it.

Back in the 1980s, when I switched from the Republican Party into the Democratic Party (I left the Dems with the great flood of us who couldn't hack the weirdness), public lands and attention to environmental issues is what did it.  People worship Ronald Reagan now, but James Watt, his Secretary of the Interior, was an Evangelical Christian zealot in favor of ravaging the land now, as he was certain that the Second Coming was going to be very soon.  That land ravaging instinct remains very strong in the GOP and recently came out in spades.

Wyoming Democrat Karlee Provenza picked right up on that and came out in front.  The Democrats need to do more of that.  Land issues are near and ear to Wyomingites and the Republicans are very vulnerable on them.  That issue alone might, if really exploited, bring the Democrats back if their campaigns were really strategic.  

Some of that strategy has to be getting really personal.  Sure, Hageman is for turning public lands over for sale. . she's from a "fourth generation" ranching family, and the ranchers always believe they'll get the land, even though they won't.  Same for Lummis  Sure, Dr. John is for it, he's a Pennsylvanian not a Wyomingite.  Did you every see him at your favorite fishing hole?

But one issue alone is a risky proposition. What they also need to do is dump the weirdness.  Being lashed to transgenderism is a completely losing proposition.  A Democratic candidate is going to be asked about it . . and could really make hay on it.

But only if they're willing to fight dirty, which the GOP definitely is.  But they're not prepared for the same.

For instance, if a public lands Democrat was running for the House, and asked about this issue, we would expect the usually milk toast fall in line answer they normally give.  But if they said, "oh gosh no, that's a mental illness and it needs to be treated that way, and women's sports and role in society needs to be protected. . . " it'd leave the Republicans flat footed.

They'd be on their heels, however, if it went further.  If you added "and by the way, I constantly hear our GOP talk about being pro family.  I don't know how pro family you can be if you are jacking up their cost of living and particularly their insurance rantes, but what about that family stuff?  Hageman's been married for years and she ain't got any children. . nephews and nieces aren't the same thing, and Chuck Gray is 36 years old and unmarried. . .what's up with that?  Why I think a decent man ought to marry a decent woman young and have some kids. . . and when that doesn't happen that's because they aren't focused on families, darn it".

Yeah, that's nasty, but how do they reply?  It is the case that Hageman and her husband have never had children.  Maybe there's a medical reason, but maybe it was a focus on careers and using pharmaceuticals to avoid it.  If so, that ain't very populist Republican.  And Chuck Gray is 36 years old and unmarried.  I know that he's a Mass attending Catholic, and I'm not accusing him of any intimate immorality, but I will note that by age 36 men are usually married, or in our current society, living with some female "partner".  Gray doesn't appear to fit either of these which is odd, as it demonstrates something about his character, perhaps simply an unlikeable character, that's keeping it from occurring, unless he just doesn't want to get married, which is unlikely.

FWIW, as I'm a bit connected, I know that Gray dated women while living in Casper.  Obviously those relationships didn't work out.  I'm not claiming he's light in his loafers.

I will say, however, that once you get out there, there are die hard right wing Republicans in this state who are subject to some unwelcome attention on their personal lives.  Is that fair?  Well, if you are calling for suppressing certain groups, and you are part of them, you owe people an explanation.

Which gets back to the inevitable question that comes up now, "what about gay marriage".  Again, it's easy for a Republican to say "I believe marriage is between a man and a woman".  A Democratic coming back with "so do I, and I believe that union arises once. . . what do you think about that Dr. John. . . and is that why you abandoned your original faith?".  

Nasty.  But Dr. John wouldn't have a very good answer for it.

Abortion is always going to come up.  Abortion is the issue that ultimately drove a lot of us out of the Democratic Party, including me.  The Democrats should simply abandon a position on it and let candidates stake out their own ground.  There remain a few pro life Democrats out there, and to be one shouldn't be an anathema. 

And, indeed, if that was allowed, it allows uncomfortable questions to be asked.  Republicans claim to be pro life, but now their massively in favor of IVF, which kills most of the embrioes that it creates.  Current Democrats can't really ask about that without hypocrisy.  A pro life Democrat could.

Can the Democrats do all that?

Probably not.

Stop Acting Like This is Normal | The Ezra Klein Show

Monday at the Bar: The Death of an Honorable Profession

The Death of an Honorable Profession

The Supreme Court Is Backing Trump's Power Grab | The Ezra Klein Show

Trump vs. the U.S. Economy | The Ezra Klein Show

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Third Edition and Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 98th edition. The Perverts and Fellow Travelers Issue.

July 19, 2025.

 

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people, not at all referring to the immoral of this world or the greedy and robbers or idolaters; for you would then have to leave the world.

But I now write to you not to associate with anyone named a brother, if he is immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard, or a robber, not even to eat with such a person.

For why should I be judging outsiders? Is it not your business to judge those within?

God will judge those outside. “Purge the evil person from your midst.

St. Paul to the Corinthians..

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump 2003 birthday wishes to Jeffrey Epstein, part of a book compiled for Epstein's birthday by his paramour and fellow procurer Ghislaine Maxwell included a Trump made drawing of a naked woman, with "Donald" written over the figure's genitals and apparently somewhat mimicking pubic hairs.

I'm not going to post the drawing.

Of course, Trump, in Trump fashion, has declared it to be a fake.  And now he's suing the Wall Street Journal.

This all followed an increasingly desperate effort on Trump's part to divert attention from this story. Rather than try to set out the reasons that the story won't go away, I'll just link in this analysis with Ezra Klein, with which I agree.

Trying to get ahead of this, and I think that he'll find by suing the Journal he set himself behind, he's also ordered the release of the Epstein grand jury testimony.

Not the supposed "Epstein files", but the grand jury testimony.   That's frankly not what people have been asking for, but its offered out as red meat for the dogs in hopes that they'll satiate themselves and go away.

It doesn't look like they will.

His most loyal supporters, of course, have simply built this into their conspiracy theory, although in a way in which the logic train derails pretty quickly.  Trump isn't hiding anything. . . it was the Democrats. . . .

Um, okay. . . 

I have a feeling the 25th Amendment schedule has been moved up.

The simple fact of the matter is that Donald Trump has a forty year history of hanging out with kiddy diddling creeps.  That didn't start with Epstein.  Maybe you could hang around in a pornographic atmosphere for 40 years and not inhale anything, but it wouldn't be easy.  And once the rot sets in, and the poison is available, it tends to corrupt.

Hugh Hefner was always a creep.  But he was married when he started off on his path of dissipation.  He wasn't rapey at first.

And its been clear for a long time, for those who have cared to look even a little, that Trump is a deeply immoral man, and he's surrounded himself, in many instances, by those who are likewise deeply immoral.

Trump has 5 kids with 3 women.

Elon Musk has 14 kids with 4 women.

Pete Hegseth has 7 kids with 3 women.

Linda McMahon is being sued for enabling child sexual abuse. 

Trump's affinity for young women has been denied by his defenders, but his own words convict him. Trump, with Howard Stern on the topic of a teenage Lindsay Lohan, stated:

TRUMP: What do you think of Lindsay Lohan?

STERN: She's hot.

TRUMP: I've seen a close-up of her chest. Are you into freckles?

STERN: Imagine having sex with this troubled teen?

TRUMP: She's probably deeply troubled—and great in bed.

From the same interview:

TRUMP: How come the deeply troubled women, deeply deeply troubled.

STERN: Right.

TRUMP: They're always the best in bed. For some reason what I said is true. I mean they're just unbelievable.

STERN: I can tell.

TRUMP: You don't want to be with them for the long term—but for the short term, there is nothing like it.

How is it that this administration, lead by a serial polygamists, who hasn't given any indication he's reconsidered the morality of his conduct, and who is now floundering like a fish on the deck on the Epstein scandal, can be seriously regarded as some sort of Christian leader? 

Well, that was always baloney in the first place.  Nobody can identify a Christian denomination that Trump is actually a member of.  He was a Presbyterian growing up, but he's disavowed that religion.  He's sort of generic American Evangelical at best, which makes sense as by and large American Evangelicalism has dumped a lot of Christianity, particularly in the sexual area. . . as long as its conventional.

Populist right wing America has long accommodated itself to deep sexual immorality, but only of a conventional kind.  Far less than a century ago it was difficult for Americans to obtain a divorce, and divorce was looked down upon.  Now people who have repeat marriages, or who are living together outside of marriage, have no problem identifying themselves as right wing American Evangelicals.  St. Paul may have cautioned people about all sexual immorality, but in the American Civil Religion, that doesn't apply to sex between a man and a woman, apparently.

Unless, it turns out, that woman is under 18 years old.  That, it turns out, is a bridge too far.

Of course, there's no reason to believe that Trump ever saw any lines as blurred, or any lines at all.  Maybe he didn't bed teenage girls, but he hung around with those who did.  That alone is wrong.

But we don't know, of course, what we don't know.  If we were detectives, and assigned this as a set of facts to investigate, we'd sure suspect that quite a bit of kiddy diddling was going on in this circle of very wealthy "pals".  Indeed, their money alone would make it easy for them to get away with things for a long time, or perhaps indefinitely.

It'd make a great film noir, albeit a creepy one.

If it all feels like something deeply fake has been and is going on here, it's also now admitted that Trump's constant claims to perfect health are fake.  He has chronic venous insufficiency.  It won't kill him or anything, but it doesn't suddenly appear either.  He is an old man, with an old man's disease.  He's had it for awhile.

Old, and under stress, Trump's rambling "weave" has become so normal that people don't even pay attention to it anymore.  On Tuesday, Trump interrupted an energy and innovation event in Pennsylvania to “brag” about his uncle, John Trump, claiming that the at MIT professor had been particularly impressed with student Ted Kaczynski.

Dr. Trump died in 1985, before Kaczynski was identified as the Unabomber.  And Kaczynski didn't go to MIT.

Trump went after  Fed chair Jerome Powell and was upset that Biden appointed him. . . except he didn't appoint him. Trump did.

Trump's routinely claiming that petroleum prices have gone way down at the pump.  They haven't.

Okay, what's this have to do with the 25th Amendment?  Well, it's that bridge too far thing.  I've long predicted that Trump would be removed from office under the 25th Amendment before the November, 2026 election.  I think this speeds that up.  Trump's utility to the NatCons is almost done with.  The Big Ugly Bill was passed, and spending on things the NatCons disapprove of has been cut.  ICE  and the Border Patrol are getting a massive funding boost, and that's going to see mass deportations really ramp up.

Of all of Trump's supposed agenda items, the ones that NatCons really care about have been pretty well advanced.  None of them have achieved what might be regarded as full success, but they've gone a lot further than they had a right to hope for.  Trump's ongoing association with them, however, isn't going to advance them any further.  Indeed, as people begin to feel the impact of funding cuts, they'll start to get angry.  If it turns out that Trump was fishing in the shallow end of the female pool, it's completely done with.

In fact, the best thing that could possibly happen for the NatCons would be if Trump turns out to be a Dirk Diddler with an eye for girls who should be looking for prom dates.

Eh?

Well, here's why.

I've always maintained that Trump has no real allegiance to anything other than Trump.  NatCons certainly do, however.  NatCons have always known that their vision, which is relatively new in American politics, had very little chance of rapidly advancing as they had no chance of finding a Francisco Franco who could get elected.  They're smart, and they also realized that they could coopt populist discontent, something that ironically the Democrats had a chance of doing with Bernie Sanders.  And right wing populism legitimately shares some common goals with National Conservatism, which is nationalistic, ethno-nationalistic, and isolationist.

Where the two depart, however, is that populism is always a very shallow stream.  Most populists would be happy if "Mexicans" were sent home, and everyone had to be a "Christian", in a fashion that didn't include the Apostolic Faiths, and which didn't really make you "go to Church" on Sundays, or which held that the spouse you married three spouses ago is your real spouse.  NatCons, however, have  much more intellectual view on everything, and they espouse "traditional values" in the fashion that Franco, or if you prefer, Belloc, would have recognized, and they'd legislate towards that end.

That man isn't Donald Trump, it's J.D. Vance.  

The rest of the NatCon agenda is dead in the water if the Republicans don't hold the House and the Senate in 2026.  It can't be cemented if Vance isn't elected in 2028.  The GOP won't hold the House, at a bare minimum, if the "Trump agenda" becomes any more unpopular than it already is, and it will.  It's becoming increasingly likely that the Republicans will lose the Senate.  There's no way on earth that Vance can win the 2028 election as a stand alone Presidential candidate.

But if Trump were to go after the impact of the current legislation starts to sink in, the taint might stick to him.  That would give the GOP a chance, albeit only that, to ride things out until 2028.  And Vance might have a chance if he became President due to a Trump removal.  And, the way things work, that might given NatCons a fellow traveler in the Oval Office for a solid ten years, as Vance could complete the last two years of Trump's term and eight years of two terms on his own.

In terms of "removal", I mean that.  That's what will have to happen. Trump isn't going anywhere voluntarily.  And hence, the 25th Amendment comes in.

Gosh, we'll hear, the stress of things just caught up with the old fellow.  

Or gosh, we didn't know he was a diddler.

July 20, 2025

Not too surprisingly, women with a connection to this story have resurfaced, including Stacey Williams, who was a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model featured in the pornography, um, swimsuit, issue at some joint in the 90s.  She was also Epstein's girlfriend in the early 90s, showing some bad judgment on her part.

Anyhow, she states that Epstein took her up the Trump tower where Trump groped her while he and Epstein talked, liking it to “some sort of sick bet or game” between the two “close friends".  Several of her friend corroborated the story and she offered to take a polygraph tests, although such tests are frankly worthless.

Trump predictably denied this, but it's worth remembering that he has been convicted for the sexual abuse of E. Jean Carroll.

It's also worth remembering that starting in the last decade it became common to support the women making these difficult accusations.  And there are others against Trump.  Williams doesn't seem to fit into the category of somebody we'd instantly doubt.

At what point will people take this seriously?

July 21, 2025

The president is trying to present himself as if he’s doing something here and it really is nothing,

* * * 

It’s not going to be much, because the Southern District of New York’s practice is to put as little information as possible into the grand jury. 

Sarah Krissoff, former Epstein prosecutor, regarding the release of the Epstein Grand Jury material. 

This material, which may be as little as 60 pages in length, is not the same as internal FBI or prosecutorial files, and therefore is unlikely to satisfy the demand for what the government has on Epstein.  Indeed, it's more likely an effort to simply end the controversy by doing very little.

Trump's current mental state, in my view, is heavily impacted by advancing dementia, although he's never been a good guy. What Tommy Tuberville's excuse is, however, I don't know.

Tuberville stated this past week that Trump's chronic venous insufficiency might be due to "battling radicals".

Is Tuberville actually that stupid?

At least in terms of what he says that hits the press, Tuberville says some really remarkably idiotic things.  Maybe he's just one of those guys that says dumb stuff without thinking about it, making him seem dumber than he really is.  Be that as it may, with Marjorie Taylor Green and Tuberville both in Congress right now, the GOP has a couple of figures that are just stunningly unqualified for their jobs intellectually, if what they say is what they actually think.  Tuberville, for his party, gives unintended evidence for the worst stereotypes of football coaches, particularly for somebody like me who doesn't like football.

cont:

Apparently Donald Trump is posting a random video of a girl in a bikini catching a snake on social media.

Oh, that's not weird. . . 

July 23, 2025

Mike Johnson sent the House home for an extra long vacation rather than make them face a vote on the Epstein files.

Like that's not odd . . . 

Well that must mean that nothing is embarrassing in them, right. . . right?

Oh, some of these folks will have "town halls" on their month plus long break. . . it'd be a shame if they were asked about the Epstein files.. . 

Apparently Sen. Lummis doesn't agree with the recess.

Lummis Calls For Cancellation Of August Recess

She wants them to stay in session so they can make appointments that haven't been made.  While I'm not at all happy with the illegitimate Trump Administration, she certainly has a point. Six months in and there's still hundreds of unfilled offices.  This will be a huge problem by next year, if it keeps up, for Maga's as the next Congress is going to be Democratic.

Trump's talking up his latest nutty conspiracy:

Barack Hussein Obama is the ringleader. Hillary Clinton was right there with him and so was Sleepy Joe Biden, Comey, Clapper. They tried to rig an election and they got caught. And then they did rig the election in 2020. And then because I knew I won that election by a lot, I did it a third time and I won in a landslide.

There must be some sort of statute of limitations on blaming Obama for everything.  And by this point, isn't this thin gruel for Republicans?  Literally everything is Obama's fault, according to Trump and the satellites in his orbit.

This is somebody nobody else can do. I can get the drug prices down… 1000% 600% 500% 1500%. Numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.

Donald Trump.

Those numbers aren't thought to be achievable as that would mathematically mean pharmaceutical companies would have to pay you to take drugs.

On Jerome Powell:

He has these think tanks. The build buildings for people who think. It’s really not thinking. It’s a little bit of a combination of thinking. It’s something you sort have or don’t have… He ought to raise interest rates.

Donald Trump. 

July 24, 2025

It appears that the Wall Street Journal learned a lesson from the tactic deployed by The Atlantic, and held stuff back from its first report on Trump and Epstein.  At least one insider is indicating that there's a lot more to come, which if true, would explain why Trump is currently bouncing off the walls.

Yesterday the WSJ revealed that Bondi had briefed Trump on what's in the Epstein files back in May and that his name does occur frequently.  The files also reportedly contain child pornography which is why, reportedly, Bondi determined not to release the information as she did not wish to reveal the names of the victims.

This doesn't mean that Trump is associated with child pornography, and we'd note again that so far what Epstein seems to have dabbled in was ephebophilia, not pedophilia, which doesn't mean that he wasn't, as Trump has indicated, a "creep".  But things just keep looking worse and worse for Trump.

Indeed, Jon Stewart hilariously noted this on his show, comparing the situation to the most recent Top Gun movie, which I have not seen, with fighter countermeasures being deployed.

I haven't looked, but if there aren't new variants of the bunker scene in Downfall circulating, I'd be amazed.  Those in fact would be apt as Trump is desperately pulling out everything to deflect attention from the Epstein story, even suddenly going after the Washington Commanders, demanding that they go back to being called the Redskins.  His most dangerous action, however, is now a serious attempt to go after former President Obama on some wild conspiracy theory.

That latter move is not only desperate, it's dumb.  Trump is now setting a precedent that prosecuting a former President is perfectly legitimate. . . with it being obvious that if he lives through his term, which is unlikely due to his advanced old age, he could be prosecuted as well.  That increases the incentive, we'd note, for him to try to advance an excuse that he can run for a third term in order that he can attempt to guaranty that he'll die in office.

A move to prosecute Obama, it should be noted, is a full blown step from democracy into fascism and its impossible to pretend otherwise.  I've resisted the claims that we're now in a fascist state, as we're not, but at that point, we are.  Trump appears perfectly willing to take us there.

This also ramps up the 25th Amendment pressure.  Trump is in a full on panic.  His loyal lieutenant, Wilhelm Keitel, oops, Mike Johnson, seems willing to stay in Berlin, oops, loyal to his Leader, and do whatever is necessary to hide what's in the files even up to the extent of sending the House home so it couldn't vote in releasing the files, but this drama isn't going away.

The files should be released.  Yes, that will reveal the names of young women who were defiled by the rich, but the fact of the matter is that keeping their names secret is protecting their abusers at this point. And that reemphasizes that Trump's female accusers have, for the most part, been silenced as well.

Robert Reich's look at the story:

What did he know, and when did he know it?

From Watergate to Epsteingate

So, as a final matter, what is in these files and who is being protected?  The conclusion that nobody is, is impossible.  Trump is clearly panicked, and we now know his name shows up multiple times, but in what context.

Whatever it is, it's impossible to not conclude that Trump himself is being protected due to proof of a grossly immoral act or character, or that some very wealthy and powerful people are being so protected.

Frankly, it's also impossible not to conclude that these files are going to be scrubbed.  Congress may be in recess, but the Administration isn't.  That would be a crime, but the current administration doesn't have much of a problem committing crimes.  If whatever is in these is bad enough to attempt to prosecute a former President, it's bad enough to take the lighter fluid and Zippo to.

July 25, 2025

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Ghislaine Maxwell yesterday on the renewed Epstein scandal.

Maxwell was the "girlfriend" and then assistant procurer of Jeffrey Epstein.  The relationship started off when she was in a period of financial distress, but never developed to what she seemingly likely hoped, a marriage, as Epstein was frank that he liked teenage girls for sex partners, and that wasn't going to change.

Which does, frankly, bring up the creepy "enigma's never age" line of the Trump birthday wish poem.

At this point, if Maxwell comes out and says that Trump had no interest in the high school and junior high set, it won't matter, as people will believe that the politicized Department of Justice is doing Trump's bidding.  And she's not going to say otherwise, would be my prediction.

Jerome Powel somewhat gently took Trump to school in a public meeting at which they were both present, with Trump floundering like a fish on the deck when Powell corrected him on a building under construction, and mostly complete, whose budget was approved, apparently back in 2015.

August 4, 2025

What the crud?

Okay, I know what the Sweeney jeans ad is, as I looked it up due to all the news about it.  But I was clueless on the Jaguar ad. I'm now aware of it, as I looked it up.

And then there's this weird obsession with Taylor Swift.

Trump is almost 80 years old.  I'm nearly 20 years younger than he is and I don't know what's going on in advertising most of the time.  That Trump seems to, and that he cares, is weird.

And while Sweeney is hot, Trump pointing it out is just creepy. As for her party affiliation, I'm also a registered Republican and obviously completely disrespect Trump.   I don't have any idea what Sweeney's political views are, and neither does Trump, who spent most of his life in the Democratic Party.

August 6, 2025

I've been fighting with them for a long time about allowing the water to come down from the pacific northwest. We actually opened up that water pretty strongly, we got a lot of opposition from the governor. We opened it up anyway and the water is coming down ... they've gotta allow full water.

This statement is simply amazingly stupid.

And speaking of stupid:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the beginning of a coordinated wind-down of its mRNA vaccine development activities....

This will result in deaths.   

August 10, 2025

There's beginning to be some signs that people have had enough of King Donald.  Just bits and pieces, here and there.

I'm not the only one who thinks this:

The discussion on ICE recruiting is interesting here.  ICE is undertaking a full scale recruiting effort to hire 10,000 employees.  They're not going to get it done.

Ice recruiting poster. Oddly, these dudes aren't wearing masks like real ICE agents.

No age cap? Every Federal law enforcement agency has an age cap, normally.

Joining ICE right now is probably beginning to have the same appeal that joining the Gestapo would have in 1945.  I had that thought before I noticed this counter poster:

Interestingly, it was the Epstein affair that started to get it rolling, and then the moronic ballroom, the latter of which caused this very well done, and inflammatory, AI video:

The radical Texas gerrymandering effort is also really drawing attention.

And that is, I think, quite enough for this edition.

Explicit

Related threads:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 99th edition. A second Perverts and Fellow Travelers Issue.

Labels: Crime, Ephebophilia, Epstein Scandal, Hebephilia, Hypocrisy, Ross Douthat, Sex, The Press, The rich and the poor, The wealthy, Zeitgeist

Last editions:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 97th edition. The Epstein Connections.

Labels: Donald Trump, Epstein Scandal, flap de jour, Sex, Teenagers, Women, Zeitgeist

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Second Edition.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, Donald Trump, Health, Joseph Biden, Mental Health, Stupidity, The Madness of King Donald, Weird

Additional Labels: American Civil Religion, Christianity, Health, homosexuality, Hugh Hefner, Immigration, Marriage, Mental Health, Predictions, Racism, religion, Sex, The relationship between men and women

The Man Driving the Nationalist Revival on the Right | The Ezra Klein Show

I've been saying this for some time. Vance, not Trump, is the idealogue, and he'll be the President before Donny's full second term runs its course.

Why Trump Can’t Shake Jeffrey Epstein | The Ezra Klein Show

The Growing Scandal of $TRUMP | The Ezra Klein Show

What Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Is Really Doing (Part 2) | The Ezra K...

Trump’s Big Budget Bomb (Part 1) | The Ezra Klein Show

An excellent short review.

Simply put, Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" really only benefits the wealthy and will almost certain create an economic crisis on a level not seen since The Great Depression.

What's more, many of those voting for that are very well aware of that.

The Very American Roots of Trumpism | The Ezra Klein Show

This is the first commentary I've seen with a sense of American history and the Trump movement.  Like Klein, I'm not worried that there won't be midterms or a 2028 election.

Worth listening to.

'Impeachment Territory' | The Ezra Klein Show

The Emergency is Here (Part 2) | The Ezra Klein Show

The Emergency Is Here | The Ezra Klein Show

What Trump’s Tariffs Will Actually Do | The Ezra Klein Show

Is Trump ‘Detoxing’ the Economy or Poisoning It? | The Ezra Klein Show

What if Trump Just Ignores the Courts?