Court Watch Part VII. When the last law was down.

Lawyer, St. Thomas More, who was executed for his adherence to his faith. 

William Roper: So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!

Sir Thomas More: Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?

William Roper: Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!

Sir Thomas More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts

The Justice Department is going after James Comey for posting a photo of seashells arranged to spell "8647" on a beach somewhere, asserting it was a death threat on President Trump.  Apparently this is due to the old use of the term "86" to do away with and "47" for Donald Trump's completely illegitimate but widely accepted illegal claim to be President.

It wasn't.

This prosecution will go nowhere whatsoever, but it is more evidence that everyone in the Trump Administration is essentially a fascist with no regard for reality or the rule of law right now.  We are in monumentally dangerous territory.  It's 1534 in the United States with Donald Trump our King Henry VIII.

And the spirt of the age has spread:

Wyoming AG Says Gray Doesn't Have To Reveal Advice On Giving Voter Info To Feds

What Gray did was flat out illegal.  Gray is relying, in essence, on the advice of the Attorney General and when that's a defense, the attorney client privilege is waived.  The AG's office knows that, but it has to defend the privilege  It's being pretty assertive about it.

Gray needs to suffer the penalty of the law here.

After Abortion Ruling, Powell City Councilman Calls For 'Hanging Bad Judges'

Nobody is more opposed to abortion than I am.  I wouldn't allow for the largely bogus "rape and incest" exceptions that many people will.  But this is really beyond the Pale.  Powell should be ashamed of itself for even appoint this guy to its city council.

Elsewhere, in a nation where we brought a modern justice system, it's still functioning.

South Korean court extends prison sentence for wife of ousted president 

May 5, 2026

Headline in the CST:

Judges reject Trump push to obtain state voter rolls

But of course our Secretary of State, Chuck "If you disagree with me you are a radical communist, fascist, monarchist, podiatrist" Gray just handed Wyoming's over.

May 16, 2026

Judges Dismiss Nine Felony Cases, Including Murder, Over Darin Smith Misconduct

Smith hasn't been confirmed as US Attorney for Wyoming yet.

Wyoming Lawyer Not Liable For Embarrassing Claims In Trans Sorority Member Lawsuit

May 21, 2026

It appears that Trump's settlement deal in his IRS suit may actually prove to be a bridge too far for Senate Republicans.  

The deal, which frankly is the epitome of corruption, would create a slush fund to pay pardoned January 6 criminals for their inconvenience in being prosecuted as traitors to their country.  That's what they are, and they should not have been pardoned, but Trump sought to go one step beyond that and reward the pack of Horst Wessels.  Frankly, as soon as possible, the pardons should be unrung as illegitimate (Trump isn't a legitimate President and can't pardon anyone).  Anyhow, Republicans are openly balking on the slush fund, amazingly.  It must be really angering constituents, or just too much to stomach.

Indeed, they not only are balking, they sidetracked the ICE funding bill, showing that they're actually willing to do something that is guaranteed to send the Orange Mussolini into a screaming fit, but the fit will pit Trump's ICE demands up against his now open and obvious corruption and the hemorrhaging of the US budget.  It'll be interesting to see where this goes, as once they break with Trump, their relationship with Trump is broken, and if he doesn't come to heel, they can't.

By way of an analogous example, Massie wouldn't come to heel on the Epstein files, but he was one man.  Once it's a pack, it tends to grow.

So, a match is on.

May 29, 2026

A court ruled that Trump's adding his name to the Kennedy Center was illegal and ordered it removed within two weeks.

A different judge enjoined the IRS settlement slush fund from going forward.

June 2, 2026

Trump's insurrectionist slush fund seemed to be getting questioned by the court and now the Attorney General is saying it won't occur.

While Wyoming's Congressional delegation didn't protest it, a lot of Republicans in Congress were finding it to be a bridge too far.

June 3, 2026

Lawyers ask Wyoming Supreme Court to intervene in Gray voter data complaint

Attorney Asks Wyoming Supreme Court For Special Prosecutor To Investigate Chuck Gray

June 4, 2026

A Wyoming district court held that the whiney fascist crybabies leading the GOP have to follow state law and seat elected Republican precinct members, something another court did two years ago. The state central committee didn't want to do so as that keeps it from picking fascists.  

It argues that its a private entity and doesn't have to follow state law. . . except of course when it comes to getting preferential places on ballots, having the state run party elections for it, and getting to pick members of certain offices when they become vacant. It's fine with all of that.

Satire aside, this would have been an opportunity for the Court to wipe all of that out, and it should have.

June 5, 2026

Wyoming GOP sues state, challenges constitutionality of ban on pre-primary candidate endorsements

All they really have to do is to quit having state funded primaries.

Cheyenne Artificial Intelligence Candidate Sues For Spot On The Ballot

June 15, 2026

Last Friday retired Judge Campbell struck down a series of provisions regarding abortion.  There was some chance that these would survive challenge, as they did not directly restrict abortion, such as there being a time delay after seeking one, an ultrasound, etc., but he ruled that the Wyoming Supreme Court's earlier decision meant that these were in the nature of health care and could not stand.

I disagree with him on that, but given the absurd Wyoming constitutional provision on health care I've addressed here before, and the S.Ct. decision, it's an understandable result.  It'll go on to be challenged at the Wyoming Supreme Court level, probably.

I keep wondering if anyone has argued the true existential aspect of the questions.  I don't know if that's been done or not.

On the nature of things, one of the local news outlets has had photos of a woman protesting holding a sign that says "Forced Birth = Violence".

Almost all abortions in the US are due to people who just had sex, and then sex resulted in what it results in. That's not forced birth, that's nature.  The common "well what about ten year olds" and the like brings up a case scenario that's exceedingly rare.  The reply to that would be to ask that person if they're opposed to all other abortions, which they are not.

Even at that, however, killing is killing.  It would be just as logical to go out and determine every living American who came about due to rape or tike and shoot them dead now.  Yes, rape and incest are horrible.  Murder is probably the ultimate horrible, however.

Apparently the S.Ct asked, in its opinion, why those challenging abortion in Wyoming don't seek to amend the constitution.  It was a constitutional amendment that got us here, so that makes sense.  So far nobody's lifted a finger to do that.  The likely reason is that they know that amending the provision to allow for making abortions illegal won't pass in the state.  Instead, they feel their odds are better litigating about it, or complaining about it.

On other matters, the case challenging the primary system filed by Skovgaard is a pro se case, as I suspected, meaning it has about zero chance of actually succeeding.

June 18, 2026

Gordon sues Board of Equalization, asks court to enforce property tax cap

The governor filed suit against the 3-member board he appointed after it said it could not certify non-uniform residential property tax assessments.

In other news, some members of the WFC are criticizing Wyoming courts as "activist", an absolutely absurd accusation, for not upholding the most recent abortion laws when the legislature itself is completely responsible for the constitutional amendment that causes those laws to do down in defeat.

The legislature could forward a repeal of that amendment, but it won't, as it's afraid that would go down in defeat.  The whole thing is an example of playing a stupid game and winning a stupid prize.

June 19, 2026

Court sides with challenger to law banning drug users from possessing guns

What could go wrong?

On the topic mentioned above, we'll note that that you heard it here first, but now the drumbeat pointing out the hypocrisy is getting pretty loud:

Tom Lubnau: Sure, Pass Unconstitutional Bills And Blame 'Activist Judges'

Lubnau really throws the gauntlet down, stating:

The fix is simple. Pass a proposed constitutional amendment. I'll draft it for them: Article I, §38 is amended to add subsection (e): Abortion is not healthcare for purposes of this Article. 

Come on Sanchez-Williams.  Come on Bear.  But your legislating where you claimed values are. 

Last edition:

Ballroom Batshit. A demented president goes full bonkers. The 25th Amendment Watch List Fifteenth Edition and Court Watch Part VI.

Labels: 2025 White House Vandalization, 25th Amendment Watch List, Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Court Watch, Ignorance, The Madness of King Donald

China is Closing In on Taiwan.

With China having just been visited by our extraordinarily weak, and increasingly demented chief executive, this really bears watching.

Trump's illegal war on Iran has depleted US weapons reserves massively and wasted them on hard ground targets, something military analysts know is ineffective.  We have less of an ability to counter a Chinese invasion of Taiwan now than at any point since. . . well. . . probably 1947.

The likelihood of it happening his high.

The likelihood of Trump doing utterly nothing if it does happen is also high.

In 1949, when mainland China fell to the Communists, Republicans howled over "who lost China?"  In 2026 or 2027 when Taiwan falls, they'll probably just kneel to their beloved, Donald Trump.

The question will be, why?

So it's clear from the onset, I don't care one bit about the World Cup. . .

I couldn't care less that its being hosted in the United States, and in the Trump era, I expect the whole thing to be one big, dumb spectacle.  

Go way World Cup.

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 134th Edition. Paying the cost of failed Reconstruction.

Henry Mosler's painting "The Lost Cause", depicting an uneducated Southern dupe returning to his destroyed home after having fought for rich Southerners who wanted to keep human beings in barbours slavery.

Two related items:

Tennessee's Redistricting Fight and the Long Shadow of the Civil War

and this one:

The Confederacy rises again

The biggest political mistake the US has ever made was not engage in radical reconstruction after the American Civil War.  To have served in an officer, or frankly even as a volunteer, in the Confederate Army should have been regarded as fully treasonous and never forgiven. Those who did should have been tried and given heavy sentences.  Men like Robert E. Lee should never have been allowed to walk the streets as free men again.  

Slave holders, no matter how small they were, should have had to compensate their former slaves or their decedents heavily.  On the principal that the land belongs to he who works it, a means of transferring agricultural land to the former slaves should have been devised.

This is, I'd note, the second time the country has gone through this Lost Cause crap.  The cause of the Southern States during the Civil War ranks right up with that of Nazi Germany as one of the worst causes people have every fought for.  The South should have been made to hang its head in shame, as the Germans were after World War Two.  And  yet, here we go again.

If there's any good thing about any of this is that the rise of the Lost Cause yielded to the Civil Rights Era.  Americans thought they'd finally one the promise of the country, although Liberals and Progressives certainly took that claimed victory beyond what it meant and should have mean in other ways.  Everyone has been reminded of that, now that the fulfillment of the result of Reagan's Southern Strategy has been afflicted upon the nation in form of the Trump Administration.

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 133d Edition. What happened to that Board of Peace?

Labels: children, Chuck Gray, Health, Jillian Balow, Lies, Music, Post Office, The Press, The Second Trump Administration, United Nations, United States and Israel v. Iran, Zeitgeist

A theory very close to the one I've advanced here.

Will Don be saying, et tu, J.D.?

From the always excellent Uncle Mike's blog:

Vance the Bully's Flunky

I still think my theory is more likely, but its interesting that I'm not the only one who is traveling this line of thought.

Uncle Mike, as he makes clear, believes that the plan is to wait until next year at which time the illegitimate occupant of the Oval Office, billionaire insurrectionist Donald Trump, will be impeached and removed from office, there by installing Vance as President.  It's an interesting theory.

The problem with it, I think, is that it requires the cooperation of a fair number of Republican Senators to go along with it.  I don't think they have the guts.  Senators like Wyoming's John Barrasso have proven so spineless that he's being examined by the Washington D.C. zoo for a place in the invertebrate display.  To be fair, they fear their voters, and in some areas, like Wyoming, the MAGA delusion is so deep that a lot of its adherents will carry it to the gave where they'll have to ask questions about why they supported an illegal war launched by an immoral serial polygamist while the environment went to pot. Barrasso will be right there with them, saying "they made me do it so I could keep my job".

Anyhow, I don't think enough Republican Senators will go along, unless the Senate GOP starts to hemorrhage pretty severely this November, in which case their save their job instincts will start to kick in.

My theory, which I've held here for a long time, is a bit more sinister.  

I've thought since before the election that the plan was to let Trump slip into increasingly worse dementia and then remove him just before the November election via the 25th Amendment.  That's nearly win/win for Vance.  It might cause a huge sigh of relief amongst independents who are refugee Republicans and the two or three Republicans who aren't MAGA, saving some of the election.  It also might give cover to candidates like Chuck Gray whose platform is that they love Trump so much, they want to be his adoring handmaiden.   If he's gone, they can go to the cabinet, pull out the bottle of Old Crow, put on the Boomtown Rats single I Never Loved Eva Braun, and start acting like sentient mammals.

If it doesn't save the election, Vance can still be President for two years and start pulling the "I'm not responsible for this particular stupid Don idea" while also blaming the Democrats for everything else.  Shoot, as the war against Iran will still be going on by then, he can declare victory and declare himself a hero, even if we haven't won by then, and we won't have.

Anyway you look at it, getting into office before Trump's term ends is Vance's only hope.  People don't like him.  The stench of Trump will attach too much for him to win on his own merits, and those merits, if you want to call them that, are not MAGA, they're NatCon.

The problem at this point is that while allowing Trump to get wackier and wackier serves their interests, we get deeper into bat shit crazy weird territory every day.  As it is, we're at war now, it would seem, as Bibi thought this was his chance and Bibi, Putin, and rich people, some of whom are in the Epstein files, are the only people Trump listens to.  We are in an area in which there are, now, hardly any limits, thanks to the Supreme Court.  If Bibi tells Donny nuking Tehran is okay, there's no guarantee an addled Trump wouldn't do it, although we can still hope that there's backchannel conversations in the DoD about how far they let this go before they just start saying no.

Presumably, if Donny comes in and says, "hey guys, I'm going to put the ball room here and it will be fun to have a march through a triumphal arch after I nuke Tehran, let's do that today so we can fight North Korean next week and put on a cabaret in Havanna!" the cabinet will still say no, but again, the problem is that the people in this administration, with a hand of exceptions, might actually be too far gone themselves.  Markwayne Mullin?  For goodness sake, he needs to be sent back to 6th grade and be reminded you don't wear your hat indoors, not given a job with the administration.  Steve Miller?  Yikes.  

Well, smoke and mirrors and backrooms.  Marco probably is angling for the Presidency himself and doesn't want to be too tarred with Trump feces.  There are probably others still.

By June or July we'll know if I was right.

A good clue I might be is that since the war with Iran started, Vance is hard to find.

The Trump Administration decides the Second Amendment ain't that much.

One of my predictions is that we're going to see a violent couple of years.

The other is that within a year and a half the editorial pages of the American Rifleman, who fawned over Trump, will be decrying a GOP embrace of gun control.  Fans of radicals who proclaim themselves to be for democracy and freedom while ranting about others as enemies should here to study history.  

Gun control came in to the USSR with the Communists, after they'd secured power at the barrel of a gun.  It was the Irish Republicans who brought gun control into Ireland, after the republic had been won with guns.  People like to claim the Nazis brought gun control to Germany (they didn't), but those who like to yell that should recall that Hitler was elected into office as part of a populist movement that promised to fix the economy and which hated "others", so to speak.

As soon as Trump sees the populace as the enemy to his safety, he'll act to preserve himself.  It's not, after all, as if he's been competing at Camp Perry and he doesn't need anyone's vote in four years.  If he acts, what are those who supported him on this issue going to do, join the Democrats?

Yeoman, January 6, 2025.

Alex Pretti, who was shot down by the Border Patrol, with Border Patrol shooting ten rounds.¹

I'm seeing one of my predictions about the Second Trump Administration coming true.

Everyone should have seen it.

Of the many people I know who voted for Donald Trump, there were three groups of what I'd call "single issue" voters who voted for him on the solid belief that he shared their views on one single issue, and that overrode everything else. There are: 1) opponents of abortion² , 2) opponents of gun control, 3) opponents of wars overseas ("forever wars").³

Trumps betrayed you, if you are in one of these categories, on all three.

The betrayal on gun control is simply epic.

A few days ago the Border Patrol gunned down Alex Pretti.  They actually shot ten shots.  People will defend the Border Patrol on this, but it's indefensible.  He was carrying a handgun legally, and it had been removed from him before he was killed.⁴

For decades the NRA insisted that Americans, and indeed everyone everywhere, had an absolute right to carry a firearm anywhere and campaigned for the right to carry, concealed and unconcealed, everywhere.⁵   Pretti had availed himself of that right.  He was going absolutely nothing illegal at the time he was gunned down.

The Administration's reaction has been to make every left wing gun control argument you've ever heard.

I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.

Kash Patel.  Well, Kash, don't come to Wyoming then.  There aren't any, and I mean any, largescale demonstrations were people aren't carrying, concealed and unconcealed. Shoot, I saw a guy with a M1 Garand and fixed bayonet a couple of years ago.

Patel tried to claim that Pretti was breaking the law by carrying a sidearm at a protest, apparently ignoring that this guy became a hero for something like that:

Minneapolis police officials, at any rate, quickly disabused that notion, noting in the press and on Face the Nation that this simply isn't true.  Pretti wasn't breaking the law.

That same comment was made House Majority Leader Steve Scalise who was flat out confronted by Margaret Brennan on the same topic on Face the Nation.  Scalise stumpbed all over himself and said he was for the Second Amendment had had sponsored a concealed carry law down in Louisiana, but that if you are carrying a gun while breaking the law it's a felony, and Pretti was breaking the law.

Pretti wasn't breaking the law, but it does give you a pretty good idea of what the former Republican Party, now the Fascist Party, thinks of the 1st Amendment as well as the 2nd.

The ever nervous Scott Bessent had to appear on Meet the Press.

KARL: He was an ICU use who worked for the VA and there's no evidence he brandished the gun whatsoever

BESSENT: But he brought a gun

KARL: I mean, we do have a Second Amendment

BESSENT: I've been to a protest -- guess what? I didn't bring a gun. I brought a billboard

The always nervous Scott Bessent.⁶   

Bessent has been to a protest?  Was it a super megabucks soybean protest? 

Same thing here.  Now bringing a gun to a protest marks you for death.

Kristi Noem, whose thugs committed the killing, really went after Pretti, calling him a domestic terrorist.  That is now the official line for any of these protestors, they're terrorists.  Neom sated:

I don't know of any peaceful protester that shows up with a gun and ammunition rather than a sign.

Noem falsely accused Pretti of brandishing the weapon.

Stephen Miller called Pretti "an assassin" and accused him of trying to murder Federal agents.  

J. D. Vance repeated that lie, and Gregory Bovino more or less did.  Only Trump, who was initially claimed to have said something falsely, apparently hasn't.

Ironically, it was the press and the police that were defending Second Amendment rights to carry the past couple of days. You shouldn't bring a gun to a protest.  Pretti's handgun, which is a fairly typical 9mm SIG, was a "military weapon" (it is, but just about any semi automatic handgun could be), he had "multiple magazines".

And finally, we have the Dear Leader himself:

I don’t like any shooting. I don’t like it. But I don’t like it when somebody goes into a protest and he’s got a very powerful, fully loaded gun with two magazines loaded up with bullets also. That doesn’t play good either.

Donald Trump.⁷ 

Basically, the Administration's position is that if you are carrying a handgun, the Federal Government can gun you down.

All things right out of the left wing gun control handbook.

The very thing, I"d note, that the NRA warned us about, in regard to the Federal Government, with the irony being it comes right from the man they backed.

Not that any of this should be a surprise.  I've never felt for a moment that Trump had any actually affinity for firearms or was a member of "gun culture".⁸    He's a salesman, and he sold gun owners a line of bull.

Now they know better.  But it will be too late.

The things is, however, the accomplishments on the Second Amendment have been made. They can be taken away.  Therefore, a real "fool me once" thing is at play here.  A lot of gun owners are going to keep backing Trump as they'll refuse to think on this.  

And that's why support for Trump will prove to be too late.  W.E.B. Dubois declared that "only a fool never changes his mind".  How many gun owners will choose to be fools?

Footnotes:

1. The large number of shots suggest that the Border Patrol falls into the keep shooting category of policing, which many large city police do as well.  

I'm not a fan of magazine capacity laws, but I"m at the point where I don't think most policemen of any type should carry a firearm at all, and that when they do, it's time to go back to .38 revolvers.  They're simply less likely to kill people if they are med in that fashion

2.  A lot of people who find this to be a deep moral issue, and I do see it that way, voted for Trump on the false belief that they had no other choice.  There were other choices.

Now Trump is urging his supporters to soften their opposition to abortion. Mitch McConnel gets credit for the conservative judiciary that Trump put in place, which issued the Dodds decision, but there would be no real strong reason to feel that Trump cares much about the issue himself.

Trump's own sexual history is immoral, and usually multiple partners indicates a casual attitude towards abortion.  There's nothing to indicate that any of Trump's tarts had one, but he has shifted his position, and its still shifting, over the years.  

3.  Trump really likes to brand himself as a peace president but there are no wars that the US was involved in when he took office that we are now out of, the only real lingering one being the war in Syria.  He's started a new conflict in Venezuela, conducted a largescale mixed result raid in Iran, and appears to about to hit Iran again.

4.  Pretti's parents said that they knew he had a permit, but didn't know him to actually carry.  I'm in the same category.

My reaction is probably a lot like a lot of people in Pretty's category.  I'm going to start carrying.  

5. A spokesman from the NRA initially defended the shooting, slightly, and then the organization, waking up to the fact that it's about to be dumped by its members (it's already in financial trouble) backtracked and came out supporting carrying, but in a very muted fashion.

6.  Bessent is another figure who doesn't square with what MAGA claims its view of the world is.  He's an open homosexual in a homosexual union, something that MAGAs declare as abhorrent and which they repeatedly sneered at Biden's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for.  It's been interesting that Buttigieg and Jean-Pierre were condemned for the very same thing that Bessent does at home, the point being that like a lot of members of fascist movements, MAGA adherents will suspend all of their supposedly deeply held beliefs to follow the leader.

7. The two magazine thing is a real left wing talking point.  

Use of the terms "very powerful" and "bullets" in place of cartridges almost always demonstrates firearms ignorance.  9mm pistols are not "very powerful". Quite the contrary. That's why some police forces simply blaze away with them, and why soldiers are taught to shoot an opponent more than once.  The 9mm should be a good police round for that very reason as its unlikely to kill anyone with a single shot.

8.  I'll have to get into gun culture, which I use as a positive expression, not a negative one, elsewhere, but I've never trusted anyone in the Second Amendment movement who wasn't an active member of a shooting sport, if even only a collector.  While Eric Trump is a hunter, Donald Trump's only outside interest seems to be the incredibly boring sport of golf.  If you can shoot, you wouldn't send much time on the golf course.

Wayne LaPierre, the former head of the NRA, struck me that way also, but I don't really know much about him.  Chuck Gray in Wyoming strikes me that way also, although I could of course be wrong.

ICE Invaded Their City. So Minneapolis Workers revived the General Strike.

 

John M. Crisp: 3 predictions for an unpredictable era

I've predicted #3 here.  No. 1 I hadn't thought of myself, but it really scares me.  No. 2 I think un likely.

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Fifth Edition. He's not okay.

 

October 1, 2025

Trump's dementia is clearly accelerating, as his weird speech to assembled senior military officers demonstrated.

In response to the speeches assertion that cities like Chicago should be used as training grounds, Gov. JB Pritzker called for Trump to be removed from office under the 25th Amendment.

I've been saying that for months.

The Atlantic noted:

The president talked at length, and his comments should have confirmed to even the most sympathetic observer that he is, as the kids say, not okay. Several of Hegseth’s people said in advance of the senior-officer conclave that its goal was to energize America’s top military leaders and get them to focus on Hegseth’s vision for a new Department of War. But the generals and admirals should be forgiven if they walked out of the auditorium and wondered: What on earth is wrong with the commander in chief?

Trump seemed quieter and more confused than usual; he is not accustomed to audiences who do not clap and react to obvious applause lines. “I’ve never walked into a room so silent before,” he said at the outset. (Hegseth had the same awkward problem earlier, waiting for laughs and applause that never came.) The president announced his participation only days ago, and he certainly seemed unprepared.

I've also been stating that he's not okay. 

It's now becoming undeniable even where it had been ignored. Donald Trump is not okay.

October 2, 2025

A growing momentum on Trump's insanity.

This is huge.

In this clip, an off mike Speaker of the House Mike Johnson basically admits that Trump is "unwell", and only defends it by saying that some Democrats are as well.

He doesn't defined Trump's insanity, and he claims not to have seen the speech to the Military.

There's growing momentum now for the 25th Amendment to be invoked.  It's openly being called for, and here one of Trump's closest allies doesn't try to defend his sanity at all.

MADELEINE DEAN: The president is unhinged. He is unwell. 

MIKE JOHNSON: A lot of folks on your side are too

DEAN: Oh my god, please. That performance in front of the generals?

MIKE JOHNSON: I didn't see it

DEAN: It's so dangerous! Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a president who is unwell.

Things like this have a way of happening suddenly.  Since Trump's very publized speech to the senior officers, there has been a lot of public commentary on his being "unwell" and now senior politicians are saying so openly. Some are Democrats who aren't afraid of saying it, even though they've been reluctant to up until now, such as Madelene Dean.

Dean:   “Is it racist? You put a sombrero on a Black man who’s the leader of the House. You don’t see that as racist? We need you desperately to lead,” 

Johnson:  “I’m working on it. And personally, it’s not my style. I love you and I respect you, OK?”

Dean:  “That’s why I’m talking to you".

We covered this quite a while back, but the 25th Amendment requires the vice president, together with a "majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide", to issue a written declaration that the president is unable to discharge his duties.  So who all has to buy in on that?  The majority of the cabinet, but just a simple majority.

Who all is in the cabinet?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth

Attorney General Pam Bondi

Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick

Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin

Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe

United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer

Administrator of the Small Business Administration Kelly Loeffler

Chief of Staff Susie Wiles

Okay, let's make some reasonable assumptions.

Getting J.D. Vance on board only really requires that a majority of the cabinet go along.  I suspect Vance would be pretty willing to stab Trump in the back if it elevates him to the Oval Office, and as I've said here all along, the NatCons have been planning on this development since day one.

So who might go along?  Keep in mind that there are a whopping 22 cabinet officers (an absurd amount).  In order to invoke the 25th Amendment, 12 would need to be willing to vote that Trump is bonkers.

Let's put them in "probable" (red), no way (blue) and unknown categories (orange) and see where that takes us, keeping in mind that unknown, is unknown to me.  Others might have a pretty good idea of how everyone is likely to go.

1.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio would definitely remove Trump and is undoubtedly willing to save his own career rather than be hitched to a mentally declining unpopular President.

2. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  Bessent might seem like a surprise here, but he's been clearly uncomfortable saying the stupidest stuff and would likely like to be relieved of that burden.

1.  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.  Hegseth is hitched to Trump's wagon, and knows it. The only way he might consider otherwise is an open threat/promise that if he goes along, he keeps his job (the NatCons probably like him), but if he doesn't, when this gets worse, he'll be sent packing before his work is done.

3.  Attorney General Pam Bondi.  This probably seems like a surprise too, but recently Trump's been forcing Bondi into clearly unethical and stupid positions.  She's pretty smart, and would likely vote to save herself.

4.  Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.  Burgum's role in the administration is a self serving marriage of convenience.  He'd hitch his wagon to any Republican President.

2.  Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. I don't know much about Rollins and probably should put her in orange, but she served Texas Governor Perry, which speaks for itself.

3.  Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.  Lutnick has come across as a complete Trump toady and likely knows that if Trump falls, he's going to be sent packing.

1.  Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer.  Chavez-DeRemer has really flown under the wire, but she seems pretty sharp.  She's Hispanic, and her father was a Teamster.  I suspect that she'd lean towards removal as she's drawn little attention and would continue to draw little attention in a new administration.

4.  Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr..  This one speaks for itself.

2. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner.  Turner's an unknown.  His political career has been tied to Trump, but whether he's so loyal that he'll go down with Trump is another question.

3. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy No idea whatsoever, but I suspect he would not go along.

5. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Wright's weltanschauung in his department is too aligned with Trump for him to go along.

6. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Speaks for itself.

5.  Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins Collins served as an active duty and reserve chaplain.  He's very conservative, but I suspect that military officers have his ear.

6.  Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.  Noem is from the far right, but she's savvy and she's not going to go down with the Trump ship.

7. Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin.  Zeldin is a Trump ally. He won't vote to remove Trump.

7.  Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought.  Vought is a far right NatCon and pretty smart, which puts him in the cynical camp.  Trump's only a vehicle for the NatCons, and he'll be willing to change lines if it means it keeps the NatCons in control under a NatCon Vance.  Indeed, his participation would nearly guaranty that it would.

8.  Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.  Gabbard has a demonstrated independent streak and has been in both political parties.  She'll act to advance and save herself.

4. Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe.  Quite unknown, but I suspect would lean towards removal.

5. United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.  Unknown, but would likely lean towards removal.

6. Administrator of the Small Business Administration Kelly Loeffler.  Unknown, but would likely lean towards removal.

7.  Chief of Staff Susie Wiles Probably loyal to Trump.

So, if my math and ponderings are correct, which they may very well not be, things are probably nearly tied, in knowns, right now.  I figure there are 8 out of the needed 12 who would remove Trump, if four more signed on.

Of the unknowns, there are seven. Of the diehard Trump loyalist, seven.  I figure five of the unknowns, one more than needed, would likely go for removal, but that's a pretty thin margin.  Some on the fence would likely want a greater margin.

You can bet these conversations are going on right now, however.  They are openly going on now in Congress.

October 5, 2025

Don is using the budget shutdown to cozy up to Project 2025, making his removal less likely as the NatCons will get what the want from the document under the cover of the budget shutdown. Russell Vought, for example, can now be moved to the no removal column.

It was a crafty move on somebody's part.

October 15, 2025

I'd love to go to Argentina. I'd like to be like Biden. I'd like to go to the beach. My legs are not quite as thin as his. My legs are slightly heavier…My body is a little bit larger than his. I'm not sure it would be appreciated on the beach.

Donald Trump.

October 20, 2025

The destruction of the facade of the East Wing of the White House began today in anticipation of the construction of a ballroom that will never get built.

Construction of the gaudy structure will advance until the 25th Amendment or advanced old age remove Trump from office, at which point the East Wing will have to be repaired on the taxpayers dime. Worst case scenario is that Trump somehow managed to babble through a full term, which would be a disaster for the nation, after which the structure will be taken down and a new East Wing built.

October 21, 2025

So I just wanna say, thank you all. Uh, simply, behind me, so, is a knockout panel. This panel, the next time you come here, will be opened up and gone. No – uh, no problem with any of the surrounding areas. These, this room will be fixed. This will be like a cocktail – the whole floor will be cocktails or pre-briefings or whatever it may be, lots of different things. So the entire floor. So you come in, the entire floor sets up. We didn’t have to do any of that. Usually, you have to do that. You need different rooms to go along with a ballroom.

Donald Trump.

October 22, 2025

Trump now claims the justice department owes  him $230M dollars.

He's clearly insane.

October 24, 2025

October 24, 2025

cont:

Oh yeah. . .that's clearly the reaction a totally stable secure genius would have . . . 

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

And with that petulant temper tantrum, we'll close out this edition.

October 30, 2025

The United States, with a demented child in the Oval Office, is going to resume the testing of nuclear weapons.

Trump  is clearly, to use the legal standard, "a danger to himself or others".  

Apply the 25th Amendment.

Well that's embarrassing.

Trump was clearly clueless and walked right when the Japanese Prime Minister stopped to review the honor guard, leaving her to have to catch up.  People guided Trump around like a demented elderly person. . . which of course he is.

And the saluting.

Ronald Reagan started saluting at U.S troops.  It's moronic.  It was then, and it still is. Trump's a civilian, he shouldn't be saluting anyone.

November 4, 2025

Donald Trump pardoned  Changpeng Zhao without knowing who he was.

This from the guy who complains about autopens.

November 5, 2025

You go to a grocery store, you have to give ID. You go to a gas station, you give ID. But for voting they want no voter ID. It's only for one reason: because they cheat.

I don't have to show an ID at the grocery store or the gas station.  And I don't believe Trump ever goes to the grocery store or the gas station.

Cont:

1300% lower than last year. We love the creamed corn. I don’t know who came up with that. Bob Corn, or maybe Jack Cream. Hey look, a woman from Saudi Arabia!

Trump on creamed corn. 

I don't know if they care about that in Saudi Arabia, but here it means a lot. We got the princess here from Saudi Arabia. She's got a lot of cash.

Trump on the cost of a Thanksgiving meal.

November 7, 2025

Our energy costs are way down. Our groceries are way down. Everything is way down. And the press does not report it… Thanksgiving meals 25% down. So I don't want to hear about the affordability.

Trump.

November 11, 2025

Office Hours: Trump's mental decline appears to be accelerating. So why isn’t the media reporting on it?

Related threads:

Lex Anteinternet: The Vandals.

Labels: Donald Trump, Illinois (Chicago), J. B. Pritzker, J. D. Vance, Mental Health, National Conservatism, Sic transit Gloria Mundi, The Madness of King Donald, The Second Trump Administration, Weird, You heard it here first

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 104th Edition. Mike Johnson, toady, and other matters.

Labels: 2010s, 2019, 2020s, 2025, 2025 Off Year U.S. Elections, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, New York, North Korea, Socialism, Special Forces, The Madness of King Donald, Trump Derangement Syndrome, U.S. Navy, Zeitgeist

Lex Anteinternet: The Military Address of September 30, 2025. The Trump Speech.

Labels: Donald Trump, Illiberal Democracy, Mental Health, Military, National Conservatism, The Second Trump Administration, the spoken word, Weird

The Military Address of September 30, 2025

Labels: Donald Trump, Mental Health, Military, Pete Hegseth, the spoken word, Weird

Last edition:

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

Labels: Donald Trump, Health, J. D. Vance, Mental Health, Predictions, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Russia, Stupidity, The Madness of King Donald, The Second Trump Administration, U.S. Air Force, You heard it here first