Tuesday, February 3, 2026

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Ninth Edition. Trump is insane and the end of the United States as a great nation.

 

Trump is insane.

What's more, Trump is insane and everyone knows it.  World leaders know it.  His opponents know it. And, moreover, his supporters, know it.

He's driving us over a cliff, and everyone knows that.

He's the last pathetic gasp of the Baby Boomers, as we endure a nation by the Baby Boomers, Of the Baby Boomers, and for the Baby Boomers, enduring the legacy of a government attacked by Ronald Reagan and brought into fruition by Dixiecrats.

I've predicted that the 25th Amendment would be applied to him, and moreover, his mere presence in the White House was really a smokescreen for National Conservatives.  If I was right, the moment now appears too late.

The United States has come to an end as a great nation.  

It might be able to rebuild, but it won't be what it was.  Nore should it be. A nation stupid enough to elect Donald Trump is no longer great.

The question is, how much damage do we allow him to do?

And I say "we" advisedly.  Stuffed suits like Dr. John Barrasso and castrati Mike Johnson aren't going to do anything.  His cabinet has people like scared Scott Bessent in it, who sound like they're terrified to be in public, or people who cheerfully shovel his oratorical vomit.  Congress could act, but the make up the GOP in Congress is 100% eunuchs who roll over to have their bellies petted by Trump or go into the corner scared and pee.

The nation's leaders have completely failed it.

The question is not, at this point, how can this be salvaged.  It cannot. The question is how much can be saved so that there's something to rebuild from when we reemerge in 2028 as a minor power, second rate nation, despised by the world.

The only thing, and it is the only thing, than can really save the nation now is mass protests.  An epic strike that shut the nation down completely would be something the Republicans could not ignore.

We don't even seem to have the guts for that, however.  We haven't seen anything like that since the 1960s and early 1970s.  

We aren't much of a people anymore.

Ironically, however, the wet dream of Donald Trump to be remembered as somebody, darned near anybody, will also fail.  He'll be remembered for being a fat, spoiled, mentally ill, child who ruined his nation with the help of ignorance.  His ballroom will not get built.  His Arc will not either.  Greenland, which he will steal, will be set free.  Melania will escape back to Europe to hide the disgrace of having associated with the man.  The Trump family will bankruptcy itself into oblivion.

Cont:

Okay, something's happened.

Trump at Dovos said the United States “won’t use force” to take Greenland, but repeated his dumbass claims that the US needs it for  national and international security. He said he would be “appreciative” if the world acquiesced to his desire to take over the territory. “Or, you can say no and we will remember.”

What does all that mean.

Sometime over the last 24 hours somebody got to Trump with news that if he went any further, they were invoking the 25th Amendment.  It's about the only possibility.

The others might be that Congress would really move to impeach, or the military was prepared to tell him to pound sand.

But something happened.  He was full batshit crazy over Greenland as of yesterday, and now he's not.  He was apparently actually set to over a bridge too far and something held him back, for now.

The man needs to go.  This is a chance for national redemption, but it won't last long.  Those who were set to invoke the 25th, if they were, need to carry forward and do it.

Cont:

Hmmmm. . . Air Force One returned and landed due to an "electrical issue" prior to his gong to Davos.

That "electrical issue" was probably a direct communication that if he went to Davos and indicated war was coming he better stay in Switzerland.

Cont:
And I know so many people from Switzerland. Incredible place, incredible brilliant place. But I then realized that they're only good because of us.
The dimwitted emperor.

We barely dodged a bullet with this guy, remove the idiot now.  Apply the 25th Amendment.

January 22, 2026

Trump at Davos:
Usually they say, 'he's a horrible dictator-type person.' But sometimes you need a dictator.

So are we really still playing around with this?  Trump admits he's a dictator, and its obvious to everyone he's demented.   There's no excuse left whatsoever for favoring this man remaining in office.

Let's reprise where we are, after the last several days.

Let's start off with this.

Ever since Congress demanded the Epstein files be released, most of which have not been, nearly every day brings a new horror.  We started off with an invasion of a foreign power and removal of its head of state with no Congressional authorization, which is flatly illegal.  In spite of the widely lauded praise for that, the raid only removed one man and his wife, while killing a bunch of people. The Socialist regime that man headed remains fully in power. Some may say its cooperating with Trump, but why would one criminal regime not cooperate with another if it benefits them both?

We were told at the time that we needed to do this as Venezuela was exporting drugs to the U.S.  As soon as we kidnapped the leader, however, we were told that it was a great oil producing opportunity for the United States, and we are in fact seizing tankers and selling the oil, with the funds put in a bank in Qatar, outside those prying eyes in the U.S.

No sooner had that been accomplished than Donald Trump brought us right to the end of war with NATO, believing his own propaganda that the rest of the world would sit by if we seized Greenland, just as Germany thought nobody would fight over Poland in 1939, and Argentina thought the UK wouldn't fight over the Falklands in 1982.  Indeed, the Falklands example is a particularly good one as the UK was actually moving toward an arrangement with Argentina before Argentina invaded, which ended that for all time.

While this was all going on, an ICE agent shot Renee Good three times killing her in Minneapolis.  The mayor spoke out and now the mayor and the Governor are under Federal Criminal investigation by a corrupted justice system.  Career Federal prosecutors are being fired, and even one of Trump's handpicked flunkies had walked out, although not over that.

Trump decided to go to Davos to lecture the Europeans, but as soon as his plane took off it returned with an "electrical problem".  

Uh huh.

When he got to Davos suddenly he was no longer going to invade Greenland, but he was sticking to tariffs. . . until he suddenly didn't.

What message did the would be caudillo get when that plan returned.

There's a lot here to digest, but what we know is that Trump's actions do not benefit the United States and, as Mark Carney has stated, he's destroyed the post war order.  The principal beneficiary of his actions is Russia, and nearly Russia alone  The Russians may have pulled off the greatest example of spycraft of all time, but assisted by an American electorate that was made legitimately bitter by post 1973 events and made ignorant by actions of the much praised Ronald Reagan.  

Reagan, to medical professionals, was showing signs of Alzheimer's in his second term.  He was 83, however, and out of office when he admitted it to the public.  His last public appearance, however, was in 1994, a couple of years after that, which is one that people who have viewed it lament.  His appearance at that point in time wasn't any worse than Trump's right now.

Trump's behavior in the last two months has been nearly manic.  Oh, let's be honest.  It is manic.  He very clearly, no matter what else is going on, has dementia. There's no question whatsoever.  One person who knows him well, lawyer Ty Cobb, has stated:

I think there’s been a significant decline. He’s always been driven by narcissism. But I think the dementia and the cognitive decline are, you know, palpable, as do many experts, including many physicians.

Cobb also stated:

I don’t think there’s anybody outside of the United States who believes that Trump is sane.

So that's exactly where we are.  We have a demented chief executive whose minions are not releasing a major file which his name shows up in, in violation of the law.  His mind is complete mush and he launched us into one small war with little effect and nothing to be proud of, and nearly launched us into a major war with NATO which, in spite of our hubris, we may very well not have won (the U.S. hasn't actually won a war cleanly since the end of World War Two).  Even if we had won it, which is not assured, it would have involved combat with Canada and occupying Canada would have entailed a terrorism campaign against the US that would kill Americans at home.  Any such war would have besmirched our reputation forever and the world order has already been irreparably harmed to the detriment of Americans.

The man is insane and needs to be removed.

The question is why he isn't already gone.  We can be quite assured that if there were sufficient votes, J. D. Vance, who sees his political fortunes evaporating by the minute and his current name likely to go down like Goering's would support it.  So would Rubio, who has been mysteriously absent recently.  But invoking the 25th Amendment would require the Vice President and a majority of the 15-member Cabinet ot declare the President the batshit crazy Trump unable to perform his duties.  That means eight out of fifteen would have to go along with it.  Those cabinet members are:

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

We took a look at whom we thought might be willing to act to save then nation some time ago, but frankly every day that goes by makes this worse.  For example, we thought that Bessent might be willing to go along, but by now he's so tainted by the shit he's had to spout out because Rubio, probably, is refusing to do so, that for many of these people they're at the point where they're just going down in defeat in the bunker.  A few of these people, in addition, are really bad people and hardcorse believes in what they're doing.

So, until he's drooling and hitting on Kristi Noem, this is just going to get worse.

Congress could act, and if it was a Democratic Congress it undoubtedly would.  Trump's only in office as Joe Biden moronically believed that his own dementia was somehow not there, a common trait of those who have dementia and the electorate blamed the Democrats for a lot of things, like inflation, that were outside of their control, and some things they really didn't like, like the whole transgender thing, that they were in control of.  A totally befuddled Trump still knows that this November the GOP is going to be punished for the economy, for average people, getting worse, and he can't gasp that people really don't care if fat cats get fatter, which is the only sort of economic news that means anything to him.  By this point in time an American electorate, which has a notoriously short memory, sees ICE in the streets, ICE shooting women in the head, Trump insulting the entire world, and their economic future going down the toilet.  His plan is to try to disrupt the 2026 election, or even suspend it if he can, which he can't.

A sane group of Republican members of Congress would act right now to impeach Trump, like they did when Nixon was in office. But current Republicans in Congress are nearly all anemic castrati, with those at the top, like John Thune and John Barrasso providing prime example.  Barrasso couldn't find his courage if he'd deposited in a safe deposit box.  They're depending on the Democrats taking control i November so they can return to the more comfortable role of complaining about Democrats, and if the country goes in the shitter in the meantime, well at least they can hope to retain their careers.

January 24, 2026

A former Trump staffer from his first term is expressing concern that he'll launch a nuclear war, and reveals that in his first term the country came close to a war with North Korea.

January 26, 2026

While the country reeled from the shooting of Alex Pretti, the Mad King Donny was musing on the ballroom that will never be built.

Absolutely insane.  Blood  literally in the streets and this doddering buffoon is babbling about a structure whose refuse is going to be shoved into a big pile by a D11 and then dumped in a refuse pile.

How pathetic.

The NYT editorial from yesterday:


January 28, 2025

We stopped the conflict between Cambodia and Armenia. It was just starting and it was a bad one.

Donald Trump.

Cambodia and Armenia couldn't fight a war against each other if they both wanted to.

His mind is completely shot.

And with that really weird comment, we'll close out this portion of the roller coast ride with Mad King Donald.

February 3, 2026

King Donny hasn't seemed to notice, but his endorsement is becoming the golden kiss of death all over the country.  This past week a solidly Republican Senate district in Texas voted overwhelming for the Democrat, the Trump  endorsement meaning nothing.  In Wyoming Megan Degenfelder is sort of nervous, rather obviously, about Trump's embrace, and she should be.

Which brings us to this:


Trump has been going after Thomas Massie as he's not a Trump toady like crazy.  He's criticized the marriage before, which is pretty rich for a man of Trump's obvious disregard for the meaning of marriage.

Massie replied.

Who knew Carolyn would also get free rent in Trump’s head when she married me! I guess that’s just one of the perks. secure.thomasmassie.com/donate

Don Lemon’s Arrest Is a Warning to Every Journalist in America The Trump administration isn’t just enforcing the law—it’s using arrests as intimidation, and the press is the target.

 

Don Lemon’s Arrest Is a Warning to Every Journalist in America

The Trump administration isn’t just enforcing the law—it’s using arrests as intimidation, and the press is the target.

Melania: The Movie. The Bribe. The Shame. Bezos's illegal payoff

 

Melania: The Movie. The Bribe. The Shame.

Bezos's illegal payoff

The regime moves to make journalism a crime But try as they might, they won't silence the voices of dissent.

 

The regime moves to make journalism a crime

But try as they might, they won't silence the voices of dissent.

Weekend Update #170: Russian Advances Are Slower Than The Battle Of The Somme Trump And Putin Together, Different Examples

 

Weekend Update #170: Russian Advances Are Slower Than The Battle Of The Somme

Trump And Putin Together, Different Examples

Monday, February 2, 2026

Churches of the West: Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't support liars and don't lie. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 4.

Churches of the West: Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't s...:    Χαῖρε Μαρία κεχαριτωμένη, ὁ Κύριος μετά σοῦ, Ἐυλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶ, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σοῦ Ἰησούς. Ἁγία Μαρία, μῆτερ...

Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't support liars and don't lie. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 4.

 

 Χαῖρε Μαρία κεχαριτωμένη,

ὁ Κύριος μετά σοῦ,

Ἐυλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξὶ,

καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σοῦ Ἰησούς.

Ἁγία Μαρία, μῆτερ θεοῦ,

προσεύχου [πρέσβευε] ὑπέρ ἡμῶν τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν,

νῦν καὶ ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ τοῦ θανάτου ἡμῶν.

Ἀμήν

So, a big one that we didn't include yesterday, as it deserves its own post.  This may be the most significant post of this thread.

Don't lie and don's support liars.

Everyone has heard the old joke, “How do you know a politician is lying?” The answer.  Because their mouth is moving."  That stretches the point, but there's some truth behind the joke, as there is with any good joke.

Indeed, we've become so used to politicians lying that we basically expect it. The current era, however has brought lying, as well as truth telling, into a new weird surreal era.

Lying is a sin.  It's been debated since early times if it's always a sin, or if there are circumstances in which it may be allowed, limited though those be.  If it's every allowable, it's in situations like war, where after all, killing is allowed.  Most of us lie, but it's almost always sinful.

In Catholic theological thought, lying can be a mortal sin.  It's generally accepted that most lies are not in that category. So, "yes, dear, I love gravy burgers" is not a mortal sin.  But lies can definitely be mortally sinful.  Lying over a grave matter is mortally sinful, if the other conditions for mortal sin are met.

Donald Trump, whom some deluded Christians refer to as a "Godly Man", lies routinely and brazenly, and this has brought lying into the forefront, even as he's shocked people, rightfully, by following through on some of his promises, but not all, that were assumed to be lies or at least exaggerations.  He's advanced lies about who won the 2020 election, and many of his followers have advanced those lies as well.  Some people, of course, believe the lies and advance what they assume to be the truth, but some of that is being wilfully ignorant that they are lies.

Of course here, as always, I'm coming at this from a Catholic prospective.  I do not accept the thesis that some do that lies can be utilized to advanced something we regard as a greater good. Some hold the opposite view and I'm fairly convinced that some Christian Nationalist politicians hold the opposite view.  I frankly wonder, for example, if Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, hold the opposite view.  Johnson claims to be a devout Christian and if he doesn't hold the opposite view, based on the lies he spouts, he must despair of his own salvation quite frequently, unless he hold the completely erroneous "once saved always saved" view some Evangelical Christians hold, or if he's a Calvinist that figures that double predestination has the fate of everyone all determined anyhow, which is also a theologically anemic position.

A very tiny minority of Christians hold such views, however.  For the rest of us, it's incumbent not to reward lying, and not to advance lies.  It's dangerous and destructive to everyone.  It should not be tolerated by anyone.  And in this era, and for the proceeding several, it's destroying everything.

Last and prior editions:

Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 3.


Blog Mirror: WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

This was an item on Facebook.  I'm cross posting it here as it contains good information, some of which I heard recently from other sources as well. 

 WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK

I used to view the Wyoming Freedom Caucus as a gang of right-wing extremists hell-bent on destroying the lives of anyone who had an opinion, stood up for themselves, or rejected the invitation to indoctrination extended by the WFC.  However, it’s far more disgusting than that, and the truth is even more insulting to Wyomingites.  Once I started doing my own research, it became clear to me that these aren’t local patriots standing up for us; they are out-of-state interests wearing a ‘conservative’ mask to infiltrate our government and prey on the weak minds of those who ‘fall in line.’ 

For a group that never misses an opportunity to wrap itself in the Wyoming flag, the WFC is looking more like a subsidiary of a national corporation than a homegrown movement.  If they really believe in ‘Wyoming First,’ they’ve got a funny way of showing it – starting with the fact that their leadership, their strategy, and their bank accounts are all heavily imported from states that couldn’t be further from Wyoming values.

The WFC’s primary political tool is the word “RINO.”  It’s the ultimate intellectual shortcut.  In their world, a “RINO” isn’t someone who isn’t Republican; it’s any Republican who remembers they represent a district in Wyoming rather than a donor in Virginia.  They use the term exactly like the far left uses accusations of “racism”: as a weapon to shut down debate.  Strip away the party labels, and you’ll find that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the radical left actually operate from a surprisingly similar playbook.  When they can’t win an argument on its merits, they pivot to name-calling.  What I really want to know is: who the hell do they think they are to act as the gatekeepers of our party?  We don’t need out-of-state interests defining what a Wyoming Republican looks like.

The irony of the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric is staggering when you look at the biographies of its loudest voices.  Roughly 35% of their key associates weren’t even raised in Wyoming.  We are being lectured on “Wyoming values” by people who grew up in the exact urban centers they now claim to despise.  Want examples?

John Bear (Past Chair): Raised in Missouri, educated in Colorado.

Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (Chair): A native of Northern California who lived and worked in Marin County before moving to Cody.

Darin McCann: Raised in Upstate New York and lived in Florida several years.

Ann Lucas: Raise in Chicago, Illinois.

There’s a word for people who move to a place and immediately try to tear down its institutions to match their own imported grievances: colonizers.  Wyoming has always been a “Live and Let Live” state, but the WFC brings “Live My Way or You’re a Traitor” attitude that belongs in a DC boardroom, not a Wyoming ranch.

When it comes to out-of-state money in Wyoming politics, the “grassroots” narrative starts to look a bit like a corporate franchise.  While many candidates on both sides take small out-of-state individual donations, the real story of the 2024 election cycle was the coordinated spending by national organizations specifically targeting Wyoming House seats to install Wyoming Freedom Caucus members.

The following candidates were the primary beneficiaries of this out-of-state “investing,” particularly from the Virginia-based Make Liberty Win PAC and the State Freedom Caucus Network.  Make Liberty Win spent over $426,000 in Wyoming – largely on aggressive attack mailers against local, traditional Republicans.  

Ann Lucas (Cheyenne): Benefited from a massive spending campaign to unseat long-time Rep. Dan Zwonitzer.

Darin McCann (Rock Springs): Supported by out-of-state funds to defeat Speaker Pro Tempore Clark Stith.

Joel Guggenmos (Riverton): Heavily backed by national groups to unseat incumbent Ember Oakley.

Jayme Lien (Casper): Out-of-state money helped fuel her upset victory over House Appropriations member Tom Walters.

Gary Brown (Cheyenne): Received significant support from national PACs to defeat incumbent Bill Henderson.

Steve Johnson (Cheyenne): A Freedom Caucus newcomer who won his seat with the help of national ideological group backing.

Joe Webb (Lyman): Won his primary with the assistance of coordinated out-of-state messaging.

Paul Hoeft (Cody): Benefited from the national network’s effort to unseat traditionalist David Northrop.

Robert Wharff (Evanston): Reclaimed a seat with the help of PACs focusing on unseating more moderate incumbents. 

According to 2024 campaign finance filings, the following candidates also received Make Liberty Win support: Abby Angelos, John Bear, Chip Neiman, Chris Knapp, Ken Pendergraft, Scott Smith, Tomi Strock, Jeremy Haroldson.

I’ll say it again; the sheer volume of this money is what makes the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric so ironic.  For example, in the 2024 primary, out-of-state PACs often outspent the actual candidates’ own local fundraising.  Virginia-based Make Liberty Win spent more in a single Wyoming primary cycle than most of these candidates could raise from their actual neighbors in a decade.  Let that sink in!

It’s a strategic takeover: national groups realize that for the price of a single mid-tier Congressional race, they can buy an entire State House in Wyoming.  Do you think they really care about local issues?  Neither do I.

We cannot allow our state’s identity to be sold to the highest bidder in Virginia.  When you sell your soul to the devil, there is no turning back.  It is time to take our government back from the importers and return it to the people who actually call Wyoming home.

Monday,. February 2, 1976. Moynihan resigns.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan resigned  as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.in anticipation of running for Congress, although he did not express that goal at the time.

Would that we could be braced by such great mean again.

Last edition:

Friday, January 30, 1976. Opening Pandora's Box.

Saturday, February 2, 1946. Twenty Questions.

There was news on the Elk Mountain disaster, including that miners had a role in discovering the crash.


I wouldn't have associated miners with this incident in any fashion.  Nor did I realize that Elk Mountain was that high. I've been on the neighboring peaks without realizing that.

The Rocky Mountain News reported on the disaster as well.


An advertisement from the same edition of the Sherican Press.:

And this:


I wish.

The USSR annexed the Kurils.

Russia holds them today.

They need to give them back.

The Rocky Mountain News was inspiriting panic.


I loved the Rocky Mountain News in the70s and 80s.  I didn't really realize it had such a tabloid origin, even though it was a tabloid.


Sunspots disrupted radio communication between North America and Europe between 4:05 am and 7:00 am EST.

Twenty Questions, hosted by Fred van Deventer and based on the  on the "Animal, Vegetable or Mineral" parlor game, premiered on the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Last edition:

Thursday, January 31, 1946. United Flight 14 crashed into Elk Mountain.

Tuesday, February 2, 1926.

A play, adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, premiered at the Ambassador Theater on Broadway, which is remarkable in more ways than one, one being that this was well before the collapse in the economy that is so often figured into the novel, but which the novel anticipated as a moral collapse.


The incite of the novel, accordingly, can hardly be appreciated today, and indeed should be reread today, given the current times.

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.

The Great Gatsby.

Representatives of the governments of the UK and France, which nearly went to war in 1918/1919 over the fate of Syria, signed a treaty of friendship on behalf of the British Mandate for Palestine and the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon.  Notably, the native populations for both areas had utterly no desire that either European power be there.

Four members of the illegal Black Reichswehr were sentenced to death for politically motivated murders in Germany.

A banquet was held at the Hotel Astor to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the National League.

Last edition:

Saturday, January 30, 1926. Pinks and Greens.