The 2026 Election, 7th Edition, Do not stand with those who promote the sins that cry out to Heaven.

 

April 14, 2026.

The Donald Trump Effect, voters running from candidates endorsed by the deranged octogenarian whose administration is protecting the rapist of teenagers, starting wars, and causing rising inflation, is having a noticeable nationwide, and even international, effect.  Voters in special elections all over the US are dumping MAGA candidates and electing Democrats.  It's an absolute certainty at this point that, unless something dramatic happens, that the Republicans are going to lose badly at the midterms and retake the House.  And now it appears they're likely to take the Senate. The Cook Political Report shifted four Senate races this past week to favor Democratic and pundits are now openly saying the Democrats will take the upper house.

Of course, Democrats have a way of shooting themselves in the foot.  Nonetheless the momentum is clear.  Trump has lost independents, who he needs in most places for the GOP to remain in office, and he's lost Hispanics.   This past week his actions were such that if he has not lost non Hispanic Catholics, its only because those voters value Trump more than the Faith or are engaging in some really self delusional thinking, keeping in mind that you never actually have to vote Democratic and that in the primaries there is usually a Republican willing to run who isn't a slave to Trump.

California Republicans refused to endorse a Governor's candidate in a convention that was just held and snubbed Trump's endorsement of one. They see the handwriting on the wall.

But still you have this.

An entire group of Wyoming candidates acts like this adoring girl.  Shoot, they'd like to be squeezed by Trump too.

An article on the topic:

Donald Trump and Wyoming’s crowded House race

This all follows, of course, this:

The 25th Amendment Watch List. A Fourteenth and Special edition. Attacking the Catholic Church.

If Wyomingites are going to wake up, and that's unlikely, there's be a point, if we are not already at it, where voting for the GOP candidates who associate with themselves with Trump would be a no go.  And some of those candidates would already be no gos.  

Chuck Gray, who barely won the Secretary of State's office and only did so by lies and screeds about an imaginary pack of left wingers always oppressing him is running on being perpetually pissed off at at the left and being in deep love with Donald Trump.  Reid Rasner promises to be Trump's number one fan.  Megan Degenfelder  has "Endorsed by Donald Trump" on her campaign signs.

All three are Catholic.  If they can still stomach Trump at this point, there's literally no value they hold that they actually hold.  No Democrat is going to win, so lashing themselves to Trump is either cynical or self delusional.  It's inexcusable.

Degenfelder's signs out to read "Endorsed by Blasphemer Donald Trump".  Gray and Rasner, who are both young enough, ought to joint the Marines and put their bodies where their mouths are.

Another far right Catholic figure in Wyoming is Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, who is now running for Secretary of State as Rachel Williams. She's never said anything about Trump of which I'm aware, but as a Freedom Caucuser she ought to fell uncomfortable with the company she's been keeping.

It'll also be interesting to see how columnists like Jonathan Lange, a Lutheran minister, approaches what is now too obvious to ignore. . . Trump doesn't care about religion at all and feels free to outright mock it.  Granted, he's not Catholic, but for sincere Christians what was depicted is blasphemous irrespective of which branch of Christianity a person might be in.

And then we have this:

Cheyenne Attorney Files Complaint For Criminal Investigation Of Chuck Gray

There's no excuse for what Gray did.

Even some Republican states are opposing giving voter data to the Federal Government, but Chuck was the first to comply.

We'll see how this plays out, but if he loses, given his position, he ought to get the maximum penalty.

Anyhow, we're in the thick of the election now, but every day, Donald Trump gets weirder and weirder.  He's insane.  Standing by the insanity is not excusable.

April 15, 2026

Three Rematches Set, So Far, In Wyoming's House Races

Here's an absolute shock:

Five Wyoming U.S. House Candidates Condemn Trump’s Jesus-Like Image

This may be showing that the bloom is actually off the Trump rose.  Generally, Wyoming Republicans have been complete Trump toady's.

The five are Kevin Christensen, who called the post blasphemous, Matt McGinnis, and John Romero-Martinez.  Romero-Martinez, who is a devout Catholic, added that it was not only blasphemous, but sacrilegious.

Kinney the Democratic candidate and Johnson the Libertarian also criticized the act, but less forcefully.

Johnson made the excellent point that this is one of a string of outrages.

Predictably, according to the Cowboy State Daily:

Two more Republican candidates, Casper businessman Reid Rasner and Secretary of State Chuck Gray, didn’t condemn Trump’s actions. They leveled criticism at one another instead.

Both Rasner and Gray are Catholic and if that's all they could muster up people who sit next to them at Mass on Sunday ought to ask them what's the matter with them.

Elsewhere this was an act that finally had a reaction.  Like Johnson noted, you have to wonder where these people were all along.  Trump fan Riley Gaines noted:

Seriously I cannot understand why he’d post this. Is he looking for a response? Does he actually think this?

Gaines must have been asleep for the past decade to actually post a query on Trump's character.  He's self centered and narcissistic, and she seems surprised.

This trend locally and nationally shows that the wheels are really coming off of MAGA.  A Turning Point USA convention that was just held was grossly under attended.  Locally Republicans for the first time feel able to criticize Trump.  There's a significant movement in the state to boot out the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  A bipartisan movement in the House caused the removal of a Democratic and a Republican sex abuser, bypassing the pathetic Mike Johnson.  It appears the Democrats are going to take the Senate and the House.

For the Republicans, the good thing is that they are finally out of the cave to a degree.  The GOP has been wrecked by Donald Trump, but this may actually give them a chance to start to rebuild it, whereas waiting until after the November election will be utterly too late.

cont:

I recognize that a lot of young voters don't love the policy we have in the Middle East. Okay. I understand that. Don't get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one topic. Get more involved. That's how we ultimately take the country back.

J. D. Vance.

WTF?

Vance did oppose the war. We know that as he leaked like crazy.  But getting involved would mean booting the GOP into the dustbin, maybe forever.

Vance has remade himself repeatedly.  A person now stating that this is how "we take the country back" is raising interesting questions about where he himself is headed.  He's including himself in the "we" who are young and who oppose the policy in the Middle East.

Is Vance having a Humber Humphrey moment?

It'll be interesting to see if this is Vance's first cautious step into independence.  He's not dumb, and he obviously sees and even acknowledges that the GOP is going into the dumpster.  That statement would seem to be a declaration of independence from Trump.

April 17, 2026

Governor Gordon confirmed that he is not running for a third term.

While we're unlikely to mention this race again, Sheriff Harlan is running for reelection in Natrona County, Wyoming.

Rep. Harshman of Natrona County is running for Superintendent of Public Instruction.  He'd make a very good choice for this position, but it puts his house district in play.   A far right wing candidate was challenging Harshman as well as a Democrat.

Albert Sommers is running for the seat he lost in the last election, House District 20.  It fell to a WFC member.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 6th Edition, Campaigning before defeats.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Carpetbaggers, Chad Auer, Chuck Gray, Frank Chapman, Harriet Hageman, John Romero-Martinez, Megan Degenfelder, Politics, Reid Rasner, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

King Donald's War, Part 5. After 13/15 U.S. deaths, Hundreds of Iranian deaths, $50B spent fighting it, and a massive increase in the price of oil, King Donny surrenders to the Iranians. The "If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied" edition.

April 8,2026

What MAGA wizard King Donny said at the start of the war:

What the befuddled demented agreed to as an a starting point now:

The MAGA's I know and read about are already bragging this up as another example of Trump brilliance.  This demonstrates how completely brainwashed MAGA really is.  There is a Trump Derangement Syndrome alright.  It's what allows people who voted for no more overseas wars, lower prices, a return to (Calvinist) Christianity, and a deep belief in a conspiracy to keep the Epstein files hidden vote for a man who has now waged two wars, surrendered to a Muslim theocracy, caused higher prices, while hiding the Epstein files and living a life contrary to the Gospels to be worshipped no matter what he does.

We lost this war, completely.  We not only lost it for us, we lost it for Israel too.  Israel, which duped Donny into the war, deserved it.  The American people did not.

Thirteen American servicemen died for nothing whatsoever, other than an attempt at the greater glory of Trump.  Their lives were wasted. Their deaths didn't serve the nation, but one man.  Six were Army National Guardsmen.  Six were members of the USAF.

No Trumps or Musks, or the children of the rich, died.  If you visited Epstein Island, your family wasn't fighting.

And by the way, the oligarchs grew richer during the war, due to timely made trades and a rise in the price of oil, which made regular Americans poorer.

Trump once claimed that veterans were suckers.  The veterans of this war are.  But more than that, those who voted for Trump were proven to be.  There was no excuse to support him in the last election and there's no excuse not to remove him now.  

Before the war Iran was a theocracy.  It still is.

Before the war the Iranian people wanted freedom. They still do, and still lack it.

Before the war Iran could launch missiles and drones at their enemies. They still can.

Before the war Iran had 1000 pounds of uranium.  It still does.

Before the war the Strait of Hormuz was open.  Now Iran gets to charge a toll for its passage.

During the war Iran shipped more oil at a higher price than it did before the war.

The names of the thirteen known men and women who gave their lives, not for their country but for Donald Trump, are:

CWO Robert Marzan

SFC Nicole Amor

SFC Noah Tietjens

Sgt Declan Coady

Maj. Jeffrey O'Brien

Cpt. Cody Khork

Sgt. Benjamin Pennington

Maj. John "Alex" Klinner

Cpt. Ariana Savino

TSgt. Ashley Pruitt

Cpt. Seth Koval

Ct. Curtis Angst

TSgt. Tyler Simmons

Only some of the names of the 170 some Iranian girls the U.S. killed during the war are known.  Those names, including a few of the names of their teachers, are:

1. Hana Dehqani, eight years old

2. Fatemeh Salari, 34 years old

3. Reza Habashian, seven years old

4. Arya Bahadori, nine years old

5. Ali Asghar Zaeri, eight years old

6. Zahra Bahrami, seven years old 

7. Ahmad Soltani, eight years old

8. Hamed Par-ashegh-nezhad, seven years old

9. Fatemeh Yazdan-panah, young girl, age unknown

10. Mahdis Nazari, seven years old

11. Athena Chamani-nezhad, six years old

12. Amirghasem Zaeri, seven years old

13. Fatemeh Dorazehi, 10 years old

14. Arad Ahmadizadeh, eight years old 

15. Saman Karimzadeh, seven years old

16. Fatemeh Shahdadi, age unknown

17. Nadia Shahmiri, nine years old

18. Parham Ranjbari, nine years old

19. Mahmoud Gholamyani, 35 years old

20. Fatemeh Rahdar, 10 years old 

21. Amir-Hassan Rasouli, eight years old

22. Zahra Behrouzi, eight years old

23. Mohammadhatam Raisi, 10 years old

24. Asna Raisi, 12 years old 

25. Benyamin Jangjou, eight years old

26. Mohammad-Sadra Zarei, eight years old 

27. Maryam Pazark, 10 years old

28. Liana Mohammadi, seven years old

29. Mandana Salari, 29 years old

30. Sara Shayesteh, five years old

31. Zoha Pasand, eight years old

32. Esra Zakeri, nine years old

33. Salma Zakeri, six years old

34. Fatemeh Taherifard, 29 years old

35. Zahra Ansari, seven years old

36. Fatemeh Fadavi, 10 years old 

37. Mahna Zarei, two months old

38. Athareh Zarei, 10 years old

39. Alireza Zarei, nine years old

40. Mohammadreza Shahsavari, eight years old

41. Samira Basarde, 38 years old

42. Ehsan Saleminia, six years old

43. Fatemeh Zahra Karimi, seven years old

44. Zeynab Bahrami, 10 years old

45. Mohammad Shah-dousti, eight years old

46. Reza Barani, seven years old

47. Athena Ahmadzadeh, 10 years old

48. Khadijeh Darvishi, nine years old

49. Roqayyeh Karimi, 42 years old

50. Reza Ranjbar, six years old 

51. Marzieh Bashiri-far, 38 years old

52. Mohammad-Mehdi Chegini, 10 years old

53. Mohammadian Bahrami, 17 years old

54. Ali-Akbar Karyani Pak, eight years old

55. Hananeh Mehdikhah, seven years old

56. Fereshteh Sangarzadeh, 44 years old 

57. Mohammad-Ali Karyani Pak, seven years old

58. Parsa Mokhtari-nasab, 12 years old

59. Arina Arab-Kish, eight years old

60. Makan Nasiri, 12 years old

61. Esra Farahi-Zadeh, young girl, age unknown

About half of the American lives were due to a mid air accident, but they're just as dead as they would be had they died fighting.  All of the Iranian lives lost that are listed are due to a targeting accident.

What the death toll for anybody in Lebanon, which opened up as a theatre of war while this was going on, we don't probably really know.

May the perpetual light shine upon them.

If any question why we died, 

Tell them, because our fathers lied.

None of these people had a choice in the offering of their lives for Trump's desperate attempt to have a legacy.  American voters do have a choice on allowing him to continue to kill in an attempt to gain one, however.  They'll have that choice in November, and through their members of Congress, they have a sort of choice now.  The second it becomes clear to Republican members of Congress that their phony jobs are in danger by supporting a madman, they'll suddenly have never supported him. 

April 9, 2026

Nothing is going through the Straits of Hormuz yet. . . a sign that shippers doubt the ceasefire will hold.

And it hasn't in Lebanon, where Israel continues to conduct operations arguing, logically enough, that it doesn't apply there anyway.

April 13, 2026

Well negotiations are going badly so now King Donny is threatening to blockade Iranian ports.

The world's worst dealmaker screws up the Iran negotiations

Forget the "Art of the Deal” myth.

April 17, 2026

There apparently is an agreement for a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Last edition:

King Donald's War, Part 4. The Raving Madman threatens to resort to mass war crimes.

Labels: Catholic, Christianity, Donald Trump, King Donald's War, religion, The Madness of King Donald, United States and Israel v. Iran, War Crimes

Court Watch, Part V.

 Expect a major hissy fit.

I think we can confidently assume this project is dead, and that some lesser more useful construction will take place after Trump is out of office.

The judge ruled that the plaintiff was likely to prevail as the administration likely lacks the authority they tried to exercise here.

They should refund the money and Trump should pay for this destruction himself.

April 1, 2026

Trump's executive order on mail voting is set to face legal challenges

April 2, 2026

From the CST:

Basically the judge decided the issues in the two matters weren't sufficiently identical for consolidation.

On other matters:

Lex Anteinternet: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral...: Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba... : That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's goi...

I posted this yesterday.

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara

Courthouses of the West: Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Ba...: That's the birthright citizenship case. Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of h...

Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.

That's the birthright citizenship case.

Trump's going to lose this case, which will be another example of the wheels coming off of his administration.  His presence at the Court will not impress anyone, let alone the Justices. Trump seems to have lost any sense that he's not that impressive to about 70% of Americans.

His attendance is, frankly, appalling.

Cont (April 1, 2026)

JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH: Do you think Native Americans today are birthright citizens under your test and under your friend's test?

D. JOHN SAUER, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: I think so. I mean, obviously, they've been granted citizenship by statute ...

GORSUCH: Put aside the statute. Do you think they're birthright citizens?

SAUER: No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens.

GORSUCH: I understand that's what they said. But your test is the domicile of the parents, and that would be the test you'd have us apply today, right?

SAUER: Yes, yes. So, if a tribal Indian, for example, you know, gives up allegiance to ...

GORSUCH: Are tribal members born today birthright citizens?

SAUER: I think so, on our test, if they're lawfully domiciled here. I'm not s—, I have to think that through, but that's my reaction.

GORSUCH: I'll take the yes. That's alright.

Gee Louise, this administration is really something. 

It turns out that Trump left after Justice Jackson pretty much eviscerated the solicitor, D. John Sauer, who was sent to argue this.  Sauer's career really ought to be over for such a lame argument that was so obviously legal deficient.  He's a former Missouri solicitor and, more important, one of the lawyers who was willing to represent Trump in the past.

April 14, 2026

Trump predictably lost his defamation suit against the Washington Post.

And perhaps something will happen on Gray's ignoring Wyoming's voter confidentiality laws.

Cheyenne Attorney Files Complaint For Criminal Investigation Of Chuck Gray

April 17, 2026

An attempted end run to fund the garden shed was again blocked by the Federal Court.

Last edition:

Court Watch, Part IV.

Labels: 2025 White House Vandalization, Abortion, California, Court, Court Watch, Donald Trump, election, Epstein Scandal, Pamela Jo Bondi, Texas, The 2021 Insurrection, The Second Trump Administration, Utah, Wyoming (Weston County)

Hamburg Sandwich, American Style, 1928.

 

 My mother made hamburgers this way when I was a kid.

A Fossil Fuel Free Future is Here.

This was obvious, but will remain unrecognized for quite some time, for the same reason that coal is almost dead, but people don't grasp it.

Average people's ability to really grasp an existential change in something is pretty poor as a rule.  It's not so much that people choose to live in the past as it is that they have no grasp that the past of their younger lives and of their parents lives, the latter of which a lot of people hold to in a sort of mythical way, evolves.  We see that a lot in the U.S. right now.

The entire imaginary economy of Donald Trump is one that's grounded in a mythical 1970s, when he was young and clubbing and men lusting after girls in their teens was basically okay, du e to the sexual revolution.  MAGA, for its part, imagines a mythical 1950s economy, not understanding why the economy of the 1950s was the way it was.  In both instances, and particularly in regard to the 1970s economy, things were not as rosy as imagined.

Coal has been dying ever since the Royal Navy went to oil for ships.  We've discussed that before here:

Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry

Labels: boats and ships, British Navy, Coal, Daily Living, Industry, Lodging, Mid-Week at Work, Petroleum, Railroads, Transportation, U.S. Navy, United States Fuel Administration

Coal is not coming back.  In fact, it's demise is accelerating.  Lot of the globe, including China, in spite of what a demented Donald Trump thinks, is racing towards renewables.  Trump can't really imagine it as he's 80 years old and in the 70s there weren't very many big windmills, although even then there was a push towards renewable power.

Indeed, that push was started by the Arab Oil Embargo and people have been working on the technology ever since.  Now renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels for power generation.  Only nuclear can compete.

Every since the 70s engineers have been working on electric vehicles as well. Their day has arrived.

And Donald Trump started a war that will accelerate the pace of this change, rapidly.  Trump might end up being recalled as the greenest President ever, accidentally.

The change just won't be a switch to clean electrical power, and that switch is rapidly coming and no amount of John Barrasso and Harriet Hageman calling for the mythical "clean coal" will stop it.  It's also going to be a switch away from the sort of vehicle based economy we have now.  People aren't going to stop owning cars, but already a younger generation really isn't all that enamored with them.  Self driving vehicles, as much as I hate the idea, are coming in. With them will come self driving semi tractors and more importantly, in my view, remotely driven electric trains.

There's no reason that railroads can't be controlled like giant model train layouts.  Model trains already provide the model for it.  We're not far from that day.

That day is coming now whether Donald Trump, Harriet Hageman, John Barrasso, or people with an emotional tie to fossil fuels like it or not.  Your livelihood depending on it won't matter either.

It's already happening.

The 25th Amendment Watch List. A Fourteenth and Special edition. Attacking the Catholic Church.

April 13, 2026.

The number of Catholics in the world:  Over 1,422,000,000, with the number growing.

The number of Catholics in the United States: Between 50,000,000 and 70,000,000, with the number growing.

The number of Orthodox in the world 260,000,000

The number of Orthodox Christians in the United States:  2,600,000.

The number of Protestants in the world:  600,000,000 to 1,000,000,000.

The number of Protestants in the United States  140,000,000 to 150,000,000, of which 10 to 15% are mainline protestants, and of which the largest denomination is the American Baptist Conference, which includes 13,000,000 to 15,000,000 members.

The Catholic Church, all rites (the Roman Rite is the largest by far) is the largest single church in the world and the largest single church in the United States, in spite of the United States being a protestant nation.

The second largest church in the world are the Orthodox, meaning that the Apostolic Churches, those which go all the way back to the Apostles, far exceed the number of Protestants.

While all churches have their problems, the Catholic church is growing everywhere.  Protestant churches are dying.

And then we get this:

Trump posted those back to back  yesterday.  There's been all sorts of rumors circulating that the administration has been upset with the Church.

No doubt it isn't a fan of the Church. The Church has God as its King.  Maga has Donald as its.

Throughout Trump's presidency, the first legitimate one and the illegitimate second one, I've warned that support of Trump would likely kill off far right Evangelism in the US.  I've also warned that those far right Evangelicals who support Trumpwould turn on Catholicism, which they don't understand and often don't even think to be a Christian religion, when in fact it's the original Christian religion.  And I've failed to grasp how any thinking Catholic could really support Trump with any depth.

But some have.  I know plenty.

Some are just shallow political thinkers, others not, and all are conservative.  I'm conservative, but I've never supported Trump.

These people are opposed to abortion (so am I), and were horrified by transgenderism (so am I).  That frankly is just about it.  Some buy in to the other hardcore aspects of the far right as well, being opposed to immigration, for instance, which actually requires a more nuanced thought process than they are giving it.  And the Democrats made it impossible for Catholics to really support them, becoming the party of death and weirdness.

None of which meant that anyone had to support a dim, narcissistic, serial polygamist.

For those of you who supported Trump on social issues, there were and are other parties.  And how much do we know about Trump and any of the positions he supposedly supports.  He own track record on moral issues is poor at least in so far as his treatment of women is concerned.  And we're talking about adult women.  This administration outright opposition to releasing the Epstein files certainly raises questions about it being willing to support child rapists, and there's enough smoke around Trump to at least raise questions about how far in the shallow end of the pool he may have been willing to go, although nothing's been proven.  His family's financial dealings this term certainly raise questions of a moral nature.  His launching of an illegal war and threatening mass civilian deaths is criminal.

We could go on.  He's a horrible, demented, man.  Christians who are supporting him need to rethink it immediately.

Catholics supporting him have helped bring us to this.

From here on out there's no excuse for a free pass by members of the Apostolic Faiths.  None.  And that includes the two members in the administration, Marco Rubio and J. D. Vance.  Supporting Trump is supporting this mockery of the Faith and of all Christianity.

But for the voters too.  In the midterms there are already candidates who note they are "endorsed by Donald Trump".  One Catholic candidate here in the state hardcore embraces Trump and another runs, on all of her signs, "Endorsed by Donald Trump".

That needs to end right now.  

The 25th Amendment needs to be applied, now.  Catholics cozying up to Trump need to stop, now.  

Cont:

Q: Did you post that picture of yourself depicted as Jesus?

Trump: I did post it and I thought it was me as a doctor. And had to do with red cross as a red cross worker

Donald Trump.

If that's what he's thought, it's because he's demented.

That being what he thought is rather difficult to believe.  What's more believable is that he's worried American Catholics are now waking up, if they were not already awake, to what a terrible person he is.

April 16, 2026

We'll probably close this one out and start a new one, but this story is still playing out.

Something that should be really obvious, but MAGA just won't accept, is that Donald Trump is insane.  Of course, accepting that a leader who they loved is nuts would mean that some of what they're supporting is nuts.  Nobody wants to acknowledge that, but it needs to occur now.

We're in really dangerous territory.

Trump Rage at Pope Darkens as Ex-Allies Warn of Worsening Mental State

As Trump’s own ex-supporters start sounding the alarm about his mental state, a former top Trump official explains why the president’s madness is now badly messing with ordinary Americans’ everyday lives.

That's from The New Republic, which those with the real Trump Derangement Syndrome, the one that keeps a supporter from acknowledging that he's gone insane no matter what he does, will disregard.  But these warnings aren't in isolation by any means.

Here's one from the National Catholic Reporter:

Trump is detached from reality. The 25th Amendment exists for this moment

For the reporter to call for the 25th Amendment to be invoked is pretty extraordinary, but again those with the real TDS will just say, well, that's because he insulted the Pope.  Indeed, American Catholics in the political far right are already busy dissing Pope Leo XIV as some sort of flaming left winger, which is patently absurd.

Well, here's one from Jewish bonafide somewhat left winger Robert Reich:

He is Seriously, Frighteningly, Utterly, and Completely Losing His Mind

We are in great danger

The man is going insane.  We're in some sort of a race now to see if his cabinet can screw up its courage or finally do something so patently nuts that it can't be denied.  What that is, at this point, is almost too horrific to imagine.

What seems clear, for those who bother to observe, is that the U.S. is going to invade Cuba, unless the military puts a stop to it.  Nobody in the Administration seems ready to stop it.  We're basically starving the country to death, for no reason, right now, other than its a vengeful project supported by Cuban Americans.  The chances that we revive Trump's lust for Greenland at some point, and committing forces to satiate it aren't beyond possibility.  Maybe one of those two acts causes somebody to say "no".

Or maybe it'll be the war against Iran.  We seem to have wondered into a war that has no way out and the stress it's causing Trump is rapidly wiping out what mental faculties he had left.  The thought that Iran may win, and it may, is terrifying for him.  It's also destroying the political chances of J. D. Vance, which Vance likely knows, and which gives Vance, who opposed the war, the chance to be Brutus to Trump's Caesar.  Still, Trump launching an act of absolute barbarity to try to force Iran to surrender, which would fail, isn't beyond possibility either.

Or maybe it'll be something benign.  He says something he can't retract about something abhorrent, or walks out in the paved rose garden sans clothes, or forgets who the first lady is.

Or maybe we wake up one day having deployed nuclear weapons with MAGA wondering, for the most part, how we got there, and with some supporting it as they must or must wakeup.

We're in dangerous territory.

I'd predicted when we started this series that Trump's second term would last 18 months, from January 2025 to June 2026.  We're rolling right up on that.  What is clear at this point is that in November the Democratic Party is going to resume control of the House and the Senate.  At that point Trump's ability to reign like a dictator will end.  Knowing that, if he is still in office, he'll do everything possible to disrupt the 2026 election and steal it..  People like Chuck Gray will help him in that attempt, and are already helping him.  It probably won't work.  If he goes too far, it'll result in mass violence.

The fact that he'll try it, and that it will become increasingly obvious that he's doing to try it as we move towards November, will mean that there will be a fair chance that if Trump is still in office after November, he'll face impeachment and be removed in 2027.  Because of that, there's also an increased chance that if my original timeline was off, the 25th Amendment will be invoked then.  An impeachment of Trump, at this point might very well be followed by an impeachment of Vance, who will not want to face that.

Hitler didn't resign rather than take Germany into defeat.  Comparing Trump to Hitler is something even his opponents hate to have done, but he has a very similar mindset in certain ways.  Hitler was democratically elected and co opted the state as well, and believed manically in himself.  Trump is like that.  Stress and drugs eroded Hitler's mind, as well as the burden of evil.  Trump came into office in his first time an obviously mentally unstable person and it's grown worse.  He's never been a person who is personally admirable.

The longer this goes on, the worse it will become.

Last edition:

Downfall. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Thirteenth Edition. The MAGA Cannibal.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 25th Amendment Watch List, Donald Trump, Mental Health, The Madness of King Donald, United States and Israel v. Iran, World War Two

Why did World War Two Chocolate Bars Taste Horrible?

 

Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 3. The Quack Edition.

  

BASH: Is this measles outbreak a consequence of the administration undermining support for vaccines?

DR OZ: I don't believe so. Secretary Kennedy has been advocating for measles vaccines

BASH: Oh, come on

From a CNN Interview of Mehmet Oz, a prime example of the Oprah Effect.¹ 

In fairness to Dr. Oz, who in fairness should not be a government official, he does want people to get the measles vaccine.

Also in fairness, the dissing of vaccines isn't really a Trump thing in and of itself, but he gave it some boosted unneeded assistance by taking the political step of promising Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. a job as the HHS Secretary if he'd drop out of the last Presidential race.  Kennedy is a quack, and an opponent of vaccines in varying degrees (it seems to change day by day).  The rise of this movement, however, started with people like Jenny McCarthy who sadly has a son with autism.  McCarthy herself was a Playboy model and her only real expertise is in showing her naked visage, something that really doesn't qualify a person for anything serious, and in fact may achieve much the opposite.

Oh, and by the way, Jenny McCarthy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show multiple times in the 2000s to discuss her erroneous theories on autism and vaccines, and to promote a book she wrote.

Much of this story has to do with the inability to understand the difference between present conditions and past ones.  People tend to assume that negative developments in a population mean a negative present condition. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they also represent a positive one.  I'll give a personal example.

In 1982 I had pneumonia while at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.  I was extremely ill, literally on death's door.  

Before the advent of antibiotics the fatality rates for bacterial pneumonia were between 60% and 70%.

Not good.

Now, the survivability rate is pretty good.

I've had a colon surgery for a developing condition that would have killed me even thirty years ago.

The point?  Well, if I go on to develop Alzheimer's, which I pray I do not, it'll mostly be because I didn't die at age 19 of pneumonia.

Also, fwiw, Meet The Press this weekend had a physician on who noted that diseases we can now vaccinate for are associated with cancer, which is a developing field of medicine.  I.e., you get some disease that's not big deal when young, and then you get cancer when older.  You don't want cancer.

A fellow I know who suffered a heart attack, and who was otherwise very healthy, may have developed his heart condition this way as well.

Get vaccinated.

March 10, 2026

The worst cabinet in American history

And it's not even close.

March 15, 2026

The Trump Interregnum is threatening to pull broadcasting licenses of those who do not give a happy spin to the war against Iran.

March 21, 2026

Waging a war against American airports must be easier than waging a war against a real country that fights back:

cont:

Absolutely reprehensible.

At this point, support of Trump is indecent.

March 31, 2026

We were horrible in Vietnam until we did Rolling Thunder One and Rolling Thunder Two, and then we won. As soon as we do half-measures, we lose. The faster we get this over the better. If we seize Kharg Island, it's technically boots on the ground. It could be done almost flawlessly. If we have enough firepower, it would be very easy to defend.

Rep. Rich McCormick, whom apparently is unaware that the US lost the Vietnam War.

April 10, 2026

Melania Trump made a rare and awkward televised appearance to deny ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The appearance was so rare, and the rumors regarding her association with Epstein so long lasting, that there's lots of open speculation as to why, although the release of a book in the UK asserting she was an Epstein bedmate a year prior to her association with Trump may be the reason.  Or it may just be that she's tired of her reputation being dragged through the mud.

Note, I'm not asserting the book is correct.  I don't know, and I'm not going to read it.  She's asserting that at least some of what's being said are lies, and no doubt some of them are lies.  I'll note the repeated claims that she was a prostitute is a lie.  Her claims that Epstein did not introduce the couple are mostly likely correct.

I'm surprised by how surprised people are that she speaks English poorly.  Frankly, it just sounds heavily accented to me.

I'm not a Melania fan, but I don't envy her position.

Marrying Trump made her rich and we don't know why she married him, and her marriage no doubt now looks like a pretty poor choice to people who do not adore Trump.  Maybe she adores Trump.  It's certainly made her a target, and she can hardly defend herself due to her poor speaking abilities.  

The whole event is rather odd.

cont:

Arc de la défaite?

Trump Unveils Design Plan for Tacky, 250-Foot Victory Arch

In the middle of a war, this is what the president is really focused on.

April 13, 2026

Democrats like high gas prices because of their radical climate agenda. So people understand what the president is doing and agree with him.

Sen. Dr. John Barrasso.

So, Trump causing higher prices. . . Democrats want higher prices. . . so Trump's a Democrat?

Yeah. . . Wyoming's really getting its money worth out of this public servant. . . 

Frankly, I don't believe that Barrasso believes a word he's saying a lot of the time.  If Trump announced tomorrow he was a member of the Socialist Party, Dr. John would appear with a copy of the Greatest Hits of Karl Marx.

April 16, 2026

Kennedy was just put in this position by Trump to get him out of the way in the election.  No more proof than that is needed to establish that Trump really doesn't give a rats ass about the health of the American public.  Kennedy is a complete nut.

Of course, Trump also elevated Dr. Oz to power as well, putting the sort of dimwitted pop crap from the Oprah Show into power.

While we're at it, Pete Hegseth, who has tattooed himself with the symbols of Catholic Crusaders while being a member of some Protestant sect that Crusaders would regard as being weird heretics, but who is trying to Christianize, in the far right Evangelical sense, the Department of Defense quoted to a gathering at one of his prayer functions the famous speech from Pulp Fiction, that being:

The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee.

This is good script writing, but it's not actually what's in the Bible.

A snippet of what's actually found in Ezekiel in this area, which is supposed to be what the assassin character is quoting, is here:

Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the Philistines acted vengefully and exacted vengeance with intentional malice, destroying with undying hostility, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and wipe out the remnant on the seacoast.

Thus I will execute great acts of vengeance on them, punishing them furiously. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I wreak my vengeance on them.

A bit different.  I'd have expected Hegseth to know that.  Part of what's noted in the actual text is a warning against vengeance. 

The larger text states:

The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, turn toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them.

Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the LORD! Thus says the Lord GOD: Because you jeered at my sanctuary when it was desecrated, at the land of Israel when it was destroyed, and at the house of Judah when they went into exile, therefore I am giving you to people from the east* as a possession. They shall set up their encampments among you and pitch their tents in your midst; they shall eat your produce and drink your milk. And I will turn Rabbah into a pasture for camels and all of Ammon into a grazing place for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

For thus says the Lord GOD: Because you rejoiced over the land of Israel with scorn in your heart, clapping your hands and stamping your feet, therefore, see, I am stretching out my hand against you and giving you up as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and wipe you out of the lands. I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the LORD.c

Against Moab.

Thus says the Lord GOD: Because Moab said, “See! the house of Judah is like all the other nations,” therefore, I am exposing the whole flank of Moab* with its cities, the jewels of its land: Beth-jesimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim. I will hand it over, along with the Ammonites, to the people from the east that it may not be remembered among the nations. I will execute judgment upon Moab that they may know that I am the LORD.

Against Edom.

Thus says the Lord GOD: Because Edom took vengeance on the house of Judah and incurred terrible guilt by taking vengeance on them, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it human being and beast alike. I will turn it into ruins from Teman to Dedan; they shall fall by the sword.

I will put my vengeance against Edom into the hands of my people Israel; they will deal with Edom in accord with my furious anger. Thus they shall know my vengeance!—oracle of the Lord GOD.h

Against the Philistines.

Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the Philistines acted vengefully and exacted vengeance with intentional malice, destroying with undying hostility, therefore thus says the Lord GOD: See! I am stretching out my hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites and wipe out the remnant on the seacoast.

Thus I will execute great acts of vengeance on them, punishing them furiously. Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I wreak my vengeance on them.

One of the things that's slightly interesting here, as a random observation, is that generally Catholics use a lot more of the Old Testament as a rule than Protestants.  Protestants are often shocked how "Jewish" Catholic services are, and well given as the Apostolic Faiths date back to the Apostles, that makes sense.  Maybe Hegseth can be somewhat excused therefore for quoting Quentin Tarantino's script. 

It does make me wonder, however, if Hegseth has seen the movie.  In the film Jules Winnfield, the assassin in question, has a Road to Damascus moment and decides to give up being a hit man.  Vincent Vega, who continues on in that role after Winnfield has a Crisis de Coeur, is gunned down by one of his intended targets, who himself is excused as a target by the mob boss after he intervenes to save his life.  Tarantino is not noted to be religiously observant at all, but he may have accidentally have written some moral lessons into the film.  

If so, Hegseth missed them.

We might close out this issue of this thread here, as with Donald Trump's mental health rocketing towards the completely unhinged, the ignorance level of the Trump administration is accelerating.  RFK Jr., for example, is starting a podcast.  Markwayne Mullin is in the cabinet.  Things are occurring back scene.  The administration, the most ignorant one in American history, promises to get weirder.

Footnotes:

1. The Oprah Effect is so named here to explain the phenomenon of Oprah Winfrey putting some flaming bogosity on to her popular daytime television show and thereby having millions of people give it credence.  There are a fair number of examples, including the rise of Dr. Oz.

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Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 2. The War is a Racket edition.

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