So, uh, where is he? The Drumpfster is the most desperately needy insecure little narcissist the world has suffered for a long, long time. Maybe ever. This guy is SO desperate for attention, he pressed his face against the glass at Walter Reid Hospital when he had Covid just so he could be seen. Now nobody has seen him in a public appearance since Tuesday?

That makes today Day Five without any camera time, no fawning pressers, no public adulation from his toadies, nothing. There have been a couple of posts to his crappy social media site but even they don’t sound like 47. Some of the words are decidedly too big. That is, someone else wrote them.

Whatever is keeping him out of the public eye, it must be pretty serious. I’m pretty sure Donny is simply incapable of choosing to stay out of the public eye. His need for attention drives him the exact same way a heroin addict is driven to heroin.

When he has been seen recently, he shows signs of some health issue. I mean, he’s been trying NOT to show signs of some health issue, but people see it anyway. I heard a doctor say a great way to measure the likelihood of an infirmity, in Donny’s case, would be to pay attention to his golf. Donny comes and Donny goes but Donny golfs. It’s pretty much all he does. (And he even cheats at that when he’s playing alone!) Right now? Donny ain’t golfin’…

I don’t know. Hope springs eternal and maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see. And wish to see. And pray to see. But it IS a hopeful sign, right? Maybe the daily mantra, “Trump dead at 79” is having the desired effect. Let’s keep up the good work, people. Keep chanting. Hold it in your heart. Discuss it among your friends. “Trump dead at 79.” We seem to be making headway…

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The tariffs are illegal? To tell you the truth, I’m not surprised to hear that 47’s tariffs are illegal. I’ve read the US Constitution. I KNOW that the power of the purse resides with Congress. Taxation is very definitely within the purview of Congress. The fact that Congress has chosen, lackey style, to ignore The Felon’s encroachments into their territory doesn’t pass the power to the President.

The part that surprises me is that an appellate court said as much. The tariffs have been ruled illegal, correctly, by the DC Appellate court. He’s not worried. He knows he still has the Roberts Supremely Corrupt Kangaroo Court to come to his rescue. I expect them to issue their standard ruling, “Whatever our Precious wants,” which will save his tax increase on Americans.

But corrupt rulings from a corrupted court cannot change reality. His tariffs are illegal. He has no authority to issue nor enforce them. They ARE tax increases on the American people and he has no authority to unilaterally increase taxes on the American people.

I’m not saying he’ll stop. Of course he’s going to do whatever he wants, no matter who it hurts. And oh, man does he seem to enjoy hurting people. It’s just like, a little breath of fresh air, hearing a court issue a ruling that comports with the Constitution. It’s rather rare, these days, and I’m glad to know it’s still possible. You know, for now…

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Mortgage fraud seems to be 47’s new go-to charge when he wants to smear someone, in this case Fed governor Lisa Cook. Hey, at least fraud is a topic he genuinely knows something about. In this case, the regime accused Cook of mortgage fraud because they claim she has more than one loan listed as her primary residence.

Okay, first, we don’t even know if that’s true but second, it certainly could be. One gets a better rate on a loan for a primary residence than for an investment property, so the concern is that people lie, pretending an investment property is their primary residence. And, people do. BUT, it’s also possible that she just moved.

One gets a loan for their new primary residence, then, say, a year later, moves to a new house, with a new loan, ALSO listed as a primary residence. The rule is, the borrower only has to stay in a primary residence for six months for it to satisfy the terms of the primary residence designation. Now two loan files exist, both showing different houses as the primary residence and both houses actually were at one time or another. That’s NOT mortgage fraud.

As ALWAYS with this lying and criminal regime, I’d need to see the evidence. No, I don’t want to hear sincere promises that the evidence exists. Show it or STFU…

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It’s a measure of how people feel about what this crooked crowd of cowardly creeps is doing. A guy named Sean Dunn throws a sandwich at an ICEhole, hitting him. The sandwich was from Subway and it was still wrapped up so the ICEhole didn’t get dirty just… hit with a sandwich. Still, that’s technically battery, if I understand correctly, so he was arrested and charges were filed.

The thing is, this performative pack of petulant pukes wanted to make maximum impact so they charged the guy with everything they could think of (actually felony assault) and made a grand announcement they were going to put the guy in prison for years and decades to come. And then? The Grand Jury wouldn’t indict the guy. It’s good to know there are still decent people around, eh?

This, after Jeanine Pirro, Donny’s hand-picked, and very pickled US Attorney failed to get an indictment against a DC resident named Sydney Reid – three times! (It is possible, likely, even, that Pirro is just a crappy, crappy lawyer.) Reid was accused of felony assault after scuffling with an ICEhole. But they couldn’t get the felony so Reid will be charged with a misdemeanor. Still, jury nullification in Grand Juries is not common and I’m happy to see people standing up for their fellow citizens against the worst, most vile impulses of this evil regime…

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Oh, I didn’t want to forget to mention, Donald Trump was Jeffrey Epstein’s best friend for fifteen years and they very likely raped children together. MAGA doesn’t care but decent people do. And we haven’t forgotten…

Well, Oklahoma is now going to institutionalize wrongheadedness. Lovely. Students in Oklahoma schools now have to identify “discrepancies” in the 2020 election. Specifically, the new curriculum standard says the students need to, “Identify discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at graphs and other information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states, the security risks of mail-in balloting, sudden batch dumps, an unforeseen record number of voters, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends.”

I’d be in trouble if I attended school in Oklahoma, these days. With that kind of standard, they will likely start teaching kids that Japan won WWII, as well. I mean, why not? If you’re just going to make things up anyway, why not go all out? I’ll tell you this: I didn’t like Oklahoma’s new standard, so I fixed it. It should read like this:

“Identify fictional discrepancies in 2020 elections results by looking at fake graphs and other fraudulent information, including the sudden halting of ballot-counting in select cities in key battleground states that never happened, the security risks of mail-in balloting that don’t exist, sudden batch dumps that never happened, an unforeseen record number of voters furious at the Feckless Fuckup’s handling of, well, everything, really, and the unprecedented contradiction of ‘bellwether county’ trends that come with being such a complete loser of a President.”

This is simple, folks. Donny got his ass handed to him in 2020 because he did a terrible, terrible job. Hundreds of thousands of people died needlessly and he flat-lined the economy. The only President in history who has done a worse job than 45 is 47, who is working overtime to be worse in every measurable way – his only “success” and, sadly, succeeding at THAT brilliantly. The only real mystery is how he won so many people back to support him in 2024. Of course, Americans could offer an actual and honest class about how to steal an election based on 2024 but I’m guessing The Felon and his minions don’t want anybody looking any too closely at that “election…”

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Oh, crap, have you heard? Taylor Swift isn’t “hot” anymore and, apparently, Bruce Springsteen is “not a talented guy.” He was talented enough for 47 to use his song without permission during the campaign but, apparently, not any more. If the Failure President has declared it, it must be (the opposite of) true.

The dude’s skin is a thick as the papery skin of an onion, isn’t it? Swift preferred the other candidate during the election, and she said so. She might not have, except Donny tried to lie her into his camp. He claimed she supported him. She set the record straight. Now he doesn’t like her, publicly, at least. As a general rule, Donny doesn’t like ANYBODY that tells the truth. Springsteen was a little more direct.

Springsteen stopped his show in England to declare 47’s corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous regime, “corrupt, incompetent, and treasonous.” That just seems accurate, to me. He called on “all who believe in democracy and the best of our American experience to rise with us.” He also called on his audience to “Raise your voices against authoritarianism and let freedom ring.”

Apparently, that infuriated Donny. Apparently, 47 doesn’t WANT to let freedom ring. So, he got mad at Springsteen and declared him lacking in talent. Secretly, I think Donny is just jealous that both Springsteen and Swift have earned more honest money than him, but that’s just a suspicion.

Oh, but when Donny’s panties are in a wad, he simply can not let it go. He wrote, “This dried out ‘prune’ of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!)” [Editors note: look who’s talking.] “ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that’s just ‘standard fare.'” He added, “Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!”

Wait, let me guess: ’86 47′ is a clear “threat,” but “Then we’ll all see how it goes for him!” is just standard Donny-being-Donny kind of funny, right?

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Have you seen the Don of Destruction’s latest? Well, I don’t know if it’s his “latest.” He’s so stupid, so fast, so often, it’s likely he’s been outrageous thirty or forty more times since, but this is a good one. He told Walmart they aren’t allowed to increase their prices based on his tariffs. I honest-to-God did not know 47 had a voice in Walmart’s board room.

MAGA used to understand this. They’re not allowed to, now, so they pretend they don’t, but they used to. Try to implement a tax on something. MAGA will say… no, MAGA used to understand that retailers would simply add the cost of the tax to the end-sale price of that product. Increased sales taxes lead to higher prices. ‘Tariff’ is simply another word for ‘tax’ – and it’s a sales tax. But The Felon has been lying to his base that the tariffs won’t increase prices.

Amazon said they were going to highlight the added cost of products by showing the additional cost of the tariffs but they backed down from that after The First Felon spoke with Bezos. The prices are still going up, there’s just no breakout number to highlight the added cost of tariffs. Walmart warned their customers that things were going to get more expensive because of the tariffs – so 47 told Walmart they can’t raises their prices. Instead, he suggested, Walmart should “eat the tariffs.”

I don’t like Walmart. I don’t trust them. I don’t shop in their stores if I haven ANY other option. I think Walmart – and every other national retailer in the country – will raise prices based on the tariffs whether they need to or not. It’s an opportunity, and Capitalists NEVER take a pass when they have an opportunity to screw customers. At the same time, tariffs are taxes and taxes get passed on to the consumer.

So, while he’s over in the middle east illegally securing billions of dollars in business for himself based on the Presidency, he’s ALSO telling Walmart they’ve earned enough, so they should just suck it up and eat the tariffs.

I’ll tell you this: it’s one thing to attack and destroy defenseless Americans. It’s another thing, entirely, for him to start telling billionaires they have too much. Poor people? Sure. OBVIOUSLY, they’re taking far too much, but billionaires? Billionaires are twisted people. They don’t know what “too much” means and they’re certainly not going to let a proven dumbass tell them. I expect Walmart’s prices will increase based on the tariffs, just like Walmart said they would. And I would NOT be surprised to see some serious push-back from the billionaires now, it seems, in 47’s crosshairs…

So…Qatar (rhymes with ‘guitar’) wants to “give” 47 a luxury plane, a Boeing 747 that has been fitted out to the most opulent (read: gaudy) standard. The MAGA lie is that the plane is being gifted to the Department of Defense, not the Don of Destruction. They want to gloss over the fact that, should Donny leave office, the plane will leave with him and become the property of his presidential library foundation.

On paper, the plane will always “belong” to someone else. In reality, only The Felon will enjoy the use of the thing. Have you ever read the US Constitution? You really should. It has some good stuff in it, things like this: “no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”

That’s called the ‘Emoluments Clause.’ It was put into the original Constitution (you “originalists”) in an effort to keep foreign governments from bribing American officials. Obviously, THIS “official” likes… wants… needs to be bribed to get him to do anything except play golf. I think a $400 million dollar airplane qualifies as a “present,” but I’ve still got it down as a “bribe.”

Fortunately, lying Leavitt has pronounced that all of the cronies and bootlickers that toady up to the Drumpfster and are incapable of defying him have declared that if Dear Leader wants it, it’s legal, so just don’t you worry. So HE gets a $400 million dollar plane and YOU get… to lose your health care and Social Security.

Yes, I know MAGA is a cult, enthralled to this nightmare but even THEY must have noticed how much nicer life is getting for their ‘Precious’ and how much more difficult it’s getting for them. Even MAGA can’t keep blaming Joe Biden forever.
“Oh, yes, we can! Nothing is ever our beloved’s fault – most especially the things he does!”

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I’ve been watching the way 47’s boneheaded tariffs have been playing out. Like most people, I’ve noticed the vast empty spaces where ships were supposed to be offloading. I’ve listened to reports of idled dockworkers and truck drivers. But I’ve been playing closer attention to the China/US “talks.” The lying officials from the US have been insisting that China and the US are in talks on a trade deal. China has been steadfast in denying any such talks are occurring.

At one point, Team Evil started announcing that China is trying to call them, that China is desperate to make a deal. Some insider revealed that, no, in fact, the US is desperately trying to call China to make a deal and China wasn’t picking up the phone. It seems that while Donny was trying to figure out his next “4D Chess” move, China was just sitting back, waiting for idled dockworkers and truck drivers to hit the news. Donny lies to try to manipulate the news cycle, China sits quietly while the stock market ticks down.

Eventually, the US found out where in the world a Chinese official was going to be and they sent an envoy of their own. Now there’s going to be a 90-day “pause” in Donny’s self-inflicted trade war. Tariffs will be lowered, not removed. A Chinese spokesperson rebuked 47’s regime when he said, “We hope that the US side will, based on this meeting, continue to move forward in the same direction with China, completely correct the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes, and continually strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation.”

“…completely correct the erroneous practice of unilateral tariff hikes…” That’s diplomat talk for “Stop with your stupid trade manipulations!” In short, China decided to let Donny off the hook. Now they just need to wait and see exactly how stupid he actually is. Will he stand down on his failed trade war or will his unmanageable, uncontainable ego get in the way again and cause him to double down?

In short, 47 is admitting defeat. We know how he handles things like that. Expect him to come out LOUDLY proclaiming his “victory” and how he totally handled his opposition. He just won’t mention that he “handled” them by giving them what they wanted while getting nothing he wanted. Is surrender REALLY the only game he has?

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The Felon was forced to withdraw his nominee for Surgeon General because the person he chose had some “issues” with her credentials. Issues? Yeah, she lied about them. She mislead everyone about where she went to school and how long it took her to get through. Obviously, putting forward a name with problematic credentials won’t work. Fortunately, Donny fixed that.

He put forward a person who has no credentials at all. None. Zip. Zilch. According to THAT standard, I could be Surgeon General. You really wouldn’t want that. You’ve got to give him credit for one thing: he has an amazing ability to be laser focused on finding exactly the wrong person, the least qualified, and/or the person who hates that function of government the most – and putting them in charge of the section where they least belong…

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It’s important to remember, especially if you live in a red state: red states take more help from the US government than they give. More residents of red states than blue states are dependent on, say, the Affordable Care Act if they want to go to the doctor. I don’t mention this in any kind of “neener, neener” way. It’s a simple fact residents of red states had better start thinking about soon, since they’re about to lose their health care.

Congress is about to eliminate $880 billion dollars in Medicaid funding to they can extend tax cuts for wealthy people. The big GOP lie on THIS issue is that they’ve found $880 billion dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse. They haven’t. They just want the tax cut and if they’re going to get it by being cruel to those least able to defend themselves, they’d better pretend there’s a good reason, right?

The masses NEED the Medicaid funding to see a doctor when they need to. The rich people don’t need tax cuts. Sure, they WANT them. But they don’t need them. Several of the red states have “trigger laws.” A “trigger law” is a law written to become active based on a certain event.

In this case, the “event” is the reduction in funding for the Affordable Care Act the cons are pushing through right now. When that passes, Medicaid funding drops and the trigger laws take effect and the Affordable Care Act is canceled. How many millions of people will suddenly find themselves without heath care?

I’ll tell you this: if you’re willing to die just so some rich S.O.B. can have yet another tax break, you really shouldn’t be allowed outside without supervision…