One of the greats. He had our number a long time ago:
"what digby sez..."
Digby's Hullabaloo Posts
Mike Johnson is an extreme Bible thumping super-Christian who talks about it at every opportunity. When he was first elected speaker he said this:
During an interview Thursday evening with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Johnson said he has been asked by members of the media for his positions on myriad issues. In response, he has told them to turn to Scripture to truly understand his perspective on the matters of the day.
“Someone asked me today in the media, they said, ‘It’s curious, people are curious: what does Mike Johnson think about any issue under the sun?’” he explained. “I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it — that’s my worldview.’ That’s what I believe, and so I make no apologies for it.”
Maybe he hasn’t gotten to the Jesus part yet. If he had, what Budde said would have been very familiar.
As I have been saying for months, now that Trump has received (in his mind) vindication and restoration — and stayed out of jail — there are only two things he really wants: vengeance and money. Nothing else interests him.
I think it’s clear he plans to leave office a vastly wealthier man than he enters it. He’s well on his way. And then there’s this from Axios. Did they think he was joking?
President Trump’s threats of retribution are rapidly materializing in policies across the U.S. government, an early warning to Trump critics that bygones will not be bygones.
Trump is flexing his vast new powers to target what he’s described as “the enemies from within” — enforcing loyalty tests, purging career officials and attempting to rewrite the history of the last eight years.
- Trump has at times downplayed his thirst for revenge — but his first moves back in office suggest resentment against Democrats, former allies, prosecutors and the media will be a driving force in his second term.
- “For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” the president promised supporters on the campaign trail.
Some of Trump’s acts of vengeance this week have been petty and personal.
- On Day 1 as president, he revoked the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter in 2020 saying the Hunter Biden laptop scandal carried “classic earmarks” of a Russian disinformation campaign.
- On Day 2, he publicly fired thousands of Biden presidential council appointees, including former Joints Chief of Staff chairman Gen. Mark Milley and Biden-supporting celebrity chef José Andrés.
- The Pentagon also removed a portrait of Milley — who Trump once suggested should be executed for treason — just hours after inauguration.
Other Trump moves have been far more serious.
- Within hours of taking office, Trump revoked Secret Service protection for his former national security adviser John Bolton, who has been targeted for assassination by Iran.
- He pardoned about 1,500 supporters convicted or charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, including hundreds who violently attacked the police officers protecting the building.
- Trump’s new FCC chair plans to reinstate complaints against ABC, CBS and NBC for allegedly biased coverage, which the former Democratic chair had dismissed as a partisan attempt to “curtail freedom of the press.”
In his 2023 book, Trump’s ultra loyalist nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, compiled a list of “government gangsters” he said should be targeted for sabotaging Trump’s first presidency.
- Even with Patel’s confirmation in flux, there are clear indications that the second Trump administration will channel his aggressive approach to rooting out the so-called “Deep State.”
- On Day 1, Trump moved to strip thousands of civil servants of their employment protections. Roughly 160 National Security Council career officials already have been sidelined amid loyalty screenings.
- At least 15 senior Justice Department officials have been removed or reassigned, including one who played a key role in the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago in August 2022 as prosecutors sought evidence that Trump had mishandled classified documents.
Between the lines: In his final days in office, Biden pardoned Milley, Anthony Fauci, former Rep. Liz Cheney and members of his own family as a precautionary measure against the retribution Trump had telegraphed.
- Trump and his allies have harshly criticized Biden, and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) suggested Wednesday that House Republicans may investigate the circumstances of the pardons.
- Johnson also announced a new subcommittee that would continue investigating “the false narratives peddled by” the Jan. 6 committee — a sign Trump will have allies on Capitol Hill as he pursues his revenge tour.
- “I went through four years of hell by this scum we had to deal with,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity when asked if the attorney general should investigate his enemies. “It’s really hard to say they shouldn’t have to go through it also.”
By the way, the revenge tour is not just aimed at DC politicians. He is seeking revenge in various ways against all of blue America. None of us are exempt.
And get a whole lot louder in the right spaces
It’s going to be a long several years until the nation collapses. Or Trump does and VP Elegy takes over. Or the world somehow survives.
A couple of posts to flag.
Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) notes that hardcore MAGA types are beyond reaching. “Most,” anyway. Democrats trying to placate them, policy-wise, will win no points with them.
Democrats need to do they best they can policy-wise to pursue their own agenda without compromising in the mistaken belief it will help their electoral prospects in Trump country. They cannot oppose Trump by trying to play nice with him and prove they are the adults in the room. It only makes the weak appear weaker. Nobody wants to vote for that. And even if they do, they won’t turn out to vote for that.
Will Stancil has sharper words on pushing back visibly.
For all their experience, the Democrats’ gerontocracy is bringing 20th-century knives to a 21st-century gun fight. Too many learned politics in the 1980s. Even if they could learn new tricks, they’re not the ones to bring it now. The Trump-oligarch alliance is not your grandfather’s country-club Republican Party. That’s gone.
Younger Dermocratic leaders were born into this media and political melieu. Senior Democrats should be learning from the young-uns, but not trying to lead with half-learned skills they picked up last week. Remember your cringe when Joe Biden tried his hand at TikTok?
I’m not saying they are all reacting inappropriately. Some Dem senators brought real heat to questioning Trump nominees. But who sees that besides geeks like us, Dear Reader? Not the general public and not Trumpists with their eyes wide shut. That’s what Stancil’s responding to.
It’s what Jordan Klepper’s demonstrating here, especially in the last half of the clip:
It’s Everything Everywhere All at Once time. Democrats who can’t chew the leather anymore need to step back and let their junior members with the right skills stand in front.
In Trump 2.0, suffering is a directive
Digby covered this guy on Wednesday, but Russell Vought, Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Office of Management and Budget, merits (I use that term loosely) more time in disinfecting sunshine.
Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, has a lot of federal employees living in his state. People with families, Americans trying to do a good job and make ends meet. Kaine questioned Vought, an architect of Project 2025, about his authorship of a budget proposal titled “A Commitment to End Woke and Weaponized Government” that Vought produced for the Center for Renewing America where Vought was its president.
Vought, an avowed Christian nationalist, proposed deep cuts to the SNAP program (food stamps) and Medicaid. Quoting from the Bible, Kaine had questions for Vought about that and about what programs he considers “woke” during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Hafiz Rashid writes at The New Republic:
“Is providing nutrition assistance to low-income kids ‘woke and weaponized’? Kaine asked Vought, who refused to answer, replying that he “wasn’t here to talk about the budget that center put out.”
Kaine pressed further, but Vought claimed he was only there on behalf of the president. The Virginia senator then pointed out that in the same document, Vought proposed deep cuts to Medicaid for low-income families, tenant-based rental assistance, and low-income housing energy assistance.
“This was all in your document about ending woke and weaponized government. OK, let’s see, we want to traumatize federal employees and then we want to take all of these programs that help everyday people who are struggling and cut them because they’re ‘woke and weaponized.’ Those are your words, not mine,” Kaine concluded. “From the fullness of the heart, the mouth speaks.”
You may remember Vought from undercover video shot by two reporters from the nonprofit Centre for Climate Reporting.
The New Republic noted when the video posted in August:
Vought revealed his group plans to create “shadow” agencies to implement its draconian vision to solidify the “Judeo-Christian worldview value system.”
“We’ve been too focused on religious liberty, which we all support, but we’ve lacked the ability to argue we are a Christian nation,” said Vought.
“I want to make sure that we can say we are a Christian nation,” he said. “And my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism. That’s pretty close to Christian nationalism because I also believe in nationalism.”
Vought means to “rehabilitate Christian nationalism.” Perhaps that’s just in his off-the-clock spare time, but he seems quite committed to it.
As Digby noted, “Trump is too stupid and narcissistic to even vaguely understand or care what this man is up to.” He’s too obsessed with wreaking vengeance on anyone and everyone he thinks done him wrong. “I don’t care,” Trump told Sean Hannity when the Fox News celebrity tried to turn their conversation to the economy. Vought can have at the rest of us for all Trump cares.
Have you heard about $Barron?
In a whirlwind of speculation and misinformation, a memecoin supposedly linked to Barron Trump, the youngest son of former President Donald Trump, ascended to a staggering $460 million market cap before crashing down by 95%, leaving investors in the lurch. This event serves as a stark reminder of the dangers lurking in the volatile world of meme cryptocurrencies.
The Rise of the Fake Barron Token
The memecoin, simply dubbed “BARRON,” captured the imagination of the crypto community with its rapid ascent. Within hours of its launch, it had amassed a market capitalization of $460 million, driven by rampant speculation and two misleading posts from CoinTelegraph. These posts suggested, without evidence, that Barron Trump was behind this new digital asset. The allure of being associated with the Trump brand, especially in the politically charged environment of cryptocurrency, was enough to draw investors into a frenzy of buying.
The Fall: When Reality Strikes
The excitement was short-lived. It quickly came to light that there was no official connection between the BARRON memecoin and the Trump family. The token was the creation of a group known for launching unauthorized celebrity-themed cryptocurrencies, essentially cashing in on the fame of notable figures without their endorsement or involvement.
Once this revelation spread, the memecoin’s value plummeted. The market cap, which had skyrocketed based on hype and unfounded rumors, dropped by 95%, wiping out millions in investor capital. The sudden realization that the coin was based on “fake news” led to a mass sell-off, showcasing the fragility and speculative nature of memecoins.
The Misleading Blue Checkmark
Adding to the confusion was the memecoin’s account on social media platforms, which bore a blue verification checkmark. This verification badge often implies authenticity and credibility. However, in this case, it was a deceptive signal; there was no indication that the account was genuinely connected to Barron Trump. This incident highlights the limitations and potential for abuse of verification systems on social media, where a blue checkmark can be misleading.
Lessons from the Crash
This episode with the BARRON memecoin is a cautionary tale for the cryptocurrency market, particularly the memecoin sector. It underscores several key points:
- Due Diligence is Crucial: Investors must perform thorough research before diving into any cryptocurrency, especially meme coins, which often ride on speculation rather than substance.
- The Power of Social Media: The rapid spread of misinformation through platforms like X (formerly Twitter) can significantly influence market behavior, often irrationally.
- Volatility of Memecoins: Memecoins are particularly susceptible to dramatic rises and falls, driven more by hype and social media trends than by fundamental value.
- Celebrity Endorsement Risks: The use of celebrity names, even in jest or without endorsement, can lead to significant financial consequences for unsuspecting investors.
I’m sorry. If people actually bought this and lost their shirts I have a hard time feeling too sorry for them. The whole “memecoin” market is a scam in the first place but the Trump version is the worst of all. It’s hard for me to understand why this coin was more fake than the $Trump or $Melania one was. They’re all bullshit.
Don’t look away, I beg you. You need to know whether you want to or not, Californians should be particularly attentive. He is coming for us:
He’s actually worse than he used to be.
In case you’ve been wondering about the new administration’s allegedly more systematic, professional approach to policy, well … that’s just another lie:
Eight days before the inauguration, Vice President-to-be JD Vance — channeling what he believed to be Trump’s thinking — said on “Fox News Sunday” that Jan. 6 convicts who assaulted police ought not get clemency: “If you committed violence that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.”
Trump vacillated during an internal debate over targeted clemency vs. a blanket decision according to two insiders.
But as Trump’s team wrestled with the issue, and planned a shock-and-awe batch of executive orders Day 1, “Trump just said: ‘F -k it: Release ’em all,'” an adviser familiar with the discussions said.
That’s how it’s going to go: “off with their heads!”
Trump is too stupid and narcissistic to even vaguely understand or care what this man is up to. But it’s where the real action is going to be taking place. If he gets away with it the federal government will be turned into the corrupt patronage system that the oligarchs have always dreamed of.
I wrote this about Vought many months ago:
Over the weekend, the Washington Post’s Beth Reinhard published an excellent article about one of Donald Trump’s most visionary advisers, an obscure figure named Russ Vought. He was a boring Republican bureaucrat who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 until Trump left office. He previously served as deputy director and acting director at OMB and prior to his stint in the White House worked at Heritage Action, the activist arm of the Heritage Foundation, where he was budget director for the Republican Study Group in Congress. In other words, for years Vought was a numbers cruncher providing far-right Republicans with their specious arguments about the government going broke and the need to drastically cut the safety net.
Who knew that such a person also had big ideas about how to destroy the U.S. government from the inside?
Vought is a self-described Christian nationalist who is spearheading plans for a rapid expansion of executive power under a theory he calls “radical constitutionalism” (an oxymoron, but it sure sounds snappy.) He has been working for a right-wing network called the Center for Renewing America, which is full of Trump acolytes, many of whom would likely become high-ranking officials in a future Trump administration. That includes Vought, often discussed as a potential White House chief of staff.
Reinhard writes:
“We are living in a post-Constitutional time,” Vought wrote in a seminal 2022 essay, which argued that the left has corrupted the nation’s laws and institutions. Last week, after a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, Vought tweeted: “Do not tell me that we are living under the Constitution.”
Vought aims to harness what he calls the “woke and weaponized” bureaucracy that stymied the former president by stocking federal agencies with hardcore disciples who would wage culture wars on abortion and immigration. The proposals championed by Vought and other Trump allies to fundamentally reset the balance of power would represent a historic shift — one they see as a needed corrective.
Vought has been named by the Republican National Committee as the policy director for the 2024 platform committee. He wrote the chapter on the executive office of the president for Project 2025. And he is said to be in charge of planning for the first 180 days of a new Trump administration.
Vought is an evangelical Christian who has adopted the Trump credo that the ends justify the means. While in the White House, he saw people who balked at illegal and unethical activity as squishes and whenever he could do so, his office helped Trump do end-runs around the law and regulations, from reappropriating funds for his border wall to helping him pressure Volodymyr Zelenskyy to slander Joe Biden, the scandal that got Trump impeached the first time around. Vought also came up with the notorious Schedule F, a plan to eliminate many civil service posts and replace long-serving government employees with Trump lackeys. They ran out of time to fully implement that strategy in Trump’s first term, but you can bet they’ll get it done ASAP if he wins in November.
He’s an efficient bureaucrat, trained in the right-wing fever swamps who knows how to get things done. And what he wants to do is horrifying.
Trump’s only agenda is to prove he’s not a loser, keep himself out of jail and wreak revenge on his enemies. Whatever else his underlings and enablers have planned for his second term is fine with him. Well, Vought has plans, and they’re big ones. His “radical constitutionalism” is an extreme reinterpretation of what the American system and the rule of law stand for.
As Reinhard reports, Vought seeks to redefine immigration as an “invasion,” which would allow the president to invoke wartime powers. He’s on the same page as Trump with respect to mass deportation because he doesn’t believe that most immigrants can understand America’s supposed Judeo-Christian worldview. He calls this “rethinking the legal paradigms that have confined our ability to return to the original Constitution.”
Vought is one of the primary influences in right-wing circles pushing to eliminate any independence of agencies in the executive branch, starting of course with the Justice Department. On a recent podcast, he backed Trump’s call to prosecute Trump’s enemies saying, “It can’t just be hearings, it has to be investigations, an army of investigators that lead to firm convictions.” He supports invoking the Insurrection Act, banning medical abortions and implementing policies to boost the birth rate. (Yes, he’s one of those guys too.) In other words, he is an authoritarian nightmare.
Whenever I read about extremists like Vought and others who are plotting to overturn the Constitution, like so many others, I can’t help but think about 1930s Germany. The parallels aren’t perfect but they are way too close for comfort. The Nazi Big Lie was about the supposed “stab in the back” — the notion that the Germans hadn’t actually lost World War I but were instead betrayed by Jews, Marxists, democrats and internationalists. Trump’s Big Lie is that he didn’t lose the 2020 election (typically, it’s all about him) but it’s had a similar motivating effect on his followers.
In both cases, there is a fairly pathetic attempt to overthrow the government and the political establishment subsequently fails to take the legal steps available to prevent them from making a comeback. This facilitates the growth of an authoritarian movement, infused with racism and grievance. Although this movement never achieves a majority in the country over time its leaders learn that there are better ways of achieving its goals by exploiting weaknesses in the system that had previously gone undiscovered.
This form of revolution doesn’t rely on violent overthrow but it does require intimidation and threats of violence against political enemies. It cannot succeed without the enabling and cooperation of establishment politicians and officials who either believe they can control the extremists in their midst or simply sign on for their own ambition uncaring of the consequences. Vought is in the latter category, an opportunist who sees Donald Trump as the ticket to a Christian-nationalist America. Whether Vought is a MAGA true believer is immaterial. He’s an efficient bureaucrat, trained in the right-wing fever swamps, who knows how to get things done. And what he wants to do is horrifying.
Sadly, my first thought when I saw what she said yesterday was, “I hope they are providing her with security.” I mean it.
That’s where we are now.
But whatever. Trump’s just blathering about the “valve”
Make it stop. Please.