Totally corrupt price pumping from the President of the United States this weekend:
But he had other very important business to conduct as well:
I think it makes him look much better than he actually does. He’s less orange and mottled and his hair looks almost normal.
This is what he thinks he looks like:
That’s the portrait he had his charity illegally buy to hang at one of his properties:
He’s a very serious man working every day for the American people.
.
He demands a full-throated apology and a promise that she will never challenge the federal government again before the case can be settled? It’s not exactly subtle, is it?
I suppose most people think this is just Trump being Trump again and it doesn’t mean anything. But he got Columbia University and Paul Weiss law firms to come crawling on their bellies just in the last few days. He means it.
Inside the White House, advisers to Donald Trump reveled in their ability to bully Paul, Weiss – one of the largest law firms in the US – and see its chair criticize a former partner as he tried to appease the US president into rescinding an executive order that threatened the firm’s ability to function.[…]
The most extraordinary part of the deal, widely seen as humiliating for Paul, Weiss, was that Trump had not made any explicit requests of the firm, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The commitments and most notably the sacrificing of Pomerantz were offered up proactively by Karp at a White House meeting this week, the people said.
The deal marked a significant new chapter in Trump’s campaign of retribution against several top law firms he sees as having supported efforts to prosecute him during his time out of office – and how he has used the far-reaching power of the presidency to bring them to heel.
It raises the prospect that Trump and his advisers, victorious over Paul, Weiss, will now feel emboldened to launch similar strikes against firms that tangle with the administration. After the executive order was withdrawn, some aides privately gloated that a precedent had been set.
I wonder when any powerful person or institution is going to fight back when he tries this? Maybe it’s up to the Governor of Maine.
This might be the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. pic.twitter.com/ZKo0365hAl
— Richard Hanania (@RichardHanania) March 22, 2025
Tucker Carlson: What did you think of [Putin]?
Steve Witkoff:
I liked him. .. In the second visit that I had it got personal. President Putin had commissioned a beautiful portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him.
It’s been reported in the paper but it was such a gracious moment and told me a story, Tucker, about how when the president was shot he went to his local church and met with his priest and prayed for the president not because he was the president of the United States … he could become the president of the United States, but because he had a friendship with him and he was praying for his friend.
Can you imagine sitting there and listening to these kid on conversations? I came home and delivered that message to our president and delivered the painting and he was clearly touched by it. This is the kind of connection that we’ve been able to re-establish.
This is the real Trump Degrangement Syndrome. They actually seem to believe this bullshit.
Trump crony Witkoff appears to have absolutely no qualifications or experience to be this shadow Secretary of State and clearly suffers from the same wide-eyed gullibility about Putin that Trump does. It’s embarrassing.
Vladimir Putin is a former KGB agent. He is ruthlessly focused on his goal to re-establish some version of the former Soviet Union and he correctly sees Donald Trump as a total moron he can manipulate into helping him do it. And Trump now has around him nothing but fools in his own image who are either too thick to understand what Putin’s doing or are cynical careerists who could not care less about this country or the world as long as they are in proximity to power.
For instance, the actual Secretary of State, Li’l Marco who very neatly fits into the second category:
Over the first two months of the second Trump administration, Rubio has in some ways taken a back seat on the world stage to Witkoff, whose portfolio has expanded beyond his official title of special envoy to the Middle East.
Witkoff has been a leading player in some of Trump’s highest profile foreign policy wins — the release of hostages in Israel, a since-broken ceasefire in Gaza, and the return of American Marc Fogel from Russia after Witkoff traveled to Moscow to finalize negotiations for his release.
He’s jetted around the Middle East and become a key mediator in talks to end the war in Ukraine. Witkoff went back to Moscow for a face-to-face with Russian president Vladimir Putin last week to try to advance the administration’s ceasefire proposal.
Witkoff is “flying all over the world playing secretary of state,” said a person familiar with the dynamic. “He has one thing that no one else has — he has Trump’s 100% confidence.”[…]
“I think he is frustrated,” a senator still in touch with Rubio told CNN.
Did Marco really think that Trump had forgiven him for implying that he has a small penis? Not in a million years.
Trump just threw him to the wolves again, saying the El Salvador deportation scheme was all Rubio’s and he just went along with it. (We know it was Stephen Miller’s baby.) I give Marco maybe another 3 months. He gave up his Senate seat for yet another humiliation that will put the final coda to his mediocre career.
Elon Musk the visionary genius is tasked with making the government more efficient with a much leaner workforce full of brainy Trumpers who love America. How’s that going so far?
Catherine Rampell at the Washington Post:
Taxpayer dollars are being abused, too, as the “Department of Government Efficiency” makes the federal government almost comically inefficient.
- At the IRS, employees spend Mondays queued up at shared computers to submit their DOGE-mandated “five things I did last week” emails. Meanwhile, taxpayer customer service calls go unanswered.
- At the Bureau of Land Management, federal surveyors are no longer permitted to buy replacement equipment. So, when a shovel breaks at a field site, they can’t just drive to the nearest town or hardware store. Instead, work stops as employees track down one of the few managers nationwide authorized to file an official procurement form and order new parts.
- At the Food and Drug Administration, leadership canceled the agency’s subscription to LexisNexis, an online reference tool that employees need to conduct regulatory research. Some workers might not have noticed this loss yet, however, because the agency’s incompetently planned return-to-office order this week left them too busy hunting for insufficient parking and toilet paper. (Multiple bathrooms have run out of bath tissue, employees report.)
I’ve spent the past few weeks interviewing frustrated civil servants, whose remarks typically rotate through panic, rage and black humor. Almost none are willing to speak on the record because of concerns about purges by the U.S. DOGE Service. But their themes are easy to corroborate: Routine tasks take longer to complete, grinding down worker productivity. DOGE is also bogging down employees with meaningless busywork, which sets them up to be punished for neglecting their actual duties.
That sounds very efficient.
How about this Orwellian busywork?
For example, many have been diverted away from their usual responsibilities in order to scrub forbidden words from agency documents, as part of Trump’s crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
“All this talk of warfighter ethos, and our ‘priority’ is making sure there are no three-year-old tweets with the word ‘diversity’ in them,” said a Pentagon employee. “Crazy town.”
What counts as DEI wrongthink also changes almost daily, meaning employees must perform the same word-cleansing tasks repeatedly.
They are literally scrubbing “forbidden words” repeatedly. I think this describes it well:
“They’re like a kid in a nuclear power plant running around hitting buttons,” said Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service (which actually focuses on government efficiency), when asked about DOGE’s measures. “They have no sense of the cascade of consequences they’re causing.”
Having been through some corporate takeovers where geniuses come in and immediately fire a bunch of people making those who are left absorb all the work in the midst of chaos, let’s just say the work suffered. The best transitions were those that featured someone coming in and interviewing everyone to find out exactly what they did and spending time evaluating the systems before making wholesale changes. Even then there were months of people being nervous and worried if they were going to have a job and a lot of good people leaving for greener pastures.
But for all that, even the worst ones I went through were nothing like this level of sheer destruction. This is akin to asset stripping by vulture capitalists who take over a company with the intention of selling its various parts and closing the company itself. But the government isn’t a business and even if they want to privatize everything it’s not possible. And mostly, what they want is to destroy “the deep state” which they have defined broadly as the entire federal bureaucracy without the slightest idea of what the ramifications of doing that will be to our society and economy.
I can’t imagine what it must be like to work in the federal government right now. Trauma doesn’t really describe it. I think emotional torture is more like it. But then that’s part of the plan. Project 2025 author and Director of OMB Russell Vought made it very clear with his “trauma” comment:
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can’t do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so. We want to put them in trauma.”
I actually don’t think Vought is getting enough “credit” for the current dumpster fire. His plans are being implemented by Elon Musk not the other way around. Musk really is “IT Support” as his cutesy t-shirt says.
If you haven’t seen this undercover video of Vought before the election explaining what he planned to do, you should watch it. it’s not long and it’s really well done. His plan is being perfectly executed:
Another good insight from Josh Marshall on BlueSky (who is really tearing it up right now. You should subscribe to TPM if you can.)
Soon after DOGE landed at IRS very early in the admin their first demand (which wasn’t just DOGE but the immigration folks at the WH) was let’s let the ICE folks come over here and cross reference with their target lists. This was both to target individuals for …
The first and most important thing to know about last night’s Exec order is that it’s intended to break current law and allow people throughout the federal gov look at yr tax returns. Beyond that it’s intended to compel states to turn over all their data to the fed govt. deportation but also to request audits of companies or individuals ICE suspected of hiring or shielding undocs.
The lawyers at IRS/Treasury were like, that’s literally against the law.
DOGE: don’t be so uptight and literal.
LAWYERS: No, really, that’s literally against the law.A few people got bounced and new appointees started trying to become more creative. This set of conversations was at the root of most of the resignations and firings. This part is from memory but I think IRS staff is legally obligated to report when they get individual requests like this let alone mass requests and I *think* IRS staff can be individually legally responsible in these cases.
Those last two points are from memory abt legal culpability. But the overall point is that these are hard laws, not interpretations or regs. They seem to be moving to more and more creative interpretations of the law under more and more cooperatives appointees and lawyers. But one thing to remember is that all of this stuff is done in secret. If someone is sharing your tax info illegally you’re not going to know it unless someone leaks the info.
To the extent anyone’s going to get in trouble it’s not going to be from the current DOJ. The point is that this kind of info and action is highly secret. So it can be happening even though it’s remains a federal crime. A more probable scenario is one in which a facially absurd interpretation of the relevant laws gets made inside the IRS and it’s done on that basis. That way no one has to think they’re breaking the law. They’re following the relevant persons guidance/interpretation.
The key point here is that since it’s all secret it’s not that easy to get any of this in front of a judge who says no, stop, that’s clearly not what the law says etc. Obviously these latter points are hypothetical. The point is they’ve already axed most or all of the people who are going to say, no, stop, you can’t do that.
So the law remains the law. But inside the IRS we’re pretty much in choose your own adventure mode.
I think the only thing average folks have to fear is that all the firings will end up delaying refunds and information. But for anyone on the MAGA radar, I suspect there will be eyes on you. I have no idea what criteria they will use since there are millions of vocal Trump critics all over the MSM and social media. But maybe Elon’s AI brain Grok will be able to figure that out.
The United States Commerce Secretary, ladies and gentlemen:
BREAKING: Trump's billionaire Commerce Secretary says that seniors won't care if they don't get their Social Security checks — and that anyone who does complain is a fraudster. pic.twitter.com/W5yz18tzea
— Social Security Works (@SSWorks) March 21, 2025
Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month. My mother-in-law who is 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up and she’ll get it next month. A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.
Like all the guys at Paypal, like Elon knows this by heart. Anybody who’s been in the payment system, in processing knows that the easiest way to find a fraudster is to stop payments and listen.
What???
Lutnick is a billionaire so I would guess his mother-in-law isn’t going to miss her cancer treatment because the Medicare premium wasn’t paid for and she’s run out of food. So sure, she won’t complain. He believes that anyone who does must be fraudulently collecting their social security because in Lutnick’s world nobody legitimately needs that check to live. (If they do, they’re losers anyway, amirite?)
But think about that fraudster claim for a minute. They “always make the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining.”
Sound like anyone we know? Someone who has literally been held liable for fraud to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? Yeah, it sounded very familiar to me too.
The Paul Weiss law firm caving to Trump’s demands was bad enough. But the way they did it was even worse. What they agreed to was humiliating:
President Trump on Thursday rescinded an executive order targeting a prominent international law firm after it pledged to review its hiring practices and to provide tens of millions of dollars in free legal services to support certain White House initiatives.
The move follows a meeting between Mr. Trump and Brad Karp, the chairman of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Garrison & Wharton, over the White House order issued last week.
The order, the latest in a series of similar actions targeting law firms whose lawyers have provided legal work that Mr. Trump disagrees with, threatened to suspend active security clearances of attorneys at Paul, Weiss and to terminate any federal contracts the firm has. It singled out the work of Mark Pomerantz, who previously worked at the firm and who oversaw an investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office into Mr. Trump’s finances before Mr. Trump became president.
To avoid those consequences, the White House said Paul, Weiss had agreed to “take on a wide range of pro bono matters that represent the full spectrum of political viewpoints of our society,” to disavow the use of diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in its hiring and promotion decisions and to dedicate the equivalent of $40 million in free legal services to support Trump administration policies on issues including assistance for veterans and countering anti-Semitism.
In a statement issued by the White House, Karp said: “We are gratified that the President has agreed to withdraw the Executive Order concerning Paul, Weiss. We look forward to an engaged and constructive relationship with the President and his Administration.”
A fabulously wealthy, white shoe law firm acting like little Trump bitches is a sorry sight to see. And I had been under the impression that all the big firms that had been similarly targeted were getting together to fight this so it was especially depressing to read it. Presumably if Paul Weiss did this it looked like that effort was over. But Josh Marshall had some info on this that brightened my day a little bit:
So I had been led to believe, mostly by news reports but perhaps also by inertia, that that big amicus brief that some Big Law law firms had been trying to put together had fizzled. That seemed even more clear when news came out yesterday that Paul, Weiss had agreed to undergo a self-criticism session with President Trump and commit $40 million of pro bono work to Making American Great Again. But I’m told that effort is very much still underway. I’m not making any promises. I have no great insight or visibility into the effort. But I’ve been told by what I believe are knowledgable sources that that’s still very much underway and not in a slowly dying on the vine kind of way. So we’ll see.
Let’s hope so. First of all, these firms should think about whether anyone’s going to want to hire them if they are the Trump government’s loyal servants. After reading about that nauseating capitulation I wouldn’t trust them.
Update — This NY Times tick-tock is interesting but it really doesn’t explain why Paul Weiss did it. It claims that the agreement they reached isn’t what Trump said it was so I think they believed they’d appease him with a “win” that doesn’t mean anything. But every time one of these institutions give him a “win” and perform a ritual humiliation dance for him, it makes him stronger. So, in the end I guess it’s just cowardice.
“I didn’t sign it!” Trump plays dumb and lies, says he didn’t invoke Alien Enemies Act, “other people handled it”. Then Erin Burnett busts him by holding up a copy of the order with his signature on it. Maybe he uses an autopen. pic.twitter.com/FHvJhJ06kB
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) March 22, 2025
When are people going to ask the question? I mean, Joe Biden stumbled over his words in the natural way of aging in many 80 year olds. Trump’s issues are different. He’s delusional. Someone should look into it….
By the way, if he says that he didn’t sign it perhaps it was done without his knowledge by autopen?
Legal experts say there is nothing to President Donald Trump’s claims that several of former President Joe Biden’s pardons are “VOID” because they were signed via autopen.
White House lawyers during the George W. Bush administration said the use of an autopen is perfectly legal, and constitutional scholars say that nothing in the Constitution even requires pardons to be signed anyway. And, they note, pardons cannot simply be overturned by a subsequent president.
Trump is correct that pardons would be invalid if, in fact, as he has claimed, any pardons were signed by a staffer without Biden’s knowledge or consent. But Trump has offered no evidence of that.
Trump has repeatedly invoked the autopen issue in the last several days. As NPR explains, autopen is “a generic name for a machine that duplicates signatures using real ink, making it easy for public figures to autograph everything from correspondence to merchandise in bulk. They are printer-sized machines with an arm that can hold a standard pen or pencil, and use it to replicate the programmed signature on a piece of paper below.” Trump acknowledged that he himself uses an autopen, but “only for very unimportant papers.”
In a post to Truth Social on March 17, Trump claimed that some pardons issued by Biden were “hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen.”
As I said, delusional.
Spring has sprung!
Hoppy spring
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) March 20, 2025pic.twitter.com/czlMQCb0b0
Oh hey Dot
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) March 7, 2025pic.twitter.com/gLLY2VuXGz
Barong's battery is fully charged
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) March 1, 2025pic.twitter.com/CM5I6ZSiNU
Backpack baby
— San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (@sandiegozoo) August 23, 2021pic.twitter.com/NjB5NYwBRx
Those are all videos from the best zoo in the world, the San Diego Zoo. If you ever get a chance to see it, as well as the Animal Safari, do it. It’s a beautiful zoo and the animals are amazing. I went there right as it opened on one spring day a few years back and was just walking along the path and coming toward me were some people with four animals on leashes. As we got closer I could see that it was two cheetahs with their companion Golden Retrievers! They veered off down another path before we met but just being in such close proximity was magical.
What’s that about?
AOC: let me tell you Fox News I don't believe these things, I don't believe in health care, labor and human dignity because I'm a Marxist.
— Winter’s Politics
I believe it because I was a waitress. pic.twitter.com/CagYeUyCaM(@WintersPolitics) March 20, 2025
That was in response to this snotty jibe:
White House Counselor Alina Habba: "You were in the bar. You were in a bar. You were in a bar, AOC. Calm down. And not to have a drink. To serve one." #populism pic.twitter.com/leyPDc9C74
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 14, 2025
The MAGA Real Americans who are so very hurt by the elites who look down on them ecstatically cheered this nasty comment. But then I suppose “waitress” doesn’t really qualify as working class since it is by definition a woman’s job.
*You do have to love the conceit that they are the ones operating from reason and logic. Lol!
Here’s the rest of AOC’s comment on this matter at a huge rally yesterday in Las Vegas.
AOC: Alina Habba said, “What intellectual thought.. you were in a bar AOC. Not to have a drink but to serve one.” I don’t care what this woman says about me but I want you to understand that she isn’t just talking about me, she’s talking about all of us. Trump hired her to speak… pic.twitter.com/vbqbRxzSql
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 20, 2025
I think I might have to make some Marxaritas tonight. Yum.
