Trump on No Kings: "I think it's a joke. I looked at the people. They are not representative of this country. And I looked at all the brand new signs I guess paid for by Soros and other radical left lunatics. It's looks like it was. We're checking it out. The demonstrations were… pic.twitter.com/o8F9DenojG
Trump on No Kings: “I think it’s a joke. I looked at the people. They are not representative of this country. And I looked at all the brand new signs I guess paid for by Soros and other radical left lunatics. It’s looks like it was. We’re checking it out. The demonstrations were very small, very ineffective. And the people were whacked out.”
Since tens of millions of people believe Trump’s plethora of lies, even the Big One in 2020, I have no doubt they’ll believe this too. And those who pay little attention to what’s happening in the world will think it’s debatable.
But anyone who thinks that seven million white middle aged and older Americans carrying clever hand made signs is a small, unrepresentative group of radical wackos being paid by a 95 year old Hungarian billionaire, they’re living in another dimension. Sadly, we know a whole lot of people just love it there.
Yes, they went ahead and held their life-fire artillery show for JD Vance at Camp Pendleton on Saturday, causing the closure of 17 ,miles of the I-5 freeway.
“Gavin Newsom wants people to think this exercise is dangerous,” William Martin, Vance’s communications director, told The New York Times. “The Marine Corps says it’s an established and safe practice. Newsom wants people to think this is an absurd show of force. The Marine Corps says it’s part of routine training at Camp Pendleton.”
Guess what happened:
A U.S. Marine Corps artillery round prematurely detonated over Interstate 5 on Saturday sending metal shrapnel onto a California Highway Patrol (CHP) vehicle during a live-fire training demonstration, according to an internal report released Sunday by the agency. No injuries were reported.
The exercise took place over a section of I-5 near Camp Pendleton, which had been closed to traffic at the direction of California Gov. Gavin Newsom. The governor had previously voiced concerns about the safety of firing artillery shells over a freeway used daily by tens of thousands of motorists.
CHP officers were on the scene supporting a traffic break when the round detonated. “This was an unusual and concerning situation,” said CHP Border Division Chief Tony Coronado. “It is highly uncommon for any live-fire or explosive training activity to occur over an active freeway. As a Marine myself, I have tremendous respect for our military partners, but my foremost responsibility is ensuring the safety of the people of California and the officers who protect them.”
According to the report, officers immediately notified the Marine Corps, prompting the cancellation of additional live ordnance over the freeway. The area was then checked for debris and evaluated to ensure public safety.
A 155-millimeter shell fired during a live-fire demonstration for the 250th anniversary of the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton on Saturday prematurely detonated, dropping fragments of the shell on a California Highway Patrol vehicle and motorcycle that were part of Vice President JD Vance’s protective detail, according to a patrol report
No word from Vance on this. I’m sure he’ll say it was just the Marines joking around as young boys do.
If something had happened to the VP (or anyone for that matter) it would have been quite something to see them find a way to blame the left. I’m sure they would have done it though.
What a ridiculous situation. Have you heard much about this? I hadn’t. Seems like it should be a story.
In 2013, at just this time of year, the government shut down for 17 days. At the time, it was one of the longest shutdowns. Then, as now, it hinged on the Affordable Care Act, which was slated to come online on Oct. 1. House Republicans, under the influence of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and many conservative outside groups, were determined to stop it. Since funding for the ACA was not a discretionary budget item, it would not be affected, but that didn’t stop Republicans from refusing to pass a budget that didn’t defund — or, at the very least, delay — the new program.
The GOP eventually caved, and in the end, the media scored it as a Democratic win since they not only succeeded in raising the debt ceiling but also staved off the assault on their signature health care legislation. Still, there is no evidence that any of it made much difference politically. In the 2014 midterms, the GOP picked up nine Senate seats and 14 House seats.
During this shutdown, the media inexplicably felt the need to ask reality star and New York real estate developer Donald Trump what he thought about them. In an appearance on the Today Show, he said, “If there is a shutdown, I think it would be a tremendously negative mark on the president of the United States. He’s the one that has to get people together.” Asked what he would do in such a situation, Trump said, “I would get everybody together and we’d have a budget.” When the host pointed out that Democrats and Republicans had all gotten together to no avail, Trump replied, “Well, that’s because they don’t have the right leader. You don’t have the right leader.”
Trump also called in to “Fox and Friends” and was asked, “Who’s getting fired, who’s going to bear the brunt of the responsibility if indeed there is a shutdown of our government?” He once again took the opportunity to blame Obama. “It always has to be the top. I mean, problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top. And the president’s the leader and he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead. And he doesn’t do that. He doesn’t like doing that. That’s not his strength.”
Five years later, the shoe was on the other foot. In late 2018, Trump was the president and presided over the longest government shutdown in history. Over the course of 35 days, he refused to sign any bill that didn’t include funding for his border wall, and Democrats were having none of it. On January 25, after short staffing at the Federal Aviation Administration forced many flight cancellations, Congress passed a funding bill with a veto-proof majority, essentially forcing Trump to sign it. He then declared a national emergency, allowing him to pilfer some military appropriations to build his wall. (Sound familiar?) For all his big talk, Trump handled his shutdown worse than any president before him.
Today he’s presiding over yet another standoff, and according to a recent AP-NORC poll, a majority of Americans are laying the blame at the feet of Trump and the GOP. Six in 10 Americans say the president and congressional Republicans bear “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility; 54% blame congressional Democrats. Other polls have produced similar findings. The public isn’t thrilled with any of them at the moment.
For all his blather about Obama’s lack of leadership, Trump is completely checked out of this shutdown. The administration’s work in brokering a ceasefire and pending peace deal in Gaza has blown up his ego to even more gargantuan proportions, and it appears he just can’t be bothered. He is on a massive sugar high right now, standing astride the world like a colossus and taking credit for every positive thing that’s happened around the globe in the last nine months while treating America’s allies and enemies alike as his puppets. Trump has claimed he’s “ended” eight wars, so many he can’t even remember the names of the countries involved.
On Thursday he made a new claim. “I’ve made deals, I know about deals, I do it well,” he said during a press availability in the Oval Office. “I don’t think any president has ever ended a deal and I’ve done eight… Did Bush ever end, do you think Biden ever ended, no — Biden started wars because he was stupid… I ended eight and it’s going to be nine.”
The president’s peacemaking prowess is apparently due in part to his willingness to murder civilians, which he persists in doing in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela. And just yesterday, on receiving word that the fragile peace in Gaza is seeing Hamas commit executions against opposition Palestinians, he appeared to indicate he had given his approval — until someone likely reminded him that he’s supposed to be enforcing a peace deal. So he posted his own threat on Truth Social: “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
After all of Trump’s bragging in years past about how a president must “lead” and strutting around like he’s emperor of the world these last few months, he doesn’t seem to realize that his lackadaisical attitude about the shutdown is not a good look — and his own supporters appear to be taking note.
Sophia Cole is a Trump voter from St. Louis who participated in the AP-NORC poll, and she “placed equal blame for the shutdown on Trump and Congress.” The 38-year-old mother said Republicans and Democrats should be able to find a compromise to open the government. But she “believes it is ultimately the Republican president’s responsibility to broker a deal. ‘We’re dependent on him to get the House and everyone to vote the way that he needs them to vote,’ Cole said.”
It’s easy to see why she might be a bit confused. Trump, after all, has conjured an image of himself as not just a dealmaker, but a strong, decisive leader who brings everyone into the room and cracks their heads together until they do what he tells them to do. He supposedly brought Hamas to its knees and wrestled all of Europe to the ground — and now he can’t get Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to bend the knee? What’s going on here?
As the shutdown drags on, it’s possible this realization may percolate up to the MAGA faithful. Everyone’s starting to feel the effects of this shutdown and they’re logically going to start wondering why Daddy Trump can end eight wars around the world but he can’t seem to end a mere congressional standoff. Something doesn’t add up, and even his own people could begin to wonder why he isn’t using his magical prowess to provide for their needs and wants. “What happened to America First?” they might well ask.
If for no other reason, Democrats need to hang tough. The shutdown is exposing the fact that Trump is anything but the strongman he portrays himself to be. Instead, the feeble man behind the curtain is really just a sad, bent, braggart who spends most of his time redecorating the White House and fantasizing that he’s been anointed king of the world. Every day the Democrats hold their ground, Trump looks weaker and weaker.
We had our assortment of inflatables at Asheville’s (pop 95k) No Kings rally on Saturday, attendance estimated at 8,000. Ana Marie Cox saw a bevy(?) of unicorns in New Braunfels, Texas (pop. 90k). There was no protest there back in June, but on Saturday “there were over a hundred people (as well as amphibians, reptiles, and cryptids) lining a long city block.”
She found regretful Republicans among the mix of normies she found:
But around the country, we’re seeing a parallel evolution: whimsy as the logical response to MAGA’s nonsense. What “trans ideology”? Eating the dogs, eating the cats? You’re talking about vicious immigrants, but you curb-stomped the ice cream man. “I don’t even know what antifa is.”
For many of the new protesters, the cleanest response to such wild paranoia (even if those in power use it to justify horrible violence) isn’t a manifesto—it’s a snort-laugh and a unicorn horn. It’s “I don’t know what that means, but I do know you’re full of shit.” This is purposeful illogic in the exurban wild, no less revolutionary for lack of intellectual pedigree. True, the semi-pro situationists will likely never become card-carrying Communists. No room in the wallet, what with the Kohl’s card and the Costco membership.
The event had the feeling of a band fundraiser or church picnic. Passing drivers honked, flashed thumbs-up and pumped fists. And an occasional middle finger. (I got flipped off by a Ferrari while propoting our event from an overpass on Friday. NEXT LEVEL ACHIEVED.)
What Cox found I found. I spent much of our event marveling that I saw so few of the usual suspects at the protest. In part because of the size (about 8,000). But in part because, as Cox found, “it’s the folks in cargo shorts and polos who make the unicorns stand out.”
I didn’t have an inflatable. But this rig (photo recycled from Oct. 2) had one woman doubled over with laughter and others howling and asking for photos. Laughter is good medicine and cathartic. Mock the MFers.
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair
Miles Bruner has left the Republican Party after more than a decade in the pay of the campaign industrial complex. That system exists on both sides of our political duopoly.
For ten years, the GOP has waged an unrelenting war on our civic institutions, the separation of powers, the foundation of the rule of law, and the very nature of truth itself. While Trump and his supporters in Congress have been the driving force behind the right’s descent into despotism, it would not have been possible without the thousands of consultants, aides, and politicos working behind the scenes to fully execute their systematic dismantling of American democratic norms.
However idealistic they may have started, many — and by no means all — whose ambitions tempt them to acclimate, to learn the swamp’s rhythms, to be seduced by power’s soothing burble, slowly become the kind of politicians people love to hate.
The process of learning to compartmentalize what you do from where your paycheck comes from Upton Sinclair described rather memorably in 1934. It is a caution people have still to heed.
From his beginnings in Orange County, Bruner thought Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was a joke until it wasn’t. He stayed on. He rationalized. He was replused by the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally and Trump’s response. Yet he stayed on. He took a professional fundraising job in D.C.
Then came the Trump insurrection of January 6, 2021. But the systems guardrails held, so he stayed on.
“I was treated to conventions in exotic locales and was invited to D.C. parties,” Bruner explains. “I got promoted and received a sizable pay raise. At a superficial level and putting my ethics aside, I was living the life I had imagined having as a teenager.”
He started a family. Or he and his wife tried. Their first pregnancy in 2023 failed. That’s when the GOP’s dragging the Supreme Court to the far right and the Dobbs decision finally hit home. When it hit home. Suddenly being pro-life wasn’t as black-and-white as he’d always believed:
To a degree, I understood the selfishness of my reaction. I had been willing to work in a system and for a party that had allowed rulings like these to take hold—that had celebrated them, in fact—only to find it unbearable when I felt personally attacked. It is not to excuse my actions that I note that sometimes a personal experience is what it takes for an awakening like this to occur.
There is an empathy gap among conservatives. Many cannot or will not walk a mile in others’ shoes until forced into them. It is not like having a child murdered that makes one a lifelong gun control advocate, or having cancer shift one’s focus to cancer prevention for others. For many on the right, it is an ideology-driven blindness to others’ plights only overcome by personal experience.
And still Bruner stayed on. But he began looking for a way out. Today, finally, is the day. He’s not looking for absolution. Seeing masked, federal thugs and soldiers on our streets reminds him every day of the small part he’s played in bringing our country to this.
At every mile marker, I’ve rationalized, compartmentalized, and found every excuse to stay. I stayed past Trump’s migrants-are-‘rapists’ tirade. The January 6th insurrection wasn’t enough for me to leave. His lack of leadership during the COVID pandemic contributed to the deaths of over a million Americans, yet I still went into the office.
Wingnut welfare is seductive. The campaign industrial complex is seductive, even on the left.
Over the course of the last 20-plus years, I’ve had a couple of temporary, low-paying, part-time campaign jobs that I paused my better-paying engineering work to take on. I know idealistic young people working professionally on the Democratic side who may never lose themselves, just as Sen. Bernie Sanders never did. But some will.
As Bruner’s experience proves once again, it is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
Trump: "Don't forget I can use the Insurrection Act. 50% of the presidents almost have used that. And that's unquestioned power." pic.twitter.com/2MBpQoo8Ij
No, 15 presidents have invoked the insurrection act, not 50%. But he hears what he wants to hear.
Here are the previous instances:
Some of those were questionable I’m sure. But there have been no riots, rebellions, looting, insurrections, insurgencies or any other kind of uprising since Trump took office the second time. HE’S MAKING IT ALL UP.
On the other hand, there was an actual insurrection during Trump’s first term but it was perpetrated by the president’s own supporters so naturally, he didn’t invoke it.
He’s created a crisis, sent in masked federal agents dressed like soldiers to terrorize cities and provoke violence so he can involve the insurrection act and fully militarize any Democratic stronghold that dares to resist his tyranny.
I hope the media does some homework on this but all I see and read just seems like more “crossfire” argument or bending over backwards to accommodate the MAGA extreme and give Trump credit for being emperor of the world. Millions of Americans took to the streets yesterday but I think it’s clear that most people in this country don’t yet grasp what’s at stake. Hopefully, that will change but it’s going to take constant, relentless effort to make that happen.
James Fallows noted a slight difference between that front page and this one:
More than 100,000 people showed up yesterday in New York City alone. They estimate 7 million around the country. The first gets the big A1 front page story. The second has a picture below the fold and a story on page A23.
This is a huge problem.
I highly recommend this piece by Chris Hayes in the same NY Times (gift link) that discusses how much the attention asymmetry is killing us. It’s a media problem, for sure. They are draw like flies to honey to all the provocations of the right and simply aren’t that interested in the earnest dissent from the left. Unless they commit violence or do something illegal they fail to see it as particularly newsworthy. The old “if it bleeds it leads” journalistic trope is very true. But it’s also a liberal/progressive problem.
An excerpt:
The old way is dying. Any campaign must have a theory and a plan for capturing the attention of the voters they need to win. Before the era of TV, campaigns used all kinds of strategies, like doing whistle-stop tours and training supporters to give speeches to local assembly halls on the candidate’s behalf. For much of the past four decades or so, the reach and power of broadcast TV solved this problem for campaigns.
The recipe was fairly straightforward for politicians seeking political office at the statewide and federal levels: raise a ton of money and then spend it on 15- or 30-second TV ads. There were and are other forms of advertising — radio ads, mailers and digital advertising, most prominently — but the main way you got the attention of your potential voters was through TV ads. This made sense; TV was the place that attracted the most attention from potential voters collected (particularly during, say, the prime local viewing hours of network evening news). If you had enough money to buy ads, you could reach the voters you wanted to reach, and the problem was simply getting enough money.
That world no longer exists. TV viewership has declined, and audiences have fractured. Money cannot buy attention as reliably or directly as it once did.
Therefore, it will not do to run the old playbook and hope for victory in this very new game.
He goes on to recommend several strategies and tactics the Democrats can adopt to start narrowing the attention gap. Most important is the idea that they have to start being willing to take chances and risk getting something wrong.
I get the reluctance to do that, I do. First of all, the press rarely gives the Democrats a break when they mess up and Democratic voters don’t have the same “who gives a damn” attitude that Republicans do. After all, shamelessness is their superpower. It gives them tremendous leverage. But you have to be willing to take risks to get something positive as well so Dems need to develop a thicker hide and be willing to endure negative news cycles which move much more quickly these days and leave a shallower mark than in the past.
And yes — look for charisma over fundraising prowess in candidate recruitment and flood the zone by going everywhere. The day of the dominance of TV ads is over. It’s time to look for different ways of getting attention and Hayes’ ideas are well worth thinking about.
This is a fresh way of looking at the Democrat vs MAGA conundrum and I think it’s important. As he points out, all the usual garment-rending about “the message” isn’t the problem. The message is actually much more popular than the right’s creepy 14 year-old trolling. He shows how that was true of the Harris Walz message in 2024 — the problem was that not enough people heard it.
You have to penetrate the overwhelming cacophony of noise in which we live and it’s not easy. But that’s central to turning things around. The Democratic Party needs to listen.
I have started dating a man who is very nice but does not share my politics. Any advice?
“You just have to get the fuck out of there. What are you thinking? He must be incredibly attractive-looking. I mean, what is it? Is he tall? Does he remind you of your father? There’s only two kinds of politics these days, and you can’t breathe the same air as the other kind.”
The Dutch intelligence agencies AIVD and MIVD have reduced their information sharing with their American partners, according to the heads of the Dutch agencies. Peter Reesink (MIVD): “It’s true that we sometimes stop sharing information.” Erik Akerboom (AIVD): “Sometimes you have to consider each case individually: can I still share this information or not?”
This is the first time that the AIVD and MIVD have acknowledged that developments in the United States, where human rights and the rule of law are under pressure, are impacting the intelligence relationship. This marks a striking rupture in the decades-long relationship between the Dutch agencies and American intelligence agencies such as the CIA and NSA.
In Europe, a leading group of Northern European agencies has emerged that collaborate more intensively and exchange intelligence. This includes the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Scandinavian agencies, France, and Poland. They also share raw data with each other.
Here’s that’ part of the interview:
While this is looming over Europe, the US is rapidly moving towards an autocracy. US President Donald Trump is deploying the military against his own people. Judges’ rulings are being ignored. The head of the NSA surveillance agency was fired for allegedly not being loyal enough.
Reesink: “To our great sorrow. We knew the man well.”
Is it still responsible to continue intensive intelligence sharing with the US at the same pace?
Reesink: “We visited the CIA and NSA a few months ago. Even with my own surprise: how are things going on the work floor? I was positively reassured. The ties are good and will remain good. That doesn’t change the fact that we regularly evaluate this collaboration.”
What is the conclusion, for example, when it comes to sharing intelligence about Russia, with the US uncertain about what it will do with it?
Reesink: “That’s being weighed.”
Are you more reluctant to share certain information?
Reesink: “I can’t comment on what that relationship is like now compared to before. But it’s true that we’re making that assessment and sometimes even not sharing things anymore.”
That’s a striking shift. What has been the most significant change?
Akerboom: “We don’t judge what we see politically, but we look at our experiences with the services. And we’re very alert to the politicization of our intelligence and to human rights violations.”
What does it mean in practice if there are risks in those areas?
Akerboom: “Sometimes you have to consider case by case: can I still share this information or not?”
Is it possible to share bulk data, such as intercepted telecom and internet traffic, containing details of Dutch citizens, with the US?
Akerboom: “We can’t say what we will or won’t share. But we can say that we’re more critical.”
More critical than a year ago?
Akerboom: “Yes.” Just to be clear: does it still happen that raw data, including information from Dutch people, is sent to American services?
Reesink, hesitantly: “Phew.”
Akerboom: “I don’t think we can rule it out.”
Reesink: “I find it difficult to rule it out completely.”
Does that also have to do with the technology of these kinds of systems?
Reesink: “Yes, it’s very technical. We try to extract Dutch data, but we can’t always rule out complete success.”
Reesink: “For example. You can’t submit every country for verification in that system.” Now that the United States is a less obvious ally, the Netherlands is looking more explicitly at cooperation with European services.
Wow, just wow.
Akerboom says that there has been “a huge escalation.” He speaks of a leading group of Northern European services, such as the British, Germans, Scandinavians, supplemented by the French and Polish, who exchange intelligence. “Raw data too.” A break with the past, when those relationships were more one-on-one. Due to the war in Ukraine and the Russian threat to Europe, multilateral relationships are starting to emerge. A similar development is visible in the military services, says Reesink.
You can’t blame them for not trusting us anymore. We are completely untrustworthy. They are turning elsewhere — and to each other. What choice do they have?
Trump thinks of Europe as a bunch of losers. But together they are as powerful as the U.S. and China. America is an idiotic nation for electing such a ridiculous person to the presidency and allowing him to destroy the most powerful alliance in history without any regard for what’s to replace it. His “policies,” such as they are, consist of paying protection and licking his boots. That’s it. And that is not a sustainable strategy in a nuclear world.
By the way, it’s particularly interesting that they are reluctant to share information about Russia with the U.S. Gosh, I wonder why…?
BARTIROMO: You said you wanted to develop Gaza. Do you have plans for that?
TRUMP: I liked it as, like, freedom place you call it. And we would get all of the people that live there into decent homes throughout the region. Egypt has a lot of land, Jordan has a lot of land. pic.twitter.com/6mpcFmIXdN
The thing is that Trump is commonly just going back in time to say things that are no longer even part of the conversation anymore and I think it’s because of the encroaching dementia. His memory is bad so he defaults to stuff he’s said in the past even though it’s no longer relevant. He’s always repeated himself so it’s hard to see it — but it’s different now.
On the other hand, it’s also very possible that this is actually still the plan. Before Egypt was saying “hell no” but it’s always possible that Trump has promised them Hawaii or nuclear submarines or something so you never know.
Either way, this is a grotesque idea — a crime against humanity — for which Trump thinks he should get the Nobel Peace Prize.
Israel on Sunday launched its heaviest wave of attacks on Gaza since a fragile cease-fire took hold a week ago and said it was suspending humanitarian aid to the territory after accusing Hamas of firing on its forces and violating the truce.
Israel said two of its soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza on Sunday. Gaza’s health ministry initially reported 14 Palestinian deaths across Gaza on Sunday.
Both Israel and Hamas have now accused each other of violating the truce after repeated flare-ups of violence over the past three days. But both made clear on Sunday that they were still committed to maintaining the truce.
We always get these huge Trump announcements with much media hype and fanfare with lots of big promises and assurances, effusively praising himself looking for awards & prizes, while experts say the details are scarce or nonexistent. Then a short time later we get the reality.
I don’t think we have any idea what reality in this situation (or, really any situation) is anymore. The hype and the lies and the propaganda are so thick it’s hard to see. But bombs and killing are real. And they’re still happening.
![Gavin Newsom’s objections to the exercise were foolish:](http://<img src="https://www.chp.ca.gov/contentassets/f0b409596bfd430ebaaebf6411c07d05/p2.jpeg" alt="CHP PRODUCES INCIDENT REPORT AFTER ARTILLERY ROUND FROM CAMP PENDLETON PREMATURELY DETONATED MIDFLIGHT WITH DEBRIS STRIKING PATROL VEHICLE"/>){kind=link}