It’s bad enough that they are behaving like the economy was worse than 1932 when they took over so they can run roughshod over the law in the name of saving the country from collapse. Now they’re ginning up the rationale for the invasion of Canada. You think I’m exaggerating?
Meanwhile Trump says he wants to take over their country and subjugate their citizens against their will. But ok.
Do you wonder how it is that they are supposedly killing Americans? Well, here’s yet another of the dumbest economic advisers the world has ever known:
Kevin Hassett suggests Canadian authorities are covering up major fentanyl operations: "I can tell you that in the situation room I've seen photographs of fentanyl labs in Canada that the law enforcement folks were leaving alone. Canada's got a big drug problem." pic.twitter.com/zCGdIG9MUl
I know it sounds ridiculous to think that America would ever take over Canada. Whenever anyone brings it up, as Chris Hayes did on his show this week, the person responding always says “that will never happen.” But picture this. What if a Canadian, perhaps someone with an ax to grind over one of Trump’s egregious foreign policies, launches a terrorist attack in the U.S.? Can you imagine Trump responding militarily? I can…
I agree this is very unlikely, obviously. It certainly won’t happen because Canada decides to “join” the U.S.
BREAKING: New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is very clear to Trump moments ago:
“I’ve been clear, that we will never, ever, in any way, shape or form, be part of the United States. America is not Canada!” pic.twitter.com/1QSbBYABhf
But the way Trump is constantly pumping this idea it seems clear that he is serious and that he believes the more he says it the more Americans will support him. He’s very crazy these days so I don’t think we can just dismiss this.
It’s pretty clear that Pelosi thinks Dems should filibuster the CR. Of course they should if for no other reason than to prove to their voters that they are alive.
Donald Trump held a press availability with the NATO Secretary the former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte on Thursday which was anticipated to be a bit contentious considering Trump’s hostility to the alliance. After all he has made it very clear that he has nothing but contempt for the organization and could be expected to pull the U.S. out of it with the smallest provocation. And he was already very angry that Europe was retaliating against the tariffs he had enacted for no reason, writing on Truth Social that the EU is “one of the most hostile and abusive taxing and tariffing authorities in the World, which was formed for the sole purpose of taking advantage of the United States.” His fuse was short.
But Rutte was deferential to Trump, laughing excitedly at his “jokes” and making sure to let him know how much he appreciated him and it seemed to loosen the president up. He regaled the press with anecdotes about how he “invaded Los Angeles” and reiterated his plan to seize Greenland saying “Denmark is very far away. A boat landed there 200 years ago or something and they say they have rights to it. I don’t know if that’s true. I don’t think it is, actually” before declaring that there may have to be more soldiers there. He called the EU “nasty” and again made it clear that he is dead serious about annexing Canada:
Trump: "To be honest with you, Canada only works as a state. We don't need anything they have. As a state it would be one of the great states. This would be the most incredible country visually. If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it." pic.twitter.com/oxzF3jzLOC
He seemed, as he often does lately, more than a little bit off his rocker. But the demands for obeisance from everyone around him, foreign and domestic, aren’t new. It’s just that now that he believes that he’s achieved vindication for his Big Lie about the 2020 election and all the criminal and civil investigations from which he escaped, he’s demonstrating that he’ll use the power of the United States government to punish any offender if they look at him sideways.
In the last administration Vice President Mike Pence set the standard for adoring toadyism but Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has taken it to a whole new level in this term:
Lutnick: "He thought he'd be the big man and tackle Donald Trump, but you know you can't tackle Donald Trump. He's the most important, the smartest, the most capable leader in the world." pic.twitter.com/DsIn6iKbCS
Lutnick says Europe and Canada are being disrespectful and Trump is growing tired of it. “If you make him unhappy, he responds unhappy,” Lutnick said of Trump’s threat to put a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from France and elsewhere in the EU.
It’s been clear since the campaign that he was serious about exacting revenge on his enemies and he’s doing just that, every day. (He’s even going after the law firms that defended them.) But never let it be said that Trump doesn’t also do favors for his friends. Just this week it was reported that his DOJ (and it is “his”) fired a pardon attorney for balking at restoring his friend Mel Gibson’s gun rights without any vetting. (He was convicted of very serious domestic violence.)
And everyone knows that if you want an exemption from Trump’s tariffs, you have to ask very nicely and even then he might or might not agree. The same holds true for the DOGE billionaire Elon Musk who is in charge of destroying the federal government. CNN reported that he met with Republican lawmakers and gave them his phone number if they wanted to make the case to him directly to reverse a cut that hurts their constituents. (Needless to say, Democrats have not been offered the same privilege.)
I think everyone has struggled to perfectly define what’s going on here. Is this autocracy, oligarchy, kakistocracy? Is Trump simply out of control, behaving like a Mad King, even worse than the one this country rebelled against in the first place? A widely read Atlantic article from last month by Jonathan Rauch gives a definition to the process that makes the most sense to me. He reaches back to German sociologist Max Weber who defined this as something called “patrimonialism.”
Weber believed that rulers gain legitimacy from two one of two systems, the first being what Rausch calls “rational legal bureaucracy (or “bureaucratic proceduralism”), a system in which legitimacy is bestowed by institutions following certain rules and norms.” That would be the system we have been operating under since the founding of our country under the Constitution. Patrimonialism is the system under which nearly everyone on earth lived until pretty recently in human history. Quoting a book called The Assault on the State: How the Global Attack on Modern Government Endangers Our Future, by Stephen E. Hanson, a government professor at the College of William & Mary, and Jeffrey S. Kopstein, a political scientist at UC Irvine, this is defined as the state being “little more than the extended ‘household’ of the ruler. Rausch writes:
Patrimonialism is less a form of government than a style of governing. It is not defined by institutions or rules; rather, it can infect all forms of government by replacing impersonal, formal lines of authority with personalized, informal ones. Based on individual loyalty and connections, and on rewarding friends and punishing enemies (real or perceived), it can be found not just in states but also among tribes, street gangs, and criminal organizations.In its governmental guise, patrimonialism is distinguished by running the state as if it were the leader’s personal property or family business.
That’s what Trump and Musk are in the process of creating — a pre-modern patrimonial government where everything is decided through them on a personal basis.
Rausch makes the case that this is not necessarily authoritarian since authoritarian systems like Hitler’s Germany or the Soviet Union were heavily bureaucratized. It can even begin as a democracy. But over time it almost always devolves into autocracy.
Rausch says that patrimonialism has two inherent weaknesses that make it vulnerable: incompetence and corruption. Once you chase out all the people who know how to make things run (bureaucrats) and allow corruption to supercede the needs of the people it breaks down.
Rausch says, “corruption is patrimonialism’s Achilles’ heel because the public understands it and doesn’t like it. It is not an abstraction like “democracy” or “Constitution” or “rule of law.” It conveys that the government is being run for them, not for you.” It’s the most potent argument against this patrimonial presidency, that’s for sure.
I’ve never understood why more wasn’t made of Trump’s outright corruption in his first term. Now they are just waving it in our faces and it’s a thousand times more blatant. Musk waving around a chainsaw and Trump hawking Teslas on the White House driveway last week says it all. Let’s hope the opposition can get it together enough to pound that message home this time.
Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC) ignores advice not to meet voters
Veteran escorted out after standing and hurling epithets.
Credit NC-11 Rep. Chuck Edwards for actually holding a town hall meeting Thursday evening in Asheville. And for staying 90 minutes.
Beyond that, few of the 400 people who got into the tech school auditorium came away with much more than the satisfaction of heckling him. Local news reports that 2,000 outside Ferguson Auditorium [that number feels inflated] had to content themselves with holding an ad hoc rally.
In a preview earlier in the day in Canton, N.C., the former paper mill town flooded twice in recent years, Edwards dodged a shouted question about cuts to Medicaid harming local schoolchildren.
“I agree with a lot of what’s going on in Washington,” Edwards said early in his Asheville presentation. The comment elicited loud boos, as did criticisms of FEMA and mentions of Donald Trump, bureaucracy, etc.
Edwards was reading a prepared speech including a checklist of facts on what’s been accomplished with Helene relief efforts. The impatient crowd didn’t want to hear it, some shouting, “We know all that. We lived it. Listen to us now!”
After each outburst, Edwards returned to his speech. but at mention of Trump seeking American economic dominance and Edwards’ vote for the the Republican budget resolution, the crowd exploded. A veteran stood up and started cursing that Edwards didn’t “give a f@ck about me.” Edwards waved at sheriff’s deputies to have him escorted out.
Edwards hadn’t gotten to the Q&A part yet.
As the Associated Press reported it, the town hall got “rowdy”:
For about an hour and half, Edwards endured a constant barrage of jeers, expletives and searing questions on Trump administration policies. About 300 people crammed inside a college auditorium for the town hall, while the boos from more than a thousand people outside the building rumbled throughout the event.
Edwards attempted to answer submitted questions drawn randomly from a bin and for the most part gave answers expected from a Republican congressman.
What about plans to eliminate the Department of Education? The answer is block grants. And again later, block grants.
What about plans to cut Social Security benefits? Edwards won’t vote to abolish the system, which didn’t exactly answer the question.
“Are you willing to cut 25% of your staff like DOGE is doing with other agencies? Edwards praised his staff, then read off a familiar list of small contracts DOGE characterized as frivolous and waste, some from Trump’s speech to Congress. The audience jeered, calling them debunked.
A woman stood and shouted, all those things are great, but what do they have to do with people losing their jobs? Edwards replied with something about DOGE looking for efficiencies.
At some point it seemed Edwards was simply trolling the crowd by mentioning Trump and “the art of the deal,” knowing it would elicit an angry response.
In one answer that stood out as nonsensical, Edwards said (emphasis mine), “What my job is is to listen to the information that I hear coming out of the administration and then to look at how that might be affecting our district. And then go back to that administration and make a case for why some of those changes might not be in the best interest of NC-11.”
Seriously? Edwards is a legislator in the arm of Congress that sets the budget, but speaks as if he must go to Trump on his knees to beg for crumbs.
Asked how Trump can legally impound funds appropriated by Congress, cancel contracts, and fire workers, Edwards replies that there’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president has to spend every single dollar Congress appropriates. [Because that’s in statute, IIRC.]
The crowd outside is shouting and can be head through the exit door.
And so it went. Full video here for those interested.
The Trump administration is slashing long-standing areas of research funded by the National Institutes of Health, claiming they no longer align with the agency’s priorities.
The latest target?
Millions of dollars in NIH grants for studying vaccine hesitancy and how to improve immunization levels. It’s work that’s particularly relevant as a measles outbreak grips the Southwest amidst diminishing vaccination rates.
In recent weeks, scientists around the country have begun receiving letters stating their existing grants — money already awarded to them in a competitive process — were being cut.
At first, the cuts appeared to primarily target research on LGBTQ+ health and other areas that were deemed in conflict with President Trump’s executive orders on gender and “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Now, more than 40 grants related to vaccine hesitancy have been cancelled, and there are mounting concerns that research on mRNA vaccines could be on the chopping block next.
[…]
In what some at the agency view as an ominous sign, the NIH’s acting director Dr. Matthew Memoli also requested information last week about the funding that supports mRNA vaccine research, technology that underpins the COVID-19 shots from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, according to an email reviewed by NPR. A similar call for data preceded the termination of the other vaccine grants.
“NIH staff internally are very worried that the mRNA grants will follow the outcome of the vaccine hesitancy grants and be terminated,” according to one of the NIH employees who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly. “There are widespread concerns that this will limit the ability to combat pandemics and halt promising lifesaving cancer treatments.”
NPR reviewed the NIH list of 130 of these awards issued by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID, which funds the most mRNA research. This includes efforts to develop vaccines for a variety of diseases, including Lyme disease, dengue and a sometimes life-threatening gastrointestinal infection known as Clostridium difficile.
Other parts of the NIH like the National Cancer Institute also fund this work, because mRNA technology holds promise for targeted cancer treatment.
Researchers racing to develop bird flu vaccines for humans have turned to a cutting-edge technology that enabled the rapid development of lifesaving covid shots.
There’s a catch: The mRNA technology faces growing doubts among Republicans, including people around President Donald Trump.
Legislation aimed to ban or limit mRNA vaccines was introduced this year by GOP lawmakers in at least seven states. In some cases, the measures would hit doctors who give the injections with criminal penalties, fines, and possible revocation of their licenses.
Some congressional Republicans are also pressing regulators to revoke federal approval for mRNA-based covid shots, which President Donald Trump touted as one of the signature achievements of his first term.
The opposition comes at a critical juncture because vaccines using mRNA have applications well beyond avian flu and covid. They hold the promise of lifesaving breakthroughs to treat many diseases, from melanomato HIVto Zika, according to clinical trials. The proposed bans could block access to these advances.
MRNA is found naturally in human cells. It is a molecule that carries genetic material and, in a vaccine, trains the body’s immune system to fight viruses, cancer cells, and other conditions. An advantage of mRNA technology is that it can be developed more quickly to target specific variants and is safer than developing a vaccine made from inactivated virus.
“Right now, if we had a bird flu pandemic, we would have a shortage of the vaccine we need,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. “The one thing that could save us is mRNA vaccine. The challenge would be if mRNA is banned. This is truly dangerous policy.”
I’m pretty sure we know what Bobby Jr will advise.
This comes from bs conspiracy theories that it was the COVID vaccine that killed everyone, not the virus itself. It’s completely ridiculous. But it has quite a bit of currency on the right.
mRNA shows great, great promise for treating a whole lot of diseases, most especially cancer. I won’t be surprised if they defund the research because they are very stupid people but it will be yet another crime against humanity if they do it.
Remember when Russell Vought, the architect of Project 2025 and Trump’s director of OMD, said this?
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected,” Vought said in the videos obtained by ProPublica.“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.”
A month after losing her job at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Corinne Bazarnyj is still waiting to be approved for unemployment benefits.
The disabled veteran who started at the agency as a training specialist in November was caught up in the Trump administration’s mass culling of probationary workers, who typically have less than one or two years in their positions. Like many other probationary employees, Bazarnyj got a termination letter saying she’d been let go because of performance – even though she hadn’t been on the job long enough to have an evaluation – potentially making it harder for her to qualify for unemployment benefits.
“I was terminated based on performance, that is not true. So, I honestly don’t know if I’m going to get unemployment or not,” said Bazarnyj, who recently bought a house in Frederick, Maryland, to be closer to her job.
[…]
In addition to having to deal with performance being cited as the cause for their termination, some workers are still waiting for the employment documents they need from their agencies, which are in turmoil as the Trump administration seeks to rapidly downsize the federal workforce.
What’s more, many state unemployment offices say they are strapped for staff and resources to handle the influx in claims, which will slow down the processing of applications. Meanwhile, the number of applications being filed is expected to soar in coming weeks and months as federal agencies conduct widespread layoffs as part of a reduction in force, or RIF.
They really want to make them suffer. That was the plan and that’s what they’re doing. And somehow they thought that would make the workers look like the villains.
Seven weeks after President Donald Trump began his second term in the Oval Office, 42 percent of voters approve of the way he is handling his job, while 53 percent disapprove and 6 percent did not offer an opinion, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of registered voters released today.
In Quinnipiac University’s February 19 poll, 45 percent approved, while 49 percent disapproved and 6 percent did not offer an opinion and in Quinnipiac University’s January 29 poll, 46 percent approved, while 43 percent disapproved and 11 percent did not offer an opinion.
Voters were asked about Trump’s handling of several issues:
trade with China: 46 percent approve, 44 percent disapprove, with 10 percent not offering an opinion;
immigration issues: 46 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove, with 5 percent not offering an opinion;
foreign policy: 42 percent approve, 53 percent disapprove, with 5 percent not offering an opinion;
the military: 41 percent approve, 48 percent disapprove, with 11 percent not offering an opinion;
the economy: 41 percent approve, 54 percent disapprove, with 5 percent not offering an opinion;
the federal workforce: 40 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove, with 5 percent not offering an opinion;
the Russia – Ukraine war: 38 percent approve, 55 percent disapprove, with 7 percent not offering an opinion;
the Israel – Hamas conflict: 37 percent approve, 49 percent disapprove, with 14 percent not offering an opinion;
trade with Mexico: 37 percent approve, 56 percent disapprove, with 7 percent not offering an opinion;
trade with Canada: 36 percent approve, 58 percent disapprove, with 5 percent not offering an opinion.
He’s particularly losing ground on the economy:
Twenty-three percent of voters describe the state of the nation’s economy these days as either excellent (1 percent) or good (22 percent), and 76 percent describe it as either not so good (45 percent) or poor (31 percent).
This is a change from Quinnipiac University’s December 2024 poll when 34 percent described it as either excellent (3 percent) or good (31 percent) and 64 percent described it as either not so good (31 percent) or poor (33 percent).
There is an increase in the number of voters saying the economy is the most urgent issue facing the country today. Given a list of nine issues and asked which is the most urgent one facing the country today, the economy (30 percent) tops the list, followed by preserving democracy in the United States (25 percent), with immigration also in double digits (12 percent).
In January 24% said the economy was the most urgent with democracy at 20% and Immigration at 18%
There’s 60% disapproval for Musk and DOGE although a huge majority of Republicans (77%) love them. 54% overall think he’s hurting the economy. Vance (41%) Rubio (39%) and Kennedy(38%) are all underwater.
Everyone hates Congress, as usual, with roughly the same number (65%) saying that both Democrats and Republicans put party over country.
If the government shuts down 32% will blame the Democrats, 31% will blame Republicans and 22% will blame Trump. (Just wait until Trump starts talking…)
84% of people are following the Russia-Ukraine war and 58% disapprove of the way Trump acted in that Oval office meeting.
RUSSIA – UKRAINE WAR
Eighty-four percent of voters say they are following news about the Russia – Ukraine war either very closely (39 percent) or somewhat closely (45 percent), while 16 percent say they are following it not too closely.
Fifty-eight percent of voters disapprove of the way President Trump handled the recent meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, while 35 percent approve. (77% of Republicans approved.)
62% think supporting Ukraine is in the national interest and 65% think Ukraine comes closer to sharing American values than Russia. About the same number think Trump isn’t tough enough on Russia and 50% think he’s too tough on Ukraine. (That’s low, only because 60%
A big 7% have a positive opinion of Vladimir Putin. 43% have a favorable opinion of Zelensky and 33% disapprove.
About Canada:
More than half of voters (55 percent) think President Trump is too tough on Canada, while 31 percent think his attitude towards Canada is about right, and 6 percent think he is not tough enough on Canada.
31% of Americans are assholes.
There’s more at the link. It’s clear that people are waking up and he’s sinking in the polls but not nearly enough. But at least he’s not gaining.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 12, 2025
At least some people are taking the fact that Trump is losing his mind seriously:
He was even worse today with the NATO Secretary. It’s getting very bad.
Trump: "I invaded Los Angeles and we opened up the water and the water is now flowing down. They have so much water they don't know what to do … we broke in to do it." pic.twitter.com/p2A8Yql9VN
I know you know this but I might as well post it anyway:
“The Army Corps of Engineers colonel responsible for releasing water from two California reservoirs at President Donald Trump’s direction in January knew that it was unlikely to reach the southern part of the state as Trump had promised, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post.”
“A memo written four days after the release, obtained by The Post through a public records request, shows how federal officials rushed ahead with the plan to release irrigation water despite objections from the state’s elected officials and some local farmers.” “Col. Chad W. Caldwell, commander of the Army Corps’ Sacramento district, wrote that the water that poured out of Lake Kaweah and Success Lake ‘could not be delivered to Southern California directly.'” “the episode, a week and a half into Trump’s second term, drew criticism from farmers and officials from both parties in the Central Valley.”
“Many were alarmed when they found out.” “For the farmers in the Central Valley, it was not irrigation season, and this was their precious summer supply.” “Caldwell soon heard from elected officials and others in the Central Valley, including Republican Reps. Vince Fong and David G. Valadao, ‘to ask why the water was being released as it was typical to reserve as much water as possible for the summer growing season.'” “The Army Corps turned off the spigot Feb. 2 after letting out 2.511 billion gallons, according to Caldwell.”
He went on:
Trump: "They have a lot of water going down throughout California all coming out from the Pacific Northwest. Even some from Canada. Thank you Canada very much. Next thing you know they'll want to turn the water off." pic.twitter.com/xbeFOG021h
There is no champagne business in the United States
We have “Stupid President” and he is ripping us off.
If you think he’s all there you’re kidding yourself:
Trump: "To be honest with you, Canada only works as a state. We don't need anything they have. As a state it would be one of the great states. This would be the most incredible country visually. If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it." pic.twitter.com/oxzF3jzLOC
