Digby's Hullabaloo Posts

Well, well, well:

In recent weeks, as criticism of President Donald Trump from his own supporters has reached a fever pitch, a new conspiracy theory has taken hold: Some of the president’s biggest supporters are now claiming, without evidence, that Trump staged the assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania in 2024 and is covering it up.

Many of the true believers think that his survival meant he was the chosen one. But this was probably inevitable:

“I think that maybe it was staged,” Tim Dillon said on his show last weekend about the assassination attempt. Dillon, who was previously a staunch Trump supporter, went on to share that Trump should now come out and say, “Some people are going to be upset by this, but we staged the assassination attempt in Butler to show people how important it was to vote for me and how far I was willing to go for them.”

Some of these claims began months ago. In November, former Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson promoted the idea that the FBI was somehow involved in covering up the shooting, writing on X that the “FBI lied” about the shooter’s online footprint.

A day later, conservative pundit Emerald Robinson went further, posting on X that the FBI “did it.” (In the same post, Robinson claimed that the agency was responsible for everything from the January 6 attack on the Capitol to “Jeffrey Epstein’s blackmail tapes” and the “Gov. Whitmer fake kidnap plot.”)

But the claims that Trump had staged the entire thing really picked up steam when former US National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent appeared on Carlson’s podcast last month, one day after he resigned from his position over the Iran war. During the interview, Carlson and Kent discussed the failure of the Trump administration to provide more details about the Pennsylvania shooter. Kent claimed, without providing any evidence, that investigations into the shooting had been shut down before they finished.

I guess that explains why Trump went crazy on Kent the other day. The problem is that until this month he was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Trump administration, a top post with unfettered access to classified information. He’s always been a kooky conspiracy theorist but Trump put him in a job that handed him the credibility he needs to push this counter-narrative with the weirdo base.

A lot of people are skeptical of that event. I’m not one of them. Trump is the luckiest SOB in the history of the world so it doesn’t surprise me that he survived that attempt that killed one of his ardent followers instead. That’s the story of his life. But I have to say that I am enjoying the fact that his own conspiracy mongers are turning on him. That assassination attempt is one of the fundamental tenets of his cult, proving that he is divinely ordained and he’s massively invested in that, as we can see by his displays of the “iconic” picture above, even putting it on the commemorative coin. He’s not going to like this, not one bit.

There’s nothing he won’t do for his Dear Leader:

Fox News host Sean Hannity dedicated a portion of his Thursday show to deliver a message to Pope Leo XIV, suggesting he and others at the Vatican had “totally lost sight of the true meaning of the bible and its teachings.”

… Hannity first discussed his own background with Catholicism, explaining the factors that led to his break with the church, before later turning on the pope himself.

“While I am a Christian, I left the Catholic Church in large part because of institutionalized corruption, and it was at the parish level, to the bishop level, cardinals, all the way to Rome,” he said.

He continued:

The very top scandals, terrible behavior, frankly, went not only unchecked, but they never fully corrected it or dealt with it, and others at the Vatican have totally lost sight of the true meaning of the bible and its teachings. I don’t know why. For the first 1200 years of the church, the priests were allowed to marry. They changed that law. But right on cue, Pope Leo XIV is seemingly more interested in spreading left wing politics than the actual teachings of Jesus Christ. As the AP put it, quote, “Pope Leo amplified his condemnation of America’s conflict with Iran, saying that God does not bless any conflict and certainly doesn’t side with those who drop bombs.”

Well, first, that is simply not biblically accurate. The bible contains over 400 references to war, for equally depicting God as authorizing, commanding, intervening in battles like one that we all know, the battle between David and Goliath. Why is the pope twisting religion to specifically attack only President Trump and the U.S.? Why did he recently meet with top [Barack] Obama advisor David Axelrod and far left governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker? It’s because he’s a run of the mill Trump hating Democrat that lacks radical clarity about radical Islam?

Hannity then pivoted to Trump’s words

“I want him to preach the gospel, I’m all about the gospel,” he said. “But I also know you cannot let a certain country, which is a very mean-spirited country, have a nuclear weapon. If they did, they would use it, and I think they’d use it quickly, and they would kill many millions of people. So, the pope can disagree, but certainly we are allowed to have that.”

Hannity responded to the president’s words with a blunt assessment. “The president is correct, the pope is wrong on so many levels,” he said. “Perhaps his judgment is clouded.”

He’s clearly just a Trump cultist at this point worshiping at the feet of his Dear Leader and doing his job as an apologist for anything he says. But it seems to me that as a conservative talk show host he’s taking a big risk of offending quite a few of his own audience members, most of whom love Trump but aren’t used to seeing the Pope and the church disparaged in this way.

I think these guys are playing with fire. This could have been papered over but they’re obviously spoiling for a fight with the Pope and when you combine it with the creepy crusader talk from the likes of Hegseth you have to wonder if we aren’t seeing a real religious schism in the right wing.

If Trump really was doing a good job, I’d think this would blow over. But I have a sneaking suspicion that there are quite a few people who know that he’s a failure but don’t want to admit it. Some of them are probably looking for another reason to back away from the cult. This is a way out.

The rumor is that Trump has agreed to release $20 billion in frozen funds to Iran in exchange for agreement that they will “suspend” their nuclear program indefinitely. (He’s denying it but nothing he says can be taken at face value, obviously.)Too bad nobody ever thought of that before.

Oh wait, they did:

Trump spent years in a jealous rage, relentlessly slamming Barack Obama for unfreezing $1.7 billion of Iran’s own money to Iran, calling it pathetic ransom money and proof of a disastrous, weak-kneed surrender.

Driven by petty obsession, Trump spitefully ripped up the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, shredding every restraint on Tehran, and smugly promised the world a “better deal.” Instead, his childish vendetta supercharged Iran’s nuclear program, pushing it dangerously close to the bomb. Now, in a breathtaking display of hypocrisy and failure, Trump is negotiating to hand Iran access to $20 billion in frozen funds — more than ten times what he once condemned — in exchange for the regime surrendering its near-weapons-grade uranium stockpile.

This is Trump at his most embarrassingly stupid: destroying a deal that had capped Iran’s enrichment and kept it under watch, only to crawl back offering vastly more cash after his own incompetence made the threat far worse. The man who mocked Obama for “giving” Iran money is now dangling a fortune in frozen assets while pretending it’s a brilliant victory.

It’s not leadership — it’s ego-driven incompetence and rank hypocrisy, a petty grudge that backfired spectacularly and left America facing a more expensive, more dangerous mess. Trump’s jealous tantrum didn’t make America safer; it just made the cleanup bill ten times bigger.

You really can’t make this stuff up.

It’s good news if the war is coming to an end, at least for now. (There’s no guarantee, of course.) But Trump and Netanyahu precipitated it in the first place and now Iran knows that it can close the Strait at will, they have a new younger,more hardline Ayatollah who will no doubt crack down even harder on the population and spend the money they will get from the U.S. to rebuild the regime even stronger.

But yeah, it’s a real victory. Trump is already saying that he’s ended another war. He’s discovered that he can start wars and then end them, claiming he’s the second coming in the process. It probably won’t be the last.

Just when you thought Hegseth couldn’t get more ridiculous

SECDEF/WAR! Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s God Warrior, quoted a garbled Bible quote from Pulp Fiction (1994) in one of his Pentagon “sermons” this week.

The New Republic:

“They call it CSAR 25:17, which I think is meant to reflect Ezekiel 25:17,” Hegseth erroneously said, saying the lead planner of the Combat Search And Rescue operation in Iran shared it with him.

So the prayer is CSAR 25:17 and it reads … “the path of the downed aviator is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of camaraderie and duty, shepherd the lost through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper, and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to capture and destroy my brother. And you will know my call sign is Sandy One when I lay my vengeance upon thee.”

Almost every single line from Hegseth’s prayer is ripped from Jackson’s iconic recitation of Ezekiel 25:17 in Tarantino’s film, not the prophet Ezekiel as ordained by God.

Here’s what the original verse in the Bible actually reads:

I will execute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them.

That’s it. The flowery language, the allusions to destruction of evil—all come from Tarantino.

On Wednesday, the flowery language came from former Fox Weekend co-host/alcoholic, Hegseth, in front of a Pentagon audience. One assumes Hegseth’s attitude regarding “stupid rules of engagement” now applies to rules for quoting the Holy Bible by which he sets such store.

A man of maturity (and cultural literacy) would think better about quoting that “prayer.” He would anticipate how it would make him, his office, his troops, and his boss look to the press and to the world.

Hegseth is an idiot. But you knew that.

@abcnews

A clip of Secretary Pete Hegseth reading a version of Samuel L. Jackson’s famous monologue from “Pulp Fiction” — that partly quotes actual scripture — is circulating online. ABC News’ Ian Pannell reports.

♬ original sound – ABC News – ABC News

“The Pentagon did not respond”

All that performative, right-wing bluster about loving “our troops” is about to blow up like a girls’ school in Iran (USA Today):

Dan F. was alarmed when his daughter, a Marine aboard the USS Tripoli, a warship deployed to fight the Iran war, sent him a photo of a meal served on the ship. A lunch tray, two-thirds empty, carried one small scoop of shredded meat and a single folded tortilla.

A picture of a mid-April dinner on the USS Abraham Lincoln, shared by a service member with his family, was similarly unappetizing – a small handful of boiled carrots, a dry meat patty and a gray slab of processed meat.

Dan and other military family members worried that their loved ones deployed to the Middle East are going hungry are filling boxes with items they hope could help service members ride out prolonged deployments in the Middle East – homemade fudge, Jolly Ranchers, crossword puzzle books, playing cards, toothpaste, Girl Scout cookies and fresh socks. But mail delivery to military ZIP codes across the Middle East has been indefinitely suspended as of April, and packages in transit now hang in limbo.

Service members Donald Trump deployed to the Persian Gulf for his unsanctioned Iran war are going hungry. One Texas mother has sent over $2,000 worth of packages to her sailor son. None have reached him. She asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation against her son.

These meals are short one or two items from U.S. agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins’s a piece of chicken, a piece of broccoli, a corn tortilla and “one other thing.”

Karen Erskine-Valentine, pastor of a church in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, said she was alarmed to hear from a community member whose son is in the Middle East aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln about the poor quality of food on the ship. The Abraham Lincoln is one of two aircraft carriers sent to the region, along with the USS Gerald Ford. A third, the USS George H.W. Bush, is on the way.

“The food is tasteless and there’s not nearly enough and they’re hungry all the time,” Erskine-Valentine said. “That kind of breaks your heart.”

The Pentagon has not responded to a request for comment. I half expect them to brush off the USA Today story as Iranian (but surely not Russian) propaganda. No other major news outlets have confirmed it as I write.

Images of food being served to sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, published by USA Today.

Supplies "are going to get really low" and "morale is going to be at an all-time low," one sailor messaged his mother: https://t.co/di0KUEohvI pic.twitter.com/ZcuBNw1k8i

— Evan Hill (@evanhill) April 16, 2026

A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service tells USA Today that no parcels are being returned to sender. They are held up until the military lifts delivery restrictions imposed, according to an Army spokesman, “due to airspace closures and other logistical impacts from the ongoing conflict.”

This story will blow up all across the globe. MAGAs already “sick” of Trump will increase their numbers. Soon there won’t just be spray tan on Trump’s face, but a lot of unserved egg substitute. And on SECDEF/WAR! Pete Hegseth’s face in his makeup studio.

Do us a favor and spread this report everywhere you can think of over the weekend.

(h/t SFT)

He’s on another tear.

A GREAT moment for Hezbollah.

He’s posting these loony posts one right after another.

Dementia.

Update —

Here he is talking about his new bunker:

Trump: What’s a corner store? I’ve never heard that term. Who the hell wrote this? pic.twitter.com/9eDExMQYkQ

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 17, 2026

WTF?

"You're spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock. Somehow you think that's a better public health message than informing the public about the benefits of vaccines. Really? — Rep. Linda Sanchez to RFK Jr pic.twitter.com/2Oy7kzTGpn

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 16, 2026

To RFK Jr in a hearing today:

“One thing I find incredible is that you suspended this pro-vaccine messaging campaign, but somehow you’re spending taxpayer dollars to drink milk shirtless in a hot tub with Kid Rock. And somehow you think that’s a better public health message.”

Bobby had a bad day. But not as bad as the kids who got measles because their MAHA weirdo parents decided not to vaccinate them when Bobby Jr told them it was dangerous.

For those that haven't seen the video of the pope telling trump indirectly 😂 pic.twitter.com/4mP7tdsQlt

— Necessary-Cliff (@theos_mafia) April 16, 2026

Meanwhile:

No greater metaphor for this entire week than Pete Hegseth quoting a fake Bible verse from the movie Pulp Fiction to Pentagon staff. pic.twitter.com/Zv1GFwPTrG

— Mike Nellis (@MikeNellis) April 16, 2026

All I’ve been hearing all year is that Democrats can’t raise any money and it’s taken as yet more proof that while voters loathe Trump they don’t like the Democrats any better. And, needless to say, that translates into a lot of sanctimonious advice that Democrats not get their hopes up despite the polls and the off year wins at the ballot box.

Well:

Even at a time of inflated political-fundraising hauls, the numbers Democrats reported Wednesday stand out.

Many of the Democratic Party’s top candidates reported gargantuan fundraising totals for the first three months of the year — figures that reinforce the party’s growing confidence that it is gaining momentum roughly six months before the midterm election.

The Democrats’ Senate nominee in Texas, James Talarico, led the way by raising $27 million in the year’s first fundraising quarter, a figure that until recently would have been considered a strong return for a major presidential candidate, let alone a congressional contender.

But he wasn’t the only Senate Democratic nominee to post an impressive report to the Federal Election Commission: Roy Cooper, the Democrats’ Senate nominee in North Carolina, raised nearly $14 million, and Mary Peltola, the putative party nominee for Senate in Alaska, raised almost $9 million. Sherrod Brown, the likely nominee in Ohio, raised $12.5 million.

People aren’t sending to the DNC, that’s true. But they’re sending A LOT to the candidates who have the best chance of turning over the Congress and that’s huge.

I was talking to someone yesterday who was absolutely over the moon about Talerico and he’s a hard core lefty from way back. He’s not a religious person nor is he someone who’s particularly moderate in temperament or politics. But he’s very excited at the prospect of Talerico. Why? First, because he thinks he can win and second because he thinks his religiousity is the kind that will lead him to left leaning policies. Maybe more of a Jimmy Carter kind of thing.

I have no doubt that this will end up causing a lot of strife within the coalition which is not necessarily going to be on the same page policy-wise. We’ve been there before. But that’s a problem for another day.

Anyway, it’s good news that the candidates will have enough money to compete. The Republicans will pour cash into all these races — they have unlimited funds. But after a point that can have diminishing returns. The only thing that matters is that the Dems have enough and it looks like they will.

Marie-Thérèse is 86 years old. Handcuffed. Wrists and ankles. Sitting in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana with roughly 70 other detainees.

She has heart problems. She has a bad back. Her children in France didn’t know where she was for a week.

Here’s why: Sixty years ago she fell in love with an American soldier. They lost each other. They found each other again. They got married.

Billy was a retired U.S. Army colonel. Billy died in January. Marie-Thérèse had a green card application pending.

Then there was an inheritance dispute with Billy’s son. Billy’s son reportedly called ICE.

DHS called her “an illegal alien from France.”

This is what we’re doing to the 86-year-old widow of an American veteran.

The son sounds like a real POS too.

What kind of people would do this?

Wait, I guess I know, don’t I?