Doom Report (Week -3)

Well, it’s a New Year, finally.  I was supposed to celebrate the new year on Tuesday night, along with everyone else, but that didn’t really happen.  Having had the flu (or perhaps a bad cold) for several days just before Christmas (along with the rest of the family), I had stopped doing my daily fiber.  And, since I have diverticulosis, not doing fiber for an extended period has a tendency to result in a diverticulitis flare-up.  So that’s what I was doing on New Year’s Eve.

Happily, I soon recovered, and we celebrated New Year’s on Friday night.  It’s actually quite nicer when you can pause the ball drop at any time.  So a bottle of champagne for the older two, a bottle of sparkling strawberry lemonade for the younger two, and we “cheers"ed at whatever time the littlest one said she was getting too tired to stay up any longer.  So, 2025, ye have been rung in.  For all that’s worth.

In the ongoing political drama, the only interesting development, to my way of thinking, is the memo put out by Susie Wiles.  Wiles, you may recall, is slated to be Trump’s chief-of-staff.  She’ll be the first female chief-of-staff, which is nice and historical and all, but, as we might expect from anyone associated with Maga World, she’s not exactly a model human being.  Still, she seems to have a few redeeming qualities.

The first time I ever heard of Wiles was when it was reported that Trump had to pick Gaetz while Wiles was out of the room.  The implication was clear: if Wiles had been around, she never would have approved.  Even more intriguing, there was just a hint, just a whisper that Trump wouldn’t have dared do it if she’d been there.  Now, that is an impressive woman—actually, fuck that: that, friends and neighbors, is an impressive person utterly regardless of gender.  If there’s one thing that we can say about Trump somewhat consistently, it’s that he does whatever the fuck he wants.  The mere idea that anyone could control him—even a little!—is a bit amazing.  So that’s when I started to wonder who this pit bull of a person was.

And now, apparently, she’s put out a memo “reminding” everyone that people up for government positions do not speak for the incoming administration.  Now, she apparently stressed that this doesn’t apply to Musk, as he’s not actually up for a government job, because the “department” of government “efficiency” is a thing that doesn’t exist, and Trump can’t make it exist, because that’s not a power that presidents have.  So, supposedly, this memo has nothing to do with Musk, and nothing to do with Musk’s little kerfuffle with Bannon and Loomer (which I mentioned last week).  To which I, much like the author of the article at the other end of that link I pointed you towards, say: bullshit.  And, the best part is, it seems to have worked.  No more episodes of Vicious Tweets, at any rate.  Which means that the world’s richest man—a.k.a. the world’s biggest brat—just got put in his place by a little old white-haired lady who Trump, apparently, calls the “Ice Maiden.” Quite impressive indeed.

We shall see what the future holds, I suppose ...