Doom Report (Week 17: Even More Snippets)

Of course, the major news this week was Trump saying he would accept a $400 million plane from Qatar.  The commentary community can’t decide whether this is a dumb idea because it’s such an obvious bribe (especially given that the “palace in the sky” doesn’t remain government property after Trump leaves office), or because the plane could contain surveillance equipment to funnel national secrets directly from Air Force One to a Middle Eastern monarchy.  But I say: ¿por que no los dos?  Trump says he would be a “stupid person” to say no to a free plane, but then again he also said “I don’t know” when asked if he was responsible for upholding the Constitution.  One might note that he specifically swore to do that during his Oath of Office, but I’m sure that Trump would point out that he never actually touched the Bible during his swearing-in ceremony, which is the Presidential equivalent of crossing your fingers behind your back.  So I think we’re all good here.

There’s also been talk of President Musk stepping away from his important job of single-handedly tanking the unemployment figures by personally putting over a quarter of a million federal employees out of a job, presumably to spend more time with his plummeting stock prices.  If it’s true, then it would certainly wound my dogged meme of President Musk and his sidekick Trumpy.  But I would note two things.  First, much like the “ceasefire” in Gaza, it was announced, but it never actually happened.  And, second, even if it does happen, does it really mean anything?  Some might take it as a sign that Trump is retaking control.  But I would look at it like this: being the billionaire President because you bought the election is kinda like being a grandparent.  You get the joy of playing with the little ones, and whenever they get to be too much to handle, you just call your children and make them take the little brats back.  Doesn’t mean you’re not still sneaking them twenties whenever no one’s looking.  So I’ll take this news of Presiden Musk stepping down with several wheelbarrows of salt, thank you.

Things to check out this week:  Don’t miss Zeteo’s interview with Ras Baraka, the Newark mayor arrested by the regime this week.  Baraka is backed by the Working Families Party and other progressive orgs in a bid for governor; I wonder if Trump’s targeting of him will help him win, as it did for the Liberals in Canada and the Labor Party in Australia.  For the legal perspective on the Mayor’s arrest, Liz Dye over at Legal Eagle has got you covered.

Other good shows this week include Stephen Colbert’s examination of the Qatari plane scandal: both the initial report, where he pointed out that Trump’s claim that being up-front about taking the bribe made it okay was like saying that stabbing someone is okay as long as you do it “in broad daylight while saying the words stabbity stab stab stab,” and the follow up where he responds to Trump’s whine that all the other planes were bigger than his by noting that “Trump definitely does not have a little plane: it’s definitely at least an average American male plane.”  Also don’t miss SNL’s final Trump impression before they take off for the summer; as James Austin Johnson (speaking as Trump) says, “see you in the fall, if we still have a country.”  Fingers crossed.

Good news being few and far between these days, I’ll give you a bit that’s only slightly outdated.  Remember when I talked about Allison Riggs, way back in Week -1?  She’s the North Carolina supreme court justice who won a narrow victory over her Republican opponent and maintained the exact same narrow margin in not one but two recounts, only to have her opponent, one Jefferson Griffin, demand that the board of elections throw out 60 thousand votes—but only in Democratic-leaning counties!—due to supposed irregularities.  Well, 13 days ago a Trump-appointed federal judge threw out Griffin’s case on the grounds that he could not “change the rules of the game after it had been played” (which, duh).  Two days later, Griffin finally conceded.  As I noted, Brian Tyler Cohen was always leading the charge on this reporting, and he covered the news by interviewing both Riggs herself after the victory and legal expert Mark Elias after the cocession.  The fellows over at Election Profit Makers, being NC residents, also weighed in on the victory (jump to about 5:00 in), where they point out exactly what BTC has been warning about lo these many months: “obviously, if it worked, then we would see it all the time, everywhere.”  Mildly chilling thought, but the crisis has been averted.  After Griffin’s concession, the EPM fellows noted (following week, about 12:15 in) that Griffin’s “name is mud, and he should just be ostracized from society.”  I certainly hope that ends up being the case: it would be sad if there were no consequences for dragging out an election for six months and trying to disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters, many of them serving in the military.  But for now I’ll just be happy that Riggs won, and she was finally sworn back in to her seat.

Sometimes the small victories are all the sweeter.