Trumpisms

Trump calls Alex Pretti a ‘crazed insurrectionist’ who was ‘out of control’. Can anyone see a word pattern here?

Non-comedic Commentaries

This is a podcast which centres on the White House infighting and the likely consequences for the key players, with particular reference to Stephen Miller. Technically subordinate to Kristi Noem, who’s a Cabinet member, he’s effectively her boss and acts as Trump’s Prime Minister and enforcer. As well as his puppeteer. Effectively, the most powerful person in the White House. As for Trump, one of the contributors plays back this forecast of Steve Bannon of how Trump would be if he won a 2nd term:- Here’s what nobody gets. He’ll be unchained. Off the reservation. No moral constraints.No scruples. No cares. It’ll be vendetta. And payback and fuck everybody. It’ll be an America that nobody dreamed of. Donald Trump off his meds is something no one is prepared for. Pretty accurate, I guess.

An interesting FB reel from Stuart Rojstaczer, who says that Miller has brains but, thankfully, is incompetent

Talking of incompetence . . . If autocracy is what Trump is aiming for, he has made a big mistake. A competent autocrat selects his enemies with skill. Trump’s Achilles heel is that he gets worse at this with experience.  

ICE not only looks like a paramilitary force but is one.

Says the FT: The clearest winners from Trump’s second administration appear to be those close to the president — in what increasingly resembles an “insider” economy. Under Trump’s transactional leadership, the returns to presidential access have rarely been higher. . . . Access to presidential favour has become a key to business success . . . The longer the insider economy endures, the more it will sap the competitive motor and openness on which US economic success has been built

Within only a few days of its enforced sale of to one of Trump’s mates . . .TikTok is censoring the words “Epstein” and “ICE”. This alone should tell you how fast political censorship just arrived in America. Over the past several days, users across the US have reported that messages containing the word “Epstein” are blocked outright, flagged as violations of TikTok’s Community Guidelines. . . . Videos critical of Trump or documenting ICE raids and protestsare reportedly being buried, throttled, or left sitting at zero views.. . . This is what soft censorship looks like in 2026. No bans. No police at the door. Just invisible throttles, muted keywords, and a public square quietly fenced in behind the scenes. You don’t lose democracy all at once. You lose it word by word.