Trumpisms

I will only accept the 2026 midterm results if the elections are honest. Otherwise something else has to happen.

News

The Trump administration promotes coal with a mascot . . .

Quotes/Observations

What an odd country the USA is:-

• Immigrants are shipped out of the country in packed planes, with their wrists and ankles shackled and linked by a chain. Beyond medieval.
• Trump’s approval ratings vary from 17% in Washington state to 81% in Idaho, which I thought was full of unhappy farmers.

Democracy demands accountability. When the police hide their identity and are immune to prosecution, there is no democracy.

Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence: Republican Senator, Thom Tillis

In politically unstable societies, elections get postponed on the [specious] grounds of national security or some similar pretext. [Clear evidence of an insurrection??]

Today’s US politics, as ever, are all about performance. But very member of this Cabinet is performing for an audience of just one, as if they were contestants on The Apprentice reality TV show, terrified of being told ‘You’re fired!’. Right now, they’re competing to see who can be the nastiest towards disfavoured members of society. Witness this bit of hypocrisy from Vance:-

Non-comedic Commentaries

• The Epstein rot goes deep. America must now ask itself if it can restore a culture of shame.
• So, how does the vile puppeteer Miller go about his dirty work? The White House aide has been an architect of aggressive immigration sweeps in U.S. cities and deadly boat strikes in the Caribbean.
• ICE and the Border Patrol are accused on violating several articles of The Constitution.
• The growing revolt against Kristi Noem.

Finally . . .

I guess it’s no surprise that MAGA folk willing to fork out to see Melania rave about it, giving it a 98-99% rating. Compared with 2-5% from critics. This critic-audience gap suggests polarization, with fans seeing warmth in its curated view, while detractors call it stage-managed hagiography.

Trump 2.0 is proving a challenge for Hollywood. As we all know from history and the current news cycle, autocracy is bad. It can also be boring. But this new thriller is deeply silly.