If I would live to be 200, forget about 100, I’ll go for two, I will never understand why anybody would ever listen to anything Donald Trump says and vote for him. But there are groups of people who have done so. I guess it’s wishful thinking. Trump knows that if you tell people what they want to hear, they will believe you. So we got a ton of wish fulfillment rhetoric that resulted in a Republican victory — that is now going nowhere. As we said would be the case. My favorite was always ending the war in Ukraine the first day with just a phone call. That I loved. But some people bought it. And there’s a group, there WAS a group, called Arab Americans For Trump — which struck me the same as Chickens For Colonel Sanders, when I heard it. Seems like they have woken up. Surprise, surprise.
Bishara Bahbah, chairman of the group formerly known as Arab Americans for Trump, said during a phone interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday that the group would now be called Arab Americans for Peace.
The name change came after Trump held a Tuesday press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House and proposed the U.S. take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
“The talk about what the president wants to do with Gaza, obviously we’re completely opposed to the idea of the transfer of Palestinians from anywhere in Historic Palestine,” Bahbah said. “And so we did not want to be behind the curve in terms of pushing for peace, because that has been our objective from the very beginning.”
Arab Americans for Trump helped lead voter outreach efforts for Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election in swing states such as Michigan and Arizona.
The only thing Trump has ever had going for him — and it has been enough — is his powerful media disinformation campaign. He’s got Fox News, Newsmax, RSBN, Twit/X, now Zuckerberg has folded and Facebook is in his pocket, TikTok is indebted to him — this is how he gets ahead.
Right now for example, today, the White House lied through its teeth about Politico being “funded” by USAID. That’s nonsense. And various outlets, including this one, have debunked this White House conspiracy theory, megaphoned by Fox News. But it’s not the only conspiracy theory.
Also today from the White House, Karoline Leavitt reeled off these budgeting “abuses” that President Musk has discovered.
- $2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala.
- $6 million to fund tourism in Egypt.
- Spent $20 million on “Ahlan Simsim” — a new Sesame Street show in Iraq.
- Over $4.5 million to “combat disinformation” in Kazakhstan.
- Up to $10 million worth of USAID-funded meals went to al Qaeda-linked terrorist group the Nusra Front.
- $500,000 to group that “empowers women” in an attempt to solve sectarian violence in Israel just 10 days before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks.
- Awarded nearly $25 million to Deloitte to promote green transportation in Georgia (the country).
- $4.67 million to EcoHealth Alliance, one of the key nongovernmental organizations funding bat virus research at Wuhan Institute of Virology, in late 2021. Later refused to answer key questions about the funding.
- $20 million for the Strengthening Transparency and Accountability through Investigative Reporting program which used the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project as its implementing partner. The OCCRP was cited four times in the whistleblower letter that led to the Russiagate impeachment.
- USAID’s 2022-2030 climate strategy outlined a $150 billion “whole-of-Agency approach” to building an “equitable world with net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.”
- $7.9 million to a project that would teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid “binary-gendered language.”
- $1.1 million to an Armenian LGBT group.
- $1.2 million to the African Methodist Episcopal Church Service and Development Agency in Washington, D.C., to build “a state-of-the-art 440-seat auditorium.”
- $1.3 million to Arab and Jewish photographers.
- $1.5 million to promote LGBT advocacy in Jamaica.
- $1.5 million to “rebuild” the Cuban media ecosystem.
- $1.5 million for “art for inclusion of people with disabilities.”
- $2 million to promote “LGBT equality through entrepreneurship … in developing Latin American countries.”
- $2.1 million so the BBC can strengthen the media ecosystem in Libya, “designed to value the diversity of Libyan society.”
- $2.3 million for “artisanal and small-scale gold mining” in the Amazon.
- $2.5 million to promote “inclusion” in Vietnam.
- $3.9 million to LGBT causes in the Western Balkans.
- $5.5 million to LGBT in Uganda.
- $6 million to advance LGBT in “priority countries around the world.”
- $6 million to “Transform Digital Spaces to Reflect Feminist Democratic Principles.”
- $6.3 million to men who have sex with men in South Africa.
- $8.3 million for “USAID Education: Equity and Inclusion.”
- Another $16.8 million to a separate group in Vietnam for “inclusion.”
Whether any of this is legit, who knows? Again, mainstream media needs to slug through this line by line and either confirm or debunk it. The $8.2 million in “funding” for Politico was easily debunked. The money represents nine years of specialized information newsletters going to many people in government. And the millions for “condom bombs” was easily debunked the other day. So it’s entirely possible that each of these 28 line items can be debunked as well.
But who is going to do it? I’m sure somebody will. I may personally slug through a few line items. But the point is, as always, a lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth has had a chance to put its boots on. The White House presented a list of “wasteful” items — but how much of this is condom bombs-level nonsense?
And even if it all is, how long will it take for that truth to get out there and will it be put out there as forcefully? Many people have said, “there’s nothing wrong with an audit.” I quite agree. But there is something very much wrong with cherry picking items in an audit and mis-characterizing them to make them appear to be something other than what they in fact are. And that’s what President Musk and his incel tech bros are doing.
Donald Trump is the Father Of All Lies. And that’s how he’s gotten where he is. Because in terms of merit? The man is a stumbling, bumbling, absolute moron. He is the poster boy for the Dunning-Kruger syndrome. This is what the comic wit and actor John Cleese had to say about that.
“Just to remind all my followers of the main conclusion of the Dunning-Kruger effect: Very intelligent people assume that they are rather less intelligent than they actually are. Very stupid people believe that they are much more intelligent than they are, because they have absolutely no idea what it would feel like to be intelligent.” — John Cleese
We have the Dunning-Kruger administration in office right now, as we speak. And it is being added to, daily. Trump would never have gotten this far if the left had a media organ as powerful and diligent as the one that the right has. This is the first thing that we need to fix. Now. So that we have a shot in 2026.
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I hope we will include Elon Musk in the Dunning-Kruger category. The man is a legend in his own mind, and over the years he has become one for a certain group of people (growing smaller every day) who have a similar kind of sociopathic personality. But the first thing to understand is that Musk is an even bigger liar than Trump.
Reminds me of the story of Solon and Croesus. Solon was one of the Seven Sages of ancient Greece; Croesus was the King of Lydia and thought to be the richest man in the world. You can easily look up the traditional story of what happened when they met and afterward as told by Herodotus. There’s an old saying that encapsulates it: “If you’re so smart why aren’t you rich?” and the comeback: “If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?” The first would be Croesus and the second would be Solon.
Very smart people are not usually very rich. Why? Because they actually create things and find far more happiness and fulfilment in those pursuits than in the single object of amassing wealth. They may become rich, but if so it’s a byproduct of their passion. Musk differs from Trump in that he seems to actually create things, but (a) he has actually created very little, he hires smart people to do that; (b) a lot of his ideas (e.g. colonizing Mars) are just stupid and misguided; (c) he has the reverse priorities, his main goal is amassing power and wealth. If that’s the most important thing in your life, you have to be supremely aggressive and risk-seeking, but not particularly smart. Trump and Musk go further. They have criminal minds: they win by massive fraud and by flouting the rules and ethics that society depends on to function. That is not the definition of smart, except for criminals.
Unfortunately, American society has always been prone to reverse these values, but in the last few decades it’s gotten so bad that we are now destroying ourselves through the belief that the most sociopathic inmates should run the asylum. That’s because these sociopaths have persuaded the rest that this is how it should be, and their venal or gullible admirers believe them.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/youre-so-rich-why-arent-you-smart-suyashi-dwivedi
In the link I posted, the author refers to a book by Nassim Taleb, If You’re So Rich, Why Aren’t You So Smart? As far as I can discover, there is no such book. What I did find was a Twitter post by Taleb from 2021 that addresses this subject and makes a point that I didn’t put enough emphasis on:
“The old question “if you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich?” is unfair as it assumes personal preferences & the absence of luck in life. A better one would be “if you’re so smart, why didn’t you *stay* rich ?”
Note that both Musk and Trump were born on third base and think they hit a home run.
I got into a ‘discussion’ with a retired nurse who planned to vote for Jill Stein because she didn’t trust Kamala regarding the Palestinians. She said it was a protest vote. I kept reminding her it was really a vote for Trump since it was a binary choice. No matter what I brought up, she refused to entertain the idea of what would happen under Trump, which is exactly what I predicted. She actually thought the student protest in the early 70s ended Vietnam. I reminded her IT WAS WATERGATE that ended Nixon and Vietnam. Haven’t seen her since but I’m sure sooner or later I’ll see her at the park. It’s disappointing that supposedly educated people can be so phucking blind and stupid. No wonder the high school graduates and below belong to this cult. Of course she is wealthy, so I suspect money is in the sauce. So…sit back and watch this evil fascist work his magic.
😳 Yesterday, in an exchange with Mike Johnson, even Fox News acted as if it understands the need to stop Musk! Chad Pergram was giving Speaker Mikey the chance to stand up and defend his own branch of government:
“Is there an inconsistency by Republicans on one hand, where we’ve heard for years now, ‘All we want is to not have unelected bureaucrats in charge of things downtown,’ and yet ceding Article I powers to the executive branch under Elon Musk?,” Fox News correspondent Chad Pergram probed.
But, Mikey said “No.” And then, Mikey put a great big cherry on top of the end of the Constitution!:
“The executive branch of government in our system has the right to evaluate how executive branch agencies are operating and to ensure that not only the intent of Congress in funding mechanisms but also the stewardship of precious American taxpayer dollars is being handled well.”
⚰️🪦 It was really hard to hear the Speaker say that POTUS determines the intent of Congress and POTUS is the is the steward of my tax dollars. I guess there was no time for the follow-up…”well then, Mikey, what the hell do we need you for?!” 🤬🤬
Hey Arab Americans that believed Trump, a pathological liar, and helped him win Michigan…you are some stupid stupid people. Compare him giving Bebe the green light to wipe the Gaza strip CLEAN, with Biden and Harris both working to promote a two state solution. Enjoy the mistake you made. You can’t blame the Jews for this one. THIS ONE IS ON YOU. Oh, and stick that 18% Jill stein protest vote, a putin asset, up your ignorant asses. It was a vote for Trump dumbasses. Maybe he’ll get around to deporting YOU. Remember the Muslim ban?
I have been active in politics since 1977. Scott, you simply CANNOT fix stupid, and you sure as hell can’t argue with it. To quote either Benjamin Disraeli, Winston Churchill, or Mark Twain, you simply cannot have a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent. And there are a WHOLE lot of those in the United States in 2025.
To paraphrase a quote I remember by Thomas Paine: To argue with a person who has contempt for humanity, and who have abandoned reason, is to administer medicine to a corpse, or to argue with an atheist using scripture. I know you’re right my friend. I’m trying to kick my addiction. :>)
WAIT WAIT … WHAT about the WELFARE for FARMERS … @USADA
They spend TRILLIONS to get FARMERS not to farm or grow crops for CHINA … and pay all their expenses while they aren’t doing it! ..
TALK ABOUT HUGE BOONDOGGLE