Scorch! This one will drive Donnie nuts once he hears it, and you know he’s going to. We will enjoy the explosion. Even if he abuses the NYT again, as usual, they won’t be able to hide this one. If we saw it, and other people saw it, it can’t be undone. That’s going to make him rant in triple overtime. Or, he could love it. We don’t know what’s going to come out of Trump’s mouth anymore. My regards to AlterNet:
President Donald Trump has earned a vicious new moniker: “commander in thief,” writes New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who chastised the president for his efforts to engage in a “brazen, in-your-face attempted heist of the U.S. Treasury to benefit himself, his family and his political allies.” Those allies, he said, could include Trump’s supporters who were present at the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — whom Friedman labels “phony defenders of freedom’s frontier.”
Phony defenders. That one should be saved. They were not defenders at all. They were rioters. Trump juiced them up and pointed them at the Capitol. And so, we had an insurrection, a dangerous one. All because Trump couldn’t accept that he had lost. Now, he’s trying to create some money to give to his supporters. Well, it’s currently DOA, but we’ll see what happens. He’s only predictable in that he’s going to rage about something at oh dark hundred. But generally? No clue. He’s getting more and more erratic as his mind goes.
But commander in thief? That’s brilliant. All you have to do is look at what Trump has touched. You can almost see the money going into his “trust”, his crypto, and fleecing MAGA using a broken promise. We need to use that savage phrase often. Look at what he’s stolen from America. That’s not necessarily money going into his coffers, but it’s still true. How much has changed in a year and four, soon to be 5 months? Too much. Inflation, tariff-driven price increases, and gas prices hit by that stupid-ass, damn, insert cursing here, war, or lack thereof. The Strait of Hormuz has been closed for months, and because of Israel, mainly, the ceasefire has fallen apart. We were probably closer to a treaty than anyone wants to admit, but the delicate, diplomatic dance has been stopped.
Having a president who “behaves like a commander in thief — not a commander in chief — is costing us dearly at home and abroad,” he writes. “This perversion of the American presidency is undermining the very alliance structure that won two world wars and the Cold War and generated one of history’s longest ages of peace and prosperity. Every day we tolerate such behavior, we endanger our children’s future.” Friedman also accused Trump of having “conspired with his own Justice Department, headed by his former personal lawyer, to use taxpayer money to create a $1.776 billion political slush fund.”
It does seem the slush fund debacle is out of the picture – for now. Trump is going to try to find a loophole of some sort to get the money. We do have a little breathing room, but we must use it wisely. What can be done to slow it down or stop it? Are there legal options to block this? Can Congress do anything? Is there a way to actually, officially call it a conspiracy and change Blanche and Trump? Since my legal knowledge is surface, are there any of our readers who might be able to tell us? Just throwing ideas out.
Friedman also expressed alarm at how Trump’s actions toward America’s allies have forced them to engage in deterrence — not just against Russia, but against America. “Our allies have watched Trump threaten to make Canada the 51st state and to seize Greenland from Denmark,” writes Friedman. “They have watched him start a war with Iran without consulting NATO and then demand that NATO help rescue us from what has turned into a mess. They have watched him slash U.S. financial assistance to Ukraine, put the Russian aggressor on the same moral footing as that country and then top it all off with reckless, ill-conceived tariffs on all our allies.”
He’s undermining our alliances. We can tell that some nations have already started backing away from us. How about that nonsense about Greenland? Denmark is pulling away, rightly. The UK is backing off, even if King Charles III and Camilla Parker-Bowles did come over for a state visit. Kinda wish they had canceled. And of course, there is Ukraine, and others we don’t know about yet. Our treatment of Ukraine is abysmal. Our treatment of the world is abysmal, with ships sitting in the ocean that can’t move through the damn Strait. In the meantime, Trump continues his various grifts, putting money in his pockets. America and the world suffer.
See you soon!
Friends, I know everybody begs you for money. I promise you that, of all the outlets bugging you for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest-working. We’re a bunch of old, disabled people, except one writer in his mid-50s. But the rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the ability to continue our quest to tell the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
