I’m pretty sure you already heard that the Wall Street Journal has suggested that a third Trump impeachment would be a way to mend fences with our creditors and trade partners. That is something that you don’t hear every day but indeed, there it is in black and white. But it gets considerably nuttier than that. The Journal is really taking Trumpty to the cleaners. They have never spoken even remotely like this about any other Republican president (or, to be honest, any Democrat) but they have apparently reached their limit this past week with the yo yo world of the stock market. Take note of this, you are unlikely to see anything like this again. Nor your children, nor your children’s children’s chldren.
A future Trump impeachment seemed all but guaranteed by last Wednesday morning. It seems only slightly less likely now. It may even be desirable to restore America’s standing with creditors and trade partners.
As sacrilegious as the comparison will seem, Mr. Trump faced a problem Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt solved by dying once their greatest achievements were in the bag. Mr. Trump’s great achievement was his 2024 re-election, a rebuke to the injustices and insults meted out to him and his fans since 2016, some of which were even real. However, no consensus or even significant coalition exists for trying to force into existence a new American “golden age” with tariffs, which anyway is like asking a chicken to give birth to a lioness. He invented this mission out of his own confused intuition.
Of the outcomes still in the cards, the least-bad now may be the Trump proposal on which I bestowed a lefthanded Kewpie doll last year: a universal, nondiscriminatory 10% import tax. It faintly resembles a consumption tax (or a carbon tax). If Mr. Trump can then pivot away from his trade-war dysphoria to domestic tax and regulatory reform, his presidency may yet be saved.
With floods devastating his northern counties, Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear has been making TV rounds lately. Americans see an attractive and sane Democrat who might have sought and won his party’s nomination in the completely different 2024 election we could have had.
November’s outcome, remember, tells us only how voters reacted to a binary choice. In fact, polls show most voters thought it was a lousy choice. Hence history’s most risible irony: Nobody stands to benefit more now than Joe Biden if the Trump presidency can avoid complete disaster. At least posterity would then have less incentive to dwell on how Joe and Jill threw America under a bus with their craving for a second term.
Historian and author Niall Ferguson this week chose the adjective “full retard” for Trump trade policy. I go with “neurotic” for the word’s wider applicability to any leader who, lacking a clear bead on his times, fabricates a gratuitously ambitious mission to meet his misguided sense of importance.
This is some editorial. It’s interesting that the Journal is yearning for an “attractive and sane Democrat” like Andy Beshear in lieu of what’s in the White House now. And actually that’s an idea that can’t be argued with. Joe Biden should not have sought a second term. That was the fatal decision in all this. He basically dumped everything on Kamala Harris at the 11th hour and she rose to the occasion brilliantly, but the flat out truth is that we would have all done better with a primary where Andy Beshear, Josh Shapiro, J.D. Pritzker and others could have competed.
Joe’s age was always an issue going in. While I will never jump on the Demonize Joe bandwagon because it’s an effort in futility, the fact is that he penned the party into making the only choice it could at the last minute — Kamala — and enough of America simply could not handle the concept of a multi racial woman in charge, so they went for the Devil they knew. And look at where we are now.
And if you’re unsure in any way about where we are now, take a look at a clip which will make you want to throw up. This is Trump’s cabinet. They oooh and they aaaahh and they praise their cult leader. And they lie about his “overwhelming” and “historic” victory. (1.5% is neither overwhelming nor historic.)
Trump promised to hire ‘all the best people.’ Instead, we got a Cabinet full of bootlickers and hacks. North Korea would be jealous.
pic.twitter.com/c8JrVfLTB8— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) April 12, 2025
This is where we are. America was too backwards to do what so many countries in the world have done, including our good neighbor to the south, Mexico, and elect a competent woman. America is backwards in so many ways. The Prime Minister of Ireland recently was an openly gay man. We see a little acceptance of that here in the states, most notably the Governor of Colorado, but I don’t think you could sell the country on a gay president. That’s a tragedy because we have an outstanding candidate in Pete Buttigieg.
In any event, all of these ideas are looking towards a future and before we have any future, we have to get through a horrific present. The Wall Street Journal is spot on. Trump has already achieved the pinnacle of what he is capable of achieving, a second term, and it is all downhill from here. We don’t know what Lincoln or FDR might have achieved in addition, had they lived longer than they did, we can only speculate. But nothing good will come out of Trump 2.0 and that’s a certainty.
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Zoomers, if you can help us on our journey through cyberspace with a small donation, it would be appreciated. We’re committed to sticking through this to the end. The Guardian informs us that readership and viewership of politics is way down across the boards because people are depressed. I get the depression part but we need to keep fighting. Thank you. Ursula
Trump’s most lasting achievement will be in providing, forever, his name for the answer to the question,
“Who was the worst President of The United States ? “
Nobody else will even come close.
“It’s interesting that the Journal is yearning for an “attractive and sane Democrat” like Andy Beshear in lieu of what’s in the White House now. And actually that’s an idea that can’t be argued with. Joe Biden should not have sought a second term. That was the fatal decision in all this. He basically dumped everything on Kamala Harris at the 11th hour and she rose to the occasion brilliantly, but the flat out truth is that we would have all done better with a primary where Andy Beshear, Josh Shapiro, J.D. Pritzker and others could have competed.
Joe’s age was always an issue going in.”
This is HORSE HOCKEY, Ursula. UNTIL that flawed debate performance, there was this near-universal glee about “Dark Brandon” wiping the stage with Drumpf and setting aside ALL concerns that “some” had about Biden’s age. (Bear in mind that there were–and still are–plenty of people on the left who express absolutely no similar concerns about Bernie Sanders who is a FULL YEAR OLDER than Biden. So much for any REAL age issues from the left side. Hell, just look at all the cheerleading going on over Sanders’ little excursions into “red” country and every time he “takes down” some MAGAt in the Senate.) And it’s not like Drumpf is some spring chicken. The man was 78 1/2 when those delusional morons voted to put him back into office, just 3 1/2 years younger than Biden.
And, notice the name the Journal mentioned. Notice the names that YOU put forth. Not only are they all men, but they also happen to be WHITE men. And, since none have been caught in any sort of gay-related “scandal,” it’s safe to say they’re all likely straight as well.
Democrats do need to do a better job at showing the “bitter white men” that helping POCs does NOT mean that help is at their expense but that *fairness* applies to everyone and showing how white privilege does exist without making those “bitter white men” feel like THEY are personally responsible–that, in my opinion, is why the GOP keeps winning that group; the GOP keeps enough tokens playing along so that the white folks who will vote for them understand how those tokens are toeing the line and doing their masters’ bidding.