Dear Everybody:
The big news today was supposed to be Trump’s "major speech" to the nation last night, but, instead, this morning the New York Times released a major story about Trump’s connections to Jeffrey Epstein:
--It’s a really long piece, full of damning details and LOTS of documentation, including names of many of the victims who gave them the information and the quotes and is more complete than any other piece I’ve seen.
--"During the 1990s and early 2000s, they prowled Mr. Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and Mr. Trump’s Plaza Hotel, at least one of Mr. Trump’s Atlantic City casinos, and both their Palm Beach homes. They visited each other’s offices and spoke often by phone." They called each other at least three times a week, and when they did, refused to give their full name to the receptionist.
--Trump often regaled Epstein with tales of his sexual exploits. Epstein would put the call on speaker phone so his secretary had to listen to it. They discussed things like how much pubic hair a particular woman had and whether there was enough for Epstein to floss his teeth with and Trump’s having sex with a woman on a pool table.
--"Chasing women was a game of ego and dominance. Female bodies were currency."
--Stacey Williams, a model famous for being in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, said, "I just think it was trophy hunting." She said that Trump groped her in 1993 at Trump Tower while Epstein watched. (Trump has denied her account.)
--Epstein boasted to others that he "gave" Trump a 20-year-old woman he’d dated.
--During a flight together in the early 1990s, Trump came on to another Epstein employee traveling with them, telling her that he could have anyone he wanted.
--Trump would occasionally send over modeling cards for Epstein (from his beauty pageants), to peruse like a menu.
--One woman who has never spoken out before, told the NY Times that Epstein had coerced her into attending four parties at Epstein’s home and that Trump attended all four. At two of them, Epstein directed her to have sex with other male guests.
--In a 2010 deposition, Epstein was asked if he had ever socialized with Trump with girls under 18. Epstein: ‘Though I’d like to answer that question, at least today I’m going to have to assert my Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights, sir."
--The New York Times sent Karoline Leavitt a detailed list of questions about the article. Her response: "This fake news story, which is not worth the paper it’s printed on, is just another stale regurgitation of decades-old false allegations against President Trump. The truth will remain the same no matter how many times the New York Times tries to change it. President Trump did nothing wrong, and he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of Mar-a-lago for being a creep." (Not true, as Trump himself has admitted he stopped being friends with Epstein because he "stole" one of Trump’s spa girls.)
--(Note: This is only part of what’s in the article. I’ll give more details tomorrow.)
House Democrats also released some more photos from the Epstein estate:
--This group of photos includes one of New York Times columnist David Brooks with Epstein. The paper issued a statement that he had only been at the party that one time in his capacity as a journalist, but the situation isn’t helped by the fact that Brooks published a column last month lamenting the public fixation on Epstein’s trafficking network in which he FAILED TO MENTION that he had interacted with Epstein.
--Another photo shows a text conversation with an unknown person: "I don’t know try to send someone else. I have a friend scout, she sent me some girls today. But she asks $1000 per girl. I will send u girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J? 18 yr old," height, measurements, where she comes from in Russia, and a "departure city."
--Other photos show a Ukrainian passport with a female notation, philosopher Noam Chomsky on a plane with Epstein,,and Bill Gates posing for a photo with a girl whose face is redacted.
--There are a number of photos of passports and identity documents, some marked as female, including ones from Russia, the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine, and Lithuania.
--The most disgusting of the photos was a close up of a young girl’s naked back with lines from the novel LOLITA written on her back with Magic Marker: "Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth." Other quotes, such as, "She was called Polly at school," are written on what is presumed to be the same girl, and the novel can be seen in one of the photos. (Nabokov’s LOLITA is about a man’s pedophilic obsession with a y14-year-old girl.)
--Another photo shows a girl’s foot with Magic Marker reading, "She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock."
Trump gave what had been promised to be a "major" speech last night:
--It was so "major" that the networks all pre-empted their regular programming, but then it turned out to be just a rehash of stuff Trump had said before: Trump is the greatest president who ever lived, the economy is great, everything is Biden’s fault, it’s the immigrants’ fault, inflation has disappeared, gas costs $1.99, grocery prices are down, drug prices are down 600%, he settled 8 wars, and did I mention he’s the greatest president who ever lived.
--He told so many lies the fact-checkers all admitted they couldn’t refute them all and had to just focus on the big ones.
--Trump announced $1,776 dollar bonuses for the military, which immediately was exposed as being an already-promised housing subsidy which he just renamed and slapped his name on. So they didn’t actually get a subsidy at all.
--Trump’s demeanor alarmed any number of people. He was talking far too fast, almost at double normal speed, leading a number of people to think he was "jacked up" on meth or adderall, and slurred badly.
--He yelled through nearly the entire speech--a bunch of people on the internet tweeted, "Why is he screaming?" and read from the teleprompter the way he always does--like he has no idea what he’s reading, with pauses where pauses shouldn’t be and phrases strung together that shouldn’t be. A medical analyst for CNN said he "looked unwell...The pace of this address is manic. I’m seriously concerned about the health of the president."
--Tom Nichols: "This is what presidential panic looks like...Americans saw a president drenched in panic as he tried to bully an entire nation into admitting he’s doing a great job. For 20 minutes he vented his hurt feelings without a molecule of empathy or awareness...in effect, Trump took to the airwaves, pointed his finger, and said, ‘Quiet, piggy.’"
--MAGA Matt Walsh: "That was perhaps the most pointless primetime presidential address eveer delivered in American history."
--Governor Newsom: "Trump tonight: Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me."
--Rick Wilson: "The speech was a loser, a flop, a disaster fueled by lies and dusted with Adderall..."
--Mediaite: "Conservatives yawn together over Trump’s ‘pointless’ primetime speech."
--Ken Martin: "Tonight, Donald Trump tried to sell us all a shit sandwich, desperate to convince the American people tht he isn’t a complete and utter failure. He’s lost the economy. He’s lost his mind. And next year, he’s going to lose the midterms."
--Zack Beauchamp: "Trump’s ridiculous primetime address was yet another sign that his presidency is failing."
--USA Today’s Rex Huppke: "In what was technically a prime-time address to the nation, President Donald Trump spent about 20 minutes on the night of Dec. 17 yelling into a camera, hollering red-faced about how incredibly great everything is, when things in America are decidedly not great. It was a torrent of lies and exaggerations--about the economy, about prices, about energy...The lying, of course, is to be expected from Trump. But what stood out was his frenetic, angry delivery...the 79-year-old seemed incapable of pacing himself and sounded, frankly, like an angry, unhinged old man..."
--Ron Filipkowski: "Sometimes when I listen to Trump speak I think he is well on his way to dementia. Other times I think he’s on something. Then I think it’s just because his vocabulary is very limited and he’s struggling to read someone else’s words. But most of the time I think it’s all three."
--Christopher Webb: "Trump sounds like a man completely untethered from reality, rambling and hoping repetition with extra emphasis turns lies into truth."
--Simon Rosenberg: "There’s only one story tonight--Trump is unwell and unfit. Everything else is just detail."
--Adam Parkhomenko: "Was their intention to show us he can still stand or what?"
--darthstar: "It’s one thing to have your chief of staff quoted saying you have an ‘alcoholic personality’--prone to overconfidence, think you’re right and everyone else is wrong, impulsive behavior, etc.--but it’s entirely another to announce a major speech on all the networks and illustrate her point."
One reason the speech was a dud may have been that that was not the speech Trump intended to give:
--Journalists reported that the vibe surrounding the speech changed during the day and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had been seen pacing up and down. Insiders said Trump had intended to announce land assaults on Venezuela, but had been told that Congress wouldn’t give him authorization.
--Dem Sen Ruben Gallego: "Well, at least POTUS didn’t announce we are going to war with Venezuela. No clue what was the purpose of the speech."
--On his show, Tucker Carlson announced, "Here’s what I know so far, which is that members of Congress were briefed yesterday that a war iscoming, and it’ll be announced in the address to the nation tonight at 9 o’clock by the president."
--rugbymom: "Last night there were reports? Rumors? That the White House speech was ‘planned’ as an announcement of a land assault on Venezuela, as Tucker Carlson apparently previewed. But then Susie Wiles of Mike Johnson or Thune or someone told him that the votes weren’t there in Congress, and Susie Wiles reportedly believes and told him that for a ‘land’ assault, not just blowing up boats, he needed Congressional authorization. So it looks like the GOP in the house wouldn’t vote to block the President, but also weren’t prepared to vote ‘yes’ on an authorization for a war that would be really dumb...and really, REALLY unpopular...so instead Stephen Miller (most likely) threw together a collage of the latest hits on everything else and dumped it onto the teleprompter.
--The other possibility is just that he was trying to distract from 1) the Epstein files being released tomorrow (and the NYTimes story released today), and 2) Jack Smith’s damning testimony on
Capitol Hill yesterday.
--After the speech, Trump said, "Susie told me I have to give an address to the nation."
Republicans are retiring in record numbers and otherwise getting out:
--GOP Rep Dan Newhouse announced he is retiring.
--Dan Bongino announced he’s leaving his job as Kash Patel’s deputy at the first of the year, and that he will not return to the office before then (so he’s effectively already quit.) His last day is tomorrow, the day that the Epstein files are due out. (Coincidence?)
--Even Bettina Anderson, who just got engaged to Don, Jr., looks like she’s hedging her bets. She is quoted as having told friends that she was really just using him to get close to Elon Musk. "She told me she wanted to have one of Elon’s babies and she thought going after Don, Jr. would help her get close to Elon. She told several of us this was her ultimate goal."
--David French: "One thing about Trump is that almost every day he presents his supporters with an off-ramp. Every day he says or does something that allows decent people to say, ‘Oh, that’s enough. I’m out.’" Charlie Sykes: "The fact that so few people have taken those off-ramps has been a sign of strength. But as MAGA cracks, these off-ramps will become a weakness. Every day he’ll give people looking for an excuse to leave all the reason they need."
In ICE/Gestapo news:
--A Nebraska state senator was denied access twice to a Work Ethic Camp that has been turned into an ICE detention facility.
--A 55-year-old woman, a US citizen, asked ICE agents if they had a warrant while detaining somebody, and ICE threw her to the ground, handcuffed her, and hauled her away. She spent 5 hours in leg shackles at a federal building. They threatened to pepper spray her in the truck and CUT OFF HER WEDDING RING.
--ICE agents trapped construction workers on a roof in sub-zero temperatures and then blocked neighbors from taking food and blankets up to them. At least one of the construction workers ended up with hypothermia and had to be rushed to the hospital.
--ICE is increasingly targeting Native Americans, proving that they’re practicing racial profiling rather than trying to find criminal immigrants.
--One young woman who was targeted went on Instagram to tell how she was stopped by ICE agents, and that every single car was looking for brown people. One of the agents admitted to her they were looking for brown people who were illegal to "eradicate" them.
--An ICE agent was arrested for felonious assault, strangulation, and domestic violence. Police had been called to his home 22 times in under two years.
In resistance news:
--The Minneapolis police department is working with local pastors to deliver food and groceries to people afraid to go out.
In other news:
--A JetBlue passenger jet nearly collided near Venezuela with a US Air Force aircraft. The Air Force plane had its transponder turned off.
--In retaliation for not releasing Tina Peters from prison, Trump is shutting down Colorado’s National Center for Atmospheric Research and canceling $109 million dollars in Colorado transportation grants.
--The Former JAG’s Working Group unanimously consider both the giving and execution of these orders (to destroy the boats and kill the survivors), if true, to constitute war crimes, murder, or both."
In good news:
--Pope Leo XIV appointed Bishop Ron Hicks as the next archbishop of New York. Hicks is a protege of progressive Cardinal Blase Cupich.
--A federal judge blocked ICE’s policy limiting Congress’s ability to immediately visit detention facilities, saying it imposed illegal restrictions.
--In a special election for a state senate seat in Kentucky, the Democrat won 72 to 25.
In Christmas news:
--One year our church did a Christmas Eve service on Christmas carols and where they came from, with the church choir, which my daughter and I both sang in, singing each of the carols. The service included the history of "O Little Town of Bethlehem," one of my daughter’s and my least favorite carols. The minister told a long, touching story of how the author of the poem, Phillips Brooks, had been inspired while visiting the village of Bethlehem in 1865 and how the composer of the tune was "roused from sleep "late in the night, hearing an angel-strain whispering in my ear," and got out of bed to write the tune down.
--When he finished, my daughter leaned over to me, and whispered, "Oh, well, it’s the thought that counts." My ensuing sputtering laughter was one of the reasons my daughter and I were no longer allowed to sit together in choir. (Well, that, and the fact that we were always whispering.)
Best cartoon of the day, from Dave Whamond: The cartoon shows Rob Reiner and his wife Michele standing in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. Reiner: "Cloud 9 sounds nice, but do you have any that go to eleven?" St. Peter: As you wish..."
Best comment of the day, from Simon Rosenberg: "We are nearing the end of the Trump era."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis