Dear Everybody:
There’s breaking news this afternoon, so I’ll do it first, but I don’t think it’s the most important story out there:
--The breaking news is that even though you might have thought Kash Patel was next on Trump’s chopping block, he wasn’t. Instead, Trump’s Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, resigned (or was fired.) The White House announced she is taking a job in the private sector. Chavez-DeRemer had big problems, too. She had been accused of having an extramarital affair with a member of her security team, of drinking on the job, of keeping a stash of liquor in her office, of taking her staff on excursions to strip clubs.
--Just like Pam Bondi, she was fired right before she was supposed to appear on Capitol Hill and face a bruising hearing.
--bells110: "Kash is drinking, missing work, and wasting money. Hegseth is a disaster who got us into an unwinnable war, RFK, Jr. is trying to destroy our health, but he fired another woman. She deserved to be ousted, but she’s not doing the most harm."
--People are now calling Trump’s Cabinet "the liquor cabinet."
There's also breaking news about Kash Patel:
--This morning Kash Patel sued the Atlantic Magazine and staff writer Sarah Fitzpatrick for $250 million dollars, claiming defamation and malice in their story about his drinking on the job.
--The Atlantic and the writer, which cited more than 2 dozen sources, including current and former FBI officials, said they stood by their story.
--Most people are saying that this is a huge mistake for Patel, who will have to face discovery, and that it will backfire badly, particularly since some of the accusations involve Patel’s being drunk in public in Washington, DC, and Las Vegas.
--Patel has hired Jesse Binnall as his lawyer, who has a long streak of losing defamation cases against Devin Nunes, CNN, and others.
--Dem Rep Ted Lieu: "The deposition of Kash Patel is going to be awesome"
--Journalist Molly Conger: "Discovery is gonna be funny as hell, I hope we get to see some videos of the FBI director blacked out singing karaoke."
--Ricky Davila: "Corrupt, drunken lunatic Kash Patel is now filing a frivolous lawsuit against the Atlantic whilst sitting at the head of the FBI. Every scumbag in the MAGA regime is a fraudster. Wait till he finds out how discovery works."
Both those stories were big news, but I have to go with this story--or group of stories--as the REALLY BIG news today because it’s such a breakthrough:
--The media is now openly talking about Trump’s unfitness for office! Finally! Look at these headlines:
--New York Times; "Trump’s erratic behavior and extreme comments revive mental health debate."
--The Hill: "Trump’s mental acuity in question amid pattern of erratic behavior. This conversation isn’t just coming from political opponents anymore. In some cases, it’s coming from people who once supported him."
--USA Today: "MAGA dissidents join Dems in questioning Trump’s mental capacity."
--The Boston Globe: "Are mainstream news media finally ready to examine Trump’s mental fitness?"
--The Guardian: "Unhinged madman."
--The Independent: "Trump’s former top lawyer said president’s mental health decline has accelerated: ‘This is somebody who is just lost."
--Le Monde: "The US president is clearly insane: Trump’s escalatory rhetoric raises questions over his mental health."
--The Week: "Trump: Why even old allies are questioning his sanity."
--MS NOW: "Trump is deteriorating worse than ever, and it’s obvious in the ways he’s lashing out at anyone and everyone."
--Common Dreams: "Trump is stark raving mad. Impeach him now."
--Chris Hayes on MS NOW: "Trump is a profoundly unwell man, but even by the degraded standard we are used to, it has become clar that he has taken a turn for the worse."
--Daily Kos: "The President of the United States is an unhinged lunatic."
--Folks, this is a real breakthrough. The mainstream media has been tiptoeing around Trump’s dementia, malignant narcissism, and craziness for this entire year, either tiptoeing around the topic with all sorts of euphemisms or refusing to address it at all. But now it’s being openly discussed. And now that the subject’s been broached, I think it will be more and more.
--I think the tipping point may have been Trump’s post that he intended to "end an entire civilization," which was just too dangerous and deadly to ignore, or maybe it was the New York Times’ report, where they said he had to be removed from the situation room during the rescue of the pilots because his screaming and ranting was endangering the mission, or maybe it was his portraying himself as Jesus, healing people with glowing hands, or maybe it was his randomly posting Frank Sinatra’s "I Did It My Way." Or all three together, plus the bigger-than-Napoleon’s arch, the insane ballroom, his fight with the Pope, etc. Whatever it was, the dam has broken, and it’s now the big topic of the day, and I think it will continue to be as he does other crazy stuff. Like today’s post that he’s "winning the war by A LOT!"
It isn’t just the media saying it:
--Marjorie Taylor Greene: "President Trump has gone mad."
--Alex Jones: "Trump continues to insanely flip-flop on the war in Iran. He said on Friday they agreed to all his demands and had totally opened the Strait of Hormuz, and of course they hadn’t. And now, he’s reissued the threats to blow up all their bridges and civilian infrastructure...a disaster. A complete and total disaster."
--Senator Bernie Sanders; "These are the ravings of a dangerous and mentally unbalanced individual. Congress has got to act NOW. End this war."
--Simon Rosenberg: "Trump is far more mad than king."
--Hamlets Mill: "We are now approaching February 1945 psychotic levels with the deranged Orange Fuhrer. Everything is starting to close in. Hitler had imaginary ‘armies’ doing imaginary ‘complex troop movements’ to carry out imaginary ‘counterattacks.’ Our Hitler has imaginary ‘peace talks’ going every Monday morning now to keep the stock market up."
--Trump is now claiming that his crazy posts were intended to sound that way to force the Iranians to the negotiating table, that he wanted to be seen as "as insulting and unstable as possible," but that sounds like an excuse after the fact for his crazy and out-of-control behavior.
In war against Iran news:
--A US Navy destroyer intercepted an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman and US forces blew a hole in the engine room and the vessel is now in US custody. This constitutes a direct military strike despite a ceasefire. It is also an act of piracy--and a war crime.
--Two senior US officials and two Trump advisors are saying that, according to leaks from the Pentagon, the war is likely to "significantly intensify...very soon."
--Trump claims Israel didn’t talk him into launching the war. (Translation: Israel did. "Every accusation is a confession.")
--Trump claimed this afternoon that he was ""under no pressure" to end the war and then posted: ‘"The Anti-American Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win, but it’s not going to happen, because I’m in charge! Just like these unpatriotic people used every ounce of their limited strength to fight me in the Election, they continue to do so with Iran. The result will be the same--it already is!"
--Writer Leah McElrath; "Sure, big guy. Keep telling yourself that.
--Author Eric Nelson: "The more he says he’s winning, the less I feel like he’s winning."
--Meidas Touch noted the conflict was no longer an excursion or a journey: "It’s a war again."
--And then, 30 minutes later, posted, "I’m winning a war. BY A LOT, things are going very well, our Military has been amazing."
Lots of the war news is about the UAE:
--I reported earlier that the UAE announced they are shutting down their LIV golf tour in the United States because of the war, and now they say they are successfully defending themselves and they’re talking about closing US bases "as they are a burden and not a strategic asset."
--The Wall Street Journal and the Economic Times are reporting that the UAE is also asking the US for a wartime financial lifeline as the Iranian conflict drags on. According to their reports, the UAE is worried about depleting foreign reserves and scaring away investors who saw the UAE as a stable and secure place for their money.
--Trump spokesman Kevin Hassett: "The UAE has been an incredibly valuable ally throughout this effort, and I’m sure the Treasury Secretary will make every effort to help them out should that be necessary."
--deliarn: "WTF...yet another foreign country bailout? But we got no money to take care of our own citizens."
--Nicholas Grossman: "We must use US taxpayer dollars to backstop the UAE which is facing economic problems caused by the war Trump started and doesn't know how to win, a war encouraged by leaders of the UAE who have given hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Trump, his family, and associates." (Note: The UAE invested $500 million dollars in Trump’s World Liberty cryptocurrency scam.)
In Kennedy Center news:
--A guy who stayed on at the Kennedy Center after Trump’s takeover to try to salvage what he could, has written an article detailing what they’ve been up to, which includes selling off and/or stealing valuable art collections.
--He said they sold off and/or gave away the entire permanent collection of art which belongs to the Center.
--He said the Kennedy Center did need some repairs, that the roof was leaking, etc., but that none of those repairs were undertaken. Instead, Trump was obsessed with adding gold gilding to the chandelier in the Presidential Box in the Opera House.
--Trump sold off the rights to the lounges to his big donors.
--Everyone who quit or was fired was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement or else forfeit their severance benefits. (This is blatantly illegal, but what else is new?)
In other news:
--There was a major 7.7 magnitude earthquake this morning off the coast of Japan.
--Susie Wiles summoned dozens of top GOP operatives from multiple states to attend an urgent closed door summit today about the midterm elections, which the polls show Republicans losing badly.
--Starting today, businesses that paid tariffs which were later ruled to be illegal can file for refunds.
In good news:
--Trump’s DOJ lost another case in court. They had accused a professor of using tear gas on ICE agents during a protest, but it turns out it was the other way around, and the professor was just trying to defend himself when ICE used tear gas on the crowd. The jury only took two hours to throw out the case.
--The House approved legislation to shield 350,000 Haitians from deportation.
--A new pancreatic cancer mRNA vaccine shows lasting results in an early trial, with nearly all patients still alive six years later. (Pancreatic cancer is notorious for killing you fast!) The patients have surgery to remove their tumor and then the vaccine is personalized for each patient using genetic material taken from their tumor cells.
And finally, I loved what people were saying about Trump’s posting of Frank Sinatra’s "I Did It My Way:"
--Derek--"This is about 10 times more ominous than ‘a whole civilization will die tonight.’"
--Daily Kos: "Trump doesn’t hear Sinatra’s lyrics as a song. Trump hears Sinatra as projecting his own grandeur."
--QueenBMrsC: "Nancy Sinatra will not be happy about this. Trump goes against everything that Frank stood for. He was a big champion for equality and supported the Civil Rights movement."
--Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy: "This is a sacrilege."
--And then there was this exchange between her and Sinatra’s ex-wife. Mia Farrow; "Frank Sinatra would have loathed Donald Trump." Nancy Sinatra: "He actually did loathe him."
--Nancy Sinatra to Trump: "Do some homework before you make a fool of yourself. My dad LOATHED TRUMP."
Best comment of the day, from Jane in NC: "At one point, Trump couldn’t put a foot wrong. So much so that his brag about being able to shoot somebody in the middle of Fifth Avenue and not lose a single vote wasn’t far off the mark. But when the tide turns, boy, does it turn. Trump keeps running the same plays that used to work. Every time. Now they fall flat like the cheap theatrics they are, and the audience isn’t clapping. Even the Saudis, the cash cows of the Trump family, are freaking out about money because of the Iranian quagmire and have pulled out their bone saw association. You might say they’ve hit Trump where he LIVs. The guy who once seemed made of Teflon is now stuck to a glue trap every which way he turns. And I love this for him."
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis