World of Wardcraft

January 19, 2026

Earlier this month on the streets of Minneapolis, Minnesota, a woman named Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed at point blank range by a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent as she tried to drive away from agents who were crowding around her car.

Almost as horrific as the murder was the Trump regime's reaction to it. Not only did its officials go to absurd lengths to excuse the ICE thug who perpetrated the deed, they even went so far as to blame anybody and everybody else, including the victim, for the death.

The day after, Homeland Security spokesperson Patricia McLaughlin issued a statement blaming "sanctuary politicians" and "the media" for encouraging "rampant assaults" against ICE. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem (pictured above flaunting her hair extensions) then upped the ante, declaring the deceased woman was a "domestic terrorist" who had “rammed [the ICE agent] with her vehicle.”

Donald Trump, who can't ever keep his big yap shut about anything, told reporters aboard Air Force One, "At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement.” Apparently, disrespect now merits the death penalty. He then posted on his failing social media site:

The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting, who then violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defence…It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital.

Needless to say, because it was Trump saying it, every word of that was a stone-cold lie. Especially the part about the murderer being hospitalized. And just to "ice" the cake, regime officials told CBS News (who slavishly reported it as true) that the ICE criminal "suffered internal bleeding to the torso." That would, of course, have been dangerously life-threatening, but video shows him calmly walking away following the incident.

Vice President JD Vance also joined in the official narrative, calling the victim a "deranged leftist." Plus, limp-gaveled House Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked by CNN whether there was any chance the ICE goon had done anything wrong, predictably replied, "I don't know." And naturally, Faux News imbecile Jesse Waters pointed out that the slain woman had "pronouns in her bio," a lesbian partner and a child from a previous marriage. All crimes clearly deserving of capital punishment.

Renee Good is not the only individual shot at or assassinated by ICE lately. But her obvious innocence, as evidenced by several videos of the incident, has launched a profusion of protests. Along with an appalling overabundance of excuses.

January 15, 2026

It's patently obvious, even to his staunchest supporters (though they studiously choose to ignore it), that Donald Trump's psychological makeup is a fetid stew of dysfunctional disorders, chief among them being his raging narcissism. This mental illness manifests in many ways, but one of the most noticeable is his insatiable craving to see his name plastered everywhere.

Every one of his 15 golf courses around the world bears the Trump name. So do the eight existing "Trump Towers," as well as 14 others that were proposed, but never completed. In addition, there are various "Trump International" hotels, "Trump Plaza" apartment buildings and even a Daewoo Trump World apartment brand in South Korea.

Then there were the now defunct Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Plaza Hotel and Trump's Castle casinos in Atlantic City (along with several failed Trump-branded casinos in other cities). And don't forget the plethora of products. Like Trump Ice, Trump Water, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Magazine and Trump: The Game. Plus scams that include Trump University, Trump Mortgage, Trump Foundation and Trump Mobile cell phones.

There's a section of Route 287 in Oklahoma named Trump Highway, a Trump Avenue in Hialeah, Florida, a Trump Boulevard in Palm Beach County and a Trump Drive in Kalispell, Montana. Also, a Donald Trump Justice Complex in Lyon County, Nevada and a Donald J. Trump State Park in New York state.

But even that isn't nearly enough to appease this egomaniac's vanity. He recently demanded the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts add his name to it. And he rechristened the US Institute of Peace the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.

He's planning an expansion to the East Wing of the White House to be called the Donald Trump Ballroom. And a triumphal arch in Washington (the Arc de Trump, naturally). Still not satisfied, he wants the US Navy to begin building a new fleet of vessels to be designated Trump-class battleships. And the recently announced tax-advantaged savings and investment accounts targeted toward children will, of course, be Trump Accounts.

Why is Trump so fixated on attaching his name to everything? One answer may be that he's such an insecure failure at everything this is the only way he can bolster his self-image. As New University, the campus newspaper of the University of California at Irvine, suggests, "What he cannot achieve in historical praise, he attempts to manufacture through branding." In other words, since he can't create a positive public opinion of himself through deeds, Trump's trying to do it with labels.

January 12, 2026

It's a common tactic among criminals. Break into, say, a jewelry store, smash open the display cases, grab as much of value as possible, and beat it before the cops show up. So, since Donald Trump is nothing more than a common criminal, that's exactly what he's doing. Except instead of a jewelry store, it's the sovereign nation of Venezuela. And rather than stealing diamond trinkets, he wants to pilfer that country's oil resources.

Trump, who can't seem to control his nonstop lying, put forward a variety of obviously phony rationales for attacking Venezuela. First, it was all about halting the flow of fentanyl into the US — except Venezuela doesn't produce fentanyl. Then, it was ending cocaine trafficking — but most of the drugs that transit through Venezuela go to Europe.

Next, he claimed it was a matter of national security — his implausible excuse for everything. Then, it was law enforcement, i.e., kidnapping the country's president, Nicolás Maduro, to face trial in the US on accusations of narcoterrorism. However, as soon as Maduro got here the DOJ dropped its main charge that he headed up an imaginary drug cartel.

Finally, Trump admitted what his motivation really was — robbing Venezuela of its petroleum. The Thief in Chief even posted this confession on social media:

I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela [whoever they are] will be turning over between 30 AND 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me.

Appropriating oil from other countries has been a dream of the career crook for years. Trump repeatedly asserted the US should have taken Iraq's oil as the spoils of war. And in his first term, with troops in the petroleum-producing region of northeastern Syria, Trump babbled:

We're keeping the oil. I've always said that — keep the oil. We want to keep the oil, $45 million a month. Keep the oil. We've secured the oil.

However, the global oversupply due to fracking has driven the current price of oil down to $58 a barrel. Couple that with the fact that much of Venezuela's crude is heavy, dirty and expensive to refine, its industry's infrastructure is old and obsolete, and the country's political situation is uncertain and subject to Trump's random tweets. No wonder Exxon's CEO, along with other US oil execs, consider Venezuela flat-out "uninvestable."

Still, as economist Paul Krugman recently pointed out, "Trump has been remarkably transparent about his goals in Venezuela: It’s all about looting."

January 8, 2026

After many months of the legacy media paying scant attention to the subject, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal has finally brought the issue of Donald Trump's failing health front and center. Naturally, Trump claims — as he always does — that he's in "perfect health." Still, questions have arisen.

Why, for example, does he have those bruises on his hands? Recently, Lev Parnas, who worked in Trump's first administration and still hears from people inside the regime, provided an answer. He wrote that Trump is receiving regular intravenous infusions of a new Alzheimer’s medication, one of whose side effects is “sleepiness” during the day. Which may explain Trump's growing tendency to doze off during public appearances — roughly a dozen times so far.

At the funeral of Pope Francis back in April, cameras found Trump seated in the front row, slumped in his chair, eyes closed, mouth sagging open, out cold. Oh well, people said, maybe he was just bored because the occasion wasn't about him.

In June, during the embarrassingly lame military parade that was all about him, there he was again, up in the stands catching some Z's while the troops ambled by. Then in November, he visibly snoozed while Dr. Mehmet Oz was speaking about obesity. And it got worse.

In December alone, Trump was caught napping in public four separate times. Including:

During a Cabinet meeting on December 2, while his secretaries spoke for 90 minutes, Trump sat back in his chair with his eyes drooping and at times fully closed.

Only days later, in the middle of a peace signing agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Trump nodded off with his hands clasped, eyes closed and head hanging down as the two countries' leaders spoke.

During an announcement a week later at an Oval Office presentation unveiling a multibillion dollar bailout for America’s farmers, Trump was spotted sinking in his chair and jolting awake several times as Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins explained the deal's details.

And the week before Christmas, he appeared to drift in and out of consciousness moments after signing an historic order reclassifying marijuana.

January 5, 2026

In every election cycle, there are always some members of Congress — in the House or Senate, Democrats or Republicans — who decide not to seek reelection. But this season there seems to be an extraordinarily large number of Republican chickens flying the coop.

As of now, some two dozen GOP House members and a half dozen senators have either resigned or announced their intent not to run for reelection in 2026. With the exceptions of 2018 and 2020, this is more Republican departures at this point in the election calendar than we've seen in the last 20 years.

There are Democrats leaving, too. But most of them are doing so for reasons of age or health. Among them, 85-year-old former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for more than three decades.

However, Republicans appear to have a different set of reasons. As CNN observes:

[M]any of the Republican retirements are occurring in districts where Trump narrowly carried the vote, like New Jersey’s 2nd or Michigan’s 11th. Members from these districts could have faced tough re-elections this year, when Democrats are expected to be strong performers, potentially regaining control of the House.

According to every poll, Trump remains highly unpopular nationally, while Democrats are opening up a consistent lead in the “generic ballot” question, which asks respondents which party they intend to support in the 2026 midterms. Plus, in off-year and special elections thus far, Democrats have over-performed an average 15 percentage points better than in 2024.

Then there's the increasing dysfunction of Congress. With Speaker "Holy" Mike Johnson having lost control of his caucus, the House has descended into intra-party bickering, performative partisanship and gridlock. Which may explain why Wisconsin's Tom Tiffany, one of ten Republican reps who have suddenly decided to run for governor, told CNN, “I just think that I’ll have more impact as a chief executive versus being a legislator.”

In addition, many Republicans, such as Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene, have become fed up with having to kowtow to Trump's every whim and defend his widely disliked policies. North Carolina senator Thom Tillis, for example, said his public disagreement over Trump’s destructive “Big Beautiful Bill” ultimately weighed heavily in his decision to retire. And Greene herself (whom Trump has labeled a traitor) parted ways with Dear Leader over (among other things) his refusal to release the Epstein files.

January 1, 2026

Among the manifold personality disorders that plague Donald Trump is his all-consuming obsessiveness. Once the demented old fool latches onto a belief, a desire or a complaint, it becomes impossible to dislodge it from his deteriorating brain.

Take, for example, his electoral loss in 2020 at the hands of Joe Biden. Trump can't stop talking about the conspiracy he imagines deprived him of his rightful victory. It's a prominent and omnipresent part of the package of grievances he serves up in every speech — no matter what the subject of that speech was supposed to be. Then there are his preoccupations with the Nobel Peace Prize. And windmills. And CNN. And tariffs. And any of a dozen other manias.

Some of the bizarre notions that get stuck in his head involve other nations — seizing Panama's canal, incorporating Canada as a gigantic 51st state, overthrowing the government of Venezuela, complaining about NATO. But one of the strangest is his insatiable yearning to acquire the ice-bound, sparsely populated island of Greenland. And for reasons never adequately explained.

Of course, Trump's always been impressed by size. And he's clearly dazzled by Greenland's deceptive dimensions on a Mercator projection map: "Look at the size of this. It's massive." However, Greenland's actually only about one-fourth the size of the US.

Lately, Trump has taken to calling the annexation of Greenland a matter of national security (his new go-to rationale for everything). Some have speculated that it's about preventing Russia and China from controlling the Arctic. But that gives Trump too much credit for strategic planning, of which he's obviousy incapable.

Last week, Trump appointed Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, writing on social media, "Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests." Landry's foreign policy expertise, by the way, consists of being the former attorney general of Louisiana.

Greenland, meanwhile, remains a semi-autonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark. And the Danes aren't taking Trump's blusterings kindly. Declared Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, along with her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, “Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders.” Nor do the people of Greenland want to be part of the US. A January poll found 85% of them opposed to it, with only 6% in favor.

December 29, 2025

As is our annual custom, we hereby present our choice for 2025's Worst US Senator. And look who it is — the man with two first names, Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin (pictured above, all hat and no integrity). As usual, the competition among the Senate's useless GOPers was fierce. There's South Carolina's bilious bootlicker, Lindsey Graham. And the stupendously stupid Tommy Tuberville of Alabama. Plus, of course, Florida's villainous Medicare fraudster, Rick Scott. To name just a few.

But Mullin, a former businessman, congressman and Mixed Martial Arts fighter (record: 5-0), is the clear winner of this year's prize. Elected in 2022 in a special election following the announced retirement of Jim Inhofe, Mullin is the only current Senate member without at least a bachelor's degree.

And while most Republicans have also decided the key to political success is unflinching loyalty to a buffoon who paints his face orange and spouts racism, lies and gibberish, Mullin is by far one of the biggest lap dogs in the Senate's MAGA kennel.

Are Trump's ill-considered tariffs damaging the US? Not according to Markwayne: "This is balancing our economy with countries that have taken advantage of us.” And what about Trump's unlawful and unprovoked air strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities last June? Mullin excused them as "well within" Trump's authority as commander in chief.

He applauded Trump for being "proactive" in targeting alleged drug operations off the coast of South America. But supported barring Congress from reviewing the unedited footage of possible war crimes. "Do you think [Minnesota's Muslim representative Ilhan] Omar needs to have all this information," he asked. "I will say no."

In July, Mullin took to the Senate floor to block a Democratic resolution demanding immediate release of the Justice Department's files on Jeffrey Epstein, calling it "nothing but political theater."

He even tried (unsuccessfully) to defend Trump's nauseating remarks on the death of Hollywood director Rob Reiner. The Latin Times describes his feeble attempt:

Speaking to CNN, Mullin said Trump was "respectful" to Reiner as he "said he was once a really good actor and all that," pointing out "the fact that he didn't like him at all, but wished him, you know, ended the text fine."

When not practicing the fine art of fawning sycophancy, Mullin is also a thuggish bully, who threatened to employ his MMA skills on the president of the Teamsters union during a Senate committee hearing. There's more, of course, but you get the picture. In a Senate filled with cowards and clowns, this guy's the worst.

December 25, 2025

Couple of months back, Joy Reid of MSNOW posed an interesting question: “Why are MAGAs so mad? You’ve got everything you want — so why are y’all still so mad?” It's a puzzler for sure. Dr. Lauren Tucker of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication adds some perspective:

The MAGA movement has captured every lever of power that matters: the Supreme Court, most red-state legislatures, a compliant Congress, and a stranglehold on the Republican Party. They’ve gutted DEI, rolled back reproductive rights, and turned public education into a culture-war cage match. In Trump’s second term, they even get to watch him punish blue states like a toddler with a hammer and no nap.

And yet, MAGA nation remains livid. They're as irate as they were when Trump lost in 2020. In fact, they're still fuming over the fact that Barrack Obama won. Especially enraged are the young, white men who follow influencers and conspiracy peddlers like Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro. Regrettably, we've seen a few of these infuriated males pick up an all-too-available gun and start shooting.

One answer to Ms. Reid's question might be that, despite all their political and cultural triumphs, MAGAs still don't receive the widespread approval and esteem from the rest of America they feel they're entitled to. And, as Professor Tucker puts it, "They’ve mistaken the loss of unearned respect for oppression."

But perhaps a more compelling explanation for MAGA rage is a lifestyle built on grievance and hate against whoever are the official enemies of the moment — immigrants, gay people, trans kids, teachers, journalists, scientists or anyone who refuses to worship their Dear Leader.

Stoked by right-wing media, like Faux News, the Trumper zealots are brimming with hate. Especially towards those who are outside the tribe. These get labeled "Communists," dirty "Muslims," lazy slackers, criminals and “groomers” out to infect our children with the “Woke Mind Virus.” Thus, by denigrating others, MAGAs feel free to hate mercilessly and openly.

But like the revolutionaries of 18th-century France, the cult's members now seem to be turning their hatred and anger against their own. One example is the fratricidal resentment stemming from the Epstein files. Reports PBS:

A broken promise to release more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case has sparked outrage among some of President Donald Trump’s loyal supporters.

But if it weren't that, it would be about something else. Tariffs. ICE raids. Israel. Whatever. MAGAs aren't happy unless they're incensed about something. So why aren't they always happy?

December 22, 2025

Donald Trump, egged on by his virulently anti-immigrant manipulator, Stephen Miller (whose own Jewish antecedents fled to the US from pogroms in Eastern Europe), has been pushing a ruthless program of arresting, incarcerating and deporting migrants to this country — citizens or not, legally here or not. In this he has been assisted by the brutal masked thugs employed by ICE and the Border Patrol (CBP).

According to an October press release from the Department of Homeland Security, the regime is on pace to deport "nearly 600,000 illegal aliens" by the end of this year. Plus, assistant DHS secretary Trisha McLaughlin claims that 1.6 million immigrants have already left the country voluntarily.

Trump has also fired around 100 immigration court judges, effectively undermining the asylum process, slowing justice and encouraging deportations. The implicit meaning is clear: Don't even think about migrating to America. And forget about all that "Give me your tired, your poor" guff. We don't want you coming here and seeking a better life. Especially if you're a person of color.

And now the aggressively anti-foreigner Trump regime is initiating policies to stop even tourists from coming here. Last week, it was announced that sojourners from the 42 countries enrolled in a federal program allowing them to visit for 90 days without having a visa will be required to submit additional information.

What information, you ask? Only their social media history for the last five years; their email addresses for the last ten years; the names, addresses and phone numbers of their family members, along with their dates and places of birth. As well as an assortment of biometric data, like digital photos, fingerprints, retinal scans and even DNA.

They also want more personal info (what the CPB calls "high value data fields"), but you get the idea. And if the goal is to curb tourism, it sure seems to be working. According to the Commerce Department, tourism from European countries is dropping like a rock. Plus, Fortune magazine reports that in some border states the decline in Canadian tourism alone has reached 27%. These shifts are already resulting in higher hotel vacancies and weaker sales.

December 18, 2025

Donald Trump has always had a contemptuous attitude toward women — Remember that 2005 Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about being allowed to grope women because he was a "star"? But he has a particular hatred and fear of strong women who occupy positions of importance. Here's Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University:

The kind of things that he said about Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, Elizabeth Warren, Heidi Cruz — the list goes on — he talks about women, any prominent, powerful woman, in the most demeaning of ways, trivialising them.

And now that his spiraling dementia is removing any and all behavioral inhibitions, Trump's misogyny — especially towards women of color — is on full display. ABC reporter Rachel Scott was one victim. When she reminded Trump how he promised to release the full video of that September 3 attack on a Venezuelan fishing boat, he denied ever having said it and called ABC "fake news." When she asked a second time, he blew his stack:

Didn’t I just tell you that? You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you — you are an obnoxious — a terrible, actually a terrible reporter. And it’s always the same thing with you. I told you.

He also lashed out at Newsday correspondent Laura Figueroa Hernandez, accusing her of being “unprepared.” And at CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, saying she was "always Stupid and Nasty." And at Katie Rogers of The New York Times, writing she was "a third rate reporter who is ugly, both inside and out." And at ABC's Mary Bruce, declaring “You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”

The list goes on and on. He told chief White House correspondent for CBS News Nancy Cordes: "You’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.” And Bloomberg News reporter Catherine Lucey: “Quiet, quiet piggy!” And NBC's Yamiche Alcindor: “Be quiet, you never listen, that’s why you’re second-rate.” But it's not only female journalists.

He accused Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to run for president, of being "lazy as hell," "a stupid person," "mentally impaired" and having a "low IQ." He attacked Georgia DA Fani Willis for being "corrupt" and a "criminal." And referred to New York's Black attorney general as “Racist A.G. Letitia ‘Peekaboo’ James.”

As the Society of Professional Journalists points out, "These incidents are not isolated; they are part of an unmistakable pattern of hostility." And most likely the consequence of Trump's total inadequacy when it comes to women.

December 15, 2025

Running for a second term as president over a year ago, Donald Trump's main campaign issue — other than mercilessly persecuting pet-eating immigrants — was the high cost of living. He repeatedly vowed, “Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again.” And on the last day of the campaign, he told a crowd in Pittsburgh, PA, “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”

Now, a year later, Trump wants us to think that affordability isn't actually a problem at all. At a recent Cabinet meeting, he called the issue a “scam” and a "con job" perpetrated by Democrats: "They use the word 'affordability' — it’s a Democrat hoax. They’re the ones that drove the prices up. They never talk about, like, the specifics."

The American public, however, begs to differ. According to a November poll by Politico, almost half — 46% — say the cost of living in the US is the worst they can ever remember it being, a view held by 37% of 2024 Trump voters as well. The poll also reveals that Americans believe the current affordability crisis is entirely Trump's responsibility, with 46% saying it's his economy now and his administration is responsible for the costs they struggle with.

They're right about that. As economist Paul Krugman points out, "Businesses are starting to fully pass onto consumers the cost of Trump’s tariffs." In addition, Trump’s deportation policies are increasing prices on food, housing and various other goods and services. And Trump's dimwitted war on renewable energy, aided by the AI mania, is pushing up the cost of electricity.

Another sector facing soaring costs is healthcare. Thanks to Trump and his out-of-touch Senate stooges, President Biden's enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies will be left to expire at year's end, causing health insurance costs to rise for millions of Americans. A 64-year-old Florida couple, for example, will see their ACA premiums skyrocket from $637 per month to a staggering $3,176!

And don't think GOP officeholders aren't worried about the voter blowback. Said Republican National Committee chairman Joe Gruters, referring to the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, "The chances are Republicans will go down and will go down hard." Even Missouri's MAGAfied senator Josh Hawley has gotten the message: “People aren’t dumb. They know when they go to the grocery store what it costs."

The only person who doesn't seem to get it is Donald Trump himself. Last week, he told a campaign-style rally in Pennsylvania that prices were falling "tremendously." Sounds like he's the one who's been taken in by the hoax.

December 11, 2025

Recently, we reported on the many pardons Donald Trump has issued to felons who were willing to shove money into his pocket — either through his scam crypto company or in the form of a "campaign contribution". But Trump has also doled out pardons and commutations to a host of fraudsters, corrupt politicians, and other white-collar crooks.

Regardless, Trump has always paraded himself as a tough, hard-nosed crime fighter. It was his declared reason for sending troops into Washington, DC. And the rationale behind his illegal attacks on Venezuelan fishing boats. He also vowed to halt supposed government crime, as he (more or less coherently) told a Justice Department audience in March:

We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, very much expose their egregious crimes and severe misconduct of which was levels never seen anything like it.

Yet, only last week Trump pardoned Texas Democratic congressman Henry Cuellar in a federal bribery and conspiracy case, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system. Cuellar had been charged with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities.

In February, Trump pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of multiple political corruption charges that included seeking to sell an appointment to then-President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. And in April, he issued a pardon for former Nevada state lawmaker Michele Fiore, who had been convicted of seven counts relating to wire fraud.

In May, Trump pardoned Scott Jenkins, the former sheriff of Culpeper County, Virginia, who was convicted of accepting more than $75,000 in bribes. And the next day, pardoned reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who were convicted in 2022 on several counts of fraud, along with tax evasion to the tune of $30 million.

Last month, Trump commuted the 37-year sentence of Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, who was convicted of defrauding investors. This was the third time Weinstein had been found guilty of this crime. Of course, Trump had also previously commuted his punishment for those first two convictions.

December 8, 2025

You may remember June of 2020, in the midst of Donald Trump's first term, when he tried to downplay the severity of the ongoing Covid pandemic by insisting too many people were being tested. “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any,” Trump declared during one White House event. Now that we're in Trump 2.0, the incompetent clown is trying to use the same out-of-sight-out-of-mind tactic to cover up the nation's dire economic news.

For example, following a bad jobs report in July, Trump fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer from her role as the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, claiming the data had been “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” Sure, Donnie. He next appointed a hack loyalist, E.J. Antoni of the Heritage Foundation, to head the BLS. But, as The American Prospect pointed out:

The problem, however, is that Trump did not appoint Antoni to make technical refinements for the sake of better data. He appointed him to cook the numbers. And both things are not possible.

Then, at the beginning of November, the Labor Department announced that the release of the monthly jobs numbers for October would be not merely falsified, but canceled altogether. Their lame excuse was that the federal employees who normally collect the data had been furloughed during the recent government shutdown.

The BLS also announced it would not release Consumer Price Index information for October and updated its website to say certain other data would not be forthcoming. Even though government funding had been restored and normal operations resumed.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis also cited the shutdown when it canceled its advance estimate of third-quarter GDP. Plus, the BEA has repeatedly pushed back the release of its data on personal income, consumer spending and savings, and retail sales.

Trump kicked off his second term by proclaiming in his inaugural address, "The golden age of America begins right now." And at a recent speech to McDonald's executives, he bragged, "We are doing better than we’ve ever done as a country. Prices are coming down and all of that stuff.”

Since his regime is assiduously hiding any true economic information, we have only Dear Leader's word for this. Meanwhile, some economists are echoing Edward Dowd, founder of Phinance Technologies, who speculated that this refusal to release the reports means "the wheels must be coming off the 'Golden Economy' bus." But Trump thinks that won't happen. If you just conceal the proof.

December 4, 2025

According to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, one of the hallmarks of frontotemporal dementia is loss of inhibition, whereby individuals act without considering the consequences or repercussions of their actions. This can manifest itself in saying or doing things impulsively, disregarding risk, or exhibiting a lack of emotional or behavioral control. It may also include making rude and inappropriate comments, performing rash and careless actions, or engaging in aggressive outbursts.

Sound like some US president we all know? Along with his recognized potpourri of mental illnesses, seventy-nine-year-old Donald Trump seems to be increasingly unable to control his behavior. He's been ramping up threats of war against Venezuela, positioning military forces in the region, approving unlawful air strikes killing civilians, and even announcing that the country's airspace should be considered closed. All for no discernable reason.

And he's clearly becoming more irritable and ill tempered. On Thanksgiving, he insulted a Bloomberg News journalist when she dared to ask if there was anything incriminating in Epstein’s emails. Jabbing his finger at her, Trump snapped: "Quiet. Quiet, Piggy." Asked by another reporter about his lie that Afghans entering the country were not vetted, he barked,

Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person? Because they came in on a plane along with thousands of other people who shouldn’t be here, and you’re just asking questions because you’re a stupid person.

When a group of Democratic lawmakers released a video urging US service members to disobey illegal orders, Trump blew his top:

It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL.

He called the governor of Minnesota "seriously retarded," and demanded its congresswoman Ilhan Omar "be thrown the hell out" of the US. Then there are his ravings about the state's Somali immigrants, calling them "garbage" and claiming they do "nothing but complain" and "have destroyed our country."

Here's how Dr. John Gartner, a clinical psychologist and former professor at Johns Hopkins, accounts for all this:

When people develop dementia, they become the worst versions of themselves. Whatever personality issues or problems [people with dementia] have begin to deteriorate, and they become even more crude, disorganized, aggressive, confused versions of that personality disorder.

Psychologist Mary Trump, who is Trump's niece and knows well her family's history of dementia, agrees that her uncle's impulse control is “deteriorating.” So what does this mean for us? The New York Times has one answer: "Sometimes Trump's disinhibition gets you a willingness to call a failed presidency a failed presidency."

December 1, 2025

While the US Constitution confers on presidents the authority "to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States," leave it to mobster-in-chief Donnie Trump to thoroughly corrupt that privilege, just as he has every other element of our founding document.

In the first ten months of Trump 2.0, he's pardoned over 1,600 criminals. For context, all the presidential pardons from Reagan through Biden (that's 44 years) totaled only 1,420. As ProPublica pointed out earlier last month,

Trump has granted clemency to allies, donors and culture-war figures — as well as felons who, like him, were convicted of financial wrongdoing.

Trump abused his pardon power the very first day by granting clemency to the hundreds who obeyed his order to stage an insurrection at the Capitol. As well as to those who — like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell and John Eastman — were intimately involved in illegally trying to overturn the 2020 election.

But in addition to doling out pardons to allies who committed crimes for him, Trump has discovered that his pardon power can also be a paying proposition. Consider, for example, the bunch of “fake electors” he pardoned, who approved fraudulent slates of electors for Trump in the 2020 election. According to Federal Election Commission filings, they gave Trump a combined $250,000 in political donations through 2025, with David Hanna, a Georgia elector, giving the most at $145,500.

Another pardon recipient was Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges. In March, a United Arab Emirates fund invested $2 billion in Zhao's company. And — surprise! — the transaction was completed exclusively using Trump's World Liberty crypto coin.

Then there's venture capitalist Imaad Shah Zuberi, who was sentenced to 12 years for concealing his work as a foreign lobbyist. And who coincidentally donated a combined $225,000 to Trump’s various political committees.

Next up, Paul Walczak, a former Florida nursing home executive who pleaded guilty to tax evasion, and was pardoned only weeks after his mother paid $1 million to attend a Trump fundraiser and donated to other Trump-related committees.

Trump also pardoned Trevor Milton, who was found guilty of securities and wire fraud, after the billionaire donated approximately $900,000 to Trump just before the 2024 election. Milton’s wife, Chelsey, also separately gave a combined $927,900 to Trump’s reelection campaign.

Not content with hawking crypto and merch, Trump is now retailing presidential pardons. As a House Judiciary Committee staff analysis put it, "Whoever said crime doesn’t pay has certainly not studied the Trump Administration.”

November 27, 2025

November has not been a good month for career criminal and wannabe tyrant Donnie Trump. Over the past weeks, he's undergone the kinds of losses that have news outlets — including The Boston Globe and The Los Angeles Times — pronouncing the Trump Era basically over.

It started the first Tuesday after the first Monday, when Democrats swept local and statewide elections all across the country. This was largely because Trump is so highly toxic very few Republican candidates could escape the taint-by-association.

Those elections also wiped out the gains Trump made among Latino men and women in 2024, with those voters swinging back to the Democrats. In Virginia, for example, the two most heavily Latino cities supported the Democratic candidate for governor, Abigail Spanberger, by more than 15 points each. This change in Latino attitudes is probably the result of Trump unleashing ICE to conduct his massive and haphazard deportation campaign, coupled with his inability to lower costs as promised.

Clearly, the public's tolerance for Trump's incompetence, corruption and cruelty is fading fast. This month's Reuters/Ipsos poll found his approval rating at a dismal 38% — the lowest since his return to power. Along with his overall popularity, his scam business venture, Trump Media & Technology Group, has also nosedived. In the past month, its stock has dropped 32%, even as the market overall has been surging. Since going public a year and a half ago, the company has lost a whopping 80% of its asset value.

Then there's Trump's genius idea for retaining Republican control of the House of Representatives through gerrymandering. A federal court just recently nixed the Texas redistricting map as racially discriminatory, Kansas and Indiana have both refused to go along with Trump's partisan gerrymander scheme, while California is going ahead with its redistricting plan. Which means the Dems will likely retake the House and almost certainly impeach Trump a third time.

Plus, if the Republican revolt on the Epstein files is any indication, he could well be convicted. After fighting for months to keep those files from the public eye (with the help of the spineless Speaker), Trump finally realized congressional GOPers would not back him. To save face, he then had to pretend he'd wanted those files released all along. Fooling absolutely no one.

November 24, 2025

According to an apocryphal story, famed Depression-era bank robber Willie Sutton (pictured above wishing he'd gone into government work) was once asked by a reporter why he robbed banks. His answer: "Because that's where the money is."

Nowadays, the gang of crooks who infest Donald Trump's regime feel the same way about the US Treasury. And with the backlash to all things Trump growing — the seven million-strong "No Kings" protest last month, his loss of support among Republicans on the Epstein files, the widespread anger at his mishandling of the economy — Trump's criminal mob are busily looting the federal government while the getting is good.

There's Michael Flynn, Trump's first-term national security advisor, who is seeking $50 million in damages from the Justice Department for his supposed wrongful prosecution for lying to the FBI. A charge, by the way, to which he initially pleaded guilty.

Meanwhile, over at the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem spent $200 million in taxpayer money on a pair of top-of-the-line Gulfstream G700 private jets. And speaking of jets, FBI Director Kashyap Patel has been flying around with his girlfriend on his agency's $60 million plane paid for by US taxpayers.

Noem, it turns out, is also living rent-free in the US Coast Guard commandant's government-funded quarters. Several other regime officials are living on military bases at the taxpayers' expense, too. Including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's top fascism advisor, Stephen Miller.

But back to Noem. According to extensive reporting, her DHS secretly funneled taxpayer dollars from a $220 million “emergency” ad campaign to a Republican consulting firm with deep personal, political and financial ties to Noem and her senior aides.

Leave it to Trump, though, to go for the biggest slice of the Treasury pie. He's seeking $230 million in compensation from the DOJ. We'll let The Hill explain why:

Trump has argued he deserves compensation for the scrutiny into his conduct, describing himself as a victim of both a special counsel investigation into the 2016 election and the classified documents case.

Says Trump, "All I know is that they would owe me a lot of money, but I’m not looking for money. I would give it to charity or something.” Sure he would. In response, Senator Adam Schiff recently introduced the No Torts for Trump Act to prevent its namesake from receiving any payment. Another law we didn’t know we needed until Trump came along.

So why are he and his cronies so industriously pillaging the US Treasury? Ask Willie Sutton.