Despite a court stepping in late Thursday and reviving Donald Trump’s campaign of tariffs against U.S. allies, one political strategist predicted it will all fall apart in the long run and Republican lawmakers won’t be there to bail the president out.
During an appearance on MSNBC’s “Way Too Early,” former Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) adviser Jonathan Kott told host Ali Vitali that GOP members of Congress won’t want to admit to voters they made a “stupid vote” and will instead leave the president to fend for himself and take the blame for the economic chaos.
Tag Archives: Democrats
Salon: Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller’s deportation machine is failing — and he’s furious
In reality, which still holds some influence in our aggressively-online world, there are about 11 million undocumented people in the U.S., total. And despite all-caps propaganda to the contrary, they as a class “have substantially lower crime rates than native-born citizens,” according to a 2020 study; they even commit fewer crimes, on average, than fully legal immigrants — those who came here “the right way.”
“Relative to undocumented immigrants, U.S.-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes,” according to the research, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
That’s why Stephen [“Goebbels”] Miller is so mad: an administration that wants nothing more than to parade millions of brown bodies onto military aircraft and out of the country — a MAGA team that promised its voters nothing less than “mass deportations now” — is having a tough time actually finding the hardened criminals the last folks supposedly let in. In April, the Trump administration deported more than 17,200 people; that’s up 29% from a year but it’s far below the pace necessary to meet the stated goal of one million deportees a year (and per NBC News, more than half of those now in ICE detention have no criminal record whatsoever).
https://www.salon.com/2025/05/29/stephen-millers-deportation-machine-is-failing–and-hes-furious
New York Times: As Trumps Monetize Presidency, Profits Outstrip Protests
The president and his family have monetized the White House more than any other occupant, normalizing activities that once would have provoked heavy blowback and official investigations.
When Hillary Clinton was first lady, a furor erupted over reports that she had once made $100,000 from a $1,000 investment in cattle futures. Even though it had happened a dozen years before her husband became president, it became a scandal that lasted weeks and forced the White House to initiate a review.
Thirty-one years later, after dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Jeff Bezos agreed to finance a promotional film about Melania Trump that will reportedly put $28 million directly in her pocket — 280 times the Clinton lucre and in this case from a person with a vested interest in policies set by her husband’s government. Scandal? Furor? Washington moved on while barely taking notice.
The Trumps are hardly the first presidential family to profit from their time in power, but they have done more to monetize the presidency than anyone who has ever occupied the White House. The scale and the scope of the presidential mercantilism has been breathtaking. The Trump family and its business partners have collected $320 million in fees from a new cryptocurrency, brokered overseas real estate deals worth billions of dollars and are opening an exclusive club in Washington called the Executive Branch charging $500,000 apiece to join, all in the past few months alone.
Just last week, Qatar handed over a luxury jet meant for Mr. Trump’s use not just in his official capacity but also for his presidential library after he leaves office. Experts have valued the plane, formally donated to the Air Force, at $200 million, more than all of the foreign gifts bestowed on all previous American presidents combined.
And Mr. Trump hosted an exclusive dinner at his Virginia club for 220 investors in the $TRUMP cryptocurrency that he started days before taking office in January. Access was openly sold based on how much money they chipped in — not to a campaign account but to a business that benefits Mr. Trump personally.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/us/politics/trump-money-plane-crypto.html
MSNBC: Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern
If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.
But it’s important to remember that many of the White House’s political antagonists are, in fact, facing the kind of investigations that Trump has in mind. The New York Times reported:
The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.
…
The public has learned in recent weeks that the administration — led by a president whose second-term “revenge tour” has been unsubtle — is also investigating and/or prosecuting a variety of Democratic officials and candidates, including Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
This dovetails with the president directing the Justice Department to go after Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; which came on the heels of Trump pressing the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official. The president did this not because there’s evidence of Krebs or Taylor having done anything wrong, but because they defied him several years ago. They went on his enemies list, and now he’s exacting revenge.
Around the same time, Trump also directed the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s most important fundraising platform.
And did I mention the investigation into former FBI director James Comey? Because that’s underway, too.
Trump and his team are also going after law firms, universities and news organizations they consider political foes of the White House.
What’s more, given Ed Martin’s new responsibilities at the Justice Department, this overtly and abusive partisan pattern is likely to intensify.
So Trump hates everybody?
Axios recently noted, “In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as ‘the enemies from within.’ As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.” That was two months ago. The problem is vastly worse now, and there’s no reason to believe conditions will improve anytime soon.
Latin Times: Trump Instructs Republicans to ‘Erase’ January 6 Riots From History, Congressman Says
Donald Trump has instructed Republican lawmakers to “erase” the events of January 6, a Democratic congressman said, as efforts to honor Capitol police officers with a memorial plaque remain stalled more than two years after its legal deadline.
Following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, during which over 140 officers were injured and five died in its aftermath, Congress passed legislation requiring a commemorative plaque to be installed by March 2023 to honor the officers’ bravery.
…
The plaque has not been installed and is currently sitting in a Capitol basement utility room. Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries says House Republicans, under Speaker Mike Johnson, have deliberately blocked its placement.
…
Jeffries continued, “The reason why the law hasn’t been complied with and a plaque hasn’t been erected is because Republicans, directed by their puppet master Donald Trump, have been told, try to erase January 6th, as if it has never happened.”
Whatever history King Donald might rewrite today, sometime in the future the truth will all come back with a vengeance. King Donald will go down in history as our worst, most evil president ever.
Raw Story: Longtime reporters ‘almost speechless’ over Trump’s ‘transparent bribery’ plot
On Friday morning, longtime Washington D.C. reporters Jonathan Lemire and Peter Baker of the New York Times, as well as conservative columnist Matt Lewis, admitted they were stunned that Republicans turned a blind eye to Donald Trump’s crypto dinner.
During a segment on the president’s much-criticized dinner at his golf club in northern Virginia that took place Thursday night, Lemire prompted guest Baker with, “I mean, you’ve covered the White House for a long time. I mean, I’m almost speechless at this. Could you imagine if Barack Obama or Joe Biden did anything like it?“
“No, we couldn’t, they could –– they never did anything like this,” Baker responded. “It’s not the first presidential family that kind of profited off the White House; you can certainly find other examples of that in history. But the scale of this, the scope of this is so far beyond anything history has ever seen.”
,,,
I don’t think the Democrats yet have the juice to take what is just transparently bribery and make it matter to the American people.”
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-crypto-dinner-almost-speechless
Kansas City Star: ‘Party is Completely Broken’: Poll Reveals AOC Approval
Co/efficient polling has shown a lack of agreement among likely voters concerning the Democratic Party’s future leadership. Co/efficient polling is a U.S.-based analytics firm specializing in political and public affairs research.
New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands out as a leading figure, along with Vice President Kamala Harris. As Democrats face recent electoral losses, they have struggled to unite around a common leader, raising speculation about potential presidential candidates for 2028.
University of Kentucky political science professor D. Stephen Voss said, “AOC serves as the face of the Democratic Party for many Trump supporters who dislike national Democrats. They like to pillory her as ignorant and irresponsible.”
Voss added, “At the same time, many Democrats embrace AOC as a worthy young successor to Bernie, someone who can play the role of progressive challenger in a Democratic nomination battle. Likely AOC tops the charts because she attracts so much bipartisan attention. Ocasio-Cortez enjoys good branding, as symbolized by the fact both supporters and critics simply refer to her as AOC. No matter what Ocasio-Cortez does in the next presidential election, she’ll be hard to ignore.”
The polling has found that 26 percent of respondents view Ocasio-Cortez as a leading representative, equal to those who feel there is no clear leader in the party.
The Hill: Democrats rip Trump ahead of meme coin dinner: ‘Orgy of corruption
However, the announcement of the dinner last month, which urged investors to load up on $TRUMP to secure one of 220 spots at the “intimate private dinner,” has sparked a new level of backlash.
“Donald Trump’s dinner is an orgy of corruption,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Thursday. “That’s what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic: corruption, corruption in its ugliest form.”
“Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto, and he’s doing it right out there in plain sight,” she added. “He is signaling to anyone who wants to ask for a special favor and is willing to pay for it exactly how to do that.”
https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5314955-trump-meme-coin-dinner-criticism
Daily Mail: Alina [Bimbo #4] Habba fires back after liberal mayor caught on hot mic insulting her pro-Trump team
After a hearing on Wednesday, Baraka was caught on hot mic saying of the judge: ‘Jesus, he tore these people a new a–hole. Good grief.’
U.S Magistrate Judge André Espinosa lambasted Trump’s prosecutors for the misdemeanor charges against Baraka and said at the virtual hearing.
‘An arrest of a public figure is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action,’ he said.
Habba told the Daily Mail that the case was dismissed due to prosecutorial discretion.
“Prosecutorial discretion” = stupid prosecutor Alina “Bimbo #4” Habba knew she was about to get her ass handed to her on a platter, so she dropped the charges so as to avoid any further embarassment.
However, continuing the prosecution of Congresswoman Rep. LaMonica McIver is going to boomerang even more badly. 😀
ABC News: New Social Security chief tells staff he had to Google the job when he was offered it
ABC News obtained audio of Frank Bisignano’s staff meeting with managers.

The newly sworn-in head of the Social Security Administration told agency staff this week that when he was first offered the job in the Trump administration, he wasn’t familiar with the position and had to look it up online.
Frank Bisignano, a former Wall Street executive, said during a town hall with Social Security managers from around the country on Wednesday that he wasn’t seeking a position in the Trump administration when he received a call about leading the SSA.
“So, I get a phone call and it’s about Social Security. And I’m really, I’m really not, I swear I’m not looking for a job,” Bisignano said, according to an audio recording of the meeting obtained by ABC News. “And I’m like, ‘Well, what am I going to do?’ So, I’m Googling Social Security. You know, one of my great skills, I’m one of the great Googlers on the East Coast.”
“I’m like, ‘What the heck’s the commissioner of Social Security?'” said Bisignano, who now oversees one of the largest federal agencies that’s responsible for distributing retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to more than 70 million Americans.
“A former Wall Street executive”, once the head of a major financial services firm, has to use Google to find out what the Commissioner of Social Security does? He seems relatively harmless compared to F’Elon Musk and his band of DOGE stooges, but I’m still not impressed.
I’ll bet I’m a lot better with Google than he is. Am I qualified for the job? 😀

https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-head-social-security-hired-wall-street-tells/story?id=122075152