Get the right headline and intimidate the right people

Recently I wrote of the observation that a month had gone by and there had been no release from the Justice Department interviews with Ghislaine Maxwell, accomplice to Jeffrey Epstein. And now they have. An Associated Press article posted on Daily Kos reports that a release has now happened. And... It’s about what you would expect from someone being interviewed by the people who work for the guy who could pardon her. Beyond that nothing made the news. Two weeks ago Alex Samuels of Kos reported that three White House officials sent a letter to the Smithsonian saying the museums must embody enduring American values to comply with the March executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” Everything is to be scrutinized. This is part of a broader effort to redefine American history. Alas, the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents has agreed to a full review of their museums. Also alas, the list of targeted museums include the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the National Museum of the American Indian. A great deal of African American history is about slavery. A great deal of American Indian history is about how white people took over their land. I hope Smithsonian leaders are documenting their current exhibits so they can be restored after the nasty guy and his ideological successors are no longer in control. A week ago Emily Singer of Kos reported the nasty guy said he will force the Smithsonian museums in Washington DC to remove exhibits that are too “woke” – a term conservatives can’t define (and maybe they want a term that can contain anything they want it to contain). Included in that is a demand to remove exhibits that talk about how bad slavery was. He decried the museums don’t feature American success stories. Yes, slavery was bad and cruel. It is a stain on US history no matter what the nasty guy says. Its effects are still felt today in black economic and educational inequalities. And yes, the Smithsonian does feature success stories. Another of his executive orders declared the story of slavery was “corrosive ideology” and books about slavery should be removed from Smithsonian museums and the national park system.

Trump during his first run for office declared that he “loves the poorly educated.” Now, he’s trying to ensure everyone in the U.S. is poorly educated, taught only his false and whitewashed view of history.

In the pundit roundup for last week Thursday for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Joseph Gedeon of The Guardian:

The document, based on public submissions shared with the administration, points to what it says are problematic exhibits at seven different museums, including a Benjamin Franklin exhibit that links his scientific achievements to his ownership of enslaved people and a film about George Floyd’s murder that it says mischaracterizes the police. “President Trump will explore all options and avenues to get the Woke out of the Smithsonian and hold them accountable,” a White House official said. “Until we get info from the Smithsonian in response to our letter, we can’t verify the numbers of artifacts that have been removed because the Smithsonian has removed them on their own.” The seven museums that have so far been flagged for review include the National Museum of American History, National Museum of the American Latino, National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of African Art, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Museum of Asian Art. The administration argues exhibits at these museums focus excessively on oppression rather than American achievements. At the National Museum of American History, the document flagged the ¡Presente! Latino history exhibition for allegedly promoting an “anti-American agenda” by examining colonization effects and depicting the US as stealing territory from Mexico in 1848.

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times discussed the nasty guy ordering the National Guard to patrol DC, that the military sent to Los Angeles only gave the White House video for its social media accounts, that the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities was sound and fury with no result, and that Putin’s visit to Alaska was an embarrassment with nothing to show.

Even his most dangerous actions — his plans to investigate his political rivals and turn the force of the national government against them — seem to fizzle out. It’s as if the point is to get the right headline and hope that it intimidates the right targets.

In the comments are several cartoons on the claim that slavery wasn’t so bad. Almost two weeks ago Lisa Needham of Kos reported the military personnel in DC has started to hold traffic safety checkpoints. This looks like an expansion of the immigration crackdown.

Must just be some crazy coincidence that what was supposed to be a checkpoint for things like busted taillights was staffed by overzealous masked federal agents with the power to detain immigrants.

Yeah, the traffic safety checkpoints are likely illegal. Needham then considers various scenarios in which checkpoints are legal and how this situation doesn’t fit any of them. Whatever the legal justification these checkpoints aren’t making DC residents safer. Last Friday Needham reported the siege of DC was taken up a step – the occupying troops will be carrying guns. Because this is a siege of course eventually they would be carrying guns. This time the administration didn’t bother to say why the guns were now necessary. Needham wrote, “The only reason to arm the troops in D.C. is to continue to treat the residents of the nation’s capital like federal subjects to be, well, subjugated.” Also last week Oliver Willis of Kos asked an important question. With all these troops in DC where are the Democrats? They’ve been way too silent.

The disparity between the two parties’ responses has reinforced a problem that has been apparent since Trump won the election in 2024. The Democrats have been caught flat-footed again and again, unable to respond to many of Trump’s provocations—even while the public has made clear they aren’t aligned with his priorities. ... Showing up when the nation’s capital is under siege would probably go a long way toward letting the nation know that the Democratic Party gives a damn.

In Tuesday’s pundit roundup Kev quoted Paul Krugman discussing the nasty guy’s efforts to fire Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, who is black. She allegedly got two home mortgages and declared both were for a primary residence. No actual accusation has been made, and certainly no evidence has been released, but the possibility is enough for the nasty guy to try to fire her.

I am not going to lead with a discussion of what Cook may or may not have done. That would be playing Trump’s game. Clearly, he’s just looking for a pretext to fire someone who isn’t a loyalist — and who happens, surprise, to be a black woman. If you write about politics and imagine that Trump cares about mortgage fraud — or for that matter believe anything Trump officials say about the affair without independent confirmation — you should find a different profession. Maybe you should go into agricultural field work, to help offset the labor shortages created by Trump’s deportations. The real story here isn’t about Cook, or mortgages. It’s about the way the Trump administration is weaponizing government against political opponents, critics, or anyone it finds inconvenient. You should think about the attack on Cook in the same context as mortgage fraud accusations made against California Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Or you should look at the attacks on Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, over the cost of renovations at the Fed’s headquarters. Or the still mysterious raid on the house of John Bolton, who at one time was Trump’s national security adviser. The message here clearly isn’t “Don’t commit fraud,” which would be laughable coming from Donald Trump, of all people. Nor, despite what some commentators have said, is it all about revenge — although Trump is, indeed, a remarkably vindictive person. But mainly it’s about intimidation: “If you get in our way we will ruin your life.”

In the comments are a big bunch of memes and cartoons to share. A cartoon posted by paulpro and written by Mike Stanfill shows a man responding to a voice:

Voice: If I offered you $100 to press a button that would ruin the life of a random stranger, would you do it? Man: Uhhh... No? Voice: What if I gave you a hundred thousand dollars to press that button? Would you press it then? Man: Hmmm. Yes. Yes, I would. Voice: In that case, congratulations! You’re hired!

In that last frame we seen the voice is an official at an ICE recruitment center. Another cartoon posted by paulpro is by J S Cuneo and shows seven ICE agents pulling a man from his truck. Each is commenting how the action is making him hard. A meme posted by exlrrp is with a few talking about the nasty guy’s efforts to ban wind turbines:

As you’re stung by rising electricity bill, remember the Trump admin is shadow banning virtually all new wind and solar and forcing us to pay to keep old, inefficient coal plants online. We’re paying for stupid.

In among memes posted by exlrrp about Gavin Newsom’s big moment mocking the nasty guy is one from Newsom himself of a flag giving a new definition of MAGA: “Make America Gavin Again.” Dawn Xiana Moon posted “62% of younger deaths wouldn’t have happened in any other wealthy country.” Then she quoted from Vice:

Zoom out, and the picture gets clearer. As Futurism’s Joe Wilkins points out, America’s excess death problem stretches back to 1980, the year Ronald Reagan took office and rolled out a red carpet for neoliberalism. His policies slashed social programs, deregulated industries, gutted worker protections, and handed power to corporations on a platter. Nearly every administration after has been maintaining or hastening Reagan’s destruction ever since. The result is a shredded safety net, skyrocketing inequality, and a healthcare system that bankrupts people for getting sick. Millennials and Gen Z are the first generations raised entirely under this tattered economic system that cares more about profits than people. They came of age with fewer stable jobs, unaffordable homes, and decaying public services.

Another cartoon posted by paulpro and created by DaveWhamond shows Kristi Noem of Homeland Security at the southern border wall with aides discussing a recent effort at the wall.

Noem: We painted the wall black because the sun will make it too hot to touch. Aide 1: Genius! Let’s hope they don’t find out about gloves! Aide 2: Or nighttime... Or that we only painted our side.

Ellis Rosen posted a cartoon showing a boxing announcer indicating a stern older man. “And in this corner, still undefeated, Frank’s long held beliefs!” The final cartoon is posted by paulpro and is by Guy Parsons. It refers to the recent Press killings in Gaza. The cartoon shows four people wearing “Press” vests honoring a shrouded body with a “Press” vest on it. Beside it is a quote from Edward Snowdon, “When exposing a crime is treated as committing a crime you are being ruled by criminals.”