Thursday, June 12, 2025

The "Liberation" Is in Full Swing



As everyone from Ankara to Zagreb has learned by the time this post is read 

Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a news conference and handcuffed Thursday morning as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking on recent immigration enforcement operations in the lawmaker's hometown of Los Angeles.

The stunning altercation unfolded as Noem was speaking at a federal building in Los Angeles, where days of protests have erupted in the city's downtown area over the ICE raids. Padilla was removed from the room after saying, "You insist on exaggerating." At least two men identified as Secret Service agents by the Department of Homeland Security approached Padilla, a Democrat, near a wall and pushed him through doors near the rear of the room.

He could be heard saying, "I am Sen. Alex Padilla and I have questions for the secretary" before he was removed, handcuffed and held facedown on the floor in a hallway. 

Details, and analysis, of the takedown of Senator Padilla are forthcoming. However, it is curious that

Scuffling with officers outside the room, he can be heard bellowing "Hands off!" He is later seen on his knees and then pushed to the ground and handcuffed in a hallway with several officers atop him.

In 2022, President Biden signed into law a measure which 

directs the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop scenario-based training curricula (or identify existing curricula) that includes topics such as alternatives to the use of force, de-escalation tactics, and safely responding to an individual experiencing a mental, behavioral health, or suicidal crisis.

It's a safe bet that the Secret Service agents sitting atop Senator Padilla after he already was on his knees missed that training. In fairness, though, even Secret Service officers have to get their jollies somehow.

"I don't even know the Senator," Secretary Noem claimed after the incident. And yet immediately prior to the confrontation between the Senator and the SS (Secret Service) agents, the Homeland Security secretary, intentionally provocative, had threatened "We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country."


 

 

So Kristi Noem did not know who this guy was but was convinced she was anointed to "liberate this city from the socialist and the burdensome leadership" it has. She will liberate a state whose Senator she did not recognize, even though he identified himself immediately after being first subdued by the law enforcement officers. Or as Stuart Stevens tweeted

So, let's understand this: the person whose job it is to make America safe by recognizing terrorist plots and threats before they happen is the same person who doesn't recognize a United States Senator?

Alex Padilla will survive. However, Ron Brownstein captured better than anyone on Thursday the context of the confrontation and the larger issues involved:




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Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Trump Being Trump is Real and Not Spectacular



Whatever else he is,  Governor Gavin Newsom is not psychic. ABC News reminds us

In the aftermath of wildfires in January that devastated the Los Angeles region, Trump visited the city toward the end of the month and was greeted on the tarmac by Newsom with several handshakes and an embrace; Newsom also met with Trump in Washington in early February, and told CNN afterwards, "I have just all the confidence in the world that it's going to be a strong partnership moving forward."

Well, that didn't last long as

President Donald Trump and California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom are engaged in a bitter fight over the handling of protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue in Los Angeles -- and both also are framing their confrontation in familiar political terms.

On Monday, the president said it would be a "great thing" if border czar Tom Homan arrested Newsom; in response, the California governor fired back that the comment is an "unmistakable step toward authoritarianism."

In a sign of how much politics is driving the confrontation, Trump, when asked on Monday afternoon by ABC News what crime Newsom has committed to warrant his arrest, Trump said the governor's "primary crime is running for governor because he's done such a bad job." Newsom responded on X, "Donald Trump admits he will arrest a sitting governor simply because he ran for office."

President Trump doesn't want this, and so Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations Tom Homan won't do it. Not yet, anyway. Prosecution of political opponents will be one of the defining aspects of Trump's endgame of  partial control of culture and total control of government. 

But this is a very big thing. The President of the United States of America, the leader of the (thus far) Free World, has called for the arrest of an elected official. It's not as dramatic as de facto advocating the execution of a US congresswoman or chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  Execution is far worse than arrest but Trump at least came up with a rationale, albeit a false accusation, for imposing capital punishment.

Now, the President has slyly recommended the arrest of a government official of the opposing party. O.K., still not as bad as execution, yet ruinous to a republic. Nor should it be written off as just Trump being Trump. The spoken wish is no more legitimate because it is in character.

Which brings me to a Charles Barkley allegory. Long before the NBA superstar became a pop culture figure as a reasonably informed and very entertaining sports personality on TNT, Barkley was a great forward for the Philadelphia 76ers. He also was a bad boy, and not in a good way, fighting a fan on a Milwaukee street, playing a game drunk, spitting on a girl attending a game, and generally being a jerk.

That was "Charles being Charles" as many Philadelphia fans and sportswriters characterized it, partly because he was a dominant player and partly being it was considered just the way it was for Sir Charles. 

Barkley changed; Trump won't, as he increasingly gains power amidst the failure of either law firms, colleges, or media outlets to stand as one and continues drive toward an autocratic state.. Terry Moran gets sent to the woodshed (or worse) and the sound you hear is of a tree limb being sawed off behind the brave and bold Scott Pelley.

Worry not about Governor Newsom, who won't get charged with a crime in the near future and will land on his feet. However, the attack upon him by President Trump is a warning, typically a significant, secondary aspect of much of what Trump does. If we ignore this incident- as the news media largely has done- the "King" will be further emboldened. And unlike the frog, we may not notice until it's too late.

 




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Sunday, June 08, 2025

Disreputable Bunch


"I trust his wife."

Who would have expected that Scott Jennings, who yearns for a request from President Trump that he run for the US Senate seat being vacated by Mitch McConnell, would become a "trust all women" kind of guy? Well, in the case of Kilmer Abrego Garcia, he conveniently has become the feminist he has scorned.

Jennings' reacted after  

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, the man at the center of a political and legal maelstrom after he was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, was flown back to the United States on Friday to face charges of transporting undocumented migrants....

 The decision to pull Mr. Abrego Garcia out of El Salvador and instead put him on trial in an American courtroom could provide an offramp for the Trump administration, which had bitterly opposed court orders requiring the government to take steps to return him after his wrongful removal in March.

The 10-page indictment — filed in Federal District Court in Nashville in May and unsealed Friday — might also be an effort to save face: Bringing Mr. Abrego Garcia back to face criminal charges may allow the White House to avoid a broader legal confrontation that was increasingly headed toward questions of whether Trump administration officials should be held in contempt of court.

Jennings argues

We also know what his wife told the courts and law enforcement about him, that he was violent, that he beat her, that he was... I trust his wife when she runs off and says "please protect me from (this? my?) man.

That's the truth but not the whole truth.  

In April, USA Today received an audio recording of am August, 2020 hearing before Judge Ada Clark-Edwards, in which Garcia's wife

Vasquez Sura describes in detail how Abrego Garcia was detained and in ICE custody through her 2019 pregnancy but returned home a changed person.

“Once he came out, maybe like a month after he was out, he changed a lot with me and my kids,” Vasquez Sura told the judge. “He would yell at them, yell at me for anything, and any little thing.””

Thus in 2021

Vasquez Sura filed for a protection order a second time, citing instances of violence in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Abrego Garcia “punched and scratched” Vasquez Sura, ripped off her shirt and grabbed and bruised her.

However, according to ABC News, the documents "noted two past incidents, alleging that in 2020, Abrego Garcia hit her with his work boot and that in August 2020, he hit her in the eye." A temporary protective order, requiring Abrego Garcia to stay away from their residence and to have no contact with Vasquez Sera, was issued. It was dismissed in June after the complainant failed to appear in court.

If you conclude that the extent of the domestic violence is unclear, you're catching on, especially because the alleged perpetrator never has been charged with domestic violence. And if you're unsure what their relationship is now, you're even more insightful because in a May 1 statement

"Recently an audio clip of a civil court hearing related to the protection order I filed became public. I previously acknowledged the protection order and will again address a personal and painful part of mine and Kilmar’s life. Neither of us were in a good place at that time," Vasquez Sura told USA TODAY...

She added: "My husband was traumatized from the time he spent in ICE detention and we were in the throes of COVID. Like many couples, we were caring for our children with barely enough to get by. All of those factors contributed to the actions which caused me to seek the protective order."

Assuming that Vasquez Sura was honest when she applied in 2020 for a protection order,  Abrego Garcia had been in ICE custody most of 2019, came out and was violent toward her. she filed for a protection order, the second, on August 3, 2021 alleging that Abrego Garcia locked her and the children out of the house and slapped her when they got back in. Also, "police came and he acted violent broke my phone in front of the officer. This is not the first time. I have photos of all the bruises his (sic) left on my body."

Eight days later, Vasquez Sera withdraw the petition, because of course, she did. And now, she defends her husband while stating in part "We were able to work through  the situation privately as a family, including by going to counseling."

Because, of course she does. Scott Jennings, who trusts Donald Trump, says "I trust his wife."

Sorry- not sorry- but I don't trust his wife. Neither do I trust Abrego Garcia, who was- and maybe still is- a wife beater, possibly belongs to MS-13, and according to the Justice Department (for what it's worth), is part of an "alien smuggling ring."

I trust the Justice Department even less. And Scott Jennings, who once upon a time labeled Donald Trump an "authoritarian,"  should understand what thinking people always have known: as with men, women should be believed at times, doubted at others.

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Friday, June 06, 2025

It's a MAD, MAD Country


Kayleigh McEnany, who served a brief stint as press secretary in the first Trump Administration, claims

.... No amount of money bought that. What bought that was a movement. And Elon Musk had to decide "I'm either going to fold into this or go away from this. And he chose to go away from this. and its a sad thing to see.

Musk has chosen (temporarily) "to go away from this" now, months after the election, after he has done untold damage (which the media will ensure will remain untold) and President Trump's Big Debt Bill is being considered by the United States Congress. However, as CNN reported on March 1

Elon Musk spent a total of more than $290 million on the 2024 election, new federal filings show, boosting President Donald Trump and Republicans in a staggering effort that has helped to secure unprecedented access for the world’s richest person in the new administration...

The majority of that went to the presidential election and Trump was by far- by approximately $120 million- the biggest Republican donor of the election cycle.  Trump may have won the election without Musk's money, just as the Philadelphia Eagles may have won the NFL championship last season without Saquon Barkley.  Possible, not likely.

Musk knows how valuable he was, and still may be, to Donald Trump, tweeting

Gratitude cannot be expected by someone who has called himself the "Chosen One" and approvingly quoted someone telling him that he's "the greatest President, overall, that we've ever had." And that was before he declared himself "the king." 

Musk may not have understood that the President would show him no gratitude. However, and although he's an immigrant, he likely understands the concept of mutually assured destruction, which

refers to the concept that two superpowers are capable of annihilating each other with nuclear weapons, regardless of whether they are attacked first.

In theory, under mutual assured destruction, a nuclear attack by one superpower will be met with an overwhelming nuclear counterattack by their target — using early warning systems, automated missiles, airborne nuclear bombs, and missile-armed hidden submarines. This will lead to the complete destruction of both. As such, mutual assured destruction — often abbreviated as MAD — is part of the military strategy of deterrence, in which one adversary threatens another with a reprisal if they attack first.

After the 1960s, mutual assured destruction was the main nuclear doctrine — the stated military principle — of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union in the late 20th century. It is still in operation today between the nuclear forces of the U.S. and Russia...


                                              
        


The politicians, pundits, and others tell us (in different words) that Donald Trump, the undisputed leader of the G.O.P. and subject of undying devotion of the Republican masses, holds all the cards.  (Being known as an authoritarian and fascist does not hurt.) And truth be told, he holds most of them. However, one does not become the wealthiest individuals in the world without having extraordinary influence and the ability to wield it. 

Agreed: if President Trump were to decide to destroy Elon Musk- or at least wipe out most of his wealth- he could do so. But the betting here is that Trump is too smart to set out to do that. he could win Musk over with a small concession on the controversial pending bill. Or he could be steadfast and wait till Musk's fervor dies down. Moreover, Donald Trump is smart enough to know that when he's dealing with such a flammable subject, acting out of spite will do him no good. 

Probably sooner rather than later, these two white supremacists will make peace with each other.  Trump's Big Debt Bill will pass in a form, slightly modified from the one approved by the House of Representatives. Republicans already have made their point with the gullible media and major donors that they care about the deficit and debt, which most don't. 

They conveniently will remember that-as Dick Cheney once noted- deficits don't matter, politically. And they are not done. After all, there is a big country out here, "from the New York island to the California sand" (and beyond), they can work together to continue to destroy.



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Wednesday, June 04, 2025

Just Another Day of Deception


Scott Bessent has an unusual definition of "eaten."


I don't know if the South China Morning Post can be trusted. However, I do know that Scott Bessent trusts it, or at least appears to, or pretends that he does. And on May 30, 2025 it reported

American retail giants are now demanding that their Chinese suppliers shoulder half to 66 per cent of the cost of US import duties, as the ongoing US-China trade war ramps up pressure on businesses’ bottom lines, industry sources told the Post.

US retailers have been locked in talks with Chinese producers for weeks over how to handle the additional costs caused by the trade war, with the firms facing intense political pressure at home to “eat the tariffs” and keep prices stable.

Walmart and other major US retail groups previously agreed to bear the full cost of the tariffs when they asked their Chinese suppliers to resume shipments in late April, industry sources told the Post at the time.

But global brands including several US retail giants are now pushing suppliers in both China and parts of Southeast Asia to absorb a large chunk of the cost of the levies, according to sources from suppliers serving companies including Walmart, Target, Nike, Puma and Adidas.

“Most of our customers, the garment vendors exporting to major retailers and brands, are being asked to cover 50 to 66 per cent of the current tariffs,” said an executive at a fashion supplier, which produces and sources from China and Southeast Asia and then sells across the United States and Europe.

The negotiations remain fluid and the details of how the tariff costs will be divided have not yet been finalised, the sources stressed, as both sides remain in constant contact as they try to navigate a “tough time” for the industry.

They're being asked to do so and negotiations "remain fluid." The news outlet did not suggest that 65 percent "will likely be eaten by the Chinese producer" (relevant portion of the Face the Nation transcript, below).

In the world of Trump-Vance-Leavitt lying, this is small potatoes, not an extravagant falsehood. However, it's significant because it's not Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Karoline "let me sport a cross so I appear honest" Leavitt, who would be a nobody  were it not Trump being in the White House.

this is a gay man (irrelevant) whom, following his confirmation,  PBS described as "a past supporter of Democrats who once worked for George Soros" who believes "that the Federal Reserve should remain independent from the president's influence." He is a "normie," or at least someone whom the mainstream media, centrist and liberal, would consider "normal." Even then, though, PBS recognized him as becoming "an enthusiastic supporter of Trump." 

And now Bessent has become a lying, enthusiastic supporter of Trump or in other words, a member of the Administration.



MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. But you listen to earnings calls just like we do. You know what Walmart's saying, what Best Buy's saying and what Target are saying of what's coming.

 SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: But, Margaret, I also know what Home Depot and Amazon are saying. I know what the "South China Morning Post" wrote within the past 24 hours, that 65 percent, 65 percent – the – of the tariffs will likely be eaten by the Chinese producers.

 MARGARET BRENNAN: So, are there five or eight areas that you have identified, as you said back in March, where American consumers will be able to have lower prices, or should be warned of higher prices?

 SECRETARY SCOTT BESSENT: Well, a lot of it's already working its way through the system. So we've seen a substantial decrease in gasoline and energy prices. So that's down 20 percent year over year.

 We've seen the food prices go down, these notorious egg prices. Through the good work of President Trump and Secretary Rollins, egg prices have collapsed. So we're seeing more and more. And what we want to do, the – is even that out across the – all sections of the economy.



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Monday, June 02, 2025

Good for the Goose, But Not For the Gander


Pride flags are out? Guess again, MAGA Girl.

 



A funny/not funny thing has happened in Massachusetts. The conservative United States Supreme Court has denied the petition for writ of certiorari in the matter of L.M. (a minor) and parents Christopher and Susan Morrison v. Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts. On Inauguration Day, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order declaring that the federal government recognizes only two sexes. However

The Supreme Court on Tuesday let stand an appeals court decision that allowed a public school in Massachusetts to prohibit a seventh grader from wearing a T-shirt that said "There Are Only Two Genders," declining to hear the case over heated dissents from two conservative justices.

Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, said the court should have agreed to take the case and ruled for the student on free speech grounds.

"If a school sees fit to instruct students of a certain age on a social issue like LGBTQ+ rights or gender identity," Alito wrote, "then the school must tolerate dissenting student speech on those issues”….

The case from Massachusetts involved a student identified in court papers as L.M. who tried to wear the shirt at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough in 2023. When students and a teacher complained, the principal told the student that he could not return to class unless he changed clothes. He refused and was sent home.

Later, the student came to school wearing a T-shirt that this time said "There Are CENSORED Genders." He was told that was not permitted, either. Rather than missing more school, he changed clothes.

His parents sued, saying the school's policy violated the First Amendment. They relied on a landmark 1969 Supreme Court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which held that public school students have First Amendment rights. In that case, students sought to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.


               


The Supreme Court therein established a precedent

in which the justices ruled 7–2 it was unconstitutional when an Iowa school suspended students who wore black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. "It can hardly be argued," wrote Justice Abe Fortas, "that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."

Tinker, however, came with a caveat. Schools can seek to stymie expression that causes, or could potentially cause, a "substantial disruption."

The issue arose when "a teacher reported the shirt to the school principal's office, noting that LGBT students were present that day and expressing concerns that the shirt could disrupt classes." However, as Justice Alito wrote in his dissent

And just as in Tinker, some of L.M.'s classmates found his speech upsetting. Feeling upset, however, is an unavoidable part of living in our "often disputatious" society and Tinker made abundantly clear that he "mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint" is no reason to thwart a student's speech. True, NMS also forecasted that L.M."s shirts could lead to a "standoff" between students who support L.M."s view and those who oppose it. But the schools in Tinker were similarly worried that students "would wear arm bands of other colors" and hat this could "evolve into something which would be difficult to control." If anything, the risk in Tinker was far less speculative than in this case. In Tinker, several students had already "made hostile remarks to the children wearing armbands," and a math teacher "had his lesson period practically 'wrecked' chiefly by disputes with Mary Beth Tinker" over her armband. Even so, Tinker deemed the schools' concern an "undifferentiated fear" that could not "overcome the right to freedom of expression."

The importance of being sensitive to the feelings of an individual or group was at the core of the political correctness movement, which morphed into the similar, albeit somewhat different, interest in being woke. There were two competing values at stake in this case, one the claimed right of not having one's feelings hurt.

The other is freedom of speech- and its antagonist, viewpoint discrimination. Alito noted also

Inside and outside the classroom, NMS promotes the view that gender is a fluid construct and tha a person's self-defined identity- not biological sex- determines whether that person is male, female, or something else.  NMS also encourages students to embrace and express this viewpoint, including during the school's "PRIDE Spirit Week."

Strangely enough- or perhaps not strangely- four of the six conservative Justices have struck a blow against freedom of speech.

This presents a great opportunity for those Democrats who have been posing as bold opponents of the party establishment by arguing that left-wing Democrat shave been pandering to the LGBTQ+ community. They can pull a Sister Souljah move by slamming the (successful) effort by this special interest, a relatively reliable Democratic voting bloc, to demand that there be only one opinion on the controversy over gender. 

Alternatively, they can declare their support for individuals who are not exclusively and decisively heterosexual. Then they could stress that they hold even more dearly the right of free speech, enshrined as Amendment 1A in the United States Constitution. 

And may Minneapolis, Chicago, and Buffalo enjoy consistent and endless days of 100% sunshine every winter. That is roughly as likely as these Democrats growing a spine. Similarly, Donald J. Trump can crusade against the "woke" and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs all he wants. He, too, will stay silent about the Supreme Court's decision in Morrison because stifling free speech is an even greater priority for him than pandering to the traditional values of his followers.


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Saturday, May 31, 2025

Loquaciousness



Very.

Tapper went on to say

Theses issues of health are so sensitive to talk about and to report and as you say, yes, we saw weird moments of Joe Biden. We also see weird moments and they're different. They're not the same issues. They're not acuity issues but we see weird moments of Donald Trump calling Nancy Pelosi "Nikki Haley" and the like but it's impossible to say, as as you noted, "this is what's going on behind closed doors" if nobody behind those closed doors is talking. 

So I really just don't think that. There are a million questions I'd like to ask about what's going on behind closed doors in the Trump White House that we can't get because they're not talking. I mean, I get that their job- their job is not to leak to us anymore and this is a much less leaky Trump White House than the first one. So I guess I just don't think so... 

Yes, some weird moments and some health moments. In the former category, not many Presidents have declared "I am the chosen one" (not once, but twice) and "A lot of people are saying, 'Sir, you can't just make yourself king.' But I checked- nowhere in the Constitution does it say I can't."  Obviously, that's even more tyrannical than evil. However, in the category of bizarre (awful, too, but weird) is

"HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY TO ALL, INCLUDING THE SCUM THAT SPENT THE LAST FOUR YEARS TRYING TO DESTROY OUR COUNTRY THROUGH WARPED RADICAL LEFT MINDS, WHO ALLOWED 21,000,000 MILLION PEOPLE TO ILLEGALLY ENTER OUR COUNTRY, MANY OF THEM BEING CRIMINALS AND THE MENTALLY INSANE,THROUGH AN OPEN BORDER THAT ONLY AN INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT WOULD APPROVE, AND THROUGH JUDGES WHO ARE ON A MISSION TO KEEP MURDERERS, DRUG DEALERS, RAPISTS, GANG MEMBERS, AND RELEASED PRISONERS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD, IN OUR COUNTRY SO THEY CAN ROB, MURDER, AND RAPE AGAIN — ALL PROTECTED BY THESE USA HATING JUDGES WHO SUFFER FROM AN IDEOLOGY THAT IS SICK, AND VERY DANGEROUS FOR OUR COUNTRY. HOPEFULLY THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, AND OTHER GOOD AND COMPASSIONATE JUDGES THROUGHOUT THE LAND, WILL SAVE US FROM THE DECISIONS OF THE MONSTERS WHO WANT OUR COUNTRY TO GO TO HELL. BUT FEAR NOT, WE HAVE MADE GREAT PROGRESS OVER THE LAST 4 MONTHS, AND AMERICA WILL SOON BE SAFE AND GREAT AGAIN! AGAIN, HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY, AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!"

The difference, the cynic might suggest, is that Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have written about President Biden and not the President who in a Memorial Day message would salute scum, USA-hating Judges, and monsters, but not soldiers who sacrificed their lives. However, Tapper honestly and accurately noted that information about President Trump is being withheld from reporters (as was information about Joe Biden while he was in office).

We know that their job is not to leak anymore about Trump and the rest of the Administration- until they fall out of favor. And so it was on Friday, May 30, The New York Times reported

On Wednesday evening, Mr. Musk announced that he was ending his stint with the government, after lamenting how much time he had spent on politics instead of his businesses.

In the very same article, we read

As Elon Musk became one of Donald J. Trump’s closest allies last year, leading raucous rallies and donating about $275 million to help him win the presidency, he was also using drugs far more intensely than previously known, according to people familiar with his activities.

Mr. Musk’s drug consumption went well beyond occasional use. He told people he was taking so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that it was affecting his bladder, a known effect of chronic use. He took Ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms. And he traveled with a daily medication box that held about 20 pills, including ones with the markings of the stimulant Adderall, according to a photo of the box and people who have seen it.

It is unclear whether Mr. Musk, 53, was taking drugs when he became a fixture at the White House this year and was handed the power to slash the federal bureaucracy. But he has exhibited erratic behavior, insulting cabinet members, gesturing like a Nazi and garbling his answers in a staged interview.

At the same time, Mr. Musk’s family life has grown increasingly tumultuous as he has negotiated overlapping romantic relationships and private legal battles involving his growing brood of children, according to documents and interviews.

For a long while, Elon Musk was suspected not to be substance-free, as the addiction community would diplomatically put it. Yet, there were only rumors, unadorned by anything approaching investigative reporting. Remind you of anything, Jake? 

With his DOGE, Musk- with or without drugs- did (has done?) more damage to government and people that President Biden ever could have, short of being alone, on his worst day ever, with the nuclear football. But there are parallels. Relatively little was reported by the media of the President's condition (whatever it truly was) during Biden's term because none of his people was talking. 

While Musk was destroying effective and somewhat honest government as President Trump wished, no one was talking while Elon remained in the King's good graces. When he became a political liability eclipsing his value in demolishing civil society, Musk was asked to leave and voila! Ketamine! Ecstasy! Psychedelic mushrooms! Adderall! (Trump's personal favorite, traditionally.) 

There are leakers in the Trump White House. Elon Musk knows, though he won't admit it. Journalists know, also. We'll find out whether they're as interested in listening to those issues as Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have been in the issues of the prior, Democratic Administration.



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