All In Jest

Donald Trump is always joking. Or at least, he didn't really mean what he said.

Even as early as April 2019, when Trump had been a national political figure for fewer than five years, there were several such incidents. In October of 2016, he minimized the Access Hollywood tape as "locker room talk." A few months earlier, in July, he had said at a press conference "I will tell you this: Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press." The Mueller report noted "within five hours of Trump's remark, a Russian intelligence service began targeting email accounts associated with Hillary Clinton for possible hacks." Yet, Trump told special prosecutors that he "made (the statement) in jest and sarcastically, as was apparent to any objective observer."

In a speech to police officers on Long Island in July of 2017, Donald advised "when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in rough. I said "please don't be too nice.'"  After considerable criticism, including from law enforcement, Presidential press secretary Sarah Sanders responded "They took it as a joke. And so did I." It was only the President "trying to get a laugh."

Like a zebra which doesn't change its spots, Donald periodically returns to this modus operandi. And so it was that on September 6

President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

“I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker were not assumed. So after they slammed him for threatening to make war against an American city

President Donald Trump was adamant with reporters on Sunday that "we're not going to war" with Chicago, after he shared a post on Saturday with a caption that reads, "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."

"We're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities," Trump said. "We're going to clear them up so they don't kill every five people every weekend. That's not war. That's common sense."

"This is not a joke," Pritzker had noted. Ironically, his critics- Trump supporters- agreed with him that it wasn't a joke.  X twitter was X as expected, and the messages directed at the governor included:

-Gov. Pritzker considers suing the Trump Administration to preserve lawlessness in Chicago, the murder capital of America.

-Why won't he work with the Trump Administration to reduce crime in their cities?

-The Democrats have normalized CRIME in cities like Chicago, and law-abiding citizens have had enough and are desperate for help.

-What should be normalized is SAFE STREETS and Donald Trump will achieve this for the people of Chicago, that you have failed so miserably.

-We want more crime?

-A racist governor that simply OK with black children being murdered every week!!

-I will fight to keep us less safe" isn't the win he thinks it is.

-When did he send in the military? He's so damn fat he can't see the horse or the cart.

"We're not going to war," claims the guy who the day before made it clear that he has declared a war on Chicago and has threatened to send soldiers also to Baltimore, New Orleans, and Seattle.  "That's not war. That's common sense," says the man who has acted under a declaration of emergency to address a problem in decline.  

When Trump walks back dangerous accusations and threats, the media paints of him a portrait of a conflicted, if not even reasonable, individual who has not made his despotic intentions clear  Boasting "I have the right to do anything I want to do. I'm the president of the United States," he's not merely bragging. He means it and his supporters know that he's not joking. And they are hopeful that the President is going to go to war against Chicago, J.B. Pritzker, and anyone else standing in his way.

   

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Saved- Why?

"Deep feelings."

Ben Carson: President Trump is very different. He has deep feelings of Christian beliefs. He was saved by God for a purpose. The Biden administration had very different belief system.

Wtf is wrong with these people? pic.twitter.com/JcaQWsGzaz

— Ron Smith (@Ronxyz00) September 8, 2025

What may be most amazing about this is, despite tossing "God" and "religion" into some of his speeches now, Trump actually is done with the charade. CBS News reported

At his first inauguration in 2017, Mr. Trump did place his hand on the two Bibles — the family Bible and the Lincoln Bible — when he took the oath of office. Mr. Trump received the family Bible in 1955 to to mark his Sunday Church Primary School graduation at First Presbyterian Church, in Jamaica, Queens, according to Trump's inaugural committee

However, when Donald was inaugurated for his second term

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts directed Mr. Trump to raise his right hand and repeat after him as Mrs. Trump was still approaching with the Bibles. Mrs. Trump arrived next to her husband a moment later, before he began reciting the oath of office.

Mr. Trump's right hand was raised while his left arm stayed by his side as he was sworn in.

Mr. Trump did reference God during his first remarks as the 47th president. "I was saved by God to make America great again," he said in his inaugural address, referencing the assassination attempt on his life over the summer.

With much of the country watching, and many of the remainder certain to see the ceremony on video, Donald couldn't even be bothered to pretend that he believes in Christianity and the book which tells the story of God and the Trinity. He's telling Americans what he believes- or, more accurately, doesn't believe- but Ben Carson and others won't listen.

People laughed when on January 31, 2016, Donald Trump was thwarted only at the last second before he could place cash into the communion plate. 

Not so funny but condescending and more telling was his statement a few months earlier "when we go to church and I drink my little wine.... have my little cracker."  In both Catholic and Protestant traditions, that "little wine" carries major significance, as does that "little cracker," though arguably more in Catholicism. And when Trump added "that's a form of asking for forgiveness," one needn't have been a doctoral candidate in theology to know that the congregant is not requesting forgiveness. The words of Jesus "do this in remembrance of me" might have been a hint. 

Perhaps Donald has changed, chastened by the assassination attempt in June of last year in Butler Pennsylvania or as Carson puts it, "saved by God for a purpose." That purpose, however, was not in evidence on Easter Sunday when Trump tweeted

Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and...

A real journalist, not a Fox News mouthpiece for President Trump, would have asked Dr. Carson how sarcastically referring to  "radical left lunatics" and "the mentally insane" fits in with the the Apostle Paul's admonition that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control."

That isn't to suggest that Donald doesn't believe in a god of some sort. Unless he's pretending otherwise and putting on a great act, he obviously does not believe in the God of the Old and/or New Testament. He may believe in a supreme being, someone who recognizes Trump's greatness and indispensability.. That God is one whom, Trump has said, he never has asked for forgiveness, though the Apostle John wrote "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." Those are Trump's "deep feelings of Christian beliefs," choosing not to repent because he is perfect. Step aside, Jesus: Donald Trump is the "Chosen One."

Presumably, though, when Dr. Carson claims Trump was "saved by God for a purpose," he means a good and loving purpose. The pretext is that the USA is a great and virtuous country, upon which a loving and all-powerful God will shower with His favor. 

Carson always has been a fervent advocate of forced birth, an abortion opponent so extreme that, in contrast to Donald Trump, he has called for a national ban on abortion. Such an individual would assume that, with Trump having been saved from assassination, God's purpose would have been to raise the nation to the greatness it deserves.

Yet, while statistics vary from year to year and reporting quirks may yield difference numbers for any one year, it is clear that there consistently are over 600,000 elective abortions each year in this country. And God, we are to believe- especially from rabid opponents of the procedure- wants to reward the USA.

So perhaps God did save Trump, though serendipity or an inept gunman, is more likely. But if God did assert his country, to what purpose?  As reward or punishment? Ben Carson himself is yesterday's news. even last decade's news.  However, there are a lot of people who believe- or seem to believe- what he does and if they're never questioned, we won't know what "is wrong with these people"

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If God Grants Rights, God Is Selective- and Weak

My late mother had a saying" "Is he for real?"  I'm wondering the same now, and not only about Republican Senator Mike Lee.

Our rights come from God

Not government https://t.co/xi0GPWV81y

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) September 5, 2025

 

At 1:03, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota's Diocese of Winona-Rochester argues that Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, believed

Rights come first. They're not invented by the government. Rather, rights exist- remember this from the prologue of the Declaration- to secure these rights. It doesn't invent them. It doesn't ground them. It secures them. Recognize them objectively coming from God and thus its whole purpose is to secure them, to serve them. 

Barron's video was prompted by the response of Virginia senator Tim Kaine, who according to Fox News

was responding to the opening statement of Riley Barnes, who has been nominated to serve as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor. Barnes noted in his statement that he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s recent comments emphasizing the U.S. was founded on the principle "that all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our Creator; not from our laws, not from our governments."

Kaine argued

The notion that rights don’t come from laws and don’t come from the government, but come from the Creator — that’s what the Iranian government believes. It’s a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law and targets Sunnis, Bahá’ís, Jews, Christians and other religious minorities

They do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. So, the statement that our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling.

I'm a strong believer in natural rights, but I have a feeling if we were to have a debate about natural rights in the room and put people around the table with different religious traditions, there would be some significant differences in the definitions of those natural rights.

Those differences would be glaringly obvious, and it's highly unlikely that Muslim extremists, ultra-orthodox Jews, and far right Christian extremists,, sincere about their Christian faith or otherwise, would come to a meeting of the minds on anything significant.

God is all-powerful. If rights come from God, no man (or woman) could take them away. Evidently, someone forgot to inform Damascus or Pyongyang of the origin of rights. The US Department of State issues annual reports on human rights practices of some of the most repressive regimes in the world. From its 2023 report on Syria, we learned that

Regime-linked paramilitary groups reportedly engaged in frequent abuses, including massacres, indiscriminate killings, kidnapping of civilians, physical abuse, sexual violence, and unjust detentions. Regime-aligned militias reportedly launched numerous attacks that killed and injured civilians….

Elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces reportedly engaged in abuses, including abuses involving attacks striking residential areas, physical abuse, unjust detention, recruitment or use of child soldiers, restrictions on expression and assembly, and destruction and demolition of homes.

From its report the following year on North Korea, we read

Escapee, NGO, and media reports indicated those attempting to leave the country without permission could be killed on the spot or publicly executed.

 The government was known to be operating five kwanliso (“total control-zone” political prison camps where prisoners were not expected to survive): Camps 14, 16, 18, and 25, as well as the Choma-bong Restricted Area. Estimates of the nationwide kwanliso camp population varied, with some organizations placing the total as low as 80,000 and others as high as 200,000.

Defectors, media, NGOs, and UN officials reported many prisoners died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure to the elements, or a combination of these causes. Guards at political prison camps were under orders to shoot to kill those attempting to escape.

The state forced private citizens to attend public executions. Escapees reported attending public executions on school field trips. Some media sources claimed public executions decreased during COVID-19 but increased significantly with the reopening of the border with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Rights come from government. So do the lack of rights. Perhaps the fiction Bishop Barron and Senator Lee claim to believe would be credible if human rights were as lacking in every country. However, we know that's not true. While Syria and North Korea generally are ranked as the least free societies, Switzerland was given the highest rating in the 2023 Human Freedom Index of the World Population Review. On its rating of civil rights and political liberties, Freedom House ranks Turkmenistan and South Sudan even lower than Syria, and at least six nations outrank Switzerland. (North Korea ranks nowhere on either list- is it possible to score a rating below zero?)

Whatever the criteria, regimes vary markedly in the degree of freedom they allow their citizens. Rankings will depend not only on the criteria, but also depending upon the year studied. And that is the point: the rights are not inherent in the human race nor even in the countries. They depend on the regime in power at any particular point. 

As Bishop Barron knows- but evidently does not understand, Jesus Christ- as the author of Hebrews (13:8) in the New Testament reminds us- "is the same yesterday and today and forever." If the Son, then the Father and if the Son is the same eternally, so is the Father. Thus, it would be strikingly odd if God were to determine that the people of some nations deserve freedom and the others, oppression. 

In 2006, Gazans voted Hamas into power in the hope of the latter forging a unity government with Fatah, the political arm of the Palestine Liberation movement. Instead, they've gotten a repressive, totalitarian regime entering the 21st year of its five year term. Surely, God has not decided to punish Gazans beyond even the oppression suffered in several Arab regimes.

As Donald Trump is busy demonstrating, the rights of people in even one country, as well as from nation to nation, can change dramatically. That is true even in the USA, regardless of the Declaration of Independence- which does not have legal standing. As the Bishop notes, its preamble declares "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Yet, "liberty" is an elusive concept. In 1857, one branch of the US government, the Supreme Court decided (in Dred Scott v. Sandford) decided that slavery was consistent with the US Constitution. Evidently, "liberty" was divisible. Alas, in 1865, a different branch (Congress) of the government decided that slavery was unacceptable and passed the 13th Amendment.

The Amendment modified the United States Constitution, an act of immense performance because (from Article VI)

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

This was not made subject to the Declaration of Independence, its preamble or anything in it; nor to the vagaries in interpretation of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  A couple of questions for Bishop Barron, Senator Lee, and others who hold to the same view. Is not a right to marry someone of the same sex or gender as oneself a matter of liberty? How about a right to bear or not bear children, as in reproductive rights? And isn't using any drug of choice- well beyond marijuana- a right to liberty?

It's a matter of opinion; or rather of statute and interpretation of statues by one branch or another of the government. Rights can be granted by governments and taken away by governments. If rights come from God, government- and the individuals heading it- obviously are stronger and more powerful than God. And that's a strange position for the likes of Bishop Barron, Mike Lee, and their fellow travelers to take.

      .

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Projecting Strength Which Isn't There

Ironically, in a podcast episode posted to criticize Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) and President Donald Trump, Steve Schmidt illustrated the political brilliance of Donald Trump. At 3:59 of the video below, Trump at the presidential debate with Kamala Harris can be seen bragging

You need Trump back as resident. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. I don't like to use the word "afraid" but I'm just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him Look at what's going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him.

If you're wondering who "he" is, the context of this quote makes it clear. Vice President Harris had noted, in part, "world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you." And they say you're a disgrace.

Aside from the last five sentences (not pertinent here), Trump responded

Let me just tell you about world leaders. Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men -- they call him a strong man. He's a tough person. Smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. They said why is the whole world blowing up? Three years ago it wasn't. Why is it blowing up? He said because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid. And I don't like to use the word afraid but I'm just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him. Look at what's going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him. I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and Biden put it back on day one but he ended the XL pipeline. The XL pipeline in our country. He ended that. But he let the Russians build a pipeline going all over Europe and heading into Germany. The biggest pipeline in the world. Look, Viktor Orban said it. He said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president.

A mere fifty-one weeks later and less than eight months into the presidency, we find Donald Trump decisively refuting his campaign claim that China, North Korea, and maybe Russia were afraid of him. Of course, no one has pointed it out and if media or politicians did so, they'd be accused of fake new (or worse), especially because this undermines one of the major pillars of his support. This week

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared together in Beijing for China's largest-ever military parade on Wednesday.

Trump accused Xi of "conspiring against" the United States as they attended the parade, which marked the 80th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II.

"May President Xi and the wonderful people of China have a great and lasting day of celebration. Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America," Trump wrote on social media as the parade was underway.

Who is afraid of who (whom) now?  Russia, Mainland China, and Korea are assembling in the open. They're not hiding from Donald Trump. If they fear Donald Trump, it's only persuading them to forge an alliance.

The loser is not Donald J. Trump. The loser is the United States of America, Europe, and our allies in Asia. But it doesn't hurt Trump because his image, as the bully on the block, is intact and no one- aside from the three aforementioned nations- is challenging it.

Far from it.  Mace, who has repeatedly claimed to be a victim of rape and is running for the GOP nomination for South Carolina governor, took to X before the Capitol Hill news conference held by United States Representatives Massie and Khanna with victims of Jeffrey Epstein:

Since it’s already being reported - Yes I left the Oversight briefing with Epstein victims early.

As a recent survivor (not 2 years in), I had a very difficult time listening to their stories. Full blown panic attack. Sweating. Hyperventilating. Shaking. I can’t breathe.

I…

— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) September 2, 2025

Mace then signed the Massie-Khanna discharge petition calling on the House of Representatives to release the full Epstein files. However, Mace is saying whatever she can to get the President's endorsement for her candidacy for governor of South Carolina  So in the wake of the Massie/Khanna news conference, Mace tweeted (emphasis hers)

President Trump is the one who banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. President Trump is the one who cooperated with the feds to get this guy. President Trump is the one who is COMMITTED to protecting women and kids.

President Trump is the one committed to protecting women and kids. There is nothing this President would rather hear than that he is protecting women because that is one big hunk of an alpha male does- protect women. Not ensure their rights, secure their prosperity, nor enact good policy. He counts on them being afraid, just as he claimed during the presidential campaign that Russia, Mainland China, and North Korea are all afraid of him. Kellyanne Conway calls it swagger.

BREAKING: Kellyanne Conway praises Trump’s “swagger” and his renovations to the Rose Garden which removed all the green space. The sycophancy of these people is off the charts. pic.twitter.com/hzW88OABl3

— Trump Lie Tracker (Commentary) (@MAGALieTracker) August 20, 2025

It now appears to be costing us a great deal internationally as the President poses as almost the reverse of what he actually is.  The President wrote that the three nations are "conspiring against" the USA because he consistently tries to portray himself as the victim

It's the Trump paradox (one of them). The guy who whines and cries, cries and whines postures as the strongman. Notwithstanding the disinterest of the Democrat Party in trying to undermine this image, it is still one of the wonders of the 21st century that Donald Trump is able to get away with it. And he's doing so even as he has successfully driven enemies, two of them economically and militarily powerful, of the USA into an apparent alliance with each other.

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Bluff Called; May Not Matter

If President Trump and his acolytes couldn't sow division in the nation, they would have no purpose in life.

Amazing to watch Democrats go all in for violent criminals and illegal aliens.

Do they really not believe in enforcing laws? That's all President Trump is trying to do right now. pic.twitter.com/OhcB0pV0MZ

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) September 1, 2025

The great dealmaker weeks earlier had had his bluff, ABC News on August 31 reported 

Maryland Democratic Gov. Wes Moore defended his rhetoric against President Donald Trump over crime in his home city of Baltimore amid an escalating feud between the two leaders.

"I have no interest in fighting with the president, but I have an interest in fighting for my communities and fighting for our people," Moore told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz in an interview that aired Sunday.

Earlier this month, Trump offered to send the National Guard into other cities across the country after his law enforcement surge into Washington, D.C., calling Baltimore "so far gone." Moore responded by formally inviting the president to join him and Baltimore officials on a public safety walk.

After the two continued to trade barbs on social media, Trump rebuked the invitation and renewed his threat to send the National Guard into Baltimore, calling the city a "hellhole" in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

"Wes Moore was telling me he wants -- 'I want to walk with the president.' Well, I said, 'I want to walk with you, too, someday. But first you've got to clean up your crime," Trump said.

The President's remark obviously made no sense. "First you've got to clean up your crime?"  If Trump's purpose is to "clean up crime" (give it a shower?), the time to visit and examine the city of Baltimore is when its crime rate is high, not after it has seriously declined. Trump is saying "you make things better and I'll come and do a photo-op with you."

Realistically, the President is afraid of what he'd see: a city still troubled but one in which crime significantly has declined. If he then decided to send National Guard soldiers into the city, he'd be doing it in a place he learns appears to be on the upswing, which would make his claim that the federal crackdown is unrelated to crime.

Alternatively, the President is refusing to go because he would be uncomfortable on a street with substandard housing, mothers with little children, poor minorities. The man who has found the splendor of the White House inadequate and wants to turn it into the Palace of Versailles would be ay out of his comfort zone. The reality of life in America might be too difficult to encounter for an elderly man in declining health.

The idolization of Donald Trump by his fans and the danger the rest of us recognize in him blinds us to another reality- that our President is pathetic. He's a guy who defines exercise as riding around in a golf cart, bravery as avoiding an STD, and believes bombing Iran makes him a war hero. Then he's asked to walk the streets of Baltimore with a fellow who was awarded the Bronze Star. The contrast would be jarring.

However, an even more pathetic event began on the day after Trump rejected Moore's invitation and called Baltimore a "hellhole." Signing executive orders on August 25

Trump continued his ongoing criticism of Moore and the city of Baltimore for being a "deathbed" with "tremendous crime," before flashing back to an interaction that he described fondly.

"I met him at the Army-Navy game. They said, 'Oh there's Gov. Moore. He'd love to see you.' He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand, you were there. He said, 'Sir, you're the greatest president of my lifetime,'" Trump said, adding that Moore had told him he was doing a "fantastic job."

Surprise! It didn't happen. Not only did Moore quip "breaking news to everybody but the President is not telling the truth," Fox News tried to convince viewers that Moore had praised Trump- while inconveniently proving he hadn't. Host Will Cain appears to believe that he has caught the governor in a gotcha moment when he runs film of Moore greeting Trump with "Welcome back to Maryland, sir. Welcome back o Maryland. It's great to see you" and after Trump responds, "thank you, sir. It's great to have you back here."

Will Cain plays footage of Wes Moore greeting President Trump at the Army Navy game.

Cain: We didn’t hear greatest president ever but we did hear a lot of enthusiasm. Who’s telling the truth? We’ll let you decide pic.twitter.com/dAuElfl1Yf

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 25, 2025

Oh, my gosh. A governor of a state is pleased that the President of the USA is visiting and Dallas Cowboy fan (of course) Dean Cain tries to prove that he's a hypocrite. (Trump giving the governor a bro-slap and two days later calling his state's largest city a "hellhole" was less notable, evidently.)  Cain may be even more pathetic than is his pro football team.

Nonetheless, carrying water for Donald Trump, as are Cain, Jennings, and nearly the entire Republican Party, pales in importance to the actual policies of an authoritarian regime. Governor Moore called Trump's bluff, and virtually no one in the media understood the significance. The President told us, as clearly as he could, that he's not going to visit a major city, to which he is threatening to send armed soldiers to curb crime, precisely because there is so much crime. 

When the protests come, there must be soldiers under the President's command to arrest the many while shooting a few. And then, finally, the mainstream media may figure out that crime was never the primary concern of the First Felon.

Wes Moore says he didn't call Trump the greatest president of his lifetime. “Breaking news to everybody but the president is not telling the truth.” pic.twitter.com/E6XgSN2Dpe

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 27, 2025

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Language

On Wednesday, The Guardian reported

The Trump administration is facing rare bipartisan pushback for firing the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), amid turmoil at the US’ top infectious disease agency that prompted dozens of staff to walk out of its headquarters in protest on Thursday.

The White House has said Susan Monarez, who was confirmed as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just a month ago, was fired as she was “not aligned with the president’s agenda” – only for Monarez to refuse to depart. The official’s lawyers have said that, as a Senate-confirmed appointee, only Donald Trump himself can remove her….

Monarez was reportedly fired by Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, for refusing to remove agency officials and committing to restricting proven vaccines....

“We are witnessing a full-blown war on science, on public health, and on truth itself,” (Senator Bernie) Sanders said. “In just six months, Secretary Kennedy has dismantled the vaccine review process, narrowed access to life-saving Covid vaccines and filled scientific advisory boards with conspiracy theorists and ideologues.”

As explained by Trump chronicler Michael Wolff, Mr. Kennedy was nominated for Health and Human Services secretary so that Donald Trump, responsible in his first term for Operation Warp Speed, could shore up the anti-Covid vaccine portion of his base. He is as much a public health menace as Senator Sanders maintains and the upheaval at the CDC ratches up the danger. Things turned silly, generously speaking:

The Trump administration shows no sign of backing down, however. In a press briefing on Thursday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, criticized one of the departing CDC officials for using the term “pregnant people” in his resignation letter.

“I understand there were a few other individuals who resigned after the firing of Ms Monarez,” she said. “One of those individuals wrote in his departure statement that he identifies pregnant women as pregnant people, so that’s not someone we want in this administration anyway.”

The official, Demetre Daskalakis, resigned from his position as director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC on Wednesday, accusing the administration of using the agency to “generate policies and materials that do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health”.

Daskalakis responded to Leavitt’s remarks in an interview on CNN. “I find it outrageous that this administration is trying to erase transgender people,” he said.

“I very specifically used the term pregnant people, and very specifically added my pronouns at the end of my resignation letter to make the point that I am defying this terrible strategy at trying to erase people and not allowing them to express their identities.

“So I accept the note from the press secretary and I counter that with: I don’t care.”

This is just such a stupid argument. Speaking of which...

Call me crazy, but if you tell me men can get pregnant, you have ZERO credibility with me on anything to do with health.

Why would I listen to a word you say if you fail basic biology?

Once again, I find myself being screamed at for taking the top side of a 97-3 issue 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/xnJgJrJiyK

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) August 29, 2025

Jennings began by complaining "I just have to say, he did use the term 'pregnant people.'" In the interests of parsimony, I will, uncharacteristically, keep it short: "pregnant people" is a silly term.

The phrase is "pregnant women" or, in some instances, "women who are pregnant." And that goes aside from the issue of whether it is currently, or will be in the future, possible for men to get pregnant.

Demetre Daskalakis, the CDC official with the great surname, should have made his remarks without invoking "pregnant people," which served only to give Karoline Leavitt an opportunity to twist the issue and stir up more hatred and divisiveness.  It was a shout out to the anti-LGBTQIA portion of the GOP basis, valuable because it's an issue which Trump, he of the whatever is in the Epstein files, does not want to deal with.

If Jennings had merely called for clear and unambiguous language shorn of political correctness, he would have been sensible. However, as someone wishing and hoping that the Big Guy in Washington will give him a blessing for a Senate run to replace the retiring Mitch McConnell, the Kentuckian couldn't leave it at that once Leavitt idiotically commented that because Daskalakis "identifies pregnant women as pregnant people, so that's not someone we want in this administration, anyway."

Host Abby Philip is somewhat disingenuous but in relevant part correct when she rhetorically asks Jennings

Are you serious- that of all the things we're talking about here- immunization, vaccines, autism, research on communicable diseases, on cancer. Are you- are the most concerned about someone's use of the word "people?" That's the most important issue?

Actually, Jennings was concerned about the phrase "pregnant people," rather than the word "people," and he has a right to be. Still, Philip came very close to the heart of the problem fundamental to Jennings' objection. All these matters- immunization, vaccines, autism, communicable diseases, cancer, and research on these and others- are far more important than language.

Or at least in this case. Jennings responds to Philip "because you were just complaining about the politicization of science and I can't think of- I can't think of politicization of science more than that."

Yes, he can. Daskalakis would have been politicizing science if the issue had been transgenderism. However, in his bold and thorough (nine paragraphs, 115 lines) emailed resignation letter, Daskalakis addressed that issue only once, citing "the recklessness of the administration in their effort to erase transgender populations." His only reference to "pregnant people" came in a different context.

Which is to say: the LGBTQIA issue was peripheral to his resignation and "pregnant people" nearly irrelevant. Yet, it was central to Jennings and Leavitt. Long gone are the days when conservative Republicans railed against "political correctness"; a good thing, too, because that's exactly what those two are leaning upon when they get bent out of shape with the use of a term,  "pregnant people," largely incidental to the topic. Science wasn't being politicized; language was being politicized, and even I don't consider that a crime.

There also was a time when the right believed in merit, or at least claimed to do so. Yet, here was the press secretary for a Republican president maintaining that the spoken word, a reference to "pregnant people," disqualified someone for a job; and a GOP strategist arguing that someone who uses the wrong language is proof he is ignorant on other, unrelated subjects.

On the other hand, Karoline Leavitt seems to be back conspicuously displaying a cross, so she is on God's side and right about everything and I'll deny I ever criticized her. 

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Loathsome Leavitt

John Adams once stated "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."  Mark Twain said something similar and even the generally wrong conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro understood "facts don't care about your feelings."

So true- and yet so quaint.

Reacting to the school shooting in Minneapolis on Wednesday, MSNBC host and former press secretary to President Joe Biden:

Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayers does not end school shootings. prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring these kids back. Enough with the thoughts and prayers.

— Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) August 27, 2025

Personally, aside from residing to particular claims from the right, I would have confided my comments on this matter to the continuing danger of having firearms in the hands of criminals and individuals seemingly mentally disturbed, including those of Robin Westman.  If the turf of religion or theology is not a comfortable one, better to relinquish it to others.  

It's territory a little more familiar for Karoline Leavitt, President Trump's press secretary, but she is wrong nonetheless.

 

Responding to a question about Psaki's remarks, Leavitt, with a captive audience and safely ensconced behind a podium with the immunity conveyed by the cross she prominently sports, charged

I saw the comments of my predecessor and frankly, I think they're incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to the tens of millions of Americans of faith who believe in the power of prayer, who believe that prayer works, and who believe that in a time of mourning like this when beautiful young children were killed while praying in a church. It's utterly disrespectful to deride the power of prayer in this country and it's disrespectful to the millions of Americans of faith who need it now more than ever.

Psaki wisely emphasized her opinion that Psaki's words were "incredibly insensitive and disrespectful."  Insensitive and disrespectful reflect conventional wisdom and are solidly- in the words of early 21st century conservatives- politically correct. They are, spoken by the right, ironically critical of sentiment which is politically incorrect. There are few greater sins than being insensitive and disrespectful. 

But if the likes of Adams, Twain, and Shapiro (whom, as far as I know, has not weighed in on this issue) are correct, concern about insensitivity and disrespectfulness must give way to the facts. As David Hume understood, "a wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence."

As should a wise woman, were she also a sincere one, which as Leavitt continually evidences, cannot be any more presumed of a Christian than of a non-Christian. To be clear: being insensitive and disrespectful- which are subjective assessments, anyway- does not preclude an individual from being accurate or correct.

Prayer may indeed be efficacious, though scientific study of it is generally lacking and the question is sufficiently complex that a definitive answer may not be reached by objective analysts for decades, if ever. However, Leavitt is not here claiming anything about the power of prayer. She refers (emphasis mine)  to "the millions of Americans of faith who need it now more than ever."

Leavitt is not recommending prayer for the benefit of the individuals murdered and others shot, nor for their loved ones. She's encouraging it for "the millions of Americans," for people in this country writ large. She's arguing that the "need it now more than ever." If Leavitt is not advocating prayer- and she is not- because she believes it will stem school shootings- and she is not- it must raise suspicion that she is touting prayer to divert attention from prevention of such incidents.

And why, pray tell (pun intended), would those Americans need it now more than ever or more than they did a week ago? The obvious answer is that they need it in order to feel better, to be comforted, which should not be the major aim of prayer.  As one Pentecostal minister has put it, "The primary purpose of prayer is not to change circumstances; the primary purpose of prayer is to change us! But either way, the chief objective remains the same: to glorify God in any and every situation."

Contrary to Leavitt's accusation, Psaki did not even contend that prayer does not work. She said "prayer is not freaking enough," the unfortunate "freaking" added either in annoyance or to gain a little more attention. 

If prayer is effective, it has not ended school shootings nor, for that matter, other violent crime.  Moreover, those who call for "thoughts and prayers" are usually individuals who never give a thought to prayer. The larger irony, though, is that Karoline Leavitt speaks, lies, and insults journalists and others for a President who excoriates the the poor, the sick, the homeless, immigrants and even deceased veterans. When adorned with a cross and proclaiming her Christian faith, Leavitt stands before the media and public, she should ponder how that fits in with the words and desire of the founder and cornerstone of her church.

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