Week 45
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This week has been dizzying. When we should have been focusing on frantically buying food and then enjoying it, we’ve had more and more Trumpian chaos poured over us.
Donald Trump is becoming frantic because so many things are closing in on him – the release of the Epstein files and a potential Supreme Court decision against his use of tariffs. Both of those are big. He and his gestapo keep losing in the lower courts as well. North Carolinians are learning from Chicagoans. The Catholic Church is preaching welcome to immigrants. More details keep being leaked about his golfing buddy Steve Witkoff’s attempts to build business with Russia.
Trump is ramping up his threats against Venezuela. The fatal attack on National Guard members in DC was probably a disappointment to him in that it can’t be played as a flaming Antifa fanatic, so he’s going after immigrants instead. It was particularly enervating fot that to fill the airwaves during a holiday that should be devoted to sharing and kindness. I left my phone at home when I went to dinner with relatives and friends. Nobody talked about current events, and the turkey was delicious. Four pies – berry, pumpkin, apple crumble, and pecan!
And then news told us what we suspected anyway – that the killings at sea around Venezuela and Colombia were murders, no way to justify them.
Heather Cox Richardson did a good job of summarizing the busy week.
The worse things get for Trump, the more likely he is to ramp up some more awful things. We’ve got to hang in – the only way out is through.
In happier news, I found a great-looking bookstore to order Alex Wellerstein’s new book from. I think I will be spending some time there.
Dan, Rob, and I did a podcast on the 28 points document. The Trump team say they’ve got it down to 19 points, but they won’t tell us what they are, and I suspect that most of what Dan, Rob, and I said still stands.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
As usual, keep it to things that have actually happened, not hypotheticals. What is actually happening is bad enough.
Caring for yourself and loved ones is resistance too. Post your pets.
163 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 41, Week 42, Week 43, Week 44