Week 48
By 
Donald Trump’s Christmas rant was a new way for the President to relate to the nation.
I watch some of his presentations, out of curiosity as to what he will do next and out of obligation if I am going to write this stuff. I’m glad I didn’t miss this one. The content was nothing new, the usual scrambled whine and blame, but the delivery was something else! Double-time, at a monotone high volume. They placed the teleprompter under the camera, so we were spared his rolling from side to side. There were none of his insertions; they had been incorporated into the text. Happy Holidays, all you haters and losers!
It’s been another busy week for the destroyers.
Trump’s name was slapped on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, illegally, of course.
RFK Jr. wants to end all vaccine recommendations for children.
Elise Stefanik drops out of governor’s race and will not run for Congress. Cynthia Lummis will not run again for the Senate.
A tranche (not all, promised later) of the Epstein documents was released. Many pages were fully blanked out, which should certainly put to rest speculation about what is in them. In general redactions were generous and probably excessive by the standards of law. I really don’t understand why they want to prolong this story.
There is some ugly stuff being said by one group of MAGAs against another. Not clear where that all will go.
Jamelle Bouie and Heather Cox Richardson have unusually good summaries this week.
I’m still feeling disoriented from all the violent death last weekend. I watched “The Princess Bride” for the first time this week. Of course I’ve heard quotes from it, so it was good to see it all put together.
Another thing I’m enjoying seeing how it’s put together is Alex Wellerstein’s “The Most Awful Responsibility,” about how Harry Truman set up presidential authority over nuclear weapons. I’ve been reading Alex’s posts on this and talking to him about it. [Disclosure: Alex and I are friends.] I’m about a third of the way through the book, and so far it’s pretty much what I understand. But Alex says there are surprises. You will hear more about this.
Tomorrow is the solstice. I understand that some of you and others on the internet feel that it is important to note the minute and second at which the Earth will be at a particular point in its orbit, but I prefer the more human measure of change in length of day. So for me, it’s the solstice all day, and I don’t want to hear the details of sunrise and sunset.
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. Zooey, Luca, and Jose are fine. I thought I’d post something different this week.
160 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, Week 45, Week 46, Week 47