Week 73
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A no-good, very bad week for Donald Trump!
It started with his rage-filled interview with Kristen Welker, when she pressed him for evidence of his claim that elections are rigged. Something like 19 Republicans voted against renewal of Section 702, which has to do with spying on international telecommunications. Part of that seems to be resistance to his nomination of hitman Bill Pulte for DNI. He has since pulled that nomination and substituted Jay Clayton, attorney for the Southern District of New York and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner. Who also has no intelligence background. Take that as you will.
Last night there was a national watch party for Trump’s name to be taken down from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. We watched the workmen assemble a scaffold, which was then covered over. The purpose of the covering was said to be to protect the workmen from MAGA chuds who might dox or injure them. Entirely possible. I’ll also say that I think the workmen were doing an honest job. They lost several hours to thunderstorms. Work rules for thunderstorms are some of the most demanding of what I dealt with back in the day. And no, a scissors lift wouldn’t have been adequate.
There was another judicial decision that Todd Blanche must supply more than a pinky swear that Trump’s J6 slush fund will not be put into effect. Trump was roundly booed at the Knicks-Spurs game. Albanians have been demonstrating for the past week and more against Ivanka’s desire to steal their only island and turn it into a resort.
Thursday was some sort of breaking point in the “negotiations” to end the war in Iran. Trump started the day with another threat to obliterate Iran, and by early afternoon was sure that there would be an agreement in which the Iranians would fully submit themselves to his desires. The Groundhog Day ambience was almost too much for me and apparently other people too.
What I think is happening with those negotiations, and I’ll remove the scare quotes, is that there seem to be some adults in the mix who are recognizing that allowing Donnie’s inability to deal with his narcissistic injury to continue through the summer will further damage the already sinking Republican prospects in the November elections. They have probably introduced some minimally competent people in place of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who may still be around to show the Special Boy.
In earlier iterations, the sequence was that a sketch of a deal would be agreed on, it would be shown to Trump, and then either he would find it unacceptable (like unfreezing some of Iran’s funds) or Lindsay Graham and the FDD would start screeching that it was unacceptable. There was a report during the week that what Trump wanted was for the media to acclaim the deal as better than the JCPOA. That’s not going to happen.
The reason, then, for the secrecy and misinformation about the content of the agreement is that that is the only way that Cranky Grandpa can be persuaded to sign it. There are indications that someone else, perhaps JD Vance, will actually put pen to paper while Trump is savoring blood sport on the White House grounds on Sunday.
I cannot say how disgusted I am at the obscenity that towers over the White House.
In the markets’ march toward disaster, the SpaceX IPO made Elon Musk richer on paper. There is something in today’s news about the withdrawal of a couple of AI things to protect them from furriners, and people continue to wonder how volume will make up for the losses AI firms are taking on making their product available. A few firms that are actually paying for the stuff are not happy to be making up that difference.
Trump comforted himself by killing the head of Tren de Aragua, or so he says.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
Let’s stay away from hypotheticals, as usual. Post your pets. I see that this is my 901st post here at LGM. Yay me, I think?
135 more weeks to go. What are you doing?
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 50, Week 60, Week 70, Week 71, Week 72