Week 86
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This week has brought a greater willingness to call out the frauds.
Donald Trump needed a rally high to forget about his losses in Iran, and he was really, really high. Watch his demand that his followers pledge allegiance to him and promise to cheat in the election. I won’t post it here because this is a family-friendly blog. There’s also footage of him barely restraining himself from attacking a (woman) reporter who asked him a question he didn’t want to answer.
The sad news from those videos for those of you who are expecting him to stroke out is that his blood vessels seem to be very resistant to large surges in pressure.
The news outlets, including the New York Times, are more willing to question his vote-buying promise of $5000 to every adult in the US if Republicans retain the House and Senate. They point out the size of this sum, its inflationary effect, and that it would be something that Congress must authorize. And that he’s promised money giveaways before and not paid off.
The AI magnates, too, are getting a more skeptical reception. They sent out their signature call again this week several times: “AI will take your job and then kill you!” I have been trying to cut through the anthropomorphic language for some time now, and I had a breakthrough this morning. I’ll work it into a longer post, but it was Dan Davies who helped me understand what “agents” are. It turns out that they are a lot less than what I thought, and I will have to rewrite that post yet a third time. But I feel much better about what I will say in it.
Davies’s thread starts here. Like many Bluesky threads, it goes in several directions, so it takes a bit of time to fully work through. But the first three posts are very helpful if you want a short version.
Trump’s contractor for the Reflecting Pool project admitted that they screwed up. I couldn’t find in the articles about this whether they are going to charge to fix it.
Saudi Arabia got hit by Iran and the Houthis this week, from two geographic sides. This is what their friend Donald Trump has given them. It also means that the war is taking on a momentum independent from the United States, which is not good.
Dan, Rob, and I recorded a podcast on foreign policy since 9/11. I think it will be up on Monday.
Follow the court-watchers for the details of the lawsuits. Chris Geidner (LawDork, Bluesky), Roger Parloff and Anna Bower (Lawfare, Bluesky), and the Just Security tracker.
Let’s stay away from hypotheticals, as usual. Post your pets.
122 more weeks to go. What are you doing? We are getting to the time when what you are doing should be connected to the coming elections. Register. Make a plan to vote. Volunteer to be a poll worker.
Previous weeks: Week 10, Week 20, Week 30, Week 40, Week 50, Week 60, Week 70, Week 80, Week 81, Week 82, Week 83, Week 84, Week 85