In a very Trumpian show of Trump’s Trumpiness, Trump held a ceremony at the White House this week hailing himself as Great Peacemaker in his quest for the “deal of the century” claiming to achieve Middle East peace.  This whole charade is really just being held to whip up outrage in his base when he again doesn’t get the “Noble” Peace Prize he wants so badly, but knows he’ll never receive.  The whole thing is really just an arms deal, not a peace deal.  To sign with Israel, the UAE is receiving fighter jets and drones.  Bahrain is getting new missile defense systems.  Israel, already the recipient of billions in war toys, has a new shopping list that includes Osprey tilt rotor helicopters, and other war machines.

The real problem with this “peace” accord?  It leaves out the Palestinians.  Israel is not at war with the EAE or Bahrain.  They’re at war with the Palestinians, and have been for over 70 years.  Not one concession was made in these “accords” that help the Palestinians.  Like all other things Trump, this deal is 100% showmanship, 0% substance.  Trump is using US tax money AND kicking off a new arms race with his new “peace” accords.  This “peace” is just pouring gasoline on the fire.

The Washington Post started releasing audio tapes of 17 interviews Bob Woodward held with Trump since last December.  They are blockbuster, including Trump actually admitting ON TAPE that he lied to the American people about the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic for months.

Woodward’s book also quotes Trump as saying of US military leadership, “my fucking generals are a bunch of pussies”. They care more about their alliances than they do about trade deals.”

In other news, Brian Murphy, a senior career DHS staffer, filed a whistleblower complaint against senior current and former DHS political appointees, former DHS Secretary Nielsen, Chad Wolf, who is serving as acting DHS secretary; and Ken Cuccinelli, the deputy DHS secretary. The complaint details orders from said appointees for DHS to lie to congress and downplay Russian interference and other foreign threats that would “make Trump look bad.”

To add insult to injury, today Trump named right wing nut bags Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton to his list of potential Supreme Court nominees.  No shit.

Yesterday, Bill Barr’s Justice Department announced that it was taking over the defense for Trump against E. Jean Carroll’s defamation case against him in relation to her charge of a 1990’s rape she alleged.  The Justice Department has claimed that Trump calling Carroll a liar was within the boundaries of his official duties as president.  No shit.

Lastly, the House Oversight Committee has announced the beginning of an investigation into Postmaster General Louis DeJoy into an illegal reimbursement scheme that paid his executives back for making contributions to Trump and other Republicans, a felony.

Happy Wednesday!

Social media is still laughing about the Trump boat parade turned mass shipwreck Saturday on Lake Travis.  The memes are making the rounds and some of my favorites are Poseidon For Biden, Klan overboard!, Lake Travesty, and Make America Sink Again.  The real irony of the day, though, were the metaphors for Trump’s America…it was the perfect Libertarian event; poorly organized, and poorly managed.  No one knows how many boats participated, how many where swamped, and how many people went into the water.  The clearest metaphor, though, was how people acted – the wealthy, in flag festooned boats as long as 60 feet sped through the water with no regard for the every day folks in smaller boats in the parade.  The resulting wakes are what caused heavy swell that engulfed those smaller boats, sinking at least 4, and swamping an untold number.

The wealthier people did what they wanted, without regard to their effect on others.  Those others lost, but no one knows how many because, Freedumb.   Just like today’s economy under Trump.

One of the best videos of the day, though, was by comedian Brent Terhune, who plays a MAGhat of the first order.  Here he tearfully describes the loss of his beloved boat, the SS MAGAritaville.

The White House has ordered all federal agencies to halt diversity training.  That’s right, folks, Trump has ordered that all training sessions about fighting systemic racism and white privilege in federal agencies, calling it “divisive” and “un-American”.  Russell Vought, the director of OMB, said, “The President has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions.”

Of course, since the money has been appropriated and the contracts let, Trump can’t just arbitrarily cancel them.  So, what will happen is that taxpayer money will be spent and no training will occur.  Why is Trump doing this?  To whip up his last remaining base, racist pigs who hate everyone and everything, of course.  Trump has already pissed off small business owners, large business owners, doctors, nurses, scientists, , public health officials, teachers, and union workers; now he’s alienated members of the military, Blue Star families and Gold Star families.  Apparently all that’s left is Russian gangsters and bigoted mouth breathers waving Nazi and Confederate flags.

He’s finally found his base of last resort.

Trump lies about his enemies’ mental states and physical health in a continuous stream as long as those lies serve his purposes, whatever those are.  Well, karma turned on him yesterday, this time self inflicted.  Here’s how the story has evolved:

Remember last November when Trump made a rushed and unexpected trip to Walter Reed Hospital?  The trip was not scheduled, and he was accompanied by the White House physician.  We asked about the trip, a spokesman said the trip was for preliminary tests before Trump’s annual physical.  We all knew THAT was a lie, but no one really figured out the real reason.  Well, now we know and it’s not good; for Trump I mean.  Here’s how the story is playing out…

Yesterday a new book titled Trump v. The United States by NY Times reporter Michael Schmidt was published.  It is an investigative look at the chaos of the Trump WH and how he is actually threatening the very survival of democracy in the US.  In the book, though, Schmidt mentions that during said November trip to Walter Reed, Pence was put on standby to take over in case Trump needed to be put under anesthesia for a surgical procedure.  That story had not been picked up by any major news agency, and then Trump tweeted this:

So, Trump denies reports that he had a series of mini strokes, when, in fact NO ONE WAS REPORTING THAT.  Maggie Haberman of the NY Times then tweeted:

So, Trump, frantic to kill any story that happens to be true about his health, actually outed himself.  As you would expect, the Twitterverse exploded, and one doctor even gave a plausible argument that Trump is actually displaying signs that he has had a stroke:

The fact that Trump has had a series of strokes explains a LOT of his physical issues including slurring of words, his difficulty walking down the ramp at West Point, and trouble drinking water with one hand.  Everyone in the United States (except for Trumpists) know Trump is in terrible physical condition.  He is at least 40 pounds overweight, he eats junk food every day, and even had to ride a golf cart during a walk of world leaders during a G7 meeting in 2017.  The possibility that he’s had a series of strokes explains all of those unanswered questions about Trump’s health.

Karma is a bitch, to be sure.