Evening Roundup, May 4
SCOTUS power grab, 19th century voting rights, a smokejumper in Congress, baffled by the ballroom, local TV going static, Talking Feds, & more!
Spotlight
Election Epicenter
Tennessee Republicans Push For 19th Century Voting Rights
[ VIDEO ] Republicans are racing against the clock to change election laws before the midterms. And by “change election laws,” they mean redistrict their communities so severely that people of color are stripped of proper Congressional representation. You can thank SCOTUS’s recent ruling on
Meet The Montana Smokejumper Who Wants to Put Out Fires in Congress
[ VIDEO] During its peak, DOGE cut about 5,000 public lands employees from federal agencies like the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the National Park Service. Many consider this move — and others like it— an indication that the Trump administration is
Questions for Cowards
Cowardice with Chandeliers
The attempted assassination of President Donald Trump and other attendees at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 25 did not expose the absence of a White House ballroom. It exposed a protection problem at a high-risk venue under an administration that can no longer blame former President Joe Biden for the machinery it now controls.
Turning Off the (Local) TV?
Local TV News is Vanishing
The next time you try to tune in to your local 6 p.m. newscast, it might not be there. Those familiar faces at the anchor desk, news reporters and meteorologists, all the news broadcasters you count on for fact-based local news and timely weather…
Me, Myself and I.
Like The Joke.
IN DEFENSE OF DONALD TRUMP: ATTESTATIONS TO HIS GREATNESS
One would have to go back years, if not centuries, to Nero and Caligula, to find such glowing praises of a single leader, examples of which are as follows:
“I alone can fix it.”
“I am the chosen one.”
“A very stable genius.”
“My I.Q. is one of the highest.”
“I know more about ISIS than the generals do.”
“Nobody knows more about taxes than I do, maybe in the history of the world.”
“I know more about renewables than any human being on Earth.”
“I know more about drones than anybody.”
“Nobody knows more about construction than I do.”
“I know words. I have the best words.”
“One of the great memories of all time.”
“I think I am actually humble.” / “much more humble than you would understand.”
“I can be more presidential than any president,”except perhaps Lincoln.
“Nobody has done more for black people than I have.”
“Nobody loves the First Amendment] better than me.”
“We built the greatest political movement in the history of our country.”
“We also built the greatest economy in the history of the world.”
“The greatest tax cuts in history” and “regulation reductions, the greatest in history.”
“Under my leadership, next year will be the greatest economic year in the history of our country.”
“Nobody knows the system better than me.”
“Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me.”
“Nobody knows more about debt than I do.”
“I’m like the king. I love debt.”
“Nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.”
“I know more about contributions than anybody.
“Nobody knows more about trade than me.”
“Nobody knows more about technology than me.”
“I know more about nuclear weapons than he’ll ever know.”
“Nobody knows more about banks than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about lawsuits than I do.”
“I understand the tax laws better than almost anyone.”
“Nobody knows the game better than me.”
“I understand politicians better than anybody.”
“Who knows the other side better than me?”
“I know a lot. I know more than I’m ever gonna tell you.”
“Nobody has done more in the first two years of an administration — no matter where.”
“I can be more presidential than any president.”
“I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”
We’ve done, I think, more than any President and administration” and “more than any administration in the first few years.”
“I believe we’ve done more than any president in the history of our country in the first three years, three and a half years.”
“With the exception of the late, great Abraham Lincoln, I can be more presidential than any president that’s ever held this office.”
“They always said Lincoln — nobody got treated worse than Lincoln. I believe I am treated worse.”
“Nobody has done more for Black people than I have. Nobody has done more.”
At a 2019 rally, he approvingly described Lou Dobbs’s escalating praise: first that Trump was the greatest president since Reagan, then better than Reagan, and then “the greatest president in the history of our country, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.”
Trumnp claims “first,” “most,” and “greatest” achievements in specific policy areas“I did more than any president.”
“Only Lincoln, or maybe Washington, might outrank me.”
“I have been treated worse than any president, even Lincoln.”
“I have done more for Black Americans than any president since, or possibly including, Lincoln.”
“I am better than modern Republican icons such as Reagan.”
“Nobody knows the system better than me.”
“Nobody else on this dais knows how to change it like I do, believe me.”
“Nobody knows more about debt than I do.”
“I’m like the king. I love debt.”
“Nobody knows more about campaign finance than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about trade than me.
“Nobody knows more about technology than me.”
“I know more about nuclear weapons than he’ll ever know.”
“Nobody knows more about banks than I do.”
“Nobody knows more about lawsuits than I do.”
“I understand the tax laws better than almost anyone.”
“Nobody knows the game better than me.”
“I understand politicians better than anybody.”
“Who knows the other side better than me?”
“I know a lot. I know more than I’m ever gonna tell you.”
“Nobody has done more in the first two years of an administration — no matter where.”
“I can be more presidential than any president.”
“I am the least racist person you have ever interviewed.”
We as a nation should be proud to read such glowing attestations to the leadership qualities of our President, though, concededly, they would have carried more weight had they not all come from the mouth of our leader himself.
Nevertheless, such a man is deserving of some self-admiration for having risen above his very serious shortcomings, including having been called “the dumbest goddamn student I ever had” by his Wharton School professor at Penn, and having been a con-artist for a good portion of his life, who has been criminally convicted of 35 felony counts, found liable for over $800 million in fraud losses by overstating the value of his assets to get cheaper interest rates from his creditors, found liable for sexually molesting a woman whom Trump now claims was not hot enough for him to assault and “would not have been the chosen one”, who was heard on tape bragging about his thrills in grabbing women by their genitals, whose company was found liable for running a scam university, who hired a ghost writer to write a book under his supposed authorship “The Art of the Deal”, and whose only claim to fame was his buffoonery in playing himself on the tv sit-com “The Apprentice”, in which he parlayed his bluster, arrogance and showmanship into performing the same role in the White House.
In spite of all these glowing attestations, perhaps the time has come, while he is at the peak of his self-admiration, to step aside in recognition of his increasing mental instability, volatility, unpredictability and megalomania.