Reasons

Trump is failing.

Again.

As Always.

He's ignoring the plutocrats as they run their playbook (Project 2025), and while everybody sees it, nobody can count on the Press Poodles to point it out except in this offhand, once-in-a-while kinda way. It's all but disappeared from the news cycle the last few weeks.

He just claims ignorance, letting the chaos explode, as he looks for advantage, and opportunities to cash in on everybody else's misfortune.

He broke from the Reaganites in a huge way 10 years ago when he started going against Ronnie's 11th Commandment - "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."

He has since frequently taken a giant dump on The Gipper's head by picking stupid fights with everybody for reasons nobody could fathom at the time.

But he was, and is, the president, and if that's how the leader of the party does things, then there will be an endless parade of self-loathing jagoffs who will follow right along behind him, emulating everything he does.

So why does Trump do this big tariff thing? Who the fuck knows? But he's violated the one principle held absolutely sacrosanct by every Republican since the beginning of the republic:

Don't fuck with the money

And that's not a bad principle to hold sacred. In fact, it's been a saving grace for Democrats who've been able to fend off most major assaults on FDR's New Deal stuff.

So where does this leave us? In spite of everything that so many cynically manipulative assholes have been doing to separate us from each other, and to keep us isolated in our own little siloes, I think more of us are starting to understand what those assholes have been up to.

By blowing holes in the plutocrats' schemes (purposely, or because he's just that guy who always fucks it all up),Trump is uniting Left and Right in opposition to him. Which in a very perverse way has always been the Trump Hallmark - me against the world. And even if others are doing things that help me, I not only have to take credit for it, but I'll make sure it eventually fails because with my delicate crystalline ego, I won't survive if people think any of the good ideas aren't mine and mine alone.

When you're the narcissist's narcissist, you'll eventually become both totally full of yourself and paranoid to the max. I think that's what drives his brand of madness.

1. How long will this go on?
2. Who will step up to take him down?

When Is It Enough?

OK, we can try to kinda keep track of it all, but there's an element of 'so-fucking-what' at work here. The people who should be stepping up to hold him accountable are almost totally MIA.

And OK again. We can be - and should be - at least hopeful if not optimistic because a few more Democrats are showing some balls. Plus, we need to keep seeing him for the shitbird he is ...

.. but goddamn - even knowing he counts on us getting worn down, and tired, and throwing in the towel, it's a real chore to stay with this shit.

Donald Trump’s Empty Promises Are Catching Up to Him

The president vowed to bring down prices on “day one”—something everyone would like to see. What happened with that?

Right after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, he was the most popular he’d ever been. According to The Economist, “his net favorability was in positive territory for the first time ever.”

It was a strange moment: In January 2025, the guy who had been impeached twice, indicted four times, and convicted on 34 felony counts was as popular as he’d ever been and, unlike in 2016, he actually won the popular vote. Trump is famous for defying political gravity, but even for him, this was unprecedented. It was as if the American people had suffered from collective amnesia and forgotten January 6, the COVID pandemic, and the Black Lives Matter protests. Not only that, it was the first time in 20 years a Republican won the popular vote in the presidential elections. Once again, American voters were angry, once again American voters wanted change, once again American voters bafflingly considered Trump—who had been president once before—to be the outsider.

But there was another important data point, which may not be getting enough attention. A lot of voters were angry about a very specific thing: inflation. The idea that things were suddenly more expensive for no discernible reason was a hard pill for voters to swallow. A month before the election, Gallup reported that the economy “could be a significant factor to nine in 10 voters.” Voters were angry, but most weren’t angry about government spending—they were angry about the price of eggs. If you were to argue that Trump has a mandate, and he would argue that he does, it would be to make prices lower.

Trump promised many pie-in-the-sky things. For example, he said that if he won, the government or insurance companies would cover the cost of in vitro fertilization treatment—a proposal that would almost certainly never fly with his own party. After taking office, Trump is still promising some of these fantastical things. During his speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this month, he reiterated his call to eliminate taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security benefits—once again, costly ideas that would almost certainly never jell with the Republican Party he leads.

But Trump’s biggest, boldest campaign promise was downright impossible. It was a promise that Kamala Harris couldn’t make because there was no way to do it. Trump vowed to immediately reverse inflation and to immediately make things cheaper. In August he told a crowd in Montana: “Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.” And in October, he told a group in Wisconsin: “Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again. We’ll do that.” Harris couldn’t promise that because, even with the most aggressive government intervention, there is no realistic way to do it.

But instead of bringing prices down on day one, or even month one, Trump is doing the exact opposite. He’s enacted a trade war and let Elon Musk take a chainsaw to the federal government, both of which have caused market uncertainty. Suddenly, the man who said he was going to make everything cheaper on day one can’t even rule out a recession on his watch, and has instead mused about a “period of transition.”

Trump has it in his head that the United States was somehow richer before income taxes, which is fueling his tariff obsession. A few days after being sworn in, he told reporters in the Oval Office: “We were at our richest from 1870 to 1913. That’s when we were a tariff country. And then they went to an income tax concept.” It makes sense that Trump, a real estate baron, would be nostalgic for the Gilded Age—after all, it was a time in American life marked by high concentration of wealth, vast income inequality, and widespread political corruption.

But the problem is that while Trump loves tariffs, no one else does. His back-and-forth on implementing them has spooked the markets, because the only thing the markets like less than tariffs is uncertainty.

Even after a week of poor market reactions to Trump’s will-he-won’t-he on tariff threats, he has continued to seesaw on the topic. On Sunday, during a friendly interview, Trump told Fox News that “the tariffs could go up as time goes by,” dismissed calls for more “predictability,” and refused to rule out a recession. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick further rationalized the volatility, telling NBC’s Meet the Press, “Will there be distortions? Of course. Foreign goods may get a little more expensive, but American goods are going to get cheaper.” Meanwhile, all markets want is stability, and this was probably not what they wanted to hear: US stocks saw a steep sell-off Monday morning.

It seems pretty clear that Trump is simply not laser-focused on the only promise anyone could legitimately view as his mandate: making things cheaper.

In November 2024, voters perceived the economy to be bad despite underlying fundamentals being good. They yet again voted for change. Trump promised cheaper groceries through tariffs, which ultimately make things more expensive. Since Trump took office seven weeks ago, the S&P has dropped 5%. And guess what? Groceries are not cheaper.

Trump has been able to defy political gravity many times. He’s come back from scandals that would have ended most political careers. But the question is, what happens when a president ends up doing the exact opposite of what he promised voters he’d do?

Trump Fuckery

This is important because it's always important to keep a handle on the timeline of what these fuckers are doing.

Watch what they do and when they do it.

hat tip: FB buddy, Deb Callahan

A message from our northern cousins, via Liz Cheney/Adam Kinzinger Against Trump

Greg Gleason's Post

This was deleted from Facebook after I downloaded. Mugsy Margarit was the original author.

(Updated to reflect threats made by Trump the morning of March 11th)

One thing I've learned over the past few weeks, and it's been a bit of a sobering lesson, is that a lot of Americans I know don't actually know what's going on between the US and Canada right now, and just how seriously Canadians are taking this. So, against my better judgement, here's a timeline to explain why we're here, and why we're angry.

Nov 30th, 2018 - The United States, Canada and Mexico finalize a trade agreement. Trump personally negotiates the terms and signs the document, celebrating it as 'the greatest trade agreement in history". (This is important.)

Nov 29th, 2024 - In a face to face meeting, Trump threatens the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, that he will be imposing 25% tariffs and that if Canada wants to avoid that, it should join the US as a state.

Nov 30th, 2024 - Trump publicly calls our Prime Minister 'Governor Trudeau' and instructs his staff to only address him as Governor going forward. He again suggests Canada should join the USA.

Dec 3rd, 2024 - Trump remarks that he would split Canada into two states once annexed.

Dec 10th, 2024 - Trump posts that the majority of Canadians support annexation, despite public polling that only 13% of Canadians would consider the idea.

Dec 18th, 2024 - Trump again falsely states that the majority of Canadians support annexation and that one of his lapdogs, Wayne Gretzky, should have a leadership role in that new scenario.

Jan 7th, 2025 - At a press conference, Trump says that he would use economic force to destroy the Canadian economy to annex it.

Jan 14, 2025 - Trump again claims that most Canadians want to be American, despite new polls showing only 10% of us are open to the idea.

Jan 20th, 2025 - During his inaugural address, Trump says that the U.S. will 'expand its territory' during his second term.

Jan 23rd, 2025 - At the World Economic Forum, Trump says that Canada can avoid tariffs and economic collapse if it joins the US. He says this in front of representatives from most countries in the world.

Jan 24th, 2025 - Trump states publicly that Canada 'will' become a state

Jan 31st, 2025 - Trump announces a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports to begin the next day.

Feb 2nd, 2025 - Trump refers to Canada as its 'Cherished 51st state' and that it should join the US to avoid tariffs.

Feb 3rd, 2025 - A one month delay is agreed upon. Trump, in a conversation with Trudeau states that he doesn't think existing border treaties with Canada are valid, and need to be revised.

Feb 7th, 2025 - In a closed door meeting with his cabinet, Prime Minister Trudeau is recorded, without his knowledge, telling everyone that he believes very strongly that Trump is serious and that he stated his reason for annexation as Canadian resources.

Feb 9th, 2025 - In a Super Bowl pre-game interview, Trump says that he's serious about his threats, calling it a 'viable consideration for expanding US territory'

Feb 10th, 2025 - Trump announces an additional 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to come into effect March 12th.

Feb 24th, 2025 - Trump publicly remarks that whoever signed the USMCA agreement is an idiot. He was the one that signed it.

Feb 27th, 2025 - Reports of American spy planes and reconnaissance aircraft flying over southern Alberta and Saskatchewan.

March 4th, 5th, and 6th 2025 - Tariffs come into effect. Canada retaliates with it's own tariffs. Tariffs are again postponed until April 1st after a huge market backlash.
March 4th, 2025 - In an address to a joint session of congress, Trump states that the US will own Greenland 'one way or the other'.

March 5th, 2025 - US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc that Trump "had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon."

March 7th, 2025 - Unconfirmed Memorandum and maps leaked on twitter reveal Trump is allegedly planning to annex the entirety of the great lakes and Southern Ontario, home to 13,491,332 Canadians. This amounts to 35.25% of Canada's total population and includes its largest city, Toronto. This region accounts for 38% of the Canadian economy, and its loss would make Canada's independence functionally impossible.

March 8th, 2025 - Canada's foreign minister warns European allies that their government considers Canada to be under existential threat.

March 9th, 2025 - Mark Carney, the new Canadian Prime Minister, in his acceptance speech, states that Trump is seeking to destroy Canada, and its way of life.

March 11, 2025 - President Trump threatens to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada” if Canada does not drop a 250% to 390% tariff on U.S. dairy products, which he doesn’t state only kicks in after a certain quantity of tariff-free U.S. dairy enters Canada, a quantity that was originally negotiated and agreed to by Trump during the USMCA in 2018.

In Trump's own words:

"The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear. Canadians’ taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that. The artificial line of separation drawn many years ago will finally disappear, and we will have the safest and most beautiful Nation anywhere in the World — And your brilliant anthem, “O Canada,” will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!"

To my American friends, I know most of you are amazing and generous people. You didn't ask for this, and I understand that. I hold no ill will towards you, whatsoever. But I must stress, with as much seriousness as I can, the amount of damage this has done.

We have viewed you as our closest friend and ally for a century. We thought of you as brothers and sisters. We answered the call, again and again, for any support you needed from us. Most of Canadians visit the USA so much that we've seen more of the US than we have the rest of Canada.

American products have been taken off our shelves. Canadians are cancelling travel plans to the US. Photo after photo has been shared on social media of empty flights from Canada to the USA.

This isn't a joke to us. We're not overreacting. We don't think he's just saying this shit to cause chaos or negotiate a deal. We wholeheartedly believe that our closest ally and friend is about to bring violence across our border, economically destroy us, and eliminate our way of life.
The main driver for Canada's creation in 1867 was SPECIFICALLY to not be part of America, and to end America's very public threats and plans to annex our territory.

We're angry. We're really, really fucking angry. Open your eyes to what's happening because we're tired of trying to make you understand why and asking you why it seems like none of you care.

I still hope that there is time to repair this. I still believe that this is the result of one man's plan to burn it all down. But time is running out, and fast.

Note
The hundreds of positive comments and messages I've received from Americans today have restored my faith in you, and humanity. You do care, and I was wrong in assuming you didn't.

Just Couldn't Stay Away

'Bout Fuckin' Time, George

I imagine Bush43 is damned grateful for Trump, because Trump in the White House means W is not just relieved of his position as the worst POTUS in living memory, but as THE WORST FUCKING POTUS EVER.

Trump is far and away the champion of champions on that score.

Little George can bask in the glory of being demoted back to maybe 2nd or 3rd worst all-time.

So here's a semi-mealy-mouthed statement that The Shrub's PR guys put out:

America First should not put Russia second

For the good of both countries and for the cause of freedom, it is vital that the United States and Ukraine get back on track.

To the dismay of those who support freedom, the world is turning toward the appeasement of dictators.

It was painful to watch last week’s meeting in the Oval Office, a room President George W. Bush has often called a “shrine to freedom.” President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the democratically-elected Ukrainian president who is leading the fight against a dictatorial aggressor.

To insinuate that Ukraine is somehow the perpetrator of the aggression, the saber-rattling toward World War III, and the impediment to peace is delusional. Nobody wants the war to end more than Ukrainians, who, after all, are the ones suffering and dying from Vladimir Putin’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The bombardment by Russia is constant. Peace will only come the day Russia ceases fighting. In the meantime, Ukrainians are justified in defending their sovereign territory.

Any peace deal should be a lasting one, not simply a Neville Chamberlain-esque exercise in the temporary appeasement of an aggressor. Ukrainians and Zelenskyy need assurances that they are never attacked again. They ask for security guarantees to deter Putin from launching further aggression, given his failure to keep his prior promises.

They are on the front lines, fighting not just for their freedom but for ours as well. If the United States were to appease the invader, Russia would regain the military advantage, and nothing would stop it from moving deeper into Ukraine at some point. Putin, who has consistently reneged on agreements, would feel emboldened and ultimately target other countries in the region, for example the NATO-member Baltic states, as he marches toward reassembling the former Soviet Union. Recall that our weak withdrawal from Afghanistan may have given Putin the idea that he could get away with his full-scale invasion of Ukraine six months later.

The Ukrainians have demonstrated tremendous bravery and innovation against a much larger fighting force. They are extremely grateful for America’s support – and have consistently expressed that. With that support, they disproved predictions that Russia would overtake Ukraine in a matter of days or weeks. They have inflicted huge losses on the Russian side and significantly weakened Russia’s military capabilities.

It’s also worth noting that nearly 70% of total Ukraine assistance is spent in the United States or on U.S. forces, according to a study by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). That creates jobs for Americans while also helping Ukraine and helping to rebuild our atrophied defense industrial base. Moreover, a different AEI study found that ceasing our support for Ukraine will be much more costly for the United States in the long run – to the tune of an additional $800 billion in defense spending if Russia overruns Ukraine.

Putin and Xi Jinping must be celebrating that their talking points have been taken up in Washington. Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev posted on X: “The insolent pig finally got a proper slap down in the Oval Office.” Our democratic friends in Taiwan are now worried they might be next.

President Trump was elected to pursue the America First foreign policy agenda on which he campaigned, and he has every right to do so. But voters did not mandate “America First, Russia Second.” Indeed, it remains in the U.S. national security interest to provide support to an independent and sovereign Ukraine.

Let there be no mistake: Ukraine and Ukrainians are our friends and allies; Putin’s Russia is the enemy. We must treat our friends as friends and our adversaries as adversaries. Most Americans seem to understand this: a recent poll cited in the Wall Street Journal found 69% of Republican voters say Russia is the aggressor and 83% disapprove of Putin.

Leaders in Europe, undoubtedly distressed by what they witnessed in Washington, have voiced their support for Ukraine. Europeans are painfully aware of the similarities to the 1930s and the dangers of an appeasement strategy that led to World War II. They understand the problems with having the United States and Russia meet to discuss Ukraine without Ukraine or Europeans involved.

Over the weekend European leaders voiced strong support for Zelenskyy, reassuring Ukraine that it is not being abandoned. But it would be much more powerful for the United States and Europe to remain together in backing Ukraine than for Washington to cede its leadership role to Brussels.

It is Putin’s forces who have brutalized Ukrainians every day since 2014. It is Putin who insists on a change in the Ukrainian government, permanent neutrality for Ukraine, and recognition of illegally occupied Ukrainian territory – all demands that are nonstarters for the Ukrainian side in negotiations.

For the good of both countries and for the cause of freedom, it is vital that the United States and Ukraine get back on track. There may soon be a meeting between Trump and Putin, in which Putin will surely attempt to manipulate our president. One can only hope that our American leader will adopt a tougher line toward his Russian counterpart, America’s enemy, than he did toward Zelenskyy, America’s friend. After all, Zelenskyy and Ukrainians want the war to end, just not through imposed capitulation. By contrast, it is Putin who has shown no serious interest in ending the fighting and killing.

President Trump rightly said that lives are at stake. So are freedom and democracy around the world. Appeasement and concessions hardly form the peace through strength that prevents future bloodshed.

Like I said: semi mealy-mouthed. These guys are still trying to pretend that Trump will eventually start to behave like a normal person.

He won't. He doesn't give one empty fuck about this country except for the part that lets him play at being Napoleon and possibly becoming the richest asshole on the planet.

Get the fuck over it, guys.

hat tip = JR Colo - FB

Overheard

Why do you let this jerk hang around?

via Facebook

I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency before and I still am.

But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, and ...

1. Mismanaged a pandemic that killed over a million Americans
2. Called neo-Nazis “very fine people”
3. Separated children from their families
4. Lost those children in the bureaucracy
5. Tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church
6. Tried to block all Muslims from entering the country
7. Got impeached
8. Got impeached again
9. Had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history
10. Pressured Ukraine to dig dirt on Joe Biden
11. Fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia
12. Bragged about firing the FBI director on TV
13. Took Vladimir Putin’s word over the US intelligence community
14. Diverted military funding to build his wall
15. Caused the longest government shutdown in US history
16. Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate"
17. Lied over 30,000 times
18. Banned transgender people from serving in the military
19. Ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions
20. Vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers
21. Refused to release his tax returns
22. Increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion
23. Had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history
24. Called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers
25. Coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist
26. Refused to concede the 2020 election
27. Hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House
28. Walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl
29. Suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID
30. Abandoned our allies the Kurds to Turkey
31. Pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans
32. Incited anti-lockdown protestors in several states at the height of the pandemic
33. Withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords
34. Withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal
35. Withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances
36. Insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter
37. Pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op
38. Failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies
39. Called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries
40. Called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation"
41. Claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere
42. Forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader
43. Believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
44. Berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe
45. Suggested the US should buy Greenland
46. Colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices, after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges
47. Repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people”
48. Claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases
49. Violated the emoluments clause
50. Thought that Nambia was a country
51. Told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public
52. Called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “pussy” for following the Constitution
53. Nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet
54. Nominated a corrupt head of the EPA
55. Nominated a corrupt head of HHS
56. Nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department
57. Nominated a corrupt head of the USDA
58. Praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies
59. Refused to allow the presidential transition to begin
60. Insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death
61. Spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president
62. Falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote
63. Called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold loser”
64. Falsely claimed that he turned down being Time’s Man of the Year
65. Considered firing special counsel Robert Mueller on several occasions
66. Mocked wearing face masks to guard against transmitting COVID
67. Locked Congress out of its constitutional duty to confirm Cabinet officials by hiring acting ones
68. Used a racist dog whistle by calling COVID the “China virus”
69. Hired and associated with numerous shady figures that were eventually convicted of federal offenses including his campaign manager and national security adviser
70. Pardoned several of his shady associates
71. Gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to two congressman who amplified his bat shit crazy conspiracy theories
72. Got into telephone fight with the leader of Australia(!)
73. Had a Secretary of State who called him a moron
74. Forced his press secretary to claim without merit that his was the largest inauguration crowd in history
75. Botched the COVID vaccine rollout
76. Tweeted so much dangerous propaganda that Twitter eventually banned him
77. Charged the Secret Service jacked-up rates at his properties
78. Constantly interrupted Joe Biden in their first presidential debate
79. Claimed that COVID would “magically” disappear
80. Called a U.S. Senator “Pocahontas”
81. Used his Twitter account to blast Nordstrom's when it stopped selling Ivanka’s merchandise
82. Opened up millions of pristine federal lands to development and drilling
83. Got into a losing tariff war with China that forced US taxpayers to bail out farmers
84. Claimed that his losing tariff war was a win for the US
85. Ignored or didn’t even take part in daily intelligence briefings
86. Blew off honoring American war dead in France because it was raining
87. Redesigned Air Force One to look like the Trump Shuttle
88. Got played by Kim Jung Un and his “love letters”
89. Threatened to go after social media companies in clear violation of the Constitution
90. Botched the response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
91. Threw paper towels at Puerto Ricans when he finally visited them
92. Pressured the governor and secretary of state of Georgia to “find” him votes
93. Thought that the Virgin islands had a President
94. Drew on a map with a Sharpie to justify his inaccurate tweet that Alabama was threatened by a hurricane
95. Allowed White House staff to use personal email accounts for official businesses after blasting Hillary Clinton for doing the same thing
96. Rolled back regulations that protected the public from mercury and asbestos
97. Pushed regulators to waste time studying snake-oil remedies for COVID
98. Rolled back regulations that stopped coal companies from dumping waste into rivers
99. Held blatant campaign rallies at the White House
100. Tried to take away millions of Americans’ health insurance because the law was named for a Black man
101. Refused to attend his successors’ inauguration
102. Nominated the worst Education Secretary in history
103. Threatened judges who didn’t do what he wanted
104. Attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci
105. Promised that Mexico would pay for the wall (it didn’t)
106. Allowed political hacks to overrule government scientists on major reports on climate change and other issues
107. Struggled navigating a ramp after claiming his opponent was feeble
108. Called an African-American Congresswoman “low IQ”
109. Threatened to withhold federal aid from states and cities with Democratic leaders
110. Went ahead with rallies filled with maskless supporters in the middle of a pandemic
111. Claimed that legitimate investigations of his wrongdoing were “witch hunts”
112. Seemed to demonstrate a belief that there were airports during the American Revolution
113. Demanded “total loyalty” from the FBI director
114. Praised a conspiracy theory that Democrats are Satanic pedophiles
115. Completely gutted the Voice of America
116. Placed a political hack in charge of the Postal Service
117. Claimed without evidence that the Obama administration bugged Trump Tower
118. Suggested that the US should allow more people from places like Norway into the country
119. Suggested that COVID wasn’t that bad because he recovered with the help of top government doctors and treatments not available to the public
120. Overturned energy conservation standards that even industry supported,
121. Reduced the number of refugees the US accepts
122. Insulted various members of Congress and the media with infantile nicknames,
123. Gave Rush Limbaugh a Presidential medal of Freedom at the State of the Union address
124. Named as head of federal personnel a 29-year old who’d previously been fired from the White House for allegations of financial improprieties
125. Eliminated the White House office of pandemic response
126. Used soldiers as campaign props
127. Fired any advisor who made the mistake of disagreeing with him
128. Demanded the Pentagon throw him a Soviet-style military parade
129. Hired a shit ton of white nationalists
130. Politicized the civil service
131. Did absolutely nothing after Russia hacked the U.S. government
132. Falsely said the Boy Scouts called him to say his bizarre Jamboree speech was the best speech ever given to the Scouts
133. Claimed that Black people would overrun the suburbs if Biden won
134. Insulted reporters of color
135. Insulted women reporters, insulted women reporters of color
136. Suggested he was fine with China’s oppression of the Uighurs
137. Attacked the Supreme Court when it ruled against him
138. Summoned Pennsylvania state legislative leaders to the White House, to pressure them to overturn the election
139. Spent countless hours every day watching Fox News
140. Refused to allow his administration to comply with Congressional subpoenas
141. Hired Rudy Giuliani as his lawyer
142. Tried to punish Amazon because the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post wrote negative stories about him
143. Acted as if the Attorney General of the United States was his personal attorney,
144. Attempted to get the federal government to defend him in a libel lawsuit from a women who accused him of sexual assault
145. Held private meetings with Vladimir Putin without staff present
146. Didn’t disclose his private meetings with Vladimir Putin so that the US had to find out via Russian media
147. Stopped holding press briefings for months at a time
148. “Ordered” US companies to leave China even though he has no such power
149. Led a political party that couldn’t even be bothered to draft a policy platform
150. Claimed preposterously that Article II of the Constitution gave him absolute powers
151. Tried to pressure the U.K. to hold the British Open at his golf course
152. Suggested that the government nuke hurricanes
153. Suggested that wind turbines cause cancer
154. Said that he had a special aptitude for science
155. Fired the head of election cyber security after he said that the 2020 election was secure
156. Blurted out classified information to Russian officials
157. Tried to force the G7 to hold their meeting at his failing golf resort in Florida
158. Fired the acting attorney general when she refused to go along with his unconstitutional Muslim travel ban
159. Hired Stephen Miller
160. Openly discussed national security issues in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago where everyone could hear them
161. Interfered with plans to relocate the FBI because a new development there might compete with his hotel
162. Abandoned Iraqi refugees who’d helped the U.S. during the war
163. Tried to get Russia back into the G7
164. Held a COVID super spreader event in the Rose Garden
165. Seemed to believe that Frederick Douglass is still alive
166. Lost 60 election fraud cases in court including before judges he had nominated
167. Falsely claimed that factories were reopening when they weren’t
168. Shamelessly exploited terror attacks in Europe to justify his anti-immigrant policies
169. Still hasn’t come up with a healthcare plan
170. Still hasn’t come up with an infrastructure plan despite repeated “Infrastructure Weeks”
171. Forced Secret Service agents to drive him around Walter Reed while contagious with COVID
172. Told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”
173. Screwed up the Census wording
174. Withdrew the U.S. from the World Health Organization in the middle of a pandemic
175. Did so few of his duties that his press staff were forced to state on his daily schedule: “President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings”
176. Allowed his staff to repeatedly violate the Hatch Act
177. Seemed not to know that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican
178. Stood before sacred CIA wall of heroes and bragged about his election win
179. Constantly claimed he was treated worse than any president, (which presumably includes four that were assassinated, and his predecessor whose legitimacy and birthplace were challenged by a racist reality TV show star named Donald Trump)
180. Claimed Andrew Jackson could’ve stopped the Civil War even though he died 16 years before it happened
181. Said that any opinion poll showing him behind was fake
182. Claimed that other countries laughed at us before he became president when several world leaders were literally laughing at him
183. Claimed that the military was out of ammunition before he became President
184. Created a commission to whitewash American history
185. Retweeted anti-Islam videos from one of the most racist people in Britain
186. Claimed ludicrously that the Pulse nightclub shooting wouldn’t have happened if someone there had a gun even though there was an armed security guard there
187. Hired a senior staffer who cited the non-existent "Bowling Green Massacre" as a reason to ban Muslims
188. Had a press secretary who claimed that Nazi Germany never used chemical weapons even though every sane human being knows they used gas to kill millions of Jews and others
189. Bilked the Secret Service for higher than market rates when they had to stay at Trump properties
190. Apparently sold pardons on his way out of the White House
191. Stripped protective status from 59,000 Haitians
192. Falsely claimed Biden wanted to de-fund the police
193. Said that the head of the CDC didn’t know what he was talking about
194. Tried to rescind protection from DREAMers
195. Gave himself an A+ for his handling of the pandemic
196. Tried to start a boycott of Goodyear tires due to an Internet hoax
197. Said U.S. rates of COVID would be lower if you didn’t count blue states
198. Deported U.S. veterans who served their country but were undocumented
199. Claimed he did more for African Americans than any president since Lincoln
200. Touted a “super-duper” secret “hydrosonic” missile, which may or may not be a new “hypersonic” missile, or may not exist at all
201. Retweeted a gif calling Biden a pedophile
202. Forced through security clearances for his family
203. Suggested that police officers should rough up suspects
204. Suggested that Biden was on performance-enhancing drugs
205. Tried to stop transgender students from being able to use school bathrooms in line with their gender identification
206. Suggested the US not accept COVID patients from a cruise ship because it would make US numbers look higher
207. Nominated a climate change skeptic to chair the committee advising the White House on environmental policy
208. Retweeted a video doctored to look like Biden had played a song called “Fuck tha Police” at a campaign event
209. Hugged a disturbingly large number of U.S. flags
210. Accused Democrats of “treason” for not applauding his State of the Union address
211. Claimed that the FBI failed to capture the Parkland school shooter
212. because they were “spending too much time” on Russia
213. Mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford when she accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault
214. Obsessed over low-flow toilets
215. Ordered the re-release of more COVID vaccines when there weren’t any to release
216. Called for the construction of a bizarre garden of heroes with statutes of famous dead Americans as well as at least one Canadian (Alex Trebek)
217. Hijacked Washington’s July 4th celebrations to give a partisan speech
218. Took advice from the MyPillow guy
219. Claimed that migrants seeking a better life in the US were dangerous caravans of drug dealers and rapists
220. Said nothing when Vladimir Putin poisoned a leading opposition figure
221. Never seemed to heed the advice of his wife’s “Be Best” campaign
222. Falsely claimed that mail-in voting is fraudulent, though he (himself) votes by mail
223. Announced a precipitous withdrawal of troops from Syria which not only handed Russia and ISIS a win but also prompted his defense secretary to resign in protest
224. Insulted the leader of Canada
225. Insulted the leader of France
226. Insulted the leader of Britain
227. Insulted the leader of Germany
228. Insulted the leader of Sweden (Sweden!?!)
229. Falsely claimed credit for getting NATO members to increase their share of dues
230. Blew off two Asia summits even though they were held virtually
231. Continued lying about spending lots of time at Ground Zero with 9/11 responders,
232. Said that the Japanese would sit back and watch their “Sony televisions” if the US were ever attacked
233. Left a NATO summit early in a huff
234. Stared directly into an eclipse even though everyone over the age of 5 knows not to do that
235. Called himself a very stable genius despite significant evidence to the contrary
236. Refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power

... and a whole bunch of other things I can’t remember at the moment.

But other than that - yeah, hey - great guy - great President.

Do We Really Doubt It Tho?

What to know about the rumor Trump was recruited by KGB in 1987

According to a Facebook post from a former Kazakh security official, Trump was given the code name "Krasnov."

In February 2025, Alnur Mussayev, a former Soviet and Kazakh security official, claimed in a Facebook post that U.S. President Donald Trump was recruited in 1987 by the KGB, the intelligence agency of the Soviet Union, and assigned the code name "Krasnov."
Mussayev's post didn't state whether he personally recruited Trump or simply knew about the recruitment, nor did it state whether Trump actively participated in espionage or was just a potential asset.

Trump did visit Moscow in 1987, but there is no clear evidence suggesting he was actively recruited by the KGB during that trip or at any other time.

Mussayev's allegations that Trump was recruited by the KGB at that time don't line up with Mussayev's documented career path. Several biographies of him on Russian-language websites suggest that at the time Trump was supposedly recruited, Mussayev was working in the Soviet Union's Ministry of Internal Affairs, not the KGB.

Trump's pro-Russia stance (compared with other U.S. presidents) has fed into past allegations that he is a Russian asset — for instance, the 2021 book "American Kompromat" featured an interview with a former KGB spy who also claimed the agency recruited Trump as an asset. Again, however, there is no clear evidence supporting this claim.

In February 2025, a rumor circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump was recruited as an "asset" by Russian intelligence in the late 1980s and given the codename "Krasnov," following allegations from a former Soviet and Kazakh security official, Alnur Mussayev.

The claim spread on TikTok, Facebook and X, where one account published a thread in response to the rumor, purporting to tie together evidence to support it (archived, archived, archived, archived, archived).

That user wrote: "Now that it's been reveals that Trump has been a Russian asset for 40 years named Krasnov by the FSB, I will write a simple thread of various pieces of information that solidifies the truth of everything I've written." At the time of publishing this article, the thread had been viewed more than 10 million times.

The claim gained traction when the news website The Daily Beast published a now-deleted story (archived) titled "Former Intelligence Officer Claims KGB Recruited Trump," using only Mussayev's Facebook post as a source. The article described Mussayev's allegations as "unfounded." We contacted The Daily Beast to ask why the story was deleted and will update this story if we receive a response.

We also reached out to Mussayev for comment on the story and will update if he responds.

Meanwhile, Snopes readers wrote in and asked us whether the rumor that Trump was recruited to be a Russian asset was true. Here's what to know:


The allegations don't line up with official records

The allegations originated from a Facebook post that Mussayev published on Feb. 20, 2025 (archived). The post alleged that in 1987, the KGB recruited a "40-year-old businessman from the USA, Donald Trump, nicknamed 'Krasnov.'" Mussayev claimed he was serving in the KGB's Moscow-based Sixth Directorate at the time, and it was "the most important direction" of the department's work to recruit businessmen from "capitalist countries."

Mussayev's post didn't specify whether Trump participated in any spying, only that he was recruited. In an earlier post (archived) from July 18, 2018, he described Trump's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin as follows:

Based on my experience of operational work at the KGB-KNB, I can say for sure that Trump belongs to the category of perfectly recruited people. I have no doubt that Russia has a compromise on the President of the United States, that for many years the Kremlin promoted Trump to the position of President of the main world power.

Trump did visit Moscow in 1987, reportedly to look at possible locations for luxury hotels. However, several Russian-language websites (of unknown trustworthiness) with short biographies of Mussayev revealed a discrepancy: While Mussayev claimed he worked in the Sixth Directorate of the KGB in 1987, those online biographies placed him in the KGB from 1979 until 1986, when he moved to the Soviet Union's Ministry of Internal Affairs. The biography of Mussayev on Lenta.ru attributed that information to a Kazakhstani historian named Daniyar Ashimbayev.

Moreover, according to a translated version of a Feb. 22, 2025, Russian-language post Ashimbayev made on his Telegram account, Mussayev had no connections to the First Directorate, the branch of the KGB responsible for recruiting foreign assets. (Ashimbayev noted that Mussayev could justify this by claiming his real responsibilities were top-secret information, however.)

Other sources corroborate that the Sixth Directorate's main focus was not foreign intelligence. The journalist and author W. Thomas Smith Jr.'s book "Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency" states that the directorate was responsible for "enforcing financial and trade laws, as well as guarding against economic espionage," while the First Chief Directorate was the KGB's main espionage arm.

Previous accusations against Trump

Trump's relatively pro-Russian positions compared with those of other U.S. presidents have led to past allegations that he is or was a Russian asset in some way.

For instance, the controversial, flamboyant and untrustworthy Steele Dossier, released just before Trump took office in 2017, claimed Russia had incriminating tapes of Trump engaging in sexual activity with prostitutes in Moscow, among other scandalous accusations. CNN reported that the dossier's main source, Igor Danchenko, was mainly relaying "rumor and speculation," and in 2022 he was acquitted of charges of lying to the FBI about the dossier's sources.

In the 2021 book "American Kompromat," journalist Craig Unger interviewed a former KGB spy, Yuri Shvets, who also alleged that Trump was compromised by Russia. Snopes previously covered that claim. The British newspaper The Guardian reported that Shvets had said Trump was "cultivated as a Russian asset over 40 years."

Shvets claimed Trump first appeared on the Russians' radar in 1977, when he was the target of a spying operation — 10 years before the recruitment alleged by Mussayev took place. Shvets said the KGB later went on a "charm offensive" when Trump visited Moscow and St. Petersburg for the first time in 1987 — the same year specified by Mussayev. Shvets told The Guardian that Trump proved so willing to spread anti-Western propaganda that there were celebrations in Moscow. We aren't aware of any evidence corroborating these claims.

The Mueller report documented the official findings of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as allegations of conspiracy or coordination between Trump's presidential campaign and the Kremlin. That investigation — which found that the Russian government did interfere in the 2016 presidential election "in sweeping and systemic fashion" and that there were "links" between Trump campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government — did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government.

He Can't

Trump makes it up, and internalizes it to the point where he's going to swallow his foot no matter what.

It's like he doesn't know it's not true, or he doesn't know that he can't just blurt it out in front of somebody who's going to call him on it.

Or maybe, he's so far gone that he believes he can say anything he wants, and everybody either has to accept it as gospel, or keep their mouths shut and do whatever they have to do to make it so.

It's just too fuckin' bizarre with this guy.

Watch his face when Macron calls bullshit.

Macron has to interrupt Trump and correct a lie about Europe’s contribution to the Ukraine War
byu/ExactlySorta inPublicFreakout

Partly Explained

hat tip = Bill D, Facebook

Eileen Workman is an author and essayist, who previously spent 16 years in the financial industry as First Vice President of Investments at a major Wall Street firm, until she had a spiritual awakening and left that field. She has worked with Trump, and now offers this about him:

"I know a little something that so many do not appreciate about Donald Trump, but that those of us who worked with him in the financial services game have known for many decades—long before he ever made a run at national politics.

"His stated motives rarely reveal his true agenda. His showmanship and charisma bedazzles the uninformed, which is exactly how he likes it. He never signed a contract or met an agreement he wouldn’t violate or wriggle out of if it suited his hidden agenda. He never met an investor whose purse he didn’t consider his own in some strategic way. And he never met a human being he wouldn’t screw in order to advance or satisfy himself.

"If you want to understand his beef with Panama, don’t look at the canal to which he now points. Look at Trump enterprises and their fraught financial and criminal relationship with Panama, and look to the Russian oligarchs who bought condos in his Panama Tower. If you want to understand his fixation with Gaza, don’t look at the Palestinian or Israeli people; look at the real estate value he now perceives that Gaza holds, and he’d like to unlock. If you want to understand his insane, obsessive beef with energy renewable windmills, don’t look at the wind energy aspect; look at his beef with Scotland over his golf course and the nearby windmills that damaged his idea of its aesthetics.

"If you want to understand his irrational hatred of Obama, don’t look at the policies of the Obama administration; look to the annual press corp dinner where Obama poked fun at him and bruised his ego. If you want to understand his demonization of Democrats, look not to Democratic social policy, but to the fact they didn’t want him to run under color of their party. If you want to understand his hatred of “immigrants” don’t look to the actual contributions and challenges related to immigration, but to his own germophobia and personal disgust for all things “dirty and brown.”

"What he does SO masterfully, as many sociopaths do, is figure out how to align, however temporarily, his own personal agenda with the drives of those he can then USE to help him execute it.

"And the GOP fell right in line with that abusive strategy. The GOP now looks much like a battered wife who would love to quit Trump, but who also knows their financial security, personal comfort, and social status would collapse if they ran away. And they fear they won’t get much sympathy or support from the people who tried to warn them not to marry the dude—a serial, liar, cheater, thief, sadist, and a generally Bad Person.
"Many of the GOP politicians today are busily masking their own abuse from the general public; at some point, however, as they watch their power continue to erode, their reputations get smashed, and themselves get blamed for the extensive abuse they now suffer, something’s gonna give.

"I don’t know what it is, but every bone in my body feels an energetic convergence heading toward a massive, MASSIVE explosion—coming soon."

Resisting This Shit

Disclaimer: This is not actual legal advice.

And BTW, it's generally a bad idea to interfere with the assholes who're carrying out these unlawful orders.

We are all Miep and Jan Gies now.

Watch on TikTok

Trump's Day 1: Healthcare

Hours Into Presidency, Trump Rescinds Attempts To Lower Prescription Costs, Rolls Back Some ACA Rules

President Donald Trump overwrote Joe Biden’s executive order that led to longer enrollment periods for Affordable Care Act plans in most states and extra funding to help people enroll, Stat reports. Trump also halted some prescription cost-saving efforts for people on Medicare and Medicaid, which might stall momentum for Medicare drug pricing negotiations. On Friday, another 15 drugs — including blockbusters Ozempic and Wegovy — were added to the negotiation list.

Stat: Trump Executive Orders On Health Care: Drug Pricing, ACA, Covid-19
President Trump began his second term Monday with a sweeping order aimed at reversing dozens of former President Biden’s top priorities, from regulations aimed at lowering health care costs, to coronavirus outreach, Affordable Care Act expansions, and protections against gender-based discrimination. (Owermohle, Wilkerson, Zhang and Lawrence, 1/20)

Newsweek: Donald Trump's Medicare Executive Order Explained
President Donald Trump has rescinded former President Joe Biden's executive order 14087, which was put in place to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Americans. Newsweek has reached out to the Trump transition team outside of regular working hours via email for comment. ... While the executive order has been rescinded, existing laws and regulations governing prescription drug pricing and Medicare and Medicaid policies remain in effect. However, the momentum toward developing new cost-saving measures as encouraged by the previous administration has now been disrupted. (McFall, 1/21)

NPR: Medicare Targets 15 More Drugs For Price Cuts, Including Ozempic
The Biden administration, in its last full weekday in office, announced the next 15 drugs up for Medicare price negotiation. Blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic is on the list. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services negotiated prices for a first batch of drugs last year — something it could only do because of the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed in 2022. Those new prices go into effect in January 2026. (Lupkin, 1/17)

In related news about the ACA and weight loss drugs:

Modern Healthcare: ACA Enrollment For 2025 Breaks Another Record
At least 24.2 million people purchased health insurance on the exchange marketplaces during open enrollment for 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced Friday. That tally surpasses a record set a year ago, as sign-ups for exchange plans accelerated mostly due to the enhanced subsidies enacted in 2021 and extended in 2022. (Young, 1/17)

The Washington Post: Sweeping Review Suggests Weight-Loss Drugs’ Effect On 175 Conditions
A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs on the relationship between GLP-1 weight-loss drugs and 175 diseases and conditions supports a lot of what scientists already suspected about potential benefits, but contains a few surprises, too. The findings, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine and based on an analysis of medical records from about 2.5 million patients in the VA system, support the idea that the medications might be able to help patients with Alzheimer’s disease and who are suffering from substance abuse involving alcohol, cannabis and narcotics. (Eunjung Cha, 1/20)

I Tried

I didn't try all that hard you understand - but I tried to watch the inauguration. I did - I tried - kinda.

What I managed to hear of Trump's speech was the same old bullshit.

"I'm gonna do this, and it's gonna be great."

"I'm gonna do that, and it's gonna be great."

"I'm gonna make them do this and that, and it's all gonna be great."

Blah blah fucking blah.

Today's Quote

I knew him better than even his family did, because I bore witness to the real man - in strip clubs, shady business meetings, and in the unguarded moments when he revealed who he really was: a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist.

--Michael Cohen

A Resolution

I'll work hard to stay hopeful

that Americans will someday

hang their heads in shame

as they realize

they've defended evil,

and ridiculed heroism. 

What To Do

1. Don't help Trump in any way - zero zip zilch nada
2. Make Trump responsible for every bad thing that happens - anywhere in the world.

Shove the Presidency Down Trump’s Throat

Liberals spent the president-elect’s first term trying and failing to kick him out of office. This time out, they need to turn the White House into a prison.

The most recent entry in the “good advice for Democrats” canon comes from occasional TNR contributor and Bulwark writer Jonathan V. Last, who wrote, “The job of the Democratic party comes in two parts. First: Do not help Republicans. Not in any way. Second: Make Donald Trump own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world.” True enough. The only problem here is the lack of an organized Democratic Party to actually serve as an aggressive opposition party. We could use one of those!

Nevertheless, there is a lesson here for liberals that we should perhaps heed while Democrats in Washington debate how supine they want to get for the incoming administration. During Trump’s first term, much of the mainstream left organized itself around the idea that “this was not normal” and that surely our over-regarded system of norms would save us from Trump. And so deep investments were made in various quick fixes—an impeachment effort and the Mueller investigation chief among them—that seemed to offer the hope of prematurely canceling the Trump presidency, without much regard for how difficult it is to actually oust a president (or for the decades of evidence suggesting that our justice system routinely fails to hold the rich and powerful to account, more broadly).

A second Trump era offers the opportunity for a change of course—a second reckoning of sorts. I think that Last is on to something when he suggests that Trump’s opposition should force him to “own every bad outcome that happens, anywhere in the world.” I’d actually take this a step further. Rather than exert so much energy trying to thrust Trump out of the presidency, liberals would be well served to spend their time thrusting the presidency upon Donald Trump. Instead of searching for illusory quick fixes for the existence of the Trump administration, start demanding the Trump administration fix everything quickly.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the sample size of one Trump presidency and his four years out of power, it’s that Trump is a bog-standard rich white guy whom the justice system is largely incapable of bringing to heel. He has powerful friends (oligarchs, Supreme Court justices), deep pockets, and a well-tempered ability to joust in the media. By now we’ve watched ol’ Donny “wriggle out of this one” on multiple occasions; he seems to thrive if you put him at the center of something he can deem to be a witch hunt—even when those hunters bag their quarry, as prosecutors did in his hush-money case.

But Trump has historically faltered when he’s been forced to contend with the actual pressure of the presidency and its myriad responsibilities (see also: the Covid-19 pandemic) because his ideas are bad and he doesn’t have a deep and abiding interest in public service to really make a sustained effort to confront, let alone solve, the biggest problems we face.

President Barack Obama found the presidency to be an exhaustingly taxing job, so much so that he famously went to somewhat mind-blowing lengths to limit the nonpresidential decisions he had to make in order to stay keen enough to handle the toughest of the choices on his plate. Trump, by contrast, mostly showed up late to work and watched cable news all day. Had the coronavirus not emerged as a global threat, he might have made it through his first term having not felt the pressure of the job at all. In his second term, it should be the task of liberals to force Trump to swallow a daily spoonful of the very real job stress that Obama struggled so mightily to endure.

To get there, liberals need to get into the business of identifying the problems that real Americans face (which honestly, is something they could stand to relearn how to do) and more forcefully blame Trump for those problems’ continued existence. They need to raise a hue and cry over everything under the sun that’s broken, dysfunctional, or trending in the wrong direction; pile line items on Trump’s to-do list, wake him up early and keep him up late. Every day, get in front of cable news cameras and reporters’ notepads with a new problem for Trump to solve and fresh complaints about the work not done.

What pitfalls lie ahead? It looks like there will be rough economic headwinds in the form of a potential housing crisis and a labor shortage, for starters; another potential public health crisis looms in the form of bird flu (and probably his own Health and Human Services secretary). There is a real possibility of a market-slaying tech-bubble burst on the medium-term horizon as well. There will also be pitfalls that arise from Trump’s own policies, beginning with the fact that his mass deportation scheme will likely torch the domestic economy. Beyond that, there will be the typical crises of American life—economic predators, polluters, corporate scofflaws, and public health concerns—that Trump has either shown no interest in helping abate or has personally empowered via the decisions of his plutocratic-minded Supreme Court appointments. Democrats should already be planning to hang all the foreseeable albatrosses around his neck, and gaming out how they’ll swiftly nail Trump to the wall for the crises that catch him by surprise.

For certain, Democrats can be grateful if he actually makes good on any of his “I alone can fix it” promises. (Or rather, they can take credit for having goaded Trump to get off his ass and do his job.) But as I’ve suggested before, in advice that Last echoes above, Trump should truly be left to solve these problems on his own. He’s claimed a mandate and congressional majorities, so let him (and his fellow Republicans) figure it out, with Democratic votes on offer only if massive policy concessions supporting Democratic Party interests are included.

Not for the first time will I point out that none of what I’m suggesting Democrats do is outside the norm of typical American politics. I’m merely suggesting that Democrats compete on the same political playing field that Republicans already occupy, instead of waiting for some more favorable terrain to reveal itself. (Which, by the way, it won’t.) Democrats need to have an aggressive and coordinated media strategy involving all of their members, surfacing derogatory information about Republicans, enumerating the problems they’ve failed to address, and filling the news hole with fresh complaints. They need to show real backbone and take pride in their refusal to participate in enacting the GOP’s policies.

Right now, in these heady moments prior to his second inauguration, Trump’s second term could not be going better for him. Over these last remaining loose and responsibility-free days, he’s been able to imagine himself achieving epochal accomplishments—annexing Canada or buying Greenland. Trump has been free to bask in the unknown possibilities of what’s to come. Immediately after he’s sworn in for the second time, that fantasia will fall away and he’ll be responsible for solving a planet’s worth of problems.

It’s always been something of a mystery why someone who was making it in America as an idle rich celebrity asshole abruptly changed course and decided that what he really wanted to do with his life was to become responsible for an entire nation and its problems. Howard Stern famously warned Trump prior to his first run that he “only had about 10 good years left before he starts to drool on himself,” and it was best he spend it at leisure rather than subject himself to the constant slings and arrows of being president. There’s no doubt in my mind that the version of Trump in the parallel universe where he took Stern’s advice is a lot happier. In this universe, liberals would do well to find creative ways to make Trump regret his choices.

Don't forget the promises:

• End the war in Ukraine
• End the war in Gaza
• Remove the SALT cap
• Eliminate Dept of Education
• Reduce gas prices
• Reduce grocery prices
• Deport 10 million immigrants
• End birthright citizenship
• Pardon all Jan6 convicts
• Release Epstein files
• Release JFK files
• Release 9/11 files
• Tariffs and Trade Wars
• Take Greenland
• Take Panama Canal
• Take Canada
• End EV "mandate"