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Why Is Trump Pressing Romania To Release Accused Trafficker Andrew Tate?

Why Is Trump Pressing Romania To Release Accused Trafficker Andrew Tate?

Despite his repeated claims that he is in favor of “law and order,” Donald Trump’s administration is pressuring the Romanian government to roll back travel restrictions on right-wing influencer Andrew Tate, who has been accused of rape and human trafficking.

Tate is currently under house arrest following his 2023 arrest. Tate and his brother, Tristan, along with two other figures, have been accused of luring women to their home, forcing the women into debt, and pressuring them into filming pornographic scenes that were then shared online. They deny the charges.

The men are also facing similar charges in the United Kingdom.

The women who have made the allegations against Tate have spoken out against Trump’s efforts. Matthew Jury, the lawyer representing the four alleged victims, told the BBC they are “absolutely bewildered why the Trump administration has decided to interfere in this way.”

Tate is a self-described misogynist who sells instructional videos instructing men how to pick up women and has advised men to physically assault women who cheat and to force them into sex. He is one of the most prominent figures in the right-wing “manosphere” of content producers popular among conservative audiences.

He is also a Trump supporter. After the 2024 election, Tate praised Trump as a “hero” who “single handedly kept two evil war mongering she witches out of office [sic],” referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Following his arrest, Tate has become a right-wing cause célèbre. Donald Trump Jr. has described Romania’s legal action against Tate as “absolute insanity,” while Trump financier Elon Musk has praised Tate for his long-shot campaign to run for British prime minister.

During his 2024 campaign, Trump pandered to the misogynist manosphere with multiple interviews and appearances on the podcasts and other streaming shows that make up that world. Those appearances were seen as key to Trump’s improved performance with young men in the election compared to the results in 2016 and 2020.

Trump and figures in his administration like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have also extolled the virtues of misogynist, right-wing faux masculinity for years—a sentiment embodied by Tate.

Advocating for Tate, even with the distasteful rhetoric the influencer has used and the seriousness of the charges against him, is a way for Trump to show the manosphere and its audience that he is on their side and advocating for them. Many of these men share the world view that decades of fights for sexual equality are suppressing their rights and are yearning for a return to a misogynist system where women’s views and roles are minimized.

Furthermore, Trump himself is an admitted serial assaulter of women. He has bragged about groping women, been accused of sexual assault, and has surrounded himself with other men that have been the subject of similar accusations.

In Trump’s view, Tate is a fellow traveler. Advocating for the misogynist also feeds into the false narratives promoted by Trump, Musk, and other conservative figures that international governments are in on a conspiracy to suppress “traditional” (misogynist) values.

When Trump rails against “woke” mindsets and pushes to purge it from the U.S. government by rolling back civil rights protections, that also applies to global governments. In their distorted view, Romania’s government is being too “woke” by restricting the movement of an accused sex trafficker.

Trump is not tough on crime, as the freed perpetrators of January 6 can attest. But now that also applies to alleged crime in other countries, as long as the cause of fake masculinity can be advanced.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Why The Right's Obsession With Fake Macho Is So Deluded

Why The Right's Obsession With Fake Macho Is So Deluded

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been a leading voice within the Trump administration for purported masculinity.

Hegseth, who was chosen by Donald Trump to lead the entire U.S. armed forces because he talked tough as a Fox News pundit, has used his new position to extol the virtues of “warfighters” over soft power as the U.S. military’s approach.

This principle might have best been demonstrated when Hegseth threw an axe during an episode of Fox & Friends, nearly killing a musician.

Hegseth had his first real test on the world stage yesterday.  It went about as well as his axe throwing career.

[image or embed]

— Pat Ryan (@pkryan.bsky.social) February 13, 2025 at 5:50 PM

Hegseth has attacked military leadership’s efforts to diversify the ranks, recently saying that the notion that “diversity is our strength” is the “single dumbest phrase in military history.”

He returned to this theme during his recent trip to the NATO summit in Brussels, telling reporters that “we can talk all we want about values. Values are important. But you can't shoot values.”

Hegseth at NATO summit: "We can talk all we want about values. Values are important. But you can't shoot values."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 13, 2025 at 3:59 PM

Trump has also embraced this “tough guy” ethos for much of his time in the public sphere, from his recently released glowering official portrait—compared to the traditional portraits of former Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and even George W. Bush—to his repeated arguments that Americans need to be “tough.”

Trump even derided the purported weakness of the entire country with the ableist title of his 2015 book, “Crippled America: How To Make America Great Again.”

While campaigning for former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, Obama poked fun at Trump and other Republicans for embracing “the fake macho thing.”

But this has been an issue among Republicans predating Trump.

Bush infamously dressed up in a flight suit and landed an aircraft carrier to prematurely—and incorrectly—declare victory in the Iraq War while his father, George H.W. Bush, claimed that victory in the first Gulf War meant that the United States “kicked the Vietnam syndrome.”

But that isn’t how modern superpowers win wars. Rather, it’s intelligence, coalition building, and strategic planning that end conflicts.

In World War II, the Allied nations did not simply throw military might at the Axis powers in a pure test of “manly” strength. In fact, until the Allies put together a coherent plan of attack in response to German and Japanese aggression, it was the Axis that had more raw firepower.

One of the most vital breakthroughs of that conflict didn’t come from the “warfighters” that Hegseth goes on about, but by a team of dedicated codebreakers at Bletchley Park in England.

Mathematician Alan Turing led the team that cracked the German “Enigma” code, which then allowed the forces on the ground to engage in a strategic fashion, leading to the liberation of Europe and victory in the war. Turing was gay and later persecuted by the British government for his sexual orientation despite his heroism, echoing the attacks on LGBTQ+ military service members that have been renewed by the Trump administration.

Modern military experts—not Fox News pundits—have studied the benefits of diversity in the armed forces, and unlike Hegseth, they know that it’s important.

Dartmouth College professor Jason Lyall analyzed the issue, which he wrote about in a 2020 article for the Washington Post.

“My research shows that inclusive armies fight harder, suffer lower rates of desertion and defection, and exhibit more creative problem-solving on complex battlefields than armies drawn from marginalized or repressed groups,” he wrote. “Victory on the battlefield over the past 200 years has usually gone to the most inclusive armies, not the largest or best-equipped ones. Inclusion, in other words, is good for military effectiveness.”

And despite Hegseth and Trump’s rhetoric, some of the most significant recent U.S. military victories and security advances have come under the leaders the right has attacked for insufficient masculinity.

Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, wasn’t caught because Bush donned his flight suit. Rather, he was apprehended and killed following Obama’s order in 2011.

Many believed that Ukraine would quickly fold when Russia invaded, but Biden stood behind Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Russia has been unable to triumph—though Trump is now pivoting away from that stance.

Conservatives like to talk tough, particularly when bolstering the image of straight, white men over women and ethnic minorities. But modern power is more often than not backed by strategic planning, diplomacy, and soft power. It’s what has been used by the United States and other nations in avoiding another calamity like the World Wars, which were tied to the notion that international conflicts were solely the domain of “warfighters.”

But figures like Hegseth and Trump are locked into the worldview that only people who look like them are legitimate, and everyone else must fall to the wayside. That has historically been the path that leads to unwinnable quagmires, claiming the lives of millions of innocent people.

History tells us that this time won’t be any different.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Elon Musk

State Department Conceals $400 Million Payout To Tesla After Public Outcry

The Trump administration is trying to hide plans to hand $400 million in taxpayer funds to Tesla, the electric car company owned by the world’s richest man—Trump supporter Elon Musk.

On Wednesday, a document published by the State Department laid out plans for the purchase of “armored electric vehicles” from Tesla during fiscal year 2025. But after reporting on the document emerged, it was edited at 9:12 PM and references to Tesla were removed without explanation.

The payout to Tesla, where Musk currently serves as CEO, would come just months after he spent millions to help elect Trump in the 2024 election. Following the election, Trump named Musk to head his Department of Government Efficiency, which has been harassing federal workers and rooting around in sensitive government systems for weeks.

DOGE has been used to purge federal workers and suspend key agencies like the United States Agency for International Development despite lacking congressional authority to do so. In a call to the World Government Summit in Dubai on Thursday, Musk threatened that he would “delete entire agencies.”

The public doesn’t like what they see from Musk and DOGE. A recent poll from Economist/YouGov found that 52 percent of respondents view Musk very unfavorably or somewhat unfavorably, and 63 percent think he has a lot of influence over Trump.

Despite the very clear potential for massive corruption, the White House has claimed that Musk will voluntarily excuse himself from any possible conflicts of interest that arise. But Musk has spent years already intertwined with the federal government thanks to the billions in federal contracts tied up in his other company, SpaceX.

At the same time, the Trump administration has scaled back and stalled ongoing federal investigations of Musk’s companies that began under the Biden administration.

While the State Department order did not specify what part of Tesla’s product line would be purchased, the armored description appears to point to Tesla’s widely derided Cybertruck. The brainchild of Musk, the unsightly Cybertruck has been plagued with endless flaws and multiple product recalls.

Musk claims that he and Trump are working to create a more efficient and transparent federal government. Instead the two have lied and smeared for weeks. Yet Musk stands to make a lot of money thanks to the politician he bankrolled.

That would be classic corruption.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Americans At Risk As DOGE Hackers Hijack Private Data From Treasury

Americans At Risk As DOGE Hackers Hijack Private Data From Treasury

People working with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency are exposing sensitive Education Department data to artificial intelligence systems that have not been vetted for this use.

The Washington Post reports that DOGE (which is an advisory commission, not a real department) sent the data to Microsoft’s Azure cloud system as part of a process to identify the Education Department’s disbursements. President Donald Trump has said he wants to destroy the department, and attacking the payments is apparently a step toward that goal.

Azure’s system has not been designed to secure the type of data that DOGE is feeding it and could be subject to theft during a cyberattack. Furthermore, AI systems frequently produce wrong and inaccurate results that are presented as factual assertions—meaning that decisions made based on this AI output could be based on nonsense. (Such “hallucinations” have long plagued AI.)

The Post reports the DOGE team has also gained access to personal information from millions of Americans who are part of the vast student loan system. There are no known third-party safety systems or guardrails to ensure that this information remains secure and private.

Similarly, DOGE team members have reportedly bullied their way into the Treasury Department’s sensitive payment system, which administers trillions of dollars flowing through the federal government. Again, there are no known guidelines on how this information, which previously was limited to a very select group of people, is being used and secured.

“They’ve burrowed into the private information of every American, something we should all be alarmed about and should be blocked in federal courts,” Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said in a CNN interview on Thursday.

Rep. Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, also noted, “Donald Trump has handed control of people's personal, financial and health information over to his billionaire donor, Elon Musk. This is corruption plain and simple.”

A coalition of labor unions has sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his department in an attempt to block DOGE’s wild behavior. On Thursday, a federal judge partially blocked DOGE from getting their hands on some of the information.

Yet, despite the concerns about data security and Musk’s haphazard approach to federal agencies (enabled by Trump), congressional Republicans are providing cover for the richest person in the world. They blocked a Democratic effort to compel Musk to testify about his actions.

“It's a puzzling role for many people, certainly on this side of the aisle, and I think for some on yours, who is this unelected billionaire that he can attempt to dismantle federal agencies, fire people, transfer them, offer them early retirement and have sweeping changes to agencies without any congressional review, oversight or concurrence,” Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said in response to the Republican maneuver.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump Gutted Aviation Safety Panel Days Before Potomac Crash

Trump Gutted Aviation Safety Panel Days Before Potomac Crash

President Donald Trump scrapped an aviation safety committee that had been in place for more than three decades, just a few days before a deadly airplane crash at Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday night.

Officials have said they believe all passengers onboard an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter over the Potomac River were killed. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly told reporters, “We are now at the point where we are switching from a rescue operation to a recovery operation.”

Among the passengers on the jet were a group of figure skaters and their coaches on their way home from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas.

On Jan. 21, his second day in office, Trump sent a memo to members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee telling them that their membership had been eliminated. The committee made recommendations to the FAA on issues relating to travel safety.

The Trump memo said the gutting of the committee was being done as part of a process of “eliminating the misuse of resources and ensuring that [Department of Homeland Security] activities prioritize our national security.”

The committee was formed by Congress after the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people in 1988.

Kara Weipz, president of Victims of Pan Am Flight 103, criticized the announcement in a statement. “Today’s action by the Trump Administration will undermine aviation security in the United States and across the globe.”

As part of an ongoing effort to upend civil rights gains, Trump also issued an executive order ending diversity recruitment programs at the FAA. The order went out even though the FAA has experienced a shortage of critical air traffic controllers for years.

Tennesse Garvey, who worked as a pilot for 22 years, told NBC News at the time, “It’s incredibly astonishing within this industry, where the goal is to promote aviation safety, that they are getting rid of programs that can help with safety.”

In addition to the elimination of the safety committee, the FAA is currently without a director. Michael Whitaker was supposed to serve a five-year term after being appointed in 2023. Trump megadonor Elon Musk pushed for his ouster after Whitaker fined Musk’s SpaceX for safety violations and Whitaker left on the day Trump was inaugurated.

Conservatives have long advocated for small government, while also pushing to stop government advocacy in favor of diversity and civil rights. With Trump’s actions, the right elevated these concerns despite the safety implications—and now the families and loved ones of the National Airport crash will have to deal with the fallout.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Vance Botches Attempt

Facing Backlash, Vance Defends Trump Pardon Of Violent J6 Criminals

Over the weekend, Democrats and Republicans responded very differently to President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally grant pardons to more than 1,500 people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in his name.

Republican leaders struggled to defend him:

Vice President JD Vance appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation, and was asked about the pardons handed out to one offender who used a stun gun to electroshock Capitol Police officer Michael Fanone, and another who hit an officer while wearing brass knuckles.

“Is violence against a police officer ever justified?” host Margaret Brennan asked.

Vance responded, “Violence against a police officer is not justified, but that doesn’t mean that you should have Merrick Garland’s weaponized Department of Justice expose you to an incredibly unfair process.”

On NBC’s Meet the Press, longtime Trump ally and booster Sen. Lindsey Graham was more blunt when asked about Trump’s boost to convicted criminals.

“Pardoning the people who went into the Capitol and beat up a police officer violently, I think was a mistake, because it seems to suggest that’s an okay thing to do,” Graham admitted.

Republicans will face more pressure to answer for Trump’s actions with a resolution that is being introduced by Senate Democrats condemning the pardons. The text of the document says: “Resolved, That the Senate disapproves of any pardons for individuals who were found guilty of assaulting Capitol Police officers.”

Nearly every member of the Senate Democratic caucus has signed on sponsoring the resolution, including all of the members in leadership positions. New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim, who was on the scene as a member of the House during the attack, explained to CBS News why Democrats objected to the pardons.

“It gives the stamp of approval now to political violence, saying that if you conduct political violence, and it's in favor of Donald Trump, for the next four years that you'll be okay,” he said.

A few days after the pardons were first issued, Trump tried to defend his actions in an interview with Fox News. He lied and claimed the convictions were for “very minor incidents.”

Trump on January 6 insurrectionists who assaulted police: "They were very minor incidents."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) January 23, 2025 at 2:48 AM

Contrary to this falsehood, the convictions were given out in response to violence committed in the act of attempting to overturn a presidential election. In the case of pardoned Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio, he was convicted in federal court of seditious conspiracy against the United States.

In the hours following the pardons former Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell, who was severely injured in the attack, said in a statement “I feel betrayed. Despite what we all witnessed four years ago, the American people voted [Trump] back in office, and one of the first things that he does is pardon the criminals who nearly took my life. It’s a desecration to our service and the sacrifices made to keep everyone safe.”

Yet during the same period where Trump handed out a gift to hundreds of convicted criminals, his administration started a mass deportation anti-immigration initiative that detained a military veteran.

In the first week of his presidency, Trump is already showing that under his leadership the innocent will find trouble, while those who commit violence on his behalf will get a pass.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Pete Hegseth

Despite Serious New Allegations, Senate Republicans Rush Hegseth Confirmation

Senate Republicans are accelerating the timeline for a vote on Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth, even as new allegations of abusive behavior have surfaced.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a motion Tuesday to end the debate on Hegseth’s nomination, which means that the Senate will vote on the nomination by Friday or Saturday.

The motion follows the Senate Armed Services Committee’s 14-13 vote to advance the nomination to the Senate floor. Every Democrat on the committee opposed Hegseth’s nomination, while all of the Republicans supported him despite previous allegations of drunkenness, financial mismanagement, and abuse—including a letter in which his own mother said he was abusive.

On Monday, it was reported that Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, Danielle Hegseth, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in a sworn affidavit that he abused his second wife.

In the document, Danielle said that Hegseth’s ex-wife had an “escape plan” in which she would text members of her family for assistance in getting away from him when he became violent. The affidavit also said that she hid in a closet in fear of him.

Hegseth is also accused of being drunk while in military uniform, which is a violation of service laws, while on duty with the Minnesota National Guard.

Danielle also accuses Hegseth of making frequent racist and sexist comments, including arguing that women shouldn’t vote or work and stating that Christians need to outbreed growing Muslim populations.

Hegseth’s attorney denies these allegations.

“There was no question that Pete Hegseth is unqualified and unprepared to be secretary of Defense. The affidavit adds additional weight to a case that is already overwhelming against him,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, told reporters.

But Republicans were unmoved. Sen. Lindsay Graham, Republican of South Carolina and one of Donald Trump’s top congressional allies, claimed without evidence that the allegations “didn’t happen” and refused to address the concerns about Hegseth’s alleged drinking problem.

The affidavit echoes previous concerns about Hegseth’s alleged pattern of behavior throughout his life.

Trump picked Hegseth following his stint as a Fox News host, during which he praised Trump and established misogynistic stances, like his belief that women should not serve in military combat positions.

Senate Republicans have now proven that they share Trump’s desire to put Hegseth in charge of the most lethal military in human history—regardless of allegations of abuse.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump's 'Law And Order' Means Freeing Terrorists And Neo-Nazi Criminals

Trump's 'Law And Order' Means Freeing Terrorists And Neo-Nazi Criminals

Donald Trump is being slammed for granting pardons to more than 1,500 people who violently attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While Trump and other Republicans have frequently touted the Republican Party as the party of “law and order,” one of his first acts in the presidency gave a green light to the criminal element.

Trump’s pardon unravels hundreds of prosecutions that made their way through the Department of Justice and the criminal courts. Trump called the people who attacked Capitol police officers and were attempting to overturn the presidential election he lost “patriots” and “hostages” in the order.

Before taking office, Vice President JD Vance claimed that people who engaged in violence on January 6 would not be given a pass by Trump. “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” he told Fox News Sunday on January 12.

That turned out to be a lie.

Among those who will be released thanks to Trump’s actions is former Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio. Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States and sentenced to 22 years in prison in September 2023. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who was appointed by Trump, oversaw Tarrio’s case and found that he had engaged in an official act of terrorism. He is expected to be a free man soon.

Another figure helped by Trump’s action is Robert Keith Packer, who attacked the Capitol while wearing an antisemitic shirt reading “Camp Auschwitz,” referencing the infamous death camp where thousands of Jewish people were executed by Nazis during the Holocaust.

Former Capitol Police Officer Aquilino Gonell, who served at the Capitol on Jan. 6, spoke out against Trump’s action.

“One of the first things that he does is pardon the criminals who nearly took my life,” Gonell told HuffPost. “It’s a desecration to our service and the sacrifices made to keep everyone safe. It’s a violation to our democracy and a disgrace to the title he holds once again.”

Gonell sent reporter Sam Stein photographs showing the pro-Trump mob attacking him on Jan. 6, as well as pictures depicting the serious injuries he received.

Former U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell sent me these pics of what happened to him on Jan. 6 as well as the injuries he endured that day

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— Sam Stein (@samsteindc.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 1:29 PM

Harry Dunn, another former Capitol Police officer, told the outlet, “This decision is a betrayal to the officers who were severely injured—and died—as a result of the insurrection. This decision puts Americans at risk as these violent criminals return to their communities. These pardons are a reflection of what abuse of power looks like and what we the people are bound to witness over the next four years.”

Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost criticized Trump’s pardons, writing, “President Trump pardons Nazi & white supremacist that tried to overthrow the government. Fascists look out for fascists.”

President Trump pardons Nazi & white supremacist that tried to overthrow the government. Fascists look out for fascists.

[image or embed]

— Maxwell Frost (@maxwellfrost.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 4:39 AM

One the same day Trump issued the pardons, his administration released an executive order purportedly showing his opposition to criminal activity, promising to restore the federal death penalty. He criticized former President Joe Biden for commuting the sentences of 37 facing the federal death penalty and that his administration would take action to ensure that “these offenders are imprisoned in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose.”

The administration also released a list of priorities claiming that crimes against law enforcement would be punished with the death penalty.

Simultaneously, Trump appointed conservative activist Ed Martin to serve as Washington, D.C.’s interim U.S. attorney. Martin served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, which advocated for the release of Jan. 6 offenders.

Despite the criticism from law enforcement and members of Congress, the administration continues to stand by the assistance Trump delivered to convicted criminals.

In an appearance on the pro-Trump Fox News Channel, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “I don't think it's causing much controversy.” She later added, “President Trump is restoring faith in our justice system.”

Brian Kilmeade: Does that have anything to do with President Trump pardoning all the J6ers, which is causing some controversy? Trump spox Karoline Leavitt: I don't think it's causing much controversy! ... President Trump is restoring faith in our justice system.

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) January 21, 2025 at 1:23 PM

Trump is the first convicted felon to be elevated to the presidency. On his first day in office, criminals convicted at the highest levels of the justice system received a gift from the most powerful position in the American government.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Donald Trump

At Trump's Fumbling Inauguration, The Vibes Were Very Weird

Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president on Monday, and as is often the case with Trump, things were not normal. Here are just a few of the strange things the entire world saw as Trump took the oath of office.

Trump didn’t put his hand on the Bible

When Trump took the oath, he never placed his hand on the Bible held by his wife Melania Trump. By contrast, when Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama took the oath, they put their hands on the Bible.

Trump in the dumps?

On his way in to take his oath, Trump didn’t look particularly happy to be there. He slowly walked in with a demeanor more appropriate for a funeral than a triumphant political victory.

Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com)

Trump misses his kiss with Melania

The customary kiss for the presidential spouse was also a misfire. Perhaps due to the gigantic size of her hat, Trump gave his wife, Melania Trump, a mere air kiss instead of the real thing.

Oligarchs up front

Instead of congressional leaders, the people with the closest seats to Trump’s ceremony were billionaires who have bent the knee to him. They included co-president Elon Musk (the richest person in the world), Amazon and Washington Post head Jeff Bezos, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg (fresh off of unleashing hate speech across his sites), and Apple head Tim Cook.

Elon Musk investigates the ceiling

Elon Musk gave a close inspection of the ceiling of the Capitol, instead of keeping his eyes on the ceremony.

Chesty singing

Opera singer Christopher Macchio sang as JD Vance entered the Capitol rotunda to be sworn in. Macchio appeared to have left his tie at home and shared his bare chest with the world.

The last time Trump occupied the White House for for years, it was an endless cavalcade of weirdness that turned out deadly for thousands of people. In his first day in office, it is clear the weirdness has returned.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Trump Releases His Latest Enemies List On Truth Social

Trump Releases His Latest Enemies List On Truth Social

Donald Trump has released a list of people he wants blacklisted from positions in his upcoming administration. The release of the list comes just a few weeks after Trump said he would not seek retribution against his detractors.

In November, after his election win, Trump told Fox News, “I am not looking for retribution, grandstanding or to destroy people who treated me very unfairly, or even badly beyond comprehension.”

But on Wednesday night, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, “In order to save time, money, and effort, it would be helpful if you would not send, or recommend to us, people who worked with, or are endorsed by, Americans for No Prosperity (headed by Charles Koch), ‘Dumb as a Rock’ John Bolton, ‘Birdbrain’ Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, disloyal Warmongers Dick Cheney, and his Psycho daughter, Liz, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, General(?) Mark Milley, James Mattis, Mark Yesper, or any of the other people suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, more commonly known as TDS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

While some of the people and groups on Trump’s list are merely fellow travelers within the conservative movement who have disagreed with him (the right-wing Americans for Prosperity group) or who ran against him (failed presidential candidate Nikki Haley), many of them are figures who warned that Trump would engage in fascistic behavior during a second term.

Before retiring, Army Gen. Mark Milley served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump and was intimately involved in high-level national security issues during his administration. Milley later told journalist Bob Woodward that Trump was “fascist to the core,” and said, “He is the most dangerous person to this country.”

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming served on the bipartisan committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol led by Trump supporters hoping to overturn the election he lost to President Joe Biden. Cheney often spoke out against Trump and said in October, “Donald Trump believes he will be immune for anything he does once he’s in office.” She endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign and said she agreed with Milley’s assessment that Trump is a fascist.

John Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser. In the foreword to his book about his time in the administration, Bolton described Trump as “unfit” for the presidency. Bolton specifically criticized Trump for prioritizing his personal vendettas over the country’s interests.

Trump’s enemies list—something which is far outside of the bounds of normal political discourse—is another bit of evidence proving that the warnings of his fascistic tendencies were accurate.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Jack Smith

Special Counsel January 6 Report Blasts Trump's 'Unprecedented Crimes'

Special Counsel Jack Smith released his report on the election interference case against Donald Trump on Monday night. The report summarized the case against Trump for his role in attempting to subvert and steal the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden.

Smith pulled the plug on the two federal cases against Trump following his 2024 election victory. Trump had been charged with multiple counts of defrauding the country, as well as obstructing official proceedings. He was also charged with multiple federal offenses for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

In the report, Smith writes that Trump was “engaged in an unprecedented criminal effort to overturn the legitimate results of the election in order to retain power” and “attempted to use the power and authority of the United States Government in furtherance of his scheme.”

The report notes that Trump attempted to get state officials to ignore election results showing millions of people had voted for Biden and instead pressured them to certify him as the winner, tried to get states to send fake electors for certification by the Electoral College, and pressured officials at the Department of Justice to call the election “corrupt.”

Trump followed up these actions by directing “an angry mob to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification of the presidential election and then leverage rioters' violence to further delay it,” the report details, in reference to the January 6 attack.

Smith concludes that “the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial,” and that only Trump’s election win prevented that outcome.

The report finally surfaced after Trump’s lawyers attempted to hold up the document’s release and after pro-Trump U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon initially blocked the public from seeing the outcome of Smith’s investigation.

On social media, Trump raged about the release of the report.

“Deranged Jack Smith was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss,’ Crooked Joe Biden, so he ends up writing yet another ‘Report’ based on information that the Unselect Committee of Political Hacks and Thugs ILLEGALLY DESTROYED AND DELETED, because it showed how totally innocent I was, and how completely guilty Nancy Pelosi, and others, were,” Trump wrote.

In his post, Trump also lied and claimed that he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in a “landslide.” Trump’s margin of victory in the popular vote was 1.5 percent. By contrast, in the 2020 election he tried to steal, he lost to Biden by 4.5 percent.

Trump will never face a penalty for the allegations in the report, but he was convicted of multiple charges in New York for attempting to cover up his affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. When he takes the oath of office on January 20, he will be the first convicted felon to assume the presidency.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Republicans Scheming To Hold California Wildfire Relief Hostage

Republicans Scheming To Hold California Wildfire Relief Hostage

Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders are reportedly discussing plans to connect relief funds for victims of the California wildfires to a plan to raise the federal debt ceiling. If the party goes through with this strategy, it would politicize the response to one of the worst natural disasters in recent history.

Politico reports that the idea was discussed on Sunday during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property during a meeting between Trump and Republican congressional caucus leaders and appropriators “with major influence.”

The debt ceiling is the limit set by Congress on how much money the federal government can borrow from the U.S. Treasury to meet its financial obligations. Trump attempted to pressure Congress into eliminating the ceiling in December when a congressional spending bill was being debated but the provision was not included. Senate Majority Leader John Thune recently said Trump is upset about it and is pressuring congressional Republicans to make it happen.

Republicans would likely need Democratic support to raise the limit since the party’s majority in the House is so small and many Republican members would not back the domestic spending Democrats would ask for in exchange for their backing.

But connecting the debt ceiling to fire relief would mean creating a hostage situation where desperate Americans would not receive federal help until a Republican legislative demand is met.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom told NBC News that the fires could be the worst natural disaster in U.S. history.

“I think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and the scope,” Newsom said.

According to the county of Los Angeles, at least 24 people have died due to the fire and the death toll is expected to rise. More than 40,000 acres have burned and over 150,000 people have had to evacuate. Hundreds, if not thousands, of homes and businesses have been destroyed.

Republicans, led by Trump, have responded to the fires by leveling political attacks. Trump referred to Newsom as “Newscum” and made up a fake story that environmental regulations had led to water shortages hampering the fire response. Conservative media, like Fox News, has also offered more derisive than supportive comments. California has often provoked conservative ire since the state has long backed progressive policies and has voted for mostly Democrats for decades.

Tying California relief to debt ceiling demands echoes Trump’s approach to blue states when he was in the presidency. He and other Republicans attacked Democratic governors asking for federal help during the COVID-19 outbreak, and officials in his administration lobbied against helping those states during deployment of the COVID vaccine.

By contrast, President Joe Biden deployed federal assistance to Republican-voting states who were hit by hurricanes at the end of 2024 and lobbied Congress for aid for those regions.

Just days before he is inaugurated for a second term, Trump and Republicans are making clear that they intend to put partisanship ahead of uniting the country—even as catastrophic events unfold.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Donald Trump

Trump Escalates Threats Against Greenland, Panama And Canada

At a press conference on Tuesday, Donald Trump said that it’s possible that he’ll use military force to control Greenland and the Panama Canal once he’s president.

A reporter asked Trump if he could assure that he would not use military or economic coercion to assume control of the two territories, of which he previously said he wants to seize control.

“No. I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this: We need them for economic security,” he said, later adding that “it might be that you’ll have to do something.”

Trump can’t seem to stop bringing up the potential purchase of Greenland, which his son Donald Trump Jr. is currently visiting to reportedly record a podcast.

“Don Jr. and my Reps landing in Greenland. The reception has been great. They, and the Free World, need safety, security, strength, and PEACE! This is a deal that must happen. MAGA. MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The “reps” Trump referred to are conservative activist Charlie Kirk of Turning Point and his incoming personnel director Sergio Gor.

“I am hearing that the people of Greenland are ‘MAGA.’ My son, Don Jr, and various representatives, will be traveling there to visit some of the most magnificent areas and sights,”Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday evening.

Trump ally and financier Elon Musk has expressed support for the fixation on Greenland.

“The people of Greenland should decide their future and I think they want to be part of America!” he wrote on X.

Greenland is an autonomous territory within the kingdom of Denmark. At a press conference on Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that the island is not for sale, referencing a previous statement from Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede.

“[Egede] has been very, very clear … that there is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either,” Frederiksen said.

Trump’s fixation on Greenland isn’t new. As president in 2019, Trump canceled a planned trip to the island when Frederiksen rebuked his proposal, calling it “absurd.”

“Pissing everybody off by saying we’re just going to buy them outright really bruises our bilateral relationship with the Danes and more importantly ruins any kind of way for us to work this out with Greenlanders,” Jim Townsend, a former senior Pentagon official who has worked on issues related to NATO and defense policy in the Arctic region, told Politico,

Trump has also complained about control of the Panama Canal, which was turned over to the Panamanian government to fulfill a treaty in 1999. After Trump claimed that China controls the canal and that the United States needs to reassert control of the vital shipping lane, Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino rebuffed him.

“Every square meter of the Panama Canal and its adjacent zones is part of Panama, and it will continue to be,” he said in a video released in December.

Before even taking office, Trump has already set off international friction with Denmark, Panama, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Who will be next?

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Elon Musk

Trump Fanboy Musk 'Finds Out' With Tesla 2024 Sales Slump

Tesla reported on Thursday that 2024 saw the Austin, Texas-based car company’s first annual decline in sales in at least 12 years. The decline coincided with the company’s CEO, Elon Musk, endorsing and funding Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and becoming a major player within the Republican Party.

Tesla said that in 2024 it delivered 1.79 million cars, which was 1.1 percent below the 1.81 million cars the company sold in 2023. Back in 2022, Tesla confidently predicted that the company would grow 50 percent each year for the next few years. That didn’t happen as Musk went full MAGA.

Before 2024, Musk had shown some signs of conservatism. But his extremism ramped up considerably as the presidential election ramped up and he attacked the so-called “woke mind virus,” blaming leftist ideas for his child’s gender transition.

Following his purchase of Twitter and rebranding the social media platform as “X,” Musk reinstated Trump’s account, which had been deactivated by the previous management after the sore loser used it to instigate the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Musk also reactivated the account of right-wing conspiracy theorist and Trump megafan Alex Jones.

In October, Musk made his partisanship official by endorsing Trump and appearing with him at a rally in Pennsylvania.

“President Trump must win to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America,” Musk said, after wildly jumping around on stage.

Musk bankrolled a super PAC supporting Trump’s campaign and spent at least $250 million to help his Republican ally win the election—in addition to allowing pro-Trump election misinformation to circulate widely on his social media network.

Following his election win, Trump named Musk as co-chair of the Department of Government Efficiency, which is not a government agency but an outside watchdog group pushing to cut government spending by $2 trillion.

Even as Musk was openly embracing the Republican Party and its conservative agenda, polling showed Democrats—who have traditionally supported clean energy products like Tesla’s electric cars—turning away from the company. An analysis from the firm CivicScience released in July found that Tesla’s favorability dropped to 16% among Democrats, when it had been at 39% in January 2024.

“He completely alienated most of his buying base,” investor Mark Spiegel told Yahoo! Finance when the survey was released.

After Trump won, many X users—including journalists, who have been the lifeblood of the site—began leaving the platform in droves.

Trump has already hinted at making policy moves friendly to Musk, with his transition team announcing that he favors adopting a recommendation that would scrap federal crash-reporting requirements for self-driving cars (from companies like Tesla). But the fledgling bromance has not been smooth.

There have been grumblings from Trump allies that Musk is overstepping his role and acting as a co-president with Trump. The South African immigrant was also recently embroiled in a very public fight with anti-immigrant Trump supporters over his position in favor of H-1B visas for tech workers.

Musk’s chosen candidate will soon be president and the multibillionaire clearly has Trump’s ear. But Tesla’s growing problems—and emerging fractures within the MAGA coalition—could be an early warning sign for the richest man in the world.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Top Trump Staffer Warns Nominees To Refrain From Social Media Posting

Top Trump Staffer Warns Nominees To Refrain From Social Media Posting

Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s pick for chief of staff, issued a memo last Sunday to Trump’s Cabinet nominees ordering them to stop making social media posts without approval ahead of the upcoming Senate confirmation hearings.

“All intended nominees should refrain from any public social media posts without prior approval of the incoming White House counsel,”the memo said, according to the New York Post.

Wiles also noted, “I am reiterating that no member of the incoming administration or Transition speaks for the United States or the President-elect himself.”

The missive comes after the spectacular flame out of former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination for attorney general and the ongoing controversies of several other nominees, including Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Mehmet Oz, and Tulsi Gabbard.

Gaetz’s nomination was withdrawn after the resurfacing of sordid allegations of illicit drug use and sexual behavior, including sending money to multiple women via PayPal and Venmo. Gaetz’s activity on social media was a key part of the controversy, as the House Ethics Committee's report notes.

“From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use,” the report states.

Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, has been accused of financial mismanagement, sexual assault, and public drunkenness. In response to reporting on these allegations, Hegseth has taken to social media to complain about “anti-Christian bigotry” in the media, the “lying press”, and the “Left Wing hack group” ProPublica.

Anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has also made strange social media posts. He recently posted a meme on X characterizing the medical industry as “financially dependent on you being sick,” as well as a video of himself with CGI-generated electric eyes and a link to his merchandise site.

An anonymous source with the Trump transition team claimed that the order to stop social media posts is not related to the recent online infighting between Trump megadonor Elon Musk and anti-immigration MAGA supporters. But the timing of the edict, coming directly from Trump’s right-hand woman, is extremely convenient.

Musk recently went on a posting frenzy, calling MAGA fans “upside-down and backwards” in their understanding of immigration issues, while telling one person to “take a big step back and FUCK YOURSELF in the face.”

The controversy generated international headlines, and Trump was dragged into commenting on the discussion—a less-than-ideal situation as he prepares for his inauguration.

Trump of all people telling others to be more mindful about social media posts is an ironic development. Trump made a name for himself as a political figure largely due to constantly posting inflammatory messages online. Most notoriously, he called on his supporters to protest the results of the 2020 election after losing to President Joe Biden.

“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” he wrote.

In the aftermath of his post, more than a thousand were arrested (including Trump), several related deaths occurred, and Trump was impeached for a second time.

But, hey, Trump’s Cabinet nominees won’t be posting on social media for a little while.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Kim Jong Un meets Donald Trump

Kim Jong Un 'Welcomes' Trump Back With Harsh Anti-American Rant

Just three weeks before Donald Trump is inaugurated for a second term as president, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un said his nation plans to engage in the “toughest” anti-U.S. policy to date. The aggressive tone follows years of Trump coddling the rogue nuclear state, breaking with the approach of previous Democratic and Republican administrations.

At a meeting of the Workers’ Party, which is the sole political party in North Korea, Kim called the U.S. “the most reactionary state that regards anti-communism as its invariable state policy” and slammed America’s alliance with South Korea and Japan.

North Korea’s state news agency said Kim’s speech laid out a “strategy for the toughest anti-U.S. counteraction to be launched aggressively.”

Kim’s comments come a few weeks after he slammed the United States under President Joe Biden for backing Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. Kim has cozied up with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war and sent 10,000 troops to help Russia fight against Ukrainian forces.

Trump said earlier this year that North Korea “misses” him, echoing his longtime coddling of the closed-off dictatorship. When he was president, Trump broke from U.S. tradition and engaged in face-to-face meetings with Kim, posed for pictures with him, saluted his generals, and wrote so-called “love letters” to the leader of the regime that deprives its citizens of basic rights.

In addition to North Korean leadership undermining human rights for decades, the nation has continued to develop nuclear capability and used tests of its military weaponry to threaten democratic nations in the Pacific region like South Korea and Japan. The actions have made North Korea into an international pariah that is shunned by most of the world, except for its ties to Russia and China—and Donald Trump.

In contrast to Trump’s openness to the rogue country, President Barack Obama referred to North Korea in 2014 as a “pariah state that starves its people” and made clear that under his administration, America would defend its regional allies against North Korean aggression.

Trump’s embrace of the dictator allowed North Korea to claim a propaganda coup, hailing the meeting of the two leaders as “historic” in 2018. Trump has expressed admiration for a host of similar authoritarian leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban.

After Biden defeated Trump in 2020, U.S. policy moved to a more traditional role in opposition to North Korea. Biden hosted South Korea’s president at the White House last year for a state visit and said, “Look, a nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies ... or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime to take such an action.”

Trump’s love-letter diplomacy did little to decrease North Korea’s hostility to democratic nations, and whether his second turn as president will once again bolster Kim’s global standing remains an open question.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Elon Musk

Why Won't Republicans Let Government Help Their Own Voters?

Conservative members of the House staged a rebellion over the past week, opposing bipartisan legislation meant to fund the federal government and avert a shutdown. The entire process has been a mess, exposing fractures between the Republican Party’s narrow majority while also catapulting multibillionaire Elon Musk to a position of enormous influence within the party.

Led by Musk, conservatives repeatedly complained about “pork” and “waste” in the bill. This argument was amplified by right-wing media, particularly Fox News. In one instance, Fox prepared a graphic purportedly showing unnecessary, exorbitant spending in the bill.

Fox described the bill as a “pork-packed Christmas spending spree” and listed items like a “feral swine eradication” program and paying for the repair of Francis Scott Key Bridge, near Baltimore, as offensive examples of Congress apparently going overboard.

But taking a step back from this manufactured outrage reveals the truth: A lot of this spending is for projects that will significantly help Americans and American business.

For instance, the March collapse of the Key Bridge, which crosses the Patapsco River in Maryland, was a major blow to an important shipping access point for the country. According to the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, 12.4 million vehicles cross the bridge each year, and the loss of the bridge has negatively impacted access to the Port of Baltimore, creating a disruption for businesses along the Baltimore-Washington corridor. The Chamber estimates that Maryland alone is losing millions of dollars per day in revenue.

One would think conservatives, who have long claimed to be in favor of business and job creation, would support the rapid restoration of the bridge.

Meanwhile, feral hogs are a real problem. In Republican-led states, this has particularly been an issue. South Carolina crops and land are being destroyed by an out-of-control population of feral hogs, and the state government has been struggling to find a solution. Texas is also contending with the hogs, which the Texas Farm Bureau described as “one of the most destructive invasive species” in the country. The bureau also notes that the hogs “pose risks for disease transmission among livestock, pets and humans.”

Don’t Republicans want to help out farmers in the “heartland” of the country anymore? Or is it easier to give in to Musk and Fox’s derision?

The root problem is that the conservative movement has for decades loved to demonize government spending outside of a few narrow areas as a frivolous pursuit. They cannot directly attack popular programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, so they instead demonize research and infrastructure projects as a way to build public support for cuts that end up hurting the public at large.

At the same time, conservatives make little mention of exorbitant defense spending on projects that are absolute failures. Figures like Musk and outlets like Fox say little about things like the over $2 trillion—trillion—lifetime cost that the Department of Defense blew on the little-used F-35 fighter jet.

And almost needless to say, Musk has not gone on a posting spree about the millions of dollars in government funds he has received through congressionally approved spending for his companies, like SpaceX.

Better to talk about hogs and bridges.

The cynical motive behind this right-wing demonization is clear. The goal is to whip the public up into a frenzy about the supposedly wrong type of federal spending, leading elected officials to implement cuts for things like pediatric cancer research and medical assistance for 9/11 first responders—while deflecting attention from spending that serves little to no public value, except as a pipeline to enrich billionaires that donate to elect Republicans.