We begin today with an apology and a solicitation for donations. Our apology is for perhaps not doing as thorough a job of reviewing the past week as we normally do, because last night instead of doing our homework we instead watched the FireAid benefit concert for the victims of the recent Los Angeles fires. If you missed it, at least check out the fireaidla.org site, where you can donate to the cause if you wish. It was quite a show, and well worth watching (note: this review contains only a partial list of the performers...):

FireAid's organizers understood the scale of that balancing act, inviting Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Earth Wind & Fire, Green Day, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga, John Fogerty, No Doubt, Rod Stewart, Olivia Rodrigo, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Lil Baby, Peso Pluma, John Mayer and others to participate in a sprawling revue divided between two arenas and streamed live on multiple platforms for nearly six hours. It all felt as sweeping as it did familiar, with the show's main surprise pushing the gathering's familiarity threshold toward its limit -- the surviving members of Nirvana gnashing and pummeling through a visceral mini-set, fronted by the likes of St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Joan Jett.

Sadly, there was yet another tragedy this week to focus on as well, as a commercial airplane crashed into a military helicopter just shy of the runway at National Airport in Washington. And before most of the bodies had even been pulled out of the icy waters of the Potomac River, President Trump offered his words of mourning and tried to pull the country together. For a few seconds, that is. Then he reverted to who he is, in a seriously ugly way:

Before the identities of the victims had even been released, and while the National Transportation Safety Board was still in the earliest stages of its investigation into the collision, Trump blamed Democrats and suggested diversity, equity and inclusion practices were to blame for the plane crash near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport that he deemed a "tragedy of terrible proportions."

The dichotomy between the apparent advice of his own advisers and Trump's own pugilistic instincts was on full display. Not long after he said "differences between Americans fade to nothing compared to the bonds of affection and loyalty that unite us all, both as Americans and even as nations," he almost immediately dialed up those differences.

He blamed former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for standards for air flight controllers, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg for having a "good line of bullshit" -- and diversity, equity and inclusion policies that remained in effect throughout his own entire first term.

Of course, as with just about everything Trump utters, the claims he made were either completely made-up or just flat-out lies. Trump specifically spoke of one program he blamed on Democratic presidents to hire disabled people as air traffic controllers... which was actually begun during Trump's first term. Here's the truth of the matter:

Moreover, the FAA under Trump in 2019 launched a program to hire controllers using the very criteria he decried at his news conference.

"FAA Provides Aviation Careers to People with Disabilities," the agency announced on April 11, 2019. The pilot program, the announcement said, would "identify specific opportunities for people with targeted disabilities, empower them and facilitate their entry into a more diverse and inclusive workforce."

There were plenty of other things requiring fact-checking in Trump's remarks, to the surprise of just about no one. Today, even one brave Republican was contradicting Trump:

Rep. Sam Graves, the Missouri Republican in charge of overseeing the Federal Aviation Administration in the House, said Friday that diversity initiatives at the agency had nothing to do with a crash between a commercial airplane and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people earlier this week.

In an interview with Politico, Graves, who chairs the House Transportation Committee and is an experienced private pilot who is rated to fly a commercial airplane, said many questions remain about just what caused the crash. He urged allowing investigators to do their work -- but said that he doesn't believe DEI initiatives played a role, despite insistence to the contrary from President Donald Trump and some others in the GOP.

We had intended to directly highlight some of Trump's odious remarks during his press availability yesterday, but for some strange reason (as of this writing) the transcript hasn't been posted on the White House website yet. Maybe they're actually ashamed of it? Nah... probably just more incompetence....

Democrats are pushing back on Trump as well:

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) criticized President Donald Trump on Friday for baselessly blaming the D.C. plane crash on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

. . .

"When this country needed comfort, we got chaos," Moore said while addressing the Democratic National Committee's winter meeting outside Washington, a short distance from where the crash happened. "When this country needed healing, we got hatred."

One Democrat neatly flipped the issue on the Republicans. Because after all, if we're supposed to be a "meritocracy," then how do they explain Trump's cabinet choices?

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) on Thursday called out Republicans obsessed with attacking diversity, equity and inclusion efforts by turning the attention to their hopefuls for positions in the federal government.

. . .

"I want to know what qualifies Robert Kennedy to be the chief public health officer of the United States of America? What qualifies the likes of Pete Hegseth to be the leader at the Pentagon? This is a disturbing moment in our country," he added.

This week started out with Trump attempting to banish "woke" from the federal government in a different way -- one that is precipitating a constitutional crisis. In a very ham-fisted way, the Office of Management and Budget tried to just halt all payments the federal government makes. Well, not "all" -- direct payments (Social Security checks, etc.) were supposed to continue, but everything else was supposed to go on "temporary pause" while Trump and his minions worked to weed out any dastardly D.E.I. initiatives and other left-wing influences on federal spending. This went about as well as you can expect from team Trump, which is to say "total chaos immediately ensued."

Nobody had any clue what would be covered and what wouldn't, which put such programs as Meals On Wheels (to name just one) at risk of halting all operations. The Medicaid site for processing payments went offline. The Air Force tried to yank videos from training which described the Tuskegee Airmen (since it's pretty hard to talk about them and not mention racism).

Minutes before the pause was scheduled to take effect -- only one day after a two-page memo created it -- a federal judge blocked it. So the next day, the White House seemed to reverse course, issuing another memo which rescinded the first memo. But then they insisted that their plans were still going forward, it wasn't the policy but just the memo that had been rescinded. This made no sense whatsoever, so a second judge stepped in to prevent the White House from trying some sort of legal end-run.

Trump then made an appearance where he just made stuff up, in an effort to claim the whole thing had been a great success. He claimed -- without an iota of evidence -- that they had stopped $50 million from being sent to buy "condoms, for Hamas." Nobody had any clue what he was talking about, since this program does not actually exist.

As mentioned, this is all teeing up a constitutional confrontation, over a law Congress passed in reaction to Richard Nixon which spells out how presidents must spend the money Congress apportions -- whether they approve of the spending or not. Trump is trying to create some sort of constitutional right to "impound" money he doesn't want to spend, which does not actually exist in the U.S. Constitution (which clearly and unequivocally gives Congress the so-called power of the purse).

In the meantime, the White House is also apparently trying to halt all medical research and sharing of knowledge. For good measure, Trump fired over a dozen inspectors general, so he can put some bootlicking toadies in instead. These firings broke the law, but Trump simply doesn't care about such niceties.

This flurry of incompetence and anti-science spurred conservative writer David Brooks to write a New York Times column devoted to stupidity. Here's how it begins:

This was the week in which the Chinese made incredible gains in artificial intelligence and the Americans made incredible gains in human stupidity. I'm sorry, but I look at the Trump administration's behavior over the last week and the only word that accurately describes it is: stupid.

It's actually a very comprehensive look at Trumpian stupidity all around, and well worth reading.

The continuing frenzy of White House activity finally spurred some Democrats into action. Not immediate action, mind you, but they finally did get their act together to push back on Trump's blanket funding freeze. However, statements from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer aren't all that exciting, meaning Democrats still have a ways to go in terms of upping their game to counter Trump.

Teed up for tomorrow (the use of a golf metaphor there is intentional, since Trump will be taking the weekend off) are new tariffs: 25 percent on Canada and Mexico, and 10 percent on China. Which will only serve to institute a "Trump tax" for American consumers, of course.

We also had Senate hearings this week on three of the most unqualified of Trump's nominees -- Kash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Robert F. Kennedy Junior. They all went about as well as you'd expect, which is to say "disastrously." The current scuttlebutt is that Patel will almost certainly be confirmed, but that some Republicans are urging Trump to withdraw Gabbard so they don't have to vote her down themselves. Kennedy could make it through or could be derailed; his nomination still seems up in the air.

The purges, meanwhile, have already begun. Even though Kash Patel swore under oath that no political retribution would happen at the F.B.I., senior officials there have been given ultimatums to quit or be fired next week. This is already going on at the Department of Justice as well. Anyone seen as even remotely anti-Trump is being handed their walking papers.

After all, it's not like there are a bunch of inspectors general overseeing the process anymore, right?

 

Senator Bernie Sanders did provide a little amusement this week during the hearing of Robert F. Kennedy Junior, by displaying two anti-vaccine babies' "onesies" and grilling Kennedy over whether he supported the message on them or not. "Are you supportive of these onesies?" is a sentence we would be willing to bet has never before been uttered in a Senate confirmation hearing.

But we're going to hand our Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week instead to an Iowa Democrat who just pulled off a rather stunning upset. Mike Zimmer just won a special election for a state legislative seat in a district that overwhelmingly went for Trump. Here's the story:

For a moribund party, Democrats in the span of 24 hours are showing some signs of life.

On Tuesday, Iowa Democrats notched an upset victory in a state Senate district that Donald Trump won by more than 20 points, and Minnesota Democrats retook their Senate majority in the statehouse. Meanwhile, in Washington, congressional Democrats who had been on defense since Trump swept back into office denounced Trump's sweeping freeze on federal assistance -- adopting a unified message for the first time since Trump took office.

. . .

The Iowa special election -- triggered after then-state Sen. Chris Cournoyer resigned to serve as the state's lieutenant governor -- gave Democrats an unexpected boost. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a statement that it proved the party "can win in rural Iowa," while the Democratic National Committee called it an "earthquake."

Zimmer reportedly "ran on his own background as a teacher," and "kept it local, not about Trump." Which proved to be a winning formula. So for giving Democrats across the country a little optimism in dark times, we have to say Mike Zimmer was indeed the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week this week.

[State Senator-Elect Mike Zimmer has no official contact page yet, as he has not been sworn into office, so you'll have to wait until that happens if you would like to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]

 

This is really a footnote to an older story, so we'll be quick. Robert "Gold Bar Bob" Menendez was sentenced in federal court this week to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes and selling his own influence to a foreign power while chairing a national security committee in the Senate, making him a shoo-in for the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week once again.

Apparently the American system of justice still works to root out some political corruption -- that's the best takeaway of the whole sordid mess, really.

Oh, and a further footnote, for those of you wondering who would win the bidding war for Kyrsten Sinema, now that she's retired from the Senate, the answer is: cryptocurrency! We had "pharmaceutical companies" on our own Bingo card, we have to admit, but it simply wasn't to be -- the crypto bros apparently had more money to stuff her pockets with.

[Bob Menendez is now a private citizen (soon to be a federal prisoner), and it is our policy not to provide contact information for such folks, sorry.]

 

Volume 781 (1/31/25)

A mixed bag of talking points this week. And we couldn't even squeeze in one more, so we leave it for readers to make their own talking point: people who live in Greenland were just polled and a whopping 85 percent of them have no interest in becoming part of the United States. Which isn't really too surprising, really.

In any case, here are this week's offerings. As always, use responsibly!

 

   Trump tax approaching

Democrats need to hammer this idea constantly.

"Donald Trump swore up and down that somehow he'd bring the prices down for everything Americans buy. It's been two weeks, though, and what has he actually done? Are eggs back to a dollar a dozen again? And average American families can now expect to see grocery prices go even higher, now that Trump is about to slap huge tariffs on Canada and Mexico. This new 'Trump tax' will not -- as Trump doesn't seem to understand -- be paid for by foreign governments. In fact, the Trump tax will be paid for by you and me and every other American who buys things. Every American voter should ask themselves while at the checkout line: 'Why is Trump making things more expensive, when he promised the opposite?'"

 

   Trump halted Medicaid

Only for a day, but it's still fair game.

"This week Trump caused the Medicaid payment site to go dark. Millions upon millions of Americans rely on Medicaid, including a fair number of people who voted for Donald Trump. But he didn't care -- he just picked up an axe and started slashing away, without ever giving a single thought to who would be affected by it. Trump is dangerously incompetent, and Medicaid going dark is just the most obvious proof of this."

 

   Have some respect and decency!

Trump is always at his worst in a crisis, as we were reminded this week.

"Donald Trump could have said some comforting words to the families of the victims of this week's air disaster, but instead he insisted on pointing the finger of blame everywhere he could think of. This is not leadership. I mean, does Donald Trump even understand words like 'decency' or 'respect'? He could have waited to inject politics into a tragedy for no reason at least until the dead had been given proper burials -- but he didn't. He didn't care about the suffering of the families and friends left behind, because that is who he is. It's disgraceful and disrespectful and Americans should be shocked and disgusted by it all."

 

   Meritocracy? Oh, please....

We have to give credit to Senator Raphael Warnock for this one (credit where credit is due...).

"Trump keeps talking about how he wants America to be a 'meritocracy,' where only the best people get hired. But have you taken a look at his cabinet choices? Meritocracy? Don't make me laugh. What qualifies Robert F. Kennedy Junior to be in charge of health care for America? What qualifies Tulsi Gabbard to be in charge of the intelligence services? What qualifies any of these clowns for the jobs Trump has appointed them to? The only qualification Trump cares about is loyalty to Trump. So please... don't even try to use the word meritocracy, because that is nothing more than a sad joke in the Trump administration."

 

   War on science

This is happening in a number of ways, but it really needs a catchy label.

"Donald Trump has apparently declared war on science. He is halting medical studies, restricting doctors from publicly sharing data, and ending all grants to science groups. He pulled out of the World Health Organization and will not let government doctors participate in any conferences or meetings on deadly diseases. He must really hate people who are smarter than him, or something. Or maybe it's because everyone didn't tell him what a genius he was back when he was suggesting injecting bleach to cure COVID. He's putting a total nutjob in charge of the federal health services, who has no clue how Medicare and Medicaid actually work. What could possibly go wrong with any of this? Trump's war on science is truly the height of stupidity."

 

   Death penalty for drug dealers, except the ones he pardons

This is pretty disgraceful, but that's about par for Trump's course.

"Remember when Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he wanted to bring back the federal death penalty for drug dealers who caused deaths? Well, the first thing Trump did was to completely reverse course and instead issue a full pardon for a man serving a life sentence in prison for causing multiple deaths, by selling heroin and cocaine and other illegal drugs online. A mother of one of the people who died reacted to Trump's pardon with shock: 'He talks about immigrants coming here to the States, bringing drugs to the U.S., but yet he pardons this individual that was sentenced for life in prison back in 2015. I really don’t understand.' And yet Republicans all seem just fine with this pardon. So much for all that 'law and order' nonsense, eh?"

 

   Trump invades California!

Another one for the "too stupid to be even remotely believable" file...

"Donald Trump bragged this week that he sent the U.S. military to invade California. No, really! He posted on social media: 'The United States Military just entered the Great State of California and, under Emergency Powers, TURNED ON THE WATER.' Um... no. Just: no. The California Department of Water Resources had to explain: 'The military did not enter California. The federal government restarted federal water pumps after they were offline for maintenance for three days. State water supplies in Southern California remain plentiful.' So no matter how much Trump may fantasize about sending the Marines to invade California, nothing of the sort actually happened."

-- Chris Weigant

 

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground