HINDSIGHT - WRITE SOMETHING WORTH READING ABOUT OR DO SOMETHING WORTH WRITING ABOUT
Tuesday, June 09, 2026
NEW INC. MAGZINE COLUMN FROM HOWARD TULLMAN
Pet
Owners Completely Overlook This 1 Disastrous Scenario. A New Tech Startup
Thinks It Has the Solution
Tailsafe addresses an issue that for
years most pet owners have never thought about.
EXPERT OPINION BY HOWARD TULLMAN, GENERAL MANAGING PARTNER, G2T3V AND CHICAGO HIGH TECH INVESTORS @TULLMAN
Jun 8, 2026
If there was one modest
benefit to the COVID-19 debacle, it was that pet adoptions skyrocketed as
millions of Millennials and Gen Zers discovered the joys of having some
affectionate and uncomplaining home companionship as they worked remotely and
spent most of their days cooped up at home. The same, as we all sadly learned,
couldn’t necessarily be said for roommates, spouses and younger offspring. But
no one loves you more than your pets, especially if you live alone. And to be
clear, no one is more at risk than your pets if something unexpected happens to
you which keeps you from getting home to make sure that their needs are taken
care of.
These days, these same
folks make up the majority of pet owners, and over 60 percent are remote
workers, entrepreneurs, and/or retirees with flexible schedules. Millions own
more than one pet and, when asked, single, divorced and older pet parents will
expound at length on the extent to which their pets have become increasingly
important “members” of their family. As the Trump economy continues to worsen
and may soon be circling the drain, we hear regular news stories about men and
women of all ages who are going without food themselves, but who are unwilling
to see their dogs and cats suffer or starve.
It’s largely the same
painful and problematic situation with the exponentially growing costs of vet
care as the private equity pirates continue to roll up the Mom and Pop and
smaller veterinary practices, immediately hike the service and support prices across
the board, farm out basic lab work to expensive third-party providers, and make
it harder and harder for conscientious owners to provide the kind of
professional care for their animals that they understand is appropriate and
necessary, but which they also struggle every day to try to afford.
Frankly, having seen at
least a dozen startup attempts, I’ve
never understood why pet insurance has never broken through to the mainstream
buyers and scaled dramatically right along with the escalating costs of care.
In my heart, I’m reluctant to admit that —like 90 percent of the dental insurance
programs for humans—the current pet insurance plans are relatively costly, may
protect you in the case of catastrophic injuries to your dog or cat but in the
vast majority of cases turn out to be mostly worthless either because of
deductibles or because of policy exceptions and exclusions which never seem to
be mentioned in the promotional ads.
So, when I learned
recently about another pet-focused startup, I wasn’t overly excited until I
spoke with Shannon Smithers, the founder and CEO of Tailsafe, which
is her new app that addresses an issue that for years most pet owners have
honestly never thought about. Who will be able to care for your pets that are
left alone at home if you can’t be there?
In this age of
ubiquitous connectivity and cellphones in everyone’s pocket or purse, we all
automatically assume that we’ll never be out of touch. But there are plenty of
accidents and other unfortunate situations where that’s simply no longer the
case. Sadly, we read in the papers and see online every week—for all the worst
reasons and again courtesy of the Orange Monster and his rotten ICE
minions—that people all over the country are being dragged out of their cars,
spirited away from their workplaces, separated from their families, locked up
for no good reason by Trump’s goons, and not given any access to contact anyone
for days. Airline delays, storms, hurricanes and tornados, floods and other
natural disasters can instantly deprive us of the ability to make timely and
secure provisions for our pets.
Tailsafe has built a
simple app for your phone which lets you set up a simple daily notification
system that is totally designed to suit your needs and schedule. If you miss a
notification for a certain period of time and haven’t contacted their system, alerts
are automatically sent out to one or more persons that you have previously
designated as emergency care providers who know your pets, have information on
their schedules and feeding times, and can step in to take care of them in your
absence. It’s easy to implement, painless to have in the background looking out
for you and your pets, and very inexpensive for a subscription. At the moment,
it’s only available in the U.S., but the company is planning to keep expanding
and it’s available for Apple and Android phones.
Bottom line: remember
that, if anything unfortunate happens, it’s never the animal’s fault.
Monday, June 08, 2026
THE THIEF IN CHIEF
"Oh, boy. I am fully expecting a completely unhinged social media post from Donald Trump following what might be one of the most disastrous interviews I've ever seen him have with Kristen Welker of Meet the Press.
Not only did he eventually storm out of the interview, he seems to think that James Comey was the head of the FBI during the January 6th attack on our Capitol, still seems confused as to who was president on that day (spoiler alert: it was him), and he largely proved that all his bullsh*t about "rigged elections" is totally made up because, when she pressed him on the fact that he's yet to provide any evidence for his claims, he just spiraled into unhinged talking points and wouldn't address her questions.
I rarely suggest anyone listen to anything he says because he's incredibly difficult to listen to, but this is 100% worth the watch.
Here's part of the exchange where Welker presses him on his January 6th lies:
Welker: "Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money?"
Trump: "I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, because you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop. A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop."
Welker: "But there is no evidence that people who..."
Trump: "Wait a minute. You think Comey was a straight cop?"
Welker: "We had 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers."
Trump: "Comey was a dirty cop."
Welker: "But the people who assaulted police officers..."
Trump: "Listen to me. They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI saying, 'Go into the building.' Those people are walking around, they're looking, 'Oh, isn't this nice?' They were being ushered into the building."
Welker: "There's no evidence of that, sir. There's no evidence of that."
Trump: "Try looking at the tapes one time!"
After Trump went on another short rant, of course evoking his obsession with Biden, Welker pressed him further about the lack of evidence that January 6th was some kind of inside job carried out by "crooked cops."
Welker: "Just to be very clear, there's no evidence of what you're saying."
Trump: "There's a lot of evidence. Listen to me — there's tremendous evidence. There's nothing but evidence."
Welker: "Well, it's not been presented in a court of law."
And this is where Trump really started to go off the rails.
Trump: "The election was rigged. It was a dirty election. And it's happening again right now in California."
Welker: "Do you have evidence to support that?"
Trump: "All I have to do is look."
Welker: "But that's not evidence."
Trump: "They're crooked just like you're crooked. Your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked."
So, let's summarize this insanity a bit, shall we?
When asked about the January 6th attack, Trump started citing James Comey and John Bolton — neither of whom was involved with the FBI or any part of our government on that day. In fact, Comey had not been the head of the FBI for nearly four years. Yet, for some reason, Trump invoked his name when it was his own handpicked director, Christopher Wray, who was running the FBI at the time.
And the only reason I can think of for bringing up Bolton's name is reports that Bolton plans to plead guilty to mishandling classified documents, as if that has anything to do with the January 6th attack.
I also still love how he seems to forget that he was the president on January 6, 2021, when this attack took place. It wasn't Barack Obama or Joe Biden — it was him. Yet when he pushes all of this absurdity, he conveniently omits that part and implies that someone else was president that day to better build a case for his totally made-up conspiracy.
Then, as Welker pressed him on the fact that he's made all these claims but has never produced any actual evidence for any of them, he went back to his go-to talking points to whine about "rigged elections."
Which brings me back to a point I've been making for a while now.
The fact is, as things stand today, Trump is the president and has seemingly unlimited resources at his disposal. If all this evidence exists that he's spent years claiming is out there, then where is it? We're over one-third of the way through his presidency, and he's produced nothing despite having his handpicked sycophants running everything. Yet not only has he failed to produce any of the "overwhelming" evidence that the 2020 election was stolen, he hasn't even proven that a single state was "rigged."
But he "sees what's going on" and "people are telling him" — because, you know, that's apparently more credible than actual evidence.
It's so utterly ridiculous. This isn't a complex situation, either. If all this evidence Trump has spent years claiming exists is, in fact, real, then let's see it. What's he waiting for? He's the president. The FBI is run by his little minion Patel. The DOJ is currently being run by his personal attorney. There's nothing preventing Trump from proving the biggest scandal in American history — that a presidential election was stolen.
Yet he hasn't, because it's all a lie.
If you have some time, watch the interview. It's worth seeing him squirm, look foolish, and invoke the names of people who clearly had nothing to do with anything on January 6th because he literally can't defend the gibberish he's relying on his supporters to be gullible enough to believe."
Are We Seeing "Third Wave Trumpism"?
Are We Seeing "Third Wave Trumpism"?
Same Trump. Only worse.
In the Mideast, Trump continues to flail, outmaneuvered by both Iran and Israel. Meanwhile, the president crashes out in a contentious “Meet the Press Interview,” where he revives election conspiracy theories and defends his $1.8 billion goon squad slush fund. And, tonight, he heads to New York to attend Game 3 of the Knicks-Spurs NBA finals. What could go wrong?
Happy Monday.
In today’s “Talking Feds Podcast,” I floated the idea that we have entered “Third Wave Trumpism.” I admit this is just a tentative notion and I’m prepared to revise and modify it.
But if feels like something is shifting, and maybe that’s because Trump has become a more virulent, corrupt and dangerous version of himself.
Trump, of course has always been Trump. But his first term — Trump 1.0 — had some rational folks.
As Trumpist as that first term may have felt, there were still grownups in the room — John Kelly, Jim Mattis, even Bill Barr — who would on occasion tell Trump “no.” Trump 2.0 has been far more radical: staffed with hard-core loyalists who are completely bonded with MAGA.
But loyalty is no longer enough.
With Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton and Trump’s new acting Director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, and AG-designate, Todd Blanche, we are seeing figures who are not just loyal to Trump — but also willing (and eager) to abuse the powers of government to go after Trump’s enemies and critics, even if that means flouting the law.
Conceivably, some of the MAGA loyalists might’ve drawn the line at Trump’s most egregious corruption or (like Mike Pence) balked at Trump’ attempts to overturn a future election. (I admit that this might be naive on my part.)
But the Third Wave Trumpists are the whole package. They will go along with Trump no matter what.1 Blanche will indict the former director of the FBI over seashells; he will sign off on a deeply corrupt slush-fund and IRS immunity bargain. Pulte has abused his position as housing czar to target Trump’s political enemies; Paxton has already demonstrated his willingness to help Trump overturn elections. And Trump? He is not content merely with pardoning the J6 rioters; he still wants to pay them off. Some of rioters have even been given sensitive positions within the government itself.
Admittedly, the distinctions might feel subtle.
Pam Bondi was a through-going loyalist/lickspittle who was willing to torch her reputation by covering up the Epstein files. But she was not able or willing to give Trump all of the heads on a plate that he demanded. Now he has replaced her with his former personal attorney, who has made it clear that he is willing to do anything. (Up to and including sweet deals for Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.)
If anything, Pulte may be even more willing to weaponize Trump’s campaign of retribution. The problem with Pulte is not just that he’s unqualified and will never say no to Trump. He’s made it clear that he will fire anybody. He will pull any strings. He may go where even Tulsi Gabbard feared to tread. And Gabbard was willing to do almost anything.
It’s hard to overstate how deplorable it was for the former DNI to show up in Fulton County Georgia, when ballots were being seized. She was signaling that she might interfere in local elections. But what is her replacement prepared to do with the resources of the entire national intelligence community at his disposal?
We keep saying that we’ve seen the worst of the worst. But Trump is saying “Hold my beer, I have people who are even more willing to be accomplices in my criming than ever before.”
**
**
In this context, you really need to read/listen to Trump’s interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker to get a real sense of just how deranged and extreme Trump has become. He has internalized the hairiest conspiracy theories about January 6 and the 2020 election— and seems to be laying the groundwork for similar fact-free challenges of the 2026 and 2028 elections. (And he is definitely going to try to find a way to revive the $1.8 billion “weaponization” slush fund in one form or another.)
Here’s just some of what he said yesterday, via Mediate:
“So let me explain what the fund is,” Trump said. “People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden administration and Sleepy Joe. They’re vicious. They’re violent, what they did to people. And of course they went after me more than anybody else. They raided Mar-a-Lago and all the other things. But people have been badly hurt. They’ve committed suicide. They’ve lost their jobs. They’re lost their families. They’ve lost their wives. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost everything over a fake weaponization of government. Now, let me just tell you—”
“So are you looking for a way to revive it?” Welker asked.
“Well, look. If it was up to me, I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve,” Trump said. He added, “So me, personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that’s great. If they don’t get it approved, I’d be disappointed.”
Welker pressed.
“Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money?”
“I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it,” Trump replied. “I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, cause you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop. A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop.”
“But there is no evidence that people who—” Welker said, before Trump interjected.
“Wait a minute,” Trump said. “You think Comey was a straight cop?
“We had 170 people who pleaded guilty to assaulting police officers,” Welker replied.
“Comey was a dirty cop,” Trump said.
“But the people who assaulted police officers,” Welker shot back.
“Listen to me,” Trump said. “They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI ‘Go into the building.’ Those people are walking around, they’re looking, “Oh, isn’t this nice?” … They were being ushered into the building.
“There’s no evidence of that, sir,” Welker said. “There’s no evidence of that.”
After riffing about “dirty cops,” Trump added, “Try looking at the tapes one time!”
Trump added, “I don’t know what’s going to happen with the weaponization fund. I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he’s not smart enough to know what’s going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.
Welker called out the president’s claims.
“Just to be very clear, there’s no evidence of what you’re saying,” she said.
“There’s a lot of evidence,” Trump said. “Listen to me…There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.”
“Well, it’s not been presented in a court of a law,” Welker said.
“The election was rigged,” Trump claimed. “It was a dirty election. And it’s happening again right now in California.”
“Do you have evidence to support that?” Welker asked.
“All I have to do is look,” Trump said.
“But that’s not evidence,” Welker replied.
BONUS: NBC has compiled all the president’s lies: “Fact-checking Trump’s interview with NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press’”
Today’s Talking Feds Podcast
Harry talks with former Senator Barbara Boxer, Glenn Thrush, (and me) to make sense of the sudden Republican restiveness, Graham Platner's latest scandal, and Trump's "scariest” appointment yet. Is California’s slow vote counting giving the DOJ an opening to claim election abuses? Will Platner doom Democrats’ hopes of what Charlie says should’ve been a “layup” win over Susan Collins? Can Congress finish off Trump’s slush fund? And why is everyone ignoring Trump’s audit-free guarantee—the most obviously self-enriching part of his corrupt settlement?
1
I wrote about Ken Paxton here:
In the end, this was the qualification that mattered to Trump:
Ken Paxton would be willing to break the law for Trump; John Cornyn might not.
Ken Paxton would provide cover for any act of corruption Trump might commit; John Cornyn might not.2
And most important: If needed, Ken Paxton would join any Trump coup attempt; John Cornyn might not.
In other words, Trump was looking for a henchman, not a statesman. And he found the whole package in Paxton.
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