It is interesting to see what happens when Donald Trump knows he’s going to lose. House Republicans were about to defy the president, one of the few times ever, by voting to release the Epstein files. For months, Trump has tried everything to keep the files locked up, including keeping the House out of session for two months! When that ended, he summoned wavering Republicans to the White House to be strong-armed by his staff. By the weekend it didn’t take a political savant to see that Trump was going to lose, with dozens of Republicans defecting and joining Democrats in their vote to release the files. So, instead of admitting defeat, the president has given his very late-to-the-table blessing. Well, blessing may be a reach. He completely caved, but posted on social media, “The House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.” One wonders what that point is. One of the biggest takeaways from Trump’s about-face is that it is the first time this term he capitulated to congressional pressure. Appeasing his angry base seems to be the order of the day. He also gave Tucker Carlson an attaboy for giving antisemitic white supremacist Nick Fuentes a large and friendly platform when he interviewed him. The possibility that whatever might be released has been sanitized by Trump’s Department of Justice is real. But the trove of Epstein documents released last week has been plenty revealing. Trump’s name appears 2,300 times according to an analysis by The Wall Street Journal. Trying to keep tabs on the ever-developing Epstein drama is a full-time job. But just so you know, there is more, much more, unfolding every day. The misadventures of the president and his enablers would be funny if it were not so dangerous to our national security. Unusually Large Military Build-up off of Venezuela To highlight his distaste for the Venezuelan leader and justify targeting alleged narco-terrorists in boats off the country’s coast, Trump ramped up the U.S. military presence in and around the South American country. The world’s largest and most expensive aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday to support Operation Southern Spear, which now includes 15,000 troops. According to The Washington Post, it is the biggest military presence in the Caribbean in decades. And a curious build-up if the stated goal is simply drug interdiction. Another explanation would be Trump wagging the dog, creating a diversion by manufacturing a crisis that he can then fix and allowing him to flex and crow about taking down the leader of a small country. Or it could be just about commandeering Venezuela’s oil. Terrorizing DHS Raid Yielded Few Results What you may not have heard about was the outcome of the performative raid, captured by news crews that were invited to cover it. The 300 agents who descended on the 130-unit apartment complex claimed the building was “filled” with members of Tres de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the Trump administration has designated a terrorist group. The claims about the gang were apparent justification for agents’ aggressive tactics, including knocking down doors and hurling flash grenades. White House advisor Stephen Miller, with his trademark hyperbolic distortions, claimed it was “one of the most successful law enforcement operations that we’ve seen in this country.” Thirty-seven people were detained. The Department of Homeland Security said they arrested two members of Tres de Aragua. ProPublica spoke with one of the two men arrested. He denies being a member of the gang and has no criminal record. The government has offered no evidence of his involvement with the gang. Criminal charges have not been filed against anyone taken in the raid. Multi-Million Dollar DHS Boondoggle The shoot was part of a new $220 million taxpayer-funded DHS advertising campaign Noem claims is vital to stemming the tide of illegal immigration. One can debate the necessity of this vanity project, but the real issue is who got the $220 million. To bypass the requirement of competitive bidding for a government contract, Noem invoked a “national emergency.” The company that ultimately “won” the contract was created just days before the deal was finalized. ProPublica found that the company is attached to a Republican consulting firm called the Strategy Group that has close ties to Noem and several DHS colleagues. The CEO of the Strategy Group happens to be the husband of Noem’s chief spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin. Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign operative and a current Noem advisor, has worked extensively with the firm. In normal times Noem’s brazen conflict of interest would be investigated by the DHS inspector general. Don’t hold your breath. The current inspector general was found to have committed misconduct by an independent watchdog group, but Trump appointed him anyway. Hosting a Murderer at the White House According to the CIA and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and critic of the Saudi government, was assassinated by Saudi agents at the behest of the Crown Prince. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Trump organization, according to The New York Times, is said to be in talks with the Saudis about another Middle East real estate deal that would make all the Trumps even wealthier. … As The Economy Keeps Getting Worse There are a lot of reasons for the rise, not least of which is tariffs. The president seems to have gotten the message from voters that affordability is a big and growing problem. To address it he is cutting some tariffs on some food from some countries. He is proposing rolling back tariffs to make groceries more affordable after saying tariffs don’t cause price increases. Analysts, however, say this won’t do much to curtail prices. Take coffee, one of the commodities for which he’s rolling back tariffs, specifically beans imported from Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador, and Guatemala. But not much coffee comes from those countries. The United States imports 30% of its coffee from Brazil, which has a 50% tariff rate. A few other canaries in the economic coal mine: Home foreclosures are increasing — up 17% year to date. While visits to McDonald’s among low-income diners are down by double digits. It is so bad at McDonald’s that the company is bringing back its $5 value meals and subsidizing the cost. The president is floating a few other wacky economic options like allowing for 50-year mortgages and sending every American a $2,000 tariff dividend. Neither will make the cost of milk more affordable. They feel like desperate measures from an increasingly desperate man. A desperate man with the powers of the modern American presidency is an especially dangerous one. |
