Donald Trump’s nominees to fill the top posts in his second administration are such a ridiculous assortment of crackpots that it is weirdly comical. Rather than making appointments to these crucial positions with competence and experience in mind, Trump seems to have grabbed for his team a gaggle of unqualified minor right wing celebrities that randomly caught his attention on Fox News.
To run the Health and Human Services Department Trump has picked a a famous name — the anti-vaccine, anti-fluoride oddball Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
For attorney general, Trump wants Matt Gaetz, a bomb-throwing congressman with scant legal experience who was being investigated for sex trafficking by the very Justice Department he would be heading if confirmed for the job.
To oversee the nation’s intelligence agencies, Trump has put forward a conspiracy-obsessed ex-congressman, Tulsi Gabbard, who has a disturbing penchant for parroting Russian propaganda.
Trump is also bringing back to the White House as his deputy chief of staff Steven Miller, once a weirdo high school kid with neo-fascist ideas who, as an adult, now has the power to inflict his twisted America First dogma on desperate immigrants and other “enemies of the people.”
And the list goes on.
Trump’s choices reflect his demand for absolute fealty and his pathetically simple-minded understanding of what it takes to run a government. Despite the laughable credentials of most of Trump’s nominees, though, the Republican-led Senate will certainly bow to their party leader and give Trump most of the people he wants. Yet, even in a GOP caucus packed with toadies, there may be at least a few senators who will not be able to stomach certain picks.
Gaetz is probably at the top of the non-starter list. Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “I do not see him as a serious candidate.” North Carolina’s GOP Sen. Tom Tillis was skeptical as well, saying it will take a lot of work to get 50 votes to confirm Gaetz. Kennedy and Gabbard are controversial choices who may run into roadblocks, too.
Still, Trump will eventually populate his carnival with most of the geeks of his choice, so take a seat as the curtain rises on the scariest political freak show this country has ever seen.
Send in the clowns…
On Saturday night, Barbra Streisand took the stage at New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time in 13 years, and she didn’t miss the opportunity to get deeply political. Never one to shy away from sharing her political beliefs on stage, Streisand took the president to task in a parody version of Stephen Sondheim’s classic torch song “Send in the Clowns” from A Little Night Music.
“It’s hard for me to contain myself,” she began, before launching in the song, saying, “This kind of goes like this.” Streisand changed the lyrics from “Send in the Clowns” to “Who is this Clown?” and specifically referenced numerous controversies surrounding Donald Trump and his administration, including his refusal to release his tax returns.
“He says he’s rich/Maybe he’s poor/Till he reveals his returns, who can be sure? Who is this clown?” she revised the opening lines of the song to go. “Something’s amiss/I don’t approve/Now that he’s running the free world, where can we move?/Maybe a town, just who is this clown?”
Streisand didn’t rewrite the whole ballad, only three verses, but she concluded by bringing the audience in on her parody. “Is this his art of deal or some awful joke?/You’ve got to admit/This fraudulent twit/Is so full of — ” she sang, before pausing to allow the audience to chime in with the natural rhyme (“s–t”). She recorded the original version of “Send in the Clowns” for 1985’s The Broadway Album.
Reports suggest Streisand also had accompanying imagery on the video screen, including an image of the White House with a circus tent over at, and one of Trump in clown make-up, altering his Time magazine 2016 Person of the Year cover to feature him with a red nose and the words “clown of the year.”
Streisand concluded her political lambasting by saying, “That was meant to be a funny song, but what’s going on just isn’t very funny because it would take me all night long to recite all 11,000 lies. But there’s a line by Oscar Wilde that describes this person — and the line is, ‘He’s a man who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.’”
[continues]
for the traditional and more emotional rendition, here she is again 4 years ago
bill a bit more critical of dems than usual
Did you see Elon’s recent post? Put that much money behind that much crazy and we may have a problem.
Luv that Wilde quote, had never thought to apply it to Pumpkin… “He’s a man who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
President Biden needs to issue full pardons, preemptive and otherwise, to Hunter, Liz Cheney, Adam Kitzinger, Fanni Willis, the Obamas, the Harris/Emhoffs, Jack Smith, E Jean Carrol, Jimmy Kimmel, judges doing their jobs, and anyone else tRUMPsky may seek revenge (aka “justice” in MAGAt world).
Biden is POTUS, so he should be immune from everything, but in case the SCOTUS decision doesn’t have a grandfather clause, he should preemptively pardon himself.
God save America, but POTUS Joe is gonna have to save some folks, too.
jamie, could be this is his first step toward king – 1st of the usa then the world.
have a feeling elon’ll run into some trouble in the quest when it comes to Mssrs XI & Kim. vlad, like DOTUS, can be bought.
Trump may not tolerate Elon and his “alpha high IQ” persona for too much longer. We know the great pumpkin isn’t a member of MENSA, so he will have to dispense with anyone who actually could get through MIT who isn’t his uncle.
i’ve been a day on BlueSky, really like it. Works just like twitter/X but without Elon’s force feeding of right wing propaganda. And they have a nifty way to transfer followers so that you can more or less start out with the base community you had on X.
“U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his cabinet picks, they tell Reuters.
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his secretary of state pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe.
Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.
“We are very disappointed,” he said.
“It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
Those not born here may have more to worry about than Gaza. Some who voted for him will probably be denaturalized and deported.
Have never had a Xitter, not about to now. But might give Blue Sky a try. Thanks, Craig and y’all.
The first Trump administration sparked waves of public activism and aggressive media coverage. This time, not so much.
I agree with you, BID, though it may do no good. Donald will wipe away any vestiges of the law as we know it and become a law unto himself. Just like Putin. Just like America voted for.
“U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump…”
…were stupid and gullible.
As a long time Trump watcher I’ve got to say beware the chance these outrageous nominations and threats to ignore Senate confirmations could end in him backing off so that everyone says ‘oh look he’s actually reasonable’.
Believe who is, Craig.
Anything can happen between now and January 6th; between J6 and January 20th.
Never seen the parking lot of the National Guard armory so full as it was this morning.
I’m getting Philippines under Marcos vibes to crush protests.
Good thing the People’s March is on January 18th, while Biden is still POTUS. He may be the last US POTUS, as there may never be actual elections, again.
*fixed my date typo
People’s March is January 18, two days before Inauguration.
“Elon Musk’s ties with China could harm his relationship with Donald Trump and therefore his position in the Cabinet, experts have told Newsweek.
The president-elect has nominated prominent China hawks Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz to be secretary of state and national security adviser respectively in a signal of his hostile approach to the country. He has also threatened to slap 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese exports to the United States, and to sanction Chinese electric cars being built in Mexico to sidestep tariffs, as well as eliminate more of Beijing’s remaining trade privileges, possibly igniting a trade war with the country.
“Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” Trump said in September in Flint, Michigan. He also claimed imposing tariffs is necessary due to the $800 billion trade deficit the U.S. has with China.
In contrast, Musk—whose company Tesla has “gigafactory” in Shanghai, building cars for the Chinese domestic market as well as Australasia—has been careful not to criticize the Chinese Communist Party.
“China rocks,” he said on the Automotive News’ Daily Drive podcast in 2020. He also congratulated the CCP on its 100th anniversary and was even once offered permanent residency in China.“
Go!!! Maybe Adolf will denaturalize Elon and deport him to South Africa…or China…or Russia…or Iran. Elon has his fingers in a lot of pies.
Our local politicians have defended what they’ve tried to do for the past 2 years by now saying, “The results of the election have proved that what we were trying to do is what the election has revealed that people really want. While the “Ottawa Impact” candidates no longer hold the majority as county commissioners, Republicans still have an 8-1 majority over the lone Democrat. The new non-Ottawa Impact commissioners haven’t really disavowed the things the Ottawa Impact-backed commissioners did or tried to do. They basically have said they agreed with a lot of what they said, just didn’t agree with how they went about doing what they did.
Just came across this clip I had saved. Me and Don Imus chatting about nothing 12 years ago..
“Gaetz introduced legislation in 2023 that would eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a $1.6 billion agency tasked with regulating firearm dealers and helping fight gun crimes.
“There is no timeline in which the ATF, under any administration, would become an ally. It needs to go,” Gaetz said in a February 2023 floor speech. “We need to abolish the ATF before they abolish our Second Amendment rights.”
It’s gonna be the Wild West out on the streets.
what does one call a comment on bluesky? a “flutter” or a “flit”? maybe “tweet” still applicable for such communications, particularly since the same guy that created twitter created bluesky according to this:
segue to a little light music… and boy do I miss the usual saturday contributions from sturge: his music, stories and sheer fun with wordplay.
“skeets’ makes sense to me
For Secretary of Energy Trump picks the billionaire Fracking buddy he was always raving about at rallies, Chris Wright. We can pretty much quit arguing about climate change.
‘I’m afraid any chance at holding the globe below irreparable danger was hanging on a thread even before this election. It’s dead now with the election of the world’s most notorious climate change denier”
— Bill Weir, CNN Climate Correspondent
skyline x tweets = skeets
I like “flutters, whoever suggested it.
Flitter.
(just kidding)
If unqualified mattgaetz makes it through the gates he will still not be “running” the doj. He’ll be running from all the underlings donald appoints to keep him no more than a figurehead.
Trump also announced this week that he would appoint three of his criminal defense lawyers to top DOJ posts — TODD BLANCHEasdeputy AG, the second-highest-ranking official in the department;EMIL BOVEas principal associate deputy AG, essentially deputy to the deputy; andDEAN JOHN SAUERashead of the solicitor general’s office, which represents the federal government before the Supreme Court.
“…former President Donald Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, as the Republican nominee has repeatedly criticized her for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan during President Biden’s first year in office.
Trump’s announcement, and abrupt cancellation, five years ago of a meeting at Camp David with Taliban leaders, to highlight the role his deal with the Taliban played in the withdrawal.
Trump’s deal created a “virtually impossible” deadline and left “the Biden-Harris administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal — only a dangerous, costly mess.”
On Sept. 7, 2019, Trump tweeted that a meeting with the Taliban was canceled after a U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the terrorist group. Months later, in February 2020, Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban to pave the way for a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the end of that year, in exchange for guarantees from the Taliban that the country would not be used for terrorist activities.
However, Taliban attacks on Afghan forces continued. Trump’s former national security adviser H.R. McMaster called the deal a “surrender agreement with the Taliban” during a podcast interview.”
President Biden needs to issue pardons for all members of the military.
ps – Bone Spurs is just asking for it, and nobody would blame them.
Do y’all think Felon & Elon will try to get rid of BlueSky since their social media platforms are dying on the vine?
Are we ever going to be able to have nice things if Orange Adolf is installed as dictator?
Horsey’s op ed accompanying his ‘toon in The Seattle Times
there was more than the above about this performance back in 2019 according to entertainment weekly’s https://ew.com/music/2019/08/04/barbra-streisand-lambasts-donald-trump-send-in-the-clowns/
for the traditional and more emotional rendition, here she is again 4 years ago
bill a bit more critical of dems than usual
Did you see Elon’s recent post? Put that much money behind that much crazy and we may have a problem.
Luv that Wilde quote, had never thought to apply it to Pumpkin… “He’s a man who knows the price of everything, but the value of nothing.”
President Biden needs to issue full pardons, preemptive and otherwise, to Hunter, Liz Cheney, Adam Kitzinger, Fanni Willis, the Obamas, the Harris/Emhoffs, Jack Smith, E Jean Carrol, Jimmy Kimmel, judges doing their jobs, and anyone else tRUMPsky may seek revenge (aka “justice” in MAGAt world).
Biden is POTUS, so he should be immune from everything, but in case the SCOTUS decision doesn’t have a grandfather clause, he should preemptively pardon himself.
God save America, but POTUS Joe is gonna have to save some folks, too.
jamie, could be this is his first step toward king – 1st of the usa then the world.
have a feeling elon’ll run into some trouble in the quest when it comes to Mssrs XI & Kim. vlad, like DOTUS, can be bought.
Trump may not tolerate Elon and his “alpha high IQ” persona for too much longer. We know the great pumpkin isn’t a member of MENSA, so he will have to dispense with anyone who actually could get through MIT who isn’t his uncle.
i’ve been a day on BlueSky, really like it. Works just like twitter/X but without Elon’s force feeding of right wing propaganda. And they have a nifty way to transfer followers so that you can more or less start out with the base community you had on X.
My account at:
https://bsky.app/profile/craigcrawford.bsky.social
Hanging on to Twitter until all my favorite people migrate to Bluesky, but I am only posting there as
@jamie44.bsky.social
Oh yes Jamie I am not quitting X, too much fun trolling the trolls
Putin is celebrating his latest hire
today’s meme…
If you are on or going to try out BlueSky, here is me there – @pamsails.bsky.social
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/muslims-who-voted-trump-upset-by-his-pro-israel-cabinet-picks-2024-11-15/
“U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his cabinet picks, they tell Reuters.
“Trump won because of us and we’re not happy with his secretary of state pick and others,” said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump.
Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe.
Rexhinaldo Nazarko, executive director of the American Muslim Engagement and Empowerment Network (AMEEN), said Muslim voters had hoped Trump would choose cabinet officials who work toward peace, and there was no sign of that.
“We are very disappointed,” he said.
“It seems like this administration has been packed entirely with neoconservatives and extremely pro-Israel, pro-war people, which is a failure on the on the side of President Trump, to the pro-peace and anti-war movement.”
Those not born here may have more to worry about than Gaza. Some who voted for him will probably be denaturalized and deported.
Have never had a Xitter, not about to now. But might give Blue Sky a try. Thanks, Craig and y’all.
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/15/trump-presidency-liberal-media-resistance-00189655?nname=politico-toplines&nid=0000018f-3124-de07-a98f-3be4d1400000&nrid=01720974-9002-4ad6-8741-a04dbcdc8420&nlid=2758340
I agree with you, BID, though it may do no good. Donald will wipe away any vestiges of the law as we know it and become a law unto himself. Just like Putin. Just like America voted for.
…were stupid and gullible.
As a long time Trump watcher I’ve got to say beware the chance these outrageous nominations and threats to ignore Senate confirmations could end in him backing off so that everyone says ‘oh look he’s actually reasonable’.
Believe who is, Craig.
Anything can happen between now and January 6th; between J6 and January 20th.
Never seen the parking lot of the National Guard armory so full as it was this morning.
I’m getting Philippines under Marcos vibes to crush protests.
Good thing the People’s March is on January 18th, while Biden is still POTUS. He may be the last US POTUS, as there may never be actual elections, again.
*fixed my date typo
People’s March is January 18, two days before Inauguration.
https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/742704/
His megalomania has taken a giant leap forward.
The disease always progresses until or unless there is an intervention.
https://www.newsweek.com/elon-musk-donald-trump-china-relations-1985900
“Elon Musk’s ties with China could harm his relationship with Donald Trump and therefore his position in the Cabinet, experts have told Newsweek.
The president-elect has nominated prominent China hawks Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz to be secretary of state and national security adviser respectively in a signal of his hostile approach to the country. He has also threatened to slap 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese exports to the United States, and to sanction Chinese electric cars being built in Mexico to sidestep tariffs, as well as eliminate more of Beijing’s remaining trade privileges, possibly igniting a trade war with the country.
“Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” Trump said in September in Flint, Michigan. He also claimed imposing tariffs is necessary due to the $800 billion trade deficit the U.S. has with China.
In contrast, Musk—whose company Tesla has “gigafactory” in Shanghai, building cars for the Chinese domestic market as well as Australasia—has been careful not to criticize the Chinese Communist Party.
“China rocks,” he said on the Automotive News’ Daily Drive podcast in 2020. He also congratulated the CCP on its 100th anniversary and was even once offered permanent residency in China.“
Go!!! Maybe Adolf will denaturalize Elon and deport him to South Africa…or China…or Russia…or Iran. Elon has his fingers in a lot of pies.
Here’s the link to who I am following on BlueSky.. https://go.bsky.app/PJt98Vx
Our local politicians have defended what they’ve tried to do for the past 2 years by now saying, “The results of the election have proved that what we were trying to do is what the election has revealed that people really want. While the “Ottawa Impact” candidates no longer hold the majority as county commissioners, Republicans still have an 8-1 majority over the lone Democrat. The new non-Ottawa Impact commissioners haven’t really disavowed the things the Ottawa Impact-backed commissioners did or tried to do. They basically have said they agreed with a lot of what they said, just didn’t agree with how they went about doing what they did.
Just came across this clip I had saved. Me and Don Imus chatting about nothing 12 years ago..
https://rollcall.com/2024/11/14/gaetz-as-lawmaker-sought-changes-in-justice-department-policy/
“Gaetz introduced legislation in 2023 that would eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a $1.6 billion agency tasked with regulating firearm dealers and helping fight gun crimes.
“There is no timeline in which the ATF, under any administration, would become an ally. It needs to go,” Gaetz said in a February 2023 floor speech. “We need to abolish the ATF before they abolish our Second Amendment rights.”
It’s gonna be the Wild West out on the streets.
what does one call a comment on bluesky? a “flutter” or a “flit”? maybe “tweet” still applicable for such communications, particularly since the same guy that created twitter created bluesky according to this:
X users jump to Bluesky – but what is it and who owns it?
from that BBC piece as of yesterday:
segue to a little light music… and boy do I miss the usual saturday contributions from sturge: his music, stories and sheer fun with wordplay.
“skeets’ makes sense to me
For Secretary of Energy Trump picks the billionaire Fracking buddy he was always raving about at rallies, Chris Wright. We can pretty much quit arguing about climate change.
— Bill Weir, CNN Climate Correspondent
skyline x tweets = skeets
I like “flutters, whoever suggested it.
Flitter.
(just kidding)
If unqualified mattgaetz makes it through the gates he will still not be “running” the doj. He’ll be running from all the underlings donald appoints to keep him no more than a figurehead.
https://www.politico.com/playbook
He might as well be sworn into office on a rubber stamp pad.
This guy is really funny, hadn’t heard of him. How many f****** eggs do people eat? https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8L9rHAe/
NBC: Trump to court martial officers involved in Afghan withdrawal. Including former Joint Chiefs chair Milley
NBC News: Trump to court martial officers involved in Afghan withdrawal, including former Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harris-campaign-trump-taliban-afghanistan-withdrawal/
“…former President Donald Trump’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, as the Republican nominee has repeatedly criticized her for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan during President Biden’s first year in office.
Trump’s announcement, and abrupt cancellation, five years ago of a meeting at Camp David with Taliban leaders, to highlight the role his deal with the Taliban played in the withdrawal.
Trump’s deal created a “virtually impossible” deadline and left “the Biden-Harris administration with zero plans for an orderly withdrawal — only a dangerous, costly mess.”
On Sept. 7, 2019, Trump tweeted that a meeting with the Taliban was canceled after a U.S. soldier was killed in an attack by the terrorist group. Months later, in February 2020, Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban to pave the way for a significant drawdown of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by the end of that year, in exchange for guarantees from the Taliban that the country would not be used for terrorist activities.
However, Taliban attacks on Afghan forces continued. Trump’s former national security adviser H.R. McMaster called the deal a “surrender agreement with the Taliban” during a podcast interview.”
President Biden needs to issue pardons for all members of the military.
ps – Bone Spurs is just asking for it, and nobody would blame them.
Do y’all think Felon & Elon will try to get rid of BlueSky since their social media platforms are dying on the vine?
Are we ever going to be able to have nice things if Orange Adolf is installed as dictator?
NEW THREAD by our Trail friend Jack