It is hard to be on left-leaning social media and not hear the panic screams directed at Congressional Democrats for not "doing something" amidst the chaos and corruption bursting forth from the reactor breach within the administration. As for actually stopping or holding up the legislation powering through all three MAGA branches, one can somewhat sympathize with Democratic pols, given how little they can do under our form of government.

But Democrats can and must fire back when holding the floor in oversight, especially during committee hearings going out to screens everywhere. And on that issue, we see signs of life — and none too soon.

Speculating on the basis for President Donald Trump's political and personnel moves is done only at one's peril. The man's mind, always a complex mix of paranoia, confidence, and confusion, is never linear, always leveraged, all in his personal favor.

Despite that reality, it is gravely important to speculate on the reasons that Trump would take on virtually the entirety of the GOP Senate Caucus to install Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), doing so after pulling Pulte's original nomination to quell GOP outcry — in favor of the more experienced Jay Clayton.

Obviously, this is not our first warning; indeed, Donald Trump's response to the Michigan Democratic primary fits a pattern that goes back years and will certainly progress through the general election this Fall. But hearing him rail away in theory doesn't shake the spine like seeing it in practice. And for real, it appears as though Trump is putting in serious practice time in Michigan and elsewhere, ready for gameday this fall.

As has been noted here for months, voters are furious over the state of the nation, and that goes for both Left and Right, though most on the Right can't bring themselves to lay their anger at the feet of the man almost solely responsible for the inflation, wars, and healthcare cuts fertilizing that anger. The Reds are most certainly willing to oust incumbents, witness Cornyn, Massie, among others.

A lot of Democratic nominees for elections this fall just "don't get it" — voters are angry, and candidates better learn to meet those voters where they are — or lose a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

By every measure, this should be a blue wave election of historic proportions (momentarily set aside fears of an election canceled, one being run by the military — all legitimate fears, but not relevant for this discussion). First, the president's party nearly always loses seats in the mid-term election, and the Republicans don't have seats to lose in the House. The supposedly safe seats in the Senate look less safe by the day. Second, President Donald Trump is polling at a near 36% approval rate, and that number may be very soft. Many MAGAs are too embarrassed to say they disapprove of Trump. Inwardly, they are breaking.

This column grimly spent a spring predicting a dark summer of possible chaos and violence, an administration on the move, power grabs at every turn, one preparing for an unpredictable but authoritarian fall season. We would endure a lot of hot weather, late nights, some dangerous dynamics, and Kalshi had odds at 40% that Portland would be ashes by June 15th.

This worry followed protests in Minnesota, the fear of troops coming to Chicago, and everything else you surely remember. Well, the heat came to the East Coast. But nothing else, not yet.

Hey, here's a thing. Donald Trump, the United States President, aged 80, managed yet again to go full North Korea "Glorious Leader" and win his golf club's championship for the 43rd straight time. Our full-time golf pro and part-time president tweeted: "The Winning Shot in the Bedminster Club Championship! ... so honored... I’m given very little time to practice, because I’m focused on many other things. It’s called TALENT, and I have it, and they don’t!”

An adult tweeted that. Really.

Yes, we are all aware of the fact that irony died a tragic death by suicide sometime late in 2016, and yet its ghost still haunts the Trump administration, dragging chains heavy enough to compel a theoretical physicist to declare the "spirit" is alive — and not at all well.

On Thursday, news broke that the technician Donald Trump has used to load his teleprompter before major speeches had made $100,000 on Kalshi — the internet betting site where, yes, you can gamble on who wins the World Cup (Argentina at 42%) or even how many times President Donald Trump will say "Iran" during his evening speech.

We have all become so hypnotized, desensitized, bored, angered, and abused by President Donald Trump that at this point, it's far more productive to point to what Trump won't do, won't say, than all he will.

On Thursday evening, Trump meant to bring the country to a standstill with a presidential address, something normally reserved for Space Shuttle explosions, 9-11, or the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. In a country at war with Iran, at war with inflation, warring against wages and underemployment, and mostly at war with itself, Trump talked about the only issue that moves him: how the world perceives him day to day.