Jason Miciak

An assumption is floating around the electric internet that President Donald Trump doesn't worry much about his support in the heartland because he'll do what he does without regard to what people think, and he'll keep getting away with it as he always has. The view does carry some legitimacy. After all, in the last 150 years, there have only been three men who have carried out major terrorist attacks against the United States government: Osama Bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, and Donald Trump. Two on the list are dead; the other is president.

Safe to say, he gets away with a lot. The cool kidz on the Left will be the first to say that any or all action to fight this is pointless until he dies. But they're wrong.

History does show absolute dictators can reign into perpetuity without significant public support, Stalin and the North Koreans being the most prominent examples. But it's a much tougher trick to pull in the United States. Oh, and plenty of other seemingly insurmountable strongmen have fallen, too. Things change.

In March, this column began predicting the outlines of Trump's coming political demise. Understandably, many readers scoffed at the idea, primarily because there has been a nearly permanent expectation since 2017 that a scandal would erupt that even Trump couldn't contain and he'd fall within about three weeks, same as any other president with a similar scandal.

But that is not what was predicted.

Instead, one had to look at three things coming together at a particularly bad time, just short of the midterms. One, he already faced a tough economy, and scandals are far, far harder to endure when Americans are fuming about money. Second, he started the all-but-mandated Republican war in the Middle East without convincing anyone it was needed and without a plan to actually "win." And three, some people started to notice: "Hey? It kinda looks like this guy may be in it for the money."

No one likes feeling played.

Much more importantly, as noted time and again, nothing with Trump would happen overnight or even over a month. This would be a drip, drip, drip thing. And yet we're not here to analyze the next major poll proving the same, though they do. This is about the fallout from diving poll numbers leading to a problem that most certainly has brought down some of history's strongest strongmen — a staff that may be turning on him.

Time and again, one had to acknowledge that devastating division seemed impossible due to Chief of Staff Susie Wiles's deft practice of the political dark arts. She knew that a White House divided against itself cannot stand. Well, get ready for some division (and you were told there'd be no math), because the brats aren't just abandoning ship; they're trying to "talk" their way into lifeboats.

Talk in this context means "leak." How appropriate. Keeps the boat analogy going.

The most devastating leak yet came just this last week. As noted on this website, a senior official described as “close to Trump," someone in a position “of influence,” revealed that even those helming the bridge of the S.S. Trump are worried he's sinking to numbers lower than Natalie Harp's age. Said the source:

“He keeps saying he doesn’t want to become Herbert Hoover but then can’t stop acting like he wants to be Herbert Hoover. He really could sink to the high 20s, I think. I would not have thought that last year.”

The official then laughed and noted they needed anonymity or a trip to Siberia was in play. How funny. Glad the staff can morbidly enjoy the Putinesque aura; a whole lot of grandparent immigrants who've been here fifty years are now in a gulag themselves, and they don't find Trump's fascist tendencies funny.

How high was this source? Very, very high. Because as the original author, Zeteo’s Asawin Suebsaeng, noted: “I was genuinely surprised they’d cop to it! Despite his fascistic bullyboy tactics, this president is in a uniquely vulnerable position, and [they] need to be ready for that dam to finally break.”

Note the language. One doesn't get that way over a frustrated whine by a deputy press secretary in passing on the way home, or likely even the press secretary who is really on her way home. No, no. Just guessing here, but that kind of verbal bouquet only comes in response to maybe a communications director, maybe a cabinet member, maybe even a very frustrated chief of staff. Put it this way, Trump has finally jumped the Overton window of someone very close to him.

But the identity of the source matters less than the message. His inner circle realizes something needs to change fast, or they are headed to the high 20s — a number discussed here many times as equating to big trouble. Falling below one in three Americans symbolizes something important. Trump's approval rating was at 29% in the weeks after January 6th, back when nearly everyone hated him, feared COVID, and worried about the country. Remember the vibe then? It is that bad.

"Yes, but what does all this mean?" someone might ask. He is still going to interfere with the election. Still going to do what he wants to do. True, at least he's going to try.

But this strong a signal sure makes it easier for Democrats to win in a manner too big for him to rig. For sure, he might still just ignore Congress and tell everyone in the administration to ignore all subpoenas. He does not plan on letting "just a bunch of Democrat congress people (sic)" investigate him.

Except that doesn't work quite as well if you're polling in the high 20s. Indeed, that's a fast way to look worse and fall further. This is especially true if and when the GOP senses, "Even if this guy did still run again, or try to cancel the 2028 election somehow, he's not going to get away with it, making him the loudest, lamest quacking duck of all time." And for once, for once, Trump might have to answer to some Republicans in Congress.

After all, there's nothing indicating anything will get any better any time soon. Tax cuts for the rich don't work for the economy, never have, even if he gets out of the war, which he won't. And remember that third thing, the one about, "this guy looks like he's just in it for the money?" If anything, that's only accelerating, and people in Congress and on the Right are now acting like they're just starting to notice. Just wait until those same folks begin to realize that it's the next administration that can hurt them far more than this one, in any number of investigative ways.

The GOP has done everything it can to ensure permanent governance in Washington. And yet, as regular as a war in the Middle East, they've also driven the economy into the ground. (Remember "W's" last two years?) They've driven it into the ground before the stock market craters, propped up almost solely by big tech and their damned data centers. They've driven it into the ground before the really bad job numbers start to roll in as AI comes to a workplace near you, hopefully not on you. They have driven it down no matter how much they blame Joe Biden.

And up with that, America will not put.

That kind of economic climate is the type that drives Americans toward hope and change. And it gets even a bit worse this time; Americans won't want any "President Obama Mr. Nice Guy" stuff. Whether it is Newsom, Buttigieg, Beshear, AOC, or someone we've never heard of, the charge will be to clean it up, all of it, and Republicans know it. And many of them have gotten in while the gettin' was real good.

Something else is going to dawn on them, too, as numbers slide toward the high 20s and the White House cracks. Trump cannot simply pardon "Everyone that ever worked for me, voted for me, or said nice things about me."

There is no way the country is going to let Trump have a free runaround all the crimes eventually uncovered.

With each vague 'en masse pardon, the more fraudulent they all look, and the more prosecutors and courts might feel free to intervene somehow: perhaps state charges, perhaps something more complex. Republicans have most certainly had this thought in the back of their pointy heads for a while; it is just that they've never been bitten by betting on Trump. Not yet.

But the dynamic has never been tested when polling near Hooverville, below January 6th levels. As noted way back in March, the numbers matter; Republicans know it. Apparently, even the White House knows it. We do have tangible evidence; we are increasingly getting leaks that matter, more people are leaving, fewer are listening, and soon, far fewer Republicans will fear him.

It was never going to happen over three weeks, no matter how well-deserved. It was always going to be drip by drip. Feel free to take some comfort in the fact that it appears as though Trump seems to appreciate that the drip absolutely matters. Playing the role of Herbert Hoover fits: uncaring, sure of himself, Republican, and full steam ahead, iceberg be damned. He can't help himself. Never could.

Soon, no one else can or will either.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, past editor at Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, and attorney. He is also available for public speaking. Please follow on Bluesky. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com.

"Summer time."

Few phrases bring out the kid in all of us quite like it — no school, shorts and flip-flops, languidly lounging around lakes, novels so bad you can't put them down, flowers, vacation, vacation, vacation — all perhaps owing to why this time of year remains so special to so many.

For a man like Donald Trump, having a second presidential victory behind him, the entire GOP and a particular blonde in total subservience to him, billions in his bank account, the World Cup, the 250th, all the attention he can eat, and all the golf he can cheat in, this summer should be hot in a great way, the hottest summer ever, polls be damned.

And yet, no. This season has been a wind-whipped scorching presidential wildfire, burning through the last forested patches of goodwill, still not contained, fall still weeks ahead: a war he can't tweet away (Lord knows, he's tried), rising gas prices, rising all prices, dreadful data centers, failing electoral expectations, and, of particular note here, he's bug-bitten by scandals that itch red even through orange powder. Scandals that don't come close to rising to the level of Epstein and corruption have drawn disproportionate attention, and require more questions.

He should really appreciate that everyone moneyed and important enough to be on vacation is indeed so taken and unavailable to inquire about some of the weird stuff, questions that will sweat through his Sears suit. Unfortunately, our list here and now doesn't even involve matters of war and peace, prosperity versus poverty, or even those never-to-be-sufficiently-damned data centers. No, for now, we start with catering containers.

No, no one should care that the Secret Service pulled a serviceably secret trick in getting Trump safely out of Ankara in July — that's their job. We will even avoid some of the more troubling and legitimate ethical questions about using press members as decoys for possibly threatening Iranian missiles.

Instead, let's be the first to ask how it was that the President of the United States waved goodbye to all his close friends in NATO, walked the width of Air Force One straight into a catering cart, a cart large enough to hide six or seven people and, indeed, took a handful of people, and yet managed to leave the United States Secretary of State (Marco Rubio) and Treasury Secretary (Scott Bessent) back on the plane along with horrific Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, the equally horrific and foul-mouthed Communications Director Steven Cheung, and Michael Needham a Deputy National Security Director.

Fine, one supposes. They work for the president and must live with his decision.

But again, the container had room for officials in our Continuity of Government or "COG" plan, and instead, Trump picked Walt Nauta, Oval Office Chief (a new nebulous position), Dan Scavino (Deputy Chief of Staff, an old position), and Natalie Harp, aide (perhaps the oldest position). The White House also acknowledges a couple other lower-level personnel went. We can be sure one was the mil-aide, or the military staff person carrying the nuclear weapon football, and one other military-spook-body guard-type. The last two make sense; nothing else does.

Why?

Pretend this is a normal White House. Sit back and just consider the ramifications if the Iranians successfully downed the legacy Air Force One and the international chaos that would ensue. Four of the people the country would most need would be the Secretary of State, the Treasury Secretary, the Deputy National Security Advisor, and the White House Communications Director. With this White House, they would not have been available. Yet the ones close and friendly to Trump, would be.

Clearly, Donald Trump picked out who accompanied him on the hidden diversion. Just as clearly, it seems as though he picked out the people most loyal to him, country be damned. He picked those who do him the most favors, may know the most secrets, over those whom the country might need amidst a disaster. (Again, pretend this White House worked as others.)

We had some fun, but it's a very serious question that far too few are asking; perhaps many who otherwise would be asking are leisurely languishing on the beach or watching daughters run through the water spouts at the park.

Similar questions should be bandied about regarding this ballroom that we've all been banished into building. Yes, yes — indeed, Donald Trump has always loved opulence to a humiliating degree, loves being the center of attention amidst a large group, the type that pays $100,000 for dinner (and we may have just answered our own question), even loves being the mix-master, cranking out the hits, from Macho Man, to ICE ICE Baby, to James Brown “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” all the way to REM "Losing My Religion," ironic since his administrations have either drawn people closer to God or sent them running away.

But even given his famous self-pampering and obsession with luxury, our famously ADHD president can't concentrate on anything quite like he has with this ballroom — more than the plane, more than the patio, more even than golf... maybe. It is almost like his life depends on a ballroom that cannot possibly be completed with more than six months remaining in his term. But it's like the nation has taken a collective breath, noted, "it's Trump being Trump" and turned to take in the tide at sunset.

And that's unacceptable. It would be unacceptable even if Trump had not tweeted pictures of the ballroom essentially functioning as command and control of an entire army and air force. He says it's needed for protection and yet regularly golfs at clubs open to anything that flies, has the world's most sophisticated protection available already installed in the White House and stays at Mar-a-Lago, open to the sea.

Command and control of the military complex that is the legacy White House would be more critical were it not for the Pentagon, literally across the river, functioning both as the world's biggest office building and command and control of the entire U.S. military. Moreover, we all know there is a breathlessly complex set of deep tunnels leading in all directions except up beneath Washington, DC, a complex specifically designed to protect the president and top staff from nuclear war. (And you're naive if you don't think there's a tunnel directly from the Pentagon to the White House.)

And yet we're told we need an impenetrable ballroom battened down with even greater protection and functioning almost as its own military base? Why? And why does he even care? By the time it's built, he would likely only have six months left on his term, and it's not like him to care at all about... other presidents. Guesses as to the answer to that question are among the most disturbing ever considered by our press corps. It almost looks designed to prevent Americans from getting him out while staying in place, rather than him scurrying out somewhere else. We need answers. After all, we're buying it.

Last, we have a situation inescapably developing before our eyes, one an eight-year-old could note, begging for a direct question and follow-ups: Why is Trump appearing to fall asleep more regularly and more deeply at midday White House events?

Yes, we see and hear about tweets at 1:30 a.m., often offered as purported evidence of Trump's fitness and energy, and yes, a president should be awake, sober, and capable at any hour, but that includes mid-afternoon!

Most of us are sleepy right after lunch, but most of us are not president, and if it's that big an issue, most of us wouldn't have the run of the White House pharmacy at all hours and an ability to scream at a doctor, "I need something to stay awake!" This obvious issue also occurs concurrent with more frequent "physicals" at Walter Reed Medical Center, up from once a year to twice, along with those basic cognitive exams he continues to take.

Reporters have asked plenty of questions about the bruised hands, the cognitive tests, the physicals, but it looks like they fear their own egos might get bruised if they simply ask, "Why's he asleep so much? Dreaming of money?" Lord knows Biden sure got lit (Jake Tapper) for similar issues.

No there should not be an age cutoff for president, especially as modern medicine keeps all of us healthier, living better and longer.

Donald Trump knew what he was getting into as president, he knew he was old, he made a campaign issue out of "sleepy Joe" (who had cancer!) and here we are, without a reporter to directly ask: "The president appears to be falling asleep in meetings, it appears to be happening more often. Why?"

If it's an automatically redacted press pass, have an excited intern ask on their last day — plenty would likely volunteer. And yet in scouring the net, one cannot come up with a single example as to why the most obvious question goes unasked, never mind unanswered.

Maybe come fall. Everyone gets more serious after Labor Day, a holiday both loved dearly for what it is, despised for what it stands for, the end of summer; try wearing white again, freak. Americans face the dreary trek toward Thanksgiving, knowing the first thing on the "to do" list is all the stuff that didn't get done over the last three months. Surely, surely, all dogs in heaven gave us the gift of football to start that very same weekend so as to make the swing, proving they still love us.

Yes, there are more important questions. A judge has the Epstein files under review. Todd Blanche is already running free. HYPE crypto jumped 17-20% Wednesday when Trump, well, hyped it. Today, reporters must ask: Did the president, his sons, or his money managers buy HYPE crypto in the last week?

The louder they squeal, the longer they are... in HYPE, at least.

But as to the three above, well — figure out what Natalie Harp provides Trump that Marco Rubio wouldn't, ask exactly why Donald Trump seems so "invested" in a White House ballroom he'll have six months in, max. And, hey, why's that guy sleep so much?

Notice how freaked they get as reporters continually harp on Natalie? Well, see what happens when you lump all three together. Do it during Leavitt's replacement's first press conference. And remember, mistakes get made in a panic. One never knows what we might learn, and it's a long fall.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

Go back 35 years, and you see it. It's right there as part of the story, impossible to avoid. The man who used to go on Howard Stern's radio show to run down a list of women and grade them from one through 10, full body, definitely face and features, President Donald J. Trump would sputter out a number, "She's an 8.5, would be a nine or more if she weren't so flat," or something similarly as offensive as juvenile.

Decades later, and he's still at it; perhaps he's matured out of vocalizing the grade, but the women at the White House better bring the mandated look. Trump wants them ready for cameras and his eyes, always. It is now exhausting them into little leaks about the look he demands.

We all know the MAGA look; it's the only one available, that's the point. Without regard to the time of day or night, each one rolls through the White House makeup studio, where apparently they specialize in one style, the one the boss wants. The excuse is that if you work at that level, you better look the part.

To be somewhat just as cruel, he expects the same of the men and their suits, but it's far easier for men, and probably is really for the cameras and not the other lens in play.

In a Mail on Sunday report, multiple female White House staffers revealed the "draining" expectations put on women working in Trump's orbit. And that the toll might be driving the otherwise most talented women out the door (talent for lying, snarkiness, mean girl stuff). Sure, sure, the boss demands they be camera-ready: "Those glossy smiles and immaculate clothes are, of course, what the outside world sees."

But this isn't that, because the real problem lies within the White House. The report notes what we all know: the cloud of disgusting misogyny that formed over the man who bragged about walking through the Miss Teen USA pageant remains, despite the fact that we hear very little news about the battles we assume are going on in the White House — battles that seem all but inevitable and yet remain protected by a moat-like silence regarding the experience of being a woman around a guy that bragged about grabbing intimate parts.

True. The inexplicable silence has one loud exception, and it might make up for the lack of lingering issues threatening to blow the dump... (The symbolism in every sentence just can't be intentional, can it?). There is the ever-present Natalie Harp, and ever-present is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. The world has known of this weirdness for a while, but it took the New York Times' Maggie Haberman to take it to the next level when she said: "[Harp] is sort of his binky, for lack of a better way of putting it."

Everyone huddle up. Not one word on where to take that, begging for analogies, hilarious double entendre; everyone, just turn around and suppress all the screaming symbolism, and simply acknowledge that we need not know anything more. Because we already know that Harp happens to be a blonde bombshell attached at the hip of this particular man. Given what we suspect, we can be sure what such a situation would do to any marriage. Even something purely platonic would result in a plain service of papers from a partner.

Wave it aside because Harp never seems bothered by the opportunity. She's unquestionably a capable adult as opposed to some other "leaks" we've heard from decades ago, and she never seems to be blinking in Morse code to get her out. She actually looks elated.

Fine.

But most women are not, and despite the fact that we have about as much empathy for anyone working to advance this administration's agenda as they have for us, none, it's still worth examining.

Why? The women knew what they were getting into. But it matters anyway because if a man and then men surrounding him create such an environment, imagine what they think of the women in this country who are coming home from work, kissing their partners, and running the kids to swim lessons wearing an Eddie Bauer Sweater and Levi's. They don't count. True, to the Republicans in power, no Democrat counts — but there's a special disdain for strong women going about their lives, worried far less about their looks than their legitimacy as empowered equals.

But policy after policy put forth by this president degrades American women's role and environment. Let's start with the most obvious: Trump and Hegseth refusing to promote deserving women to general or admiral rank in the military, women far too concerned with protecting the nation, teaching their troops, plotting strategy, to worry about Botox injections and $250 hair.

Immediately following Trump's inauguration, he simply assumed that any woman who had earned a place in the government's vast bureaucracy, the people whose work made the government work, were hired to fill quotas and fired them.

Of course, there is even more in-your-face stuff (literally) in appointing judges fiercely fighting anything that could be called abortion even as the mother lay dying on an operating table. And Trump oversaw the indefensible change to Title IX in 2020, making it far harder for young women everywhere to bring sexual harassment claims on campus, requiring more evidence, raising the burden of proof.

Now that one sure overlaps with what we hear about the environment in the White House, with halls of horrors for women specifically chosen for a role that all but demands sexual harassment, or at least offensive expectations, which, because of the spread to women throughout the nation, we can abhor.

But there may be limits because it sounds like the first team, the varsity, the most sexually appealing (to Trump), loyal, and maddeningly competent are crashing and cashing out, none more prominent than Karoline Leavitt. As my co-columnist John Casey noted, none of us can blame her; she has two beautiful babies at home and a beautiful income with which to support them. It's a minor miracle she lasted this long.

But she's not the only one. The Daily Mail notes the departure of Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson and Director of Media Affairs Sonny Joy Nelson. But the tenor of the article is such that it feels like several underlings have left, with more to follow. From the outside, that may be a good thing: the first string, the most effective and most striking, the type that can dependably implement these horrific policies may soon be gone, replaced by equally exquisite MAGA melting personnel, priority one, but likely lessers in everything else.

Let's leave with this. One of the most remarkable features of Trump White House Part Two has been the silence regarding palace intrigue. Yes, books have been written about the actual implementation of duties, accompanied by some juicy details. But in an environment that simply must be bursting with toxic testosterone, it's been weirdly quiet.

But news of the utter exasperation accompanying Leavitt's leaving has cracked the door. The leaks didn't squeeze themselves. And for Haberman to feel comfortable assessing Natalie Harp as... Trump's binky, well, it says a great deal about a woman's place around Trump: less advising, more soothing. A man would be an essential aide. Not Harp.

If Harp is having a blast... my word, if she's fine with it, fine. But for the other women called in at 6 a.m. on a Saturday, having to toss the sweater aside for the makeup chair and wardrobe for the most real television show in the history of reality TV, well, they certainly can't say that they're enduring extra abuse. They endure far less than many women around the country.

Meanwhile, Leavitt left her mark, having never worn an even moderately loose outfit in her entire tenure. But for the most prominent White House voice under "his" voice, vociferously attempting to validate ridding the nation of DEI and Title IX, to now go home to two babies with all the wealth needed to never be nervous, something incredibly rare for most women in this country seems offensive.

But without regard to anything else, especially the decimation of women's rights in this country, the right to be free of sexual harassment — never enduring a comment about a nice body, joking about heels, begging she bend over, and so much worse — it's wrong in the White House, and like a virus, spreads disgustingly from there.

White House staffers have the option to leave. Daughters headed off to college don't. It took this long to leak? It better take a lot less time for women everywhere to yell far and wide about everything unacceptable.

All the way down to 18-year-olds in their Levi's and sweaters, formerly protected by Title IX, but drawing Trump's eyes now for 30 years.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com.

Horrifically underqualified and monstrous Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth should never have been confirmed by the Senate. Even Mitch McConnell, along with Lisa Murkowski and a "concerned" Susan Collins, voted no. Mitch almost always votes party first, but not this time. Now, every other Republican senator and Donald Trump are on the hook for allowing Hegseth's mismanagement to all but kill our brave and committed sailors.

On November 21 last year, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln set sail from San Diego to the Middle East, prepared for war as it always is, but unaware of the oncoming issue with Iran, one that began February 28 of this year. Thus it is that the first shots fired from aircraft based on the Lincoln occurred three months into its deployment, or roughly halfway before it would normally be scheduled to return to San Diego for rest, relief, repair, and restocking.

Now, someone in the Defense Department, and surely Hegseth as the ultimate authority, should have, the moment Trump ordered the military to unleash hell on Iran, made clear in the Pentagon, "Well, now we have to absolutely get ready to deal with the Lincoln as it approaches six months, maybe extend a month, but definitely have options there to get it back at that point. We need another one ready asap."

That only makes sense. And yet apparently no one did.

Perhaps even less defensible, reports state that not only is the carrier still at war — not just on duty, but war — nine months into this assignment, but has also been woefully undersupplied for months, a violation of an absolutely sacred duty. If you simply must have those sailors serve their country due to the inescapable aspects of war, with the action taking much longer than envisioned, then it is incumbent upon the richest nation to ever grace the planet, the one that spends well over a trillion a year on the Defense Department, to restock the massive floating city, at the very, very least.

And yet not only is the ship needing repairs, stinking more than usual due to lack of maintenance regarding plumbing issues, among many others, but the food is running out at a rate that is becoming unsafe. Taken all together, the assignment, the stress, and the lack of care have all led to the worst problem: the exceedingly dangerous environment now causing severe mental health concerns, concerns so undeniable that it is unforgivable that Hegseth still serves in his position.

At least one sailor was rescued after jumping overboard, and others have come close to trying.

As reported by the Military Times, "Annabelle Loma has spoken with her husband only a few times since he attempted to jump overboard from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during his current deployment." It is heartbreaking: "He’s scared. He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right."

No, it's not. And it wouldn't be right if he was the only one, except he's not.

Thirteen years in, having built up significant retirement accounts and skills, taken away due to serious illness? Horrific to consider. (An illness is an illness; mental illness is now accepted as real, debilitating, and not a "fault.")

In yet another incident, a sailor on watch saw a shipmate preparing to go overboard, and intervened. The on-the-spot hero "called out to the sailor before reaching the individual and grabbing their arms, pulling them onto the deck." Three others heard the commotion and came running to help. We are so thankful help was there.

It might be even worse because the Navy won't release the number of suicide attempts or serious self-harm incidents. Given we know of at least three, the silence regarding the total number might indicate an even bigger problem. All but unbelievable.

Families have been calling the Navy in fury, terrified of the stress inundating their loved ones and the sailors' degrading mental and physical health. Few of them complain — tough families — but some of them must also be endangered themselves due to the worry about their family member as well as their own stress living without them.

Unacceptable. Outrageous. And, again, unforgivable.

But the Navy has a fix on the way! Except maybe not. It is preparing the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a carrier to relieve the Lincoln. But the Navy has not provided a timeline, citing operational security.

Nonsense. "Operational security?" There is an aircraft carrier patrolling the area. Announcing when the replacement is coming means nothing about nothing to Iran. It is not like the new carrier has double super secret tricks to win the war. And even if it did, telling the Iranians it's on the way might help bring an end to everything.

Those of us who've never been on anything bigger than a bass boat have enough common sense to know that if the Navy is dealing with suicide attempts, there are many other moderate-level mental illness concerns that need evaluation. Other problems extend right on down to running out of sandwiches and blocked toilets, and they don't even know the date on which they'll get relief, nor when these problems might get fixed, even at sea.

In other words, the situation is not getting better any time soon.

People need to lose their jobs over this. But Hegseth, the man ultimately in charge, is apparently too busy firing brown people, women, and members of our LGBTQ community. Evidently, he doesn't have time to address any of this. He is the one who needs to be thrown overboard, so to speak.

There are very few presidential and Cabinet-level duties that by nature rise to the degree as to be called sacred. And this critical duty surely must encompass taking the best care of our active military members and veterans suffering from related issues. When the price of just one B-2 Stealth Bomber is $2.1B, the fact that the ship lacks even some of the most basic supplies offends those of us who lack the bravery to even serve.

Nearly everyone reading this column who, upon learning that some crew members were getting half a cup of rice and two tortillas as "meals," and having a trillion-dollar budget at our disposal, would order 24-hour shifts and full speed ahead until a supply ship or ships plural set sail to at least relieve the food situation.

"But we don't have any ships available, sir."

"Then buy one! I want a ship, find one, buy one, rent one, steal one, just a regular big cargo ship. And then fill it. I don't care if you have to make the biggest Costco run in history; get the stuff. I don't care if we have to do an airlift with a dozen planes to Qatar and dock for 24 hours to load it. If it's not done by Friday, no one needs to come in Monday because they're already terminated."

Everyone reading this would surely make the same order. But on Wednesday, Hegseth was busying himself in Panama, speaking at the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition (“Shield of the Americas”) forum. While our sailors at war are becoming severely mentally ill, perhaps partly due to running out of food and a newsworthy stench due to a newsworthy plumbing issue, Hegseth's mind was on gunning down drug runners delivering whatever, as if those bombs will solve anything.

How difficult would it be to say to "someone" at the Pentagon? "Find 50 plumbers in Virginia, draft them into temporary service with very good pay, fly them to Qatar, and helicopter them to the ship. Fix it to at least show we care about the sailors enough to fix that issue."

Instead, he also found time to yank the security clearance from Frank Kendall, President Biden's Air Force Secretary, perhaps for complaining about how this administration manages this war.

This one is easy. This is entirely on Hegseth, and since he has had ample notice of the problem — that carrier dinghy has been out there nearly nine months, ample time to come up with solutions — we've almost lost some of our best people, not from an Iranian bomb, but due to stress, depression, and other mental illness concerns. Trump needs to fire Hegseth yesterday.

And because Trump likely won't, despite being the Commander in Chief and being the one truly at the top to order this fixed — without doing so, he needs to be fired, too. That won't happen. He won't be fired despite worrying more about the useless "battleships" named after him than getting some sirloins, baked potatoes, and Cesar salad to our sailors, or at least cheeseburgers, fixing the toilets, getting one of our other 10 (!) carriers to the region, and diagnosing life-threatening illnesses of our sailors, physical or mental. They should be flying them home for treatment no different than had they lost a leg in combat, with no different consequences.

Managing military strategy and deployment can often seem so complicated as to be beyond comprehension. This isn't one. This seems like one any reader can fix. The only requirement is the empathy needed to solve the situation.

Hegseth apparently doesn't care enough. It is time to put him through some stress concerning a job, be fired for dereliction of duty or reckless endangerment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice if done through the Pentagon, or at least fined for one of the biggest OSHA violations of all time if a civil matter.

Our expectations are never higher than when the duty is sacred. Such a matter requires the most sensitive of study, the most intense focus on resulting problems, the commitment to go insane themselves, and screaming at people to fix this or they be the ones discharged. Such a person must also have the ability to talk to families, assure them they care, that the matters will be addressed immediately, and apologies extended.

Simply unforgivable. The easiest case for termination ever.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, and he appreciates comments or thoughts below.

One of the most worrisome signs coming into Trump's second administration was that he right off named Susie Wiles as Chief of Staff. Wiles is a lot of things, including an unrepentant and cynical supporter of the most corrupt and incompetent president in history, but she is most certainly not incompetent. Indeed, her mastery of the political dark arts is best proven by the almost non-existent turnover within this oil spill of a White House.

That lack of turnover even within this hall of horrors has proven invaluable at the podium of the press room, as Karoline Leavitt has mastered a mix of precocious genius with mean girl petulance in navigating the barrage of scandals in Trump's wake. Leavitt, like Wiles, remains essential to Trump's stability. Unlike Wiles, Leavitt still constitutes a risk, despite her MAGA magnificence, especially headed into the midterms.

Anyone doubting Leavitt's ability and importance need only revisit the roll call: Spicer, Huckabee-Sanders, Grisham the Ghost, and Kayleigh McEnany — that's four in four years, all four with serious weaknesses. Leavitt's already double-tapped them all, despite a devastating dearth of experience starting at just 27 years of age. To that point, Leavitt's primary accomplishments in life included marrying way up to a rich guy 30 years older than her and losing a bid for Congress.

And yet here she still is. Given the past record, one would have given her six months as the over/under, and yet, from Trump's point of view, she's excelled. But is it possible that he will soon regret not going with someone more experienced? Very possible.

As to how she's managed to stick, some of it is as easy to pin as obvious. Wiles's wily ability to handle things behind the scenes gives Karoline a major advantage. There is far less drama than in Trump's previous White House, resulting in fewer back-stabbing leaks for Karoline to navigate. Second, Kay-Mac already set the standard for the "pretty and petty blonde" who has a little too much fun tossing juvenile insults at the most adult of reporters, the ones challenging her, giving MAGA the giggles they crave. And third, the factor most relevant here, things have not gone all that badly from Trump's point of view.

He's rich, free, and alive, all at the same time. What more could a fast-aging, crime-committing Trump as president want? With a GOP Congress, scandals get swatted away as inside jokes. Until the Iranian War, he had almost nothing to worry about — Epstein would get properly buried (he was sure). Relative to what could be, Leavitt's term has been downright languid.

So far.

Keep that third one in mind — things going okay — because that's the one that is subject to change, indeed is changing, and it's now when Leavitt's lack of experience, snippy and snarky demeanor, and utter callousness to American suffering may bite her, and thus him, at the worst possible time.

Because things are not okay, and that plain fact is validated more by the Republicans in the Senate lately, far above our Democrats, who, for all their action, may as well be reading a John Grisham novel from the cheap seats as all this goes by. The GOP, now squarely staring at the midterms, at least notices that the Iranian War is all but unwinnable, pushing gas prices up, which pushes every other price up, bringing the job market down, except for jobs associated with building data centers for Trump's best buddies, an issue more universally hated than the idea of eating a dead bear off the side of the road, or whatever else RFK Jr. has done lately.

As ridiculous as it seems, many Americans don't give a ffff - duck about gifted 747s, but when gas goes to $7.47, look out. Some might turn a blind eye to Epstein, totally in denial, but can't deny that their healthcare got cut while we spend billions a day losing to Iran. Toss all that stuff together, stuff that truly does matter to most Americans, and all of a sudden, Trump is polling at his lowest levels in history. Scandals that once hit with feathers can now flatten, even nine-lived fatcat Donald Trump, who gets more desperate with every breath, consumed as he considers the ramifications of a Democratic Congress.

So now kick it back to Karoline. It is unfair to measure her by age alone. But it's not unfair to note that experience piles up as the years pile on, and especially in a job like hers. Experience can be the difference between holding one's fire, thus refraining from making something worse, all the way to putting a non-issue atop a nuclearized Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. And again, to the extent such mistakes get made, they get made far more often when inexperience mixes with a rapidly devolving political world, one in which even Fox News seems mildly upset.

Leavitt has already made two major unforced errors that really highlight the dangers ahead. Just a few weeks ago she made the single most tone deaf and hypocritical comment, appropo of nothing, noting something about Gen Z being lazy and having silver spoons in their mouths, seemingly unaware of the fact that she is: A) Gen Z, B) Married to an old rich guy, C) Got a job from a rich guy who won't shut up about her lips, probably only to keep him from commenting about the rest of her body, and D) she takes time off to have the babies her sister Gen Zers cannot afford. Now, that was bad enough when self-limited to mere hypocrisy. Imagine a similar blind spot rearing its ugly head again as "affordability" and healthcare become center stage starting this September, issues impacting every generation.

GOP MAGA supporters are used to Trump not caring. They assume he's too busy making America great to notice that they're actually not that great.

But even Republicans will notice the entitled podiumcaster insisting that things actually are great, and if not, it's someone else's lazy fault. What happens when she faces pressure due to questions with no easy answer, like, "How can we justify cuts from DOGE and healthcare while still spending billions a day in Iran months after Trump assured us we won the war?" (Those will only get more intense as the war becomes increasingly stagnant.)

She's let herself become the face of the Trump administration — and doesn't have the experience to avoid taking the fall when things get bad.

Just one or two tone deaf defensive errors of the Gen-Z variety and suddenly Leavitt has the entire administration in damage control over suddenly seeming even less in tune with non-billionaire voters. She is more than capable, given that she already gives off a combination of entitlement and obliviousness as unmistakable as potentially lethal.

Speaking of obliviousness, Leavitt's attitude has also arisen when criticizing judges that happen to simply rule against the administration, as if simply doing their job is an affront to all things fascist. Such instances transition Karoline to a Karen at faster-than-light levels. Now imagine Leavitt having to deal with that Republican Senate soon to be back in town, trying to do their jobs while also attempting to repair the administration's reputation for doing absolutely nothing to aid Americans through this difficult period. What happens when friends in Congress start to push back a bit?

It is one thing to throw punches at judicial pillows. It's quite another to address criticism from Congress, criticism that will be coming faster and more cutting as November looms with guys like Paxton polling behind Talarico in Texas of all places. Many in Congress will have almost no choice but to lob some shots back at the White House. Voters are angry, and perhaps even some Republicans expect someone to sound like they at least care.

Karoline has some strengths, but Karoline sounding caring is not one of them. In her earnest effort to protect her president, she becomes a major risk of suddenly becoming the face of a White House unresponsive to even the most sincere concerns, making a bad situation much, much worse in just one afternoon — a rookie mistake made in frustration that no amount of blonde can blunt.

The circular cynics will just say she's a horrific person who is horrible at her job and none of it matters because nothing matters. They have a point. The natural response is that once real suffering sets in (See last month's job report, prices still just awful, healthcare through the roof, all that money into an unwinnable war), stuff that used to not matter suddenly matters a lot. Such times call for empathy, reassurance, competence, shared anger about the issues — traits that if Americans won't see from Trump, they want from someone in the White House. Traits Leavitt has masterfully eschewed, which, ironically, qualified her for the job in the first place.

Yes, Susie Wiles can head off a lot of this — Wiles is not about to let bad news for the American people stand in the way of a drive to totalitarianism. But in the end, it's Leavitt who most often speaks for the administration. As voters get angrier and more cynical themselves, even professional mean girls have to occasionally make nice. Karoline simply doesn't have that club in her bag, and she damn sure won't find it in Trump's, either. Indeed, there's little point in being a bouncy blonde if you cannot soften the sharp sticks coming from the roughest... other White House blonde?

She does have talent (calm down, cynics), talent for tossing aside some of the most egregious presidential acts in history, but that talent hasn't really been tested at this level as voters consider what they might or might not want changed. Among Leavitt's talents is a breathtaking ability to inadvertently hover a flamethrower over that oil spill in the White House.

She has used it to burn through issues before. Soon, she may only burn him, at which point, Leavitt may eventually find herself paid to hold down a Fox couch while blonde... at least she's not testifying. And boy, if she never feared her inexperience before, just wait.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent, girldad. Please follow on Bluesky. He can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

When President Donald Trump expressed serious interest in obtaining Greenland, it wasn't actually the craziest idea he's come up with. Many U.S. presidents, some of them fairly good ones, have bandied about the same thought for the same reasons: strategic defense and mineral availability.

Importantly, no other president proposed simply taking it, as Trump essentially did — a pattern of behavior that goes well beyond Greenland, but we digress. He's back at it, in Greenland again, only this time things are set to get even more heated. Heated enough to be less funny, more scary.

As some might have heard, a particular oil company has drilling equipment parked just offshore with no particular permit. As all could have guessed, Trump even has an opaque interest in said company.

Let's get the basics out of the way and then really look at how many ways this could go very wrong, very quickly, and heat up a world already past boil.

Greenland stopped issuing any oil exploration permits some time ago, but one that was issued prior to the ban went to a British Company in which America's "Greenland Energy" just took a controlling stake, thus inheriting (sort of) the permit. According to The Guardian, Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s chair and the biggest shareholder, is firmly within Trump’s inner circle. Swets says the oil project is “not related to American annexation”.

The very fact that he has to even address such a thing already brings responsible doubts.

Whatever else is going on, it's undisputed that Greenland Energy doesn't have the proper paperwork, prior permit or not — at least according to the only entity that matters, the government of Greenland, which has set aside "Jameson Land" (the area in which Greenland Energy wants to drill) as a preserve. Greenland has sent a "strongly worded" condemnation of the action, stating: “All future logistical matters must be advised and approved by the mineral resources authority – before they are carried out."

Just two days later, Trump posted:

To take a serious matter to predictable Trump-comedy, Greenland Energy has also gone so far as to engage "Dr. Phil" to make a reality television documentary about the drilling. Why waste such compelling video, one supposes. If the war to end the world is going to start, they sure want it on television.

Greenland Energy, wholly unbothered by the lack of paperwork, has already dumped some equipment onshore. It says that a ship carrying its 300 shipping containers of drilling equipment is to set sail from Canada on September 12th, and by October it might have the first well.

Well.

Granted, the move might be less offensive if it were led by U.S. Marines backed by heavy equipment of their own, but only by degree. Because what's planned sounds as close to an invasion as anyone wants to envision. Moreover, it's unlikely to escape any American's mind that once an American company establishes a beachhead, an oil boom bumrush likely won't be far behind.

Now, despite the strong protest, Greenland's actual approach to this whole thing sounds like they're realistic enough to understand that it would be a bigger pain to usher this thing back out than let it roll for more money and tighter restrictions. That fact, however, is unlikely to assuage the Danes and the rest of NATO, who, most certainly, are already angry with Trump's brazenness and who probably already appreciate that once the door is opened, it won't close.

And all this is happening while Putin is making increasingly aggressive moves with drones in the skies above Germany and Bulgaria. That's a problem.

You can hear them in Brussels, "The one time we actually need this guy and... "

You would think that Putin's play would otherwise give the man who brags about his dealmaking prowess a golden opportunity. Imagine Trump telling NATO: We have your back in Eastern Europe, and we'll work this Greenland thing out so that everyone is in agreement, if you help us open that Straight of Hormuz place."

Word. That might even work, and some of us might have to say, "Okay, that actually made sense."

Fortunately or unfortunately, all of us know that's not how it's going to work because that's just not how Trump does business, especially crossing Putin. Plus it's just bad television if everyone is cooperating over a "great idea!" (Seriously, is anything more on-brand for the mid 2020s than someone saying, "I know! Let's do something insanely stupid and edgy, drill for oil, maybe start a world war, and let's do it with icebergs, whales, blizzards, and cool stuff. Kinda like Skinwalker Ranch, only with more freaks and a scarier place!")

Perhaps the biggest irony in all this is that, beyond the oil and riches under the ice, Trump says he needs a major footprint in Greenland as a strategic location in a warming world. There is now a Northwest Passage in summer, and Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles are aimed to fly conveniently right overhead. But evidently, it never occurred to this administration that strategic defense plans that create more enemies aren't that strategic and are bad defense.

We will pump the brakes for a second. True. It's all but impossible that the U.S., NATO, Blackwater, or Russia will send divisions to war on Greenland. Indeed, it's all but impossible for shots to be fired anywhere about this thing. Modern kinetic warfare among superpowers is such that pretty well everything is Mutual Assured Destruction with even conventional weapons. The missiles are too good, too precise; it's just too expensive. Modern wars among superpowers will be fought with trade and net manipulation as much as anything, and that carries its own inherent dangers.

Communications, shipping, and other logistics in these modern times all but require free trade and accurate communication among nations because everything is going every direction anyway. The system is now set up such that massive changes to free trade (even more massive, much more massive than we've already seen) happening across the globe, over a short period of time, truly threaten to send the economy spiraling into a worldwide recession, perhaps all the way to a depression. Even that might seem almost impossible were it not for the fact that if anyone could do it, we've got the guy.

Oh, and — perhaps it's worth pointing out that if there ever was going to actually be a shooting war between superpowers, it almost necessarily will come about during the extremes found during a depression, as we've seen before. And that's bad. Not for nothing, but most of us think of "The Great Depression" as the quintessential "worst-case scenario," but no. Not even close. There was a bigger one, called "The Dark Ages," and it lasted 300 years.

Granted, we're getting a little over our skis here, going from drilling some holes in glaciers to the Dark Ages. But there is a more subtle point. Since the end of World War II, society has gotten used to believing that progress in science, civil rights. and increasing cooperation among nations (with notable exceptions) is a birthright. And yet there is no rule that says it must be so. Indeed, the Roman Empire had highways, international banking, and aqueducts, all right before it was devastated by a plague pandemic that stopped all trade and took all jobs.

Huh. And now we're looking at a world where trade may be severely hindered, and AI is taking a lot of jobs? There is no rule that says civilization must progress.

Pulling back again, Greenland Energy is rushing ahead, unconcerned about formalities for some reason, and not just because they're backed by Trump's quixotic dreams. Just spitballing, but the plan sounds like one meant to establish precedent. And if American companies do establish the ability to just "park" in Greenland with little or no cooperation with the Greenlanders or the Danes, well, what's stopping us from doing it elsewhere?

And that's how trade wars start, even real wars. We really don't want to make trade worse; not while one-quarter of the world's oil is effectively shut off, not while things are too expensive anyway, not while Putin is already doing daring stuff elsewhere, and really not while it looks like AI is going to really start chipping away at jobs very, very soon.

True, the odds that Dr. Phil unleashes the "Darker Ages" are exceedingly small. But that's not the point because the situation need not get anywhere near that dire before things get bad enough economically that a lot of people die — always the poor. The kindling for such earth-shattering economic ramifications is already laid bare, and once lit, then things are actually far harder to contain or predict. And, of course, we do have that guy again.

So much could go so wrong that one might otherwise think that even Trump would write it off, preferring to simply make another Saudi deal to make up the money (now that is a place where real bombs get tossed around). But with Greenland, one gets the sense that, to Trump, there's even more on the line than money. It is a vanity project. He won't let the place go. He wants that Golden Dome (probably thinking it's named after his head), definitely wanting the whole place renamed after him.

Vanity projects have sent history reeling before.

If there was ever a point in history where just so much could go wrong so quickly, so many AI unknowns, with so many dangerous leaders roaming the globe, never with scarier weapons, a point that needed someone to yell out "everyone just cool off," it would be now.

Send Dr. Phil to Saudi instead to report on yachting through the Straight, telling Iran to "get real." Now that would probably be exciting television. He likely won't succeed in going to Greenland to tell everyone to "chill"... It's likely not in the script.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, former editor at Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent, girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

Of the innumerable Trump scandals in this or his previous administration, the mishandling or non-handling of the Epstein investigation manages to stand out which, given the scandal-a-day pace, all but puts higher functions into a comprehensive coma.

It would be fun to ask why the administration has gone to such great lengths to hide the matter and shown so little enthusiasm in prosecuting the co-conspirators were it not for Occam standing right there, aghast, shaving away: "Take a wild guess."

Well, thanks to the New Mexico Attorney General's Office, we may soon have well-tamed accusations, as New Mexico has sued Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the United States over why the Department of Justice has heretofore blocked the state from investigating the Epstein matter.

No lawsuit is fun, ever — but it's especially no fun when you have little to no defense for appearing to hide teen girl rapists.

Short and sweet, New Mexico — as is its duty and right — intends to investigate the crimes that may or may not have occurred at "Zorro Ranch," a sprawling estate 30 miles south of Santa Fe. But its investigation continues to stall due to roadblocks and uncooperative behavior by Blanche's DOJ, to the point that New Mexico feels it has little choice but to ask a judge to order the Justice Department to deliver some justice.

In response, according to MS Now, DOJ says any reluctance is due to its deeply sincere intent to preserve the victims' anonymity: "The Justice Department said it was not releasing some information the state requested because federal court orders ban disclosing “victim-identifying information carte blanche, and New Mexico has provided no lawful basis to justify such sweeping disclosures.”

Hang on.

"Carte blanche"? This is not the University of New Mexico's library seeking access to the information. It's the state cops. Federal court orders banning dissemination of victims' names surely don't encompass "all other American law enforcement."

Were that the only problem. See, New Mexico isn't even suing "just to get the names of the victims."

"Torrez said his office has made 10 separate requests for key information and has been ignored or denied. "We have heard repeatedly they will cooperate and what our team has experienced is anything but cooperation," he said.

Right.

And that's a much bigger problem for Blanche than may appear at first blush. Because it's one thing to go in front of a federal judge and say, "But we cannot give this stuff out to them, and we've told them that repeatedly for 18 months now," versus that same federal judge reading an email or hearing DOJ say, "Yes, we will be getting that to you shortly," and never coming around.

Torrez says it's the second, and judges are busy enough without having the hassle of ordering you to do what you promised. Especially when it appears you might have an especially nefarious reason for holding back. Occam grabs the gavel.

Two elements make the suit even more complicated for Blanche, the first simple, the second less so. Right off, New Mexico has at least as powerful a right to investigate the matter as the feds. The Founders of this nation specifically contemplated granting the states the rights to ensure the safety and welfare of the people, including the police power, leaving national defense and international relations to the feds. It took cross-state cables, trains, and modernity to even bring about the FBI as a national police force. True, Epstein flew his victims in and out of New Mexico across state lines, but that hardly means New Mexico doesn't have a duty to prosecute crimes that occurred in New Mexico.

It's not like giving the victims' names to the New Mexico state police (For the love of God) is "publishing" or in any way placing the safety of the victims in any danger; indeed, one could make a very cynical argument that the more cops outside of DOJ having the names, the safer the real victims.

The second element is a bit more dangerous to Blanche personally and through Blanche, to Trump, and that is the definition of who is and who is not a "victim" in this matter. As reported, Blanche supplemented his filing to a federal judge last week by noting that the definition of a "victim" in the Epstein matter is anyone who so identifies. This is absolutely extraordinary in that men who believe aggressive questions regarding their behavior with teen girls may self-identify themselves as victims due to these questions, not victims of Jeffrey Epstein or any other rapists, but of the police themselves (In what other way could they be a victim?)

This is not to be taken lightly at all, but such self-identification regarding victimhood is not that far from "Yes, I slapped her, but this is my house, and you coming to ask me about it is intrusive, and so I declare myself a victim, too, and thus I shall not be prosecuted, and my name shall be protected." And, when you really think about it, this has been Donald Trump's approach to every encounter with law enforcement in his life, and thus not really a stretch.

But given Blanche's DOJ stretched the definition of victim this far (or at least that's how it appears as of now), he and his department are about to get stretched a bit themselves. It was bad enough back when Judge Emmet Sullivan effectively said, "Prove it to me, because I don't believe you" in asking about redactions, taking the files in camera (viewed privately in chambers). But now Blanche faces an even bigger problem with more significant ramifications.

Given there are indications that DOJ previously told New Mexico, "Yeah, we're getting right on that, we'll call you back," there is reason to believe that the Feds withheld far more than just victims' names — which they're not supposed to withhold from other police anyway — Blanche and his litigators will have to explain why they initially agreed to pass on information, broke that agreement, then believed that victim privacy meant withholding from other cops trying to protect victims, and explaining why their process allows the possibility that a rapist can claim victimhood and thus not only be free from bother by Blanche, but more interested parties in New Mexico.

That's a federal-sized problem and one that could shake the federal government to the foundation because. God only knows what New Mexico might "find" in its investigation, including stuff previously and intentionally hidden.

As noted far above, this administration's scandal-a-day service has served it well; it almost literally lulls the public into a hypnosis, where nothing seems to matter anymore, no amount of criminality threatens Trump, right up to shooting someone on Fifth Ave. When faced with such cries from readers or other interested Americans, it's always been good advice to suggest, "Then just pick one scandal and hold it tight, don't let go, demand answers. Oh, and if you're going to pick one, make it the Epstein scandal."

Not because raping teen girls is obviously the worst thing Trump could possibly do (if proven). We don't even want to assume there is a limit on what else might be out there. But because this scandal is so clearly and easily proven as wholly impeachment-worthy. Presidents used to keep DOJ at arm's length precisely because the DOJ may find itself investigating the president or their Cabinet members. A president could set DOJ policy: "No requesting jail time for small marijuana possession." But a president never involved himself in any single investigation, never mind one involving his friends, and really never mind one that involved him at some level, blowing the doors off possibly involving his own criminal behavior.

Such an act used to be laughably auto-impeachment and thus, if one picks a scandal, pick this one for meddling alone.

Blanche's problem is that this may be beyond political scandal because lawsuits still remain largely beyond politics. (Forget the SCOTUS momentarily, focus on the lawsuit itself). We know Judge Emmett Sullivan won't take DOJ's word on the scandal anymore. Soon, another judge will hear why their docket now includes having to force DOJ to simply do what they promised on a phone call just a few months ago, along with why men who, at best, AT BEST, socialized with teen girls get to call themselves victims of an investigation into who is responsible for raping girls, and do so all while explaining why DOJ believes they get to redact names from other cops in the first place.

One thing we know with certainty. No DOJ attorney, never mind Blanche, wants to answer these questions in front of a federal judge. Even their best answer, "We won't say who is or is not a victim; we let them decide," still doesn't answer the question, "But why won't you share victims' names with other cops attempting to catch bad guys?"

When you can't answer that simple question, the judge may turn to the new law clerk, Occam, and nod, "Gimme back that sharp gavel. You were right. It's most likely because these are the bad guys."

In more ways than we likely even know. So, focus on this one.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story columnist, past editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent, girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

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.

Of course, the same is happening on the Left with the rise of outsiders and the Democratic Socialists (who one wishes would simply call themselves FDR Democrats, keeping the commitment, ditching the name; it would achieve everything they're looking for while reminding the country what Democrats are supposed to support and say). The latest example of blue populism is Dr. Abdul El-Sayed from already mentioned Michigan, who beat out comfy party insider Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate.

Now, Trump can't even spell MENSA, never mind read a question, but he has a genius nose for political trouble. He needs MI GOP Senator Mike Rogers in office next January like he needs his Big Mac for lunch. But he also knows that El-Sayed's victory, while not definitive, negates a predictable Rogers versus Stevens race. It also signals voter anger, and that anger may finally clip Trump.

So what's a president like Trump to do in the face of a healthy democratic challenge? Well, a sick attempt to cancel the vote, of course. He's done it before, but that was to save his own immediate skin. What he has not done before is broaden his "rigged" claims to... well, save his own skin from investigations, less direct than tossing him from office.

In the face of El-Sayed's win, Trump tweeted:

“Wayne County (Detroit) in Michigan is one of the most corrupt voting areas in the United States, if not the World. It is strictly Third World!... “The Radical Left Socialist has a real shot, and don’t discount all of those fake mail-in ballots that will ‘surprisingly’ show up at the last moment."

Note that Trump nearly always reserves words like "third world," or "s---holes" for predominantly Black communities — and yes, the MAGAs love him for it. But he wasn't done; indeed, he saved his most dangerous clause:

“Get ready for another Rigged Election. In November we must VOTE FOR MIKE ROGERS, and make Michigan TOO BIG TO RIG. God Bless America!"

Whatever else Michigan might be, it will not be a landslide election either way. But, as everyone knows, to Trump, it's not the margin of victory; it's who wins. We heard nothing about his victory in 2024, narrow as it was in Michigan, Musk satellites beaming ballot counts back and forth and all. As clean as an election can be from his point of view.

This result amply demonstrates Trump's obsession with the Save Act, which — despite their protests — goes far beyond requiring voter ID; it essentially federalizes elections. But take little comfort in states retaining control of election results because Trump can nullify wins in many other ways. It just takes genius deviousness.

So it's hard to foresee exactly how Trump and company would nullify those wins, but one can imagine the military moving in to package up ballots for a "fair" recount, all the way to simply declaring that he refuses to recognize the newly seated Congress because it was all rigged. He can say he will write his own laws, not allow a Cabinet member to testify in front of a Democratically controlled committee, or ignore an impeachment. Just spitballing — unfortunately, this column lacks MENSA membership also.

It is beyond cavil that Donald Trump has done more to threaten this democratic republic by casting doubt on the election process than every Republican before him, and that's even after demanding nationalized gerrymandering to a degree that has Karl Rove popping Klonopin chased by whiskey.

Trump's doing it again, getting in earlier, softening the battlefield — no real surprise there. The real trouble comes from the dynamic mentioned above. Voters tired of incumbency rightly expect their hard-earned victories to be recognized, to do something. And just as surely as McConnell refused to have the Senate "do something" in the face of an Obama Supreme Court appointment, expect Trump — having possibly lost the Senate and House, to be prepared to refuse to "do anything" to recognize Congress's powers because "they were all RIGGED" and thus "unfair" (He hilariously tosses around the word "unfair," unaware that his own fairness appeals to him as much as spinach salad.)

But those angry voters damn sure want fairness, and they want it every bit as badly as they wanted and deserved to have Joe Biden sworn in as president. A furious wind will whip us up. We have seen that trouble manifest in the past, and it will only get worse. Except Trump has two advantages this time: First, he's had practice now. Second, as someone who is, in Constitutional theory, on his way out, he may look through his big bag of ducks and find nothing quacking.

Trouble.

Or, more accurately, more trouble. After all, in the same way the country had no experience dealing with a president who refused to leave, there might be even less for a president who refuses to participate. He has spent every minute of his political life trying to be more like his heroes, Putin, Mohhamed Bin-Salam, Xi Jinping, leaders for life, answering to no one. What better way to cap his career than going it alone without Congress. Make up his own laws, his own budget, his own foreign deals, all of it.

What? The SCOTUS is going to stop him? Pffft. He declares a national emergency, and they back out, "It's a political question."

No. That leaves us on a bit of an island, and as sincere as our beliefs, as strong as our fortitude, and as solid as our conviction, never more pure, violence becomes too possible (not the first we've seen of that before, either, but not like this). Violence is different now, mutual assured destruction without nukes. A gun may not be fired. But cell towers and satellites may go offline, power grids shut down, net inaccessible, highways closed. Federal aid is definitely off the table. It's possible to "prevent violence."

The situation has been unsustainable for a while. But in response to Trump's inaction, some states may have no choice but to act in kind. Don't seat or recognize our senators? We hope Trump doesn't miss the money we won't send in. Some have even bandied about the idea of HI, CA, OR, WA, joining BC — "Pacifica" — in an EU-Type relationship with Canada. It won't happen next year. Doesn't mean it can't happen next generation. It would start somewhere.

Anyway.

Back to Michigan. Their candidate has not even lost yet, not Rogers, nor plenty of other worthy candidates. But our more liberal proto-politicians, ones bringing a stronger anti-establishment agenda, are sending a signal that Trump can't ignore. Thus it's started already. God only knows where it finishes. One thing we mortals can know: Donald Trump won't play "fair."

The salad days in which elections settled things definitively may be as far in the past as presidents with MENSA membership.

Jason Miciak is a Raw Story Columnist, a former editor at Occupy Democrats, author, attorney, political consultant, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

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.

But now other adults can really respond that while Trump may still wield absolute power at his miniature rules golf course, he no longer has such power in and around Washington, where the most macro of worlds pushes back. And now, that pushback is coming as much from GOP Senators as anywhere else.

Not a single word in this column exists to heap unearned praise on Republican lawmakers. Not one. But it would be irresponsible and inaccurate not to note that there has been a shift in the political force in Washington, one that people can see and feel, and that shift has been "away" from Trump and "toward" a broader, more shared outlook on the use of political power at the federal level. It would also be irresponsible not to respond with a nod and mumble, "good." Not great, not wonderful, not finally, just "good."

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that the GOP remains down a vote, given Mitch McConnell remains "out" enough as to be unavailable, though not so "out" as to be replaced in Kentucky.

But the shift has been real anyway and has been happening over the last two months as the Senate stood firm while Trump rage-tweeted over the "SAVE Act" as he contemplated the upcoming November elections. Some Republicans chose to save their power if soon to be in the minority with the filibuster intact, rather than give it up now, all to possibly save Trump a much tougher last two years (assuming Trump actually adheres to the two-term rule, which we assume solely for this column's purposes, but not in real life).

You are right to be cynical in every way and yell back, "So what! They're awful." Fine. Yes. They are. We good? But do not doubt that the power shift of the last two months didn't vastly accelerate last week, to wit:

Those Sunday shows remain relevant despite it all as we saw one of the smartest U.S. senators in existence do a Cajon shuffle onto the set of Meet the Press to play abjectly stupid and yet be right in spite of himself. Senator John Kennedy from Louisiana addressed that dadgum Trump slush fund. Kennedy said he "would not provide the Trump administration with a 'blank check' for the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund and that rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should not be allowed to benefit from it," later noting the issue is too emotional.

Except, actually, not really. The issue is one of right and wrong, but Foghorn-Leghorn is in the general vicinity of being right enough, and that's not the point anyway. The point is that Trump really, really wants his slush fund. It's important to send a message to his inchoate private army so they know if they fight for him in the future, they won't just be pardoned but also handsomely paid. And despite its incredible importance to Trump, Kennedy remains unmoved.

Good. Not great. Just good. Want more? You're gonna get it anyway. May as well...

There is Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who doesn't give a lame duck that Trump is huffing and puffing about blowing the Senate down if he doesn't get Todd Blanche confirmed with that slush fund again (Must be really important. Puzzling.) It was only for a short time, but Cornyn threatened to block Blanche's confirmation as Attorney General unless the Justice Department nullifies that $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and even limit the scope of green-flagging Trump from filing the most laughably corrupt tax returns in history. On Monday, he backed down — claiming he'd got what he wanted. But for a few days, he'd stood up to Trump.

More? How about it coming from leadership now. As reported by this website:

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has grown increasingly testy as he explains to reporters he cannot "wave a magic wand" and create the votes needed to pass the SAVE America Act, a non-citizen voting ban that critics warn is both redundant and dystopian.

Wow. Testy? We feel it, impossible to ignore, actually. Moreover, not only is Thune telling the White House that he cannot wave a magic wand, one detects a sly message left wholly unsaid: "And I don't wanna wave that wand anyway, because maybe I DO have that magic, just not here, not now, not for you." Maybe. Good. Not great, just good.

See where we're going? It goes all the way down to criticism over the dadgum... that never-to-be-sufficiently-damned Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool and the vandalism that wasn't. We all know that D.C. US Attorney Jeanine Pirro dropped charges against U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn, accused of vandalizing the pool. Ironically, this brings us right back to one of the smartest men in the U.S. Senate playing stupid again. Sen. Kennedy said:

"Well, the whole thing is a multiple vehicle pile-up. Let me start with the president. [The] president says it was caused by vandals. I don't know whether he really believes that, or it's part of his political messaging, or he's just thinking out loud."

He went on to note:

"Now, the stakes are a lot higher for U.S. Attorney Pirro. You can't lie to a federal judge. If she can't prove her case, she was right to pull back. Because if you fool around with a federal judge, you will find out."

Look, don't be fooled because despite the drawling Louisiana act, Sen. Foghorn-Leghorn is smart AF. That intelligence is now sending a message Trump can't ignore. Kennedy basically just accused Trump of living in a second world, one in which the truth is whatever Trump says it is — that world may well be real to Donald Trump, but it's not real enough in front of a federal judge... or an American voter.

That's what this all gets down to. Republican Senators know that they will have to face American voters soon enough, and voters of every color, ultra-violet to infra-red, are furious. Most of that fury is directed at any whiff of incumbency, any taint of status quo, any narrow glimpse of serving a billionaire-first agenda, by anyone, of any party. But it's really bearing down on the guys pictured alongside Trump, Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, the entire rat-pack, or just pack of rats.

So, yes — any power reclaimed by Republican Senators is primarily driven by self-interest, a feral survival instinct, little more; and yet some of it has to be associated with the fact that none of them see Trump as powerful enough to keep their mouths shut any longer. Good. It is good practice.

It might come in handy this fall. If Trump wants to send troops out to monitor elections, or to snatch and grab votes from local officials, one wants GOP Senators more comfortable with pushing back and criticizing such action; it actually does matter. Trump certainly wants to wield unlimited power, but he, too, has a survival instinct premised on pulling back right at the edges of the frontlines, across which all the political support he needs dissolves.

Yes. Yes. The cynics have a case — they are right in many ways. We have heard all this before.

But not all of it. Consider: What if one saw the opposite, the GOP Senate coalescing around "our president," throwing out the filibuster, allowing the slush fund to go through, ushering in the Save Act that exists to destroy liberal votes. We have seen that before, too. Take yourself back to the first few months after Trump took office and recall the damage done by a wholly-owned subsidiary on Capitol Hill, Trump mowing over Senators like they were merely other golfers at his club, winning that championship, all that talent unleashed on a quivering GOP Senate.

Whatever that was and whatever this is, this isn't that.

Good.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com

It happens every four to eight years at a minimum; we see presidents gradually lose power as they sense a political world moving on, either looking toward the "next president" with candidates in either party, or just the calendar flipping away as it always does, sapping a president's power as surely as it saps all of us "getting older."

But with Donald Trump 2.0, that process is happening both early and lightning fast. The signs are everywhere.

Take heart. He is in major decline. Take heed, as we know what he does when desperate.

Ironically, it took little more than the made-to-order, regular old "GOP War in the Middle East," brought to you by every GOP president since George H.W. Bush, to bring about Trump's major decline, and not one of the innumerable scandals that would take down any other presidency, seemingly obstructing the Epstein prosecution, airplanes, all of them. It took an unwinnable war, started, at least in part, to get some of those Epstein headlines off our screens. Somewhat fitting.

As one might expect, the rest of the world, at least the "good countries," caught on first regarding Trump's waning ability and decided they will no longer acquiesce, nor "try to teach or woo Trump," as it looked like Emmanuel Macron used to do from time to time.

Trump beat up every non-corrupt nation within NATO and the G7 — most likely because he couldn't make personal corrupt deals with them, as he could with the world's most despised dictators. Look no further than to "Governor Trudeau" and Trump's approach toward Greenland.

Now Trump is furious that all those countries are turning away in the Middle East; not a single one will fire a gun on Trump's behalf. They are tired of him and are done listening, never mind acting.

They certainly do see Trump's horrifically conflicted deal with Saudi Arabia to nuclearise the Middle East, a deal so scandalous that he even somewhat tried to "modify" it by tweet. Trump asserted that "his" deal requires Saudi Arabia to openly recognize Israel, sort of, maybe. It took less than 24 hours for Saudi Arabia to say that written agreements override tweets and there's nothing in the deal about Israel.

You might normally think that disrespecting Trump on that level might get the leader blasted. But, given the blatant conflict of interest, Saudi Arabia joins that handpicked tiny "bag of nations" that near-enough own the American president. They have all the power over him, and he has no one to blame but himself.

Sit back and see what the world sees. The United States is friendlier with Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel, even China, than Canada, the U.K., South Korea, you know – the "good countries." We are the bad guys.

So his power around the globe saps.

Now sit back and see what this country sees. The MAGAs see Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel calling the shots for Trump. He assures the world it's not true, but when you're spending your time denying appearances, you're losing. Not for nothing, but given the sudden horrific anti-Semitism that has arisen within the GOP, it's an even bigger red-on-red hammer than a Middle East war would otherwise be. Israel gets everything they want? Some MAGAs see that as worse than giving Saudi Arabia nuclear material.

We have been in this war for six months, a blink of an eye in international relations, a lifetime for Trump, who is not used to having to focus on any one thing and work hard. And no matter how intensely he tries, he just can't tweet this damn thing over. Every single flip of that calendar brings that reality home, and the impact is devastating.

No one knows it more than the man who has spent a lifetime promoting his "brand" over his substance. Americans have noticed.

It has become both cliché and sport for the cool kidz on the Left to toss aside and laugh at any media analysis noting Trump's power is waning. Most of these people once expected an old-school scandal, one that would happen overnight and recognize that simply won't happen this time. Good. Focus instead on the drip, drop, in poll after poll, supporters pulling away, one or two percentages at a time. After a while, and especially during a war, especially right before a midterm election, those points add up, and no one knows it better than a GOP Congress.

After all, when Republicans have little better to do than bring out Dr. Anthony Fauci for a good lashing, going back to the "Trump's Greatest Hits" album, rather than addressing the war or the cost of living, the drips continue, from the middle to the right.

The Senate may or may not confirm Todd Blanche, Trump's handpicked loyalist, as Attorney General. Ironically, the Senators that are leaving, whether by choice or by vote, who Trump never endorsed, are now the ones standing in the way. (You can put Mitch McConnell down as a "No," since he's not there to record a "Yes.") Similar to the war, some GOP senators see that slush fund and get-out-of-jail-free card, and just can't stomach it anymore. Same thing with the "Save Act," with Republicans choosing to "save" the filibuster, almost certainly knowing what's coming.

For a guy who has actively boasted about being the most powerful man in the world and that, as president, he can "do anything," this is devastating. It's almost like his tweets have lost their magic powers.

If you need something concrete upon which to wrap your hands as you grasp the waning power, note that Wall Street once made a game out of playing to his announcements — usually by tweet — about the next move in the Iranian war; they're largely on to him and don't really trade on those announcements anymore. Go ahead and laugh; the irony is just stunning, but Trump has been so crazed and all over the place, trying to win this war by tweet, the banks are ignoring him right as he's trying to monetize access to his deepest thoughts, giving some brokerage firms a "first shot," but only for money up front.

Some firms will pay it — it's an easy way to bribe him, which is about the only sure way to move stuff through the U.S. government these days, but not many. They no longer believe his statements have all that much power. He lies. He huffs and puffs. In the end, everyone gets TACOs, but not the good kind.

Look back at the calendar because it's all right there.

It is the summer before the midterms, a summer of discontent on so many levels. Other than the appearance of White Nationalists on the Mall supporting Trump, we Americans have largely behaved ourselves. No midnight protests; Portland isn't burning down. Only the polls, showing drips and drops. Republicans keep eyeing those midterms, terrified of losing, more terrified about Trump's possible response.

Some presidents, especially pathological narcissists, overcompensate in such an environment. Obviously, that's the danger here. Most likely, Trump will — for now — take it out on Iran, provided we have enough missiles left. But the same guy capable of killing thousands of Iranians to save himself from horrible headlines regarding Epstein is more than capable of turning all his weapons on a real "enemy," Americans that might unseat him, might expose him, the dangerous enemy. Us.

We will see something, if not this summer, certainly this fall, as Trump eyes congressional hearings and investigations, and votes to impeach him; the pattern is that Trump will start a battle, if not a war, here, fueled by personal fury. There is, however, some hope in the fact that Trump doesn't move the pieces around the board as easily as he used to. It's probably best to fear that reality as well; it makes him more desperate.

He brought this desperation on himself. It took a war somewhere else to avoid a war about those damned Epstein files — something worries him about those. Puzzling. He certainly needs Blanche overseeing the whole thing. Remarkably, even with a Republican majority, Kalshi only puts Blanche's odds of getting in at basically 50%, in large part because of senators that Trump has primaried out, now coming back at him.

If the Senate blocks Blanche, look out because Trump needs Blanche controlling the investigators, the federal police. If and when Blanche's nomination is turned away, the ultimate sign that Trump is losing it, his outer war will turn in, and he knows that mean tweets no longer do it.

Meanwhile, out in "America," meaning everywhere other than the White House, American voters are actually somewhat unified in our demands — shocking. Americans of absolutely every color want their shot at the "Epstein class," the billionaires, Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, hated even more than Trump, and voters want it so badly, lashing out against datacenters, wars, the corruption; if Trump gets hurt in the process, so be it — according to many Republicans, who also "drip away," poll by poll.

He likes to wear hats and joke about "Trump 2028." Voters joke back, "Obama, 2028." Maybe third-term talk would work if he were 60; the Constitution never stopped him before. But he is not 60 and, just like the rest of us, he gets older with every flip of the calendar. Unlike the rest of us, Trump has, like many second-term presidents, overstayed his welcome, putting up prize fights on our White House lawn, hosting parties no one attends, making sick jokes about any opponent or media figure, and making those side deals for cold cash. He is doing it in front of everyone, from a new plane to a new A.G.; every step toward increased corruption is another step down from his legitimacy and power.

Do not read this to say that he doesn't still have immense power that he will use. He absolutely does, so long as he occupies that office; that's the danger. What does Trump do when desperate? He goes to war.

But he's not winning wars abroad, and that should be a major indicator here. He'll fight, but it won't look as powerful in practice as it does extreme on the tweet. Just be on the lookout: every corrupt deal, every nap during a meeting, every flip of the calendar — he is losing it; he is losing the power and the clear major MAGA support he had just a year ago, the type of support needed to get him through to the other side.

It is scary. But it's well beyond debate. He sure acts like a guy whose brand drips with every flip. Maybe this summer represents everyone holding their collective breath, watching and waiting. Meanwhile, the calendar never stops.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com.

The Trump administration has put Americans through such a dizzying array of near-daily corruption so deep that a U.S. president somehow makes over two billion dollars while in office – impossible without obliterating conflicts of interest – that many of us, even the most attentive, have been somewhat lulled to sleep. It's not only exhausting, but also leads to a certain amnesia regarding some issues.

But among the concerns about deepening corruption, there are some issues that can never be set aside and must arise in our minds daily: Epstein, the appearance of pay-for-pardons, and the airplane. We now have to plant perhaps the biggest, the one that threatens civilization at a level matched only by climate change – no hyperbole – because Donald J. Trump just opened the door to U.S. sanctioned nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. He did so not only with a nation with which he had many pending business deals, but one that also murders journalists, supplied 15 of the 19 hijackers on 9-11, and is run by a corrupt and murderous thug rivaling Putin, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Short and sweet, the Trump administration just entered an agreement allowing the Kingdom to enrich uranium and plutonium, justified as needed for power usage, and yet with few safeguards to cap enrichment such as to never come close to material for a nuclear bomb.

We are in a war with Iran purportedly over Iran's decision to enrich uranium and create nuclear-tipped missiles, and yet we just blessed such a plan with a nation that might be just as untrustworthy, just as dangerous, just as corrupt, and just as capable of starting a nuclear war that threatens the world. Maddeningly, it is also a nation with far more business deals pending with the American president's family. It is, again, Saudi Arabia.

This potential deal with the potential conflict also smells enough to stand out, according to The New York Times, meaning there's something likely hidden, something awful, because there actually is a model for how to do a deal like this properly. The fact that the Trump administration purposefully veered away from the established model points to something wrong. Inevitably, we arrive back at the conflict.

Nuclear power deals in the Middle East are not new. The United States entered into a similar agreement with the United Arab Emirates in 2009. But that agreement contained far more restrictions and conditions, including stringent inspections, signing and "additional protocol” with the International Atomic Energy Agency. And the UAE even agreed not to create its own fuel, and thus would never have the infrastructure to create a weapon.

The UAE agreement, one brokered by both the Bush and Obama administrations, became known as the “Gold Standard” for nuclear nonproliferation. And yet for reasons known only to Trump, this particular administration and this particular agreement set all those Gold Standard restrictions aside.

Wonder why?

Well, for one, Saudi Arabia, led by the butcher who is MBS, absolutely assures us, according to The New York Times, that the Kingdom will proceed to enrich weapons-grade uranium (And once there, an easily made weapon) "if Iran ever obtains a nuclear weapon." Do you find it likely that a man like Prince Mohammed will patiently wait for Iran to successfully implement a nuclear weapons program before he starts building his own? Or, given that we're at war with Iran because they are said to be close to weapons-grade uranium and plutonium, do you find it more likely that he simply starts off on the assumption that Iran will soon enough have that capability such that the goal is weapons-grade enrichment right away?

Now, to be absolutely sure, there are reasons one would want to obtain nuclear weapons to match those of an enemy like Iran, hoping to reach mutual assured destruction. Thus, from a certain point of view, Saudi Arabia's desire to “nuke up” is understandable. And yet, from a far more valid, lasting, and fundamentally safer point of view, that need can be entirely vitiated by one promise by the United States: "We will defend any nuclear attack on you with a nuclear response."

Indeed, the Biden administration understood MBS's desire to protect the Kingdom so much that the Biden Administration sought to make such a deal with Saudi Arabia - allowing enrichment, contingent on one major concession that would have made the Middle East much safer: that Saudi Arabia recognize Israel.

And yet, for reasons known only to Donald Trump, this deal isn't dependent upon such a massive gain; indeed, it's only dependent upon some nebulous Trump assurances that there will be limits. Except, again - Prince Mohammed has already promised to blow by those restrictions based on one measuring stick, one perhaps already "close enough" to keep going.

In other words, the Donald Trump administration, at war with Iran over the fear of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, might just have set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, all but compelling Egypt, Turkey, the UAE again and Jordan, at a minimum, to initiate their own programs, based on the same standard. And off we go.

Off we go. And while "mutual assured destruction" has always kept nations possessing nuclear weapons in stasis and prevented them from use, does anyone believe that such safety and sanity applies equally to the Middle East, based on their history, especially Saudi Arabia?

So let's once again talk about Saudi Arabia and why all these other administrations might work with the Saudis only under some strict protections, along with significant gains from the Saudis, but the Trump administration appears ready to simply push ahead without.

Well, for one, we already know that Trump has a classic conflict of interest. Again.

The Trump Organization and its partners, led by sons Don Junior and Eric Trump, have expanded significantly in Saudi Arabia with multiple Trump-branded real-estate developments announced through Dar Global (a company with close Saudi government ties), and the Trump Organization is in ongoing discussions involving major Saudi projects such as Diriyah.

Those are just a couple of handy examples that fit right in with Jared Kushner profiting off the last administration's treatment of Saudi Arabia (Essentially letting the Kingdom off scot-free for butchering an American resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, along with credible reports that Kushner provided sensitive U.S. intelligence to MBS allowing the 2017 anti-corruption purge (which arrested hundreds of Saudi princes, businessmen, and officials) and perhaps aided in killing of other dissidents.

Of course, almost impossible to believe as unrelated; Kushner's brand new investment firm post-administration got $2 billion to invest (and profit from percentages) from MBS upon the completion of his work.

What might Donald Trump and the Trump Organization be getting in consideration of this deal? Given the open past corruption and certainly the appearance of a laughable conflict of interest, it is absolutely irresponsible not to ask what might be in it for Trump.

Total reset: It is possible that Donald Trump just unleashed a planet-threatening nuclear arms race off in the Middle East, and entirely possible that he did so for personal profit - practically the definition of not only an American nightmare, but the entire First World's line in the sand, the one that - if profit were to be established, and the United States did nothing to stop it, would be the moment that we officially crossed over. We are no longer "that" United States. (If we haven't already passed that juncture.)

Rather than be lumped in with all the "good countries" in NATO (Canada, the U.K., Germany) and in East Asia (South Korea, Japan, Australia), we now find ourselves in the company of MBS and Putin - as always, you know - the "bad guys."

And here we are. The United States may be crossing the line to sanctioned nuclear proliferation for presidential personal profit and very, very much to the detriment of the average American who would, literally, be much less safe in such a world.

This deal has to be ratified by Congress, and the business development side, using American companies to set up the infrastructure, likely has some strong Republican support, according to the Times, but there are enough questions surrounding the deal that it's not going to get a Congressional auto-stamp. Of course, that leaves sensible Americans, ones not wanting to unleash nukes across the Middle East and ones with serious questions about those possible conflicts, reliant on a Republican Congress to ask the right questions, demand honest answers, and then neutrally evaluate the pros and cons. The same Americans must rely on the Trump administration feeling constrained by Congress. Try not to laugh. Try not to cry.

Actually, go ahead and cry.

Because this truly is one of those deals that, for some reason - reasons the administration prefers not to address- doesn't contain the restrictions or gains other presidents demanded; no "gold standard" here, though it was certainly available. But not wanted. And thus one of those conflicts of interest that arise daily that better stick in one's mind daily, right up there with Epstein.

Donald J. Trump, the man with business deals spread across Saudi Arabia, a nation led by a man who's proven himself ready to kill critics and personally pay American leaders who "aided" MBS's goals, just green-lighted a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, one that MBS has promised to jump on, contingent only on that premise underlying why we're currently at war with Iran.

Daily conflicts and corruption, amnesia, it passes, it's exhausting, can't keep up. But unlike even 747s and cryptoscams, we better keep "Saudi nukes" in mind daily at the level we keep "Epstein cover-up" at the forefront of our minds. So forefront that one would be smart to contact representatives to get some answers on what Trump might be getting in this deal, the one that shouldn't move off a page, never mind into law.

Yeah, yeah - it just keeps going. But this one is different. This one threatens the planet. This one better be watched and better be stopped, even if it already seems too late.

It might literally be the international community's worst nightmare. It really is okay to cry. But also cry to Congress. It can't hurt.

Jason Miciak is a RawStory columnist and former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow him on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com. He also reads and appreciates comments.

Threatening to call President Donald Trump to fix some manifestly just and earned punishment has become somewhat of its own sport of late. And no, this piece isn't about the appearance of pay for pardons — although, in a sense, maybe it kinda is.

We have run into a spate of Trump-adjacent superstars facing consequences for something wholly unrelated to the actual presidency, but wholly offending Trump and his supporters' worldview, which, boiled to its essence, can be summarized: "As president, my friends and I can do what we want, including bail ourselves out of trouble that impacts only high-handicappers, poor people, or libs."

Now, no doubt, history is stuffed with guys (mostly) calling in "presidential favors" — whether it be for good seating at the Kennedy Center, admission to Harvard, or good placement for drilling in the Alaskan North Slope. Oh, and it's not just a Republican thing, although we'd like to think it's "more of a Republican thing." And, of course, presidents always had the pardon power.

But like so much else about Trump, none of this presidential favor stuff has ever been taken to such international heights, nor such mundane neighborhood lows. If corruption might help, there's one man to call, and "the guys" (because they're all guys) who walk around with Trump in their phone contacts increasingly seem willing to use it. And not for oilfields! (They just call the White House switchboard for that.)

First up, the tragedy that is Tiger Woods. Ironically, many of us who might well extend a ton of understanding and prayers regarding a pain pill addiction taking hold of a man who's endured more surgery and scopes than a redneck by aliens now cannot extend such sympathy due to how it all went down. All hope for well-wishes crashed more spectacularly than his vehicle when Tiger called Trump upon being approached by the cops. Sorry, Tiger, that cannot be forgiven, no matter how high you might've been.

Next, of course, "The Red Card that Wasn't" in the Men's Soccer World Cup. To briefly review, American forward Folarin Balogun received a red card for an infraction that tossed him from the game and, by hard and fast rule, also the upcoming match against Belgium. Nearly everyone agreed that Balogun didn't deserve the red card. But everyone also agreed that once a red card is issued, the deal is done; it is not reviewable, period. Until Trump.

"Our president" made a tantrum-like phone call to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who, being just as corrupt as Trump, did what Trump asked. He defied every rule in the book and reversed course. Balogun avoided the one-game suspension and was on the field to receive some old-school a---kicking karma when the US Team lost 4-1 to Belgium.

The lesson, obviously, is that if you are going to play the Trump card, you better be playing along with someone who thinks like Trump. FIFA's Infantino fit the bill; the Martin County, Florida, Sheriff's office did not. They refused to "play ball," so to speak, even with Tiger on the phone to his buddy. At this point, everyone should at least be on the same page regarding the "Trump rule."

Except one guy.

It was clear over the weekend that American golfer and mega Trump supporter, Bryson DeChambeau, didn't learn his lesson, and not just because he never even got around to making the actual call to Trump, which makes everything even breathlessly worse — making the threat but not following through. Commit or go home! (which he also threatened to do, but we're ahead of ourselves.)

For those of you too busy watching the World Cup, too busy with real lives, or too busy to care about anything about golf or Trump, let's review. "The Open Championship," aka "The British Open," is one of golf's four "major" tournaments — the ones you wanna win. On Friday, Bryson found himself near the top of the leaderboard when he hit a drive that veered all but 45 degrees off the fairway into bushes and grass high enough to hide small deer. But his problems only started there.

Golf seems almost designed to appeal to wealthy conservative culture, and has an almost sexual appeal to such men. The courses are gorgeous, all curves and swales, the equipment exquisite and expensive. And the whole sport is about getting a ball in a hole faster than the other guy. But like a lot else in upper-crust wealthy conservative culture — and, I suppose, their love lives, too: golf's rules are more about what you can't do than what you can. And one of those things you cannot ever, ever, do is "improve your lie"; you play your ball from wherever it happened to land.

We now rejoin Bryson, who hit the ball so deep into the grass that walking around his ball, as he did many, many times, especially behind the ball, beat down the grass behind his swing, and that is something that one cannot do. The referees from the esteemed Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews assessed Bryson a two-stroke penalty, sending the player into a comprehensive, Def-Con Four, All-American meltdown.

And so what does any self-respecting Trump-supporting athlete now have to do in such a position while having Trump in his contacts? You guessed it. Mid-temper tantrum, DeChambeau threatened to call Trump. From The Telegraph:

Bryson DeChambeau warned officials at The Open that he was ready to call President Trump in the tense stand-off that saw the American hit with a two-shot penalty for “inadvertently improving his lie.”

Having already stomped all over the grass, the rules of golf, and the rules of "life" (never mind more intimate situations), Bryson then did what any MAGA devotee, including his hero, would do in just such a situation: threaten to quit.

At one stage he told Moir, “I just won’t play tomorrow.” That reaction was widely pilloried in a saga that overshadowed the on-course action and which inspired criticism from fellow players, most notably Rory McIlroy who accused him of “holding the Open hostage” and being “performative”.

Sounds like our guy, and no, we don't mean Bryson, who — again — tried this trick before he checked the titanium-strengthened maxim "only threaten corruption with an already corrupt organization" — kind of like only having an affair with someone who has as much to lose as you, indeed a lot like that maxim.

And while there are a lot of corrupt organizations, especially in sports, an entity that goes by the moniker "The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews" wasn't likely to ever be one just by sound, and, turns out, wasn't one in practice. Perhaps if Bryson had the king in contacts... But now we're as far from the fairway as Bryson.

Normally, one might have to give Bryson credit for having not, actually, called Trump mid-round, something at which Tiger failed. But upon making the threat? Man, go all in on it; that's not something to "halfway." Alas, even Bryson will probably admit that he'll never be Tiger Woods.

So where does that leave us? Nowhere. Nowhere we don't know we already inhabit, a world in which corruption — which always existed sub rosa — now not only lives above the surface, it's all but de facto accepted as "likely to work," if it involves Trump and... if it involves an organization as corrupt as him. Perhaps the only thing "new" in all this is the sheer pettiness of it. It used to be someone had to offer something as consequential as a new semiconductor plant, or 120,000 acres open to drilling, or something "big" enough to bother the president.

Nowadays? It's some hack, hacking his way through bushes in Scotland. Or something called a "red card," pulled by a guy in disturbingly tight black shorts. Or just your biannual Tiger Woods' vehicle roll. Rather plain but for the fact that they all are (or were) cool enough guys that our ever-insecure president wanted their friendship.

And you thought presidential corruption was limited to 747s, crypto, obstructing investigations into sex trafficking, and the appearance of paying for pardons. Get creative, work that mind out a little. Get athletic about it. Just don't cheat. But if you must cheat, make sure you only cheat with other cheaters. It opens up a whole world constrained by more rules about what you can't do than what you can.

And if you have Trump in contacts and mention it? For God's sake, call! Don't beat around the bush about it. You never know who is just as corrupt as Trump until you know. But if something is "Royal and Ancient," stay on the fairway. Leave the phone with the caddie.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com. He also reads and appreciates the comments.

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.

And understandably so, given the nation itself is also breaking, breaking under the weight of inflation, underemployment, stressed social services, wars, AI, and so much more. It is also all happening under the comprehensive control of the Republican Party. Conditions are set for a continent-spanning tectonic "slip," unleashing blue water barreling down toward a red government situated on a hill that won't be high enough.

Winning back the House — assuming we have even close to a normal election — is all but baked in. But now even the Senate is suddenly within reach. States like Texas, Ohio, South Carolina, Kansas, and more are watching their red political blood turn purple for lack of oxygen, the type produced only by hope. So Democrats provide hope, the oxygen to breathe again, and that's good.

But this country doesn't need good. Unfortunately, we passed that off-ramp long ago. At the very least, it needs "great" — because even good government cannot turn around one this bad. Never in history has any administration or Congress done more to cement in its control and cement out its accountability, from bunkers and troops in D.C., to a redistricted South all but disenfranchising American Blacks, and the looming threat of a federal government willing to manipulate elections themselves – "RIGGED" applied to every Democratic win.

Good can't and won't cut it, only greatness.

But greatness requires risk. Traditionally, D.C.-based consultants play it safe, happy to simply move some numbers up from the last election as self-evident proof of their value, fortifying their reputations, charging more next cycle, all while blaming the candidate for the actual loss. The country can't afford such conservative and self-interested advice right now, even in areas where they might produce even a small win with a safe candidate. We don't have that kind of time. It is a time for heroes, the ones who make noise, even if that noise narrows their victory.

Maybe a full generation ago, someone could run with a slogan like, "Less politics, more problem solving," and maybe even such "consultant-slop" might have been helpful, or at least not hurtful. This is not one of those times. This is really not one of those times.

Sure. Take a survey, do it today. You will get a very high number of people who say they want "less politics" and more getting along. After all, that's the grown-up answer, and it is the right answer in the right country. We just don't happen to live in that country right now. Because voters will say such things in a survey and then vote the opposite. Voters want more politics. Or, put more accurately, they want more fight, they want a hero, and that has never, ever, been as remotely close to true as it is in this term.

This column's last theme was dropping the "social Democrat" or "Democratic Socialist" label from recent young winners, and instead, without changing a thing about their beliefs, messaging themselves as "real Democrats, or "FDR Democrats." The theme, here and now in this column, is whatever one's platform may be, whether "Left-Left," "Mushy-Jeffries Left", or even "Independent," the beliefs themselves matter far less than running as someone furious with where this nation stands. Someone angry. A person willing to go to D.C. and be a hero, by creating a wholly new message, one rejecting the entire status quo. Change for the sake of change, all of it.

Mike Johnson loves to quote Jesus. Send someone to Washington D.C. who plans on acting like Jesus. The one and only time Jesus went s--t storm insane was in the Temple in Jerusalem — effectively, "the Capitol." He arrived in fury, tossed the tables of the money changers and vendors, screaming at the rich for doing all they could to keep their power over the poor.

Send someone willing to stand in front of a microphone and figuratively toss some tables around, and ask Mike Johnson to point to the portion of the MAGA movement Jesus would support. Pulling healthcare from the poor? Shooting immigrants?

Send a hero, turn the tables.

We see the pattern emerging in primaries and races all over the country, and it's not confined to Democrats — even the Republicans who are currently busting onto the scene are fighting a system they see as too moderate, and winning primaries. They are winning due to their anger, despite a message so batspit insane even Trump would say, "Whoa, wait, what?" The point is, they are winning primaries because the country is angry.

It is all just so awful. It is too hot, too expensive, too stupid, too corrupt. We bomb girls in school, we slam the doors on women and POC in our military, we shoot people on the way to work, we take healthcare away, we're regressing by the day, inviting diseases of the past to our present by politicizing science, research, modernity itself, all in favor of raw milk and the freedom to live "all naturally," like people 125 years ago, when one could get an infection or have a baby and then die "all naturally," and with no governmental involvement, aka "help."

If a candidate can't be bothered to be mad about such a situation and commit to being the hero who helps fix it, fine — but that candidate has little hope of turning a red district blue, or almost worse, that timid baby-blue Democrat won't be much help in turning any of this around, a wasted opportunity in a country that can't afford to waste anything, much less the remaining oxygen.

Fortunately, outside of a certain set of consultants, most based in D.C., and people outside of the beltway, are figuring it out. Mamdani didn't win by accident. Talarico isn't polling ahead of Paxton simply because Paxton's too corrupt — it's that Talarico is too indignant, insulted by the nation's direction, Paxton's party, and Talarico is willing to quote Jesus and fix it. We don't know who will eventually be nominated as the candidate in Maine, but we do know that nominating another nice moderate will get them run over. They already have their Susan Collins. They need a hero.

And the beauty of all this is that the voters want that hero. A very typical American may totally disagree with a candidate who wants universal healthcare, but vote for her anyway because "she is as sick of those people as I am and is going to change things." That is the message this time, this election — oppose Trump and MAGA however you believe is the best opposition, but damn it, have some attitude about it, refuse to be intimidated, find one's inner AOC, take some risks, be brave, do a little Jesus, and promise to upend tables. It is what voters want to hear and want to see.

To the candidates out there: don't try to persuade voters with your great ideas. Inspire voters by hearing their anger and ideas. Be angrier than they are, promise to make them proud, promise them a heroic effort, and the winning, especially this time, will take care of itself.

If you're not willing to take that risk, just get out of the way.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow him on Bluesky, or reach him at jasonmiciak@gmail.com. He also appreciates and reads comments.

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.

Of course, the teleprompter guy has been making significant money for quite a while, knowing what Trump will say. The only bet that one couldn't find was a line on Trump saying, "I am truly sorry, it was my fault."

But it appears that Gabriel Perez, the teleprompter technician in trouble, could possibly have arranged a 1% chance on Trump saying such a thing, perhaps something akin to, "Quite obviously, I should have become president in 2008, and things would be much better now, with me still president 18 years later, and for that I am truly sorry, it was my fault for allowing someone to convince me that my greatness needed to wait" — or something equally stupid. One dollar becomes $100, and Gabriel Perez would be, as he has been to this point, an almost laughably amateur player in Trump administration corruption.

You just knew it would be a Hispanic man to take the fall, didn't you? According to ABC News:

According to the sources, Kalshi alerted its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to the suspicious activity on its "Mentions" market, where users can bet on whether specific words, phrases, or topics are uttered during a public speech.

Wow, the CFTC is really on the ball, am I right? And yeah, the Trump administration felt terribly bad about it all because this pittance is against the rules:

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday afternoon, following ABC News' report, that Perez has been put on unpaid administrative leave. Leavitt said she spoke with President Trump about it, and he thought it was a "disgrace" and made the decision himself to put Perez on unpaid leave.

"Because everyone in this White House knows, there is at least a one-million-dollar minimum on administration corruption, or you're on your own, loser," Karoline Leavitt did NOT go on to say, but she may as well have because we knew what she meant.

Hear those chains? Yes, irony's ghost follows Leavitt around like a lovesick teenager, and Trump like a low-level bagman.

I mean, come on. Either get in the game and commit, or take your chances that you'll get used as a trophy catch, hung out to dry as an "example" of how clean this administration runs, when he was just doing his best to act like his boss.

After all, it was Trump's brokerage account that bought Intel stock reportedly in the $1 million–$5 million range during the first quarter of 2026, along with numerous other technology stocks. And then, guess what? Separately, Trump made announcements regarding China and tariffs, moving markets significantly, leading to absolute outrage because his brokerage account did amazingly "fine."

Did Trump call himself a disgrace and put himself on administrative leave? No, Trump says that his brokerage account acts independently. Does that sound like the president you know? The likelihood is that Trump guided those trades and lied about it.

Meanwhile, Uday and Qusay... sorry, fact check, sons Don Jr. and Eric Trump are heavily invested in companies that just happen to get heavy "Department of War" contracts. From the Washington Post:

Donald Trump Jr., through 1789 Capital, and Eric Trump, through American Ventures/Dominari, invested in numerous defense-technology companies after Trump's reelection. Those companies subsequently received billions of dollars in Pentagon contracts, contract options, or eligibility for future awards. The Washington Post identified more than a dozen such companies, collectively receiving over $3 billion in government business after the investments.

By all appearances and consistent with past accusations, it sure looks like the Trump family skips over the small percentage fee Kalshi charges and just places perfect bets in investments that hit just as solidly as the number of times Trump says "Iran" in a speech.

And never mind the 747s and the appearance of pay for pardons, this poor sap (Hey, $100k in this administration is like breadline poor) is the one feeling the heat of a president who says Gabriel Perez is a "disgrace" and on leave.

The guy should actually get a medal. Do you have any idea how hard it is to make money on the shady side of this administration and be called a disgrace? Kalshi would put it under one percent, but now we're drifting. It is hard not to escape the sense that if Perez simply had the sense (and the brokerage account, but he was getting there), to jump when Donald Trump tweeted about Palantir's greatness and bought some "PLTR" stock seconds after it was tweeted, get a nice percentage for the day, he'd be promoted to writing speeches on the limitless opportunities in the Trump economy.

** Hold up: I don't know whether "PLTR" immediately jumped in value, but since Perez was into betting, THAT would've been a good one, having it traded seconds after the tweet.

Had poor Perez simply been in the "right market" — meaning the stock market or owning shares of a closely held corporation, he would not be hailed as a hero by many of us in this country, but only because his name would get lost in the dozens of other administration officials acting similarly or doing and making much, much more.

True, there is no law against a president or vice president acting in a complete conflict of interest, other than that big law called "Articles of Impeachment." But Trump seems to consider articles of impeachment to also be a conflict of interest and of no relevance to him.

But what is the Kalshi line on a Trump official fired for profiting off the administration's moves? OH! And whoops, here comes irony again to teach us a lesson.

Chains dropped to the floor: If you are going to rip people off through pure power moves based on knowledge gleaned during lunch or a speech with "your president," then for God's sake, make it worth it! If you eclipse that million-dollar baseline, it might be seen as pure American capitalism at its finest, protected by the law of the land, now reduced to the man himself.

You might even be welcomed for a round of golf with your hero. Of course, you would have to pay the greens fees. Those are probably really steep on such an afternoon, if you know what I mean.

Last thing, be extra careful to earn an extra zero with a Hispanic name. Sorry, Mr. Perez, you are, actually, a disgrace. But wow, man... What are the odds?

Never mind.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory Columnist and former Editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow him on Bluesky, and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com, and reads and appreciates the comments.

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.

But even in that litany of grievances as to why the "most powerful man on Earth" remains ever the victim of even the pettiest of plots, it was what we didn't hear that roared.

Trump told us that “great damage has been done to our country,” and “Our elections were left vulnerable to being rigged and stolen, and the trust of the American people was lost. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

The allegation is just so damned tired that far too many in the media, and nearly all of Trump's supporters, have failed to ask some simple follow-ups: "If the most egregious of these offenses happened in the 2020 election, then you were the president at the time, charged with protecting this nation, and so how did you allow such great damage to be done to our country, and why should you be trusted to ensure it never happens again?"

Again, one gleans the real news here from what's not being said. The reason there's no scandal about Trump allowing the horrific manipulation of our 2020 election is that there was no horrific manipulation of the 2020 election. It is almost like the country, worn out by his incessant neediness and bullspit, has come to an arrangement suiting both; "We won't blame you for allowing our elections to be so easily rigged so long as it's fairly clear you're simply doing this for your ego, and won't act on it — not yet anyway."

Quite frankly, the deal has actually worked in the best interests of both parties for a while. Donald Trump gets to nurse the ultimate narcissistic injury back to health by convincing himself it was all wrong and he beat Joe Biden, and we rest assured that nothing is really going to happen because we've reached a sick detente — like the nominees for Senate approval who are asked: "Who won the 2020 election?"

They refuse to answer, the silence is deafening, the answer on display for all who hear through the silence, and again — the real news lies in all that wasn't said.

But the ultimate tell, the one that really proves that this is nothing more than an ego bath and the predicate for future claims that elections are rigged runs through China — no, not the nation of China but the China "issue." As reported by the Times:

Mr. Trump described a series of allegations about voter interference in the 2020 vote. He said that China had bought, stolen or hacked tens of millions of voter data files across 18 states. And he attacked a “deep state” conspiracy that he said was aimed at suppressing the information.

Wake up, please! Yes, it is extremely hard to care about anything this man says on any given day, but this one demands your attention. The President of the United States just effectively accused our current greatest adversary of manipulating the election and stealing it from him, the president at the time. Take that accusation dead seriously for just one moment in order to absorb the importance of what did not follow.

Having just accused a superpower of effectively illegally choosing the next American president over the rightful man chosen by Americans, having just accused that superpower of doing so with supposed proof that China did it in all those documents, did the American president do what any president would leap to do in the face of such an outrage?

Did Donald Trump immediately demand that China explain itself? Did he lay out a set of sanctions he will impose and forward to Congress even more punitive sanctions against the nation behind such a plan? (President Obama and a bipartisan Congress wasted less than two months in sanctioning Russia for real election interference in 2016, and yet still affirmed Trump as the winner of the election and the rightful incoming president. Of course, Obama and that Congress had real proof of such interference.) Did Donald Trump call out Chinese President Xi Jinping and demand an answer, a summit, or even threaten war with China for having done so, or threaten war if they ever do so again?

No. And that silence is the real reveal, one circling the globe, proof once again that the U.S. is in decline due to a petty man, with petty false grudges, consumed with monetizing each moment, and will sell his own country out to anyone buying.

Because Trump skipped right over the fact that the world's only other superpower, according to Trump's own theory, displaced him as president, and instead went to war on... Americans, his real enemy — American citizens who just happen to be politically opposed to him.

“Yet those responsible for sounding the alarm instead kept the information secret and hidden,” Mr. Trump said. “They did not disclose to me as president or to anyone else, and to the best of our knowledge, they did not inform Congress.”

Who is "they"? He never says, not really. Doesn't need to, so long as "they" exist in some liminal space in which Trump lives his alternative life, where he is always the "winner."

Set aside the fact that he was president at the time and thus "they" should never have been in a position to keep such information from him (as if something that explosive would not have leaked). Having just accused China of what is essentially an act of war against the United States, Trump moved to this personal war against his only real enemy, the domestic one, the one he is prepared to wage war against, troops, tanks, all of it.

And even though he has no more real evidence against Americans stealing an election from him than he does with China, it doesn't matter because all he really needs is the accusation. The accusation itself justifies all the news to be found in all that was left unsaid. The accusation says, "Don't call me a loser to Joe Biden because I didn't lose!" Like warm milk to soothe the angry baby, but much more dangerously, the accusation says, "And we cannot trust any upcoming election in which any Democrat wins.

He is saying this despite the fact that it's his job to protect the nation from international threats. But instead of threatening to send three carrier groups to control the port of Hong Kong should China make such an attempt again, Trump did all he could to stifle the votes of Americans, votes that might go against him — actually aiding any nation that believes it benefits by keeping the U.S. under Republican control, nations like China and every nation run by a despotic dictator who can manipulate Trump through flattery and currency to obtain a deal favorable to them.

Unlike the message we're hearing from most American media, Trump's Thursday night speech roared with critical information American voters desperately need. The problem is that the roar came from all that was left unsaid, unacted upon, and unimportant because it's all unsubstantiated.

Snap out of the Trump daze just for a few seconds! The American president just accused China of kicking him out of the Oval Office in 2020! If Donald Trump actually believed such a thing, and if Donald Trump believed in his job as protector of the nation, not himself, we would, today, be on very nearly a war footing with one of the only countries on earth that could give us a real fight.

Instead? Nothing new, everything already said, documents dumber than ham, disinteresting as Jesse Watters, and as untruthful as having settled eight wars.

Don't buy the media line about Thursday night. Donald Trump made one of the most important speeches of either term. It wasn't just what wasn't said, but also the unspoken promise that it won't ever be said when he says Democrats grabbed both branches of Congress through RIGGED elections. Not a single Republican victory will be questioned, another silent tell, only that one is just cute enough to get a giggle.

If you just a) Pay close attention even when you know he lies and repeats, and b) Listen closely to what's not said, you will c) Not only understand exactly what is happening, but have the answer to confront a Trump supporter, or a Democratic candidate fighting a "RIGGED" question before the election, or an accusation after a win.

Presidential addresses still matter. But with Trump, the power lays in what he doesn't say.

Jason Miciak is a Rawstory columnist, former editor of Occupy Democrats, an author, political consultant, attorney, and single parent girldad. Please follow on Bluesky and he can be reached at jasonmiciak@gmail.com and reads and appreciates the community within the comments.