Jason Miciak

Two things about this administration stick out like sunflowers, though they're blooming black instead of bright yellow.

First, it is absolutely apparent that if one is close enough to Trump, ethics and the law pose no limitations in the ever-pursuit of money and power (mostly money). Second, given that so many of their crimes and ethics violations occur so clearly as to be picked up by satellite, they apparently believe that they will forever enjoy the current political climate.

The first is locked in; the second seems all but ridiculous and must be based on the belief in an impregnable pardon power. ...

It has been a long time since any one issue crossed partisan boundaries, as easily as swapping lanes, like voter hatred of AI and data centers.

True, there are a few GOP stragglers out there — non-billionaires who simply follow whatever Donald Trump says, even though Trump has so clearly taken an "America-last" stance on the issue and buddied up with his super-rich friends to defend AI and all its horrors.

And yet it appears to be one of the few issues over which his supporters have said "enough!"...

It occurs to me that we don't know much about former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, beyond the obvious: lost a congressional campaign, pregnant to a rich guy she later married, stumbled as press secretary, especially at first, and then got out with a veteran's sense of timing.

The above is obvious, and it's not that much, not really, especially since it sounds like she's about to tell us a great deal more in an upcoming tell-all book being shopped around, one that may make her as rich as her husband.

Sure, she's been a loyal Trumper all along and plans to work more at MAGA Inc., a pro-Trump PAC. You can she won't write any secrets that truly bury him — perhaps overhearing certain phone calls to the DOJ about "don't let a single one of those pictures out!" Nah, none of that. ...

You can hear it in their voices, the words they use, the issues brought up, the frustration evolving into tinged anger, and the conviction — no more, you're pushing it, really pushing it.

Republican senators have been talking about Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth a lot more lately, and that's bad news at a particularly bad time for him, as he already faces eight articles of impeachment once the House returns (assuming it ever returns).

But it is even worse news for Donald Trump....

While there is no doubt that Trump lives primarily in his own world of unicorns and devotion from nearly all, he apparently keeps at least one foot grounded in reality — a reality even he understands to be on the brink of breaking him.

Given that, Trump is reacting in predictable ways. After all, he has far more on the line than a simple election loss.

The result is a workplace environment that would get one sued in any other situation. And he has different rats, jumping the same ship....