Trump Gets an A+++++

HEGSETH V. HEGSETH

From The Guardian: Hegseth said US military should refuse ‘unlawful’ Trump orders in unearthed 2016 interview

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, stated repeatedly in 2016 on Fox News that US service members should refuse “unlawful” orders from a potential president Trump – exactly the position he called “despicable” when Democratic lawmakers said it last month.

But that was before the nation faced a threat from two men clinging to a capsized boat — that had been headed away from us — in the middle of the ocean.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

MEIDAS SUMMARIZES YESTERDAY’S POLITICO INTERVIEW

If you have 43 minutes, watch.

Otherwise, MeidasTouch reports:

Trump began the interview by insisting that the U.S. economy, an economy in which families are struggling with soaring costs, shrinking paychecks, and deep recession-level pain, is worthy of a grade of “A+++++.”

When the interviewer noted that holiday shoppers are feeling strained and are worried about having to choose between paying for their health insurance or holiday gifts, Trump dismissed the concern outright, telling the reporter, “Don’t be dramatic.” He insisted that people “don’t feel that,” a claim that would only make sense if one lived inside the gold-plated isolation of Mar-a-Lago, where the president routinely hosts Gatsby-themed galas while Americans try to figure out how to afford groceries.

Throughout the interview, Trump’s hostility grew. When asked about the devastating September 2 military operation, an attack already condemned by experts around the world as a likely war crime, Trump brushed aside concerns.

The foreign-policy portion of the interview revealed something even more dangerous: a commander in chief openly musing about ground invasions and attacking democratic allies. When pressed on whether he could rule out an American ground invasion of Venezuela or other nations including Mexico and Colombia, he replied, “I don’t want to rule in or out. I don’t talk about it.” He then launched into a tirade against Politico, bizarrely claiming the publication received “$8 million from Obama.” (A lie, of course).

Trump’s disdain for NATO was even more explicit. According to him, “NATO calls me daddy.” His administration’s newly released national-security strategy, an official government document, states plainly that his goal is to “end the perception and the reality of NATO as a permanent organization.” That is not reform. That is dismantling the most successful military alliance in modern history, a move that would leave Europe vulnerable and embolden Russia.

His rhetoric about Ukraine was worse. Trump repeatedly belittled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, calling him “P.T. Barnum” and describing Ukraine as “losing.” He praised Russia’s position as “stronger,” ignoring the obvious: his own policies have tilted the scales in Moscow’s favor.

On economic policy, Trump made his most reckless admission yet: he will choose the next Federal Reserve chair based on a promise to immediately lower interest rates, regardless of economic conditions. This is the type of political interference economists warn can trigger severe downturns. At a time when most Americans already feel like they are living through a recession, Trump’s approach would all but guarantee even deeper instability.

His trade policies continue the same pattern of self-inflicted harm. After personally crippling U.S. farmers with a disastrous trade war that wiped out soybean exports to China, he is now claiming a “huge win” because China has agreed to buy a fraction of what it purchased under President Biden.

In exchange, Trump rewarded Beijing with something far more consequential: permission to buy Nvidia’s advanced H200 semiconductor chips, the same chips the Justice Department has treated as highly restricted national-security assets. On the very day the DOJ announced a major bust of smuggling operations involving those same chips, Trump told Xi Jinping he could have them legally. It is difficult to overstate how dangerous that concession is. These chips power the next generation of artificial intelligence capability. Handing them to a geopolitical rival in exchange for soybean purchases is a surrender, all in a panicked attempt to get China to try to undo the devastating effects of his own trade war.

Through all of this, the pattern is unmistakable. Trump rewards autocrats. He punishes allies. He lies about the economy. He tries to project strength while revealing profound weakness. And he attacks anyone, from reporters to NATO to members of Congress, who dares challenge him.

LEAVING MAGA

‘My MAGA started to crack’: How one Christian nationalist Mormon broke free of Trump

. . . [W]hen Trump ran for president in 2016, Gage embraced MAGA.

“I will never forget him on my big-screen TV, saying the words, ‘Make America Great Again,” Gage said.

“The first time I heard that, I literally started crying … and I pictured Norman Rockwell.”

What came to mind was the painter’s “Freedom from Want” — “The grandma putting the turkey on the table, the Thanksgiving dinner, the beautiful home and just that American traditional family and conservatism,” she said.

. . . But about two years ago, at 49, Gage had a reckoning, realizing she had been “literally a white supremacist from birth,” based on teachings from the Book of Mormon.

Gage said she came to see Mormonism as “the OG Christian nationalist church.”

So, she flipped her life upside down, leaving organized religion and the Republican party.

She now calls herself “a raging feminist,” hosts a podcast, “Life, Take Two,” and is a member of “Leaving MAGA,” a nonprofit online community for former Trump followers who found themselves lost in conspiracies, losing friends, even committing crimes in the president’s name.

WE’RE GONNA WIN

I know I said that in 2000, when Al Gore got more votes than George W. Bush . . . including in Florida* . . . but was denied the presidency.

And other times I’ve said it and been wrong.

But let’s not forget Obama and Biden — or Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Or the dozens of special elections in the past year where we’ve either won or wildly overperformed.

Yesterday’s result in Miami — where a Democrat won the mayoralty for the first time in 30 years, and by a margin of 59.4% to 40.6%! — is one more reason to believe normal Americans have grown uncomfortable with today’s Republican leadership . . . and that, yes: we’re gonna win.

Join the next “No Kings” protest!

Next year:

This year:

Fund the Democratic infrastructure on which our 8.000+ candidates depend.

I can’t wait to see what you do to say thanks.

*By tens of thousands, if you count the overvotes that were thrown out because inexperienced voters punched “Gore” — but then, to be doubly sure, wrote in his name. In most states, including Bush’s own Texas, those votes would have been counted. In Florida that year, with the entire election (and thus the Supreme Court and so much else) hanging in the balance, W.’s brother Jeb’s team decided the overvotes had to be thrown out because when someone had arguably voted twice, how could you possibly discern their intent? (Yes: this really happened.) Not to mention what would have happened if Ralph Nader had told voters in swing states like Florida — where he got 97,488 votes — to vote for the man he considered the least bad alternative. How entirely different the world today would have been. Without those tens of thousands of overvotes, and with Nader encouraging progressives to vote for him, Gore “lost” by 537.