DCUM Weblog

For more than 24 hours, the U.S. Senate has been debating the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. This so-called "reconciliation" legislation has the potential to radically change American society. Cuts to healthcare, including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), will result in 16 million people losing healthcare. It will expand the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service so that it will have more employees than the Federal Bureau of Investigation and house more prisoners than the prison systems of all 50 U.S. states combined. The act will create dependencies on fossil fuels and potentially destroy the renewable energy industry, resulting in electricity costs as much as 30% higher. With all of this going on, what are leading Democrats discussing? Zohran Mamdani, the presumed Democratic nominee for Mayor of New York City.

In the "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte", Karl Marx wrote that history repeats itself, "the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce." As such, we might have expected the second administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to have its share of farce and, indeed, we have not been disappointed. But, sadly, we are getting a second helping of tragedy as well. There has been so much happening over the past few days that I don't want to limit myself to one topic today. Therefore, I am going to touch on a number of things, some of which I may return to in greater depth later in the week.

Let's start with farce. Republicans have begun referring to Trump as "Daddy". This started during Trump's recent trip to Europe for a NATO summit meeting. As he was departing the U.S., Trump — discussing Israel and Iran — dropped an F-bomb on live television. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was later asked about Trump's choice of words and responded by saying, "Sometimes Daddy needs to use strong language." This created a bit of commotion but did not seem to bother Trump, who, when asked about it, replied, "He did it very affectionately though, ‘Daddy, you're my daddy’". The White House, in fact, embraced the nomenclature and published a video set to the song, "Hey Daddy (Daddy’s Home)" by Usher. As is to be expected from MAGA cult members, they immediately began referring to Trump as "Daddy." One of the first was actor Mel Gibson, referring to a recent trip by Trump to California, Gibson said, "Daddy Arrived And He’s Taking His Belt Off." U.S. Representative Byron Donalds, appearing on Fox News, discussed his expectations for Trump and then added, "Daddy’s back and that’s what you’re gonna see." Similarly, Representative Lauren Boebert posted on X saying that "Daddy’s home!!" along with a picture of a Time magazine cover from January. Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also posted a photo of Trump on X with the caption "Dad is home." Fox News contributor Raymond Arroyo, reacting to what he thought was Queen Máxima of the Netherlands mocking Trump, warned, "She could get a personalized bunker buster from Daddy Trump if she’s not really careful." Another Fox News personality, host Jesse Watters, also used the sobriquet, saying that "Soon, Africa will be calling him daddy, too." If nothing else, this reinforces my belief that the entire Republican Party is in need of intervention from a therapist, though given the apparent “Daddy kink" on display, maybe a sex therapist is needed. I will stop all criticism of the practice, however, if someone can come up with a video of J. D. Vance calling Trump "Daddy."

Earlier this week I wrote about the failures of the Democratic establishment and specifically mentioned the New York City Democratic mayoral primary in which almost the entire Democratic establishment had lined up in favor of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and against New York State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani. As it turned out, the Democratic establishment was more out-of-touch than even I had believed. Mamdani easily dispatched Cuomo in the first round of the ranked choice voting system used in New York City and will likely be the overwhelming victor once votes are distributed through other rounds. Mamdani's victory created considerable consternation among many Democrats, as well as Republicans and independents. It also unleashed a wave of Islamophobia that spread across political divisions.

One area in which the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has been particularly destructive has been science. Cuts and disruptions at the Department of Health and Human Services and its associated agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have severely harmed the ability of the U.S. government to conduct medical research. Last month, the minority staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) issued a report documenting the impact of Trump's actions on public health. Senator Bernie Sanders, the ranking member of the Committee, said upon releasing the report that, "Since January, Trump has launched an unprecedented, illegal, and outrageous attack on science and scientists. Trump is not only denying scientific truth but actively seeking to undermine it". Sanders went on to say, "Let’s be clear. Trump’s war on science is not making America healthy again. It is making Americans and people throughout the world sicker".

Roughly five years ago, the international economy began a period of turmoil as a result of the COVID pandemic. This led to supply chains being disrupted and increased prices for a number of goods, if you could find them at all. Then the government's reaction to that economic upheaval resulted in increased inflation. Whether the government intervention caused or simply amplified existing inflation is something often seen through a political lens, but the outcome was the same regardless: higher prices. Things were just getting under control when cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump was elected. His on-again, off-again, tariff policies and other trade-related activities have caused tremendous market upheaval. Once again, prices are rising. On top of that, the "One Big Beautiful Bill" being considered in Congress is likely to increase other costs for most families. I am going to do something a little different today and discuss the impact of the Trump presidency on our financial bottom line. Simply put, Trump and the Republicans are doing significant financial damage to my family and, in all probability, yours as well.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump presents a grave threat to the democracy of the United States. However, Trump does not exist in a vacuum. He is only able to implement his autocratic rule due to the complicity of many others. In that regard, there is plenty of blame to go around and among those responsible is the Democratic Party establishment. Former Vice President Kamala Harris ran for President on the message that Trump constituted an unprecedented danger to our system of government. So important did Harris consider countering the threat of Trump that she campaigned side-by-side with former Republican Member of Congress Liz Cheney. Harris and Cheney together attempted to convince voters that our country could not risk a second Trump term. Yet, when Trump prevailed, the Democratic establishment reacted as if Harris's and Cheney's warnings were nothing but hollow campaign slogans. For the establishment, it was business as usual. The result has been a nearly complete dereliction of responsibility bordering on collaboration.

Last Wednesday, I wrote about Israel's attempt to drag the United States into its war with Iran. Then, on Saturday, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump launched bombing and missile attacks on sites involved in Iran's nuclear program, effectively putting the U.S. at war with Iran. Following the attack, Trump administration officials were quick to argue that the U.S. attacks on Iran were limited to stopping its nuclear weapons program and not aimed at broader goals such as regime change. However, at nearly the same time, Israeli officials began to argue in favor of regime change. Appearing to contradict his own officials, Trump then posted on his Truth Social social media platform that "It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!" On the face of it, Trump appearing to side with Israelis against his own officials, especially on the topic of regime change which Trump has explicitly campaigned against, might seem strange. However, it follows a very consistent pattern of Trump putting Israel first.

Last month the New York Times ran a long article about work the company Palantir Technologies was doing for the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. As the Times reported, "In March, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, raising questions over whether he might compile a master list of personal information on Americans that could give him untold surveillance power." As Trump administration officials worked to implement this plan, "they have turned to one company: Palantir, the data analysis and technology firm."

According to the Times, Palantir has contracts with the Department of Homeland Security, the Health and Human Services Department, and the Pentagon. In addition, Palantir is in talks with the Social Security Administration about buying its technology. The paper also says that "At the I.R.S., Palantir engineers joined in April to use Foundry to organize data gathered on American taxpayers...Their work began as a way to create a single, searchable database for the I.R.S., but has since expanded". This raises concerns that the Trump administration may be "Creating detailed portraits of Americans based on government data". Moreover, there are fears that "Mr. Trump could potentially use such information to advance his political agenda by policing immigrants and punishing critics".

An article in yesterday's New York Times titled, "How Trump Shifted on Iran Under Pressure From Israel", contained this paragraph:

For Mr. Netanyahu, the last several months brought to an end years of trying to cajole the United States into backing or at least tolerating his long-held desire to deal Iran’s nuclear program a crippling blow. He appears to have judged, correctly, that Mr. Trump would ultimately come around, if only grudgingly.

These two sentences touch on two undeniable facts that will likely play a crucial role in public perceptions of the Israel-Iran War if the United States becomes further involved, which seems likely to happen within the next few days. The first is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long wanted to attack Iran's nuclear program and has consistently warned that Iran was very close to obtaining nuclear weapons. CNN recently put together a collection of video clips showing Netanyahu making such warnings as far back as 1996. The Daily Show did even better, creating its own compilation of clips that included one showing Netanyahu claiming in 1995 that Iran could produce a nuclear bomb in three to five years. The second fact is that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has opposed attacks on Iran and had to be very publicly pressured by the Israelis into condoning an Israeli attack and potentially launching U.S. attacks on Iran as well.

Today's Republican Party might be viewed as a merger of the Tea Party movement of a decade ago and QAnon conspiracy theorists. With cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump at its head and powered by its own self-contained media ecosystem, the movement has little value for facts, instead preferring "alternative truths". Therefore, while it is disappointing, it is not surprising that in the wake of the murder of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and the wounding of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife this past Saturday, MAGA supporters have indulged in spreading disinformation and falsehoods about the attack.

First, the facts as outlined in the FBI affidavit submitted in U.S. District Court. Shortly before 2:00 a.m. Saturday morning, Vance Luther Boelter pounded on the door of the Hoffman's house. When the door was opened, he entered the home and subsequently shot both Hoffmans. Their daughter called 911 to report the shooting. Police reviewed security camera footage and observed that Boelter had been dressed as a police officer and was driving a vehicle that resembled a police SUV.