DCUM Weblog

Yesterday I wrote about the roundtable held the previous day by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to discuss Antifa. In addition to Trump administration officials, participants included several right-wing influencers. One point that I stressed is that these influencers work hand-in-hand with the administration to both provide justification for and generate acceptance of the administration's policies. In this respect, the influencers have an important propaganda role for the administration. The role of the influencers during the roundtable was to create a convincing argument that Antifa exists and presents a violent threat in order to justify Trump's plans to deploy military forces to American cities. In reality, Antifa in the United States is simply an ideological movement with no organizational structure. But Trump's cognitive state is such that he is incapable of distinguishing reality from illusion. Moreover, Trump is surrounded by those for whom his delusions serve their own ends. Therefore, the influencers were not only expected to create a false narrative for the American public, but for Trump as well. Given the outsized role now played by these influencers, it is worth knowing more about them.

Yesterday, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump held a roundtable on Antifa. The participants included a number of high-ranking Trump administration officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel (apparently referred to within the White House as "a giant douche canoe"), and world-class hater Stephen Miller (who remained silent). In addition, there were a number of so-called "journalists" who were in reality right-wing influencers. They included Nick Sortor, Jack Posobiec, Cam Higby, Jonathan Choe, Andy Ngo, Katie Daviscourt, James Klug, Savanah Hernandez, Nick Shirley, Brandi Kruse, and Julio Rojas. While apparently aimed at shedding light on Antifa, the roundtable was actually an exercise in disinformation, lies, and propaganda.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is making significant investments in social media monitoring. Information gleaned from social media sources will be integrated into existing databases to allow investigators increased visibility into individuals being scrutinized and provide additional information to identify potential targets. While these tools are initially being developed to focus on residents who lack legal status to remain in the U.S., there is an obvious danger that they may eventually be used to surveil U.S. citizens as well. These systems provide an additional weapon for an increasingly pervasive surveillance state.

The heart of ICE's data analysis system is its Investigative Case Management (ICM) system provided by Palantir. As Wired reports, this system combines "disparate streams of data into a single investigative platform." The system "lets agents search people using hundreds of categories, from immigration status and country of origin to scars, tattoos, and license-plate reader data." According to a 2016 Privacy Impact Assessment of ICM, "ICE collects information from a wide variety of internal and external sources". Such sources include reports generated from information provided by ICE agents and other individuals; tracking information provided by cellular services, surveillance cameras, and license plate readers; and other federal databases including the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) System, and several Customs and Border Patrol databases. Users of the system may also add data from commercially available databases. Essentially, ICM has combined as much information about individuals as the government has been able to obtain into one system. The online publication 404 Media reported on ICM last April and said:

Republicans have a child sex problem. To be sure, far too many Democrats have also been caught behaving inappropriately with children. However, Republicans appear to be particularly prone to being caught having sex with children or trafficking child pornography. Connections to sex with children reach to the top of the Republican party, where cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson are both doing their utmost to keep information related to Jeffrey Epstein hidden from the public. The problem extends downward throughout Republican leaders across the nation.

Let's start with Epstein. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to procuring for prostitution a girl under the age of 18. As punishment, Epstein served less than 13 months in prison in very cushy conditions. Trump later appointed the prosecutor who agreed to this sweetheart deal to be the Secretary of Labor. In 2019, Epstein was arrested again and, this time, charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy to traffic minors for sex. Subsequently, Epstein was found dead in his jail cell, officially as a result of suicide. Much of the evidence collected during the Epstein investigation has been withheld from the public. Releasing the so-called "Epstein files" became a central issue of the MAGA movement, promoted by, among others, Kesh Patel and Dan Bongino, the current number 1 and number 2 officials in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. When they assumed office, Patel and Bongino — along with Attorney General Pam Bondi — promised a quick release of the files. There was particular interest in what has been called Epstein's "client list," allegedly a list of powerful individuals who Epstein provided with often underage women for sexual encounters. At one point, Bondi announced that the list was "sitting on my desk right now to review."

On Friday, I wrote about a military-style operation launched by federal agencies, including Customs and Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Chicago, which involved agents rappelling from a helicopter. This militarization of federal agencies is a concerning step in cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's efforts to establish authoritarian rule. Over the weekend, Trump initiated a number of additional steps towards establishing military control of American cities. This involved attempts by Trump to deploy National Guard troops to cities over the opposition of local political leaders.

Trump's first deployment of National Guard troops, as well as regular military forces, was in Los Angeles. The federal use of military forces, including the National Guard, for law enforcement purposes is restricted in the United States by the Posse Comitatus Act. Trump deployed the troops under the authority of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, Section 12406. This provision allows the National Guard to be called into federal service when the U.S. is being invaded, there is a rebellion, or regular law enforcement is not able to execute federal law. Because none of these conditions applied in Los Angeles, California Governor Gavin Newsom sued the Trump Administration. A federal District Judge, Charles Breyer, decided in favor of Newsom and ruled that the National Guard units were subject to the Posse Comitatus Act and had unlawfully engaged in law enforcement. However, Breyer's decision is currently stayed.

In the early morning around 1 a.m., a Blackhawk helicopter speeds through the darkness. The pilot spots his target and swoops down to just above roof level. Heavily armed men dressed in full combat gear quickly rappel down ropes. As they hit the roof, they rush to the residential floors of the building. There, they break down doors, toss flash grenades, drag residents out of beds, zip-tie them, and march them outside where they are forced to kneel on the ground for hours. Is this a scene from "Black Hawk Down" or "Zero Dark Thirty"? Or could it be the description of an American military operation in Iraq or Afghanistan? No, this was a recent raid led by Customs and Border Protection in Chicago. Full military-style raids are now being carried out in American cities.

The details of this raid have been fairly well reported. The Department of Homeland Security wanted the action publicized, even inviting NewsNation to come along to observe the raid firsthand. After the fact, DHS produced a glitzy video that looks like a movie trailer. CBP commander-at-large Gregory Bovino even made a brief cameo in the video, looking like a Seal Team Six commander about to take down Osama Bin Laden.

Back in August I wrote a post about cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's hatred of renewable energy, particularly wind power. The basis of Trump's antagonism appears to be a failed battle to prevent wind turbines from being built within sight of his Balmedie, Scotland golf course. The other side of this particular coin is that Trump loves coal power. This week, multiple U.S. departments announced a coordinated plan to "Reinvigorate and Expand America’s Coal Industry". As is the case with most Trump initiatives, this one is poorly considered and moves the country in the wrong direction.

The United States is facing a period of increased energy demand. According to a recent study by ICF, "U.S. electricity demand is expected to grow by 25% by 2030 and by 78% by 2050, compared to 2023." The Department of Energy says that "Rising electricity demand is mainly driven by data center expansion and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) applications, domestic manufacturing growth, and electrification of different sectors." This increased demand will also result in increased electricity prices for U.S. consumers. ICF predicts that "For residential customers, electricity rates could increase by 15% to 40% by 2030, depending on the market." The U.S. clearly needs to invest in electrical production.

In recent days, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has taken presidential actions aimed at clamping down on vaguely defined "incitement of violence." Justifying his moves due to recent acts of political violence, including the murder of Charlie Kirk and the shooting at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Dallas, Texas, Trump is mandating that the powers of government be used to attack the political left. There are two possible interpretations of Trump's efforts. The first is that this signals the beginning of an all-out government-led assault on the First Amendment rights of those with whom Trump disagrees. This school of thought expects government investigations of organizations that support causes popular on the left, such as the rights of immigrants. The second interpretation is that Trump is demonstrating weakness and has taken to arm waving and foot stomping in lieu of concrete moves. Like a swimmer who is splashing around wildly but making little forward progress, Trump is floundering and making up for that with wild demonstrations that are largely symbolic. The truth may lie somewhere in the middle.

As I have written many times, with autocracy comes incompetence. Today, I am going to describe another example of the incompetence of the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. This particular situation is solely the responsibility of Trump and undermines his claims of being "America First." This is the strange triangle of American farmers, Trump's tariffs, and Argentina. It is a drama in three acts.

Act One is Trump's imposition of tariffs on imports, specifically those from China. China took immediate steps to retaliate. U.S.-China trade relations have been going through rapid ups and downs with Trump repeatedly announcing trade deals that don't materialize. Ramifications of Trump's tariffs and the Chinese retaliatory moves are not always easy to decipher, but when it comes to U.S. soybean sales, the impact has been very clear. Countries have learned to strategically target retaliatory methods in order to maximize political pressure on Trump. Farmers are a favorite target. They mostly voted for Trump and tend to live in states dominated by Republicans. China simply stopped buying U.S. soybeans and has not made a single purchase since May. Sales to China once made up about 60 percent of U.S. soybean exports. This is the height of the traditional export market, and farmers risk going out of business due to the loss of sales to China. The political pressure that the Chinese hoped to generate has been forthcoming, with desperate farmers pressuring their elected representatives for a solution.

Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump is clearly facing cognitive challenges. I wrote about this in early August, but things have only gotten worse. There have been a number of examples over the past several days of Trump showing mental decline. While Trump has elite intelligence services at his fingertips, he seems to rely on Fox News and unvetted social media posts for information. The combination of declining cognitive abilities and fake news is making it increasingly difficult for Trump to distinguish between fantasy and reality. This is having a real impact on policy and not simply something about which we can joke.

The first example that I will provide requires a little background. On September 25, John Solomon at "Just the News" published an article headlined "FBI Bombshell: 274 agents sent to Capitol for J6, many later complained they were political ‘pawns’" that started out saying, "The FBI secretly deployed more than 250 plainclothes agents to the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot...". The headline and lede were consistent with MAGA conspiracy theories that FBI agents hidden in the January 6 crowds had instigated the insurrection. Solomon didn't actually make that claim, but he did misrepresent the report to which he was referring. The report does not use the word "plainclothes" and clearly says that "The number includes agents that responded to the Capitol grounds as well as inside the Capitol, the pipe bombs, and the red truck that was believed to contain explosive devices as well as CDC/ADCS." Solomon has long been a source of disinformation, and this is an obvious case of him suggesting that the report says something that it doesn't. Far from being secret agents sent to stir up a revolt, the FBI personnel were sent in response to the insurrection to attempt to protect the Capitol.