DCUM Weblog

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.

A point that I have repeatedly stressed in these blog posts is that cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump is an authoritarian who wants to rule the United States as a dictator. Yesterday, there were two more examples of his intent to implement this goal. The first was the indictment on two felony charges of former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey. The second was a Presidential Memorandum Trump issued titled, "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence". Both demonstrate how Trump intends to use the power of the state to harass, punish, and suppress his political opponents. Today, I will discuss the Comey indictment and address the memorandum in a subsequent post.

I have provided some of the background to the Comey indictment in an earlier blog post. But just to refresh, Trump has consistently made threats to punish his political enemies. It is ironic that Comey has been among Trump's most frequent targets because Comey could arguably be said to have been the key factor in getting Trump elected in 2016. Nevertheless, because of Comey's involvement in the Russia probe and Comey's well-documented refusal to pledge loyalty to Trump, Trump has had it in for him. Six days ago, Trump posted a "truth" on his Truth Social social media network that may have been meant as a private message. Addressed to "Pam," clearly U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, the message complained that "[n]othing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done." Comey had been under investigation by the Eastern District of Virginia's U.S. Attorney, but that prosecutor, Erik S. Siebert, had been unable to find sufficient grounds to seek an indictment. Trump was infuriated with Siebert, and Siebert had resigned the day before Trump's "truth". Trump, however, claimed that he had fired Siebert because Siebert was a "Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job." In Siebert's place, Trump put Lindsey Halligan, a former insurance lawyer who had never prosecuted a case but had been part of Trump's defense team in his classified documents case. Halligan was fully aware that she had one job, and that job was to indict Comey (and probably New York Attorney General Letitia James as well).

Yesterday morning, 29-year-old Joshua Jahn opened fire on the Dallas, Texas office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, leaving one immigration detainee dead and two others wounded. Jahn then turned his rifle on himself and took his own life. He also left behind shattered glass and bullet-damaged walls, suggesting that he had fired randomly at the building. Shortly after the shooting, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel tweeted a photograph showing unused cartridges, one of which had "ANTI-ICE" written on it. A host of Republican politicians, including cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, immediately blamed Democrats and anti-ICE rhetoric for the shooting. This is similar to the Republican reaction after the murder of Charlie Kirk, when Trump, Vance, and others vowed to launch a broad attack on the left, including going after funders. Despite the quick rush to blame Democrats and the left for the current wave of political violence, it is worth taking a look at how Republicans have reacted to violence in recent months. Republicans may be eager to portray themselves as innocent victims of Democratic attacks, but the truth paints a much different picture.

This morning, the first thing I did was watch the Jimmy Kimmel Live! episode that was filmed last night after Kimmel's return from a suspension. The reason I watched the show this morning rather than last night when it was broadcast is because I live in a television market served by an ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcasting. Sinclair, along with Nexstar, chose not to air the program. This seems to have been a terrible decision for those affiliates, or at least for Sinclair. In the D.C. area, viewership would have been through the roof. I suspect that almost nobody watched whatever was shown in Kimmel's place. The YouTube video that I watched this morning already has over 10 million views. But I am not here to give Sinclair business advice. If the company's strategy is to discourage anyone from watching their broadcasts, who am I to complain? Instead, what I'd rather talk about is a future where the likes of Sinclair and Nexstar are not important.

One point that I have repeatedly attempted to stress is that with autocratic government comes incompetence. The reason for that is simple. An autocrat surrounds himself with those chosen for loyalty rather than ability. For all the talk of Benito Mussolini making the trains run on time, he did not, in fact, make the trains run on time. There is a belief in some quarters that dictatorships may have political disadvantages, but that they are able to "get things done." That is almost never the case. Instead, such governments tend to be replete with corruption and incompetence. We saw that yesterday when the President of the United States, a man with no medical training, took the advice of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, another man with no medical training, and recommended an unproven treatment for autism in the form of a drug in which the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services holds a financial interest. This man at least has medical training, though it is as a heart specialist rather than a neurologist or other specialty related to autism. Moreover, he is best known as a television celebrity doctor. Another example of incompetence occurred this past Friday when cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump issued a proclamation.

"For my friends everything, for my enemies the law." This quote has been variously attributed to both Peruvian president Oscar Benavides and to Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas. Regardless of who said it originally, this has become a foundational principle of the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. Immediately upon taking office for the second time, Trump either pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 1,600 individuals convicted of crimes related to the January 6, 2021 insurrection. This included people convicted of assaulting police officers and the leaders and organizers of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol Building. Nearly 20 of those have gone on to commit additional crimes since being pardoned. Over the weekend, there were more examples of the Trump administration protecting its friends and attempting to punish its enemies in a massive misuse of the justice system.

As soon as I finished yesterday’s blog post, my first thought was that today I should write about the civil war that has broken out in MAGA land regarding Charlie Kirk and Israel. My second thought, however, was that Will Sommer of the Bulwark would address the same topic, and nothing that I wrote would measure up. I hoped that I might beat him to press. But, sadly, no. He published a report yesterday, and as expected, it’s excellent. I strongly recommend Sommer’s article. However, that article is behind a paywall, so I assume there is still room for my poorman's version.

Just to set the table, I should emphasize that there is no evidence whatsoever that Israel had any role in Kirk's murder. Moreover, I am not aware of any prominent MAGA influencer who has explicitly accused Israel of killing Kirk. Rather, the allegations have been more of the "just asking questions" sort of thing. The crux of the controversy appears to be whether or not Kirk was changing his views on Israel and was suffering repercussions as a result. The leading voice suggesting that this is the case is Candace Owens, now primarily a podcaster but earlier in her career had been hired by Kirk at Turning Point USA. By all accounts, she and Kirk were reasonably close friends. Owens has support from Tucker Carlson, Roger Stone, Megyn Kelly, and Matt Gaetz. Lined up against them are a host of MAGA establishment figures such as Vice President JD Vance, Ben Shapiro, and most vocally of them all, Laura Loomer.

How many of us expected to wake up in an America in which it was legal for immigration authorities to stop and potentially detain individuals based on their ethnicity, the accent with which they speak English, or their place of work? Further, how many of us expected that in that America, the government would be building concentration camps for holding people who have not been charged with a crime and who have not been provided legal due process? And, how many of us expected that in this America, television personalities would be removed from the air because they had upset the President? Welcome to that America.

The administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has been using a combination of regulatory abuse and lawsuits to intimidate the media in the United States. The most recent example of regulatory pressure occurred yesterday when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended by ABC. Trump has repeatedly threatened to withdraw the broadcast licenses of major broadcasters with whom he has been unhappy. The problem with that threat is that the major broadcasters do not have broadcast licenses. Local affiliates do the actual broadcasting, and it is they that have licenses. While a few are owned by the corporate broadcasters, most are owned separately. Many of the local affiliates are owned by large corporations that have taken control of large numbers of local stations. For instance, the Nexstar Media Group owns 197 television stations across the country. The Sinclair Broadcast Group owns 193 stations, and TEGNA owns or operates 68 stations. Nexstar is currently trying to buy TEGNA. That acquisition will require approval by the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is currently chaired by Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee and one-time advocate of free speech. More recently, Carr has become a Trump henchman in a campaign to subjugate the media.

Yesterday, Tyler James Robinson was charged with six felonies and a misdemeanor in connection to the murder of Charlie Kirk. The charging document provided by the Utah County Attorney's Office is the most authoritative account of events available so far. As such, I am going to review new information provided and revisit my earlier post about the killer.

The politicized nature of this case creates a number of challenges to discussing it. Four hours after announcing Kirk's death, cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump blamed the "radical left" and promised to go after the "organizations that fund and support" political violence. However, Trump only listed incidences of political violence that targeted those on the right, completely ignoring attacks on the left. Moreover, at the time of Trump's statement, no suspect had been identified, and no information about the shooter's motives was available. The clear indication of Trump's remarks was that he would use Kirk's murder as an opportunity to wage a broad attack on the political left. In an administration full of hacks, the message was loudly received.

I'm going to touch on a few different topics today, including some related to the murder of Charlie Kirk as well as my thoughts about social media. To start with, I want to address what can be called "Woke MAGA." At one time, MAGA adherents were known for the expression "F your feelings," except the "F" was fully spelled out. T-shirts with this saying printed on them were frequently seen at rallies for then-candidate, now cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. Another popular MAGA expression was "Facts don't care about your feelings," something that was actually tweeted at one point by Ben Shapiro. Now, MAGAs have turned into the largest collection of snowflakes to be found south of the Arctic. As I wrote yesterday, fans of Charlie Kirk are engaged nationwide in trying to get anyone who is not sufficiently mournful of Kirk fired from their jobs. Many are being punished simply for posting accurate quotes of things Kirk said. This effort was endorsed yesterday by Vice President JD Vance, who said, "When you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out, and, hell, call their employer."