Wednesday's Most Active Threads

The most active thread yesterday was titled, "Matt Gaetz tapped for AG" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Yesterday, I wrote about the nomination of Pete Hegseth and said that, "Trump's cabinet is quickly shaping up to be the MAGA version of the Star Wars bar, with every type of right-wing freak imaginable." But even with my expectations set accordingly, I was taken completely by surprise by this pick. So much so that I actually deleted the first thread about Matt Gaetz being chosen for Attorney General because I assumed that it was a troll. There appear to be several layers to this particular onion, and I am not sure that we have uncovered them all yet. I suspect that there are more surprises to come. With that in mind, here is what we know. Gaetz was previously investigated by federal authorities for his role in a sex trafficking ring. Gaetz, who will now oversee a significant amount of highly confidential information, left his Venmo transactions publicly viewable. His Venmo history showed payments to a woman who was linked to the sex trafficking ring. Gaetz was alleged to have paid the woman for sex at a time when she was underage. The Federal investigation of Gaetz was dropped without his being charged, but a close associate of his pled guilty and is currently serving an 11-year sentence. The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ethics has been investigating Gaetz and his involvement in sex trafficking for some time. Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has said that Gaetz offered to drop his effort to remove McCarthy as Speaker if McCarthy quashed the Ethics investigation. McCarthy declined and subsequently lost a vote to remain as Speaker. The Ethics Committee was scheduled to release a report about Gaetz that has been described as "damaging" on Friday. He reportedly met with President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump earlier this week and convinced Trump to make the AG appointment. After Trump announced the decision yesterday, Gaetz resigned from Congress. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is not allowed to appoint a successor for Gaetz. Instead, a special election must be scheduled. It could be that Gaetz' early resignation was meant to allow time for that election and decrease the period during which an empty seat would further decrease the Republicans' slim House majority. However, it is more likely that Gaetz was trying to get out before the report was released. What will happen with that report remains to be seen. In this thread, there was immediate doubt about whether Gaetz could be confirmed. However, many Republican Senators rushed to offer support for Gaetz, and others expressed a lack of interest in having a fight with Trump over the nomination. While Maine Senator Susan Collins announced her opposition, the Republicans only need 50 votes to allow Vice President-elect J. D. Vance to break the tie. Therefore, it will take more than Collins alone to block Gaetz. Even then, Trump has expressed interest in making recess appointments, which would avoid the necessity of Senate confirmation. The upshot is that the next U.S. Attorney General is very likely to be someone who was involved in sex trafficking a minor and whose only qualification is loyalty to Trump. Just one more freak in the Star Wars bar.

Yesterday's next most active thread was not political, but it might have been better if it had been. Posted in the "College and University Discussion" forum, the thread was titled, "What colleges do you have negative associations with and why?". The original poster writes that he has negative associations with the University of Michigan because it is "Too cultish" and Brown University because it is a upper middle class "striver school". I am not going to write much about this thread. I don't think I have the words to express how much I hate threads such as this that are meant to be completely negative. Just how empty does your life have to be that anonymously bashing various colleges and universities actually adds something to it? It is even worse when the reasons for the negativity are so superficial. Frankly, both of the original poster's examples make the poster sound jealous. It's not like the rest of the thread got any better. To the contrary, things got worse. One poster doesn't like Brandeis University because those who went there are "ugly". Another poster doesn't like Elon University because, when you Google it, the results are for "Elon Musk". Several other posters actually agreed with this poster. All of them should improve their Google skills. Hint, try this query: "Elon University -Musk". Problem solved. A ton of the posters in this thread blame their negative feelings about a school solely on their interaction with a single individual connected to the college or university. One would think that those with a college education or, at least, college aspirations, would know better than to be so reductive.

Next was a thread titled, "DOGE?" and posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. "DOGE" is short for the "Department of Government Efficiency," which is supposedly a new department which will be led by First Lady Elon Musk and former Republican presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. For those who are not extremely online, "DOGE" and Musk go back a ways. DOGE started as an Internet meme consisting of a picture of a dog and one or more two-word phrases. Later, as a joke, two developers created a cryptocurrency that they called Dogecoin. Those who have followed Musk's career will know that he rarely comes up with good ideas himself. Rather, he seizes others' good ideas and claims them for himself. For reasons probably only known to him, Musk latched onto Dogecoin and began promoting it on Twitter (now X). As a result, Dogecoin went from being a joke to becoming a significant cryptocurrency. The fact that Musk has now been nominated to lead a government department called "DOGE" is probably a hilarious joke to him as well as epic trolling of his critics. Needless to say, Musk and Ramaswamy are two more additions to the Star Wars bar being created by President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump. Nominally, DOGE is supposed to identify and eliminate government inefficiencies. Regardless of the value of such an enterprise, it is doubtful that either of these individuals has the capabilities required for the task. Are we to seriously believe that Musk, while simultaneously running his five companies, will find time to overhaul the entire U.S. government? Moreover, what is the likelihood that any of the government programs that fund Musk's own enterprises will be found to be inefficient and in need of elimination? Similarly, Ramaswamy, far from being any sort of business genius, is best known for leading a company whose value dropped 75% in one day. Amazingly, all investors other than Ramaswamy lost money. The first problem with this endeavor is that Trump does not have the authority to create government departments. That will require an act of Congress. Congress will also have to provide funding. Second, Musk, and to a lesser extent Ramaswamy, will need to navigate a host of conflicts of interest. Both will want to avoid any of the financial disclosures normally required of department heads. What is most likely to happen is that something less grand than a "department" will be created and it will essentially work as a slush fund for corporations wanting to get rid of regulations. If corporations put enough cash into the correct hands, the regulations that they dislike will suddenly be found to be inefficient and eliminated. Similarly, I predict that shoveling government money into artificial intelligence, especially those efforts led by Musk and his friends, will be found to be highly efficient and deserving of huge increases. A sideshow to this undertaking will be the relationship between Musk and Trump. Musk has already eclipsed Vice President-elect J. D. Vance, who has been virtually invisible for months. Musk, on the other hand, has been inseparable from Trump. Trump has already started making jokes suggesting that his interest in Musk has limits. It is doubtful that Washington, DC is big enough for the outsized egos of both of these two narcissists. The inevitable clash will probably provide some much-needed levity in what will otherwise be a pretty dark period of our history.

The final thread that I will discuss today is another one that was posted in the "Political Discussion" forum. Titled, "Biden & Jill & Donald", the original poster is referring to a White House meeting between President Joe Biden and President-elect, cult leader, and convicted felon Donald Trump. First Lady Jill Biden was on hand to welcome Trump, but Melania Trump opted to turn down Jill Biden's invitation. The original poster is concerned that everyone appeared to be happy and friendly during the meeting. Given the animosity between Biden and Trump during the campaign, as well as the warnings about Trump's threat to democracy, the original poster would expect fewer smiles. The central problem highlighted here is that Democrats, and Biden especially, are playing by one set of rules while Trump and the Republicans are playing by another set, or no rules at all. It's like a boxing match where one fighter follows the Queensberry Rules while the other is a street fighter, ignoring all rules. When the first fighter, after being kicked in the groin, punched in the kidneys, and head-butted, loses, his own values and expectations still require him to get up and shake hands in a sportsmanlike manner. Had he managed to win, the favor would not have been returned. We don't have to speculate about that because we have already seen it demonstrated. After his 2020 defeat, Trump not only didn't invite Biden to the White House, he provoked an insurrection aimed at preventing Biden from taking office. The dilemma for Democrats is that they are torn between their commitment to their own values and the validity of their warnings about Trump. Some posters in this thread argue, much as the original poster, that if Democrats really believe their warnings that Trump is a unique threat to democracy, Biden shouldn't be so happy about a peaceful transition. The fact that Biden welcomed this alleged unique thread with nothing but smiles and friendly words suggests that maybe Biden, and other Democrats as well, didn't really believe their own warnings. Biden clearly feels the need to demonstrate a good example and uphold his own values which require hospitality and a commitment to a peaceful transition. Essentially, he prioritized good manners and his own commitment to democracy over the threat that he believes Trump presents. That does not mean that his warnings about Trump were not authentic. Biden's critics, however, are not entirely wrong. While Biden should have welcomed Trump and committed to a peaceful and smooth transfer of power, nothing required him to be happy about it. I am not suggesting that Biden should have pouted through the entire event, but maybe he should have been a bit more solemn. Laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is an important Presidential tradition that requires proper behavior. The President would not joke or smile during that event. Welcoming Trump should have been approached similarly. It was an important official duty, but not a time for joy.