New Political Developments: A Mixture of Tragedy and Farce

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."

Another farce, though a much more serious one, is the Trump administration's attempt to prosecute Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who has been returned to the U.S. after being wrongly renditioned to El Salvador. While I have been calling him Abrego Garcia, he said in court documents that he prefers to be referred to as "Abrego", so that is how I will refer to him from now on. Department of Justice lawyers admitted in court that Abrego was removed in error. But rather than simply rectifying the mistake by returning him to the U.S., the Trump administration launched an investigation into possible involvement by Abrego in migrant smuggling. As the Washington Post reports, the star witness against Abrego is Jose Ramon Hernandez Reyes, who was in jail due to three felony convictions, including a gun charge. In exchange for agreeing to testify against Abrego, Hernandez has already been released from prison and has been given permission to remain in the United States. Otherwise, Hernandez would have been deported once he had served his prison sentence (which was nearly complete). Hernandez has been deported five times previously. The government has a second cooperating witness who is a family member of Hernandez but otherwise has not been publicly identified. This cooperator has also been previously deported and has also been serving a prison sentence for a felony conviction. Like Hernandez, this witness hopes to be released from prison and allowed to remain in the U.S. in exchange for his testimony. So this is the situation: Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are so determined to save face rather than accept their error with regard to Abrego that they are willing to free two convicted felons who have previously been deported and allow them to stay in the country. Both admit to undertaking the same crime for which Abrego is being prosecuted. In what world does this make any sense whatsoever? The real icing on the cake, however, is that Hernandez told investigators that he never saw any indication that Abrego was a member of MS-13. Therefore, the government's star witness contradicts Trump's and Bondi's allegations about Abrego being an MS-13 member.

Today, the U.S. Senate is considering the One Big Beautiful Bill. This bill may be one of the most disastrous pieces of legislation in history. Sadly, it leans much more towards tragedy than farce. There is so much that is terrible about this act (which it technically is despite its name), that I am sure I will be writing much more about it in the future. But, for now, I want to point out that the bill will remove nearly a trillion dollars from healthcare spending and will be the largest rollback of federal support for healthcare in history. The construction workers' trade union, NABTU, says that the legislation will be the "biggest job-killing bill in the history of this country." The legislation also has widespread and unremitting attacks on renewable energy and electric vehicles. Over the weekend, Trump told Fox News that "We're doing coal" and Republican Senators seem to have received the message. While incentives for EVs, funding for charging infrastructure, and credits for solar panels had already been axed by the proposed act, last-minute changes sought not only to cut support for renewable energy projects, but to actually punish them. A change created a new tax on wind and solar projects completed after 2027. The lack of support for renewable energy had already been having an impact as a number of companies froze plans to build new plants in the U.S., but that process will likely accelerate now. This is among the most short-sighted aspects of the act as it will lock in U.S. dependencies on fossil fuels while most of the world turns to cheap renewable energy. China's lead in the sector will grow and U.S. trading partners will likely grow dependent on China while the U.S. becomes increasingly isolated.

The big winner in the One Big Beautiful Bill, other than the wealthy and corporations who will receive massive tax cuts, is Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The bill contains $45 billion for detention centers on top of the current annual budget of $3.4 billion, $14.4 billion for transportation and removal, on top of the current annual budget of $750 million, and $8 billion for hiring/retention (these numbers were reported by Aaron Reichlin-Melnick). As Reichlin-Melnick writes, "If the bill passes, it could make ICE the nation's largest jailer, with more funding for detention than the entire federal Bureau of Prisons. It would give ICE enough money to have more officers on board than the entire FBI." David Burbach adds, "ICE alone would have nearly as large a detention operation as all 50 states' prison systems combined." The Republicans are attempting to turn Trump's personal Gestapo into the nation's largest jailer and further enable a police state in the U.S. As former local reporter Tom Sherwood noted on BlueSky, "ICE agents aren't required to wear body cameras, can cover their faces, don't have to provide badge numbers or identify themselves, can arrive in unmarked cars, and don't need a warrant from a judge to detain someone." This is who the act is massively enabling.

Another mixture of farce and tragedy over the weekend involved Trump's direct intervention into Israeli politics. For Benjamin Netanyahu's entire term as Prime Minister, he has either been under investigation or on trial for corruption. In the aftermath of the Israel-Iran war, which included the U.S. bombing of Iran, Trump has suddenly taken an intense interest in Netanyahu's legal problems. On Thursday, Trump posted on his Truth Social social media platform that he was "shocked" to hear that Israel is "continuing its ridiculous Witch Hunt against their Great War Time Prime Minister!". Trump went on to write that "Bibi Netanyahu’s trial should be CANCELLED, IMMEDIATELY, or a Pardon given to a Great Hero, who has done so much for the State." This coincided with an attempt by Netanyahu to have his required testimony in court this week cancelled. Trump's post failed to affect the court, which reiterated that Netanyahu was expected to show up. Trump then posted again on Saturday, saying that "It is terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu". Trump then went on to imply that U.S. financial support for Israel might be in danger, writing, "The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this" and then concluded "LET BIBI GO". Separately, Netanyahu gathered the heads of Israeli spy agencies together for a meeting with court justices. Whether it was that meeting or Trump's posts, the court agreed to excuse Netanyahu from testifying this week. It is notable that for over two weeks, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed each day in Gaza, frequently after being lured to food distribution centers operated with U.S. support. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz described the aid centers as "killing fields" and reported that Israeli soldiers have been ordered to deliberately shoot at unarmed Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid. Throughout Israel's genocide in Gaza, the U.S. has professed itself powerless to do anything to stop the bloodshed. Yet, Trump is willing to threaten to withhold U.S. support for Israel in order to prevent a corrupt leader from facing justice. It says a lot about Trump's priorities that Palestinian lives matter so much less than the possibility that Netanyahu will be jailed.