THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2025
The MAGA co-hosts are much worse: We're sorry we included Pam Bondi in this morning's report.
In fairness to ourselves, her statement at yesterday's "cabinet meeting" which wasn't a cabinet meeting was especially daft.
That said, that one segment from yesterday's broadcast of The Five showcased the demonic nature of that corporate disinformation vehicle. We should have dumped the AG's strange statement and totally focused on that.
At any rate, President Trump's top appointees are providing especially striking anthropology lessons at these televised "cabinet meetings." In fairness, so is President Trump himself, in the way he's able to sit there and seem to bask in the glory of the North Korean style fluffing he seems to be keeping on speed dial.
True story! People have always behaved in such ways inside the world's royal courts. Everyone doesn't behave this way, but some people inevitably will.
Also, some people will behave in the manner of the MAGA-friendly co-hosts of The Five. That's especially true if you pay such people very large sums to deliver the corporate mail.
Gutfeld, Pirro, Watters and Perino are paid very large corporate salaries. Presumably, they know what they're paid to do.
(Perino is there to create the impression that the four co-hosts aren't all totally nuts.)
In fairness, how often do the four MAGA co-hosts believe the things they say? There's no clear way to make that assessment.
Also, how often are their basic postures basically accurate, absurd misstatements and disinformation to the side? As the bells continues to toll, the awkward answer would have to be this:
Their basic postures are basically accurate with more frequency than we Blues are inclined to know or admit.
More on that awkward fact to come.
Advancing the anthropology lesson, here's what the AG said at yesterday's "cabinet meeting." For some reason, she always addresses President Trump as "President," full stop:
BONDI (4/30/25): President, your first hundred days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in. this. country.
Ever. Ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you.
Your directive to me was very simple: Make America safe.
[...]
I was at DEA yesterday, and they said to me [that] you, Donald Trump, have taken the handcuffs off of DEA agents. And as a result of— Since you have been in office, President Trump, your DOJ agencies have seized more than 22 million fentanyl pills, 34 hundred kilos of fentanyl. Since you’ve been—
Your last 100 days, which saved—Are you ready for this, media?—258 million lives!
President Trump has saved 258 million lives in this country—in just his first hundred days!
Where in the world does he find these people? For the record, here's what the AG said at the previous "cabinet meeting" in response to the sound of her master's prompt:
PRESIDENT TRUMP (4/10/25): Pam?
BONDI: President, we’ve got—had some great wins in the last few days. You know, you were overwhelmingly elected by the biggest majority.
The U.S. Americans want you to be president because of your agenda. And the courts are ruling that you have the authority to determine how the money of this country will be spent. That’s what the American citizens wanted and that’s what they’re getting.
In fact, President Trump won last November's election by a bit less than 1.5 points. To Bondi, that means he was "overwhelmingly elected"—by the biggest majority, in fact!
(Question! By the biggest majority that week? By the biggest majority in what imaginable sense?)
The AG's statement that day didn't quite seem make sense. On the brighter side, "the U.S. Americans," whoever they are, did in fact get what they wanted!
That wasn't an actual "cabinet meeting." It was, in fact, a PR event. Also, it was part of what we'd call an ongoing anthropology lesson.
Anthropologically, this is one of the ways we human beings are inclined to behave. This doesn't mean that we're bad people. Instead, it means that we're people people—and on occasion, that can even turn out to be true over here!
That said, there's no excuse—none at all—for what the Fox News Channel does. There is also no excuse for Blue America's ongoing silence concerning that gruesome misconduct.
We're sorry we included the AG today. Absurd as yesterday's statement was, those MAGA co-hosts are much worse.
The only group that still votes Democrat are out of touch hippies over 70.
ReplyDeleteDurn tootin', Peewee.
Delete
ReplyDeleteOh. Sounds like Pam Bondi makes Democrats squeal and squirm. Great!
Keep it up, Pam!
“You’re the puppet!”, Trump squealed when Hillary pointed out Trump was Putin’s bitch.
DeleteMore like that, too.
Gentle reminder that we voted for fascism.
DeleteYou sure did, Soros-bots. But Donald Trump has won anyway! And he will win again in 2028!
DeleteAnd 2032, but alas never 2020.
DeleteMao could be the next Republican nominee for President, if he plays his cards right and rapes a handful of pre-teens.
Delete"At any rate, President Trump's top appointees are providing especially striking anthropology lessons at these televised "cabinet meetings."
ReplyDeleteSomerby borrows the word "anthropology" to make it appear that his personal observations and opinions are somehow scientific, reflecting expertise beyond his own thoughts. That is not true because (1) Somerby does not consult the literature on any topic he explores here, so he is not drawing upon any actual anthropologist's knowledge or theories, (2) Somerby is not using the methods of an anthropologist to make his observations, (3) Somerby is making no cross-cultural comparisons, and (4) Somerby himself is embedded within the culture he is supposedly studying and does not understand how to protect his generalizations from his own biases (it takes training and specific procedures), and (5) Somerby makes no useful generalizations about what he is observing. Blaming is not useful, (6) there is no analysis provided of any kind, much less the type that anthropologists might do.
So, the word anthropology is misapplied and very misleading when Somerby's purpose here is not to gain knowledge but to spread his own brand of misinformation about so-called Blue America. He is even less qualified to talk about psychology and what is or is not normal human behavior.
Pedant.
DeleteAnd...?
DeleteIf you think academic learning doesn't matter then you shouldn't complain about Trump. That is the path that leads to conmen and frauds.
Delete"Somerby borrows the word "anthropology" to make it appear..."
Delete**GONG**
"For some reason, she always addresses President Trump as "President," full stop"
ReplyDeleteOne reason might be that she is emphasizing the fact that there is only one president. If there were two, she would have to say which one she means, adding the name Trump or Musk to the title. She may be trying to avoid antagonizing Trump with that fact by reminding him that he is President Trump (not The President) while Musk is President Musk. Who knows how Musk has been telling people to address him in Trump's absence and out of his hearing.
CNN just ruined Kamala's coming out party. After 100 days in office, despite 92% negative coverage from the legacy news, Americans would still pick Trump over Kamala:
ReplyDelete"Trump CONTINUES to score a higher percentage of the vote than Kamala Harris!"
I don't see that anywhere in the article describing the poll:
Deletehttps://www.cnn.com/2025/04/29/politics/poll-frustration-anger-politics
When asked who would have done a better job as president, Trump scored 42% while Harris scored 41% with 16% saying they would have performed the same had Harris been elected instead of Trump. That isn't what @3:32 is saying about electing Trump again, especially given that his favorability ratings have fallen so much.
I don't know if you are aware of this, but an orange turd, not Harris, is crashing the world economy and installing Project 2025 Fascist dipshits at the highest levels of our Government. You really should pay more attention to what is going on around you.
DeleteBob and many Dems tend to criticize certain aspects of Trump's actions while ignoring the failure or success of the action. The point of Trump's and Leavitt's almost-daily pressers and the open Cabinet meeting is to inform the public of what the government is doing. They're succeeding brilliantly. Especially when compared with the prior President.
ReplyDeletego fuck yourself, Dickhead. King Orange Chickenshit is a firehose of bullshit. every time he opens his mouth. just because you gobble it all up with a shovel, doesn't make it a success, you fucking fascist freak.
Delete"They're succeeding brilliantly."
DeleteHere's some open and informative statements that were made at the last meeting:
Trump: "We've just completed what many consider to be the most successful first 100 days of any administration in the history of our country."
Hegseth: "Mr. President, I think we're controversial because we're over the target."
Lutnick: "....the attention on the Trump gold card.
I mean, it makes me very popular. Last night, I was out to dinner and someone came up and said, can I buy 10?" (ed. note: each gold card is a kind of visa that could only apply to one applicant, so it makes no sense that one person would want 10. They're not trading cards.)"
Greer: "They said you wouldn't be able to do global tariffs. We did it. They said everyone would retaliate. No one retaliated outside of China" (ed. note: Canada and the EU, two of our largest trading partners, also retaliated).
Ratliff: "But you and I both know Mr. President that you have had a profound positive impact on America's national security posture and Americans are safer because of your leadership."
Wiles: "The president's promises made to the American people have been kept time and time and time again."
Hector: So much better than Biden!
David in Cal,
DeleteThey do the same thing to Hamas.
They are being very transparent, particularly with their war plans on Signal.
DeleteGuess what, Dickhead in Cal. Apparently the orange felon's cabinet neglected to inform the American people yesterday that the USA is not at war with Venezuela. What's up with that, you fascist freak?
Delete"Anthropologically, this is one of the ways we human beings are inclined to behave. "
ReplyDeleteThis is an incredibly stupid sentence. We don't know whether those cabinet members were "inclined" to behave as they did or whether they were "required" to behave that way, or even "coerced" to behave that way. More likely, people are inclined to behave as others do, not toward any particular specific behavior in a situation such as a cabinet meeting. Calling this human nature is unwarranted.
Many anthropologists use evolutionary theory to explain human behavior. What survival pressures might exist in a society that would permit specific cabinet meeting flattery to emerge as a human trait? There aren't enough humans in Trump's cabinet to exert any evolutionary pressure that would noticeably change the human species. More likely the behavior is situational and not something that is part of our culture, much less human tendencies. And Somerby doesn't even tell us whether all of the cabinet behaved that way or whether there were some abstainers.
Somerby makes himself look ridiculous when he pretends to be scientific about anthropology (without any training) in order to puff up his credibility when he finally gets around to saying nasty things about Democrats:
"There is also no excuse for Blue America's ongoing silence concerning that gruesome misconduct."
With no evidence whatsoever that anyone in Blue America has been silent. I've seen several stories today about the North Korean feel of the flattery directed toward Trump. But Somerby never supports any of the highly critical remarks he aims at the left.
"Somerby makes himself look ridiculous when he..."
Delete**GONG**
Next, please.
This doesn't matter to you but I can assure you it matters to real anthropologists.
Delete"Somerby makes himself look ridiculous when he pretends to be scientific about anthropology"
DeleteHe's not pretending to be scientific. It's his style. Get over it.
So, misinformation should be tolerated if it is repeated?
DeleteWas it OK when Somerby pretended to have analysts and work on a sprawling campus? Is it OK when he refers to himself as "we"? These are perhaps minor lies but they are the sorts of affectations that would give an academic stature. Somerby hasn't earned any of them. Would it be OK if he started calling himself Dr. Somerby?
There are actual anthropologists who do that work for a living. They find out real things that are published in journals and books and tell people what research says about human behavior. Somerby is not one of those guys and his musings are just his own opinions backed by nothing but speculation. People don't deserve to be misled, whether by false facts or by Somerby's pretentious affectations.
"Was it OK when Somerby pretended to have analysts and work on a sprawling campus?"
DeleteYes. It was funny.
"Is it OK when he refers to himself as "we"?"
It's called the royal we. Are you autistic?
"Would it be OK if he started calling himself Dr. Somerby?"
Yes, that would be funny too. You are autistic.
Somerby is not a royal. Do you find it funny when people impersonate cops or lawyers or doctors?
DeleteIt would be okay if Somerby would call Republican voters “bigots”.
DeletePlus, he’d up his street cred with that kind of honesty.
Up his street cred bigly.
DeleteYou wonder which one of these harpies was it that Bob left barefoot, pregnant, and out of cigarettes.
DeleteYes, it can’t be anything he writes that annoys people.
DeleteAnd by “anything” you mean ANY thing.
DeleteSomerby doesn’t like women but you keep making up stories. What is wrong with you?
DeleteAnonymouse 11:01pm, you keep making ridiculous accusations. What’s wrong with you?
DeleteSo, all along, it was 11:10 who said there was a Republican voter who wasn't a bigot?
Delete11:10,
You ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Great detective work, 11:03.
Anonymouse flying monkey 8:06am, you’ve pulled an 11:10 commenter out of your butt. Same place you get your comments.
DeleteWhitey, please.
DeleteYou don't even know who Cristopher Rufo is.
11:10, is the Republican voter who isn't a bigot, the media pretended exists.
DeleteAnonymouse 9:08am, and here you are pulling out the same ole stuff day after day. Eat some roughage.
Delete"According to the White House daily schedule and press guidance issued to the press pool, Trump appears to be once again cutting his work week short, departing Washington on Thursday evening, setting up a long weekend at his private Mar-a-Lago club. After commencement remarks at the University of Alabama Thursday night, Trump will land in Palm Beach just before 11:15 PM—marking yet another early departure from the capital as major domestic and international issues demand attention." [Meidas]
ReplyDeleteWell, it wasn't quite 258 million lives saved. I was personally saved from fentanyl five times since Trump was elected.
ReplyDeleteTrump is discontinuing the Narcan program, so a bunch of people dying of overdoses will not be saved.
DeleteOh, I know! But I didn't actually take any fentanyl. But if it hadn't been stopped from entering the country by Our Incredible Leader, it could have jumped on me from the bushes or from overhead.
DeleteIf you need a quick fix Quacker give me a call. Only the best quality and price. Trust me, we have Don Jrs stamp of approval.
DeleteIt was pretty clear that when Bondi said they had saved 258 million lives, she chose a dramatic way to say that they had seized enough fentanyl to kill that many people. Her choice of words matters far less than the fact that they are actually taking actions to deal with fentanyl. Since 2018, fentanyl killed over a quarter of a million Americans.
ReplyDeleteThere is something seriously the fuck wrong with you. Do you think President Biden was not seizing that shit all through his term? When big seizures were made under Biden, the maggots would claim that was proof of his laxity. It's always heads you win, and tales we lose.
Delete@6:26 Please provide a link for Biden's anti-fentanyl efforts.
DeleteGoogle it.
DeleteIs it clear? By her account they seized 22 million pills. Does it mean that:
Delete(1) each pill contained enough Fentanyl to kill 11.73 persons?
(2) The pills were going to be subdivided?
There's no universe in which it makes sense.
The rate of fentanyl seized at the border so far under Trump is less than the rate under Biden:
Deletehttps://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/drug-seizure-statistics
Ross Ulbricht wrote Joe Biden a letter requesting clemency for his 2 life sentences, which was not granted. Within 24 hours of his inauguration, Trump got on the phone with Ulbricht's mother with the news that he was pardoning her son. Now, go look up Ross Ulbricht, DiC and tell us with a straight face that Donald Trump gives two shits about curbing the drug trade and the deaths associated with it. What a fucking joke.
DeleteI knew nothing about Ulbricht. Apparently he's a hero to some libertarians. Others say his sentence was disproportionate to the crime. But, as I say, I don't know anything about him.
DeleteYou don't know anything about him except those two things. Makes perfect sense. Ross Ulbricht invented the dark web site Silk Road which was a major thoroughfare for the distribution of illicit drugs using Bitcoin as currency. It was also used to trade firearms and other weapons for a time, but that marketplace was ultimately not profitable enough and was abandoned. Multiple deaths from drugs sold on the site occurred. It was also used as a marketplace to put contracts out on individials. When Ulbricht became aware that authorities were closing in on him, he used the site to put contracts out on six people, unbeknownst that he was communicating with undercover FBI, who staged the killings as part of their efforts to collect evidence against him. In one case he was told that a target he wanted killed was with two strangers to him and he told the agent he would pay to have all three killed. He was ultimately sentenced on 7 counts to 2 life sentences for his activities. Trump called his mom the day after his inauguration with the good news that her son, still owning tens of millions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, was being pardoned. The standard bearer for libertarianism, you think? Over prosecuted? You think Pam Bondi would agree with that? Of course you don't know anything about him in your world of willful ignorance.
DeleteDiC is now parroting the fucking felon's Roy Cohn dodges. I never heard of the guy. He sounds like a great guy. I may have met him once. But I never met him. Ridiculous troll, just like his lord and master.
DeleteUnfortunately, Dickhead in Cal is a prime example of the ignorant cultlike devotion to the orange felon from so many fellow citizens in this country. King Orange Chickenshit knows who his marks are.
DeleteDickhead in Cal is what we are up against, and there are more of his ignorant fascist cheerleader types than there are of us. Fentanyl was a major focus of the Biden administration. The difference is, President Biden didn't go out there and bullshit the American public. Dickheads just lap up Trump's bullshit.
Just one example from early 2023:
*******************
In fiscal year 2022, 84% of the 14,104 pounds of fentanyl seized along the Mexican border were detected by officers at ports of entry overseen by the Office of Field Operations, a CBP branch, according to government data.
On the other hand, Border Patrol, which apprehends migrants who enter the U.S. illegally, seized 2,200 pounds of fentanyl, or 16% of all fentanyl seized along the southern border, in fiscal year 2022. Moreover, many of those seizures occurred at interior checkpoints, where Border Patrol agents screen commercial and passenger vehicles.
How much fentanyl is entering the United States? How many Americans are dying?
Last year, the DEA seized enough fentanyl to kill every American — more than 50 million fentanyl-laced pills and over 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder.
"I knew nothing about Ulbricht. Apparently he's a hero to some libertarians. Others say his sentence was disproportionate to the crime. But, as I say, I don't know anything about him."
DeleteThanks for the reminder that no one should ever waste their time discussing economics with you.
"Libertarian hero"
DeleteHe's an open borders guy, too?
It's no wonder Trump pardoned him.
You don’t think some bitcoin was involved in the pardoning of Ross Ulbricht? Ask Trevor Milton about that likelihood (who coincidentally had Pam Bondi’s brother as legal counsel).
DeleteSo sorry about the fentanyl deaths, but we have a deficit we have to get under control, first.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
DeleteWhat's your opinion of Ross Ulbricht?
I hear you know absolutely nothing about him, but that not knowing anything about the subject has never stopped you from opining about something before.
Bondi was exaggerating for effect.
DeleteLike the media does when they say there is an entire Republican voter who isn't a bigot.
It is pretty clear that when TDH readers post that there are no Republican voters who aren't bigots, they are choosing a dramatic way to say that bigotry against minorities is the most important thing to Republican voters, and it's what gets them amped-up to go out and vote. Their choice of words matter far less than the fact that the Republican Party is an amoral dumpster fire. Since Reagan was elected, Republican politicians have raped thousands of preteens.
ReplyDeleteThis.
DeleteThe only way to get the USA back on track, is to convince out of control-spending Right-wingers, like David in Cal, that their problems can't be solved with big-government solutions.
ReplyDeleteIt's kinda funny seeing them get roasted like this. Gotta love the political commentary!
ReplyDeleteStuck in indecision?
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