THURSDAY: Mary Jo and Billy Bob?

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2026

The latest "Deplorables moment?" The president's meltdown seems to be picking up speed. As it does, our journalists still refuse to discuss what seems to be taking place right before everyone's eyes. 

If he attacked someone on Fifth Avenue, would even one journalist be willing to go there? 

We'll guess that the answer is no. And even as that silence pervades, Blue America can't seem to stop shooting itself in the foot in the manner described below.

Here's CNN's Dana Bash on Inside Politics, introducing Dan Osborn, the Senate candidate Democrats are backing in Nebraska:

BASH (9/16/26): Democrats' hopes of capturing the Senate could come down to independents, like Dan Osborn in Nebraska. The mechanic and union leader is not running as a Democrat, though the Democratic Party is behind his campaign and certainly against Republican Senator Pete Ricketts. Here's why. 

When Kamala Harris lost Nebraska by 21 points in 2024, Dan Osborn was on the ballot, and he came within seven points of defeating Senator Deb Fischer. So he decided to run again. 

In a sign the race could be even closer this time, a Senate Republican Super PAC just put over $3 million into an ad campaign targeting Osborn. Dan Osborn joins me now. 

Osborn could win in Nebraska. If he wins, he'll caucus with the Democrats as an Independent, the way Senators Sanders and King do now.  

He was (and is) the Great Democratic Party Hope. But then, along came this unfortunate moment, originally reported by the Omaha World Herald:   

BASH (continuing directly): Thank you so much for being here. 

I do want to start with news out today in your state, and that is the Omaha World Herald reported on a leaked recording from a private event where you reportedly said this about some of President Trump's voters in Nebraska. Let's listen.

OSBORN (audiotape): Billy Bob in f***** Red Cloud, Nebraska, who lives next door to the f****** Trump store as you pull into town and is waving the Trump flag. He's just, he just— all he knows is he's like on the winning team. It's, it's really that simple. It is.

And, and Trump, and that is why he's been so effective. He's been so effective at taking Billy Bob and his wife Mary Jane or Mary Jo at telling them, "Look, we're winning. You're on the winning team," and that's all they care about because their lives probably suck so f***** bad.

BASH: First of all, just to confirm, is that you saying that?

OSBORN: It sure sounds like me.  

Ocborn goes on to explain. It sounds a bit shaky to us:

BASH (continuing directly): Is that what you think of Trump voters? 

OSBORN: No, I've talked to—I've talked to Trump voters all across the state. I'm on a 93-county tour right now. I've got 55 counties under my belt. I did over 200 public events in 2024 when Trump was on top of the ticket, and I talked to a lot of Trump voters. And no, that's not it. 

What I'm talking about, I'm talking about people are pissed off. People are disenfranchised...

The exchange continues from there. Eventually, Bash says this:   

BASH: In this audio, which you said sounds like you, though you use names like Billy Bob and Mary Jane or Mary Jo, you say that they just really want to be on a winning team because their lives suck so much. But the way that you talk here doesn't sound like you—doesn't sound very respectful. 

[...]

I mean, there's a lot of talk about this as your "Deplorables" moment.  

Or as his "little boxes on the hillside" moment? 

(We're assuming that really is him. He never says or suggests that it isn't.)  

We still hope Osborn will win and will help Democrats take control of the Senate. But we Blues sometimes have a hard time understanding this part of the way we sometimes tend to see the world. It's one of the ways we lose votes and with those votes, elections.

To listen to the audiotape, you can click here for its inclusion in a CNN report. For the Washington Post's report, click this.  

WEDNESDAY: With apologies, Dumb and Dumber meet Dumbest Yet!

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2026

"What, us add to the debt?" For heaven's sake, who are we kidding?

We'll expect to be back to our usual task of saving the world by the start of next week. For today, as the madnesses keep piling up, we'll start by directing you to this report about the latest gong show: 

Bessent Straight Up Claims Trump’s $5K Checks Can Go Out Without Adding to the Debt

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wildly insisted on Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s proposed $5,000 checks to Americans could be sent out without adding to the national debt.

The president first floated the plan during last week’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, promising to send the money if the GOP retains control of Congress in the midterms. He’s said he doesn’t think the checks will require congressional approval and has pointed to tariff revenue and more than $20 trillion in claimed U.S. investment to justify the proposal.   

Those figures have been disputed. CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale noted tariff revenue falls far short of the roughly $1.3 trillion estimated cost of the checks, while calling Trump’s $20 trillion investment figure “fiction.”

And so on from there, with videotape provided. 

But yes, that basic report seems to be accurate. Yesterday, in a congressional hearing, Bessent seemed to say that he could hand out $1.3 trillion in checks 1) without adding to the annual deficit and therefore 2) without adding to our rapidly growing national debt.  

Yes, that seems to be what he said. Yes, he seems to have said it!  

We expect to be back Monday morning, perhaps with a new, improved attitude and tone. But just for the record, Jared Bernstein offers this guest essay in today's New York Times:

The National Debt Never Scared Me. It Scares Me.  

[...]   

For years, I wasn’t an alarmist about the national debt. During the Biden administration, I even criticized those calling for more austere budget policy; I thought that fiscal austerity would do more harm than good.

Our fiscal reality has changed significantly since those days, and so has my stance on public debt. Here’s why:   

Bernstein was chair of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Biden administration. He goes on from there to explain. 

As we've noted in the recent past, Bernstein has recently written other such columns, as has Paul Krugman. But it seems that nothing is going to stop the flow of the madnesses from the current administration.

In truth, discussions of policy topics like this barely exist at this point. Our discourse has been swallowed by the serial tabloid lunacies of the sitting president, lunacies whose fairly obvious (medical) origin our scribes agree not to discuss.

Light posting will continue until Monday. Please hold the fort until then!

BREAKING: We expect to be posting again tomorrow!

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2026

Psaki, O'Donnell score points: Returning from our own private south of France, we expect to resume light posting tomorrow. 

Also, we're looking for a way to adjust the tone and subject matter of this incomparable site—to adopt a new attitude.

In our view, Jen Psaki scored some points last Thursday night. We love the way she used the word "dumb" on that evening's program.

Last night, Lawrence O'Donnell rocked the world, playing tape of Jon Ossoff. We love the way Ossoff kept using the word "crook."

Ossoff is a remarkable talent. To his own substantial credit, Lawrence O'Donnell knows it!