MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2026
This is the culture we've chosen: In a colloquy for the New York Times, David French makes an accurate statement about certain kinds of legal liability:
‘Kristi Noem Needs to Go.’ Three Columnists on ICE in Minneapolis.
[...]
David French: We are witnessing the total breakdown of any meaningful system of accountability for federal officials. The combination of President Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, his ongoing campaign of pardoning friends and allies, his politicized prosecutions and now his administration’s assurances that federal officers have immunity are creating a new legal reality in the United States. The national government is becoming functionally lawless, and the legal system is struggling to contain his corruption.
That assessment may be basically accurate. On the other hand, the sheer lunacy of the administration's reaction to the latest fatal shooting seems to have taken us to a societal breaking point.
Over the weekend, the sheer lunacy of instant statements by Noem and Bovino and Miller and Bessent seems to have been so undeniable that even a highly permissive society is no longer inclined to deny the obvious.
At present, it looks like Noem is the figure who may be shown the door. But the culture of absurd statement was widespread within the administration this weekend, and it was so transparently ugly and inane that denial and avoidance have suddenly disappeared.
The culture of lunatic MAGA misstatement has suddenly been met with widespread disfavor. Let us say this about that:
The culture of lunatic TrumpWorld misstatement got its start with four years of birtherism performed by then-Citizen Trump on the Fox News Channel. That said, what's the most sacred crazy statement of them all?
Everybody knows what it is! The president's defining lunacy goes exactly like this:
The 2020 presidential election was stolen. It was rigged!
He has said it and said it and said it and said it. Even more than five years later, he continues to say it with numbing regularity.
He has never tried to provide a serious attempt at evidence in support of this poisonous claim. Also, you've never seen an American reporter ask him why he keeps saying this—and you've never seen a major news org announce, through its editorial policy or through the conduct of its news division, that this is a form of lunacy which simply cannot be tolerated for one freaking minute more.
No reporter has ever asked him in person. No news org has ever posed that obvious question through a written public transmission.
In that and in a hundred other ways, major members of the MAGA elite may have come to feel that the craziest attack on the opposition, or the craziest defense of the MAGA tribe, is likely to be the most productive type of attack or defense.
The game has been played that way for a very long time. The lunatic statements offered this weekend—assassin in search of a massacre, domestic terrorist—seem to have taken us over some previously unknown line:
The Wall Street Journal has said it doesn't make sense. So has the New York Post!
No one has ever stood up and asked the president why he behaves in the way he does. Also, as we've often noted, no one has dared to ask if some sort of "personality disorder" might start to explain the highly erratic behavior he persistently displays.
(That said, you don't have to seek the cause of persistent misconduct to say that the persistent misconduct must stop.)
The president's ludicrous misstatements have long been his calling card. That behavior is matched by the mainstream press corps' unwavering cowardice / deference / avoidance.
The president's behavior is completely unacceptable! No news org has ever said it. Over the weekend, lunatic conduct by Noem and Bovino and Miller and Bessent seems to have, if only temporarily, taken us past some red line.
ReplyDeleteWhat misstatement, Bob? The 2020 presidential election was rigged; you know it as well as everyone else.
Your whole post, all it says is that you're a Democrat, infected by TDS. And it's a waste of space, because everyone here already knows it.
Sad.
So while President he rigged the election so he lost, and while Obama and Biden were President they rigged the election so he won? Dumbass troll. Get the fuck out of here.
DeleteThat’s nice, dear. Now please hush — the grownups are trying to have a conversation.😎
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteDemocrats so enthusiastically defend illegal aliens that there is no doubt that illegal aliens are their constituency, their voters.
And doesn't this constitutes an undeniable evidence that every election where the Democrat party participates is rigged?
No.
DeleteShort answer: What the fuck are you babbling about ?😎
ReplyDeleteICE is performing lawful, targeted operations to arrest criminal illegal aliens, and democrats and the state of MN are preventing them from doing their constitutional duties. Pretti illegally interfered while carrying a live firearm wirh the intent to foment a massacre.
ReplyDeleteObjection! Assumes horseshit not in evidence!!😎
DeleteRead the report. Jerk.
DeleteJerkoff asshole troll.
Delete"The president's ludicrous misstatements have long been his calling card. That behavior is matched by the mainstream press corps' unwavering cowardice / deference / avoidance."
ReplyDeleteSomerby has been told this many times. We do not have an activist press. They do not consider it their job to protest anything the president says or does, or to express opinions (other than on their editorial pages) about what is happening in the news. It sees itself as an unbiased objective reporter of facts, to the best of their ability. That means that the commentary Somerby wants to see in the press would clash with their mission statement and violate their ethics, as they seem them.
By ignoring the stated goals of the press itself, Somerby has been disparaging the press, pretending they are bad at their job, reviling journalists and presenting the press as a defective organization. This is problematic because a free press is one of the pillars of democracy, creating an informed and educated voting populace. That function in our society means that we cannot have a prejudiced or biased press and have fair elections.
Because Somerby does not acknowledge reading his comments, he may still be operating under the same ignorance about the function of the press, or he may be fully aware of the role of the press and chiding them daily for propaganda purposes. Hard to know which one.
Somerby complains that the press never asks Trump "why you so crazy, sir?" What kind of answer does Somerby think they would get?
ReplyDelete"The president's behavior is completely unacceptable! No news org has ever said it. "
ReplyDeleteThis is not exactly true. First, the press has diligently reported when key figures in politics and other fields have said this. They have attributed the statements to whoever said them. This happens frequently. Second, the press has written editorials, especially before the presidential election, in which they said words to that effect, urging voters to select the Democratic candidate (once, Hillary, next Biden, then Harris). Third, the press has reported stories where the obvious, if unsaid conclusion is that the president's behavior is unacceptable. This latest shooting is one such example. People should be expected to reach their own conclusions and react accordingly. It is not the job of the press (or the president) to tell voters what to do.
So, when Somerby pretends that no one can see the emperor's new clothes except him, he is being ridiculous. I can only speculate about the point of Somerby's ongoing campaign against journalism. It is tiresome and wrong and yet he keeps writing this crap. I wish one of his friends or relatives would sit him down and talk to him about it. I hate to see anyone wasting their time like this.
The Trump Administration Is Lying to Our Faces. Congress Must Act.
ReplyDeleteThe NY Times editorial board.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/opinion/alex-pretti-minneapolis-shooting-border-patrol.html?unlocked_article_code=1.HVA.GCqX.YLz2OUdW3caL&smid=url-share
Walz:
Delete"This is not "we need to see both sides." This is not "we need to wait for this." This is basic human decency. And at this point in time, I'm just asking try, for a moment, to set aside the political side of it and go back and ground in the humanity of this. This family has gone through enough, and to have the most powerful man in the world drag their dead son with absolutely no evidence and gaslight the entire country? This is enough."
The Trump administration has lied to us about what is clearly visible to us. What about the economy, job numbers etcetera ? Absolutely nothing that comes out of the mouth of this felonious liar is to be accepted as true. And of course that goes for his ass kissing minions. You don’t believe that Trump has saved 250,000 American lives?
DeleteNoem never should have made that false statement. It's unacceptable. Of course many on the other side are making equally inflammatory false statements, such as calling the death "murder". But, that doesn't excuse Noem
ReplyDeleteIt was murder, as is clearly seen on video.
DeleteFuck you asshole. It was murder as was the shot to the head through a side window to kill Good.
DeleteThe whole world knows she lied in an unacceptable way.
DeleteNoem must be impeached.
Deletehttps://imgur.com/gallery/well-you-are-Daw0TUc
DeleteThe entire cabinet along with Trump should be impeached.
ReplyDelete