WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2026
Let's discuss "the girl" instead: Given the "mental decline" of the sitting president—but also, given his "continuing, demented fit of rage:"
Given those present-day manifestations, is it possible that the Kennedy Center could be the next landmark to go?
We've taken those quotes from Lawrence O'Donnell's monologue on last evening's Last Word. Given that rage and that mental decline, is it possible that the Kennedy Center could go?
Yes, of course it's possible! We'll let the local paper of record report the latest suggestion:
DOJ says Kennedy Center could be demolished if Trump’s plans are blocked
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will eventually have to be demolished unless President Donald Trump is allowed to save it, Justice Department lawyers representing the center argued in a court filing posted late Monday.
The center, which the lawyers described as “structurally unsound, fundamentally unsafe, and embarrassing to the Nation’s Capital,” faces “terminal decline” without Trump’s experience as a real estate developer and fundraising prowess, assistant attorney general Brett Shumate and two other department lawyers wrote.
“Without those efforts, the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down,” Shumate wrote. It could be replaced by a structure “such as a large outdoor amphitheater,” he added.
The filing marks the first time Trump’s allies have explicitly raised the prospect that the Kennedy Center itself could be demolished—a possibility longtime patrons and volunteers have feared since Trump razed the White House’s East Wing.
So reports the Washington Post. For the corresponding report by the New York Times—Trump Lawyers Warn That Kennedy Center Might Need Demolition if Not Fixed—you can click right here.
Please note: The threat of demolition came from "Justice Department lawyers representing the center!" Under terms of the current madness, that's what the DOJ does to buildings it likes!
Obviously, that could just be a type of a threat—an insignificant thumb on the scales in a mere legal filing. But O'Donnell spoke of the latest "demented fit of rage," and of the president's "mental decline."
Meanwhile, funny thing that! O'Donnell cited the rage, and the mental decline, of the sitting president. But for the second night in a row, he couldn't seem to stop talking about someone else—"the girl."
We admire Lawrence O'Donnell for the strength of his investment in pushback against the ongoing danger. But last night, at the very start of his monologue, he was still chasing the girl:
O'DONNELL (8/25/26): Lake Natalie! That's one suggestion for renaming Lake Ontario after Donald Trump and his continuing, demented fit of rage at the best neighboring country that exists anywhere in the world—Canada.
As you can see, that statement doesn't exactly parse. But at least he worked Natalie in.
As the monologue continued, it was, once again, Natalie all the way down. In the first five minutes of his presentation, Lawrence said that name eleven times.
Natalie kept coming up. Here, for example, is a complaint about a three-week-old Truth Social post which showed the president posing between two great American generals:
O'DONNELL: Natalie Harp is surely busy helping Donald Trump post deranged images of himself as a member of the United States military, a commander, like this sheer madness posted by Donald Trump with Natalie Harp's help...
Look at that image, and imagine how small the brains have to be, how tiny the brains have to be, of the people, the two people, who put those tiny brains together, Donald Trump and Natalie Harp, to post madness like that.
Imagine how small those Natalie Trump, Natalie Harp and Donald Trump brains are, when they're collaborating on how to scare Iran today on social media.
That doesn't exactly parse either. But in that passage, O'Donnell adds an attribution of "sheer madness" to his earlier claims about the sitting president's "mental decline" and "demented fit of rage."
Are Lawrence's attributions accurate? We can't exactly tell you. But along the way, he was saying what the president's niece has said (see yesterday's report):
He was saying that the sitting president of the United States is suffering from an "obvious cognitive decline," layered atop conditions which sound a good deal like "serious, untreated psychiatric disorders, which are only going to worsen."
That's what the president's niece said on CNN this year, and she's a doctorate-holding clinical therapist. Last night, O'Donnell seemed to be saying much the same thing—but instead of sounding a cry of alarm, he once again couldn't seem to stop talking about his darling, Ms. Harp.
At this point, let's state the obvious:
Lawrence O'Donnell is plenty sharp. He's also very experienced within the United States Senate.
He has good values. He knows lots of things which other people don't know.
We'll even forgive him for having been a Hollywood writer for The West Wing. But he does have a tendency toward his own flights of rage, as does the relentlessly furious Jennifer Welch, who seeks the death penalty for those who won't waste their time presenting Harp as a "bunny boiler."
(Full disclosure: Based on descriptions of her upbringing, we feel sorry for Harp.)
Fury like that of the furious Welch can pull buildings down. As we noted yesterday, fury like that in a sitting president could take the world in a disastrous direction starting on November 4, especially when the fury is linked to "obvious cognitive decline" and "serious untreated disorders."
Natalie Harp isn't the issue, except to the extent that you want to consider Blue America's lack of a sexual politics.
She just isn't the issue. The sitting president is. As for the well-intentioned O'Donnell, this:
He understands that medical issues which may be involved here, but he talks and talks about Natalie Harp, and he refuses to interview medical specialists about the dangerous state of affairs he fleetingly cites when he isn't bashing the girl.
Is it possible that Lawrence secretly "wants to travel with Natalie in a flying palace?" For the record, we human males are wired that way, so yes, we'd say it is.
(As you know, European literature started right here, with a tale of rage which emerged from this particular type of wiring.)
Friend, is the Kennedy Center the next to go?
Why should anyone care about that? Let's batter "the girl" instead!
Tomorrow: Why won't anyone at MS NOW interview medical specialists?
Who gives a shit about things Trump says?
ReplyDeleteLeave that crap for the corrupt Supreme Court.
"Is it possible that Lawrence secretly "wants to travel with Natalie in a flying palace?" For the record, we human males are wired that way, so yes, we'd say it is."
ReplyDeleteYou really can't blame Somerby for believing all men are scumbags. He saw the voting breakdown of the 2024 Presidential election, like the rest of us.
The fact that men supported the child rapist to be President of the United States of America by 12 percentage points, is what us poker players call "the tell".
Delete"For the record, we human males are wired that way, so yes, we'd say it is."
DeleteSome human males are wired that way but some are not. And Natalie Harp has agency too. Somerby forgets that not all human females are wired to dote on a gross, ugly old man, just for profit of some kind. Does she get off on her power over Trump? What does that say about human wiring?
Somerby sounds ridiculous when he tries to call bad behavior innate, bred in the bone, part of human male wiring (when not even a sexual urge is universal, much less choice of sex object). The men who buy children from guys like Epstein are not normal but deviant. Revulsion at incest and pedophilia is one of the cultural universals identified by anthropologists (real ones, not Somerby's invented famous experts and not Epstein's socio-biology freaks justifying their illegal acts).
Take pedophiles. What evolutionary benefit is there to selecting children as sex objects when the resulting pregnancy of a 13 year old is much more likely to result in the death of the baby and child herself?
The older the father, the greater the birth defects. That's part of human "wiring" too. Not that Natalie is trying to get pregnant. But if the right had its way, it would outlaw contraception and then old guys like Trump with their nurse/"girls"/5th trophy wives would have to be careful or accept God's will and father more children with serious birth anomalies. What does that do to their sense of immortality or do they simply abandon their children, the way Musk does with the ones who didn't turn out the way he wanted?
DeleteTens of millions of bigoted American women were upset because black people's votes were counted in the 2020 Presidential election. A majority of white women voters are racists. These women hate black people and Mexicans.
DeleteThat’s white wiring.
Delete"About 17% (or roughly one in six) of all U.S. newlyweds are married to someone of a different race or ethnicity, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
DeleteKey Statistics on Intermarriage
Total population: Approximately 11 million married Americans (10%) have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, a fivefold increase since 1967.
Public approval: Public acceptance has reached 94%."
The fivefold increase since 1967 (the time of the civil rights movement in the USA), suggests that this is not part of human wiring but can change with social factors. It also shows that anti-racism cultural efforts produce results. Look at the 94% public acceptance rate!
The population is now 342.8 million. Tens of millions is a very small percentage of the overall population. I think you might be pulling your numbers out of your own ass (or reflecting your own feelings about race rather than reality). The extreme racism among Nazis and some Republicans is not general in the USA, although it still needs to be addressed so that racism isn't translated into harmful discrimination.
A plurality of American women are racists. There are tens and tens of millions of bigoted women here who were all upset because black people's votes counted in the 2020 election.
DeleteThink of it this way. Over 100 million American women are racists. Over 100 million American women are obsessed with bigotry and actively hate blacks and Mexicans.
DeleteAmerica is doused with bigoted women. They are everywhere. They hate blacks. What are you going to do? Our country is in large part racist and bigoted.
DeleteA majority of white women in America are bigots (or are perfectly fine with bigotry.).
DeleteSomething about these women led them to hate black people. And Mexicans.
11:40 All Trump voters are bigoted racists. Around 45% of them were women. So that's around 40 million female, racist bigots.
DeleteSo you're right. That's a very small percentage.
I agree with 11:40. The tens of millions of racist women we have here in our country is not a big deal.
DeleteThe point expressed was that anti-racist efforts work and should be resumed as soon as Republicans lose their majority.
DeleteDo these efforts work to quell the bigotry of the tens and tens of millions of black and Mexican hating women that infest every corner of our country?
DeleteYes
DeleteSuper! These anti-racist efforts can be resumed to quell the bigotry of all the millions of racist American women as soon as the Republicans lose their majority.
DeleteRacism is as strong as it ever was, it just manifests differently.
DeleteThe average Black family has about 8-15 cents for every dollar the average White family has.
Racism remains a powerful, even brutal force.
Lee Atwater, a leading Republican strategist that is one of the main architects of the current GOP, put it plainly as he was implementing his plan via Reagan:
"You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say "nigger"—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites."
"blacks get hurt worse than whites."
That is the raison d'être of Republicans.
Later in life on his death bed Atwater was full of regret, warning Republicans, although they did not listen:
"The '80s were about acquiring—acquiring wealth, power, prestige. I know. I acquired more wealth, power, and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want and still feel empty. What power wouldn't I trade for a little more time with my family? What price wouldn't I pay for an evening with friends? It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambitions and moral decay, can learn on my dime. I don't know who will lead us through the '90s, but they must be made to speak to this spiritual vacuum at the heart of American society, this tumor of the soul."
Last minute conversions are so believable.
DeleteThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will eventually have to be demolished unless President Donald Trump is allowed to save it,
ReplyDeleteNice memorial you have there, it would be a shame if anything were to happen to it. The fucking lunatic in the WH thinks he is John Gotti, that's all. The fucking idiotic judge should sanction the DOJ lawyers who issued that thinly veiled threat to the Court. What the living fuck has happened to this country?
Many people have wondered. If your not aware of the redoubtable artist named Mr. Fish, he represents exactly what you’re talking about in this piece.
Deletehttps://consortiumnews.com/2026/08/05/chris-hedges-don-corleone-trump/
Leroy
Nice article. My favorite Atlantic City Trump story was when Frank Sinatra told Trump to go fuck himself.
Delete“Weisman called Sinatra to tell him what had happened, and Sinatra told him he had two choices,” the News writes, “to tell Trump to go fuck himself or give Trump’s phone number to Sinatra so that he could do it himself.”
Dutifully, Weisman returned to Trump and did as told, telling the real-estate mogul, “Sinatra says go fuck yourself!” The negotiations ended there.
ReplyDeleteYes. Demolish useless Dumbocrat "Kennedy Center" and build low-income public housing instead.
...and while at it, demolish the monstrous Dumbocrat Kennedy airport in Queens as well...
I love it!
DeleteBuilding low income public housing will piss off the corporate elites who fund the Republican Party.
Win-win.
As a sop to the corporate elites who fund the Republican Party, we can de-fund ICE, and make it easier for corporations to hire immigrants who are harder workers and more honest than American citizens.
DeleteThe Leader of the Smart Political Party
Delete“I saw this early on, and I’ve seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body,” Trump said, explaining the order to break up the MMR into its three components.
Delivered separately, he said it would increase the time elapsed “between visits, so the body can handle this massive amount of fluid being pumped in. I think it’s going to make a big difference.”
In reality, the amount of vaccination fluid in a normal medical visit wouldn’t fill a fraction of a bottle cap, let alone a whole soda container.”
shhhh - no one tell King Orange Chickenshit he is running around naked.
DeleteI, too, would like to travel with Natalie in a flying palace.
ReplyDeleteBased on the quotes offered by Somerby, he is the one referring to a 35 year old woman as "the girl," not O'Donnell. O'Donnell used her name, at least in the quotes provided.
ReplyDeleteThen Somerby makes this idiotic remark:
"Natalie Harp isn't the issue, except to the extent that you want to consider Blue America's lack of a sexual politics. "
The question about Blue America or America in general is not whether it does or does not have a sexual politics, but what kind of sexual politics it has. Kate Millett originated the term in her book "Sexual Politics" (1970). A publisher's overview of the book says: "Chapter 1 deals with what sexual politics is. Millet makes the attempt to define, describe, and provide examples of the “ancient and universal scheme for the domination of one birth group by another—the scheme that prevails in the area of sex.” It is Millett’s view that sex underlies all political questions and that it is necessary to bring this principle to the public attention before any positive steps can be taken to remedy it."
Somerby's use of the term shows that he has not read the book, nor has he read anything else on the topic. He has no idea what he is talking about when he throws the term around. That is, of course, denigrating to women, given that the term is about how our society enforces male dominance in various contexts. So, when Somerby suggests that maybe there is a lack of "sexual politics" in blue America, it makes no sense. It would be like saying that we as a people have no government, instead of describing what form of government we have.
But Somerby's repeated reference to Harp as "the girl" when she is far from a girl in age and status, is an example of the way language is used to diminish women in general, and this particular woman, who is playing a clandestine role in our politics, one where she has great power over a compromised president and is influencing his actions, given that his Truth Social account not only displays weird memes but also racist pictures of the Obamas and policy statements about an ongoing war and trade with Canada. This should be a political issue for Democrats, not because Harp is a "girl" but because she holds power and may be manipulating Trump from behind his "throne."
Why does Somerby repeatedly call her "the girl'? It isn't because the press calls her that. They would be aware of the sexist overtone. It is because Somerby (1) dislikes women, (2) especially dislikes feminists, (3) knows it will irritate most female readers, (4) thinks he is being ironic when he is actually being hostile, (5) wants to distract from Harp's actions by focusing on her "sexual politics" (does she have any?), and is hoping that the dumb blonde framing of her relationship with Trump as sexual (indicated by the word bunny-boiling) will conceal the puppet-master elements of her job serving Trump.
And yes, Somerby is advancing the right wing talking point that Harp is just a harmless devotee of Trump, a girl and thus powerless and trivial, a sex toy, and not an operative who is steering Trump by the ego into doing what the powerful players surrounding Trump want him to do. Somerby needs to look up Rasputin, while he is at it.
Blaming Blue America for lacking sexual politics is one of his more fatuous remarks. But why doesn't Somerby examine the sexual politics on the right (and in our culture generally) that have permitted this situation with Natalie Harp to go on this long, under the radar?
Well said.
Delete"He understands that medical issues which may be involved here, but he talks and talks about Natalie Harp, and he refuses to interview medical specialists about the dangerous state of affairs he fleetingly cites when he isn't bashing the girl."
ReplyDeleteAs has been frequently noted here, O'Donnell has brought those medical experts on his show. So has David Pakman, most recently on Monday. The problem is not that no one discusses Trump's mental and physical health, but that the Republicans do not want to do anything about it. We should be calling for that -- the investigation of Trump's health followed by his removal from office. I have never heard Somerby say a single word about what should happen after a serious diagnosis is made of Trump's cognitive ability to do the job of president.
That makes this a diversion. The Republican talking point is also that continuing to discuss Natalie Harp is sexist, an attack on a person doing a legitimate job, a lefty preoccupation with smearing Harp to attack Trump, and so on. That is what Somerby echoes here today, including the words "the girl" to make it seem worse, implying (without evidence) that is what O'Donnell and others on the left have been calling her. Democrats know better than to do that.
If Trump would bomb a girls school in his war on Iran, why wouldn't he take down a building that he has been fighting to put his name on? I continue to believe he tore down the East Wing because Melania refused to function as first lady (without being paid for her appearances). It is the place where the First Lady's office and staff have traditionally been located.
ReplyDeleteTrump has already been using his ability to build and tear down in order to enact revenge, express pique, exert power in petty ways, and behave badly. He is like the kindergarten kid whose friends won't follow his orders, so he knocks down the blocks they were playing with together. This is obviously not presidential behavior, and yes, it is a symptom that he is disordered, but threatening a building that will be rebuilt under the next president is not as bad as destroying our relationship with Canada or reselling horsemeat to the voters who have dared to complain about the affordability of beef. Trump cannot be trusted with the welfare of the American people because he only cares about getting his own way on whatever impulse dominates his diseased mind. A man like that should never have become president and must obviously be removed, ASAP. He is getting worse and endangering all of us, not just a symbolic performance hall.
"(As you know, European literature started right here, with a tale of rage which emerged from this particular type of wiring.)"
ReplyDeleteI thought the situation in The Iliad started with goddesses squabbling over which of them was most beautiful, so they appointed a judge to settle their quarrel. Aphrodite then bribed Paris to decide in her favor, promising him the most beautiful woman in the world as a reward. That is how Helen went from her husband to Paris. Did he have any ability to refuse that "gift" or must you accept when a goddess does something like that?
Somerby always leaves out the parts where the Greek gods interfere in the activities of humans. But can you really call it male wiring when there is such interference? Is vanity part of female wiring? Sexist assholes would say so, and they are the ones who created both the Greek myths and Homer's poems.
Is it part of male wiring to feel rage when someone takes something you think belongs to you? Or is that situational and common to both sexes? Is there some reason why Somerby focuses so much on the rage scenes in the Iliad and not on other parts? It is a long poem.
DeleteIs it part of male wiring to get a hard on? Or does a guy just think, “I’ll make my dick big now by restricting the blood flow out of it.”?
DeleteI don't think Somerby has read The Iliad, because as others note, he misunderstands "the rage" in the story.
DeleteIf a person doesn't get a hard on, are they not a man?
DeleteWere you never taught as a young man how to suppress a hard on? If you do that, are you not a man anymore? You sound confused.
To suppress an erection I just relax the muscles that constrict the veins, so the blood flows freely out of my penis, which then shrinks and softens. I’m not “wired” — I freely decide what I’m going to do.
DeleteA man who can’t control his penis is immature.
DeleteTrump's threat to rename Lake Ontario is intended to annoy Canada but instead it shits on the indigenous people living on both sides of the border, the Iroquois. If he had ever sat through a land acknowledgement, he would know that.
ReplyDelete"The word Ontario comes from an Indigenous Iroquoian or Huron word that means "great lake," "sparkling water," or "beautiful water". The word Ontario does not belong only to Canada, because it has a province with that name. We have an airport in Southern California called Ontario airport, after the city of Ontario in CA (California not Canada).
Trumps petty efforts are hampered by his ignorance and stupidity.
Besides, we already have the Gulf of America.
DeleteCalling that lake “Ontario” is cultural appropriation. It should be called “Great Lake #5”.
DeleteThe people who named that Lake Ontario live on both sides of the border.
DeleteRivers filling the lakes start inland, so it is right to begin the numbering with Lake Superior, making Ontario #5. That makes sense. In addition to the 5 big lakes there are many little ones with names now, that would have to be numbered too, but that might make Ontario #205 by the time you got to numbering it.
For most of the world, that body of water is called the Gulf of Mexico.
DeleteThe change in name is temporary, only lasting until Trump's term ends.
The Strait of Hormuz is still up for grabs. Palestinians are still being slaughtered and rendered homeless by Israel. ICE hauled away thousands of people last month. The Supreme Court gave control of elections to USPS. The US president is running his own insider-trading scam while influencing the bets. Mitch McConnell is still a US senator.
ReplyDeleteThe US-Canada trade war is out of control because Orangeman wants full control of Canadian trade policy.
But hell yes and by all means, let's focus on Valerie Harp.
We should rename the Strait of Hormuz, the "Strait of America."
DeleteTrump already suggested that.
DeleteI would call it "The strait of The Cliff"
DeleteIran is renaming it Trump's Straight to Hell.
DeleteTrump has privately renamed Saudi Arabia to ATM.
DeleteMelania is happy. Ever since this Harp thing came up the Trump team is begging her to make more public appearances with Donnie, she can leverage charging double for them, and Harp is still responsible for his diaper. A win-win.
DeleteIn early psychology, there was a tendency to attribute every human behavior to "wiring" the way Somerby does, except they called it instinct. There were instinct theories for everything to the point where there were thousands of identified instincts and the theory collapsed as circular and non-explanatory. For example (from AI): "Psychologists labeled any observed action (like arguing) as proof of an "argumentative instinct," which did not actually explain the behavior."
ReplyDeleteSomerby tacks on the idea that anything innate (instinctive, bred in the bone, hard-wired) must also be unmodifiable and thus something a person cannot be held accountable for because they cannot help it. Like Trump's supposed insanity or personality disorders, this is an excuse for bad behavior. This approach was replaced in the early 1930s by behaviorism, which looked for learning-based explanations for repetitive behavior (called habits). They went too far the other direction, attempting to explain everything in terms of learning, figuring out the limits of both approaches.
Modern psychologists have a better understanding of the interplay between physiology & neurology, environmental cues, experience and learning (how consequences affect repetition of voluntary behavior, conditioned behaviors, habits and addiction). Somerby has obviously never read much or taken a course in psychology, so he tends to attribute any behavior he does not wish to change to "wiring" and he excuses Trump's bad behavior using early childhood trauma explanations that are similar to saying "he is just built that way and cannot help what he does." That's the way Trump is, that's the way men are, that's the way I am (implicit in his assumptions about his own choices).
The right would like to abolish the application of psychology to education, doesn't believe in behavioral treatment of anything, replaces modern theories with concepts of sin and demon possession, and prefers essentialist explanations (like Somerby's "wiring" concept) about intelligence, gender roles, race, and personality (some people are lazy, undisciplined). Somerby's attitudes about what happens in The Iliad are an extension of these right wing beliefs about behavior, so there too Somerby is advancing right wing views, if not talking points.
This is why education is important and why the right's attacks on it are at heart an attack on different ways of viewing human behavior and the ability to people to change. The left is about change for the better and the right is threatened by change. You need to belief in the possibility of change before you can embrace trying to enact positive change.
Tiedrich tells us how we got into this situation in the first place. In July 2022, he said:
ReplyDelete"your reminder that the real culprits in all of this are the producers of The Apprentice, who took a bankrupt imbecile with no impulse control and the attention span of a coked-up squirrel and peddled him to millions of gullible dopes as ThE sMaRtEsT bUsInEsSmAn In ThE uNiVeRsE"
fun fact: when Mark Burnett needed a host for the show he was developing, The Apprentice, he first approached actual successful business leaders — people like Jack Welch, Warren Buffett, and Richard Branson — and they all turned him down. they didn’t have time for stupid game-show-host bullshit. they had real businesses to run.
only Donny said yes — because he had run all of his businesses straight into the ground, and he had all the time in the world to hang out in a television studio.
it also helped that he was a malignant, desperate-for-attention narcissist.
so Burnett plucked Donny off the Big Shitpile of Failure, dusted him off, and for fourteen years, sold America a total bill of goods."
so, basically capitalist greed.
DeleteCritique of DOGE by a participant in the Clinton-Gore "reinventing government" effort:
ReplyDeletehttps://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/08/26/doge-is-done-but-the-wreckage-remains/
Sample quotes:
"It (Reinventing Government) was a very different operation in that we looked at the government agency by agency and started with the question of function: What is this agency supposed to be doing? Is it doing it as well as it could? Is it doing it as efficiently as it could?"
"DOGE was a completely random and weird operation, frankly, and every time I look back on it, it’s even weirder. They came in with no interest in what the agency did. They just came in and used algorithms and databases to cut people."
Yes, so fucking weird and costly.
ReplyDeleteSomerby is spittin mad about attacks on Harp.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans tried to own the libs on Harp but wound up themselves getting owned.
There is nothing wrong with pushing Republican buttons, unless you're a right winger like Somerby.
The way Somerby tries to White Knight defend Harp, sounds like he has a bit of a crush.