Trump refused to reappoint Janet Yellen as Fed chair despite her exemplary performance because she didn’t look the part. He even admitted it. That tells you all you need to know about how he makes personnel decisions.
Trump keeps chipping away at the Fed… He is unlikely to stop until he captures it and destroys its independence. With Warsh as the new Chair, he is making further inroads towards his goal.
We’ll see if the Supreme Court allows him to illegally fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook — but regardless, it’s a bad bet to think he’s going to stop. He’s got years more to get there and install his sycophants.
And who’s to say he doesn’t get impatient and suddenly edict that the FOMC be abolished and that interest rate decisions be the sole dictate of the Fed Chairman. He has “successfully” eviscerated and corrupted most other areas of government this way.
Show a little decorum, will you! If President Trump dies before the end of his term, it will be because GOD WILLS IT. Or because the Horned One gets bored of keeping his disciple alive. At this point, Don is just a single strong handshake or cankle rupture away from shedding his mortal coil.
Warsh still has to be confirmed. Report this a.m. of a bipartisan move in the Senate to block the nomination if the so-called Justice Dept. doesn't drop those Trump-ed up charges against Jerome Powell.
So they’ll drop the charges, Warsh will get approved and then the DOJ will reinstate the charges. Dems have to stop being Charlie Brown hoping to kick the football. The reasons not to approve them were outlined in this post. The Dems need to just print out Prof Krugman’s post and read it. They should block him for the basic reason that he is unqualified.
Even if dismissed with prejudice, could the DOJ just ignore that and try to go to court to force Powell to retain an attorney to go to court to get them thrown out? And then the DOJ could appeal etc, just to make his life miserable?
Normally I would argue that my question fits into the hypothetical "Just Asking Questions" or JAQing off bucket. But with some of the b.s. prosecutions they have already pursued, and their willingness to call multiple grand juries in spite of a lack of evidence, why shouldn't we assume the DOJ will just ignore this kind of action and just behave like ass-holes because they can?
I guess, if democracy holds, then Powell will prevail ultimately. It might be a pain in the butt, but he will survive (and he is clearly tough enough to do it). If democracy doesn't hold and we descend into a fascist state, then all bets are off anyway.... OK, I may have just answered my own question.
At this point, I'm thinking that DJT can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants; or if he is at least slowed down, he'll move to anther target. i don't think we could become an oligarchy; I'd say we are, and JD or Don Jr. or someone else will simply follow if something happens to "daddy." ... feeling pessimistic this morning.
Like a child unsupervised in a candy store, Trump can get what he wants. But he spends his time on so many dead ends and makes so many bad decisions that he is not helping himself. Sure he can get rid of many good workers or force them into hiding. But at what cost to our economy. Who will do the work?
Jeez Todd, it's strange enough that you expect a Trump appointee to be qualified, but now you have the gall to talk about facts? Get real hoser. Facts now have equally "valid" alternatives. Duh. And the only qualification that counts in this evil circus are bloody knees from kneeling at the orange corpse, and perhaps a bit of botox for any gals involved.
More specifically, Tillis heads the Senate committee that would have to advance the nomination. He says he will not allow it to advance while the DOJ is investigation (i.e.--harassing) Powell. Without his vote on a committee where Republicans only have a single vote margin, the nomination goes nowhere.
dropping the charges against Powell is meaningless. That suit is pure harassment, and will be dismissed. At which point Powell should ask for legal reimbursement, for lawfare damage.
And then when the block is removed, Warsh will be confirmed with Democratic votes, too, because there are too many economically-illiterate senators to even understand what the issues are. "Oh, he was a Fed governor for years and has Wall Street creds. We were worried that he'd nominate Linda McMahon."
This morning's fawning NY Times article! 🤮 "Kevin Warsh Has a Tough Job Ahead. It’s Not the First Time. Mr. Warsh is known as a consensus builder, skills he will need if he is to head the Federal Reserve when President Trump is demanding rock-bottom rates." Later in the article: "Those who know Mr. Warsh, a former Fed governor, believe he is up to the task, bolstered by his talent for amassing support that has long been one of his signature strengths." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/business/kevin-warsh-fed-chair.html The NY Times, sycophants again.
We all know what this lunatic means when he says "straight out of central casting" but what does that mean if you're not an actor but a contributing member of society? If we get rid of all the folks he deems "don't look the part", whatever that is for an economist, surgeon, mechanic etc., then we're left with a bunch of Bessents and Noems. Ugh. To me, our current president looks the part of an elderly vile and angry man who needs to be in an assisted nursing facility eating mashed potatoes.
straight out of central casting means NOBODY that idiot surrounds himself with is SUPPOSED to have an original thought. They're simply there to adore and parrot said idiot.
If one was casting for the role of POTUS it certainly would not be the present occupant. If I was casting for a role of con man, sexual predator or perhaps mafia boss he would be a shoo in - though he probably looks too weak for the mafia boss part.
Lisa Foxsy Hegseth was from central casting as well as Trump’s female lawyers who were totally unqualified to be federal attorneys, And don’t forget Pamsy Bondi, who smiles in her injustice.
RFK has just reworked the food pyramid in such a way that Trump's diet is the most healthy. I doubt it will work that way in real life. Maybe it's just an attempt to increase beef sales.
Hate to say it, but was this an "Anybody but Hassett" or "least worst of the two Kevins" nomination? Given the names bruited about, this looks about right.
Melania is looking rather long in the tooth. I wonder when Trump will dump her. I saw a report that one of the theaters showing her POS documentary (for which she received $28 million) sold exactly one ticket for one of the showings.
Reviews are trashing it, one review stating it has "not a single redeeming quality" and another calling it a "medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne."
Shame the big loss to Bezos won't make a dent in his wealth. Melanomia is as transactional as her vile husband.
In trump’s pea-sized brain, everything is always about the OPTICS. He lives in a perpetual, delusional, made for TV, fantasy world in which he’s the smartest, funniest, most talented, most handsome, sexiest man alive, the likes of which the world has never seen before and never will be seen again … he’s the forever KING OF THE WORLD.
(He obviously believes that all the tacky gold gilded crap that he’s glued all over the WH is gorgeous beyond belief. And he probably also believes he single-handedly drove up the price of gold during the process.)
A young man managed, heroically, to solve the very tricky problem of getting himself in a position to save the world from the orange ding-dong, but he didn’t have the required marksmanship skills, unfortunately for the entire world (except the billionaires, of course… the orange ding-dong is a godsend for them).
Marksmanship. Indeed. And sometimes “poor” marksmanship creates a specific impression, a visual narrative that looks great on mass media! OPTICS!
Yep, we’re looking at an authoritarian dictator oligarchy that was ushered in by ~ 140-150 billionaires. But who’s counting? (I heard a rumor that they were all EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED when Jeffery Epstein was a no-show at the inaugural ball! Apparently JE was supposed to bring “Hors d'oeuvres”!)
“In 2024, at least 144 U.S. billionaires, out of a total population of approximately 800, used their wealth to influence the election, with a significant portion supporting Republican candidates like Donald Trump. A group of 100 billionaire families contributed a record $2.6 billion to federal elections, with eight of the top ten contributors heavily backing Republican efforts.”
Is there a single example of Trump re-appointing ANYONE? No chance to demand favors, tribute, or loyalty if he does that. And his ego requires him to pick his own nominee, so that he/she can be declared the BEST, and a "big Trump fan".
Yes, and that’s been obvious to some of us for years. Unfortunately too many voters just want to be entertained, and media want the clicks to sell ads.
Have you ever looked at his cabinet? It's like he was casting a zany 1980s sit-com - you know, the kind that gets canceled about halfway through its initial 13 episodes
If you had suggested this rogue's gallery of an administration for the cast of Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick would have said it was too over the top to be believable.
Brian.. so correct. It's very difficult to imagine how Trump even found such clowns, much less make a "cabinet" of them. Job requirements; shoot dogs, alcohol dependence, yes men/women, not big on the constitution... your hired!
And, virtually every one of the freaks in the show were confirmed by the Senate. This suggests that there is very little hope for the US absent huge changes in the structure of the government.
250 years is a good run for any "constitution". Ours needs corrections and improvements the founders could never have imagined. Like term limits and age limits. Or how about a 3 person committee to push the nuclear button. Maybe a popular vote for president. We got 250 out of the current one, but nobody anticipated satellite warfare, instant real time communications, guns that would fire 30 rounds/minute, oligarchs with a million times the wealth of the average citizen. As history tells us, even the term "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" had a different meaning in 1776. So. Lets forget originalism.. such an easy concept to promote, and take the harder path. We are in a new era, with new weapons, enemies, technologies unimaginable of in 1776, and bite the bullet. Or follow Greece and Rome into the abyss of history.
This is way beyond satire, or even farce. The most "logical" explanation is that the admin is a giant performance art project designed to see what level of absurdity they can get to before the audience realizes they are being spoofed.
Brian The education secretary is the first to be videoed kicking her then husband in the balls. That’s even kookier than Noem killing her dog because he was a bother. Clearly central casting of villains.
I remember him appointing some general to a higher office and mentioning at the time that the guy (sorry, forget who) looked like a general out of central casting. His interest in appearances is only exceeded by his interest in making sure that the person involved his one of his devoted fans (or, at least, appears to be).
You’ve caused me to realize that Trump is building a real world from his demented imagination. Trump still lives in a fantasy of B grade Westerns where square jawed cowboys save white women from raping savages.
Yes, the admin is populated by people who think they are in a big reality TV show. This is a group of really rich people who've never paid any price for their mistakes, no matter how bad they've f'd up. They're in office because a large fraction of the voters can't tell fantasy from reality, living in a media environment where people make huge profits selling hate and lies. The end of the cold war was the precursor to the end of the US. Without a gun pointed at their heads, the wealthy and elite moved right on to bread and circuses and "Amusing Themselves to Death."
President Camacho, and the cabinet in Idiocracy, were actually more rational than the current group. Astounding. They may have been watering plants with Brawndo, but they weren't reintroducing measles and polio on purpose. The US has sleepwalked into a major Jonestown situation, and the Kool Aid will be coming out soon.
I guarantee you are correct, there is a portion of the voting public that votes according to who they would like to have a beer with. That got us “w” Bush who I thought would be the worst of my time. They also ‘believe (so-called) reality tv, and wrestling, are real.
Every time I see Scott Bessent, I think that it must be Dan Akroyd made up and rehearsing an SNL opening. A real person just couldn't look and act like that.
It is the reality show in Trump's mind. In it there is a character he calls "Trump" (when he bizarrely refers to himself by name). This character always wins, is the smartest, greatest, most admired, etc. He is always developing this character AND the story it is part of, even if it doesn't reflect reality, like he did on The Apprentice. And he flies into a rage when either narrative is contradicted by anyone or anything, reality or otherwise.
He has help with these stories and character development i.e. cabinet meetings and Fox News. But, these writers are not always creating a story about our country being the hero. As long as "Trump" is the superhero (see NFTs) the rest of the story doesn't matter to him. So all you have to do to make the story work out for you is become a writer, like Putin, Miller, Bessent, etc.
But if "Trump" is a character, who is the actor playing the part? Suggested reading, malignant narcissism.
Defeating the fascists in WWII did not happen without sacrifice from the citizens of the Allied countries. We will have to sacrifice to stop and reverse the fascist takeover of our country. We can sacrifice a little now or a much greater amount later. What kind of world will our children and grandchildren live in if we allow this to continue?
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country?
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, then they tell the politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
Spending Strike, Spending Freeze, Spending Suspension, Spending Pause, Economic Disengagement, Economic Warfare, Stop Spending!, even Boycott. Choose your favorite but Do It, and Spread the Word!
If a single dollar doubles every day for 30 days, it reaches a total of over $536 million ($536,870,912) at the end of the 30th day.
So, would it follow, that a single voice that doubled everyday would become 536 million voices after 30 days? That seems doable.
From Mark Mansour:
Sacrifice has always been the price of renewal. Democracy, if it is to survive, cannot be the cheap luxury item of a populace too comfortable to fight for it. The Trump regime can be resisted through civic courage, legal challenge, and organization. But it can also be starved—one deliberate, withheld dollar at a time.
I wish there would be a nationwide boycott on paying Fed taxes until they get rid of this criminal org that's running the biggest Big Sting ever.... It's that time of year when you peer over the books....
I wish blue states could withhold payments to the Treasury and choke the idiots in the red states. Without blue state money many of them would tank. Like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. I think Newsom should point that out more. The Reds are essentially stealing from the rest of us.
I think that's the same logic Trump uses for his tariffs. Everything has to balance out regardless of the logic or economics. We have a country and punishing part of it for not generating enough tax revenue to meet their needs does not make us very united.
Maybe nuance is required by not providing money for DOD or pork barrel projects in these states. But I don't mind my tax dollars going to Medicaid or food support or other federal programs that are disproportionate.
I agree partially. I'm just saying that the red states need to recognize that they need us....more than we need them. Maybe a little wakeup call is what they need. A little truth for the soul.
That’s Lord-God “KingAnus” Prince of the ass-holes, making brown noses the badge of honor, giving us a new Fed Chair. ‘Second, he has always been very good at ingratiating himself with influential people.’
I'm not a big spender anyway, but am not spending anything except essentials. Utilities, insurance, and food. Maybe a haircut. We all have to if we want to make a difference.
I've cut back on *all* spending for months now. (I'm single and retired, so that's easier than for a lot of folks, I know.) I buy most of my groceries at Costco b/c they're adamantly liberal, and the rest mostly from a small store that I think is locally owned and operated (and Hispanic). I haven't been in a Target in over a year. I just find that I can live a lot of my life without spending much, and I can keep this up for a very long time.
Agree, we must start boycotting these corporations and make them hurt. We boycott many companies during the Viet Nam war and it was felt. We need to sacrifice and do it again!
I researched the qualifications for Chairman of the Federal reserve
First, he/she must be chosen from among the serving members of the Board of Governors. So Kevin Warsh must first be appointed and confirmed to a seat on the Board in a separate vote. He is not currently on the Board. And only then can he be nominated to be Chairman,requiring a separate confirmation vote. Both actions are subject to a filibuster. So Senate Democrats need to stand firm against his nomination. And if there is no current vacancy he can't be nominated to a seat on the Board.
only one governor is seeing their term end soon, and that's miran who's a trumper himself (and has been on the board of governors for like 3 and change months)
God, I hope the Senate has learned its lesson and not rubber stamp any Trump appointees, or take BS assurances, or approve anyone at all because Trump has now sued his own government for damages. Which, of course, is another corrupt scheme to fleece our money and make it his own.
The fact that that made it into a tweet from the leader of the world’s most powerful country is a stunning indicator of how far gone the country is. Trump's mind, such as it ever was, it rapidly failing. He's fully engaged with what he seems to believe is a ratings race in a weird reality TV show, with nuclear weapons, that he's dragged the entire world into.
In any event, in about a year Trump will be threatening him for his failure to get interest rates down, Bondi will be investigating, and he will wish he had never heard of Trump
Thanks, Dr. Krugman, for another easy to understand lesson in economics. The senate must take as stand against this fraud Warsh. You are truly a light in this dark time we live in.
The score at Fri, 10:14EST: European market indices up, US market indices down. Seems the investors have spoken against this nomination. Will be 6 nervous years coming, especially when the markets get rocky - and they will.
Trump refused to reappoint Janet Yellen as Fed chair despite her exemplary performance because she didn’t look the part. He even admitted it. That tells you all you need to know about how he makes personnel decisions.
That, and the fact that he's a serial sexual abuser and misogynist.
Trump keeps chipping away at the Fed… He is unlikely to stop until he captures it and destroys its independence. With Warsh as the new Chair, he is making further inroads towards his goal.
We’ll see if the Supreme Court allows him to illegally fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook — but regardless, it’s a bad bet to think he’s going to stop. He’s got years more to get there and install his sycophants.
And who’s to say he doesn’t get impatient and suddenly edict that the FOMC be abolished and that interest rate decisions be the sole dictate of the Fed Chairman. He has “successfully” eviscerated and corrupted most other areas of government this way.
Years more unless he croaks - which isn't unlikely.
Woo hoo ! !
Show a little decorum, will you! If President Trump dies before the end of his term, it will be because GOD WILLS IT. Or because the Horned One gets bored of keeping his disciple alive. At this point, Don is just a single strong handshake or cankle rupture away from shedding his mortal coil.
Sadly, the demons that Charles Koch, Rupert Murdoch, and the Pumpkin Spice Antichrist, have deals with, never want to collect.
Don't deny it mofo! Our mofo country is going to collapse like the Soviet Union so that oligarchs like this prick can take over!!!
Every night I go to bed & think maybe tomorrow I will wake up and hear that the Orange Blob is Dead. So far its been very disappointing.
You'll know when you hear loud cheering and dancing in the streets.
Can’t wait for his current choice to try to get appointed. Just read his name in the Epstein files.
Warsh still has to be confirmed. Report this a.m. of a bipartisan move in the Senate to block the nomination if the so-called Justice Dept. doesn't drop those Trump-ed up charges against Jerome Powell.
So they’ll drop the charges, Warsh will get approved and then the DOJ will reinstate the charges. Dems have to stop being Charlie Brown hoping to kick the football. The reasons not to approve them were outlined in this post. The Dems need to just print out Prof Krugman’s post and read it. They should block him for the basic reason that he is unqualified.
Dismissal with prejudice should be demanded. That means the charges cannot be reinstated.
Even if dismissed with prejudice, could the DOJ just ignore that and try to go to court to force Powell to retain an attorney to go to court to get them thrown out? And then the DOJ could appeal etc, just to make his life miserable?
Normally I would argue that my question fits into the hypothetical "Just Asking Questions" or JAQing off bucket. But with some of the b.s. prosecutions they have already pursued, and their willingness to call multiple grand juries in spite of a lack of evidence, why shouldn't we assume the DOJ will just ignore this kind of action and just behave like ass-holes because they can?
I guess, if democracy holds, then Powell will prevail ultimately. It might be a pain in the butt, but he will survive (and he is clearly tough enough to do it). If democracy doesn't hold and we descend into a fascist state, then all bets are off anyway.... OK, I may have just answered my own question.
At this point, I'm thinking that DJT can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants; or if he is at least slowed down, he'll move to anther target. i don't think we could become an oligarchy; I'd say we are, and JD or Don Jr. or someone else will simply follow if something happens to "daddy." ... feeling pessimistic this morning.
Like a child unsupervised in a candy store, Trump can get what he wants. But he spends his time on so many dead ends and makes so many bad decisions that he is not helping himself. Sure he can get rid of many good workers or force them into hiding. But at what cost to our economy. Who will do the work?
Tillis (R) has said he won't vote for anyone until charges are dropped against Powell;.
It is a Republican who is blocking Warsh's approval (Sen. Tillis). Let's hope he sticks to his guns and doesn't get fooled by Trump.
It's scary to have to count on a guy like Tillis who generally doesn't inhabit a world with the same set of facts as most of us reading Krugman.
I know, right?
Jeez Todd, it's strange enough that you expect a Trump appointee to be qualified, but now you have the gall to talk about facts? Get real hoser. Facts now have equally "valid" alternatives. Duh. And the only qualification that counts in this evil circus are bloody knees from kneeling at the orange corpse, and perhaps a bit of botox for any gals involved.
some of the guys are using botox too
More specifically, Tillis heads the Senate committee that would have to advance the nomination. He says he will not allow it to advance while the DOJ is investigation (i.e.--harassing) Powell. Without his vote on a committee where Republicans only have a single vote margin, the nomination goes nowhere.
dropping the charges against Powell is meaningless. That suit is pure harassment, and will be dismissed. At which point Powell should ask for legal reimbursement, for lawfare damage.
Would be great if there is actually some evidence of congressional spine.
And then when the block is removed, Warsh will be confirmed with Democratic votes, too, because there are too many economically-illiterate senators to even understand what the issues are. "Oh, he was a Fed governor for years and has Wall Street creds. We were worried that he'd nominate Linda McMahon."
More power to them!
In your dreams... I am not optimistic though I'm glad someone it.
Joe at Burnt Ground
This morning's fawning NY Times article! 🤮 "Kevin Warsh Has a Tough Job Ahead. It’s Not the First Time. Mr. Warsh is known as a consensus builder, skills he will need if he is to head the Federal Reserve when President Trump is demanding rock-bottom rates." Later in the article: "Those who know Mr. Warsh, a former Fed governor, believe he is up to the task, bolstered by his talent for amassing support that has long been one of his signature strengths." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/business/kevin-warsh-fed-chair.html The NY Times, sycophants again.
We all know what this lunatic means when he says "straight out of central casting" but what does that mean if you're not an actor but a contributing member of society? If we get rid of all the folks he deems "don't look the part", whatever that is for an economist, surgeon, mechanic etc., then we're left with a bunch of Bessents and Noems. Ugh. To me, our current president looks the part of an elderly vile and angry man who needs to be in an assisted nursing facility eating mashed potatoes.
straight out of central casting means NOBODY that idiot surrounds himself with is SUPPOSED to have an original thought. They're simply there to adore and parrot said idiot.
Our current President was miscast for his role. He should have been cast in a Western as a snake oil salesman who ends up being run out of town.
Tarred and feathered.
It would take a pair of Olympic weight lifters to carry the pole.
Have you ever seen this old Twilight Zone episode ?
https://youtu.be/h1D2ynASqe4?si=Ie7-YczSvkUW90QY
Wonderful link. It is not Twilight Zone though. It is Trackdown, 1958, ran for two years. Thanks for sending!
You’re right, thanks. Easy to get confused when it feels like we’re living in the the twilight zone.
I think you misspelled a couple of words. It's "Pissants and Gnomes" isn't it?
You have a way with English. Good for you.
If one was casting for the role of POTUS it certainly would not be the present occupant. If I was casting for a role of con man, sexual predator or perhaps mafia boss he would be a shoo in - though he probably looks too weak for the mafia boss part.
He's not polite enough or calm enough to be an actual mafia boss.
The Boss sits in another jurisdiction
Sleazy used-car salesman, or perverted church elder that all the kids know to avoid his grabby little hands.
Lisa Foxsy Hegseth was from central casting as well as Trump’s female lawyers who were totally unqualified to be federal attorneys, And don’t forget Pamsy Bondi, who smiles in her injustice.
cheeseburgers...we don't want to postpone the inevitable...
As the protest sign says: Cholesterol, democracy's only hope."
RFK has just reworked the food pyramid in such a way that Trump's diet is the most healthy. I doubt it will work that way in real life. Maybe it's just an attempt to increase beef sales.
Double with large fries ! 🍔🍟🌊
And he says that as if RFK Jr. looks - or sounds like - the part. Or Kash Patel for that matter.
That dude looks like a desicated mummy made of beef jerkey.
I have seen that movie where the alien machine in Mexico makes aliens which look like humans.
There is a saying "politics is show business for ugly people."
Mashed potatoes because they don't require a knife. Weapons are not appropriate for those without impulse control.
He looks like the painting in "The Portrait of Dorian Gray."
With magic mushrooms sprinkled on top. 🤪
Hate to say it, but was this an "Anybody but Hassett" or "least worst of the two Kevins" nomination? Given the names bruited about, this looks about right.
Melania is looking rather long in the tooth. I wonder when Trump will dump her. I saw a report that one of the theaters showing her POS documentary (for which she received $28 million) sold exactly one ticket for one of the showings.
Bondi will seek criminal indictments of any critic who savages Melania—a $75 million Amazon biopic.
It was just a legalized bribe, I bet they left out all the interesting bits like how she dated Epstein before trump.
Reviews are trashing it, one review stating it has "not a single redeeming quality" and another calling it a "medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne."
Shame the big loss to Bezos won't make a dent in his wealth. Melanomia is as transactional as her vile husband.
In trump’s pea-sized brain, everything is always about the OPTICS. He lives in a perpetual, delusional, made for TV, fantasy world in which he’s the smartest, funniest, most talented, most handsome, sexiest man alive, the likes of which the world has never seen before and never will be seen again … he’s the forever KING OF THE WORLD.
(He obviously believes that all the tacky gold gilded crap that he’s glued all over the WH is gorgeous beyond belief. And he probably also believes he single-handedly drove up the price of gold during the process.)
Someone, please make him go away…
P.S. - Did I mention “dancer”? And “rock star”.
Merry Donald looks the part of a demented old man driven by ego, revenge, and self enrichment. A modern day Boris Karloff!
That’s where the delusion part comes in! His EFTs tell the story of his self-perception, his grandiosity.
The world is laughing at him, but he doesn’t realize he’s a fool, a joke… albeit an extremely dangerous one!
A young man managed, heroically, to solve the very tricky problem of getting himself in a position to save the world from the orange ding-dong, but he didn’t have the required marksmanship skills, unfortunately for the entire world (except the billionaires, of course… the orange ding-dong is a godsend for them).
Marksmanship. Indeed. And sometimes “poor” marksmanship creates a specific impression, a visual narrative that looks great on mass media! OPTICS!
Yep, we’re looking at an authoritarian dictator oligarchy that was ushered in by ~ 140-150 billionaires. But who’s counting? (I heard a rumor that they were all EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED when Jeffery Epstein was a no-show at the inaugural ball! Apparently JE was supposed to bring “Hors d'oeuvres”!)
“In 2024, at least 144 U.S. billionaires, out of a total population of approximately 800, used their wealth to influence the election, with a significant portion supporting Republican candidates like Donald Trump. A group of 100 billionaire families contributed a record $2.6 billion to federal elections, with eight of the top ten contributors heavily backing Republican efforts.”
https://americansfortaxfairness.org/billionaires-buying-elections-theyve-come-to-collect/#:~:text=KEY%20FINDINGS%20*%20Just%20100%20billionaire%20families,spent%20by%20individual%20billionaire%20donors%20in%202020.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-new-class-of-billionaires-solidified-outsized-political-influence#:~:text=It%20is%20unquestionably%20a%20lot,that%20is%20the%20tech%20industry.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/leokamin/2024/08/14/here-are-trumps-top-billionaire-donors/
That gave a chance to Yellen to be a good secretary of the treasury in troubles times
He also refused Yellin because he’s a consummate male chauvinist pig IMO
She would just ignore him and do the job competently, he can't stand competence.
Yellen refused to have the Fox beauty department do her hair and makeup.
I don't blame her, you can't tell them apart.
Is there a single example of Trump re-appointing ANYONE? No chance to demand favors, tribute, or loyalty if he does that. And his ego requires him to pick his own nominee, so that he/she can be declared the BEST, and a "big Trump fan".
Trump supporters voted for him cause he looks the part. What that is, I shudder to guess.
Not Hegseth.
Are we casting for a reality show?? Well, now we know definitely it’s all performative!!
Yes, and that’s been obvious to some of us for years. Unfortunately too many voters just want to be entertained, and media want the clicks to sell ads.
Enough voters bought into "both parties are the same" BS as well as treating government as one big reality show to put us in this spot
👆🎯Which is directly from Russian propaganda where it is often true, Navalny being an exception. And we saw what that got that brave patriot.
Have you ever looked at his cabinet? It's like he was casting a zany 1980s sit-com - you know, the kind that gets canceled about halfway through its initial 13 episodes
If you had suggested this rogue's gallery of an administration for the cast of Dr. Strangelove, Kubrick would have said it was too over the top to be believable.
Brian.. so correct. It's very difficult to imagine how Trump even found such clowns, much less make a "cabinet" of them. Job requirements; shoot dogs, alcohol dependence, yes men/women, not big on the constitution... your hired!
and RFK admits to have been a heroin addict at one time. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/rfk-jr-heroin-addict/
That was common knowledge, just like W Bush's cocaine addiction. They both lost brain cells they won't get back.
Oddly enough, RFK credits heroin for his improved performance when he was a student.
You just can't make this shit up.
And, virtually every one of the freaks in the show were confirmed by the Senate. This suggests that there is very little hope for the US absent huge changes in the structure of the government.
250 years is a good run for any "constitution". Ours needs corrections and improvements the founders could never have imagined. Like term limits and age limits. Or how about a 3 person committee to push the nuclear button. Maybe a popular vote for president. We got 250 out of the current one, but nobody anticipated satellite warfare, instant real time communications, guns that would fire 30 rounds/minute, oligarchs with a million times the wealth of the average citizen. As history tells us, even the term "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" had a different meaning in 1776. So. Lets forget originalism.. such an easy concept to promote, and take the harder path. We are in a new era, with new weapons, enemies, technologies unimaginable of in 1776, and bite the bullet. Or follow Greece and Rome into the abyss of history.
This is way beyond satire, or even farce. The most "logical" explanation is that the admin is a giant performance art project designed to see what level of absurdity they can get to before the audience realizes they are being spoofed.
Done by some alien child, for a science project, that it got a "D" on.
Springtime for Hitler?
Brian The education secretary is the first to be videoed kicking her then husband in the balls. That’s even kookier than Noem killing her dog because he was a bother. Clearly central casting of villains.
Given his proclivities I can't say I blame her.
"It's like he was casting a zany 1980s sit-com."
I’d take zany right now.
The "com" in sit-com is supposed to be short for "comedy." There's nothing funny about this show.
After the pilot.
I remember him appointing some general to a higher office and mentioning at the time that the guy (sorry, forget who) looked like a general out of central casting. His interest in appearances is only exceeded by his interest in making sure that the person involved his one of his devoted fans (or, at least, appears to be).
You’ve caused me to realize that Trump is building a real world from his demented imagination. Trump still lives in a fantasy of B grade Westerns where square jawed cowboys save white women from raping savages.
Rena Razing Caine
Yes, the admin is populated by people who think they are in a big reality TV show. This is a group of really rich people who've never paid any price for their mistakes, no matter how bad they've f'd up. They're in office because a large fraction of the voters can't tell fantasy from reality, living in a media environment where people make huge profits selling hate and lies. The end of the cold war was the precursor to the end of the US. Without a gun pointed at their heads, the wealthy and elite moved right on to bread and circuses and "Amusing Themselves to Death."
I blame so-called reality TV, it seems to cause viewers brains to leak out, the longer they watch it.
Democracy is based on an informed and engaged electorate. As such, the US, and many other countries, may be doomed to an Idiocracy like dystopia.
I tried to rewatch “Idiocracy” it is no longer a comedy, but a documentary.
President Camacho, and the cabinet in Idiocracy, were actually more rational than the current group. Astounding. They may have been watering plants with Brawndo, but they weren't reintroducing measles and polio on purpose. The US has sleepwalked into a major Jonestown situation, and the Kool Aid will be coming out soon.
And as I like to point out they were benign idiots, who knew they were stupid! Not so his cabinet and supporters.
Agree- bet you $100 we wouldn't have trump if it weren't for "The Apprentice" (which, no, I never saw).
I guarantee you are correct, there is a portion of the voting public that votes according to who they would like to have a beer with. That got us “w” Bush who I thought would be the worst of my time. They also ‘believe (so-called) reality tv, and wrestling, are real.
Every time I see Scott Bessent, I think that it must be Dan Akroyd made up and rehearsing an SNL opening. A real person just couldn't look and act like that.
Please refer to him as ‘soy bean farmer Scott Bessent’.
Trump watches a lot of TV.
It is the reality show in Trump's mind. In it there is a character he calls "Trump" (when he bizarrely refers to himself by name). This character always wins, is the smartest, greatest, most admired, etc. He is always developing this character AND the story it is part of, even if it doesn't reflect reality, like he did on The Apprentice. And he flies into a rage when either narrative is contradicted by anyone or anything, reality or otherwise.
He has help with these stories and character development i.e. cabinet meetings and Fox News. But, these writers are not always creating a story about our country being the hero. As long as "Trump" is the superhero (see NFTs) the rest of the story doesn't matter to him. So all you have to do to make the story work out for you is become a writer, like Putin, Miller, Bessent, etc.
But if "Trump" is a character, who is the actor playing the part? Suggested reading, malignant narcissism.
“Reality Show”, particularly in this case, is a classic oxymoron!
We’ve known that for 10 years!
Were you expecting him to appoint someone with the appropriate skills, experience and temperament?
We knew that by their choice of costumes!
Sacrifice is Necessary
Defeating the fascists in WWII did not happen without sacrifice from the citizens of the Allied countries. We will have to sacrifice to stop and reverse the fascist takeover of our country. We can sacrifice a little now or a much greater amount later. What kind of world will our children and grandchildren live in if we allow this to continue?
How much do you want to stop His Royal Heinous and the fascist takeover of the country?
Enough that you’re willing to make a small sacrifice? Like altering your spending habits for a month or two or three? That could be all it would take to get the attention of the oligarchs (formerly known as The Robber Barons in the first Gilded Age, also The Fat Cats, The Greedy Bastards).
A brief demonstration of We, the People’s, power of the purse could persuade them to quit supporting HRH and the politicians who enable him.
We quit spending, except on essentials, businesses lose money, stock market goes down, Greedy Bastards pay attention to our demands.
Greedy Bastards own most of the politicians of both major parties. GBs start losing money, then they tell the politicians to change course and do what We, the People want.
Spending Strike, Spending Freeze, Spending Suspension, Spending Pause, Economic Disengagement, Economic Warfare, Stop Spending!, even Boycott. Choose your favorite but Do It, and Spread the Word!
If a single dollar doubles every day for 30 days, it reaches a total of over $536 million ($536,870,912) at the end of the 30th day.
So, would it follow, that a single voice that doubled everyday would become 536 million voices after 30 days? That seems doable.
From Mark Mansour:
Sacrifice has always been the price of renewal. Democracy, if it is to survive, cannot be the cheap luxury item of a populace too comfortable to fight for it. The Trump regime can be resisted through civic courage, legal challenge, and organization. But it can also be starved—one deliberate, withheld dollar at a time.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mmansour/p/its-time-to-recognize-that-this-ordeal?r=5f62tm&utm_medium=ios
I wish there would be a nationwide boycott on paying Fed taxes until they get rid of this criminal org that's running the biggest Big Sting ever.... It's that time of year when you peer over the books....
I wish blue states could withhold payments to the Treasury and choke the idiots in the red states. Without blue state money many of them would tank. Like Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama. I think Newsom should point that out more. The Reds are essentially stealing from the rest of us.
I think that's the same logic Trump uses for his tariffs. Everything has to balance out regardless of the logic or economics. We have a country and punishing part of it for not generating enough tax revenue to meet their needs does not make us very united.
Maybe nuance is required by not providing money for DOD or pork barrel projects in these states. But I don't mind my tax dollars going to Medicaid or food support or other federal programs that are disproportionate.
United we stand, divided we fall.
I agree partially. I'm just saying that the red states need to recognize that they need us....more than we need them. Maybe a little wakeup call is what they need. A little truth for the soul.
"His Royal Heinous" !
AKA, His Royal H’anus
That’s Lord-God “KingAnus” Prince of the ass-holes, making brown noses the badge of honor, giving us a new Fed Chair. ‘Second, he has always been very good at ingratiating himself with influential people.’
What’s the difference between Trump and God? God doesn’t think he’s Donald Trump.
👍😆
How did I not think of that???
And today is the day to star. No purchases of any kind. It's an economic black out day. Dip your toe in the water and try it out today
I'm not a big spender anyway, but am not spending anything except essentials. Utilities, insurance, and food. Maybe a haircut. We all have to if we want to make a difference.
I've cut back on *all* spending for months now. (I'm single and retired, so that's easier than for a lot of folks, I know.) I buy most of my groceries at Costco b/c they're adamantly liberal, and the rest mostly from a small store that I think is locally owned and operated (and Hispanic). I haven't been in a Target in over a year. I just find that I can live a lot of my life without spending much, and I can keep this up for a very long time.
Today is another no shop day. Stay home or demonstrate!
Both!
Agree, we must start boycotting these corporations and make them hurt. We boycott many companies during the Viet Nam war and it was felt. We need to sacrifice and do it again!
And maybe cut back on all that flying/driving. The environment will thank you too.
Have fun with that. It'll actually be nice for the economically rational rest of us to have shorter check-out lines for a day.
Enjoy your maga day!
I researched the qualifications for Chairman of the Federal reserve
First, he/she must be chosen from among the serving members of the Board of Governors. So Kevin Warsh must first be appointed and confirmed to a seat on the Board in a separate vote. He is not currently on the Board. And only then can he be nominated to be Chairman,requiring a separate confirmation vote. Both actions are subject to a filibuster. So Senate Democrats need to stand firm against his nomination. And if there is no current vacancy he can't be nominated to a seat on the Board.
Appreciate the further information, cheers.
Is that why they tried to remove ?Lisa Cook
Trump tried to remove her because she's a black woman.
Who can see into the mind [sic] of Trump?
only one governor is seeing their term end soon, and that's miran who's a trumper himself (and has been on the board of governors for like 3 and change months)
Welp according to spineless Thom Tillis aint nothing happening til the suit againr Powell is drop
We gonna be cleaning house til at 2046
I highly recommend that next president fire these policial animals
Anyone DUMP likes??? I FUCKING HATE HATE HATE!!!! We’re in BIG trouble.
Yup
I want to revise my statement He aint coming in . Happy Kevin is in the EP Files
God, I hope the Senate has learned its lesson and not rubber stamp any Trump appointees, or take BS assurances, or approve anyone at all because Trump has now sued his own government for damages. Which, of course, is another corrupt scheme to fleece our money and make it his own.
Old Fed chair: our dual objective is maximum employment and stable prices
New Fed chair: our dual objective is maximum employment under a Republican president, minimum employment under a Democratic president.
Extreme polarisation by Trump/Putin is clearly destroying the U.S.
“Right or Wrong My Country” now clearly is “Wrong or Wrong Trump’s Country”.
So sad
"although he was an obviously ludicrous hack.". Don't hold back Dr. Krugman! give it to us straight. Why I subscribe.
Professor Krugman leaving the NYT was the best move, ever!
I bet 100 dollars that Trump wrote only the blue highlighted sentence of that tweet/truth
The fact that that made it into a tweet from the leader of the world’s most powerful country is a stunning indicator of how far gone the country is. Trump's mind, such as it ever was, it rapidly failing. He's fully engaged with what he seems to believe is a ratings race in a weird reality TV show, with nuclear weapons, that he's dragged the entire world into.
It's terrifying actually.
The connections to Greenland acquisition and the Lauder-Epstein connections are remarkable coincidences. It is small pond where the powerful swim.
Thanks for a clear overview of Warsh's background and ambition.
Trump had previously said he is “so handsome”
But he's 4 inches shorter than Powell! At least he is taller than Janet Yellen
He’s not, actually!
In any event, in about a year Trump will be threatening him for his failure to get interest rates down, Bondi will be investigating, and he will wish he had never heard of Trump
Thanks, Dr. Krugman, for another easy to understand lesson in economics. The senate must take as stand against this fraud Warsh. You are truly a light in this dark time we live in.
Another dose of honesty and truth from Paul Krugman - thank you. Your voice is a light in the darkness.
Always confident when Mr.Trump picks only the best people… yah right… he has done so well so far ….
The score at Fri, 10:14EST: European market indices up, US market indices down. Seems the investors have spoken against this nomination. Will be 6 nervous years coming, especially when the markets get rocky - and they will.