Today in Politics, Bulletin 52. 1/20/25 Ron Filipkowski Jan 21 ∙ … Trump didn’t place his hand on the Bible while he was sworn in. The last president who failed to place his hand on a Bible while taking the oath of office was Calvin Coolidge a century year ago. He’s never opened one either. He has sold them though. And autographed them. And held them upside down. … The richest oligarchs in America and their spouses got front row seats for Trump’s inauguration while Trump’s Cabinet sat behind them, and state governors and congressional spouses had to watch the ceremony in the Emancipation Hall overflow room. Letting everyone know from the first minute who is really in charge. … Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): “That’s all you need to know. The billionaires are in charge. Not you.” … One Republican Representative grumbled to Axios: “Charlie Kirk has better seats than every member of Congress. Tells you how little Trump’s team thinks of Congress.” Lots more pictures today than usual. I really felt like, for some of this stuff today, words alone simply could not do the scene justice. … During his speech, Trump said he was signing an executive order today renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. Hillary Clinton immediately started laughing when he said that. … He also issued an executive order that the tallest mountain in North America - Mount Denali in Alaska, be renamed as Mount McKinley. The native Koyukon who lived near the mountain called it Denali for centuries. An American gold prospector then named it McKinley in 1896, who was running for president at the time. It was officially renamed back to Denali in 2015 by President Obama’s Department of the Interior. Now it goes back to McKinley again apparently. … Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski reacted to the news by saying she was “so against” renaming it back to McKinley, and thought she had an understanding with Trump after speaking to him about it that he was not going to do this. But he did. Needless to say, this one is a Stephen Miller special all the way. … Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg had a difficult time keeping his eyes off Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, while Jared Kushner demonstrated excellent eye discipline. … Megyn Kelly on Sanchez’s outfit: “She has no class. No dignity. No respect.” … The governors who traveled to DC to attend the ceremony but were stuck in the overflow room watching it were Ron Desantis (FL), Mike Braun (IN), Brian Kemp (GA), Tate Reeves (MS), Glenn Youngkin (VA), and Ned Lamont (CT). Lamont was the only Democratic governor in attendance. … But Jeff Bezos’s girlfriend was inside. In the front row, too. … Mike Johnson was in a bit of panic before the ceremony even started. After all the drama of Trump demanding the flags over the Capitol be raised for his inauguration despite Jimmy Carter’s death, they couldn’t get the flags to go up despite trying for two hours because the cords were frozen solid and stuck to the pole. They eventually got the flag up, but probably only after MAGA Mike wet his pants thinking about Trump yelling at him again. … Trump tried to lean in to give Melania a kiss, but she was wearing a very wide brimmed hat that was pulled down close to her eyes so he wasn’t able to make contact to even give her a Josh and Erin Hawley-style peck on the cheek. The brim of that hat probably left a good dent in his forehead. This is as close as he was able to get. … Sen. John Fetterman showed up to the ceremony in a hoodie sweatshirt, shorts, and sneakers. … Mike Pence was booed when he was shown on the big screen walking into the event. Karen Pence did not attend. Hillary Clinton was also booed. … The Proud Boys marched in DC today, calling for Trump to pardon their “brothers.” There was about 50 of them in their black and yellow colors chanting: “Free Our Boys!” … Shortly after that, J6 inmate Jacob Lange, who is charged with beating police officers with a bat along with several other things, announced he was being released: “Just announced DOJ is dropping my J6 case!!! I’m finally coming home!!! God be magnified!!! Mountains do really move in Jesus name!!!” … Then Proud Boys’ leader Enrique Tarrio’s mother posted on X that he was going to be released from prison by Trump. Could be a full pardon or a sentence commutation. Tarrio was serving a 22 year sentence for seditious conspiracy. … I guess maybe this doesn’t count as a pardons of a “violent” J6ers since Jake delayed his trial long enough for Trump to just drop the charges, and Tarrio led others to commit violence rather than do it himself. Tarrio was outside of DC on J6 because he was out on bond for stealing a BLM flag from a Black church and burning it in the street a few days before J6 and was ordered not to return to the city. … Last night, at the only event open to the public since Trump canceled most of the festivities, a long line of MAGA fans were lined up for hours in the freezing rain to try and get through security and into the building. After a while, several hopped over the barricades to cut the line and arguments ensued with other people in line and security. … There was also piles off trash littered everywhere as MAGA attendees just threw everything they had on the ground. Tons and tons of trash. Many of them didn’t realize that security wasn’t going to let them bring any containers into the arena. One guy had to leave his bottle of viagra behind. … The former PM of Poland also tried to skip the line to go in with the VIPs. They didn’t let him because he didn’t pay for a VIP ticket. He then pulled up his Wikipedia page on his phone and tried to show it to security to prove who he was. That also didn’t work. … Elon Musk brought Shivon Zillis to the event. She is the mother of 3 of Musk’s 12 children. She is rarely seen in public with Musk, and had lengthy conversations at the party with Jaren Kushner and Lauren Sanchez. … Kellyanne Conway wore an interesting outfit to the VIP reception. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. … Crazy Rep. Clay Higgins was hosting a “Bikers for Trump” rally near the venue and was complaining on social media that the US Park Service wouldn’t let them run their generators: “We the People won’t be stopped. Not by weather, not by the deep state, not by drones, not by terrorist threat, not by corrupt judges, not by establishment hacks, not by a liberal journalist, and not by the DC machine.” Alrighty then. Just back away slowly. Don’t make eye contact. … Elon Musk appeared to be high as a kite on ketamine or something else, rolling his head and eyes and looking spaced out while making weird facial expressions. …Then later at the Victory Party event, Musk got worked up and gave an unusual salute to the crowd during his speech when he pumped his fist into his chest and then flung his straight arm out in the air out in front of him with his palm and fingers straight. Concerning … … CBS is reporting that Vivek Ramaswamy was forced off the DOGE committee by Elon Musk because they weren’t getting along. Staff who Musk hired to work on the budget cutting committee didn’t like Vivek and complained that he liked to talk a big game but wasn’t interested in doing any work. A source close to Trump: “Vivek has worn out his welcome.” … So, after being passed up for appointment to JD Vance’s open Senate seat by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and getting kicked off DOGE, Ramaswamy will now reportedly declare his candidacy for Governor of Ohio as early as next week - much earlier than expected. Vivek is probably the only Republican who could lose the Ohio governor’s race at this point, so hopefully he gets the nomination. … Just minutes after Trump was sworn in, the first lawsuits against the Administration were filed by several non-profit groups which allege that DOGE violates federal transparency laws. The lawsuits state that DOGE fails to comply with various transparency and ethics requirements as prescribed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act. … Crypto experts continue to hammer Trump for his crypto launch. From Crypto King: “Thoughts on Trump’s token: 1. Biggest scam in history of a President. 2. Focus on running a country. 3. MC pump does NOT justify fraud. 4. He ruined validity of the crypto space. 5. He’s no better than SBF or Do Kwon. 6. He’s firing all who can charge him. 7. An epic cunt. And I am Republican. Put a self-centered, grifting, scamming, lying, rapist, in office and the 1st thing he does? Profiteers billions out of crypto while deleting the agencies that can arrest him. I am embarrassed to be Republican.” … Speaking of crypto scams, Melania Trump also issued a cryptocurrency one day after her beloved husband launched his scam and made billions. She posted her ad for it on X and was hit with a Community Note warning that a single unnamed owner (guess who) controls 89% of it is far outside the norms to be considered reliable: “Buying this token is incredibly risky and will like result in the loss of funds.” … Two hours after giving the opening prayer at Trump’s inauguration event today, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell then announced that he too was launching his own crypto: “The crypto community was kind enough to send me $Lorenzo, so I have permanently locked my tokens into a Liquidity Pool, so that I will never sell on the community but rather just earn fees as our token continues to flourish! Amazing day, all the Glory to God!” (The fees can be very substantial, but I guess you have to trust him on not selling his stake. He’s a man of God though, so all should be well). … Trump then began releasing his executive orders. One of the first was to end the CBP1 asylum/parole policy, where migrants were able to make advanced appointments at the border using an app, which allowed them to then show up, make their asylum claims, get screened and then released into the US while their case was pending, which often took 2-3 years. 1.5 million migrants came into the US during the Biden’s term using this app. … Trump reinstituted his ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy where all asylum seekers at the southern border must now remain outside the country while their cases are adjudicated. He also announced that he will send US military units to the border and resume construction of his border wall. … Border Czar Tom Homan claims that he has been getting “very credible threats” to his life and asked the Biden Administration for Secret Service protection but they refused. There is no precedent whatsoever for any incoming nominee to a Cabinet-level position to get Secret Service protection. … Trump also announced that the US will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. … Kevin McCarthy was asked by NBC today about Matt Gaetz’s exit from Congress: “Just don’t sleep with a 17 year old and you will be alright.” … Joe Biden’s final act as president was to issue preemptive pardons for members of his family, Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, and members of the J6 Committee. My initial thought was that I was against this, because if Trump is inclined to attempt to abuse his power as an autocrat this would force him to do so by trying to go after him. Of course, that presupposes a belief that none of the ridiculous charges would stick. I believe that there would have been such a firestorm of protest if he had tried it against any of them. That will likely never happen now. … But then the reaction of MAGA Republicans somewhat changed my mind. They were furious, calling on state prosecutors to indict people since the pardon would not apply to state charges. They also called for MORE congressional hearings to investigate them (we have already had an endless number of hearings). The bottom line is that they will yell and scream for a day, CNN and other legacy media outlets will clutch their pearls while criticizing Biden, then they will be back focused on Trump’s ongoing crime spree. … Michael Flynn chimed in, claiming that everyone who accepted a pardon from Biden is admitting that they are guilty of committing crimes. Flynn then said the pardon he got from Trump after he pled guilty to federal crimes was different because “DOJ was very weaponized” in his case. … Flynn then said even though the Biden pardon recipients may have gotten away with crimes, they will still have to endure “a relentless spiritual torture that God Almighty will bring into their lives.” I’m pretty sure people like Dr. Fauci are in better standing with God than white nationalist fake christian QAnon Flynn. … General Milley issued a statement thanking Biden: “After 43 years of faithful service in uniform to our Nation, protecting and defending the Constitution, I do not wish to spend whatever remaining time the Lord grants me fighting those who unjustly might seek retribution for perceived slights. I do not want to put my family, my friends, and those with whom I served through the resulting distraction, expense, and anxiety.” … Milley’s official portrait was then immediately removed from the hallway of the Pentagon by the Trump team, where it was displayed with all the former Chairs of the Joint Chiefs. The pettiness and vengeance begins. … Dr. Fauci to Jonathan Karl: "I really truly appreciate the action President Biden has taken today on my behalf. Let me be perfectly clear, Jon, I have committed no crime, you know that, and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me. This created immeasurable and intolerable distress on me and my family.” … But Alexander Vindman’s wife Rachel posted this: “Whatever happens to my family, know this: No pardons were offered or discussed. I cannot begin to describe the level of betrayal and hurt I feel.” … Rep. Mike Turner, who was just ousted by Trump as House Intel Chair, took a different social media path than his fellow Republicans on inauguration day by posting a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. this morning, with nothing about Trump. Finally, later in the day, Turner posted a pretty lukewarm message: “Congrats to President Trump and VP Vance on their swearing-in. I am excited to support the President's vision for a stronger, greater America as he returns to lead our nation from the White House.” That was it. … A 19 year old man who was irate about the Tik Tok ban set fire to the district office of Republican Rep. Glenn Grothman in Wisconsin. Although there was significant damage, the office was vacant at the time and nobody was hurt. … Sen. Ron Johnson told reporters that Trump told him he plans to raise as much as $1 Trillion from his new massive tariffs. Trump was trying to assure budget-hawk Johnson that he was not going to blow a hole in the deficit with his budget plan despite huge new tax cuts. Johnson said he is opposed to the tariffs and tried to talk Trump out of imposing them. … Trump continues to get pushback from Republicans on his Tik Tok reprieve, with most still not mentioning him by name while criticizing his position. Laura Ingraham: “Is it now our position that the CCP has a First Amendment right to control a propaganda vehicle inside the US that poses a severe national security threat?” … Sen. Kevin Cramer: “I’m not sure what the legal authority is for a president to issue an executive order to nullify a law that was just passed and upheld by the Supreme Court. I’m concerned about the appropriate approach to separation of powers.” … Former Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, who was relieved of his command and kicked out of the Marine Corps after he public criticized his superiors and Biden after the Afghan withdrawal even after being warned to stop, announced that Trump has appointed him to a position under Pete Hegseth at DOD, assuming Hegseth is confirmed. … Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the Senate as Trump’s Secretary of State.