Hi all, happy Tuesday. Before I get into Trump’s disastrous cabinet meeting, I want to remind everyone about today’s special election in Tennessee’s 7th congressional district. We’ll be watching closely to see if Democrat Aftyn Behn is able defy the odds and win this Trump +22 seat in a district that has been upended by Trump’s nightmare presidency. If you know anybody who lives in the area, remind them to get out and vote! Tuesday morning offered another alarming window into the state of Donald Trump’s presidency, as a cabinet meeting devolved into one yet another chaotic public spectacle. I have been watching the event in real time so you don’t have to. What I witnessed was an unwell man rambling through delusions, praising war crimes, and lashing out at perceived enemies while his closest allies amplified the turmoil. He could even be seen with his eyes shut during various parts of the meeting, perhaps tired from his 400+ social media posting spree in the middle of the night where he attacked MeidasTouch. Trump began by launching into a lengthy monologue about an alleged “A” he claims to have earned on a cognitive test meant to detect signs of dementia. According to Trump, the exam contained questions that “99% of… the fake news would not do well” on, and his retelling of the episode quickly spiraled into an incoherent narrative about military hospitals, secrecy, and his own intelligence. The officials in the room looked visibly uncomfortable. The American people should be, too. From there, the performance only worsened. Trump lavished praise on Pete Hegseth, the same cabinet official now publicly implicated in authorizing extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean, calling him someone who has “done a great job” and insisting his administration “ended eight wars.” Within minutes, Trump veered into an extended riff about deserving a Nobel Peace Prize for conflicts he claims to have resolved, despite there being no truth to his statements. “I should get the Nobel Prize for every war,” he declared. “But I don’t want to be greedy.” Trump next insisted there have been “no murders” in Washington, D.C., an assertion flatly contradicted by the deadly incident this past weekend involving a National Guard member Trump himself granted asylum to earlier this year. As he praised his own policies, he blamed the word “affordability,” which he called a “Democrat scam,” for Americans’ economic concerns, even as prices have risen dramatically on his watch. That’s right. He called the word “affordability” a “hoax” and a Democrat “scam.” Great messaging, Donald! In another moment, Trump declared inflation “stopped in its tracks” and again falsely claimed that he had reduced prescription drug prices by “200%, 300%, 400%, 500%, 600%, 700%, 800%.” Numbers don’t work that way. Neither does government. But facts have never constrained Trump’s increasingly detached worldview. The meeting crescendoed with a series of deeply troubling exchanges. Trump again fixated on his own physical health, insisting critics should “take a look at me,” even as he appeared visibly unwell and repeated lines multiple times. Then came the most chilling development: Hegseth, whom international law experts already believe has overseen unlawful killing of civilians at sea, pledged that the United States has “only just begun” its campaign of sinking what he called “narco boats,” boasting about putting people “at the bottom of the ocean.” This is not counter-narcotics policy. It is a confession. Trump’s cabinet members echoed the same rhetoric. They spoke proudly about operations that international law scholars have already flagged as potential war crimes. And while these admissions were being made on camera, two of Trump’s closest allies, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner (not a member of the government, by the way), were photographed walking the streets of Moscow, while Vladimir Putin issued a statement blaming Europe for hindering Trump’s foreign policy and boasting, “We are ready [for war] right now.” The message from Russia was clear: Trump is aligned with Putin’s worldview, not America’s democratic allies. The spectacle was not merely foreign policy chaos. Trump’s cabinet members also spent time discussing issues as trivial as whether airline passengers should wear pajamas, all while the president mused about seizing partial ownership of private companies, a description that more closely resembles autocratic industrial capture than anything within a democratic economic system. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem even thanked Donald Trump for “keeping the hurricanes away.” Even North Korean propagandists would find it all humiliating. Other global figures took notice of the chaos as well. Pop icon Sabrina Carpenter condemned a White House video that used her music to mock migrants, calling it “evil and disgusting.” Pope Leo urged Trump not to proceed with plans to invade Venezuela. Yet Trump continued to demand military action, even as he quietly pardoned one of the most notorious drug traffickers in modern history, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who once promised he would “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.” Trump calls others “narco terrorists.” He just set one free. This was another meltdown, one that showcased the full scope of a presidency collapsing into authoritarian impulses, disinformation, and reckless personal grievance. And by the way, this train wreck is still going on. What we witnessed today was the behavior of a man unfit to serve, surrounded by enablers who have embraced war crimes, economic fantasy, and a foreign policy set by hostile dictators. So thank you for helping us continue to expose this utterly deranged regime. Thanking your for liking and sharing these posts. Let’s continue to build this pro-democracy platform. |
