Whatever this young woman is doing with Trump at midnight, I hope he's paying well.
#10 | POSTED BY CLOWNSHACK

JFK and Bush 1 were both capable of appreciating war's realities well beyond the comic book phase, each having served in one and seen action and its consequences. As JFK wrote in a letter soon after his PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and he worked at rescuing his crew:

Between Trump's insanity, FIFA's greed, gooberish MAGAts on parade with their weaponry, and the general impression of the US as loaded to the gills with loons, buffoons, and human baboons, this is definitely one of those "Yah, but ... " destinations.

"Reading about this swindle, I found myself wondering why it rankled me so much," writes Andrew Egger. "After all, this is hardly the first time Trump and his family have cashed in on his cult of personality to part his superfans from their cash. Indeed, for many MAGA superfans, being endlessly shaken down for cash via a blizzard of unbelievably sleazy campaign-solicitation texts and emails has become a defining feature of their digital lives. And that's to say nothing of Trump's crypto projects, Trump's NFTs, Trump's guitars, Trump's sneakers, Trump's watches - I could go on."

Or maybe it just strikes me as so sordid because of the political landscape in which it's unfolding. Donald Trump, who swept back into office last year with approval ratings in the 50s and an unprecedented political coalition at his back, has been hemorrhaging voters ever since. His second-term approval has never been lower"in fact, it hit another new low just today. Pretty much every voter outside his cult has already headed for the hills. And yet that stubborn 35ish percent of the electorate remains, eyes screwed shut, fingers wedged in their ears, unhappy with the state of the economy, unhappy with the state of the country, unhappy with the state of the world"but still convinced beyond all reason or persuasion that their political messiah, Donald Trump, is about to turn it all around.

This is remarkable, unprecedented political loyalty. Without it, Trump could never have gotten back to where he is today"and he'd certainly be in no position to shake down the sheikhs. And how does his family repay this loyalty? By selling his poor dumb true believers a vaporware phone.

"I have all the cards," says American president, a convicted felon, serial fraudster, fabulist, pathological liar, and six-times bankrupt who ran four casinos into the ground.

Problem is, nobody's playing cards, Donnie, nobody but you.

Further:

"The only other way to approach this is to recognise that Iran will have some control, but that the main passage will be operated by an allied coalition which will guarantee free movement of ships without fees. I think that's a preferable approach. But at this moment in time, Iran has a gun to our head with the closure of the Strait. Somehow, we've got to find a way to make sure that that gun is not there.

"The reality is, we always knew that Iran would ultimately close the Strait of Hormuz, and we should have had a plan. We missed that opportunity. As long as the Strait remains closed, as long as they continue to put tremendous pressure on the US and the world economy, we're not going to get anywhere because they have the leverage."