Trump's inability to get anything done internationally is frustrating him and there is no relief in sight for the putative leader of the free world. In large part Trump's growing problems stem with him "being ignored and humiliated" by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the Moscow media piling on and "portraying Trump as the tough talker who always blinks and never imposes consequences." Trump's wavering on China "" which has given rise to the "Trump Always Chickens Out" (TACO) joke on Wall Street "" is seen as yet another sign that he is a paper tiger, suggested the analyst.
A Flathead County jury on Friday found a former Republican political strategist guilty on two counts of stalking based on texts, emails and letters he sent to and about his victim, as well as incendiary flyers he distributed in late 2023 and early 2024. Billings resident Daniel Duffey, 40, appeared in Flathead County District Court on Tuesday for what became a four-day jury trial. Over that time, Flathead County Attorney Travis Ahner and other prosecutors presented evidence that Duffey sent repeated, unwanted messages to the victim, the victim's wife and other members of the couple's family before eventually traveling to the county during their wedding celebrations.
"Now the current occupant of the Oval Office appears to be spiraling further into incoherency," he said. "Consider Trump's latest excursion into the cringey realm of make believe - his Truth Social "retruth" amplifying the astonishingly nutty conspiracy theory that Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced with a clone. 'Oh stop Jim,' you say? Read for yourself," he wrote. Acosta raised a question: if the so-called deep state really intended to replace Biden with a double, wouldn't they choose someone younger? The journalist said Americans are finally realizing that Trump is "not in a good place." "Rather than being led by a boring yet competent president, America has a rapidly aging and raging Oval Office occupant who needs his own executive orders read out loud before he can sign them, much like a convalescing relative going over his last will and testament," he said.
Ukraine conducted a large drone attack on Russian military aircraft on Sunday, a security official told Reuters, saying 40 Russian warplanes were struck. If confirmed, the strikes would be the most damaging Ukrainian drone attack of the war, and would be a significant setback for Moscow. The official said that the strikes were conducted by the SBU domestic intelligence agency, and that they had simultaneously hit four Russian military air bases on Sunday. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said more than 40 aircraft were hit, including Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukraine. Reuters could not immediately verify the assertions. The source shared video footage, saying it showed the strikes. The images showed several large aircraft, some of which appeared to be Tu-95 strategic bombers, on fire.
Director of National Security Tulsi Gabbard wants to turn President Donald Trump's daily intel briefings into Fox News-type broadcasts because he "doesn't read." Gabbard is hoping to add animations and more dynamic multimedia elements to Trump's President's Daily Briefs, or PDBs, to fit his viewing habits and hold his attention, five people with knowledge of the discussions told NBC News. Gabbard ralso eportedly consulted with current and former intelligence officials on bringing in a Fox News producer and host to reshape the PDBs"which are usually text and image-based for national security reasons"to deliver the intel in broadcast form. NBC News reported that the process could involve granting the Fox News team security clearance to access classified information.
TACO has the potential to hurt Trump.
(1) It's simple. Trump Always Chickens Out. You can put that phrase anywhere, apply it to anything, and everyone knows what it means.
(2) It's meme-able. You have the slogan. You have the word mark. And you have an universally recognizable image. Hell, there's even a pre-built emoji for it. You can put this thing anywhere and it will be a symbol of the democracy movement.
(3) It's universal. You can apply it to any situation. Trump pulls back on tariffs? TACO. Trump gives in to Putin? TACO. Trump increases the national debt? TACO.
(4) It's organic. No Democratic strategist came up with TACO. It's an observation that emerged from the finance world"from the very same bros who voted for Trump in the first place. You can feel the disdain of his own supporters dripping off of it.
(5) It hits at something deep inside Trump. It's about his soul. It's about his weakness.
(6) It's a provocation. Real talk: It's usually good that Trump chickens out. It's good that he didn't try to use the military to remain in office in January of 2021. It's good that he pulled the 150 percent tariffs back to 45 percent, or 30 percent, or whatever they're at this morning.
But in the current dynamic, that's how Trump wins. He says he's going to do some insane thing, his supporters give him credit for doing it"but then he pulls back in order to avoid the worst real-world consequences.
By hitting him with TACO over and over, you (a) reveal his pull-backs as weakness and (b) dare him to go through with the stuff that will screw up the real world"and, in theory, create pain for his movement.
www.thebulwark.com
Didn't Day One Dotard promise to end this war in January?
www.cnn.com