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Dark Days Ahead… In handing out nearly 1,600 pardons to the rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill insurrection that threatened our democracy, Donald Trump became the first American president to endorse the use of political violence here. One caveat: that violence must not be directed at him.
That endorsement is in line with findings of the latest Edelman Trust Barometer released in Davos this week.
It found a shockingly high level of support—40 percent—for “hostile activism” to drive change. Support was even higher (53 percent) among younger people aged 18 to 34.
Edelman defines hostile activism as online attacks against people, spreading disinformation, and physical violence against people or property.
About a third of Trump’s pardons went to people accused of “assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement.” One hundred forty police officers were injured in Trump’s riot.
His blanket clemency to rioters “sends a dangerous message” and threatens America’s safety, according to The Fraternal Order of Police, the biggest cop union—which endorsed Trump in 2024.
Lame-duck Trump is now completely unfettered, and not threatened by a Republican Congress that is completely under his thumb. Rather than act as an equal branch of the government, Congress has been reduced to a subsidiary of the White House.
Trump pardoned 14 recipients of the right-wing extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups.
Members of the Proud Boys marched down the streets of Washington on Inauguration Day behind a large banner that read “Congratulations President Trump.” It marked the first Proud Boys march in DC since Jan. 6, 2021.
During the 2020 debate with Biden, Trump famously urged the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
Trump’s dream has now come true. He has a personal militia ready to enforce his will or threaten opponents.
We are heading for the abyss.
What did he expect?… Trump resorted to childish personal attacks on Washington Episcopal bishop Mariann Budde after her sermon at the National Cathedral, where she asked him to show some mercy and compassion to vulnerable people who will soon be impacted by his policies.
Trump, a guy with zero empathy for anyone or anything, called Budde “a so-called bishop.” She was “nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart,” posted Trump on Truth Social.
That so-called bishop has led the Episcopal diocese of DC since 2011, after serving in Minneapolis for 18 years. One must assume that such a person is smart. She actually sounds a lot smarter than Trump.
And what’s nasty about a woman of the cloth advocating for kids who fear the deportation plan is going to separate them from their parents, or a federal worker who will soon loose the financial means to support his family?
Budde was just doing her job of “honoring the dignity of every human being.”
Trump has crazily demanded an apology to which Budde had the perfect response: "I don't feel there's a need to apologize for a request for mercy,” she told NPR. Touché!
The president’s over-the-top response to Budde’s sermon has badly backfired. It has provided a national platform for the bishop.
Hopefully, she will trigger a national conversation about Trump’s dark vision of America—before it is too late.
What’s next for Trump? Is he going to call Pope Francis “washed up” because the 88-year-old pontiff called Trump’s deportation plan “a disgrace.”
In his congratulatory telegram to Trump, Francis said he prayed that America lives up to its ideals of a “land of opportunity" and a place “where there is no room for hatred, discrimination or exclusion.”
Keep on praying, Father.
Out-dodged at DOGE. Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency is off to a great start in rooting out waste, duplication, and inefficiency.
Canning co-head Vivik Ramaswamy deserves kudos. After all, why did an organization with a potential staff of 25 or so need two leaders?
Of course, the official word is that Vivek suddenly got the urge to enter the 2026 race for Ohio governor. Right! There’s no way that Vivek could have served as a co-equal to the maniacal Elon Musk.
Trump, though, had the last laugh at the expense of Musk.
His executive order that established DOGE made it part of the government with all the relevant disclosure and reporting requirements.
Both Musk and Vivek envisioned DOGE as a free-wheeling independent entity.
But the EO has Musk reporting directly to Trump’s no-nonsense chief of staff Susie Wiles.
Trump clipped the wings of the shadow president. My hunch is that Elon will follow Vivek out the door.
But before that exit happens, Musk should take a look at Trump’s proposed “External Revenue Service,” which is supposed to collect tariffs.
Why expand governmental bureaucracy? The Commerce Department, U.S. Trade Representative and US Customs and Border Protection are responsible for tariffs. Nobody has complained about their work.
Doesn’t Trump want to shrink rather than enlarge the government. Elon should nip ERS in the bud.
Where’s his honor? New York’s embattled mayor Eric Adams slithered out of the city at 3 am on Jan. 20 for a snowy car ride to attend the inauguration of Donald Trump.
It’s not as if Team Trump longed for an appearance by Eric. He received an invite to the shindig sometime after 12:07 am, which was when the mayor’s public schedule for Martin Luther King Day had him attending two MLK events.
Adams ditched the MLK celebrations for sitting in an “overflow room” to hear Trump speak. That happened a week after Adams flew to Mar-a-Lago to grovel before with the incoming president.
The mayor’s public pandering to Trump—in the hopes of a pardon—is below the dignity of the Office of the Mayor of New York.
City council president Adrienne Adams said of Eric skipping the MLK tributes: “Some that should be here celebrating Dr. King with us in this room have chosen to go to Washington to celebrate Felon 47.”
Hizzoner has no shame. He seems to be following the footsteps of Ronald Reagan, a Democrat who became a Republican. Reagan said: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left me.
During his off-the-wall 50-minute interview with Tucker Carlson, Adams said people tell him: “'You don’t sound like a Democrat. You seem to have left the party.’ No, the party left me, and it left working-class people.”
Adams in 2021 called Carlson a guy who spouts “racist, anti-immigrant propaganda.”
I guess Adams now sees him as a useful tool to curry favor with the president.
It’s all pretty pathetic.
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