Pensito Illustration As each Trump Cabinet of Deplorables member knows,
It’s not how well you do, but how low you’ll go.
ICE Barbie Kristi Noem wants desperate immigrants
To become desperate game-show contestants
Starring in an ICE-sponsored citizenship reality-TV show.
“86 47” means “Toss the 47th president out of office”
Handing Trump the 2016 election on a gold-plated platter wasn’t enough to save former FBI director James Comey from being investigated by Trump’s secret police over an Insta post. The offending post was a photo of sea shells arranged to spell, “86 47,” which means toss the 47th president out of office. Fascist idiocrats claimed Comey’s post called for the assassination of Trump. Comey removed the post right away.
Speaking of idiots, our wannabe autocrat felt he had to explain groceries to a Middle Eastern leader: “We have a term ‘groceries.’ It’s an old term, but it means basically what you’re buying, food, it’s a pretty accurate term, but it’s an old-fashioned sound, but groceries are down.”
Fascism is allergic to voting, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the DOJ Voting Section Has Just Three Lawyers Left, Watchdog Estimates, says Democracy Docket. The section had 30 lawyers assigned to enforce voting laws before the Trump insane clown posse hit town.
Left to right: The worst and best presidents of the United States
The USDA hangs a giant banners depicting America’s best and worst presidents on the facade of its neoclassical headquarters in Washington.
What First Amendment? A Business Insider story with the headline, “Don Jr. is the new Hunter Biden,” has so enraged Don Jr.’s daddy that he has ordered his lackeys to attack the European conglomerate that owns Politico and Business Insider, because it is a “German Influence Operation.” Whatver that is.
A president from the erstwhile party of free enterprises tells an American CEO where not to expand his business, and members of his allegedly pro-capitalism party fall in line and remain mute: Trump to Apple: Don’t expand iPhone production in India.
Sen. Josh “Running Man” Hawley, MAGA-Mo, is so afraid of voters on Medicaid that he’s swallowed his fear of Trump long enough to speak out against the boss’s “big beautiful” cuts to healthcare funding for those in need.
Pensito Illustration It’s one thing to, at Christmas, give your kid an Atari.
It’s another thing, at midlife, to gift yourself a Ferrari.
But when you’re the U.S. President,
You’ve got to be wary of those emoluments,
And don’t go accepting $400 million jets from the Qataris.
Pensito IllustrationIn the hallowed Halls of Racism, Trump takes top honors.
If you’re black, brown or yellow, to him you’re a goner.
But if you’re a honky from South Africa,
Come on in, we’ll look after ya,
‘Cause you’re white — you’re all right — you poor, persecuted Afrikaner!
Pensito Illustration When Ed Martin turned out to be the insurrectionists’ hero,
Trump turned his attention to FOX TV’s Jeanine Pirro.
So, do we think there’s a snowball’s chance
Of Trump naming someone competent who’s not on FOX?
Nope, in our playbook the odds of that are less than zero.
Pensito Illustration The Sistine Chapel’s been sealed for the conclave.
If it’s anything like the movie, it’ll be a rave.
Of course, I have no hope
Of influencing the choice for Pope —
I’d pick the African, the drunk or the hermaphrodite. Who’s your fave?
One of the most innovative reactions to the Trump/Musk chainsaw approach to destroying the U.S. government has come from rock ‘n roll superstars, REM. The group’s members, Michael Stipe, Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry, have commissioned a remix of their 1981 college radio hit, “Radio Free Europe,” and released it with all proceeds going to support Radio Free Europe. Musk/Trump axed funding for key federally supported broadcasting outlets in March. On March 9, Trump ordered the U.S. Agency for Global Media, USAGM, to “eliminate all activities that are not required by law,” according to NPR.
The network also reported that “The termination notices for grants for the funded networks, two of which were reviewed by NPR, carried the signature of Trump’s senior adviser Kari Lake, whom he placed at USAGM, not the agency’s acting chief executive. Lake does not appear in her current job to have the statutory authority to carry out that termination.”
In a its statement on its official website, REM said, “We are thrilled to announce the release of Radio Free Europe 2025, a five-track benefit EP featuring two never-before-released tracks: a 2025 remix by longtime collaborator Jacknife Lee and original producer Mitch Easter’s 1981 remix ‘Radio Free Dub.’”
“The cancellation of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s grant agreement would be a massive gift to America’s enemies,” Steve Capus, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said in a statement today shared with NPR. “The Iranian Ayatollahs, Chinese communist leaders, and autocrats in Moscow and Minsk would celebrate the demise of RFE/RL after 75 years. Handing our adversaries a win would make them stronger and America weaker. We’ve benefitted from strong bipartisan support throughout RFE/RL’s storied history. Without us, the nearly 50 million people in closed societies who depend on us for accurate news and information each week won’t have access to the truth about America and the world.”
Order
Click here to pre-order/stream Radio Free Europe 2025 now and watch the Dispatch video for the Jacknife Lee remix.
Donate
Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Pensito Illustration
If you’ve read, heard or watched the political or business news lately, you’ve probably noticed something — it’s mostly bad. Like, really bad.
But fear not! There is good news out there about the Trump administration and its historic accomplishments in its first 100 days, and you can find it on the White House Wire.
If you noticed the WHWire looks a bit like the Drudge Report, you’d be right. Matt Drudge noticed and trolled the White House on his site with: “Developing: Trump launching his own Drudge Report using taxpayer dollars!”
The content on WHWire runs the gamut from fawningly sucking up to the president to downright fabrications. Here are some headlines:
And because sometimes the supply of happy Trump news runs a little thin, the White House posts its own take on current events, with “JOBS BOOM: More Americans Working for Higher Pay,” a press release that quotes Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying: “This is the second month in a row where the jobs report has beat expectations. Wages are continuing to rise and labor force participation is increasing. This is exactly what we want to see. More Americans working for higher wages. More winning is on the way!”
So, if the bad old news gets you down, hop on over to the White House Wire, where the news is always positive, the people are all white and the women are all blondes.
Pensito Illustration Trump says it’s just the cost of doing business,
As if his tariff plan wasn’t stupid and witless.
From a thriving economy in a land of plenty,
We’ve gone to big-box stores with shelves all empty,
And it’s going to be a Trump-branded crappy Christmas.
In the hallowed Halls of Racism, Trump takes top honors.
If you’re black, brown or yellow, to him you’re a goner.
But if you’re a honky from South Africa,
Come on in, we’ll look after ya,
‘Cause you’re white — you’re all right — you poor, persecuted Afrikaner!
“While many have speculated that the Qataris have offered Trump the luxurious plane to curry favor with the famously transactional president, there may be a simpler rationale: they just don’t want it anymore. … The royals have failed to sell the plane, which was put on the market in 2020, according to an archived listing. Giving it away could save Qatar’s rulers a big chunk of change on maintenance and storage costs… Making Trump happy would be an added bonus.”
“It’s time for Joe Biden to go away with all due respect and let the next generation of Democrats take the mantle. Every time he appears on a show or says something, it’s just another week or a month that we have to defend him and remind everybody that we got beat by Donald Trump, again. For those of us trying to rebuild the brand, it does no good when you’re constantly reminded about the old brand that won’t go away.”
— Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha, quoted by Politico.
“I think we essentially have become a kleptocracy that would make Putin blush. I mean, keep in mind that in the first three months, the Trump family has become $3 billion wealthier, so that’s a billion dollars a month.”
— Business school professor Scott Galloway, quoted by the New Republic.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has requested a $50 million in the Coast Guard budget for a new Gulfstream 5 for her personal travel, The Hill reports.
Percentage of Americans polled by KFF who oppose MAGA’s cuts to Medicaid. The cuts were opposed by 95 percent of Democrats, 79 percent of independents and 55 percent of Republicans.
Politico: “The Medicaid portions of the GOP megabill would lead to 10.3 million people losing coverage under the health safety net program and 7.6 million people going uninsured, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”
“The Trump administration spent at least $21 million transporting migrants to Guantanamo Bay on military aircraft between January 20 and April 8,” NBC News reports. “The naval base there currently holds 32 migrants, a tiny fraction of the 30,000 that President Donald Trump promised. Guantanamo has held a total of just under 500 migrants since Trump announced the effort in January, and it has never held more than 200 at any one time. Many of the migrants flown there are believed to have been flown back to the U.S.”
A typical starter home now costs $1 million or more in more than 200 U.S. cities, according to a new report from Zillow. Five years ago, there were only 85 cities in 10 states where starter homes—defined as being in the lowest third in terms of home values—exceeded $1 million. Now the number is up to 233 cities in 25 states.