A Liberal in Trumpistan: The Second Coming of Donald Dumpling

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“Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

Hannah Arendt

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ONCE AGAIN, we pick up the cudgels of mockery and steel ourselves to cover the second presidential term of Donald J. Trump – henceforth to be granted the title of “Donald Dumpling.”

In some cataract view of the world, the MAGA faithful see a man whose most strenuous form of exercise is driving a golf cart at high speeds as a macho figure of muscle and steel-eyed courage. The poor Dumpling has man boobs and slathers his face with Cheez Whiz-colored skin toner.

As we travel the Fun House path that will be Trump Administration 2.0, expect lies, and plenty of them, daily ineptitude, endless excuses, and ominous attempts to subvert the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution.

Let the Chaos Commence!

January 20, 2025 (Inauguration Day): Donald John Trump returns to office with another cheery message to all Americans, including rioters who pounded police with baseball bats on Capitol Hill, on January 6, 2021. It’s cold outside, so the main event for the day is held in the Capitol Rotunda, where Trump’s worst supporters did their best to derail democracy that day.

In a brief article for The New Yorker, Benjamin Wallace-Wells sets the scene:

In the Rotunda, Trump said that, since his first election, “I have been tested and challenged more than any President in our two-hundred-and-fifty-year history. And I’ve learned a lot along the way.” Perhaps more important was what his movement had learned: the virtue of preparation. Detailed policy and hiring programs had been negotiated and assembled. “For American citizens,” Trump said, “January 20, 2025, is Liberation Day.”

Wallace-Wells continued:

It was, if not that, Executive Order Day. Papers flowed. At the Resolute desk, an aide handed Trump orders for signing from a tall stack of navy-blue binders. Within a few hours, the United States was pulling out of not only the Paris climate accord but also the World Health Organization, which it had helped to found, in 1948. On immigration, the President reinstated his Remain in Mexico policy, and cancelled interviews for asylum applicants; in a Latino neighborhood in Detroit, ICE agents were reportedly going door to door. Federal diversity programs, some dating back to an executive order signed by L.B.J. in 1965, were eliminated. Offshore wind projects were paused, restrictions on drilling lifted. Fifteen hundred people were pardoned for their roles in January 6th, including some of the most violent actors; Politico speculated that many would soon run for office themselves.

What else was the new president up to on this “first day of the rest of your life” as president? He declared that it would be the official policy of his government that there are only two sexes, male and female. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” one executive order stated.

We also learned that Governor Ron DeSantis was banished to another room for the inauguration ceremony. But Shou Zi Chew, the C.E.O. of TikTok, was there inside the Rotunda, “seated next to Tulsi Gabbard.”

His Inaugural Address delivered, Donald dashed over to the White House and commenced with the signing. As best I can ascertain, he decided to issue a blanket pardon, covering every single January 6 rioter.

He didn’t just pardon the fools who entered the Capitol that day because they believed his endless lies about a “Stolen Election,” what he sometimes called a “sacred landslide election” for good measure.

Nope, he pardoned them all.

He didn’t pardon Roseanne Boyland, however, who needed none. She came to D.C. on that terrible day, “Because my president asked me to come support him,” she said. So, she was there on January 6, and before she could go inside, if that was her intent, she was trampled to death by the mob “her president” summoned.

Trump couldn’t pardon Ashli Babbitt (rioter #56 on my list). After other attackers smashed the window to the lobby of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s offices, Babbitt tried to climb through, only to be shot and killed.

She believed Donald’s lies, and fell hard for QAnon, as well.

He pardoned at least four rioters who attacked police with baseball bats.

“Obviously, you shouldn’t be pardoned.”

So, whom did Donald pardon? He pardoned Kevin James Lyons (#59), who stole a wallet out of one of Nancy Pelosi’s offices, as well as a signed, framed picture of Pelosi with civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis.

Scott Kevin Fairlamb (#69) was pardoned, even though he had been found guilty of shoving and punching police. He had previous convictions, unrelated to January 6, for aggravated assault and simple assault.

Trump pardoned Lonnie Leroy Coffman (#99), who showed up in D.C. on the day of the riot. Inside Coffman’s truck authorities found an M-4 assault rifle, three handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, high-capacity magazines, and eleven Mason jars filled with homemade napalm. He also carried a pistol onto Capitol Hill grounds that day, and a search of his home later turned up twelve more Mason jar bombs.

Christopher Worrell (#254) got a pardon he didn’t deserve. He too had a prior record, for impersonating an officer – and pulling a woman driver over, so he could “give her a ticket” and maybe kidnap her for good measure.

But on January 6, what Worrell wanted to do was spray real police with chemicals – and he hit at least three officers in their faces before he was done. At his trial, Officer Timothy Lively, without citing Worrell specifically, said he was hit with spray at least ten times that day. A jury convicted Worrell of multiple felonies, but while awaiting sentencing he cut off his ankle monitor and absconded. He was recaptured a month later, but not before he staged an opioid overdose, hoping he’d be taken to the hospital (he was) and have a second chance to escape (he didn’t).

Trump pardoned all these people even though just eight days earlier then-Vice President-Elect J.D. “Mushmouth” Vance assured us Donald wouldn’t. “If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned,” Vance said.

Obviously.

Sadly, Trump missed the obvious. He pardoned Edward Lang (rioter #131), who attacked police with a baseball bat. He pardoned Emanuel Jackson, (#156), who attacked officers with a bat. He pardoned Christopher Finney, (#1346) who also employed a bat that day. It’s nonsense to say, as Trump apologists have, that these people were tricked into rioting. Finney showed up on January 6 wearing body armor and carrying zip ties – in case he captured Mike Pence, one would suppose. Donald even pardoned Joel Linn O’Donnell, (#1656) who was not arrested until January 2025, but who also allegedly battered defenders of the Capitol with a fourth bat.

The ”Law and Order” president granted a pardon to Raymond Cholod, (#857) who attacked police with an expandable baton. Ryan Samsel (#181), who had a history of domestic violence (including choking a woman until she lost consciousness), knocked down a female officer, causing her to suffer a concussion. He was pardoned. Trump pardoned Thomas Webster (#220), who punched police and pummeled them with a metal flagpole. He pardoned Nicholas James Brockhoff (#311), and Robert Scott Palmer (#312), both of whom sprayed police with fire extinguishers, and Dr. Jackie Strayer (#360), who punched another female cop in the head.

None of these people deserved pardons – and Trump didn’t win the 2020 election, either, meaning all these rioters were fools.

Mitchell Todd Gardner II (#785) sprayed police with chemical irritants. Peter G. Moloney (#1049) chose “Black Flag® Wasp, Hornet & Yellow Jacket Killer₂ spray” to show officers the love – and attacked a reporter covering the riot – simultaneously attacking democracy and the free press.

Kyle J. Young (#354) was already a convicted felon on the day of the riot, when he did his “patriotic duty,” and helped drag Officer Michael Fanone into the mob. Young was carrying a taser, which he handed to another rioter, who used it on Fanone. That rioter, Daniel Joseph Rodriguez (#553), drove it repeatedly into the fallen officer’s neck – causing him to suffer a heart attack.

John Emanuel Banuelos (#618), was arrested in 2022 and charged with shooting and killing a teenager in a Utah park; but on January 6, he had carried a gun to Capitol Hill and allegedly fired it in the air. Like many of these rioters, he managed to delay his case repeatedly, and in May 2024, he cursed the judge, and predicted, “Trump’s going to be back in office in 6 months, I’ve got nothing to worry about.”

He was right.

The list of people who should not have been pardoned is long and depressing. You can include Andy Steven Oliva-Lopez (#1321), nicknamed “Blue Plaid Sprayer” by online sleuths who helped identify him for authorities. “Blue Plaid” hosed officers with mace and re-posted a Trump tweet before the riot: “WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!” And that explained why he was there on January 6.

We should include Michael Joseph Foy (#154), who repeatedly struck a fallen policeman with a hockey stick.

We would be a failure if we overlooked Julian Khater (#243), who sprayed Officer Brian Sicknick and others with bear spray. Sicknick suffered a debilitating reaction and died of a heart attack the next day.

We would fail again if we neglected to mention that four other officers committed suicide in the aftermath of the attack, a toll the president has never acknowledged – and never once seemed to care about.

In total, the rioters caused almost $3,000,000 in damages, with Justin LaGesse (#1316) being found guilty of wrecking a window and ordered to pay $43,215.

He too was pardoned.

We could list a hundred more, but let’s finish up with Stephen Chase Randolph (#404), and Paul Russell Johnson (#405), and call it a day. On what President Trump has described as “a day of love and peace,” Randolph grabbed an officer around the neck, and two other officers had to pull the rioter loose. Johnson felt compelled to do his “share,” and bragged about a video of himself “slinging” an officer around. They kicked, they punched, they believed Donald’s lies.

Now they’ve all been pardoned, which tells you what kind of “Law and Order” leader Trump plans to be during his second term.

Even worse, he has described these criminals as “people who love this country,” which I fear is true, as far as simple phrases go. But their love is akin to the love of a violent ex-husband, when he learns his ex is dating someone new. So, he kicks in the back door to the house where she’s living and begins beating her head on a kitchen counter, while their two young children watch in horror and scream.

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America gets the king it didn’t know it wanted!

1/23/25: President Trump has been channeling his inner Xi Jinping, suggesting repeatedly that he might like to serve a third term in 2028.

As if on demand, a Republican member of Congress has come out in favor of just such a scheme. Rep. Andy Ogles, of Tennessee – the apparent victim of a lobotomy – suggested a constitutional amendment, which would allow a president who had been elected to two non-consecutive terms to serve a third, at the end of his second. Such as Donald. To be sure, no president who had served two consecutive terms, could ever serve a third, non-consecutive term.

Such as Barack Obama.

As Ogles sees it:

President Trump’s decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years. He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern history capable of reversing our nation’s decay and restoring America to greatness, and he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal. To that end, I am proposing an amendment to the Constitution to revise the limitations imposed by the 22nd Amendment on presidential terms. This amendment would allow President Trump to serve three terms, ensuring that we can sustain the bold leadership our nation so desperately needs.

So, let me wrap my head around this. Donald would be 82 years old in 2028, 86 when his third term was up. But still…

Younger, for example, than Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, until he was 93.

I can see Congressman Knucklehead suggesting that Donald be allowed a fourth and fifth term in 2032 and 2036. Perhaps even a sixth in 2040, because, after all, he’s “the only figure in modern history” who can save this great land.

I suppose I’m really surprised that Rep. “Knucks” didn’t just come out and say we need a king as the White House itself seemed to suggest recently. First, Trump issued a royal decree – I mean an executive order – banning congestion pricing in New York City, and crowed, “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

Then the White House went with this:

And if that isn’t funny enough for you, let me add a little historical context. King Louis XIV of France served for 72 years, and after he died Louis XV lasted for 59, so that two men controlled the destiny of that nation for a combined 131 years. Of course, luck ran out for Louis XVI, who lost not only his crown, but his head.

Another king of note, George III, ruled England for 59 years, but the American colonies for a much shorter stretch.

Plus, he ended up insane – and got made fun of in the musical Hamilton, too.

If you think the White House was only offering up a little light humor, consider the more direct threat made by Dan Bongino, the former Fox News host/guest, podcaster, and now Deputy Director of the F.B.I.

“Power. That is all that matters,” he barked on one of his shows.

Checks and balances, someone suggested? “That’s a good one,” he replied. “That’s really funny.”

Hannah Arendt, in The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), noted, “Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.”

So: We get Dan.

As Michelle Goldberg noted in an opinion piece for The New York Times, in February,

On his show last month, Bongino gloated over the angst Trump’s nominees were causing career civil servants, cheering on the president’s “total personnel warfare.” Then he took out two plastic toy robots, an orange one to represent Trump and a blue one he called “liberal screaming Karen.” He used the Trump robot to beat the lady one, smashing it over and over. “Yes!” he exclaimed. “This is how we fix this place.”

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How many stars do inspector generals get on their uniforms?

1/25/25: No doubt you were wondering this morning, as you sipped your listened to your Rice Krispies snap, crackle and pop, “Is it fun to be an inspector general in the U.S. government, and how may stars do you get to wear on your uniform?

As it turns out now, there might not be any IGs at all, during Donald Trump’s second gig as president. And the answer is zero stars.

The job of the IG at any agency – for example, the State Department – is to watch for “fraud, waste, and abuse” in the departments they oversee. They aren’t really generals with troops, and they don’t ride around in tanks. They do have independence (normally) to look out for general crookery by people working for the government – and even crooks running the agencies that they oversee.

So, when Trump fired eighteen IGs, was it just the ordinary process, as he claimed? Ha, ha, don’t spit out your Krispies!

He was lying again.

First, Congress requires specific reasons from a president, if an IG is going to be fired; and legislators must be given 30 days’ notice, so that lawmakers can ensure removals aren’t designed to cover up waste, fraud and abuse.

So, while eighteen IGs were out – and no notice provided – Joseph V. Cuffari Jr., the IG at the Department of Homeland Security got to stay.

Good ol’ Joe resigned from a lower level post with government, in 2013, when he knew he was going to face an ethics probe, regarding a federal civil rights case. Then, in 2019, when Trump nominated him for his current post, Cuffari covered up the fact he had been the subject of a probe before. He survived firing during President Biden’s term, mostly by stalling out the investigation of his 2019 lying, with a recommendation for his dismissal coming only in October 2024.

For even more fun, IG Cuffari spent $1.4 million in taxpayer dollars to investigate three top officials at DHS, one of whom “later received [a] $1.17 million to settle her wrongful removal case at the Merit Systems Protection Board.”

Now that you have milk dribbling down your chin, you are no doubt wondering how often IGs are fired. Biden fired one IG, Martin Dickman, after receiving a recommendation from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. Dickman, it was found, had created a “toxic work environment.” Mr. Biden also announced plans to can a second, but that official decided to resign.

We know that Trump purged five IGs in April and May 2020, including Steve Linick, at the State Department. Mr. Linick had opened an investigation into missing items “gifted” to State, valued at more than $300. If the Secretary of State or some other high diplomat wanted to keep an item given by a foreign nation, and it was valued at more than $300, that official would have to pay for it – for reasons that should be obvious.

One item that went missing, for instance, was a bottle of brandy valued at $5,800 given to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It was also alleged that Pompeo and his wife had ordered State Department employees to perform non-government tasks like picking up the Pompeo family dry cleaning, making restaurant reservations, and walking the family dog. Not exactly what “We the People” signed on for, when we diligently paid our taxes.

Another high-profile casualty under Trump 45, was Intelligence Community IG Michal Atkinson. In his case, Atkinson took a whistleblower complaint about Trump’s call to Ukraine, wherein he demanded help with an investigation into the Biden family before he would send military aid, money Congress had already appropriated, which led to Donald Dumpling’s first impeachment.

When quizzed by reporters about the firings in 2020, Trump did what he always does. Charitably, you could say, “He was talking out his ass.” More accurately, you could say, “He lied.”

“I think we’ve been treated very unfairly by inspector generals,” Donald grumbled. “I think every president has gotten rid of probably more than I have.”

So: Trump has now fired 23 IGs, vs. two axed by President Biden, one fired by President Obama, and zero fired by President George W. Bush.

I haven’t turned up any examples of IGs being fired by President Bill Clinton but you can see – in his case – why the system was designed to reduce a president’s ability to hamper investigations into his or her own conduct, as well as the conduct of top government officials. And that goes for every president we ever elect.

For Trump, it goes double.

UPDATE (April 2, 2025): The Dumpling has been in no hurry to replace the IG’s he fired to start his second term, but he did nominate former New York Congressman Anthony D’Esposito to be the next inspector general at the Department of Labor.

To say that this required chutzpah would be an understatement, since D’Esposito was voted out of office after a single term. According to The New York Times, Rep. Horndog put the daughter of his fiancé on the government payroll, paying her $3,800 a month, to serve as a “special assistant.”

Then he had the audacity to put his mistress on his office payroll, which, when his fiancé found out, did not go over well. The mistress got $2,000 monthly, for part time work, which we assume was between the sheets.

Four former employees of Rep. D’Esposito did say that they had never actually encountered his mistress at his office.

And so: THIS IS THE GUY Donald thinks should be watching over an entire government department for “waste, fraud, and abuse.”

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Too cumbersome? The blogger could have helped.

1/27/25: The free press does something that President Trump says he could not. And I should point out, humbly, that if he had needed help, he could have asked this blogger – who has looked up the stories of every rioter arrested for their roles in the January 6, 2021, riot. Appearing on Sean Hannity’s show, Donald Dumpling had previously been asked about his plan for pardons.

Donald responded: “Most of the people were absolutely innocent. OK. But forgetting all about that, these people have served, horribly, a long time. It would be very, very cumbersome to go and look – you know how many people we’re talking about? 1,500 people.”

So?

It was too hard!

Hannity didn’t bother to ask, “Couldn’t you have someone on your staff, even your caddie, do a little research?”

Sean didn’t follow up, and wonder, “Mr. President, are you claiming that in hundreds of cases, juries found defendants guilty, beyond a reasonable doubt, and in other cases, where judges ruled against defendants in bench trials, including judges you appointed, that all those juries and judges were in error? Doesn’t that sound preposterous, even to you?”

Not Sean Hannity. Hannity is, to the first, fundamental job of the free press, a cipher. His show is a journalistic black hole where facts are sucked into a Fox News vortex and disappear forever.

Trump pardons a pedophile!

Some of the least deserved pardons went to people like Matthew Huttle (#954). He had been in trouble with the law long before rioting on January 6. According to prosecutors in one case, “Huttle spanked his 3-year-old son so hard that he left bruises all over the child’s backside and the child’s neck, and the child had such extreme pain on his backside that he could not sit properly for a week.”

For that, Huttle was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.

Huttle then made headlines again, six days after being pardoned. Stopped for a traffic offense, he resisted arrest and was shot and killed.

He had had multiple DUI offenses, and a gun was also found in his vehicle – a violation, since he was a felon.

Like all the other rioters, David Paul Daniel (#1257) was pardoned – although it did him little good, or society, either. He remained in custody on unrelated charges, two felony counts, production of child pornography, and possession of child pornography. At least one victim was under the age of 12.

NPR explained:

“The government's forecast of evidence is compelling and suggests Defendant engaged in sexual acts with two young girls in his own family,” Magistrate Judge David Keesler wrote of the case against Daniel. "It is also alleged he took and kept photos of the genitalia of the victims. The mother of one victim (Defendant’s ex−wife) appeared in court to request that Defendant not be released.” Because of those findings, Judge Keesler ordered Daniel to remain in detention pending trial.

The January 6 case of Daniel Charles Ball (#1041) never advanced to trial – but again a pardon did him little good. He was rearrested on January 22, related to a pending gun charge: that is, possession of a firearm despite having been convicted of previous felonies. Included in his criminal record, was a conviction for “Domestic Violence Battery by Strangulation,” but Trump still pardoned him.

Kasey Von Owen Hopkins (#924) is not the sort of individual you would imagine deserves to be pardoned. His previous criminal convictions include one for “forcible rape,” which resulted in a seven-year sentence in prison. He also had a conviction for assaulting police, long before he headed to D.C., spouting talk of “civil war.”

Emily Hernandez (#82) also received a pardon; but her good fortune could not bring back Victoria Wilson, the woman she killed while driving under the influence, or mitigate the injuries suffered by her victim’s husband, Ryan Wilson, or assuage the pain of loss felt by Victoria’s two children.

At the time of her pardon, Hernandez was serving a ten-year sentence for DWI, having hit the Wilson car head-on in 2022.

When he was arrested and charged for his crimes on January 6, Peter Schwartz (#192) could not have been surprised. Prosecutors were quick, at his sentencing to note that the Capitol rioter had a “jaw dropping criminal history of 38 prior convictions, going back to 1991.” A sampling of charges includes larceny, assault and battery, terroristic threatening, and domestic abuse. At the time of the riot, he was fresh off conviction for assaulting his wife, involving biting her in the forehead and punching her repeatedly.

Edward Hemenway (#179) got the standard “Trump Pardon,” and one he didn’t deserve. He had a previous criminal conviction for “sexual battery and criminal confinement,” that sent him to prison for five years.

Like every other rioter, Benjamin Martin (#812) got a pardon. At the time of the riot, he was on probation for domestic battery, after choking his girlfriend and dragging her back into their home, after she tried to flee. He also had a previous conviction for battery of his teenage daughter.

His felony convictions meant he was not allowed to possess guns; but after he was arrested for rioting, federal agents found him to be in possession of eight firearms, including one assault-style rifle.

Jonathan Mellis (#231) received a pardon too. This did not clear up his entire criminal record, which includes a conviction for drug trafficking methamphetamines – which resulted in a sentence of twenty years.

Edward Richmond Jr. (#1320) may have been pardoned, but his criminal record was not wiped clean. He has previous convictions for domestic violence, for resisting arrest, and for driving under the influence. He was also dishonorably discharged for killing a handcuffed prisoner while serving with the U.S. Army in Iraq.

Last, but not least, we present the case of Theodore Middendorf (#1317). Despite President Trump’s sweet pardon-me gesture, Theodore won’t be celebrating freedom anytime soon. He is currently serving a nineteen-year sentence for “sexual penetration” of a seven-year-old girl.

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1/28/25: President Dummkopf has a new and radical idea for dealing with crime in this country. Let’s say a person commits 34 felonies…

No, wait.

That’s him.

Sorry! We mean violent offenders, born in this country! Trump wants to send them into exile – a punishment never used before by the U.S. government – not to mention of dubious legality.

He recently explained his plan at a gathering of Republican lawmakers:

Such persons, Trump added, had been arrested for crimes such as “murder and other heinous charges such as pushing people into subways” or striking people with baseball bats, or “punching old ladies in the face, knocking them unconscious and stealing their purse.”

“I don’t want these violent repeat offenders in our country anymore than I want illegal aliens from other countries who misbehave,” he said.

“They’re repeat offenders by many numbers. I want them out of our country. I also will, will be seeking permission to do so. We’re going to get approval, hopefully, to get them the hell out of our country, along with others, let them be brought to a foreign land and maintained by others for a very small fee, as opposed to be maintained in our jails for massive amounts of money, including the private prison companies that charge us a fortune. Let them be brought out of our country and let them live there for a while. Let’s see how they like it,” he said.

Three quick notes:

First, I agree that private prison companies charge state governments “a fortune,” to house criminals – because it is a fool who believes that businesses automatically do a better job of dealing with complex issues than government.

Second, I would like to point out that at least four January 6 rioters who this fat ass just pardoned attacked police with baseball bats.

Third, I wonder: What country does Donald imagine will be anxious to take our worst criminals for “a small fee?”

North Korea?

(See, for example, the story of Otto Warmbier.)

It’s no surprise that Donald would happily violate the Eight Amendment, which prohibits “cruel and unusual punishments,” in an effort to initiate his latest bonkers plan, because Donald has clearly never read the U.S. Constitution. This blogger doubts he has even sniffed it.

A plan to exile American citizens would probably be ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, and I doubt even Justice Clarence Thomas would go for it.

Unless someone promised him a $267,000 RV for free, if he voted in favor.

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1/29/25: A terrible midair collision over the Potomac River, between a U.S. Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet leads to the deaths of 67 persons on the two craft. There are no survivors.

President Trump ignores the tragic loss of life and spends his first press conference related to the disaster blaming former presidents Biden and Obama for causing it, because of DEI policies they implemented.

Trump’s tone-deaf, hateful responses to all types of disasters are well-documented; but it’s interesting to see how he takes credit when everything is going well and evades blame when something goes wrong. First, we should note that during four years, under President Biden, with all the policies his administration implemented or advanced, there were zero fatalities in crashes involving U.S. commercial airlines. So, you could argue, if you were a clueless dolt, that DEI made us safer.

That would be stupid, too.

So: No fatalities in 2024, 2023, 2022 or 2021. Go Sleepy Joe!

Also: None in 2020. Go Donald Dumpling!

In 2019, there were fatalities, but no major airline disasters in the United States. Three separate incidents, five dead.

The years 2017 and 2018 were also generally good, with two fatalities each year. But what was odd in those years was Trump’s claim that the good safety record was all due to his special genius. So, if it was good, he did it, and if it was bad, he didn’t do it. And now he brings that same “the buck never stops at my desk” style back to the Oval Office. He’s still great, he wants everyone to know.

Obama! Trump wanted his fans to hate that guy. So, Obama’s record was zero fatalities in 2016, four in 2015, zero in 2014, five in 2013, zero in 2012, four in 2011, five in 2010, and 57, in two separate disasters in 2009.

The disaster today is the worst since an American Airlines Airbus broke up during an attempted landing in November 2001, killing 260 people aboard, and five people on the ground. That crash had nothing to do with DEI policies, either, but was later found to be a result of aircraft design.

Simply put, airline safety has steadily improved in the United States, in part because of strict Federal Aviation Administration oversite.

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Gone Fishin’ with Adolf.

1/30/25: I think you would agree that the MMA fighter Bryce Mitchell’s ArkanSanity Podcast got off on the wrong foot today, when he told his co-host he thought Hitler was actually a “good guy.”

Miller and Roli Delgado were discussing Elon Musk’s oddly familiar salute – which to many looked like the Nazi version, c. 1933. Mitchell then assured his associate that he had done his own research, concluding, “I really do think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy I’d go fishing with.”

Mitchell added a few antisemitic and homophobic comments, for good measure, and then said Adolf was only trying to “purify” Germany – which his antic “research” had led him to imagine was good.

And it’s no surprise to discover that Mitchell is also a big fan of Donald J. Trump. He has said it would be a treat to dine with the president, suggesting, “If he wants to get a bite to eat, it’s on me.”

Asked to elaborate on his love for The Dumpling – as I call our current president – Mitchell also promised, “I told Donald Trump if he needs help whipping some politician’s ass, he can come holler at me. I’ll do it for free.”

So, his studies must have involved the Sturmabteilung (SA), Hitler’s “brown shirt” bullies who were given orders to attack rival politicians in the streets.

Last December, after running into one arena, carrying the American flag, Mitchell told reporters, “I love Donald Trump, he’s not perfect,” then segued into his views on vaccines for children (“awful”). The people in office at that point, he added, were “serving Satan.” Donald? He’s doing the “Lord’s work.” He went on to say, “I love that man,” and “I would take a bullet” for Trump.

Same day: Would you like a 7.6% raise this year? That’s how much the pay for the CEO of Wells Fargo increased in 2024.

Charles Scharf’s pay went from $29 million in 2023 to $31.2 million in 2024. But you know what people like Mr. Scharf really need? They need Congress to extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts which are set to expire at the end of 2025, for America’s richest, luckiest millionaires and billionaires.

For an analysis of the cuts, and a previous round of cuts passed by President George W. Bush, consider a report by the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, which shows the benefits skewed almost entirely to the top 1% and big corporations.

According to that analysis, the average taxpayer in the top 1% would see taxes increase by $60,000, if the Trump tax cuts were not renewed.

Let’s consider CEO Scharf. A 1% tax increase, in his case, would amount to $312,000, leaving him with just enough kopeks to scrape by. The downtrodden CEO would be reduced to clipping coupons – and foregoing eggs (since Trump isn’t going to bring egg prices down, either).

He’d have only $30,888,000 dollars left, barely enough for bus fare to work. He might even have to hitchhike.

Or walk!

He would be limited to spending $84,624.66 every day, before being forced to dip into his children’s college tuition savings accounts.

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Maybe use gallon jugs?

1/31/25: In a brilliant move, Donald Dumpling orders the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to open the valves and release 1.6 billion gallons of water from two California reservoirs, in an abortive attempt to make sure the Los Angeles area has more water to fight fires. There were only three problems.

1. Water would have been useful for agriculture later in the year, whereas there is little demand for water at present.

2. Nobody bothered to check with local or state officials to see if the water would be of value at present.

3. Even more importantly, it would be “virtually impossible” to get water from the San Joaquin Valley down to the Los Angeles area.

Maybe, fill up gallon jugs?

Sadly, all that water flowed into the Kaweah River, then into the Tule River and, finally, into Tulare Lake. Water does not flow out of that lake – and so billions of gallons will sit untapped or sink into the ground, 150 miles north of Los Angeles, where it will NOT be used to fight fires.

This is akin to calling the fire department because your home is ablaze, only to have them arrive, ignore the flames shooting from your roof, and fill your neighbor’s swimming pool, instead.