Friday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Friday, May 29, 2026
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36 comments
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About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Martina McBride and Bret Michaels have both pulled out of the concert thing. I think Vanilla Ice is left, maybe?
Someone on X posted a picture of the White House with all of the crap going on the lawn with the caption “I know we all hate HOAs, but this is why they are important.” 😀
McBride and the others have said they were told the event was nonpartisan, but as with everything else, Trump has put his fingerprints all over “America’s State Fair,” and the performers who have declined don’t want the taint. Apparently Vanilla Ice’s set will be the 45 minute version of Ice Ice Baby.
@Jen: To everyone who voted for Trump because they thought he was a great businessman, please note that he can’t even assemble a line-up of D-list acts for a county fair.
Presidential approval tracker (The Economist)
The president announced this week that he no longer cares about the midterms.
Looks like Fatso is about to make agreement to, maybe someday, make an agreement that leaves Iran the victor.
What a weak little bitch.
The $687 million irony of Peter Thiel’s reported plan to ditch the US for Argentina (The Independent)
Why? One, Thiel is keeping up tradition of Nazis fleeing to Argentina to avoid Nuremberg-style trials.
Two, 2027 and beyond looks bad for Palantir with voters poised to give Dems the congressional pursestrings and Thiel’s puppet Vance being lapped by Lil Marco.
Three, Milei is a generation younger than Putin, whose aura is now buried under Ukranian stubbornness and military tech innovation.
@Daryl:
“Na Ga Hoppen”
A cartoon with some added text:
@Daryl:
There will be no deal. Trump is a narcissist, desperate for a deal that gives him “narcissistic supply,” which means a deal that shows him to be powerful and dominant.
How likely do you think that any deal Iran offers will show how powerful and dominant Trump is?
Iran has been taunting Trump and it’s clear Iran wants him to grovel.
@Daryl:
@charontwo:
There have been reports that the negotiating teams have agreed on a MOU, but it still requires Taco approval.
This reminds me of something that happened in the 90s with my dad. He wanted to get the rights to make an Italian label (I forget which, but not one of the big ones) in Mexico. After calls and letters by fax (email was not yet widely available), he went to meet with the head of their NYC office. They hammered out a licensing deal, which included fabric quality, workmanship, and most especially expected sales. Then an executive from the company flew in from Italy to finalize the matter.
Then things broke down. The executive insisted that Mexico had a population similar to Japan’s, therefore sales ought be roughly equal to Japanese levels. Never mind Japan is a high income country and Mexico a middle income one. He wouldn’t budge from this demand, and the deal fell through.
@DK: In their hearts of hearts, oligarchs like Thiel, Musk, Bezos, et al. are cowards. That’s why Thiel wants to flee the United States for Argentina.
Want to convince people about the anti-AI Anti-Christ? Instead of skulking around Rome, giving tiny seminars to rich people, make your case publicly, not just in an interview or two, but in an ongoing campaign.
Want to convince voters of whatever version of libertarianism or social Darwinistic capitalism that’s your worldview? Instead of muzzling The Washington Post, find some better commentators than Ross Douthat, Marc Thiessen, or Hugh Hewitt and throw them into the intellectual fray, instead of closing down the venue and declaring someone a winner without a fight.
Ditto for what’s happening to 60 Minutes and all of CBS. Cowardice.
If you really care about government waste, go find experts in government spending and let them review what federal agencies are doing, instead of hiring Biff and Scooter and Tyler. Oh, and take a little time to do a real review, instead of just firing people in an even dumber fashion than McKinsey consultants.
In the end, for all their wealth and influence, and all their claims of being Great Visionaries who are leading us to a glorious tomorrow, these men won’t step into the democratic arena, even with all the advantages on their side. They’ll silence voices, ignore democratic processes, kneecap opposition, and then flee to a foreign country. Cowards, all of them.
Good news, Everyone!
Lex is catching up to Adolf! His latest rocket blew up on the pad on a static fire test.
Congratulations Lex! We were afraid you’d be perpetually behind. And yet on fewer than five launches, you’ve reached the blowing up stage of development!
@DK:
@Kingdaddy:
Maybe hitler Thile figures in America he can buy just some influence, and has to compete with other broligarchs for that much. Whereas in Argentina he may just buy the whole country, and for less money.
If you had $1 billion in cash and were to spend an average of $100,000 every day, it would take you 27 years and four months to exhaust your cash. That’s how much money it is.
@Kathy:
Which, as I indicated above, the oil traders are taking more seriously than is justified. All I have seen at NYT and WashPo is based on anonymous communications to Barak Ravid at Axios, as if this isn’t same-o same-o. If you read these claims closely, Iran has not said anything about this.
As I have indicated, Trump needs a win, but lifting sanctions and unfreezing funds to get the Strait somewhat sort of open with Iran in control and charging fees is a turd that can’t be polished. Mojtaba Khameini the Supreme leader has stated that no Uranium will be moved out of Iran. Iran has the right to enrich under NPT, but it might agree to dilute some of it. Still, another turd that can’t be polished, Iran will make it a point to not be as restricted as Obama’s JCPOA.
Pundits are mystified why Trump is insisting the GCC must sign the Abraham Accords (Na Ga Hoppen) but I understand perfectly – Trump needs a win to brag about or no deal. The Abraham Accords would be “Peace in Our Time,” ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, so that would be his win.
@Kathy:
Eric Berger at Ars Technica is sort of light-hearted about the worst case scenario for outcomes from this (which I cynically describe as, “This was a wonderful morning to wake up being Gwynne Shotwell, COO at SpaceX.”
Blue Origin is out of the launch business for a year or more, the initial estimated time to either repair the launch facility or complete the newer one that has barely been started. Longer than that if the root cause is a design flaw in the BE-4 engine. No other existing launcher is capable of putting BO’s lunar lander in orbit.
ULA is down to seven Atlas V rockets, all booked. Their Vulcan rocket is grounded while they work through what’s wrong with the solid-fuel boosters it uses. If the BO explosion is a design flaw in the BE-4 engine, which Vulcan uses, then ULA is out of business for as long as BO is.
Imagine, then, Gwynn making some phone calls. To the people who manage national security launches: “You know, SpaceX does so many launches I’m sure we can work in any time-constrained missions BO or ULA were contracted for.” To ULA: “If the problem turns out to be the BE-4, remember that we build lots of Raptor engines that use the same fuel and have almost exactly the same thrust. I’m sure we can help your staff with a Vulcan retrofit…” To NASA: “You’re down to one viable path to a human-rated lunar landing system. Let’s talk about more active support from you…”
There’s also NASA signing a contract with SpaceX this week for more crewed flights to the International Space Station. The number suggests that NASA may now believe Boeing’s Starliner will never be human-rated.
@charontwo:
He will take the off-ramp. Then claim total victory. Like most bully’s he isn’t actually dominate, he just portrays himself that way.
Just pitchforks? No guillotines?
This is THE issue, the thing that can bring Left and Right together. I put up an Instagram video a couple weeks ago urging that we all put a pin in all the issues we’ve been fighting over forever – with a promise that we’ll get right back to fighting over the same old shit as soon as we’re done reckoning with the trillionaires.
These men are racist in the broadest possible sense – they are enemies of the human race, enemies of homo sapiens, the equivalent of a catastrophic asteroid strike. They need to be brought under control. Nothing else matters as much, and no other issue can unite the MAGA plumber, the progressive barista, the incel coder, the small businessperson, the family farmer, the writer and the artist, the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker.
@charontwo:
Oh, yeah. He’s stuck without any good alternatives. Probably gaming the markets for profit in the meantime.
Next, you’d think someone in an intractable strategic positions, and with lots of assets tied up, wouldn’t go and launch anew war. In what passes of El Taco’s mind, a win in Cuba, which will be real easy this time, would make him look good and drive the Iran quagmire from the headlines.
I won’t make a prediction, but I wouldn’t be surprised if an attack or invasion of Cuba begins this weekend.
@Michael Cain:
Xtarship is still far from a launch vehicle, never mind a reliable one. Changing the BE-4 engines for Raptors might require more time than would take Blue Origin to find a fix, if it even was an engine issue to begin with (I’d put money on a fuel leak).
The ISS can be handled well enough with the Xalcon 9, which is reliable. I’m not sure if Lex’s semi-heavy rocket is even capable of carrying a capsule on top. The second stage design is odd, with a huge cargo fairing. Boeing is Boeing. They released and sold aircraft that should not have been human rated.
I may look at the prediction markets. No American crew will land on the Moon by 2028.
@Michael Reynolds: I like your framing. I think it’s telling that people like you and me, who are enjoying some rewards from life, still think that the inequality thing is way out of hand.
I think that may have something to do with the fact that you once worked in a restaurant and I once cleaned bathrooms as a job.
It’s also the case that I kind of don’t like the billionaire tax thing on California’s ballot, but that’s because it doesn’t do anything permanent. So it’s just kind of performative. Yeah, it will generate revenue, but nothing sustaining. You can’t build programs on that.
@Michael Reynolds:
This just happened near me. I’ve mentioned before I’m in a rural area in NH. The town is…not exactly red, but dark pink, Trump won here by a smidge each time. A developer owns a fairly sizeable property in town that sits on top of bedrock aquifer, which is the water for the town (we are all on wells). Recently, he filed a project concept to the planning board to convert the existing building on the site (a warehouse) into a data center. People right and left came absolutely undone–I have never witnessed such a unified response. Within days the developer withdrew his proposal (“without prejudice,” which means he’s likely going to lawyer up and will be back).
I just read a wonderful name for Trump: The Nodfather.
@Jay L. Gischer:
During either the Bush or Obama years, many on the right argued inequality doesn’t matter, so long as everyone does ok economically.
That’s a good point. If you have a stable job and no major money worries or troubles, what do you care if Adolf makes in a second what you make in ten years.
The problem, of course, is that large numbers of people have major money worries or troubles, or are one illness or injury away from having them. For some this is on top of unpayable student loans. Add that many high paying jobs, like software engineers, are becoming far less stable than they used to be. And add that the broligarchs are all but licking their chops in anticipation of replacing more, if not all, white collar jobs with AI.
Then you begin to care about how money is distributed in society.
There’s more to add, too. Like data centers that raise your electric bill and, in many cases, affect the water supply. Things like lower water pressure, or outright sediment contamination in drinking water.
Still, I figure if a recession comes soon, and/or the AI bubble pops, the preferred solution from the regime will be bailouts for billionaires, further tax reductions, and further cuts in spending, along with lowering of interest rates, and a great many on the right will go along with it.
@CSK: I like that one and “Don Snore-leone”
@Jen:
Yes, “Don Snoreleone” is great.
And now, the dictator’s palace formerly known as the White House is recruiting troops as seat fillers for the UFC event.
Of note, they must meet the Pentagon’s height and weight requirements and attend in uniform, and pay their own travel and lodging expenses. Further, they specifically want junior enlisted personnel and officers, those who earn less.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re made to buy tickets besides.
@Jen:
It’s the first annual unpermitted White House Trailer Park Cinder Block Festival.
Cornyn shares fable of frog and scorpion after Trump sinks reelection (The Hill)
Hahahahahahaha
*gasp*
Bwahahahahaha
Cornyn is such a little bitch. He should either endorse Talarico over Paxton the Pedo Protector or slink away quietly.
Per the NYT, a federal judge has ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center.
Judge blocks closure of Kennedy Center and orders removal of Trump’s name (CBS News)
Judge temporarily blocks payouts from Trump’s $1.776 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ settlement fund (AP)
Lower courts still doing the Lord’s work. We’ll see how John Crow and the Supremes manage to side with the Pedo over the rule of law, again.
Wyden-Schumer Bill Would Impose 100 Percent Tax on Trump Insurrection Slush Fund Payments
Newsom vows 100 percent tax on DOJ ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ payouts (Politico)
Democratic-Led States Float 100% Tax on Payouts From Trump Fund (Bloomberg)
I don’t think Trump’s reparations for terrorists are gonna fly. He’ll just have to pay MAGA’s thugs and crooks under the table. Todd Blanche and others may well end up disbarred from law practice altogether.
@DK:
You missed 4) California’s “billionaire tax”. Which is a) retroactive and b) based on “assets” rather than income or liquid funds.
Imagine that the tax applies to you. You would have to pay a 5% tax on everything you own. Your bank account, your IRA, your stock portfolio, your car, your house, everything in your house… The tax on my house alone would put me in bankruptcy.
Everyone thinks that billionaires have billions of dollars in cash in a bank somewhere. They don’t. It’s all numbers on a ledger. Elon Musk doesn’t have a trillion dollars in a bank account. He has shares in an extremely over-valued company that are–on paper–worth a trillion dollars. If he tried to sell those shares all at once, they’d plummet and he’d be worth 10% of what he is now
The “Billionaire Tax” has already seen an exodus of people worth about a trillion dollars–because it’s really badly written.
Theil isn’t moving for “nazi motives”, he’s moving so California can’t take his money.
@Mu Yixiao:
I agree. The tax is too low.
@Mu Yixiao: I don’t like the tax, and I am a Californian. I don’t like it because it doesn’t address the actual problem that I see. It doesn’t enable any new programs I might want because it isn’t ongoing. And it doesn’t have much, if any, impact on the amount of influence folks like Thiel have and use over what goes on in the country. Theil knows that what he wants isn’t popular, so he has moved to other means to get his way. Of course, he thinks he’s righteous, but can’t be bothered with what anybody else might want. He has said exactly this on camera, I’m not exaggerating in the slightest. But the California tax doesn’t address this, either.
(Meanwhile, it is completely legitimate for the government to tax assets. You’ve heard of property tax, right? Your real estate is an asset. The state taxes my real estate every year. I suppose you might be one of the “taxation is theft” guys, but I don’t remember you that way.)
However, Thiel doesn’t have to move to Argentina to avoid it. He just has to move to Nevada.
But that’s not what he did, is it?
@Mu Yixiao:
Jay beat me to it. Thiel doesn’t have to move 6,000 miles away to escape California’s looming and long overdue billionares’ tax. He could just do what Sergey Brin and other tantruming Silicon Valley oligarchs did, and move 250 miles to the Reno side of Lake Tahoe.
So why Argentina? Nazi reasons.
And on that subject:
Even if every California billionaire left tomorrow, it would take 25 years for the state to lose as much as it stands to gain from proposed wealth tax (Fortune)
I’m happy to see this tax on my ballot and hope voters don’t fall for the wrongheaded whining against it from left (“It’s not enough!”) and right (“It’ll destroy growth and investment”***).
A good start is exactly that; the perfect need not be the enemy of the good. 50% progress is better than 0%. You take the win in front of you now and then fight for more from a position of power. You don’t help your side lose everything, to start over from scratch every 4-8 years — something the Uncommitted/ protest vote/ Democrat Derangement Syndrome left can’t get through their thick skulls.
***Same scaremongering bs the oligarchs peddled when California raised the fast food minimum wage to $20/hr. Two years later, the sky is still in tact. Funny that.
@DK:
“Only the little people pay taxes.”
@Mu Yixiao: Why would he need to sell all his shares at once when the tax is 5%? Even selling 5% there would be no need to sell it all at the same time as it could so sold over a longer period of time.
Steve