Outside the Beltway

Permanent damage appears to be coming (oh, and it enhances the authoritarian power of the presidency as well).

I find it hard to take.

Although it is still on life support.

Lies about past White House upgrades. It all start with Jesse Waters, but also heads to the op/ed pages of the NYT and WaPo.

He becomes the first French ex-head of state to be jailed since Marshal Pétain.

What democratic backsliding looks like.

Allegations of shutting down an investigation.

The actor and director is gone at 89.

The slur “Trump Derangement Syndrome” unintentionally captures something real about our world.

And threatening states.

…but don’t let the Epstein matter distract you from everything else Trump is doing.

It is textbook authoritarianism.

Because of course.

A long exposé misses the mark.

It is hard to focus.

Trump Mobile!

Resisting gaslighting must be social. It’s crucial for those who oppose Trump’s falsehoods to remind each other, again and again, that 2 + 2 = 4.

An increasingly muddled tariff system.

Yet another test of Executive power for the courts to resolve.

Salting the earth and breaking the law.

Waiting for the other side to self-destruct has always been ridiculous and dangerous.

The efficiency is something to behold.

Only the best people.

Unfortunately it is a destructive one.

The inevitable happened, inevitably.

At least some people have character and are displaying it.

Looking at comparative corruption and development.

The 47th President had a busy Monday.

This should be unacceptable, yet here we are.

A dangerous choice that the Senate must reject.

How that awful man won again.

Floating the idea that NC should just award its EVs to Trump.

Trump, Bezos, and the slippery slope of authoritarianism.

Our long national nightmare is not over.

Has the calculus of either side changed?

The first sitting New York City mayor to be so honored.

His former National Security Advisor is not impressed.

The sitting Vice President isn’t getting blamed for the economy.

Impeach the Justices! Pack the Court!

Apparently, ex post facto payments are cool.

Voters in Mexico, India, and South Africa are making their voices heard.

The Russian autocrat is emboldened.

A shocking development amidst regional turmoil.