Like Maria Said Paz: 2025

Sunday, April 13, 2025

Gretch The Wretch

Gretch The Wretch has always been more of a media creation than an actual politician who served the people. I think this was evident yet again with her most recent public moment of stupidity. Joshua Wilburn (OK) notes:

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was ridiculed by critics and fellow Democrats for being used as a "political prop" after appearing to stand alongside President Donald Trump at the White House while he signed executive orders targeting former Homeland Security officers over their comments surrounding the 2020 election.

BLUESKY has some good reactions.

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, April 22, 2025. Democrats angling for the 2028 presidential nomination need to stop undoing the work that the rest of the party has put so much time into, Chump's destruction of the economy leads to questions regarding his sanity and much more.

Before we get to anything else let's start with these two videos.

That's from last night's THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW on MSNBC. As noted before many times, especially during the Obama years, I know Eric Holder -- going back to the 90s -- and I like Eric Holder. He is not a snap decision person. He is calm and deliberate. Which makes what he says in the above videos all the more important about who we are as a country and what we need to do to protect and fight for the democracy that we have. So if you haven't already streamed Rachel and Eric's discussion, please make a point to. Grasp that Eric comes at these issues not just as a former Attorney General of the United States or as an attorney, he's also been a judge. His knowledge base is vast and, again, he's not a snap-judgment person. When he speaks, he's given it a lot of thought beforehand.

Rachel and he are discussing very important topics. And I was going to pull something in regarding Dan Abrams later in the snapshot but let's move that around. Zachary Leeman (MEDIAITE) reports:

Mediaite founder Dan Abrams marveled at the “left-wing” media’s fumbling of numerous scandals involving President Donald Trump while arguing that “right-wing media” milks controversies for all they’re worth.

“Have you noticed how quickly Signalgate has faded from the news? It was a really big story for about a week. And then it just seemingly disappeared,” Abrams said on his SiriusXM show, which airs on the POTUS Channel. Had the same scandal occurred under [a] President Kamala Harris, Abrams argued, it would be an endless story on conservative media networks like Fox News and Newsmax.

“This would still be all over right-wing media, potentially for months, with investigations and demands, and it just makes you realize that they are so much better than the left at milking a scandal,” he said.

Abrams noted that scandals involving Hillary Clinton and Hunter Biden are still hot topics in right-wing media circles, while Signalgate and its central figures like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz get a fraction of the attention.

He said:

They did it with President Biden for months, years, trying in any way possible to link him to his family’s shady business dealings. Last week on Fox News, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth got mentioned 30 times. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz got mentioned 24 times. Those were the two principal figures in the Signal Chat scandal. And when they were mentioned, it was usually in the context of other national security stories. And yet, Hunter Biden, in that same time period on Fox News, mentioned 60 times, about nine mentions a day. One mention every couple of hours, more than Pete Hegseth and Mike Waltz combined.

Abrams then ran through a list of issues that would likely be bigger issues if a Democrat were president, including Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade advisor, being a convicted felon. Navarro was convicted in 2023 of contempt of Congress. He spent four months behind bars.

And Dan (another I've known for years) is right. It's appalling how so many either ignore real stories or give them a quick nod and then rush off to more garbage.

In "Media: Stop the insanity," Ava and I were addressing this topic:

What were they thinking when they served up this slop?

It's a question you can also ask of Zac and Gavin, the hosts of THE VANGUARD who give Socialists a bad name with their fact-free commentary and contradictory assertions that, on a good week, sometimes manage not to completely reveal the depth of their hypocrisy.

It's good that they have such deep hypocrisy since everything else about them is shallow.

November 5th, Convicted Felon Donald Chump was re-elected president. And how have you used your time since then?

If you're Zac and Cody of THE VANGUARD, you've pulled on your cock in public and that's about it.

THE VANGUARD is sort of like two Taylor Lorenzes instead of one. Two vapid and uneducated gossip queens instead of just one.

There have been 129 posted segments of THE VANGUARD since November 8th (three days after the election). And surely the two Socialists have been all over Donald Chump, right?

Wrong.

53 segments found the boyz sucking up to Kyle Kulinski, Krystal Ball, Glenn Greenwald and others in their circle jerk instead of addressing anything remotely resembling a real issue or need.

You know what's worse than that?

76.

That's the number of segments Silly & Billy have done attacking THE YOUNG TURKS.

Now hosts Cenk and Ana were Socialists once upon a time -- back when Silly and Billy praised TYT. Back then, the DSA Bible JACOBIN even let Ana host their podcast. And, of course, back then Cenk and Kyle Kulinski decided the best way to get Socialists elected into Congress was to form Justice Democrats as a cover for Justice Socialists. And of course, they were backed by the notorious Trumper Peter Thiel. This really does matter and it goes to The Politics of Destruction and how political extremists can easily flip from left to right. But VANGUARD boyz never impart any important lessons like that. No, they just provide gossip.

So the 76 segments THE VANGUARD did gas bagging over TYT served no real purpose other than gossip.

Most of the recent segments about TYT was gossip revolving around or deriving from Francesca Fiorentini. For months, she's been THE VANGUARD top topic due to making statements such as stating she was afraid of Cenk. And other gossip.

Gossip.

Not news.

Nothing political either -- not even if you cite the old adage: The personal is political. Just gossip.

During this 76 segment period, Francesca finally got fired by TYT. That wasn't surprising, but being kind, we posted her video talking about that at THE COMMON ILLS.

One video.

One video was sufficient.

Why are Zac and Cody obsessed with TYT? More to the point, as alleged adults, why aren't they concerned with anything else?

[. . .]

And Zac and Cody, how pathetic are they?

People are being deported from this country, Chump is purging our education systems and museums of Black history and women's history and LGBTQ+ history. He is talking like a madman of seizing the land of foreign countries. He is refusing to follow court orders. He's carrying out a ton of crazy and illegal activities.

And where is THE VANGUARD?

Serving up another year's worth of segments telling viewers Cenk and Ana are bad bosses!'

At this late date, how is that even news?

We need to build a better media! We need our own Joe Rogan! We need! We need! We need!

We need to do our damn jobs.

As Stan noted last night, "And those two stunted White boys of THE VANGUARD -- Zac and Gavin. Yuck. They just reek White privilege and entitlement, don't they? They're so deeply stupid about everything whether it's politics or their pretense to know pop culture. I don't think -- left, right whatever -- there are two bigger idiots on YOUTUBE than those two. "

Doing your job is not Kyle talking about how his balls feel in certain underwear and calling that a YOUTUBE segment for the left or Silly and Billy doing the one milliionth take down of THE YOUNG TURKS.

I'm not a YOUNG TURKS fan. I've never praised Cenk and Ana, I've never confused them with anything but fraud's and tricksters because I've always known the deal with the devil they made to get that money. I have nothing but contempt for them. But at this late date, after they've embraced transphobia and racism and people have left TYT for that and told their stories, there's really no need for 76 segments since the election telling us how awful Cenk and Ana are to work for.

There are many other things that are not being covered. SignalGate being only one.

They fan boy over nonsense and that's true of so many YOUTUBERS.

In this country a big issues has become the fact that Republicans in the House are refusing to go home and hold townhalls in their districts and talk with their constituents.

They don't want the feedback.

And the feedback comes with the job.

Some elected officials in Congress have underscored this by going to nearby districts or even to out of state for them districts to hold a townhall. And that's good and that underscores that the GOP is not listening and they are not doing their jobs.

Some hacks like Zac and Cody tear away at what's being accomplished with their fluff pieces on Tim Walz.

From last night, that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Tim Walz: Circuit Rider Governor"

and it addresses the reality that Zac and Gavin and all the other dim bulbs won't: Tim is not helping anyone with his nonsense tour.

He is the governor of Minnesota. He does not need to be holding town halls in Houston, Texas or various cities in Iowa or Ohio or California or . . .

He is an elected governor who is now spending weeks on the road to criticize the GOP for ignoring their own constituents, the people who elected them.

Tim is on the road doing this, on the road out of his state doing this.

The hypocrisy is appallling.

Now he's doing it not to help anyone, he's trying to lay groundwork for the party's presidential nomination in 2028. It's not happening, Tim. You lied non-stop and you can't come back from that in the mainstream press. You also delivered the worst, the absolute worst, debate performance in the lifetime of televised vice presidential debates. The absolute worst.

DSA may or may not have delivered the vice presidential nomination to you last August -- Democratic Socialists of America claimed they did back in August in a series of Tweets that we've highlighted many times before.

They won't be able to help you in 2028. Their rat f**kery of the election, their work to defeat Kamala, did not escape the attention of the party. It's why their one time asset James Zogby now has his face pressed against the glass and when he tries to call friends in the party who once took his calls, he's told that they're unavailable or that they'll call him back (and then they don't).

Elections do have consequences. The DSA will find that out the hard way.

But Tim's too busy trying to promote himself and angle for his future.

In doing so, he's defeating all the work that people have put in underscoring how the GOP is not serving the people who voted them into office.

And all Tim's really accomplishing is sporting his sexism and racism.

Slamming Kamala?

Walter Mondale never slammed Jimmy Carter. John Edwards didn't slam John Kerry. Lloyd Bensen didn't slam Michael Dukakis. Not even Joe Lieberman slammed Al Gore.

But White Tim thinks it's okay to go around slamming Kamala?

He needs to own the fact that his record of non-stop lies and his lousy debate performance negatively impacted the campaign.

But he doesn't want to talk about what he did wrong, does he?

He needs to get his ass back to his home state and stop giving the GOP an opening to shoot back, "Well Tim Walz is a governor and he's all over the country doing town halls -- everywhere except his own state."

He and the hideous Gretch The Wretch Whitmer have done real damage to the party this week and a functioning left media would have been addressing this.

We don't need a Joe Rogan. We just need YOUTUBERS who will do actual work. MEIDAS TOUCH does, TABITHA SPEAKS POLITICS does, Coach D and some others do.

But the DSAers on YOUTUBE -- all of whom are too scared to tell their streaming audience that they're Socialists -- waste our time day after day and week after week.

Now let's get to what we were going to start with. SignalGate, tariffs, wrongful deportations, it's not been a good time for the Convicted Felon. Alex Henderson notes:

President Donald Trump claims that U.S. manufacturing slowed down during former President Joe Biden's four years in the White House, and he insists that his tariff-driven trade policy will lead to a renaissance in manufacturing jobs.

But according to Cleanview Energy founder Michael Thomas, Biden — not Trump — is the one with the stronger record on manufacturing jobs.

In a Thursday, April 10 post on X, formerly Twitter, Thomas posts, "The manufacturing boom that started under the Biden administration is grinding to a halt under Trump." And Thomas backs it up with a chart.

The chart, using U.S. Census Bureau figures, shows data on manufacturing jobs between 2016 (when Barack Obama was still president) and 2025 (when Trump returned to the White House). Altogether, the chart offers data spanning four presidential administrations.

U.S. manufacturing jobs, according to the chart, declined slightly during Trump's first presidency — before surging during Biden's four years as president. The chart shows the number of manufacturing jobs continuing to climb under Biden, peaking in 2024 before starting to decrease under Trump.

Right about now nearly the entire country's joining hands and swaying back and forth as Tiffany sings "Could've Been." And we all know what could have been.

Instead, we got the disaster that is Chump. Chump's semi-paused tariff scheme. Jamie Ross and Hannah Jewell (WASHINGTON POST) ponder the sudden semi-pause, "Why did he change his mind? Allies and world leaders told Trump he risked sparking a global crisis. His advisers say the pause is strategic -- a claim undercut by Trump himself." Andrew Feinberg (INDEPENDENT) quotes Chump declaring, "We're working with a lot of different countries, and it's all going to work out very well. I think it's going to work out really, very well. But we're in good shape." Sounds like someone trying to convince themselves -- someone really, really trying to convince themselves.

He might succeed in fooling himself; however, the non-delusional will not be so easy to trick. Gustaf Kilander (INDEPENDENT) delivers the harsh reality:

As President Donald Trump’s back-and-forth on trade policies creates chaos in the financial markets, some fund managers are questioning the rationality of his decisions.

“In the last few days, we have had many conversations with macro fund managers,” Tom Lee, the head of research at the financial analysis firm FSInsights, wrote on Wednesday morning, before Trump backed down from most of his tariffs on U.S. trading partners.

“And their concern is that the White House is not acting rationally, but rather on ideology. And some even fear that this may not even be ideology,” he added. “A few have quietly wondered if the President might be insane.”

Brian Karem (SALON) shares, that a Republican told him, "I'm not saying he’s insane. But his administration is the most sloppy, unprofessional, arrogant and stupid group of people ever assembled in government." And Karem also shares, "Others, however, are saying he’s insane." Samantha Nungesser (DECIDER) quotes THE VIEW's Ana Navarro stating, "If they're saying that this was all strategic, then he is a sadist,” she fumed. “Because what kind of government leader puts his people through this kind of distress and sadness and anxiety for a week just for giggles? His supporters always say that he plays fourth-dimensional chess. I think he should be in a padded room playing with his own drool because the things he does are just simply lunacy. And we're not out of this. We're not out of this by any means. [. . .] Let's not underestimate the result on consumer confidence of the havoc he has wreaked for the last 11 weeks. We have antagonized our allies yet again."

Bertrand Benoit and Kim Mackrael (WALL STREET JOURNAL) point out, "Economists stressed that a high degree of uncertainty remained despite the 90-day pause, which would negatively affect investment, growth and inflation expectations going forward" while Carlos Segovia (EL MUNDO) explains, "From the 3.95% demanded by investors days before, it jumped to 4.6%, a huge increase in an asset usually calm with few surprises. Several factors had come together for such an increase: the need for liquidity by traders due to the stock market crash and the growing sense that the safest US financial asset is no longer so due to the absolute legal uncertainty sown by the White House." Economist Paul Krugman (SUBSTACK) walks us through the land of reality:

Will crazy be an excuse if some were gaming the system? What if crazy isn't the only c-word involved in this administration effort? What if the other c-word is corruption? Simon Walter (INDEPENDENT) explores that notion:

The Democrats, led by California senator Adam Schiff, are calling for an investigation into insider trading. Even Trump himself seemed muddled over when he decided to make this change, telling reporters in the same sentence that it was “over the last few days” and “fairly early this morning”.

The turmoil caused by his chaotic tariff antics may not lead to his resignation, as Watergate did for Nixon, but the stain on Trump’s personal and political reputation and credibility could be as permanent.

After Watergate, Nixon could never escape the brutal truth that he was a crook and a liar. After Tariffgate, Trump will never escape the brutal truth that he has been exposed as unfit to run America’s economy – and that when he was found out, he claimed (preposterously) that it was all part of his “strategy”.

However, if claims that some used the wild fluctuation in stock market prices to make a killing turn out to be true, and crucially, that this was directly or indirectly aided and abetted by those in Trump’s White House, it will take more than his usual bluster to shrug it off.

Nixon tried to shift the blame for Watergate, claiming it was all the fault of others. It didn’t work. Time will tell whether Trump tries to blame others for Tariffgate. However, as with Watergate, there can be no denying that only one person was responsible: the US president.

Trump’s humiliating climbdown on tariffs has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s downfall as prime minister.

As in her case, it was the bond market response by hard-headed financiers – who, unlike Truss and Trump, understand economics as opposed to political fantasies – that forced him to confront reality.

Tommy Christopher (MEDIAITE) wonders if stock manipulation was taking place:

After a disastrous week in the stock market, Trump tried to calm fears Wednesday morning by posting a message telling investors to relax and “BE COOL” — hours before he announced a 90-day “pause” on most of the tariffs that caused the market to tank.

While Trump aides and supporters chalked the episode up to a masterful negotiating strategy, Trump told reporters he made the move because “I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy, you know, they were getting a little bit yippy, a little bit afraid.”

But along with his earlier plea for investors to “BE COOL,” Trump also sent a message that looked very suspicious to some people in hindsight. At 9:37 AM on Truth Social, Trump wrote ““THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT”.

Rep. Steve Horsford (D-NV) and other Democrats have accused Trump of market manipulation and suggested his message was meant to tip off his supporters. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) made a similar accusation Wednesday.

“If people are pissed about insider trading here at the House, look at what’s happening at the White House right now and with the Republican Party,” AOC said to Spectrum News.

Trump was confronted about the accusations at the end of a 73-minute cabinet meeting Thursday afternoon as reporters were being ushered out. Trump did not answer, but appeared to have a delayed reaction with raised eyebrows and a shake of the head[.]

The doubts, the erratic nature of Chump, the corruption and stupidity? It's all impacting the way Americans seen The Orange Menace. Martha McHardy (NEWSWEEK) reports:

President Donald Trump is facing a sharp decline in approval ratings following the announcement of new tariffs that rattled markets and sparked backlash from consumers.

Trump's sliding approval over tariffs highlights growing voter dissatisfaction with his economic policies, particularly as inflation-weary Americans feel the pinch of higher prices.

The tariffs' popularity and impact on the economy will be crucial to the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. The economy is always close to the forefront of voters' minds, and Democrats believe higher prices caused by the duties could spark a backlash against Trump.

Let's wind down with this from THE BLACK COMMENTATOR:

The Black Commentator Issue #1036 is now Online

April 10, 2025

Read issue 1036

Our email address is BlackCommentator@gmail.com

Our voicemail number is 856.823.1739

The following sites updated:

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Crazy Tim Walz and Crazy MTG

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Tim Walz: Circuit Rider Governor"

I love it. Walz is a hypocrite. He needs to be in his state governing. Not going around the country doing his freak show "You're reps won't speak to you! So I am here in your state to speak to you!" The whole point of the townhalls minus Walz was to show how Republicans were not speaking to their constituents.

It is one thing for some Democrat to speaking in a Congressional district that borders them. It is another thing for a sitting governor to go around the country for weeks at a time -- shirking his own duties and ignoring his own constituents.

Tim Walz is a loser and an idiot. His hypocrisy turns all the other town halls into a joke. Go home, Tim.

Crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene. Apparently, dating an apparent gay man leaves her a lot of lonely night time and she instead stays up all night chain smoking while surfing the net. She's like a college student circa 1994, just discovered the internet and can't tear herself away until she realizes the sun's coming up. Overloaded on tobacco and short on sleep, she believes anything she sees. That explains this:

On Tuesday, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene shared a tweet claiming that the political left "always pays protesters," citing Craigslist job postings as supposed evidence. The tweet featured screenshots of ads for positions described as “ANTI-TRUMP PROTEST MERCH SALES TEAM — CASH PAID” and similar titles.

Greene claimed this was proof that individuals were being hired and paid to protest against Trump, Musk, and DOGE. Greene used the listings to assert that unlike Trump supporters, left-wing demonstrators were financially incentivized to attend rallies.

However, community fact-checkers Twitter quickly debunked the claim, adding a Community Note clarifying that the advertisements were for vendors selling merchandise at protest events—not for people to participate as protesters. The linked Craigslist postings explicitly sought individuals to sell “protest and resistance products,” such as anti-Trump shirts and signs, a common occurrence at political rallies of all kinds.

She's an idiot. A tobacco addicted, horny and crazy woman.

Also, ask yourself this, what's she doing on CRAIGSLIST? It's late at night and she's scrolling through CRAIGSLIST? How horny is she?

"The Snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Thursday, April 10, 2025. Chump wants to waste millions on a military parade for his birthday, this after refusing to greet the fallen at Dover last week, in the face of massive opposition he semi-pauses his tarrifs, one of his supporters turns out to be a liar and a fake (shocking!) which leads to her arrest, and much more.

And he is right, Chump should have been there.

Last week, Convicted Felon Donald Chump was fled to Florida on Thursday to start his 'vacation' and to avoid Dover Air Base where four Americans who died on an overseas mission were returning. He had no time for the fallen, please understand, because the most important thing when you're commander-in-chief is . . . golfing. As Ruth noted Friday:

There was a time in Donald Chump's first term as president that I gave him the benefit of the doubt regarding his alleged hatred of U.S. troops. He quickly made clear that the rumors were indeed true. We saw that further in his 2024 campaign and, of course, we have seen it since he was sworn in. SignalGate, for example, put our military pilots at risk as they set out on a mission he ordered and then Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, DNI Director Tulsi Gabbard, and the rest do a non-secure discussion of the mission before it starts and as it is being carried out. To this day, he has refused to fire any of these people despite the fact that their actions could have resulted in the deaths of the military pilots. That, by the way, is a point Senator Tammy Duckworth has made strongly and repeatedly.

Because he is never done s**ting on our troops, Mr. Chump's actions are not surprising but they are shocking, outrageous, and offensive. Jeremiah Hassel (THE MIRROR) reports:

Donald Trump was slammed for missing the dignified transfer for four U.S. soldiers who were killed in Lithuania during a training accident as he was seen playing golf at his Trump National Doral Miami golf course for a LIV Golf event.

Lithuania's president held a ceremony honoring the fallen soldiers who drowned in a peat bog after their tactical vehicle went missing about a week ago. Lithuanian, Polish and U.S. soldiers and rescue teams searched through forests and swamps at the Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in Pabradė, which is about 6 miles west of the country's border with Belarus.

[. . .]

President Gitanas Nausėda and other dignitaries were among those who stood in respect as the hearses carrying the bodies to Vilnius airport in the nation's capital paraded past. They were flown to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and will be buried this week.

Several of the onlookers were reportedly in tears during the procession. Nausėda said the reaction of the population and the military to the disappearance of the soldiers was rooted in the country's own difficult history.

Lithuania's president showed them respect; however, Convicted Felon Donald Chump did not. The Convicted Felon could not stop his golf game to honor Americans Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, Staff Sgt. Edvin F. Franco, Staff Sgt. Jose Duenez Jr., and Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins. Dante was the youngest at 21, Troy was the oldest at 28, and Jose and Edvin were both only 25. They are passed and they passed while doing a mission that they were tasked with but the nation's commander-in-chief was too busy -- yet again -- to honor them.

The disrespect Chump has shown the four fallen soldiers is appalling and it's one more reason that he is a joke. And that's before the rumblings about his plan to use the military as a prop for his birthday celebration.

On THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON, Jimmy addressed the nonsense of a parade for Chump.

My favorite joke from Jimmy above? "Yeah, the parade will be four miles long. The organizers asked Trump if he wanted to walk in it and then everyone laughed and laughed."

WJLA reports on the potential cost for Chump's vanity trip.

The costs were also addressed on ABC's THE VIEW.

"Who do you think is paying for this?" asks Joy and she's right. Over $90 million for that parade for himself? It's outrageous.

Some veterans I've spoken to raise the issue that Chump's trying to stage a military parade to celebrate himself when there has been no DC parade for the veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.

Let's note this from IAVA:

Today, following news of President Trump’s proposal for a military parade, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the leading non-partisan veterans empowerment organization representing the Post-9/11 generation of veterans, released a poll of its members. The poll, conducted from February 7th to 8th over a 24 hour period, shared how veterans view the proposal:

Screen Shot 2018-02-08 at 4.31.38 PM

“It is clear that our community has strong opinions on this issue. Their voices are critical and must be heard. We hope leaders in the Pentagon and White House will listen to our members—especially in these decisive and overly-politicized times,” said Paul Rieckhoff, Founder and CEO of IAVA. “We, as much as anyone, are committed to honoring and empowering our military and veterans—and that starts by listening. Most of all, our members believe America should honor and support our military and veterans everyday, and in the ways and times we need it most. Guided by our dynamic and diverse membership, IAVA has plenty of important recommendations for how to do it in our annual Policy Agenda. We encourage all lawmakers, members of the media, and our fellow citizens to spend some time reading this playbook for how we believe our country can support us most effectively, on the issues we care about the most.”

Here's the thing about the above, they issued that in Chump's first term. On February 8, 2018.

Chump didn't throw them a parade, still hasn't, but is again having a public tantrum because he wants a military parade at his birthday party. Now he didn't like the military enough to serve. He lied to get out of serving during Vietnam -- those nasty bone spurs remember -- that apparently healed through magic and now he can golf every weekend with no problem. And he doesn't care enough about veterans to protect them from his DOGE program. But he wants to use them fo rhis birthday because that's how selfish and stupid he truly is.

Next topic.

Another one bites the Chump? Apparently another one's gone and another one's gone, another one bites the Chump. Despite vowing full speed ahead on his insane tariffs on Tuesday, yesterday saw Chump back off.

What's going on? Too much push back

Stephen Silver (NATIONAL SECURITY JOURNAL) reports:

The Trump Administration’s tariff policy, which was announced a week ago today, has started to hit the presidency somewhere that he cares about: His approval rating.

Enough, in fact, that Trump on Wednesday announced a drop to 10 percent on most of the non-China tariffs.

That’s according to a new The Economist/YouGov Poll, taken between April 5 and 8 — entirely after the tariffs were announced — and released on Wednesday Up at the top, the poll finds that Trump has an approval rating of 43 percent, compared to 54 percent unfavorable, although if it’s any consolation for the president, Vice President J.D. Vance’s approval rating is just 38 percent, while Elon Musk comes in at 40 percent.

[. . .]

The poll also finds that 54 percent of respondents see things in America as “off on the wrong track,” while 35 percent say the nation is “Generally headed in the right direction,” while 12 percent answered “not sure.”

That's not a surprise. And even an idiot should have seen it coming. One idiot didn't. As Ann points out Michigan Governor Gretch The Wretch Whitmer spent yesterday making nice with Chump about tariffs:

Corrupt as can be and she makes my grifter beat for that and for this nonsense:

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivered a speech emphasizing points of agreement with President Donald Trump on economic policy, just hours before their scheduled meeting — a reflection of the high-profile Democrat’s more diplomatic approach toward the president as her party ramps up its attacks on him.

Framed by Whitmer as a “blueprint for success,” her lengthy “Build, America, Build” address called for bipartisan cooperation to boost American manufacturing. While she offered soft criticism of the president, she also underscored shared priorities.

Does the wretch not know how to work with her own party? She's a Democrat. Does she not get how hard Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray, Elizabeth Warren, Richard Blumenthal, Mark Warner and others are fighting against these tariffs to help the American people?

And the wretch wants to throw a wrench into all of that? She's not a Democrat, she's Gretch-ite -- out for Gretch and only Gretch. She really is hideous.

What an idiot, what a backstabber. There are times -- and people don't always get this -- when a politician may take a stand you disagree with. If it's consistent with who they are, you should be able to respect it.

Former Senator Russ Feingold should have gone on to become a president of the United States. He was a great politician and a number of us tried to talk him into running for the 2016 nomination. Had he been in the Senate this year, he would have made a lot of Democrats angry because he would've voted for Chump's nominees. He felt, at least when he was in the Senate (and when the nominees might be problematic but weren't as ridiculous as Chump's nominees) that you voted to confirm the Cabinet appointees to give the president the staff he wanted.

I disagreed with that but I understood where he was coming from and never held it against him.

But Gretch The Wretch? She has no ethics and she has no party loyalty. Ann's right, how dare she undermine the party with her nonsense kiss assery.

Before he reversed himself, Chump was facing more than just bad polling. Krystina Alarcon Carroll (RAW STORY) reported yesterday before Chump's announcement:

President Donald Trump's budget plan likely won't pass its House vote Wednesday afternoon. That's because several GOP lawmakers will not be backing it, including Congressman Eric Burlison (R-MO).

“I can’t live with myself if I go back home and I added more debt and deficits without any kind of correction whatsoever,” Burlison told the New York Times. “I couldn’t live with myself.”

The former state lawmaker successfully advocated for the Show-me State's Legislature to seek an amendment to require a balanced budget.

Burlison is not the only republican who has yet to come around and agree with President Trump's budget plan within the halls of Congress.

Yes, the mutiny was coming. And would expose just how weak Chump truly is. (Some would argue by yet again waffling on his plan, Chump exposed himself as a weakingly.) But while the hard work of We The People was paying off, there's Gretch backstabbing our party, tossing him a life line, embarrassing the country. That wretch does not belong on a national ticket. She demonstrated that this week. When she feels the need to make nice with the GOP, she can take that sentiment into the bedroom with her Republican second husband.

Here's Rachel Maddow addressing the topic last night on MSNBC.

Here for Paul Krugman's take on Chump's semi-reversal. On THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE, there was a very strong discussion but MSNBC hasn't posted the video online.

At any rate, Americans take to the street, US senators stand up -- even some Republicans -- and Gretch The Wretch goes with appeasement? Not only was that a betrayal it was damn stupid. If she'd waited a few hours even she would have grasped what an idiot she was about to make of herself with her cowardly acquiescence.

Christopher Bucktin (THE MIRROR) notes:

In the latest twist of political theater, 'Forrest Trump' reminded the world that "stupid is, as stupid does," as he paused his economically reckless tariff crusade for 90 days.

In the movies Tom Hank's famous character was shown to have far more business acumen than the US leader. But Donald Trump has once again proven that his self-proclaimed genius is little more than a hollow myth built on bluster and bankruptcy.

His reckless tariff crusade, which he insisted would “Make America Great Again,” has instead triggered chaos across global markets, wiping out trillions in value and shaking investor confidence.

It comes after Trump's outrageous comment about his 'ass' and China's unexpectedly dramatic retaliation.

And now, in a humiliating climbdown, he has announced a 90-day pause on his disastrous trade war - a desperate face-saving exercise cloaked as strategy.

The signs were visible to all but turncoat idiot Gretch The Wretch. Taylor Odisho (LATIN TIMES) reports:

Americans have taken to social media to share stories about their MAGA-supporting neighbors removing their merchandise in recent weeks, with some even flying an upside-down Trump flag, a symbol typically associated with distress.

Reddit user GimmeSumCredit shared a photo in r/pics of a red, upside-down Trump flag captured on the way to work. Thousands of Redditors chimed in with similar instances of family, friends and neighbors who have seemingly turned their back on President Donald Trump by removing MAGA merchandise.

Again, everyone could read the writing on the wall, everyone but Gretch The Wretch. At BUSINESS INSIDER, Katherine Li charts the downfall market effects on some of Chump's biggest donors:

Since Trump's April 2 "Liberation Day" announcement of a 10% blanket tariff on all countries, on top of additional tariffs on certain countries, the stock market has experienced heavy losses in a matter of days.

Here is how much eight companies lost in share value since Trump's inauguration day as of market close on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, according to Yahoo Finance.

APPLE

Percentage of share decline since January 21: -23%

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, personally donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural committee and attended the ceremony.

Trump took credit for Apple's plans to spend and invest more than $500 billion in the US over the next four years.

AMAZON

Percentage of share decline since January 21: -26%

Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Amazon and founder of Blue Origin, praised Trump for an "extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory" after Trump won the election.

Amazon donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration committee, and Bezos also attended the inauguration.

GOOGLE

Percentage of share decline since January 21: -27%

Google donated $1 million to Trump's inauguration fund.

In addition to attending Trump's inauguration, Sundar Pichai, Google's CEO, also congratulated Trump on his election win and said, "We are in a golden age of American innovation."

Let's move over to the topic of crime. Eva Royer. The devoted Donald Chump supporter is in the news -- for all the wrong reasons. MD Mack (LATIN TIMES) explains:

A Republican political committee member in Texas was arrested for election fraud while wearing a shirt that read "Ban Democrat Chairs," following allegations she falsified residency documents.

Eva Royer, a member of the Hood County Republican Party, filed to run for Granbury City Council on August 19, 2024, according to an official Facebook post. However, Texas election law requires candidates to live within city limits for at least six months before filing.

Royer claimed nearly three years of residency, but evidence later surfaced showing she had only recently changed her address in July—and that the property she listed was being operated as an Airbnb.

Authorities say Royer's listed address wasn't her primary residence, but rather a short-term rental owned by her real estate brokerage, for which she had paid hotel occupancy taxes.

Here's a longer report from FACEBOOK:

Hood County Breaking News!

Daniel Knight · ntsoodSerp 122t5t28ciuAua uta0g1f32a596uc,u5s8mag7u1l0lu524u ·

Copied & Shared

WTH is going on in this county??

Eva Royer withdraws her City Of Granbury City Council application due to falsification of offical government documents and voter fraud allegations.

### **List of Facts**

1. **Residency Requirement Violation**: Eva Royer filed to run for city council on August 19, 2024. State law and local charter regulations mandate that candidates must have been residents for at least six months prior to the filing date, meaning she would need to have been a resident since February 19, 2024.

2. **Falsification of Application**: On her official application, Eva Royer claimed she had been a resident for 2 years and 9 months, which is alleged to be falsification of a government document and potentially election fraud—a felony offense. According to election offical Stephanine Cooper via an open records request Eva Royer changed her address July 12. In May of 2024 Councilman Vale announced he would not seek reelection due to moving after his term was up in Novemeber.

3. **Airbnb Property**: The address she listed is allegedly owned by her brokerage as an Airbnb property, which has been actively rented out based on customer reviews and listings. Additionally, she has been paying hotel occupancy tax (HOT) to the city of Granbury for this property.

4. **Previous Voting Behavior**: In the March primary, she voted using an address where she presumably lived with her significant other, Tim Bolton, on Ravenswood in Pecan Plantation, which is outside the city limits. This action further suggests potential voter fraud.

5. **Withdrawal of Candidacy**: After a special city council meeting was called to address the situation, Eva Royer withdrew her candidacy, indicating awareness of the fraudulent nature of her actions.

6. **Role in Hood County Republican Party**: Eva Royer is a member of the Hood County Republican Party committee for events and fundraisers. Given the seriousness of her alleged actions, you express concerns about her trustworthiness in handling party funds.

7. **City Council Approval**: On July 23, 2024, Eva Royer received approval from the city council for her Airbnb property.

8. **Concerns with Party Leadership**: You raise broader concerns about the Hood County Republican Party's leadership, mentioning previous endorsements of individuals with serious allegations, and now a potential fraud.

### **Suggested Remedies**

1. **Contact the Hood County Sheriff’s Office**: Report the alleged voter fraud and election fraud for legal investigation and possible prosecution. Correction might be GPD. Reporting to both not a bad idea! I have sample.letters for all

2. **Report to the Texas Real Estate Commission**: File a complaint against Eva Royer for violating professional standards as a realtor.

3. **Contact Greg Harrell, Hood County Republican Party Chairman**: Urge the removal of Eva Royer from her position within the party due to her involvement in the alleged fraud.

4. **Remember at the Voting Booth**: When you vote this November, remember that Tim Bolton, her significant other and a candidate for school board, was undoubtedly aware of Eva Royer’s fraudulent actions.

### **Closing Statement**

This is not about "cancel culture" but about maintaining integrity within our democracy, which Eva Royer has allegedly disregarded. Election fraud is a serious crime and should be treated as such.

If you need the specific contact information for the Sheriff’s Office, Real Estate Commission, or Greg Harrell, please let me know.

The GOP keeps insisting they're trying to protect the vote and their actions keep demonstrating that they're just trying to cheat.

Will she be going to jail? Let's hope so. And if she does, it can be a learning experience for her. Why, just a few weeks ago, she Tweeted:

EVA ROYER

@TheEvaRoyer

Mar 3

Prison can offer true change and second chances! @TDCJ

programs at the O’Daniel Unit with @GatewayPeople

Prison Ministries and @KCBI

are real trailblazers…by launching the Ladies of “The Tank” Radio Station inside.

BIG THANK YOU for joining us @DrindaRandall

our @TexasGOP

Image

Prison can offer true change, Eva, and let's hope you get a chance to find out.

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:

ICYMI: Senator Murray Statement on Trump Plans to Freeze Tens of Millions in Title X Family Planning Funds for Planned Parenthood, Other Organizations

Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Tina Smith (D-MN), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) reintroduced the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act, a bill that would safeguard funding for Title X – the country’s only federal program dedicated to providing family planning and preventive health services, including birth control, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and reproductive health care – following attacks on the program by the Trump Administration last week. Title X clinics serve 4 million people annually, and in 2023 alone, more than 1.5 million visits to Planned Parenthood health centers were made possible by the program. The bill is co-led in the House of Representatives by Representative Sharice Davids (D, KS-03), Judy Chu (D, CA-28) and Dina Titus (D, NV-01).

“For more than 50 years, Title X funding has helped women across the U.S. get cancer screenings, contraception, pregnancy tests, STI treatment, and so many other services that are critical to helping women—especially women with the tightest budgets—stay healthy and plan their futures,” said Senator Murray. “I’m proud to co-lead the Expanding Access to Family Planning Act—this legislation would give Title X reliable annual funding to provide reproductive health care to more people, meeting a growing need for these vital services. As the Trump administration does everything they can to attack Title X and rip away women’s ability to receive basic health care, Democrats will keep fighting back to protect a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her body and her future.”

“We are at a time when Americans’ reproductive freedoms are under attack from extremist Republicans – which makes the Title X Family Planning Program more important than ever,” said Senator Smith. “Title X funding provides American women with access to critical reproductive health services. I invite my Republican colleagues who claim to champion family planning services to join us in supporting this commonsense legislation that will protect women’s access to life-saving services and birth control, pregnancy counseling, infertility services, and more.”

“The Title X program saves lives by making sure people have access to affordable cancer screenings, STI testing, birth control, and pregnancy tests,” said Senator Warren. “While the Trump administration puts women’s health at risk, Democrats are fighting back.”

The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act is even more crucial as the Trump Administration recently froze millions of dollars in already-appropriated Title X funding, impacting 16 organizations across several states. Planned Parenthood affiliates have lost access to as much as $3 million annually — resources they rely on to serve tens of thousands of patients each year. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the freeze could impact access to care for up to 1.25 million people, many of whom are low-income, people of color, or live in medically underserved communities.

“In Kansas and across the country, people are being turned away from the only places they can afford to get basic, lifesaving reproductive care — all because the Trump Administration is playing politics with their health,” said Representative Davids. “This bill protects trusted providers and ensures access to cancer screenings, birth control, and STI testing, no matter your income, where you live, or how you vote.”

“The Trump Administration is denying women across Nevada and the U.S. the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies and their families’ futures,” said Representative Titus. “By fully funding family planning services, we can protect their rights to access lifesaving preventive care, birth control, and other reproductive health services at a time when these freedoms are under constant attack.”

Specifically, The Expanding Access to Family Planning Act would:

Guarantee stable, annual funding for Title X
- $512 million annually for 10 years, addressing the current funding shortfall and ensuring access to essential services.
- $50 million in mandatory funding for clinic construction, renovations, and infrastructure improvements.
Protect providers like Planned Parenthoodfrom being excluded, as seen under the Trump Administration’s so-called “domestic gag rule.”
- Reinstate regulations prohibiting discrimination against providers who offer Title X services, ensuring continuity of care for patients.
Provide information related to prenatal care, delivery, infant care, foster care, adoption, and pregnancy termination — unless a patient opts out of receiving information on certain options.

Senator Murray has consistently fought to strengthen and preserve the Title X program, and was a vocal critic of the first Trump Administration’s Title X gag rule and countless other efforts to undermine reproductive health care. Early in 2019, Senator Murray released a memo highlighting some of the negative impacts of the rule and comments from patients, providers, city and county officials, and religious organizations submitted in opposition. Senator Murray is also a longtime leader in the fight to protect and expand access to reproductive health care and abortion rights, and she has led Congressional efforts to fight back after the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Murray has introduced more than a dozen pieces of legislation to protect reproductive rights from further attacks, protect providers, and help ensure women get the care they need; Murray has led efforts to push for passage of these bills on the floor multiple times. Murray also led her colleagues in raising the alarm about the threat a second Trump administration poses to reproductive rights and abortion access in every state, as outlined in Project 2025.