Smirking Chimp (2025)

14/02/2025

The Daily Chimp for Friday, 14 February 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Carl Gibson | Conservative US Attorney Resigns After Refusing Directive From Trump DOJ The U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) top prosecutor in New York City just handed in a two-sentence resignation letter following orders to drop charges against Mayor Eric Adams. NBC News reported Thursday that Da...

13/02/2025

Sarah van Gelder in Thursday's Chimp: "Trump is a genius at distraction, especially when his policies are mostly aimed at improving the prospects of himself and other billionaires. He does that by channelling MAGA anger at the least powerful members of our society, beginning by bullying undocumented families and transgender people."

As President Donald Trump tests the limits of manufactured crisis and chaos, he claims a mandate from the American people. But his razor-thin electoral victory tells a different story. Voters didn’t ask for an illegal takeover of government offices, a freezing of funds for needed services, sending...

13/02/2025

Robert Reich in Thursday's Chimp: "Today I’d like to honor unsung heroes whose courage in the face of the Trump-Musk takeover of America deserves our profound thanks. They are public servants who have chosen to fight rather than submit to Trump’s treachery, contesting his blatantly illegal attempts to fire them."

Sometimes it takes a crisis to reveal one’s true character. This is especially true of people who occupy positions of leadership, both in the private and public sectors. Are they courageous, or are they cowards? Worse yet, are they complicit in doing grave harm?

13/02/2025

Heather Digby Parton in Thursday's Chimp: "In response to the flurry of cases brought against the Trump administration for its radical attempts to slash and burn all aspects of the federal government without constitutional authority, we're seeing some arguments from Republicans that lead to the conclusion that there is at least some consideration being given to simply ignoring the court's orders. Some have evoked the likely apocryphal statement attributed to President Andrew Jackson in which he was said to have declared, '[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it' — which raises the question if Trump is planning to abide by court rulings he doesn't agree with."

In response to the flurry of cases brought against the Trump administration for its radical attempts to slash and burn all aspects of the federal government without constitutional authority, we're seeing some arguments from Republicans that lead to the conclusion that there is at least some consider...

13/02/2025

Carl Gibson in Thursday's Chimp: "House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) may be about to fail his first big legislative test, as hardline Republican lawmakers are still on the fence about his massive budget bill. The Hill reported Wednesday that the House Republican budget package — which is coming up for a vote on Thursday in the House Budget Committee — may not even get past the first hurdle given the number of Republicans who are against it. Currently, six Republicans on the committee have expressed reservations about the bill. Republicans can only lose two votes if they hope to pass it to the full House for a floor vote assuming all Democratic members vote no."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) may be about to fail his first big legislative test, as hardline Republican lawmakers are still on the fence about his massive budget bill.

13/02/2025

Tim Karr in Thursday's Chimp: "One of the things that stands out to Davisson is just how many mistakes DOGE has made since it began its work. Musk and his team have left themselves vulnerable to the sorts of lawsuits being filed by EPIC, Public Citizen, and state attorneys general, he said. 'They’ve aggravated a lot of stakeholders; they’re in the process of aggravating the courts. They’ve embarrassed themselves in many ways; they’ve drawn the eye of the public. I think in many ways they have already sown the seeds of their downfall.'"

On February 10, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, filed suit for damages against the Trump-Musk-DOGE cartel. The lawsuit, which EPIC filed before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, calls for damages on behalf of tens of millions of government workers and....

13/02/2025

Thom Hartmann in Thursday's Chimp: "I know what the Republican Party used to be — for both better and worse — and there’s very little of it left today. And yet it may well be the only institution that can save democracy in America, if a few of its members can begin to show some courage."

When I was a kid, my dad was a Republican activist. He gave me John Stormer’s None Dare Call It Treason when I was around 10; the summer I was 13, I went door-to-door with him for Barry Goldwater, even though he insisted on calling himself an “Eisenhower Republican” or, when he was feeling exp...

13/02/2025

The Daily Chimp for Thursday, 13 February 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Sarah van Gelder | We Didn't Vote for This S**t As President Donald Trump tests the limits of manufactured crisis and chaos, he claims a mandate from the American people. But his razor-thin electoral victory tells a different story. Voters didn’t ask for an illegal takeover of government offices, ...

12/02/2025

Robert Reich in Wednesday's Chimp: "For the richest person in the world to be given a bully-pulpit in the Oval Office to impugn their integrity is beyond shameful. Musk has the integrity of a slug. Since Trump was elected president, Musk’s fortune has increased $270 billion. If you think that’s an accident, you haven’t been paying attention."

The Trump-Musk regime is accusing federal civil servants of fraud, based on no evidence, while at the same time allowing corporations to pay off foreign officials, dropping bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams, pardoning a former governor of Illinois who tried to sell his Senate seat, and stoppi...

12/02/2025

Elizabeth Preza in Wednesday's Chimp: "President Donald Trump on Tuesday invited Musk to the Oval Office to address the press about DOGE’s controversial work with the federal government. Tapper noted Powell defended his agency against Musk’s December attack, arguing 'Fed employees are overworked and the agency is not overstaffed.'"

The Federal Reserve is “potentially on a crash course with the Trump Administration,” CNN political commentator Catherine Rampell said Tuesday.

12/02/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Wednesday's Chimp: "It's no surprise that Trump hates science. He is, after all, the same man who confidently declared he had a cure for COVID-19 that those silly medical researchers had overlooked: injecting household cleaners directly into your lungs. He's no doubt still nursing the narcissistic injury when people laughed at him for being so thuddingly stupid. But, despite his own painfully obvious blindspots, Musk should know better than this. After all, if it weren't for government-funded research, Musk would be an anonymous failson living off his daddy's money, instead of a billionaire competing with Kanye West for the title of the world's most cringeworthy celebrity."

Donald Trump, his shadow president Elon Musk, and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are waging a highly illegal rampage through the federal budget. Among the first wave of intended victims are thousands of scientists across the country who depend on federal grants and loans to fuel t...

12/02/2025

Jaime O'Neill in Wednesday's Chimp: "So, in recognition of his intelligence and his astoundingly good taste in choosing friends, I'm turning today's blog over to Captain Dan Embree for yet another of his brilliant smartass letters to Donald J. Trump. There are some Chimp readers who don't seem to recognize irony, sarcasm, satire or what we used to call 'put ons,' so if you don't like what he wrote, you might be one of those. English majors love that s**t. With role models like Jonathan Swift, Mark Twain, and George Orwell, how could we not."

When Dan Embree retired from the army after serving two (count 'em, two) terms in Vietnam, he showed up for graduate work in the English Department where I was also expending no small amount of time and effort.

12/02/2025

Sam Pizzigati in Wednesday's Chimp: "A classic coup d’état has guns. Uniformed men run wild seizing government agencies and claiming control over what government does and who government serves. But in our new cyber age, the Yale historian Timothy Snyder reflected this past week, a coup can unfold without any armed overthrow. We can have 'a couple dozen young men go from government office to government office, dressed in civilian clothes and armed only with zip drives.'"

A classic coup d’état has guns. Uniformed men run wild seizing government agencies and claiming control over what government does and who government serves.

12/02/2025

Thom Hartmann in Wednesday's Chimp: "Fascism, with its promises of efficiency, order, and privileges for the racial majority is often popular in its early stages; by the time people figure out the scam, it’s usually too late to stop. Trump’s followers think they are free; they’re not. Eventually they’ll discover the high price they’ll pay for supporting his growing authoritarianism."

A new poll from CBS News finds that most Americans agree with Trump’s policies of gutting protections for women and Black people while arresting and deporting Brown people here without documentation. Roughly two-thirds of respondents called him “tough,” “energetic,” “focused” and “ef...

12/02/2025

The Daily Chimp for Wednesday, 12 February 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Robert Reich | Fraud Friends, The Trump-Musk regime is accusing federal civil servants of fraud, based on no evidence, while at the same time allowing corporations to pay off foreign officials, dropping bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams, pardoning a former governor of Illinois who tried to se...

11/02/2025

Thom Hartmann in Tuesday's Chimp: "If the president were ever to dictate all terms to the Congress, which then became a compliant rubber-stamp regardless of how excessive or even illegal the president’s actions became, that, Madison said, 'may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.' We’re there now."

So, JD Vance is now saying that he and Trump don’t have to obey federal judges, tweeting, “judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.” This is how autocrats run things; it’s an extraordinarily dangerous moment.

11/02/2025

Heather Digby Parton in Tuesday's Chimp: "Everyone always says that Trump is just trolling Canada, but it's not true. Trudeau's assessment is correct. It is a real thing. We know this because Trump has always said that he believes 'to the victor belongs the spoils' and by that, he apparently also means that his victory to become U.S. president last November makes him a victor over the whole world."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught on a hot mic the other day giving his assessment of Donald Trump’s threat to turn Canada into the 51st state. I don't think Trudeau is given to wild conspiracy theories. This is what he said:

11/02/2025

Robert Reich in Tuesday's Chimp: "It’s bad enough that Trump and Musk are making room for their own personal financial products and those of their major backers. Trump’s financial products also invite people and corporations seeking to curry favor with him to invest in his products. Outright bribery. Who will be left holding the bag? Surely anyone gullible enough to put their savings into one of these initiatives. Worst case, all of us if the stock market crashes and pulls the economy down with it."

Last week, Trump’s social media corporation — Trump Media and Technology Group, in which Trump personally owns a majority of shares — announced plans to sell financial products, including a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), aimed at what Trump calls the “patriotic economy.” Its shares ju...

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