Smirking Chimp (2025)

11/01/2025

Elizabeth Preza in Saturday's Chimp: "Judge Juan Merchan on Friday released audio of remarks inside his courtroom during Donald Trump’s 'hush money' sentencing."

Judge Juan Merchan on Friday released audio of remarks inside his courtroom during Donald Trump’s “hush money” sentencing.

11/01/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Saturday's Chimp: "With the election of Trump to a second term, there's been a lot said about the 'post-truth' moment that Republican voters live in. But this entire exercise shows that it's beyond that. This is the right's post-coherence era. Even within the context of this false information about the gender makeup of the LAFD, there's no attempt to explain why having women in leadership would harm the ability of the firefighters on the ground to do their jobs. It's just a vague gesture — 'ew, women' — and a total unwillingness to explain why women are unfit to serve."

One thing no one can deny: MAGA influencers put a lot of work into pushing really incoherent talking points. Most everyone with sense understands that the fires ravaging Los Angeles are, in large part, a predictable consequence of climate change. However, it is an article of faith in MAGA circles th...

11/01/2025

Nancy Altman in Saturday's Chimp: "Most of the time, they hide their true feelings, knowing how popular and important Social Security is, even with the Republican base. Sometimes, though, the veil drops and their true feelings are revealed. That happened most recently last month when Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) decided to share his true feelings about Social Security in a lengthy Twitter thread. Elon Musk, the soon-to-be shadow President of the United States, amplified the thread, calling it 'interesting.'"

In addition to seeking to expand Social Security, those fighting for greater economic security must always continue to play defense. There have always been those who want to end Social Security. Republican President Dwight Eisenhower once described them as “a tiny splinter group” that seeks “t...

11/01/2025

Jaime O'Neill in Saturday's Chimp: "One of my formative experiences as a kid home sick from school, watching daytime game shows on black-and-white TV (Bill Cullen, anyone?) and hearing the applause that always followed contestants mentioning they'd been married for more than a decade or two. As a boy, I wondered what that applause was for."

And if we need an explanation for why Trump wants to take over Canada, we need look no further than this picture of Melania and Justin Trudeau.

11/01/2025

Thom Hartmann in Saturday's Chimp: "Fossil fuel billionaires and their oil companies funded think tanks to promote skepticism, pushed frontmen onto radio and TV to claim that climate scientists and people like Al Gore were 'in it for the money,' and began funding the campaigns of politicians willing to exchange the future habitability of the planet for a few decades of power and wealth."

They wear $2000 suits and travel in private jets, unbothered by the TSA or the teeming masses. Their children attend the finest universities in the world, and they vacation on private islands and yachts. Many “earn” more in a day than most Americans take home in a year; their positions ensure th...

11/01/2025

Bill Berkowitz in Saturday's Chimp: "Welcome to “The Base”; a place where white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and alt-righters can come together to train – in the broadest sense -- for a race war. Started by Rinaldo Nazzaro, who operates under the names Norman Spear and Roman Wolf. According to Vice’s Ben Makuch and Mack Lamoureux, 'The Base' is a social network that 'involves bringing neo-Nazis together, regardless of affiliation and ideology, into a militant fascist umbrella organization.'"

The Jerusalem Post recently reported that “Nathan Weeden, 24, planned vandalism attacks on buildings associated with Black and Jewish Americans, alongside members of his White supremacist group 'The Base’.” Weeden, a 24-year-old resident of Michigan “was sentenced to serve 26 months in priso...

11/01/2025

The Daily Chimp for Saturday, 11 January 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Elizabeth Preza | Listen: Judge Merchan Releases Audio From Inside the Court in Trump’s ‘Hush Money’ Sentencing Judge Juan Merchan on Friday released audio of remarks inside his courtroom during Donald Trump’s “hush money” sentencing. Merchan sentenced the president-elect to an unconditi...

10/01/2025

Thom Hartmann in Friday's Chimp: "Is this why Trump is planning to let so many violent January 6th rightwing gang members out of prison? Is he about to unleash a wave of violence and terror against Americans he feels have wronged him, or who are q***r, Black, Hispanic, or 'libtards'?"

One of the most common characteristics of rule by an authoritarian who’s taken over a democracy is his use of unofficial civilian paramilitary groups and militia gangs to terrorize or even kill his political opponents.

10/01/2025

Robert Reich in Friday's Chimp: "Trump and his MAGA allies are already targeting the four major pillars of resistance to Trump during his first term. As we prepare for Trump’s second regime — which promises to be far worse than the first — it’s important to do what we can to protect and fortify these four centers of opposition."

As we prepare for Trump’s second regime — which promises to be far worse than the first — it’s important to do what we can to protect and fortify these four centers of opposition.

10/01/2025

Maya Boddie in Friday's Chimp: "Journalists and political experts on Thursday quickly responded to the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision, declining to halt Donald Trump's sentencing on Friday, January 10. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett voted alongside the high court's liberal justices."

Journalists and political experts on Thursday quickly responded to the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision, declining to halt Donald Trump's sentencing on Friday, January 10.

10/01/2025

Jaime O'Neill in Friday's Chimp: "You may have read about the time Donald Trump plaintively wondered 'where is my Roy Cohn?' And you may recall that Roy Cohn was a notorious sleaze-bag-for-hire when the fear of communists was at high tide. Roy Cohn did lots of shameful things for Senator Joe McCarthy. Roy Cohn was dead when Trump expressed his lament that he didn’t have a Roy Cohn, but he’s found several such corrupted weasels since then."

Remember how close Claus von Stauffenberg came to blowing Adolph Hi**er to kingdom come at Wolf’s Lair in 1944 ? There had also been several previous failed attempts to kill that monster dating back to the earliest days of his rise to power. And if you ever watched a documentary about the Holocaus...

10/01/2025

Amanda Marcotte in Friday's Chimp: "Hard as it may be to believe, Carter won the majority of evangelical voters in 1976. Being a white evangelical Christian from the South, he read to many as one of theirs. Things shifted in 1978, however, over an issue that seems obscure now, but was a big deal to white evangelicals at the time: school desegregation."

Today's funeral for former President Jimmy Carter follows nearly two weeks of reminiscence about the legacy of the Georgia Democrat who held the White House for one term in the late '70s. Some of it has been hagiographic, especially in light of the dramatic contrast between Carter's genuine faith de...

10/01/2025

Henry Giroux in Friday's Chimp: "Before even taking office, Trump has conjured grotesque visions of what he once called the dreams of a 'unified Reich.' His delusions of grandeur, disdain for reason and truth, sycophantic worship of billionaires and despots, militarism, and embrace of white supremacy signal the rebirth of authoritarianism on a scale that recalls the horrors of the Third Reich, Pinochet’s Chile, and Putin’s Russia."

Before even taking office, Trump has conjured grotesque visions of what he once called the dreams of a “unified Reich.” His delusions of grandeur, disdain for reason and truth, sycophantic worship of billionaires and despots, militarism, and embrace of white supremacy signal the rebirth of autho...

10/01/2025

The Daily Chimp for Friday, 10 January 2025: links to all of today's front page posts.

Thom Hartmann | The Rise of Trump’s Thugs? One of the most common characteristics of rule by an authoritarian who’s taken over a democracy is his use of unofficial civilian paramilitary groups and militia gangs to terrorize or even kill his political opponents. Back in the day, Hi**er had his Br...

09/01/2025

Heather Digby Parton in Thursday's Chimp: "And when asked in the press conference if Trump actually planned to seize the island, and the Panama Canal as well, Trump said it was necessary for national security, the same rationale Vladimir Putin used to invade Ukraine which Trump called 'savvy' and 'genius' at the time. It is quite clear that Trump is serious about this. When asked directly, he would not rule out using the military to accomplish his goal."

Many people still don't have the stomach to follow politics these days after the disappointment of the last election and the return of the Trump three-ring circus to Washington. It's depressing and nerve-wracking, even if you just hear snippets in passing or read a few paragraphs of a news story abo...

09/01/2025

Robert Reich in Thursday's Chimp: "Today is a national day of mourning for Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at 100 years old. His funeral will take place at the Washington National Cathedral. In a proclamation after Carter’s death, President Biden called him 'a man of character, courage, and compassion.' He was also a man of truth. One of his many remarkable abilities was a willingness to state truths about America that the public needed to hear, without regard for whom he might offend by doing so."

Today is a national day of mourning for Jimmy Carter, who died on December 29 at 100 years old. His funeral will take place at the Washington National Cathedral.

09/01/2025

Jaime O'Neill in Thursday's Chimp: "The point, in case you haven’t guessed, is that we are feeding the soul-sucking addiction the rich pricks have by doing all the bad stuff that makes us and them such empty vessels. We buy their crap, pretend they aren’t lying when they obviously are, and forfeit anything that resembles personal integrity in the slightest. They kiss ass more shamelessly than the most abject peasants who ever begged a landlord for mercy."

“You shall mark Many a duteous and knee-crooking knave That, doting on his own obsequious bo***ge, Wears out his time, much like his master's ass, For nought but provender; and when he's old, cashier'd: Whip me such honest knaves.” (Iago, not t hero of the piece) —William Shakespeare, Othello

09/01/2025

Maya Boddie in Thursday's Chimp: "In recent interviews with Politico, several Republican senators were pessimistic that they could follow through on Trump's biggest campaign promises like providing billions more in funding for immigration enforcement, an extension of the 2017 tax cuts (that overwhelmingly benefited the richest Americans) and ramping up domestic oil production. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told the outlet that cramming two major priorities into one bill may be too tall of an order."

With the new House and Senate Republican majorities officially sworn in, some GOP lawmakers are worried that Republicans' slim edge in the House of Representatives will make it exceedingly difficult to get President-elect Donald Trump's legislative priorities through Congress.

Smirking Chimp

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