BAH Humbug

     Imagine if Ebeneezer Scrooge was president (big leap, I know) and he delivered an address from the Diplomatic Room of the White House. Well, after last night, we don't need to rely on imagination. Trump's "mystery address" was more like a mini MAGA rally. At a merciful 18 minutes long (the same time gap as the missing Watergate tapes), Donald Trump did the predictable.

     In a way, it was surprising he didn't consign the "surplus population" to government-run workhouses. It was the ultimate nothing burger after days of speculation. Could it be Venezuela and our one-sided war with them? Could it be about tariffs? The Epstein files due to be released this Friday (with heavy redactions, no doubt)?

     Nopers. In reality, it was the usual laundry list of grievances and finger-pointing. The economy was in the toilet under Biden, I saved it, blah blah blah.

    The fact-free assertions taken as the gospel by the mainstream media ran on and on. I tuned in to a live-stream for all of 10 seconds and I heard two or three lies and was forced to turn it off. USA Today wrote, "President Donald Trump delivered a forceful defense of his first 11 months in office during a primetime address from the White House, pointing the finger at Democrats for Americans' economic anxieties in a combative speech that sets the tone for the 2026 midterm elections."

     Number One, he's not the president but an obscenely successful thief, it wasn't a "forceful defense" of anything and it certainly didn't "set the tone" for the midterms. It was an angry yet listless stream of lies and chicanery and the tone for the midterms was already established early in this shitshow posing as an actual administration. Poll after poll has been telling the Republicans with the insistence of a Greek chorus that they're going to get buttfucked back to the pre-Cambrian Age without lube come November 2026.

     In point of fact, Trump inherited a strong, robust economy from Joe Biden and, predictably, he's transforming it into that of a third world, right wing banana republic's. Unemployment had hit a high of 4.6% last month (economists start getting worried when it hits 5.1%). And 69% of Americans don't agree with him on the economy because his approval ratings on that is at 31%.

     But, with Trump, it's always, "I reject your reality and substitute my own".

 

     Practically smothered in Christmas greenery, Trump looked like a senile old man found in the woods after wandering off and had to subsist on a jar of pickles he brought with him from the nursing home. "Boy, are we making progress!" he proclaimed, perhaps referring to his unwavering agenda of sledgehammering the middle class out of existence. 

     And here's where the chicanery comes in: Trump announced he was giving "warrior dividends", $1776 checks to 1.4 million service members. In reality, those generous checks are just the Basic Housing Allowance (or BAH) already owed to them and allocated by Congress. In other words, "Here's the money I owe you. Aren't I a great guy?"

     This came on the same day the House passed a spending bill that refused to extend the ACA subsidies, a steaming pile of dog shit that's all but guaranteed of not passing in the Senate, a bill that made even Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York throw F bombs around, calling the bill "absolute bullshit " and "political malpractice." And this result in the House is exactly what Trump wants as he's gone on record as saying he simply wasn't interested in extending the subsidies, something Democrats wanted to extend for three years.

     And Republicans know they're about to get tsunamied out of their majority in the House and maybe even in the Senate. But they just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot and committing evil. "I'm a snake. You knew that when you elected me."