DCUM Weblog

I have not written much about sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and his infamous files, but it is probably worth discussing the apparent involvement with Epstein of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that has come to light as a result of recent Epstein document release. Lutnick was asked about his involvement with Epstein during a Congressional hearing yesterday. As would be expected, Lutnick downplayed his relationship. However, Lutnick has lied about his connections to Epstein in the past, and he left a number of unanswered questions yesterday. In an ordinary administration, Lutnick would be tendering his resignation. But the rules are different in the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump. First of all, Trump resents any external pressure aimed at forcing him to take action. Democratic, or even Republican, demands that Lutnick be fired would likely be resisted by Trump. As long as Lutnick doesn't offend Trump, he will probably have Trump's support. Second, Trump himself is involved with Epstein. Far more so than Lutnick. Therefore, Trump can hardly take a stand that connections to Epstein are unacceptable in his administration. On the other hand, if Lutnick continues to get attention due to his relationship with Epstein, some of that attention will spill over on Trump and keep the topic of Trump and Epstein alive.

Today I am going to return to a frequent theme of this blog. Cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump is cognitively impaired and unfit for his job. He is making nonsensical decisions that are harming the interests of the United States. The band of enablers that surrounds him will do nothing. Neither will the do-nothing Republican-led Congress that is content to lick Trump's boots. Even the media cleans up Trump's lunatic ravings and presents a false image that does not convey the depths of Trump's mental impairment. Nevertheless, the fact that Trump's brain is mush is obvious to anyone who pays attention. If further evidence were needed, Trump provided that yesterday with an insane rant on his Truth Social social media network.

The administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has promoted a very specific view of the United States of America. In the MAGA version of the U.S., the people are White, the language is English, and the country is exceptional. To the extent that this does not reflect reality, Trump and his top officials are endeavoring to change reality. White House Deputy Chief of Staff and world-class hater Stephen Miller is doing his best to deport as many non-citizens as possible, especially targeting those who are not White. Executive orders have emphasized the role of English and ordered the removal from public areas of any suggestion that the United States is flawed in any manner. This has resulted, for instance, in the elimination from National Parks of signs recognizing slavery and led to a veritable whitewashing of history. In contrast to the MAGA ideal of a White, English-speaking, exceptional nation, another view of the country exists. Evident in places such as Minneapolis where thousands of citizens have risen to protect their neighbors, regardless of their race or language, this version of the United States sees the country as a multicultural melting pot that has flaws and room for improvement, but in which the American dream exists for everyone, even those who are not White and may not speak English. The MAGA view of America received a sledgehammer to the head last night from an rather unexpected source: the halftime show of the National Football League's Super Bowl. The halftime performer, Bad Bunny, led a celebration of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican culture that was joyful, unifying, and uplifting. Ending with a message on the jumbotron saying, "The only thing more powerful than hate is love," Bad Bunny challenged the foundations of Trump's MAGA ideology.

Last April, Todd Lyons, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that the deportation process should be "like (Amazon) Prime, but with human beings." In the months since then, the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump has been moving to make Lyons' vision a reality. This even includes Amazon-style warehouses in which to detain those rounded up. Fundamental to the Trump's mass deportation program have been attempts to eliminate due process and other legal protections in order to create a seamless deportation system that, while perhaps unable to rival Amazon's two-day delivery, will certainly speed things up at the cost of individuals' legal rights. Today, I will take a look at several actions that are aimed at creating Lyons' Amazon Prime for human beings.

For the past two days, I have written about cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's threat to November's midterm elections. Today will be my third and probably last installment for the moment in this series. Previously, I mostly discussed steps Trump has taken to uncover evidence that the 2020 election was stolen. While Trump is likely motivated by his narcissistic inability to accept that he lost that election, he is also driven, as is his inner circle, by a desire to cast doubt on the fairness of past voting so that he can justify intervention in upcoming elections. Today, I will discuss some of the steps that Trump has already taken or is in the process of taking in this regard. It is important to understand that Trump is unlikely to take a single dramatic step to intervene in the elections. Rather, there will be a series of smaller measures, some of which can already be documented.

Yesterday I wrote about cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's clear intentions to interfere in November's midterm elections. As I wrote in that post, Trump and his inner circle simply cannot allow the Democrats to take over either the House of Representatives or the Senate, let alone both. Last November, Democrats won just about everything that was possible to win, including all 13 statewide elections. Indeed, in 2025, Democrats flipped 21 percent of Republican-held legislative seats that were on the ballot. Republicans did not flip a single Democratic seat. That winning streak continued this past Saturday when Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a special election for the Texas state Senate by more than 14 percentage points. In 2024, Trump won that district by 17 points. You don't have to be Steve Kornacki to know what these numbers are suggesting about November's likely election outcome. In a sign of Trump's desperation, the FBI searched the Fulton County, Georgia election offices last week. There were a number of unusual aspects to this search which are quite ominous, including the involvement of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and a direct phone conversation between Trump and the FBI agents conducting the search.

Over the past year in which I have focused these blog posts on the dangers presented by the administration of cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, I have repeatedly warned that Trump planned to interfere with this year's midterm elections. Recent events have made this even more clear. I have written more than once that simply telling the truth about the Trump administration can make someone sound like a loony conspiracy theorist. This topic is a case in point. Trump's actions are so far beyond accepted norms that they can be hard to believe. Connecting the dots of such efforts results in bizarre conclusions that even the most cynical among us can find hard to believe. But, given recent developments, it is exceedingly clear that Trump does not plan to allow free elections this November.

As the expression goes, "all politics is local". Therefore, today I am going to take a break from my usual focus on cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump, although there is certainly a lot that can be said about him, and turn my attention to a local District of Columbia issue. This change in focus was inspired by an editorial in the Washington Post on Friday. That editorial, bylined by the "The Editorial Board" and titled "D.C.'s glacial response to the winter storm," is indicative of how far the Post has fallen in recent years. While the Post's editorials about the District have historically been a low point in the newspaper's performance, this one sets new standards in ridiculousness. The concluding paragraph comes off almost as satire. At any rate, with the editorial as a starting point, I am going to give this topic what you might call the "Matthew Yglesias treatment." In other words, I will take a complex issue and simplistically show how it justifies my preconceived political opinions.

I want to end this week with some ruminations about the resistance to cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump's deployment of federal agents to Minnesota. It has been inspiring to watch the mass organization of volunteers who have rallied to the defense of their neighbors. At the same time, the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have shown that this resistance can come at a cost. I normally like to include a mix of news and opinion in my blog posts, but today's is mostly going to be opinion. I will certainly forgive anyone who doesn't want to subject themselves to something that, were it written on paper, would not be worth its cost. Whether this post is worth the bits and bytes that compose a web page is also probably debatable. Nevertheless, as I have said before, I have thoughts and I want to express them.

What is happening in Minneapolis is turning out to be an important milestone in the effort by cult leader, convicted felon, and failed President Donald Trump to impose his autocratic rule on the country. It is still too early to tell whether Trump will ultimately succeed or fail, but Minneapolis has shown us that he will face significant hurdles. Minneapolis has revealed the true nature of Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection thugs. Far from going after the "worst of the worst," these masked agents that look and act more like an armed paramilitary than a legitimate law enforcement group, are simply terrorizing the community. The resistance in Minneapolis has inspired not one, but two songs by major songwriters. Yesterday we were blessed with both "The Streets of Minneapolis" by Bruce Springsteen and "City of Heroes" by Billy Bragg. Imagine being the subject of songs by these two songwriters in the course of a day? To quote another famous protest song, "There's something happening here." While the people in the streets, Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the Department of Homeland Security gangs hurling tear gas and pepper spray get the attention, much of the battle is being waged in the courts. Today I will provide a few updates on legal developments.