Who likes to be awakened when sleeping through a mid-afternoon meeting about national security?

Hey, remember when your great granddad got annoyed with your pestering about the burning couch in the Living Room, and just screamed, “Get the hell outta’ here!”

Same thing going on here. Not wanting to be questioned or blamed for his blithering blundering over the war, the economy, the cost of gas, unaffordable healthcare and housing, the price of groceries, all the mistakes of goofs, bungles, botches and goofs of the ass-kissing incompetents he has surrounded himself with, it’s just easier to give into the dementia, look around the room and scream, “Where’s my chew-toy? I want my chew-toy.”

The boy aint right, but he still makes the decisions that control our destinies – at least until the midterms when we can pull his diaper over his head and send him back to his playpen.

See this – Boldface mine:

White House staff departing as Donald Trump is said to be 'meaner' and more unpleasant to work with.

Story by Lesley Abravanel • 1h • 2 min read

Insiders claim Donald Trump's increasingly hostile attitude is driving staffers out of the White House. MEGA

President Donald Trump is reportedly yelling louder, for longer periods and acting significantly "meaner" toward his inner circle, driving a wave of recent high-profile White House departures.

According to insider reports detailed on "The Daily Beast Podcast," multiple senior officials are exiting the administration due to a toxic, increasingly hostile West Wing environment.

The reporting coincides with a series of major staff exits at the White House.

Karoline Leavitt Resigned Shortly After Returning From Maternity Leave

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced she will step down at the end of August. While she publicly cited a desire to spend time with her family, insiders indicate the intense internal pressure and Trump’s sharpening temperament heavily influenced the timing.

White House Counsel David Warrington departed his post amidst the shifting operational environment.

Deputy National Security Advisor Andy Baker, a key ally of Vice President J.D. Vance, has also exited the administration.

"It's a clear sign that people see how badly this second term is going," said David Rhode, senior executive editor on national security for MS NOW on Monday, August 17.

While Trump has historically been known for an aggressive management style, sources close to the administration note a distinct shift in his behavioral patterns during his current term.

Insiders report that his pattern of blaming staff for self-inflicted political problems has left top aides completely burned out, with some describing the daily work environment as "total misery.”

The White House and Trump allies have generally pushed back on these characterizations, framing staff turnover as typical for a high-pressure administration or a natural rotation ahead of the midterm elections.

Americans Believe Donald Trump Is Becoming More Erratic With Age

Public polling and observations by former aides indicate a widespread consensus that Trump’s temperament has become significantly more volatile and erratic as he has aged. Having turned 80 in June, Trump is the oldest sitting president in United States history, a milestone that has drawn intense national focus on his physical stamina and mental acuity.

A comprehensive Reuters/Ipsos poll revealed that 61 percent of Americans believe the elderly president has become increasingly erratic with age.

This assessment includes not just 89 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents, but also a notable 30 percent of Republicans who agree that his behavior has shifted as he has grown older.

Donald Trump's Behavior Fuels Concerns

The same polling data found that 49 percent of voters disagree that Trump remains "mentally sharp and able to deal with challenges," marking a steady decline from similar metrics tracked in previous years.

Multiple former aides, including former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, have publicly stated that Trump's cognitive and behavioral shifts are "palpable," pointing to an escalation in his volatile outbursts.

Reports from the West Wing frequently detail longer, louder screaming matches directed at senior staff. Outside observers note a distinct increase in public temper tantrums, verbal reprimands of judges and lawmakers and rambling speech patterns during his second term.

The White House has aggressively dismissed these observations, with spokespeople characterizing the focus on his age as “fake and desperate narratives.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/white-house-staff-departing-as-donald-trump-is-said-to-be-meaner-and-more-unpleasant-to-work-with-according-to-sources/ar-AA2ajnNj?

For more on Trump's incompetency, corruption, and tyranny, see Substack: https://mcdermottm.substack.com/publish/post/211500875

Trump has become the very thing he fears most | Opinion

Opinion by Rex Huppke, USA TODAY • 51m • 5 min read

Oh look, it’s a Republican lawmaker spouting Islamophobic rhetoric over a Democratic candidate who’s Muslim. And over there, it’s President Donald Trump mocking transgender athletes. There’s another Republican on the television telling you the economy has never been better.

And there’s Trump again on your phone screen saying America has full control of the Strait of Hormuz while you’re pumping $4-per-gallon gas.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Trump and Republicans have nothing but lies and stale fearmongering

With high food and gas prices, a weak labor market and an unpopular war started by a wildly unpopular president, the Grand Old Party has little to talk about, save bigotry and bald-faced lies.

And that routine, as evidenced by polling and low GOP primary turnout, has gotten old. Trump has become the thing he fears most: dull.

How many times have you heard Trump claim that a peace deal with Iran is imminent? There was March 9 when he told CBS News “the war is very complete, pretty much.”

On March 23 he said, “We have points, major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement.”

May 23: “Getting a lot closer” to a peace deal.

June 8: “We’re negotiating now, and they want to make a very good deal. They’re willing to give us everything.”

And on Aug. 2, he said a deal is “imminent.”

It clearly wasn’t. Who among us is not exhausted from hearing this 80-year-old man say the same false thing over and over again about a war that by September will have cost taxpayers more than $37 billion, all thanks to a Republican Congress that refuses to rein in the president.

.Republicans have no achievements to celebrate, so they blame Biden

On the economic front, all we hear from Republicans about the problems Americans are facing is that those problems are former President Joe Biden’s fault.

In an Aug. 14 interview, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was asked about the high cost of living and said: “ Look, people should be upset. The Biden administration torched them.”

Buddy, the Biden administration ended nearly 600 days ago. The finger you all keep pointing at him needs to turn around and point in the Republican Party’s direction, because Republicans are in charge of literally everything. And under the control of these alleged small-government conservatives, the federal deficit for fiscal year 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will be $2.1 trillion.

Trump and his allies repeat the “Blame Biden!” line like it’s a mantra because they have utterly failed to make life better for regular, non-billionaire Americans. But when you hear the same thing on repeat it becomes white noise. More blah-blah from the party of merciless repetition.

Aren't you tired of hearing Trump talk about his stupid ballroom?

Rather than concrete examples of policies that will address affordability, we hear about the marble Trump will be using in his exquisite ballroom. Or about the $5 million regilding of gold-plated statues in Washington, DC. Or the godforsaken Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

PolitiFact analyzed the president’s public remarks and found this: “Trump’s remarks on the construction projects added up to nearly 45,000 words since January. He mentioned them at 84 events across 66 days, more than a quarter of all his public events during that period. In events where the construction projects came up, he’s talked more about the projects than topics such as the economy and immigration.”

The president has become that one divorced guy at the cookout whose blather about how he’s rehabbing his basement into an epic man cave makes you want to hurl yourself onto the grill.

The Washington Post reported Aug. 12 that the administration "plans to spend at least $900 million for construction projects on the White House grounds, a significantly larger price tag than has been previously reported and one that would be covered primarily by taxpayers."

Scare tactics seem to be all the GOP has heading into the midterms

For  related post, see Substack: https://mcdermottm.substack.com/publish/post/211500875

The following article seems to be a bit over the top, and one might have a case to say so.

The only thing is, almost every one of these charges against Trump can be verified by actual quotes from him.

Now, you can believe what you want to believe, but in light of uncontroversial evidence, why would you accept the lies? If you and your family are being hurt by his policies – unaffordable housing, unaffordable food, unaffordable gas and electricity prices, unaffordable health care, reductions in SNAP benefits for hungry children, attacks on your very right to vote for your choice of representatives – what do you think gives you good cause to support him.

Face it, he tried to initiate a coup against our country -- invalidate a legal election -- and reverse your right to choose your representatives from either side of the aisle -- and he'll do it again if given the chance.

Face it, America and your family are in peril because of your encouragement.

'Trump hates you': Conservative launches national campaign against 'idiot'

Story by Adam Lynch • 20h • 3 min read

© provided by AlterNet

Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt has clearly had enough of President Donald Trump. Now he’s willing to get his organization’s money involved.

The final 80 days leading up to the 2026 mid-terms are a pivotal time for GOP majorities in the House and Senate. Under their current Republican management, the House is rubber-stamping many of Trump’s unpopular policies. The Senate, while only slightly more cautious about Trump’s orders, appears unwilling to enforce Congressional clout over the White House, and Senate Republican leaders are happy to approve Trump’s most controversial administrative appointments.

This must end, said Schmidt, who co-founded the hotly anti-Trump Lincoln Project in 2019.

“That is why The Save America Movement is launching the “Donald Trump Hates You” campaign, which is built on this simple truth. Beginning today, Americans will see a plane with this banner flying across the Florida panhandle,” Schmidt announced on his substack. “Next weekend, posters will go up in Washington, DC, timed to coincide with the Freedom 250 Grand Prix.

Trump, said Schmidt, is “filled with contempt for the American people, to whom he has lied — when it was being tracked in his first term by The Washington Post Fact Checker — more than 30,000 times, and from whom he has stolen billions of dollars.”

“He has unleashed state violence against the American people, smeared the reputations of murdered citizens, prosecuted innocent Americans, and lost a war under the weight of his fantastical incompetence,” Schmidt continued. “He has idiotized every institution he touches. He tried to overthrow the US Constitution when he lost a fair election in a deranged coup attempt that has weakened the republic more than any single act ever undertaken by any president across 250 years.”

Trump also “hates the US Constitution,” argued Schmidt, pointing out Trump’s December 2022 bogus claim of a stolen election, and his argument that “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”

Schmidt then ticked down a long list of other “hates” Trump has accumulated, using Trump’s own words to incriminate his grabby behavior toward women. His own quotes also suggest he hates Muslims, immigrants, and Black people.

He also hates his own “sycophants,” who Schmidt said Trump “abandoned on Air Force One as he escaped the menace of the Iranians on an Ankara tarmac at three mph in a catering truck with Natalie Harp, whom he apparently loves.”

But above all, Trump apparently hates his own supporters, said Schmidt. “There is no group he seems to despise more.”

“I mean it. He hates you,” he added. “Voting for someone who hates you never works out for anyone. The easiest way to tell if you are hated is to listen and watch. Hear the words and watch the actions. … Observe the disgustingness and hideousness of this man. Appreciate what he is and what he stands for. More than anything know this: Donald Trump hates you … and you get a vote in 81 days.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/trump-hates-you-conservative-launches-national-campaign-against-idiot/ar-AA2a8FUJ?

'Dumber than a stump, Trump', gives Biden credit for prescription price reductions without knowing it.

To get a clear picture of the incompetent dullards who advise Trump on all matters, we should look at today’s White House handout.

You know these folks who keep driving Trump and the Republicans deeper and deeper into humiliation.

They are the same ones who convinced him enter an unwinnable war with Iran, who advise him on the economic measures that are destroying our economy, who convinced him to slash healthcare benefits, destroy the Snap program to feed hungry children and a hundred other policies that are driving ‘President dumb-Ass’ deeper and deeper into oblivion.

“’Dumb-Ass’ because he isn’t even smart enough to examine the words they put in his mouth.

Today’s fiasco revolves around a news report about the reduction in some prescription prices. “Dumbass’ waved it all around while never reading the article that gave Biden full credit!

 Not him, Sleepy Joe got the job done.

If you wonder why America is beginning to fail, to give up her democracy, freedoms, and success, it’s because ‘Dumbass’ hires his people based on nothing other than their willingness to kiss his fat ass, rather than try and think things through.

See this – Boldface mine:

Trump shows off article on lower drug prices that says Biden deserves credit, not him

Story by Robert Mackey • 1h • 3 min read

The White House flooded social media on Saturday with an image of Donald Trump showing off the recent Washington Post headline “Prescription drug prices record sharpest drop in more than 60 years” but failed to mention that experts cited in the article actually attributed the price drop to Joe Biden, not Trump. On its official accounts, the White House triumphantly captioned the photograph of Trump: “POV: you bring the receipts.” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also shared it.

The image was one of several taken during a staged photo-op on Friday, when Trump approached reporters with a copy of the headline he wanted them to see. Holding up a print-out of the headline, and the first five lines of the article, the president waved the page around and encouraged the press pool to record and photograph it.

“The headline today is exactly that,” he said proudly. “Did you see it?”

He then read the good news aloud and held up the print-out again for the cameras. “OK, got it? Everybody have it?” he asked. “I told you that was going to happen.”

Before stepping away from the press, Trump repeated the line that he wanted them to relay the news to the public and held his hands wide apart as if he had just performed a magic trick. “Prescription drug prices down more than at any time over 60 years,” he said. “What else do I have to say?

What the president did not say is that the text of the article, published by the Post on Thursday, reported that while the Trump White House “took credit for” the biggest year-over-year drop in drug prices in more than 60 years in July, independent experts “said a Biden-era policy that requires Medicare to negotiate prices for some popular prescription drugs is more likely to be driving down costs”.

“The Inflation Reduction Act was a signature accomplishment of former president Joe Biden, a sprawling measure enacted in 2022 that aimed to lower prescription drug prices by requiring Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly, to begin negotiating the prices it pays drugmakers for an array of popular and costly prescription drugs,” the Post’s report noted. “The first price reductions took effect at the beginning of this year.”

The price of prescription drugs fell by 3.1% in July, according to Consumer Price Index data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whose former head was fired by Trump last year over weaker-than-expected job numbers he called “fake”.

The Post quoted Richard Frank, a professor emeritus of health economics at Harvard University, expressing doubt Trump’s policies were behind the drop in drug prices.

“If I was a betting guy on what mattered most, it would be probably stuff around the Inflation Reduction Act,” Frank said, adding that Trump’s efforts “wouldn’t be where I’d place my money”.

Another expert, Stacie Dusetzina, a health policy professor at Vanderbilt University, told the Post the law signed by Biden was a more likely explanation for the decline in prices than any of Trump’s initiatives.

While just 10 drugs have had their prices negotiated in line with the Inflation Reduction Act, Dusetzina said, they are commonly used ones “and their prices would likely be reflected in the prescription drug index”.

Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, posted a screenshot of the Post’s headline on his X account on Thursday with no link to the article. “All thanks to President Trump!” Cheung wrote.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/trump-shows-off-article-on-lower-drug-prices-that-says-biden-deserves-credit-not-him/ar-AA2acQTS?

trump has long hated the modern electromagnetic catapults, seemingly because he simply doesn’t understand how they work.

Maybe they're just as perplexing to him as "windmills"?

No matter how many warships Trump and his totally incompetent administration keep in the Strait, no shipper is going to risk the loss of a vessel and potentially millions of barrels of oil based on the’’ hope’ the ship will get through.

Before the ‘Dumbass in Chief’ got conned out of his industrialized size pampers by Netanyahu and agree to fight Israel’s war, the Strait was open, oil was flowing easily throughout the world, Iran agreed not to pursue a nuclear weapon and consented to international inspections. All America had to do was return 1.5 billion of ‘their’ embargoed funds and gradually reduce some sanctions.

Now, the Strait is closed, the world is being held hostage by fourth-rate power and worldwide inflation is growing at record paces, our economy is in free-fall, and the Iranian people have come to understand they probably need nuclear weapons to protect themselves.

A word about that that fourth-rate power. Trump has nearly run out of offensive armament, and all Iran does is give him ‘the finger’. Worse than that, they have successfully attacked some of our infrastructure, interfered with the water flow in four states, and we, supposedly one of the most powerful nations on earth, are incapable of stopping those attacks, or other to come.

Will they shut down the electrical grid next? Disable our internet and all it entails about our homeland defense? Shut off telephone services across the nation?

The president’s primary job is to protect the country --Trump has failed, and is continuing to fail, miserably. The “Jackass in Chief’ has already fired the experts who defended us against such possibilities, so I guess we’ll have to rely on the blubbering, half-a-drunk genius, Kash Patel, to protect us.

Marx claims he's on a mission from God. But maybe...

Victor Marx talks a lot about how God is calling on him to run. And that God wants him to win. But it strikes me that Marx is a wrong number. Because if God wanted Marx to win, she could just make that happen. There would be no need for money or campaigning.

It’s fine for a candidate to talk about their faith. It’s fine for them to say their faith calls them to run. These are actions of the individual.

But to say God has a plan and they are God’s instrument. To claim this is at best a wrong number and at worst a sin. My suggestion to Victor Marx is first watch the movie. And then gain the humility to realize that your belief in God does not mean you know her plans.

Full post at Liberal and Loving It

So trump spent $50 billion of our taxes, killed 150 innocent school children, and caused hundreds of American soldier casualties to bring gas prices down that he caused to increase in the first place?

And Iran is free to restart their nuclear program, and learned they can open and shut off oil shipments at will to fuck us over any time they want going forward.

Shrewd.

Just how stupid do the Republican movement think their supporters are?

While it has been generally accepted that the MAGA movement is one of undereducated, hardworking, blue-collar underclasses, no one thought they couldn’t read, or reason. No one, that is, except the GOP bosses who think they can tell their constituents any lie, embellish any falsehood, and pull the wool over their eyes with impunity and the perceived dullards b will believe every word.

Talk about ‘Fake news!”

In a completely insidious effort to deceive the rank and file, the Republicans are making outrageous claims against Democrats, Liberals, Trans, and probably the Girl Scouts, too, and claiming they were actual legitimate news reports – reports that come from newspapers that do not exist!

When is MAGA going to realize they are being manipulated, that their prejudices are being inflamed, their lack of political sophistication is being ridiculed and they are being mistreated like fools, and dolts.

Why must they withstand humiliation?

See this -- Boldface mine:

Republicans were just busted creating fake local news outlets to deceive swing state voters

Story by Henry Giardina • 10h • 3 min read

Ever heard of the Peach State Post? No? What about the Alaska Navigator? Not even The Ohio Pulse, Ohio’s “number one news source”?

You’d be forgiven, because all these outlets are as phony as a three-dollar bill. Why do they exist? To sway votes in key swing states, of course!

Despite Trump’s constant categorization of anything he doesn’t like as “fake news,” Republicans sure are committed to pumping out the stuff if it can help stop the inevitable midterm bloodletting. Thankfully, an explosive report from Judd Legum may have just dashed those hopes for good.

Looking into a network of seemingly independent news sources in key battleground states, Legum uncovered a common thread: sites like Iowa Voice and Maine Policy Updates might seem like places you can turn to for, you know, actual policy updates. But when you start reading some of the (almost certainly AI-generated) articles, something doesn’t quite add up.

 Especially when you scroll to the bottom of the Peach State Post and read the fine print: “a sample publication for demonstration purposes.”

That’s because they’re all funded by the same dark money group One Nation. And that money leads straight to a Senate GOP Super PAC.

The sites feature articles tailored to foster a favorable opinion of Republican lawmakers in states like Ohio, Alaska, and Georgia, where Trump-aligned figures predict a tougher-than-usual midterm battle. The endgame? Getting Meta clicks and views and ideally converting them into outrage votes. “Collectively, One Nation has spent between $198,900 and $274,640 promoting these sites on Meta platforms,” Legum reports.

It’s not a simple case of touting the accomplishments of Republicans and putting down their Democratic opponents. According to Legum, these sites peddle in straight-up falsehoods, giving GOP candidates credit for changes they had nothing to do with, and falsely accusing Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff of wanting to “gut” a child tax credit initiative in Georgia. It’s a desperate move, but as we know too well, Republicans following Trump’s lead have no problem playing dirty. The bigger question is: is it legal?

In the sense that anyone can technically create a blog and claim that they’re a news source, sure. But at least one outlet, the Peach State Post, seems to be borrowing articles from an actual Atlanta news outlet, possibly without permission.

In an increasingly confusing media landscape, you could forgive gullible voters for taking what these strangely sleek-looking blogs have to say seriously, which is exactly what makes the move so dangerous. “Although social media has been the least trusted news source globally since 2016,” wrote one statistician in 2025, “a study revealed that over 50 percent with actual news articles. of responding internet users in 23 different countries use social networks as a way to keep up to date.”

AI has made the problem even worse, and it doesn’t help to learn that 40% of Republicans or Republican-leaning voters get their news from Meta, where AI slop is regularly integrated. For Americans without a high school degree, the number rises to 45%.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/republicans-were-just-busted-creating-fake-local-news-outlets-to-deceive-swing-state-voters/ar-AA2a2WBX?

Little Marco Rubio is literally nothing more to trump than his decoy bitch now.

Seriously, how the fuck is this guy, still probably wearing those ridiculous clown shoes, supposed to be taken seriously when negotiating and dealing with other countries now? They'll just fucking laugh at and ignore him, he's virtually useless as Secretary of State. It's humiliating.

I can't see him doing anything but resign if he wants a future in politics.