I dropped the first F-bomb this week. Right in the show’s intro, which was about this burgeoning Middle East quagmire that Trump started - without a purpose, a goal, or any kind of exit plan.
It is a situation that anyone could have guessed would occur if we elected a not-so-bright, ignorant, blustery game show host to lead the most powerful country in the world. TWICE. In fact, it is the exact situation that we were warned about by Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and other leaders who have actual experience in government and diplomacy.
Trump is treating our military like it’s his own personal toy (kind of how he’s treating the Justice Department and DHS and every other branch of government under his control). His administration already took a wrecking ball to institutions, policies, and alliances that have benefited Americans and others for the last eighty years. Now his unwarranted war of choice is wreaking havoc on the entire world.
Whatever the United States was - it is no longer, and will never be the same.
So I was feeling frustrated when I joined Karoli and Aliza for our weekly chat. And they are feeling it, too. After all, our Democratic leaders - who have very little power right now - have not been able to stop the wrecking ball.
Which - as Aliza points out - is not to say that some of the Democrats in Congress have not tried. Right now, the Democrats are mostly holding fast on refusing any new funds for the Department of Homeland Security. This fight has been at a standstill for weeks, and the three of us agree that this is exactly the kind of leverage the minority party should be using.
But that brings us back to this unbudgeted, enormously expensive war that we started. Will Democrats be willing to hold up its funding, too? What about the nomination of Markwayne Mullin to succeed Kristi Noem at DHS? Or the SAVE Act, a voter suppression scheme that Trump wants enacted so he can steal some more elections? Right now, it does. not appear that it can get even all the Republicans on board to pass it - but the mere fact of its existence is upsetting.
This week, we also talked about how this war is using up most of the oxygen we need to continue our focus on the Epstein files (although there is still news of that to discuss, and we did). We also exulted in some more Democratic electoral wins around the country, and made plans to be part of the upcoming No Kings events on March 28.
Yes, right now we are metaphorically locked into a hotel room with Donald Trump blaring on the TV 24-7 - but it’s NOT forever. And we have the power to make it stop.
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