Tag Archives: Donald Trump

Tragedy and Policy.

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            Venezuelan despots Hugo Chavez, then Nicholas Maduro sparked a gigantic flood of refugees from their country.[1]  By October 2022, an estimated 7 million people had fled the country, more than 20 percent of the population.  The emigration began with the country’s elites, then ate down into other layers of society as political oppression led to economic catastrophe.[2]  The Biden administration gestured at expelling some of the illegal immigrants under Covid-era “Title 42” provisions.  For the rest, it adopted a “remain in Texas” policy which infuriated both the people of border areas and Texas governor Greg Abbott.  In April 2022, the Biden administration ended “Title 42” expulsions.  Governor Abbott began bussing illegal immigrants from Texas to various self-proclaimed “sanctuary cities” in loudly Progressive areas.  New York City became the chief destination of both “Operation Lone Star” busees and the greater number who made their own way.[3]  Soon, New York City and many other places had migrant crises of their own.[4]  New York City began taking control of disused or under-used hotels to house the migrants.  For example, the city took over the Roosevelt Hotel as one of these facilities.[5]

            In September 2022 a Venezuelan named Jose Antonio Ibarra illegally entered the United States near El Paso, Texas.  Probably, he hoped to connect with a brother who had entered the United States illegally at an earlier date.[6]  ICE officers detained him soon afterward and then released him.  Like many other Venezuelan migrants, Ibarra traveled to New York City. where he stayed in the Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter.  In September 2023, he was arrested for “acting in a manner to injure a child less than 17.”  Released on bond before ICE could issue a detainer order,[7] he blew town for Athens, Georgia, where his brother lived.  No sooner did the two get together than they went to stealing.  In October 2023, the brothers were arrested in possession of goods stolen from a local Walmart.  They were released.  Then Jose Antonio Ibarra was arrested for shoplifting.  He was released, but failed to appear for a court hearing in December 2023.  The judge issued a bench warrant for his arrest.   Athens, Georgia, police failed to locate Ibarra over the next two months.  On 22 February 2024, Ibarra murdered a 22 year-old nursing student named Laken Riley.  Arrested and tried, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

            The case received a lot of media attention.  In March 2024, just after Ibarra’s arrest, the House of Representatives passed the “Laken Riley Act.”  The law required the Department of Homeland Security to detain illegal immigrants who “[are] charged with, [are] arrested for, [are] convicted of, [admit to] having committed, or [admit to] committing” theft-related crimes.  The vote was 251–170, with 37 Democrats and all Republicans voting in favor.  It went to the Senate, where it just sat.  Progressives argued that the law would allow the “indefinite detention, without bail, of any undocumented immigrant—including minors, asylum seekers, or “Dreamers” brought here as children—who is merely arrested for, not convicted of, nonviolent crimes like theft.”[8]  Democrats had control of the Senate at that point, so cooler heads (or colder hearts) prevailed. 

Put simply, the Laken Riley case asked the question: how many American citizens have to die in the pursuit of “a blinkered delusion with purchase on only the progressive fringes of American politics”?[9]  In November 2024, Democrats lost the Senate as well as the White House.  Anger over illegal immigration provided one big driver in the election.  In January 2025, the new Senate immediately passed the bill while adding “assaulting a police officer, or a crime that results in death or serious bodily injury like drunk driving” to the list of offenses.  In addition, the law allows states to sue the Department of Homeland Security if they believe that the law is not being enforced.[10]  This time, many Democrats scrambled to support the bill: 48 in the House and 32 in the Senate voted in favor.  The House approved the revised bill and President Donald Trump signed it into law. 

            A long and winding road from the rise of a Venezuelan Marxist dictator to the death of an American nursing student to a backlash bill over a neglected problem. 

[1] Probably not the sort of thing that gets your image on the currency a hundred years later. 

[2] A basic introduction is Venezuelan refugee crisis – Wikipedia  There is a good deal of journalism on the story, but—so far—no really good book to recommend. 

[3] GEORGE BENSON On Broadway Album Version 

[4] See: New York City migrant housing crisis – Wikipedia  See also: Nelson – ha ha 

[5] The Roosevelt Hotel had been built during a happier and more optimistic time in America.  See: Roosevelt Hotel (Manhattan) – Wikipedia and Terminal City (Manhattan) – Wikipedia  More evidence, if any is needed, that we are not the country we once were.  Could we be once more? 

[6] The brother is believed to be a member of the Tren de Aragua crime organization.  See: Tren de Aragua – Wikipedia  Both the violence and pervasiveness of the gang in the United States seems over-stated, notably by President Trump.

[7] “[T]he defining characteristic of a sanctuary city in the US” is prohibiting “the use of city funds and resources to assist federal immigration enforcement.” 

[8] “Immigration: the Laken Riley bill advances,” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 17. 

[9] Senator John Fetterman  (D-Pennsylvania) quoted in ibid.   

[10] Laken Riley Act – Wikipedia 

Redeemable.

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            Experts are gravely concerned about the state of the Defense Department and of America’s military forces.[1]  In a nutshell, it is doubted that the United States could win a conventional war with a great power opponent, by which is meant China.  We need an honest and probing discussion of these issues.[2]  Instead, Peter Hegseth’s nomination for Secretary of Defense unleashed a cloudburst of moral indignation about his philandering,[3] possible sexual assault, drinking, opposition to women serving in combat arms, and proven inability to organize even a two-car parade.[4]  Hegseth himself talked about restoring a warrior culture and “lethality” to American forces, in part by dismantling D.I.E. initiatives.[5]  Much less senatorial and press attention was devoted to his views on issues of budgeting, recruitment,[6] threat assessments, and strategy.  Then there was the charge that Hegseth “has also defended soldiers convicted of war crimes and urged their pardon, which puts our military’s honor at risk.”[7]  Indeed, he did.[8]  Again, the politics of personalities took pride of place.  (Lots of ‘literation let loose.)  Initially, many Republican senators found the allegations “very disturbing.”  Many people thought that he would go the way of the failed nominee for Attorney, Matt Gaetz.[9]  In response, Hegseth confessed that “I have failed in things in my life, and thankfully I’m redeemed by my Lord and Savior Jesus.”  However, President Trump dug in behind Hegseth.  After an intense lobbying effort,[10] Hegseth won confirmation by the narrowest margin possible.  If he fails as Secretary of Defense,[11] we’re all liable to be redeemed by his Lord and Savior. 

[1] For an alarming report, see: “The System Is Blinking Red” 2. | waroftheworldblog  For well-informed discussions of some specific issues, see: Ep 169: Dmitry Filipoff on Naval Warfare in 2025 | Nebulous; Ep 165: Shyam Sankar on a Defense Reformation | Nebulous; Ep 161: Mackenzie Eaglen on China’s Military Spending and Ours | Nebulous  I am grateful to my son, Evan Hill, for alerting me to Aaron Maclean and his  podcast “School of War.” 

[2] See the testimony to Congress of Secretary of Defense General Lloyd Austin (ret.).  Bing Videos 

[3] In one sense, this preoccupation is justified, rather than (OK, as well as) purely salacious.  Adultery is barred by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Hegseth would be the civilian chief of an organization whose military personnel are required to live under a moral code he has had great difficulty acknowledging.  See: UCMJ Adultery: Punishment For Cheating In The Military

[4] “Senators grill Hegseth, other Trump nominees,” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 5. 

[5] See the column by Bret Stephens, “D.E.I. Will Not Be Missed,” NYT, 29 January 2025. 

[6] Male recruitment has fallen by about 22 percent since 2015.  Female recruitment has not surged enough to make up the difference.  In any case, too many volunteers cannot meet the threshold qualifications for physical fitness and health (physical fitness).  They are rejected before they can flunk out of Basic Training.  “Noted,” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 16 

[7] Editorial in WSJ, quoted in “Senators grill Hegseth, other Trump nominees,” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 5.

[8] At the same time, it is uncomfortable at the least to observe the posturing on this matter by journalists and politicians.  One chief subject of Hegseth’s lobbying was Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher.  Gallagher was charged with—among other crimes—the murder of a wounded ISIS prisoner in Iraq.  Gallagher was on his eighth deployment.  The Defense Department doesn’t send SEALs (or Army Rangers) to guard convoys or the perimeter of airfields.  They send them into high-stress situations.  They do it repeatedly.  Someone is bound to crack.  Then they get court-martialed.  What about the civilian and military command structure that sent them?  In any event, see Eddie Gallagher (Navy SEAL) – Wikipedia 

[9] “Trump taps ‘Deep State’ critic Patel to lead FBI,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 4. 

[10] Some of which targeted Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), herself an Army National Guard veteran who served in Kuwait during the Iraq War.  Reportedly, some the pressure got ugly and went beyond normal jawboning or horse-trading.  “GOP senators fall in line behind Trump’s pick,” The Week, 20 December 2024, p. 5. 

[11] What am I saying, “If”?  He isn’t Bob Gates. 

Diary of the Second Addams Administration 1.

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            President Donald Trump has been inaugurated.  I didn’t watch the inauguration, but I don’t watch any political speeches.  They’re all just flannel.  Well, truth be told, I did see a little bit of it.  Thing ran over into the news slot as if it was something important like a football game.  Trump was signing Executive Orders with a Sharpie.  Here we have a lesson.  If you ever see a president signing laws or Executive Orders, he’s doing it at his desk in the West Wing; then he hands the pens to the well-dressed (but not too well because we wouldn’t want to lose the common touch) politicians and dignitaries who have been invited into the presidential sanctum.  Trump diverged from traditional practice.[1]  He signed on the little stage in the Capitol, in front of an audience of his supporters.  Then he tossed the collection of pens into the crowd one by one.  Ordinary Americans (well, OK, “Trump supporters”), not a bunch of inside-the-Beltway lifers, got the souvenir pens.  Symbolic. 

            President Joe Biden went off into a dignified retirement after attending the inauguration.  Examining the entrails of the Democrats’ November 2024 disaster, some reporters tried an early assessment of the 46th President.  He ran in 2020 and again in 2024 to prevent Donald Trump from having a second term.  Succeeded the first time, then failed the second time said one.  He committed one long series of unforced errors, said another.  There was the retreat from Afghanistan; there was the border crisis; and there was the decision to run for re-election.  That list isn’t long enough, claimed two others.  Biden promised, and then failed, to govern as a centrist and healer of a divided nation.  In office, he veered hard left with inflationary financing of an expansive legislative program, an open border, sponsorship of D.I.E. policies, and characterizing Republicans as “semi-fascist.”[2] 

            Others sprang to Biden’s defense.  According to one, Biden made Covid vaccination widely available; he gave Ukraine enough arms and aid to “fight invading Russian troops to a stalemate”; and he spent $1.9 billion of new money on his favored projects.  He just had a messaging problem, said another.  Voter will be sorry they voted for Trump predicted a third.[3] 

            Biden’s reputation will be harmed by revelations of how his confidants managed his decline to deceive the public.[4]   Right at the moment, ordinary Americans take a dim view of Biden.  A recent Gallup poll reported that more than half (54 percent) of respondents think that Biden will go down in history as a below-average or poor president; 26 percent see him as average; 19 percent believe that he will be seen as above average or outstanding.[5] 

            So, “Let the Games of the Forty-Seventh Presidency Begin.” 

[1] Doubtless once again bursting through “the guardrails of our democracy.”  The NYT is a HOA, as well as other, more admirable things.  Dwight Manfredi vs. HOA 🫣 Tulsa King (Season 2) 

[2] The writers are Matt Lewis in The Hill, Anthony Zurcher in BBC News, Bret Stephens in the NYT, and Ruy Texeira in The Free Press.  All cited in “President Biden: How will history judge his legacy?” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 6. 

[3] Eugene Robinson in the Washington Post; Peter Coy in NYT; and Doyle McManus in Los Angeles Times.  All cited in “President Biden: How will history judge his legacy?” The Week, 24 January 2025, p. 6.

[4] See: How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge – WSJ; How Biden’s Inner Circle Worked to Keep Signs of Aging Under Wraps – WSJ

[5] “Poll Watch,” The Week, 17 January 2025, p. 17. 

Manosphere.

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According to one student of these matters, “Legacy media is dying.”[1]  (Committing suicide might be closer to the mark.[2])  readers have fled the daily newspapers and viewers the network television news.  Expertise is deeply discounted.  What has taken/will take its place?  The commonly offered bogeyman is the fractured, unregulated, irresponsible internet.  Any idiot can spread his/her/their opinion, and many do.[3]  That monster is hydra-headed. 

One head rears in the “manosphere.”  It emerged as a reaction against hostile interpretations—chiefly by men–of “political correctness,”[4] “wokeness,”[5] “cancel culture,”[6] and feminism.[7]  Many conservative commentators took aim at all of these in elite publications.  What normal or ordinary people take any notice of elite sources, conservative or progressive?  However, schools and corporate human relations departments gobbled up the new thought.  Many young men felt bruised by the deprecation of traditional forms of manly behavior they encountered in school and at work.[8] 

The “Manosphere” emerged out of this reaction.[9]  It is a social media world that strongly attracts certain young men.  Not a few either.  Joe Rogan,[10] the Big Honcho of this circus, has 14.5 million followers for his podcast on Spotify, and 200 million downloads a month.[11]  In his earlier life, Rogan was a Mixed Martial Artist (MMA), a stand-up comic, and a host for the television show “Fear Factor.”  Since 2009, he has hosted “The Joe Rogan Experience.”[12] 

Rogan fills his shows with discussions of “comedy, mixed martial arts, alternative medicine, aliens, and psychedelic drugs.”  His competitors “banter about sports, fighting, women, pop culture, and video games.”[13]  Sometimes he strays into broadly politically-charged topics.  Rogan’s been called on some of his statements.  He’s responded by saying that he’s a “f…ing moron” and that no one should see him as “a respected source of information.” 

We need better versions of both “manliness” and “credible news.”  Abuse won’t do it. 

[1] Seton Hall professor of Communications Jess Rauchberg, quoted in “Joe Rogan’s world,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 11.    

[2] See ABC World News Tonight with David Muir Full Broadcast – Jan. 23, 2025, especially the second half of the show with the apparently obligatory stories on shootings with dramatic film; bad weather headed East with pictures of jack-knifed semis; non-fatal trauma in the skies or at the airport with dramatic film; courtroom report from a lurid crime; celebrity news, especially if it involves a product of ABC’s owner, Disney; and a heart-warming story under the label of “America Strong.”  Or you can follow Holman Jenkins’ columns in the WSJ upbraiding mainstream print journalism for its stupidity and bias in the treatment of Donald Trump, a politician whom Jenkins abhors. 

[3] Look at me.  I’ve got a WordPress account and an internet connection. 

[4] See: Political correctness – Wikipedia  Itself a model of political correctness.  Also, Inclusive language – Wikipedia 

[5] See: Woke – Wikipedia 

[6] See: Cancel culture – Wikipedia 

[7] See: Wells for Boys – SNL – YouTube  No, you really gotta! 

[8] See: After Dark – Fight Club | REJECT WEAKNESS, EMBRACE MASCULINITY    

[9] It appears to be an appropriation of the earlier British “Lad culture.”  Lad culture – Wikipedia  The following seems to capture the moment.  Chumbawamba – Tubthumping – YouTube   A new “British invasion.” 

[10] See: Joe Rogan – Wikipedia 

[11] “Joe Rogan’s world,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 11. 

[12] For a brief clip of Rogan, see: All Shooters Have One Thing In Common | Joe Rogan & Michael Shellenberger  For a full episode, see: Joe Rogan Experience #2260 – Lex Fridman  Rogan’s interviews run for about three hours and are unstructured.  Donald Trump sat for one.  Joe Biden, understandably, did not.  Oddly, neither did Harris. 

[13] “Joe Rogan’s world,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 11.    

Think about this.

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            “In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit [to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in 2018, burial place of many American dead from the First World War], Trump said, ‘Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.’ In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as ‘suckers’ for getting killed.”[1] 

            Soon thereafter, “one unnamed senior official with the U.S. Department of Defense and one senior U.S. Marine Corps officer confirmed the 2018 cemetery remarks from the above report in interviews with The Associated Press (AP). According to the AP, the official had firsthand knowledge of Trump’s remarks, and the officer had been told about them.”[2] 

            Donald Trump, National Security Adviser John Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo all denied that Trump had said these things.  Bolton was not then and has never become a Trump loyalist. 

            In “a separate incident of Trump visiting the grave of [General John] Kelly’s son who was killed in action in Afghanistan, ….. Trump allegedly asked of military personnel who volunteered to join the service, ‘What was in it for them?’” 

            In an October 2023 speech, President Joe Biden referred explicitly to the reported remarks.  Immediately afterward, General John Kelly, who had been serving as Trump’s chief of staff, endorsed the original report. 

            The Snopes evaluation concluded: “In sum, the claim stemmed from a story by The Atlantic, which relied on anonymous, second-hand reports of Trump’s alleged words; there was no independent footage or documented proof to substantiate the in-question comments; and Trump vehemently denies that he once called service members “losers” and “suckers.” While it was certainly possible that he said those things, Snopes was unable to independently verify the claim.”  Nevertheless, those stories were widely reported by media outlets.[3] 

Personally, I believe them.  So, what to make of the following? 

First, the military faces a recruitment “crisis.”[4]

Second, based on November 2024 exit-polls for presidential candidates.[5] 

                                    Trump             Biden/Harris  Percent of the overall vote. 

Veterans                      65%                 34%                 13% 

Non-Veterans              48%                 50%                 87%    

            In the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and related anti-Islamist raiding elsewhere, do veterans now think that Trump got it right?  Do they think that they have been betrayed by the country they volunteered to defend?  Did they put Trump in the White House?   

[1] Jeffrey Goldberg, “Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are ‘Losers’ and ‘Suckers’,” The Atlantic, 3 September 2020.  The accusations and denials are examined in Did Trump Call Fallen Soldiers ‘Suckers’ and ‘Losers’? | Snopes.com

[2] Report: Trump disparaged US war dead as ‘losers,’ ‘suckers’ | AP News 

[3] For example, see: Trump disparaged U.S. military casualties as ‘losers,’ ‘suckers,’ report says | PBS News; Did Trump call US war dead “losers” and “suckers”? | Vox. 

[4] The Military Recruiting Outlook Is Grim Indeed. Loss of Public Confidence, Political Attacks and the Economy Are All Taking a Toll. | Military.com makes interesting reading. 

[5] 2024 United States presidential election – Wikipedia 

Prologue to a Diary of the Second Addams Administration 14.

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            On 6 January 2021, a mob of between 2,000 and 4,000 people attacked the Capitol building.  Their goal was to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as President.[1] 

            The numbers are more than a little wonky.  First, how many people attended the Trump rally?  “The House Select Committee that investigated the events of Jan. 6 estimated that Trump’s speech drew 53,000 supporters.”[2]  Second, how many people marched from the rally to the Capitol?  “Federal officials estimate that about ten thousand rioters entered the Capitol grounds,…”  The “grounds proper consist mostly of lawns, walkways, streets, drives, and planting areas” surrounding the actual Capitol building.[3]  Third, how many people actually attacked the police lines and then broke into the Capitol building?  “[T]he Secret Service and FBI have estimated that from 2,000 to 2,500 ultimately entered the building.”[4] 

So, the crowd funneled down from 50,000 at the rally to 10,000 who gathered around the Capitol to 2,500 people who actually entered the Capitol.  It seems unlikely to me that someone would attack the police lines, advance to the outside of the building, and then not enter.  So, did about 2,500 of the 53,000 at the rally take violent action? 

The attack on the Capitol made for a harrowing television spectacle.  Thereafter, Democratic political leaders called Trump a “fascist” and a “genuine threat to democracy.” 

These charges seem not to have resonated with many voters.  Why 6 January 2021 didn’t permanently sink Trump’s political fortunes presents something of a puzzle.  The mainstream news coverage, both in print and on the Devil Box, made the basic things pretty clear.  Despite its bitterly partisan make-up, the January 6 Committee did an excellent job of bringing forward a huge mass of evidence. 

And yet…  A recent YouGov poll reported that 29 percent of respondents “believe the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol was legitimate political discourse.”  Almost half (46 percent) “describe it as a violent insurrection.”[5]  Unless there is a big overlap between the two groups, then 25 percent of respondents either didn’t know what to think or thought that the events fell somewhere between legitimate political speech and a violent insurrection.  The favored explanation in the WSJ is that subsequent Democratic “lawfare” pushed people to rally around Trump.  The Democratic explanation might be summarized as “They’re a bunch of idiots who shouldn’t have the right to vote.”  Until many of their own voters jumped ship in November 2024.  Another explanation might be that many people have a pretty good idea of who Trump is as a person.  Maybe they went “Got that out of your system, Don?  Feel better now?” 

On 6 January 2025, Congress certified the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States.  Defeated Presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris presided gracefully over the ceremony. 

The story would be hard to believe if we hadn’t lived through it.    

[1] “Congress certifies Trump win on Jan. 6 anniversary,” The Week, 17 January 2025, p. 4. 

[2] Jonathan Limehouse, “Trump compare Jan. 6 crowd size to MLK march,” USAToday, 9 August 2024. 

[3] On the Capitol grounds, see: United States Capitol – Wikipedia 

[4] See: January 6 United States Capitol attack – Wikipedia and Alan Feuer, “Capital Attack Prosecutions Have Ensnared Over 1,380 People,” NYT, 16 April 2024. 

[5] “Poll Watch,” The Week, 17 January 2025, p. 17. 

The Biden Decline Chronology.

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            In January 2024, President Joe Biden began the new year with a job approval rating in the area of 40 percent.  That is where it had been hanging for some time. 

            In February 2024 Special Counsel Robert Hur argued that his chance of winning a post-presidential case against Biden for “willfully retaining” secret documents would be unlikely to succeed: Biden would present as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”  Democrats heaped abuse on Hur as a Republican partisan who strayed from his brief. 

            In March 2024, Donald Trump led Biden in opinion polls by 1-2 percent. 

            In June 2024, Biden gave a disastrous performance in his first scheduled debate with Trump.  The “cognitive decline” on display seemed much worse than what Robert Hur had described.  Democratic support for Biden immediately collapsed. 

            In July 2024, Biden withdrew from the race under massive pressure from leading Democratic politicians orchestrated by former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Biden immediately endorsed his failed Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement.  This short-circuited the possibility of a mini-primary selection process favored by the people who had forced out Biden.[1] 

            In August 2024, Harris chose Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her Vice President candidate.  A bump in opinion polls more than reversed Trump’s 1-2 point lead over Biden to a 2-3 point lead for Harris.  Joy spread everywhere among Democrats. 

            In September 2024, Harris clearly won her debate with Trump.  The Joy Juggernaut gathered speed.  From this point onward, President Biden was really Former President Biden. 

            In October 2024, opinion polls showed that the Harris rebound had ebbed.  Trump and Harris were tied.  This shift occurred in spite of “mis-steps” by the Trump campaign.[2]  As the election drew nigh, the mood in the Harris campaign was described as “nauseously optimistic.” 

            In early November 2024, Trump defeated Harris 49.9 percent to 48.4 percent of the vote. 

            In December 2024, the Former President Biden riff gathered speed.  He embarked on a series of exhausting foreign trips far from the ugly realities at home.  President-Elect Trump was courted by foreign leaders even before he takes office.  Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden for anything he did or may have done since 2014.[3]  Later, he pardoned almost everyone on the Federal “Death Row.”  This included Kaboni Savage.[4]  Will he pre-emptively pardon Luigi Mangioni for any Federal crimes? 

            In a particularly awful irony, the sitting Vice President, Kamala Harris, will have to preside over the Senate when it certifies the results of the November 2024 presidential election.  Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) takes over if Harris understandably skips out.    

[1] Before he named Harris as his Vice President, a photographer caught a picture of Biden carrying a note that said of Harris “Do not hold grudges.”  Biden’s notes on display: ‘Do not hold grudges’ against Sen. Kamala Harris  Apparently, he has to be reminded. 

[2] Trump’s speeches became much longer and more wandery-aroundy, and it was noted that people attending them began to leave after a while.  However, Trump did about twice as many campaign events as did Biden and Harris.  It looks like he was becoming exhausted, while his opponents were, frankly, indolent either through age or basic nature. 

[3] I’d a done the same thing.  For my sons, not for Hunter.  But putting Hunter, a recovering drug addict, in prison as punishment for some non-violent crimes wouldn’t do the kid—or society at large–any good.  He’s still got a chance to make a decent life. 

[4] See: Kaboni Savage – Wikipedia 

Prologue to a Diary of the Second Addams Administration 10.

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The Agenda: deporting the illegals and others. 

Broadly, immigrants vulnerable to President-Elect Donald Trump’s promised “mass deportations” fall into three categories.[1]  First, there are the illegal immigrants, whom Democrats long preferred to call “undocumented immigrants,” as if there had been some kind of bureaucratic snafu.  Second, there are those seeking asylum in the United States on the grounds that they face grave danger in their own home county.[2]  Third, there are those in the United States who have been granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS).[3] 

There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.  One careful estimate for the period February 2021 through October 2023 suggested that 4.2 million people had found entry into the United States.  Of these, about 2.5-2.6 million had been released into the country, while 1.6 million were estimated to have evaded all contact with the Border Patrol.  A further 2.8 million were expelled immediately back to Mexico.[4] 

Who goes first?  Thomas Homan, Trump’s nominated ICE commissioner, says that illegal immigrants who have committed crimes in the United States in addition to having entered the country illegally, will head the list.  Homan also has said that Texas provides a good model for national policy.  Texas governor Greg Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star” has called out the National Guard and put physical barriers along and in the Rio Grande.  Texas has also sent about 120,000 illegal immigrants to Democrat-led cities in the North. 

For a good while now, some Democrat-led cities have declared themselves “sanctuary” cities where local authorities will not co-operate with ICE.  These same cities often receive federal funding for various programs.  The Trump administration could try to compel co-operation by holding back these funds. 

One question is “Can this policy succeed?”  A second question is “What will it cost?”   The latter question has two sides to it.  On the one hand, there is a monetary expense to the government.  One estimate is that deporting a million people a year would cost $88 billion a year.  On the other hand, the illegals work in great numbers in construction, farming, restaurants, and hospitality.  Who will take those jobs if the illegals are deported?  American teenagers and college kids?  The homeless?  Folks for whom coding “boot camp” didn’t work out?  Another cost will come in fewer houses built, less fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores, slower service in restaurants, and longer turn-around times for hotel rooms.  All of it at a higher price. 

So why do it?  One answer is “Democracy, that’s why.”  According to an Ipsos poll,[5] fifty percent of Americans favor shutting down the U.S.-Mexican border.  Citizens live under the laws of their country.  To see the laws openly flaunted may be infuriating.  To see the spike in demand on various kinds of humanitarian support services in places where the illegal immigrants first arrive may be infuriating.  The pay-off through their eventual contributions to the country may be hard to discern in the current moment.  It’s a tough parlay to make. 

[1] “Immigration: Preparing for the crackdown,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 17. 

[2] In 2023, about 750,000 people applied for asylum.  Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands p. 3.  Many of the illegals released from custody are asylum-seekers. 

[3] There were 1.2 million people with TPS in March 2024.  How TPS has expanded under the Biden administration | Pew Research Center 

[4] Lori Robertson, Breaking Down the Immigration Figures – FactCheck.org  27 February 2024.  Old-timers may wonder if the “gotaway” estimates resemble the Vietnam War “body counts” of our youth. 

[5] “Poll Watch,” The Week, 6 December 2024, p. 17. 

Prologue to a Diary of the Second Addams Administration 9.

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            Is it emblematic of American politics and the media that we are talking so much about individual people, rather than about the deep problems facing America that the people have been nominated to address?  For example, Donald Trump has nominated Peter Hegseth for Secretary of Defense.[1]  It seems beyond doubt that Hegseth is utterly unqualified for the job.[2]  Yet it took Hegseth’s nomination to elicit a warning that “Head-spinning technological changes are revolutionizing combat” and China is “expanding its nuclear forces and space capabilities.”  Not much of a pressing topic in coverage of the Biden administration, but now cited as a justification for rejecting Hegseth.[3] 

Is the Federal Bureau of Investigation in need of sweeping change and reform?  Well, it was excoriated in the Report of the 9-11 Commission.  Some thought was then given to removing the FBI’s counter-intelligence division and creating an entirely new agency.  The FBI promised to do better, so it managed to hold on to this responsibility.  Now, though, one observer claimed that the intelligence agencies “are in desperate need of reform.”  If the FBI does need reform, then what sort of person is best suited to head the FBI?  Do we want “a rabid critic of the very institution he’s being asked to lead”?  As opposed to what, a senior career FBI official who believes that things are pretty much OK the way they are? 

Donald Trump believes that the FBI does need “reform.” The basis for his belief is “Crossfire Hurricane,” which conducted a prolonged investigation of an accusation that Trump knew—not “believed,” but knew—to be false.  That investigation badly disrupted his first term as President.  The investigations by Michael Horowitz, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, and John Durham, a Special Prosecutor appointed by Attorney General Bill Barr, documented the origins of the allegations of “collusion” in a dirty trick carried out by the Hillary Clinton campaign.  It was facilitated and prolonged by inexplicable “errors” committed by members of the investigation team. 

President-Elect Trump nominated Kash Patel to replace FBI Director Christopher Wray, although Wray still has three years to run in his ten-year term.  Other than Republican Senators, almost everyone from the left to the right thought this a terrible idea.  William Kristol, for example, warned that Patel would “use the FBI to carry out Trump’s professed agenda of political retribution.”  Worse, it would put a Trump loyalist in charge of the FBI, the national police force.  If Patel gets the job, wrote David Frum, “the seizure of power [Trump] unsuccessfully attempted in 2021 could be underway in 2025.”  Unfortunately, Republican Senators are the only people with opinions that matter. 

In addition to escaping two impeachments unscathed and unrepentant, Trump has also escaped Special Counsel Jack Smith.[4]  Smith closed down his inquiries because of the Justice Department ban on prosecuting a sitting president.  A judge dismissed the charges “without prejudice.”  He can be prosecuted again in 2029, once he’s an elderly man with a poor memory. 

[1] “Trump taps ‘Deep State” critic Patel to lead FBI,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p.4. 

[2] Not only unqualified, but unqualified in multiple ways.  People seem confident that if he managed to not mess up in one way, then he would mess up in another. 

[3] See: “The System Is Blinking Red” 2. | waroftheworldblog 

[4] “Trump: Beyond the reach of the law,” The Week, 13 December 2024, p. 17. 

“It’s pretty bad.”

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            President Joe Biden has pardoned his son Hunter Biden. After promising on national television not to pardon him. 

I’d a done the same.  For my sons of course, not for Hunter Biden.  I understand why Joe Biden did it.[1]  I don’t hold it against him.  Fathers among the “commentariat” are either going to skip the chance to be interviewed or say what I just said. 

That said, “it’s pretty bad.”[2] 

For one thing, there are a lot of people who are in prison now or who have been in prison for some other equivalent crime.  What relief do they get?  None.  Apparently, according to a person being interviewed on the PBS “News Hour” last night, President Joe Biden has an unusually thin record on granting pardons.  He’s not a naturally empathetic or merciful guy.  So the pardon for Hunter seems to me to be an even greater injustice than it appears at first blush. 

Then, there’s the nature of the pardon.  A while ago, Hunter had a plea deal with the Feds go south at the last minute.[3]  There were a couple of reasons for that.  One of them was the scope of what was covered by the plea deal.  Hunter’s lawyers claimed that the plea deal covered anything that he had ever done.  The Feds claimed that it covered only the gun and tax charges. 

Hunter Biden’s lawyers may have had the rights of it.  However, a firestorm had blown up because two Internal Revenue Service investigators swore under oath that there had been Department of Justice meddling with their investigation.  Republicans and the media jumped on these allegations with varying degrees of ferocity.  So, the Feds may have crawfished at the last moment.  No blanket plea deal for Hunter Biden. 

Now, in the lees of his Presidency,[4] Joe Biden has granted Hunter Biden a blanket pardon for anything he did or may have done in the last ten years.  Same as the plea deal he didn’t get before.  The sweeping nature of the pardon makes me wonder if there are serious things as yet unknown to the public.  If so, were they known to, but not investigated by, the Department of Justice under the Trump and Biden administrations? 

In any case, there is likely to be a rat hunt under the direction of whoever ends up as Attorney General in the Trump administration.  Just because they can’t prosecute Hunter Biden doesn’t mean that they can’t investigate.  And compel testimony.  And prosecute for perjury if it can be proved.  Trump is no more empathetic or merciful than is Joe Biden. 

[1] I got called to participate in an intervention.  Drugs.  We do the intervention and the person agrees to go into a treatment center; the person does a bunk along the way; we spend a lot of time looking for him/her/they before he/she/they finally surfaces.  Along the way, I call the police, asking if I can nark on the person, get him/her/they off the street.  The cop says, “If he/she/they have a problem with drugs, jail is the last place you want him/her/them: easier to get drugs there than on the street.”  NB: Language adapted to modern times. 

[2] One of my sons, who has not needed a pardon. 

[3] For a quick overview, see: Weiss special counsel investigation – Wikipedia 

[4] It must be a sad and bitter time for him.  Finally elected to the office for which he had always hungered, his policies inflicted hardship on low-income people; he suffered a humiliating defeat on national television in the debate with Doanld Trump; then got tossed overboard by a mutiny among the colleagues with whom he had spent his working life; then saw his hand-picked Vice President and hand-picked successor candidate go down in flames; then saw himself blamed by many Democrats for having caused the defeat.  In these circumstances, he may well have felt that he was owed SOMETHING by this rotten system.