Surely you’ve heard of Dangerous Liaisons, but now we’re in the midst of dangerous distractions. While the Trump administration and much of the news media is distracted by the Jeffrey Epstein case, the world’s problems haven’t gone away. I realize the Epstein case isn’t just another tawdry tabloid story, but something of symbolic importance to MAGA. It’s easy to see that Epstein’s crimes exemplify the arrogance, corruption, and immorality they have rightly come to see as synonymous with America’s elites. MAGAs were promised a batch of wealthy left-wing pedophiles to lynch and after all this time they’re still waiting. Now Trump is tossing out every excuse in the book and changing course even more quickly than he changes his tariffs. A lot of his claims, such as blaming it all on “radical left lunatics,” don’t even make sense by MAGA standards.
We can take satisfaction in watching MAGA turn on itself, but I fear it’s yet another distraction from Trump’s real objective—looting the country on behalf of his billionaire buddies. And the raucous circus is just getting started. He claims his 2003 note to Epstein published by the Wall Street Journal is a fake and is suing its parent company, News Corp, and its owner, Rupert Murdock, for $10 billion. Supposedly he’s growing “weary” with his AG, Pam Bondi, over the whole situation, but that’s nothing like the weariness the country is feeling over this ultimate MAGA conspiracy theory.
Speaking of weariness, Republicans continue to tout the president’s “phenomenal accomplishments” during this first six months in office, but much of what they view as achievements are nothing but disasters in the making. Among the highlights…
Rather than ending the war in Ukraine, as Trump promised during his campaign, the situation appears to be getting worse, with Russia increasing its attacks on civilian targets. While it comes as good news that Trump seems to have woken up to the truth about Vladimir Putin and decided to renew America’s commitment to Ukraine, Russia is once again threatening to use nuclear weapons. While we’re all preoccupied squabbling over the Epstein files, humanity’s survival may rest in the hands of the mad king, or rather, two mad kings.
If there’s Anything Worse than Trump and Putin Being Friends and Allies, it’s Having them Be Enemies.
All this while the destruction that will undoubtedly be unleashed by Trump’s self-inflicted trade wars/wounds is still waiting in the wings, as are the economic repercussions if the president fires Fed Chairman Jerome Powell. The president wants to stimulate the economy (known in economic circles as “quantitative easing”), but given no one knows where the tariffs will land, the risk of inflation is a legitimate concern. And thanks to the enormous tax cut contained in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, we know our already out-of-control deficit is going to skyrocket. Since World War I, the United States has benefited greatly from the dollar being the world’s international reserve currency, but if the dollar continues to be devalued, which it most certainly will if we can’t pay the interest on our national debt, that will surely change.
All Trump’s Orange Makeup Can Only Cover so Much for so Long.
Finally, there’s no avoiding President Trump’s questionable health and disturbing appearance. After enduring Biden’s obvious decline it looks like we could be in for more of the same or worse with Trump. Instead of a muttering old man who oftentimes didn’t seem to know where he was, we find ourselves stuck with a dangerous mad king. And a chronic vein condition resulting in swollen ankles and bruised hands? That’s an ailment old people get. To be fair, we should acknowledge that Trump just celebrated his 79th birthday, and someone of his age is bound to experience health issues, but the president seems to be aging at an accelerated pace like something out of a low-grade horror movie. Maybe it’s my prejudice because I died young (killed in battle at age 24) and never had to experience the challenges of old age, but we really need to come up with some younger folks for the nation’s top job—ya think?