Contributing Pundit Comments on ‘The Rhetoric of Ridiculousness’:

Let us not forget that Obama was criticized for wearing a beige suit. Try to write absurdism these days? Hard to go beyond ‘condoms for Hamas.’

--Kate McLeod

Via Substack

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Comments from Both Sides ... are welcome. In fact, that’s what The Hustings is about: Reporting/analyzing and putting into context the facts in the center column (with no false equivalencies) and surrounding this with civil pundit and reader comments in this column and that one on the other side of the news/news aggregate. 

We need you to help fill these left and right columns. 

Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line. Please note: We do not expect you to follow right/left or red/blue party lines with your comments, which is why we ask you to indicate whether you are left or right in the subject line. 

Contributors for our right column include Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, a never-Trumper conservative, and Rich Corbett, a pro-MAGA conservative. Macaulay’s comments may align much more often with left-column contributors like Sharon Lintner and Hugh Hansen, but that’s what The Hustings is all about and it is why we ask you to list your political leanings in the subject line for comments via email. We want to post your comments in the column with which you regularly identify; not necessarily the column that aligns with your comments on a single, particular subject. So help us grow into a news & commentary site that exposes readers to a variety of political thoughts and ideas. 

For more civil political news and discussion, please be sure to visit our Substack page.

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MONDAY 2/24/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

In a presentation to a bipartisan group of governors at the White House last Friday, February 21, Donald Trump said so many absurd things that it is hard to fathom that anyone anywhere can take him at all seriously.

He opened his remarks by saying, “Well, we’re in a very good mood. We just had the highest poll numbers I’ve ever had, ever. And actually, a record for a Republican.”

So here are poll numbers available on that day: 

• FiveThirtyEight average: 48.7% approval, 46.2% disapproval
• CNN poll: 46% approval, 52% disapproval
• Quinnipiac University poll: 46% approval, 43% disapproval
• YouGov poll (February 10-13): 49% favorable, 48% unfavorable
• Morning Consult poll (February 9-11): 46% favorable, 53% unfavorable
• Ipsos poll (February 9-11): 46% favorable, 52% unfavorable
• Economist/YouGov poll (February 7-9): 47% favorable, 50% unfavorable

He must have some other numbers or he feels good about numbers that anyone else would consider to be mediocre-to-horrible.

Then he rolled into things including his feeling of victimization.

In late 2024 Tropical Storm Helene devastated large areas of North Carolina. FEMA has provided an array of assistance, including distributing millions of dollars to families for housing, inspecting housing, coordinating the removal of debris, and more.

Trump: “FEMA was a disaster. FEMA wasn’t there. They didn’t do the job.”

Guess he didn’t check the numbers before the presentation.

But here he goes:

“And then they actually, when they did get there, a very small group, they chose anybody with an American flag or the name Trump on the front of the house, they would sort of skip that house very nicely and it was just a disaster.”

Of course. Trump voters — and he carried the state with more than 50% of the vote — were bypassed.

His alternative to addressing a national disaster?

“It’s called ‘you fix it.’ You take care of it yourselves. You don’t have to call some faraway state and have people planed in from areas they have no idea. They come from Alaska to help you in Florida. They say, ‘boy, this is hot here.’ But the time they figure it out, everything would have been fixed.”

Things have been laid waste and somehow the people who are existing in debris are going to pick themselves by their bootstraps and fix it?

Isn’t one of the benefits of living in a country like the US that there are people from other parts of the country who can help?

What is his real beef?

“It’s very expensive You spend at least twice as much. They don’t negotiate.”

Let’s see: There is a natural disaster. Devastation. People looking for a place to go for food and shelter. The infrastructure demolished. Power lines down. Water systems contaminated by debris. Grocery stores wrecked.

What should people do?

Negotiate. Get a better deal. Who cares if the kids are tired and hungry? Make the deal!

Then, of course, he came to energy, including his beloved coal. “Clean, beautiful coal that we’re going to be using like Germany does now.”

Yes, Germany uses coal for electricity generation. But the country is reducing its reliance on it, with legislation on the books to eliminate its use by 2038. The German government is increasing its investments in renewables, including wind electricity generation.

Trump was big in his support of coal during his victorious run for the presidency in 2016.

How did that work out?

According to the Energy Information Agency:

“By the end of 2020, the number of producing coal mines in the United States fell to 551 mines, the lowest number since US coal production peaked in 2008. In 2020, 40 coal mines were opened or reactivated, and 151 mines were idled or closed. This overall decrease resulted in an 18% annual decline in the total number of producing coal mines from 2019 and a 62% decline since 2008.”

Wind, of course, is something Trump can’t abide.

During a diversion into the build-out of data centers that will have adjoining power generation facilities due to their massive electricity needs, he said:

“None will use wind because wind doesn't work. It's just terrible how an environmental person can like wind. It kills the birds. It's very expensive. It's seven, eight times more expensive than other forms of energy. Every wind turbine in the country that goes up needs massive subsidies.

“It's really the only energy that needs subsidy, essentially. The solar is doing OK. So it's the only one. But to combat inflation, I declared that national energy emergency and we're going to unleash the liquid gold under our feet to bring the prices way down. That's going to happen. And again, we're going to have a big part of that is going to be natural gas, which is very, very clean and clean coal.”

According to his very own Department of Energy:

• Wind power creates good-paying jobs. There are nearly 150,000 people working in the U.S. wind industry across all 50 states, and that number continues to grow. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, wind turbine service technicians are the fastest growing U.S. job of the decade. Offering career opportunities ranging from blade fabricator to asset manager, the wind industry has the potential to support hundreds of thousands of more jobs by 2050.
• Wind power is a domestic resource that enables U.S. economic growth. In 2022, wind turbines operating in all 50 states generated more than 10% of the net total of the country’s energy. That same year, investments in new wind projects added $20 billion to the U.S. economy.
• Wind power is a clean and renewable energy source. Wind turbines harness energy from the wind using mechanical power to spin a generator and create electricity. Not only is wind an abundant and inexhaustible resource, but it also provides electricity without burning any fuel or polluting the air. Wind energy in the United States helps avoid 336 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually — equivalent to the emissions from 73 million cars.
• Wind power benefits local communities. Wind projects deliver an estimated $2 billion in state and local tax payments and land-lease payments each year. Communities that develop wind energy can use the extra revenue to put towards school budgets, reduce the tax burden on homeowners, and address local infrastructure projects.
• Wind turbines work in different settings. Wind energy generation fits well in agricultural and multi-use working landscapes. Wind energy is easily integrated in rural or remote areas, such as farms and ranches or coastal and island communities, where high-quality wind resources are often found.

And, yes:

• Wind power is cost-effective. Land-based, utility-scale wind turbines provide one of the lowest-priced energy sources available today. Furthermore, wind energy’s cost competitiveness continues to improve with advances in the science and technology of wind energy.

This sounds like it is the absolute MAGA energy miracle.

How long do you think that web page is going to stay up?

While rhapsodizing about the wonders of DOGE, he said this:

“$50 million for condoms for Hamas. They [meaning the U.S. government] gave $50 million; it worked out so well they gave another $50 million a little bit later. Condoms, $100 million for Hamas.”

This has been debunked for weeks, but Trump keeps saying it, lack of evidence notwithstanding.

Then there’s Social Security.

“We have 4.7 million Social Security numbers, people from the age of 100 to 109. So, if you're 100 to 109, we have 4.7 million people on our Social Security rolls, right?”

And while this is a bit hard to understand:

“From 110 to 119, you have 3.6 -- these are the people on the rolls. Now we're looking to see whether or not they've been paid, because if they've been paid, then you're just using those numbers to take out the money, all the money that's paid to those people. 3.47 million people from the age of 120 to 129. 3.9 million people aged 130 to 139. 3.5 million people aged 140 years old to 149 years old.”

That’s more than 19 million people who are rather old.

The implication is that these people are (a) probably dead and (b) getting Social Security benefits.

If Elon and his minions can save the spend on that, it is even better than not providing Hamas with condoms.

And it is equally fanciful.

According to the Social Security Administration, the number of people who received Social Security benefits in December 2024 who are age 99 and over is 89,106.

There is much, much more in Trump’s presentation to the governors.

Why is it that he can say such nonsense and not get questioned?

It used to be that even if it required a grain of salt, what our leaders told us was generally true.  But Trump’s riffs are often readily identified as being otherwise. Were Obama to have said these things he would have been called a liar. Were Biden to have, he would have been described as senile.

But Trump?

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MONDAY 2/24/25

Commentary by Sharon Lintner

With every headline, everyday, we are being saturated by Trump.

It's as if he is trying to outdo himself every day. Recently he referred to himself as "King." Absolutely outrageous. Apparently, being president of the United States isn't a high enough honor for a narcissist. 

This man has made a complete mockery of the highest office in our land. From hanging his own mug shot in the White House to disrespecting foreign leaders, he has destroyed our country's credibility in just a few short weeks. 

Trump's partner in chaos, Elon Musk, recently referred to the commander of the International Space Station as "fully retarded."  Some say Musk is brilliant, but he's not smart enough to choose a more civilized, appropriate response than that? Elementary kids are punished if they use such bullying and demeaning terms, yet we are expected to tolerate it from government officials. 

Trump's behavior is not only unprecedented, it’s alarming. This is simply not normal. 

He is placing our country in jeopardy. If he can no longer appropriately discharge the duties of this office, Congress has an obligation to act.

They have an obligation to save the United States of America. 

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FRIDAY 2/21/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Donald Trump’s approval rating is, as they say, “underwater.”

His overall job approval is at 45% according to Gallup polling February 3-16. The disapproval is at 51% and a sizable 5% have no opinion.

Yes, there really must be people living under rocks.

Of course, those numbers are “macro” in that they include Republicans, Democrats and independents.

It should surprise no one — except those who remember when Republicans actually stood for the rule of law, states’ rights, defending democracy, free trade, and things of that nature — that the overall Trump job approval is 93% among Republicans.

Four percent of Democrats give him a thumb’s up.

Still, that means 96% disapprove, unless there are a number of Dems with no opinion, which is unlikely but possible.

But what should be somewhat concerning to Trump are the numbers put up by the independents, which have him down.

Yes, down overall, with 37% approving of the job he’s doing.

More troubling are the numbers in individual categories of performance.

There’s no treading water found there.

On the subject of immigration, 40% of independents approve of his job. Think of it: this was one of Trump’s primary campaign issues and only 40% of independents give him a nod.

And it goes south from there:

• Foreign affairs:               37%
• Foreign trade:                 33%
• Economy:                      31%
• Situation in Middle East:  33%
• Situation in Ukraine:       33%

Look at the approval number for Trump’s work on the economy: 31%. The economy along with immigration were his primary boasts and the independents aren’t seeing it.

It is surprising that foreign affairs is so high, given his alienation of long-time allies of the US.

The Middle East is still roiling. The situation in Ukraine is getting worse with his embrace of Putin and attacks on Zelenskyy. (This may go back to his “perfect” phone call with Zelenskyy in July 2019 when Trump wanted him to investigate Joe Biden and to look into whether Hillary Clinton’s email server was in Ukraine. Zelenskyy demurred.)

One could argue that if things continue as they are, the independents are going to become even less approving.

While it isn’t precisely known how many actual independents there are (some may claim to be independent but more reliability lean Republican or Democratic), what is known is that they are important — possibly more important now, given how the supporters of the two traditional parties are walking in lockstep (or to go back to the theme of this, they are in the pool together synchronized swimming, except that the Olympic sport is graceful and on both sides grace is lacking).

If the support wanes further, then some of these independents are going to let their congressional representatives know that they aren’t happy. Unhappiness in their districts may be more concerning to them than a frown from Trump. 

When the tariffs start putting incredible pressure on family budgets, as inflation inches up because of them, when people start losing their jobs at the labs and research institutions that once received support from the Federal government before DOGE decided that support is unnecessary, when families that depended on school programs of various types for their kids . . . when these and other factors kick in hard, Trump may find himself to be unable to weave his way out of the negativity that will come his way like a tsunami.

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FRIDAY 2/21/25

Commentary

By putting everything on the chopping block, the Trump administration claims to be focusing on wasteful spending and how they can cut costs and save taxpayer money. 

Their solution is actually creating wasteful spending. 

Lawsuit upon lawsuit popping up everyday. Who is paying all the court costs? Trump is maintaining two White House properties, one in Florida and one in Washington --  who's paying for all the security? His family, wherever they may be, are provided with security measures as well. And then on top of it all Trump feels the need to attend the Super Bowl and the Daytona 500, both requiring immense security details. 

If Elon truly is looking to cut costs, he needs to compare what Trump has spent thus far on security and legal bills versus what prior administrations spent. 

DOGE needs to cut their own fat. 

--Sharon Lintner 

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WEDNESDAY 2/19/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Matthew 25:40: "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Acts 20:35: "It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

During World War II, the American people, on the home front, did a number of things to help the war effort. 

American service personnel, women and men, were fighting in Europe and Asia against bona-fide fascism and totalitarianism, not the types that Donald Trump ignorantly throws around in his weaves.

They were fighting not out of self-interest but, arguably, to quote the writers of Superman, “Truth, justice and the American way.”

The American way consists of doing things for others even if it is inconvenient.

So the American people on the home front faced rationed amounts of things like meat, sugar, butter, and milk. Gasoline was in limited availability. People planted Victory Gardens and conducted scrap drives.

All of these things — from the battle field to the backyard gardens — were done because it was the right thing to do.

The Bible tells us that we should do things for other people even if it is not going to benefit us personally.

Arguably, when we did that, like during World War II, that was when America was great.

But now, it is anything but, red hats notwithstanding, and it goes straight to what is being revealed in a reported contract that was drafted by the U.S. government and presented to Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to the British publication The Telegraph, the contract covers “mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports, and other infrastructure.” And in that arena, the U.S. gets 50% of all recurring revenues from those things as well as 50% of the value of “all new licenses issued to third parties.”

What does this mean?

That because the American people have supported the people of Ukraine against the Russian aggressors through military, humanitarian and financial aid, now, according to Trump, we get that money back from them.

You know, just like mercenaries.

Here is a country that has been, and continues to be, bombed. A country with homes, offices, streets, infrastructure, and more rubble, a country that will have to undergo a massive rebuilding, but we want a piece of their treasure. 

As Trump said on Fox, “They may make a deal. They may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday. But I want this money back.”

“But I want this money back.”

We should be ashamed of ourselves for being led by a man who shills Bibles but apparently hasn’t read one.

==

*Let’s not forget that Vladimir Putin has been charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court because of the deportation and transfer of children from their homes in Ukraine: say what you will about the ICC, but these are children taken from their homes, which would have once been considered a moral outrage but now, apparently in Washington, is met with a shrug.

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WEDNESDAY 2/19/25

In Which One of Our Contributing Pundits Responds to Our Pundit-at-Large’s Latest Commentary in the Right Column …

Yes indeed. A grifter. Always hustling.

Just wait for the lucrative tariff exemption racket coming soon to a company that might be near you.

--Ken Zino

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We seek your comments, left or right, on our center-column news/aggregate/analysis and pundits’ comments in the right and left columns. 

Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line whether you lean left or right. Please be sure to scroll down the page for more political news and commentary and subscribe (for free!) to our Substack newsletter.

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TUESDAY 2/18/25

Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Stephen Bannon is a millionaire. Not nearly as wealthy as his bête noire Elon Musk, but far more flush than anyone I know. 

It is estimated that he’s banking as much as $20 million.

Bannon has made money in a variety of ways.

He was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. 

Investment banker? Isn’t that the sort of thing that the MAGA faithful might find dubious — if not full-on despicable?

He cleverly managed to get a piece of the syndication rights for Seinfeld TV show reruns, which has him raking in the residuals.

The point is, even though he’s a man who appears to have never met a barber and who generally dresses as though he’s wearing every shirt he owns, the man is rich.

This raises the question of whether he is as much a man of the people as he positions himself as being or whether this is just an act. Let’s face it, when he was on Wall Street he probably wore an expensive suit and tie to fit in. To do the same with “regular folk” he has to look less wealthy than the return on his investments would facilitate.

In August 2020 Bannon was charged with duping thousands of donors to the “We Build the Wall Campaign.”

Seems the donors who were anxious to fulfill Donald Trump’s dream of a wall on the Mexican border kicked in more than $25 million to the “We Build the Wall Campaign.” It was evident that, despite claims by Trump, Mexico wasn’t going to pay for the construction of the wall, so they’d donate their hard-earned (probably not from investment income) cash to do it.

Apparently, that, too, was a fiction.

Not the donations. The wall.

Before leaving office in 2021 Trump pardoned his pal on those federal charges.

But that doesn’t extend to state or city courts.

In 2022 Bannon was indicted by New York state for taking the We Build the Wall money and laundering it for salaries and to his own organization. Money collected. Money distributed. No wall built.

The Washington Post points out that in terms of the federal charges there were some of his colleagues in the undertaking charged, too. One got 51 months. Another 36 months. And the third, 63 months in prison.

Bannon is one thing in Trump World. Those minions are quite another, and so were overlooked when the Sharpie was being wielded and pardons signed.

Last week Bannon pleaded guilty in New York state court to defrauding donors.

Let me repeat that:

Bannon pleaded guilty in New York state court to defrauding donors.

The money came in. The money was distributed. No wall was built.

If someone pleads guilty this means they are admitting they committed the offense in question.

They are saying, “Yeah, I did it.”

There were all of those wall enthusiasts giving their hard-earned money to an organization established by millionaire Bannon who, effectively and admittedly took advantage of those people. (Well, maybe not so effectively.)

For reasons passing understanding the New York Supreme Court gave him a proverbial slap on the wrist: he can’t commit another crime for three years (!?!); he can’t operate a charity or nonprofit in New York (there are, of course, 49 other states); he can’t mishandle data collected about those bilked donors.

To paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The rich are different.”

And no matter how they may costume themselves, no matter how much they claim to be with “the people,” they really don’t give a damn about regular folk — at least not beyond how they can profit from them.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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TUESDAY 2/18/25

…are welcome. In fact, that’s what The Hustings is about: Reporting/analyzing and putting into context the facts in the center column (with no false equivalencies) and surrounding this with civil pundit and reader comments in this column and that one on the other side of the news/news aggregate. 

We need you to help fill these left and right columns. 

Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line. Please note: We do not expect you to follow right/left or red/blue party lines with your comments, which is why we ask you to say whether you are left or right in the subject line. 

You may be a hard-left, Bernie Sanders democratic socialist or a moderate liberal, like Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, or somewhere in-between. You may be a MAGA Republican like, well, President Trump, or a never-Trumper like former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), or our own pundit-at-large, Stephen Macaulay. Or somewhere in-between.

We want to post your comments in the column with which you regularly identify; not necessarily the column that aligns with your comments on a single, particular subject. So help us grow into a news & commentary site that exposes readers to a variety of political thoughts and ideas. 

For more civil political news and discussion, please be sure to visit our Substack page.

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MONDAY 2/17/25

By Stephen Macaulay

As Mark Twain allegedly said, “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.”

So Mr. Corbett’s citing a poll that indicates “The President is Doing What People Want” is squishably true.

For example, 70% say that he is doing “what he promised in the campaign.”

Even I agree with that. Doesn’t mean that I want it.

The CBS News/YouGov poll puts his overall job rating at 53% and the disapproval rating at 47%.

Somehow that doesn’t seem like overwhelming support. Yes, a majority, but far from being the sort of “mandate” that Trump and his acolytes talk about.

On the subject of approval, Gallup did a poll, too, which found that Donald Trump’s initial job approval rating is 47%.

That, according to Gallup, places “him below all other elected presidents dating back to 1953.”

There is a president who had a lower initial rating than Trump 47: Trump 45. That was 45%.

But back to the CBS/YouGov poll.

There is one item that seems to be more in the “doing what they want” space that isn’t that. And it is something that he talked about during his campaign.

In the CBS News/YouGov poll there’s this:

“Trumps Focus on Lowering Prices Is. . .”

Wait for it. . . .

• 66% answer “Not Enough.”
• 31% said “Right Amount.”

Whoa. That “Not Enough” number is well beyond the ±2.5% margin of error.

After the election Trump said on NBC News’ Meet the Press:

“Very simple word, groceries. Like almost -- you know, who uses the word? I started using the word -- the groceries. When you buy apples, when you buy bacon, when you buy eggs, they would double and triple the price over a short period of time, and I won an election based on that. We're going to bring those prices way down.”

Which (a) isn’t happening and (b) isn’t likely to happen any time soon because. . .

. . .there are the tariffs.

While 56% of those surveyed by CBS News/YouGov favor tariffs on goods from China, the opposition to tariffs applied to good from other countries is strong:

                                             Favor                    Oppose

Mexico                                    44%                     56%

Europe                                   40%                     60%

Canada                                   38%                     62%

Clearly there is some dissonance here given that during his campaign Trump said “tariffs” was a “beautiful word” and during his inaugural speech said: “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

People evidently don’t like them. After all, an increasing number of people recognize that rather than enriching them, it is going to cost them more out-of-pocket whether they’re buying a Chevy Silverado or some fresh produce. 

And another factor of prices is what is paid at the pump.

Trump said during his campaign: “When I left office .  .. gasoline had reached $1.87 a gallon. We actually had many months where it was lower than that. But we hit $1.87, which was a perfect place, an absolutely beautiful number.”

What he doesn’t note is the reason that gasoline prices were at $1.87 was because of the consequences of COVID. For a very long time people didn’t go to places where they ordinarily did. Many people began to work from home. There was an excess of gasoline and the oil companies had no alternative than to reduce prices because of reduced demand.

The national average for a gallon of gas is $3.128. 

That’s 66.8% greater than his “beautiful number.”

And if the 10% tariff on petroleum from Canada goes into effect, look for that to go higher.

Trump didn’t say he was going to turn things over to Elon Musk. Trump didn’t say he was going to turn Gaza into a property development. Trump didn’t say that inflation would increase.

Soon people are going to realize that there is more — and less — to what he said he would do.

And odds are they won’t be happy.

-30-

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MONDAY 2/17/25