Hegseth Rants. Again. Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

NOVEMBER 12, 2026 — It should come as no surprise that Pete Hegseth held forth with bluster and blunder in Tuesday’s press conference — 189 days since his last one — where he tried to frighten the assembled with the force of his deeply imagined forthrightness. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced eight articles of impeachment against Hegseth Monday, and Hegseth is having none of it.

Why has Massie done this? Hegseth said the objective is to “do damage to this president. This country. And most irresponsibly the warriors who defend it.”

He added: “It’s a farce and it’s a stunt.”

Arguably, it is anything but. And it is interesting that Hegseth, who obsequiously slathered on praise to Donald Trump throughout his remarks, possibly to further ingratiate himself to the president for hopes of protection, didn’t mention that the articles are against him.

How it damages the country or members of our military that if someone is accused of doing something wrong, they are held to account for it is a mystery, simply goes to show that Hegseth doesn’t know what he’s doing.

He is charged with upholding the Constitution, and if what he is being called to the bar to answer for is at odds with that, then it is his error, not the president’s, not the country’s, not the military’s.

On Massie’s website there are the following summaries of each of the articles:

• Article I – Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 2(c): Charges Secretary Hegseth with waging the Iran war despite no declaration of war, statutory authorization, attack on the United States, or imminent threat. It establishes that the war was unlawful from its inception.
• Article II – Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(c): Charges Secretary Hegseth with continuing the Iran war after both Houses of Congress directed the removal of US forces through H. Con. Res. 86. It focuses on his refusal to obey Congress’s express direction to terminate unauthorized hostilities.
• Article III – Waging War in Contravention of the War Powers Resolution of 1973 Section 5(b): Charges Secretary Hegseth with continuing hostilities in Iran after expiration of the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day termination period and any potential 30-day withdrawal period. It establishes that he treated mandatory statutory deadlines as discretionary.
• Article IV – Ignoring Laws that Minimize Civilian Casualties: Charges Secretary Hegseth with ignoring laws that minimize civilian casualties. 
• Article V – Extrajudicial Killings: Charges Secretary Hegseth with replacing maritime law enforcement with unauthorized lethal military targeting of suspected drug traffickers, resulting in at least 243 deaths. It also addresses denial of quarter, secondary strikes on survivors, failure to rescue shipwrecked persons, and the creation of artificial legal authorities for the campaign.
• Article VI – Suppressing Free Speech: Charges Secretary Hegseth with using DOD authority to retaliate against and intimidate Senator Mark Kelly for constitutionally protected speech questioning unlawful military orders.
• Article VII – Kidnapping of a Sovereign Foreign Leader: Charges Secretary Hegseth with directing Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE to seize Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores in Venezuela without constitutional or legal authority.
• Article VIII – Unlawful War in Yemen: Charges Secretary Hegseth with initiating Operation ROUGH RIDER without congressional authorization or an imminent threat to the United States, while also violating war powers reporting requirements.

Hegseth described the actions as “lawful military operations.” It seems as though he defines “lawful” as whatever President Trump tells him to do. That’s not how it works.

And in what seems to be a somewhat unusual, offered alternative, Hegseth insisted (well, admittedly it is hard to determine when he insists on something because he always sounds insistent): “The proper remedy for a policy disagreement, it’s legislation. It’s debate. It’s the next presidential election. It’s not handing the House and Senate floor to the Democrats so that they can run a show trial against the president and the Secretary of War while Republicans still control Congress and should be delivering wins for the American people.”

There is legislation, the War Powers Act. An impeachment proceeding is predicated on debate. And what does the next presidential election have to do with things Hegseth is being charged with?

“This is not patriotism. This is sabotage,” he fulminated.

Doing things that are illegal is not patriotic. And if actions that are considered to be illegal are thwarted, is that sabotage?

“It tells our enemies, Iran, the cartels, every adversary watching that the United States will actually punish its own warriors and its own civilian leadership for successfully executing lawful military operations.”

No, it tells the world that the US is a country of laws, not men, and that if those military operations are thought to be, and then proven to be successful, then unlawful, the law stands.

And perhaps one of the most absurd things Hegseth said is this: “It puts a target on the backs of American warriors by signaling that Congress will undermine their missions in real time.”

If there’s anything that Congress doesn’t do, even in the best of times, is “in real time.” And there is a target potentially being placed on the back of one person, Hegseth. Trying to make it sound as though this effort undermines the great men and women who are defending this country is nothing more than a ruse.

Of course, Hegseth played the what-about-ism card, pointing out that under previous secretaries of Defense there were no articles of impeachment filed for what he cited as their wrongdoings.

One that is the most laughable is what he said Llyod Austin, Defense secretary under Biden, did: “No impeachment vote when he let a Chinese spy balloon to fly over the country for over a week.”

Perhaps someone should remind Hegseth that this past May NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who allegedly was having an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, flew on Air Force One.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right (conservative) column.

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Lots of Money. Few Results. MAGA Goes to War. Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

NOVEMBER 11, 2026 — From $2,038,502,000 on the low end to $2,255,220,000 on the high end.

Those are the numbers that “Operation Midnight Hammer”—you know, the attack that Donald Trump said “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, without which it can’t make nuclear weapons—cost the US taxpayers. That according to a paper published last year, “Costs of United States Military Activities in the Wider Middle East Since October 7, 2023,” by Linda J. Bilmes, the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer in Public Policy and Public Finance at the Harvard Kennedy School. This is some serious stuff.

Blimes considers a full suite of costs, ranging from the running costs of the B-2s and the cost of the bombs used in the campaign. Personnel. Equipment. Etc.

Two-billion, as the kids say, ain’t nothing.

And now there is a bit of consternation about the US State Department offering rewards of up to $20 million for information regarding Iran’s nuclear program.

According to US Central Command, which manages the war in Iran, as of October 16, the price of the war so far is $47.1 billion.

So if we add Bilmes’ low number or high number to that, we’re looking at $50 billion.

Fifty-billion, as anyone says, is a hell of a lot.

While there are those who find the $20 million reward to be concerning, what is more concerning is that there is evidently a thought in Washington that even with the $50 billion they didn’t get the job done.

Now part of the reward program is to find not only physical sites and components and the like, but also personnel who would be instrumental to Iran’s nuclear program.

Which leads to the question: If the $2 billion took out the means of production, what has the $47.1 billion been used for?

Pete Hegseth has said things like “The Iranian Navy rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Combat ineffective, decimated, destroyed, defeated. Pick your adjective.”

That was back in March. 

Apparently taking out that navy (1) hasn’t ended the war (eight months-plus and counting) and (2) hasn’t ended the allegedly obliterated Iranian nuclear capacity.

So to pick an adjective, incompetent is one.

According to an article by James M. Lindsay published in August by the Council on Foreign Relations:

• “More than 1,500 Patriot air-defense interceptors have been fired so far, with fewer than 830 interceptors remaining in the entire U.S. inventory.
• Roughly 40 percent of the 452 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile interceptors available at the war’s start have been fired, leaving fewer than 280 in the arsenal today.
• The stockpile of Tomahawk cruise missiles has fallen from about 3,000 at the start of the war to approximately 2,000 today, a decline of about a third.
• Stocks of missiles for the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) as well as stocks of precision strike missiles (PrSM) have been nearly exhausted.
• Roughly 25 percent of MQ-9 Reaper drones have been shot down or lost.”

Now an argument can be made that the US has such munitions so that it can use those munitions, but then the question becomes how well those munitions have been used in Iran.

Lindsay points out that Raytheon, which produces the Patriots, makes 600 per year. Which means we have used about 2.5 years’ worth. Lockheed Martin produces 96 THAAD interceptors per year. That means nearly 5 years’ worth have been expended as of August.

The line “stocks of precision strike missiles (PrSM) have been nearly exhausted” ought to run chills down one’s spine. What happens if Russia attacks a NATO country or China decides enough is enough with Taiwan? Blaming Biden won’t handle it.

And has the job been done?

There is a lot of talk about Pete Hegseth losing his job. 

Given the lack of experience in dealing with large organizations and the associated budgets, he wasn’t qualified in the first place. Sure, he can exercise in public like some tattooed, high-T Richard Simmons, but the Department of Defense has a workforce of some 2.87 million people (including active-duty military, the National Guard and reserves, and civilians) and a FY 2026 budget of $1.01 trillion, so somehow his skill-set doesn’t seem to be aligned with that. (And given that they are asking for a 44% budget increase for FY 2027, it is even more outside his wheelhouse.)

A savvy administrator who understands war in the 21^st century is needed, not some smarmy ex-TV host.

Clearly, with all of the monies spent under the direction of Hegseth in Iran with little to show for it if the objective is to keep Iran from having a nuclear weapon, he needs to go because he isn’t getting the job done. (If that mission was accomplished then there wouldn’t be some 10,000 sailors and Marines working the blockade, air personnel conducting defense and strikes, etc.)

Regardless of what you do for a living, if you don’t get you job done, likely you are shown the door.

Why should it be any different for him?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.
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More Than Just Hot Air Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

NOVEMBER 2, 2026 — Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said at a conference last month, according to Bloomberg: “Americans must be able to afford to heat their homes in the winter and fill up their car and drive to work. They can’t do that when the people producing the energy are weighted down by unnecessary burdens.”

They also can’t afford to do that when the president starts a war and puts 20% of the world’s shipped petroleum at risk, as it has been since February 28.

And while you may have heard that the shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is now back to where it had been, what you don’t hear is that the oil being shipped today is a whole lot more expensive than it was pre-war.

This is not simply a result of the increase in the price of oil itself since the start of the war, although that’s a large part of it. Back then it was about $72 per barrel and Brent crude futures are now $114 per barrel. 

That’s a 58% increase.

Now not only does this make the oil needed to heat homes in the winter more expensive and the gas people put in their tanks to go to work so they can pay for that oil, but there is another factor: Insurance.

Yes, just like you have to buy insurance for your house and for your car, oil tankers have to get insurance, too. In terms of these ships the amount is about 10% of the value of both the vessel and what’s contained in it. So now given a Very Large Crude Carrier can carry two million barrels of crude and given the 58% rise in the cost of each of those barrels, shippers are faced with massive insurance fees.

And there are a whole lot of other things that are making it more expensive to the end consumer (e.g., shipping in smaller ships in alternative routes means there are (a) more ships and (b) longer transits, so less efficiency).

But back to Zeldin.

One of the topics he was referring to regarding “unnecessary burdens” is related to methane.

According to his very own EPA: “Pound for pound, the comparative impact of CH₄ [methane] is 28 times greater than CO₂ over a 100-year period.”

That’s right: You hear a lot about reducing CO₂ emissions, but methane is a far more effective greenhouse gas trap (EPA: “Methane’s lifetime in the atmosphere is much shorter than carbon dioxide (CO₂), but CH₄ is more efficient at trapping radiation than CO₂.”).

The largest source of US methane emissions? Again, according to the EPA, “Natural Gas and Petroleum Systems, 28%.”

One of the things that apparently happens when oil wells are pumping is that there can be leaks of methane or methane is “flamed,” burned off, which not only generates CO₂ but is not 100% efficient so there is also CH₄ emitted into the atmosphere.

So what’s the Trump Administration’s approach?

To ease regulations on plugging leaks and burning methane. Apparently, the regulations are the problem, not the gas that is causing an atmospheric issue.

According to Bloomberg, EPA “will propose to effectively single out so-called marginal, low-output wells for additional regulatory relief. The treatment would extend to wells that produce no more than 15 barrels of oil equivalent per day.”

That’s certainly not a big deal, right? 15 barrels per day. A minor stink at most.

Except for one thing. Again, Bloomberg: “The bulk of the roughly 1 million oil and gas wells in the US — about 79% — are considered marginal.”

During his confirmation hearings Zeldin said “climate change is real.”

Given those figures from the EPA about the effect of methane on the atmosphere one would assume that’s a real problem.

But given that his boss called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” funny how the climate at the EPA has changed.

Now while there are certainly those who might agree with Trump about that, and while there are those who say the science is bogus, consider this statement: “Climate change poses the biggest long-term threat to the global economy. If no mitigating action is taken, global temperatures could rise by more than 3°C and the world economy could shrink by 18% in the next 30 years.”

That’s from an insurance company, Swiss Re. Specifically, Swiss Re is one of the two largest reinsurance companies in the world. Reinsurance companies insure insurance companies. So Swiss Re is very keen on the possible consequences of things that will cost it money, and in its research of climate change, it sees the potential for major consequences on its balance sheet.

The consequences of the global economy shrinking by 18% or less is, in a word, catastrophic. 

So even flat-out capitalists see climate change as a problem.

What is the response of the US to this? Apparently making the problem worse because that seems to be the politically expedient thing to do.

But how do those Floridians who are paying from $6,000 to more than $11,000 for flood insurance feel about releasing gas into the atmosphere that can cause temperatures to rise and consequently create the conditions for more severe hurricanes (Hurricane Milton, which hit Florida October 9, 2024, caused an estimated — by the NOAA National Hurricane Center — $34.3 billion in damage. One hurricane. The EPA estimates rolling back those methane regulations will save $45 billion. In any given year there are four major hurricanes to hit the US. So even if there is only $11.26 billion in damage from each of those, that is still more cost to consumers than the amount that will be “saved” by changing the regulation.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Selective Outrage at Russian Energy Commentary by Rich Corbett

OCTOBER 30, 2026 — The objections to the temporarily easing US restrictions on limited volumes of Russian diesel are not hard to understand as any revenue that reaches Moscow while Russian forces continue the war in Ukraine is unwelcome. Ukraine’s strikes on Russian refining capacity have been one of the more effective ways of constraining that revenue and a temporary general license allowing Russian diesel onto global markets until April 2027, even if the announced volumes are small relative to daily demand, undercuts the sanctions architecture built since 2022.

What is harder to understand is the near-total absence of equivalent scrutiny directed at Europe. While editorials and mainstream media segments fixate on the American move, European governments continue to import large quantities of Russian energy – particularly natural gas – nearly four years after the full-scale invasion. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the EU was the third-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels in September 2026, accounting for roughly €1.7 billion that month. Hungary alone took hundreds of millions of euros worth of pipeline gas; France and the Netherlands were leading LNG importers. CREA data also show the EU remaining the largest overall buyer of Russian LNG, accounting for nearly half of Russia’s LNG exports.

Independent tracking reinforces the point. German group Urgewald reported that EU ports received a record 12.18 million tonnes of LNG from Russia’s Yamal Arctic project between January and September 2026 — up 9.5 percent from the same period the prior year — with an estimated bill of about €7.88 billion. France accounted for the majority of September deliveries. These flows continue under long-term contracts that the EU has not yet fully severed; the bloc’s phase-out for existing long-term LNG contracts is not scheduled until the start of 2027. Landlocked members still receive pipeline gas, and in some cases, crude via the Druzhba pipeline under exemptions. Refined products derived from Russian crude continue to reach European ports through third-country loopholes.

None of this is secret. CREA publishes monthly tallies. Shipping data and European Commission figures have long shown the gap between declared policy and actual volumes. Yet the same outlets and commentators who treat a limited, time-bounded US diesel waiver as a decisive gift to Putin rarely apply the same intensity to the multi-billion-euro stream that has run from European buyers to Moscow for years. European officials can criticize the American decision while their own energy purchases remain the larger, longer-running source of Russian export revenue.

Consistency matters. If the goal is to deprive the Kremlin of funds that sustain the war, then every major buyer deserves scrutiny, not only the one that is politically convenient to criticize. A more coherent position would apply the same standard across the Atlantic: Temporary American relief on a constrained volume of diesel is open to objection on the merits and Europe’s ongoing, larger purchases of Russian gas and other products are open to the same objection. Treating one as news and the other as background is not analysis. It is omission.

Corbett is contributing pundit to The Hustings, and author/publisher of mydesultoryblog.com.

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Prediction: Trump Will Pardon Elizabeth Holmes A Kind of Film Review of You Can See Everything, by Todd Lassa

WARNING: FILM SPOILERS — Do not read further if you haven’t yet seen You Can See Everything, the documentary in which Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim follow Elizabeth Holmes’ final 34 days of freedom in 2023 virtually step-by-step before she reports to Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas for criminal fraud as founder and CEO of Theranos. The two-hour, 55-minute movie is well worth your time and there’s buzz it could become the first documentary to compete for best picture (not just docs) in the 99^th Annual Academy Awards next spring.

Well into the documentary, Fielder reveals he and Oppenheim gave in to a deal in which A24 Studios agree to a contract giving Holmes’ long-time boyfriend and father of her two children, Billy Evans, a percentage of the documentary’s profits. 

Fielder is more reluctant than A24 to agree to this, he says. Legitimate documentary films do not pay their subjects for access, he notes, and without naming names this segment will conjure in the minds of the film’s audience the $40 million Amazon paid the current first lady for the Brett Ratner ‘documentary’ Melania.

But the result is a remarkably close look at Evans and Holmes, who invite Fielder to the guest room of their Del Mar beachfront rental for most of the shoot. Evans appears to be some sort of Svengali if you believe him when he reveals that Holmes had no knowledge of his financial arrangement with A24. Holmes tries to come off to Fielder as some sort of genius-savant scientist who doesn’t care about money but just wants to see her blood-testing device revolutionize hospital care.

From inside the Del Mar beachfront rental, which Evans and Holmes rented for the month before she went to prison – certainly for some ridiculous five-figure sum – Holmes tells Fielder she has no money, and won’t have any even if Evans’ plans to launch “Theranos 2.0” by the time her 11¼-year sentence is served come to fruition, because she owns hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution for her fraud case over Theranos 1.0.

[Business Insider reported in July 2023 that Holmes’ sentence “appeared” to have been reduced to 9½ years, which would keep her in Bryan Federal Prison to 2033.]

Fielder considers, with actress Amanda Seyfried, who won an Emmy for portraying Holmes in the television dramatization The Dropout the possibility that Holmes was in on the doc profit-sharing scheme all along. Those of us who find it impossible to believe anything Holmes says in You Can See Everything will find it hard to believe she did not know about Evans’ deal with A24.

Accompanied by Fielder and his camera crew, Seyfried meets Evans some two years after Holmes reports to prison. Evans tells them he has power of attorney over Holmes and thanks to a “high-up” at X-Twitter who gave him access, he posts tweets under Holmes’ name. Here, Evans also criticizes Holmes for attacking the political rhetoric of the late Charlie Kirk, whom he greatly admires. 

This is 2025. President Trump is in the White House while Joe Biden, president when Holmes went to prison, is out. 

Since retaking office January 21, 2025, Trump has issued about 1,700 presidential pardons, approximately 1,500 of them to his supporters involved in the January 6^th attack on the US Capitol. 

President Biden issued 80 pardons during his four years in office, including one to his son, Hunter, and a pre-emptive pardon to Dr. Anthony Fauci. 

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office reports that Trump’s pardons, so far, has wiped out “nearly $2 billion” in victim restitution.

Some time between the end of filming You Can See Everything and the final edit, Billy Evans chose to end his claim against back-end profits. The documentary made its debut at the Telluride Film Festival on September 6. 

How long will it take before Theranos 2.0 developer Billy Evans lobbies President Trump to pardon Elizabeth Holmes along with a wipe-out of her portion of $452 million in restitution, to have been shared with her former personal and business partner, Sunny Balwani?

Considering that end-credit title card indicating Evans has pulled out of the doc profit-sharing deal, the Editorial We at The Hustings is willing to bet it already has happened. 

That leaves the question of whether Trump will pardon Elizabeth Holmes along with her quarter-million-dollar restitution?

Consider it a done deal.

Lassa is founding editor of The Hustings and a onetime film critic for the Quad-City Times.

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Who’s He Kidding? Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

OCTOBER 6, 2026 — During his recent visit to Washington, Chinese President and Paramount Leader Xi Jinping was given a tour of the White House by President Donald Trump. (Bet the president wishes he had that second moniker, too.)

On the tour, something that Trump was evidently very proud of was the White House helipad, which was officially opened on September 21.

The White House helipad measures 100 feet in diameter. It is made with carved granite slabs — white and black from California (Newsom!) and gray from Italy (Meloni!!). 

What must Xi have been thinking when he saw that helipad? That clearly the US is a force to be reckoned with! The Presidential Seal carved into the surface! A white granite parkway leading to the pad!

Stand in awe!

But there’s one thing that Trump probably didn’t take into account.

Xi is the leader of a country with an architectural marvel, literally one of the “7 Wonders of the World.”

Yes, the Great Wall of China, which is some 13,170 miles long. 

You could put 723,888 White House helipads in a line to reach that distance.

Trump’s Wall, about which little has been heard of lately (there’s plenty of time between now and the midterms, when hoards straight out of Mad Max will be repelled by it), is just 750 miles long. 

And during the tour Trump undoubtedly revealed with sweeping grandeur his next project: The proposed United States Triumphal Arch (a.k.a., the “Arc de Trump”) is to be 250 feet tall, featuring a 166-foot stone arch topped by an 84-foot pedestal and statue. Located on the Memorial Circle, it was originally to be a monumental tourist attraction until Donald Trump announced it would also serve as a weapons bunker, sniper perch and drone pad.

But here’s something to think about, and it goes back to the 19^th century: The most famous arch in the world is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. It is 164 feet tall (or as it is measured in Paris, 50 meters). It is a uniform 164-foot vaulted masonry structure without the addition of gilded statues. It is the Tomb on the Unknown Soldier and includes a flame of remembrance. 

Napoleon started the project in 1806. It wasn’t completed until 1836.

Presumably the timeline Trump has in mind will be much shorter. Perhaps like his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool project that he said would take one to two weeks, which turned into six weeks, and which failed within days of completion.

The pool, which was to be a gem in the Fourth of July festivities on the National Mall, is still empty, 338,843 square feet of concrete.

That was probably not on the tour. 

These — the helipad, the proposed arch, the empty pool — are certainly trivial in the grand scheme of things.

But they go to the point of someone whose braggadocio far exceeds his understanding and capabilities. And this is a man who is representing us on the world stage, a man who clearly is well out of his depth of understanding. (E.g., coal is “the single most reliable, durable, secure, and powerful form of energy;” renewables like windmills are “Unreliable and Weak.” According to the US Energy Information Agency at present renewables account for 25% of all US electricity generation and coal, 16%.)

Non-trivial things — like the war in Iran, the US economy — also seem to be beyond his ken.

And maybe it is long overdue, but people are beginning to pay attention to the fact that he continues to claim that things have never been better and they know they aren’t. They see him trying to prevent the press from reporting on what he’s saying and they wonder what he’s afraid of. They go to the gas station and wonder about his claims about energy independence. They go to the grocery store and wonder about the low food prices he claims are there.

And they wonder about his boast about the midterms — “If the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump dividend” — whether this is just another con.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, writing primarily for the right column.

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What have we learned from 9/11? Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

[SEPTEMBER 11, 2026]

Sadly, not a whole lot.

Diplomatically we have leadership that posts things like “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” 

We learned that one day after 9/11 that NATO — our allies — invoked Article 5 for the first time in its 52-year history, saying they would come to the protection of the US. What have we done? Pretty much alienated our allies.

The world is a complicated place, yet our leaders treat it as binary.

They should learn from history, real history, not the revisionism they are proponents of. (Funny how they complain about the Democrats as “Communists” yet they follow the Soviet line when it comes to freedom of the press (Glavlit was established in 1922 to censor media) and the treatment of historical facts and records (the Agitation and Propaganda Department of the Central Committee made sure everything followed the Party line).

Those who were lost on 9/11 and those they left behind deserve that, at the very least. 

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Labor Day’s American Story – Commentary by Rich Corbett

SEPTEMBER 7, 2026 — The first big US celebration was a September 1882 New York parade organized by craft unions, not a May Day commemoration adopted by international socialists. Congress and President Grover Cleveland (a Democrat) made it a federal holiday in 1894, deliberately choosing the first Monday in September rather than in May. US officials wanted to avoid the radicalism and violence associated with the rise of socialism in other countries. That distinction still matters. Labor Day, in the United States, honors the contribution of workers to a commercial republic, not a class holiday or a commemoration of revolution.

Thanks to our market economy, the living standards of ordinary workers rose dramatically over the 20^th century because productivity, capital investment and competition made goods cheaper and wages higher in real terms. The eight-hour workday and workplace safety were all hard-won, often by unions, but they occurred inside a system that rewarded output rather than replacing markets with central allocation. Countries that reached further towards socialism typically delivered shortages, lower productivity and less upward mobility for workers. A free-market framing treats Labor Day as recognition that labor is most valuable when it is paired with property rights, entrepreneurship and the freedom to start or leave a job for better opportunities. The alternative view – that the holiday is primarily a call for more state control of wages, price control and bureaucratic direction – has a long pedigree on the left.

It is not the version the United States chose in 1894.

Republicans generally argue that working-class gains come from growth policies like having abundant energy, lighter regulation, tax rates that leave more take-home pay, and trade that favored domestic production (at least recently). 

Democrats and unions counter that market outcomes have left many behind on housing, healthcare and job security, and that organized labor plus targeted government action is required to keep gains of productivity from concentrating at the top. Recent polling shows both parties struggling for credibility with self-identified working-class voters. A political survey found only a modest edge for Democrats on “Who best represents the working class,” and large majority of those voters say politicians from both parties are mainly after votes. AFL – CIO messaging this Labor Day has criticized both parties on affordability, according to Politico.

The midterm question is therefore empirical more than rhetorical: Which set of policies actually produces rising real wages, stable prices and available work for people without college degrees? Working-class voters have moved towards Republicans in recent cycles, yet they remain contested and cost sensitive. The holiday itself does not settle that debate; it only reminds both sides that the American version of “labor” was never meant to be interchangeable with European-style socialism.

Corbett is a contributing pundit for the right column. He writes about myriad subjects at My Desultory Blog.

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On Trade Between the US and Canada Commentary by Rich Corbett

AUGUST 26, 2026 — As a teenager, summer work consisted of working on farms and a commercial fishery in Northwestern Ohio. I vividly remember the disputes between US and Canadian fisheries and how often the regulations differed even when the fish came out of the same water.

Canada has historically enjoyed a favorable trade imbalance with the United States and has protected several industries – such as dairy, poultry, eggs, and alcohol (American dairy is tariffed at nearly 300%). They also have created barriers in telecommunications, broadcasting, transportation, banking and what they call cultural industries (often using foreign ownership restrictions). 

This is nothing new as we have been negotiating trade agreements for a long time, but each one favors Canada. In fact, last year, 2025, the US had a $48.3 billion goods trade deficit – so there is room for the Trump administration to improve on this.

Another thing that isn’t often mentioned; There are labeling requirements for US manufacturers that adds cost, although these aren’t considered “unfair trade practices.” To be fair, the United States also has protectionist practices too, such as those on Canadian steel and aluminum. Often cited is the restriction on softwood lumber, where the US places an anti-dumping duty on Canada, because the timber comes from public land.

In my opinion, President Trump is using the “stick” approach, knowing his four-year term limits what can get accomplished through lengthy and often non-productive negotiations. It doesn’t look as if Canada is interested in negotiating with the Trump administration, no matter how “fair” or “common sense” a deal. If your American business is selling dairy or alcohol, you are glad someone is trying help them open the northern “free trade” border. On the other hand, if you are a Canadian business and have always enjoyed your country’s large trade surplus, giving in is difficult, even if the alternative of a trade war is more painful.

Corbett is contributing pundit to The Hustings, writing primarily for the right column.

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The US Doesn’t Have All the Cards Commentary By Stephen Macaulay

AUGUST 12, 2026 — There is a card game named “Screw Your Neighbor.”

The objective of the game is to not have the lowest card in your hand when the round ends. The gameplay involves shifting a low card that may be in your hand to someone else’s hand. Thus the “screwing” part. Your problem becomes theirs.

This, in effect, is largely what Trump’s tariffs are all about.

That is, he saw the situation if we were running a trade deficit with a country that it was intolerable, by applying a tariff, so he thought, they would pay the US. The US would have a “higher card.”

And if they were screwed, so what?

Now in certain instances, there are countries with trade policies that put the US at a competitive disadvantage. And in those cases, the Trump administration should take steps to mitigate those circumstances.

The Trump administration should also understand who pays the tariffs. When all else is stripped away, it is the importer of the goods and the consumer of the goods who pays. Perhaps there is a decrease in the amount of goods purchased, which would have an effect on the other country’s economy, but the consequences on the domestic consumer cannot be overlooked — well, it can be, as demonstrated by the administration.

One policy used to impose tariffs was the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. That act, signed by Jimmy Carter, was established to be used if the US faces an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to its security or economy.

Did you find something out of the ordinary and threatening to the economy when you went shopping prior to April 2, 2025, so-called “Liberation Day”? 

Probably not.

And apparently the Supreme Court determined there were no such compelling threats because last February it essentially told the Trump administration that it owed the companies that paid the tariffs the amounts they paid.

So this element of “Screw Your Neighbor” was taken off the table. (Consequently, the administration applied other tariffs under the Trade Act of 1974. It was not going to be screwed by the Supreme Court.)

Earlier this week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its calculations on the state of the national deficit.

Now when you read this statement from the CBO’s monthly budget review, remember that Trump was positioned as being the consummate businessman: “The federal budget deficit totaled $1.8 trillion in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2026 … That amount is $169 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.”

That’s right: A bigger deficit.

In February the CBO published The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2026 to 2036.

But now it finds: “Based on information available through the end of July, CBO estimates that the fiscal year 2026 deficit will be $2.1 trillion — $200 billion more than the $1.9 trillion deficit projection that CBO published on February 11, 2026.”

Yes, an even bigger deficit.

Aren’t Republicans supposed to decrease the deficit, not make it go up?

The CBO had to do recalculations because it now thinks “all tariffs and customs duties collected in 2026 will be about $250 billion (or 60%) below earlier projections.”

It could be worse. And it isn’t thanks to you: “CBO now anticipates that income and payroll tax collections will be about $75 billion (or 2 percent) more than in February.”

There is also this: “Collections of individual income and payroll taxes rose; collections of corporate income taxes declined.”

That’s right: You pay more. Corporations pay less.

Why?, you wonder.

Can you say “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”?

It is argued that if taxes are cut on corporations there will be greater investment in things like bricks and mortar and machinery and systems. This will then result in more jobs with higher wages.

Sounds great in theory, but you’ve probably heard of late several corporations that are buying back stock. This buyback reduces the number of outstanding shares of stock, thereby decreasing the number of outstanding shares and increasing the value of the shares held.

But when a corporation buys back stock, it spends money that can’t be spent on CapEx, those things meant to enhance productivity.

As the CBO puts it: “Receipts from corporate income taxes decreased by $89 billion (or 23%). The 2025 reconciliation act allows corporations to take larger deductions for certain investments, thereby reducing some payments and offsetting the increases in those receipts that otherwise would have been expected, given the rise in corporate income.”

Swell.

So where are we as a nation?

Deeper in debt and as we’ve been screwing our neighbors, not particularly well perceived.

Consider: Gallup reported in April that based on its polling of people in more than 130 countries in 2025 — so this is pre-Iran War, which has had a debilitating effect on the global economy: “China surpassed the United States in global approval ratings in 2025, with a median of 36% approving of China’s leadership, compared with 31% for the US. China’s five-percentage-point advantage over the US is the widest Gallup has recorded in China’s favor in nearly 20 years.”

What’s more (or less): “disapproval of US leadership rose to a record-high 48%, while China’s disapproval rating remained flat at 37%.”

Screw Your Neighbor, indeed.

And keep something in mind: The deficit is not just something that goes away. It has to be paid back.

Guess who won’t be in office when the deficit starts being reduced?

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings where he writes primarily for the right column.

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It’s the Economic Performance Commentary by Rich Corbett

AUGUST 11, 2026 — There’s an important distinction missing here: Wage growth is not the same thing as economic performance. [“So, About Those Manufacturing Numbers” by Stephen Macaulay, right column.]

The Atlanta Fed numbers show that manufacturing wages grew faster during much of the Biden administration. Fair enough. But those were also years of pandemic-related labor shortages, supply disruptions and high inflation. 

Wage growth alone tells us little about whether manufacturing is expanding, whether workers are gaining purchasing power, or whether companies are investing in future production. It’s a little like judging two baseball seasons solely by home runs while ignoring that the ballpark changed.

The more interesting question is what is happening to manufacturing investment, production and jobs. Those things take time. A factory announced in 2025 doesn’t start producing in 2025, and a single month’s construction-spending figure doesn’t tell us where the trend is headed. More importantly, the Bureau of Economic Affairs reports that durable-goods manufacturing was one of the leading contributors to US GDP growth in the first quarter of 2026, while manufacturing employment also increased in the quarter. That’s actual economic activity — not a campaign promise or a Truth Social post.

None of this means Trump has magically solved every economic problem. Tariffs have created legitimate concerns about input costs and uncertainty … and Americans are understandably still unhappy about the price level left behind by the inflation of the Biden years.

But that’s precisely why a little common sense is useful here. If the question is whether Trump’s policies are succeeding in rebuilding American manufacturing, let’s measure factories, investment, production and jobs — not simply whether today’s wage-growth percentage beats a number from a very different economic environment. The verdict is still out, but the evidence is considerably more complicated than those who just disagree with the Trump administration. 

Corbett is a contributing pundit to The Hustings, writing primarily for the right column.

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Donald Trump: Hero of the US Auto Industry (?) Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

JULY 29, 2026 — Donald Trump went to the General Motors Proving Grounds in Milford, a 4,000-acre site in southeastern Michigan where the vehicle manufacturer has developed advanced vehicles — like electric vehicles which were going to be a big part of the company’s portfolio, but because of elimination in the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act of the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs and his repeal of emissions regulations for vehicles with gasoline engines, it is likely that there is more focus on combustion at the Proving Grounds than on electricity.

Because of the change in tax policy for EVs, GM had to write down some $7 billion from its books. Things were worse at Ford, which had a write-off of $19.5 billion. (Stellantis reported a write-down of $26 billion, but as it is truly a global company, the amount related specifically to the US is not called out, though it is thought to be the largest percentage of that figure.)

Trump had several boasts in Milford, including the bizarre, “I’ve done more for you” — as in the workers who were in the audience — “than your parents, OK?”

And what exactly might that be?

Never mind. He probably doesn’t know, either.*

He, naturally, claimed there were jobs created in auto because of his tariffs.

Per usual, that wasn’t true. In late 2024 there were some 166,000 auto jobs in Michigan, a number that is now down to 156,000.

MAGA!

He said that Ford is investing $3 billion in its BlueOval Battery Park in Marshall, Michigan, and creating 1,700 new jobs. Which is partially correct.

Before the Trump tax credit elimination Ford was going to invest $3.5 billion in the plant and create 2,500 jobs.

Post-tax credit elimination Ford has reduced its investment to $2.5 billion (not $3 billion) and yes, there is an expected creation of 1,700 jobs — or 800 fewer than Ford originally planned. 

Another aspect of the tariffs: the Detroit Three is getting a refund of $2.3 billion because the Supreme Court ruled certain reciprocal trade duties were unconstitutional.

And while he is correct that 2025 was the strongest sales year in the US since 2019, arguably his heel-dragging on the creation of the COVID vaccine helped lead to a considerable collapse of auto sales in 2022 (a situation aggravated by a chip shortage).

But it goes like this for US sales:

• 2019: 17.0 million sold
• 2022: 13.8 million sold
• 2025: 16.2 million sold

Cox Automotive and Mobility Global, two highly respected automotive analyst firms predict:

• 2026: 15.8 million sold

Seems like the wrong direction, doesn’t it?

And there is something else to consider.

In 2019 the average transaction price for a vehicle in the US, according to the authority Kelley Blue Book, was $37,876.

Today it says the average price is $49,758.

Which goes to another one of his claims in Milford: “We’ve brought down prices.”

Not only is that not true when it comes to vehicles, but according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area (and know that GM HQ is in Detroit and the GM Technical Center is in Warren; Stellantis operates plants in Detroit and Warren; Ford HQ is in Dearborn, as are its research campus and its legendary Rouge Plant): “The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area all-items CPI-U increased 4.0 percent for the 12 months ending in June.”

Two elements of that are food, which was up 6.4% during that period, and energy, up 20.4%.

You may recall that last July Trump fired Erika McEntafer, commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, because he didn’t like the figures in the jobs report. The person in charge of the CPI-U for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area ought to update his or her resume.

==

*It is amazing how Trump can make claims like that which are thoroughly abnormal yet none of his supporters even scratch their heads in wonderment. “Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump.” Yes, a man who demeans anyone and everyone that somehow creeps into his imagination — including the women and men who are parents, people who teach their children not to demean other people or to use vulgar language: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in one. “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!” — Donald Trump, Truth Social, April 5, 2026. Some people — likely parents — will recognize that date as Easter Sunday.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. He lives in Southeastern Michigan.

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This Speech After 250 Years? Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

JULY 6, 2026 — So there we have it, 20 sentences into his July 4, 2026 speech: “And we’re doing better now than we’ve ever done before.”

Really? And why that might be this case?

Then 14 more sentences in:“And tonight our country is stronger, freer, richer, safer and prouder than ever before.”

Undoubtedly his speechwriters crafted those lines for an audience of one, not for an audience of the ages. This speech, which marks an important moment in all of history, won’t be included in one of those compilations of Great American Speeches along with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” — you know, speeches that are aspirational.

Trump’s speech writers must have been a bit flummoxed when he quickly went off script, making a meteorological observation. He went from talking about the signers of the Declaration of Independence to: “And this is an evening for the ages. I believe this is something very special.”

OK.

But then: “This is bigger than if we didn’t’ have the lightning blaring. We had lightning blaring. But this is bigger, little more inconvenient. But it’s bigger, I think, in its own way it’s more beautiful.”

Perhaps he was channeling Maya Angelou or Amanda Gorman with his “lightning blaring,” doing a poetic turn of phrase. Not flashing or crackling. Blaring.

Well, probably neither of those poets. Maybe something from Lee Greenwood.

But what is “This” “bigger than,” “more beautiful” than?

Never mind. 

He moved on to showing famous flags, perhaps trying to appeal to the Sheldon Cooper contingent. Trump talked about the British surrender at Yorktown and then said: “Ever since, the entire world has been on notice that Americans will never let anyone take our freedom away. Won’t happen. And all these talks from the communists, they haven’t got a chance. We don’t want communists in our country. Never worked. And it never will work.”

Now, most of the world — not the entire world, but the better part of it — need not be put “on notice that Americans will never let anyone take our freedom away.” Those countries were once considered our allies.

Arguably the only country that might like to take the US down is Russia (we buy too much stuff from China for it to be them), but rather than show resistance to Vladimir Putin, whose stated goal is to reestablish a Great Russian Empire, by providing full support to the Ukrainians who want to preserve their freedom, Trump is apparently pro-Putin by his inactions.

Then before looking at the ideology of “the communists,” it is worth looking at this: “We don’t want communists in our country. Never worked.”

Does he think that there were communists in our country who did take freedom away but not effectively (“Never worked”)? After all, for it to have had the chance of working, it needed to exist. Is he, perhaps, channeling Joe McCarthy?

True conservatives believe in free markets, open trade. You won’t find that in Russia or North Korea. Trump has openly stated that he expects other countries to pay for the ability to sell products in the US. In other words, not an open market.

So what is his economic approach more like? Seems like North Korea.

Communist governments control all the means of communication and production.

Socialist governments own pieces, not all, of the same.

He is likely referring to socialists, not communists. But “communist” sounds more evil, at least to someone of his generation.

But it turns out Trump has things in common with socialists.

Take the means of communication. Notice how the Trump Administration has sued or put under investigation everything from The New York Times to The View. Why? Because they don’t tow his party line. (Really: Whoopi Goldberg is a threat to the nation?)

Yes, trying to control the media is socialist.

U.S. Steel (just the name of the company, nothing to do with the government) had been in decline for some time. But Nippon Steel (just the name of the company, nothing to do with the Japanese government) wanted to buy it.

Nippon Steel offered a 40% premium over the then-existing share price of U.S. Steel. It guaranteed U.S. Steel would operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and as such maintain its corporate identity and even have its headquarters in Pittsburgh. It committed to making a $1.4-billion investment in the facilities of U.S. Steel to make them competitive (which they weren’t).

But then, the Trump Administration became involved. Rather than having Nippon Steel just make guarantees, the US government demanded a “golden share” in the acquired company that gives the president, or one of his designates, control over what Nippon Steel does with the company it purchased. 

Sounds like socialism.

You may recall the CHIPS Act passed under the Biden Administration. The objective is to provide support to the US semiconductor industry by awarding grants to US companies engaged in that industry.

Yet last August, Trump decided that rather than providing a grant to Intel, he would demand an equity investment in Intel, which makes the US government the single biggest shareholder in the company.

Yes, a socialist approach.

Now Trump can’t make a speech without a swerve into Festivus.

“After 250 years, unlike so many others in the world, in this country we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, equal justice under the law, although I wasn’t treated that well. But we won’t get into that.”

For those of you who have left your rhetoric books behind, that “I won’t get into that” is an example of apophasis. Sort of like the classic “I’m not one to gossip, but. . . .”

That was followed by: “And the right to keep and bear arms. And for the almost six years that I was president, I guarded very, very powerfully your Second Amendment. And they didn’t do a thing to it. And it was not easy. But we guard your Second Amendment.”

Guarded it from whom? And who are “they”? Communists? How often after children and other innocent people are gunned down do we hear more about “thoughts and prayers” than repealing the Second Amendment?

Trump lauds heroic Congressional Medal of Honor winner retired Colonel Parris Davis.

And can’t help but add: “Great man. He looks better than I do.”

Yes, it is always about him.

(A few days earlier, while making remarks at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, Trump said: “Except for Arthur and Douglas MacArthur . . . they’re the only father and son pair to receive our nation’s highest military award for courage above and beyond the call of duty. Now, as I see my two beautiful sons sitting there, I think I’m going to give one to myself, one to them, and we’ll have a threesome.”

The highest military award is the Medal of Honor. 

The comment is described as being a joke.

The Medal of Honor is not something anyone — president or otherwise — jokes about. But there you have it. Trump did not serve in the military. Eric Trump did not serve in the military. Donald Trump, Jr., did not serve in the military.

(Yes, a veritable laff riot.) 

Returning to confusion: “We had the American dream. We never had the American dream, however, like we have it right now. The American dream is back.”

Where did it go?

He returns to the power theme — thanks to him: “Our rise to being the world’s strongest and most powerful nation was no accident of history. We rebuilt our military in my first term and we use it a little bit in our actually, I should say third term, but I won’t do that because I don’t want any controversy.”

A few minutes earlier he cited “the most righteous pollical document ever conceived. It’s called the Constitution of the United States.”

If he was as knowledgeable about it as he probably thinks he is, he would know the 22^nd Amendment to the Constitution says, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

So even if he wasn’t lying about losing to Joe Biden, the third would be impossible. At least for those who abide by the laws of the United States.

Then there’s this: “You look at Venezuela, you look at Iran. We wiped it out, wiped out their military. Americans crossed the Great Plains, scaled the Rockies.”

So somehow the military activities undertaken in the 21^st century are in some way related to the civilian migration that occurred in the 19^th?

Further on in his flag demonstrations he noted one that flew on a naval vessel back in 1898 after the US Navy sank the Spanish Pacific squadron at the Battle of Manila Bay. That, of course, serves as a segue to: “Much like our recent history by sinking the entire Iranian Navy, 159 ships to the bottom of the sea, all done in just a moment’s time, happened very quickly.”

Once again, he is putting a false narrative to his advantage.

The Battle of Manila Bay was part of the Spanish-American War. That war lasted three months, three weeks, and one day. And realize this was when there were no airplanes and the naval vessels had steam engines that had a top speed of about 20 mph, so getting anywhere took a lot longer than is the case today.

The Iran War, from the start of military action in February to the memorandum of understanding in June lasted four months and seven days — and arguably it is still running.

Seems like William McKinley did a better job than Trump.

Trump said: “Americans won the West. . . . Because America is a nation of winners. And today our country is winning again. And we’re winning like never before.”

What it is that we are supposed to be winning is never clarified in that speech or anywhere else.

That kicks into: “America is back and we want to keep America great. And we will do so by approving the Save America Act. . . . And you won’t have cheating on the elections anymore.”

Interesting how the speech that should be about the greatness and accomplishments of the United States over the past 250 years gets a contemporary political angle inserted.

And isn’t the implication of “And you won’t have cheating on the elections anymore” that there was cheating on the elections and therefore some of those who were elected really weren’t? How does that make America look? Of course, given that even the Cyber Ninjas couldn’t find cheating in the 2020 presidential election doesn’t matter in Trump’s distorted view of the polity.

Time marched on.

But ideas didn’t really go anywhere, as after talking about how “Americans stood against the evil of communism in the Cold War” he advanced to: “America will never be a communist country. Won’t happen. Communism is a loser, and it always will be. The communist system is the opposite of the American system, and the communist system has never worked. . . . We like to stop a threat like that immediately and before it begins. It’s like a cancer. You got to cut it out. You got to cut it out fast.”

Where are all of these communists he’s worried about?

And what sense does this make: “We like to stop a threat like that immediately and before it begins”?

Let’s assume there is a threat. How do you stop something “before it begins”?

Oncologists can’t cut out cancer that isn’t there.

He shows a flag from Checkpoint Charlie, which he describes as a “very famous place on the Berlin Wall where American freedom finally brought communism crashing down to an end.”

Well, one could quibble that Checkpoint Charlie was at the Berlin Wall (about 20 feet away) not on it. But this notion that “American freedom finally brought communism crashing down” doesn’t given credit to Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet and then Russian leader from 1985-1991), who initiated glasnost and perestroika; the fact that in 1989 Hungary opened its border fences with Austria, which had many East Germans taking advantage of; and the fact that East Germany was bankrupt, so that was a bit of a problem. And let’s not forget Pope John Paul II, who repeatedly talked of reconciliation between the East and the West. (Karol Józef Wojtyła, incidentally, grew up under communism so he spoke from reality, not fantasy.) But why give any credit to anyone else, even if they deserve it?

But that allowed Trump to go on to: “The Stars and Stripes cast the hammer and sickle into oblivion before, and we will do it again if necessary. I don’t think it’s going to be necessary. I think people have learned. They learned what to do and how to handle it.”

The hammer and sickle were put on the national Soviet flag in 1923. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. 

But presumably Trump is not talking about the non-existent Soviet threat to the Stars and Stripes but the non-existent threat of non-existent communists living in American communities from sea to shining sea. (Be afraid. Be very afraid. Yes, I’ve watched The Americans too, so I am well up on sleeper agents, but I don’t think Trump is referring to them as much as he is colleagues of Zohran Mamdani.)

“We were losing to China and Russia in space. And now we’re leading them by giant steps.”

Well, especially as regards China, those “giant steps” aren’t. Yes, earlier this year the US sent the Artemis II astronauts around to the dark side of the Moon.

In 2019 a Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon. Then in 2024 China landed a spacecraft on the dark-side surface and had it bring back lunar samples. Clearly, they’re not slouches in this whole space exploration undertaking.

It should be noted that the administration tried to cut the NASA budget by some 24% first for fiscal 2026 and then again for fiscal 2027. Congress pushed back on both and won.

Somehow Trump championing space rings hollow.

So, we get to the peroration.

“We have $19.2 trillion being invested in our country, which is six times more than ever happened before.”

It never happened before because it isn’t happening now. According to the official “Major Investment Announcements” page on the White House website, as of July 5, 2026 “Total U.S. and Foreign Investments: $10.6 Trillion.”

Even if all the figures on that page are accurate, $8.6 trillion is a big miss.

“We’re building more factories in the United States than ever before.”

No, we’re not. Turns out that in 2024 — yes, we’re talking the Biden Era here — factory construction was at a 40-year high.

And manufacturing employment in the US was higher in 2024 than it is in 2026. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics “June 2026 Employment Situation Summary,” there has been a net loss of 75,000 manufacturing jobs since the beginning of 2025.

Flat rhetoric and flat falsehoods.

Yes, that’s America 250 Freedom 250.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right column.

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Our 250th Anniversary Matters; Democracy Is Under Siege

Commentary by Jerry Lanson 

[Part of our America 250 debate about the condition and future of our democracy]

JULY 3, 2026 — When I stand in my town’s Village Green to protest what I consider the illegal and corrupt actions of this administration, I always take an American flag with me. So do many of those who stand around me.

As Americans, we love our country. We just shudder at the state it’s in.

We worry about the disregard for our Constitution and of democracy itself. We detest the rapidly burgeoning economic gap between the billionaire rich and everyone else; the buying of elections; the brazen and overt corruption of this president, his children and his cronies; the soaring cost of health care; the cruelty and distain too often directed against just about anyone who isn’t white and male.

According to policialwire.com, Republican Rep. Roy Nehls of Texas Tuesday told reporters, “Affordability? What are you talking about? …. I’m gonna get me a couple of big lobster tails. I’m gonna get me some nice ribeyes … Maybe the 60% of Americans don’t work as hard as I do.”

Tell me, congressman. What work is that? Just what have you done for the American people and your constituents lately?  

It is a comment that sums up why more and more Americans are turning on incumbents in both parties for being out of touch and, in this case, disdainful of their constituents.

It has been written many times before, but the election of 2026 truly will determine the future of our democracy, the endurance of our Constitution. Both are teetering. 

When I look at my neighbors, at my community, my local government here on Cape Cod, I remain hopeful for the future of our country. People care. They disagree respectfully. They look out for those less fortunate. They clean beaches and parks. They greet each other as walkers and dog owners rather than identifying each other as supporters of blue or red.  Other than the occasional rude driver – likely a tourist – they willingly cede right of way and give the other guy a break on the busy summer roadways.

When I look at national politics my hope diminishes; I’m less sanguine.  I am stunned that a solid 40%-plus of Americans still support a man who has turned a $2 billion personal profit at their expense in his first year in office, a man whose FBI director – the nation’s chief law enforcement officer – has profited from stock sales that he sometimes allegedly “forgets” to report, according to NOTUS. I’m repelled by a Supreme Court that regularly rolls back decades of precedent and a Republican majority that’s marched largely in lockstep like lemmings toward the cliff on which democracy teeters.  I’m disheartened by a Democratic opposition that has largely proven itself enfeebled, clearing its collective throat from time to time, asking for money often, but doing little to sustain vigorous opposition or defend our Constitution. 

What comes next in my view remains highly uncertain. Will we have a fair election? Will votes be counted? And whose? 

In the meantime, I will continue to hold on to my flag in one hand and a sign calling for change and extolling democracy in the other.

Contributing Pundit Lanson’s Substack is From the Grassroots.

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Republican Fact Deficit Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

JUNE 29, 2026 — While politicians have long had a reputation for being rather flexible when it comes to telling the truth, it has arguably become considerably worse during the Trump administrations. 

Let’s not forget Trump’s famous 2018 observation: “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening. Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.”

“Just stick with us.”

And there are plenty who do, especially those who carry his water, like the junior senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall, a Republican who was on NBC’s Meet the Press on June 28.

After making some fanciful claims about the war in Iran, Marshall said to substitute host Ryan Nobles (who deserves that host chair full-time): “I’m concerned about the cost of living right now. Under Joe Biden we saw the cost of housing, health care, childcare all go up 50% and we’re still reeling from that, but we are getting back in the game again, America is truly back, real wages are outpacing inflation right now.”

First of all, Donald Trump has been president for 523 days as of June 28, so somehow harping about Joe Biden is rather sad. At what point is it accepted that it is Trump’s economy?

Then there is that claim about the costs of housing, health care and childcare all going up 50%.

While the costs of those three things did go up from January 2021 to January 2025, the increases were far from 50% according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Housing was up 22%; health care 12% and childcare 25%.

Surely looks like Marshall is consulting something else.

And there is one thing that is readily forgotten regarding one of the reasons why there were those increases. It was something that Donald Trump claimed would “just go away”: COVID.

Given everything from disrupted supply chains to lockdowns it is surprising those increases weren’t on the order of 50%.

But they weren’t.

Nobles pointed out to Marshal that real wages aren’t outpacing inflation right now.

Nobles didn’t say it, but the inflation rate for the 12 months ending May 2026 is 4.2% and annual wage growth 3.7%. Which means earnings are down -0.7%.

That inflation number, by the way, is a three-year high.

Marshall: “Well, Ryan, again to push back, I think real wages are up since President Trump became president. We do have a little blip going on right now, but as the gasoline prices come down inflation’s gonna come down and wages will get back up.”

If I said the Moon is made of green cheese, that doesn’t make it so.

The fact is while there was wage growth initially, that oh-so-clever businessman has managed to flip that scenario and now inflation is higher.

Let’s talk about that “blip” and gasoline.

Before the war in Iran started, according to AAA, the US average retail price of a gallon of gas was $2.98.

For more than 120 days Americans have been paying more for gasoline than they did before the Iran war started — some 120 days ago, or 23% of Trump’s time in office.

Somehow 17 weeks — or about a third of a year — doesn’t seem like a “blip.”

And while gas prices are decreasing, they are still high. Using AAA’s $2.98 pre-war cost and its current national average of $3.86, gas now is still 30% higher than it was back at the end of February.

Given these unsubstantiated claims put out on a national platform, one might recommend: “don’t believe the crap you see from these people.”

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where his columns appear primarily in the right (conservative) column.

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Message Scrawled on Post-it Note IR Iran at FIFA World Cup 2026

JUNE 23, 2026 — As covered by The New York Times: From the ancient Persia of thousands of years ago to the civilized Iran of today, the spirit of Iran remains alive and steadfast. We came to Los Angeles with pride, competed with honor, and leave with dignity.

Thank you, Los Angeles, for your hospitality. 

And thank you, to every Iranian who gave their heart, voice, and soul for Iran through these 180 minutes. May peace, respect, and friendship prevail among all nations.

IR Iran was not allowed to stay overnight in the US and traveled between from and back to its hotel in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, to the Los Angeles SoFi Stadium for its match with Belgium.

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Less Than Zero Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

JUNE 18, 2026 — “We’re in no rush. But we’ll get it and when we get it, we will destroy it.”

That was Donald Trump during a press conference on June 16 at Évian-les-Bains, France.

He noted there need be no hurry to get the nuclear material he was referring to because there are satellites with “very powerful cameras” keeping watch on the Iranian nuclear sites — which, of course, he noted are all under rubble. Should the Iranians make a move, then additional action will be taken.

But in the meantime, “when all is calm,” he said, the nuclear material will be taken. 

(How? Well, that’s not clear.)

Think about this for a moment.

Trump is absolutely lackadaisical about the nuclear material, yet from the start throughout most of the war he kept making it sound like the Iranians were hell-bent on producing a bomb that was going to be lobbed to a location near you.

There he was, essentially saying like an adolescent, “whenever.”

During his June 17 press conference, he said, “If we didn’t do this deal, we could have dropped more bombs for another three weeks, two to four weeks.” He also noted several times that if the Iranians don’t do what he wants them to do, behave the way he thinks he should, the bombing will resume, he’ll bomb them.

Still, if he’d continued the bombing “you would never have the Hormuz Strait open. You would never have success; your market would have, instead of going up at levels that nobody’s ever seen before, would go down at levels that nobody ever saw before.”

Success, apparently, is having the Strait of Hormuz open, something that was never closed until Trump started the war. Now he is positioning that as some sort of wonderful success. 

He broke it. He claims to have fixed it. And that’s something special?

As for the market, consider this: On March 2, the first Monday after Operation Epic Fury began, the S&P 500 was at 6,881. It began a decline to March 28, when it reached 6,343. It didn’t get back to 6,881 until April 13.

In other words, somebodies have lost money in the market for roughly a month and a half. Yet those losses are never mentioned. 

Yes, on June 17 the S&P 500 closed at 7,420, but where would it have been had there not been this pointless war? Isn’t in conceivable that it could be much higher? 

Trump boasts about oil prices going down. But why did they go up?

Because of a war whose mission now seems to be the stuff of a shrug.

Consider this from the memorandum of understanding:

“8. The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.”

Reaffirms? The “re” indicates that this is confirming again something that has already been said. So in other words, Iran already said it. What did Trump accomplish?

Less than nothing.

And as 8 leads to 9:

“9. Pending the final deal, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region.”

“Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program”?

It doesn’t take an expert in Latin to know that “status quo” means it is going to be what it was.

So what was accomplished?

How many kids didn’t get a prom dress because of the prices driven up by the war — driven up on top of the tariff price increases?

How many parents had to cut back on that high school graduation gift because of the inflated price of gas, gas needed simply to get to work?

“We’re in no rush”?

What has he accomplished, not only for what seems to matter to him first and foremost, his reputation, but for the American people?

Clearly, he thought that Iran would be like Venezuela. The US would sweep in, take care of business, and declare victory. Trump would be triumphant, doing something none of those previous weak, stupid presidents could accomplish.

Instead, he did nothing but strengthen the Iranian hand — and let’s even put “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least USD $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran” aside.

Are you better off today than you were February 27, 2026? 

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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Trump Talks Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

JUNE 9, 2026 — On June 7, 2026, Donald Trump appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press interviewed by Kristen Welker.

If you didn’t watch it, here’s some of what you missed: “And I call it a military exercise because people would rather have it called that. It’s not a big war for us. It’s not.”

• Who are these “people” he is always referring to? Perhaps the obsequious minions who make up his Cabinet? Or perhaps just “people” that he makes up because by saying other people say something it is easier than having to take responsibility. No, not a war. Right.

///

“We have the most powerful military in the world. I built it, frankly. I built it in my first four years. And I’m using it a little bit in my second four years.”

• This is an interesting claim. Did the US not have a powerful military pre-Trump? Didn’t the military capabilities that existed play a role in the US winning the Cold War? And how about the two World Wars?

///

“Well, we have a blockade. It’s been extremely effective. And the reason we have it is they tried a blockade, and now we blockaded them. And, as you know, they’re losing $400-500 million a day. It’s not sustainable for them. They have an economy that’s shot, in addition to everything else.”

• We have a blockade in the Strait of Hormuz because they had one first. And their blockade has “been extremely effective” because globally the prices of everything from jet fuel to aluminum has gone way up, so it has proven to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) that blockading the Strait of Hormuz is rather effective. Remember: pre-Operation Epic Fury the boats floated through, no danger from mines, no tariffs on transit. Yes, the Iranian economy is shot, but the “military exercise” isn’t particularly helpful to other economies, including that of the US.

///

“But my red line would be if I think I wasn’t going to make a deal, or if I wasn’t going to make a deal fast enough. So we’re having very good negotiations with the people that are leading the country now. It’s the third group that we’ve been dealing with.”

• There were 99 days between the start of Operation Epic Fury and Trump’s appearance on Meet the Press. How many times have we heard from him that a deal was imminent? Until it wasn’t. Until he said it again? Despite his TV reputation, dealmaking doesn’t seem to be his strong suit.

Because there was this:

KRISTEN WELKER: “Okay. You have been saying for months, Mr. President, that Iran is begging to make a deal.”

PRES. DONALD TRUMP: “True.”

KRISTEN WELKER: “If they are so desperate to make a deal, why haven’t they made a deal with you yet?”

PRES. DONALD TRUMP: “Because they — it’s a very hard thing for them. They’ve had great independence. They’ve dealt with very weak and ineffective leadership on behalf of the United States and other countries, frankly, that were — that allowed them to get away with murder. And I don’t — I think they can’t believe they’re in the situation where they’ve been virtually decapitated.

KRISTEN WELKER: “But if they’re so desperate, Mr. President, why haven’t they said “yes” to the terms you’re proposing?”

PRES. DONALD TRUMP: “Because they’re strong. They’re proud.”

• To which I—and presumably a lot of people—can only say “Huh?”

///

“So the official name is highly enriched uranium. And I call it nuclear dust because it seemed to be nice, and everyone understands it better, and it’s sort of cute, and people picked it up.”

• There are those people again. But let’s see. We are concerned that Iran is building/will build/wants to build nuclear weapons with highly enriched uranium that, if used, will kill a multitude of people and cause widespread destruction. But he likes to call the primary constituent of said nuclear weapon “dust” because “it’s sort of cute”? Somehow going to warparticipating in “a military exercise” doesn’t have a whole lot of cuteness.

///

“I had to stop a country, very powerful, very dangerous country, from having a nuclear weapon because they’d use it. They’d blow up the world. They’d blow up the Middle East. They’d blow up Israel. They’d come here. They’d blow up Europe. They’re nuts, okay? They’re crazy people. I deal with them. And very high-strung people. Little crazy. And — I get along with them. I like them.”

• Let’s see: the same people who are “strong” and “proud” are “nuts”? And he gets “along with them”? How do the Iranian people with whom someone from the US is negotiating with feel about the President of the United States calling them “nuts” and “a little crazy”?

///

 I just won a big election. And the reason I won an election is people have confidence in me. I have good judgment.”

• There were 579 days between the 2024 presidential election and the appearance on Meet the Press. Just won? Do people have confidence in his sense of time?

///

“Hey, we took over a very powerful country, Venezuela. Lot of soldiers. Big, strong military. We took over Venezuela in a matter of minutes.”

• According to the site Global Firepower, which rates such things, the Venezuelan military is ranked 51^st out of 145 countries. Compared to the US we have 12 times as many active military, 57 times more aircraft, 33 times more fighter jets, 26 times more battle tanks. … Of course the US took over the country in a matter of minutes.

///

“If I didn’t go in there with the B2 bombers, they would right now have a nuclear weapon, and it could be that half of the world would be eradicated already.”

• Presumably he is referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, when the B2 bombers blew up the Iranian nuclear processing program in June 2025. So presumably the reason for Operation Epic Fury, a.k.a., “military exercise,” was. …?

///

“Because there’s nobody been better to farmers. You know what I gave farmers last term? $28 billion because China took advantage and other people. And you know who paid for it? China, last term.”

• In July 2022 Chad P. Bown of the Petersen Institute for International Economics wrote:

“Two years ago, President Donald Trump signed what he called a ‘historical trade deal’ with China that committed China to purchase $200 billion of additional US exports before December 31, 2021. Today the only undisputed ‘historical’ aspect of that agreement is its failure. … In the end, China bought only 58% of the US exports it had committed to purchase under the agreement, not even enough to reach its import levels from before the trade war. Put differently, China bought none of the additional $200 billion of exports Trump’s deal had promised.”

• And Mexico paid for the Wall.

///

“They had FBI agents ushering them into the building. They had FBI ‘Go into the building.’ Those people are walking around, they’re looking, ‘Oh, isn’t this nice?’ They weren’t in — they were being ushered into the building.”

• No, that’s not Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) who suggested that the January 6 rioters behaved “in an orderly fashion” and that the footage of the attack on the Capitol resembled “a normal tourist visit.” No, that’s Donald Trump, who now maintains it was the FBI and “a bunch of dirty cops” who were responsible for the riot.

///

“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.”

Ever the eloquent head of state.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

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The Economics of Engagement Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

MAY 7, 2026 — In his most-recent press conference, Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, said, “For too long, Iran has been harassing ships, shooting at civilian tankers from all nations and trying to impose a tolling system. Iran’s plan, a form of international extortion, is unacceptable.”

“Project Freedom” was going to change that.

According to Hegseth, “American destroyers are on station, supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft, providing 24/7 overwatch.”

A lot personnel and equipment.

As you probably know, Project Freedom, after a few dozen hours, was put on pause.

Now one of the things that is interesting about the first quote from Hegseth is this bit: “a tolling system. Iran’s plan, a form of international extortion, is unacceptable.”

Last month Donald Trump told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl that he was thinking about creating a joint venture with Iranian officials — to charge a toll on vessels passing through the Strait.

Trump suggested on his social media platform that “big money” could be made with the scheme. Everything is transactional. Those “hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones, and surveillance aircraft” don’t come for free.

This is indicative of the Trump Administration efforts vis-à-vis Iran: When someone who is as Trump-pliant as Pete Hegseth is saying that something the boss himself had proposed is “a form of international extortion” about just four weeks since the proposal, it isn’t too much a stretch to say things are completely discombobulated.

Prior to the US/Israeli attack on Iran, the Strait was open. Ships — and not just those with some 2 million barrels of crude on board — simply sailed right on through.

But the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) evidently figured that it could create economic havoc by preventing ships from getting through to the Gulf of Oman.

And it has. 

Consequently, there are some 2,000 ships and 20,000 sailors stuck in the Strait. And conditions on those ships are deteriorating.

Hegseth said Project Freedom “is more than strategy. It’s also humanitarian. By breaking Iran’s illegal stranglehold, we’re protecting the lives and livelihoods of sailors from dozens of countries, security global energy routes and preventing shortages that hit the world’s poorest people the hardest.”

Which is rich.

The US attacked Iran without warning in February.

If Iran was presenting an “imminent threat” to the US, which is generally considered to be the rational for attacking a country, then the Trump Administration has done a good job of not presenting any evidence.

So in reaction to being attacked, the Iranians did what they can, which is, in part, to block the Strait.

The Administration now fancies itself as being humanitarian because it is — or was — in effect, possibly helping those who are stuck at sea because of something it, the Administration, did.

We are getting into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland space here.

On a larger scale, there is another example of what can be considered twisted logic — were there any logic involved.

In his April 24 press briefing Hegseth said: “We are not counting on Europe, but they need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do, and might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe, and getting a boat. This is much more their fight than ours.”

In this case: the US, without consultation with European allies, attacks Iran and then wants the Europeans to join in because, well, the Trump administration wants them to. And then it publicly insults those allies (“having less fancy conferences” — you know, where diplomats, not real estate developers — get together and talk about issues, not going off half-cocked (or locked-and-loaded as Hegseth would have it)).

US citizens are well aware of what the war is costing them when they go to the gas station.

(No, gasoline prices aren’t suddenly going to fall back to where they were before the war ($2.98 per gallon) for a number of reasons, including the fact that infrastructure has been wrecked and it doesn’t suddenly get back into working order. Remember when Trump said of COVID “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”? That was in February 2020. The public health emergency ended in May 2023. Took a long time for that disappearance.).

But US citizens are going to discover it is going to be hitting them even economically harder.

The Pentagon said recently the tab for Operation Epic Fury was on the order of $25 billion. Other estimates are higher.

According to the “US-Iran War Cost Tracker” on MilitarySpend.org, the spend is $30.5 billion — and rising.

Trump said he was going to “Make America Great Again.”

Well, that money is going to have to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is likely the pockets of consumers.

And consider that MilitarySpend.org calculates that $30.5 billion has a lot of uses that would be important to Americans.

Like it could pay $75,000 salaries to 406,697 nurses. Or it could pay $65,000 salaries to 469,266 teachers.

Either of those things would make America a better place.

But one might argue that keeping Iran from having a nuclear weapon is worth the money.

To be sure, that is a laudable goal, but if we believe Donald Trump, as a result of Operating Midnight Hammer there was the “complete and total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, that it turned the “nuclear program to rubble.”

Which would lead one to think they’d not be getting a nuclear weapon anytime soon.

In fact, he said, “They’re not going to be building bombs for a long time.”

After all, if you can’t trust what President Trump is saying, who can you trust?

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It’s Morning in America — Again Commentary by Rich Corbett

APRIL 2, 2026 — For those of us who remember the 1970s, the phrase “It’s Morning in America” in the 1980s meant something.

It wasn’t just a Republican campaign slogan. It was a declaration of renewal after a decade of national humiliation and economic pain. We watched America stumble out of the Vietnam quagmire, suffer through OPEC-driven energy crises that fueled runaway inflation and endure the weakness of the Carter years — capped by the Iranian hostage crisis that saw 66 Americans held for 444 days while our embassy was overrun.

Then came Ronald Reagan.

A strong, unapologetic leader who restored confidence, rebuilt our military, confronted our adversaries and reminded the world that America was back. The malaise lifted. Pride returned. The sun rose again.

Today, that same feeling is returning.

After four years of Biden-era weakness — open borders, record inflation, energy dependence, a chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan,and diminished respect on the world stage — America is experiencing a new dawn under President Trump’s leadership.

The parallels are striking: a decisive commander-in-chief who puts America First, demands respect from allies and adversaries alike and rejects the apologetic decline of the previous administration. Just as Reagan rejected Carter’s malaise, Trump is rejecting Biden’s legacy of managed decline.

You can see it in the renewed swagger and confidence among those who wear the uniform. Our military personnel and veterans are standing taller. Recruitment and morale are rebounding as the culture of apology and weakness is replaced by one of strength, readiness and national pride.

It’s not magic. It’s leadership.

Strong, decisive, America First leadership that understands peace comes through strength, prosperity through energy dominance and national unity through shared purpose rather than division.

It’s Morning in America — again. And this time, the sun is rising on a nation that refuses to apologize for being exceptional.

Corbett, a contributing pundit for The Hustings writes MyDesultoryBlog.

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Legal, Schmegal & Other Trumpian Rants Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Although the excursion in Iran continues unabated, the president of the United States, who still hasn’t explained to the American people why his administration still hasn’t addressed that made-up issue of affordability, even though their visits to the gas stations keep getting more expensive almost by the minute (those digital signs are a whole lot easier to change than back when a guy with a suction cup on the end of a pole had to physically replace the numbers), likely interrupted his viewing of the Oscars (no, Melaniawas not nominated, which, of course, just shows Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone, “Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” aren’t doing their job), to post a 955-word piece on his social media platform at 10:46 pm, March 15. That was approximately the time the Best Picture award was given to Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, a movie that deals with rising US authoritarianism.

Here’s the whole thing: 

The Courts treat Republicans, and me, so unfairly, always seeming to protect those who should not be protected. They are highly politicized. Cases don’t matter, the Judge does! As an example, how is this absolutely terrible Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome “Too Late” Powell, not even allowed to be investigated for the horrible job he does? How is he allowed to be Billions of Dollars over budget, and years behind schedule, on the simple renovation of the small Federal Reserve Complex in Washington, D.C., where he created an absolute disaster — A money pit, and embarrassment to our Country for the whole World to see! It is a little project that has been under construction for many years. The Contractor on the job, along with Powell, should also be heavily investigated, in that it is impossible for a “professional” to have such enormous Cost Overruns. It is THE HIGHEST PRICED BUILDING, PER SQUARE FOOT, OF ANY PROJECT EVER BUILT, with no end in sight, and may not even be open for many years to come. I strongly criticized Jerome “Too Late” for his horrible performance throughout his tenure, which is either gross incompetence, total dishonesty, or both, and, in return for this well justified criticism, get viciously and wrongfully blamed by, as usual, a Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), and has been “after” my people, and me, for years. The D.C. Circuit eagerly supported the arrest and persecution of innocent Republicans for no crimes at all, but is now preventing even a basic investigation into the gross financial mismanagement of the Federal Reserve. In case after case, Boasberg has displayed open, flagrant, and extreme partisan bias and contempt against Republicans and the Trump Administration. To preserve the integrity of the Judiciary, he should be removed from all cases pertaining to us, and suffer serious disciplinary action, as should numerous other Corrupt Judges that, unfortunately, our Country has had to endure! What Boasberg has done on the “Too Late” Powell case, and many others, has little to do with the Law, and everything to do with Politics. He is exactly what Judges should not be! Boasberg would do better to focus on Justice and Fairness, not his own, and the Democrats’, Political Agenda, which has become LEGENDARY! Much like “prosecutor” Deranged Jack Smith, and many others, Boasberg is a disgrace, as was his predecessor, to our Legal Process, and our Highly Politicized Court System, which was just witnessed firsthand by the unfortunate and unwarranted TARIFF decision, recently handed down by the United States Supreme Court, which was a GIFT to Countries and Companies who have been “ripping off the United States of America,” for decades, at levels never seen before.

The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country, and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades. Our Supreme Court has made these Countries very happy but, as the Court pointed out, I have the absolute right to charge TARIFFS in another form, and have already started to do so. The Hundreds of Billions of Dollars that our Adversaries want our Country to pay back to others that have disrespected the U.S.A., until I came along, should be marked down, in the eyes of the Public, as just another reason why the United States had been in such major decline — But, not anymore, because we have MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN and, very soon, it will be GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!

I want to thank Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh for their Wisdom and Courage pertaining to the TARIFF case, and for understanding, in addition to the Law, that our “Unfriendly Competitors” should not be reimbursed and rewarded for the decades of Damage they have caused THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I will fight hard to make sure that this does not happen! The Democrats on the Court always “stick together,” no matter how strong a case is put before them — There is rarely even a minor “waver.” But Republicans do not do this. They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how “honest,” “independent,” and “legitimate” they are. The Democrat Justices just vote Democrat — They always stick together! Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization. The sad thing is, they will only get worse! They wouldn’t even call out The Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, because they said that I, as President of the United States, did not have “standing” to challenge it, and now, with time, it has been conclusively proven to be stolen — And look what happened to our wonderful Nation by allowing a grossly incompetent man, Sleepy Joe Biden, to be our “President.” This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be. They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Let’s break this down.

For some reason, Fed chairman Jerome Powell continues to obsess Trump, probably because Powell is doing his job, which is to keep employment high and inflation low.

Although the Fed has a phalanx of some 24,000 economists, analysts, IT professionals, attorneys, and staff located across the country and so have their fingers of the pulses of what’s happening, Trump knows more because, well, he’s Trump. 

Trump wants Powell to cut interest rates. That would make borrowing cheaper for consumers. Of course, that doesn’t address the high cost of goods, including electricity and gasoline. What cutting rates would likely do is simply put more people in debt.

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, at the end of 2025 total U.S. debt was at a record $18.8 trillion.

Maybe this is a Golden Age for lenders, but not those who are having to deal with payments.

Trump’s Department of Justice (yes, it is supposed to be “our” Department of Justice, but don’t kid yourself: they are working as an affiliate of Donald J. Trump) was having Powell investigated — because the rehab of the Federal Reserve HQ was taking too long and costing too much money, at least in Trump’s estimation.

Clearly Powell doesn’t have the finesse of Trump when it comes to getting work done on buildings.

According to a piece in USA Today, “Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills,” (Steve Reilly, June 9, 2016): “On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing.”

Construction cost overruns can simply be addressed by that simple move.

Which brings us to the “Wacky, Nasty, Crooked, and totally Out of Control Judge, named James Boasberg, a man who suffers from the highest level of Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).”

On March 11 the United States District Court for the District of Columbia filed its opinion in the case of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (a.k.a., “Jerome ‘Too Late’) v. United States of America (a.k.a., again, not us, but Donald J. Trump).

And the opinion concludes: “A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning.  On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual.  The Court therefore finds that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them.”

Who needs evidence when you can post “Truths”?

Clearly Judge Boasberg doesn’t know what he’s doing if he doesn’t recognize that Donald J. Trump knows the truth when he makes it so.

Moving on to additional criticism of our “Highly Politicized Court System,” Trump attacks some members of the Supreme Court who found that the president can’t impose tariffs based on the actual wording of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). As Chief Justice John Roberts wrote: IEEPA “contains no reference to tariffs or duties.”

What’s more, there’s that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution that says Congress, not the president, can impose tariffs or duties.

Now consider this in the context of the “Highly Politicized Court System”:

“The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country, and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades.”

Said simply, the Court should have sided with him because of his notion of a “Victory for our Country.”

Instead: “Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.”

Well, not entirely: “I want to thank Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh for their Wisdom and Courage pertaining to the TARIFF case, and for understanding, in addition to the Law, that our ‘Unfriendly Competitors’ should not be reimbursed and rewarded for the decades of Damage they have caused THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

It is not the justices’ job to consider market competition. It is to follow the law.

Something that Trump evidently doesn’t think is particularly important, at least not if it goes against his fantasies in any way.

And maybe I missed something but when was “The Rigged Presidential Election of 2020. . . conclusively proven to be stolen”? Who proved it? Not even the Cyber Ninjas were able to find more Trump votes in Maricopa County or elsewhere in Arizona.

Notice there is not one word about gas prices. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gas a month ago was $2.92 and is now $3.71. That’s a 27% increase.

“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, where he writes primarily for the right column.

POSTED Sunday 3/22/26, from Substack Thursday 3/18/26

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Bulldozers at the Kennedy Center Prediction by Todd Lassa

We interrupt The Hustings’ quest to sort out Trump administration strategy over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz to discuss a relatively trivial matter.

I’m speaking, of course, about the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board’s unanimous approval of Chairman Donald J. Trump’s renovation plan during a two-year shutdown of Washington, D.C.’s cultural center beginning July 4.

This may be too easy to predict, but I’m predicting it in public anyway: Bulldozers will arrive at the parking lot by July 5.

The board vote happened Monday without any release of President Trump’s renovation plans, but August, at the latest –when Congress takes its month-long summer break —  will be perfect timing to bring down the 65-year-old building as quickly and as suddenly as the White House East Wing came down to make way for the “most beautiful ballroom” in the world.

It’s neither a stretch nor partisan commentary to point out the president already is well on his way to turning Washington, the District of Columbia, into Trump, the District of Columbia.

The Most Beautiful Ballroom in the World ™ is the most obvious indication. In his first formal statement about the war on Iran, with the press attending a White House Medal of Honor ceremony March 2, Trump pivoted from that war just launched with Israel two days prior as quickly as The Apprentice might have pivoted from its host announcing, “You’re fired!” to a word from the reality television show’s sponsor. 

“About a year from now you’re going to see a very, very beautiful building,” Trump told Medal of Honor recipients and media, without taking any questions. 

He told them he personally chose the gold curtains blocking view of the ballroom’s construction during his first term. Trump said that while his wife, Melania, can’t take the constant noise from the ballroom’s construction, it’s music to his ears. 

Add in the Arc d’Trump the president wants to build on Columbia Island in D.C. at the end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge leading to Arlington National Cemetery in time for the Semiquincentennial and you have the makings of an entire capital city almost itching for a name-change. 

So that’s the prediction: An all-new center for the performing arts. 

The only questions in my mind that remain is whether or not Trump will drop “Kennedy” from the current sign that reads “Trump-Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.” And whether the Kennedy family (excluding RFK Jr.) would want their family name to remain.

Lassa is founding editor of The Hustings.

Posted in our Substack Wednesday, March 17, 2026

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Ukraine v. Iran Analysis by Todd Lassa

The United States and its Middle Eastern allies seek Ukraine’s expertise in shooting down Iranian drones at the same time President Trump is giving Russia a break from trade sanctions on its oil. 

Ukraine has long sought tightened US sanctions on Russian exports as the three countries negotiated an end to the war. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the US and the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait are very much interested in Ukraine’s expertise in countering – shooting down – Iran’s Shahed-136 drones, The Guardian reports. Zelenskyy has spoken with leaders of those countries as Iran spreads its counterattack against the US and Israel into the entire region. 

Iran also has blocked the Strait of Hormuz to cut off oil shipments to much of Asia and much of the rest of the world.

As a result, although the US has been an oil exporting nation at least since the Obama administration, the national average gasoline price is up 33.8 cents and diesel is up 57.3 cents per gallon, since the war on Iran began last Saturday according to the AAA.

Ukraine is a pioneer in development of drone-killing equipment that costs as little as $1,000, according to The Guardian. Russia has sent tens of thousands of modified Iranian Shaheds over the four-plus years since its invasion of Ukraine. The aggressor’s biggest barrage sent more than 800 drones and decoys in a single night, according to the newspaper, but Ukraine’s anti-drones are “rewriting the air defense book,” making other countries “take notice.”

“We help to defend from war those who help us, the Ukraine, bring a just end to the war,” Zelenskyy said Thursday.

To which Trump responded: “Certainly, I’ll take, you know, any assistance from any country.”

However …

Dinosaur juice trumps cut-price high-tech drones.

The Trump administration has since granted New Delhi a temporary waiver allowing it to buy fuel from Moscow, The Kyiv Independent reports Friday.

The newspaper quotes this Thursday social media post from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil.”

Lassa is founding editor of The Hustings.

Posted MONDAY 3/9/26. Originally posted in Substack on the Hustings FRIDAY 3/6/26.

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America – and Democrats – Got the State of the Union Speech They Deserved Commentary by T.R. Davis

Tuesday night’s State of the Union address by Donald Trump hit all the marks of an aspirational autocrat governing through grievance and pandering to his feelings-first, low-information base. 

On policy and achievements, only a handful of actual legislative and policy accomplishments were mentioned. Tightening border security was one. Passing what he described as the largest tax cut ever – one that skews toward the millionaire+ class and is completely unfunded and will add trillions of dollars in federal debt. 

He filled the remaining 10 minutes meeting his constitutional obligations by claiming America’s affordability crisis was solved – thanks to him – and spent the remaining 90 minutes hurling red meat conservative platitudes, flat-out lies and political attacks on his Democratic opponents.

But the evidence-be-dammed truths are, Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican-led Congress have done little to move the country forward, and instead, celebrated the dismantling of the country as we knew it – a rational, evidence based democracy that worked to follow our ‘better angels’ and form a more inclusive, cohesive, perfect union. In that, they celebrated a return of the ‘good old days’ of racism, religious bigotry and burning coal.

Of course, Trump never mentioned what any of this means to millions of Americans – and immigrants – across the US. The gutting of agencies like Social Security, the Veterans Administration and the IRS, Head Start, meals on wheels programs, access to affordable healthcare – all damaging to working families. 

Noticeably absent was Trump’s man-bro pal Elon Musk and any mention of DOGE, which not only failed to meet its $2 trillion in federal cost cuts, but barely made a dent at $160 billion, with scorched earth across every federal agency and reports of thousands of people starving to death around the world. 

Instead, he returned to the vilification of immigrants and people of color at every turn and targeted the Somali immigrant community, baselessly accusing them and the state of $19 billion – or more – in fraud, typical of racist dog whistles we’ve heard from the president and his enablers in Congress. 

But let’s not forget the depths of Trump’s own corruption – the billon or two he’s pocketed from his cryptocurrency scheme, dismantling oversight institutions, weaponizing law enforcement, or extorting institutions and media he doesn’t like; corruption that would make Richard Nixon blush. 

The most chilling charade of the night, however, was Trump asking congressional leaders to stand if they agree the “first duty of American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.” This was a true litmus test of loyalty to his racist-based ideals of patriotism and governance. This also was public political humiliation like I’ve never seen, and for nearly two minutes that must have felt like hours to those Democrats. Trump basked in the insult, coming back with more jabs about Democrats supporting the murder of Americans.  

But Democrats own that. 

After all, it was President Biden not addressing the border and getting a comprehensive immigration law passed during the middle of his term when it would have mattered. Democratic leadership also failed to press the ailing Biden to step aside in 2023, which would have given Vice President Kamala Harris the proper runway to campaign in an OPEN primary.

It’s also about Democrats’ consistent inability to message effectively and letting Republicans define them – which is exactly what happened last night. 

And that’s on them. They too, deserved this horrific display of hate, bigotry and lies Tuesday night. 

Davis is a writer based in Michigan.

POSTED Thursday 2/26/26

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That’s Entertainment Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

It was a magnificent speech, no two ways about it.

No, it was more than a speech.

It was an event. Or I should say EVENT! (Everyone says so. Lots of people are saying that. Except for the traitorous Democrats. Bad people. Really, really bad. Dirty, rotten liars, all of them.)

• There was a 99-year-old military hero. (He fought in the Pacific during World War II. That is not in the Western Hemisphere. We are no longer interested in faraway places. We really aren’t.)
• There was the story of an amazing rescue. (“The winds were blowing. The rain was pouring. Everything was going, and that rapid water, nobody had ever seen anything like it.” (Maybe if he would have cracked open a copy of his “God Bless the USA” Bible, he might have known Noah did. Especially, as he pointed out, “We love religion, and we love bringing it back, and it’s coming back at levels nobody actually thought possible.”)
• There were athletic heroes who bested the dastardly Canadians. (Take that and shove it up your Davos speech, Mark Carney.)
• There were remarkable economic claims. (“There was no inflation, tremendous growth. And the big story was how Donald Trump called the economy correctly, and 22 Noble Prize winners in economics didn’t. They got it totally wrong. They got it really wrong.” Of course they did. Thank you Jerome Powell Donald Trump. (Ignore the recent release from the US Commerce Department that has it that there was an increase of 0.17% in inflation from December to January, putting the current inflation rate at 2.39%.)
• There was a movie star. (“Our wonderful first lady. Now a movie star; she’s a movie star. Can you believe it? Who would have believed that?”)
• There were so many applause lines that there was concern for the amount of aerobic exercise that the members of Congress sitting stage left were getting; it is a good thing Ronny Jackson is in the House (“A great doctor.” “A very special person.”)

And while mere speech givers would have saved this for the end, not Donald J. Trump, who knows what people in that hall wanted to hear, so he put it up top.

“And you’ve seen nothing yet. We are going to do better and better and better. This is the golden age of America.” 

Plenty of people in the House chamber wanted to hear that because given what the real state of the union is, they are likely to be looking for work in November.

But in the peroration, there was this magnificent image: “Americans lifted humanity into the skies on the wings of aluminum and steel.”

Good thing that’s in the past tense because since putting on the 50% tariffs, American aluminum buyers are paying 68% more for aluminum than the price on the benchmark London Metal Exchange, and while the global export price for steel is $455 to $460 per metric ton, in the US people are paying $970 to $1,000.

There probably wouldn’t be a whole lot of humanity lifted at those prices.

But why quibble? This is the “golden age.” Just like outside of McDonald’s there once were “golden arches.”

–Posted WEDNESDAY 2/25/26

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Learning Resources Inc. v. Trump US Supreme Court Ruling

Concurrence by Justice Neil Gorsuch

For those who think it important for the Nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today’s decision will be disappointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day. In all, the legislative process helps ensure each of us has a stake in the laws that govern us and in the Nation’s future. For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent. For others, it may not seem so obvious. But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.

— Supreme Court of the United States, February 20, 2026

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Jesus Wept Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

According to the National Prayer Breakfast Foundation, the organization that holds the National Prayer Breakfast, “Founded in 1953, when President Dwight Eisenhower accepted the invitation to join Members of Congress to break bread together, our annual Breakfast is an opportunity for Members of Congress to pray collectively for our nation, the President of the United States, and other national and international leaders in the spirit of love and reconciliation as Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago. Every president, regardless of party or religious persuasion, has joined since. All faiths are welcome.”

The NPBF notes genesis of the event goes back to Seattle in April 1935 when 19 business executives “met together to face a critical situation in the life of their city. Looking for ways to deal with the tensions and fractures that often accompany public life, they turned to the 2,000-year-old story of Jesus of Nazareth.”

In April 1935 there was the Pacific Northwest lumber strike that included some 30,000 people in Washington, Oregon and Northern California and included various types of protests. There were also concerns in Seattle about labor unrest among various workers — from those in breweries to those who piloted dairy wagons. Remember: The Great Depression, the New Deal reforms notwithstanding, really didn’t end until 1941, so affordability was really an issue with people who either didn’t have jobs or who had jobs with their pay seriously reduced. Social unrest was understandable.

The business execs continued to break bread and they worked to engender reconciliation among the people of the community.

“A concern for the poor and oppressed people of their city and beyond developed among them.”

While those executives were Christian, that concern is something that is shared by the world’s major religions.

“I was hungry and you gave me food… I was a stranger and you took me in… Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” —Matthew 25:35-40  

The first president to attend a breakfast, which had spread from Washington State to Washington, D.C., was Dwight D. Eisenhower, in 1953.

Eisenhower said at that first breakfast: “We know that even our prayers are imperfect. Even our supplications are imperfect. Of course they are. We are imperfect human beings. But if we can back off from those problems and make the effort, then there is something that ties us all together. We have begun in our grasp of that basis of understanding, which is that all free government is firmly founded in a deeply-felt religious faith.”

Every president has attended the annual event, meant to help grow a greater spirit of understanding, friendship and trust among those who are there.

But then there was Donald Trump on February 5, 2026.

And he brought his inimitable insights, such as: “You know, religion is back now hotter than ever before.”

It doesn’t take a theologian to see the absurdity of that comment.

Just over five minutes into his remarks he referred to a politician who votes against him a “moron.”

A few seconds later: “You know, I’ve done more for religion than any other president.”

Perhaps he was referring to the “God Bless the USA” Bible he sold in 2024, which brought him $1.3 million in royalties.

At just over six minutes in: “I don’t know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t. And I know we have some here today and I don’t know why they’re here because they certainly don’t give us their vote.”

Remember: He wasn’t a the CPAC Conference. He was at the National Prayer Breakfast.

Then at about 9.5 minutes: “You know, they rigged the second election. I had to win it, had to win it. I needed it for my own ego. I would have had a bad ego for the rest of my life. No, I really have a big ego, though. Beating these — beating these lunatics was incredible, right, what a great feeling, winning every swing state, winning the popular vote.”

And he was off into a warren of rabbit holes that had little to do with religion.

At one hour, eleven minutes and thirty seconds, he observed: “And just in closing, scriptures always tell us that blessed are the pure in heart. I don’t know if that applies to me, necessarily.”

No, the Beatitudes doesn’t apply to him. Necessarily.

And there’s this: “Quite simply, prayer is America’s superpower.”

Can’t imagine any foreigners praying, right?’

MONDAY February 9, 2026 from a February 7, 2026 SUBSTACK column.

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Trump to Find 11,780 Votes Analysis by Todd Lassa

For those of us who read about President Trump’s January 2, 2021 conference call with Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger in The Washington Post the next day and then heard the phone call replayed ad infinitum for months on CNN, this number is stuck in our minds probably until the day we die: 11,780. 

The Hustings would like to know how many times Fox News replayed the phone call in which Trump tells Raffensperger; “What I want to do is this. I just want to find, uh, 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”

If you’re one of those watchdogs of Fox News – and there seem to be more than a few out there – and you have a notion of whether the call was played sufficiently often that Fox devotees can recall the number, please drop us a line at editors@thehustings.news. 

This question is current of course because five years, two weeks and one day after the call, FBI agents presented a Department of Justice warrant to Fulton county, Georgia, where Metro Atlanta votes overwhelmingly blue, to seize all ballots from the 2020 election in the county, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls, according to the warrant, which was obtained by The Guardian. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was “lurking” nearby as the FBI conducted the seizure according to the report, which has led to myriad interviews with national intel specialists and officials not associated with the current administration who wonder what secrets about Russia, China or North Korea Gabbard might have learned.

On Tuesday, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Reps. Lucy McBath and Nikema Williams (both D-GA) wrote to US Attorney Gen. Pam Bondi to inquire “whether the Trump administration is investigating a legitimate foreign intelligence nexus” in seizing almost 700 boxes of ballots from 2020, with Gabbard overseeing the operation, “which would require immediate congressional briefing.” (The Guardian again.)

Warnock, McBath and Williams have requested a Justice Department briefing by February 13.

Whatever Gabbard’s motive in taking part in the ballot seizure, the Trump administration’s collection of these five-year, two-month-old ballots, which certainly total far more than 11,780, was relegated to what was at-best the second-from-top news story of the day as the rage over the fatal shooting by federal immigration agents of Alex Pretti that previous Saturday morning certainly overwhelmed the average news consumer. 

Pretti’s killing coming 17 days after Renée Good’s killing compounded with news of ICE and border patrol violations of the First, Fourth and now the Second Amendment for US citizens and immigrants alike.

Bondi and others in the Trump administration were quick to warn the public from drawing any conclusions from the dozens of videos taken of the Good and the Pretti killings, while simultaneously blaming them for their own shootings. 

Vice President JD Vance tweeted this about Pretti’s shooting: “This level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far-left agitators, working with local authorities.”

The FBI’s seizure of ballots in Fulton County at a time when Trump administration officials labeled Good, Pretti and the mostly peaceful “ICE Out” protestors in the Twin Cities as “radical communists” should not be confused as the Trump White House trying to distract one news story from the other. 

Potential fallout for the Trump White House from either news story does not matter when the president can paint anyone left of center as “paid leftist agitators” and “domestic terrorists” – let alone describing any less than favorable reports as “fake news.”

Opponents of Trump’s presidency from right to left have been calling out the hypocrisy of administration officials who say it is wrong for any citizen to endanger the safety of law authorities or even to bring a firearm to a protest – where were they on January 6^th? 

But expecting consistency from an unabashedly authoritarian government is a futile demand. Look for consistency, instead, in Donald J. Trump’s insistence the 2020 election was “rigged” for Joe Biden and that he won Georgia (and other states that went for Biden in ’20) three presidential elections in a row. 

Look for consistency in his push to get red states like Texas, where it worked, and Indiana, where it didn’t, to gerrymander congressional districts mid-decade to help secure Republican majorities in the House and Senate. The FBI raid of Fulton County’s 2020 ballots, with National Intelligence Director Gabbard’s oversight, is not simply an attempt to find those 11,780 votes for Trump. It is part of an attempt to lock in mostly obsequious Republican majorities in the House and Senate for President Trump’s last two years in office.

Posted February 9, 2026. Originally posted in SUBSTACK February 6, 2026.

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What About Priorities at Home? Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

That was Donald Trump at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago hours after Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife were seized by US forces.

Now there is a lot of concern — not public, mind you, as that would be job threatening — by members of Congress about various aspects of this whole event which was initially about “narcoterrorism,” about the influx of deadly Venezuelan gang members with a Glock 9-mm in one hand and a Ziploc of fentanyl in the other.

But then it became clear that the Trump Administration is more interested in the crude oil that’s found under the surface of the country. “Our oil,” as they have it — and will get it.

Traditionally there are people who are concerned about the US government getting involved in the affairs of other countries as this often doesn’t turn out well.

In fact, one of the people who had had that concern was pre-47 Donald Trump. But now he and his team are turning their backs on historic allies (see the “2025 National Security Strategy”) and putting their attention to places like Colombia and Cuba, neither of which seem to present a whole lot in the way of threat to our national security.

(A digression about drugs. For too long administrations of all ilk have been concentrating on the supply of drugs. That simply doesn’t work. Where there is a will there’s a way. Think only of the 1,500-foot-long tunnel, including ventilation, electricity, elevators, and a rail system that El Chapo and his colleagues of the Sinaloa Cartel built under the US-Mexico border — which was discovered in 2014, so odds are there are far more extensive and well-equipped tunnels that have been subsequently built.

(Rather than addressing the supply, there should be concentration on the demand. This is not to say that this means simply more drug raids and other law enforcement actions but programs that can help address the problem at the level of individuals who have turned or who are likely to turn to drugs. Provide alternatives to these people, many of whom have given up hope. Social. Religious. Medical. Create programs that turn people away from drugs. To the extent that is effective there is a reduced demand for the product. This isn’t as impressive of constructing walls or as exciting as kicking down the doors of drug dens — both of which make good TV — but would likely be more effective.)

Back to the programming already in process. . . .

It had seemed that rather than supporting an imperialist approach to the world, many people, voters and those whom they elected, wanted things to get fixed at home.

Like jobs. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there were 584,000 jobs created in 2025. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (which I repeat to make sure that there isn’t a thought that this is sourced from some unhinged left-wing source, as you know they all are, lots of people say so), there are 2.2 million jobs that were created in 2024.

Let’s see: Donald Trump was in office in 2025.

Joe Biden, Sleepy Joe, was in office in 2024.

What is the running of Venezuela going to do for jobs outside of, probably, the military.

But what about petroleum industry workers? Won’t this be a big boon, like for those who went to work on the Alaskan oil pipeline in the mid-1970s and afterwards?

Here’s the lede from a story in The Washington Post (not as good a source as the BLS, but as Jeff Bezos, who owns the paper, contributed $1 million to the president’s inauguration. . .) about a meeting held with the heads of US oil companies:

“As President Donald Trump pushed US oil companies to commit to invest $100 billion in Venezuela at a White House meeting on Friday, the CEO of ExxonMobil warned the company is far from enlisting.

“CEO Darren Woods said that Venezuela is ‘uninvestable’ after Trump asked him how long it would take the firm to restart operations there. He added that ‘significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system, there has to be durable investment protections,’ and there needs to be a rewrite of the laws governing oil production in Venezuela.”

“Uninvestable.”

ExxonMobil, for those who simply know the company for its products from the local gas station, is the largest publicly traded oil company in the Western Hemisphere (which is what the Donroe Doctrine focuses on) and the second largest in the world (to Saudi Aramco).

Trump had claimed that he had talked to oil execs both before and after “Operation Absolute Revolve” and implied that they were raring to go.

“Uninvestable.”

Remember:

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

When George W. Bush was making plans for what was to become “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell allegedly said to the president, “If you break it, you own it.” That became known as “the Pottery Barn Rule.”

As it turned out, the US was in Iraq until December 2011. About eight years.

Powell was right. Didn’t Marco Rubio learn that somewhere along the line to his becoming Secretary of State?

So here’s the question:

Is the US going to get into a long commitment in Venezuela or will Donald Trump simply lose interest and move on to something else, perhaps declaring victory along the way? Of course, by then there will be countless dollars spent, dollars that would have been better spend at home, perhaps on programs meant to help people from getting on fentanyl or helping them get off of it.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings.

Posted Tuesday, January 13, 2026. Originally posted in Substack January 12, 2026.

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A Change of Direction in the New Year Commentary by Jerry Lanson

Over the past 10 months, I’ve posted 65 times about the sad state of our democracy today, as the Trump Administration works to intimidate, unravel precedent, skirt or simply defy the law, and deepen authoritarian control.

I’ve tried to draw connections between Donald Trump’s harsh actions against immigrants and his relentless efforts to treat all people of color as second-class citizens. I’ve chronicled his administration’s assault on health care, science and higher education; its growing efforts to suppress freedom of speech, and its erosion of civility and service to the American people.

I’ve also sought to share stories of those individuals and communities that have shown the courage to push back, sometimes with considerable success.

A commitment to decency, due process and the rule of law should never be treated as partisan issues, and I’ve tried in my writing to show how residents of red states, too, have stood up or spoken out to protect neighbors and to preserve national parks, national forest lands and rural hospitals. Nor have I shied away from criticizing the too often tepid response of Democratic leaders, who fill my inbox with fund-raising appeals but too rarely stand up for their most vulnerable constituents.

Keeping up with the news these days is time-consuming and often daunting. I’ve enjoyed the rhythm of writing regularly again. Given the wealth of prolific essayists and bloggers, however, I remain uncertain how much I’ve added to the debate.

More importantly, last month my granddaughter laid down a new challenge: To draft a family memoir of sorts in time for her next birthday in late summer. To accomplish this, I’m going to back away from trying to post weekly in this space, though I’ll continue to write from time to time.

I hope you’ll still open my posts when they appear. But this seems a good time to thank you, my readers, for your kind words when I see you, your comments online and your occasional corrections. I also want to assure you that I’m not pulling back because I feel intimidated, but instead because I want to share stories of my heritage and life with my children and grandchildren. I may call these musings “An American

Life” because my mother, born in rural Montana, was the daughter of immigrants, and my father, born in Berlin, Germany, was an immigrant himself.

At 76, and after a career as a journalism educator, reporter, writing coach and editor, it’s time for me to deliver. I’ve talked about this project for too long.

This column is republished by permission from Lanson’s Substack From the Grassroots. 

Posted 12/23/25

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President Donald J. Trump the Peacemaker Commentary by Rich Corbett

In a moment that will echo through the annals of history, President Donald J. Trump has orchestrated the end of the devastating Israel-Hamas war, delivering a historic peace agreement that ends nearly two years of unimaginable suffering in Gaza.

On October 8, 2025, Israel and Hamas inked a US-brokered ceasefire, a deal that not only silences the guns but paves the way for enduring stability in the Middle East. 

From the outset of his second term, President Trump approached the Gaza crisis with the unyielding resolve and deal-making prowess that defined his first administration’s Abraham Accords. Where others saw an intractable quagmire, Trump envisioned an opportunity for peace and a chance to rewrite the region’s future.

His administration’s relentless diplomacy, culminating in a high-stakes summit in Egypt on October 14 brought together world leaders to sign the inaugural phase of this transformative plan. Trump’s personal deadline to Hamas on September 29 — accept the proposal by October 5 or face consequences — underscored his no-nonsense leadership, compelling all parties to the table. And it worked. The ceasefire holds, hostages are home, and as Trump himself declared, “Now the rebuilding begins.”

What makes this achievement truly extraordinary is its scope. The 20-point deal doesn’t just halt the fighting; it outlines a comprehensive path forward, from immediate humanitarian aid corridors to economic incentives for lasting reconciliation. 

Gaza, once a symbol of despair, now stands on the threshold of renewal. Israeli families rejoice at the return of their loved ones after two harrowing years, while Palestinians glimpse a horizon free from blockade and bombardment. This is peace not as a fragile pause, but as a sturdy foundation — fragile only in the sense that its success demands our collective vigilance, as Trump wisely noted.

As negotiations advance to phase two, the majority of Americans – and the world – stand with President Trump in this noble endeavor (or Nobel Peace Prize nomination-worthy endeavor). History will remember October 2025 not for the war’s end, but for the dawn it heralded. Congratulations, Mr. President the Peacemaker — America, Israel and the Palestinian people owe you a debt of gratitude that time alone can repay.  

October 28, 2025

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Executive Power on Trial – by Todd Lassa

The unitary executive theory is on trial during the new US Supreme Court term, which begins on the 6^th, the first Monday in October. The constitutional law theory, which holds “that the President of the United States possesses sole authority over the executive branch” is a central precept to The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. 

Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump disavowed knowledge about Project 2025, Mission Impossible-style during his presidential campaign last year. 

But then last week, as the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government open, Trump Truth Socialed he would meet with White House budget chief “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”

SCOTUS will meet in December to consider Trump’s power to fire independent agency members at will, The Associated Press reports. 

Think Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook. Trump fired her last August, but SCOTUS put off a decision on whether the president had authority to do that and said it would hear arguments in the case next January (per the Los Angeles Times). 

SCOTUS later this month will hear arguments in Louisiana v. Callais, in which the state is asking the court to end what’s left of the 60-year-old Voting Rights Act by banning the use of race to determine congressional redistricting, reports NPR’s Nina Totenberg. 

A SCOTUS ruling in favor of Louisiana could allow the state and other Republican-controlled states in the South to gerrymander political maps to eliminate virtually all majority Black House districts, according to the AP.

National Republican Senatorial Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee v. Federal Election Commission, with then-Sen. JD Vance and former Rep. Steve Chabot signed on as co-plaintiffs, seeks to extend the 2010 Citizens United decision to end what’s left of limits on political party campaign spending on congressional and presidential candidates. 

Other SCOTUS cases on the docket include challenges to Trump’s tariffs and, of course, the question of whether Trump exceeded his authority with an executive order barring the constitutional provision for birthright citizenship.

Totenberg on NPR’s Morning Edition reports that over the past eight months, SCOTUS in its emergency docket granted 20 of Trump’s requests to block lower court orders to halt the president’s EOs. The court ruled against him in just three cases.

Conservatives hold a 6-3 supermajority on SCOTUS. Trump can count on Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito as being reliable votes in favor of his administration’s policies, with the four other conservatives very likely on his side. Alito, who turns 76 next April, “young by Supreme Court standards,” according to the AP, “might not want to stay around and gamble on the possibility of Democrats flipping the Senate in next year’s elections and seeing a Democrat capture the White House two years later.”

Thomas, meanwhile, is 77 but shows no signs of leaving, and would in 2028 break the record for longest-serving SCOTUS justice in US history. [Justice William O. Douglas served for 13,358 days, from 1939-75, according to Wikipedia. If Thomas breaks his record, would that help assuage conservatives’ criticism of the free encyclopedia?] 

But SCOTUS-watchers will anticipate a potential announcement from Alito when the court’s term ends next June. That would give the Republican-majority Senate less than half a year to confirm Alito’s successor before a potential flip of four seats to a Democratic majority.

MONDAY 10/6/25

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The Cost of Inputs Rising Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Let’s say that the purpose of the multitudinous tariffs that are announced, delayed, imposed, reduced, increased, and otherwise not particularly well defined or articulated is to increase the amount of manufacturing in the US.

This is something that is still quizzical, given that there is not a whole lot of support being given for the companies that are the leading manufacturers in the US, like General Motors. Instead, with the tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper it makes GM’s job all the harder.

What’s more, all of the suppliers to GM — the smaller companies that produce things like springs and brackets — that have very thin margins are going to find those margins made even thinner because (1) there is likely to be a reduction in the number of vehicles sold this year, so they’re not going to be able to sell as many springs and brackets as they thought they would when they were doing their budgeting last year and (2) the costs of things like the metal that go into the making of springs and brackets are going to be significantly higher: 50% tariffs aren’t cheap.

While the notion in Washington seems to be that just by making it more difficult to bring in goods — be they SUVs or sheet steel — that American-made replacements will just suddenly happen, in the real world this can easily take years to accomplish.

Meanwhile, Americans are paying more. All this from a man who ran on bringing down prices across the board.

Let’s take gasoline, for example.

He has repeatedly claimed that gasoline is under $2 a gallon. For example, on July 1 he said at a press conference, “Now we have no inflation. Gasoline just hit $1.99 in five states: $1.99, isn’t that a nice sound?” Trump said. “It was up to $4 and going up to five, six, and seven. In California, it was $7.70, but we just hit in five states $1.99 and $1.98.”

First of all, let’s give him a pass because the numbers from the Consumer Price Index indicating inflation rose to 2.7% in June weren’t out yet.

But in how many states was gasoline below $2?

No, not five.

Zero.

Claiming it won’t make it happen.

Back to the reshoring of manufacturing.

To be sure, lots of factories closed down in the early 2000s. 

There was increased competition from abroad, meaning there were more imports of goods. Manufacturers, looking to take advantage of lower wages in other countries, moved production elsewhere. While this had the advantage for a broad swath of consumers for lower prices on those products, there were those who lost their jobs in the US.

While making things in America can be beneficial, it will likely result in higher costs across the board, not only while there is that transition to building the new factories, but even after the factories are built.

Which leads to some new information from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) about construction input prices.

The organization found that overall construction input prices are up 2.1% year over year and nonresidential input prices are up 2.5%.

ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu said, “Nonresidential input price escalation has accelerated in 2025, with prices rising at a rapid 6.0% annualized rate through the first half of the year.” 

Basu noted, “While it is unclear how and when trade policy will affect construction materials prices, the impact was evident in June’s Consumer Price Index release; prices for core goods excluding automobiles rose at the fastest pace since late 2021.”

While he isn’t saying that the rise in the nonresidential input prices are directly related to tariffs, by referencing the CPI numbers, which were affected by tariffs, there is some strong implication there.

And going back to the roiling of the tariff regime that this opened with, there is this, from Basu: “Economic uncertainty remains extraordinarily elevated.”

Whether it is a consumer trying to make their household budget or a building contractor trying to determine margins, uncertainty is not a good thing.

Saying prices are down when they’re not (e.g., gasoline) may make some people feel happy, but not those who are faced with higher prices when they visit the gas station, grocery, department store.

And if prices for construction inputs are on the rise, all those factories and warehouses and logistics centers are all going to be more difficult to afford.

Posted 7/16/25

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Trump v. Musk: Another Diversion Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Look at it like this:

The house is burning down and suddenly we are concerned about the color of the hose.

Elon has shown himself to be erratic. Trump, too.

So one might think that the two have had a falling out.

Or might one think that perhaps this is nothing more than one of the multitudinous diversions that we have been subjected to since January 20 — or actually, before that.

Consider, for example, that Trump was going to end the Ukraine-Russia War within 24 hours because it was, in his words, “a very easy negotiation.” More than 3,300 hours have passed.

An hour before this is being written, Kharkiv mayor Igor Terekhov reported his city was undergoing “the most powerful attack” — by Russia — “since the start of the full-scale war.”

Did Donald Trump negotiate on this day, June 7?

No, he attended the mixed-martial arts UFC 316 event in New Jersey.

Pay no attention to the destroyed apartment house.

There seems to be some glee among those on the left that there is public acrimony between Musk and Trump. It is almost as though the scales have fallen from Musk’s eyes and he is seeing 

Trump for what he really is.

But that’s not the case at all.

Musk has been appropriately decried for his brutal, seemingly haphazard cuts to federal departments. While it has been well calculated that the monies that DOGE was going to “save” the US government went from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion, what we can’t lose sight of is that some 284,000 people have lost their jobs as a result of Musk’s activities. These are real people with real bills and real obligations who did nothing wrong. (The so-called “waste, fraud and abuse” that Musk and his Team Trump enablers talked repeatedly about seem not to have been manifest in any tangible evidence that has been shown to the public.)

Musk has had his apparent falling out with Trump because the House-passed budget bill doesn’t go far enough in cutting spending — and you know those cuts aren’t going to be to anything that will have a negative effect on Musk and his friends, but instead on the people who can least afford to experience them.

How anyone can be pleased with the falling out in light of that is beyond reason.

Isn’t it possible that there can be some minor adjustments to the bill in the Senate that will be attributed to Trump that will then be lauded by Musk as being fiscal responsibility in action from the master dealmaker?

All will be forgiven, even if all will not be forgotten.

Meanwhile, the war in Ukraine continues. The situation between Israel and Hamas rages. People have been put in important positions that don’t know how to do their jobs (e.g., Hegseth using Signal; Bondi not understanding habeas corpus; Richardson not knowing there is a hurricane season).

There are the inexplicable tariffs that are costing the American public a lot of money. (Funny thing: Trump claims to be all about “bringing back manufacturing.” In the most recent jobs report from the Labor Department, while things overall were positive, there was a loss of 8,000 manufacturing jobs. Just wait until the steel and aluminum tariffs really bite. During the first Trump Administration tariffs were applied to these materials and it has been calculated that 75,000 manufacturing jobs were lost in the US versus 1,000 saved. It should be noted that in 2018 the steel tariffs were 25% and 10% for aluminum. Now they’re both 50%. Presumably those unemployment numbers will do nothing but rise.)

Trump v. Musk is a sideshow that we are distracted by only to our peril.

Read Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentaries at Substack on The Hustings.

Posted 6/9/25

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Constitutional Crisis? What Constitutional Crisis? Analysis by Todd Lassa

The American Left were girding for it, even before Donald J. Trump’s second inauguration last January 20. Is the republic doomed? Is American democracy dead? Did an authoritarian just take office? Is President Trump a dictator beyond Day One?

Shortly after, Tesla CEO Elon Musk began working to dismantle the federal government, figurative chainsaw in hands, to make way for the return of the spoils system for Trump. 

Meanwhile, the Trump White House has successfully begun to try and fulfill the president’s campaign to deport 1 million undocumented immigrants, beginning with “criminals” in his first year back in office. Because the White House is carrying out this promise without concern for immigrants’ due process, and because it’s being carried out without sufficient proof of whether said immigrants are guilty of — or have even been charged with — crimes, violent felonies or otherwise, this has resulted in more court cases and motions than anyone except maybe The Associated Press, in news media can keep up with. (And they are being hobbled until they agree to call the Gulf of Mexico “Gulf of America.”) 

Compound this with lawsuits and related legal actions by myriad civil servants fired during Musk’s DOGE campaign and there is a compelling argument that the republic will have a tough time surviving Trump’s second hundred days.

As of Friday afternoon, May 2, Trump has signed 145 executive orders, including 143 counted by the Federal Register up to April 29, plus an EO, “Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission” and another ending federal subsidies for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting added since and listed at whitehouse.gov.

From January 20, 2021 to January 19, 2025, President Biden signed 162 executive orders, 77 of them during his first year in office. 

Boosted by the US Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling in Trump v. United States in which the American president is immune from prosecution for any official act, the Trump administration has been pushing back and even ignoring rulings from any court below it, calling various federal judges – whether appointed by Clinton, Obama, Biden, or Reagan, either Bush or even Trump himself – “activist” judges with political axes to grind.

The Trump administration took its resistance to judiciary balance of power further late last month when the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan over an immigration dispute. Dugan has been accused of spiriting out Eduardo Flores Ruiz through a non-public hallway of the county courthouse to avoid arrest by immigration officials, who have taken to surveilling such courthouses on the lookout for potential illegal immigrants in their quest to fulfill that Trump campaign promise. 

The White House stepped up its attack on the courts last week by extending it to the state government, in this case, Wisconsin’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers. 

After Evers directed all state employees to confer with their specific agency’s attorneys before engaging with federal officials, Border Czar Tom Homan shot back with what Evers called a “chilling” warning. 

Speaking with White House reporters last Thursday, Politico reports, Homan said; “Wait till you see what’s coming. I meant what I said. You can not support what we’re doing. And you can support sanctuary cities if that’s what you want to do. But if you cross that line of impediment or knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a felony. And we’ll treat it as such.”

To which Evers responded, in a video post; “In this country, the federal government doesn’t get to abuse its power to threaten everyday Americans. In this country, the federal government doesn’t get to arrest American citizens who haven’t committed a crime. In this country, we don’t threaten to persecute people just because they belong to a different political party.”

By this week, Trump White House challenges to the balance of power were in turn being challenged by numerous court judgments against his deportation of thousands of immigrants – allegedly all undocumented and mostly with criminal records – without due process. There are numerous lawsuits filed by federal employees fired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and a lawsuit by the Liberty Justice Center challenging “Liberation Day” tariffs with the claim that they overstep the president’s authority (this comes a month after seven GOP senators joined a failed bill that would have required Congress to approve steep tariffs on trading partners).

Is this a constitutional crisis?

“Claims of a constitutional crisis are overblown, if not completely imaginary,” conservative Berkeley Law Prof. John Yoo wrote for the Civitas Institute of the University of Texas at Austin, where he is a visiting scholar. “Critics would have a better claim to credibility if they were not so obviously partisan. These same authority figures did not warn of a constitutional crash when President Joseph Biden, without congressional authorization, forgave an estimated $400 billion in federal student debt – a constitutional ‘power grab’ if there ever was one, and a far cry from anything Elon Musk’s efficiency drive will find in cuts.”

(If nothing else, Yoo, who served as deputy assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel during the Bush 43 administration here calls out Musk’s claims of savings under DOGE as being wildly overstated.)

Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, disagrees with Yoo. After appearing with Trump at Macomb Community College for a campaign-style rally last Tuesday in which the president promoted his tariff policy to a friendly crowd, Democrats accused Whitmer of pulling a California Gov. Gavin Newsom-style treason on the party’s anti-MAGA campaign. 

Whitmer and Newsom both are considered frontrunners in the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. But while Newsom has had MAGA elites Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his This is Gavin Newsom podcast, with the result, according to podcast king Joe Rogan that Kirk and Bannon ate the governor’s lunch, Whitmer followed up on the Trump rally with an appearance on a progressive podcast.

“We are,” Whitmer said on last Friday’s Pod Save America, “indeed in a constitutional crisis. “The thought that we’ve got an administration that is just blatantly violating court orders should, I think, scare everybody … This is very serious moment.”

Do you agree with Whitmer or with Yoo?

Whether or not we are in a constitutional crisis, how concerned should we be about the current state of our democracy? 

Consider this a sort of homework assignment: Enter your thoughts in comments below on these important questions. Please indicate whether you lean right or left (irrespective of the opinions within) so we may post your comments in the proper column at The Hustings. 

One more thing; If your answer is an emoji, whether Happy Face, Sad Face, Thumbs-Up, Thumbs-Down, please expand on it with a few words – even a sentence or three. Help us build up our humble little echo chamber-free civil media website.

Posted 5/9/25

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Pitfalls of a Manufacturing ‘Renaissance’ Analysis by Charles Dervarics

Like many a child of the 1970s growing up in the industrial Northeast, it took a while for me to warm up to the idea of globalization.

From my uncles who worked at Bethlehem Steel to my mother who worked in a clothing factory, manufacturing was king in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. My father, a butcher in Allentown, helped support this thriving economy. 

But the production of cheaper foreign-made goods and a failure of U.S. companies to modernize proved a death knell for these industries.

By 1983, when Billy Joel’s hit song Allentown captured some of this tension, I was a young local reporter trying to make sense of the changes. On more than a few occasions, under strict orders from my editor, I’d poke around the few commercial development projects in town to see if anyone would admit they were using foreign steel in the construction. 

Fast forward 40 years, and I’m sure there are many of us who still have a soft spot for American manufacturing. It’s certainly true of President Trump, who announced unprecedented new tariffs against foreign countries in a “declaration of economic independence” speech in the Rose Garden last week.

But much has changed in these four decades that may make this proposed ‘renaissance’ no more than a pipe dream. 

Over decades, globalization provided lower prices for all Americans even as some communities suffered due to lost jobs and shuttered factories. It was a difficult transition for these communities, but the entire nation may now face financial pain through higher prices for cars, groceries, clothes and any product that is foreign made or domestically produced with parts and raw materials from abroad. 

The president’s plan would levy tariffs of at least 10% against about 60 nations, including allies in Western Europe and Asia, with a 25% tariff on imported cars and car-related parts. It’s a dramatic reshuffling of world trade that could drive traditional allies to trade around the U.S. and rely more on other outlets such as China. 

Already, the non-partisan Tax Foundation has said the tariffs, while reducing the federal deficit, would represent a tax increase of about $1,900 for every U.S. household in 2025.

As painful as globalization was for some U.S. communities, there are signs that a proposed rebalancing of the economy toward manufacturing could face headwinds as well. Consider, for example:

Global supply chains: Like them or not, nearly all aspects of American life rely on global supply chains, from supermarkets to auto plants. Enjoy your favorite fruit year round? That might get more difficult with tariffs. For automobiles, the typical car has about 30,000 parts, many made by specialty enterprises in other countries. The president suggests buying an American-made car to avoid price hikes, but it’s doubtful such a car exists. It’s not possible to flip a switch and suddenly produce highly technical parts, often made by small businesses and not at a large assembly plant.

Automation: Assuming young workers will want manufacturing jobs, there’s no guarantee of plentiful, high-wage opportunities. If current industry trends are a guide, a return to manufacturing might rely more on automation than personnel-heavy assembly lines.

Prices…and Wealth: The president has said his new tariffs may increase prices, even after the post-pandemic inflation that left many struggling. And the plan has already spooked investors, leading to a 10% selloff in the stock market. Even a few Senate Republicans are expressing concern. For many Americans, even those steeped in nostalgia, warm feelings about our manufacturing past may not last long if it comes at the cost of our savings.

Dervarics is a writer and policy analyst in Alexandria, Va., and a contributing editor of The Hustings.

Posted 4/7/25

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About Economic Expectations (Hint: Not Good) Commentary by Stephen Macaulay

Here’s a fun fact for those of an economic masochist orientation:

According to the just-released Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index’s Expectations Index, which looks at consumers’ short-term outlook for

• Income
• Business Conditions
• Labor Market Conditions

–you know, key elements of daily life — is at the lowest level in 12 years.

And it isn’t just low, it is limbo-low: At 65.2 points. When it hits 80 it is usually a signal of a recession.

Sixty-five-point-two points is well below 80.

What’s more — or less — there’s this from Stephanie Guichard, senior economist for global indicators at The Conference Board:

“Consumer confidence declined for a fourth consecutive month in March, falling below the relatively narrow range that had prevailed since 2022.”

That’s right: Since Trump II, things have gone measurably south economically speaking.

Guichard noted: “Average 12-month inflation expectations rose again — from 5.8% in February to 6.2% in March — as consumers remained concerned about high prices for key household staples like eggs and the impact of tariffs.”

You know, pocket-book issues.

And consider these inverse relations:

In February, 19.1% of consumers said current business conditions were good.

In March, 17.7% said so.

While some might say, “Oh, that’s just a 1.4% change,” (1) it is a change in the wrong direction and when fewer than 20% think current business conditions are good, that means 80% think otherwise.

There are:

• A decrease in the number of people who think business conditions will improve, from 20.8% to 17.1%
• An increase in the number who expect business conditions to worsen, from 25.5% to 27.3%

But let’s go back to the Expectations Index being at the lowest level in 12 years.

Trump was going to save the economy from the bad, bad things done by Biden and Obama, yet here is a cross section of citizens thinking otherwise.

When purchase numbers for things like cars and major appliances are released for 

March, they will undoubtedly show an increase.

Which might seem counter to these Expectations: why buy big when you think things are going south?

Simple: because Trump tariffs will cause prices of big-ticket items to go north, so people will buy them before the prices rise.

Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings. This column first appeared on our Substack page.

Posted 3/30/25

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Letter to President Trump Re: Volodymyr Zelenskyy By Nobel Prize Laureate Łech Wałęsa and 39 of his Fellow Former Political Prisoners

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Łech Wałęsa sent the following letter, co-signed by 39 other Polish former political prisoners, to President Trump March 3, 2025, after the White House decided to suspend supplies to Ukraine:

Your Excellency Mr President,

We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenski with fear and distaste. We consider your expectations to show respect and gratitude for the material help provided by the United States fighting Russia to Ukraine insulting. Gratitude is due to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the frontline for more than 11 years in the name of these values and independence of their Homeland, which was attacked by Putin’s Russia.

We do not understand how the leader of a country that is the symbol of the free world cannot see it.

Our panic was also caused by the fact that the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation reminded us of one we remember well from Security Service interrogations and from the debate rooms in Communist courts. Prosecutors and judges at the behest of the all-powerful communist political police also explained to us that they hold all the cards and we hold none. They demanded us to stop our business, arguing that thousands of innocent people suffer because of us. They deprived us of our freedoms and civil rights because we refused to cooperate with the government and our gratitude. We are shocked that Mr. President Volodymyr Zelenski treated in the same way.

The history of the 20th century shows that every time the United States wanted to keep its distance from democratic values and its European allies, it ended up being a threat to themselves. This was understood by President Woodrow Wilson, who decided to join the United States in World War I in 1917. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this, deciding after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 that the war for the defense of America would be fought not only in the Pacific, but also in Europe, in alliance with the countries attacked by the Third Reich.

We remember that without President Ronald Reagan and American financial commitment it would not have been possible to bring the collapse of the Soviet Union empire. President Reagan was aware that millions of enslaved people were suffering in Soviet Russia and the countries it conquered, including thousands of political prisoners who paid for their sacrifice in defense of democratic values with freedom. His greatness was m. in. on the fact that he without hesitation called the USSR the “Empire of Evil” and gave it a decisive fight. We won, and the statue of President Ronald Reagan stands today in Warsaw vis a vis of the US embassy.

Mr. President, material aid — military and financial — cannot be equivalent to the bloodshed in the name of independence and freedom of Ukraine, Europe, as well as the whole free world. Human life is priceless, its value cannot be measured with money. Gratitude is due to those who make the sacrifice of blood and freedom. It is obvious for us, the people of “Solidarity”, former political prisoners of the communist regime serving Soviet Russia.

We are calling for the United States to withdraw from the guarantees it made with the Great Britain in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which recorded a direct obligation to defend the intact borders of Ukraine in exchange for giving up its nuclear weapons resources. These guarantees are unconditional: there is no word about treating such aid as an economic exchange.

Lech Wales, b. political prisoner, Solidarity leader, president of the Republic of Poland III

Mark Bailin, b. political prisoner, editor of independent publishing houses

Severn Blumstein, b. political prisoner, member of the Workers’ Defense Committee

Teresa Bogucka, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition and Solidarity

Gregory Bogut, b. political prisoner, activist of democratic opposition, independent publisher

Mark Borowik, b. political prisoner, independent publisher

Bogdan Borusewicz, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Gdansk

Zbigniew Bujak, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Warsaw

Władysław Frasyniuk, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Wrocław

Andrew Gintzburg, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Richard Grabarczyk, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist

Alexander Janiszewski, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist

Peter Kapczy otrski, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition

Mark Kossakowski, b. political prisoner, independent publicist

Christopher the King, b. a political prisoner , independence activist

Jaroslav Kurski, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition

Barbara Swan, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Bogdan Lis, b. political prisoner, leader of the underground Solidarity in Gdansk

Henryk Majewski, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist

Adam Michnik, b. political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition, editor of independent publishing houses

Slavomir Najniger, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Peter the German , b. political prisoner, journalist, and printer of underground publishing houses,

Stefan Konstanty Niesiołowski, b. a political prisoner, independence activist

Edward Nowak, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Wojciech Onyszkiewicz, b. political prisoner, member of the Workers’ Defence Committee, Solidarity activist

Anthony Pawlak, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition and underground Solidarity

Sylwia Poleska-Peryt, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition

Christopher Push, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Richard Push, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity,

Jacek Rakowiecki, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Andrew Severn, b. political prisoner, actor, director of the Polish Theater in Warsaw

Witold Sielewicz, b. political prisoner, printer of independent publishing houses

Henryk Sikora, b. a political prisoner, Solidarity activist

Christopher Siemien Krski, b. political prisoner, journalist, and printer of underground publishing houses

Gra ,yna Staniszewska, b. a political prisoner, leaders of Solidarity of the Beskids region

George Degrees, b. a political prisoner, activist of the democratic opposition

Joanna Happy, b. political prisoner, editor of Solidarity underground press

Ludwik Turko, b. a political prisoner, activist of the underground Solidarity

Matthew Wierzbicki, b. political prisoner, printer and publicist of independent publishing houses

POSTED TUESDAY 3/11/25

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Fact Sheet: US Security Cooperation with Ukraine by the US Department of State Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

The United States, our allies, and our partners worldwide are united in support of Ukraine in response to Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified war against Ukraine.  We have not forgotten Russia’s earlier aggression in eastern Ukraine and occupation following its unlawful seizure of Crimea in 2014.  The United States reaffirms its unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.

Ukraine is a key regional strategic partner that has undertaken significant efforts to modernize its military and increase its interoperability with NATO. It remains an urgent security assistance priority to provide Ukraine the equipment it needs to defend itself against Russia’s war against Ukraine.

To date, we have provided $65.9 billion in military assistance since Russia launched its premeditated, unprovoked, and brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and approximately $69.2 billion in military assistance since Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. We have now used the emergency Presidential Drawdown Authority on 55 occasions since August 2021 to provide Ukraine military assistance totaling approximately $27.688 billion from DoD stockpiles.

• Air Defense
• Three Patriot air defense batteries and munitions;
• 12 National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions;
• HAWK air defense systems and munitions;
• AIM-7, RIM-7, and AIM-9M missiles for air defense;
• More than 3,000 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles;
• Avenger air defense systems;
• VAMPIRE counter-Unmanned Aerial Systems (c-UAS) and munitions;
• c-UAS gun trucks and ammunition;
• Mobile c-UAS laser-guided rocket systems;
• Other c-UAS equipment;
• Anti-aircraft guns and ammunition;
• Air defense systems components;
• Equipment to integrate Western launchers, missiles, and radars with Ukraine’s systems;
• Equipment to support and sustain Ukraine’s existing air defense capabilities; and
• 21 air surveillance radars.

Fires

• More than 40 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and ammunition;
• Ground-Launched Small Diameter Bomb launchers and guided rockets;
• More than 200 155mm Howitzers and more than 3,000,000 155mm artillery rounds;
• More than 7,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds;
• More than 100,000 155mm rounds of Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
• 72 105mm Howitzers and 1,000,000 105mm artillery rounds;
• 10,000 203mm artillery rounds;
• More than 400,000 152mm artillery rounds;
• Approximately 40,000 130mm artillery rounds;
• 40,000 122mm artillery rounds;
• 60,000 122mm GRAD rockets;
• More than 300 mortar systems;
• More than 700,000 mortar rounds;
• More than 100 counter-artillery and counter-mortar radars; and
• More than 50 multi-mission radars.

Ground Maneuver

• 31 Abrams tanks;
• 45 T-72B tanks;
• More than 300 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles;
• Four Bradley Fire Support Team vehicles;
• More than 400 Stryker Armored Personnel Carriers;
• More than 900 M113 Armored Personnel Carriers;
• More than 400 M1117 Armored Security Vehicles;
• More than 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles;
• More than 5,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs);
• More than 200 light tactical vehicles;
• 300 armored medical treatment vehicles;
• 80 trucks and more than 200 trailers to transport heavy equipment;
• More than 1,000 tactical vehicles to tow and haul equipment;
• 153 tactical vehicles to recover equipment;
• 10 command post vehicles;
• 30 ammunition support vehicles;
• 29 armored bridging systems;
• 20 logistics support vehicles and equipment;
• 239 fuel tankers and 105 fuel trailers;
• 58 water trailers;
• Six armored utility trucks;
• 125mm, 120mm, and 105mm tank ammunition;
• More than 1,800,000 rounds of 25mm ammunition; and
• Mine clearing equipment.

Aircraft and Unmanned Aerial Systems

• 20 Mi-17 helicopters;
• Switchblade Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS);
• Phoenix Ghost UAS;
• CyberLux K8 UAS;
• Higher-600 UAS;
• Jump-20 UAS;
• Hornet UAS
• Puma UAS;
• Scan Eagle UAS;
• Penguin UAS;
• Raven UAS;
• Other UAS;
• Two radars for UAS;
• High-speed Anti-radiation missiles (HARMs);
• Air-to-ground munitions;
• Support equipment for F-16s;
• More than 6,000 Zuni aircraft rockets;
• More than 20,000 Hydra-70 aircraft rockets; and
• Munitions for UAS.

Anti-armor and Small Arms

• More than 10,000 Javelin anti-armor systems;
• More than 120,000 other anti-armor systems and munitions;
• More than 10,000 Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;
• More than 50,000 grenade launchers and small arms;
• More than 500,000,000 rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades;
• Laser-guided rocket systems and munitions;
• Rocket launchers and ammunition; and
• Anti-armor mines.

Maritime

• Two Harpoon coastal defense systems and anti-ship missiles;
• More than 100 coastal and riverine patrol boats;
• Unmanned Coastal Defense Vessels; and
• Port and harbor security equipment.

Other capabilities

• M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel munitions;
• C-4 explosives, demolition munitions, and demolition equipment for obstacle clearing;
• Obstacle emplacement equipment;
• Counter air defense capability;
• More than 100,000 sets of body armor and helmets;
• Tactical secure communications systems and support equipment;
• Four satellite communications (SATCOM) antennas;
• SATCOM terminals and services;
• Electronic warfare (EW) and counter-EW equipment;
• Commercial satellite imagery services;
• Night vision devices, surveillance and thermal imagery systems, optics, and rangefinders;
• Equipment to protect critical national infrastructure;
• Explosive ordnance disposal equipment and protective gear;
• Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear protective equipment;
• Medical supplies, including first aid kits, bandages, monitors, and other equipment;
• Field equipment, cold weather gear, generators, and spare parts; and
• Support for training, maintenance, and sustainment activities.

To date, nearly 50 Allies and partner countries have provided security assistance to Ukraine. Among their many contributions to Ukraine, Allies and partners have delivered 10 long-range Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), 178 long-range artillery systems, nearly 100,000 rounds of long-range artillery ammunition, nearly 250,000 anti-tank munitions, 359 tanks, 629 armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), 8,214 short-range air defense missiles, and 88 lethal UAVs.

Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA)

Pursuant to a delegation by the President, we have used the emergency Presidential Drawdown Authority on 55 occasions since August 2021 to provide Ukraine military assistance totaling approximately $31.7 billion from DoD stockpiles.

On September 26, 2024, the Department notified Congress of the intent to direct the drawdown of up to approximately $5.55 billion in defense articles and services from DoD stocks for military assistance to Ukraine under Presidential Drawdown Authority. This drawdown, if directed, will utilize the remaining authority of the Presidential Drawdown Authority under section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance for fiscal year 2024 provided by the Ukraine Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 (Div. B, P.L. 118-50) (USSAA), which will expires on September 30, 2024. As a result of this planned drawdown, the United States will be able to continue to provide defense articles and services to Ukraine from DoD stocks under Presidential Drawdown Authority on a continual basis and remains available for Ukraine regardless of the end of the fiscal year.

On August 14, 2023, the Department announced the first of several packages utilizing previously authorized PDA Authority. During DoD’s regular oversight of their execution of previous Presidential Drawdown Authority for Ukraine, they discovered that they had been incorrectly overvaluing the weapons and equipment in previous PDAs that had been authorized or Ukraine. DoD then undertook a review using the appropriate accounting method, which restored $6.2 billion that can be used under Congressionally authorized drawdown authority to provide arms and equipment to meet Ukraine’s urgent security requirements. As PDA is an authority, not a funding source, once notified to Congress there is no ‘expiration date’ for the provision of defense articles and services up to the value that was notified. Any additional space within the previously notified PDAs, identified as a result of DOD’s recalculation of the value of previous PDAs therefore remains available for Ukraine regardless of the end of the fiscal year.

Security Assistance

To date, Congress has appropriated $4.65 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) across two supplemental packages for Ukraine and “countries impacted by the situation in Ukraine.” Of this total, $4 billion has been notified to Congress. The first Ukraine supplemental also provided $4 billion in FMF loan authority and $4 billion in loan guarantees to NATO Allies.

In FY 2023, DoD provided $12.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in eight separate tranches.

In FY 2023, the Department notified Congress of our intent to make an additional $1.1 billion in long-term investments with FMF to bolster the security of Ukraine and 13 regional partners and allies in Europe who are at risk from potential future Russian aggression. These funds will help our allies and partners in the region to backfill military capabilities they have donated to Ukraine, enable new donations to Ukraine, and support longer-term military requirements in both the broader region and in Ukraine itself. On September 6, 2023, the Secretary announced an additional $100 million in Foreign Military Financing to support Ukraine’s longer-term military requirements.

On September 8, 2022, the Department notified Congress of our intent to make a further $2.2 billion available in long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing (FMF) to bolster the security of Ukraine and 17 of its regional neighbors; including both many of our NATO allies as well as other regional security partners who are most potentially at risk for future Russian aggression. These funds will help our allies and partners who have provided security assistance to Ukraine backfill their capabilities.

On April 24, 2022, the Department notified Congress of its intention to obligate more than $713 million in Foreign Military Financing funding for Ukraine and 15 other Allied and partner nations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.  Assistance in this Notification will help NATO Allies backfill capabilities they have donated to Ukraine from their own stockpiles to retain and strengthen NATO deterrence.

In FY 2022, DoD provided $6.3 billion in security assistance to Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) in seven separate tranches.  All the FY2022 USAI funds appropriated by Congress have now been committed. In FY 2021, Ukraine received $275 million under DoD’s Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI).  This included $75 million in lethal assistance.

In FY 2021, the Department provided Ukraine $115 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) and $3 million in International Military Education and Training (IMET) funding.  Prior to Russia’s renewed invasion, FMF supported Ukraine’s acquisition of a wide array of capabilities including counter-mortar radars, secure radios, vehicles, electronic equipment, small arms and light weapons, and medical supplies, among others. The Global Security Contingency Fund, a joint program of the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, has provided more than $42 million in training, advisory services, and equipment to assist the Government of Ukraine to further develop the tactical, operational, and institutional capacities of its Special Operations Forces, National Guard, conventional forces, non-commissioned officer corps, and combat medical care since 2014.

Excess Defense Articles (EDA) On February 20, 2022, the United States utilized the Excess Defense Articles program   to transfer Mi-17 helicopters to Ukraine.

Since 2018, the United States has provided Ukraine with four refitted U.S. Coast Guard Island-Class cutters.  The refit was funded with Ukrainian national funds and FMF.  Additional vessels are pending transfer.

Third Party Transfers (TPT)

In advance of Russia’s invasion and after the outbreak of war in February 2022, the United States approved Third Party Transfers from 14 NATO Allies and close partners to provide U.S.-origin equipment from their inventories for use by Ukrainian forces.  Deliveries to date include almost 12,000 anti-armor systems of all types; more than 1,550 anti-air missiles; radars; night vision devices; machine guns; rifles and ammunition; and body armor.  The contributions from our partners and Allies are vital and appreciated.

Foreign Military Sales

The United States has $595.9 million in active government-to-government sales cases with Ukraine under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system.  FMS sales notified to Congress are listed on the DSCA website, and significant prior sales include the: 2022 sale of non-standard artillery ammunition;  2018 sale of 210 Javelin anti-armor missiles, which first provided Ukraine with a critical anti-armor capability; the 2019 sale of 150 additional Javelins; and the 2020 Mark VI patrol boats sale.  The Javelin sales were funded by a mixture of State Department FMF funds and Ukrainian national funds.

Direct Commercial Sales

From 2015 through 2023, the United States also authorized the permanent export of over $1.6 billion in defense articles and services to Ukraine via Direct Commercial Sales (DCS).  The top categories of DCS exports to Ukraine during that period were Fire Control, Laser, Imaging, and Guidance Equipment, ($339.1 million); Personal Protective Equipment ($247.3 million); and Ammunition and Ordnance ($232 million).

Border Security

Since 2017, the Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation has provided over $34.8 million in Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related Programs support to Ukraine through the Export Control and Border Security (EXBS) Program. The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) has been a primary recipient of EXBS assistance. EXBS also provided assistance to Ukraine Customs and export control and sanctions authorities. Until Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, a major focus of EXBS efforts was the development of SBGS’s Maritime Border Guard operational and sustainment capabilities to replace capabilities lost during Russia’s unlawful annexation of Crimea and introduce modernized equipment, training, and procedures. EXBS also provided advisory and equipment assistance for SBGS land border elements. Following Russia’s further invasion in February 2022, EXBS transitioned to providing non-lethal assistance and continued advisory support to the SBGS and other government partners. In addition, EXBS is also providing $6.9 million in regional NADR funding to support sanctions and export control implementation to respond to Russia’s aggression.

Conventional Weapons Destruction On September 30, 2022 the Department awarded $47.6 million to Tetra Tech to launch a large-scale train and equip project to strengthen the Government of Ukraine’s demining and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) capacity. This project forms part of the $91.5 million in assistance that the Department will provide over FY2023 to help the Government of Ukraine address the urgent humanitarian challenges posed by explosive remnants of war created by Russia’s brutal war of aggression. On September 6, 2023, the Department announced an additional $90.5 million in humanitarian demining assistance.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has littered massive swaths of the country with landmines and unexploded ordnance. The Government of Ukraine estimates that 160,000 square kilometers of its land may be contaminated – this is roughly the size of the states of Virginia, Maryland, and Connecticut combined, or nearly twice the size of Austria. These explosive hazards block access to farmland, delay or otherwise harm reconstruction efforts, and prevent displaced people from returning to their homes. They may also continue to kill and maim Ukrainian civilians for years to come.

Tetra Tech’s expert instructors will train Government of Ukraine demining and EOD teams to international standards, provide equipment, and mentor trained personnel. The project also supports deploying additional clearance teams and explosive ordnance risk education teams through the local non-governmental organization Ukrainian Deminers Association (UDA).

From 2004 to 2021, the United States provided more than $77.3 million to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance left by Russia’s forces and Russia’s proxies in the Donbas region, strengthen Ukraine’s demining capacity, and enhance security services’ capacity to manage weapons and ammunition stockpiles.  In 2021 alone, the U.S. government funded Conventional Weapons Destruction (CWD) programs that cleared and returned more than 1.9 million square meters (477 acres) of land to local communities that was previously contaminated with explosive hazards.  Since Russia’s further invasion, U.S.-funded digital explosive ordnance risk education campaigns have provided lifesaving information to more than 18 million people in Ukraine.  Additionally, Ukrainian demining authorities previously trained and equipped by the United States are leading emergency efforts to remediate the massive levels of explosive hazard contamination littered across the country by Russian forces.

Global Peacekeeping Operations

Ukraine was a significant troop contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations before its troops were called home to defend Ukraine, including a helicopter unit to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).  Ukraine is also a partner country of the Global Peace Operations Initiative and has benefited from nearly $4 million in peace operations capacity-building assistance.

State Partnership Program Ukraine is partnered with the California National Guard under DoD’s State Partnership Program (SPP)  .  Established in 1993, SPP’s goal was to assist former Warsaw Pact and Soviet states in their democracy efforts and to reform their defense forces following the Soviet Union’s collapse.  Over the past 29 years, California National Guard conducted regular military-to-military engagements with Ukrainian forces, contributing to Ukraine’s continued defense modernization.

Joint Exercises

Ukraine participates in multiple bilateral and multilateral military exercises with the United States, EU, and NATO Allies to include Rapid Trident, Sea Breeze, and Cossack Mace.

For further information, please contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at PM-CPA@state.gov, and follow the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs on Twitter , @StateDeptPM.

POSTED MONDAY 3/3/25. .

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Politics, Not Pragmatism Analysis by Gary S. Vasilash

While you may not have given a great deal — if any — thought about the US General Services Administration, according to its website:

“We provide workplaces by constructing, managing, and preserving government buildings and by leasing and managing commercial real estate. Our acquisition solutions offer private sector professional services, equipment, supplies, and IT to government organizations and the military. We also promote management best practices and efficient government operations through the development of governmentwide policies.”

Anyone who has ever engaged with a realtor or contractor for purposes of getting a single family home knows, there is a heck of a lot of driving associated with the process.

During the Biden Administration there was considerable focus on environmental initiatives. One of these was to start a transition from government-owned gas-powered vehicles to EVs.

The government owns about 645,000 light vehicles, so making a transition to American-built EVs would certainly be helpful to the likes of Ford and General Motors and the people who work at those companies.

The GSA, according to a story in The Verge, had ordered 58,000 EVs last year. Also, the GSA had 8,000 charging ports at its facilities across the U.S. and was going to install 25,000 more.

But the Trump Administration isn’t as interested in environmental issues as the Biden Administration was. On the White House website page identifying the Administration’s priorities, one of the four main topics is “Make America Affordable and Energy Dominant Again.”

Two of the bullet items:

• President Trump’s energy actions empower consumer choice in vehicles, showerheads, toilets, washing machines, lightbulbs and dishwashers.
• President Trump will declare an energy emergency and use all necessary resources to build critical infrastructure.

It is somewhat strange that vehicles are evidently equated with plumbing. According to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation the U.S. auto industry “drives $1.2 trillion into the U.S. economy each year—4.8 percent of GDP” and is responsible for “10.1 million jobs coast-to-coast.”

Given that you’d think auto would get a bit more attention.

The “energy emergency” was declared on the first day of his second term.

But what that “critical infrastructure” is is not clear.

It seems it may be things like derricks and pipelines because heretofore when the discussion was about “building out infrastructure” and it was related to energy and transportation, that went to the point of building EV charging stations across the country.

In the Inflation Reduction Act, signed on August 16, 2022 by President Biden, there is some $7.5 billion for the development of an EV charging infrastructure. 

On January 20, 2025 President Trump signed an executive order freezing the disbursement of those funds.

Both General Motors and Ford are each investing tens of billions of dollars in electrifying their offerings. Money that now may be at risk.

When the public is surveyed and asked why they won’t buy an EV the top three reasons typically include limited charging infrastructure and range anxiety. The latter, of course, could be addressed by an extensive charging infrastructure.

But that is evidently no longer something the government thinks is important, even though it would be beneficial to two great American companies.

Which brings us back to the GSA.

An email seen by The Verge reads, in part, “As GSA has worked to align with the current administration, we have received direction that all GSA owned charging stations are not mission critical.”

Consequently, they are in the process of shutting down the charging stations.

Let’s see: spend a few grand to install chargers. Now stop using those chargers (and probably dismantle them, which isn’t free).

That seems almost anti-DOGE.

And there’s this, from the U.S. Department of Energy: “All forms of electric vehicles (EVs) can help improve fuel economy, lower fuel costs, and reduce emissions. Using electricity as a power source for transportation improves public health and the environment, and provides safety benefits, and contributes to a resilient transportation system.”

Seems that from that point of view (“lower fuel costs” “resilient transportation system”) EVs are a good thing—possibly mission critical for organizations using tax dollars for refueling.

What’s more, lifecycle studies show that EVs are more cost-effective than ICE vehicles, particularly in commercial applications, due to things like reduced maintenance requirements. Presumably lots of the GSA driving around is commercial-like in nature.

But it evidently comes down to politics, not pragmatism.

//

Speaking of pragmatism: During the first Trump Administration the president established a manufacturing advisory council. Elon Musk was one of the members. In June 2017 Musk resigned. The reason? President Trump announced the U.S. was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and Musk didn’t agree with the move.

Going back to the bullet points on the current Administration’s list there’s:

• President Trump will withdraw from the Paris Climate Accord.

Yet Elon Musk is “senior advisor to the President.” Does anyone think that he is doing what he is doing for any reason other than trying to get some sort of advantage for Tesla or business for SpaceX? Odds are for him economics trumps ideology.

After all, as it says in his “Master Plan Part 3: Sustainable Energy for All of Earth”:

“Electric vehicles are approximately 4x more efficient than internal combustion engine vehicles due to higher powertrain efficiency, regenerative braking capability, and optimized platform design. This ratio holds true across passenger vehicles, light duty trucks, and Class 8 semis. . . .”

Musk would probably want the GSA to buy more EVs, but probably wouldn’t say that out loud until he gets whatever it is he’s interested in getting.

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Time to Win It Commentary by Hugh Hansen

And so another DNC comes to an end. I’ve never been a fan of the conventions (on either side), never quite understood the power attributed to them. Yes, generate even greater enthusiasm among the already very faithful, and yes perhaps allow some coalition-building or ego-soothing between factions within the party. But giving real, actionable information to undecided but likely voters, especially when there are now so few of them? And when Election Day is still over two months away? Neh. Maybe before cable, when watching TV in the evening was what everyone did and the only three channels were all carrying the convention. BC — “Before Cable” — was also before I (or Kamala or Tim or Barack or Michelle) could vote. As one pundit observed, the fact that my team seemed resigned, or even content, to let big speakers slip out the late side of the prime time window suggests that party leaders know most people are going to get their convention exposure from clips the next day, like how I get the late- night monologues.

So, that’s my somewhat resigned background to this commentary. Beyond that? I thought the Democrats did a very fine job. If it’s going to be clips, I didn’t see any huge snafus that will be effective YouTube fodder for the opposition trying to capture those elusive undecideds. I think it was wise to feature the efforts of Republicans of conscience like Mr. Kinzinger to provide a rationale for Reagan Republicans (or Eisenhower Republicans, in my dad’s case) to exit the Trump party. I am an admirer of skillful oratory, (more clips!) and my goodness do the Democrats have that, and in multiple styles and age points. I’d pony up a fair figure for a Mayor Pete/AOC joint dinner event. The tendency not to go quite so high as Mrs. Obama urged four years ago. I don’t know whether it will have a net positive or negative effect on the election outcome. As a friend acknowledged last night, though, it is such a relief to laugh about some of Trump’s and Vance’s crazinesses with our leaders, not just with Colbert.

Was it a tactical mistake not to give speaking time to someone from the Palestinian side of the Gaza issue? Sigh. Maybe. Only hindsight will offer a valid opinion (it won’t truly “tell”). It is unfair but true that Trump winning will be far worse for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank than anything President Harris’s administration might do or fail to do. 

POSTED TUESDAY September 10, 2024.

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Welcome to Our Podcast Page By Todd Lassa

Our new podcast, After the Car needs a website/webpage, so rather than design an all-new site from scratch, we are going to park it here. After the Car is about rethinking and redesigning our urban streets and suburban roads to give better accommodation to cyclists, pedestrians and mass transit commuters.

It is not about the end of the car, or getting rid of the car, though perhaps it’s time to think about ways to reconfigure parking spaces and parking garages for, say, low- and moderate-income housing.

Whether you’re a hard-core motorist or a hard-core cyclist or you use mass transit and don’t have a driver’s license, we invite your comments and suggestions. As with The Hustings news/news aggregate and commentary, we urge you to write to us at editors@thehustings.news.

Columns, commentary and analysis written for The Gray Area page will remain here, below this editor’s note. Look for more of these at thehustings.substack.com and, of course, in the columns on our front page.

POSTED THU 8/1/24

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Legal Lameness By Stephen Macaulay

If you watch MSNBC you’ve likely seen:

• Andrew Weissmann
• Mary McCord
• Barbara McQuade
• Joyce Vance
• Neal Katyal
• Glenn Kirschner
• Harry Litman

And attorneys who work on air for NBCUniversal, including:

• Ari Melber
• Katie Phang
• Lisa Rubin

That’s a lot of legal firepower. Arguably — at least given the venue — liberal legal firepower.

On occasion Nicolle Wallace brings on Judge J. Michael Luttig, who was once a bastion of conservative jurisprudence, and who still would be were the term “conservative” not wholly debased in the Age of Trump.

But what have we learned from all of the above? Apparently, not much.

Whether it was the Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. the United States or Judge Aileen M. Cannon’s dismissal of the federal indictment against Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, all of the above, to one degree or another, seem to have been completely flummoxed.

Jeanine Pirro over on Fox has been more correct.

Hell, Judge Judy would be, too.

Here’s the thing: the right has been more adept at throwing stuff at the wall—and we know what much of that “stuff” is — and seeing what sticks.

The aforementioned all harumph at these activities.

And yet somehow these legal “absurdities” end up otherwise. The gavel comes down and the liberals are out of luck.

Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high” seems to be the abiding principle of the liberals.

But sometimes keeping the hem of your skirt doesn’t work in real life.

There seems to be a notion that all of the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed before the liberals do something. Yet meanwhile the folks on the right file what might seem to be crazy suits and end up getting a high success rate.

As legendary hockey player Wayne Gretzky put it, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” and liberals are far too keen on doing things that are not allowing them to score goals.

The other team is trouncing them.

Unless liberals get in the game, elbows and all, they should prepare themselves for obsolescent opinionating.

— Posted THURSDAY 7/18/24

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Lord, Help Us By Stephen Macaulay

I had been concerned that George Stephanopoulos would have been too friendly to Joe Biden.

He was courteous. Respectful. And he did the sort of follow up that I was afraid he wouldn’t.

And I was hopeful that Biden would have assuaged my concerns regarding his performance on the Atlanta stage.

Instead he was feeble. Grasping. Dismissive. And didn’t come off, well, presidential.

• Stephanopoulos: And — did you ever watch the debate afterwards?
• Biden: I don’t think I did, no.

What is arguably the most consequential event in his 54-year political career and he isn’t certain as to whether he watched it or not?

And if he, indeed, didn’t, why not?

• Stephanopoulos: Are you more frail?
• Biden: No.

Seriously, Joe? Isn’t this in the “What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening” realm?

• Stephanopoulos: Have you had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation?

Now before I provide the transcripted response, it is fair to say that people generally don’t speak in cogent ways during a Q&A. But they get to the answer.

• Biden: I’ve had — I get a full neurological test everyday with me. And I’ve had a full physical. I had, you know, I mean, I — I’ve been at Walter Reed for my physicals. I mean — um, yes, the answer.

He had his last physical in February.

Did he have a full neurological test on June 27? If so, seems like a fail.

Then there was:

“We invented the chip, the little chip, the computer chip. It’s in everything from cellphones to weapons.”

The only good thing about that observation is that he didn’t point out it is also in phonographs.

It went on. He dug in his heels. And calling on Higher Powers he proclaimed:

“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

A.K.A., “God works in mysterious ways.”

–POSTED FRIDAY 7/12/24

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Polls & Prizes By Stephen Macaulay

Once, before shopping malls became something just this side of ghost towns, there were often people with clipboards ready to pounce on unsuspecting shoppers, asking them to come to a room where they’d get snacks, beverages and a $10-dollar gift certificate from the mall.

All they needed to do was provide their opinions. It could be about a TV show. Fast food. Or politics.

Now those opinion researchers have to turn to different means of attracting people.

So some, like YouGov, have turned primarily to the Internet.

If you’ve ever been faced with an online opinion poll — perhaps you’ve gotten an email from an airline asking whether you’d recommend it to someone and having clicked a response you now find yourself faced with pages of questions and little way of knowing when it will end, so you mutter something and close the page — one of the issues is that there isn’t necessarily a visible ending or a reward for enduring.

YouGov has an approach that allows participants to collect points that can be turned into cash or prizes. And who doesn’t like cash or prizes?

Which leads to a question about the motivations of the participants.

But we’ll let that go.

And turn to a recent CBS News/YouGov survey conducted April 9-12.

While a major focus was on the situation in the Middle East, there are also results that ought to give the Biden team some pause.

Strike that.

It ought to make the Biden team seriously reassess what they’re doing. 

Or not.

No, it is not the 40% overall approval rating for the president — he’s been in the 40s since January 2022, so he is presumably comfortable in that space (although he’s down two points since February ’24, and south is not the direction he needs).

It’s not necessarily those who think the “condition of the national economy today” is “fairly” (31%) or “very” bad (30%). Those answers would probably change after the respondents got their prizes.

Those who said they thought things in the U.S. overall were going “somewhat” or “very badly” went on to answer that the reason for this was based, “a lot” on “The state of U.S. politics” — 72% said that. In second place, at 66%, was “The U.S. economy.”

Now the unemployment rate is 3.8%. It has been between 3.7% and 3.9% for the past year. Meaning: those who want a job have one or can get one.

The inflation rate is 3.5%, which is (1) higher than the Federal Reserve would like (it wants 2%) but (2) significantly lower than the 8% of 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 37,983 last week, nearly 13% higher than a year earlier.

Even though there is a war in the Middle East gas prices today are about (actually a smidge lower) what they were a year ago.

Evidently there is a disconnect between facts on the ground and Internet polling.

The result that the Biden team should really take stock of — because even if it is off by several points it is still a big number — is the president’s overall approval rating among those ages 18 to 29.

In February 55% of that cohort approved of Biden.

It is now 43%.

That is a decline of 22%.

Even if that poll is among those who are only in it for the prizes, losing a fifth of anyone is something a politician can ill afford.

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN SUBSTACK, 4/16/24]

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The Trump Edge By Stephen Macaulay

In the most-recent Quinnipiac Poll the results between Joe Biden and Donald Trump — 48% to 45% — are, according to the organization, within the margin of error and consequently too close to call.

But there are other factors that could come into play that would be still closer but not definitive.

Like the third-party candidates.

In this case it would be like this:

• Trump:                          39%
• Biden:                           38%
• Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.:     13%
• Jill Stein:                       4%
• Cornel West:                   3%

It’s a shame that Pat Paulsen has been dead since 1997 because he could run again, too, and arguably one of his campaign slogans would have made him more competitive and likely reduce the Trump percentage:

“Just a common, ordinary, simple savior of America’s destiny.”

Almost sounds like proto-MAGA.

But there is something else that could work to Trump’s benefit:

Conviction in the New York falsifying business records case (a.k.a., the “hush money” case).

That’s right. Being guilty as charged.

If convicted, the general mix of voters surveyed is mixed. That is, Quinnipiac found that 29% would be less likely to vote for Trump, 55% said it would make no difference, and 12% say that they would be more likely to vote for him.

But the numbers for the Trump partisans, the full-on faithful, is where he could really cash in on being convicted:

• 10% less likely
• 62% neutral
• 26% more likely

That’s right: a quarter of those Trump-inclined would be more supportive of a convicted criminal than they otherwise would be.

In the overall scenario, there is a 38% upside (i.e., the neutral and the more likely minus the less likely).

In the Trump voter scenario, that jumps to 78%.

Instead of trying to delay and otherwise obstruct the trial Trump ought to be working toward getting convicted.

[MONDAY 4/15/24]

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Does Character Count? By Stephen Macaulay

It isn’t often that one would come upon a quote from Dear Abby (a.k.a., Abigail Van Buren) here on The Hustings, but this is completely relevant in the context of recent Gallup polling about Biden and Trump: “The best index to a person’s character is how he treats people who can’t do him any good, and how he treats people who can’t fight back.”

Yes, you can probably see where this is going.

When asked whether each “cares about the needs of people like you,” 48% said Biden does and 42% Trump.

Asked about whether the man “is honest and trustworthy,” 46% said Biden is and 35% Trump.

When asked whether the two are likeable, 57% of those surveyed said Biden is and 37% said Trump.

One could conclude that Biden should receive some sort of Mr. Rogers Trophy for being a Good Neighbor.

Because then there is the other set of topics:

“Can manage the government effectively”:       Biden 39%    Trump 49%

“Displays good judgment in a crisis”:              Biden 40%    Trump 45%

“Is a strong & decisive leader”:                      Biden 38%    Trump 57%

Trump could get some sort of Benito Trophy for Making the Trains Run on Time.

A question that voters are going to have to ask themselves is whether character matters.

Somehow a guy who only 35% think is trustworthy may not be good because he is largely considered “strong and decisive.” The question is who he’s being strong and decisive for. Given that he cares less “about the needs of people like you,” odds are he’s not acting on your behalf.

Does character matter?

Presently Donald Trump faces 88 charges across four criminal cases, 44 federal charges and 44 state charges.

Even if this were a case of “Biden’s Justice Department” being out to “get him,” there are all of those state charges, none of which are in Delaware, Biden’s home turf, so 44 charges is certainly non-trivial.

What’s more, everyone who is interested saw the boxes full of state secrets of varying levels of secrecy being “stored” at Mar-a-Lago like the records for landscaping and pool maintenance. That arguably isn’t an example of “good judgment,” and reportedly if some of that information got out to the enemies of the U.S. there very well could be a consequent crisis.

Here’s something that voters of all inclinations ought to consider:

Like him or not, would you elect someone facing 88 criminal charges for school board superintendent?

Then they ought to consider what choice they’ll make in November.

[WEDNESDAY 4/3/24]

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Build Back [Biden] Better By Stephen Macaulay

Joe Biden has a problem.

Well, that is a bit of a simplification.

Joe Biden has plenty of problems.

And the latest polling from Gallup shows it.

If <50% can be considered “underwater,” then Biden is drowning.

First, the most abysmal: The situation in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

The average of all U.S. adults — Democrats, independents and Republicans — who approve of how he’s handling it is 27%.

And while one might think “The Republicans are probably dragging that number down,” while that is often the case, not here.

Just 47% of Democrats approve of what the Biden Administration is doing to address the Middle East situation. That is the lowest Democrat number for any of the categories queried.

And just 21% of independents approve. Again, the lowest number for Indy approval.

There are just 16% of Republicans approving — which isn’t the lowest number.

When it comes to Biden’s handling of the Economy, only 8% of Republicans give him a nod. Independents are at 33% and Democrats at 74%.

Other categories in the survey are the Environment, which gets him an overall 46%, Energy Policy, 42%, and Foreign Affairs, at 33%.

If there weren’t some sudden clinching among White House staffers — to say nothing of Administration principals — when the overall number for “His job as president” was revealed, then they’re whistling past the proverbial graveyard.

Only 40% of U.S. adults think he’s doing a good job.

And here is where the Republicans hit the nadir of their responses: 7%.

Eighty-three percent of Dems approve. So even if the average was made between the two parties the number would be 45%.

There are, however, the Independents, of whom only 34% think he’s doing a good job.

Of course there are plenty of caveats.

One is that because he is president, he is doing things related to the various categories whereas his competitor is actually doing nothing beyond bloviating.

Another is that it is still somewhat early. He has time to recover.

But Gallup points out:

“Biden’s subpar job approval rating is similar to George H.W. Bush’s average 41% rating in March of the fourth year of his term. Jimmy Carter (45%), Donald Trump (47%) and Barack Obama (46%) also averaged approval ratings in the 40s at the same point in their presidencies, while George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan had ratings above 50%.”

If we consider Obama in Q1 2012 to be an outlier, then what can we say about the performance at the polls of the elder Bush, Carter and Trump?

They all lost.

The younger Bush, Clinton and Reagan, at +50%, all won.

So where does this put Biden?

Somewhere that he’d better move away from, sooner rather than. . .well, there may be no later.

Stephen Macaulay is pundit-at-large for The Hustings, writing primarily commentary and analysis for the right column.

[TUESDAY 4/2/24]

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President Biden’s Call to Arms By Ken Zino

[Editor’s Note: These are detailed comments by President Biden from his 2024 State of the Union address. Please see the author’s comments on the address in the left column and comments by Stephen Macaulay in the right column on our Home Page.]

President Biden in his third State of the Union address invoked America’s previous victories in the Civil War and Word War II, as well as in other times of crisis, notably the covid pandemic. What initially looked to be a call for democracy over plutocracy based on the fact sheet released by the White House earlier turned into an aggressive attack on the former president dubbed “my predecessor” more than a dozen times, repeatedly taking on the elephant insurrectionist not in the room — Trump —  without saying his name. He instead referred to the “previous administration,” and the Republicans who enabled him in the campaign speech, during a surprisingly pugnacious and impassioned delivery. This shouldn’t be, well, Greek, to the average voter. Biden wants to make American leadership great again, building from his demonstrably good policies.

Biden delivered a call to action for four more years that clearly channeled the ideas of the progressive wing of the Democratic party. My take here is that Republicans are in for the fight of their political lives based on their record. Biden also took on the Supreme Court – staring directly at that Supremely Corrupt gang – invoking the chaos overturning Roe v. Wade is causing; “My God, what freedoms will you take away next?” … “Clearly, those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America.”. 

Biden’s call to arms began thus: “In January1941, President Franklin Roosevelt came to this chamber to speak to the nation. He said, ‘I address you at a moment unprecedented in the history of the Union.’ Hitler was on the march. War was raging in Europe. President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary moment. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. … Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union. And yes, my purpose tonight is to both wake up this Congress and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either. Not since President Lincoln and the Civil War have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. What makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.

“Overseas, Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond. If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking … But now assistance for Ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our leadership in the world. It wasn’t that long ago when a Republican President, Ronald Reagan, thundered, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.’ Now, my predecessor, a former Republican President, tells Putin, ‘Do whatever the hell you want.’ A former American President actually said that, bowing down to a Russian leader. It’s outrageous. It’s dangerous. It’s unacceptable. … I say this to Congress: we must stand up to Putin. Send me the Bipartisan National Security Bill.”

In his 68-minute speech, Biden addressed:

•January 6^th: “We all saw with our own eyes these insurrectionists were not patriots. …They had come to stop the peaceful transfer of power and to overturn the will of the people. January 6^th and the lies about the 2020 election, and the plots to steal the election, posed the gravest threat to our democracy since the Civil War. But they failed …. My predecessor and some of you here seek to bury the truth of January 6^th. I will not do that. … And here’s the simplest truth. You can’t love your country only when you win. … political violence has absolutely no place in America!”

•Reproductive rights: “Joining us tonight is Latorya Beasley, a social worker from Birmingham, Alabama. Fourteen months ago tonight, she and her husband welcomed a baby girl thanks to the miracle of IVF. She scheduled treatments to have a second child, but the Alabama Supreme Court shut down IVF … treatments across the state, unleashed by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. She was told her dream would have to wait. …To my friends across the aisle, don’t keep families waiting any longer. Guarantee the right to IVF nationwide!

•The economy: “I came to office determined to get us through one of the toughest periods in our nation’s history. And we have. It doesn’t make the news but in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told. … America’s comeback is building a future of American possibilities, building an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, not the top down, investing in all Americans to make sure everyone has a fair shot … I inherited an economy that was on the brink. Now our economy is the envy of the world! Fifteen-million new jobs in just three years – that’s a record! Unemployment at 50-year lows. … 800,000 new manufacturing jobs in America and counting. More people have health insurance today than ever before. … Wages keep going up and inflation keeps coming down! Inflation has dropped from 9% to 3% – the lowest in the world! And trending lower. And now instead of importing foreign products and exporting American jobs, we’re exporting American products and creating American jobs … my policies have attracted $650 billion of private sector investments in clean energy and advanced manufacturing creating tens of thousands of jobs here in America. Thanks to our Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, 46,000 new projects have been announced across your communities – modernizing our roads and bridges, ports and airports, and public transit systems.

•Pandemic and public health: “The vaccines that saved us from COVID are now being used to help beat cancer. Turning setback into comeback. … With a law I proposed and signed and not one Republican voted for we finally beat Big Pharma. Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month. … For years people have talked about it but I finally got it done and gave Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for prescription drugs. … That’s not just saving seniors money. It’s saving taxpayers money cutting the federal deficit by $160 Billion because Medicare will no longer have to pay exorbitant prices to Big Pharma. … Now it’s time to go further and give Medicare the power to negotiate lower prices for 500 drugs over the next decade. That will not only save lives it will save taxpayers another $200 Billion.

•Tax reform: “I’m a capitalist. If you want to make a million bucks – great! Just pay your fair share in taxes. A fair tax code is how we invest in the things – that make a country great, health care, education, defense … The last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit. They added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in American history. …. Do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax breaks? … I’m going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair. Under my plan nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes. … the Child Tax Credit I passed during the pandemic cut taxes for millions of working families and cut child poverty in half. Restore the Child Tax Credit because no child should go hungry in this country … In 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in America made $40 billion in profits and paid zero in federal income taxes … Thanks to the law I wrote and signed big companies now have to pay a minimum of 15%. … It’s time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21%… 

•Social Security: If anyone here tries to cut Social Security or Medicare or raise the retirement age I will stop them. … Republicans will cut Social Security and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. I will protect and strengthen Social Security …

•Border Security: “In November, my team began serious negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators. The result was. … That bipartisan deal would hire 1,500 more border security agents and officers. One-hundred more immigration judges to help tackle a backload of 2 million cases. Forty-three hundred more asylum officers and new policies so they can resolve cases in 6 months instead of 6 years. One-hundred more high-tech drug detection machines to significantly increase the ability to screen and stop vehicles from smuggling fentanyl … This bill would save lives and bring order to the border. It would also give me as President new emergency authority to temporarily shut down the border when the number of migrants at the border is overwhelming. …  I’m told my predecessor called Republicans in Congress and demanded they block the bill. He feels it would be a political win for me and a political loser for him. It’s not about him or me. It’d be a winner for America. My Republican friends, you owe it to the American people to get this bill done. … We can fight about the border, or we can fix it. … Send me the border bill now.”

•Climate Change: I am cutting our carbon emissions in half by 2030. Creating tens of thousands of clean-energy jobs, like the IBEW workers building and installing 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.

•Crime: “The year before I took office, murders went up 30% nationwide the biggest increase in history. Now, through my American Rescue Plan, which every Republican voted against, I’ve made the largest investment in public safety ever. Last year, the murder rate saw the sharpest decrease in history, and violent crime fell to one of the lowest levels in more than 50 years. But we have more to do. Help cities and towns invest in more community police officers, more mental health workers, and more community violence intervention.

•Middle East: I know the last five months have been gut-wrenching for so many people, for the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and so many here in America. This crisis began on October 7^th with a massacre by the terrorist group Hamas … Israel has a right to go after Hamas. Hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for October 7^th. Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population. But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza. … More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed. Most of whom are not Hamas. Thousands and thousands are innocent women and children… Tonight, I’m directing the U.S. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the Mediterranean on the Gaza coast that can receive large ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. … As we look to the future, the only real solution is a two-state solution. There is no other path that guarantees Israel’s security and democracy. There is no other path that guarantees Palestinians can live with peace and dignity. … no other path that guarantees peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors, including Saudi Arabia. Creating stability in the Middle East also means containing the threat posed by Iran. That’s why I built a coalition of more than a dozen countries to defend international shipping and freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. I’ve ordered strikes to degrade Houthi capabilities and defend U.S. Forces in the region. As Commander in Chief, I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and military personnel.

Inspiring Conclusion 

“I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around a while. And when you get to my age certain things become clearer than ever before. … Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future. My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America. Honesty. Decency. Dignity. Equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. 

“Now some other people my age see a different story. An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me. I was born amid World War II when America stood for freedom in the world. I grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Claymont, Delaware among working people who built this country. I watched in horror as two of my heroes, Dr. King and Bobby Kennedy, were assassinated and their legacies inspired me to pursue a career in service. A public defender, county councilman, elected United States Senator at 29, then Vice President to our first Black President, now President, with our first woman Vice President. 

“In my career I’ve been told I’m too young and I’m too old. Whether young or old, I’ve always known what endures. … The very idea of America, that we are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We’ve never fully lived up to that idea, but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I won’t walk away from it now. My fellow Americans the issue facing our nation isn’t how old we are it’s how old our ideas are? Hate, anger, revenge, retribution are among the oldest of ideas. But you can’t lead America with ancient ideas that only take us back. To lead America, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future of what America can and should be. …

•“I see a future where we defend democracy not diminish it.” 

•“I see a future where we restore the right to choose and protect other freedoms not take them away.”

•“I see a future where the middle class finally has a fair shot and the wealthy finally have to pay their fair share in taxes. I see a future where we save the planet from the climate crisis and our country from gun violence.” 

•“Above all, I see a future for all Americans. I see a country for all Americans. And I will always be a president for all Americans. Because I believe in America. I believe in you the American people. You’re the reason I’ve never been more optimistic about our future.” 

•“So let’s build that future together! Let’s remember who we are! We are the United States of America. There is nothing beyond our capacity when we act together.” 

(Posted FRI 3/8/24)

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What Would the Dems Do? By Stephen Macaulay

Let’s talk about death.

According to the National Cancer Institute, in 2023 there were an estimated 288,300 new prostate cancer cases in the U.S., which represents 14.7% of all cancers diagnosed.

There were an estimated 34,700 deaths from prostate cancer in 2023 which is, comparatively speaking, pretty good, in that it represents 5.7% of all cancer deaths.

But it is not zero.

Prostate cancer is, says the National Cancer Institute, “more common in older men than younger men” and that it is more likely to occur in “men of African American descent.”

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, age 70 and African American, was diagnosed with prostate cancer during a routine exam in early December and underwent surgery on December 22.

His doctors at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center wrote after the surgery, “His prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.”

As men of certain ages and of all races undoubtedly think: Good for him!

(And for those of you who are male and reading this: If you are 40 or above, please get screened for prostate cancer.)

The point is, men and women alike are prone to the consequences of aging. Ultimately it means the end.

But in cases like that of Austin, things can be caught and accommodated for.

Still, there is the issue of age.

Joe Biden is 81. Donald Trump is 77.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the life expectancy in the U.S. is 76.4 years.

So both Biden and Trump are on the other side of the average.

What happens if either or both die before the election?

While there are issues of a technical nature regarding due dates for qualifying for primaries in various states, let’s assume that the death happens after the primaries but before the conventions (July 15 in Milwaukee for the Republicans; August 19 in Chicago for the Democrats).

In the case of the departure of Trump, the Republicans are in comparatively good shape: They’ve been conducting a fairly robust campaign over the past several months. Presumably, a Nikki Haley or Ron DeSantis could find the necessary number of delegates at the convention to put one of them on the ballot.

But what about the Democrats?

After Biden, who?

Kamala Harris, who has proven to be more of a cipher than an obvious asset? Yes, were President Biden to die before August 19, she would assume the office. But how many people—Democrats included—think that she would make a candidate?

But if not her, who?

This is a serious problem for the Democrats. The only two Democrats who are running at present — and running may be something of an exaggeration — are Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and author Marianne Williamson.

Who?

Perhaps it is tradition that parties that hold the presidency don’t encourage people to run against the sitting president if that president (a) is able to run for a second term and (b) is running.

But the situation as it exists right now, with an elderly man in office and what can be described as “no bench strength” behind him is a profound problem.

Unexpected things happen, as the case of Secretary Austin show. Contingency planning is essential but apparently absent for the Democrats.

On Our Effort to Mediate Our Nation’s Differences Commentary by Todd Lassa

The editors and contributors of The Hustings work to understand all reasonable points of view on any political issue. This is especially true for those of us who write and edit the center column, which publishes news (largely aggregated for now) so the left column and right column pundits can publish their opinions, all on one balanced, no-echo-chamber page.

At The Hustings, we are quick to acknowledge that all of our journalists and writers come to each news or comment post with pre-conceived notions and personal opinions. For the center column we work hard to put that aside as much as humanly possible. We source and aggregate material from a variety of respected news outlets, from The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post to Slate and The Bulwark.There’s plenty of Politico and NPR in these pages, and of course we watch these news stories unfold live on C-Span, CNN, MSNBC and Fox News.

Shortly after the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol, 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told Fox News she has information that far leftist members of Antifa were involved with the riots that forced Congress into safe rooms and has resulted in six deaths, so far. Palin’s Fox News interviewer, part of the cable TV network’s news staff and not a commentator like Tucker Carlson or Laura Ingraham, did not challenge Palin on her comment.

Palin’s assertion, often called “me-too-ism,” has spread through hard-right media outlets even though it is as unsubstantiated as President Trump’s claim that election-rigging stole the 2020 election from him. Since that broadcast, several pro-Trump extremists have been arrested in connection with the Capitol attack. There has been no credible evidence to back Palin’s claims. Fox News apparently has issued no correction. If The Hustings repeated this as part of our regular news & comments section, we would be giving Palin’s untruth undue respect and consideration.

About the same time Palin appeared on Fox News, historian Jon Meacham, of Vanderbilt University, appeared as a regular guest pundit with two others on MSNBC’s “The 11^th Hour.” Take this as bias if you will, but we think his comments bear repeating:

“If the country does not begin again to see that politics is about the mediation of differences and the resolution of problems for a given period of time, and not a Shermanesque arena for total constant warfare, then this is a chapter in an unfolding story, and not a last chapter.”

Going forward, we hope The Hustings can help mediate the differences between America’s conservatives and liberals and help close the book on the political terrorism tearing our country apart.

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LETTERS

To submit a reader comment, please email editors@thehustings.news

Re: End of the Republican Party?/It’s Trump’s GOP/Trump is the Most Conservative  Republican President of Our Time, Nov. 18:

Is The Donald a conservative?  Not by his definition.  The Donald sees himself as an American.  He gets results.  Look at what he achieved during his term even though he was being piled on by the Democrats – and some Republicans.  His approach to others is chaotic.  That’s the way The Donald is – and has always been.  Don’t expect an old-style Washington politician.  His approach shocks some and repels others.  People who didn’t like The Donald’s daily shrieking voted for Sleepy Joe.  We’ll see how that goes – especially when he “retires” in favor of VP Harris about the 20-month point.  If The Donald chooses to remain head of the American Republican Party, the party had better figure out a way to either settle him down – or to portray his chaotic behavior as the “new normal” for political discourse.

–Gerry Conover