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Email your comments on the political news/news aggregate in the center column, and/or to other comments in the left or right columns, including never-Trumper Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s right-column comments, or even current political news or an issue you think we’ve missed, to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings – left or right – in the subject line. Because like Macaulay, the content of your comments might not easily indicate your political leanings. As much as anything else, it’s that political POV diversity we relish.

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THURSDAY 12/12/24

…meanwhile…

Prices rose 0.3% month-over-month in November after 0.2% increases each month from July to October, the Labor Department reports, for an annual Consumer Price Index of 2.7%, up from a 2.6% rate in October. Shelter was up 0.3% in November, to account for nearly 40% of increases, and food was up 0.4%. [Bureau of Labor Statistics chart]

FRIDAY 12/13/24

Give America Polio Again? – As much fear as there is in many political corners of the potential effect on the nation of mass immigrant deportation, or across-the-board tariffs under the incoming Trump administration, the appointment of two ex-Democrats maybe triggering the most angst.

There’s Tulsi Gabbard, with whom Senate Democrats refused to meet earlier this week to discuss her nomination to be Trump’s director of national intelligence, according to Real Clear Politics. Gabbard quit her House seat as a Democrat from Hawaii in 2022 and called her former party “an elitist cabal of warmongers.” She previously had met twice with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2017, three years before her unsuccessful run for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Then there’s Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attorney, Aaron Siri, who is helping the Health and Human Services secretary nominee to choose federal officers. The New York Times reports that Siri has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, which has been saving lives since 1955, as well as 13 other vaccines. Siri has also challenged, and in some cases killed COVID mandates across the US, sued federal agencies to disclose vaccine approval research and subjected prominent vaccine scientists to “grueling” videotaped depositions.

•••

Dem Antipathy for Sinema, Manchin – Senate Democrats are “livid” over the votes of Krysten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) that sunk President Biden’s renomination of Lauren McFarren to the National Relations Labor Board, The Hill reports. Blocking McFarren’s re-appointment and handing Republicans the five-member NLRB’s majority was described by Democrats as “pathetic” and “disappointing.” Had either senator, who had regularly caucused with the Democrats, voted “yes” to McFarren, her re-appointment would have likely passed 50 to 49.

“I think people are not sorry to see them go,” one anonymous Democratic senator told The Hill, of Sinema and Manchin.

“Millions of working people across the country will pay the price for their actions,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

•••

Sixty-Three More Fed Judges – President Biden is threatening to veto a bill the House passed Wednesday that would create 63 new federal judgeships, the first expansion in decades, between 2025 and 2035, in order to ease a backlog in the federal court system, CQ Roll Call reports. The House passed the bill 236-173, with 29 Democrats joining 209 Republicans this week, after the Senate approved the measure by unanimous consent in August.

Obviously, the incoming Trump administration would get the first serious shot at nominating new federal judges, with at least two-years support from the GOP Senate majority.

•••

Lake for VoA? – President-elect Trump’s naming on Truth Social of twice-failed Arizona MAGA candidate Kari Lake to lead the Voice of America may not go very far. Lake, a former television news anchor herself, has vowed to be reporters’ “worst nightmare,” according to Vanity Fair. But the incoming Trump administration’s apparent plan to turn VoA into its own international propaganda arm runs into a 2020 rule issued to prevent the head of the US Agency for Global Media from hiring or firing a VoA chief without approval by the International Broadcasting Advisory Board, according to The New Republic.

--TL

_____________________________________________

THURSDAY 12/12/24

Timing is Key – President-elect Trump rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning (per NPR), something he never got to do when he was 45^th president. Seems to be a sign of how the business and finance world has eased into an obvious embrace of Donald J. Trump’s specific brand of anti-regulation, populist Republicanism.

Meanwhile … Trump is Time’s 2024 Person of the Year; “For marshalling a comeback of historic proportions, for driving a once-in-a-generation political realignment, for reshaping the American presidency and altering America’s role in the world… ”

•••

Biden Clemencies – Described as the largest-single act of clemency in modern history, President Biden has commuted about 1,500 people while also issuing 39 more presidential pardons. The commutations release US citizens convicted of non-violent crimes, mostly drug charges who have shown “successful rehabilitation,” according to The Independent.

The Biden White House promised to continue reviewing clemency petitions to “advance equal justice” and “provide meaningful second chances” before January 20.

“America was built on the promise of possibility of second chances,” Biden said in a White House statement.

•••

Wray Down and Out – He certainly is no J. Edgar Hoover, who founded the FBI in 1935 and served as its director up to his death in 1972. Christopher Wray will even fall short as director of the FBI, of matching the life of Quinn Martin’s original, The FBI, which brought real cases to television from 1965 to 1974.

Christopher Wray announced he is stepping down as FBI director ahead of President-elect Trump’s inauguration next month, seven years into his 10-year term, to make way for Kash Patel.

“After weeks of careful thought, I’ve decided the right thing for the bureau is for me to serve until the end of the current administration in January and then step down,” Wray told colleagues Wednesday at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. (per Politico).

Then-first term President Trump appointed Wray to be FBI director in 2017, but the two quickly got sideways. That culminated in the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago for classified documents Trump kept after he left office. (The search, on August 8, 2022, coincidentally was the 48^th anniversary of President Nixon’s resignation over Watergate.)

“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America,” Trump wrote on Truth Social with his signature capitalization, “as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. I just don’t know what happened to him.”

•••

Meta Million for Trump – Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago after the November 5 election almost recalls the visit in February 2021 by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), which began to flip then-ex-President Trump’s post-January 6^th political fortunes. Zuckerberg and Meta’s Facebook had never been connected with the Trump camp – until now. With Elon Musk leading a cadre of Silicon Valley billionaires toward MAGA, Zuckerberg’s Meta confirmed to various news outlets Wednesday it has donated $1 million to President-elect Trump’s inaugural fund, Forbes reports.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
THURSDAY 12/12/24

Who Needs Experience?

Evidently not many nominees for positions in the forthcoming Trump Administration

By Stephen Macaulay

The headline on the Politico emailed newsletter is striking:

“Trump’s nominees under the microscope”

Microscope?

Mr. Magoo could readily see that this is a barrel full of unqualified misfits.

The nominees under that microscope are:

Paul Atkins. He’s nominated to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is charged with ensuring securities exchanges, brokers and dealers follow federal US securities laws. Last year Sam Bankman-Fried, who had headed FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange, was found guilty of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of FTX. According to Politico Atkins said on a podcast last year, “The collapse of FTX was this international debacle that happened because, I think, the US didn’t make our rules accommodating to this new technology.” I should have thought of that excuse when I got a speeding ticket: the speed limit was not accommodating to my need for speed.
Mehmet Oz. Dr. Oz was a thoracic surgeon, so he did more than play one on his television show. He retired from his position at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in 2018. His TV show, which ran for 13 seasons, ended in 2022. He ran for senator for Pennsylvania in 2022, having conveniently purchased a home in the state in 2021. He lost. But now he is nominated to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Like the man who nominated him, Dr. Oz was a fan of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID treatment. After that, it is probably just as well he retired from his medical practice, unless his patient is. . .
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He’s been nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy has had some issues with COVID, too. In his case, he suggested in a speech, “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people.” He went on to suggest that Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese “are most immune.” Now it is well known that Kennedy is an anti-vaxxer, so his heading up of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is troubling, to put it mildly, given the fact that vaccinations are well known to have minimized diseases including polio, diphtheria, and smallpox. Hydroxychloroquine, incidentally, was taken in pill form.
Pete Hegseth. Although the foregoing are ridiculously unqualified for the positions they have been nominated for, Hegseth trumps them all. The man is dubious at best. There is the sexual assault allegation. He has responded that it was consensual. If that’s the case, why did he pay the person in question to remain silent? As Mitt Romney said to CNN during the Trump-Stormy Daniels case, “You don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.” Truth is more powerful than hydroxychloroquine. Subsequent reports indicate inappropriate behavior toward women was exhibited by Hegseth. He is said to drink too much, which would be fine (well, not totally fine, but he is clearly a “dude”) were he to do it in the security of his own home, not on the job, as reports indicate he has. Overall, it doesn’t seem as though he is a good role model. His greatest level of managerial experience is with the Concerned Veterans for America, which he was with from 2012 to 2016. While his departure seems to have had something to do with some of the aforementioned issues, it is worth knowing the CVA, under Hegseth’s tenure, had 159 employees and had peak donations of $15 million in 2016. The Department of Defense has 2.87 million employees and an $849.8-billion budget. So in terms of employees, the CVA had 0.0055% of what the DoD has. And if $15 million is what the CVA had to work with when Hegseth was there, know that’s 0.0018% of the current DoD budget. It would take more than a few nights at a Holiday Inn Express to have the know-how regarding the vast gulfs between those two metrics.
Kash Patel. While I would argue that anyone who wears a large lapel pin that reads “K$H” is disqualified from doing anything but working the floor of a furniture warehouse outlet, Patel’s various and many comments about coming after members of the media who have been perceived to have been mean to Donald Trump is somehow not in keeping with the role of the chief law-enforcement official in the US. After all, the chief document related to laws in the US, a.k.a., the Constitution, has as its very first amendment: “Congress shall make no law. . .abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” Now while the FBI director is in the Executive Branch, not the Congressional, it seems fairly clear that unless journalists are legitimately defaming someone (this requires proof that said information is false), obstructing justice (lawful proceedings) or, well, treason (as in levying war against the US or providing aid and comfort to the enemies of the US), it seems that Patel’s approach may exceed his remit.

Again: It doesn’t take a microscope.

And to the extent that senators fall back on thinking like this, exhibited by Bill Hagerty, (R-TN) on “Meet the Press,” December 1: “President Trump is entitled to name his appointees. That is exactly what he's doing, and I'm going to support this appointment,” ocular devices of any kind aren’t needed.

The appointment in question was that of Patel. When Kristen Welker of NBC News had previously quoted former Trump-appointed attorney general Bill Barr on the prospect of Patel becoming deputy FBI director during Trump’s first term — “Patel had virtually no experience that would qualify him to serve at the highest level of the world’s preeminent law enforcement agency” — Hagerty pushed back with, “Listen, I think you should have the Biden administration look at itself. What is the qualification of Tony Blinken to become secretary of state?”

As Welker didn’t have the opportunity to answer, let’s do that. Blinken began his public service career in 1993 in the State Department as special assistant in the Bureau of European and Canadian Affairs. Under the Clinton Administration he was on the National Security Council staff. He spent six years as Democratic staff director for the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the Obama Administration he was principal deputy national security advisor and deputy secretary of state.

Seems like a lot of qualifications. Probably not a good example had Welker had the opportunity to cite Blinken’s resume.

Hagerty summed up his position on the Trump nominees by telling Welker, “I plan to support President Trump's candidates because the American public needs to see dramatic change… .”

Whether they are qualified or not doesn’t seem to matter. Trump wants them. Trump will get them.

Hagerty and presumably a number of his colleagues in the Senate are not going to be

deploying microscopes.

They’ll just pull out a rubber stamp.

-30-

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THURSDAY 12/12/24

For Left and Right

This column is reserved for comments from liberal and progressive readers, as well as regular contributors. But there is plenty of space available in the right column for those of you who lean right, whether never-Trumper conservative or pro-MAGA populist or libertarian.

Today we feature the latest right column by Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay, who proudly counts himself as a never-Trumper. That does not mean you will be left out if you write a civil, fact-based pro-MAGA response.

We are pro-free speech, but we are anti-Section 230, so we moderate comments, just like a traditional newspaper. We think that makes commenting by the public safe and comfortable.

Simply email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and let us know how you identify, politically, in the subject line (so we post comments in the correct column).

Question of the week is whether the incoming Trump White House will maintain about 900 US troops in Syria following the ouster of brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad.

This week, we especially welcome readers’ comments on President-elect Trump’s plans for undocumented aliens (or, “illegals” if you prefer), import tariffs and retribution against the January 6^th Committee. We are also looking for your comments on the overthrow of Syrian’s notorious President Bashar al-Assad and on President Biden’s pardon last week for his son.

Is there important political news you think we are missing? We’ll publish your comments about that, too.

_____
MONDAY 12/9/24

…meanwhile…

Kristen Welker interviewed President-elect Trump at Trump Tower Friday for Sunday's Meet the Press. (Scroll down with the center trackbar for details.) [NBC News]

WEDNESDAY 12/11/24

Trump’s Laissez-Faire FTC Pick – President-elect Trump Tuesday selected Andrew Ferguson to lead the Federal Trade Commission, The Wall Street Journal reports, noting he “is likely to abandon the Biden administration’s liberal approach to policing mergers while keeping the heat on big technology companies.” Ferguson is one of two Republicans on the five-member commission and will replace Lina Kahn, described in the WSJ report as a “progressive hero who sought to flex the FTC’s enforcement muscle in ways not seen in decades.”

The one issue we have with the WSJ’s report is the assertion Ferguson will keep “the heat” on Big Tech, which is ready to move into the White House with Trump – while he frees the reins of bitcoin -- and is led by Department of Government Efficiency chiefs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Food fight … Speaking of FTC chair Kahn, she may count as a departing victory denial of the $24.6 billion merger of the Kroger and the Albertsons grocery store chains by a federal judge and a King County, Washington, judge. The FTC argued the merger would have raised prices by eliminating competition, and weaken union bargaining power, Forbes reports.

The two grocery chains had argued their bigger competition comes from Walmart, Costco and Amazon. Merger plans would have sold off a combined 579 stores nationwide to “preserve competition.”

The two had spent $1 billion on the merger, which could have been used to lower food prices, Capitalist Tool Forbes notes.

Meanwhile … Albertsons now is suing Kroger for failing to do enough to secure regulatory approval, The Associated Press reports.

•••

Prosaic Injustice – A federal bankruptcy judge late Tuesday rejected The Onion owner Global Tetrahedron’s winning bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars, NPR reports, saying the sealed-bid auction lacked transparency and left money on the table for Sandy Hook shooting victims who are owed $1.4 billion from their defamation case against Jones. Judge Christopher Lopez’s ruling came just four days before the 12^th anniversary of the Sandy Hook, which took the lives 26 children and educators in Newtown, Connecticut.

Far-right conspiracy theorist Jones made claims the shooting was a “staged” TV event, which resulted in harassment of the victims’ families by Infowars followers. Global Tetrahedron had plans to re-establish Infowars in January as a sort of Colbert Report-style parody of right-wing conspiracies.

Global Tetrahedron CEO Ben Collins said in a message to NPR’s Morning Edition that The Onion’s parent “will continue to work to purchase Infowars.”

Global Tetrahedron’s $1.75-million bid had the backing of Everytown for Gun Safety, and was valued at $7 million, including Sandy Hook victims’ families who backed Global Tetrahedron’s bid with potential earnings from the defamation judgment against Jones toward the purchase.

The losing bid of $3.5 million was by First United American Companies, which is connected to Alex Jones.

“We can celebrate the judge doing the right thing,” Jones said late Tuesday on Infowars.

--TL

_____________________________________________

TUESDAY 12/10/24

Netanyahu on Trial – Eight years after police began investigating Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and four year after his trial began, Benjamin Netanyahu took to the stand Tuesday in Tel Aviv facing charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues to oversee Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, occupation of Southern Lebanon and recent air strikes against Syria, The New York Times notes.

On the stand, Netanyahu minimized cases against him and focused on his legacy as Israel’s protector, according to Haaretz. The prime minister has claimed the trial is a “deep state witch hunt” designed to topple Israel’s right-wing rule.

•••

Hegseth Rising – President-elect Trump’s allies in the Senate appear more amenable to confirming Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary, Politico reports, including Sen. Joni Ernst, who appeared “more open” to the nominee after meeting with Hegseth a second time Monday, though the Iowa Republican did not explicitly say she’s support him. The notion of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a backup nominee apparently is off, as Trump has employed his signature modus operandi of making life “extremely uncomfortable” for “anyone who dares oppose him,” according to Politico’s report.

•••

Bad News for Ukraine – The House Republican Steering Committee Monday recommended Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL), an opponent of US aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, to be the next chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, CQ Roll Call reports. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) made the surprise announcement. Roll Call describes Mast as an Army veteran “with a sharp tongue and grievance politics.”

--TL

_____________________________________________

MONDAY 12/9/24

Syria Frees Itself – … with help. The US maintains about 900 troops in Syria and struck Islamic State targets there, after the mostly peaceful and orderly ouster of brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad Saturday, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. President Biden said the US will maintain its presence to protect Syrian citizens as they try to put together a new government. That leaves open the question of whether the US will continue that in-country support after January 20.

The issue here is that the liberating force that first took over Aleppo last week, then moved on to the capital, Damascus, from where Assad has since escaped to Moscow, was Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which the US still considers a terrorist group. HTS disavowed ties to al-Qaida in 2016.

Assad’s brutal regime, which turned back the Arab Spring attempted peaceful revolution of 2011 and whose army killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in 2013 according to the UN, was propped up by Iran and Russia and lost much of that support in recent months as Iran fought Israel via Hezbollah and Russia invaded Ukraine.

•••

Habba to White House – President-elect Trump Sunday named his personal attorney and “fierce media surrogate,” Alina Habba to be White House counsel, The Hill reports. No doubt her many television appearances in defense of Trump over the summer did not hurt. Habba represented Trump in New York Attorney Gen. Letitia James’ civil fraud trial, which resulted in a nearly half-billion-dollar judgment against Trump (which now may be reversed) and in former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation and sexual assault lawsuit.

•••

Trump’s Retribution Coming? – That, apparently, is up to President-elect Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, and his nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel. Asked by NBC News’ Kristen Felker in her exclusive interview on Meet the Press whether Trump would direct the Justice Department and FBI to punish members of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol (a long title we may never forget), the once and future president said; “No, not at all. I think they’ll have to look at that, but I’m not going to -- I’m going to focus on drill, baby, drill.”

So, there’s that oil production promise in the name of lower fuel prices. Trump told Welker he planned to make a lot of economic moves on day one, and that he still finds “tariff” the most beautiful English word, though he is uncertain whether he could “guarantee American families won’t pay more” as a result of them.

Trump followed that up by getting all existential about it, adding “I can’t guarantee anything. I can’t guarantee tomorrow.”

He said he intends to end birthright citizenship and that he may deport legal US citizens who have illegal family members. Also, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary-elect will investigate the discredited association between vaccines and autism.

Trump will “most likely pardon” 1/6 Capitol rioters. He won’t fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell (whose term is up in 2026, so this is simply not an economic priority so long as the Fed doesn’t significantly increase interest rates). And Trump believes Pete Hegseth can be confirmed as Defense secretary.

Kinzinger responds … “If Donald wants to pursue this vindictive fantasy, I say bring it on,” ex-Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), one of two members of the House Select Committee on the January 6^th Capitol Attack writes in his Substack newsletter. “I’m not intimidated by a man whose actions on January 6^th showed a cowardly disregard for democracy and the rule of law.”

--Contributed and edited by Todd Lassa

_____
MONDAY 12/9/24

Billy Long: People Person

Who needs experience when you’ve got charm?

By Stephen Macaulay

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Billy Long as IRS Commissioner.

Full disclosure:

I had no idea who the current IRS Commissioner is until I Googled him.

Danny Werfel. And I learned the IRS consists of about 85,000 people and has a budget of in excess of $12 billion.

So, it is good to know that Werfel, who has an MA in Public Policy from Duke, a JD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a BA in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell, came to the IRS from the Boston Consulting Group, where he was global leader of its Public Sector practice. He got the global job after leading the North American sector.

And before joining the Boston Consulting Group, he had more than 15 years with the Federal government, with jobs ranging from trial attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to Acting Commissioner of the IRS.

But back to Billy.

Trump posted on Truth Social:

"Billy brings 32 years of experience running his own businesses in Real Estate and, as one of the premier Auctioneers in the Country. He then served 12 years in Congress, because he 'felt it was important for his constituents to have a Representative who has signed the front of a check!' (Random capitalization, as always, the president-elect’s.)

"Since leaving Congress, Billy has worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations. I have known Billy since 2011 -- He is an extremely hard worker, and respected by all, especially by those who know him in Congress. Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate “people person,” well respected on both sides of the aisle."

Long was representative of the Missouri 7^th Congressional district. The largest city in that district is Springfield, with a population of 304,611. Branson is also located there, so there’s that.

Long’s educational background is, well. . .he attended University of Missouri, but that didn’t work out, so he dropped out.

Three years later he attended the nine-day training program at the Missouri Auction School.

And he never looked back.

Here again we have a Trump nomination that is, well, absurd.

Qualifications and expertise in doing the people’s business — whether this is at the Department of Defense or the IRS — simply doesn’t matter.

Which seems like malfeasance.

But then, Long is a “people person.”

_____
MONDAY 12/9/24

What’s Up

No false equivalencies. No echo chambers. A fact-based center column with civil discussion from the left, liberals and progressives in the left column and anti- and pro-Trump conservatives in the right column.

Help us make The Hustings a space to escape the misinformation, disinformation and outright conspiracy theories that infest such social media sites as X/Twitter and Facebook.

Email your Comments on our center column political news/aggregate and analysis to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

Questions for This Week

•The Hill counts 11 times that President Biden said publicly he would not pardon his son, Hunter, before announcing Sunday that he would pardon his son, Hunter. What are your thoughts about Biden’s about-face? (In his first administration, President Trump pardoned his daughter's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, who now is the president-elect's choice for US ambassador to France.)

•After coordinating a 60-day ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which Israel has been fighting in southern Lebanon, what are the chances the Biden administration can reach a similar agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, before President-elect Trump’s January 20 inauguration?

•Your thoughts on President-elect Trump’s naming uber-MAGAist Kash Patel to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director?

_____
MONDAY 12/2/24

…meanwhile…

The economy added a healthy 227,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department reports, with an unemployment rate of 4.2%. That’s up slightly from 4.1% in September and October, though new jobs in October were stifled by hurricanes Helene and Milton, and by a strike at aircraft manufacturer Boeing. November job growth was strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality, government and social assistance, while the retail trade lost jobs. CHART: Bureau of Labor Statistics.

FRIDAY 12/6/24

Notre Dame Reopens – President-elect Trump will attend opening ceremonies for Notre Dame in Paris, The Guardian reports, as well as President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Trump has found a European ally in French President Emmanuel Macron, who has taken credit for Notre Dame’s deadline-beating five-year reconstruction following a severe fire at the cathedral.

Macron is on the political ropes, however, for a looming budget crisis. Earlier this week, an unlikely coalition of hard-left and hard-right lawmakers removed Macron’s hand-picked prime minister, Michel Barnier, in the nation’s first successful vote of no-confidence since 1962.

•••

CBP Director Named – President-elect Trump named in a statement released Thursday former US Border Patrol chief Rodney Scott to lead Customs and Border Protection, according to NPR’s Morning Edition. Scott served the Trump 45 and Biden administrations for 19 months as Border Patrol head, implementing key border enforcement policies Title 42 and the Migrant Protection Protocol, a.k.a. “Remain in Mexico.”

CPB has more than 600,000 employees covering more than 300 airport, seaport and land border points of entry.

•••

Buying With Crypto – Venture capitalist David Sacks, who worked with Elon Musk more than two decades ago at PayPal, is the president-elect’s choice for White House AI & Crypto czar, Donald J. Trump announced on his Truth Social, according to The Wall Street Journal, which notes that Sacks hosted a June fundraiser in San Francisco for the Trump campaign, raising more than $12 million. Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance congratulated Sacks on Musk’s X-Twitter.

--TL

_____________________________________________

...meanwhile...

THURSDAY 12/5/24

Pre-Emptive Pardons Pondered – The Biden White House is said to be considering pardons for President-elect Trump’s known enemies, “senior Democrats familiar with discussions” have told Politico. The list includes Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA), former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases chief Anthony Fauci and, of course, former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who was lead Republican on the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6^th Attack on the United States Capitol.

And yes, in case you were wondering, if Trump’s choice for FBI director, Kash Patel, and/or his choice for attorney general, Pam Bondi, were to target any of these individuals, it would be a sign our democracy indeed is faltering.

•••

Hegseth Won’t Back Down – Allegations of serious misogyny and an excessive drinking problem aren’t affecting former Fox & Friends Weekend host Pete Hegseth’s resolve in becoming the next Trump administration’s Defense secretary.

“I spoke to the president this morning, he supports me fully,” Hegseth said Wednesday after meeting with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), according to The Wall Street Journal, which earlier this week broke the story that Team Trump is now in negotiations with Ron DeSantis to make the Florida governor the president-elect’s nominee, instead. “We’re not going anywhere.”

•••

Two More Named – Per Politico, President-elect Trump Wednesday named former senator from Georgia Kelly Loeffler – who lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock in 2020 – to head the Small Business Administration. Loeffler serves as co-chair of Trump’s second inaugural committee. More intriguingly, Loeffler is former CEO of Bakkt, a commodity and cryptocurrency platform in talks to be purchased by Trump’s Truth Social platform.

Trump also named to run the Social Security Administration Frank Bisignano, CEO of fintech and payments company Fiserv.

--TL

_____________________________________________

Florida Men (and Women) – Donald J. Trump is looking at replacing ex-Fox News personality Pete Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his choice for Defense secretary, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing “people familiar with the discussions.” Hegseth has been the subject of deep scrutiny over his personal life -- including reports of a 2017 sexual assault allegation which he paid for to keep secret -- since Trump named him as the man he wants to lead the Pentagon.

Trump and DeSantis visited a memorial service together in Palm Beach, Florida, Tuesday, for fallen law enforcement, according to the report.

DeSantis, aka “DeSanctimonious,” drew Trump’s ire when he challenged the former and future president for the GOP nomination early this year. Some of the closest members of Trump’s inner-circle are said to oppose making the Florida governor Hegseth’s replacement-nominee. DeSantis is a former US Navy attorney who served at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

If Trump chooses DeSantis, which would happen within a couple of days as Hegseth’s personal life remains pinned under a microscope, it would accelerate the game of musical chairs being played by the Florida GOP. DeSantis already has the task of replacing Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who faces near-certain Senate confirmation as Trump’s choice for secretary of state. Trump’s closest loyalists want DeSantis to name the president-elect’s daughter-in-law and co-chair of the Republican National Convention, Lara Trump, as Rubio’s replacement, the WSJ says.

Then there’s Florida’s governor’s office, which presumably would go to Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez (R). DeSantis is term-limited from running for governor again in 2026, and there has been speculation that former Trump attorney general nominee and former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) will run after next year.

•••

Briefing Room Shuffle? – The incoming Trump administration is looking at clearing out the White House James Brady Briefing Room of news outlets that are not loyal to the president-elect, The Hill reports. Outlets including NBC News, CBS News, ABC News and Reuters, which traditionally have seats in the front row along with Fox News, and in the second row The Wall Street Journal, CBS News Radio, NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bloomberg News would be replaced by podcasters, internet personalities and media “deemed more friendly” to Trump, according to The Hill, which traditionally is in the fourth row.

“It would be a total mess,” a White House reporter told The Hill. “I would expect people would probably boycott the briefings, though that would put certain outlets in a tough spot deciding if they want to go along with what the people are trying to pull.”

--TL

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...meanwhile...

TUESDAY 12/3/24

Martial Law in South Korea – Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea declared an “emergency martial law” on TV overnight, accusing opposition forces of an “insurgency” and of trying to control parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing his government with “anti-state activities” (per BBC, AP and The New York Times). It’s the first declaration of martial law in South Korea since 1980, the BBC reports. One source told the BBC the streets of Seoul are quiet, but “The people here certainly look bewildered.”

Netanyahu’s playbook? … In his television address, Yoon accused those government opposition forces of “trying to overthrow the free democracy.” President since 2022, Yoon has been facing potential impeachment amid calls for independent investigations of scandals involving his wife and top officials.

•••

Advances Against Assad – Rebel group Haý at Tahrir al-Sham has taken over Syria’s second-largest city, Aleppo, and are advancing on the capital of Damascus in an uprising that began last week after nearly 14 years of civil war, NPR’s Morning Edition reports. Fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad’s Syrian Armed Forces had been halted by a 2020 cease-fire. Assad’s allies Iran and Russia have had to divert military assistance to the Hezbollah-Israeli conflict and war in Ukraine, respectively, the last US ambassador to Syria (2011-14), Robert Ford, told NPR’s Leila Fadel.

So the Russian-Syrian connection could have implications for Ukraine after President-elect Trump takes office next month.

But Atlantic Council non-resident fellow Omer Ozkizilcik believes Russia will make Ukraine, and not Syria, its priority.

“I do highly doubt that Russia will accept to stall its advance in Ukraine, in the battlefield, for protecting the Assad regime in Syria,” Ozkizilcik told Al Jazeera. “And it’s very unlikely for the Russians to step up and rescue the Assad regime.”

•••

No Payout, Yet, for Musk – Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the Delaware judge who negated Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar pay package last January, Monday ordered the package to be rescinded after shareholders voted its approval, The Wall Street Journal reports. McCormick said she was not swayed by shareholder approval coming after her January ruling, saying directors were beholden to Musk, and that the approval was “tainted” and lacks transparency.

Jumping for Trump … Musk’s stock-option pay package was valued at roughly $44-45 billion early this year. But Tesla shares have rallied since Donald J. Trump’s presidential election victory November 5 and Musk’s package is currently valued at $55.8 billion, according to the WSJ.

•••

Oxford Word of the Year – Is “brain rot” (though we count two words). Sure. Why not?

--TL

_____________________________________________

While We've Been Feasting

MONDAY 12/2/24

Art of Ukraine’s NATO Deal – With the threat of President-elect Trump’s plan to end the Russian-Ukraine war on Day One looming over the invaded country, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week suggested that perhaps it’s time to fast-track Ukraine into NATO membership, at the alliance’s Foreign Ministerial meeting Tuesday and Wednesday. The plan outlined by Zelenskyy would end the “hot phase” of the war in exchange for NATO membership. It would not immediately include territories already occupied by Russia.

“We understand that Article 5, when you’re a member of NATO, cannot apply to the entire territory of Ukraine during wartime, as countries are against the risks of being drawn into war,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference with Antonio Costa, the new president of the European Council, The Kyiv Independent reports.

•••

Biden’s Last Victory? – Israel signed a 60-day cease-fire with Hezbollah, in which it will gradually withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and Hezbollah will not entrench itself near the Israeli border, according to The New York Times. More to come … and as always, your opinions and perspectives are welcome. Email editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line.

•••

He Is Trump’s Retribution – While noise from the opposition to Trump nominees ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (withdrawn) for attorney general, Peter Hegseth for Defense secretary and Orbánophile Sebastian Gorka as administrative assistant to the president nearly drowns each other out, controversy is hitting new heights with the president-elect’s choice for FBI director. Donald J. Trump has named one of his most loyal followers, Kash Patel, to replace Christopher Wray as FBI director. Trump appointed Wray seven years ago, which means the incoming president wants him removed with three years left in his term.

What would happen to the FBI under Patel? It seems the entire Trump administration will be quite busy on “day one.”

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and then reopen it the next day as a museum of the deep state,” he said, according to NBC News.

Short-lived Trump administration National Security Advisor John Bolton reacted in this statement to NBC News’ Meet the Press: “Trump has nominated Kash Patel to be his Lavrentiy Beria,” a reference to Stalin’s much-feared secret police chief. “Fortunately, the FBI is not the NKVD. The Senate should reject the nomination 100-0.”

Nepo in-laws … Last Saturday, Trump appointed Charles Kushner, father of son-in-law Jared, to be US ambassador to France, and Massad Boulos, the Lebanese-American father-in-law of Tiffany Trump, to be senior advisor of Arab and Middle-Eastern affairs (per The Forward).

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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MONDAY 12/2/24

He Could Have Been Really Good, If Not Best

By Stephen Macaulay

You may recall the campaign kicked off by Melania Trump in May 2018, “Be Best.”

Well, maybe you don’t. According to the most recent Siena College Expert Survey of American First Ladies, released in December 2020, Melania Trump, when it came to metrics including such things as “value to the country,” “accomplishments,” “leadership,” and “public image” (who can forget the jacket with “I really don’t care, do u?” inscribed on the back when she went to visit a child migrant detention center?), of the 40 first ladies assessed, Mrs. Trump came in last, behind Eliza Johnson (36), Letitia Tyler (37), Margaret Taylor (38), and Jane Pierce (39).

So one could argue that there isn’t a lot of residual impact of her first go round as First Lady.

But the “Be Best” concept came to mind when I was thinking about Donald Trump and his selections for cabinet positions.

In the 2021 C-SPAN Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, the Top 10 presidents are:

Abraham Lincoln
George Washington
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Theodor Roosevelt
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Harry S Truman
Thomas Jefferson
John F. Kennedy
Ronald Reagan
Barack Obama

The Bottom 5:

James Buchanan
Andrew Johnson
Franklin Pierce
William Henry Harrison
Donald Trump

Claims about how he’s better than every president in history (and probably better than all of those who will exist in the future) notwithstanding, it seems likely that he isn’t going to do well in history books, and when you are 78, it is probably a good time to consider just how you will be thought of when you have departed this veil of tears.

One of the simple things that Trump could have done in order to rocket up that list is to make “Be Best” cabinet nominees.

Consider that the in-coming president could contact the most talented, respected, capable, educated, experienced, and not under suspicion for various imbroglios, sexual, financial, political.

Amazing diplomats. Renowned medical experts. Nobel-winning economists. Lauded business executives.

Trump could have created a cabinet full of people that would have made Thomas Jefferson seem like a dullard.

The world would have been amazed at the incredible collection of people that Trump brought together.

But what did he do?

Picked a group of people whose qualifications seem to be mainly appearing on Fox News, appealing to his sense of power (Trump undoubtedly feels a bit of jealousy about Kennedy’s Camelot so giving RFK Jr. a job he is imminently unqualified for puts Trump, he thinks, one up on JFK), or who have simply been lickspittles.

As you may recall, during the first meeting of Trump’s first cabinet in June 2017 Trump had each of the people, in effect, praise and offer fealty to him. Presumably it is going to be smarmier this time.

Consider: Rex Tillerson had been the CEO of ExxonMobil before becoming Trump’s first secretary of state. This time it is Marco Rubio, a man who Trump demeaned repeatedly, and who wilted under this — just the sort of behavior you want for someone who will be negotiating with people like Vladimir Putin.

James Mattis commanded U.S. Joint Forces Command, was NATO’s Supreme Allied Command for Transformation, and U.S. Central Command. Pete Hegseth is to be respected for his service, but his resume is a bit light command-wise, which is important for running the Department of Defense.

John F. Kelly, who enlisted in the Marines in 1970, was the commander of the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) which had him working closely with US law enforcement personnel and the secretary of Homeland Security before being named secretary of Homeland Security. Kristi Noem in the governor with a state that has a population approximately that of Austin, Texas.

When history is written, Trump could have been not simply a contender, but a champ.

His cabinet picks show that isn’t something important to him.

Apparently there is more of a “I really don’t care, do u?” approach to his forthcoming presidency.

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MONDAY 12/2/24

What’s Left

No echo chambers. No false equivalencies. Free, fair and civil discussion of political news/news aggregate, in our center column, for liberals and conservatives. This is what we are about; the anti-X/Twitter.

Go to the top of Page 2, where contributor Hugh Hansen’s thoughts about the presidential election appear in the left column, and pundit-at-large Stephen Macaulay’s thoughts appear in the right column.

You are encouraged to participate in this humble endeavor. Email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line your political leanings, so we post them in the proper column.

_____
Thanksgiving Wk 2024

Happy Thanksgiving

Before we take a week off for Thanksgiving, let’s get you caught up with President-elect Trump’s picks for his cabinet, and other key appointments. Trump named the following on Friday …

Requires Senate Confirmation

•Labor secretary – Lori Chavez-DeRemer

•CIA director – John Ratcliffe

•Environmental Protection Agency director – Lee Zeldin

•Treasury secretary – Scott Bessent

•Agriculture secretary – Brooke Rollins

•Commerce – Howard Lutnick

•Food and Drug Administration director – Martin A. Makary

•North Atlantic Treaty Organization ambassador – Matthew G. Whitaker

•Housing secretary – Scott Turner

•Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director – Dave Welden

•Surgeon General – Janette Nesheiwat

•Office of Management and Budget director – Russell T. Vought

No Senate Confirmation

•Deputy Chiefs of Staff -- James Blair, Taylor Budowich, Stephen Miller, Dan Scavino

•Border czar – Thomas Homan

•National Security Advisor – Michael Waltz

•White House Council – Bill McGinley

•Communication director – Steven Cheung

•Press secretary – Karoline Leavitt

•Staff secretary – Will Scharf

•Personnel – Sergio Gor

•Federal Communications Commission chair – Brendan Carr

•Deputy National Security advisor – Alex Wong

•Deputy assistant to the president – Sebastian Gorka

--TL

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Thanksgiving Wk 2024

What’s Right

Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay has had a lot to say about Donald J. Trump’s stunning electoral college and popular vote win on November 5. Scroll down the page with the trackbar on the far right to read …

•”Drive, He Said”

•”Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man”

•”Help Wanted, Experience Irrelevant”

You will notice that our pundit-at-large is a conservative, but also cut from the never-Trumper cloth. That does not mean we want to discourage commentary from pro-Trump conservatives. As we ask all our readers (and expect from our contributors) please express your comments with civility and with adherence to the facts.

Go to Page 2 to see what a page of The Hustings will look like when contributors and readers from the left and the right participate at the same time. At the top of the next page you will find straight coverage of the presidential election in the center column, with Hugh Hansen’s “Silver Linings?” in the left column and Macaulay’s “Those Who Need to Know Don’t” in the right column.

We encourage you to participate along with Hansen and Macaulay. Email your Comments to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate in the subject line your political leanings, so we post them in the proper column.

_____
Thanksgiving Week 2024

Left to Your Devices

Last Friday, the real CEO of The Onion’s owner Global Tetrahedron, Ben Collins, told NPR’s All Things Considered he hopes to use his company’s purchase out of bankruptcy of Alex Jones’ Infowars as a way to fight extremist conspiracy theories dominating social media. We applaud this: If The Hustings had a better sense of humor (and the necessary funds) we would try to do exactly the same thing.

Instead, we are here to bring together citizens from various points on the left and right sides of the political horseshoe to discuss and argue – in a civil manner – real, fact-based news/news aggregate, and push back against the same sort of social media BS. We are the anti-X/Twitter.

No echo chambers. No false equivalency. Facts, useful analysis and context for political animals and the politically curious.

No matter which side of the political horseshoe you are on, we humbly solicit your thoughts and opinions on the latest political news and issues.

Email your COMMENTS to editors@thehustings.news and please indicate your political leanings in the subject line – you do not have to tow your side’s line on a specific issue, but we do want to post your comments in the appropriate column – right or left.

_____
TUESDAY 11/19/24

Trump’s AG and Russian Missiles

Joe Biden became the first US president to visit ‘Earth’s lungs,’ the Brazilian rainforest, Sunday, on his way to a G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. (White House photo) ... Biden later skipped the official G20 photo and refused to answer reporters' questions.

Bondi – President-elect Trump’s quick pivot from ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) as his choice for attorney general to a “fellow loyalist” (Politico) from Florida, Pam Bondi, happened so quickly Thursday it seems like it has to have been planned this way all along. The remaining question is whether Gaetz might try to reclaim his House seat, as Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay predicted, or whether he might run for Florida governor when Ron DeSantis is term-limited out in two years.

If Gaetz wants to return to the House, that would reignite the Ethics Committee’s investigation. But even if he doesn’t, the committee still may release its investigation of him.

Bondi was Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 when she defended Trump in his first impeachment trial. She reappeared with Trump on the campaign trail in the final days of this year’s campaign, according to Politico and in the interim has served as the co-chair of the America First Policy Institute’s law and justice division, an organization described as a “Trump administration in waiting.”

Trump reportedly picked Gaetz after a Trump jet flight in which the president-elect was unhappy with his AG choices, and the then-representative suggested himself. Was Bondi to be shadow-AG to Gaetz? Was all this folderol over the Gaetz pick some sort of television performance art worthy of The Apprentice? (Trump’s TV show, not the new movie about Roy Cohn and DJT.)

•••

Correction – Russia hit Dnipro, Ukraine, not with an intercontinental ballistic missile as reported Thursday, but with an “experimental” intermediate-range ballistic missile. Like an ICBM however, the “Oreshnik” (Russian for “hazel”) missile could carry a nuclear warhead although this one didn’t. Vladimir Putin described Oreshnik on Russian TV, according to NPR’s Morning Edition.

“This is an obvious and serious increase in the scale and brutality of war,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on his Telegram messaging app.

--TL

______________________________________________

...meanwhile...THURSDAY 11/21/24

Gaetz Withdraws -- Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) he is withdrawing his name to become President-elect Trump's US attorney general, Reuters reports.

•••

ICC Arrest Warrants for Netanyahu – Alleging Israel has used starvation as a weapon and directs attacks against civilians, the International Criminal Court Thursday has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant (per The Wall Street Journal). ICC prosecution drew praise from many countries, but outrage from the Biden administration and much of US Congress last May when it first sought the warrants. Several Hamas leaders who were also named in the ICC warrant have been killed by the Israeli Defense Force.

•••

ICBMs Hit Dnipro, Ukraine – Russia launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Dnipro Thursday morning, Kyiv’s air force reported according to The Kyiv Independent. ICBMs are capable of carrying nuclear warheads – though obviously not in this case. The ICBM triggered a country-wide air raid alert.

•••

Gaetz Headed for Hearing – It looks like President-elect Trump’s choice for attorney general, ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is headed for a Senate confirmation hearing, as Republican members of the Judiciary Committee said he should be given the opportunity to address misconduct allegations (per CQ Roll Call).

“I fear the process surrounding the Gaetz nomination is turning into an angry mob, and unverified allegations are being treated as if they are true,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, top Republican on Judiciary. “I have seen this movie before.”

Meanwhile… Speaking of unverified, the House Ethics Committee will not release findings of its investigation of Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and drug use, committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) announced. The committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Susan Wild (D-PA) indicated a 5-5 split between Republicans and Democrats on whether to release the report. At least one committee Republican would have to vote with the five Democrats to break the tie. Wild said the committee will reconvene Dec. 5 to further consider the matter, per NPR.

•••

Speaker Backs Mace – Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has backed Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) in her efforts to keep the first transgender woman elected to the House of Representatives out of women’s restrooms.

“Transgender women should not use women’s bathrooms in the House,” Johnson said Wednesday (per Roll Call). “All single-use facilities in the Capitol and House Office Building – such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms – are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”

Mace called for the restrictions earlier this week ahead of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-DE), who will be sworn into the 119^thCongress January 3.

--TL

______________________________________________

WEDNESDAY 11/20/24

Billionaires, TV Stars – Donald J. Trump’s appointee for Commerce secretary, chief of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald Howard Lutnick, is the billionaire. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the television physician with nine daytime Emmys and a history of promoting quack medicine, whom the president-elect has chosen to lead the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (including the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare) is the latest on the growing list of TV stars.

Oz is best-known politics-wise as the Republican Senate candidate for Pennsylvania who lost to Democrat John Fetterman in the 2022 midterms..

Linda McMahon bridges both descriptions as a retired pro-wrestler who with her husband, Vince, founded Titan Sports, which became World Wrestling Entertainment – better known as the WWE. McMahon, who ran the Small Business Administration for Trump from 2017-19 is his choice to become what Newsweek says “may be America’s last Education secretary.”

Trump also has named his first term’s national intelligence director, John Ratcliffe, to become head of the CIA,

As for the elephant in the elephant’s room, there is much speculation among the punditocracy that Trump’s chosen attorney general, ex-Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, is actually, in political animal terms, a “sacrificial lamb” meant to divert the Senate’s attention from Trump’s other choices. Theory goes that were a few Republican senators to join Democrats in defeating Gaetz’s nomination, he would move on to run for Florida governor in a couple of years.

But Trump has made it clear he wants Gaetz to be his AG, which seems more a case of the president-elect testing how far he can push things – his “mandate,” or agenda. Or as Mike Davis, president of the Article III Project nonprofit formed to defend Trump against criminal charges against him told The Washington Post at Mar-a-Lago: “It’s a hostile takeover on behalf of the American people.”

--TL

_______________________________________________

TUESDAY 11/19/24

On the 1,000^th Day – Ukraine on Tuesday fired six US-made ATACMS – Army Tactical Missile System – missiles at Russia’s Bryansk region, sparking a fire but with no initial damage or casualties, Russia’s defense ministry said, according to the AP. The attack comes on the 1,000^thday of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and two days after President Biden eased restrictions of Ukraine’s use of American-made weapons, which in turn prompted Dictator/President Vladimir Putin to lower the Kremlin’s threshold for using nuclear arms (per The New York Times).

The Biden administration “strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the lame-duck president told leaders at the G20 summit in Brazil.

United Russia Minister of Parliament Maria Butina said Monday that the US is “actually pushing the world to a very dangerous red line,” (per the BBC). Yes, that’s the same Maria Butina who five years ago pleaded guilty before US District Judge Tanya Chutkin to conspiracy charges for infiltrating conservative groups, including the National Rifle Association, for the goal of advancing Russian interests.

Meanwhile… President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented in an address Tuesday to Ukraine’s parliament a 10-point plan for “internal resilience,” The Kyiv Independent reports.

“Ukraine may need to outlive someone in Moscow to achieve all the goals,” Zelenskyy said.

Zelenskyy was criticized earlier this autumn, before Donald J. Trump won the November 5 presidential election, for presenting a victory plan that focused primarily on requests from external parties while lacking domestic reform, according to the Independent’s report.

•••

Another Fox Celeb for Trump’s Cabinet – President-elect Trump has named Fox Business’ The Bottom Line host Sean Duffy to be his transportation secretary (per The Hill). Duffy was US representative for Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019, where he was a loyal supporter of Trump during his first presidential term, according to his Wikipedia page. Duffy began his television career in a slew of MTV reality shows; The Real World: Boston, Road Rules: All Stars and Real World/Road Rules Challenge: Battle of the Seasons. He is married to Rachel Campos Duffy, co-host with Trump’s choice for Defense secretary Pete Hesgeth on Fox & Friends: Weekend.

Meanwhile… Senate Republicans and “people around Trump” say the president-elect has been told that former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has “little chance” of confirmation as attorney general, Politico reports, adding that the GOP senators are “privately hoping” Trump “doesn’t make them walk the plank.”

ICYMI… Trump has nominated Chris Wright, CEO of the Denver-based fracking company Liberty Energy to be his Energy secretary; former US Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) from 2015-23 to head the Environmental Protection Agency; and John Ratcliffe, Trump’s national intelligence director from 2020-21 to head the CIA.

--Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa

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TUESDAY 11/19/24

Drive, He Said

“There’ll be spandex jackets, one for everyone. . . .”

By Stephen Macaulay

In announcing fellow former reality TV player Sean P. Duffy as his selection to be the Secretary of Transportation, Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social:

“Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has built over many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and full fill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”

Which is an absolutely consistent statement with all of the other statements that Trump tends to make about things.

First, let’s give Trump a pass for his tendency to capitalize Nouns whenever He wants to make a Point about Something. Maybe He thinks that’s what the Kids are doing.

The nation’s Infrastructure is currently being maintained and rebuilt as a result of the Biden Administration’s $1.2-trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed into law November 15, 2021.

Trump, during his presidency, rolled out with various “infrastructure weeks.” There were numerous infrastructure plans.

None of these came to fruition.

Remember, during his first two years in office the Republicans controlled the House and Senate (January 2017 to January 2019).

Similarly, during Biden’s first two years (January 2021 to January 2023) the Democrats controlled both, too.

But Biden got something done with regard to infrastructure.

The most curious aspect of Trump’s announcement about Duffy — who, it should be noted, was on MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars, which put him and his colleagues in a Winnebago traveling around America, presumably hands-on experience for running an organization in charge of the US transportation system — is the “our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel.”

Does anyone know when The Golden Age of Travel occurred?

Perhaps this was about the time when Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, which created the interstate highway system. That was in 1956, when Trump was 10.

Big-finned Cadillacs. Cheap gas.

But then there’s this: In 1957 the traffic fatality rate was 5.9 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled — now it is down to 1.17 deaths.

So much for Golden. More like Bloody.

But then there’s claim “elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”

That is possibly more perplexing than “Golden Age.”

Now the Department of Transportation does have the Federal Aviation Administraation under its purview, which could be the “elevate” aspect.

But then there’s “all Americans.”

According to the Bureau of Transportation, in 2022 US airlines carried some 853 million Americans.

The same year, according to AAA, Americans made 227 billion trips by auto.

That means the air trips are 0.38% of the number of car trips.

So presumably Trump plans to do something to the ground-based travel experience for Americans. Whatever it is must be special. Flying cars for everyone, perhaps?

Let’s face it: that Truth Social post is like other pronouncements made by Donald Trump in that it sounds good (who doesn’t want a Golden Age of Transportation or an elevated Travel Experience?) but is quite meaningless.

What are the metrics for these things? How will it be known if he accomplished it?

And therein lies part of the rhetorical genius of Donald Trump: sound and fury signifying nothing.

_______________________________________________

Monday’s center column, “Is Our Democracy Done?” asks whether Donald J. Trump’s incoming term already is proving to be as authoritarian, even fascist, as the failed Democratic presidential campaign had warned, as evidenced by his four most controversial staff and cabinet choices. Scroll down with the far-right trackbar to read our news aggregate and analysis.

The center column is accompanied by Pundit-at-Large Stephen Macaulay’s commentary, “Matt Gaetz: A Very Clever Man,” on how the ex-US representative from Florida could return to the House sans the Ethics Committee report on him. Scroll down further to read Macaulay’s “Help Wanted. Experience Irrelevant.”

Scroll down yet further, but still on the home page, to read Macaulay’s reaction to the November 5 elections, “Those Who Need to Know Don’t.” Read contributor Hugh Hansen’s left-column response, “Silver Linings?”

Email your own Comments, whether pro-MAGA, never-Trumper right, moderate left or progressive – or virtually anything in-between as long as you are civil – to editors@thehustings.news.

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TUESDAY 11/19/24