stevenkesslar

Buckle your seat belts, or stop reading now. This post veers deep into policy and speculation. And it is mostly about race. I could be dead wrong. I often am. But right now I am celebrating the utter short-sightedness and stupidity of Team MAGA. I have to stipulate I don't mean historically Democratic Black or Hispanic or Muslim voters. We all now know many were pissed about inflation. Or rent. Or broken promises. Or dead Palestinians. And so they voted for Trump. I mean the rock solid "we'll believe anything he says or does" MAGA hard core. The ones who think Jan. 6th was a Day of Love. And are jubilant about beating cops when it helps Trump. You have been given an historic opportunity. And every day seems to shout at me, "We are blowing it. We are such losers that, after losing in 2018 and 2020 and 2022, fate (COVID + inflation) throws us a lifeline. And we fuck it all up." Lest anyone think I am just a dumb White liberal, the former Black head of the RNC said exactly what I just said. He said Trump's Republican Party is a "zombie party" that will fall apart quickly if and when the Democrats get their shit together. I agree. It was the inflation, stupid. What was Kamala supposed to do? Speaking of what stuff costs, here's something I suspect our dumb dog doesn't know. And probably can't appreciate, with his dumb dog reflexes. If he read Black reporters who work for Politico, instead of attacking Black men as a DEI hire, he might up his skill set just a little. One can always hope. That absolutely blew my mind. First, just the facts. Then a liberal biased interpretation of the facts. This is complex and divisive stuff that many books and articles have been written about, several of which I have been extensively quoted in. But facts are facts. Under Clinton, working class homeownership soared. That was an intentional policy. It helped the White working class a lot. But it particularly helped non-White Hispanics or Asians or Blacks, who mostly are disproportionately behind Whites in gaining access to homes and net worth. Which they often use to create businesses. Owning a home is the American dream for a reason. Some conservatives lie like dumb dogs and argue Bill Clinton created the horrible subprime mess. But, if true, all those mortgages made from 1993 to 2000 under Clinton should have and would have gone bad in the 2001 recession. No such thing happened. The mortgages that blew up starting in about 2006 were almost all originated from 2002 on, when W. was POTUS. And when Republicans ran all the regulatory agencies and Congressional committees that governed this. These are facts. Republicans can't deny that all the shitty predatory mortgages that blew up the US and stole wealth and homes from Black families in particular were mostly made when they had one party control. So what blows my mind in that chart above is that in a little over one year Trump reversed all the damage done by W. Much of which played out when Obama was POTUS, and the ticking time bomb mortgages originated under W. exploded one by one. Because my complicated point is about race, I will focus on Blacks. Even though this trend is true of all non-White as well as White home buyers. Black homeownership went from a high of 49.7 % in 2004, to a low of 40.6 % in Q2 2019, to a high of 47 % just one year later. That is an amazing reversal, both ways. The reversal down is because it took Clinton an eight year Presidency to, IMHO, very wisely figure out how to turn homeownership into an engine for working class wealth creation for all races. Again, owning a home is the American dream. Clinton did not discover some new law of science. But he made shit work. And it worked great until W.'s Republicans and their special interest Wall Street and financial industry donors fucked it all up. The Trump reversal is even more amazing. It does prove that a rising tide lifts all boats, at least sometimes. Trump did in one year what it took Clinton two terms to do, to exaggerate a bit like @FuckNJoy does. And he did what Biden talked about, but could not actually deliver on. And I am being intentionally generous to Trump. Because it arguably was the bond market or the mortgage market, not Trump, that did it. Whatever the cause, when 30 year fixed rate mortgages fell below 4 % in 2019, lots of smart people of all races saw their opportunity and jumped at it. By 2025 standards, that is dirt cheap. Kudos to all the Black and Hispanic and Asian American and White working class families who were smart enough to buy homes and lock in low fixed rate mortgages then. And it did get even better under Biden in 2021, when pretty much nobody wanted to move. And then ..................................... it's the inflation, stupid. I don't hold a grudge with any Black or Hispanic family that voted for Trump in 2024. I could make a great argument that it was actually a logical thing to do. This would be one of my main arguments. It's way too complicated an argument, if anyone bothers to read this. But it's true. Meanwhile, Ole Joe talked the talk but could not deliver. To set up bringing this to 2025, I will jump into fantasy and say this. If I were Trump, I would not only argue I am the least racist guy I know. I would also insist I want to be the DEI President. This ain't your Grandpa's Republican Party. We are truly colorblind. But we also know our diversity is what makes us strong. Most Americans believe that. And Trump proved with abortion that he can get away with shit like that. The Christian right resents his backtracking on abortion. They want Mike Pence back. But they voted for Trump, anyway. Mostly, I assume, because he delivered his right wing SCOTUS. Actions speak louder than words. Sadly for his love affair with Blacks, as well as anyone else that is "DEI dead" these days, Trump's current actions will speak louder than words, too. How Democrats lost the DEI war Conservatives won the culture war by riding the backlash to Black Lives Matter protests. That was written by a Black reporter who works for Politico who extensively interviewed Black experts and organizations like the NAACP. In other words, this guy is an incompetent DEI hire who works for a leftist Democratic mouthpiece who interviews Communists and terrorists. Who knows? Some might even be Gay. Horrors! For purposes of this topic, I hope people - especially African Americans - do feel this is who Democrats actually want to protect, and lift up. And now White guys on dumb Tik Tok videos are declaring, "Open season. I was racist before racist was cool." I personally take the headline above as a statement of emotion, not fact. Like, is same sex marriage gone? No. Are all Blacks being fired from the FAA? No. Musk and Trump fired a White guy who was unanimously approved by Congress, three plane crashes ago. My point is that I think the Black reporter who wrote this is probably showing his bias, and his humanity. And saying, in subtext, this feels like a terrible loss. If so, I feel for him. But I think it is a big battle lost in a war that Democrats are winning. Obama still was our first DEI President. He won't be our last. I could say a lot about the article, which is a great read. But I will focus on one fact he states, which I view as a dagger in the heart of MAGA: It's a fair point to say that Trump rallies really are a bunch of mostly White people, and they don't play Beyonce music. It's also fair to say Democrats were stupid NOT to showcase more White males at their convention. But my argument is that what matters a hell of a lot more is whether Black families could afford to buy homes when Donald Trump was POTUS. Whether it was his policy or not, that's not a reason for Black families to see him as the worst racist ever. That obviously helped him in 2024 with Blacks. And Hispanics. And Asian Americans. This is a "racially sensitive" issue with some Blacks who don't really want to own the fact that Trump got more Black votes than in 2020. I'm not Black. But I think that line in that article is a kiss of death for MAGA. What Trump and Musk are saying right now, in all their beautiful White wisdom, is this: "The door is closed. You are not welcome. Get the fuck out. Now. You stupid incompetent DEI hire. Normalize hatred. I was racist before racist was cool." It's only government employees, of course. Who the fuck cares? But my guess is that is kind of like telling an African American, "Who cares about the lives USAID saves? They're all Africans." Like subprime, this will be a bomb that goes off slowly. But once it is rigged, it is very hard to reverse. I take that article as a searing confirmation that Blacks have already started to get the message. The door is shut. You are not welcome. Get the fuck out. And our dumb dog with no brain, just conditioned reflexes, is yapping in joy, waiting for his Trump treat. That said, maybe @FuckNJoy is really fucking with us. Maybe he is a whip smart conservative Black college graduate, who just likes Trump's policies. Makes no difference in terms of the outcome. I don't think he is going to like how this plays out in the long run. But since he wants to get it out in the open and expose the truth, there it is.

Did Pavlov's dog have a name? Serious question. Henceforth I will call you @FucknJoy. Joy sounds like a nice name for you. It shows some grace. Like I hope you have Joy when you flail around with your mindless MAGA conditioned reflexes. But, flip side, you do like to fuck with people. And you could care less how many children in Africa - or the US - die today because of what Musk is doing today. You actually just celebrated killing brown-skinned immigrants in one of your stupid videos. John Harris was right. I got in almost a screaming match with him in college, when he was the editor of our college newspaper. He had edited some stuff I wrote about a lefty college professor because he said it was too biased. I argued that all journalism is biased. He said that we should at least strive not to be biased. I thought and said that is just self-delusion. That really pissed him off, as I recall it. The world has changed. I had no idea that my lefty college professor would become a US Senator, or John would found Politico. I now actually wish he had been right. It feels like it has gone too far. Not so much because we have media that takes a strong and biased opinion. That's fine. The problem to me is that too many people only read one side. Right or wrong, I have always been a liberal who wants to know both sides. And maybe it is just my bias. But I think a lot of college educated liberals are like me. They wants facts, and truth. I think it shows up all the time. Liberals will say, " Yeah. Biden is too old, and he is losing it." MAGA cultists won't say that about their God. Right now they are literally celebrating open racism and hate. You revel in being @FuckNJoy. You have now posted several videos that intentionally edit out the other side. And intentionally deceive viewers by saying Trump really didn't cruelly attack a handicapped reporter. Or people all love Trump, except for this small minority. This is just another example of how you love being @FuckNJoy, Trump's puppy dog looking for his treat. Or you are whacking off your two inch dick attacking more Black people. Or whatever gets you off. Have fun.

I'll reframe your question. Do I believe in grace? Yes, I do. I was raised Catholic - Catholic grade school and high school. I was a Religion major in college before it was cool. I consider myself spiritual. Even though the Catholic church lost me for good when they were one of the main funders of the anti-same sex marriage campaign, while I was having the time of my life volunteering on the campaign to win it in California. This is the TMI shit that drives my family crazy. I was also having the time of life, at the same time, fucking a sexy young Catholic priest (brown skinned, so I guess he was a DEI hire) on the balcony of a hotel on the Amalfi coast. We were on our way to Rome, where I watched him officiate the wedding of a gorgeous Italian man - to a woman - even though the guy had been his fuck buddy while he was in seminary in Rome. Not many people can say they did that. I can. My devoutly Catholic mother did not appreciate me sharing this information with her when she was shocked to learn that many Catholic priests are Gay. So that actually answers your question. I feel I have had a lucky and good life, so far. So show some grace. It is a symbol of how completely morally and spiritually bankrupt the Grand Old Party is that, in the same vile tweet, JD Vance can talk about "grace" as he defends a proud racist hater. And attacks a very graceful US Rep, who should make all Indian Americans proud, for calling out open and repugnant hate, based on the color of your skin. So Musk and his dead child are small ball. Is Musk telling the truth? Probably not. He lies every fucking day about USAID or something, in ways that actually will kill real children in Africa today. Could he give a flying fuck about how the mother or father of that dead child feel? Fuck no. So whether he is lying about his own child or not, or his own sadness has altered his memory, I just feel sadness for him. Whoever was holding his son when he died, it is a human tragedy. The greater human tragedy, which dead people at the bottom of a river and dead children in Africa are paying for already, is that somehow that tragedy and his living daughter's discovery of her unusual sexuality hardened Musk's heart. And made him the cruel dishonest arrogant fuck he is today. This is not new. You can read all about it in the Bible. Which tells us to show some grace.

It's just so funny. But also embarrassing, if I were in the MAGA hive. I mean, this must be the kind of stuff that makes even MAGA dudes with two inch penises cum. So I get it. If this gets you going, enjoy your orgasm. But Trump wins by 49.7 % of the vote. He actually loses one House seat. Which is a massive problem for his lapdog House Speaker right now. Chip Roy, who I actually kind of admire being a deficit hawk myself, wants to cut Medicaid - which will hurt Trump voters just like cutting Obamacare would have - to fund huge tax cuts to Trump's special interest billionaire donors like Elon Musk. Since you're a bit slow on the uptake, I'll spell it out. You have much bigger problems to worry about. That's if you want your semblance of a government minority to be able to function at even a minimal level. But if your real goal is break shit and attack every living Black man and woman as a DEI dumb fuck, while you whack off your two inch White "Look at me!" penises, please have fun while it lasts.

This is embarrassing. I guess MAGA folks think everyone else is stupid. But what's saddest about it is that MAGA folks must think MAGA folks are stupid. Or insecure. Or something. They have to constantly keep reassuring themselves that Trump was actually elected to break shit, be cruel, be racist before racist was cool, or whatever you think he is doing. And, yes. He did promise to be all those things and break shit. And he is being all those things and breaking shit. Woo hoo! He did not win by 58.8 % of the vote, like Reagan did in 1984 in the most resounding landslide of my lifetime. He won by 49.7 % of the vote. Granted, it is better than he did in 2016 or 2020. That is a fact. And while it is not quite a fact, I think he correctly stated why he won. It's the inflation, stupid. That's why he is already practicing stupid political theater to run away from tariffs, thankfully. Which his supporters are smart enough to know would raise prices. I approve of that. This is like saying, "Look! I have a two inch penis! It is a full two inches! It is really big! Measure it! Two inches! Seriously!" That can all be true. But it is still true that people will think you have a small penis. Trump is a small, cruel man doing small, cruel things. That doesn't change. 538 says 49.4 percent of voters approve of Trump. That is down from 49.7 % on his first day. The way I read that is that his supporters, who are not a majority, have not abandoned him yet. I'm using 538 because they track it daily, unlike RCP. 538 says 44.3 % of voters disapprove of Trump. That is up from 41.5 % his first day. It does not surprise me that opposition is growing and hardening pretty quickly. Even for a man who divorces and rapes and sexually harasses a lot, this is not promising to be a long honeymoon. It is embarrassing that you have to brag that he only had net approval for 11 days in a four year Presidency. That is awful. Horrific. Wildly unpopular. Which is why he got his ass kicked in 2018 and 2020. And now he has beat that miserable record. Go ahead. Brag about his two inch penis all you want. One way to read that is that CBS and CNN are obviously bending over backwards to make his two inch penis sound like the King Kong of dongs, so as not to be taken as anti-Trump. Kudos to them. Another way to read that is that CNN is cleverly reminding people that they only approved of this small, cruel man for 11 out of 1,460 days last time. It really is like saying, "Trump has a two inch penis, and it has stayed two inches for 20 whole days!" You don't really get subtlety or subtext, do you?

I take this as confirmation that you actively want to spread misinformation. Meaning a distorted view of reality. But you are making progress. The first half of the video is true. Maybe someday you will be able to just speak truthfully. Let's push for that, okay? This is better than the outrageously dishonest video you posted where Trump was mocking a reporter, and some dishonest MAGA dude denied it, and spouted lies. Even as the video literally was abruptly ended as Trump was saying, "the reporter." So since you clearly have not figured this out, when you cut off a video suddenly, like in the middle of a sentence, inquiring minds usually want to know, "Why?" Anthony Salvanto says Americans feel Trump is doing "what he said he would do in the campaign" The link to the entire 3:46 video is there. Why did you cut off the half that talks about all the things Trump is doing that even his own supporters disapprove of? That news is not really news. I know that Trump said he would do many horrible things. And he is now doing them. It's even worse than promised, I think. One of your videos showed a cartoon White man celebrating the death of a cartoon Mexican American immigrant. That kind of thing. Let's be mean and cruel. Who cares if people with brown skin die? Seems like you could care less that 47 % of Americans already disapprove. Trump's tariffs are wildly unpopular. CBS reports that, which I guess you don't want us to know. He promised to lower prices. And Americans overwhelmingly understand tariffs will do the opposite. Which is why Trump performed some political theater and let Mexico and Canada off the hook for things they had already promised to do. I approve of that. Just appease your base with meaningless gestures rather than hurting the working class people you say you want to help. Let's see how Medicaid fares. Does it shock you that his racist and illegal garbage about taking over Gaza and evicting the people who live there is considered a "good idea" by only 13 % of Americans? It should. I guess I understand why you don't want us to know that. It's no shocker that 2 in 3 voters think Trump is not focused enough on lowering prices. Which is why they wildly oppose tariffs on Canada or Mexico. Why hurt neighbors and allies in ways that will raise prices - the opposite of what Trump promised to do? Do you think Trump voters are stupid? I don't. Many Trump voters seem to be able to figure out that some of this crazy shit would hurt them in the pocketbook. Ouch! It's understandable that you only hear what you want to believe. Real Clear Politics, a pro-Trump news website, says his average approval rating is 48.9 %. That is very slightly lower than RCP reported a week ago, and slightly lower than his 49.7 % vote total. You also lied, or at least spread misinformation, when you claimed his approval rating is rising. It's way too early to reach conclusions. But none of this is moving in Trump's direction. I get the feeling they just want to break as much shit as they can before judges, Democrats in Congress, or voters stop them. I think if Trump had his way we would all be relying on Truth Social. And he would only tell us what he wants us to hear. Thankfully CBS, like most but not all conservative newscasters, gives us both sides of the story. You don't. I am a political whore. So I get that Trump has to appease and throw red meat to his base, like you. Even though he has eliminated almost anyone inside who dares question him. I'm hoping Susie Wiles or someone has the balls to tell him, "This will hurt the nation, and hurt you. By making you unpopular." A great example right now is that Republicans in the House, who lost one seat in the last election, can't agree on things. Like cutting taxes for billionaires to blow up the deficit. Just like Biden needed moderate Republican allies, Trump could use a few moderate Democrats. He is alienating them quickly with cruel personal attacks and lawless actions. This is all just a replay of 2017, with double the short-sightedness and triple the cruelty. I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Trump would never do that! Would he? 😉

I actually just saw that. I agree with you. One thing everyone agrees is that Trump is a creature of his own whims. Which everyone has to know, and play to. Even Susie Wiles can lose it and look exasperated on camera. So I would not predict when Trump's whims may suddenly change and he has had enough of Musk. But it will probably have something to do with Musk becoming more unpopular and hogging the limelight. Which means Trump is less loved, and gets less limelight. What could be worse? My main point, to put it in very dramatic terms, is that I thought maybe suddenly we had a Hitler Youth in America. For some reason, a month ago, Musk was more popular with young voters than anyone else. And that had to lean heavily on young men. In other words, the people we counted on being The Emerging Democratic Majority. That is a potential death sentence for Democrats. The shift against Musk in one month, from six points net approval to -15 net disapproval, was seemingly massive. So I am taking that, perhaps prematurely, as a death sentence for Musk. Whatever young voters saw in him - entrepreneur, social media genius - is vaporizing before our eyes. So far, it fits into my hope that it was the economy, stupid. And the inflation, stupid. And the rent, stupid. It was a vote against Biden and inflation, not for Trump and Musk, among young voters that put the decisive nail in Kamala's coffin. It could change by 2026 or 2028. And may be starting to already. Meanwhile, the pain and damage will continue and grow. But the evidence so far is that this is NOT what young voters want. When they attack students loans, I think that gets a lot worse. I think young voters do want the government on their side. They may be frustrated or ignorant about why Biden, thanks to Trump's SCOTUS, could not fully deliver on his student loan promises. But let's wait and see what happens when they gut or eliminate the Dept. of Education and let predatory lenders run amok. That is already locked and loaded. To quote our sadistic asshole who wants to normalize hate, not to mention predatory lending, "CFPB RIP." I know you don't really mean you can't wait to see how this turns out. Because, as you keep saying, it will be painful and exhausting. Speaking of young people, or kids, when you tell someone young not to put their hand on the fire or they will get burned, you hope they listen. When they don't, they get burned. It is painful. And sad.

I think this is sad. I will say three good things about Halperin first. First, I think he is beyond doubt one of the best political reporters of my lifetime. I liked him best in his Game Change days, when he and John Heilemann were a team. I did not know this at the time. But I suspect given where they are now that they offset each other's biases. Second, I think Halperin did the best job of any political reporter covering and explaining 2024. Mostly because he tried very hard to understand and explain both sides of a brutal and deep political divide. He compares favorably with my fallen hero Alan Lichtman, who believed that reality would bend to a set of rigid rules that work most of the time. Arguably, it was as simple as this. Halperin listened, and Lichtman preached. Halperin heard, "It's the inflation, stupid. And the border. And the cultural excesses of the left." That was all over his 2way podcasts, every day, coming from every corner of America. Third, this is typical Halperin these days: peace, love, and understanding. He was, of course, cancelled by MeToo and banished for years for being handsy with women. So I keep thinking he may have an axe to grind. But if he does, his method of doing it is like Obama's beer summit. Let's talk it out. All that said, I've lost interest. And I suspect his business success, since this is now his business model, will increasingly depend on being an apologetic and meek Trump whisperer. This is just spineless moral equivocation. When someone says they were racist before racist was cool, they are saying they are proud to be racist. We don't have to water that down to being potentially "racially insensitive." When someone says, "normalize Indian hate," they are openly espousing hate. There is no subtle subtext. It's not even good political reporting. Halperin is trying hard not to see why JD Vance is doing what he is doing. They are not going to kiss and make up. Halperin wants to have it both ways. He calls out Vance for his outrageous response: "You disgust me." But still manages to quickly squeeze in that he "denounces" them both. Since when do we denounce people for asking someone openly racist who espouses racial hate to at least apologize? The "kid" should be fired, both for his amateur coding, and his over the top pride in racism and hate. It further makes clear that the MAGA minority is deeply committed to no holds barred attacks on Gays, Blacks, Indians, and anyone who is not a White male. The comments on this video are the most interesting part of it. It is almost 100 % pure MAGA. Same as all the comments on Halperin's X posts these days. So I suspect the people Halperin has to pander to now are the minority that elected Trump. Everyone else may be tuning out. That is sad. Because Halperin was about the only journalist around trying to promote deeper understanding. My takeaway is that MAGA land feels like this is war, and we are here to fight and win. So don't even try peace, love, and understanding. We'll openly talk about how we don't want our kids to even hear the word "Gay". And we'll talk endlessly about men in women's bathrooms. Did I mention how Harris wants the government to pay for sex changes? Let's spend the whole election on that one. But as soon as you say we need to protect Indian children from "normalize Indian hate," you disgust me. I think Khanna epitomizes grace. This is the way graceful politicians let each other off the hook all the time. JD will have none of it. Khanna wants to be POTUS, and is someone I think has the will and skill to fight for it. But I suspect after four years Democrats will be trained by this. Khanna won't have a prayer. Because the lesson may be that we need an even bigger asshole. Who shows no mercy, has no grace, and has no interest in peace and understanding whatsoever. JD Vance clearly understands the role, and what he has to be now. The most shocking comment is that Khanna is now a "racist" for being an Indian American saying it's not okay to say, "Normalize Indian hate." JD Vance and Elon Musk want to normalize Indian hate. They will deny it. But if it is disgusting to ask an adult to apologize for preaching hate, they are normalizing hate. It's the cool new thing. If you are against hate, shut the fuck up and stop whining. This is Trump's America.

Explaining the Strategy Behind Trump's Sovereign Wealth Fund So that article is a very interesting read to me. But probably boring as shit to most people. Which is bad news. One thing someone smart said at some point in some article I read years ago is that for subprime mortgages or huge corporate scams like Enron to work, it has to be boring as shit. People are easier to fuck over deep and good when they are bored, or confused. So this really has potential, I think. Both the tone and content of that article sound in the ballpark of what Warren Buffet or Stanley Druckenmiller might say. In other words, rational and prudent investors. As opposed to reckless and cruel assholes like Elon Musk. The only problem with the idea of prudent boils down to one word: "Bitcoin." I mean, it could make sense to base the financial well being of the US and its citizens on the biggest bubble in human history. But, then again, there is at least a teeny tiny chance that things could end badly. I'm assuming on something of this magnitude Trump will insist that the barely past puberty amateur coders that are invading our privacy and were racist before racist was cool can not be in the room. Even so, with our Gay fairy godfather at Treasury, I just have a bad feeling about this. Here are two charts some boring and prudent analyst at Bank of America, who no doubt lacks imagination, came up with a few years ago. They explain my bad feelings: So as of a few years ago, the boring and prudent crowd was saying BitCoin was the biggest bubble in the last half century, and one of the five biggest bubbles in human history. Note how the 1929 stock market crash, one of the top five ever, and various stock market bubbles in the US or Asia in the last half century just don't begin to measure up. I am betting money that some White male amateur coder who loves to torment Black middle class men who work for the US government, and was racist before racist was cool, would have the perfect rebuttal. Those charts above are a few years old. Bitcoin was not a bubble. It is worth even more now. How could Donald Trump deprive the US, not to mention his many wealthy crypto-donors, this great opportunity to create wealth? Leaving the barely past puberty racists aside, I read a post from some Musky MAGA dude on X that said whenever he reads these lame people saying Bitcoin is a bubble that will pop, even though every time it does pop it grows even bigger, he wonders why so many people have so little imagination? That's what Musk and Trump have. Innovation! Imagination! So I will end by pleading guilty as charged, and tell one of my favorite stories about being an ignorant old hooker. In about 2007 I was sitting with a client at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur and reading the Wall Street Journal in between sex. If you don't know, those are nice and pricey digs. There was some article about some European bank, I think in Germany, going broke because of something called subprime synthetic derivatives or something. WTF? I'll take sex, please. I had another client at the time who made a small fortune on the last foreclosure crisis in LA, buying foreclosed homes. He said this is nothing. A tidal wave is coming. So my imagination included the idea that a massive wave of foreclosures was coming in places like Sacramento. It did. But I was an ignorant old hooker, and I did lack imagination. I could not conceive of the idea that this thing was so big and awful that in a few short years it would take down AIG, Countrywide, Bear Stearns, and Fannie Mae. And cripple the US economy and the world for years. I just lacked that kind of imagination. Where is Elon Musk when you need him? So I can not really imagine just how badly Donald Trump can fuck thinks up if he gives it the old college try. But this at least creates a vague outline of what is possible. There is always an upside, if you have imagination. At least after it crashes and burns we'll get to see some future hot guys like Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale playing assholes in The Bitcoin Short.

It is depressing. I appreciate the article @reader posted about how some of the strong men in Europe are actually on the ropes. One thing that seems true all over the globe is that people want to throw the bums out, whoever they are, after a long period of COVID + inflation. But it feels likes the bad guys are winning - everywhere. That is of course a very US-centric view right now. I can think of Claudia and Mexico and conclude it would all be very different if Democrats had fought like hell for the working class, like AMLO did. But, in the US, the bad guys are winning. Bigly. That said, I would argue that when it comes to Putin, Trump is actually a plus. It's a silver lining in all the pain and misery. I do think there was a serious question about whether Trump is a Russian asset. In fact, I think he is a Russian asset in the sense that he predictably will do things that weaken America in the world. But my read of Mueller's investigation is that Republicans, like Barr, were seriously interested in investigating whether they could find evidence that Trump was somehow in bed with Putin. What they found is that Putin interfered in 2016, and that Trump obstructed Mueller's investigation. But to me that investigation ended the idea that Trump was somehow bought off by Putin, in an illegal way. Putin may have helped Trump financially, through cronies and Russian investors, all along the way. But that is not breaking the law. That is just how Trump does business. I think Trump will just keep Putin off balance. If I thought Ukraine could actually beat Russia, I would regret Trump's election for that reason. I think by last Fall it was clear Ukraine could not win. And they arguably should have taken Milley's advice and sued for peace when Russia was on the back foot a year into the war. At this point, the polls say Ukrainians would rather have a cold truce - it is not peace - than a hot war. Meanwhile, Russia's economy is a mess. Putin did not even win the battle. I'd argue the battle showed Putin is a paper tiger, since he could not even beat a weaker neighbor. There is no evidence Putin is winning the war. I don't think this gets any better for Russia. Any more than, in the long run, Afghanistan was a plus for either the USSR or the USA. So Trump won't antagonize Putin the way Biden and Zelenskyy did. He'll just let Putin continue to fuck up the Russian economy in the long term. The question now is whether Trump will do even worse suicidal things for the US. His Gaza fantasy falls in that category. It s another tragic example of the bad guys winning. Bibi decided it was fine to kill thousands of Palestinian babies and have an ethnic cleansing. And to thwart Biden and basically murder Kamala Harris, at least politically. And now, just when the Israeli genocide crowd would hope, Trump comes in threatening to evict the ones Bibi didn't murder.

It's pure Goebbels. They know what they are doing. Target the most vulnerable minorities. They can't say "We don't like Gays." So they target a Peruvian comic book that mostly pushed education and literacy, as well as tolerance of Gays. I have not read the comic book. But I have read accounts that say there was nothing "trans" in it at all. Just tolerance of Gays. So that has to be turned into something about trans people in bathrooms, or something they know most Americans don't feel comfortable with. Republican Scott Jennings is a great example of a "normal" and "decent" Republican who is now fully in on the Kruel Kool Aid. He recently said Trump's specialty is finding 80/20 issues and forcing Democrats to back the 20 % position. Trans bathrooms are not literally 80/20. But most Americans are uncomfortable with the idea. So they target those people and dish out cruelty and lies. Goebbels would be proud of them. I'm not a psychologist or priest or rabbi. So this is above my pay grade. But tragedy and pain can make you a more compassionate person, or make you cruel and hard. With Musk it obviously did the latter. If there is anything I can empathize with him about, it is the loss of his first born child. In his arms. But it is sad that somehow the way he filters that is it explains away why someone else's kids died in one of his unsafe cars. Musk is now wreaking havoc on America and the world, just like Hitler did. I think that is just a fact. He is determined to pay back the Gay shit and pay back these people who think he violates public safety standards. I'll show you fuckers. If he kills all these public health programs, like HIV prevention and treatment, it is factually correct to say he could kill more people than Hitler did. Albeit using different methods.

Agreed. His disgust and hatred could not be more clear. Even with his own child. What a monster. His own daughter. What a monster! Killing children in Africa? That's a piece of cake.

Funny. I just posted on that. ‘Grow up’: Vance, Khanna spar over rehiring DOGE staffer Vance could not be more clear about his tolerance for racial hatred and bigotry. Saying "Normalize Indian hate" is okay. The problem is when Indian Americans complain about it, or ask for an apology. Then they are "whiney children" for calling out racism and hate. The near-child who is an incompetent amateur coder violating our privacy and gutting public safety? He deserves "grace". As a practical matter, I partly agree with Vance. Fire these assholes because they are incompetent people wreaking havoc on consumer protections and public safety as they violate our privacy. The fact that they are cruel racists -in their own words - is just an additional but unnecessary reason to fire them.

@bucknaway, please let me know whether you agree with or disavow these statements made by a young asshole and incompetent amateur coder wreaking havoc on federal safety and consumer protection programs, and my privacy : Agree, or disavow? Agree, or disavow? Agree, or disavow? You have two choices. Agree, or disavow. I will take silence or some Tik Tok video as evidence that, like JD Vance, you are perfectly willing to embrace these views, and explain them away. Ah, he's just a kid. Let him wreak havoc on federal programs, gut consumer protections, gut public safety, and violate our basic privacy while he spouts lots of racist bile You seem to come here to attack Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians, and anyone who is not White. Am I wrong? For the record, 73 % of air traffic controllers are White. Like most Americans, I oppose any kind of strict racial quota saying you must or must not be a certain race. For example, well paid employees in Silicon Valley tend to be disproportionately Asian American. The richest Congressional district in the nation, in Silicon Valley, is majority non-White, with a disproportionate Asian American population. Many are Indian American. Their US Rep is Indian American. I think diversity is great. I think it makes America stronger. Do you? Just for the record, I was not racist before it was cool, like when Obama was President. I took a term off school to help elect Harold Washington as Chicago's first Black Mayor. Which created the template for Obama's victory a generation later. My partner in crime at the time, as a volunteer college student, was my best friend, who later ran Paul Wellstone's two successful US Senate campaigns. Wellstone was a White man, but a Jew. I think this kind of diversity is great. Do you?

Elon Musk thinks kids are worms. And, as worms, apparently children deserve to die. Millions of them. This is horrific. It is true that America is not responsible for the world's problems. And it is not our not our job to make sure every or even any child in Africa does not die today. But this MSNBC article outlines how children will die today because HIV treatments or malaria treatments are stopped. Today. Meanwhile, good will toward America evaporates quickly. And we lay the seeds for an anti-American alliance. As Politico argued, Trump is a pro-China President. He is making them look great by comparison. I get the point. Most Americans don't know. And if they do know, they don't give a shit. This will be an interesting test of just how short-sighted and cruel America is willing to be. Even W., who gave the world Iraq and subprime, also gave the world PEPFAR, which literally saved more lives than the horrific death toll in Iraq. I'm hoping the Republicans who see this as pragmatic soft power and humanitarian common sense, as well as realists like Bill Gates, are pushing back hard behind the scenes to at least stop Musk from killing these programs, and millions of people. My reference to "worms" is that Musk said that USAID is like an apple with worms. Except there is no apple. It is all just worms. So apparently the millions of children and adults whose lives have been saved are worms. They all deserve to die. To add insult to injury, these incompetent amateur coders wreaking havoc and violating my privacy are openly celebrating racism and hatred of India. Their disgust for people without White skin and fortunes lurks just below the surface with these cruel assholes. They lied and said a comic book in Peru pushes weird trans shit. When in fact what it preaches is education, literacy, and tolerance of Gays. It is homophobia and racism all masquerading as fairness. In addition to death, we get cruelty and lies. And when a young asshole brags about his racism and hatred of Indians, JD Vance jumps in says, Ah, give the kid a break. But kids around the world don't deserve a break. They are worms. Musk and his sadistic amateurs think they deserve to die. This is America.

I actually wonder whether Trump could make the US the crypto nuclear bomb of the planet. I think the essential ingredients are already falling into place. The last global nuclear bomb was subprime, and derivatives thereof. You needed a bunch of very rich White men who were convinced their shit did not stink, and they could do no wrong. Check. You needed a pliant POTUS who followed his donors and ideologues and wasn't really able to say, "You know, this is weird shit and it's gonna blow up in my face." Check. If I had to choose between W. and Trump and live with one for four years, I would still take Trump in a heartbeat. As of now. I quoted W. above, who said this is "weird shit" at Trump's 2017 inaugural. True. But W. was not able to figure out that the Iraq War and subprime were "weird shit" that would blow up in his face. Very badly. My nephew, who is a partner in a a big firm, says they paid W. to impart wisdom on them. And W. said privately he knew subprime would blow up, but he could not control the Congressional committees that allowed it. My nephew believed that. I don't. Bush is either still pretty stupid, or still good at trying to cover his tracks. It took me like 60 seconds to explain to my smart nephew, who mostly sympathizes with Trump and ilk, that this was all done with at least the tacit approval of all these federal regulators, who W. himself appointed. Starting with Greenspan. Oh, and all those Congressional committees were run by Republicans when the subprime bomb was being built. So W. owns that big fucking mess. Even if he still wants to deny it. There is nothing like that to blame on Trump. No Iraq War. He'll say Ukraine would never have happened had he been POTUS. Killing Obamacare would have arguably been as big a mess. But that never happened. Thanks, Senator McCain. The closest Trump came was Jan. 6th, kind of after his Presidency was over. There was a really long and funny article I read about how, in the final days, Sidney Powell and some of her amateur law team showed up at the White House to try to persuade Trump to give breaking The Constitution one more try. Trump wanted to, of course. He called the "official" White House counsel in to the meeting. And they literally started swearing at each other. I don't recall the exact quotes. But you had smart lawyers who worked for Trump saying, "This is bullshit. This is stupid. This is breaking the law. This won't work." They went up to the residence and pigged out on chicken fingers and talked it to death well into the evening. Is Trump capable of at least going along for the ride on super weird and dumb shit? Yes, of course he is. That's what that episode proves to me. There was an article today on how Musk's merry band of sadists is now inside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and ready to fuck that up good. The union that protects those workers got off a line in a press release about how Musk's "amateur code writers" have already wreaked havoc on a previously reliable and private data system. So I don't buy for one minute that these people have any fucking clue what they are doing, even when it comes to technology. Musk's cars are twice as likely to kill you as any other. He fired the FAA head because he was against innovative things Musk demands, like ignoring public safety standards. So could these people, given a few years, cook up some weird crypto shit that blows up the global economy, like subprime did? I doubt it. My hope is that they are going after easy targets, like USAID. Who cares about foreign aid? Or obscure targets Trump's rich donors hate, like the CFPB. For what it is worth, Trump has said they will keep 600 rather than 300 USAID workers, out of 10,000, who work on humanitarian programs. Maybe he does not want to own a wave of AIDS deaths because we gut good HIV prevention programs. So the pushback is having some, albeit minimal, impact. Hopefully it keeps them away from Medicare, Medicaid, student loans, and other core programs. And hopefully it keeps them away from weird crypto shit. But I have zero confidence that Trump, left to his own resources, would not bankrupt or blow up the planet with the help of a bunch of "dirtbags". The cast of that potential tragedy is assembling right before our eyes.

I saw this and had to share. One of the things I think is ridiculous is all these people saying Trump or Musk is Hitler. Hitler intentionally killed 6 million or so Jews and Gays. It's just not the same if Trump and Musk kill 10 million people unintentionally. Musk is off to a cracking start: attacking the FAA and firing a competent head of the FAA so that Trump's team can own the worst plane crash in 15 years. And blame it on DEI, of course. But Musk has not even begun to meet his potential for pain and death. Gates knows this area better than Trump or Musk. Getting rid of PEPFAR and USAID alone could kill 10 million people around the world with HIV, he says. But most live in Africa. Meaning people with Black skin @bucknaway does not seem to like. Maybe we can move the Palestinian kids Bibi did not slaughter to Africa, to replace the people with Black skin Musk and Trump are willing to gamble on dying? We have to be innovative, guys. Musk is great at that. Would those be DEI deaths? Since DEI hires are bad, are DEI deaths good or bad? Like should Trump supporters be grateful if 10 million people with HIV die because their skin is Black? Or does it just not matter? I mean, it is just super cool when cartoon MAGA White guys applaud and are happy when Mexicans die. This is better than the Nelk boys. Is there like a party and shit if Trump and Musk kill 10 million Africans with HIV? Unintentionally of course, just like all the Palestinian babies Bibi killed. Or is that when we make him King? Anyhoo, I just had to share. Great stuff, huh? The best part is Musk, a genius, will make lots of money on government contracts doing it. And if some asshole at the FAA or USAID bitches about Musk not caring about public safety, he can just fire them. Smart, huh? Please post some Tik Tok on how Musk and Trump can be more efficient and innovative than Hitler.

Agreed. And at least one good thing. Pam is not a DEI hire. Or is she? The whole 20 minutes is worth watching. But the part I am referring to runs from 16:00 to 20:00, about four minutes. Desi Lydic does look eerily like Pam Bondi, doesn't she?

Once a rapist, always a rapist. Tik Tok, why is Donald Trump a rapist? Tik Tok, why is Donald Trump a felon? Tik Tok, who is is E. Jean Carroll? Tik Tok, what did Donald Trump do in E. Jean Carroll's pussy, according to a jury? Tik Tok, what did Donald Trump say he likes to do with a lot of women's pussies? Please grab that from Tik Tok for us, Mr. I Love Information. How stupid do you think we are?

Why do you intentionally keep doubling down on thinking we are stupid? And, btw, the CBS reporter is Black. Does that make him a DEI hire? Is that why Trump is suing CBS? What do you have against people who are Black? Do you approve of the way Bibi The Baby Killer has intentionally slaughtered Palestinian babies and kids, without intending to? The bloodiest face of its genocide: Israel has killed 2,100 Palestinian infants and toddlers in Gaza For every Israeli killed by Hamas, or the IDF, he has now killed one innocent Palestinian child. Ugh! Do you approve of America First Trump's idea to send US soldiers into that bloodbath? Could we please have a Tik Tok on the folly of that? Why did Trump lie to and betray all the Palestinian American voters who bought his bullshit? Why does Trump want to get US soldiers killed? Tik Tok that for us please.

Israel? You have to be kidding. Netanyahu is a murderous man who has intentionally killed lots of Palestinians kids. Trump now wants to throw US soldiers into THAT bloodbath that keeps giving. So much for America First. Even for a corrupt lying rapist like Trump, this sets a new standard for stupidity. Even ass kissers like Lindsey Graham who will normally lick the pure shit off his ass are saying this is a horrible idea. And you want to talk about what Kamala Harris said to 60 Minutes about Bibi The Baby Killer? How stupid do you think we are?

This has the potential to go far. Give Trump $25,000 to be POTUS. And he'll say regulations suck and you should be able to do anything you want. And hurt whoever you want. I'd say there's a good chance we'll have some big crypto scandal during Trump 2.0 Trump is good at bankruptcy. He'll figure it out.

I'll repeat my geeky data analysis from another thread. A month ago Musk had a net six point favorable rating with voters 18-29. Now it is fifteen points negative, and crashing fast. Burn, fucker, burn! How appropriate. They had no idea. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders has a +20 favorable rating among the Zoomer voters, and a slightly higher one among Millennials aged 30-45. Bernie said maybe the working class noticed how the Democrats don't seem to fight like hell for them anymore. I think he is right. Ruben Gallego is Exhibit A in the theory that there is an alterative. Take your son to the gym and teach him to box. And let this LatinX shit go to hell while we fight for working people. Since I was riffing about Trump's non-trade war trade war above, I'll add a little update from Politco. Kudos to Claudia. I know shit about Mexican politics. But she may come out of this more popular then Trump. I wish the media, somebody - left wing, right wing, whoever - would be writing about why Sheinbaum won in a landslide. They had the same inflation problems and COVID nightmares we did. But it may be that it really is that simple. And Democrats really are that stupid. Or captured by megadonors and fat cats themselves. AMLO fought like hell for the working class every day, and was loud about it. He was culturally moderate, even conservative. He made a big deal about loving the cops, and hired them. I don't know that having 10,000 cops at the border will do shit to stop fentanyl. They are disrupting ladders, not fentanyl. But it will probably make Claudia look tough, and able to outfox the stupid gringo. When illegal crossings and fentanyl overdoses went down last year, did anyone notice Biden was President? I have not read one thing that suggests Trump's drug war will do shit. Other than to set up ignorant and failed Tom Homan to fail again while more Americans die on his watch, again. Pulling ladders out of the desert does nothing to stop Americans paid by cartels from legally crossing the border and evading US officials who need to catch them smuggling. Meanwhile, Trump will likely gut the Medicaid programs that seem to have been helping drug addicts and disrupting the demand for fentanyl. Which is what right-wing CATO says the solution is: go after demand, not supply.

Good thinking, @Lookin. But I'm going with Randy on this one.