Dear Everybody:
The big news today is from Ukraine:
–Yesterday Trump announced a deal between himself and Putin, in which Russia would supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the US, another 500,000 tons in November, and 1,000,000 tons immediately thereafter in return for his lifting sanctions on Russia, and that gas prices would immediately be coming down.
–Trump: “That is massive amounts of oil coming into our country, and I wanna thank Vladimir Putin, to be honest with you.”
–This would mean that we were blatantly joining the Russia-Ukraine War on Russia’s side, giving them money which they would immediately use to pursue their war on Ukraine and making it even harder for a beleaguered Ukraine to win the war.
–David Lurie: “This is almost certainly a Putin scheme to get Trump to further pressure Ukraine to stop its highly successful strikes on Russian refineries. But Trump has few cards to play on Putin’s behalf. Having abandoned Ukraine, he has little leverage over Ukraine.”
–Trump’s UN ambassador made it plain why Trump was doing it: “The Ukrainians have been attacking Russian refineries as part of the war. The president has been clear in asking the Ukrainians to stop.”
–helical2024 had another take: “Given Trump’s history of blaming Ukraine’s attacks in Russia for fuel prices, this just seems like an excuse to blame Ukraine more on diesel prices when the deal magically falls apart.
–The deal didn’t really make any sense. Russia just bought large quantities of diesel from South Korea because it has run out of the fuel. More than 176,000 tons of fuel, mostly diesel, was shipped from South Korea to Russia in July and August.
–Morpheon7: “Putin snookered Trump into giving him something incredibly valuable, sanctions relief, in exchange for nothing, excess diesel that Russia doesn’t even have. That will definitely lower prices.
–In addition, Trump made it sound like the fuel would be coming straight to the US, which isn’t true. It will just go onto the world market, which Trump thinks will bring down the price of oil and gas in the US.
–The White House would not say who was paying for the diesel from Russia and when the fuel being supplied would become available or whether the supplies promised for November would arrive before Election Day.
–Tom Pain: “Even if Russia’s Big Beautiful Diesel Deal with Donny works as planned it’s only enough to supply the US with diesel for about ten days, not enough to cause more than a brief small temporary dip in oil prices. Coming in small stages, not enough to cause more than a few briefer small dips.”
–Siobhan McKenna; “When you look at the numbers, this whole thing is a smokescreen. The US produces around 200 million tons of diesel annually. So 300,000 tons from Russia is practically nothing. It won’t make any meaningful difference to prices. It is simply a smokescreen for corruption. –Ukraine was furious. Zelenskyy said, “It plays into Russia’s hands–allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world.” He warned that the deal “will bear no fruit.”
–And even Republicans were opposed, with GOP Senator Lisa Murkowski saying, “A few weeks ago, Congress overwhelmingly passed legislation to increase sanctions and tariffs on Russia. The President should be using those authorities instead of allowing Russia to export diesel, rake in revenues, and continue its catastrophic war in Ukraine.”
–But the deal may already be moot. Or, as Raw Story put it: “Trump’s plan to salvage midterms with Russia’s help literally explodes into flames.” Last night, a few hours after Trump eased sanctions on Russian diesel, Ukrainian drones hit the NZNP Rostovsky oil export terminal, setting the facility ablaze. This is a products export terminal, exactly where the diesel would leave Russia under the deal.
You knew Trump would not take losing the Nobel Peace Prize well, and it didn’t take long for him to completely melt down over it:
–During his rally last night, he said, “How about this? Today they give out the Nobel Peace Prize to a person, I’ve never heard of this person. It’s a mystery person. I settled eight wars–I’m about to settle or win two more. Iran and Russell Ukraine…Russia Ukraine.”
–And he kept coming back repeatedly to the subject through the whole rally: “I also, by the way, got Greenland. I hope you’re happy about that. I’m also preventing on a constant basis a war between South Korea and North Korea. Add China and Taiwan. And numerous other hotspots in wars only because of a gentleman known as President Donald Trump.”
–And “Armenia and Azerbaijan. Thirty-two years. In fact, Putin couldn’t believe it”
–And “Based on my record of peace, a record like no one has ever had. I’m just saying how crooked the whole Nobel Prize deal is.”
–And “The USA, represented by me as your President, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, but didn’t. This is an indelible stain on the country of Norway. We will not forget, Norway.”
–And then, late at night, he went on a Truth Social posting jag. He posted a 600-word rant on Truth Social, posting a photo of the winner with: “This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars and many other things. I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anybody else! In fact, to the best of my knowledge, no one ever heard of her other than the fact that she very obviously hates Israel. I don’t know what the woman has done. I settled 8 wars, with letters being sent from every President and Prime Minister from the countries that I helped to the Nobel Committee…In actuality, I should have won 8 Nobel Peace Prizes.” He then listed all 8, including Egypt and Ethiopia, which weren’t at war, and bragged about Machada giving him her Peace Prize and repeated many of his claims from his earlier rants. He then trashed Norway again and said, “The Nobel ‘Peace’ Prize has been forever discredited by a handful of Radical Ideologues who are Anti-Democracy and Enemies of Civilization!”
–At 8:04 this morning, he was back at it: “I settled 8 WARS, am close to ending 2 more, got all of the Israeli hostages back, including the final 28, both living and dead, had hundreds of hostages all over the World, released and sent back home, won a war in Venezuela and captured the violent dictator who so viciously ran that country, and stopped the number one state sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran, from obtaining a Nuclear Weapon–AND MUCH MORE! Yet, with all of that, I, or the United States of America, did not get the Noble Peace Prize. WOW!” (And yes, he did spell it “Noble Peace Prize.”)
–With every post he seems to be getting angrier and angrier.
–(Note: He also posted a photo of himself and Mike Tyson, with the caption, “The baddest Motherfucker in the World and Mike Tyson.”
In Kimberly Guilfoyle news:
–The State Department’s Inspector General has opened a formal investigation into Kimberly Guilfoyle’s conduct regarding possible substance abuse, her use of private planes and helicopters, her improper acceptance of gifts, and her close ties to an energy and construction executive.
–The investigation was started because of many internal complaints from the embassy and complaints from the Greek government.
–There are any number of accusations about Kimberly Guilfoyle coming out, including her threats and verbal abuse against her staff, abuse which at one point got bad enough that the Hellenic Police Department had to get involved. The workplace at the embassy is described as “toxic,” and she is said to scream at embassy employees constantly, shouting things like, “Fucking get it done or you’re fucking fired.”
–She demoted the lead security agent after he didn’t answer her 4 a.m. call for more ice cubes.
–Two of the drivers were taken off her security detail because she didn’t like how they made left turns.
–She fired the ethics manager last winter after a disagreement over who was supposed to pay to renovate the ambassador’s residence. It was later funded by wealthy Greeks.
–She is constantly with energy lobbyist Christos Marafatsos, traveling with him and giving him access to high-level diplomatic meetings. a $58,000 basketball court at the embassy (paid for by taxpayer dollars.)
–She flew to Fashion Week at taxpayer expense.
–Ron Filipkowski: “Only in a government run by Trump and a State Department run by Marco Rubio can an unqualified grifter like Kimberly Guilfoyle remain ambassador to Greece after all the scandals that have come out in the last week, but she obviously has a lot of dirt on the President’s son, so she’s tough to fire despite her shameless corruption!”
–Dem Senate Candidate Jon Ossoff: “Why is she spending so much time with this Greek energy lobbyist? She’s partying across Europe after begging donors to bail her out financially and conducting herself in a way that seems to be deeply unethical.”
Reason #5671 to Despise JD Vance news:
–JD Vance at a rally talking about Dem candidate Amy Acton: “I did promise Amy that I would meet her at a bar later. I understand she’s into that sort of thing, so I’m gonna try to get to know her.”
–thecatzpajamas: “Rapey frat boy talk from the Vice President.”
–Allison Gale: “Oh, geesus, FU Vance: “She’s into that sorta thing”…what a stupid attempt to degrade. The only one degraded is you!”
–rstoller35: “What exactly is he even insinuating here besides him planning to cheat on his wife?”
In Epstein/Cornell news:
–Epstein survivor Dani Bensky: “I can’t help but think that this administration is being run like an Ivy League fraternity. Stay silent. Close ranks. Protect the institution. Avoid accountability.”
In They’re All Perverts news:
–Remember Max Miller, the GOP candidate for the House who is accused of beating and scalding his ex-wife and withholding his little girl’s stuffed animal to get back at her mother, but who the Republican Party refused to throw off the ballot or even withdraw their endorsement and support? Well, now he’s back in the news again–and right before the midterms.
–This time it’s his girlfriend (I didn’t even know there WAS a girlfriend, but there is.) Her name is Jaclyn Alatrash, and she has just been charged with grand theft, telecom fraud, and credit card misuse, based on claims from her former husband, who claims she charged more than $9000 to his credit card after his marriage ended (it wasn’t a joint credit card) and that all the purchases were sent to Max Miller’s house.
In Cracks in the Dam news:
–Even Trump’s superfans, the people who call themselves “Front Row Joes” and travel all over the country to every one of Trump’s rallies, are deserting him. A bunch were interviewed and this is what they said:
–“Joe” Rick Frizner said the breaking point for him was the Iran war. “He can’t be trusted. I’m to the point of not going to the polls in November.”
–Trisha Hope: “Trump is a fraud and a liar. If we do lose the midterms and he is impeached again, I will be walking the halls of Congress in support of that impeachment.” She said the breaking point for her was when Trump cut off a question about the Epstein files by snapping, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years.” She said, “It was like a dagger in my heart. It was like a light switch.â
In promising news:
–The Cook Political Report keeps moving races. They moved the Kansas Senate race from Lean Republican to Toss Up, New Hampshire from Toss Up to Lean Democrat, North Carolina from Lean Democrat to Likely Democrat, and this morning they moved 18 more races toward the Democrats.
–A bunch of Republican candidates are changing their websites and their ads to show no political affiliation at all. They don’t want people to know they’re Republicans. (What does that tell you?)
–One senior House Republican said, “I think the scary part is we don’t know where the bottom is.”
–Ron Filipkowski: “Turns out everything that Trump is doing in the lead up to the midterms to try to boost Republican turnout is only producing the opposite effect while also boosting Democratic and independent turnout of people enraged at what he’s doing and saying.
–This morning we were in Loveland, and there were lots of people out waving signs for Democratic candidates and also waving signs that said, “Vote Trump Out.” Very encouraging.
In historical news:
–Today’s the day in 1973 that all of Spiro Agnew’s sins (Agnew was Richard Nixon’s vice-president) caught up with him. He had treated his position as a piggy-bank (remind you of anybody?), taking bribes right there in his White House office and sometimes actually accepting the cash there, and for a long time it looked like nobody was going to do anything about it.
–But today he was forced to plead “nolo contendere” in court to one count of federal income tax evasion (no mention was made of all those bribes) and to resign in disgrace. He was later convicted and sentenced.
–He was the first American Vice-President to resign from office, to be followed by the president he had served, Richard M. Nixon.
In other news:
–Hurricane Isaias made landfall last night as a powerful Category 2 hurricane and is hitting Florida and Alabama hard, with 860,000 people without electricity. It’s now been downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.
–The White House seized more than $1 billion dollars of an agency’s money for a separate account to fund a special pet project of Trumps–“The Grand Research Challenges.”
–Trump has named a right-wing pundit, Katie Zacharia, who has called Trump “the greatest president in US history,” as his new press secretary, to the intense disappointment of a number of other people he’d promised the job to, including Scott Jennings. (Note: She’s blonde and has really long hair.
In good news:
–All four active US district judges in middle Tennessee have recused themselves from the lawsuit brought by GOP Senator Marsha Blackburn against Jack Smith over the collecting of her phone records, which means the lawsuit cannot be brought to trial.
–A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from canceling $56 million dollars in congressionally-approved housing counseling grants.
–Governor Newsom signed bills protecting sexual assault survivors and increasing safety on college campuses.
Best comment of the day, from Jimmy Fallon: “The midterm elections are less than a month away, and Republicans are saying the election is a five-alarm fire, ‘catastrophic,’ and ‘the bottom is falling out.’ Trump’s low approval rating is dragging Republicans down right now–Trump is polling somewhere between three-minute Hulu ads and getting raisins on Halloween.”
“November is coming. We’re coming. And hell’s coming with us.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
