Dear Everybody:
The big news of the day is Trump’s continuing to appoint people who are…umm…controversial. Yesterday he made the odious Stephen Miller his chief of staff and today he announced his choice for his new press secretary:
–Trump: “I am pleased to announce that the Great Dana White, a violent Fighter and Warrior, has been offered the job of Press Secretary of the United States…Dana will be a press secretary like no other. Dana, please take the job!”
–No kidding. Dana White is a former manager for UFC fighters and is now the president and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the group that held the fights in front of the White House on Trump’s birthday. White spoke at Trump rallies, claims he refused to get down during the shooting at the White House Correspondents Dinner, and is on video slapping his wife. He, of course, has no experience at doing the job of a press secretary.
–Trump also requested in his Truth Social post that Dan White “bring with him assistants, even though some are not from our Country, of Islam Makhachev, Khabib, Nurmagomedov, Justin Gaetheje, Daniel Cormier, Amanda Nunes, and Kayla Harris. We need these people to defend us from the Lunatic Left.” These are all mixed martial arts fighters and White’s Russian bodyguards.
–Jim Stewartson: “The President of the United States is spiraling into severe psychosis. His narcissistic injury from the midterms has shattered any remaining boundaries between his delusions and the real world.”
–Randal Gates: “Oh, my. Trump is truly going into a complete Democrat-fueled psychotic breakdown.”
–David Schwartz: “The poor decision to collaborate with Trump for the UFC Freedom 250 White House lawn event, which lost White’s company ‘millions of dollars’ would be exceeded by any decision to participate in his administration in ANY capacity…I can’t believe that anyone who knows he is not qualified and who has any self-respect would participate in Trump’s administration.”
–A number of people on Twitter and Bluesky asked, “Is this a joke?”
–pamschube: “The wheels are really off the bus.
–trucknuts of damocles: “Andrew Tate and Russell Brand were unavailable.”
–Senor Gray Goose: “Caligula’s Horse’s Ass.”
–Trump had previously said he was considering Jared Kushner and Fox News’s Scott Jennings for the job. Scott Jennings especially lobbied for the job, so this is a real slap in the face and leaves one more person out there with a grudge against Trump for being thrown under the bus.
–Some commentators are treating this as a joke, saying Trump is just trolling everyone, and others think he was supposed to pick the Dana White who is a publicist for Fox News and who has actual experience as a press secretary. (Which of these three possibilities is the scariest?)
This news came before everyone had finished responding to Trump’s firing Susie Wiles and naming Stephen Miller as his chief of staff:
–Ron FilipkowskI: “So the Republican response to try and win back voters who fled them in their midterm wipeout is to make Stephen Miller White House chief of staff and Jim Jordan their House leader? I’m not sure those are steps in the right direction.”
–Daily Kos: “(Stephen Miller’s) probably the single most despised person in American politics. So, of course, Trump appointed him Chief of Staff after getting humiliated at the polls. It’s so perfect.”
–Josh Marshall: “Trump is making the characteristic decision of force feeding the country what it just spit up…We know this about Trump. he reacts to being dominated, owned, and mocked by casting around for ways to assert power and dominance. It’s as predictable with him as night follows day.”
–People are saying Trump chose Miller to be his “wartime consigliere,” a Mafia term for when Mafia dons go to war with other Mafia groups. (Think The St. Valentines Day Massacre.)
–Stephen Miller: “If it wasn’t for President Trump, the United States of America would not exist right now.” He vows to be “absolutely loyal to Trump.
–Stephen Miller wants to suspend habeas corpus, the right to not be arrested and held indefinitely without being charged. (Note: This right is not only enshrined in the Constitution, but in the Magna Carta, which dates back to 1215.)
–Robert Reich: “I expect Miller to conduct a scorched-earth campaign of retribution and illegal harassment–a war against all perceived Trump enemies–while burning down anything in his way…he is perhaps the most venal of all the obsequious sycophants surrounding the Mad King.”
–David Corn: “With Trump’s diminishing capacity, Stephen Miller is now going to be the de facto president.”
But more and more people are starting to point out the silver linings of having Miller as chief of staff.
–Joe Plenzler: “Moronic Trump just gave the Democrats the perfect villain to rail against for the next two years. Miller will make everything worse for Trump and the country and almost ensure the White House turns blue.”
–Joe Scarborough: “What’s the strategy inside the White House? To turn Oklahoma blue?”
–Ronald Brownstein: “Not a big fan of predictive markets, but I do wonder how the odds on a Democratic Trifecta in 2028 moved with the news that Trump was making Stephen Miller, that keen coalition builder, with an unerring instinct for growing the best, his new Chief of Staff. What’s the over-under on the Latino 2028 vote now?”
–Brandon Friedman listed a bunch of positives in having Miller as chief of staff, including “chief of staff is a huge job and Miller won’t have time to run ICE now…It’s administratively brutal. He has to run the entire show. If he doesn’t do it well, then chaos will cascade throughout the entire executive branch. Miller will be busier than he’s ever been, leaving little time for his sadistic hobbies.” –Friedman also said, “He’s an incompetent screamer,” and everybody in the White House hates him, which means the leaking will increase, and they’ll have to spend time trying to track down all the leaks.
–Even Republicans don’t like him. One House Republican, when told of Miller’s appointment, said, “Please tell me you’re lying to me right now just to get a reaction.”
–GOP Rep Marlin Stutzman said right after the election, “There should be some heads rolling at the White House because we lost badly.” When Miller’s appointment was announced, he said simply, “Horrible decision.”
The other big news is just how excited people are at the outcome of the midterms, which is still sinking in:
–arhpdx: “This overnight transformation is so huge that it’s taken a while to process. Now it’s time to let go and just wallow in joy! Oh, and schadenfreude, too.”
–Ocean Rain: “Yes, celebrate, everyone! It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for us, and we’re feeeeeling gooood…”
–skypolk: “Doing a line of vaccines to celebrate.”
–ohnoshetwitnt: “My favorite part of fall is watching the states change colors.”
–Dartagnan: “Folks, we are witnessing history…the beauty of this is that very few Republicans saw it coming.”
–Daily Kos: “Guys, this is fun! Let’s keep doing this over and over again.”
In other voting news:
–We now have 13 female Democratic governors.
–Democrats now hold every border district from Canada to Corpus Christi.
–In Arizona, Democrats now control the State House, the Senate, and the Governor’s office for the first time in 60 years.
–In Texas, Senfronia Thompson will be the first woman and Black Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
–The Florida state representative who sponsored the bill to rename Palm Beach airport after Trump lost his seat, which had previously been Trump +10.
–At this moment, Democrats will have 54 seats in the Senate to Republicans’ 44. Democrats will have 256 seats in the House to the Republicans’ 170. And all the races haven’t been called yet, so the numbers could go higher.
–Scott Colom is currently ahead by 2493 votes in Mississippi and Lauren Boebert trails by 3338 votes (she has been steadily losing votes–she hoped to be able to make up the votes in the red Weld County, but she didn’t, and the other areas still to come in are mostly blue.)
–Democrat Nancy Lacore won US House District 1 in South Carolina, flipping what was a Republican seat.
In There’s a New Sheriff in Town news:
–The new Texas Attorney General-Elect, Nathan Johnson, announced he will not sue out-of-state doctors who mail abortion pills to Texas.
–Senator Elizabeth Warren will become the new chair of the Senate Banking Committee (to the dismay–or terror–of big banks and crypto companies.)
–The Democrats who won seem to be in no mood to forgive and forget. Democrat Robert Garcia sent out an announcement to everyone in the Trump administration: “Lawyer up.”
–The new governor of Ohio, Amy Acton, did not answer the phone to accept Vivek Ramaswamy’s concession and congratulations. She let it go to voicemail.
–New Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa: “We answered loud enough for every billionaire, every lobbyist, and every corrupt politician. Texas belongs to us.”
–One of the memes, which was everywhere all over the internet: “Finish him.”
–Doctor Strange: “Our new class of elected officials are not coming to DC to play footsie with these disgusting, lawless Neanderthals.”
–Lakota Man: “They built concentration camps and were planning to arrest people for not pledging their submissive fealty to Trump. Now is not the time for reconciliation. Now is not the time to forgive and forget. We want accountability, justice, and lengthy prison terms. And we want it now.”
–Jim Stewartson: “You are damn right. I want to get even. I want our money, our dignity, and our morality back. I want to feel that on balance America can be ‘the good guys’ again. And I want to show the world that we are not defined by our racist, rapist president.”
SE Cupp: “In case you’re keeping score, Things that Died This Week:
–The Republican majority
–JD Vance’s political future
–Election denialism
–A red Texas
–Russell Brand’s freedom
–Laura loomer’s podcast
–Trump on the ballot
–LIV golf
–Mike Johnson’s relevance
–New York 21’s dignity
–Katie Miller’s voting ability
–The “manosphere”
–Cyber trucks
–Susi Wiles’s NDA
–MAGA influencers’ Iran war support
–“Total immunity”
–Pete Hegseth’s sobriety
–Mid-census redistricting
–Elon’s $500 million
–Vivek Ramaswamy’s concession call
–Turning Point USA
–Susan Collins’s “concerns”
But don’t worry…it’s nothing Stephen Miller can’t solve.”
In Republican blame game news:
–JD Vance blamed “ungrateful” blacks and non-white immigrants. Vance thinks they should all be kicked out of the country if they don’t express enough gratitude.
–Josh Marshall: “America’s vice-president is an Elizabeth Holmes-level sociopath” and “a terrible human being.”
–GOP Rep James Comer threw Trump and Mike Johnson under the bus this morning, blaming them for the Republican losses. (And for some bizarre reason, Comer now has dark brown hair. A disguise, maybe, for when he tries to flee the country? Or just hoping people won’t notice all the awful things he did on the House Oversight Committee to protect Jeffrey Epstein?)
–Erick Erikson blamed “the weirdo right” and incels for the loss. (Note: Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! His entire audience has been that weirdo right.)
–Ex-Trump aide Caroline Sunshine called for Susie Wiles to resign.
–Just-defeated GOP Rep Mike Lawler complained “Jesus Christ could have run and would have lost.” (Note: I think assuming Jesus would not have run as a Democrat is a BIG assumption.)
–Alex Jones (you know, the guy who claimed the Sandy Hook Massacre of all those little schoolkids was a hoax) said, “I think (Trump’s) the ultimate Democrat sleeper cell, and he works for them…he was a Democrat before…he did this on purpose.”
–The mainstream news media are all saying this wasn’t actually a vote for Democrats (God forbid!), it was the result of Republican “missteps” and “miscalculations.”
In RFK, Jr./They’re Still Trying to Kill Us news:
–A baby died from measles in Wisconsin.
–There have now been six deaths from measles in Pennsylvania and one death in New York.
–That makes 8 deaths, but the CDC has only recorded 4. They are claiming that if you died of pneumonia or meningitis or other complications brought on by measles, that doesn’t count as a measles death.
–There have been 431 cases of measles (that we know of) so far this year.
In other news:
–Elon Musk announced the end of the Tesla Cybertruck. They will no longer be manufacturing the highly unpopular car.
–US Customs sent out an announcement asking social media users for tips on Iran’s nuclear program and how to handle Iran, offering “up to a $20 million dollar reward” for tips. (And, no, I am not making this up.)
–A new report says that Laura Loomer got paid tens of thousands of dollars by private clients to make pro-Trump posts. Former Trump campaign aide Alex Boneseurtz made the accusation and backed it up with wire transfers and bank records. (Maybe that’s why she’s “going on hiatus.”)
In good news:
–Dem Jamie Raskin sent formal letters to law firms who agreed to work with Trump, doing pro bono work for his administration’s cases. The letter demanded details about any illegal coercion they might have faced and what work exactly they did for Trump.
–There’s a new Senate employee posting up on the official Senate Jobs site. They are hiring 1) anti-corruption counsel, and 2) investigative and oversight counsel.
–Colorado’s new wildlife overpass has cut collisions between cars and deer, elk, etc. by 91% in ten months.
Best meme of the day: “Motherfucker tried to rename a Great Lake and the entire watershed (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland) rose up against him.”
Best poem of the day, from Hazel Hayes (with apologies to William Carlos Williams): “This is just to say, I have drunk the champagne that was in the fridge and which you were probably saving for when he dies. Forgive me, there was a wave so big and so blue.”
Best comment of the day, from Ron Filipkowski: “There comes a point where the circumstantial evidence leads you to conclude that Trump is intentionally burning the Republican Party to the ground because he doesn’t want it to succeed or thrive without him when he’s gone.”
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
