"A Country That Has Forgotten How to Blush"
“Perhaps the universe is nothing but an equilibrium of idiocies.” — George Santayana
No, it’s not just you. Everything is absurd and dangerous at the same time. David Frum surveys the landscape:
Egg shortages.
Fatal measles outbreaks.
Airplane crashes.
Crypto scams.
Tariffs.
Betrayal of allies.
Pardons and special favors for insurrectionists, crooked mayors, and online pimps.
The American people voted for change!
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Back in May, when the insanity/idiocy was merely a cloud on the horizon, I wrote a piece in The Atlantic that suggested that what we’re feeling isn’t numbness: It’s more like airsickness.
That feeling of nausea hits us “when we experience a disconnect between our senses—a nausea-inducing conflict between what we know and what we see. Motion sickness is caused by a discrepancy between what the inner ear detects and what the eye sees. The effect can be vertiginous—so the way people avoid being nauseated is by trying to ignore the dissonance.”
But as Trumpism advances, it is increasingly impossible to ignore that dissonance.
We’ve been led to believe that things work in a certain way, that there are mores and norms.
We thought our world was right side up, but it now feels as if it’s been turned upside down.
Words don’t mean what we think they do.
Outrage is followed not by accountability, but by adulation. Standards shift, flicker, vanish. Nothing is stable.
More than a century ago, Émile Durkheim, the father of modern sociology, described what he called “anomie,” a condition of instability “resulting from a breakdown of standards and values or from a lack of purpose or ideals.” Anomie could result from a conflict of belief systems, leading to a breakdown of social ties and a “shared moral order.”
Call it anomie or call it airsickness—we find ourselves in a land of confusion. Trump pays off a porn star and yet is hailed as a champion of Christian values. He mocks prisoners of war and calls dead soldiers “suckers,” and his MAGA base is thrilled by his patriotism.
In retrospect, all of that was merely prologue to the comedy/tragedy we are now living.
Happy Friday.
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The zone is, once again flooded, so I won’t try to keep up. But this is a good day to reflect on the cognitive dissonance of this political moment. Consider the gap between promise and reality:
Trump promised to drain the swamp, but flaunts conflicts of interest, graft, and corruption in plain sight. The sin, as Shakespeare might have noted, is “not accidental, but a trade”. Musk‘s gambit to award his company, Starlink, a massive FAA contract is unfortunately merely the tip of this iceberg of slime.
Trump promised to be the voice of the little guy, the forgotten American. But now: GOP Gambles on Budget Plan That Helps the Rich and Cuts Aid to the Poor - The New York Times.
Trump promised to tame inflation and cut taxes. Now: Trump Tariffs Will Raise Prices, Americans Say In New Poll - Bloomberg.
Trump ran as the candidate of law and order. But he began his presidency by pardoning violent J6 rioters who assaulted policy. Now his handpicked US Attorney is now refusing to file charges against a Republican congressman accused of beating his girlfriend.
Government efficiency? At this week’s cabinet meeting Elon Musk admitted he had fuqqed up, then lied about it. And he was taking about Ebola. EBOLA. “Musk claims DOGE ‘restored’ Ebola prevention effort. Officials disagree. - The Washington Post”
But all of this pales before the screaming hypocrisy of Trump’s patronage of the Tate Brothers.
**
In a sane universe, no politician would want to be within a continent of anyone as vile as Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan. This would especially apply to politicians who had pledged to crack down on sex trafficking; and who had demagogued immigrants as rapists.
London — Self-proclaimed misogynist social media influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan arrived in the U.S. Thursday despite facing rape and human trafficking charges that are still pending in Romania. The Tates, who are dual U.S.-British nationals, landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Prosecutors in Romania have alleged for years that Andrew, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, set up a criminal enterprise in the country and in Britain in 2021, along with two women, and used it to sexually exploit multiple people. Andrew Tate was charged with rape and trafficking offenses in Romania, while his brother and two female associates faced trafficking and other related charges….
Four British women who have accused Andrew Tate of rape and physical assault between 2013 and 2016 voiced concern last week that the U.S. government could be pressuring Romania to ease travel restrictions on the Tates, who have publicly supported President Trump.
**
Conservative talk show host Erick Erickson said we “should wait and see,” but “if Trump really did bless the Tate brothers to come to the US, it would be the primary exhibit that his administration is guided by a hyper-online right that is very out of touch with the real world and needs to touch grass.”
But that is exactly what seems to have happened.
The Financial Times reported earlier this month that the Trump administration was pushing Romanian authorities to return the Tate brothers' U.S. passports and allow them to leave the country.
The hypocrisy. It burns. But feels so familiar.
**
Some Trump supporters professed shock.
**
How loathsome is Andrew Tate?1 Too loathsome for Ron Desantis, who declared that Tate was not welcome in the State of Florida… shortly before he landed in Florida. But, as Nick Catoggio wrote in the Dispatch:
“Respectable” conservatives understood it and, in their zeal to see Democrats defeated at all costs, rationalized it. They don’t get to complain today about the Tates if they spent the last two years working to make America safe for degenerate autocracy. They signed up for a presidency unrestrained by morality; they’re getting what they voted for.
They handed Trump a mandate for perversion and he’s using his mandate. No wonder liberals, classical and otherwise, have been so demoralized since the election.
EXIT TAKE: “In a country that had not, as the prophet Jeremiah put it, ‘forgotten how to blush,’ this abomination would shock every conscience,” wrote Russell Moore, the editor of Christianity Today. “We are long past that point. God have mercy.”
The Pro-Life Party?
Speaking of cognitive dissonance:
**
Marco Rubio’s self-gelding proceeded apace this week, as the shrinking SecState signed off on massive cuts in foreign aid programs that he had previously supported. (I’m tempted to call the pigeon-livered Rubio this year’s Lindsey Graham, but I’m afraid that may turn out to be unfair to Lindsey.)
On Wednesday, reports began dribbling out that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had signed off on eliminating 92 percent of USAID grants, around 4,100 of them, with a savings of $60 billion. On Thursday morning, foreign aid officials woke up to see the details of those cuts. The reaction was justified shock.
Programs that the administration had suggested it believed were worth continuing were now being terminated. That includes efforts to combat the AIDS epidemic—such as George W. Bush’s famed PEPFAR program—that have been a source of bipartisan pride for decades.
On X, Atul Gawande laid out the real-world consequences of Rubio’s cuts:
Yesterday, Rubio terminated 5800 USAID contracts – more than 90% of its foreign aid programs – in defiance of the courts. Here’s a list of just some of the lifesaving awards that were terminated. Nearly all were Congressional mandated. They've saved millions of lives.
1. All malaria supplies protecting 53 million people, mostly children, including bed nets, diagnostics, preventive drugs, and treatments – terminated.
2. All tuberculosis programs, including the Global TB Drug Facility – terminated.
3. All supplies of US-manufactured emergency food packets for starving children on the brink of death – terminated.
4. USAID’s contract supporting deadly outbreak prevention, detection, and response, including Ebola and Bird Flu, in 50 countries – terminated.
5. All deployable U.S. teams for earthquake assistance – terminated.
6. All US-backed development programming in Afghanistan, including maternal and child health services and girls education – terminated. (Estimated to cause >1,200 maternal deaths by 2028.)
7. Over 1,000 food kitchens in Sudan, a country with almost 25 million people experiencing acute food insecurity – terminated.
8. USAID’s contract for supplying essential medicines for maternal and child health in countries worldwide – terminated.
9. Services from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation - just one organization - reaching 350,000 people on HIV treatment, including nearly 10,000 children and more than 10,000 HIV-positive pregnant women – terminated.
10. Every USAID program in the former Soviet countries in Central Asia, including health programs to combat rampant tuberculosis, along with agricultural programs – terminated.
11. Screening program with the Mexican government to identify illicit drugs like fentanyl being smuggled at the US border.
**
I'm hearing from experts around the world about what the destruction of USAID is meaning: "a global health massacre," in the words of a doctor who has devoted her life to humanitarian work on the front lines.
Millions of malnourished children left to starve. Pregnant women not getting micronutrients to prevent neural tube defects.
Programs against schistosomiasis abandoned. HIV positive patients left without ARV's. Water no longer purified.
Surveillance against Ebola and bird flu set back. TB patients unable to get medicine.
I've long argued that USAID should be reformed, but this Trump/Musk demolition is cruel and incompetent and benefits China, while killing children just as wonderful as our own.
Compounding the tragedy: “People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.”
Meanwhile… if only they had been warned.
Measles outbreak could be 'politically perilous' for Trump and RFK Jr.
Um, yes. And, we should mention, and outbreak would also be perilous to the millions of lives put at risk of contracting a disease that had been eradicated in this country by vaccinations.
NOT A PARODY
Trump really did post a music video promoting his plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza and build a luxury resort.
Seriously.
The video, which Trump shared with millions of followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Truth Social, and begins with the caption, "Gaza 2025: What's Next." As the music swells, young children run through a tunnel as rubble transforms into palm tree lined beaches and luxury high rises.
Then things really get weird.
What follows is a montage, apparently generated with AI, that features bearded men dancing in bikinis, a giant gold statute of Trump, Elon Musk being showered with cash, the facade of a "Trump Gaza" hotel, and a shirtless Trump drinking a beer poolside with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"No more tunnels, no more fear. Trump Gaza is finally here," someone sings to dance music. "Trump Gaza shining bright. A golden future. A shining light."
**
BONUS: Because we live the dumbest possible timeline, Mediaite reports, “Republicans running the Judiciary Committee’s X account thought it would be wise to tweet out a link to the Epstein files that actually leads users to a video of Rick Astley’s music video for ‘Never Gonna Give You Up.’”
Because what’s funnier than making a joke out of child sex trafficking, amirite?
Friday dogs
When Pete was sick, Auggie knew he had to take care of him.
Attorney Matthew Jury, who represents the British women who have filed criminal complaints of rape and sexual assault against Andrew Tate, issued this statement on today’s news that he has left Romania:
“The news that pressure by the Trump Administration has led to Andrew Tate, and his brother Tristan, being allowed to leave Romania by its authorities is equal parts disgusting and dismaying.
There is clear evidence to support the allegations against Tate that he is one of the world’s worst human traffickers and serial rapists. That the US Government would choose to lobby for his release is absurd but sadly, given its actions over the past month, perhaps unsurprising.
Any suggestion that the Tates will now face justice in Romania is fanciful.
The UK authorities must take immediate steps to secure their extradition to the UK to face charges for the offences of human trafficking and rape they are alleged to have committed in this jurisdiction.
Romania has embarrassed itself. The UK must not do the same.
"Conservative talk show host Erick Erickson said we “should wait and see,” but “if Trump really did bless the Tate brothers to come to the US, it would be the primary exhibit that his administration is guided by a hyper-online right that is very out of touch with the real world and needs to touch grass.”"
I'm sorry, but Erickson is not allowed to be surprised by this. Trump was held civilly liable for sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll, and the "Family Values" party overwhelmingly decided electing a serial adulterer and sexual assaulter was preferable to electing a Democrat. Erickson will never acknowledge that for the GOP and Conservative Inc., there is no moral red line anymore, and he's complicit in eliminating that red line. He can fuck all the way off.
I’m scared for our country. I’m scared for the rule of law. I’m scared for democracy. I’m just plain scared. I don’t know if we can survive 46 ½ months of this.