American Horror
9 days in June
Nine Days in June, 2025:
Trump federalizes the California National Guard and deploys active duty Marines to LA
President endorses the arrest of California’s elected governor
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem declares: “We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.”
A US Senator is thrown to the ground and handcuffed when he tries to ask Noem a question
Israel attacks Iran, Iran retaliates
Trump flip-flops on workplace immigration raids
President stages military parade (which is weakly attended)
Nationwide “No King” protests (which draw massive crowds)
Democratic legislators in Minnesota targeted for assassination
Happy Father’s Day.
A Political Assassination
As I write this Sunday morning, the manhunt continues for the suspect police say assassinated the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House and her husband. He also attempted to assassinate a Democratic state senator. Senator John Hoffman and his wife are still hospitalized.
The killer posed as a police officer, wearing a fake uniform that was nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
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Caution is always advisable in cases like this, but so is clarity: There is nothing ambiguous about what happened or why.
This was a carefully planned, targeted, cold-blooded political assassination. And it was politically motivated.
Despite the usual gaslighting and disingenuous spin from right-wing media Saturday — much of it amplified by uber-troll Elon Musk — we now know why the killer targeted his victims.
He wanted to kill Democrats. He had a manifesto. And a list.
None of this is in any way unclear or cryptic.
Dozens of Minnesota Democrats were on a target list written by the gunman, according to law enforcement sources.
Those on the list included Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and state Attorney General Keith Ellison, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the matter….
The shooter’s list of potential targets also included the names of abortion providers and pro-choice activists, several sources told ABC News. Many of the Democratic lawmakers on the list have been outspoken about pro-choice policy positions, two sources said.
The list also included Democrats from Wisconsin. Via the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Democratic sources told Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 11 Wisconsin lawmakers' names are on a manifesto police recovered in their search for Boelter. The group of Wisconsin lawmakers included eight women and three men, according to one source. All are Democrats.
What happened in Minnesota early Sunday morning cannot be written off as merely a “mental health” issue; and it can’t be blamed on video games, or glossed over by the usual pabulum of “thoughts and prayers”.
This is evil. Pure evil.
What happened in Minnesota is the sum of all nightmares, and it could get worse. We are reminded — once again — that hateful, divisive rhetoric that defines the political opposition as “scum,” “vermin” “terrorists” and “communists” has consequences. And the voices that should provide comfort, solace, and unity are often the ugliest purveyors of hate and division.
A wave of political violence
The era of political violence is upon us.
The attack on the Capitol January 6; and its endorsement by the President of the United States.
The attempt to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The 2022 hammer attack on the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The Trump assassination attempt.
The killing of two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C.
The firebombing of a Colorado march calling for the release of Israeli hostages.
The arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
The assassination of a health care executive on the streets of New York City late last year.
Via the NYT: Violent threats against lawmakers hit a record high last year, for the second year in a row. Since the 2020 election, state and local election officials have become targets of violent threats and harassment, as have federal judges, prosecutors and other court officials. As of April, there have been more than 170 incidents of threats and harassment targeting local officials across nearly 40 states this year, according to data gathered for the Bridging Divides Initiative at Princeton University….
Mr. Trump has had a hand in that. Since his 2016 candidacy, he has signaled at least his tacit approval of violence against his political opponents. He encouraged attendees at his rallies to “knock the hell” out of protesters, praised a lawmaker who body-slammed a reporter and defended the rioters on Jan. 6, 2021, who clamored to “hang Mike Pence.” One of his first acts in his second term as president was to pardon those rioters.
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Bonus take: The circumstances of the Minnesota assassinations — the killer was impersonating a police officer — underlines the necessity for law enforcement to clearly identify themselves. As Jane Coaston notes: “This is why asking law enforcement for ID, and law enforcement providing ID, is essential.”
The Mother of All TACOS
Given the frenetic pace of the news cycle, this story hasn’t received the attention it really deserves: After making mass deportation and ICE raids on workplaces a centerpiece of his presidency, Donald J. Trump chickened out. Once again.
It was a flip-flip so gobsmacking that it left some of his closest aides stunned. On Thursday morning, Trump posted:
Our farmers are being hurt badly. They have very good workers [that] have worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be great. And we’re going to have to do something about that. We can’t take all their people and send them back ... And leisure too, and hotels.
Later in the day, ICE ordered agents to “hold on all work site enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.”
The NYT reports that Trump’s reversal came after lobbying from the industries most affected by the raids.
But… dammmmmm. His serial blinks on tariffs pale compared to this volte-face. As the NYT notes:
For months, Mr. Trump and his aides have said they would target all immigrants without legal status in the United States to make good on his campaign promise for mass deportations. While the administration came into office saying it would initially target undocumented immigrants with criminal records, it has in recent weeks expanded to raiding work sites and sweeping up other undocumented immigrants broadly.
On Thursday, Mr. Trump acknowledged that the crackdown might be alienating industries he wanted to keep on his side.
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WTAF?
“So,” asked Andrew Sullivan, “what the fuck is all this about really?”
Like the tariffs that gyrate, and the spending cuts that don’t cut spending, and the great deals that turn out to be surrenders to China, and the end to wars that never end, and the executive orders that collapse at the first judicial review, so much of this is just theater.”
The real goal is to find illegal immigrants who can be associated with the left and the Democrats, to gin up a conflict, and to use it to smash and intimidate domestic opposition. That’s what this is about. It’s about state terror in the pursuit of ever greater executive power.
Yeah, Trump’s parade was a bust
Low energy. Small crowds. Flaccid enthusiasm.
S.V. Date reports from the scene:
Despite Trump’s attempts to hype the event, attendance appeared light — there were considerably fewer people on the National Mall on Saturday than there would be for a typical Fourth of July celebration. And attendance at Trump’s parade was dwarfed by the millions who showed up at roughly 2,000 anti-Trump “No Kings” protests in cities and towns all over the country.
Trump spoke less than 1,000 feet away from the spot he delivered a speech that riled up tens of thousands of his supporters he had called to the city on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump told them to march on the Capitol to intimidate his own vice president into awarding him a second term, even though he had lost the 2020 election. More than 140 police were assaulted by Trump’s mob, with one dying hours later and four others dying from suicide in the coming weeks and months.
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Sunday Times: Trump military parade met with empty seats amid nationwide protests
Organisers for Saturday’s parade said they were expecting “hundreds of thousands” to attend but images of empty seats in stands along the parade route suggested turnout may not have been as high as hoped. It is possible the poor weather kept many at home….
Thousands more took to the streets of America’s biggest cities to protest the parade. Demonstrations were held in more than 2,000 cities and towns, organised by the “No Kings” movement — a coalition of organisations calling for a “nationwide day of defiance”.
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The best father… ever.
When I dedicated my first book to him, I described my father as “author, curmudgeon, journalist, lawyer, politician, anti-hero, father, mentor, friend — and teacher extraordinaire.”
Still miss him every day.
Sunday dog… and portrait
That’s my father’s portrait behind us.
I was just one of millions protesting and marching yesterday. NYC was rained on just a bit - a little drizzle most of the time - but it dampened nobody’s spirit. We all had loads of fun, and made one hell of a noise!
This is what Democracy looks like.
Blood is dripping from many hands today. Not that they will acknowledge their complicity. The silence says everything.