On today’s “To the Contrary” podcast, Tom Nichols and I try to sort it all out…. My first question: Why — after all this time — are we still Surprised? By the lawlessness? The bullying? The performative cruelty? You can listen/watch right here, or: Watch on YouTube / Listen (and subscribe) on Apple/ Spotify / iHeart / RSS Feed.
Some highlights of our conversation….
Tom’s only surprise has been…
Is the Supreme Court an activist court?
Putin’s power move…
Law and Order vs. due process…
The complications of military reorganization….
Nota Bene
In the annals of retribution:
Peter Wehner: Trump’s Revenge Campaign - The Atlantic
A president and an administration with a Mafia mentality can create a Mafia state. They can target innocent people, shut down dissent, intimidate critics into silence, violate democratic norms, act without any statutory authority, sweep away checks and balances, spread disinformation and conspiracy theories, ignore court orders, and even declare martial law.
Columbia Agrees to Trump’s Demands After Federal Funds Are Stripped - The New York Times
White House buoyed by capitulation of major law firm attacked by Trump administration | The Guardian
How a Major Democratic Law Firm Ended Up Bowing to Trump - The New York Times
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In the annals of adulation:
Gill’s Golden Age Act of 2025 is just one of five Trump-adulating House bills introduced in the two months since the president began his second term. Other measures would make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday, rename Dulles Airport in Trump’s honor, carve Trump’s face on Mount Rushmore and create a new $250 bill with Trump’s likeness.
But it’s hard to top this bit of lickspittling from Texas Senator John Cornyn:
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In the annals of tone-deafness:
Trump envoy is Putin’s useful idiot:
“Witkoff said he had ‘liked’ the Kremlin leader, adding: ‘I thought he was straight up with me.’ He then said it was ‘gracious of [Putin] to accept me, to see me’ in Moscow.
"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," he said.
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And then there is this classic bit of out-of-touchedness: “Trump’s commerce secretary: Don’t complain if we don’t send your Social Security check”- MarketWatch
“Let’s say Social Security didn’t send out their checks this month,” Lutnick said during a YouTube interview Friday. “My mother-in-law, who’s 94, she wouldn’t call and complain. She just wouldn’t. She’d think something got messed up and she’ll get it next month.
By contrast, he said, “a fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining. … Anybody who’s been in the payment system and the process system knows the easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen. Yeah. ’Cause whoever screams is the one stealing.”
The comments, coming just as Musk and his DOGE team slash the number of people working at Social Security and close branch offices, are unlikely to win friends and influence people even among Republicans, let alone anyone else.
And while the checks may be a “nice to have” for people who are better off financially, they are an economic lifeline for millions. The Social Security Administration estimates that among people over age 65, 39% of men and 44% of women rely on their Social Security checks for more than half their monthly income, while for 12% of men and 15% of women over 65, those checks account for “90% or more of their income.”
So while the mother-in-law of a Wall Street billionaire might not worry too much if her monthly check was late, others might worry if their own goes missing.
A Note to Readers
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Your Sunday dog
Auggie and I went on a road trip yesterday. Burgers were involved.
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