The WSJ recently reported that US consumers and importers, not foreign countries, are the ones who have paid for DJT’s tariff war. The Kiel Institute echoed the findings of Yale and Harvard economists, confirming that American consumers and importers have absorbed 96% of the cost of those tariffs.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” DJT said in a message 10 days ago to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. I swear this is the dumbest president we’ve ever had!

Yet another of many reminders - the DOJ has released less than 1% of the Epstein files despite the law, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Congress passed requiring the release of those files in full no later than December 19. DJT could care less about following court orders or the rule of law.

DJT is so obviously and deeply mentally unwell that it’s time to stop blaming him for all the terrible things he’s doing. Responsibility for the catastrophe overtaking America now rests with his enablers — people who have to know that he’s a sick man but continue to support his depredations.

Quote of the Day: “We are watching one of the wildest things a nation-state has ever done,” said journalist Garrett Graff. A superpower is [dying by] suicide because the [Republican] Congress is too cowardly to stand up to the Mad King. This is one of the wildest moments in all of geopolitics ever.”

Republican Chris Madel withdrew from the Minnesota governor’s race, saying “I cannot support the national Republicans’ stated retribution on the citizens of our state, nor can I count myself a member of a party that would do so…. Operation Metro Surge has expanded far beyond its stated focus.”

My Monday morning moment of Zen …

Gregory Bovino has been removed from his role as the "commander at large" for the US Border Patrol and will return to his former job in California, where he is expected to retire soon, the Atlantic reported today, citing a DHS official and two people with knowledge of the change. That’s a start!

Per Paul Krugman: It has been clear for a long time that the people running the federal government — Trump, Miller, Noem, Bovino and more — are monsters. It has been equally obvious that ICE and the Border Patrol are now filled with sadistic thugs. At this point, however, there are no more excuses.

My Monday morning moment of Zen …

The draft charter for the Board of Peace makes DJT the first chair, gives him the power to choose a successor, only he can decide what countries can be members and he would have to approve all decisions. Anyone who donates $1B would be lifetime members, and of course, DJT will control that money.

Besides being “gifted” María Corina Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize medal, last week the Florida Panthers presented DJT with a golden hockey stick. At the ceremony, DJT looked over at the gifts laid out beside the podium and said: “That stick looks beautiful … I’m president, I’ll just take ‘em.”

My Sunday morning thought …

The chaos in Minnesota is tanking Kristi Noem’s national standing: Her approval rating fell to 36% in the most recent Quinnipiac poll. Americans have also soured on ICE following Good’s shooting death (this also was before today’s ICE killing). Only 1/3 of voters believe that shooting was justified.

You know what Americans aren’t talking about much today? They aren’t talking a lot about the fact that the DOJ has released less than 1% of the Epstein files despite the law, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Congress passed requiring the release of those files in full no later than December 19.

DJT and the GOP constantly engage in what we might call threat inflation, giving Americans the impression they face catastrophe on all sides and that the government must therefore respond maximally. These designations rarely match reality. Instead, they stoke fear beyond what the reality justifies.

Per Paul Krugman: Yet the US has not replicated Hungary’s measured slide into authoritarianism. For Trump and his minions aren’t patient. They want retribution and subjugation. Threats and dominance displays are how they operate. They burn with racism, misogyny, and performative cruelty.

Five senior prosecutors resigned from the US attorney’s office in Minnesota last week over the DOJ’s handling of the fatal shooting of Renee Good. Among their concerns was pressure to investigate the wife of the deceased woman. They also objected to the DOJ’s reluctance to investigate the shooter.

It’s Friday morning, which means it’s time for my billboard/sign of the week …

DJT cut to the heart of MAGA’s attacks on those resisting ICE when, speaking about Renee Good, he said “At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement.” Sorry, but police do not have the right to shoot people in the head because they have acted in a disrespectful way.

Last week, DJT told reporters aboard Air Force One that Iran was “starting to” cross the red line he drew of not killing protesters. Yet here at home, he continues to defend the murder of Renee Good and still refers to her as a “domestic terrorist. His hypocrisy never fails to astound!

DJT’s loyalists in the administration are now openly flouting the law to keep the Epstein files hidden. Despite the clear requirement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that they release all the files by December 19, to date they have released less than 1% of the material. What are they hiding?

After Renee Good’s death, DHS surged more officers to the area, alleging the fraud situation merited more agents. But Good’s killing has no obvious connection to fraud, and it does not suggest any elevated threat to officers. Instead, the presence of more officers elevates the threat to civilians.

Jonathan Ross and his defenders are so isolated in their own MAGA bubble they can’t see how regular Americans would react to the video of a woman smiling at a masked agent and saying: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you,” only to have him shoot her in the face and then spit out “F*cking bitch”.

On a War Department flyer in 1945: Freedom requires being alert and on guard against the infringement not only of our own freedom but the freedom of every American. If we permit discrimination, prejudice or hate to rob anyone of his democratic rights, our own freedom and all democracy is threatened.

DJT told New York Times reporters in a lengthy Oval Office interview last week that “one thing” limits his global power: “My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” Dear God, the world is so screwed!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “When Trump is done, goons like this will have to be put in check. Stripped of pensions, fired and prosecuted for abuse of power.” Sen. Ruben Gallego responding to Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino on X, after the two argued over the latter’s presence in a Minnesota Target.

Despite the clear requirement of the Epstein Files Transparency Act that they release all the files by December 19th, to date the DOJ has released less than 1% of the material, even though the bill explicitly stated that all files be released by last December 19th. Again, DJT’s DOJ ignores the law!

My Monday morning moment of Zen …

Per Paul Krugman: And here’s a warning to those directly perpetrating Trump-directed atrocities: He will not be in power forever, and I expect and hope that you will be held accountable, personally, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Jerome Powell’s video statement last week distills our current moment in less than 2 minutes. The Fed’s freedom from partisanship is at the core of its mission; it was created in service of the country’s long-term interests. Now under siege by DJT, it has become an unlikely site of resistance.

My Sunday morning thought …

A justice system depends on the idea that laws and enforcement are consistent and predictable, but DJT offers none of that. Ii.e. He arrested Maduro and brought him to the US. But last month he pardoned the former president of Honduras who had been convicted and imprisoned here on similar charges.

On a personal note - after getting down here (Florida) a few days ago and putting the house back in full operating mode, it is time to kick back and enjoy the weather. Although it has been a bit cooler than usual, it still feels warm compared to Chicago. Loving it!

Last week, DJT announced the US exit from the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change). DJT’s 2nd withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, which is undergirded by the UNFCCC, becomes official on Jan. 20. The US is also the only country to pull out of the Paris deal.

That both DHS and DJT posted false accounts of the Renee Good shooting immediately following the event, even as there were multiple videos circulating that revealed those accounts to be lies, shows they no longer are making any attempt to justify their actions.

DJT’s Venezuela venture is a bizarre story. During his triumphant press conference after the abduction of Nicolás Maduro, DJT never used the word “democracy.” He did, however, say “oil” 27 times, declaring, “We’re going to take back the oil that, frankly, we should have taken back a long time ago.”

It’s Friday morning, which means it’s time for my billboard/sign of the week …

DJT claims that the U.S. is “running” Venezuela, and he has dropped the pretense that he is concerned about drug traffickers or Maduro’s seizure of the presidency. Instead, he has made it clear that what he really wants is for the Venezuelan government to give him access to the country’s oil.

Last week, RFK Jr announced that the CDC will now recommend that children get vaccinated against 11 communicable diseases, not 17. The decision was widely condemned by medical groups. The American Academy of Pediatrics called the abrupt changes “dangerous and unnecessary”.

Last week, Stephen Miller told CNN’s Jake Tapper: “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” he said. “These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Not exactly what Christ preached.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You’ve got a 1940s Stalin problem inside the American military right now.” Major General Paul Eaton, in an interview with The Guardian, comparing Trump’s “active effort to politicize the armed forces” to Joseph Stalin’s 1940s purges of the top officers in Soviet forces.

4 migrants died in custody of US immigration authorities over the first 10 days of 2026, according to government press releases, a loss of life that followed record detention deaths last year. That total doesn’t include Renee Good, since apparently DJT feels murders by ICE are always justifiable.

My Monday moment of Zen …

Paul Krugman: A week after the Maduro abduction, it’s clear that DJT wasn’t seeking regime change, not in a fundamental way. He’s more like a mob boss trying to expand his territory, believing that if he knocks off a rival boss he can bully the guy’s former capos into giving him a cut of their take.

My Sunday morning thought …

A December CBS poll showed that 75% of Americans, including 58% of Republicans, correctly believed a president must get approval from Congress before taking military action against Venezuela. DJT didn’t get that approval, nor did he, as required by law, inform the Gang of Eight beforehand.

January 3rd was the legal deadline for the DOJ to submit to Congress a written justification for any documents from the Epstein files that the department had redacted or withheld. Of course, they missed this deadline as well as missing the December 19 deadline for releasing the files themselves.

Last week, the WSJ published an article discussing DJT’s declining health. The article was significant not because it acknowledges weaknesses many journalists have already recorded, but because a leading right-leaning media outlet is now suggesting that Trump is not up to the task of the presidency.

A president who actually cared about the public’s welfare would have taken Renee Good’s killing as an indication that his deportation tactics have veered tragically off course, would have called for a halt of ICE actions and launched an objective federal investigation into this tragedy. But not DJT!