No country's reputation dropped more than the United States between 2024 & 2025, based on surveys of 60,000+ people in 38 countries by Reputation Lab. It saddens me to see how far the US reputation has fallen this year based largely on the actions of one man.

If stopping cocaine was truly the goal, wouldn't the approach look different?

Remember that the MAGA defense to Trump's mortgage fraud was that the bank still made money, so everything was fine. By that same reasoning, because Letitia James made her mortgage payments and the bank earned interest, MAGA must believe there was no crime here, right?

Drain the swamp or pardon the swamp?

“I was paid in the past for my opinions.” —Dan Bongino. This is why people should take anything political pundits say, especially on socal media, with a huge dose of skepticism. They are paid to drum up engagement (aka anger), not deal in facts.

The real problem though is not so much the number, but the reason for the pardons. Pardons should only be used to advance the interests of the United States and/or justice, and not for personal or political reasons.

One of these is not like the others:

#Trump #logicalfallacies #afghanistan #somalia

Ad Hominem is one of many logical fallacies #Trump employs regularly to get people to disregard the substance of any argument, story, or evidence he doesn’t like. He does this regardless of whether the story is true or not.

It's almost as if Trump doesn't really care about people bringing drugs to the US, but just thought that he could use "being tough on drugs" as an excuse to start a war and do other things he really wants to do.

Paraphrasing: “If you vote for the person I want, then I will send US tax dollars your way, if you don’t then no US tax dollars for you. As a bonus, were also sending you a convicted felon president, which is the hottest thing in presidents right now.” #Trump #Pardon

In case you were wondering why Pete Hegseth tried so hard to get News agencies to sign the Pentagon Pledge, it seems likely one of the main reasons was to try to cover up stories like this.

Trump's changes to the White House remind me of the Wheel of Time. #wot #wheeloftime #trump #whitehouse #ballroom

Remember a week ago, when MAGA was like "what illegal orders"?

This ad on the DOJ website saddens me. Judges are supposed to be impartial & give fair consideration to evidence before making a decision. By calling immigration judges "deportation judges," it suggests a predetermined outcome. Hiring judges for a predetermined outcome is not American & is not just.

What’s the simplest “Occam’s Razor” explanation? (1) one highly partisan politician who claims he’s above the law has pushed the bounds of the law beyond any other, or (2) many different, independent judges, incl. GOP appointed, are all suddenly ignoring the law to stage a coup?

🧵1/"You say things sometimes in a campaign." This encapsulates Trump's approach. He doesn't really believe all the things he says. He just says whatever he thinks will help him politically or set the narrative he wants.

1/I've never seen a President more openly hostile to free speech than Trump. My Substack article below includes some examples, & you never have to wait long for more examples. Yesterday, he suggested Democrats using free speech to encourage military to obey the law should be "punishable by death."

SCOTUS heard oral arguments re Trump’s tariffs on Nov. 5. Some Facts and Thoughts: 1) Tariffs are a tax. The definition is literally “a tax imposed on imported goods.” 2) The tax is paid by the company receiving imported goods. The company has to pay the tariff at the port to receive the goods

1/This is what weaponization of the government really looks like. I support holding anyone accountable Dem or GOP for any sexual abuse they were involved with. But I'm not okay with any President of either party trying to cover up or deflect from a story by weaponizing the government against others.

For context, did you notice the question Epstein is responding to here is specifically a question about Trump's "attitude towards women"? To which he responds: "I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body." #Epstein #EpsteinFiles

Yes, but what if Trump sends them a check for $2000?

🧵1/"You say things sometimes in a campaign." This encapsulates Trump's approach. He doesn't really believe all the things he says. He just says whatever he thinks will help him politically or set the narrative he wants.

It's MAGA's own speculation that the true intent behind the Dem's military video was to get the military to disobey "legal" orders from Trump that MAGA is angry about, even though that is not what the video said. Without assuming bad motives, nothing noteworthy really happened.

1/#DOGE experiment is over. Did we get anything more significant than some chaotic months, hundreds of thousands of children dying, and more gov spending? Federal spending is up almost $500 Billion vs. 2024. National debt has increased about $2 trillion since Trump took office.

Trump: "You say things sometimes in a campaign." I don't think I'll ever understand why MAGA believes that Trump (1) tells the truth, and (2) is not a politician (is there anything more quintessentially politician than "you just say whatever you have to in a campaign"?)

1/I've never seen a President more openly hostile to free speech than Trump. My Substack article below includes some examples, & you never have to wait long for more examples. Yesterday, he suggested Democrats using free speech to encourage military to obey the law should be "punishable by death."

#quietpiggy #Trump #piggy

Video where I explain Trump's strategy for responding to the Epstein files, a strategy Trump laid out in 1998 for how a President should handle a scandal, incl. (1) don't admit anything, (2) play the victim, (3) accuse others of bias and wrongdoing. #Epstein m.facebook.com/story.php?st...

1/This is what weaponization of the government really looks like. I support holding anyone accountable Dem or GOP for any sexual abuse they were involved with. But I'm not okay with any President of either party trying to cover up or deflect from a story by weaponizing the government against others.

For context, did you notice the question Epstein is responding to here is specifically a question about Trump's "attitude towards women"? To which he responds: "I have met some very bad people. None as bad as Trump. Not one decent cell in his body." #Epstein #EpsteinFiles

Fair enough, but someone should have a serious conversation with the Democratic strategists in charge of gathering oppo on Trump who never thought to check whether the Epstein estate might have any dirt on Trump leading into the election. Could've been a very different election.

Quite an endorsement!

She says "You don't gaslight the American people and you don't deny what's happening." But he does, doesn't he?

Trump has a long list of things he thinks nobody knows:

SCOTUS heard oral arguments re Trump’s tariffs on Nov. 5. Some Facts and Thoughts: 1) Tariffs are a tax. The definition is literally “a tax imposed on imported goods.” 2) The tax is paid by the company receiving imported goods. The company has to pay the tariff at the port to receive the goods

I wrote a Substack article re Free Speech. Analysis of certain actions of Biden, Trump, etc. that have been accused of suppressing free speech and violating the First Amendment. Whose actions do you think are worse violations of the First Amendment? Article: open.substack.com/pub/bimpire/...

A lot of posts try to explain why the other party is doing something. "This is why Democrats/Republicans did X" or "They're just trying to . . ." Everyone should react to posts like this with extreme skepticism. Apply Hanlon's Razor instead.

Looks like the new ballroom is coming along nicely:

I've seen some conservatives suggest it's ridiculous to say Trump is acting like a king. So I'm curious, for those who think he is, what are some of the ways you think Trump has acted like a king?

Some options for responding to #nokings protests:

Decided to try out posting some thoughts re Free Speech on Substack. I've seen a lot of misunderstandings re the legal protections for free speech. Hopefully, this helps clarify some things: open.substack.com/pub/bimpire/p/…

Been thinking a lot about how to help the country. I'm not sure what the best ways are, but I feel compelled to try. Pretty sure hating each other will only make things worse & drive us to a darker place. I think love is the answer! I wish our leaders would try to bring us together, not divide us.

When people say we should trust that Trump knows what he's doing, and then I see him say something like this that shows he fundamentally misunderstands how trade works, it gets much harder to believe things are going to work out very well.

Self-serving bias is when people only take credit for successes & blame failures on something else. In reality, we play a part in both successes & failures. It's healthy & aids growth when we can admit a mistake. Do you think leaders should take full responsibility for their decisions, good or bad?

Did Trump break the law? Law: "It shall be unlawful for [the President] to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer"