ACTION/REACTION. KARMA IS REAL. AND SO IS OUR ANGER

Groundhog Day in America continues… The Trump administration continues playing footsie with press access, while wink wink nudge nudging our court system. His DOJ is like a heat-seeking missile, looking for every crack and crevice in our system of laws to exploit. While professing with a straight face adherence to court orders. And why wouldn’t they? It works. They get chastised. Reprimanded. Ordered. But still ultimately benefit from this strategy. Donald Trump has always treated the courts like a game to be played. Not like a president with a Constitution and an oath of office to be upheld. Latest poke. A doomsday video with a glowering Trump walking down a hall toward the camera while his voice intoned: “This is the final battle. With you at my side, we will demolish the deep state. We will expel the warmongers from our government. We will drive out the globalists, we will cast out the communists, Marxists, and fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake news media, and we will liberate America from these villains once and for all.” “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” And who pays for the US government? While the WH maintained the ad was a PSA, Richard Painter, who served as a WH ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, said using public funds for “government-sponsored propaganda” could be “an impeachable offense.” Could be would be should be but meh. As inquiring minds pondered on social: “Why is there a Donald Trump ad during an NFL game when he’s not running for office and why is the US government paying for a political ad[?]” Illegal pocket rescissions on Friday. Taxpayer-funded vanity ads on Saturday. While removing about 760,000 people from ACA health coverage rolls, claiming they were fraudulently enrolled in the program. And that cutting them and dishonest brokers (LOL) would save $2.2B. A few karmic developments… Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, who voted four times against forcing Trump to end the Iran war (now the GOP candidate for the Senate), is now complaining about the high cost of gas and diesel. Ditto GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers of Michigan also previously supported the war but now is saying “[t]he war with Iran needs to end and end quickly.” Senator Susan Collins declaring ‘nothing to see here’ after a ProPublica’s story that her 2020 campaign accepted an illegal $150K contribution from a defense contractor in exchange for a US government contract. In Texas, some (read, not all) Republican leaders backed away from Bo French, their nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, after a racist social media post about UT football fans. And turns out French has repeatedly called for public executions of his political opponents. Including Obama, using the hashtag “HangEmHigh.” But, exhibiting the high moral standards they brag about, neither Texas gov Greg Abbott (running for reelection) nor the GOP nominee running for the senate, AG Ken Paxton, has withdrawn their endorsement of French. The NYT reports that KS Senator Roger Marshall (an obstetrician) sued more than 700 of his patients for outstanding bills. Charged patients 18% interest. Garnished wages and bank accounts. And 81 of his patients were arrested for missing court dates. Most of those unable to pay their bills were from a rural county with higher than average rates of poverty. And lack of health insurance. The unpaid bills were as little as $101. A bipartisan effort to ban the demolition of presidential memorials, including the Kennedy Center, was blocked Monday night in the Senate by an objection from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah). We read all this and more while Republican lawmakers are trying to blame Trump and his appointees for their unpopularity with voters. Even though Republican senators confirmed a number of those appointees. Those elephants have short memories. A GOP senator told reporters: “There are a lot of people that are really upset with the war in Iran and how it’s being played out. We feel it’s hurting our chances in the elections in the fall, and it seems rather haphazard.” Note the order of concern…job first. War second. Meanwhile, making hay while the sun shines…a Trump company filed a trademark application for “TRUMP TV,” the new streaming channel the WH launched after Trump’s ban of reporters left him without television coverage for one whole day. Yep. The whole bunch of them are walking, talking PSAs.