217 Comments
User's avatar
Kevin's avatar
5hEdited

Would Trump be as quick to offer help after an earthquake in California, Washington, or Oregon as he seems to be with Venezuala? America first, right?

Mike Lew's avatar

Depends on how much oil revenue those states put in his pocket.

Ray in the LA South Bay's avatar

Or which AI CEOs begged for his help.

Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

To be fair, it doesn't have to be *oil* revenue . . . .

Dave Yell's avatar

......It could be anything.

Mike Lew's avatar

Correction accepted! 😀

Dave Yell's avatar

And next up on the hit parade; Greenland!

Mike Lew's avatar

I thought it was Cuba. 😀

If Cuba is smart, they'll buy some Russian drones with the range to reach Miami. I wonder if an American city being on the receiving end of a drone attack will change our appetite for war.

Dave Yell's avatar

Yes, I think you're right. Cuba is next followed by Greenland.

Duane Pierson's avatar

He's shown - how shall II put this? - tremendous resistance to help blue states w disasters, which is abt as un-American as you can get. Yet, even this incredible norm breaking, he was reelected in 2024.

Dave Yell's avatar

That is why we are no longer trusted by our allies or anyone else for that matter. Once elected can be a mistake. Twice is not! I hate to sound cynical here. But we did this to ourselves. And it could take a generation or so to get back to what we once had.

Sheri Smith's avatar

And a few million Californians voted for him - we have a large swath of California that loves Trump.

Dave Yell's avatar

I saw a Newsweek poll that had DJT underwater in all but 5 or 6 states. Wyoming was at +24 for DJT. +24! What the hell are those people thinking?

Duane Pierson's avatar

Listen, I was in WY in 2022 visiting nat'l parks out there. Saw a blizzard of "Let's Go Brandon" T-shirts.

Duane Pierson's avatar

I lived in CA, both northern & southern. A state of extremes, as well as a state of mind.

Sheri Smith's avatar

Me too! Menodocino originally and now Orange.

Duane Pierson's avatar

For me it's was the desert - Cathedral City - had a PO box right by the late director John Ford. Then, LA area - Venice. Finally the area that I really liked - just east of San Fran in Danville. Nothing but good memories of northern CA.

Sheri Smith's avatar

So cool about your PO box next to Ford’s!

Kate Fall's avatar

Because of it, Duane. He was elected to own the libs. That’s what the people want.

Rajeev's avatar

Only if he was allowed to extract Gavin Newsom by force.

Ron Bravenec's avatar

To him, blue states aren’t really America.

Quinazoline's avatar

I think he would trade WA, OR and CA for Alberta. Though, the crazy separatists in Alberta are not as prevalent as they'd like you to believe. But losing that many "blue" voters in this thought experiment would be a huge net positive for the Rs.

Sumi Ink 🇨🇦's avatar

Rhetorical question, right? Trump would, with great glee, announce that no federal aid is coming for that blue state. All he wants to do for blue states is punish them for not voting for him. But we already know all that.

Quinazoline's avatar

Or how about a giant wildfire in one, two or all three of these states? Which is probably far more likely to happen this summer than a 7.2 earthquake, although you never know what plate tectonics has up its sleeve. Major wildfires do serious damage in the coastal west (and the west in general). We've seen them before and each summer, while they are actually slightly decreasing in count, the size and severity of them is increasing, and they are encroaching on populated areas more and more.

The coastal western states are not "red", except when they are on fire.

Tim Coffey's avatar

Andrew: "Don’t say the guy’s lost his flair for the dramatic. The scene was almost Shakespearean: a sudden, shocking betrayal at the very last moment, leaving lawmakers aghast and ashen-faced."

Shocking? Not in the least bit. Elected GOP officials made a Crossroads deal with the Devil, and now the Devil owns their souls while these quislings and disreputable jackholes are looking around and wondering what happened.

For the people in the cheap seats: Trump cares about Trump. Exclusively. And he will betray anyone and everyone and not lose a moment's sleep. It's been this way for 80 years and will remain this way until he passes.

Lewis Grotelueschen's avatar

"The scene was almost Shakespearean"

Shakespeare as interpreted my Moe, Larry, and Curly.

Dave Yell's avatar

Yuk, yuk, yuk!

B Breivogel's avatar

Or more likely the Marx brothers.

Dave Yell's avatar

DJT: Who is this Shakespear guy?

Tim Coffey's avatar

< Trump > Shakespeare? He's not as hot as Lee Greenwood. Everyone's talking about it. Lee's so hot. If I weren't straight, I'd date him.

Botch Casually's avatar

It appears that your use of the word "passes" is a bit off. I get that you are trying to convey that the era of him acting from a position of extreme self-centeredness will only end when he shuffles off. But when I think how I might use the word "pass" in the context of his eventual physical disappearance from global scene, I think of it as akin to "passing" a foreign substance out of America's collective body, like "passing" a kidney stone or "maybe "passing" a bowling ball sized, fetid bile encrusted gallstone.

Upstate Democrat's avatar

Trump does not need to actually run our elections in order to overturn a Democratic House takeover. He needs to be able to create noise that he was denied the authority to run elections and therefore they were rife with fraud. That’s all Speaker Johnson needs.

Mike Lew's avatar

Exactly! His spurious accusations will provide plenty of cover to ensure the House and Senate stay Republican.

Fun fact: we don't have violent revolutions becausepeople believe elections matter. Take that away and all bets are off. A smart nation does its best to keep that genie in the bottle.

TomD's avatar

Yes. Chaos is all he needs.

Duane Pierson's avatar

Yes, there's different scenarios out there to keep power, at least for a time, by Republicans. One obvious one is to not seat House reps from states that are in not compliance w the nullification of section 2 of VRA.

J AZ's avatar

Upstate - exactly! As in the 2020 play per Jan 6 testimony: Rosen and Donoghue declined Trump's request to "Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_fake_electors_plot

…or his perfect calls to Zelenskyy - jusy SAY there’s an investigation, you don’t need to actually do it.

Create fodder to spin a tale. As JD Vance puts it, create stories. All like making content for web influencing. That’s entertainment!

Weswolf's avatar

Johnson already knows how to discuss election plots that are so clever, they leave no trace of ever having been carried out. He's figured out how to say that with a straight, concerned-looking face.

B Breivogel's avatar

Refuse to seat Democrats ?

Darlene Reeves's avatar

Yes! Our country is in big trouble. Trump is going to do everything he can to sow chaos. He’ll claim the election is rigged, try to find a way to get ballots and election tabulators, and he might outright lie about election results. If/when the American people (those of us in the real world) protest, he’ll use that as a pretense for the insurrection act or military intervention. I’m not sure even completely peaceful protests will stop the escalation. This can get really ugly.

Justin Lee's avatar

My analysis of the housing bill fiasco is even simpler. For everything that Trump does, the question he asks himself (or whoever is proposing the measure) is, "What's in it for me?" And it appears the answer for the housing bill was, "not a damn thing."

If the bill had any sweeteners (like money for the ballroom or even just officially renaming the Kennedy Center), he would have signed it.

Keith Wresch's avatar

We now know what is in it for him: quid pro quo on giving him control of the elections.

Justin Lee's avatar

I agree that he wants the SAVE Act, but his heart is really in the vanity projects. And he's a cheap date! Would Democrats have supported a bill that renames the Kennedy Center if the rest of the bill focused on lowering housing costs? I'm pretty sure they would.

Frau Katze's avatar

Good point! 😡

Mike Lew's avatar

We desperately need that ballroom! /s

JAMES ROY LEE's avatar

"That theory didn’t work on Iran. How far it will work on Senate Republicans remains to be seen."

The Iranian mullahs are smarter and tougher than Republican senators. It's not even close.

Mike Lew's avatar
4hEdited

Perhaps we would have had better success in Iran if the President issued more mean Truth Social posts. Mean Truth Socisl posts seem to terrify The World's Greatest Deliberative Body (tm)! 😀

Sumi Ink 🇨🇦's avatar

Senate Republicans are invertebrates. Quickest devolution in history, which started just a decade ago.

Mike Lew's avatar

It's so disappointing how little action is being taken to stop the nonexistent problem of voter fraud. /s

TomD's avatar

Nothing to thwart the flying pigs either.

Mike Lew's avatar
5hEdited

Sad! Thank you for your attention to this matter! 😀

Don Gates's avatar

'“I don’t want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes,” Trump said at a cabinet meeting in January. “And they can be assured that’s what’s going to happen.”'

Obviously, high housing prices are terrible for first-time home buyers, and really only a wash for single home owners, since you can make a lot of money selling your home, but then you have to live somewhere, and so you end up spending a lot of money on your next spot. The only people I see really benefiting from rising home prices are people who already own multiple properties and can make huge windfalls from selling them off. People like Donald Trump. And of course, the deportations of home builders and the tariffs on supplies were already putting a strain on housing prices. So yeah, congratulations to 77 million Americans; you voted for the Antichrist.

And why is it that Trump gets his own handpicked Postmasters General, while Biden gets saddled with Trump's handpicked Postmaster General, DeJoy? How does that work?

Dave Yell's avatar

Because democrats bring a knife to a gun fight.

Robert Jaffee's avatar

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

Is Trump high on his own supply? He doesn’t hold the cards—so to speak! The bill was passed by majorities in the house and by more than two thirds in the Senate: the bill becomes law in about a week, with or without his signature—its veto proof! Only in Trump’s America!🇺🇸

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER…🤪

Keith Wresch's avatar

Anyone who bankrupted casinos is unlikely to know a thing or two about cards.

Dave Yell's avatar

But he has Uno cards!

Keith Wresch's avatar

Except the other players keep making him draw 4, so his mass of cards keeps piling up. Winning! No one else ever had so many hugely, beautiful cards.

The Blockhead Chronicles's avatar

Curious if his veto will be overridden. It’s one thing to get majorities with an expected signature, another to overrule him.

Dave Yell's avatar

Lets see; House 352 to about 60 Senate;82 to about 12... Pardon my numbers but they are very close. According to my Minnesota math, that is better than 2/3. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!

B Breivogel's avatar

I think if rRump vetos it the republicans would fold to override.

Robert Jaffee's avatar

I certainly wouldn’t doubt it, apparently they’re already folding..:)

Robert Jaffee's avatar

I believe because both houses passed it with super majorities it automatically becomes law in 10 days. The caveat—Congress needs to be in session. So there is a chance it could be squashed—I guess…:)

Corinne Mitchell's avatar

Also, he might not know that if he doesn't sign or veto it, the bill it will become law anyway. Shhh...don't tell him.

Duane Pierson's avatar

As of last night Sp Johnson hadn't signed it. Also, going against a veto by a prez of your party is probably tougher than voting for a bipartisan bill.

But, yeah, Rs need it for the midterms, most likely a TACO.

Robert Jaffee's avatar

As the wise man once said, “we shall see!”…:)

Dave Yell's avatar

DJT: veto, what s a veto?

Linda Oliver's avatar

If Congress Remains In Session…

Robert Jaffee's avatar

💯 👍and that is a big “if”!…:)

Keith Wresch's avatar

Oh Bill Cassidy you had a moment of spinal erection only to slump back into place once the White House patted you on the head and gave you a cookie. First Congress with a few Republicans voted for the War Powers Resolution, but then after daddy came down and yelled at them, they decided to fall in line. Man, like a little hit of drama as much as anyone, but they still folded quickly. Trump can still squeeze the juice out of the Republican Senate, and that means he can squeeze more on the SAVE Act. I don’t hold out much hope with this bunch.

Kate Fall's avatar

Yeah. You’re a doctor and your actions killed babies via measles, so how do you get it back? How do you redeem yourself so you don’t go to Hell? I guess the task was too daunting so he surrendered to Satan.

I don’t know, I feel like that was it for me. America First loves dead babies and our media loves America First. People may not like dead babies, but the dead baby party gives them cheap gas and HBO. They also promise to let them hurt women who need abortions to subliminate their Dead Baby Party guilt. Babies don’t stand a chance.

I wonder why the birth rate blah blah blah.

Keith Wresch's avatar

But abortion of course is murder and a bridge too far.

Kate Fall's avatar

It’s how people convince themselves they don’t belong to the Dead Baby Party guilt. It’s the perfect decoy for that. Because once you bring in the death penalty, you’ve left religion far, far behind.

Different drummer's avatar

Bill, please keep sounding the alarm re the midterms. I have zero faith that they will be free and fair, or that the will of the voters will prevail. I have two close friends who believe that it is likely that moment when our next civil war will begin.

John Brennan's avatar

I’m with you. This needs to be shouted from the rooftops. The Wirth-Gephardt Memo mentions how they’ll do it: by invoking NPSM-7 and PEADS to expand presidential power, curtail free speech, and derail the election process, among others. I hope I’m being overly paranoid, but I think the time to plan responses is now.

Garvin's avatar

Regarding the Bulwark essay about the limits of Democratic Socialist election successes in New York City, I am reminded of JVL's observation from a few months ago that no New York mayor has ever had much of a lasting impact on the national stage. Rudy Giuliani is a case in point: world famous and still a political failure.

NYC elections are so relentlessly local and the issues there so impossibly unique that it is more a curiosity than any harbinger of the future. Like so many things situated in that city, their politics might make for a compelling movie script but we don't leave the theater as newly minted citizens of the metropolis. We go home to our own issues and move on from there.

Heidi Richman's avatar

Wait- NY 12 wasn’t a race between Schlossberg & Conway? I guess the actual people who live and vote there had their own ideas about the primary…

Dave Yell's avatar

Like Vegas, what goes on in NY city stays in NY city.

Mary's avatar

The real threat is Trump's willingness to use violence to achieve his goals. At this point, the notion that any constitutional rules will deter him is kinda quaint.

He will "control" the election one way or another, either through coercion or violence.

Dave Yell's avatar

"I choose violence". *Cercei Lannister

RRP's avatar

We need to see some Bulwark coverage of the Prairieland Texas protester convictions... a watershed moment

https://theintercept.com/2026/06/23/prairieland-texas-ice-protest-prison-sentences/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter

Dave Yell's avatar

Thanks for the story. But remember, it is Texas. Here in Mn. All protesters but one got their DOJ charges dismissed by Judges. The one who was convicted threw a softball at Ice last winter. (or was it a snowball?) Anyway she got 25 days. There is a little difference between the Lone star and the Northstar states!

Dan Leithauser's avatar

I like to provide the following statement in regards to "vote by mail" because the features and benefits of such a system are often left out of the conversation.

Washington State, 100% vote by mail since 2011. (Among 8+ states): No lost work. No standing in line. Vote from the comfort and security of your own home. Complete voter information providing candidate statements and “both sides” of a ballot issue for consideration sent weeks in advance. Multiple security features including proprietary barcoded envelopes and ballots along with signature verification. Completed, signed and sealed ballots mailed via USPS or placed in drop boxes prior to the election. Safe and secure. Well established record of vote security and integrity.

In a prior election, my signature was flagged for detected changes. Reasons were provided; signatures can change with age, time, writing style, etc. Send in or scan a current signature so voting in future elections will not be affected. I addressed my voter records on a state website account to provide a scan of a current signature. This verification proves that the system is providing accountability and voter integrity.

As for Trump?

President Trump: "I think mail-in voting is horrible, it's corrupt."

@carolelee: "You voted by mail in Florida's election last month, didn't you?"

Trump: "Sure. I can vote by mail"

Lee: "How do you reconcile with that?"

Trump: "Because I'm allowed to."

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/watch/trump-blasts-voting-by-mail-defends-himself-voting-by-mail-in-march-81757253658

Robin's avatar

The 2 most vocal anti vote by mail people I know (Trump and my mother) both voted by mail in the last election. And my mom has voted by mail in every election for the last 10 years.

But for some reason when *I* vote by mail I'm committing fraud.

McRob1234's avatar

The unfortunate reality is that to them you don't count. Only they count. (shrugs)

Linda Oliver's avatar

Trump is going to scream about fraud for any election in which the ballot is not personally put in his hand. They could pass this SAVE Act & he’d still yell. He wants to keep the doubt going.

Darlene Reeves's avatar

You could the ballot in his hand and if it’s not a vote for him, he will claim it’s rigged.

Linda Oliver's avatar

Quite possibly.

JMP's avatar

Oregon also has a practically perfect record for our 100% mail in voting process. Please tell me that the president will not be granted power over how states run their elections. This is so wrong that I cannot find the proper words to protest the possibility.

Carole Langston's avatar

Earthquake money to a Dictator country but no food for American children.

Mike Lew's avatar

Yeah, but how many kickbacks can a starving child provide? Priorities!

Carole Langston's avatar

Yes. Grifter in Chief.

Dave Yell's avatar

or affordable housing

Colleen Kochivar-Baker's avatar

This is put up or shut up time for those in the GOP House and Senate who have been knifed in the back by Trump. Join with the Dems to tank legislation or deny a quorum. Better yet, declare yourselves independent and join with the Dems to change House leadership and deny MAGA Mike the power to refuse to seat Congressional winners in the 2026 midterms. What do you have to lose because you aren't going to win the House. Put your country over your loser party.

Heidi Richman's avatar

If MAGA Mike pulls his recess bs to stop the housing bill from becoming law in 10 days, then seems like purple place R’s stand to gain from following your plan. Elect one of ‘em as the new Speaker.

Darlene Reeves's avatar

Love this idea. Hope democrat senators are working the chamber to get those republicans on the right side of history.