A Bad Case Of Gas

By Hubie and Bertie

Another not-so-stellar week for Benedict Donald and his Nazi storm troopers, despite multiple Supreme Court decisions in their favor. In the lower courts, they keep losing and losing: either in voting-rights suits or, amazingly, in one Jeffrey-Epstein-related suit that promises a lot of good grins going forward. And of course the algae in the reflecting pool is still going strong, not that anyone attending the lackluster "Freedom 250" events on the Mall could tell. (Fencing and tarp, ya know.)

And speaking of tarp, the Trumpsters have been ordered to explain why it's still up at the Kennedy Center. What will they say? "Because, Your Honor, our client is a whiny man baby"? There can't be any other reason. It's not as if Donald's name is still up and crossed off. It's not there.

And if you can tell us what, exactly, is going on with Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, we'll shake your hand and give you a Daniel Webster cigar. In short, Trumpian chaos continues to reign, and we haven't even mentioned the Republican-controlled Congress yet. What a mess.

To keep himself busy, Donald is apparently fretting about gas prices. Not that he cares they're doing to your pocketbook, but maybe because he recognizes how much trouble he and the GOP will be in this fall because of them. The price of crude oil declined, he bleats — why don't prices at the pump go down faster? As numerous experts have explained, it doesn't necessarily work that way.

Donald Trump, the champion of the resentful white working class, hasn't a clue about how regular people live. Has he ever filled a gas tank in his life? Shopped for groceries? Taken a suit to the dry cleaner? Bought anything at Home Depot? The answer is no.

Kind of takes you back to the days of George H.W. Bush's amazement at a supermarket scanner, doesn't it? Republicans have always been disconnected from everyday reality. We cats HISS.

Schadenfreude In NY-21

By Miss Kubelik

We cats no longer live in New York's 21st Congressional District, thank goodness. We were recently redistricted in NY-20, but the border between being represented by MAGAt Elise "Elsie" Stefanik and Democrat Paul Tonko is maybe a block away. If someone opens a can of tuna in a house in the 21st, we hear it.

Which means that we drive around NY-21 a lot. Before yesterday's primary, we couldn't help noticing the dearth of yard signs for Republican Congressional candidate Robert Smullen — among many, many (ugly) ones at the side of the road for his Trump-endorsed opponent, Anthony Constantino.

 This was strange. Smullen was officially endorsed by the New York Republican Party (hi, Ed Cox!). Surely that meant he had the full weight of county parties' organizing muscle behind him... right?

Another oddity: Constantino supporters far outnumbered Smullen stans at a candidates' forum in Saratoga Springs last week. Although bad behavior by both Constantino and his fans caused the event to spiral into chaos (see above), Smullen's lack of visibility in the crowd was campaign malpractice. If you can't turn your people out to a candidate Q&A, you won't be able to turn them out on Election Day.

Spoiler: He didn't. Smullen was crushed by Constantino by 19 points.

We cats are enjoying this very much. Smullen will be listed on the Conservative Party line on the November ballot, and now he has to figure out if he's going to stay there and fight, or throw in the towel to a guy whose hand he refused to shake after a debate in May. And while party leaders in the 21st district are grudgingly endorsing Constantino (even though he didn't meet with many of them during the primary to ask for their support), the state GOP has a conundrum on its hands — thanks to New York's weird multi-party ballot and Benedict Donald throwing a monkey wrench into everything.

(And what will "Elsie" do? Will she finally get off her ass the fence and endorse Constantino? All she's done so far is tweet an anodyne statement, saying the primary was a "hard-fought election and the voters have spoken loudly." How bold! How trenchant!)

Take heart, New York Republicans. You're not the only ones suffering from Trump wreaking havoc in your party. Look what happened on Capitol Hill today: a canceled bill signing, a shouting match at lunch. The GOP is such a bunch of happy campers right now. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Alexander MacDougall, The Times-Union)

"There May Be Trouble Ahead"

By Zamboni

We all know by now that Benedict Donald is a malignant narcissist, right? Heck, way back in 2019, someone who knew him well wrote a whole article on it. "Trump's ingrained and extreme behavioral characteristics make it impossible for him to carry out the duties of the presidency in the way the Constitution requires," said George Conway.

Since then, things have gotten worse — much worse. Donald's tendencies are showing themselves more and more, past his handlers' ability to contain. The most recent ones are almost too numerous to list. But check out this description and see if it doesn't fit Trump to a tee:

"Malignant narcissists are driven by an underlying sense of profound inadequacy, shame, and a desperate need to avoid being perceived as weak. Because their ego is entirely reliant on maintaining an illusion of superiority, they fear humiliation above all else."

Why? "Beneath their grandiose and often ruthless exterior lies a deeply insecure core. To compensate for their fragile self-worth, they utilize control and dominance. Humiliation strips away the power and leverage they use to manipulate others."

Wow. We can all marvel at how millions of people could look at someone like Trump and say, yeah, I want that guy in the Oval Office instead of the smart Black lady. (Or the smart white lady eight years ago.) But the bit about humiliation is worth worrying about. Because Donald has had a lot of it lately. Reflecting pool, anyone?

And tonight, there's more: The Senate has passed the Iran War Powers Act, 50 to 48. (Cassidy, Collins, Murkowski, and Paul voted "yes." McConnell and McCormick were absent.) With the House having passed it already, it heads to Trump's desk. He'll veto it, of course — reminding zillions of midterm voters how much they hate the stupid war and what it's done to their pocketbooks. Tomorrow's Senate luncheon should be mighty interesting, yes? (Trump is planning to attend.) In the meantime, though, his behavior is concerning: A cornered narcissist is capable of just about anything. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: The reflecting pool at the Obama Presidential Center, Chicago. This is how you do it.)

Destined For Memedom

By Baxter

What was the best thing about the Obama Presidential Center opening? That it birthed a new Barack-and-Hillary meme?

Well, maybe it wasn't the best thing — it was a wonderful, uplifting event — but it's still pretty darn good. In fact, the entire last week has been a veritable meme factory, what with Benedict Donald stinking up the joint at the G7, his Iran MOU getting trashed left and right, and the ongoing disaster at the Reflecting Pool. Quick: Any guesses as to whether the Strait of Hormuz is open right now? Don't ask JD Vance — he's busy getting ignored by the Iranian delegation in Switzerland.

That's the second time a US leader has appeared isolated in a week. Here are two viral shots of Trump looking forlorn while the G7 leaders talk animatedly with each other (i.e., with anybody but him).

Since we're mostly on social media for the memes and grins, we're looking forward to seeing what all the creative people out in Blueskyland do with these two gems. But there's a sober side to all this, too: Getting frozen out/laughed at/disrespected is what Trump and Vance richly deserve, but it's obviously terrible for the country, and potentially disastrous for the world.

We don't blame our allies. We don't even blame the Iranians. We just hope that America can survive until we kick these knaves and fools out of office. Paws crossed. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Thought For The Day: Juneteenth Gives Us All An Opportunity To Pause And Learn

 
"Join me on the journey to freedom," says the Harriet Tubman mural in Cambridge, Maryland. You can learn more about the Harriet Tubman Underground Railway here. We cats PURR.

The Event In Chicago Today Felt Like The *Real* Celebration Of America 250

And here's a wickedly good cartoon to go along with it. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Mike Luckovich, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

De Adder Du Jour (Plus Some Simpletons, Fools, And Lunatics)

By Sniffles

The Reflecting Pool's icky algae seems symbolic of the mess the next President will have to clean up after Trump/Vance and their storm troopers leave office. (Yes, we assume a Democrat wins next time.)

This "mop-up-after-Republican-disasters" phenomenon isn't just a case of FDR having to save the country from Herbert Hoover's Depression-era fecklessness. It happens all the time. Bill Clinton had to come in and fix the lousy economy that George H.W. Bush left behind. Later, Barack Obama inherited a financial meltdown from Bush's smirky son that made Daddy's fiasco pale in comparison. Then Joe Biden had to pull us all out of the COVID pandemic that Benedict Donald screwed up so royally.

But now, things are even worse. President Ossoff will have a real clusterf*ck on his hands when he takes over, won't he? On top of all the terrible things Trump has done, his Iran disaster will haunt our foreign policy and standing in the world for decades. And our allies won't forgive and forget easily — if ever.

Here's just one example from today's Globe & Mail (Canada) — "Trump's Iran Deal Is a National Humiliation":

"If you're looking for the silver lining [in the deal], the 'yes, but,' you can stop looking. This is Trump, after all. He is a simpleton, surrounded by fools and lunatics. They had no idea of what they were getting into with this war, no plan to prosecute it, and no clue as to what would come after. A few days' bombing, a decapitated leadership, and they'd leave everyone else to clean up the mess."

Good grief. It looks like Ossoff will need to take a page from Obama's book and pick a superstar to serve as Secretary of State — somebody who can speak with absolute authority and assuage lots of bad feelings abroad — while he attends to things at home. And we know the perfect person for the job. Brush up your résumé, former Vice President Kamala Harris, your country will need you. We cats PURR.

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder, deadder.net)

"Contractions Are Painful But They Are Necessary For New Birth"

We don't know about you, but we're rushing out to buy Raphael Warnock's book. Thank you, Senator Reverend! We cats PURR.

Work Of Art

 

Njideka Akunyili Crosby's official portrait of Barack and Michelle Obama was unveiled at the Obama Presidential Center yesterday, and — coming on the same day as that tacky event at the White House — it was a cleansing bit of good news. We cats like the painting very much. It's especially interesting to us that its dominant figure is not the President but the First Lady — a brilliant, accomplished, commanding, beautiful Black woman. Take that, Josh Hokit. We cats PURR.

Oh, Lordy, As They Say

By Hubie and Bertie

How many individual scandals can you roll into one big, fat, ugly, stinky, scary scandal? By our count, it's three.

The "Somebody In The White House Gave Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan Recordings from the Situation Room" Scandal — It was bad enough that Regime Change authors Haberman and Swan had a blow-by-blow of the Sit Room Epstein confab in the first place. But tapes? OMG. "Such a taped leak would be a shocking breach of one of the most secure settings on Earth," Axios reports. "Independent recording devices in the Situation Room are forbidden."

The "Republicans Will Excuse Serious Breaches in National Security As Long As They're the Ones Doing It" Scandal — That scrambling sound you hear is Lindsey Graham frantically trying to concoct a defense of the indefensible that he can then parrot on TV and social media.

The "My Book Is More Important Than Your Right to Know" Scandal — Reporters like Haberman and Swan sitting on alarmingly massive scoops just so they can write and sell books months later is everything (well, nearly everything) that's wrong with journalism today.

Finally, not a scandal, but a haunting refrain: Can you imagine the reaction if something like this happened under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or Joe Biden? Every one if them would be impeached, tarred and feathered, drawn and quartered, and then shot. But Donald and the Trumpsters? Don't hold your breath. We cats HISS.