Seat Of Power?

By Hubie and Bertie

In 1945, just back from Yalta and weeks before his death, Franklin D. Roosevelt apologized to Congress for addressing them from a chair instead of standing at a lectern. "I hope you'll pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down," he said, "but I know that you will realize that it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about 10 pounds of steel at the bottom of my legs."

It was a rare FDR acknowledgement of his polio-induced disability. He and his staff masked it so efficiently — and the press cooperated so thoroughly — that many Americans probably wondered what he meant by the "10 pounds of steel" reference. We can picture them listening to their radios and saying, "Wait, what?"

So, okay, we cats adore Franklin Roosevelt. But we have at least two quibbles with him. The first is the obvious one — the Japanese-American internment camps. The second is his lack of candor with the American people about his health in 1994-45. Although we pretty much understand why he did it, there's no excuse for his having kept VP Harry Truman in the dark about the atomic bomb and more.

Having admitted that, we have to say that the current cloak of silence around Benedict Donald's situation is extraordinary. We are well past a time in which the press would willingly collude with a popular President to come less-than-clean about his health, right? (We're thinking not just of FDR but of JFK.) But Trump isn't even popular now. So what's stopping journalists from demanding answers about Trump's health?

He's disappearing for days (if not a week) at a time. He's making appearances and giving remarks sitting down. He's repeating speeches from one event to another. He's got ewwy punctures on his neck, swollen cheeks, and bruises on his hands — not to mention weird bulges under his suit coats and trousers. WTF is going on?

This is the exact situation that the 25th amendment, enacted in the wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination, was meant to prevent. It guarantees that we will have a functioning President in the event of a current President's death, resignation, removal, or incapacitation. Sadly, the "incapacitation" part requires the Vice President and the Cabinet to take action. Which is not going to happen, right?

The thing about the Constitution is, it's not perfect. We can make it better. That's what amendments are for. So maybe we need an amendment to improve the 25th amendment? We cats PURR.

Benedict Donald Gets Slapped Back Again, Sleeps Through It

 

By Miss Kubelik

Well, actually, we don't know if Trump slept through his most recent smackdowns on Capitol Hill. But if he didn't, he surely will be shitposting about them all night. (Or maybe deciding to bomb Iran?)

Three Republican Senators — Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski — voted today with Democrats to keep the odious and utterly inexperienced Bill Pulte from becoming the acting DNI. Then the House passed a new aid package to Ukraine, with 18 (count 'em, 18) GOP members defying Donald.

So much winning! If Biden or Obama or Clinton had this many losses in the space of a week, the media would be hyperventilating. Democratic pearl clutchers would be collapsing on their fainting couches, and the Republicans would be declaring the President dead.

Which is precisely what some tweeters and skeeters were saying when Trump went seven days without a live, in-person appearance — finally showing up yesterday at an Oval Office presser to talk about nonsense. He also made a special effort to insult CNN's Kaitlin Collins. It's inexplicable that nobody in the White House press corps will stand up for the women Trump abuses. We cats HISS.

Rock-A-Bye, Donald

By Baxter

After the rumpus that the media kicked up over Joe Biden's debate performance nearly two years ago, why don't journalists ask what the heck is up with Benedict Donald? Biden's bad debate was a single event. But Trump has appeared both mentally and physically compromised for months, in many different ways.

Today, he fell asleep during a public event (again). He can't walk a straight line from Marine One to the White House, and he when he descends the stairs from Air Force One, he grips the handrails for dear life. Every month he disappears for days at a time, and then re-emerges with bruises on the back of his hands, slathered in bad makeup.

He rarely holds road rallies now, and when he does go out in public, there are strange bulges under his suit that suggest Foley catheters or ventricular assist devices (placed as a bridge to a heart transplant).

Yes, it's an old saw at this point, but can you imagine if Joe Biden did stuff like this? Jake Tapper would be busy churning out his seventh book. (That's how many deadly sins there are, you know.)

The press's lack of curiosity has naturally left the rest of us to indulge in speculation. Currently, the favored narrative is that Team Trump is quietly preparing not just for a Democratic Congress (yes, please) but for a time, perhaps soon, when Donald is decedent or completely incapacitated — when the ruse can't be sustained anymore, even with our compliant, knee-bending media. The question in our furry minds is: What, if anything, are the Trumpsters telling Vance? We're guessing, not much. It might be the most flagrant instance of keeping a veep in the dark since Roosevelt and Truman in 1945. We cats HISS.

Time To Take The Keys Away

"This is not the behavior of a stable, healthy leader. Pope Leo, for his part, said he has no fear of the Administration and will continue to preach the messages of the Gospel. The rest of us, however, should be very worried about a Commander in Chief who is trying to govern the country between social-media binges, who attacks religious leaders in narcissistic frenzy, and who imagines himself as a deity. If an elderly parent did such things, most people would be concerned. The President doing such things is far more alarming.

"The American people must not look away, as they have done so often in the past. They must pay attention to the President’s deterioration, and insist that the House and Senate start acting like functioning branches of the government by asking the White House to explain what is happening, without insults or evasions, before the eyes of the country and the world."

—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

The Bat Man Speaks, Trump TACOs

By Miss Kubelik

Pope Leo may not have taken off after Benedict Donald with a baseball bat today, but when he spoke out against Trump's Iran threats, he might as well have. Leo knocked it out of the park, and as we all now know, Trump caved. Sadly, the farce will start all over again in two weeks.

This is why we try our damndest to limit our exposure to Donald Trump. He's simply not healthy for children and other living things.

We saw a lot of talk on the interwebs today about Congress. Leo himself actually suggested that Americans call their members and Senators to get them to do something. (Did the Capitol switchboard crash? You can only wonder.) We cats mostly lurked on the social platforms, but whenever we got the chance, we reminded tweeters and skeeters that Republicans are in charge of the House and Senate, not us. In Trump's first term, when we had control of the House, we impeached the motherfucker not once but twice. It was Republicans who refused to convict. Which would have prevented him running again.

Meanwhile, we're wondering if Trump's "civilization will die tonight" tweet will have any effect on today's special election in GA-14. The former Congresswoman from that district, Marjorie Taylor Greene, published an absolutely scathing anti-Trump, anti-Iran-war post yesterday. Will that have any effect on the margin? Shawn Harris won't win — but could he come close, and put another scare into the GOP? (Right now, Harris is only three percentage points behind with 40 percent of the vote in.) That would make us cats PURR.

(UPDATE, April 8: Looks like Republican Clay Fuller ended up beating Shawn Harris by 11 points. Less than two years ago, MTG won re-election by 30 points. We hope Harris is willing to run again in November — it'll be fun to make Republicans spend money in a district they should be able to completely take for granted. We cats PURR.)

Time For This Again

"It's really difficult to cover [Trump] in a way that conveys how unhinged he is. That's kind of how people are trained to do political journalism. It's like, OK, what did he say that was newsworthy, what's new? So you kind of pick up those things and convey them to your audience. But in reality, when you actually watch his rallies, you see that they're full of hatred, he's lying constantly, and a lot of it is incoherent.

"It's true that he talks to the press a lot. But he doesn't really convey meaningful information."

—Aaron Rupar, in The Times

"Dignity, Always Dignity"

By Zamboni

This uplifting Easter message from Benedict Donald was not the last word from him today. He was seen later at his golf club in Virginia, not exactly looking chipper — but apparently the White House felt they had to produce him in some fashion because of all the Walter Reed rumors flying around. And now he's allegedly going to have a press conference on Monday at 1 PM.

Maybe he'll clear up why he keeps shifting his so-called "deadline" for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, but that's doubtful, isn't it? (Besides, don't we already kinda know it's all about manipulating the markets?)

It's easy to forget, what with all the (deliberate) chaos, that Trump has delayed that deadline at least five times. And who knows what he's going to say tomorrow? Is he going to give another meaningless Iran ultimatum, or will he announce who won the sweepstakes to be the next Attorney General? Or is the presser just to prove to the world that he's still alive? All we know is, reporters better ask good questions. (Sadly, they probably won't.)

This is all a handy reminder that the Republicans control both houses of Congress, and they could stop this madness any time they wanted to. We cats are disgusted, and we HISS.

Donny-Brook

By Zamboni

It's pretty amusing how Republicans who are electorally vulnerable in the fall have raced to condemn Trump's posting last night of the Obamas as apes. And how, after Karoline Leavitt scolded all of us for being upset about nothing earlier today, the White House has not only walked it back but changed its story several times.

Benedict Donald, who has been famously racist for decades, now says he told an anonymous "staffer" to post the offending video, but that he didn't see the whole thing before he gave the order. Hmm. Why would you tell your team to publish something without having viewed it yourself? Never mind — all excuses from Team Trump are total crap.

But let's take this seriously for a moment: Does Donald have control over his social media account, or not? We've all seen how, um, not there Trump is these days. Is there a small group of people (Miller, Cheung, unnamed "staffers") who also have access? If so, who are those people, exactly? And do they have clearance to access and disseminate messages on one of the world's most followed social media accounts? And if they do, will they continue to?

After all, and let's extrapolate here: Couldn't this anonymous "staffer," in the middle of a squiffy night, post something like an image of, say, the Prophet Muhammad fucking a sheep — after which the entire Arab world would declare war on the United States? Which could, seriously, end in some kind of nuclear war? Just spitballing here.

Meanwhile, this is just more pain that Trump is inflicting on Republicans who are already looking at total obliteration in November. And all those endangered Republicans who are grateful that the White House took the image down? They should only be in the clear when Trump apologizes for his racist shit. (Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, we're looking at you.) We cats are disgusted at it all, and we HISS.

P.S. If Senator Tim Scott is truly offended by this Obama post, he could — as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee — refuse to hold hearings on Federal Reserve nominee Kevin Warsh until Donald apologizes. If Scott is your Senator, maybe call or email him.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Foreign Policy Mishegoss Edition

By Hubie and Bertie

The world's attention is on Davos, Switzerland, this week, as Benedict Donald continues to threaten Greenland and French prez Macron and others push back. But what everybody really wants to know is, what's with the lunettes de soleil? Is Macron channeling his inner Dark Brandon? (LOL — apparently it's some minor eye infection. Or he figured out a nifty way to steal the spotlight from certain hoggers of same.)

Whatever the reason, here are some of our initial impressions from Davos Day Two:

The forum's star today was definitely Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. Yep, we know we're prejudiced when it comes to our Neighbor to the North, but jeez — it was so smart of Canada to put a hardheaded economist in charge just as Trump started rampaging about tariffs and takeovers. Carney's speech, which quoted Václav Havel's Power of the Powerless essay, brilliantly placed Havel's theory of "living the lie" squarely into the international conundrums of 2026:

"The system's power comes not from its truth but from everyone's willingness to perform as if it were true. And its fragility comes from the same source: When even one person stops performing...the illusion begins to crack." In short, Western powers, stop assuming Trump's behavior is normal, and act accordingly.

We cats don't know about you, but any major economic speech that quotes Václav Havel is a-okay by us.

Meanwhile, back in Berlin Washington, Donald spent two hours at the White House lectern rambling on about — well, about what, exactly? All we know is that at some point this afternoon, thought leaders we follow on social media began posting things like "Every network in America should be carrying this right now. People need to see the condition their President is in." Gosh, what's going to happen when he speaks in Davos? And will Jake Tapper write a book about it? (Nah.)

So, lots and lots going on. But a thought occurred to us: Is Donald acting like a maniac because Jack Smith is testifying to Congress in public on Thursday? We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

Going Over Like A Lead Balloon

 

"This was not a holiday address from the President of a great democracy to its citizens. This was a desperate tin-pot leader yelling into a microphone while cornered in his palace redoubt. Trump has been unraveling for weeks, and his speech tonight, like Trump himself, was unworthy of America and its people."

—Tom Nichols, The Atlantic

Tidbits And Cat Treats: A Deli-icious Week Edition

By Miss Kubelik

Well, everyone, we cats hope you will kick back for at least a few hours this weekend and enjoy the afterglow of the last few days. The chinks in MAGA's armor are becoming so pronounced that even pundits in Canada are saying it's reverberating for the Conservative Party up there. Is the end of Trumpism near? Only if we keep working. Our mission, should we decide to accept it, is to replicate Tuesday's wide winning margins in the midterms next year. So rest up and energize! Meanwhile, here are some additional news items that have gotten our attention:

DC Sandwich Guy was acquitted yesterday in a gloriously unanimous jury verdict. What an embarrassment for Judge Box o' Wine and the DOJ. And now the Democratic Party has a new star (or hero, as everyone's been saying). Since some of our longtime Democratic leaders are starting to head for the exits (see: Pelosi, Nancy, who has earned her rest and relaxation), perhaps DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, should also retire and we should run Sandwich Guy in her place.

It's pretty neat that the Democratic candidate for Attorney General in Virginia was able to overcome a maddening double standard and not only survive his "violent texts scandal" but also win by a comfortable six points. Even better that the Republican member who leaked the texts lost her seat in the House of Delegates on Tuesday.

Senate Democrats have just proposed a reasonable solution to the government shutdown: Extend the ACA subsidies for a year, and use that time to hammer out longer-term healthcare fixes. The Republicans are poised to reject it. We don't know what they're thinking, and why they don't understand that 1) Americans blame them and Trump for the shutdown, and 2) the optics on everything they're doing are simply terrible. Perhaps some former Republican can explain it to us?

(Hmmm, maybe they have suddenly grasped at least some of the optics. Rumor has it that the Administration is seeking to comply with court orders and pay November SNAP benefits in full after all. The idea of empty plates at Thanksgiving may have been too much, even for the GOP. But we'll believe it when it happens.)

Republicans still have to deal with a lot of other bad optics, though — especially this one from yesterday, when someone at an Oval Office event fainted, and Trump just stood there like the sociopath he is:

This was after he fell asleep in his chair during the speeches, that is. Will reporters ever ask about his mental and physical state, or just continue to ignore what everyone can see? We cats HISS.

(UPDATE: Heedless of the optics after all, Team Trump went crying to SCOTUS yesterday about SNAP. Sadly for them, it landed with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose administrative stay, say observers, is probably the best way to get SNAP payments out the door fast.)

Madeleine Dean (D-PA) Vs. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Pedophile Protector)

"He knows it. They know it. They've always known it. Amongst themselves, they joke about it. They tell stories about it. They swap advice on how to deal with it.

"But most importantly, to everyone else, they lie about it. They pretend not to see it. They change the subject when they are confronted with it. And that's why they are responsible for the fact that we have deeply mentally ill president, surrounded by other deeply unwell people."

—George Conway

"We're Marching To A Faster Pace / Look Out, Here Comes The Master Race"

 

From all accounts, the flag officers who were forced to fly in from around the world to listen to cringe-y authoritarian dreck spewed by Benedict Donald and Pete Kegstand bore up stoically. But what were they silently thinking? Maybe something like this.

Every one of them has a decision to make: What will they do when Trump orders them to commit an unconstitutional act? Let's hope they have a plan, because the country depends on it. We cats HISS.

Rumors, Part Deux

Happy Labor Day, everybody! The "Is he dead yet?" rumors continue to fly — mostly since all the world gets these days is proof-of-life-from-a-distance photos and tweets that sound suspiciously like... well, not Donald. Thankfully, as always, California Governor Gavin Newsom knew exactly how to have fun with it. We cats PURR.

"Thank You For Your Attention To This Matter"

By Miss Kubelik

It's been a week, an eternity in politics, and the Jeffrey Epstein files story just won't die. Even though Epstein himself did.

The last we checked, Dan Bongino was about to bolt the FBI (a job he seems to hate anyway), and MAGA world was still erupting over Pam Bondi's Epstein announcement back on July 6. All this was happening because not only did Donald himself campaign on releasing Epstein's client list, he told Bondi to get the ball rolling — after which she told the world in February that the files were "on her desk." But now the administration was saying that Epstein's client list doesn't exist at all — and, oh, by the way, Jeffrey really, truly did commit suicide. (Did somebody in the press ask that recently? We don't recall.)

Then Donald tweeted this weekend that the "Files" actually did exist, and were created by his political enemies. 

"For years, it's Epstein, over and over again," Benedict Donald huffed and puffed on Saturday. "Why are we giving publicity to Files written by Obama, Crooked Hillary, Comey, Brennan, and the Losers and Criminals of the Biden Administration?"

Well, all righty, then. Are you following all this?

MAGA's Epstein meltdown has been so alarming to Trump that he's been desperately trying to change the subject. Out of the blue, he threatened to take away Rosie O'Donnell's American citizenship. (Sorry, Donald, but that's not a thing.) And O'Donnell promptly responded with the most Epstein-y thing ever. See above.

Nice job, Rosie — 10/10, as they say, no notes. We cats PURR.

Happy Original No Kings Day

 

"I was very disappointed with my call with Putin [about Ukraine]. Frankly, it feels like Putin is just not there anymore. I don’t see any willingness to stop. And that’s very bad. Really. Just being honest, he doesn’t seem like someone who wants to end this war."  

—Benedict Donald

(IMAGE: Jesse Duquette)

Adding Iinsult To Narcissistic Injury

By Miss Kubelik

Benedict Donald's abrupt exit from the G7 yesterday was not unexpected. Some actually speculated days ahead of the summit that Trump would find an excuse to leave. It ended up being events in the Middle East (or so the White House said), but the true reason was that Trump is a sociopath who had just suffered a lot of humiliation:

Eleven million (and still counting) Americans turned out on No Kings Day to protest Trump's Administration and his policies. And, quite simply, to tell the world that they hate his guts.

His birthday "perade" on Saturday was a bust. Nobody came who didn't have to. He didn't even try to look like he was enjoying it.

At the G7, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney shut down his press avail once Donald started blabbing about "Democrat-run cities." Somebody also apparently cut off Trump's mic. Sad!

Soon after Donald sat down at the G7 meeting table, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had a whispered conversation that ended in a spectacular eye-roll from Meloni (and a fabulous internet meme for the rest of us).

Trump appeared to fall asleep at the table, giving us all another priceless Mark Carney reaction shot.

Donald tried to announce a trade deal with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but dropped the documents they had just signed. He also confused the UK with the EU. (Yes, this is a broken record, but just imagine if Joe Biden had done something like this.)

After Trump left Kananaskis, Carney greeted Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the summit — two leaders Trump undoubtedly wanted to avoid. Throwing a delicious bit of shade, Carney gave Zelenskyy Trump's seat at the table.

The Trump-less end-of-the-G7 group photo was something to see.

We don't really know what's going to happen with this Israel-Iran thing (although Donald is trying very hard to play catch-up to Netanyahu — not very convincingly, either). But we can all enjoy this schadenfreude in the meantime, right? By the way, maybe the real reason Trump fled the summit was his health — or lack thereof. His limitations are finally getting noticed (no thanks to the corporate media). We cats wish for more of the same, and we HISS and PURR at the same time.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Terrific Tuesday Edition

By Sniffles

With exactly two weeks to go to Election Day, this was another good day. Let's count the ways.

Vice President Harris hit it out of the park in another interview, this time with Hallie Jackson of NBC. Gosh, the media get so worked up that Harris refuses to, as they put it, "lean into" her gender, don't they? "The point that people really care about is, 'Can you do the job?'" she told Jackson. Got that right, ma'am.

Bill Gates has given $50 million to a PAC supporting Harris, and Tim Walz, speaking in Wisconsin today, called Elon Musk a "dipshit." Whee! It's like that shocking but thrilling moment when you learn your favorite teacher says bad words. (It was also great that Walz mocked Trump's bad makeup. We've never understood why this isn't a bigger topic of conversation beyond social media. Don't reporters have eyes?)

Harris will campaign in Houston, Texas, on Friday. Yes, you read that right. MAGAts tried taking a page from our book and asked why she was wasting time in a state she wouldn't carry. Nice try, guys. The answer is that we've got a Democratic Senator to elect (which just might happen). Also, it messes with the Trumpsters' minds.

On that note, is JD Vance colluding with the Heritage dudes and those other shadowy fascists to dump Donald ASAP? Let's all please spread this rumor among the Donald Faithful. (Also, it's probably true.)

The press is reporting that more Republicans are voting early this time around. But who says they're voting for Trump? Especially after today's breaking news? Former chief of staff John Kelly has told The New York Times on tape that Donald is, duh, a fascist. And Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic published a piece describing even more alarming statements about the military that Trump has made behind closed doors. "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had," he said. Good God. Don't assume that every GOP vote is for Donald.

Finally, as delicious punishment for defaming them, Rudy Giuliani now has one week to hand over his Manhattan condo keys to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Sounds like a great place for an Election Night party! Of course, they'll have to fumigate it first. We cats PURR.

Mad Man

By Zamboni

The strange incidents with Donald Trump and his ever-more-shaky campaign keep piling up. At a rally yesterday in Detroit, he was giving a speech when his microphone cut out. Which left him pacing the stage silently for almost 20 minutes before it was fixed.

Correction: It didn't "leave him" doing that. He chose to pace. As Tim Walz would say, how weird.

Walz and Vice President Harris would have headed down to the crowd and worked the rope line for a while. Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama would have done some quick Q&A with the front row. And can you picture Michelle Obama tossing out free swag to folks?

Long story short, our nominees and surrogates wouldn't waste a moment to get up close and personal with voters during an A-V snafu. But Trump has never been one to mix and mingle much. He's supposedly a germophobe, but he's also painfully awkward — especially these days. Small talk? Forget it. His cognitive decline is so evident that even the corporate media have no choice but to cover it now.

Or, here's an additional explanation. A tweep we follow said that Kamala Harris has quite literally driven Donald Trump insane. "Do you all not see this?" Seems plausible. We cats PURR.

Body Language

By Hubie and Bertie

The consensus is that Vice President Harris handled her interview with Bret Baier on Fox "News" brilliantly yesterday. Actually, Wednesday was a pretty super-terrific all-around day for us Democrats. Not only did Harris do well on Fox (we knew she would), but Benedict Donald had two, um, very unsuccessful events, both of which sowed more doubt about his mental state.

The first was a Fox "News" town hall with women, all hand-picked, all Trump supporters (which Fox neglected to come clean about up front). But even with that uber-friendly audience, Donald managed to the master of goofs and gaffes. "I'm the father of IVF." WHUT?

The second was a town hall hosted by the Spanish-language station Univision, which went so badly for Trump that it's hard to believe his team ever allowed it in the first place. The attendees asked him better questions than journalists do (shame on you, Fourth Estate), and to each one, Trump responded with an unintelligible word salad.

The star of the show may have been a Cuban-American construction worker from Tampa (above), who challenged Trump to "win back my vote" and asked about January 6. "That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions, it's like hundreds of thousands, it could have been the largest group I've ever spoken before," Donald said after rambling unintelligibly for a few minutes.

This Tampa dude has gone viral, as you'd expect. His "WTF" expression as Trump replied reminded us of the looks Harris gave Donald many times at the September 10 debate (also above).

Team Trump cannot be happy about his Univision performance or the audience's reaction — or, for that matter, his equally incoherent interview at the Economic Club of Chicago this week. Because news came today that they're canceling two of Benedict Donald's planned appearances with NBC and, incredibly, the NRA. Could you find a more Trump-supportive audience than a bunch of cat-torturing gun nuts?

Something is very wrong in Trump World. Perhaps it's time for us to run against JD Vance instead — because if the Heritage Foundation picks a second Trump Cabinet in the same way it masterminded Project 2025, implementing the 25th Amendment would be a very real possibility. "President Vance"? The nation would not survive. We cats HISS.