Escalations
These go to 11
I took two days off from writing to pick up much of what I own and put it down someplace else, and everything got turned up.
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not 10. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at 10. You're on 10 here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on 10 on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to 11.
Nigel Tufnel: 11. Exactly. One louder.
Donald Trump is the most Nigel Tufnel-like of the American Presidents: He’s the lead guitarist who demands a solo in every fucking song; he throws a fit when things are not exactly the way he wants them; and he is dumb as a rock.
Nigel Tufnel: Well, so what? What’s wrong with being sexy?
Ian Faith: Sex-IST.
Oh, where to begin?
The CECOT Redemption
After two full months of “Yeah, whatever,” the Trump administration finally complied with the Supreme Court order to “facilitate” kidnapped El Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States. But don’t throw away those “FREE KILMAR” signs yet, because rather than claiming “No harm, no foul” the Trump administration has finally figured out what he did to deserve deportation and is holding him without bail because he fled the country, after all.
Abrego Garcia was disappeared in classic fashion; they did not bother to cook up a backstory—another case of the lazy sloppiness that is the mark of everything Trump. Since everything is about appearances, it was important to produce photographic evidence of Trump’s “toughness.”
Photographic evidence of the kidnapping and relocation of dozens of immigrants was produced and Abrego Garcia’s location in CECOT was established.
The reasons given for Abrego Garcia’s removal? First, they claimed he was a gang member—Trump would bring this up later, claiming an obviously photoshopped “MS13” text across his knuckles was a tattoo, and proof of membership. But the gang affiliation claim fell apart so much that KKKaroline Leavitt produced a restraining order taken out by Abrego Garcia’s wife against him, and with more than a bit of exasperation in her voice tried to get people to buy domestic violence as the reason he was taken. Knowing that would not be enough, she invited a woman whose daughter was raped and killed by a Salvadoran immigrant (not Abrego Garcia, but just run with the racism) to be used for a distraction. We had Trump and Salvadoran President Bukakke playing Dumb and Dumber, in the Oval Office—the former claiming he could not make the guy he just made come to the White House do anything, and the latter swearing his hands were tied because Abrego Garcia was a terrorist.
Now we are to believe that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a human trafficker. This is again a blatant case of Trump accusing another of exactly what he is doing. No charges were brought, no due process conducted—Kilmar Abrego Garcia was kidnapped from a Maryland roadside and shipped to a foreign country to labor. Yet he is the human trafficker. Thankfully, El Salvador was kind enough to offer a holding cell for him, while the investigation was underway. Now, at last, we know why he was removed.
You realize this case is never going to trial, right?
Class Actions
Selective punishments are being doled out to various ruling class institutions: corporate media, white shoe law firms, Ivy League universities, in attempts to delineate Executive Branch authority. For the most part, the actions being taken are patently illegal and will eventually and at much financial expense, be reversed. Much like with the “Muslim ban” of his first term, Trump does not comprehend the use of subtlety in any new venture. It is only after being rebuffed that he takes the advice of attorneys and others—the Muslim ban has been recast without any explicit mention of religion. It has also been expanded to include a couple non-Muslim African nations and Haiti.
Trump’s initial attempt to expel already-admitted international students from Harvard brought immediate opposition and it is very unlikely to be upheld. However, a ban on newly-admitted international students has securer legal footing, in that the denial of entry is both within the power of the Executive, and those denied entry do not themselves have the right to file suit. Presumably, Harvard will be doing so.
Mexico’s recent attempt to sue U.S. firearms manufacturers for the flood of weapons that have entered their country from the U.S., but the Supreme Court ruled on June 5, Suck it, Mexico, you ain’t got the right to say “Fuck You” to U.S. corporations.
The massive amount of guns and the gangs that use them are ostensible reasons for the upcoming U.S. military actions in Northern Mexico; it is important to Trump the Mexican government appear they are not willing to do anything to stop the violence.
Duelling Banjos
The co-presidents became estranged in a most predictable way. It serves as a case-study of the competition amongst members of the ruling class for control. Much like with the political system writ large—as there was no disagreement amongst the former mainstream Democrats and Republicans as to what the economy should look like (corporate capitalism) elections became decided on name recognition and personalities, and attacks focused on the opposition’s character. With this in mind, a recap:
Elon Musk’s term as a Special White House Employee had a 130-day limit. We all knew he was going to be stepping away. In fact, things got so bad for him personally—people were vandalizing the cars that are the foundation of his wealth—that he disappeared from his DOGE duties a full month before he was due to depart. There was talk in April about him stepping away, and then he did, in May.
In true corporate media form, they reported his departure to go work on his companies and then when the 130-day time limit was nigh, they reported his impending departure. It was such a momentous occasion that Musk was again going to give a press conference in the Oval Office. As I noted a while ago, little X Musk was nowhere to be found, having been banned forever after saying, “You’re not the president. You need to go,” to Donny on a hot mic and rubbing his snot on the corner of the Resolute Desk.
In the 24 hours before the “farewell” press conference (something tells me this is going to be like The Who, which has been on a Farewell Tour since 1982) the New York Times revealed a “White House source” (could it have been Stephen Miller?) told them about Musk’s copious use of Ketamine and other non-prescribed use of pharmaceuticals.
Standard Operating Procedure in a Trump administration is to always rip people on their way out the door. Just in case you have to later claim you “don’t know” them. [In Trump-speak “I don’t know” a person means he does not want to be associated with them at that time. It does not mean “I don’t know” who they are or what we did together.] The only staffer of note who left unbesmirched was Sarah Huckabee Sanders—also the only staffer to have parlayed their role in the first administration to a political gain, having been elected Governor of Arkansas, with Trump’s endorsement.
So Miller leaks Musk’s obvious drug use to the press. Along with being an attack on his character, Musk is also in a precarious position regarding the government contracts he relies on because our Reagan-era drug policies are still in effect, and he can lose all his contracts if he is not “drug-free.”
Almost immediately after we see reports about how Stephen Miller’s wife, who had been Musk’s right hand at DOGE, was also leaving her post due to the same time limits, and she was staying to work with Musk. Oh, and unlike the three women who have most recently given birth to Musk-spawn, Katie Miller let him put his dick inside her.
True or not, it was exactly the type of thing one with a publicist and sights on revenge might do.
Trump’s modus operandi has always been to reward his loyal followers and punish those who would do anything else. Miller did his job, torching Musk on his way out, but he caught blowback. Normally, White House staffers do not have full-time publicists, so the rumors about Miller’s wife would otherwise have gone nowhere. The affair rumor stuck though, and Miller likely appealed to Trump to show Musk who was in charge. Miller’s a loyal capo with much work left to do, so Trump appeased him by pulling the nomination of the next head of NASA, Jared Isaacman, a Musk ally whose plan was surely to channel as many contracts as possible to SpaceX.
Trump “discovered” Isaacman had donated to Democratic candidates, and that’s why the nomination was dropped. Never mind that Trump himself donated to many Democratic candidates; they’ve said that it is different with nominees. It is not. The donations were discovered almost immediately, certainly in the first 24 hours of vetting. The question of which parties, candidates, and causes a nominee has supported comes just after the ones about their education and work experience; not more than four months into the process.
Isaacman was sacrificed as a message to Musk. Musk responded thusly:
I am inclined to read this tweet as a shot across the bow, in two forms: First, there is a much deeper secret than the Epstein files, which are not terribly secret at all, that will pose a threat to both of them if it is exposed; Second, Musk has enough wealth stashed away and freedom to travel that he can flee the consequences, but Trump cannot.
Musk also clarified to Republican members of Congress exactly whose money it was they used to get elected. Sure, it may have come from the Trump campaign coffers, but who do you think put it there?
We are witnessing a fight over control of Congress, which Trump desperately needs to hold onto in 2026. This, I think, is one of the reasons for the dustup: The plan to claim total control of the nation is not going according to schedule, and we are going to have elections in 2026. There will be potential accountability for DOGE and the tariffs. Musk has suffered fallout from his actions already and with a Congressional purge he could find himself under interminable investigation, with his public dole cut off entirely.
The Battle of Los Angeles
It has to start somewhere.
It has to start sometime.
What better place than here?
What better time than now?
The flavors of The Summer of ‘25 are tear gas and capsaicin. If you don’t taste them by the time the season’s gone, you won’t be able to call yourself an American.