The Orange One had a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani the other day.
Oh my! It's looooove.
He's positively giddy!
As he flirtingly pats his arm.
Then the outfit change!
Everyone, left and right, is puzzled by this crush. There was this analysis going around the internet. There are many good thoughts in there, but I'm thinking the author is overthinking things. I think it is something more basic.
It's the dementia.
It's two-fold: forgetfulness and friendliness.
The Alzheimer-in-Chief, with his failing brain, may simply not have remembered that he was supposed to hate this Democratic Socialist.
We know that there are many people behind the scenes propping this guy up. He has always been ill-informed on the issues, and he can't absorb new information now with his increasingly-feeble brain. I bet he doesn't even write many of his own non-tweets anymore. He may not have remembered, going in to the meeting, that Mamdani was supposed to be his sworn enemy.
There is maybe an even more powerful explanation: I bet dollars to donuts that during their closed-door meeting that Mamdani tapped into something very meaningful to Donnie: New York City.
Li'l Donny adores the city. He was born in Queens and lived all of his life in NYC, until he had to leave in disgrace and felonies to the land of lower taxes. He fashioned himself into a Big Apple developer, hella crooked, yes, but if there is anything that Grumpf is able to love – and there's not much; love is not part of this person – it's the City of New York.
Mamdani also loves New York City. He was able to reach into this part of Baby Hands, and like a good cognitive therapist, was able to play upon that shared love. Add that to Mamdani's genuine niceness, charisma, ability to connect with people, and a smidge of flattery, and Gramps couldn't help but be charmed.
Again, I tap into my own experiences. I cannot count the number of grumpy old men I've turned around with just some kind words and genuine connection. Mamdani is good at connection. He's gracious, well-spoken, and intelligent. I think he just let DonOld be DonOld. And the president fell under his spell.
I have to admit, resisters, it has been hard coming back to LSR to face four more years. Pollyanna LSR is having a hard time, and I know you all are too.
It seems more bleak this time around. He has a different cabal surrounding him. Gone are the "adults in the room." Now it's oligarchs and the ass-kissingest yes-men to be found. (Though "Ass-Kissingest Yes-Men" would be a great name for a band!) And he has a darker agenda now.
Yet, I must find Pollyanna and bring her out to quash bad thoughts. I really am an optimist at heart. And for my own mental health, it is important to stay in that world as much as I can.
I chatted recently with a sister resister who is also struggling, and we decided that straw-grasping, as meager as it is, is where we must live for now. So let's grasp.
So what straws do we have?
We have the same idiot
He is demented, and ego drives him. This may actually work in our favor, as those who would whisper in his ear are subject to his whims. He will likely become more paranoid, which does not make for good relationships. The very essence of an authoritarian regime is imbued with paranoia and distrust. With cognitive difficulties, his paranoia may become worse. This may actually work to our advantage, as he will continue to be disorganized, change on a whim, with no real plan, and fire and hire at will based on some warped sense of "loyalty." It's what he does; he did it last time and we can expect more.
He has surrounded himself with a new set of idiots.Yes, they are bad actors, but they are also incompetent. Most do not have experience in government or in the area they are to run. This may be a positive in that it will be hard for them to get things done. It will be chaos, like it was last time.
While they are flailing, Congress, statehouses, the courts, and The People can put up guardrails.
Work with me, folks. Trying to find positives!
We have a subset of IQ47's voters: the FAFO voters
They have fucked around. Now they are finding out. They are waking up and saying Wait a minute. This isn't what I voted for.
We know from the FAFO world that people are disillusioned, in their own little warped way. For example, the Tech Bro Oligarchs are gunning for a reversal of the immigration issue when it comes to cheap foreign skilled labor. The Racist Right is clashing with the Let-the-Corporations-Do-What-They-Want Right. While they are fighting, Dems can get things done. Maybe?
Instead of "bringing prices down immediately," he is blathering about buying or invading other lands. Do even the die-hard MAGAts want this?
Once the economy starts tanking, they will have buyer's remorse.
And once Leon's DOGE plans start taking shape, more people may wake up. Remember what he said, that we will have some "temporary hardship?" Voters do not like to face hardship, temporary or otherwise. They want their eggs at $2.99/dozen. Social Security and Medicare? Those are issues that are very dear to all people across the political spectrum.
They will sour on Musk. We may have people rebel.
They have a very narrow majority in the House
Currently it's 219-215 Repug in the 119th Congress, with Matt Gaetz's vacated seat still to be filled. It's a little stronger in the Senate. Currently at 51-45 and 2 Independents, there will be two seats to be filled by Repugs, WV and Assistant to the Vice President JD Vance's seat.
We have mid-terms in two years
This one is big. The 2027 midterms will be exciting. There are 33 Senators whose terms end in 2027. Twenty-one of those are Repugs. Some of those are close to retiring. If things go south in the next two years, which they likely will, let's hope disaffected voters will go to the polls. If we can flip the two bodies of Congress, we can put the brakes on. Campaigns will begin in just one year!
We still have a triumvirate system of government
I know: Only to an extent. Yes, the Supreme Court is corrupt and in 34's pocket, but we still have state and federal courts. They have the obligation to dismiss frivolous lawsuits and ensure that illegal acts are blocked. Mark Elias writes about it in Democracy Docket.
With that in mind, please donate if you can to organizations that are ready to use litigation to protect our rights.
President Biden has been on a federal judge appointment spree, and several federal judges who were set to retire withdrew their retirement after the election.
And see this from Brian Taylor Cohen. The Arizona courts may – just may – be able to bring some justice and get The Felon behind bars. They still have a case against some of the conspirators who tried to overturn Arizona's election results. There is a certain unindicted co-conspirator in the indictment, a guy who oversaw the conspiracy in his bid to remain president of the United States. It's possible that the case can circle back around and get him in the net.
Thanks Sister Resister Anne for sending this straw of hope!
We can learn from the past
There have been fascist governments around the world, and we can learn from them.
One of the biggest obstacles to us who want freedom: information. We have a misinformation crisis in the U.S. To me, this is our biggest obstacle to making things better.
FAUX News and the other right-wing media have been feeding lies to their huge, confused audience. "Mainstream" or "legacy" media have begun to "obey in advance." Their weakening independence is thanks in large part to being owned by oligarchs or by frightened corporations.
The trouble with most legacy media outlets is that they are owned by bigger business entities who can benefit or be harmed by the next administration's whims. They have an interest in keeping their dollars, less so in keeping information flowing freely. The independent part of "an independent free press" is being threatened.
And legacy media has been taking a hit business-wise even before this election. Readership and veiwership has declined. There has been a steady stream of layoffs across platforms.
Yet the legacy media is where journalists are. The hard-hitting, hard-working, question-asking, standards-upholding, educated journalists.
I hate where we are, because a good, thorough, and free press is integral to a democracy. There's a reason Freedom of Speech is enshrined in the First Amendment.
The history of the media decline has to do with corporate conglomerate ownership and the rise of social media, influencers, and self-publishing platforms like YouTube and podcasts.
There is a new media coming out. Outlets like Medias Touch, and Brian Tyler Cohen, who I shared above, are good pro-democracy outlets. There are many commentators and journalists blogging on platforms like Stubstack as well. Even though they are satiric, late night media can also give a dose of reality to the news. Watch The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver.
There are plenty of left-leaning media outlets. They are good for calling bullshit, but they are often hyper-biased, which also isn't healthy. All of these "alternative" media sources get their information second- and third-hand from the legacy media anyway.
We shouldn't completely abandon the legacy media, but we need to be careful. As we know, The Washington Post, ABC (owned by Disney), the Los Angeles Times, and MSNBC have already shown their tendency to obey in advance. The New York Times and CNN have been known to sane-wash the lunatic's fever dreams. I don't trust the Washington Post any more at all. The others, I use with caution.
Consume carefully. Seek out the most unbiased and reliable sources. Here is our old friend, the Bias Chart from Al Fontes Media. You can also check with Media Bias/Fact Check or All Sides. These sources are on constant watch and update regularly.
Some of my favorites are The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Independent, ProPublica and PBS NewsHour. There's also AP, The Hill, NPR.
BREAKING! Here's one alternative. Storied columnist Jennifer Rubin has also resigned from WaPo. She turned to Substack and has teamed up with Norman Eisen, attorney, CNN commentator, and founder of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, to launch a new pro-democracy journalism site, The Contrarian. Thanks, Sister Resister Pagrs, for pointing me to this!
The Bigger Problem: How to reach the MAGA voters. The Traitor Tot's main weapon is lies. Misinformation and disinformation work to make everyone confused. There are so many lies and so much misinformation that they can't believe anything. It is Authoritarianism 101.
How can we undo the misinformation? The MAGAts won't listen to left-leaning outlets, or even least-biased sources. They're been told it's all "fake news." It is so distressing. If they were only properly informed and educated, they may make different choices at the ballot box.
The Lincoln Project has done brilliantly in their ad campaigns. Run by a bunch of good Republicans, they produce ads excoriating 45/47. Being Republicans, they know what speaks to that mind. Is it enough though?
We need a new way to reach the righties. Any ideas, resisters?
Sister Resister Anne has done old-fashioned leaflets and posters. It's a good idea. How can we do this on a large scale? Would people read a leaflet, in this memefied world? Would meme leaflets work? How to get factual information into their hands? How to get them to trust a source? Or can it even be done? These are big questions.
As expected, he said goodbye to the justice department after two years of work on two large cases, the insurrection case and the stolen classified documents case. We owe him a big bunch of gratitude for his hard work, even though in the end it was for naught.
Because of a standing DOJ policy to not pursue criminal cases against a sitting president, the cases were dropped (Pollyanna adds... for now).
He filed his final reports on the January 6 case and the stolen classified documents case last week. Though Judge Eileen "Loose" Cannon quashed the documents case against The Felon, there is still a case pending against two co-conspirators. That report is being held in deference to that case. (Yes, 47 could make the case against them go away, too, but let's cross that bridge later.)
We got one of the reports
Early this morning the report on the coup attempt was released to the public. It's 137 pages, and can be found here.
A few takeaways
Smith called the undertaking an "unprecedented criminal effort" and but for the election, King Leer would have been convicted, saying, “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the presidency, the office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Smith explained why he did not charge incitement. He had tread carefully; he cited free speech and evidentiary reasons for not charging incitement. He also said that, as a practical matter, Jabba the Gut's words did indeed incite the mob and it was a foreseeable consequence.
Smith explained how difficult the investigation was, with all of the assertions of executive privilege, witness intimidation, and reluctant witnesses there were. And of course, the immunity ruling by the corrupt Supreme Court, which made charges more difficult – but not impossible – to finesse.
Smith rejected assertions that his work was politically motivated, calling it laughable: “Nobody within the Department of Justice ever sought to interfere with, or improperly influence, my prosecutorial decision making. And to all who know me well, the claim from Mr. Trump that my decisions as a prosecutor were influenced or directed by the Biden administration or other political actors is, in a word, laughable.”
Will he step up and finally pay the women he defamed? And stop defaming them more? The judge dressed him down and required that he file a declaration that the facts are the facts. She stopped short of ordering him to jail, but said that it would be her next move if he doesn't shape up.
Politicizing fires in LA
It has been a horrible week in Los Angeles. Fires have decimated several communities, wiping the town of Pacific Palisades off the map entirely.
And true to form, Orange Julius Caeser has shot his mouth off again, bringing lies and politics fresh off an historic tragedy. He hates "liberal" California and he doesn't understand how water works and he's an idiot.
So much misinformation is floating around that Gov. Gavin Newsom made a website for the facts. Gov. Newsom also invited the Orange Anus to come see for himself:
This is such a maddening and sad by-product of a terrible, terrible calamity for thousands of families. Nothing like this should be politicized. Real people lost their lives, homes, and livelihoods.
DonOld can eat shit.
The Phone Call with Alito
The day before he was about to be sentenced, King Minus just happened to ring up his buddy Sammy Alito. The phone call was supposedly about a former clerk interested in a federal position.
The "clerk" cover was so transparent. It's someone who clerked for the justice 13 years ago and has already been in a federal position. There was no need for this kind of phone call. Of course the call was another bid for a favor.
Besides, even if it were an "innocent" and "perfect" phone call, it 👏 should 👏 not 👏 happen 👏. He has no business speaking to a justice of the United States Supreme Court! And Alito has no business taking the call!
Ethics! We need ethics!
Yet...The Felon was sentenced the next day
SCOTUS did the right thing and blocked stay of sentencing (should have been 9-0, not 5-4, though! Surprise: Alito was one of the four), and The Felon was formally, if in name only, sentenced. There was no punishment. But a sentence, even this one of "Unconditional Discharge," means that The Felon is and forever will be a Felon. 34 times felon. He can't own a gun, but will have the button to nuclear missiles.
Pete Hegseth's hearing for Secretary of Defense was today. I watched a bit of it, but every time a smarmy Repug senator came on, ready to nuzzle Pete's nether regions, I got sick to my stomach. Literally. Rather than throw things at the TV, I turned it off. I will say I caught Sen. Elissa Slotkin from Minnesota and she was on fire. We need more Slotkins in this country.
She is ex-CIA and worked in the Department of Defense. She is one smart cookie.
And I saw a bit of Purple Heart Veteran Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). Fierce:
And Tim Kane!
"....including the name of your own mother."
Hegseth: Anonymous false charges
Kaine: They’re not anonymous.. We have seen records with names attached to all of these including your own mother
The chatter about acquiring Greenland, the Panama Canal, and Canada continue. Some think it is all just a distraction, but The Guardian feels that these expansionist ideas should be taken seriously and should be nipped in the bud.
Jimmy Carter's funeral
President Carter was laid to rest, and all of the living former (and current) presidents were in attendance. The internet had a lot to say about the seating arrangements, the optics, and the doings of one certain former/future president. In a word: awkward!
The President is working on lots of things before he leaves office. I've told you about some of his final acts, like commuting the sentences of most of the death row prisoners in the United States and expanding Social Security by signing the Social Security Fairness Act.
He has done a lot more. For example, he extended temporary status for 800,000 Salvadoran and Venezuelan immigrants. He announced $2.5 billion for Ukraine; he blocked a takeover of a U.S. steel corporation by a Japanese firm; he banned offshore drilling along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts; he wiped medical debt from credit reports; he expanded Veterans' benefits; he imposed additional sanctions on Russia; he restricted exports of AI chips, and more. Read in Time.
I am happy to live in California.
Gov. Newsom and the state have allocated $50 million for litigation to Drumpf-proof California, including resisting his efforts to use us to implement his mass deportation agenda. Keep your stinking paws out of our beautiful state, you loser!
Keep your chin up.
David Cole, who was national legal director at the ACLU and argued many cases in front of the Supreme Court, believes that civil society will be a thorn in the authoritarian's side.
He cites the fact that last time, The Hungry Hungry Hippocrite controlled both houses of Congress and appointed bunches of federal judges but got very little legislation passed and "had the worst win-loss record in the Supreme Court of any president in history." Many of his own appointees ruled against him.
Cole talks about the ACLU's actions against 45's administration, their defense of civil liberties in general, and the readiness to go up against The Incompetent Incontinent again. Read his interview with Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic.
YOUR MOMENT OF BEAUTY
How fun is this?!
YOUR MOMENT OF ACTION
Find the location of Saturday's People's March and go! Make a sign, get your friends, and march, darn it!
And secondly, contact your Senators today and tell them to oppose the confirmation of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense. Use Resistbot or 5 Calls. Or find your Senator's contact information here.
LOOKING FOR MEMES?
Watch for the next post! Coming soon!
MY PROMISE
My promise, resisters, is to stay here. I will stay aware, devour media, and bring the news and my thoughts to you. As hard as it is, I must. Staying informed is activism. Writing is activism. Activism staves off the hopelessness.
"The human body is the best picture of the human soul." – Ludwig Wittgenstein
As you know by now, I'm a speech and language person, and I've written extensively on these pages about the Berder King's disordered speech and language, as well as his dangerous rhetoric. But they say that up to 93% of communication is non-verbal. Let's pivot to the more subtle, but still incredibly powerful, non-verbal communication. What is SCROTUS is communicating with his body language?
Interpreting body language is arguably more subjective than speech and language. The "morphology" of body language is more subtle, more fleeting, and many non-verbal aspects are combined, such as: body posture, facial expressions, eye movement, use of space, hand gestures, touching, as well as "tone of voice," which itself is a mishmash of intonation, vocal volume, tempo, and pitch. Despite the subtleties, most of us can interpret the nonverbal message.
Today I look at the purely non-verbal, leaving out the voice characteristics. What is his body telling us?
IN GENERAL
In general – is it a surprise? – 45's body language portrays confidence, large ego, spotlight-loving, and wanting power and control. This is evidenced by the puffed out chest, the hand gestures, the taking up space (looming behind Hillary Clinton, for example, and spread-leg sitting posture), his resting bitch face. There's a lot of analysis out there: here's a summary from The Sun and another one from CNN.
puffed out chest: power, confidence
Trevor Noah and the Daily Show looked at his totally not weird way of standing:
Looming, taking up space, and close proximity: power, dominance, intimidation
Shoving someone out of the way to be front and center: power, ego, dominance. And, may I add, pure asshole-ness:
THE STEEPLE, HIGHLIGHTING HIS MAN-SPREAD
His go-to posture, especially in photo-ops with world leaders, is a "steeple" combined with man-spreading. We see it over and over. The steeple has been explained as a power gesture, indicating confidence and leadership. The man-spreading is an overt display of dominance. It's a way of both exerting power by taking up space, and displaying sexuality. Baby Fingers really sits no other way.
Here he is winking at Putin and using the "steeple" hand position signals power and confidence.
Dr. Jack Brown* asserts that the "president" uses steepling so much and for such prolonged times that "it backfires and very rapidly becomes hyper-alpha, arrogant, condescending and overlaps with some components of disgust and contempt."
Given that the steepling is almost always combined with man-spreading and is always near his crotch, I have my own theory of the meaning he wants to convey. Given 45's excessive overt sexuality, i.e., proclivity for sexual assault meant to dominate women, I think he is broadcasting his junk. He forms his hands as a target, or a telescope, and places them just there -- over and over and over again. You won't see him sitting with a world leader, or really anyone, without steepling as he is man-spreading.
Or, this triangle posture could be something darker. From Medium.com. Could he be in cahoots with the Dark Lord?
Man-spreading indicates power and dominance, asserting his role as alpha male. Whenever he is steepling, he is man-spreading, as you can see above. But in the photos below, he really spreads 'em.
I noticed that in a recent meeting with Emmanuel Macron, they seemed to be trying to out-spread each other.
But even his man-spreading and steepling belie a small, small man. Here's this gem of TRUMP and Emmanuel Macron. A picture is worth a thousand words.
He's obviously trying to – literally – get the upper hand. He just comes off as an asshole. He practically yanks their arm off, and then adds that little condescending hand pat. Ick. I'd go wash up right away. But I love it when leaders come prepared and don't let him get away with it.
THE SNIFFS
He sniffs a lot! Hardly a speech goes by when he isn't sniffing or at least inhaling sharply thorough his nose.
Sniffing as a body-language tell is not easy to decipher.
It could indicate disgust or displeasure. This communication blogger asserts that a person sniffs when he is being deceitful, as the blood vessels of the nose dilate, making them itch. This body language expert from Denver asserts that sniffing is a form of aggression and is a sign that an attack is going to happen (physical or verbal). Could be all of the above with SCROTUS. Or something else, perhaps physiological. A chronic allergy? Or, could be drug use such as cocaine. This last would help explain a lot of his other behaviors.
JOURNALISTS
TЯUMP's body language -- as well as his verbal language -- telegraphs his contempt and disrespect for journalists, especially women of color. We don't need him to telegraph his contempt, however. His verbal language very clearly – and dangerously – conveys his hatred and contempt for the press. Here is an excellent analysis by Dr. Jack Brown* on 45's interactions with journalists.
FAMILY
His body language with Melania tells an interesting story. In the beginning, they both looked happy and relaxed with each other. They lean in to each other, and there is obviously intimacy illustrated by their body positions and touching. Later on, it's her body language that tells the story of their marriage.
As they arrived at the White House for the peaceful transition of power, he broadcast a clear message to his wife and the world:
At the inauguration ceremony, January 20, 2017
2017
Here's a little compilation of her hand-swats (followed by more on his freakish handshakes).
and here's Stephen Colbert and the Late Show's take on it:
Read more about the non-verbals between Don the Con andMelania here.
Though the body language is pretty clear, his words gave away a little more when he said, in remembering the shooting that injured Rep. Steve Scalise, "[Scalise’s wife] cried her eyes out when I met her at the hospital that fateful day … I mean not many wives would react that way to tragedy, I know mine wouldn’t.”
IVANKA
Probably the most disturbing body-language evidence comes from photos of Donny and his daughter Ivanka. There is no shortage of evidence of the Molester-in-Chief communicating lust and desire toward Ivanka, both in words and body language. I am really uncomfortable seeing these photos. I apologize if they are upsetting to my readers.
Add the creepy words he has used to describe his desire for her, and you have a very disturbing picture indeed. Here's a video that reviews some of this.
You don't need to be an expert in body language to read this creepy photo, but self-proclaimed expert Jack Brown* breaks it down on Medium.com.
THAT WHICH IS MISSING
What is missing from his body language: genuine joy. His smiles look as though he is forcing a dookie. I don't think I've seen him genuinely happy in the last three years, except maybe at the Nationals World Series game, when he was genuinely happy. Until he wasn't.
In the end, we have a tiny man trying to be a big man. Seems all of his body language is just an attempt at power and intimidation. He imagines that this is how a powerful man looks and acts, and he tries to act that way. In reality he's a shadow of a man, trying desperately to be admired and feared. He's become a caricature of himself. He's just a small, small man. Sad.
*A note: I research extensively for my blog. I try to quote to least-biased, factual sources. Dr. Jack Brown is a self-proclaimed body language expert. He has written online extensively, and what he writes makes sense, but I don't see any credentials for him, except that his "Doctor" honorific reflects his being an ophthalmologist. He publishes on Twitter and is quoted in left-biased sites, some with questionable accuracy, so I’m wary of using him. Take his stuff with a grain of salt.
I want to protect the integrity of my blog. I may be as biased as hell but I use factual sources.
