We're about to start watching REACHER on AMAZON. They're doing an episode a week -- which I forgot. But there are three episodes -- one through three -- that they posted last night. So this is going to be quick.
It’s not easy being king. Just ask President Donald Trump.
Trump has persistently teased a third term for years now.
“Should I run again?” Trump asked at a Black History Month event at the White House earlier today. “You tell me?”
“Four more years!” the guests chanted. “Four more years!”
While his handpicked White House audience erupted in applause, there doesn't seem to be a groundswell of support for the idea amongst the president’s most ardent, far-right supporters. At least not at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, better known as CPAC.
But that hasn't prevented efforts from some on the right to turn the president’s quips into Constitutional-altering reality. The effort is real, even if enthusiasm isn’t — yet.
A new advocacy group, the Third Term Project — which has adopted a Caesar-like Trump image as its logo — is dedicated to upending the 22nd Amendment so that Trump can serve a third term.
“We believe that, you know, Trump is the Caesar figure that America has needed. You know, Trump is a Napoleonic figure that has emerged to lead our country,” the Third Term Project’s Shane Trejo told reporters earlier. “Some leftists might, you know, get triggered, they might get angry at stuff like this, but we think that's part of the problem. So we're playing into that.”
Strickland went viral last week for a very different reason: opposition to the president and his plan to take over Gaza. “Man if Trump keeps this bs up I’m about to start waving a Palestinian flag,” the fighter posted on X. “American cities are shitholes and you wanna go spend billions on this dumpster fire. Did we make a mistake?! This ain’t America first.” Strickland’s lament racked up 159,000 likes and 13.2 million views.
Strickland is far from the only one expressing buyer’s remorse. A month after Trump’s inauguration, the honeymoon is over; some of his backers are waking up next to the man they voted for and wondering if they’ve made a terrible mistake. With every policy he implements and offhand remark he makes, Trump is falsifying the imaginary versions of himself that inspired many of his supporters.
Here's C.I.'s "The Snapshot:"
Friday, February 21, 2025. Chump's bridge to nowhere is falling down, falling down, Chump's bridge to nowhere is falling down, Lady Justice.
Rachel Maddow, in the most recent ratings, is pulling in two million nightly as she returns to five nights a week -- Monday through Friday -- to cover the first 100 days of Convicted Felon Donald Chump's administration.
Rachel Maddow: He is unpopular. He is historically unpopular. He is the least popular president in the history of modern polling at this point in his presidency. The country does not like him, they do not like what he is doing, they do not like the people that he is putting in place. The more he talks about specific things he wants you to associate with him the more the American people hate those things specifically. The more the country shows that the better chance that Democrats will get stronger and faster and more bold in their opposition. and the better chance that Republicans might start to join them. It is that simple
If you're not getting how bad it is for Chump, note Keith Edwards report in the video below which starts with a district in Georgia that Chump carried and yet the people, Republican voters, are booing their member of Congress.
Ben Blanchet (HUFFINGTON POST) notes:
Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) got a less-than-warm reception from voters on Thursday as he faced anger and pushback over his support for the Trump administration’s cost-cutting crusade in the federal government.
McCormick ― who reportedly spoke to “hundreds of critics” at the city hall building in Roswell, Georgia ― was met with boos and jeers as attendees questioned whether he was doing them a “disservice” by backing billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency budget-slashing frenzy.
“You don’t think I’m going to stand up for you?” asked McCormick, who received boos from the crowd in response, according to a clip shared by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein.
Matt Young (THE DAILY BEAST) adds:
In
another video, one resident questions McCormick, saying, “it’s clear
from all the writings of our Founding Fathers that our great republic
was never meant to be ruled by a dictator or a king.” The comment was
greeted by a large round of applause.
“So you can imagine my shock and pure horror when I woke up to find that our president had given himself unprecedented executive powers and then in a few days named himself King to his followers,” she continued to more applause, before being prompted to ask a question.
“Tyranny is rising in the White House and a man has declared himself our king, so I would like to know, rather, the people would like to know, what you, congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to reign in the megalomaniac in the White House?” The woman received a standing ovation.
And then there's the town hall in Alaska. Alex Henderson reports:
At a town hall even tin Fairbanks, Alaska on Monday, February 17, Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska) was confronted by angry voters who have been laid off from federal government jobs as part of the mass layoffs campaign being carried out by the Trump Administration with the help of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
One of them told Begich, "I was fired. Now, I have no choice but to leave that community and probably leave Alaska, and so, I just don't understand how these budget cuts are helpful to any Alaskans or their communities. And I'm just wondering what you plan to do about this."
Begich responded that he was "not in a position to approve or deny the cuts" — a statement that drew vehement criticism from journalist Judd Legum on his Popular Information blog as well as in a February 20 thread posted on the Musk-owned X.com (formerly Twitter).
The GOP congressman's statement, according to Legum, showed a failure to understand how the federal government works under the U.S. Constitution.
Legum tweeted, "It was a remarkable statement from the freshman Congressman, sworn into office in January. The Constitution vests the 'power of the purse' with Congress — not an unelected billionaire appointed to a position in the executive branch…. Begich said he finds out about budget cuts impacting Alaska 'on Twitter' and 'had no idea these things were going on' in advance. Begich claimed the same situation was true 'under Biden,' but did not provide examples. He did not mention that he was not a Congressman during (Joe) Biden's presidency."
And it's even worse when a member of the administration has to stand in front of the American people. Yasmeen Hamadeh (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was savagely booed Thursday during a news conference on California’s high-speed rail project at the Union Station in Los Angeles. The Donald Trump appointee blasted state authorities for mismanaging the once “exciting” project and claimed it had amounted to a waste of funds. He additionally disclosed that he would be subjecting the project to a “compliance review of funding” to determine whether or not “billions of dollars of taxpayer money” should still go toward it. Duffy’s comments, however, were drowned out by boos from a roaring crowd who chanted slogans like “build the rail” and “we pay taxes, we want trains.” In one moment while discussing layoffs at the Federal Aviation Administration, the crowd got particularly rowdy, almost distracting from Duffy’s words entirely. The secretary acknowledged the protestors in the crowd at one point and said, “These protestors should all be at the steps of Gavin Newsom’s mansion.” He continued: “They should all talk to him about what happened here.”
Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) adds:
A video of the conference showed jeers under Duffy's comments. Initial boos were replaced by chants of “Build the rail! Build the rail!”
At another point, the crowd chanted, “We pay taxes, we want trains!”
Duffy yelled at the crowd that they should be complaining to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic legislature.
As US House Rep Nancy Pelosi noted yesterday, the emperor has no clothes on: "I'm saying this to say, 'We're here to talk about Medicaid, Mr. President.' We will not be distracted with other things. He called himself a king the other day. Really? King of what? Anyway, the emperor has no clothes as far as I'm concerned."
Nancy's saying it and, across the country, the American people are saying it.
Who's going to rescue Donald at this point? Some of the Latino voters who voted for Chump but can now be found every evening on your local news explaining how they regret the vote and didn't realize that when he said he would deport all the criminals that -- to Donald Chump -- they're all criminals -- even those who were born (first generation) in the US. Having left those voters feeling stabbed in the back does Chump really think they're coming back to him?
This is all blowing up much faster than Chump and his team anticipated. They thought they had some good will in the bank (they didn't) and that they could ride through 120 days -- forget the first 100 -- doing whatever they wanted. They thought people would be scared to speak out or stunned by the moves (illegal moves) he was making. But he underestimated the strength of the American people.
He may have even underestimated the strength of his own party. Michael Luciano (MEDIAITE) reports:
Rep. Troy Balderson (R-OH) said some of President Donald Trump’s executive orders have gone too far by usurping the authority of Congress.
Since taking office a month ago for the second time, Trump has issued a spate of executive orders – some of which are potentially illegal. Of particular concern has been the “Department of Government Efficiency” led by billionaire Republican donor Elon Musk. Along with a group of young staffers, Musk has fired scores of federal employees and frozen funds already appropriated by Congress. The moves have prompted a series of lawsuits, including a challenge to Musk’s access to sensitive data at the U.S. Treasury.
Speaking at a Westerville Area Chamber business lunch on Thursday, Balderson said Trump’s executive orders are “getting out of control.”
“Congress has to decide whether or not the Department of Education goes away,” Balderson told local business leaders in attendance, according to The Columbus Dispatch. “Not the president, not Elon Musk. Congress decides.”
Better watch it, Balderson! Chump and his AG might be about to draft a nasty letter to you. Sarah K. Burris (RAW STORY) reports:
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) posted a letter he received from U.S. Attorney Edward Martin on Department of Justice letterhead asking about his attacks on Elon Musk.
"As a United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, I receive requests for information and clarification. I take these requests seriously and act on them with letters like this one you are receiving," Martin began, not indicating who sent him the "requests."
This is the response from US House Rep Garcia to attempts to bully and intimidate him -- governmental attempts to bully and intimidate him:
Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Robert Garcia (CA-42) released the following statement after receiving a threatening letter from the Department of Justice in response to him calling out Elon Musk’s vast overreach in the federal government.
“No reasonable person would view my comments as a threat. We are living in a dangerous time, and elected members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. We will not be silenced,” said Congressman Robert Garcia.
Congressman Garcia has always fought back against tyranny to protect the foundation of our democracy. At the first DOGE Subcommittee hearing in February, Congressman Garcia called out Elon Musk for his billions of dollars in conflicts of interest with the federal government and for leading a power grab against our democracy. A day later, Congresswoman Nancy Mace (SC-01) introduced a resolution to censure
Congressman Garcia for using a figure of speech and speaking out against Musk’s blatant attempts to take over our democracy. After continuing to push back on Musk for his attempts to gut the social safety net to enrich himself and his billionaire friends, Washington D.C.'s Acting U.S. Attorney, a Trump appointee and ally, sent a threatening letter to Congressman Garcia as part of an effort to silence individuals willing to oppose Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s dangerous overreach. Congressman Garcia will continue to stand up to prevent billionaire oligarchs from overthrowing our democracy.
###
Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) notes:
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) tore into acting District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Ed Martin in a post on X, after it emerged that he sent a letter vaguely threatening criminal investigation against Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) for his comments critical of tech billionaire Elon Musk.
"Hey @USAEdMartin, I’m an American," said Walsh, a former Tea Party representative who turned against Trump shortly after his first election and has become one of his most outspoken conservative critics. "I have a right to call @elonmusk a d---. Just like I have a right to call Trump a Russian asset. It’s called the First Amendment. Hey Ed, take your government intimidation and shove it up your a--. Don’t you dare impinge upon my freedom."
[. . .]
This is not the first time Martin, who is already racking up a long list of alleged ethics violations, has threatened people for exercising their First Amendment rights. He similarly issued a public warning of investigation over "threats" to Elon Musk's associates, right around the time people posted the names of software engineers who were helping Musk infiltrate government systems.
Let's start winding down. Morgan Music's "Approval of Republicans in Congress Hits All-Time High as Approval of Democrats Sinks to All-Time Low: Poll" for LATINO TIMES. A number of e-mails to the public account on this article. Or the headline. Do we not know how to read beyond the headline?