Belligerent Brie-fing: Feb 4, 2025 - The Dlon Mump Regime
The quotes I'm hearing from serious people are insane, and really underscores how unprecedented all this is.
Welcome to the Dlon Mump regime.
There’s been a real dichotomy these last couple days between the five-alarm fire playing out in government and boring ole life, similar to the pandemic; There was a coup in the US, and I’m folding my laundry. There was a coup in the US, and I’m processing invoices at work.
Something feels different about this. There’s a finality to it, a sense that the country has already been irrevocably changed, and the best we can hope for now is retaining what we can of the institutions. It’s the fact that they sent Elon Musk in to do it, with no authority, AND despite there being plenty of ways to do this stuff without compromising our security, sends the message (to me, at least) that they have no intention of listening to court orders either. I hope I’m wrong, I truly do.
Brittney Brown, former division head of USAID:
"I spent the first 2 months at the first Trump administration, as Trump's Africa person & I saw firsthand that things were rarely what they seemed, and that is why I feel so panicked about what they're saying vs. what happening. I think this is a test to see if Congress will actually stand up for their right. USAID is a safe organization but this with... it's difficult to explain to the average American why spending $60b overseas makes sense."
Jon Lovett, former white house staffer:
"This is as core and as basic to the Constitution as it gets... if the President can decide what to spend or what not to spend based on what Congress has passed, then Congress is no longer determining what is spent, the President is; THAT is one of the core dangers, that is one of the core reasons we have a Constitution and my concern is that if they bash through a court ruling, the question is how long do we hold that off?"
The quotes I'm hearing from serious people are insane, and really underscores how unprecedented all this is.
This is a REAL headline on Ground News:
Trump & Musk Restructure Federal Government, Triggering Resistance and chaos
Oh my gosh, we are a third world country with a Gucci belt…
Like, okay, he won the election, but did anyone ask for this?
RFK Jr.'s Nomination is advanced by Senate panel committee
LOOK AT THIS HEADLINE from NBC:
Elon Musk & DOGE are hacking the government
Jesus! It would be laughable if I didn't live here…no, not even then
China Imposes up to 15% tariffs in response to Trump's Tariffs
Trump nominates Joe Kent to lead Nat'l Counter Terrorism Center
Endorsed by white nationalist Nick Fuentes
Employed a Proud Boys member during his 2008 campaign
The amount of Trump employees who have openly racist views is infuriating
Trump Administration to replace 4 major outlets from the Pentagon
OUT
New York Times
NBC News
NPR
Politico
IN
New York Post
One America News
Breitbart
HuffPost
• Trump personally ordered firings of special counsel prosecutors
→ Further proof of new and unchecked power… since the Nixon era, there has been a general understanding (and adherence) that the Justice department is an independent agency. We’ve known that hasn’t been the case entirely, no matter who the President is, but this reporting suggests not only is Trump willing to take it further, but the Justice department will be listening to him.
• Advised high actions to dismantle education department
→ Can't do it without congress... at least on paper
• Brilliant point from Judith Levine with the Guardian:
"Normalizing vilification making bigotry chic and fun, Trump has disinhibited even his critics to dip their toes in the slime."
Paul Krugman: "Imagine you're a retiree who canvassed for Kamala Harris, & for some reason your social security checks stop coming. Don't say they wouldn't do such things. We've seen these people in action, and of course they would if they could."
"It's not hard to imagine the whole federal payments system—including, by the way, servicing of federal debt—crashing."
10:33am from NPR: Trump administration adds fine print to federal resignation offer
→ LOL they don't even have funds appropriated to back the offers they're making, it's like "just trust us bruh"
• 2.2 billion gallons of water flowed out of California reservoirs because of Trump's order to open dams
→ Water will not reach LA & is wasted in the wet months
• Axios is reporting around 20K Federal workers taking buyout
→ I wouldn't hold my breath for that severance personally
• Trump Revokes TPS for 360,000 veterans
→ Can't help but notice he's deporting the folks here LEGALLY
• U.S. Begins Migrant Flights to Guantanamo Bay
→ We BETTER keep an eye on how migrants are treated
• Protests across US cities against Trump's deportation crackdown
→ LA, Dallas, St. Louis, Atlantic City, & more planned
• El Salvador offers to jail US convicts for a fee
→ That is a slave trade. You're describing slave trade. Shipping people across borders sure feels like slave trade.
• Canada tariffs on hold, but anger & calls to rethink Canada's ties to the US are persisting
→ Even if it hurts our country, I hope they do it.
These are supposed more protests tomorrow, too.
I'm thinking about going to the one in Phoenix.
4:50pm
OK this is Anne Applebaum who wrote a bunch of stuff on autocracy & is a journalist & historian:
"Let's put it this way: if the Chinese government were to be doing this by hacking, this would be considered a major cyber warfare attack. There is no precedent for giving that kind of information access to a private citizen, even if the President says it's okay."
"He is now able to make policy that concerns his own company, see the contracts given to his competitors... the broader idea that there's a single person with no status who's been given access to... we're in a world of extra-legality, we are beyond the law."
This was from the Bulwark podcast. My head is kinda spinning.
More Headlines from Ground News: (7:10pm)
• Trump wants to take US ownership of Gaza & redevelop it after Gaza resettles Palestinians elsewhere
→ mmk but they expressly said "nah" to your first offer
• Program officer at the Natl Science Foundation leads a list of keywords that cause grants to be pulled: activism, barrier, biased, bipoc, advocacy, community equity, cultural differences
→ Some very Hitler-esque social 1984 shit
• State Dept orders shutdown of USAID overseas missions, recalls staff
→ Why does it low-key feel like we're selling the US to china?
• Bernie Sanders & Josh Hawley introduce bill to cap credit card rates at 10%... bipartisan too
→ I'm positive, let's hope it works
• Google removes pledge to not use AI for weapons from website
→ Despite the evolutionary trait of reasoning, humans might be the first species to actively participate in its own downfall.
I'm really not an expert. I have no political experience, just a never-ending curiosity about the world... but I have a feeling we're about to experience a cascade of world-changing events.
He is trying to destroy the US government from within.
Welcome to the Dlon Mump regime.