Andrea Junker

Following a white man to war because you disliked the sound of a black woman laughing will go down in American history as one of the dumbest acts of self-sabotage ever.

When the Japanese live translation goes silent because the translators are too stunned to repeat your Pearl Harbor “joke” to the Japanese PM, you’ve officially reached a new level of diplomatic failure. Those seconds of silence were the most honest reaction of the day.

Japanese news outlets were doing a live translation of the press conference, and when Trump dropped the Pearl Harbor joke the translators were audibly lost for words and paused for a few seconds in disbelief

Jerome Powell confirmed that the causes of inflation and net zero job growth are Trump’s immigration policy, Trump’s tariffs, and Trump’s war in Iran.

The reckless campaign against Iran will weaken America’s president. That will make him angry. Be warned: he makes a very bad loser econ.st/4lA7lEQ

FROST: We asked Pam Bondi multiple times, are you going to come and speak with us under oath? She would not say yes. We want her under oath because we do not trust her. Why don't we trust her? Because she's a liar.

Markwayne Mullin embarrassed the shit out of himself in this hearing today. He can’t condemn political violence. He can’t admit who won the 2020 election. He doesn’t have any real qualifications for this role. Every member of the Senate should vote him down.

Huge: Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — Trump's former personal lawyer who was also responsible for Ghislaine Maxwell's transfer to a cushy club fed — has intervened to block the DEA from providing details of a mysterious Epstein investigation to my Finance Committee team.

So if his confirmation hearing underlines one thing with absolute clarity, it is the fact that Markwayne Mullin’s elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top floor.

Markwayne Mullin to Rand Paul: "Before I can start my opening statement I have to address the remarks that the chairman made calling me a liar. Sir, I think everybody in this room knows I'm very and direct and to the point. And if I have something to say, I'll say it directly to your face. I said I can understand why your neighbor did what he did. Seems like you fight Republicans more than you work with us."

watch Markwayne Mullin's facial expression as Rand Paul confronts him for "never having the courage to look me in the eye and tell me that the assault was justified. Today you'll have your chance. Tell it to my face."

wow! Rand Paul begins Markwayne Mullin's confirmation hearing by confronting him about comments Mullin made describing Paul as a "freakin' snake" and "celebrating" Paul getting assaulted "I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force"

The United States is no longer a democracy and is sliding towards autocracy faster than Hungary and Turkey, according to the annual report of the Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) Institute at Gothenburg University. theguardian.com/world/commenti…

Republicans are lying to the American people when they say the SAVE Act is a voter ID law—it’s a proof-of-citizenship requirement that would make voting harder, if not impossible, for a lot of people. Passports are expensive, documents don’t always match, and the process can be a mess (been there). We should be making voting easier, not adding more hurdles. Democrats can own this by proposing their own bill that accepts a range of IDs, and includes automatic voter registration and Election Day as a national holiday for starters.

"Six months ago the Navy decommissioned its four Avenger-class minesweepers that had been stationed in Bahrain precisely to deal with Iranian mines. It gets dumber: Those four final American minesweepers left the theater in mid-January." open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark…

Amazon paid $40 million for the rights to the Melania documentary. $28 million goes directly to Melania Trump. Meanwhile, Amazon and Jeff Bezos have huge financial stakes in decisions pending before the Trump administration. This reeks of a corrupt pay-to-play arrangement.

The Trump administration’s arguments in defense of the massive White House ballroom project on Tuesday found virtually no purchase before a federal judge, who appears ready to rule that the president skirted the law by undertaking construction without congressional approval. cnn.it/4sRWb0O

TRUMP: "We don't need help from anyone!" THE WORLD: "OK."

27% of the U.S. National Debt is from spending under Trump’s presidencies.

Just for the record, I’m glad Joe Kent resigned but this piece of shit is still a white nationalist. — No reason to celebrate him.

Gas prices are skyrocketing nationwide. American troops are dead and injured. Our longtime allies are abandoning us. …and the President of the United States has no idea what he's doing.