Originally published at: Imperious Trump Retaliates Against Jack Smith’s Lawyers
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. Authoritarian Watch In an alarming new executive order, President Trump ordered the security clearances revoked for the lawyers at the prominent Covington & Burling law firm who are representing former Special Counsel Jack Smith –…
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Frist! 
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WH Press Secretary: “Amy Gleason has been the DOGE administrator for quite some time, I believe several weeks, maybe a month, I’m not actually sure of the specific timeline…”
Translation: “I’m not actually sure which lie I’m supposed to say right now.”
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First and most importantly, Timothy Snyder has a must read post today:
Second, my thoughts this morning for what they’re worth:
For all the vaunted bragging about how the American Revolution and the founding of the nation, even with its flawed Constitution, were the children of the Enlightenment and the triumphs of rational thought, any objective observer of American history, and especially of its current politics must concede that the two most durable characteristics of the American populace are ignorance and apathy. Tragically, these flaws are exacerbated by the willful pride with which their possessors hold these fatal impediments to the bettering of their own lives. The ignorant believe they are the holders of an higher truth than science and objective, documented facts or even what their own eyes see and own ears hear. The apathetic believe they are superior to “dirty” politics and futile civic engagement. Most of our nation’s decades have been a time of ignorance and apathy, times of, at best, stagnation when not a time of regression and backsliding. But there have been “bursts” of real progress, usually in response to a great crisis or foreign threat, when the nation needed all of its human resources to survive. The longest was the New Deal which flourished from 1933 to 1981. But even that time was stained by the virulent disgraces of Jim Crow, McCarthyism, and the violence against the Civil Rights movement. And always through today, the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia the religious bigotry, the ineradicable pride filled ignorance and apathy rising to dominate once again.
Bur for it all, the progress has been real. Slavery abolished. The voting franchise expanded to include all native born and naturalized citizens. Astonishing scientific advances in all the disciplines especially medicine and technology. We carry in our pockets computing power 1960’s NASA engineers would have died for. Life spans almost doubled and the highest standards of living in history.
We will endure and survive this period of regression which will birth a crisis that will light the fuse of the next burst of progress. Our children will live it, and if it happens soon enough, so will we.
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And in good news, at least for me, my SSA check has been electronically deposited.
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So Zelensky is going for the minerals deal. The good news is that the $500 billion figure has been dropped. The bad news is that at least in the draft obtained by the NYT, the wording of security guarantees by the US is so vague as to be almost meaningless. Free gifted link:
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Trump attacking Smith’s lawyers so he can abuse Smith: “He wants their arms pinned behind them so he can swing freely with no repercussions for him or his abusive conduct.”
This is the psycho dad behind the wheel of the family car who keeps turning around to hit his kids in the back seat, because reasons “you little shits are gonna learn” etc. Then he drives over the center line and has a high-speed head-on collision.
The only questions are how long until the crash and what will the combined speeds add up to.
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Yes. The GOP loves tossing around the word “fraud”, but I don’t think it means what they thing it means.
If DOGE has uncovered fraud, why have they not pressed charges?
(Yes, I know the DOJ normally would handle that. But DOGE is in charge! And smarter! Just ask them.)
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So El Salvador is fixed.
Shoot, man, I’m old enough to remember when a psycho tweet like that would end a politician’s career. Elon does it ten times a day.
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Fascists don’t quit being fascist.
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Cutest face-eating leopard EVER!
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Which will last until the next time.
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You’d have to be a true believer to work at TFG’s press secretary. Leave your dignity at the door and don’t think to hard about what you have to say. Lying required.
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My hope is that if we ever get past the Trumpian era, the US can quietly walk back that ageement. As an aside, a lot of Haiti’s ongoing poverty can be directly traced back to a similar agreement forced upon them in 1804 by France as a condition for ending slavery on the island.
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Earlier this month.
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So next Elmo will call for extra-governmental "Death Squads’?
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