Sunday, May 24, 2026

Dan Burns gets a shoutout.

Read it at left.mn

There are things that are true and should not need to be said. However --- They do need to be said.

Trumpism is really true Reaganism

Well, sports fans, what do you make of this?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-reveals-jaw-dropping-truth-about-ballroom-project/ar-AA23CHTM (with embedded opening video)

The text of the report - Stating in part -

Donald Trump’s White House ballroom is merely a facade for what will actually be a six-story underground fortress featuring a military hospital, classified meeting rooms, and top secret research facilities.
The 79-year-old president made the startling revelation as he took reporters on a tour of the ballroom construction site and spilled previously unknown details about the ever-expanding project.

In a jaw-dropping disclosure, Trump told reporters that his $400 million White House ballroom was in fact just a “shield” for a massive multi-level subterranean bunker he was quietly building below.
“We went down six stories. It’s actually far more complex,” he said.
“They’re building a hospital—it’s a military hospital—they’re building all sorts of research facilities, they’re building meeting rooms.

A military hospital? Or a paramilitary thing, for the intended beneficiaries of the $1.776 billion thing Trump and Blanche and whoever else crooked up, all too recently.

I picture Robert Duvall, in Apocalypse Now, saying, "I love the smell of coup time in the morning."

Or was his wording a bit different?

The item continues:

[IMAGE]

“The ballroom is really a shield and protecting all of the things that are being built here,” he added, pointing to the giant hole in the ground where construction was taking place behind him.
The comments are the first time the president has discussed how expansive his pet vanity project will be—far beyond the scope of the Mar-a-lago style event space that was initially pitched.
But the revelations have already drawn criticism, as well as conspiracy theories that he is building the facility to cling on to power.
“Trump is going to use the ballroom as a bunker. He’s not planning to leave the White House even after the 2028 presidential election,” Democrat and strategic consultant Sergio Grant wrote on X, echoing the fears of many others.

You think? That stable man, doing that? As if deranged or demented, or starting on that road.

More -

Other features of the project included titanium fencing so strong that “a bulldozer cannot knock it over”, Trump said, windows four inches thick and “9,000-pound concrete.”
There would also be a hardened roof made of “impenetrable steel” and enough space to accommodate what he described as a “drone empire.”

[IMAGE]
“The ⁠entire roof is built for military," Trump said.
“They have a massive drone capacity. Not only is it drone-proof, if a drone hits it, it bounces off, it won’t have any impact. But it’s also meant ⁠as a drone port that would protect all of Washington.”
The president’s tour of the ballroom construction site was not initially part of his daily schedule. In a highly unusual move, Trump also provided reporters on the tour with breakfast sandwiches made by the White House chef.

What about let them eat ballroom? Fitting the theme of the day, "Look what I've gut, and guess what it's for." More -

[IMAGE]

Trump initially argued that the ballroom was needed for large events of 1,000 people, which is far more than White House event spaces can currently accommodate.
The president also originally promised it would be privately funded through wealthy donors and corporate backers, with “not one dime” of taxpayer money.
But after a third assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner last month, Senate Republicans proposed a separate $1 billion federal funding package for Secret Service “security adjustments and upgrades”, suggesting that Americans ought to foot the bill.

That was an assassination attempt, not a staged show? A perp arrested, largely unharmed? Huh?

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump said he and his donors were financing the main ballroom, while the money Republicans were asking for centered on “surrounding areas and maybe enhancing some security aspects of it.”
Asked why the ballroom was so important to him, the former real estate mogul replied: “Number one: security; and number two, it’s needed just on a social basis for presidents.

Umpteen floors down, vs a top floor ugly-as-shit ballroom, and he keeps saying "Ballroom?" Business Times adds a bit more to the story:

Trump Says New $400M White House Ballroom Will Be ‘Drone-Proof’ With Sniper Positions and Military Complex
Donald Trump is pitching a planned $400 million White House ballroom as something far beyond a ceremonial venue, describing the proposed structure in Washington as a fortified complex equipped with missile resistance, drone defense systems and elevated sniper positions overlooking the nation's capital.

The remarks, delivered during a tour of the proposed site on Monday, immediately intensified debate surrounding the controversial project, which has already faced scrutiny in Congress over both its price tag and its use of taxpayer funding.

Trump told reporters the ballroom would be "drone-proof" and "missile-proof," while also functioning as a defensive hub with what he described as "great sniper capacity."

JD does have the 25th Amendment, if he's enough ball room to use it. So to speak. In a sense. More or less.

_________________UPDATE________________

If you want a context, I can give you a context:

Former MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is raising the alarm about Donald Trump attempting to cancel the 2028 presidential election.

The 51-year-old ex-Trump ally appeared on Alex Jones‘ new show and raised concern about a comment Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last year. Ukraine’s election has been postponed on account of the country’s war with Russia.

“So you say, during the war, you can’t have elections,” Trump said. “So let me just see. Three and a half years from now, so you mean if we happen to be in a war with somebody, no more elections? Oh, that’s good.”

“I’m concerned,” Greene told Jones, another former Trump cheerleader who, like Greene, moved away from the president due to what he felt was a betrayal of the “America First” agenda. “And he said it jokingly. But at the same time, knowing President Trump, I looked at that, and I thought, I don’t know if he’s saying it, joking.”

“I remember that clip,” Jones responded. “That’s what psychos do.”

“So, that type of behavior is someone planting an idea over and over,” Greene continued. “And again, he constantly says it so that he can normalize the idea and test the support and test people’s reactions. But saying it over and over and over again normalizes the idea. And I think it’s incredibly dangerous, and no one should ever accept it. Absolutely, absolutely not. There cannot be a third term, no. That’s against our laws. That’s against the Constitution. There is no third term. And if this country is at war, no, our election should not be canceled, absolutely not.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2Ik3Q0Rxzo

____________UPDATE__________

The Crabgrass read on this story is Vance is in calculation mode, and with distant possibilities unpromising, after this 2026 election JD may try the 25 Amendment putsch, win or lose. And, who for his VP, after a successful putsch, to go with into 2028, a term of his own? The Samoan lady?

The smell of Iran War surrender, or what? "After the initial 30-day period, 'the parties will have 30 days to agree on the nuclear issue. These 30 days can be extended by mutual agreement,' Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem said. 'During [the initial 30-day period], passage will be facilitated through the strait. According to Iran, management of the Strait of Hormuz will be an Iranian-Omani issue and is being negotiated with Muscat.' ”

What reading should be put to "management of the Strait of Hormuz will be an Iranian-Omani issue?"

AJ reporting: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/24/marco-rubio-says-significant-progress-made-in-us-iran-talks-to-end-war

[UPDATE The headline of this post is a mid-paragraph of the AJ item.]

An MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)? Uranium enrichment a postponed issue? Subject to additional postponement - i.e., open ended maybe?

It reads like an Iran victory. Well short of what Obama reached, and Trump scuttled. Consider one possibility - Iran-Oman joint "management" meaning a fee for passage, split, where on the Omani side, who shares? A fee for passage would mean a tax on Gulf Arab oil at the Strait, in competition with other oil in the world market? Or not? Freedom of the Seas abandoned as a global rule of law?

It seems wisdom suggests, wait until something's on paper, read it, and then there may be clarity that is lacking at present.

Trunp is capitulating? Or not? We have to wait and see. And, the AJ report is of something not yet born, which could be stillborn. Count on what the deal is, if any, once papers for a deal are signed and put into effect. Anything short of that is guesswork.

______________UPDATE_____________

AJ reports. Look at the evasive crap the AP puts out: https://www.twincities.com/2026/05/23/britains-navy-prepares-to-clear-mines-in-the-strait-of-hormuz-while-waiting-for-a-peace-deal/

That is shameful of AP.

The local paper, StarTribune, says there is grumbling about Ken Martin as DNC chief.

Inner party politics are unknown to me as I am not inner party. Ellison and Omar locally ssupport Martin.

This paragraph from the report:

Martin won the DNC chairmanship overwhelmingly on the first ballot, beating Wikler, who had the support of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Martin likes to emphasize that he did not get the backing of the “status quo” billionaires or the establishment, instead touting grassroots support.

Jeffries, Pelosi and Schumer are what is wrong with the Democratic Party. Ossification. In the saddle, shit for healthcare for people, so go figure. And old timers together with the Harris spouses and their backing and elite style fucked it up. Ken is brought in to mop up, he does somewhat, and steps of a few toes.

Big story. These hunters for his job, this close to the election, are no help in handcuffing Trump.

Let the man do the job. There will be retrospective time between this November and November 2028.

The sharp knives can come out then and Martin can defend as he may. But now? He's who is there, and I remember Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and her "Hillary's turn" crap against Bernie - Martin's several cuts better than that walking disaster.

As in, who says Ken is unfair? Who are the critics? What's their bitch? The New York Dems and Pelosi are not the best of people, and a conscience is needed rather than serving the wealthy while hoodwinking the people who have faced little choice since Bill Clinton fucked things up via GOP - lite.

Ihlen Omar in his corner, Kieth Ellison in his corner, that means his corner has class. A future.

I hate the stupid song, "Stronger Together" there being convention cause to think that and the balloon drop were a sign of no real substance, just narcissistic egomania of a spousal pair who have been passed up.

Good that they have. Move on. Don't undermine Martin until after the election. It will be as it is.

The old guard did not do well with Harris, so cut Martin slack. Being able to lose to Trump is not an endorsement of particularized competence.

UPDATE:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-itNjgCJDxU Not your Nancy Pelosi clone. Nor your Susan Collins clone. Those two, clones of each other? Anyway, Ken Martin is not your DWS clone, and some don't feel comfortable while preferring a DWS clone; a filter from and against the masses.

FURTHER: Reporting about the sniping at Ken Martin is widespread. Who's shooting? Minnesota reporting first:

https://www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2026/05/inside-the-furor-plaguing-democratic-national-committee-leader-ken-martin/ -- saying:

Amanda Litman, who leads the Democratic-allied organization Run For Something, said she’s been approached by senior strategists in recent days gauging her interest in replacing Martin. She declined but said many in the party have lost faith in the DNC leader.

“I think it’s a really hard job, and also Ken is not doing it very well,” Litman told The Associated Press. “I honestly think he’s going to have a hard time rebuilding trust.”

So, she wants to take over Martin's job. Who is she? Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/26/run-for-something-co-founder-amanda-litman

That says what she says, but does nothing about who she is. Wikipedia, better on that:

Run for Something (RfS) is a progressive American political organization dedicated to recruiting and supporting young candidates running for down-ballot office. Its mission is to get young progressive candidates from non-traditional backgrounds to run for and win state and local offices, and create a next generation slate of political candidates that will seek higher office in the future.^[1]
It was founded on January 20, 2017 — the day of the inauguration of Donald Trump as president — by Amanda Litman, the email director of Hillary Clinton's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, and Ross Morales Rocketto, a veteran of political campaigns.^[2]^[3]
In May 2017, political action organization Onward Together, founded by Clinton, selected Run for Something as one of its three primary partner organizations.^[4]

Wiki footnotes 3,4

Hillary Clinton [@HillaryClinton] (November 8, 2017). "Congratulations to @RunforSomething founders @amandalitman + @RossMoRock for a huge night! 25 of the local candidates they helped to recruit and run won" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

Palmer, Anna (May 15, 2017). "Clinton launches new political group: 'Onward Together'". POLITICO.

The Clintons were the ones who misdirected - shrot term - the traditional Dems to coopting the Republican agenda - with the Stronger Together song blaring at the convention balloon drop preceding Clinton's losing, much worse than Harris losing, i.e., without excuse.

Bottom line there, Amanda Litman is nobody's sensible answer of better than Ken Martin.

Politico -

Weak,’ ‘whiny’ and ‘invisible’: Critics of DNC Chair Ken Martin savage his tenure
The new DNC chair has faced messy drama since stepping into the role in February.
Rahm Emanuel, former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, said the committee is floundering. “We’re in the most serious existential crisis with Donald Trump both at home and abroad — and with the biggest political opportunity in a decade,” Emanuel said.
“And the DNC has spent six months on a firing squad in the circle, and can’t even fire a shot out. And Trump’s world is a target-rich environment.”
Many DNC members and outside Democrats, including Martin’s supporters, said they wished the party would just move on from recent internal turmoil and focus instead on mounting an effective fight against Trump.

Rahm is nobody's answer to anything. In the Daly Chicago seat these days, seemingly, bad news. There is Bulwark:

But much of the criticism is about things that are directly under Martin’s purview. Since 2025, the DNC has spent more money than it has raised and has more debt than cash on hand. The RNC has a roughly seven-to-one money advantage over the DNC, and last October, Martin took out a $15 million loan ahead of the elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Multiple people familiar with the DNC’s money issues said that the situation is so dire that Martin will likely be forced to make another tough call this summer: take out another loan or lay off staff. During his Pod Save interview, Martin repeatedly characterized the claim that the DNC is contemplating layoffs as “garbage.”
“The biggest strike against him is that he seems to be utterly incapable of managing a budget. To put the DNC in such a bad financial situation going into what is . . . likely be the most wild [presidential] primary we’ve had in a while—it reeks of irresponsibility and immaturity,” said a DNC member who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.
“It just feels like we’re being gaslit at this point.”
The agita over the state of the DNC is not merely another round of Beltway bickering. It’s one of the more consequential storylines in Democratic politics these days. There is a deep concern among party officials that Martin is driving the committee into irrelevance, potentially harming Democratic chances in the midterms, and inviting uncomfortable questions about whether the 178-year-old committee should even exist anymore.
“The DNC should not be a useless or irrelevant institution,” said Democratic strategist Ross Morales Rocketto. “It’s currently irrelevant because of the leadership.”

So, it is about money. The consultants are not being fed as usual. Christesakes, Harris went through a billion dollars and lost. That's a message too.

AP:

Martin, a little-known Minnesota operative before emerging last year as the head of the national party’s formal political machine, has already faced criticism for dismal fundraising and inability to inspire confidence among his party’s unruly membership.

However, there was no sign that a serious alternative was emerging. The Associated Press contacted a half dozen Democratic presidential prospects to gauge their support for Martin and all of them declined to weigh in.
The intraparty feud represented an extraordinary distraction for a Democratic Party showing signs of momentum in its fight to break President Donald Trump’s grip on power in Washington. Democrats hope to regain majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the November midterms, and Republicans could be vulnerable because of Trump’s low approval ratings, dissatisfaction over the war in Iran and lingering economic frustration.
Martin’s allies across the country lashed out at Democrats who were fueling the election-year drama, dismissing them as unhappy consultants and supporters of Martin’s previous rivals for DNC leadership.
Kansas Democratic Party Chair Jeanna RePass described calls for the first-term chair to step down as “ridiculous and dangerous.”
“It is dangerous for Democrats to be playing politics with our leadership when these elections are five and a half months away,” she said. “The American people are counting on us.”

Janet Kleeb of Nebraska, who leads her state party and the DNC’s association of state committees, said the fighting “is nuts.”
“I haven’t had a single chair come to me saying I think Ken needs to resign,” she said. “Ken was elected by the DNC members to do a four-year term, and he has not violated any of our rules or bylaws where there would be a two-thirds vote, right? Because that’s what it would take to remove the chair.”
Kleeb added, “These reports are such distraction.”

If there is a thread, it is the greedy consultant class wanting money that isn't there, and bitch, bitch, bitch.

They had a ton of anti-Trump money for Harris, and blew it all on a loss. Now they complain. And Martin did not want to release the report on how badly they underperformed. Covering the mess, as "Let's avoid distractions, and they pushed him." Real smart. Smart people. Know how to lose folks.

Enough. This is no defense of Martin. If his fundraising lags, it is a problem. But not THE problem.

That THE problem thing, is try not losing this time, which Martin is set to do, despite crap being thrown at him by his lessers. The beltway consultant class are leeches. Hands off, this late, please.

Saturday, May 23, 2026

This is a place where confusion hits me. Gary Gross, a Republican blogger in Minnesota posts a "should do" thing almost saying TACO, but not; and it is as if he presumes a "can do" scenario. Without any discussion, that way.

So never mind the "wants to move the needle" vs "wants to drag out the status quo" as to Trump loyalties and beliefs of what is best for people close, vs people far away. Leave that open for now.

"Should do" before examining "can do," where is good sense in that equation?

Gary writes,

Donald Trump's moment of truth-

It's decision time on Iran's cease-fire. What started out as a 2-week cease-fire is now approaching a 2-month cease-fire. It's time for Donald Trump to decide if the IRGC dies this week or if they get yet another undeserved reprieve. Mark Levin's op-ed lays things out properly, saying "When we suddenly hit the brakes and called off the planned military operation against the Iranian regime, it was clear that something was going on. We gave the regime 2-3 days to come to some arrangement that presumably includes no nukes. What does no nukes mean? Are their scientists going to forget what they developed? How long can we keep that in a box? What happens to the enriched uranium? We are told: 1. they have enough to make 10 bombs in 11 days, and 2. that it takes a matter of weeks to further enrich uranium from 60% to 90% nuclear grade. What about the plutonium, which no one is talking about?"

The Trump administration's standard defense of their strategy has consisted of saying that a) 'we aren't in a hurry', b) the fundamentals of our economy are solid, c) we should give diplomacy a shot and d) we've got Iran on the ropes. First, the fundamentals don't include gas prices, which are way too high! Further, they've been way too high for way too long.

The prices would've dropped if President Trump hadn't gotten cold feet and agreed to a cease-fire that's lasted too long, too. This has played into the IRGC's survival plans perfectly. When President Trump made it known that he didn't have the stomach for killing the IRGC, they took that as weakness. This report from Trey Yingst from Tel Aviv, Israel is the best report I've seen recently:

[...] It's time to rid the planet of the scourge of the IRGC forever. This isn't the time to go wobbly as Lady Thatcher once famously told George H.W. Bush after Iraq invaded Kuwait in the summer of 1990.
This moment is President Trump's defining moment, the decision he'll be remembered for, his legacy. If he obliterates the IRGC, he'll be remembered as a great president. If she [sic] lets the IRGC drag this thing out, then he's just another ordinary president.

That's an editorial position that assumes a lot, which might not be as assumed, in reaching such conclusions.

It might be too much of a stretch, but Crabgrass is betting that Hormuz will continue to be under Iranian control, and closed, even after election day, this November. I may email Gary, and propose that bet.