Bring back Chris Matthews, MSNBC, and cancel Morning Joe. As far as I know, Matthews never went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring. Chris Wallace is available now. He’d be a good get for the network.

I thought Gaetz was an aficionado of Trumpism. So why did he withdraw from consideration so quickly? Deny, deny, deny, obstruct, obstruct, obstruct. He hadn’t learned that from his mentor? Then he’s too stupid for any job offered by Trump. Too bad. I was actually hoping his nomination would get to the Senate, so we’d see those Republican senators (Collins, McConnell, et al.) furrow their brows, wring their hands, then vote for him.

Disgraceful. Joe and Mika going to Mar-a-Lago to kiss Trump’s ring in order to cover their asses with a tyrant. No different from McCarthy, Cruz, McConnell, Rubio et al. I’m done with them.

Trump has learned his lesson from the first term: no more getting people for his Cabinet who know what they’re doing, forcing him to fire them. This time, only sycophants who will do whatever he says. The steamroller government has begun. God bless America, and the Supreme Court.

So let me get this straight: Trump is creating a whole new Department of Government Efficiency, with its attendant bureaucracy, in order to cut spending and streamline the government? Huh?

How can anyone still say with a straight face that they were “shocked” to learn of the latest Trump gambit? The shock quota must surely be over by now, and we’ve entered the “eyes glazed over” era.

Jack Smith is quitting, but he still has to deliver a report to the AG. Garland has the option of making it public. Will he? Don’t bet on it. The entire investigation apparatus is caving. Republicans are right. Democrats are wusses. You wouldn’t see Republicans doing that if the positions were reversed. They would spend the next four years trying to revive the cases. Obamacare is a case in point.

So how does Trump get to establish a new department? Doesn’t Congress have to be involved? How much will the heads get paid? What is its budget? Can Trump decide to create an I love Trump Department with MTG as its secretary? Jeez!

Will SCOTUS reimburse the treasury for the millions of dollars spent in Jack Smith’s investigations?

Another delay in Trump sentencing. Begging the question: Is Judge Merchan actually a Trumper? No one has yet raised that possibility. Perhaps all of Trump’s rantings against him was theater? Hmm.

So Biden is running out of time to get judges confirmed in the senate. What the hell is he waiting for? Is Congress still on its Labor Day break? Jeez.

Fraud is fraud, whether it’s successful or not. Trump and his acolytes claimed massive election fraud after he lost in 2020. And before votes were cast in 2024, his people were already claiming fraud by the Dems this time too. But Trump won! Hmm. Where’s the fraud claim now? Crickets.

Please. Why does it always fall to the Democrats to let bygones be bygones and welcome back their Republican friends? Those same friends who called your candidates vile names and thought Putin’s trying to influence our election was fine. Those same friends who felt the need to get in your face - because you’re a wimp, obviously - about macho Trump with their huge flags and convoys and blatant attire. Why can’t the Trump people apologize for being assholes and ask to be friends again? Sure.

I will never, ever be a Republican. But I am no longer a Democrat. I will be an Independent henceforth, until a party comes along that will speak to the real needs of Americans without having to use fear, anger, and division of demographic groups to win elections. Hopefully, we will continue to have elections where votes will count, though that is in some doubt now.

Here’s how the Electoral College can be eliminated: Trump wins the national popular vote but loses the EC. Suddenly, Republicans would call the EC undemocratic! They’ve depended on it for minority rule for decades, but now they’d see the danger in it. Democrats would then say, welcome to our world, and the Constitutional amendment would be on its way!

Any marriage in which a husband does not know his wife’s attitude toward a presidential candidate is not a real marriage. Saying it’s a betrayal when a wife secretly votes for Harris while her husband openly votes for Trump is ridiculous - and an insult to women.

Denigrating Puerto Rico, as happened during Trump’s rally last night? Really? How is that an effective strategy? First of all, he wants more Latino votes. Secondly, Puerto Ricans are Americans, not illegals, and can vote. Thirdly, Puerto Ricans are citizens in swing states. I don’t get it. Other than being a preview of his attitude toward non-whites if elected, thus energizing his racist, working class white base, I don’t get it. Not that I’m complaining about his foot-in-mouth disease!

Another case of Trump projection - and an outrageous one. For weeks he’s been slamming Harris for supporting gender-change health costs for prison inmates at taxpayers’ expense. Now it’s revealed that the Trump Justice Department offered gender-affirming treatments to inmates while he was president.

The tired old scare tactic of Republicans, going back to the days of Rush Limbaugh, that the economy will crater if a Dem is elected president has resurfaced. Sorry, MAGA, but history proves the stock market does better under Democrats than Republicans. And renowned economists fear that Trump’s tariff and deportation policies, if he’s elected, will actually lead us into a recession.

#politics Tom Nichols in his recent article in The Atlantic had it right. Trump’s base LOVES his outrageousness, his racism, his misogyny, his immorality, his disparagement of military heroes. Because it’s an affront to the people they hate, and giving them the middle finger is great! Thinking that each new Trump scandal/threat to democracy/violence approval/sedition will turn his supporters away - “We’ll, they have to come to their senses now.” - misses the point.