(I've already started doing this!)

kingdragonfly: One dead after Tesla Cybertruck explodes outside Trump hotel in Las Vegas: The Guardian

One person died and seven others were injured after a Tesla Cybertruck packed with fireworks exploded outside president-elect Donald Trump’s Las Vegas hotel on Wednesday, with officials saying they were investigating potential motives for the incident.

 

The fallout between the various MAGA factions continues 🍿: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-warning-signs-were-all-there

It’s a data point that suggests Trump remains enamored—for now!—with the shinier, newer toy of the Based Tech Bros who spent hundreds of millions to get him elected. This is how it’s going to be from now on, we guess: The various pieces of the MAGA coalition shriek at each other for a while, and then Trump goes with his money men gut.

The whole thing comes as a reminder that MAGA is only a stable political coalition when it’s out of power. The thing that unites all these people is a seething contempt for whoever’s in charge when they’re not—the establishment, the mainstream media, the elites, “the left,” whatever. Put them in charge, though, and ask them to start making decisions of their own on how to run things? They’re not even in yet, and look how it’s already playing out.

quickymart:

 

This is how it’s going to be from now on, we guess: The various pieces of the MAGA coalition shriek at each other for a while, and then Trump goes with his money men gut.

 

Basically you've got Trump's attention span to get something done before he loses interest and moves on to the next grift.

‘The events from 1933 to 1945 should have been combated by 1928 at the latest. Later it was too late. We must not wait until the fight for freedom is called treason. We must not wait until the snowball has turned into an avalanche. You have to crush the rolling snowball. No one can stop the avalanche. It only comes to rest when it has buried everything underneath it.

That is the lesson, that is the conclusion of what happened to us (Germans) in 1933. That is the conclusion we must draw from our experiences, and it is the conclusion of my speech. Impending dictatorships can only be fought before they have taken power.’

- Erich Kästner, German writer, on the burning of books by the Nazis

The stupidity of MAGA leaves me speechless sometimes.

The NY Times - Judge Upholds Trump’s Conviction but Signals Plan to Spare Jail Time

breaking !

A New York judge on Friday upheld President-elect Donald J. Trump’s criminal conviction but signaled that he was inclined to spare him any punishment, a striking development in a case that had spotlighted an array of embarrassing misdeeds and imperiled the former and future president’s freedom.

 

The judge, Juan M. Merchan, indicated that he favored a so-called unconditional discharge of Mr. Trump’s sentence, a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation.

 

He set a sentencing date of Jan. 10, and ordered Mr. Trump to appear either in person or virtually.

 

An unconditional discharge would cement Mr. Trump’s status as a felon just weeks before his inauguration - he would be the first to carry that dubious designation into the presidency - even as it would water down the consequences for his crimes.

 

(Merchan denied Trump’s motion to dismiss.)

How is "Trump gets away with it again" breaking news?

Sigh. Now he'll really come after anyone he feels who has wronged him, especially since he'll trot out the "I was a victim" or "I was exonerated" line endlessly.

Also Mike Johnson wins enough votes to become Speaker for another two years, partly due to Trump's bullyi...er...backing:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/538136/mike-johnson-elected-speaker-of-us-house-as-trump-s-republicans-unite-behind-him

 

quickymart:  ... Also Mike Johnson wins enough votes to become Speaker for another two years, partly due to Trump's bullyi...er...backing ...

 

With an unstable wafer-thin majority, Johnson will be lucky to last 2 months, let alone 2 years as Speaker.  😳

Dunno, Sideface, 

All that has to happen is for Trump to bully spineless GOP they then rapidly fall into line and vote how he wants.

ezbee:

 

Dunno, Sideface, 

All that has to happen is for Trump to bully spineless GOP they then rapidly fall into line and vote how he wants.

 

True, but Trump has a short attention span - what he wants changes randomly and at short notice.  🙄

I (almost) feel sorry for Johnson. 

EDIT:   The NY Times - Johnson’s Reward for Keeping His Gavel: An Impossible Job Delivering for Trump    03 Jan 2025

Until...?

The NY Times - Trump Has Reeled in More Than $200 Million Since Election Day

04 Jan 2025

Since his victory in November, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s allies have raised well over $200 million for a constellation of groups that will fund his inauguration, his political operation and eventually his presidential library ...

 

It is a staggering sum that underscores efforts by donors and corporate interests to curry favor with Mr. Trump ahead of a second presidential term after a number of business leaders denounced him following the violence by his supporters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. ...

 

The total haul for the committee financing his inaugural festivities - at least $150 million raised, with more expected - will eclipse the record-setting $107 million raised for his 2017 inauguration.

 

Is Trump the most corrupt (and most corruptible) President in American history?   😟

Cartoon depicting the owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos,
and other billionaires genuflecting toward a statue of Trump.

This (unpublished) cartoon cost the Post cartoonist her job.