HEDGEHOG DAY UPDATES
FK GROUNDHOGS! (Yeah I Said It - PROVE ME WRONG!)
-Guess I'm a bit salty this morning - and why not? As NBC News just put it, our current President is at war with the government he is supposed to be running, with three flanks currently spread out wreaking havoc while somehow also supplicating the guy creating all of it. Herewith a summary as best a lone Substacker sees it - and what to do about it (and there are things to do and things to keep in mind) ...
-The first flank of attack is clearly against the economy of the country. How else to describe what Rupert Murdoch has called "The dumbest trade war in history," launched yesterday when Trump, in a move applauded by literally nobody with any real knowledge but cheered by MAGAts who think "AMERICA FK YEAH - WE WON'T BE BULLIED AGAIN!" (and reportedly Trump's Right Hand That Is Actually a Cloven Hoof, Stephen Miller), the United States has ripped apart decades of trade agreements by assessing 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico. The official reasons for doing it are "illegal fentanyl" (despite neither country being pipelines for the drug whose importation has went DOWN over the last four years) (stop watching Fox, MAGAt lurkers), The Wall (that was never built and, naturally, was and will never be paid for by Mexico), and Trump's apparent desire to bring America's economy (and whole society - more on that in a sec) back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.
-Canada and Mexico are preparing counter-tariffs that both countries will be targeting on red states for maximum pain in those areas - think Florida citrus, Tennessee whiskey, and manufacturing plants who will soon see far less materials at a far more inflated price. Estimates are that the tariffs will add at least $800 to Americans' budgets, and both Honda and Toyota are warning that assembly plants could go quiet by the end of this week.
-Oh, and China also got a tariff - but only 10%, what with Probably Real President Elon Musk (another name we'll see again) needing manufacturing in that country, so they don't get as hard a ding as the folks in touques and Club America caps. And why should they? The longer a Trump-induced trade war continues, the better China will do in the world economy, as they are the country poised to make the biggest gains in markets being abandoned or rended asunder by the ego of Trump.
-How bad is it? So bad that, hours after the announcement, an NHL game between the Minnesota Wild and Ottawa Senators featured a full house of angry Canadians loudly and thoroughly booing the American national anthem. (Of course, to MAGAmerica they watch the video and think "WOOO - WE OWN CANADA AND HOCKEY IS STUPID!") And it is bad enough that someone on Team Trump felt the need to social media post about it - an all-caps shrug-mission that yes, everyone who voted for Trump thinking their eggs would be cheaper will instead "FEEL PAIN" but that suffering is necessary to make America great again. That should hold the 30% or so of the American elecorate that is full MAGAt; we will see if the rest of America feels the same.
-That feeling is also being tested by the second flank of the Trump War on America: the movement to savage the civil and physical infrastructure of the Federal government, or what MAGAts call "THAA DEEEP STAAATE!" This is the Project 2025 implementation - and it is estimated about 2/3 of Trump's Special Orders - themselves lynch pins of the project as the creation of an imperial Presidency full of toadies to serve the President and not the Constitution or its institutions.
-Special Prosecutors have been fired. Estimates of half of all FBI agents are potentially being asked to leave. Web pages with vital health and statistical information have been taken offline. Critical agencies responsible for protecting lives do not have enough workers (a likely reason for the airline/helicopter crash on Wednesday that killed 67 in DC - and that crash was followed by a crash of a medivac plane in a Philadelphia neighborhood that killed 7 on Thursday). Internal financial and identification files are being browsed freely by people with no credentials or background checks (after new Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent - approved by 27 Democrats including Cory Booker and Kristen Gillenbrand - essentially gave Musk and his "government efficiency commission" the access codes, which they then used to lock out actual government workers with actual government clearances and added their own hard drives to those computers, because YOLO!).
-All of it is helpfully outlined in Project 2025 - some may remember the giant book created for the Democratic National Convention - yet, of COURSE, many Trump voters are shocked that the Party Who Sure Loves Nuzzling Nazi-ish Actions are actually working on acting in ways that sure look and feel Nazi-ish.
-Oh, and yes, you have the connections between several of these actions and Elon Musk. Well, there's the third leg of the Trump War on America: his new allies in the Mega-Wealthy-Bro-Sphere. The ones suspected of propping up the Trump cybercurrency, who in theory can now block out individual lines of spending if they feel like it. The ones who stand to benefit mightily if, say, the U.S. economy were to suddenly crash under the clouds of chaos and self-dealing and self-destructive economic policies, making investments in the financial futures markets that could yield big paybacks for them (Yahoo Finance reports such action has been very active this weekend). The ones whose "deep thinkers" like an unctuous and vapid faux-philosopher named Curtis Yarvin (among whose fans are said Tech Bros and J.D. Vance, a former Senator apparently now working at a position that ... it says here is ... "Vice President" of something or other) talk about how annoying and unnecessary democratic self-rule is for them the world.
-All of which is being done to enrich, protect, and venerate Dear Leader a mere two weeks into the new regime. Their idol, whom many praise for his tireless work to make themselves feel great about their classism and racism and sexism, is of course absorbing all the adoration from his golf club in Florida - which he has done four at least four of the 13 days he has returned to power, and which he is doing again today while attacking Selena Gomez for daring to show emotion about the ongoing deportations that are also continuing and will also contribute to what could be a bad, bad economic crisis - because attacking TikTok videos is what his followers voters want. (And sadly, on that score he is right.)
-Phew. So, what can and is being done?
-There are and will doubtless be dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits to be filed for all of the above atrocities and more (like the shameful attack on the trans community). That virtually everything being done is both unconstitutional and illegal goes prettye much without saying - the issue is who and how will the crimes get slowed down or stalled. Courts will help a bit, and as evidenced by the reversal of Trump's attempt to unilaterally freeze all Government spending earlier in the week, pushback can be done and be done with some good effect. After all, we will be talking about dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits, and they can't and won't all go up to the Supreme Court. Heck, a few of the cases will actually be lost, because as has been discussed before, neither Team Trump or many in the Heritage Foundation are actually skilled at doing what they are trying to do. This is "flooding the zone" in the hope and belief not everything that will be enacted will be stopped by someone. So donations to groups heading into the courts to fight these things are donations that will help.
-It would be nice to have some political pushback as well. For that we look rather forlornly at Congressional Democrats, who do not have majorities but who could do some things if properly motivated. Investigations would be good, and there are some rumblings some may be begun as much as possible - and there is clearly planning afoot for what will be an all-out battle to protect Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act, all of which are targets for Project 2025 centered around the budget that will not begin to be legislated until at least April when House Speaker Mike Johnson will (or should) have his tenuous four-vote majority restored through special elections.
-Democratic Senators continue to be annoying, though. Minority Leader Schumer continues to be dogged by demands to stop ratifying the Trump nominees (see Treasury Secretary above), use Senate rules including the filibuster to slow down or stop nominees, and to for the love of all things holy STOP SOCIAL MEDIA POSTING LIKE YOU ARE ENTERING A DAD JOKE COMPETITION. A conference call between Schumer and angry Democratic state leaders led by IL Governor J.B. Pritzker - a Democrat Who Gets It when it comes to communication - pushed Schumer to do more and do it harder, not the sludgy posts (which, reports indicate, are being helmed by the aforementioned Cory Booker), and in a sign of faint life, Democrats walked out of the Committee where Office of Management and Budget nominee Russ Vought - a primary author of Project 2025 - awaits approval to be moved to the Senate floor.
-So another thing to do is to keep demanding, through phone calls and posts and pressure in any way you can, to continue to get Senate Democrats to Up Their Game NOW to gum up the works and try to put pressure on Congressional UnMAGAts.
-To be clear, non-MAGAt Republicans are feeling the pressure. There are indications that enough GOP Senators are wavering on the nominations of Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services (thanks a little to neither of them helping themselves in their hearings for the non-MAGAt majority and being their authentic cretinous selves) that the White House (and possibly Musk) are making phone calls to demand (read: threaten with primaries and who knows what else since Apartheid Boy now has a crapton more data about everyone) they stay in line (read: do not make The Man With The Magnificent Hands stop his putting!) and vote to move out of committee and into their positions. And to refer to the lead for today's Substack, nobody with a lick of sense (read: everyone smarter than, say, Gym Jordan) is defending the Trump Tariffs because they are destructive and indefensible and stupid beyond stupid and know the political damage they will suffer as a result.
-Push EVERYONE. Phone calls WORK. TALK about a couple of these items. The more noise and sunlight, the better. After all, Team Trump and the MAGAts were courteous enough to do a huge amount of this stuff on a weekend when people can plan to counteract them. Especially with the Super Bowl happening next week ...
-There IS other news, and it starts with the Democrats, who picked a new leadership team for these times. While the online community was full in favor of selecting Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Winkler, in the end he lost on the first ballot to another Midwest leader with more than his share of success: Ken Martin, head of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party, whose record of ten consecutive wins have made that state a Progressive icon that befits a man who was mentored in part by the late Paul Wellstone and who produced beloved MN Governor Tim Walz (who supported Martin along with MN Attorney General Keith Ellison and Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar).
-Martin does not have Winkler's on-camera charisma or apparent on-line thing, but Winkler actually won more Democratic establishment endorsements (Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi), and every DNC Chair candidate ran on platforms that emphasized 50-state organizing, 24/7/365 messaging while building a new information infrastructure less dependent on Legacy Media and their Trump-licking, so at least on paper everyone understands the assignment. Besides, the three elected Vice Chairs will inject youth, diversity, and desperately needed media savvy into the leadership: Latino voting registration activist Arte Blanco of NV, FL gun rights advocate David Hogg, and PA State Representative Malcolm Kenyatta.
-We have not written about Ukraine for a while, but there is a bit of a sea change slowly happening, as independent military assessments are concluding that Russian military forces do not have the strength or the ability to "win" the war they started to try to conquer Ukraine. Casualties are approaching one million for Putin's forces, attacks deep in Ukrainian territory are having a major impact on energy and oil infrastructure, there has not been a large-scale attack against Ukraine for a few weeks (may that statement not endanger that), and his economy continues to be very tenuous (even as his overseas fkery continues - see "Trump War on America").
-Trump's statements asking for Putin to begin negotiations, in that context, are a bit striking - was that statement performative and just a dumb show for Putin's behalf, or - and (STANDS ON SOAPBOX) THIS IS WILD SPECULATION - does Real President Musk have something up HIS sleeve? Is Elon doing Putin's bidding, or does Elon have ambitions? After all, the only person on Earth richer than Elon is, depending on when you look, Putin - and we now know TechBros are egotistical snowflakes who like measuring their manhoods ... so, watch this space and see who tries to be the big dog while continuing to support Ukraine (STEPS OFF SOAPBOX).
-And always, SLAVA UKRAINI!
-We end with Sportsball News, and a late trade last night that fans are still agog and in shock about. Luka Doncic, the 25-year-old international megastar, was dealt by the Dallas Mavericks to the Los Angeles Lakers for 31-year-old NBA star Anthony Davis and other sundry parts. The trade was not requested by Doncic and was done so quickly LeBron James didn't know about it until after it happened, with Dallas General Manager Nico Harrison claiming it was done for "defense" and other reports the Mavericks were unhappy with Doncic's conditioning. The trade makes Doncic the heir to James' status as the face of the Lakers - a Big Damn Deal for fans of The Lake Show - and means the Mavericks, who made it to last year's NBA Finals with Doncic, have 2-3 years to get back with a Big Three of Davis, Kyrie Irving, and Klay Thompson.
-SPORTS!!!!
-Long update today because ... well ... y'know ... so let's wrap with the History O'The Day and get on with Pre-Super Bowl Sunday!
-NEWS ON THIS DATE: In 1971, Idi Amin completed a military coup and started his reign of terror in Uganda. In 1980, the Abscam undercover criminal investigation was made public. In 1990, the African National Congress was restored to full political party status in South Africa. In 2004, CBS apologized for the Super Bowl halftime show that featured Janet Jackson's breast being exposed after her top was torn off (as part of a routine?) by Justin Timberlake - the incident being referred to as "a wardrobe malfunction." In 2011, the White Stripes broke up.
-DEBUTS ON THIS DATE: New Amsterdam, later renamed New York City (1653), public flushing restrooms (1852), the National League of Baseball (1876), Groundhog Day (Duh!) (1887), the ice cream scoop (1897), the first movie stunt (a parachutist jumping from the Statue of Liberty, 1912), Grand Central Station (1913), ULYSSES (1920), WHAT'S MY LINE? (1950), THE NUTCRACKER (1954), JUMPERS (1972).
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Tallyrand, Solomon Guggenheim, James Joyce, George Halas, Howard Johnson, James Dickey, Liz Smith, Elaine Stritch, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, Stan Getz, Tommy Smothers, Wayne Fontes, Barry Diller, Graham Nash, Farrah Fawcett, Ina Garten, Brent Spiner, Ross Valory, Dexter Manley, Erik ten Hag, Shakira, Ivan Perisic, and Data.
-REST IN PEACE/REST IN POWER: John L. Sullivan, Boris Karloff, Bertrand Russell, Bert Parks, Donald Pleasence, Gene Kelly, Sanford Meisner, Max Schmeling, Earl Butz, Barry Morse, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bob Elliott, Bill Fitch, and Monica Vitti.
-FEED THE WORMS: Horrible philosopher and even worse writer Ayn Rand, spineless MAGAT Sen. John Cornyn (TX), Duane Chapman (aka "Dog the Bounty Hunter"), and Stepford Senator Katie Britt (R-AL), entered Earth on this date. Sid Vicious bought it on this date.
-THIS WEEK IN CULTURE: The Number One Nonfiction Book in the U.S. on this date ... in 2025, ONYX STORM by Rebecca Yarros ... in 2015, THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins ... in 2005, THE BROKER by John Grisham ... in 1995, THE CELESTINE PHILOSOPHY by James Redfield ... in 1985, IF TOMORROW COMES by Sidney Sheldon ... and in 1975, CENTENNIAL by James Michener.
-MUSIC FOR TODAY: Happy Birthday to LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy (as we wait for New Music from LCD Soundsystem this year)!