We're talking about Trump's "Move Fast and Break Things" presidency - from Tulsi Gabbard wanting to turn intelligence briefings into Fox News shows, to Elon Musk's deadly DOGE disaster that's killed hundreds of thousands worldwide. Senator Joni Ernst delivers peak Republican callousness by dismissing Medicaid death concerns with "We're all gonna die!" while strolling through a cemetery. Plus, we show you what honest economic reporting would look like versus the both-sides garbage we actually get, and Ukraine shows the power of keeping Trump in the dark, prompting Blue Gal to sing a song about it.
Here is an excerpt from CNN's hot take on how Democrats are failing Murrica,
because it's against corporate policy to call stupid people "stupid" or lazy
people "lazy".
Via Raw Story:
'Are you kidding?' Stunned CNN expert scolds Dems as Trump soars despite
turmoil
The polls are in, and Americans have a clear favorite party to handle the
economy. CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is asking how, after the first
four months of the Trump presidency, are Democrats not polling better?
“You would think after all of the waves, after the last few months, the
first four months of the Donald Trump presidency, you'd expect that
Democrats would have this massive lead on the economy," he said.
"It ain't so. It ain't so.”...
He added, “How is that possible? After all the recession fears, after the
stock market's been doing all of this, after all the tariffs that
Americans are against, and Republicans still hold an eight-point lead on
the economy. Are you kidding me?”
“What do we see here?” Enten asked rhetorically, “Party with a better
economic plan. Well, in May of 2024, just before Donald Trump was
reelected president, Republicans had a nine-point advantage. Look at where
we are now. In May of 2025, the advantage actually went up by three
points.”
“Now, Republicans have a 12-point advantage when it comes to the party
with a better economic plan,” Enten said, “And again, this is after months
of economic uncertainty in which the stock market's been going bonkers, in
which the tariff wars that Americans are against have been going on, and
yet, despite all of that, the Democrats are down by 12 points on the
economy.”
Enten added, “This speaks to Democratic problems on the economy better
than basically anything that you could possibly look at.”
Now, let's keep the stats exactly the same, but redraft the story so that it
allocates responsibility for those statistics correctly. Note: I
asked a local AI down at the bar to help expedite this process, but I also
threw in a few typos just to keep it real.
The Economy Is a Mess, and Voters Keep Rewarding the Arsonists
It's waaaay long past time to stop blaming “Washington” or “the system” or
"Congress" or "polarization" or "tribalism" or "Both Sides", and start
pointing fingers where they belong. If you’re wondering how we ended up here
— with economic instability, a stock market on a roller coaster, and
reckless trade wars, the government in shambles and American democracy on the
brink of extinction — the answer isn’t the Liberal Media Conspiracy, or Harvard speech codes. or any other mysterious elite cabal. It’s
Republican voters, so-called Centrists, and a legacy media that
spoon-feeds them oversimplified glop.
Let’s look at the facts.
In November 2023, Republicans had an 11-point advantage on the question of
which party was closest to voters' economic views. That’s staggering,
considering the party had spent years stoking fears of inflation, pushing
anti-labor policies, and championing tariffs — which are nothing more than a
tax on American consumers.
Fast-forward to May 2024, right before Donald Trump was re-elected, and that
gap was still nine points. Now, in May 2025, after a full year of escalating
tariff wars, erratic markets, and even more corporate handouts under GOP
control, the Republican lead on economic trust has actually grown to 12
points.
That’s right. Twelve. Fucking. Points. After more chaos. More
volatility. More evidence. This isn’t just a failure of memory. It’s a
failure of basic civic hygiene.
Let’s start with Republican voters, who continue to support a party that
governs like a 1,000 drunk chimps with chainsaws. They cheer for tax cuts that
benefit billionaires, shrug at exploding deficits, and pretend not to notice
when their own cost of living goes up. Why? Because they're addicted to
grievance politics and Conservative media propaganda, not policy outcomes.
Next up are the fucking Centrists — the self-proclaimed “moderates” who
fetishize bipartisanship as an end in itself. These are the voters who insist
“Both Sides Do It” while conspicuously ignoring the fact that one side has
completely abandoned economic sanity. Their intellectual laziness keeps
giving cover to a party that breaks things, then blames the rubble on
someone else.
And finally, the legacy media, which continues to treat Republican economic
talking points as if they exist in a vacuum. Reporters chase shiny nonsense,
drama, and "balance" instead of digging into the real-world effects of
policy. When one party shovels mutually contradicting Republican lies about tariffs being good for American
jobs, or maybe tariffs will make us all rich, or maybe tariffs are really just a negotiating tactic, and the press uncritically parrots that message in the name of
objectivity, they’re not reporting — they’re enabling.
So here we are: a 12-point Republican lead on the economy, in the middle of
economic uncertainty they helped create.
Yes, Democrats could do better, but couldn't we all? Democrats
sometimes fail to celebrate their economic wins, or get too jargony, and
they have no megaphone big enough to out-shout Fox News lies. But the
problem goes much deeper than messaging. It’s about a voter base that’s
uninterested in anything but empty slogans, a political center that refuses to take a stand,
and a media establishment that chases spectacle over substance.
This isn’t just a bad cycle. It’s a civic collapse in slow motion — driven
by people who should know better, but clearly don’t care to.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Republican voters -- the ones that
voted for Trump three times -- are an amalgam of stupidity, laziness, racism
and bull goose looney crazy. But however unencumbered by rational
thought or an intact moral framework they may be, MAGA Republicans are like us
in one respect.
They have imaginations, even as you and I have.
But through the lens of their imagination, they see an entirely different
world than you and I, and they see their place in that world as something
wildly different than what it actually is.
In their world, everything is secretly ruled by Harvard faculty lounges are
filled with sneering know-it-alls whose demeanor is somewhere between the
Monopoly Man and Professor Barbay from Back to School. Between
rigging elections and conspiring with Canada to put the price of eggs out of
reach of the Common Man, they spend their days exchanging snooty
bon mots -- probably in some dead language like Latin or the King's
English -- about how so much better they are than Real Murricans, and cackling
about how they have turned generations of young people into buzzword spewing,
woke zombies.
The blueblood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere the ceremony of patriotism
is drowned by PhD-led mobs chanting "DEI" and "CRT".
And against this horde bent on overthrowing all that is
white, Conservative, Christian and male good and righteous about Murrica --
outnumbered and practically alone like the Spartans at the Hot Gates, and led
by the Greatest Preznit Ever. -- stands the thin, red line of MAGA.
And because they are the loyal soldiers in Trumps MAGA army, they and they alone are privy to Trump's intricate and glorious
secret plans that he cleverly camouflages behind bluster, faux dementia, ALL CAPS Tweets
and seemingly random (but brilliantly strategic!) reversals.
In this titanic struggle between the forces of Good and Evil, civilization
itself hangs in the balance, which is why no quarter can be given and no
compromise offered.
The problem with all of that is not just that it's all bullshit, it's that it's
all such laughably stupid bullshit.
I mean, seriously, have you ever asked yourself how fuck the denizens of
Sisterfuck, Arkansas came to believe themselves to be such experts in what
goes on behind closed doors at institutions they have never
visited?
Do they subscribe to the Harvard Crimson for all the hot goss?
The Harvard Gazette? Harvard Magazine? Colloquy? The
Gamut? The Lampoon?
Are they keeping current with the "In The Community" blog which, side note,
unlike this blog, has not been updated since March, 2024 (probably too busy
disparaging Real Murrcans to bother with it.)
How exactly did these simpletons come to believe the laughably stupid bullshit they so
fervently believe?
Well, if you've been paying even the slightest attention to every level of
Conservative media, from the elite to the gutter, for the past 50 years, you
wouldn't ask such silly questions, because the denizens of Sisterfuck,
Arkansas have been marinating in this toxic bullshit for at least a couple of
generations now.
A few recent examples:
New York Post, Jan. 11, 2025:
"How the rise of woke ‘educrats’ is destroying higher education."
Senator Eric Schmitt, Ingraham Angle, April 24, 2025:
"Harvard and Columbia are the 'wokest of the woke."
Fox News, January 11, 2023: "Ungar-Sargon [laughably
misrepresented as a 'Left-wing journalist']
observed that wealthy liberals call working class people 'racist' for 'not
voting for the interests of the elites'; calls out 'woke politics' as sham
for rich elites to wage 'class war'"
Bill Maher: "There is a rot, and it comes from academia"
Fox News, May 02, 2025: "Elite universities have lost their way, author argues. Author Asra
Nomani discusses how state schools could be surpassing elite universities on
‘The Bottom Line.’"
Fox News, June 9, 2021:
"Too 'woke' to work? Magazine editor says elite universities 'damaging'
students."
Fox News, January 12, 2023:
"PETE HEGSETH: Elites at this Ivy League institution are trying to erase
history with woke ideology. The call to remove a former Princeton
president's statue from campus is 'antithetical to history'."
Sean Hannity, April 17, 2025:
"Comedian says Democrats are now the party of ‘coddled college kids,’
elites who have the ‘luxury of getting offended’"
Comedian Tim Dillon discusses his Netflix special and his pushback against
‘woke-ism’ on ‘Hannity.’
Rep. Ashley Hinson and Senator Tom Cotton on Fox News, December 27, 2022:
"What Biden's woke military has wrought"
Fox News, March 27, 2025
"Top California university just ‘failed the woke test,’ says Amy
Reichert"
And who the fuck is Amy Reichert? She writes "comfort fiction".
Author of several books about food, love, and Wisconsin like The Coincidence
of Coconut Cake and Love Luck and Lemon Pie.
Continuing...
Tucker Carlson, December 1, 2020:
"Elites are using identity politics to preserve class system."
Fox News: May 5, 2025:
"Linda McMahon blasts Harvard in scathing letter telling elite university
it will no longer get federal grants. McMahon says Harvard has 'made
a mockery' of higher education in America"
Newsmax, February 14, 2024:
"Thanks to Woke Agendas, Real Education Plummets"
Bill O'Reilly to Newsmax, November 29, 2024:
"Stop Attending, Supporting 'Woke' Colleges."
Newsmax, March 29, 2024:
"Have Elite Colleges Produced Amoral, Condescending Authoritarians?"
Newsmax, March 29, 2024:
"Get Rid of Woke by Understanding Its Root Causes."
‘Woke, Inc.’: A conversation with Vivek Ramaswamy, American Enterprise
Institute.
Newsmax, September 20, 2023:
"Consumers Rise Up Against Woke Agendas"
The Fillmore County Journal ("Where Local Comes First!") May 18, 2020
Letter to the Editor: "Why the left hates America and Trump?"
That letter ends as follows
"In any election, the overriding consideration in voting should be
the political ideologies associated with candidates and the direction
America should take. Is it:
a. American Conservatism, promoted by Republicans and founded on
Biblical/Christian principles that have resulted in the greatest country
to have ever existed? Or,
b. Democratic Socialism, based on godless Marxism that has resulted in
catastrophic failure with over 100 million people murdered by their
governments in the 20 th century alone, with millions more living in
poverty and misery whenever and wherever it’s been tried? Venezuela is a
current example.
Gerald J. Boyum, Rochester, Minn.
Continuing...
One American News Network,
"Woke Indoctrination At Top U.S. Universities"
And, inevitably:
David Brooks, June 6, 2024: "The Sins of the Educated Class"
So, having been shaped into a raging, brain-dead fascist mob of Walter MAGAs
by decades of propaganda that would've made "Tail-Gunner" Joe McCarthy blush,
what oh what is to be done about it?
Not to worry! Because, as I am sure you have noticed, every time the Right cranks the crazy up
another few degrees, an army of Centrist, legacy-media Tone Police springs
into action to [checks notes] loudly remind us dirty hippies that we are
required to be the grownups here, so we'd damn well better watch our fucking
language or we'll just make the situation worse.
Because as Donald Trump as shown, bullies definitely respond favorably to civility and the calm, open hand of friendship.
However, even as we are told that our assigned role in this madhouse is to always
take high road and turn the other cheek, we are also told that, as we are turning our
cheeks up there on the high road, we must also "be authentic" and "speak like
normal people".
In roller skates.
One one leg.
Backwards.
And not in any way that might, y'know, offend that raging, brain-dead fascist mob of Walter MAGAs.
If this all sounds familiar, it should. It's a variation the same
grotesque alibi defenders of sexual predators have been using for
millennia. You know the one. Since it is universally accepted that
men are animals who have no control over what they say or do, women must bear
the responsibility for not tempting them. Women must pay close attention
to how they dress. Women must self-police where they go and how they
talk. Because one bare ankle or misspoken word can drive a man to sexual
violence.
Since it is universally accepted that +70 million Walter MAGAs have no control
over what they say or do, the Left must bear the responsibility for driving
them to vote for a lying, racist, openly-fascist sexual predator who led a
violent coup against the government of the United States, who promised to
pardon the traitors who tried to overthrow the government, who was impeached
twice, was credibly accused of serious federal and state crimes in multiple
jurisdictions and is now a multiply-convicted felon.
Three times.
Ergo, the only antidote to a regime of fascists and lunatics lying with impunity
from the highest offices in the land --
-- is to demand that we Liberals self-police where we go and how we
talk.
Because one misplaced "fuck" or one third-hand account of some
snooty professor on some college
campus somewhere saying "Intersectionality" may be all it takes for Walter MAGA to kill our democracy once and for all, then dance on its grave and believe himself a hero for doing it.
The short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut, with his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wife's visit to the beauty parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes, each inspired by some detail of his mundane surroundings.
This efficiently explains both why I spent a big chunk of the last two decades
deconstructing the Sunday Shows, and why I rarely bother anymore.
My problem with the Sunday shows is this man will not be corrected by the
host as he sits there and blatantly lies to the audience bc they don’t
want to “look partisan.”
https://t.co/pg2srBlPOL
— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 (@RachelBitecofer)
June 1, 2025
The Sunday Shows are a lost cause, beamed in from a Bizarro World full of
highly paid Muppets who laughed off the possibility that what has happened could ever happen --
-- and now let fascist scumbags run their mouths unhindered between ads for
dick pills and reverse mortgages. And in all that time, nothing that any of us who broke
those shows down, week after week, and explained the terrible danger we were
all in if their toxic folly was allowed to continue, has made the slightest
difference.
This week, we take you back to the "Before Time" - specifically 2011 - to trace the toxic road that led us to where we are today. We revisit the birther movement, explore how "Conservatism cannot fail; conservatism can only be failed" evolved into "Trump cannot fail; Trump can only be failed," and examine what happens when an entire political movement becomes nothing more than loyalty to one man.
We discuss the courts blocking Trump's tariffs (and then unblocking them), judges using 26 exclamation points to strike down executive orders, Harvard losing a quarter of its student body overnight, and the president's ongoing extortion and bribery schemes - from CBS settlements to Mar-a-Lago pardon purchases.
Plus, we cover Chris Cillizza's traumatic encounter with a mean note on his Tesla, Trump's potential pardons for would-be kidnappers, and why the meatheads will always find someone else to blame when their dear leader inevitably fails them.
It's another episode in which we boldly venture into a place where others fear to tread—recorded live from the Cornfield Resistance.
"Chicago, you will be mine, like my dog, or my horse, or my falcon, or my favorite neck-stabbin' pencil except that I shall love you more - and trust you less." -- The Ten Lessons of Rahmses -- Lesson Three
The Professional Left Podcast with Driftglass and Blue Gal
This week, we’re diagnosing a political condition we’re all feeling — what we’re calling Political Cabin Fever. It’s not hopelessness, it’s exhaustion, and if you're part of the Democratic Base, we bet you know exactly what we mean. We remember before-time examples of MAGA from Archie Bunker to Bill Hicks to RoboCop, and we talk about how liberals like us have been sounding the alarm for decades while elite opinion-havers closed their eyes. Plus, we take a look at the Rahmbo revival tour (Why are you doing this, Rahm? We think we know.), corporate media’s dangerous dance with Trump, and why the Democratic Party keeps punching hippies when it should be listening to the very people who saw this coming. Buckle up — it’s Episode 903 of The Professional Left Podcast.
In defense of American democracy, if a lie, or 100 lies, or 1,000, would knock
the Undecided and the Independents off the fences they're eternally straddling or smoke
them out of their smug, hermetically sealed "Both Siderist" panic rooms,
you're damn right I would.
Without hesitation, I would lie my ass off all week and twice on
Sundays.
If you have a minute, let me explain why this is something Democrats need to
start seriously considering. And just to make the point that, if called upon,
some of us can hang with the Joe Rogan and the Barstool Sports crowd I'll do
it in language they would understand.
This is about winning, and in the here and now, winning is ugly, because in
the here and now, politics is not lofty or idealistic. We have our base
of people who, broadly, care about the same things, and they have their base
of reprogrammable meatbags who want to burn our democracy down and dance on
its grave. And so "winning" is about getting the laziest, stupidest
people in America to take your side, stop thinking of politics as a philosophy
class or an ethics panel or a TED talk.
It's not. It's a bar. Specifically, a dive bar. And it’s
getting near closing time and your goal is to get laid. Period.
There are belligerent assholes at the end of the bar shouting nonsense that
you find really offensive. Do you engage? You do not. Why? Because
your goal is to get laid. Period.
There’s a bored bartender, who is starting to wipe down the bar and close out
tabs. Can he be of any help? No he cannot. He is the letter
of the law. He is your ticking clock. When the clock strikes 2:00
AM, the lights go on and the patrons will be shown the door whether you’ve
hooked up or not.
There are a few other patrons nursing their drinks, and one of them is an
unaccompanied woman. She is the undecided or Centrist or independent
voter. And at this moment, your goal is to get her to go home with
you. To get electorally laid.
Not to get married. Not to start a family. Not to pick out
adjoining plots in the cemetery. Just laid.
So how can this be accomplished?
Well, let's make a quick list of the advice that highly paid consultants and
pundits are currently screaming at Democratic politicians.
Don’t talk about policy. Voters hate policy!
Don’t talk about facts. Facts confuse voters.
Be authentic, but not too authentic.
Be a fighter, but don’t be confrontational.
Never challenge anyone’s stupid, bigoted opinion. It doesn't matter if
the economy is improving. If they, personally, are not feeling better
then all of your charts and graphs won't mean shit.
Use plain, clear language, but don’t offend anyone. Conversely, you must never
take offense at being called a corrupt, baby-killing commie.
And above all, remember that no matter how wrong they are, voters are never
wrong because they have the final say. So you must respect the
voters, no matter how stupid or bigoted they are, and how very clear they make
it that they will never vote for you. Which is why you should be
authentic, but also stick to vibes.
Vibes and sports and farts and tit jokes.
That’s what the consultants and pundits say.
I favor a different strategy. A bolder strategy. And to explain
that strategy, let us turn now to “Better Call Saul”.
In the politics of here and now, be Kevin Costner.
Tell them what they want to hear.
Lie your ass off.
And before you start to feel bad about it, ask yourself this. Whatever
beef you have with Democrats, is it true or not true that, on his worst day,
Joe Biden is 100 times better, more decent and more focused on the problems of
real Americans than Donald Trump? Is it true or not true that, on her
worst day, Kamala Harris would have been 100 times better, more decent and
more focused on the problems of real Americans than Donald Trump?
To any sane person, this is obvious, right? Blindingly
obvious.
And yet…
And then we had that debate where Kamala Harris blew Trump out of the
water. And what difference did that make?
Kamala Harris was widely seen as dominating Tuesday's presidential debate
against Republican former president Donald Trump, but a group of undecided
voters remained unconvinced that the Democratic vice president was the
better candidate.
Reuters interviewed 10 people who were still unsure how they were going to
vote in the Nov. 5 election before they watched the debate. Six said
afterward they would now either vote for Trump or were leaning toward
backing him. Three said they would now back Harris and one was still
unsure how he would vote.
Felicity voted for Trump in 2020 but has yet to decide if
she'll back the former president a second time.
I have no freaking clue man. It's so hard. When I voted for Trump, it came
down to who would I trust with my kid alone and it wasn't [President Joe]
Biden.
I'm still undecided.
All of my family is voting for Kamala and my friends are voting for
Trump.
I'm going to vote for one of them. I've got no idea which one.
I'm still super-duper undecided. I think I'm leaning toward Kamala over
Trump, if I think about who I would trust alone in a room with my
daughter.
I'm going to make up my mind when I go into the ballot booth...
Jessi voted for Biden in 2020 but this year, she was leaning toward a
third party candidate. She's now also going to vote for Jill Stein.
My mind would have been changed to maybe vote for Harris if I had heard
more from her that was substantial.
Nothing she said, I felt, throughout the campaign really sounded like it
had any substance, and there were some key issues I don't support her
position on.
I would say the same for Trump, so I'm
going to stick with third party.
If enough voters in swing states decided to go third party, Democrats and
Republicans would have to realise they have to choose candidates who we
can support....
In September, Mat told the BBC that Harris "very likely" had his
vote. He's since left his ballot for president blank.
I ended up casting an empty ballot for president. It was tough but I felt
like no candidate really offered any policy that resonated with me.
It didn't feel like any candidate offered anything that was very
substantial. ...
Tracy was impressed with Harris after her TV debate with Trump,
but remained undecided. Now, she's still not sure - so she's not voting
for either Harris or Trump.
I have definite plans of who I'm going to vote for, but I can't tell you
the candidate's name because I don't know the candidate's name. I'm voting
for a third party.
Hopefully that [candidate] is an adult. I'm not happy with either of our
[major] presidential candidates.
I know the third-party candidate doesn't stand a chance to get in. It's
just to send a signal to Washington that I'm not playing their game and if
they want me to vote Democratic or Republican, they better put somebody in
there with brains.
One of them is a bully who wants to own the country and the other one
wants to give the whole thing away...
Vanessa was impressed with Harris earlier in the campaign but is
throwing her support behind Trump.
I believe Trump has surrounded himself with competent leaders such as
Tulsi [Gabbard], RFK, and [JD] Vance...
Now, taking all of that into consideration – the overwhelming evidence that
Trump was and is completely unfit to hold any political office anywhere,
versus the basic decency and competence of both Biden and Harris – what is it
that undecided and independent voters really want? (And remember,
pundits and consultants are adamant that, however crazy or stupid the voter’s
issues and priorities may be, you as a candidate are bound to respect them.)
What do undecided and independent voters really want?
They want to be lied to. It's no more complicated than that.
By now, the undecideds who voted 3rd party or voted for Jill Stein
or stayed home or filled out "None of the above" for president must have figured out that this kind of performative “sending a message” voting is
ridiculous and never works, because the only message it sends is “I
am ridiculous”. And it sends a message to all the third-party/Third Way/Forward Party/No Labels grifters out there that
maybe they can hit you up for a donation. But they want to believe a
lie, and Jill Stein gives them what they ask for.
At some level, the woman Jimmy McGill hooked up with for the night back in
Chicago knew he wasn’t Kevin Costner, but she wanted him to be.
She was willing to be lied to, and he was willing to provide.
As painful as it is, think about the two presidential campaigns in 2024. One was
more than substantive and detailed enough for anyone who bothered to
look. But undecideds are lazy. They’re always on the verge of
“doing their own research” when the truth is, they don’t wanna do even the
minimal amount of homework necessary to make an informed decision.
Instead many of them soak up what little they think they know about politics
from hanging around gamer sites and Joe Rogan and Barstool Sports.
Y’know, for the vibes and the farts and the tit jokes.
So, if the Democrats were offering boring substance and detail, what was Trump
offering?
They are begging to be lied to. Demanding it.
Don’t insult them by refusing.
So, until the rest of the country sobers up and starts acting like adults, be Kevin Costner.
