Musk leaves CNN host bemused with garbled new threat to fire every single federal worker

Adam Nichols
February 22, 2025 

RAW STORY

Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw as Argentina's President Javier Milei gives two thumbs up during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Elon Musk issued a confusing order to all federal workers Saturday — and told them failure to comply will result in their immediate firing.

The message sent on his social media network X came amid weeks of massive culls that have seen thousands of government staffers lose their jobs — and Musk proudly waving around a chainsaw at the Conservative Political Action Conference as he apparently relished the cuts that the Department of Government Efficiency, which he heads, has overseen.

"Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," Musk's post read.

"Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

CNN host Fredricka Whitfield was left bemused.

"I don't know if you understand that. I don't yet," she said.

"We'll have to get a little more clarity on what that means."

The network's national correspondent Rafael Romo tried to explain

"Every employee has been asked to justify their employment," he said.


"How is not exactly clear."

See the tweet and watch the CNN video below or at this link.

'Messy and inaccurate': DOGE success stories dismantled in brutal review

Tom Boggioni
February 22, 2025

RAW STORY

People gather to protest outside the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) headquarters after the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was charged with oversight of OPM, in Washington, U.S. February 2, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

The daily drumbeat of success stories from Elon Musk's controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are not holding up to the light of day, with Politico reporting it has found a wealth of mistakes and outright false claims according to a deep dive into the numbers.

On Saturday morning, Politico's Jessie Blaeser labeled what has been reviewed so far as "messy and inaccurate" before adding the public listing of savings from DOGE "is filled with errors."

Summarizing their findings Politico is reporting, among other problematic claims, "Instances where a single pot of money is listed multiple times — tripling or quadrupling the amount of savings claimed," "Contracts that had not yet been awarded," and "Contract savings identified by DOGE that do not match with records they refer to in the Federal Procurement Data System."

Despite corrections from DOGE when confronted with errors, the report notes, "The inconsistencies represent a fundamental misunderstanding of federal contract data, according to a manager at one of the recipient companies listed on the DOGE site" who stated there was a savings claim made for money that was never awarded.

According to that government contractor who did not want their name used out of fear of reprisals, "Everyone in the consulting industry has been well aware of the questionable contracts issued and outright errors in the data, and everyone is very well-aware they’re repeating the wrong numbers. But we don’t want to speak up because we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

The Politico report detailed discovering, "at least 14 instances where items are repeated, totaling $325 million in claimed savings."

In another instance, the savings was linked to the wrong company with Politico's Blaeser reporting, "DOGE reported a canceled contract with National Jewish Health to support research on lung diseases. But it’s linked to a contract with the University of Oklahoma for cardiovascular research. It’s unclear which contract DOGE has canceled."

You can read more here.

I went to CPAC as an anthropologist − for Trump fans a ‘golden age’ has begun

The Conversation
February 22, 2025

A shirt displaying the words “Gulf of America” is seen for sale during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

By Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

At the start of his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2025, President Donald Trump declared, “The golden age of America begins right now!”

A month later, Trump’s supporters gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, in Oxon Hill, Maryland, from Feb. 19-22 to celebrate the advent of this golden age.

Gold glitter jackets, emblazoned with phrases like “Trump the Golden Era,” are for sale in the CPAC exhibition hall. There, attendees decked out in other MAGA-themed clothing and accessories network and mingle. They visit booths with politically charged signs that say “Defund Planned Parenthood” and collect brochures on topics like “The Gender Industrial Complex.”

Another booth with a yellow and black striped backdrop resembling a prison cell’s bars was called a “Deportation Center.” Attendees photographed themselves at this booth, posing beside full-size cutouts of Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan.

Former Jan. 6 prisoners, including Proud Boys’ former leader Enrique Tarrio, have also been a visible – and controversial – presence at CPAC.

The conference’s proceedings kicked off on Feb. 20 with an Arizona pastor, Joshua Navarrete, saying, to loud applause, “We are living in the greatest time of our era – the golden age!”

Many subsequent speakers repeated this phrase, celebrating the country’s “golden age.”

For many outside observers, claims of a golden age might seem odd.

Just months ago during the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said that an American apocalypse was underway, driven by a U.S. economy in shambles and major cities overrun by an “invasion” of “illegal alien” “terrorists,” “rapists” and “murderers.”

Now, Trump’s critics argue, the U.S. is led by a convicted felon who is implementing policies that are reckless, stupid and harmful.

Further, these critics contend, Trump’s illegal power grabs are leading to a constitutional crisis that could cause democracy to crumble in the U.S.


How, they wonder, could anyone believe the country is in a golden age?

As an anthropologist of U.S. political culture, I have been studying the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, movement for years. I wrote a related 2021 book, “It Can Happen Here.” And I continue to do MAGA research at places like this year’s CPAC, where the mood has been giddy.

Here are three reasons why the MAGA faithful believe a golden age has begun. The list begins, and ends, with Trump.



Elon Musk holds a painting of himself during CPAC in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 20, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

1. The warrior hero

Trump supporters contend that after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attacks, which they consider a “peaceful protest,” Trump became a political pariah and victim.

Like many a mythic hero, Trump’s response was “never surrender.” In 2023, he repeatedly told his MAGA faithful, “I am your warrior, I am your justice.”


Trump’s heroism, his supporters believe, was illustrated after a bullet grazed his ear during an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July 2024. Trump quickly rose to his feet, pumped his fist in the air and yelled, “Fight, fight, fight.”

The phrase became a MAGA rally cry and, in February 2025, it has been stamped on CPAC attendees’ shirts and jackets.

After Trump’s 2024 election victory, many Trump supporters dubbed it “ the greatest comeback in political history.” MAGA populist Steven Bannon invoked this phrase at a pre-CPAC event on Feb. 19.

When Bannon spoke on the CPAC main stage on Feb. 20, he led the crowd in a raucous “fight, fight, fight” chant. He compared Trump with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington and called for him to run again for president in 2028.


This is despite the fact that Trump running for a third term would violate the Constitution.

2. A wrecking ball

The MAGA faithful believe that Trump is like a human “wrecking ball,” as evangelical leader Lance Wallnau said in 2015. This metaphor speaks to how Trump supporters believe the president is tearing down an entrenched, corrupt system.

The day Trump took office, MAGA stalwarts underscore, he began to “drain the swamp” with a slew of executive orders.

One established the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is devoted to eliminating government waste. DOGE, led by billionaire Elon Musk, has dismantled USAID and fired thousands of government workers whom MAGA views as part of an anti-Trump “deep state.”

Musk stole the show at CPAC on Feb. 20. Speaking to a cheering crowd, Musk held up a large red chain saw and yelled, “This is the chain saw for bureaucracy.”


Speaker after speaker at this year’s CPAC have celebrated this and other wrecking-ball achievements on panels with titles like “Red Tape Reckoning,” “Crushing Woke Board Rooms” and “The Takedown of Left Tech.”

3. The Midas touch

A golden age requires a builder. Who better, the MAGA faithful believe, than a billionaire businessman with a self-proclaimed “Midas touch.” This refers to King Midas, a figure in Greek mythology who turns everything he touches into pure gold.

“Trump Will Fix It” signs filled his 2024 campaign rallies. And MAGA supporters note that Trump began fixing the country on Day 1 by “flooding the zone” with executive orders aimed at implementing his four-pronged “America First” promise. In addition to draining the swamp, this plan pledges to “make America safe again,” “make America affordable and energy dominant again” and “bring back American values.”

These themes run through the remarks of almost every CPAC speaker, who offer nonstop praise about how Trump is securing the country’s borders, increasing energy independence, repatriating who they call illegal aliens, restoring free speech and reducing government regulation and waste.

CPAC speakers said that Trump has already racked up a slew of successes just a month into his presidency.

This includes Trump using the threat of tariffs to bring other countries to the negotiating table.

Meanwhile, Trump supporters are pleased that he has been working to cut deals to end the conflict in Gaza and the war between Russia and Ukraine, while reorienting U.S. foreign policy to focus on China.

House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed the prevailing MAGA sentiment when he stated at CPAC that Trump “wrote the art of the deal. He knows what he’s doing.”


CPAC attendees wear Trump-themed clothing at the four-day political conference on Feb. 20, 2025.
Andrew Harnick/Getty Images

American exceptionalism restored

The golden-age celebration at CPAC centered on Trump and his mission to “make America great again.”

Speaker after speaker, including foreign conservative leaders from around the world, paid homage to Trump and this message.

During her CPAC speech, Liz Truss, the former prime minister of the U.K., stated, “This is truly the golden age of America.” Truss, who does not have a current political position, told the CPAC audience that she wanted to copy the MAGA playbook in order to “make Britain great again.”

The MAGA faithful believe that Trump is restoring an era of American exceptionalism in which the U.S. is an economic powerhouse, common sense is the rule, and traditional values centered on God, family and freedom are celebrated.

And they believe in a future where the U.S. is, as Trump said in his inaugural address, “the envy of every nation.”

Alex Hinton, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology; Director, Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights, Rutgers University - Newark

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

MAGA’s war on 'male inequality' rages at CPAC

Matt Laslo
February 22, 2025 

RAW STORY

U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks with Mercedes Schlapp the day he addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — This just might be the year American men finally overcome centuries of political, cultural and marital oppression that have ravaged the gender and kept guys locked out of key policies, like the Violence Against Women Act.

That’s what one conservative vendor peddled at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. And they’re not alone. The oft-repeated message being subtly driven into CPAC attendees – is that the era of male victimhood is over.

Culture wars are now king.

In years past, the conservative confab focused on fiscal responsibility and cutting federal spending. This year — even as Republicans in Congress and the White House debate trillions of dollars in budget cuts — leaders stoked gendered culture wars.

“Don't allow this broken culture to send you a message that you're a bad person because you're a man, because you like to tell a joke, because you like to have a beer with your friends or because you're competitive," Vice President J.D. Vance told CPAC attendees Thursday.


Eradicating diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives may have merely been a stepping stone. Conservatives have rallied behind a new, if antiquated, gospel of manhood as they work to turn back time and eviscerate what they call "wokeness" in real time.

At CPAC, this is truly a man’s world, or will be soon if the resurgent right succeeds.

“Male Inequality”

Masculinity is everywhere here at CPAC. It’s tangible, making this year’s conference feel more like an all-male retreat than the policy-focused escape the annual event was before President Donald Trump remade American conservatism in his image.

In these conservative confines, there’s no gender pay gap (even as statistics show women earn roughly 75 cents for each dollar a man makes). Women’s suffrage, practically speaking, is a fairy tale of a bygone era. While Bibles abound, the Book of Ruth and its strong, central female cast, is an afterthought (if a thought at all).

The real problem is “Male Inequality,” according to the newly launched Men’s Equality Network, or MEN.



‘Areas of Male Inequality’ — a pamphlet MEN are handing out at this year’s CPAC.


At CPAC, MEN seeks to drum up support for the hashtag #genderequalityformen, while also giving away free caps emblazoned with “Watchdog: Stop the gender agenda.”

MEN's tagline succinctly sums up the mission that drives the group: “assuring due process, fairness and equal opportunities for men.” And while they may only be a few weeks old, MEN has already attracted 18 partners, ranging from United Families International to the Child Custody Coalition.


The group is so new, it hasn't held its first meeting. But MEN soon plans to start hosting monthly training sessions with partner organizations, then storm the marble halls of Washington, demanding equality for men.

And MEN has allies in powerful places in Trump’s Washington.

"Our culture sends a message to young men that you should suppress every masculine urge, you should try to cast aside your family, you should try to suppress what makes you a young man in the first place," Vance opined from the CPAC main stage. He, like MEN, provided no evidence to support his contention.

While the group is surely easy to single out, it's far from alone in its drive to restore manhood to its properly patriarchal perch at CPAC but also throughout society.

"Go fu#% yourself Planned Parenthood”

Entering this year’s hall of vendors at CPAC, it’s seemingly impossible to miss the loud magenta “Go fu#% yourself Planned Parenthood” banner next to a cardboard cutout of President Trump.


Defund Planned Parenthood photo (Photo credit: Matt Laslo)

A few rows away, at first blush, the booth for "Date on the Right" seems dedicated to online romance for Republicans. But the material seems more focused on connecting hardline conservatives with their policy dreams.

Instead of promising long-term love, the group’s selling point feels more politically inclined than lifemate: “Dating for conservatives: only two genders – male and female allowed. No pronouns but male or female allowed.”

Other booths are dotted with free swag seeking to uproot political correctness — “I support free speech, not political correctness,” reads one sticker — through slogans like, “God, Guns and Girly Things” or “Woman: an adult human female.”

“We have an entire generation of young men who are smoking weed, watching porn, not getting married — not even pursuing women,” American Principles Project President Terry Schilling told CPAC attendees. “We have this thing called incels — involuntary celibates. It's terrible. And we can't become a great nation again — we can't make America great again — until our men are great again.”

“You’ve been gaslit to high heaven”

For attendees, conservatives are undeniably victims. The thousands gathered at CPAC are set on righting those past perceived wrongs.

“You’ve been gaslit to high heaven every time you picked up a newspaper in the United States,” conservative anchor Megyn Kelly told the crowd. “Every time you’ve turned on CNN. You’ve been lied to. You’ve been bullied — or seen others with lesser power — bullied by the media and the leftist Democrats. You have been a victim of overbearing and controlling leftists who think they are the final arbiters of what’s best for you and your life.”

While this may be MEN's year, conservative women aren’t going quietly.

CPAC may be a man’s world these days, despite all the powerful women in today’s GOP, like White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who, at 27, is the youngest person to ever hold the prestigious role.

On the CPAC stage this week, former White House communications director Mercedes Schlapp — wife of CPAC chair Matt Schlapp who a sheriff wrote up earlier this month for allegedly groping a man — asked Leavitt about being a woman in Trump world.

"Look at the White House and look at the exceptional Cabinet President Trump has put together," Leavitt said. "While we don’t care about identity politics…the president has appointed Susie Wiles, our first female chief of staff in United States history; Brooke Rollins heading up as our secretary of agriculture — look across the entire Cabinet. There are incredible women — Linda McMahon, leading the Department of Education — the list goes on and on."

As for her advice to young women, Leavitt departed from her party’s new man-centric mantra.

"Stay strong, speak the truth and don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t achieve your dream, or you can’t get to that next step. Just believe in yourself, because there will be a lot of people who don’t believe in you, who cast doubt on you, who talk bad about you," Leavitt said. "Screw ‘em. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter."

Matt Laslo has covered Congress since 2006, bringing Raw Story readers the personalities behind the politics and policy straight from Capitol Hill. Based in Washington, D.C., Matt has been a long-time contributor to NPR, WIRED, VICE News, The Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, and Playboy. More about Matt Laslo.

'Coalition of the crass:' Analyst says Musk's crude humor more than just a 'middle finger'

Matthew Chapman
February 21, 2025 

RAW STORY

Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw as Argentina's President Javier Milei gives two thumbs up during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 20, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Tech billionaire Elon Musk is spending the time he's not slashing the federal government, suspending vital government services, or threatening reporters with prison for doing their jobs, to make crude penile and sexual jokes, wrote Ali Breland for The Atlantic — and it reveals something about the movement he's cultivating.

Last week, noted the report, "The world’s richest man briefly changed his display name on X to 'Harry Bōlz,' apparently after learning that USAID had spent millions on circumcisions in developing countries. 'Circumcisions at a discount, now 50% off!' he posted. 'Judicial dicktatorship is wrong!' he added, the same day that a federal court ruled against the Trump administration’s chaotic federal-funding freeze."

Musk's crude attack on the U.S. Agency for International Development — a key target of Trump and Musk for dramatic cuts that helped save more than 20 million lives in the HIV/AIDS epidemic — didn't go unnoticed by Breland.

"Penis jokes are the kind of juvenile humor that Musk is known for," wrote Breland. "After all, this is the same billionaire entrepreneur who began his ownership of Twitter by posting a video of himself carrying a sink into the company’s headquarters with the caption, 'Let that sink in.' He has named Tesla’s vehicles so that the lineup spells 'S3XY,' as in 'sexy.' In 2018, he posted that he would take Tesla private at $420 a share (which he maintains was not a cannabis joke). I could go on."

This type of humor, Breland continued, is emblematic of something broader.

"Trolling in its various forms (posting about balls, trying to offend, making political opponents squirm) has gone from an occasionally used tool to a unifying touchstone of an entire political faction. Call it a coalition of the crass," Breland wrote.

And this isn't a new strategy for the right.

"The practice has existed since at least 1947, when a 21-year-old William F. Buckley and some of his friends showed up at a rally for the left-wing presidential candidate, Henry Wallace, wearing ironic bohemian getups. Rush Limbaugh built his career on delivering a steady stream of trolling sound bites on his radio show. But trolling has become more integral to the right in the Trump years. Trump himself loves to troll — addressing posts to 'haters and losers' — and the Pepe the Frog meme blew up during his first term as the go-to way for the MAGA faithful to troll the left."

This strategy, in short, is about deliberately tormenting and upsetting political opponents, Breland continued — and it gets a lot uglier than simple genital humor.

"Musk, too, has belittled the marginalized: Just this week he ridiculed a blind person, and in the past has mocked a disabled X employee (which he later apologized for), and rolled back protections against anti-trans harassment on Twitter," wrote Breland. "No one is hurt because of a joke about balls, but such jokes are still a middle finger to Musk’s intended audience of liberals and government workers. The point is to laugh in their faces as he dismantles the things that they care about, in an attempt to break them. It is not enough to beat your adversaries. They must be humiliated."

Monoskop.orgmonoskop.org/images/5/54/Theweleit_Klaus_Male_Fantasies_Vol_1_Women_Floods_Bodies_History.pdf

Klaus Theweleit Male Fantasies, 1. Women, Floods, Bodies, History

... Nazis. They are men for whom the period between 1914 and. 1945 was continuous, almost uninterrupted war, in no small part because they made it so. I should ...

Monoskop.orgmonoskop.org/images/4/4d/Theweleit_Klaus_Male_Fantasies_Vol_2_Male_Bodies_Psychoanalyzing_the_White_Terror.pdf

Klaus Theweleit Male Fantasies, 2. Male Bodies - Monoskop

Male bodies, psychoanalyzing the white terror. 1. Germany. Heer. Freikorps. 2. Soldiers—. Germany—Sexual behavior. 3. Fascism and sex. 4 ...

FASCISTS OF A FEATHER GATHER TOGETHER

CPAC

'Make Europe Great Again': European right makes pilgrimage to U.S.

AFP
February 22, 2025 

A T-shirt playing on Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' campaign slogan on sale at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington. (AFP)

Blue baseball caps and T-shirts sporting a continental version of Donald Trump's political rallying cry -- "Make Europe Great Again" -- abound at a gigantic conference center near the US capital Washington this week.

Leaders across the European right have arrived at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in droves, seeking ideas and insights from those at the heart of the movement that has reshaped the United States.

"This idea of America First, it also refers to what we would like, that is to say a little Europe First," Raphael Audouard, director of the Fondation des Patriotes pour l'Europe (Patriots for Europe Foundation), told AFP.

"The return to national borders, which is what Trump is defending, echoes what we're defending in different European countries," said the 32-year-old Frenchman, whose group is affiliated with the group of the same name in the European Parliament.

CPAC is an annual gathering of conservative leaders and activists that this year is celebrating Trump's return to the White House, with members of his administration and political allies featuring heavily among the speakers.

Many of the American attendees are "happy" to see that Trump's brand of bombastic populism is also inspiring European leaders, Audouard said.


But even amid the meeting of minds, he sounded a note of warning.

"We're aware that we shouldn't be naive," he said.

"Trump wants America first. But America first is not Europe first."

- 'Trump revolution' 

-
AFP

US President Donald Trump's rallying cry was seen everywhere at CPACParty leaders such as Britain's Nigel Farage, and prime ministers such as Slovakia's Robert Fico were among those making the pilgrimage.

Not all were singing from the same choir book.

France's Jordan Bardella, a member of the European Parliament and head of his country's anti-immigration National Rally (RN) party, announced he was canceling a speech to CPAC scheduled for Friday after Trump ally Steve Bannon made an apparent Nazi salute onstage a day earlier.


Others said they had come merely in the spirit of inquiry.

Romanian Diana Iovanici-Sosoaca, also a member of the European Parliament, explained that she was there out of "a curiosity what is happening here."

"There were times when Europe was great. Now it's low, it's down," said the lawmaker, who first made a name for herself on social networks in Romania for her opposition to anti-Covid measures.

That sense of a Europe in decline was a recurring theme among its attendees.

"Patriotic Brits... look across the Atlantic with envy," former British prime minister Liz Truss said in one CPAC speech.

"We want a Trump revolution in Britain," she said. "We want to be part of the second American revolution."

Trump's cost cutter-in-chief Elon Musk, who took the stage Thursday swinging a chainsaw presented to him by Argentina's President Javier Milei, called Europe a "collapsing society."

"It feels that way. It feels like France was nicer 50 years ago than it is today," claimed the world's richest person, who has made himself the US president's most powerful ally.

Former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki told AFP the continent has focused on "stupid priorities... on the wrong priorities, like accommodating as many illegal migrants as possible."

The US and Europe are experiencing "a difficult and very dangerous moment when both parts of the transatlantic community, so to say, are getting more and more away from each other. And I'm very much concerned about this," he said.

"I try to explain, translate the European language to the American language and vice versa. That's my major objective here."

Bardella withdraws from US conference after Trump ally Bannon’s Nazi ‘wave’

FRANCE24
Issued on: 22/02/2025 - 
Video by: Charlotte HUGHES

French far-right leader Jordan Bardella cancelled his scheduled speech at a Washington conference on Friday after Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon appeared to make a Nazi salute at the same event. The incident comes just weeks after Elon Musk, another Trump ally, made headlines for twice making a gesture interpreted by some as a Nazi salute at a celebration of Trump's inauguration in January.

'Far more dangerous': NY Times' Maureen Dowd shares terrifying realization

Adam Nichols
February 22, 2025 

RAW STORY

Phony Time magazine cover with Donald Trump wearing a crown (The White House)

The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd had a terrifying message to share on Saturday — when Donald Trump says he can do whatever he wants, he might actually be right.

The famed columnist ran through a now familiar list of Trump challenges to institutions set up hundreds of years ago to keep tyranny under control.

And, she suggested, they’re failing.

“America was forged in the blood and fire of rejecting tyranny; its institutions were meticulously formed around the principle that we would never be ruled by a king,” she wrote.

“Yet Trump delights in reposting memes of himself as a king and as Napoleon, with a line attributed to the emperor: ‘He who saves his country does not violate any law.’”

She went through examples of how the nation’s institutions were buckling to him.

Among them were the multitude of court cases, most of which failed to even bring him to trial. A criminal conviction in New York ended with no real punishment.

He’s voiced empire-building ambitions towards Canada, Greenland and Gaza, and wants to take mineral deposits from Ukraine. And he repeatedly demeaned America’s election integrity.

“His megalomania has mushroomed. His derisive behavior toward Zelensky — how can a modestly talented reality show veteran mock Zelensky as 'a modestly successful comedian'? — shows Trump can’t abide anyone saying he is doing anything wrong,” Dowd wrote.

“When The Associated Press refused to go along with his diktat to call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, the news organization was barred from covering some events with the president in the Oval Office and on Air Force One.”

And then on Friday he told the governor of Maine that he was the federal law.


“I’ve been reading a book called ‘How to Be a Bad Emperor: An Ancient Guide to Truly Terrible Leaders,” wrote Dowd.

“Osgood writes of Caligula’s 'propensity to give in to every whim and the relish he took in putting down others with cruel remarks.' … Sound familiar?”

She concluded, “Many who had hoped to tune out Trump this time realize they don’t have that luxury. It’s far more dangerous now.


“There are frightening moments when our 236-year-old institutions don’t look up to the challenge. With flaccid Democrats and craven Republicans, King Donald can pretty much do whatever he wants to whomever he wants.”

'Long live the king': Inside the real reason Trump may be trolling us

REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gestures, as President Donald Trump delivers a speech, during the Laken Riley Act signing event, at the White House, in Washington, U.S., January 29, 2025.

Alex Henderson

February 22, 2025

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies have never been shy about trolling liberals and progressives as well as traditional conservatives and Never Trumpers. And some Democrats are urging Trump's critics to avoid responding to every outrageous thing he says or does and be more selective in their criticism.

Steve Bannon, host of the "War Room" vodcast and former White House chief strategist for the first Trump Administration, famously described MAGA's approach as "flood the zone with s---" — meaning create as much chaos as possible if order to overwhelm and exhaust political opponents. And the Washington's Aaron Blake, in a February 22 column, argues that MAGA Republicans "appear increasingly consumed with trolling their opponents" during Trump's second term.

"A month ago," Blake observes, "Elon Musk rang in President Donald Trump's second term with a straight-arm salute that divided a political nation. Was it meant to be a Nazi salute? Just an awkward gesture? Or was it a deliberate provocation meant to spur all of this debate — and attention? Fast forward a month, and longtime Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon on Thursday offered a very similar gesture at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). He, like Musk, denies it was intended to evoke Nazism. But the leader of France's far-right party saw fit to cancel his own planned CPAC speech over Bannon's 'gesture alluding to Nazi ideology.'"

Blake continues, "These episodes by prominent Trump allies just a month apart would suggest this is indeed a provocation, at the very least. And it would have plenty of precedent; right-wingers in recent years have deliberately provoked similar debates with the 'OK' handsign."

Other recent examples of MAGA trolling, Blake notes, include Trump referring to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Governor Trudeau" — as in making Canada the 51st state — and the Trump White House saying of Trump, "Long live the king."

Another is Trump comparing himself to Napoleon Bonaparte.

"Trump has long exploited this dilemma between taking him seriously and taking him literally to great political effect, because it means he can say pretty much anything he wants and not lose support on his side," Blake observes. "It's a social contract with the American people that skews decidedly in Trump's favor. The downside of the public's built-up tolerance for it, though, is that nobody really knows where the trolling ends and the potentially troublesome begins."

Kennedy Center reeling from 'stunning' ticket sales collapse after Trump takeover: report

WILL HE MAKE IT INTO A RODEO

Tom Boggioni
February 22, 2025 

RAW STORY

Donald Trump, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

 (Photos by Yuri Gripas, Elizabeth Frantz for Reuters)

A decision by Donald Trump to fire everyone and wrest control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on the banks of the Potomac has led to an alarming downward spiral in ticket sales and artists canceling performances in protest.

After returning to the Oval Office, the president ousted the art institution’s leadership and packed the the board of trustees with loyalists before designating his proxy, Richard Grenell, to run the operation.

With the change, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt boasted, "The Kennedy Center learned the hard way that if you go woke, you will go broke. President Trump and the members of his newly-appointed board are devoted to rebuilding the Kennedy Center into a thriving and highly respected institution where all Americans, and visitors from around the world, can enjoy the arts with respect to America’s great history and traditions.”

As the Washington Post reported on Saturday, the "go broke" part now appears to be a problem as longtime attendees spend their entertainment dollars elsewhere.

According to the Post's Travis Anderson, "In the week following Trump’s announcement, ticket sales dropped by roughly 50 percent compared to the previous week, a stunning aberration, according to several Kennedy Center staff members who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal."

That drop in tickets sold has scheduled artists weighing whether to pull out of appearances.

Case in point, Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny pulled the plug on her scheduled appearance, writing on Facebook, "In DC, but in the wake of Trump taking over, I have pulled out. It was, of course, going to be a career highlight. But there are things far more important than that.”

You can read more here.

 

IRONY 

THE GREATEST MODERN AMERICAN COMPOSER OF THE 2OTH CENTURYAARON COPLAND WAS A COMMUNIST

Former Energy Secretary Granholm Joins Boards of U.S. Utility Giant

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Feb 21, 2025, 



Former U.S. Secretary of Energy, Jennifer Granholm, will join the boards of U.S. utilities Edison International and Southern California Edison, effective April 1, the two companies have said.

Edison International is one of the biggest electric utility holding groups in the United States. Edison International is the parent company of Southern California Edison Company, a utility delivering electricity to 15 million people across Southern, Central, and Coastal California.

Edison International is also the parent company of Trio (formerly Edison Energy), a portfolio of non-regulated competitive businesses providing integrated sustainability and energy advisory services to large commercial, industrial, and institutional organizations in North America and Europe.


Granholm, who was President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Energy, “brings extensive experience advancing reliable, resilient, clean energy solutions and deploying zero-carbon technologies from her recent service as U.S. secretary of energy and prior experience as governor of Michigan,” Edison International said in a statement.

“Jennifer’s experience as a leader familiar with cybersecurity, physical security and clean energy resources ? and known for working in partnership with utilities and other industries ? will allow her to make important contributions to Edison International, including SCE and Trio,” said Peter J. Taylor, Edison International board chair.

As U.S. Energy Secretary, Granholm and the department she led were overseeing billions of dollars of grants and support to U.S. companies, including utilities, to upgrade power system infrastructure. These came from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which the Biden Administration passed to boost clean energy rollout in America.

Southern California Edison was part of a consortium, which was awarded last August a $600 million federal grant to upgrade 100 miles of electric transmission lines with grid enhancing technologies to improve reliability and deliver clean, affordable electricity faster.

The Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership (GRIP) grant was awarded to a consortium that includes the California Energy Commission, the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator, Pacific Gas & Electric Company, and Southern California Edison.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

U.S. Ultimatum Forced Iraq To Rekindle Kurdish Oil Exports

By Julianne Geiger - Feb 21, 2025


The U.S. has pressured Iraq to restart Kurdish oil exports via Turkey--and that pressure appears to be successful.

The United States issued an ultimatum to Iraq, anonymous sources disclosed to Reuters on Friday. The ultimatum was simple: restart Kurdish oil exports through the shuttered pipeline--or else suffer the same fate as Iran with regards to US sanctions.

On Monday, Iraq's oil minister said that oil flows from the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region would resume next week in what would be a rather abrupt end to a two-year stalemate over oil shipments. Officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Oil were expected to be in Erbil on Tuesday to finalize the details regarding oil exports.

Kurdistan’s oil pipeline to Turkey has been shut since 2023 due to a dispute about oil revenues and who's in charge of the oil. Years of failed negotiations have kept the oil from flowing.

While Iraq’s oil minister has announced an imminent restart, unresolved payment and technical issues remain. Kurdish producers like DNO (DNO.OL) are seeking guarantees before resuming shipments, particularly on recovering outstanding dues. Meanwhile, Turkey is still awaiting confirmation from Iraq before reopening the pipeline.

The restart could raise OPEC+ compliance questions, as Iraq is under quota pressure. However, analysts suggest it may simply shift Kurdish oil from smuggling routes to legal exports rather than adding fresh supply. With ongoing disruptions elsewhere, such as Kazakhstan’s reduced flows due to Ukrainian drone strikes, any added barrels could help to fulfill one of Trump’s key energy priorities--plentiful supply and lower prices.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia, with a fair chunk of its oil hailing from the oilfields in the northern Kurdistan region.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

UK Power Grid Requires $60 Billion Investment by 2050

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Feb 21, 2025,



The UK could need up to $63 billion of investment in the power distribution network nationally to support additional demand and generation through 2050, double the current pace of additional investment, said the National Infrastructure Commission, the government’s independent infrastructure advisor.

The UK will likely need investments of between $47 billion (£37 billion) and $63 billion (£50 billion) by 2050 as a “step change” is required in investment in Great Britain’s local electricity networks. This investment would be essential to achieve the government’s growth mission and lower long-term energy costs for consumers, the commission said in a report on Friday.

The required investment levels would be at least a doubling of current annual allowances for load related expenditure, on top of business as usual investment, such as end of life asset replacement, the commission added.

The National Infrastructure Commission’s report says that with demand for electricity set to double by 2050, the current pace of additional investment in electricity distribution networks must also double to ensure the system can cope with rising demand and connect both new sources of renewable power and new electricity demands to the grid faster.

Investments, however, are constrained by legislation. Current regulation by the energy regulator Ofgem “is too complex and doesn’t encourage distribution network operators (DNOs) to make the proactive investments needed to boost network capacity and provide resilience to future climate impacts,” the commission’s analysis found.

In the report, the government’s infrastructure advisor calls for “a more proactive approach to both energy regulation and system planning.”

Ofgem is currently seeking feedback on proposed changes to the grid connection policy from a first-come first-served approach to prioritizing projects where generation capacity is needed the most and projects are at a more advanced stage of development. The regulator looks to reform the current connections regulation which has become inadequate as some early-queued projects have fallen behind schedule while more advanced projects are waiting for years to connect to the grid.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com