‘Stupid On Stilts’
Are you not entertained? Was Idiocracy not a documentary?
When construction began on whatever it is that’s rising on the South Lawn of the People’s House, Charlie Warzel posted “Wake up babe, the White House is a Six Flags”.
But this is where America is right now. Well into its Bread and Circuses phase, yet the bread isn’t being handed out for free by an Emperor to keep favor with an easily-distracted people. Rather, along with other real costs of ordinary living, it’s becoming more expensive every week.
All the while, the grift continues to multiply. As Don Lemon, among others, once said, the only difference between Donald Trump and Jim Jones is that Trump would sell you the Kool-Aid.
UFC is offering “VIP Packages” for Sunday’s fight for between $1million and $1.5million. A law suit seeking a halt to the event claims it is “deeply corrupt”.
“Plaintiffs’ attorneys argue the event is “deeply corrupt” and have accused Trump of benefitting from the event financially, citing reporting that says the president purchased up to $50,000 worth of stock in TKO, UFC’s parent company, earlier this year.
“The event is neither “for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence” nor, crucially, being “planned, organized, and executed” by the federal government,” the lawsuit says.”
According to The Hill:
“The lawsuit says brands “are clambering over each other to see their brands plastered adjacent to the Executive Residence and Reflecting Pool.”
“And the UFC’s broadcast partner, Paramount Skydance—which is run by two other Trump allies, Larry and David Ellison—has decided that no American will be able to take in this “celebration of America” without first paying $8.99 plus tax for a Paramount Plus streaming subscription,” it continues.”
Earlier this year, the New York Times reported on how the president and his representatives were leveraging events celebrating the nation’s birthday by “offering access to him and other perks to donors who give at least $1million.”
The brazenness to simply ignore mounting public outrage over his various vanity projects also comes amid a report by Public Citizen on how “donors” to Trump’s ballroom scheme have benefited with “$50billion worth of government contracts” since the East Wing was demolished.
I suppose if you can’t just sell the White House itself, this might be the next best thing.
When North Carolina Sen Thom Tillis memorably uttered the phrase in this week’s headline, he was talking about the White House plan for its ludicrous near-$2billion “anti-weaponization slush fund” (which now may - or indeed may not - be dead).
But really, though, Tillis – a two-term senator who’s not running again and isn’t shy of criticising the administration – could have been talking about any aspect of what currently passes for governance.
As well as being an awesome band name, “stupid on stilts” has become a catch-all for everything we see around us, as with each day the administration flails from one mess to the next at home and abroad. The only constant thread now appears to be how much something will cost taxpayers and how much Trump and his acolytes will profit from it.
And, like everything else, despite a significant majority of Americans disapproving of next weekend’s UFC spectacle, it actually sums up our political moment in a way that’s not really surprising and, if we’re honest, has been coming for a while.
Eric Francisco at Esquire wrote about the “strangest sporting event in our national history”.
“Before Trump, MMA was considered a vulgar sport that disgusted the political establishment. In 1996, then U.S. Senator John McCain famously called mixed martial arts “human cockfighting” and motioned to ban it in all 50 states…
“MMA’s fierce individualism and showcase of hyper-masculinity—not to mention the legacy of the martial arts boom throughout the 1980s and 1990s—has made it the de facto sport of MAGA. Bringing the UFC to an important civic space isn’t just Trump flexing whatever power he thinks he has, but overwhelming it. That’s true UFC style.”
Of course, not everyone is a fan – not even everyone in the UFC:
In a post-primary season Congress, could that initial pushback among anxious Republicans over Trump’s Slush Fund actually be the start of something more significant?
Probably not. They’re too far down the road by now with him at the wheel, and both of them know it. As Michael Ian Black wrote recently for The Daily Beast, “A car crash president is driving his party off a cliff. Buckle up!”
(It’s worth noting it was probably obvious that at some point Trump would back off the fund, given its dubious legality and since what he really wanted from the whole “settlement” pantomime was the “forever” IRS immunity arrangement. He won’t be giving that up until he’s forced to, and there’s zero chance that will happen until after November. This way, ahead of the election he gets to tell the MAGA faithful “I wanted to do this for you, but the Deep State stopped me” and it costs him nothing.)
For now, though, the Trump family is getting more scrutiny, pushback and protest against its cartoonish dealings from the people of Albania than it is from Republicans.
Mitchell Prothero at The Nation has details of the backstory and the broader significance.
He writes:
“The Albanian government, led by the semi-autocratic and pro-development Prime Minister Edi Rama, now faces a unique coalition of environmental activists, local residents claiming corrupt developers and government officials screwed them out of their property, and ordinary people concerned that Albania’s explosion of luxury development is linked to money laundering. Among other things, the mounting protests in Albania are demonstrating that the Trumpian model of oligarchic impunity is not only aging badly in America but also proving to be an increasingly toxic export.”
The No Kings movement is planning its next event for Trump’s 80th birthday, the same day as the presidential UFC fight, on June 14. (We’ll see later about other forms of cultural protest). But counter-programming insanity is always tricky, especially when everyone in the audience is exhausted.)
In what has become a pattern, even after the recent legal ruling that Trump’s name must be removed from the Kennedy Center by this coming Friday, plenty of lasting damage has already been done.
And, as Greg Olear observed, “Because his life’s mission is to ruin everything good in the world,” Trump is also set to be at Madison Square Garden in New York City for Game Three of the NBA finals tonight, meaning ticket-holders will have to arrive hours before the game starts due to added security. Watch parties around the Garden have also been cancelled (although Mayor Mamdani later announced one at Bryant Park with a 5,000 capacity.)
Having already paid astronomical prices for even nosebleed seats, Knicks fans who are halfway to celebrating their first championship since the Nixon administration, will probably just love that.
As Jimmy Kimmel said, it will be the first time Trump will have been near a court in New York since he was convicted of 34 felonies.
“You’d think he’d be rooting for the Spurs, since that’s what got him out of Vietnam.”
See Also:
Government By Kayfabe (From November 2024)
Crisis, Chaos And Corruption (From April)
The Wise And Honest (From March)
Happy Birthday To Me (From February)
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At War With Ourselves
In France to mark the 82nd anniversary of D-Day, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a speech that was roundly condemned as “grotesque stupidity”, “disgusting and obnoxious” and even “horrifying.”
The Guardian reported that “Hegseth seized on the moment marking the wartime liberation of Europe to reiterate the US administration’s longstanding attack on European immigration policies.”
In an address to honor veterans who had defeated Naziism, Hegseth said:
“Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not.”
One Republican criticised the remarks, calling them “inappropriate” and “out of place”.
The heroes of yesterday and the frauds of today.
Sadly, D-Day wasn’t the only occasion for Hegseth to force himself upon us this week – after he cut female Navy officers from a promotions list, the AP reported that several said they “see the unusual intervention as a sign that their careers now have a ceiling and worry for the future generation of female military leaders.”
The Pentagon then imposed a shake-up of religious classifications of service personnel, reducing the list of recognised faiths from 200 to just over 30. DoD said the policy was not “designed to make any claims on the legitimacy of any faith or religious belief, nor is it intended to provide a list of ‘officially approved’ religions.”
But Mormons – and especially Mormon Republicans – weren’t happy.
Meanwhile as the US action against Iran – oh yeah, that – passed the 100-day mark, Israel launched retaliatory strikes on Iran this morning despite being warned not to by President Trump.
Amid ongoing conflicting accounts around negotiations, any kind of resolution to the conflict in the region seems as far off as every other time Trump – who still claims he “calls the shots” – insisted it was close.
According to AlArabiya today, Iran’s “top negotiator” posted on his Telegram channel that “We are not going to either just fight or just negotiate; rather, we are going to fight at our own time and negotiate at our own time. Our goal is the end of the war and stable security and we have no trust toward the opposing party.”
Traders, meanwhile, believe that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “won’t return to normal until the end of the year.”
Against an extending backdrop of steadily dismantled American leadership in the world – or even collaborative engagement in light of global health situations – and increased polarisation at home; it’s easy to understand why David French at The New York Times wrote an excellent piece recently arguing that the “fire of stupidity cannot be contained”.
“It is no coincidence that authoritarianism is once again appealing to people at a time when two things are happening at once. Liberal democracies are struggling to meet the needs of a substantial portion of their citizens, and entire generations have come of age with no living memory of the totalitarian horrors of the 20th century.
“In other words, millions upon millions of people are enduring democracy as “the worst form of government” without the necessary balanced understanding (that citizens in the mid-20th century had gained through firsthand observation) of “except all those other forms that have been tried.”
“So even fascism and communism — for some people, at least — are no longer avatars of atrocity, but dynamic alternatives to a sclerotic present. In their frustration, all too many people are attracted to the theoretical benefits of authoritarianism, and they don’t have the experience or the education to understand its actual and inevitable defects.”
Meanwhile, the tide may have turned In Ukraine’s war to defend itself against its neighbour. Al Jazeera reports:
“Sensing the growing strength of their position, Ukrainian forces struck the city of St Petersburg as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived there for a high-profile economic forum, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote him an open letter telling him he could not win the war.
“Your resources are significantly dwindling,” Zelenskyy wrote. “You won’t have enough money and political power to continue buying the loyalty of Russians, as you’ve been doing for 26 years.”
“Ballistics is the last Russian argument in the war,” Zelenskyy wrote, and called for the US to allow it to produce Patriot interceptors under licence. The US has refused to do so, but Zelenskyy has pledged to produce a Ukrainian version of the Patriot system by the end of 2027.”
See Also:
‘Once In A Generation Moment’ (From February 2025)
Certain Things Are Set In Stone (From May 2025)
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Loser
President Trump may “not care about the midterms” but plenty of other Americans certainly do.
For example, the administration’s plan to put Trump’s literal mugshot on a $250 bill for the nation’s birthday celebrations may be the kind of typical ego-driven frivolous bullshit we should be used to by now, yet with his personal approval rating still in the toilet, it just seems like one more example of him going out of his way to further jeopardise already vulnerable members of his party in swing districts.
As Stephen Collinson wrote for CNN:
“The dichotomy between a president constructing a legacy in concrete and Americans struggling to pay for food and rent offers an opening to Democrats — even as the opposition party seeks to shake off its own deep unpopularity and still seems to be struggling to understand why it alienated millions of voters in 2024.”
What Trump means, likely, is that he doesn’t care about Republicans running in the midterms. Which suggests he must have a personal plan for avoiding the kind of accountability he knows will come if Democrats are in a position to impose it after November.
We may have gotten a preview of the president’s election response this weekend in a fiery Meet The Press interview with Kristen Welker.
With Republican candidate and former reality TV star Spencer Pratt losing out in his bid to become Mayor of Los Angeles, Trump attacked the state’s electoral process, stating without any evidence that the contest was “rigged”.
LeBron Antonio Hill in the Sacramento Bee writes:
“During the interview… the president ranted that the slow counting in the California Primary means the elections aren’t on the up and up. It’s the same divisive playbook he’s used before — sow doubt, divide the country, and rally his base with conspiracy.”
According to The Independent, it didn’t seem like Pratt would be conceding anytime soon.
“Pratt has insisted all is not lost, however, writing on social media Sunday, over a picture of Raman in tears: “Remember everyone…we are still in the lead, and we’ve got allllllll the way til July 6th to keep counting.”
Sounds like an all-too-familiar strategy, right? Maybe as Hill suggests, they need a new playbook.
When Welker pressed Trump for evidence of his claims of past rigged elections, the President ended the interview and walked out.
Watch Tim Miller from The Bulwark react to the interview’s lowlights.
(And do read my friend Yvonne Watterson’s take on Trump’s language as he made his exit).
Signals as to how Trump might act to resist a defeat are apparent in two job developments among his closest advisers. His nomination of Bill Pulte as Director of National Intelligence, temporarily replacing Tulsi Gabbard, has been widely criticised, particularly after Trump said Pulte would be specifically “investigating rigged elections.”
Also, as was widely expected, Trump tonight nominated Acting Attorney General Todd “Carte” Blanche – a staunch loyalist and Trump’s former personal lawyer, to permanently replace Pam Bondi.
As for the issues that will drive voters in the run-up to November, alongside the staggering economy, expect two to be at the forefront for many voters: data centers and detention centers.
The ongoing protests around the Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey, where detainees are on hunger strike, are examples of the political force of opposition to the administration’s immigration policies – something that even crosses political lines.
Meanwhile, the protests against data centers are not just about technology, as The Guardian reported, they’re also about democracy.
“Washington has doled out billions in lucrative federal subsidies and contracts to the cash-rich sector, bloating an AI bubble that experts warn may imperil the entire economy while prohibiting any guardrails on the fast-moving technology.
Fortunately for all of us, an unlikely and unruly coalition has emerged to resist the AI takeover by taking aim at the industry’s core infrastructure. In 2025, about 48 datacenter projects worth an estimated $156bn were blocked or stalled by local opposition. By all measures, 2026 is shaping up to be an even bigger year for the AI resistance.”
This picture from a recent march protesting data center construction manages to sum up pretty much everything at the moment:
And, of course, don’t sleep on the ongoing scandal of the Epstein investigations and revelations that could yet emerge, much as the administration continues to deny any cover-up.
See Also:
There’s More Than One Way To Win (From February)
Vote While You Still Can (From November 2025)
Bondi Beached (From April)
Melania Talks, Bondi Balks (From April)
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A King Ain’t Satisfied ‘Til He Rules Everything
Even as his triumphant Land of Hope and Dreams tour came to an end in Philadelphia last weekend, Bruce Springsteen was already in the process of further ramping up the power of America’s music – announcing, alongside Tom Morello, a one-day Power To The People festival in October, then appearing in two special shows celebrating the nation’s musical tradition ahead of the opening of his own Center in New Jersey.
Springsteen described himself as “a small link in a big chain.”
Brian Hiatt wrote at Rolling Stone as the Hope and Dreams tour arrived at Madison Square Garden that:
“The memory of the willful misunderstanding of “Born in the U.S.A.,” most notably by Ronald Reagan himself, is ever-fresh for Springsteen, so he’s crafted a setlist and accompanying speeches that are relentlessly clear in their indictment of Donald Trump and his administration.
“If his catalog is ready-made for this purpose, it’s only because of how long Springsteen has been grappling with issues that too many politicians and artists have ignored.”
But it was a superb piece by Julie Roginsky after the same show that I think perfectly summed up the sentiment of the event and especially the brilliantly curated setlist. She wrote that the “horror” of Springsteen’s catalog is that “it keeps aging well because America refuses to age better.”
“Springsteen gets what so many people still refuse to understand: Trump did not fall from the sky. This country did not become cruel overnight. The billionaires, the bad cops, the wars, the broken towns, the racial terror, the false patriotism, the men who want to be kings — they have all been there. Trump did not invent America’s sins. He just leaned into them.”
Caryn Rose, meanwhile, wrote at Salon about how the tour was a call to action.
“For a lot of people in that room, it may be their first exposure to participating in public protest. Because that is what this outing is, disguised as a Bruce Springsteen tour. It’s not about creating “a safe space,” it’s about taking an already familiar and comfortable space — a Bruce Springsteen concert! — where you can look around you and clearly see that that nice couple from Highland Park or Edina or Lake Oswego you were chatting with before the show are clearly not radical anarchists with Molotov cocktails in their pockets, but who yelled with gusto. Maybe more people are actually against this than you realized.”
It would have almost been comedic – if there is anything this administration does that we can still laugh about – that as The Boss’s epic road swing wrapped up with a rearranged show in, fittingly, the birthplace of America, Donald Trump’s own concert ostensibly marking the nation’s 250th birthday wasn’t falling apart like a right-wing Fyre Festival.
We left the tour with one of Springsteen’s most valuable arguments – how no political party should have a monopoly on patriotism. Edward R Murrow, the great CBS reporter, once said, famously, “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty.”
This week, Murrow’s old network – having already dispensed with Stephen Colbert and his satirical “truthiness” – further dismantled its showpiece news outlet 60 Minutes with the ouster of long-time correspondent Scott Pelley.
In Pelley’s first interview since leaving CBS – with Lulu Garcia-Navarro at The New York Times – Pelley did not hold back.
It is well worth your time.
“There was a thumb on the scale for the President’s version of events that I felt was a level of political influence that I hadn’t seen in 37 years at CBS News.”
Incidentally, Murrow also said: “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”
Goodnight and Good Luck.
See Also
Bullies (From February)
‘The Easy Way Or The Hard Way?’ (From September 2025)
Powerful Performance, Performative Pique (From February)
Masquerading (From August 2025)
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As always, thanks for reading. When I started this project in 2022, I simply did not expect how wildly out of whack things in the political world were about to become; all while sports continue to show the face of a society functioning with what passes for ‘normality’.
As for how all of this ends – and what might come after – I have no idea. And if anyone tells you they do, they’re just plain wrong. Unpredictability at home and abroad has become the touchstone of how we have decided to govern ourselves and there will be plenty of collateral damage before the dust clears.
The two links in the above paragraphs change with each weekly column – the pieces are definitely worth reading. They’re all linked here:
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