Even while the entire US is pretty much on fire we still see the occasional good governance...and this is a good sign.

This week we try to find examples of government actually...governing. Passing legislation. Completing reports. Doing its job.

Starting with the SCOTUS ruling that blocked Trump's effort to use the Postal Service to disrupt the midterm elections, we discuss some of the boring things government still does but we don't see in the media - and why our media ignores them.

Check it out, and don't forget to subscribe to the channel and check out our Patreon page.

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This week we take a look at the Trump clown show presidency and how this farce could turn tragic pretty quickly.

All the silliness we see from the Trump Administration, from AI generated memes on Truth Social to mocking the rule of law to claiming Trump is the only person in the world who can resolve any problems.

Too bad he seems to have no interest in doing so. We even have an academic article on the subject, Aidan Tynan's "Clown Politics: History, Populism, and Tragic Farce," published by ORCA/Cardiff University.

You can download the PDF here: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/161384/3/Clown%20Politics%20final%20%281%29.pdf

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Today we’re digging into a question that’s been building for years: Is Donald Trump’s governing strategy — the “fait accompli” strategy — finally approaching a tipping point?

Trump acts first. Everyone else reacts later. He creates a new reality, then forces Congress, courts, states, agencies, and opponents to scramble. And he uses delay, appeals, bureaucratic inertia, and political intimidation to keep that reality in place.

This is not just a political strategy. It tracks with Trump's behavioral style. He lives to intimidate, and he loves to punch down.

That makes it look like bullying, scaled up to the level of constitutional governance.

So today we’re asking: What does this strategy look like, and how does it work? What happens when Trump's strategy stops working, and how will we know we've reached this tipping point?

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Sixteen years ago, anger and frustration with the Republican response to the election of Barack Obama, the government response to the financial crisis of 2007, and passage of the Affordable Care Act gave birth to the Tea Party Patriots, a conservative insurgency against the GOP from the right.

This year, anger and frustration with the establishment Democratic response to the second election of Trump, MAGA fascism, the rise of the billionaire class, and the obvious failure of capitalism for workers gave birth to a socialist insurgency against the Democratic Party from the left.

In this episode, Scott and I compare the Democratic Socialists of American and the Tea Party to find parallels...and differences.

Then we discuss electoral implications, including how framing this movement as "socialist" could backfire with older voters even as it engages with younger Americans who have become more and more disillusioned with capitalism.

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For his entire life, Donald Trump has put his name on everything he could.

Buildings. Steaks. Casinos. Wine. A fake university.

Now he wants to add it to government buildings, money, and passports. Kennedy Center. Airports. Hundred dollar bills and one dollar coins.

Then he starts posting ridiculous AI images of himself with Patton, McArthur, Washington, and others. He cosplays as Jesus, complete with the laying on of hands to what appears to be an ailing Jeffrey Epstein.

Is it narcissism? Part of his demagoguery? Or is it an effort to conflate himself with the State and set the conditions for a Trump Dynasty?

Scott and I take a look and try to figure out what's up with this...silliness.

Should we be laughing? Or worried?

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Five months into the war against Iran, the US has achieved nothing but a stalemate. After spending close to $40T in taxpayer money and launching something like have the US inventory of munitions - making the US more vulnerable to attacks from China - Iran and the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps have not been brought to heel.

In fact, they've all but closed the Strait of Hormuz and could block it completely at will. Their proxies can close the Red Sea and other transportation routes. And they've announced that they'll simply wait until Trump is out of office, like they did to Carter in 1980, to negotiate. They have not lost the war and are in a strategic position to simply embrace the status quo for two years.

The Iranian government is now younger and more radicalized, and the population that was close to revolution last year has now rallied around the flag. Iran has disrupted the global economy, caused higher prices on almost every consumer good, and caused a geopolitical shift away from the US toward new alliances that could impact our national security for decades.

Scott and I predicted much of this after the war began, and now that most of the primaries are complete we thought it made sense to send a situation report on where we are. Trump never really shared his goals and vision for this war, but if if was regime change and stopping Iranian efforts to build a nuclear weapon, we have to ask: Are we there yet, Daddy Trump?

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As billionaires and corporations push artificial intelligence (AI), developers push construction of larger and larger data centers - enormous facilities full of computer chips that require as much energy and water as a small city, destroy neighborhoods with noise and local pollution, but provide few permanent jobs or economic activity. Virginia already has more data centers than any other state but remains ground zero for new construction because of its proximity to internet trunk lines.

As developers go from County to County asking local planning commissions and governments for permission to destroy green spaces, raise electricity rates, and suck water out of aquifers needed to irrigate crops and provide drinking water, local activists have energized to stop them. Scott and I sit down with Amanda Doughty (AKA CaptainAmandica on Insta and TikTok), an activist from Newport News, to discuss this issue in depth, including their pros and cons, local impacts, and why some Virginia officials support further construction despite the negative impacts.

Amanda shares her expertise on environmental impacts, how these monster facilities affect neighborhoods and communities, whether we actually need them and if so where the State should allow them to go.

Amanda and other activists have a simple ask: let's hit pause on data centers with a statewide moratorium in Virginia while officials and communities figure out the best way to proceed.

Link to Change.org petition asking for a data center moratorium in Virginia: https://www.change.org/p/demand-a-data-center-moratorium-in-virginia

Business Insider Data Center Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-8TDOFqkQA

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality officials downplay data center health impacts: https://www.eenews.net/articles/emails-show-how-virginia-regulators-downplayed-data-center-health-concerns/?fbclid=IwY2xjawTTifZwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5U5DeSAaFa45Bsu4w7xrkDV8vWVOpFvSf33gwPvVNIscPhZD9Rlv8ebnlmiw_aem_g99xffUM9P0hK4rnnf7L4w

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Trump has fired the three sitting members of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and will give a speech on Thursday July 16 to release newly declassified documents related to the 2020 Presidential Election. Congress created the EAC as part of the Help America Vote Act in 2002 to help States and local governments streamline and standardize election processes to avoid the kind of problems that forced the SCOTUS to decide the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

This Commission plays a key role in testing and certifying the voting machines used by local communities to tabulate and count votes. Some observers, including Scott, think Trump plans to announce decertification of Dominion voting machines used in Georgia, Arizona, and other battleground states. With no members on the Commission, it cannot act to fix this.

In this episode, Scott and I discuss the implications of firing these Commissioners and attempting to decertify voting machines. Trump has no legal authority to do this, but millions of Americans don't know this and saying he has will create confusion and chaos that will undermine trust in the Midterms.

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