On Second Thought

Trump Cabinet Picks: Birds of a Feather?

By Michael Woyton

I guess it was too much even for former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to continue going through.

He was chosen by Donald Trump to be the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. But he took himself out of the running Thursday, saying it was an unfair distraction to the transition.

But the question remains, what do Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Matt Gaetz, Pete Hegseth, Elon Musk, Linda McMahon all have in common besides being suck ups to the adjudicated rapist and convicted felon?

Each has been accused of sexual abuse or enabling sexual abuse.

It really is a feature, not a bug.

Gaetz, who was nominated to head the Justice Department as attorney general, resigned just before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing its report on allegations of his having sex with an underage girl, something he denies. There are other reports of him paying two women who testified before the House and Justice Department more than $10,000, ABC News reported.

There is also the creepy accusation that Gaetz is alleged to have paid — via his “son” Nestor’s PayPal account — to have sex with women, according to a Daily Beast article on Yahoo News.

There have long been stories of Kennedy’s numerous affairs, the cataloging of which in a diary were discovered by his wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, who committed suicide in 2012.

Now, a former live-in nanny gave an interview to USA Today, detailing how, when she was 23, Kennedy groped her. Among her claims are RFK Jr. rubbing her leg under the table and, later, groping her in a kitchen pantry and preventing her from leaving the room. Kennedy said he has no memory of the incidents and apologized for anything that may have made the woman uncomfortable.

Fox News weekend host Hegseth, who was nominated to lead the $850 billion Department of Defense, was accused of sexual assault in 2017 at a conference hosted by the California Federation of Republican Women at a hotel in Monterey, California.

Though he was never charged with a crime, a police report released Wednesday said Hegseth took a woman’s phone, blocked the door to his hotel room preventing the woman from leaving and sexually assaulted her, The New York Times reported, adding that he ejaculated on her stomach.

Hegseth reportedly told police he repeatedly asked the woman for her consent. After the woman threatened to sue him in 2020, he paid an undisclosed amount of money to the woman.

Musk, who Trump has asked to co-head a department that will supposedly slash government spending, has been sued by eight employees of SpaceX for creating a hostile work environment that was rife with sexual harassment, CBS News reported.

The employees claim that he exposed them to unwanted comments and conduct of a sexual nature. Musk has denied the allegations.

McMahon, who served in Trump’s first cabinet as Small Business Administration head, was nominated to be in charge of the Department of Education, which the president-elect wants to eliminate.

According to CNN, a recent lawsuit claims McMahon “knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children” by a World Wrestling Entertainment employee in the 1980s. She denies the allegation.

The suit alleges McMahon, her husband Vince McMahon, the WWE and another company knew that a ringside announcer used his position to sexually exploit children, by recruiting them to work as “Ring Boys” who would help him set up and remove wrestling rings at WWE events. The boys were between the ages of 13 and 15.

Trump was found liable last year in a civil trial of sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, and as New York Times reporter Peter Baker pointed out, “if he gets the team of his choice, he will not be the only one in the room whose conduct has been called into question.”

The soon-to-be 47th president surely must know about the allegations made against his choices.

He probably just doesn’t care, because these are the people he feels most comfortable around and who will do his bidding no matter the cost to decency or democracy.

Lead photo by Michael Woyton

Trump Tariffs: What Goes Up, Must Go Up

By Michael Woyton

More and more retailers are voicing concerns that new tariffs the convicted felon is so enamored with will force them to raise prices.

President-elect Donald Trump promised all during the campaign that he will impose tariffs in order to bring jobs and manufacturing back to the United States.

He repeated said, contrary to reality, that the tariffs he wants to see on goods imported from China and other countries will be paid by the foreign country.

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That is not how tariffs work.

According to Investopedia, a tariff is a tax used to restrict imports, by increasing “the price of goods and services purchased from another country, making them less attractive to domestic consumers.”

Why are they less attractive to domestic consumers? Because the price increase is passed along to the receiving country’s consumers.

China is not going to pay for the tariff Trump said he will be imposing on its goods. We the consumers who still want to buy those goods will be paying the increased price.

And Mexico never paid for the wall.

GOP Rep. Troy Nehls: “If Donald Trump says tariffs work, tariffs work. Because Donald Trump is really never wrong. Think about it. He is never wrong.”It's a cult
— Republicans Against Trumpism (@rpsagainsttrump.bsky.social) 2024-11-18T21:00:32.303Z

On Tuesday, the CFO of Walmart, John David Rainey, said his company “could have to raise prices on some items” if Trump’s proposed tariffs go into effect, CNBC reported.

“We never want to raise prices,” he said in an interview. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers.”

Rainey said it was too soon to say what would cost more under the tariff scheme.

The CFO of home improvement retailer Lowe’s said that about 40 percent of the cost of its goods come from some place other than the U.S., and tariffs “certainly would add product costs.”

Reuters reported Tuesday that, while CEOs were sort of waiting to see what Trump actually does come January regarding tariffs, “many have raised concerns about the effect such levies will have on inflation.”

Since September, execs from nearly 200 companies in the S&P Composite index have been talking about tariffs during earnings calls. That number is double the same period in the run-up to the 2020 election and much more than a mere 23 times in 2023, Reuters said.

Whether tariffs are a done deal is yet to be seen.

But the chances are higher, according to Barrons, because Trump nominated Howard Lutnick to head the Commerce Department.

Lutnick, CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, is known to be a fan of tariffs.

Tariffs will make prices lower and Mcdonalds will make everyone healthy and a criminal will end crime.
— God (@godpod.bsky.social) 2024-11-19T00:12:01.024Z

To put it all into perspective, UBS, the multinational investment bank, said its economists estimate that a 20 percent tariff on a finished product would yield an average price increase of 8 percent.

The question then will be, how will you pay for your eggs and bacon after the tariffs kick in?

Lead art: Screen grab from Google Maps.

MAGA Rep. Moves to Bar Colleague from Women’s Bathroom

By Michael Woyton

Rep. Nancy Mace has tweeted or reposted more than 25 times about a piece of legislation she has introduced in the House of Representatives.

The Republican congresswoman from South Carolina even pinned the resolution to the top of her official X account.

It reads:

“PROHIBITION.—A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House may not use a single-sex facility (including a restroom, changing room, or locker room) in the Capitol or House Office Buildings, other than those corresponding to the biological sex of such individual.”

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Mace’s legislation said the House’s sergeant-at-arms will be charged with enforcing the prohibition.

The proposed bill, which was introduced Monday, appears to target one incoming member of Congress: Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Delaware, according to reporting by CBS News.

McBride will be the first openly transgender person elected to Congress after winnig the House seat two weeks ago.

Mace said “absolutely” when asked by reporters if the legislation was in response to McBride’s election, NBC News reported.

“I’m absolutely 100% gonna stand in the way of any man who wants to be in a women’s restroom, in our locker rooms, in our changing rooms,” she was reported as saying. “I will be there fighting you every step of the way.”

On X, McBride wrote that the legislation was a “blatant attempt from far fight-wing extremists to distract from the facte that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing. We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.”

Of course, the comments on McBride’s tweet only highlighted the cruelty of the MAGA movement, calling her “a mentally ill MAN” and a “pervert.”

In a statement about the bill, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — “Empty Greene” — repeatedly misgendered McBride, saying, “He’s a man, a biological male. … The new member of Congress that was voted in the Congress on behalf of his district in Delaware needs to respect my space, my privacy, and other women’s space and privacy, because he is not a woman.”

Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat, came to McBride’s defense, calling Mace’s actions “hateful,” “dangerous” and “unnecessary.”

“Trans people represent one half of one percent of Americans,” she posted on X. “Mind your own damn business and let them be.”

Maybe Mace, if she is truly concerned about the safety of women, should turn her sights on the adjudicated rapist who is the president-elect and some of his nominees for top administration jobs like attorney general and defense secretary.

I would be uncomfortable in any bathroom, or room really, with Nancy Mace in it.
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher.bsky.social) 2024-11-19T03:56:20.505Z

Lead art: Screen grab from MSNBC.

NY Post a ‘No’ on Bobbie Jr.

By Michael Woyton

If he’s lost Rupert Murdoch, will that make a difference to Donald Trump?

The editorial board of the New York Post said Thursday that it was against the convicted felon’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Calling RFK Jr. “nuts on a lot of fronts,” the Post said “it’s hard to see how he’s the guy to lead HHS and its staff of 83,000 to practical solutions” based on his “warped conspiracy theories” that include more than just vaccines.

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“The overriding rule of medicine is: First, do no harm,” the editorial board said. “We’re certain installing Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head Health and Human Services breaks this rule.”

The torrent of questionable choices for top positions in the administration of the adjudicated rapist just keeps coming, not unlike during the lead up to Trump’s first administration.

But Kennedy, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz and Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth?

We can certainly look at what ties them to Trump.

Kennedy, who is married to “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Cheryl Hines, is recently coming off of a sexting scandal with a reporter almost four decades younger than him. RFK Jr. is said to have had multiple affairs, and his diary outlining them was found after his second wife’s death by suicide in 2012.

Gaetz just resigned as congressman from the 118th Congress, just days before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to vote on releasing its investigation into sexual misconduct and drug allegations. He allegedly had sex with a 17 year old girl while she was in high school. Gaetz was just re-elected to Congress, which means there is the possibility he could be sworn in come January if the attorney general gig doesn’t work out.

Hegseth, it is being reported, was investigated for alleged sexual assault, according to CBS News. There was a 2017 police investigation in Monterey, California, and Trump’s chief of staff to be, Susie Wiles, was briefed on the allegation. Hegseth’s legal team said the encounter was consensual.

And then there’s Trump who a judge said “digitally raped” E. Jean Carroll, with a jury awarding her a combined $5 million for sexual abuse and for defamation. A separate jury awarded Carroll $83.3 million for two other denials that Trump made.

Are these choices of cabinet-level nominees birds of a feather?

Are they the reason Trump’s transition team is using private companies to vet some of his Cabinet picks instead of the FBI? Because who knows what they might find?

Or are they Trump’s way, as pundit Keith Olbermann suggests, of finding out how much loyalty — or fealty — the members of the GOP in Congress have for him?

Just how much of a dictator will his people in the Senate and House let him be?

Lead art: Screen grab from Google Maps

Trump 2.0 No Different Than 1.0

By Michael Woyton

Haven’t we seen this movie already?

Convicted felon Donald Trump wins the presidential election and begins making outrageous nominations to staff his administration.

All are seemingly aghast at how horrible the nominations are, and there is a lot of tut-tutting among elected officials to reporters.

But then, when push comes to shove, the advice and consent function, well, gives advice and then always consents.

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After all, the president is the president and those in his party seem to just do what he says.

Take for example the adjudicated rapist’s nomination of now-former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for United States Attorney General, which is the top law enforcement official in the country.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins said she was “shocked” to hear that Trump picked Gaetz, who was two days away from hearing what the House Ethics Committee had found in its investigation of him.

The committee was getting ready to vote Friday on releasing its report on sexual misconduct and drug allegations against the just-reelected congressman.

Here’s the thing about the House Ethics Committee: When a congress member who is being investigated resigns that ends the investigation. How convenient.

If he’s willing to go full Matt Gaetz on us, you know he’ll do the tariffs. And the mass deportations. It’s going to be find out time, as the kids say.
— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2024-11-14T08:54:57.607Z

So the joke going around on social media about Collins is, as the MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski posted that in a couple of months, Collins will say, “Matt Gaetz looked me in the eye and assured me that all the stuff about cocaine and underage girls is in the past and he’s just focused on preserving the institution of DOJ. I take him at his word.”

More than likely, if Trump doesn’t dissolve the Senate’s constitutional responsibility of advice and consent by forcing a Senate recess and making the appointments then, the senators will have forgotten their concerns about Gaetz and come to see things like Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.

Last year, Mullin said during an interview that Gaetz would brag about combining erectile dysfunction drugs and energy drinks to have sex all night and show videos of the girls he had slept with to other members of Congress on the House floor.

Flash forward to the announcement of Gaetz as the leading contender for AG and Mullin said, “I completely trust President Trump’s decision making on this one.”

In all fairness, Mullin said that Gaetz would have to come to Congress for approval.

Maybe Mullin will change his mind about that too, if Trump presses forward on recess appointments.

Should we start calling this mind-changing maneuver the “Markwayne move”?

https://twitter.com/kasie/status/1857022186139120046

Lead art: screen grab from CNN.

Is the Clown Car Gassed Up?

By Michael Woyton

It is difficult to know where to start with the convicted felon’s first few nominations for top posts in his second administration.

One nomination after another seems puzzling, but that was the way it appeared to be during Donald Trump’s first administration. In addition, during the first administration, it seemed the nominees were hell-bent on destroying whatever department they were chosen for.

This time around:

There’s Kristi Noem, the dog-shooting South Dakota governor, who was nominated for Homeland Security secretary.

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There’s Rep. Elise Stefanik of upstate New York, who condemned the violence and destruction at the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as unacceptable and anti-American before she deleted that statement and began seriously kissing up to the adjudicated rapist. She was nominated for U.N. ambassador.

There’s Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was a rabid critic of Trump during the 2016 Republican presidential primary — he made fun of Trump’s tiny hands — and now was nominated for secretary of state.

There’s former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who opposes a cease-fire deal with Hamas and once said there is no such thing as a Palestinian, was nominated to be the ambassador to Israel.

https://twitter.com/JDJ_901/status/1856436774463033840

The thing that ties all these nominations together is a statement Trump made demanding — not as president, because he is not yet president — that he be allowed to install all his nominees by bypassing the Senate confirmation process which is in the Constitution.

https://twitter.com/AmoneyResists/status/1855695803425190285

Trump knows — or his advisors tell him he knows — that the appointments could be considered iffy, and if there’s a way to go around the rules, he will find a way.

Oh, and Fox News weekend host Pete Hegseth, who doesn’t believe women should serve in the military, was nominated to be the secretary of defense, overseeing 3.4 million military members and civilians. And Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was nominated to the attorney general. That, my friends, is no joke.

Bring the clown car around.

Lead art: Screen grab from PBS News via YouTube

EDITOR’S NOTE: Post updated at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13 to include Rep. Matt Gaetz’s nomination as attorney general.

How Much Are You Willing to Pay for That Avocado?

By Michael Woyton

Even though there was some chatter about how the economic policies the felonious president-elect wants to impose on the United States — economists? What do they know? — there wasn’t too much in the mainstream media.

After all, it was more important to cover some horrible thing that Donald Trump said rather than the pocketbook issues that Americans said they were so concerned about in a thriving economy with lowering inflation.

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Slowly but surely — now, I think, because the election is over and writers have less news to choose from — the hard facts about how the public will be impacted by policies that the adjudicated rapist wants to impose on the country.

Paul Krugman, opinion columnist for The New York Times, wrote about tariffs and mass deportation Monday and how voters might react to the two campaign promises.

https://twitter.com/InsideWithPsaki/status/1855667488895221813

All through the campaign Trump lied to us about tariffs, saying that the countries sending us goods will absorb the cost of the tariffs.

Right. And Mexico will pay for the wall.

According to CNBC, the cost of tariffs will be paid, ultimately, by the consumer. People will have to pay more for stuff that is imported and is estimated that middle-class families will spend about $4,000 more per year.

But how will the promised mass deportations of undocumented immigrants affect the economy, Krugman wondered.

Basically, Krugman said, “If you’re upset about grocery prices now, see what happens if Trump goes after a huge part of the agricultural workforce.”

He said around three-quarters of farm workers are immigrants, and about half of them are undocumented.

In other words, Trump’s administration is beginning at the workforce-is-fully-employed stage, so who is going to pick those avocados?

Plus, undocumented immigrants make up an estimated 30 percent to 50 percent of meatpacking workers.

Krugman said the food-industry employers will have to pay higher wages — if they workers can be replaced — and those higher wages will result in higher prices.

My question is, How many of the MAGAs who ushered Trump back in office will be willing to report to work on the kill floor?

Lead art: screen grab from MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

A Restorative Visit to FDR’s Hyde Park Library

By Michael Woyton

How’s everyone doing?

It seems like the last week has been a helluva year.

We took some time off Thursday. As we did after Hillary lost in 2016, we took a trip up to the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.

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The grounds — especially the gravesite of FDR and Eleanor — are perfect for contemplating whatever may be troubling you.

The gravesite of FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt at the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. (Photo by Michael Woyton)

You know that both Franklin and Eleanor would have a lot to say about the recent election, and I doubt that any of it would be good.

Through Feb. 28, the museum is having a special exhibition on “Black Americans, civil rights and the Roosevelts.”

The exhibit looks at the evolution of both FDR and Eleanor regarding racial justice.

FDR was tightlipped early in his administration about the rights of Black Americans and was concentrating on getting the country back on its feet after the depression.

It also documents the amazing story of Black leaders who organized networks and worked with political allies to foster social justice and fight Jim Crow segregation and racism in the United States.

One photograph stood out as being also a comment on what is happening in our country today in light of convicted felon and adjudicated rapist Donald Trump’s victory Tuesday.

Photo in the special exhibition Black Americans, civil rights and the Roosevelts at the Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. (Photo by Michael Woyton)

During the March on Washington in 1941, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters union demanded an end to segregation in the defense industries. At the time, millions of jobs were being created as the U.S. ramped up preparations for World War II.

Black Americans were shut out of working in the defense industries and were often met with violence and discrimination.

The threat of thousands or more Black women and men marching to the White House in protest was enough for FDR to issue Executive Order 8802 on June 25, 1941.

The EO declared, “There shall be no discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries and in Government, because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”

It was the first presidential directive on race since Reconstruction.

Because of the executive order the march was called off.

The photograph that caught my attention was of a group of mostly Black women and men protesting for jobs in the war effort.

One young man was holding a sign that read “Race Discrimination Breeds Fascism.”

Following the results of Tuesday’s election, explicitly racist text messages were sent to students around New York state and other parts of the country.

The messages were received in the Hudson Valley by Nyack Middle and High School students.

The texts, which are being investigated by the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI, said the students were “selected to pick cotton,” according to reporting by Mid Hudson News.

Other messages told the recipients that they were “chosen to be a slave.”

New York Attorney General Letitia James called the texts “disgusting and unacceptable.”

“I unequivocally condemn any attempt to intimidate or threaten New Yorkers and their families,” James said in a news release. “I encourage anyone in New York who has received an anonymous, threatening text message to report it to my office.”

This cannot be a coincidence, coming just hours after Trump declared victory.

His campaign preyed on the insecurity of people who believe that their superiority on this planet is being threatened by those with different color skin.

Trump emboldened these small-minded people to think that hatred against others is now normal.

It is not normal. And it is not American.

We were coming out of the FDR library after experiencing the special exhibition and ran into a woman just making her way up the flagstone sidewalk in front of the library.

She nodded hello and then nodded toward FDR’s museum, saying, “We need him more than ever now.”

Agreed.

Lead art: Michael Woyton

4 More Years; Be Careful What You Wish For

By Michael Woyton

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t get much sleep last night.

In my estimation, the headline for today is that a majority of voters in America just gave a convicted felon and adjudicated rapist the keys to the kingdom, and he can do whatever he wants with them.

Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States and will become the 47th president next January 20.

How did we get here?

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Trump managed to mine the hate, the racism, the anger and the fear of the electorate, which allowed them to come to the decision that only he could make them all feel better. Never mind that we already had four years of a Trump administration that certainly did not make everyone feel better — I’m looking at you, COVID.

How is Trump going to fix all that he says is wrong with America?

For starters, Trump has promised to initiate the mass deportation of immigrants who are not in this country legally.

I imagine that due process will fall by the wayside, and if someone’s mother or father or aunt or uncle who can’t produce the right papers at the right time get deported, so be it. And it will not help to tell the officers rounding you up that you voted for Trump; they won’t care and they won’t believe you.

Economists have said that a mass deportation will severely harm the workforce and will make the GDP plunge by 9 percent.

I am also certain that the 51 percent of Trump voters will all gain comfort by the dismantling of the civil service workforce in the Washington, D.C., government so that Trump and his minions can install loyalists in their place. Don’t worry about your Social Security checks and Medicaid payments arriving on time. The loyalists will probably have a bit of a learning curve in their new jobs. It takes time to find out where the coffee filters and the copy paper are stored.

It will be a good idea to buy your essentials sooner than later, especially if they are imported goods. Trump said time and time again that the 20 percent or so tariffs imposed on said goods that he is planning will be paid by the country in which they are made. Reality check: They will not be. You will pay the extra 20 percent.

Elon Musk, who could very well be Trump’s economic advisor and government-efficiency guru, said that economic chaos with financial hardship is to be expected if Trump is returned to the White House and federal spending is slashed.

Say goodbye to the Affordable Care Act. Say hello to having country-wide health decisions made by Robert Kennedy Jr. and his brain worm, and welcome back measles.

For other possible Trump 2.0 goals, see Project 2025.

Likely the most serious and longest-lasting result of Trump’s win will be a weakening of democracy in America.

Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the presidency’s power is unchecked what with the immunity-for-official-acts ruling. With any other president — save perhaps Nixon, Americans could rest assured that such a ruling would not be abused.

There is no such comfort with Donald Trump. He lusts for unchecked power — the same as his buddies in Russia, China and North Korea.

During most of his rallies, he had told us what he wants to do with his political opponents and will weaponize the Department of Justice to suit his needs.Trump learned from his first term; there will be no one around him to rein him in this time.

The sad thing is, none of this is news.

We’ve known who and what he was since he came down that golden escalator June 16, 2015.

Some of us — too many of us — either forgot it all or chose to ignore it.

Right now, we need to take care of ourselves and those we love.

We will need the strength of numbers down the road.

Lead art: Google Maps screen grab

Get Out the Vote ‘Guide’

By Michael Woyton

Today is the last day to vote in the 2024 presidential election (see your state’s board of elections for mail-in or other rules)!

Here is some information that could be helpful to either get you to the polls or get you through the day.

Voter Protection Hotlines information:

Know Your Rights on Election Day:

https://twitter.com/ACLU/status/1853754436331418007

Provisional Ballot information:

If you are turned away at the polls for any reason — your name is not on the register, for example — do not walk away. Say the following: “I request a provisional ballot as required by law.”

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While you are waiting for Pennsylvania’s votes to be counted, here a little music to keep you company:

I’ll end with this:

https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1853837325484077545

Lead art: Michael Woyton