On Second Thought

Lies, Lies and More Lies: the Felon’s Willingness to Be Cruel

By Michael Woyton

If the day of the week ends in “day,” then you can be sure that someone — if not everyone — in the administration of Pres. Donald J. Felon is lying.

On Thursday, that someone was television scammer/doctor Oz — that’s Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Dr. Mehmet Oz to you.

A reporter at a news conference asked Health Secretary Bobbie Brainworm Kennedy Jr. whether he believed Congress should extend the tax credit subsidies for the Affordable Care Act because without the extension the average plan will increase by around 115 percent.

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The brainworm whispered to Bobby that Oz should respond.

Oz asked the reporter where he got the 115 percent number and was told it was from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which independently tracks public policy and health information, including changes in the private insurance market under the ACA.

Oz replied that Kaiser retracted that number and “that data was run inappropriately.”

“Here’s the truth,” he continued. “The window shopping is already revealing that the average American is gonna pay, who’s on the ACA, between 100 and 400 percent of poverty level, is going to pay $50 total next year.”

Oz said that it’s going to be $13 more than it is this year, and a news release was sent out Tuesday that stated those less-than-accurate figures.

When anyone working for the grifter-in-chief says “here’s the truth,” you can bet that it’s not the truth.

Not only didn’t the Kaiser Family Foundation retract their information, Kaiser Vice President Cynthia Cox on Tuesday posted an analysis with the title “ACA Insurers Are Raising Premiums by an Estimated 26%, but Most Enrollees Could See Sharper Increases in What They Pay.”

Cox explained that health insurers, on average, are raising rates 26 percent for next year, but if the enhanced premium tax credits expire, as they are likely to do since the House Republican side of Congress is on paid leave with no end in sight, Kaiser estimates that enrollees will see their monthly premium payments “more than double, increasing by about 114%, on average.”

The problem is, people are getting information from their insurance providers now — it’s open enrollment time — and are being given figures that are jaw dropping.

Here’s one for a family in Arizona:

How about a retired couple in Oregon:

There is no way to seriously spin this any more. This is the fault of the Republican Party and their willingness to let an adjudicated rapist tear the country down and hurt the very people who voted for them.

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BREAKING: A federal judge ordered the administration to continue paying Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds — SNAP — to 42 million Americans, according to the New York Times.

We’ll see if the administration will try to get another judge to stay the order because cruelty is a feature, not a bug to the felon and his sycophants.

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Lead art: Screen grab from PBS NewsHour via YouTube.

How Much More Evidence Is Needed to Prove Felon Isn’t Working for Us?

By Michael Woyton

One news item after another continues to come out that anyone with a bit of sense would arrive at the same conclusion:

President Donald J. Felon is not working for the average American. Neither is anyone else in his administration.

He singlehandedly decided that a portion of the White House building should be completely demolished and replaced with an enormous dancehall — the Epstein Ballroom, if you will.

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He listened to gravel-mouthed Bobbie “Brainworm” Kennedy Jr. about Tylenol causing autism — it doesn’t — and women all over the country are told just to tough it out if they have a fever or headache during pregnancy.

He wants and has allowed the Department of Education to be gutted.

He allowed his once-co-president Elon Musk to pilfer the financial data, including Social Security numbers, of taxpayers.

He has obliterated diversity measures throughout the federal government.

He has ordered GOPmaga-run states to redistrict mid-decade with the goal of giving him a larger Republican majority in Congress.

He has targeted colleges and universities, threatening Justice Department and IRS investigations.

He has threatened allies around the world with huge tariffs on imports, with the costs of those tariffs coming for the most part from American consumers and manufacturers.

He rolled back an executive order that lowered prescription drug costs for Medicare and Medicaid recipients.

He has allowed ICE thugs and Kristi “Dogkiller” Noem to run rampant, terrifying citizens and immigrants alike.

He signed a horrific budget bill that gave massive tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and will drastically cut Medicaid and food assistance.

And the list goes on and on and on.

Now comes the news that the grifter-in-chief’s administration is moving to undercut efforts on the state level to eliminate medical debt from American’s credit reports, according to Common Dreams.

Earlier this year, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rule from the Biden era that “prohibited the inclusion of medical debt on consumer credit reports” was vacated by a Trump-appointed Texas federal judge.

About 14 million people in the United States owe more that $1,000 in medical debt, with 20 percent of Americans having that debt on their credit reports, Common Dreams reported.

Fifteen states, including California, Colorado and New York, have moved to curb the reporting of medical debt, but “industry groups,” including the likes of debt reporting companies Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, want to block those state laws.

Keep in mind that millions of people are facing huge increases in healthcare premiums because the tax credits for the Affordable Care Act are expiring at the end of this year — unless Congress does something about it, which seems unlikely since House Speaker Mike Johnson has effectively closed up shop (ahem, Epstein files).

“Writing for MSNBC over the weekend, Century Foundation president Julie Margetta Morgan warned that ‘the spike in premiums won’t just blow an even bigger hold in families’ future budgets’,” Common Dreams wrote.

“It will pour gasoline on the already raging fire of medical debt in this country, and government leaders at all levels are not prepared for it,” Morgan said.

Again, what it is going to take for people to realize that this president has never and will never be a leader for all Americans — only those who can line his pocket or stroke his ego?

Everyone else — you’re on your own.

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Lead art: Screen grab from LiveNOW from Fox via YouTube.

Felon Continues to Ignore Due Process, ‘They’re Going to Be, Like Dead’

By Michael Woyton

Man, it’s getting hard to decide what to be pissed about every day. There is so much to choose from.

Here are a few things that got my dander up.

It’s pretty clear that President Felon is hell bent on killing as many people as possible — since the Supreme Court made it clear that he can suffer no consequences for any action while he’s in office.

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He said that his administration will target anyone thought to be a cartel member in countries such as Venezuela, as well as continue to strike drug boats in international waters, CNN reported.

These extrajudicial killings should be thought of as a trial run for turning the weapons of his private army — ICE — onto American citizens.

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There really can be no better illustration of what the grifter-in-chief is doing to this country than the destruction of the East Wing — all to erect a monstrosity of a ballroom in its place.

And whatever you do, don’t call it the Epstein Ballroom.

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Seriously, does Speaker Mike Johnson plan on dissolving the House of Representatives?

Or will they just come back in session to vote on raising their salaries that they are still being paid while on extended vacation?

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The adjudicated rapist’s poll numbers continue to dive. At what point will the GOPmaga decide it’s worth it?

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Lead art: Screen grab from ABC News via YouTube.

Pardoning Jan. 6 Rioters? What Could Go Wrong?

By Michael Woyton

So whodathunkit? Maybe pardoning a bunch of rioters wasn’t such a good idea.

A 34-year-old Hudson Valley man was arrested Sunday by New York State Police for threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, The Guardian reported.

Christopher Moynihan was charged with a felony count of making terroristic threats by saying he was going to kill Jeffries.

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This was not the first time Moynihan has been arrested.

In 2022, he was arrested and found guilty of charges related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He was sentenced to a year and nine months, plus three years of supervised release and restitution of $2,000.

President Donald J. Felon pardoned Moynihan, along with every other person charged or convicted with participating in the riot, on his first day back in office.

While the police did not name the member of Congress who was threatened, Jeffries issued a statement on the “credible death threat.”

Jeffries said he was grateful to state and federal law enforcement for apprehending Moynihan, “who made a credible death threat against me with every intention to carry it out.”

He said that, since the blanket pardon, “many of the criminals released have committed additional crimes throughout the country. Unfortunately, our brave men and women in law enforcement are being forced to spend their time keeping our communities safe from these violent individuals who should never have been pardoned.”

Court documents said Moynihan wrote in text messages he planned to kill Jeffries at a speaking event Monday in New York City, CBS News reported.

“According to a court filing by prosecutors in the New York state criminal case, Moynihan wrote, ‘Hakeem Jeffries makes a speech in a few days in NYC I cannot allow this terrorist to live.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, Moynihan “was among rioters who broke through the security perimeter on the east side of the Capitol Building. He joined rioters outside the Rotunda Door, and around 2:40 p.m., he entered the building, as did others,” according to my article on Mid-Hudson Valley Patch from Aug. 24, 2022.

Moynihan could be seen entering the Senate Chamber, walking down to the well and standing next to a elevated desk and platform. He also took photos of a notebook on top of a senator’s desk with his cell phone.

He was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, and pleaded guilty to five related misdemeanor charges.

Of course, a death threat against a high-ranking member of Congress would be concerning, right? It would be something that other high-ranking members would speak out against, right?

Not so fast.

Speaker Mike “Says He’s Christian” Johnson was asked about the threat and said, while he didn’t know any of the details — really??? — blamed the violence on the left and George Soros. In others words, a normal Tuesday.

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I cannot think of any better illustration of what the grifter-in-chief is doing to this country than the photo in the post below.

He’s literally tearing America down.

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Lead art: Screen grab from Reuters via YouTube.

Felon Posts AI Video, Dumps on Americans

By Michael Woyton

Everything Trump does is projection. We’ve all heard that many times and many times it’s been proven applicable.

Take the AI generated video the wannabe king posted after the historic No Kings protests held around the country and around the world.

The video showed the president “wearing a crown and flying a jet labeled ‘King Trump’ that dumps brown liquid on protesters,” according to the New York Times.

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Editors at the Times later described the brown liquid as “resembling feces” being dropped on the heads of people gathered in a large city.

Thanks you, New York Times, for sparing our sensibilities, but there is really no other way to say it without downplaying what the president of the United States said in that video.

Here’s the video, in case you haven’t seen it.

The president dumped shit all over Americans exercising the right to protest against him.

Projection indeed.

It seems that everything the grifter-in-chief has done since reclaiming office in January has been to shit on Americans — no matter whether Democrat or Republican. It’s just that many of the Republicans who aren’t wealthy don’t realize they’ve been shit on.

Look at the tariffs that he so loves. The elderly golfer keeps saying that other countries pay the tariffs when everyone knows that it’s coming out of the pockets of American companies and consumers.

A comment about doling out a 100 percent tariff on China and the stock market takes a massive dive. Say adios to your retirement savings.

The GOPmagas won’t talk to the Democrats — and neither will the current occupant of the Gilded Oval Office — and the government continues to be shut down.

Fallout from the shutdown means that the Republicans’ plan to let Obamacare enhanced premium tax credits expire because the president and the GOPmagas in Congress do not care about their constituents — red states as well as blue — being able to afford a 136 percent increase in premiums in 2026.

Then there are $1 trillion worth of cuts to Medicaid that are part of the budget passed by Congress. That will throw up to 15 million people off of healthcare, due to work requirements, increased paperwork requirements and higher out-of-pocket costs. Rural area emergency rooms will be severely impacted, too.

I could go on and on, listing the various executive orders he has proudly signed or the court orders he and his sycophants have proudly ignored.

But a USA Today opinion piece by Rex Huppke says it best:

“What in the name of all that is holy is going on here? How has America, since Trump was inaugurated in late January, sunk so deeply into the literal sewer that we’re having conversations about the Oval Office vulgarian posting hateful poop videos?

“Is this what you voted for, Trump supporters? Republicans, is this what you want? Is this gross, twisted, decidedly un-American imagery modeling the kind of behavior you want your kids to follow? Would you show this video in church on Sunday to inspire the congregation? Is this s— making America great?”

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson seems to be OK with the president’s social media antics.

When asked what is says that the president released a video of him “pooping” on the American people, Johnson said the president was a master of social media and that he was using satire to make a point.

What is the point, Mr. Speaker? Is it satire, or is the president finally confirming what he thinks of us and of himself?

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Most. Incompetent. President. Ever.

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Lead art: Screen grab from CNN-News18 via YouTube.

Fallout from YR Chat-gate Continues; Veep Digs Hole Deeper

By Michael Woyton

Of course it was expected that some prominent Republicans would denounce the thousands of offensive Telegram chats that were divulged by Politico.

But who would have thought the actual vice president would come out and defend them?

Well, a lot of us, because we have seen Shady Vance in action in the past.

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The 41-year-old vice president — yes, the age is important — said about the group chats, “The reality is that kids do stupid things especially young boys.”

He went on to blame the media for reporting on the leaked chats, “and demanded everyone move on and focus on real issues,” RawStory reported.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board wasn’t feeling it however.

The board wrote that Vance’s defense was “deeply misguided.”

Aside from calling the chats “jokes,” WSJ said the veep was treating actual adults — the age range was mid-20s to mid-30s (not much younger than Vance himself) — as children and not professionals in the Republican Party.

And more than one person on social media is pointing out that jobs were lost and visas revoked for not paying enough respect to Charlie Kirk after his murder, while Vance is saying it’s OK to joke about rape, gas chambers and “watermelon people.”

Because Vance can’t stop digging deeper the hole in which he’s standing, in a different social media post he wrote, “These promising young Republicans shouldn’t have their lives ruined over language that is frankly very tame compared to the banter you hear in the Oval Office every day.”

That is a hell of a statement. Where is Richard Nixon’s taping system when you need it?

But it would again not be a surprise when the White House allows Karoline Leavitt to speak on Fox News and say, “The Democrat Party’s main constituency are made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens and violent criminals.”

Talk about hate speech, KKKaroline.

Leavitt pissed of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries who called her “sick” and “out of control.”

I’ve said it before. All of this denigrating talk from GOPmagas aimed at Democrats comes from the Mar-a-Lago orange fountainhead.

This is the atmosphere that the felon-in-chief encourages by his own actions.

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REMINDER: The next No Kings protest is Saturday. Read more about it here.

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Lead art: Screen grab from ABC7 via YouTube.

GOPmaga Telegram Posts Show True Colors

By Michael Woyton

The old saying “a fish rots from the head” perfectly describes the current Republican Party.

We have a president who shows no grace, no style, no courtesy and is completely uncouth. Ditto the vice president, who revels in others’ misfortune and is the epitome of snark.

So why it is news that, according to thousands of private chat messages, leaders of Young Republicans groups around the country are racists and love Hitler?

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Politico published a story Tuesday after obtaining seven months worth of Telegram chat messages from Young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont.

“The chat offers an unfiltered look at how a new generation of GOP activists talk when they think no one is listening,” wrote Jason Beeferman and Emily Ngo of Politico.

The leaders of the groups were actually worried what might happen if the messages were ever leaked, “but they kept typing anyway.”

Among the chats were comments about Black people being monkeys and “watermelon people.” The chatters even mused about getting rid of political opponents in gas chambers.

Racial and homophobic slurs were used, and the then-vice chairman of the New York State Young Republicans Bobby Walker even referred to rape as “epic.”

The 2,900 pages of chats were shared among millennial and Gen Z Republicans between January and mid-August, Politico reported, with many of the chat members working inside government or party politics. One of them, Samuel Douglass, is a state senator in Vermont.

“Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders,” Beeferman and Ngo wrote.

Walker, who is now the head of the NYS Young Republicans, apologized, but said that he believes some of the messages were altered or taken out of context.

Newsweek listed the names of all those involved in the chats. They are:

• Bobby Walker, New York
• Peter Giunta, New York
• Joe Maligno, New York
• Alex Dwyer, Kansas
• William Hendrix, Kansas
• Annie Kaykaty, New York
• Luke Mosiman, Arizona
• Samuel Douglass, Vermont
• Brianna Douglass, Vermont

A spokesperson for Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-NY, said Stefanik was “appalled” to learn about the comments, according to Newsweek, and, if Politico’s reporting is accurate, “calls for any NY Young Republicans responsible for these horrific comments in this chat to step down immediately.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-NY, wrote on Facebook that he was “disgusted by the hateful antisemitism and racism revealed in these messages. Anyone involved in this disgraceful behavior should immediately resign from any leadership position and reflect on how far they’ve strayed from basic decency and respect.”

New York State Senator Rob Rolison also posted on Facebook that the comments were “deeply offensive and completely unacceptable. There is no excuse for this kind of language, and no place for it in our lives.”

That’s all well and good to say now, but how many times have we heard the president call a Black congresswoman “low IQ” or a sitting senator “Pocahontas”?

During the campaign, the person who is now the vice president admitted he was willing to make up stories while defending racist rumors about Haitians stealing and eating pets in his home state.

Just two days ago, after Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted on social media that it was a “good day” because the surviving Israeli hostages were finally home, the vice president took the opportunity to troll her by posting “The president told me he did this on Indigenous Peoples Day in honor of you.”

The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree, now does it?

This is what the Grand Old Party has turned into.

Just saying the chats are disgusting is barely a start.

Let’s see some real improvement. We’ll be waiting.

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REMINDER: The next No Kings protest is Saturday. Read more about it here.

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Lead art: Screen grab from Politico.

Less Than 9 Months in & We’ve Reached ‘Papers, Please’ Stage

By Michael Woyton

The oft-times masked and unidentified thugs parading around under the umbrella of ICE have reached a new level in terror — and it isn’t even nine months since President Donald J. Felon was inaugurated for the second time.

In Chicago, ICE agents used a rarely enforced federal law to fine a legal resident $130 for not having his registration card on him.

Rubén Antonio Cruz, who is originally from El Salvador, was confronted Thursday by ICE agents while he was sitting with a friend, NBC Chicago reported.

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He said he was looking at his phone when agents got out of their vehicle and asked if he had his papers.

“I told them yes, but that they were at home … that I could show them if they wanted,” he told the news organization.

Cruz was placed in the agents’ car, driven around the neighborhood and questioned before they verified his identity.

“The agents eventually confirmed he is legally in the country but still gave him a $130 citation for not having his documents on him,” NBC reported.

While federal law requires permanent residents to carry their registration with them at all times, legal experts said this rule is rarely enforced.

Illinois is a state that, unlike some others, does not have a “show me your papers” law which allows local police to demand proof of residency, RawStory said.

Ed Yohnka, communications director for the ACLU of Illinois, said that ticketing a lawful permanent resident, which forces them to appear in court and pay a fine for not carrying documentation, is unnecessary and cruel.

“America has never been a place where people need to ‘show one’s papers’,” he said.

Yohnka added that it doesn’t make communities safer or stronger.

“It is simply part of the Trump Administration’s attempt to make life uncomfortable for all immigrants,” he said. “It is just awful.”

And what are people supposed to do when “authorities” grab citizens or legal residents off the streets and declare that their government-mandated REAL ID is fake?

It’s a no-win situation with ICE.

Again, cruelty is a feature not a bug in the Stephen Miller administration.

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Props to the hoverboarding Shark in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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REMINDER: The next No Kings protest is Saturday. Read more about it here.

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Lead art: ICE.gov

Scared GOPmagas Lie About ‘No Kings’ Rallies

By Michael Woyton

I don’t know about you but I’m still waiting for my check from George Soros for the Women’s March after the first inauguration of President Donald J. Felon.

So I have no hopes that I’ll see anything from any future protest participation on my part.

All kidding aside, it’s telling that those on the ~~Reich~~ right side of the aisle are pretty nervous about the potential turnout for Saturday’s planned “No Kings” showings schedule around the entire country, especially with public opinion about the shutdown turning against them.

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The previous “No Kings” protests took place June 14 in more than 2,000 locations, NPR reported, with an estimated 5 million people participating.

Protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, though one man in Culpeper, Virginia, was arrested after he “intentionally accelerated his vehicle into the dispersing crowd,” NPR said.

So it is no surprise that ~~serial-liar~~ House Speaker Mike Johnson described the protest scheduled for the National Mall as a “hate America rally” attended by “the pro-Hamas wing” and “antifa people,” Politico reported.

Johnson used the protest as an excuse to slam the Democratic Party for the government shutdown, which is in its 13th day.

“They’re all coming out,” he said on Fox News. “Some of the House Democrats are selling t-shirts for the event. And it’s being told to us that they won’t be able to reopen the government until after that rally because they can’t face their rabid base.”

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minnesota, echoed Johnson’s comments, adding that the Dems had caved to the “terrorist wing of their party.”

Blah, blah, blah.

In response to Johnson’s comments, organizers for the “No Kings” rallies issued a statement saying, “Speaker Johnson is running out excuses for keeping the government shut down. Instead of reopening the government, preserving affordable healthcare, or lowering costs for working families, he’s attacking millions of Americans who are peacefully coming together to say that America belongs to its people, not to kings. We’ll see everyone on October 18.”

Organizers also said, “All No Kings events adhere to a shared commitment to nonviolent protest and community safety. Organizers are trained in de-escalation and are working closely with local partners to ensure peaceful and powerful actions nationwide.”

So far more than 2,500 peaceful protests are being planned for Saturday, according to an Indivisible Guide Facebook post.

Locations for and information about the protests can be found on the No Kings website through this link.

There also training calls in advance of Saturday on messaging, media and digital engagement and “protest safety, know your rights and de-escalation training.”

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Lead art: Screen grab from No Kings website.

Felon Loses Nobel Again; Cue Sad Trombone

By Michael Woyton

Is it just me or is there a bit of a message/slapdown being directed toward President Donald J. Felon from the Norwegian Nobel Committee?

Spoiler alert: the elderly golfer — for all his whining and needling — once again was passed over by the committee when it came to the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. And I say “passed over” as if he were ever in any serious consideration for the honor.

On Friday, the committee announced that Maria Corina Machado of Venezuela would be the 2025 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

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In a statement, the committee said Machado deserved the award “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

Huh. “Promoting democratic rights” and achieving “a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”

The committee described the country of Venezuela, now under the leadership of Nicolas Maduro, as having evolved from “a relatively democratic and prosperous country to a brutal, authoritarian state that is now suffering a humanitarian and economic crisis.”

Huh. “A relatively democratic and prosperous country” evolving into a “brutal, authoritarian state” that is in “a humanitarian and economic crisis.”

Without beating a dead horse, who doesn’t sound like the person the Nobel committee is describing?

Simple. The grifter-in-chief, that’s who.

In less than nine months, after winning an ultra-slim victory, the adjudicated rapist/convicted felon has plunged this country into an authoritarian state.

He’s allowed people like Elon Musk to rip humanitarian aid away from those who most need it throughout the world and enabled China and Russian to swoop into countries we once helped and supported to fill the void.

The mad makeup man of Mar-a-Lago has used his warped belief in tariffs to terrorize previously friendly trade partners, including penguins on uninhabited islands.

His sycophantic henchpeople — led by adviser Stephen “Temu Goebbels” Miller — are laying the groundwork for martial law by forcing National Guard personnel into American cities only because they are run by liberals and therefore, in this administration’s opinion, are terrorists.

What other rational peace-loving, democracy-embracing president would sanction an overnight ICE raid that utilized a Black Hawk helicopter to drop agents into an apartment building to tear half-naked children from their homes with their parents — many of the United States citizens — and detained them all before checking on their documentation?

The committee said in its statement that “Maria Corina Machado meets all three criteria stated in Alfred Nobel’s will for the selection of a Peace Prize laureate. She has brought her country’s opposition together. She has never wavered in resisting the militarisation of Venezuelan society. She has been steadfast in her support for a peaceful transition to democracy.”

Does any of that sound like the whiner-in-chief?

Machado, according to the Nobel committee, “embodies the hope of a different future, one where the fundamental rights of citizens are protected, and their voices are heard. In this future, people will finally be free to live in peace.”

Does any of that sound like the man who sat in the White House on Jan. 6, 2021, and didn’t call out the National Guard as his supporters stormed the Capitol and lusted after killing Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence — all because he thought he could deny the will of the voting public?

The only reaction so far from the White House about the Nobel prize was from Communications Director Steven Cheung who wrote on social media “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

Machado, on the other hand, thanked the president for “his decisive support of our cause.”

That is leadership worthy of the prize.

What Trump consistently shows is not.

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Lead art: Screen grab from the Nobel Peace Prize website.