It’s that time of the month on The BradCast! Our monthly-ish roundtable with two of our favorite guests. [Audio link to full show follows summary.]
Before they join us, we kick off with a quick news roundup on a bunch of items since airtime yesterday and in to today, including responses by a number of both Republican and Democratic states to yesterday’s horrific ruling by the corrupted, activist Republican U.S. Supreme Court majority ignoring the 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to gut most of what was left of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Other news of note before we get to our guests today…
- The longest government shutdown in U.S. history, for most of the Dept. of Homeland Security, ends after Republicans agree with what Dems have been trying to adopt for months: to reopen all DHS and all of its agencies (FEMA, TSA, Coast Guard, etc.) other than ICE and CBP. Those two out of control agencies will remain “shut down” until guardrails are put in place, as Dems insist — or Republicans pull off their scheme to fund them without Dem support.
- Maine‘s Gov. Janet Mills drops out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, leaving popular (if controversial), political newcomer and oyster farmer Graham Platner left as the presumptive nominee to face off in November against one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents this year, Sen. Susan Collins.
- Gas prices have spiked again over the past 24 hours, hitting a four-year high amid Donald Trump‘s apparently endless and incredibly dumb war in Iran, to $4.30/gallon (up from below $3.00 before the war), as the price of Brent Crude went as high as $126/barrel today (up from about $70 before the war)! Also, inflation was back up to 3.5% as of March.
Little wonder Trump’s approval rating on the economy among all Americans has sunk to just 27%. On cost of living it’s now 22%! Numbers lower than either Joe Biden or Jimmy Carter at the end of their Presidencies!
But, don’t worry. Because it’s gonna be the biggest, best, most beautiful, most secure ballroom you’ve ever seen! What?!!
We’re joined today by our old-school blogger pals, the great HEATHER DIGBY PARTON of Salon and Hullaballoo, and the inimitable ‘DRIFTGLASS’ of the The Professional Left Podcast, to try and make some sort of sense of all the ongoing and increasing madness of King Donald and related nightmares now surrounding us.
It is, as usual with these guys, a very fast-paced, informative and occasionally very funny hour! We cover everything from the fallout from the SCOTUS VRA ruling (not so funny), to the ballroom (hilarious!), to the endless idiocy of Trump’s no-way-out war on Iran and whether or not it is “the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history”, his doomed second revenge-indictment of James Comey (86 47!), and his pathetic scheme to strip broadcast licenses from ABC-owned television stations because Jimmy Kimmel told a pretty funny joke referring to Melania as “an expectant widow”.
A few samples from today….
- On the ballroom. Digby: “a perfect metaphor for [his] overwhelming megalomania.” Driftglass: “He’s a lunatic…building a temple to himself…hoping to outrace the facts of his reputation.”
- On Iran. Driftglass: “This is Stupid Iraq [and] the dumbest war America has ever fought for any reason.” Digby: “So we’ve proved that Iran has leverage, we’ve proved that our bunker busters don’t work that well, and we’ve proved that we can execute regime change, only we make it worse. So, good job!”
- On the Comey indictment. Digby: “Can I just point one thing out? ’86’ is NOT a Mafia term. The term is ‘deep six’!”
- On threat to Kimmel and ABC. Driftglass: “Every time Trump loses — and he’s racked up a staggeringly impressive record of losing — a little bit of power leaks away.”
- On whether Trump (and the rest of us) can survive the madness for three more years? Tune in…
Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for our latest Green News Report, with still more fallout from the Iran War, but at least one really really cool thing that is now and will soon be happening to the fossil fuel industry because of it!…
I thought 8647 was the actual number of people who voted for Trump in the last election…or is it the number of people who’d ever vote for him again???
The number to watch is Trump’s general overall approval of Presidency (apart from any specific issue) —–It is now about 33%, down from 35%, which held for many months.
This is the outline of the true Cult.
His issue-by-issue approval is deep underwater on nearly all matters, but snaps back to 33% or so when just “general approval of presidency” is asked for.
And it is going down very slowly.
I guess magas may hate his performance on almost every issue now, but they still can’t help LOVING him. Just for him.
Now THAT is a cult.
Just the outline. I recall GWB was down well into the 20s after Iraq and mostly Katrina. So I think Trump still has farther to fall. Much, in fact!
America’s “worst” war was undoubtedly Vietnam. Over 55,000 Americans dead, over a million Vietnamese dead, billions spent, and the result was the same as if the war had not been fought: the North united the country.
Fair enough argument. Though I will note the question was “Is Iran the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history?” (Which is somewhat different than “What was our worst war?”) FWIW.
European leaders see Trump’s troop drawdown from Germany as new proof they must go it alone
Is the removal of the $dollar as the world currency replaced by the $EU in the works too?