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Gag Me: Gushing New York Times Column Proclaims 'Age Of Trump'

The New York Times’ chief White House correspondent Peter Baker penned a “news analysis” on Monday that goes on at length about “The Age of Trump.” The cringe-worthy column, meant to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of Donald Trump first entering the Republican presidential race by maligning Mexican people as rapists, comes as the nation continues to deal with the fallout from his time in office—including rampant crime, countless deaths, and rising authoritarianism.

Baker sounds more like a fan gushing over a celebrity than a journalist discussing a conspiracy theorist bigot with dictatorial aspirations.

“Ten years of jaw-dropping, woke-busting, scandal-defying, status quo-smashing politics that have transformed America for good or ill in profoundly fundamental ways” is how this “journalist” describes the decade of hell that Americans have been forced to live through.

Yes, that is prose from a column in The New York Times, not a melodramatic monologue from Trump superfan Sean Hannity on Fox News. While Baker concedes that Trump is unpopular, he describes pro-MAGA voters as “the most consequential political force of modern times, rewriting all of the rules along the way.”

Here’s some context on Baker’s purple prose: Trump’s most significant political victory came in 2024 where he won the popular vote by 1.5 percent over former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump lost the 2020 election by almost five points against former President Joe Biden and lost the popular vote in 2016 against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Former President Barack Obama, the most recent two-term president before Trump, won by over seven points in 2008 and nearly four points in 2012.

Even worse, Baker’s column comes after yet another bloody weekend during a Trump presidency, not to be confused with the steady succession of bloody weekends that occurred during his first term as COVID-19 ravaged the nation and he pushed quack medicine and anti-Chinese racism.

On Sunday, Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot dead in an apparent political assassination. State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot at their home, but are expected to recover. Early reporting indicates the alleged shooter was a Trump fan who espoused similar views to him opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. The shooting follows years of Trump endorsing and encouraging political violence—including the January 6 attack on the Capitol that he incited.

On the same day the killings occurred, Trump was indulging in another fantasy of his, presiding over a military parade on the streets of Washington, D.C. While the president previously expressed envy at well-organized military parades in other nations, the D.C. event was a sparsely attended affair that didn’t even have the polish of a military parade held the same day at Disney World.

But millions of Americans turned out on the very same day to protest Trump and his lackeys like Vice President JD Vance, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and billionaire benefactor Elon Musk at “No King” protests across the nation. Unsurprisingly, the Times could only muster a print headline noting “thousands” had marched.

This is an ongoing pattern at the Times. The writers there have veered from a cringe-inducing review of Trump’s presidential portrait (they claimed he was “smizing,” Tyra Banks-style) to uncritically regurgitating his spin on taxes to presenting an obvious political operative as a simple man-on-the-street Black Trump supporter.

The past 10 years have seen the mainstream media trying over and over to normalize Trump despite all his obvious abnormalities, and the Times has led the charge. Trump is unpopular, which shows that the public doesn’t buy the lies—but the Times is too busy cheering on and normalizing his administration to notice.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Senators Roast Trump's FDA Chief Over Fired Scientists

The Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, Marty Makary, came under strong criticism for his inconsistent remarks before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee after the accuracy of his claims related to terminated scientists and others was called into question by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA).

"You were asked on April 17th whether any of the personnel reductions had included personnel responsible for food safety or infant formula safety," Ossoff told Makary. "You said, quote, 'There were no cuts to scientists or reviewers or inspectors—absolutely none'. You were asked on April 23rd on CNN, and said, quote, 'Again, there were no cuts to scientists or inspectors'."

"But then just two days later, an HHS spokesperson confirmed that in fact, scientists had been fired, and that you were scrambling to rehire them," Ossoff continued. "Did you, in fact, say on April 23d, there were no cuts to scientists or inspectors? Just before we get into the details, is that an accurate quote?"

"No scientific reviewer was cut as part of the reduction in force," replied Makary.

"You said there were no cuts to scientists or inspectors. Didn't you say that?" Ossoff pressed.

"My understanding," Makary replied, "was that there were no cuts to the scientific staff, but specifically the scientific reviewers is what I was referring to."

"But you said there were," Ossoff responded.

A similar back and forth continued for several minutes, then Ossoff asked, "Had, in fact, scientists who study outbreaks of food related illnesses and the safety of infant formula been fired?"

"The reason it's not accurate, Senator, is that people were not fired, they were scheduled for the reduction in force, and when that was before I got there. When I got there, we did an assessment, and so some of those individuals out of the 19,000 were restored," Makary replied.

"Have all scientists responsible for food safety and infant formula safety, been rehired or reinstated?" Ossoff asked.

"Look, we have not reduced in force the scientific review staff. I know where you're going with this," Makary replied.

"You said there were no cuts to scientists, and then the HHS spokesperson said, actually, there were cuts to scientists, and now we're trying to rehire them. I mean, so it gives the impression you're not sure about the personnel actions ongoing in your own agency," said Ossoff.

After more back-and-forth, Ossoff wrapped it up: "You were very specific. You said there were no cuts to scientists. And then five days later, there were cuts to scientists. Those are your direct quotes. There were no cuts to scientists, but there were cuts to scientists."

Again, more back-and-forth and then Makary appeared to grow frustrated.

"I mean, this is the problem in government. Somebody has a fancy sounding name like, 'Infant Formula Safety,' and no one can ever touch them, even if they're not doing their job."

During his testimony, Makary also declared to another Senator, "By the way, America doesn't want COVID boosters."

And a third chastised him, saying: "You're prepared for a question that I didn't ask ... I'm asking you what are you doing about bird flu! Just answer that. Please. Don't give me a runaround about other stuff."

Watch the video below or at this link.

— (@)

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

House Republicans Urge New Social Security Chief To Act With 'Caution'

After financial services executive Frank Bisignano was confirmed this week to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA), a group of 15 House Republicans is now urging him to seriously address some of the lingering issues within the agency — including problems exacerbated by President Donald Trump's administration.

The Arizona Republic recently reported that a group of 15 House Republicans who are predominantly from swing districts co-signed a letter to Bisignano about their "concerns" with the SSA following his Tuesday confirmation vote. In the letter — which the Republic's Laura Gersony observed "alternated between praise and polite uneasiness" — the lawmakers told Bisignano that they hoped he would use his time as commissioner to focus on improving the SSA's increasingly poor customer service.

"We commend and support the continued efforts to make our bloated bureaucracy more efficient for the American people," the 15 Republicans wrote. "However, we must use caution and consider the impact any changes would have so there are no disruptions in services for our seniors and disabled who depend on the Social Security Administration to receive retirement benefits and supplemental security income."

The letter comes on the heels of a statement by former acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek, who led the SSA after former acting commissioner Michelle Wolf resigned in February after she clashed with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representatives. Dudek acknowledged the long wait times and packed lobbies that have long plagued retirees — but blamed them on former President Joe Biden's administration "advancing radical DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and gender ideology over improving service for all Americans."

Dudek also spearheaded an effort to downsize the SSA's 57,000-member workforce, and convinced roughly 3,000 of them to take buyouts. Last month, the SSA announced that all official communications would be done exclusively through X (which is owned by DOGE co-founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk) rather than issue press releases. DOGE also cancelled leases for SSA offices in multiple rural communities, meaning that retirees and disabled people who depend on Social Security now have to drive for several hours to their nearest office just to have basic questions answered.

Advocates warned that those measures could result in eligible recipients losing benefits they are entitled to through no fault of their own, given that many beneficiaries are elderly and may not have the ability to use new technology or leave their home to travel to an SSA office.

""I wish I had a better answer for people, but this is going to end in checks not going out, the money that we have earned not getting into our hands," Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in April. "And I believe strongly that that's the point. The cuts they've made have no other rhyme or reason except to literally destroy the system."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

ICE Chief Wants Mass Deportation To Work 'Like Amazon With Human Beings'

Acting Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons told attendees of the Border Security Expo conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday that he wants to round up human beings like Amazon deliveries.

He said that the government needs to “get better at treating this like a business” and that he wants the deportation process to work “like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”

Lyons’ dehumanizing language echoes both the rhetoric of past genocidal regimes—including Nazi Germany—and President Donald Trump himself, who has referred to immigrants as “animals,” “not human,” who were “poisoning the blood” of the country.

Other Trump administration officials who attended the conference reinforced Lyons’ harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave the keynote speech during the conference, discussing her path from South Dakota governor to her current role within the Trump administration.

Noem, who described immigration at the southern border as “a war and an invasion,” echoed racist mass shooters and members of the white supremacist movement who have frequently characterized immigration as part of an “invasion.”

Similarly, Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan told the audience that the policy of “family detention,” where children are detained as part of the deportation process, is “on the table.”

In fact, ICE recently detained a mother and three children from Homan’s hometown of Sacketts Harbor, New York, at a facility in Texas.

Homan was recently in the news after complaining about Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York for educating immigrants of their legal rights under the Constitution. In response, she mocked Homan and suggested that he use the Constitution to “learn to read.”

Trump has made opposition to immigration a central part of his identity since becoming a politician in 2015. The remarks from his top administration officials show that the issue remains central to their ideology—and that dehumanization is at its core.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

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Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

Gag Me: Gushing New York Times Column Proclaims 'Age Of Trump'

Senators Roast Trump's FDA Chief Over Fired Scientists

ICE Chief Wants Mass Deportation To Work 'Like Amazon With Human Beings'

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