Tag: donald trump
Smell The Grift: Trump's Latest Cash Grab Is Literally A Stinker

Smell The Grift: Trump's Latest Cash Grab Is Literally A Stinker

Thanks to President Donald Trump’s obsession with turning everything into a cash grab, you can now identify the most die-hard MAGA voters by a new smell.

The president’s latest cologne and perfume sets have officially hit the market, and his cultists can now spritz themselves with the scents for the low price of $249—or $398 if they buy two.

“Trump Fragrances are here,” he wrote via Truth Social Tuesday.

Out of originality, the president named the new smell “Victory 45-47,” basing the name off of his two presidential wins. Trump also strangely claims the fragrances are “all about Winning, Strength, and Success — For men and women.”

The bottle appears to include a gold Trump statuette—perhaps from his trimmer days—with his signature scribble stamped at the base of the bottle.

“With every spray, Victory 47 captures confidence, beauty, and unstoppable determination,” the website description reads for the women’s perfume. “A sophisticated, subtly feminine scent that’s your go-to signature for any occasion.”

While Trump’s marketing team seems to be all in on the idea, even Fox News host Jessica Tarlov slammed the product on Tuesday. Referencing the passing of Trump’s Medicaid-gutting budget bill, Tarlov tweeted, “16 million Americans are about to lose their healthcare, but go buy my gross perfume…”

Of course, the president is no stranger to a good grift. This past December, he was hocking a cologne and perfume set based off of the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt against him. That bottle had “Fight Fight Fight” plastered across the bottle. Bottles are still in stock, according to the website.

On top of that, Trump has hawked watches, guitars, shoes, bibles, and more. And certain business ventures, such as his profits in various cryptocurrency schemes, are generally managed by his sons.

Last month, Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., was backed into a corner when addressing his father’s memecoin, $TRUMP. During an interview on NewsNation, the reporter pointed out that Trump Sr. had made over $57 million from the memecoin. “So he does benefit financially,” the reporter said.

“But he doesn’t touch it. That’s all walled off,” Don Jr. said. “He doesn’t get involved in that.”

In other words, just trust us. He’s not dipping his hand into the honey jar.

As for Trump’s latest fragrance line, it’s just another one to add to the list of grift. On the bright side, it might make it easier to identify those MAGA voters who have left their red hats home for the day.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Republicans Beware! Medicaid Is Not A Soft Target

Republicans Beware! Medicaid Is Not A Soft Target

Does anyone remember the 1995 government shutdown and why it happened? Basically Newt Gingrich, fresh off a big Republican victory in the midterm election, was trying to force Bill Clinton to make big cuts in Medicare. He failed, in large part because Medicare was and is an immensely popular program.

A decade later, George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security. But he, too, failed, because Social Security is also immensely popular.

But the Republican quest to rip up as much of the social safety net as possible never ends. And for the past 15 years or so that has meant steering clear, for now, of Medicare and Social Security, which are middle-class programs, and going after Medicaid instead. If the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which is, incredibly, the legislation’s actual name — goes into effect, Medicaid will be cut by around a trillion dollars over the next decade. (As of this morning, the fate of that bill remains uncertain.)

What is Medicaid? Like Medicare, it’s government-provided health insurance. But unlike Medicare, it’s “means-tested”: your income has to fall below a certain level before you’re eligible. This makes Medicaid a program for the poor or near-poor — and that, for many on the right, suggests a political opportunity.

Ostensibly, the right attacks Medicaid because it costs too much. I mean, it’s a government program, which means that it must be riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, right? And surely there must be millions of lazy people getting health care through Medicaid who should be getting up off their couches and going to work.

The reality is that none of this is true.

No doubt there’s waste and fraud in Medicaid, as there is in any system created and run by human beings. But overall Medicaid provides essential health care relatively cheaply. Once you adjust for the generally poor health of the average Medicaid recipient — chronic illness can make you poor! — Medicaid appears to have significantly lower costs than private insurance:

Actually, in some ways Medicaid resembles the health care systems of other advanced countries, which are much cheaper than U.S. health care (while achieving equally good results) largely because they’re more cost-conscious, willing to bargain hard with drug companies, say no to expensive procedures of dubious medical benefit, and so on.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of Medicaid recipients either are working or can’t work — they’re disabled or need to stay home to care for others:

Oh, and one thing we know from repeated experience is that adding work requirements to Medicaid does not, in fact, lead to more people working.

I don’t know how many of the right-wingers clamoring for drastic Medicaid cuts believe the stories they tell about waste and lazy Americans who won’t get a job. My guess, though, is that they don’t care whether these stories are true. They’re going after Medicaid because they see it as a soft target — a program that helps lower-income Americans, and who cares about them? Medicaid’s beneficiaries, they imagine, are the new welfare queens driving Cadillacs.

But a funny thing has happened to public opinion about Medicaid. The share of Americans covered by the program has increased a lot over the past 15 years:

And the fact that so many Americans now receive Medicaid means that many people have either benefited from the program or know people who have. And as a result the program has become remarkably popular:

83 percent favorability — 74 percent among Republicans! — is incredibly high. In fact, Medicaid appears to have slightly higher favorability than apple pie.

What this suggests is that Republicans who consider Medicaid a soft target, a program that only benefits inner-city rats, are going to be shocked by the blowback if they do manage to eviscerate this key piece of American health care.

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist and former professor at MIT and Princeton who now teaches at the City University of New York's Graduate Center. From 2000 to 2024, he wrote a column for The New York Times.

Reprinted with permission from Substack.

Donald Trump

Deport Musk? Break Out The Popcorn For Don And Elon's New Slapfest

It won’t come as much of a surprise that our…cough cough…president was awake at 12:44 this morning in the White House with his personal phone in his hand making threats on Truth Social against his one-time pal, the deficit slasher whose waste, fraud, and abuse cuts ended up costing more money than they saved:

“Elon Musk knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one. Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”

Why did Donny have his Depends in a wad, you might ask? Elon was threatening to form a new political party and run candidates against every Republican who voted for Trump’s Big Deficit-Busting Bill:

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country—the PORKY PIG PARTY!! Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”

And then Musk, who only a month ago had announced that he would be cutting back on his political spending, posted this:

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this earth.”

The bill passed the Senate yesterday morning, of course, and heads over to the House, where Speaker Mike “Biblical Law” Johnson will push it through despite the fact that it will probably close half the rural hospitals in his state of Louisiana.

$930 billion in Medicaid cuts. $120 billion in SNAP food stamp cuts. 12 million fewer people will receive Medicaid benefits according to the Congressional Budget Office.

$3.3 trillion added to the budget deficit over the next ten years, but who’s counting?

Elon Musk, that’s who.

Trump hadn’t gotten back on Air Force One yet from his visit to the Everglades site of his newest concentration camp, which they’re calling “Alligator Alcatraz.” But look for him calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to use the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to go after Elon’s naturalization as a citizen.

Yep, that’s a thing. They announced yesterday that the division of the DOJ that used to sue counties in the South for denying Black citizens the right to vote will now be used to strip some naturalized Americans of their citizen ship:

“The Civil Division shall prioritize and maximally pursue denaturalization proceedings in all cases permitted by law and supported by the evidence," wrote Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate in a memo.

Elon, a former citizen of South Africa, is naturalized. Asked on his way out of the White House to get on Air Force One if he has plans to deport Elon Musk, Trump answered, “I don't know, we'll have to take a look.”

Keep your popcorn handy and make sure your microwave is working. This is going to be good.

Reprinted with permission from Lucian Truscott Newsletter.

Raging Musk Now Threatens Members Of Congress Who Support Trump Budget

Raging Musk Now Threatens Members Of Congress Who Support Trump Budget

Billionaire Elon Musk is threatening to target members of Congress for defeat if they support President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after campaigning on promises to cut government spending. Although Musk did not specifically name a party, no Democrat is expected to back the budget measure.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote late Monday afternoon, as the Senate began voting on the legislation. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk’s threat comes after his numerous attacks on the bill—which is critical to Trump’s agenda—based largely on its massive increases to the federal debt.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk declared one hour earlier. “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”

New York magazine’s Intelligencer reported on Monday that Musk is “not done” fighting Trump.

“How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?” Musk also wrote, lashing out at the far-right caucus, and mentioning two Members by name: Reps. Andy Harris of Maryland, the group’s chairman, and Chip Roy of Texas.

On Saturday, Musk had warned, “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country! Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

“Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republican Party,” he also warned.

New York noted that “Trump, presumably, isn’t thrilled about Musk’s last-minute attempt to sink his signature legislative package. But so far he’s refrained from hitting back.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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