ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOR, EMPTY BOXES, BOTOX

Events of the past week or so bring to mind the Mike Luckovich political cartoon, where he illustrates the Devil looking into an empty box labeled ‘Trump’s Soul,’ with the realization that he has just been suckered. Many of us have read the January 8 two-hour interview with the president in The New York Times where he was asked if there are any limits to his power following his destruction of Venezuelan boats and the raid on that country when President Maduro was kidnapped. “Yeah,” was his reply, “There is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me. I don’t need international law.” As Kristin Monroe writes on MS NOW online, “Apparently we can all now rest assured, knowing that Trump’s finely tuned sense of morality will guide him as he navigates his Machiavellian world of might-makes-right, with or without the constraints of international law. Clearly, with Trump’s sense of morality as a guide, the US no longer needs to stay in the dozens of international organizations from which Trump just withdrew us.”

Monroe goes on to say that Trump is at odds with the reality of what Americans consider moral, and based on psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s study, our president’s moral development resembles that of a toddler — not of a seasoned statesman or thoughtful head of state. Kohlberg’s study led him to develop a six-stage theory describing an individual’s morality as evolving sequentially, the subsequent stages building on earlier reasoning, with Stage 1 involving avoiding trouble and following authority figures. Stage 2 finds individuals seeking reward and personal gain, after which Stage 3 will result in subjects seeking approval and wishing to be judged ‘good’ by their peers. Stage 4 eludes Donald Trump, as it calls for respect for authority, a wish to maintain social order and obey laws out of a sense of duty. Rarer are the later stages which require individuals to contemplate abstract principles — such as justice, extremely rare for Trump, as Stage 5 recognizes the greater good in recognizing the importance of individuals rights. The pinnacle of Stage 6 shows universal ethical principles emerging, care about concepts such as justice and human rights.

President Trump seems to be stuck at Stage 2, with only a glimmer of stepping into Stage 3, as he behaves like a child who expects the world to reward him with what is best only for him. He lacks compassion with not a concern for justice and human rights, with no understanding of America’s outrage over the Minneapolis killing by ICE agents, a mother who drove her car into a chaotic scene spawned by Trump and his gang. Stripping away health care and food benefits, separating immigrant families and putting the desaparecidos into cages gets no sympathy from Donald. He has no understanding about Canadians or Greenlanders feeling threatened by his annexation threats — Canada should relish being the 51st state and Greenland should be just fine with acceptance of US greenbacks for taking over their country.

Monroe believes Trump’s greatest crime might not be the damage he has inflicted on our political system or desecration of our democracy, but what he has meted out to us by altering how we see the world and leading us to believe what was once intolerable to us morally, is now perfectly acceptable behavior. On a positive note, she thinks Trump has misjudged Americans, and even his Congressional supporters are starting to break ranks to escape his trap of ‘morality.’ Based upon her interviews with Holocaust survivors, she is convinced that there are absolute moral values; and though leaders like Trump can ignore truth and human decency, to manipulate words and try to legislate away morality, moral values still exist and that innate human desire to protect and promote human flourishing is in our DNA. She cites the January 6 Insurrection as crossing the line for most of our citizens.

Political slogans may bombard us, “but a desire for warmth, compassion and kindness exists in all except the psychopaths among us,” Monroe says. And we know who they are! “We are born wanting to be loved. Most of us eventually learn that we cannot expect to receive love unless we are willing and able to give love in return. Claiming humanity in ourselves means recognizing and honoring it in others. Trump ignores this reality. He doesn’t see the disconnect between what he finds acceptable moral behavior and what the American public considers moral behavior,” Monroe concludes.

Trump’s White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, Stephen Miller, on the other hand is assuredly forever doomed by having an empty box labeled ‘Miller’s Soul.’ And Satan will not be fooled as he cheers from the sidelines. On Fox News he greenlighted abuse in his message to ICE officers in a Will Cain interview. He maintains that ICE agents have “federal immunity in the conduct of your duties,” declaring that anyone who so much as touches or obstructs the is “committing a felony.” Legal experts have fired back by stressing that prosecution is possible, though difficult in the present political climate. Critics of Miller’s comments called his statements “utterly chilling,” amounting to “open season on immigrants AND citizens alike,” as he encouraged officers to “go and spread violence and terror.”

Miller’s stridency was especially noteworthy as he made comments amid the heightened criticism and scrutiny after ICE killed Minneapolis’ Renee Good. Trump’s deputy told ICE officers, “You have immunity to perform your duties, and no one — no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist — can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.” He assured officers that anyone crossing the line “will face justice.” The Department of Homeland Security has also shared the Fox footage on X as a “REMINDER” to ICE officers.

Slate journalist, Laura Jedeed, conducted her own investigation into the ICE hiring process, and in her exposé, she was able to get a job offer despite failing a drug test and without completing any of the background checks. In attending an ICE recruitment session, she found that the process was “astonishingly superficial,” even after she had overlooked the initially emailed paperwork and was using cannabis before the event, which should have disqualified her. Nevertheless, in checking back she found that she had been offered a job as a deportation officer — no completed paperwork, no background check, no identification verification. Jedeed wrote, “By all appearances, I was a deportation officer. Without a single signature on agency paperwork, ICE had officially hired me.”

The article brings to light the dangerously minimal vetting in ICE recruiting, and pinpoints why the agency’s confrontations with everyday Americans have grown more violent. Improper screening allows anyone, regardless of history, criminal record, or personal beliefs to walk out with a badge, a gun and the power to enforce deportations. Incompetence? Assuredly, but it’s a policy choice as Trump and Kristi Noem recruit those willing to intimidate and harm communities with no accountability, endangering everyone in its path.

Targeting Kristi Noem, satirist Andy Borowitz tells us in The Borowitz Report: “A new study published on Wednesday by Harvard Medical School has found a link between the overuse of Botox and pathological lying. “Repeated injections of Botox to the face interact with proteins in the brain,” Professor Harland Dorrinson, who supervised the study, said. “The result is an acute allergic reaction to the truth.” Though over-injecting Botox makes it difficult for a user to move the facial muscles necessary for speech, he said, “to the extent that the person’s mouth is capable of moving, it will be lying.” The study revealed other negative side effects of Botox, such as swelling in the cranium that requires the user to wear an enormous hat.”

In a turn away from Trump, podcaster Joe Rogan voiced sympathy with Americans who have expressed anger and frustration at the way Trump’s administration has conducted immigration enforcement. “You don’t want militarized people in the streets just roaming around, snatching up people — many of which turn out to be US citizens that just don’t have their papers on them,” Rogan said on his podcast. He added, “Are we really gonna be Gestapo, ‘Where’s your papers?’ Is that what we’ve come to?” Being a prominent media voice with young men in particular, Rogan has been outspoken on a number of issues, breaking with the president even after supporting him in the 2024 campaign. Just before the election, Trump gave Rogan a three-hour interview as he attempted to shore up his support among younger members of the electorate.

Since the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis, a revolt within the Department of Justice has resulted in the resignation of six senior career officials from the Criminal Section of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Harry Litman, a contributor on Substack, wrote on Bluesky that the resignations were “metastatic and spreading quickly. Clearly one of 2-3 biggest scandals in DOJ history.” Following the Trump administrations justification of Good’s death, Litman wrote, “First, the highest government officials circled the wagons around Ross,” relating how both Trump and VP Vance blamed Good for her death, and Secretary Noem labeling the incident “domestic terrorism.” “At the same time, leadership of the Civil Rights Division, under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, informed the Criminal Section that it would not be investigating the case at all — a spectacular departure from past practice. Multiple career prosecutors offered to go to the scene but were told not to,” Litman wrote.

Litman added, “It was like a fire chief watching smoke pour from a burning building and ordering the crew not to respond, even as firefighters volunteered to go in. The resigning officials, then were not merely objecting to a particular judgement call. In effect, they were saying that if the Criminal Section does not have jurisdiction over a case like this, its role has been reduced to near irrelevance. Excessive force by officers is not new. What is novel for the United States is the use of federal power afterward to stifle investigation and shield wrongdoing. That turn — from lethal force to enforced impunity — is an abuse of authority and a hallmark of authoritarian governance.”

Scary turn of events! About all we can do now is follow one of the final quotes of the late recording artist Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”

A PALACE IN CARACAS, FREE CUBA, WORLD COP TO WORLD BULLY

Anthony Davis wrote on his Substack blog that Donald Trump finally solved the annoying constitutional problem which states that presidents are supposed to consult Congress before taking the nation into war — simple: don’t ask! Trump demonstrated that a ‘war powers’ discussion is only theoretical — just be loudly confident and “sufficiently uninterested” in being told ‘no’. So, no consultation, no vote, no pretense of deliberation. The sovereign state of Venezuela became the victim of executive power on full volume, with the triumvirate of Trump, Miller and Hegseth flexing their ‘unitary government’ model for the whole world, flying a kidnapped President Nicolás Maduro, his wife to be held as prisoners in New York, pending their courtroom appearances.

In a November Vanity Fair interview, White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles explained that land strikes in Venezuela would require Congressional approval, because “it’s war” that needs legal justification. Trump privately admitted to Congress members the same song and dance as he continued to blow ‘drug smuggler’s’ boats to smithereens; then came the recent announcement that docks, ‘drug warehouses’ and ‘drug boats’ on Venezuela’s shores had been destroyed. The new year then brought the “large scale strike against Venezuela.” the regime change abduction of its president, and Trump’s announcement that his administration would “run the country and take over its oil reserves.” CNN reported in early November that the administration was seeking opinions from DOJ for such strikes, so quite obviously they came up with the language the president and his plotters needed to initiate the action. At his rambling press conference following the action, Trump made the comments that the strikes were about more than stopping the threat of a small-time drug-running head of state who was endangering lives of Americans.

So far, the administration has offered remarkably little care in explaining their justifications or a legal framework — it depends on who you might ask which only adds to the confusion. Vice President Vance is quoted as saying, “You don’t get to avoid justice for drug trafficking in the United States because you live in a palace in Caracas.” Secretary of State Rubio picked up on a line that seems to be echoed by others that, “the military had been supporting a law enforcement function,” noting that Maduro was under indictment in the first Trump administration. That’s woeful news for individuals in other countries that are also under indictments — do we have enough equipment, personnel, and money to also go after them? Yikes!

One of Trump’s early suggestions was that strikes might be justified because Venezuela was sending “bad people” into the US, downplaying any role of that country’s oil reserves, but then a revision occurred — the president voiced his opinion that we needed to reclaim “the oil, land, and other assets that they previously stole from us.” A confused Senator Lindsey Graham indicated that the administration lacked “clarity” in the messaging. He said, “I want clarity here. President Trump saying Maduro’s days are numbered. That seems to me that he’s gotta go. If it’s the goal of taking him out because it’s a threat to our country, then say it. And what happens next? Don’t you think most people want to know that?” It is interesting to note that following the Venezuela action, Graham posted on X: “Free Cuba.”

The attempt to keep the focus on the law enforcement aspect of the operation during the Saturday morning press conference became a shambles as Trump kept wandering off script to emphasize how his administration would temporarily run the government of Venezuela, with repetitious references to the oil reserves and how Venezuelans would become “rich,” all of which begs the question: If he and his bumbling gang can’t run this country successfully, how does that translate to another mismanaged country? And restructuring the Venezuelan oil industry, which is reportedly decrepit and out of date, is another question entirely. “We’re going to rebuild the oil infrastructure. We’re going to run the country right,” said Trump without a whisper of any justification, let alone a plan of action to accomplish this. Venezuela’s large geographical size could prove difficult to control, and because of its significant oil wealth, other countries will take an interest in how our government moves. China has chimed in, calling the attack a “blatant use of force against a sovereign state.”

Of course, the blustering Trump has threatened the possibility of further military options beyond kidnapping and destruction of Venezuela’s industrial and military infrastructure, making it clear that he intends to continue testing the limits his presidential authority and Americans‘ tolerance for his stretching the law. Yet, Americans probably can still be shocked and horrified at his undeclared, unprovoked, and illegal attacks, but we should recognize that this puts us on the same moral and legal footing as Putin’s Russia in their war of pure aggression against Ukraine. Senator Ruben Gallego, in a post where he remarks about his service in the Iraq War, wrote, “Second unjustified war in my life time. This was is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year. There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

Jennifer Rubin writes in The Contrarian on Substack, “It is hard not to conclude that the action is a ‘wag the dog moment’ aimed at distracting the public from the Epstein files, the rotten economy, and Trump’s declining health. It very well could supercharge Trump’s lawless and violent domestic policies against migrants, civil society groups, and others on grounds that they are authorized by wartime powers. His rickety tower of constitutional rubbish will continue to build.” Rubin feels that we should have no expectation that congressional Republicans will do anything to thwart Trump, since they have repeatedly caved in allowing his illegal attacks on boats, even killing survivors in the sea.

With tongue firmly in cheek, the Daily Dose of Democracy site posts, “Whew! It’s almost as if there’s a festering scandal dogging the embattled president on the domestic front and his regime is desperately looking for cover wherever it can find it. Almost.” The writer says that America’s wannabe dictator is feeling frisky after the Venezuela action and is hellbent on continuing his imperial march across the planet — no matter the cost. Trump admitted that US military action against Colombia “sounds good to me,” with an ominous warning to Cuba, and a repeat statement that taking over Greenland is important for our national security. Another repeat was the threat toward Iran should that country’s  crackdown on protesters get out of hand. Unable to stop his ranting, he issued another warning to Mexico over drug trafficking, telling them to “get their act together, or else.”

The attack on Venezuela Rubin blames on the MAGA Supreme Court majority, and Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. specifically, who granted broad immunity never envisioned by the Framers of the Constitution, and now Trump has taken that and made a run headfirst into war. AG Pam Bondi ran headfirst to X, writing, “Nicholás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been indicted in the Southern District of New York. Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machine-guns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machine-guns and Destructive Devices against the United States.” She then added, “They will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts. On behalf of the entire US DOJ, I would like to thank President Trump for having the courage to demand accountability on behalf of the American People, and a huge thank you to our brave military who conducted the incredible and highly successful mission to capture these two alleged international narco traffickers.”

Conservative commenters, concerned that New York justice would let down the country, and that Maduro wouldn’t “feel the full wrath of American justice” that Bondi seeks, posted: “So we just hyper complicated this case to a jurisdiction power struggle? In S NY? Well alrighty then;” “Indicted in SDNY? Is that to ensure something does or doesn’t happen?” Another sarcastically posted, “Hopefully not the ‘full wrath’ Ghislaine Maxwell is getting.” Ben Meiselas on MeidasTouch wrote, “I thought the American justice system was supposed to be about ‘due process’ and not ‘wrath,'” as he points out the irony in Trump’s pardon of the convicted drug trafficking Honduran president. One poster on X commented, “The Sackler family has done more to fuel the fentanyl epidemic in America than Venezuela. Can we conduct a midnight raid to arrest them too?”

The president told Fox News there were no US casualties in the raid, though helicopter troops were hurt when their craft was hit, but no Americans were killed. Venezuelan officials denounced the operation as military aggression, calling for mobilization, with reports of around forty deaths and many injuries which are still being assessed. The government’s inner circle is still intact, with vice president Delcy Rodriguez being secretly sworn in as interim president, after which she appeared on state television calling the US action “a brutal attack.” Trump later claimed she had spoken to Marco Rubio and was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary,” but that claim raises more questions than it answers, especially with all the confusion we’ve seen within the administration over the last few days as they attempt to present a convincing plan for the future.

What could be more Trumpian than The Washington Post’s report that the president has iced out opposition leader, and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado as a successor to Maduro? Her unforgivable sin of accepting the Prize rather than demanding it be given to Trump has resulted in her being thrown under the bus, with Trump stating, “It’d be very tough for her to be the leader because she doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country.” Opposition leaders were stunned because expectations that Washington would rally behind her were dashed. Daily Dose of Democracy calls this newsworthy with the president’s petulant self-serving behavior being truly unmatched — a stark reminder to anyone on the world stage willing to play ball with The Donald, that his ego and self-interest are job numero uno.

The administration’s insistence that the Venezuela action was simply to make an arrest — sure, with helicopters, fighter planes, missiles and bombs, and an armada of support ships in the sea — begs the question: Why is it necessary to now run the country? Trump insists, “We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper, and judicious transition.” He and Secretary of State Rubio need to get their stories on the same page! Senator Chuck Schumer tweeted, “The idea that Trump plans now to run Venezuela should strike fear in the hearts of all Americans. The American people have seen this before and paid the devastating price.” Keep the repeating the mantra: He can’t even run THIS country!

Several MAGA dissidents oppose Trump’s attack, one arguing that, “Most Americans are enraged. American disgust with our own government’s never-ending military aggression and support of foreign wars is justified because we are forced to pay for it, and both parties — Republican and Democrat — always keep the Washington military machine funded and going.” Outgoing Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X: “This is what many in MAGA thought they voted to end. Boy, were we wrong!” Podcaster and MAGA influencer Candace Owens suggested that the Trump administration had carried out the attack “at the behest of globalist psychopaths.” She says that Venezuela has been ‘liberated’ like Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq with the CIA staging another hostile takeover. “That’s it. That’s what is happening, always, and everywhere,” she said. Democrat Ro Khanna argues that Trump has “betrayed” his MAGA base by launching a war to bring regime change to Venezuela. He said that we keep voting against dumb wars, but our presidents get us entangled in conflicts abroad, while ignoring the lack of good jobs and high costs for Americans at home.

At the unhinged, reckless press conference — as described by Ben Meiselas — Trump appeared to be dozing off for extended periods of time as the military details of the operation were presented by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine. “Nothing says end of empire like a grasping regime change war launched by an aging leader who can’t even stay awake for the announcement,” posted on X by MS Now host, Krystal Ball. “A literal coup isn’t thrilling enough to keep him awake,” wrote journalist Peter Rothpletz. Given the severity of the events revealed at the press conference, author Aaron Bastani wrote on social media, “Trump sounds exhausted while talking, and can’t keep is eyes open. The neocons got what they wanted. Curious to see when he’s disposed of.”

Substack’s Anthony Davis posted: “The larger concern is not just Venezuela, but the precedent. If the world’s most powerful country can bomb a capital city, kidnap a sitting president and face little more than sternly worded statements, others may take notes. Some warn that China may see this moment as proof that force, when wielded by the powerful, comes with few consequences.” Davis observes that Trump appears increasingly comfortable with military theatrics, and positively energized by the operation to use ground forces if needed. His falling approval ratings and domestic scandals only increase the temptation to project strength abroad. Venezuela is a stress test for the international system — if the rules only apply when convenient, then there are no rules at all, only suggestions for smaller countries. Davis concludes: “Trump’s fascist playbook now extends beyond US borders, as he assumes the role of CEO of Venezuela, replacing one dictator with another.”

A RED SIREN, DEFENSIBLE, DELUSIONAL, STOP YELLING!

The synopsis by Ben Meiselas of MeidasTouch of President Trump’s recent 18-minute address from the White House pretty much sums up its value as “a tantrum with a teleprompter.” “A grievance sermon delivered at warp speed, yelled at the American people, as if your bank account personally insulted him,” summarizes Ben. “It was a hostage video starring facts bound, gagged, and shoved into the trunk of a golf cart.” Meiselas surmises that Trump chose the prime time slot — sorry, fans of ‘Survivor‘ — because his “poll numbers are underwater and sinking fast,” and not because of the national emergency of a sinking economy. With sixty percent of the country disapproving of his actions — not a rounding error, but a flashing red siren screaming ‘we don’t believe you‘ — he decides to yell louder at his victims. As if speed-reading a grocery receipt he picked up in a parking lot, he spouted prices of items, and screeched that expenses are falling fast, but Meiselas points out, “You can’t shout inflation into submission. And you definitely can’t bully people into believing their expenses are cheaper just because you said so.” And adding, “Believe me,” doesn’t cut it.

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