As we were writing this newsletter, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on stage at the Pentagon, defending himself angrily against the “farce” and the “sabotage” of the impeachment effort against him.
asserted
Hegseth → write → him
Too bad we can’t get it all in here—but that’s what Command Post is for.
asserted
Post → get → what
Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling and Ben Parler will be breaking it all down on Substack and YouTube momentarily at 9:30 a.m. EST—should be a fun time.
asserted
Hertling → break → a.m.
You Go to War, Stephen.
asserted
You → go → War
I’m Busy Today.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
How much fight does Donald Trump have left in him?
asserted
Trump → leave → him
When the president elevated wartime consigliere Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff this weekend, it seemed he might be ready to snap out of his post-midterms doldrums, quit wandering around the White House grounds talking to nobody in particular about ballroom chandeliers, and go back to war on the left.
uncertain
he → elevate → left
But I’m not so sure.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
Trump may have given Miller the conn, but he showed zero indication yesterday that he’s ready to lock back in himself.
uncertain
he → give → indication
Instead, he kept right on with his bizarre post-election hit parade with another sequence of wacky, dissociative distractions.
asserted
he → keep → distractions
After a full week of glumly agreeing to accept the results of last week’s blue tsunami, Trump suddenly swerved back into full-on election denial yesterday: “Does anybody really believe that this ‘Election’ was honest.
asserted
Election → agree → denial
How could the Polls be so wrong???” he wrote on Truth Social.
uncertain
he → write → Social
“Some early voting ‘dumps’ were so large that it was impossible to win, no matter how many people went to vote.
asserted
people → win → ?
It’s all about the machines, which are far more important than the voter!”
asserted
which → ’ → voter
Back in 2020, the stolen-election claims were built on a mountain of supposed evidence, even if it was all fabricated and conspiratorial.1 Today, he’s got nada—no eyewitness testimony, no grainy video footage, not even a theory of how Democrats might possibly have stolen elections right out from under the watchful eye of the Republican governments of Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Mississippi, and so on.2
uncertain
Democrats → steal → Kansas
He isn’t even mobilizing his government to try to do anything about it.
asserted
He → mobilize → it
He’s just complaining online.
asserted
He → complain → ?
Trump is bringing this new, toothless energy everywhere these days.
asserted
Trump → bring → energy
Yesterday afternoon, he called an impromptu press conference in the White House briefing room—where he was joined, surreally, by UFC CEO Dana White, a guy he is unsuccessfully lobbying to make his press secretary.
asserted
he → call → White
White took questions from several of the goofball MAGA ringers Trump has sprinkled through the White House press pool, including Lindell TV’s Cara Castronuova, who asked whether Trump or Joe Biden would win in a UFC Octagon showdown.
asserted
Trump → take → showdown
To his credit, White seemed faintly embarrassed by the question.
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White → seem → question
Over the weekend, Trump had posted a fever-dream AI-generated clip of a cartoon White in the briefing room, ordering his UFC fighters to clobber the snot out of pencilneck lib reporters.
asserted
Trump → post → reporters
He returned to this theme at the briefing: “Dana is really very unique,” Trump said, smiling.
asserted
Trump → return → briefing
“The only problem is he’ll talk for a little while and then he’s going to beat the hell out of you.
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he → talk → you
The joke (can we call it that?) was keeping with his decade of dangerous enemy-of-the-people rhetoric about the press.
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we → call → press
But here, too, the tone was bizarre: He played it as a laugh line, and got some bewildered laughs in the room.
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He → play → room
And the awkward laughs kept coming.
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laughs → come → ?
Last night, Trump gave a surprise interview on—of all places—Washington Journal, CSPAN’s low-budget political call-in show.
asserted
Trump → give → Journal
The show had no advance warning; Trump just showed up on the call-in line.
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Trump → have → line
As CSPAN’s bewildered anchor brought him on, the first thing you could hear was a woman (Natalie Harp? Stephen Miller?) giggling loudly on Trump’s line.
uncertain
you → bring → line
Then he was off and running on his normal litany of campaign-trail grievances—all seemingly delivered, not with anger or frustration, but with a strange cheery calm.
asserted
all → run → calm
Actually, the word that springs to mind watching Trump do anything these days—even the ostensibly alarming stuff, like calling for elections to be overturned or joking about violence against the press—is “nostalgia.”
asserted
elections → spring → press
The president seems, for the moment, to have given up on actually making stuff happen.
asserted
stuff → seem → moment
Instead, he’s going on a personally relaxing trip down memory lane.
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he → go → lane
Remember when we did stop the steal?
asserted
we → remember → steal
Remember when I used to go to war against the press?
asserted
I → remember → press
Remember all those times on the campaign trail I talked about other countries emptying their prisons and asylums and sending us their inmates?
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countries → remember → inmates
We had fun, huh?
asserted
We → have → fun
At any point, one still assumes, Trump could still snap out of this fugue and pick up his weapons again.
uncertain
Trump → assume → weapons
Whether or not he does, we’ve still got Stephen Miller to contend with.
asserted
we → do → Miller
…and 81 more, not listed.
The Aporia
