Remember when Donald Trump pitched a hissy fit because he didn't like the way a portrait of him looked, in Colorado? He actually made them take it down and create a new painting. So we're wondering if someone's about to get fired in the White House, after they used an official White House social media account to post an image of Trump as (are you sitting down?) Superman. Now, the idea of "Trump as Superman" isn't all that shocking, since both he and all his acolytes operate at the mental level of a spoiled elementary-school-aged narcissist, but what is truly hilarious is the image they used -- because they didn't bother to edit out his gut. It's just sticking right out there for all to see. Usually when Trump has these he-man fantasies he uses fake images with lots of muscles and a ripped body, but this time someone forgot to tell the A.I. program to slim him down. So, as we said, we're anticipating someone in the White House communications department getting unceremoniously booted from their job real soon now. It's kind of surprising they'd even use the Superman theme in the first place, since the MAGA folks all hit the ceiling when the director of the new Superman movie pointed out the fact that Superman is actually (gasp!) an immigrant. And it is highly doubtful that the Kent parents ever bothered to inform the federal government of the fact, so that would actually make Superman an undocumented immigrant. Oh, the horror!

[Sorry, but in a week of much-more-serious news, that one took the prize for "most ridiculously stupid," so we couldn't resist leading with it. But we'll move on to more serious matters now...]

Donald Trump is visiting Texas today, to see how the flood recovery efforts are going. And lo and behold, the White House suddenly went very quiet about all those plans to eliminate FEMA. Trump initially wanted to abolish the agency and essentially replace it with "nothing," but in the first big disaster he's faced (the first natural disaster, we should specify) some people are suddenly realizing that maybe completely eradicating the federal agency that responds to disasters might not be all that hot an idea.

Who knows? Maybe at this rate they'll realize that FEMA should in fact be empowered to react quickly, as it used to before Trump took back over (and cut something like a quarter of their personnel). The disaster specialists at the agency no longer have the power to make their own decisions, which has led to disgraceful delays in action:

Deployments of critical resources, such as tactical and specialized search and rescue teams, were delayed as a result of a budget restriction requiring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem to approve every purchase, contract and grant over $100,000, according to a dozen current and former FEMA employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak with the media.

When rapidly responding to billion-dollar disasters, that "is basically everything," said one current official.

Other efforts by the administration to constrain spending have hampered FEMA's operations, officials said, which is likely to make it harder for the agency to be proactive during what is predicted to be a busy disaster season.

In fact, it wasn't until late Thursday afternoon that Kristi Noem signed approval of some of these disaster relief contracts. And "crews in Texas have also received only one-week contracts" as of now. Which is the epitome of "too little, too late." Even the search-and-rescue teams weren't deployed for over 72 hours after the disaster hit. There has been no word yet on whether Trump helped make everything better today by tossing some paper towel rolls at people during his visit.

Sorry for the snark, since this really is no laughing matter. It is sobering, in fact, especially when you consider that we haven't been hit with the year's first hurricane yet. Add in the fact that the National Weather Service has also drastically cut personnel, to the point where there is no chief meteorologist in many of the most disaster-prone areas of the country. The flooding in Texas impacted a handful of counties and Trump's FEMA obviously wasn't up to the task, so what are they going to do when a massive storm impacts multiple states? The only good news in all of this is that the White House is now apparently realizing that abolishing FEMA is an incredibly stupid and cruel idea. At least that's something.

Speaking of stupid and cruel, the White House social media feed has been amping up the fear and inhumanity when it comes to the subject of immigration. Which could be part of the reason why American public opinion has dramatically shifted on the issue since Trump took office:

A record 79 percent of American adults think immigration is good for the country, according to a new Gallup poll released Friday. And the number of Americans who want immigration reduced dropped sharply from 55 to 30 percent since last year's poll.

Meanwhile, disapproval of Trump's immigration approach outweighs approval by 27 percent, potentially complicating the president's strategy on a policy area that he has made a cornerstone of his presidential agenda.

People are beginning to see that for all Trump's talk about rounding up all the violent criminals, this is really just an exercise in fear and cruelty which is impacting non-criminal immigrants, not the boogeymen Trump pointed to on the campaign trail. ICE staged a "raid" this week in a Los Angeles park, where 90 soldiers in battle dress "protected" a bunch of ICE agents. No arrests were announced after they paraded around for an hour and then left.

Again, back to those polling numbers:

Current levels of approval for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants now match where they stood in 2019, at 37 percent.

Meanwhile, support for increasing paths to citizenship has increased, with 78 percent of Americans saying undocumented immigrants should be allowed to become full citizens, up from 70 percent last year. While the increase reflects an upward shift across political parties, it marks the biggest gain among Republicans, whose support jumped 13 points.

Even Republicans are turning away in disgust. And this was the one issue Trump had scored positive poll numbers on since he took office. Now, however, his average poll numbers specifically on immigration are also underwater.

Trump even lost the support of Joe Rogan this week, who is now calling Trump's ICE raids "insane." And that was before the secretary of Agriculture floated a wonderful new idea. It seems the economy is already getting hit by a lack of workers for jobs regularly filled by immigrants (including but not limited to farmworkers and meatpackers), as a result of all the ICE raids. But now Medicaid will only go to people who can prove they are working, so the Ag secretary concluded that all those farmworker jobs could be filled by Medicaid recipients. Presto, problem solved! Except for, you know, the reality of the situation. It's no wonder fewer and fewer people approve of Trump's handling of immigration, with all of this nonsense.

Trump's worst polling is on the economy and inflation, though. But Trump's go-to "pay attention to me" gambit is to freak the whole world out with tariff threats, which he fell back on this week once again. The entire thing was no more than a distraction, since in essence what Trump was doing was serving up a big fat TACO on the subject. When he first announced his insane tariff scheme (on the day after April Fool's Day), the markets freaked out. So he chickened out and announced a three-month "pause." The deadline was to have been this week. After optimistic promises of cutting "90 deals in 90 days," Team Trump wound up with zero fully-fledged trade deals. All they had to show for it was two handshake-agreement "framework" deals, with Vietnam and the United Kingdom. Trump, throughout this whole period, insisted that there would be no further extension. This week, he chickened out and announced nothing would happen until the first of August.

Instead, Trump had some fun sending out incredibly rude letters to over a dozen countries, directly threatening to raise their tariff rates. Most of these were pretty much exactly the same rate that Trump originally threatened, so it wasn't really any big change, but the world certainly did pay attention to Trump (which is really what he wanted). Trump did threaten Brazil with a whopping 50 percent tariff, because he is miffed that they are actually prosecuting a former leader who tried to stay in power by means of a violent coup. The idea that this is the proper response to such things terrifies Trump, for patently obvious reasons.

When asked by a reporter about his failure to cut 90 deals in 90 days, Trump erupted with some classic word salad:

Oh, we've spoken to everybody. We know every. It's all done. I told you. I told you we'll make some deals, but for the most part we're gonna send a letter. We're gonna say, "Welcome to the United States. If you'd like to participate in the greatest, most successful country ever." I mean, we're doing better than ever. We have. I don't think. And you're gonna see these numbers soon. We've never had numbers like this. We've never had investment like this. Uh, we have more than 90. We're gonna have much more than 90. But most of those are gonna be sent a letter. This is exactly what I said. Now, we've made a deal with United Kingdom. We've made a deal with China. We've made a deal. We're close to making a deal with India. Others, we've met with, and we don't think we're gonna be able to make a deal. So, we just send them a letter. "Do you wanna, do you wanna play ball? This is what you have to pay." So, we're, as far as I'm concerned, we're done. We're sending out letters to various countries, telling them how much tariffs they have to pay. Some will maybe adjust a little bit depending if they have a, you know, cause. We're not gonna be unfair about it. And actually, it's a small fraction compared to what we should be getting. We should be. We could be asking for much more. But for the sake of relationships that we've had with a lot of really good countries, we're doing the way I do it. But we could be getting a lot more. We could ask for a lot more than what we're asking for.

In a related note, the House of Representatives continued digging into the matter of whether people hid Joe Biden's mental lapses. To which we can only say: "Do Trump next!"

In other world news, Trump apparently had an epiphany and realized that Vladimir Putin doesn't pay the slightest attention to what Trump says or what Trump wants. After an entire decade of proclaiming Putin America's best buddy ever, Trump has finally woken up to the reality of the situation. This means Congress might bestir itself and pass a Draconian sanctions bill, but who knows whether Trump will sign it or not. By the time they put it on his desk, he might just have gone back to his Putin bromance phase.

Speaking of realignments in Trumpworld... two other developments are worth mentioning here. The first is that Elon Musk has now announced the formation of the "America Party," his own pet third party. We all breathlessly await hearing whether he will actually follow through (which could be amusing, because it could actually split the Republican vote and hand some seats in Congress to Democrats), or get bored with the whole thing and walk away from it. Place your bets!

The second is equally as amusing (or "provides an equal amount of schadenfreude," to be more accurate), because MAGA is now eating its own. Over the holiday weekend -- traditionally a time when politicians release bad news, since nobody is paying attention -- the Justice Department admitted that Jeffrey Epstein did in fact commit suicide in his jail cell and did not in fact have a list of clients that he was blackmailing.

These facts have been well-known for years, but the significance of the announcement cannot be understated (for the MAGA crowd). As a sort of spinoff storyline from the whole "QAnon" conspiracy theory, "the Epstein files" took on a life of its own. The conspiracy theory was that Epstein had a whole bunch of prominent Democrats in his files that he was blackmailing with proof of them having sex with children. And of course (of course!) he was killed in his jail cell by minions of these Democrats (or even, sometimes, "foreign agents," just for fun). MAGA folks believed all of this was the absolute gospel truth. In fact, many prominent Republicans (including JD Vance) hyped this conspiracy theory for all it was worth. People like Pam Bondi bought into this whole conspiracy theory in a big way as well. They promised that if Trump ever got back in power, he'd release all the Epstein files and begin prosecutions of all those dastardly Democrats.

Now, of course, Pam Bondi is the attorney general and is in charge of the F.B.I. Which is why last weekend's announcement was such a bombshell (in MAGA world). Because now she is seen as being in on the conspiracy and continuing the coverup! Gasp! Admitting that the conspiracy theory was made out of moonbeams was enough for Bondi to become excoriated by the MAGA faithful, who are still in an enormous tizzy over the news.

So, MAGA is calling for Trump's handpicked A.G. to step down, Elon Musk is threatening to split the Republican base with a new political party, the public has soured on the whole "round them all up and send them to some foreign prison" policy on immigrants, Trump chickened out again on tariffs, and the White House's version of Superman has a huge gut. The only good news is that FEMA was missing in action in a red state, which has caused Trump to rethink the whole "let's abolish FEMA" idea (which he never would have done if the disaster had struck a blue state, obviously).

There wasn't a lot to choose from for the Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award this week, as we head towards the summertime lull in politics. Gavin Newsom toured South Carolina, continuing his as-yet-unannounced 2028 presidential campaign, but it wasn't all that outstandingly impressive.

So we are -- very cautiously -- going to highlight a story of some Democrats attempting to make the party more competitive:

A number of prominent younger Democrats with records of winning tough races are forming a new group with big ambitions to remake their party's image, recruit a new wave of candidates and challenge political orthodoxies they say are holding the party back.

Members of the initiative, Majority Democrats, have different theories about how the national party has blundered. Some believe a heavy reliance on abortion-rights messaging or anti-Trump sentiment has come at the expense of a stronger economic focus. Others say party leaders underestimate how much pandemic-era school closures or reflexive defenses of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s re-election bid have eroded voters' trust in Democrats.

But the roughly 30 elected officials at the federal, state and local levels who have so far signed on to the group broadly agree that the Democratic Party must better address the issues that feel most urgent in voters' lives -- the affordability crisis, for example -- and that it must shed its image as the party of the status quo. Many of the group's members have, at times, challenged the party's establishment, something the organization embraces.

Prominent Democrats who have joined the effort: Abigail Spanberger, who is running for governor of Virginia this year, as well as Representative Mikie Sherrill, who is running for governor of New Jersey. Senators Ruben Gallego, Elissa Slotkin, and Michael Bennet are all a part of it, as are a number of House members and big-city mayors.

We greet this news with cautious optimism, since the article points out that most of the people in it could be described as "center-left." It even mentions the Democratic Leadership Council of the 1990s, which is a little worrisome to us. But we were heartened to see one quote, from Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval, who was commenting on how some Democrats in New York City are doing whatever they can to make sure the Democratic Party's nominee loses the general election (more on this in a moment): "We're either a big tent or we're not. You know how you lose elections? Turn on talented young candidates who are actually winning." We consider this a good sign that this won't be some sort of anti-progressive group.

The Democratic Party needs all the help it can get, at this point. So we certainly hope that the new Majority Democrats effort will bear some fruit. For now, we are cautiously awarding them this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week.

[Unfortunately, we could not locate a webpage or contact information for the new group (part of the problem seems to be how generic the words "majority Democrats" is handled on search engines). Our apologies.]

About that New York City mayor's race... (sigh).

Here's what's been happening, as certain Democrats are still freaking out that a youthful hard-left candidate won the Democratic mayoral primary:

The former governor of New York, David Paterson, told Salon that he thinks elected Democrats in New York may be preparing to back a candidate other than state Rep. Zohran Mamdani, who won the party's primary election last month.

Paterson held a press conference Monday morning in midtown Manhattan, calling on Democrats to rally behind a candidate other than Mamdani, saying: "I simply do not believe Zohran Mamdani is the person to lead New York City in these extremely turbulent times." Patterson had previously endorsed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the Democratic primary.

In a short interview after the press conference, where he was joined by radio personalities and others opposed to Mamdani, Paterson, speaking of other Democrats, told Salon, "I think they're holding their powder." He said he hoped that the event on Monday would spur action between the other candidates running for mayor that would eventually lead to a single unified anti-Mamdani candidate.

The article included this ominous line as well: "...there [is] a substantial appetite among the rich and powerful within the city to stop Mamdani from winning the mayoral election, and that there could be significant financial resources made available for a unified anti-Mamdani candidate."

Andrew Cuomo and the current Mayor Eric Adams, meanwhile, are trying to talk each other into dropping out of the race. They will both be on the ballot no matter what (they each formed third parties to run independently from the Democratic Party). If both run an active campaign, it could split the "anti-Mamdani" vote. But both men have planet-sized egos, so we're not exactly holding our breath waiting for one or the other one to gracefully step aside.

There is a wide streak of being bad losers in the Democratic Party, when they lose to a far-left candidate. This has played out a number of times over the past decade or so, but this sore-loser-ism does nothing but harm the party -- a lot more harm than actually giving the socialist guy a chance, just to see how he'll do. New York City has had some real stinkeroos as mayor over the years and still survived, so it wouldn't be the end of the world as we know it to give a lefty guy a shot at running things.

For fanning the flames of the sore losers, David Paterson is definitely our Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week this week. Let's stop with the circular firing squad, guys... (sigh).

[Contact David Paterson on his own webpage, to let him know what you think of his actions.]

Volume 803 (7/11/25)

These range from the serious to the seriously ridiculous this week, just to warn everyone in advance. And there's not just one but two dealing with conspiracy theories (because it's been that kind of week). Enjoy, and as always, use responsibly.

   They sure don't

This is a two-for-one talking point, since we had to highlight two reactions to the incompetence shown in the aftermath of the Texas floods, both from Democrats in Congress. The first comes from Senator Ron Wyden:

Kids in Texas died as a direct result of Kristi Noem's negligence.

She should be removed from office before her incompetence gets Oregonians killed in a wildfire.

The second comes from Representative Jared Moskowitz, which was more visceral since it used a phrase Trump recently uttered:

They don't know what the F they're doing.

   Space lasers! Chemtrails! Aaaaaaah!

Some in the Republican Party just embraced idiocy and ran with it.

"Did you see that Marjorie Taylor Greene has reacted to the flash flooding in Texas by introducing a bill in Congress to end 'weather modification'? To Marj Three-Names, there's always a conspiracy lurking behind every disaster. Remember when she blamed California wildfires on 'space lasers'? Well, she's now blaming what happened in Texas on cloud seeding. Or chemtrails. Or geoengineering. It's hard to figure out, actually, but by golly she's going to put an end to it all!"

   Biggest lie

Democrats should really be pointing this out.

"Trump got his budget passed, and he's out there bragging that it includes, quote, no tax on Social Security, unquote. But this isn't true. It just isn't. In the first place, anyone getting any payments from Social Security who isn't a senior is still going to have to pay taxes on the money. In the second place, even seniors aren't going to get Social Security tax-free either. They get a limited deduction on their income taxes which might save them up to around $600, but it's only for people in certain income brackets and the whole tax deduction is going to go away after a few years. That's not 'no tax on Social Security' -- it's not even close. Trump can lie about it all he wants, but it's an unkept promise no matter what he says."

   Making America sick again

This could just be the tip of the iceberg, since things are bound to get worse with an anti-vaxxer at the helm.

"R.F.K. Jr. promised everyone he'd 'Make America Healthy Again,' but measles cases in the country just hit a 33-year high. And after kicking everyone with any experience off the board that recommends vaccinations and replacing it with fellow anti-vax nutjobs, this could be just the start of the bad news. This time it's the measles. What next? A resurgence in polio cases? It's not entirely out of the question, with R.F.K. Jr. in control of things."

   Better late than never?

George Conway got off the best talking point this week, commenting on Trump's newfound view of Vladimir Putin:

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons to believe that @realDonaldTrump is a fool.

But the fact that it took almost a decade for him to figure out that Putin has been playing him for one is as good as any.

   Don't spit into the wind, either

Too funny.

"Hey Donald! Someone at the White House posted a photo of you as Superman except it should really be called 'Superschlub' or maybe 'Supergut,' from what I can see. I would suggest you heed the wise words of philosopher Jim Croce in the future -- don't tug on Superman's cape, dude."

   Right there at the top of the list

We couldn't resist adding some fuel to this bonfire. Know someone who currently has their panties in a twist over all the conspiracy theory news? Try this on them....

"You know... if Jeffrey Epstein did have a list of powerful people he was blackmailing... for having sex with underage children... you know who would be right there at the top of that list? Donald J. Trump. Have you seen all the photos of the two of them partying way back when? I mean, there's bunches and bunches of them, if you only look. So maybe the grand coverup that you all swear is real is actually not to protect Democrats but to protect Trump himself? I mean, I'm just sayin'...."

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground