Here we go again. Our toddler-in-chief threw another tantrum this week, because he was mad at Canada. Donald Trump was astonished that Canada didn't immediately knuckle under and agree to all his kooky demands, so he went ahead and opened up a whole new trade war with our neighbor to the north. These demands (to show you how inane the negotiations must have been) included trying to force Canada to reject their bilingual nature and get rid of all that French stuff. Canada refused. So Trump announced a new 50 percent tariff on Canadian goods. Canada then announced their own tariffs on American goods. Trump then threw his tantrum, announcing that he had just renamed Lake Ontario, which will now officially and henceforth be known by the U.S. government as "Lake America" (or possibly "Lake Of America," Trump didn't seem too sure). Which (of course) spurred the internet to respond. The site MapQuest helpfully pointed people to a tool they could use to rename the lake to anything they wished, which (of course) led to all sorts of amusing new names for it (Lake Epstein Files? Lake Hormuz? Lake Cheats At Golf? Lake Gulf Of Mexico?). The funniest one (to us, at any rate) came from "Mister Cool" on the site formerly known as Twitter, who posted an image showing: "Lakey McLakeface."

That's the sort of week it has been. Trey Gowdy -- remember him? -- had perhaps the stupidest take on Trump's stupidity, which he shared on Fox News:

"Here's what troubles me. So, it took me 12 years to remember that acronym to learn the Great Lakes. It's HOMES, right?" [Trey] Gowdy said, referring to Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.

"The 'O' changes to 'A.' That’s close to 'HAMAS,'" he said. "That's what bothers me about changing the name from 'Ontario' to 'America' -- is how close that acronym is to 'HAMAS.' It's gonna confuse a lot of kids."

"That's why I haven't made up my mind on it yet," added Gowdy.

Let's just unpack that, shall we? It took Trey Gowdy 12 years to learn HOMES? Seriously? He's obviously always been dumb as a bag of rocks, but admitting that detail gave us all a new appreciation for precisely how dumb he truly is. Most kids learn HOMES in about 12 seconds. Taking even 12 minutes to learn such a simple thing would be a reason for any parent to be concerned about their kid's mental skills. But it took Gowdy 12 whole years to learn it? Hoo boy. And now he hasn't made up his mind -- so we should probably check back in with him in about 12 years' time, one assumes.

Second, it wouldn't be "HAMAS," instead it would be "HAMES." Or, as one wit pointed out on the internet (where the ridicule hit fever-pitch levels, after Trump's announcement), the best new acronym using those letters would be: "SHAME."

Again, that's the sort of week it has been, folks.

Our stable-genius-in-chief also proved (yet again) that he may, in fact, be dumber than even Trey Gowdy this week. When asked by reporters whether he had discussed with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent any possible ways to intervene in the bond markets (which are flashing red danger signals), here's what Trump had to say: "We have many types of intervention; that's one. The ultimate intervention is our military, and if we have to use that, we will."

Um... OK. Sure. If the bond markets don't behave, the U.S. Marines are going to... what? Bomb the bond markets? Invade Wall Street?

If any other president had said something so alarmingly stupid, it would have led the news for the entire week. Just imagine the field day the pundits would have had if Joe Biden had said anything even half as stupid as that! But because it is Trump, it wasn't even a story.

Trump issued a different threat of destruction this week, which did get a bit more coverage. In a court filing in the ongoing fight Trump is waging to (somehow) put his name up on the outside wall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, there was this mob-boss-style warning: "Without those efforts, the center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River that has been proposed, by some, for many years." So if the judge doesn't let Trump's name go up on it, he may just demolish the whole building. Since he's already turned the East Wing of the White House into rubble, this was taken a bit more seriously than Trump's threat to invade Wall Street. Heather Digby Parton had the pithiest take on this over at Salon, writing: "Maybe some big amphitheater shows feeding foreigners to lions will boost ticket sales." This was in reference to a Washington Post story about how the Kennedy Center's finances absolutely fell off a cliff after they added Trump's name to it. Because everything Trump touches dies, of course.

In other news of financial destruction, the week began with an overhyped announcement by Secretary Bessent about the "economic D-Day" he was supposedly unleashing on Iran, but it fell far short of what had been advertised. China immediately pushed back, and by week's end not much of anything had changed. No negotiations seem to be taking place between the U.S. and Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz is still not open. As a result, gasoline prices in America remain sky-high, with no end in sight.

As time goes by, more and more people seem to be noticing that the American military has created a dangerous situation by using up so many high-tech interceptor missiles in the fight with Iran. This means desperate shortages of these missiles elsewhere, both in countering China and in Europe (where they might be needed to defend against Russian aggression). The latter of which was reported under the headline: "U.S. Patriot Missile Stocks In Europe Are 'Beyond Critical' Due To Iran War, Officials Say."

Let's see, what else? The Post Office tried to move forward with Trump's plans to limit mail-in ballots, with an assist from the Supreme Court. By week's end, however, a federal judge had blocked this effort once again, pointing out that some states are preparing to send out their ballots as soon as next week.

One interesting footnote to Trump's continuing obsession with non-existent voter fraud is that apparently hundreds of immigration officers have been reassigned from their normal duties and instead told to ferret out noncitizens who have voted. Since this is actually quite rare, they probably aren't going to find much of anything, but hey, at least they'll be busily doing nothing for a while, which is a serendipitous result.

The race for the Senate is looking pretty good for Democrats these days, especially in Ohio, where the issue of data centers could be decisive. Meanwhile, down in Georgia, the Republican running for Senate apparently was just fine with a staffer of his who posted a swastika and a photo of himself in K.K.K. robes, which sounds about par for the Republican course these days.

He's not a Democrat, so he's not technically eligible for an award here, but we had to at least point out the third-party campaign for governor of Dean Roy of Vermont. The most impressive thing about him? He's only 15 years old (the state has no age limit for becoming governor).

We have an Honorable Mention award to hand out, before we get to the main one. Representative Joyce Beatty has been leading the fight against Trump slapping his name on the Kennedy Center, and so far she's doing an excellent job of it. She deserves all of our thanks for doing so.

This week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award goes to Senator Chris Van Hollen, for forcing a vote in the Senate on a resolution ordering the Trump administration to account for Israel's human rights record in the West Bank:

The measure, the latest bid by Democrats in Congress to challenge the policies and actions of Israel's government, invokes a provision of the Foreign Assistance Act that allows lawmakers to request information from the State Department about the human rights record of any country receiving U.S. security assistance.

Co-signed by 10 Senate Democrats, the resolution is privileged, meaning that Mr. Van Hollen could force a vote on it even if Republican leaders refuse, as expected, to bring it to the floor. That could lead to yet another vote in Congress showcasing Democrats' divide over Israel as a growing contingent in the party turns against the Jewish state.

"We've seen ongoing human rights violations on the West Bank, but we're going from bad to abysmal," Mr. Van Hollen said in an interview.

The resolution focuses on at least nine U.S. citizens who have been killed in the West Bank since January 2022, including Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist killed in 2022, and Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, who was fatally shot by an Israeli soldier in 2024. It argues that Israeli authorities have failed to punish those responsible and that American agencies have failed to conduct their own independent investigations or provide substantive information about existing ones.

Van Hollen was clear as to why he is pushing the measure: "If the United States Senate shines a spotlight on this, we will save lives. We will save the lives of American citizens. We will also save the lives of Palestinian civilians."

Van Hollen's measure may not pass, and even if it does it's doubtful whether the Republican House would take it up, but forcing the vote in the Senate will at least shine a spotlight on the issue. For doing so, Senator Chris Van Hollen deserves this week's Most Impressive Democrat Of The Week award.

[Congratulate Senator Chris Van Hollen on his Senate contact page, to let him know you appreciate his efforts.]

Some Democrats (James Carville in particular) got seriously bent out of shape after they learned that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held a secret meeting with Jared Kushner recently. The fact that the meeting happened seemed to be an acknowledgement by at least some people in the White House that the midterm elections could usher in a change in leadership in the House. The two reportedly met to explore possible areas of agreement between House Democrats and Donald Trump, but as mentioned some Democrats were not happy about it. Their point is that Democrats should remain united behind fighting the Trump administration instead of looking for any possible areas of agreement.

We don't agree with the naysayers, however. If this leads to things actually getting done next year -- on a number of issues where Trump might just go along with the Democratic agenda -- then we can't see it as a bad thing, really. Trump is nothing if not mercurial -- he changes his mind all the time and Nancy Pelosi actually got him to agree to several things that no other Republican would have touched with a 10-foot barge pole. If Jeffries can chalk up some early legislative victories next January with Trump's support, then we don't really have a problem with it. Kushner meeting Jeffries now is a sign of weakness from the White House, since if they were confident about their chances in the midterms such a meeting wouldn't even have been possible.

Instead, we're going to give the Most Disappointing Democrat Of The Week award to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, who was trying to make a point during an interview with Fox News, but did so in a rather cringeworthy way.

The whole conversation was pretty cringeworthy, as a matter of fact. The Fox host pressed El-Sayed on the issue of gender-affirming care for minors, using the most infantile language imaginable to do so. Here's the exchange:

"So you think it's OK for a parent to slash his kid's ding-a-ling off? You think that's OK?" [Jesse] Watters asked.

[Dr. Abdul] El-Sayed didn't miss a beat, firing back: "Do you really wanna have this conversation? Are you circumcised?"

Watters was taken aback, and answered: "that's a personal question," after which El-Sayed tried to make his larger point, which was about how incendiary the language being used really was:

"I just think it's a problem that you think you get to decide what happens between a parent, a doctor and a patient," he explained. "I'm just saying that, yes, circumcision is surgery on a kid's ding-a-ling, so if you really wanna bring that up, you can. I just think you guys are really selective about how you want to talk about these things."

Which is a fair point to make. But that paragraph isn't going to be the one used against him out on the campaign trail. Instead, Republicans are going to say that El-Sayed was equating circumcision with gender-reassignment surgery on minors, and that he's fine with both of them.

Conservatives use inflammatory language in an attempt to trap Democrats into framing the issue on conservative terms. El-Sayed tried to turn the tables on this, but he wound up tripping himself up and falling into the trap.

Which is disappointing, to say the least. It was (to coin a phrase) a real ding-a-ling move.

[Abdul El-Sayed is not currently in office, and we have a blanket policy of not providing links to campaign websites, so you'll have to search his contact info out on your own if you'd like to let him know what you think of his actions.]

Volume 854 (8/28/26)

We'd like to preface these talking points with a sad note from the entertainment world. The deaths of Dolly Parton and Tim Curry were tragic to hear about, and both mark the passing of an era. Parton was one of those entertainers who it was almost impossible not to love, and Curry will live on in midnight movie showings for years to come.

Requiescat In Pace. You will be missed.

This week's talking points take into account that we're on the brink of heading into the most important part of the midterm election campaigns, where Democrats are going to need to seal the deal with the voters. This shouldn't really be that hard to do, since Donald Trump has provided so many different ways to point out how people's lives have gotten worse under his watch. So here's a quick collection of a few suggestions for doing so.

   Prices going up again

Lead with the strongest argument.

"Donald Trump promised he'd bring prices down on everything on Day One. Here we are a year and a half later, and prices just keep going up. And all Trump knows how to do is to make everything worse. He started a new trade war with Canada this week for no reason at all. That means prices are about to go up even further. Trump has no idea what he is doing, and American families are paying the price. The only way to stop this madness is to kick out all the Republicans in Congress who go along with everything Trump does even when they know he's just making everything worse."

   Think about that while you wipe your ass

Make the issue personal.

"Trump's trade war with Canada is going to hike the price of cars, auto parts, and lumber. Building houses is going to get more expensive. And because paper products will also go up, everyone should now expect to pay a lot more for things like toilet paper. That's actually a fitting comment on what Trump has done to the economy, because now everyone can think about how expensive things have gotten even while they wipe their ass. That seems like the most appropriate time to think about Donald Trump, when you get right down to it."

   Trump's forever war

Another promise broken.

"Donald Trump swore up and down that he wouldn't get into new wars in the Middle East, but here we are again. Trump had no idea what he was doing when he attacked Iran, and he has no idea how to get out of the mess he's caused. The longer this takes, the more money we all are going to have to pay at the gas pump, folks. Trump lied to us all, and we're all paying a very steep price for it now."

   Trump handed the Strait to Iran

Trump hates being called a loser, so....

"Donald Trump had a whole list of things he was going to accomplish with his war with Iran. So far, he hasn't accomplished a single one of them. In fact, Trump has made Iran stronger, by handing over control of the Strait of Hormuz to them. We are losing this war, all because Donald Trump has no clue what he is doing. Right now Trump is desperately trying to get back to where the world was before he started bombing Iran. But it looks like that's not even going to be possible. Instead, we have handed control of the Strait to the country Trump swore he'd destroy. It's pretty easy to see who won this war and who lost it."

   Making America weak

This one's pretty obvious to the rest of the world, too.

"Donald Trump has made America weak. He has destroyed alliances with countries who have been our staunch friends ever since World War II, he has sucked up to dictators and America's enemies, and he has weakened our military with a pointless war that he has lost. We don't even have enough missiles left to defend Europe, and if we got in a war with China we'd burn through all our high-tech weapons within the first few weeks. By just about any measure, America is now weaker than it has been since the 1930s. The rest of the planet is either laughing at us or is looking on in horror as Trump destroys America's standing in the world. Trump has done exactly the opposite of what he promised -- he has made America weak."

   Busy renaming lakes

Toddler-in-chief throws another tantrum.

"Trump is not working on getting costs down for American families, he is instead picking fights with allies and making costs go even higher. Trump doesn't care. He doesn't care that his war with Iran sent gas prices through the roof. All Trump cares about is building gigantic ballrooms and throwing tantrums by renaming bodies of water. That's it -- that's all he spends his time doing. And you know what? It doesn't matter what Trump calls the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Ontario, because no matter what people call them prices are still going to stay high. Because Trump cares more about renaming things on a map than he does about your family and your pocketbook."

   Trump losing his marbles

He's deteriorating right in front of everyone's eyes, in fact.

"Donald Trump was asked this week what measures he would take to calm the bond market down. He responded by saying, 'The ultimate intervention is our military, and if we have to use that, we will.' This is the man with access to the nuclear launch codes, folks! He's gone completely gaga -- what did he even mean by threatening the bond market with the U.S. military? It's insane no matter how you look at it, plain and simple. Trump is fast losing whatever marbles he once had."

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground