All the Best People, Cont'd
Donald Trump says he stands behind Pete Hegseth, our entirely unqualified secretary of defense, a former Fox News weekend morning-show clown and future Brylcreem model who is in the habit of treating sensitive military information as though it were knitting-circle gossip. Hegseth has chatted about upcoming military actions with everyone and his brother—literally, his brother, as well as his wife—through an app that is in and of itself not sufficiently secure but which is even more insecure when it is being handled by tech-illiterate doofuses (and the Trump administration is full of these) who, in a related instance, accidentally copied the editor of The Atlantic on the conversation.
The president says he has complete confidence in Hegseth. So, he's probably cooked.
No, it's not a great time for former Fox News personalities serving in top-level positions—which is a damned weird thing to write! Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor nominated as surgeon general for some reason, 'falsified, misled, selectively omitted, or lied about her medical education, board certifications, and military experience,' according to Anthony Clark, an independent journalist and former staffer on the House Oversight Committee. Short version: Nesheiwat has said and written things that implied she was a student at University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where she was never enrolled, and/or American University, which does not have a medical school but is a too-cute way of saying 'American University … of the Caribbean,' the for-profit medical school—unrelated to the university in Washington, D.C.—from which her degree actually comes.
There is more reporting to be done, but Clark seems to have the goods.
You can probably guess where this will all lead.
The usual people are making the expected noises: 'None of this is based in reality,' Hegseth said about the chat scandal, though the facts of the case—the reality—are not in dispute. 'Fake news,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said about an NPR report alleging that Trump is thinking about dumping Hegseth. One suspects she'll be the last to know. But if you work for the Trump administration, Trump has thought about firing you at least once before his second Diet Coke of the day.
Of course, there's more.
Our secretary of homeland security, dog-murdering goofball cosplay enthusiast Kristi Noem, who is not a former television personality but who seems to be positioning herself for a future in show business, is having a little trouble with security here in the homeland, having managed to get herself robbed of a purse containing $3,000 in cash, among other sundries, at a restaurant in Washington. The gold Rolex Daytona she wore to pose in front of Salvadoran gangsters appears to be safe.
Florida man Dan Bongino, who insists that 'taxation is theft' in spite of the fact that he spent almost the entirety of his career firmly attached to the taxpayers' teat as a government employee of one kind or another, finally made it to the FBI when he was appointed deputy director. Ever eager to demonstrate what a tough guy he is, Bongino stepped onto the mat with an FBI trainer, got his ass kicked, and then took to social media to denounce the New York Times for reporting that he'd been injured in the ass-kicking. The New York Times had not yet reported the fact, but Bongino successfully made the non-story into a non-non-story. Like many of his colleagues in the administration, Bongino got onto Trump's radar as a Fox News guy, and, like many of his colleagues, he is not really qualified for the job to which he was appointed and is not very good at it.
Bongino has made some innovations: He has a multiagent bodyguard team to watch over him, something no previous deputy director has felt necessary. He also spends a great deal of time behaving like an idiot child on social media.
There are a couple of good people left in government. Jerome Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, was never a game-show host and seems to know what he is doing. Trump is endeavoring mightily to fire him, and worldwide financial markets are micturating voluminously and from a great height on U.S. stocks and the dollar. What are the markets saying? Approximately: 'Well, hell. This dumbass apparently means it.'
Meanwhile, there is the vice president, J.D. Vance, who may have actually bored the pope to death.
Sweet release!
Pope Francis' occasional heresies (Was the pope Catholic?) may necessitate the briefest taste of purgatory, but I suspect a lot of Americans will look back on the holy father's timing as being pretty solid.
The rest of us will have to live under the wisdom of the median American voter for a little while longer.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
US appeals court won't reconsider Trump's $5 million loss to E. Jean Carroll
US appeals court won't reconsider Trump's $5 million loss to E. Jean Carroll A divided 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has left intact its Dec. 30 decision upholding a $5 million verdict against Donald Trump Show Caption Hide Caption Judges deliberating on Trump's E. Jean Carroll appeal Judges are deliberating on whether the jury that awarded E. Jean Carroll $5 million should have been allowed to hear other allegations. NEW YORK, June 13 (Reuters) - Donald Trump failed to persuade a federal appeals court to reconsider the $5 million verdict won by E. Jean Carroll after a jury found that the U.S. president sexually abused and defamed the former magazine columnist. A divided 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on June 13 left intact its Dec. 30, 2024, decision upholding the jury award. Carroll, now 81, accused Trump of attacking her around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan, and defaming her in an October 2022 Truth Social post by denying her claim as a hoax. More: Trump loses appeal of sexual abuse and defamation judgment in E. Jean Carroll case Jurors decided in May 2023 that Trump had sexually assaulted Carroll, and defamed her by lying. They did not find that Trump raped Carroll, as she had claimed. More: Did Donald Trump rape E. Jean Carroll? Here's what a jury and judge said. In seeking reconsideration, Trump maintained that the trial judge erred in letting jurors review the 2005 "Access Hollywood" video of him bragging about his sexual prowess, and a "pile-on" of inflammatory evidence that he mistreated two other women. One, businesswoman Jessica Leeds, said Trump groped her on a plane in the late 1970s. The other, former People magazine writer Natasha Stoynoff, said Trump forcibly kissed her at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2005. Trump has denied their claims. More: Jury finds Donald Trump liable in civil sex abuse case of E. Jean Carroll Trump, who turns 79 on June 14, is separately appealing an $83.3 million jury verdict in January 2024 for defaming Carroll and damaging her reputation in June 2019, when he first denied her claim about the Bergdorf encounter. The president is arguing in that appeal that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last July providing him substantial criminal immunity shields him from liability in Carroll's civil case. In his 2019 and 2022 denials of Carroll's accusations, Trump said she was "not my type" and had made up the rape claim to promote her memoir.
Yahoo
30 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Defense stocks trade higher after Israel airstrikes in Iran raise Middle East tensions
Defense stocks climbed early Friday after Israel launched a series of airstrikes on Iran, raising tensions in the Middle East and heightening fears of a broader regional conflict. Lockheed Martin (LMT) stock gained as much as 3% early Friday, while shares of Northrop Grumman (NOC) and RTX (RTX) rose closer to 2%. The three companies supply weapons to Israel through their contracts with the US government. US stocks were lower at the open, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq off about 0.7% while the Dow fell 1.1%. Overnight futures fell nearly 2% in immediate reaction to Israel's airstrikes, which were first reported near 8:00 p.m. ET on Thursday. Oil prices were the biggest mover on Friday, rising as much as 8%. Defense stocks have been on the rise over the past year, with Friday's gains bringing RTX stock's gain to north of 35% over the past year, while Northrop Grumman is up 19.5%. Lockheed Martin has risen a more modest 3.9% over that time frame. Palantir (PLTR), a defense contractor that has benefited both from the bid in defense names and its role in the AI boom, traded flat Friday morning. Its stock has soared more than 480% over the last year and is the best performer in the S&P 500 year-to-date. RTX has outperformed Wall Street's expectations since the fourth quarter of 2022. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman have beat analysts' projections in seven and six of those nine quarters, respectively. The Trump administration has promised a $1 trillion budget for US defense but its fiscal 2026 budget looks set to fall short of that goal. On Thursday night, Israel launched what it called a "preemptive strike" against Iran targeting its nuclear facilities. The attacks continued into Friday, killing 78 people in Tehran including Iran's top military leadership. Iran's foreign minister described the attacks as a 'declaration of war' and its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel 'should expect severe punishment.' US President Trump urged Iran to 'make a deal' in a post on Truth Social Friday. 'There has already been great death and destruction, but there is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,' he wrote. 'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.' Laura Bratton is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Bluesky @ Email her at Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Axios
32 minutes ago
- Axios
How much NASA spends on science in Utah
NASA spends an average of $11 million annually in Utah on scientific missions, per data from The Planetary Society, a pro-space nonprofit. Why it matters: NASA's science efforts bear the brunt of cuts to the agency in the Trump administration's proposed budget, which would slash science funding by nearly 50% to $3.9 billion. The big picture: Science represents roughly 30% of NASA's budget, supporting missions like space telescopes, robotic probes and satellites that gather data about Earth's changing climate. While not always as headline-grabbing as human spaceflight, NASA's science activity has greatly enhanced our scientific understanding of both Earth and our celestial neighborhood. By the numbers: NASA supported 2,375 jobs in Utah and generated $486.6 million in economic output and $17.2 million in state tax revenue in fiscal year 2023, per a state report. Over 60 suppliers in the state have contributed to the agency's Artemis moon exploration program. The intrigue: The proposed cuts come as some Utah officials want to position the state as a leader in space innovation. Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill in March appropriating $1 million to study the feasibility of a spaceport in Utah for potential space exploration. Zoom out: California (about $3 billion), Maryland ($2 billion) and Texas ($614 million) saw the most average annual NASA science spending across fiscal 2022-2024, the data shows. Zoom in: Missions on the chopping block in President Trump's NASA budget include the Mars Sample Return, an ambitious joint American-European plan to collect Martian soil samples and bring them to Earth for further study. Nearly 20 active science missions would be canceled in total, the Planetary Society says, representing more than $12 billion in taxpayer investments. What they're saying: A chief concern, Planetary Society chief of space policy Casey Dreier tells Axios, is that already paid-for probes and telescopes would be deactivated even though they're still delivering valuable data. "They keep returning great science for the very fractional cost to keep the lights on. And a lot of these will just be turned off and left to tumble in space," Dreier says
