A maddening day confirms our mission.

January 8, 2025

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[Comments are open to all due to the Los Angeles wildfires and extreme cold across the nation. I encourage readers in affected areas to check in!]

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Tuesday was a maddening day. It included the following:

• The ongoing collapse of US tech oligarchs into shameless obedience to Trump accelerating into freefall.

• Judge Aileen Cannon issuing a lawless order prohibiting the DOJ from releasing Jack Smith’s report.

• Trump holding an insane news conference that bristled with lies —many of which were dutifully repeated by the media without question or challenge. (The NYTimes was a rare exception, refuting fourteen of Trump’s “falsehoods,” although there were many more.)

• Trump raising the possibility of using military force to occupy the Panama Canal and invade NATO allies Canada and Greenland.

• Republicans on the North Carolina Supreme Court staging a “self-coup” to prevent a duly elected candidate from taking her seat on the NC Court.

That’s a lot. Any single item from above would be a record-setting level of craziness over four years in a different presidential administration. Trump managed to pack them into a single day.

I am hearing from readers who are distraught about the newest round of developments. One reader sent an email saying,

I am particularly overwrought this evening, watching my friends flee from the Palisades [wildfire in Los Angeles] and then a press conference with Trump where he says he can't guarantee not using the military to take over Greenland and Panama, and that Ashley Babbit was the only person who died on January 6 and that there were no guns [among the insurrectionists]. Please help me! Is this really happening? I feel my world falling apart.

I understand the feelings expressed by the reader, which are undoubtedly exacerbated by concern for family and friends in path of the wildfires in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening.

At root, however, we must acknowledge that what we are experiencing is not normal. Indeed, it is unprecedented in the history of our nation. Feeling overwhelmed, confused, anxious, or angry is a normal human reaction. Indeed, not experiencing those feelings (to some degree) is not a normal human reaction.

The events of Tuesday (discussed in more detail below) confirm that the decision of the grassroots movements to organize in opposition and resistance to Trump's agenda is both righteous and necessary. Someone must hold back the tide of disinformation and depravity that is central to Trump's agenda.

Watching billionaires surrender to Trump from fear or greed should make us feel like superheroes of the resistance. We do not have the insulating wealth of Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg. And yet, we have found the courage and moral clarity to stand our ground against Trump's agenda.

Compared to you, Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg are small, petty, pathetic creatures who will be remembered as collaborators in the same way the Vichy government of France is remembered as a puppet regime of the Third Reich.

Yes, the events of Tuesday were upsetting and alarming. But they confirm that our cause is just, and our path is true. We are in the right, no matter how often people tell us to “give Trump a chance” or that “Democrats are at fault” for losing the election.

We are standing on the bulwarks of democracy, defending the rule of law. We have no time for the naysayers and issue spotters. We have real work to do. Stay strong, keep the faith, and keep your eyes on the horizon!

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Mark Zuckerberg converts Meta / Facebook into a Trump-friendly social media platform

Zuckerberg banned Trump from Facebook and Instagram for two years because of his continued embrace of violent rhetoric in the aftermath of the January 6 insurrection. On Tuesday, January 7, 2025, Mark Zuckerberg essentially allowed Trump to engineer a friendly takeover of Meta / Facebook.

The details of Zuckerberg’s surrender to Trump are set forth in Jonathan V. Last’s excellent article in The Bulwark, Mark Zuckerberg Is a Surrender Monkey. Last summarizes Zuckerberg’s actions on Tuesday, including:

• Eliminating fact checkers because they were “too political.”

• Removing content restrictions on hate speech surrounding immigration, trans issues, and women’s issues.

• Moving Facebook’s trust and safety content advisors from California to Texas to address the “perception” that they are “overly censoring” content.

• Appointing a close friend of Brett Kavanaugh as the head of Meta / Facebook’s policy operations in D.C.

• Appointing a close friend of Trump to a coveted seat on the Meta / Facebook board of directors, thereby giving Trump “eyes and ears” inside Meta’s most sensitive discussions.

• Releasing the announcement of these changes on Fox & Friends and a video in which Zuckerberg announced that Facebook would be “cooperating” with President Trump in fighting censorship.

No matter how much Zuckerberg cozies up to Trump, he will remain an awkward, insecure coward who lacks the fortitude and integrity to stand up for his company, his country, or himself.

Facebook and Instagram have been captured by Trump. Consider an exit strategy.

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Jeff Bezos advances $40 million to Melania Trump for documentary

Jeff Bezos has been pandering to Trump ever since he forced the WaPo editorial board to spike its intended endorsement of Kamala Harris. Last week, we learned that Amazon Studios had made a deal to produce a documentary on Melania Trump's life because, of course, everyone is waiting with bated breath to see a documentary about Melania Trump. Even more incredibly, the documentary is scheduled for theatrical release—something Sir David Attenborough could not achieve with his world-changing documentaries about nature.

The unbelievable news of a Melania documentary “heading to a theater near you” was surpassed by a revelation on Tuesday that Bezos’s Amazon Studios will pay Melania Trump $40 million for the license to distribute the documentary. See Rolling Stone, Amazon Is Paying $40 Million for Melania Trump Vanity Doc: Report.

The license fee for Melania’s documentary is obscene. For comparison, Oprah Winfrey reportedly paid “seven figures” to repurchase the right to produce a documentary about her life. Melania is getting “eight figures” for her documentary.

A reasonable inference is that the disproportionate fee is, in effect, an attempt to curry favor with Donald Trump. No inference is necessary to conclude that Jeff Bezos has surrendered body and soul to Trump.

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Judge Aileen Cannon issues a lawless order prohibiting the DOJ from releasing Jack Smith’s report.

As predicted, Judge Aileen Cannon issued an emergency stay of the release of the report by special counsel Jack Smith. The decision by Judge Cannon was lawless, partisan, and (possibly) corrupt. Cannon seems to be auditioning for a position on the Supreme Court and apparently believes that giving Trump whatever he wants is the quickest path to join the Court’s reactionary majority.

Judge Cannon’s order was lawless because:

• Cannon no longer has jurisdiction over the national security documents case. Trump has been dismissed and the case against the remaining co-defendants is on appeal before the 11^th Circuit.

• Cannon issued her order without allowing the DOJ an opportunity to respond to Trump's emergency motion.

• Cannon ordered a stay on the release of the portion of the report relating to the election interference case—a case that was never pending before Judge Cannon.

It is a bedrock principle of law that a judge cannot act in the absence of jurisdiction over a case. Otherwise, judges can act as free-floating, roving advocates for political patrons—which is what Cannon has done.

For details, see generally, Shirin Ali in Slate, Jack Smith’s Report on The Classified Documents Case Isn’t Dead.

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Trump's news conference

Here’s the problem with reporting on Trump's news conference: The natural impulse is to treat Trump's unhinged statements as political news. But in a rational world, an objective journalist would say,

“Trump appears to have dissolved into mental illness, unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, unable to discern truth from falsehood, constantly mixing up names and dates, and unable to speak in a linear fashion. He needs a medical intervention immediately!”

But we have become so numbed to Trump’s jumbled, disjointed, maniacal statements that reputable news organizations politely describe his delivery as “meandering.”

To be clear, a description of Trump's press conference as “meandering” is a falsehood that misleads readers. Trump did not meander. He lied compulsively and continuosly; he garbled facts; he proposed military invasions of NATO allies; he uttered sentences that lasted for minutes and traversed whole universes.

The NYTimes did a credible job of rising to the occasion by assigning multiple teams of journalists to report on different aspects of the so-called “press conference.” See NYTimes, An Emboldened Trump Talks of Taking Greenland and Panama Canal by Force. (Accessible to all.)

Let’s be honest: A threat to invade a NATO ally would end the presidency of any other person in America. Invocation of the 25^th Amendment would follow within 24 hours. Trump's lies about January 6 are despicable. Read the NYTimes article for a discussion of many lies spewed by Trump.

As noted, the Times made a credible effort to rebut the new lies told by Trump, including the following:

• That President Biden “gave away” $50 trillion in value by protecting 625 million acres in US coastal waters from oil drilling. (The American Petroleum Institute estimated that the oil rights in the affected area would generate $8 billion (not trillion) in lease revenue for the US over the next 15 years—or roughly $500 million per year.)

• “Sixty percent of homes and apartments have gas heaters. He [Biden] wants them all removed quickly.” A lie. Gibberish that is too complicated to explain, but there is no statement by Biden calling for the removal of gas heaters; instead, the Biden administration has required greater efficiency in new gas heaters.

• “According to Gallup, the American people’s confidence in the economy has just surged to the highest level in history.” Not only demonstrably false, but the truth is the opposite of what Trump claims.

The NYTimes then lists ten additional lies that it has previously adjudged as false. See the story linked above (accessible to all).

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Republicans on the North Carolina Supreme Court stage a “self-coup” to prevent a duly elected candidate from taking her seat on the NC Court.

I am short on time and experiencing intermittent power outages, so please see Associated Press, North Carolina justices block certification of election outcome in race for one of its own seats.

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Trump loses bid in NY court of appeal to block sentencing hearing on Friday

The intermediate appellate court in New York denied Trump's request to delay his sentencing hearing in the hush money / election interference case. See Talking Points Memo, Trump Loses Bid to Block Friday Sentencing. Trump will likely appeal to New York’s highest appellate court. The sentencing hearing is set for Friday.

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Concluding Thoughts

We must lean into this battle, especially on days when it seems that the world has gone mad. We must maintain our sanity and clarity of purpose: We will defend the rule of law, we will oppose an agenda that seeks to deny the liberty, dignity, security, and safety of hundreds of millions of Americans. Do not doubt the righteousness of our cause. Don’t waste time with issue-spotters angling for consulting contracts in 2026 and 2028. We have real work to do. Let’s get to it!

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Daily Dose of Perspective

Thanks to the many readers who have inquired about our safety in the Los Angeles / Palisades / Alta Dena fires. We are fine. Our thoughts are with the thousands of families that have been displaced or lost homes due to the fire.

Jill and I have lived in Los Angeles all our lives. We have never experienced such strong winds and have rarely seen fires spread in populated areas so quickly. I have a small weather station on my roof that is networked with similar units in the area. Gusts near our home have reached 80 mph.

As I said, we are safe because we live in the “flatlands” of the San Fernando Valley. So far, all the fires are in foothill areas, which tend to have heavier and drier vegetation. The elevation gradient in the foothills allows the fires to spread quickly.

We live about ten miles from the Palisades fire. Three pictures below show the smoke and fiery glow visible from our home.

Stay safe, everyone—including readers who are experiencing extreme cold.

View from the parking lot at grocery store two blocks from our home.

View from park at end of our block.

Nighttime view from park at end of our block. Red glow shows location of Palisades Fire on opposite side of Santa Monica Mountains.