Labor Day White House Costume Ball . Marco Rubio

Kitted up as a soldier for the Labor Day White House Costume Ball, Marco Rubio is playing against type. Secretaries of State traditionally present as ambassadors envoys rather than enlisted men and women.

But Secretary Rubio has flipped the script before. 

Prior to this year, as a US senator and presidential candidate, Marco Rubio was *for* projecting soft power humanitarian interventions in the world as features of U.S. diplomacy ... he was *for* U.S. leadership in NATO and other 20th century security alliances ... he was *for* spreading democracy as a stabling force for balancing world power ... he was *for* preserving global free commerce ... he was *for* bipartisan energy and climate alliances ... he was *for* confronting authoritarians ... he was *for* a pathway to citizenship for political refugees like his own parents ... he was *for* protecting the lives, property, and self-governance of both Israelis and Palestinians ... he was for Taiwan ... he was *for* Ukraine.... 

And now, he's not ... not the way he was before. Now he seems to have buckled to the U.S. president he opposed as a candidate and, at least sometimes, resisted as a senator.

Now, Marco Rubio is playing the role of the good soldier.

Trouble is, his oath of office was not to support and defend a commander in chief who seems to have lost the plot in America's story of democracy and leadership on the world stage; his oath was to support and defend the Constitution of the United States — which is a different job description.

Bear with me here: For most Americans, Labor Day is not cosplay ... it's an acknowledgment that ordinary people carry the extraordinary burden of doing the necessary, hard things that provide for their families, and we do what needs doing for the common good as well. Most Americans haven't changed our minds and turned our backs on each other or the rest of the world.

Most Americans oughta be invited to the Labor Day White House Costume Ball. But it's OK; they'll hang out with the family, maybe throw some meat on the grill, and get ready to show up to the formation first thing Tuesday.

Happy Labor Day to all who labor.

Labor Day White House Costume Ball . Mike Johnson

If you didn't expect much from the back bencher from Louisiana who somehow became Speaker of the House, then you probably haven't been too disappointed by Speaker Mike Johnson.

If he were differently motivated, Mike Johnson could have served up needed change in short order (see what I did there?).

So far, under the leadership of Speaker Johnson, the Republican House majority has pushed federal legislation that seems destined to make life harder for the paycheck-to-paycheck constituents back home.

One example

Stricter (and more confusing) work requirements for Medicaid recipients are expected to cause over 200,000 Louisianans—and potentially millions nationwide—to lose health coverage over the next few years. 

The annual cost of that to the real economy of the nation is estimated at...

• lost economic output ranging from $135 billiont o $182 by 2034

• the loss of 400,000 jobs

• annual declines in state and local tax revenue of $11-12 billion due to decreased economic activity 

• a rise in uncompensated medical care that will put hospitals and clinics at high risk of layoffs, reduced quality of care, and closure — especially rural clinics and hospitals, and those that serve already vulnerable low-income communities

• $7.6 billion annual increase in medical debt burdens 

• long-term reductions in workforce productivity caused by poorer health and delayed care.

• the loss of recouped funds from adults who receive medicaid as children — currently 58 cents on the every Medicaid dollar spent on children is recouped by the government through higher future earnings and reduced later public assistance

I feel pretty confident this is not what a lot of Louisiana voters had in mind when when they voted to send Mike Johnson to run the kitchen (or didn't vote for a candidate who actually is differently motivated).

And who knows …. maybe the Speaker can yet be motivated — in the true spirit of Labor Day — to make a positive difference for the American people … which might explain his odd costume choice for the Labor Day White House Costume Ball.

Sources

1. https://www.npr.org/2025/08/28/nx-s15518040/speaker-johnson-medicaid-cuts-louisiana
2. https://www.rev.com/transcripts/mike-johnson-on-meet-the-press-60125
3. https://aflcio.org/press/releases/afl-cio-speaker-mike-johnson-does-not-stand-workers
4. https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/08/politics/house-funding-bill
5. https://nypost.com/2025/04/13/us-news/speaker-mike-johnson-pours-cold-water-on-calls-to-hike-taxes-on-the-rich-despite-president-trump-telling-gopers-hes-open-to-it/
6. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/07/02/congress/mike-johnson-senate-house-megabill-medicaid-00436903
7. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/25/new-house-speaker-mike-johnson-on-the-issues-00123627
8. https://mikejohnson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID1587
9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFHwjmfPi5s
10. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4885152-mike-johnson-economic-plan-trump-2025/
11. https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/05/20/congress/johnson-woos-the-senate-00360400
12. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12268486/
13. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2836460
14. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/jun/how-medicaid-snap-cutbacks-one-big-beautiful-bill-trigger-job-losses-states
15. https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/08/12/g-s182221/medicaid-cuts-big-beautiful-bill-uninsured
16. https://www.kuow.org/stories/speaker-johnson-slashed-medicaid-his-constituents-could-lose-health-services
17. https://research.investlouisiana.org/medicaid-unwinding/
18. https://shvs.org/medicaid-cuts-and-the-states-tracking-state-specific-estimates-of-the-impacts-of-proposed-changes/
19. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/medicaid-changes-in-house-reconciliation-bill-would-increase-costs-for-1-3-million-low-income-medicare-beneficiaries/
20. https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2

Labor Day White House Costume Ball . Steve Bannon

Hey! Look who got dressed up for the Labor Day White House Costume Ball!

It's Steve Bannon! And although Steve isn’t in this administration, he is certainly of this administration — you might say he's an honorary member!

Whatever you call him, you gotta admit Steve is the sort who makes the trains run on time — if by trains you mean sweet treats for the political kiddies who can't get enough of him, and by on time you mean he's always ready with a scoop! Who can forget the bonus dip he gave away on January 5th, 2021! 

 "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. [. . .] So many people said, `Man, if I was in a revolution, I would be in Washington.' Well, this is your time in history.

"It's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen.

"OK, it's going to be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in. [. . .] You made this happen and tomorrow it's game day. So strap in. Let's get ready.

Oh, Steve.... He's really just a big kid, don't you think? ... I mean, yes, he did spend four-months in federal timeout because he refused to come clean with the authorities about his part in what happened on January 6th ... and he did admit to scheming to swindle donors who thought they were giving money to build a wall to keep brown people — and, probably others — out of Texas ... but, for his part, Mr. Trump, the manager (heh-heh) said Steve was a good kid and all was forgiven ... and Mr. Bragg, the District Attorney, let Steve go home if he promised to keep his nose clean for three years, so....

Anyhoo! Steve is all in for the Labor Day White House Costume Ball, because he completely identifies with people who put in an honest days work, and they know it! I mean,  just look at that face.

Sources

https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/117th-congress/house-report/152 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuvm2UwMP0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fbjTfz5EYM

https://apnews.com/article/steve-bannon-contempt-sentence-federal-prison-trump-77353a10250c36f77b2c1b7d188c5250

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/11/steve-bannon-trump-guilty-build-the-wall.html

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/12/g-s1-48347/steve-bannon-pleads-guilty-border-fraud

https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-regarding-executive-grants-clemency-012021/

Labor Day White House Costume Ball . Pete Hegseth

There’s an open bar at the Labor Day White House Costume Ball, but those drinks don’t serve themselves.

Enter SecDef Hegseth. If the stories are true, here’s a man who knows which end of the bottle to hold.

Demonstrably qualified to run the nation’s biggest workforce? Maybe now is not the time for that discussion … But he is demonstrating that removing the right people from command is the kind of force reduction that can make you the smartest straight, white nationalist man on the chat.

So, when he hands you that glass, look Pete in the eye and say “Thank you for your service!” [1]

[1] Not *you*, of course — *you* couldn't get tickets to the ball; but you get my meaning....

Labor Day White House Costume Ball . RFK, jr.

This is a big weekend for working Americans AND the Labor Day White House Costume Ball!

Here’s Secretary Kennedy, jr, looking every inch the 19th century country doctor he aspires to be!

But seriously: Happy Labor Day to the 21st century M.D.s and all the other highly educated health care practitioners and scientists whose lives and work we depend on and celebrate!

smartest guy in the room . 08.25.25 . dictator

 Exploring the proposition that not all rooms are equal. 

Source

https://youtu.be/rlPfxyCnxHg

Labor Day White House Costume Ball . JD Vance

Maybe you can’t attend the ball, but that shouldn’t keep you from enjoying the pageantry. Here’s Vice President JD Vance … Just look at that concentration! Happy Labor Day!

 

smartest guy in the room . 08.26.25

 

Source
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inRXd4OWt2M

…to be secure in their persons and property…

Remembering how Very Pleased Donald Trump was when federal forces entered where he lived to save it from crime.

[Mary] Trump Was Right About Everything.

Who’s Zoomin’ Who . The President + the Intel Deal

It is wild to see Republicans cheering on a president who publicly threatened a CEO and stated openly that he shook the man down for a major share in his company.

Heather Cox Richardson . 08.23.25

It *is* wild.

And the slapdash speed of the deal and announcement — plus the adversarial tone of the whole affair — make it even wilder. 

A few questions…

What if Trump administration involvement does to Intel (and maybe others to follow?) what it’s done to the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, and Food and Drug Administration?

Will Congress recognize this as the test of separation of powers it is — and, if so, will they act to defend and preserve their constitutional obligations or won’t they? 

Why in the world as we know it would traditionally freemarket warriors lay down their swords on this one?

Who is calculating the risk that this wild intervention will increase uncertainty and drive capital towards less risk?

And a few thoughts... 

This stock is not a gimme from Intel to the U.S. government, and it's not a new stock purchase; the money for this deal was appropriated by Congress and signed into law in 2022 by Joe Biden.

Mr. Trump negotiated for common stock — with only common access to information and voting rights —  making each share owned by BlackRock and Vanguard more valuable not just because they own more of them but because they hold preferred status.

Unless the whole point was a brute force intrusion into a publicly held company, it’s wild to celebrate achieving less oversight of the funds than we (it’s our money) had before. 

Congress appropriated the money as restricted funding for infrastructure, research and development, and data security under the CHIPS Act and the Secure Enclave program .…Appropriated, but never transferred … apart from this deal, the money is still in the U.S. Treasury and eligible to be returned to the general fund if it can’t be allocated for it’s intended use.

Under the Trump deal, the money will be released and may be spent however they please — bonuses, for example ... stock buybacks ... advertising ... lobbying … buying and burying competitors … whatever …. — whether it contributes meaningfully to the real economy and security of the country or not. 

Unless Intel self-regulates, that money really could disappear without a trace of the use for which it was appropriated.

Pardon the mixed metaphor but that doesn’t sound like a walk off home-run on the president’s at-bat against the pitcher on the Intel team.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70x6602pdyo

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-take-10-equity-stake-intel-trumps-latest-corporate-move-2025-08-22/

https://www.wired.com/story/trump-announce-intel-deal-equity-stake/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/08/22/trump-says-intel-will-give-10-stake-to-us-becoming-third-largest-shareholder/

https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/23/the-trump-administrations-big-intel-investment-comes-from-already-awarded-grants/

https://www.npr.org/2025/08/22/nx-s1-5509673/trump-says-us-government-will-take-stake-intel

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-23-2025

Mar-a-Lago . Now 20% Off

The red bar represents the 20% of Mar-a-Lago Vladimir Putin feels entitled to own.

We await a response from the ‘owners’ of record. We assume they will be reasonable — perhaps even flattered by the outside-of-work attention from Mr. Trump’s KGB handler.

Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is said to be watching closely.

exactly what it looks like

White Power Enthusiast DJT

"Under pressure from a deeply unpopular president to rig the 2026 elections to keep MAGA Republicans in power, the Texas governor has called the Texas legislature into session to rewrite congressional district maps to create five new Republican-dominated districts. When Democrats tried to stop this power grab, Republican legislative leadership responded by assigning state troopers to make sure they showed up to let that power grab go through. When one refused to enter police custody to perform her job as an elected legislator, the Republican leadership took away her liberty.

"On the road to authoritarianism, this is a whole factory of red flags."

— Heather Cox Richardson . 08.19.25

Sources

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/august-19-2025

https://www.texastribune.org/.../texas-redistricting.../

https://www.keranews.org/.../first-domino-in-national...

https://www.texastribune.org/.../nicole-collier-texas.../

https://www.courthousenews.com/.../texas-democrat-collier...

https://www.cnn.com/.../texas-california-redistricting

not what it looks like

When I canceled my subscription to the Washington Post — after owner Jeff Bezos was caught putting his thumb on the editorial scale last year — Philip Bump was one of the journalists I was sad to lose access to.

On the weekend, on his new website — https://pbump.net — Mr. Bump explored the irony that the governors of Ohio, West Virginia, and South Carolina offered to deploy troops from their National Guard forces to Washington, DC at a time when 43 cities and towns in those states have higher violent crime rates than the District.

I'm not suggesting those troops be deployed to Wheeling, Bamberg, and Elmwood Place ... I'm suggesting their deployment to Washington, DC is about what it *looks* like, not what it is.

Sources

https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/LATEST/webapp/#/pages/home

https://www.pbump.net/.../more-people-in-ohio-need.../...

Sorry, But How Dumb is this Guy?

[or] How Dumb Does this Guy Think We are?

This is something that came out of Donald Trump’s mouth on August 11:

“I get along with Zelenskyy, but, you know, I disagree with what he’s done, very, very severely, disagree. This is a war that should have never happened.”

Trump dismissed the idea of Zelenskyy joining the summit with Putin, declaring the Ukrainian president had been to “a lot of meetings” without managing to halt a war that Russia started.

He also lashed out at Zelenskyy for saying Ukraine’s constitution bans giving up any land.

“I was a little bothered by the fact that Zelenskyy was saying, ‘Well, I have to get constitutional approval.’ I mean, he’s got approval to go into war and kill everybody, but he needs approval to do a land swap? Because there’ll be some land swapping going on.”

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t know — or imagines we don’t know — this is Putin’s war of choice against the free nation of Ukraine.

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t know — or imagines we don’t know — that Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t know — or imagines we don’t know — that Russia invaded Ukraine again in 2022.

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t know — or imagines we don’t know — that Putin's invasions of Ukraine breached the agreement Russia voluntarily signed in 1994, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, by which Ukraine voluntarily surrendered it’s arsenal of nuclear weapons — then the third largest in the world — to advance the cause of nuclear disarmament; and Russia, the UK, and the US committed: to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine; to refrain from the threat or use of force against Ukraine’s territorial integrity or political independence; and to not use economic coercion to subordinate Ukraine to their own interest. 

Apparently, Donald Trump doesn’t know — or imagines we don’t know — that, in 2019, he, Trump, breached the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances when he attempted to use economic coercion to force Zelenskyy to subordinate Ukraine to his own interest by demanding that Ukraine announce a trumped up investigation into his political rival Joe Biden ... which Zelenskyy refused to do because it was false, and which led to the first impeachment of Trump by the House of Representatives. 

And, apparently, Trump doesn't know — or imagines we don't know — how close the settlement he keeps presenting in 2025 is to the Russian plan Paul Manafort brought to Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

So, sorry, but how dumb is this guy? Or how dumb does this guy think we are?

Sources

https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

https://lieber.westpoint.edu/budapest-memorandums-history-role-conflict/

https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%203007/Part/volume-3007-I-52241.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_18-PURL-gpo129303/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_IN8_18-PURL-gpo129303.pdf

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49800181

https://www.rferl.org/a/manafort-worked-with-russian-ukrainian-on-peace-plan-before----and-long-after----criminal-charges/29714137.html

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/trump-ukraine-peace-plan-mueller-report.html

https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-documents-report-volume5.pdf

https://www.csis.org/analysis/experts-react-whats-stake-trump-putin-alaska-meeting

not coming . already here

This is outrageous. 

On August 7, 2025, the U.S. Air Force announced transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years will be compelled to separate from the force without the retirement benefits they have earned in service to the nation. 

This is a matter to take up with your members of Congress while they're home on summer break. https://www.congress.gov/members

If they can do it to honorably serving members of the armed forces...

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-air-force-denies-early-retirement-group-transgender-service-members-2025-08-07/

https://apnews.com/article/air-force-transgender-no-early-retirement-e6a4da806f2cc2bdc05f49438cbd26fd

https://www.congress.gov/members

Disentango . or the Bolsonaro Shuffle [Updated 08.06.25]

White Power Enthusiast DJT

To: Donald Trump

Re: Entanglement with alleged Brazilian political criminal Jair Bolsonaro; your rogue tariffs on Brazil; and your sophomoric (which is not to say *not dangerous*) authoritarian fantasies

Disentangle yourself

1. Offer Jair Bolsonaro asylum in the US.

2. Have ICE meet Bolsonaro at the airport and disappear him to a domestic black site of your choosing.

3. Deport Bolsonaro without due process to a third country.

4. Pretend your tariff threats never happened.

5. Bop till you drop.

Donald Trump's bizarre attempt to intervene in Brazilian law over Brazilian politics is costing Americans real money on the cost of beef, coffee, and steel (at the least).

Certainly the radical right is OK with this costly attempt to get Brazil to drop its charges against a failed candidate who tried to overthrow the duly elected government ... but are Americans who think of themselves as being center-right OK with it too? 

I mean, I know it sounds familiar and close to home ... but *Brazil*? 

Is there even a center right in the US if there's no meaningful critique of Trump's fascio-fetish dance?

When it comes to tariffs (and *so* much else) the man dances like Elaine Bennis, bless his heart. With the difference being, this is a party we can't just leave. He is thrashing around, trashing the place, and *our name* is on the contract with the hall ... *we* put down the deposit and he's making sure we're not gonna get back.

Throw the bum out. He is dangerously ridiculous ... a clown with a hand grenade.

Kaos in the Ekonomy or "Who Gives a Feck?"

"*This* can't be right…."

 

In my opinion, today’s Job Numbers were RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.   

— Donald Trump . Truth Social . 08.02.25

Sorry but, unless you can prove otherwise, the numbers are the numbers. 

And you can't prove otherwise because, essentially, you stopped counting. You’ve put the economic data scientists on a diet while gorging yourself on the false economy of tariffs. And now, it appears, that’s beginning to show up in the real economy.

Firing the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because you don't like the numbers was about as useful as throwing out your bathroom scale and declaring you reduced your body fat. 

Along with a number of other things, we’re not buying it, because it's obvious the economy is suffering and it's your fault — yours, and the feckless right side of the House of Representatives, and the all-but-feckless right side of the Senate. If I look only at these elected officials, I find myself thinking they have a point: Government *doesn’t* work when they’re the ones governing. I swear … totally lacking in feck.

Chaos is only cool if you spell it with a *k* and you're in middle school and you’re not as kool as you think.

Sources

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-i-think-their-numbers-were-wrong-trump-says-after-firing-bls-head-over-jobs-report

https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/02/trump-labor-statistics-jobs-report/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3xrrzdr0o

https://thehill.com/business/5431805-us-job-growth-revised-downward/

https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/07/28/federal-data-has-been-disappearing-under-trump

https://seekingalpha.com/news/4460060-apollo-flags-concerns-over-cpi-data-accuracy-as-estimates-surge

https://www.reuters.com/business/data-credibility-fears-fueled-after-trump-orders-firing-labor-official-2025-08-01/