Humor-Satire Trump Staff Picks, Co-Conspirators and the Revolving Door of Departures [2024 Edition]

[KaraBulut]

Uber-macho Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth has banned press photographers from briefings because they take unflattering photographs of him.

Pentagon bans press photographers over ‘unflattering’ photos of Hegseth: report

Pentagon implemented a new rule last year that led to mainstream media outlets losing press credentials

www.the-independent.com

Pentagon is banning press photographers over ‘unflattering’ photos of Pete Hegseth: report

Press photographers are no longer permitted to take photos inside the Pentagon press briefing room after several outlets published “unflattering” photos of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, two people familiar with the situation told the Washington Post.

On March 2, Hegseth held a press conference with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to brief the press on the U.S. and Israel military strikes on Iran that killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in February.

Shortly after, wire service photographers – such as those from the Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images – published photos of the defense secretary speaking with the media. This is typical for nearly all press conferences held by a government official.

But afterward, members of Hegseth’s staff reportedly told colleagues they did not like the way the defense secretary looked. In press briefings on March 4 and March 10, photographers were not permitted inside.

https://people.com/unflattering-pete-hegseth-photos-barred-press-photographers-report-11924046

According to the report, Hegseth's staff took issue with photographs taken during a rare on-the-record briefing on March 2, two days after the U.S. and Israel killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, in a joint strike. Outlets including The Associated Press, Reuters and Getty Images sent photographers to the briefing from Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

 

[rareboy]

^ Because he looks like self-parody?

 

[KaraBulut]

^ Because he looks like self-parody?

Well, I've seen kabuki actresses with less make-up.

 

[KaraBulut]

Pam Bondi should be updating her resumé.

Paxton pressures Thune to pass the SAVE Act, offers to drop out of the race for Texas Senate and don't be surprised if Trump nominates him for US Attorney General as a reward...

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/11/politics/cornyn-paxton-trump-endorse-texas

President Donald Trump was gravitating toward endorsing Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn last week. But he and some top advisers grew frustrated after his intentions leaked to the press, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, and the plan stalled.

Then Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced on Friday that if the Senate passed the president’s voting restrictions bill — something Trump has grown particularly fixated on in recent weeks — he would consider dropping out of the runoff race. Paxton specified the GOP should lift the filibuster to do so, an idea many Republican senators oppose.

 

[KaraBulut]

Pam Bondi should be updating her resumé.

Paxton pressures Thune to pass the SAVE Act, offers to drop out of the race for Texas Senate and don't be surprised if Trump nominates him for US Attorney General as a reward...

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/11/politics/cornyn-paxton-trump-endorse-texas

On cue:

Sen. Cornyn: Why the SAVE Act matters more than the filibuster

Senate Republicans should use the authority the voters have entrusted in us to bring the far left’s obstruction to an end.

nypost.com

Sen. Cornyn: Why the SAVE Act matters more than the filibuster

We should use the authority the voters have entrusted in us to pass the SAVE America Act, fund homeland security, and bring the far left’s obstruction to an end.

This is why we need term limits and a mandatory retirement age. These old geezers will do anything to stay in power.

 

[rareboy]

So a question that I asked about whether Hegseth's uber-macho theatrics are playing well is not yet answered in MSM, but as noted, the cracks in his make-up are beginning to show.

Pete Hegseth's manly act is backfiring

MAGA bros hoped the defense secretary would make them feel butch — with Iran war, he embarrasses them

www.salon.com

 

[KaraBulut]

Jeanine Pirro is giving a press conference, bad-mouthing a Federal judge. Jeanine Pirro is already a joke. She's now pissing off the judges that she has to present cases in front of. She's going to be lucky to come out of this time as the District of Columbia US Attorney with her law license. I hope Fox will take her back because she's not going to be employable as an attorney.

In her press conference, she is making allegations against Jerome Powell. Trying your case in a press conference is called jury-tampering. Jerome Powell has a case to file a complaint against her license. She needs to be disbarred.

Judge blocks subpoenas against Fed Chair Jerome Powell citing 'essentially zero evidence'

Powell said the subpoenas were related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings.

www.nbcnews.com

Judge blocks subpoenas against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, citing 'essentially zero evidence'
Powell said the subpoenas were related to his testimony before the Senate in June about the renovation of Federal Reserve office buildings.

A federal judge on Friday said he was blocking subpoenas that the Justice Department served to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell in a probe purported to be about the management of the central bank's renovation.

"A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning," Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge on the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., wrote in a court filing.

Boasberg continued: "On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual."

"The Court therefore finds that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them," the order states.

 

[rareboy]

But nothing will happen to her.

Boasberg again is standing as the bulwark between sanity and rascist autocracy and it seems unfair that all the heavy lifting keeps falling to him.

TrumpCo. knows there's nothing there, but they hope to break Powell by a relentless camapign.

The question is...who? This isn't Trump. This is some influnece from somewhere to gt rid of him which is bizarre because he alos has a whole lot of immensely powerful people who need him right where he is.

 

[KaraBulut]

But nothing will happen to her.

Boasberg again is standing as the bulwark between sanity and rascist autocracy and it seems unfair that all the heavy lifting keeps falling to him.

TrumpCo. knows there's nothing there, but they hope to break Powell by a relentless camapign.

The question is...who? This isn't Trump. This is some influnece from somewhere to gt rid of him which is bizarre because he alos has a whole lot of immensely powerful people who need him right where he is.

This is an unhinged, unprofessional attorney using her position to pursue revenge cases without evidence (which is what the judge stated in his opinion and his order to quash). Attorneys are a closed group of mostly men with long memories and a snobbery toward attorneys who are fuck-ups.

She's toast as an attorney.

What Pirro is covering up is that the cost overruns at the Fed are tied to two issues:

1. The old buildings had asbestos. They ended up spending millions on abatement.
2. The Fed originally planned modern glass buildings. The White House, specifically the Trump White House, mandated that the Fed build a neo-classical building using expensive marble that Trump prefers.

 

[rareboy]

God there's nothing like asbestos abatement to fuck things up. I'm sure MAHA will soon be declaring it as healthy again.

Fools could have told the taxpayers that retrogressive pseudo-historicist classicism comes with an upcharge.

And maybe Trump was so afraid of the truth coming out about the cost over-runs he saw a way to kill two birds with one stone.

At the moment, Powell must be breathing a sigh of relief that the Feds are blowing off so much on bombs right now that all of this pales into insignificance.

But it also makes me wonder...does Trump need Powell out in order to completely loot the Treasury?

 

[KaraBulut]

...But it also makes me wonder...does Trump need Powell out in order to completely loot the Treasury?

The problem with Trump is that he is a day-trader. He has no knowledge of anything. He has no plan for tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. He only cares about making things look "pretty" today, in hopes that he can stay in power in November, avoid impeachment and avoid prison.

He's wanting to make the economic mistake that Turkey's Erdoğan made- to lower interest rates in order to juice the economy. Trump's economic illiteracy is only second to Erdoğan's. Erdoğan believes that higher interest rates cause inflation. Most economists believe that lowering interest rates encourages borrowing which increases the money supply which accelerates demand which triggers higher inflation; conversely, raising interest rates lowers demand and lowers inflation.

The case study: while Americans were pissing and moaning about 9% inflation in the period when the economy re-opened after COVID, Turkey's interest rate peaked at nearly 90% (no, that is not a typo). Erdoğan demanded that the central bank lower interest rates when Turkey came out of lockdowns. That led to bread lines and Turks dumping Turkish lira and putting their money into dollars and euros. When the Turkish economy was on the verge of failing, Erdoğan relented and interest rates went from 8.5% to 15% overnight.

The end of Erdoğanomics? Turkey almost doubles interest rates to fight inflation

The apparent U-turn is being entrusted to mainstream financial experts, while Erdoğan himself still insists interest rates should remain low.

www.politico.eu

June 22, 2023
Turkey almost doubled interest rates on Thursday as part of efforts to combat rampant inflation and attract foreign investment, marking an apparent departure from President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's long-standing economic mantra of keeping rates low.

In a decision announced by the country's central bank on Thursday, officials said the benchmark one-week lending rate would rise from 8.5 percent to 15 percent. Turkey "decided to begin the monetary tightening process in order to establish the disinflation course as soon as possible, to anchor inflation expectations, and to control the deterioration in pricing behavior,” the central bank said in a statement...

Turkey's annual inflation hit a peak of 85.5 percent in October, but has fallen to 39.6 percent as of May. That’s in line with the disinflation process seen in many other parts of the world — just at a much higher level.

Turkey's central bank has sold around $5 billion a month in foreign reserves to keep the currency stable over the first half of the year, according to Brad Setser, an economist with the Council for Foreign Relations.

There's a big mess brewing at the moment. AI is beginning to trigger layoffs in the tech sector. High tariffs have raised the cost of goods which is keeping inflation high and suppressing growth in the manufacturing sector. The tariffs are hurting exports, particularly in the farm sector which is causing farmers to either cut back on planting for 2026 crops or, in extreme cases, default on loans and declare bankruptcy. The hike in oil prices will increase costs in every sector as a result of higher fuel costs but it also increases the price of manfactured good that use petroleum products. Higher oil prices also increase fertilizer cost, which is a double whammy for farmers.

In preparation for the 2026 midterms, Trump has been pressuring Powell to lower interest rates to hide the effects of the Trump tariffs and make unemployment lower. That could trigger another round of inflation, sending the economy into a recession.

Powell's term is up this summer and Trump has already nominated someone to replace him as chair but Powell would go back as a regular board member after the new chairman is seated. The threat of damage to the economy is real enough that Senator Thom Tillis is threatening put a hold on Trump's nomination of a new chair unless Trump drops his harassment of Powell.

 

[rareboy]

So basically Trump is going to trigger a recession this autumn by getting US comsumers to overetend their debt to unsustainable levels. Again.

But fuel prices and inflation already taking a bigger bite leaves TrumpCo. a lot less room to create a fake boom before the mid-terms.

 

[KaraBulut]

So basically Trump is going to trigger a recession this autumn by getting US comsumers to overetend their debt to unsustainable levels. Again.

But fuel prices and inflation already taking a bigger bite leaves TrumpCo. a lot less room to create a fake boom before the mid-terms.

Exactly. If he gets his way, we're all going to be drunk sailors spending on shore leave until the midterms. The hangover will happen in 2027, when the juiced economy crashes. But, like any young, dumb and full of cum sailor, tomorrow doesn't matter to Trump.

 

[KaraBulut]

More details on the cost overruns that they're trying to pin on Jerome Powell. I forgot one important reason that would affect the costs of the project: Trump's tariffs. When you're hitting goods imported from China with a 100% tariff, any building construction project is going to be significantly impacted.

Jeanine Pirro claimed in her screeching press conference this week that the Fed has had cost overruns of ONE BILLION dollars. The actual overruns have been about $600 million, which is significant but not too surprising when considering the buildings are nearly 100 years old and have never been renovated.

A peek inside the Fed's renovations that are now at the center of a DOJ probe

The Federal Reserve is three years into renovating its historic buildings. President Donald Trump has criticized the project's cost overruns.

www.businessinsider.com

• The Federal Reserve's renovation project was expected to cost $1.9 billion. It now has a $2.5 billion price tag.
• Lead paint and asbestos discoveries contributed to increased renovation expenses and delays.
• Fed chairman Jerome Powell said a new DOJ probe is part of ongoing pressure from the Trump administration.

Renovations began around 2022 on two Federal Reserve offices, the Marriner S. Eccles Building and the Federal Reserve Bank of East Building, which were first assembled in the 1930s, according to plans reviewed by the National Capital Planning Commission in 2021.

As workers gutted the aging structures, they uncovered lead paint and asbestos, pushing the cost of the renovations rose from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion, as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell described in a letter defending the renovation's budget last year...

The Federal Reserve published floor plans for the expansion project in 2021. The plans plot out details like where new windows would be erected, why new shrubbery would be planted in specific areas on the lawn, how it would make offices more wheelchair accessible, and where historic marble will be reused.

Since the release of the plans, construction workers have uncovered asbestos and lead paint, resulting in higher-than-expected material requirements. Inflation has also increased the price of those goods.

Both buildings are Depression-era public buildings. The original budget included modernization of electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems. In addition, the building would be required to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The budget was approved in 2021 during the Biden Administration, and construction began in 2022 and was projected to last about 4 years. During tear-out of the utilities, asbestos and lead paint were discovered, which required a work stoppage and a separate abatement project. Trump implemented tariffs in 2025.

Because the Eccles building is deemed a historic building by DC, elaborate woodwork and masonry on the interior of the building has to be removed, restored and then reinstalled.

Eccles building: built in the 1930s:

East Building: built in the 1930s for the US Public Health Service:

hh

 

[rareboy]

While I can't even begin to fathom how, in the fed gov buildings world, a complete investigation of hazardous materials wouldn't have been one step in what was likely a 100 step checklist capital upgrade analysis to get to budget approval, there is no question that the ACM removal costs can be staggering in an operating building.

In any event, the Chair of the Fed is not personally responsible for cost control on construction unless he directed gold plating and 100 million dollar chandeliers for his own office. Otherwise, this entire investigation and charges would have been laughed out of court. But Pirro betrayed why TrumpCo. is so angry with Boasberg. They knew it would be 'not guilty', but they have been nrobbed of the PR character assassination campaign and the timing to have installed a lackey who might have created that kind of bump in a very angry economy before the mid-terms.

And meh. Compared to the billions being wasted every day in Iran, the 600 million is chump change and at least, instead of death and wreckage, there will be something to show for it and the money will have all flowed back into the US economy.

 

[KaraBulut]

...And meh. Compared to the billions being wasted every day in Iran, the 600 million is chump change and at least, instead of death and wreckage, there will be something to show for it and the money will have all flowed back into the US economy.

It is a good point. The entire budget of the 5 year renovation project for the Fed is less than 1 day of Trump's Iran excursion. While the daily burn rate for Iran has dropped to an estimated $1 billion per day, the upfront cost of moving assets from the middle east to Venezuela and back could have easily covered the entire Fed project, including the cost overruns.

 

[rareboy]

It is why the whole thing was so nakedly performative.

The kind of bullshit nonsense that Putin used to remove and silence everyone opposed to him seizing power early on.

Literally the only thing tethering the US to sanity right now is the fact that the GQP weren't able to completely tilt the entire judiciary before Trump 2.0.

 

[KaraBulut]

He gave up snorting cocaine off toilets for this.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2033209700041306134

 

[KaraBulut]

Kari Lake is not only a perpetual loser and professional gadfly, she was also illegally appointed to control of US Agency for Global Media and the Voice Of America.

Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran US media agency, voiding mass layoffs

Lake, whom Trump appointed without Senate confirmation to run Voice of America parent agency, cut over 1,000 jobs

www.theguardian.com

Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran US media agency, voiding mass layoffs

Lake, whom Trump appointed without Senate confirmation to run Voice of America parent agency, cut over 1,000 jobs

A federal judge ruled Saturday that Kari Lake unlawfully led the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) for several months last year and voided mass layoffs and other actions taken during that period to dismantle the agency...

The Trump administration moved to defund the agency in early 2025 and appointed Lake to oversee the agency, but did not receive Senate confirmation for her role. Despite efforts to defund the agency, Congress appropriated half a billion dollars more than Lake requested in funding for the agency in 2026.

In her role, Lake cut contracts and over 1,000 staff positions at the agency when she was appointed to the role on 31 July before she relinquished the position on 19 November.

“Only the Appointments Clause or the Vacancies Act’s exclusive structure may authorize service as a principal officer, and Lake satisfies the requirements of neither the statute nor the Constitution,” US district court judge Royce C Lamberth wrote in the ruling.

 

[KaraBulut]

Jeanine Pirro loses another one.

DOJ drops case against veteran arrested after burning American flag near White House

Prosecutors sought to drop the charges against Jan Carey after a judge said he was entitled to further inquiry into whether the administration was vindictively prosecuting him.

www.nbcnews.com

The Justice Department on Friday moved to dismiss charges against a veteran who set an American flag on fire across the street from the White House following an executive order seeking to crack down on flag burning...

The decision to drop the case follows a ruling by a federal judge in January that would have led to further inquiries into whether the prosecution of Carey was driven by Trump’s executive order, which directs Attorney General Pam Bondi to “vigorously prosecute” people who burn the American flag while engaged in other offenses.

In 1989, the Supreme ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Constitution protects flag burning.