The Art of the Deal With the Devil

Did Elon Musk tell Trump to cut Ukrainian access to Starlink or did Trump tell Musk to do it?  At this point, does it even matter?

And on top of that, Trump cute a "deal" with Putin to buy diesel fuel from Russia to alleviate has diesel prices at home for, apparently, two hours.  Because the amount of diesel fuel being purchased is too little to bring fuel prices down any longer than that.

Okay, Trump has not only sold out Ukraine, he's sold out NATO, all of Europe, and even the late Lindsey Graham, who probably still got into heaven when he died because he did not sell out Ukraine and pushed for a law sanctioning Russia that Trump signed in Graham's memory - only to waive it a heartbeat later. 

If there was any hope that we could get back in the good graces of the rest of the free world (assuming we're still part of it), it died when Trump performed the art of the deal with the devil Putin, and at this point, I don't think Europe and Canada can even trust us even if we do prosecute Trump and his cronies once they're out of power.  Trump's moves have added the United States to the list of countries that have committed atrocities against the Ukrainian people, that list including Russia, Iran, North Korea, Belorussia (I have decided not to call Belorussia Belarus, because no European country other than the Netherlands should have a name that ends with an S!), and two states of the past, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.  (Stalin created a grain famine against Ukraine, than a republic of the Soviet Union, in the thirties, which would be like the federal government creating a grain famine in Illinois; Stalin did it the through collectivization of farms and punitive actions against the farmers who resisted.)   Our only allies in Europe now are apparently Russia and . . . Belorussia (not Belarus!). 

It's time for the United States to break up into separate countries.  It's more important to do so that it was this time last week, and it will be even more important to do so this time next week.  As I said before, the more liberal nations that emerge from a breakup of the Union will have a fighting chance to get back in the good graces of the world, like an independent New England or California, while reactionary states like the Republic of Texas can sign treaties with Russia.  Any post-U.S. countries that still believe inn the rule of international law can join Canada in a North American Union and possibly became associate members of the European Union, as Canada has become.  The right-wing countries that emerge from the breakup of the Union can go to hell.  Including the Mormon State of Deseret. 

Our fate was sealed when enough people were taken in by Trump's bunk and drivel to make him President again in 2024.  Kamala Harris warned us about Ukraine in her only debate with Trump in Philadelphia and also warned that Poland could be next on Putin's list of countries to annex.  She issued that warning in the state, Pennsylvania, that has the highest concentration of Americans of Polish origin of any state in this hopefully soon-to-be-broken-up Union.  But apparently the voters in Pennsylvania, who gave the state to Trump in the 2024 election, thought it was more important to stop imaginary Haitians from eating cats and dogs in Ohio. 

Another reason I want America to be broken up: If and when the Democrats win back Congress, investigations of Trump will likely be put on the back burner, though Chuck Schumer will send Trump a "strongly worded letter" and Hakeem Jeffries will tell House Democrats to focus instead on prescription drug prices. 

On the bright side, Kimberly Guilfoyle was recalled from her ambassadorial post in Greece, and the planned televising of Nidal Hasan's execution for the Fort Hood massacre has been canceled (though not the execution itself).

There Is No Conspiracy

Once again, fellow Trump haters, please stop with the 2024 election conspiracies.

Many Democrats and associated progressives an socialists are convinced that Donald Trump and Elon Musk cheated in the 2024 presidential election and insist that Kamala Harris is the rightful winner.  Musk, we are told, used his Starlink company to switch enough votes in all seven swing states to elect Trump.  The evidence, we are informed, is that Trump came right out and said it and that Musk said that he will go to jail for what he did for Trump if the Democrats regain control of Congress in November.  

Okay, Trump's comments can be easily discounted, because he's nothing but braggadocio.  No one takes seriously what he says.  As for Musk, he was likely referring to everything he's done for Trump since January 2025, not anything he might have done for him in October 2024.

But the biggest argument against this conspiracy theories is largely circumstantial.  I know of no voting machines that can be hacked by Starlink or by any other tech service.

So why do these theories persist?  Because these people cannot believe that people who stayed home on November 5, 2024 were not part of the problem (polls show that had those people voted, they would have been a bigger problem, Trump would have won by a larger margin).  Or because they can't believe that Harris was unpopular enough to lose every swing state.  Or maybe because these people simply cannot believe that 77 million of their fellow Americans cannot be so vile as to vote for Donald Trump.

They are.

So, please, folks, next time you want to say that Trump cheated to win . . . don't.  Please, don't. 

The Missing Starlink?

Now that the Electoral College has voted, all that's left is to confirm Donald Trump's 312-226 vote victory over Kamala Harris, all that's left is for the Republican Congress, in the presence of Vice President Harris, by a ceremonial count of the votes.  

And yet, many Harris fans claim, still, that Trump stole the election, because they refuse to believe that a majority of people could not be so vile as to vote for someone so horrible (although Trump won a 49 percent plurality of an electorate representing 35 percent of all Americans of voting age).  They suspect that surrogate president Elon Musk rigged the vote with his Internet system Starlink, siphoning votes for Harris and changing some Harris votes to Trump votes, and maybe even using technology to  suppress the vote in precincts of color. 

All this proves is what I said before . . . mainly, that progressives can be just as stupid as MAGA conservatives.   There is literally no municipality, county, or parish (in deference to Louisiana) where the voting booths and the tabulation machines have connections to the World Wide Web.  In short, there's no way Starlink could rig the system.  And the system is so decentralized.  Musk certainly helped Trump by promoting him on X after he bought it, but he didn't rig the vote.  And when progressives claim that the election was stolen through vote rigging and suggest some sort of conspiracy, they're proving that they're no smarter than MAGA people are.    

And to those of you who are promoting false conspiracy theories about how MAGA stole the election by rigging the ballot count . . . just stop.  Just . . . stop.