Decoding the MAGA Universe - "Now it looks like he's not their criminal. He’s just a criminal, same as the rest."

It seems like an innocent age, in retrospect. 

Back in 2016 we all laughed about Pizza-gate - that crazy story about how Comet pizza restaurant was the global headquarters of a Democratic party pedophile ring. And QAnon got involved in there somehow too. And the mugging of Seth Rich. And how Obama was secretly running the country. And something called Frazzledrip about a snuff film on Anthony Weiner's laptop -- notice how mysterious laptops seem to keep popping up in MAGA conspiracy theories? 

Now we are finding out that millions of Americans apparently believe all this tripe. And more. Crazy more. And they believe in it sincerely.

 
Steve M / No More Mr Nice Blog

CONSPIRACIES: REPUBLICANS LIKE 'EM BIG AND STUPID
If you want to understand Republican voters, you can read a half-dozen New York Times focus groups ... or you can watch this podcast clip featuring former 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan and stuntman turned conspiratorial religious-right documentarian Mike Smith:

I will never get over the fact that this woman was once a respected 60 mins correspondent!

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— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yasharali.bsky.social) July 24, 2025 at 6:39 AM

Steve M also gives us another clip from this bananapants interview - "Did you open any fridges and see a baby's head?" 

Today's News: A round-up with some good news videos; an update on inter-provincial trade deals; Poilievre is playing stupid about the Convoy; and finally a few comments about fascism

Today, just a roundup of interesting news: 

Good news videos from YouTube:

Piston Pundit: the new Canada-Mexico trade corridor  

MeidasTouch: Ben Meiselas reports  

Top 10list: Top 10 American Companies Quietly Relocating to Canada in 2025

Canadians? Nasty? You ain't seen nothing yet...

So the American ambassador Pete Hoekstra described Canadians as "nasty" on Monday, at the annual Pacific NorthWest Economic Region Foundation summit in Bellevue Washington:

The ambassador made the remarks in answer to a question from a conference moderator about what could be done to get people travelling again as Vancouver and Seattle prepare to host games as part of next year’s FIFA World Cup.
“Canadians staying home, that’s their business, you know. I don’t like it, but if that’s what they want to do, it’s fine. They want to ban American alcohol. That’s fine,” he said
“There are reasons why the president and some of his team referred to Canada as being mean and nasty to deal with, OK, because of some of those steps.” ...

Hmmm....
Nasty? Mean? B-b-b-baby, you just ain't seen nothing yet....

We've been called worse by better.

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— Canada's National Observer (@nationalobserver.com) July 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM

www.cbc.ca/news/politic... "Do they think Canadians are not going to respond when the president says, 'I want to turn you into the 51st state & begger you economically unless you bow to the US?” "Obviously, Canadians are outraged." Outraged is putting it mildly My #BoycottUSA is forever #NastyUSA

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— 🇨🇦🇨🇦 Proud Canadian 🇨🇦🇨🇦 (@beppil007.bsky.social) July 21, 2025 at 9:31 PM

Canada gets back to summer as usual -- complaining about the Liberals!

(Remembering summer evenings - a mural in Kipling, Sask.)

After the breakneck pace of patriotism and panic of the past seven months - Trump's 51st State threats and TACO tariffs, Trudeau's resignation, the hockey game, "Elbows Up!", Carney winning the leadership and then the election - its almost a relief that Canada seems to be taking its own version of a summer break now by getting back to complaining about the Liberals.

I'm reading posts about First Nations leaders feeling insulted by Carney, right-wing think tanks blaming inflation on the Liberals, Poilievre complaining about Liberal spending priorities, city mayors arguing about housing and cycling paths, people saying government spends too much or cuts too much, people worried about the CBC -- sounds just so typically Canadian, doesn't it.

For example:

Here is Dale Smith's column on Monday about the Usual Suspects blaming inflation on the Liberals. Again.
And on a side note, Smith's daily column really is a must-read - he always makes sense.

Dale Smith / Routine Proceedings

Roundup: Spending vs inflation
Last week, the CD Howe Institute put out a report on the recent bout of inflation, and tried to pin it either on government spending or the Bank of Canada, and in the process ignored a whole lot of things that happened during the pandemic that were material to those price increases. Or the fact that early in the pandemic, we had deflation, and that the Bank of Canada needed to act fast to ensure that it did not continue lest it turn into a spiral that would lead to a depression, because that’s what deflation does.
Naturally, however, the moment Pierre Poilievre saw that they were pinning blame on government spending, he had to jump on that because it’s his entire central thesis for inflation, in spite of all evidence to the contrary. I report on economic data on a regular basis, and that includes the Consumer Price Index (or inflation) data every month, and the Bank of Canada’s Monetary Policy Report every quarter. I can tell you what prices increased and where, because that’s in the data every month. None of the causes had anything to do with government spending.

Government spending did not cause the shortage of semiconductor chips.
Government spending did not bottleneck shipping canals, or cause the shutdown of global supply chains.
Government spending did not cause avian flu to devastate poultry farms across North America.
FFS.

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) July 20, 2025

I also have to take some exception to the notion that government supports like CERB were driving demand. CERB was not extra spending money. It was survival money for low-income people who were out of work because of the pandemic. It staved off a wave of bankruptcies and even more demand on provincial social services or food banks (and the lack of provincial social services is the main driver behind increased food bank use, per their own reports). The “excess demand” was coming from higher-income households who had plenty of money to spend when they couldn’t go out to restaurants or go on vacations. They were not the recipients of government support, and trying to conflate the two is disingenuous, and frankly smacks of a great deal of ideological bias.

Sunday Funday: Some funny cartoons and comments on the passing scene, plus some TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers

The passing scene:

Because SOMEBODY will have to harvest those US crops!

 

And here's one for all those Republican politicians complaining about immigrants "taking our jobs":

View on Threads

I gather the director of the new Superman movie said Superman was actually an undocumented immigrant, and MAGA lost their minds:

Today's News: "First they came for the journalists. We don't know what happened after that."

\

In the last few months, American media has lost Joy Reid, Brian Stelter, Don Lemon, Katie Phang, Alex Wagner, Jim Acosta, Terry Moran.
American journalism is teetering now:

CBS, Disney sell out, bribe Trump openly. CBS cancels Colbert, compromises 60 Min. WaPost is gutted. CNN undermined by fake both sidesing. LA Times coopted. NYT on the fence, offering mix of news, squishy takes. X seized by the right. Admin is a lie machine. We're losing Trump's war on truth..

- David Rothkopf

Read on Substack

Here's a counterpoint argument:

This administration is much, much weaker than they would like you to believe. In many cases they're making themselves weaker through incompetent self-sabotage. Claiming they've successfully brought about a fascist regime because they've committed lawless acts of cruelty is doing their work for them

— Hemry, Local Bartender (@bartenderhemry.bsky.social) July 18, 2025 at 11:11 PM

But when a powerful figure like a President starts shit-talking against an individual or a media organization - like Natasha Bertrand, Stephen Colbert, Rosie O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Jim Acosta, Associated Press, CNN, NPR, PBS, ABC, CBS -- it really doesn't matter whether or not his insults are successful. The threat alone is chilling. People across the country will hear it, and fear it, and never speak up again.

Epstein-Gate goes ka-boom!

Today the Wall Street Journal dropped what might well become the Story of the Decade - back in 2003, Trump sent an obscene birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein, saying how much they have in common and the "wonderful secret" they shared.

Oops!

I'm not sure why they didn't reproduce a copy of the card instead of just describing its contents - maybe they think of themselves as a "family" paper -- but here is a detailed description and analysis of what it means: 

R. Herman / The Redacted Truth

The Birthday Card That Speaks Volumes: Decoding Trump's Message to Epstein
...The Wall Street Journal's revelation of Donald Trump's 2003 birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein isn't merely another embarrassment for a scandal-prone presidency—it's a Rosetta Stone for understanding how predators recognize each other across crowded rooms, how they speak in code, and how they celebrate their shared impunity.
The birthday card itself defies belief, yet its very absurdity rings true. Picture this: typewritten dialogue between "Donald" and "Jeffrey," formatted like a script, surrounded by the hand-drawn outline of a naked woman sketched in heavy marker. Two small arcs denote breasts. Below the waist, where one might expect to find additional anatomical detail, there is instead Trump's signature—a squiggly "Donald" serving as pubic hair.
The dialogue reads like a fever dream of narcissistic recognition:
    Voice Over: "There must be more to life than having everything."
    Donald: "Yes, there is, but I won't tell you what it is."
    Jeffrey: "Nor will I, since I also know what it is."
    Donald: "We have certain things in common, Jeffrey."
    Jeffrey: "Yes, we do, come to think of it."
    Donald: "Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?"
    Jeffrey: "As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you."
    Trump: "A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret."
This isn't birthday whimsy—it's the language of mutual blackmail dressed up as celebration. Every line drips with subtext, every exchange winks at unspoken knowledge. The format itself—a dialogue between two characters who complete each other's thoughts—suggests a relationship so symbiotic it borders on the vampiric....
What makes the birthday message so damning isn't just its existence but its dialect. The theatrical format, the knowing references to shared secrets, the reduction of women to body parts—this is how predators communicate when they believe themselves beyond consequence. It's a language that assumes impunity, that celebrates transgression, that bonds through the implied threat of mutual destruction.
Consider the progression of the dialogue: from philosophical musing about "having everything" to the acknowledgment of shared, unspoken knowledge, culminating in the celebration of secrets. This isn't casual correspondence; it's a ritualized exchange of compromising material, a celebration of what both men know about each other and what they know about the world's willingness to look away.
The phrase "enigmas never age" takes on particularly sinister undertones given Epstein's predilection for underage girls. Is this Trump's way of noting that his friend's tastes remain consistent? The ambiguity feels intentional, the kind of plausible deniability that allows monsters to recognize each other while maintaining facades of respectability.
The administration's decision to close the Epstein investigation without releasing additional documents transforms this birthday card from embarrassing artifact to active evidence of cover-up. Every denial, every legal threat, every attempt to change the subject only emphasizes what's being hidden. Trump isn't just protecting his own reputation; he's protecting an entire ecosystem of compromise.
The birthday card exists within a constellation of evidence: the photos of Trump and Epstein laughing at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's 2002 quote about Epstein liking women "on the younger side," the flight logs, the parties, the decades of social overlap. Each piece alone might be explained away. Together, they form a pattern as clear as it is damning.
...What we're witnessing isn't merely another presidential scandal but a collision between two versions of Trump: the populist hero who promised to expose the corrupt elite and the corrupt elite member desperate to keep his secrets buried. The birthday card serves as the perfect metaphor for this contradiction—crude enough to shock, coded enough to deny, real enough to destroy the mythology Trump has built around himself.
The most generous interpretation of this artifact—that it represents nothing more than wealthy men's locker room humor circa 2003—still reveals a man who views women as anatomical drawings, who bonds with other men through shared secrecy, who celebrates what cannot be spoken aloud. The less generous interpretations venture into darkness that American democracy may lack the stomach to fully explore.
In the end, Trump's birthday message to Epstein achieves something remarkable: it makes the unbelievable undeniable. No fiction writer would dare invent something so perfectly symbolic—a powerful man's signature serving as a crude drawing's pubic hair, sent to a pedophile with wishes for "wonderful secrets." Reality, once again, proves more grotesque than imagination.
The card's final line—"may every day be another wonderful secret"—now reads less like a birthday wish and more like a curse. For Trump, every day brings new revelations about old secrets, each one wonderful only in its capacity to inspire wonder at how such men achieved such power and why we ever believed their lies....

Today's News: Carney lays it down, Tariffs bite Trump back, Epstein-Gate continues, a few Zing! Pow! posts, and some TrumpWatch

Carney lays it down!

View on Threads

Poilievre tries to make it into a big deal about Carney "breaking his word" but who could take that accusation seriously - we know how Trump is using his tariff threats to beat up everyone around the world, and no one can stop him. 

🔴 If the alternative to U.S. tariffs is to make Canada the 51st State, that will never ever happen. Prime Minister Carney also made that VERY CLEAR. By your submission here, Mr. Poilievre, you are confirming that you would have sold Canada to Trump without blinking an eye, in order to be able to say that you were able to get a deal...🤦🏻‍♂️ Sir, you are completely INEPT and unqualified to be PM of a great Nation such as Canada. 🇨🇦 All you have to offer are slogans and unrealistic criticisms, with ZERO solutions. 🗣️ PM Carney has stated from day one that Canada has the potential to give itself MORE than America or any other Nation can give us... And it is THAT potential that he is busy working hard to develop, instead of merely yielding Canada to the MADMAN Trump's, illogical demands. What would you be doing right now if you were the PM? Likely drawing up papers to yield Canada to the United States, right? 📜 Exactly what we would expect from someone who spent two years saying that Canada is a broken sh**hole. 😑 You are an unserviceable has-been, sir.

- Fun Tom

Read on Substack

Some good reads: Charlie Angus, Black Cloud Six, Dale Smith, Garrett Graff, Paul Krugman, plus a few good posts

Canadians are being asked to consider and discuss some very important, significant issues right now:

Charlie Angus / The Resistance

Trump's Tariffs Are Just the Beginning
...Did anyone really think we could negotiate in good faith with a gangster?
From the beginning of his reign, Trump has been steadfast in his determination to break our nation. To force us to become a vassal state. He brags that we should become “the 51st.” He’s thrown tariffs on more than 150 countries (Russia is the exception) but Trump has never wavered in his view that Canada is his objective.
And the political rhetoric against our nation continues to increase.
We have FBI director Kash Patel claiming Canada is a hotbed of terrorist threats. Homeland Security director Kristi Noem claims that there is a northern border crisis and says El Salvadoran gangs are flooding over the border into Michigan. Ben Shapiro, the right-wing hack who recently appeared with Alberta MAGA premier Danielle Smith, says the United States should take us over and turn us into a new Puerto Rico.
Let’s remember: the people of Puerto Rico aren't allowed to vote in American elections. They have no elected representation in Congress. The best they get is a non-voting Resident Commissioner.
That's what Trump sees for us — an occupied territory.
And it’s already getting real. We are dealing with over 50 Canadian citizens who have been kidnapped by ICE, with one dying in U.S. custody.
...In response to this tariff threat, Prime Minister Carney needs to shift from his “elbows-down nice guy” approach. It isn't working. It won't work.
He needs to reinstate the Digital Services Tax. You can't unilaterally disarm in the face of a threat. He should imitate Prime Minister Trudeau, who vowed to go dollar for dollar, pound for pound, the last time Trump tried to steamroll us.
That was the first time Trump TACO'd.
Is it risky? Of course. Would it have a potentially devastating impact? Yes. But it would put enormous pressure on the American economy in a substantial way. The American people need to feel the impacts. Trump TACOs when the economy dives.
Our only other option is to watch our economy slowly bleed away from Trump's gangster threats.
Canadians are ready for tough choices. We are looking for strong and direct language from our leaders. Canadians have been steadfast in holding the line on the boycott and are the front line in the fight for our nation and our democracy.
Our nation's political class needs to see the threat very clearly for what it is.
The United States, a country once governed by the rule law, is disintegrating before our eyes. In its place is a heavily armed gangster regime driven by disinformation and rage politics.
Canadians get this. Our leaders must as well.

Today's News: Canadians say "fuhgeddaboudit" on a tariff deal, and Trump photobombs the Club World Cup

Tell Carney we say "Fuhgeddaboudit!" to a tariff deal 

It is increasingly obvious that Canada isn't going to get any kind of "trade deal" or tariff deal from Trump
He is incapable of figuring out what he wants or negotiating a deal, or sticking to what he signs.
All we are left with is the CUSMA agreement we already negotiated eight years ago, plus any breaks Carney might be able to finesse on Trump's one-off tariff threats (copper, steel and aluminium). And we might as well continue with the Digital Services Tax now, because obviously Trump doesn't care about negotiating anything else with Canada anyway.

Mark Carney agreed to cancel the Digital Services Tax as a show of good faith to keep trade negotiations going and Trump is still threatening Canada with 35% tariffs. Why would anyone even try negotiating with the US when we’re this vindictive and untrustworthy?

— Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 (@josephpolitano.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 9:00 PM

Burn, baby, burn! Trump, Epstein-gate, and the MAGA Conspiracy Universe

I wasn't going to do a post tonight, but today's news about Trump losing control of the Epstein cover-up conspiracy story is so incredible I just can't resist sharing.
And I'm calling it Epstein-gate because why not:

Feels like a tell.

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— Gerald Butts (@gmbutts.bsky.social) July 12, 2025 at 6:38 PM

There is only one way to read Trump’s post today about Epstein - basically a confession. He’s guilty, he knows he’s guilty, his cult isn’t culting on this, and he’s a cornered rat with no way out other than to plead with people not to care about child sex trafficking.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) July 12, 2025 at 5:26 PM

Not care about child sex trafficking? Its a core part of the entire MAGA Conspiracy Universe, as Steve M explains:

Saturday Funnies: More Elbows up, lots of funny stuff, plus TrumpWatch and Animal Crackers. And an earworm...

I know I usually do a funny post for Sunday, but this week I think we need it earlier! So, here we go:
The latest in Elbows Up!

Elbows Up...

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— DWguitarist (@daveguitarist.bsky.social) July 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM

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Something the US doesn't understand about Canada - it will be a generation before we trust them again in any matter trade or military. Electing a Democratic president or government won't change things, because we know none of them will play fair with us when push comes to shove. #cdnpoli #USpoli

— Stephen Lautens (@stephenlautens.bsky.social) July 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM

Headlines from Canada's right-wing news networks: Globe & Mail: "Canada must match the tax incentives in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’." NO! CTV: "How Canada’s shift to the EU may provoke fallout with Trump." CTV & Global might as well merge w/ Rebel News. 🇨🇦 isn't the bad guy in this! ELBOWS UP!

— Edge O. Erin (@edgeoerin.com) July 10, 2025 at 8:00 AM

Just when we thought we were out, he pulls us back in

I'm sick and tired of talking about tariffs. 

Aren't you? 

But here we go again -  just when we started to think there might be some kind of progress toward some kind of agreement, Trump throws another spanner into the works.

Tariffs on, tariffs off, tariffs waaaay up, tariffs sharply down. America, your president is governing your country the way I would try to land a plane.

— Tabatha Southey 🇨🇦 (@tabathasouthey.bsky.social) July 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM

Congrats everyone, we now have 35% tariffs on Canada for no apparent reason

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— Catherine Rampell (@crampell.bsky.social) July 10, 2025 at 7:34 PM

Today's News: Choose Your Own Apocalypse!

Hunting down posts about the coming AI financials implosion helps take my mind off the tariff chaos/human rights tragedies/natural disasters/utter chaos everywhere else. It's like a Choose Your Own Apocalypse version of current events.

— Kristine Smith (@ksmithsf.bsky.social) July 9, 2025 at 8:31 AM

From newsrooms across the world, we are hearing "Oh, I give up!!!" 

As the United States descends into masked authoritarianism and people all over the world are dying from war, heatwaves, floods and hurricanes, I think the media have thrown their hands up into the air and decided just to cover silly stuff instead. 

Like this: 

Tyler Dawson / National Post

Mark Carney is on holidays. The government won't say where
While the secrecy around Carney's vacation plans isn't unusual in Canada, other nations' leaders regularly inform the public where they are Prime Minister Mark Carney is retreating this week for vacation, but the federal government isn’t saying where.
All that has been revealed is that Carney is staying somewhere in the National Capital Region.
“As he does so, he will remain in close coordination with his team and officials on several priorities, including ongoing negotiations on the economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States,” Carney’s spokespeople told reporters in an email...

..

Let's summarize this week's news: Carney winks sometimes, he's on holiday at some private island, & he can't flip pancakes.
Obviously he has worn out his welcome with Canadians...

— Cathie from Canada 🇨🇦 ✍🏻😷🏳️‍🌈 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@CathieCanada) July 9, 2025

Summertime and the readin' is easy! Good articles by Cole Bennett, Paul Wells, Ryan Broderick, Garrett Graff, Tom Scocca, and Paul Krugman, plus funny posts and TrumpWatch

Before doom befalls us on August 19, I wanted to recommend some interesting articles and comments - they aren't exactly a beach novel, but good reads all the same.

First, the more I read journalist Cole Bennett, the better I like his stuff -- his columns are both interesting and useful. His newsletters cover a range of daily news stories and I recently decided to subscribe to this substack because its a daily summary I can't find anywhere else. 

Here are a couple of examples:
Cole Bennett / Cole.notcole

Tuesday Night
MILITIAS TAKEN DOWN, AMAZON UNDER INVESTIGATION, CANADIAN BOOZE TAKEOVER, GAZA CAMPS, MORE TARIFFS......
Domestic Terror Plot Foiled in Quebec...
Trump’s 50% Copper Tariff Could Backfire...
Amazon’s “Fair Pricing” Policy Under Investigation...
Alcohol Sales Deal Reached “Mostly”...
Israel Planning Internment-Style Camps in Gaza...

And his commentaries focus on larger issues:

How the Left in Canada Can Stay United—And Actually Win
...The left fractures over strategy, party loyalty, and personality politics. The Green Party calls the Liberals sellouts. The NDP calls the Liberals fake progressives. Liberals roll their eyes at both. And while we argue over who’s more left, the right is laser-focused on winning.
But here’s the bottom line:
If the left actually wants to help people, it has to win.
...We’ve got to stop treating political parties like sports teams. If you support:
-Public healthcare
-Climate action
-Reconciliation
-Disability justice
-Affordable housing
-Protecting 2SLGBTQ+ rights
…then you’re on the same side. The fight isn’t between the Liberals, NDP, and Greens. It’s against the Conservative Party, and figures like Pierre Poilievre, Danielle Smith, and Doug Ford, who are actively trying to dismantle progress....