The Weekend Rundown: Republicans are cowards, Democrats are useless. Will the real opposition please stand up.
The Egg Price Index, the DEI Boogeyman, celebrating good news, Nova Twins, more
This week:
Republicans are cowards, Democrats are useless. Will the real opposition please stand up.
The Egg Price Index.
Bits & Pieces: interesting news you may have missed.
Good News & Nonsense.
This week’s podcasts.
Nova Twins!
Republicans are cowards, Democrats are useless. Will the real opposition please stand up.
America’s Awesome, but man our two main political parties absolutely suck. The President of the United States is working to implement his agenda at a breakneck pace and Congress is sitting on the bench doing nothing.
President Trump and Elon Musk, along with their lieutenants, continue to peddle a vision of America that is disconnected from reality. Everything from plane crashes to egg prices are the fault of Joe Biden, DEI, immigrants and other boogeymen and - despite most Americans not agreeing with the President’s radical plans - he is moving aggressively to implement them, and to hell with the impacts, they’re “the price that must be paid.” More on all of that below.
We’re All Living in the BACU Now.
Going back to my first Substack post, America's Awesome (26 Sep 2024), Donald and Elon are among those “peddling the idea that things aren’t what they seem: things are actually awful, we’re being controlled, everything is a lie, we can’t trust anyone - especially the government and public servants! - and that the only remedy is rage and supporting a variety of people and products they’re selling. But that’s mostly bullshit… This alternative reality is something I’ve come to call the Bizarro America Cinematic Universe (BACU). As I wrote in November, “it seems that all of us live in the Bizarro America Cinematic Universe now (but) history reminds us that people can overcome the greatest barriers, the worst regimes, and awful leaders - and emerge victorious and with greater freedom and opportunity.” But that takes courage and leadership, and Congress and our nation’s two archaic main parties are failing to do anything. It’s up to us, friend.
The Week That Was.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of this week’s notable events and perspectives, just to help paint the picture of where we are in today’s BACU:
In the face of a national tragedy, the President screamed about DEI like the old man yelling at the cloud. That and more bullshit the BACU is encouraging is further below.
Tariffs:
Executive Order: Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our National Border.
Trump tariffs begin, with levies on Canada, Mexico, China. “Mexican and Canadian imports are now subject to 25% tariffs — with the exception of energy from Canada, which will face 10% tariffs. The White House also announced additional 10% tariffs on Chinese goods.”
Here’s what will get more expensive from Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. “About one-third of US imports come from the three countries Trump targeted... Their products are among some of the most commonplace and critical items used by Americans, including fruits and vegetables, meat, gas, automobiles, electronics, toys, clothing, lumber, and beer and spirits.”
Trump says potential pain caused by tariffs ‘worth the price that must be paid.’
“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday night that Canada would impose 25 percent tariffs on more than $100 billion of U.S. goods.” From the Axios link above “including beer, food products and appliances. Some tariffs will begin to take effect on Tuesday. “
“Trudeau’s likely successor, Pierre Poilievre, called Trump’s tariffs ‘unjust and unjustified’ and called for a ‘dollar-for-dollar’ response.”
“Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a post to X in Spanish that her team was working on a response that included measures to defend her country’s interests, though specific steps were not immediately clear. According to Axios; “Most of the U.S. supply of tomatoes, avocados and beer comes from Mexico.”
China’s Ministry of Commerce said it would file a legal case against the United States at the World Trade Organization (WTO)…”
“The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank, estimated Trump’s tariffs announced Saturday would result in what amounts to an average tax increase of $830 per household in the U.S.”
Arabica Coffee Prices Hit New High on U.S., Colombia Tariff Spat
Governing:
Musk team’s push to gut federal workforce bypassed key Trump officials; Billionaire Elon Musk has worked behind the scenes on an initiative aimed at depleting the civil service, prompting questions about its legality. “Musk has burrowed inside the federal government… Musk allies are now running the U.S. Digital Service, a White House office that a Trump executive order renamed the U.S. DOGE Service… One area of focus, according to another person familiar with the talks: gauging workers’ views on DOGE, questions that have raised concerns of a loyalty test.”
DOGE Gains Access to Payment System Doling Out Trillions to Americans; “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent approves move affecting representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The Treasury Department has agreed to give Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency access to a payment system that distributes trillions of dollars in entitlement benefits, grants and tax refunds to Americans each year… the system… is typically run by career civil servants… Musk and DOGE have moved aggressively to exert control over the federal government’s back-office functions since Inauguration Day… It couldn’t be determined what DOGE representatives intended to do with their access to the payment system…”
Elon Musk Foe Escorted Out of Fed Office After Refusing to Resign. “Fired inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Phyllis Fong was removed from her Washington D.C. office on Monday after refusing to comply with the conditions of her termination. A 22-year veteran of the department—which has a broad mandate to investigate food safety and animal welfare—Fong’s office has been investigating Elon Musk’s brain implant startup Neuralink, among other investigations into the Boar’s Head’s listeria outbreak. The USDA launched a federal investigation into Neuralink in 2022 for potential animal-welfare violations following internal staff complaints alleging the needless suffering and deaths of animals via testing…”
Trump administration directs 70% cut to internal OPM staffing, programs. During an internal meeting Friday morning, Trump administration officials directed OPM senior career staff to begin making plans to cut the agency’s workforce and programs by 70%. Multiple sources with direct knowledge of the meeting confirmed the details of the meeting to Federal News Network.
The Duopoly: Complicit and Hated by America.
The tariffs are going to hurt Americans directly, but that pain won’t be felt by Trump’s billionaire friends, many of who are helping him implement his radical agenda. The potential damage being done to our structures of government could cause serious and long-term harm for all Americans. One might think that Republicans in Congress may express concern and pushback, or that Democrats would usefully respond as an opposition party. Alas, they’re doing no such thing.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who may feel a notable impact from Trump’s tariffs, said, “Obviously the president is somebody who sees great value in the use of tariffs as a tool and we’ll have, I’m sure, lots of conversations… People up here have different views about how and when to use them but I see value when they are used in a targeted way.”
On the other side, even Democrats are getting frustrated with Congressional Democrats. The New York Times reported, “governors pressed Senator Chuck Schumer of New York during a tense call on Wednesday night to be more aggressive in fighting back against President Trump’s nominees and agenda, all but begging the minority leader to persuade Senate Democrats to block whatever they could.” But Democrats have reasons to not push back too hard.
As Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei (VandeHei@vandehei.bsky.social) wrote in Behind the Curtain: The payback precedent, its more than likely that Democrats are fine going along with all of it, and that we should “fully expect future Democratic presidents to use and build on all these norm-busting moves... History shows the next Democratic president, with a Democratic Congress, will likely use — and expand — many of these powers. Biden did it! Trump did it! So I shall do it, too!” Listing the Trump techniques and tactics likely to be adopted by future presidents, they include:
Fire critics and perceived enemies.
Punish media companies for critical coverage.
Reward political allies with pardons.
Impunity with immunity.
Presidential profits.
Is it any wonder that the useless Democratic Party is the most unpopular it's been in polling since 2008? In Democrats hammered by ugly unpopularity numbers, Axios notes:
57% of registered voters have an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
45% of voters having an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party.
43% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, the highest since 2008.
31% of registered voters have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
A CNN poll conducted by SSRS earlier this month found that 70% of U.S. adults would describe themselves as disappointed with today's politics.
The same CNN poll found that 58% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say that the party needs major changes or to be completely reformed.
The percentage of voters with an unfavorable view of the Republican Party hovered around 60% in 2017.
Trump and Musk are also generally disliked.
Americans sour on some of Trump's early moves, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds.
Poll shows mixed approval for Trump's early executive orders.
Majority oppose ending birthright citizenship and renaming Gulf of Mexico.
Support for Trump's immigration and hiring freeze policies remains strong.
The poll showed 45% of Americans approve of Trump's performance as president, down slightly from 47% in a Jan. 20-21 poll.
The share who disapproved was slightly larger at 46%, an increase from 39% in the prior poll.
Once again, Trump starts a term with a weak approval rating.
Polls show views souring on Elon Musk as Trump’s wingman.
“there are increasing signs that the American people writ large don’t have a ton of patience for a second billionaire — this one unelected — wielding such power over our politics…
36 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of him and 52 percent had an unfavorable one.
That negative 16-point split was down from minus 10 (41-51) last month.
Elon Musk rose to the top of video game charts. Now he has confessed to cheating. I previously shared about Musk’s video game playing lies. This article further explores that Just a good reminder that he and Trump lie frequently. California Immediately Slaps Down Trump’s Claim He ‘TURNED ON THE WATER’
Something’s Gotta Change.
Americans don’t like politics, don’t think we’re going in the right direction, don’t support the President, his party, the Democrats, or most of the President’s agenda. So where’s the opposition⁉️ What’s the alternative? Well, there’s a lot of them really, but the Duopoly works together to frustrate opportunities for Americans to actually vote for better candidates. According to Ballotpedia, “As of January 2025, there were at least 55 distinct ballot-qualified political parties in the United States. There were 238 state-level parties.” I’m proud to be involved with one of those, Liberal Party USA, and our state affiliate, the Classical Liberal Party of Virginia. We’re proud to be pro-free trade, against tariffs, pro-immigration, pro-privacy rights, and lots more. In our podcast, we’ve spoken at length on many of the issues frustrating other parties from being viable.
The truth is, if America wants change, America has to demand change. Whatever party, whatever candidate, whatever issues - find what you can believe in and get involved. As we’ve said at the CLPVA, two parties, bad; three parties better; four parties, better… Find something you can believe in and get involved. We can do and be so much better than polarizing, destructive binary politics. Civic participation is necessary for a vibrant democracy. America’s Awesome 🇺🇸 but she needs our active participation to stay awesome. We are the opposition.
The Egg Price Index
“When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one” - Donald John Trump, August 2024, via the New York Post
Egg prices are at their highest point since Donald Trump became President again. And tariffs won’t help.
Trump tariffs to stoke US food inflation despite pledge to lower costs
Prices were a key issue in 2024, but Trump makes clear they're not his top priority
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Average U.S. city cost of one dozen large, grade A eggs:
Dec 2024: $4.146
As of 02 February 2025, there is no update.
Trading Economics: Cost of a dozen eggs:
20 Jan 2025 $6.2368
31 Jan 2025: $7.1360
Since Donald Trump took office:
Trump Price Change: $0.8992 more expensive.
Trump High: $7.1360 (31 Jan 2025)
Trump Low: $6.2368 (20 Jan 2025)
Bits & Pieces: Things that Suck
DEI Attacks. I touched on DEI nonsense last week. In the BACU, DEI is the boogeyman for anything.
Trump blames DEI for weakening FAA in aftermath of Reagan National plane crash. “Brilliant people have to be in those positions,” Trump said.
He cited efforts by the FAA to hire individuals with disabilities, including dwarfism, missing limbs and intellectual disabilities. “A group within the FAA determined that the workforce was too white, then they had concerted efforts to get the administration to change that and to change it immediately,” Trump said. “This was in the Obama administration.” … Trump, asked how he could be so sure diversity played a role in the crash when he acknowledged himself the air traffic controllers may not have done anything wrong, told reporters it was because he has “common sense.”
Trump launched air controller diversity program that he now decries; At news conference, Trump read a list of disabilities he calls disqualifying, but his administration started such hiring in 2019.
What the data says about Trump's DEI air crash claims. Statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau and IPUMS show air traffic controllers and airfield operations specialists are predominately male and white.
78% are men, while 22% are women
71% identify as non-Hispanic white.
Trump implicitly equated racial, gender and other forms of diversity with a lower-quality federal workforce… statistics showing the opposite is true.
Trump signed a memo Thursday alleging that Biden's administration "egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all agencies to implement dangerous 'diversity equity and inclusion' tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with 'severe intellectual' disabilities in the FAA." The "disabilities" language that Trump is opposing was in FAA regulations during the entirety of his first term…
Monarchial Ambitions. Trump Asks Mike Johnson if He’ll Allow Prez a Third Term. I’m not sure how many times Trump has to discuss a third term before we start to take him seriously. “Donald Trump again publicly mused about serving further presidential terms Monday, asking Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson whether he was ‘allowed to’—just a few days after another House Republican introduced legislation to enable just that. ‘I’ve raised a lot of money for the next race that I assume I can’t use for myself, but I’m not 100 percent sure…’ Just two days prior in Las Vegas, Trump spoke about serving ‘three times or four times.’ And shortly after the November election, Trump floated the idea when he said, ‘I suspect I won’t be running again—unless you do something.’” As discussed in last week’s Rundown, Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles has proposed legislation to allow a third Trump term.
Gen Z ‘ready to embrace dictatorship in Britain after losing trust in democracy.’ Generation Z is prepared to embrace a dictatorship in Britain, according to a new survey. “Research by Channel 4 reveals the generation is accepting radicalism and authoritarianism amid ‘growing uncertainty’ on who to trust. More than half of people aged between 13 and 27 said they believe ‘the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections…’ A third agree the country would be better off ‘if the army was in charge’. And almost half think that ‘the entire way our society is organised must be radically changed through revolution’.
The BACU’s Immigration Bullshit. Why Trump won't be deporting "millions" of criminals. President Trump claims that his administration will quickly deport "millions and millions" of "illegal aliens" with criminal records. Those millions don't exist… Less than 1% of immigrants deported last fiscal year were kicked out of the U.S. for crimes other than immigration violations.
UFC fighter says Adolf Hitler was a ‘good guy’ in shameful rant. “Bryce Mitchell said Adolf Hitler was a ‘good guy…’ The 30-year-old said: ‘I honestly think Hitler was a good guy, based upon my own research, not my public education and indoctrination. ‘He fought for his country, he wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out who were destroying his country and turning them all into gays.’ Mitchell went on to make more antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic comments while saying ‘the Holocaust ain’t real’.”
The Wars on Sex and LGBTQ People Continue!
Oklahoma Senator Introduces Bill to Make Porn Completely Illegal.
In a slate of several bills restricting reproductive rights and divorce, Oklahoma senator Dusty Deevers suggests anyone making anything even vaguely pornographic should go to jail. Deevers seeks the total abolition of porn by imposing criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for production, distribution, or possession of porn.
The Impact of Age Verification Measures Goes Beyond Porn Sites. Age verification laws target a slew of broadly-defined topics. Some block access to websites that contain some "sexual material harmful to minors," but define the term so loosely that “sexual material” could encompass anything… These policies, which claim to "protect children" or keep sites “family-friendly,” often label LGBTQ+ content as “adult” or “harmful,” while similar content that doesn't involve the LGBTQ+ community is left untouched.
Poll: Public trust in government health advice drops further, as partisan divide widens.
Good News & Nonsense
Science is Awesome. Deaf girl tries caption glasses that lets her "see" conversations in real time. “This is the moment a deaf girl tried on a pair of high-tech, £1,200 glasses, which allow her to ‘see’ conversations in real time. Kendyl Pool, 10, from Colorado, USA was born profoundly deaf due to malformations in her inner ears and has used American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate since she was six months old. Her mother Bri Pool, 35, first discovered the caption glasses on TikTok and knew they could be life-changing for her daughter. The glasses transcribe speech into words in real time and display on the lenses.” The link goes to a video of Kendyl’s experience.
Joy is Awesome. Florida man joyfully plays in snow for first time at age 39. Jakeem Johnson, a lifelong Florida resident, celebrated his first snowfall when a rare winter storm covered Tampa last month. The link goes a video of Jakeem having a good time as he first experiences snow. We should all strive to find the joys in life.
Choice is Awesome. Hundreds of same-sex couples wed as Thailand’s landmark marriage bill takes effect. “Hundreds of same-sex couples are tying the knot across Thailand on Thursday as the country becomes the first in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage equality. The landmark bill marks a momentous win for the LGBTQ+ community, which has fought for more than a decade for the same marriage rights as heterosexual couples.”
A Cleaner Future and More Energy is Awesome. Solar power surpasses coal as EU energy source. “Solar power surpassed coal as a source of electricity in the European Union (EU) for the first time in 2024… Solar energy has become the EU’s fastest-growing power source, contributing 11% to its supply.” We need a lot of energy. The more, the cleaner, the better. Give me all the types of energy - including nuclear!
This Week’s Podcasts
Men of a Certain X
Men of a Certain X EP 191. Did he really say that, NFL storylines, and FireAid lineup
Men of a Certain X EP 189. Conference Championships, NFL Coaching hires, and the price of eggs
Commonwealth Classical Liberal Podcast
Gate 15
In Closing: Nova Twins
It’s always fun to stumble onto new music and new artists. This week I found a high-energy fun rock duo from London, Nova Twins. Amy Love and Georgia South bring loud strings and powerful vocals, and fun to hear about their story. “Close friends since childhood and have played in bands that were often booked on the same bill. Both of them come from a mixed background; Love is of Iranian and Nigerian descent, and South is of Jamaican and Australian descent.” Given, I’m a bit partial to interracial marriages and children, but I think their sound is solid. A few tracks I’ve enjoyed listening to this week include their new release Monsters, and a few older tracks including Cleopatra, and Taxi.