Resistance HQ Bulletin 17, 12/3/24

… The Pete Hegseth nomination is in trouble, with two other Trump nominees already dropping out. NBC is reporting that 10 current and former Fox employees said that Pete Hegseth drank so excessively that they were very concerned about him. When Fox employees think you drink too much, then you really drink too much.

… With his nomination in crisis mode, Hegseth has agreed to sit down for a one-on-one interview with Fox to address all of the various allegations against him. He is the only Trump nominee to do this.

… Lindsey Graham today to CBS News on Pete Hegseth: “I think some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here, but some of this stuff is it's going to be difficult….” Lindsey’s dream scenario here is for Hegseth to lose the confirmation vote while he votes for him. He knows Hegseth will be a disaster, but doesn’t want to cross Trump. So he’s like the kid on the edge of a fight trying to instigate others while he stays out of it.

… Anyone who believed that Republicans were going to achieve their budget objectives and fulfill their promises without cutting or making significant changes to the retirement age or benefits of Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid was kidding themselves. You can’t cut the federal budget by 33% while increasing defense spending to record levels as they promised simply by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. You can’t even come remotely close.

… Rep. Richard McCormick confirmed that on Fox today: “We’re going to have some hard decisions. We’re going to have to bring in the Democrats to talk about Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare. There’s hundreds of billions of dollars to be saved, we just have to have the stomach to take those challenges on.”

… Trump’s nominee to lead the DEA, Hillsborough, FL Sheriff Chad Chronister, has dropped out of consideration and withdrawn his name after a firestorm of protests of his selection from the MAGA base. Chronister was strongly supported by Ron Desantis for the job.

… MAGA hated Chronister for several reasons. They said he was a tyrant enforcing covid restrictions, he participated in PRIDE parades, he expanded DEI programs for his agency, he supported Red Flag laws, and he donated to Obama.

… So two of Trump nominees to major positions have already washed out with Hegseth on the ropes.

… MSNBC continues to lose viewers in the crucial 25-54 advertising demo since the election. Several of their shows posted their lowest ratings of all-time and the following shows have lost at least 50% of their audience since the election: The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, All In with Chris Hayes, Chris Jansing Reports, Inside with Jen Psaki, The Rachel Maddow Show and Joy Reid’s ReidOut.

… Mitch McConnell complained about judges changing their minds after the election: “An unprecedented two federal judges who had announced their retirement reversed course. Judges are supposed to wear black robes, not Democratic blue. The judiciary ought to leave politics to the proper branches.”

… Trump has finally signed the Memorandum of Understanding for a full transition with the FBI to begin background checks of his nominees immediately. Several Republican Senators said they may not vote for any nominee who hadn’t had a background check completed, so it is likely Trump caved to the reality on the ground.

… The President of South Korea declared martial law early this morning. Parliament was locked, all political activities were suspended, all media was subject to review by the government, strikes and assemblies were banned, medical personnel were forced to return to work, and warrants were no longer required for searches or arrests.

… S. Korea has a divided government where the legislature is controlled by the liberal opposition Democratic party to conservative President Yoon. They have been deadlocked on a budget bill for months, and the legislature is also attempting to impeach prosecutors currently conducting a criminal investigations of their top presidential candidate for 2027. The liberal opposition has also called for investigations into numerous scandals involving the president, his wife, and members of his Administration but Yoon has vetoed every effort to investigate corruption.

… The Democratic legislature promptly responded by voting to override Yoon’s martial law declaration. Yoon is definitely not the good guy here. An oversimplification perhaps, but after reading lots of credible news reports it seems like Yoon follows in the footsteps of people like Trump, Orban and Bolsonaro. After this vote occurred with members of his own party opposing him, Yoon lifted martial law hours later.

… Mark Cuban appeared on Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson’s podcast, which is mostly about basketball, but the topic came up about persistent rumors that Cuban may run for president in 2028. Barkley said they would be unbeatable if they ran together as a Cuban-Barkley ticket. Cuban responded: “We’d win. We’d definitely win.”

… Ted Cruz said on Newsmax that Joe Biden’s pardon of Hunter was all about protecting himself from criminal prosecution from Trump’s DOJ for alleged bribes from Ukraine, which sort of gives the game away that they intended to revive the Burisma investigation that went nowhere on several previous attempts. Trump’s FBI Director nominee Kash Patel pledged to go after them both and Ted Cruz confirms that was the plan.

… Matt Gaetz: “The Hunter pardon has so many more layers than people realize. The Frank Biden pardon comes next.” On that we can agree. Both Joe Biden and the incoming Trump Admin knew they were going to go after Joe and the entire Biden family. That’s what the pardon was about, not some dumb gun purchasing charge. Maybe at some point the media will figure that out also.

… After flaming out spectacularly from Congress, Gaetz is now reportedly developing a podcast which he wants to pattern after and compete with Joe Rogan and Bill Maher’s. There may be a former Maher staffer involved. Right-wing podcaster is his natural station in life. He rose far above his natural talent, ability, and work ethic with daddy’s money. He’s home now behind the mic. Let him stay there.

… Rep. Sean Casten introduced a privileged resolution today to have the House Ethics Committee release their report on Gaetz. This forces Republicans to vote on whether to shield Gaetz, when dozens of them despise him and don’t have to worry about dealing with him anymore. Casten says it is important to still release the report because we don’t know if Gaetz will try and run for office again or be appointed to some other position.

.. TN State Rep Gino Bulso, who infamously was the only legislator to oppose a bill to prohibit first cousins from getting married since his grandparents were first cousins (I guess that’s a good reason), believes he has the solution to help Trump with mass deportations. He is introducing a bill to ban banks from allowing money to be transferred to relatives overseas if the sender does not have legal status in the US.

… TN has a large number of migrant workers - especially in agriculture and construction. Many of these migrants send money to their children, spouses and parents back home in their native countries. If passed, and if upheld by the courts, this would end that practice.

… The European Federation of Journalists announced that none of their members will post on X effective January 20, 2025. It is the largest group of journalists in Europe. They cited Musk as the reason: “After the US elections, EFJ pointed out the threat to democracy and freedom of expression posed by the cooperation between the president of the most powerful country in the world, Donald Trump, and the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, who is also the owner of social network X and has been appointed to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) when Trump takes office. We cannot continue to participate in the social network feed of a man who proclaims the death of the media and therefore of journalists.”

… NSA Jake Sullivan announced that there will be a “massive surge” in military aid to Ukraine in the final month of the Biden Admin in anticipation that aid to that country will be cut off when Trump takes office. A new $725 million aid package has been authorized, which will likely be the end of the line on US support for their war effort to defend their country from Russian aggression.

… Rep. Jasmine Crockett on Dems who complained about the Hunter pardon: “I can’t say why some of my colleagues are acting the way they are. People are tired of us bringing a butter knife to a real fight - a real war.”

… Trump’s incoming Dep. Chief of Staff and former golf caddie Dan Scavino was forced to appear and give a deposition on a lawsuit brought by Capitol Police Officers and Democratic members of Congress today.

… Thank you again for reading this column, which takes 14 hours a day to research and write, and for supporting our work. One reader posted a TikTok today where she said that the reason why she loved Meidas is that we aren’t attention seekers and don’t want to make ourselves the story. We want to cover the news truthfully and accurately in a way that nobody else does. We have no egos about this. We don’t want to be famous or on TV. We are here for you, not ourselves.

… Well, maybe Jordy wants to be famous.

… One of Michael Flynn’s many grifts called ‘Champions for America’ will have their annual awards dinner at Mar-a-Lago next week where they will honor this year’s “Champions” - Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Kid Rock, Kevin Sorbo and Lara Logan. Sorry I have to miss that one, sounds amazing. Real champions.

… WaPo is reporting a potential conflict is brewing involving Dr. Oz, RFK Jr. and Elon Musk. The Biden Admin proposed that Medicare and Medicaid should cover the cost for millions of people for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. Oz, nominated by Trump to oversee the programs, has long had Ozempic as a major sponsor and business partner of his show, which presents a clear conflict of interest. Then you have RFK Jr,