Resistance HQ Bulletin 20, 12/6/24

… Trump has now appointed 14 billionaires to his Administration. A government of oligarchs. Many of them the products of significant inherited wealth like Trump. Man of the people.

… Trump’s Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick donated $3 million to Vivek Ramaswamy’s PAC, which was then used to help Trump in the election. Pretty good bargain for a Cabinet appointment. Pocket change for Lutnick.

… The new campaign finance reports also reveal that the mysterious RBG PAC that spent $20 million to help Trump was set up and financed by one donor - Elon Musk. The PAC was named to exploit Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose family was furious about it and called on whoever was behind it to identify themselves and change the name. We now know the dishonest snake hiding behind the name was Musk.

… The PAC ran false and misleading ads that claimed Trump’s position on abortion was closer to RBG’s than Kamala Harris’s. Of course, Musk was too much of a coward to put his name on it and hid his identity until after the election when few are now paying any attention to what he did with his PACs, which spent $120 million to help Trump.

… And he was still only Trump’s 3rd largest donor from the oligarch class.

… Hours after it was reported that Trump was done making calls to lobby Senators for Pete Hegseth’s embattled nomination for SecDef, Trump posted on Truth Social that he “is doing very well. His support is strong and deep, much more so than the Fake News would have you believe. Pete is a WINNER, and there is nothing that can be done to change that!!!” He’s so much of a winner his wife and mommy have to stick up for him and MAGA has to threaten Senators who aren’t sure about him.

… Reports from Trump World is that he was impressed when Hegseth came out of the Senate yesterday and was yelling at the media that he was going to fight it out until the bitter end. They claim that Trump was getting soft on Hegseth yesterday, but his fiery comments to the media got Trump back on board.

… But rumors still persist that Trump may dump Hegseth for Ron Desantis. Those rumors will heat up as it was just announced that Trump and Desantis will attend the Army-Navy football game together next Saturday.

… Rep. Chip Roy on the sex assault allegation against Hegseth: “We’ve all had some indiscretions in our past and things like that.”

… Bill O’Reilly said that Trump knew that Hegseth and RFK Jr would not be confirmed by the Senate, but claims that he nominated them anyway to “send a message to MAGA supporters” that he is serious about shaking things up in the government. They never have a take that Trump is an incompetent bumbling fool. Everytime he does something dumb and fails he always supposedly meant to do it as part of a grand master strategy.

… The Hill is reporting that right now there are 7-8 Republican Senators who would be a ‘No’ vote on Hegseth.

… JD Vance: “We’re not abandoning this nomination. We’re not going to make it easy for people.”

… Megyn Kelly said as soon as the media is done attacking Pete Hegseth with his abuse of women they are going to do the same with RFK Jr, where there is even more dirt: “If you don’t think they are going to do this to RFK Jr, you haven’t been paying attention.” Of course, this assumes that none of these allegations, which both have largely confessed to, are untrue and are just being fabricated by the press.

… The economy created 227,000 new jobs in November, as Trump once again inherits a healthy, robust economy from Biden just like he did from Obama in 2017. Naturally, he will take all the credit for it.

… Biden’s Secretary of Labor Julie Su to CNN: “We are handing off the strongest economy in history to the next administration.”

… NYC Mayor Eric Adams told PIX11 News that he doesn’t rule out switching to the Republican Party. He’s under indictment for bribery and campaign finance violations, so he probably would feel more at home there.

… John Fetterman: “I admire Elon Musk. He’s been involved in very important parts of American society. Yes, he’s on a different team, but that doesn’t make me an enemy. Hey, he has made our economy and our nation better.” I’m not sure an assessment of Musk involves only these two binary choices.

… Musk’s response: “Hard not to like Senator Fetterman. He puts country over party.”

… Hakeem Jeffries was asked if he was concerned that Musk and Vivek Ramawamy have only been meeting with House Republicans, and will make drastic cuts in government spending despite the fact that they don’t serve in the government in an official capacity. Jeffries, referencing the ultra-slim GOP majority that never agrees on anything: “It’s clear that the incoming House Republican majority will not be able to do much without us.”

… Musk contends that only 6% of the federal workforce reports to an office or work location on a full-time basis and his DOGE committee will insist that no federal workers will be permitted to work remotely. Stephen Miller said all remote workers will be fired unless they report to an office immediately. Seems crazy to me that the number could be that high. I certainly don’t trust Musk on this.

… Musk also called for the ACLU to be defunded. AOC responded: “They receive 0 taxpayer funds. Meanwhile, y’all are proposing defunding Veteran’s healthcare, Medicare, and Social Security when you think no one is watching. Doesn’t get lower than gutting some of the only lifelines left for veterans, seniors, widows and the disabled.”

… Some are expressing concern that Musk’s track record for seeking revenge on his critics while using ruthless tactics is potentially even more dangerous than Trump’s. Political historian Matt Dallek told The Hill: “Musk is a good fit for Trump, because Musk clearly enjoys vengence and gets off on retribution. This is partly, at least, what animates him, maybe even more so at this point than his business enterprises.”

… Dallek and others cited the recent example of Musk making false statements about Alexander Vindman and threatening him with prosecution for treason based on those lies.

… Rep James Clyburn said he asked Joe Biden to pardon Donald Trump, Jack Smith and Anthony Fauci to “clear the air.” I have a feeling we are not done with pardon drama. Maybe announce them on Christmas eve when nobody is paying attention.

… Virtually every question at today’s WH press briefing was about the Hunter pardon, as if that is the issue foremost on the minds of America today. The DC press corps is so completely disconnected from the vast majority of the American public. For them, it is all about silly palace intrigue and drama because that is the world they live in. Too many of them have lost sight of what journalism is supposed to be all about.

… With Trump promising to pardon J6 defendants, the DOJ just released a report showing that nearly 600 of them have been charged or convicted with assaulting police officers. Not backing the blue on this one.

… NC Sen Thom Tillis took the unusual step of clarifying that he has only committed to endorsing Pam Bondi and Kash Patel, and will only vote for Hegseth and Tulsi Gabbard if they are recommended out of committee. News reports said yesterday that he agreed already to vote for all Trump’s nominees. He is clearly doing this because he is worried about independent voters in his 2026 reelection. There is no other reason.

… Dem Rep Ritchie Torres continues to signal a run against NY Gov Kathy Hochul: “I’ve declared that I am running for reelection as a member of Congress, but I do reserve the right to change my mind. I will make a final decision in mid-2025. I have no confidence in the leadership of Kathy Hochul. We need a new Democratic nominee. Hochul is setting up the Democratic Party to fail in Nov 2026.”

… More Torres on Hochul: “She is the foremost flip-flopper in the history of NY politics. She is such an embarassment that she has drawn the criticism of former Speaker Pelosi. The NRA once gave her an A grade.” Torres is definitely running for governor - you can take that to the bank.

… In his interview in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Tucker Carlson asked how Alexsey Navalny died in prison. Lavrov blamed Germany, suggested that the Germans did something to him while they were saving his life after he was poisoned in Russia, and maybe the health effects from what the Germans did to Navalny later caused his death in a Russian prison where he was being tortured for months.

… Just like all the Russian journalists and officials who have “fallen out of windows” accidentally who criticized Putin and the war.

… Of course, no pushback from Tucker. Lavrov lies like he breathes. Even more than Trump, although I realize that seems almost impossible.

… Trump named failed GA Sen David Perdue as his Ambassador to China. Perdue was defeated by Jon Ossoff in 2020 after Trump told everyone to stay home for the runoff because voting was rigged in GA. Then Trump endorsed Perdue to run for Gov against Brian Kemp because Kemp refused to steal the election for Trump. Perdue was destroyed in that race by over 30 points. I guess this is his consolation prize for the humiliations he suffered after getting on board the Trump Train.

… Ossoff said someone should ask Perdue why he bragged in 2014 that he spent his entire business career outsourcing jobs to China. So Fox asked him. Perdue said he did that and was proud of it, and he won election in 2014 anyway so obviously that doesn’t matter. Not sure how that is relevant in this situation. The issue is how Perdue is going to represent US interests versus China. Not whether GA voters hated him for selling out to them.

… Sen Marsha Blackburn: “Fantastic appointment of David Perdue. Trump knows he will hold communist China accountable and represent US interests in the region. It’s time to break some China.” Perdue dines off China, he damn sure is the last person who wants to break it. There is no bigger friend of China in US politics than David Perdue.

… Marsha then told Newsmax that she will be introducing a bill called the “DOGE Act” which will freeze all new federal hiring and salary increases indefinitely.

… Very Objective News Network Fox had their “Patriot Awards” gala last night and you will never guess who their “Patriot of the Year” was? You guessed it - Mango Mussolini. But they want to host presidential debates.

… Laura Loomer: “President Trump isn’t the patriot of the year. He’s the patriot of the century!”

… Trump said at his acceptance speech that one of his highest priorities will be to change election laws in all 50 states to eliminate early voting and no-excuse absentee voting by mail. This is one he doesn’t want to “leave up to the states.”

… He also mocked Canada PM Justin Trudeau for “running right down to Mar-a-Lago” to see him after he threatened the country with tariffs in a Truth Social post. Trudeau demonstrated incredible, shocking weakness in this moment. Trump now feels he is a sucker who is easily manipulated - the worst possible situation for healthy US-Canada relations. It is painfully clear that Trudeau does not understand Donald Trump or how to deal with him. At all. Good luck, Canada.

… This column is now up to 120,000+ daily readers. As you might imagine, a tremendous amount of time goes into this each day - most of it is research more than writing. It is also 6 days a week since I wrap up the entire weekend on Sunday. This is not the only thing I do for Meidas, so my apologies if there is a typo or minor error here or there that I have to correct. Thank you to all subscribers reading this and especially the paid subscribers who support us and get to read the second half of the column. We appreciate all of you and work for you.

… Melania Trump was on Fox this morning selling her new line of Christmas ornaments, which she says are very “patriotic” this year. “This is the 3rd season that I designed them. They’re very patriotic this year. This is available right now. It’s a great gift and great collectable.” I always thought she hated Christmas.

… Melania also claimed that Barron Trump was a key part of the campaign, and said he frequently advised his father on messaging to Gen Z and which podcasts he