Resistance HQ Bulletin 7, 11/18/24

… Joe and Mika from MSNBC’s Morning Joe inexplicably traveled to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to patch things up with Trump and “restart my communications with Trump.” Trump repeatedly accused Scarborough of murdering a staffer in his district office to possibly cover up an affair, and has called Mika dumb and ridiculed her plastic surgery. Gross. I guess legacy media feels they have to humiliate themselves for access and ratings, because that’s what this is. Count me out.

… Trump told Fox: “I received a call from Joe Scarborough requesting a meeting from him and Mika, and I agreed. We met at Mar-a-Lago on Friday morning. Many things were discussed and I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have an open communication. In many ways, it’s too bad that wasn’t done long ago.”

… More from Trump on the meeting: “They congratulated me on running a great and flawless campaign - one for the history books.” How sweet. He went from Hitler to Lincoln.

… Right-wing media and social media influencers all mocking Joe and Mika for “kissing the ring” and “surrendering” to Trump. They are getting trashed from both sides. I think many people were willing to accept the “he fooled us” narrative after 2016 with much skepticism, but the willingness for viewers to leave that in the past is likely gone forever now.

… The spin they put on it was also pretty pathetic - especially Mika comparing it to her dad meeting with foreign leaders as NSA. They are completely out of touch with the mood of their shrinking audience - it will be interesting to watch the ratings this week.

… Fox was having a field day with the clips of Joe & Mika, mocking them for being phonies and frauds for calling Trump every name in the book then flying down to kiss the ring. It just undermines any credibility they had, and Fox is using it to discredit all Dems by suggesting that their criticisms of Trump was all contrived.

… Some of us meant every word of every one. Obviously not all of us.

… Of course, it doesn’t help also that Chuck Schumer was laughing and joking with Trump at the Al Smith dinner and Joe Biden was smiling and shaking hands with him in a two hour meeting in the Oval Office. I’m a big civility guy, but this isn’t that. It goes way beyond that.

… Even Nikki Haley was mocking Joe and Mika, saying that they are frauds and sellouts and are just doing this because their ratings are so bad. When Nikki is calling you a fraud and a sellout, that’s when you know it’s really bad.

… Daily Beast is reporting that a source close to Morning Joe said the meeting “was f_ing worth it” since it caused Trump to tell Fox afterwards that he was going to try to be more cooperative with the press. Are these people really that stupid, or are they just screwing with us?

… Conflicts of interest is concept that Donald Trump has never recognized or concerned himself with - either for himself or his appointees, but this term is going to make his last one look ethically pristine. Trump has now nominated Brendan Carr for FCC Chair. Carr is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Starlink, and he will now head up the agency that controls space communications.

… Carr also just happen to write the section on the FCC for Project 2025. Just as Tom Homan wrote the section for Project 2025 on the border. But Trump has no connection to Project 2025. Doesn’t even know what it is. Never heard of it. According to Trump.

… Carr made the following statement after the nomination was announced: “Broadcast media have the privilege of using a scarce and valuable resource - our airwaves. In turn, they are required by law to operate in the public interest. When the transition is complete, the FCC will enforce this public interest obligation.”

… Axios is reporting that there was a “massive blowup” between long-time Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn and Elon Musk over Cabinet picks and leaks to the press. Boris has been in the inner circle for a long time, took an indictment for Trump, and is tight with a lot of key players. Musk reportedly accused Epshteyn of leaking stories to the press about appointments he didn’t like.

… The Vanity Fair story about Pete Hegseth’s 2017 affair was sourced from a “Transition team member,” - obviously someone looking to tank Hegseth’s nomination.

… The Hegseth sex assault / NDA story was also leaked to WaPo by a Trump insider.

… What could be happening here is OG MAGAs like Epshteyn are hacked off that people like Musk and RFK Jr have supplanted them, and appointments are going to a new batch of sycophants while they are being passed over twiddling their thumbs on their podcasts waiting for the phone to ring.

… Mitch McConnell put a marker down and said “there will be no recess appointments.” If he was still Majority Leader that would certainly carry more weight. But his trusted lieutenant John Thune is, so maybe this will stick. The best thing for the country and the constitution is for each Trump nominee to go through the vetting and confirmation process. McConnell realizes that after seeing the first several, hopefully he’s speaking for Thune as well.

… Mike Johnson was asked about recess appointments: “There might be a function for that.” He’s such a worm. He’s the kid in 3rd grade who rats you out to the teacher for chewing gum in school because he thinks it will help him get an A.

… Constantly seeking attention, Rep. Nancy Mace has introduced a House Resolution to ban transgender people from using women’s restrooms in the Capitol. This clearly comes in response to the first transgender getting elected to Congress, Democrat Sarah McBride. Mace: “Never thought this would have to happen … Protecting biological women starts here and it starts now.”

… That Resolution will get Mace 5 Fox appearances and 6 Newsmax appearances and will do absolutely nothing to help her constituents. Which sums up Mace’s entire career in Congress. She already got a big write up on the Fox website.

… Mike Johnson, Tony Gonzales, Tom Homan and other Republicans spent the weekend on cable news shows assuring America that Trump was going to carry out deportations in a “measured” fashion and was going to focus initially on deporting those with criminal records (the vast majority of which are for driving without licenses because they can’t get them). Then Trump contradicted that at 4:03 AM with a post that he was going to declare a national emergency and use the military to begin mass deportations immediately.

… Sarah Palin is getting frustrated that as “The Mother of MAGA” she has not gotten a call from Trump since the election for an appointment to his Cabinet: “Funny how politics work” she responded to her fans expressing disappointment on her social media page that she has been left out so far.

… Another name conspicuously absent from Trump’s appointments so far is Ric Grenell, who many in MAGA World wanted to be Secretary of State.

… Grenell was able to serve as Trump’s token gay appointee in his last Admin, so expect him to get a call soon to be his DEI hire.

… Blacks for Trump continue to await their first seat in the Admin, which typically goes to Ben Carson. Ben says he’s in for sure and its only a matter of time.

… WaPo is reporting that two women testified to the House Ethics Committee that they were paid by Matt Gaetz and his friends to have sex with them at group sex parties and said that Gaetz was on drugs at the time. One said they saw him with a