In The Shadow Of Mt Hollywood

What I'm beginning to notice about the dual Gaetz-Hegseth not-quite scandals so far is that, unlike the sort of allegations that go metastatic, these both seem to have stalled. It's beern roughly a week since news leaked of a memo written by an unnamed woman who claims to be a friend of another unnamed accuser that was sent to Trump's transition team. That memo claimed Hegseth raped a 30-year-old conservative group staffer in a hotel room in Monterey in 2017, the [Washington] Post reported. Police investigated the incident but Hegseth never faced charges, the memo said. And so far, we've basically had clarifying information regarding a non-disclosure agreement and Hegseth's version of events, which seems to have been confirmed by a subsequent police investigation. Let's contrast this with, say, the timeline of the Monica Lewinsky scandal : Jan. 7 : Lewinsky signed an affidavit stating that she never had a sexual relationship with Cl...

As I've been saying, the affronted ingenues who come out of the woodwork with steamy allegations against Trump and other Republican nominees soon enough turn out not to be ingenues, whatever else they may be. This is starting to look like it's the case with the as-yet unnamed woman who, through a friend, has passed allegations against Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth to the Trump transition team at Mar-a-Lago, which in turn have been leaked to the press. It appears that the fullest accounts are in Vanity Fair , behind a paywall, and the Washington Post . The Post's version goes like this: The alleged incident is said to have occurred when Hegseth attended a California Federation of Republican Women conference in Monterey, and allegedly took place between just before midnight on Oct. 7, 2017, and 7 a.m. the following morning at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa, according to the police statement, first reported by Vanity Fair. The allegation to ...

This morning's headline at The Hill: NFL stars celebrate big plays with dance moves inspired by Trump : Players across the NFL celebrated big plays Sunday with dance moves inspired by President-elect Trump. Raiders tight end Brock Bowers, Titans wide receiver Calvin Ridley and Lions defensive end Za’Darius Smith all followed San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa in celebrating big plays with dances inspired by Trump. After a 23-yard touchdown, Bowers shook his arms and hips in the end zone similar to how Trump famously dances. Following the game, he told USA Today that he’s seen “everyone do it.” “I watched the UFC fight [Saturday] night, and Jon Jones did it. I like watching UFC, so I saw it, and thought it was cool,” he said. . . . College players have been doing the move for weeks, and now it’s gone international, the AP noted. This confirms the words of General Patton : When you were kids, you all admired the champion marb...

My point in yesterday's post was that Trump, having somehow gotten this way through successful careers in salesmanship, the management of wealth and influence, and entertainment, has a deep and instinctive insight into subliminal cues. It reminds me of discussions I've seen of artists like Shakespere or Michelangelo that point out that critics can take paragraphs to explain the effect of specific scenes or vignettes, but the decisions the artists made in creating them must have been nearly instant. These sorts of insights operate below a conscious or rational level. But some sort of underlying intent is clearly behind Trump's nominations of Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, and Matt Gaetz, because the reactions from his oppenents have been so over-the-top on one hand and predictable on the other. Trump must have had some sense that this would be the case, and I've got to assume he also has an instinctive sense of how an end game will play out, even if it's obscure to...

Sen John Fetterman's words to Speaker Emerita Pelosi struck me with particular force when I read them this morning. They came in the middle of an interview he did with Politico : After Joe’s Biden debate over the summer, you didn’t think he should drop out. We can both agree that he had a rough debate. People like [Nancy] Pelosi, she really tried to — what’s the word I’m looking for? — she embraced this “she’s the godmother, she’s the enforcer.” And now she’s blaming Biden. Well, you can’t have it both ways. You got what you wanted, and now you’re still blaming Biden. I think it’s really ironic that you have a woman at age 84 and she is still hanging on. Why not give a younger generation an opportunity to occupy that seat? One thing I've noticed about this year's campaign and the surrounding events has been their subliminal, even dreamlike quality. Not least among these images is Sen Fetterman's recovery from a severe stroke in May, 2022, about which t he Bab...

Some of the reasons why @RobertKennedyJr @mattgaetz @TulsiGabbard @PeteHegseth @KristiNoem *might* have a better chance to be confirmed than the Conventional Wisdom has it: 1. The media likes the “Perils of Pauline” framing for confirmation battles where everything is seen… — Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) November 15, 2024 According to the left-wing Bulwark, Donald Trump Is Dead Serious About Getting Matt Gaetz to DOJ : Of all the lawyers Trump interviewed to be his next attorney general, the Florida congressman checked the most boxes. Gaetz is a loyal, longtime adviser, an acid-tongued debate champ, and—perhaps most important to the oft-investigated former and future president—an aggrieved target of the feds. Gaetz was the subject of a federal sex-crime probe that he survived and labeled a Deep State fix. . . . The pick was so audacious that it prompted immediate speculation that Gaetz was actually playing the role of a sacrificial lamb—there to give Republican senato...

I waas intrigued by this description of the trasnsition process at Mar-a-Lago, specifically the designation of Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence: I’m sorry folks, we are going to have to wait to understand the thinking behind this one. I have absolutely no idea. Mrs Gabbard has never led any organization of scale, nor held any position of intelligence review that I am aware of. Other than being a campaign surrogate (via RFK Jr) and very close friend of Tucker Carlson, who I’m told is one of a small group organizing the cabinet appointments; together with Donald Trump Jr, Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy Jr. (currently living in Mar-a-Lago); I’m not sure what would be the plan for Tulsi Gabbard (maybe with guidance from Ric Grenell?). Like everyone else, I’m puzzled. Whoa, Bobby Jr is in residence at Mar-a-Lago? I did a web search for confirmation and came up with hints. I found this from Tuesday -- and thus it's probably already out of d...