June 17, 2025

MATTHEW CONTINETTI: A Decade of Donald Trump.

The reaction to Trump’s announcement was just as noteworthy as its content. No one in Washington understood what was coming. Pundits dismissed his candidacy. On the Fox News Channel’s “All Star Panel” that evening, NPR’s Mara Liasson said Trump “will be ignored from henceforth.” George Will compared Trump to a Ford Edsel. Charles Krauthammer said sarcastically, “His one redeeming characteristic? He is very rich.”

Yet the conservative grassroots were intrigued. Radio talk show king Rush Limbaugh, based in Florida, thoroughly enjoyed his friend’s remarks. “This is going to resonate with a lot of people, I guarantee you,” Limbaugh told his audience. And his callers agreed. “I think the guy’s for real this time, only because he’s got such a damn big ego that he’s going to prove himself right and he’s going to be in your face,” said one. “Listen,” said another two days later, “I think that Trump has got a very good chance of getting elected president of the United States.”

How did Beltway wise men misjudge the Trump phenomenon? The answer must be that men and women who spent generations in politics and government had a harder time seeing how the country had changed since the end of the Cold War. The new economic, social, demographic, and cultural realities prepared the ground for a norm-breaking, performative, take-no-prisoners populist. When Trump said, “Sadly, the American dream is dead,” Washington scoffed—even as Americans told Gallup that they had lost confidence in practically every institution.

What once seemed like a foreign language is now the lingua franca. The world that dismissed Trump as an aberrant interloper is gone. He demolished it. His revolution enters its second decade not as a curiosity but as the new normal. And the rest of us are still trying to catch up.

Some in America taking much longer than others:

Posted at 12:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

BLOOMBERG: Russia Fears for Ally Iran With Few Tools to Influence Crisis.

Russia is watching Israel’s bombardment of Iran with mounting concern for the survival of a key ally, though the Kremlin recognizes it has few levers to influence the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Iran hasn’t asked for Russian help and Moscow doesn’t plan to offer any defense assistance, according to a person close to the Kremlin. No one can stop Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from pursuing the bombing, and Russia won’t be able to act as a mediator to stop the conflict if the goal is regime change, the person said, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive issues.

“At the moment, mediation does not seem likely,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a think tank that advises the Kremlin. “If it comes to some form of behind-the-scenes diplomacy, Russia is more likely to play a role between Iran and the United States — Israel’s interest in negotiations is not apparent.”

Or to put it another way:

Heh, indeed.

Related: Trump Absolutely Levels ‘Kooky’ Tucker Carlson After Podcaster Predicts Early End to Presidency.

Posted at 12:00 pm by Ed Driscoll 50

ENDORSED:

X is much better than Twitter was, but it still needs some serious work.

Posted at 11:52 am by Stephen Green 23

NOT SO HARMLESS: Weed legalization more dangerous for road safety than previously believed.

Marijuana, the THC-containing part of the cannabis plant, impairs driving performance by diminishing motor coordination, multitasking abilities, reaction time and distance perception, according to a report from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Impairment also lasts up to five times longer than alcohol intoxication, which usually wears off within eight hours.

But few Americans know about these dangerous effects or how long they persist, posing serious road safety concerns as drugged driving becomes more common.

In a March study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, found roughly 85% of 2,000 cannabis users reported driving the same day they use the drug. Only 19% thought their driving became worse after cannabis use and 34% believed they drove better after use.

To be fair, smoking the stuff never made anybody any smarter.

Posted at 11:41 am by Stephen Green 121

HEH:

Full text:

Joking aside, the reason the online isolationists are having such a meltdown is actually not even that they are “anti-war”. Current events are shattering the illusion that their hot takes are representative or influential. This is why they’re so upset.

The reason they have been able to maintain this illusion in their minds despite the fact that President Trump has always been pro-Israel and a hawk on Iran is that the illusion was flattering to them.

Thousands and thousands of likes on their posts about how Churchill was the chief villain of WWII and Israel is the root of all evil went to their head. They thought they had power. The thought they had influence. And now that they’ve realised they don’t they’re calling for Trump to be impeached 🤡

My thoughts and prayers are with them at this difficult time.

Trump is proving to be the best friend Israel has ever had in the White House, and at the time they needed one most.

Posted at 10:51 am by Stephen Green 323

NICE SHOOTING, FELLAS:

Posted at 9:50 am by Stephen Green 34

EVERYTHING GETS HACKED: U.N. Report Warns Terrorists Could Weaponize Driverless Cars.

The report, Algorithms and Terrorism: The Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence for Terrorist Purposes, details ways emerging AI technologies could be weaponised by extremists and was first covered by The Times.

Self-driving cars, drones and other automated systems to target crowded public spaces could all be seized and remotely controlled by terrorists to deliver deadly consequences in crowded public spaces.

“Vehicles, particularly cars, vans and trucks, have long been used in terrorist attacks,” the U.N. Office of Counter-Terrorism warned.

It added: “Reflecting on the extensive history of terrorism and vehicles, ­increased autonomy in cars could well be an amenable development for terrorist groups, ­allowing them to effectively carry out one of their most traditional types of attacks remotely, without the need for a follower to sacrifice his or her life or risk being apprehended.”

I gave a similar warning last week — no hacks required: How the Rioters Blew It. “Imagine a few dozen strategically-placed rioters hailing Waymos to the intersections and bridges necessary to completely cut off part of a city — and then setting them ablaze. An EV can burn for hours without major intervention, thanks to a process called thermal runaway.”

Posted at 9:37 am by Stephen Green 71

SHOCKER:

Posted at 9:29 am by Glenn Reynolds 71

KRUISER’S MORNING BRIEFING: Randi Weingarten Will Still Have Plenty of Pull at the DNC. “Randi Weingarten is one of the most evil women in American politics. She’s also one of the most influential on the Democrats’ side of the aisle. There’s likely to be far more fallout for Ken Martin and the rest of the current DNC hierarchy over Weingarten’s departure than there will be for her.”

Posted at 9:06 am by Stephen Green 39

THE SANCTUARY STATE CONFEDERACY: “Most Americans think of the Civil War as an unambiguous conflict between the North and the South over slavery, and that is generally accurate. It was an insurrection against the federal government committed by 11 states whose Democrat governors and legislators feared that the recently elected Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, would deprive them of their non-citizen labor force. These state officials vowed to resist any attempt by the federal government to put down their rebellion and routinely denounced the new president as an aspiring dictator. Why does this sound familiar?”

Posted at 8:55 am by Glenn Reynolds 164

UM… FAVORING BY RACE IS ILLEGAL, ACTUALLY:

Posted at 8:49 am by Stephen Green 150

THAT WOULD BE NICE, BUT…: Here’s a Thought: A Killer’s Politics Shouldn’t Matter at All.

Just minutes after Vance Boelter, 57, was caught, disarmed and arrested in a field near his Green Isle, Minnesota home by one of the 20 SWAT teams that had been searching tirelessly for him, the legacy media began speculating about his personal politics and motivations.

Boelter was an extreme threat who had a lengthy list of additional victims. Police said they found three AK-47s and a 9mm Beretta handgun in his SUV, which he left at his second crime scene after committing two murders.

As a native Minnesotan who grew up hunting and fishing in L’etoile du Nord Boelter’s horrific killings should be difficult for me to understand, but as an ex-cop I don’t even bother. We will probably never understand his true motive(s), and all the media blather about his personal politics is just a waste of our time.

I’m much more concerned about his victims and their families: Minnesota DFL (Democratic Farmer Labor Party) leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, both of whom Boelter assassinated, and state Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who were both horribly wounded but will likely survive.

It would be nice not to focus on the political motivations of these murderers, but with most of the political violence coming from the Left, I’m not sure how wise that would be.

Posted at 8:35 am by Stephen Green 131

SETH BARRETT TILLMAN: Trump-47 and the Vacant Article III Judicial Posts.

There are some 60 vacant Article III (federal) judicial posts. Trump-47 has put forward four nominees for vacant federal district court positions (all in Missouri), and he has put forward one nominee for a vacant federal appellate position (in the Sixth Circuit). There are five (other) vacant federal appellate positions without any nominees, and there are 50 vacant federal district court positions without any nominees. Additionally, there is one vacant Article I judicial post in the United States District Court for the Virgin Islands. It too lacks a nominee.

There are eight vacant federal district court positions in TEXAS without any nominees. FLORIDA has five vacant federal district court positions. Both LOUISIANA and NORTH CAROLINA have four vacant federal district court positions. Texas, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina—each has two Republican U.S. Senators.

All the extant Trump-47 nominees were submitted on May 12, 2025. There has been no activity in over a month.

What’s the holdup, guys?

Posted at 7:56 am by Glenn Reynolds 96

HMM:

China buys 80-90% of Iran’s oil exports — often using questionable methods to avoids sanctions, and presumably at a discount.

Whatever change is coming, Beijing presumably isn’t happy about it.

Posted at 7:48 am by Stephen Green 67