He just posted this.
Trump just posted this incredibly weird AI video of himself and JD Vance in a band and Russ Vought as the grim reaper. This is what the president is doing while the government is shut down. We’re so screwed. pic.twitter.com/8XGCNmPRRw
— Harry Sisson (@harryjsisson) October 3, 2025
Bonkers. Certifiable. Loopy. Totally nuts.
I’d say it’s 25th Amendment time, except that amendment is useless.
Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
So it’s up the the vice president to call out the president? Vance is as demented and vile as Trump is. We’re stuck with this incompetent dingbat.
If we survive this, I’ll definitely recommend a revision to the amendment to make it actually mean something.
Less cowbell.
I keep reading that as “incredible Weird Al video”
pilgham #3
me too
The system needs an ability for lower ranks in the heirarchy to dismiss higher ranks. The replacement can not be drawn from those voting for the dismissal. Some mechanism would be needed to dampen frivolous uses. This would work from :we the people” on up to VP vs P.
DanDare@5: The system also needs to have the positions responsible for enforcing the rules be nonpartisan.
He must have used his noggin for the cowbell.
;-)
So what if your president is a fucking moron that you have no practical method short of a military coup to be rid of?
At least he isn’t an extremely well qualified dark skinned person with a vagina, eh?
I really hope Buck Dharma, Eric Bloom, and any other surviving members (Bouchards, Allen Lanier) sue the fuck out of them.
The USoA neds a military coup and reformed system after that.
Given the alternatives seem to be either Civil War or collapse into Trumpist Fascism with catastrophic results for our world.
It seems clear to me that the intended supposed “checks and balances” of the old USoA governance systems have failed and that with SCOTUS and Congress reduced and rigged into impotence; a military Coup to remove the USoA’s domestic enemies who have already conducted a de facto politico-legal Coup that has taken over the country , a hypothetical military coup is now the least bad option.
Trump has violated the USoA’s Constitution and his Oath of Office by his executive orders notably the First Amendment and his abuses of power & office for personal gain and malice are staggeringly obvious. Sending troops into cities and targeting political opponents and even States that voted against him should be ample evidence of that and his mental incompetence is now clear enough and yet clearly Congress is useless and SCOTUS is useless so what else does that leave?
It was always a real flaw that the set terms in office in the USoA made it impossible or too difficult to change regimes and leaders halfway through terms when necessary.
The Generals recently attacked and berated by the traitor-in-chief need to act now before it is too late and end this cruel, sad, obscenity of a “Presidency” that has highly dubious legitimacy given voter suppression and possible even probable Musk vote-rigging.* Trump and his regime incl his there by deception traitor SCOTUS “Injustices” and Congress should be forcibly removed at gunpoint & emergency military rule imposed with new elections to follow.
These new elections to be held under new rules to make future Trump -type dictators impossible including a strict one vote one value system – no Electoral College, independent qualification tests for all Congress representatives, SCOTUS justices and Presidential aspirants needing to show mental and physical competence plus knowledge of basic civics, laws, ethics, logic, the Constitution and science and having to serve in lesser governmental roles of some variety before being able to hold the office of president. There must also be preferential or run-off voting to eliminate third party spoilers and background checks to remove foreign e.g. Russian influence.
No Fascists or far reichwing domestic enemies to be allowed to stand – including the entirety of the present “Republican / Trump” party. No convicted felons or those found to have committed sexual assault in criminal trials permitted to stand.
The rulings of Trump’s treason SCOTUS featuring the Trump picks to be ruled null and void too. Oh & the entire Trump empire in business and Heritage Foundation, Murdoch media, etc .. to be terminated, have their assets confiscated and those associated with them incl. Murdoch, Theil and Musk to be permanently barred from holding any political positions or major business positions.
All USA internal political boundaries to be redrawn to eliminate gerrymandering by an independent Electoral Commission set up along Aussie lines which will also have power to monitor elections for fairness and investigate any vote manipulation.
This new model and new rules might not be perfect but it sures seems better than the anti-Democratic mess those in the United States of America currently have.
.* See :
^ Oops see :
As nightmarish as that video is (i.e., that the Predator of the US thinks it’s appropriate to sign off on), I still find it kind of hilarious that even in AI, Trump has no sense of rhythm. It’s almost as if the creator couldn’t resist poking fun at him, even while celebrating his “policies.”
@ StevoR
Trump is “Commander in Chief” of the military.
A coup was tried remember?
@ 11 StevoR
You sound like alternate universe Charlie Kirk. Maybe have a cup of tea and a lie down
@ StevoR
Can you explain your process for verifying sources? Because you seem to rely heavily on fringe whackaloons on YouTube. Do you have any criteria for judging the veracity of one source rekative to another, or is it just whatever confirms what you want to believe?
StevoR,
Once you invite the military into governmental power, even on a supposedly temporary basis, it’s not easy to get them out again. What the generals certainly should do (and what they are obliged by law to do), is to refuse to obey illegal orders.
@ ^ KG : Have you noticed how Trump is using the USoA’s military already and what he seems to be planning on doing with them? I reckon it is better they get rid of him & his mooks / puppeteers rather than Trump & Fascists uses them for brutal repression or Civil War which seem to be the alternatives here..
Congress and SCOTUS seem to be proven useless instoppin this so what does that leave if not the military.
@ Silentbob : Last resort and desperate times requiring very desperate and drastic measures because of lack of alternatives. I think this way will mean the least violence & carnage rather than those alternatives noted in my previous sentence here. Yes, I do think things are that bad and, yes, I do think we are at the point where this is the last best hope the USoA now has available. Your preferred scenario here would be ____?
@ Silentbob – 5th October 2025 at 7:32 am : “Trump is “Commander in Chief” of the military. A coup was tried remember?”
How can we forget – Jan 6th 2021? Yet seems somehow too many Americans did forget. Why Trump wasn’t in jail for the the rest of his life the next day or sooner is beyond me. That also proves Trump’s unfitness for holding any high office including and especially POTUS and C-in-C.
StevoR@12,
I’d need to be an expert, or at least skilled and knowlegeable, in statistics, psephology and computer security (at least) to make any judgement about Election Truth Alliance’s analyses, although their spokesperson is quite convincing. But I’d beware of hanging too much on claims that Trump didn’t win: (a) he wouldn’t have come within tens of millions of votes of winning if American political culture was not deathly sick and (b) Trump’s assaults on democracy and the constitution (notably the separation of powers) would still be illegal and tyrannical if he’d legitimately won 90% of the popular voite and every vote in the Electoral College.
KG @17: Generals who refuse to obey illegal orders will simply be replaced by generals who will obey them.
Rob Grigjanis@21,
Indeed: it’s up to their potential replacements to refuse to accept the post – or to accept it and refuse to obey the illegal orders. Of course this may well not work, but:
1) It would still be the legally correct (and I’d argue, morally right) thing to do, and
2) StevoR’s proposed military coup surely relies on most of the senior military officers being opposed to Trump establishing himself as dictator. If that is the case, then the rather less drastic remedy of organised refusal of illegal orders is surely worth trying first – after all, TACO! If it’s not the case, then the attempted coup would probably fail, or lead to immediate civil war as the fascist faction of the military would oppose it by force.
… 25th Amendment … is useless.
The 25A was written in response to JFK’s assassination in 1963, when early reports implied Kennedy might survive, but with major brain damage.
If Thomas Crooks had had slightly better aim, that amendment might have been perfectly suited to the situation. As the line of succession now stands – Vance, Johnson, Grassley, Rubio … – we’re up shit creek in a wire mesh canoe no matter how many assassins step up.
That video is largely AI produced.
I’ve lately seen some really well done AI videos that when you look closer, make absolutely no sense. They have short scenes in sequences that add up to nothing coherent.
This video is like that.
I’m not sure why the individual scenes are short, a few seconds or not much longer, but I suspect that AI can’t do longer scenes without going off the rails.
@9
Blue Oyster Cult issued a statement about the cultural appropiation of their song.
They aren’t happey but there is nothing they can do.
I had no idea their songs are owned by Sony Music.
I’ve seen Blue Oyster Cult twice in the last few years.
They are still good and still have a full touring schedule.
I just checked. They aren’t going to be near me in the foreseeable future. :>(
It’s too late, the 25th amendment can’t save us now. It’s evil magats all the way down
bump tRUMP
we get
the vancehole
bump the vancehole
we get
lying mofo mikey
bump mofo mike
we get
next magat in line,
and on, and on, and on
until we hit the bottom of the death spiral
@10,11 StevoR
LOL. Stevo…Stevo! You’ve been sounding the alarm about Trump for what I assumed were good reasons, but don’t you see how a military dictatorship would be so much worse than Trump? Don’t you see how it would be so much worse than anything the United States has ever seen?
As @17 KG noted, military dictatorships don’t go away on their own. History shows they tend to persist for several decades. But even if I give you the best case scenario — you get everything you want and the utopian reform takes place after a brief reset — you have still established precedent for throwing out all the rules and doing a military coup when you don’t get your way. What makes you think your reformed system would be stable? The opposition would surely try another coup the moment the opportunity presents itself.
“We need a coup” is pundit speak for “My political opinions are garbage, and I can only get what I want through force.”
The LIES and PROPAGANDA are getting VERY DANGEROUS:
https://digbysblog.net/2025/10/04/what-theyre-seeing-2/
The scary thing about that is that sooo many knuckle-dragging magat imbeciles are slurping this up, accept it as true, and are willing to use violence.
How far will the rtwing xtian terrorist magat violence escalate?
@10,11 StevoR says: The USoA neds a military coup Trump and his regime…SCOTUS…and Congress should be forcibly removed at gunpoint & emergency military rule imposed
I reply: I hate the magat-in-chief and all the millions of rtwing xtian terrorist cockroaches in his cult.
But, once you destroy any remaining semblance of a democratic goverment, it will result in:
ENDLESS DEATH, DESTRUCTION AND CHAOS!
I’m glad you are in Australia. Your violent rhetoric would only inflame the situation here!
Rather interesting article in Vox: https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/462226/end-times-crisis-history-lessons-cliodynamics-collase-society
There’s elaboration, but the nub of it is:
“The “wealth pump”
The collapse of ancient empires, the revolutions that convulsed early modern Europe, or the tensions tearing apart today’s democracies are often treated as products of unique historical circumstances. But my analysis of more than a hundred past crises spanning the last two millennia shows that these outbreaks of societal instability are driven by a mechanism that operates with surprising regularity across different historical eras and places: the wealth pump. The term describes a set of conditions — economic and political — that transfer wealth from the broad base of the population to the elite, a small proportion of people who concentrate power in their hands.
The wealth pump consists of various means by which the fruits of economic growth are, instead of being shared equitably, siphoned upward the social ladder. In the past, this was from peasants to landlords; today, from workers to business owners and corporate executives. First, economic inequality rises. Then political inequality follows, as the wealthy convert their riches into influence. This development erodes democratic institutions, making it harder for the non-elite majority to defend their interests through formal politics. Eventually, systemic stability is threatened.”
This is the latest atrocity from the Trump regime.
.1. He tried to call up the Oregon National Guard to police war torn Portland.
Which isn’t necessary since he is lying and Portland isn’t even remotely war torn.
.2. A Federal judge appointed by Trump no less, blocked this.
.3. So he called up the California National Guard and sent them to Portland.
They just got off the plane in Portland.
The Governor of California, the nominal head of the California National Guard is very angry.
He wasn’t even notified AFAICT.
This is that cuckoo evil president ignoring two governors and a Federal Judge. Again.
The goal here is to provoke violence from the citizens, and then slaughter a few dozen or more. They really, seriously can’t wait to see pools of blood and piles of bodies in the street.
They think shooting Americans will intimidate us.
It probably will for now but we aren’t going to forgive and forget.
And oh yeah, burn in hell anyone who voted for those fascist GOP (your favorite insult here).
This whole use the US military and the State National Guards against American citizens as a tool for political oppression is way outside of any civilized norms of a democracy.
If the State National Guards are going to be used as political weapons of the GOP to hold onto power, why even have them?
It wouldn’t bother me for a second if Governors Kotek of Oregon and Newsom of California, just disbanded their National Guards.
Well OK, that is why.
I’d ask the loon in chief anyway and see if he can even figure it out to say “no”.
@30 John Morales wrote of: “The “wealth pump” the destruction of empires and inequality
I reply: thanks John, interesting article, and it is consistent with many articles I read about the VAST gap in economic and political equality that has been increasing dramatically in the past few decades, especially in the united states.
@32 raven found that: a state cannot unilaterally disband its National Guard.
A state’s ability to disband its Guard is limited by federal law and requires the consent of the U.S. President.
I reply: I appreciate your researching that. However, that is very angering and disgusting. The state governments (and populations) are being held hostage by the magat-in-chief using the states’ own national guards against them, violently.
CNN viewers demanded “proof of life” after the 79-year-old president conducted the interview entirely by text.
Maybe this is one alternative to violence the states could use. . .
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/trump-cut-funding-to-16-dem-states
Trump Cut Funding to 16 Dem States. Can States Cut His?
Within 72 hours of the October 1st government shutdown, the Trump administration weaponized federal funding against Democratic states with surgical precision. OMB Director Russell Vought froze $18 billion in New York City infrastructure for “unconstitutional DEI principles,” cancelled $8 billion in climate funding across exactly 16 blue states (every one a state that voted for Kamala Harris), and sent compacts (READS AS: THREATS AND COERCION) to nine universities demanding they protect “conservative ideas” in exchange for federal funding advantages.
. . .
Some of you have suggested withholding taxes before; I was pretty sure it could not be done as individuals without being tax evasion, but Christopher Armitage has some new thoughts: What if the states themselves withheld the money?
New York sends the federal government $24 billion more each year than it receives back. Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts together contribute another $40 billion surplus. These same states now face federal freezes on programs Congress has already funded. The money exists and Congress appropriated it. The executive branch simply refuses to release it.
The anti-commandeering doctrine, confirmed in Printz v. United States, holds that the federal government cannot force states to administer federal programs. This means States participate in exchange for federal funding. When that funding stops illegally, the basis for cooperation disappears.
Yeah, that occurred to most of us about 6 months ago.
I pay a lot in taxes.
It is all documented in 1099s and W-2s so if I don’t pay it, the Feds will simply take it out of my accounts.
So, not an option.
OTOH, our Tax system depends heavily on voluntary compliance. If enough people don’t pay their taxes, there is nothing the Feds can do. The IRS doesn’t even have enough people power right now as it is.
California is the biggest subsidizer of Red states. They send 83 billion USD more to the Feds than they get back in services, such as deploying the National Guard to provoke Portland, Oregon residents.
The Blue states aren’t completely stupid or helpless.
They’ve been in “Soft Secession” since Trump was inaugurated.
The Blue states have most of the population and 70% of the GDP. California alone is the fourth largest economy in the world.
All governments including dictatorships depend to some extent on the consent of the governed. Ask the USSR, Syria’s Assad, or the Shah of Iran how that works.
FWIW, the Red states have been in “Soft Secession” since they lost the War for Slavery in 1865.
The Blue states can do a lot by simply stalling, beating around the bush, and ignoring the Federal government.
I wouldn’t mind it if the universities started offering classes in how to ignore and evade the dysfunctional Federal government.
They could start by not allowing military recruiters access to high schools, which is the current practice.
25A will be used but not before Vance gets a shot at 10 years in the top job.
You just know that if their pay was dependent on that bill passing it would go through in a heartbeat. All the civil servants who’s pay gets freezed during these shut-down should nail every door in congress and senate shut until they agree to resume funding.
Don’t forget that it’s not just about the generals refusing unlawful orders. Every officer in the chain is obligated to disobey an unlawful order. (This is not to say that it’s not a difficult thing to even contemplate.) It’s actually fairly easy to fire flag officers; it’s certainly possible to remove lower-ranking officers from particular positions, but actually “firing” them — meaning “no longer commissioned officers” — is a lot harder from O-6 (colonel/USN captain) on down. Just look at a quarter of a century of frustration from the Powers That Be at their inability to remove judges and defense counsel at GITMO…
The technical description is “It’s really complicated and context-specific.”
This is interesting.
The state governors do have some powers.
.1. They choose the head of their National Guards and they can remove them as well.
.2. This probably doesn’t help all that much.
I’m sure that Governor Kotek and Governor Newsom have asked their National Guard generals the obvious question.
Will you slaughter our citizens in the streets if you are ordered to by fascist presidents?”
Well, probably they didn’t.
Up until 6 months ago, this wasn’t any sort of problem on anyone’s list.
Things have changed a lot since then.
I’m sure it will be asked the next time it comes up in all 50 states.
raven:
“Will you slaughter our citizens in the streets if you are ordered to by fascist presidents?”
Depends on the circumstances, no?
But seriously, slaughter is not justified killing, is it?
You might have well used other loaded terms such as massacre, purge, liquidation, or extermination, equally loaded with historical and moral significance, each designed to provoke outrage.
And this business of restricting it specifically to fascist presidents (else you’d not have issued that specific qualifier, no?) Non-fascist presidents are not covered by your framing, which is again just rhetorical framing.
You are functionally trying to prime the listener and to poison the well as well.
Tsk.
I saw all about the 25th amendment in Dave (1993). It must only occur in movies.
This funding thing only seems to happen in the ‘States. Perhaps you’re not doing this government thing correctly?
@29. shermanj :
What. Exactly. Do. You. Think. You. Have. Now?
What Do. You. Think. Is. Coming?
Yeesh. Tell me you haven’t been paying attention without telling me you haven’t been paying attention.
Trump is now a dictator. He has unchecked power and is abusing it and attacking dissidents and using brute force to rule. He is openly murdering innocent people, sending innocent people to actual concentration camps. Openly oppressing political enemies including entire cities and states that opposed him.
Where the fuck in the fascist time line here do you think we’re at? Hint: It is long past the point where anything short of force will suffice to stop it.
So now.
You have either endless brutal Trump tyranny. The blood baths they are itching for..
You have Civil War.
Or you have a military coup.
One thing we can be sure of is that now Fascists are in power they won’t give it up without a fight – or a coup – and they will cause incalculable human death, suffering and harm to the USA and entire planet. There will not be free or fair elections anymore. The USoA as it was died on Jan 6th this year. You now live in a fascist tyranny using the name of that now dead nation as its thin plaster façade. That is the reality.
@ 27. the laughably, criminally willfully ignorant or actively maliciously evil disingenuous troll : the above all thanks to you & those like you – those are the options now that you & those like you have cost the USoA its Democracy and imposed fascism instead. Tyranny -endless tyranny, Civil War or Coup.
Note I specifically did NOT call for a military dictatorship you liar.
Note the bit in #11 about new rules which would ironically actually give you what you want – a chance to vote for useless third party spoilers without bringing down American Democracy again. Without them actually being spoilers. Fixing your crappy system which is long overdue anyhow and making it more Democratic.
You and people like you have fucked the United States of America up so badly that a military coup is now your best case scenario. Fact – whether you are awake enough to realise that or not or were actively secretly working for Trumpist fascism all along.
Trump just lost in Federal court again.
.1. In an emergency session, the judge just blocked the deployment of the California National Guard in Portland, Oregon.
This took place on a Sunday night, no less.
Why is the California National Guard in Portland, Oregon anyway?
.2. Both the states of California and Oregon filed in the court case.
.3. Trump says they are just going to ignore the court ruling.
There are all sorts of things wrong here but one thing is obvious.
This is a real abuse of the US military and the National Guard. They aren’t supposed to be right wingnut thugs attacking the citizens they were sworn to defend because Trump is a senile idiot.
The latest in the Federal war on Portland.
Trump is now sending the Texas National Guard to Portland.
Because unlike California, Texas already is a fascist state.
Reportedly, the Federal judge has already issued a ruling blocking this.
Which the loon in chief is going to also ignore.
To add some context here.
A state judge in South Carolina who defied the Federal fascists just had her house firebombed tonight.
She and her family came very close to being killed.
“BREAKING: South Carolina Judge Diane Goodstein’s home is burning to the ground after an apparent explosion. Her husband, a former Democratic …”
People are going to get killed here.
It is just a matter of who and when.
There is a Federal Judge in Portland, appointed by Trump, who is really pissed off tonight and working late on Sunday.
I’m sure the Alabama National Guard or some other backwards Red state’s Guard is next.
My best guess is that they’re waiting for the midterms, and then they’ll use the 25th amendment. That means Vance gets a full six years. The problem they’re going to have is that Vance has the charisma of a toilet roll, so they’ll lose a sizeable chunk of the maga base. It’s not like Trump’s economic policies have been good to them, and many are about to lose their health insurance. That means a clear majority of people being anti-Trump.
What happens at that point probably depends on how many democrats and leftists manage to take a deep breath and say, “Let’s work together,” rather than, “This is all your fault in the first place you complete moron.”
The first reaction is a) completely true and b) perfectly natural but also c) counterproductive.
StevoR@46,
You’re overestimating Trump’s current power. Compare his position to that of Putin or Xi, who are able to silence critics instantly, be certain of winning any elections they choose to permit, replace regional governors at will, command unanimous votes in their tame legislatures – and get enthusiastic applause from military leaders.
Trump can’t yet do any of these things, although he (and the slightly more competent fascists around him) are working on it as fast as they can. There may indeed come a time when a military coup is the best option available – although I have no confidence in the military leaders’ wish to avoid fascism, nor their ability to carry out a coup successfully, nor the likelihood that if they did, they would then organise free and fair elections and vacate the stage. But that time is not yet. What American antifascists should be working for is a countrywide movement of resistance, focused on strikes, demonstrations, occupations – and getting Democratic candidates for the midterms who are determined antifascists – unlike the current party leaders and most of their congresspeople. And what American military leaders should do is refuse to obey illegal orders.
He was always without self control. But as a mere businessman there were limits to what he could get away with.
.
In the second term, there are no grownups, only bootlickers. There are no safety rails anymore. Add what appears to be cognitive decline and maybe frontal lobe dementia reducing self-control further.
In comment @28 I asked: How far will the rtwing xtian terrorist magat violence escalate?
Here is an important answer:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/10/06/the-crime-wave-is-coming-from-inside-the-white-house/
a 32 minute video, worth watching:
https://youtu.be/rtenEblLYo0
@sheila #48:
That’s not quite true. Vance has all the charisma of a used toilet roll.