Mostly Monday Reads: The Ugly American-in-Chief

“Meanwhile… in a land far, far away… a desperate plea…” John Buss, @repeat1968

Good Day, Sky Dancers!

The family that stands securely at the forefront of ensuring that people in other countries see us all as the quintessential Ugly American, sure made their point this last week.  That reference comes from a 1958 book and film written by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer that basically shows how inept the American Diplomatic corps was back then.  Lederer was a Captain in the U.S. Military and saw action in the Pacific theatre in World War 2. Burdick was a political scientist who served in Vietnam. The novel was so compelling that it caused then-President Eisenhower to order an investigation, and it became a central theme during JFK’s run for President.

When my family started visiting Europe in my mid-teens, I tried desperately to avoid being tagged as an American.  I remember on my last trip to rural England, there was an elderly couple from Fresno, California, whom we had to eat breakfast with at the B&B. They were textbook Ugly American Tourists. As soon as they left the table, I apologized to everyone there. If they were still alive, my guess is they would shamelessly pander to the Trumps.

So, ProPublica just exposed Don Jr and his bride, whatever woman, with severe body dysmorphia, had a huge wedding in May, paid for by one of Putin’s rich thugs. “Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin. The oligarch Umar Kremlev spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large group of other Russian guests.” There were quite a number of reporters sharing the lede on this one.  It’s quite the read.

On May 24, Donald Trump Jr. was celebrating in the Bahamas, as scantily clad dancers in stilettos and sailor caps performed for him and his guests. It was the last night of his wedding, a lavish, three-day party held across a pair of ultra-exclusive private islands. A five-tier funfetti cake had been airlifted in from Florida, and helicopters and seaplanes descended on the islands before guests settled into their oceanfront villas. That night on the beach, Trump Jr. lifted his bride into the air while fireworks launched from a barge over the sea.

“It was everything we dreamed of and more,” his wife later wrote on Instagram.

That dream was heavily funded by a secret benefactor: Umar Kremlev, a Russian oligarch close to President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlev footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses, according to records reviewed by ProPublica and interviews with three people familiar with the event. The oligarch paid to rent out one of the private islands, where a reception was held and where guests slept. He also covered other big-ticket items, like the fireworks show, and his team helped plan the event. Kremlev is the head of the International Boxing Association, a scandal-plagued sports group that has been financed by the Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. The wedding payments came from an IBA-affiliated entity in Dubai that the boxing association uses for financial transactions.

The guest list numbered around 50. It included Trump Jr.’s brother-in-law Jared Kushner, Eric Trump — and Kremlev, an imposing man with a shaved head who speaks limited English. The oligarch was part of a large group whose presence puzzled other attendees. They sometimes stood off by themselves, speaking Russian.

“It was really small, like, just really close friends,” Trump Jr. later said on his podcast. “Tried to keep it really tight. And it was just awesome.”

Kremlev’s previously unreported relationship with Trump Jr. represents an extraordinary development: a member of Putin’s circle financially supporting the president’s son and gaining intimate access to the Trump family. For a decade, Putin’s government, regarded as a chief adversary of the U.S., has been accused of efforts to influence American elections. Attempts by Russia to make inroads with the Trumps before the 2016 election exploded into controversy that dogged much of the president’s first term.

If you want some shock and awe for your Monday afternoon, read this. Or, read The Great Gatsby.

As for the Grifter-in-Chief, he was out making a fool of himself in Ireland.  Always, gracious, the Irish helped him in that quest.  He bumbled through the entire thing and probably pissed off his legal wife by joking about her absence.      He pissed off the Irish and the UK at the same time by mentioning how gung-ho he was about Irish Unification. Of course, he was mostly there to open a new Golf Course. Goddesses forbid he actually be there for an actual diplomatic meeting.  But let’s go straight the diplomatic mess he made. This is from PBS News. “Trump touches a nerve while in Ireland by saying reunification would be ‘fantastic’.”

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that a unified Ireland would be “fantastic” as he waded into a complex and politically charged subject during a weekend visit to a tournament at his Irish golf course.

At a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, Trump said he would love to see the reunification of the Republic of Ireland with the United Kingdom’s Northern Ireland.

“I don’t want to cause any problems but I’d love to see it unified,” Trump told a reporter who sought his opinion on the issue. “It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.

“I think it would be a fantastic thing,” the Republican president said, adding that “the U.K. will have something to say about it, obviously.”

At his next stop, Trump acknowledged there is “no good answer” to the reunification question as he addressed business leaders from both countries gathered at the U.S. ambassador’s residence.

Competing visions of Northern Ireland — whether Irish or British — drove decades of violence in the six-county region that has a Protestant majority and has remained part of the U.K.

Previous American presidents, including Democrat Joe Biden, who has strong emotional ties to Ireland, have avoided commenting directly on the subject.

Ireland, long dominated by its bigger neighbor Britain, became a self-governing Catholic-majority country a century ago. Northern Ireland was split between two main communities: nationalists, most of them Catholic, who desired union with the rest of Ireland, and largely Protestant unionists, who wanted to stay British. Tensions eventually exploded in the Troubles involving paramilitary groups on both sides and British troops.

A 1998 peace accord that the United States was instrumental in negotiating largely ended the violence, but left Northern Ireland’s ultimate status unresolved. That agreement allows for a vote on unification if it appears likely a majority of people would vote for it. U.K. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that the U.K. would only consider allowing a referendum “when public opinion has changed to the point where the call has to be considered.” Burnham’s office referred back to that comment when asked about Trump’s statement.

Trump’s comments Saturday, along with recent statements about the Falkland Islands, a small British overseas territory in the South Atlantic Ocean that Argentina calls Las Malvinas, could also be viewed as a dig at Britain, given his anger over London’s refusal to be drawn into the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran.

So, does anybody think there was any kind of strategy to that move or was it just his usual blather linked to something in the past he’s garbled up.  The true winner of the Ireland Visit was its President Catherine Connolly.  The picture of Orange Caligula over there having to sign something on a desk so small it would cramp a 4th grader was the cheekiest move I’ve seen in probably forever. This is from The US Sun. “Catherine Connolly takes thinly-veiled swipe at Donald Trump with 3 gifts containing pointed message on global issues”. I still laugh every time I read this. As obvious as it all was, including a firm speech, it probably went right over his awful hairdo.  This was visit was labelled a brief courtesy call even though Dementia Don wouldn’t know what a courtesy is let alone perform one.

IRISH President Catherine Connolly presented Donald Trump with a St Brigid’s Cross – recognised as a symbol of peace – during his brief courtesy call.

He was also given a collection of poems which contained the famous Michael Longley sonnet Ceasefire.

Considering Connolly was a long-standing critic of Trump before she took up office, the choice of gifts may be considered as pointed.

The visit of the US President to Áras an Uachtaráin was pinpointed as one of the parts of his two-day visit to Ireland most likely to be scrutinised.

Connolly, an independent TD before she was elected president, had previously accused Trump of being “volatile” and “acting like a bully”, and was critical of his actions in the Middle East.

For his part, Trump mistakenly referred to Ms Connolly as “he” when asked about critical comments she made against him in relation to the US-Israeli war against Iran in the Oval Office on St Patrick’s Day this year.

Considering the context, the meeting of the two presidents on Saturday morning was always likely to present her most substantial diplomatic test since assuming office.

As it was, the engagement, heavy on ceremony, passed off without major incident.

Trump’s substantial motorcade rolled through Phoenix Park shortly after 9am.

He emerged from his car to shake Ms Connolly’s hand before the pair smiled while briefly posing for photographs.

I have to mention this part since Don Jr. was in tow but not Melania. Also, the protests in Dublin were first class. You can watch some of that below too.  Wow!  What a delegation!

 “Trump then introduced Connolly to his delegation, including his son Donald Jr and some of his grandchildren.”

The best gift was  this one, however.  As it was directly targeted to his unconstitutional and likely criminal plan to rid the country of immigrants of color.

Another targeted gift, this time relating to immigration, came with the choice of Navigatio Sancti Brendani – The Voyage of St Brendan.

This Latin text tells the story of a sixth-century monk from Kerry who sailed into the Atlantic on a seven-year search for the Promised Land of the Saints.

The Aras said it “comes from an era when the Irish were a people of departure”.

A translated version with an introduction was given to Trump.

I have to say, that was a classy way of calling the bugger out for what he really is.  As always, I’m proud of my Scotch/Irish roots and both the Scotch and the Irish took to the streets and give him a what for.  Meanwhile, there are signs the U.S. economy is becoming more troubled.  As for me, with my doctorate in economics, my proof in the pudding is the price of gas and groceries. But, I’ll sure this one with you because long-term Treasury bonds are are the proverbial canary in the coalmine to the financial sector and the FED where both my Grandfather and me spent some time making sure the auctions happened come the hell of two world wars or Mardi Gras, in my case. This headline is from CNBC. 10-year Treasury yield hits 5% before reversing as traders await Fed meeting. I bet trading desks all over the world are working overtime today.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield moved lower after reaching a multiyear high on Monday ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision.

The benchmark rate — which influences mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — was last down 2 basis points at 4.955%. It had earlier reached 5.014%, its highest level since October 2023.

The 2-year Treasury note yield, the most sensitive to short-term Federal Reserve interest rate policy, fell less than 2 basis points to 4.626% after it touched the highest since July 2024 last week.

The yield on the longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond, more sensitive to geopolitical risks, were down more than 2 basis points at 5.328%.

One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The latest moves come after August consumer price index data reported on Friday matched expectations while remaining far above the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation, as it has for the past five years.

Last week’s CPI report was the final inflation indicator the Fed will see before it holds its policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Odds that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its policy meeting now stand at 90%, according to the CME Group FedWatch tool.

“Hiking would be the cleaner decision based on the data and current market expectations,” said Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets. “I believe the market has priced that in and may rally with a hike. No change may cause a negative market reaction as it screams once again the Fed is behind the curve.”

And you know how Orange Caligula loves the FED and high interest rates.  Once he wakes up, they’ll be some snorting and insults I’m sure.  He’ll be steamed about that and then this headline.

This is from Meidas News‘ Brett Meiselas. “Trump-Appointed Judge Blocks His Mail-Ballot Rules Weeks Before Midterms. A Trump-appointed judge blocked sweeping new USPS mail-ballot rules, warning they could cause delays, errors and disenfranchisement weeks before the midterms.”  The delays, errors, and disenfranchisement is the plan, your honor.  Thank you!

A federal judge late Sunday blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing sweeping new requirements governing mail ballots, finding that the agency likely exceeded the authority Congress gave it and warning that implementing the system weeks before the midterm elections could result in voters being unable to cast ballots.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted preliminary injunctions sought by multiple groups challenging the Postal Service’s recently finalized ballot-mail rule.

“The Postal Service could issue (and enforce) the Rule only if Congress gave it the authority to do so,” Nichols wrote. “But here no statute grants the Postal Service the power to issue key parts of the Rule.”

Nichols, who was appointed to the bench by President Donald Trump, concluded that the challengers were likely to prevail on their claim that major portions of the rule were ultra vires, meaning beyond the Postal Service’s lawful authority.

The ruling is another major legal obstacle for a policy that the Trump regime is simultaneously asking the Supreme Court to revive in a separate case.

Trump issued an executive order on March 31 directing USPS to develop new requirements for absentee and mail-in ballots used in federal elections.

The Postal Service finalized those requirements in August. They include new standards for ballot envelopes and unique Intelligent Mail barcodes, as well as a newly created “Federal Ballot Mail Portal.”

I frankly believe the “Federal Ballot Mail Portal” probably uses Elon Musk’s SpaceX to send those ballots to a black hole, somewhere out there in space, the final frontier. So, I slept a lot last night because it finally got cooler here and the AC got a break. I’m still waiting for the electric bill. So, all this talk about an Irish woman getting the better of Trump has made me quite cheeky today.  Yes, I’m bold and disrespectful, but today I hope it came off more amusing with the thought of hearing my Irish Grandmother sing me to sleep with Toora-Loora-Looral.