What are we losing sight of? What are we losing track of? So much going on constantly. It's all, quite frankly, alarming to one degree or another. But one thing we don't talk enough about is the extent to which the Trump regime has as one of its primary missions erasure. They don't just want to take away our rights. They don't just want to erode our sense of who we are as a people or our understanding of our history. They want to erase those things and they want to erase many if not most of us.
We've seen this time and time again, but it gets lost under the avalanche of other horrors that are happening right before our eyes. The fact that people are disappeared off our streets, denied their rights to due process; the fact that the economy is being systematically destroyed by a moron who understands nothing of the economy; the fact that we now have, as our greatest ally thanks to Donald, what had been one of our most problematic enemies.
These are dramatic things going on in the world. Gaza — the horrors of Gaza still unfold every day. The horrors of the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine unfold every day. Immigration policy continues to wreak havoc and untold cruelty upon people on American soil, people who want nothing more than to work to help make this country a better place to be. Underlying all of that, though, is the systematic erasure of entire groups of people: trans people, women, Black people.
It's easy, if you do not belong to one of those groups, to forget that every day there are worse and worse incursions into the rights that protect people in those groups. Every day, people in those groups face horrible fear because they are under assault constantly. It is easy to forget.
So what do we do about it? Those of us who are not in the most vulnerable groups, those of us who are not in groups that are being erased by the Trump regime, have to stand up and speak out. We need to be better allies. So to everybody not in the groups being threatened: stand up, speak out — because in the end it is the right thing to do, and that should always be the motive. What more motivation do we need than to stand up for people who are being attacked simply because of who they are and how they were born?
But if you need more incentive, here it is: they are not going to stop with the most vulnerable groups among us, because they're coming for all of us. Let's dive in.
That was a lot. Sorry to start on such a grim note, but it's been a week. It's Friday though, which is cool. Welcome to this episode of Mary Trump Live. I am very happy to have you here.
I am not happy, however, that Donald — because Putin must have pulled his leash pretty hard — is in Alaska meeting with Vladimir Putin in order to discuss the Ukrainian war, also known as Russia's illegal invasion of our erstwhile ally, a sovereign democratic nation. Apparently, they're also trying at least to repair their fractured relationship. But I'm skeptical that there's a rift between them at all, quite frankly, because we know — even if Donald doesn’t — who has the power in that relationship.
While the meeting continues — remember, Alaska’s in a much different time zone than… I don't even know actually what time it is in Alaska right now, but it's much earlier than it is on the East Coast — initial interactions between Donald, Putin, and the media have been, let's say, not particularly friendly.
Shortly after a reporter asked Putin if he'll commit to stop killing innocent civilians… I wonder if you can guess what Donald did. Did he say, Yes, Vlad, will you promise to stop killing innocent civilians? I mean, I haven't done that yet, but maybe you should. Is that what Donald said? No. Donald and his staff kicked out the entire press pool.
"Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Press, thank you. Press, thank you. Press.
Mr. Putin, will you agree to cease fire? Mr. Putin? Will you commit to not killing any more civilians?
Come on guys. Mr. President. President, why should President Trump trust your word now?
Press, we've got to go. Thank you. Thank you, press. Thank you, press. Thank you, press, everybody."
My God, that felt like an episode from The Bear. I'm very stressed now.
Yeah, that's the kind of chaos Donald loves stirring up. You know what else he loves doing? Well, the other thing he did there: protecting Putin. This is exactly what we would come to expect, because that is basically Donald's foreign policy right now.
Alaskans are not happy that their home was chosen to be the meeting place between these two authoritarians — well, one is an authoritarian dictator and one is an authoritarian fascist dictator wannabe — and they're not keeping quiet about it. A large crowd of Alaskans greeted Putin and Donald's arrival with Ukraine flags and signs with slogans like Alaska Opposes Tyranny.
[Clip — crowd chanting, Ukraine flags visible]
Yes, I'm glad that Alaskans are standing up for Ukraine. Unfortunately, the American government is not interested in doing so. I'm quite frankly worried about the outcome of this meeting. The fact that it happened at all is a very bad sign, as far as I'm concerned. There's literally no reason to believe that Putin won't get everything he wants from Donald, just as there's no reason to believe they may try to force a so-called peace plan down President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine's throat, even if it is entirely at Ukraine's expense.
So we'll keep you posted. Obviously, this is an extremely important — if quite depressing — meeting.
Much like the Alaskans not letting up on Donald or Putin, Gavin Newsom is not letting up on Donald either. He had some choice words when it came to this ill-advised visit with Donald's handler.
"I hope we are waking up to this reality. Wake up, America. Wake up to what Donald Trump is doing.
Wake up to his assault. Wake up, wake up to the assault on institutions and knowledge and history.
Wake up to his war on science and public health and his war against the American people.
This is a guy who lays claim to want to get a Nobel Prize sitting there and bending his knee to Mr. Putin.
Trump, you have the power."
I think bending a knee is an understatement, but Newsom is absolutely on the right track there. Donald has been in Putin's back pocket for decades, and he'll do anything — anything — to make sure that Putin is happy.
That was ostensibly a meeting about the future of Russia and Ukraine, but much more likely it was a performance review. So the question is this: what's more important? Donald's need to please Putin, or his need to win the Nobel Peace Prize — which is insane. Well, again, I think he's going to try to do both at the same time, which means what?
That means Ukraine is going to be left out in the cold. That means America is going to abandon one of its most important allies, and in so doing, Western liberal democracy.
Speaking of the Nobel Peace Prize — which is the last thing on the planet Donald should ever get — we know that the meeting with Russia is likely to make little progress in ending the war in Ukraine. Putin has no respect for Donald, and Donald has no real bargaining power.
But because Donald has this bizarre obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, Hillary Clinton is calling his bluff by offering to nominate Donald for the Nobel Prize if he manages to end the Russia–Ukraine war. Take a look at what she said on The Raging Moderates podcast with co-host Jessica Tarloff.
**"I understand from everything I've read, he very much would like to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
And honestly, if he could bring about the end to this terrible war where Putin is the aggressor — invading a neighbor country, trying to change the borders — if he could end it without putting Ukraine in a position where it had to concede its territory to the aggressor, had to, in a way, validate Putin's vision of Greater Russia, but instead could really stand up to Putin — something we haven't seen — but maybe this is the opportunity to make it clear that there must be a ceasefire, there will be no exchange of territory, and that, over a period of time, Putin should be actually withdrawing from the territory he seized in order to demonstrate his good faith efforts, let us say, not to threaten European security…
Look, if we could pull that off — if President Trump were the architect of that — I'd nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, because my goal here is to not allow capitulation to Putin."**
Hillary Clinton never got quite enough credit for her very, very impressive ability to troll Donald, right? I don't think anything got him as angry as her calling him Putin's puppet.
And she's right — Donald loves nothing more than to show his enemies who's boss. The problem is, Putin's not his enemy. Putin's his boss.
In the end, the end of the Ukraine war is what everybody wants, of course, but he doesn't care how we get it — and that's very important to keep in mind. He's… forgive me for repeating myself… he's stupid in particular ways. He thinks just by ending the war — even if it is entirely on Russia's terms — that would be enough to get him a Nobel Peace Prize.
Hopefully I'm wrong and Hillary Clinton is right. Whatever the case, there is no universe I want to live in where Donald Trump gets a Nobel Peace Prize. But he seems very, very, very focused on it. I mean desperate, in fact.
A Norwegian newspaper — that has a name I cannot pronounce (I apologize; I don't want to hurt your ears) — reported yesterday that Donald cold-called Norway's finance minister completely out of the blue to discuss the prize. The report says Donald called Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg to discuss trade tariffs, but then he slipped in his bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Apparently, this is not the first time Donald has floated that idea.
Again, it is a shame that Trump Water went so spectacularly out of business, because this is one desperately thirsty man.
Now, of course, Donald is — if nothing else — a multitasker. He can lobby for the Nobel Peace Prize and continue to wreak havoc on our capital city. As the DC takeover continues, a new player is involved in the fight for control of the city, and that would be the courts — which is basically how all of this is going to end up, one way or another.
The city has sued to block Donald's hostile takeover of its police department in court today, hours after Donald escalated the intervention into the city's police force by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the department. Pretty sure that's illegal.
Washington's police chief, Pamela Smith, said in a court filing that the move would threaten law and order by upending the command structure.
"In my nearly three decades in law enforcement, I have never seen a single government action that would cause a greater threat to law and order than this dangerous directive."
Expect there to be much more of this kind of thing in cities throughout our country — well, blue cities at least.
At the first hearing this afternoon for the city's request for a temporary restraining order against removing Police Chief Smith, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes indicated the law likely does not allow the regime the power to take over the city police completely, but it probably does give Donald more power than the city might like.
Litigation is likely to play out in the coming days as Donald attempts his legal takeover. And this continues to be the problem: justice grinds slow, but fine, right? Well, while it's taking its time, do we seriously think that Donald and his minions aren't going to continue coming up with more and more ways to oppress the people of DC, to make incursions into other democratic diversities? Of course not.
By the time the law gets around to making its decision, much more damage will have been done.
Part of this, of course, is a distraction too. Donald is desperate. In addition to being desperate for the Nobel Peace Prize — which, again, I still can't quite wrap my head around — he continues to want to distract us from the Epstein scandal, the failing economy (which is failing entirely because of him), and all of the chaos and incompetence within the Trump regime — which, last I checked, he leads. Allegedly.
The most recent distraction is another attempt to fearmonger about drugs and violence. Donald is deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors to the waters around Latin America and the Caribbean as part of a newly ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels.
Two U.S. defense officials confirmed the military's plans to CNN, signaling a dramatic escalation in show of force. And it is a show of force meant to be a distraction — but that doesn't make it any less alarming.
CNN reports that one of the officials they spoke to emphasized that the military buildup is, for now, simply that: a show aimed at sending a message, rather than indicative of any intention to conduct precision targeting of cartels. But it also gives U.S. military commanders — and Donald — a broad range of options should Donald choose to abuse that power.
So again, two things could be happening at the same time: it's a show, and it is meant to distract us from those things Donald does not want us paying attention to — mostly, I would think, the fact that his name is all over the Epstein files, and that it's probably something that will really humiliate him in a way that is annihilating.
But amassing troops in the Caribbean, surrounding Latin American countries in the Caribbean, isn't just a show. That is real force. It may not be getting used yet, but that doesn't mean it can't be. And it certainly doesn't mean it won't be.
