« Mid-Morning Art Thread | Main | Jake Tapper's Publisher Puts Together a Compliation Purporting to Show that Tapper Reported on Biden's Dementia.
Mark Halperin Looks at the Clips In Context and Finds It's a Lie. »

Wednesday Morning Rant

Troll Week

I am by no means sure that the Trump Administration does "theme weeks," but weeks like this make me wonder. If there has been a theme for the past week or so, that theme may be "trolling." It hasn't all been trolling, of course. Presidenting is serious business, and Trump's fairly blunt attack on the interventionist, manipulative, ineffective and disastrous Uniparty of the past thirty years during his address in Saudi Arabia was not trolling. Nor is his deal-making in that country (though I admit generous skepticism as to how much of it actually comes to fruition).

But much this week has a tinge of trolling about it. Like all good trolling, it has a real purpose. The goal is not merely to needle your enemies and make them howl in rage, but to also achieve your own ends. Trump has done a good job on that front, too. The past week has been both hilarious and fairly effective in terms of the agenda. Here's a roundup of my favorite stories of the past week.

May 8: transgender military ban and separation

Under the new guidelines, active duty troops will have until June 6 to voluntarily identify themselves to the department, and troops in the National Guard and Reserve will have until July 7.

The timing cannot go unnoticed, nor can the dates. The final day to quit before being fired is the anniversary of D-Day and that anniversary, of course, occurs during Pride Month. Yes, Hegseth and the Trump Administration have chosen to end trannies in the military during "Pride Month" and finish the job just after Independence Day, starting on the anniversary of America's greatest foreign invasion. The timing is perfectly designed to cause maximum impotent rage among leftists.

May 11: the 747

Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. Two exist, and the president flies on both, which are more than 30 years old. Boeing Inc. has the contract to produce updated versions, but delivery has been delayed while the company has lost billions of dollars on the project.

And that is, of course, the reason. This debacle dates back to Trump's first administration, when he told Boeing to take their ludicrous plans and shove it, and get a plane out within the remaining life of anyone currently living and do so at a reasonable price. Boeing has catastrophically failed to deliver. I dig it that Air Force One is a big, complicated piece of equipment but the timelines and pricetags involved are ludicrous to say the least. The reason for this is very clear, even if the transfer never actually happens (and it may well not). This is a shot across Boeing's bow, whatever is left of it. "Y'all have been screwing around for a decade and I'm tired of it. I'll take a used plane from the Arabs and get the USAF to bring it up to snuff, and it'll happen before you guys can get one done. You built one for them, so I'll just roll with that since you apparently can't build one for us." This isn't about a plane, it's about Boeing and that this is even being discussed is humiliating for the company. That is the point.

May 12: the Afrikaners

The U.S. refugee program was created by Congress in 1980, and groups have sued to restart it after Trump's halt.

Traditionally, to qualify as a refugee, applicants must demonstrate a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Refugees are distinct from asylum-seekers because refugees must be outside of the U.S. to qualify.

A network of resettlement agencies generally helps refugees settle in their new homes, and they get 90 days of federal assistance for things like rent. The Episcopal Church’s migration service, however, is refusing a directive from the federal government to help resettle the white South Africans, citing the church's longstanding "commitment to racial justice and reconciliation.:

I am on the fence at best about "refugee resettlement" as such, but there is at least a viable argument to be had here. White South Africans are increasingly in danger, and it's about to get a lot worse with that country's new "land reform" act, not that the American Press is interested. Like with their treatment of everything from Hamas to Iran to Red China, they credulously believe everything South Africa's government says and therefore there are no problems in South Africa. Trump is wrong, this is racism, they don't mean it when they chant "Kill the Boer," there is no record of farm murders, etc. With one act, Trump has managed to get the entire Left to finally find a group of refugees they will go on the record of rejecting wholly and completely: a few dozen white farmers. Many are like the Episcopalians and quite clear about why: no whites welcome. CNN's Ashley Allison, Jeremy Konyndyk of "Refugees International" and countless others are on the same page. Some pretend otherwise, falling back on tired excuses involving the UN and the Government of South Africa. But Trump, as he always does, made them show their true motivations. They love refugees - so long as they're non-white and preferably non-Christian. Trump, as they demanded, is allowing some refugees in and they absolutely hate it.

Those are my top three. What did I miss?