By Jim Geraghty
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
This newsletter, less than a month ago: “Set your
stopwatch, because history indicates it’s not a question of if what’s
left of Hamas will break the cease-fire; it’s a question of when.”
Monday, Hamas announced it was halting the release of
additional hostages, accusing Israel of breaking the cease-fire.
In an Oval Office press conference, Trump was asked
whether the cease-fire should continue. He answered:
I’m going to let that be, because
that’s Israel’s decision. But as far as I’m concerned, if all of the hostages
aren’t returned by Saturday at 12:00 — I think it’s an appropriate time I would
say cancel it and all bets are off and let hell break out. I’d say they ought
to be returned by 12:00 on Saturday and if they’re not returned — all of them,
not in drips and drabs not two and one and three and four and two. Saturday at
12:00, and after that, I would say all hell is going to break out. And I don’t
think they’re going to do it. I think a lot of them are dead. I think a lot of
the hostages are dead. I think it’s a great, it’s a great human tragedy what’s
happened how people can be that mean to do.
A few moments later:
Trump: Saturday at 12
o’clock, and after that it’s going to be a different ball game.
Q: Mr. President,
when you say ‘all hell is going to break loose,’ are you speaking about
retaliation from—
Trump: You’ll find
out and they’ll find out too. Hamas will find out what I mean. They’re going to
find out what I mean. These are sick people.
Our Phil Klein: “Trump’s comments today should leave little
doubt that he has determined that a deal in which hostages are released
gradually, a few a week, allowing Hamas to play games, is a rotten one. Based
on his comments yesterday, it’s clear that he was moved by the images of the
emaciated hostages who were released over the weekend, and he will no longer
confine himself to the Biden framework.”
Perhaps one of the preeminent problems for Hamas’s foes
is that all of the bigger targets — top leaders, bunkers, headquarters, arms
caches, etc. — have been destroyed. The Atlantic, January 19:
The militant Islamist group is no
longer the same organization that launched the October 7, 2023, massacre. Its
battalions have been smashed; all that is left is a ragtag insurgency capable
only of hit-and-run tactics. The group’s arsenal is greatly depleted; its
fighters have fallen back on improvised explosive devices assembled from
unexploded Israeli ordnance. The top tier of Hamas’s military leadership has
been eliminated, leaving two relatively inexperienced and junior commanders —
Ezz al-Din Hadad in the north and Mohamed Sinwar, younger brother of the
October 7 attack’s mastermind, Yahya Sinwar, in the south.
In response this morning, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said: “Trump must remember
that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is
the only way to bring back the prisoners. . . . The language of threats has no
value and only complicates matters.”
From that response, it sounds like hell arrives noon
Saturday. Now, did Trump mean noon local time in the Gaza Strip, or noon
Washington time?
Donald Trump, the Best Friend Corrupt Democrats Ever
Had
While awaiting trial, former Illinois Governor Rod
Blagojevich appeared as a competitor on Donald Trump’s television show, Celebrity
Apprentice.
Back in 2011, Blagojevich was found guilty on 18 felony
counts of corruption, including, “his effort in 2008 to illegally trade the
appointment of a United States Senator in exchange for $1.5 million in campaign
contributions or other personal benefits. Blagojevich was also sentenced for
shaking down the chief executive of a children’s hospital for $25,000 in
campaign contributions in exchange for implementing an increase to pediatric
reimbursement rates; holding up the signing of a bill to benefit the Illinois
horse racing industry in an attempt to illegally obtain $100,000 in campaign
contributions; and lying to the FBI in 2005.” He was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Four convictions
were later overturned, but U.S District Judge James Zagel refused to reduce
Blagojevich’s sentence, declaring, “These are serious crimes that had an impact
on the people of Illinois.”
And then, in February 2020, after Blagojevich had served
eight years of a 14-year sentence, Donald Trump commuted his sentence:
The president confirmed the move
to reporters, calling the initial sentence “ridiculous,” and signaled that
Blagojevich had been pursued by “the same group” that investigated the 2016
Trump campaign.
“It was a prosecution by the same
people: Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group. . . . That was a tremendously
powerful, ridiculous sentence, in my opinion,” Trump said. He added that “I’m
actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country.”
Former FBI Director James Comey was working in the
private sector during the Blagojevich investigation and indictment; Comey
didn’t join the FBI until Barack Obama made him director in September 2013.
Patrick Fitzgerald was the U.S. attorney for the northern district of Illinois
who oversaw the prosecution and conviction of Blagojevich, as well as former
Governor George Ryan
Trump is now pardoning Blagojevich, erasing his
convictions from the record.
But Blagojevich isn’t the only corrupt Democrat getting a
sweet deal from Trump. As our David Zimmerman reports:
The Department of Justice
instructed the acting Manhattan-based U.S. attorney on Monday to drop federal
charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who was accused of accepting
bribes and illegal campaign contributions from foreign sources. Federal prosecutors
indicted Adams on five counts in September over his luxurious benefits from
Turkish business and government officials. The Democratic mayor has pleaded not
guilty to all charges.
And in case you didn’t notice, last month, former New
Jersey Senator Robert Menendez — the guy with the gold bars — was sentenced to
eleven years in prison for bribery, foreign agent, and obstruction of justice
offense. After the sentencing, Menendez
jumped on X and howled, “Welcome to the Southern District of New York, the
Wild West of political prosecutions. President Trump is right. This process is
political and has been corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up
the cesspool and restores integrity to the system.” He intends to ask Trump for a pardon; Joe Biden turned him
down.
(How bad do you have to be where not even the Biden team
will pardon you?)
Is there any corrupt Democrat who can’t get a sweet deal
and get-out-of-jail free card from Donald Trump? Hey, is Texas Representative Henry Cuellar going
to get some of this action?
Apparently any slimeball politician convicted of crimes
can reach out to Trump, whine that he was targeted by the “deep state” and
“lawfare” too, and the ever-gullible Trump will nod like a bobblehead doll and
send off a commutation or pardon.
Remember when everyone on the right got really mad about
Joe Biden popping out pardons and commutations like a Pez dispenser? Can
any of those folks spare any outrage for this, or nah?
Trump is the world’s biggest sucker for anybody who
kisses his derriere enough, and every Democratic crook knows it.
Quick, write “LAW AND ORDER!!!” in all-caps on social media.
That’ll fix everything.
Fort Bragg Is Back, but It’s Not the Same Bragg
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth just did something smart:
While flying aboard a C-17 from
Joint Base Andrews to Stuttgart on February 10, 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete
Hegseth signed a memorandum renaming Fort Liberty in North Carolina to Fort
Roland L. Bragg. The new name pays tribute to Pfc. Roland L. Bragg, a World War
II hero who earned the Silver Star and Purple Heart for his exceptional courage
during the Battle of the Bulge. This change underscores the installation’s
legacy of recognizing those who have demonstrated extraordinary service and
sacrifice for the nation.
Fort Bragg was originally named after Braxton Bragg, “the
most hated man of the Confederacy,” who, it turns out, was a pretty lousy
general.
Some
guy over at The Federalist calls Hegseth’s
move, “deceitful, insulting cowardice.” I just think it’s terrible the way
these RINOs keep tearing down our president and his cabinet.
Now we just need to find other U.S. military heroes named “Benning,”
“Gordon,” “Hill,” “Hood,” “Lee,” “Pickett,” “Polk,” and “Rucker.”
ADDENDUM: In case you missed it yesterday,
the Democrats don’t have many, or perhaps any, good options in the
upcoming spending fight, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov
is characterizing U.S.–Russian relations as “balancing on the brink of a
breakup.” For a guy who’s supposed to be a Russian stooge, Trump sure
defies the will of Moscow a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment