Monday, September 07, 2026

First Lady Donald Chump has a new 'do

Chump destroys everything he touches.  That includes the Republican Party these days.  Sarah K.  Burris reports:

Republicans are starting to panic, as President Donald Trump continues to detonate any efforts by candidates to address the affordability crisis hitting the country.

The Financial Times cited Republican strategist Kevin Madden, a senior partner at the consulting firm Penta Group, who lamented that lawmakers go back to their districts and talk about issues that matter most to voters, only for Trump to blow up all that good work, the Daily Beast reported on Monday.

“Members are going back to their districts each week, confronting concerns about affordability and inflation, and you have Trump openly dismissing those affordability concerns,” Madden said. “That has to change.”

Trump’s deepening unpopularity is on track to drag the party toward major losses in the midterm elections by alienating independent voters and depressing discouraged MAGA turnout. The GOP is already expected to struggle in November, as the president's party in power has historically lost seats in midterms. Now, as Republicans continue to get dragged down by Trump, Democrats look poised to win the House and Senate back.


So they go to their rallies and town halls and try to relate to people who are so in need right now and Chump shoots off his big mouth mocking affordability and lying about the economy and just defeating everything that they've tried to do.  Nick Hilden notes:

This week, the Republican Party will hold a rare midterm convention, a practice that political insiders have – based on previous experience – deemed “crazy” due to the chaos and expense it brings to an election season. But at President Donald Trump’s urging, the GOP is doing it anyway, and experts warn that it could be pushing the party toward “political suicide.”
This is according to new reporting by the Guardian, which on Monday explained that while the Republicans’ Dallas convention has been billed as a “primetime showcase” to boost morale, nationalize congressional elections, and galvanize Republican voters, “success is far from guaranteed. The made-for-TV spectacle clashes directly with the two opening games of the American football season. A Politico website survey of more than 70 Republican candidates and members found 45 who either do not plan to go to Dallas or are still thinking about it. Some cited prior commitments while others balked at the $25,000 price of attending.” What’s more, while Trump has made it clear that the show is all about him, Newsweek reports that may be a losing strategy.
“This is essentially a Trump rally that they’re calling a midterm convention,” said Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “They’re trying to get enthusiasm among their base because that’s what they need for November. Basically, this is a Trump show.” According to the Guardian, however, "It appears the plan could backfire. Trump’s approval rating is at 33 percent, the lowest point of his political career, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll last week. Democrats seem more fired up about the midterms with 46 percent describing themselves as ‘very enthusiastic’ about voting in November, compared with 31 percent of Republicans.”
Tara Setmayer, a former Republican communications director on Capitol Hill, argues that building a midterm convention around a failing president is tantamount to “political suicide,” saying, “It is an incredibly risky strategy for any Republican at this point to hitch his wagon to Donald Trump. On every issue that Trump was once strong on he is underwater, from the economy to immigration.” Setmayer added, “The idea that he’s going to excite people is flawed at this point, given the polling numbers in Donald Trump’s own constituency. They’re not inspired and this vanity convention is not going to change that with 60 days to go to the election. If anything, it’s going to remind people of how dissatisfied they are under Donald Trump’s second term.”

And they can recall how much they loathe Chump while they marvel over his new hair color.  We've said it for years here, no man his age is a natural blond.  It's always been dye and this weekend, apparently nervous over his convention appearance this week, he apparently picked a new shade and also left it on too long.  If they can't get it back to its normal color job by the start of the convention, people will be pointing and laughing.  As they should.  What 80 year old man needs to color his hair?  He's so frou-frou.  


In fact, he's now designing uniforms.  Ed Mazza (HUFFINGTON POST) reports: 

President Donald Trump on Sunday unveiled a potential redesign of U.S. Space Force uniforms, and it’s giving sci-fi fans a bad feeling. 

The president posted an image of the supposed “next generation” design on his Truth Social feed: 

Trump shared the image during a massive day-long posting spree, and it’s not clear if this is a real design for a new uniform or just one of the many images, memes and AI slop creations he likes to throw into his feed. 

All of this and his beautification projects?  Why he is the president but he's also the country's First Lady.  Can we get male presidents out of First Lady spheres?  Chump is a joke.  


Athena Dawson (THE MIRROR) notes that the GOP is trying to save Chump from complete embarrassment: 

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is giving away front-row seats to entice guests to attend the pivotal midterm convention.

Party donors received a text message just last week that urged them to ask for “FREE TICKETS.” Donors who clicked the link were entered into a lottery for a chance to win a front-row seat.

[. . .]

The RNC faces a precarious situation as it has centered the event around the president, who currently faces his lowest approval ratings ever, and is under increased scrutiny to end the 6-month-long Iran war.


The Iran War.   He's working on vanity projects throughout DC, he's dying his hair, he's designing uniforms for a 'space force.'  When is he focusing on the war with Iran?  He's more First Lady at this point than he is president.  


In other news, Anna Commander (NEWSWEEK) reports:


President Donald Trump shared a map on social media Monday depicting a vastly expanded United States encompassing most of North America.

The AI-generated image, posted to Truth Social, features the U.S. flag superimposed over Canada, Mexico, Greenland, Cuba, and other regional territories. The president provided no caption or text to clarify the post, and the White House has not indicated that the map represents any formal policy proposal.


Well, I guess we can all hope he's more focused on his blow out and what to wear on Wednesday and Thursday.  

Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


***PHOTOS HERE***  

Bellingham, WA – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, met with SeaDoc Society scientists to learn more about their research on Southern Resident Killer Whales. Senator Murray secured $850,000 in FY26 Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for SeaDoc to continue their work and support the recovery of endangered orcas. The SeaDoc Society was founded in 2000 to conduct and sponsor scientific research in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. SeaDoc also uses an orca tracking dog named Eba, who stands on the bow of the boat and can detect an orca’s fecal sample by smell up to a mile away. Fecal tracking and collection are crucial to the research team’s mission of understanding and protecting orcas. When Eba successfully tracks down an orca, she gets to play with her rope toy as a reward.

“Orcas are not just whales, they are foundational to the identity and culture of the Pacific Northwest,” said Senator Murray. “SeaDoc is doing incredible work to study orcas and develop new systems to share data across research institutions and government agencies so we can all do our part to protect this amazing species. So many endangered species, like orcas, are the heartbeat of our native cultures and coastal economies—and I will keep doing all I can to save our orcas, our salmon, and everything that makes the Pacific Northwest so special.”

A large population of Southern Resident Killer Whales once thrived in the Salish Sea, but a sharp decline in Chinook salmon, their primary food source, along with rising toxin levels and disruptive vessel noise, has pushed them to the brink of extinction. Their population has fallen nearly 20 percent since the late 1990s. Many established tracking and research techniques for orcas are highly invasive, but Eba, a scent-detection dog, can detect the scent of fecal matter from a great distance, allowing the research team to work non-invasively and stay away from the whales so as not to trigger a stress response. Whale scat alone can reveal hormone levels, toxin exposure, and other valuable data. The SeaDoc team also works in collaboration with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to conduct non-invasive drone surveys to collect Southern Resident Killer Whale breath.

Senator Murray is a strong advocate for protecting endangered species, including our orcas. In FY26, Senator Murray secured critical funding for salmon recovery efforts, including $65 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF), rejecting the Trump administration’s proposed elimination of this critical funding. She also secured $70.75 million for salmon fisheries science and management activities and $75.75 million for protected resources science and management related to Pacific salmon. The funding also includes $27.6 million for the operation and maintenance of Mitchell Act hatcheries and maintains direction for NOAA to continue its genetic stock identification work. Despite Trump’s FY27 budget proposal eliminating all funding for PCSRF, Senator Murray continues to fight to ensure the program is funded at the highest level possible in the FY27 bill.

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Kat's "Kat's Korner: THE WOMACK SISTERS is an amazing album" went up earlier today.  The following sites -- plus Stan's "Weekend Box Ofice" --  updated: 




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