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Folie à deux in the White House

Published on 74 Comments on Folie à deux in the White House

Donald Trump fired a few thousand Park Service workers, but apparently Doug Burgham has decided to hire them back. Efficiency! However, the one maintenance guy at Yosemite who has the keys to unlock people from the bathrooms remains fired.

Elon Musk got mad at Danish astronaut Andreas Morgensen and called him "fully retarded." The contretemps turns out to be related to the return of two astronauts stuck on the ISS. Apparently Musk has grown very fond of the slur "retarded," using it over a dozen times since November.

You already know this, but Trump has decided that Ukraine started the war with Russia. Quite so. Remember how Poland started WW II with Germany?

President Donald Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk have said on social media and in press briefings that people who are 100, 200 and even 300 years old are improperly getting Social Security benefits — a “HUGE problem,” Musk wrote. 300 years old! That would be a problem. Now, it so happens that Social Security was created in 1936 and the first beneficiaries go back to the 1880 census. So that's an absolute max of 145 years old as of this year. "Fully retarded" barely begins to describe this.

Donald Trump says he's going to expand IVF. Not quite, it turns out:

Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy shall submit to the President a list of policy recommendations on protecting IVF access and aggressively reducing out-of-pocket and health plan costs for IVF treatment.

A list of policy recommendations falls a little short, no? What's more, Congress would have to pass these recommendations, something they've shown no inclination of doing in the past. It's just more smoke and mirrors.

"The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 trillion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas, to people who should not have gotten it.” That seems unlikely, doesn't it? In fact, this is since 2003, so it comes to about $120 billion per year. That's not peanuts, but here are the real numbers:

  • Medicare: 5.3%
  • Medicaid: 3.5%
  • Social Security: 0.8%

Entitlement fraud is a real thing, but it's only a few percent of total spending, not $2.7 trillion. These guys are lunatics.

74 thoughts on “Folie à deux in the White House”

      1. DSasikumar

        Same! Was checking this blog religiously every few hours. Really happy to see you blogging again. Hope you are on the mend.

        1. Eastvillager

          Fortunately Hilbert, like all cats, can’t be bothered with anything other than what cats care about.
          So glad to hear from Kevin! Let’s hope he’s back with Hilbert soon.

  2. Mike Russo

    The substance of this post makes me angry, but the fact that I got to read it makes me very very happy! Hope things are starting to look up.

  7. zaphod

    Things resemble George Orwell's "1984" more and more. Here is what AI "thinks" about it:

    In George Orwell's "1984," Winston Smith views lying as an essential tool of the Party, believing that the Party forces people to deny reality and accept blatant lies, even when it contradicts their own senses, essentially stating that "the Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears" - signifying the deep corruption of truth under their regime.

    Good to hear from you, Kevin.

  8. Anandakos

    Those must be some VINTAGE immunoglobulins! Thank you for a bracing reminder just how Looney Tunes Trump is.

    And thank you for getting better. Best wishes for a consistent path upward. You are the best!

  10. bbleh

    Ditto above comments re new post!

    As to Elmo, you may have seen recent reports regarding him tripping out at CPAC as one of the mothers of his children frantically tries to reach him via social media about a medical crisis for the child. So yeah, lunatics, but I would say mostly in the sense of irresponsible children.

    And given that both the Orange Guy and Elmo started life with hundreds of millions of dollars from their parents, and that neither has ever been held responsible for their MANY MANY failures in business and elsewhere, it sorta stands to reason that they just ... never grew up.

    Alas, that they hold the positions they have says at least as much about a large segment of the American population as it does about them.

    Thanks again for the post! Check in when you can. We're pulling for you!

  14. Larry Jones

    Kevin Drum - I don't know how you can be as sick as you apparently are, and still come up with posts like this. I would be whining to all who would listen, and unable to put five words together to form simple sentences, but glad you're doing it! Cheering you on.

      1. Lady Mary

        Kevin is not going to let a little thing like not being able to breath keep him from reminding us how insane our government is right now, and what a bunch of lying bastards they are.

  15. ConradsGhost

    Still kicking! Woo hoo! In that case, here we go...

    Ed Martin is targeting Dems Schumer and Garcia for making 'threats' against Musk and "government workers." Only congressional Dems have been targeted in Martin's supposed concern about threats so far.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-dc-us-attorney-nom-targets-house-dem-expanding-effort-to-stifle-trump-admin-criticism

    DOGE teenage operatives "have gained access to the computer systems of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the agency charged with the defense of the federal government’s civilian computer networks as well as helping to organize the defense of the country’s critical infrastructure."

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/doge-dives-into-core-national-defense-and-data-systems-across-government

    Trump is throwing Ukraine to the Russians in order to a) be allowed access to Russian petro production and Arctic reserves, b) get at least 50% of Ukraine's mineral resources for nothing, c) divvy a defeated Ukraine with Russia, and d) kickstart Russia's imperial push westward and begin the erosion and weakening of a democratic Europe, with the ultimate goal of global authoritarian domination.

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/russia-and-the-us-begin-to-divvy-up-ukraine-at-riyadh-confab

    Sounds like a Bond movie? Reality. It's happening, right in front of our eyes. As Graham Greene said in The Quiet American: At some point, you have to choose sides. If one is to remain human.

    Now is one of those times.

    1. GrueBleen

      Well it is about time that Americans became aware of the real state of their happy little "democracy".

      But oh, what to do about it ?

  17. BBCWatcher

    Here's the Poynter Institute's view about "The DOGE subcommittee just discovered $2.7 trillion in improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid overseas..." social media posts. It's completely false.

    https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2025/doge-discoverd-27-trillion-medicare-medicaid-fraud-overseas/

    DOGE didn't discover any of this; the GAO did, in the Biden Administration. The $2.7 trillion figure is not Medicare and Medicaid only (it's evidently across the entire federal budget for 2 decades), it's not overseas only (it's mostly domestic), and "improper" doesn't necessarily mean the recipient shouldn't have gotten the money. For example, an "improper" payment in this estimate likely includes the Pentagon buying an aircraft part that legitimately costs $105 but the government only paid $10.50 because someone screwed up the decimal point and shortchanged the vendor.

  18. jinsler

    I'm so happy to see your post! I wish the subject matter could be more pleasant, but such is life in 2025 America under the Mad Kings.

  22. kathleent

    Folie à deux - this sums up everything going on with King Trump and Let them eat cake Musk perfectly. I find the use of the word "retarded" in the context applied by Musk to be ignorant and insulting. I grew up with a disabled sibling who was called "retarded" by both other children and adults. He has CP & Autism, using this word to hurt/insult makes me cringe. I have no clue what Must means by the term "fully retarded " but I can say that even a having a supposed high IQ does not ensure that a person is not "fully ignorant". The other thing that makes me very uneasy is that the rest of the world both good and bad actors are watching some laughing and some plotting. On a happier note, I was as others have noted so happy to read this post! Hope Kevin is feeling better!

  24. Brett

    I'm glad you're still among the living. Maybe your luck will finally turn on this illness.

    Worse than just turning on Ukraine - Trump and everyone else in MAGA world is basically doubling down on "Zelenskyy Corruption!!!" nonsense. I assume so that it eventually gets to the point where he decides to withhold aid.

  26. Winslow2

    *collapses from relief and joy*

    (Saw my doctor yesterday & was asked if I wanted a pneumonia shot. Why yes, yes I do....)

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