Thursday Catchup: 5/1/25

Hello world, and welcome to where we live: The Pit. Not the cool hospital show where hot-but-in-a-different-way-than-in-ER Noah Wyle gets elbow deep in gore, we’re talking the Bane pit. We live here now, and here sucks.

THING ONE: YOU KNOW IT’S BAD, BUT IT’S ACTUALLY A LOT WORSE.

If you know me, you know I am not the guy who spends a lot of time on being horrified at how bad this all is. I am Black, things have been bad for us many many times in this country, and I don’t really think we have time to sit around and hype each other up about how unprecedented this all is. And I say that to really drive home how much worse this moment is than we are all treating it.

I want you to go back to election night, or even election week. Truly, deep in your gut, what was the worst-case scenario you envisioned? I know you feel bad now, but is this the level of bad you imagined then? Is this what you were arguing could happen with your relatives? Is this what you considered when you set a line for what would make you leave the country?

Or… is this worse? An administration openly pushing to remove habeas protections. Publicly pining to send American citizens to foreign prisons for life with no trial. Toeing the line of defiance with the Supreme Court in a way that can only be described as Jacksonian-lite. Forcing colleges not only to admit more students that politically align with the administration, but demanding access to the curriculum of private schools. Strong-arming law firms that have any tie to criticism of the President into hostage deals for pro bono work at the President’s discretion - making private businesses the executive branch’s personal serfs. Throwing the President a birthday military parade that will feature thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles celebrating not our country, but the man that 49% of America wanted to lead it. A Department of Justice that, on record, makes the case that a diverse workplace is itself evidence of anti-white discrimination, discrimination that can be prosecuted by DOJ.

That’s not even mentioning the economy or foreign policy.

So think back again, to what you thought election night.

Is this worse? I bet it is. All the denial and brushing aside in the world doesn’t change the cold reality of that these guys will be as authoritarian as we let them, and most of the people organizationally in opposition to them really don’t feel like that’s a good fight.

It’s already worse than you thought. So now, while you have time, just ask yourself: where’s your line? What would make you leave? What would make you get into the streets? What would make you stand up — offline — for what you believe in? Because we’re only 100 days in. We’ve got a lot farther into this pit to go.

THING TWO: AN EXAMPLE OF HOW TRUMP’S BRAIN BROKE

Trump did a bunch of interviews for his 100 days, and one of them was with ABC News, because as much as he hates traditional media, he only hates it becuase it doesn’t like him. He’s the guy who will never let go of that the prom queen thought he was gross and smelled like self-tanner, so he spends the next 20 years of his life trying to get her to like him. And it just gets more pathetic and more creepy, and then he does a home invasion and says he’ll burn the whole thing down unless she runs away with him. Where were we, before we got on the metaphor train? Oh right, that’s Trump and traditional media.

But the interview had this moment that really really revealed how Trump’s brain works. I have, so unfortunately, had to watch hundreds of hours of this guy talk. I have successfully predicted his next sentence dozens of times. I know this man’s brain. I wish I did not. Ok so the clip.

There’s a lot in here but let’s be quick.

Trump’s basic Queens strongman moves here, talking to the reporter, telling the reporter he’s no one and he’s never heard of him, saying this is his big moment, making clear the big moment only goes well if he’s nice and gives Trump what he wants… this is the guy in action. You hear lots of stories but this is how he works people in the room.

Terry Moran pushes back (cool) but also really really wants to move on from the question (why?). Shouldn’t you dive into that the President of the United States saw a photoshop and couldn’t tell it was a photoshop? Particularly when he’s almost 80 years old and says things like that the inside of a Tesla is “all computer?”

There are some people out there trying to inject brainpower into Trump here, that he knows it’s fake but he’s pushing for it, that he really meant that he knew the symbols were symbols but that they meant MS-13… these are the arguments of what the French call Les Incompetents. STOP. SANEWASHING. AND IDIOT. This is another place where we need to talk like normal people and call it like we see it — a very old man who we know is straight up dumb about a ton of things saw a photoshop and thought it was real. And when he got called out on it, he got irate and doubled down.

Mayyybe we should be talking more about the President’s age? Oh, and here are the much-discussed knuckles. Look at these. Rewatch the clip. Man’s brain broke.

THING THREE: HOWARD LUTNICK SAYS THE BAD PARTS OUT LOUD

The idiotic tariffs that are destroying the world economy, crushing your retirement, and making Xbox games now cost eighty dollars are supposedly also the magic cure to trade deficits and our lack of manufacturing. They’re a cure all, in the same way drinking arsenic will cure anything you’re complaining about too.

Let’s talk about the last part — the manufacturing. Other smart people on other smarter newsletters have laid out why manufacturing is not coming back. But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is out doing the TV rounds about how great these plants and factories will be for Americans.

Watch the clip, then meet me back here.

Before we get into it, I think we need to talk about Howard Lutnick. He is, quite clearly, an idiot. His voice, words, and ideas scream “I would be easy to trick into meeting you in the woods at midnight and then you don’t show up, but I stay out there waiting for you and am eventually devoured by a pack of hungry schedule-keeping wolves.” But it is too easy and too juvenile to mockingly call him “Nut Lick.” That is third grade stuff and we all deserve more.

Howard Lutnick is Human Swackhammer. That’s right, the bad guy from Space Jam who creates the Monstars and eventually is thwarted by Michael Jordan’s stretchy arm.

Gross. Dumb. Hates Black excellence. It all fits. Go listen to him talk again, and just imagine it’s this guy instead. Perfect match - you paint Howard green they’re twins.

And just a few things on how absolutely moronic Lutnick is.

The way he says “these jobs start at 75,000” — oh, is that what these companies you’re guaranteeing will come here because of huge tax incentives will pay? Ignore how much money that is to someone with rent, bills, and student loans (because he’s pitching this even to students of state-level universities). Are these going to be union jobs? Will there be any safety protections?

Then there’s the line about that we invent things but we don’t make them. Yeah dude that’s how all business works. You invent a new chair, the way you make money is you invented the chair, not that you’re out there cranking out seating every day. You invent a new prescription drug, you go back to your job of inventing drugs not changing your whole life to jump on the assembly line. Americans like cheap things, the way you get cheap things is globalization, then we can do cool stuff like save the high end cool jobs for Americans. But that’s not what this is really about… it’s about going backwards from a service economy, where there far more possibility of a regular person jumping in and finding success, with an industrial economy where you and your kids and grandkids are locked into the job of “AI robot luber” because that’s what you have and you should be grateful for it. It’s class striation from people who know they’ll be on the top part.

THING FOUR: THE NYT WANTS YOU TO FIGHT LIKE… HECK.

So, right up front, we should say the quiet part out loud: we know from the evidence of their writing that at least some part of leadership of the New York Times likes Donald Trump and that he is president. Which is why this can’t be super surprising:

As a temp check, this should make you feel insane. Because we are not in a caveat moment. Go back to the list from Thing One in this piece… then read what the Times said again. This isn’t an argument they make to citizens under Putin, where the same things are true. It’s not how they talk about Bolsanaro or any corrupt President in dark skinned country. But with Trump, there’s this crazy thing where you “always got to hand it to Trump, many of his actions are legal.” Oh, is that the bar? Nothing gives away the comfortable privilege of the paper’s rich coastal leadership than the continued evidence they view Trump as an issue that will never truly threaten them. He is theoretical; he is something that happens to other people. Which is why the only moment you see them truly upset is when he tanks their investments.

Also… they just aren’t telling the truth about what Trump is doing. They’re intentionally using his framing, which isn’t based on reality. “He has pressured Western Europe to stop billing American taxpayers for its defense.” That’s not what happened. He made clear he would let Russia take Ukraine and put Putin on Western Europe’s doorstep, at which point Europe decided they couldn’t take that risk and upped spending.

“He has reoriented federal programs to focus less on race, which many voters support.” No he didn’t. There was no “reorienting,” there was a systemic destruction of anything pointing to the existence of races outside of white people. Is removing Jackie Robinson’s military history from the Department of Defense website “reorienting?” Removing Maya Angelou’s books from libraries? Erasing Black History Month from government calendar? And another thing — when they say “many” voters support this, that’s because they can’t say a majority do! It actually polls badly!

The rest of the Times piece is worth reading, if only to see what the faction of America looks like that would rather die than be disruptive.

THING FIVE: TRUMP’S A DOLL

Trump’s polling badly, and he says a lot of things that could sink any other President, but sometimes he drops a sentence you already know will come back in an election ad. When talking about economic pain this week, Trump weighed in:

Pretty dumb! People will remember this when Christmas rolls around! Also people like their kids and REALLY dislike telling their kids “sorry, no toys for you this year you already have your government allotted two.” And you know Trump’s thinking of some Raggedy Ann level 1940s doll — nothing screams “I was born with Great Depression parents” than the take “these little girls have too many dolls.” What’s next, kids are gonna have stick and hoop?!

And as proof it’s landing badly, here’s the front of the NY Post, the friendliest of Trump friendly newspapers.

WELCOME TO THE PIT, MATTEL!