First Draft: Elder Abuse of Power
Donald Trump decays before our very eyes, Jared Kushner unveils his plan for ‘New Gaza,’ and Democrats vote to fund the president’s junta of 4Chan fascists.
🩺 On this day in 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in the US to earn a medical degree from Geneva Medical College in New York. After being rejected by 29 other schools, GMC’s all-male student body unanimously voted in favor of her admission, mistakenly thinking her application was a practical joke.
Good morning! Peter here, back in your inboxes with some good news amid all the horrid headlines. Because this edition of ‘First Draft’ is sponsored by Ground News, there is no paywall! Huzzah!
In today’s ‘First Draft,’ the apparent corpse in chief, Donald Trump, rots on the world stage, Tony “Toady” Dokoupil hits a new low on Bari “Bury” Weiss’s CBS News, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries fails to keep his coalition from voting to fund ICE, the White House disseminates grotesque, AI-generated propaganda, and some weekend reads!
Black, Blue, and Orange All Over
Steadfast “stans” of the ‘First Draft’ newsletter will recall how I dedicated yesterday’s edition to the festering ball of ooze that is Donald Trump’s brain.
Joe Biden, I think it’s fair to say, suffered from some degree of cognitive decline over the course of his presidency. He did, after all, once accidentally claim he was the “first Black woman” to serve in the White House.
Do you want to know what ol’ Sleepy Joe never did, however? Launch a deranged, meritless defamation suit against the paper of record because of a not-so flattering poll.
“The Times Siena Poll, which is always tremendously negative to me, especially just before the Election of 2024, where I won in a Landslide, will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,” Trump raged on social media yesterday.
“Our lawyers have demanded that they keep all Records, and how they ‘computed’ these fake results – Not just the fact that it was heavily skewed toward Democrats. They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!”
I’m certain that, amid you deploying an illiterate, bloodthirsty goon squad of high school dropouts into American streets and doing nothing whatsoever to address the skyrocketing cost of living, the fiends over at the Old Gray Lady and Siena University really had to cook the books in order to report a mere 40% of Americans support what you’re doing.
But I digress…
This morning, I have no intention of once again waxing poetic about Cheeto Benito’s cognitive decline. No, I want to talk about the fact that Trump is all but indistinguishable from a “fresh-bitten” extra straight out of makeup on the set of ‘The Walking Dead.’
The commander in chief looks like a copper-toned corpse… like Frankenstein’s Monster after a long weekend of boozing in Palm Springs.
“At the Board of Peace event today in Davos, President Trump hit his hand in the corner of the signing table, causing it to bruise,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt – the same woman just called out by a community note on Elon Musk’s “Nazi porn bar” for lying through her teeth about POTUS mistakenly calling Greenland “Iceland” multiple times during his Davos address.
For the record, MS NOW reviewed footage from the hoity-toity Swiss convention and couldn’t find one instance where Trump appeared to injure himself.
Perhaps the most curious aspect of Trump’s latest “bruise,” however, is that it’s on his left hand. For months, the president has tried to explain away a glaring blemish on his right hand as a result of the (famously germaphobic) statesman’s constant hand-shaking. When that didn’t fly, his flacks blamed daily aspirin use.
Now, no one knows what to believe as Trump may seemingly soon have enough spots across his person to rival the 101 Dalmatians. What’s clear, though, is that the orange man isn’t well.
“I don’t know how he’s alive,” Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s quack Health and Human Services secretary, told a podcaster earlier this month. “He eats really bad food, which is McDonald’s and candy and Diet Coke… He’s just pumping himself full of poison all day long.”
Apologies to the woke crowd circa 2018, but it isn’t a war crime to observe the objective reality that Donald J. Trump is a corpulent, decaying blob of a human whose jowls daily increase in size, whose vocabulary decreases apace, and whose eyes can’t stay open in public meetings.
Everyone is well aware of this – even his own Cabinet members, as evidenced above. In the rare moments they speak the truth, however, they’ll immediately, desperately seek to incorrect the record.
“[Trump] has the constitution of a deity,” Kennedy quickly clarified, just after all but labeling his boss a geriatric vat of lard.
The big question is: how long does our mainstream media continue to allow Trump, Leavitt, RFK, and the rest of the MAGA gang mislead them, gaslight them, on Trump’s mental and physical health?
🗞️ What You Need to Know
Minneapolis latest: Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis yesterday to apparently “tone down the temperature.” Instead, he faulted local law enforcement for the high tensions in the city, arguing that they should be cooperating with federal officers. Meanwhile, three people were arrested for their involvement in an anti-ICE protest at a St. Paul church, where they called out a pastor at the church who works with ICE.
House approves ICE funding: The House passed a spending package that increases ICE’s already bloated budget. Though top Democrats were against the bill, seven conservative House Dems shamefully voted alongside Republicans to fund the militant agency. The package will head to the Senate for a vote before the Jan. 30 deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.
Trump’s ‘enemy’ list grows: In addition to going after the New York Times, Trump is taking legal shots at two other perceived enemies: former counsel Jack Smith and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. Just yesterday, he called for Smith to be prosecuted after his testimony before Congress, and sued Dimon, along with his company, for allegedly stopping banking services for him after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
California maps face a new hurdle: The new California congressional map is seemingly getting Trump nervous for the midterms. His administration is looking to the Supreme Court to block the redistricting effort, arguing there is racial gerrymandering, after a federal court rejected a challenge to the maps.
Next up… Cuba?? Apparently kidnapping Venezuela’s president was not enough for Trump. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed US officials, that the administration is scouring for Cuban government insiders to help topple the current regime by the end of the year as part of Trump’s effort to “remake” the hemisphere.
BS under Bari Weiss: CBS under David Ellison’s ownership and Bari Weiss’s editorship is hitting new lows every week. Evening anchor Tony Dokoupil led his report on an Israeli airstrike that killed three Palestinian journalists in Gaza – including a frequent CBS contributor – by parroting the genocidal military’s baseless claims that the victims were “operating a drone affiliated with Hamas.”
Goodbye TikTok: The Ellisons now own a big share of TikTok, too. The deal is officially done to spin off TikTok’s US operation from Chinese parent company ByteDance. Larry Ellison’s Oracle is part of the consortium that owns 50% of the new US joint venture. Enjoy the new pro-Trump, pro-Netanyahu algorithms!
In turbulent times like these, it’s invaluable to have some context for daily news. One example: the recent story about how Trump is connecting his desire to take over Greenland with not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Ground News mobile app and website make it easier to understand stories like this by showing you how outlets across the political spectrum are covering Trump’s ultimatum to Denmark. Plus, you can dive into who is funding each of these outlets to better understand their biases. In fact, Ground News brings in 50,000+ sources, so you can go deeper on everything from the international legality of Trump’s demands to the reality of Arctic sovereignty.
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(This portion of the post was sponsored content.)
🧠 Pop Quiz!
Who was the first US president to release his medical records?
Keep your eyes out for the answer below!
🖨️ Inkjet Immigration
Zeteo’s political correspondent, Prem Thakker, is here with the latest update on Trump’s gold cards:
The Trump administration is spending nearly $60,000 on two printers to produce his new “Gold Cards” – his $1 million tickets to citizenship. The contract, awarded earlier this week and reviewed by Zeteo, is for two specialized printers and associated parts, like ink and cleaning solutions.
“Current card personalization equipment is inadequate to meet the volume and security standards required by recent operational changes. Delays or errors in card issuance could directly impact mission readiness and security,” the contract said, justifying the 5-figure purchase, adding that a “firm operational deadline” is approaching, when “all mission essential cards must be personalized and issued.”
Failure, it added, to be on time would risk “noncompliance with the executive order.”
You truly can’t make it up.
🚨 Don’t Miss It!
Join Zeteo contributor John Harwood for a Substack LIVE conversation with author and law professor Mimi Rocah about whether prosecutors in Minnesota can bring charges against the ICE agent who killed Renee Good. Join them TODAY at 3 pm ET (12pm PT / 8pm GMT).
🌏 Anywhere But America
🇵🇸 Don’t forget Gaza: Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli shelling in the city of Zeitoun on Thursday, according to Palestinian media. Israel has violated the so-called “ceasefire” agreement over 1,300 times since it took effect in October.
🇮🇱🇱🇧 What ceasefire?: In another violation of another ceasefire, Israel attacked four crossing points on the border between Syria and Lebanon, alleging they were used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons. The Lebanese Ministry of Health said that two people were killed and at least 19 people were wounded.
🇧🇩 Fire tears through refugee camp: A massive fire has displaced more than 2,000 people in a Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The fire destroyed 335 shelters and damaged an additional 72. Water and sanitation points in the camp, as well as learning centers, have been damaged. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.
🇳🇬 Bobi Wine ally arrested: Ugandan police arrested lawmaker Muwanga Kivumbi, a key ally of opposition leader Bobi Wine, for his alleged role in the violence that left seven people dead during last week’s election. A police spokesperson said that Kivumbi will likely face criminal charges. He denies any wrongdoing.
🇨🇱 Fire plot unveiled: A third person in Chile has been arrested for deliberately lighting a fire amid a widespread blaze that has killed at least 21 people and affected roughly 20,000. Two others in different locations were arrested earlier in the week, and one was released shortly after.
💰 Eat the Rich
Here’s the latest roundup of highlights from Davos:
‘Board of Peace’ begins: As we mentioned yesterday, Trump officially signed the so-called ‘Board of Peace’ into being, which will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza. Notably missing? Any Palestinian representative. Surprise, surprise. Trump also rescinded his invitation to Canadian PM Mark Carney in a Truth Social post.
‘New Gaza’: As an executive member on the Board of Peace, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had the honor of unveiling the $25 billion plan to build “New Gaza.” Kushner touted the “amazing investment opportunities” in Gaza and laid out his Barbie Dreamhouse vision, which will include luxury real estate and renewed “coastal tourism.” Though he didn’t specify where, exactly, the funding would come from, or what it would mean for Palestinians in the enclave.
Musk makes a jab: Trump’s Board of Peace is even laughable to billionaire buddy Elon Musk, who joked, “Is that p-i-e-c-e? You know, a little piece of Greenland, a little piece of Venezuela. All we want is ‘piece’.”
‘Nearly ready’: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the documents involved in the deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine are “nearly ready.” He added, “We have questions with the economic package, but I think it’s 90%.”
💬 Quote Unquote
“Paying a billion dollars to obey Donald Trump seems a little steep. After all, CBS got to do it for just 16 million.”
Stephen Colbert, speaking CBS!, on Trump’s insistence that foreign countries pay $1 billion to join his ‘Board of Peace.’
WTF?!
The answer to my question on Twitter is… yes. Beyond disgusting!
🧠 Trivia answer: Dwight Eisenhower.
📖 Weekend Reads
The Overlooked Deaths of the Attack on Venezuela
A mother who bled to death. An 80-year old woman crushed by a washing machine. Two air-traffic controllers engulfed in flames. In this New Yorker piece, Oriana van Praag takes readers through the horrifying deaths from the US attack on Venezuela and explains why Caracas appears to be ignoring them.
Trump is going out of his way to shift the blame for the chaos in Minneapolis, pointing the finger at anti-ICE protesters, Minnesota Democrats, and even ICE shooting victim Renee Good herself. In this Atlantic piece, Jonathan Chait exposes the lengths conservatives are going to keep up with Trump’s narrative, even if it means defending ICE’s clearly illegal actions.
My Rohingya People Are Running Out of Time
Lucy Karim was just 14 years old when she was forced to leave her home amid Myanmar’s genocide against the Rohingya. Now, nine years later, she fears the world has grown indifferent to the “forgotten crisis,” as Trump’s cuts to USAID have made life even worse for her people. Read her New York Times piece to learn why time is not on their side.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is quickly becoming the mayor who never sleeps, as he bounces between speaking at strikes, fixing bridge bumps, and his usual charming TV appearances. In this piece from The Nation, D.D. Guttenplan writes about why so many other NYC mayors have failed to bring that energy to the city, and whether Mamdani will be able to sustain it.
ICYMI From Zeteo
Zeteo’s Melanie Riehl, Akshay Gokul, Minnah Arshad, and Lara Strydom contributed to this newsletter.
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Thank you for recognizing Elizabeth Blackwell Day
Thank-you, Peter, for yet another round of information presented accurately, truthfully and with a wonderful writing style that elicits a few chuckles without loosing site of the serious content. Cheers!