O Bella Ciao!

A very bad, awful terrible week for Mad King Don

September 3, 2025

By Marc Cooper

The new political cycle begins this week and that is my cue to take off for 2 weeks on my official summer vacation to shut out some of the noise. So I might be a bit mum till mid-month or so, depending on how many bottles of Barbera and Barbaresco I consume on a given day. My wife and I are going to be visiting Italy where 45 years yrs ago we lived in the northwest of the boot between Genoa and Torino for 3 years and it’s a country and people we love.

We take off Wednesday morn but I felt I had to squeeze in a few words of commentary before we hop over the Atlantic.

The last few weeks have felt very dark with the Mad King acting and talking like King Kong unchained after smoking a pound of crack. Yet, things are not going that great for him as he suffers one political/judicial defeat in a row.

His entire tariff racket has been given a big thumbs down by a federal court whose written decision called them out for the farce they are. As prices continue to rise, support for the tariffs are slowly but surely sinking way below the water line and the uncertainty around them are driving the biz community bonkers.

The ruling cutting off nearly all the tariffs, better called a consumer import tax, keeps them alive until October 17 and open for appeal. The judge made his personal view of them quite clear in a scathing written decision and gave the Trump regime only 15 days to file an appeal instead of the usual.

This litigation will end up in the Supreme Court. (more on that in a moment)

A few days later, a different federal judge ruled that this year’s earlier ICE/Military occupation of Los Angeles was both “illegal and unconstitutional.” That decision is also being appealed and will wind up in the Supreme Court.

The occupation of Chicago is now about to be launched with a nearby air base being used by federal agents and reportedly the Texas and Mississippi National Guard as a staging ground Forget about the fact that Jackson, the capital of the latter, has a much higher crime rate than ChiTown. So what? The King loves the idea of sending in some of them there good ole’ boys to a big bad and corrupt northern hellhole where the troops can have a helluva time chasing around spics and niggras as they call them down in the home of Moonpies, RC Cola and Friday Night Lights.

Trump came off like the crazy bastard that he is, proclaiming that only after 12 days of occupation, D.C. is now a crime free paradise. A miracle!

Indeed, the conglomeration of outside armed detachments were so successful that several platoons of Guard units showed up in on duty uniform in high res pics on front pages, weeding the local parks and picking up trash. I would venture that image taught most Americans most voters much more than Trump’s ridiculous assertion that he abolished crime in D.C. in twelve days about what the whole TV show is about.

Tuesday, the King got his ass verbally kicked in by an hour long televised appearance of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. I’m not much one to praise the dilapidated Democratic Party but frankly I was mesmerized by the depth, maturity, intelligence and forceful clarity of Governor Pritzker telling the Feds to stay the hell out of his state and that if they wanted to really lower crime they should be better funding community, youth and similar programs. Ptritzker also forbade local law enforcement from any collaboration with Federal troops. I don’t know if Pritzker is a progressive, a centrist, a “Zionist Pig” or any other label you prefer. He is impressive. I saw him today as an extremely serious, extremely smart politician with major gravitas that knows how to speak convincingly and with authority to the people and I would vote for him for president in a New York minute. I hope he runs and I think he’s planning to.

Chicago Mayor Johnson was no slouch, though Pritzker is a tough act to follow. Once again, a serious, rational, thoughtful pol who noted that tens of thousands of illegal weapons have been seized under his tenure and that if the Mad King really wanted to lower crime in Illinois — which has strict gun laws— he’d do something about the virtual river of out of state guns that flow into Chicago from neighboring Indiana and other nearby Red states.

Good idea, but fat chance with this regime that apparently uses gunpowder in their baths. See the entire one hour video presentation by Pritzker and Johnson at the bottom of this piece. It will make you see not everybody is rolling over and playing dead.

The invasion of Chicago will no doubt go ahead in the coming days, but knowing that place as I do, I predict some pretty hairy pushback in the streets and, of course, a barrage of law suits and restraining orders that will, natch, also wind up in the Supreme Court.

This week has also seen an upsurge in media reporting on the King’s precarious health situation. Mostly his physical disabilities but also —if less so— his, um, sanity.

He did himself no favors a few days ago, showing proof of life, by staying up all night and squeezing out some 42 burps on his Truth Social network. Almost four dozen blurbs so meandering and irrational they seemed lifted from the Diary of a Madman. Because they were.

Then there’s RFK Jr, the long time heroin and steroid addict with a worm-eaten brain. In a matter of hours he spread enough discouragement and despair among its top ranks, that the CDC is now a smoking shambles. As of this writing, mass confusion still reigns inside and around the CDC and doctors fear writing prescriptions for a COVID vaccine because they don’t know if it’s legal. The major drug store chains have stopped giving out the vaccine and it seems that neither RFK nor any of the two or three sycophants still left in his shop can clearly articulate his new “directives.”

What is clear is that despite his mumblings, RFK is hell bent on making COVID vaccines as hard to get as possible with the exception of those over 65. It’s not even clear how us of age boomers can secure them. And many of them are no longer free and cost $225 (more than a beef prime rib). It’s all great timing as, even if the media pays little attention to it, there’s a new surge in COVID infections as we edge into the flu season. What could possibly go wrong?

Parents of youngsters are on top of this issue because, guess what, they want their children vaccinated and Bobby is making it damn near impossible for them. RFK has become the most dangerous member of the cabinet as his crank notions and directives put at risk every American regardless of class, color, gender or age.

If the Democrats wake up in time, a 50-50 proposition at best, the 2026 midterms are theirs to lose. Those elections a year from now will decide the future of this country. If the Republicans win, say hello to one party rule and unaccountable dictatorship. If they lose, as they should and the Democrats win the House, the Trump regime will be a badly wounded lame duck giving us a chance to stabilize and stop the drift toward tyranny.

Whining about voter suppression or gerrymandering is a worthwhile emotional release but not much else and not much one can do about it. Even with the MAGA election chicanery, this election can be won so long as the Democrats and others can produce a massive turnout. A few jiggered seats mean nothing when the political atmosphere is one of deep rejection of the King and his cabinet of fools, buffoons, kooks and cranks. Under present conditions, the Dems could sweep 30 seats or more. COULD.

That means voter outreach and mobilization and loud protest must be ratcheted up as this nation has exactly one year and no more to save itself. Trump is doing nothing to build an electoral coalition and this year will be do or die for the Democrats and the rest of us.

I loathe being so reductionist, but elevated public clamor is the best antidote to break the marriage between Trump and the Supreme Court which has been mostly, but not always, a rubber stamp for the Madman. Very quietly, though, John Roberts is as much of as narcissist as Trump and is therefore the crucial swing vote. He craves acceptance and popular approval even as he conducts an ongoing shit show. Unlike Trump, Roberts is more attentive to popular opinion and in his shriveled little heart he’d rather go down in history as a hero, I hope, rather than accessory to tyranny. In the end, the fate of our nation is, in fact, more in his hands than in the diseased paws of Trump.

(make sure you see the video at the bottom of this post)

With that uplifting thought, I’m heading off to Italy for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, after you subscribe, make yourself comfortable and enjoy this video and see what it means to stand tall and firm in the face of tyranny.

Talk to you from Florence.