Seeing and reading about that Trump pledge at Trumpapalooza more since it happened, I think, that is one of the silliest things that I’ve seen in my lifetime, outside of parties where people were drunk.
Those Republicans weren’t drunk, though. As far as I know…
Then I realized, yes, I have seen things like that before, in movies about secret societies, and at children’s parties.
The Trump pledge seems particularly childish to me now. Taking that pledge with Trump showed how the GOP has become a childish party. Led by Trump, they often threaten to withhold money, attack someone, sue someone, or take away FCC licenses. Even Speaker Johnson has been caught lying.
Trump also childishly promised more money to people if Republicans won and keep control of office. Sounds a lot like a kid saying, “If you’re nice to me, I’ll give you a piece of my candy.”
Trump offers the candy even though it’s not actually his candy to give. The candy he’s giving away belongs to We the People.
Like a child, Trump tries blaming everyone else. He’s like a school kid telling the teacher, “The dog ate my homework.” Today he’s blaming the high gas prices plaguing his administration on Ukraine.
Right now, Trump is whining about NATO again. After he started a war with Iran without mentioning it to NATO, he wants NATO, a defense organization to step up and help us with his fight.
Trump says he won that war, so why does he want NATO’s help?
This was from the Dallas 2026 midterm conventions. Trump insisted that the convention be made about him. That way, the midterm will be about Trump, because Trump thinks he’s the greatest.
And those of him applauding and pledging with him must agree. Why else put your hand up and say those things — unless they’re like Trump, willing to say anything?
But here he is, verifying, yes, he thinks of it as a war. He used the word ‘war’ repeatedly this week.
Because it is a war.
“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election because they can’t hold out any longer,” Trump said. “They’re desperate to affect the election, so that we can get a nice, weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapon. All they want is their nuclear weapon, and if they have a nuclear weapon, the whole world is in deep trouble.”
Which means that he has illegally taken our nation into war over six months ago. The Constitution states only Congress can declare war.
I know Trump apologists – Trumpologists – are hurriedly giving him cover. “He was just talking,” they’ll probably say. “That doesn’t mean that we’re at war.”
That’s what Trumpologists always say about Trump. Trump was just talking, whether it’s about why he ordered the attacks on Iran, when the Iran war will end, declaring he’ll balance the budget, reduce prices, start no new wars, be a unifier and a peacemaker, release the Epstein files, cheat, or lower drug prices by over 100%.
He was just talking.
Trump cannot be trusted to keep his word. And his attitude and policies are too backward and outdated for what’s needed in this century.
Instead of facing this, Trump lies, bullies, cheats, and exaggerates.
I believe we need people in our leadership positions who are willing to face the challenges and rise to them, instead of trying to drag us backwards.
Otherwise, we’ll forever be going backwards as the world goes forward.
Vote Blue in 2026. End the war, stop the lies, and restore trust.
I’m sure there are some voters out there nodding and saying, “Did you hear? Trump promised us money for our vote. I’m going to vote Republican.”
Meaning, they would need to pretend that Trump is going to follow through on this promise after all his other failed promises. It’s so much easier for Trump to promise more instead of fulfilling all the previous promises. Especially those promises Trump made such as, “I will not golf”, “I will deliver a new healthcare plan”, and “I will start no new wars.”
Or this classic Trump promise:
Over two years later, and we’re waiting for Trump to do what he promised.
Trump is calling this a ‘dividend’. He’s not really explaining how it’ll be paid for. It’s hard to believe that a ‘dividend’ is available when the national debt has surged past $40T, a level never seen before, and shows no signs of slowing.
In the past, Trump has cut programs and services which he didn’t like, labeling these fraud and waste. These were mostly from the regulatory side and the social safety net, like SNAP, healthcare premium subsidies, and childcare assistance. Since Trump has already cut those, what else can be cut? Defense?
I can see why people with little future and little hope, desperate just to make it to the next payday in order to buy gas and food might want to take Trump’s deal. But Trump is the one who create the 2026 affordability crisis. His DOGE cuts, tariffs, and bloated defense budget with its plan to build ‘Trump’ class battleships created this crisis. Trump’s Iran War fueled the crisis by disrupting the global supply chain and pushing gas prices to record levels.
Now, instead of addressing those things, he’s offering a bandage when surgery is needed.
I think Trump is falling back on an old favorite.
We’ll need to wait and see if Trump can buy his way out of another mess, as he tried to do when he paid off Stormy Daniels after Trump had an affair with her.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Tuesday, September 8, 2026.
I hope everyone had a good weekend.
It’s warming here again. 54 F at my house this morning. Sunshine and the fronts, which could be the name of a rock band but isn’t, are expected to warm us into the high 80s today. While the sky is blue over our green and brown landscape, clouds varnish it with gray.
One of the things about holidays in the US are SALES! We used to be inundated with mailers and radio and television commercials about how the sales.
Well, I stream and don’t watch over the air or cable channels so I had none of those. Heard nothing on the radio about the sales this year. Nor were there flyers in the snail mail.
Never fear, they sales were shown in the mail inbox. I always have a huge collection of offers. Not the old Viagra stuff, no. This is the standard LOOK AT WHAT WE’RE SELLING AT GREAT PRICES STUFF. Lot of subscription offers. Last chances to REALLY SAVE was going to end LAST NIGHT.
The sales ended. I bought nothing. Some things don’t change. I’m sure I’ll have more chances in the future, despite their declaration that this was my LAST CHANCE. I just need to click through my mail, trashing all these GREAT OFFERS.
Do we have a Salute Gate brewing? Trump failed to return the Marines’ salute when he left Marine One. Remember how conservatives raised a storm about President Obama saluting with a coffee cup? I’m sure this will be worse…not. Trump Double Standards are strictly enforced.
I love trackers and appreciate and respect the people that put them together for us.
I already regularly check the National Debt Clock, watching as the numbers spin and climb, showing exactly how much more debt we as a nation are in by the second.
Then there’s the IranWarClock. This displays how long the Trump Iran War — TIW for short — has been going, and how long it’s been since Trump said it would be over. Thanks to this site, I know that Trump has shifted the TIW’s timeline eight times, and that it has now been going on 192 days.
Now, Daily Kos has pointed me toward one developed by Watson School of International and Public Affairs at Brown University: the Iran War Energy Cost Tracker. This tells us how much the TIW is costing our nation to the second. It then helpfully shows how much more each American household is paying for energy thanks to the TIW.
Then there’s the Measles Outbreaks tracker to see what’s going on with measles in the US and around the world.
GasPricesLive is good to compare how much we’re paying for gasoline per gallon.
For more fun, you can go to the Trump Timer, which shows how many days until his second term ends.
It’s all just information. Facts and figures. History.
All this thinking about clocks, trackers, and time has The Neurons busy with rock songs about time in my morning mental music stream. Among these are “Time Won’t Let Me” by the Outsiders, “Clocks” by Coldplay, and “Time” by The Alan Parsons Project.
There are other songs — Cher, The Doors, Jim Croce, BB King, Chicago, the Rolling Stones, the Guess Who…it’s a long list.
But here we go, with “Clocks” by Coldplay and “Time Won’t Let Me” by The Outsiders.
May you have the time and will to do all you need and want to do.
“Since Trump started his second term, prices have gone up in 5 of 8 areas he pledged to cut. Inflation spiked earlier this year as the Iran war drove up prices for gas and other essentials.”
Your Trump Quote of the Day 1:
Here’s a useful table for validating Trump’s claim.
The grocery items people actually buy
We can go one level more concrete using BLS’s average retail prices, rather than indexes:
Item
January 2025
July 2026
Change
Large eggs, dozen
$4.953
$2.189
−55.8%
Butter, stick
$4.912
$3.922
−20.2%
White bread, lb.
$1.925
$1.820
−5.5%
Whole milk, gallon
$4.025
$4.313
+7.2%
Ground beef, 100% beef, lb.
$5.545
$6.885
+24.2%
All uncooked ground beef, lb.
$5.820
$7.116
+22.3%
Regular gasoline, gallon
$3.211
$4.094
+27.5%
This is based on the BLS’s information. I must point out that egg producers were later convicted of price gouging during President Biden’s term.
Headlines tell more about the worsening economic conditions we’re facing as we move toward the midterm elections in the United States.
Funny how Trump interprets these to be much better with him in the Oval Office. Back when President Biden was leading the nation, Trump kept screaming about these prices.
Your Trump Quote of the Day 2:
Your Trump Quote of the Day 3
Your Trump Quote of the Day 4:
Your Trump Quote of the Day 6
As this sequence of Trump quotes reveal, Trump will absolutely lie and promise without regard to reality. Perhaps the only quote we can really trust from Trump is this, which Trump made earlier this year.
Your Trump Quote of the Day 7:
While Trump said that last quote in May of 2026 while talking about the war he started with Iran. But even that was part of Trump’s shifting explanations and claims about what’s going on. He says one thing about the Iran war — and denies it’s a war — while claiming to be lowering prices — when the prices are going up, and the war is contributing to them — while saying the war is necessary to stop Iran from having a nuclear capability after HE has said that he has destroyed that capability — while also claiming ‘we already won’ and the war wouldn’t last for more than four or five weeks. Those specific inconsistences trouble me.
The greater point is that prices are not coming down and the war is not over.
It all adds up to a credibility problem, a legacy of lies, corruption, and broken promises for me. Keeping Trump and his power will lead to higher prices, more war, and more violence, based on what I’ve seen under Trump in this term.
Not much change from one year ago, which was Trump’s first year of his second term.
Except — Trump still hasn’t released the Epstein files.
Trump tore down the WH East Wing to begin building a new ballroom for himself, without first getting permission. At no cost to taxpayers, he claimed, which was exposed as a lie.
Still hasn’t ended the Russia-Ukraine war, which he declared he’d do before he even took his oath of office.
Didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, again.
Put in place policies which made gas, food, and healthcare prices increase, causing an affordability crisis for many Americans.
Kidnapped the sitting president of another nation and his wife.
Alienated allies.
Started a war with Iran after claiming that he wouldn’t.
Screwed up the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pond, destroyed the White House south lawn, lied thousands of more times, and generated a lot more wealth for himself.
Oversaw the rise of measles in the United States to the worse level in 35 years.
Governed as the United States debt increased to historic highs, over $40T.
Ordered the US Navy to kill more people in international waters.
Created a legacy of lying, cheating, losing, greed, corruption, and destruction which will be remembered long after he is gone.
Well, I’m sure after all the attacks on Iran so far, Iran will now meekly submit — right? Sure. I have a Trump golf course to sell if you believe that. Based on previous responses, the Iranians will fight back. That’s what tends to happen when you kill and threaten to kill more. People get upset.
On other aspects of this escalation, sinking oil tankers is probably not good for the environment, and will be bad for oil, gas, and diesel prices. Might be bad for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, too, which might be bad for the global supply chain.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Of course, Trump did promise no new wars. Like everything else he does, he’s lying about what he said and meant. Just like when he told his first (and second) wife that he would love them forever and never cheat on them.
Just think of what We the People could have done to help the poor and sick. But no, Trump wanted to golf. Priorities, am I right?
Trump also claims that this is not a war. He’s just ordering the US Army, Navy, and Air Force to bomb things and kill people in Iran and on Iran ships.
Reading Trump’s quote shows the extent of his delusions. Trump claims ‘we had no equipment’ when he came into office. Sure. Search the net to find out how long it takes to build aircraft carriers like the USS Abraham Lincoln. Years, friends. Does Trump think he just snapped its fingers and ‘lo, there it was?
Likewise, the US military had huge numbers of personnel and armaments in place before Trump arrived. If anything, we’ve seen how Trump’s mismanagement and abuse of our military power is weakening the military.
As proven through the years, though, Trump is a lying idiot who fancies himself an expert on everything.
To the people like MAGAts who went to tear down everything, he’s perfect for the job.
“During a Monday morning appearance on MS NOW, author and journalist Maggie Haberman revealed that President Donald Trump’s own team pleaded with him to address voter anxieties, but he has so far seemed content to ignore them as the midterms approach.“
I laughed because Trump has demonstrated that he’s so out of touch, it’s gone beyond surreal. As further news emerges about Trump’s relationship with Natalie Harp, I think she’s influencing him, bolstering ideas that Trump is doing great. So, ipso facto, if Trump is doing great, as he believes, he has no reason to change.
Secondly, I would not be surprised if Trump is already planning to declare an emergency, and in fact to create an emergency to intervene in the 2026 elections or even suspend them. Everyone except Republicans would be in an immediate uproar. What’s really scary in this scenario is that the courts would probably tell Trump that he lacks the authority, but the Roberts Court would probably let Trump do so while they schedule arguments.
Trump and his Project Heritage puppet masters, are expecting that. They’ve been probing the judicial system to see how it reacts to different situations and arguments. They know which courts and judges favor Trump. And they also see how much legal leeway Roberts is giving Trump.
It would be so weirdly Trump: he would simultaneously claim — as he has — that crime and violence is down and everything is great — but also declare an emergency because of how bad everything is.
At the same time,Trump has repeatedly argued that the economy is strong and that his economic record will help Republicans in the 2026 midterms.
When talking about the economy, Trump likes to say that we’ve entered a golden age. He then recites a laundry list of ‘good things’. The thing is, those measurements are typically the metrics for the wealthy.
Outside of the wealthy, the economy sucks. The national debt is at a record high. Dominos fall from that. Bond rates increase; interest rates rise; the housing market suffers.
Gas and diesel fuel prices are up. That drives up the cost of everything, including just going to the store to buy things. With prices up, people have to spend more to buy less.
Back to school sales will be a tell about the economy; so will the upcoming holiday months. But retail sales are trending down YTY for the same period, not a good sign. Although places like Walmart say they’re going to counter by slashing prices by using refunds of tariffs they paid, how much can they significantly offset. More importantly, in parallel to that, Trump is adding more tariffs, and energy prices are ticking upward.
The bottom line of that: the government gives retailers money back for tariffs because the Roberts Court ruled against them. Then retailers use some of it to reduce prices. But Trump imposes new tariffs that push costs back upward.
And Trump knows that his tariffs are costing consumes, even though he previously said that they don’t. That takes us to quotes about what Trump has said about affordability, prices, and tariffs.
Your Trump Quote(s) of the Day:
So, I get it!
According to Trump, he’s going to address affordability, and bring prices down on day one, except affordability is really a Democratic hoax and doesn’t matter, and he doesn’t care anyway. And affordability — that Democratic hoax — is better under Republicans, even though prices are higher and trending to go higher yet. Also, consumers don’t pay tariffs but he’s suspending beef prices to lower prices for you.
If you believe that, Trump has a bible to sell you, religiously used for him to pray every night.
Listening to Trump has all the exasperation and weariness of dealing with a toddler, except toddlers are make a lot more sense.
Joey Politano put it best:
“[E]very 6 months the Trump administration realizes lowering tariffs will lower prices, applies this insight to one specific good, and then proceeds to never introspect beyond that,” he wrote in a post on X. “It’s honestly beautiful in its stupidity.”
Even more beautiful in an ugly way is how so many MAGAts still trust and believe in Trump. Because the direction Trump has taken us in the United States is what they want.
Ashland, southern Oregon. Thursday, August 20, 2026.
Buckle up: supposed to be hot today, 100F. High small puffy clouds dot the blue sky. The sun feels like someone turned it up to eleven. Although it’s only 71, the ‘feels like’ is 85 F.
Spent time this morning on Watch Duty reviewing the state of wildfires in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and California. A depressing exercise.
Still waiting for Mom’s house to close. Gina, my sister who now oversee Mom’s finances, was complaining about how much Mom spent on Amazon on lipstick, diapers, clothes, shoe polish, and other things. Gina wanted me to tell Mom about how much money Gina thought Mom is wasting.
I said no. Not doing it. Bought Mom an Amazon gift card instead, to help her with these expenses. Mom doesn’t have much of a life these days, and now you’re pressing to nickel and dime her?
We’re into some deep WTF territory with Trump this week as he went on about flagpoles.
To be fair, his flagpole riff seemed a lot like his grass riff. He does love to declare himself an expert, knowing more than anyone, about many things.
Your Trump Quote of the Day:
Trump did pay $100K for these flagpoles last year. But then the servant of We the People could afford it, as he raked in $3B for his first year in office. 100K/3,000,000K = .003%
I label the flagpoles another cheap installment of Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! Trump bloviates about flagpoles as gas prices climb again. Diesel prices have jumped 15 cents to $5.47 per gallon, which adds to the cost of transporting just about everything.
But do please tell us more about the shape of your flagpole, Donald Trump.
People should know Trump is saying these things and quit treating him like he’s stable or a genius. He’s a criminal, head of a criminal enterprise. They need to wake up to that but probably won’t until Trump steals them blind.
All these things — big and little — Trump does stack up into one large mess.
I ended up with “Little Things” by Bush in my morning mental music stream. Released in 1995, it was all about how little things add up to dwarf your sense of self and what is possible.
Sample Lyrics
The river is loaded, I’ve been there today Took it some questions, she does me again I’d die in your arms if you were dead too Here comes a lie, we will always be true
Going up when coming down Scratch away-way-way-way-way
It’s the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brain again Oh, the little things that kill The little things that kill
Bigger you give, bigger you get We’re boss at denial but best at forget The cupboard is empty, we really need food Summer is winter and you always knew
Going up when coming down Scratch away-way-way-way-way
It’s the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brains again Oh, the little things that kill Tearin’ at my brains again
Yeah, it’s the little things that kill. Trump — and more importantly, the masterminds behind him, Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 — knows this.
May you surmount the little things with peace and grace today and every day.
