For Trump, 2026 mid-terms are coming fast. Reminders are coming, too: of what he promised, the promises he broke, and the failures littering his promises. Here’s one person’s reflections on Trump’s state of the mid-terms worth reading.
Wednesday’s Theme Music – Trump Circles
Ashland, Southern Oregon — Wednesday, April 29, 2026.
Sunshine and blue sky rule the valley with a 47 degree temperature and a high of 72 F possible this afternoon.
I read a Paul Krugman post this morning. In “The Oil Squeeze Tightens”, Krugman asks, “How long will it take before Trump accepts the reality that he doesn’t have the cards, that in the end his Iran venture will be resolved in a way that leaves Iran stronger and America weaker than before the war?”
Krugman concludes that Trump is clearly dissociating. I feel the same. Trump has become strangely quiet. Is it because of his health? I think it’s that failures are stacking for him. The usual tried and true schemes aren’t working.
Regardless of whether the assassination attempt at the WHCD last week was staged or real, Trump probably expected a bounce from that. He got none. It didn’t help his cause that he immediately pivoted to “Build the ballroom! Security!” It was such a non-sequitur that everyone immediately pounced on the flawed logic.
Trump expected his war with Iran to be over. Instead, more and more are suggesting the US lost that war. It’s at a stalemate, which aren’t good optics for what’s supposed to be a world superpower.
Prices are going up. I don’t think Trump cares about prices for oil, gas, and food, except as it affects his popularity. Nor does he care that he promised to lower them on day one. He lies about prices as much as he lies about losing the 2020 election. His lies are losing their power. Too many are experiencing the real impact of high prices.
Trump probably wants to attack another nation but with Iran going poorly, he’s probably being warned not to. Likewise, he probably wants to escalate on attacks on Iran but somebody with more sense is holding him back.
Meanwhile, summer travel is coming, the war goes on, and Trump’s popularity declines. Beyond all of that, the Epstein files still shadow everything Trump does.
Everything Trump is doing seems flaccid and limp. In his latest Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! effort, it’s announced his face and signature will be on passports. The usual rejection chorus rang out, but overall, the effort has fallen flat. It’s same old, same old, Trump wants to be idolized, the GOP is supporting it, but it does nothing for anyone but Trump.
Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! is in danger of becoming Operation Epic Dead Squirrel.
Today’s music in my morning mental music stream riffs off that trend. “Face to the Floor” by Chevelle contain these lines:
Well, caused by their own
And by default
Time to vamanos
Well course now the cracks
Should we intervene?
It brings a chortle out. The 2011 song is probably too alt metal for many but its heavy sound fits my morning mood.
May this Wednesday see you through to a brighter future.
Cheers
All These Things: Trump in decline
The way Trump has been carrying himself is creating speculation about his mind and health.
Much of this is caused by broken promises (like no new war) and things not going his way:
- Job growth is poor
- The national debt is growing fast
- Oil, gas, and associated costs and prices are rising
- His Iran war is not near an end and seems to be getting worse
- Epstein’s ghost and his files, linking Trump to Epstein’s crimes, are still out there
- Trump’s approval ratings drop more each week
Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! did not distract people the way it used to. Trump has almost emptied his quiver. He can’t retract or retreat; that’s against his brand and would lose him his base.
All that remains is that he fire people in his administration to blame them for his failures. People are wondering now, who is next to fall under Trump’s blade? Patel, Hegseth, Kennedy?
It could be a bloody week.
More columns are talking about how badly things are going for Trump.
This Is Not a Man in Control of Himself
Jaimelle Bouie noted:
“The president is struggling with the consequences of his actions, raging in protest of the fact that for all its firepower, the United States cannot bomb Iran into submission. When Trump launched his “short-term excursion,” he assumed that it would be — in the words of a Pentagon official in the last Republican administration to launch a Middle East war — a “cakewalk.”
“That, as Trump’s own intelligence agencies told him, was a mistake. Now, he is stuck. And he lacks the skill and patience to find a way out of his self-inflicted catastrophe. Unable to will a better outcome into existence — there are limits to the power of positive thinking — and frustrated by his own impotence, his response, familiar to anyone who must manage the emotions of a young child, is to throw a tantrum.
“Over the last few days, Trump has denounced “the Fake News Media” as “CRAZY, or just plain CORRUPT!” for its reporting on the war. He attacked Pope Leo XIV in a bizarre rant, calling him “WEAK on Crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy.” And he posted an A.I. image of himself as Jesus, surrounded by devotees, healing an unnamed man.”
Donald Distracted
Andrew Egger observed:
“Well, here we are again: The ceasefire in Iran is once again in a state of near-total collapse. The U.S. military hasn’t yet resumed its bombing campaign of the Iranian mainland, but the danger in the Strait of Hormuz is as bad as ever.
“After claiming Friday that the strait was now open and letting a trickle of ships through, Iran abruptly reversed course Saturday, firing on at least two merchant vessels and insisting the strait would remain closed as long as America maintained its military blockade of Iran’s ports. Then, yesterday, U.S. forces fired on and seized an Iranian cargo ship that they said had tried to run their blockade—causing Iran to announce it was pulling out of the second round of Islamabad peace talks, which were scheduled to begin today. Oil prices, which on Friday had fallen by more than $10 a barrel on Iran’s claims of an open strait, rocketed back upward, now hovering back around $100.
“In one sense, we’re right back where we were last month—the strait closed, Iran intransigent, Donald Trump threatening. But that undersells the damage. A cancer patient who goes under the knife and wakes to discover they couldn’t remove the tumor isn’t likely to be comforted that at least the doctors stitched him up properly. The ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz is becoming a global economic catastrophe, and it’s clear Trump is running out of options to compel Iran to stop throttling it.”
Inside the reckoning Trump didn’t see coming | Opinion
Robert Reich pointed out:
“It’s not just that Dems are winning special elections by wide margins (and even where they’re not, they’re “overperforming” in ruby-red areas by an average of 16 points).
“Nor just that Hungary’s Viktor Orbán was overwhelmingly defeated after 16 years of authoritarian rule, with almost 80 percent of eligible voters turning out. (The victor, Peter Magyar, overcame Orbán’s rigged system by focusing on Orbán’s corruption and linking it to the economic difficulties facing average Hungarians.)
“Or that Trump posted an image of himself as Jesus, revealing his God complex and causing even evangelical Christians in his MAGA base to question his religiosity and mental stability.
“Or that Trump and Vance were dumb enough to pick a fight with Pope Leo, who has used it to explain his (and, for Catholics, Jesus’s) objections to war and to tyrants everywhere.
“Or that Trump’s major ally in Europe (and the only European leader to attend his inauguration), Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Malone, described Trump’s attack on the pope as “unacceptable” (Trump responded by attacking her for “lacking courage” in refusing to join his war on Iran).
“Or that Trump threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization — prompting even Tucker Carlson to call Trump’s threat “vile on every level,” Candace Owens to demand that the 25th Amendment be invoked to remove him from office, conspiracist Alex Jones to accuse Trump of threatening “genocide,” and Megyn Kelly to concede that Trump’s coalition is “completely fractured and in smithereens.”
“Or that Trump’s war has been such an abominable failure that it’s demonstrated his dangerous ignorance and diminishing mental capacity.
“It’s all these, together.”
Yes, it’s all these things.
It’s also that Trump doesn’t know what to do. He’s run out of gimmicks and is losing support. He needs a win to bolster his fragile ego and his support.
Oddsmakers are betting that there’s a 63% chance that Trump will escalate the war in Iran.
Given his past, who would bet against that?
Monday’s Theme Music —
Ashland, Oregon — Monday, April 20, 2026.
Sunshine baths the east. Dark, stormy clouds claim the rest of the horizon. It’s 58 F outside with a mild, pleasantly balmy wind. 62 is expected to be the high as rain returns to the valley.
We’re going into eight weeks in the Trump Iran war. Trump and Iran each are declaring victory. As it was a month ago, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. The ceasefire that Trump declared is fracturing as Iranian ships fire on tanks and US ships fire on Iranian ships and seize them.
Trump’s comments are the war seem almost meaningless. He doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on sometimes, making contradictory claims. He’s proving himself to be as poor at managing a war or negotiating a ceasefire as he was running his businesses. The difference here: he can’t save himself in a bankruptcy court. There are no contractors he can stiff and walk away from. The art of the con has been fully exposed.
Stories have emerged that Trump was kept out of the planning stages for the airman rescue in Iran because the military and staff worried that Trump would derail it. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump raged about fear of failure.
Stock markets don’t know to go up or down. Oil prices immediately rose.
So, we sit on Monday morning, waiting to see what will happen on Monday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Epstein files are still out there, waiting for all to be revealed.
My wife and I watched Shrinking last night. Today’s song was featured. My wife sang along with it; when the show was over, she walked around the house singing it. Somehow The Neurons ended up mindlessly playing it over and over in the morning mental music stream.
From out of 2011, here is Christina Perri with “A Thousand Years”.
The lyrics cycling through my brain:
I have died every day waiting for you
Darling, don’t be afraid
I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What’s standing in front of me
Every breath, every hour has come to this
The song was originally written and featured on “Twilight”, which I’ve never seen. I found an interesting ‘cover’ of the song and thought I’d share it here.
My wish for you is that you find yourself on Tuesday healthy, happy, safe, and free.
Cheers
Friday’s Theme Music – Wild Life
Ashland, Oregon — Friday, April 17, 2026.
The clock is running; here we go.
It’s up to 44 from its overnight low of 32 F. Clouds and fog were graying the blue sky but now they’re gone. Unbridled sunshine lights up the green spring world. We’re heading for the upper sixties, they say.
Mom’s deadline is today. 30 days ago, she told the assisted living facility she was moving out. She then started searching for someone to ‘take her home’. It’s been a tug of war since. Today is quiet; no texts from Mom or sisters. I wait on pins and needles.
There’s breaking news — again.
Crude oil prices fell to $90 a barrel based on something Iran was said to agree to. The stock markets were quick to shout good news and go up, but then, that is its modern nature.
We won’t know what it means for a while. Higher oil prices are already embedded in our economic fabric. It will take a while to get it out.
Will the war be over? Will the US military forces leave that area? Depends on what Trump’s bones say.
Even if this war ends, what will happen next? What nation will Trump next attack?
Waiting to see when SOUTHCOM kills some more people in boats in the Pacific.
Still waiting to see what else is in the Epstein files.
Still waiting to see what’s really going on with Trump’s health and mind.
That brings me to “Wild Wild Life”, a 1986 song by Talking Heads.
I’d read a piece about Kavanagh saying, oh, based on Dobbs and original intent, the military draft could be illegal, because it’s not mentioned in the Constitution. That encourage me to scowl and mutter about cherry picking precedence and the dead hand of our founders — all white men — orchestrating our response to modern issues via conservatives who want to turn back the clock.
That all triggered Der Neurons to bring “Wild Wild Life” lyrics into the morning mental music stream.
Like sitting on pins and needles
Things fall apart
It’s scientific
Sleeping on the Interstate, oh-oh-oh
Getting wild, wild life
Checking in and checking out, oh-oh-oh
I got ’em, wild, wild life
Spending all of my money and time, oh-oh-oh
On too much wild, wild life
We wanna go and we go where we go, oh-oh-oh
Ah, doing wild, wild life
I know it, that’s how we start, oh-oh-oh
Got some wild, wild life
h/t to musixmatch.com
Hope your wild, wild, Friday is a safe, prosperous, peaceful one for you, maybe with a little celebration and libation. Have the best one you can make.
Coffee, please.
Cheers
Trump’s Vision: Unhinged, Untethered
I read the NYTimes review of the Trump Ballroom addition to the White House, the addition where Trump tore down the Easat Wing without public approval.
The Times article cited a grand staircase that leads to no entry. Pillars that block the view from inside the ballroom. A building that is too tall and too large for its planned purpose. It was also a building put up without previous engineering and architectural reviews.
A judge ordered construction stopped so reviews could be conducted. Trump responded to a hand-picked panel that unanimously grunted, “Approved” without thinking about any of the 19,000 objections raised.
In many ways, the ballroom is perfectly symbolic of Trump’s decisions.
- Dismissing medical science, Trump appointed anti-vax people to important positions. With more people encouraged to dismiss childhood vaccinations, measles outbreaks in 2025 climbed to the highest levels seen in decades. 2026 is expected to surpass that mark.
- Ignoring economic and political history, Trump instituted ’emergency’ tariffs which drove up costs and prices, and which now must be paid back.
- He ignored common sense, Congressional approvals, and due process before attacking boats and killing their crews.
- Didn’t consult with anyone before recklessly kidnapping President Maduro of Venezuela.
- Bombed Iran’s nuclear program in June of 2025 and declared it obliterated without consulting anyone.
- Then attacked Iran in February of 2026 with a massive bombing campaign because Trump feared Iran’s nuclear missile capability.
- By attacking Iran, Trump drove up gas, oil, and diesel fuel prices. Diesel prices will drive up farming and transportation costs, prompting inflation and higher food prices, just as planting season begins.
All these are like his ballroom: with steps that go nowhere, a confused design that even now, he’s trying to change.
The problem with it all is Trump. He has a maligned vision of what peace, war, unity, and prosperity means, and it’s an unhinged, untethered vision.
The one clear thing we know about Trump from his actions is that he and Jeffrey Epstein were good friends and he’s scared of having details about his Epstein friendship revealed. To that end, he’ll do anything to hide the truth.
Hiding from the truth is what always drives Trump’s unhinged, untethered vision, whether it’s how badly he lost in 2020 or how his popularity is tanking in 2026.
Get ready for more.
Thursday’s Theme Music — Trouble
Ashland, Oregon — Thursday, March 26, 2026.
It’s 35 degrees out with disorganized traces of thin fog and a bright blue sky. Today’s highs will carry the mercury into the sixties.
We have gnat trouble in our house. We’ve been slowly noticing the little critters. From what I’ve read, they may have started around the houseplants but have moved to the bathroom. My wife takes hot Epson salt baths and the skylight has a new ‘white film’ and a spider web up there is littered with gnat bodies. Now we need to address stopping these from spreading.
Adding to today’s troubles, my sisters are anxious about what’s going on with Mom. They’ve asked me to contact her about her plans. I was asked because I haven’t been publicly denounced as mean and hateful. My plan is just to ask her what her plans are and not to otherwise engage. I’m doing this by text as Mom has developed a confrontational communication style in the last year.
Mom’s activities are driving my sisters’ anxiety. Mom gave notice to the assisted living facility that she is moving out in April. She also informed them that she had contacted an elder abuse lawyer. She then changed all her prescriptions from the assisted living facility pharmacy back to Sam’s Club, where she used to get them.
It seems like Mom’s intention is to return to her house. That’s what she keeps saying she wants to do. But since she moved out last year, all the food has been removed, along with most of her belongings. The home was being readied for a sale in the spring, with Mom’s agreement. Everything now is topsy turvy.
My fingers are crossed that something useful will emerge from this attempt. I am not out to argue with her plans or try to make her see reason or anything. Just trying to see what she thinks is going on.
Political issues are troubling me on multiple levels. Locally, we’re working through what to do with the town hall. Plans are incubating to build a new complex, co-locating all local government facilities. The price attached to that is five million. But this is a town which already carries a heavy structural debt, has a large headcount and payroll, and has been cutting services while increasing service fees. Spending more money doesn’t seem prudent.
Nationally, I’m waiting to see what the jobs reports and inflation looks like next month. The Iran War has pushed up prices. We’re in a momentary lull with the war but Trump is issuing new threats, increasing tension again. This comes after he said that Iran gave him a very nice gift, and that Iran and the U.S. were negotiating, which Iran denies.
On a parallel course, the U.S. said it destroyed another four more ‘narco-terrorists’ when they destroyed another boat. No evidence has been presented to date that the people they’re killing are involved with drug smuggling, or that the drugs were destined for the U.S.
Different trouble-oriented songs were served up by The Neurons in the morning mental music stream. I ended up with a 957 recording of B.B. King of “Troubles, Troubles, Troubles”. It’s such a classic sound and just fits my mood.
I hope the best for you and yours, no matter where you are. May peace and grace carry you forward through all your troubles.
Cheers
Wednesday’s Theme Music – Far Away
Ashland, Oregon — Wednesday, March 25, 2026.
It’s a quietly rainy day out there. Clouds are cemented together against encroachments of sunshine and blue sky. Temperature isn’t bad, 51 F. 54 F is the prospective high.
Made an appointment with a urologist for a cystoscopy in May to figure out what caused the blood in my urine. It’s abated, far as I can tell but other tests show something growing in my bladder. They’re going to go in and see what that is.
I haven’t read much news this morning. A ‘something is about to happen’ vibe seems to be humming. Trump had threatened bombings which were against modern rules of war and gave a Monday PM deadline. Then, Monday morning, he reversed himself. That news changed financial markets. Traders made money by making moves just fifteen minutes before Trump made his announcement that he was holding off on further bombing.
What a coincidence.
I did read another comprehensive story about Epstein’s death.
I’m indulging in another day of reflections about Mom. We, her family, can’t just converse with her without it spiraling into deeply disturbing, frustrating patterns. She’s now saying the same thing about her primary assisted living contact that she said about my sister and about Frank. “She’s mean to me. She screams at me. I’m so unhappy here.”
It tears my sisters and I apart to see Mom be in this situation. We feel helpless and resigned.
I ended up with The Neurons playing “So Far Away” by Carole King in the morning mental music stream. Her songs with her singing them came out while I was in high school. Her album, Tapestry, resonated with so many young women in my life then. The songs were being heard everywhere.
I’m a rocker and leaned toward The Who and Pink Floyd as examples of my preferences back then. Yet her songs’ sensibilities and melodies worked.
The song arrived today because sis, who took Mom in, is really feeling it and reacting now. Venting a great deal. I can do very little except lend a shoulder because I’m so far away. And as I thought about it, Mom is far away in space and memory, far away from who she was. Going ‘home’ next time will be a very different place and experience.
Let me get off my pity pot. I hope your day and relationships surpass wonderful, it’s an excellent day of peace and grace for you.
Cheers
Trump: It’s A Gas, Gas, Gas
The Trump Iran War is now in week four. Trump thought it could take “four to five weeks” but admitted it might go longer.
He is also talking about winding the war down while sending in ground troops.
As they used to sing on a children’s television program, “One of these things is not like the other.”
It ought to get very interesting. My wife and I put $30 worth of gas in our ‘compact’ Mazda CX-5 SUV yesterday: 7.44 gallons at $4.569 per gallon. This was at Costco, which has the lowest prices around here. We laughed till we cried, remembering how we used to almost fill our tank each week for the price of one gallon now.
A Dodge RAM 1500 and a Ford F150 pickup trucks were filling up. Those trucks have big tanks, take a lot of fuel, and get poor gas mileage. Know who drive pickup trucks? Trump supporters.
Know who likes Trump’s Iran War? Trump supporters.
Of course, Trump voters have a history of voting against the truth. They voted against Harris because Trump said Harris would take them to war. Trump said he wouldn’t start any wars.
They voted against Harris because Trump promised to lower food prices on day one. He didn’t.
They voted against Harris because they live in rural areas. Rural areas are the hardest hit by Trump’s policies in his second term.
They voted for Trump because he said he would come for the immigrants. They never thought he meant them.
They voted for Trump because he would release the Epstein files on day one. He didn’t.
Trump also said that Presidents Biden and Obama ‘made up’ the Epstein files. Neither were POTUS when the files were created.
Trump also promised to lower oil and gas prices, and then he attacked Iran.
Trump voters: they’re not deep thinkers.
Just like their leader, Donald J. Trump.
Trump: Round and Round
Round and round and round we go.
Where we’ll end up, nobody knows. Especially Trump.
I saw a comment the other day which summarizes Trump voters for me. I remember what they said but not who said it:
“Trump didn’t betray you. He showed us exactly who he is. You betrayed us.”
Look at these headlines.
Trump rules out ceasefire as US sends more troops to Middle East
Trump says US considers ‘winding down’ Iran military effort
US Sends Another 2,500 Marines to Iran as Ground Option Emerges in War
Same war, same Trump, intentions going everywhere in a lost haze of thought.
TSA lines are causing traffic delays as TSA agents don’t come to work. Why should they? Trump is not paying them because of his partial government shutdown.
Now, some small regional airports might shut down due to Trump’s partial government shutdown.
As oil prices go up, so do gas prices at the pump but analysts warn that oil prices will hit every sector because of shipping. Meanwhile, another set of analysts warn that we’ll probably start seeing food prices increasing because of Trump’s tariffs — from ‘liberation day’ of last year. Companies were spreading the costs out among multiple products and lines to spread increases and ease the pain. Now, forced to the wall, Food Navigator thinks the price increases will be more direct.
My wife and I are forever laughing about economists and their expectations. Earlier this month, the poor jobs growth surprised them. Now APNews reports it’s consumer wholesale prices.
U.S. wholesale prices came in hotter than expected in February, driven partly by a sharp increase in food costs.
The Labor Department reported Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it hits consumers — rose 0.7% from January, and 3.4% from February 2025. The year-over-year increase was the most since February 2025.
The price gains were bigger than economists had forecast, and they occurred before the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran pushed energy prices sharply higher.
It’s like, where do these economists live and shop that they don’t walk into a place and notice prices going on month by month? It’s surreal.
Now my wife and I are trying to figure out what a ‘K-shape economy recovery’ looks like. I’m telling you, if it’s not one thing…
Oh, BTW. Remember how Trump said he and one of his Republican lackeys had a great plan to send a hospital ship to Greenland? Surprised everyone because we all knew the Navy’s hospital ships weren’t available, but Trump’s ‘plan’ grabbed headlines and distracted everyone from the Epstein files for a few days. No ship was ever sent.
I mention it now because Trump signed an executive order to have the government work with the NCAA and whatever so that the Army-Navy football game is the only game being broadcast.
That smacks of classic Trump distraction. Polls for him are down, the economy is swirling around the toilet, and the Epstein files still haunt him. Now, what he thought would be a one and done in Iran is a growing disaster. Quick! Distraction: Army-Navy game.
Who still falls for his inanity these days?
Michael Seidel, writer 