Losing My Perspicacity January 21, 2025

Welp, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that yesterday went far worse than I anticipated — not that I expected anything good to come out of Trump’s second inauguration. Still, a Nazi salute from the richest man in the world, a slew of diabolical executive orders (some of which are laughably illegal), and a media ecosystem that appears allergic telling the truth made for a pretty terrible day.

I hunkered down and watched Bob’s Burgers for most of the day, with an interlude to watch Kate Winslet’s movie Lee (which was excellent but dark), and I still couldn’t avoid all the pings and bloops coming from my phone while the inauguration was happening.

I know I said I didn’t know what to say yesterday, but I’m really at a loss tonight. Still, we shall forge on together. Nevertheless, she persisted and all that.

I will do my best to talk about what happened in a way that won’t depress the hell out of everyone, which is a tall order at best and impossible at worst. On top of everything else, we lost Cecile Richards today, which was a punch straight to the gut. I’m writing this in front of Rachel Maddow while eating my feelings to the tune of an enormous brownie sundae. I feel both Cecile and Rachel would approve.

Today: Don’t let Big Media gaslight you; Let’s talk about the executive orders; RIP to our warrior queen, Cecile Richards; Football coach Brett Peabody goes off the rails on Aaron Rupar; and The High Note.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Rebellion. Here we go (heavy sigh).

Don’t let the media cowards gaslight you

I think we all know exactly what we’re looking at here.

First, I have no idea why Elon Musk was speaking at the inauguration. I mean, I know exactly why, but it was so wildly inappropriate for a guy who manipulated the media company he owns to push right-wing misinformation and essentially paid $250 million to buy the Presidency to be addressing the crowd. Imagine if Hillary Clinton had won and George Soros got up there to speak — the GOP would lose their minds. I guess we’ve given up any pretense of who is running the show in Washington. Welcome to America II: Oligarchy Bugaloo.

Secondly, what are the odds that a guy who is openly supporting Germany’s far-right political party, whose leader has publicly defended the SS, did something that accidentally looked like a Nazi salute? And not just once, but twice? There was a time when we all asked our teachers, incredulous, how Germany could have let Hitler rise to power. I’m confident that pretending a very obvious Nazi salute is not, in fact, a Nazi salute gets us part of the way there. Sure, you can make the argument that Elon is just throwing up his arm awkwardly in a still photo. But when you see the video? It’s pretty clear what’s happening.

It’s not a huge surprise that Musk, at the very least, is Nazi-adjacent. But if you told me five years ago that the richest man in the world would throw up the ole “Heil Hitler” at the Presidential inauguration and the media would react as it did, I would never have believed you. Here are some headlines from our major media outlets:

NYT: Elon Musk ignites online speculation over the meaning of a hand gesture

WaPo: (nothing found on their website - LOL)

BBC: Elon Musk’s gesture at Trump rally draws scrutiny

Newsweek: Elon Musk’s gesture at Trump’s inauguration parade sparks online chatter

The Guardian: Elon Musk appears to make back-to-back fascist salutes at inauguration rally (points for mentioning fascism!)

You can see where I’m going with this. The media has completely abdicated its responsibility to its readers, suggesting that it’s just “people online” who saw Musk’s gesture as a Nazi salute and started the entire controversy. That’s ludicrous. We all know what we saw.

Now, the reason media outlets are doing this is obvious: They don’t want to get sued. However, for Musk to be successful in a lawsuit, he would have to prove that not only was his gesture not a Nazi salute, but that a given outlet knew it wasn’t a Nazi salute, but called it one anyway just to be malicious. Can you look at that and tell me, without a shadow of a doubt, that Musk wasn’t making a Nazi salute? Of course not — which is why Musk couldn’t win such a suit. What he could do, however, is tie up a company in litigation, forcing them to spend millions to defend themselves.

But as every media company is now owned by some giant corporation (ABC- Disney; WaPo- Bezos; CBS- Paramount; NBC - Comcast; etc.), do we really believe they don’t have pockets deep enough to weather the storm? Of course they do. So, a decision not to call Musk out for echoing Hitler’s henchman comes down to this: Any money they spend on potential litigation by Musk is less money for their bonuses and for their shareholders. Because God knows the biggest sin in the United States of America these days is giving up any amount of money in the service of what’s right.

One of the worst things to ever happen in this country was for business people to get into the news business because they wanted to make a profit. In journalism, truth is paramount. It’s the only thing that matters.

Let’s talk about the executive orders

Trump clearly doesn’t have anyone who values their law license advising him these days. Among the executive orders he signed yesterday, one attempts to end birthright citizenship, which says that anyone born on American soil (or in an American territory) is an American citizen. That’s enshrined in the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which says:

As I pointed out yesterday, the President can not unilaterally overrule an amendment to the Constitution with an executive order. The process to amend the Constitution is lengthy and involved, and the President himself has no role in it. Let’s also think of the irony of the Trump administration insisting that the ERA, which has been ratified by 38 states, is NOT an Amendment to the Constitution, but that he, as POTUS, can amend the Constitution himself with a stroke of a pen. Men like Trump are the reason the president can’t alter the Constitution on his own. My kingdom for a 1L law student to explain this to him.

What Trump is hoping is that activist judges (remember those?) will interpret the 14th Amendment as only applying to those born on American soil who also have citizen parents, but I find it hard to believe even our subservient Supreme Court would go that far. Still, that doesn’t negate all the harm the Trump administration is going to do to immigrants while the legal process plays out. I’m confident we’re going to see children born in the United States of America deported to countries they’ve never lived in, perhaps have never even visited. What a cruel people we are to have voted for this.

Of course, Trump signed a slew of executive orders today. Here are some of the worst:

• Rescinded 78 Biden-era orders and memos, many relating to equity and inclusion and the mobilization of COVID responses:

• Froze all federal hiring, except for the military and a few other exempted departments

• Required federal employees to return to the office full-time

• Withdrew from the landmark Paris Climate Accord

• Withdrew the US from the World Health Organization

• Intends to rename the Gulf of Mexico “The Gulf of America” and rename Mount Denali to Mount McKinley (seriously, who was clamoring for this)

• Fired a bunch of immigration judges

• Pardoned over 1,500 people convicted for their roles in the January 6 insurrection, including Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was serving 22 years for seditious conspiracy.

Of course, Trump has promised to begin mass deportations as soon as tomorrow and to make life as difficult for the trans community as possible, including withholding funds for schools that support trans children and banning trans soldiers from the military.

What a shitshow.

If you or someone you love is at risk, please know that gender identity is protected in several states. Here, you can find lists of organizations in all 50 states that can provide support to trans folks.

If you fear someone you love could be deported or detained due to their immigration status, you can find legal help in your state here, and an ACLU primer on immigrant rights here.

RIP Cecile Richards

Cecile Richard, the luminous and fiery feminist and head of Planned Parenthood (and daughter of infamous Texas firebrand Ann Richards), passed away yesterday at the age of 67.

On the one hand, carrying on this fight for equality and reproductive rights seems impossible without Cecile Richards, who I never even met, urging everyone on. At the same time, I’m happy that she noped out of this timeline before things get even worse than they are. I can’t imagine the danger she willingly put herself in during the 12 years she headed up PP. Here’s what Jessica Valenti wrote about her yesterday:

Many, many supporters of reproductive rights are making donations to Planned Parenthood in honor of Cecile’s life. If you want to contribute, you can do so here.

In addition to being a monthly donor to PP, which was how I got access to birth control and gynecological care when I was a poor college/law student, I like to think I honor Cecile in my own way every time I yell at the people harassing women at my local PP next to the grocery store.

College football coach goes off the deep end

Given that they’ve won the White House and both houses of Congress, you would think the MAGA crowd would be happier. But they are not happy. They are miserable, as this unsolicited message sent to journalist Aaron Rupar shows.

Brett here just happens to be the head coach of the Long Beach City College football team. Of course, Brett took zero responsibility for randomly reaching out to threaten a journalist on X.

And here’s where the irony really kicks in.

Uh… you mean exactly like you did to Aaron, Brett? I’m not sure Brett is the brightest bulb on the tree.

I’ve gotten so many messages like this from randos whom I’ve never interacted with, but who definitely feel like we’re engaged in some kind of parasocial relationship and war of words. And they always look like Brett. Why do they always look like Brett?

The internet informs me that LBCC’s biggest football rivals are Cerritos College and East Los Angeles College, both of whom I shall be rooting for going forward.

The High Note

Not much that happened today was funny, but I’m planning on getting through the next four years much in the same way Hillary Clinton seemed to get through today’s festivities.

I like to imagine that Hillary was high out of her mind on edibles to survive watching Trump take the oath of office. Some good advice going forward: Laugh when you can, be high when you can, and fight like hell.

Survive and advance today, don’t let the bastards get you down.