- Losing My Perspicacity
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- Losing My Perspicacity, July 31, 2025
Good morning and Happy Thursday! I’m glad to see you this morning.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent much of the last 10 years wondering if you’re losing your mind. After all, didn’t we all learn the same lessons in school about the importance of democracy — that none of us are free until all of us are free? Did we not read about dissidents disappearing off the streets in the USSR and the dangers of the Soviet secret police in the Weekly Reader? Was I the only one who learned about diversity and inclusion and us being a land of immigrants from Schoolhouse Rock, Sesame Street, and the Electric Company? Didn’t we all study Watergate and the dangers of executive power running amok?
I’ll admit to being someone who is always the one to say something, so sure am I that others will back me up, and it’s gotten me into trouble many times. I’m quite certain my media career would be very different had I not, say written a book about what it’s like to be a woman in sports media or talked to the Chicago Tribune about all the women facing sexual harassment in radio, and I have far less power than someone like Margaret Brennan or Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries. So, it’s hard to understand why so many people, including those we expected to stand up and fight (like Congressional Democrats and famous journalists), are so quick to bend the knee to Donald Trump or to hide their heads in the sand and pretend like everything is normal. Frankly, I’d rather lose my job than live with the disgrace of propping up a racist, sexist, bigoted authoritarian.
All that is to say that I was thrilled to see this piece today from the fantastic Charlotte Clymer, which proffers a reason for the acquiescence — though a cynical one — that I can at least wrap my head around. Kinda.
"Brand protection" is more about not carrying your weight of the overall burden. It’s letting others do the hard work. It’s letting them take the risks and paying the price for doing the obvious things that need to be done to protect our democracy.
Those engaged in "brand protection" are the folks in politics who believe there's a decent chance we'll get through this (actually, some probably don’t), and they’re avoiding the expense of any personal political capital that would be required for proactively helping because they wanna come out on the other side of this thing stronger than ever, so they stay low-key.
I can’t fathom making that decision with so much at stake, but I’ve certainly encountered these types of people in sports media. The ones who won’t call out teams or leagues for wrongdoing because they won’t compromise their relationship with said team or league. Those who have the team owner on their show and sit idly by while the owner lies through their teeth to the audience. The ones who want to “keep politics out of sports.”
Most of these folks are doing at least pretty okay financially. Some of them are doing great financially. They have solid access, they get big party invites, they're primed for book deals and speaking gigs, network slots and promotions, etc.
Some of them are politicians who want to run for higher office and believe doing what needs to be done in this moment would compromise a future campaign.
And they don't wanna mess that up. They don't want this whole fascism thing to derail their timeline or deplete their capital.
So, they've decided to wait it out. Not rock the boat. Throw a soft punch here and there but mostly keep their heads down. They want to preserve their network and their capital.
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There a lot of folks in American politics and media who aren't really trying, not primarily out of concern for their safety or triangulation in service to a more important professional priority but mostly because doing so would mean risking a slide down the pecking order a few notches.
As one trailblazing woman once told me, sometimes being the first one through the wall doesn’t mean anything other than you’re the bloodiest. She was talking specifically about calling out men who harass women in sports media, but I’ve thought about that quote hundreds of times since she said it to me. It applies to so many situations where speaking out does no observable good, except to safeguard your soul and allow you to sleep at night.
I know I’ve said this multiple times, but if you’ve ever looked at Nazi Germany and wondered, “How did it happen?” Well, now we know. I’d bet plenty of people in 1937 Berlin kept their heads down because it wasn’t beneficial to their careers. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for “good” people to do nothing.
The Albert Brooks classic Defending Your Life probably comes closest to what I imagine an afterlife looks like. I was a teenager when the movie came out, but I must have been going through a developmental phase or something, because it had a monumental impact on my psyche. When I look back on my life, more than anything, I don’t want to see someone who was afraid. I haven’t always succeeded in that, but I believe that pushing through fear is how we grow as human beings. I sure as hell don’t want to look back and say that, when a despotic madman was aiding in a genocide or grabbing people off the streets, I said nothing — because I was afraid for my career, for book deals, for my network.
Today: Trump’s EPA is gaslighting America; Trump can’t remember his story on Jeffrey Epstein; Shannon Sharpe is out at ESPN, and The High Note.
Before we get to the news, I’m running a 50 percent off special on every subscription level this week, which means you can get LMP in your in-box five days a week for just $5.00 per month. So if you’ve been thinking about upgrading or you know someone who wants to support independent journalism, this is the week to subscribe!
Let’s do this.
The EPA is gaslighting America
You’ve probably heard by now that Donald Trump’s latest effort in going as low as he can possibly go is to reverse the “endangerment finding,” which is the basis the federal government leans on to combat climate change. That makes perfect sense; it’s not like we’ve seen an uptick in climate disasters as the earth warms or anything.
Speaking at a truck dealership in Indianapolis, (EPA head Lee) Zeldin said the E.P.A. planned to rescind the 2009 declaration, known as the endangerment finding, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health. The Obama and Biden administrations used that determination to set strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other industrial sources of pollution.
“The proposal would, if finalized, amount to the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States,” Mr. Zeldin said. He said the proposal would also erase limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks on the nation’s roads.
The endangerment finding matters because, without it, the federal government has no basis to act under the authority of the Clean Air Act. If the EPS succeeds, it would be an enormous rollback in environmental regulation.
To justify the proposal, the E.P.A. cited a report that the Energy Department commissioned from five scientists known for their rejection of the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, namely that it is being driven by the burning of fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The New York Times first reported that the Energy Department had hired these scientists, including Steven E. Koonin, a physicist and author of a best-selling book that calls climate science “unsettled,” and John Christy, an atmospheric scientist who doubts the extent to which human activity has caused global warming.
Sounds like Steven Koonin and RFK Jr. would get along famously. Maybe we could send them off to McDonald’s to discuss how ceiling fans cause leukemia or something.
This is nothing less from Trump and the EPA than a total gaslighting of the American people, who would have to be really freakin’ dumb not to notice how different the weather patterns are and how bad climate-related disasters have gotten. In fact, according to a Pew Research poll in 2023, more than two-thirds of Americans believed that America should prioritize becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
Of course, everything is flying under the Jeffrey Epstein radar now, as that’s all anyone can talk about. Bad for Trump, but also bad for the rest of us.
On a happier note, Trump was reportedly “seething” about South Park’s mockery of him, so we’ve got that going for us.
Speaking of Epstein…
While Trump continues to make ridiculously false statements to attempt to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein case (on Tuesday, he said he had ended six wars since he took office, including one that had lasted 500 years… um what?), his administration also gutted the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP Office). How very on-brand.
For 25 years, the TIP Office has worked to combat human sex and labor trafficking around the world. Its remit includes producing an annual report, as required by Congress, that grades every country on the issue. Those that fail can face economic repercussions from the US, putting teeth into the government’s efforts to end trafficking. This year’s report was due on June 30, but has not been released.
The TIP Office also works with local partners around the world to strengthen civil society groups, train prosecutors, and help other countries combat trafficking. The office’s mission, including managing tens of millions of dollars for these programs, has always had bipartisan support.
Isn’t the MAGA crowd that went running to see Sound of Freedom supposedly all about stopping human trafficking? Wasn’t that 90 percent of the basis for QAnon?
Other news that broke this week includes 1) Trump considering a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted by a jury for her role in sexually exploiting and abusing girls; 2) Considering a pardon for P. Diddy, who was found guilty of “transportation to engage in prostitution” and was accused of trafficking and sexually abusing women; and 3) Trump saying that he fell out with Epstein after the billionaire pedophile “stole” a 17-year old Virginia Giuffre and other young women who worked at the Mar-a-Lago Spa. Giuffre committed suicide in April.
"I think she worked at the spa," Trump said. "I think so. I think that was one of the people. He stole her, and by the way, she had no complaints about us, as you know, none whatsoever."
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement last week that Trump booted Epstein from Mar-a-Lago "for being a creep.”
Nothing says “I’m innocent of sexual misconduct” like talking about young girls as if they’re your personal property. In the process, Trump also completely obliterated the White House claim that it was Epstein’s solicitation of prostitutes that got him barred from Mar-a-Lago in 2009. Of course solicitation wasn’t a deal-breaker for Trump. Why would it be?
The more we learn about this twisted saga, the more it’s evident that excusing sexual abuse is Trump’s defining core value. I hope he keeps talking, because he’s so mentally compromised that he can’t even remember the story he’s supposed to stick to.
Shannon Sharpe is out at ESPN
It only took two arrests for battery, settling a $50 million sexual battery lawsuit, and inadvertently broadcasting himself having sex on the internet for ESPN to pull the plug on Shannon Sharpe. How noble.
ESPN football analyst Shannon Sharpe will not be returning to the cable sports network, a source familiar with the situation told NBC News on Wednesday.
Sharpe, a Hall of Fame former player, settled a lawsuit earlier this month that accused him of sexual assault, according to the plaintiff’s attorney.
He had stepped aside from ESPN in April after a woman filed the lawsuit in Nevada. The suit accused him of raping the woman twice in Las Vegas in October and once more in January.
At this point, three different women have accused Sharpe of some form of violence. Honestly, it’s embarrassing for ESPN that it took them this long to cut ties. This is what it looks like when a network gets rid of actual journalists like Bob Ley and Kate Fagan to hire the Shannon Sharpes and Pat McAfees of the world. What a disgrace.
The High Note
Each Day, I do my best to leave you with a smile on your face, a song in your heart, and the will to fight another day.
I came across this while looking for something to make me feel better after writing about Gaza on Tuesday. I hope it makes you feel a bit better about the world, too.
That’s the world I want to live in, one where people from all over come together to make something beautiful.
Survive and advance out there today. Don’t let the bastards get you down.
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