Democrat News

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I put off writing about this, because it’s so complicated and my brain is on constant overload FOR SOME REASON. But it’s sounding more and more like Ron and Casey might actually have to pay for their sins this time, so I thought you’d be interested! (It will be helpful if you watch the above video.) Via The Florida Phoenix:

The Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times obtained a copy of an early iteration of the settlement agreement between Centene and the state that confirms the $10 million “donation” Centene made to the Hope Florida Foundation represented the return of taxpayer dollars stemming from Medicaid overpayments.

DeSantis administration officials have told the House that the money wasn’t taxpayer dollars.

Moreover, the governor has said the accusations of wrongdoing at Hope Florida are partisan in nature as First Lady Casey DeSantis is mulling a potential gubernatorial run to replace her husband, who is hitting his term limits.

Hope Florida is the non-profit headed up by Casey “Lady MacBeth” DeSantis, who seems to want to run for governor now that husband Ron has term limits. Now, what seems to have happened is, an assorted cast of Republican miscreants from the DeSantis orbit collaborated to move $10 million of that Centene payment to Hope Florida and then, almost immediately, to two PACs pushing to help Ron DeSantis claim victory in stopping recreational marijuana.

Now, here’s the thing. When Ron looked like a possible president, he could do no wrong — and the Florida legislature couldn’t do enough for him. But times have changed, and this Friday, the state house boys have a long list of witnesses to grill — including the recently appointed Attorney General, James Uthmeier. (One of the major players planning to take Ron and Casey down is Rep. Don Gaetz, father of Matt. Ha, ha!)

And the Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson is absolutely gleeful:

The words being whispered in town are “FBI,” “jail,” and “RICO.”

You’ve likely never heard of Uthmeier, but he’s one of the DeSantis goons noted for loyalty over any other quality, and DeSantis tends to plop him into jobs where he needs a hatchetman who won’t question orders. He’s a peach:

“The state’s new A.G., James Uthmeier, has a history of thumbing his nose at the laws he’s now supposed to enforce. He tried to hide his cell phone records last year, prompting a judge to order him to turn them over. And now it appears that Uthmeier was involved in the scandal unfolding around Hope Florida, a program that was supposed to help Floridians in need but instead seems to have been used to funnel money to DeSantis’s cronies.”

DeSantis thought he was above all this. He thought he was the golden boy who could do no wrong. DeFuture.

Now? He held a desperate, cranky, and screechy presser this week where he tried to assert that Tallahassee, a city and a political space utterly dominated by the GOP since 1994, somehow made far-right Republicans like the Speaker of the House and the Senate President into Soros-controlled deep state actors conspiring with the liberal media.

This assertion is as insane as it sounds. The man making it was someone, once upon a time.

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The announcement called it “the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World,” a chance to have “an intimate private dinner” with the Talking Yam at his members-only golf club in Virginia, followed by a tour of the White House. A seat would be reserved for each of the top 220 investors in $TRUMP, the cryptocurrency that El Cheatolini launched on the eve of his inauguration. Via The New York Times:

In an astonishing escalation of the Trump family’s efforts to profit from cryptocurrencies, a website promoting Mr. Trump’s so-called memecoin announced on Wednesday that the coin’s largest buyers would be invited to meet with him. The effort was, in effect, an offer of access to the White House in exchange for an investment in one of Mr. Trump’s crypto ventures.

Astonishing to the New York Times maybe, but not to many other sentient beings.

“Have Dinner with President Trump and the $TRUMP Community!” the invitation said. “Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!”

For months, Mr. Trump’s forays into the crypto industry have created ethical conflicts with little precedent in presidential history. As he markets digital currencies to the public, Mr. Trump has also appointed regulators who are scaling back crypto enforcement and called for legislation that would boost the industry’s prospects in the United States.

As news of the dinner invitation spread on social media, the memecoin’s price surged more than 60 percent, suggesting that investors were rushing to accumulate the coin to qualify for a seat at the dinner.

https://bsky.app/profile/sassydenise.bsky.social/post/3lnfxhzasvs2w

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It turns out the only thing standing between Donald Trump, us and a full-blown economic Chernobyl was…his own staff leaking to the press and whispering mono-syllabic common sense into his ear with the kind of panic one might reserve for talking down a monkey with a machine gun. I wish I were joking here, folks.

Trump, with his usual brilliant combination of megalomania and economic illiteracy, wanted to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, because interest rates made him feel some sads inside. Trump is mad, you see, because he’s an idiot who’s worked hard to destroy the economy, but is having trouble finding someone else to blame for it. So, Powell it would be, because…who the hell knows, to be honest. There’s a good chance it involved a snorted-lb-of-adderall delusion or whatever Fox & Friends segment he happened to have just watched.

But, according to reports cabinet members staged an intervention worthy of an after-school special, warning him that nuking the Fed would tank the markets, rattle global investors and basically light the dollar on fire. That’s right, the only thing standing between a stable economy and a full-blown financial meltdown was a handful of staffers trying to reason with a guy who thinks interest rates are decided by vibes and how many McNuggets he’s had that day. So, before he could fire Powell, they quietly leaked his tantrums to the media and the coming economic catastrophe if he went forward with his plan.

For the details on this insanity–the who/what/where/when, watch the video! And don’t forget to subscribe to Cliff’s Edge, as we continue to grow the power of independent media.

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Pete Hegseth just dropped a new episode of Signalgate! If you need to catch up, here is episode one where Hegseth shared classified war plans on an unencrypted messaging app with government officials and a reporter from The Atlantic and episode two where Hegseth shared the same classified war plans with his brother, wife and personal lawyer.

Well, now we have learned that there is an episode three!!!

The Washington Post is reporting that Pete Hegseth wasn’t happy just using Signal on his phone…he actually demanded that IT staff install it on his DESKTOP COMPUTER at the Pentagon in his office, which basically allowed his computer to serve as a “clone” of his unsecure cell phone.

This was his way to get around the ban on personal cellphones and electronic devices in the Pentagon – a staggering breach of security. These policies about devices are in place for this exact reason, but apparently Hegseth thinks he is above the rules – and the law.

Hegseth’s spokesman, Sean Parnell, provided a carefully worded response when asked about this, saying that he “has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer.”

Notice the usage of the words GOVERNMENT computer. Sure, that makes sense, since two people confirmed that Signal was installed on a SECOND computer in his office, which suggests it was his personal computer.

This man is reckless, unprofessional and a true embarrassment to our country and the Department of Defense. We hold our military to incredibly high standards. Hegseth is not qualified to clean the toilets in the Pentagon, much less lead the entire Defense department.

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Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Dental Medicine have developed a gum made from bean power that can trap the influenza virus and apparently viruses that cause herpes in a lab.

That’s good news.

Gizmodo:

In various experiments, a protein found in the gum substantially neutered two flu strains and the herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2). The gum could prove to be a potent and easy-to-use tool for preventing the spread of these infections, the researchers say.

The Penn researchers have been working on antiviral gum for some time now. Several years ago, they developed gum from plant-based material that could effectively trap SARS-CoV-2—the cause of covid-19—in people’s saliva. Their latest creation relies on a similar approach but uses a different plant that’s native to sub-Saharan Africa and commonly eaten in tropical areas: Lablab purpureus, also known as the lablab bean. Past research has shown that the lablab bean naturally carries a protein that can bind to a wide variety of viruses. This protein is called Flt3 Receptor Interacting Lectin, or FRIL for short.

What else do you wish we could chew away?

Open thread away.

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A bill to sharply reduce the energy credits given to homeowners with rooftop solar panels is pitting union electrical workers and the state’s big utilities against people who benefit from the solar credits — and one of the first skirmishes took place in the City of Industry on Wednesday.

Waving signs and blowing whistles, dozens of rooftop solar owners protested outside the office of Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier), who proposed Assembly Bill 942 to slash the credits for people who installed the systems before April 15, 2023.

Jim Matthews, one of the rooftop solar owners at the protest, said he doubts he would have purchased the panels if he would have known the state would be reversing the incentives.

“Stuff like this tears my heart,” said Matthews, who lives in Hawthorne. “I think it’s scandalous.”

Calderon worked for Southern California Edison and its parent company, Edison International, for 25 years before she was elected in 2020. Her last position included managing the parent company’s political action committee.

Edison and the state’s two other big for-profit utilities have long tried to reduce the energy credits that incentivized Californians to invest in the solar panels. The rooftop systems have reduced the utilities’ sales of electricity.

“Calderon: For the People or for Edison?” said one sign waved by protesters outside Calderon’s office in the City of Industry. “Stop SCE’s Revolving Door in Sacramento,” said another.

Calderon told the Times she introduced the bill because she had learned that 97% of the people in her district were paying higher electric bills because of the solar credits going to the remaining 3% when they sent the unused electricity from their solar panels to the grid.

“From an equity standpoint, that’s not fair,” she said. “I would love for everyone to have solar, but we need to do it in a fair and equitable way.”

Calderon said Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric have all sent her letters supporting the bill.

AB 942 would limit the energy credits provided to those who purchased the systems to 10 years — half the 20-year period the state had told rooftop owners they would receive. It would also end the incentives if the house was sold.

Uniting in the effort to oppose the bill are dozens of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and the Environmental Working Group, which point out that the state has long said the solar contracts would last for 20 years.

Also attending the protest were representatives from the California Solar & Storage Assn., a trade group that represents companies selling the rooftop solar systems. The protest was organized by the Solar Rights Alliance, a statewide association of solar users.

Jeff Monford, a spokesperson for Edison, said the company sent Calderon a letter Wednesday backing the bill. He said the bill has “nothing to do with utility profits. It will result in savings for our customers.”

The company estimates that those customers who don’t have solar would save $500 million by 2030 if AB 942 passed, or about 3% of the average household electric bill.

The unions of electrical workers who install and repair equipment built by Edison and other electric companies are lobbying to get the bill passed.

In an email, a spokesperson for the California State Assn. of Electrical Workers said the group “strongly supports” the bill, which it said would “alleviate the financial burden on non-solar ratepayers.”

At a meeting in Sacramento in late March, leaders of the group, which represents 83,000 electrical workers in the state, said a top goal was to reform the rooftop solar incentives.

“It is unjust, unreasonable and unsustainable for Californians to continue shoveling billions of dollars every year to an industry when it is no longer justified nor fair to non-solar customers, particularly when the burden falls hardest on low-income customers,” Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for the electrical workers, wrote in a letter to the chair of the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

Calderon and the electrical workers point to an analysis by the state Public Utilities Commission’s public advocates office that said the credits given to rooftop owners for the electricity they send to the grid is raising the electric bills of customers who don’t own the panels by $8.5 billion a year.

The rooftop solar industry and environmental groups disagree with that analysis, saying it was flawed.

In a recent letter to the Assembly committee, the environmental groups pointed to an analysis that economist Richard McCann performed for the rooftop solar industry that found that electric rates had risen as the utilities spent more on infrastructure. That equipment includes the transmission lines needed to connect industrial-scale solar farms to the grid.

Even though homeowners’ solar panels helped keep demand for electricity flat for 20 years, the three utilities’ spending on transmission and distribution infrastructure had risen by 300%, McCann found.

“To address rising rates, California must focus on what’s really wrong with our energy system: uncontrolled utility spending and record utility profits,” the environmental groups wrote.

In December 2022, the commission voted to cut incentives for anyone installing the panels after April 15, 2023, by 75% but left the incentives in place for legacy customers.

AB 942 would not apply to rooftop solar customers who live in territory served by the state’s municipal utilities, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

A hearing on the bill is scheduled for April 30.

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The Trump administration’s new chief federal prosecutor in Los Angeles says his office intends to pursue immigration charges against a man awaiting release from state prison after serving time for a 2021 crash on the 405 Freeway that killed a young couple.

Bill Essayli, sworn in as U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California earlier this month, focused attention on the case amid reports that the driver, who pleaded guilty to two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, could be freed after serving around three years of a 10-year sentence.

“If the State of California will not seek the full measure of justice against this individual, [the Justice Department] will,” Essayli said in a post on X.

Essayli noted that pending charges — initially filed by his predecessor under the Biden administration — could land Oscar Eduardo Ortega-Anguiano in federal prison for up to 20 years if he is convicted of illegally reentering the country after being deported twice previously.

Ortega-Anguiano, now 43, was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and doing nearly 95 mph in November 2021 when, according to court records, his Volkswagen smashed into 19-year-olds Anya Varfolomeev and Nikolay Osokin, who were both killed when their Honda burst into flames.

Fox News said it had reviewed a notice about Ortega-Anguiano sent by the state to Varfolomeev’s father, which reportedly said he could be released to Garden Grove.

State prison records show Ortega-Anguiano is eligible for parole in July and currently housed at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville.

A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Ortega-Anguiano “received 334 days of pre-sentence credits for time served locally while awaiting sentencing and is eligible for credit-earning opportunities while incarcerated.”

State prisoners often end up serving less time because of credit for rehabilitative programs and good behavior, but the suggestion that Ortega-Anguiano could walk free riled Trump administration officials.

Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi posted on X: “This is absolutely unconscionable. What about Justice for these teens? What about the rights of their parents?”

Border czar Tom Homan vowed to send federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to enforce an agreement known as a detainer, under which local officials hold individuals facing deportation.

“I will work with [Homeland Security] Secretary Noem on this case, and I guarantee you, if they don’t honor the detainer, we’ll have ICE agents outside that facility to take custody of this individual and deport him,” Homan said Wednesday on Fox’s “America’s Newsroom.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office subsequently released a statement pledging to honor the detainer on Ortega-Anguiano, saying that state prison officials “will again coordinate with ICE — as they have w/ 10,000+ inmates — to transfer him before release.”

A spokesperson for ICE said a detainer was placed on June 9, 2022, while Ortega-Anguiano was housed at North Kern State Prison. According to ICE, his previous criminal convictions include burglary in 2005; vehicle theft in 2007; and battery on spouse with kidnapping in 2014.

“This tragedy was completely preventable. This criminal illegal alien should have never been in our country,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. “We hope California law enforcement will work us to ensure this criminal alien is not released into American communities.”

Court records show a federal arraignment for Ortega-Anguiano on the immigration charge was not held as scheduled on March 10 because he was not transferred as requested from state prison. He has yet to enter a plea in the federal case.

The statement from Newsom’s office pointed out that a Republican district attorney was in charge in Orange County when Ortega-Anguiano entered the plea agreement that led to his current prison sentence. A harsher penalty under second-degree murder charges could have been sought, Newsom’s statement suggested.

Orange County D.A. Todd Spitzer countered with his own statement, which said Ortega-Anguiano “pled to the Court and was sentenced by a judge under California law, over the objection of Orange County prosecutors, who unsuccessfully argued for the maximum sentence.”

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SAN LUIS OBISPO  — The Trump administration’s controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia has sent the United States hurtling into a constitutional crisis, U.S. Sen. Adam B. Schiff told hundreds of Californians at his first Senate town hall Tuesday.

Inside a brightly lit gymnasium at a San Luis Obispo community college, Schiff said that the Trump administration had already ignored a U.S. Supreme Court order to “facilitate” the Maryland man’s release from an El Salvador prison after he was mistakenly deported.

The looming question, Schiff said, is how the country will respond if the Trump administration defies another Supreme Court order temporarily barring deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

“The reason why this is a constitutional crisis,” Schiff, a Democrat, said, “is there’s no clear answer to that question.”

As the audience roared approval and drummed their feet on the gymnasium’s bleachers, Schiff told voters to “continue to take to the streets to make our views known, to make our voices heard, to tell those in power that we are watching what they’re doing.”

Co-hosted with Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara), Schiff’s town hall was his first since being sworn into the Senate.

The event drew nearly 2,000 RSVPs, Schiff’s office said. Hundreds of mostly white, older constituents spilled over from Cuesta College’s performing arts center to an overflow room in the campus gymnasium.

Normally sleepy affairs, town halls hosted by Democrats this year have become venting sessions for liberal constituents fed up with President Trump, billionaire Elon Musk and what they see as a lack of action from their elected officials.

Democrats have tried to channel their constituents’ anger into action while still managing expectations, explaining that, with Republicans controlling the U.S. House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House, there’s only so much they can do.

When one voter asked Schiff and Carbajal about the looming threat of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, Schiff walked the crowd through the process known as reconciliation, which enables some spending bills to pass the Republican-controlled Senate on a simple majority vote.

Republicans in Congress have instructed the committee that oversees Medicaid to cut $880 billion.

Although Trump has said he doesn’t support cuts to Medicaid, the program that provides healthcare for the poor, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said that reductions of that magnitude would be possible only through slashing eligibility or coverage.

“There are limits to what we can do,” Schiff said of Democratic lawmakers. “We can delay the reckoning by using all the tools we have, but we cannot put it off indefinitely.”

The audience was far calmer than at the most raucous town halls held during the first weeks of the Trump administration, where rage boiled over into shouting matches and heckling as Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency slashed through federal agencies and departments.

Schiff’s staff chose questions submitted by audience members, which touched on a wide range of topics, including environmental protection, government corruption, the war in Gaza, and whether Congress can undo the confirmations of Cabinet appointees such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Several other California lawmakers, including Inland Empire Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), Orange County Rep. Derek Tran (D-Orange) and San Fernando Valley Rep. Luz Rivas (D-North Hollywood), had town halls scheduled this week, too, during a two-week break from Congress over the Easter and Passover holidays.

Lawmakers have tried to use the events to pressure Republican members in swing districts to vote with the Democrats to block some Trump administration agenda items — or, failing that, to increase public pressure so vulnerable lawmakers lose their seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

“We’re trying to flip the three or four vulnerable Republicans to come to our side,” said Carbajal, whose congressional district stretches through the counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Amy Vernetti, 57, who lives in Cayucos and recruits executives for technology startups, came to the town hall hoping to hear a message of hope and unity that would assuage her “anger and confusion” over what she described as corruption by the Trump administration.

“If this year has shown us anything, it’s that this system may not be capable of withstanding criminals,” Vernetti said.

There were massive protests after Trump’s first inauguration, but this time, “it’s taking a while to get the momentum going,” said Alexandra Kohler of San Luis Obispo.

Kohler, who brought her 18-year-old daughter Emily to the town hall, said she hoped that politicians like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who broke records with a 36,000-person rally in Los Angeles this month, will help breathe life and fight into the Democratic Party.

Emily Kohler, a high school senior and one of the few young people in the audience, said she was worried that so far, resistance to the Trump administration has mostly been led by older people.

People her age, she said, “mostly feel more helpless, more resigned.”

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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is looking for an offramp from the trade war it started with China this month, calling its tariffs on Chinese goods unsustainable as major retailers warn the White House that U.S. consumers will begin seeing supply shortages and higher prices within weeks.

Markets initially soared on remarks from President Trump and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, acknowledging the current tariff rate of 145% on China will have to come down “substantially.” But subsequent comments from the White House on Wednesday, that the administration would not lower the rate without reciprocal action from Beijing, cooled enthusiasm on Wall Street.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 419 points, or about 1%, while the NASDAQ composite and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index were up 2.5% and 1.67%, respectively.

“There will be no unilateral reduction in tariffs against China,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told Fox News in an interview Wednesday afternoon. “The president has made it clear that China needs to make a deal with the United States of America.”

It is unclear whether China will cooperate, however, when it sees pain setting in first for American households, which could maximize its leverage in trade negotiations. Cailian Press, a Chinese media outlet focused on finance, characterized the administration’s latest rhetoric as “a sign that Trump is already softening stance on his signature tariff policies.”

On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that talks with China were “active” over a “fair deal,” and that Beijing has expressed interest in negotiating a deal.

“I’m not going to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to play hardball with China,’” Trump said Tuesday. “We’re going to be very nice. They’re going to be very nice. And we’ll see what happens.”

Trump also said he was not looking to fire Jerome H. Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve, despite posting threats he might do so on social media over Powell’s remarks warning that Trump’s trade policies would increase prices and slow economic growth.

The current 145% rate “is very high, and it won’t be that high. Not gonna be that high,” Trump added. “No, it won’t be anywhere near that high. It’ll come down substantially, but it won’t be zero.”

The president’s remarks came one day after he met with chief executives from three major big box retailers — Walmart, Target and Home Depot — who warned him that supply chain disruptions were already underway and would lead to empty shelves at U.S. stores in a matter of weeks, Axios reported.

In another private meeting Tuesday, at JPMorgan Chase & Co. between Bessent and investors and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury secretary acknowledged that existing import duties on China were “not sustainable” and that “de-escalation” was necessary with Beijing. The nature of the private meeting, which was preceded by a market surge, renewed concerns about insider trading.

“I wish to be clear,” Bessent said in separate, public remarks Tuesday to a forum of the Institute of International Finance. “America first does not mean America alone. To the contrary, it is a call for deeper collaboration and mutual respect among trade partners.”

The secretary’s remarks echoed an earlier motto from Trump’s first administration, which pursued more moderate trade policies, and marked a departure in tone from just three weeks ago, when the president announced massive tariff increases on countries around the world.

Since then, the president has partially lowered many of those tariff rates, but no new trade agreements have been struck.

“For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said in announcing the global tariff hikes on April 2. “Our country and its taxpayers have been ripped off for more than 50 years, but it is not going to happen anymore. It’s not going to happen.”

Trump had implemented tariffs on China before his April announcement, levying 20% on Chinese imports over the country’s role in producing precursor chemicals that play a major role in the U.S. fentanyl crisis.

He then increased that to 34% on April 2. China retaliated, prompting Trump to increase tariffs on China to 145%, including the 20% figure applied over fentanyl.

A week of devastating losses on Wall Street after the April 2 announcement, followed by concerning activity in the bond market, ultimately led Trump to lower tariff rates on most U.S. trading partners to a universal 10% rate — welcome relief to allies such as Vietnam, which had faced a 46% tariff rate, and the European Union, hit with a 20% rate. But the 145% rate on Chinese goods remained.

Bessent, in his remarks to the finance institute, struck a conciliatory note on his efforts to get China to the negotiating table.

“China, in particular, is in need of a rebalancing,” Bessent said. “Recent data shows the Chinese economy tilting even further away from consumption toward manufacturing. China’s economic system of growth, driven by manufacturing exports, will continue to create even more serious imbalances with its trading partners if the status quo is allowed to continue.”

“China’s current economic model is based on exporting its way out of troubles,” he added. “It’s an unsustainable model that is not only harming China, but the entire world. China needs to change. The country knows it needs to change. Everyone knows it needs to change, and we want to help it change, because we need rebalancing too.”

Peter Tuchman, a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, summed up Wall Street’s reaction to Trump’s pivot in an X post on Wednesday.

“The market is loving this new language from the [administration] and willingness to begin real negotiations,”Tuchman wrote.

“POSITIVE STEPS,” he said, adding, “just imagine the reaction when they get a deal.”

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President Donald Trump spent Easter Sunday hitting the links at his Virginia golf course, writing angry social media posts, and hanging out with his co-president, the recently born again Christian billionaire Elon Musk.

But on Monday he was bragging about how he single-handedly brought religion back to America.

“It brings the country together. It’s so important that we can do that,” Trump told reporters at the newly corporate-sponsored White House Easter Egg Roll. “Religion, I said bring religion back. Religion keeps you together. It’s such a great thing.”

The famously philandering Trump, who reportedly discovered “his faith” while watching Christian television, seems to be a work in progress. This Easter he apparently decided to skip church in favor of golfing at his Sterling, Virginia, course and attacking his perceived enemies.

“Melania and I would like to wish everyone a very Happy Easter!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site Sunday morning. “Whether you are heading out to Church or, watching Service from home, may this day be full of Peace and Joy for all who celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. HE IS RISEN!!” 

A short while later, Trump “truthed” out a much longer rant, attacking “Radical Left Lunatics,” lambasting federal judges who do not agree with his administration’s slew of unconstitutional and illegal activities, and spewing conspiracy theories involving former President Joe Biden and an autopen.

Instead of spending what is arguably the most important Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Christ, Trump and his henchman Musk spent time waving to other wealthy patrons of the president’s 800-acre private golf club.

“What would Jesus do?” is a common refrain among faithful Christians. It’s safe to say that golfing with Musk, who Trump proudly introduced as “the world’s richest man,” would likely rank very low on the Lamb of God’s list of priorities.

But as evidenced by the chart below, golf remains one of Trump’s biggest priorities.

(Image via Datawrapper)

Republished with permission from Daily Kos.