He likes the idea of king, or some sort of monarchical, authoritarian ruler, but it’s not his idea. Trump is not that skilled at things he or those around him say he’s skilled at. He just likes to run his mouth, instigate, latch onto, talk big. He has no skills to do much else.

No doubt, he has a nose for something—how else could he stick around for so long—but since when is overstaying one’s welcome an admirable trait?

He’s twice been elected to the highest office in the land, and each time we’ve had to hold our breath and our nose as the inner circle of “idea” people prop him up, feed him the poison they want him to regurgitate, all the while making inroads on weakening institutions and lulling people to sleep with empty promises. When he’s left to his own devices, his own words, he’s woefully, embarrassingly bereft of inspiration or wisdom or good decisions. He easily gets off on inane tangents during speeches, because in his mind he feels like he has a swooning audience of admirers who are hanging on his every word.

Trump is reactive, immature, affectively challenged, and overmatched by just about every other world leader, yet he wields power merely because of the office he holds. It’s difficult to imagine that many other leaders respect him. It’s more likely they view him as a loose cannon, a dangerous fool. Or maybe just an impotent figurehead.

The Project 2025 playbook is being followed. Anyone who still doubts this is kidding themselves.

Trump has it out for California and Gavin Newsom, so he creates a situation, sends in the ICE thugs, paints a more dire picture than what was actually happening on the ground in LA, looks for excuses, banks on a lack of restraint, on misbehavior from the inevitable hotheads and opportunists (and people who have simply had enough?!), who loot and turn to violence (or did Trump or someone send these in?), which in turn plays right into Trump’s hand and makes it look like he had no choice but to mobilize the Guard and tell Pete Hegseth to send in some Marines, just for good measure.

There’s nothing Presidential here. Trump is obviously crying wolf, looking for excuses, fabricating the next scenario for expanding his influence. He only loves the fact that he has such power at his fingertips.

Things are moving fast! Another great week for America coming up, topped off with a military parade for our very own Supreme Leader wannabe.

So it begins, or so things descend to the next circle of hell. National Guard troops sent to LA to quell rioting over ICE behavior. Trump must be salivating over the opportunity to give California a hard time about yet another thing. It might make one wonder what the troops’ orders are, and why they’re being sent in the first place. Is there a legitimate disturbance that needs quelled, or is it just a convenient excuse for Trump and Noem and the rest to play enforcer, feel like tough guys, put the kibosh on legitimate anger, instill fear in the general populace?

What good is it for the country to be subjected to such irrelevant silliness on a daily basis? This is what we get with Trump.

There’s no serious work on matters of importance to most Americans. Instead, we get draconian executive orders and house resolutions, and pissing contests with Elon or the press or some late-night host. It seems to truly have become one big reality TV show playing out for ratings, instead of genuine though less glamorous efforts at alleviating suffering and fixing infrastructure and maintaining a good standing in the world.

Practically every day offers up a reminder of how inept and uncaring Trump is, how ill-suited he is to be the one sitting at the Resolute Desk. We can’t go on like this.

I learned something new this morning. There was an article on the newsfeed about a shortage of fresh water in parts of the world, and it also referenced the process of reverse osmosis desalination—a method used in relieving that shortage.

I got to wondering about what effect this has on sea levels (i.e., would the oceans ever run low, given increasing demand?), so I asked ChatGPT about it and found that the oceans are so big that it really doesn’t have any effect on ocean water levels. The cyclical nature of evaporation and rain water, etc., also work to keep things in some sort of balance.

One concern, though, is that salt collected in the process is returned to the oceans, and this needs to be done in a way that doesn’t affect marine life and create unhealthy concentrations. This must be done properly and responsibly.

In any event, it’s something of a relief to learn that, if I’m understanding it correctly, the need for fresh water doesn’t involve robbing Peter to pay Paul.