Quite plausible. And would make a Taiwan situation tense/futile-feeling even if a Dem was in office by then b/c the implication would be "not our fault the US doesn't have leadership continuity, this is our still-owed part of a prior quid pro quo."

Yeah... I wonder if we're going to see a louder "QUIET PIGGY" from Xi today, ratcheting up China's thus-far measured condemnations of Trump's threats.

CN & Venezuela are economically entangled enough to turn this into a truly unfathomable shitshow (unless Xi is secretly over Maduro or something).

Re: Why he's not carrying water for Trump... I've had alternative aggregators for the past decade so I could be unaware of some specific epiphany, but my guess based on prior familiarity is that Trump has probably rankled Drudge's libertarian and/or populist inclinations on many occasions.

Drudge is interesting. He's uniquely central to/entangled with everyone of note in 90s-to-present rightwing media & thus quite irksome to me, yet I often checked DR for quick current events catchup b/c he's a legit superbly-sourced, nose-for-news aggregator despite lack of formal training/higher ed.

I think it's just a NA vs. UK potato variety disconnect, b/c the Thanksgiving dish called "candied yams" or "candied sweet potatoes" are the orange type which taste much more like roasted butternut or acorn squash than the starchier Yukons, Reds, & Russets used for mashed/baked potato recipes.😊

"Mr. President, please stop projecting and answer the question."

(Just in case a Jamaican cuisine devotee happens to see this, I do know that Jamaican sweet potatoes are the central ingredient in numerous desserts including a glorious traditional spiced pudding, but those involve a LOT more ingredients & flavors than the Ecuadorian candied ones Americans make.)

If y'all primarily have Jamaican sweet potatoes, which would make sense in terms of cultural exchange, I completely understand why "candied yams" sound like an egregious culinary horror.

Oooh, I've been meaning to ask someone from the UK a yam (colloquial, since real yams are the African type) question:

Is a "sweet potato" in the UK a starchy white interior w/ reddish skin (Jamaican), or a sweet, soft-when-cooked, orange inside & out tuber (Ecuadorian)? Or perhaps both?

IIRC, it looked like a glass interface (teleprompter maybe?) near him was shattered energetically by one of the shots & he got nicked. Not sure they had lights set up for that event b/c it was midday (but also not positive they didn't).

Not quibbling with your broader point, just talking minutiae.

I know you already know, but for other folks who don't, Goldsmith was previously head of OLC, is a genuinely brilliant mind on executive authority and separation of powers, and is usually very cautious about making claims this unqualified and direct. That he is saying it so starkly is v significant

Yep. And some dipshits do the "US isn't a signatory to the blah blah..."

Then knowledgeable and/or experienced ppl point out the US usually strives for appearance of restraint/propriety when using force not b/c of "rampant pussification" or w/e, but so it's not fkn open season on Americans abroad.

Even right-leaning polls show all '24 GOP gains with minority demographics are gone now. White non-college Rs are turning at slowest rate, but they've been trickling away as well.

R congressfolk are worried about losing safe seats in '26 & openly acknowledge losing the House is a near-certainty.

I never presume I can discern what lands hard with magas, but more is breaking through now than ever.

The squabble to carve up Kirk's media fiefdom & MTG's departure cracked the bubble. We'll see how much it ends up mattering, but there are some very angry & disillusioned Trump true believers.

Barely-constrained demon voice: "PAGGGLIACCCCI"

I was on a ladder when YT's algo queued up a podcast which seemed fine for background noise while working...

Until this *deeply cursed* RFK impression reading of the Nuzzi note. While my hands were covered in drywall mud.😂

youtu.be/zJ1Qy-pN7pc?...

Yeah, leaks as direct arguments/rebuttals almost always portends change.

I already thought it was a big deal that one of the six flat-out said they made the video b/c they were getting so many calls & messages from worried servicepeople.

True, and I'd even contend that there are timelines in which due diligence dictates that Jamal Wali's incident in May leads to a large high priority project of phone checkins with Afghan allies in the US & access to expedited mental health resources if needed.

AFAIK the JSOC "Counterterrorism Pursuit" teams/"Zero Units" were helping secure US positions up until the last moment & were deemed essential to evacuate at that time not primarily for their safety, but b/c they'd been involved in classified endeavors. Makes the asylum approval unsurprising IMO.