Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

Kimmel last night:

Meanwhile, Jon Stewart welcomed Jane Fonda to talk about activism and the upcoming musical protest event in NYC this Sunday with 5000 viewing parties around USA:

Since she mentions her dad’s activism, I will mention upcoming “premiere” screenings (plus musical guests) for my PBS “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today” film, narrated by Rosanne Cash, here in Nyack next Monday, at the Autry in L.A. on June 21, and for the Guthrie Center in Tulsa on June 25.

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Paul Krugman on money and macho:

Clean energy has become a bogeyman in the culture wars: mining and burning coal are considered “manly” activities, while renewable energy is portrayed as woke and effeminate. Real men don’t worry about black lung and airborne particulates, let alone climate change.

So a combination of big money and fragile male egos drives Green Derangement Syndrome. And the same is true for both the Iran debacle and the refusal to learn from the catastrophe by turning to Ukraine.

Why was the United States so unprepared for the Iranian drone threat, despite the obvious successes of Ukrainian drones against Russia? Well, as investigative reporters delve into the story, I would urge them to follow the money.

America has a huge, highly profitable defense industry, dedicated to a suite of technologies that are rapidly being rendered obsolete, as $4 million Patriot missiles, that take years to build, are being used to shoot down $35,000 Shahed drones that can be manufactured in months.

So it wouldn’t be surprising if defense-industry interests are playing a significant role in the Trump administration’s refusal to admit that the rules of war have changed — the same way that fossil fuel companies have campaigned against the new realities of energy technology. After all, a deal with drone-savvy Ukrainians would mean less money going to US defense contractors.

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Music Pick

Fine, quiet, version of “California Stars” by Woody’s granddaughter Sarah Lee Guthrie:

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From Tune to Toons

Ohman:

Blitt:

Barry also provides this week’s cover:

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Ann Telnaes on Trump nominating Blanche as attorney general:

Bramhall:

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Lastt night’s game at Madison Square Garden:

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From my camera to you: Rare sighting, Snowy Owl on Hudson, at sunset.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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John Oliver last night on the conservative college promoted by Gov. Ron DeSantis….

Far too much else to catch up on from yesterday. In defiance of rapidly fading Trump, Israel started bombing Iran again. There was the Scott Pelley interview in the NY Times in which he revealed, among other things, that Bari Weiss asked him and others to make up stuff surrounding the Renee Good murder in Minneapolis. Also the fact they lied about him physically attacking his new boss:

But nothing got as much attention as NBC’s Welker finally standing up to lie machine Trump—and the doddering old fool walking off the set, while calling her “darling.”

Tom Nichols: “Emotionally unstable man goes on paranoid, babbling rant. Somewhere in that suit, he has a small card with the codes to 1500 strategic nuclear weapons.”

Molly Jong-Fast: “Remember when we were told women were too emotional to be president?”

Amazingly, none of this appears in a disgraceful The New York Times story by Katie Rogers about the interview.

But here's The Guardian:

When Welker asked the president for any evidence on the gubernatorial race being fraudulent, he also accused the veteran reporter of being “crooked”.

“They’re crooked, just like you’re crooked, your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked,” said Trump.

Welker then defended herself and tried to ask additional questions, with Trump replying: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid. You play right into their hands with this crap. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged.”

Trump then brought up previously repeated false claims that he won the 2020 US presidential election.

When Welker later tried to ask additional questions, Trump continued to assert that NBC was “crooked” and ended the interview. “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough,” said Trump, taking off his microphone. “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

Mary Trump: “Donald had a temper tantrum on national television and walked out of an interview simply because Kristen Welker presented him with a basic fact. Note to other journalists: now is the time to pile on. He won’t be able to handle it.”

Barry Blitt:

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Music Picks

New Springsteen interview at NY Times on weekend of opening of his center for American music in Jersey—on his place in that history.

Bruce on state of protest music today:

It’s certainly not front and center these days. I’ve written a lot of music that has political implications, and what I would call critically patriotic, which is really my definition of a patriot. And I’ve written a lot of music like that. And I suppose I’ve written things that you could call protest songs — “American Skin,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” really, obviously, and, of course, “Streets of Minneapolis.” But where’s it going? There’s young folks out there. Jesse Welles. There’s my buddies in Dropkick Murphys. It’s there, it’s alive, it’s present, it’s living and it’s having its impact. There’s always going to be something to protest in the U.S.A.

Speaking of which, Phoebe Bridgers at her sold-out Madison Square Garden benefit show a couple days ago call edout ICE almost immediately, telling the crowd, “I hate those fucking ICE idiots.” The show raised money for Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, with tickets randomly allocated through Tidal and priced between $1 and $20.

Meawhile, as a fan of The Basement Tapes going back to the earliest bootlegs in the late-1960s, I was amazed to see Bob on Saturday out of nowhere digging out one of the more obscure but terrific tracks from the “complete” multi-volume sessions with The Band (which took decades to emerge), “Baby, Won’t You Be My Baby.” And unlike many of his songs live these days, in a crisp, clear version even from an audience tape:

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From Tune to Toons

Boris:

This week’s cover, also via Barry Blitt:

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Anderson:

Bramhall:

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Jennings:

Horsey:

Royaards:

Brodner:

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From my camera to you: Summer in the air.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

Another travel day for me today but here we go somewhat limited…

Kimmel had a rare Friday night show and monologue. Gotta love the raccoon.

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New York Times report:

What Visual Evidence Tells Us About Israel’s Use of White Phosphorus in Lebanon

The Israeli military has deployed white phosphorus, an incendiary substance that can be extremely harmful, over populated areas in Lebanon in its battle against Hezbollah, according to experts, aid groups and visual evidence collected by The New York Times.

Often deployed by militaries to create fires and smoke screens during combat, white phosphorus is not illegal in itself, but deploying it deliberately against civilians or in an area populated by civilians violates the international laws of war. Human rights advocates have raised concerns that civilians have been affected by the Israeli military’s use of it.

As Trump said little to mark the occasion: At Normandy, Secretary Hegseth recognized those who stormed World War II beaches against Nazi forces. Then, per a pool report, he added this: "Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies. Beaches in Spain and Italy and Greece and Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not, and I believe not."

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Heather Cox Richardson:

Yesterday Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post noted a report from former senior executive at the Social Security Administration Jeremiah Schofield, who is now a whistleblower. Schofield says that officials from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) hatched a plan to make immigrants self-deport by declaring 2.7 million of them dead. Some of those people on the list were U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents.

Being listed on the Death Master File cuts off people’s access to wages, banks and other financial systems, and other services. The idea appears to have been that such an erasure would force people either to leave the country or to go to a Social Security office where they could be arrested. While they ultimately did not implement the larger plan, officials did move 6,100 mostly Latino immigrants into that database.

On Thursday, Douglas MacMillan of the Washington Post reported that ICE is abandoning a policy begun under the Biden administration in 2021 that required ICE to report to Congress and investigate the deaths of detainees who died within 30 days of their release. The policy was designed to make sure ICE could not pass off deaths caused by conditions in the detention centers simply by releasing severely ill people.

At least 18 people incarcerated in detainment facilities have died in the first five months of 2026. At least 30 died last year, the highest number in 20 years. MacMillan notes that a number of those deaths happened after detainees were taken to the hospital.

Today Senator Andy Kim (D-NJ) went back to Delaney Hall, the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey, to talk with detainees. Despite the established congressional duty of oversight, “ICE refused to let me talk to any detainees,” he said. “They restricted my ability to do my job.”

Kim reported that as he went through the women’s unit, “the women were trying to get my attention and flagging for me, waving their hands, and they were pointing into one of the beds. And I looked over, and I saw a woman curled up in a fetal position, clearly in some pain and agony. ICE and GEO Group [the private prison company that runs Delaney Hall on a federal contract] told me that they cannot share with me what is happening. I’m very concerned about that woman…. They have only one full-time doctor in this facility that has hundreds and hundreds of detainees.”

“The American people deserve to know what is happening,” Kim said. “We deserve to be able to hear directly from the detainees. They are doing whatever they can to impede congressional oversight and oversight from the American people.”

Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) notes that the $70 billion in tax money Republicans just gave to ICE and Border Patrol could provide free childcare for 1.3 million children through September 2028, cover the annual cost of groceries for about 10.7 million U.S. households, provide a year of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 31 million Americans, expand the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for at least a year, cancel about 31.5% of Americans’ medical debt, and end homelessness for about eight years.

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From the second night of the celebration of American music at the new Springsteen Center, Sheryl Crow joined by Bruce for “I Shall Be Released.”

And Jackson Browne with Little Stevie, “I Am a Patriot.”

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From Tunes to Toons

Bramhall:

Stahler:

Margolis and Cook:

Dering:

Wolverton:

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From my camera to you: Monet at MOMA.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

Another travel day for me today but here we go…

Dennis Goris:

Washington Post:

The National Park Service ordered the removal of three quotes at the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston after visitor complained to staff about a quote related to women’s suffrage as being “woke” feminist ideology, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump at a presser yesterday:

Trump: If I did meet with the new Ayatollah, I would be honored to meet him…

Doocy: Do you think because Epic Fury killed his killed his dad and his wife and his kid that he's has hard feelings?

Trump: I would say I'm not his favorite person, but with that being said, he's probably a pro—I don't know him—he's probably a professional in some circles, he has a very good reputation actually, you know, sometimes when people say bad, but a lot of people say bad about me . It's totally false, of course.

The Atlantic:

Trump has already rejected much of this vision of American foreign policy, a point he demonstrated vividly last month by approvingly likening the U.S. Navy to pirates while describing an interdiction in the Persian Gulf. “We took over the cargo, took over the oil. It’s a very profitable business. Who would have thought we were doing that?” the president said in West Palm Beach, Florida. “We’re like pirates.”

The New York Times:

At least 97 of the nearly 1,600 people who were charged in connection with the Capitol riot have been accused of new crimes since Jan. 6, 2021, according to a study released on Thursday from Lawfare, the nonprofit legal issues publication. The figure, which is larger than previously known, includes 19 cases that happened after Mr. Trump granted clemency to Jan. 6 defendants on the first day of his second term, according to the study’s author.

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Lucian Truscott IV on CBS News:

I don’t think they’re trying to create Fox News Lite. Fox viewers want Fox, not 3.2 beer Fox. What I think is happening is this: The Right in this country has been trying to win the culture war for decades. Nothing they’ve tried has worked. Just look at Trump’s lineup of musical acts that were supposed to perform on the D.C. Mall this month in his “Freedom 250” celebration. That’s what passes for right wing “culture.” Failing to win the culture war, they decided to just buy it. Trump tried making himself chairman of the Kennedy Center and putting his name on it. Not even his MAGA minions would show up to support his version of the Kennedy Center, so he ordered it shut down for “renovations.” Now a federal court has ordered his name removed from the building. It is unclear what will happen to his “renovations.”

The Ellisons and Bari Weiss are doing to CBS what Trump did to the White House. 60 Minutes is the CBS east wing. They’ll tear it down and try to build a cheap, gaudy and ugly monument to Trumpism. It won’t work.

Capitalism will have the final say. The “renovations” of CBS will lose a little money at first, then a lot. The Ellisons will blame Weiss and get rid of her. They’ll get rid of Bilton and blame him for the death of 60 Minutes. Eventually, they’ll tire of the CBS red ink and try to sell it. By that time, it will be like trying to unload a Trump crypto coin on Ebay.

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Big day for our man Woody (and us) yesterday. Last night and tonight two concerts were planned to mark opening this month of the building for the new Springsteen Center at Monmouth U. and 250 years of American songs. Tonight’s lineup includes among others Jackson Browne, Mavis, Bon Jovi and Bruce in guest slot. Last night in his short set he played Woody’s “Deportee” with Rosanne Cash (noting that it could have been today) and “This Land Is Your Land” with Kenny Chesney (calling the greatest song about America). And then he joined the Dropkick Murphys for their punk-Irish hit with Woody’s lyrics “Shipping Up to Boston.” Here they are below. Of course, Bruce closes my upcoming PBS film, narrated by Rosanne.

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From Tunes to Toons

Brodner on Scott Pelley:

Zyglis:

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Luckovich:

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Statue of Beethoven in the Tiergarten, Berlin, pockmarked by bullets from closing days of World War II.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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Travel day for me today so just the basics: Jimmy, a little music, a few cartoons and the photo to finish.

Trump rant yesterday, referring to, what, the big surge in Communists winning office in USA? :

Communists always do well with the Voters or, as they would say, THE PEOPLE, in the Early Years! But, in the end, the Country, State, or City, GOES TO HELL! Great Violence proceeds at levels never seen before, and the entity dissolves into Poverty, Squalor, and Crime. Remember, breathtaking ‘Popularity’ first, and then, guaranteed DEATH AND DESTRUCTION! President DONALD J. TRUMP”

ABC News:

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Music Picks

Just to note that after the furor over the often absurd NY Times critics list of greatest living American songwriters the outlet tallied “votes” from 20,000 readers which naturally is ten times more sane than the paper’s “experts.” Dylan easily #1 but I like seeing names in top 20 that I invoked in hitting the critics’ list—notably Jason Isbell, Randy Newman, Jeff Tweedy. Feel free to make your picks in Comments. Others in the new top 25: REM, Jackson Browne, Brandi Carlile, John Fogerty. Here’s an Isbell masterpiece, “Yvette.”

Jesse Welles was on CBS Mornings today with Anthony Mason talking about “This Land Is Your Land.” Here is brief clip. And singing it:

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From Tunes to Toons

Anderson:

Goris:

Luckovich:

Boris:

Brodner:

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Barry Blitt:

Brodner again:

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From my camera to you: Cemetery and remains of church bombed by US Army at Taos Pueblo, N.M.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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Jimmy keeping it real:

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Has to be one of the quotes of the year, from Dr. Oz yersterday:

Q: If the president is in such perfect health, why does he keep going back in for checkups? DR OZ: I think he likes the results. He does really well. He aces the test every single day.

We featured the CBS / Scott Pelley fight yesterday, which as you may have heard led to this hours later, via NY Times:

CBS News fired Scott Pelley on Tuesday, jettisoning one of the network’s best-known journalists in a clash over the future of “60 Minutes,” the country’s top-rated news program. Mr. Pelley, 68, a “60 Minutes” correspondent and a former anchor of “CBS Evening News,” joined the network in 1989. At a staff meeting on Monday, he accused the network’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss, of “murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” citing the ouster last week of the program’s leadership team and two on-air correspondents….

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Pelley sent a statement to The Times that assailed the new leadership of CBS News, writing that “incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc” at the network.” He added, “The collapse of values at the top has become untenable.”

Mr. Pelley also wrote that senior managers at CBS News had pressured him to insert bias into stories for “60 Minutes” this past season, though he did not provide details about specific segments.

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Somehow, Trump has even trumped himself in making a worst-appointee-ever. From Heather Cox Richardson:

This morning, Trump announced he is appointing the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, to become the acting director of national intelligence in addition to his job at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The director of national intelligence is the nation’s top intelligence official, and federal law requires that the director have “extensive national security expertise.” Pulte has none.

What he does have is willingness to use the power of the government to persecute Trump’s perceived political enemies. It was Pulte who came up with the scheme of going after Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook and New York attorney general Letitia James by accusing them of mortgage fraud. He also advocated investigating then–Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell for alleged overruns in the renovation of Federal Reserve buildings….

Today the new secretary of homeland security, Markwayne Mullin, refused to assure a U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would follow court orders. Repeatedly, he told Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) that DHS “will never break the Constitution, and we’re not going to break the law.” But he refused to agree that they would follow court orders. “If we didn’t think courts were politicized, then I would probably be able to answer that,” Mullin said. “But we see courts over and over again that use their bench for their political opinion, not just the rule of law.”

Ohman:

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Music Pick

Jesse Welles continuing his hot streak (after amazing rise and Grammy nods last year), played a free gig in NYC’s fabled folkie haven Washington Square Park yesterday, and with new album coming June 12, the title track below. As usual it’s words first for Jesse:

Can't tell you what's worse
The message was terse
Outright white supremacists
Or America First?
I think they both sell merch
The whole place seems a little bit cursed
It's like somebody might have been
Living here first

[Chorus]
All the masks are off
And they don’t even try
They know that you know that they know
And they don’t even mind it
All the masks are off
And they’re getting lazy
They think you’re so damn stupid
They think you’re so damn crazy

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From Tune to Toons

Bramhall:

Anderson:

Wuerker:

Monireh Ahmadi

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Bramhall again:

Luckovich:

Goris:

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From my camera to you: Morning in all its glory.

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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Kimmel last night….

…and earlier, accepting a prestigious Peabody Award, with jokes and gibes:

We have the right guaranteed by the Constitution to criticize and satirize our leaders. This is a right that I took for granted until last year when the FCC delivered a very unpleasant surprise. But then I watched as millions of people objected because they refuse to allow our freedoms to be bulldozed like the East Wing of the White House. We will not stand by when comedy and journalism are censored and criminalized.

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Top NYT story this morning may give you pause:

Hospitals See Diseases Resurge as Vaccinations Decline

Doctors nationwide are encountering more children with whooping cough, bacterial infections and other serious illnesses, as well as more adults refusing tetanus shots.

Then there’s this:

Delegates to the Minnesota Republican Party’s convention held a moment of silence over the weekend for Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, six years after he murdered George Floyd and touched off a national reckoning over policing and race.

The decision brought searing criticism from Democrats, who accused the Republicans of disrespecting the courts and Mr. Floyd’s memory. In recent years, some conservatives have sought to reshape the narrative around Mr. Floyd’s killing and have pushed President Trump to pardon Mr. Chauvin for his federal conviction.

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As you may have heard, there was an explosive meeting at CBS News yesterday when the new “60 Minutes” producer (replacing a popular veteran axed by rightwing boss Scari Weiss) was pummeled by longtime correspondent, mild-mannered Scott Pelley. But the details are wonderful, so here you go from the Times:

CBS News faced a fresh wave of turmoil on Monday after Scott Pelley, the “60 Minutes” correspondent, laced into the show’s newly hired executive producer during a staff meeting and accused Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, of “murdering” the longstanding Sunday news program.

In an extraordinary exchange, Mr. Pelley, his newscaster’s baritone sometimes shaking in anger, told Nick Bilton, the new executive producer, that he had “slender” qualifications for his new job and questioned the network’s commitment to the future of the program, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by The New York Times….

“Broadcast is an ice cube that is melting, OK?” Mr. Bilton said, saying the show had to adapt. “Bari loves this institution,” he added. “She loves ’60 Minutes.’”

At that, Mr. Pelley interrupted.

“She is murdering ‘60 Minutes,’” the correspondent said. “She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”

Mr. Pelley added: “She has no qualifications for her job; you have slender qualifications for this job. The changes that she’s made at the ‘Evening News’ have been catastrophic, so why should we expect that any of this is going to be any better?”

Ms. Weiss did not attend the gathering. A CBS executive at the meeting said that Ms. Weiss had been “prepared to come, and we asked her not to,” citing the staff’s ill feelings surrounding the firings….

“I care so deeply about this institution,” Mr. Bilton said, to which Mr. Pelley interrupted: “Oh, please.”

The “60 Minutes” staff applauded Mr. Pelley after Mr. Bilton departed.

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The re-formed Highwomen sang Sheryl Crow’s “Strong Enough To Be My Man” with her and new lyrics a couple of nights ago.

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From Tunes to Toons

Bramhall:

Telnaes:

McKee:

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Bennett:

Bagley:

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McKeem again:

Duquette:

Bagley again:

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From my camera to you: San Marco, Venice

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Pardon, my mistake? John Oliver last night explored Trump’s criminal use of pardons.

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Thought I’d take a rare step of devoting this section of the newsletter to one regular guest, Paul Krugman, excerpted from his own Substack last night, on a question that I have long declared receives too little attention: Everyone loves to cite Trump’s growing insanity, his plunge in the approval numbers, and the Democrats rising chances in the midterms—but no pressure it seems from Democrats OR Republican for force him out of office through resignation or impeachment. And even if that happened—what has to happen next?

Krugman:

The President of the United States is mentally ill, but everybody knows that. So while we should continue to focus on this degeneration taking place in front of our eyes, we should also, beyond that, ask what we can do about the powers, the interests, the system that put this horrifying person in a position of power.

It’s May 31st. If you have been following some of the news you may know that Trump’s mental deterioration, which has been obvious for quite a while, got even more extreme in the past few days. Tellingly, the things that are really driving him into more obvious dysfunction are things that are blows to his ego. I was especially struck — I was rattled actually — by his reaction to the wave of artists canceling out on the self-glorifying concert series he’s holding on the mall….

Okay, but we knew that, right? It’s not really a surprise to find out that he has lost his mind, what was left of it. And yet, he is in power. People who did a lot to put him in power did so, knowing this — the billionaires who contributed vast sums of money to his campaign, the Supreme Court which gave him immunity back in 2024 — they all knew who they were doing this for. They understood what they were doing. Now, maybe, even they are getting a bit of cold feet as as he goes over the edge and as we’re starting to see in Iran and elsewhere what happens when you have a lunatic running the United States, a lunatic who has far more power than a previous president because all of the normal institutional safeguards have been short-circuited or dismantled.

Still, they are continuing to support him, and they are continuing to do so not just in concrete ways, but verbally, which matters. They continue to cover for him.

Just the other day, Jeff Bezos — who is not an idiot; he has to know what he’s looking at — but he said, oh, Trump is much more mature than he was in his first term, which is obviously a complete lie. That is not what Jeff Bezos thinks. And it’s telling you that he is still providing cover.

The Supreme Court, although it’s been knocking back a few things, is for the most part continuing to give Trump treatment that it would never have accorded, not just to any Democratic president, but to any previous Republican president.

Okay, this is not coming out of thin air. These people — I’m not talking about Trump but people who are empowering him — are not stupid. Some of them are weak but they are also acting because they think there’s something in it for them.

All of this at some level is about money and power for people beyond Trump. And it’s made possible by the fact that there is so much money in the hands of a few people, many of whom turn out, not too surprisingly, to be terrible, insensitive, anti-democratic people themselves.

Obviously, we need to defang Trump as much as possible and make sure that neither he nor anybody who follows in his footsteps has power after the next two elections. But beyond that, we really need to do a thorough purging of the United States. We need a deMAGAfication. And I’m not going over the top by using a word that’s very similar to the denazification that we pursued successfully after World War II in Germany.

And it’s not just the MAGA ideology, but the whole structure of hugely unequal power, hugely unequal wealth that made this horrific moment possible.

It’s not going to be easy, and maybe it’s not going to be doable, but we have to try because this is a nightmare. This is a nightmare beyond, I think, even the worst fantasies of progressives, beyond the worst fantasies of conservatives who still have a conscience. (There still are plenty of those, but they’re no longer MAGA.)

This has to be turned around and we should not, above all, whitewash or forget this moment. This is where a lot of forces in America have been leading and if we don’t do something beyond just getting rid of Trump, it’s going to happen again.

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Music Pick

For the start of the new month, a deep cut from my Kinks, “Rainy Day in June,” from about six decades back. Do not despair, “Sunny Afternoon” on same album.

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From Tune to Toons

Brodner:

Goris:

Chilton:

Royaards:

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Early morning in Provincetown after the rain.

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Ann Telnaes saw it all back in 2020:

Trump yesterday mocked the talent of the flood of entertainers who have now exited his personal American 250 concert, then announced he would take their place since he was even more popular than Elvis. Longtime author and magazine writer Tom Carson responded:

Donald Trump is hands down our most showbiz POTUS ever. He’s the GOAT of glitz, a Picasso of tacky come-back-Liberace-all-is-forgiven décor. He’s the enthralled slave to a magnificent obsession with ratings, fruitless chases after the glittering prizes – one or a bushel of Nobels or Time’s Man of The Year, it don’t matter – and perceived conspirators against his throne (Kimmel, Colbert)…

That’s why It Is No Accident, as the Leninists say, that showbiz professionals shun our one and only President. Who wants to be blown out of the water by an amateur? At least Ronald Reagan was a colleague, damn it, even if Ronnie was apparently as dull castigating Washington at Bel Air dinner parties as he was recalling Hollywood for eminent White House visitors once his hobby had sprouted wings. One can forgive runamok tedium emanating from a past-his-prime peer….

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Axios in its newsletter this morning:

The AI boom is pushing companies across the economy — from tech giants to automakers — deep into the energy business, Axios national energy correspondent Amy Harder writes.

Why it matters: The scramble for electricity has become the gold rush beneath the AI boom, creating enormous value and enormous risk if demand falls short.

Electricity — long treated as a cheap, abundant commodity — is suddenly emerging as one of the most valuable strategic assets in business. “Everyone to some extent is either dependent on energy as a core input or they see energy as a huge opportunity,” said Brian Janous, who was Microsoft’s first energy hire 15 years ago and is now co-founder of data center developer Cloverleaf Infrastructure.

Reality check: Beneath the surging stock prices, trouble is mounting. Opposition to data centers is intensifying, and some of the biggest projects may never come to fruition. “A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money in this space,” Janous said — not because of a lack of demand, but because so many mega projects are chasing that demand.

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Music Pick

We were there for the opening of the Springsteen tour, brought you part of the middle, and now here’s the final song from last nights finale:

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From Tune to Toons

Morland:

Telanaes again:

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Bramhall:

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13th Century Castle, Clisson, France

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Judge says Congress enacted a statute to name Kennedy Center to honor President Kennedy, and only Congress can change the name. Trump’s name must come down in 14 days.

Meanwhile. via Heather Cox Richardson:

As Americans sour on Trump’s economy, lawmakers are backing away from his self-aggrandizing plans for a new $250 bill with his face on it for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. While the administration, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, is touting the plan, Scott MacFarlane of MeidasTouch notes that the necessary congressional approval is not forthcoming as lawmakers recognize that releasing a $250 bill raises images of gilded ballrooms and extravagance at a time when Americans are having trouble paying for gas and groceries….

Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton of the Washington Post reported today that Trump is working hard for a certain kind of vibe at another Freedom 250 event: his Ultimate Fighting Championship matches at the White House for his 80th birthday on June 14. They reported that the Pentagon is trying to recruit hundreds of troops to show up to watch the matches in their uniforms. In addition to paying for their own travel, those military personnel must meet height and weight requirements.

NY Times on Trump’s latest doctor “checkup”: oh, it’s just the aspirin:

Mr. Trump, who will turn 80 on June 14, has faced public scrutiny over his health, with growing signs of fatigue and a lack of clarity from his doctors and aides on details of the president’s health.

Mr. Trump has, for example, been seen with frequent visible bruises on his hands. When the bruises appeared on his right hand, White House officials said it was caused by his handshake, and Mr. Trump began masking the bruises with makeup. When a bruise then appeared on his left hand, Mr. Trump said it was because he had hit it on a table and was taking aspirin. Dr. Barbabella included both explanations in his report, saying that the bruises were “a common and benign effect of aspirin therapy.”

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Music Picks

The great Carla Olson will be performing at the screening of my upcoming PBS film “Woody Guthrie and the Ghost of Tom Joad Today” at the Autry Museum in L.A., where I will also appear. Her band The Textones, with Carla as singer, writer, and guitarist recorded one of the best 1980s albums, “Midnight Mission,” and she’s had a string of fine solo albums since, an acclaimed collaboration with Gene Clark, and one with Rolling Stones legend Mick Taylor. We’ll feature some of this in coming weeks, but for today, a classic off the Textones lp, with Ry Cooder guesting (she later performed it with Gene Clark), “Number One Is to Survive.”

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From my camera to you: “He’s Got Everything He Needs,” Lincoln Center, NYC.

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It’s a Long Goodbye for our Stephen, as he reappeared yesterday for a brief video, still in Monroe, MI, to announce a benefit auction for folks out there who, to paraphrase, “have to put up with me, every 11 years, and to guarantee that they will invite me back in another 11 years.”

Jimmy last night.

If you missed the fun news that list of about a dozen musical acts allegedly set for Trump’s 250th bash has already dwindled by more than half, including exits by country star Martina McBride and the good old Commodores and Bret Michaels. Milli Vanilli still on board. A perfectly apt group for a fake president’s fake event. Here’s Martina’s statement:

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New York Times:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that his agency had been working on a mock-up of a $250 note bearing the face of President Trump in preparation for an addition to the nation’s paper currency that would for the first time include the portrait of a living president.

Such a move would represent a dramatic remaking of American money, which currently is only allowed to bear the image of the deceased. Mr. Trump has also pushed for the creation of a $1 coin bearing his image and is having his signature added to U.S. currency this year. The initiatives are part of an effort by Mr. Trump to honor himself while commemorating the nation’s 250th birthday.

Brodner responds, WTF, Me Worry?:

Too much to summarize here, but follow link to remarkable story last night as young winner of the Mike Wallace Scholarship blasted current execs who have destroyed his and CBS’s legacy, at the Emmy Awards with a cheering response.

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Music Pick

The new McCartney album is here and my old Crawdaddy colleague Jon Pareles has lengthy interview with Sir Paul. Most of the album dropped via YouTube last night, so six varied selections below.

This one, we learn, is about Paul’s first trip to London with some bloke named Johnny.

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From my camera to you: “Still-Life”

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Jimmy last night:

Rape and revenge: The Justice Dept. has opened an investigation into E. Jean Carroll, who accused Donald Trump of rape. In her civil case against him, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll.

CBS News has declined to renew its contract with the “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, six months after her segment on torture in Salvadoran prisons was pulled off the air abruptly by the news division’s editor in chief, Bari Weiss. “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom,” Ms. Alfonsi said. “I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.”

Lindsey Graham last night: “They should change the Nobel Prize to the Trump Prize.”

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Heather Cox Richardson:

Trump appears to see politics as a dominance sport, much like the mixed martial arts fighting promoted by Ultimate Fighting Championship, whose arena is currently going up on the lawn of the White House for the fights Trump will host on his birthday, June 14. Brian Wiechert of WBAL-TV explains that workers are putting up a massive 90-foot-tall structure called The Claw to loom over a temporary octagon fighting arena in a way that the White House and the Washington Monument will be framed for television during the event.

With his destruction of the East Wing of the White House, the paving of the Rose Garden to create a patio that looks like the one at Mar-a-Lago, and now the framing of the White House through a UFC arena, Trump has asserted his dominance over the People’s House. Similarly, with his purging even of loyalists in favor of extremists, he is asserting his dominance over the Republican Party, turning it fully into the MAGA Party.

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Buy your tickets now! What a lineup! So great Kid Rock could not make the cut!

Lucian Truscott IV:

On Tuesday, Trump spent several hours at Walter Reed Medical Center for what was advertised as his “regular” medical checkup. It’s his third yearly checkup in 13 months. He’s a wreck. He falls asleep moments after he sits down, and it doesn’t matter where he is, or who is present. His chin hits his chest in the Oval Office with cabinet members, sports teams, school children, senators and members of the House and the entire White House press pool in attendance, cameras on. On Monday, he fell asleep at Arlington National Cemetery during the solemn ceremony to mark Memorial Day. He brags constantly about “acing” a test that measures cognitive health with simple questions such as identifying animals and drawing a clock. The test doesn’t measure intelligence. It measures how close you are to dementia. Doctors say that when a cognitive test is given repeatedly, it is being used to monitor dementia.

He looks like hell. His mouth droops. His makeup is badly misapplied. His hands are spackled with pancake makeup to conceal injection sites, sometimes both at once. On Monday, as he walked across the plaza at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, he repeatedly slapped the side of his thigh with an open hand, as if he couldn’t control himself. When he stood at attention for the ceremony, he couldn’t keep still, his body rocking back and forth, his shoulders moving side to side….

The real question right now is how bad is the collapse of his physical and mental health? With no one in the White House and no one in Congress who is willing to risk telling him no about anything, how far down will his spiral go?

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Music Pick

Near the close of last night’s concert with The E Street Band at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Bruce Springsteen yelled “Let ‘em hear you at the fucking White House!” before the chant-along “ICE Out Now!” line of “Streets of Minneapolis.” Then he made news by telling the crowd about an upcoming protest concert.

“In the future, we want to keep raising our voices for hope and justice, together,” Springsteen said. “Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance. The first-ever Power to the People Festival will be announced to the world, tomorrow. But you’re hearing about it first, here, tonight,

“Tom will be there, Dave Matthews, The Foo Fighters. My friends The Dropkick Murphy will be there. I’ll be back guesting and playing on a few songs with Tom and his band. We encourage you to come out and make a goddamn ruckus along with us.” Details today. Joan Baez added. And will be in Maryland. Poster below by Shepard Fairey.

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From my camera to you: “Headless Heron on the Hudson.”

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With Stephen gone (unless he pops up on another public access channel) it’s left to Jimmy to carry the ball.

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Now win Ohio, Maine, North Carolina….

Paxton’s Texas Victory Opens a New Front in the Battle for the Senate

Many Democrats and some Republicans said the scandal-plagued Ken Paxton’s victory could turn Texas into a battleground state that will determine Senate control.

Paul Krugman comments:

So Texas Republicans have, by a huge margin, rejected Sen. John Cornyn, a hardline conservative whose great failing, from Donald Trump’s point of view, was that he occasionally took stands on principle. To replace him they chose the scandal-ridden, deeply corrupt Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, who received Trump’s endorsement precisely because of his vices. Paxton’s rottenness makes him a Trump kindred spirit and also guarantees that he will be dependent on Trump’s goodwill and hence slavishly loyal.

So much the better for the Democrats, who now may — may — have a chance at winning Cornyn’s Senate seat. However, despite Paxton’s utter unfitness for any public office – let alone Senator -- knowledgeable observers of Texas politics consider the race between Paxton and the Democratic nominee, James Talarico, no better than a tossup.

Meanwhile, from NY Times:

Israel pounded southern Lebanon on Wednesday, the latest strikes in its escalating military campaign against Hezbollah that could complicate efforts by the United States and Iran to reach a peace deal.

The new attacks were launched a day after Israeli strikes killed at least 31 people, including children, in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese health ministry. The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia group, has intensified just as diplomatic efforts to secure an agreement between the United States and Iran appeared to be inching forward.

New piece at the venerable New Republic:

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Music Pick

We’ve just announced that Tom Chapin and the wonderful Chapin Sisters will be joining us here in Nyack for a major event/benefit surrounding my upcoming PBS film on Woody Guthrie, on June 15. For you locals, here is link for more info and tickets. I am hoping they may sing this Tom original, very topical and perfect for a Woody tribute, “Hold Our Ground Forever.”

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“Suburban Sunset,” Orangeburg, N.Y.

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As you may have heard, the Pope took on A.I. yesterday, Steve Brodner:

USA Today:

CBS has backed off copyright claims about Stephen Colbert‘s surprise appearance on local access TV – at least for now.

On May 22, after signing off from “The Late Show,” the comedian made an unexpected return to “Only in Monroe,” a Michigan-based local access show. He once guest-hosted the show before taking over David Letterman’s CBS spot in 2015. But after Colbert’s “Only in Monroe” appearance, CBS sparked backlash when it sent copyright notices to YouTube channels that were sharing the episode.

Note from my son last night, a fellow long suffering Mets fan: “Pretty grim. The new mantra I see circulating is: ‘You gotta believe, but you don’t gotta watch.’”

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Heather Cox Richardson:

The House and Senate will come back on June 2, and Trump clearly would like to have an agreement with Iran in place before they do.

Trump’s social media account over the weekend was active. He twice posted an image of himself leering over Greenland with the caption “Hello, Greenland!” and repeated suggestions that “China Loves Trump.” He posted an AI image of Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) as a devil (I think), calling him a “SLEAZEBAG” and a “Dumocrat,” and an image of eight lawmakers or officials in orange jumpsuits (except for Obama’s tan one), claiming they had “Caused tremendous damage through Weaponization!” And he posted a number of images of colorful fountains.

Meanwhile, Thomas Massie says he plans to publicly read the names of Epstein clients before leaving Congress.

Paul Krugman:

On Memorial Day the New York Times published an article with the headline “Trump is the only person who can save America, according to his cabinet.” The article offered a quantitative analysis of senior-official sycophancy. As the article notes, Donald Trump likes to hold long, televised cabinet meetings. In these meetings, according to the Times, “On average, at least one of every six sentences either flattered Mr. Trump, gave him credit or criticized his political opponents.”

This “Dear Leader” treatment is unprecedented in American history. Regardless of how successful, no previous president has been showered with this kind of obsequiousness and deification.

But Trump isn’t the first public figure to seek self-aggrandizement in an attempt to fill his inner emptiness. The important question is why the American right — not just his pathetic cabinet, but the whole movement, including the 6 extremistsRepublicans on the Supreme Court — has been so willing to empower him. And that’s a question much bigger than Trump himself.

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At last there’s a new doc coming on often overlooked primal rock ‘n roll founder Eddie “Summertime Blues” Cochran:

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Music Picks

The jazz giant Sonny Rollins has died at 95. I’ve run this clip before, but it remains one of the great moments in music on TV: Sonny backing up, then taking over, Leonard Cohen on “Who By Fire” in 1989.

Patti Smith a few days ago offered a birthday wish to Dylan with his “One Too Many Mornings.”

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From my camera to you: “An Impressionist Spring Morning at Monet’s Garden, Giverny”

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The Memorial Day Massacre

A special holiday look back at my PBS film and book on the tragic incident in Chicago in 1937.

As the Great Depression continued in May of 1937, steel workers at massive plants in the Midwest and Pennsylvania sought recognition for their new union and basic concessions such as the eight-hour day. After police in Chicago clubbed picketers near Republic Steel, union organizers called for a holiday picnic to build support on the wide prairie not far from the plant. The festive occasion drew a crowd of over 1500, including many women and children dressed in their Sunday best. The organizers then called for a ragged protest march to the plant.

A contingent of a couple of hundred police, who had been allowed to prepare at Republic Steel—and armed with club and tear gas by the company—halted them halfway there. Soon, forty marchers would be shot, most of them in the back or side, and ten would be dead or dying. Another fifty, clubbed by the cops, suffered head wounds.

It was all captured on film by a Paramount News cameraman, whose shocking footage would then be suppressed—until leaked to a famed reporter and then a crusading U.S. Senator screened it at a sensational D.C. hearing. Still, no cop was ever punished in any way.

My recent film Memorial Day Massacre: Workers Die, Film Buried aired across the country via PBS and you can still watch the trailer and read background and reviews via the film’s main site. It’s produced by Lyn Goldfarb and narrated by Josh Charles, with Studs Terkel.

>Watch trailer:

There’s also a companion book with the same title, the first oral history of the tragedy. The book, in both paperback and as an e-book, features eyewitness accounts by numerous activists and the wounded, and compelling and unique reflections by the likes of Gore Vidal, Studs Terkel, Howard Zinn, Howard Fast, and Dorothy Day, even a cameo by Ayn Rand.

A sample or reviews gives you some idea of the story:

“So important. Another piece of forgotten history and lesson in the manipulation of truth.” –David Maraniss, author of bestsellers Path Lit by Lightning, biographies of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and other books.

“Stunning. Rivetingly tells the story of one of the greatest human rights atrocities in U.S. history, and the success of the forces of democracy to defeat the attempt of the powers that be to hide it from the public.” — Rick Perlstein, bestselling author of Nixonland, Reaganland and other books.

“Astonishing footage–fascinating film!” — Geoffrey C. Ward, Emmy-winning writer of Ken Burns films, including The Civil War, The U.S. and the Holocaust, Jazz, The Roosevelts and The Vietnam Ware

“A devastating documentary. This film is so good.” — Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!

Order book here

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Memorial Music

Now on to music. A few varied songs related in one form or another to Memorial Day:

A depiction of the sad treatment and fate that met even one of the most illustrious soldiers, Ira Hayes, the Native American who helped raise the flag in the famous photo on Iwo Jima. Johnny Cash was proud to do this Peter LaFarge classic and drew wide praise from Native Americans.

Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstadt collaborated on the beautiful “1917,” by David Olney, as a woman takes pity on a soldier and sleeps with him.

Perhaps The Kinks’ greatest album from 1969, Arthur, explored World War II in three songs, including one that applies to all wars, “Some Mother’s Son.”

Jason Isbell, “Decoration Day”

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Steve Earle explored “Rich Man’s War” at the height of our folly in Iraq.

Dire Straits reached a mass audience with the title track of their 1980s album “Brothers in Arms.”

Woody, “Sinking of the Reuben James”

No one in our era wrote more anti-war songs than Phil Ochs—even the little-remembered U.S. invasion of Santo Domingo earned a fine tune. But several tackled more universal antiwar themes, such as “One More Parade.”

Iris DeMent with a haunting take on the Vietnam “Wall in Washington.”

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Thought this was just a brief clip of Colbert’s visit to Monroe, Mich. more than a decade ago but no….turned out he did it on Friday, the day after his final CBS show and after-party, and it’s nearly a full hour of fun, with wing man Jack White and visit from Jeff Daniels plus a former Miss America. How did this happen? Well Stephen did say he was flying out for his brother’s wedding….One Facebook commenter claimed he could watch Colbert do this every night of the week from a different city…

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Onward and…downward?

Amy Siskind: “He’s not just a bad president, he’s a bad human being. Who misses their child’s wedding to send Truth Social posts all day (because it was too rainy in NJ to golf).”

Megan Stack on the latest fake Iran peace “agreement”:

The Palestinians are still there. Gaza is still there. Whatever happens between Trump and Iran, whatever happens in Lebanon, the Palestinians will bear the brunt, because that is always the underlying project, and none of the power players ever stand up for them.

Ian Bremmer:

If concluded, trump-iran deal arguably the least worst outcome available to president trump. except for: 1) agreeing to those terms months ago. 2) not having gone to war in the first place. or 3) not having withdrawn from the iranian nuclear deal.

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Music Picks

Rolling Stone:

Neil Young canceled all of his 2026 concert dates earlier this year, and has otherwise kept a fairly low public profile, but he reemerged May 22 for a surprise acoustic set at David Suzuki’s 90th birthday benefit concert, which was held at Vancouver’s Queen Elizabeth Theatre.

Young played “After the Gold Rush” and “Heart of Gold,” marking his first live performance of any kind since the Painted Turtle benefit show on October 25, 2025.

David Suzuki is a prominent Canadian environmental activist, former host of CBC’s The Nature of Things, author of 55 books, and an emeritus professor at the University of British Columbia. Bruce Cockburn, Tara Cullis, Jane Fonda, Al Gore, Rick Hansen, Chantal Kreviazuk, Janelle Lapointe, Sarah McLachlan, and Danny Michel also participated in his birthday concert, which raised funds for the David Suzuki Foundation.

On May 29, Young and the Chrome Hearts are releasing the live album As Time Explodes. It documents their 2025 world tour, and features “Vampire Blues,” “Like a Hurricane,” “Ohio,” “Cortez The Killer,” and many other classics.

“Heart of Gold”:

Meanwhile, it’s the Bobster’s birthday (we’ve stopped counting maybe to slow down the march to end for both of us), so why not celebrate with the always great rendition—plus Soy Bomb sauce and Bob’s cool response—from the 1998 Grammys, for “Love Sick”:

Bob’s childhood home, by Steve Crawford:

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From my camera to you, “Old Man/River,” Piermont Pier at sunset

Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.

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As it’s a holiday weekend, mainly music and cartoons today, after we dispose of this if you missed it yesterday:

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We briefly mentioned yesterday: That unfamiliar number “Jump Up” in the finale of the finale of Colbert’s final show dates back to 1977 and a demo recorded by Elvis Costello before his first rocking album made him famous. Now here it is from back then after it was finally released:

Brandi Carlile released a new single yesterday. It coincides with the launch of a partnership between Carlile and the National Park Foundation—which she calls the nation’s most trusted way for people to support national parks—to raise critical funds to preserve and protect them. Fine song written with Aaron Dessner.

I’ve posted one or two things in the past from the popular You Tube/podcast by the young fellow who goes by Track Star in which he plays tunes for well-known musicians (e.g. Lucinda Williams) and others (such as Ken Burns) and asks them to ID them and talk about them. An especially good one this week with the great Taj Mahal. Watch and you may learn a lot of musical history (plus a nice shoutout to his old friend and collaborator Ry Cooder).

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“Harris Hawk, Goshen, N.Y.”

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In truth, Stephen’s final show last night was a rather weak affair, with so-so writing and jokes, silly celebrity cameos (did we really have to meet Paul Rudd again?), and a kind of routine interview with closing guest Paul McCartney, who had just appeared on “SNL.” But the bittersweet and then fun musical conclusion saved it, with Jon Batiste and Elvis Costello joining Stephen and bandleader Cato for a song, “Jump Up,” off Elvis’s 1977 demo, and then all joining in Paul doing “Hello, Goodbye,” on the stage where the Beatles had their debut in USA, at the Ed Sullivan theater. I’m sure young Colbert back in S. Carolina never imagined. So farewell to the king!

This is how they kicked off the show:

….and the grand musical climax:

Barry Blitt:

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The Dixie Chicks, now the Chicks, have always been outspoken, but now lead singer Natalie Maines in a new Instagram post, writes, “Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes. This fugly slut is using your gas money to pay the insurrectionists. But don’t worry about it. I’m sure posting selfies will fix everything. My last post that called him a fugly slut got removed. We’ll see how long this one lasts. Repost and help this message live. Named 1M times in the #epsteinfiles.” Maines also included more hashtags: #democracy, #freespeech and, #fuglyslut.

New NY Times/Siena survey: “Nearly three-quarters of Democratic supporters now oppose military aid to Israel, up from 45 percent three years ago. And nearly half of Democratic backers said the party was too supportive of Israel.”

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Music Pick

Was surprised to learn the other night, when Stephen took his own Colbert Questionaire, that his favorite musical piece was Glenn Gould’s version of a Mendelssonn classic. So here it is, and it’s under 3 minutes:

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“Iris After the Rain,” at Stone Barns yesterday.

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Colbert’s next to last show kicked off with the usual monologue….Tonight is the finale and CBS bad guys are giving him a few extra minutes. Kimmel and Fallon only airing re-runs in support.

As scheduled, Springsteen in middle of tour still stopped by to sing “City of Minneapolis,” after saying:

I am here in support tonight for Stephen, because you are the first guy in America who lost his show because we got a president who can’t take a joke. And because Larry and David Ellison feel they need to kiss his ass to get what they want. Stephen, these are small-minded people. They got no idea what the freedoms of this beautiful country are supposed to be about.

Clay Bennett commentary:

From Variety:

For his penultimate episode of “The Late Show,” Colbert brought out a smorgasbord of celebrity friends, ranging from Aubrey Plaza to Martha Stewart. All his guests served as hosts, asking Colbert — who sat on the guest sofa — a fairly random question, e.g., “What is your favourite action movie?”

Then came Robert De Niro’s turn. The Oscar-winning acting legend — and certified Trump hater — came on and asked, “What number were you thinking of?”

And then De Niro threw a curveball aimed squarely at his favorite target.

“OK,” he replied. “Because I thought it would have been two million point five, or two and a half million. That’s the number of Epstein files Trump still hasn’t released.”

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Glad someone is calling for Trump impeachment. Should be national roar and top of web sites. Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA):

Trump’s “weaponization fund” and ban on future IRS audits is his latest impeachable offense: using the machinery of government and billions in taxpayer dollars to reward allies, pay off insurrectionists, and shield himself, his family, and associates from accountability. This is exactly the kind of corruption and abuse of public trust the Framers feared most. Impeach now.

With funding for Trump’s ballroom newly imperiled, The Washington Post reports: “The Trump administration does not plan to seek approval from Congress for President Trump’s planned 250-foot arch, arguing that they do not need it because lawmakers a century ago authorized a somewhat similar project that was never built.”

The public seems to, increasingly, get it, as at least a few cultists flee:

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From my camera to you, “Rainy Day at the Taos Pueblo”

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Stephen’s nearly final monologue:

Jimmy will stand alone next week:

Killing him with kindness but still killing him: CBS revealed that Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show will go beyond the usual hour-long runtime on Thursday. Details about who will guest-star in the franchise finale are being kept under wraps.

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Lucian Truscott IV:

Today in an addendum to the corrupt “settlement” of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, the director of which he appointed and who reports to him, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, formerly Donald Trump’s personal attorney, announced that the IRS is “forever barred and precluded” from auditing or investigating Trump and his family and “related or affiliated individuals” for anything they did before the date of the settlement, which is today.

So, there it is, everything Trump and his family and anyone associated with the Trump Organization, and presumably anyone who did business with Trump and his companies which provided him with income, is off the hook for any crimes they committed.

This is the dream of crime bosses everywhere. You spend a lifetime skirting the edges of the law, breaking the law, achieving wealth from the crimes you have committed, and you don’t have to pay another lawyer another dime to keep you free from the long arm of the law. You can take your money and spend it any way you want, because it’s now legitimate, every cent of it.

Heather Cox Richardsaon:

The document that purports to be a “settlement” has the words “settlement agreement” written in capital letters across the top of it, but the important word is “agreement.” It is not the settlement of a legal case: Trump dropped the case when it looked like the judge would throw it out.

It is simply an agreement between Trump and his own appointees at the Department of Justice…

With the announcement of the agreement, the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, Brian Morrissey, resigned….Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Greg Sargent of The New Republic that Trump and his loyalists “are figuring out a way to refund the January 6 militia, presumably to get them ready for the next round of battle.”

Jeff Bezos on Trump this morning:

I think he's a more mature, more disciplined version of himself than he was in his first term. Trump has lots of good ideas. He's been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due.

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Campaign 2026

This is the first time I have used the above heading and certainly will not be the last. As some may know, I am something of a “campaign junkie,” going back to my school days, then running the Clean Gene McCarthy club in college and, among others things, writing two pretty well known books about historic races (“The Campaign of the Century” and “Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady”) and directing a 2022 film for PBS, “The First Attack Ads.” And beyond that: writing about every presidential and off-year election for many decades at various sites and blogs and two years ago here at Substack. So expect more to come in this space!

For today, a few notes:

The down side, for MAGA, of Trump getting incumbent GOPers he hates knocked out in primaries is that they then (finally) feel brave enough to (finally) take him on, at least in part. So we had the spectacle last night of the Senate advancing at least that bill aimed at ending the Iran war—after GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, defeated in primary, switched to support it.

Rep. Thomas Massie lost tonight because he wanted the Epstein List released and pedophiles held accountable. Trump didn't want any of that, so he had to go. Now Massie even more free to hit Trump. And with Trump endorsing felon Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate race John Cornyn no doubt will break with him at times. And Paxton so weak and evil, James Talarico now favored by many to take that Texas seat. Nick Anderson:

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Music Pick

Stephen Colbert last night joined in with David Byrne on “Burning Down the House.” Will he join Bruce tonight?

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From Tune to Toons

Goris:

Luckovich:

Rowe:

Wolverton:

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Ohman:

Murdoch:

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Photo Finish

“Vineyard, Late Afternoon, Napa”