Fridays with Nicole Sander

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  2. zscoreUSA says:

    As far as Trump pushing back on Netanyahu, that is a positive, though highly surprising to me.

    Here’s a recent 5/3/25, Washington Post article that comes across as a message from Trump to Netanyahu.

    Article: “Exclusive
    Inside Waltz’s ouster: Before Signalgate, talks with Israel angered Trump
    The fired national security adviser engaged in intense coordination with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about military options against Iran ahead of an Oval Office meeting between the Israeli leader and Trump, two people said.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/03/waltz-trump-israel/

    Archived version: https://archive.is/NEyI9

    Waltz was allegedly fired May 1 as national security advisor due to:
    * Early Feb super intense coordination in meeting w Netanyahu, sneaking around on Trump
    * Aggressive military stance on Iran
    * Somehow not fired at that time
    * Responsible for Signalgate going public in late March, which doesn’t get him fired
    * Then May 1 fired over his close relationship with Netanyahu back in Feb

    The article mostly relies on anonymous sources. There are non-combative quotes from Nick Fuentes’s nemesis Susie Wiles. And they push the concept of Trump doing away with the concept of National Security Advisor.

    At the bottom of the WaPo article it says Waltz was hawkish on Putin and also that he’s a loyalist who would stick to Trump’s policy and not go his own way.

    Netanyahu issued a statement denying the WaPo reporting
    https://archive.is/IeQF4

    I didn’t notice anyone from Trump camp calling the WaPo article fake news, unless I missed it.

    Later on 5/3, it was reported Hegseth would be traveling to Israel, which got cancelled 5/9.
    https://archive.is/qxmXn
    https://archive.is/qm7GE

    All this to say, this WaPo article looks like an attempt by Trump to control the narrative, and also send a message to Netanyahu at the same time.

  3. xyxyxyxy says:

    A few weeks ago Rayne wrote about the questionable losses and bankruptcies of the Trump casinos.
    So looking at the past quarter of Trump Media and Tech…, sales $821,000, net loss $32,000,000, better than last year’s first quarter sales $771,000, net loss 10 times as much $321,000,000.
    Biggest expenses in each were R&D and General & Admin with some dorky expense last year Change in fair value of derivative liabilities $226,000,000 which seems like the Chicago property fake liability of $100,000,000 or so, revealed last year for a tax write off, I think in one of the NY trials.
    R&D and General and Admin for what?
    SCAM?
    The company also announced in the financials that the financials are full of shit. Page 25, “ Based on this evaluation as of March 31, 2025, the Certifying Officers concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of that date, due to the material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting, including…”
    https://s3.amazonaws.com/sec.irpass.cc/2660/0001140361-25-018209.htm#ControlsandProcedures

  4. zscoreUSA says:

    Also, whether Trump is doing his bit out of plausible deniability. Anyone else recall his connections to the Genovese crime family?

    Which in the 80’s was headed by Vincent Gigante, aka the crazy Don, who feigned insanity, bumbling in his pajamas, yet still headed the family.

    Plausible deniability while running a criminal organization.

    • Matt Foley says:

      Trump has hired 23 people from Fox. I would love to see the Murdochs go after him for a huge finders fee.

      • wa_rickf says:

        No one from Fox News is really stellar. It’s not like they are the best human beings – or even good human beings: Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Roger Ailes.

        Currently, Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity – no anyone I would be interested in knowing or talking to.

    • wa_rickf says:

      While the numbers are dwindling over at Fox News comment sections – which really surprises me that there is a lot more Trump dissension these days – there are the die-hards who believe that Trump is doing the right thing.

      I often write: You think that until hundreds of people lose their homes due to a tornado or hurricane and the is no more FEMA or FEMA funds to help assist and rebuild.

      As with other areas where MAGAts disagree socially, it’s not until they are affected personally do they become true believers in the greater good cause.

    • wa_rickf says:

      If you’re lame (definition 2, not 1) or incompetent, a loud-mouth or bigot – you’re a shoo-in for the Trump Admin – especially if you have small d-energy like Stephen Miller and Trump himself.

  8. Savage Librarian says:

    Also, it looks like Trump had a falling out with Ballard, allegedly because of remarks about cryptocurrency. But I wonder if it is also about a grudge because Ballard has Harvard as a client. And then there is that old DeSantis and Ballard rumor about letting Susie Wiles go. And now there is that Qatar and Bondi connection and the jet plane bribe. Things add up, I guess:

    “After a March incident at Mar-a-Lago involving cryptocurrency and a Truth Social post, the White House turns on a well-known political fixer [Brian Ballard.]”

    https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/08/ballard-trump-wiles-lobbyist-00333953

    • xyxyxyxy says:

      Thomas won’t have to ride anymore in his RV and Leo’s puddle jumper .
      He’s going to be hitching rides in Trump’s new jet.

      • P J Evans says:

        He may think that, but I’m fairly sure that The Felon Guy doesn’t want him aboard.

        • xyxyxyxy says:

          So you think he’s a racist?
          “And then I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against.”
          To a round of applause and laughter, he said, “The lights are so bright in my eyes, and I can’t see too many people out there. But I can only see the Black ones, I can’t see any white ones. That’s how far I’ve come.”

        • wa_rickf says:

          @xyxyxyxy May 11, 2025 at 9:58 pm

          A 1973 DoJ lawsuit against Trump and his dad, says, yes the convicted felon is racist.

          Trump hiring a white guy with no library experience to replace a tenured black woman Librarian that Trump fired by email – as cowards do, validates this assertion.

      • wa_rickf says:

        Who’s stupid are the folks ok with this grift that will cost the American taxpayers tens of millions to convert the plane for Trump’s use – only to have Trump then take the plane for his personal use when he leaves office.

  9. BRUCE F COLE says:

    Nicole’s comment about Trump’s “2 dolls” attitude toward the proles, “Let them eat cake,” prompts me to post this, which I wrote about a decade ago (a riff on a William Lee Ellis/Susan Marshall lyric, “How the Mighty Have Fallen”):

    “Let them eat cake” dit petite Antoinette;
    A big mistake, et ainsi un coup de tête.
    Then take your Bonaparte, à Waterloo:
    Reculez, gamin, enjoy the view!

    • Rayne says:

      I suspect vetting has a lot to do with the exchange of crypto currency and an off-the-record request by somebody who has access to the White House.

      Of course they’re pasty white, that’s a given, a default with this overtly white supremacist White House.

      • wa_rickf says:

        Brown immigrants are being deported in droves, white immigrants are getting a very warm welcome by the Trump Admin.

        Talk about replacement theory!

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