Today’s episode covers a busy day in American chaos management: offshore military strikes that raise serious legal alarms, a Pentagon investigation into reminding troops that illegal orders are still illegal, a presidential speech that ricocheted between imaginary victories and invented medals, a jaw-dropping response to a real-world tragedy, a cooling jobs report the administration tried very hard not to publish, looming health care premium spikes, global fallout from foreign aid cuts, and a White House renovation now being defended as a national security imperative. Also featured: Ukraine doing actual strategy, the FBI doing its usual informant-heavy theater, and a president building himself a ballroom while insisting the republic is totally fine.
In short: the economy is cooling, the rhetoric is overheating, and democracy is being asked to hold while someone knocks down a load-bearing wall. Coffee strongly recommended.
