Odds and Ends — 18 December 2025

In years past, it was relatively rare for a federal court to question the Justice Department’s competency or good faith. But such questions are becoming more common, thanks to a growing pattern of legal missteps that have dogged the department since January.

https://twitter.com/BulwarkOnline/status/2001215904772682097

———— Stark. Raving. Mad. ————

This Is What Presidential Panic Looks Like

Donald Trump delivered a fear-drenched rant live from the White House.
The president of the United States just barged into America’s living rooms like an angry, confused grandfather to tell us all that we are ungrateful whelps.
When a president asks for network time, it’s usually to announce something important. But tonight, Donald Trump did not give anything like a normal speech or address. He was clearly working from a prepared text, but it sounded like one he’d written—or dictated angrily—himself, because it was full of bizarre howlers that even Trump’s second-rate speech-writing shop would probably have avoided…
In effect, Trump took to the airwaves, pointed his finger, and said: Quiet, piggy.

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/2001475314774429759

Trump Says Things Are Better Than You Think

A fiery President Trump — addressing Americans from a holiday-decked White House — insisted the economy is stronger than people think it is and any problems are all Democrats’ fault.
It’s a message that poll after poll says most voters don’t believe.
Trump’s speech was closer to a Festivus airing of grievances than a Christmas message of hope, as he ran through a litany of problems — inflation, wage growth, the border, crime — that he said were entirely the fault of the Biden administration, and that he insisted he’d already fixed.

https://twitter.com/naretevduorp/status/2001561578827608118

Our Petty, Hollow, Squalid Ogre in Chief

There is growing evidence of links between senior Trump appointees, associates, and Kremlin-linked entities

https://twitter.com/JohannaNyman5/status/2001628186388668675

———— Mors Imperii ————

New audio emerges of Trump directing Republicans on how to overturn election results

https://twitter.com/bluestein/status/2001500887361966490

Trump Renames Kennedy Center

President Trump’s handpicked board voted Thursday to rename Washington’s leading performing arts center as the Trump-Kennedy Center, the AP reports.
Of course, the building is statutorily named the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

https://twitter.com/sarafischer/status/2001338675607769120

GOP Senator Grills Trump Nominee on Statement that Marriage Is Not Intended for Disabled People