Saturday, May 23, 2026

The Trump System Is An Extreme Form Of Crony Capitalism

 

Even The Fox News Poll Has Trump With Terrible Numbers

 




The charts above are from the Fox News Poll -- done between May 15th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1.002 registered voters, with a 3 point margin of errors.

The Trump Slush Fund Agency

 Political Cartoon is by Rob Rogers at Tinyview.com.

The Trump Phone Is Finally Out (And As Expected, It's A Rip-Off)

 The following is part of a post by Garrett Owen at Salon.com:

Following months of controversy and delays, the new phone from Trump Mobile has finally shipped — though it faces immediate criticism of its quality and political scrutiny from customers and lawmakers alike.

The T1 phone from Trump Mobile was first announced last June by the president’s son, Eric Trump, who said the device would “revolutionize” cell phones and “mobile calling.”

“We’re gonna do it better, we’re gonna do it safer,” Trump said in a June interview, saying that the phone would be “cheaper” than competing models, along with having “more features.”. . .

However, the phone’s release faced delays, with the launch date originally set for August 2025. It was pushed back to October but failed to be released a second time.

Last week, the Trump family’s mobile phone company announced in a social media postthat the phones would be “shipping this week” to customers who preordered the device. Reportedly, some 590,000 customers placed $100 preorders for the device, creating a collective $59 million in deposits. . . .

The shipping and delivery confusion surrounding the T1 mobile phone is just one part of the story for a device marred in controversy. Chief among these is whether Trump Mobile has used a repurposed product manufactured in China for its flagship product. . . .

When the T1 was announced in June last year, the webpage for the device said it was made in the U.S. “You’re gonna have phones that are made right here in the United States,” Eric Trump said in the June interview.

This tagline was soon scrapped and replaced with lines such as “Premium Performance. Proudly American,” “American-Proud Design,” and “designed with American values in mind.”

The T1 appears to be a slightly modified, Chinese-manufactured Android device called the T-Mobile REVVL 7 Pro 5G that was briefly recalled after its launch 2024 due to quality control and regulatory issues. The device is manufactured by Wingtech Technology, which is owned by Luxshare, and both companies are based in China. . . .

It also bears a striking resemblance to the Taiwanese-manufactured HTC U24, released in 2024. When compared side by side, the phones are virtually identical in display, platform software, and storage capacity, with the main difference being selfie camera quality. . . .

On its product page, the gold-colored T1 phone is listed for $499. T-Mobile initially listed the REVVL 7 Pro at $249 when it launched in summer 2024. Now, it is no longer listedon T-Mobile’s REVVL products page. Meanwhile, its price ranges from $110 to $130 on Amazon and Walmart, while being listed on eBay for $99.

“You could get it free with at least some [phone] plans,” George Edwards, founder and president of Quandary Peak Research, said of the REVVL 7 Pro, calling it a “basic Android device for a low cost.” He doesn’t think the device justifies Trump Mobile’s price tag.

“I would say that, absent the Trump branding, most industry experts would say that the phone is not a good value at that price point,” Edwards, also Quandary Peak’s principal computer scientist, told Salon. “For $500, there are other phones available with better specs.”

Whether it is closer to the REVVL 7 Pro or the HTC U24, Edwards says Trump Mobile is simply using an existing technology with established supply chains and is adding different colors, graphics and branding. “Those changes don’t require a great deal of time or design work,” Edwards said. . . .

This less-than-glowing view of the device aligns with initial customer experiences with the T1.

review from the technology outlet Tech Advisor found the phone to be “based heavily” on the HTC U24 and called it “a rather ropey two-year-old phone.”

“Coming from a man who famously wrote a book titled ‘The Art of the Deal,’ it sure seems like a bad one,” the review read.

Users have pointed out that the American flag decal on the phone’s case does not display the flag properly, showing 11 stripes instead of 13 to represent the Thirteen Colonies. A review from NBC noted that the phone comes preinstalled with Trump’s social media app, Truth Social.

Looting The Treasury

Political Cartoon is by Matt Wuerker at Politico.com.
 

In A Less Corrupt Administration That $1.8 Billion Could Have Done So Much Good

 The following cartoon editorial is by Aubrey Hirsch at aubreyhirsch.substack.com.













A Grifter Will Grift

Political Cartoon is by David Horsey in The Seattle Times.
 

Taxes Are Not Bad If They Pay For What The People Need


 

Friday, May 22, 2026

The GOP Is No Longer A Political Party - Just An Extension Of Trump's Cult


 

New Poll Shows Trump Numbers Are NOT Improving

The chart above reflects the results of the Quinnipiac University Poll -- done between May 14th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,316 adults, with a 3.4 point margin of error.


 

Robbing Hood

Political Cartoon is by Randy Bish at bishtoons.com.
 

Three Out Of Four Voters Support Supreme Court Term Limits

The chart above is from the Navigator Poll -- done between May 13th and 18th of a nationwide sample of 1,000 registered voters, with a 3.1 point margin of error.


 

Your Tax Dollars At Work

Political Cartoon is by Bill Bramhall in the New York Daily News.
 

Thin-Skinned Trump Is Waging A War On Laughter - He Will Lose

 

The following post is by Andy Borowitz at The Borowitz Report:

When George W. Bush launched his War on Terror, I noted that it was the first time in history that someone had declared war on a human emotion. If Bush defeated terror, I wondered, what was next—shyness?


In his second term, Donald Trump has declared a War on Laughter, and I suspect it will be every bit as successful as Bush’s crusade.


Trump’s fear of being laughed at is nothing short of pathological. For years he’s been a crybaby about his portrayal on “Saturday Night Live.” And it was Barack Obama’s mockery of him at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner that reportedly impelled him to run for president. (Thanks, Obama.) 


Like everything else rattling around in the commodious cavern of Trump’s brain, his fear of ridicule is unoriginal: he shares it with pretty much every dictator in the world. You might have noticed, for example, that there isn’t a thriving comedy scene in Pyongyang.


The autocrats’ anxiety is entirely justified. Comedy is their kryptonite. They rule by intimidation, and when we laugh at them, their power to scare us evaporates. As Mark Twain wrote in The Mysterious Stranger, “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”


Which brings me to Stephen Colbert, who hosts his final “Late Show” tonight.


Last year, Colbert roasted the quislings at CBS’s parent company, Paramount, for donating $16 million to Trump’s presidential library to settle a risible lawsuit he filed against them. Shari Redstone, who had become Paramount’s biggest shareholder thanks to the demise of her icky father, was desperate to keep the government from scuttling a merger that would make her even richer. In light of her greedy groveling, Colbert was justified in calling the payment a “big fat bribe.”


Shortly after Colbert’s reckless decision to speak the truth, Trump’s proxies at CBS dutifully canceled his show, issuing the following statement: "This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."


No offense to Colbert, but the funniest comedian at CBS is whoever wrote that statement. They might be the most hilarious words ever typed, with the possible exception of the phrase “Trump’s presidential library.”

 

I seriously doubt tonight’s farewell episode is the last we’ll hear from the indefatigably creative Colbert, who will likely move to a new platform where he’ll enjoy more freedom and financial success than he had at CBS.

 

And as for Trump, he might think he’s winning the War on Laughter—but much like George W. Bush, he’s going to discover that his mission is far from accomplished. He can cancel all the comedians he wants, but he will never make us stop laughing at him.