T.J. Stiles
@tj-stiles.bsky.social
American historian and biographer. Pulitzer Prize for History for "Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America" Pulitzer Prize for Biography & National Book Award for Nonfiction for "The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt”
Super helpful reminder that a shameless predator is president. Incompetent, showing signs of senility, ignorant, arrogant, but also a shameless predator.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4h agoMax Miller on why he's staying in the race: "When we go back to 2015 and 2016, & people in the media looked at President Trump, & everyone came out with allegations. Dozens of women, dozens of crazy allegations, dozens of nasty criminal misconduct. And you know what he did? He stayed in the fight."
For comparison, Suez fees are around 0.3% with Panama even lower at 0,1%. And these offer canal infrastructure etc. Insurance fees, even in active war zones are usually topped at 1.5% because thats is considered prohibitively expensive
Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 3h agoReuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be unlikely to risk transit without paying."
Actually Miller did us all a service by reminding us that Epstein pal Donald Trump was also accused of heinous sexual crimes and simply refused to go away.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 20h ago🤯 Rep. Max Miller's interview with Jake Tapper was one of the most self-destructive things I've ever witnessed on cable news. Here's the whole thing:
Reposting this yet again. Trump likens himself to TR because of TR's perceived testosterone level, I guess. But TR prefaced his first use of the "speak softly/big stick" line with words of self-respect, courtesy, serious preparation. He'd think Trump is a clown. New York Tribune, April 3, 1903
Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d agoThat’s two “boy-who-cried-wolf” pieces to start the week. Will we get a third? 🌮 @politico.com @apnews.com www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
It's hard to express how wild it is to witness the 180º turnaround in Republican ideology. The Tea Party claimed "tea" stood for "taxed enough already?" They said taxes were theft. Now Trump personally levies an illegal tax, SCOTUS says no, but his hacks still want to keep the money, with this:
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 19h agoBessent: "Here at the Treasury, I had $168 billion of tariff revenues that we're gonna have to refund. So when the Democrats scream, "Oh, the refunds should go back to the American people!', well, the American people had it, it was in the Treasury and it was paying down the debt."
Is it testosterone injections or consciousness of guilt that renders him incapable of speaking coherent English? Could be both. Could be that he's unqualified for office even apart from crimes.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 21h agoRep. Max Miller: "When I was reported for child abuse of my daughter for a broken collarbone, my daughter was in my ex-wife's care 9 out of the last 11 days and she took her to the emergency room, which is a contempt violation from our shared parenting plan."
So much inanity: • "150 years." Yeah, sure, Volume XXII of Morison's edited letters of Theodore Roosevelt consists entirely of demands for a ballroom. • It's for the military—so it has to be good! The military ain't perfect. It once planned to blast Soviet bombers out of the sky with nukes. ...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 19h agoTrump: “The very complex and expensive structure, being built for the Military, at the White House … Also rising is the desperately needed Ballroom, something which former Presidents have wanted for 150 years, which sits under the elevated DronePort, and is paid for by Patriots — No Taxpayer Money!”
Oh my god the dietician who is telling everyone in the White House to only eat steak and sauerkraut doesn't wipe his ass.
Instead of helping to fight western forest fires, Idaho National Guard troops subdued and tied up a decorated veteran in Washington, D.C., who posted signs criticizing the NG occupation of the nation’s capital. The perpetrators should be prosecuted. Trump, too. www.npr.org/2026/08/04/n...
A veteran was detained by the National Guard in her front yard. Now she's suing
Military veteran and D.C. resident Anna King has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the Idaho National Guard, saying three guard members assaulted her while detaining her in front of her home.
npr.org
NEW: Amid AG confirmation battle, Todd Blanche assured anti-abortion activists that he's working to make Dobbs 'permanent in every single state.' Admin will act 'soon' to limit mail-order abortion drugs. w/ @alicemiranda.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
Blanche assures anti-abortion supporters that Dobbs will be ‘permanent in every single state’
The acting attorney general made the remarks during a private call with faith leaders.
politico.com
If we weren't so broken, divided and led by corrupt rapists, this would be the biggest story of the week. But barely a blip. apnews.com/article/trum...
Trump accounts were closed in 2021 due to concerns over possible money laundering, Capital One says
Capital One closed President Donald Trump’s accounts in mid-2021 after flagging financial activity that resembled money laundering.
apnews.com
FYI the states that generate the most wind power are Texas, Iowa, and Oklahoma
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump: "Any country with windmills is a loser"
And they’re so expensive because so many people want to live there!
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump: "Look at the blue cities. What do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. It's really all of them."
Yeah, Biden's age caught up to him. But he was never such a dick in public. I really want a president who isn't an asshole. Especially not a stupid asshole. You know why people like Mamdani? Like Obama, he has grace. More of that, please.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump says Jeanine Pirro "choked" and then snaps at a reporter who asks if her job is safe: "Don't ever talk again"
Considering that most cities are blue, he is just saying he hates America
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump: "Look at the blue cities. What do they have in common? They're all dirty. They're filthy dirty. Their streets are dirty. Their streets smell. Their storefronts are broken. Their trees are all gross. Everything about the place is dirty. It's really all of them."
Trump says he's "REALLY disappointed with Jeanine Pirro. She folded like an umbrella." We are fully into the Trump Crisis: he cannot accept that facts are not what he says they are. We are frozen in war with Iran because it isn't defeated like he says. A man must stand trial because Trump says so.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2d agoTrump: "Now we have a big decision to make. Do we take the pavers that are red -- the red, brick pavers -- and do we change them into a granite?"
So under this Supreme Court's treatment of U.S. law and presidential power, Joe Biden couldn't forgove my student loans, but perhaps Donald Trump can forgive his own tax debt. Wild.
Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 2d agoFLAG: Trump gets to keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization under the new 'deal' struck by Todd Blanche. The new order also reaffirms that Trump won't have to pay any taxes he might have owed the IRS.
BREAKING: Todd Blanche has released what he calls a rescission of the slush fund (left). The last lawsuit he mentions is mine (Gill v DOJ). This doesn't change the fact that the "settlement" setting up the fund is still in effect. On the right, Blanche is LEAVING IN PLACE Trump's tax immunity.
Genuine insight. Similarly I think RFK Jr prefers to be wrong, because he can claim to be a martyr persecuted by the scientific establishment. His followers are bonded to him by cult-like devotion. If they only believed in him because his assertions could be tested he'd lose them when he's wrong.
Schooley@schooley.bsky.social · 3d agoThe thing about Trump is I think he gets more pleasure winning by cheating than he would winning legitimately. Because getting away with it is his life's work.
Trump: I would say I'm far superior to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Now, you know I'm only kidding, right? ... I don't compare myself to anybody. Narrator's voice: He compares himself to Washington and especially Lincoln all the time.
Stephen West@stephenwest.bsky.social · last yr.Donald Trump can't stop talking about Abe Lincoln An occasional🧵
New York Times today, on point: "The United States is an unpredictable instrument of global disorder." Three notes: • It's much more than an "impression." • "Instrument" is the wrong word. Global disorder does not wield the U.S. "Creator" is correct. • Substitute "Trump" for "the United States."
This insane interview with Childish Goering is a good occasion to remind you to get a measles titer test. First-wave Gen Xers like me got a measles vaccine that didn’t provide lifetime immunity. When I got checked in 2024, in anticipation of RFK Jr’s reign of error, my immunity was gone. MMR time!
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago😳 RFK Jr's epic CNN crashout 😳 Dana Bash pressed RFK Jr on Trump's culpability for mishandling covid and the misinformation he pushes about vaccines, and the segment wound down with him getting mad and barking at her like a rabid dog Here's the full thing:
RFK Jr is the most dangerous man in America, next to Trump. As a liar he’s even more dangerous than Trump, because RFK Jr has convinced himself he is a scientist (he isn’t) and people believe him. He is wrong. He is arrogant. He is a total asshole. Impeach. Convict and remove. Then prosecute.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3d ago😳 RFK Jr's epic CNN crashout 😳 Dana Bash pressed RFK Jr on Trump's culpability for mishandling covid and the misinformation he pushes about vaccines, and the segment wound down with him getting mad and barking at her like a rabid dog Here's the full thing:
Reposting to commemorate Trump’s latest bluster and stand-down. It’s like he’s deliberately trying to devalue his own words.
T.J. Stiles@tj-stiles.bsky.social · 7d agoWe all know Theodore Roosevelt championed (and redefined) the Monroe Doctrine, and popularized the expression, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." But with Trump bragging, threatening, insulting, and flailing helplessly, it's worth reading TR's preface to that remark. NY Tribune, April 3, 1903:
Literally who the fuck is buying this for the 60th time lmfao
Mohammad Marandi, who served as an advisor to the Iranian negotiation team in talks with the US:
“Several men carried him onto the plane. He was shackled at the wrists and ankles, with his hands locked to a chain around his waist, and remained shackled for the 30 hours of travel.”
Gillian Brockell@gillianbrockell.com · 4d agoGreat reporting from @emilybregel.bsky.social about a gay man who’s been in the US since he was four, imprisoned in a “hotel” in Equatorial Guinea since April. He says he’s being denied soap and toilet paper in retaliation for filing a complaint w African Commission. 1/ tucson.com/news/local/b...
Great moments in urban planning.
Rolf Oldejans@rolfoldejans.bsky.social · 4d agoA fun day out for all the family
You think you've got it bad? In 1903, Americans had to put up with Bulgarian and Italian domestic servants! Stupid Irish land reform! New York Evening World, April 11, 1903
Bold move on the right, attacking German ancestry (45 million Americans in 2020) and Irish ancestry (38.6 million in 2020) and opposition to slavery, too! Helpful, though. Neatly encapsulates what the term "heritage Americans" is all about.
Alexander Clarkson@aphclarkson.bsky.social · 4d agoAnother datapoint for the fascist radicalisation of institutional pillars of much of the American Right
