When I wrote about Trump Derangement Syndrome over the weekend, it was while following the discourse over the latest scandalous Graham Platner revelations. These are certainly not the first such revelations, nor will they be the last, as GOP operatives reportedly have a vast pile of opposition research on Mr. Nazi Tattoo they’re waiting to unload when the time is right. But the reaction from liberals to what came out over the weekend was to double-down, to dig their entrenchments deeper, to rationalize the necessity of defending Platner at all costs, no matter what.
She is easily the highest-value senator for the right, even if most of their rank and file on this platform are too dimwitted to appreciate that value. If you think she’s an affable centrist and therefore not worth hating, you do not understand how anything works.
“TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP!” The deranged obsession so warps David Klion’s perception that, when challenged on his over-the-top rhetoric, his response is to post a syllogism, the first premise of which is, “Republicans are evil,” and believes that he has thereby vanquished his critics.
The Democratic primary in Maine is June 9, less than two weeks away, and the question now is whether Graham Platner will get shoved under the party’s bus before it’s too late to find another candidate to challenge Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Hit by scandal after scandal in recent weeks, Platner’s status as “rising star” is now at risk because Democrats have belatedly realized that there might be even more damaging revelations to come — worse than his SS Totenkopf tattoo, which somehow Democrats had convinced themselves wasn’t really a scandal at all. What they’re realizing now is that Republican sources weren’t just bragging when they told Marc Halperin that their opposition research files on Platner were so toxic that he was not only guaranteed to lose to Collins, but “he’ll have to leave the state.” Frantic social-media drama from Democrats in recent days suggests that party insiders have confirmed what those GOP operatives were hinting at — Platner is unelectable; if he is the Democrat on the ballot in November, Collins will win in a landslide. . . .
It’s that time of year when gals in overalls get out there and start getting ploweddoing farming stuff. Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt. –
As y’all probably noticed, we’ve been having some problems here at The Other McCain, what with hackers and such, and without dragging all the dirty laundry out in public (because there isn’t any) suffice it to say that when Stacy gets back from Alaska, he and I and Smitty need to have a talk and decide what we’re going to do with this site. Smitty hasn’t been active much here lately and since he’s got a couple of young ‘uns and a day job, he can’t really be the resident tech guy any more. This is a problem, because I’m not up to speed on PHP and WordPress, and Stacy, well, some of you may remember when I was joking some years back about getting him a Qwerkywriter or a telegraph key so he’d feel more at home with modern computing. Or, as Dr. McCoy might have said on Star Trek if he’d been the Enterprise‘s Information Officer instead of medical officer: “Damn it, Jim, I’m a reporter, not an IT guy!” One way or the other, we’ll figure something out and keep the old blog flying. We’ll let y’all know when it happens. Ceterum autem censeo Silicon Valley et Hamas delendam sunt.
Yr. Humble Author attempts to deal with hackers and such (2026, colorized & with added imaginary drama)
When you look at that kind of headline, how can you doubt that the pandemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome has become toxic?
A TikToker has lost her job after posting a video that appeared to pray for former Attorney General Pam Bondi to suffer permanently from cancer, prompting outrage across social media.
In the video, the TikToker says, “Dear MAGA Lord Jesus, please let her end up with a hole in her throat that she has to push every time she speaks. Dear God, if there is a MAGA God, please let Pam Bondi’s throat cancer be the worst case of cancer anybody’s ever seen.”
The TikTok, posted by @glitterandcrossbones, which is currently set to private, appeared to have been posted by Caitlyn Aguiar, who had worked as an assistant vice president for the Inbound Contact Center at Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union since January 2024, according to her LinkedIn page, which appears to have been taken down.
Bondi, 60, who was fired from the Department of Justice in early April, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and undergone treatment.
In the TikTok, Aguiar continued, “Please let her have to take on the suffering that she’s unleashed upon the thousands, millions, dare I say, of Americans in this country. . . . Please, dear MAGA Lord Jesus…”
She added, “Please let this be the karma that she so justly deserves, MAGA Lord Jesus. Amen.”
Massachusetts Democrat Caitlyn Aguiar, who in a video cheered on Pam Bondi’s cancer diagnosis and said she hopes she dies a painful death, has been fired from her job at Jeanne D’Arc just a day after we made the company aware of her rhetoric. pic.twitter.com/Pan7Y9g1GA
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) May 29, 2026
How can it be that someone working as the assistant vice president of a financial institution could think this way? And believe she could post something like that online without consequences?
The problem is not just that a lot of Democrats are insane — although, of course they are — but that so many people, including Republicans, are incapable of thinking outside of the here-and-now of politics, the 24/7 news cycle reinforced by constant immersion in social media noise.
For me, as a journalist, the tyranny of the news cycle is a danger that I must struggle to resist. It helps that there was no Internet at all when I got started, and that it was only after more than 20 years in the newspaper business that I launched out into the world of blogging and social media. Like, I remember when dial-up modems, Usenet boards and AOL were “the new thing,” and therefore have some perspective on the contemporary madness that spawns TikTok meltdowns.
Lose your job for ranting about Pam Bondi? Of the many Cabinet secretaries I’ve seen come and go in my lifetime, there were certainly quite a few I intensely disliked, but I am certain I never said anything about, e.g., Janet Reno that would even begin to compare with what this woman said about Pam Bondi. And why? What is the “suffering” that Bondi allegedly “unleashed”? Pretty doggone sure she never ordered an attack that incinerated 86 Americans, as was the case at Waco.
Political passions come and go. Today’s headline news will disappear when some new controversy comes along tomorrow, and within 10 or 20 years, almost everything we are currently arguing about will be entirely forgotten. How often do I find myself having to explain to people exactly what happened during the Lewinsky scandal, or how the invasion of Iraq went sideways? These are events that dominated the headlines for months at a time, in recent memory, and yet are just vaguely remembered by most Americans. The people burning down their own lives with toxic TikTok rants are trapped in short-term thinking.
When I was packing for our trip to Alaska, knowing I’d be without an Internet connection for many hours, I brought along the third volume of Winston Churchill’s A History of the English-Speaking Peoples, which I’ve read at least twice before, but enjoy re-reading every so often because it’s fascinating. Here you have world-historical events, involving some of the most eminent figures in British history, and most people nowadays know absolutely nothing about it. Here is the Duke of Marlborough smashing the French at Blenheim — arguably the greatest victory ever won by an English army — and it means nothing to the average American. Blenheim? Never heard of it. Marlborough? Isn’t that a cigarette brand? Even among college-educated Americans, how many of them can even tell you one fact about the War of the Spanish Succession?
Marlborough at Blenheim, 1704
If the entire War of the Spanish Succession can vanish from popular memory, what are the chances that any of our grandchildren will ever hear the name Pam Bondi? How crazy do you have to be to think you’re going to “make a difference” in the world by whipping out your phone to record a TikTok diatribe about the former Attorney General?
One of the most interesting characters of the 1700s was Robert Walpole, the first to be called Prime Minister of England. During the reign of King George I and continuing into the reign of King George II, Walpole did something both commendable and remarkable — he made politics boring. The unchallenged ascendancy of the Whigs, and a policy aimed at peace and prosperity, had the effect of causing the English people to forget all the controversies that had previously divided them. It was only after Walpole left the ministry (he died in 1745) that the course of events began that led ultimately to the American Revolution.
America today could use a Walpole, a president who could usher in an era of quiet competence, resting upon a decisive and durable political majority. If you look back over the past 40 years, you see why our politics have become so toxic. Despite the 12-year White House tenure of Reagan-Bush (1981-93), Republicans never had a majority at the congressional level during those years. After Clinton was elected in 1992, however, the reaction to his first two years in office produced the “Republican Revolution” that led to 12 years of GOP control of the House. Since then, we’ve gone through the Lewinsky scandal (1998), the Bush-vs.-Gore Florida recount 2000), the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and repeated changes of the congressional majority (2006, 2010, 2018, 2022). The balance between the two major parties is so close that it seems impossible for either of them to maintain control for very long, and the result of this fragile balance is a relentless intensification of political conflict, as each side appeals more desperately to the prejudices of its partisan base. Consequently, emotionally vulnerable people are quite literally driven mad by the nonstop bombardment of political messages intended to incite “grassroots energy,” as the consultants call it.
If we are to have an American Walpole, I think, he will have to be Republican, and he will need a majority so strong as to push the Democratic Party into a very long period of political eclipse. The opportunity is there for Marco Rubio (or J.D. Vance, or Ron DeSantis) to do this if (a) Republicans can manage to hold onto both houses of Congress in this November’s midterms, (b) any Republican can win the White House in 2028, and (c) the Trump agenda of strong border enforcement can be continued until (d) the 2030 Census peels enough House seats away from “blue” states to make a Democratic majority a forlorn hope for the next decade. This is a series of hypothetical contingencies, each dependent on the most favorable developments for Republicans, but it is nevertheless possible. All we need is a few breaks, and the next decade could finally bring us a prolonged relief from the tremendous strain we’ve endured since the 1990s.
Do I want to pick a fight with Erick Erickson? No, I do not. Erick has done yeoman’s work for the conservative cause for more than 20 years, and 99 days out of 100, I have no problem with him. But his reaction to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s victory in Tuesday’s GOP primary runoff against John Cornyn is a reminder of something most people never think about — there are professional campaign operatives who earn a lucrative living from politics. Erick Erickson is close friends with a lot of Republican operatives and, it seems obvious to me, some of Erick’s friends were getting paid by Team Cornyn. It’s estimated that the Cornyn campaign (including allied super PACs, etc.) spent upwards of $100 million on his doomed reelection bid, and no doubt many of the people who got paid by Cornyn are very bitter over their defeat.
Because the regular readership here shares my own populist sentiment, I assume that you view the Texas primary the same way I do: Cornyn is a useless RINO who should have retired long ago, and we are all therefore overjoyed that Paxton won the Republican nomination. You are probably miffed at Erick Erickson for badmouthing Paxton, and wondering if Erick is turning into a RINO. No, that’s just Erick being Erick, echoing the arguments against Paxton that the Cornyn campaign spent $100 million promoting, arguments that some of Erick’s consultant buddies got paid to promote, and which they may also sincerely believe. That’s the thing about campaign consultants — who can tell where their personal opinions end and their financial interests begin? They’re political mercenaries.
You cannot survive a career in politics if you take everything personally. As someone who writes for a living, and whose usual subject matter is politics, I’ve had to deal with this reality for many decades. There are people who hate me in ways that strike me as starkly irrational, even though I’m just a commentator on this crazy game, and all of us have witnessed how politically motivated hatred has spiraled out of control during the long pandemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
These comments are a gold mine. White women in LA, Chicago and New York City are going to give this guy $100 million and then be stunned when he loses in Texas by ten points despite outspending Ken Paxton by over $100 million. https://t.co/8YiglJuo8J
What about the substance of the anti-Paxton arguments? Even many of those defending Paxton feel the need to stipulate that he is “a sleazy politician,” in David Harsanyi’s words, but my thought is: Why should we do Democrats’ work for them? The facts regarding Paxton can be researched, and people can make up their own minds. Caveat emptor.
After five terms in the Texas House and another as a state senator, Paxton was the Tea Party favorite in the 2014 Republican primary for state Attorney General, where he defeated the establishment favorite, before winning the general election by a 20-point margin. In 2018, a “high tide” year for Democrats, Paxton squeaked to reelection by a 51% to 47% margin, and won reelection again in 2022 by nearly a 10-point margin. After his 2014 election, Paxton faced charges of, uh, ethical impropriety. He survived that and, in 2023, Paxton also survived impeachment proceedings in the Texas legislature, which he blamed on “the RINOs in the Texas Legislature,” accusing them of being “on the same side as Joe Biden” and attempting to “sabotage [Texas’s] legal challenges to Biden’s extremist agenda.” You can view all that however you like, just the same as you can view Paxton’s marital problems however you like. But is it true, as Erick Erickson says, that Paxton is an example of “the GOP offering up awful candidates”?
No, it’s not “the GOP” which is “offering up” Paxton, rather it is Texas voters who picked Paxton over the choice “offered up” by the Republican establishment. Paxton has won three consecutive statewide elections despite all the scandals, and the dissatisfaction of Republican primary voters with Cornyn was sufficient that Paxton beat him by 27 points, even after Republican donors poured $100 million into Cornyn’s campaign.
There can’t be any new “dirt” on Paxton that Cornyn’s campaign didn’t already reveal and even if 2026 turns out to be another “high tide” year for Democrats, it is unlikely that Paxton will lose to the “Beto 2.0” Democratic candidate James Talarico. Erick Erickson may lament that Christian conservatives are compelled to support Paxton, and I may even sympathize with Erick’s lamentations, but it doesn’t change the fact we are now in the general election campaign and it’s “game faces” time, as Ace of Spades sometimes says. Erick’s Republican consultant buddies have lost a valuable client, and I’m sure they feel bad about that, but it’s not like they didn’t cash some fat paychecks along the way.
View from my son’s backyard deck in Alaska. Someone once defined a redneck as a man who would never want to live anywhere he couldn’t take a leak off his own back porch. Proud to see the tradition carry on. pic.twitter.com/e5jaVEaJnV
— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) May 30, 2026
PALMER, Alaska
The walls at my son’s house here are adorned with hunting trophies — deer, caribou, turkey, duck, etc. His military exploits are just his day job. What he really cares about is hunting and fishing, and he’s obviously quite successful at that. Our flight left at 6 a.m. Friday, which meant we had to be up at 2 a.m., in order to make it to the airport by 4 a.m., just to allow for contingencies. We then flew to Chicago, where our connecting flight was delayed by a mechanical issue. The flight that was supposed to leave from Concourse E was scratched, and we were instead sent to Concourse C which you know, if you’ve ever been to O’Hare Airport, meant a long hike. That was more of a cardiovascular workout than I’ve had in a while. We finally arrived in Anchorage about 5 p.m. local time, which is 9 p.m. ET. Even though I was able to nod off for a while on the plane, that doesn’t really count as “sleep,” does it?
Years ago, I’d hear people talk about “jet lag” and didn’t comprehend it, but I was definitely feeling it by the time we landed in Anchorage. While waiting for our son to come pick us up, my wife and I had a quick bite at the 49th State Brewing Company location at Ted Stevens International Airport. Enjoyed a tall glass of their Eight-Star Lager and a margherita flatbread, which was nice. After my son (accompanied by granddaughter Eliza) picked us up, he explained he had to make a couple of stops on the way home, including one at the Bass Pro Shops in Anchorage.
— The Patriarch Tree (@PatriarchTree) May 29, 2026
Because I’d never visited a Bass Pro Shops location before, this was an eye-opening experience. Have you guys ever been to one of these? It’s not just a store, it’s like a sporting goods museum — something you’d take a school bus full of fifth-graders to see. There’s all kinds of stuffed animals (including a seven-foot-tall Kodiak bear) and more outdoor gear than you could ever imagine. It occurs to me that Bass Pro Shops might be the most American thing ever, combining the frontier spirit with the glories of capitalism in a way that makes you start humming Brooks & Dunn:
Only in America,
Where we dream in red, white, and blue.
When we visited Army son three years ago, he and his family were still in base housing at Joint Base Elmendoff-Richardson, which all the locals call JBER (an acronym pronounced “Jay Bear”). Since then, my son’s bought a house near Palmer — not inside the Palmer city limits, but with a Palmer address — and it’s very nice, with a high vaulted ceiling in the living room and big bay window in front. Didn’t spend much time looking around, however, because the jet lag was catching up fast, and I crashed out, waking up at about 1:30 a.m. local time, which is 5:30 ET.
So that’s the story of how we got here, and I’m sure I’ll have more for show-and-tell later this week, but for now, it’s back to the regular news, and the Five Most Important Words in the English Language are still:
