The Morning Sixpack - November 21, 2025
Trump pushes Ukraine toward a Russia-tilted “peace” while positioning himself atop a $100B asset fund dressed up as reconstruction. All that and MORE! (But isn't that enough for an impeachment?)
To say that Trump is a stochastic terrorist would be shortchanging him of his vast criminal acumen. But let’s just agree that threatening to bring to trial and execute your political opponents is worthy of impeachment. If it isn’t, NOTHING is impeachable.
Trump Embraces Calls to Execute His Political Opponents
A president openly cheering on calls to hang elected lawmakers is the point where “authoritarian drift” becomes “authoritarian sprint.”
In a new low even for him, Donald Trump amplified posts demanding that six Democratic members of Congress be hanged after they reminded military personnel that they are legally obligated to refuse unlawful orders. That’s not rebellion—it’s literally what the Uniform Code of Military Justice requires. But Trump, forever allergic to both law and limits, declared they should be arrested and tried anyway.
Trump then boosted even more explicit demands for their execution, later insisting the lawmakers’ comments amounted to “sedition.” Never mind that the members were urging peace—not violence. As the article notes, “For the record, sedition is the advocacy of violence against the government. The lawmakers involved were advocating peace by the government.” You’d think a former president might know the difference, but here we are.
And because accuracy is kryptonite to Trump, he also claimed their alleged sedition should carry the death penalty. It doesn’t. The real statute caps out at 20 years. The only thing truly seditious here is a former president calling for the state-sanctioned killing of his political rivals while pretending it’s patriotic.
Legally, Trump’s own comments arguably violate 18 U.S.C. §115—threatening government officials. But thanks to the Supreme Court’s gift-wrapped immunity for him, accountability is now more theoretical than real. Convenient how that works.
Whoever— threatens to assault, kidnap, or murder, a United States official . . . with intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with such official, judge, or law enforcement officer while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with intent to retaliate against such official, judge, or law enforcement officer on account of the performance of official duties, shall be punished
BUT—remember this: The Supreme Court essentially granted Trump the power to do anything IF it’s in an official capacity, which this surely is.
So here we are…
Source: Daily Kos
Editor: Bold strategy from the guy who still whines about being treated unfairly—yet thinks the appropriate response to lawful dissent is a noose. Authoritarians rarely say the quiet part loud, but Trump turned it into a lifestyle brand.
U.S. Troops Accidentally Land on Mexican Beach as Trump Ramps Up Cross-Border Threats
When American forces roll up on a Mexican beach with warning signs and machine-gun-mounted trucks race to meet them, you can stop calling it “routine confusion.”
On Monday, U.S. personnel—labeled as “contractors,” as if that softens anything—pulled ashore at Playa Bagdad and planted six signs declaring the beach a restricted U.S. Defense Department zone. Locals understandably freaked out, Mexico sent armed security forces, and the Pentagon scrambled to explain that the troops simply misjudged the border because of “changes in water depth and topography.” Sure. A decent excuse for fishermen, not for the world’s most heavily funded military.
As Mexican marines tore the signs out of the sand, the incident collided directly with Trump’s escalating war talk. This is the same week he mused about launching strikes inside Mexico—something President Claudia Sheinbaum shot down immediately. And yet here we are, with uniformed Americans pounding stakes into Mexican soil while pretending it’s all just a cartographic oopsie.
Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has now kicked the issue to the International Boundary and Water Commission, which will sort out where the exact line falls. That’s the polite bureaucratic way of saying, “Someone better explain who gave these guys orders.” Given Trump’s recent chest-thumping—“Would I launch strikes in Mexico to stop drugs? It’s OK with me”—it’s hard to take Washington’s sheepish explanations at face value.
Let’s not forget the broader context: Trump has already mobilized the biggest U.S. fighting force in the Caribbean since the Cold War and claimed responsibility for dozens of killings at sea. So when American personnel start hammering signs into a foreign beach, it’s not exactly reading like a misunderstanding—it’s reading like a trial balloon.
Source: Daily Mail
Editor: Bold move claiming a “boundary mix-up” when your boss is out here fantasizing about cross-border airstrikes. If this is how cleanly the operation runs before anything official starts, imagine the chaos once someone actually green-lights something.
You can bet that Stephen Miller had a wet dream over this snafu.
Trump Retreats on Brazil Tariffs as Food Prices Bite Back
When a president who loves tariffs suddenly drops them, you know the political pain has finally scorched through the rhetoric.
Trump has reversed course on his 40% tariffs against Brazil, lifting duties on beef, coffee, fruits, and other agricultural imports as U.S. food prices keep climbing and voters grow angrier. This is the same Brazil he punished for daring to prosecute Jair Bolsonaro—so much for all that chest-thumping on trade “principles.” Turns out inflation polls even worse than admitting you overplayed your hand.
The rollback follows similar tariff retreats on food from other Latin American countries and the Philippines, a quiet acknowledgment that Trump’s trade-war cosplay is now ricocheting straight into Americans’ grocery carts. With only about a third of voters approving of his economic stewardship, the administration is trying to ease sticker shock before it gets politically fatal.
It’s almost poetic: Trump imposed tariffs despite the U.S. running a trade surplus with Brazil—proof that even a surplus isn’t safe when he’s in the mood to pick a fight. Now his own economic numbers are blowing holes in his bravado, and suddenly Brazilian beef is no longer a national-security threat but a political lifeline.
Still, the damage is done. Markets are jittery, consumer prices are rising, and America’s food supply chain has spent years whipsawed by Trump’s ego-driven tariff theatrics. Walking them back doesn’t erase the fact that he created the mess in the first place.
Source: Semafor
Editor: Look at that—tariffs evaporate the moment they smack voters in the wallet. Trump’s “tough on trade” posture always folds when reality shows up with a grocery bill.
Think about this: If raising tariffs doesn’t raise prices, why is it that lowering tariffs lowers prices? Oh, wait, logic is bullshit, science is fake, and vaccines give people cancer. Got it. What was I thinking?
Cheney Family Bars Trump From Funeral, Ending a Feud Years in the Making
When a former vice president’s family pointedly excludes a sitting president from his funeral, it’s not a scheduling mix-up—it’s a verdict.
Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance didn’t make the guest list for Dick Cheney’s funeral at the National Cathedral, breaking with tradition that presidents attend services for former national leaders. But “tradition” long ago left the building where Trump and the Cheneys are concerned. Liz Cheney helped lead the Jan. 6 investigation—Trump never forgave her—and both she and her father backed Kamala Harris in 2024. There’s no mystery here; just political consequences finally arriving with a black suit and a folded program.
Cheney’s storied, controversial career doesn’t soften the edge. This is the man who shaped the post-9/11 era—two wars, an aggressive national security stance, and an iron grip on Republican policymaking. The family leaned into his legacy in their statement, saying he “taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing.” It’s the kind of earnest tribute that lands a little differently when paired with a quiet “and no, Donald, you’re not welcome.”
Fox News confirmed that the White House wasn’t invited, and Axios broke it first. The gesture is extraordinary not because it’s petty, but because it’s honest. The Cheneys simply refused to launder Trump’s record by giving him a pew from which to pretend nothing happened on Jan. 6—or in the years since.
Dick Cheney’s death at 84 closes the book on a consequential, polarizing GOP era that Trump himself helped shatter. And in a way, keeping him out of the funeral is the final punctuation mark from the old guard: their last, firm reminder that some lines still matter, even in a party rearranged around Trump’s whims.
Source: Fox News
Editor: The Cheneys didn’t just close the door—they locked it, dead-bolted it, and hung a “Do Not Enable Authoritarians” sign for good measure. Trump will pretend he doesn’t care, but nobody misreads social snubs quite like the man who once rage-tweeted about crowd sizes.
Trump to Meet NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani After Calling Him a ‘Communist’
When a president spends months branding a mayor-elect a communist and then sits down with him in the Oval Office, it’s not outreach—it’s political whiplash.
Donald Trump will meet New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Friday, the first face-to-face between the two men who’ve already built a national rivalry before Mamdani has even taken office. Trump has tried to paint the 34-year-old democratic socialist as an extremist threat to the city he once claimed as his own, even vowing to arrest him if he disrupted ICE operations. And just to keep things classy, Trump introduced the meeting on Truth Social by calling him a “communist.”
Mamdani, for his part, is leaning straight into the contrast. He told reporters that he requested the meeting because he will “work with anyone” to make New York more affordable. It’s a grown-up answer in an era of chronic political tantrums. And he didn’t pretend the differences aren’t massive—he made clear “we should be relentless and pursue all avenues and all meetings that could make our city affordable for every single New Yorker.”
The hostility didn’t begin this week. After Mamdani’s upset primary win, Trump told reporters, “Look, we don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully…” Mamdani shot back on election night: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up…to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” That’s not your typical mayor-president banter—it’s a preview of a political cage match.
Still, Mamdani’s rise from long-shot candidate to national figure is the real story here. His platform—rent freezes, free buses, city-run grocery stores—has energized progressives and made fiscal conservatives queasy. The meeting with Trump is less a détente and more a collision between two realities: Mamdani’s affordability crusade and Trump’s obsession with framing any left-leaning policy as an existential threat to America.
Whether anything productive comes from this sit-down is another matter. Trump’s track record with political opponents usually ends in threats, insults, or both. But Mamdani is betting that even hostile meetings can yield wins for New Yorkers—and he’s willing to show up and test that theory in the world’s most fraught office.
Source: NPR
Editor: Trump calling someone a communist is like a fast-food critic complaining about calories—the man never checks the label. Mamdani’s real offense seems to be beating Trump at his own game: commanding attention without kissing the ring.
Trump’s Ukraine “Peace Plan” Comes With a $100 Billion Sweetener — For Trump
A U.S. president demanding Ukraine accept a Russia-written capitulation while positioning himself to profit from a $100,000,000,000 fund is not diplomacy—it’s self-dealing on a geopolitical scale.
The pressure campaign is now unmistakable. According to reporting out of Kyiv, the White House is threatening to cut off all remaining U.S. support unless President Volodymyr Zelensky signs Donald Trump’s 28-point “peace” blueprint by Thanksgiving—an agreement drafted jointly by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Putin ally Kirill Dmitriev. The document forces Ukraine to slash its military, surrender territory Russia hasn’t even taken, ban NATO troops, and freeze its future inside a Russia-dominated security cage. But buried in the fine print is the real gem: a $100 billion reconstruction and investment fund built out of frozen Russian assets—one the plan explicitly places under U.S. control, with Trump personally chairing the board that governs it.
And here’s where the grift stops pretending. The deal states that $100 billion in frozen Russian funds will be invested in a “U.S.-led effort” to rebuild Ukraine, and the United States—meaning a Trump-directed apparatus—will take 50% of the profits. Europe must match the $100 billion, doubling the investment pool. Then comes the kicker: the remaining Russian funds are funneled into a “separate U.S.–Russia investment vehicle” to pursue joint corporate ventures in minerals, energy and infrastructure. That’s not peace; that’s the world’s largest geopolitical business merger—crafted to pay Trump for engineering Ukraine’s concessions.
Kyiv and European leaders see it for exactly what it is: a Russian wish list with Trump-branded revenue streams attached. The proposal would force Ukraine to abandon fortified territory, cap its army, abandon NATO aspirations forever, and enshrine a demilitarized zone that effectively hands Moscow a platform for a future attack. In exchange, Ukraine gets “security guarantees” with no defined terms—while Trump installs himself as chair of a “Board of Peace” empowered to monitor compliance and impose penalties. Imagine a man who praises Putin as a “genius” now acting as referee for Europe’s security architecture.
European governments are scrambling to write a counterproposal, calling the Trump-Dmitriev plan “pure Russian.” Even Zelensky, under crippling battlefield pressure and fresh corruption scandals, reportedly requested changes—though no one can tell which parts may be negotiable, because Trump’s team is literally playing good-cop/bad-cop between Witkoff and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll. Meanwhile, Moscow pretends it hasn’t seen the plan, while its spokesman says Zelensky’s “room for maneuver is shrinking.” Hard to argue when Washington is squeezing him harder than the Kremlin.
But strip away all the geopolitical theater, and one fact remains: Trump positioned himself at the center of a $100 billion investment empire built from Russia’s frozen assets, plus a second U.S.–Russia fund of unknown size—and wrote himself in as chair of the whole enterprise. That’s not peacemaking. That’s profiteering dressed up as surrender.
Source: Washington Post and Metro UK
Editor: Only Trump could look at a brutal invasion, a shattered country, and tens of thousands of casualties and think: “How can I turn this into a private equity deal?” When the payout is $100 billion, apparently the answer is: very easily.