Jonathan McHugh

Jonathan McHugh

@jmchugh40.bsky.social

Jonathan McHugh Igitur Q DC Tech geek, politics gadfly Full stack engineer (the network and systems stacks) Sailing, skiing, scuba Designing/building a Personal Identity ecosystem NO DMs unless I know you.

1.3K followers2.1K following1.8K posts

Among the many, many screenshots of “How it started, how it’s going.” Is this one of WaPo’s endorsement of Pam Bondi (but not of Kamala Harris of course, that would’ve been unprofessional LOL) She’s serious alright, serious about using the DOJ as Trump’s attack dog every time she can.

True. At least we know exactly what his intentions are (and also Heritage Foundation too, and today’s GOP).

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

"This is all the same project: attacking the government and re-engineering it to serve as a weapon against the American people. It’s the greatest act of civilizational self-mutilation since the First World War."

It’ll never not amaze me that people don’t understand a fundamental truth: Anything worth doing is hard or more pointedly, the right thing to do is invariably the hard thing to do.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com

Remember all of those hefty handouts Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski won in exchange for sealing the deal on Donald Trump’s behemoth budget bill? It looks like the president has found a way to get out of delivering. “I feel cheated." https://trib.al/aAr4TYM

Murkowski thought she’d found a way to do kind of the right thing without having to do the hard thing: opposing Trump and the cowardly Republicans who’ve surrendered any interest in doing the right thing. In fact, even half *ssing doing the right thing results in the same outcome: the wrong thing.

Is there anything these laughable MAGA Minions won’t swallow? This guy critiques an absolute idiot in Hegseth, stunningly unqualified to lead the DoD, at the same time extolling the absolute idiot that nominated him as a “savvy” businessman who nominated an idiot. www.politico.com/news/magazin...

politico.comOpinion | Former Top Pentagon Spokesperson Details ‘Month From Hell’ Inside the AgencyThe total chaos at the Department of Defense is becoming a major distraction for the Trump administration, writes John Ullyot.

Classic rent seeking.

ProPublica@propublica.org

With Trump reportedly planning to end the IRS Direct File program, there's no better time to remember how TurboTax owner Intuit spent two decades fighting to prevent Americans from filing their taxes online for free. (Published 2019)

Jonathan McHugh reposted

It's time for veterans to unite and pushback against the attacks on our healthcare, benefits, and community. The Unite for Veterans march in DC on D-Day this year will bring together the full range of the veterans community to demand our rights as veterans of earlier generations did too!

It’s axiomatic that a lifelong pathological liar will lie about EVERYTHING now that he has the power to force the government to lie about EVERYTHING. I’d say it’s Orwellian but really, I think even Oceania’s elites would take umbrage at that comparison saying, “That guy is just evil dude.”

All this. Democrats 1st job is to market every single minute the mind boggling incompetence and casual indifference to the harm Republicans are inflicting on the country and Americans. Their second job is to present a better alternative.

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

"Right now, this administration is delivering real, negative consequences for people in a way that is personal, and can be felt in their day-to-day lives. It’s Democrats’ job to make sure they know who’s to blame."

So a fool and a felon is making our economic policy…and 70 some odd millions voted for this sh*tshow.

The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com

Fact Checker by Glenn Kessler: Peter Navarro made a claim that the country will make $6 trillion in revenue from President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Basic economics shows the revenue would be at least half as much — and probably less than that.

Worth making this point: How many country’s are interested in negotiating with a pathological liar who betrays every agreement he’s ever made? Seriously, ask any subcontractor he’s ever worked with whether they’d work with him again. He’s a lying cheat, they wouldn’t nor will other countries.

AEI supports a clown, surprised they got a circus.

Axios@axios.com

The formula used by the Trump administration to levy reciprocal tariffs contains a serious math error that over-inflates the impact by about a factor of four, per economists at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute.

Lets be clear: Wall Street, and the right, are filled with greedy, narcissistic dumbasses whose main philosophy is “the end justifies the means”. No morality, no patriotism, no freaking logic for that matter, just naked self interest. And this is what happens when you have no principles to guide you

The Atlantic@theatlantic.com

“Investors’ unwillingness to believe that Trump would overturn the global trading order has to be seen as a willful blindness to who he is and what matters to him,” writes @jamessurowiecki.bsky:

Let’s be clear: The GOP is going to massively increase the federal debt. We spend, per George Will, $11 million dollars every 5 minutes on our national debt TODAY. This SOB Roy, who fancies himself a conservative, has ZERO intention of doing anything about that debt versus enriching the wealthy.

Punchbowl News@punchbowlnews.bsky.social

House Republicans are descending into another struggle over just how deeply to lock themselves into spending cuts. It’s going to underscore — and test — a critical dynamic for the GOP’s tax bill. punchbowl.news/article/fina...

They don’t and the consequences will occur soon enough. Then there won’t be anyone to fix them because they fired everyone and appointed an incompetent fool as head of the administration.

It’s always worth noting this man has failed repeatedly in business, often and a lot. I’m certain he said his BIG, BEAUTIFUL, DEAL for Atlantic City casinos would supercharge the AC economy until it failed literally 6 months later. He’s a loser who’s only success is from cheating people.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social

Translation: “Small businesses can’t enrich me personally so I don’t care what happens to them” Says it all, really

Curious which other countries in the world have the same travel warnings (thinking Russia, North Korea, Sudan,…)

Allison Gill@muellershewrote.com

So we could lose $200B in tourism, $100B in immigrants paying taxes, $100B in weapons manufacturing, $500B in lost tax revenue from firing IRS employees… is it sinking in yet?

C'mon. I mean maybe that's true but his best source for finding out is Rick Scott who is an expert at waste, fraud, AND abuse. Committing it I mean.

Politico@politico.com

The chair of a key House panel in setting Republicans’ tax and spending agenda told us he'd oppose Medicaid cuts, but the GOP could root out waste there to save money. “There are a lot of inefficiencies. We’ve got to find a way to...do things better for less," said GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan.

Want to point out the dumbest part of this shambolic idiocy: Who's in charge of administering these tariffs? I mean seriously, who's left who has, idk, an encyclopedic knowledge of all the mechanisms necessary to both figure out WHERE things are coming from and HOW to impose the tariffs.

Dedicate yourselves to firing this clown Banks. He DEFINITELY deserves it.

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com

This is Senator Jim Banks from Indiana. No need to tell you he’s a Republican—it’s clear by the cruel disdain he shows his own constituent who was laid off. Note: he waits until the door’s about to close before telling him he deserved it & calling him a “clown.” He’s not just cruel—he’s a coward.

Just want to point out a lifelong ignoramus on, idk, everything, thinks he’s now a constitutional scholar who has ways of circumventing the Constitution by calling them methods. Which is obviously the case, it’s how many freaking lemmings who will follow him over the cliff that irritates me.

Maybe they’ll begin promoting fascism in its place? Why change the tune internationally when you’re singing it domestically?

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

"There’s no reason to improve democracy promotion if you think the United States has no business promoting democracy in the first place." Their behavior has made this the simplest explanation.

What exactly does business think this does to “help” them? What, the world will cower in fear and suddenly start desperately negotiating with an incompetent buffoon who has been and always be a pathological liar who betrays EVERY deal his ever made?

The Independent@the-independent.com

Trump keeps 'Liberation Day' tariff plans under wraps despite president saying he's 'settled' on strategy

They’ll do like Germany did with it’s energy supply chain, pivot as fast as possible from an unreliable and hostile trading partner and find better alternatives, like say China, or India, or just about anyone else who isn’t led by a freaking unstable idiot. (Edited 11:09 AM via @skeetsapp.com)

There’s certainly no irony, nope, none whatsoever, that the country most associated with hapless and hopeless appeasement of nascent tyrants is embarking on a policy of…appeasement. Let’s be clear: Trump’s strategy is as simple as it is diabolical, Divide and Conquer. It is the Prisoner’s Dilemma.

The Independent@the-independent.com

UK best placed country in world to strike deal to dodge Trump tariffs, business secretary claims

Unlimited campaign finance = unlimited power being amassed = unlimited rent seeking = oligarchy

ProPublica@propublica.org

Elon Musk’s America PAC and Building America’s Future disclosed spending about $17M on Wisconsin’s court race. Backing the same candidate are billionaire Richard Uihlein and Americans for Prosperity, a dark-money group founded by the Koch brothers. By @megomatz.bsky.social

To whit: They used Signal because they don’t believe they are accountable to those they serve, the American people. NO ONE in the Trump administration believes they’re accountable to the American people because Trump doesn’t think he’s accountable to them. Such are the realities of dictatorship.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social

Here’s @timothysnyder.bsky.social on why the use of Signal is the real scandal: “Signalgate is shocking on its own. But more troubling when we begin to understand — Signal chats provide American authorities with cover to plan the violation of human rights.” open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...

It is the logical outcome of Citizen’s United: unlimited money translates to unlimited power being exercised by those who have the most money. In other words, NOT limiting money in politics, equivalent to not limiting POWER, the foundational principle in a democracy, had destroyed the government.

The New Republic@newrepublic.com

Musk has been given more power over the federal government than any other private individual since the founding. This is the world that the Supreme Court’s campaign-finance deregulation efforts have created.

Jonathan McHugh reposted

Each day of Trump’s second term brings more “outrageous news from an autocrat who revels in his contempt for the government he leads, for the foreign allies who deserve our support, and for the Constitution he is sworn to uphold,” David Remnick writes.

newyorker.comTrump’s DisgraceDavid Remnick on the temper of Trump’s Presidency—the threats and firings, the multiple DOGE fiascoes, the proposal to cleanse the Gaza Strip of two million Palestinians, and his showdown with Volodym...

If there was ever a pro bono legal issue to litigate this is it. Fight for your firm, fight for your clients, fight for the law, fight for the country. Would also demand MASSIVE punitive damages from the government.

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Funny enough Zelenskyy is a lawyer. When given the choice between capitulating to a larger and better armed foe versus fighting for his country’s freedom and right to exist his answer was: I don’t need a ride I need ammo.

The Bulwark@thebulwark.com

"If you’re the head of a huge law firm, capitulation isn’t just a regrettable necessity, it’s your duty. You’re acting in the best interests of your clients. It would be wrong and irresponsible to act otherwise" - things people tell themselves www.thebulwark.com/p/stop-makin...

It’s sadly emblematic of too many Americans, this feckless coward included, that they opt for capitulation versus standing up and fighting for what’s right. And to reiterate, MAGA and Trump are domestic terrorists. Hard stop.