Cat Blogging

Donald Trump is indeed an ethnonationalist would-be dictator who, despite his defeat in November and the failure of his subsequent insurrection in January, is still preparing the ground for another run at power. But before, through and after his dreams of il Duce-hood, he’s a petty crook, a con-man. So, when he rouses the rubes to “stop the steal” or march into prison via that detour eastwards up Capitol Hill, he’s also, always, making sure he gets his cut. If he had to choose between power and cash, I’m at least 60-40 he’d grab the green.

Flash forward from today’s miserable vision of Republican senators proving themselves to be wholly subject to Trumpismo to a strangely puissant date (for some): March 4.

In case y’all missed this in the pity and the sorrow–and the disgust for Republican cowardice and complicity–of the impeachment trial, it seems that the Q folks have seized on a variety of disconnected facts and fact-like statements to conclude that March 4 is the date for the true and valid inauguration of Donald Trump’s second term:

For some QAnon conspiracy theorists, March 4, 2021 is a date circled in red Sharpie on the calendar. The truly devoted believe that, on this special date, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.

The theory borrows from the sovereign citizens movement, which espouses that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and ended the American government put in place by the founding fathers. Accordingly, the true inauguration date was not January 20, as the rest of the world believes. The conspiracy theorists contend that the real inauguration will happen on March 4, the date on which presidents were sworn in prior to the 1933 passage of the 20th amendment. Still following? QAnon followers believe that Trump will return to power on March 4 as the 19th president of the United States. The last true president, the theory goes, was Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president, who was in office in 1871 when the United States turned into a corporation. Got it?

OK. So that’s crazy, in the same vein as prior Q lunacy, with the cherry on top (as the article linked above notes) of growing interpenetration between Q and older and violent anti-government extremists. But you know what’s special?

This is special:

At the Trump International Hotel in Washington DC, the least expensive room option is the deluxe king, ranging in size from 350 to 475 square feet. At this time of year, it normally runs anywhere from $476 to $596 per night.

Interestingly, on March 3 and 4, the same room is selling for $1,331 per night. That’s 180% above the base rate and more than double what you’d pay any other night in February or March, according to the hotel’s website.

As the article notes, this price hike appears to be exclusive to Trump’s property. No other DC hotels are trying to cash in on crazed delusions in support of armed attempts to overthrow the United States government.

Trump wants power to hurt those he hates. But he never forgets the real prize. There are followers to be shorn. He must shear them.

I repeat myself, but…always be grifting.

Also: for all the grim comedy to be found in the notion of “economically distressed” Trump cultists forking over serious coin for the privilege of seeing him…hang out in Marred a Lago, anything to do with that festering hemorrhoid on the body politic leaves  a bad taste. So, because I am not a gratuitously cruel human, here’s a little Champ and Tikka to chase the foulness away.

Here’s Tikka’s response to Trump’s lawyers today:

 

 

 

Tell me that gaze doesn’t have you remembering every sin you committed in third grade…

Here’s Champ, working on the left jab she picked up watching old Ali fights:

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And here’s Tikka, letting the little one know that there are limits:

This thread. It is so open.

Image: Pieter Breughel the Elder, The Misanthrope, 1568

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