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I found myself looking at remote islands like Pitcairn and St. Helena.  Pitcairn Island is probably the most famous of the two as this is where Fletcher Christian led his mutiny against the Bounty and tried to settle his merry band of mutineers far from the long arm of the British Empire.  His legacy has lived on.  I couldn't help feel a touch of envy, but as much as one tries to distance oneself from events in this crazy mixed up world of ours, the bad news still has a way of seeping in.  Elon Musk has managed to reach Pitcairn, setting the 35 permanent inhabitants up with Starlink free of charge in his effort to leave no stone unturned on this planet.

Elon has brought his DOGE and pony show to Washington, determined to make government accountable by slashing unnecessary spending.  Good luck with that after Republicans pushed through a whopping $895 billion defense bill in their last month in session. The only thing they managed to cut was funding for gender-affirming care.  Maybe they will do better when Elon arrives, as he has aimed his sights on the Pentagon as well as domestic programs.  Even Bernie said he was OK with slashing the defense budget, which has grown to gargantuan proportions.

However, I think the frustrated Martian is more interested in overhauling NASA and putting the space agency in sync with his mission to Mars.  He wore his "Occupy Mars" t-shirt throughout the campaign as if it was all he had left in his closet.  Needless to say, scientists aren't too happy about this, but I'm sure Trump will be fine with it as long as he can put laser guns in space like they did in Moonraker.  Party like it is 1979!

I don't think Americans really know what they bargained for in another Trump administration.  They seem to think he is going to bring down grocery prices and cut their utility bills in half.  At least that is what he promised on the campaign trail.  Donald is already walking his pledge back by saying any major grocery price reductions will be "very hard."  Like duh, the free market tends to operate independently from campaign promises.  Even the man who peddles $199 bottles of men's cologne should know that, but it seems the average American does not.

His cultists, who now appear to number 77 million, think their man can walk on water.  How it got to this point is anyone's guess?  Not that long ago, Franklin Graham was doubting whether Trump any longer served conversative Evangelical interests. However, these people are drawn toward autocratic leaders to "defend their faith," so no surprise they still flock to Trump even if they may have a few misgivings about his behavior.  

They have been prepped for these billionaire cult figures.  Gone is the notion that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than it is a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  They are on board with "prosperity theology" thanks to rich mega-pastors like Joel Osteen, who have sold Heaven like a country club in the sky where membership costs you 10 percent of your monthly paycheck.  He is not even the richest among these exceedingly rich pastors.  That honor goes to Kenneth Coleman who has amassed $300 million off the backs of his parishioners during his lifetime.  I guess it takes a lot of money to "defend the faith" not to mention buy your wife a Lamborghini. 

It's impossible to make any sense of it, as anywhere you turn the contradictions abound.  I see my religious conservative friends wrestle with this dilemma on facebook, seeming to be OK with this unconscionable wealth as long as these persons still profess their faith.  Ask yourself when was the last time Donald Trump professed his faith to anyone other than himself?  It is doubtful Elon Musk has any faith other than as a "motivating force."  In other words, if that is what takes to get people on board with your crazy ideas then so be it.

The last time Trump tried to put a business advisory council together it went up in smoke over his support of white supremacists.  He will probably get away with similar comments this time around, but the guy has a knack for imploding.  As the oldest elected president ever, his patience is going to be even shorter this time around.

We've heard that Republican senators plan to put the brakes on his bolder initiatives, having chosen John Thune over Rick Scott, the MAGA favorite, as their Senate leader. Rick only got three votes, one of them his own.  Mike Johnson has an even slimmer majority (220-215) this time around in the House.  Now that voters only have Republicans to blame when the economy goes South, it is very much a hot seat.  Whatever Trump and his fellow Republicans have planned to "make America great again," they better do so in the next two years.  In 2026, Democrats are poised to retake the House in a "blue tsunami" similar to 2018.

I have no doubt Trump's second administration will end in disaster.  The only question is how much of the world he drags down with him.  We sit on the edges of our seats here in Lithuania, as do all Europeans.  There really is no place to escape the fallout, even on Pitcairn Island.  This is what happens when you allow a mad man and his billionaire enablers to preside over the largest economy in the world.

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