The Virtual Nihilist

Blogging about movies, books, adult beverages and other cultural happenings both inside and outside of New York City.

[The Virtual Nihilist @virtualnihilist]

Please join me on Bluesky

https://t.co/v4thalhej2

[Jeremy Slevin @jeremyslevin]

This is the crowd for @BernieSanders and @aoc in Nampa, ID, one of the reddest counties in one of the reddest states in the country singing Pink Pony Club.

[Fareed Zakaria @FareedZakaria]

The coming negotiations over tariffs will inevitably result in an orgy of corruption.

The American economy is being transformed from the leading free market in the world to the leading example of crony capitalism.

My take:

[. @GregTSargent]

Don't overlook this: Trump is leaving Abrego Garcia to rot in a foreign gulag even though the admin can always bring him back and *retry him for deportation in a lawful way.* That they won't do this shows their case against him is nonsense.

New piece:
https://t.co/8uti4JfIW4

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

Foreign governments say the Trump administration hasn't responded to its calls to talk about the tariffs, and that they have no clue what kind of ask the US is looking for in any kind of deal https://t.co/HHK4qnkqXH

[Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 @RachelBitecofer]

People are finding out that in fact, the government does a lot of very important shit and does it quite well, actually.

Well, did….

NIH scientists have a cancer breakthrough. Layoffs are delaying it. https://t.co/vXvkaRfLjw

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Q: How concerned are you about the measles outbreak?

Trump: So far it's a small number of people relative to what we’re talking about…This is not something new
(The U.S. already has more than twice as many measles cases as it did in all of 2024)

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Plan to give all of your private tax data to oligarchs.
https://t.co/NL2sHMwBok

[Kit Maher @KitMaherCNN]

“Very good because I won,” Trump said of his golf tournament. “It’s good to win. You heard I won, right? Did you hear I won? Just to back it up, you were there, I won. I like to win.”

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

One implication of this account: Waltz was using his personal cellphone (highly insecure!) for the Signal text chain. One has to assume foreign intelligence services have had access to all sensitive and classified intelligence during the second Trump term.
https://t.co/YeHR67Jo8J

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

Mark Kelly on Trump’s Crash: "This is not surprising. Here's a guy who told Americans to inject bleach into their bodies, who sent a mob to Capitol Hill. And now I think it's fair to say he stands out as singlehandedly destroying more wealth than anybody else who has ever lived on this planet.''

[Democratic Wins Media @DemocraticWins]

BREAKING: Thousands of protestors have gathered in Boston and across the country to protest Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the MAGA Republicans. America is standing up to their BS.

[CSPAN @cspan]

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) on President Trump: "Each and every time he issues an illegal executive order I am going to stand up to him because he represents to me sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

[Erin Burnett OutFront @OutFrontCNN]

"He'll have to confront his maker for those lies." Dr. Peter Marks speaks out for the first time, exclusively to @ErinBurnett after RFK, jr. told him to resign or be fired. Hear why he thinks RFK’s position on vaccines is "dangerous."

[S.V. Dáte @svdate]

Our president spent our money to fly AF1 to Miami and then spent more of our money flying Marine 1 to promote his golf course where he will attend a closed-door dinner promoting a Saudi golf league that makes him money.

[CAP Action @CAPAction]

"Remember when you are seeing higher prices at the store...It's because of Donald Trump. He owns this." - @SenGaryPeters

[Bill Kristol @BillKristol]

"Rather than attend the dignified transfer of the bodies of four U.S. Army soldiers who died on a training mission in Lithuania, Trump flew to Florida to watch a Saudi-funded LIV golf tournament at his own course."
https://t.co/cbLu4xgG9z

[Tom Nichols @RadioFreeTom]

Internal ideological and political food fights are common in Washington, but the national security adviser usually doesn’t have to stand by while his staff gets turfed on the say-so of an online troll.

https://t.co/dasY1caZqf

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Ted Cruz: “Tariffs are a tax on consumers, and I’m not a fan of jacking up taxes on American consumers.”

Let’s see if he actually does something about it—and supports the bipartisan Grassley-Cantwell bill.

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

Trump shows journalists a gold card featuring his face: “For $5 million this could be yours”

He does this on the very day the market wipes out $2.6 trillion in value,while millions of Americans fear for their jobs amid a looming recession. So out of touch

[Really American 🇺🇸 @ReallyAmerican1]

REMINDER: While the stock market plummeted to new lows, this was a rare time when Trump actually told the truth, admitting that the economy does better under Democrats than under Republicans. Make sure everyone sees this.