A WORLD GONE MAD

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Donald Trump’s own new government AI chatbot was supposed to make Washington work better. 

Instead, it started giving Americans answers that created a very different problem for the man who proudly introduced it.

Then there’s JD Vance asking Americans to give Republicans another chance, while Mike Johnson explains what that next chance would actually look like. 

Those two messages sitting next to each other are something to behold.

And if that isn’t enough, Arizona Congressman Eli Crane has apparently decided that what America really needs right now is a fresh dose of Cold War paranoia.

Socialists. Communists. Democrats. The language may sound like it was pulled from a campaign ad made in 1954, but Crane is using it right now, and the reason why is worth examining.

Some of this would be funny if the stakes weren’t so damn serious.

This is A World Gone Mad, where I take apart the bullshit, follow the facts wherever they lead, and try to figure out just how much crazier the world can possibly get.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Nine days away from the microphone. You’d think that might calm me down, clear my head, maybe even give me a little perspective.
Yeah. That didn’t happen.

I came back to a United States Congress heading for the exits, Mike Johnson and Thomas Massie battling over Pete Hegseth and the Iran war, and an announcement about American weapons in space that sounds like somebody pitched it in a science-fiction writers’ room.

Then there’s Canada, Donald Trump, the European Union and a relationship with America that suddenly looks very different when you step back and see where things may be heading.

Some of this would’ve sounded ridiculous a few years ago. Now it barely survives a news cycle before something even more unbelievable comes along. 

At some point, you have to wonder whether we’re becoming so accustomed to the absurd that we’ve stopped recognizing it.

I spent nine days watching, reading, yelling at the television and wondering whether anybody else was seeing what I was seeing.

Now I’m back behind the microphone. Congress. Iran. Weapons in space. Canada and the EU. There was apparently a lot waiting for me, and nine days wasn’t nearly long enough to make me any less pissed off.

If you give a damn let me know…

[email protected]

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

What happens when we hand kids the most powerful intellectual shortcut ever invented? New York City is putting the brakes on generative AI for hundreds of thousands of younger students, and it raises a much bigger question: Are we teaching kids how to use AI, or teaching them they don’t need to think anymore?

Then there’s the strange case of the disappearing American. We used to go to banks, pharmacies, grocery stores, restaurants and dozens of other places where we actually encountered other human beings. Now almost everything comes to us. It’s incredibly convenient. So why are we surprised that people increasingly feel disconnected from one another?

And then science enters the room and completely loses its fucking mind.

Cockroach milk. One thousand pairs of underwear buried around the world. Scientists deliberately stepping on venomous snakes. The physics of blowing your nose. Splash-free urinals. Mosquitoes being recruited for microscopic 3D printing. Every one of these is real scientific research, and somehow the explanations may be even better than the headlines.

Somewhere between kids outsourcing their homework, Americans outsourcing the need to leave the house, and scientists discovering that apparently we haven’t fully exploited the nutritional potential of cockroaches, you begin to realize how spectacularly strange ordinary life has become.

This is definitely A World Gone Mad.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

The Wolf’s Den

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

When exactly did the word NO become a fucking suggestion?

A judge says stop. Congress says no. The Constitution says you can’t do that. And somehow, the answer keeps becoming: try again until somebody finally gives in.

That should scare the hell out of people, because democracies don’t usually collapse in one dramatic moment. Sometimes they get worn down one exception, one workaround and one ignored boundary at a time.

Donald Trump keeps pushing because he understands something dangerous: the system moves slowly, but shamelessness moves fast.

So yes, the courts may hold today. The guardrails may survive another hit. But if the country keeps depending on the last line of defense every single day, eventually you have to ask what happens when one of them doesn’t hold.

And that’s the question nobody should be comfortable answering.

🎙️ A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent political news and political commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent liberal news, progressive political commentary, and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Donald Trump has picked a trade war with Canada, and Americans may soon discover exactly what a 50 percent tariff looks like when it reaches the checkout line. 

I break down what’s coming, why Canada is retaliating, and what you might want to buy sooner rather than later before higher prices hit.

Meanwhile, something deeply unsettling is happening inside the United States Army. Pete Hegseth has been making changes at the very top, experienced leaders are disappearing, important chairs are sitting empty, and one particularly bizarre episode raises questions about just how the Pentagon is being run.

Then there’s the Supreme Court. With the midterms roughly 70 days away, a 6-to-3 decision has opened the door for Donald Trump to begin making changes involving mail-in voting. 

What happens next could affect millions of voters, and the timing alone should get everybody’s attention.

There’s a difference between changing election rules and changing them while an election is already bearing down on you. 

If you vote by mail, know somebody who does, or simply give a damn about what happens in November, this is something you need to understand before Election Day gets here.

And if all of this feels like an extraordinary amount of disruption to absorb at once, that’s because it is. 

Some of it could hit sooner than you think, some of it could matter long after the headlines disappear, and all of it deserves a much closer look.

🎙️ A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Primary night just delivered a few surprises nobody should ignore. Florida, Alaska and Wyoming produced results that raise some uncomfortable questions about Democrats, Republicans and just how powerful a Donald Trump endorsement really is.

Meanwhile, the Kennedy Center name war has somehow gotten even more ridiculous. Trump’s name came down after a federal court ruling, but if you thought that ended the story, you seriously underestimated everyone involved.

Then we head to the Korean Peninsula, where Trump just made a major change involving U.S. military exercises with South Korea while talking once again about his relationship with Kim Jong Un. 

What America gave up, what North Korea said in response and what this could mean for one of our closest allies deserves a much closer look.

Donald Trump is getting tested at the ballot box, continuing his seemingly never-ending battle to put his name on the Kennedy Center and making another consequential move involving North Korea. And none of it is unfolding quite the way you might expect.

🎙️ A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Fake electors are back in the news, and the latest development raises one hell of a question about accountability after the 2020 election. 
Jeff takes on a story that somehow manages to become even more infuriating the deeper you get into it.

Donald Trump’s White House ballroom battle has now landed at the Supreme Court, with an incredibly bizarre reason from Trump for why his ballroom should be allowed to go ahead. 
You really have to hear this one to believe it.

Meanwhile over at the Kennedy Center, somebody appears to have discovered that when one approach doesn’t work…there may be another way to get Trump’s name on the building. 
Jeff has some thoughts about where this particular naming obsession could eventually lead.

Then Jeff and Natacha go shopping at an Arizona strip mall and notice something across the parking lot. Curiosity gets the better of them. 
What they discover produces one very simple question: Who the hell thought THIS was a good idea?

From presidential politics and the Supreme Court to a completely unexpected return to the spirit of News From The Edge of Sanity, this one goes places even Jeff wasn’t expecting.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Jeff Alan Wolf is in a weird Wednesday mood, and this edition of A World Gone Mad takes a decidedly different turn. It’s shorter, more relaxed and a little experimental, while still finding plenty in the news worth talking about.

Karoline Leavitt is leaving the Trump White House, bringing another change to an administration that rarely seems to stay quiet for long. Mike Lindell, the pillow guy, is also back in the headlines following his latest venture into politics.

Then there’s the LA Lakers. A massive reported deal involving A Kushner has Jeff’s attention for reasons extending well beyond basketball. When politics collides with a team he’s followed for more than half a century, there are a few things he needs to get off his chest.

But the biggest part of this short episode may have nothing to do with Washington or sports. Jeff has a personal request for the WolfPack, especially those listening across the United States and around the world, and this time he’s hoping they’ll actually answer the call.

How far does A World Gone Mad really reach? Jeff has come up with a decidedly old-school way of finding out, but he can’t do it without the people on the other side of the microphone.

It’s a different kind of A World Gone Mad: a little news, a little politics, a little basketball, and a much more personal conversation between Jeff and the WolfPack.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

Jeff Alan Wolf really didn’t want to do this episode. Not because there wasn’t enough news, but because American politics increasingly feels like the same infuriating show on an endless loop…

power, retaliation, investigations, outrage and politicians who seem far more interested in settling scores than actually governing.

This episode of A World Gone Mad is different. It’s less a collection of headlines and more a rallying cry about what happens when Congress and Washington turn political power into a weapon, constitutional principles become negotiable, and governing takes a back seat to finding the next enemy.

The latest fight involving Dr. Anthony Fauci, Senator Rand Paul, contempt of Congress and the Fifth Amendment becomes one example of a much larger question…

Do constitutional rights still mean the same thing when they’re protecting someone your political side despises?

But Jeff’s anger goes well beyond Fauci. Congress has enormous power, enormous resources and enormous responsibility. 

So why does so much of American government increasingly resemble a gigantic grievance department while ordinary Americans are worrying about healthcare, housing, Social Security, groceries, insurance and simply keeping the bills paid?

Jeff’s angry. But this is still A World Gone Mad, which means the frustration comes wrapped in the sarcasm, humor and slightly warped observations that have always been part of the show. Because sometimes the only way to make sense of the madness is to laugh at just how absurd it’s become.

This isn’t a left-versus-right argument. It’s an angry demand for something that shouldn’t be remotely controversial: consistency, restraint, responsibility and leaders who remember that governing the United States is supposed to be about more than revenge.

Jeff is pissed off. And by the end of this episode, the bigger question may be whether more Americans should be too.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack.

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]

SEND ME A TEXT MESSAGE NOW

What happens when political principles collide with political survival, presidential power runs into constitutional limits, and one of the world’s most important military alliances confronts a question nobody wants answered the hard way?

Jeff Alan Wolf looks at the growing political drama surrounding Todd Blanche and the Republican senators who could determine his future as attorney general. 

Senator’s Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have each taken positions that raise a larger question about Washington: When politicians talk about principle, how much of what we’re hearing is conviction, and how much is calculation?

Donald Trump’s controversial $400 million White House ballroom is back in the courts, and the latest development could have implications reaching far beyond one enormous construction project. 

The fight over the White House raises a fundamental question about presidential power, Congress and just how much freedom any president should have to reshape the People’s House.

Then there’s Vladimir Putin, NATO and Article 5. A recent U.S. intelligence assessment raises an unsettling possibility about what Putin may be considering and why the real objective might have less to do with winning a conventional war than discovering whether NATO’s most important promise is as strong as its members say it is.

For more than 75 years, NATO deterrence has depended on potential adversaries believing that an attack against one member means confronting the entire alliance. 

But what happens when an adversary starts wondering whether everybody would actually keep that promise when keeping it suddenly becomes dangerous?

In this episode of A World Gone Mad, Jeff digs beneath the headlines to examine political loyalty in Washington, the boundaries of presidential authority and a potential challenge to NATO that could carry consequences far beyond Europe. 
The questions are already uncomfortable. 
The answers could be considerably more so.

Subscribe to A World Gone Mad with Jeff Alan Wolf for independent news commentary that looks beyond today’s headlines to the bigger forces shaping American democracy.

Looking for more independent news commentary and original articles?

Visit Jeff’s Substack The Wolf’s Den

https://open.substack.com/pub/jeffalanwolf

[email protected]