MAGA may not care that their heroes, Donald Trump and Elon Musk, keep getting caught in lies, but for the sake of history, the rest of us will just have to keep chronicling it, anyway.

The latest: claims that 150+ year old people are getting Social Security checks; well, that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is sending check to people born that long ago (and longer) who are obviously not alive. I mean, someone produced a table and put it on a meme so to MAGA, it must be true, yeah?

Well, no. I mean, it's not that there aren't some instances of poor management in the SSA, but not at the level DOGE & Trump+Musk insist.

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While Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) insist DOGE is doing a "careful scrub" of federal agencies, what's actually happening is key nuclear personnel were fired (erroneously?) and now the Trump administration is scrambling to figure out how to reach those fired people to re-hire them but they closed their federal emails and didn't have updated contact information to reach them. They also did this with USDA experts working to combat bird flu, hoping to re-hire them as well.

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Then there's DOGE claiming they saved $8 billion from an Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) contract, which makes no sense when ICE only has a $9 billion budget altogether. In their own spreadsheet it was actually $8 million, but in a fraudulent move, an "m" becomes a "b" and, well ... there goes at least half of what DOGE claims its saving taxpayers. That said, Elon is now floating someone else's idea that maybe (not really) DOGE will send out $5000 rebate checks to each household (Trump loves signing checks to us, remember). "Sure, Jan."

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Georgia Republicans are floating legislation that would let property owners seek a property tax rebate if the city they're in doesn't "handle" homelessness and panhandling. Their solution is to punish cities (clearly, Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon & Savannah - blue dots on the red map) already lacking in the funds to aid the unhoused and poor by taking away more funds. No solution(s) or state assistance offered in the bill; just ... an exacerbating of the problem. If ever there were a Republican that encapsulates modern day conservatism, this is the one.

Another Republican-backed bill to get rid of school zone speeding ticket-generating cameras is having a better go of it in the Georgia General Assembly this session, and as someone who's been the recipient of one of their tickets, I'm not not so sure I'm for or against this ban. On the one hand, I definitely support safety for pedestrian kids near schools (and anywhere), but there've been a lot of bogus charges and cities are raking in money hand-over-fist year after year, which means they're not slowing people down in these zones. Isn't that the goal?

One metro Atlanta city mayor made that point while his city's raking in that dough, but maybe he's not the poster child for this cause. It seems his council believes he's been using some of those city funds for some personal (and expensive!) international travel. I digress.

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What's up with these sudden discussions about a "lack" of masculinity in the Democratic Party? Right wing radio host Clay Travis believes there are none.Obviously, his opinion comes with the caveat that he's prone to just taking digs at liberals for just about anything, but also his man crushes are riddled with spray tans and guy-liner. Clay's quip, though, even got my Democrat friend discussing the party's appeal to "masculinity," on social. media. I even wandered into a tweet about this where Democrats are accused of not even trying to "appeal to men (particularly young or white ones)." Like, maybe, if men (particularly young or white ones) just - I don't know - paid attention to what's going on they'd make informed decisions when voting vs being swayed by disinformation and football or NASCAR photo ops?

Just spit-balling here.

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New polling reveals, speaking of appeal, that Donald Trump no longer does to the majority of voters, with a particularly steep drop among the under 30 and the 30-44 year old voter. Honeymoon's over, honey-glazed turkey.

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Lastly, "Money with Katie's" Katie Gatti Tassin went in on the trivial nature DOGE, Elon and "the Muskrats" are shredding jobs that'll be but a blip on the budgetary radar while ignoring the BIG fish: private contract workforce. She rails on privatization taking taxpayer dollars to do public works. When done by governement employees, there's no profit margin to account for. When outsourced, however ...

... well, you needn't worry as much about "Big Brother" when "big business" doesn't even let you vote for their leadership.

Hearing J.D. Vance have the audacity to go not just to Europe but to Munich, GERMANY to finger-wag about a "threat from within" was just too stunning to let glide by.

Today I started with my disdain (I was actually outraged upon first glance) for a social media post by a longtime radio friend taking delight in a purported spike in home listings in the DC metro - along with a pretty wicked comment from another (and mutual) friend of ours ("like roaches twhen the lights come on"). These two people I've known for decades ... GOOD people I know have kindness and empathy in their hearts ... reacting as if they were French citizens sneering as Nazi troops were retreating in defeat.

Looking at each other as "enemies from within" (remember that rhetoric on the campaign trail?) as Vance had the stones to speak similarly IN Germany over the weekend while a foreign-born Elon Musk dismantles our government "from within" has a certain "Manchurian Candidate" vibe, to me.

I mentioned how Brian Tyler Cohen had touched on this, last week; Forbes did, too.

Oh, and from the department of FAFO, Georgians got word FEMA won't be extending disaster relief cleanup funding application periods, despite Governor Brian Kemp asking for it. Whelp; maybe he's learning that not kissing the ring on "The Don" comes at a cost (to Georgia taxpayers). Total fealty "or else" right?

And honestly, isn't this what "red states" should be told anyway? You know, the "takers" that get more federal dollar than they put into Uncle Sam's coffers? I mean, maybe (if Trump were being consistent) this should be the message. Except, of course, he's holding California hostage while it puts in more than it gets, but whatever.

I've been tough on Georgia Democrats not doing better waging a proper offensive in the war for information over disinformation, but they've gotten way better at it in recent months. Between Sen. Jason Esteves and Sen. Elena Parent, House Rep. Anne Allen Westbrook, the messaging is organic and yet still well-produced - and that's a big pivot from the recent past.

And it's more necessary than ever, with Georgia Republicans breathlessly racing to pass a sales tax holiday for gun and gun paraphernalia purchases when there's no appetite for gun safety measures, let alone a school sales tax holiday.

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Forner Trump chief of staff (the one responsible for the pandemic response unit being dismantled) John Bolton made the rounds late last week to sound the alarm bells on his former boss' complete capitulation (he uses the term 'surrender') to Vladimir Putin's demands re: Ukraine. "The Art Of the Deal," though, right?

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Friday morning saw the rollout of draconian federal workforce cuts - notably at the Centers for Disease Control under new HHS Secretary (a buffoon, per classmate Lawrence O'Donnell) Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Now, looms the threats of education cuts - if not the entire department going away - with its funds disproportionately benefitting states Trump won in 2024. A recent CNN story in Kentucky found a few "trees for chainsaws" voters at a rural Kentucky school and district giving us their insights. This is the "found out" portion of their plight.

What's ironic is, Elon Musk recently labeled a large portion of Americans as "parasites," which means a lot of MAGA voters, themselves, are "parasites" to their billionaire cult hero.

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The latest "cartoonishly Trumpy" bootlick? Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA) filing a bill to buy Greenland and rename it "Red, White and Blue-land." I sh*t you not.

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The last of my "trees for chainsaws" convos centers around heavily-Latino Reading, PA, where a 16% surge in Trump support in 2024 led to a lot "wait; what?" sentiment from citizens now along with hints for Democrats to swing the pendulum back in the near future.

I've long said Republicans were unserious about addressing shortcomings in our immigration situation because they spend way more time seeking to demonize migrant (you know, "illegals") and not the real "illegals" (employers & human traffickers) menacing (in some cases abusing, exploiting, threatning and even killing) well-meaning migrant laborers.A recent sentencing of a human trafficking kingpin (queen pin?) shows the American judicial system is unserious about the very serious crimes committed.

Nor are Republicans serious about the well-being of outdoor laborers - even those here legally and/or American citizens - in the face of rising temperatures.Take Florida, for example. Or Texas. WhileJoe Biden rolled out new OSHA standards,some Republicans just want to get rid of OSHA altogether.

In Georgia, there's a bipartisan effort, at least, to create a state-run guest worker program that would be "subject to federal rules and regulations." Except again, some Republicans want OSHA to go away, so what rules and regulations will protect these workers?

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Mitch McConnell has become a more reliable swing vote for Democrats than Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski. Let that sink in. Still, asMitch takes to the Louisville press to opine about the dangers of Trump's tariff-heavy economic policy, I simply want to remind him - and his Kentucky constituents - he's the single-most complicit person to pin a second Trump presidency on other than Donald Trump himself. Hef*cked around;and around;and around. Now he, his constituents, and all of us, are finding out.

The'60 Minutes' interview a few weeks backwas (in my view) a failed attempt at Mitch trying to re-cast himself for legacy's sake.

Greg Bluestein's reporting thatDemocrats are "fracturing" over Trump's "hardline" immigration agenda (literally the headline) included a nugget that - to me -wasthe story.

"...a poll published this month by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed that roughly 60% believe there should be a way for most people who have come to the U.S. unlawfully to “stay in the country legally if certain requirements are met.”

As DonaldTrump's polling begins to take the predictable slide,Democrats seem to not realize that they still win on issues, but they definitely lose on messaging and branding.

Hell they could call on the ghost of GOP past: Ronald Reagan (who'd be branded a fire-breathing liberal by today's MAGA standards - gave amnesty to three million undocumented immigrants in 1986. Did Joe Biden even utter the "a" word? Nope. Should he have? Mmmmmaybe? I mean, if 57% of reddish-state Georgians feel there should be a way for the undocumented to "stay here" but "with conditions," you have to believe that number is at least that high if not higher, nationally.

Get this:House Democrats are "pissed"that grassroots ogranizations like Indivisible and MoveOn are applying heat on them to "do something." I get it; what can a party almost completely out of power in Washington actually do, right? Still, bellyaching about grassroots activists being active at this point seems tone deaf.

Brian Tyler Cohenwent off on Elon Musk's self-serving via DOGE trying to root out "waste & fraud" while actually dismantling USAID, whose inspector general was investigating SpaceX and its Starlink terminals used in the Ukraine War front. Mere coincidence, surely.

Cohen also notes that a neutered USAID gives China room to step up globally and fill the 'humanitarian goodwill' void. You know, "soft power."

How's that benefit Elon? Tesla just opened a 'megapack' battery plantalongside its vehicle manufacturing faciity in Shanghai. You connect the dots.

There's also the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - which actuallynets a positive return on investment (ROI) for taxpayers. Not exactly 'waste, fraud and abuse." Instead, from Elon and his 'Muskrats' boyband, we get noise about condoms in ̶G̶a̶z̶a̶ Mozambique - which is traced back toGeorge W. Bush's PEPFAR program to eradicate HIV from the third world. Losing goodwill ground in the same Mozambique where ISIS has a presence seems ... shortsighted.

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance has certainly sparked a conversation, and honestly the timing couldn't be better considering conservatives' breathless zeal for suppressing a true reckoning on race and its role in our nation's history. Surely you understand that's why the white nationalist-in-chief wants todismantle the federal Department of Education so MAGA states can get back to lettingpro-Confederacy groups write your kids' history books.

So last weekend, I pre-recorded an interview with author and professor Dante King, fresh off the release of his new book"Diagnosing Whiteness & Anti-Blackness: White Psychopathology, Collective Psychosis, and Trauma in America" was just released. Neither of us were aware a Super Bowl halftime show would dovetail so well into our conversation, let alone elicit such a response nationally, but here we are.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a MAGA radical, but there appears to be an effort to 'mainstream' her, anyway. She did a live taping for WABE-FM's "Politically Georgia" podcast with Atlanta Journal Constitution reporters Greg Bluestein, Tia Mitchell and Patricia Murphy last week and waffled on her "America First" hardlining (when it equivocates on Gaza but less so on Ukraine), gave her "business" spin on government efficiency and was asked about future statewide office ambitions.

Speaking of, a rising star in the Georgia Democratic Party is giving indicationshe might bake a play for the governor's mansion in 2026 and ... he checks a lot of boxes. If he sounds familiar to you, perhaps it's becausehe's been on this show recently?

New to The Ron Show, however, isSenator Kim Jackson, the state's first LGBTQIA+ state senator and staunch defender of the state's trans community. We discussed the GOP's attack on their rights, what could be their next target, plus goats, her podcast and how she finds grace while politicking with the less-than-graceful.

Finally, any time I can get behind GOP legislation - rare as that may be - it's noteworthy. Take, for example, aRome Republican wanting to shield Georgia Power residential users from rate increases due to data centers' looming need for gobs of energy.

Pardon me while I close a few "open tabs" on the laptop heading into the weekend.

• A ruby-red, Trump-adoring Georgia county"found out" about 700 "green energy" jobs planned for at a new battery plant south of Newnan aren't coming, after all. While the Norwegian company spoke ofinflation and costs, it's hard not to connect the "drill baby, drill" dots.
• The Georgia Senatepassed SB-1, banning trans girls & women from scholastic & collegiate sports. Senator Kim Jackson (D-41) sought to soften the blow, a bit, byinserting an amendment to "require school districts ensure that boys’ and girls’ teams be given comparable funding, access to facilities, equipment and other accommodations.," thinking Republican supporters of the bill would sure be consistent with their rhetoric. They were not. The bill now moves to the House for consideration there.
• Steve Bannon revealed, in a 2019 Frontline interview, the Trumpian 'flood the zone' effect, and -as MSNBC's Jen Psaki pointed out recently - it works. Hence my cautioning folks left of center against freaking out over issues that rattle their sensibilities that don't even emanate from the White House. TheNFL's "end racism" switch-a-roo, for example. R-E-L-A-X. Bigger fish to fry.
• Author and political historian Heather Cox Richardsonnoted Thursdaynight that the Trump administration is "gaming Google" to "create a mirage of mass deportations." She also pointed out that the GOP - since Reagan - has been spinning this yarn that the federal government has been "taking" tax dollars from white conservative voters and "trying to hand tax dollars and power to undeserving Black and Brown Americans, women, and LGBTQ+ Americans." Also that Trump's been targeting CBS and '60 Minutes' for selectively editing their interview with then-VP Kamala Harris (a lie -here it is; watch for yourself).
• Friend of the show Jay Bookman penned his latest Georgia Recorder op/ed, panning any notion of Georgia joining 39 other states in permitting sports wagering. I've no real opinion on this, though,he makes solid correlations between bankruptcy, lower credit scores, etc., in states that welcome the practice; but I do think if Democrats want to make some headway with Republicans eager to move on this, that they use the tax dollars from it for a big-ticket wish-list item that needs to be on someone's radar.

Good news, y'all; I have it on good authority (a mid-market conservative talk radio parrot) that Donald Trump''s rhetoric whereby the U.S. would "take over" Gaza were "sidebar remarks were casual and not intended as anything other than speculative inquiries."

Oh good; for a minute there I thought the press briefing on a dais with the Israeli Prime Minister beside POTUS - both behind podiums and one with the Presidential seal on it meant "this is a serious occasion."

The "Trump whisperers" have some gall trying to "Trump-splain" to those outside the MAGA cult. Hell, Netenyahu took it to HEART - getting his military on standby for it.

So we're not to take Trump seriously (we just don't know when to) but Canada already doesn't. But hey, he signed an executive order to deal with t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶c̶o̶u̶r̶g̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶ 10-15 trans girls, nationwide, competing in women's sports in college and/or public school. Another meaningless trophy for his case full of meaningless trophies. I'm sure Nancy ("Tranny Tranny Tranny!") Mace enjoyed the moment, though. Thank goodness we'll finally keep pervs out of girls' lockerrooms (and dressing rooms, I presume?)

As Elon and his DOGE boy band mates continue pilfering through government (and yours) data, it's worth noting that our federal workforce has been shrinking for the last half century, is more educated (and paid less) than their private sector counterparts. Pesky facts.

Also worth noting that the Department of Education is in Trump/DOGE crosshairs mostly because it's done away with the decades of whitewashing of American (and Confederate) history by the likes of the Daughters of the Confederacy. The kind of distortion that poisoned the brains of Senators Marsha Blackburn, LIndsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, et al, had been done away with and now the "anti-woke" folk (read: those that cringe at the thought of an accurate reckoning of this country's dark history on race) see a need to do away with the federal agency that wiped away that nonsense. Gee, wonder why?

Lastly, Trump's anti-D.E.I. push is affecting the "pro-business" LGBTQIA+ efforts in Atlanta and Houston - but he and his cult are totally not anti-gay, y'all! Congrats FAGA (yeah, I'll say it), you just set yourself and the rest of the "alphabet mafia" back five decades to "second class citizenship."