Extremely humbled.

For the very concerned media - yes, I love America and was extremely humbled when my friends, the newly minted Gold Medal winners on Team USA, invited me into the locker room to celebrate this historic moment with the boys- Greatest country on earth and greatest sport on earth.…

— Kash Patel (@Kash_Patel) February 23, 2026

Background: "FBI Director Kash Patel defends partying with U.S. Olympic ice hockey team/Videos of Patel celebrating in Italy went viral Sunday night, prompting criticism and questions about his judgment during a critical time for the FBI" (WaPo)(gift link).

The video:

A source sent me this video of FBI Director Kash Patel partying with the US Men's Olympic Hockey team. pic.twitter.com/egjmdhOAF6

— William Turton (@WilliamTurton) February 22, 2026

Meanwhile: "U.S. women’s hockey team declines Trump’s State of the Union invitation/The players 'were honored to be included and are grateful for the acknowledgement,' according to a team statement that cited previously scheduled commitments" (WaPo).

That's putting it very politely.

This is also polite, articulate silence:

"I love the U.S.A.!"

Jack Hughes processing the emotions of the CLUTCH overtime goal for GOLD! 👏 pic.twitter.com/TAX9U76pbK

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) February 22, 2026

Trump sought to influence Bill Maher and he's now going to complain that he didn't get as much favorable press/comedy as he thinks — or pretends to think — he deserves.

"Sometimes in life you waste time! T.V. Host Bill Maher asked to have dinner with me through one of his friends, also a friend of mine, and I agreed," said Trump (at Truth Social).

He came into the famed Oval Office much different than I thought he would be. He was extremely nervous, had ZERO confidence in himself and, to soothe his nerves, immediately, within seconds, asked for a "Vodka Tonic." He said to me, "I’ve never felt like this before, I’m actually scared." In one respect, it was somewhat endearing!"

Trump seems to enjoy diminishing Maher, but I suspect Maher adopted this "little me" pose to disarm Trump. Obviously, Maher was bullshitting. There's no one who has never been scared. It's a joke. He's a comedian. And so is Trump.

Trump continues:

"President Trump Gaggles with Press on Air Force One En Route Palm Beach, FL, Jan. 31, 2026."

I'm going to pick through the transcript and will update in about an hour. Meantime, you can pick over the text and pull out your favorite highlights

ADDED: From the YouTube transcript:

"[Chantal] Kreviazuk, who is from Winnipeg, Manitoba, also wrote the phrase 'that only us command' with mascara on her left hand."

"She posted a picture of that on her Instagram with emojis of a Canadian flag and a flexed muscle. 'I just put it on there so if I ever had a moment and I kind of froze, I would be able to look at my hand and see it,' Kreviazuk said. 'I’d love to see people sort of get inspired and catch the fire and say their heart more in their art. ... Sometimes you just got to speak the truth in your art and it’s awesome. That’s what it should be about.'..."

From "Singer of Canadian anthem at 4 Nations Face-Off changes lyric to protest Trump’s 51st state remarks" (AP).

The official lyrics begin: "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command."

That is, the homeland commands true patriot love in all of us.

The changed lyric was "O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love that only us command."

So it is no longer the homeland commanding love. It is "only us" commanding love. There are several problems (aside from the problem of changing the words of the anthem):

"It wasn’t planned. That wasn’t two coaches throwing guys over and saying 'This is happening' — none of that happened. That was as organic as it gets."

Said Jon Cooper, the coach for Canada, quoted in The London Times:

Here's the video at YouTube. Judge for yourself. Political theater? Is this about Trump — Trump and his tariffs and his fifty-oneness?

Meanwhile, Trump himself was at The Daytona 500 and — with his lovely tiny little granddaughter — the sports-related masculine political theater was not brutishly macho but nobly patriarchal:

ADDED: The oversized MAGA hat emphasizes the tininess of the granddaughter, and it made me think of this image of Elon Musk in a giant hat:

pic.twitter.com/nhRCtyA3wj

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 7, 2025

You can see the hat as it is — large — or you can perceive the optical illusion that Musk is a tiny person, a child. Musk famously tweeted: "I love @realDonaldTrump as much as a straight man can love another man." And I've been thinking the love is a boy's love for the father he never had. Musk real father was — as Musk tells it — "a terrible human being" who has done "almost every evil thing you could possibly think of." The giant hat is a bid to be seen as a boy, to be loved by a father.

New frontiers of Russian influence.

I'm trying to read "Blackhawks will not wear Pride-themed jerseys due to a Russian law " (AP).

The Blackhawks are the Chicago NHL team, I'm just now learning. And the "Pride-themed jerseys"...

 

... seem objectionable for some American reasons — Native American mascot, political brand stamped on a Native American brand, LGBTQ support imposed on players — but the Russians got the NHL organization to silence the political speech. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law in December that significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBTQ rights in the country.

Which country?  I believe the law relates to Russia, not the U.S., but the extraterritorial reach occurs because people in the U.S. are choosing to impose Russia's repression here. The NHL characterizes its behavior as motivated by "security" concerns, presumably relating to persons who do live in Russia. We're told: "Chicago defenseman Nikita Zaitsev is a Moscow native, and there are other players with family in Russia or other connections to the country."