"I got a call from a number of people, including the great Joe Rogan, and he said we have to do something about this."

"And I looked into it. I called Bobby... And it was really uniform support. And I said, so why would we wait three or four years to get it done?... Let's get it done immediately. And that's what happened. This is probably has never been anything that happened so quickly. Everybody is so strongly in favor of this. It's for a lot of people, but it's for the military in particular...."

"I want to thank Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is fantastic.... And people love him. More importantly, your wife is here.... Real boss in the family. It's fantastic.... Joe Rogan — fantastic. We did an interview before the election. We had over 300 million people. And I said, oh, man, I hope Kamala doesn't do it and she didn't. He wanted her to do it and she didn't Some day, Joe's gonna explain why. I can tell you why. Because she didn't want to.... The executive order I'm signing... today.... directs the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs.... If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's gonna have a tremendous impact on this country and other countries too.... Usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up. We're changing that...."

ADDED: Joe spoke:

🚨 WOW! Joe Rogan reveals President Trump IMMEDIATELY offered him FDA approval for a psychedelic treatment in a text chain

Because the data was SO CONVINCING and STUNNING

"I wanna tell everybody how this happened. I send President Trump some information."

"With one dose of… pic.twitter.com/dnqYVf96hN

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 18, 2026

"President Trump has been rampaging around the globe like Grendel at dinner time, a rapacious, feral creature. Who could stand up to him?"

"The soft-spoken, humble Leo, who strives to unify, squared off against the bombastic, solipsistic Trump, who strives to divide. And watching the saintly pope school the amoral president is a blessed sight...."

Writes Maureen Dowd, in "The Pope Bedevils Trump" (NYT).

That's a gift link, so you can explore the entire argument.

Why do people read this illustration to represent Trump depicted as Jesus rather than Trump with the miraculous power of the laying on of hands?

 

Trump shared this image, then took it down when he was attacked. The image was said to represent him as Jesus. He denied that he had seen it that way. He said the image showed him as "a doctor making people better and I do make people a lot better." Many observers hooted "Doctor!" What kind of doctor wears a robe and applies small orbs of light to the patient's forehead!?

But what is Jesus-y about handheld balls of light? What is Jesus-y about an American flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial, a bald eagle, fighter jets, soldiers ascending upward, and a medical worker with a stethoscope?

You can see what you want here, and maybe if you're genuinely concerned about blasphemy you'll want to err on the side of not jumbling up worldly images with things that might be sacred. But is there any serious Christian iconography there? I see nothing other than the white tunic and red mantle. What about the healing itself? But healing with the laying on of hands is not something limited to Jesus. Whether it is effective or not, it has been a widespread practice through human history, and it is a way to express the idea of profound healing.

There is healing through the laying on of hands in the Old Testament and, in the New Testament, it is not limited to Jesus. And in Western history, there was also the "royal touch" — "a form of laying on of hands, whereby French and English monarchs touched their subjects... with the intent to cure them of various diseases and conditions."

American Presidents are frequently portrayed as healers — spiritual healers — and the use of exalted imagery is common, not some freakish new thing special to Trump. It might be a bad idea — because it's trashy art, because politics and religion should be kept strictly separated, or because propaganda is deceptive and distracting — whatever. That image may be bullshit, but the outrage over it is also bullshit. When I think of all the times Barack Obama was portrayed as a Christ figure! Ridiculous. Grow up. 

And here are The Thompson Twins:

Oh, lay your hands on me/(Lay your hands) woo-hoo/(Ooh, lay your hands) oh, lay your hands on me/(Lay your hands) oh, oh-oh-oh....

A NYT column refers to "Fuck around and find out" as "the unofficial Proud Boys motto."

I'm reading "America Is Used to Hiding Its Wars. Trump Is Doing the Opposite" by Charles Homans.

[T]he capture of Venezuela’s president, an oil blockade and intimations of regime change in Cuba, weeks of open deliberation over invading Greenland and finally the Iran war. These episodes followed the logic of content more than conflict, not so much ending as just kind of receding down the feed, replaced by bigger and better explosions. The White House social media team leaned trollishly into the idea, posting videos to X that spliced airstrike footage with movie and video game clips and a reference to the unofficial Proud Boys motto, “[expletive] around and find out.”

I'm interested in the larger theme of this column, but I got stuck on the aggressive intrusion of the Proud Boys. I would have thought "Fuck around and find out" was part of the ordinary discourse. But let's look. What's the origin and history of the phrase?

"Mr. Hegseth has said repeatedly that he is determined to change a culture corrupted by 'foolish,' 'reckless' and 'woke' leaders from previous administrations."

"But his heavy scrutiny, especially of female and minority officers, is eroding confidence in a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit based, his critics have said.... In his 2024 book, 'The War on Warriors,' Mr. Hegseth disparaged many of the senior officers who rose up under Mr. Austin’s tenure as 'cowards hiding under stars' and 'whores to wokesters.' 'The Left captured the military quickly, and we must reclaim it at a faster pace,' he wrote. 'We must wage a frontal assault. A swift counterattack, in broad daylight.'..."

From "Hegseth Strikes Two Black and Two Female Officers From Promotion List/Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s highly unusual decision to remove officers from a one-star promotion list has spurred allegations of racial and gender bias" (NYT). The sources for this article are anonymous current and former military and administration officials.

Note that the language purports to know why one person was targeted:

Pete Hegseth on "60 Minutes."

CBS News chief Washington correspondent @MajorCBS sat down with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington, D.C. They spoke on Friday, March 6th about the state of the war with Iran, potential American casualties, what an Iranian surrender could look like, and more.

Editor's… pic.twitter.com/JRnKcYs5IY

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) March 9, 2026

That's the "extended version" of what aired on the show last night. And it's helpful to see the transcript (which I generated using ChatGPT)(the boldface is mine):

Part of your propaganda.

Hey White House, please remove the Tropic Thunder clip. We never gave you permission and have no interest in being a part of your propaganda machine. War is not a movie. https://t.co/dMQqRxxVCa

— Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) March 6, 2026

"We are not defenders anymore. We are warriors.... We will finish this on 'America First' conditions of Trump's choosing..."

"The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it. They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off."

"We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”

Said Trump, quoted in "Trump reveals to The Post secret ‘discombobulator’ weapon was crucial to Venezuelan raid on Maduro" (NY Post).

Trump commented on the weapon when asked about reports this week that the Biden administration “Havana Syndrome.” Not much is known about the weapon, but those reports followed on-the-ground accounts from Venezuela describing how Maduro’s gunmen were brought to their knees, “bleeding through the nose” and vomiting blood. One member of the deposed strongman’s team of guards recounted afterward that “suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation. The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.... At one point, they launched something; I don’t know how to describe it. It was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside... We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon — or whatever it was."

"If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job..."

"I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State. Thank you for you attention to this matter!"

Writes "President DJT" at Truth Social.

"Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) said the National Guard is ready to deploy if riots break out, something he was too slow to do after George Floyd’s murder in 2020."

"But he pleaded with protesters to remain peaceful. 'They want a show,' he said. 'We can’t give it to them.' Walz is right that Trump could use unrest to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy U.S. troops to Minnesota. (A recent defeat at the Supreme Court otherwise limited his authority to commandeer the National Guard.) The president posted on social media: 'We need to stand by and protect our Law Enforcement Officers from this Radical Left Movement of Violence and Hate!'... Before the shooting, Walz described the federal enforcement surge as 'a war that’s being waged against Minnesota.' After the incident, MAGA allies quickly sought to blame Walz’s rhetoric, including his previous comparison of ICE to the Gestapo, for raising tensions...."

 
Writes the Editorial Board of The Washington Post, in "The woman fatally shot by ICE in Minneapolis did not deserve to die/Rioting in response to fatal shooting plays into Trump’s hands."

The President of Mexico and the President of Colombia react quite differently to Trump's posturing.

The NYT reports on Colombia President Gustavo Petro:

After Mr. Trump said that U.S. military forces in the Caribbean could be used against Colombia and other countries, and accused Mr. Petro of being involved in cocaine production, Mr. Petro said: “If you detain a president whom much of my people want and respect, you will unleash the people’s jaguar.”... 

He added that Colombia has deployed more than 30,000 troops along its border with Venezuela to prepare for potential destabilization, a surge of migrants or confrontations with drug cartels that he said would “very likely feel increased pressure and attempt to harm the Colombian people.”

The NYT reports the Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum:

President Claudia Sheinbaum brushed aside President Trump’s warning that Mexico must get its “act together” on drug trafficking or face possible U.S. action. 

“This is just President Trump’s manner of speaking,” Sheinbaum said at a news conference on Monday. She acknowledged that the White House had pushed for military action on Mexican soil, but said that the problem of organized crime could not be solved with foreign intervention.

Whose rhetoric is likely to be more effective with Trump? I see that Petro hotly deployed vivid language — "the people's jaguar" — and Sheinbaum coolly observed that Trump deploys vivid language. To Sheinbaum, Trump is a blustery beast, but she can handle him. To Petro, the people are a fierce powerful beast and they will rise up and defend him against Trump. 

Things I found when I created a new tag — "Trump and Venezuela" — and went back into the archive to add it to old posts.

From the Althouse archive:

August 2017: Trump said: "I’m not going to rule out a military option.... Venezuela is a mess. We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option if necessary."

March 2018: When anti-Trumpers were interpreting Trump's handshake with baseball hero Jose Altuve, I wrote: "I don't know if Altuve talks about politics, but I don't think he's even an American citizen. He's Venezuelan. If I were Venzuelan, I'd be most worried about Venezuela, and looking at Trump, I'd be thinking, is there some way he can help Venezuela?, or, if I was inclined to the hostility anti-Trumpers are seeing in his face — Why hasn't President Trump done something yet about Venezuela?"

February 2019: When Trump was pleading with the Venezuelan military to support Juan Guaido, I wrote: "I was surprised that on the channel I was watching — Fox News — the analysis after the speech was about the 2020 presidential campaign.... People in Venezuela are suffering. They're starving. We need to help. I thought Trump was trying to get something done, but the news folk rush to talk about the damned campaign, as if that's what sophisticated, savvy people do. I found it offensive."

April 2019: Quoting a Swedish journalist in Venezuela: "Two months have passed since I got here and in that time, the possibility of an American intervention in Venezuela has been on everyone’s mind.

"[Maduro] was trying to get into [his safe room], but he got bum-rushed so fast that he didn’t get into that.... I watched it literally like I was watching a television show."

"And if you would have seen the speed, the violence, you know, they say that, the speed, the violence, they used that term, it was just an amazing thing, an amazing job that these people did — nobody else could have done anything like it."

"Let's celebrate without leaving our homes! Listen to the joy of a country that can already caress freedom. #venezuelalibre"

¡A celebrar sin salir de las casas! Escuchen la alegría de un país que ya puede acariciar la libertad. #venezuelalibre pic.twitter.com/SY6v3de70a

— Cristian Crespo F. 🇨🇺 (@cristiancrespoj) January 3, 2026

Grok's fact check: "The video in @cristiancrespoj's post shows people in Caracas apartment buildings celebrating with fireworks, cheers, and shouts of joy at dusk/night — exactly the kind of spontaneous, from-the-balconies reaction that exploded across social media and news reports right after the U.S. operation.... No credible reporting suggests the video is old, staged, or from unrelated events (e.g., past protests or unrelated fireworks). It aligns with the timeline and widespread reports of street/apartment-level jubilation following the news of the capture.This is a genuinely historic (and highly controversial) moment — the first direct U.S. military capture of a sitting Latin American head of state since the 1989 Panama invasion — so the celebratory footage is consistent with what was happening."

And, according to Grok, Cristian Crespo is "a Latin American human rights activist."

"The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. "

pic.twitter.com/sYG2neeuoc

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) January 3, 2026

Just got off the phone with @SecRubio

He informed me that Nicolás Maduro has been arrested by U.S. personnel to stand trial on criminal charges in the United States, and that the kinetic action we saw tonight was deployed to protect and defend those executing the arrest warrant… https://t.co/lXCxhPoKSZ

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 3, 2026

AND: From the live updates at the NYT:

"The Islamic State’s history shows that when the group establishes a stable presence, it’s only a matter of time before it looks to wreak havoc around the world."

"It’s tempting to want to pretend that the chaos in West Africa isn’t an American problem, but the world isn’t that simple...."

Writes the Washington Post Editorial Board, in "Why West Africa is worth worrying about/Strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria are welcome but insufficient" (gift link).

"Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said the strike was a 'joint operation' targeting 'terrorist,' and it 'has nothing to do with a particular religion.'"

"Without naming Isis specifically, Tuggar said the operation had been planned 'for quite some time' and had used intelligence information provided by the Nigerians. He did not rule out further strikes, adding that this depended on 'decisions to be taken by the leadership of the two countries'.... The strike comes after Trump in late October threatened to send his military intervention in to Nigeria 'guns a-blazing' over what he said was a failure to stop violence targeting Christian communities. In a diplomatic turnaround earlier this week, Trump handed Nigeria a $1.6 billion aid package in exchange for the protection of Christians...."

From "US strikes Isis in Nigeria to protect ‘innocent Christians’, says Trump/The attacks on Islamic State were conducted with the co-operation of Nigeria after the US president threatened to go into the country ‘guns a-blazing'" (London Times).

"As their seventh month at sea begins, the sailors will get a rare treat of prime rib and lobster tails on Christmas Day."

"But neither the Navy nor the Pentagon has said when this deployment will end, nor whether there is another carrier being readied to take their place. At stake is whether Mr. Hegseth further extends the deployment to keep his military options open. If so, that decision will probably increase costs down the road by delaying crucial maintenance for the Ford and putting strain on the crew's morale."

From "Long Carrier Deployment Projects U.S. Strength, and Carries Costs/The U.S.S. Ford has been deployed for six months, now in the Caribbean as part of President Trump’s pressure campaign on Venezuela. Maintenance woes and strains on sailors will likely mount" (NYT).

The article quotes Senator Mark Kelly, who was deployed beyond 6 months during the 1991 Gulf War: "It kind of wears on you. And you start to see accidents start to happen — not just pilots crashing planes, necessarily, but accidents on the flight deck.... All kinds of stuff starts to happen when you’re out there for an extended period of time."

"María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this week... dodged a reporter’s question about her views on the threat of U.S. military action in Venezuela."

"But she repeated the Trump administration’s talking points on Mr. Maduro’s government, comparing him to a criminal mastermind engaged in a vast array of illegal activities in partnership with America’s adversaries. 'Venezuela has already been invaded,' she said. 'We have the Russian agents, we have the Iranian agents, we have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime. We have the Colombian guerrilla, the drug cartels.'... In response to questions about the seizure of the oil tanker, Ms. Machado said that she supported cutting the funds of Mr. Maduro’s government. She added that he finances himself with gold smuggling, human trafficking, drugs and illegal oil sales...."

From "Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado Vows to End Maduro’s Rule in Venezuela/María Corina Machado reappeared on the global stage as the Trump administration ramped up its pressure campaign against President Nicolás Maduro" (NYT).

ADDED: I'm reading "How Nobel peace prize winner María Machado fled Venezuela, in a wig/The Venezuelan opposition leader took great risks to reach Norway, where her daughter had accepted the prize, making a surprise appearance hours later" (London Times): "... Machado left her safe house in the Caracas suburbs on Monday night, wearing a wig and a disguise.... [and] embarked on a ten-hour journey through ten military checkpoints before reaching the coast by midnight. After resting for a few hours at a coastal fishing village, she and two others set out at 5am on a traditional wooden skiff — a small lightweight fishing boat with a shallow bottom, designed to be used near shore — and made the 35-mile trip across the Caribbean Sea to Curaçao, an island nation within the kingdom of the Netherlands. Strong winds and choppy seas delayed her crossing.... [A] source said that the Machado escape team alerted the US government 'so that they would not blow up the boat.' The opposition leader has been a vocal supporter of the Trump administration’s increased military presence in the area...."

AND: The NYT quotes Machado: "I believe that President Trump’s actions have been decisive to reach the point where we are right now, in which the regime is weaker than ever. You need to raise the cost of staying in power and lower the cost of leaving power. Only when you do that, this regime will break down. And that’s where we’re moving toward right now."