Good morning— or good afternoon— from Athens.

My take: the meritocracy produces careerist cowards who are too conformist and scared of failure to lead a true opposition to Trump.

Breaking: Donald Trump just illegally fired Democratic FTC Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter

My latest for MSNBC: Wall Street should have known better than to trust Donald Trump www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

Terrific @lindsayowens.bsky.social: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

The geniuses who make up America's financial elite didn't bother to take Trump seriously or literally. www.ft.com/content/a7c9...

"Our nation prospered because we were viewed internationally as a financially safe and trustworthy country ... As the political ascendance of Musk makes clear, our nation is increasingly a kleptocratic oligarchy, where billionaire money buys politicians and results. Nothing good can come of that."

Any Democrat who took Elon Musk and DOGE at face value for one single second is a fool. It was obvious something bad would happen, just not what form it would take.

Congrats to @robertgarcia.bsky.social, who is right about what's going on with DOGE and why it's important for Dems not to cooperate with this blatant power grab that will stiff anyone counting on Medicare, Social Security & other essential government programs. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

And what's the mystery with Gabriella Khalil's past jobs? Why won't she say where she worked? pic.x.com/ZGWGnOXltH

Then there is the Grand Cayman hotel this group is also involved in, which demonstrates it's really easy to get four-star press write-ups while treating the help like trash.

I am seriously not kidding.

Sunset, Manhattan Beach

And the conclusion -- it sums of multiple worlds.