Trump’s Big, Hideous Ballroom

Even with everything else going on, some crimes against taste are too outrageous to ignore.

WILLIAM KRISTOL, ANDREW EGGER, AND JIM SWIFT AUG 1

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Some not-great news on the jobs front this morning. The economy added 73,000 jobs in July, far below the expected 110,000. Worse: There were some serious revisions downward for the prior two months. May went from 144,000 jobs added to 19,000; June went from 147,000 jobs added to 14,000. We expect Trump to declare that this is Joe Biden’s economy now.

Mercifully, we can distract ourselves from this shaky economic news with this interesting story from the BBC about oh God, oh man, oh yikes—

A radioactive wasp nest with radiation levels ten times of what is allowed under regulations was found at a facility that once produced parts for US nuclear weapons, federal officials said.

“The wasp nest was sprayed to kill wasps, then bagged as radioactive waste,” says a US Department of Energy report released last week. No wasps were found at the site near Aiken in South Carolina.

CNN hastened to add that “officials said there is no danger to anyone”—leaving unsaid the obvious exception of unless you happen to get stung by one of these bad boys. Happy Friday.

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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt displays a rendering for a new White House ballroom during the daily press briefing on July 31, 2025. (Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.)

One Big Beautiful Ballroom

by William Kristol

I know, I know. No one likes a party pooper. No one welcomes a finger wagger. No one likes an old grouch.

I try to remind myself of this every now and then. Because it’s hard not to be all of these things in the age of Trump. The unfortunate epoch in which we find ourselves provides so many opportunities for one’s inner Eeyore, one’s barely suppressed Debbie Downer, one’s sublimated-with-difficulty censorious moralizer, to break out.

Donald Trump wants to knock down the fine old East Wing of the White House and replace it with a giant ballroom. That’s too kind. Really, he’s turning the stately White House into Mar-a-Lago North! It should be called the Juan and Eva Peron Ballroom! As a friend remarked, it looks like Versailles took a giant dump on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Here in America, ballrooms should be in hotels, not in the People’s House! Oh, for the good old days of democratic dignity and republican restraint!

And I would add, at the risk of turning this newsletter into House & Garden, that now the White House has a nicely balanced look, with a West Wing and an East Wing flanking its central structure. Trump wants to destroy that. And how nicely old-fashioned and modest those simple names were: the West Wing and East Wing! How soon will they be sacrificed in the cause of “naming opportunities?”

I could go on. I want to go on! It’s vulgar! It’s distasteful! It’s a sad sign of our distempered times!

Feast your eyes.

But I won’t go on. I will show strength of character.

Of course, I should also acknowledge reality. The East Wing as we know it has only existed since 1942, when it was added by Franklin D. Roosevelt to cover the construction of an underground bunker. The First Lady has only had offices there since 1977. The West Wing, which it so elegantly balances, is itself an early-twentieth-century addition.

I take the point. I will lighten up.

Vulgarity is endemic to democracy. And it’s particularly endemic now, to a democracy that twice elected Donald Trump. The One Big Beautiful Ballroom is the least of the damaging legacies he’s going to leave us. Compared to the real damage he’s doing to our polity and our society—compared to all the indecency and illegality, this is a mere footnote, and a minor one at that.

What, after all, is a mere garish ballroom when Trump evades the truth about and minimizes the horror of the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein? Who cares about a tsunami of gold Chiavari chairs when we watch his FBI Director lie as he claims newly discovered documents proved the claim of Russian interference in the 2016 election was an invention of Democrats?

All of this makes one want to say of Donald Trump what Abraham Lincoln said in 1858 about Stephen Douglas’s apparent moral neutrality on the institution of slavery: “He is blowing out the moral lights around us. . . . he is penetrating, so far as lies in his power, the human soul, and eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty [in] the public mind.”

Hold on! You’re overdoing it! No more moralizing!

I’ve got to lighten up.

But, my God. I can’t. Did you see that Florida governor Ron DeSantis has named today, August 1, Hulk Hogan Day? “In honor of a great Floridian, Hulk Hogan, we are lowering the flags at the capitol and in Pinellas County tomorrow. Additionally, I am officially declaring tomorrow, August 1st, 2025, as ‘Hulk Hogan Day’ in Florida.”

How many Floridians have done notable things to help their neighbors and their country? How many Floridians have real achievements in science, in the arts, in civic life? “Hulk Hogan Day”? Really? That’s what we’ve come to?

It appears so. Maybe, in fact, that’s what we’ve always been, to some degree.

And I should husband my outrage for the “Alligator Alcatraz,” where people are being mistreated as a result of truly cruel and indecent policies. That’s a real disgrace to our county. “Hulk Hogan” day is kind of harmless, I guess.

OK, so I’ll let Hulk Hogan go by without comment. No finger wagging.

But still, there are lines I can not cross, and crimes I can’t countenance. And they extend to the world of civic architecture. I must say—once more for the record—that I am horrified and appalled by Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Ballroom.

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Don’t miss the good news on poverty reduction in 2025

Policy Options · 4 hours ago

by policyoptions@irpp.org (Richard Matern, Geranda Notten, Sofia Seer)

By: Richard Matern, Geranda Notten and Sofia Seer.

For the first time in two years, living standards have improved modestly for materially less well-off Canadians. The other piece of good news is the major improvement in seniors’ ability to afford regular dental care thanks to the Canadian Dental Care Plan, a recent federal anti-poverty initiative. But only the first development is likely to show up in Canada’s official income-based poverty statistics. They’ll miss the second altogether. There is a way to prevent the omission, though.

A timely and accurate tracker

Official income poverty statistics measure whether households’ income falls below a poverty line, but the material deprivation index (MDI) tracks the number of Canadians who cannot afford two or more items of an eleven-item scale. Containing a selection of goods, services and activities that many Canadians consider necessary for a decent standard of living, the MDI measures outcomes arising from a lack of money, be it income or another financial resource. The MDI was developed and tested in 2023, and since then Food Banks Canada has continued collecting annual surveys during the spring. Figure 1 shows that the rate of poverty went from 25 per cent in 2023 to 33 per cent in 2024, then down to 28 per cent in 2025, according to the MDI. This suggests that living standards among Canada’s materially less well-off first deteriorated considerably between 2023 and 2024 and then improved modestly in 2025. The MDI trend follows that of inflation and wage growth, both well-known and major drivers of living standards, with inflation gradually reducing to a normal level in 2024 (after reaching a record level in 2022) and wage growth slowly regaining some of that lost purchasing power.

How the MDI works

One advantage of the MDI is that the data can be collected and released much quicker than income data, with the latter originating from administrative tax data that are released 16 months after the end of the reference year. Another advantage is that the MDI automatically and exactly accounts for any shortfalls between income and increases in the costs of living as experienced by each individual household. Canada’s official poverty measure, the market basket measure (MBM), only accounts for average increases in consumer prices, while households’ specific experiences may differ considerably. For instance, the MDI captures the impact of a tenant who is forced to move from a rent-controlled unit to one at the current market price, whereas the MBM would not. Another commonly used income poverty measure, the low-income measure (LIM), doesn’t say anything about whether low-income households can afford the high cost of living. Table 1 shows the eleven components in the MDI and the proportion of Canadian adults who said they could not afford them. Most components show a similar rise that is followed by a fall compared to the overall MDI (Figure 1). This co-movement is not surprising because the MDI’s components were selected to form a scale that can track the level and severity of material deprivation, within and across populations, and over time. It is intentionally a shortlist of necessities commonly deemed important for a large part of the population rather than a comprehensive list. The variation in incidence rates across deprivation items is also intentional and reflects the fact that items with a lower incidence tend to reflect more severe deprivation. The MDI can track the poverty reduction effects of policies that reduce the need for out-of-pocket spending, such as the Canadian Dental Care Plan, whereas income poverty measures would partially or altogether miss them. Anti-poverty policies reduce poverty by increasing the financial resources available to households or by reducing the need for such resources in attaining a certain living standard. Income transfers and progressive taxing are examples of the former, whereas the Canadian Dental Care Plan is an example of the latter. The dental plan is a federal government program that covers a portion of the costs of various dental care services for eligible Canadian residents who do not currently have dental insurance and have a household income below $90,000. The program initially focused on seniors aged 70 and above in December 2023, expanding in May 2024 to seniors aged 65 and older, individuals qualifying for a disability tax credit and children under 18, and in May 2025 to all remaining eligible Canadians. The program is projected to cost $4.4 billion per year, reflecting a considerable ongoing investment in social policy. The dental plan thus works by reducing out-of-pocket spending on dental care for eligible Canadians and the gradual phase-in of the program meant that by the MDI data collection in the spring of 2025, the program was open to all eligible seniors and children. The MDI can pick up this effect because it tracks material outcomes. One pathway through which this works is by freeing up money the household previously spent on dental care for other necessities. Income poverty measures may only partially pick up the effect or not at all because the program doesn’t involve an income transfer or a tax credit. The MDI rates suggest that the dental plan may be having such an effect. Figure 2 shows the MDI rates for the entire population, seniors and households with children. Whereas all groups register a reduction in MDI rate between 2024 and 2025, reductions are larger for seniors and households with children, reaching close to or below 2023 levels, whereas the MDI for the overall population is still three percentage points above the 2023 level. As an aside, the well below average MDI rates for seniors indicate that their risk of poverty is low compared to the entire population. Income poverty and food insecurity statistics similarly show this. Much of the credit for this result goes to the relatively generous minimum pension income programs, old age security and the general income supplement. A second pathway through the poverty reduction effect of the Canadian Dental Care Plan is picked up by the MDI is through the item “not able to get regular dental care.” When developing this index in 2022-23, we included this item in the index because 82 per cent of Canadians consider regular dental care a necessity (table 14 in the link). Simultaneously, well-known gaps in dental insurance coverage meant that considerable number of Canadians need to spend out of pocket to obtain dental care or forego needed dental care services altogether. And thus, while MDIs, such as the one used here, are not designed to specifically measure the effects of certain programs, the dental item allows for a more focused assessment of the potential effect of the dental plan with Figure 3 showing the evolution of incidence rates for this item for the entire population, seniors and households with children. Whereas the rate declined for all three groups between 2024 and 2025, the decline was particularly strong for seniors, with 20 per cent of seniors not having or being able to afford dental care in 2024, down to 10 per cent in 2025. While a statistical evaluation using these data could yield stronger evidence, these findings suggest that the dental plan may have reduced poverty.

How an MDI can be used

In short, these results reinforce the benefits of incorporating an MDI as a complement to current income-based poverty measures. Benefits include being able to help better assess progress on poverty reduction, enable more in-depth analysis of the effects of poverty reduction policies, and provide more real-time feedback on current economic conditions. In these turbulent times, a strong Canada means we must not only track the full scope of poverty but also highlight when our efforts to address it are successful. Combining these different poverty indicators can enable us to do this and invest more in policies that create an acceptable standard of living for all Canadians. The authors thank Alexi White for his feedback on an earlier draft.

Tokamak fusion reactor turns mercury into gold

Tokamak fusion reactor turns mercury into gold

Marathon Fusion says it can produce gold as fusion reactor byproduct

By David Szondy

July 24, 2025

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Fusion reactors could turn common mercury into gold

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The dream of the ancient alchemists may come true as Marathon Fusion announces that its tokamak fusion reactor technology can turn common mercury into gold as a byproduct of fusion operations in quantities that would make Auric Goldfinger blush.

Since the days of the ancient Greeks, practitioners of alchemy pursued the goal of learning how to make the fabled Philosopher's Stone that would allow them to turn base metals like lead, tin, iron, copper, and mercury into gold. Using techniques that mixed crude chemistry with esoteric metaphysics, it was an exercise that was as much a seeking of spiritual enlightenment as a get-rich-quick scheme.

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However, though they made many discoveries and formed the foundations of modern chemistry, the only gold these alchemists created was what the more unscrupulous among them could con out of greedy backers with dreams of avarice.

In the 20th century, physicists cracked the secret of transmutation using the power of the atom, but the amount of gold produced in the laboratory was so minuscule and the process so expensive that it was hardly worth the effort.

Today, chrysopoeia, as the process of transmutation is called in more refined circles that have an aggravating desire to make people reach for the dictionary, may become a practical reality. And like many technological advances these days, it's the side benefit of another creation.

According to Marathon Fusion – a company dedicated to the development of fusion energy components – a tokamak fusion reactor can not only produce limitless clean energy, but five tonnes of gold out from mercury for every gigawatt (~2.5 GWth) of electricity generated.

Put simply, the method is similar to one proposed to allow reactors to manufacture their own tritium fuel. This is done by lining the reactor vessel with a layer of lithium. When the lithium absorbs a neutron from the fusion reaction, it splits into an alpha particle and a tritium atom. If you replace the lithium with the very common mercury-198 isotope (or better yet, a lithium/mercury alloy), a fast neutron will turn it into unstable mercury-197. This then undergoes an electron decay that turns into (ta da!) gold-197. Oh, and there's tritium as well, if you're using the alloy.

In a recent preprint paper still awaiting peer review, Marathon scientists suggest using mercury that has been enriched to 90% of the desired isotope for the best reaction results. After being exposed to the reactor, the amalgam can be treated chemically to separate the gold. Since gold is a nearly inert noble element, this is a relatively simple process.

As to the economics, since gold is now selling for US$3,388.50 per troy ounce, five tonnes per year works out to US$544,792,869.75. That would defray a lot of reactor operating costs with enough left over for a very nice lunch with a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Champagne 1982 to wash it down.

Source: Marathon Fusion

 

5 scenarios for staving off a dictatorship

Trump’s momentum is alarming, but we can fight back and win.

MARK JACOB JUL 14

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We’re in a terrible mess, people. The White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court are in right-wing authoritarian hands. The police state is being built. Major institutions in the media, higher education, and the legal profession have capitulated.

It’s becoming harder to be both a democracy defender and an optimist. But it’s not time to give up. In a nation of fighters and folders, let’s be fighters.

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Here are five scenarios for how we could escape from this mess.

The best-case scenario: Voting our way out

I hear people on cable news say, “In the midterms …” and I shout at the television: “You mean if there are midterms! IF!”

I’m worried that Donald Trump will invent or exploit a national crisis to suspend civil rights, send troops into all major cities, and postpone or cancel the midterms.

This is one reason why large demonstrations are important. We need the Trump regime to be so worried about mass protests that it’s afraid to cancel the midterms. You can join the next major protest on Thursday, July 17. It’s called "Good Trouble Lives On," a tribute to civil rights leader John Lewis on the fifth anniversary of his death. Find an event near you.

Even if the midterms happen, there’s the issue of fairness. Republicans are trying to expand their already outrageous gerrymandering. And federal support to help states protect our elections has been largely dismantled by the Trump regime.

However, if we can manage to claw back control of Congress, or at least the House, we can start the long climb out of this nightmare.

A messy scenario: Fighting a coup with people power

Let’s say Trump cancels the midterms or rigs them. That’s when we have to get into the streets again with mass protests. Would that stop Trump and his gang from ending democracy? It depends on whether you and people like you get involved.

People power is one of the few weapons we have, and we see examples in other countries. Last December, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s power grab was thwarted when opposition politicians and throngs of protesters acted quickly to defy his declaration of martial law. Just last week, trade unions in India conducted a one-day general strike to protest Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic policies.

The really scary possibility – one that Trump has rehearsed by sending the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles – is the regime ordering American troops to fire on American demonstrators, which, horrifyingly, is not entirely without precedent in the US. And Trump has expressed admiration for China's massacre of peaceful protesters in 1989. "When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Trump said. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”

An unlikely scenario: SCOTUS grows a spine

Not much about our slide into fascism has surprised me, but I’ll admit I didn't expect the Supreme Court to give kingly powers to Trump. After all, if Trump becomes a full-fledged dictator, the highest court becomes meaningless. Do the right-wing justices only want to wear freshly dry-cleaned robes every day? Don't they want influence?

Based on the idea that some right-wing justices might not want to be puppets, it’s possible that at some point they push back on Trump in a meaningful way. But would they be ignored? After all, SCOTUS does not have an army. On the other hand, Trump’s outright defiance of the Supreme Court could be the last straw that gets some people off their couches and into the streets.

An even less likely scenario: this Congress grows a spine

After congressional Republicans have endorsed Trump’s cruelty and corruption, is it possible that a new Trump scandal could cause them to repudiate him? I doubt it.

I mean, what could it be? The “pee tape”? New Jeffrey Epstein evidence? There have been so many “deal-breakers” already, and they didn't break the deal.

Perhaps there’s a glimmer of hope in the lame ducks. For example, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced he won’t run for re-election and then voted against Trump’s awful megabill. Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa is also considering retiring. The GOP’s margin is even tighter in the House, which could become a bulwark against a Trump dictatorship if just a few Republicans freed themselves from re-election pressures and voted for democracy.

But at this point, expecting a Republican politician to grow a conscience seems like wishful thinking.

Another unlikely scenario: The regime collapsing due to its own incompetence

Could the Trump presidency become so dysfunctional that his base erodes? The regime is built on bigotry, grievance, and grift, none of which contribute to a well-run government. Military plans were shared with a reporter. The economy is being vandalized with trade wars. Once-conquered diseases are coming back. And the response to the Texas flooding has been botched.

Trump’s top officials are interested in money and power, not public service, so there’s plenty of infighting that makes things worse. For example, the knives are already out for Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Then there’s Trump himself, a 79-year-old whose mental lapses get worse every day. Can he last through an entire four-year term? How bad will it have to get before his enablers assign him to full-time duty on the golf course? And will Jake Tapper have anything to say about it?

If Trump were to leave office early, none of his prominent lieutenants could retain the level of fanatical loyalty he inspired. While a recent poll put Trump’s favorability at a weak 46%, Vice President JD Vance’s was worse, at 41%. The cult of personality is not transferable.

But let me be clear: While I’m raising the idea of Trump’s disability for public office, I’m not wishing him ill health. If it were up to me, he’d be healthy and hard at work in a prison laundry.