Ted Rall's Rallblog
- ️Thu Nov 12 2020
Biden, Trump and an Offer Zelenskyy Can’t Refuse
March 3, 2025
Of course it’s galling to see Donald Trump shake down his ally Ukraine for a massive share of its mineral resources. But let’s not forget, Joe Biden set the stage by offering assistance to Zelensky in the form of a loan rather than a grant.
Dulce et Decorum Est Bellum Impendere
February 28, 2025
Trump’s decision to cut weapons sales to Ukraine means that a war that would have ended up in defeat years from now will end up in defeat now, instead. Sadly, billions of dollars in weapons sales will be lost.
Hard-Boiled Tales of Resistance
February 26, 2025
Democrats’ idea of “resistance” to Trump is considerably less substantial than actual resistance to fascism looked like during World War II. And it probably shouldn’t have started with a unanimous vote for neoconservative maniac Marco Rubio.
To the Barricades for Beleaguered Bureaucrats!
February 24, 2025
As Elon Musk’s DOGE cost-cutting brigade ordered mass layoffs and targeted entire agencies, Democrats who tried to use the cuts to rally Americans may have been surprised to learn that the trials and tribulations of bureaucrats don’t resonate with voters who don’t understand what bureaucrats do in the first place.
The Outsourcing of Politics
February 21, 2025
In many countries, politics happens 365 days a year. Citizens hold their governments’ feet to the fire when they’re unhappy. Not so in the United States. We outsource politics to the politicians and check in every two to four years to see how they’ve been doing.
Never Forget
February 19, 2025
Israelis are taught to “never forget” the Holocaust. In the case of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and his right wing followers, however, they seem to have taken genocide as something to emulate rather than to avoid.
A Democrat Would Never Do This
February 17, 2025
Even if you didn’t vote for Donald Trump and you hate his guts, you have to be jealous of how much he’s doing so quickly. Liberal Democrats can’t even imagine one of their presidents leaping into action like this.
Democrats’ Work Is Done
February 14, 2025
As the DNC met to elect a new chairman, attendees admitted that the Democratic Party doesn’t have a message. If they had a message, they don’t know what it would say or to whom it would be delivered. Nor do they have a charismatic leader in the wings who might be able to articulate that message.
Elon Musk on the Rampage
February 10, 2025
DOGE leader Elon Musk is gutting government agencies, including US-AID. Why do so many liberals and Democrats seem to get more agitated about Trump’s war on DC bureaucrats than capitalism’s longstanding war against ordinary Americans?
“The Stringer”
graphic novel
by Ted Rall & Pablo G. Callejo
“Political Suicide: The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party”
by Ted Rall
“Bernie (Revised 2020 Edition)”
by Ted Rall
The Russians Are Coming? Not Really.
Trump’s interest in rapprochement with Russia and his annoyance with Ukraine, embodied by last week’s Oval Office shouting match, has corporate pundits and politicians freaking out. Trump’s former national security advisor, H.R. McMaster, said Trump’s dressing down of Volodymyr Zelensky made him “ashamed for my nation”—something he’s never said about Guantánamo or torture or invading Iraq or even racism. Whenever U.S. support for Ukraine gets questioned, count on militaristic whores to drag out cut-and-paste fearmongering from the Cold War era. Putin aims to “absorb Ukraine, all of it, and likely the other former states of the Soviet Union, too,” the editorial board of Canada’s Globe and Mail claimed in 2022. “Putin’s Ukraine invasion is the first time in 80 years that a great power has moved to conquer a sovereign nation,” Mitt Romney wrote in 2022. Um—Afghanistan? Iraq? Panama? “It echoes Hitler’s absorption of Czechoslovakia and his lust for Poland. But even more, it reflects Putin’s drive…
TMI Show Ep 89: “Trump vs. Zelensky: Wars, Words, and Europe’s Panic”
Live at 10 am Eastern/9 am Central time, and Streaming 24-7 Thereafter: In this episode of “The TMI Show,” hosts Ted Rall and Manila Chan dive into the latest developments in the Russo-Ukrainian War, spotlighting a fiery news conference between Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The duo unpacks the contentious exchange that unfolded in the White House, where sharp words and clashing agendas left the room buzzing and Europe on edge. Joined by international relations expert Mark Sleboda, they explore Trump’s provocative stance, Zelensky’s pushback, and what it all means for the conflict’s trajectory. Sleboda brings his keen insights to the table, dissecting how European leaders are rallying—or scrambling—in response, from diplomatic maneuvers to public statements. Ted and Manila pull no punches, questioning whether this marks a shift in U.S. policy or just another chapter in Trump’s unpredictable playbook. They also examine the ripple effects across NATO and the EU, where unease is palpable. Expect a no-holds-barred discussion…
DMZ America Podcast Ep 195: Dems Finally Admit Biden Was Senile
Live at 12 noon Eastern/11 am Central time, and Streaming 24-7 Thereafter: Now that Biden is out, Democrats who repeatedly dismissed claims of his dementia are shifting their stance, prompted by mounting evidence and political fallout. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson’s upcoming book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” set for release on May 20, exposes a alleged “cover-up” of Biden’s “serious decline,” based on over 200 interviews with insiders. The book highlights how Biden’s team concealed his diminishing faculties, a narrative Democrats now grapple with post-2024 election loss. Top figures like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, once silent or defensive, are implicated as likely aware of the truth, per sources like the Wall Street Journal. Even Barack Obama is suggested to have suspected Biden’s condition, yet the party maintained a united front. Tapper, previously downplaying concerns, now frames Biden’s re-election bid as “narcissistic” and “reckless,” signaling a broader Democratic…
TMI Show Ep 88: Chaos in Trumpworld
Live at 10 am Eastern/9 am Central time, and Streaming 24-7 Thereafter: The Trump administration has sparked controversy with aggressive moves to reshape the federal government and military. Budget director Russell Vought ordered federal agencies to plan mass layoffs, targeting thousands of workers at agencies like the IRS, FEMA, and Social Security Administration, aligning with Trump and Elon Musk. Over 20,000 federal employees have been fired, prompting lawsuits from unions and outrage from affected workers. Now a federal judge has ruled that all of those firings were illegal and must be reversed. Simultaneously, Trump executed a dramatic Pentagon purge, firing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. C.Q. Brown and five other top officers, aiming to make military leadership loyal to him, and plans to expel transgender soldiers, airmen and sailors. Critics, including lawmakers, warn this politicizes the military, with some alleging a rejection of “woke” policies. Courts are blocking other initiatives like changes to birthright citizenship. Public and political backlash is growing,…
TMI Show Ep 87: Recession Fears
Live at 10 am Eastern/9 am Central time, and Streaming 24-7 Thereafter: Historically, Bloomberg Economics has used a recession probability model that incorporates factors like housing permits, consumer sentiment, corporate profit outlooks, and Treasury yield gaps. It doesn’t always work. For example, in October 2022, they projected a 100% chance of a U.S. recession by October 2023, driven by aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes, tightening financial conditions, and persistent inflation. Here we go again. Consumer confidence fell this month by the most since August 2021 on concerns about the outlook for the broader economy, Bloomberg notes. Many consumers think we’ll see a recession later this year. That pessimism has more than half of consumers delaying major life plans due to uncertainty over the economy and the consequences of Trump’s tariff threats. Of those, about a third said they were putting off buying a home while one in six have postponed education plans—and one in eight have pushed back retirement. On…