Coffee Talk with Tiff

December 16, 2025 1:06 pm EST Tiff Coffee Talk with Tiff 0
Coffee. Photo by Jonathan Thursfield.

It’s Tuesday…

President Shitshow’s public schedule for…

12/16/2025:

• 9:00 AM – In-Town Pool Call Time
Translation: staff scramble, phones buzz, everyone waits to see which mood shows up.

• 2:00 PM – Ambassador Credentialing Ceremony
Location: Oval Office
Press: Closed
Diplomacy, but make it mysterious. You’re not invited. You’re never invited.

• 8:15 PM – Hanukkah Reception
Location: East Room
Press: Pre-credentialed
Holiday cheer with controlled access, because nothing says celebration like a vetted media list.

We finally got some economic numbers today, which usually means reality checking in whether it was invited or not. Almost immediately, Trump’s chief of staff discovered the other great truth of public life: if you babble to a reporter, the reporter may, in fact, report it. Between inconvenient data and inconvenient quotes, it’s shaping up to be just another one of those days in Bloated Ego’s America.

Jobs Report Tuesday…

BLS.gov:

I found this part a bit interesting:

Revisions:

We turn to our favorite (okay my favorite) charts guy Ben Casselman with the New York Times:

The big question is whether we can trust the numbers. For the most part, yes. Could things be worse than this report suggests? Sure. But this report is already pretty bad. And if they were going to fudge the data, you’d have to assume they’d fudge it better than this.

And with propaganda like this…

You don’t really need to fudge the numbers…

From Chief of Staff to the Babbler in Chief…

President Bloated Ego got his ego bruised this morning when Vanity Fair released their two part interview with Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

As she related it later, President Donald Trump was holding forth on the filibuster when Wiles stood up and started for the door. Trump eyed her. “Is this an emergency, that you have to leave?” he demanded. It was nothing of the sort—but Wiles left Trump guessing. She replied: “It’s an emergency. It doesn’t involve you.” With that, according to Wiles, she departed the Oval.

Wiles, wearing dark pants and a plain black leather top, met me in her office with a smile and a handshake. Over sandwiches from the White House Mess, we talked about the challenges Trump faces. Throughout the past year, Wiles and I have spoken regularly about almost everything: the contents, and consequences, of the Epstein files; ICE’s brutal mass deportations; Elon Musk’s evisceration of USAID; the controversial deployment of the National Guard to US cities; the demolition of the East Wing; the lethal strikes on boats allegedly being piloted by drug smugglers—acts many have called war crimes; Trump’s physical and mental health; and whether he will defy the 22nd Amendment and try to stay on for a third term.

Most senior White House officials parse their words and speak only on background. But over many on-the-record conversations, Wiles answered almost every question I put to her.

Vanity Fair (part 1). 12/16/2025.

The first part of the interview to listen to it, is 28 minutes long. I have not had that chance.

Wiles responded to the interview.

She doesn’t say the quotes are wrong. Nobody in this admin is saying the quotes are wrong.

JD Vance…

Doesn’t know what “conspiracy theorist” means…

What we need is less media and more propaganda media…

Since I haven’t read the full article(s). We will stop there and carry on.

Flash News

Speaker of the House Mike “I don’t have any Johnson left” Johnson told reporters today there will be no vote on extending the ACA subsidizes.

Show more =’s We worked on it all the way through the weekend, in fact. And in the end, there was not – an agreement wasn’t made. Now, everybody was at the table in good faith, and I certainly appreciate the views and the opinions of every member.”

Treasury Secretary Scott “I’m a rich fuck” Bessent says our housing market would be better if we go back to before the great recession regulations…

Bessent: stability oversight council and these 2008, 2009, 2010 financial rules were too tight. They have hamstrung the American financial system. It was time for a change. We are going to be safe, smart and sound in terms of our deregulation. But we have to take the financial system out of the straitjacket. This substantial increase in private credit which is outside of the regulated banking system—that tells me that the regulated system is too constrained and it’s not been able to compete with those who aren’t regulated. So we’re leveling the playing field and I believe that we can do that in a way that creates trillions of dollars in credit for this very strong economy.

Beatrice Arthur Blank Stare GIFfrom Beatrice Arthur GIFs

If you look up eat the rich it shows a picture of Bessent…

Hegshit says he has no intention of releasing that second strike from September that was totally a war crime.

That’s it for today.

This is an open thread

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About Tiff 3418 Articles
Member of the Free Press who is politically homeless and a political junkie.