When Denmark European Parliament member Anders Vistisen stood before a microphone this week and bluntly told President Donald Trump to “F—— off,” he appeared to be echoing the general sentiment facing Trump back at home, according to the Washington Post.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell — who is universally recognized for expressing few personal opinions — responded with comparable disdain to panned subpoenas from Trump’s Justice Department related to a federal renovation project. Powell submitted a defiant video emphasizing the importance of “standing firm in the face of threats.”
The Post, in a story citing 'sharper pushback' in its headline, reports comparably stoic figures are now becoming markedly less stoic.
“On Thursday, former special counsel Jack Smith vigorously defended his efforts to prosecute Trump, telling a congressional committee that the president ‘willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold,’” according to the Post.
And when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth censured Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona), a retired and decorated Navy officer and astronaut for daring to remind U.S. military personnel that they can disregard some illegal orders, Kelly responded with his own vigorous clapback.
Kelly launched a lawsuit for violating a provision of the U.S. Constitution protecting the free speech rights of lawmakers. He’s also blasted Hegseth on X, accusing the secretary of wanting “our longest-serving military veterans to live with the constant threat that they could be deprived of their rank and pay years or even decades after they leave the military just because he or another Secretary of Defense doesn’t like what they’ve said.”
Even former president Bill Clinton — a demure non-voice in political circles of late — jumped in on the act, responding to a subpoena by Rep. James Comer (R-Kent.) with a hostile letter, pointing out that Republicans strangely dismissed seven of eight subpoenas without any of the subpoena targets “saying a single word.”
Clinton also blasted Republicans and their Republican president — whose name appears in the Epstein files countless times — for pardoning “people who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol” and calling them “heroes.”
Congressional Democrats, who initially responded meekly to Trump’s 2024 win, are now openly calling the president a “huckster,” in addition to other choice words, according to the Post. California Gov. Gavin Nesome, visibly pointed and laughed at the podium during Trump’s slurring, meandering speech in Davos.
According to the Post, there is no end to the mounting contempt and open defiance to the president, particularly among the U.S. population, which was out in force this week over the recent killing of a Minneapolis mother by Homeland Security agents and the federal occupation and presence in Trump’s targeted blue cities.
“Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told a press briefing after Good’s death that Trump officials’ account of what happened, which put the blame on Good, was ‘bulls——.’ He added, ‘To ICE, get the f—— out of Minneapolis,’ and he followed that up with a New York Times op-ed headlined, ‘Trump Is Lying to You,’” reports the Post.
At this point, the last remaining bastion of Trump’s loyal following appears to be Republicans, who are now facing ever-declining chances for re-election as the public’s opinion of their obeisance continues to sour.
Read the Washington Post report at this link.
