Notices by JA Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)

Trump does not have the knowledge or the will to drive the U.S. economy; all he can do is demand allegiance. If prices go up, that's the point. If allies retaliate, all the better. Pain is the performance. The more Americans are made to struggle, the more devotion can be measured.

This is economic nationalism as religion—ritualized suffering, blind loyalty, and faith in a strongman savior.

The numbers barely matter—ten percent, twenty-five, fifty. What matters is the theater: the countdown, the choreographed chaos, the flag-wrapped announcement.

Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" has landed.

Liberation from what? Accountability? Cooperation? Reality? He's celebrating a barrage of tariffs—the economic equivalent of lighting your house on fire and calling it a renovation.

There's no liberation here. It's coercion. It's control. 🧵

This is masochistic nationalism, and it's not new. MAGA has always fixated on pain as a path to purification. From the cultish obsession with economic ruin to the glorification of border brutality, suffering is not a consequence to be managed—it's a feature to be worshipped.

"Progressives need to abandon trans issues" MATE DO I HAVE A POEM FOR YOU

As the world economy buckles under the weight of one man's delusions, the rest of the nationalist world is waking up to the fact that Trump was never a friend, never an ally, never an example. Merely a wrecking ball looking for somewhere to swing.
https://www.theindex.media/trumps-trade-war-just-nuked-his-international-fan-club/

PSA: Under any other President the unsolved and mysterious deaths of 4 US servicemen in an allied foreign country would be front page news.

If someone needs to belittle, berate, or break others to feel powerful, they’re not a genius—they’re a tyrant in a hoodie, a bully with a pitch deck, a tantrum in search of a title.

And we should stop fucking clapping.
https://www.joanwestenberg.com/stop-conflating-genius-with-asshole/

The thing about “freedom of speech” guys is they never mean yours.

Cory Booker just obliterated Strom Thurmond’s record for the longest Senate speech.

The old record was set by a white supremacist trying to kill civil rights.

The new one?

By a Black senator fighting for them.

That’s the headline.

You know what’s even more amazing than an AI generated headshot?

A professionally taken headshot.

By a freelancer who knows what the fuck they’re doing.

Support photographers.

They’re worth it.

Featurecide: the slow killing of a product’s soul in pursuit of every trend that moves the needle on engagement metrics, no matter how disconnected it is from the original mission.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/this-is-peak-featurecide/

This year, I founded an indie news blog doing long-form Op-eds.

It's 100% free and 100% reader funded. No venture capital, no ads, no bullshit.

And it is unapologetically opposed to Nazi fuckery.

Read/subscribe and support:
https://www.theindex.media

happy trans day of invincibility 🖕

Every time an authoritarian con-artist is held accountable, every time the mask slips in a courtroom, the spell weakens.

It takes pressure. It takes a public that doesn't flinch when the volume gets turned up. It takes faith - not in the perfection of institutions, but in their potential.

https://www.theindex.media/authoritarian-grift-meets-the-grind-of-justice/

Billionaires don't 'create jobs' - consumer demand creates jobs. Billionaires just hoard the profits those jobs generate.

If Elon Musk actually leaves DOGE in May, don’t celebrate. And don't let up. Escaping accountability is his whole game. He’s a Nazi, propping up fascism, wrecking lives, and laundering cruelty. Keep the pressure on. Torch his brand. Shatter his legacy. Make sure history spits on his name.

When people say 'politics is too divisive now,' what they really mean is 'I was more comfortable when certain groups suffered quietly.'

How the ever living fuck did we reach the point where the actual teachings of Jesus Christ are considered a radical leftist position rather than basic human decency

Literally nobody in Greenland wants these assholes (and yes this is real)