Mary Geddry

Operation Epic Fury and the Politics of Self-Worship From Melania’s glossy infomercial to Trump’s Keen-tucky firehose, everything in Trumpworld becomes branding first and consequences later, even war.

Friday the 13th in Trumpworld: Melania turns Women’s History Month into a brand reel, Trump turns Kentucky into an ego circus, and “Operation Epic Fury” is already killing troops. #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Women, According to Trump A White House event for mothers and working women dissolved into compliments, campaign riffs, culture-war sludge, and the usual gravitational pull of Trump’s ego.

#Trump held a #WhiteHouse event for women and mothers and somehow turned it into a rambling infomercial for himself, his “big beautiful bill,” his culture-war obsessions, and his own myth. Real women told real stories. He treated them like props. #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Trump’s War, Putin’s Windfall As households and businesses absorb the economic shock, the Kremlin is raking in oil money and Ukraine is left to pay the real price.

Trump’s latest war of choice is hitting families at the pump and businesses on shipping costs. #Russia is reportedly pulling in an extra $110M-$160M a day as oil prices surge, giving #Putin fresh war revenue while Ukraine pays the real price. #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Epic Fury, Inflatable Refineries, and Other Signs of Collapse Oil surges, shipping lanes choke, allies recoil, and Trump responds the only way he knows how: with swagger, tariff threats, voter suppression panic, and a Texas refinery inflated into a personal monu

Oil above $100, #Hormuz turning into an economic choke point, #Hegseth selling vengeance as leadership, Trump launching fresh tariff chaos, and the Brownsville refinery story exposed as another giant inflation of ego and numbers. #uspolitics #kakistocracy
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Kakistocracy at the Choke Point Trump’s war chaos is burning ships, raising gas prices, and forcing the rest of the world to raid emergency oil reserves.

Burning ships in Hormuz. Rising gas prices. Allies scrambling to open emergency oil reserves for a crisis they were never properly consulted on. It’s #kakistocracy with global consequences. Maximum lethality, minimum competence. #uspolitics #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

I wrote about what happens when extremists get a foothold in local office. In Coos County, we’ve watched conspiracy politics, intimidation, and cruelty get laundered through the machinery of government. This is not just one man. It’s a political project. #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Very Complete Pretty Much Trump tries to narrate victory in Iran while markets wobble, shipping chokes, clean energy takes another hit, and the Big Lie keeps shambling forward at home.

We follow Trump’s “Operation Epic Failure” from #Iran and the #StraitofHormuz to rising oil prices, climate sabotage, and election clown shows back home. #uspolitics #foreignpolicy #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Oil, Spin, and the Art of the Imperial Sales Pitch As crude prices fell on shifting rhetoric, Trump tried to sell war, market calm, and personal glory all at once with “Trump 250” as the garnish.

Oil prices fell. #Trump declared victory. The bombs are still warm. I wrote about how the messaging shifted, why markets reacted, and how even America’s 250th somehow became part of the same gaudy Trump branding machine. #uspolitics #kakistocracy
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The Spike Is Temporary. The Damage Is Not. The administration wants you to believe this is a short-lived fuel shock. But diesel, destroyed spare capacity, and corporate pricing say otherwise.

The spike may be temporary. The damage is not. My latest on how Trump’s #Iran escalation helped harden the regime, wreck oil market buffers, and set up another round of sticky price hikes for everyone else. #uspolitics #oilprices #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

God Mode, Gas Prices, and the Gathering Recession Trump and Hegseth are treating war like a video game while oil surges, the labor market weakens, allies scramble, and the global bill keeps climbing.

#Trump and #Hegseth are treating war like a video game while the real-world costs pile up: oil spikes, recession fears, poisoned skies, fraying alliances, and a Pentagon talking like a crusader livestream. #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

“Deaths Are Part of War” After a ceremony for fallen troops, Trump shrugs, then threatens widened targeting. Abroad, the shrug reads like policy.

If you want to understand this moment, stop translating Trump into pundit English. Let the tape run. New Substack on bluster, war, and why the Middle East hears threat where U.S. media hears “optics.” #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The Doral Doctrine Trump launches the “Shield of the Americas” at his own resort, Venezuela as the proof-of-concept, Mexico as the target list, and missiles pitched like room service.

Trump hosted his “Shield of the Americas” summit at his own Doral resort and pitched a new “Americas Counter Cartel Coalition” built on “lethal military force,” floated missiles “right into the living room,” and let Hegseth sell gym-bro energy. #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

No Respawn Button The administration marketed the Iran attack like a game, then watched markets, allies, and the region prove war doesn’t come with retries.

The #WhiteHouse tried to sell the Iran attack like a video game, literally, a killstreak-style montage, while a Dubai establishment billionaire (Habtoor) fired back: “Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?” #uspolitics #kakistocracy

open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Top Gun Propaganda, Bottom-Shelf Stockpiles Trump demands “unconditional surrender” as Qatar declares force majeure and the Pentagon starts panic-pep-rallying missile factories.

Trump’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” posting meets the supply-chain of reality: Ras Laffan hit, force majeure declared, oil jitters, interceptor burn rates, and a #Pentagon pep rally that basically translates to “we’re fine… but build it yesterday.” #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Trump Fires Puppy Killer Kristi Noem, Replaces Her With an MMA Fighter After a disastrous hearing and a $220 million propaganda scandal, Noem gets shuffled into a made-up job and Trump taps Senator Markwayne Mullin, who may have learned about it on Truth Social

Trump just fired #KristiNoem as Homeland Security Secretary after a brutal hearing and a $220M propaganda scandal.

Her replacement? A “MAGA warrior” MMA fighter #MarkWayneMullin
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

More Gravy Than Grave Dickens warned that indigestion can produce ghosts. In today’s Washington, it apparently produces wars.

A war launched on “gut instinct.”
No phase two plan.
Gas prices already rising.

We warned during the tariff fiasco this kind of governance is #kakistrophic.

Ukraine’s drone revolution, and the consequences of Congress refusing to act.
#uspolitics #foreignpolicy
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The $130 Billion Tariff Hangover A federal judge just ordered the government to start refunding the money from Trump’s illegal tariffs, proof that “tariffs are free money” was always economic fiction, and a reminder of what happens

A judge has ordered the government to start refunding $130+ billion in unlawful #tariffs.

This is what happens when Congress refuses to use its constitutional powers over the purse while presidents stretch emergency authorities. A kakistrophic lesson. #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The Man Running DHS Who Doesn’t Officially Work There Kristi Noem told Congress Corey Lewandowski has no role approving contracts. Internal records tell a different story.

#KristiNoem told Congress #CoreyLewandowski has no role approving DHS contracts.

Internal DHS documents reportedly show his signature on the approval chain before contracts reach her desk.

So why is a “volunteer” helping control spending? #uspolitics
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Unlimited Ammo, No Exit Strategy Trump’s “virtually unlimited” war meets uneasy allies, skeptical voters, and a region already preparing for the long fight.

#Iran appears to be executing a retaliation plan prepared long before the strikes that killed its leadership. Now allies are pushing back, #Congress is scrambling over war powers, and Trump’s base is questioning the conflict. #uspolitics #middleeast #kakistocracy
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

God Mode Diplomacy Unlimited ammo, embargo Spain, blame the windmills, inside Trump’s bilateral meeting that played like a multiplayer video game.

Trump’s bilateral somehow included “unlimited” ammunition, threats to embargo Spain, windmills “ruining the fields,” Sharia courts in London, and a grievance about Diego Garcia, while Chancellor Merz calmly talked trade and Ukraine’s security. #uspolitics

open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Maximum Authorities, Minimum Accountability While the Pentagon boasts and allies brace, Congress faces its constitutional obligation to rein in an unauthorized war.

#Congress votes this week on war powers as the U.S. wages sustained war in Iran without authorization.

#peteHegseth boasts of “maximum authorities” and “no stupid rules of engagement.”
Allies are watching. #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The Strait That Isn’t Closed (Until It Is) Missiles, insurance cancellations, jittery tankers, and oil climbing into the $70s, welcome to the world’s most important chokepoint discovering what “escalation” really costs.

The #StraitofHormuz is “closed.” Except it’s not. Except it kind of is.

Missiles flying, tankers idling, insurers pulling war-risk coverage, oil climbing into the $70s and the real story isn’t the headlines, it’s the plumbing of global trade. #uspolitics #iran
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

The Strait, the Shock, and the Shrug How a bid for “peace through strength” triggered energy shockwaves, alliance fractures, and nuclear recalculations.

Oil spikes. Shipping stalls. U.S. casualties mount. France rethinks nuclear deterrence.

Trump who wanted a Nobel Peace Prize has instead triggered cascading global consequences with no clear end state in sight. #uspolitics #iran #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Freedom Isn’t a Strategy War in the Strait of Hormuz is not just a military campaign, it’s a systemic shock to energy markets, supply chains, and global stability.

Missiles in #Hormuz don’t just sink ships.

They move oil prices.
They move insurance markets.
They move your grocery bill.

This war is a systemic shock, not just a strike package. #uspolitics #iran #foreignpolicy #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Takeovers, Missiles, and $3.50 Gas From Tehran to Havana to Wall Street, regime-change rhetoric collides with constitutional math, and the bill may arrive at the pump.

#Iran confirms Khamenei is dead. #Congress was notified, not consulted. War Powers math won’t stop a veto. Oil markets are eyeing the Strait of Hormuz. And yes, someone floated a “friendly takeover” of Cuba. #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

No New Wars (Terms and Conditions Apply) From “endless wars” to regime change in eight minutes as missiles fly, allies hedge, and the grift hums quietly in the background.

A girl can’t even leave for one short road trip without waking up to regime-change speeches, missiles over the Gulf, allies hedging, and Congress nowhere in sight. #iran #foreignpolicy #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Interest-Only Democracy Bomb now, deregulate later, freeze rates today and send the bill to your kids.

Re-Bomb #Iran, call it victory.
Offer $31,000 deductibles.
Hand utilities $26.5B loans, freeze rates now, bill your kids later.
Billionaires write AI laws while markets hedge for “implosions.”

The price isn’t gone. It’s deferred. #uspolitics #kakistocracy
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

You Can’t Meme Away the Federal Budget How a quiet tax economist bet his life savings that Elon Musk couldn’t shrink the federal government and won.

#ElonMusk waved a chainsaw and promised to shrink the federal government.

A tax economist quietly bet his $342,195 life savings that he couldn’t. #uspolitics #doge
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Winning So Much We Can’t Stand It A fact-checked tour of the lowlights from Trump’s longest State of the Union from phantom trillions to tariffs that may need refunding.

Trump says we’re “winning so much we don’t know what to do about it.”

Fact-checkers say… otherwise. #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...

Jumping the “v.” From United States v. Trump to bunker-buster déjà vu, climate legal pretzels, and a polite Olympic mic drop.

Brinkmanship abroad. Legal pretzels at home. “Days away” uranium déjà vu. A sealed national security report. Climate deregulation that may boomerang. And Olympic champions delivering a polite, devastating “no.” #uspolitics #kakistocracy #authoritarianism
open.substack.com/pub/marygedd...