Pete Hegseth wants even our longest serving military veterans to live with the constant threat

that they could be deprived of their rank and retirement pay years, or even decades

after they leave the military just because he or another secretary of defense or a president

doesn't like what they've said.

Welcome to the Mary Trump podcast. Let's dive it.

I have been trying to figure out how to organize my thoughts about everything that is happening in this country, both domestically and internationally.

It's not that I'm having difficulty making sense of it.

Everything that's happening is something we should have been prepared for since 2016.

There's been ample evidence to suggest this is exactly where we would end up if enough people weren't paying attention.

So the problem now, although obviously we still need to make sense of it for some people,

is more about how to negotiate the constant onslaught of news, all of which feels like it needs to be attended to.

And the reason it feels like that, it seems like that,

is because it all is important and it all does need to be attended to.

This is all intentional for the most part, right? They want us demoralized and

exhausted and enervated and stressed out of our minds and afraid. They want us to feel

disorganized. They want to make it very difficult for us to wrap our heads around the constantly unfolding horrors being unleashed at home and abroad.

They want all of that.

And I think one of the hardest things for us to deal with is the fact that all of this stuff, especially our reactions to it, energizes them.

They thrive on it.

They're like malignant extroverts, right?

You know, who actually feel more connected and empowered when they are making other people's lives unbearable.

Since January 1st, so much has happened that again, we have a difficult time keeping it all straight.

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