The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.
Ye-Putin Meeting “Possible”
Kanye West could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin when the rapper travels to Russia this fall, according to senior State Duma lawmaker Svetlana Zhurova. West, now known as Ye, is scheduled to perform at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11.
Zhurova, first deputy chair of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said that “hypothetically, such a possibility exists,” but stressed that any meeting would depend on Putin’s and West’s schedules as well as presidential security requirements. There is no confirmed meeting or invitation from the Kremlin.
The head of the Russian concert promoter organizing West’s shows separately told Russian media that meeting Putin has been a “long-standing dream” for the rapper and that West has expressed admiration for the Russian president for years. The concerts will be West’s first performances in Russia, although he visited Moscow in 2024.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: And here we are: the one meeting that we have been waiting for. The meeting that transcends both culture and politics. The meeting that has the potential to break the internet.
Kanye West visiting Vladimir Putin in Moscow is the stuff of legends. It’s one of those interviews that, if streamed, would be impossible to ignore.
The connections between both Kim Jong Un and Kanye West, and the significant impact that they could each have on the current zeitgeist, cannot be overstated or ignored. The fact that we are now getting both of them back together, working a direct residency for the first time, can feel a little odd. But eventually those sentiments fade, and we all settle in.
I want to know more about the backchannel between Trump and Bazwell. In due time, we will. For now, we must take note that all the other European countries turned their backs on Ye, and refused to allow him to perform. Instead, he went to Russia to put on a show, and these reports make it sound like that it is Putin who wants to meet Kanye, face-to-face.
Boy would I love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.
Can we just take a moment to recognize that in the same news Brief we are getting President Trump teasing a meeting (at the White House?) with Kim Jong Un, while Kanye travels to Russia and potentially meets with Putin?
Is it happening? Because I think it is happening.
Trump Selects Heidi Overton to Lead Food and Drug Administration
President Trump announced Wednesday that he is nominating Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Trump called Overton a “ROCKSTAR” in his administration who has worked directly with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. He said she takes on the hardest issues and delivers solutions that work best for the country.
Overton currently serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She is a board-certified physician in public health and general preventive medicine, holds a Ph.D. in clinical investigation from Johns Hopkins, and previously served as a White House Fellow during Trump’s first term.
Trump said she will work with Kennedy and Oz to deliver faster cures, increased American innovation, major clinical trial reforms, lower drug prices, and more wins for the Make America Healthy Again agenda. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.
Ashe in America: Overton is expected to undertake an extensive remodel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include a dramatic relocation of the exterior windows.
That being said, never forget that the FDA has an allowable amount of maggots in canned goods, so temper your expectations.
Trump Postpones Tariffs on Canada, Signals Keystone Pipeline Restart
President Donald Trump postponed threatened 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods for three days, saying the US and Canada have a deal “subject to the finalization of documents.” The tariffs had been scheduled to take effect Wednesday and would have covered products including cement, hockey equipment and other Canadian exports.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also said the two sides had made progress, although negotiations remain underway. Reuters reports the emerging agreement could reduce existing US tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles from 25% to 15% and cut steel and aluminum tariffs from 50% to 25% under a quota arrangement.
Trump separately suggested the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline could be revived as part of the thaw, saying it “may be awoken from the grave.” The proposed pipeline would carry as much as 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude per day from Alberta toward US refineries; its presidential permit was revoked by President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump has not yet announced specific terms for restarting the project.
Burning Bright: OH LAWD!
This one is a biggie for those partial to my ‘Power is Power’ refrain, and what I’ve been referring to since the advent of Trump’s second (public) term as “Donald Trump’s Power Paradigm.’
In short, the framework suggests that one of the key themes of the Age of Trump (and of the Sovereign Alliance writ large) is the return of great global power dynamics, which occur on the Macro and the Micro.
Basically, while I don’t think it’s great if we devolve from a moral culture into a ‘Might Makes Right’ culture, the fact remains that Soft Power dynamics have governed (read: managed) the slow decline of the West in the face of the engineered march of collectivism, with the only leaders willing to oppose such dynamics being relegated to the Dictatorial Class (as defined by Western Intelligence,) who have then leveraged Hard Power dynamics to wipe such leaders off the game board before the Age of the Sovereign Alliance was codified, and before Donald Trump was Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful, well, Hard Power apparatus in the world, that being the US Military.
And yet, there is another Hard Power apparatus Trump has at least some measure of control over, one that is arguably an even bigger stick in the age-old ‘carrot and stick’ dialectic, and one he has been wielding with abandon since re-entering public office:
The US Economy.
That’s right. A core theme of Trump 2.0 has been the unapologetic leveraging of the American Economy, which is to say the American People against ALL factions on the geo-economic game board, whether they fancy themselves our so-called rivals or our so-called allies.
Of course, Trump has levied tariffs against members of my theorized Sovereign Alliance just the same as he has done against our so-called Allies, and yet, the Allies seem to be the only ones completely unequipped to handle such dynamics, while China, Russia, India and others simply pivot or else agree to Trump’s terms after the first economic shot is fired.
Canada and its Clown Prince Mark Carney (himself a former Central Banker for both England AND Canada, which are the same country) have chosen to make themselves the proof positive that, by hook or by crook, Donald Trump will get what he wants out of potential trade partners because Donald Trump understands who holds the power, and who covets it.
Now, Carney’s humiliation ritual may only just be getting started in the central narrative, as he has been forced to capitulate (AGAIN!) in the face of Trump’s economic pressure, which is another way of saying, he fears the continued ire of his own Canadian population as they suffer under the financial pressure of being THE Western Globalist experiment, and thus, the only western nation (so far) to actively declare themselves to be in an official recession over the last two years, since Trump’s triumphant return ... a dynamic Trump is all too aware of, giving him ALL leverage in the so-called negotiations.
Trump teasing the revival of the Keystone XL pipeline the previous Canadian and US Regime jointly cancelled is added signal all its own, as it simultaneously acts as a boon to both the American and Canadian energy sectors, and ALSO as a means of diversifying American energy interests on the back of the Iran War, now that the mandate for said on-shoring process has never been higher or more bipartisan.
What curious timing.
Now, make no mistake, Mark Carney is no more our friend than Canada is our ally.
But the latter is coming as soon as Trump is done humiliating the former.
Trump’s 51st State rhetoric has been treated as a meme by Americans and as an insult by Canadians, by and large.
In truth, it makes all the sense in the world ... but only when the Canadians are actively begging for it rather than sneering at it.
It is a privilege, after all, and before it’s granted, the commies to the north need to continue taking their orange medicine.
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Trump Says He Will Meet With Kim Jong Un
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, telling reporters at the White House, “I will be meeting with him at some point.” Trump did not provide a date or location for a potential summit.
Trump described his relationship with Kim as “very good” and argued his diplomacy during his first term prevented a larger confrontation with North Korea. The two leaders met three times between 2018 and 2019 — in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The comments come as tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang continues developing its nuclear and missile programs. No formal negotiations or preparations for a new Trump-Kim summit have been announced.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: Is it finally happening? Are we finally going to get a Kim Jong Un White House visit? Because that would be incredible.
Perhaps by then Badlands will be granted a press pass. I have a few questions I’d like to ask the Supreme Leader. And nothing would be cooler than having a few Shock Top froth donkeys on the South Lawn of the White House with Kim Jong Un while ripping heaters and talking shop.
I only wish that Trump shared Putin’s enthusiasm in his ambition to build a giant muscle that handles loke all of the framing materials
Perhaps one day we will know the truth about really what happened on 9/20.
Tina Peters is in Washington, D.C. While California Officials Panic Over Her Reported New Role
California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla are urging Secretary of State Shirley Weber to intervene if Shasta County moves forward with plans to hire former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has said he plans to bring Peters into the elections office next month, either replacing the current assistant registrar or working as a consultant ahead of the November midterms.
Curtis has said Peters would help ensure the FBI and Department of Homeland Security can “test the ballots.” Schiff and Padilla argue those agencies have no role in administering elections and warned the arrangement could lead to violations of California or federal election law. They asked Weber to provide “maximum oversight” to prevent Peters from improperly accessing ballots, voting systems or sensitive voter information.
The senators also tied the proposed hiring to Trump, alleging it may have more to do with his election agenda than Peters’ qualifications. Peters has not yet publicly accepted the Shasta County position; her attorney says she is considering the offer.
Ashe in America: When I met with Tina Peters in prison in May, I asked her if she was considering then-candidate for Colorado governor Scott Bottoms’ proposal to hire her into his potential administration. She outright rejected the idea of working in government again, but that was a Colorado-specific discussion.
Still, because of that discussion, I was surprised to read that she was considering taking a government job in California. I reached out to her team for comment and received no response.
As California democrats clutch their pearls about Peters invading their state, Peters is in our nation’s capital — apparently meeting with Trump administration officials about elections.
Peters posted this photo with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as a quote post of this Lutnick post from Tuesday about 24,000 noncitizen ballots in 2020:
DOJ Civil Rights chief Harmeet Dhillon posted this photo with Peters and, yesterday, Dhillon did the press circuit on ramping up 2026 election federal monitors:
It’s funny that Peters is lobbying(?) in DC while California senators are freaking out about her infiltrating their state. Peters should drop in on Schiff and Padilla’s offices and challenge them to debate about elections.
It will have to be next time. Peters left D.C., posting a pic from a train with Minka, her Doberman, on the way out of town.
I hope she takes the job in California. I picture Gavin Newson attacking Jared Polis for unleashing Tina Peters on his state. Yes, please. That sounds like a great story arc to pursue.
Seriously, even though I think it’s beneath her, that her original instincts were correct and, of course, that elections are fake, it will be entertaining for all of us.
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“I’m Not That Informed on National Security,” Lindsey Graham’s Sister & the Geopolitical Humiliation Ritual
Interim South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham, appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham, struggled with foreign-policy questions during Tuesday’s Republican runoff debate against Rep. Ralph Norman. Asked about China, Taiwan and the South China Sea, Graham acknowledged: “I’m not that informed on national security,” prompting boos and audible reactions from the audience.
Graham said she strongly supports the US military but largely pivoted away from the geopolitical question. Norman gave a more detailed response, discussing Taiwan’s strategic importance, Chinese aggression and the potential consequences of a conflict in the region.
Graham, a political newcomer backed by President Trump, was appointed to the Senate after her brother’s death in July and advanced to the August 25 Republican runoff against Norman. Before entering the Senate, she headed the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and had never held elected office.
I’ll take “overprivileged white women and their effect on society,” for $500, Alex.
But seriously, isn’t this rich?
Lindsey Graham was perhaps the greatest NeoCon warmonger of the Trump age. Even President Trump made fun of Graham for being so during Trump’s euology at Lindsey’s funeral.
Now we have Lindsey’s sister being appointed to the position, in a gross display of nepotism, and she can’t even read a map. She straight up confessed to having no working knowledge of geopolitics or even geography.
What sweet irony that Lindsey’s sister has no working knowledge of any of these foreign theaters. She straight up admitted that she has no formal training from” The quote isn’t even what should be included in this list.
Can she even identify these places on a map?
I hope this lady wins this election and then continues to act like a total dumbass, fumbling her way through meetings on subjects that she knows nothing about while admitting to being in way over her head.
Because that would be really funny and give the Senate the level of respect it currently deserves.
Vindman Loses Primary So Trump Nominates Him For Prison
Alexander Vindman’s bid for the US Senate ended Tuesday when Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated him by more than 12 points in the Democratic primary. Nixon, a Democrat Socialist, pulled off the upset despite Vindman dramatically outraising her six-to-one. She will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November.
President Donald Trump celebrated Vindman’s defeat Wednesday, calling him a “treasonous creep” and returning to their feud over Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vindman, then a National Security Council official, testified during Trump’s first impeachment inquiry about the call and the administration’s withholding of military assistance to Ukraine. Trump was subsequently impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.
Trump accused Vindman of lying about the call and declared that he “should be prosecuted for what he did.”
Ashe in America: In my opinion, based on the information available, Alex Vindman is a leaker (the call) and liar (Eric Ciaramella) and traitor (Ukraine). Trump says he will be prosecuted, and he’s innocent until proven guilty.
I look forward to his trial.
Assuming the record reflects the actuals, Vindman, like so many similarly branded, is not “Trump’s enemy.”
He’s America’s enemy.
Accelerate.
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I am giddy at the thought of Yeezy and Vlad breaking the internet.
"𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘱 ... 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 [𝘝𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘯] '𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥.'”
"Should be?" "𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 ʙᴇ?!?" - Worst tyrant ever! 😆😆😆