Badlands Brief
Carefree Midterms, Space Networks, & Turned Tables
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.
Trump Says He Doesn’t Care About the Midterms
In a cabinet meeting Wednesday, President Trump said Iran “thought they were going to out wait me, you know, we’ll out wait him, he’s got the midterms. I don’t care about the midterms, look what happened last night, that was the prelude to the midterms.”
Chris Paul: Trump does not care about the midterms because:
Elections are fake
The GOPe is Trump’s actual enemy
The system cannot be defeated while operating within its controlled framework
The Congress and the Senate are illegitimate (and if you mistakenly believe otherwise, they remain feckless and useless)
The US is post-constitutional, or perhaps retro-constitutional is more accurate
Nearly 100% of MAGA still refuses to grasp what Trump is saying, often because they are heavily incentivized to protect the system, in opposition to Trump.
***
Ashe in America: Chris Paul is 100% correct and, from where I sit in the Communist Country of Colorado, where the gubernatorial contest has made pretty much everyone retarded, the pageantry of democracy (h/t: Marc Elias) is a bad reality TV show.
Think I’m being hyperbolic?
The gubernatorial candidates in Colorado include a local pastor and state representative that claims there are pedophile rings in the state government (Scott Bottoms), a state Senator who has excoriated Bottoms for his claims – whose former staffer was just arrested for pedophilia (Barb Kirkmeyer), and a vaporware wanna be cowboy who claims to have decapitated a cat when he was three years old and was forced to wear the cat’s carcass on his head (Victor Marx) – and that is one of his least sensational claims.
If elections were real, a Republican could actually win Colorado. 51% of the state has defected from the two party system, and the people are engaged in a battle of ideas.
But elections are fake, so the main topic on the debate stage is – I kid you not – the roads. Should we get GMONEY out here on the campaign trail? There is also a heated debate about whether fraud is fraud or just mismanagement. (Both of those narratives are being led by Kirkmeyer who the establishment LOVES.)
For the record, given the legislative agenda of the Colorado General Assembly, I would be shocked if there weren’t pedophile rings in the Colorado government. They keep trying to remove parental rights and enable pedophiles every single legislative session. Why else would they do that?
Just remember: It doesn’t have to be real for it to be hilariously entertaining, though treating it as real prolongs our collective pain. If you can effectively balance that in your brain, then the midterms are a lot of fun.
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Trump Thanks Armenia, Talks Tripp Agenda to Make Central Asia Great Again
“Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, of Armenia, a great friend and Leader, is making his Country strong, wealthy, and very secure! Nikol completely shares my vision of PEACE and PROSPERITY for Armenia and the entire South Caucasus region. Our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, just traveled to Armenia, where he advanced several important Deals for both our Countries. Soon, the United States and Armenia will break ground together on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which will transform the South Caucasus, and help our wonderful American Energy Companies gain access from Central Asia all the way to the United States. For these reasons, Nikol has my COMPLETE and TOTAL Endorsement for Re-Election on June 7, 2026. With Nikol’s help, we will bring the United States, Armenia, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia to greater heights than ever before. Make (Armenia) Great Again — MAGA! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: “…Soon, the United States and Armenia will break ground together on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which will transform the South Caucasus, and help our wonderful American Energy Companies gain access from Central Asia all the way to the United States…”
Let’s check the map:
I’ve circled Armenia in red.
You will recall last year when President Trump announced a $4 billion railroad deal with Kazakhstan, which Trump touted as “the largest Railroad Equipment Purchase in History.”
You will also recall when Trump and Putin met in Alaska last August, and speculation swirled regarding the reviving of an old plan to connect Russia and Alaska with a railroad bridge/tunnel, after Russia pitched the idea to the US.
One month after meeting with Trump in Alaska, Putin signed off on a Russian plan to construct the largest high-speed rail network in Europe. Three years ago, Putin signed a deal with Iran to finance and build a railway between the city of Rasht—the capital of the Gilan province in northern Iran—and the city of Astara, located at the border of Iran and Azerbaijan, with half of the city residing it either country. This past February, Russia and Iran signed the final portion of the agreement, and construction reportedly began last month.
Why would Putin be so invested in completing a 114-mile stretch of railway in northern Iran?
Because this missing rail link is the final piece needed to complete the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s North-South Transport Corridor, which expects to compete with the Suez Canal for traffic and freight moving between Asia and Europe.
Oh, and last week the passenger train route between Azerbaijan and Georgia was restored. Prior to it being shut down during COVID—and never reopened—the line was one of the most popular routes for travelers in the region.
When President Trump says that this deal with Armenia (which sits at the center of the geographic triangle of Georgia-Azerbaijan-Iran) is intended to provide access to American energy companies “…from Central Asia all the way to the United States…” what Trump is insinuating is that the US intends join the SCO’s North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC).
Technically, Armenia is not in Central Asia. It is in West Asia.
Central Asia is comprised of the territory between the Caspian Sea and China. So when Trump references “Central Asia” he is not talking about Armenia. He is most likely talking about Kazakhstan.
Most likely, the US will tie into the NSTC network through Kazakhstan and across eastern Russia to Alaska.
Coincidentally, two days ago China launched a newly constructed rail corridor in Central Asia (Kazakhstan) that connected to Uzbekistan, China, and Afghanistan.
It would appear that these rail networks are being connected to establish the largest transportation system in the world—which makes sense, considering that Asia is the largest landmass in the world and directly connected to Europe and Africa.
President Trump appears to be signaling a move that firmly aligns himself with Putin and Xi against the old guard of Europe; In this case, specifically the Parisian-based Suez Company and its affiliates in the City of London.
Space Force Awards SpaceX $2.29 Billion Contract To Build Global Military Communications Network In Space
US Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion contract to rapidly build a new satellite communications network designed to securely move military data around the world at high speeds, creating a critical “backbone” for future US military operations.
According to Space Force, the program, known as the Space Data Network Backbone, will use a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites linked together with optical, or laser-based, communications technology. The system is intended to allow US military forces to rapidly and securely share targeting information, sensor data, battlefield communications, and other intelligence across the globe, even in contested environments.
The contract requires SpaceX to deliver a fully operational prototype by the end of 2027. The effort will also work alongside the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer program, another military satellite network already under development, with both systems expected to work together as part of a larger War Department communications architecture.
Space Force officials said the project is part of a broader push to speed up military space acquisitions using rapid prototyping and commercial partnerships while expanding the industrial base supporting US national security space programs.
Burning Bright: The brightest signal of the domestic alliance between Donald Trump and Elon Musk has always lived in the contracts, the integrations and the expanding partnerships between seemingly-unrelated entities.
The just-announced $2.29 billion Space Force award to SpaceX for a global military communications network is only the latest confirmation of a pattern I’ve been tracking for years.
This is backbone infrastructure—secure, high-speed, resilient data movement for operations in contested environments, which ties directly into the decentralization and autonomy themes that define Musk’s portfolio and that simultaneously serve the reorientation of American defense priorities under Trump’s new Pax Americana doctrine.
These are converging rails, and I believe they were designed that way from the jump.
Musk’s projects, viewed holistically constitute the practical load-bearing structure for the Golden Age transition Trump has described, with emergent energy systems designed to move us beyond engineered scarcity and toward genuine abundance, while autonomy in vehicles, robotics and logistics multiplies productive capacity rather than displacing it, contrary to the fear mongering you’re currently seeing about it in both the central narrative and large swaths of the so-called Truth Community who haven’t guessed the game, but who will pretend they did once it becomes inarguable.
Transportation, communications and computing power are domains that represent the material foundation without which rhetoric about American renewal remains aspirational rather than operational.
Musk’s recently-detailed Master Plan—centered on sustainable abundance through integrated AI, energy density, automation and next-generation platforms—directly mirrors Trump’s long-time Golden Age promises, which is why both men have been demonized as frequently as they’ve been mocked.
Now, where one figure supplies the executive force, narrative clarity and institutional discombobulation, the other supplies the engines (literally,) the energy architecture and the distributed systems of the new anti-System.
A decade of cross-company integrations is already visible on Musk’s side of the ledger, with each of his projects reinforcing one another in recursive loops en route to eventual convergences in terms of balance sheets, technology, personnel and mission statements.
Thus, speculation about the eventual consolidation between Musk’s two core entities, Tesla and SpaceX isn’t just financial rumor, but the logical extension of synergies that have been compounding for years, and seem poised for public breakout and convergence.
Together, I believe Trump and Musk are building a bridge from the old paradigm of managed scarcity and centralized control to a new one of sovereign abundance and distributed capability.
(I explored these concepts in great detail in my Timeline War Series, which you should check out, if you fancy a deeper dive on the mechanisms and architecture of the coming Golden Age.)
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Erdogan Threatens Netanyahu on Behalf of "Muslim World"
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the “Muslim world” would not forget or forgive Israel’s actions in Gaza, accusing the Israeli government of pursuing policies that threaten regional stability and deepen humanitarian suffering. Erdoğan’s remarks came during renewed criticism of Israeli military operations and amid Turkey’s continued positioning as a leading voice against Israel’s Gaza campaign, further escalating tensions between Ankara and Jerusalem.
The comments add to a broader deterioration in Turkey-Israel relations since the Gaza war began, with Ankara increasing diplomatic pressure, trade restrictions, and rhetorical attacks against Netanyahu’s government while calling for greater international intervention on behalf of Palestinians.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: “I pray, God willing, that this tyrant called Netanyahu will receive the lesson he deserves from the Muslim world. May we witness this outcome as soon as possible.” -Erdogan
And there you have it.
As I have been saying, the Muslims are not going to join the Abraham Accords— at least, not the version currently written. The far more likely, even inevitable, outcome is that the Muslims will set aside their countless differences and tribalism and join forces against Israel.
This doesn’t necessarily mean an imminent kinetic conflict between the Muslim world and Israel, but how much longer are the Muslims suppose to stand by and watch the IDF conquer and annex their lands, as it joyfully massacres women and children, and celebrates these crimes by replaying the footage at public gatherings on a large screen?
Men can only take so much humiliation, and witness so much atrocity before they are compelled into action by the divine spark imbued in them by their Creator. The hubris displayed by the Israeli diaspora and its Zionist partners is a sociopathy that will be studied for generations. How a culture can claim eternal victimhood while bombing residential neighborhoods then replaying the footage as entertainment is a dynamic that will hard to explain to future generations who were not alive to witness it for themselves. It is a rare episode in human history where the confluence of many factors have all aligned perfectly to create a vicious monster.
And remember: Erdogan is President Trump’s guy. Trump loves Erdogan, and says so every chance he gets. While Erdogan likes to blow smoke, here he is expressing a sentiment that can be found across the Muslim world.
On an unrelated (but totally related) note: Israeli media is reporting that the US fleet stationed at Israeli air bases is prepared to withdraw from the Middle East entirely within 72 hours of a peace deal being finalized.
This is the moment that a measured and discerning strategist would exercise caution and seek to negotiate a peace with the adversaries that vastly outnumber him. But hubris is blinding.
Biden Sues to Block DOJ Release of Audio Recordings From Biographer Interviews
Joe Biden sued the Justice Department to block the release of audio recordings and transcripts from private interviews with ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer, arguing the Trump DOJ reversed earlier FOIA privacy protections for political purposes. The materials, recorded in 2016 and 2017 for Biden’s memoir Promise Me, Dad, were later obtained during Robert Hur’s classified-documents investigation. DOJ now plans to provide redacted versions to the House Judiciary Committee and the Heritage Foundation by June 15.
Hur declined to charge Biden in 2024, saying evidence did not meet the standard for prosecution, though his report said Biden had retained classified materials and raised questions about his memory. Biden’s suit argues release would expose sensitive personal law-enforcement material; DOJ says the public should be able to hear the recordings and draw its own conclusions.
“Every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” the lawsuit states. “And when the US Department of Justice obtains that private information through a criminal investigation, the department bears a particular responsibility to protect it from disclosure.”
Ashe in America: I am of two minds on this lawsuit.
On one side, these audio tapes would be hilarious to listen to and break down and make content about, and the findings from Hur’s report point to intentional cover ups of the decline of the so-called ruler of the United States, or scrotus, at a time when American rights were being undermined. There is a case to be made that the public has a right to hear the audio for themselves.
On the other side, “every American, including a sitting or former Vice President, has a right to privacy in the personal conversations he has within his own home,” as the lawsuit states. This is important.
And the test of whether you truly believe in rights is whether you’re principled on them when it comes to your enemies.
And I see that demented old fool as an enemy (our boy, or not).
Do traitors to the Republic retain their privacy rights?
Let us know what you think in the comments.
BONUS ITEM
DOJ Opens Criminal Investigation into E. Jean Carroll Over Possible Perjury
The Department of Justice has reportedly opened a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, the former Elle magazine columnist who accused President Trump of sexual assault in civil court cases that resulted in a $5 million judgment against him.
According to CNN, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, investigators are examining whether Carroll committed perjury during the lawsuits. The probe is being led by US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has recused himself from the investigation due to his prior role representing President Trump in the Carroll case.
Judge Delays James Comey Trial Over “86 47” Instagram Post
A federal judge has granted former FBI Director James Comey’s request to delay his criminal trial in the case involving allegations that he threatened President Trump through a social media post.
US District Judge Louise Wood Flanagan set the new trial date for October 21, with Comey’s arraignment now scheduled for September 30. Prosecutors did not oppose the delay.
Comey has been charged over an Instagram post showing seashells arranged on a beach in the pattern “86 47,” which prosecutors and Trump allies allege amounted to a veiled threat against the 47th president.
At a press briefing last month announcing the charges, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the post crossed a legal line and was not protected under the First Amendment, arguing that threats against the president are explicitly prohibited under federal law.
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Ghost, you have been on fire lately! I agree with all your takes, but I feel for you, at the anger and frustration you must be feeling. Hopefully this will all be resolved soon.
@Ghost: “Men can only take so much humiliation, and witness so much atrocity before they are compelled into action by the divine spark imbued in them by their Creator.”
Just as the denial of our Creator has led to the moral atrocities of the last few centuries (murder, mayhem, economic enslavement, etc. - in a word “Babylon”.); so too has the denial of their Messiah moved them from the right side of God’s eternal plan to the exact wrong side.
It is a fearful things to fall into the hands of the Living God! For their God is a consuming fire to those who reject Him.