The Shrapnel Presidency

[Passages]

Today on TAP: Trump’s minions planned a firing of 60 howitzer shells over a freeway in L.A. to harass Gov. Newsom and local residents. Instead, friendly fire hit VP Vance’s entourage.

by Robert Kuttner
October 20, 2025


In order to mess with Gov. Gavin Newsom and citizens of Los Angeles, the Trump administration came up with the lunatic idea of having units of Marines fire live artillery rounds over a stretch of I-5, one of the busiest freeways in Southern California. The administration insisted that this was perfectly safe, and disingenuously claimed that it was just part of patriotic celebrations of the Marines’ 250th anniversary.

Vice President JD Vance was there for the occasion. It’s not clear whether the scheme originated with Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, or the White House.

Of course, as any professional soldier with battlefield experience knows, artillery misfires all the time. Gov. Newsom protested the plan for the freeway firings, to no avail, and then prudently ordered the section of I-5 closed to motorists for several hours.

Sure enough, during the Saturday exercise, one of the howitzer shells fell short, scattering shrapnel on the freeway. One chunk of metal, about 2 by 2 inches, slammed into a Highway Patrol vehicle that was part of Vance’s entourage. Pebble-sized bits of shrapnel sprayed a police motorcycle. No one was injured. The Marines immediately halted the exercise before all of the planned 60 howitzer rounds were fired.

https://prospect.org/2025/10/20/shrapnel-presidency/

It goes on and on and on.

On edit, corrected link

Criminology on Trump

East Carolina University
https://criminal-justice.ecu.edu/wp-content/pv-uploads/sites/72/2022/03/Barak-Book.pdf
PDF
by G Barak · Cited by 14 — Criminology on Trump delivers a razor- sharp criminological analysis of the dark and illegal activities that Donald Trump pursued to obtain social and political.