• Messaging matters.
• If there was any doubt, now you know who’s more important.
• The people of East Palestine come in a distant second to the Ukrainians.

Good morning on this overcast Tuesday from Northern Italy.

Today is Micah’s sixth birthday. Only twelve more years until university! I’m thrilled.

Just kidding, pal. Daddy loves you.

Today is still a holiday in Italy, but I’m writing nevertheless.

I got to catch up on the news this weekend. And this East Palestine thing has got me going.

And not just because no one in Ohio knows how to pronounce pal-e-STINE properly.

(What the heck is a pal-a-STEEN?)

I’ve reached some inescapable conclusions in this case.

Pete Buttigieg is as useless as a McKinsey consultant. (Well, he was one.)

Right now, Joe Biden cares more about Ukraine than Ohio.

The optics are terrible, and I can’t understand why the administration didn’t collect some cheap slam dunks.

I’ll try to parse out what this all means in this Rude.

Location, Location, Location

East Palestine, OH, a town I had not heard of until this disaster, sits on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border.

As far as I can tell, roughly - very roughly - over 1,000,000 people live within the map’s area.

I know it’s not a lot compared to the total US population. But it’s a lot of people who need help.

What does a federal government exist for, if not this?

Even if you think a federal government should be limited to defending the land and enforcing private property rights, the US government can make itself more valuable by doing all it can to help.

But as far as I can tell, the USG has done little.

Is Tucker Carlson Right?

Six days ago, Carlson was at his usual rampaging best (bolds mine):

According to Pete Buttigieg, Biden officials were on the scene, yet somehow, they never said a word about the mushroom cloud until pictures of it evoked outrage on social media and, of course, they didn't. They didn't even notice. It had nothing to do with equity or climate change. East Palestine is a poor, White town that voted for Trump. So honestly, who cares? No one in the Biden administration did care, and that's an atrocity.

The people whose indifference made it possible should lose their jobs, beginning with [Transport Secretary] Pete Buttigieg and extending to governors Josh Shapiro [PA] and Mike DeWine [OH]. They didn't care, and they got caught not watching. Even tonight, Mike DeWine clearly still doesn't care. Here he is insisting everything's fine. 

I’ll get to the purported firings later.

But as I read Carlson’s missive, I asked myself, “Would it have made any difference to the Biden Administration if the mushroom cloud hung over a poor, black community in Georgia?”

I used Georgia because that’s the only Deep South state Biden carried in 2020.

Honestly, I don’t think it would have. We may have even flicked the remote control a bit quicker.

But this isn’t about race. It’s about the sheer indifference of Biden and his administration to the American people in general.

It would have made all the difference if Biden had just delayed his Ukraine trip for a day to visit the site. Then, he could’ve taken Air Force One to his favorite vassal state.

But he couldn’t wait a moment. Why not?

The Problem with Empires

Murray Rothbard put the consequences of the genuine free market principle up against the hegemonic principle in Power and Market:

Credit: mises.org

America is undoubtedly the world’s hegemonic power. Hegemony is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states.

The problem of empire and hegemony is the maintenance costs.

You’ve got to rob Peter to pay Paul.

It’s public knowledge that the Biden administration has spent over $100 billion in aid on Ukraine. If by direct taxation, taxpayers have paid for this war; if by money printing, all US residents have paid by inflation. That’s the “seen,” as Frederic Bastiat would have put it, and even that’s not easily seeable.

The “unseen” is that wealth could’ve been allocated to Ohio or any number of other endeavors. My bet is that it’d take much less than $100 billion to clean up the site.

And that, my friends, is the opportunity cost the American people must bear.

Buttigieg Should Be Shown the Door

I’ll leave the decision on whether Josh Shapiro or Mike DeWine should get fired to the people of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively.

It’s simply not my job to determine that outcome.

But I’m not optimistic. George Carlin put it best.

But Mayor Pete is a different kettle of fish.

The Biden Administration loves Buttigieg because he’s articulate and safe to put in front of cameras, everything Corn Pop and the Veep aren’t.

They need him.

So, despite his subpar performance, he’ll stay safely ensconced in his job.

But it’s worth noting that Buttigieg didn’t even mention East Palestine for a full ten days after the disaster.

From The Nation:

On February 5, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine warned, “Everyone in Pennsylvania and Ohio who’s in this area, you know, you need to leave. You just need to leave. We’re ordering you to leave. This is a matter of life and death.”

On the very day that DeWine was uttering these dire words, Buttigieg appeared on three Sunday news shows: CNN’s State of the Union, NBC’s Meet the Press, and ABC’s This Week. Remarkably, on none of these programs was Buttigieg asked about the ongoing East Palestine disaster—despite the fact that, as transportation secretary, regulating train safety is one of his responsibilities. Nor did Buttigieg feel it incumbent on himself to raise the issue and offer what guidance and assurances he could.

Instead, Buttigieg’s ubiquitous TV appearances were taken up with the transparently hyped-up issue of a Chinese weather balloon that entered USA airspace—quite possibly as a result of unpredictable wind patterns.

We can talk about media complicity all the live-long day. But this was a fantastic opportunity for Buttigieg to step up and take control.

He didn’t.

He may have been ordered not to. But it seems an exercise in self-harm not to have at least mentioned the disaster and what his plans were going forward.

As for the president…

Biden’s Optics are Terrible

As mentioned above, a quick, two-hour stopover would’ve been enough.

An act of sympathy and succor could’ve gone a long way.

The only positive I can take from this is that the cat’s out of the bag.

Emperor Biden presides over a vast empire on which the sun never sets. And his Ukrainian vassals are every bit as important to the Emperor as his Americans are.

From Fox News:

Trent Conaway, mayor of East Palestine, Ohio, tore into President Biden on Monday, accusing him of neglecting domestic responsibilities while "giving away millions of dollars" during his surprise visit to Ukraine.

"That was the biggest slap in the face," Conaway said on "Jesse Watters Primetime." "That tells you right now he doesn’t care about us. He can send every agency he wants to, but I found out this morning that he was in Ukraine giving millions of dollars away to people over there and not to us…on President's Day in our country, so I'm furious."

That’s “billions,” with a “b,” Mr. Mayor.

Wrap Up

It’s hard to argue with Mayor Conaway. 

My heart goes out to those affected. I realize that, and five bucks will get you a small latte at Starbucks.

But the American people have been treated appallingly. Have they had enough?

Will this incident remind them to vote for someone who works for them?

As Biden prepares to run again (God help us), will the Trump(et) sound?

Let’s watch the unintended consequences of this disaster unfold.

Have a wonderful week ahead!