Trumpiana: Shapeup, shakeup, shut up, shutdown, showdown!

The Don raises tensions asking traditionally non partisan military to fight “a war from within,” using “dangerous cities as training grounds”

Hundreds of “fat” and no so fat bemedaled generals and admirals came to the capital from four corners of the world to hail the chief and hear his harangue, clocked at 73 minutes.

For 43 minutes, Donald Trump sang his rambling theme song of pet peeves from “Sleepy Joe” (Biden) and his infamous autopen to his own terrific tariffs, to fake media, to his going out for dinner in Washington, now made safe by him.

And of course the  Nobel Peace Prize he has been denied despite stopping seven wars, including one between nuclear armed India and Pakistan. But he skipped mentioning his failure to make peace in Ukraine or Gaza.

Then during the 44th minute, he said something that perked up the ears of his largely stoic audience sitting mostly in silence. “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” suggested POTUS branding San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles — all led by Democrats — as crime-filled urban hellscapes.

Calling for “a war from within,” Trump declared, “We’re going to straighten that out one by one,” and “with leaders like we have right here in this beautiful room today, we will vanquish every danger and crush every threat to our freedom.”

Earlier, setting the stage for the boss, his novice secretary of offense – oops defense, no war – Peter  Hegseth, a former major asked the “fat generals and admirals,” eons his senior, to shape up or ship out.

Outlining what he called policies designed to clear out the “debris” that has crept into the military, he lectured them to adhere to grooming and physical fitness standards and lead with an eye on more “lethality” and less “wokeness.”

Trumpiana: No coffee, tea or H-1B, just me, me, me! (September 27, 2025)

“No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses,” said Hegseth, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “No more climate change worship.”

Trump later touted a 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire and an ultimatum to Hamas to release all of the hostages within 72 hours in exchange for a phased withdrawal of Israeli troops.

But Israel would have the “full backing” of the United States to destroy Hamas if the plan falls through, he assured Prime Minister Netanyahu saying, “Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do.”

Setting a Sunday evening deadline, Trump warned, “If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas. THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”

The threat seems to have worked with Hamas Friday agreeing to release the Israeli hostages, while making clear it wanted to negotiate elements of the Trump plan.

READ: Trumpiana: Lie baby lie, slur baby slur, sue baby sue! (September 20, 2025)

“Based on the Statement just issued by Hamas, I believe they are ready for a lasting PEACE,” Trump responded asking Israel to “immediately stop the bombing of Gaza, so that we can get the Hostages out safely and quickly!”

“This is not about Gaza alone, this is about long sought PEACE in the Middle East,” he wrote with hopes of that elusive Nobel rekindled.

Meanwhile, the friendly neighbourhood Supreme Court with a conservative 6-3 majority, handed Trump his 21st victory Friday paving the way for revocation of temporary legal status for up to 600,000 Venezuelan immigrants, meaning some could ultimately be deported.

Yet a federal judge in Massachusetts had the temerity to criticize Trump’s crackdown on free speech, ruling that foreign students have the same First Amendment rights as American citizens.

Portraying him as a vainglorious bully who is enacting an agenda based on retribution, William Young, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, cited Trump’s orders that targeted law firms, universities and the media, which have fared badly in court, as examples.

“The Constitution, our civil laws, regulations, mores, customs, practices, courtesies — all of it; the President simply ignores it all when he takes it into his head to act,” Young wrote. “The president’s palpable misunderstanding that the government simply cannot seek retribution for speech he disdains poses a great threat to Americans’ freedom of speech.”

But an unfazed Trump sent out a proposal to nine top U.S. colleges and universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offering them preferential access to federal funds if they adopt his conservative agenda.

READ: Trumpiana: Caught by a tell-tale long tail; saved by a tall tale! (September 13, 2025)

Trump also previewed a deal with Harvard whereby the Ivy League institution, which has dared to take on POTUS, pays a $500 million fine and operates “a series of trade schools” to train students in subjects like artificial intelligence and automotive engineering.

Then as a government shutdown sending about 750,000 federal employees on furlough without pay, entered its fourth day without an end in sight,  Trump, called  it an “unprecedented opportunity” to slash the federal bureaucracy through another round of mass layoffs.

The veteran of history’s longest 34-day shutdown during his first term, Trump posted an AI-generated music video depicting Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought, one of the architects of the conservative Project 2025 plan, as the Grim Reaper.

The AI video even plays a cover version of the 1976 Blue Öyster Cult hit “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper,” – but with new lyrics: “Dems you babies, here comes the reaper…”

READ: Trumpiana: Tughlaq troubles — tariff tiffs to Tianjin troika (September 6, 2025)

And as the New York Times suggested the White House “can’t decide whether the shutdown is ‘fun’ or is it ‘madness’ that must end?,” Trump posted a number of videos making fun of his Democratic interlocutors – Senate and House minority leaders, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.

The one which took the cake was Trump sitting in the Oval Office with two Trump 2028 hats on the Resolute Desk,  gleefully tossing a third one that lands on Jeffries’ head — posing the Democrats’ ultimate bugaboo that Trump may somehow find a way to run for a constitutionally barred third term!