Pot Meets Kettle In Washington

Appearing on Brian Tyler Cohen's podcast, former President Barack Obama found fault with President Trump for the state of political discourse in the country.

There's this sort of clown show that's happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn't seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office. That's been lost.

It was vintage Obama, blaming others for the situation he put America in, not only during his eight years in office, but in the years since then. Obama's policies on immigration, national security, the environment, the economy, and so-called racial justice have devastated the country. Rather than acknowledge mistakes, Obama doubled down, blaming Trump, who has been trying to correct Obama-era mistakes.

As the only president in recent memory to buy a home in Washington, D.C., after leaving office so that he could remain the ideological brain center of the Democratic Party, Obama has been orchestrating a resistance campaign against the President from the day Trump was elected in 2016. When Joseph Biden won the presidency in 2020 in a close election in which mail-in and absentee ballots gave him the edge in three key states, Obama saw a golden opportunity to prosecute a third term, pushing the Biden administration to hire senior Obama staffers.

Here are five senior Obama-era officials who held important positions in the Biden administration. Each official led America down a path that has made returning to normal extremely difficult.

1. Antony Blinken - Secretary of State (was Deputy Secretary of State and Deputy National Security Advisor under Obama). Blinken never pursued the art of diplomacy to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict or to maintain the delicate balance of power in the Middle East. Trotting the globe, Blinken always smooth-talked allies into promoting lofty goals backed up by American military power.
2. Jake Sullivan - National Security Advisor (was National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden and Director of Policy Planning at the State Department under Obama). Sullivan was by far the most arrogant National Security Advisor ever to hold the office and the king of American foreign policy failures. We documented his record repeatedly on these pages and were delighted to wish him farewell when he finally had to step down after Trump won a second term.
3. Alejandro Mayorkas - Secretary of Homeland Security (was Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security under Obama). Mayorkas presided over record border crossings and became the first Cabinet member to be impeached in nearly 150 years (the Senate dismissed impeachment charges without a trial). Even Hillary Clinton acknowledged during the Munich Security Conference that migration "went too far, it's been disruptive and destabilizing."
4. Ron Klain - White House Chief of Staff (was Chief of Staff to Vice President Biden and also served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Al Gore). Klain functioned as a de facto Prime Minister by wielding the auto pen and, by working with other Obama-era stalwarts, such as Victoria Nuland, changed America for the worse.
5. Susan Rice - Director of the Domestic Policy Council (was National Security Advisor and UN Ambassador under Obama). Rice's tenure was marked by controversies over immigration policy, particularly her handling of unaccompanied migrant children. A New York Times report alleged her team ignored warnings about migrant children being funneled into exploitative labor. She clashed with other officials, including HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, over border management. Her confrontational workplace style also drew criticism, with reports of an abusive environment.

In the podcast, Obama lamented:

The rogue behavior of agents of the federal government is deeply concerning and dangerous. It is important for us to recognize the unprecedented nature of what ICE was doing in Minneapolis.

No, what was unacceptable was Obama's support for Biden-era policies supporting an open border. When Kamala Harris became the Democratic Party nominee in 2024 by fiat, she announced she would go to the border for a photo opportunity.

Even before she landed, the acting chief of Biden's Immigration and Customs Enforcement had released a letter to Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican Congressman. The letter was explosive, enough to sink any campaign. It said that under Harris, the border czar, America had caught and released into the country over 662,000 migrants with criminal records. Worse, more than 15,000 of them were murderers convicted in their home countries, and 16,000 were convicted of sexual assault. Other crimes included 100,000 assaults, 70,000 drug violations, 90,000 invasions of privacy, and 16,000 weapons offenses.

What was unprecedented was Minnesota Governor Tim Walz's repeated assurances to the woke Left that he would provide sanctuary to criminal illegal aliens. The State's Attorney General, Keith Ellison, released known criminals into the streets, forcing Trump's ICE to hunt them down. In recent Senate hearings, Republicans blamed Ellison for deaths during federal immigration operations in Minnesota, accusing him of encouraging protesters to obstruct law enforcement. The Justice Department subpoenaed Ellison over allegations that state officials interfered with federal immigration operations.

Obama came to power as the grassroots organizer extraordinaire, advocating for his beliefs in the streets of Chicago. Now, his methods are employed by liberals all over the country, funded heavily by billionaires who pay activists whose only job is to obstruct and destroy.

Obama's careless and divisive actions over the last twenty years have caused deep trouble in America. He has genuinely transformed America for the worse with his "Change we can believe in" campaign in 2008.

President Trump is attempting to reverse Obama policies and is facing resistance at every turn. Obama criticizing Trump is the equivalent of a pot calling the kettle black.

👉 Show & Tell 🔥 The Signals

I. Magnificent Seven Market Cap Hits Five-Month Low

The combined market value of the Magnificent Seven has fallen to about $20 trillion, its lowest level in five months, reflecting recent tech-sector weakness after last year’s strong rally. Current market caps are Nvidia ($4.44T), Apple ($3.76T), Alphabet ($3.70T), Microsoft ($2.98T), Amazon ($2.13T), Meta ($1.62T), and Tesla ($1.57T).

II. One In Five Private-Sector Workers Now In Health Or Education

Employment in healthcare and education has steadily expanded for decades, rising from about 1 in 20 private-sector jobs in the 1950s to roughly 1 in 5 today, highlighting how services now dominate U.S. job growth.

III. When Do We Peak? Science Maps Life’s Performance Curve

An infographic from Information Is Beautiful, drawing on research compiled by Business Insider from multiple scientific studies, shows that different abilities peak at very different ages, from muscle strength in our mid-20s to chess performance in our early 30s, earnings later in midlife, and vocabulary and life satisfaction much later. The data highlight that human performance evolves across a lifetime, and there is no single age at which we are “at our best.”

1. Amid Saber-Rattling, Iran Touts Economic Benefits To West If Nuclear Deal Reached—Tyler Durden, Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity

2. Understanding Argentina’s Decades Of Economic Crises—Alexander Gallé, Mises Wire

3. Media Freedom…If We Can Keep It!—Ron Paul, Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity

4. Bitcoin Mining And The Electricity Grid: A Quiet Savior—Joakim Book, Mises Wire

5. The Putnam Twist: The End Of Value—David Gordon, Mises Wire

6. From My Father’s Gift To My Children’s Future— O.J. Oleka, The Daily Signal

7. Debt, Inflation, And The Illusion Of Protection—Marcos Giansante, Mises Wire

8. How President Trump Plans To Bolster Military Operations—Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal

📊 Market Mood — Tuesday, February 17, 2026

🟩 Futures Waver as Tech Rotation Continues
U.S. futures drift lower as investors rotate out of tech amid concerns over AI disruption and heavy capital spending.

🟧 Markets Eye U.S.–Iran Talks for Oil Direction
Crude prices ease ahead of nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran, which could influence supply risk premiums.

🟦 Palo Alto Networks Earnings in Focus
Investors look to cybersecurity results tonight for clues on tech spending resilience amid rising AI competition.

🟨 Gold Pulls Back Before Key U.S. Data
Gold retreats as traders await upcoming economic reports and Fed minutes for direction on interest rates.

🗓️ Key Economic Events — Tuesday, February 17, 2026

No Events Scheduled