What looked like isolated crises—canceled flights, missing jobs data, military purges—reveals itself as the thrashing of an administration that knows something devastating is coming. Dean and I traced the panic from the Pentagon to Capitol Hill, and it all leads back to one place: those unreleased Epstein files.
5️⃣ The Economic Blackout
For the second consecutive month, there is no jobs report. The longest data blackout on record leaves economists navigating by starlight while companies announce 150,000 layoffs—triple last October’s numbers. Amazon, UPS, and IBM are shedding workers, but without Bureau of Labor Statistics data since August, nobody knows if we’re standing on solid ground or sliding toward a cliff. The Fed’s trying to pilot the economy without instruments while the break-even hiring rate allegedly collapsed from 150,000 to 30,000 jobs monthly due to Trump’s immigration crackdown. Even that calculation is guesswork without real numbers. As one economist put it: by the time jobless claims spike, you’re already too late. The government’s own shutdown policies are showing up in unemployment filings we can barely track—30,000 federal workers and counting.
4️⃣ The Weiss Transformation
Bari Weiss has spent one month remaking CBS News in the Free Press image, and the cultural collision is spectacular. A hundred staffers are gone, including the entire climate coverage team that was just praised for standout reporting. The race and culture unit vanished. One producer watched four colleagues of color get laid off while five White coworkers were reassigned. Weiss—who has never run a newsroom—pitched Dan Brown to discuss the Louvre heist and a profile of Japan’s prime minister based on her heavy metal playlist. Her sister’s Free Press articles now appear as paid ads on CBS web pages while Free Press contributors provide analysis on CBS streaming shows. Trump called her “a great new leader” during his 60 Minutes interview, which tells you exactly where this experiment is heading. As one professor noted, you don’t put Bari Weiss in charge unless the project is to Free Press-ify CBS News. John Dickerson, the standards chief, and the talent recruitment executive have all departed. The line between opinion journalism and network news has dissolved.
3️⃣ The Pentagon Purge
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired or sidelined two dozen generals and admirals in nine months—unprecedented in recent decades. Major General James Patrick Work led the victory over ISIS in Mosul but remains in limbo because he once worked for General Mark Milley, whom Trump despises. Every officer who commanded the 82nd Airborne before Work made three-star rank; nine reached four stars. Until Hegseth blocked it. Rear Admiral Milton Sands was fired for wanting female SEAL instructors. A 35-year intelligence officer was forced out after his agency questioned Trump’s claim that airstrikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. Hegseth gave a speech singling out retired four-stars by name for scorn in front of hundreds of active officers, creating pro-Trump and anti-Trump factions in the military. As retired General Stanley McChrystal warned, once lost, the legitimacy of a military that reflects all Americans will be difficult to recover. The purge follows the Chinese and Iraqi playbook: eliminate anyone who might challenge political authority, regardless of combat record.
2️⃣ The Epstein Reckoning
Republican insiders are being told behind closed doors that unreleased Epstein files are “much worse for Trump” than previously known. Not just Trump—donors, friends, former and current cabinet members. Attorney General Pam Bondi allegedly informed Trump in May that his name appears in DOJ materials along with other prominent figures, though the White House called the reporting fake news. There’s no single client list, just a sprawl of logs, notes, images, court files, and sealed interviews. GOP members are going camera-shy. Text chains are vibrating with dread. Representative Swalwell predicted this a month ago: the GOP is preparing to abandon Trump. After Tuesday’s election losses in New Jersey and Virginia, the timing couldn’t be worse. As Dean pointed out today, being named in these files might not prove wrongdoing, but politics isn’t a courtroom—it’s a meat grinder. Careers end before lunch.
1️⃣ The Full-Spectrum Collapse
Day 38 of the shutdown hit every pressure point simultaneously. Over 800 flights were canceled after the FAA ordered 10% cuts at 40 major airports, citing controller fatigue from working without pay. The second jobs report was canceled while companies shed 150,000 workers. Trump fought in federal court to block full food stamp payments for 42 million Americans, arguing there’s no “lawful basis” to tap the tens of billions in available federal funds—the same funds he’s already used for other programs during the shutdown. Democrats dug in after Tuesday’s victories showed voters rejecting Trump’s agenda. Instead of negotiating with Democratic leaders he hasn’t met since before the shutdown began, Trump spent the week pressuring Senate Republicans to kill the filibuster while insisting Obamacare’s cost increases aren’t his fault. States like California and Michigan started processing full SNAP payments anyway, ignoring the administration’s orders. Hakeem Jeffries captured the absurdity: “It’s a clown show over there in the Senate. What about Tuesday—Republicans got wiped out all across America.” The FAA cuts hit right before Thanksgiving travel. A federal judge said what everyone’s thinking: “This should never happen in America.”
What connects these five stories is an administration that’s stopped governing and started thrashing. You don’t cancel economic data, ground flights, starve families, and purge generals unless you’re either incompetent or terrified. Probably both. The Epstein files explain the terror. The rest explains the incompetence.
The FiveStack is available as an audio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Advertising inquiries email next@narativ.org. The FiveStack is a co-production of deanblundell.substack.com and narativ.org.
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