Geert's Feats Unseat Elite: Schoof Aloof on Next Cabinet Move

Plus: South Korea’s cursed presidency, Russia's 'deathonomics' military recruitment strategy & the buck does NOT stop here when it comes to the NPS.

The Dutch parliament is having a come apart over the exceedingly Dutch-sounding Geert Wilders' hardline immigration plan, which includes measures like stripping citizenship from people with dual passports. Naturally, the plan is controversial, so it lost support from other coalitions.

Wilders, who soon realized that demanding coalition partners reopen their agreement wasn’t going to work, instead held the government hostage by pulling the plug on his Party, taking it out of the governing party, and collapsing the fragile four-party government. Prime Minister Dick Schoof (another gloriously Dutch name) stepped down realizing the government was completely unworkable. All major decisions—including on defense, immigration, and budget—are effectively on hold until further notice.

This will make things awkward with the NATO summit coming to The Hague later this month.

We tried to get a photo of Geert Wilders holding a stroop waffle, but ChatGPT wouldn’t let us. You’re stuck with Marco Rubio.

Welcome to the Gist List—a news roundup, interesting things you should know, and my thoughts leading up to today’s podcast episode.

Here’s what’s on my mind:

🪖 One million Russian casualties in the war with Ukraine. (🔒)

🏞️ The feds don’t want the national parks, and neither do the states.

🤳 Text dispatches from Mike Lindell’s defamation trial.

🛬 Okay… Maybe we want SOME people back from CECOT.

🇰🇷 Why would anyone want to be president of South Korea?

🏦 The U.S. debt is out of control, but this time FOR REAL!

The Gist List

Putin's Sickening Statistic: 1 Million Russian Casualties In Ukraine (The Economist)🔒

Russia has suffered nearly 1 million military casualties since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Just in case you are fuzzy on the word “casualty” in a war setting, keep in mind that it means dead and wounded, taking them off the battlefield, which puts Russia around here:

• Killed: Possibly 250,000

• Wounded: Estimated 4:1 ratio of 750,000

That being said, it is a devastating loss for Russia, and Putin is scheming to get recruits from poor towns. The Russian army is offering a signing bonus of approximately $15,000, an annual salary of up to five times the national average, and death payouts of up to approximately $240,000. Putin is calling it market mobilization, while others are calling it “deathonomics.”

Trump Plans To Offload National Park Sites, But States Don't Want Them (Bloomberg)

The federal government is playing a game that will make you wonder if anyone in Washington understands the concept of "pass the buck." Back in the Biden administration, the plan was to cut $1.2 billion from the National Parks budget, including $900 million from park operations. Now in 2025, the Trump administration is thinking about offloading up to 350 federally managed parks to state or tribal governments.

It sounds outrageous, but here’s the catch: The state and tribal governments don’t want them.

Some states, like Florida, didn’t have the resources to take care of Big Cypress, which handed it over to the federal government in 1974 to protect its drinking water sources. Other states have obscure NPS sites you’d probably only ever see a bunch of bored schoolchildren at on a school field trip. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told Bloomberg Law that only the “crown jewel” parks are to remain and that of the places that would be offloaded would include “Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site in New York City, Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota and possibly ‘a battlefield site someplace.’”

Mike Lindell Is Texting Me From His Defamation Trial (The Bulwark)

MyPillow founder and famed 2020 election conspiracy promoter Mike Lindell is in court in Denver, facing a defamation lawsuit from Eric Coomer, a former Dominion Voting Systems employee. He plans to take the stand in his own lumpy defense—something he texted to The Bulwark writer, Will Sommer.

Lindell is not exactly on a route that will lead to his vindication, which, if he loses, he will be on the hook for millions of dollars in damages. This is not a great place to be when one team has already ditched you because you can’t pay them. If I were him, I would stop texting Will and get to practicing my defense.

Rubio Leading Negotiations With Bukele On Returning Migrants (The Hill)

President Donald Trump is on a losing streak with promising “day-one negotiations,” but if he wanted to promote some faith in his negotiation skills, he maybe should have started with this one. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is personally leading negotiations with Nayib Bukele of El Salvador to bring one wrongfully deported man who had court protections (no, not Kilmar Abrego Garcia).

Why do we think this will go so well? Well… we’re paying him. It seems like day-one negotiation streaks should start with just asking the guy who has nothing to lose nicely.

South Korea Set To Elect Liberal President After Chaotic Six Months (Washington Post)

Exit polls show Lee Jae-myung of South Korea’s Democratic Party poised to win the presidential election. I want to wish him a heartfelt congratulations, but also ask, “Really? Are you sure?”

If you’ve been following South Korean presidential elections with the near-autistic level I have, you’ll notice a disturbing trend: a lot of these guys end up dead or in prison. Here’s a list for you:

• Syngman Rhee (1948–1960) Resigned in disgrace amid mass protests over election fraud and corruption.

• Yun Bo-seon (1960–1962) Resigned in disgrace after a military coup led by Park Chung-hee.

• Park Chung-hee (1963–1979) Assassinated by his own intelligence chief.

• Choi Kyu-hah (1979–1980) Resigned in disgrace from Chun Doo-hwan's military regime.

• Chun Doo-hwan (1980–1988) Seized power through a coup, convicted of treason, sentenced to death, and pardoned.

• Roh Tae-woo (1988–1993) Convicted alongside Chun for corruption and mutiny, sent to prison, pardoned.

• Kim Young-sam (1993–1998) Retired without legal issues.

• Kim Dae-jung (1998–2003) Nobel Peace Prize laureate; retired honorably.

• Roh Moo-hyun (2003–2008) Faced a bribery investigation after leaving office; died by suicide.

• Lee Myung-bak (2008–2013) Convicted of corruption and embezzlement; sentenced to prison, pardoned.

• Park Geun-hye (2013–2017) Impeached and removed from office for corruption, sentenced to prison, pardoned.

• Moon Jae-in (2017–2022) Completed his term with minimal scandals.

• Yoon Suk-yeol (2022–2025) Impeached and removed from office after declaring martial law, trial pending.

They’re hitting the “PARDON” button over there a lot.

Wall Street Is Sounding The Alarm On U.S. Debt. This Time, It's Worth Listening (WSJ)

I know we’ve been discussing the debt crisis for years, but this time it's for real! For some of my younger readers, you may be jaded by the conversation. Your parents keep bringing it up at family dinners, but the bill never comes due, and people continue to lend to the U.S., even though interest payments exceed $1 trillion annually.

But think of it this way: Every murderer was once a non murderer. That nice neighbor who never seems like they’d have a secret family in the basement might actually have one. Your own perfect driving record can be undone by one fender bender. Eventually, everything will come to a head, and creditors will start sending people to break the government’s knees.

And now with the Big Beautiful Bill™️, we could add yet another $3–5 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan is warning of a possible “crack in the bond market,” which could lead to even higher interest payments. And if he wasn’t exactly clamoring to get in already, the repo man is already at the door.

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Yesterday On The Show: Elon Musk's Surprising Role In Government Tech

Aneesh Chopra, America’s first-ever Chief Technology Officer under Obama, joins The Gist to assess Elon Musk’s rebranded takeover of government tech via “Doge.” He outlines how the US Digital Service began under Obama, evolved during Trump’s first term, and now—chainsaw and hat aside—retains surprising policy continuity across administrations.

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There’s more where that came from. Listen to The Gist, and upgrade to Pesca Plus for the ad-free version.

Have a story you want us to talk about or an opinion you want to share? Email us at thegist@mikepesca.com or share your thoughts in the comments. We might give you a shoutout in our next newsletter or on the air.