Democracy In Shambles
Posted: October 21, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Congress, Demolition of the White House, Donald Trump, Government Shutdown, history, MAGA, No Kings Day, Trump, United States Constitution, White House Leave a comment
Photo from Getty Images showing the demolition of the East Wing of the White House.
Donald J. Trump — convicted felon, adjudicated sex offender and world class liar — symbolically showed us what he thinks of we, the people, of the United States. The demolition of the White House has begun so that he can build a monument to himself. Back in July, Trump said about the construction of a new ballroom that the White House itself would not be changed because the ballroom will “be near it but not touching it and pays total respect to the existing building, which I’m the biggest fan of.” Yet another lie. The addition was never approved by the National Capital Planning Commission which approves changes to federal buildings, construction and the National Mall. The chairman happens to be Will Scharf who also happens to be the White House Staff Secretary and a close adviser to the president. The ballroom will be 90,000 square feet, which will dwarf the existing White House which totals only about 50,000 square feet. This is on the heels of destroying the Rose Garden so that he could put in a Mar-a-Lago style patio which he calls the “Rose Garden Club.” Somehow, I don’t think I can afford to join that club.
However, if that is not enough to show his disdain for the “The People’s House” — he seems to forget that he is merely a tenant, not the owner — check out his AI generated meme reacting to the “No Kings” rallies held in about 2,500 cities and towns with an estimated attendance of over seven million citizens of all ages, social backgrounds, religions, representing the diversity of our great nation.
This is an outtake of the video (and yes the oxygen mask is supposed to go over one’s nose as well as mouth) so as to not have to insult you with the moronic, unamusing, disrespectful, scatalogical contents of the meme. Let’s just say the aircraft has a payload that he drops on a major city and shows inhabitants of that city getting covered in poo. Apparently we have a president with the sensibilities of a ten year old.
The president. Of the United States. Don’t you feel proud?
Taken together, it shows his total disregard for our country. He is happy to spend his time sending out social media posts rather than working on re-opening the government. You know, to actually govern. His puppet-filling-space as the Speaker of the House still refuses to even talk to a Democrat about finding a solution to help the American people. Thanks to his leadership, the members of the House of Representatives have only worked 20 days since the Fourth of July. That’s quite the extended paid vacation. Yes, even though hard working TSA agents and others are working with no payday in sight, the members of the House and Senate still get paid during the shutdown. Apparently, the contents of the Epstein files must be so bad, that the president and his MAGA crowd would rather have hard working people go broke than re-open the government and risk a vote on releasing the files.
Trump pardoned nearly 2,000 rioters that attacked our national legislature with the purpose of keeping him in power while seriously injuring 140 law enforcement officers and yet he claims the mantle of being a law and order president. Therefore, it is imperative that he federalize the National Guard to go after old people in lawn chairs and folks in frog blow up costumes because they are a real threat to America.
On a positive note I met many new, kind, helpful and joyous people while attending a peaceful “No Kings Rally” in a small town that is the county seat for a heavily red, pro-Trump county in our state. It was refreshing and a quiet boost and underlined that the majority of Americans — regardless of past political associations — have tired of the antics of this administration. The Trump regime knows that it is deeply unpopular which is why they continue to lash out. They have a losing agenda. We need to turn the outpouring from over the weekend into actual political action. We have a way to go, but I cannot remember a feeling so widespread in our country that serves to unite us to protect our life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Peace Or No Peace?
Posted: June 25, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: B-2 Bombers, Battle Damage Assessment, Congress, Defense Intelligence Agency, IAEA, Iran, Israel, Middle East, Politics, US Intelligence Community, War Powers Act 1 CommentIn many situations, two things can be true at the same time. Looking at the events unfolding over the last two weeks in the Middle East demonstrates how this premise applies.
Last Saturday, the United States bombed three locations in Iran that were known to be associated with Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The ability to strike with lethality and accuracy anywhere in the world was aptly demonstrated by the attacks on Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan in Iran. 125 military aircraft were involved including refueling tankers, escort fighters and seven B-2 stealth bombers that dropped fourteen GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) or “bunker busters” on targets. At the same time, U.S. Navy submarines launched about thirty precision guided Tomahawk missiles at Isfahan. No aircraft were lost. No Americans were killed or wounded. By every standard, there is no doubt that the American military pulled off a wildly successful surprise attack on their assigned targets. We should all be proud of their skill, persistence, fortitude and valor. It was a tactical success in every way. However, was the mission accomplished? Were the Iranian nuclear facilities destroyed and their nuclear weapons program halted or at least delayed for many years?
We do not know.
The president announced within hours of the attack that the Iranian facilities were “obliterated.” There is no way he could know that. Many in his cabinet use the same or similar words to continue to describe the success of the mission. They revile anyone that questions their conclusion by calling them un-American and disrespectful to the courageous airmen and sailors that conducted the attack. As is usually the case with this administration, they are more concerned with the drama and self-congratulations than they are with the facts, with which they often only have a passing familiarity.
General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is more cautious, professional and deliberate in his descriptions. Until a complete account of the Battle Damage Assessment (BDA) can be made, we simply do not know the extent of the damage or even whether the targets of the bombing — enriched uranium and the centrifuges used to make it — were at the sites that we attacked. The attack was successful — bombs on target and everyone came home — but we do not know if the mission was successful — no more Iranian nuclear program. The only way to be absolutely sure is to inspect the sites on the ground. That is not going to happen. The bombing certainly crushed any hope of a short term resumption of discussions to allow inspectors, such as from the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) into the area. U.S. inspectors will not be able to go there, either. Of course there are numerous other ways to feel fairly confident of the results. Spies on the ground (it appears that the Israelis had numerous people in key places prior to their own attacks), intercepts of Iranian military and government communications discussing the damage that was caused and assessing their own ability to respond to the attack and other elements of intelligence trade craft that can give a fairly robust picture of what happened. That can take days or weeks before the Intelligence Community (IC) can say with confidence that they have a comfortable assessment.
With that in mind, the revelation yesterday on CNN, and soon widely reported elsewhere, that the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the intelligence agency for the Pentagon, assesses that the Iranian nuclear program was only set back about three to six months rather than years or being “obliterated”. That report caused quite the uproar. For those reading the fine print, the DIA assessment was a preliminary report of “low confidence.” Such reports are often issued soon after an operation to give decisionmakers an outline of what may be needed in the near term should follow up actions be necessary.
There have been rumors/reports that the Iranians moved significant quantities of enriched uranium and centrifuges before the attack. It is thought to be enough to keep their program going. Similarly, although the Israelis killed several top Iranian nuclear scientists in their sleep, they cannot kill everyone and they cannot kill the knowledge of methods and practices that they have learned with their program thus far. Do not discount the possibility that the Iranians are also getting technical assistance, and perhaps even material, from their friends in North Korea and Russia.
Stopping Iran from having a nuclear program is not as easy as launching one bombing attack, no matter how audacious or successful that one attack may be. Wishing it so, shouting it so, demanding that the “scum” in the media stop asking how does the administration know, doesn’t make it go away. Saying that “nothing” can survive fourteen 30,000 pound bombs does not mean it happened. (May I remind everyone that the U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) shares a headquarters with the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD) in Cheyenne Mountain near Colorado Springs Colorado. Completed in 1967, the command and control facility can withstand a nuclear attack. Surely the technology and know-how to build such a complex could be accomplished by other nations sometime in the ensuing 58 years.)
To me, a great big “tell” happened yesterday. The House and Senate were to receive briefings on the Iranian program and Saturday’s attack. When the news broke about the DIA assessment, the briefings were cancelled. One can only surmise that the administration knew that their brief would not hold up under questioning since the audience would be aware of the CNN report.
There are numerous additional questions surrounding the entire state of affairs. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard testified under oath before Congress that the Iranians did not have the capability to build a nuclear weapon (people also forget that it is not enough to have a nuclear capability — a country must be able to weaponize the material and, often forgotten in the discussions, have a means to deliver it against an adversary. Not an easy task.) Trump said she was “wrong.” Multiple times in the last few days he has made it clear that he does not believe in, or listen to, anyone that tells him something he does not want to hear, regardless of the sources or methods used. This is unbelievably dangerous. Vice President J.D. Vance on Sunday said that the president and his advisers “trust their instincts.” Holy cow. We entrust our security and safety to instincts rather than analysis and facts? I feel better already.
I also have every expectation that political appointees in the IC will start requiring intelligence reports to conform to Trump’s preconceptions or politically expedient explanations. They have already done so while rationalizing the use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to round up immigrants. I am sure people will be fired at the DIA after the leak of their report yesterday.
There are, of course, issues surrounding this attack and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (also called the War Powers Act). Many members of Congress are calling Trump’s decisions un-Constitutional because only Congress can declare war. The Resolution calls for the president to brief Congress within 48 hours of military action if he acts on his own. This administration is ignoring the law. (Again.) Traditionally, the administration briefs the Gang of Eight prior to undertaking operations such as the attack on Iran. They did not brief them. (The Gang of Eight are the leaders in the House and Senate of both political parties along with the Chair and Ranking Member of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees).
In reality, wars are only resolved through negotiations. We will see if the U.S., Israel and Iran can figure out a satisfactory settlement. I am skeptical. A cease-fire is a very tenuous thing. There is a long way to go before anything is settled. Israel still sees Iran as an existential threat and besides wanting to end Iran’s nuclear program they would also like to see the religious zealots ruling Iran disappear — regime change. Iran still has its government and is still determined to erase Israel from existence.
The Iranians responded to the U.S. attack by launching missiles against the U.S. air base near Doha Qatar. It was really just a sound and light show — the Qataris, U.S. and U.K. (at a minimum) were given a heads up and they shot down the incoming missiles with no deaths or injuries. Do not expect that face saving demonstration to be the end of it from the Iranian perspective. The Trump administration thinks in terms of news cycles and then it is on to the next shiny object. The Iranians (Persians) have a long and proud history and consider themselves to be the root of civilization in the region (Arabs are poor nomads with no culture, according to the Iranians). They will be taking the long view and have the patience to wait out their enemies. The only wild card is the internal politics of both Israel and Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps himself in power (and possibly out of jail) by keeping the wars going in Gaza and elsewhere. Will he honor the cease-fire once the U.S. resupplies his military? (At the expense of Ukraine. We only have so much in our stockpiles.) Will the people of Iran leave their government in place or will they rise up and try to install a new generation of leaders? It is still a very volatile situation and will be for quite awhile.
So many questions right now. So few answers.
This Is Not Normal
Posted: March 13, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Congress, DOGE, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, MAGA Republicans, Oligarchs, Politics, Project 2025, Reductions in Force *RIF), United States Constitution, Vladimir Putin Leave a commentOkay. Time to face up to the facts. We, the citizens of the United States of America are getting screwed. Erstwhile apologists for the 47th president contend that it is “normal” for a new president to bring in his own political appointees to carry out the policies of the new administration. This is true. But let’s not pretend that what is going on in the Trump administration is anywhere close to normal. Besides the fact that many of his cabinet and other Senate approved nominees are unqualified for their jobs, the person making the biggest impact on our government and, indeed, our cherished way of life, is an unelected, unconfirmed South African billionaire that has no idea of how the U.S. government works and has no intention of finding out. Elon Musk and his co-president Trump just do not care about any of it. Under the Trojan horse of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse, they are destroying our federal government resulting in life changing decisions for tens of thousands of Americans and facilitating the possible deaths of tens of thousands more through their drastic cuts to research, science and health programs and the elimination of funding for the basic necessities of life. The secondary and tertiary effects of these decisions include the impact on farmers that had their contracts to supply food programs cut, to the truck drivers and stevedores responsible for getting the supplies to those in need and on and on. The key question is why are they doing this? I’ll get to that below.
With sincere compassion, yesterday Trump opined that he feels “very badly” about those that are losing their jobs, literally overnight, but “many of them don’t work at all. Many of them never showed up to work.” So I guess the lie that the roughly 32,000 federal employees fired (so far) are losers is supposed to make it all okay.
It is hard to define exactly how much alleged waste fraud and abuse has been rescued from government spending so far. Some lies are easy to unravel, others do not make sense but since the data is limited, it is hard to know exactly what is going on. Musk and his DOGE-bros say that they will cut one trillion dollars from the federal budget by the end of the year. The entire federal work force costs about 293 billion dollars or about 4% of the total budget. That includes salaries and benefits. So far DOGE claims to have cut 115 billion dollars. Most experts that are tracking the cuts conclude that is an overestimate by about 80%. For example, they are counting contracts that were already complete or terminated, sometimes as long ago as during the Bush administration, and in one case, they claimed 8 billion dollars in savings until the contractor pointed out that it was really for 8 million. (I’m reminded of Dr, Evil in the Austin Powers movies and the bit about one million vs one billion dollars in ransom. Only this isn’t funny.)
According to the New York Times tracker, so far at least 10,030 people have been fired in agencies scheduled for dismantling, 21,433 probationary employees were let go, along with 428 DEI workers, 33 January 6 coup investigators, 22 government watchdogs (mostly Inspectors General), and 434 other staffers from across the government that came into the crosshairs of Trumpian disdain. Reports claim that the administration wants to eliminate 100,000 employees in the near future. In other words, the chaos we have endured so far is just the beginning.
Maybe the 18 million dollars of taxpayer money Trump spent in his first seven weeks in office to play golf at his own course could have gone to keeping a few park rangers on the job. I do not begrudge presidents having some down time, but really? President Obama often played golf — at the course on Joint Base Andrews just outside of Washington D.C.
All of this is illegal, of course. Not to mention unethical and a direct conflict of interest given Musk’s 38 billion dollars in government contracts (since 2003) and the fact that much of what they are doing is shrouded in secrecy. Under Article I of the Constitution Congress writes the laws that govern our country, including budget authorizations and appropriations. Under Article II, the president executes the duly enacted laws. Mandates from the electorate or not (and in this case not, Trump got less than 50% of the vote not-with-standing his claims), no president can ignore the law and act as his Project 2025 acolytes decree within a “unitary presidency.” To emphasize that point following the attempts by President Richard Nixon to with hold funds for policies with which he disagreed, Congress passed The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 that reiterates Congressional control of government funds. The Act was reinforced in Train v City of New York (1975), a unanimous Supreme Court decision. Indeed, Trump’s first impeachment was based on his impoundment of funds appropriated and authorized to help in the defense of Ukraine.
Today’s Congress, controlled by MAGA Republicans, refuses to exert its authority and instead is letting an unelected billionaire run amok, cutting on a whim whatever he deems “unnecessary,” for fear of the wrath of Trump. They are derelict in their duties and apparently don’t care. In recent meetings between the MAGA Congress and Musk, he told them to call him if they have any questions about what he is doing. He was even so gracious as to give them his phone number. Which, of course, is totally backwards. They should not be asking him to spare their constituents as a favor, they should be delineating what is and what is not acceptable in accordance with already appropriated spending. Congress has conceded their power and responsibilities to one unelected man. The Speaker of the House, second in line to the presidency behind the Vice President wakes up every morning worried that he did not properly respond to something Musk wants. I exaggerate not. This week he is quoted as saying that Musk has the power to “blow the whole thing up” if he doesn’t like or understand a particular action by Congress. As Speaker Johnson explained, “So I spend a lot of time working with all these dials and all these folks, and I just run around all day and make sure everybody’s happy.”
Why are Musk and Trump doing this?
It is hard to know for sure as to what is going on in the scrambled minds of the co-presidents. Their Project 2025 acolytes believe in what they are doing, They are trying to remake the government in their own ideological image of a white Christian nation. I do not think that Trump and Musk care much about that. Their motivation? To me, money.
There are billions and billions of dollars to be had if one has the inside track on government contracts. If the cuts to the Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies and departments make already difficult situations worse, then so much the better. The more dissatisfied the public becomes with these agencies and the more that they are unable to provide the required services, the more the public will clamor for change. And what change would that be, you may ask? Not to make the departments more efficient or productive by upgrading computer systems or hiring more federal workers or even more, supposedly, efficient workers. The answer is to privatize them. Turn them over to the billionaires to run. Turn them into for profit companies that provide the services previously paid for by taxes and instead charge a fee for the service.
Another example is in the dissolution of the Department of Education. Trump and others in his administration continue to extoll the virtues of vouchers for schools. Vouchers mean private schools. Private schools can be for profit schools. There is also the added benefit of being able to decide who does or does not get to go to a particular private school — limited enrollment, you know, to enhance the student-teacher ratio. They can also set their own curriculum, ideological leaning and rules. Taxpayer dollars getting diverted from public schools to private ones, thus over time destroying the public school system? Maybe, But, let the free market reign!
The General Services Administration wants to sell over four hundred properties around the country owned by the federal government, including such buildings as the Justice Department Headquarters, the Social Security Administration Headquarters, and others. Does anyone really think that we do not need centralized offices for administering the government? Of course not. It is a potential scheme. Flood the market with too much real estate, prices drop, billionaires buy up those properties at reduced prices, and then turn around and rent them back to the government at a profit.
All the talk about taking over Greenland, Canada, Ukraine and other seemingly non-sensical ravings? Rare earth minerals and other resources abound. More money! Not for the ordinary Joes, but rather for those billionaires that deserve to reap the benefits because, after all, they are the “Master’s of the Universe” (see the film Bonfires of the Vanities, although in the end it did not work out so well).
Their blueprint may well be the way that the oligarchs took over Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. When the centralized economy crashed, there were willing businessmen that saw an opportunity and took it. Buying up formerly state-controlled industries at dirt cheap prices, they parlayed their gains in an “anything goes” atmosphere during the turmoil following the collapse of the Soviet state. During Boris Yeltsin’s time as the country’s president, in order to keep the government afloat, he turned to the now billionaires profiting from their monopolies. In the course of events, they accumulated massive political power along with their wealth. When Vladimir Putin came to office as Yeltsin’s hand picked successor, he made examples of three of these budding oligarchs, either throwing them in jail or forcing them to leave the country. As a result, the remaining oligarchs got the message. In exchange for their continued wealth, they agreed to support Putin, stay out of politics, and share their wealth with him. If you helped Putin, you became rich. If you opposed him, you were exiled, killed or both.
While the United States is not Russia, this same outline could be the game plan for Trump and his billionaire friends. He helps them get rich as long as they keep him in power and make sure that he gets rich alongside of them. We already see that the Department of Justice is dropping cases against criminals that support Trump while going after businesses and high profile individuals that oppose him. Two months into his term, Trump has already made it quite clear that those that support him will benefit and those that oppose him will suffer. With billions, maybe trillions of dollars afloat throughout the government, privatizing agencies that control that money is a huge opportunity for those that play along.
Am I predicting this? No. Can I see that it is possible? Yes. I take solace in the fact that we are not Russia. The United States has a long tradition that no other country in the world has. I have faith that eventually people will catch on to what is happening and work to stop it. Already there are a multitude of challenges to the Trump/Musk administration in the courts. So far, the challengers are winning and Trump is losing. Unfortunately, the wheels of justice turn slowly. While I think that they have a righteous cause that will eventually prevail, in the meantime countless numbers of our citizens will suffer and some will die because they are unable to access the help that they deserve and that our government promised to give them.
Continue to let your elected officials know that you did not sign up for this. We need to keep shouting our dissatisfaction. The self-anointed Masters of the Universe will not prevail.
The Beacon Of Democracy Is Dimming
Posted: February 25, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Autocrats, Congress, DOGE, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, NATO, Russia, U.S. Military, Ukraine, United States Constitution, Vladimir Putin, War Leave a commentThe past few days have been tumultuous for those of us that pay attention to the systematic demolishing of the democratic norms we took for granted just a few weeks ago. In the past few days an unelected South African “adviser” to the president accelerated the use of a wrecking ball to attack our proud and dedicated civil servants, senior military officers were fired because of the color of their skin or their gender, the United States of America joined North Korea, Russia, Belarus, and others to vote in the United Nations against a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and instead continued to claim Ukraine caused the war, and the President of these United States called the President of France a liar to his face during an Oval Office press gathering when President Macron tried to set the record straight concerning aid to Ukraine. That’s a lot and it is only the tip of the iceberg.
As Elon Musk and his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) henchmen continue to decimate the federal government, our fellow citizens are beginning to understand what is going on and are pushing back against their elected representatives in town hall meetings across the country. Officials in both “blue” districts and “red” ones are feeling the heat. So far, the opposition to the drastic cuts has had little impact. Trump, MAGA acolytes and Musk will continue to decimate the federal government. They fundamentally do not care what happens to the people serving in the jobs, the harm caused by closing down federal funding or any other second or third order impacts caused by their reckless behavior. Their goal is to establish an autocracy run by techno-bros and other rich white men. End of discussion. This is Project 2025 in all of its dimensions.
The budding autocrats are making great progress. Already the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) are under the control of MAGA and are ready to wreak havoc on those that oppose Trump. The contagion is now spreading to the Department of Defense (DOD). The Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) Pete Hegseth, under orders from Trump although I am sure SECDEF would have done it anyway, fired the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General C.Q. Brown (a black man), Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Lisa Franchetti (a woman), the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force General James Slife (a white man that was too “woke”), Lt. General Jennifer Short (a woman) the Senior Military Aide to SECDEF, and Judge Advocate Generals (JAGs) of the Army, Air Force and Navy. On his second day in office, Trump had the Commandant of the Coast Guard fired, Admiral Linda Fagan (a woman). The JAGs were fired, according to SECDEF, because they were “roadblocks” to doing what he wanted. In other words, they had too much integrity to allow SECDEF or the Commander-in-Chief to do whatever they wanted to do when it includes illegal or unethical activity. Danger, danger! Pete Hegseth, then a Fox News host, was instrumental in getting Trump, during his first term, to pardon war criminals. In November of 2019, Trump pardoned two Army officers for the murder of civilians in Afghanistan and promoted a Navy SEAL after a court martial stripped him of his rank for similar charges.
The flag and general officers fired last Friday were considered DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) hires. Even though General Brown was appointed as Chief of Staff of the Air Force during Trump’s first administration. (President Biden promoted him to be CJCS.) This, of course, disregards their decades of service and their proven track record in command at all levels of the military. They proved themselves in tough, demanding jobs. It is an insult to believe that they only attained their positions because of their “woke” ideologies or because a political party wanted to promote people only because of some vague idea about affirmative action. What they are really saying is that only white men are qualified to lead our country and that only white men can be warriors. (Hegseth is qualified? Meritocracy my …) (For an excellent breakdown of the mind set of the current administration and advocates of Project 2025, I recommend reading the article in The Atlantic magazine by Adam Serwer The Great Resegregation found here.)
Senior officers serve at the discretion of the president. However, their terms of office are meant to straddle different administrations in order to provide stability and experience to protect our national security. Even more distressing, the president is nominating retired Lt. General Dan Cane, USAF for the position of Chairman. According to U.S. law (title 10 Part I, chapter 5) the Chairman must have previously served as the Vice Chairman, Chief of a military branch, or the commander of a unified or specified command — all are four star (General or Admiral) positions. Lt. General Cane has never been in any of those positions and never achieved the rank of a four star. Title 10 does provide for a deviation from these requirements if it is “in the national interest.” I would argue that there is no compelling reason today to deviate from the law unless the president and SECDEF want someone that is willing to do whatever they want them to do, including illegal or unethical behavior. I do not know Lt. General Cane so I will not impugn his character, but let us just note that something fishy is going on here. Just as those flag and general officers that were fired were the product of the military system that produces non-political officers that have an oath only to the Constitution I want to believe that officers promoted to fill the vacated positions have an allegiance only to their duty under the Constitution and not fealty to one man. Time will tell.
The loss of American leadership was on full display yesterday in the United Nations when the U.S. supported Russian ideals rather than traditional American support for democracy. On the third anniversary of the full scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. joined Russia in the U.N. General Assembly to vote against a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression and calling for an end to the war with a full withdrawal of Russian troops. It was an extraordinary turn of events as much of the world voted in favor of the European based resolution. In other words, we turned against our own allies to support Russia. The President of the United States continues to say that the war is Ukraine’s fault and that its leader President Zelenskyy is a dictator. It is not only embarrassing, it is frightening. It signals that our president is a pawn in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hand. Russia’s invasion is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II. The purpose of the U.N. and its charter is to protect the territorial integrity of sovereign nations. Apparently, we no longer support democracies around the world and find it totally acceptable for large countries to invade smaller ones. Everyone wants the killing to stop. The losses on both sides are catastrophic. But the current administration fails to understand that this war could stop tomorrow if Russia withdrew its invading force. Simple. Instead, Trump wants to stand proudly with a designated war criminal who favors murder, rape, and indiscriminate destruction of civilian targets.
Continuing to show his willful ignorance and lack of shame, Trump added insult to injury by telling lie after lie about the war and the circumstances around it while in a meeting in the Oval Office with French President Macron. When President Macron corrected him in front of the press corps, Trump’s body language was very telling, as well as what he actually said about President Macron’s statement. The discussion concerned Trump’s desire to get rare minerals from Ukraine to “pay back” the aid provided. (Roughly 75% of the aid we give to Ukraine actually stays in the U.S. as the money is used to buy U.S. ammunition, weapons and other military equipment. Trump also greatly exaggerates the amount of that aid.) He went on to claim that the Europeans have already been reimbursed. President Macron interrupted him to fact check him that, in fact, the Europeans have not been reimbursed. At the end, Trump told the press that they can believe those “lies” from President Macron if they want to. A great statesman.
In all, everyday we see how unqualified Trump and key members of his administration are in trying to keep our country economically strong and our country secure. Through design and malfeasance our great democracy is slowly crumbling. Trump has consolidated the centers of power in our government as he purges the Pentagon. The pillars of an autocratic government are nearly in place. Congress is missing in action. So far, the courts are holding firm as our last great hope. My view is that Trump thinks that he will eventually prevail in the Supreme Court as they will side with his idea of the unitary executive and Trump will use it to quash any remaining resistance. I hope I am wrong, but to date, they are succeeding. Given that he is a convicted felon that already tried to overthrow the country, there is no reason to think that he does not intend to become an autocrat.
Burn It All Down
Posted: February 3, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 1984, 6 January Insurrection, Congress, DEI, Democracy, DOJ, Economy, Elon Musk, FBI, George Orwell, Project 2025, Trump, United States Constitution Leave a commentLet’s party like it’s 1984! Not the disco age 1984, but rather I mean the 1984 of George Orwell.
“Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from the oligarchies of the past in that we know what we are doing.” — George Orwell, 1984
Yes, that George Orwell.
The first two weeks of the new administration have been tumultuous, to state the obvious. It has been very chaotic. This is by design, as I will explain below. It has been nothing less than a full scale assault on the federal government in an attempt to attack from so many directions at once that it is difficult to keep up with all of the illegal, immoral and unethical actions currently underway. But then, we should not be surprised by the actions of a thirty-four time convicted felon and adjudicated sexual abuser who tried to overthrow the duly elected government of the United States. The examples are numerous, but let me highlight a few in order to illustrate the scale of the assault.
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
― George Orwell, 1984
The Trump Administration is trying to erase every fact surrounding the attempted coup on 6 January 2021. First came the pardons for roughly 1500 criminals that assaulted law enforcement officers and threatened to kill many of our elected officials, including the Speaker of the House and the Vice President. Then came the continual and overbearing claim that the 2020 election was stolen. To date, not one political appointee appearing before the Senate for confirmation would affirm that President Joe Biden won the election, only that he was sworn in as president. They try to convince people that the coup never happened and that the riot was really a love fest. The latest claim is that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) went “rogue” to weaponize our justice and law enforcement institutions to find and prosecute the alleged patriots who were only trying to “stop the steal.” As of today, the new administration is gutting the DOJ of experienced prosecutors and are pushing to fire about a third of the agents and leaders in the FBI. This is before the nominated Attorney General and FBI Director have been confirmed. Both have promised in public to go after anyone associated with upholding the rule of law on 6 January. Anyone involved, no matter how tangentially, will be fired and perhaps prosecuted. In this process, we are losing a valuable national asset that keeps us safe everyday. If the FBI is in internal turmoil, their energy is not focused on stopping drug dealers or terrorists. If “everyone” is fired there will be a critical loss of knowledge and expertise leaving our country vulnerable. There is an old saying that no one hears about the bomb that didn’t explode. The FBI and other intelligence agencies stop numerous dangerous plots that we never hear about. After the ongoing purge, our enemies will be emboldened to carry out their plans to kill Americans.
Trump fired all but two of the Inspectors General (IGs) in the federal government. These positions were established by Congress to be independent watch dogs in our government departments to weed out waste, fraud and abuse. Many of the IGs he fired were originally appointed during his first term. One can only surmise that they were fired to preclude them from calling out the illegal or unethical actions that his administration anticipates doing.
Last week we all mourned the tragic loss of 67 lives over the Potomac River in a mid-air collision. The nation mourned, except for the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the Secretary of Transportation (SDOT) who put on the most despicable and racist display I can remember from elected officials in my lifetime. By blaming “DEI” (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs) for the crash they barely concealed their belief that only white males are qualified to pilot aircraft and control air traffic. Trump tried to prove his point by reading from an FAA recruiting website that tried to open jobs to every American. He ridiculed it, blamed the accident on Presidents Obama (!) and Biden and their woke policies. The problem is that the entry from the website that he read aloud was posted during his first term. The racist implication of all of their talk of a “meritocracy” (one could ask if Pete Hegseth got his job as SECDEF because of the merits of his resume — cough cough) lies in what they really mean — that anyone that does not look like them is clearly not qualified to have a high powered job. No women or minorities could possibly be qualified. Worse, they probably took a job away from a white male. If you think I over exaggerate, then please let me point you in the direction of Trump’s Executive Order (E.O.) that rescinds President Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 Executive Order 11246 that prohibits discrimination in hiring for federal jobs. It codified affirmative action to eliminate discrimination and delineated employee protections in hiring. I guess Trump is promoting discrimination now.
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”
― George Orwell, 1984
To take it a step further, NBC reports that several government agencies will no longer acknowledge or celebrate Black History Month, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Juneteenth, LGBTQ Pride Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day or “other observances.” We will see how that works as some are federal holidays by law. It also reflects that in the name of eliminating “political correctness” and “woke” ideology a very long list of terms have been officially expunged from government documents, websites and information outlets. In their place is a new list of approved words. We have traded one set of PC police to another set that are far more ruthless in weeding out what they do not like.
“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.”
― George Orwell, 1984
On the farcical level, to satisfy the Dear Leader, two dams in California’s San Joaquin Valley dumped billions of gallons of water that helped no one. Trump was trying to prove that he could have the Army (really the Army Corps of Engineers) “turn the valve” and have water flow to the Los Angeles area to help put out their devastating fires. A perfect photo op to show how he solved California’s water problems. The reality is that there was no way that water could ever be used to help with fires in LA. There is no infrastructure in place to get it to LA. The water in those reservoirs was wasted and was actually reserved for the upcoming summer irrigation needs to support agriculture. I am sure the farmers are thrilled he intervened.
More importantly, and a situation that is extremely troubling, Elon Musk and his acolytes now have access to every computer system in the government connected to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Treasury Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (A.I.D.). Musk can now access classified information, the intimate records of every employee in the U.S. government, and every financial transaction made by the federal government. All six trillion dollars of it. That includes every payment to you, me, non-profits, government agencies, etc. etc. And oh yeah, that includes payments to every contractor doing business with the U. S. government, including those that are in direct competition with Musk’s businesses.
I need not remind you that Musk is a civilian with no official government position — not elected not confirmed by the Senate, nothing. He broke cybersecurity laws under the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Worse, they used external hard drives to access the information which raises the chances of importing a virus, ransomware, or to allow disruptive operations.
Not only is Musk not a government official and he has no security clearance, his background and activities are troubling. He is a naturalized citizen who grew up in South Africa under apartheid. Apparently, he had no issue with that racist policy. Among other suspect political activities, he spent 288 million dollars in 2024 on Trump’s campaign and to help other Republican office seekers. He actively supports a German political party known as the Alternative for Germany (AfG), a far right neo-Nazi group gaining influence in German political affairs.
This is a very secretive administration that obfuscates and covers up its illegal activities until they are uncovered by determined journalists or government whistle blowers. We don’t really know all that they are doing. But we do know what they have planned.
Many of the actions taken to date are an attempt to marginalize the House and Senate. And Trump and his accomplices are succeeding. They are breaking civil service laws, appropriation laws and ignoring the Constitution. It is an all out assault on the rule of law and an attempt to totally sideline the Congress. So far they are letting him do it. There is no push back and a lot of “anticipatory obedience”. To date, the Senate has approved all of his nominees even as the majority of Republican Senators know that a lot of the nominees are unqualified and will readily carry out illegal acts if so ordered by their president. (For the first time in American history the nominees that have appeared for confirmation hearings thus far have all refused to answer the question as to whether they would resign rather than carry out an illegal order. They all used some form of the response that they don’t answer questions about “hypotheticals”).
“We do not merely destroy our enemies; we change them.”
― George Orwell, 1984
The uniting thread in all of this is the conservative playbook known as Project 2025. News sources relate that roughly two-thirds of Trump’s E.O.s are straight out of the playbook. Many of the authors that wrote the book are being appointed or approved by the Senate for leading the agencies and departments that they plan to destroy.
Some examples include actions within the DOD that began with the Soviet style erasure of anything having to do with the former Chairman of the Joints Chiefs (CJCS) General Mark Milley and former SECDEF Mark Esper. They have eliminated all references, pictures, biographies or other indications of their work. Gone. Like it never existed. All because they stood up to Trump and his illegal ideas in his first term.
Did you know that it is official DOT policy that money to support transportation upgrades or new projects or anything under the department’s control will go to states and cities with the highest marriage and birth rates? (Use the link in the article to get to the policy — para 5,f,iii — you can’t make this stuff up.) This is part of the Project 2025 playbook that nuclear families with a wife at home having children should be the established norm.
This is what I and others have been saying since last summer. Project 2025 is the plan for our future. They are trying to totally destroy our democracy (and probably our economy — billionaires don’t care about average citizens and they will win in the end) in order to rebuild it in their own image.
Thus chaos.
It could be that it is chaos because Trump likes chaos. He likes to create a crisis so that he can “solve” it and take undue credit for fixing a problem that did not exist before and should not exist now. It could just be incompetence. It is easy to write E.O.s but it is much harder to execute them.
Unfortunately, there are other more nefarious reasons for the chaos and confusion. Trump has been declaring as many “national emergencies” as he can find in order to issue orders that in any other administration would not exist or that would be challenged in court. (Some organizations and state Attorneys General are gearing up to take many of the illegal actions to court. But it is a slow process.)
I think he is trying to create chaos and crises for a purpose. Call it my doomsday scenario. When everything starts to collapse — the government cannot function because of all the firings, the economy is collapsing under the weight of tariffs and other ill conceived actions — he will declare martial law (as he tried to do several times in his first administration when SECDEF Esper and CJCS Milley stopped him). He will simply take over. Only the toadies that have pledged their fealty to him will run departments and agencies (we are nearly there already). They will try to burn it all down and then rebuild it as JD Vance and the other 2025 folks have publicly declared. They are unabashed in their desire and stated goal to create a white nationalist Christian country controlled by white male oligarchs and headed by an autocrat. Trump doesn’t really care about any of it as long as he makes money (he is making a ton of it right now as president in unprecedented ways) and can retain the trappings of power he so dearly loves (Sir!).
There is a lot of talk about elections in 2026 and 2028 and how the Democrats will be taking over because of wide-spread discontent with Trump. How do we know there will be elections? Under a “national emergency” he may declare them deferred until the danger from the crisis is over — which it never will be. Too out there? Too apocalyptic? Why? He and his cult already tried to void an election and take over the government once, why not try it again? He suffered no consequences. Why should he be worried about any future ramifications? He is already making “jokes” about his third term. There is every reason to believe that this time he thinks he can get away with it. Who is going to stop him if Congress is powerless and his toadies control the levers of power?
The Project 2025 playbook is boring. It is also scary. The cadre around Trump are serious. They will pursue their agenda until stopped. They have already gotten the Congress to roll over for them. The court system will be used to over turn some of their more draconian actions but will that really stop them? The courts put an injunction against withholding lawfully appropriated funds and yet the Trump Administration continues to refuse to disburse a wide range of those funds.
I feel sorry for the people that are “too busy” or “too tired” and don’t want to hear about politics, they prefer ignorance. Some day they will realize their mistake. Call your Senator, Congressman and other elected officials and ask them what they are doing to stop the hostile takeover. It seems like right now all that our Senators and Representatives are doing is collecting a paycheck for occupying space. With Musk and his techies already controlling all of the government systems, even that may go away in the future.
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Anticipatory Obedience
Posted: January 16, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Autocrats, Conformity, Congress, Democracy, MAGA, news, Oligarchs, Politics, Presidential Inauguration, United States Constitution 1 Comment“The first term everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend.”
— The President-elect at Mar-a-Lago in December 2024.
Yale professor Timothy Snyder in his 2017 book On Tyranny focused on the United States’ turn towards authoritarianism and tyranny in the context of American politics. Among other issues, he addressed a key factor in authoritarian efforts to take control that he calls “anticipatory obedience.” In essence, it means that individuals and institutions change their behavior in an attempt to conform to what they think the repressive regime will want, conformity that comes without any effort on the authoritarian’s part to demand it. It is a key factor in cementing an autocrat’s rule as well as informing the regime as to what they can get away with. As a result, in many cases the incoming regimes accrue more power more quickly than they thought possible. Many scholars point to current events in Hungary under Victor Orban as illustrative of how to turn a modern democracy into an autocracy. Victor Orban, not coincidentally, is the shining star of the MAGA movement and a personal hero to our next president.
There is a fine line between political reality, lobbying for one’s preferred policies and practicing anticipatory obedience. With any new administration organizations and individuals work to influence the new policies sure to come with the changes in the power dynamic. For example, in the modern era inauguration funds are raised by the party of choice to make a grand event of the days leading to and on the day that power is transferred. It is not unusual for political parties to sell exclusive access or V.I.P. tickets to big donors. This year, the incoming administration has run out of tickets to give out and is still raking in huge donations. According to the New York Times, by early January the current inauguration committee raised over 170 million dollars and is still collecting large donations, despite the fact that there are no V.I.P. tickets still available. That compares to a total of 107 million dollars in 2017. By some calculations the President-elect’s allies since Election Day have raised roughly 250 million dollars for the inauguration, to help promote his policies and to fill his coffers. There are no limits on the amount of any contribution and even although access is now closed to many events, some contributors are still writing one and two million dollar checks. Some of the most famous of the tech-bros have contributed millions in their company names. It is not happening because they really like the guy. Many of those same individuals were attacked during the campaign including threats to throw Mark Zuckerberg of Meta (formerly face book) in jail. He donated a million dollars to the inauguration. Was that enough? Apparently not as Mr. Zuckerberg also did away with fact checking face book posts, moved staff out of “blue” California to “red” Texas and took other measures to ensure that he would be on the good side of the incoming president. All without being asked.
Other examples of anticipatory obedience include the decisions by the billionaire owners of The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times to ignore decades of precedent and to not endorse any candidate for president after they conferred at Mar-a-Lago with the MAGA candidate. (Both papers are said to have endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris ready to go when they were pulled.) As a result, both newspapers lost senior staff members and lots of subscribers, but they pleased a budding autocrat without being asked.
This week we are seeing numerous examples of anticipatory obedience in Congress. Republican (are there any left?) Senators are about to confirm several totally unqualified candidates to the incoming Cabinet because the Dear Leader wants them. He wants them because they will show absolute fealty to him and not to the Constitution. Does anyone really believe that, for example, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) really, truly believes that Pete Hegseth will be an effective Secretary of Defense? Of course not. Most of her colleagues do not think so either but they are afraid of what the MAGA president might do to them politically or even personally. In the process they are giving up one of their most important duties under the Constitution, the duty to provide advice and consent to a president’s Cabinet nominees. While it may be argued that incoming presidents should have the people in the Cabinet that share the same policy views, it is also necessary to entrust our nation to people with a solid understanding and devotion to the Constitution and that are competent in their ability to run their department.
The Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (MAGA – LA) yesterday fired the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Representative Mike Turner (R – OH). The reason according to many sources (but not according to the Speaker who gave a really lame excuse that it was time for someone else to have a chance) is that a decree came down from Mar-a-Lago to get rid of him. Why? Representative Turner was too bi-partisan and would not always toe the dictated party line. By all accounts, Mr. Turner was a solid Chairman who took his duties seriously and understood the importance of overseeing the intelligence community in a bi-partisan manner. National security is a serious business. An ill thought out policy on education could hurt our country but it is recoverable. A national security mistake could end our existence. Apparently, there will be no serious oversight in the near future.
Other examples abound, and the inauguration is not until Monday 20 January.
I for one, believe that our democracy and the institutions that protect it will be sorely tested in the coming months and years. It is hard to figure out what individual citizens can do to actively protect our republic. Professor Snyder looks at the lessons taught through history — autocrats and dictators whether fascists or communists — and finds the common threads that cause people to allow themselves to be subjugated. In my mind, anticipatory obedience is akin to the old saying “go along to get along.” Expediency and self-preservation take priority over doing what is right. The Silicon Valley tech-bros are the budding oligarchs of the United States. They are hitching their wagons to the incoming president for a reason — they are sure that he will create the conditions to allow them to wield power unobstructed. Elon Musk already thinks he is the leader of our government. He is dabbling in politics in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, using his billions and his own platform “X” to influence millions of followers to support far right wing agendas in Europe. Surely he expects the MAGA crowd to push our country hard right. President Biden warned us last night in his farewell speech that “today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom” and he warned of a “tech-industrial complex” of unchecked power over our lives.
Don’t make it easy. As professor Snyder writes, “do not obey in advance.”
Lessons From 2025 – Already!
Posted: January 10, 2025 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 6 January Insurrection, Black Lives Matter, Congress, Coup Attempt, Donald Trump, January 6 2020, Jimmy Carter, news, Politics, Trump, United States Constitution Leave a commentWe are only ten days into the new year and already it has been quite the year. So many newsworthy events occurred in a short period of time. From a terrorist attack on New Year’s Day to the apocalyptic fires still raging in Los Angeles, tragedy is marking the start of 2025. I hope it is not a sign of things to come. Today, our future president became a convicted and sentenced felon 34 times over. That has never happened in our history. Sadly, I could go on with other tragic events of the year thus far, but I would rather focus on two instructive events that occurred in Washington D.C. this week.
On January 6, 2025 nothing bad haunted the national news. On that day, the 119th Congress certified the votes of the Electoral College without any histrionics, protests, or riots. The Vice President of the United States in her role as the President of the Senate presided over a dignified, ceremonial, and peaceful evolution leading to the upcoming inauguration of the next President of the United States. The Vice President faithfully fulfilled the Constitutional duties assigned to her and in accordance with her oath of office despite the fact that she lost to the incoming president by about one and a half percentage points in the popular vote. Quite the contrast to four years ago when a president incited a mob to attack the center of our democratic republic in an attempt to keep him in office. There was no peaceful transfer of power four years ago, for the first time in our history. In 2025, civility and the democratic process stand in stark contrast to that dark day and its aftermath. One party believes in the United States, its citizens and the integrity of elections. One party does not.
Some of you may ask why I bring this up. “It’s old news.” “Let’s look to the future and not the past.” “It was all a hoax anyway so drop it.” I bring it up for two reasons. First, we must remember that day and we all must work to prevent anything like that from happening again. Second, I bring it up because the incoming president continues to bring it up. He continues to claim that he won the 2020 election and further insults us by claiming that those that threatened to kill the then Vice President and members of Congress while seriously injuring 140 law enforcement officers (five later died as a direct result of their experiences on that day) are “warriors” or “patriots” or “political hostages” or “victims.” He vows to free them on day one. More than 1500 people were charged with federal crimes. Many were charged with misdemeanors and given probation. About 250 people were convicted at trial. About 1021 pleaded guilty before going to trial. Over 700 of the 1500 (so far) received some jail time. When taken as a whole, one either believes in our elections or you don’t. As as citizen you either believe in our judicial system or you don’t. It is not possible to decide whether it is to your liking or not when accepting the result. One may disagree, but that only means working harder to achieve the desired results the next time. We cannot rewrite history through one party’s propaganda machine. If the future president actually pardons these criminals, especially those convicted of felonies and violent crimes, then he is giving the green light to future political violence in his name. That is why we need to think about what may happen in the coming weeks and months (or days if he keeps his word, but I would never trust him to keep his word on anything). Many try to justify their support for those carrying out the coup by claiming that “no one” was punished for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests following the murder of George Floyd. First, no one in the BLM movement was trying to over throw the government and kill the sitting Vice President. Second, such claims are just plain wrong. About 17,000 people were arrested nation wide for their actions during the BLM protests and hundreds received jail time.
The other event that made me stop and ponder the state of our society and our nation was the funeral for the late President Jimmy Carter (he insisted on the “Jimmy” rather than his full name James Earl). The stories, reports and discussions of his legacy varied. I think many people in retrospect think that he was a much better president than he was given credit for at the time. One can debate his policies, successes and failures but I would rather focus on the man. No one that actually knew him — from whatever political persuasion — had an unkind word to say about him. He lived the life he preached. A man of integrity and personal honor. He promised the American people he would never lie to them as president and he did not, even though sometimes his honesty hurt him politically. Few understand what he did for minorities and the poor in our country. Much of what we take for granted today began under his watch. After leaving the presidency he did not give million dollar speeches or sit in a gilded palace or otherwise exploit his position for monetary gain. He did exploit it to help others, knowing that as a former president he had a bully pulpit that few others have, and he tried to use it for the betterment of everyone in the world. Perhaps least known but most extraordinary is that starting in 1986 he began efforts to eliminate the Guinea worm. (The worm is spread through contaminated drinking water. I will not go into the details of what it does to humans here, but feel free to look it up. It takes a terrible toll.) When he started his project there were 3.6 million cases — much of them in Africa. In 2024 there were eleven reported cases world wide.
As I heard the eulogies and listened to the greatness of the man as a human being, I could see the future president of the United States staring into space clearly unable to comprehend that someone could help another human being without expecting anything in return. To the future president, such thoughts and actions were clearly unfathomable and inexplicable. Let’s hope that I am wrong.
Dysfunction or Destruction (Continued)
Posted: January 31, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Congress, Donald Trump, Immigration, Impeachment, MAGA, MAGA Republicans, news, Politics, Texas, Ukraine, United States Constitution Leave a commentSince the Republican majority in the House of Representatives took office last January, I have pondered in this space as to whether the new majority was totally dysfunctional or totally determined to destroy our country and our democracy. Without painting everyone in the Republican party with the same broad brush, it is increasingly apparent that while the House is dysfunctional under MAGA Republican leadership, it is also bent on destroying the institutions and norms our government established and refined over the last 235 years. Taking one seemingly singular policy — immigration — it is possible to see how the MAGA crowd combines multiple issues into one large untidy package and brings the wheels of government to a grinding halt.
I will explain further in the following paragraphs, but through a supposed concern over our southern border, the MAGA Republicans controlling the House of Representatives have impacted our relations with NATO and other friends and allies; disrupted desperately needed aid to Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Taiwan and our own border; initiated impeachment proceedings against a cabinet official; threatened the ability of the Supreme Court to interpret our laws; created the conditions for a state to physically impede federal officials from following the law; and elevated an out of government civilian to become the controlling entity on national policy. The implications for our country are too deep and disturbing to be merely the result of incompetence or dysfunction, although that certainly exists. It can only be attributed to a deliberate attempt to destroy our institutions in order to bring an autocrat to power.
Last October President Joe Biden asked Congress for 105 billion dollars for aid to Ukraine ($61.4 billion), Israel ($14,3 billion), and the southern border ($14 billion) and smaller amounts for Taiwan and humanitarian assistance in the Middle East. Republicans in the House and Senate immediately voiced their concerns over the request and it went nowhere. By the end of the year, Republicans were tying the money to policy reforms impacting our southern border. The president agreed to negotiate changes and invited the leadership of both parties in Congress to the White House to get the process started before the end of the year. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (MAGA – LA) refused to participate in any solutions that did not meet all of the (mostly impractical) demands of his caucus. In the Senate, both parties, along with Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and key White House aids entered into intense negotiations. All parties involved agree that there is a crisis on the southern border and that significant steps must be taken to alleviate the situation. Compromises came from both sides, and although the final product is not yet public, many Republican Senators publicly applauded the deal, as did most Democrat Senators and the president. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham declared that it was the best immigration deal in decades. The legislation seems to be moving to a vote in the Senate in the coming weeks. Money for Israel — great! Money for Ukraine — great! More money to hire significantly more Customs Border Protection (CBP) agents, asylum judges, and facilities to house migrants on the southern border — great! Unicorns and rainbows and meaningful accomplishments! Except for one thing.
Speaker Johnson (also known as “MAGA Mike”) refuses to entertain any of it. Why? Because his boss, an out of office civilian pending criminal prosecution, told him to kill it. Trump has very few, if any, issues in his retribution campaign for the presidency. The only policy issue he touts to date is immigration. He deplores the current policies and claims that we have an “open border.” He uses dystopian rhetoric and xenophobia to paint the crisis on the border as an existential threat to our security and yet, no deal. He wants to run on the issue and cannot do so if it is resolved. He does not want to give a “win” to the Democrats (even though the Republicans publicly declare that they got almost everything they want) and so the country must endure another year of crisis until he is in office. A great patriot.
Meanwhile, no money for Ukraine. No money for Israel. No money for additional resources on the border. The MAGA Republicans’ total support of Trump includes his desire to withhold money for Ukraine. The pro-Putin wing of the party would like to see Ukraine fail. This is not a domestic issue. By preventing the United States from fulfilling its commitments to NATO, Ukraine and our friends and other allies around the world, we are sending a very clear message to the world that no country should depend on the United States for anything. This plays perfectly into the hands of Putin, Xi, Kim and the mullahs in Iran. If the United States does not stand fully with Ukraine, it is a safe bet that Xi will not expect us to stay the course with Taiwan. We will be finished as a reliable partner and supporter of democracy. The lesson for the world is that democracy does not work. Too chaotic. Too unreliable. Too dysfunctional to accomplish anything meaningful.
Meanwhile, at the same time that Secretary Majorkas is working with the Senate to find a solution to the border crisis, he is about to be impeached by the House. No “high crimes or misdemeanors,” just that they do not like the administration’s policies. Constitutional scholars of all stripes agree that there is no basis under the Constitution or the law for such an impeachment. Only one cabinet officer in our history has been impeached and that was nearly 150 years ago. (For those curious, it was Secretary of War William Belknap in 1876 for blatant corruption. Although a majority voted to convict him in the Senate, it did not reach the required two-thirds threshold. He had already resigned.) This is just another blatant political MAGA stunt taken at Trump’s direction in order to make his two impeachments look less terrible and to further hurt our country. The Secretary is likely to be acquitted in the Senate — if they even hold a trial which is not required – but if he is removed from office, the president will appoint another person to carry out the same policies. The entire thing is blatantly ridiculous and is underway only to appease one man.
As if this were not enough, the MAGA governor of Texas, Greg Abbott is defying a Supreme Court order concerning the placement of razor wire along the border that restricts and in some cases prevents the federal CBP from doing their job. Under the Constitution, the United States has jurisdiction over immigration and the borders, not Texas. The MAGA rhetoric surrounding the issue is reminiscent of that from southern states in the 1850s. ”States’ rights” is again the issue. Governor Abbot is using the Texas National Guard to “defend” the border and to prevent the federal agents from doing their jobs. Other MAGA governors are promising to send Guard units to Texas to help them defend their “sovereignty” and Governor Abbott’s claims that “the fight is not over” and that Texas has a right to “self defense.” By that he means that state laws and policies have priority over federal law, in direct conflict with the supremacy clause of the Constitution. Great MAGA minds such as Representative Thomas Massie (KY) promote over riding the Supreme Court decision by eliminating President Biden’s border funds. In other words, he advocates solving the border crisis by defunding the DHS. Brilliant! The next steps by the governor or the president are unclear as I write, but it could easily escalate into another self-generated crisis. What is clear is that MAGA politicians are willing to go against the Constitution in order to support Trump and his ambitions. A bad sign for our future.
Taken as a whole, the House of Representatives and certain state houses around the country see that their goal is to create chaos and disruption in order to bring down our established norms and institutions in the name of one man. There are multiple severe domestic and international threats to our national security as a result. Dysfunction may be MAGA’s middle name, but such a wide spread and concerted effort can only be explained when we realize that the real point is the destruction of our norms in order to elevate an autocrat to power.
Abandon The Truth And Lose Democracy
Posted: January 6, 2024 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: 14th Amendment, 2024 Election, 6 January Insurrection, Congress, Constitution, Donald Trump, Politics, Supreme Court, Trump, United States Constitution Leave a comment“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”
— Joni Mitchell in “Big Yellow Taxi”
Today marks the third anniversary of the insurrection designed to keep Donald J. Trump in office. Yesterday, President Joe Biden gave a speech in Valley Forge Pennsylvania reminding all of us that the attack that day was anti-American and against all of the values that we say we stand for in our country. He also reminded us that without due diligence, it will happen again. Sadly, he is correct.
The effective propaganda campaign waged by the Insurrectionist-in-Chief and his accomplices in the U.S. House of Representatives and the right-wing media is astonishingly effective. The Washington Post made headlines this week when it announced that in a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll, twenty-five percent of Americans believe that it is “definitely” or “probably” true that the FBI instigated the assault on the Capitol. Even more astounding and dangerous to me is that in that same poll, seventy-seven percent of Trump voters are “not sure” or “definitely” believe that the FBI organized and encouraged the attack.
As we start the new year, it seems that our collective optimism that a new year can bring new and improved elements to our lives, is, I am afraid, misplaced. Apparently, the MAGA attempts to destroy our country so that a “strong man” (hint, hint) can take charge and straighten out our nation’s course are going to continue and where possible, are doubled down. Let’s start with the House of Representatives. The MAGA Republicans (essentially all of those Republicans in the House) are holding hostage a bill to provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and our southern border until all of their demands (which coincidentally exactly match Trump’s) are met. For good measure, they are threatening to fail to act to keep the government open when the current continuing resolution (CR) partially runs out on 19 January 2024. (The CR is in two parts for different government functions. The other runs out on 2 February,) While Republicans in the Senate negotiate with Senate Democrats and the president, the House leadership refuses to participate and Speaker Mike Johnson (MAGA-LA) supports the most extreme demands of his caucus.
All of which ignores the fact that the president and Democrats in the House and Senate all agree that we need to strengthen the border and have asked for roughly fourteen billion dollars to hire new Custom and Border Patrol (CBP) agents and asylum judges, provide aid to border areas dealing with the influx of migrants and to take other measures to strengthen the border. This is not enough for the Republican House who demand, among other things, restricting asylum requests and detaining those seeking asylum until their case is heard (currently that could be years), building Trump’s border wall (while over-riding any environmental or historical concerns and allowing for non-negotiable rights of imminent domain to confiscate private land for the wall), rolling back current protections for immigrant minors, and they want to preclude any reforms to the immigration system such as paths to citizenship or legalizing “Dreamers” (immigrants that were brought into the country as young children and now have lived, gone to school and worked in the United States and are, for all practical purposes, Americans.) There is more in their plan codified in House Resolution 2, but you get the idea.
In sum, the House under the leadership of a MAGA Speaker refuses to help Ukraine fight Russia, provide needed assistance to Israel and Gaza, support Taiwan against an ever increasingly aggressive China, and provide needed assistance to our own border. But of course, they do not really care about the border. It is only a cudgel to be used to campaign against Democrats in general and President Biden in particular. Or as Texas MAGA Representative Troy Nehls said this week about the president’s border proposals, “Let me tell you, I’m not willing to do too damn much right now to help a Democrat and to help Joe Biden’s approval rating.” A great American. The issue is not solving the border problems, it is winning an election.
Speaking of such, let us return to the insurrection that increasing numbers of Americans believe is either fake, or “no big deal.” The story is a familiar one but worth repeating. Trump won the Electoral College in 2016, but as you will recall, he lost the popular vote. Immediately he called “fraud” “rigged” and claimed that there were gross improprieties in the way the results were tabulated. He then put together a national commission to prove that there was voter fraud in the 2016 election. The results of the investigation? Crickets. There was no fraud. The commission quietly disbanded. In Trump world, very little is new or original so he used the same script in 2020. Only this time he lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College. As president he tried to marshal all the resources at his command to upend the results and remain in office. When those efforts failed to work, he instigated an insurrection and gave “aid” and “comfort to the enemies” of the United States.
Here is the through line. From the beginning Trump claimed that the “deep state” and “Democrats” did not want him to be president because he would fight for the “little guy.” He made that argument in 2016, again during his presidency, and in 2020. Those lined up against the little guy would do anything to keep him from becoming president again. He has been consistent over the last three years in claiming that the 2020 and 2016 elections were rigged. Any effort to debunk that claim is derided as being part of the conspiracy to keep him from office. Thus the insurrection was dialed up by the FBI, the courts are against him, he is unfairly being kept from what is rightfully his (and his cult followers) and on and on and on. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, a continuing spiral. Everything is rigged and you, the common person, are getting screwed because you are not getting what you deserve and I will give it to you. When someone is in the cult, it all makes sense. Swallowing wholesale the idea that the establishment does not want Trump in power results in everything else that happens to him make sense. It is not his fault, it is the deep state out to get him. For true believers (and there are millions, but there are also politicians that don’t buy any of that junk but see a path to their own power — more despicable than the believers) it all makes sense.
Very dangerous.
Which leads us to the Supreme Court agreeing to hear Trump’s appeal of the Colorado court’s decision to invoke the 14th Amendment, Section 3 finding that he was part of an insurrection against the United States and therefore ineligible to hold office.
For a minute, I have to pause. Which one of us would ever think that it was necessary to go to court to stop a major U.S. political party candidate from running for president after instigating an insurrection? The mere thought of it is absurd. In my mind it would be inconceivable that anyone that tried to overthrow the government would be a leading candidate for president. Or at least it would have been for most of my life. I used to think about some folks in our country and their actions and say “this is not who we are” as a nation. Now, given that millions of people, knowing all of the facts, still support a man that tried to overthrow our government, I am beginning to wonder. Maybe this is who we are as a nation.
My own view is that the Supreme Court will find a technicality to keep Trump on the ballot without actually addressing whether or not he fomented an insurrection and subsequently gave aid and comfort to the insurrectionists. If that happens, then we have lost our way as a nation. Even now, Trump calls the insurrectionists “patriots” and “political hostages.” He vows to pardon them and have government officials apologize to them. He promises revenge and retribution to get even with his perceived enemies.
Let’s quickly review the facts. More than 140 police officers were injured that day. To date 1,240 individuals have been charged with federal crimes relating to that day, 452 of them for assaulting law enforcement officers and roughly 900 have been convicted in a trial or pleaded guilty to their crimes. For 187 minutes Trump sat on his butt and refused efforts as Commander-in-Chief to take action to stop it, which in my professional career constitutes a gross negligence of duty. Obviously his oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution means nothing to him. This man has no socially redeeming value to our country. And yet, he has a chance of being elected our president and becoming a “dictator” on day one, as he publicly promised.
Some people are upset that the courts may decide that Trump is ineligible to run for president. Let the voters decide at the ballot box, they say. I say why? He has already proven that he will not accept the results of any election unless he wins in a landslide. He has tried since 2015 to actively undermine our democracy. He led a coup for goodness sake! What makes anyone think that he will follow any rules, regulations or “guardrails”? He will not. He does not deserve to run for president much less to serve. Is it undemocratic to disallow Barak Obama or George W. Bush from running? They would be popular candidates today and many people would vote for them. They cannot of course, because the Constitution says that they cannot. The same Constitution applies to Trump. I am tired of him getting special consideration that you or I would not get. Frankly, I am just tired. The man is ruining our country, wholly aided and abetted by weak people in the Republican MAGA party that are literally physically afraid of him or that have sold their souls for a smidgeon of power.
Too many people think that “it can’t happen here.” All of the evidence is right in front of our faces. It can happen here. It is happening here. There are forces at work to destroy our country in order to rebuild it in their image of a white, “Christian,” male dominated society where the “right people” dictate to the rest of us as to how to live our lives. Trump just happens to be their standard bearer. Stopping him will put a crimp in their plans but it will not stop their efforts when a new Trumpian figure is in place. The bulk of the Republican party no longer is the party of small government, state’s rights and limited spending. They still talk that game but their actions show that really they want a large monolithic government that dictates the life choices, health care, education, even what books to read for our fellow citizens. It is their way or the highway. Otherwise you and I are “vermin” “poisoning the blood” of America. Believe what they tell you.
For 246 years we have had a pretty good ride as a democratic republic that values the freedom of individuals. Ours is not a perfect union, but throughout our history we strived “to form a more perfect union.” We sure will miss it if we lose it.
It’s That Time Of Year Again
Posted: September 16, 2023 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Appropriations Committee, Congress, Continuing Resolution, Debt Ceiling, Freedom Caucus, Government Funding, United States Constitution 1 CommentYou know it is Fall when the extreme members of the House of Representatives threaten to shut down the government again by failing to do their job and appropriate and authorize the funds needed to keep our country going. Same old tune, but this time with a few different lyrics.
Earlier this year, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (MAGA-CA) reached an agreement with President Joe Biden to raise the debt limit, thus ensuring that the United States would not default on its debts in accordance with the Constitution and that we would keep the U.S. and world economy working. As part of that deal, the two men reached an agreement for the ceiling on the amount of spending that would be authorized for the coming fiscal year, which begins on 1 October. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and was ready to move on to the actual work of the Congress, which is funding the government. Well, almost everyone was ready to move on. All were ready to get on with business except for the MAGA Republicans of the Freedom Caucus. They claim that Speaker McCarthy was duped by the president into agreeing to spending limits higher than they wanted and that they had insisted on having as a condition for making Mr. McCarthy Speaker of the House. They started throwing a conniption fit early this summer and continued to disrupt “regular order” in the House upon returning to Washington this week.
Before going into the details about the House, let us first acknowledge that, so far, the Senate is doing their job. Under the leadership of Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) as chair, and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) as vice-chair, the Appropriations Committee has all twelve of the necessary bills to fund the federal government ready to go for a full Senate vote. All are within the guidelines of the agreement with the president, with a few minor changes such as increasing the defense budget, and all have bipartisan support and will garner roughly two-thirds of the Senate voting in favor. There are no “poison pill” provisions included in it (amendments generally having to do with culture war issues to assuage some politician’s donors but that could keep the bill from passing). Effective leadership, cooperation, compromise and negotiation. What a concept!
Contrast that with the House where Speaker McCarthy, probably the weakest Speaker in my lifetime, cannot get his caucus to agree to the time of day. He has had to postpone several key votes because he does not have enough votes in his own party to pass them. Since most of the bills do include amendments that have draconian provisions that have nothing to do with spending, Democrats will not vote for them either. As the deadline approaches, the Speaker is contemplating a continuing resolution (CR) to temporarily keep the government functioning while negotiations continue. This means keeping spending levels at their current rate until new budgets are approved, as has often been the case over the last two decades. It is a very inefficient way to run things and serves mostly to keep the drama at a fever pitch while the various parties vie with each other to see who chickens out first and gives up on all or some of their demands. The proposed CR is a “clean” bill which means it only pertains to spending and does not include extraneous amendments that probably would not pass on their own, but get included as the best chance to see them pass.
Right now, the Freedom Caucus (made up of most of the members of the Sedition Caucus that voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results) is refusing to vote for such a CR as a temporary solution. Many of them publicly and dare I say, joyously, anticipate the government having to shut down. This puts the Speaker in a real bind.
The House could pass a clean CR with moderate Republicans (there aren’t that many left) and Democrats voting for it. But the hard line right wingers in the House declared that if the Speaker did that, they would put forth a motion to “vacate” the Speaker’s chair. In other words, they would vote to “fire” Mr. McCarthy as the Speaker. (A key question relevant to their threat is who would take his place that could get enough votes to win? It took Mr. McCarthy 15 ballots over multiple days to secure the speakership.) Depending on the day, Mr. McCarthy only has a four or five person majority to pass anything on purely party lines. As MAGA loud mouth Representative Matt Gaetz (MAGA-FL) on Tuesday put it, “Continuing Resolution, motion to vacate.” Representative Bob Good (MAGA-VA) said, “We should not fear a government shutdown. Most of the American people won’t even miss it if the government is shut down temporarily.” The last shutdown was in 2018-2019 and lasted five weeks. The dispute then was funding the border wall that Trump (aka Inmate PO1135809) wanted. (Somehow, Mexico was not involved.)
The hard right wingers always claim that they want to save the taxpayers money when they shut down the government. In fact, the country loses money. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates, the last shutdown cost the economy 11 billion dollars over the first two quarters, of which three billion dollars was never recovered. The secondary and tertiary impacts of such shutdowns impact the entire economy, not just the government.
The situation is complicated by Mr. McCarthy’s Tuesday announcement of an impeachment inquiry into President Biden. This action is simply and purely a political gambit. Other Republicans have publicly expressed their view that there are no actions by the president that may be characterized as “high crimes and misdemeanors” as delineated in the Constitution Article II, Section 4. There are also significant legal questions as to whether there can be an inquiry without a vote authorizing it by the full membership of the House.
There are two political factors relevant to the inquiry. Primarily, Mr. McCarthy hoped to throw the Freedom Caucus a bone to chew on so that he could distract them while trying to finesse a solution for avoiding a government shutdown. It did not work. The Freedom Caucus has been focused on impeaching President Biden since the day he took office. In their view, the Speaker is late to the party and is only doing what they thought would happen earlier this year.
The second political reason is an attempt by the Freedom Caucus and other supporters of the ex-president and indicted criminal currently out on bail to mitigate the legal dilemmas he faces as well as his two impeachments. Trump himself was working hard to push his fellow MAGA Republicans to open impeachment proceedings. They want to create an atmosphere where they can demonstrate that all politicians are corrupt, not just Trump and thereby damage Mr. Biden while helping Trump in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Their actions are one more attempt at blowing up the rule of law and seeking retribution for holding Trump accountable.
Speaker McCarthy knows that he cannot deliver on all of the demands made by the Freedom Caucus. His problem is complicated by the fact that the Freedom Caucus itself is not unified in expressing what will satisfy them. Every time Mr. McCarthy gives into one demand, the goal posts move as additional demands are made. Here are examples of their key demands: that the final budget be considerably below the agreement between Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Biden and no more than pre-pandemic levels; defunding or significantly cutting funds for the “weaponized” Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI; defunding the federal prosecutors that are pursuing cases against the indicted ex-president (end “political witch hunts”) ; funding to renew building the wall on the southern border; significant changes to immigration laws including eliminating or restricting legal asylum; cutting funds for Ukraine in its war with Russia (“no blank checks”); eliminating “woke” policies in the Department of Defense (DOD); cutting down or eliminating funds for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS); and on and on. None of these demands will be met in the Senate or signed into law by the president.
Mr. McCarthy will feel mounting pressure as the Senate completes its work and the president announces he would sign their appropriations bills into law. He will find himself in the politically uncomfortable position of being the sole obstacle to the normal functioning of the government and for the resulting shutdown. History shows that such shutdowns go badly for the party causing the shutdown when voters go to the polls. Mr. McCarthy would be well advised to look at what happened to his Republican predecessors. The Freedom Caucus is the successor to the Tea Party. The Tea Party caused similar headaches for Speaker John Boehner (who resigned) and Speaker Paul Ryan (who retired at the end of his term). The Freedom Caucus makes the old Tea Party look like a bunch of pushovers. The current iteration is out for revenge and feels like they are on a mission from which they will not be deterred. They want to burn it all down and bring in their cult leader from his beach club to take over.
The context and atmosphere today is dangerous. The next one to three months will be a real political roller coaster. I have no idea as to how it will unfold or be resolved.
We will get there, but it is going to be ugly.
Tom
Into The Fray 
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