The Grifter-In-Chief: A Sampling

Posted: May 10, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The official poster unveiled in the Oval Office on 11 April 2026 announcing the UFC Freedom 250, an upcoming mixed martial arts event from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It is scheduled to take place on June 14, 2026, (Trump’s birthday) on the South Lawn of the White House in “honor” of our country’s 250th celebration of the Declaration of Independence. There will be 5,000 seats on the White House grounds of which most will allegedly go to members of the military. There will also be “High Roller VIP” tickets for the grounds that can be had for a bribe of 1.5 million dollars. The plans include space for 80,000 more spectators to watch the fights on big screens on the Ellipse. Nothing says “America!” like a cage fight in the eight sided fenced enclosure known as the Octagon.

True to his reputation as the Grifter-in-Chief, Trump is putting his name on sesquicentennial celebrations and commemorative souvenirs meant to celebrate our nation’s historic celebration. However, it only goes along with all of the other attempts he made or is working on to leave his brand on much of the federal government. If you consider yourself an Emperor, then you deserve to have great monuments built in your honor. It doesn’t matter if you have what some might describe as grotesque taste — certainly tacky comes up short — because you are the knower of all things. For those that may have not been keeping track, here in no particular order, are some of the things Trump has “branded” without our consent, and usually using taxpayer dollars.

  • Passports. The State Department will begin issuing passports with Trump’s face filling the inside page and sporting his signature in gold. Alas, it will only be available to those renewing their passports in person in Washington D.C.
  • National Park Passes. George Washington now shares his image with a picture of Trump on The National Park Service’s annual America the Beautiful park pass. The Park Service had to amend its rules to prohibit the many pass holders from “defacing” the cards by putting wildlife pictures, smiley faces or other types of additions to cover Trump’s face.
  • Commemorative Coins. A 24-karat coin featuring Trump was approved by the Department of the Treasury and will celebrate our 250th birthday. I suppose it is because he was so instrumental in the founding of our country.
  • U.S. Currency. Trump’s signature will appear on paper currency, as announced by the Department of the Treasury to honor the “historic achievements” he has made. It will be the first time in American history that a sitting president’s name appears on actual money. There are also plans for a Trump one dollar coin to be minted with his face on it.
  • Giant Portraits. There are multi-story sized banners on multiple U.S. federal buildings featuring Trump including the Department of Labor, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice.
  • Renamed Buildings. Trump added his name to the Kennedy Center (his comes first, of course) and put his name (first) on the Institute of Peace. The Palm Beach International Airport is renamed for Trump, with his companies having exclusive control over many aspects of the commercial enterprises there, copyrighted use of his initials, and exclusive merchandising rights for airport items sold outside the terminal.
  • Immigration. Trump Gold Cards, Trump Corporate Gold Cards and Trump Platinum Cards are available to wealthy individuals and organizations that allows them privileges in the U.S. not available to other immigrants if they pay a bribe large fee to attain them.
  • Trump Class Battleships. This spring Trump announced a new class of ships for the U.S. Navy that will be named for Trump. The cost for one ship is estimated at 17 billion dollars. Rumors indicate that the recently fired Secretary of the Navy was let go because the program was moving too slowly for Trump’s liking. (I seriously doubt this particular ship will ever be built.)
  • Prescription Drugs. TrumpRx is a new website meant to help lower the cost of prescription drugs. Drugs are not directly sold on the website but rather directly from the supplier. Insurance cannot be used to buy them.
  • Investment Accounts. Beginning on 4 July, 2026 newborns can receive one thousand dollars from the U.S. Treasury to invest. The investments are known as Trump Accounts and parents can match the deposit up to five thousand dollars per year. The newborn must be a U.S. citizen and the program ends on 31 December, 2028. Some experts worry this is the beginning of privatizing Social Security.
  • East Potomac Golf Course. The busiest and most affordable public golf course in the District of Columbia is being taken over by Trump to make it “a world class course.” What this means to the average citizen is still unclear. It is the most popular course in the District for the public. The National Links Trust — a non-profit — signed a fifty year lease to run the park in 2020. Trump cancelled it. Currently, 37,000 cubic yards of toxic waste from the destruction of the East Wing is being dumped on the grounds in piles that golfers must navigate around.
  • The Garden of Heroes. Trump intends to take over significant areas of public parks along the District waterfront to build his park that will contain 250 statues of great Americans. This will mean taking over areas traditionally used by families and communities for recreation, picnics and other normal uses for a park such as pickup soccer games.
  • The Arc de Trump. The proposed 250 foot high triumphal arch would be built at the end of the Memorial Bridge and block the view between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. It was to be completed in time for the 250th celebration but construction is now uncertain.
  • Lincoln Monument Reflecting Pool. Trump issued a no-bid contract to his golf course “pool guys” to refurbish the reflecting pool between the Washington and Lincoln Memorials. He says it cost about two million dollars but numerous reports indicate it may be as high as 6.9 million dollars. He had it painted “American Flag Blue” so that now it looks like a giant swimming pool. Oh. Yeah. He drove his motorcade through the pool. Not to it. Not around it. Through it. To “inspect.” His limousine — the Beast — alone weighs 8-10 tons. He had a full motorcade. One wonders what all that weight did to the joints between slabs that were just repaired.
  • Air Force One. The Qatari luxury 747 given to Trump — apparently not to the U.S. — to use as his new Air Force One has been upgraded to meet security standards at a cost of 400 million dollars. Trump plans to keep it after he leaves the presidency.

Now for the pink elephant sucking all of the oxygen out of the room — Trump’s desecration of the People’s House which he thinks he owns. His “maximalist” style of decorating means gold trim all over the inside and outside of the White House. Everywhere. It was not enough to destroy the Rose Garden (the area is now called the “Rose Garden Club”) and making it look like a patio at most nice motels. He has put up gold graphics to name rooms and the doors are now decorated with medallions depicting his face. The dignified Oval Office looks like a gussied up New Orleans brothel (with no intent to insult New Orleans or brothels). He has placed life sized statues around the White House grounds, perhaps a preview of his Garden of Heroes. He created a “Presidential Walk of Fame” with biographies that praise his favorite presidents and denigrates and defames those he does not like.

Of course we need to talk about the ballroom designated to take the place of the already demolished East Wing. Originally it would cost 200 million dollars all paid for by “donors.” Then it went to 400 million dollars with no taxpayer money needed. Now Congress is preparing a bill that will allocate one BILLION dollars for the ballroom. Possibly in addition to the previously mentioned 400 million. They try to justify it based on national security claiming it will be a secure space for all presidents into the future to use without concern. One might ask why, if Trump is that worried about his safety that he has to have a fort separating himself from the public, does he go outside to play golf at one of his resorts nearly every weekend? (At taxpayer expense.) This may be the biggest boondoggle in the history of these United States. It is clearly meant to be monument to himself that will make future generations think that he was one great man. His actual legacy is in danger so he must create his own. At our expense. One billion dollars. But no money for starving kids, healthcare, helping the needy or making sure our schools are the best.

If you need any further proof of what he thinks of himself, take a look at this.

The 22 foot tall statue of Trump at his golf course in Florida. He claims via Truth Social that it is “The Real Deal — GOLD — At Doral In Miami” when in fact it is bronze with a gold coating. Last week a group of evangelical pastors blessed it and dedicated it. There is another such statue at Mar-A-Lago. (Photo: Adam Schupak/Golfweek)

Can I get an Amen?

“Slip Sliding Away”

Posted: April 4, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“We won with the poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.”

— Donald J. Trump in a victory speech after the Nevada caucus in 2016

While I, and many others, warned of the likely devastation that a second Trump administration would bring, I, at least, while not surprised at what is happening, am shocked at the depth and breadth of his total frontal assault on our democracy. He told us what he would do, but I was not sure that he would be able to pull it off, especially in such a short time frame. Of course, shortsightedly on my part, I did not foresee a complete capitulation from the Congress, giving Trump full leeway to do whatever he pleased.

Only the judicial system has resisted his most unconstitutional moves and we have yet to see how that plays out. Early indications are that the Trump administration expects that the Supreme Court will totally, or mostly, rule in his favor citing the power of the Executive in ways that such power has never been defined in our history. Should the Supreme Court not support the president as being able to do whatever he feels like doing, I fully expect him and his administration to ignore the ruling. We already see that in the way that they ignore and disparage federal judges everyday and claim that a single judge cannot overrule the president, especially when the president is acting in the role of commander-in-chief. As a result, Trump and others in his administration call judges that rule against him, “radical leftists” and that they are issuing “unlawful” orders and that they have “no authority” to block the executive branch. As a result, Trump and many others have called for the impeachment of many of those that have ruled in favor of the Constitution rather than in favor of Trump. As we all know, the federal judges thus far have been issuing temporary restraining orders in order to further understand the government’s case and to have a full hearing, where, you know, actual facts can be presented. If the government does not like the decision, there is recourse to an appeal.

It is worth reminding everyone, because apparently we have collectively had the wool pulled over our eyes, that Executive Orders are not laws. They do not have the force of law unless we react to them as if they are. They are policies. Policies can be over ridden in Congress or deemed unconstitutional by the courts or changed or cancelled with the stroke of a pen. Additionally, an unelected South African co-president has no power under the Constitution.

All of this is emblematic of a plan I did not fully appreciate. When Trump and his Project 2025 acolytes talked about removing the “deep state” I knew what they were talking about but did not appreciate the full extent of what that meant — even though they told us straight out what that meant.

It was not just weeding out allegedly unproductive federal workers or political appointees that tempered Trump’s most weird policies, it meant getting rid of the entire bureaucracy and replacing it with a small cadre of loyalists. Period.

It also meant that “deep state” really meant what they call “elite.” The Project 2025 zealots are using Trump to reshape America. In their view, everyone in a position of power or influence in the fall of 2024 (and for decades before that) were members of the deep state. Universities, cultural institutions, museums, entertainment companies, television programs, public schools, law firms, military organizations, and on and on have all been instruments of the so called radical left. They all must be destroyed and then reimagined to match the Project 2025 vision and become subservient to the all powerful executive. I knew it intellectually, they told us over and over they were going to do it and Trump campaigned on it, but I don’t think I internalized it. In their minds, those around Trump are literally on a mission from God. (We can discuss whether Trump is using them, or they are using Trump. He has no ideological underpinnings. His goals as president are uninhibited power, money and retribution.)

They have attacked nearly every corner of our society and now it is the economy. They want to party like it’s 1897. (Trump has become enamored of our 25th president William McKinley. I am not sure he knows that President McKinley was assassinated in 1901 in Buffalo NY.) He said as much in the Rose Garden when he announced the tariffs aimed at destroying the world order that served us so well for the last eight decades. He clearly has no understanding of history as he claims tariffs made the U.S. prosperous (the Gilded Age — he calls it the Golden Age) and that income taxes implemented in 1913 ruined the country. We can see where this is going. The Robber Barons of his “Golden Age” were the rich, powerful white men that ran the country and became fabulously wealthy on the backs of the working class (much of America). Think the cottages of Newport RI. So, following his logic, he and today’s robber barons (the billionaires with which he has surrounded himself) should run the country. Taxes equal socialism. It is taking money from the rich (billionaires) and giving it to the poor (in the form of roads, public schools, food banks, health care, social security, regulating pollution, and so on.)

Thus, his stated plan to eliminate or reduce income taxes because tariffs will make up the difference. (The math does not work. The US collects just over 3 trillion dollars a year in taxes. The best, some say wildly optimistic, projection by his administration is that tariffs will bring in about 600 billion dollars a year.) However, if one eliminates aid to the poor people overseas, aid to Americans, and just about every social program that we have come to rely upon as a nation — the DOGE-bros at work — that saves money for the billionaires because taxes won’t be needed anymore. (Salaries to the workers are a very tiny fraction of the overall budget, not enough to meet their goal.)

It also saves money so that tax dollars can go to subsidizing Trump’s weekly golf outings at his own courses. So far he has spent 19 of his 74 days in office golfing (just over 25% of his time as president this term), at a cost of roughly 28 million dollars. So far.

At the end of the 19th century, Trump believes, the US got along quite nicely, thank you, without any entangling trade or security or military alignments. Why do we need them now? Let’s see how many of our friends and allies we can drive away from us. America First! We don’t need allies or trading partners. Of course we should go back to that era where most people had no running water, there was rampant disease, the lack of regulations resulted in the deaths of countless workers on the job, we built the Panama Canal (by God!) at the cost of thousands of lives, and the maximum range of weapons was about three miles. Just like now!

Whether through ignorance or Manifest Destiny, Trump’s fascination with Greenland shows his basic misunderstanding of a lot. Greenland is an autonomous territory of Denmark. Denmark is in NATO. The US is in NATO. An attack on one is an attack on all. There is a 1951 treaty between Denmark and the US for the defense of Greenland. If he is actually concerned about the vulnerability of Greenland, there are multiple existing ways to improve its defenses. Since he continues to insist that military force is an option, does he really intend to attack a NATO ally which would precipitate the rest of NATO coming to Denmark’s defense? (Putin is so excited at this idea that he can hardly sit still.)

Do you remember Trump’s logic during the pandemic? He wanted to stop all COVID testing because if there were no tests, there would be no COVID. So of course he still has that logic. Fire all the scientists and there is no climate change. Fire all the medical researchers and we do not need vaccines. Fire all the weather prediction folks and there are no more major storms, therefore it is possible to fire the folks at FEMA. Cut scholarships and poor people won’t have to get a higher education. Privatize K-12 schools and only the right people will be able to send their kids to get a good basic education. Want to go to a museum to learn about your heritage? Want to read a book about our black, brown, Asian and women heroes? Why? There is only one America so fire all the “woke” people working at the Smithsonian Institution and only allow Trump approved exhibitions. Subversive plays at the Kennedy Center? Make Trump the Chairman and only allow what he wants to be performed there. Prestigious law firms are defending people or issues you don’t like? Put out an Executive Order that essentially puts them out of business. Want to control the admissions policies at Ivy League Schools? Withhold billions of dollars in grant money, threaten to put them out of business and they will come around. Want to spread fear among the populace? Start abducting legal residents on the street because they co-authored an opinion piece in a college newspaper a year ago and send them to jail without access to an attorney, in defiance of a court order and hold them without due process. Accusations and “trust us” are enough to put anyone in jail without having committed a crime. And so it goes.

All of these things are happening now.

The most disappointing and discouraging thing of all? Prestigious law firms, Ivy League colleges, news organizations, businesses, groups with the fiscal and physical ability to resist these unconstitutional actions of the executive are caving to the Dear Leader. Not just giving in to Trump, but actually paying out millions of dollars in thinly disguised extortion money. Trump has a pretty good mob boss business going while the Project 2025 folks are achieving their goals. A symbiotic relationship between two forces that are destroying our Republic as we have known it for at least the last 80 years and ignoring the principles that have guided us from our earliest days as a nation.

So far, the dark forces are winning. Our democracy is “slip, sliding away.”

(Title from Paul Simon)