Watch Your Back

Mount Rushmore National Memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota showing the likenesses of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln. 16 February is Presidents Day in the United States, a federal holiday.

We continue to see the attacks on democracy continue under the Trump administration as enabled by his fellow members of the “Epstein Class.” As more of the Epstein files are released and studied, it becomes increasingly clear that there is a class of people in the world who are rich, powerful, and seemingly untouchable that look out for each other. We have yet to fully discover all that is within the millions of documents that compile the files, but it is already clear that it was a giant world-wide web of corruption and child sex trafficking. Other countries are taking the revelations seriously — politicians and members of royal families in the U.K., Norway, France, Slovakia, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ireland have been forced to resign from important posts and/or are being investigated in their home countries for crimes — but in the U.S. the president and his cabinet are telling us to “move on.” Meanwhile, the survivors are traumatized over and over by the callous treatment they are receiving from their own government.

One case of how the Epstein Class operates — whether or not these people were involved in the sex trafficking, of which so far there is no proof — can be found in the curious case of the bridge that wouldn’t open. Canada built the Gordie Howe Bridge over the Detroit River to connect Detroit Michigan with Windsor Ontario. The bridge was built by Canada and is jointly owned and operated by Canada and Michigan. When opened, it will greatly improve traffic between Canada and Michigan, in particular, aiding in car manufacturing as parts, and partially completed vehicles, pass back and forth between the countries as they are partially built in each country. The current bridge, the Ambassador Bridge, is the busiest bridge anywhere along the U.S.-Canada border. It happens to be owned by Manuel Mouron, a billionaire that accrues tremendous income from the tolls charged to crossover. The new bridge would significantly cut into his revenue. The new bridge is complete, save for some engineering tests, and was set to open “soon.” Mouron called his good friend Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and complained about the Gordie Howe Bridge (earlier Mouron unsuccessfully tried to prevent it from being built) and asked for help. Lutnick (yes, the same Howard Lutnick that blatantly lied about his relationship to Epstein which continued even after Epstein’s conviction on sex charges) called the president. Last week Trump announced that he “would not allow” the bridge to open until Canada paid us everything they owe. Whatever that is. And it will not open until “Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.” It is uncertain when it will open. However, this is a clear and uncomplicated, if small, example of how the Epstein Class operates.

In order to keep the Epstein Class in power (the belief that a handful of rich, powerful white men should have control over the rest of us) the MAGA Party passed the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) in the House of Representatives. It now goes to the Senate where Democrats promise to filibuster it to keep it from becoming law. MAGA propaganda insists that the Act is required in order to ensure the integrity of the voting process by requiring voters to prove that they are indeed, U.S. citizens. Sounds logical on its surface, does it not? As with most such distractions, the devil is in the details. First and foremost, they are trying to solve a problem that does not exist. We already have laws that prevent non-citizens from voting and that punish people that vote illegally. This red herring of illegal voting throwing elections has been trotted out numerous times over the decades. Every study conducted on the issue, even by advocates of the new law, find miniscule amounts of illegal voting. For example, a study of the 2016 election across 42 jurisdictions found that of 23.5 million votes cast, only 30 were suspected — not proven — to be illegal, or about 0.0001 percent. No election has been decided by an illegal voter.

Under the SAVE Act, the primary way that the status of a legal voter is established is through presenting a passport or an original notarized birth certificate. The burden is on the voter to establish their eligibility rather than on the government to use existing data bases to establish their eligibility. Current statistics show that less than half of Americans own a valid passport. Should you want to get one, besides all the paperwork and pictures required, it will take 6-13 weeks to be processed, depending on seasonal volume, which does not include mailing time to and from the State Department. It will cost you: for a first time passport it is 165 dollars; to renew an existing passport it is 135 dollars; to get an official photo from the Post Office you will need 15 dollars.

Many people do not have an original birth certificate. They may have a copy, but if it is not the original it is not acceptable. Also, think about this. Married couples who have taken their spouse’s last name as their own would have to get new documentation because the name on the voter registration and the certification must match exactly. Other categories of citizens with perfectly reasonable circumstances to have a different or new name than that on a birth certificate would be disqualified.

Due to the need to verify one’s citizenship when voting, mail-in voting or drop boxes are prohibited. Allegedly, there are exceptions for active duty military and some categories of disabled Americans, but they still need to prove their citizenship and how that will be accomplished is unclear.

The new law would disenfranchise an estimated 20-25 million voters. Kansas instituted a similar law. An estimated 0.002 percent of registered voters were non-citizens. After the law was passed, 12 percent of voters were prevented from registering or about 31,000 U.S. citizens could not vote.

If the MAGA leaders were serious about proving that only U.S. citizens are voting, they would institute a phased approach where states can issue proof of citizenship through driver’s licenses or a national identity card that is free or only a nominal cost. One might ask about the REAL ID program which all of us were required to get as part of our drivers license or state ID card. Sorry folks, only five states — Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Washington — provide the opportunity (for an additional cost) to have your license indicate that you are a citizen. Idaho is working to include it. The rest of the United States and the District of Columbia do not currently comply with the proposed SAVE Act requirements. Here is the catch. Some states already require proof of your identity to vote. But those do not prove your citizenship. The real kicker is that under the law, we would all have to prove our citizenship to register to vote. Not just at the polling place. There are other provisions in the bill that would make individual states’ actions more complicated to carry out elections.

Remember that Trump wants to “nationalize” elections. Even as the Constitution gives that power to the states. The SAVE Act is part of a multi-pronged effort to impact the 2026 elections and to declare them invalid if he does not like the results. He is resurrecting his claims that the 2020 elections were rigged and stolen. Besides this being a personal thorn in his side, he is trying to create the conditions for another coup attempt following the mid-term elections.

Like so much with Trump and the MAGA crowd, logic plays no role in their arguments. I have always wondered how an outside source could alter ballots so that only Trump’s name was switched with President Biden’s on the same ballots where Republican and MAGA candidates won handily? Nor can I follow the logic as to why, if we are deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented people and if the border is “100 percent secure” as he so often claims, where are all these people coming from that are storming across the border to vote? And if all elections are rigged, how did he win in 2024? (Unless he is doing his usual projection and he rigged the election. Elon Musk claims he won the election for Trump. How? Just asking.)

Trump’s daily (hourly?) outbursts and Truth Social posts are outrageous. By design. He and his cohorts are desensitizing us and trying to distract and deflect and cover-up what is actually going on. The Epstein Class thinks it is in control and they intend to stay in control. So far no one in his administration, close advisers or influencers have been held accountable for their actions. I have no idea who may or may not have been involved in the abuse of little girls. I do know that they all ran in the same circles and socialized, conducted business and used their influence to help their friends, even after Epstein was first convicted.

They have each others back. We need to have the backs of our own families, friends and communities.