The Seeds of Fascism

Posted: October 4, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

During his recent “State of the Force” speech at the Marine Corps base in Quantico Virginia, Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, swore that there would be no “beardos,” “fatties,” or “weirdos” (among other derogatory names for groups of people) in the U.S. military. He then announced that the three men above would lead his “Project Meridian” which is framed as an in-depth study of the future of warfare. The three men are Palmer Luckey, Newt Gingrich, and Elon Musk, none of whom have served in the military. Any resemblance to those banned from Hegseth’s military is purely coincidental. (DOD photo)

As we enter the eighth month of our war of choice with Iran we find ourselves no closer to a negotiated settlement. Indeed, the rhetoric from Trump and his cabinet members continues to be bombastic, unhinged from reality, and full of lies. Situation normal. Meanwhile, Trump is now touring the country campaigning for MAGA Republicans — whether they want him to or not — and trying to make everything all about him. If you watch the evening news, professional football, or college football you undoubtedly saw one of his propaganda commercials. Claiming that they are Public Service Announcements (PSAs in the lingo), they are actually paeans to the dear leader Trump. They come across to me as something one would see in North Korea or Russia. One is set to the music “Love Me” by JMSN. Trump directed that 20 million dollars be set aside to pay for the ads. Oh yea. 20 million dollars in taxpayer money. Your money and mine. It is clearly illegal under U.S. law, but like most things Trumpian, they do it anyway and dare someone to stop them.

I continue to despair for our country. Trump and his Epstein class buddies are stealing from us in ever more blatant ways and no one seems to care. He demeans people, undermines our democracy, and borders on inciting violence. That is when he can express a coherent thought — which is clearly increasingly difficult for him to do. In the end, he only cares about punishing his enemies and making himself and his family and most loyal associates richer than they could have imagined possible. He is not interested in actually governing. I often hear people say that he does not represent who we are as a country. I disagree. Who is stopping him? The voters of the United States of America put him back in office knowing that he is a convicted felon, adjudicated sex offender, liar, dear friends with the biggest sex trafficker likely ever, tried to overturn a free and fair election and incited a riot where his supporters attacked law enforcement officers and tried to hang the Vice President and Speaker of the House. We are getting our just deserts. (From the Old French word deservir meaning to deserve. One ‘s’ — I just found out. But I digress.)

We are roughly a month from the mid-terms and Trump is feeling the heat. That makes him more dangerous. Based on his track record, I put nothing past him. He will do whatever it takes to keep his power from being diminished. Saturday night during a poorly attended rally in Vandalia Ohio he claimed that the Democrats (or Dumocrats as he likes to say — adding that most people do not know that “dumb” has a b in it, but if he used it then they would be dumbocrats which sounds funny) were trying to kill him. He then went on to say “We’ve defeated every hoax and overcome every threat. Now we are on the cusp of beating the communist, socialist, radicalized lunatics and villains once and for all. We’re going to put them down once and for all.” Put them down. Like an injured or dying animal?

Thinking about where all of this is taking us, I was pointed towards a June 1995 essay by Umberto Eco the Italian writer and philosopher who was in elementary school during the Mussolini regime. The essay is “Ur-Fascism” or “Eternal Fascism.” (Read it here.)

In it, he traces the historical origins of fascism and draws distinctions between its manifestations in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere in the world during the twentieth century. The fascism that originated in Italy is not the same as the Nazis in Germany or Franco in Spain. He further explains that elements of fascism can actually be contradictory and that while different factions may not be exactly the same, they all have certain characteristics in common. Sadly, many of those elements are visible in the current administration. I still believe that Trump could not spell fascism, much less explain it, but he knows enough of what is going on and the personal benefits that he receives, which is sufficient for his purposes. He has no ideological compass, only concern for his own power and wealth. This makes him useful to the architects of Project 2025 and the others that want to fundamentally alter the nature of our government. Trump, especially as his physical and mental health clearly decline, is their useful idiot to be manipulated into taking actions that move them towards their goal — a country ruled by rich, white, Christian, men. Their Christianity is not the typical “Good Samaritan” form of Christ’s teachings, but more like the 19th century Southern plantation owners style of Christianity.

Eco lists fourteen characteristics of Ur-Fascism. You can read the essay to see all fourteen. Here it is sufficient to give a few examples of his analysis.

“Action for action’s sake.” As he explains, action is of itself enough. In other words, “it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.” Arbitrary and reflexive. Sound like anyone we know in the Oval Office? Eco takes it further to say that this leads to distrust of anything deemed intellectual. This leads to attacks on modern culture and anything deemed liberal or associated with universities because they are seen as undermining traditional values. Disagreement is treason.

“Fear of difference.” Disagreement is seen as diversity. A large part of Ur-Fascism is stamping out diversity in favor of unity. Sound like anyone we know in the Pentagon? A primary tool of the movement is to rally against what Eco calls the “intruders” but some now call them the “other” such as those from “shithole countries.” This leads to an insistence that only those born in the country are truly deserving. Fascism is inherently racist.

“Appeal to a frustrated middle class.” This is an appeal to those that are suffering economically or that do not feel that their government is looking out for them, especially as they feel pressure from lower socio-economic classes. Their supporters must feel as if they are under siege, from internal forces and/or external enemies.

“Contempt for the weak.” The masses are inherently weak, therefore they need a strong ruler. To succeed, the hierarchical nature of fascism means that at each level, a leader despises those under him (not her) and each of them despises their inferiors.

“Machismo.” Eco defines it as “both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.” Sex tends to be “a difficult game to play” so the Ur-Fascist “tends to play with weapons—doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.”

“Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak.” This comes from George Orwell’s novel “1984” In other words, education is scaled down to the most basic of dictated vocabulary and syntax to limit the ability for critical thinking. Everyone must be in lockstep.

Please do not assume that I am calling our current leadership fascist. It is, however, alarming that they share so many common elements of fascist tendencies. Clearly this administration is using every power they can imagine — words like lawful, ethical or moral have no bearing on their actions — to establish an authoritarian regime. Their term of art is to create “a unitary executive.” The president is in charge of the government, end of discussion.

So far, my biggest disappointment and fear is that no one is trying to stop them. Certainly not the Republicans who have lost all sense of the right thing to do and have dishonored their oath to the Constitution. I also blame the Democrats who are always concerned but basically just send “stern warnings” in letters. Unfortunately, we the people, have also become accustomed to the endless parade of shenanigans, lies and power grabs. Trump has coarsened America. One can feel it in every corner of the land. What none of us would have imagined ten years ago is now “normal.”

I am not sure how we turn things around. New laws are in order to cover the things that before were “norms” or “the right thing to do” or any other limits to behavior that Trump has run a Mack truck right through.

I do know that if we don’t vote the MAGAs out, we will never get there.

The Plan To Steal The Election

Posted: July 15, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This “Iran War Participation Trophy” appeared on the National Mall near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. The ten foot statue dedicated to Donald J. Trump was created by the satirical art group “Secret Handshake.” (Picture by Christine Kao for The Washington Post)

As usual, there is a lot going on in the world and in the United States. It is hard to keep up with it all as Trump tries to keep us all off balance with a long list of crazy shenanigans. He is ill. Unfortunately, people’s lives are at stake and real people are getting killed and injured. The Iran War is back with a frenzy as both sides carry out massive attacks and the Strait of Hormuz is closed for all practical purposes. It turns out that, as expected, a poorly worded Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) does not end wars. The U.S. has two choices. Invade Iran (a terribly foolish thing to do) or sit down for serious discussions with serious people involved (not two real estate investors that are more interested in their own gain).

Last week two innocent people were killed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. One was in Texas, one was in Maine, and they were both hard-working fathers and husbands. It turns out that ICE had the wrong migrants, they were not the men that ICE thought they were. OOPS. That is about as much care as the administration has for killing two innocent men and then lying about it. We still do not have anyone held accountable for the killing of two American citizens in Minnesota earlier this year.

For Trump and his tech bros and other members of the Epstein Class, things go on as before. They continue to enrich themselves at our expense without giving it a second thought. The next project for them to make money from by using public land for private purposes is the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington DC on 22 and 23 August. It will be a motor car race on the streets of DC around the mall. The race is free for peons, but once again, there will be VIP areas for those willing to pay up. The Champions Club seats cost five thousand dollars and “sponsorships” can reach into the millions.

But wait! There’s more! And I think it will be the beginning of the end of our democratic republic.

On Thursday night 16 July, probably on every major television network, Trump will give an address to the nation. It is expected to be wide-ranging and reminiscent of his typical campaign style speeches. Trump’s greatest hits coming to you live from the White House. It would be easy to ignore or to laugh off. Very easy. We have heard it all countless times before. However, I worry that there will be a message hidden, or maybe in our face, that threatens our upcoming elections. News reports indicate that he will “declassify” information about the 2020 election that allegedly proves that the election was “rigged” or at least interfered with by outside entities. Nearly six years later it is suddenly found. Amazing. Here is the background.

As we know, the individual states, rather than the federal government, are responsible for elections. That alone makes it very difficult to rig or hijack an election. History shows that, especially in recent decades, the states take that responsibility very seriously and work hard to ensure that all eligible voters get to vote, that their ballot is secret, and that every valid ballot is counted. They keep the process transparent while ensuring the safety and security of the voters and the ballots. It works. Trump does not like it. Or at least he does not like it when he loses. (I find it ironic that the 2016 and 2024 elections were run under Democrat administrations and Trump won so they were free and fair. But the 2020 election, run under the Trump administration, was rigged so that Trump lost. How does that work?) Again, as ridiculous as all of this sounds, it is a serious threat. Some opine that Trump cannot tolerate losing and so he continues to whine about an election from six years ago. I think he is laying the ground work for something bigger.

Looking at the sequence of events, I find it disturbing that a plan is being executed step by step to interfere with elections, if indeed they take place as expected. Trump has long been pushing for passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act which would keep an estimated 20 million eligible voters from voting by among other things, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote using birth certificates or passports and such registration would have to be done in person. (There are already laws prohibiting non-citizens from voting. The instances of illegal voting are infinitesimally small.) Expect Trump to push it hard in his speech. For info, thirty-six states require some form of identification at the polling place. Usually, a REAL ID suffices. Those cards would not be sufficient under Trump’s proposal.

Earlier in his administration, Trump gutted the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The agency was specifically chartered to ensure that there was no foreign or domestic election interference. It is now essentially unable to do its job.

Trump recently fired, or forced the resignation, of all four of the commissioners that run the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), This is a bipartisan agency created by Congress specifically to help states run free and fair elections. It aids in training poll workers, certifying voting machines, and other functions to ensure that state and local officials maintain the safety and security of our elections. They are now effectively neutered.

At the same time, Trump appointed William “Bill” Pulte as the Acting Director of National Intelligence. Pulte has no intelligence experience whatsoever, despite the fact that the law requires it. You may recognize the name. He is the thirty-eight year old heir to Pulte Homes, the construction company founded by his grandfather — you may have seen their adds on television. He was doing such a great job, he was fired by the company’s Board of Directors. He is currently the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, a job he still holds while also the acting Director of Intelligence. As head of the FHFA, he is the guy who is trying to dig up dirt on people on Trump’s enemies list and pushing for their convictions on fraud — where most experienced attorneys see no case. A good guy. But he does whatever dirty job Trump gives him. He is the one that “discovered” new evidence of election fraud that Trump will expose Thursday night.

Do you see a pattern here? The actions above are only a partial list of election developments.

Trump is especially attacking mail-in voting (although he always votes that way) and voting machines. According to the Encyclopedia of American Politics, all states allow for some form of absentee or mail-in voting. Thirteen states require voters to provide a valid excuse to vote absentee or by mail. Twenty-nine states allow any eligible voter to cast an absentee or mail-in ballot. Eight states have automatic mail-in ballot systems, also known as all-mail voting systems. Eliminating mail-in voting would create hardships for many voters and create long lines at polling stations (especially if they also eliminate early voting). The intent is to suppress the vote. Although both parties would be impacted by such measures, statistics show that Democrats tend to use these methods more than Republicans. Voting machines also vary in type and use, although every state uses them in some capacity. Trump wants only paper ballots to be used. The logistics and time delays by going to only paper ballots would be complicated. Especially so, since Trump tries to prevent ballots from being counted on any day except Election Day.

Never forget that Trump sent a mob to try and overthrow the 2020 election. He pardoned about 1500 people that defaced the capitol, threatened lawmakers and attacked law enforcement officers. He pardoned them all and is trying to set up a fund to pay them off. Last week the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent a letter to the top election official in each state threatening to criminally prosecute them if any non-citizen casts a vote, among other things. He pardons those that do his bidding and threatens those that try to uphold the law.

So, what is Trump up to on Thursday? Hard to know. The best guess is that he will reveal that a foreign government — China and/or Venezuela (!) — interfered with voting machines or some other hairbrained scheme to throw the election to President Biden. It is part of his “shock and awe” campaign to confuse and discourage voters in order to suppress the vote. However, I doubt it stops there. It is possible that in order to defend the nation from foreign intervention, he will declare some sort of national emergency, nationalize the conduct of the election (under his rules) and otherwise prevent a free and fair election.

PBS reported on an existing draft Executive Order (E.O.) that would allow Trump to dictate how the election would be run. It matches fairly closely with proposals in the Project 2025 playbook which is the roadmap for this administration’s actions over the last eighteen months. The E.O. matches with the requirement for proof of citizenship, paper ballots, in person voting and hand counting of ballots. The justification would be a national emergency because of foreign interference.

Be ready. Although such an E.O. would be immediately challenged in court, its real purpose may be to create an actual national emergency. Certainly it would confuse and confound many voters and probably lead to a lower turnout than what is currently expected. A low turnout favors Trump.

Trump may be using the same old worn out script he uses year after year. It may be laughable, but it is dangerous. Whining is one thing. Action is another. Expect some kind of interference in the mid-terms. Trump is a crook, a liar, a grifter and cares only about himself. He knows that if the Democrats take control of Congress in the next election he and his grifting family will be held accountable. He cannot allow that to happen. A cornered animal fights back. Anything is possible with this administration.

I hope that I am wrong.

Watch Your Back

Posted: February 15, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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.