This Is Not Normal

Posted: March 13, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Okay. 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 Kremlin Rules!

Posted: March 1, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Yesterday, 28 February 2025, was a day where you, me, historians, diplomats, and anyone else that cares about the role of the United States in international diplomacy will talk about as “before 28 February and after 28 February.” We now know that the convicted felon in the White House who tried to stage a coup to keep himself in power is totally, 100 percent behind Russia’s Vladimir Putin and against our long standing allies around the world. Trump’s and Vance’s ignorant display in the Oval Office yesterday reflected the essence of this administration — embarrassing, repugnant, vengeful, hypocritical, and extremely dangerous.

Trump invited President Zelenskyy of Ukraine to the White House yesterday. Ostensibly, the reason for the meeting was to discuss the possibility of Ukraine giving the U.S. access to the rare earth minerals believed to be in Ukrainian territory. (No one is exactly sure what or where those valuable minerals actually are as there are almost no mines actively recovering them and the existence of such minerals is based on a decades old map done by surveyors from the Soviet Union.) Instead, President Zelenskyy walked into an apparent ambush by Trump and his MAGA henchman J.D. Vance where they berated and harassed Mr. Zelenskyy while spreading lies and disinformation about the actual situation in Ukraine. (If you have not yet seen it, watch it here. The body language is as important as what is actually said. Or read about it here.) Note that J.D. Vance started the harangue. J.D. is usually not allowed to attend such meetings between Trump and foreign dignitaries (Trump doesn’t want to share the spotlight), which further indicates that he was part of some plan along with Trump to stick it to the Ukrainian. To his credit, Mr. Zelenskyy did not take the bait, stayed calm, and did not yell back at Trump. He did, however, resolutely stick to his position and to try and explain the dire situation that he and his nation are in because of Russian aggression. What really seemed to enrage Trump was when Mr. Zelenskyy tried to explain that no deal with Russia was worth anything without concrete security guarantees. Further, he warned Trump that if he made an unsecured deal with Putin, eventually the U.S. would be in danger. Trump tripped off the line and starting ranting about Hunter Biden, the Russia “hoax” that Putin suffered through, and countless other grievances that had nothing to do with the alleged negotiations at hand. In the end, Trump sounded exactly like a mafia Don threatening retribution on a business that refused to give him a cut. The point was to bully Mr. Zelenskyy in a dual attack in order to get him to concede to a deal to stop the war that would be exclusively favorable to Russia. Mr. Zelenskyy refused. The meeting ended with Trump ordering the press out of the office and saying, “This is going to be great television.”

What does this attack on Mr. Zelenskyy mean? Why would Trump take Russia’s side in the dispute since they are the clear aggressor and the war could end in one day by withdrawing the Russian and North Korean troops? Let’s take a look.

There is a difference between what things are and what things mean. This was a crude and very undiplomatic shouting match aimed at bullying one of our allies in front of the cameras. What it means is that the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner to our NATO allies and our friends around the world. It means that Trump supports the dictator Putin over the leader of a democracy suffering at the hands of an unprovoked aggressor. It means that Trump and Putin will probably work out some kind of “peace” deal without Ukraine having a say. It means that Russia will be encouraged to continue its quest to reestablish the Russian empire. It means that the U.S. is meaningfully less secure.

This is the biggest diplomatic change since the arrival of the United States on the world stage at the start of the Twentieth Century. We are now aligned with Russia who is aligned with China, Iran and North Korea. Countless leaders throughout the free world from Belgium to New Zealand lined up in support of Mr. Zelenskyy and his stance to defend Ukraine.

Where was Secretary of State Marco Rubio, known as an avid anti-Russian hawk? Slumped in a chair next to Vance looking very much like he wished he could disappear. Where was National Security Adviser Mike Waltz who as a Congressman was another anti-Russia, pro-Ukraine supporter? Missing in action. After the dust settled many, many of the MAGA crowd (there are no longer members of the Republican Party in Congress) chose to blame the melt down on Mr. Zelenskyy. They focused on the fact that he did not a wear a suit and tie (he goes everywhere in modified military gear to remind everyone his country is at war) and therefore he was disrespectful and argumentative. (Musk wore a ball cap and t-shirt to a Cabinet meeting in the White House earlier this week, but apparently he can do whatever he wants to do.)

Mr. Rubio and Mr. Waltz should resign. It is clear that they have no influence over Trump or American policy. But of course, they will not. They have been totally coopted. American foreign policy is no longer based on American values and strength. It is now based on the ignorant whims of one man who thinks he is a world player. Instead, he is getting played.

Why is Trump trying to destroy our role in the world by aligning with Putin? I have given this a lot of thought. Trump’s apologists come up with a myriad of reasons as to why he disparages our closest allies and cheers our enemies. He is a businessman. He knows the art of the deal. He is trying to get the EU to step up. It is part of “America First.” Blah, blah blah.

Of course, I am not on the inside so I do not know what takes place behind closed doors but here is what I think. There are only two conceivable scenarios at this point as to why Trump is turning our country over to Putin. The first is that he is actually an agent for Putin. He is trying to destroy our country from within (via Musk and his DOGE bros running amok) and without (throwing our allies under the bus). The Russians cannot believe their great fortune in his returning to the presidency. They are getting a great return on their investment. Can I prove this? Of course not. But there have been rumors since the 1980s that Trump was compromised and groomed to at least be sympathetic to Russia. Given his intellectual and psychological vulnerabilities, and his weakness for flattery, this is not too far fetched. Several uncorroborated reports have had at least four separate former KGB agents at different times reveal that there was a KGB operation, run by the then Czechoslovakian intelligence service, to groom him as a Russian supporter. It is known that many of his real estate deals were with Russian oligarchs buying properties at inflated prices. His first campaign manager Paul Manafort had known ties to Russian oligarchs and intelligence agents. All that said, this to me is the least likely of the options.

It is more likely that he has some simplistic medieval grand view where rich and powerful kings rule the world and their subjects show absolute fealty to him and carry out his every whim. He needs only confer with his fellow “kings” in Russia and China to decide how they will divide the world. Thus we do not need a federal civil service, the king and his lords will run the country. He does not need allies because he consorts with his fellow kings. Rich and powerful men know what is best. What is good for the king is good for the state. “L’etat, c’est moi” — “I am the state” — as King Louis XIV of France is said to have told the French parliament in 1655. In other words, he is an absolute monarch with complete power and not subject to Constitutional limitations. While some of you may think that I am stretching the analogy, and I doubt that Trump knows who Louis XIV was and wouldn’t care anyway, he is approaching his presidency as if he is the absolute ruler. As the absolute ruler he only needs to confer with other absolute rulers.

Whether or not he succeeds with this approach to governing, we will find out. What I am arguing is that this is his mind set and thus he acts in the ways that he does. As I have written in this space countless times, autocrats always tell you what they are going to do. They don’t always succeed, but they are going to try. Trump is telling us exactly what he wants to do and unlike in his first term, he has people around him that are willing to do it.

This is dangerous for many reasons, of course. In this particular case, and what President Zelenskyy was trying to tell Trump, is that he can not trust Putin. Once America repudiates our allies and removes itself from participation with our allies in NATO and elsewhere, Putin and Xi Jinping of China will work together to bring us to our knees. This is one of the things that infuriated Trump during the meeting. Mr. Zelenskyy told Trump that the U.S now “has a nice ocean” to protect us against Russia so we don’t “feel” Russian pressure or threats, but that “you will feel it in the future.” Trump exploded and said “don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.” Completely missing the point, but then he is not that sharp and he is intellectually uncurious. Flattery gets you everything with Trump. He is an easy mark for Putin and Xi who have been in this game for a long time.

The idea of the world being divided into “kingdoms” fits nicely with the Project 2025 playbook being implemented throughout the government as I write. Trump’s world view, Musk’s world view and that of the Project 2025 folks is that rich, powerful men became that way — became “kings” of their domains — because they are smarter and more ruthless and more capable than the rest of us. Therefore it is only logical that they should be in charge. This view is manifesting itself in the foreign policy arena with Ukraine as the example. Ukraine is relatively weak, especially compared to Russia, therefore they should submit and give Russia whatever they want in order to bring “peace” and “save lives.” Of course the Butcher of Bucha will only torture, rape and murder the good citizens of Ukraine should Putin take over.

Remember the day that it all changed. Even if Trump’s plans are thwarted, it will take a generation of hard work before our allies will ever trust us again.

The Beacon Of Democracy Is Dimming

Posted: February 25, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Let’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

What To Expect On Day One

Posted: January 17, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

This coming Monday is Inauguration Day. It also happens to be a federal holiday for Martin Luther King Day and the culmination of the college football season with the national championship game. Quite a busy day. For the incoming president, here is a partial list of all the things that he promised to do “on day one.” The list comes from various sources (especially Axios) based on his campaign promises, speeches, social media and interviews. Some are “head scratchers” because it either does not exist or is a made up problem or cannot be done in a day or all of the above. Advisors to the president say that he will issue one hundred Executive Orders on Inauguration Day. I suppose someone with enough time on their hands could put together some kind of bingo card or a drinking game to see how the Executive Orders match up with his promises.

  • Settle the Russia-Ukraine War. Although to be sure, he said in the first 24 hours.
  • Close the border with Mexico.
  • Begin the largest deportation effort in American history.
  • Close public schools that teach Critical Race Theory (CRT) or have a vaccine mandate.
  • End the “electric vehicle mandate.”
  • Increase oil drilling and fracking.
  • End birth right citizenship protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.
  • End “Green New Deal” policies.
  • End “Bidenomics” and start “MAGAnomics.”
  • Ban trans women from competing in girl’s or women’s sports.
  • Pardon January 6th criminals.
  • Stop migrant flights into the U.S.
  • Restore and expand the Trump travel ban.
  • Push for the resignation of anyone in the military involved in the Afghanistan withdrawal.
  • Shift some federal law enforcement agencies to immigration enforcement.
  • Repeal federal government Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) requirements.
  • Remove CRT from the military.
  • Reduce violent crime.
  • Reduce crime by immigrants.
  • Put sanctions on Iran.
  • Convene a Federal Drug Administration (FDA) panel to see if hormone treatments cause violence.
  • Ban transgender people from the military.
  • Ask Congress for a bill banning gender affirming care for minors.
  • Enact policies to move to having all automobiles built in the United States.
  • Restart the building of the border wall with Mexico.
  • Tell Mexico to stop drug dealers and criminals crossing the border or get hit with a 25% tariff.
  • Hit Canada with a 25% tariff on all goods if they do not stop their open border policy.
  • Roll back federal regulations that drive up the cost of goods.
  • Be a dictator. Although he conceded it would just be for one day.

That’s a pretty full day.

Anticipatory Obedience

Posted: January 16, 2025 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 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 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

We 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.

Exhaustion Is The Point

Posted: November 13, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

After last week’s election results, I thought it appropriate to take a step back, breath in some fresh air, and enjoy the upcoming holidays. After all, the President-elect won’t take office until next year. Plenty of time to worry about our future next year and to make the most of this time of year with family and friends. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of reading a newspaper — a real newspaper, one that is not part of the propaganda arm of the MAGA party. To my dismay, Trump is already putting into place his plans to make himself the Dear Leader.

Most troubling — and a clear signal of his intent — Trump is insisting that he be allowed to appoint cabinet officers, federal judges and other high-ranking officials without Senate confirmation. This is what is meant by a “recess appointment” and it is a clear attempt at busting through any remaining guardrails right out of the gate. Under Article II Section 2 of the Constitution, the Senate is tasked with providing “advice and consent” on foreign treaties and the appointment of “Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States” not otherwise provided for in the Constitution. To be sure, other presidents have tried to make recess appointments, especially when the Senate is not responsive to their intended appointments, and Article II Section 2, Clause 3 does give a president the power to fill government vacancies on a temporary basis if the Senate is not in session. In recent practice, the Senate theoretically stays in session even when the majority of Senators are absent in order to prevent recess appointments. I am concerned that the upcoming Senate leadership will abdicate their responsibilities as a co-equal branch of government and allow Trump free reign to appoint anyone he wants, whether qualified or not.

Trump’s intent is troubling on two levels. First, he is telling the MAGA majority in the Senate (and as of today, the House) that they must rubber stamp everything that he does. Second, it signals that he may make some appointments that are a step too far even for his MAGA controlled majority. (The recent announcement of Pete Hegseth, a Fox News anchor, as Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) may be the first test of the Senate’s loyalty to Trump.)

Additionally, it appears that Trump is attempting to circumvent the Constitution by creating government departments and “czars” that under the law can only be created and funded by Congress. Here again, given that the MAGA party controls the Congress, he may be contemplating actions that even his most ardent supporters find too extreme. Here is the type of thing to expect. Trump intends to create the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and give cabinet level authority to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to run it. In fact, the DOGE would be more like a commission or outside advisory board that makes recommendations to the White House and the Congress, the branch of government that would have to pass the laws needed to implement the recommendations. (Musk and his cronies are giggling over the acronym DOGE because that is a nod to Musk’s cryptocurrency of choice, dogecoin, the value of which is up 150% since Musk started touting the creation of DOGE. The oligarchs are in charge.) The DOGE charter is to reshape the federal government, significantly decrease the size of the federal work force by eliminating the “deep state” and abolish “unnecessary” government departments.

More good news. The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that a draft Executive Order floated to Trump would create a tribunal to review the status of all military three and four star admirals and generals. As SECDEF Hegseth would support that effort. It is advertised as firing all of the “woke” officers in the military. What it really means is that Trump and his MAGA supporters in government would expect the military to do whatever — I repeat, whatever — Trump wants. In other words, he expects the military to be loyal to him and not to their oath to support and defend the Constitution. In his first term Trump was continually furious at many of the senior leaders in the Pentagon because they would not do his unconstitutional bidding. He means to fix that little quirk of nearly 250 years of loyalty to the Constitution rather than to one man. In fact, in Trump’s opinion because military members believe in something larger than themselves and even die for it, they are “suckers and losers.” Given that, according to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) the president is immune for any actions he takes in his “core” powers, of which Commander-in-Chief is one, he can pretty much do whatever (that word again) he wants as long as he finds people with no morals, or ethics or regard for our institutions. And he has, and will, find many of them.

(Before I could publish this, Trump announced that Matt Gaetz of Florida, under investigation for allegedly having sex parties with underaged girls, is his nominee for Attorney General. Get ready for the purges.)

I am already exhausted by the idea of Trump as president, which is part of the plan. Fear and exhaustion are the tools of autocrats and dictators to keep the population in check and to weed out resistance. Democrats and moderate Republicans are caught in a trap. They believe in the Constitution and our traditions and norms and try to follow the law. MAGA folks do not. So President Biden invites Trump to the White House and promises a smooth and peaceful transition of power to the President-elect, while Trump refused to do either and fomented an attempted coup. The MAGA people expect their opponents to do the right thing so that they can take advantage of it. (I’m still wondering why those ten million illegal immigrants that each voted six times weren’t enough to give Vice President Harris the win. Maybe the Jewish space lasers malfunctioned.)

The pundits, experts and analysts have come up with a list of all the reasons that Vice President Harris lost to the MAGA crowd. Spare me. I blame the weak kneed Republicans that caved to a convicted felon, found liable for sexual assault, who fomented a coup, sold national security secrets, covered up hush money payments to a porn star and still believes that famous men have a right to grab women in the crotch. And those are just the highlights. Trump should never have been a candidate in 2016 and given all that we know after 6 January 2021 he should now be a golf caddy at a minimum security prison rather than president. The Republicans had every chance to put an end to his political career but were too afraid to stop him. History will show that Senator Mitch McConnell (KY) did more to destroy our country than any other single person because he had a desire for power greater than his own moral, ethical and professional misgivings. Shame is a word without relevance in today’s MAGA party.

There are some bright spots to give me hope. On the state level Democrats did surprisingly well even in red states. As a nation we did away with the Articles of Confederation because they were too unwieldly and divisive. Maybe a move back in that direction is in order. I always have and always will believe that your rights and quality of life under a government should not depend on your zip code but in today’s environment I hope that reasonable state governors and legislatures step up and assert themselves to protect their citizens from what is about to happen in Washington D.C. Those states will beacons of light keeping the principles of our democracy alive during a dark period of our history.

More Than A Jury Verdict

Posted: May 31, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Yesterday was an historic day for the United States. For the first time in our history an ex-president and presumptive nominee for president of a major political party was convicted by a jury of his peers on thirty-four counts related to election interference, the violation of election laws, and the attempt to cover it up — all felonies.

That the rule of law prevailed, proving in a previously untested way that we are, in fact, a nation devoted to the rule of law and not to the rule of men is significant. No one is above the law. Personally, I take no joy in these thirty-four convictions. I thought that the evidence was there, and to be candid, I would have been disappointed if the now convicted ex-president had once again avoided responsibility for his actions, but I would still have been proud of the way our system of laws worked. Those twelve jurors were able to carry on in the traditions that we all say we believe in as Americans. They put aside their biases, experiences and personal beliefs to listen to the testimony and evidence presented and then unanimously came to a conclusion. Guilty. So it seems that we should pause and consider what just happened. It is sad that an ex-president is a convicted felon. It is a proud day that the system worked.

The convicted ex-president reacted in his typical fashion whining that the system was “rigged” that the proceedings were a “sham,” etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. The same old, same old. Except that it hit me that there is a bigger picture here that is truly frightening. This is Trump being Trump. It is also Trump, and his toadies and sycophants in the MAGA Republican party telling us that they want to destroy our democratic republic and rebuild it in their own image. Trump would be nothing if he did not have his acolytes vying with each other to out do themselves in debasing their own morality and in trying to help him tear down our rules, norms, and way of life. Note that not one of his defenders actually defends Trump. Not one of them claims that he is innocent. Instead they attack the system and work to undermine the public’s faith in our institutions. Not even his biggest flunkeys defend his actions. They only see him as their way to power and if that means destroying our way of life, then so be it. Shame is a dead emotion in today’s MAGA world.

Too much? Consider this. Trump uses the same language over and over to attack our elections, free press, and now the judicial system. All of them are “disgraceful” or a “sham” or “rigged” or any other word from his limited vocabulary. He constantly talks about how our country has “gone to hell” or that our country is in “serious decline” or that “we have a country that is in big trouble.” Over and over and over. Classic techniques of fascist propaganda. But let me allow the convicted ex-president to speak for himself with these quotes from his campaign speeches. Again, he repeats nearly the same things over and over:

“We will demolish the deep state. We’ll expel, we’re going to expel, those horrible, horrible warmongers from our government. They want to fight everybody. They want to kill people all over the place. Places we’ve never heard about before. Places that want to be left alone.

We will drive out the globalists. We will cast out the communists, Marxists, fascists. We will throw off the sick political class that hates our country. We will rout the fake-news media until they become real. We will evict Joe Biden from the White House, and we will finish the job that we started better than anybody has ever started a job before.“

In other words, call yourself a victim, blame it on the “vermin” that are not like us, and promise to destroy the institutions that stand in the way. And now he calls himself “a political prisoner.” An insult to our system and it trivializes those real political prisoners being held in places like Russia.

The thirty-four count felon ex-president is finally being held accountable. It only furthers his rage and inspires him to go further and further into the dark side. Politicians that know better like the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (second in line for the presidency behind the VP for gosh sakes!) says that Trump’s conviction is “a shameful day in American history” and called for the Supreme Court to “step in” to overturn the conviction. Senior Republicans only became ever more deranged with their comments. Senator Ted Cruz (TX) said of the conviction that “this is a dark day for America. This entire trial has been nothing but a sham.” Senator Marco Rubio (FL) called the proceedings the “quintessential show trial. This is what you see in communist countries” and without a hint of irony, given his Cuban family roots, compared the conviction to what happened in Castro’s Cuba that “led to executions.” There is so much more but it saddens me too much. These are supposed patriotic Americans that willingly debase themselves in the service of one man.

That is where we are in today’s United States. I firmly believe that a majority of Americans see Trump and the MAGA movement for what it is. The upcoming election will not be a referendum on two different sets of policies or who is too old to serve or any other issue. It will solely be a choice between a man that wants to protect and preserve our democratic republic and one that will burn it all down in order to give himself the power to glorify himself.

I am proud of our twelve fellow citizens who recognized their sacred and solemn duty and did their best to live up to the ideals of our country. This was no ordinary verdict.

Party Over Country

Posted: February 8, 2024 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“…former President Trump has become citizen Trump…”

–U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC circuit ruling rejecting Trump’s presidential immunity claim

Although the Court of Appeals categorically denied Trump’s claims of “absolute immunity” as a former president, a decision expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court, he continues to act as if he is above the law and continues to try and destroy our country for his own political and monetary gain. His latest power play is the trashing of a significant bipartisan bill put together by Senate, White House and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) negotiators that provides much needed immigration reforms, beefs up security on our southern border and sends crucial aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and humanitarian assistance in war torn parts of the world. 

The 118 billion dollar Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, primarily negotiated by Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Murphy (D-CONN) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), was touted as the best border security bill to come out of Congress in decades. It died a shameful death in just over 24 hours. Here is what that means.

In October 2023 President Joe Biden asked for supplemental appropriations to assist Ukraine in its existential war with Russia and to bolster Israel in their war with Hamas and to help Taiwan defend against Chinese aggression. The Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (MAGA-LA) flatly refused to consider any aid overseas without first taking meaningful steps to secure the border. Multiple Senate Republicans joined in to express their support for reforms on the border before acting on the request to aid Ukraine and the others. President Biden agreed and the Senate went to work to hammer out a bipartisan deal. After four months of nearly continuous work, and despite multiple attempts by MAGA supporters to undermine the act without even knowing what was in it, the negotiators unveiled the finished supplemental on Sunday night this week. Before it was fully read and digested, the leadership of the House declared it “DEAD on arrival in the House.” (The caps were in their actual statement. Hmmm. Someone else deals in all caps.) As Senator Murphy lamented, on Sunday night there were 20-25 Republican Senators that said they would support it and vote for it. By Monday night there were only four. What happened?

Trump happened.

Trump put out the word that anyone that voted for the supplemental act would be the target of his retribution. As a result, there was no vote in the House and a procedural vote in the Senate to move to debate over the bill failed. Before Monday night, a notable number of Senators from both parties considered this bill to be the best chance to enhance border security in decades. And then it was gone. Along with aid to Ukraine, a country desperate for supplies to counter the Russian invasion. There were no profiles in courage this week. To underscore the magnitude of the reversal, Republicans got nearly everything that they could hope for in a border bill. Frankly, I believe that they were shocked by how much they got. In past negotiations, Democrats had demanded a path to citizenship for Dreamers and others, but not in this bill. The Democrats agreed that there was a crisis on the border and were looking for concrete measures to improve the system. Additionally, many of the Democrats were focused on our commitments to our friends and allies in Europe and around the world believing that aid to counter Russia and China was paramount. They were willing to deal. 

Republicans could not take yes for an answer.

Why would Trump kill it? For several reasons. First, he does not really want to solve the crisis on the border. In many ways, it his identity as a demagogue and provides the fodder to rant and rave about the “others” “invading” our country. If the crisis is solved or even alleviated, he has nothing to run on. By arguing that he can get a better deal when he is president (he can’t — as proven by four years of his presidency) he can continue to argue that the country is being overrun and that it is the Democrats’ fault. Recall the other debacle that took place Tuesday night when the House tried to impeach Secretary of Homeland Defense Alejandro Mayorkas and failed. (They will keep trying until they succeed.) There was no Constitutional basis to do so. It was merely political theater to try and agitate about the border crisis. The very border crisis that they refuse to do anything about. Clearly, the MAGA Republicans and those too afraid to resist them are putting party over country. More specifically, they are putting one man over the needs of our nation. As the Circuit Court identified him, he is citizen Trump. He has no legal or moral authority to dictate anything to the Congress of the United States.

This leads to the other reasons why citizen Trump torpedoed the bipartisan bill. He did it to show that he can. This may be the most dangerous of all the reasons. He demonstrated that in or out of office, he controls the Republicans in the Congress and as a result, given that the Republicans have a majority in the House and very little can get accomplished in the Senate without a filibuster proof majority of Senators, he dictates what gets accomplished in the Congress by vetoing any progress. Trump is laying the groundwork for his autocratic rule in the future. 

Likewise, Trump is pro-Putin, pro-Xi and he sends love letters to Kim in North Korea. Aid to Ukraine would run counter to his support for Putin and Russia. Many of his MAGA supporters are likewise enamored of Putin and other “strong men” around the world. ”America First” means withdrawing from NATO and other alliances around the world. Trump is demonstrating to the world that the U.S. cannot be counted upon to meet its commitments and will turn away from our friends in need. Like it or not, without U.S. leadership, the forces of evil in the world have an ever increasing chance of prevailing. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a prime example. It is a “pay me now or pay me later” proposition. Should Russia prevail in Ukraine, other nations are next on the list. But do not take my word for it, take a look at Finland and Sweden. Both nations rebuffed offers to join NATO for nearly 75 years. They know Russia. Since the invasion of Ukraine, Finland joined NATO and Sweden is in the process of doing so. They recognize the danger from an expansionist Russia. 

Add to the picture that Trump is pushing his acolytes to remove Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) from his leadership position in the Senate. Why? Because he deigned to work with Democrats on bipartisan bills. Trump is also pushing to remove Ronna McDaniel the current head of the Republican National Committee (RNC) because even though she has let Trump do pretty much whatever he wants, she is now considered not MAGA enough. Trump wants a puppet as the RNC chair so that he has absolute control over the political levers of the party. Additionally, he is already using his “rigged election” mantra in Indiana claiming that Nikki Haley, his only remaining opponent for the presidential nomination, is illegally on the primary ballot there. He wants her removed and if she is not, then obviously “they” are trying to steal the election. 

Put all of these pieces together and one can discern that citizen Trump, with no actual role in government, is building the will and the political infrastructure to do as he pleases in our country. His efforts are insidious but ever present. 

We are in for a bumpy and dangerous year.

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