Author: tomdolen

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Corruption, Cruelty, Craziness, X – Sabotaging “We the People”

~ tomdolen

*** “The governments of the past could be fairly characterized as devices for maintaining in perpetuity the place and position of certain privileges classes, without any ultimate protection for the rights of the people. The government of the United States is a device for maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.” [ Republican President Calvin Coolidge, 1924 ]

1] “”We the People,” summons forth the still radically democratic idea that the government of the United States exists to serve the people, not the people serve the government. That is fundamental to the Framers’ original intent, as is the related idea that the government of the United states cannot tell us what to think or believe about politics, religion, science, literature, or anything else.” [Pulitzer Prize winning constitutional law scholar Leonard W. Levy: “Original Intent and The Framer’s Constitution” ]

SO – “government exists to serve the people” – as in education, regulating business, protecting the environment, public health, national parks, highways, infrastructure, scientific research, legal & judicial systems, law enforcement & public safety, protecting civil rights, protecting worker’s rights, social safety net, providing accurate information, programs for children……………..

SO – YOU tell me: what has the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY done to carry out these duties and obligations? They CLAIM they’re promoting “government efficiency” – SO what, if anything they’ve done IN REALITY makes “our” government a better servant of the American people ???

SO – YOU tell me, how does mass firings and defundings of many of the above government services make YOUR life better? How does mass firings of national parks workers make YOUR next trip to one of “our” national parks better and safer/

SO- YOU tell me, how does mass firings and cuts in medical research, halting global health programs, decimating the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention make the health of YOU and YOUR children better?

SO – do YOU care if Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY privatizes access to accurate weather reports – meaning YOU will pay for what used to be free government weather reports?

SO – do YOU care if Musk-Trump privatize Social Security, totally privatize Medicare? SO, maybe YOUR retirement savings could be lost [like happened in the 2008 Crash]. SO, there’ll be NO restraints on prescription drug costs, hospital visits, doctor’s services????????????

SO – do YOU want to be 100% at the mercy of BIG BUSINESS??? That the U.S. government will do NOTHING to restrain their greed??? If Trump-Musk gut federal government powers, YOU WILL BE ROBBED.

SO – are YOU concerned about YOUR environment – as in pollution-free air; as in the cost of YOUR property insurance doubling, tripling, N.A.; as in clean water; as in toxic dumps??? If Musk-Trump reward their corporate donors/silent partners by gutting the EPA and other government agencies – YOUR future life, that of YOUR children will NOT be pleasant.

2] “…injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere..” [ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – 1964 Nobel Peace Prize winner: “for his non-violent struggle for civil rights” }

SO – YOU tell me – should “our” government be protecting YOUR civil rights? YOUR civil rights that began with thew 1791 “Bill of Rights”? YOUR civil right to “be left alone”???

SO – YOU tell me – should “our” government be protecting YOUR rights as an employee? Or, should YOU be totally at the mercy of YOUR employer?????

SO – YOU’RE a white male – what do YOU care if women or people of color are mistreated??? YOU’RE a “Christian” – what do YOU care if other religions, or people not in any church, get persecuted???

3] “There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has.” { supreme Court Justice Hugo Black ]

SO – what do YOU care if some rich guy gets off scott-free? If 1,500 rioters trying to help a coup against YOUR government ALL get pardons? A corporation avoids punishment? If the federal courts are stacked with “true believers” who RE-WRITE the Constitution and other laws for favored people and groups?

4]. “Of all the costs imposed on our society by the top 1%, perhaps the greatest is this: the erosion of our sense of identity in which fair play, equality of opportunity, and a sense of community are so important….our democracy is being put at peril.” [ Nobel Prize winner Joe Stiglitz ]

SO – YOU tell me – how is the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY doing in increasing YOUR sense of fair play, equal opportunity, and a sense of “we’re all in this together”??? Do YOU think there is ANY chance that YOU and YOUR children will be one of the “winners” from ANYTHING the Musk-trump KAKISTOCRACY is doing?

SO – YOU tell me – do YOU really believe Musk-Trump are doing all this chain-sawing of “our” government to benefit YOU? Are they doing what the Constitution’s Preamble REQUIRES: ‘..promote the general Welfare..”? Do YOU really trust what they’re doing? Are YOU aware DOGE is covering up their mistakes, refusing to provide details of their “big savings”?

***. “There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men.” [Ludwig von Mises ]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Corruption, Cruelty, Craziness, IX. – Having No Cards

~ tomdolen

“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people
coming behind you, and you don’t, you are wasting your time on this earth.”
Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash attempting
to provide relief for earthquake victims

1] “How many cards do you hold” [Stephen Young; Minnesota Star-Tribune; 3/4/25]: “On Friday, President Trump let slip his truth: That life is just a game; that you win or lose depending on the cards you hold…Trump revealed himself as a hedonist…Hard work, sacrifice, dignity, integrity and idealism do not seem to be high cards in his estimation.”….
“…the curtain has been pulled open and we have seen our Great Oz as he really is: a huckster…Fifty percent of Americans own only 2.5% of our national wealth.”…
“The political consequences for Trump in letting the cat out of the bag about his approach to life are adverse and will be lasting. He has trashed his reputation for prowess. Now, everyone will test him. Few will trust him.”….
“Trust cannot happen where there is dissembling on either side is going on, and without trust, nothing good and lasting can be put in place. Thinking of the American presidency as a game of poker or blackjack will never Make America Great Again.”

*** “The interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public…The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order…ought never be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined…with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men…who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public.” [Adam Smith]

2] “It is hard to describe Trump’s first month and a half in office as something other than a retribution campaign against the American people.” [Jamelle Bouie: “The Revenge Tour Has Found Its True Target”; New York Times; 3/9/25]: “THis fact of Trump’s indifference to most Americans – if not his outright hostility toward them, considering his assault on virtually every government function that helps ordinary people – suggests another dimension to his revenge tour: It is almost as if he wants to inflict pain not just on a specific set of individuals but on the entire nation as well.”…
“Under the cover of an audit, he has empowered Elon Musk, his de facto co-president, to take an axe to any and every program that helps ordinary Americans. the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has stripped funds or personnel or both from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Park Service, the National Weather Service, FEMA, the Department of Veterans Affairs. and the Social Security Administration…It has degraded the federal government’s ability to deliver critical services to tens of millions of Americans and is endangering payments to millions more.”

*** “THe greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loves to paint..but is conceived and ordered..in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.” [C. S. Lewis]

3] Below, just SOME of the Musk-Trump DICTATORSHIP stupidity, corruption, cruelties:
– “White House firing FAA radar, navigation workers.”
– “Another $20B is stripped from IRS..could thwart efforts to investigate wealthy tax cheaters”
– “W.H.O. Withdrawal May Hurt Americans on Many Health Matters”
– “Farmers are out millions After Trump freezes USDA funds”
– “Don’t the Lives of Women and Girls Matter?” [N.Kristof; New York Times; 1/12/25]
– “Report: Trump Would Drain Social Security”
– “With U.S.A.I.D. Cuts, Africa Faces Crippling Losses”
– “New Press rules leave Americans less informed” [J.Rash; Minnesota Star-Tribune; 3/11/25]
– “Trump job cuts gouge civil rights protections”
– “Domestic violence services at risk”
– “FDA firings decimate teams on medical devices, diseases, food safety”
– “Feds end program to plant needed trees in anti-DEI push”
– “Treasury won’t enforce rule meant to combat money laundering”
– “Lacking rationale, sudden firings of senior officers will reduce security” [J.Stavridis; Bloomberg Opinion; 3/2/25]

*** “…the rich have the temperaments of lizards..their indifference to other people’s joy or sorrow bears comparison to the..stars of Orion.” Their worship of money “results in..depreciation of all values that do not pay” and the definition of freedom “as the freedom to exploit.” “Such values give “rise to a system that puts a premium on crime, encourages the placid acquiescence in..dishonesty..proclaims as inviolate the economic savagery [of].. the free market or freedom under capitalism.” [Lewis Lapham, in Sexton’s “War on Labor and the Left”}

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – American Amnesia – Voices From 2018, IV – Chaos & Incompetence

~ tomdolen

1] “The country deserves a president who cares about the truth.” “There’s no longer any escaping from the reality of what the past two years have produced: a president who is facing multiple investigations…….a president who has further divided the country; a president who has not sought in any serious way to reach beyond his base; a president whose policies have left allies overseas worried about the absence of U.S. leadership.” [Dan Balz; Washington Post; 12/23/2018; “Mattis Pushes Others To Step Up”}: “Republicans continue to act as if nothing much has changed…The response to Mattis’ resignation was telling..not just one of shock but also one of alarm, as if the last line of defense had broken down.” [read the article – & remember, this is said in 2018 – NOT. 2025!!!!!]

***. “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes.” [Isaiah 5:21]

2] “Earlier this month, Tillerson described Trump as “pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, “This is what I believe.” [Julie Pace, Zeke Miller: “As advisors leave, the guardrails come off.”; Asoc. Press; 12/22/2018]: “Last year, during one particularly frenetic stretch of Donald Trump’s presidency, a top GOP senator said there were three men guarding the country from chaos..Mattis..Kelly..Tillerson. Within weeks, not one will be left in the administration…marks the end of the “contain and control” phase of Trump’s administration – one where generals, business leaders and establishment Republicans struggled to guide the president and curb his most disruptive impulses.” [READ THIS ARTICLE!]

***. “Consistently wise decisions can only be made by those whose wisdom is
consistently challenged.” [Ted Sorenson – JFK advisor]

3] “He’s dynamited the institution of the presidency,” said Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University.” [Jonathan Lemire: “In 2 Years, Norms Vanish”; Assoc. Press; 12/29/2018]: “In Trump’s Washington, facts are less relevant. Insults and highly personal attacks are increasingly employed… The White House press briefing is all but gone, international summits are optional… and everything – including inherently nonpartisan institutions and investigations – is suddenly political.”
“Taking a wrecking ball to decorum and institutions, Trump has changed..how Washington works and how it is viewed by the rest of the nation and the world.”…….
“From his first days in office, Trump pushed falsehoods… The inaccuracies have been big and small… The cumulative effect has been to diminish the authority with which White House pronouncements are received.”….
” and he has eschewed sweeping diplomacy in favor of transactional relationships. He has strained longtime alliances – including with Canada, of all places – and befriended global strongmen.” [read the article!!!!]

******. “No change in circumstances can repair a defect in character.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

4] “He does not own anything that goes wrong. The problem is, he’ll blame anybody. Obviously, it’s the Democrats in this situation.” [David Nakamura: “President Tries To Divert Blame”; Washington Post; 12/22/2018]: “For Trump, the rhetorical Kabuki offered another example of a president who routinely contradicts himself without regard for consequences…. a chief executive who had brought Washington, D.C. to the brink of a self-inflicted governance crisis with no clear strategy of how to manage the shut-down – or win it.”
“It’s really indicative of how we all know he thinks so in-the-moment and so off-the-cuff that it winds up being dangerous..” [read the article!!!]

***** “The principle source of erroneous judgment [is] viewing things partially and

only on one side.” [Samuel Johnson}

!!!!!*****!!!!!*****!!!!!***** REMEMBER – these were written in 2018!!! Absolutely, NOTHING HAS CHANGED in Trump – accept, as “some people are saying” – perhaps his mental abilities. BUT – something critical HAS changed. #1 – “PROJECT 2025”. and its authors in crucial Trump II administration jobs; #2 – the people who DID try to “contain and control” Trump’s worst tendencies. ARE. GONE – replaced by. ‘LOYALISTS” and other types of “Yes Men,” or people trying to. USE. this presidency to achieve the 90-year FAR RIGHT. wish list. YOU can read about their successes in daily headlines. SPEAK UP AND PROTEST – or – what is left of “YOUR’ democracy WILL be destroyed.

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – American Amnesia. – Voices From 2018, III – Russia!!!

~ tomdolen

1] “Study reveals how Russia helped Trump” [Craig Timberg, Tony Romm: Washington Post; 12/17/18]: “A report prepared for the Senate that provides the most sweeping analysis yet of Russia’s disinformation campaign around the 2016 election found the operation used every major social media platform…to help elect President Donald Trump – and worked even harder to support him while in office.”…
“..the first to study the millions of posts provided by major technology firms to the Senate Intelligence Committee..”…
“What is clear is that all of the messaging clearly sought to benefit the Republican Party – and Specifically Donald Trump,” the report said.” Note: read ALL of this. then, answer this question: WHY did the Russians want Republicans elected in general, and of course – WHY did they WANT Trump as U.S. president ????????

2] “Trump’s problem: Sum is greater than sleaze of its parts” [Michael Gerson; 12/23/18]: “As Mueller time approaches, it is likely that President Donald Trump’s defense will consist of two phrases: “But that is not illegal” and “But that is not impeachable.”
“It is a strategy that prevails by the lowering of standards. Because Trump did not plot election fraud directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin by Skype, and because Trump’s various crimes and misdemeanors do not constitute HIGH crimes and misdemeanors, the president is vindicated. Unable to make a case for his own virtues, Trump must aver that his vices are commonplace and inconsequential.”…
“It is now fully demonstrated that the Russian attack on the 2016 election was broad, ambitious, and designed to give Trump practical aid.”…
“..Russian intelligence was simply following the Fox News business model.”…
“The problem for Trump: When all this evidence is stitched together in a narrative – as Mueller’s report will certainly do – the sum is greater than the sleaze of its parts. Russian intelligence invested in an innovative strategy to support the election of a corrupt U. S. businessman with ties to Russian oligarchs. The candidate welcomed that intervention in public and private.”…
“This is an existential constitutional crisis,” says historian Jon Meacham, “because it’s quite possible the president of the United States right now is a witting or at least partially witting agent of a foreign power.” [ Question: as in the REAL “Manchurian Candidate” ??????}

3] “Trump’s foreign policy is source of Russian glee” [Neil MACFARQUHAR; New York Times; 12/23/18]: “A note of glee crept into Russian commentary and news coverage Friday about the current turmoil in Washington around national security, with President Vladimir Putin seemingly checking off one item after another that he might have written on his wish list for Santa.”…
“All that followed Trump’s already substantial effort to undermine NATO and the European Union by weakening the U.s. commitment to its traditional alliances.”
“Trump is God’s gift that keeps giving,” said Vladimir Frolov…Trump implements Russia’s negative agenda by default, undermining the U.S.-led world order, U.S. alliances, U.S. crandedibility… All of this on his own. Russia can just relax and watch and root for Trump, which Putin does every TV appearance.” [read. the article – WHAT is being said?????]

*** “When the President does it, that means it is not illegal.” [Richard M. Nixon; 5/20/77]

4] “With each passing day, it becomes more and more difficult to avoid the conclusion that the current president of the United states, Donald J. Trump, is either hiding something when it comes to the Kremlin, or simply one of its useful idiots.” [ “Trump/Russia”; Seth Hettena; 2018 ]

***!!!***!!! “Russia has never tried to use leverage over me, I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH
RUSSIA – NO DEALS, NO LOANS, NOTHING!” [Trump; Twitter; 1/17/2017]

***. “The louder he talked of his honor, the faster we counted our spoons.” [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

“One critical factor in the Trump-Russia scandal is the role the Russian Mafiya played within it…..critical to understanding both the allegations of collusion levied against the Trump campaign and Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election. It is the Russian Mafiya’s connections to both the Kremlin and now the White House that are at the heart of the Trump-Russia collusion scandal.”…
“Ego-centric people who lack moral principles – who are either too greedy or who
suffer from exaggerated self-importance. These are the people the KGB wants and
finds the easiest to recruit,” said Yuri Bezmenov, a former KGB officer..”

Read Chapter 2: “Mafiya Taj Mahal” about Trump’s Atlantic City casino, its debt problems, breaking ‘anti-money laundering rules 106 times in its first year and a half of operation, known Russian criminals “frequented the Taj Mahal.” And the “grandfather of the Soviet racketeers” who lived in the Trump Tower.!!!!!!

“..the next phase of Trump’s business career, when he began to partner with criminals and accept criminal money from the former Soviet Union….Kenneth McCallion, a former prosecutor who tracked the flows of Russian criminal money into Trump’s properties, told me, “Trump’s genius – or evil genius, was instead of Russian criminal money being passive, incidental income, it became a central part of his business plan.”…

“…high level intelligence officer as saying that “Trump’s unorthodox behavior over the years had provided the authorities there with enough embarrassing material on the now Republican candidate to be able to blackmail him if they so wished.” [ “There are three ways of influencing a person: blackmail, vodka, or the threat of murder.” – Vladimir Putin; 2/1/2000]
….”When Chris started asking around in Moscow about this the information was just sitting there,” Simpson said. Not only were the allegations o Trump’s behavior in Russia not much of a secret but as Simpson later said, “People were talking about it freely.”……

“As the election approached [the Internet Research Agency} redoubled its efforts to dissuade African-Americans from voting via Facebook accounts like United Muslims for America…Coincidentally or not, The Trump campaign was pursuing the same campaign. A senior Trump campaign official told Bloomberg that an effort to suppress the black vote in Florida was one of “three major voter suppression operations under way.”…

“The president told the Russians about highly classified information provided by Israel…Israel had been warned before Trump took office…a group of Mossad officers were told by the CIA that Russia had “leverages of pressure” on Trump.”

OK – YOU tell me!!! Looking at the above, only a FRACTION of evidence about Trump and Russia:
1] WHY does Trump favor Russia?
2] WHY does Trump sabotage America’s NUMBER ONE post-1945 alliance, NATO???
3]. WHAT “leverages of pressure” does the CIA think Russia has on Donald J. Trump???
4] WHY did the Russians try so strongly to get Trump elected president?
5] WHY is Trump sabotaging America’s crucial “soft power” all over the world?
6]. Is Donald John Trump THE REAL “Manchurian Candidate” ???

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – American Amnesia – Voices From 2018, II

~ tomdolen

1]. “We have an executive branch that seems determined to conduct trade policy based on a level of ignorance not seen at this level for 150 years and one that is virtually unknown among other major industrialized nations.”
**** [NOTE what this says: “..a level of ignorance not seen..for 150 years..” THE ENTIRE TRUMP TRADE POLICY IS BUILT ON GARBAGE, LUNACY, NONSENSE, IGNORANCE]

“I refer to the nonsense that says having the Untied States import a greater value of goods from another country that it exports to that country is not only harmful to our economy, but also represents some conscious, malign action on the part of the “surplus” country. Every economist knows that such bilateral balance of trade between a specific pair of countries is meaningless and should be ignored. If you doubt that, email your old econ prof or one at a college you support with your tax dollars or charitable contributions and ask them.”
“The sad thing about our situation is that nearly all of Trump’s economic advisors understand that his position is nonsense…So do most GOP members of Congress. So does nearly everyone in finance or in corporate management. But no one is willing to speak up. The media have failed abjectly.”
[ Edward Lotterman: “Let’s end the fallacy of trade ‘deficits'”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 11/25/18 ]

*** “Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, or any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 155 million followers, it will no longer be America.”
[ Dwight D. Eisenhower ]

2]. “Two of Donald Trump’s favorite economic metrics are failing”. [Heather Long; Washington Post; 12/9/18]: “President Donald Trump has made it clear that he wants the stock market to rise and the trade deficit to fall and that his policies will make it happen. But so far this year, Trump is getting the opposite result: The trade deficit is soaring while the stock market is careening down.”
“The U.S. trade deficit is at its highest level in a decade…Trump’s trade war appears to be making the trade deficit worse.”…
“The Dow and Standard & Poor’s 500, two of the most closely watched metrics of U.S. stock market performance are now negative for the year.
“The stock market couldn’t be any more disapproving of the president and his economics team…This administration has to tone down its war with the world…with all gains wiped out for 2018, he has turned to blaming others for the market spiral.” [ And, as we all ‘know,’ Trump as the ‘savior’ of America, is NEVER WRONG!!! ]

NOTE: how gullible and misinformed are YOU??? What makes YOU think the 2025 ‘trade war’ is going to end any different??? Economists for 200 years, corporate leaders apologizing in foreign country business trips, the stock market, and – YOUR pocket book – ALL tell YOU one thing: Donald Trump is an IGNORANT IDIOT on economics [and, much else] – unfortunately for YOU, he is “running’ YOUR country.

*** “Every man is a damn fool for at least 5 minutes every day. Wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” [ Elbert Hubbard ]

*** “Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.” [George Bernard Shaw]

*** “The risk is not in what he does not know, but in what he thinks he knows.” [ Jean Jacques Rousseau ]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – American Amnesia – Voices From 2018, I

~ tomdolen

In order to win the 2024 election – and avoid multiple criminal convictions – Donald Trump needed American voters to forget about his failed 2017-2021 reign & ruin. He succeeded. Below are some reminders of what people said then.

1]. “Focus is on Trump, immigration, health care” [Mary Claire Jalonik; Assoc. Press; 11/7/18]: “Nearly two-thirds of voters said Trump was a reason for their vote…Nearly four in 10 voters said they cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, while a quarter said they voted to express support for Trump..”
“A majority of voters overall said the country is headed in the wrong direction..”…..
“About 6 in 10 voters said it should be the responsibility of the federal government to make sure that all Americans have health care coverage.”……
“The survey found that 44% of voters approve of Trump’s job performance…largely consistent with recent polling…only about a third said Trump has the right temperament to serve as president. Around the same see him as honest and trustworthy.” [Note: re-read this: America headed in wrong direction; Trump not honest & trustworthy]

2] “69% stressed about nation’s future” [Isaac Stanley-Becker; Washington Post; 11/1/18]: “That marks a relatively steep increase from the share of people, 63%, who felt this way last year.”….
“..concern about the state of the country cut across party lines. “A majority of Democrats, Republicans and Independents see it that way,” Evans said. “People don’t believe the current political environment is getting better and may in fact be getting worse.
“He said unpredictability and uncertainty magnify stress. “We have a leader who is not predictable and who does create a certain amount of uncertainty and stress,” he said.” [Note: do research on Trump’s mental health; on what psychologists said; about how Trump failed leadership tests]

3]. “CEOs tell recent survey they apologize for Trump’s actions” [Jena McGregor; Washington Post; 12/18/18]: “Donald Trump may have entered the White House with a background in business, but a new survey of business leaders shows little praise for the president from his fellow executives.”……..
“..a majority..were critical of the president on his leadership of national security, his tactics with allies and his administration’s diplomatic communications….a noticeable shift..to more disappointment on..the overall divisive tone of the administration.”….
“..roughly three-quarters of business leaders disagreed with a statement that Trump was effectively leading U.S. national security. 87%..agreed that President Trump’s negotiating style had cost the country the trust of allies, and 75% said they often had to apologize to international partners for “embarrassing diplomatic messages” when traveling abroad for business.” *****[NOTE: read this again!!!!!! What is happening NOW, in 2025? – the EXACT same thing]

4]. “In Two Years, Norms Vanish” [Jonathan Lemire; Assoc. Press; 12/28/18]: “…Trump has rewritten the rules of the presidency and the norms of the nation’s capital, casting aside codes of conduct and traditions that have been held for generations.
“In Trump’s Washington. facts are less relevant. Insults and highly personal attacks are increasingly employed by members of both parties.”…
“He’s dynamited the institution of the presidency,” said Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University. “He doesn’t see himself as being part of a long litany of presidents who will hand a baton to a successor. Instead, he uses the presidency as an extension of his own personality>’…
“..Brinkley predicts “no future president will model themselves on him.” [read the full article – more coming!]

*** “Perhaps the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relinquishing of the impulse to dominate others.” [David Cooper]

SO – here we are in 2025, under the thumb [or is it the fist] of ‘PROJECT 2025″. and various billionaires supporting THE. DESTRUCTION OF. AMERICAN. DEMOCRACY – some of which occurred in Trump I. Already, in early March, 2025 – Americans are awakening to what “government efficiency” REALLY. MEANS. It’s too early, but Americans are beginning to see WHO. the REAL. WINNERS will be in an America created by Elon Musk and “true believers” imposing PROJECT. 2025″ on them. Much of this could already be seen by the 2020 election – which is why Trump lost by 7 million votes. And – as will be shown in coming posts – by 2018.

*** “All these years of Republican rule have had a profoundly negative impact on the federal system, literally destroying many of the government’s operations.” [John W. Dean: “Broken Government…How Republican Rule Destroyed The Legislative, Executive, Judicial Branches”]. !!!***!!! NOTE: this was written in 2007!!!!! written in 2007!!!!!!!!*****

The Trump-Musk Dictatorship Stupidity, Corruption, Cruelty, Craziness, VIII – THE BIG TARIFF LIE

~ tomdolen

1] “Tariffs instead of an income tax?” [Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman; New York times; 6/24/24]: “Recently Donald Trump floated a truly terrible, indeed unworkable economic proposal…an ‘all tariff policy’ in which taxes on imports replace income taxes. Why is that a bad idea?
“First , the math doesn’t work..in reality, there’s probably no tariff rate high enough to replace the income tax.
“..we’d in effect sharply raise taxes on working-class Americans while giving the rich a big tax cut – because the income tax is fairly progressive..”
“How did the Republican National committee respond…’The notion that tariffs are a tax on U.S. consumers is a lie pushed by outsourcers and the Chinese Communist Party.” [stop laughing, they were serious!]
“..economists have been saying tariffs are a tax on domestic consumers for the past two centuries..”
[Note: read the entire column. Krugman’s Nobel Prize was for international trade theory]

2]. “The Real Reason Trump Pushes Tariffs” [Kimberly Clausing; New York Times; 2/23/25]: “A better way to think about tariffs is as a key tool to achieve the core of Mr. Trump’s economic agenda: He wants to shift the tax burden away from the well-off and toward the poor and middle class – while consolidating his power.” One study had Trump tariffs costing a “typical American household in the middle of the income distribution more than $2,600 a year.”
[Note: read the entire article – Trump’s objective is NOT to bring back American jobs]

3] “The ugly truth of ‘beautiful’ tariffs” [Heather Long; Washington Post Weekly; 1/19/25]: “..this week, he laid bare why he will raise tariffs this year: He needs money to pay for bigger tax cuts….The math doesn’t add up.”…..
“The Peterson Institute for International Economics found that the bottom 80% would be worse off, and only the richest Americans would benefit.”….
“In the worse case scenario, the average tariff rate could spike to the highest level since the Great Depression.” [Note: research effects of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930!]
“Regardless of whether they are friend or foe, Trump is likely to lose the trade war with China.” [Note; research how China previously, and now – is moving factories to foreign countries to escape Trump’s tariffs on them!!! Read the entire article]

4] “Trump’s tariff plan would sow chaos” [Jeff Stein, David Lynch; Washington Post; 10/17/24]: “…an attack on the international trade order that would likely raise prices, hurt the stock market and spark economic feuds with much of the world.”…
“The consequences would be far-reaching..higher prices for grocery staples..U.S. manufacturers would almost certainly see sharp declines in orders…gas prices would increase by as much as 75 cents a gallon..the annual cost could be as high as $7,600 for a typical household.” [Note: read the entire article]

5]. “New tariffs would lead to price hikes” [David Lynch; Washington Post; 10/31/24]: “U.S. companies say they’ll pass added costs to customers if Trump is re-elected and makes good on his promises.”…
“A consistent theoretical and empirical finding in economics is that domestic consumers and domestic firms bear the burden of a tariff, not the foreign country,” according to analysis by the nonpartisan Budge Lab at Yale University.”
[Note: read the entire article – IT DESTROYS TRUMP’s TARIFF PLANS]

***** And then, this: Trump claims Mexico and Canada aren’t doing enough to stop the flow of immigrants into the U.S. or to stop the flow of fentanyl. REPEATED comments by U.S. border patrol personnel say one thing: the vast majority of illegal drugs into the U.S. is smuggled in by. AMERICANS!!!!! Canada, Mexico and others have ALREADY taken steps – before Trump’s threats – to cooperate with the U.S. in reducing immigration into the U.S. For more perspective: research American birth rates since 1980. Some advanced nations are ALREADY in danger of disappearing because their birth rates are too low.

*****Bottom line: What will be the cost in lost good will by some of America’s best friends – when the REAL enemy of democracy is China??? “Beautiful tariffs” is just another BIG. TRUMP. LIE. We are cursed with a president living in n alternative universe of his own “alternate facts.”

Trump-Musk – And – FASCIST. AMERIKA

~ tomdolen

Job #1 – look up “The 14 Characteristics of Fascism.” Now, seriously and critically – examine post-1980 America. If YOU are serious – it should be OBVIOUS that powerful, well-financed, forces have changed 1789-1980 America into what is now, under long-established evaluation tools into a near- PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. Trump-Musk have simply made it worse, more cruel, even more corrupt. Step by step, following PROJECT 2025,” they are centralizing power in the presidency. That current occupant is THE man the Founders feared, the anti-Washington.

1]. “In writing this book..I have found myself more and more fixated on one gnawing question. Is what we are dealing with merely a social movement of the right whose radical ideas must eventually face public scrutiny and a rise and fall on their merits? Or is this the story of something quite different, something never before seen in American history? Could it be – and I use these words quite hesitantly and carefully – a fifth column assault on American government?
“Pushed by relatively small numbers of radical-right billionaires and millionaires..profoundly hostile to America’s modern system of government, an apparatus decades in the making, funded by those same billionaires and millionaires, has been working to undermine the normal governance of our democracy…one such manifesto calls for a “hostile takeover of Washington, D.C.” [Nancy MacLean: “Democracy In Chains..The Deep History of The Radical Right’s Stealth Plan For America”] [Question: is PROJECT 2025 that plan???]

*** In November, 2024, America elected an ignorant 78-year old teenage cult leader as “our” president. What could possibly go wrong? How much damage to American society, business, government can he do?

2}. There were danger signs: World War I era persecution of German-Americans & “Red Scare”; the July-November, 1933 Far-Right plot to overthrow FDR; putting 120,000 innocent Japanese-Americans in WW II “camps”; 1940s-50s “Red Scare”; John Birch Society; Nixon; Reagan [Iran-contra & more]; Bush II [lying into Iraq war]; Trump I; steady growth of “Christian Nationalism”; “Originalism” & “law and economics” legal theories; The Federalist Society & corruption of America’s judicial system; changes in corporate morality; Republican authoritarianism in states they control; the 1987-2025 flood of FAR RIGHT DISINFORMATION ; the growth of Far Right militia groups in all 50 states; January 6, 2021 coup attempt; ‘PROJECT 2025″

*** “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.” {Benito Mussolini]

3]. Do YOUR own research into FAR RIGHT goals, 1900-2025. Research WHY the original “Populist” and “Progressive” revolts by ordinary rural and urban Americans occurred. Research WHY laws and regulations were passed to control corporate power. People didn’t suddenly “hate” corporations, what happened in 1865-1900?

*** Chief Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court, Edward Ryan, to University of Wisconsin graduates, 1873: “There is looming up a new and dark power..The enterprises of the country are aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economic conquests only, but for political power…money is taking the field as an organized power. The question will arise..which shall rule – wealth or man, which shall lead – money or intellect; who shall fill public stations – educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate power.” [accessed from “Selling Out”]

4]. Research Nazi Germany, 1933-41. What were ordinary people doing? What was the atmosphere like? How did the Nazis control public opinion? Find the extent of corporate support for the Nazis.
Consider: Jews were NOT the first to go into “camps.” Jews in “camps” had one of sic badgers: red for ‘politicals”; green for criminals; pink for homosexuals; black for “anti-socials”; purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses; yellow for Jews. Research the Nazi “justice’ system [Ingo Muller: Hitler’s Justice” – translation]
Other books to learn what it was like living in that dictatorship: Erick Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts”; James & Suzanne Pool: “Who Financed Hitler”; Adam LeBor & Roger Boyes: “Seduced By Hitler”; Robert Gllately: “Backing Hitler”; William Shirer: “The Nightmare Years. 1930-1940”; Victor Klemperer: “The Language of the Third Reich”]

5] Since Trump”s 2017-2021 term, much serious research has been done. Much driven by fears of demons set loose. Some “must” reads for concerned Americans: Steven Livitsky & Daniel Ziblatt: “How Democracies Die”; Theo Horesh: “The Fascism This Time”; Jason Stanley: “How Fascism Works”; Timothy Snyder: “On Tyranny”; Anne Applebaum: “Twilight of Democracy”; John Dean & Bob Altemeyer: “Authoritarian Nightmare”; Henry Giroux: “American Nightmare”; in 2006, Chris Hedges: “American Fascists..the Christian Right and the War on America.”

*****YOU!!! As this is written in late February, 2025 – there are signs Americans are slowly waking up to the HUGE threat the Trump-Musk dictatorship poses. Congress critters met hostile town halls [“Republicans face angry voters in town halls”; S.Peoples & E.Tucker, A.Seitz; Assoc. press; 2/24] and “Signs of Strain As Tariffs, Cuts Begin..Consumer sentiment sours with Trump’s abrupt moves” [A.Rappaport; New York Times; 2/28]. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???

***** YOU!!! – Ask yourself – are “reasons” given by Trump-Musk valid for their decisions??? Are they true in ANY sense??? Is what Trump-Musk are doing consistent with 1900-1980 American democracy??? The Constitution’s Preamble says “We the People”. crated a government to “establish Justice” and to “promote the general Welfare” – how does ANYTHING Trump-Musk propose to do accomplish these REQUIREMENTS?????

6]. The Founders intended Congress to be THE dominant branch. They INTENTIONALLY divided up power – “checks and balances.” Trump-Musk have tried to create a NEW form of American government – one that has authoritarian, FASCIST tendencies. Trump-Musk have PURGED the FBI, fired inspectors generals, ignored court orders, tried to control YOUR “free press,” violated numerous laws, moved to limit the Federal Reserve’s independence.

**!!**!! – Trump’s “rationale”: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” !!!!!!!!!!!

*** “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elected, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” [James Madison; Federalist. #47}

The Trump-Musk Dictatorship – Stupidity, Corruption, Cruelty, Craziness – VII – “Make America Greedy Again

~ tomdolen

Consider three recent headlines:
1]. “The Real Reason Trump Pushes Tariffs”. [Kimberly Clausing; New York Times; 2/23/25]: “The goal behind the policy: tax breaks for the wealthy.” [upcoming post VIII]
2]. “Biggest Donors Expect Returns On Investment” [Eric Lipton; New York Times; 11/17/24]: “Moguls Look to Lifting of Regulations.”
3]. “House passes Trump budget plan” [Catie Edmondson, Andrew Duehren; New York Times; 2/26/25]: “Greatest benefits go to richest Americans.”

Now – more details – but the common theme from “our” “transactional” president – helping those most LOYAL to him. You’ve seen it in the pardons, the 2017 tax cuts, letting an unelected rogue billionaire recklessly cut the ability of YOUR government to function, and MUCH MORE. Now YOU begin to get some explicit NUMBERS – showing YOU who the real winners are in Trump’s. “PROJECT 2025” world.

1] “Biggest Donors Expect Returns On Investment”: “Limit the reach of federal regulations on artificial intelligence. Make room for cryptocurrencies to thrive. Ease the antitrust crackdown on big tech companies. Buy more military drones. And don’t raise taxes on billionaires. The to-do list for President-elect Donald J. Trump from Marc Andreessen, the venture capital billionaire…is long, but quite specific. Now, after donating big money to Mr. Trump, Mr. Andreessen is eager to see his candidate work through the list.”….
“Mr. Andreessen’ excitement is a hint of just how broadly the victory by Mr. Trump has resonated with business executives who invested millions of dollars in his candidacy and now stand to profit from his policies.”
***[NOTE: read this again “..to-do list”…invested millions of dollars…now stand to profit”… What does common sense tell YOU?????? }

2] “House passes Trump budget plan”. “..a Republican budget resolution that calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $2 trillion reduction in federal spending over a decade…teed u a bitter fight within the GOP over which federal programs to slash to FINANCE A HUGE TAX CUT THAT WOULD PROVIDE ITRS BIGGEST BENEFITS TO RICH AMERICANS.”

3]. Consider these headlines from this same day [2/26/25]: “Trump Policies Threaten To Drive Up Inflation” [Colby Smith, Ben Casselman; New York Times]. “About 40% of DOGE contract cuts save nothing” [Ryan Foley; Assoc. Press] “DOGE staffers resign over Musk’s actions” [Brian Slodysko, Byron Tau; Assoc. Press]. “Consumer confidence tumbling” {Matt Ott; Assoc. Press]. Also – consider recent news stories of Congress critters confronted in their local town hall meetings over CONSEQUENCES for people from Trump-Musk Republican policies.

4]. “DOGE staffers resign over Musk’s actions”: “More than 20 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” saying theyvwere refusing to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
*****[NOTE: READ THIS ENTIRE ARTICLE – what are these patriotic insiders telling YOU????????]

***** sign at a 2/25/25 protest rally: DOGE’ means. “Department of Government Evil”

***** Go tomYOUR local community leaders – ask them WHICH federal government services are going to be cut, or have already been cut. Have they cut YOUR local parks and forest services??? Have they damaged YOUR local schools???? We KNOW funding to church food shelves has been cut. Is all this what YOU think America has stood for??? Did YOU vote to cut billionaires taxes????? Why is a billionaire cutting services for ordinary people like YOU????

The Trump-Musk Dictatorship – Stupidity, Craziness, Corruption, Cruelty – VI – Ukraine Attacked Russia!!!

~ tomdolen

WE. are. disgraced.

There are now three “Days of Infamy”: December 7, 1941; January 6, 2021; February 24, 2025.

You’ve been lied to: On December 7, 1941 – America attacked Japan at Pearl Harbor!!!!!
On January 6, 2021 – the police 7 “Deep State” attacked innocent ‘patriots’ in Washington
On February 24, 2022 – Ukraine attacked Russia inside Ukraine!!!!!!!!!!!
On September 1, 1939 – Poland attacked Nazi Germany!!!!!!!!!!!!

Major Question: Is Donald John Trump THE REAL “Manchurian Candidate”? And NOT the “fictional” Raymond Shaw of 1962 & 2004 movies?

What other reasons[s] exist for this: “U.S. sides with Russia in U.N. vote on Ukraine? Is Trump going to get financial ‘concessions’ from Russia – for the U.S. – or – for Trump family businesses – or – businesses of connected billionaires?

Picture this: FDR siding with the Nazis in World War II; Reagan siding with Russians in the Cold War!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE. are. disgraced.

On Friday, February 21, 2025 – Trump fired four-star General Charles Q. Brown, Jr. as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Admiral Lisa Franchetti as chief of naval operations. Charles Brown is Black. Lisa Franchetti is female. both had served America for 40 years, had distinguished records

Major Question: Would Trump have fired Jackie Robinson “for disrupting major league baseball” in 1947?
Would Trump have fired Jesse Owens for embarrassing Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games by
disproving the Aryan myth?
Would Trump have fired Joe Louis for destroying Max Schmeling in round one in 1938?
Would Trump have fired Billie Jean King for defeating Bobby Riggs in 1973?

We. are. disgraced.

An unelected rogue billionaire cuts funds, programs, civil servants – in order to: “have a more efficient government and save taxpayers money.” We. get:
1] “Domestic violence services at risk” because of Trump’s budget cuts
2] fired health inspectors at border stations open door to disease not being caught
3] laid off 6700 IRS employees means fewer audits of millionaires, less service to YOU
4]. reassigned FBI & Cybersecurity officials who’d been fighting foreign interference in U.S. elections
5]. some National Nuclear security employees responsible for U.S. nuclear readiness – FIRED!!!!!
6]. announced Health Department will “scrutinize’ childhood vaccines in face of Texas measles outbreak!!!!!!!
7]. USAID goes dark [2/7/25]- farmers fear impact of lost payments
8] CDC resumes bird flu report [2/6] after “unprecedented” silence – in face of threat to chickens & dairy cows!!!
9] gutted National Institutes of Health biomedical research training programs, possible epidemic shortage
10] attacks on Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which protects YOU from financial scams

11] funding for church food shelves frozen [2/7], hurts local growers and starving citizens
12] ‘another $20B stripped from IRS” [12/28/24 – Republicans don’t want billionaires audited]
13] “..Social Security under Trump..must cut benefits in 2031 or 2032” – so he can cut billionaire”s taxes [10/27/24]

ALL of this, plus MUCH MORE, to carry out. PROJECT 2025. plan to impose PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY on YOU. People are beginning to figure out letting an unelected rogue billionaire with fascist leanings cut supposed “waste” from YOUR government – in REALITY – means cutting government services to YOU, YOUR children, YOUR neighborhood, YOUR kid’s schools, YOUR health and safety. – all so the already obscenely rich don’t have to pay even their FAIR SHARE of taxes. An IRS official has already said due to understaffing. the IRS CAN’T collect $1 trillion a year in collectible taxes, most of which is taxes owed by the rich.

We. are. disgraced.

WE have a ‘KAKISTOCRACY”. running our “democracy.” “There’s a name for a government based on xenophobia, demagoguery, and greed: “kakistocracy” – government by the worst people in society.”
[ Jim Hightower; The Progressive Populist; 1/1/2025 ]