Author: tomdolen

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXX – CORRUPTION, II

~ tomdolen

*****. “The point is you can’t be too greedy.” [ Donald John Trump ]

This post is excerpts from: “Trump’s Corrosive Culture Of Corruption” [New York Times editorial; 6/8/25] READ the entire article – more evidence ITEMIZED on the NORMALIZATION of corruption by Trump and people around him.”

***** “The corruption of the best things gives rise to the worst.” [ David Hume ]

1] “..and shortly after the Trump administration took office in January, the Securities and Exchange Commission paused its lawsuit against him on charges of cryptocurrency fraud.”
“The message seemed obvious enough: People who make Mr. Trump richer regularly receive favorable treatment from the government he runs.
“The cryptocurrency is perhaps the starkest example of the culture of corruption in his second term. He and his relatives directly benefit from the sale of their cryptocurrency by receiving a cut of the investment.”

2]. “Only a few years ago, Mr. Trump was deeply skeptical of cryptocurrency, calling it “potentially a disaster waiting to happen” and comparing it to the “drug trade and other illegal activity.” Since he and his family have become major players in the market, however, his concerns have evidently disappeared. He shut down a Justice Department team that investigated illegal uses of cryptocurrency. He pardoned crypto executives who pleaded guilty to crimes, and his administration dropped federal investigations of crypto companies. He nullified an Internal Revenue Service rule that went after crypto users who didn’t pay their taxes

***** “Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law.”

[ Justice Lous Brandeis]



3} “The self-enrichment of the second Trump administrration is different from old-fashioned corruption>>>>>Nonetheless, he is presiding over a culture of corruption. He and his family have created several ways for people to enrich them – and government policy then changes the ways that benefit those who have helped the Trumps profit.. Often Mr. Trump does not even try to hide the situation. As the historian Matthew Dallek recently put it, “Trump is the most brazenly corrupt national politician in modern times, and his openness about it is sui generis.” He is proud of his avarice, wearing it as a sign of success and savvy

***** “The corruption that hides in plain sight is the real threat to our democracy.” [ Zephyr Teachout ]

4]. “This culture is part of Mr. Trump’s larger efforts to weaken American democracy and turn the federal government into an extension of himself. He has pushed the interests of the American people to the side, in favor of his personal interests…By using the power of the people for personal gain, he degrades that power for any other purpose. He stains the reputation of the United States, which has long stood out as a place where confidence in the rule of law fosters confidence in the economy and financial markets. This country was not previously known as an executive kleptocracy.” [Note: for perspective, read Casey Michel’s. “American Kleptocracy” – 2021 – Trump is in it!]

Note: Our next post will provide ITEMIZATION compiled by the New York Times in this 6/8/25 editorial of the scope of Trump’s NORMALIZATION of corruption. Donald J. Trump, the people around him, the POWER BEHIND HIM are a CANCER on America. YOUR democracy is deliberately being destroyed by multiple ways by the Trump administration. Much was written up in “Project 2025,” the far right blueprint to create a plutocratic theocracy. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” now in congress is 1,000 pages of more far right destruction and immorality – not the least is making Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the rich permanent – which means services for people like YOU MUST be cut to pay for it.

Abraham once said that if America was to be destroyed it would have to come from within. YOU are now witnessing this destruction from within – by “..the most brazenly corrupt national politician in modern times…”
*****!!!!!*****. What are YOU going to do about it????? What are you going to say when your children ask?

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – XXXIX – CORRUPTION, I

~ tomdolen

***** “Corruption..is an operating system of sophisticated networks in which government officials, key
private-sector interests, and our-and-out criminals interweave.” {Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption in America”]

Following are excerpts from: “The American System Is Not Designed To Resist Corruption”. [Ben Rhodes; New York Times; 6/8/25]. READ the article!!!!! Read and then THINK on every quote. Make no mistake – Donald J. Trump and cronies, and most importantly – THE POWER BEHIND THEM – ARE. corrupting YOUR government Partly for twisted ideological reasons, but most of all – GREED. Continuing 1981- Republican policies – they are cutting taxes on the already obscenely rich and corporations – and shifting the tax burden onto people like YOU.

1]. “President Trump has more than doubled his personal wealth since starting his 2024 election campaign. Billions of foreign dollars have flowed into his family’s real estate and crypto ventures. A plane that doublers as a “palace in the sky” has been given for Mr. Trump’s use by the government of Qatar.”

2]. “It is easy to dismiss this as just a bigger and more brazen version of the self-dealing we saw during the first Trump term. But it poses a more fundamental danger. Our political system is being transformed into something that no longer serves the people…the United States is seemingly becoming just another country with a corrupt strongman personalizing and profiting from power.” [ Read this again – slowly. think what has just been written here.]

***** “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty – power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” [ Wendell Phillips ]

3] “As with Mr. Trump and ..Recep Tayyyip Erdogan, this includes Mr. Orban’s son-in-law. Family members and associates double as gatekeepers and deal makers operating outside formal government roles, which come with rules and oversight.”……….
“The story he tells echoes America’s. A justice system being captured by the leader’s loyalists. Checks and balances weakened or ignored until they barely exist. Moral and ethical frameworks eroded. Oligarchs becoming richer and more powerful than institutions.” [ Read this again – THIS is what D.J. Trump has/is doing to America.]

4] “Mr. Lederer likened the pressure corruption puts on a system to a river bearing down on a dam. Once the dam breaks, you’re washed downriver by currents you can’t control…opposition parties in Hungary, as in the United State, failed to understand that the system had collapsed…because the rules and expectations it relied on had disintegrated beyond salvaging……The corruption becomes a flood, a new normal, carrying the entire country along with it..”

*****”To usurp supreme and absolute authority..in a freee state and subject it to tyranny, the people must have already
become corrupt by gradual steps from generation to generation.” [ Machiavelli ]

5]”Americans are further downriver than we seem to understand..over the past several months, Mr. Trump has made moves that far exceed anything Mr. Orban has done. What separates Mr. Trump from an Orban or even a Putin is the awesome economic, technological and military power of..the United States of America.
“No country has more leverage over the global economy. Through tariffs announced on every country on earth, Mr. Trump has personalized that power.

6]. “On “Liberation Day,” Mr. Trump announced a 46 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam. He then paused it and created a 90-day period to negotiate..the Vietnamese government hastily approved a $1.5 billion deal involving a Trump golf complex before a ceremony attended by Eric Trump…….
“It’s impossible to know if this was a quid pro quo for tariff relief. But the ambiguity is the point. Governments like Vietnam’s are left to wonder what they can do to appease the U.S. president.”

*****. “There is nothing so characteristic of narrowness of littleness of soul as the love of riches.” [ Cicero ]

7]. “The American people will be losers in this process. Mr. Trump has ideological and personal reasons to perpetuate tariff uncertainty to maintain his power. Even if he succeeds in extracting some trade concessions, America’s businesses, investors and consumers have to expect continued volatility, higher prices and only temporary resolutions to trade tensions..”

8] “In the second Trump term, A.I. is going to be increasingly deployed globally. In the absence of careful planning, U.S. workers could face mass job displacement. In the absence of regulation, A.I. poses security threats: from cybercrime, disinformation and surveillance to the production of new weapons to the unforeseen dangers of superhuman intelligence. Yet instead of empowering experts or negotiating norms, Mr. Trump has slashed government agencies and personalized decisions. The “big, beautiful bill” that passed the House would even bar states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years. Power and the potential to profit off it, rests with Mr. Trump and whomever he favors.” {!!!!! – Read this VERY carefully again – there is so much here that imperils YOU, your family, America it is mind boggling!!! Trump has literally “sold YOU down the river” – for GREED.]

***** “the point is you can’t be too greedy.” [ Donald J. Trump ]

9] “If deregulated crypto markets generate a worrisome bubble, will Mr. Trump prioritize his family’s investments or the health of the global financial system? If justice is selective and pardons can be purchased, will white-collar crime proliferate? If the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act continues to go unenforced, Will bribery be normalized as the cost of doing business?

10]. “Corruption is a powerful tool, but it is not popular. To build a movement powerful enough to push back on Mr. Trump’s self-dealing, Democrats must show people how it will affect their lives.”……
“Already Mr. Trump has cut government programs that people depend on but that do not bolster his power or offer opportunities for profit…the “big, beautiful bill” ..would be a boon to his family and the wealthiest supporters while slashing Medicaid and nutrition assistance. It would add over $2 trillion to the national debt wile exploding inequality and making life worse for many Americans. That too is a story of corruption..”

***** “You have despised the poor. Is it not the rich man who oppresses you, and drag you before the judgment seats?” [ James 2: 6 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXVIII – FEAR

~ tomdolen

*****. “It is not necessary in a totalitarian dictatorship to be loved by the people. It is enough to be
feared, as Stalin was in Soviet Russia.” [William Shirer: “The Nightmare Years 1930-1940”]

1]. “GOP’s Murkowski: ‘We are all afraid’ of Trump moves.” [Theodoric Meyer, Patrick Svitek: Washington Post Weekly; 4/20/25]: “Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-Alaska]…said she is worried about speaking out because of the threat of political revenge by President Donald Trump…”We are all afraid.”….”I am oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real..”

***. “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” [Theodore Roosevelt]

2]. “This is how authoritarianism functions in the 21st century. It doesn’t need a dictator in a military uniform when it has billionaires in boardrooms, access to surveillance technology, and cronies embedded deep within the machinery of government. It replaces accountability with loyalty. It replaces oversight with secrecy. And it replaces democracy with intimidation and control, just like in Hungary and Russia.”
“Even if Musk and DOGE never use the data they’ve extracted, the damage is already done. The fear is out there. As labor expert Kate Bronfenbrenner put it, “Just saying that they have access to the data is intimidating.” And that’s the point.”
“This isn’t just about controlling government agencies and the courts; it’s about creating a culture of fear so pervasive that no one dares challenge power. Workers won’t organize. Regulators won’t enforce. Whistleblowers won’t come forward. Democracy withers not with a bang, but with a whimper of silence and complicity.” [Thom Hartmann: ‘

“The Department of Government Efficiency Is A Lie – And It Might Destroy Us All”; The progressive Populist; 5/15/25}
***** READ THIS AGAIN – think on it, read it again – YOUR democracy is threatened as never before*****

*** “..the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts..” [ President Franklin D. Roosevelt; 3/4/1933]

3]. “More than six weeks into the second Trump administration, there is a chill spreading over political debate in Washington and beyond. People on both sides of the aisle..say they are intimidated by the prospect of online attacks from Mr. Trump and Elon Musk, concerned about harm to their companies and frightened for the safety of their families. Politicians fear banishment by a party remade in Mr. Trump’s image and the prospect of primary opponents financed by Mr. Musk.”

“When you see important societal actors – be it university presidents, media outlets, C.E.O.’s, mayors, governors – changing their behavior to avoid the wrath of the government, that’s a sign that we’ve crossed the line into some form of authoritarianism,” said Steven Levitsky, professor of government at Harvard and the co-author of the influential 2018 book “How Democracies Die.” [Elisabeth Bumiller: “Fearing Payback, Critics of Trump Mute Themselves”; New York Times; 3/9/25]

***”Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” [ Harry S. Truman, 33rd President ]

4]. “The American Oligarchy is Petrified by Trump’s Economic Chaos But Careful Not to Criticize Him Directly” [Robert Reich; The Progressive Populist; 5/15/25]: “None dare come right out and say it: Trump is out of his mind and crashing the entire world economy. “It’s not smart to criticize the President,” said Robert K. Steel, a veteran Wall Street executive and top Treasury Department official under President George W. Bush. Not smart because Trump has too many ways to punish them.”

***. “Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters.”
[ Justice Robert Jackson ]

5]. “Real power is – I don’t even want to use the word – fear.” Donald Trump made that remark to the journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa in March 2016. Fear is, of course, a favorite tool of the president-elect. He has used it for decades to intimidate opponents, critics and allies to give up, give in or give way. He built his real estate empire through law suits and threats against rivals and partners.
“He cowed and demolished political opponents through humiliation and invective, He consolidated control of the Republican Party and silenced G.O.P. detractors with pressure tactics and threats to end careers. And as president, he used thre power of his office and the power of social media to make life miserable for anyone he chose.”
“His goal in these efforts has been to push people to check themselves rather than check his power….Mr. Trump is using fear not only with Congress but also with other essential independent institutions such as courts, business, higher education and the news media. The goal is broadly the same: to deter elected officials, judges, executives and others from exercising their duties in ways that challenge him or hold him accountable. He wants to make dissent so painful as to be intolerable.” [ “Saying No To Fear”; New York Times Editorial; 1/19/25 ]

***. “No passion so effectively robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.” [ Edmund Burke ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXVII – Redefining Crime

~ tomdolen

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

This post will BEGIN the long list of “redefinitions” of the Trump DICTATORSHIP, which have begun to CORRUPT American government, American values, American society, American decency.

1] “Trump Pardons Redefine Crime” [ Glenn Thrush; New York Times; 6/1/25 ] – several excerpts follow:

A] “President Donald Trump is employing the vast power of his office to redefine criminality to suit his needs – using pardons to inoculate criminals he happens to like, downplaying corruption and fraud as crimes, and seeking to stigmatize political opponents by labeling them criminals.” [read & THINK on this again]

B]. “Trump has used his pardon power, like nearly every other executive tool in his kit, to assert personal dominance over processes generally, if not always, governed by established ethical and institutional guardrails. He professes to abide by the rue of law but has often shown a willingness to do so only when he defines the rules and laws.”

C]. “”Granting pardons or commuting sentences of public officials or other white-collar criminals convicted of fraud, tax evasion and other breaches of trust is likely to have the effect of normalizing nonviolent crimes,” said Barbara McQuade…”Of course, stealing by fraud is still stealing. It’s just that this is the way rich people do it.”

D] “Another Trump objective: Rewriting the history of the Capitol riot to minimize the actions of his supporters and emphasize the hardship they endured by being prosecuted. He has gone so far as to call some of those who were imprisoned “hostages.”
“Hours after declaring at his inauguration that “the scales of justice will be rebalanced,” Trump granted blanket clemency to around 1,600 rioters, some of them violent, who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. It instantly obliterated the biggest and most logistically complex investigation in the history of the Justice Department and was followed, in short order, by a purge of career prosecutors who obtained convictions.”

E]. “At the time, Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney in Washington who oversaw many of the trials, said the move undermined the rule of law and set a dangerous precedent by removing the main deterrence against future acts of insurrection and violence by would-be rioters.” [read this again & THINK on it. ‘UNDERMINED THE RUE OF LAW.” and future implications. For perspective see how DICTATOR Trump is acting on protests against HIM. ]

F]. “If the Jan. 6 clemency edict was broad, Trump’s recent actions disproportionally favor the powerful, famous, well-connected and wealthy.” [Note: the Constitution says. “..promote the general Welfare..” – just how does pardoning people who killed police officers “..establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility..” ?????]

G]. “These actions follow a systematic effort inside the Justice Department to dismantle units that investigate public corruption, fraud and foreign interference in U.S. businesses and elections.”

*****. “What do I care about the law. Hain’t I got the power?” [ Cornelius Vanderbilt ]

2]. “How a Troubling Trump Pardon Hurt a Major Criminal Inquiry” [ Mischael Schmidt, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, Alan Feuer; New York Times; 11/26/23]: “..one commutation stood out…The commutation dealt a substantial blow to an ambitious criminal investigation..” of a person with a history of hurting small business and others.

3] “Trump Says He’ll Stop Health Care Fraudsters. Last Time, He Let Them Walk” [Brett Kelman; The Progressive Populist; 5/1/25]: Trump pardoned a man whose company “defrauded taxpayers out of tens of millions of dollars.” Trump commuted a sentence for a health care executive convicted of a “$1.3 billion Medicare and Medicaid fraud scheme”; also commuted a doctor serving a 17-year sentence “for defrauding Medicare of $42 million.”

4] “Trump Pardoned Them; Now They’re Helping Him” [ Beth Reinhard, Manuel Roig-Franzia, Clarence Morse; Washington post; 12/3/23 ]: “Never before had a president used his constitutional clemency powers to free or forgive so many people who could be useful to his future political efforts..dozens of recipients..”

5]. “Trump pardons GOP donor convicted of bilking investors” [ Jack Ewing; New York Times; 3/29/25 ]: ‘..Shareholders lost tens of millions of dollars.”

6]. “Judge: Pardons don’t ‘change the truth'” [ News Services; 1/23/25 ]: after Trump’s mass pardons for Jan. 6, 2021 offenders, a federal judge said evidence of Jan 6th is preserved through the “neutral lens” of riot videos, trial transcripts, jury verdicts and judicial opinions.

*****. “Crime is contagious. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” [ Justice Louis Brandeis ]

[NOTE: Trump hasn’t just redefined crime, he’s also redefined downward standards for government honesty, transparency, corruption, cruelty, stupidity, craziness. If America was a “3rd world” country – we’d be laughing at him and his country. Trump has NOT, will NOT, “Make America Great Again.” He has, statistically, made us weaker. He has degraded America in the eyes of the world. Virtually his every move sincve January 20, 2025 has resulted in discrediting America. Many of hispolicies are making new enemies – often among former friends and allies.
His 2017 tax cut for the obscenely rich blew up the national debt. His effort to make thse tax cuts permanent will add TRILLIONS more on that debt. The interest on that – his – national debt is $1 trillion EVERY YEAR. Economists [REAL ones] say his policies don’t add up. Farmers and business people say his tariffs and economic policies are DIVORCED FROM REALITY.
Trump’s attacks on the “rule of law”. will damage America for years, maybe generations. His attacks on universities will “kill the goose that lays the golden egg.” In his NEED FOR ENEMIES, he has deliberately exacerbated ill will, suspicion, hatreds, and further divided Americans. All this damage is all the more shameful because of the motives behind it: GREED and political advantage. ]

*****. “Power is okay, and stupidity is usually harmless. Power and stupidity together are dangerous.”

[ Patrick Rothfuss ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXVI – Principles of Stupidity

~ tomdolen

***** “Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.” [ Margaret Atwood ]

This post presents for YOUR consideration David Brooks’ “The Six Principles Of Stupidity” [ New York Times; 2/2/25 ]

1] “Last week the Chinese made incredible gains in artificial intelligence and the Americans made incredible gains in human stupidity. I’m sorry, but I look at the Trump administration’s behavior over the last week and the only word that accurately describes it is: stupid.

2] “I define stupidity as behaving in a way that ignores this question: What would happen next? If somebody comes up to you and says, “I think I’m going to take a hike in a lightning storm with a copper antenna on my head,” stupidity replies, “That sounds like a really great idea!” Stupidity is the tendency to take actions that hurt you and the people around you. The administration produced volleys of stupidity last week.”

3] “..this is my big prediction for this administration: It will churn out a steady stream of stupid policies, and when the consequences of those policies begin tohit Trump’s approval rating, he will flip-flop, diminish or abandon those policies. He loves popularity more than any idea

“But it is still true that we’re going to have to learn a lot about stupidity over the next four years. I’ve distilled what I’ve learned so far into six main principles: “

***** “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble, it’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
[ Mark Twain ]

4]. “Principle 1: Ideology produces disagreement, but stupidity produces befuddlement…When stupidity is in control, the literature professor Patrick Moreau argues, words become unscrewed “from their relation to reality.””

5]. “Principle 2: Stupidity often inheres in organizations, not individuals. When you create an organization in which one man has all the power and everybody else has to flatter his preconceptions, then stupidity will surely result.”

6] “Principle 3: People who behave stupidly are more dangerous than people who behave maliciously. Evil people at least have some accurate sense of their own self-interest, which might restrain them. Stupidity dares greatly! Stupidity already has all the answers!”

***** “Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal.” [ Samuel Johnson ]

7] “Principle 4: People who behave stupidly are unaware of the stupidity of their actions…the Dunning-Kruger effect..is that incompetent people don’t have the skills to recognize their own incompetence…the Hegseth-Gabbert corollary: the Trump administration is attempting to remove civil servants who may or may not be progressive but who have tremendous knowledge in their field of expertise and hire MAGA loyalists who often lack domain knowledge or expertise.”

8]. “Principle 5: Stupidity is nearly impossible to oppose…Because stupid actions do not make sense, they invariably come as a surprise. Reasonable arguments fall on deaf ears. Counter-evidence is brushed aside. Facts are deemed irrelevant.”

9] “Principle 6: The opposite of stupidity is not intelligence, it’s rationality. The psychologist Keith Stanovich defines rationality as the capacity to make decisions that help people achieve their objectives. People in the grip of the populist mind-set tend to be contemptuous of experience, prudence and expertise, helpful components of rationality. It turns out that this can make some populists willing to believe anything – conspiracy theories, folk tales and internet legends; ghat vaccines are harmful to children. they don’t live within a structured body of thought but within a rave party chaos of prejudices.”

***** “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies.” [ Friedrich Nietzsche ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXV – The Human Toll of Trump’s Aid Cuts

~ tomdolen

***** “A man of Cruelty is God’s enemy.” [ thomas Fuller ]

Please consider the following excerpts from Nicholas Kristof”s “The Human Toll of Trump’s Aid Cuts” [New York times; 6/1/25]:

1] “I see secretary of state Marco Rubio as a good man doing bad things, but perhaps he thinks even worse of me: He recently suggested I was a liar. While testifying before Congress, Rubio claimed..the Trump administration’s dismantling of the United states Agency for International Development had not cost any lives. “No children are dying on my watch,”…broadened his statement to include adults..”

2] “This is ludicrous: the only debate is whether to measure the dead in the thousands, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. So Representative Brad Sherman..challenged Rubio, citing reporting overseas by me and by Reuters of individuals who died as a result of the shutdown of American humanitarian aid….”That’s a lie,” Rubio said. “False.”

3]. “So let me help Rubio with the truth. Meet Evan Anzoo, a 5-year-old boy who was born with H.I.V. in south Sudan…for five years America kept him alive with antiretroviral medicines costing less than 12 cents a day…a program started by President George W. Bush that has saved more than 26 million lives..turned the tide of AIDS around the world and built enormous good wil toward the United States.”

4]. “Then along came President Trump and his freeze on most humanitarian aid…Evan weakened and soon died of an opportunistic infection.”

***** “The righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked closes his eyes to them.” { Proverbs 28:27 ]

5] “If Rubio needs further reminder of the human toll, I also met a little girl named Achol Deng, 8, who likewise died when she lost access to antiretrovirals because of the U.S.A.I.D. freeze….It was Elon Musk who first insisted that “no one has died.” Now Rubio has doubled down.”

6] “..American aid overall still saved about one life every 10 seconds, based on estimates by the Center for Global Development.”

7] “An ‘impact counter” developed by an economist estimates about 300,000 people have died so far from the reductions in American assistance, two-thirds of them children. The death toll is said to be rising at a rate of 103 per hour.

8] “I’m not sure it’s actually that high, partly because I’ve seen some laid-off health workers continue to work without pay…And it takes time for children to weaken and die…nobody knows the true number…the flat denial of any deaths at all is preposterous.”

*****. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you.” [ John 13:34 ]

9] Rubio chooses not to make the argument that I believe is Trump’s true position: We want tax cuts {disproportionally benefitting the rich}, so we need to cut funds in the budget from people who are so marginalized that they can’t even complain. So Evan and Achol died.

*****. “The point is you can’t be too greedy.” [ Donald John Trump ]

10] “To deny the reality of dying children not only insults the memory of children starving to death in Sudan and Yemen and Afghanistan; It also insults the intelligence of Americans.”

*****. “Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation.” [ Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ]

[Note: so there you have the essence of one Donald J. Trump: deliberate CRUELTY so billionaires don’t have to pay proportionate taxes on their immense, obscene, wealth. And, it is KNOWN. people are dying because of this. How does this “Make America Great Again” ?????]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXIV – Reverse Robin Hood

~ tomdolen

*****. “An unjust law is ni law at all.” [ St. Augustine ]

!!!!!!!!! K.I.S.S. !!!!!!!!!! – Just look at one part of Trump’s “Beautiful Big Bill” – to see the CRUELTY and CORRUPTION of Trump’s agenda

1] “..here’s what this bill does in the real world: It cuts taxes mostly for rich people. It cuts Medicaid and food stamps. Republicans are also allowing some Obamacare subsidies to expire. And so the estimate is that between all this, 13 million people will lose health insurance.

***** “The love of money is the root of all evil.” [ I Timothy 6:10 ]

2] “It’s also grimly exact. The bill has $1.1 trillion in tax cuts for people who make more than $500,000 a year. And it has $1.1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps. It is a straight transfer from people who cannot afford food and medical care to people who can afford to fly first class.”

***** “Woe to them that make unjust laws.” [ Isaiah. 10:1 ]

3] “I’ve been a policy journalist for more than 20 years… I cannot remember a more cruel or irresponsible piece of domestic legislation that has been seriously proposed.” { Items 1, 2, 3 al from: Ezra Klein: “Trump’s Big Budget Bomb”; New York times; 5/25/25 }

[NOTE: Read items 1, 2, 3 above. AGAIN, and AGAIN, and AGAIN. This is the ENTIRE Trump agenda, or perhaps the “Project 2025” agenda, or perhaps the billionaire’s agenda – probably all three. GREED, CRUELTY, CORRUPTION. In stark terms: the top 1-3% wins and the lower 97% loses – that’s YOU, your children, your neighbors, your friends, America’s future.]

*****. “..essentially all..economic gains of the last 20 years have gone to a tiny sliver of the wealthiest Americans, and that’s not by accident…It’s by design. the wealthy have paid for the ability to stand at the drawing board and plan out big parts of the economy so..the whole thing works out particularly well for them.” [ Morris Pearl, Erica Payne & The Patriotic Millionaires: “Tax The Rich! NOTE: read this book for FACTS on why & how the GREEDY super rich are screwing the lower 95-97% legally ]

In addition to raising the national debt [which will be used as an excuse to screw the bottom 95-97%], gutting government [which protects YOU from the rich], making enemies all over the world, seriously weakening America – there’s this: Trump’s absolute CONTEMPT for YOU, the average American citizen.
No American president who believed in “democracy,” and enacting policies that ‘..promote the general Welfare.. [Constitution’s Preamble]. would demand Congress pass such a bill, and then have the arrogance to call such a travesty “A Big Beautiful Bill.”

[NOTE: do your own factual research: compare 1947-73 America to l98l-2025 America. Research tax laws, wealth, income, attitudes, policies, intent of policies. America has never been perfect – but in 1947-73, by INTENT, we did approach it. the – the rich struck back, greed took over. America is a much harsher, crueler, hateful, mistrusting country. BECAUSE – we used to think “we all do better when we all do better.” Donald Trump , the people around him, the POWER BEHIND HIM – are a cancer on America. things will NOT get better un†il “Trumpism” is ended. ]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXIII – DOGE’s Stolen Data

~ tomdolen

*** “The point is you can’t be too greedy.” [ Donald J. Trump: “The Art of the Deal” ]

This post provides some excerpts from: “The Department of Government Efficiency Is a Lie – And It Might Destroy Us All” [ Thom Hartmann; The Progressive populist; 5/15/25 ]

1]. “America is under siege, but not by foreign armies or rogue terrorists, the threat is coming from inside the house: unelected billionaires who are quietly hijacking our democratic institutions from within.”…..
“This isn’t cheap or even ordinary corruption: †his is the sort of thing that happens in Third World countries….It’s the sort of corruption that destroys democracies from the inside out.”…..

2]. “And make no mistake: this is not some crackpot theory. Shortly after DOGE operatives created accounts inside the NLRB system, a login attempt came from a Russian IP address using one of those accounts..”…..

3] “What’s being looted here isn’t just random bureaucratic files. We’re talking about the private information of whistleblowers, union organizers, witnesses in federal cases, proprietary corporate data, and labor rights enforcement strategies. Including complaints and complainants against Elon Musk’s companies.”

*** “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.” [. Honore de Balzac ]

4] “In other words, the raw materials for dismantling organized labor in America – and for targeting, harassing, or discrediting anyone trying to stand up to corporate power, including Elon Musk’s multiple efforts to stop or break unionization attempts in his own companies.”
“This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s the naked truth, verified by a growing number of insiders and corroborated by NPR, which reports that at least 11 government officials and staffers have confirmed their fears about DOGE’s data exfiltration campaign.”

5]. “Here’s the conflict of interest that should make every American’s hair stand on end: Elon Musk’s companies – Tesla, SpaceX and X – were themselves under investigation by the NLRB for alleged labor violations. At least until musk’s underlings fired the people investigating him and his companies.”

*** “There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. the wrong comes when riches possess men.” [Billy Graham]

6]. “And if the information DOGE extracted gets used in court – or even leaked selectively – it could permanently tilt the scales of justice in favor of Musk and his corporate cronies

7]. “But it gets worse. Much worse. According to longtime employees within the Department of Labor and other agencies, the DOGE teams aren’t seasoned experts or trained cybersecurity professionals. They’re “new arrivals,” many of them with no vetting, no security clearance, and no relevant experience. Some have even worked with criminal hackers, and another reportedly runs a website based in Russia.”
“Yet they were granted sweeping access to some of the most sensitive data systems in the federal government. It’s a digital coup executed not by hackers, but by political loyalists and tech-bro mercenaries handed the keys to the kingdom by billionaire benefactors.”

*** “Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and the most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.” [ Theodore Roosevelt ]

8]. “This is how authoritarianism functions in the 21st century. It doesn’t need a dictator in a military uniform when it has billionaires in boardrooms, access to surveillance technology, and cronies embedded deep within the machinery of government. It replaces accountability with loyalty. It replaces oversight with secrecy.

9] “This isn’t just about controlling government agencies and the courts, it’s about creating a culture of fear so pervasive that no one dares to challenge power. Workers won’t organize. Regulators won’t enforce. Whistleblowers won’t come forward. Democracy withers not with a bang, but with a whimper of silence and complicity.”

***** “Social control is best managed through fear.” [ Michael Crichton ]

***** “If you want to control someone, all you have to do is make them feel afraid.” [ Paulo Coelho ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXII – Possible Trump Dementia

~ tomdolen

This post is about one thing: Donald J. Trump’s mental fitness. We start with “Mental health professionals sound the alarm”. [ Sabrina Haake; Progressive Populist; 5/15/25]: “A petition is currently circulating among psychiatrists and other mental health professionals about Trump’s cognitive impairment. The petition was begun by Dr. John Gartner, former faculty member of Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Over 3000 psychiatrists have signed the petition, concluding that Trump has probable dementia. To reach their conclusion, they reviewed recordings of his speech patterns over a nine year period. [Gartner reviewed records dating back through the 1980s]. They note Trump’s shrunken vocabulary, misuse and mispronunciation of words, and that Trump often breaks now in the middle of sentences to digress into inappropriate ramblings.”

“They write, “Donald Trump is showing unmistakable signs strongly suggesting dementia, based on his public behavior and informant reports that show progressive deterioration in memory, thinking ability to use language, behavior, and both gross and fine motor skills…. his vocabulary is impoverished, he often has difficulty finishing a thought, sentence or even a word. Typical of dementia patients he perseverates and overuses superlatives and filler words…” Their concern supersedes their competing professional duty of neutrality; it also outweighs concerns about diagnosing someone without conducting an in-person assessment known as the “Goldwater rule.”

“Wall Street apparently agrees. Analysts at the notoriously conservative Wall Street Journal wrote, following the tariffs, that another Trump impeachment is “already in the bag.” Calling Trump’s tariffs stunt “neurotic,” a WSJ op-ed said Trump, clearly divorced from reality, had “fabricated a gratuitously ambitious mission to meet his misguided sense of importance…. Nobody in Mr. Trump’s orbit actually shares his belief in the magical efficacy of tariffs because it makes sense only in a world that doesn’t exist, where other countries don’t retaliate.” About Trump’s dissociation from reality, the op-ed noted that “no consensus or even significant coalition exists for trying to force into existence a new American “golden age” with tariffs, which is like asking a chicken to give live birth to a lioness. [Trump] invented this mission out of his own confused intuition.”

“Scores of universities have also published papers concluding ..Trump has dementia… Even ..Steve Bannon thought Donald Trump had dementia, and campaigned covertly to remove him from office via the 25th amendment….A simple Google search for “Trump has dementia” identifies hundreds of articles from think tanks, universities and MSM outlets like The New York Times, reporting on Trump’s cognitive decline and the concern it presents among mental health professionals.”

Read this again!!!!! Think WHO said it, WHAT they said….. Then consider previous concerns:

2]. “McConnell was shocked that Trump won in 2016. He told Tackett, “The big problem is…[he]. has every characteristic you would not want a president to have. Not very smart, irascible, nasty.” [Jean P. Bordewich: “Icarus of the Senate”; Washington Monthly; Jan/Feb/Mar, 2025]

3]. “111 former GOP officials call Trump ‘unfit to serve'” [Peter Baker; New York Times; 9/19/24]: Trump had demonstrated “dangerous qualities.”

4] “Security leaders endorse Harris”. [Maggie Astor; New York Times; 9/23/24]: “More than 700 current and former national security and military leaders endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris…arguing only she had the temperament and values needed to serve as commander in chief.”

5] “The Trump Testimonials: The Case Against Him, From His Own People”. {New York Times Editorial Board; 10/6/24]: “Scores of people who know him well, including 91 listed here, have raised alarms about his character and fitness for office.. Some have spoken out at the expense of their own careers or political interests.”

6]. “No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump,” the general told Woodward. “Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person in this country.” [Ruby Cramer: “Trump is ‘fascist to the core,’ Milley says”; Washington post; 10/13/24]

7] “Trump praised Hitler, Kelly says..Ex-chief of staff says his former boss meets the definition of a fascist.” [Dan Merica; Associated Press; 10/24/24]

8] “Ex-Trump aides back Kelly’s warning..They say Trump wants “unchecked power” [Tim Balk; New York Times; 10/26/24]: “Thirteen former Trump administration officials released an open letter Friday amplifying warnings from John Kelly..that the former president would rule like a dictator if returned to office…”This is who Donald Trump is,” wrote the 13, all ‘life-long Republicans,” …The letter said its signers had “witnessed, up close and personal, how Donald Trump operates and what he is capable of.”

9]. “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump..37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President…Updated And Expanded With New Essays” [ Bandy lee, editor; Thomas Dunne Books; 2019]

The evidence is clear, and overwhelming: Trump is unfit to be president. About 900 people who viewed him up close, many life-long Republicans. came to an unescapable conclusion: Trump is mentally unfit, and may already be in early stage dementia. Joe Biden was disqualified because of questions about his mental abilities.

The Trump DICTATORSHIP Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXI – Long Term Damage to Health and Science

~ tomdolen

***** “Where there is no vision, the people suffer.” [ Proverbs. 29:18 ]

As the STUPIDITY, and DESTRUCTIVENESS of Trump policies becomes more evident, Americans are beginning to speak out. Here are just four examples of how Trump policies do NOT. “..promote the general Welfare..”, now, and even worse, for OUR future, which Trump is sabotaging. All of this being done to provide tax cuts for billionaires.

1]. “Economists: Trump science policies pose long-term risk…They say U.S. could lose edge by cutting federal support for research” [Ben Casselman; New York Times; 4/1/25]: “..ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned about, and many point to cuts to federal support for scientific research.”………
“To economists, the policies threaten to undermine U.S. competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, and leave Americans..poorer, less healthy and less productive in the decades ahead.. “Universities are tremendously important engines of innovation.. This is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

*** “If you have an opportunity to make things better and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this earth.”
[ Roberto Clemente ]

2]. “EPA set to end power plant emissions limits”. [Tobi Raji; Washington Post; 5/26/25]: “In its draft, tghre agency argued..carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or climate change..” [!!!!!!!!NOTE: power plants WERE responsible for about 25% of U.S. greenhouse emissions in 2022!!!!! – did the Trump administration flunk high school math & science?]

*****. “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” [ Lenin ]

3] “Public health system has been eroded by HHS cuts” [Laura Ungar, Michelle Smith; Associated Press; 6/1/25]: “Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy…State and local health departments…are being hollowed out…The Trump administration is cutting health spending on an unprecedented scale…at a time when the nation faces the deadliest measles outbreak..rising whooping cough cases and the risk bird flu could spread widely among people. The moves reflect a shift..Americans may not fully realize, away from the very idea of public health..one of the most critical responsibilities of government..”

***** “Health is the first of all liberties.” [ Henri Amiel ]
***** “Health..is the first and greatest of all blessings.” [ Lord Chesterfield ]
***** “Health is by far the most important element in human happiness.” [ Arthur Schopenhauer ]
***** “The first wealth is health.” [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

4] “Funding Cuts Are a ‘Gut Punch’ for STEM Research” [Katrina Miller; New York Times; 5/25/25]: “STEM education resarch focuses on improving how students, from preschool to university, are trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics….Experts in thre field saw the grant cancellations as part of a broader attack on education….it often took a decade or more of training for scientists to meaningfully contribute to cutting-edge programs. “Reducing the quality of the training can’t possibly be good for society,’ he said.” [ QUESTION: WHY would a modern, advanced, civilized society need citizens trained in science, technology, engineering and math. – OR – is there ANY. LOGICAL. REASON. why such a nation would NOT want these people?????????????????????????? ]

*****. “Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.” [ Goethe ]

[NOTE: We have a manilla envelope bulging with similar Trump STUPIDITIES on health alone from his first 4 months. And – remember WHY. Trump wants to make cuts in health, education, science. – to pay for billionaire’s tax cuts!!!!!!! How does damaging America’s public health system, and its training of scientists and engineers. “Make America Great Again” ???????????? America became a super power because of 20th century public health, public education, advances in science, engineering, math. YOU live better, longer, healthier because of those investments.]

*****. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” [ George Santayana ]