The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness. – &. INCOMPETENCE!, CCXIX – “Trump’s Election Meddling Erodes Our Democracy”

~ tomdolen

***. “..If Nixon had had the character of President Eisenhower..this scandal [Watergate break-in and cover-up] would never have happened…I hope no political party will ever stoop so low as to embrace the likes of..Nixon again.”
[. Federal District Court Judge John J. Siraca ]

This post presents excerpts from “Trump’s Election Meddling Erodes Our Democracy”. [ New York Times “Editorial”; 8/23/26]:

5] “Background and methodology: The clearest sign that a democracy has died is that a leader and his party make it impossible for their opponents to win an election and hold power. Once that stage is reached, the change is extremely difficult to reverse. The 12 benchmarks in this editorial offer a way to understand how much Mr. Trump is eroding American democracy.”

4] “The president is prioritizing his own interests over the national interest.”

***. “If you begin to consider yourself solely responsible to a political party, you’re half way to a dictatorship.”
[ Clement Attlee ]

1] “The surest sign of democratic collapse is the unwillingness of an elected political party to leave office. The party rewrites laws and changes election rules to prevent its opponents from gaining power. The shift often starts slowly, but can ultimately end in autocracy.”

2] “President Trump has taken worrisome steps down this path since returning to office in January 2025. He has directed Republican-run states to enact newly gerrymandered maps to increase the chances that Republicans maintain control of Congress even if they receive fewer overall votes this. He has tried to pass legislation that could keep many eligible voters from voting. And he has sent signals that he may use the power of the federal government to disallow legitimate ballots this fall. On July 16, mr. trump took the remarkable step of giving a prime-time White House address devoted to lies and misleading statements about voter fraud.”

3] “Together, Mr. Trump’s actions have left constitutional scholars and democracy experts anxious about this year’s midterm elections. They wonder if the Trump administration may use false pretenses to send federal agents to Democratic-leaning areas to intimidate people and suppress voting.”

*** “In dictatorships you need courage to fight evil; in the free world you need courage to see evil.”
[ Natan Sharansky ]

“THE. AUTOCRACY. INDEX 12 Markers of Democratic Erosion”

1]. “Manipulating the law to stay in power”. [ 3 / 10 ] “Modern authoritarian takeovers often start not with a military coup, but with an elected leader who uses powers of the office to consolidate authority. The Trump administration has: 2025 – 7 things – “Fired the Federal Election commission chair after she investigated President Trump’s campaigns.” 2026 – 7 things – “Threatened to arrest uncooperative local election officials.”

2] “stifling speech and dissent” [ 4 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians abuse the powers of the office to make political opposition difficult, if not impossible. The Trump administration: 2025 – 5 things – “attempted to suppress protests in Democratic-run cities.” 2026 – 4 things – “Demanded the identities of critics of ICE from social media companies.”

3]. “Persecuting political opponents” 5 / 10 ]. “Autocrats use the immense power of enforcement as a political tool, often starting spurious investigations and prosecutions of perceived enemies while protecting and rewarding loyalists. The Trump administration: 2025 – 11 things – “Issued executive orders punishing law firms that represented his critics.” 2026. – 7 things – “Oversaw a de facto pardon industry open to wealthy supporters.”

***. “The true essence of a dictatorship is in fact not its regularity but its unpredictability and caprice; those who live under it must never be able to relax, must never be quite sure if they have followed the rules correctly or not.”
[ Christopher Hitchens ]

4]. “Bypassing the legislature”. [ 5 / 10 ]. “To push a democracy toward autocracy, the leader often finds ways to sideline the legislature. Without congressional approval, the Trump administration: 2025. – 7 things – “shrank and closed agencies created by Congress.” 2026. – 5 things. – “Refused to enforce anti-money-laundering laws.”

5] “Using the military at home. [ 2 / 10 ]. “Autocratic leaders frequently use the military on their own soil to flex their might and serve their political agendas. The Trump administration”. 2025. – 4 things – “Fired top officials for lacking personal fealty to Mr. Trump.” 2026. – 1 thing. – “Escalated the use of militarized force to enact its immigration agenda.”

6] “Defying the courts” [ 2 / 10 ]. “Would-be authoritarians recognize that courts can keep them from consolidating power, and they take steps to weaken or bypass judges. The Trump administration: 2025. – 4 things – “Defied a court order to restore funding for Medicaid and other services.” 2026. – 6 things. – “Told Republican officials to crack down on “rogue judges that are criminals.”

***. “Fig leaves of democratic procedure to hide the nakedness of Stalin’s dictatorship.” { George Kennan }

7] “Declaring false emergencies” [ 5 /10 ]. “Autocrats often curtail democracy by declaring an emergency and arguing that the threat requires them to exercise unusual degrees of power. The Trump administration: 2025. – 5 things – “Declared an energy emergency to deregulate fossil fuels.” 2026. – 2 things – “Declared a national emergency to cut off fuel to Cuba.”

8]. “Vilifying marginalized groups.” [ 6 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians tend to demean minority groups and portray them as threats, providing further justification for amassing power. The Trump administration: 2025 – 8 things. – “Fired women and people of color from government leadership posts.” 2026. – 3 things – “Denigrated prominent Muslim Americans as “jihadists.”

9]. “Controlling information” [ 2 / 10 ]. “Authoritarians suppress inconvenient truths by manipulating government information and controlling news media. The Trump administration: 2025. – 8 things. – “Stopped the collection of climate data.” 2026. – 5 things. – “Subpoenaed journalists who reported on the administration.”

***. “Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” [ Bruce Colville ]

10] “Trying to take over universities”. [ 2 / 10 ] “Authoritarians often repress universities, recognizing that they are hotbeds of independent thought and political dissent. The Trump administration: 2025. – 4 things. – “Revoked hundreds of millions of dollars in research funding on spurious grounds.” 2026 – 1 thing. – “Continued to pressure universities to comply with demands.”

11] “Creating a cult of personality” [ 6 / 10 ] “Emperors and kings glorify themselves by festooning the nation with their names and images. The Trump administration: 2025 – 8 things – memecoin, banners, parade, Gold Card, merch, renamed, new battleship class, &,&,&…………….. 2026. – 6 things. – Trump sig on “our” money, king meme, Jesus Christ meme, $1 Trump coin, Trump passports, Trump arch in D.C., ……….

12] “Using power for personal profit” [ 7 / 10 ] “Authoritarians often turn the government into a self-enrichment machine, creating a culture of unabashed corruption. Mr. Trump and his family have: 2025. – 7 things. – private D.C. club, foreign real estate projects, $400 million jet, $100 million in corporate payments, demanded government pay him $230 million, pardon rich friend………….. 2026. – 5 things. – “Disregarded conflicts of interest…”..nobody cared.”

***. “If you don’t know the difference between dictatorship and leadership then you got to go back to a fifth grade civics class.” [ Tim Kaine ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – & INCOMPETENCE, CCXVIII – Trump Attacks Anybodt Telling TRUTH, Anybody Trying To Hold Him Accountable

~ tomdolen

*** “The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested in power, pure power. Power is not a means, it is an end. One plots not to establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”
[ George Orwell: ‘1984″ ]

tis post presents excerpts from John Rash’s “Despite pressure, White House correspondents persevere” [Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/1/26]. Consider this one, very public exhibit, of the Trump DICTATORSHIP. – the absolute INTOLERANCE for. ANY. criticism, ANY. opposition, and most of all – absolute HATRED. for. ANY. attempt to find TRUTH, absolute HATRED. for. ANYBODY telling. truth, on. ANYTHING. – including the weather!

***. “Truth is the most precious thing. that’s why we should ration it.” [ Lenin ]

1] “But Trump did not rise to his title. Instead, he rambled and ranted for over an hour to often stunned silence – even from sycophantic Cabinet and congressional allies interspersed among the correspondents – delivering jarring, juvenile insults to journalists, celebrities and politicians he doesn’t like. Or hates, as he said himself, bluntly blurting: “I hate some people.”

2] “Actually, lots of people, as he made apparent in his speech. Including, but not limited to..Joe Biden..Gavin Newsom and J.b. Pritzker..Chuck Schumer, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez..Adam Schiff..Bruce Springsteen, Bette Midler, Jane Fonda…Kaitlin Collins…”

3]. “…the president’s core mission regarding the news media is clear…”Just last week..Trump’s lawyers were in court in Miami in a lawsuit against the BBC to punish them for their coverage…in Tampa in a lawsuit against the New York Times..because they didn’t like our coverage,’ Baker said. referring to an important story about security vulnerabilities of the new Qatari-gifted [grifted to critics] presidential plane…Justice Department lawyers were in court in New York, trying to subpoena my colleagues for reporting truthful information.”

***. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.” [ Adolf Hitler ]

4]. “..Trump’s scores of lawsuits and threats. – some from him individually, some from institutions like the Federal Communications Commission. – dim the beacon of free speech America used to shine to the world.” [NOTE; as “our” president, Trump can use YOUR tax dollars to carry out his anti-free speech attacks!!! ]

5]. “Every president has had difficulty with the press, going back probably to George Washington,’ said Jane Kirtley, professor emerita at the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications…”in terms of the kind of overt hostility that’s being directed against the press, the many lawsuits that President Trump has brought, his rhetoric, his threats against journalists, calling journalists traitors and accusing them of treason. – this level of rhetoric I have never heard..”

6]. “The subpoenas Baker referred to were hastily withdrawn after a judge demanded to know why federal prosecutors had issued them just two days after the story was published instead of making them the final step in an investigation, as is typically the case.”

***. “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 Truman; 33rd U.S. President ]

7]. “..a message has been sent, particularly to reporters who might not work for the New York Times and might not have that kind of legal firepower and retainer, of what might happen to them if they report something that upsets the president.”

8] “The Time’s story of the presidential jet “directly served the public interests of national security..”, said Stern…”it’s a perfect example of how investigative journalism, often based on confidential sources who come forward because they’ve wrongdoing and think they’re doing a public sevice by exposing it. – how that bolsters national security, not hinders it.”

9]. “But the difference is that while other presidents at times did take actions that we saw as infringing on our First Amendment rights and that we objected to, we’ve never seen a president who did it on such a sustained, expansive and really very intimidating manner.”

***. “And if all others accepted the lie, which the Party imposed. – if all records told the same tale. – then the lie passed into history and becomes the truth.” [ George Orwell: ‘1984″ ]

[NOTE: America stands in danger of losing its First Amendment freedoms. – by not using them. Read “Use It Or Lose It”. [Adrienne LaFrance; The Atlantic; July, 2026]:

1]. “Trump, gifted showman that he is, understands that insulted citizens on camera is a tactic that serves his interests. it distracts people from the fact that he hasn’t answered the question.”

2] “Power doesn’t like to be checked.”

3] “The cause of freedom has advanced only because of those who have been willing to stand up against government overreach.”

4] “Although every American is entitled to exercise the right of free press. No one is entitled to be trusted or believed. – that you have to earn.”

***. “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” [ Elie Wiesel ]

*** “The history of liberty is the history of resistance.” [ Woodrow Wilson; 28th U.S. President ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – and INCOMPETENCE, CCXII -“The Economic Consequences of Mr. Trump”

~ tomdolen

*** “Arrogance and stupidity is a deadly combination.” [ Steven Cooper ]

This post presents excerpts from Philip Coggan’s. “The Economic Consequences of Mr. Trump.” Coggan is a former “Economist’ and ‘Financial Times’ journalist for 35 years, author of several books, winner of multiple awards. He lives in London, U.K.

1. “The tariffs, or Trump tax, are a mistake in many different ways. But the most important error is a fundamental misunderstanding of the global trading system.”

2]. “…the Court of International Trade in the U.S. ruled that Mr. Trump has exceeded his authority by imposing tariffs when the power should belong to Congress…the ruling emphasized the one consistent theme behind all the president’s actions: chaos.”

3]. “Mr. Trump has made the goods Americans buy more expensive, and disrupted the global economy, without doing anything to help those who voted for him.”

4]. “Most modern economists would advise Mr. Trump against his trade policies – but he relies on his own instincts and the support of a narrow coterie of acolytes.”

5] “…in particular, Mr. Trump effectively imposed an embargo on his own economy.”

***. “Over the past 200 years – protectionist countries fall behind.” [ President Ronald Reagan; 1988 radio broadcast ]

6] “…footwear manufacturing also warned that the sheer scale of the tariffs would lead to closed businesses, lost jobs, higher prices and shortages on shelves. There was simply no prospect that production could be moved back to the U.S. in any reasonable timescale…Mr. Trump had even placed a tariff on the machinery and materials needed to make footwear in the U.S. this is not, to say the least, an example of joined-up thinking.” [NOTE: read this again!!! – here YOU have the essence of Trump DICTATORSHIP INCOMPETENCE. “We” are being ‘governed” by idiots.]

7] “An academic study that examined the effect of tariffs in more than 150 countries over a fifty-year period found that tariff increases were followed by adverse effects on output and productivity that were economically and statistically significant. Tariff increases were also followed by higher unemployment and greater inequality. They are self-inflicted wounds.”

8] On pages 10-11, Coggan presents six major points on WHY Trump’s tariffs are destructive, including Trump’s tax cuts for the rich will make the trade deficit worse; his tariffs “make no sense” in the era of global supply chains; will likely reduce productivity; the burden will fall on lower income consumers – many of them Trump voters.

9] “By declaring ‘America first’, and bullying its allies, Mr. Trump has dissolved this informal empire [ the post-1945 American lead trading system]. This is bad news for democracy in general.”

10] “Mr. Trump’s approach also undermines the image of the U.S. as the embodiment of the liberal democratic system. He bypasses Congress, attacks the courts and the free press, and only believes in elections when he wins them…Mr. Trump’s authoritarianism, by eroding U.S. soft power, has an economic impact too.”

***. “The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.” [ Alexandre Dumas ]

[NOTE: this summary of Coggan’s thinking covers ONLY the first 15 pages of his 116 pages. This is bad enough, do YOU need more facts? Coggan ends with “The Man Without A Plan.” Another chapter: “Where The Jobs Went.” “Analysing Donald Trump’s economic policy is rather like nailing jelly to the wall.” How much more DAMAGE can the Trump DICTATORSHIP do to the American economy, to America’s world-wide reputation??? ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – and. Incompetence, CCXI – Are YOU Still Swallowing Trump Falsehoods and Fantasies?????

~ tomdolen


***. “I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by htose who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration – and very effective form of promotion.” [ Donald John Trump: “The Art of the Deal” ]

This post presents an 8/29/26 “Letter to the editor,” “The real derangement syndrome”. [ K.K.; Minnesota Star Tribune ]:
“Welcome to the Trump Attachment Syndrome Quiz:
1. Gulf of Mexico or Gulf of America?

2. President Donald Trump on the ballot in 2028: Vote for him? Yes/no.

3. Did Trump lose to former President Joe Biden in 2020? Yes/no.

4. Were there needle-moving shenanigans in 2020? Yes/no.

5. Pardons of Jan. 6 felons: righteous? Yes/no.

*** “It’s hard to believe anyone would vote for me. People must really be very stupid.” [ Donald Trump ]

6. Loss of health care: a real threat to your livelihood? Yes/no.

7. Immigration: an actual threat to your actual life? Yes/no.

8. Divide this list into allies and enemies of the U.S.: Russia, Canada, the U.K., the United Nations, labor unions, white supremacists, North Korea, Greenland, Spain, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Christian nationalists and NATO.

9. What’s the cause of autism? A]. It’s complicated. B] Vaccines. C]. Tylenol. D] Mom did it. E] B, C, and D.

10. Any elected official gaining billions of dollars while in office: righteous? Yes/no.

***. “And then there are Trump’s many delusions…For almost three decades I have been pointing out that Trump creates his own reality, a point on which his other leading biographers agree.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You think” ]

11. “Celebrity Apprentice:: Reboot it? Yes/no.

12. A convicted felon in the White House: acceptable or abhorrent?

13. Federal elections being controlled by the states: Keep it this way? Yes/no.

14. First lady Melania Trump is usually [ pick all that apply ]: A]. Being best. B]. MIA C] Living out loud. D] Avoiding Truth Social. E]. looking for the exit. F]. Not caring. G]. Imagining the East Wing.

Bonus question: You throw a big party. Is “YMCA” played on repeat? Yes/no.

Scoring: It’s a self evaluation, so search your soul.” [ K.K. ]

***. “In Trump’s world [lies] are standard operating procedure…Trump’s lies appear to have pushed the same thought stopping buttons used by cult leaders – shutting down critical thinking; employing us versus them thinking; and using emotional manipulation to gain sympathy for the leaders while at the same time drumming up animosity toward the media.” [ Steve Hassan: “The Cult of Trump” ]

{NOTE: Notice what ISN’T on this list: factual things like; the insane Iran war; affordability; rising living costs; Trump’s stupid policies; Trump’s alienation of former allies [ what IDIOT deliberately tries to anger/alienate CANADA???}; Trump’s DOUBLING the national debt from 2017 to 2026 [ & counting; $1.2 trillion in INTEREST EVERY year]; Trump’s denial of global climate crisis – while the U.S. and the world burn, glaciers and the Arctic/Antarctic melt; Trump’s attacks on American democracy; Trump’s damage to the American soul…………..]

***. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” [ Proverbs 29:25 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – And: INCOMPETENCE, CCX -Losing Credibility And Foreign Friends – Trump Shoots America In The Foot!!!!!!!

~ tomdolen

*** “..Trump’s language and conduct has at times presented risks to national security…Many of Trump’s former top Cabinet officers and aides have said publicly that Trump should not be president again and should not even be on the ballot.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward: “War” ]

NOTE: We have added ‘INCOMPETENCE’ to the description of the Trump DICTATORSHIP because, as we have said many times, Donald John Trump fails THE test written in the U. s. constitution’s Preamble: “WE the People.” create this government to “..form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty..” The CHALLENGE: specifically – Which, if ANY, Trump DICTATORSHIP policies and laws have done ANY of this? Just one example: when Trump took office in January, 2017 – the U.s. national debt “…was approximately $19.95 trillion..” In August, 2026 YOUR U.S. national debt is now over $40 trillion, “an all time high..” And – American is paying over $1 trillion in interest EVERY year!!!

This post presents excerpts from “Blaming Canada Is No Longer a Joke,” by Chrystia Freeland, a former deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, minister of finance for Canada, in the New York Times, 8/2/26. Most Americans know Canada is America’s most important ally and friend. Read….then re-read this….then THINK. – what is this former high-ranking Canadian official telling YOU??? This is ONE indication on what the reckless STUPIDITY of one Donald John Trump, unfortunately U.S. president, has done to America’s world-wide reputation.

From 1945 to 2016, America built a POSITIVE reputation world-wide. – because of our generosity, openness, support for democracy around the world. This “soft power” was a MAJOR advantage for America, for Americans. In less than two years, the Trump DICTATORSHIP has trashed this. People, world-wide, will NOT forget what Trump has done – in YOUR name. Indeed, substantial changes – not to America’s benefit. – are already occurring because of Trump’s reckless and STUPID words and actions.

2]. “Mr. Trump’s tariff offensive has a clear purpose: to demonstrate who is dominant and who must submit…The laughably flimsy, constantly changing justifications for the president’s tariffs are in fact part of the point. True power is being able to do whatever you like for whatever reason you like, or for no reason at all…Mr. Trump is keen to establish himself as the world’s apex predator.”

3] “Mr. Trump has made his view plain. His Washington doesn’t have allies. It has only satraps, enemies and equals – the latter a singular group that includes just china and on some days, perhaps, Russia.”

7]. “..the irony is That Washington is abusing its allies at precisely the moment when it most needs them. As the war with Iran is demonstrating, even the United States is weaker when it gores it alone.”

*** “I’ve served the man for two years. I think he’s a long-term and immediate danger to the country,” a senior national security official told us.” { Pulitzer Prize winners Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig”. “A Very Stable Genius” ]

8] “..for a lot of its longtime members, that list of like-minded democracies doesn’t feel like much of an alliance anymore. A Pew survey published last month showed that in most of the 36 surveyed countries, China was viewed more favorably than the United States. That included Canada, where 33 percent of respondents saw America favorably, compared with 44 percent for China. People in France, Germany and Britain took a similar view.”

9] “..given Mr. Trump’s choice to play by China’s rules and force smaller countries to suffer or submit, the poll shouldn’t be much of a surprise.”

10]. “Would-be future American leaders who recognize the value of allies and think all will be forgiven when the White House has a new occupant need to appreciate the depth of the damage done by its current resident.”

*** “Tillerson was never told why he was fired…It had earlier leaked out that Tillerson had called Trump a “fucking moron’ at a July 20, 2017, Tank meeting. Probably nothing could have triggered Trump’s insecurities more.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward: “Rage” ]

4]. “Inside the United States, the pressing question is whether the country will remain a democracy. That matters to the rest of us, too, of course.. But even if democracy eventuallly prevails inside the United States, America’s old friends will wonder whether Trumpism permanently reshaped Washington’s relationship with the rest of the world.” [NOTE: read this again – the reputation of YOUR country is no longer in our hands. Trump has offended and alarmed SO MANY other nations – it will be difficult tor repair his damage.]

5] “Will a post-Trump try to rebuild genuine partnerships with its like-minded allies, based on the idea that win-win outcomes are possible and that even superpowers need to honor their treaty arrangements? or is Mr. Trump saying out loud what most Americans have really thought of their allies all along?”

6]. “After all, in its 250th year, the Republic really is flirting with authoritarianism.”

*** “Trump lacks the emotional stability, knowledge, critical-thinking skills, and judgment to be commander-in-chief.” [Pulitzer prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”]

1] “At a time when Americans rank inflation and affordability as their top economic concerns, adding another tax on consumer goods. – which is what tariffs are. – is self-defeating.”

***. “Stupidity is a talent for misconception.” [ Edgar Allan Poe ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CCIX. – NUMBERS Reveal How STUPID, How DESTRUCTIVE, Trump’ Economic Program Has Been, WILL. BE

~ tomdolen

*** “The necessities of life occasion the great expenses of the poor. They find it difficult to get food, and the central part of their little revenue is spent in getting it. The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expenses of the rich… It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expenses, not only in proportion t their revenue, but something more in that proportion.” ] Adam Smith – yes, THAT. Adam Smith !!!!! ]

This post presents excerpts from “Our supercharged budget deficits are unsustainable”. [Bloomberg Opinion; 8/16/26]. Read this, paragraph by paragraph, THINK, this is a point-by-point, FACTUAL, indictment of the Trump and Republican economic plan. It partially describes WHY. YOU. feel economic pain now; tells YOU much worse is to come. Much of this is very simple. – we are. NOT. taxing the upper 1-5% as Adam smith said we should 250 years ago. The American national debt. EXPLODED. post-1980. WHY? See Reagan, Bush, Trump tax cuts for the OBSCENELY rich – read the NUMBERS, 1947-80 versus 1981-2026 – the top “marginal” bracket WAS about 81%. Reagan cut that in half, Bush cut some more, Trump cut some more. IRS leaders testified “we” are. NOT. collecting $1 trillion in COLLECTIBLE taxes EVERY year!!!!! . See Republican cuts to IRS enforcement!!! These missing tax dollars are NOT from Mr. and Mrs. Joe Lunchpail – they ARE from Mr. and Mrs. Percy Bigbucks. We can have this same conversation about the financing of Social Security and Medicare.

1] “Over the last two years, this Congress has worsened the nation’s fiscal trajectory dramatically. its main accomplishment, last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act [OBBBA], will by itself increase deficit spending by at least $4.1 trillion from 2025 to 2034. Add another trillion or so once many of the law’s “temporary” tax cuts are inevitably extended, and the U.S. will soon be looking at annual deficits approaching $3 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio exceeding post-war highs.” [ Bloomberg Opinion; 8/16/26 ]

2]. “Making matters worse, lawmakers have twice slashed Internal Revenue Service funding, by a total of about $32 billion Estimates from the Congressional Budget Office imply that each dollar these measures rescinded from tax enforcement could lead to about $3.27 in lost revenue, meaning they’ll actually add about $73 billion in net deficits. A huge reduction in the agency’s workforce hardly helped.” [NOTE: how many profitable businesses would operate this way – actively working to reduce their own profits!!!!!!!!]

***. “I need to pay higher taxes. I’ve paid, in absolute, more taxes over ten billion [dollars], than anyone else, but you know, the government should require people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes.” [ Bill Gates ]

3]. “Although the OBBBA’s backers touted some $900 billion in Medicaid savings, achieved largely by slashing coverage, this merely slowed the program’s annual growth rate and was dwarfed by the bill’s tax cuts. A rescissions bill also cut overseas aid and public broadcasting funding – at significant cost to national prestige and soft power – saving a grand total of $9 billion through 2035. Even these meager efforts have been partly negated by repeated splurges.” [NOTE: another example of Republican/Trump Scrooge- like greed and incredible STUPIDITY.]

4] “In addition to the tax cuts, the Secure America Act enacted in June included about $70 billion in duplicative funding for immigration enforcement and border security. This latest bill, as passed by the House, would add some $73 billion to pay for the war in Iran, among other things; a $12 billion bailout for farmers harmed by the administration’s trade policies; and $10 billion for dubious “election security” measures. [The Senate’s stalled blueprint would double the latter amount.]. [NOTE: read this sentence by sentence – so the Trump/Republican STUPIDITY, and INCOMPETENCE sinks in. Farmers have said repeatedly; they don’t want bailouts – they want stable markets.]

*** “…there is absolutely nothing to be said for government by plutocracy, for government by men very powerful in certain lines and gifted with the ‘money touch,’ but with ideals which in their essence are merely those of so many glorified pawnbrokers.” [ Theodore Roosevelt; Republican; 26th U.S. President ]

5] “For its part, the White House has worsened this picture at almost every turn. Its immigration crackdown alone could increase deficits by $500 billion over a decade. Its Department of Government Efficiency, created to cut spending, may have done the exact opposite: Its claimed savings have been largely illusory while one analysis found that costs it imposed – from lost productivity and chaotic personnel decisions. – may have reached $135 billion last year.”

6]. “Perhaps most egregiously, Congress has sat by as the White House has imposed a global tariff regime, at an annual cost of $900 or so per household. It’s true that tariffs raise revenue. Yet they do so in a way that’s uniquely misguided: They tax a base that erodes over time while impeding the investment and productivity growth needed to stabilize debt in the long term. For all that, they might yield $2.1 trillion over 10 years. – or less than 9% of projected deficits.” [NOTE: but Donald John Trump absolutely LOVES tariffs – and he owns the U.S. government, so ‘we” must have tariffs]


[NOTE; this writer lived during the 1947-73 U.s. middle class [STATISTICAL] age. those of you younger have NO CLUE what America was like then: a mixed blue and white collar society where most people made enough to get by and enjoy life. Think in terms of. THEFT. What we had then has been DELIBERATELY. DESTROYED. by the rich. To BEGIN to understand the FACTS behind this, read Kurt Andersen’s “Evil Geniuses,” read Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s. “American Amnesia,” read Donald Barlett and James Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream,” read David Cay Johnston’s “Free Lunch. How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense [And stick You With the Bill]”. Continue to elect Republican con men like Donald John Trump and the current Republicans. – and, you’ll get more of this theft, greed, and misery.]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CCVIII. – “Tyrant Trump’s Biggest Legacy – Bringing Out the Worst in America”

~ tomdolen


*** “Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are ruined too….Let men be good, and the government can not be bad; but if it be ill, they will cure it. but if men be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and soil it to their turn.”
[William Penn]

This post presents excerpts from Ralph Nader’s “Tyrant Trump’s Biggest Legacy – Bringing Out the Worst in America” [ The Progressive Populist; August, 2026. We have said many times this now evident truth: Donald John Trump is a CANCER on the SOUL of America. The damage and evil he has done will live on for many years.. Trump has also poisoned how the rest of the world looks at America. Read the items below. – THINK on them. – think how Trump sabotages democracy, sabotages rational thinking, sabotages America’s future…………………..

1] “Championing the worst forms of energy – coal, oil, and gas. – and depressing solar energy and wind power….even paying ongoing wind project companies nearly a billion dollars in your tax dollars to stop construction!”

2] “Encouraging the worst corruption of the Pentagon – more waste, contractor fraud and abuse..”

3] “Brought out the worst from his toady Attorney Generals at the Justice Department…dismiss over 100 corporate crime cases…and made DOJ his personal law firm.”

***. ‘Good moral character is the first essential in a man.” [ George Washington ]

4]. “Encouraged the worst from the Environmental Protection Agency…greenhouse gases, motor vehicle gases, auto factories, and coal pollution are permissible for America’s children to breathe.”

5]. “Suppressed or canceled programs of scientific truth-seeking while publicizing pseudo-scientists who go far beyond healthy skepticism to peddle quackery..”

6] “Trump is self-servingly wrecking the Internal Revenue Service…grossly inadequate number of experts skilled in detecting complex corporate tax schemes and evasions totaling hundreds of billions of dollars in TAX ESCAPES per year.”

***. “You do not have to think very hard to figure out what happens to a democratic society…when long-standing interpretations of the “rules of law” are mangled to reflect the personal desires of a handful of extremely wealthy people.” [ Aberjhani ]

7] “Trump has grievously brought out the worst from Congress, finishing off what is left of the separation of powers..”

8] “Trump brings out the worst from major corporations…allowing corporations to cheat, steal, harm, pollute, and violate with impunity almost any federal laws..”

9] “Worsening the architecture of the White House and nearby Washington, D.C., are major preoccupations of this egomaniacal dilettante. He illegally tore down the East Wing..”

*** “It is better for a city to be governed by a good man than even by good laws.” [ Aristotle ]

10] “The Trumpeteer has brought out the worst in the mainstream media, giving preferential access to uncritical reporters, and restricting or prohibiting access to reporters who are steadfast and straightforward.”

11]. “From the people, he has celebrated vice over virtue, greed over charity, obscenity over decency, violence over peace, police and ICE brutality over more effective standards of prudence and restraint by law enforcers. As an open, brazen liar, a delusionary braggart, and a peddler of empty promises, Trump has troubled parents who see their youngsters mimic his abuses and foul talk.”

12] “He pardons hundreds of convicted violent criminals and other fraudsters and says he will pardon more crooks, even urging them to continue their lawless ways because he will pardon them..”

***. “Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust must be men of unexceptional character.” [. Samuel Adams ]

13]. “Trump has violated seven of the Ten Commandments and is almost never seen in Church, yet Trump manages to bring out the most extreme hypocrites from the leadership of organized religion..”

14]. “His most fervent mission is to provoke biases and bigotry against recent immigrants and asylum seekers among millions of his voters who believed his lies about these desperate people, fleeing with their children from oppressive regimes and oligarchies..”

15] “Long after Trump is impeached and removed from office, his hateful, vengeful drive will bring out the worst from our country will linger and fester.”

*** “The consequences of turning a blind eye to government corruption go far beyond simply letting some corrupt politicians and bureaucrats walk free.” [ Tom Fitten ]

***. ‘..amid the Trump administration’s open marriage of public and private and criminal sectors in an astonishing replication of third-world kleptocracies..” [ Sarah Chayes: “On corruption In America” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CCVII. – Trump’s Character and Judgment Revealed in Dr. Fauci’s Diary

~ tomdolen


***. “It is a grand mistake to think of being great without goodness; and I pronounce it as certain that there was never yet a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.” [ Benjamin Franklin ]

This post presents excerpts from Anthony Fauci’s diary from 2020. YOU get raw data on this eminent scientist’s review of how it was to deal with Donald Trump early in the COVID-19 epidemic.

THE. MAJOR. QUESTION for YOU; did ‘your” president seem to be concerned about the impact of tjis deadly disease on the American people. – or. – was his primary concern to “manage” the crisis so that it didn’t hurt his re-election campaign?

***. “The Trump presidency is about Trump. Period. Full stop. He says so himself all the time.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” ]

1] Late February, 2020: Fauci “encouraged him not to underplay the seriousness of the situation since if it turns out bad, it would look like he is covering up…..I thought that he heard what I said, but the next day, he again underplayed it.”

2] March 27, 2000: “Very laborious press conference where the POTUS rambled on. He wasted the opportunity to just focus on the relief package and went into his diatribe against the previous administrations.”

3] March 28: “AMAZING interaction with POTUS…. I led the discussions since the POTUS kept referring to me. It was a disturbingly rambling discussion since he kept talking about TV ratings, and HC [hydroxychloroquine], and influenza and virtually everything else as I was trying to keep him on track [with the help of the VP]……I insisted through the rambling and lack of attention span that the POTUS explicitly say that this is NOT a quarantine.”

***. “When a man assumes a public trust, he should consider himself as public property.” [ Thomas Jefferson ]

4]. July 10: “..he had an “important meeting” with Mike Pence, during which Fauci told the vice president he would be “coldly honest.” “I then told him that he is completely losing credibility when we have >60,000 new cases with increased hospitalizations and deaths and he starts off at the Pressers saying “We are in a good place.”

5] July 15: “He wanted me to be ‘positive’. I took the opportunity to say, ‘Mr. President, with your permission, can I be absolutely frank with you? We have a problem and we need to own it. We need to admit that the situation is serious, otherwise we completely lose credibility….he was not entirely happy with this..”

6]. August 4: ‘..he had to directly explain to Trump – whom he described as “throwing around the F- word” and “raving that we are seeing more cases only because we are doing more testing”. – that increased testing does not cause cases. “All in all it was a manifestation that he is [desperate] and still does not understand the pandemic.” [NOTE: read this again, and again. this is how “your’ president thought, and governed]

***. “But McMaster and his team almost immediately realized the president wasn’t reading any of the briefing books, or even the concise three-page version….As one of Trump’s confidants said, “I cal the president the two-minute man. The president has patience for a half page.” [ Pulitzer Prize winners Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “A Very Stable Genius” ]

7] August 8: “POTUS acting even more erratically. Keeps insisting that increased case numbers are due only to increased testing, ignoring the increases in percent positive, hospitalizations and deaths [ >1000/day}.”

8] November 1: “…Tony, you have to be positive. I do not want to keep you off TV, but when you are out there, you have to be positive.”

9] November 16, 2000: “Continual surge: 138,000 new infections yesterday. POTUS has no interest at all in the pandemic. He is focusing on blocking Biden from being POTUS. He is embarrassing the USA.” [NOTE: read THIS again, and again… Trump “has no interest at all in the pandemic.” “Your” president doesn’t care about you and your family getting very sick. – it’s more important to prevent Biden from taking over. – as in January 6…]

***. “If the misery of others leaves you indifferent and with no feeling of sorrow, then you cannot be called a human being.” [ Jimmy Carter; 39th U.S. President ]

II. Please think on the following, from. “the Atlantic,” July/August, 2024, pages 21-28. Dr. Fauci reviews general handling of COVID-19:
“Although the CDC struggled, there was no mistaking the message delivered on February 25 by its director of immunization and respiratory diseases, Nancy Messonnier. She told reporters that a pandemic in the United States was no longer a matter of if but when, and that we should prepare to close schools and work remotely. “Disruption to everyday life may be severe,; she announced. Nancy did the right thing: She told Americans the truth. But not surprisingly, her statement caused a firestorm. The media erupted, and the stock market plummeted nearly 1,000 points. Trump was furious. The next day, he announced that Vice President mike Pence would take over for Alex Azar as the head of the White House coronavirus task force.”

III. “Nationally, a study by the American Medical Association determined that “the excess [COVID] death rate among Republican voters was 43% higher than the excess death rate among Democratic voters.” [ Gene Lyons: “Silencing Scientists, Doctors in the Name of ‘Freedom'”; The Progressive Populist; ll/1/23 ]

*** “And you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” [ John 8: 32 ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CCVI. – The Immorality of Monetizing The Presidency, II. – Some Numbers

~ tomdolen


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

This post continues examining the UNPRECEDENTED. GREED. of Donald Trump and those around him in MONETIZING the U.S. presidency. They’re doing things commonly seen in “banana republics” and other authoritarian regimes. In just over one year, the Trump clan and various associates have managed to make BILLIONS of dollars. They’ve also sabotaged what the world used to think about American morality and decency. They’ve quite literally sold their soul for a few pieces of gold……… Following are some excerpts providing facts.

I. “All Told, Mr. Trump Has Profited From His Return To The Presidency By An Amount Of Money Equal To 16,822. Times The Median U.S. Household Income.” { New York Times. editorial: “Trump’s Cash Grab Undermines Our Republic”; 1/25/26 ]

***. “Abstain from all appearance of evil.” [ I Thessalonians 5: 22 ]

II. 5] “It is hard to wrap your head around that the president of the United States would engage in this level of self-enrichment at the expense of so many of his supporters, said Lee Reiners, a former Federal Reserve Bank examiner..” [ Eric Tipton, Andrea Fuller, David Yaffe-Bellamy: “President cashed in, others not so much”; New York Times; 7/5/26 ]

6] “As of the middle of last year, according to Chainalysis…58 investors in the $Trump coin had made profits in excess of $10 million, totaling an estimated $1.1 billion – most of them early traders who got out before the coin crashed in value. At the same time, some 764,000 crypto wallets, most with small holdings, lost money on $TRUMP…” [ Tipton ]

1] “a large chunk of the $2 billion haul President Donald Trump took in last year came as hundreds of thousands of his fans and other investors bet on a speculative cryptocurrency called 4TRUMP, hoping its value would soar with his return to the White House. But while Trump amassed an eye-popping $636 million from the cryptocurrency, known as a memecoin, many of his followers who heeded his call to purchase the coin came out losers.” [ Tipton ]

*** “The faults of the burglar are the qualities of the financier.” [. George Bernard Shaw ]

2] “The president’s 927-page financial disclosure showed how Trump and his family reaped huge financial rewards in 2025 through his money-losing Trump Media venture and a separate cryptocurrency firm called World Liberty Financial, even as routine investors suffered vast losses.” [ Tipton ]

3] “In a way, Trump’s cryptocurrency windfall is a reflection of the speculative nature of the crypto industry, in which executives behind these often highly volatile ventures are at times able to generate huge profits at the expense of smaller investors, who often lose vast sums…” [ Tipton ]

4]. “Former federal financial regulators said Trump has taken that to a new extreme, structuring his crypto ventures so he always made money on the front end, according to disclosures from ther companies, no matter what happened to the business in the long run.” [. Tipton. ]

***. “The avaricious man is like the barren sandy ground of the desert which sucks in all the rain and dew with greediness, but yields no fruitful herbs or plants for the benefit of others.” [ Zeno. ]

III. 1] “In the first three months of the year, President Trump’s brokerage accounts placed ore than 3,600 trades, as they bought and sold a wide variety of stocks and bonds, according to a disclosure form released last month….Some of the trades early this year also appeared to be well timed, notably a purchase of Dell shares that came months before the company secured a lucrative government contract.” [ Ben Protess: “Documents Offer Insight Into Trump’s Stock Trades”; New York Times; 6/21/26 ]

2] “Unlike every other president since the 1970s who has owned individual stocks and businesses, Mr. Trump did not put his assets into a blind trust. The decision to forgo that ethical guardrail potentially allows him to know what stocks he owns, and to influence their performance with policy announcements or contracts even if he cannot direct how or when they are traded…..”The whole point of having a blind trust is so your virtue can never be called into question,” said Jeffrey A. Engel, the founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. he added that “President Trump does not feel obliged to follow the same norms and rules as everyone else.”

[ Protess; 6/2/26 ]

*** “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways.” [ James. I: 8. ]

IV. “Trump netted $2B in his Ist year back.” [ Ben Protess, Andrea Fuller, Eric Tipton, David Yaffe-Bellany; New York Times; 7/2/26 ]

V. A. PARTIAL. itemization of “YOUR’. president’s MONETIZATION of a U.S. presidency:
– $23 million: name licensing – $28 million: Melania documentary -$400 million Qatar Boeing 747-8
– $90.5 million: legal settlements from major tech and media companies. – $867 million; cryptocurrency
– $466 million: World Liberty Financial {New York times editorial: “Trump’s Cash Grab Undermines Our Republic” ]

*** “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain…the character of an “Honest Man.”
[ George Washington; 8/28/1788. ]

VI. “There are official diamond-studded gold watches for $100,000, promoted by President Trump…The industry is a cornerstone of mr. Trump’s political movement..”….The president has built a merchandise behemoth unmatched by any other American politician….Mr. Trump and his family have made millions from the products. – more than $1 million from guitars and at least $2.8 million from the watches alone…he misses few opportunities to market the wares..” [Tiffany Hsu, Stuart Thompson: “Inside the Sprawling World Of MAGA Merchandise”; New York Times; 4/15/26 ]

2] “This is so concerning not just because of how it might impact Trump’s specific decisions, but because it might suggest that public service in general is just another way to get yourself ahead and make more money,” said Daniel I. Weiner, an ethics and campaign finance expert at the Brennan Center for Justice…”That can open the door to a sort of systemic corruption that really can, over the long term, undermine people’s faith in democracy.” [ Hsu, Thompson ]

***. “So grasping is dishonesty, that it is no respecter of persons; it will cheat friends as well as foes; and were it possible, would cheat even God himself.” [ George Bancroft ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CCV – The Immorality of Monetizing the Presidency, I – The Violation of Ethics

~ tomdolen


***. “Government is a trust, and the officers of the government ae trustees; and both the trust and the trustees are created for the benefit of the people.” [ Henry Clay; 1829 ]

This post, and the next, BEGIN to examine the “unprecedented” CORRUPTION of Donald Trump and those around him in monetizing the U.S. presidency. They are doing things commonly seen in “banana republics” and other authoritarian states. This is just one more way that the Trump DICTATORSHIP is debasing America and what it was understood that America stood for. They have NO. SHAME.
Following are excerpts from some of many articles providing the facts:

I. “In many ways, Gorman said, his acts are a “betrayal of the American social contract: that those who lead the country prioritize country over self. – a premise that goes back to George Washington.” [ “Moneymaking run unrivaled in U.S. presidential history”; Eric Tipton; New York Times; 7/2/26 ]

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

II. 4] “It is impossible to know how often Mr. Trump makes official decisions, in part or entirely, because he wants to be richer. And that is precisely the problem. A culture of corruption is pernicious not just because it is a deviation from government in the public interest; it also destroys the state’s democratic legitimacy. It undermines the necessary faith that the representatives of the people are acting in the interests of the people.” “Trump’s Cash Grab Undermines Our Republic”; New York Times editorial; 1/25/26 ]

5] “The demands of avarice gradually corrupt the work of government as officials facilitate the accumulation of personal wealth. Worse, such a government corrupts the people who live under its rule. They learn by experience that they live in a society where the laws are written by the highest bidder. They become less likely to obey those laws and to participate in the work of democracy. – speaking, voting, paying taxes. The United states risks falling into this cynical spiral as Mr. Trump hollows out the institutions of government for personal gain.” [1/25/26′ Times editorial]

1] “One year ago, Donald Trump took an oath to serve the American people. Instead, he has focused on using the presidency to enrich himself. President Trump has never been a man to ask what he could do for his country.”
[ 1/25/26; Times editorial ]

2]. “ALL TOLD, MR. TRUMP HAS PROFITED FROM HIS RETURN TO THE PRESIDENCY BY AN AMOUNT OF MONEY EQUAL TO 16,822 TIMES THE MEDIAN U.S. HOUSEHOLD INCOME.” [ 1/25/26; Times editorial ]

3]. “Mr. Trump’s hunger for wealth is brazen. Throughout the nation’s history, presidents of both parties have taken care to avoid even the appearance of profiting from public service. When President Harry Truman left office in 1953, he did not even own a car. He and his wife returned to Missouri by train and lived for a time on his Army pension. he refused to take any job that he regarded as commercializing his public service..” [ 1/25/26; Times editorial ]

***. “He is a man of splendid abilities but utterly corrupt. he shines and stinks like rotten mackerel by moonlight.”
[ John Randolph ]

III. 3] “The Trumps. – and the Kushners, and many others associated with the first family. – have gaslighted the American public with such bogus “explanations” of their grift-gorging for many years. Everyone in the Trump circle, including Cabinet officers such as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, has long known that the president is a crook.”
[ Joe Conason: “The Ultimate Insider’s Massive Stock Trades”; The Progressive Populist; July, 2026 ]

1] “A new filing with the Office of Government Ethics, released on May 14, showed more than 3,500 specific trades in Trump’s name during the first quarter of 2026, with a value between $220 million and $750 million. this represents by far the largest series of securities transactions by a sitting president in American history….it adds up to 60 trades per day, while he issues executive orders, talks with foreign leaders, shifts tariffs, and gives policy directives that directly affect the value of his holdings.” [. Conason ]

2] “What outraged ethics experts was not just the volume of Trump’s market activity but the obvious overlaps between his actions and policies and the equities that he bought and sold.” [ Conason ]

***. “Wherever there is power, greed, and money, there is corruption.” [ Ken Poirot ]

IV. 1]. “Mr. Trump’s profits are a haul once unimaginable for any leader of a liberal democracy, particularly a sitting American president….The Trump family’s earnings, experts said, have moved him into an echelon of enrichment more associated with strongmen in Russia and Turkey.” [ Jason Horowitz: “Trump’s Profit In Presidency Shatters Norm”; New York Times; 7/5/26 ]

2]. “That reluctance to acknowledge any conflict now makes it harder, experts said, for anti-corruption investigators in countries big and small to combat behavior that the United states, until Mr. Trump’s presidency, once condemned. “How the U.S. behaved was quite influential in shaping international norms”…Now Mr. Trump’s windfall has undermined the idea “that there is a standard to which we should all be aspiring”…” [ Horowitz ]

3] “Since Watergate..the United States had helped set the international anti-corruption norms. Now..Mr. Trump was setting a different standard that could have the effect of demolishing democratic guardrails and clearing the way for others’ conflicts of interest. “This,’ mr. Sanchez said, “is what is being lost.” [ Horowitz ]

***. “The first of qualities for a great statesman is to be honest. And if it were possible that this opinion were an error, i should rather carry it with me to my grave that to believe that a man cannot be a statesman without being dishonest.”
[ John Adams; 2nd U.s. President ]

V. The Good News!!! American are catching on to †his Trump CORRUPTION. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll July 8-13, 2026, revealed this: “Trump’s overall approval rating stands at 37 percent, identical to what it was in April. His disapproval is 61 percent.” Of 28 categories of Americans, only 4: “Republican,” “Lean Republican,” “White evangelical Protestant,” “White Catholic”. favored Trump. “Rural’ was split: 50-48%.
[ Washington Post Weekly: “Broadly negative reviews for Trump”; 7/19/26 ]

VI. The Bad News: “Fed Shows Working Families Fall Behind As Trump Chooses To Keep Prices High”. “The Beige Book, a monthly report on consumer spending…showed a continuation of the trend that accelerated after President Donald Trump joined Israel in attacking Iran…The report notes that regional contacts at the Federal Reserve’s districts described middle-income households as “squeezing more life out of every dollar before deciding to spend it,’ while low-income families and individuals “showed greater financial strain..” { Dispatches; Progressive Populist; July, 2026 }

[NOTE: “Your’ president has monetized the U.s. presidency to the tune of over $2 billion in his second term, and counting…… YOU are struggling to feed and house YOUR family. – as are over 60% of Americans. Not only Trump’s war, but A.I. will increase YOUR electric bills and prices of consumer goods – and – pollute YOUR water, and YOUR peace of mind. These are SOME of the costs of enduring the Trump DICTATORSHIP…………….. ]