***. BUT – it wasn’t: “…the four ways in which Republicans have been hacking away at the foundations of democracy and civil society for a quarter century: their war on truth, their growing exploitation of racism and white supremacy, their sabotage of the institutions and norms of government, and their dehumanizing of opponents and stoking of violence….And in the process, they murdered democracy.” [ Dana Milbank: “The Destructionists’ ]

This post presents excerpts from “Jan. 6 Was Just The Start” [New York Times editorial; 1/4/26]. Please read the entire article. Please continue to support the TRUTH about January 6, 2021. Powerful forces want to RE-WRITE January 6 history. – an ambitious project because the world saw the actual events; perps confessed; even Mitch McConnell immediately laid the blame on Donald John Trump [before he recanted!!!]. In trials all over America, perps confessed, were given jail time. But then – this is what authoritarians do: re-write history [Jason Stanley: “Erasing History…How Fascists Rewrite The Past To control The Future”]

*** “The accumulation of all power, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
[ James Madison, Founder, 4th U.S. President ]

13] “Once..[Trump]..was elected, his post-Jan. 6 experience inspired his administration’s goals and methods. he and his aides concluded that intimidation and lawlessness could yield victories even in seemingly unwinnable and sometimes illegal circumstances.” [N.Y. Times editorial]

8] “THe shocking part of the story was the response of so many other people in government, media and business.”

6]. “Over the next several years, Jan. 6 became a “day of love” in Mr. Trump’s telling: The rioters were “patriots,” and those detained were “hostages’ whose suffering compared to that of Japanese Americans interned during World War II. He made common cause with the most extreme elements of his coalition to manipulate history. Together, they rallied right-wing media to their cause, silenced all but a few Republican critics and intimidated corporate leaders into complicity.”

15] “The pardons issue a message: If you break the law to protect me, you will be supported, and if you uphold the law to restrain me, you will be persecuted.”

*** “The Republican Party is held aloft by a large, powerful, and ever-growing industry of deceit. The purpose of much of conservative media is to lie to their audience. It is fitting that at the heart of the Trump presidency itself is a lie: Almost every Republican elected official in Washington knows Donald Trump is unfit to be president.” [ Stuart Stevens: “It Was All A Lie”]

1]. “It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead, it was the day President Trump’s second term began to take shape…was indeed a turning point, but not the one it first seemed to be. It was a turning point toward a version of mr. Trump who is even more lawless than the one who governed the country in his first term. It heralded a culture of political unaccountability, in which people who violently attacked Congress and beat police officers escaped without lasting consequences.”

2] “The politicians and pundits who had egged on the attack with their lies escaped, as well. The aftermath of Jan. 6 made the Republican Party even more feckless, beholden to one man and willing to pervert reality to serve his interests.”

3]. “All this would have been hard to conceive for many Americans five years ago. Disgust was bipartisan for a time because so many episodes of that day seemed unforgettable.”

4] “The victims who suffered the worst violence were the police officers protecting the Capitol.”

5]. “Mr. Trump made possible the lawlessness. After he lost the 2020 election, he spent weeks peddling the lie that he had rightfully won. He encouraged state officials to ‘find” votes for him or simply appoint electors loyal to him.”

*** “so long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.” [ Aldous Huxley ]

7] “This behavior, though inexcusable, was not shocking. it fir with Mr. Trump’s character, as both a businessman and a politician who has long pursued his self-interest without legal or ethical restraint.”

9]. “..on Jan. 12, Senator Mitch McConnell, then the Republican leader, “has concluded that President Trump committed impeachable offenses…”

10] “…handed Republicans control of the House, and they abandoned any Jan. 6 accountability…Instead, they began investigating their colleagues who had attempted to bring justice to mr. Trump.”

11] “The legal system also took some steps to fill the accountability gap. But it moved slowly and ineffectively.”

12]. “With the political and legal systems failing to punish him, much of the rest of the country started to move on. Business leaders made excuses for him. The conservative media establishment promoted him again and cheered on the purge of Republicans who had criticized this role in Jan. 6.”

*** “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know is wrong, when we close our eyes and ears to the corrupt because we are too busy or too frightened, when we fail to speak out, we strike a blow against freedom and decency and justice.” [ Robert F. Kennedy, Senior ]

14]. “On the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump granted clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged or convicted in connection with jan. 6. The group included hundreds of defendants found to have assaulted law enforcement officers.”

16] “The thuggishness extends far beyond the people who were directly involved in Jan. 6 cases. The legacy of that day has taught Mr. Trump how to use power more aggressively to advance his interests. In his second term, he has surrounded himself with officials who accede to his lawless demands.”

17]. “Mr. Trump has also learned that congressional Republicans will bow to him even when he treats them with contempt or ignores the Constitution.”

18] “Mr. Trump likewise plays the courts more successfully than in his first term. The Supreme Court has helped him..”

19]. “Again and again, Mr. Trump dares the system to stop him.”

*** “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law…no court can save it..”

[Judge Learned Hand]

The question of IF America has a real democracy on January 20, 2029. – is up to. YOU. Speak up, protest, organize. Above all – vote out EVERY Republican on November 3, 2026. If Trump has control of Congress. – it may be over. The Far Right blueprint is there in “Project 2025,” some of its authors have power in theTrump DICTATORSHIP. They WILL NOT STOP. attempting to create a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. – the billionaires behind Trump will demand it; the Christian nationalists behind Trump will demand it; his fearful, misinformed base will demand it.

This site has now published 100 “The Trump DICTATORSHIP” posts in 350 days of Trump’s authoritarian, lawless, reckless, anti-democratic reign. We apologize for not doing more. if we did, besides sleep and eating, we’d pretty much have done nothing else in 2025 than provide YOU with factual evidence of the monstrous depravity of the Trump DICTATORSHIP.

The “Project2025′ strategy was to hit the ground running. They announced the writing of many “executive orders” prior to Trump taking office. Part of their known strategy is to “flood the zone” – do so many things that people can’t keep up. With a CORRUPT Roberts ‘supreme court” of Republican political hacks, there is only Congress to restrain the Trump DICTATORSHIP – and we already know they live in fear, for careers, for their and their family’s safety.

Fear is a BIG part of the “Project 2025” Trumpian strategy – they’ve announced it. Part of the plan is to use YOUR government against YOU. This has already been demonstrated in multiple ways. Fear of persecution. Fear of losing funding. Fear of having your business ruined. Fear of having your career/job lost. This is how DICTATORSHIPS operate.

So. – yes, January 6, 2021, was, “Only Just A Start.’ IF – YOU permit it. Are YOU going to permit it?????????

*** “Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present i. which the Party is aways right.”
[ George Orwell: “1984” ]

We end 2025 with an apology. We”re sorry, but we cannot keep up with the daily drumbeat of damage the Trump DICTATORSHIP is inflicting upon America. Below are SOME of the anti-democratic recent headlines, reflecting on the WIDESPREAD CATASTROPHE and EVIL imposed on Americans by ‘our” government.

1] “How the letter “K” describes the shape of the U.S. economy…The wealthy get richer, the poor struggle more” [Christopher Rugaber; Associated Press; 12/3/25]: “The top 40% of all U.S. consumers are driving two-thirds of all consumption….the wealthiest 10% of Americans own roughly 87% of the stock market..” [50 million Americans are food insecure {4/17/25}. 44% of U.S. workers are in low-wage jobs; 60% of U.S. workers live paycheck-to-paycheck. {11/18/25}

2] “The Cost of Care in the Land of Plenty….For many Americans the question may not be ‘how bad is it?”, but rather, can I afford to get this looked at?” [Andrew Tait; The Progressive Populist; January, 2026]. [can. YOU. afford medical care or health insurance in America????????]

3] “White House downplays risks of AI”. {Tony Romm, Colby Smith; New York Times; 12/25/25]. – versus “A.I. Will Displace Workers at a Scale Many don’t Realize”. [Sal Khan; New York Times; 12/28/25]. Jeremy Rifkin’s “The End of Work [1995,2004], and many other analyses showed from DATA that jobs were ALREADY being lost, from manufacturing to white collar jobs. – before A.I. A.I. will only make job loss WORSE, plus many other issues like privacy.

4] “Somber mood at scientists’ annual meeting….Amid cuts, many say American science is suffering under Trump” [Eric Niiler; New York Times; 12/21/25]: “It’s a fundamental disruption of the systems that allow science in this country to function.” “Morris lab down to just 3 scientists….Soils laboratory among many ag science sites gutted by federal cuts” [Christopher Vondracek; Minnesota Star Tribune; 12/30/25]. “Science Under Siege” [Michael Mann, Peter Hotez]. “Fool me Twice….Fighting the Assault on Science in America”. [Shawn Lawrence Otto]. WHY does the radical reactionary R-W attack science? Because science deals in proven FACTS. FACTS are POISON to the Trump DICTATORSHIP.

5] “Bankruptcies soar amid tariffs, inflation….Filings for 2025 reach highest tally since 2010” [Aaron Gregg, Jaclyn Peiser; Washington post; 12/30/25]. Trump’s policies have hurt manufacturing, construction, transportation hardest’; small businesses are hurt, many closing.

6} Get more facts: “Trump’s First Year Back, in 10 Charts” [New York Times; 12/28/25]: ‘..by year’s end, Mr. Trump’s popularity has sunk to historic lows, as many Americans recoiled from his brutality and his extremism. Above all, they fretted about his failure to improve their economic well-being.”

7]. “For DOGE, Big Disruption Returned Meager Savings….Largest Claims Were Wrong and Real Cuts Were Small, Times Analysis Finds”. [Emily Badger, David Fahrenhold, Alicia Parlapiano, Margot Sanger-Katz; New York Times; 12/28/25]: ‘..the group did not do what mr. Musk said it would: reduce federal spending by $1 trillion before October. On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up.” [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!] And then this: DOGE broke numerous federal privacy laws and policies, often at gunpoint, to acquire YOUR personal data. What did they do with it??? WHO has YOUR personal data – Russians, Chinese, criminals, musk??????? Just perhaps – the REAL DOGE goals were NOT savings. – BUT WERE. – acquisition of YOUR data, destroying independence in the federal government, ruining the federal government. – all enabling the Trump DICTATorship. to do whatever it wants ???????!!!!!!?????

8] “Trump’s Monroe Doctrine Will Tip Our World into Chaos….We are headed for more confrontations, more brinksmanship, more war”. [Greg Grandin; New York Times; 12/21/25]. Trump’s plan could result in 3 big powers ruling the earth; china, Russia, America – back to pre-WW I. “Trump’s vision; A nation unto Itself” [Naftali Bendavid; Washington post Weekly; 12/21/25]: “The problem is that strategic detachmewnt was attainable in the 19th century, it’s not attainable today,” Kupchan said. “This will..ultimately fail because it’s not possible.”

9] “It Matters Who Owns the National Debt, Too…New invstors demand higher returns for lending to the U.S.” {Geng Ngarmboonanant; New York Times; 12/28/25]. Trump’s policies are a threat to trust in U.S.debt because of questions on the independence of the Federal Reserve; predictability of the Treasury, rule of law; international partnerships. This is also important because Trump’s 2017 tax cuts are 25% of U.S.debt; he demanded these cuts be made permanent, and we ALREADY KNOW this will increase U.S. debt by trillions. You – research Republican tax cuts of Reagan, BushII and Trump – see how much they’ve blown up the U.S. debt since 1981

10] “The White House is a Lost Cause”. [ Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 12/21/25]: Trump often does NOT know what ‘his” administration is doing , on ANYTHING. “He is, by most accounts, isolated from the outside world….rarely meets with ordinary Americans outside the White House….He is uninterested in anyone except his most devoted fans….the work of the White House has been delegated to a handful of high-level advisors..”
Thanks to a corrupt “supreme court,” America is being moved toward implementing “the unitary executive theory”….”Think Bonapartism with an American twist…the president we have isn’t unitary. He has given his newfound power away to a small set of virtually unaccountable advisors, insulated from public outcry and indifferent to public opinion.”

THEN – consider WHO has benefited from the slow erosion of America’s loss of economic affordability from 1981 forward. WHO has, will, benefit from the loss of civil liberties? WHO will benefit from cuts in government services? HINT: – look at pictures of Trump’s 2025 inaugural, see WHO had the most honored seats!!! WHO wrote “Project 2025? – and. – how many of them are in Trump’s administration?????

*** The “Republican Party’ of 2025 is NOT the Republican Party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower. Since 1981, R-W reactionaries have steadily gained control. They had a blueprint, often derided, said to b too extreme. Backed by R-W billionaires, they have acquired power in the Trump White House. Matthew Dallek’s “Birchers”:
“Trump benefited from the rhetorical and ideological legacy..Birchers had bequeathed to subsequent generations…he campaigned on a set of Birch-toned themes….Trump’s apocalyptic oratory and conspiracy theories helped mobilize supporters and framed his message….The Birch inheritance not only colored Trump’s campaign but also informed his White House agenda….Trump drew energy, as Birchers had, from white supremacists, militias, and nativists and brought them into his coalition….imposing Christian prayer and “Americanist” teachings on public schools – became a plank of the administration’s policy agenda….The Birch Society’s view of public health policies as a statist plot to squash individual liberties entered the conservative mainstream during the Trump administration’s response to ..COVID-19….Trump’s governance helped turn conservative anti-government idology into a government-as-the-enemy, root-of-all-evil philosophy…the so-called deep state..”

***** What is happening to YOU, and other ordinary Americans is NOT an accident. It has already been investigated and described to YOU – Double Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Barlett & James Steele’s. “The Betrayal of the American Dream”; Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?”; Kurt Andersen’s “Evil Geniuses”; prize winner Jane Mayer’s. ‘Dark Money”; and many more.

*** Do YOUR own FACTUAL research: on. WHY YOUR purchasing power has declined since 1973; on people’s incomes, 1947-73. versus. 1981-2025; on top marginal tax rates 1947-73. versus. 1981-2025; on ordinary American’s ability to buy a home. 1947-73. versus. 1981-2025; on WHY ordinary people are NOT having children, none or 1 or 2. versus earlier having families of 2 – 3 -4 kids.

*** Read the Constitution’s Preamble on WHY “We the People’. created the U.S. government: “Union,” “Justice,” “domestic Tranquility,”…….”promote the general Welfare.” This site criticizes the Trump DICTATORSHIP and the Reagan and Bush II governments BECAUSE of their FAILURE to achieve those goals, and, in many cases, of working to sabotage those goals.

***. “The least deviation from truth will be multiplied later.” [ Aristotle ]

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

1- – “The Human Toll of Trump’s Aid Cuts” [ Nicholas Kristof; New York Times; 6/11/25]
– – “Children who are citizens deported” [ Marc Levy; Associated Press; 4/27/25 ]
– “”Head Start Under The Budget Gun…Trump administration’s planned spending cuts threatens to end 60-year old program that provides care for 800,000 kids” [ Jenny Gold, Kate Sequiera: Los Angeles Times; 4/27/25 ]
– “As markets fell, Trump played golf”. [ Dan Diamond; Washington Post; 4/8/25 ]

*** “City sidewalks busy sidewalks; Dressed in holiday style, in the air; There’s a feeling of Christmas; Children laughing; People passing meeting smile after smile…” [ “Silver Bells” ]

2]. – “Trump blames Reiner for his own death”. [Michelle Price; Associated Press; 12/16/25}
– “Top Aide Says Trump Has ‘An Alcoholic’s Personality'” [ Peter Baker; New York Times; 12/17/25 ]
– “Weather lab to be dismantled…White House calls the research center a source of ‘climate alarmism”. [ Lisa Friedman, Brad Plumer; New York Timres; 12/18/25 ]
– “Heating Costs Rising Near 10% This Winter…Bills going up as government cuts aid to states to help low-income residents”. [ Ivan Penn; New York Timers; 12/18/25 ]

***. “If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming after you, and you don’t do it, you are wasting your time on this earth.” [ Roberto Clemente, beloved HOF baseball player. An annual Roberto Clemente Award is given to a player deemed to be a positive public asset ]

3] “Donald Trump’s single greatest character flaw as a leader and human being is his complete and total lack of empathy.” [ Omarosa: “Unhinged”; Trump first term official ]

*** “There’s no Christmas like a home Christmas with your Dad and Mother Sis and Brother there; With their hearts humming at your home commin’ and that Merry Yuletide spirit in the air’.” [“There’s No Christmas Like A Home Christmas” ]

4]. – “The Trump administration ..[said].. the Smithsonian is too focused on “how bad slavery was.” [Kelsey Ables; White House threatens Smithsonian funds amid content review”; Washington Post; 12/22/25 ]
– “White House aid cuts hamper food shelves” [Trey Newes; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/24/25 ]

– “FDA firings decimate teams on med devices, disease, food safety”. [Christina Jewett; New York Times; 2/22/25 ]
– “Trump, Musk and Cruelty to Poor Kids” [ Gene Nichol; The Progressive Populist; 4/1/25 ]

*** ‘So long as little children are allowed to suffer, there is no true love in the world.” [ Isadora Duncan ]

5]. – “Trump Promised lower Prices. His Policies Are Raising Them” [ New York Times; Editorial; 11/23/25 ]
– “Trump calls affordability concerns ‘a con job'”. [ Erica Green; New York Times; 12/3/25 ]
– “Black Friday spending shows widening economic divide”. [ Abha Bhattarai; Washington Post; 12/10/25 ]; [Lower-and middle-income Americans have been hit hard by rising costs…For the first time, the top 10% of Americans account for nearly half of all spending..” ]
– “Launching Affordability Tour, Trump Mocks Affordability” [ Matt Viser; Washington Post; 12/11/25 ]: [“Trump …returned to a comment he made easrlier in his presidency, saying that Americans needed to go without.” ]

*** “Here we come a-caroling, among leaves so green, here we come a-wandering, so far to be seen; Love and joy come to you, and to you, and to you glad Christmas too, and God bless you and you, a Happy New Year, and God send you a Happy New Year.” [ “Here We Come A-caroling” ]

6] ‘…Donald’s pathologies are so complex and his behaviors so often inexplicable that coming up with an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis would require a full battery of psychological and neuropsychological tests..” [ niece Mary Trump: “Too Much and Never Enough” ]

***. “In the name of noble purposes men have committed unspeakable acts of cruelty against one another.” [ Senator J. William Fulbright. ]

7]. – “Domestic violence services at risk” [Briana Bierschbach; Minnesota Star Tribune; 2/25/25 ]
– “Consumer agency is ordered to stop work”. [ Christopher Rugaber; Associated Press; 2/10/25 ]
– “Vets are becoming face of Trump’s cuts, Dem’s fight”. [ Stephen Grover; Associated Press; 3/25/25 ]
– “Farmers are out millions after Trump freezes USDA funds”. [. Daniel Wu, Gaya Gupta, Anumita Kaur; Washington Post; 2/11/25 ]

***. “People who love people, are the luckiest people in the world. We”re children needing other children, and yet letting grown-up pride hide all the need inside, acting more like children than children.” [ Barbara Streisand; “People” ]

*** “I play to people’s fantasies. people may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts.” [ Donald John Trump: “The Art of The Deal” ]

This post is based on “Trump Falls Short Of Populist Rhetoric” New York Times 11/30/25 editorial. Excerpts below. Read the ENTIRE article.

1] “president Trump talks like an economic populist, forever promising to help consumers, small business owners and, especially, workers….declared himself “the champion of the American worker.” But in his second term, as in his first, Mr. Trump is failing to deliver on that talk.” [NOTE: he DID deliver for fellow billionaires by making his obscene 2017 tax cuts for them PERMANENT. ]

5] “One of the bitter lessons of the past century is that authoritarian regimes have often relied on the concentration of corporate power to consolidate political power. The consolidation of media ownership makes the government more powerful, because it is easier to pressure a few big companies than a fragmented host of independently owned stations.. That possibility is not merely theoretical when the president is attempting to intimidate the media in myriad ways.] [ Do YOU think at least part of Trump’s goal in defunding public radio and TV just might help achieve his aims to eliminate ALL independent groups who could oppose or refute him???????????????]

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

2] “The Trump administration is decimating the federal agencies that police corporations and protect workers and consumers…..under Mr. Trump, there is mounting evidence that the government is cynically wielding its antitrust authority – one of the most important checks on excesses of corporate power – as a means of punishing its enemies, rewarding its friends and consolidating Mr. Trump’s political authority.” [NOTE: read this again. This is WEAPONIZING government power against its citizens. Its also an open COUP against American democracy.]

3]. “None of that was regulation in the public interest…We agree with Anna M. Gomez, the sole Democrat on the F.C.C.’s board, who criticized the agency for “imposing never-before-seen controls over newsroom decisions and editorial judgment, in direct violation of the First Amendment and the law.” [Note: disabling the government from the inside]

4]. “..the F.C.C. is working to clear the way for a media merger that should have raised concerns about the concentration of corporate power….A company that owns a lot of TV stations can more easily..exert [control] over what Americans see on their TVs.” [Note”. do YOU think this is good for democracy???]

*** “Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.” [ Edmund Burke ]

6] “Outside the media, the Trump administration has shown little interest in curbing corporate power…..the Trump record is mostly disappointing….Hewlett Packard hired a number of lobbyists with close ties to mr. Trump, who negotiated with aides to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, bypassing the departments antitrust lawyers.”

7] “Regulators have also set aside efforts to protect workers and small businesses. {under Trump they abandoned Biden era rulings on ‘noncompete’ rules that protected workers by suppressing their wages]

8]. “..one of the Biden administration’s final acts of antitrust enforcement, the F.T.C. sued Pepsi, arguing that the company was offering better deals to Walmart than to smaller grocers….This spring, the F.T.C. dismissed the Pepsi lawsuit.” [Note; is it possible that Walmart can offer lower prices because of. unseen government aid, just asking, YOU tell me………….]

*** Trump: “I have an Article II, where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” [George Will: “Dismal marks, only two months in”; Washington post Weekly; 3/23/25}

9] “congress enacted the nation’s antitrust laws to ensure that private power did not become so concentrated as to threaten the public interest. Government took the side of the people against the powerful.”………. Under the cover of populist rhetoric, Mr. Trump is subverting the nation’s long-standing commitment to those principles. In his hands, laws created to limit the concentration of economic and political power are being used to further its concentration. This administration is not governing in the interest of the people. It is acting in the interest of Mr. Trump.”

***. “The public be damned.” [ William H. Vanderbilt ]

*** “They who possess the prince possess the laws.” [ John Dryden ]

Do YOUR own, FACTUAL, research. WHY do many experts, historians, analysts. [REAL ones, not R-W hacks] say the United States is on the verge, or is IN a second “Gilded Age”????? [the 1865-1901 era of MASSIVE and unrestricted GREED and CORRUPTION. At the end abetted by the “Lochner” era Supreme Court – which leads YOU to research the corrupt Roberts ‘court’ track record of favoring big business and trhe rich – see ‘Citizens United” and more]
ALL of this has been, is being, done under Republican control and “justices.” The elections of 2026 may be YOUR last chance to save American democracy – by restoring what the Founders WANTED, created – when they instituted “checks and balances.” If YOU elect ANY Republicans in 2026 – YOU are giving King Donald I two more years to complete the Trump DICTATORSHIP, and corporate control over YOUR life.

*** “Power must never be trusted without a check.” [ John Adams; Founder; 2nd U.S. President ]

*** “The true test of a good government is its aptitude and tendency to produce a good administration.” {Alexander Hamilton; Founder; Washington administration official]

***”The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”
[ James Madison, Founding Father, Fourth U. S. President; Federalist #47 ]

[NOTE: This post is from a New York Times editorial, 11/2/25; “Are We Losing Our Democracy” – excerpts presented here. READ THE ENTIRE EDITORIAL – if YOU care about whether America will have a REAL democracy on January 20, 2029. If TYOU happen to be a Trump supporter, then YOUR challenge is to examine each accusation – WHY is this said, what are the undisputed facts of consensus Americans – not just in your bubble?

“Countries that slide from democracy toward autocracy tend to follow similar patterns. To measure what is happening in the United States, the Times editorial board has complied a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion, with help from scholars who have studies this phenomenon. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.

“No. 1 An Authoritarian Stifles Dissent And Speech. Trump Has Started To……The Bottom Line…His evident goal is to cause Americans to fear they will pay a price for criticizing him, his allies or his agenda.”

“No. 2 An Authoritarian Persecutes Political Opponents. Trump Has……The Bottom Line…he has already targeted his opponents with legal persecution in shocking ways.”

“No. 3 An Authoritarian Bypasses The Legislature. Trump Has Started To……The Bottom Line. Mr. Trump has defied the Constitution by trampling on Congress’s power of the purse.”

“No. 4. An Authoritarian Uses The Military For Domestic Control…..The Bottom Line…..his willingness to use it as he has – and his threats to expand that use….”

“No. 5. An Authoritarian Defies The Courts. Trump Has Started To……The Bottom Line…the court’s reluctance to restrain him appears to have emboldened him to sidestep lower court orders he does not like.”

“No. 6. An Authoritarian Declares National Emergencies On False Pretenses. Trump Has……The Bottom Line Mr. Trump’s willingness to kill people without due proces…represents one of his most extreme abuses of power. It raises the prospect that he may expand the use of emergency power to other areas, including domestic law enforcement.”

“No. 7. An Authoritarian Vilifies Marginalized Groups. Trump Has. The Bottom Line. Mr. Trump is borrowing from the autocrat’s playbook by suggesting that some citizens are legitimate and others are second-class.”

“No. 8 An Authoritarian Controls Information And The News Media. Trump Has Started To……The Bottom Line. In place of an independent and free press, Mr. Trump evidently hopes to create a shadow ecosystem willing to promote his interests and talking points.”

“No. 9 An Authoritarian Tries To Take Over Universities. Trump Has Started To……The Bottom Line….Initially, some universities seemed as if they might simply submit to Mr. Trump’s demands. More recently, several showed more willingness to resist, rejecting a proposal that would have rewarded them financially for adopting Trump-friendly policies.”

“No. 10 An Authoritarian Creates A Cult Of Personality……The Bottom Line. The Trump cult of personality plays into his claims – common among authoritarians – that he possesses a unique ability to solve the country’s problems.”

“No. 11 An Authoritarian Uses Power For Personal Profit. Trump Has……The Bottom line. Mr. Trump’s culture of corruption may resemble the behavior of foreign autocrats more closely than any other category on this list. he is using what rightly belongs to American citizens – the power and resources of our democratic government – to enrich himself, and he is not trying to hide it.”

“No. l2 An Authoritarian Manipulates The Law To Stay In Power. Trump Has Started To…….The Bottom Line. Even if he backs away from any scheme to serve more than two presidential terms, Mr. Trump’s attempts to tilt the electoral field in favor of Republicans is anti-democratic and could pervert American elections for years.”

*** “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it…” {Judge Learned Hand]

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

SO – Mr. and Mrs. American. – what are YOU. going to do about the obvious, blatant, theft of YOUR. DEMOCRACY. in plain sight??????

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

!!!!! – Headlines – from just ONE DAY! – reveal part of the Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness of the Trump DICTATORSHIP – Thursday, October 9, 2025:

1] “Canceled energy projects to hike costs…Trump’s funding cuts likely to end up hurting ratepayers, officials say” [Kristoffer Tigue; Minnesota Star Tribune]: “That’s because Minnesota’s transmission projects, which are part of a larger initiative to add transmission lines across seven states, will have to be built anyway.”

2]. “25% of FBI agents now diverted to immigration” [Perry Stein; Washington Post]: “The intense focus on immigration has raised alarm among current and former FBI agents who say morale is low across the bureau as agents have less time to dedicate to the often complex cases they were hired to work on.
“Agents have been pulled from duties related to cybercrimes, drug trafficking, terrorism, counterintelligence, and more.” ………
“We are weakening ourselves by the day, said Chris O’Leary, a former FBI senior executive and special agent.”
[NOTE: this is NOT THE FIRST concern on this – America’s defense against our REAL enemies – China, Russia – are being sabotaged. The public does NOT realize how DEEP and BROAD Trump’s administration has hurt American national security.]

3] “Fossil fuel firms get special treatment…As White House blocks renewables, coal and oil get ‘concierge’ service.” [Jake Spring; Washington Post]: “Trump wants to boost production of oil, gas, coal and critical minerals that align with his policy favoring fossil fuels to address his self-declared national energy emergency.” [NOTE: what is China doing? What does SERIOUS research say the FUTURE is going to require???]

4] “Nearly 300 Defense Dept. employees targeted over Kirk…Hegseth ordered probe into whether any online comments were critical” [Noah Robertson, Tara Copp; Washington Post]: “The sweeping, ongoing inquiry..follows an extraordinary directive by the department’s political leadership to silence criticism of a prominent, polarizing figure who was unabashed in his views and fervent support for President Donald Trump.”….
“..deepens alarm over the former Fox News personality’s stewardship of the military, whose personnel are expected to remain loyal to the Constitution, not any one party or president.” [NOTE: THIS is the Trump DICTATORSHIP in action]

5]. “James Comey pleads not guilty…His lawyers say case is vindictive prosecution against critic of Trump” [Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Kunzelman; The Associated Press]: “..the case has amplified concerns the Justice Department is being weaponized in pursuit of the Republican president’s political enemies and is operating at the behest of an administration determined to seek retribution.” [NOTE; what’s the difference between this and Stalin, Hitler, Putin, Communist China???]

*****. “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 leader while at the same time drumming up animosity toward the media.” [Steven Hassan: “The Cult of Trump”]

6]. “Trump” Pritzker ‘should be in jail’…Illinois governor decries “path to full-blown authoritarianism.’ [Michelle Price, Sophia Tareen; The Associated Press]: “The Republican president made the comment in a social media post, the latest example of his brazen calls for his Democratic opponents to be prosecuted or locked up – a break from longtime norms as the Justice Department traditionally has strived to maintain its independence from the White House.”

7]. “U.S. soybean farmers race to harvest but have few buyers…China, normally the biggest customer, has booked no shipments.” [Michael Hirtzer, Erin Ailworth; Bloomberg News]: “Soybeans are typically America’s most-valued agricultural export.” [NOTE: Trump’s tariffs in action. As farmers and economists have said; once you lose markets, they may be difficult to regain.]

*****. “More surprising than Trump’s lack of knowledge of geopolitics is his ignorance of economics, the field in which he was given a bachelor’s degree.” [D.C. Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You think”]

JUDGING A PRESIDENT: Start with the Constitution. The Founders said American government’s purpose is; ‘..form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, secure ther Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity…”

SO – individually, and collectively, ignoring what Trump SAYA. – what exactly is the REALITY of his actions – rhetoric, policies, programs, laws, executive orders???

Look at the 7 actions of just this one day. – in one or more ways. – EVERY one of the 7 Trump actions FAILS the test of the Constitution. They may make his ‘base” happy, they may make authors of “Project 2025″ happy, they may make his billionaire donors and friends happy. The United States is. NOT a better, more prosperous, more ‘democratic” nation because of Trump’s actions above; nor did Trump leave America a better country when he left office in January, 2021; nor have his actions in 2025. “made America great again.”

According to current statistics, 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck; the economy is being driven by top 20% spending; 50% of ALL U.S. spending is by the top 10%; 80% fell ‘squeezed;” 70% question ‘the American Dream;” inequality is statistically getting worse. NOTHING Trump has done even attempts to lessen this distress.

Trump’s biggest first term “achievement’ was an IMMORAL tax cut for the rich – now 25% of U.S. national debt. in his second term, he demanded a Republican Congress make that immorality PERMANENT. YOU tell me – how does this tax cut for the already obscenely rich ‘..promote the general Welfare..”???????????

***** “The governments of the past could fairly be characterized as devices for maintaining in perpetuity the place and position of certain privileged classes, without any ultimate protection for the rights of the people. The Government of the United States is a device fro maintaining in perpetuity the rights of the people, with the ultimate extinction of all privileged classes.” [ Calvin Coolidge, Republican 30th president, 1924 ]

*** “Today, as in ages past, we are not without tragic proof that the exulted power of some governments to punish manufactured crime dictatorially is the handmaid of tyranny.” [ Justice Hugo Black ]

1] “The first 100 days of President Trump’s second term did more damage to American democracy than anything else since the demise of Reconstruction. Mr. Trump is attempting to create a presidency unconstrained by Congress or the courts, in which he and his appointees can override written law when they want to. It is precisely that autocratic approach that this nation’s founders sought to prevent when writing the Constitution.” [ “Fight Like Our Democracy Depends On It.”; Editorial; New York Times; 5/4/25 ]

***. “The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us. But, we don’t ask for their love; only for their fear.” [ Heinrich Himmler; Nazi Reichsfuhrer – SS ]

2] “Control has been a relentless focus of the second Trump administration. And Mr. Trump’s efforts to assert that control at home draw on the security infrastructure the United States built to impose its will abroad. Deportations and policing have been militarized and supported by big data. Legal authorities designed to confront enemies beyond our borders have been enlisted to justify actions within them. Threats of crime are hyped far out of proportion…The othering previously reserved for jihadists or communists is applied to immigrants and the “radical left.”….The empire came home.” [ Ben Rhodes: “Britain Offers a Warning of What America could Become”; New York Times; 9/21/25 ]

*** “We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected…When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.” [Russell Vought; Trump administration official; “Project 2025” author]

3] “The events of the past week in Virginia mark a dark new stage in President Trump’s effort to turn federal law enforcement into a personal tool of oppression and vengeance. He is undermining a core premise of the American justice system: the fair and equal enforcement of the law.”…
“He has removed any pretense that the law is blind. As despots have done for centuries, he is persecuting people he considers his enemies, with little justification other than raw political power. It is reminiscent of the old royal notion…I am the state..”……[ “Comey’s Indictment Signals A Grave New Chapter”; Editorial; New York Times; 9/28/25 ]

*** “Decency, security and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fail to observe the law scrupulously….If the Government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.” [ Justice Louis Brandeis ]

4]. “We have seen much debate over the merits and timing of a legal case against Mr. Comey… but any such discussion misses the most important point: We don’t want to live in a country where the president dictates, publicly or privately, who should be targeted by federal prosecutors and then pressures any prosecutor unwilling to bring said politically motivated charges.”……..
“Step by step, action by action, Mr. Trump has been trying to turn the Justice Department and the F.B.I. into political weapons that target whom he tells them to. The weaponization of federal criminal charges against political enemies stands as one of the most alarming signs of mr. Trump’s creeping authoritarian tendencies.” [ Garrett m. Graff: “After Comey, Who Will Be The President’s Next Target?”; New York Times; 9/27/25 ]

*** “There can be no free society without law administered through an independent judiciary. if one man can be allowed to determine for himself what is the law, every man can. That means first chaos, then tyranny. Legal process is an essential part of the democratic process.” [. Justice Felix Frankfurter ]

5]. “The ouster on Friday of the federal prosecutor who failed to charge two of President Trump’s most-reviled adversaries was a huge blow to the Justice Department’s teetering tradition of independence, showing how far Mr. Trump has gone in exerting personal control over the institution.”….
“… the move strikes at the nuts-and-bolts foundations of the criminal justice system. It seems intended both to create a frictionless path for prosecutions of those who have run afoul of Mr. Trump and perhaps to provide the White House with a tool it could use to set aside or slow cases it would like to see disappear.” [ Alan Feuer, Glenn Thrush, Maggie Haberman, Devlin Barrett: “Ouster Pushes Justice Dept. Closer to Cliff”; New York Times; 9/21/25 ]

*** “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be not to trust no man living with the power to endanger the public liberty.” [ John Adams, 2nd president ]

6]. “”The push for the indictment trampled over the agency’s long tradition of maintaining distance from the White House and resisting political pressure, and it raised the prospect of further arbitrary prosecutions pushed by Mr. Trump against his enemies…the break-glass moment…”
“The rush to prosecute Mr. Comey was the clearest example yet of how the normal process of justice has been reversed under mr.cTrump, showing how the president came into his second term with targets already in mind…”
[ Alan Feuer, Jonnah Bromwich, Maggie Haberman: “A Presidency of Reprisal Tramples on Safeguards”; New York Times; 9/27/25 ]

***. “Obstacles do not exist to be surrendered to, but only to be broken.” [ Adolf Hitler ]

7]. “We are now seeing that such painstakingly built institutions are remarkably fragile. Historian and philosopher Yuval Harari centered his panoramic book about the history of mankind, “Sapiens,” on the idea that the foundation of civilization is no more than a collection of stories…….. Similarly, all institutions consist of just a fragile belief in our heads. The rule of law, democracy, civil rights, the United States itself? Just thoughts in our heads……… If people stop believing in the fair, independent enforcement of laws that apply to everyone, why should anyone follow the law?
“Our choice now is whether we allow ourselves to get used to the corrosive idea of legally sanctioned favoritism and retribution. Or whether we hold fast to the thought of America as a principled, just, law-based country.” [Bruce Peterson: “Institutions are fragile, as recent Trump moves show”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 9/25/25 ] {Note: Peterson is a senior district judge]

*** “The doctrine of the separation of powers was adopted..not to promote efficiency but to preclude the exercise of arbitrary power. The purpose was, not to avoid friction, but by means of the inevitable friction incident to the distribution of the governmental powers among three departments, to save the people from autocracy.” [ Justice Louis Brandeis ]

America is NOW closer to theocratic plutocracy and/or dictatorship than ever. THIS is what the people above just told YOU. Read about “Project 2025″ – the FAR RIGHT blueprint for all this, created by the POWER BEHIND TRRUMP. Research the decisions made by the CORRUPT Roberts ‘court.” Look at Trump’s DEMAND for red state redistricting. YOU are witnessing a COUP by TEAM REPUBLICAN. Speak up – while you still can. Protest. Vote the CORRUPT Republicans out in 2026 – because that MAT BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. American democracy is dying right in front of you – and WILL, if YOU just sit there…………….

***** “When the rights of any individual or group are chipped away, the freedom of all erodes.” [Earl Warren]

Look around YOU, at daily headlines!!! American freedoms, YOUR freedoms, are being chipped away – issue after issue, group after group. If YOU don’t fit the “Trump vision” of what “loyal” American is – YOU are a candidate for legal action against YOU.

In how many ways is the Trump administration trying to censor information, to rewrite American history? – changing signs in national parks, changing ow the Smithsonian operates, deleting information from government websites, attacking universities, dictating PUBLIC school curriculum, attacking journalists, attacking judges………..

1] Read Jason Stanley’s. “Erasing History…How Fascists…Rewrite…The Past…To control…The Future.” Or – read “1984,”

Or – study how Stalinist Russia, Nazi Germany, Communist China….have done this in REAL LIFE.



*** “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, U.S. President]





People in 2025 America. ARE living in fear – many different categories for different reasons. THAT has been an ANNOUNCED goal of the Trump administration.

2] Remember this – there were at least 6 major badges in Auschwitz: red for “politicals,” green for “criminals,” pink for homosexuals, black for “anti-socials,” purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, yellow for Jews. [Peter Padfield; “Himmler”]

The Trump administration has now DONE what it said a previous administration did: WEAPONIZE the federal government AGAINST the American people. Look at what and WHO is favored, NOT attacked or persecuted. THEN – look at what or WHO IS attacked or persecuted. Things that support average Americans like YOU are attacked – grants to build infrastructure, support public education, support science; student loans [this recall process could ripple through the economy]; a rational and fair tax structure; the dispensing of critical information [weather, economic data]; crippled and withheld; changing voting rules, practices, laws;…and much more…………

*** “Those who suppress freedom always do so in the name of law and order.” [John Lindsay]

3] CORRUPTING the 2026 congressional elections !!!!!!!!!!!! – Right in YOUR face !!!!!!!!!
A] Trump DEMANDED that Texas re-do its congressional election districts in order to FIND ways to CREATE 5 safe Republican seats – and, of course, Texas Republicans followed their marching orders from Der Leader. So now – either Democrats accept this corruption. – or. – they fight back. – producing a “race to the bottom”. -which threatens American democracy.
B} Read daily headlines of this Trump-ordered CORRUPTION – “Trump to target mail-in voting’ [Dylan Wells; Washington Post; 8/19/25]: “…Trump in a series of misleading statements….another sign Trump is trying to alter the rules around voting….falsely claiming….widespread fraud….The Constitution does not allow the president to direct states what to do, as Trump falsely claimed….he has used the method himself..” [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
C] Read “Project 2026…Trump’s Plan To Hijack The Next Election” [Ari Berman: Mother Jones; September-October, 2025}
D}. Research “gerrymander” – since 1812 recognized as a CORRUPT election maneuver – and, of course, ther CORRUPT Roberts “court” refused to rule it out !!!!!!!!!!

Read and listen to daily headlines on REAL mainstream news, U.S. and foreign. Donald Trump and the Rasputins around him, many from “Project 2025,” are carrying out the long-range plans of the FAR RIGHT – read how they planned it:
– “Evil Geniuses” [Kurt Andersen]; “The Conspiracy To End America” [Stuart Stevens]; “Democracy In Chains [Nancy MacLean]; “Dark Money” [Jane Mayer]: “Antidemocratic: Inside the Far Right’s 50-Year Plan To Control American Elections” [David Daley]; “Vigilante Nation” {Jon Michaels, David Knoll]; “On Tyranny” [Timothy Snyder]; “How Fascism Works” [Jason Stanley]; “Twilight of Democracy” [Anne Applebaum]

*** “We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentration in the hands of a few. but we can’t have both.” [Justice Lous Brandeis]

*** “You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom. You can only be free if I am free.” [Clarence Darrow]

True, real, American democracy now hangs by an increasingly threatened narrow thread. – what are YOU going to do to protect YOUR freedom – and that of YOUR children and of YOUR grandchildren ????????????

*** “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.” [Dante Alighieri]