*** “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…………….
Tag: democracy
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, LVI – Trump’s DICTATORSHIP is Created Right Before YOUR Eyes
***** “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]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, LIII – Trump Sabotages America by Destroying Truth and Trust
***** “To this day, the lies, misrepresentations, and fabrications that are the sum total of who my uncle is are perpetrated by the Republican Party and white evangelical Christians.” [Mary Trump: “Too Much and Never Enough”]
As Trump’s niece relates, Trump grew up being allowed to lie; often creates his own reality. Those “alternate facts” were one thing in his business career, they are quite another when this flawed person is again president of the United States. Below are just four recent examples of how Trump’s war on truth sabotages America, at home and abroad.
A]. “In Trump’s World, Wild Numbers Are Real If He Says They Are” [Naftali Bendavid; Washington Post; 8/3/25]
1]. “president Donald Trump made a promise..for Republican lawmakers that was as impossible as it was specific: He would drive down drug prices by as much as 1,500%…A price cannot drop by more than 100%..”
2]. “The cost of gasoline had fallen to $1.99 a gallon in five states, he said; according to AAA, it was more than $3 in every state..”
3]. “Businesses had invested $16 trillion in America in the past four months, he added; the entire U.S. economy last year was worth less than $30 trillion.”
!!!!! – these three Trump lies were all said at ONE sitting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4]. “He uses statistics less as a factual statement of, ‘Here is what the best data says,” and more as rhetorical construct to sell an idea….He will choose a statistic based on what he thinks he can credibly say..” [Robert Rowland, University of Kansas communication professor]. [MEANING – how BIG a lie he can tell]
***** “Donald has always been able to get away with making blanket statements {“I know more about [fill in the blank] than anybody…he’s been allowed to riff about nuclear weapons, trade with China, and other things about which he knows nothing..” [ Mary Trump: “Too Much and Never Enough”]
B} “Trump erodes trust by firing labor-data official” [John Rash: Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/5/25]
1]. “Rather than reflect on employer uncertainty from policy prescriptions he’d implemented…Trump took to social media to claim the jb numbers were “RIGGED in order to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad.” The president, predictably, offered no evidence, because there is nine.”
2]. “Firing the labor statistician delivering the data is akin to breaking the thermometer because of a heat wave. Which..is what the administration is also doing regarding global warming..”
3]. “the latest episode was “a sad and tragic day. This ws a country, until last Friday, which consistently provided the highest quality statistics.. This firing signals to me that we are well on our way to becoming a country where the government is not to be trusted, statistics are not to be trusted, nobody is to be trusted.” [ University of Minnesota economics professor V.V. Chari]
4]. “..Publisher’s Weekly reported that during inauguration week last January, sales of “1984” increased 192%..While another Orwellian warning, “Animal Farm,” rose 136%..readers turning to Orwell’s classic novels to better understand current events.”
5]. “The current event Chari fears? “We are becoming a dictatorship in might quick time.”
***** “From his childhood..to his early forays into the New York real estate world and high society until today, Donald’s aberrant behavior has been consistently normalized by others.” [Mary Trump; “Too Much and Never Enough”]
C]. “Park signs about Indian history at risk” [Dee DePass; Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/5/25]
1]. “Federal officials are reviewing whether to remove books and signs with historical references to the harsh treatment of Native Americans from Minnesota’s national park sites.”
2]. Signs in national parks “..asked visitors to alert the government “of any signs or other information that are negative about either the past or living Americans” in support of Trump’s executive order called “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” [!!! as in “1984,” Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany !!!!! – as in WHO. decides?????}
3] A resistance campaign, “Save our signs’. has so far acquired over 3,000 photos from the public to be used after Trump is gone – and truth returns. [ as in slaves did NOT “enjoy” slavery ]
***** “It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion.” [Joseph Goebbels]
D] “Trump’s trade deman: Pledge money or get higher tariffs” [Alan Rappeport; New York Times; 8/5/25]
1] “President Donald Trump’s tariff threats have turned into a play for cold, hard cash as he tries to leverage U.S. economic power to cajole other nations to make multi-billion dollar investments to maintain access to America’s market.”
2]. “To trade experts..raise the question of whether Trump is negotiating with trading partners or trade hostages. “This is no doubt a global shakedown of sorts,” said Scott Lincicome {of the} Cato Institute.”
3]. There are many questions about what “commitments” mean. “Donald Trump is a gifted storyteller, and I think when his counterparts recognize this, they can play to it,’ Ames said. “If you’re negotiating with a narcissist, you look for ways to make them feel like they’ve won.” [Chinese “commitments” to buy American farm products in Trump’s first term “were never met.”]
*****”A lie once told remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.” [Joseph Goebbels]
e]. “In Trump’s world {lies} are standard operating procedure. When lies are repeated, they have the effect of shutting down critical thinking – people turn a blind eye to the lie and to the truth. When a once respected and trusted sources of news are called fake or the enemy of the people, people are put into a double bind. They are discouraged from trying to reality check – they might even feel it is a betrayal to their allegiance to Trump to try to do so.” [Steven Hassan: “The Cult Of Trump”; Free Press; 2019]
***** “Trust is the foundation of leadership.” [Colin Powell]
***** “The object of the superior mind is truth.” [Confucius]
***** “Trust is the glue that holds government together.” [Gerald Ford]
The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXXXVII – Will We Have A Real Deomcracy on 1/20/2029 ???
*** “At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us….If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.” [ Abraham Lincoln ]
America is a different society, a different country, than it was in 2015. America has been INFECTED with a destructive virus: antidemocracyism. Calculating and cynical forces have been unleashed. Hatred, greed, suspicion have been unleashed. Religious intolerance, masquerading as “religious freedom,” has been unleashed. YOU have been told to be afraid – of “them.” The mass middle class prosperity of 1947-73 has been DELIBERATELY DESTROYED. Norms of decency and respect for others have been destroyed. “Democracy” isn’t just rules and laws. “Democracy” used to be how we as Americans treated each other. “Democracy” is intent to “..promote the general Welfare..” America is not, never has been perfect – but from 1901-1980, America was, BY INTENT, taking strides toward achieving a real Democracy. But – step-by-step, since 1981, mass democracy – one that tried to “..promote the general Welfare..”, has been DELIBERATELY SABOTAGED. By whom ???
By. TEAM FAR RIGHT – by “supreme court” corruption, by tax laws favoring already obscenely rich, by a coordinated propaganda war to convince YOU that black is white, by legislation at state and federal levels taking away 1901-1980 democratic reforms.
Since 2015 – all this deliberate antidemocratic destruction has been on steroids. A man whom some have called “a fascist to the core,” “a moron,’ “a flawed person,” a man whom many describe as having two priorities: greed and revenge – has been INFECTING America with his warped conduct; most especially with his LYING; his often monumental cruelty; his poisonous rhetoric; his transactional conduct; a man who has desecrated the office once held by Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Eisenhower; a man whi has weakened the very soul of America.
*** “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 ]
{Note: following are excerpts from David Brooks’ May, 2025, The Atlantic article: “Everything We Once Believed In…Trumpism has replaced conservatism’s core values with just one: the raw pursuit of power.” As an American, YOU OWE it to yourself to read the entire article. ]:
1]. “I have thought of America as a deeply flawed nation that is nonetheless a force of tremendous good in the world…Since January 0, 2025.. I have watched America behave vilely…the best description for what I”m feeling is moral shame: To watch the loss of your nation’s honor is embarrassing and painful. George Orwell is a useful guide to what we are witnessing.”
2]. “Russell Vought, Donald Trump’s budget director, sounds like he walked straight out of ..”1984″…”we want them to not want to go to work, because they are increasingly viewed as the villains…We want to put them in trauma.”…Trump has caused suffering…..suffering…..suffering…..Trump..isn’t just declaring war on ‘wokeness”; he’s declaring war on Christian service – on any kind of service, really.”
3]. “If there is an underlying philosophy driving Trump, it is this: Morality is for suckers. The strong do what they want…Day after day, the administration works to create a world where ruthless people can thrive…His first term gradually eroded norms and acclimatized America to a new sort of regime…he’s making the globe a playground for gangsters…Trumpism has become a form of nihilism that is devouring everything in its path.”
4] “..Trump may have campaign as a MAGA populist..he governs as a Palm Beach elitist…The MAGA elite rode to power on working-class votes…they don’t care about the working class…Trump and his crew could have taken office with actual plans to make life better for working-class Americans…These faux populists have no interest in that.”
5]. “It turns out..when you mix narcissism and nihilism, you create an acid that corrodes every belief system it touches. This Trumpian cocktail has eaten away at Christianity…if Trumpianism has a central tenet, it is untrammeled lust for worldly power….The Nietzschean Ubermenschen – which Trump and Musk clearly believe themselves to be – offer the premise of domination over those sick sentimentalists who practice compassion.”
6]. “Trumpian nihilism has eviscerated conservatism. The people in this administration are not conservatives…Trumpism trashes moral norms in every direction…Trump bulldozes checks and balances…the Trump administration couldn’t care less about promoting democracy – or about human dignity.”
7]. “..we have reached a point of traumatic rupture. A demagogue has come to power and is ripping everything down..what’s likely to happen is..the demagogue will start making mistakes, because incompetence is built into the nihilistic project…Authoritarian nihilism is inherently stupid…They are pathologically self-destructive. When you create an administration in which one man has all the power and everybody else has to flatter his voracious ego, stupidity results. Authoritarians are also morally stupid. Humility, prudence, and honesty..are practical tools that produce good outcomes. When you replace them with greed, lust, hypocrisy, and dishonesty, terrible things happen…. When Trump creates an unnecessary crisis, its unlikely to be a small one.”
8]. ‘..although Trumpism’s collapse is a necessary condition for national recovery, it is not a sufficient one. Its demise must be followed by the hard work necessary to achieve true civic and political renewal.” [ Brooks provides six things America must do to repair the damage to US that Trumpism has caused. ]
Think of Trumpism as a plague, a pandemic. It has attacked the body of American democracy. America will NOT. BE. HEALTHY. until the last vestiges of Trumpism have been expunged. The cure will be more democracy. It will be a return to what was achieved between 1947-1980 economically – a SHARING of America’s wealth, NOT tax cuts for the rich. It will be a return to government that cares about ordinary people – NOT one that cuts funding for health, education, government services. Itr will be one in which civil rights are once again available to ALL Americans – a simple decency, one that thinks most people are good, NOT “bad.” It will be a society in which WE strive for love and respect – NOT one in which some people get rich by promoting hatred, some get rich by LYING and spreading falsehoods.
Donald Trump has been a cancer. America will not be healthy as long as he and his disciples have ANY power, are listened to by ANYBODY. Trump as president isn’t just a NIGHTMARE – him being elected twice is an embarrassment. People around the world look at America differently BECAUSE ‘we’ elected him. What is wrong with the Americans? How could they have been so stupid?
But – unfortunately, Trump isn’t alone. The greatest mass murders of al, time – Stalin, Hitler, Mao – didn’t kill millions. Their followers did. Trump hasn’t murdered American democracy by himself – his followers, his enablers, his funders, his apologists did. The beginning of the end of the Trumpian nightmare MUST start with individual acts of courage from people like YOU. Must continue with the 2026 elections. Must continue until no fragment of the Trumpian virus infects OUR society and government. The post- World War II Germans have shown us how it can be done. WE can do this. BUT – let YOUR voice be heard, please.
*** “The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain neutrality in times of moral crisis.”
[. Dante Alighieri ]
The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXV – “PROJECT 2025”
***** “During the 20th century, America managed to make the economic and social systems both more and more
fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. Incomes rose in
sync. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war
conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right-wing zealots,
the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The
clock was turned back on a century of progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market
all powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests.”
[ Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” ]
If YOU are a patriotic American who loves YOUR country for what it used to be: a mass middle class society focused on democracy – then you. MUST read about. ‘PROJECT 2025″. – the FAR RIGHT plan to erase much of the 20th century progress toward a REAL democracy in order to build a theocratic oligarchy [ a real life “Gilead” ].
Find critical analysis that gets YOU past the opaque and euphemistic language of “Project 2025’s” authors, many of whom are NOW in the Trump administration, some in VERY key positions.
I*ve just finished David Graham’s. “The Project’. l35 pages], excerpts appear here. Also: Bryan Woodward’s “Project 2025 Explained Chapter By Chapter” [135 pages], and Lois Alarcon’s “Project 2025…An Objective Analysis.”
1] “Project 2025 is a skeleton key for understanding the second Trump presidency – as well as the future of the Republican Party and the American right….Project 2025 is a scheme to massively expand the power of the president….Three-quarters of the authors and contributors worked in the first Trump administration….thirty-seven of forty-seven executive actions taken in Trump’s first few days back in office directly or partially matched recommendations in “Project 2025.” [ David Graham: “The Project” ]
******* “Pushed by relatively small members of radical-right billionaires and millionaires who have become profoundly
hostile to America’s modern system of government, an apparatus decades in the making, funded by those
same billionaires and millionaires, has been working to undermine the normal governance of our democracy
…one such manifesto calls for a ‘hostile takeover” of Washington, D.C.”
[ Nancy MacLean: “Democracy In Chains” ]
2] “What sets “Project 2025” apart..and makes it important to take seriously and comprehend is its detailed scheme for execution….Russell Vought [2024 speech]: “We have detailed agency plans..We are writing the actual executive orders. We are writing the actual regulations now, and we are sorting out the legal authorities for all of what President Trump is running on.” [ Grahame: “The Project” ]. [!!!!! is he saying that Trump is a trained seal?????]
***** “Heritage started publishing papers and making arguments to the right of the conservative mainstream – turning
Social Security into an optional system….”We are different from previous generations of conservatives”, one of the
cofounders, Paul Weyrich, explained later. “We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure of
the country.”….Heritage’s ultra-conservatives encompassed the two big strange-bedfellow constituencies of the
Republican right, the libertarians and the uncomfortable-with-liberty fundamentalist Christians.”
{ Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” ]
3]. “Project 2025 will guide Trump’s dismantling of democracy” [St. Louis Post editorial; 7/18/24]: “The [Heritage’s] president, Kevin Roberts, said in a recent interview..the..project..will drive ‘a second American revolution” – one that ‘will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”…..Consider some of “Project 2025’s” specific recommendations:…. place much of the federal bureaucracy, currently made up primarily of nonpolitical civil servants, under the direct control of the president…..greatly expand the role of the U.S. military on domestic soil…..turn the civil-rights function of the Department of Justice on its head…..turn the FBI into little more than a personal police force for the president…..aggressively turn back the clock on environmental and climate programs..”
***** “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.” [ Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis ]
4] From “The Project” [ Graham ], various things YOU may care about [read this very carefully!!!]: “What we’re trying to od is idnetify the pockets of independence and seize them.”……”We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.”…..”..an America where..sex is closely policed, public schools don’t exist, and justice is harsh, all in accordance with fundamentalist Christian principles..”…..”..privatize Medicare, slash Medicaid, and limit federal protections for patients.”…..”..ensure that far fewer people enter the country, both legally and illegally..”…..”..shifting to a consumption tax..” [note: HIGHLY regressive]…..”..cut regulations wherever possible.”…..”..privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac..”…..politicize the Census Bureau…..”..abandon practically all federal efforts at combating climate change..”….”..privatization of N.O.A.A…”……….
***** “The accumulation of all powers, 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; Federalist #47 ]
5]. “Trump wants to be king, Russ Vought has a plan to make it happen.” {Isabella Dias; “The Architect”; Mother Jones; November-December, 2024]: “Vought could be one of the key figures leading us into a new and violently authoritarian future.”
Still having trouble believing the above – a small fraction of the evidence, then consider the following;
1]. This coup by far right millionaires is NOT THE FIRST ATTEMPT!!!!!! – Read and research “The Plot To Seize The White House” [ Jules Archer ] – about the July – November, 1933 plot. See McCormack-Dickstein Committee hearings begun in November, 1934, and a report of February, 1935.
2]. Research support given the Nazis before and during World War II – “Trading With The Enemy’ [Charles Higham], and “IBM And The Holocaust” [Edwin Black]. If American business people could support Hitler, why not other things…????
The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XVII – One Week’s Damage!!!
The following is a review of one week’s damage to America and YOU by the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY as reported by the New York Times in their “The Week In Trump” series of one-week of their destruction.
March 28 – “Reiterated his desire to take the territory of Greenland, saying the United States “cannot do without it’
– “Laid out plans to effectively eliminate U.S.A.I.D. by moving the agency under the State Department and reducing its staff to some 15 positions”. [thus crippling an American “soft power” effort around the world!]
– “Said he picked a conservative journalist and Fox News contributor to be his ‘drug czar'” [?qualifications?]
– “Pardoned Trevor Miller, the founder of the Nikola Corporation, an electric truck manufacturer that went bankrupt [Milton had been sentenced for securities & wire fraud; Trump claimed his conviction was political]
– “Commuted the sentence of a media executive convicted of fraud, on the day he was set to surrender to prison [he’d been sentenced to almost 10 years for defrauding investors & lenders]
March 29 – “Fired nearly all U.S.-based staff at the Institute of Peace” [an independent nonprofit]
– “Said he wouldn’t fire the officials involved in a leaked Signal chat” [which disturbed U.S. allies for its incompetence]
– ‘Said he ‘couldn’t care less’ if car prices went up in response to his tariffs”. [meaning he doesn’t care about YOU]
March 30 – “Gave Elon Musk’s cost cutters access to a federal payroll system” [ and sensitive data like YOUR Social Security number]
– “Suggested imposing so-called secondary tariffs on Iran and possibly bombing the country if Tehran didn’t make a nuclear deal”. [like maybe the one Trump killed himself earlier???????]
– “Fired two longtime career prosecutors in Los Angeles and Memphis” [because Trump knows more about u.S. law?]
– “Said he was serious about running for a third term in office” [because he had ‘methods’ to circumvent the U.S. constitution – is the Trump DICTATORSHIP official now?????????]
March 31 – “Admitted that the U.S. has deported a legal immigrant because of an ‘administrative error'” [ Trump also Aclaimed American courts lacked jurisdiction to stop him – is the Trump DICTATORSHIP official now????]
– “Said the administration would relax limits on pollution from cars, saying the move wouldn’t make a difference to the environment” [ because Trump “knows’ decades of science have proved him wrong?????]
– “Made a DOGE employee the new acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace” [“qualified’ because he helped take it over earlier !!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
– “Nominated Anthony D’Esposito. a former U.S. representative of New York, as the next inspector general for the Labor Department” [‘during his House term’ he’d earlier “raised concerns of ethics rules violations”]
– ‘Dropped a Biden-era voting rights lawsuit in Georgia”. [ Georgia Republicans tried to limit voting]
April 1 – “Planned to target another law firm that brought lawsuits against the president and his allies” [they made the ‘mistake” of ‘documenting Mr. Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol”]
– “fired thousands of federal health workers” [“the purge included senior leaders & top scientists charged with regulating food & drugs, protecting Americans from disease & researching new treatments & cures” – why do we need this ?!?!?]
– “Laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United states pay their utility bills” [why should “we’ care if 6.2 million Americans freeze – they must be “un-deserving”]
“Laid off one of the leaders of the Food and Drug Administration’s response to bird flu” [hey – its only in birds, right???]
– “Removed between 350 and 400 books from the Naval Academy library to comply with a verbal order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth”. [obviously, these must have been subverting minds, right???????]
April 2_ “Unveiled expansive global tariffs in a significant escalation of the president’s trade fight, sending shock waves through the global economy” [ like in many other areas, “our’ president is a “genius” on tariffs and the world economy!!!]
– “Demanded additional cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after extensive staff reductions” [!!!!!]
– “Picked a lawyer who has defended several key Trump loyalists for the Justice Department’s No. 3 post” [All dictatorships run on the principle of loyalty – does this mean the Trump DICTATORSHIP is now official???]
April 3 – “Fired head of National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command” [after a well-known FAR RIGHT “influencer” talked to Trump – rumor has it the Russians and Chinese are laughing and celebrating}
– “Threatened to cut funding at more universities” [ rumor has it the Russians and Chinese are laughing and celebrating over “our” president destroying intellectual ability at leading U.S. universities]
– “Restored gun rights to Mel Gibson and nine other people with criminal convictions”. [DICTATORSHIPS reward ‘prominent supports”; America NEEDS more people with criminal convictions running around with guns, right????]
The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XVI – “Burning People” by ERASING THEM
“Where one burns books, one will soon burn people.” [ Heinrich Heine ]
THE ARYANIZATION of American history, society, government, by the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY, like all other authoritarian regimes, reveals there are many ways to “burn people.” The modern way is to. ERASE. them from ALL government and official records, from history books. The Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY does this by ripping pictures off Pentagon walls, taking down commemorative murals, banning words, re-writing history, saying people didn’t heroically serve their country, firing generals and admirals who served America for 30-40 years, saying THOSE people didn’t exist, THOSE things didn’t happen
By excluding women, Blacks, Hispanics, LGBTQ, people of the “wrong” religions, – the ONLY Musk-Trump approved “real Americans” – straight, white males – are about 20-25% of “our” population. Are. YOU. in the next group of ERASED people to be deported?????????????
1] “Erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to misrepresent it as a single story, a single perspective…When authoritarians attempt to erase history, they do so through education, by purging certain narratives..especially true of one specific ..authoritarian ideology: fascism, which seeks to divide populations into “us” and ‘them” by appealing to ethnic, racial, or religious differences…..
“Today we are unquestioningly returning to something like..the Red Scare..symptomatic of a larger global attack on liberal democracy.” [ Jason Stanley: “Erasing History..How Fascists Rewrite The Past To Control The Future” – READ THIS BOOK !!!! ]
*** “Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” [ Terry Pratchett ]
2] “Historical events are erased and educators are threatened as officials impose Beijing’s policies….What the government is trying to say is that there are wrong teachers, wrong materials, wrong subjects..” [Shibani Mahtani, Timothy McLaughlin: “Pro-China push in Hong Kong Schools”; Washington Post Weekly; 7/12/20]
*** “..Nazism permeated the flesh and blood of the people through single words, idioms, and sentence structures that were imposed on them in a million repetitions….The sole purpose of the LTI is to strip everyone of their individuality..to make them into unthinking and docile cattle..” [ Victor Klemperer: “The Language Of the Third Reich” ]
3] “..dozens of words that partisan Trump functionaries are perverting and purging…It’s though Trump’s word police think censoring language will hide the ugly realities the words express…Yet, the control of language is central to the entrenchment of totalitarian regimes, as George Orwell laid out in his bleak novel ‘1984.” [ Jim Hightower: “An AI Bot..”Trump’s Thought Police are Stomping on Freedom of Speech”; The Progressive Populist; 3/9/25 ]
4] “There is a new web page where you can now report all diversity, equity and inclusion activities to the federal government..” [ Katy S. Lesiak: “Get the DEI police on the phone”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 3/17/25. – So YOU, like good Nazis or Communists can turn in your fellow citizens – thus extending the reign of terror ]
*** “When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” [ Euripides ]
5] “You cannot remove photographs related to Women’s History Month without also removing the women in the photographs…the Defense department’s DEI initiative does not merely eliminate programs. It erases people….The way we tell stories about America’s past is the way we shape the story of America’s present..” [ Monica Hesse: “The DEI purge has gotten weird”; Washington Post Weekly; 3/16/25 ]
*** “Who controls the past, controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” [George Orwell: “1984”]
6] “Now the federal government is..banning or limiting nearly 200 terms from government materials and websites..”accessible, advocate, belong, Black, cultural heritage, disabilities..expression, gender, Indigenous community, justice..pollution, trauma, victim….Words like females..pregnant person, women…that describe the health and life experiences of women – are disappearing..” [ Kelsey Waits, Michelle Witte: “Try as the Trump administration might, it can’t erase women”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 3/24/25 ]
7] “More than 8,000 web pages across more than a dozen U.S. government websites have been taken down…The purges have removed information about vaccines, veteran’s care, hate crimes and scientific research..”… 3,000 pages from the CDC, 3,000 pages from the Census Bureau, 200 pages from Head Start. { Ethan Singer: “Amid DEI purge, thousands of U.S. government web pages vanish”; New York Times; 2/3/25 ]
8] “Arlington National Cemetary has scrubbed information about prominent Black, Hispanic, and female service members and topics such as the Civil War from its website..” [Tobi Baj, Michelle Ruane: “Cemetary website scrubs links about Black, female veterans”; Washington Post; 3/15/25]
9] A page on Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian who raised the flag on Iwo Jima “..has now been erased amid Trump administration’s wide-ranging crackdown…Multiple articles about the Navajo code talkers, who were critical to America’s victory at Iwo Jima and the wider Pacific theater [in WW II] were also removed..” [ Jon Swaine, Alex Horton: “Web page on Iwo Jima veteran erased”; Washington Post Weekly; 3/23/25 ]
*** “Truth is the most precious thing. That’s why we should ration it.” [ Lenin ]
he Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XIV – THE COUP
*** “Every time we turn our heads the other way when we see the law flouted, when we tolerate what we know to be 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]
1]. So you want to change a democracy into an autocracy. Where to begin?…………Begin by eroding press freedoms. Then move on to threatening major universities….Frighten the legal community…go after any judge who has the temerity to disagree….. Your tools are fear, confusion, intimidation, and, where applicable, loss of funding..” [Judge Edward J. Cleary: “A step-by-step checklist toward autocracy – moving along too easily so far”: Minnesota Star-Tribune; 3/26/25. – READ THIS ARTICLE1111 – excerpts following…]
*** “So long as men worship the Caesars and Napoleons, Caesars and Napoleons will duly arise and make them miserable.” [ Aldous Huxley ]
2] “…..the land of the free, and the home of the brave…”??? YOUR democracy is undergoing a COUP right now – conducted by ruthless, GREEDY, cruel, ARROGANT, anti-democratic people. What have YOU done to stop them?
In 60 days, the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY has done more damage to America, American society, American democracy than ANY individual or group, 1789-2024.
They are following. “Move Fast and Break Things.” And they have, they ARE. As usual, this particular FAR RIGHT group “justifies” their ILLEGAL acts by LYING. They’re MAKING STUFF UP. There is NOTHING in the U.S. Constitution, nor ANY “intent,” nor ANY practices, 1789-2024, that allows this ‘PROJECT 2025″ destruction
They are presenting YOU with a fait accompli and. daring YOU to undo it.
***. “In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.”
[. George Orwell: “1984” ]
3] “Let us begin with the press…she resigned in protest doe to a directive issued by the owner of the Post, Jeff Bezos….The directive limited the subject matter opinion columnists could cover and circumscribed what viewpoints they could express. So much for press freedom..” [ Judge Cleary: ‘…checklist…” ]
***. “I tell you..the cornerstone of democracy is free press…because that’s what they’re always first after..newspapers, radio, television..” [ Milos Forman ]
4] “On to the major universities. The Trump administration has made it clear that it will withhold funding from these institutions if they don’t cooperate….a climate of fear is descending on institutions of higher learning, leading to self-censorship and muted voices.” [ Judge Cleary: “…checklist…”
*** “Fascist politics seeks to undermine public discourse by attacking and devaluing education, expertise, and language…its representatives and facilitators denounce universities and schools as sources of “Marxist indoctrination”…By debasing institutions of higher learning and impoverishing our joint vocabulary to discuss policy, fascist politics reduces debate to ideological conflict.” [ Jason Stanley: “How Fascism Works” ]
5]. “Our goal is to intimidate the legal community and settle old scores. We’ll punish large law firms..for who they have represented in the past, thereby discouraging attorneys from taking on clients that do not adhere to the administration’s positions.” { Judge Cleary: “…checklist…” ]
***. “Fascist law-and-order rhetoric is explicitly meant to divide citizens into two classes: those of the chosen nation..and those who are not..women who do not fit traditional gender roles, non-whites, homosexuals, immigrants, “decadent cosmopolitans,” those who do not have the dominant religion, are by their very existence violations of law and order.” [ Stanley: “How Fascism Works” ]
6] “That brings us to the one major impediment to establishing your autocracy: the rule of law, as pronounced by the third co-equal branch of government, the judicial branch….a dozen federal judges…have issued injunctions and have otherwise put at least a temporary halt to your myriad attempts to impose your will….You cannot allow that to continue. Back to fear and intimidation. Call for the impeachment of these obstructionists….Sooner or later..cases will come to the Supreme Court. If a majority..rule against the administration..if the rule of law holds – then you will have to decide if you will accept the decision or defy it. If you defy it, and succeed in doing so, you have your autocracy.”
[ Judge Cleary: “…checklist…” READ THIS AGAIN! – THIS is how close YOU are to dictatorship ]
*** “Trump has no knowledge of the American story and so cannot have any faith in it. He has no understanding of our sympathy for the language of the Founders, so he cannot be inspired by it. Since he doesn’t believe American democracy is good, he has no interest in an America that aspires to be a model among nations…..”To destroy a society..it is first necessary to delegitimize its basic institutions.” If you believe that American institutions are no different from their opposite, then there is no reason to defend them. the same is true of transatlantic institutions.” [ Anne Applebaum: “Twilight of Democracy” ]
7] “Our nation is in the middle of a coup d’etat..a classic coup..An ill-defined but powerful group of people, most with no legal standing but with ample private funding, is making drastic change in our nation’s politics and governing structures. Many of these changes violate existing laws and some our Constitution.” [ Edward Lotterman: “Shaky politics make for a shaky economy”; St. Paul Pioneer Press; 2/16/25 ]
8] “President Trump’s second term dizzies many Americans, but I find it oddly familiar…I”ve seen parallels in authoritarian countries I’ve covered…Strongmen seek power through a pattern of behavior that is increasingly replicated in Washington.”….”When authoritarians covet power, they pursue several common strategies.
First, they go after checks and balances within the government….Trump ignores laws he finds inconvenient.”…
Second, authoritarians try to crush independent referees and civil society institutions….Trump is doing his best to intimidate news organizations and discredit them as “enemies of the people.”…
Third, authoritarians sometimes recruit shadowy private enforcers….Trump has not gone that far.”…
[ Nicholas Kristof: “An Alarming Pattern Emerges”; New York Times; 2/16/25 ]
***. So, OK – YOU tell me – as a patriotic American – should YOU be alarmed at what the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY is doing? One simple test for you: the Constitution’s Preamble: “We the People, created OUR government to “…establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility…promote the general Welfare…” What, IF ANYTHING, has the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY done to achieve these goals – in realty, not rhetoric – for ALL 340 million Americans???
The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XIII – Creating The Fear Economy
*** “Corruption is never an individual act. It always involves groups of people bound by one fundamental rule of association: an exchange of favors…It allows crimes to be protected with impunity and is characterized by an intolerable arrogance.” [ Roberto Matta ]
1] “The reality is that he [Trump] brings together the least attractive elements of capitalism and socialism, fusing heavy-handed state control with high inequality, and entrenching a set of oligarchs who serve simultaneously as the ruling party’s victims and co-conspirators. The more that political favor displaces market competition as the basis of corporate success, the worse things will get.” [ Jonathan Chait: “The Fear Economy..How Trump is exploiting American capitalism for personal power”; April, 2025; The Atlantic – portions follow – READ THIS ARTICLE!!!!!]
***. “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”
[ Benito Mussolini ]
2]. “Mr. Miller told Mr. Zuckerberg that he had an opportunity to help reform America, but it would be on President-elect Donald J. Trump’s terms….His rehabilitation complete, Zuckerberg assumed a place of pride at Trump’s inauguration..”
*** “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in some conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” [ Adam Smith ]
3] “The President’s public communion with the business titans who have submitted to him has been analyzed as a signal of authoritarianism and his alliance with the rich. But it also reveals another emerging aspect of Trumpism: his rejection of the capitalist principles that ultimately generate prosperity.”
*** “Wherever there is power, greed, and money, there is corruption.” [ Ken Poirot ]
4] “He [Trump] believes, like Putin in political control of the economy’s commanding heights – success for those executives and companies who please him, failure for those who don’t.. a psychological transformation within the executive class…the combination of fear and solicitousness that Trump now commands is wholly new.”
*** “The fear tactic is a tactic that’s used by people who want to maintain control, and it’s very effective.”
[ Hamza Yusof ]
5] “Putting the screws to media owners in particular, especially early on, seems to follow the same playbook that Putin and other strongmen have used.”
*** “It is a characteristic of a tyrant to dislike everyone who has dignity or independence; he wants to be alone in his glory.” [ Aristotle ]
6] “Although Trump has so far devoted the most attention to media businesses, he has not ignored the broader economy. Every economic policy decision is a potential weapon to punish dissent or reward his friends, beginning with tariffs.”
***. “My task is not to make men better but to make use of their weaknesses.” [ Adolf Hitler ]
7] “..Trump has also used tariffs to gain personal and political leverage over American businesses. During his first term, Trump..entertained a parade of executives pleading for exemptions, which his administration doled out at its whim.”
***. “The technique of acquiring dictatorship over what has been a democracy… always involves the same mixture of bribery, propaganda, and violence.” [ Bertrand Russell ]
8] “A 2019 investigation by the Commerce Department’s inspector general reported ‘the appearance of improper influence in decision-making”…Trump has managed to solve this problem..by firing, to date, the inspectors general of 18 federal agencies, including Commerce.”
*** “Corruption is like a ball of snow, when once set a rolling it must increase.” [ C.C. Colton ]
9] “Musk, like Trump, respects no distinction between his personal financial interests, those of his political party, and those of the country….tells everybody [in] the upper class or aspires to it that their safest path is to join the ruling claque.”
*** “..Trump’s administration proceeded to crystallize and put into practice – in barefaced ways unseen in the United States for a century – exactly the type of systematic corruption Americans decry…a U.S. integrated kleptocratic network like the ones that dominate so many developing countries. It is the most sophisticated, powerful, and threatening such organism..in the United states since the Gilded Age…They want private, not democratic , control of the country’s resources.” [ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption In America” – READ THIS BOOK – to understand post-1980 declines in people’s incomes and in American democracy}
10] “If Americans think that by empowering Trump, they have traded away some of their equality, civic decency, and political freedom for prosperity, we may find one day that we have sacrificed them all.”
*** “They that can give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
[ Benjamin Franklin ]t ]
The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Corruption, Cruelty, Craziness, IX. – Having No Cards
“If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people
coming behind you, and you don’t, you are wasting your time on this earth.”
Baseball Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash attempting
to provide relief for earthquake victims
1] “How many cards do you hold” [Stephen Young; Minnesota Star-Tribune; 3/4/25]: “On Friday, President Trump let slip his truth: That life is just a game; that you win or lose depending on the cards you hold…Trump revealed himself as a hedonist…Hard work, sacrifice, dignity, integrity and idealism do not seem to be high cards in his estimation.”….
“…the curtain has been pulled open and we have seen our Great Oz as he really is: a huckster…Fifty percent of Americans own only 2.5% of our national wealth.”…
“The political consequences for Trump in letting the cat out of the bag about his approach to life are adverse and will be lasting. He has trashed his reputation for prowess. Now, everyone will test him. Few will trust him.”….
“Trust cannot happen where there is dissembling on either side is going on, and without trust, nothing good and lasting can be put in place. Thinking of the American presidency as a game of poker or blackjack will never Make America Great Again.”
*** “The interest of [businessmen] is always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public…The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes from this order…ought never be adopted, till after having been long and carefully examined…with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men…who have generally an interest to deceive and even oppress the public.” [Adam Smith]
2] “It is hard to describe Trump’s first month and a half in office as something other than a retribution campaign against the American people.” [Jamelle Bouie: “The Revenge Tour Has Found Its True Target”; New York Times; 3/9/25]: “THis fact of Trump’s indifference to most Americans – if not his outright hostility toward them, considering his assault on virtually every government function that helps ordinary people – suggests another dimension to his revenge tour: It is almost as if he wants to inflict pain not just on a specific set of individuals but on the entire nation as well.”…
“Under the cover of an audit, he has empowered Elon Musk, his de facto co-president, to take an axe to any and every program that helps ordinary Americans. the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has stripped funds or personnel or both from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the National Park Service, the National Weather Service, FEMA, the Department of Veterans Affairs. and the Social Security Administration…It has degraded the federal government’s ability to deliver critical services to tens of millions of Americans and is endangering payments to millions more.”
*** “THe greatest evil is not done in those sordid dens of evil that Dickens loves to paint..but is conceived and ordered..in clear, carpeted, warmed, well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices.” [C. S. Lewis]
3] Below, just SOME of the Musk-Trump DICTATORSHIP stupidity, corruption, cruelties:
– “White House firing FAA radar, navigation workers.”
– “Another $20B is stripped from IRS..could thwart efforts to investigate wealthy tax cheaters”
– “W.H.O. Withdrawal May Hurt Americans on Many Health Matters”
– “Farmers are out millions After Trump freezes USDA funds”
– “Don’t the Lives of Women and Girls Matter?” [N.Kristof; New York Times; 1/12/25]
– “Report: Trump Would Drain Social Security”
– “With U.S.A.I.D. Cuts, Africa Faces Crippling Losses”
– “New Press rules leave Americans less informed” [J.Rash; Minnesota Star-Tribune; 3/11/25]
– “Trump job cuts gouge civil rights protections”
– “Domestic violence services at risk”
– “FDA firings decimate teams on medical devices, diseases, food safety”
– “Feds end program to plant needed trees in anti-DEI push”
– “Treasury won’t enforce rule meant to combat money laundering”
– “Lacking rationale, sudden firings of senior officers will reduce security” [J.Stavridis; Bloomberg Opinion; 3/2/25]
*** “…the rich have the temperaments of lizards..their indifference to other people’s joy or sorrow bears comparison to the..stars of Orion.” Their worship of money “results in..depreciation of all values that do not pay” and the definition of freedom “as the freedom to exploit.” “Such values give “rise to a system that puts a premium on crime, encourages the placid acquiescence in..dishonesty..proclaims as inviolate the economic savagery [of].. the free market or freedom under capitalism.” [Lewis Lapham, in Sexton’s “War on Labor and the Left”}

You must be logged in to post a comment.