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

This post takes YOU back to review the “Public citizen News” of Sept./Oct., 2025. A quick read of headlines helps YOU understand HOW the Trump DICTATORSHIP has quickly built a corporate state.

a]. “Not a Border Crisis, but a “Free Trade” Crisis” [Meena Rakasi]
1]. “…how decades of corporate-led trade agreements have displaced millions of people, stripping them of their livelihoods and forcing them to migrate to survive.”
2] “U.S. manufacturing workers have long decried free trade agreements that empty out factories and create ghost towns.”

B] “Revolving Door Trump 2.0 Officials Create Fossil Fuel Playground”. [Alan Zibel]
1] “On the first day of his second term…Trump declared a “national energy emergency,” falsely blaming the Biden administration’s push for a transition to renewables for a supposed crisis….it laid the groundwork for a sweeping attack on federal agencies and states to serve fossil fuel interests.”

***. “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 Louis Brandeis ]

C] “Litigating for Democracy: Public Citizen’s Fight Against Trump’s Power Grab”. [editorial]
1] ‘..the Trump administration is unilaterally and unconstitutionally dismantling the federal government..”
2]. ‘That data base went dark after Russell Vought – one of the primary architects of the infamous Project 2025 manifesto – took charge of the Office of Management and Budget…Vought believes that Trump has virtually limitless power – including the power to ignore Congress.”

D] “How Insurance Regulators Fuel Climate Change Profiteering” [Rick morris]
1]. “Homeowners and renters across the U.S. are feeling the sting of skyrocketing insurance rates…insurance corporations are exploiting the crisis to line their pockets…most profitable year in history…record bonuses.”
2] “Regulators are supposed to stand for the public interest over corporate power. But..they’re handing the pen to the insurance industry to write the rules…This isn’t just regulatory capture – it’s regulatory surrender….”

*** “Perversely, Trump’s drain-the-swamp 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.”
[ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption in America” ]

E] “Trump Puts Big Tech Above the Law”
1] “…Big Tech’s lavish support for Trump’s inauguration and campaign has already paid dividends in dropped federal investigations and weakened oversight.”
2]. “Many of the tech leaders represented companies under active federal investigation….has already dropped or halted a third of the tech-related federal enforcement actions inherited from the Biden administration.”

F]. “Trump Administration Aims to Shut Down Public Participation in Federal Rulemaking” {David Rosen}
1] “The Trump administration is advancing a deregulatory strategy that strikes at the heart of democratic accountability: eliminating the public’s right to weigh in on federal rules.”
2] “To advance its corrupt agenda, the Trump administration is arguing that agencies can ignore public participation requirements…when the president directs them to do so. – a position that has no basis in law.”

***. “We are on the road not just to a highly unequal society, but to a society of an oligarchy. A society of inherited wealth. When you have a few people who are so wealthy they can effectively buy the political system, the political system is going to tend to serve their interests.” [ Paul Krugman; Nobel Prize Winner; Economics ]

G] “Political Games: Trump’s Rescissions Law Threatens Lives and Democracy”. [Sara Faraj]
1] “the Trump administration is playing political games with human lives. A so-called ‘rescissions bill,” permitting the Trump administration not to spend previously appropriated money..”
2] “The rescission model threatens to undermine Congress’s constitutional power of the purse and concentrate authority in the executive. if a president can rescind funding that Congress has already enacted, no public program is truly safe.”

H] “Trump and Allies Threaten to Worsen Health Care, Putting Lives at Risk”

1] ‘..Trump has disrupted, depleted, and desecrated our nation’s already fragile health care system, putting millions of lives in jeopardy.”
2] “The report highlights the threat posed by Trump’s health officials…..Kennedy….Oz…O’neill..”
3] “The report also describes the chaos Trump and his allies unleashed in the early months of his second term..”
4]. “Trump fired several inspectors general who were ensuring that agencies are accountable to the American people..”

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

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

“The Unraveling of the Justice Department”. [Emily Bazelon, Rachel Power; New York Times Magazine; ll/30/25. Some excerpts below from “more than 60 attorneys” who worked in the Justice Department:

20]. “I wouldn’t even call it the Justice Department anymore. It’s become Trump’s personal law firm.”
[Note: Read this again – think what this means for “the rule of law.”]

15] “Trump pardoned a series of white-collar offenders….His family was wealthy…someone who defrauded everyday folks in Ohio….they’re better off spending their money on a political donation, drawing Trump’s attention..”

8]. “The way we did investigations drastically changed….That process turned upside down. it was outcome driven.”
[Note; FACTS didn’t count – ideology and connections did]

4]. “It was inconceivable to me they’d fire people for no reason except they’d worked on cases that were now disfavored….It flipped the culture of the institution. it’s a culture now of fear. And they are losing people all the time, very good people, who were the future of the department.”

*** “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” [ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ]

1] “President Trump’s second term has brought a period of controversy…Trump and his appointees have blasted through walls designed to protect the nation’s most powerful law enforcement agency from political influence; they have directed the course of criminal investigations, openly flouted ethics rules and caused a breakdown of institutional culture.” [Note; read this again, word-by-word. this IS the destruction of “the rule of law.”]

2] “..the lawyers narrated the events that most alarmed them…described being asked to drop cases for political reasons, to find evidence for flimsy investigations and to take positions in court they thought had no legitimate basis. they also talked about the work they and their colleagues were told to abandon. – investigations of terrorist plots, corruption and white-collar fraud.” [ Note; read this again! – the Trump DICTATORSHIP is deliberately sabotaging American security]

3] “On his first day in office, President Trump made ir clear that lawyers loyal to him would lead the Justice Department.” [Note: – just like in any other dictatorship]

5]. “Pam Bondi..issued a first-day flurry of 14 memos that radically redefined the department’s mission. One mandated that government attorneys “zealously defend” the president’s agenda..” [Note; thus the title of this article!!!]

*** “I don’t want to know what the law is, I want to know who the judge is.” [Roy Cohn – check his biography!!!]

6] “What happened to PIN was an alarm blasting everywhere. that’s when I was like, “They’re just going to break every rule. They don’t care.”

7]. “The E.P.A. found in 2021 that the new standard would save thousands of lives and that the health benefits would outweigh the cost of compliance. The Trump administration put the litigation on hold in preparation for rolling back the regulation.” [Note: Trump just decided to endanger YOUR. health. Big Question: WHO asked him to do this???]

9]. “The idea of the investigation was that Perkins Coie supposedly engaged in illegal discrimination against white men. But Perkins Coie is an extremely white firm – only 3 percent of the partners are Black. When my colleague pointed that out, the leadership didn’t care. They’d already reached their conclusion.” {!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

10] “Our laws gave American companies cover so they could resist shakedowns to pay bribes….People across the political spectrum saw promoting the rule of law abroad as important for promoting American interests and national security. You could see these ideals fall away quickly in the moves the administration made.”

***. “When is conduct a crime, and when is a crime not a crime? When Somebody Up There – a monarch, a dictator, a Pope, a legislator. – so decrees.” [ Jessica Mitford ]

11]. “Mel Gibson has a history of domestic violence….It was strongly suggested to me that Mel Gibson is someone who had a personal relationship with the president and that really should be all I needed to know.” [!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]

12] “Erez Reuveni, acknowledged in court that the Trump administration wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia….In previous administrations, including Trump’s first term, the government routinely worked to get people back when they were deported without legal authority. In this case, however, Bondi put Reuveni on leave and trhen fired him.” [Note; a highly respected attorney is fired because he told the truth. What else do YOU need to know?]

13] “When the president issued his executive order related to voting, the Civil Rights Division was initially charged with defending it. But many provisions of it were an unlawful power grab..”

14]. “It’s unprecedented to shift resources away from national security to this degree….You have to have good, experienced, trained people doing this work on a daily basis. If you don’t, because you demand they do immigration shifts, there is real danger to national security and public safety.” Note: apparently, to the Trump DICTATORSHIP, a few undocumented immigrants are a bigger danger than Russia or China]

***. “My task is not to make men better but to make use of their weaknesses.” [ Adolf Hitler ]

16] “Bondi fired around 20 prosecutors and support staffers who worked on the special counsel Jack smith’s investigations into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and his refusal to return classified documents after leaving office…..Trump demanded the prosecution of several of his perceived political enemies…Based on the results of investigations by career prosecutors, Erik Siebert…told senior Justice Department officials he did not think there was sufficient evidence to indict Comey or James.”

17] “No one should be charged with a crime because the president says. “Do this,”….”

18]. “This is the whole problem with the White House directing criminal investigations. This is what you get. We won’t get the benefit of credibility from judges that we had, and I’m even more concerned about juries. I really fear the Justice Department. – which has a good record of convicting dangerous, violent people. – won’t see the same success rate, becuase people will think it’s not on the level.”

19] “It shows the president has no regard for ethics or rules or the appearance of impropriety or any of the guardrails we used to have before… The Mar-a-Lago case was buttoned up. They begged him to give them the documents so it wouldn’t rise to the level of the F.B.I. going in to get them. To say there’s abuse here. – it’s absurd.”

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

[ Ludwig von Mises ]

*** “For one person alone to have the Government of a people in his hands, would be too great a Temptation. It tends to excite and draw forth the Pride of man, to make him unsufferably haughty; it gives him too much liberty to exert his corruption and it encourages him to become a Tyrant and an oppressor, to dispense with Laws and break the most solemn oaths.” [ John Barnard ]

This post presents excerpts from. “PRESIDENT FOR LIFE….Donald Trump is trying to amass the powers of a king.” [ J. Michael Luttig; The Atlantic; December, 2025]. Mr. Luttig is a former federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991.

4] “..Trump is different from all prior presidents in his utter contempt for the Constitution and America’s
democracy.” [Read this again – think what this says]

3] “Trump proved in 2021 that he would do anything to remain in the White House.”

11]. “Trump has turned the federal government against the American people.”
[*** This is written BEFORE the ICE terrorism unleashed against Minnesota***]

8] “For anyone who doubts that Trump is contemplating a monarchical reign, consider how very far down that road he already is. Since returning to office, he has sought absolute power, unchecked by other branches of government, the 50 states, or the free press. On the first day..he launched a direct attack on the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment……. He has arrogated to himself Congress’ power to levy tariffs…….. He has usurped Congress’ spending and appropriation powers……. He has likewise usurped Congress’ power to establish executive-branch departments and agencies….unilaterally overhauling the U.S. government.”

***. “Uncontrolled power, in the hands of an incensed, imperious and rapacious conquerer, is an engine of dreadful execution; and woe be to that country over which it can be exercised.” [ Thomas Paine ]

1] “The 47th president prefers to stir feelings of fear, vulnerability, hopelessness, and political inevitability – the sense that he, and only he, can rescue the nation from looming peril.”

2] “The Founders of our nation foresaw a figure like Trump, a demagogue who would ascend to the presidency and refuse to relinquish power to a successor chosen by the American people in a free and fair election.”

5] “Witnesses before the January 6 committee testified that Trump expressed support for hanging Pence while the attack was under way.”

6] “among his first acts after being sworn in again was pardoning or commuting the sentences of every person convicted in connection with January 6. He then set about exacting revenge on the American justice system.”

***. “Every tyrant who has ever lived has believed in freedom – for himself.” [ Elbert Hubbard ]

7]. “Today, Trump has vastly greater powers than he did in 2020…a willing vice president….Trump’s party controls both houses of Congress…The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has paved the way for a third Trump term, by essentially granting him absolute immunity..”

9] “The Supreme court..has largely given the president its imprimatur to continue his power grab. It has either effectively reversed lower-court rulings against the president using the so-called shadow docket, or allowed the administration to proceed until the Court determines the constitutionality of various actions, by which time the damage to the Constitution, the U.S. government, and American society will have been done, as the justices well know.”

10] “The Founders built layers of safeguards into the American system of government to constrain a president…But Trump has run roughshod over these fail-safes too.”

***. “The technique of acquiring dictatorship over what has been a democracy…always involves the same mixture of bribery, propaganda and violence.” [ Bertrand Russell ]

12] “Trump has always told us exactly who he is. We have just not wanted to believe him. But we must believe him now..
– “This is the man who said in January 2016, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot sonebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters..”
– “The man who proposed in 2022 that the “Massive Fraud” he alleged in the 2020 election “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” and who proclaimed, soon after reassuming office, “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.”
– “The man who, when asked the question “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution as president?,” answered, “I don’t know.”
– “The man who said in August that he can “do anything I want to do,” because he’s president.”
– “The man who has demanded that his attorney general and Department of Justice immediately prosecute his enemies..”
– “and the man who summoned American military generals from around the world to Quantico, Virginia, to tell them that “America is under invasion from within.” repeatedly describing the enemy invasion as being by the “radical left,” a term he now seemingly uses to characterize all of his political opponents.”

13] “We have been given the high charge of our forebears to “keep” the republic they founded a quarter of a millennium ago. If we do not keep it now, we will surely lose it.”

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

So – what are YOU going to do???????? YOU may have one last chance to end the Trump DICTATORSHIP – on November 3, 2026. – vote out. EVERY REPUBLICAN. WHY?? Because they have NOT honored their oath to defend the Constitution. they’ve been to busy defending Donald Trump – and they’ll do it more.