***** “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [ John 8: 32 ]

Some thoughts on America’s future from George Packer’s visit to the Phoenix area. Excerpts from “The Valley,: The Atlantic; July-August, 2024 ]:

“Democracy is..a fragile artifice. It depends less on tradition and law than on the shifting contents of individual skulls – belief, virtue, restraint. It’s durability under natural and human stress is being put to an intense test in the Valley. And because a vision of vanishing now haunts the whole country, Phoenix is a guide to our future.”………..

“If, like almost everything else in American politics, water turns deeply partisan and ideological, contaminated by conspiracy theories and poisoned with memes, then preserving this drought-stricken civilization will get a lot harder, like trying to solve Rubik’s Cube while fending off a swarm of wasps that you might be hallucinating.”…….

*** “We are dominated by the fanatic, whose worst vice is his sincerity.” [ Oscar Wilde ]

“In a place like Maryvale, you realize how righteously stupid the culture wars make both sides. There’s no reason to think that great books and moral education have anything to do with MAGA. There’s no reason reading Virgil should require banning children from changing names. There’s no reason to view Western civilization as simply virtuous or vicious, only as the one that most shaped our democracy. There’s no reason to dumb down humanistic education and expect our society to become more just. If we could do something about the true impediments to the Cortez family’s dreams – if Fabian could earn enough from his backbreaking work for the six of them to live in four rooms instead of two; if insurance could cover treatment for Ericka’s illnesses so she doesn’t have to delay seeing a doctor until her life is threatened; if the local public schools could give their daughters a safe and decent education; if America could allow the family to stop being afraid and live in the sunlight – then by all means let’s get back to fighting over name changes and reading lists.” ……….

*** ” [Our prejudices are] so deeply rooted that we never think of them as prejudices but call them common sense.”
[ George Bernard Shaw ]

“Identity is a pernicious form of political division, because its appeal is based on traits we don’t choose and can’t change. It’s inherently irrational, and therefore likely to lead to violence. Identity politicians – and Trump is one – don’t win elections and arguments about ideas, or by presenting a vision of a world more attractive than their opponent’s. They win by appealing to the solidarity of group identity, which has to be mobilized by whipping up fear and hatred of other groups.” …………..

*** “When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us, power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.” [ Dale Carnegie ]

“Unlike identities, ideas are open to persuasion, and persuasion depends on understanding and reaching other people. But when partisanship itself becomes a group identity, a tribal affiliation with markers as clear as Jeff Zink’s handgun, dividing us into mutually unintelligible blocs with incompatible realities, then the stakes of every election are existential, and it becomes hard to live together in the same country without killing one another.” …………….

*** “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” [ Martin Luther King, Jr. ]


{Note: ironically – Charlie Kirk is mentioned for ‘the business model” of a speech he delivered……………… ]

***** “Nothing doth more hurt in a state than that cunning men pass for wise.” [ Francis Bacon ]

31] BREAKING NEWS !!!!! – “Trump lifts rules on tax shelters” [Jesse Drucker; New York Times; 9/10/25]: “The Trump administration is quietly dismantling efforts by the IRS to shut down a slew of aggressive tax shelters used by America’s biggest multinational companies and wealthiest people….bowing to pressure from industry groups, right-wing activists and congressional Republicans…The IRS crackdown was projected to raise more than $100 billion over 10 years.” [Note: Read the entire article for more!!! There’ll be NO cameo P.R. photo of Trump holding up some “document” he signed!!! YOU are NOT supposed to know about this. Just like you are NOT supposed to know about Trump’s frolics with Jeffrey Epstein!!!!]

It is quite likely that the Trump DICTATORSHIP has ALREADY caused more damage to America than any previous American government. Below, just from headlines, are SOME examples:

1]”Caught in a Doom Loop Of Thinking “Short-Term…Trump may be able to escape the consequences of his actions; the rest of us cannot” [Ben Rhodes; New York Times; 8/17/25]

2] “International Students See Asian Universities as Refuge…Higher Education in the U.S. is seen as a riskier proposition in the Trump era” [ Lydia DePillis, Jin Yu Young; New York Times; 8/17/25 ]

3]. “On Trade, The World Is Moving On Without Us…A sign of the folly of Trump’s policy is that it has inspired no apparent envy among other nations”. [ New York times Editorial; 9/7/25 ]

4] “EPA aims to scrap key policy on climate…Agency wants to rescind finding that greenhouse gas emissions are a risk”. [ Jake Spring; Washington Post; 7/24/25 ]

5]. “Diluted report on human rights dims America’s beacon’ [ John Rash; Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/16/25 ]: “Never before have the reports gone this far in prioritizing an administration’s political agenda..”

6]. “White House plan undermines the possibility of a fair and responsible AI” [ Mohammed Hosseini; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 8/10/25 ]: “The result is an ecosystem in which public research fuels private profit, reinforcing the dominance of tech giants.”

7]. “The Bill for Trumponomics Is Coming Due…White House policies are leading us to rising inflation and slowing growth”. [ Jared Bernstein, Ryan Cummings; New York Times; 8/10/25 ]

8]. “The Death of the Fourth American Republic…Trump is working in tandem with the Supreme Court” [ Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 8/10/25 ]

9] “What Trump’s War on the Smithsonian Costs us All” [ David Firestone; New York Times; 8/10/25]: “The Trump administration..has made an aggressive effort to rewrite not only its own history but also that of the United states.”

10]. “Trump is Letting TIKTOK [And China] Win…The president’s disregard for federal law is a gift to the world’s most powerful authoritarian government” [ New York Times Editorial; 8/10/25 ]

*** “[The tyrant] is always stirring up some war or other, in order that the people may require a leader.” [ Plato ]

11] “America Is Turning Into a Doddering Giant Hooked On Oil…Smothering the electric vehicle industry is economic idiocy”. [ Robinson Meyer; New York Times; 8/10/25 ]

12]. “Federal DOJ twists attorney ethics into misconduct” [ Rob Doar; Minnesota Star Tribune; 8/11/25 ]

13]. “Appeals court grants DOGE access to American’s sensitive data”. [ Zach Montague; New York Times; 8/13/25]: – A Trump judge and a Bush II judge are the 2-1 majority !!!!!!!!!!!!

14]. “Good for Nvidia shareholders, maybe, But Bad for America” [ Washington Post; 8/17/25 ]

15]. “Defunding science? Penny wise and pound stupid…Weakening America” [ Steven Furianetto; Los Angeles Times; 8/17/25 ]

16] “The cost of Trump’s tariffs is finally coming into focus”. [ Ernie Tedeschi; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 8/24/25 ]

17] “the White House Is Undoing 80 Years of American Greatness…Gutting health and science research squanders the nation’s legacy of innovation”. [ Garrett Graff; New York Times; 8/17/25 ]

18] “Complaint says Social security data at risk…DOGE exposed details, Whistleblower says”. [ Nicholas Nehamas; New York Times; 8/27/25 ]

19]. “A Fed loyal to Trump would cost borrowers”. [ Christopher Rugaber; Assoc. Press; 8/1/25 ]: ‘..the result would likely be higher inflation and, over time, higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages, car loans, and business loans.”

20] “Trump’s Budget Will Devastate Health Care for Rural Families Like Mine…The So-called “Big Beautiful Bill” will throw millions of Americans off Medicaid and put hundreds of rural hospitals at risk of closing” [ Ta’kyla Bates; The Progressive Populist; August, 2025 ]

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

21] “PFAS change may cost taxpayers billions…EPA proposal on “forever chemicals’ would shift cleanup costs away from the polluters”. [ Hiroko Tabuchi; New York Times; 8/29/25 ]

22]. ‘If economic storm hits, the severity is uncertain…The fiscal data has turned darker amid tariffs, spending cuts”. [ Lydia DePillis; New York Times; 8/24/25 ]

23] “World Scientists look Elsewhere as U.S. Labs Reel From Trump Cuts…America is at risk of losing its long-standing pre-eminence” [ James Glanz; new York Times; 6/1/25 ]

24]. “Trump’s policy changes are making us more susceptible to terrorists…He’s taking law enforcements, assets and funding off the counterterrorism beat, and putting them at ICE’s disposal to track down immigrants.” [ Ben Weisbuch, Phil McGovern; Minnesota Star Tribune; 6/26/25 ]

25]. “Trump’s FBI Has Made America LessSafe…The White House’s political witch hunt is compromising the bureau’s effectiveness.” [ New York Times Editorial; 7/6/25 ]

26]. “Cuts Are Harming Disaster Readiness…Trump, GOP weaken research, resources, as climate change adds fuel to storms.” [ Lisa Friedman, Maxine Joselaw, Coral Davenport, Megan Mineiro; New York Times; 7/14/25 ]

27] “We are witnessing the suicide of a superpower”. [ Max Boot; Washington Post Weekly; 6/8/25 ]: “..[Trump] is doing grave and possibly irreparable damage to the real source of U.S. strength..declaring war on science, and the casualty will be the U.S. economy.”

28]. “Rivals rise as Trump dismantles Voice of America….As the U.S. lets go of its global megaphone, other powers celebrate, and seize the opportunity’. [ Tiffany Hsu; New York Times; 6/29/25 ]

29]. “Nuclear Site Grew After Trump’s Moves…some say demolished gear wouldn’t have existed if Obama’s deal hadn’t been scuttled” [ William Broad, Ronen Bergman; New York Times; 6/29/25 ]

30]. “Project 2026. Trump’s Plan To Hijack The Next Election”. [ Ari Berman; Mother Jones; September-October, 2025 ]: “Nationalizing voter suppression….Silencing Trump’s enemies….Dismantling efforts to prevent election interference….Targeting Democratic officials….Weaponizing the Justice Department….State-level voter suppression and election subversion….Trump-dominated courts gutting voting rights….Gerrymandering the states….Blocking election certification.”

*** 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 ]


[Note; read this list again – knowing it is only a SMALL part of the vast damage Trump is doing to America; a SMALL part of the damage he intends to do in the future – carrying out “Project 2025” s wish list

Trump’s presidency is going to cost YOU, YOUR children – in MANY ways besides money. And this before a REALLY BIG ONE: We did not mention Trump’s immoral 2017 tax cuts, which HIS Congress just made permanent. Beside being responsible for about 25% of YOUR national debt – there are all the CUTS required to pay for it – to health, education, safety net, Medicare and Medicaid, park rangers, airport safety, weather reporting…..

Trump is grievously damaging America’s reputation around the world; drastically cutting away at America’s “soft power”. around the world. YOUR children WILL pay for this.

YOU might ponder; king Louis XV of France once said: ‘After me, the deluge.” he was right – revolution, beheadings. followed him. What follows King Donald I ?????????????

*** “This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs: When he first appears, he is a protector” [Plato]

Donald Trump NEEDS “enemies.” He desperately needs to find ‘enemies” – so “Only I”. can save YOU from “them.” Times, places, villains, “reasons” change – the formula does not. Find an “enemy”; cook up some “rationale”; be the “strong man on horseback”. who rides in to “save” America.

Consider Trump’s most recent episode: “saving” Washington, D.C. from “caravans of mass youth” rampaging city streets. And: “Our capital city has been overtaken by vilent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people.”

Trump’s “solution?” – Call in the military. Send in National Guard troops, FBI agents, U.S. marshals, D.E.A agents, Alcohol,Tobacco,Firearms & Explosives agents and other agents. Are these people ALL trained to police American streets? NOT HARDLY !!!!!!!!!! Is putting these people on D.C. streets going to hurt American national security in the areas from which their expertise is, and, they’re now pulled away from? YES !!!!!!!!!! – as numerous people have already testified.

***** “Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear – kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor –
with the cry of grave national emergency.” [ General Douglas MacArthur, 1957 ]

Consider information on these issues from the following excerpts:
A] “Trump send Guard into D.C.” [Josh Boak, David Klepper; Associated Press; 8/12/25]
1]. “…activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressec crime is already falling in the nation’s capital.”
2] “..push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of homelessness or crime.”
3]. “The president dismissed the idea Washington needed to enlarge its 3,500-officer police force, even as he seeks to have more armed personnel going through the city with the goal of reducing crime.” [!!! But – that would be too logical, and, more importantly, would not be “good TV’ !!!!!!!!]
4]. “While Trump has portrayed himself as a friend to law enforcement and enjoyed the political backing from many of their groups, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the deadly Jan.6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.”

*** “The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” [Andre Gide]

5] “…the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.”

6 “Trump has emphasized the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go, and he did not give details..”

***** “Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” [ Aristotle ]

B] “Trump Proclaims Federal Control Of The D.C. Police” [Katie Rogers; New York Times; 8/12/25]
1] “..Mr. Trump painted Washington as an urban hellscape, repurposing some of the incendiary language he has used to describe conditions on the southern border. Mr. Trump has railed against crime in urban, largely liberal cities for decades…’
2] “There are practical questions about how Mr. Trump’s plans would be carried out…Federal officials were still working out many of the operational details…”
3] “Mr. Trump’s remarks seemed largely aimed at rewriting history and the reality of crime in Washington. Soon after he took office, mr. Trump pardoned hundreds of rioters…”
4] “.. in summer. 2020, Mr. Trump deployed more than 5,000 National Guard troops to Washington to crack down on mostly peaceful demonstrators pushing for racial justice…widely seen as a debacle.” [ Would it be correct to say that under a Trump regime – it matters WHO you are when you demonstrating???]

***** “There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be trust no man living with the
power to endanger the public liberty.” [ John Adams ]

C] “Military Is Again Pulled Into a Domestic Concern”. [ Eric Schmitt, Helene Cooper; New York Times; 8/12/25]
1] “.. the latest example of how the president has used the military to advance domestic policy priorities…Already this year, Mr. Trump has deployed some 10,000 active-duty troops to the southwest U.S,. border to choke off the flow of drugs as well as migrants, and 4,700 National guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles to quell protests..”
2] “Mr. Trump last month secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations.
3]. “The U.S. military responds quickly to executive directives. for that reason, it is a preferred institution for a president who presents himself as tough on crime, undocumented immigrants, drugs, “woke” culture and other perceived domestic enemies.’
4] “Mr. Trump’s directive deploying National Guard troops to Washington ‘is a fraught one because it will seem partisan from the go,’ said Peter Feaver, a political science professor at Duke University. “The military does not train for normal police beat-walking missions,’ Mr. Feaver said..”
5]. “This is part of a pattern where the administration is using and appropriating military resources for nonmilitary domestic goals,” said Carrie A. Lee, the former chair of the department of national security and strategy at the Army War College.”
6]. “During Mr. Trump’s first term, Pentagon and military leaders cautioned him against using troops to shoot racial justice protesters in the legs, as former aides have said he suggested.” [looks like, to Trump, it DOES matter WHO you are when you “protest” – trashing the U.S. Capitol would be forgiven, racial justice would NOT]
7] “…members of the California National Guard said the deployment to Los Angeles had eroded morale…Guard officials also expressed concerns that the deployment would hurt re-enlistment.”

Would an administration noted for being vengeful, partisan, ideological, be sending armed American military into cities – be doing that ONLY in Democratic-run cities, in “blue’ states??? have, are, any SIGNIFICANT raids occurred in Republican-run cities and states??? Just asking………..

***** “If Fascism came to America, it would be on a program of Americanism.” [ Huey p. Long ]

On July 26, 1920, H.L. Mencken said this: “As democracy is perfected, the office of the president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. One some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.”

105 years later, America has that person in the White House. The only question of great importance is now this: in his remaining 3 1/2 years in office, how much more DAMAGE can D.J. Trump do to America, what’s left of American ‘democracy,” American norms, American decency, America’s economy, America’s reputation, American law, American education, the First Amendment, American national debt, American small businesses, America’s National Parks, American civil rights, America’s natural environment, the very concept of truth………………….

Luckily for Mencken, “The Evening Baltimore Sun” newspaper existed in a time when a president with a thin skin, a colossal ego, desire for “revenge”. on any and all who make him look bad [regardless whether it was true] was not in office.

One wonders what commentators like Mark Twain, the Muckrakers, and Will Rogers would say about Donald Trump. And, of course, one wonders how long it would be before Trump threatened them with the power and wealth of “our” federal government; how long before he sued the writer and their newspaper; how long before Trump threatened to cancel their citizenship; how long before Trump said they were “old,” “fat,” “ugly,” “stupid,” “a knucklehead.”

One wonders what specious, bogus, questionable, or outright falsehood would be the ‘grounds” for suing Mencken, Twain, Muckrakers, or Rogers. Would it be “a threat to national security,” “a threat to the president’s “vision,” “antisemitism,” “a need for efficiency and to eliminate waste and fraud,” “displaying dangerous D.E.I. tendencies,” that it violates “common sense” [hang on to your wallets when ANY Republican or R-W spokesperson uses this term!], that it “presented disturbing material like to offend good Americans,” that it “presented material likely to make some good Americans self-conscious,” that it “presented material making good Americans feel guilty” [anything suggesting slavery wasn’t fun], that it is “a hoax,” that it was “old news,” that “it was guilty of being ‘liberal bias’ [claiming 2 plus 2 equals 4], that ‘it was divisive” [saying the North won the Civil War], that it was “a feminist falsehood” [saying no woman had been president!], “we need a tax cut” [standard GOP operating principle; one state Republican claimed the cure for COVID-19 was a tax cut!!!], saying that despite Trump’s denials, he did know the person in question [as illustrated by 6 pictures, pre-A.I., of the two together], whatever else the Heritage Foundation or “Project 2025” authors can DREAM UP…………….

*** “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy, ghat is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” [ John Kenneth Galbraith ]


Note: the inspiration for using Mencken’s 1920 quote comes from a 7/29/25 “letter-to-the-editor to the Minnesota Star Tribune by Chris Simonson.

***** “Terror is the most effective political instrument.: [ Adolf Hitler ]

Note: This post presents excerpts from: “Political Violence. Is. Working” [ Tessie McMillan Cottom; New York Times; 6/22/25] – Read this article and EVERY other article on political violence you can.

***** “Every Communist must grasp the truth, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” [Mao Tse-Tung ]

1] “Sometimes violent political speech is obvious, like the president calling former representative Liz Cheney a war hawk who should know what it feels like when “the guns are trained on her face.” But sometimes violent political speech is not what is said but isn’t said. Or even the way that it isn’t said. It was evident in President Trump’s insistence that those who stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021 were “very special,” instead of violent insurrectionists. It was clear, too, in his callous response to last weekend’s assassinations, an obvious case of the dangerous escalation of political violence.”

*** “Violence does not and cannot exist by itself; it is invariably intertwined with the lie.” [ Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn ]

2]. “A culture of fear shrouds this administration from the consequences of its actions. Trump taunts. He threatens. He hides his violent language behind humor that’s less funny than plausibly deniable. His behavior sets the tone for greedy political attention hogs….They curry his favor because they want his power for themselves….Online, loyalists act out a presidential vision of power by harassing and dehumanizing those he marks as ugly, stupid, lazy, fat and generally subhuman.”

***. “Just as death is the liquidation of being, dehumanization is the liquidation of being human.” [ Abraham Heschel ]

3] “Trump is the Republican Party. That is settled. His violent talk is, then, the official political communication strategy of that ruling party and its followers. And that ruling party is stripping this country for parts.”

*** “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him.” [ Leviticus. 19:13 ]

4] “Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way argued this year in Foreign Affairs that many political observers misunderstood how autocracy can look in a mature democracy. The administrative and electoral bureaucracy can and likely will continue to function. Instead, institutional and democratic failure would involve tilting the outcomes of normal democratic processes in favor of one party while grinding down opposition with a mix of retribution and fear. By that definition, our institutions are fracturing before our very eyes. Nowhere is that more evident than in our broken Congress.”

***. “Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together in new shapes of our own choosing.” [ George Orwell: “1984” ]

5]. “The erosion of political norms has driven a Republican-controlled Congress out of the business of checking the executive branch, essentially handing itrs power over to a man who styles himself a king. In 2020 the Democratic senator from Ohio at the time, Sherrod Brown, wrote in this newspaper that congressional Republicans feared retribution from Trump so much that they had abandoned their duty to the public.”

*** “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judicial, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, many justly be proclaimed the very definition of tyranny.” { James Madison: Federalist papers, #47; Founding Father, Fourth President ]

6]. “There’s the targeted harassment…Trump’s playbook, which is now the G.O.P. playbook, has long been to ruthlessly attack perceived enemies with ridicule and reputational punishment….”networked harassment”..the internet’s way of making doxxing people and spreading nasty rumors about them cheap, easy and undetectable.

*** “Exploitation is the essence of violence.” [ Mohandas K. Gandhi ]

7]. “The online part of violent political speech makes the violence seem twee, as if it was something teenage girls do on TikTok. But online harassment ruins lives and breaks people by socially isolating them. We should have more respect for teenage girls now that the president of the United States is enforcing fealty using his own burn book.”

*** “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is in the minds of the oppressed.” [ Steve Biko ]

8] “Would a conspiracy-obsessed man really have broken into Representative Nancy Pelosi’s home and beaten her husband’s skull with a hammer if not for the inescapable online narrative that cast her as a unique villain to the American people?”………
“In other words, maybe the Gestapo won’t be jackbooted thugs but keyboard warriors. And maybe the keyboard warriors are worse.”

*** “[To fanatics}. all thought is divinely classified into two kinds – that which is their own and that which is false and dangerous.” [ Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson ]

9] “What matters is political violence is here and it is working. Congressional Republicans fear the sort of retribution that would not simply oust them from office but would threaten their lives and those of their staff members and their families.”

***. “You can get a lot more done with a kind word and a gun than with a kind word.” [ Al Capone ]

Note’ consider this – that among the costs of political violence is this: “Security has been a growing priority at all levels of government in recent years….The unprecedented violence….The amount of money federal candidates..have spent on security has grown significantly during the last decade…”It is unfortunate that is today’s climate of toxic political rhetoric and rampant disinformation..” [ Jessie Van Berkel: “Security a real priority for politicians; Minnesota Star Tribune; 7/3/25 ]
note this problem “ha grown significantly during the past decade.” – now what, or who, has occurred in the last decade in American politics??????? Do you think, just maybe, that THE cause is none other than Donald John Trump?????? Is it possible that “toxic political rhetoric and rampant misinformation is THE characteristic of one Donald John Trump??????? Who else has supplied us with some 30,000 recorded lies????? Who else functions primarily on insults and public humiliations??????? Who else has a NEED to extract revenge????? Who else has dropped veiled threats of political violence – and excused – and pardoned violent perpetrators???????

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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