Tag: history

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXIX – The New Know-Nothings

~ tomdolen

*** “When the Know-nothings get control, it will read, all men are created equal except Negroes and foreigners
and Catholics. When it comes to this I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense
of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of
hypocrisy.” [ Abraham Lincoln, 8/24/1855 ]

1]. “Other civilizations have experienced moments like this…Mysticism and occultism spread rapidly in the dying days of the Russian empire…Rasputin, a peasant holy man..claimed..he had magical healing powers..eventually became a political advisor to the Czar…many Russians were convinced..dark forces..were secretly in control of the country.”
“Replace “dark forces” with “deep state.”…For Americans, the merger of pseudo-spirituality with politics represents a departure from some of our deepest principles: that logic and reason lead to good government; that fact-based debate leads to good policy; that governance prospers in sunlight; and that the political order inheres in rules and processes, not mystical charisma. The supporters of the New Obscurantism have also broken with the ideals of America’s Founders..” [ Anne Applebaum: “The New Rasputins”; The Atlantic; February, 2025 ]

*** “..it was the witch craze that produced the witch and not, as has been traditionally argued, the figure
of the witch that stimulated hunting.” [ Leland Estes ]

{NOTE: In addition to all the other damage Trump has inflicted on American democracy, American government, American society, American decency – Trump wishes to become the Culture Czar!!!!!, to become YOUR “Big Brother”!!!, who knows all about every thing!!!!!!!!! The person who doesn’t read, who gets his “information” from media sources KNOWN and DOCUMENTED to push lies they themselves don’t believe!!! THIS person is now going to decide what is good and true and proper for 330 million Americans!!!!!!!!!! }

2]. “President Trump is not known as a student of history…[but]…keenly understands the power of history…has moved forcefully to advance his vision of it – and to reshape federal cultural institutions…moving to challenge or seize control of history-related federal cultural institutions..” [ Jennifer Schuessler: “Trump Puts His Spin on 250 Years of U.S. History, to Historians’ Dismay”; New York Times; 4/20/25 ]

*** “Who controls the past’, ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.'” [ George Orwell” “1984” ]

3] “Okla. to teach ’20 election theories..New school standards promote conspiracies and misinformation” [ Sean Murphy; Associated Press; 5/18/25 ] [Note: the New Know-Nothings and Rasputins are, unfortunately, not confined to Washington, D.C. Think about the magnitude of this: an American state proposes to teach KNOWN, lies to its children as part of their “education.” Is this a form of a “re-education” camp? What is the cost to American democracy of this?]

*** “Erasing history helps authoritarians because doing so allows them to misrepresent it as a single story…[it is]..
especially true of..fascism, which seeks to divide populations into “us” and them..”

[. Jason Stanley: “Erasing history.. How Fascists Rewrite The Past To Control The Future” ]

4] “..Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday he may bar government scientists from publishing in the world’s leading medical journals…the latest Trump administration’s attacks on scientific institutions.” [Niha Masih, Amy Wang, Leah Sun: “RFKJR. may bar scientists from top medical journals”; Washington Post; 5/29/25 ]

*** “The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be
accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings
in the real world – and the category of truth versus falsehood is among the mental means to this
end – is being destroyed.” [ Hannah Arendt ]

5]. “..Trump..has leveraged control of foreign enrollments to press his demands with American colleges…The uncertainty raised by the suspension of the visa appointments will do further damage to the U.S. reputation as a destination country…”Undermining their ability to study here is self-defeating. With these actions, the United States will alienate the very minds that fuel its success.” [ Annie Ma: “Visa rule adds to scrutiny of international students”; Associated Press; 5/29/25 ]

*** “Stupidity makes you dangerous – to yourself and everyone around you.” [ Jennifer Lee Carrell ]

6]. “To economists, the policies threaten to undermine U.S. competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, and leave Americans..poorer, less healthy and less productive in the decades ahead. “Universities are tremendously important engines of innovation.”…”This is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg.” [ Ben Casselman: “Economists: Trump science policies post long-term risk”; New York Times; 4/1/25 ]

***. “Convictions are more dangerous foes of truth than lies.” [ Friederich Nietzsche ]

{ NOTE: THINK !!!!! Education and scientific advances are what made America great and strong and free. The Trump crew cares not. They are determined to impose THEUIR prejudices, ignorance, stupidity and craziness on America. History, experience, evidence tells us that if they succeed – YOU nad. YOUR. children will pay the price. Freedoms of thought, speech, creativity. were what drew people from around the world to America. An ignorant, bitter, greedy, vengeful LIAR – Trump – has the ability to destroy virtually everything that for over 230 years made America the envy of the world. Speak up. NOW – or it will happen.]

!!! One more thing: “president Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday evening promising to eliminate “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology” from the Smithsonian Institution’s museums..” Question One would be; has Trump EVER been in any of the Smithsonian museums, or ANY museums, the Library of Congress, or ANY other serious place of learning????? THINK on the bitter irony of this. If Thomas Jefferson had said this, we might wonder hat had disturbed him that he would issue such a order. Trump, and the POWER behind him are deadly serious about rewriting factual American history and culture into their own ignorant and bigoted version.

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXIV – The Police State, III – Subverting The Rule Of Law

~ tomdolen

*** “..Hitler’s originality lay in his realization that effective revolutions..are carried out with,
and not against, the power of the State: the correct order..was to first secure access to
that power and then begin the revolution. Hitler never abandoned the cloak of legality;
he recognized the enormous psychological value of having the law on his side. Instead
he turned the law inside out and made illegality legal.”
[ Alan Bullock: “Hitler, A Study In Tyranny” ]

1]. “Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says he’s “trying to stop a dictatorship”…Ellison and fellow attorneys general are litigating against him on more than a dozen fronts…”He wants total and complete authority,” Ellison said, “with a thin, thin, thin, ineffectual veneer of democracy so that he can pretend legitimacy.”
[ Alison Kite: “If he keeps it up, I’ll keep it up”; Minnesota Star Tribune; 4/28/25 ]

*** “What Hitler aimed at was arbitrary power..from the first, he had no intention of having
his hands tied by any constitution.” { Bullock: “Hitler, A Study In Tyranny” ]

2] “..there is growing anxiety about the safety of our financial institutions..Trump fired Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka..”This is the latest in a string of actions by the Trump Administration to subvert the law and undermine financial regulators that keep Americans’ money safe..” [ Michelle Singletary: “Are banks and your money still safe under Trump 2.0?”; Washington Post; 4/28/25 }

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

3] “President Trump on Saturday posted on social media a single sentence that appears to encapsulate his attitude as he tests the nation’s legal and constitutional boundaries.. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” Mr. Trump..has repeatedly suggested..he has divine backing to enforce his will.” { M. Haberman, C. Savage, J. Swan: “Trump Suggests No Laws Are Being Broken If His Motive Is To Save His Country”; New York Times; 2/16/25 ]

*** “Devine right of kings is a belief..monarchs get their right to rule directly from God..it is
up to God to punish a wicked king. So far as the people are concerned, ‘the king can do
no wrong.'” [ the World Book Encyclopedia ]

4] “The list of measures purpose-built to cleave off a domain in which the law does not apply grows by the day: the pardons that bless and invite insurrectionary violence; the purges of career lawyers at the Justice Department..[and]..inspectors general across the government, and senior FBI officers; the attorney general’s command..lawyers obey the president over their own understanding of the Constitution; the appointment of people such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino..; the president’s declaration that he and the attorney general are the sole authoritative interpreters of federal law.. the threat of criminal prosecution for speech deemed unfavorable by the president; and the verbal attacks on judges for enforcing the law.
“The singular aim of these tactics is to construct a prerogative state where cruel caprice, not law, rules…it is striking how Donald Trump’s executive orders reject some basic tenets of American constitutionalism..”
[ Aziz Huq: “A Warning Out Of Time”; The Atlantic; May, 2025 ]

*** “An authoritarian dictatorship like the Nazi regime stiffles real possibilities of control. the Nazis
abolished parliament and all chances of parliamentary investigation, they politicized the
judiciary, they scratched away the power of the rechningshof [the auditor’s office]..”
Adam LeBor, Roger Boyes: “Seduced By Hitler”}

5]. “After nightfall on Jan. 24, President Trump summarily dismissed as many as 17 of the most important guardians of integrity in the federal government – the inspectors general… Mr. Trump’s action was an overt defiance of a law..very much in keeping with the president’s imperious resistance to any form of accountability…Many of Mr. Trump’s first assertions of executive power blatantly exceed what is legally granted.”
[ “Trump’s Test Of the Constitution”; New York Times. editorial; 2/2/25 ]

*** “When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled ‘made in Germany’; it will not
be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course,

‘Americanism'” [ Halford Luccock ]

5] Some – of dozens – headlines on Trump violating laws and the Constitution:
– – “New White House memo is seen as a threat to lawyers”; [Shayna Jacobs; Washington Post; 3/25/25]
– “Judges Sound the Alarms”. [ Aaron Blake; Washington Post; 2/9/25 ]
– “Flouting With Vengeance”. [ Aaron Blake; Washington Post; 3/25/25 ]
– “AP barred from Oval Office despite court order” [ David Bauder; Assoc. Press; 4/15/25 ]
– “Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons betray the rule of law” [ Minnesota Star Tribune. editorial; 1/22/25 ]
– “Trump’s border czar doesn’t ‘care what judges think’. Do you?” [Mel Dickstein, retired judge; Mn Star Tribune; 3/28/25]
– “Trump ignores courts to rule alone”. [Cat Zakrzewski; Washington Post Weekly; 4/20/25]
– “Trump changes Rules To Let Federal Workers Wear Political Symbols” [Eileen Sullivan; New York Times; 4/27/25]

*** “Whenever Law ends Tyranny begins.” [ John Locke ]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness – XXIII – The Police State

~ tomdolen

“What surprised me at first was that most Germans..did not seem to mind that their personal
freedom had been taken away, that so much of their splendid culture was being destroyed…
in the background there lurked the terror of the Gestapo..for those who got too far out of line
….What seemed to matter most was that the Fuhrer was setting out to liquidate the past..He
was assuring the people that he would make Germany strong again.”
[ William Shirer: “The Nightmare Years 1930-1940” ]

1] “America’s Police State Has Arrived….”It’s the unmarked cars, a friend who grew up under an Argentine dictatorship…Those of us who have lived in countries terrorized by a secret police can’t shake a feeling of dreadful familiarity….It’s the catastrophic interruption of daily life….It’s the forced mass transports of immigrants….It’s the growing irrelevance of the law and the helplessness of judges and lawyers….It’s the chilling stories that come by word of mouth….It’s the invisible hand of the authorities….It’s the shifting goal posts….It’s the lists….It’s the denunciations by concerned citizens….The United States has become a secret police state. Trust me, i’ve seen it before.”
M. Gessen: “America’s Police State Has Arrived”; New York Times; 4/6/25 ]

*** “Beneath the surface..Germany had undergone a rapid and sweeping transformation that reached deep into the fabric of daily life…At its core was a government campaign called Gleichschaltung..bring citizens, government ministries, universities, and cultural and social institutions in line with National Socialist beliefs and attitudes.”
[ Erik Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts” ]

2] “As Fraenkel explained it, a lawless dictatorship does not arise simply by snuffing out the ordinary legal system..the “normative state” remains in place while the dictatorial power spreads across society…the Nazi regime slowly created a parallel zone in which “unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees” reigned freely.. the “prerogative state”…
“The key here is that the prerogative state does not immediately and completely overrun the normative state. The two states cohabit uneasily and unsteadily….The trick was to find a way to keep the law going for Christian Germans who supported or at least tolerated the Nazis, while ruthlessly executing the fuhrer”s directives against the state’s enemies, real or perceived. Capitalism could jog nicely alongside the brutal suppression of democracy.”
[ Aziz Huq: ‘A Warning out Of Times”; The Atlantic; May, 2025 ]

*** “Throughout that first year in Germany, Dodd had been struck again and again by the strange
indifference to atrocity that settled over the nation, the willingness of the populace and of
the moderate elements in the government to accept each new oppressive decree, each new
act of violence, without protest. It was as if he had entered the dark forrest of a fairy tale
where all the rules or right or wrong were upended.”
Erik Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts” ]

3]. “When a president declares an “invasion” to justify shredding of thr Constitution, he’s not defending the nation – he’s declaring war on democracy itself…they are sidestepping constitutional protections and rounding up people en masse..This is not just overreach of executive power – it is tyranny…
“Even more horrifying, Trump is ignoring court orders to halt these unconstitutional actions. Hw is deliberately undermining the judiciary, proving once again that he does not see himself as a president constrained by law but as a dictator accountable to no one…
“If left unchecked, this power grab sets a precedent that no American is safe from arbitrary detention. Today it’s asylum seekers and immigrants. Tomorrow, it could be political opponents, journalists, or anyone who dares criticize the orange menace..” [ Thom Hartmann: “Welcome to Trump’s America: Where Immigrants Vanish, Courts Are Ignored, and No One Is Safe”; The Progressive Populist; 4/15/25 ]

***. “We can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate, revulsion,
and scorn toward those who disagree with us.” [ Lenin ]

4]. “The National Intelligence Council, drawing on the acumen of the United States’ 18 intelligence agencies, determined..the Venezuelan government is not directing an invasion of the United States by the prison gang Tren de Aragua, a judgment that contradicts President Donald Trump’s public statements..” [ John Hudson, Warren Strobel: “Intelligence contradicts invasion claim”; Washington Post; 4/19/ 25 ]

*** “Our government has kept us is 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 ]

SO – what do YOU think? We, obviously – not yet – don’t have what the Nazis and Stalin Soviets achieved. THE question for YOU: where are we on the continuum? Trump has politicized and weaponized parts of the U.S. federal government [ after claiming – without credible evidence it was done against him. How does this achieve what the Founders said in the Constitution’s Preamble: ‘..a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare..”????????? People HAVE been dragged off American streets – for what they said, for what they believe – without evidence or court procedures.
In the Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – are YOU safe, immune from this? Do YOU want to live in a climate of fear, uncertainty, manufactured hatred????????/

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXI – A Patriotic Citizen’s Reading List

~ tomdolen

One of THE major components of the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY is LIES, Misinformation, twisted information, DELIBERATE DISINFORMATION – a literal. POISONING of American minds. They are capitalizing on 90 years of FAR RIGHT. efforts to divide Americans, to camouflage the EAL villains – the top 1% and corporations – to manufacture hatreds and discontent.

Over the last 90 years, the FAR RIGHT has built up MANY propaganda outlets: foundations; phantom funding of “grassroots” groups; funded numerous “experts” churning out ‘studies,” books, articles, making media appearances; creating bogus “legal” theories like “originalism” and “textualism”; funding “legal” studies of “law and economics”; funding university level “studies”; supported FAR RIGHT media personalities and programs; building their own schools and universities; supporting entire media and internet organizations………..

A vital media outlet – local newspapers and media – have been devastated by the internet and being bought up by major media companies – who then DICTATE what is said. The loss os small, often “Mom & Pop” operations, has been a MAJOR loss in those communities, and, usually a blow to democracy.

Not content with all this. – the FAR RIGHT. has also engaged in a vast. CENSORSHIP. program to force local libraries and schools to remove materials ‘offensive” to THEM, often a single person’s views.
The Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY. is vigorously removing ANY material THEY say YOU shouldn’t see or read – virtually always the TRUTH on what happened, 1789-2025.

This is straight out of Orwell’s “1984,” when ‘big Brother” told YOU all you needed to know; and – what REAL dictatorships – Communist, Nazi, Fascist, Putin – do and did.

***YOUR defense – read mainline newspapers, books, magazines; listen to mainline news. Be very careful of ANY “news” on social media – how do you really know it isn’t a Russian or Chinese bot posing as your “influencer”??? Studies have shown that Republicans who DIDN’T listen to Fox News were more realistically informed than Republicans who did.

***A Beginning List – to help YOU ask questions:
– magazines: Mother Jones, The Atlantic, Scientific American, Church & State
– crucial books: “Democracy In chains” – Nancy macLean; “Dark Money” – Jane Mayer; “Evil Geniuses” – Kurt Andersen; – the money BEHIND the FAR RIGHT

– stealing prosperity: “The Betrayal of the American Dream – double Pulitzer winners Donald Barlett & James Steele; “Who Stole the American Dream” – Pulitzer winner Hedrick Smith
– economic inequality: “The Spirit Level” [international bestseller] – Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett; “The Price of Inequality” – Nobel winner Joseph Stiglitz; “Economic Apartheid in America” – Chuck Collins & Felice Yeskel

– sabotaging democracy: “How Democracies Die” – Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt; “American Amnesia” – Jacob Hacker & Paul Pierson; “The Big Myth” – Naomo Oreskes & Erik Conway; “Minority Rule” – Ari Berman; “Attack from Within” – Barbara McQuade
– fascism & authoritarianism: “How Fascism Works” – Jason stanley; “On Tyranny” – Timothy Snyder; “Twilight of Democracy” – Anne Applebaum; “On Fascism” – Matthew MacWilliams; “American Nightmare” – Henry Giroux

– Trumpism: “Authoritarian Nightmare” – John Dean & Bob Altemeyer; “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” – Pulitzer winner David C. Johnston; “The Cult of Trump” – Steven Hassan; “How The Right Lost Its Mind” – Charles Sykes; “It Was All A LIE” – Stuart Stevens, 25-year Republican lead campaign strategist
– corruption: “On corruption In America” – Sarah Chayes; “American Kleptocracy” – Casey Michel; “Corruption In America” – Zephyr Teachout; “Kleptopia” – Tom Burgis

– warnings: “Broken Government” – John W. Dean; “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks” – Thomas Mann & Norman Ornstein; “The Wrecking Crew” – Thomas Frank; “The Great Unraveling” – Nobel winner Paul Krugman
– corporate criminality: “Predator Nation” – Academy Award winner Charles Ferguson; “Selling Out” – Mark Green; “These Are the Plunderers” – Pulitzer winner Gretchen Morgenson & Joshua Rosner; “The One Percent Solution” – Gordon Lafer; “THe Devine Right of Capital” – Marjorie Kelly

– truth: “Murder The Truth” – David Enrich; “The Death of Truth” – Michiko Kakutani; “Erasing History” – Jason Stanley; “The Death of Expertise” – Tom Nichols; “The Digital Civil War” – Peter Daou; “Losing Reality” – Robert j. Lifton
– religious extremism: “Preparing For War” – Bradley Onishi; “American Fascists” – Chris Hedges; “The Power Worshippers” – Katherine Stewart; “The Theocons” – Damon Linker; “Thy Kingdom Come” – Randall Balmer; “Church & State” magazine – numerous articles on Christian Nationalism

***The TRUTH about the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY is available – please read and find it!!! YOU can help save American democracy from the FAR RIGHT’S 9-year effort to create a THEOCRATIC OLIGARCHY in YOUR country

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XIX – Destroying Friendships

~ tomdolen

“U.S. authorities will allow Canadian library cardholders to access the building as usual until Oct. 1. Then, they must go through an official border crossing. Boudreau plans to convert an emergency exit on the Canadian side into an entrance. A GoFundMe to raise money for the entrance surpassed its goal. Its donors included several contrite Americans.”

“What’s happening at Haskell is happening across the border, which is…the elimination of the special cross-border spaces, Alden said. “They were symbols of the deep trust and friendship between the United states and Canada, which has sadly been badly eroded.”
[Amanda Coletta: “A tiny library caught in the crossfire”; Washington Post Weekly; 4/6/25]

Note: Read this article, with tears in YOUR eyes, over the senseless Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY subverting decades of friendship and TRUST between Canadians and Americans on our mutual border.
This story is about how America sabotaged that cooperation, friendship and TRUST at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, which sits ON the border between Stansstead, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont. Patrons of the opera house sitting in seats J-13, K-1l, and M-12 sit in both countries!!!!!

This library stood for 120 years, straddling the border as a statement of cooperation, friendship and TRUST – until that friendship, cooperation and TRUST were sabotaged by Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY authorities – claiming drug traffickers and smugglers exploited a path adjacent to the library allowing them to enter the U.S. without clearing customs. Now, a sensible person might ask – why not work WITH Canada to monitor this – a small library – in a more friendly, cooperative, TRUSTING manner than the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY giving dictates??????????

Note: this STUPID, CRUEL. story is SYMBOLIC of the way the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY has treated former American friends around the world. It is also symbolic of cutting off humanitarian aid to suffering peoples around the world. It is also symbolic of the way CRUELTIES and STUPIDITIES are being done to American citizens – such as cutting off health services and information – in order to finance OBSCENE BILLIONAIRE TAX CUTS.

Note: a MAJOR factor in America’s world standing has been our “soft power” – our cultures, our freedoms, our willingness to help other nations and peoples not as fortunate. For the Musk-trump KAKISTOCRACY – †his is an expense to be cut – because, in their warped “thinking” – it costs too much.

*** “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.”

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XVI – “Burning People” by ERASING THEM

~ tomdolen

“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 ]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – American Amnesia – Voices From 2018, IV – Chaos & Incompetence

~ tomdolen

1] “The country deserves a president who cares about the truth.” “There’s no longer any escaping from the reality of what the past two years have produced: a president who is facing multiple investigations…….a president who has further divided the country; a president who has not sought in any serious way to reach beyond his base; a president whose policies have left allies overseas worried about the absence of U.S. leadership.” [Dan Balz; Washington Post; 12/23/2018; “Mattis Pushes Others To Step Up”}: “Republicans continue to act as if nothing much has changed…The response to Mattis’ resignation was telling..not just one of shock but also one of alarm, as if the last line of defense had broken down.” [read the article – & remember, this is said in 2018 – NOT. 2025!!!!!]

***. “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes.” [Isaiah 5:21]

2] “Earlier this month, Tillerson described Trump as “pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things, but rather just kind of says, “This is what I believe.” [Julie Pace, Zeke Miller: “As advisors leave, the guardrails come off.”; Asoc. Press; 12/22/2018]: “Last year, during one particularly frenetic stretch of Donald Trump’s presidency, a top GOP senator said there were three men guarding the country from chaos..Mattis..Kelly..Tillerson. Within weeks, not one will be left in the administration…marks the end of the “contain and control” phase of Trump’s administration – one where generals, business leaders and establishment Republicans struggled to guide the president and curb his most disruptive impulses.” [READ THIS ARTICLE!]

***. “Consistently wise decisions can only be made by those whose wisdom is
consistently challenged.” [Ted Sorenson – JFK advisor]

3] “He’s dynamited the institution of the presidency,” said Douglas Brinkley, presidential historian at Rice University.” [Jonathan Lemire: “In 2 Years, Norms Vanish”; Assoc. Press; 12/29/2018]: “In Trump’s Washington, facts are less relevant. Insults and highly personal attacks are increasingly employed… The White House press briefing is all but gone, international summits are optional… and everything – including inherently nonpartisan institutions and investigations – is suddenly political.”
“Taking a wrecking ball to decorum and institutions, Trump has changed..how Washington works and how it is viewed by the rest of the nation and the world.”…….
“From his first days in office, Trump pushed falsehoods… The inaccuracies have been big and small… The cumulative effect has been to diminish the authority with which White House pronouncements are received.”….
” and he has eschewed sweeping diplomacy in favor of transactional relationships. He has strained longtime alliances – including with Canada, of all places – and befriended global strongmen.” [read the article!!!!]

******. “No change in circumstances can repair a defect in character.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

4] “He does not own anything that goes wrong. The problem is, he’ll blame anybody. Obviously, it’s the Democrats in this situation.” [David Nakamura: “President Tries To Divert Blame”; Washington Post; 12/22/2018]: “For Trump, the rhetorical Kabuki offered another example of a president who routinely contradicts himself without regard for consequences…. a chief executive who had brought Washington, D.C. to the brink of a self-inflicted governance crisis with no clear strategy of how to manage the shut-down – or win it.”
“It’s really indicative of how we all know he thinks so in-the-moment and so off-the-cuff that it winds up being dangerous..” [read the article!!!]

***** “The principle source of erroneous judgment [is] viewing things partially and

only on one side.” [Samuel Johnson}

!!!!!*****!!!!!*****!!!!!***** REMEMBER – these were written in 2018!!! Absolutely, NOTHING HAS CHANGED in Trump – accept, as “some people are saying” – perhaps his mental abilities. BUT – something critical HAS changed. #1 – “PROJECT 2025”. and its authors in crucial Trump II administration jobs; #2 – the people who DID try to “contain and control” Trump’s worst tendencies. ARE. GONE – replaced by. ‘LOYALISTS” and other types of “Yes Men,” or people trying to. USE. this presidency to achieve the 90-year FAR RIGHT. wish list. YOU can read about their successes in daily headlines. SPEAK UP AND PROTEST – or – what is left of “YOUR’ democracy WILL be destroyed.

Trump-Musk – And – FASCIST. AMERIKA

~ tomdolen

Job #1 – look up “The 14 Characteristics of Fascism.” Now, seriously and critically – examine post-1980 America. If YOU are serious – it should be OBVIOUS that powerful, well-financed, forces have changed 1789-1980 America into what is now, under long-established evaluation tools into a near- PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. Trump-Musk have simply made it worse, more cruel, even more corrupt. Step by step, following PROJECT 2025,” they are centralizing power in the presidency. That current occupant is THE man the Founders feared, the anti-Washington.

1]. “In writing this book..I have found myself more and more fixated on one gnawing question. Is what we are dealing with merely a social movement of the right whose radical ideas must eventually face public scrutiny and a rise and fall on their merits? Or is this the story of something quite different, something never before seen in American history? Could it be – and I use these words quite hesitantly and carefully – a fifth column assault on American government?
“Pushed by relatively small numbers of radical-right billionaires and millionaires..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..The Deep History of The Radical Right’s Stealth Plan For America”] [Question: is PROJECT 2025 that plan???]

*** In November, 2024, America elected an ignorant 78-year old teenage cult leader as “our” president. What could possibly go wrong? How much damage to American society, business, government can he do?

2}. There were danger signs: World War I era persecution of German-Americans & “Red Scare”; the July-November, 1933 Far-Right plot to overthrow FDR; putting 120,000 innocent Japanese-Americans in WW II “camps”; 1940s-50s “Red Scare”; John Birch Society; Nixon; Reagan [Iran-contra & more]; Bush II [lying into Iraq war]; Trump I; steady growth of “Christian Nationalism”; “Originalism” & “law and economics” legal theories; The Federalist Society & corruption of America’s judicial system; changes in corporate morality; Republican authoritarianism in states they control; the 1987-2025 flood of FAR RIGHT DISINFORMATION ; the growth of Far Right militia groups in all 50 states; January 6, 2021 coup attempt; ‘PROJECT 2025″

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

3]. Do YOUR own research into FAR RIGHT goals, 1900-2025. Research WHY the original “Populist” and “Progressive” revolts by ordinary rural and urban Americans occurred. Research WHY laws and regulations were passed to control corporate power. People didn’t suddenly “hate” corporations, what happened in 1865-1900?

*** Chief Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court, Edward Ryan, to University of Wisconsin graduates, 1873: “There is looming up a new and dark power..The enterprises of the country are aggregating vast corporate combinations of unexampled capital, boldly marching, not for economic conquests only, but for political power…money is taking the field as an organized power. The question will arise..which shall rule – wealth or man, which shall lead – money or intellect; who shall fill public stations – educated and patriotic free men, or the feudal serfs of corporate power.” [accessed from “Selling Out”]

4]. Research Nazi Germany, 1933-41. What were ordinary people doing? What was the atmosphere like? How did the Nazis control public opinion? Find the extent of corporate support for the Nazis.
Consider: Jews were NOT the first to go into “camps.” Jews in “camps” had one of sic badgers: red for ‘politicals”; green for criminals; pink for homosexuals; black for “anti-socials”; purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses; yellow for Jews. Research the Nazi “justice’ system [Ingo Muller: Hitler’s Justice” – translation]
Other books to learn what it was like living in that dictatorship: Erick Larson: “In The Garden Of Beasts”; James & Suzanne Pool: “Who Financed Hitler”; Adam LeBor & Roger Boyes: “Seduced By Hitler”; Robert Gllately: “Backing Hitler”; William Shirer: “The Nightmare Years. 1930-1940”; Victor Klemperer: “The Language of the Third Reich”]

5] Since Trump”s 2017-2021 term, much serious research has been done. Much driven by fears of demons set loose. Some “must” reads for concerned Americans: Steven Livitsky & Daniel Ziblatt: “How Democracies Die”; Theo Horesh: “The Fascism This Time”; Jason Stanley: “How Fascism Works”; Timothy Snyder: “On Tyranny”; Anne Applebaum: “Twilight of Democracy”; John Dean & Bob Altemeyer: “Authoritarian Nightmare”; Henry Giroux: “American Nightmare”; in 2006, Chris Hedges: “American Fascists..the Christian Right and the War on America.”

*****YOU!!! As this is written in late February, 2025 – there are signs Americans are slowly waking up to the HUGE threat the Trump-Musk dictatorship poses. Congress critters met hostile town halls [“Republicans face angry voters in town halls”; S.Peoples & E.Tucker, A.Seitz; Assoc. press; 2/24] and “Signs of Strain As Tariffs, Cuts Begin..Consumer sentiment sours with Trump’s abrupt moves” [A.Rappaport; New York Times; 2/28]. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE???

***** YOU!!! – Ask yourself – are “reasons” given by Trump-Musk valid for their decisions??? Are they true in ANY sense??? Is what Trump-Musk are doing consistent with 1900-1980 American democracy??? The Constitution’s Preamble says “We the People”. crated a government to “establish Justice” and to “promote the general Welfare” – how does ANYTHING Trump-Musk propose to do accomplish these REQUIREMENTS?????

6]. The Founders intended Congress to be THE dominant branch. They INTENTIONALLY divided up power – “checks and balances.” Trump-Musk have tried to create a NEW form of American government – one that has authoritarian, FASCIST tendencies. Trump-Musk have PURGED the FBI, fired inspectors generals, ignored court orders, tried to control YOUR “free press,” violated numerous laws, moved to limit the Federal Reserve’s independence.

**!!**!! – Trump’s “rationale”: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.” !!!!!!!!!!!

*** “The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elected, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” [James Madison; Federalist. #47}

The Trump-Musk Dictatorship – THE PATTERN, II – part Two

~ tomdolen

Continuing Part II of. THE. PATTERN:

7]. CORRUPTING LAWS [ALL dictatorships corrupt the laws and judicial system]
“…a new school of legal thought..’law and economics’..became one of the prime organizers of a regular series of seminars for judges…including legal arguments in favor of network priorities [the kleptocratic network] and market-based ethical standards and denigrating the very notion of the public interest…the Federalist Society..subnetwork of legal scholars and practioners has been crucial to the hydra’s ability to weaponize the justice function….much more radical….What American citizens don’t yet realize..is that ‘this will make it very hard for future democratically elected institutions to govern.'” [Sarah Chayes: “The Corruption of America”] *****{NOTE: Chayes is an internationally recognized expert on government corruption, having observed it elsewhere. Also – do YOUR own research on the “law and economics” theory & the “seminars for judges” this movement conducts – & VERY BIG – WHO pays for these law school classes, WHO wants this radical FAR RIGHT legal theory put into American law?????]

“The rich and their lobbyists have taken firm control of the levers of power in Washington, and the state capitals while remaking the rules in their own interests…These same people also happen to be the primary source of the campaign donations that put politicians in office and keep them there…Rules define a civilization…For more than a quarter century..our government has been adopting rules that tilt the playing field in favor of the rich, the powerful, and the politically connected.” [“Free Lunch,” David Cay Johnston. NOTE: Johnston has also written “Perfectly Legal” and “The Fine Print”. also documenting how the rich and their corporations are robbing YOU.}

*** “I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people until all the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed.” [ Abraham Lincoln; 11/21/1864 letter to Col. W.F. Elkins]

8] LOYALTY AND OBEISANCE
– “Noem is rewarded for Trump toadying”. [Jennifer Brooks; Minnesota Star Tribune; 11/13/24]
– “..anticipatory obedience”….”..actions..individual people or private institutions took pre-emptively, with some measure of free will.” [“We Are Watching America Capitulate To Trump”; M.Gessen; New York Times; 2/9/25]
– “If you were seeking to destroy the country, the Gabbard, Gaetz, RFK Jr. picks were exactly the ones you’d make.” [“Will then Senate Save America From Trump’s Cabinet?”; Joe Conason; The Progressive Populist; 12/15/24]
– “In Hiring, Trump Follows Instinct More Than Ever…Prioritizing Loyalty and Not Seeking Advice Outside His Circle”. {J.Swan, M.Haberman; New York Times]

*** “Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters.”

{ U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson]

Age of Trump – The “conservative” FRAUD

~ tomdolen

In post-1980 America, perhaps. THE foundational Far Right. BIG LIE is that they are “conservative” – in their rhetoric, actions, policies. In REALITY, they’ve shown huge streaks of craziness, cruelty, destructiveness, anti-democratic behavior, hatred, bigotry, and misogyny.
A favorite “explanation” of the Far Right is: “history and tradition.” This would be good – except the Far Right are VERY bad “historians,” are making up “history,” are perpetrating anti-American and anti-democratic BIG. LIES.

The Oxford World Encyclopedia defines “conservatism” thus: “Political philosophy seeking to preserve the continuity of society’s laws, social structure, and institutions.”
The World Book Encyclopedia defines “conservatism” thus: “Conservatives rely on traditional institutions, values, and ideas as a guide to wisdom and goodness. Therefore, they seek progress in line with proven values of the past.

Review these definitions carefully, noting “continuity of society..”, “a guide to wisdom and goodness”; “they seek progress in line with proven values..” DOCUMENTED rhetoric, policies, actions of post-1980 Far Right persons shows “wisdom and goodness” to be alien values for the Far Right. This, also assumes the “past values” reflected what ordinary people wanted – or – were imposed by Far Righters in positions of power.

The American experiment in democracy and liberty evolved, 1789-1980. Laws were passed restricting corporate greed and cruelty, initiating a progressive income tax, “giving” women the vote, providing “civil rights” to persecuted people, “giving” people reproductive freedom, “giving” workers rights and union rights, providing for environmental protections, setting up public schools and libraries, protecting the press when it criticized government. Constitutional Amendments separated church and state; “The right of the people to be secure in their persons..”; outlawing slavery. The Constitution was approved ONLY because it was agreed a “bill of rights” would be added.
***** Review this list. Virtually ALL – have been attacked by the Far Right since 1980, these attacks are continuing, even escalating in the age of Trumpism.
***As this is posted, the Far Right, having successfully used numerous BIG LIES in 2016-2024, are now poised, with control of ALL four federal powers – House, Senate, president, a monstrously corrupt “supreme court” – to institute an agenda – “Project 2025” – that its dictatorial leader REPEATEDLY disavowed [hence, no “mandate” to institute it].

A conservative Republican president, Gerald Ford, once said “truth is the glue that holds government together.” Republicans like Ford have been PURGED out of the post-1980 Republican Party. Numerous “Eisenhower Republicans” have testified to this FACT.

So – what ARE people claiming to be “conservatives’??? – They ARE REACTIONARIES – by definition and action.

World Book Encyclopedia defines “reactionaries” thus: “A true conservative should also be distinguished from a reactionary. Reactionaries want to revolutionize existing society according to a model in past history.” [The models “our” Far Right likes are authoritarian and dictatorial]
Random House College Dictionary defines “reaction” thus: “a reverse movement..movement in the direction of extreme political conservatism or rightism.” [“our” Far Right wants to reverse 1789-1980 democratic gains]

In response to post-1980 rhetoric, actions, policies of the “Republican Party”, increasing numbers of works and studies on “fascism,” “authoritarianism,” truth, inequality, tyranny, corruption, and “Hoe Democracies Die”. have been published – including works by authors having worked in authoritarian states, warning what they observed there coming to America.

American society reached its STATISTICAL peak as a mass prosperous middle class society 1947-1973. This was “too good a del” for people like YOU in the eyes of the Far Right. The post-1980 REVOLT by REACTIONARIES is their DOCUMENTED response. GREED is a major factor, but so is “conservative” religion.
This movement has been studied, DOCUMENTED by quotes from the perps themselves. Reagan began it, justified it, with “government is the problem,” “privatization,” “deregulation.” tax cuts for the rich. G.W. Bush and Trump continued it, built on it.

The Far Right goal, which they’ve said themselves, is a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. YOU can see this for yourself in post-1980 laws and policies – enacted by Republican-controlled states, by Far Right comic book Congressional characters, by a CORRUPT, anti-democratic, un-constitutional “supreme court.”

*** “Fascism should be more properly called corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
[Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator, 1922-1945]

Post-1980 “Republicans” are virtual TEXTBOOK REACTIONARIES – they want to REVERSE much of the 1789-1980 democratization of America, in order to create their. PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY. They’ve said so – bring America back to 1950 Virginia, hinted at 1865-1900 “Gilded Age.”
The easiest way to understand this: review 2005-2024 “supreme court” rulings that favor and enable this: ending gun restrictions, enabling uncontrolled corporate “campaign contributions,” forcing YOU to support a church you DON’T attend, putting certain [“conservative”] religious values into American law over YOU, refusing to oppose gerrymandering [recognized 1800s forward as textbook corruption], allowing return to racial discrimination, giving any president “immunity” [like kings & dictators – the Founders’ #1 fear; corruption!!!], attacking governmental regulatory powers, undermining labor unions, violating church-state separation. – not to mention cruelties like “Ledbetter” and allowing a wrongly condemned man be executed. This is a BLUEPRINT for a PLUTOCRATIC THEOCRACY.

The incoming Trump dictatorship has already announced it INTENDS to persecute – using federal government power – any/all of its “enemies,” or, “enemies of the people”. [an ironic phrase associated with earlier dictatorships], with the help of a “loyalist” leading the FBI, a “loyalist” running the “justice” department.

The corporate state will be furthered by billionaires running a “department of government efficiency,” billionaires in the cabinet and government. Government institutions like the Post Office [already mismanaged by a previous Trump appointee, short=staffed, ORDERED to delay YOUR mail in order to get Amazon packages out on time!!!] – will be “privatized.” Attacks on public schools and libraries will continue so the Far Right can achieve the stated THEOCRATIC goal of having ALL American schools run by [the correct!] churches.

Taxes on billionaires and centi-millionaires will be cut by renewing provisions of the immoral, corrupt, anti-democratic Trump 2017 tax cut laws [which penalized middle class people like YOU] – in order to pay for these national debt blasting rich tax cuts – cuts in middle class benefits. MUST be made !!!! – a KNOWN math fact. – didn’t take long for America’s most famous BIG LIAR to renege on 2024 campaign promise did it??????

By appointing a large number of totally unqualified “loyalists” to run ANY large organization, the Trump dictatorship will advance the FAR RIGHT goal of destroying YOUR/ OUR American government’s ability to function. – which it will then use as an excuse to “privatize” government functions – profits of which will go to connected billionaires [as Putin’s kleptocracy has already shown how to do!!!]. HEY! – see how the FAR RIGHT plan works??????

***”The best way to take control over people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” [Adolf Hitler]


Note: for more “food for thought,” see. “Mother Jones,” January-February, 2025 – especially “The Oligarch Election,” &”The Enemy Within”; also on the CORRUPT Roberts “supreme court” – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse”s. “The Scheme,” his DOCUMENTED expose of its 73-0 ideological scorecard in Appendix “A” !!!