Tag: politics

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXVII. – Can We Safely Say That THIS is CORRUPTION???

~ tomdolen

***. “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain…the character of an “Honest Man.”
[ George Washington; 8/28/1788 ]

This post concerns various issues involved in the “dea” between the U.S. government and the Trumps to “resolve” the $10 billion lawsuit “our” president filed against the IRS. As of this date, 5/21/26, we have learned some details. Ordinary American citizens have written “letters to the editor” decrying ‘corruption.” Legal experts are beginning to raise concerns. What do. YOU. think? Read these excerpts – begin THINKING……

I. “IRS to ‘forever’ drop its tax claims against Trump” { Alanna Durkin Richer, Eric Tucker; Associated Press; 5/20/26 ]:
1] “..acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday wouldn’t rule out the prospect of Jan. 6 rioters receiving payouts from a taxpayer-fueled fund created by the same settlement.”

2] “The settlement agreement also says the U.S. government is “forever barred and precluded” from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization over current tax issues..”

3]. “Blanche defended the creation of the fund without any acknowledgement that the Trump administration has pursued investigations of Trump’s political opponents.” [NOTE: when you’re DICTATOR you make the rules !!!]

4] “The mere possibility that violent rioters at the Capitol could be considered for payouts is consistent with a Trump administration pattern of rewriting the history of Jan. 6…”

*** “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.” [ Joseph Goebbels; Nazi Minister of Propaganda ]

II. “Trump’s $1.776 billion windfall tests constitutional limits” [ Adam Liptak; New York Times; 5/21/26 ]:
2]. “The whole enterprise was a jarring shock to the conventional understanding of the constitutional system, raising what legal experts said were profound questions about presidential power. If the arrangement is allowed to stand, they said, Trump will have managed simultaneously to thwart Congress’ power of the purse and the ability of the courts to police the separation of powers.”

1]. “..the president managed to work out a deal with himself Monday, one as novel and brazen as the process that spawned it. He dropped his lawsuit, extracting from his own government a promise to create a $1.776 billion fund to dole out to his political allies.”

*** “The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of the fold than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he shall have entered.” {Thomas Jefferson; 1782]

III. “Trump’s stock trades questioned”. [ Bernard Condon; Associated Press; 5/21/26 ]:
2]. “If he were defense secretary, he would be commiting a crime,” said Richard Painter…”Technically he can do this, but it is a fundamentasl breach of trust.”

1] “Recent presidents have stayed away from trading stocks in companies whose fortunes they could lift or scuttle…but Donald Trump smashed that precedent in the first quarter of this year with more than 3,600 buy and sell orders, many of them involving companies whose profits have been directly impacted by his decisions..”

3] “Since he became president again, the Trump organization has taken in tens of millions in upfront fees from overseas developers that want to put his name on resorts and hundreds of millios from cryptocurrency sales, mostly anonymous, making it impossible to know if the purchaser were trying to curry favor with the president.”

***. ‘..no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept any present, Emolument, Office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or sovereign state.”
[ Article I, Section 9; U.S. constitution ]

IV. “Officers who defended U.S. Capitol sue to block payments”. [ Michael Kunzelman; Associated Press; 5/21/26 ]:
1] “The lawsuit claims the government’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is an illegal slush fund that Trump will use to “finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name.” It describes the fund’s creation as “the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century..”

2] “The officers claim the fund “encourages those who enacted violence in the President’s name to continue to do so.” “Dunn and Hodges already face credible threats of death and violence on regular basis; the Fund sunstantially increases the danger..”

*** “It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction…a penalty or punishment for disobedience. if there be no penalty annexed to disobedience, the resolution or commands which pretend to be laws will, in fact, amount to nothing more than advice or recommendations.”
[ Alexander Hamilton: “The Federalist Papers” ]

V. “$100M tax threat for Trump likely wiped away by DOJ-brokered deal”. [ Russ Buettner; New York Times; 5/21/26]:
1] “..frees the president from a potential adverse ruling that could cost him more than $100 million..”

2] “The audit dated back to a $72.9 million tax refund that Trump claimed, and received… Trump justified the refund claim by declaring huge business losses..”

3] “The IRS has argued that he, in effect, tried to write off the same losses on the Chicago tower twice.”

4] “The agreement to end the Trumps’ lawsuit, while sidestepping judicial review, also puts an end to any other audit by the IRS pertaining to tax returns they or their businesses have already filed.”

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

VI. Some excerpts from “letters to the editor”. Trump Administration Let this corruption sink in [ Minnesota Star Tribune; 5/21/26]:
1] “Never in my 70-plus years have I seen the level of greed and corruption present in the Trump administration and family.” { m.H. ]
2]. “What an unbelievable conflict of interest. But it’s just business as usual: ˇhe chief executive’s objectives of enriching his supporters from prosecution keep on coming..” [ R.S. ]
3]. “..perhaps Republicans at the federal level should consult them on how to prevent corruption in the newly established $1.776 billion fund that so far appears to be directed at the complete discretion of Trump.” [ E. P. ]
4]. “This reeks of corruption and is further proof that Trump doesn’t care about the Constitution or the oath he took to uphold it.” [ W.J. ]
5] “Apparently crime does pay. I”m thinking about quitting the career I”ve been building for 26 years to become a rioter.” [M. R.]
6]. “This is the “mafia-zation” of government.” [ P. R. ]
7] “Trump may not be working on the problems facing Americans…but he is certainly finding creative ways of enriching himself and his friends at taxpayers’ expense.” [ M. A. ]

SOOO – what do YOU think? Need more evidence? Have enough evidence to vote November 3, 2026?

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

VI. !!!!! – Corruption update: “DOJ violates its own policy in ‘shocking gift’ to Trump” [ Devlin Barrett; New York Times; 5/22/26]: “Justice Department veterans have been deeply skeptical…particularly when it comes to the provision in the deal that offers President Donald Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. immunity from tax penalties…
“I have never heard of the department ever being willing to grant blanket immunity, said Jennifer Rickett…”That seems blatantly corrupt. It’s a shocking gift to the president.”

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXVI – “Buyer’s remorse sets in over Trump”

~ tomdolen

***. “..one of the traits that had led Trump to the White House on full display: his extraordinary capacity to say things that were not true. He always seemed to have complete conviction in whatever product he was selling or argument he was making. He had an uncanny ability to say with a straight face, things are not as you’ve been told or even as you’ve seen with your own eyes. He could commit a lie in the frame of his body and in the timbre of his voice so fully, despite all statistical and even video evidence to the contrary.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winners Carol Leonnig, Philip Rucker: “I Alone Can Fix It” ]. [NOTE: read this again, and again – for many observers, THIS is a capsule of who Donald John Trump is ]

This post presents excerpts from: “Buyer’s remorse sets in over Trump” [ Dan Merica, Cat Zakrzewski; Washington Post Weekly; 3/22/26 ]. Americans are waking up to the Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, Incompetence, Dishonesty of the Trump DICTATORSHIP !!!!! The Big Lie that “Trump cares about me” is exposed more and more. Trump is costing YOU money!!! One analysis soon to be posted: Trump’s 2027 Pentagon budget request is estimated to cost EVERY American household about $4,000. There are MANY other Trump DICTATORSHIP “costs.”

1] “Joshua Byers was hopeful when he voted for Donald Trump in 2024. The 26-year old document clerk believed the former and future president when he said he would lower prices and improve the lives of the working class….
“I feel betrayed”…”

2] “But with prices stubbornly high, a belief that Trump is overly focused on international conflict and concerns about how federal officials are implementing the president’s immigration policy, they also said they are questioning why they voted in the first place..”

3] “I wouldn’t even say it’s a living,” James Wiest, a 23-year old arcade technician from Mooresville, North Carolina, said of his life…”It’s more survival.”

***. “Trump is not Adolf Hitler, but he shares many of Hitler’s disorders, addiction to lies, and appeal to wounded followers through the dehumanization of target groups. In Trump’s case, these include African Americans, Muslims, women, Hispanics, and migrants.” [ Bandy lee, editor: “The Dangerous Case Of Donald Trump” ]

4]. “A Washington Post – ABC – Ipsos poll released last month found 70 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds disapproved of Trump’s handling of the presidency, compared with 29 percent who approved.”

5] “I don’t really want to vote anymore,” Byers said…I don’t want to feel responsible for taking a vote and feeling misled, or misjudged, or making a wrong move.” [NOTE; what effect will THIS ‘COST’ have on American democracy????? ]

6] “Young voters are also more likely to disapprove of the Iran war, according to a Washington Post poll released Tuesday. a majority of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 say they oppose the military campaign in Iran…”

***. “Men are so simple of mind, and so much dominated by their immediate needs, that a deceitful man will always find plenty who are ready to be deceived.” [ Niccolo Machiavelli ]

7] “Lilly Burrow, a 23-year-old teacher from Charlotte who voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, said..she initially supported the strikes because she thought they were intended to change the regime in Iran. But her view has since shifted, and now she believes the United States is “doing Israel’s dirty work.”

8] “Wiest, a Republican, said he feels demoralized and is unlikely to vote in the 2026 midterms. “I agree with his idea of making America great again, but the way he is going about…it’s not who I thought would be running this country,”…and he does not care about what we are mad about.”

9] “Byers and others in the focus group said they got much of their news about the 2024 election from social media, including online influencers…a constant stream of pro-Trump content..” [NOTE: so – “our’ president is elected by loads of amateur “journalists,” unqualified to say what they do, to repeat Trump’s lies without questioning….}

*** “He is incredibly suggestible, skimming ideas and thoughts and statements from other people and repacking them as his own; campaign aides once called him a “sophisticated parrot.” He has sown willingness both to believe anything is true, and to say anything is true. he has few core ideological impulses, but is often willing to suppress them when it’s useful for another purpose. He makes vague statements that allow people to project what they want in his words, so two sides he same issue could claim his support.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner Maggie Haberman: “Confidence Man” ]

10]. “Those same influencers who helped Trump connect with young voters during the election are now using their platforms to criticize the war in Iran and reconsidering their actions in the election. Rogan, who endorsed Trump after his 2024 interview, on Tuesday called the Iran war “so insane” and said Trump had “betrayed” the Americans who supported him.”

11] “Andrew Schulz, one of the cohosts of “Flagrant,” has criticized Trump since last year for doing the opposite of what he promised on the campaign trail.”

12] “Naturally, Americans are furious about it, right?” Schulz said. “Because we’re like, ‘How the f— does this benefit me? I can’t even afford to pay for college. i can’t buy a home. I can’t pay for health insurance. And we’re going to spend billions on a war in a country i can’t even point out on a map.”

***. “When one with honeyed words but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” [ Euripides ]

13] “Ross, who wore a white MAGA hat during his 2024 stream with Trump, also has expressed regret for having associated himself with the campaign.”

14] “..Faith Peavey, a 21-year-old American Sign Language interpreter and Republican who said she voted for Trump in 2024 with ‘caution…”It has definitely been frustrating to see him doing things that were not things he promised to do and not doing things that he promised to do,” Peavey said.”

*** “In the end the Party would announce that two and two make five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it.”
[ George Orwell: ‘1984″ ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXV. – Trump Makes America Weaker, War More likely

~ tomdolen

***. “The mismatch shows the risks in Mr. Trump’s personality-driven foreign policy, his bet that he can solve the world’s problems and defend America”s interests by his charm and force of will. In Mr. Xi, the U.S. president faced a counterpart last week who is well-versed in Mr. Trump’s desire for praise and pomp, and with an apparent strategy for how to exploit it. The result, analysts said, was a summit that illustrated the growing confidence of China..alongside a strategically muddled U.S. foreign policy under Mr. Trump.” [ Anton Troianovski: “Trump’s Push For Friendship Is Unrequited.”; New York Times; 5/17/26 ]

This post presents excerpts from “Every Nation for Itself”. [ Robert Kagan; The Atlantic; March, 2026 ]. We invite YOU to read the entire article. We invite YOU to THINK in what Kagan says – mull his words and implications……

16] “Trump’s megalomania is transforming the United States from from international leader into international pariah, and the American people will suffer thre consequences for years to come.”

1]. “President Trump wants to return to the 19th century’s international order. He will leave America less prosperous – and the whole world less secure.”

17] “..Trump’s exaltation of selfishness, rests on profound ignorance of the true sources of American strength. So much of America’s influence in the world has derived from treating others as part of a community of democratic nations or of strategic partners.”

***. “Especially important it is to realize that there can be no assured peace and tranquility for any one nation except as it is achieved by all.” [ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]

3] “Americans are entering the most dangerous world they have known since World War II…The U.S. will have no reliable friends or allies and will have to depend entirely on its own strength to survive and prosper. This will require more military spending, not less, because the open access to overseas resources, markets, and strategic bases that Americans have enjoyed will no longer come as a benefit of the country’s alliances.”

9]. “Trump and his supporters seem to believe that the rest of the world will simply accommodate this new American approach, and that allies, in particular, will continue to tag along, subservient to a United States that cuts them loose strategically, exacts steep economic tribute from them, and seeks to establish a ‘concert” with powers that directly threaten them. But the radical shift in U.S. strategy must force equally radical shifts among erstwhile friends and allies.”

12] “The mere existence of the United states and the liberal order it supported offered small and medium powers an opportunity denied them by centuries of multipolarity… The American order promised a higher standard of living, national sovereignty, and the legal and institutional equality.”

***. “Trump’s foreign policy is not so much immoral as it is amoral.” [ Richard Haass ]

2] “The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy made it official: The American-dominated liberal world order is over…The American might that upheld the world order of the past 80 years will now be used instead to destroy it.”

4] “Americans are neither materially nor psychologically ready for this future…They have grown accustomed to the world operating in a certain way: Largely agreeable and militarily passive European and Asian allies cooperate with the United States on economic and security issues… Americans…think it is the normal state of international affairs, likely to continue indefinitely.”

5]. “Perhaps more extraordinary than America’s ability and willingness to play the dominant role was the readiness of most other great powers to embrace and legitimize its dominance…America’s allies made trwo remarkable wagers: that the United States could be trusted to defend them whenever needed, and that it would not exploit its disproportionate might to enrich or strengthen itself at their expense.”

*** “To achieve [enduring good relations between states], the conduct of diplomacy should conform to the same moral and ethical principles which inspire trust and confidence when followed by and between individuals.”
[ Dean Acheson; former U.S. Secretary of State ]

6]. “..the grand bargain of the American order after 1945. And it was what allowed for the extraordinary peace and stability of the subsequent decades.”

7] “Trump has openly celebrated the end of the grand bargain…launched aggressive tariff wars against virtually all of America’s allies…waged ideological and political warfare against European governments and explicitly threatened territorial aggression against two NATO allies, Canada and Denmark.”

8] ‘..the administration’s National Security Strategy regards Russia and China not as adversaries or even competitors burt as partners in carving up the world.”

***. “[The commander] must be able to see the situation as a whole, attribute to each object its relative importance, grasp the connections between each factor in the situation, and recognize its limits. All this implies a gift of synthesis which, in itself, demands a high degree of intellectual capacity.” [ Charles de Gaulle ]

10] “The consequence of a newly unreliable and even hostile United States, therefore, will likely be significant military buildups by former allies. This will not mean sharing the burden of collective security, because these rearmed nations will no longer be American allies…They will owe nothing to the United States…At the very least, they will not be the same countries Americans know today.”

11] “In a multipolar world, everything is up for grabs.”

13] “Do we know how far China’s perception of its rightful sphere extends?”

***. “Even in war moral power is to physical as to three parts out of four.” [ Napoleon ]

14] ‘..China and Russia are not at all satiated, status quo powers. They are dissatisfied, have-not powers…chronically unhappy with American global supremacy..”

15] “This is the new world that America is entering, voluntarily shown of its greatest assets…When Russia or China went to war, it went alone. When the United States went to war…it had the support of dozens of allies.”

18] “Trump has managed in just one year to destroy the American order that was, and he has weakened America’s ability to protect its interests in the world that will be. If Americans thought defending the liberal world order was too expensive, wait until they start paying for what comes next.”

***. “Mankind will never know what it was spared because of risks avoided or because of actions taken that averted awful consequences. – if only because once thwarted consequences can never be proved.”
[ Henry Kissenger; former U.S. Secretary of State ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXIV. – Trump’s Incompetence, Corruption, Contempt

~ tomdolen

*** “It’s hard to believe anyone would vote for me. People must really be very stupid.” [Donald Trump]

This post will provide just four May, 2026, examples of how INCOMPETENT, how Corrupt, how much contempt Trump has for ordinary Americans – like YOU. We have folders and envelopes FULL of similar stories. It seems EVERY day brings a new example of how Trump has declared war on ordinary Americans, on American democracy, is weakening and disgracing America. Not by me – but by the Preamble’s principles: “We the People”. created a new government to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare..” Trump doesn’t care about any of this.

1] “Intel shows Iran’s military stronger than Trump says”. [Adam Entous, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan; New York Times; 5/14/26]: “Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of thre 33 missile sites in maintains along the Strait of Hormuz…Iran has regained access to roughly 90% of its underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide…Trump and his military advisors overestimated the damage that the U.S. military could inflict..and underestimated Iran’s resilience and ability to bounce back.”

***. “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]

2] “Trump’s IRS suit could be settled”. [Andrew Duhren, Alan Feur; New York Times; 5/14/26]: “..a move that could involve the government directly providing taxpayer funds or another public benefit to the president…the possibility of the IRS dropping any audits of Trump, his family members or businesses..”…Depending on its terms, a settlement with the IRS could be among Trump’s most brazen efforts to bend the government to his personal will – an agenda often carried out through the Justice Department. Trump and his family have repeatedly disregarded Washington ethical guardrails aimed at preventing government officials from profiting from public office.” [NOTE: if memory serves, didn’t Trump says his was going to voluntarily disclose his tax data???]

***. “What do I care about the law? Haint I got the power?” [ Cornelius Vanderbilt ]

3] “Trump: Economic pain not a consideration for Iran War”. [ Erica Green; New York Times; 5/14/26]: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he does not think about the economic hardship Americans feel as a result of his war in Iran, and it did not factor into his negotiations to end it…..”I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,’ Trump added. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all”
[NOTE; Trump hopes that YOU will forget the HE canceled a settlement that PROHIBITED Iran from having a nuclear bomb !!!!!!! Perhaps because President Obama negotiated it – can’t have anything Obama did !!!]

***. “The basest and meanest of all human beings are generally the most forward to despise others. – So that the most contemptible are generally the most contemptuous.” [ Henry Fielding ]

4] “Tobacco’s big win, courtesy of Trump”. [ Christina Jewett, Kenneth Vogel; New York Times; 5/14/26]: “The industry has poured millions into his presidency…Donald Trump got an earful from a group of tobacco executives and lobbyists unhappy with the way the Food and Drug Administration was regulating their industry…He complained to [RFK, Jr., Oz]..about the FDA’s regulation of e-cigarettes..”…The message was received. Less than a week later, the executives got what they wanted….The new policy bypassed the FDA’s regular rule-making process.”

*** “People who contribute get the ear of the member and the ear of the staff. they have access and access is it. Access is power. Access is clout. That’s how this thing works.” [ retired U.S. Representative Romano Mazzoli; in “Economic Apartheid in America”; Chuck collins, Felice Yeskel ]

***. Donald John Trump is THE man our Founders feared. He is THE anti-George Washington. He is THE anti-Abraham Lincoln. He is THE man feared in JohnW. Dean’s “Broken Government” ;…”another four years, and heaven forbid not eight years, under the Republicans, and our grandchildren will have to build a new government, because the one we have will be unrecognizable and unworkable.” – This from a “life-long Republican” in the Nixon White House!!!!! YOU have ONE. chance left to prevent the Trump DICTATORSHIP from being even more destructive, more undemocratic. – In November, 2026, VOTE AGAINST EVERY REPUBLICAN. – because they have almost all. “Drunk the Koolaid,” are giving Trump whatever he demands. – like the. KNOWN. corrupt mid-decade. GERRYMANDERING.

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

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXIII. – Trump Betrays His Voters, Destroys Middle Class

~ tomdolen

*** “The most perfect community is one in which the middle class is in control and outnumbers both of the other classes.” [ Aristotle ]

This post will BEGIN. to discuss evidence on how the Trump DICTATORSHIP policies are negatively impacting Americans. Leaving aside damage to the environment, relations with formerly friendly countries, undermining the rule of law, undermining democracy. – this post concentrates on. SOME. reasons most Americans are struggling financially. Often a headline alone is enough.

1] “The Middle Class Is Selling Blood Plasma to Get By” [ Kurtis Lee, Robert Gebeloff; New York Times; 4/5/26 ]: “As living costs rise, collection centers are increasingly opening in wealthier areas of the country.”

2] “The Great American Heist: How Reagan, Trump, and Their Billionaire Backers Stole the Middle Class” [ Thom Hartmann; The Progressive Populist; December, 2025 ]: “Every major social program since the 1930s has been opposed by Republicans…Trump just de-unionized an additional few hundred-thousand federal workers…the middle class has shrunk to fewer than 50% of us, and it takes two paychecks to do it.”

3]. “The Town That Reveals All of Trump’s Bad Economic Ideas” [ bob Davis; New York Times; 4/26/26 ]: “The town is making a comeback..But the reasons have nothing to do with mr. Trump and his signature policies.”

4]. “Republic for Sale”. [ Sabrina Haake; The Progressive Populist; December, 2025]; “Thanks to Citizens United…Trump is indebted to hundreds of industry leaders from tech, auto, education, banking, arms, prison, healthcare, and fossil fuel sectors…Trump is targeting these federal agencies for privatization: USPS, VA, FEMA, TSA, National Weather Service, National Parks, TVA, CDC.”

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

5] “To Pay Bills, Seniors Turn To Gig Work” [ Cathy Bussewitz; Associated Press; 4/6/26 ]

6]. “VA eliminates thousands of medical jobs…Despite promises to care for veterans..” [ Nicholas Nehamas, Andrea Fuller, Danielle Ivory, Ellen Barry; New York Times; 3/4/26 ]

7] “Brisk sales at Goodwill suggest shoppers worried”. [ Kim Bhasin, Sophia June; New York Times; 2/1/26 ]

8]. “With Grids Under Strain, Blackout Risk Rises for Millions of People”. { Brad Plumer; New York Times; 2/8/26 ]

***. “No society can..be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of..members are poor and miserable..It is but equity..that they who feed, clothe, and lodge the whole body of the people should have..a share of the produce of their own labor as to themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged.” [ Adam Smith; yes – THE Adam Smith ! ]

9]. April 17, 2025 – 5:30 PM CBS News: there are 50 million Americans who are food insecure.

10] November 18, 2025 – 6 PM PBS News Hour: 44% of U.S. wokers are in low-wage jobs; 60% of U.S. workers live paycheck-to-paycheck

11]. January 30, 2026 – 6 PM PBS News Hour: Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” cut back $911 million on services to adults with disabilities

12]. “Parents face tough child care choices”. [ Julie Weil, Joanna Slater; Washington Post Weekly; 1/25/26 ]

***. “We can either have a democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentration in the hands of a few. But we cannot have both.” { Justice Louis Brandeis ]

13]. “Millions abandon pricier ACA coverage” [ Reed Abelson, Margot Sanger-Katz; New York Times; 5/10/26 ]

14]. “Less for Health Care, More for the Pentagon” [ Lindsay Koshgarian; The Progressive Populist; January, 2026 ]

15]. “To Make America Healthy Again, Break Up Big Ag”. [ Amanda Starbuck; The Progressive Populist; May, 2026 ]

16] “Babies become ‘sitting ducks’ in outbreaks of measles”. [ Devi Shastri, Laura Unger; Associated Press; 4/25/26 ]

*** “We will move from a society based on the pretense..everyone is given an okay standard of living in which people are expected to fend for themselves…a world where..10 to 15 percent of the citizenry is extremely wealthy [and has fantastic lives]…” [Tyler Cowen, a “pro-market” economist; in Robert McChesney and John Nichols: “People Get Ready” ]

17] “EPA won’t consider lives saved in setting rules” [ Maxine Johnson; New York Times; 1/13/26 ]

18]. “The Trump Administration’s War on Science Has A Human Cost”. [ Jeneen Interlandi; New York Times; 3/1/26 ]

19]. “Manufacturers not seeing tariff payoff…Trump’s rationale of more factories opening hasn’t materialized” [ Josh Boak; Associated Press; 3/19/26 ]

20]. “Trump’s Betrayal of His Voters Is Now Complete” [ Joe Conason; The Progressive Populist; may, 2026 ]: Trump: “I said to Russell, Don’t send any money for day care because the United States can’t take care of day care.’ That has to be up to a state.’ We can’t take care of day care. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people.”

*** “His entire life Trump has been a con artist. In “The Art of the Deal” he brags about deceptions that enriched him. He has boasted about not paying banks that loaned him billions of dollars. He lost a court case, had to pay back $25. million on his Trump University scam. [ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Worse Than You Think” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXII. – “Trump’s Second Term Is a Cationary Tale”

~ tomdolen

***. “Character is the only secure foundation of the state.” [ Calvin Coolidge; Republican; 30th U.S. President ]

We have now put forward 181 posts on the Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness of the Trump DICTATORSHIP. Our job is to present to. YOU, the average American citizen. as many different facts as we can find. Our goal is to make YOU think, and most of all. to raise questions about the direction the Trump DICTATORSHIP is taking America. Hopefully, YOU, and other Americans will see the DAMAGE being inflicted. – and. – protest, oppose, – and, most of all. – vote against the Trump DICTATORSHIP in EVERY way that YOU. can.
Donald John Trump is THE man our Founders feared. he is, without a doubt, THE anti-George Washington. This site has already presented words of critics, some Pulitzer Prize winners, some former U.S. government officials, some economists. – telling YOU that the Trump DICTATORSHIP is profoundly damaging the United states – as a democratic country, as a decent civil society, as a respected moral force in the world, as a forward-looking economy, as a society that respects and listens to scientific evidence.

This post presents excerpts from: “Trump’s Second Term is a Cautionary Tale.” [ Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 4/19/26 ]:

1] “To have spent any amount of time observing President Trump over the last month is to conclude that he is in over his head. The president is struggling with the consequences of his actions..”

11] “.. the most important question of the Trump years thus far: Will his legacy be durable and lasting? Does it represent a new template for American government going forward? or is it more like an unfortunate detour into a dark alley?……if we can escape these years intact and respond accordingly, we may find that Trump stands less as an example and more of a cautionary tale of what happens when we embrace unaccountable, unilateral authority.”

3] “..this is not a man in control of himself, or a president in control of the situation around him..so uninterested in governing that he has handed his power to a handful of deputies.”

***. “The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.”
[ Niccolo Machiavelli ]

5] “This is not to say that Trump has been an inconsequential president, that he hasn’t presided over the wholesale destruction of large parts of the federal government, or that he hasn’t turned the sharp edge of the state against the most vulnerable people in the country.”

2] “When Trump launched his ‘short-term excursion,” he assumed that it would be. – in the words of a Pentagon official in the last Republican administration to launch a Middle East war. – “a cakewalk.” That, as Trump’s own intelligence agencies told him, was a mistake. Now, he is stuck. And lacks the skill and patience to find a way out of his self-inflicted catastrophe.”

*** “Emotionally he remains the thirteen-year-old troublemaker his father sent off to a military academy..”
[ Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think” ]

4]. “Months before Trump won his second term, and well before he took office, the Supreme Court handed him the reins of the unitary executive. – the promise of an active, energetic administration free of what the court deemed unnecessary constraints. The president has used this power to run wild, trampling over constitutional government. But he has also, at the same time, shown himself to be the weakest and most ineffectual president of recent memory, less a man of commanding authority than, well, a buffoon.”

6] “Trump’s White House has also slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for new medicines and technologies in a crushing blow to scientific research in the United States.”

7]. “..these grim facts of Trump’s tenure should not blind us to the way his unilateral action betrays the weakness of his regime. Trump works almost exclusively through executive orders… In areas where Trump cannot political actors to obey his demands. – where there is no legal basis for his authority. – he struggles to do anything of consequence.”

***. “Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, maybe had it more right than he knew when he said understanding Trump meant understanding Alice in Wonderland.” Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward: “Rage” ]

8] “He’s doing little to nothing with Congress, period…Some of this is no doubt strategy, with destruction as a fait accompli, but most of it reflects his inability to engage the legislative process. The weakness we see abroad is the weakness we see at home, and vice versa.”

9] “Nothing underscores Trump’s weakness as a executive more than the war with Iran….It is the imperial project of a would-be authoritarian.”

10] “For as much as Trump is uniquely unsuited for the tremendous power of his office, it is also true that the idea of the unitary executive rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of the American political system.”

***. “Early on, briefers were told not to send lengthy documents. Trump wouldn’t read them. Nor should they bring summaries to the Oval Office..PowerPoint was preferred because he is a visual learner…Then officials were told that PowerPoint decks needed to be slimmed down. The president couldn’t digest too many slides. He needed kore images to keep his interest. – and fewer words. Then they were told to cut back the overall message [on complicated issues such as military readiness or the federal budget]. to just three main points. Eh, that was still too much…Come in with one main point and repeat it. – over and over again, even if the president inevitably goes off on tangents. – until he gets it. Just keep steering the subject back to it. ONE point.” [ Anonymous: “A Warning” ]
[NOTE: Remember. – this is President Trump he’s talking about, in his FIRST term, NOT a kindergarten student!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Does this “thought process”. of an American president, related on pages 28-34, help YOU understand why this article said: “Abroad and at home, the president is in over his head.” ?????]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXXI. – Trump Makes Inequality [Affordability] Worse

~ tomdolen

*** “American inequality didn’t just happen. It was created. Much of the inequality that exists today is a result of government policy, both what the government does and what it does not do. Government has the power to move money from the top to the bottom and the middle, or vice versa.”
[ Pulitzer Prize winning economist Joseph Siglitz: “The Price Of Inequality” ]

Stiglitz is NOT the only economist to say this. – because. NUMBERS. say this. The May 8, 2026 PBS News Hour: labor’s share of earnings continues down – has reached “a record low” share. And t his: “..the top 10 percent hold two-thirds of total household wealth and are worth an average $8.1 million. The bottom half of households, measured by wealth, hold just 2.5 percent of the total and are worth $60,000 on average.” [ Abha Bhattaral, Rachel Lerman, Federica Cocco: “Millionaires: Not What They Used To Be”; Washington post weekly; 4/26/26 ]
And, of course, NO Trump DICTATORSHIP policies will really help the bottom 80%. We know, knew in 2017, that Trump’s signature tax cut would make things worse, add to the national debt – it did. His “Big Beautiful Bill” is ugly, will make that damage permanent. Soon, YOU will hear cries that “we need” to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. Trump’s “Project 2025″ fueled administration is cutting all kinds of government services to YOU to pay for his obscene billionaires’ tax cuts. Second term Trump damage: 66,000 manufacturing jobs lost in the last year.” [5/9/26]

***. “The Betrayal of the American Dream” is the story of how a small number of people in power have deliberately put in place policies that have enriched themselves while cutting the ground out from underneath America’s greatest asset – its middle class…preferential tax law provisions have showered on the wealthy and.. they will hollow out the middle class for years to come…We are no longer the democracy w once were. We have become a plutocracy.”
[ Double Pulitzer Prize winners Donald Barlett and James Steele ]

This post presents excerpts from: “Why †he ‘K-shaped’ economy is not OK” [Edward Lotterman; St. paul Pioneer Press; 4/26/26 ]:

12] “So why the ever-increasing difference in growth between overall output and that of median income received? Because much of the increase in overall household income has been captured by the highest-income 10% of households.”

1] “..the K-shaped economy..refers to an economy that is moving in two different directions for different groups of people…over time, the upper arm of the “K” moves up, the lower down, signifying not only that the rich are getting richer, but their distance from the poor is getting ever greater.”

8] “Good times lasted for 25 years and produced 80 million new citizens, better clothed, better fed and with better health and education than any other time in our nation’s history. There was no K-shape to that economy, virtually everyone was becoming better off.”

***. “In terms of wealth and income, America in the 1950’s and 1960’s was more egalitarian than it had been in more than a century…those same decades were also the high point of social connectedness and civic engagement. Record highs in equality and social capital coincided…Conversely, the last third of the 20th century was a time of growing inequality and eroding social capital…The timing of the two trends is striking: Sometime around 1965-70 America reversed course and started becoming both less economically and less well connected socially and politically.”
[ Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett: “The Spirit Level”. NOTE: this book, an international best-seller, was attacked by Right-wing elements. – because. – it told too much truth ]

9] “In the quarter century from 1950 to 1975, output of the U.S. economy grew by 3.8% a year. In contrast, in the most recent quarter-century, that from 2000 to 2025, output growth did not make 2.2% a year. That difference…is huge. The U.S. economy in 1975 was 2.54 times as large as it had been in 1950. In contrast, the economy in 2025 was only 1.7 times larger…”

10] “..if the U.S. economy had grown as fast under Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden as it had under Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, inflation-adjusted GDP would be $38.8 trillion, not $23.8 trillion. That 63% greater total would have amounted to over $43,000 greater available goods and services to every man, woman and child in our population of 349 million people.”

11] “..inflation-adjusted per capita GDP grew by 72% from 1985 to 2015. But inflation-adjusted median household income – that received right at the middle of all households from lowest to highest income. – only grew by 25%…working people are not reaping the financial benefits that their own labor is producing.”

***. “During the 20th century, America managed to make its economic and social systems both kore fair and more and more prosperous. A huge, secure, and contented middle class emerged. Incomes rose in sync. But then the New Deal gave way to the Raw Deal. Beginning in the early 1970s, by means of a long war conceived of and executed by a confederacy of big business CEOs, the superrich, and right wing zealots, the rules and norms that made the American middle class possible were undermined and dismantled. The clock was turned back on a century of economic progress, making greed good, workers powerless, and the market all powerful while weaponizing nostalgia, lifting up an oligarchy that served only its own interests.’ [ Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” ]

2] “..higher-educated, higher-income households that, on average, include cohorts of people, especially the baby boomers born from 1946 through 1964…they have had it better than any other birth cohort in U.S. history.”

3] “Boomers’ adult children are not doing as well as their parents and their adult grandchildren even worse. In relative terms, they have lower incomes and lower net worth than their boomer forebears did at the same age. It is harder for them to find work and much harder to rent or buy shelter. Basic medical care and insurance coverage chew up a larger fraction of earnings than in the past……..general inflation…..Student loans….”

4] “and the worst is yet to come. There are a few general issues that determine how well any certain birth cohort does over their lifespans: First, how productive is the overall economy…..Second, how is total income..actually divided up?…. Third, do circumstances arise that..impose greater costs…. Fourth, are the relevant factors “cyclical” or ‘structural”? ‘

*** “From the end of World War II through the 1970s..average incomes..of the bottom 50 percent of earners rose by 129 percent…During the same three-plus decades, the incomes of the top 1 percent rose ..about 58 percent. And the gap between the two groups was narrower than it was before or afterward. After 1980..growth for the bottom 50 percent of earners cratered, totaling a mere 21 percent over the next thirty-five years, while the incomes of the top 1 percent of earners nearly tripled [194 percent].” [ Sarah Chayes: “On corruption In America” ]

5]. “The economy bobbled repeatedly from 1920 to 1940. The twenties roared in some industries…The generation of sailors and doughboys had the deck stacked against them….after the stock market crash starting in 1929, the whole country and world were in depression.’

6]. “The economy boomed during World War II. but fears of returning to depression because of returning military forces..were common. This motivated passage of the GI Bill to keep many vets out of the labor market by sending them to school…our status as the one undamaged industrialized nation in the whole world combined with productivity boosts from millions of better-educated veterans and from defense-oriented technological research stoked a fire under the economy.”

7] “G>I> Bill mortgages jump-started homebuilding. Constructing thousands of miles of highways modeled on Germany’s autobahns, together with thousands of new hospitals with delivery rooms for babies, and tens of thousands of grade schools, high schools and universities plus technological advances in agriculture, all shifted our nation into boom gear.”

***. “…years-long assault by Republicans on the Internal Revenue Service.’ Bush II hired private contractors, who ‘..ended up costing the federal government money.” Republicans then ‘slashed 20% of the IRS’s budget and 22% of its staff from 2010 to 2018. For people making more than $1 million, the number of tax audits dropped by 72% – and the money the IRS collects from audits fell by 40% Biden’s new IRS commissioner..told Congress the agency is leaving on the table $1 trillion a year in uncollected taxes because it doesn’t have enough staff.” [ Washington monthly; July-August, 2021 ]

[ “American inequality didn’t just happen. It was created.” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXX. – Trump’s Blatant Cruelty Toward Afghans Who Helped America

~ tomdolen

***. “Of all the vices to which human nature is subject, treachery is the most infamous and detestable…The greatest wrongs will not justify it, as it destroys those principles of mutual confidence and security by which only society can subsist.” [ L.M. Stretch ]

Of all the cruelties perpetrated by the Trump DICTATORSHIP, the tragedy of blocking Afghans who risked their lives and families , now waiting, after being promised sanctuary – lives in America. U.S. military vets have organized on their behalf. This will NOT be pleasant reading; but as an American patriot – YOU must read this story – because YOU are the only ones who can save these deserving people. Please contact your political reps. Thank you.
It gets worse. Read “America’s Secret Veterans” – New York Times magazine; 4/23/26. Read about these Afghan men who fought for America. Read about how the CIA “trusted them completely, ” how CIA personnel defend them against the Trump DICTATORSHIP.””

This post presents excerpts from: “In danger, in limbo, and now in fear” [ Megha Rajagopalan, Eileen Sullivan, Zolan Kanno-Youngs; New York Times; 4/23/26]:

10]. “Who is going to fight alongside the U.S. when the U.S.betrays the people who stood alongside us?”

14] “Discussions over the Afghans are separate from the deportation deal, but both are examples of what has become a hallmark of Trump’s immigration strategy: moving people to faraway places, even when those countries have human rights abuses or authoritarian governments.”

2] “The Afghans have been living in limbo in Qatar for more than a year. They were taken there after being evacuated by the United states for their own safety because they supported U.S. forces during the war against the Taliban..”

4] “We think this is just them wanting to send these people back to Afghanistan, where they know they will face certain death. They know the Afghans are not going to accept the DRC,” VanDiver said…”

***. “Promises may get thee friends, but non-performance will turn them into enemies.” [ Benjamin Franklin ]

1] “After halting a U.S. resettlement program for Afghans who helped the American war effort, President Donald Trump is in talks to send as many as 1,100 of them to the Congo, which is suffering one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.”

3] “More than 600,000 refugees, mostly from the Central African Republic and Rwanda, are currently in Congo…Human rights activists say the country is not equipped to take in more..”

5] “The discussions highlight the long-standing tension between America’s obligation to Afghans, who face grave danger in retaliation for helping U.S. forces during the war, and the Trump administration’s pledge to curtail immigration.”

***. Cunning nad treachery are the offspring of incapacity.” [ Francois de La Rochefoucauld ]

6] “More than 190,000 Afghans who aided the U.S. effort resettled in the U.S. between August 2021 and mid-2025, after passing background checks.”

7] “But a group of more than 1,100 Afghans are being housed in a former U.s. military base in Qatar…The U.S. government brought them here in late 2024 and promised them a path to settlement in the United states if they passed further checks.”

8]. “Qatar was intended as a stopover, but many of the Afghans found themselves in limbo after the Trump administration ended policies that would have enabled them to resettles in the U.S.”

9]. “THry had the expectation that within weeks †hey’d be relocated to the U.S.”..”

*** “Promises are worse than lies. You don’t just make them believe, you make them hope.” [ Marilyn Monroe ]

11]. “Some of the people left at the camp have been fully vetted; others have not, VanDiver said. but Trump’s immigration policies have made it impossible for any of them to come to the United States now.”

12]. “Andrew Sullivan, a military veteran and the executive director of No One Left Behind, a nonprofit group that has been working to resettle Afghans, said some have been deemed ineligible for reasons that have nothing to do with national security. For example, one woman turned 21 and is no long eligible to be included on her father’s visa..”
[NOTE: the cruelty of this is monstrous – what normal human does this???]

13]. “Our belief is that if, if they can pass security vetting, they should be coming to the United States,” Sullivan said…”

***. “Some people break promises for the pleasure of breaking them.” [ William Hazlitt ]

[NOTE: for more perspective on the Corruption and Cruelty of the Trump DICTATORSHIP. – reflect on pardoning 1,600 rioters who tried to overthrow the U.S, government – and killed and injured over 100 police officers. – or admitting dozens of white South Africans alleged to have been “victims” of discrimination [none of whom risked their lives and families to help the U.S. fight a war]. – and refusing the Afghans who DID risk everything.]

*** “Humanitarianism is a link that binds together all Americans…Whenever tragedy or disaster has struck in any corner of the world, the American people has promptly and generously extended its hand of mercy and help. Generosity has never impoverished the giver, it has enriched the lives of those who have practiced it…And the bread we have cast upon the waters has been returned in blessings a hundredfold.”
[ Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican; 34th U.S. President ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, corruption, Craziness, CLXXIX – Trump as Incompetent, Stupid, Dangerous War Leader, XI

~ tomdolen

***. ‘..psychiatrist Prudence L. Gourgueschon, a former president of the American Psycoanalytic Association, proposed judging Trump’s fitness for office using the United States Army Field Manual on developing leaders. She distilled..five crucial qualities needed to lead: – Trust -Discipline and self-control – Judgment and critical thinking -Self-awareness – Empathy. Not one of these is part of Trump’s nature.” [Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston: “It’s Even Worse Than You Think”].

WHY did the United States go to war with Iran? What decision-making processes were conducted? WHO were the key people voicing opinions? WHO pushed for war? WHO voiced caution, and or, opposition to war?

This post presents excerpts from: “Behind The Scenes. As Trump Took U.S. To War With Iran”. [Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman; New York times; 4/12/26 ]: [NOTE: this might be THE article on those and other crucial questions. If YOU want to know more about WHY America is at war – then this article is a MUST read]

8] “But Trump would often seem to hear only what he wanted to hear.”

1]. “This account of how Trump took the United States into war reveals how the deliberations inside the administration highlighted the president’s instincts, his inner circle’s fractures and the way he runs the White House…And it shows how, in the end, even the more skeptical members of Trump’s war cabinet..deferred to the president’s instincts, including his abundant confidence that trhe war would be quick and decisive.”

5] “The CIA director used one word to describe the Israeli prime minister’s regime change scenarios: “farcical.” At that point, Rubio cut in. “In other words, it’s bullshit,” he said Several others jumped in, including Vance, just back from Azerbaijan, who also expressed strong skepticism about the prospect of regime change.”

*** “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” [ Isaac Asimov ]

13] “Tucker Carlson..had come to the Oval Office several times over the previous year to warn Trump that a war with Iran would destroy his presidency…”I know you’re worried about it, but it’s going to be OK,” the president said. Carlson asked how he knew. “Because it always is,” Trump replied.”

11]. “In front of his colleagues, Vance warned Trump that a war against Iran could cause regional chaos and untold numbers of casualties…Vance raised other concerns, too. As vice president, he was aware of the scope of America’s munitions problem…that no amount of military insight could truly gauge what Iran would do in retaliation when the survival of the regime was at stake. Moreover, he thought there seemed to be little chance of building a peaceful Iran in the aftermath.”

12]. “Beyond all of this was perhaps the biggest risk of all: Iran held the advantage when it came to the Strait of Hormuz. if this narrow waterway carrying vast quantities of oil and natural gas was choked off, the domestic consequences in the United states would be severe, starting with higher gas prices.”

***. “The belief in the possibility of a short decisive war appears tobe one of the most ancient and dangerous of human illusions.” [ Robert Lynd ]

2] “Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to almost certain victory: Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. the regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assesses as minimal….Besides…..” [read this again. it appears to have had a decisive impact on Trump – how much have real events shown this to be accurate?]

3]. “The intelligence officials had deep expertise in U.s. military capabilities, and they knew the Iranian system and its players inside out. They had broken down Netanyahu’s presentation into four parts. First was decapitation – killing the ayatollah. Second was crippling Iran’s power to project power and threaten its neighbors. third was a popular uprising inside Iran. And fourth was regime change, with a secular leader installed to govern the country. The U.S. officials assessed that the first two objectives were achievable…They assessed that the third and fourth parts of Netanyahu’s pitch…were detached from reality.”

6] “The president then turned to to Caine, “General, what do you think?” Caine replied, “sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s why they’re hard-selling.”

*** “Leadership is a potent combination of strategy and character. but if you must be without one. Be without the strategy.” [ General Norman Schwarzkopf ]

7] “As the small team of advisors who were lopped into the plans deliberated over the following days, Caine shared with Trump and others the alarming military assessment that a major campaign against Iran would drastically deplete stockpiles of U.S. weaponry. Caine saw no clear path to quickly replenishing these stockpiles. He also flagged the enormous difficulty of securing the Strait of Hormuz and the risks of Iran blocking it. Trump had dismissed that possibility on the assumption that the regime would capitulate before it came to that. The president appeared to think it would be a very quick war.” [NOTE: read this again – WHO is correct? WHO is working from data and rational thinking – and WHO is working from assumptions and wishful thinking???]

9] “Back in office for a second term, Trump’s confidence in the U.S. military’s abilities had only grown. he was especially emboldened by the spectacular commando raid to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro…Within the Cabinet, Hegseth was the biggest proponent of a military campaign against Iran…Rubio, however, did not try to talk Trump out of the operation.”

10] “Nobody in Trump’s inner circle was more worried about the prospect of war with Iran, or did more to try to stopit, than the vice president…..he had described a war with Iran as “a huge distraction of resources” and “massively expensive..”…..What the vice president pushed for was a limited, punitive strike…thought a regime change war with Iran would be a disaster. His preference was for no strikes at all.”

14]. The final situation room meeting of February 26. Read the account of this meeting, the column under “I think we need to do it.” Participants say nothing of significance against war. They leave EVERYTHING up to Trump’s judgment. Which is most unfortunate. – because numerous psychiatrists, mental health experts, historians, analysts, largely agree. – “judgment and critical thinking”. – is something Trump DOES NOT have.

[NOTE: – remember this: “…the notion, that his team is working to protect him from himself, has since become one of the defining narratives of the Trump administration…President Trump should not be shocked that wary aides and cabinet members saved his presidency..many times.” [Anonymous – a senior Trump administration official: “A Warning”. – BUT – this was in the FIRST Trump term. – NOT the second, filled with “loyalists” ]

*** “While discussing “Fear’. on television, I was asked for my bottom-line summary of Trump’s leadership. “Let’s hope to God we don’t have a crisis, I said.” [ Pulitzer Prize winner bob Woodward in “Rage” ]

The Trump DICTATORSHIP. – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, CLXXVIII – Trump’s Contempt for the American People

~ tomdolen

*** “Never since the scandal-ridden administration of Ulysses S. Grant has there been an executive branch as nakedly given over to self-dealing as that of Donald Trump….no family has mixed business interests with public office like the Trumps. The appointment of close family members who are also corporate executives to ill-defined but top-level White House jobs is a first…His daughter Ivanka Trump has also served as an inspiration to dictators around the world.”
[ Sarah Chayes: On Corruption In America” ]

This post presents excerpts from. “Trump Holds the American People in Total Contempt” {Jamelle Bouie; New York Times; 4/26/26}:

1] “To say that President Trump is corrupt is to somehow understate the size, scope and magnitude of his corruption.”

9] “With Trump..the misconduct is the concern. You might even say that his corruption, like his cruelty, is the point.”

2]. “..Trump’s corruption, which is so vast as to be a new phenomenon in American politics. The president and his family have leveraged his office to the tune of nearly $4 billion. They have received hundreds of millions of dollars from a network of branded cryptocurrency assets. Investors include large corporations, foreign nationals and state actors hoping to curry favor with the administration.”

*** “Trump perked up at the mention of bribes and got rather agitated. He told Tillerson he wanted him to help him get rid of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act…..Looking at Tillerson, Trump said, “I need you to get rid of that law”….”Mr. President,” he said. “I’m not the guy to do that.”….Trump..turned to Stephen Miller….”Stephen, I want you to draft an executive order and repeal that law.” [Philip Rucker, Carol Leonnig: “A Very Stable Genius”]. [NOTE: this is an actual 2017 Oval Office conversation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How much ore do YOU need to know???]

3] “..consider the president’s pardons. Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, a crypto firm, was convicted in 2023 fro violating the Bank Secrecy Act. After Trump returned to office, Zhao – whose company donated software to World Liberty Financial so that it could start its own cryptocurrency. – lobbied for a pardon. In October of last year, Trump granted the pardon, raising the possibility that Zhao could recover his court-ordered fines. – $4.3 billion to the U.S. government as punishment for allowing criminal actors to use Binance for a broad array of illicit transactions, including child sex abuse, illegal narcotics and terrorism.”

4]. “Trump’s various projects. – his monuments to himself. – also appear to be little more than state-sanctioned opportunities for graft. The president has collected hundreds of millions of dollars from wealthy donors and large corporations for his proposed ballroom, presidential library and triumphal arch. Tens of millions of dollars marked for the library are unaccounted for..”

5] “Last but far from least is the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S., for damages for leaking his tax returns to the public in 2019 and 2020. [NOTE: which Trump promised to do in some speeches!] According to a recent news report, lawyers for the president are in talks with the I.R.S. to settle. This is tantamount to presidential looting of the Treasury, little different than if Trump had stolen the money outright.”

***. “Meanwhile, the big-business strand of America’s emerging kleptocratic network was awarded control of the agencies whose job is to protect the public from the worst effects of those very businesses” profit-seeking practices. The executives – and lobbyists-turned-government-officials went straight to work rewriting the rules in ways designed to maximize the gush of money into their collective coffers, not ease the burdens on ordinary Americans.”
[ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption In America” ]

6] “Despite the general reputation for graft that pervades the 19th century, it is hard to find anything like the personal corruption of Trump, even among Gilded Age presidents.”

7] “Looking through the 20th century, there is, of course, the administration of Warren G. Harding….Harding himself did not appear to be personally corrupt…”

8] “To walk through subsequent presidents is to get a similar picture. Is there gross misconduct? Yes. After all, Richard Nixon was forced to resign. Was there graft and petty corruption among other higher and lower officers in each administration? Also yes. But do we see anything like the self-dealing and naked personal enrichment of Trump and his family? No, we do not.”

10]. “Trump is a type, one of many figures around the world whose nationalist, patrimonial political movement is little more than a cover.”

***. “..Trump himself..is at once a symptom..of America’s increasingly corrupt system, and an exaggeration of it so extreme as to seem like a grotesque aberration…Trump’s bald use of his office to patronize and promote his businesses. – including raking in ‘kick-ups”. from lower echelons…outstrips anything I have witnessed in a developing country. As does his penchant for surrounding himself with men entwined with foreign criminal networks, and his don-like demand for fealty…Trump has taken mafia government to heights unrivaled in this country’s history.”
[ Sarah Chayes: “On Corruption In America”]. [NOTE: Chayes was “special assistant on corruption to Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; advised David McKiernan and Stanley McChrystal]

[“Trump has taken mafia government to heights unrivaled in this country’s history.” – let that sink in. Read this article in full. Read Chayes” book. Understand her context and experience for things she wrote.]