Tag: trump

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, XXVII – The Destructive and Immoral 2025 Trump Tax Bill

~ tomdolen

*** Billionaire Leona Helmsley: “We don’t pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes.”

1] “Trump’s taxes illustrate how the game is rigged” [ Jared Berstein; Washington Post; 10/4/2016 ]

2] “Top 1% of wealthy held more assets than entire middle class.” [Alex Tanzi, Mike Dorning; Bloomberg News; 10/11/21]

***. “Corruption comes by degrees.” [ Juvenal ]

3]. Some details – Corrupt Republican 2025 Tax Bill:
– “GOP tax bill mainly benefits wealthy, analyses find” [ Tony Romm; New York Times; 5/18/25 ]
– “Tax bill adds $2.4 T to the national debt..To offset the cost, the measure would slash spending on social safety net programs by more than $1 trillion..” [Jacob Gage, Marianna Sotomayor, Matthew Choi; Washington Post; 5/23/25]
– “All kinds of perverse incentives in this tax bill” – “..even seven moths into fiscal year 2025..[the 119th Congress}.. will grab the prize as most fiscally irresponsible Congress ever.” [ Edward Lotterman; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 5/18/25 ]

4] Some other details about Trump-Musk economic INCOMPETENCE:
– “Sliding U.S. dollar is a fiscal headache” [Allegra Catelli, Michael Msika; Bloomberg News; 5/15/25]
– “Growth becoming harder to achieve” [ Evan Ramstad; Minnesota Star Tribune; 4/27/25 ]
– “U.S. Credit Rating Is Downgraded by Moody’s” [ Tony Romm, Andrew Duehren, Joe Rennison; New York Times; 5/18/25]

[ NOTE: Let’s be honest: virtually ALL of the Trump-Musk economic actions have been motivated by one thing: CUT TAXES ON THE RICH. PERIOD. The 2025 tax bill does that. Musk’s crazy government-slashing DOGE does that. Eviscerating the I.R.S. does that. Gutting environmental protections does that. Crippling consumer-friendly investigating agencies does that. Ending subsidies for EV vehicles does that. And, MUCH more………….]

5] Perspective: Mother Jones, March-April, 2011, page 25: “It’s The Inequality, Stupid”
– “A huge share of the nation’s economic growth over the past 30 years has gone to the top one-hundreth of one percent, who now make an average of $27 million per household. the average income for the bottom 90 percent of us? $31,244.”
– Most Americans have a VERY inaccurate view of how wealth is distributed in the U.S. – vastly under estimating how extremely unequal and unfair it really is. Essentially refusing to believe had badly they’re being treated.

6]. SOLUTIONS – are easy, well known – CORRUPTION. prevents them being enacted:
– SOCIAL SECURITY – it’s been known for 40 years that the solution which ENDS any Social Security “crisis” is very simple: eliminate the earnings cap with no changes to benefits. In 2010, this would have solved any shortfall by 116%- yes, more than enough. [ Timothy Taylor; St.Paul Pioneer Press; 11/21/2010 ]
– “a living wage for all is attainable” [Nir Kaissar; Bloomberg Opinion; 7/8/21]: “the most pressing problem for the U.S. remains little acknowledged and unaddressed: Tens of millions of people work full time and can’t afford food, clothes, housing, health care and a proper education for their children” [ the problem: GREED – a simple refusal by large corporations to share their profits with workers.]
– “French Lessons on How to Grow the Middle Class” [Steven Pressman; The Washington Spectator; August 1, 2018]: France reduces financial burdens on families: by paid parental leave, affordable child care, how families with children are taxed. [American governments refuse to do these things sufficiently]

*** “No society can surely be flourishing and happy, if which the greater part of ther members are poor and miserable.”
[ Adam Smith – “Wealth of Nations” ]

7]. “Worker pay stagnates as it soars for CEOs” {Patrick Kennedy; Minneapolis Star Tribune; 9/19/19]: “CEO pay has risen 940.3% over the last four decades…Average worker pay rose just 12 percent since 1978..” [Note: “940.3% is NOT a typo]

8]. “Thousands of military families struggle with food insecurity” [Ashraf Khalil; Assoc. Press; 11/15/21]

9]. “Small Farms Struggle To Survive”. [ Alyssa Schukar; New York Times; 12/12/21 ]

10] Rich and Corporate Tax Cheats – some of many hundreds – details:
– “Tax cheats cost U.S. $1 T a year” [ Alan Rappeport; New York Times; 4/14/21 ]: “the agency lacks the resources to catch tax cheats.” [Note: virtually all of those are complicated returns – of the rich & corporations]
– “At least 55 firms paid no taxes in 2020” [ Patricia Cohen; New York Times; 4/4/21 ]
– “Firms move HQ oversea then exploit tax loophole” [ Steven D. Solomon; New York Times; 2/15/16 ]

11] BUT WE KNEW MOST OF THIS ALREADY !!!!! – Reagan, Bush II, Trump 2017 tax cut failures KNOWN:
– “A tax bill only millionaires could love” [ Bill Press; 1/1/2018 ]
– “Experts: Trump stands to save millions under tax measure” [ Drew Harwell; Washington Post; 12/24/17]
– “Art Of The Steal” [ Mother Jones; March-April, 2018]
– “Reaganomics Redux, but Worse” [Jeff madrick; Washington Spectator; February l, 2018} – “…fraud..”

{NOTE; The U.S. national debt for 1789-1980 America was just under $1 trillion. Reagan tripled it. Bush II doubled that [ and bills forhis immoral Iraq war, his2008 recession still being paid]. Trump’s 2017 tax cut is 25% of current U.S. national debt. Multiple Congresses have failed to pass legislation reducing debt [legal bribery!]. BUT – BOTTOM LINE: the rich refuse to pay taxes – have given legal bribes to Congress so they don’t fix it. The debt will now be used as a club to cut services for ordinary people like YOU – which is graphically done in Trump’s 2025 bill!!!!! Rome fell from corruption – will America???]

12]. Breaking News!!! – 5/24/25 New York Times: “GOP harnessing tax code to punish Trump’s nemeses” [Andrew Duehren]. YOU TELL ME – does this cross “the red line” into. DICTATORSHIP???? – in addition to other authoritarian uses of the tax code to punish ANYONE who dares cross him? YOU. TELL ME……………….

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXVI – Stupid And Destructive Economic Policies

~ tomdolen

*** “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
[ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ]

[NOTE; the following excerpts are fro David Frum’s “That ’70s Feeling,” The Atlantic; June, 2025 ]

1] “In January..Trump inherited an economy..growing strongly.” Low unemployment. Restrained inflation. If Trump left it alone, he could’ve coasted to economic success. “Instead, Trump single-handedly plunged the economy into chaos..Trump’s tariffs are like a hundred self-inflicted oil shocks, all arriving at the same time.” Trump and surrogates promise a new era of prosperity where investors build American factories. Even if this were true, “the result would still be a bad bargain. Tariff-sheltered industries tend to produce inferior goods at higher prices.”
“But Trump’s tariffs will not induce much factory-building. Who’d invest..unless assured that foreign competition would be excluded for a long time, if not forever?”

*** “wooden-headedness consists of assessing a situation in terms of preconceived, fixed notions while ignoring or rejecting any contrary signs. It is acting according to wish while not allowing oneself to be confused by facts.”
historian. Barbara Tuchman, 1980 ]

2]. “Donald Trump has no grasp of history. The people around him are afraid to teach it ti him. So Trump’s trade war could well lead him, as the economy sinks, to ever more interventionism of his own: subsidies and tariff exemptions for favored companies; payouts to farmers and other constituencies; political warfare against the independence of the Federal Reserve.”
“The most dangerous temptation that Trump may face is to impose some form of capital controls to stop investors from dumping dollar assets. Trump’s trade war has driven a sell-off of U.S. Treasury bonds, which raised interest rates in the United States.”

*** “In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery.” [ President Woodrow Wilson, 1913 ]

3] “The grim fact about stagflation is that – once stumbled into – it is very hard to escape.”

*** “Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.”
[ Anatole France ]

4] “Ultimately, the end of the crisis will depend on the actions of millions of people across dozens of trading nations. Only if and when they recover their trust in the United States will the U.S, and world economies fully recover from the breach of trust Trump has created. How long will it take? No one knows.”

*** “How can you be a person if your words are not to be trusted.” [ Confucius ]

5] “As a businessman, Trump was notorious for operating in bad faith….He repeatedly drove his properties into bankruptcy, leaving creditors, investors, employees to bear the costs of his failure.. Trump vowed to “make America great again” with the same predatory methods….The only way he feels confident that he prevailed is if the other party suffers.”

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

[NOTE; Trump’s first trade war cost between 160,000 and 240, ooo American jobs. This one already is ringing major alarm bells about what will happen to small businesses. Trump’s chaotic off-again, on-again tariffs are already creating much uncertainty – neither investors, business, nor consumers spend in such a climate – meaning stagflation is a very distinct possibility. Most respected economists REJECT Trump’s theories. There is some sell-off of U.S. financial assets – which is nothing but trouble. Major question: how does Trump’s trade war against the world “..promote the general Welfare..”?????????? Exactly WHO will suffer “a little pain” from Trump’s STUPIDITIES ??????]

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, XXV – “PROJECT 2025”

~ tomdolen

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

If YOU are a patriotic American who loves YOUR country for what it used to be: a mass middle class society focused on democracy – then you. MUST read about. ‘PROJECT 2025″. – the FAR RIGHT plan to erase much of the 20th century progress toward a REAL democracy in order to build a theocratic oligarchy [ a real life “Gilead” ].
Find critical analysis that gets YOU past the opaque and euphemistic language of “Project 2025’s” authors, many of whom are NOW in the Trump administration, some in VERY key positions.
I*ve just finished David Graham’s. “The Project’. l35 pages], excerpts appear here. Also: Bryan Woodward’s “Project 2025 Explained Chapter By Chapter” [135 pages], and Lois Alarcon’s “Project 2025…An Objective Analysis.”

1] “Project 2025 is a skeleton key for understanding the second Trump presidency – as well as the future of the Republican Party and the American right….Project 2025 is a scheme to massively expand the power of the president….Three-quarters of the authors and contributors worked in the first Trump administration….thirty-seven of forty-seven executive actions taken in Trump’s first few days back in office directly or partially matched recommendations in “Project 2025.” [ David Graham: “The Project” ]

******* “Pushed by relatively small members of radical-right billionaires and millionaires who have become profoundly
hostile to America’s modern system of government, an apparatus decades in the making, funded by those
same billionaires and millionaires, has been working to undermine the normal governance of our democracy
…one such manifesto calls for a ‘hostile takeover” of Washington, D.C.”
[ Nancy MacLean: “Democracy In Chains” ]

2] “What sets “Project 2025” apart..and makes it important to take seriously and comprehend is its detailed scheme for execution….Russell Vought [2024 speech]: “We have detailed agency plans..We are writing the actual executive orders. We are writing the actual regulations now, and we are sorting out the legal authorities for all of what President Trump is running on.” [ Grahame: “The Project” ]. [!!!!! is he saying that Trump is a trained seal?????]

***** “Heritage started publishing papers and making arguments to the right of the conservative mainstream – turning
Social Security into an optional system….”We are different from previous generations of conservatives”, one of the
cofounders, Paul Weyrich, explained later. “We are radicals, working to overturn the present power structure of
the country.”….Heritage’s ultra-conservatives encompassed the two big strange-bedfellow constituencies of the
Republican right, the libertarians and the uncomfortable-with-liberty fundamentalist Christians.”

{ Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses” ]

3]. “Project 2025 will guide Trump’s dismantling of democracy” [St. Louis Post editorial; 7/18/24]: “The [Heritage’s] president, Kevin Roberts, said in a recent interview..the..project..will drive ‘a second American revolution” – one that ‘will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”…..Consider some of “Project 2025’s” specific recommendations:…. place much of the federal bureaucracy, currently made up primarily of nonpolitical civil servants, under the direct control of the president…..greatly expand the role of the U.S. military on domestic soil…..turn the civil-rights function of the Department of Justice on its head…..turn the FBI into little more than a personal police force for the president…..aggressively turn back the clock on environmental and climate programs..”

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

4] From “The Project” [ Graham ], various things YOU may care about [read this very carefully!!!]: “What we’re trying to od is idnetify the pockets of independence and seize them.”……”We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected.”…..”..an America where..sex is closely policed, public schools don’t exist, and justice is harsh, all in accordance with fundamentalist Christian principles..”…..”..privatize Medicare, slash Medicaid, and limit federal protections for patients.”…..”..ensure that far fewer people enter the country, both legally and illegally..”…..”..shifting to a consumption tax..” [note: HIGHLY regressive]…..”..cut regulations wherever possible.”…..”..privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac..”…..politicize the Census Bureau…..”..abandon practically all federal efforts at combating climate change..”….”..privatization of N.O.A.A…”……….

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

5]. “Trump wants to be king, Russ Vought has a plan to make it happen.” {Isabella Dias; “The Architect”; Mother Jones; November-December, 2024]: “Vought could be one of the key figures leading us into a new and violently authoritarian future.”

Still having trouble believing the above – a small fraction of the evidence, then consider the following;
1]. This coup by far right millionaires is NOT THE FIRST ATTEMPT!!!!!! – Read and research “The Plot To Seize The White House” [ Jules Archer ] – about the July – November, 1933 plot. See McCormack-Dickstein Committee hearings begun in November, 1934, and a report of February, 1935.
2]. Research support given the Nazis before and during World War II – “Trading With The Enemy’ [Charles Higham], and “IBM And The Holocaust” [Edwin Black]. If American business people could support Hitler, why not other things…????

The Trump-Musk DICTATORSHIP – Stupidity, Cruelty, Corruption, Craziness, 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, XX – Undermining Future American Competitiveness

~ tomdolen

*** “In public affairs, stupidity is more dangerous than knavery.” [Woodrow Wilson]

1]. “Economists: Trump science policies pose long-term risk” {Ben Csselman; New York Times; 4/1/25]
“..ask economists which of the administration’s policies they are most concerned
about, and many point to cuts in federal support for scientific research.”

[NOTE & REMEMBER: the driving force behind the Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY is cutting taxes for billionaires!!!
“We” are slitting our throats so billionaires don’t have to pay [any] taxes.]

“To economists, the policies threaten to undermine U.S. competitiveness in emerging areas such as artificial intelligence, and leave Americans, as a whole, poorer, less healthy, and less productive in the decades ahead.”

*** “Any man is liable to err, but only a fool persists in error.” [Cicero]

“Universities are tremendously important engines of innovation…”This is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg.”

*** “Fools are more dangerous than rogues.” [ George Bernard Shaw ]

“Scientists have warned that the United States risks losing its status as a leader in cutting-edge research and its reputation as a magnet for top scientific minds from around the world.”

*** “What most people don’t seem to realize is that there is just as much money to be made out of the wreckage of a civilization as from the upbuilding of one.” [Margaret Mitchell: “gone With the Wind”]

“Economists across a broad ideological spectrum argue that investments in scientific research..are among the most efficient uses of taxpayer dollars. Research has found that every dollar invested in research and development returns about $5 in economic gains, a figure that probably understates the true return because it doesn’t account for benefits that aren’t captured in measures of gross domestic product, such as longer lives and increased leisure time.”
***!!!***!!! READ THIS AGAIN – for irony! The Musk-Trump DOGE claims to be eliminating “government waste” and promoting government efficiency!!! YOU tell me – how many tax deductions for billionaires “..promote the general Welfare..” on a $1 spent with $5 return!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DOGE STUPIDITY personified!!!!!

“Virtually all of modern medicine relies, to some degree, on research that was supported by federal dollars. So does much of commercial agriculture. Those discoveries, collectively, helped propel the United States rapid economic growth and rising standard of living in the 20th century.”

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

2] Musk-Trump KAKISTOCRACY policies are – YOU tell me….Are they deliberate sabotage???…..Are they treason [note: dictionary definitions: ‘adhering to its enemies and giving them aid and comfort…the betrayal of trust or confidence; breach of faith….impair the well-being of a state…”

The economists quoted are saying that Trump-Musk policies ARE ‘impair[ing] the well-being of {America]”. When Trump was elected, did or did not Americans bestow upon him a “trust or confidence” that he would “Make America Great Again”?????????
The economists quoted ARE saying Musk-Trump policies ARE sabotaging America’s future, using historic NUMBERS – NOT opinions; FACTS – NOT “beliefs” or “gut instincts.”
Just asking………YOU tell me………………

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

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

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, XVII – One Week’s Damage!!!

~ tomdolen

The following is a review of one week’s damage to America and YOU by the Trump-Musk KAKISTOCRACY as reported by the New York Times in their “The Week In Trump” series of one-week of their destruction.

March 28 – “Reiterated his desire to take the territory of Greenland, saying the United States “cannot do without it’
– “Laid out plans to effectively eliminate U.S.A.I.D. by moving the agency under the State Department and reducing its staff to some 15 positions”. [thus crippling an American “soft power” effort around the world!]
– “Said he picked a conservative journalist and Fox News contributor to be his ‘drug czar'” [?qualifications?]
– “Pardoned Trevor Miller, the founder of the Nikola Corporation, an electric truck manufacturer that went bankrupt [Milton had been sentenced for securities & wire fraud; Trump claimed his conviction was political]
– “Commuted the sentence of a media executive convicted of fraud, on the day he was set to surrender to prison [he’d been sentenced to almost 10 years for defrauding investors & lenders]

March 29 – “Fired nearly all U.S.-based staff at the Institute of Peace” [an independent nonprofit]
– “Said he wouldn’t fire the officials involved in a leaked Signal chat” [which disturbed U.S. allies for its incompetence]
– ‘Said he ‘couldn’t care less’ if car prices went up in response to his tariffs”. [meaning he doesn’t care about YOU]

March 30 – “Gave Elon Musk’s cost cutters access to a federal payroll system” [ and sensitive data like YOUR Social Security number]
– “Suggested imposing so-called secondary tariffs on Iran and possibly bombing the country if Tehran didn’t make a nuclear deal”. [like maybe the one Trump killed himself earlier???????]
– “Fired two longtime career prosecutors in Los Angeles and Memphis” [because Trump knows more about u.S. law?]
– “Said he was serious about running for a third term in office” [because he had ‘methods’ to circumvent the U.S. constitution – is the Trump DICTATORSHIP official now?????????]

March 31 – “Admitted that the U.S. has deported a legal immigrant because of an ‘administrative error'” [ Trump also Aclaimed American courts lacked jurisdiction to stop him – is the Trump DICTATORSHIP official now????]
– “Said the administration would relax limits on pollution from cars, saying the move wouldn’t make a difference to the environment” [ because Trump “knows’ decades of science have proved him wrong?????]
– “Made a DOGE employee the new acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace” [“qualified’ because he helped take it over earlier !!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
– “Nominated Anthony D’Esposito. a former U.S. representative of New York, as the next inspector general for the Labor Department” [‘during his House term’ he’d earlier “raised concerns of ethics rules violations”]
– ‘Dropped a Biden-era voting rights lawsuit in Georgia”. [ Georgia Republicans tried to limit voting]

April 1 – “Planned to target another law firm that brought lawsuits against the president and his allies” [they made the ‘mistake” of ‘documenting Mr. Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol”]
– “fired thousands of federal health workers” [“the purge included senior leaders & top scientists charged with regulating food & drugs, protecting Americans from disease & researching new treatments & cures” – why do we need this ?!?!?]
– “Laid off the entire staff running a $4.1 billion program to help low-income households across the United states pay their utility bills” [why should “we’ care if 6.2 million Americans freeze – they must be “un-deserving”]
“Laid off one of the leaders of the Food and Drug Administration’s response to bird flu” [hey – its only in birds, right???]
– “Removed between 350 and 400 books from the Naval Academy library to comply with a verbal order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth”. [obviously, these must have been subverting minds, right???????]

April 2_ “Unveiled expansive global tariffs in a significant escalation of the president’s trade fight, sending shock waves through the global economy” [ like in many other areas, “our’ president is a “genius” on tariffs and the world economy!!!]
– “Demanded additional cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after extensive staff reductions” [!!!!!]
– “Picked a lawyer who has defended several key Trump loyalists for the Justice Department’s No. 3 post” [All dictatorships run on the principle of loyalty – does this mean the Trump DICTATORSHIP is now official???]

April 3 – “Fired head of National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command” [after a well-known FAR RIGHT “influencer” talked to Trump – rumor has it the Russians and Chinese are laughing and celebrating}
– “Threatened to cut funding at more universities” [ rumor has it the Russians and Chinese are laughing and celebrating over “our” president destroying intellectual ability at leading U.S. universities]
– “Restored gun rights to Mel Gibson and nine other people with criminal convictions”. [DICTATORSHIPS reward ‘prominent supports”; America NEEDS more people with criminal convictions running around with guns, right????]