I know many “conservatives” who are Trump supporters and who, likely, haven’t watched a minute of the Select Committee on the January 6th INSURRECTION and continue to believe the assault on our Capitol was “legitimate political discourse.” And, of course, they’ve spent the past 7 or so years believing the words coming from Trump’s mouth despite the FACT he’s a pathological LIAR. (OK, I’m not a psychologist – but, as a Middle School teacher I learned how to identify pathological LIARS) Here’s the bottom line; Merrick Garland, at this point in time, with all we KNOW about Trump’s attempted coup d’etat, has no choice but to INDICT our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president for one of the most SERIOUS crimes on the “books” – which is SEDITION.

And, when you consider the EVIDENCE of what Trump and his collaborators did in the 2016 election along with Trump’s fealty to Vladimir Putin over the past 6 years. When you look at his disregard for our constitution since the day he took the OATH to defend it against “all enemies foreign and domestic” and his willingness to disregard that OATH in order to CHEAT himself into a second term it’s not hard to come to the conclusion the MAIN crime he should be indicted for would be TREASON! I’ve been saying for five years now he’s going to end up right next to Benedict Arnold in our history books.

Trump will likely be indicted as the “linchpin” of a large conspiracy to overthrow the results of a “free and fair” election – the ONLY time in American histroy a president has attempted such a thing. Personally, I believe Trump COULD be charged with TREASON (as I just explained). Here’s the definition of TREASON: “The betrayal of allegiance toward one’s own country, especially by committing hostile acts against it or aiding its enemies in committing such acts.” I’m thankful he FAILED and I’ll be even more thankful when he’s defending himself in court. The evidence we KNOW about – that which is in the public domain already – suggests OVERWHELMING guilt.

That all being said, about 15% of America will be very unhappy when Trump is indicted and, of course, these are the kind of people you see driving their pickups around with American flags and Trump flags flying in the breeze – with AR-15’s cradled across the rear window of their rigs. Will this be the “flash point” some of these “deplorables” have been waiting for in order to pick up the steam on the so-called “slow moving coup” which has been spreading across the so-called “red states” since the day Joe Biden took the oath of office. Remember, the thugs who showed up on January 6th were ARMED and had every intention of KILLING members of Congress and, especially, Mike Pense.

As an aside, Pense continues to show his lack of courage – despite finding it on the 6th of January, 2021 – as he’s begun an attempt to grovell his way into the good graces of the MAGA world in an attempt to build a run for the republican nomination in 2024. When you listen to him you realize just how pitiful he’s capable of being – despite, at least in my case, wanting to give him some grace after he refused Trump’s orders to carry out his coup plans on January 6th, 2021. The reality is Pense will NOT do anything which might cause the republican base to shun him – although, that’s likely exactly what is going to happen. Pense SHOULD be acting more like Liz Cheney and showing at least a little amount of COURAGE. (Of course, it is hard for me to ignore the almost four full years of Pense acting like a robot around Trump.

Here’s a rub for me with pundits who I watch on TV (when I choose to do so) – they almost always talk about Trump in terms of him being the “frontrunner” for the republican nomination for president in 2024! OK, I have this question: Can he run for president from a jail cell or court room? Do they simply assume Merrick Garland won’t have the guts to indict “a former president?” I believe the evidence of Trump’s complicity in the most DANGEROUS conspiracy this country has faced – well, maybe EVER – makes it NOW likely he’s going to be indicted. There are many aspects of all this I’ve been “reporting” on for over four years now – that many in the so-called “liberal media” are finally catching on to. One of them is that Trump is a wannabe mob boss who thinks like an organized criminal. (ie – his disdain for people who tell the TRUTH – people he refers to as “rats”)

I started calling him a “mob boss” about four years ago (maybe five – it’s in the archives if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands) and I’ve been explaining the republican party has become a hotbed for FASCISM for several years now. Of course, I’ve had to point out to anyone who’s associated with republicans and who throw that word (fascist) around cavalierly what the meaning of the word actually is – and demonstrate what I mean. Well, now we have the republicans cozying up to Viktor Orban – the fascist leader of Hungary – as if he’s the new Ronald Reagan of the party. Orban is a fascist in the same vein as Vladimir Putin only without all the nukes – he has to be a bit more subtle. But it’s classic fascism as if it came directly from 1930’s Germany, complete with the “anit-immigrant” and “anit-semitic” dog whistles.

I’ve been pointing out for years the U.S. is ALREADY a borderline FASCIST state based on the definition which eminated from Mussolini’s time in Italy – a partnership of the government and corporate powers. We’ve seen this evolution since the Supreme Court intervened in the 2000 election in favor of Bush/Cheney, the power of the Supreme Court growing in the intervening years with decisions like “Citizens United,” the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 – both section 5 and section 2 – which has opened the door to the flood of voter suppression bills being passed in states across America since the 2020 election, the support of partisan gerrymandering (especially in republican states), the support for GUNS, and most recently, the issue of abortion – one decision after another which amounts to “legislating from the bench.”

The republicans have a friendly court which is going to be that way likely for at least a generation and should they retake control of Congress in the 2022 midterms they are planning to make it near impossible for democrats to return to power – no matter how the votes are cast. I mean, when you take a close look at who’s running on the republican side in MANY important statewide elections across the nation it’s a bunch of “election deniers.” That is, if the elections don’t go their way they’re going to “deny them.” Candidates for governor or Secretary of State in several “swing states” saying they won’t certify an election they don’t agree with. The republican nominee for governor in Arizona was recently claiming she wouldn’t accept the results of the election (she was LOSING at the time) but she “changed her tune.” Of course, you know the reason – it turned out she got the nomination – so the election was “no longer rigged.” Ye gads!

Will Americans vote for these wack jobs in large enough numbers for them to actually win in the general election? Well, we’ll have to stay tuned on that one – obviously, I hope not. Another area where I’ve been ACCURATELY pointing out the reality of republican CORRUPTION is be pointing out their penchant for PROJECTION! We’ve all spent about two years listening to the claim (without a shred of evidence) our “elections are rigged” and we’ve listened to the so-called “stop the steal” movement among these right wing “deplorables.” Well, here’s the TRUTH – it’s the republicans who are working OVERTIME in order to RIG the upcoming elections and, in essence, they are attempting to STEAL the 2022 mid-terms because Donald Trump failed to STEAL the 2020 election! (Although, many of them are still focused on doing just that – yah STILL!)

I’ve pointed out here it almost pains me to give kudos to Liz Cheney because there’s little she believes, politically, I agree with. However, the KEY thing I agree with her on is the importance of telling the TRUTH to the American people and politicians being TRUTHFUL with their own voters. I have come to look at her as a person of HONOR – in fact, at this point in time, I would suggest she would have the best chance to win in 2024 of any republican because, aside from Adam Kinsinger, we haven’t seen many republicans with the courage to speak the TRUTH to the American people and/or their voters.

Here’s where I agree with Liz Cheney – for the next two elections it is imperative that independents (like me – even though most people think I’m a democrat) and disaffected republicans coalesce around democrats to vote AGAINST republicans until the republican party is purged of these COWARDLY members who KNOW better but don’t have the guts to say so publicly because their job is more important to them than their country. This is why, in the long run, I believe Liz Cheney will be the “bedrock” of the republican party – once these right wing white nationalists are scurrying back under the rocks they were hiding when Barack Obama was elected and they hit the “white nationalist” panic button.

I don’t want to paint them all with a “broad brush” – but, to me, wilful ignorance is no excuse for a willingness to do to this country what Hitler failed to do in WW II. I’ve written about a former acquaintance who I used to have breakfast with regularly – someone who joined the “Trump train” – knowing what a low life Trump was at the time (I believe an “anti abortion” republican) and who I just got to the point where I couldn’t tolerate (in my mind) some of the things he said to me. And, after he became an election denier (he SHOULD be smarter than that, but……) I started remembering things he said to me over the past few years. The first thing which came to mind was him saying (several times) that he didn’t believe in “democracy.” And, at one time he implied he didn’t think “inner city” Blacks should be voting! Yikes!! I tolerated those remarks as “not serious” until after the election and the refusal to accept the results. (He had predicted a Trump “landslide”) Then……………………

On the night of the election, when – after the election day votes were counted and Trump had a lead of something like 600,000 votes in Pennsylvania he emailed me that Trump had “won” the election. I emailed him back “don’t get ahead of your ski’s – there’s something like 1.5 MILLION mail in votes to be counted and reports are about 80% of them were cast by democrats. My “prediction” proved to be correct – he even had predicted “when Trump wins ‘liberals’ are going to react violently in the streets” – and, I suggested the exact opposite was going to be true. (Of course, I did not anticipate right wing zealots would go so far as to ATTACK the CAPITOL of our great nation – but, well……………… that’s what happened, isn’t it?)

That get’s to the bottom of why Trump and his white nationalist followers are so dangerous – Trump was “grooming” these “ditto heads” (in the words of Rush Limbaugh) for the so-called “rigged election” well before the election happened – saying over and over again to his CULT “The only way I lose is if the election is rigged.” He encouraged republican voters to vote on election day – because those votes are counted first – in Pennsylvania, for example, they can’t even count the mail in votes until the next day – so he could “declare victory” and then claim the election was “stolen” after all the mail in votes were counted and Joe Biden was declared the WINNER! He KNEW what was going to happen all along – It was all planned out ahead of time. (In fact, he was planning the same shtick back in 2016 when Roger Stone coined the phrase “Stop the Steal” because he thought for sure he would lose to Hillary Clinton.)

And, speaking of the 2016 election – for those of you who don’t believe the Russians influenced the outcome of the 2016 election and haven’t read Robert Mueller’s two volume account of the “Russia Investigation” you should read “Collusion – Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win” by Luke Harding of “The Guardian.” I’ve had this book for a few years just sitting by my nightstand and have no idea why I waited until now to read it – but, it’s an “eye opener.” Suffice it to say, our “liberal media” didn’t do such a bang up job researching the credibility of Christopher Steele – he of the now infamous “dossier” – I’m sure much to his relief. He NEVER intended for his “dossier” to be made public and, to me, it’s a shame the parts of it which are clearly prescient have been lost in the FOG of all the CRAP (out of a reluctance to use a more appropriate noun) Trump pulled off in the interim. The “whirly dervish” of CORRUPTION was simply too much for “we the people” to keep up with.

Possibly the worst part of Steele’s “dossier” being published would be the Russians who were “frog marched” from the Kremlin with bags over their heads apparently because the information in the “dossier” implicated them as Steele’s sources. Steele went into hiding for a month or more in order to attempt to take the focus off him (possibly from the Russians – they are experts with poison after all) because he was genuinely worried about the safety of his sources. While much in the “dossier” was “unverified” Steele, himself put the likelihood it was true as very high – and, of course, much of it turned out to be true. What is undeniable is the COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and the Russians – we’ll never know the full effect it had on the outcome, but in my mind (with a little help by James Comey) it’s the reason we were all subjected to Trump’s reign in the “White House” and his continuing assault on our republic in absentia. Please Merrick Garlan, put an end to this nightmare!

Here’s the good news! The Select Committee on January 6th is going to have additional hearings – hopefully in prime time – and the democrats are going to have the opportunity to make republicans WEAR their COWARDICE and their support for UNPOPULAR public policy and political CORRUPTION between now and November. The bad news – I don’t have a lot of confidence in democrats to take this FIGHT directly to the people (and republicans) in EVERY district in this nation. I noticed today that gas prices are coming down for all those voters who would blame President Biden for them going up (that’s what I call “wilfull ignorance” – Biden’s attempting to head off WW III for those not paying attention to what’s going on in Ukraine – and, trust me, Ukraine’s not happening because Trump lost in 2020 – had he won, Putin would have annexed Ukraine in a matter of a few days – NATO would LIKELY be “no more,” and ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, suffice it to say, I thank God Joe Biden is president!

For anyone who believes abortion is an issue which is private between a woman, her doctor, and her faith they would need to be voting AGAINST republicans for the foreseeable future – because republicans already have a 6-3 majority on the Court and should republicans gain control of Congress once again they’ve already said NO Court appointments by a democratic president will be considered (Like Garland in 2015-2016) and they’ve pledged to pass legislation making abortion ILLEGAL in all 50 states. So, for those who are focused on that issue it’s “on the ballot” for the foreseeable future. If Kansas’ recent referendum on abortion is any indication, this could be an issue which hangs as a “heavy weight” around the necks of many republican candidates for office nationwide. After all, women make up more than HALF of this great nation!

And, as far as our democratic republic is concerened all you have to do is listen to the candidates for governor in Pennsylvania and Arizona on the republican side to realize they’re counting on democrats NOT voting come November and gaining a stronghold in our nation during a “mid-term” election with low voter turnout. Will it work? Well, as I just said above, it remains to be seen if democrats have the “will” (I was going to use a cruder term) for this FIGHT. However, we do have people like Liz Cheney, the Lincoln Project, and other republican affiliated groups who willingly want to coordinate with democrats in order to defeat republicans. To me, that makes it doable – but democrats MUST understand the CRITICAL aspects of this election and the importance of pulling this coordination together. Some of their (democrats) accomplishments have been significant, but the voters need to understand the STAKES of this election and why voters should support them. Yes, inflation is bad, but fascism is WORSE! That needs to be driven “home” in local election after local election! Stay tuned………………

Final Thought: One republican “trick” I keep thinking about as I read about local statewide legislation being proposed in various states which is worded almost identical to legislation in other states is how the organization ALEC works. ALEC (American Legislative Exchance Council) – a Koch funded group – writes legislation for state legislators around the country – going from one state to the next in order to simplify the process for right wing state legislators. That’s why many of these proposed statewide abortion bans seem so similar. I don’t believe democrats have a “competitive council” and they haven’t even made much of a “stink” around the nation that, in essence, Charles Koch is behind much of the local legislation at the statewide level. I’ve said this many times, the republican operation is “light years” more sophisticated than the democrats – which seems to lead to democrats seeming to be “reactive” in too many instances. People SHOULD know about ALEC and the extent of the DAMAGE they’re doing to our republic.

I have to add: One reason why I believe Trump’s indictment is a ways away is because he’s part (the head) of a HUGE conspiracy which COULD draw in over 100 “co-conspirators” – including several sitting members of Congress, the wife of a Supreme Court Justice, a gaggle of Trump’s “lawyers” (if they’re still lawyers by the time of the indictment) and a whole bunch of “suckers” in various states who signed FRAUDULENT documents claiming to be the “real electors” of their state. Additionally, there were people who were funding this, people on the periphery like Roger Stone, Mike Flynn, a recent lawsuit loser of about $50 MILLION Alex Jones, and who knows who else? I’ve written about what it takes to be part of a CONSPIRACY and it’s really not all complicated. Were you ANY part of the plan? Were you encouraging the plan? Probably really COMPLICATED from the standpoint of the Justice Department!

My apologies, I’m publishing this without re-reading and editing it – a “no no” for my 6th graders when I was still teaching!