Shortly after Donald Trump took the oath of office for the office of President of the United States back in 2017 I wrote: “Trump will come to rue the day he chose to run for the office of president.” Well, I believe that day likely has come. For God’s sake, let’s get this out of the way: Trump is CORRUPT up to his eyeballs! It appears the authorities, who seem to work at a “snail’s pace,” are FINALLY closing in on our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president. For anyone paying attention it’s no surprise the investigations seem to be virtually EVERYWHERE. There’s the investigation from the Fulton County DA regarding Trump’s (along with his sycophants) attempt to overturn the presidential election in Georgia, the pending civil suits – most prominently coming from New York’s AG which very well could put an END to the Trump Organization, the Manhattan DA (who seems timid in charging Trump with the FELONIES his former investigators said publicy were committed), The Southern District of New York’s US Attorney’s office and the IRS – both who received CRIMINAL referrals from New York’s AG’s office – and, of course the Justice Department’s investigations into the STOLEN Top Secret documents plus the January 6th INSURRECTION ivestigation.

Astonishingly, the republican party has degraded to the point where many are, apparently, threatening violence should Trump be indicted for ANY of the above CRIMINAL activity. For heaven’s sake, Trump has been “allegedly” violating the laws of this great land, in essence, his entire life. Members of the republican party – meaning, those who have been elected to Congress – have succumbed to the thirst for POWER they think comes with bowing to the knee of someone as disgusting at Trump. Plus, republicans all across this land continue spewing the nonsense that Trump is still the president. If you haven’t been watching close enough, Trump and his minions believe the votes from areas where there is a large number of African Americans voting shouldn’t count. Something, in their minds, is terribly wrong when these people are not only allowed to vote, but are encouraged to vote.

Naturally, republicans in state legislatures all across America have been busy passing laws which are intended to make it more difficult for “people or color,” young people, and elderly people in areas where there are many democrats more difficult to cast their ballots. This should give anyone with any knowledge of history a bit of a “red flag” as to what these people are up to. To me, it’s obvious – they want to make changes to our system which will allow the next coup d’etat to succeed. For me it’s hard to believe that states like Georgia and Arizona have passed laws which will allow their legislatures to send the “fraudulent set of electors” to the next Congress as the “real set of electors.” That is, if they don’t like the results of the election, they’ll simply change it. In Georgia (and, likely elsewhere) republican members of the legislature are already busy purging poll workers so that they can put in their own sycophants. Yikes!!!

Again, if you’re paying attention to the WORLD of politics, you know that, first, Tucker Carlson held his Fox “news” show in Hungary kissing up to Viktor Orban and, subsequently, the republicans invited Orban to speak at their CPAC get together. They also, invited the newly elected neo-FASCIST prime minister of Italy, Georgia Meloni to speak at one of their gatherings a while back. She has been publicly seen with America’s neo-fascist leader Steve Bannon who seems to pop up around any of the European right wing neo-fascist leaders like Orban, Meloni, France’s Marine le Pen, and, likely, others. There can be no doubt there is a neo-fascist movement all across Europe (including, sadly, Sweden) and, as I’ve pointed out many times on this site, Trump is the “linchpin” of all this, because if he can turn America into a fascist nation then the world will be facing what Hitler and Musolini failed to accomplish back in the 1930’s and during WW II.

I really hope Americans are paying attention to all of this. Most of us who are “baby boomers” had parents who participated in stopping Hitler and Musoline in WW II. My father, apparently, did hiis service in the Pacific in the fight against the Japanese. He NEVER talked to me about what he endured in his service. I can only imagine what it was, but he just didn’t want to talk about it – likely because of the memories it would stimulate. The bottom line is people like my father FOUGHT the Germans, Italians, and Japanese in WW II largely to prevent the spread of fascism to this nation (and Europe) – and, now, it’s back again (fascism, that is). I’ve written about this many times in the past year pointing out how the word “fascism” is used recklessly by republicans who seem to have no idea what fascism actually is. What Trump, Bannon, Putin, and others are pushing is a return to fascism in a way Hitler and Musolini failed back in the Second World War.

On that note, I’ve written numerous times about the critical nature of ALL the upcoming elections regarding keeping republicans from gaining control of the “White House” or Congress. If you haven’t noticed the POWER republicans have accomplished by STACKING the Supreme Court with right wing idealogues, well, you just have had your head in the sand. Trust me, the next Court session will include MORE decisions based on the political “whims” of the right wing politicians who put them in POWER. And, I have to add, sadly, the word POWER. That, of course should NEVER be the case with a Judge at any level, let alone on our nation’s highest court. But, the reality is this court MAJORITY will be there well beyond my lifetime. Voters MUST prevent the court’s majority from “growing” – which can only happen via a series of elections where “we the people” vote against republicans.

Today, for example, gave a great look into why it’s so important to vote AGAINST republicans. I’ve been writing for the past year (since her text messages to Mark Meadows became public) that Ginni Thomas, wife of Judge Clarence Thomas, seems to be a “shoo in” should the Justice Department charge Trump and his co-conspirators of SEDITIONS conspiracy, of being part of that conspiracy. I’ve defined a conspiracy AND SEDITION several times and, to me, there’s no doubt Ms. Thomas was part of the “plan” to overturn the 2020 election. Today, she testified to the January 6th Select Committee and claimed, once again, “the election was stolen.” When you look at some of her texts you get the feeling, “the light’s on, but nobody’s home.”

However, EVERYONE who were part of the planning, financing, and encouraging of the coup d’etat attempted by Trump qualify as co-conspirators. Will our Justice Department actually indict the wife of a sitting Supreme Court Justice? Well, Merrick Garland is facing decisions which will likely determine the future of our republic – as to whether or not people actually believe in America Justice is blind. Of course, most of us understand members of the African American communities have carried an undo burden regarding “justice” in America. Thankfully, African Americans all across America are aggressively standing up for their rights – which, of course, “triggers” the white nationalists who make up a significant share of the republican party. If “no one is above the law” then, I believe, Ginni Thomas will be part of a large group of right wing republicans who will be charged with CONSPIRACY to overthrow a free and fair election in America. Honestly, it doesn’t get much worse than that!

And, do you think she really doesn’t talk to her husband about her far out right wing agenda? Do you think he’s unaware of what his wife is up to? To me, believing that would be absurd. I’m reminded of a judge who resigned from the Court around the time I was first eligible to vote – Abe Fortas. I don’t remember all of the details, but I vaguely remember the Justice Department (Remember, Nixon was the president and John Mitchell the Attorney General) got Fortas to resign be threatening legal action against his wife. I point that out because I believe a fair settlement of Ms. Thomas’ likely CRIMINAL exposure would be for judge Thomas to resign giving Joe Biden the opportunity to replace him with a judge similar to Merrick Garland, who SHOULD have been confirmed during the Obama administration – which would leave the court presently at a 5-4 conservative majority – with the likely swing voter being Justice Roberts.

I’ve listed here many times, off the top of my head, people who appear to have been part of Trump’s conspiracy to overthrow the will of the people. Remember, if you are ANY part of the planning, even periferal, (and Ginni Thomas was integral in the scheme from all the texts which have been made public) you’re part of the CONSPIRACY. In fact, I have to wonder when will someone in the “mainstream media” point out Ginni Thomas was part of the CONSPIRACY to overthrow our government! And, of course, Trump was the kingpin of it all. To say I’m anxious to see if Merrick Garland has the wherewithall (guts) to prosecute ALL of those who participated (Remember, there are several members of Congress) would be an understatement! Stay tuned……………….

Final Thought: It was reported today that Edward Snowden was granted Russian citizenship today via a decree from none other than Putin, himself. My first thought was, “How will Snowden respond if he’s drafted into the military to fight in Ukraine? Stay tuned……………

Also: Everytime I see an ad on TV regarding the technology industry, urging people to call their Congress person telling them to “back off” the idea of breaking up the Tech monopolies, I do a little research to find out who’s paying for the ad and, in almost every instance, the answer is either Facebook or Mark Zuckerberg himself. The lastest ad was put out in the name of the “American Edge Project” and you have to dig a little deeper to discover this “project” was originally put together by Facebook. They do a good job of hiding that FACT on the website of the “American Edge Project” but, as usual, this is Zuckerberg attempting to line up support to keep his MONOPOLY in tact. Will Congress actually break Facebook/Meta up? We can only hope………………

Oh to have been a “fly on the wall” a few weeks ago when Donald Trump was trying to figure a way out of his latest CRIMINAL exposure, another attempt to avoid accountability for egregious violations of the American “rule of law.” In an apparent act of STUPIDITY, he was attempting to KEEP a whole bunch of documents belonging to “we the people” including some documents labeled “Top Secret/SCI” – the most sensitive of documents which ALL members of the government need special clearances to view. And, he was LYING about them! Trump said, “they’re mine.” The government replied: “Not so fast!” More CRIMES for “The Donald?” I was visualizing Trump directing his lawyers to find a “Trump Judge” in order to “throw a wrench” into the obvious legal proceeding he was facing. That is, find a way to slow the process down. (He was warned about keeping these documents before he had exited the “White House.”)

Well, it appears they’ve been successful, at least temporarily. They found a judge, Aileen Cannon, who has granted Trump’s wishes with what MOST legal experts I’ve listened to (including William Barr – who I hesitate to call a “legal expert”) are suggesting this order from the bench would be laughable other than it, at least temporarily, has thrown that “wrench” into the Justice Department’s investigation. I’ve come to the conclusion the Justice Department MUST appeal this decision because if they don’t the absurdity of what she said could become “precedent.”

Obviously, I’m not a legal expert, and, based on what we’ve heard lately, it would appear William Barr accidentally took some “truth serum” and is busy shamewashing his record by agreeing Trump was WRONG in all facets of this “I stole THOUSANDS of documents, including the most sensitive of TOP SECRET documents – but, ‘I’m still the president so it’s an OK CRIME,'” because Barr, no doubt, is now on Trump’s s@#t list. He’s actually suggested Trump should be INDICTED and would likely be found GUILTY of CRIMINAL activity. Duh!!!! (Don’t forget, he also testified to the January 6th Committee and called Trump’s claim the “election was stolen,”
“BULLSHIT.”)

However, before you start falling for Barr’s shtick, keep in mind it was William Barr who, in essence, turned the Justice Department into a political arm of Trump’s CRIMINAL impulses. And, of course, if you’ve been following any of this you know if Trump is having an “impulse,” it’s very likely CRIMINAL. Barr interfered in investigations in both the Southern District of New York and the D.C. Attorney’s office – A quick reminder: Roger Stone, Mike Flynn, and Steve Bannon got favorable treatment NONE of the rest of us lowlifes would have received – plus, it was reported tonight on MSNBC that Geoffrey Berman witnessed Barr sticking his nose in one case after another answering to the whims of Trump himself – to me, allegations which very well could open Barr up to OBSTRUCTION of Justice charges. If you remember, Robert Mueller “memorialized” around 10 instances of OBSTRUCTION which he didn’t charge because of the OLC memo stating a “sitting president can’t be indicted” and, which Barr attempted to “whitewash.” (Successfully, apparently) Did they BOTH obstruct justice?

Well, now, tonight, Mr. Berman said it was Barr’s Justice Department which got Trump – as individual 1 – purged from the charging document which helped send Michael Cohen to prison for the Campaign Finance Violations eminating from the payoffs to a couple women who Trump didn’t want the voters, in 2016, to know he’d had affairs with while Melania was pregnant with (or raising) his final son. I’ve wondered on this site why hasn’t Merrick Garland pursued Trump who was, originally, listed as “individual 1” for coordinating the scheme along with Mr. Cohen and the editor of “The Enquirer.” Well, apparently, Trump’s participation in the scheme was “bleached” due to ORDERS from Barr. So, Barr doesn’t get to resuscitate his reputation now after all he did. (Remember, he out and out LIED about the Mueller report to “we the people”)

On this site I referred to Trump as “individual 1” for a couple years because that’s the “name” the Southern District of New York gave him as the “unindicted co-conspirator” with Cohen in the payoffs to the two women. (One of them is a “porn star”) I started referring to him again as Donald Trump recently because it became apparent the Justice Department wasn’t going to hold him accountable for that CRIME. It appears there are so MANY CRIMES to investigate when it comes to Trump that this one isn’t even in the “top ten.” Another issue which frustrates me is those TEN instances of OBSTRUCTION Mueller “memorialized” so that a prosecutor could investigate them once Trump was out of office. And, Don’t forget the “civil actions:” The NY AG is potentially attempting to shut down the Trump organization due to accusations of FRAUD, women have lawsuits against him in regard to his sexual misbehavior, and there are credible civil lawsuits against his actions/inactions on January 6th. A bad look for someone who can’t find competent lawyers, wouldn’t you say?

AG Garland, obviously, decided against pursuing the potential OBSTRUCTION charges stemming from Mueller’s investigation long before all of Trump’s other legal liabilities became so obvious. It seems as if that decision will seem like an “Oh well,” after ALL of the other Trump liabilities have been resolved. A reminder: Trump is facing potential CRIMINAL liability in Georgia’s probe of his attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, his potential liability in Manhattan for various instances of FRAUD continues to be an active investigation, the January 6th INSURRECTION and charges of SEDITION loom VERY large, and, of course, ALL the documents referenced above – some creating exposure to the Espionage Act could be the FIRST place Trump faces “the music.” As I’ve said here before, the January 6th INSURRECTION could lead to a charge of SEDITION, but, in my view, add to that the STEALING of the documents owned by the Archives of the U.S. and discovering who got access to the Top Secret/SCI files COULD lead to a charge of TREASON! Put a bid Q on that! (Don’t get it, see below!)

I’ve been saying for years now, Trump will end up in the History books right next to Benedict Arnold. You can take that for what you may. And, a BUNCH of his sycophants – including Fox “news” hosts and other right wing “journalists” will be right there next to him – AND, this will include many sitting members of Congress as of this writing. The s@#t is getting very close to the “fan” and Trump very likely is feeling the “walls” closing in on him. That may explain some of his recent public remarks – highlighted by a “rally” he held this past weekend in Ohio, supposedly to support JD Vance’s Senate campaign in the Buckeye state. I say “supposedly,” because, as usual this rally was all about Trump and his blaming others for all his troubles. He did mention Vance, however, as he shared with the crowd they should support him because he was “kissing my ass.” What an aSSet! This was a crowd full of QAnon fanatics and they were saluting Trump almost as if he was Hitler reincarnated!

I’m just not energetic enough to write every day and, as I’ve said many times, it’s almost impossible to keep up with Trump’s CRIMINALITY. Sadly, in that same vein, our so-called “liberal media” has long ago succumbed to the temptation to “both sides” all the issues facing America these days and “chasing their tails” in regard to reporting on Trump. Because keeping up with Trump is dizzying. And, Trump takes full advantage of that – he gets away with one outrageous comment or action after another because the “mainstream” media just isn’t set up to “call it like it is.” And, of course, Merrick Garland, God Bless him, is either timid regarding the likelihood he SHOULD be indicting a “former president” or he’s detail oriented to a “fault,” causing him to be oblivious (or so it seems) to the need for him to ACT (expeditiously) in regard to INDICTING maybe the most DANGEROUS person in the world. (OK, I can’t really put him over his idol, Vladimir Putin, in that regard – so the “Second most……………”) Or should I say, the most DANGEROUS person he COULD indict?

I started calling Trump a “mob boss” a couple years before he LOST the 2020 election (by OVER 7 MILLION votes) and a fascist, maybe a bit before that. I’m finding it interesting to hear more and more “pundits” using those terms these days in regards to Trump and “MAGA” republicans. The CULT is like a massive organized CRIME syndicate. When you watch closely the investigations into Trump and his surrogates you see investigators comparing their investigation to previous investigations of organized CRIMINAL activity. Along the lines of the saying: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck. Well, in a simpler analogy – If Trump talks like a mob boss, acts like a mob boss, looks ………………! Well, put 2+2 Together!

Final Thought: I read the other day something, in the Washington Post, which is what I call “parr for the course” reporting – I read it over and over – in a publication I actually have a subscription to. Much of their reporting is OK, but stuff like this really rankles me. The report was about how the number of “foreign born” people in America had reached record levels under Joe Biden. The evidence? Well, they were using the results of the census which took place in 2020. The first thought which came to my mind was: “Who was president in 2020?” Of course, the answer is no, it wasn’t Joe Biden it was Donald Trump. While this doesn’t matter to me, it’s the reporting which bothered me. Obviously, Trump was president when the census took place – so, why didn’t the reporter acknowledge that? I have no idea, but it really did bother me. The “misinformation” propaganda in America is coming at “we the people” from all directions! I believe America is a “nation of Immigrants” – the so-called “boiling pot” and we all descend from “foreign born citizens” if you check out our heredity – some have families which have been here longer, but, to me, it matters not. (Of course, many African Americans families “got here” way before most of the rest of us) Stay tuned……………..

Another way this same issue “rankles” me is when I hear reoports of the “increase in crime” under Joe Biden using data collected in 2020. For God’s sake people, that would be information which occurred during the term of Donald Trump. Trump figured out how to use and manipulate the media early on after he gained the nomination back in 2016 and the “media” hasn’t caught up yet. Will it? Well, we’ll have to wait and see – and our republic’s future could hang in the balance.

Also: Trump world is so full of LIARS that not much surprises me anymore. So, Mike Lindell had his phone seized by the FBI and, in his complaint, he said, while speaking into a computer “zoom” screen, “I don’t have a computer, I do everything on my phone,” caught my attention. Was he at the library? Go figure!

“Coming Attraction:” I’m planning an attempt to compile my thoughts about the upcoming Supreme Court session. In the past year we’ve seen the result of Trump/McConnell/McGahn stuffing the courts with right wing (young) judges. The Supreme Court made FAR more egregious decisions aside from overturning Roe. “We the people” MUST understand that allowing republicans to control Congress can ONLY make the issue with the courts much more grave. A really good example of what I’m thinking has to do with Judge Aileen Cannon – the judge who, in essence, made a decision in support of Trump which, according to almost every legal expert I’ve listened to. is untethored to the law. I have to wonder how many more judges are there around the country who are willing to sully their own reputation among the legal community in order to “bend” to the MAGA movement? Regarding Judge Cannon all I can say is YIKES!!!

I’m sharing this article I read at “Daily Kos,” to which I donate monthly – it’s written far better than I ever could – author “Hunter” Daily Kos staff, dated Wednesday September 7, 2022. Titled “Bret Stephens is still indignant over President Biden calling out Republican extremism,”

We’re all going to be long dead before Republican Party officials and pundits get over their outrage at President Joe Biden’s condemnation of Republican extremism. You can already see it building into the sort of mythology that has led to past claims like “You being rude to Mitt Romney made me vote for a narcissist, racist, tax-dodging incompetent blowhard” and “I didn’t want to become a Nazi, but the casting choices in the new Lord of the Rings show left me no choice.”

The Republicans most responsible for guiding their party into convenient hoaxes over irritating truths and casting aside every agenda not explicitly premised on retaliation against enemies are still going strong in their complaints that calling “MAGA” Republicans “semi-fascist” was just too unbearably rude. So here comes The New York Times poster boy for insincere rhetoric, Bret Stephens, who still hasn’t gotten over his resentment—and he’s going to make that everybody’s problem.

Those who choose to read Stephens’ complaints don’t even need to make it to the first ad break to remember why we here have learned to ignore the Times opinion pages. From the invocation of Abraham Lincoln as an example of how, with class, you should call out seditionist nation-killers, to the first petty snipes that Joe Biden Isn’t Being Bipartisan, the theme of this and every column is that it doesn’t matter what grotesquely malevolent things Republicans might propose or actually do, if you don’t meet them halfway on it then perhaps it is you who are the problem. Tsk, and so forth.

Yes, the problem is that Biden cast too wide a net in disparaging MAGA Republicans, insulting not only “those who cheered the attack on the Capitol” and “Oath Keepers” and “Proud Boys” but also Republicans whose do-good religious convictions simply require America to adhere to their personal religious beliefs and no others, enshrining anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ convictions in U.S. law.

Well that’s not very fair now, is it? It’s not very nice to condemn not just the people who insist that they be allowed to start killing their political opponents, but also the nice Jesus folks who simply want to institute religious rule that criminalizes beliefs that aren’t theirs. In the same speech, you say? Shocking.

Incidentally, there appear to be exactly zero conservative demands for a government theocracy based on any of the actual stuff in their holy book, and that still remains puzzling. There are no “faithful Catholic or evangelical Christian” groups whose “deeply held moral convictions” are founded on a belief that the United States government must, as a matter of religious conviction, feed the poor unconditionally or heal the sick even if the sick can’t pay for it. None. It is not a thing—pick any New Testament red-lettered text and you will find exactly zero faithful conservative groups demanding that the American government abide by those words right now. No Marco Rubio Bible quotes deployed to demand anti-poverty programs. No evangelical rallies demanding bread and fishes for everyone. Zip, nada, zilch.

Instead, the demands of the conservative “faithful” revolve solely on all matters sexual and on hard-gripped demands that the government enables their own preferred discriminations. That doesn’t sound like “faithful” religious fervor at all; that sounds like culture-war fervor that’s been tucked under a religious veil so as to sell itself as something more dignified than it is.

So here’s a thought, while we’re at it. Maybe until we see these large-scale conservative religious rallies demanding government better feed the poor, at the very least, we don’t need to give a unique level of respect to religious “faithful” who have determined that the most important parts of their faith are the parts where everyone else needs to do as they say. Maybe these people are no better than the other groups who want to remake America into an anti-democratic state rather than accept cultural losses. Maybe we are allowed to have contempt for them that is equal to their contempt for us—bless their hearts.

Anyhoo, Bret The Indignant soon makes his way to the central point of his column, which is the same as every other column by conservatives insisting that no blame be placed for all that stuff they, personally, have done to lead the movement into a cesspit of hoax promotion and fascist ideology. Bret’s assertion is that “Biden claimed to distinguish MAGA Republicans from mainstream ones and then proceeded to conflate them,” a partisan dig that “may resonate with partisan Democrats who have never seen a conservative they didn’t consider a bigot or a fool.”

That’s not true, Bret. In addition to the bigots and the fools, there are also the insincere and the enablers—public voices who press conservatism to believe untrue things, like supposed conspiracies about climate science or insistence that COVID-19 (which has killed over one million American citizens) is being exaggerated in danger because conservatism’s enemies just, uh, hate barbershops.

No, Bret’s point is that, as someone “who has long thought that Trump represents a unique threat to democracy” because of his whole attempted-violent-coup thing, Republicanism and its enablers are blameless here. Or at least blameless in comparison, so stop being mean to them.

No really, that’s his point.

“The gravest threat American democracy faces today isn’t the Republican Party, MAGA or otherwise. It’s Trump. He’s one man, sinister but also buffoonish. To defeat him, the core task is to make him seem small, very small. Biden’s misbegotten speech did precisely the opposite.”

And here we see why Bret Stephens is, without question, one of the most thickheaded, dishonest, and useless pundits in the current sphere—and why The New York Times opinion pages are at this point considered the scribblings of stubborn and pampered children. It may not be possible to misread the current moment any worse than Bret Stephens has—and it is such a brazen misreading that, like much of his other work, it cannot possibly be innocent or gullible.

No, Bret Stephens would very much like you to blame Donald Trump, the man, for the nationwide collapse of Republicanism into anti-democratic hoax promotion and party-enabled sedition, and treat “the Republican Party, MAGA or otherwise,” as innocent bystanders to the chaos.

Again, this is so insincere as to almost assuredly be malicious. If this is punditry, then punditry is nothing. If this is punditry, it would be better for the Times and other papers to replace their editorial pages with advertisements or straight-up pornography.

Donald Trump is one man. That much is certain. And one man, without the complicity of others, could do exactly jack to destabilize the country or to mount an attack on the U.S. Capitol. If it was one man who attacked our democracy and stormed the Capitol, American law enforcement officers would have shot him dead at the first barricade, and the rest of us would have moved on with our lives without bothering to remember his name.

But Donald Trump is not the only fascist here. He is not the sole criminal. He is not the one changing election laws to enable party-overseen do-overs based on notions of bamboo-impregnated false ballots or, in Georgia, a straight-up determination that if the state is trending against Republicans, Republicans need to institute whatever new rules are necessary to claim that trend is “fraudulent.”

Donald Trump was the one who attempted to extort the wartime Ukrainian president into announcing a politically useful hoax—and it was the Republican Party, from partisan officers to the House to the Senate, that validated the act and immunized him from punishment. Donald Trump was the one who rallied a known-to-be-armed crowd of militia members, organized thugs, and enough cannon-fodder rabble to sufficiently overwhelm police lines—and it was the same Republican Party that insisted again on no punishment and attempted to block each investigation of the facts, and to this day insists that every investigation of the violence is partisan and illegitimate.

That is not Trump. It is not Trump who is running in hundreds of statewide elections, flatly lying to the public by claiming that Joe Biden was not legitimately elected because unseen forces “stole” the election from Republicans. It is not Trump parroting, again and again, claims that vote counts in minority-heavy areas were fraudulent while the vote counts in white conservative neighborhoods were, of course, legitimate.

Donald Trump does not control Fox News, and is not the core promoter of a neo-Nazi conspiracy theory suggesting that Democrats or “globalists” are packing the country with refugees in order to dilute white “culture.” Trump is not the one giving standing ovations to European protofascists, is not the one cheering madly whenever the free press is denounced as enemies of the state, is not the one retooling Florida schools so that respect for gay teens is strictly barred by law. He is not the one demanding the banning of books by Black authors. He is not the one appearing on national airwaves, even now, to insist that a Republican president scraped out of the White House after promoting a violent attempted coup has every right to take the most classified of national security secrets with him to be used in whatever future manner he personally sees fit.

And what of the voters, then? What of them.

Are we to truly claim that those who still scream at Trump rallies, those who still cheer when Republican candidates shout out disproven hoaxes and demands for political vengeance on law enforcement—are we to claim, then, that those members of the Republican base who still back Donald Trump and those who continue to elevate Donald Trump even after Trump attempted, unsuccessfully, to erase a United States election are not at fault here.

Are we claiming that the millions of members of the Republican base who are throwing out the few Republicans willing to punish Trump for a coup—Republicans like Liz Cheney and others—in order to install hoax-promoting, coup-backing replacements are mere bystanders here? An entire party base that has purged, relentlessly, those who would stand in the way of Trump-styled fascist overthrow—are we insisting now that chastising them is too far?

So Jim Jordan is not to blame. Kevin McCarthy is not to blame. Lindsey Graham and his call to Georgia officials, the Republican-controlled state governments who feted Rudy Giuliani and other crooked fabulists on their tour to discredit our elections, the Republicans of the Senate continually allowing Trump to go further rather than reproaching him for his anti-American acts, a Republican National Committee that backs Donald Trump even after a coup, Republican elected officials far and wide that back Donald Trump even after the coup—all of it is beneath mention, all of it would go away if that man would simply crawl into a golf course sand trap and die.

What a lovely thought. What an absolutely smashing premise: The Republican Party, “MAGA or otherwise,” ought not to be criticized as agents of fascism no matter what acts they have done or what fascist measures they have screamed support for. It is not a problem; a dignified approach would be for the non-conservatives to meet the Republican Party halfway, treating them with respect, ignoring their reflexive and now Republican primaries-mandated protection of Trump’s every corrupt act, treating the attacks on civil rights, on the non-“faithful,” on schoolchildren, on books, on scientists, on journalists, on facts themselves as separate and apart from the fascist moment it has brought us to.

How very wonderful it must be to have a perch from which you can oversee an entire movement’s descent into corruption-fueled dishonesty and hoax promotion and insist that it is all quite reasonable, none of it is linked to the outcomes we now see, and treating it with more dignity instead of less is what the great Abraham Lincoln would have done up the very day a seditionist terrorist murdered him. Others might take a different message; when faced with once-government officials announcing that they would no longer abide by the results of United States elections and would instead be forming a new government that ignored those results, Abraham Lincoln sent the United States military to defeat the seditionist movement by force of arms.

Is the sitting president not sending U.S. troops to capture not just Donald Trump, but each of the Republicans who are still announcing that our elections are invalid and that they no longer need to abide by them? No? Then it seems to me we are still meeting modern Republicanism at a proper middle ground.

The Republican Party attempted a coup and continues to defend a supposed right to do so. A Republican base insists that the coup was valid and insists on an ability to erase future elections that they, personally, do not deem valid. It is all based on movement leadership that continues to intentionally boost false hoaxes over true information, and one that especially focuses on the demonization of enemies with claims of “groomers” and “indoctrination” and “replacement.”

It is a fascist movement. Republicanism, the “conservative” movement, is aligning itself with fascist propaganda techniques, targeting longstanding fascist enemies, embracing theories of justified violence and justified nullification of democracy. If Trump died tomorrow, Republicans would align behind the next cruelest voice they could find and continue.

And Bret Stephens and the other would-be “conservatives” who insist even now that these acts are mere foibles, compared to deeper conservative ideologies that the punditry has refused to acknowledge simply no longer exist, continue to enable the continued degradation of the party with the insistence that it not be condemned for its own acts. The only fascists here, according to Stephens, are … who? Trump, and perhaps those that engaged in literal violence to topple the government, and absolutely none of the powerful Republicans who time and time again made sure that Trump’s most corrupt acts went unpunished so that he could move on to attempted coup and ongoing national security crisis.

The truest form of punditry, and the type of column that pundits favor above all others: We can’t be blamed for this. We may have advocated for it, we may have used it to our advantage, and we may have based a career around a willingness to ignore facts in favor of power-seeking delusions until the technique became the very basis of all political news coverage, but it’s not our fault. It is appalling that anyone now is talking about blame or chastisement merely because it all went to absolute hell, yet again.

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For the past several months I’ve been at the forefront of people urging the Justice Department – and, of course, Merrick Garland – to demonstrate “no one is above the law” as the EVIDENCE of Donald Trump’s CRIMINAL attempt to overthrow the will of the people in the 2020 presidential election has just continued to “drip, drip, drip” into the public domain until the House Select Committee on January 6th began their hearings. Then the EVIDENCE came FLOWING out in a manner which leaves the question of Trump’s CRIMINAL liability almost a moot point.

The question became more of not did Trump commit CRIMES but, how many? And, of course, all of this EVIDENCE was beside the point that Trump allegedly committed OBSTRUCTION of Justice in regard to the Mueller investigation upwards of TEN times – which Robert Mueller “memorialized” for a future prosecutor to investigate once Trump was out of office and no longer protected by the OLC memo stating a “sitting president can not be indicted.” Additionally, Trump seemed to “skate” out of cupibility with the Campaign Finance violations which helped send his former “fixer” to prison – regarding the payoffs of two women just prior to the 2016 election regarding alleged illicit affairs while his wife was pregnant with his last son. (What kind of person employs a “fixer?”)

In regard to the January 6th, 2021 CRIMINAL liability I’ve heard several possible CRIMES which Trump COULD be indicted for. For example, the Judge who oversaw the case in California regarding emails Trump lawyer John Eastman was attempting to hide from the January 6th Committee’s investigation. The Judge suggested both Trump and Eastman “very likely” committed at least two FELONIES in their scheme to overthrow the election. I believe the CRIMES were OBSTRUCTING an official government procedure and committing FRAUD against the United States. Of course, I’m no lawyer and I’m working from a very old memory, but I believe I’ve got that one pretty close to what was actually written.

As the January 6th Committees hearings proceeded it became clear that Trump’s (and a whole bunch of his sycophants) very possibly COULD be charged with is “Seditious Conspiracy.” A quick search on the web defines SEDITION as

1. Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state.
2. Insurrection; rebellion.
3. A factious commotion in a state; the stirring up of such a commotion; incitement of discontent against government and disturbance of public tranquillity, as by inflammatory speeches or writings, or acts or language tending to breach of public order: as, to stir up a sedition; a speech or pamphlet, abounding in sedition.

Sedition is one of the MOST serious of CRIMES someone can commit in any country – most Americans (like me) probably NEVER considered someone elected to the office of the president in the U.S. would ever stoop to this level. But, here we are. And, when you EXAMINE the EVIDENCE it’s hard to conclude something other than Trump committed SEDITION. And, when you look up the definition of CONSPIRACY ( An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act) you quickly recognize there are a PLETHORA of Trump surrogates who are potentially part of a Sedition Conspiracy.

This is all REALLY bad. In fact, to me, until Trump came along it was unthinkable – this is the kind of CORRUPT behavior you see in authoritarian regimes around the globe – not in the U.S. And, the Justice Department will have their hands full in prosecuting these CRIMES because there are a bunch of top level republicans who seemed to have participated in the conspiracy. And, this group of co-conspirators clearly includes the wife of one of our right wing Supreme Court Justices along with several members of Congress, a bunch of lowlife republican Trump sycophants – like Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, etc. etc. PLUS about a hundred republicans in several states who signed fraudulent “elector” documents which were sent to the Senate as part of Eastman and Trump’s scheme. (And, many more!)

I’ve been thinking Garland and the Justice Department MUST be fully investigating this egregious lawbreaking – but, as I’ve been saying since the day Trump came down the escalator in New York and began spewing his racist garbage – there’s ALWAYS more. And, the “more” this time has taken the focus of just about everyone off the reality that our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president tried to overthrow our elected government. How could this be? Well, further cementing the reality we had a pathological CRIMINAL in the “White House,” the “talk of the town” is now focused on the reality Trump STOLE something like 30 boxes of documents which belong to “we the people” and SHOULD have been in the National Archives before Trump left Washington D.C. as the LOSER of the election. For some unknown reason these documents ended up in Trump’s resort/home at Mar a Lago.

Obviously, Trump doesn’t believe the LAWS apply to him, so he simply packed up these boxes – containing extremely sensitive national security information of the TOP SECRET variety – and carted them off to Mar a Lago – and who knows where else. The Justice Department had to carry out a search of Trump’s resort because he refused to return the material when given the opportunity (over and over) – and, of course, he LIED via his attorneys to the Justice Department officials who came calling to get the boxes returned to the Archives and, naturally – as he seems to believe he can – he simply refused to comply with a subpoena directing him to return the documents. There are reports suggesting his refusal was based on him saying “They’re mine, not theirs.” (More behavior which reminds me of my oppositional sixth graders)

It was public knowledge, earlier in the year, that around 15 boxes of documents had been returned. What “we the people” (who are paying attention to all this) didn’t understand at the time was the level of classified material which was in those boxes – mixed together with all kinds of other stuff – suggesting the real possibility these TOP SECRET documents had been viewed by who knows how many people who frequent Mar a Lago. Possibly endangering the LIVES of people who are part of America’s intelligence community around the world.

The Archives KNEW there was MORE and along with the Justice Department gave Trump every opportunity to simply return the “stuff” and that would have been the end of it. But, Trump simply doesn’t/can’t work that way. He really does remind me of the students I had when I was still teaching who had oppositional defiance disorder. Often times those students would exhibit the characteristics of narcissism – although I’ve NEVER seen anyone as narcissistic as Trump. And, of course, once the Justice department was forced to use a search warrant to get these documents back – Trump instantly began searching for ways to portray himself as the vicitm. Including the threat of violence coming from his “MAGA” supporters.

So, the focus has been directed completely away from Trum0’s SEDITIOUS behavior in regard to the INSURRECTION of January 6th, 2021 to the real possibility he compromised some of the most sensitive TOP SECRET information in our government – documents which SHOULD have NEVER left the secure location where they were when he confiscated them. Why on earth would someone do something so STUPID and clearly against the law – and, then attempt to OBSTRUCT the Justice Department’s attempt to get them back. As I’ve said many times, Trump violated so many laws/norms in the past 6 years that it’s been like chasing your tail trying to keep up. If it is determined Trump shared some of this material with others – especially others from foreign governments – I believe his LEGAL liability will become TREASON. (A step up from SEDITION)

This past weekend Lindsey Graham – to me a real lowlife with no conscience who is concerned ONLY in his own re-election – suggested if Trump is indicted there will be riots in the streets. I have no idea what his motivation was – apparently, telling the Justice Department he believes Trump should be “above the law?” Of course, I’ve written for years my frustration that the “high ups” in previous administrations (it always seems to be republicans) are “let off the hook” for clear ILLEGAL behavior. Reagan and HW Bush in Iran Contra – no accoutability. GW Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and others regarding the authorization of TORTURE after their ILLEGAL invasion of Iraq, and now Trump. Here’s the reality – every time a president gets away with breaking the law – the next time it happens it gets worse.

Many are suggestingt Trump shouldn’t be indicted BECAUSE he’s a former president – even though he was TWICE IMPEACHED. They worry about exactly what Senator Graham is predicting – that Trump’s followers will react in a violent manner. I say “fooey” to that notion. At some point “we the people” need to demand this lawbreaking be STOPPED! And, the way to do it is to hold Trump accountable to the LAWS he has clearly broken. He continues to believe Garland doesn’t have the stomach for what would come next. I say, if Trump is NOT indicted what will come next will be far worse than what we’re talking about now – and, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Trump or one of his wannabees (yep, that’s you DeSantis) could somehow regain the “White House” and our Justice Department will be virtually eliminated – except to carry out the REVENGE these republican are alread imagining should they retake control of our government. (The FIRST thing out of Kevin McCarthy’s mouth after the FBI exercized the warrant to search Mar a Lago was a threat aimed at AG Garland – that’s how they work)

Are “we the people” sophisticated enough to recognize the threat which America is facing as we get closer to November? Will democrats, independents, and disaffected republicans be capable of coming together to put a halt to this “slow moving coup d’etat” which republicans are planning via the November elections? (Some which may already be “fixed”) I keep saying “the next election is the most important in my lifetime” – but, once again, here we are. And, until we vote enough of these republicans out of office, EVERY election going forward will be the same. Clearly, Trump has managed to create a CULT following of people who are susceptible to manipulation and conspiracy theories. When I see someone with a Q on the front of their shirt I can only shake my head. How does someone become so STUPID as to believe that nonsense? I have no idea, but the reality is many Americans are susceptible to his kind of propaganda. Lord, help us!

Final Thought: The sooner AG Garland acts to STOP Trump and his lawbreaking via an indictment the better we all will be in this nation – regardles of the reaction coming from Trump’s white nationalist “militia” base. And, I kind of agree with Graham that Trump shouldn’t be prosecuted for STEALING thousands of pages of CLASSIFIED documents unless it can be proven he allowed others to see what was in the boxes he was hoarding at Mar a Lago. I would like to see AG Garland indict Trump for his SEDITIOUS attempt to overthrow a free and fair election in this country – an unbelievably egregious CRIME! (Well, with what we now KNOW – it really is believable) If he must be charged in regard to STEALING classified documents and endangering national security related documents, then I would hope he could do it in conjunction with the CRIMES committed against “we the people” via the INSURRECTION. Stay tuned…………………….

Some republicans (like Graham) are comparing Trump STEALING these documents to Hillary Clinton using an email server in her home for official business. On its face – the comparison is LUDICROUS. For starters, Mrs. Clinton was criticized for being “careless” in regard to email messages which contained “classified” information – some messages which were determined to be “classified” after the fact. In the investigation Mrs. Clinton CO-OPERATED – she NEVER attempted to shirk her responsibility or blame the media or blame ????? – including voluntarily accepting the “invitation” to sit for an FBI interview. I read a book written by Peter Sztrok, one of the leaders of the investigation where he suggested it was almost a waste of investigative time. In CONTRAST, Trump has been uncooperative from the outset, he’s clearly LIED about what was in his possession, and he CERTAINLY won’t agree to sit for any FBI interview regarding whether or not he broke the law by STEALING all these boxes of ducuments. (Many with Top Secret labels) Lots of people would like to see Trump sit for an FBI interview – where they could ask him “Why did you do this?”

I have to add: Trump is so DESPERATE for people to “love” him that it’s been reported he’s now posting QAnon stuff on his FAILING app “Truth Social” because he’s portrayed as somewhat a “deity” on that platform. I don’t belong to any of these social media outlets, but the danger they present is real. People need to understand how wacked out Trump is becoming in his narcissistic desperation. Michael Flynn is another in Trump’s “orbit” who has been reported to be part of the “Q” orbit. What on earth is going on? These people need to be sent back under the “rocks” where they were hidden when Barrack Obama was elected and democrats need to be aggressive in FIGHTING against this NONSENSE going forward. As Joe Biden likes to say, “We’re better than this.” It’s incumbent on “we the people” to send a clear message to republicans this November! Will voters show up and send a message to these wacked out republicans? (Some of them – republicans who support fascism – very well might “win”)

OK, I kept forgetting to write this: I’ll try to make it simple and feel free to comment if you’re not a bot. Do you really believe Trump has turned over ALL of the documents he STOLE from us – meaning “we the people” – some might refer to “us” as the “American people.” Those documents – and any other official documents from when Trump was still in office BELONG to the National Archives – via the Presidential Records Act of 1978 (All you republicans can thank Richard Nixon for that one)