While it seems to me to be easy finding really awful stuff Trump (and his Project 2025 puppet masters) is/are doing, it’s more difficult to focus on what can be done about it and who needs to be doing that. Of course, sadly, the second part of that last statement is easy enough – “we the people” are stuck with the democrats if we want to stop Trump in 2026 by flipping the Congress (if there are elections) in 2026 and “Trumpism” in 2028. Of course, if Trump somehow manages to undermine our election system enough to cause “we the people” to look for other ways to express ourselves, then “Katy bar the door.” It could get really ugly. Trump want us to be Russia.
Here’s a reality of “Trumpism.” It started with Trump leading the RACIST “birther movement” during Barack Obama’s first term as president. When Trump was first running for the presidency I remember reading about a young man named Derek Black who’s father, Don Black, was once the Grand Wizard of the KKK. His godfather, David Duke, had also been the head of the KKK. They were raising Derek as the heir apparent to their racist regime when he went to a college in Central Florida and ended up being “changed” from his racist ways. A book, “Rising out of Hatred” was written about his journey from KKK land to the University of Chicago as a top graduate student who had shed his racist history – a great read, by the way. Both Black Sr. and Duke LOVED Trump!
After reading the book I did a bit of research on Don Black and David Duke and their political “leanings.” As it turned out I read an article about the two racist men and they were sharing (I believe with those frequenting Black’s website portal for racists) that Trump was their “vehicle” into the “mainstream of American politics.” (This was prior to the 2016 election) Duke had attempted to run for Congress in Louisiana, but his views were too extreme even there. In an interview of Derek Black subsequent to him being ostracized by his Mom and Dad he shared they would tape Fox “news” programs of Tucker Carlson and then watch them over and over again. Confirms what we already know about Tucker! And, of course, confirms the “racist” part of the definition of fascism, which Trump fits to a tee!
People like me can’t seem to get our minds off how HORRIBLE Trump and his rabid base are, but, for young people like my son (36) the issues that matter are TOTALLY economic issues and the affordability crisis for America’s young people. And, I “get” what he’s trying to tell me. The “baby boomers” are too old to understand the problem facing young Americans who are trying to get started in life. Around where I live a two bedroom apartment costs $2000 per month. PLUS, it takes first and last months rent AND a significant deposit just to get in the door. Estimates are that being able to start a family (including buying a house) requires an income approaching six figures. Yikes!!!
In Seattle (I live in Washington state) it’s even worse. My niece, who graduated from the University of Washington about 30 years ago lives in an old 1940’s type home in a neighborhood where the homes are crammed close together. A couple years ago when I was visiting her the house across the street from them – a similar size and age house – had just sold for $1.2 MILLION. And, these are homes that were “starter homes” back when they were originally purchased. I live in a rural area where there’s often a couple acres with a house which comes up for sale, but it’s almost as bad. Our neighbor listed their house for $700 THOUSAND and, after five days the realtor took “bids.” It sold for $780 THOUSAND. Twenty years ago it would have sold for less than $200 THOUSAND and after a couple months on the market plus seller and buyer negotiations.
Simply put, there’s a serious housing shortage in America. Also, getting back to the rental issue, if someone loses their job for some reason and isn’t able to find one quick enough to avoid being evicted then the issue of homelessness arises. And, the number of homeless people in the city where I live is increasing dramatically. There are wonderful people attempting to mitigate the problem, but it’s tough to get back on your feet once you’ve become homeless. (Full disclosure: I was homeless for a period of time about 40 years ago – but, it was much easier back then to work your way out of the problem.)
This is just a snippet of what is “bugging” the young people of America these days – and, the issue is bad enough for them that they overlooked the issues of, for example, the SCOTUS, or education, or health care, or CLIMATE CHANGE as they allowed the FASCIST Trump to retake the White House – despite 34 guilty FELONY convictions, another 50 or so FELONY charges in three indictments pending, a history of being a pathological LIAR, a history of misogyny, xenophobia, being an adjudicated sexual predator, a serial FRAUDSTER, and A RACIST. That should tell us old people, and the democratic party all we need to know about the “way forward.”
When you look at it, Joe Biden’s economic policies were the BEST policies – well, to me – in my lifetime, for working Americans – BUT, Joe Biden was 82 years old. (Trump is “ONLY” 79) Kamala Harris had proposals to deal with the housing crisis which SHOULD have appealed to young people, but, apparently America is still not ready for a woman as president. (After all, 53% of women voted for Trump) Yes, I understand (f)Elon Musk pumped in nearly $300 MILLION during the last couple of months to get Trump elected. Musk seemed to have appealed to young men in particular – of course Musk also owns Xwitter which gave Trump lots of free advertising.
Here’s the question running through my head at this time. “Are young people turning on Trump yet?” I don’t know the answer to that – I believe they certainly SHOULD be. However, the reality is they are not as invested in politics as people like me – and the republican media machine STILL dwarfs that of the democrats. And, there has to be urgency in standing up to Trump (people like me understand that) because the DAMAGE he’s doing to our republic is being ingrained deeper and deeper by the day. Trump KNOWS that’s his only chance to avoid a democratic Congress in 2027 is to CHEAT. But, of course, he’s also KNOWN for CHEATING – he CHEATS at golf for heaven’s sake. (Trump now is even now making rumblings about “some people want a dictator.” That’s how he lays the groundwork for his next BIG LIE – from the annals of Hitler, of course)
Democrats need to pay attention to what is happening in New York City. Zorhan Mamdani has taken New York City by storm by addressing the issues of young people – in fact, he’s one of them – and the affordability crisis. That’s what democrats need to do – get some of the older (OK, old) members out of leadership roles and turn the “reins” over to people young Americans can identify with. Personally, I see several young “firebrands” in the House of Representatives who “fit the bill.” “AOC” is the first one that comes to my mind. She is sharp and she has no qualms about “telling it like it is.” Jasmine Crockett is another one who I see as a potential national leader. And, there’s several more. Also, there’s likely to be a whole new batch in 2027 if we somehow actually have “free and fair elections.” (Trump would say, “over my dead body” to that)
I believe Gavin Newsome is putting himself out in a place where he could be seeking the leadership position nationally going into the 2028 election (if we’re still having elections in 2028 – without Trump’s brownshirts suffocating voting precincts in Major Cities) He has FINALLY figured out what is actually happening in our country. Others are slowly falling in line. I’m not sure what it’s going to take for some of the democrats to understand what is required of them. It’s been obvious to me – a former Middle School teacher – for more than 20 years. I’ve always been an “independent voter” – but GW Bush/Dick Cheney caused me to start voting AGAINST republicans on a regular basis.
On this site, almost since I started writing back in 2008 I’ve been lamenting that democrats need to grow a spine and realize this is a battle for the heart and soul of America. Since the days of Jimmy Carter I’ve been seeing democrats seem to be afraid of their own shadows and republicans have figured out how to take advantage of that. The eviscerating of President Biden after about a bad 15 minutes of a debate with Trump (where Trump was off the rails for the entire debate) was the latest example. Yes Biden was/is too old. BUT the democratic primary voters knew that and voted for him overwhelmingly. I’ll say it again, the 2024 election should NOT have been about Biden’s age, it SHOULD have been about Trump and Project 2025. I was pointing out Project 2025 was a roadmap to FASCISM for months prior to the election. And, now, here we are!
The American people are pleading for a democratic party that is going to FIGHT Trump’s FASCIST takeover of our government before it’s too late. More and more progressives are realizing what is happening. And, when the prices of food and other commodities necessary for us peons continues to rise – for example, health care and energy costs, are predicted to go up double digits in the next year that will get noticed. When the people see a stripped down FEMA attempt to mitigate the effects of the Hurricanes or the FIRES or the floods which are bound to hit the nation in the next two or three months that SHOULD get people’s attention. (Hell, ICE has already snatched two firefighters from the largest ongoing wildfire in my home state. They actually made the firefighters line up shoulder to shoulder and produce ID to prove they were citizens – all while the fire raged on!)
When the reality of America’s role in the destruction of GAZA and, then, the attempt to steal the Palestinian land from the Palestinian people I hope they will realize the stench this places on all of us. Along with Trump’s appeasement toward the brutal dictator Vladimir Putin as more and more Ukrainians die because Trump refuses to arm them so they can defend themselves brings more SHAME that will accrue to “we the people.” The sub-human treatment of immigrants who simply came to America (like immigrants since the beginning of this nation) is a SHAME we’ll all wear – after all “we the people” voted for this. And, if the climate crisis gets past the “no return zone” because Trump repealed what should have been a small first step in Biden’s “Inflation Reduction Act” that will push Trump further into the darkest holes in American history.
I’ve often said Trump will end up on the same page as Benedict Arnold. But, Trump is a traitor beyond anything imaginable from Mr. Arnold. Trump is purposely doing the best he can to make the Climate Crisis worse. For God’s sake – he’s even STILL trying to revive the coal industry. I’m not kidding. And, of course, he’s following through on his promises to the fossil fuel BILLIONAIRES to make their lives easier provided they would give him something like a “cool” BILLION dollars during the campaign. (Of course, they did!)
And, what about the other billionaires. Musk, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, and on and on – these people care about one thing – MONEY. And, they can’t seem to get enough of it. They’ve convinced themselves the country is better off the more money they have. I’m not kidding. I mean, it should be obvious. Must spent nearly $300 MILLION to insure Trump’s election – and, naturally, to Musk simply an investment. It’s already been returned exponentially in just eight months – and, he hasn’t even got his tax break yet. (Keeping in mind Musk only pays the Capital gains tax – if he pays any taxes – because he’s only paid in stock options. The latest “award” being for $29 BILLION) Simply put, the democrats have their work cut out for them – Trump’s Silicon sycophants control virtually all of Social Media and Soon all of “AI.” A daunting task indeed!
Final Thought: For years (likely about 8 years) – since I realized Trump is either a fascist or a Mob boss who snuck through the cracks – either way a con man – I’ve been pointing out the foundation of a fascist regime is a government/corporate partnership. We are seeing this phenomenon playing out in real time during Trump 2.0. Musk’s role has been obvious but the entire scheme should be becoming clearer by the day. Trump is actually collecting what seems to amount to “protection money” from corporations – 15% of sales to China for NVIDIA or AMD on their “AI” sales. He’s collected !0% of Intel for them to get the government grants promised them via the Biden Chip’s and Science Act. And, I can guarantee you this is just the start of the overt shakedowns. Who knows what’s going on behind the scenes – but America’s business community seems to care less about whether the U.S. is a fascist state or not.
Trump and his Project 2025 puppet masters fit every aspect of the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of FASCISM. It’s here, the democrats are beginning to figure it out – possibly too late, and America’s BILLIONAIRES seem to be absolutely OK with it. I don’t know why none of this surprises me. Well, actually, it’s exactly what the authors of Project 2025 promised “we the people.” Slowly, more and more people will begin to “get it” – but, it may already be too late. Republicans have their next several steps planned (and, Trust me, this isn’t Trump – he’s simply the willing bloviator at the top) and, democrats are reacting to their last “steps.” I’ll spare you my thoughts about the so-called “liberal media.” Stay tuned….