The CORRUPTION is palpable. It’s happening right out in “plain view” which, apparently, is what is allowing “conservatives” to say nothing about it. Right before taking (LYING about) the oath of office (while refusing to put his hand on the Bible) Trump, along with his two sons and his wife, introduced what are called “meme coins” – (full disclosure, the only thing I know about these “coins” is they are not real) – and, after the initial rush by people with too much money to purchase them in HUGE quantities – Trump managed to pull in about $100 MILLION in transaction fees. That was BAD – but it was “then.”

The “now” is the latest grift by Trump in relationship to this scam. He’s offered a “dinner” at one of his golf clubs to the 220 highest owners of these fake coins. Well, first up it seems comes from the government of the United Arab Emirates who decided to “invest” $2 BILLION in Trump’s most successful grift (actually, he might have a second crypto scam?) – again, right out in the open the “Emoluments Clause” be damned. A while back I read a report where an “investor” put $75 MILLION into Trump’s $cam and soon, thereafter, coincidentally had an investigation into his own crypto fraud “paused” by “Trump’s” Securities and Exchange Committee. Certainly, this person, Justin Sun, will be one of the guests at Trump’s dinner for those who’ve been funneling the MOST money into his pockets.

The CORRUPTION goes much deeper than the actual grifting Trump and his two sons are showing no shame in enacting – it’s just that, to me, it appears the constitution’s emoluments clause is no longer even considered valid. First, there’s the “domestic emoluments clause” which reads as follows: “The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.” I suppose “or any of them” is open for interpretation – but, the literal reading is the ONLY compensation a president may receive is the fixed salary which may not be “increased or diminished” in order to prevent Congress from manipulating the president. (Or vice versa)

Then there’s the foreign emoluments clause: “No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.” According to Hamilton in Federalist 22:  “One of the weak sides of republics, among their numerous advantages, is that they afford too easy an inlet to foreign corruption.” Therefore, to counter this “foreign corruption” the delegates at the Constitutional Convention worded the clause in such a way as to act as a catch-all for any attempts by foreign governments to influence state or municipal policies through gifts or titles. The framers intention was to prevent “nobility” from being established in the United States and curbing “influence” from foreign governments.

Has Trump violated these two clauses of our constitution? Check and check! Did he do so in his first reign? Once again, check and check. One thing I’m sure of is we have no idea to what extent these parts of our constitution have been violated by Trump and his family. What we do know, for example, is son-in-law Jared Kushner pulling in around $3 BILLION shortly after Trump 1.0 – for an investment “firm” to which he had NO experience. Of course, he did set it up to provide him with a salary of $25 MILLION per year. But, of course, Hunter Biden!

Here’s the reality, for the next 3 1/2 years there’s virtually NOTHING “we the people” can do about this – other than to march in the streets until Trump declares martial law and eliminates the 2026 mid-terms. OK, there’d be nothing “we the people” could do about that either. It’s simply a matter of time until Americans realize what they’ve done in electing a fascist organized crime boss to be our so-called two times popular vote LOSING 34 times convicted FELON who has no intention of allowing the courts to “check” him. And, of course, he’s got about 170 unelected surreptitious fascist puppet masters, the authors of Project 2025, in the background filling out illegal executive orders for him to sign and advising him on how to trash our constitution.

One of the “puppet masters” Stephen Miller was recorded on tape the other day pointing out Trump’s administration is “studying” what they need to do in order to “torpedo” Habeas Corpus. If you don’t understand what that means, here’s a definition which may get your attention of the “greatest writ:”

“A writ that a person may seek from a court to obtain immediate release from an unlawful confinement, as when the confinement has occurred through a means that violated the person’s constitutional rights.

The right of a person to obtain such a writ.

A writ to bring a person before a court or a judge, most frequently used to ensure that a person’s imprisonment, detention, or commitment is legal.”

In other words, “due process” – which is GUARANTEED under our constitution. But just the other day Trump was asked if he felt obligated (or words to that affect) to follow the constitution? His answer was: “I’m not sure.” Now, let me remind you of that pesky “oath of office” Trump has taken (LIED about) twice now: The president has to “swear or affirm that they will faithfully execute the office and preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” They MUST swear to this oath before they can assume the official duties as president. Is that “oath” hard to understand? Also, has Trump rendered it as meaningless?

Or, maybe the question should be, “why would anyone believe Trump takes his oath seriously after attempting a coup d’etat in Trump 1.0?” Reminds me of the saying, “fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” “We the people” had advance notice of what was going to transpire should we be STUPID enough to put this TRAITOROUS FELON back into the Oval Office. Can the United States survive four years of this fascist FELON and his fascist puppet masters? I really have my doubts.

I’ve long felt the one department which would hold things together in the United States would be the Justice Department – but, that is going to be a hopeless mess for the next 3 1/2 years. Pam Bondi is a disgraceful and pathetic sycophant as our “attorney general.” Just ask yourself which, if ANY, of Trump’s ILLEGAL activities will she be investigating? Is anyone “memorializing” the corruption of Trump 2.0? Of course not. The head of the FBI is someone (Kash Patel) who shows up for work late – when he shows up – according to accounts published of late – and he referred to Trump as the “King” who’s the victim of a plot by “Hillary.” I’m not kidding. He did this in a children’s book – one of the books “conservatives will leave on the shelves. Do you really believe the FBI is going to be solving serious white collar crimes for the next 3 1/2 years? Yikes!!

To make matters worse, Trump is ordering the Justice Department to take down the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement task force. Huh??? Why would Trump want to do that after all of his BS about needing “law and order?” This task force was created to take down drug cartels, human trafficking rings, and transnational crime syndicates and Trump wants it disbanded by September 30. I believe he’s already fired the task force’s director. This is the group that helped capture Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman — the head of the Sinaloa Cartel, possibly the largest drug trafficking organization in the Western Hemisphere—and seize over $2 billion from criminal enterprises. Your guess is as good as mine as to why Trump wants this shut down. But, are you getting the “law and order” picture of what lies ahead in the U.S.?

My guess is Trump is attempting to “out Putin” Putin when it comes to running an organized crime syndicate from the head of state. Despite most people claiming (f)Elon Musk is the “world’s richest man” – from what I’ve read it’s not even close with regard to Putin. It’s just that Putin doesn’t publish his wealth in the Forbes list of the wealthiest people in the world. Regardless, it appears to me Trump’s goal is to put himself into the upper registers of Forbes’ “richest people in the world.” But, as usual, there’s always more!

And, this time it’s significant if not ridiculous arrogance. I started this rant several days ago with the focus on how Trump is destroying whatever was left in belief in the constitution’s emoluments clause and, well, it’s like now he’s kicking it while it’s down. This past weekend it was reported Trump is getting a $400 MILLION gift from the Qatari’s – you know that outfit (country) which is aligned with Iran – as long as Trump seems to be focused on “anti-Semitism” in America’s universities. Could the hypocrisy be any “thicker?”

The Qatari’s are giving Trump a Boeing 747 plane worth $400 MILLION to use as “Air Force “one” until right before his term is up when it will be transferred to Trump’s “presidential library foundation.” Talk about something obliterating the emoluments clause. I have to wonder if there are any members of the republican party in Congress who will give a “peep?” The Qatari’s, for example, are reported to be affiliated with HAMAS – you know, those who attacked Israel on October 7th, 2023. Do you wonder what Trump will be giving to the Qatari’s? If you remember, during Trump 1.0 it was the Qatari’s who bailed out the aforementioned Jared Kushner and his family on their disastrous investment in 666 5th Avenue in New York. (In case you don’t do the Bible, 666 is the number of the devil) Apparently, that wasn’t enough for Trump in regard to what he’s planning to “give” to the Qatari’s. OMG!!!!

Final Thought: Above all of this is what Trump is doing to what was the “best economy in the world” the day Trump 2.0 began. Will Trump be “played” by only the Chinese? Or, are they simply setting the “stage” for other leaders around the world who are planning to push back on Trump’s tariff bluffs. And, do you really believe the on again off again tariffs will be the way to get companies to build factories in the U.S.? (Factories, by the way, which will be largely “manned” by robots) I’ve said it before – in my lifetime (77 years) – when the stock market is making wild swings up and down there is a serious downturn in the offing. Will it happen this time? We’ll see. Stay tuned……

Don’t get me wrong here – I’m absolutely no expert on the stock market, and I’m no economist. That said, I’m feeling pretty confident my prediction made before Trump took (LIED about) the oath of office (while refusing to put his hand on the Bible) that it would only take Trump around six months to destroy the “best economy in the world” – which is how the economy Trump inherited from President Biden was described by, well, virtually everyone who’s a “real” economist. We are now around 100 days into Trump’s second reign on America and he’s well on his way to destroying the economy well before the six months are up.

Of course, I wasn’t sure how he’d do it – because, as I just said I’m not an economic expert, I’m just an interested observer. Plus, there’s one other thing I’ve got going for myself in all things Trump – I read a good section of Project 2025 well before the election and, while I don’t remember the list of “authors” of that “roadmap to fascism” what I read convinced me the U.S. economy would be one of the first casualties to Trump’s assault on our democratic republic. A couple people I know of who were part of that “manifesto” are Stephen Miller and Russel Vought.

I believe it’s Miller who is pushing the illegal rounding up of immigrants on the streets and hustling them out of the nation without ANY “due process” – the foundation of our constitution. And, it’s Vought who’s the head of the Office of Management and Budget and he’s been the push behind all the illegal cutting of funds duly authorized by Congress because, well, because they believe that to be a critical strategy for undermining our government. The number of legal challenges is dizzying, which is their point. And, as I (among many) predicted the Musk/Trump administration would refuse to abide by court decisions they don’t like – they are in the process of making me/us out as prophets. They’ve been telling multiple judges to “pound sand.”

Of course, Trump initiated his bungling tariffs a few weeks ago and, even if the tariffs on China come down, the reality is the other tariffs will be enough to torpedo the economy even more than we’ve witnessed in the past couple of weeks. That doesn’t even take into account all the people who’ve been summarily FIRED by (f)Elon Musk – along with attempting to “torpedo” agencies of the government the Project 2025 “crew” don’t like. And, if they can pull it off in the republican economic plan Medicaid, Food Stamps, Meels on Wheels, Head Start, and the Child Tax Credit will be just some of the casualties of their budget proposal – in order to fund a $5.3 TRILLION tax cut – mostly aimed at people like, well, Trump and Musk.

Somehow, Trump and his lead sycophant, Mike Johnson, think they’ll be able to get all the deficit hawks in their party to go along with the need to increase the Debt Ceiling by about $6 or $7 TRILLION to allow for Trump’s newest plan to increase his standing as the president who created the MOST debt (over four years) in American History. Of course, he already holds the record, but, as the saying goes, records are made to be broken. Personally, I’ve been in favor of the government attempting to reduce the national debt for years – it’s just been near impossible after the “trickle down” (trickle up) philosophy enacted by Ronald Reagan – and EVERY republican administration since. (with the possible exception of HW Bush)

If/when the republicans succeed in their dismantling what they call “entitlements” – which, by the way, target Social Security and Medicare as well as the aforementioned items on their list of unnecessary “gifts” to MILLIONS of either old or poor Americans, the “hit” to the economy will be something akin to 1929 – which seems to be their goal. And, as I’ve pointed out here, I don’t think they’re worried about the 2026 mid-term elections because I believe they have “plans” for that as well. I believe the republicans, and I’m focusing on the Project 2025 republicans, view the “elections” in Russia to be the “crown jewel.” Can they pull this off? It’s hard for me to imagine – but, then again, what is happening has been beyond my ability to imagine.

For example, I could NEVER have imagined almost 50% of the Americans who vote would actually believe a 34 times FELON, who attempted a coup on this very nation only four years ago could possibly have wanted MORE from him. And, as I’ve said, Project 2025 was published WELL before the 2024 election, was easy to get, and was, well, hard to read – because hardly anyone took the time to read it. Project 2025 was mentioned over and over by the democrats during the campaign, but in a way that assumed people were reading it. There was never, as far as I could tell, a concerted effort to explain to the American public what was in it.

You didn’t have to read very far into the document – the introduction was long and detailed – to understand that federal employees were going to be summarily FIRED in order to create jobs for those who would pledge their loyalty to Trump above the constitution. The power of the courts were to be challenged and, with the reality “we the people” also left republicans in control of the House – despite the previous two years being the least productive and the most bungling House maybe EVER – the assault on the so-called “entitlements” would be not only possible but number one on the priority list. And, of course, tax cuts – that would be the real priority – tax cuts aimed at those who don’t need them. the insatiable BILLIONAIRES.

Trump is the perfect “puppet” for those who wrote Project 2025 because of his incredible ability to LIE. He has no problem looking someone in the face, someone he knows understands the “truth” of the subject at “hand,” and throw out a “whopper.” Just the other day in an interview, where Trump was using a photoshopped image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s “knuckles” bearing the image of “MS 13” to justify the governments illegal act of rounding him up and sending him to the El Salvador gulag, and the interviewer pointing out the image had been “doctored” – Trump responded by suggesting he granted the interview because he didn’t know the person interviewing and that – because the interviewer pointed out the truth – Trump said he was “not nice.”

So, to the puppet masters, Trump is a perfect stooge. He can’t handle anyone saying “no” to his pathological LYING and his focus is on his “revenge tour” of America – based on the FACT he’s a FELON and would have “likely” been a FELON on more occasions – according to the words of Jack Smith and a bunch of lawyers who analyzed the “public” data in the cases that were underway as of election day 2024 – while Russel Vought, Stephen Miller, and co-president Musk (with his Sieg Hiels) are busy dismantling the “administrative state” (in the words of Steve Bannon) and attempting to drive undocumented immigrants out of the country with Nazi like fear tactics.

And, while they keep BUNGLING what they’re doing, you’ll NEVER hear anyone in the Musk/Trump administration admit to an error. (OK, I guess Musk did so on at least one occasion – the time when Musk’s four year old son was picking his nose and wiping the results on the resolute desk right in front of Trump) Yes, a fifteen year member of DOJ, a Prosecutor who had the temerity to admit Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador by mistake – he did this IN COURT – but, the message was soon sent – DON’T DO THAT! The guilty party – the well respected prosecutor – was summarily FIRED! Message sent! (And, since then members of the Musk/Trump administration have been arguing it was no mistake – of course they have!)

On top of all of that we still have a national security issue with Pete Hegseth at the helm – another unqualified member of Trump’s cabinet – bungling almost daily in ways that would have had anyone in another administration FIRED long ago – of course, in any other administration being a Fox “news” host is not the main qualification of someone to head the Pentagon. Then there’s Tulsi Gabbard, considered by many to be a Russian “useful idiot,” heading the Department of National Intelligence (DNI), and Robert Kennedy Jr., considered by MANY health experts to be a “quack,” heading the nation’s health department (HHS). Not to mention (f)Elon Musk and, what I call, his DOGEshits sifting through the personal data of potentially EVERY American citizen – in Social Security data, IRS data, HHS data (Health and Human Services), and the Department of Education data to name a few places where Musk/Trump et al are violating our Privacy rights.

Musk/Trump are turning our traditional allies against America while they seem to be cozying up to Putin and Russia. This was no secret during the election so it’s on us, “we the people,” for whatever the results will be. For example, Ukraine is in a very vulnerable spot with Trump cutting off the military and humanitarian assistance it was receiving under President Biden’s administration. To me, this is a disastrous way for Trump to cause “we the people” to better appreciate Joe Biden. While Biden was a poor campaigner he was the MOST adept at running the federal government – i.e. “governing.” I’m not sure how long it will take for “we the people” to realize how good we had it under the Biden administration – but Musk/Trump are pushing the timeline UP.

The economic data for the first 3 months of the Musk/Trump administration is not good. GDP went from a growth rate of 2.4% in Biden’s last quarter to a MINUS .3% in the first quarter of Musk/Trump. One more NEGATIVE report on GDP will signal the U.S. has gone from the “best economy in the World” under Biden to being in a recession in record time under Trump. (Just as I had predicted back in December) While the focus is understandably on Trump’s idiotic “tariff war” – I believe once republicans have succeeded in undermining Medicaid – and, possibly Social Security and Medicare – we will be in the “you ain’t seen nothin yet” territory. Musk/Trump will have succeeded in turning America back to 1929. And, Trump will have a two places in American history. One right next to Benedict Arnold (i.e. TRAITOR) and the other right next to Herbert Hoover. Who could ask for more? Stay tuned….

Final Thought(s) : A couple more “things.” First, I read an article today about the grifting of members of Trump’s cabinet – most specifically Tulsi Gabbard. And, I would agree it’s very concerning she has a substack where people are encouraged to “invest” at least $1000 to get “founding member” status. Apparently, no restrictions on, for example, what country the “investor” comes from. Additionally, she has an “X” (Twitter) account were people are encouraged to pay $5 per month for “bonus content.” Yikes!! But, the article was talking about how members of Trump’s administration are profiting off of their government gigs.

Here’s what the article DIDN’T mention. The “grifter in chief” (I’m assuming you know who I’m talking about) has several grifts going which makes all others pale in comparison. Take, for example, the “meme coin.” Actually, two of them because there’s one for Melania as well (likely aimed at keeping her happy – along with the Bezos “documentary” for $40 MILLION – it’s been reported Trump has cashed in on OVER $100 MILLION just in transaction fees from this scam (he’s famous for scams, isn’t he?) and, now he’s offering “dinner” to the top 220 “investors” on his meme coin website (along with a tour of the ……. wait, they erased “White House” from the ad) One, “investor” who had some issues with the authorities on his own crypto scam doled out a cool $75 MILLION to be on that top 220 list, based on accounts I’ve read. Do you think he might get a pardon? Great example of American exceptionalism corruption!!

Here’s my other “peeve.” When I choose to watch TV or read online “news” articles I keep seeing Trump being accused of “authoritarianism.” To me, that’s the classical political euphemism. What Trump, and his Project 2025 puppet masters are attempting is a FASCIST takeover of America’s government. Democrats and “progressives” keep talking about taking back power after the “mid-terms” in 2026 – as if they’re sure there will be “mid-terms” in 2026. And, I’ve said repeatedly here, my biggest concern is that our “mid-terms” will be something Vladimir Putin could be proud of. As usual, I hope I’m wrong, but, as usual, I worry democrats are ten moves behind – and, I have to wonder how many of THEM actually took the time to read Project 2025.

If you believed Trump when, during the campaign, he had no idea what Project 2025 is – he often referred to it as “25” – for good measure – then you’re susceptible to all the other LIES he so majestically foists on the American public. That would mean you weren’t paying attention to the 30,000 PLUS provable LIES he spun in Trump 1.0. Maybe you believe he’s been reformed. You might even believe these 200 PLUS executive orders were actually written by him – that he’s got such a grip on America’s “democracy” that he could imagine all these brazen attempts to undermine our constitution. Well all I can say to that is if you actually believe it, I’ve got a bridge……….. (You know the rest) OMG ….

I have to add: As I watch the day to day activity of Wall Street, I’ve come to the conclusion the Wall Street traders really WANT to believe Trump will eventually (before it’s too late) remove the tariffs. The economy just SHRANK by -.3% and they’re trying to put a positive spin on it. The P/E (Price to Earnings) of Tesla, for example, is 3 to 4 times higher than the other key stocks (like Apple, Microsoft, Meta, etc.) and the companies sales and profits are plummeting – yet, Wall Street traders keep pushing it up. I’m saying this because it feels to me as if a HUGE crash is in the offing. But, as I stated above, (in other words) “what do I know?”

Costco has plenty of eggs! 🙂

For the past few weeks the focus of the so-called “liberal media” has been on the roller coaster ride of the stock market. While it appears to me Trump is sending “hints” to investors who are raking in massive profits on the upward parts of the ride. That said, I believe the DAMAGE has already been done in regard to Trump’s destroying America’s standing in the “free” world. I actually believe if Trump changed his tune today America’s former allies are already at the point where they CANNOT trust America, period, full stop. After all, Trump was elected by the American people. So, it’s “we the people” who are responsible for all this DAMAGE.

OK, how much DAMAGE is there? OMG, where to start. For me, it started almost immediately after the inauguration (where, if you remember, Musk threw a couple Sieg Hiels in the inauguration ceremony). Shortly thereafter, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was, in essence, destroyed by the Musk/Trump administration. By some estimates, OVER 3 MILLION people in some of the poorest places around the globe will be DEAD by the end of this year, because of us. The reach of USAID went much further than that, including support for Ukraine keeping “the lights on” in regard to Vladimir Putin’s outrageous assault on their nation.

Oh yes, USAID was, in some way, investigating (f)Elon Musk in one or more of his businesses. I believe it was Starlink and its terminals in Ukraine. I have no idea of the details and, obviously, I’m too lazy to do a little research to find out. However, this is just one of the alleged instances of a conflict of interest regarding Musk and his Dogeshits. There were, allegedly, something like 17 government investigations into Musk’s business empire which, apparently, fell into the category of “waste, fraud, and abuse” – so they’re now gone. Poof! As Musk goes back to being a CEO he’ll have much less to keep him up at night – more time for his 14 children.

Possibly GREATER DAMAGE lies on the horizon – it’s just that, to me, the ruthless willingness of Musk/Trump to say things like “no one’s dying” because of eliminating USAID is preposterous and puts them into the pure EVIL category – but, domestically the major DAMAGE is likely to be the destruction of a functioning Department of Justice (DOJ). “We the people” are inching closer and closer to the reality (which I predicted months ago – I read “Project 2025) of an administration which refuses to abide by actual court decisions. They’ve ILLEGALLY taken approximately 300 PEOPLE off the streets, declared they are gang members, and sent them to a gulag in El Salvafor – where the U.S. is paying El Salvador to keep them (In incredible TORTURE like situations), Of course, with NO “due process.” You know, that annoying promise of our constitution!

Just yesterday I heard Trump say something like, “If we had to give all of these people ‘due process’ it could take years.” This is coming out of the mouth of the man who blocked the “right wing” immigration bill during the final year of the Biden administration. That legislation was designed to get more agents at the border and provide MORE immigration judges to speed up the process of determining which people who migrated to the U.S. were eligible to remain and work here. From my perspective the United States, which is a “nation of immigrants,” should be welcoming to those who come here and are eligible to stay based on our system of laws. (I believe they should get a “green card” – but, obviously, I’m not sure)

However, speaking of “due process.” Where would Trump be today without it. For heaven’s sake – he allegedly committed OVER 85 FELONIES the last time around. He was found GUILTY by a jury of 12 people, including a MAGA supporter, of 34 FELONIES for actual “election interference” when he hid the payments to a couple women he had illicit affairs (adultery, for all you MAGA “Christians”) with to keep “we the people” in the dark after the Access Hollywood tape was made public. Additionally, Trump was alleged to have violated the Espionage Act and, in essence, attempting a coup on January 6th, 2021. By MOST accounts he would have been convicted had those cases gone to trial. Trump used his “due process” rights to “delay, delay” until, somehow, “we the people” gave him a “get out of jail free” card. Why would anyone outside the U.S. trust us?

Additionally, the Congress is controlled by republicans and MOST of them are living in fear of a nasty Trump “tweet” to the point where they vote for stuff they know is ridiculous in order to show their “loyalty.” (Or should I say “fealty?”) Republicans in Congress, for years, have been the reason legislation which would be favorable to “we the people” never seems to get passed (with the exception of Biden’s first two years). This all started with Newt Gingrich back in the 90’s and was put on steroids by the “filibusters” (which really don’t seem like real filibusters to me) of Mitch McConnell. Sadly, the democrats are such wimps at messaging, the American public has no idea how we got to this place. We’ve been inching toward fascism since the days of Ronald Reagan and the republican tax cuts for the wealthy. (The newest version is on the horizon.)

The point is, when the executive branch of government isn’t being “checked” by the legislative branch AND the judicial branch – we have devolved into a fascist state. I keep hearing pundits (when I choose to watch TV “news”) using the term “authoritarianism” as to where Trump is leading us. For some reason they’re afraid to use the term “fascism” – but, that’s exactly where we’re headed. I’ve pointed out numerous times here when you have a government/corporate partnership, that’s the definition of a fascist state. Just look at the $239 MILLION Trump raised for his inauguration (where Musk flashed the Sieg Hiels with NO pushback from republicans) – OVER one hundred corporations donated AT LEAST a million dollars for what? For some parties? Of course not, it was to publicly demonstrate fealty to Trump. Full stop! (Many were companies that claimed they would no longer support anyone involved in the INSURRECTION back in January of 2021) The world is watching!

But, I’ve only mentioned the “tip of the iceberg.” What do you think is the reaction around the globe of Trump potentially crashing the world’s economy over his lifetime fantasy with tariffs. Up until a day or two ago I’ve NEVER heard Trump indicate he had even the basic understanding of who pays for a tariff. Do you think that might add to the anger people around the globe who’ve been traditional allies of America as Trump risks the world economy out of stupidity? Again, “we the people” caused this to happen so it’s no surprise people in Europe are turned off to America for this reason. The Chinese people are making fun of Trump and Vance – and, the Chinese government is going to make Trump “grovel” in order to even begin a negotiation. And, Europe – they are planning to “go it alone” out of self defense.

But, as always with republicans, there’s more. This one digs at my heart similar to the USAID disaster. I know people from Ukraine. I know one woman who is a classroom assistant in the school district where I worked whose grandfather (and, therefore, her mother) refuse to leave Ukraine despite the ILLEGAL assault on their nation from Vladimir Putin – the world’s number one WAR CRIMINAL. Just the thought of the United States abandoning Ukraine as it FIGHTS to save it’s fledgling democracy (and prevent Putin’s fever dream of remaking the Soviet Union) makes me sick to my stomach. One of the charities I support is focused on help for the many orphans being created by Russia’s ILLEGAL assault. But, it’s Europe where the danger of Trump’s ignorance lies. How do you think they’re viewing Trump’s TRAITOROUS pivot toward Russia?

Trump, to me is simply verifying he’s a TRAITOR. After all, as I said above, he led an attempted coup (against the American government) back in 2021. Since he took office in January 2025 Trump has given repeated signals he’s taking the side of Russia. He keeps touting how he’s going to bring the war to an end by ripping Ukraine off of its “rare earths” while failing to even suggest that Russia would simply need to withdraw its troops in order to end the war on that day. Trump is suggesting that Russia would be “sacrificing” by keeping “only” the territory it now controls – 20% of Ukraine. (And, Oh by the way, do you trust Putin regardless?) Trump is further turning the Europeans against “we the people” – and, understandably so – while he’s being made to look like a fool by both Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

In my mind the DAMAGE Trump is causing approaches an irreparable condition already. How could ANY of our traditional allies trust America at this point? (And, it’s going to get MUCH worse before it gets better) Obviously, both Putin and Xi know they can “play” Trump “like a fiddle.” So, where will he turn? North Korea? The Middle East? Certainly not Africa. Oh, I forgot – Trump is in really good standing with El Salvador – at least at the time I’m writing this. Keep in mind, there’s well over 3 1/2 years left of this fiasco – short of republicans coming to their senses – or, the American people revolting by voting in enough democrats in 2026 for the FINAL impeachment – although, if that were the case it would require impeaching BOTH Trump and Vance.

I’m not one who believes we will still have “free and fair elections” in 2026. (I truly hope I’m wrong) Remember, Trump idolizes Putin and republicans idolize Orban of Hungary. You can see it in Trump’s executive order aimed at making ALL elections federal – and, giving the election data from each state to his co-president (the Sieg Hiels flashing) Musk. In other words he wants to “Make America like Russia.” Myself, along with MANY others – to the plugged ears of MOST Americans – warned about Project 2025. I mean, Trump’s “puppet masters” put it all out on the internet in WRITING. People simply needed to read at least some of it.

One of these days take a good look at the White House “ceremony” of the Executive Orders Trump is signing virtually every day. The person who brings the document to him to sign EXPLAINS what is in the document – virtually directing Trump as to what he’s expected to sign. I, personally, don’t believe Trump has any idea what to expect when these orders arrive at the “resolute desk” – he simply dutifully signs them. My guess is, after today’s signing ceremony, he, along with his Secret Service detail, were off to one of his golf courses. He’s AVERAGING at least two rounds of golf each week. (As someone who loves golf, I can attest that takes up MOST of those two days – plus costs the taxpayers MILLIONS for the plane trip and putting up the Secret Service – usually in one of his own properties. A great strategic grift.

Speaking of grifting – here’s another example of the DAMAGE Trump is doing to the United States (and, of course, our constitution) which falls into the category of “unbelievable grifting.” Trump came up with a “meme coin” – which I must admit I have no idea what that is – at the beginning of his presidency (I believe it was started right after the election) where people “invest” in these “coins” and Trump’s family gets the money (?) – honestly, seems like a huge ponzi scheme to me, but what do I know? – but, at the bare minimum, Trump gains MILLIONS from the trading fees. Now he’s offering a dinner invite (and trip through the “White House” – the original offer of that “perc” was revised to leave us all to our imaginations because of the OBVIOUS illegality) to the “Top 220 “investors” in his $Trump coin – whatever that is. You can’t thumb your nose at the emoluments clause in the Constitution any more than that.

Final Thought: Trump and his Project 2025 puppet masters will continue their assault on our Constitution believing they can outlast all of us protesters. It’s just one scandalous executive order a day (or, many times more than one) and they’ve turned their rabid policies toward intimidating (and now arresting) judges who they see as standing in their way – a source of intimidation Putin would be proud of. They’re also setting their sights on the media (with several parts of the corporate “mainstream” media already “bending the knee”), corporate law firms (many have already proven themselves to value money more than our democratic republic), and the major universities around the country. Here! Here! – to Harvard for fighting back!

As I said above, there’s more than 3 1/2 years of this on the horizon. “We the people” MUST remain resolute for the long haul. And, Trump’s disregard for our constitution MUST be documented for such time as he’s no longer the president. In addition, the actions of his sycophants in the “Justice Department” need to be memorialized for such time as when “we the people” are able to reclaim our “democracy.” No matter what the Supreme Court has decided in the past 15 years – Citizen’s United up through the infamous “absolute immunity” decision – we MUST realize it’s incumbent upon the American people to stand firm in the face of this assault on the Constitution. Here’s what BULLIES understand – stand firm and “punch back.” Retribution can be a two way street.

Repairing the relationships with our traditional allies, however long that might take, will have to wait until the appropriate time. Maybe the mass protests will send the right message to them, but we can’t forget “we the people” (apparently – read Greg Palast) voted for this – for a second time! And, after Trump was convicted of 34 FELONIES for “election interference.” Not to mention massive FRAUD and sexual assault. (remember that every time you hear Trump accuse someone else of what he’s been proven GUILTY) My prayers are that in the meantime (based on Trump’s turncoat “switch” to Putin) the Europeans will find a way to support Ukraine as they fight for their democracy. Ukraine should offer their “rare earths” to the EU. Stay tuned…..

The Department of Government Efficiency Is a Lie — And It Might Destroy Us All

Musk. Trump. Putin. Labor spies. Stolen data. This isn’t a thriller. It’s what’s happening inside your government — right now…

Thom Hartmann

Apr 16, 2025

America is under siege, but not by foreign armies or rogue terrorists. Instead, the threat is coming from inside the house: unelected billionaires who are quietly hijacking our democratic institutions from within.

Although it’s entirely possible that they are collaborating with foreign autocrats, including Vladimir Putin, who are also billionaires and thus share their unique authoritarian worldview.

And thanks to the bravery of a whistleblower named Daniel Berulis, we now have a window into what may well be one of the most brazen and dangerous power grabs in American history.

This isn’t cheap or even ordinary corruption: this is the sort of thing that happens in Third World countries, like when Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines used cronies and spies to infiltrate government agencies and neutralize political opponents, or when Vladimir Putin installed former KGB allies into key Russian institutions to crush whistleblowers and rig judicial outcomes, or when Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales dismantled anti-corruption agencies and handed sensitive state information to business elites.

It’s the sort of corruption that destroys democracies from the inside out.

Berulis risked his career, his safety, even his life to reveal what’s happening inside Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE — a name that sounds innocuous enough, until you understand what they’re actually doing.

DOGE, according to Berulis’ bombshell disclosure, managed to breach the National Labor Relations Board’s computer systems and extract what he described as “the equivalent to a section of the New York Public Library” in sensitive data. This isn’t just bureaucratic overreach — it’s a digital smash-and-grab, right out of the authoritarian playbook.

And make no mistake: this is not some crackpot theory. Shortly after DOGE operatives created accounts inside the NLRB system, a login attempt came from a Russian IP address using one of those accounts — with the correct credentials. Within minutes of the breach, the data may have already been in the hands of the Putin government.

That’s the same Vladimir Putin who press reports say has been in regular telephone contact with both Donald Trump and Elon Musk for the past two years.

What’s being looted here isn’t just random bureaucratic files. We’re talking about the private information of whistleblowers, union organizers, witnesses in federal cases, proprietary corporate data, and labor rights enforcement strategies. Including complaints and complainants against Elon Musk’s companies.

In other words, the raw materials for dismantling organized labor in America — and for targeting, harassing, or discrediting anyone trying to stand up to corporate power, including Elon Musk’s multiple efforts to stop or break unionization attempts in his own companies.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory. It’s the naked truth, verified by a growing number of insiders and corroborated by NPR, which reports that at least eleven government officials and staffers have confirmed their fears about DOGE’s data exfiltration campaign.

Here’s the conflict of interest that should make every American’s hair stand on end: Elon Musk’s companies — Tesla, SpaceX, and X — were themselves under investigation by the NLRB for alleged labor violations. At least until Musk’s underlings fired the people investigating him and his companies.

Musk now has his own handpicked operatives inside the very agency tasked with holding him accountable. It’s like giving the bank robber a master key to the bank and letting him wander the halls at night. It’s a grotesque perversion of the rule of law, a corruption of the most fundamental principle of American justice that no one is above the law.

And if the information DOGE extracted gets used in court — or even leaked selectively — it could permanently tilt the scales of justice in favor of Musk and his corporate cronies. Labor law experts are already sounding the alarm, warning that even the possibility of access will have a chilling effect on union organizing and whistleblowing.

Just imagine you’re a worker trying to form a union. Would you still speak out, knowing your employer might now know your name, your address, your testimony, and your strategy — thanks to a government program run by that very employer’s billionaire CEO?

But it gets worse. Much worse. According to longtime employees within the Department of Labor and other agencies, the DOGE teams aren’t seasoned experts or trained cybersecurity professionals. They’re “new arrivals,” many of them with no vetting, no security clearance, and no relevant experience. Some have even worked with criminal hackers, and another reportedly runs a website based in Russia.

Yet they were granted sweeping access to some of the most sensitive data systems in the federal government. It’s a digital coup executed not by hackers, but by political loyalists and tech-bro mercenaries handed the keys to the kingdom by billionaire benefactors.

When Berulis tried to do the right thing — when he and his colleagues reached out to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to report the breach — they were stonewalled. Their alert was “disrupted by higher-ups without explanation.” And Berulis himself received a specific threat reminiscent of KGB strategies.

Internal cybersecurity teams were told by the Trump administration to stand down. One furious staffer at the Interior Department confessed that “every single alarm system we have regarding insider threats is going off,” but they were ordered to ignore them. That’s not just a red flag; it’s the flashing neon sign of a government being gutted from within. Or being turned over to Russian intelligence.

And don’t let the bureaucratic language of “data breaches” and “access credentials” lull you into thinking this is harmless IT stuff. These are national security breaches.

If this is what it appears to be, the Rosenbergs went to the electric chair for far less.

This is a modern Watergate, but instead of burglars breaking into a filing cabinet, they’re downloading 10 gigabytes of information with a keystroke. Instead of physical threats, DOGE’s enforcers are using drones to photograph whistleblowers, and notes are being taped to front doors like something out of a dystopian thriller.

Yet that’s exactly what happened to Berulis: a threatening note, drone surveillance, and an unmistakable message — shut up or we’ll make your life hell.

This is how authoritarianism functions in the 21st century. It doesn’t need a dictator in a military uniform when it has billionaires in boardrooms, access to surveillance technology, and cronies embedded deep within the machinery of government. It replaces accountability with loyalty. It replaces oversight with secrecy.

And it replaces democracy with intimidation and control, just like in Hungary and Russia.

Even if Musk and DOGE never use the data they’ve extracted, the damage is already done. The fear is out there. As labor expert Kate Bronfenbrenner put it, “Just saying that they have access to the data is intimidating.” And that’s the point.

This isn’t just about controlling government agencies and the courts; it’s about creating a culture of fear so pervasive that no one dares to challenge power. Workers won’t organize. Regulators won’t enforce. Whistleblowers won’t come forward. Democracy withers not with a bang, but with a whimper of silence and complicity.

And let’s not pretend this is all just theoretical. DOGE’s operations are still underway, expanding into other agencies, extracting more data, disabling more security protocols, silencing more voices.

Congress is beginning to stir — Rep. Gerald Connolly is calling for an investigation — but the clock is ticking. While bureaucrats write memos and hold hearings, the digital pillaging continues unchecked.

This is not some far-off threat. It’s happening here, now, and it’s being orchestrated by some of the richest men in the world who have zero accountability to the American people.

The same billionaires who already own our social media platforms, our space infrastructure, and our news cycles now want direct access to our government’s innermost workings. And they’re getting it.

The soul of American democracy is on the line. The question now is: will we let it be sold to the highest bidder, or will we stand up, speak out, and reclaim it?

Berulis showed us what courage looks like. Now it’s our turn.

Because if we don’t stop this now, it won’t just be our data they’re coming for — it’ll be our freedom.

The Hartmann Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my daily work to stop the fascists trying to destroy our form of government, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I want to say last year in July the SCOTUS made the most egregious decision, by my calculation, in the history of the Courts in America – but, actually, upon further reflection the decision was clear much much earlier. Donald Trump was facing FOUR serious FELONY allegations related to his foiled attempted coup of January 6th, 2021 and he was claiming he had “absolute immunity” from prosecution. The district court Judge in Washington DC clearly pointed out that “no one is above the law” and “shot down” his absurd argument. Of course, in his act of “delay delay” he appealed to the Court of Appeals in D.C. and they ruled America does not have kings.

The ruling of the three judge panel of the D.C. Appeals Court was widely, by constitutional experts, considered rock solid – air tight. Most of these scholars suggested the SCOTUS would (SHOULD) simply decline Certiorari – which simply means the Court SHOULD decline the case letting the Appeals Court judgment stand. After all, Jack Smith had attempted to by pass the Appeals Court just a few months earlier and take the appeal on an emergency basis to the SCOTUS. So, why would the Court take the case now, many people asked themselves? The answer I gave (and, I thought I was correct at the time) was they wanted to help Trump STALL in order to make it impossible for his trial on the attempted coup charges to take place.

Well, I was partially correct. I did figure out (it didn’t take a brain scientist to do this) several of the Justices on the Court were avid Trump supporters – and, wanted to make sure there’d be no trial before the November election. By stalling the arguments and the Court’s decision up until the LAST day in both cases – they succeeded, big time! Here’s what I got completely wrong – because, to me, Trump’s argument was so STUPID even these Justices would see right through it.

By a six to three ruling – and, this might go down in history as the WORST Supreme Court ruling in history (and, that includes Citizen’s United, Dobbs, the gutting of the Voting Right’s Act, and many other BAD rulings by the court), THIS Court actually ruled in Trump’s favor – suggesting that as long as he can claim his action is an “official duty” he, for all intents and purposes is IMMUNE. To me, that should go down in the history of the United States as the “Presidents are Kings in the United States” ruling. I wasn’t the only one, at the time, suggesting the Court had just given up their own – equal branch of government – part of our system of “checks and balances” – to a rogue president.

Were they not able to see through their own corrupt eyes they were enabling a future president to, in essence, declare he or she was not subject to the will of the Court? I guess that’s rhetorical. Did they willingly give up their power or are they just so STUPID they didn’t understand the potential consequences of this decision? It’s clear they wanted Trump to be the “next conservative president” – in the words of Project 2025. And, now that they’ve created a MONSTER do they have the guts to attempt to rectify the problem – THEY created? Based on the rulings I’ve seen so far since Trump 2.0 the answer is a resounding NO.

Maybe Justice Barrett is recognizing the peril to the United States THEY’VE created. Just Maybe. Justice Roberts? Also, maybe he’s going to have dreams at night regarding the place he’s going to hold in American History (just in case we still record American History) and, who knows, maybe he’ll have a granddaughter or grandson some day ask him “what part did you play in the destruction of the American democratic republic? How did you deal with the TRAITOR (remember, Trump’s a FELON, he was accused of Espionage violations and attempting a coup – how else can he be described?) who turned America into a fascist state? That remains to be seen!

However, what doesn’t remain to be seen is whether or not the Trump 2.0 administration will follow the rulings of the courts. I mean, the Congress appears to be helpless in doing anything to stop the dismantling of the government agencies “we the people” have come to “take for granted” we can depend on. In fact, the Congress is part of the conspiracy – they’re right in the middle of the process of destroying Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) while (f)Elon Musk’s Dogeshits are busy dismantling one agency after another – without even the hint of Congressional authority or oversight. It’s the most INCREDIBLE thing I’ve seen in my 77 years. I was not capable of imagining someone as dumb as Donald Trump could pull this off.

But, about a year ago, after I’d heard rumors regarding the publishing of “Project 2025” I decided to take those rumors seriously and I downloaded a copy of the “manifesto” to my desktop. I then started reading it. As I read, the hair on my back almost immediately stood on end. I made it through the intro and about 100 pages when I realized I needed to read no further. (The intro would likely have been enough) I concluded: “This is a roadmap to fascism.” The “BRAINS” behind the Trump 2.0 administration lie right in that Project 2025 manifesto. They are the ones – by inference – filling out all the “executive orders” (You know, what republicans always complained about if a democratic president signed one) and the chaos created in Trump 2.0 is a key part of their “strategy.”

I want to say they’re succeeding in places “we the people” aren’t paying attention to – although, when they decided to take on Social Security they may have “stuck their hand in a hornet’s nest.” Here’s the deal, though; The “final straw” based on the way our government is situated right now, to “finishing the job” of destroying our constitutional democratic republic is Trump telling the courts to, as I’ve put it in recent posts, “pound sand.” For the unsophisticated out there, that means giving the courts the “one finger salute.” Project 2025 complete.

It’s very heartwarming to watch as democrats – mainly Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) – hold town halls in so-called “red districts” – where the republican member of Congress representing that district is following orders from their leaders and NOT holding town halls. This past weekend Senator Sanders and AOC spoke to an audience of 20,000 (they could only cram 16,000 of them into the venue) this was in Salt Lake City UTAH! and they had an audience of an estimated 36, 000 in Los Angeles. Voters are eager to speak their frustrations and there is anger all across America and democrats are going into “red” districts to accommodate the angry voters there. This is obvious, but there’s a serious “catch.”

Since reading as much of Project 2025 as I could (stomach) and listening to as much of Trump as I could (stomach) I’ve come to a conclusion. All these democrats stirring up angst to be vented at the next “mid term” election might be “barking up the wrong tree.” I hope I’m wrong – but my math ability to understand two plus two has told me Trump and the Project 2025 thugs have a different view of how the 2026 elections will unfold. They remember 2018 and I don’t believe they have any intention of reliving that experience. At best, I believe they’re planning a Russia type “free” election for 2026. At worst, I believe they may be planning for no election at all.

I’m not sure if they can suppress enough votes to pull off option one, but that would be the obvious way they might attack our “free and fair elections.” Republicans are pushing the SAVE Act through Congress which would require people to PROVE their legal status in cases where their – in the case of a woman who takes her husband’s surname at marriage – name on their photo ID differs from their name on their birth certificate. I take that to mean you’d have to show your birth certificate to register to vote and possibly have to prove you’re “legal” after you’ve already voted. This would REALLY affect women, but if my mother hadn’t sent my birth certificate right before she died I’d have no idea where to find it. (Actually, I’m not sure what I did with it)

Maybe they can pull off totally corrupting our “election” process – a process which has been the envy of the world – until Trump came along. Numerous people have tried to prove our elections are full of fraud – only to FAIL every time! But, that’s not stopping Trump and his Project 2025 puppet masters. Here’s what I figure: If they can’t corrupt the elections via voter suppression (they’ve already got a “head start” in that regard – see Greg Palast) they will find an “emergency” requiring something like martial law to fulfill their “deplorable” plan. If you remember, Trump told a Christian group prior to the 2024 election this would be the last time they’d have to vote with an assurance something like “we’ve got it all figured out.” Hyperbole? Don’t count on it!

Final Thought: You might wonder why Trump has value to the 170 or so authors of Project 2025 – who I refer to as the “puppet masters.” Well, he’s got a lot of characteristics which make him extremely “valuable – usable” to them. I’ll list some off the top of my head, in no particular order: He’s a pathological LIAR – he’s so “expert” at LYING he believes his own LIES as the LIES roll off his tongue. He’s a lifelong RACIST – (see “very fine people” from Charlottesville) from the early days of refusing to rent to BLACKS in his father’s tenements to his one page adds in the “Times” arguing for the DEATH penalty for FIVE innocent New York “boys of color,” to his leading the “birther” movement against Barack Obama. He’ll do just about ANYTHING for money – and, he’s really raking it in this time around – do you think the Justice Department is going to enforce the “Emoluments Clause” of the Constitution? Trump has blown that part of the constitution “out of the water” long ago.

Is he going to be held accountable for turning (f)Elon Musk loose on the federal bureaucracy with his “chainsaw” – lopping off Congressionally authorized programs on a daily basis? Will the Musk/Trump administration be held accountable for destroying agencies like Social Security and Medicare when it happens? Will Musk be investigated and (hopefully) prosecuted for his allegedly ILLEGAL schemes at buying votes? Will anyone in Trump’s administration be held to account for things like texting national security secrets on social media aps – where they’re obviously using the aps to get around the Federal Records Act? And, will their be accountability for disappearing people from this country with NO due process? Will he be held accountable for extorting law firms and universities around the country he doesn’t like? I could go on and on – but the obvious answer to all of the above is NO! And, the MAIN reason circles right back to our C.S. SCOTUS who left Trump with the idea he really IS a “king.” My hope is he’s more like Humpty Dumpty! Stay tuned…..

Over the previous couple of years the car insurance I pay has virtually doubled. That likely makes car insurance the worst driver of inflation in this country. I’ve attempted to figure out why this is happening. The replies I get from the insurance people I’ve talked to indicate the supply chain issues created by the COVID pandemic are at the heart of the increases. However, I personally suspect the issue of Climate change is also a driving force behind these increases. Many of the insurance companies have elected to move out of states like Florida, California, and other places where the costs of replacing damaged property caused by hurricanes or wildfires is exorbitant.

So, now with the tariffs initiated by Trump on cars and car parts coming from Canada, Mexico, and China (the tariff on China is 125%) I’m bracing myself. This will give State Farm (my insurance company) another excuse to increase my monthly car insurance bill. My wife and I have been with State Farm for over 25 years, but I finally decided to check around to see if I could save some money. Well, Progressive gave me a quote which was significantly better than what we had EXCEPT they wouldn’t insure our home – saying it was in a “wildfire” zone.

Our home is NOT in a “wildfire zone.” In fact, in the last year as I was going through the incredibly stupid process of getting a building permit to add 8 feet to our existing detached garage I discovered our home is actually right on the edge of a wetlands. With a little further questioning I was told the likely reason we couldn’t get a “bundle” with Progressive is because we live in a rural setting. My final question was are they (State Farm, and virtually all the other companies) increasing our rates because we’re …..old? As I suspected, the answer was …. yes. So, I’m not getting any younger and Trump’s tariffs are going to give State Farm another reason to “sock it to me.” Giving me another reason to believe Trump SUCKS!

I’m waiting in anticipation of tomorrow’s reaction to today’s over reaction to Trump’s “pausing” some of the tariffs. The reality is there are STILL enough tariffs in place to cause major DAMAGE to America’s economy. How soon will Trump back away (cave) from his outrageous tariffs on China? My wife and I are both retired teachers and we have friends in China who we met during a student exchange program (over a period of years) where we kept the teachers in our home for three or four weeks at a time. My wife even went to China to spend time with them. We love them very much and it really bothers me that Trump is potentially creating a problem which will be difficult (if not impossible) to recover from.

I’m not naive about the differences between China’s government and our government – in fact, it feels to me as if Trump is attempting to make our government worse than theirs. The reality, though, to me, is the Chinese people are wonderful people – at least the ones we’ve met. Initiating a “trade war” with China, Canada, Mexico, and the EU, to me, is among the STUPIDEST actions I’ve seen from any politician in my lifetime. Of course, most of “we the people” are figuring out we have a STUPID president who has brought a bunch of STUPID lackeys into his administration.

When Vladimir Putin first helped Trump “win” the presidential election in 2016 I realized I was going to need to read a lot of books about Trump because I was going to be writing a lot of rants while he was in office. (Little did I understand the rants would continue for nearly 10 years.) Here’s what has stuck out to me from many of those books I read (I donated almost all of them to a local bookstore a couple years ago). First, Trump has gone through BANKRUPTCY six times – with three of them from bungling the management of casinos. Yep, I guess that’s why his “base” believes he’s a business genius – or is it because they watched him in “The Apprentice” thinking he MUST be a good businessman to do reality TV?

But, let’s just focus on his record as our so-called TWICE IMPEACHED two time popular vote LOSING 34 times convicted FELON president – Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. In his first administration Trump pulled off something no other president has managed to accomplish in history – the MOST net jobs LOST during his first administration in the history of the nation. Trump’s supporters (rightfully) blame the COVID pandemic, but the reality is his incompetence made the pandemic FAR worse than it should have been. To the tune of an estimated 200 – 300 THOUSAND lives. Plus Trump and Moscow Mitch called a democratic proposal which would have “crushed the virus” dead on arrival at the Senate. Apparently, that’s a “title” (the job loss “king”) he wants to surpass in his second administration. (The lost jobs – hopefully not the lost lives)

Musk/Trump and their DOGEshits are lopping off government jobs in record numbers, they’re going after Medicaid and Food Stamps in their budget proposal and, it appears, attempting to feed their fever dream of toppling Social Security and Medicare by attacking it from the inside out using Musk’s DOGE bros. They have no idea what they’re doing – but, they’re doing a good job of it. I predicted when Trump took office it would take him six months to destroy the economy – but, it’s looking like I was giving him too much credit. He’s not only taking a “wrecking ball” to the government’s bureaucracy, but in the past week or so, directly to Wall Street and the financial sector of our economy as well.

Now, I’m not one who judges how the economy is doing entirely based on the stock market and the other related markets – and, as I’ve said here before, I’m no economist – but, I do have the ability to observe and listen to those people who do understand how the markets work. Trump and his “beloved” tariffs have upended pretty much the entire system and, to me, the Trump characteristic which is likely to undermine America’s economy past the breaking point is his inability to admit a mistake. (not to mention his incompetence)

After about three days of accelerating sell offs in the stock market – followed by a sell off in the bond market (as I understand it, those two things aren’t supposed to go in the “same direction”) – Trump gave a “heads up” to his prime benefactors – who will likely remain anonymous because of our corrupt justice department – to “buy now” shortly before he rolled back (caved on) his so-called “reciprocal tariffs” leading to a spike upward in the stock exchanges. Of course, once investors realized most of the tariffs remain, the stock market tanked again the next day. Over the course of my life, when you see the large swings – both up and then down – in the market, it’s a bad sign. If we’re lucky it will just be a recession we’re facing – although worst case scenario could be a depression. (Trump is good at “worst case scenarios“)

Yes, I realize during economic downturns for those who still have a job it’s a recession, for those who lose their jobs it’s a depression. What is apparent is those in the Trump 2.0 administration have NO idea what they’re doing. It’s possible they don’t understand what the effect will be once they’ve torpedoed Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare. We’re talking about HALF the nation’s people being very unhappy with Trump et al, but, worse yet, the SHOCK to the economy will be unimaginable. I really don’t think the Musk/Trump administration is thinking this through very well. (Full disclosure, I have a vested interest in each of the programs continuing – and, being strengthened)

So, here’s where I think we’re headed – and, of course, I hope I’m wrong. The logical conclusion of “we the people’s” brilliance in, along with Putin (of course), electing Trump 2.0 will be Trump BANKRUPTCY #7. Only this time the victim of his bankruptcy will be us. Or should I say the U.S. (Plus, the world) And, despite how STUPID this will be, the bottom line is the STUPID ones are “we the people.” We allowed a FELON who attempted a coup just four years earlier with a history of bankruptcies back into the “White House.” The first four years of incompetence wasn’t enough! We wanted an even worse case of his incompetence. Go figure.

Here’s what I’ve learned in the past week – stuff, which apparently is going right over Musk/Trump’s head. Bonds are the supposed “safe haven” where people put their money during times of recession or economic uncertainty. Like when the stock market is experiencing daily MAJOR fluctuations – with the general direction DOWN. So, when investors are selling BOTH stocks and bonds, at the SAME TIME, that could be signaling something really BAD. Apparently, the bonds which are considered the “safe haven” because they are protected by the “full faith and credit of the American government” are supposed to go up when the market is going down. It sounds to me as if there are investors feeling as if that “full faith and credit” is a bit dodgy with these republicans in charge.

Here’s another aspect of this. Trump is pushing things to the limit with China and China, from what I can figure out, has less motivation to “work things out” (ie “negotiate“) with the Trump administration than vice versa. In fact, MANY of those bonds are held by the Chinese government and, should they want to really “stick it to Trump” they could begin selling them. Not sure what that would do to the world economy, but it appears it would be “life changing” for the American economy – and, I don’t mean that in a good way. I’m just inferring what I can, but it doesn’t sound at all good to me. Maybe Trump is causing the world to “get along without” us now.

Combine that with at least half the country in economic peril once they accomplish their goal of destroying our social safety net and, I think you can see where this might go. Trump was protected from his SIX previous bankruptcies by an ability to use the courts to his advantage (surprise surprise) – he shielded himself from personal economic harm via the laws of incorporation – (Plus his daddy was funneling him HUNDREDS millions of dollars) – just like the corporate raiders like Mitt Romney over the years who’ve pilfered the assets from corporations they took over and then declared them to be bankrupt. I don’t think you can do that with a country – although I could be wrong. One thing’s for sure – it won’t be Trump bearing the brunt of his destroying America’s economy – it’s almost as if that’s the plan. Maybe he’ll fuel up his plane and fly to Russia once the job’s been completed. Who knows? Again, I hope I’m wrong.

Final Thought: Trump has succeeded in corrupting virtually EVERY department in our government with the most significant one being the Justice Department. I mean, who is Pam Bondi and the other Trump sycophants there going to investigate? They’re busy defending the yarding out of people around the country without “due process” – the founding “principle” of our nation’s government. This is the exact scenario our Founders attempted to prevent with our system of “checks and balances.” It’s been apparent for some time the Congress, now controlled by republicans, has completely ceded it’s role as an “equal branch of government” refusing to check Trump’s whims. But….

Sadly, the SCOTUS last year, in essence, created the problem we’re now facing when it not only knee capped its own role as a check on the government but left Trump with the impression (and, maybe correctly) that he can do “whatever the hell he wants.” The Trump Justice Department is, in essence, telling district court judges to “pound sand” as they are OBVIOUSLY ignoring court rulings. And, as I watch the SCOTUS, it appears to me they are uneasy on making clear rulings against the Trump administration because they’re worried Trump will tell them to go pound sand as well. And, then Project 2025 will be complete. Honestly, I keep thinking things couldn’t be worse – but, sadly I feel the “worst is yet to come.”

One more thing: There’s been a photo op which has really bothered me lately – almost as much as when Trump stood in front of a church outside the confines of the “White House” in Trump 1.0 and had his picture taken holding a bible upside down. Recently, Kristi Noem, one of the most incompetent of Trump’s appointees – the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) – took the time to “one up” Trump with her picture in front of one of the cells in the El Salvadore prison (torture chamber?) where Trump’s “team” rushed out 260 or so “gang members” from Venezuela who were seeking asylum in America – many who WEREN’T gang members at all, while ignoring an order blocking the transfer by a judge in D.C. This is apparently where Trump thinks he can send ANYONE he doesn’t like while ignoring their “due process.”

I haven’t been able to get that photo out of my mind because it shows how many PEOPLE are held in each cell block – it’s “deplorable.” And, we KNOW there’s at least SEVEN people, and probably a lot more, who SHOULDN’T have been part of that “shipment” of PEOPLE to this “deplorable” prison. As Adam Serwer says in the book I’m reading, “The cruelty is the point.” One judge has ORDERED them (Trump et al) to bring a father from Maryland back and, so far, they are responding with “pound sand.” (They even have admitted in court this man was sent in “error”) By rights ALL 260+ PEOPLE sent to that prison should be sent back in order for them to be able to defend themselves in court. Musk/Trump/Vance et al don’t appear to believe in “due process.” Like the rest of the constitution, it’s an annoyance to them. To me, sending people to this prison is unquestionably “cruel and unusual punishment.” (Even for alleged “gang members.”)

Here’s the disgusting photon: And, from my vantage point in any other time in our nation’s post WW II history Ms. Noem would NEVER have been appointed to this office, or if she had, she’d be asked to resign. This photo op is – you guessed it, “deplorable!” Stay tuned!!!

To me, it’s not difficult to understand what Trump, and his puppet masters, are doing with all the SUDDEN actions which kind of unearth the minds of leaders around the world PLUS “we the people” trying to keep up. I believe this is what I’ll call the “shiny object” theory of governing. Trump and the authors of Project 2025 (they’re easy to forget in this atmosphere) have a goal of turning the U.S. into a fascist nation by, in essence, destroying the traditional fabric of the nation. So, while Trump has EVERYONE’S attention on the crashing stock market – the DOGEshits are still busy kneecapping the Social Security administration and virtually every other government department EXCEPT the one with the MOST “fraud, waste, and abuse” – the Department of Defense.

The republican Congress appears to be all in on undermining Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security – where MOST of the federal budget resides – although, for good measure, the republicans are also planning to eliminate SNAP (food stamps) and other programs aimed at us normal Americans. Their plan, which has been poorly disguised, is to cut enough from these programs – they refer to as “entitlements” – plus to raise enough from his tariffs to offset a $5 TRILLION tax cut MOSTLY for those in the “top 1%” of America’s earners and, of course, his corporate friends. Right now, most people are focused on the stock market.

So, our so-called “liberal media” is not focused on the destruction of USAID (and, the lives being lost as the result), the elimination of the Department of Education (and, all the low income schools, plus their students, which will be affected), all the scientists who’ve been fired at the CDC, the FDA, and NIH, the people fired at the IRS (so that BILLIONAIRES will no longer need to worry about being audited), the EPA, and I could go on and on. The DOGEshits have even invaded the National Institute of Peace – which is not a government entity – they needed Federal Marshalls and DC Police to get in the doors so they could force the employees out the door. And, on top of all this, we’re no longer talking about “Signalgate.” What that means is Trump’s cabinet members are likely continuing to ILLEGALLY communicate via insecure aps in violation of the Federal Records Act.

Every day there’s going to be something else – and, “we the people” are doing exactly what I predicted before Trump 2.0 was officially underway – “chasing our tails.” Today, while the stock market was responding to what people like me knew would happen – in just a matter of days – as disaster lurked Trump “paused” MOST of the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” for 90 days. That’s kind of like their (Trump’s et al) plan to dismiss corruption charges against New York’s Mayor Eric Adams “without prejudice” – allowing them to re-file them if Adams didn’t kneel to their orders. (The judge dismissed the charges “with prejudice” so that they may NOT be re-filed) So, now, Trump can threaten to put the tariffs back in place based on – well, who knows?

Today’s “shiny object” – other than Trump’s “pausing” SOME of the tariffs (the tariffs are still in place – just not as severe) is that Trump actually signed two executive orders aimed at two members of his former administration, Miles Talor (aka “anonymous”) and Chris Krebs, ordering the “Justice Department” to initiate “investigations” of both of these men. I said that correctly, Trump is ORDERING who the “Justice Department” is to be investigating. This is beyond outrageous! Chris Krebs is an expert in cybersecurity who made sure the 2020 election was FAIR. That was his “fault.” Trump called Miles Taylor a “traitor” – I’m not kidding. The man who attempted a coup d’etat on America’s government (i.e. a TRAITOR) loosely throwing that word (traitor) around so that “we the people” forget who the TRAITOR actually is.

My father was in the Army during WW ii and he was a lifelong republican. When I watch what Trump is up to I don’t think it would have been difficult to convince him that Trump is inflicting exactly what Hitler was attempting to “inflict” on America – but, Trump is so much closer to succeeding. He’s got the 170 or so authors of Project 2025 filling out executive orders for him to sign which makes things easy for him – allowing him to get two or three rounds of golf in each week. So, Trump is now “going after” individuals PLUS his attacks on law firms and universities – sadly, some of them capitulating. Capitulation, by the way, has been proved by HISTORY as the WRONG answer.

Long ago I wrote that when the Justice Department becomes unreliable this country is in BIG danger. Well, that day is here (it has been since last November 5th). The Supreme Court has given Trump unimaginable – and, to me, unconstitutional – POWER and Trump is pushing it to the limit. (Was there any question he would do so?) The top three “leaders” of the Justice Department are/were Trump’s personal lawyers – unthinkable at any other time in American history. And, now Trump is ordering the Department to go after selected individuals from his first administration who displeased him. But, the stock market……

There are so many parts of America that are simply “chugging” along as if everything is normal – and, some of them are “places” I could easily choose to “reside.” I have always been either involved in or a “fan” of various sports. I have a love of baseball and basketball, for example – and, it’s very easy to allow myself to get emerged in following my favorite teams. For some reason, I’ve always (well, since the late 1990’s) followed the stock market – so the “wild swings” of the past week have captured my interest as well as MANY others. It’s too easy to concentrate on my fantasy baseball team than what is happening to the country I’ve loved for the 77 years of my life. (Well, I don’t think I actually “loved” this country until I was a teenager – I remember crying with my classmates as school was dismissed because JFK had been murdered) I say that because I recognize how easy it is for Trump to cause me – and MILLIONS of others to “miss” what he’s doing which is the MOST important “stuff” for “we the people” to see. (and participate in the fight against it)

For example, two issues that are resulting in the actual loss of life directly related to Trump policies are the destruction of USAID (I’ve written about this several times now) and the ILLEGAL invasion of Ukraine by Trump’s idol Vladimir Putin. People who depended on the food and medicine from America they had received through USAID and were almost instantaneously cut off by the DOGEshits have been dying in numbers I don’t know – but ANY child dying because of this egregious action is too many. And, of course, the courageous people of Ukraine are taking on unnecessary losses because of America’s betrayal under Trump (Trump attempting once again to EXTORT Volodymyr Zelenskyy while kissing up to Putin) – which if we had a Congress with ANY “balls” would have already resulted in IMPEACHMENT #3. These things are being part of the “news” in America now seemingly ONLY on the fringes.

Trump has succeeded in getting his appeasement of Putin to be “old news” – not “fake news.” And, to me, this capitulation is MUCH more serious than the wacky reaction of Wall Street to Trump’s “scandal a day” way of governing. Now, don’t get me wrong here – I do NOT consider Trump to be a “smart” person – other than he knows how to align himself with whoever it is that will make him richer. Therefore, you see out front Elon Musk and his DOGEshits while in the background you DON’T see – but, they are orchestrating things – Russel Vought and the rest of the Project 2025 team. Trump is signing the executive orders, making the occasional STUPID public statements, and playing golf as much as he can. I won’t say he hates America, I’ll just say, from my viewpoint point, he doesn’t give a s@#t about America.

And, after you work your way through a couple hundred pages of Project 2025 you quickly realize the authors of that “manifesto” really don’t like America’s constitutional form of government – and, they’ve made a plan to end it. I put links in my posts to the document “Project 2025 – Manifesto of the next conservative administration” several times, but the final time I was forced to give my email address (stupidly I did it) which was then passed on to the email lists of (what seems like) every republican seeking office – most significantly Trump. Therefore, I stopped putting up that link – but, I still recommend people get and read that document. They (meaning the authors – a bunch of rich executives from various industries and occupations) are “knee deep” into succeeding at destroying the America we’ve known. If they end up pulling off their plan it will be because “we the people” weren’t paying close enough attention. Wild stock market swings appear to get a lot of attention but there’s little reference to Project 2025.

The antidote to all this would be republicans in Congress acting as if their oath to the constitution was more important to them than the threat by Musk/Trump to destroy that very constitution. (I refer you to Musk’s Sieg Hiels at Trump’s inauguration celebration) Nixon was BAD, but he was stopped by the republicans in his own party. Sadly, the republicans in today’s Congress are an incredible bunch of COWARDS – who care only about keeping their “gigs.” Honestly, they make me just as sick, if not more, than Trump – who was indirectly referred to as a “moron” by his co-president.

Final Thought: One thing I haven’t written much about, but which I’ve thought a lot about, is how democrats are putting their hopes on the 2026 mid term elections. And, I have to add – I have a lot of hope they’re correct. But, here’s the rub – I believe if Trump and his puppet masters have their way their either won’t be a 2026 election or they’ll figure out a way to suppress enough democratic leaning voters that it will be an election Vladimir Putin could be proud of – if you get my drift. Trump actually promised a group (I believe it was a “Christian” group) of his voters that if they elected him in 2024 they wouldn’t have to vote anymore. Here’s exactly what he said: “Get out and vote! Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore! Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.” Yikes!!!

Here’s another thing I’ve been wondering about – a lot. So, it appears the republicans (and Trump and the puppet masters) may succeed in undermining Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. (plus SNAP – food stamps) It appears their plan is to defund Medicaid and SNAP in their “very large” reconciliation budget legislation. This will affect MILLIONS of Americans – mostly very young or very old. Plus, it appears their strategy to get rid of Social Security and Medicare is to weaken them from the inside until they “collapse.” Obviously, this will affect MILLIONS more – mostly old people like me.

If they succeed, I’m guessing the ANGER will be elevated even more than it is now – there’ll be lots of protests – likely making Trump think: “Now’s the time for martial law.” I certainly hope these thoughts are just a product of my active mind – but, I have done a lot of reading regarding Trump and these people behind the scenes who I believe are “pulling the strings.” It seems to me the foundation of the Project 2025 agenda has been set – and, MOST of “we the people” still have no idea what it is. Remember, right wing republicans in America have opposed the programs they always refer to as “entitlements” (ie Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) since their inceptions. It appears to me, they FINALLY feel they will be able to destroy them. The end result – should they succeed – is very scary to me (not only because I’m collecting my Social Security and Medicare benefit at the age o 77) because of what it will do to our nation.

If you missed it, (f)Elon Musk referred to Social Security as the biggest “Ponzi scheme” of all times – that while the CEO of corporations built on our government’s largess. His auto business has a price to earnings ratio approximately 20 times higher than, for example, General Motors. With significantly lower earnings per share. I’m no economist, but that seems to me to be a “house of cards.” My point here is Musk has no need of Social Security, but he does have his sights set on the MASSIVE tax cuts republicans will ram through Congress once again. (just like they’ve done in every administration since Reagan – except HW Bush) “Rince and Repeat” – this happens every time Americans vote a republican into the “White House.” (They just might succeed in their “fever dream” of undermining Social Security this time around) Stay tuned……

What do you do when you’re in a country, a very wealthy country, with a bumbling numskull at the helm, and no relief in sight for almost four years. And, of course, I’m talking (writing) about Donald Trump and the FACT that (without action by Congress) he’s going to be president of the United States of America for THREE more long years and NINE MONTHS. Yikes! By now, everyone who pays attention to this knows that Trump hit the world economy with a bunch of poorly thought out tariffs last week, right before he took a long weekend to go down to Florida and play golf.

Not only was he playing golf (while the rest of the nation was experiencing the largest Wall Street sell-off in years (well, since the last time he was president – go figure) but he was also hosting the Saudi funded “LIV” golf league at one of his golf courses in Florida. On one of the nights during his “vacation” he managed to hold a ONE MILLION dollar a plate fundraiser at his gaudy Florida “club” which he calls his residence. On the way back from Florida on Sunday it was reported he commented that “you have to take your medicine” regarding the impact his tariffs are having on the U.S. and World economies. He’s reaping unbelievable amounts of “emoluments” in Trump 2.0 with a big middle finger to those he’s hurting.

And, his “hurting” goes way beyond the financial calamity he’s imposing on the rest of us – Joe Biden left him an economy which was the “envy of the world.” It took him just over 2 months to begin the process of tanking it. But, the DAMAGE he’s inflicting is far worse and will probably not be “fixed” in my lifetime. One of the previous books I’ve read was by Anthony Fauci – one of America’s greatest scientists of the past half century – notwithstanding Trump attempting to put the blame of the COVID pandemic on him. A significant portion of Fauci’s book was focused on the fight against the AIDS epidemic back in the latter part of the 20th century into the 21st. During this “fight” the scientists involved in attempting to find a vaccine for the epidemic came up with drugs which, as I remember the reading, allowed people with HIV to live almost normal lives.

During the administration of George W Bush – a president who I’ve said little positive about – a program with the acronym “PEPFAR” – The Presidents Emergency Plan for Aids Relief – was developed at the National Institutes of Health where Fauci was one of the leading doctors. Bush OKed the funding which began a program providing assistance for MILLIONS of people in Africa (you know, Trump’s “shithole countries”) – where people with HIV got relief, and the spread was slowed down – including, as I remember it, (I’ve since given the book to someone else to read) women with HIV being able to have healthy HIV “free” births.

That program, along with all the other programs which were administered through the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) were abruptly discontinued almost the day Trump took (lied about – refusing to put his hand on the Bible) the oath of office. Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food aid was left to rot in the warehouses where it was stored – all the while people around the globe who were counting on the food for survival were – SOL. As the Musk/Trump administration was cutting off this aid, people were DYING as a direct result. To me, this sin is worse than the tanking of the markets – although, who knows the long term affect of that move – “we the people” just have to “take our medicine.”

As a bit of a digression – I’ve got to mention about the Saudi golf league funneling a BUNCH of money directly into Trump’s pockets – which, to me, is bad enough. But in the past I’ve read that Trump has become involved in the negotiations to merge that league with the PGA (golf) tour and the European Tour – the best golfers on the planet. I started playing golf as a hobby over 60 years ago. I never made it to my goal of becoming a “scratch” golfer and with the maladies I’m experiencing in my “old age” I’m coming to grips with the fact I’m likely not going to live long enough to shoot my age. (One of the last two things on my bucket list – the other one is likely as far out of reach – to see Trump behind bars) I still have hopes of getting healthy enough to spend a couple months each year golfing – HOWEVER, I’m not sure how I’ll react if the PGA succumbs to the Saudi “sports washing” – i.e. throwing the MONEY at the tours and the tours taking it. Enough of my digressing.

When I think about all the DAMAGE the Musk/Trump administration is causing to America’s traditional institutions (well beyond USAID) I have to wonder if this Trump induced CRASH of the world stock exchanges isn’t a way to get people’s attention off of what Musk/Trump are doing to agencies like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. If you don’t want to look for “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the budgets of the Department of Defense and you want to take a butcher knife to America’s economy, the logical place to “attack” is where the poorest and least able to fight back reside. Reports have been “out there” for several weeks now about the plan in the House republican’s budget proposal for cutting Medicaid and SNAP (food stamps) as a way to offset the nearly $5 TRILLION in tax cuts (mostly for corporations and those residing in the upper tiers of America’s wealthy). Where are all those budget hawks in the republican caucus?

Honestly, I’m not surprised at all at their willingness to cut programs like Medicaid and SNAP – although, the backlash is going to be significant. (My guess is it will recede by the 2026 mid-terms and/or they’ll be able to lie their way out of it – i.e. it’s Joe Biden’s fault) What does surprise me is their willingness to once again RAISE the debt ceiling – this time by a proposed $5TRILLION. Remember, when Trump left office the first time he had run up 25% of ALL the national debt in history. Just as Bush/Cheney did in 2009 to Obama/Biden Trump had left Biden/Harris with an even greater MESS in 2021. And, just as Obama/Biden left Trump/Pense an economy on the upswing so did Biden/Harris leave to Musk/Trump this year. And, just as republicans always do, MORE tax cuts “for the rich” (Mainly) and an acceleration of the national debt – this time in just 3 months.

I mean, not only are Musk/Trump closing departments like the Department of Education (cuts I’m personally gutted by – knowing how it will affect kids from low socio-economic families), several departments under the umbrella of HHS (Health and Human Services) – including the CDC, FDA, and the NIH – to name a few, but they’ve also INVADED – and I mean that LITERALLY) – the United States Institute of Peace. (USIP) The Institute of Peace is an INDEPENDENT, non profit, national institute funded by Congress and “tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures.”  Following years of proposals for a national peace academy it was founded during the days of Ronald Reagan.

It’s totally independent from our government (although Congress funds it), it owns its own building separate from the “government,” and it was actually INVADED by Musk’s Dogeshits – who got the Metropolitan Police to help them “get in” and they promptly forced ALL of USIP’s personnel to LEAVE the building. Then they (the Dogeshits) changed the locks on all the doors. Not the kind of government action you would expect in a representative democracy. Now, I haven’t heard much about what has happened since the BREAKIN – My guess is it’s just part of the nearly 60 lawsuits filed against Musk/Trump’s administration – but, it raises other questions in my mind.

Like, for example, when “everyone” is trying to figure out what really is Trump’s plan (if he’s capable of having one) for implementing tariffs which, within three trading sessions pushed Wall Street into “bear” territory. Me, not being an expert on the economy OR the stock market, seems to remember people who are experts suggesting Wall Street is a predictor of what lies ahead in the economy. There must be something to that because virtually everywhere I’ve looked in the previous 5 days the topic of conversation is Trump’s tariffs. What if the purpose is to get people’s minds off of all the other stuff Musk/Trump are “up to?” I’ve felt from the beginning of Trump 2.0 that his “flooding the zone” strategy would be aimed at furthering his own pocket book while “we the people” are looking elsewhere.

I mean, if there’s one thing consistent in all the stuff I’ve read about Trump over the years is that he’s able to FOCUS on one thing more than any other – and, that’s what is going into his pocket book. And, he was trained in revenge by mob lawyer Roy Cohn – which explains how he’s attacking those who even investigated his CRIMINAL conduct that his voters chose to ignore. His first term ended with the worst job record since Herbert Hoover and he might be headed to topping that this time. Trump has no idea what he’s doing and his “advisors” are afraid to tell him the truth. So, here we are.

It should be obvious by this time why Vladimir Putin was so involved in trying to help Trump back into the “White House.” Putin couldn’t have a better “useful idiot” in charge in America if he’d been allowed to bypass the election process and simply hand pick him. We’re seeing the results of this “deplorable” election all over the world. How many lives will be lost because of Trump’s hubris? I certainly don’t know, but it actually scares me to think about it. Is there any hope, or are we simply going to have to endure this for at least the next 3 1/2 years. (And, I’m not even taking into account here that I believe one of the things Musk/Trump are doing is further “rigging” our future elections to make us “more like Russia.” – pay close attention to their voter registration “plans”)

Well, this past weekend, there were massive demonstrations against what Musk/Trump are doing. I actually drove to the one in the city close to where I live and there were LOTS of protestors there – I can’t walk very far and there was NO parking for many blocks so all I could do was honk my horn with a “thumbs up” acknowledgement to the people I saw there. Will “we the people” soon tire of going out and publicly protesting the DAMAGE Musk/Trump are inflictin on us and the people we love? I certainly hope not – but, put yourself in the place of Trump and his advisors.

In March of 2024 Trump was CONVICTED by a unanimous jury of 34 Felony counts resulting from his “election interference” prior to Trump 1.0. Keep in mind Trump cheats routinely (he considers it being “smart” if he gets away with it) and if his lips are moving he’s LYING. He can’t help himself – at this point it’s all “ingrained.” So, the American people were (or should have been) aware of this – PLUS he was accused and indicted for an additonal 50 some FELONIES – including violation of the Espionage Act and voters “looked the other way.” He attempted a coup d’etat on January 6th, 2021 in an attempt to overthrow the results of a free and fair election. Yet voters looked the other way. And, he’ll be busy blaming Joe Biden and Barack Obama for the “necessity” to give “we the people” our “medicine” via purposely tanking the stock market. My guess is Musk/Trump believe this will “wash over” just as having a CRIMINAL leading our country did in the 2024 election – and, why wouldn’t they believe that?

Here’s why Musk/Trump, in m view, have a warped view of the likely future events. They have forced Europe and the UK into the position of planning to defend themselves from Russian aggression without the alliance they’ve had since WW II. The very reason NATO was formed after WW II was to create a block to further “Soviet” expansion. (The Eastern Europeans formed the Warsaw Pact in response) Since then, the Soviet Union dissolved (much to Putin’s chagrine) and, now, Putin wants it back – beginning with the invasion of Ukraine. I’m sure it’s obvious to Putin he won’t succeed (even in toppling Ukraine) as long as the United States is an adversary. Enter Trump.

Well, the Europeans – who experienced WW II on their soil, and have a vivid memory of Hitler – are now viewing Putin as potentially the 21st Century’s version of Hitler – potentially with Trump at his side. (And, I don’t think I’ve ever had a feeling I hope more to be wrong) They are ramping up their war time economies – and, keep in mind, the Germans are capable of, in my view, extraordinary wartime production. France is also gearing up for potential war with Putin and Russia. The next few months will be very “telling” and my hope is the American people WON’T do their usual act of political amnesia and that the protests will grow exponentially and “we the people” will DEMAND our nation honors it’s article 5 obligation to NATO. While some Europeans are revolting against their authoritarian dictators – “we the people” ushered in a wannabee! It remains to be seen what can be done about that. God help us!

Final Thought: I often wonder about the extent Trump is a Russian asset. The more I think about what he and his co-president (Musk) are doing, it is beginning to be obvious he’s working in the interests of Vladimir Putin. What do they have on him? Would the “pee tape” be enough to cause Trump to sell out his own country and the Western alliances formed after WW II? I honestly hope not, but the evidence is mounting to the contrary. Just the “you’ve got to take the medicine” comment about him blowing a HUGE hole in the stock market just really hit me the wrong way. Not to suggest MANY of his other comments have done so as well. But, this assault on the World’s economy – from the country which was sitting on top after the pandemic – is almost like Putin’s revenge. (For all the sanctions post invasion of Ukraine)

If I’m at all on to something here, it’s time for the Congress – including republicans – to remove this threat from our country’s government. If he’s purposely – which is what it seems at this point – attempting to throw the world into a “Great recession” or “depression” he becomes an even worse TRAITOR – than the man who attempted to have his thugs overthrow the 2020 election on January 6th, 2021. I mentioned above all the people who are DYING due to the Musk/Trump reckless attack on our fundamental institutions (ie USAID) but, what I didn’t mention was all the Ukrainian’s (including MANY children) are DYING at the hands of Putin’s WAR CRIMES. This could become clear very quickly – as the markets are headed into an even deeper chasm starting with Monday’s trading. (I probably won’t post this until after that reality strikes) Stay tuned…….

(Or did it start when he came down that ugly escalator?)

OMG – well no one can say they weren’t warned. The predictions regarding Project 2025 were REPEATED over and over – with the bulk of America’s voting public paying no attention to the warnings. It’s not going to do any good for those who were making those warnings to be saying “I told you so.” However, in the name of my ego, “I told you so.” Naturally, my voice is not a loud one – I just write out my frustrations because, well, it makes me feel a bit better – but, it doesn’t do anything to solve the problem. For years I’ve been pointing out Trump will continue LYING to “we the people” and using the power of his office to intimidate people/groups into funneling (ILLEGAL) emoluments to himself and his family. And, there’s a plethora of BILLIONAIRES who’ve discovered how to get Trump to help them get even RICHER!

The MASSIVE tariffs which he instituted yesterday will end up being no different. He’ll be looking for countries which will cave to his BULLYING just like the large law firms in America who value their bottom line more than our country. Trump is planning on a continuation of his windfall (personally for him) due to the tariffs. And, once he’s cratered the economy to the point where it’s either in recession or (God help us) possibly a “depression” – his BILLIONAIRE benefactors will be right there to fight over the “scraps.”

Here’s the deal – at least from my simple perception. Trump had already turned our major trading partners (Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the UK) against “we the people” by various actions he’d implemented before the ill-fated tariffs. His cozying up to maybe the WORST dictator in the world, Vladimir Putin, and his outrageous BULLYING of Volodymyr Zelenskyy had already given a middle finger to our traditional allies. Then he hits them with these OUTRAGEOUS tariffs – LYING through his teeth as he presented the STUPIDEST economic plan in a HUNDRED years.

No matter what happens going forward, for the next almost FOUR (long) years – and, likely well beyond then even if “we the people” are successful in voting this version of the republican party into the history books – our “allies” will be unable to TRUST the United States. Trump is acting like a deranged puppet – me knowing, at least for the most part, he’s being used by the authors of Project 2025 to achieve their fantasy of destroying out constitution for the sake of their fascist fever dream. Really, the only two I’m aware of who are somewhat public are Stephen Miller and Russel Vought. The two of them can do a LOT of DAMAGE.

Therefore, “we the people” must brace ourselves with what lies ahead. My son is planning to buy some clothes and shoes online soon and I told him do it right away because clothes and shoes are a couple of items which will be directly affected by the tariffs. I mean, my understanding is Trump put a 50% tariff on Viet Nam! When I saw that I couldn’t help but think he’s completely lost his mind. Does he really believe facilities which produce clothing are in America’s future. Trump pulled America out of the Transpacific Partnership in his first term – a trade agreement designed to mitigate the presence of China in South Asia and Southeast Asia – and, now Trump will accomplish pushing those countries to be closer to China. Xi Jinping couldn’t be happier.

Here’s another thing I worry about – and, I’m not sure why because I don’t have virtually any knowledge of how currency trading works – but, for my lifetime the main currency in the world is the dollar. I get the feeling that if Trump pushes this far enough that will change and I have no idea how that will affect our economy – but, it seems as if it might not be so good. Virtually every economist I’ve listened to (or read) in the past few weeks are saying the result of these tariffs will be a significant TAX on those of us who are not in the upper ranks as far as wealth goes. Additionally, the two dangers I hear the most are that inflation could go up to – well, I don’t know – but “up” is the “wrong answer. The other thing is a recession. The economists I listened to are warning about “stagflation” – which again – I know LITTLE about – but, I believe it’s when the economy is going into recession while there is inflation. Doesn’t sound like a good plan to me.

And, really, I believe the question must be asked (over and over) – does Trump even have a plan? Are these tariffs something he’s ruminated on since he was in his teens? Where did the idea come from. I’ve listened to him – and to his press secretary – who, like almost all press secretaries when they hold their first briefing. said she would NEVER LIE from the podium – either LIE about tariffs or prove she has no idea what a tariff is. The bottom line is a tariff is a TAX. Full stop!

My best guess as to what is happening is Trump/Musk and ???? are putting this tax on working Americans (mostly) in order to justify the impending $5 TRILLION tax cut republicans are planning to ram through with their budget legislation. Their plan is to get rid of Medicaid and SNAP (Food stamps) – two of America’s traditional ‘institutions” (for lack of a better word – I’m old) aimed at the poorest Americans, children, and the elderly. The DAMAGE from ending those two programs is hard for me to imagine. And, of course, I have a personal interest in what’s going to happen to Medicare and Social Security. I just have this feeling the DOGEshits are going to muck up those programs to the point where they collapse. That would really be the mother of all DISASTERS!

I’m certainly not smart enough even to be able to picture how Social Security and Medicare could be rebuilt once Musk and his “boys” get through with it. If you haven’t listened to (f)Elon Musk lately, as he rails against those who have had enough of him – saying he doesn’t understand why anyone would say anything mean to him with a “I haven’t done anything wrong.” This is a guy who allegedly is a regular user of Ketamine – which I only know my son says its bad stuff. Apparently, the fact he’s the CEO of some companies makes him qualified to take his “chainsaw” to our government.

And, today I saw a headline where, apparently, Musk is claiming the election for Judge in Wisconsin was rigged. I’m not kidding. It appears he got hold of this “conspiracy” based on posts on his social media platform by Alex Jones and Roger Stone. I’m really not kidding. Those are two of the best LIARS on the planet. I mean, it was Jones who lost a defamation lawsuit over his pushing conspiracy “denial” about the MURDERS of children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And, Stone, well, just do some online research and you’ll be able to see how he values the “truth.” Musk’s candidate – to which he donated a reported $25 MILLION – lost by 10 points. In Wisconsin, that’s a LANDSLIDE – so I would counsel Musk to shut the f*@k up!

In a couple days there’s going to be a MASSIVE public demonstration in opposition to virtually everything which is happening to our government over these past 70+ days. I’m not able to do much walking, but I’m going to see if I can use my cane and participate in the local version of the protest. My guess is there will be many people there – every time I drive past the Tesla showroom there seems to be a fairly large number of people protesting his involvement in the destruction of our republic. I’m guessing a lot of those people will be at the protest this weekend (April 5th).

Kind of reminds me of the late 60’s when the protests over the Viet Nam war took shape. They lasted into the early 70’s and several protesters were MURDERED by National Guardsmen who opened fire on a group of students on the campus of Kent State University. Is Trump going to resort to something like that. As I remember it (I’m old – memory’s not so good) those murders galvanized those who were protesting. I really do hope the same scenario doesn’t play out this time around. Nixon was HORRIBLE, but he was nothing compared to Trump. Trump and his puppet masters are “going for the downs” – they want to completely remake our government – without that pesky constitution. Are the tariffs a way to weaken our republic making it easier to “finish” the deal of Trump’s coup – which started on January 6th, 2021?

Final Thought: Remember, Trump has already proven himself to be a TRAITOR. (I would counsel Musk – a TRAITOR is someone who attempts to overturn his/her own government – NOT someone who is a military hero and former astronaut) Aligning himself with some really awful people who helped manipulate social media and a bunch of BILLIONAIRES – mostly Musk (who likely was responsible for Trump’s “victory”) – allowed Trump to CON his way back into the “White House.” He made a bunch of “on day 1” promises which were similar to Mexico’s going to pay for the wall – and, enough of America’s gullible public actually believed him.

That, in a nutshell, is why I believe the DAMAGE Trump is doing will last far beyond his time in office – which can’t end soon enough for me. The Europeans and our other allies not only can’t Trust Trump, but they can’t trust the American people. What if “we the people” would vote in another tyrant the next time, or the time after that, or…….. We’ve proved WE are untrustworthy because there’s so many of us who are politically illiterate and easy to manipulate. That’s the one thing Trump has clearly proven. As he’s often said, “I love uneducated voters.” Yikes!

Just think – “we the people” voted into office as our “leader” a 34 times FELON – who was facing another 50+ allegations of SERIOUS felonies – whose LIES had been documented in his first term to over 30,000 and who could surpass that this time. He’s setting “we the people” up to be vulnerable to the next pandemic (with RFK Jr’s help), this “hit” to the economy (from the tariffs) could be worse than what happened as he bungled his way through the COVID pandemic. It just goes on and on – the guy’s a HUGE loser and we’re stuck with him for over THREE more unimaginable years.

I have to add: This week the Midwest and South are being hit by devastating tornadoes, rain storms, and flooding with at least 7 dead and massive amounts of property damage. This is happening while Trump and his dog killing Secretary of Homeland Security are getting rid of FEMA. And, while this is ALL happening, including the stock market crash due to the tariffs – Trump is off to a golf course. He could give a s*@t! Stay tuned….

That was yesterday – today the market’s DOWN another 5% – meaning, for the sake of what Peter Navarro claimed was going to be $6 TRILLION in added revenue over the next ten years (taxes on working families, mostly) the markets have shed OVER $6 TRILLION in just two days. Who says Trump isn’t a “stable genius?”

We are witnessing the greatest financial heist in the history of the world. Now, I’m simply working from my 77 years of experience – with about 65 of them following politics to one degree or another – very intently in the previous 45 years – since the days of Reagan where, from my vantage point, America was morphed from a “we” society to a “me” society. We’re seeing that in “spades” with the Musk/Trump administration. There can be no doubt that the United States of America is the “richest country in the world.” The annual budget is something in excess of $6 TRILLION and, from my vantage point, the actual “elite” have had their “crosshairs” on all that MONEY for years – since Reagan began the “trickle down” (I call it “trickle up”) scam in 1981. This SCAM has become really tiresome to me, but the republicans replay it every time they manage to fool “we the people” into putting them in power.

Well, what’s transpiring as I’m typing out this rant is the makings of a brazen attack on America’s institutions making “trickle down” look like “fools gold.” The “elite” (and, now I’m talking about the BILLIONAIRE class that discovered how to manipulate Trump) such as (f)Elon Musk – our unelected co-president, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg (I really wanted to pull a Trump trick and call him “Suckerberg”), Peter Thiel, the DeVoss family, the Walton (Walmart) family, the Coors family, and others (those are the ones which came off the top of my head) have their sights set on pilfering the American taxpayers like they’ve never done before under Trump 2.0.

Of course, co-president Musk is the one out in front with his so-called “DOGE” boys (and, I MEAN boys – I refer to them as the Dogeshits) ripping the American bureaucracy apart at the seems – finally about to achieve the right wing fever dream of undermining the Social Security system allowing them to get their greedy (grubby) hands on the SS trust fund of something like $2.7 TRILLION. Of course, they’re after Medicaid and Medicare which they plan to make – if those programs continue – “private.” Even suggesting “private business” could manage these programs more “efficiently” than the federal government is laughable on its face. For example, the administrative cost of running the Social Security system is around 1%. What “DOGE” will accomplish is less service for more MONEY (ie profits). That is if they don’t manage to crash the entire system leaving the S.S. recipients to flounder kind of like the kids Trump 1.0 separated from their parents – then deported the parents back to their home countries – leaving the kids “high and dry.”

If you don’t know by now, Trump is NOT about efficiency. What he has a lifetime of expertise in is FRAUD. Do you really believe Musk is looking for “waste fraud and abuse?” Honestly, if you’re so gullible as to believe that I’ve got a bridge……… OK, you know the rest. The real FRAUD here is the Musk/Trump administration convincing all its members in the CULT that is what they are “rooting out” of our government. But, just common sense should tell you otherwise. (f)Elon Musk likes to hold up a chainsaw as a metaphor for what he’s doing to the government – and, in this instance, it’s one thing I can agree with. So, how is that supposed to be “rooting out waste fraud and abuse?” To me, it’s simply making (in some instances) random cuts to the government workforce with NO IDEA if there’s any “waste fraud OR abuse” – and, in some instances, I don’t believe the cuts are random at all.

For example, Musk was facing investigation from FIVE government agencies where the inspector generals were FIRED. The Department of Labor had 17 open investigations, regarding both Tesla and Space X, the Department of Defense was looking into Musk’s alleged use of illegal drugs (Ketamine?) and secret conversations with Putin – either of which would bring into question any security clearance. The Department of Agriculture was investigating the Musk led company Neuralink for experimenting with brain implants, and the Department of Environmental Protection was investigating Tesla on more than one occasion. You know, things like allegedly polluting rivers. Each department inspector general was fired almost as soon as Musk was flashing Sieg Hiels during his (and Trump’s) inauguration.

I don’t understand how anyone could mistake what Musk/Trump are doing as anything other than the “mother of all” corruption schemes in the history of this once great nation – and, really, the world. And, all those “conservative” MAGAs out there will find a way to not be surprised and to blame it on Joe Biden when this republican Congress attempts to get the debt ceiling limit removed completely as they’re pushing through their “one big” budget package – which will include something like $5 TRILLION in tax cuts that MOSTLY benefit the “rich.” (OK, the top 1% and large corporations) They’re also going to have to deal with the budget deficit – in addition to the tax cuts – that will be between a half TRILLION and a TRILLION higher because of the reduced tax receipts due to the rising number of unemployed Americans and the impending recession. (They’ve strategically fired about a third of IRS agents – blocking audits of tax cheats)

Are you going to go buy a new car when the price of the car is pushed up from $10,000 to $20,000 because of Trump’s “beautiful tariffs?” Are you going to buy new appliances for your kitchen with an increase of around 25% on each item? Do you really believe Trump’s tariffs will “bring manufacturing back to the U.S.?” For example, the “Chips Act” was passed in 2022 and it will be another year or two until those manufacturing facilities will open – if Trump doesn’t mess that up because he won’t be able to find a way to put his name on the buildings. There are thousands of Americans who are working on those projects today who don’t understand who’s responsible for their jobs. Many of them voted for this disaster we’re now calling the Musk/Trump administration. Will Americans tolerate four years of tariffs while Trump is waiting for the increase to manufacturing?

And, the level of ignorance displayed publicly by co-president Musk is startling to me – but, I guess if the CULT isn’t up to speed with what, I’m sure to Musk, are minor details, then, what the hell? For example, Musk wants judges he doesn’t like impeached suggesting this can be accomplished by “sixty votes.” Of course, even if he was correct, republicans would NEVER get 60 votes to impeach ANY of the judges ruling against the Musk/Trump administration. (Full disclosure/fun fact – it takes two thirds of those present in the Senate to impeach ANYONE in our federal government. I suppose if you could kidnap about 9 or 10 democrats you could do it with 60 votes)

Here’s the worst one for me. Musk, the Apartheid South African, who – as I mentioned above – was flashing Sieg Hiels at the inauguration ceremony (for you uneducated that would mean Nazi salutes – although, I tend to think MOST Trump supporters know what a Nazi salute is), accused Senator Mark Kelly from Arizona of being a “traitor.” He did this in a Fox “news” interview. Why? You might ask. Well, Kelly went to Ukraine and sent back messages of support for the Ukrainians in the fight against the ILLEGAL invasion of their sovereign land. Kelly, by the way, is a decorated veteran and former astronaut. Musk’s rationale, “You can’t support two countries at one time” (or words to that affect) If you do, that makes you a traitor. I would put a different “spin” on it. Coming from the mouth of someone accused of having secret phone conversations with Vladimir Putin – and, who also strategically prevented the Congress from putting into law restrictions on his business in China. Just sayin….. That’s what I would call a traitor – especially with the Nazi salutes! He’s even been reported as attempting to get American war secrets via China! I rest my case.

Of course, maybe the real reason Musk was/is mad at Senator Kelly is because Kelly published a “TikTok” regarding his decision to “get a new ride.” He was standing with his, what looked to me like a, Tesla “S” in the background while he explained he no longer wanted to drive a car “designed and built by an asshole.” Was he referring to Musk? Such harsh language! Well, actually, when I think of our unelected co-president my language – kept to myself when I can – is quite a bit harsher. For me, if you’re going to flash Sieg Hiels in public I’m going to refer to you as a NAZI.

And I have people in my peer group (when physically able I like to play a little golf) who are actually older than me – born during WW II – who are full blown members of the CULT. They are a bit offended when you point out to them their obsequious loyalty to two overt RACISTS actually, well, kind of makes them racists. Oh no, they’ll say. I know someone who is Black. And, I’m not kidding. That’s about how it goes. Or how about the word fascist. To me, when they are treating a couple overt fascists as idols – does that not make them fascists? I guess if you want to be nice you could call them “fascist sympathizers.” But, it only takes a minimal amount of historical reading about 1930’s Germany to let you know where that gets us. I’d say the same about being a misogynist, or a xenophobe, or homophobe – but, they’d likely willingly wear those “badges.” OMG!

While all this is going on, the pilfering of our taxpayers will continue as Musk/Trump hope “we the people” are distracted by their “flooding the zone” strategy. I brought this up BEFORE Trump took the oath of office (refusing to put his hand on the Bible – for some reason) – although, I wasn’t sure what the “thing” they were focused on which “we the people” wouldn’t notice until it was too late. And, last night as I was trying to sleep it became clear as a bell to me. Their goal is to privatize EVERYTHING – including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They even want to “privatize” what were the outreaches of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) – now that they have it sufficiently crippled. That’s the plan – cripple it, then take it over.

The number of people around the world DYING because of what the Musk/Trump administration has done to that agency, (USAID) for example, means nothing to them. As I’ve pointed out here many times (in case you’ve been reading any of my rants) MOST of those people are in what Trump refers to as “shit hole countries.” So, why should it matter to them? What matters is if they can figure out a way to supply “stuff” to those countries and work in maybe about a 30% PROFIT. If they can figure that one out all those lives will then become important. (Makes me sick to feel the need to write those words)

Americans are getting more and more pissed as they realize what Musk and his Dogeshits are doing by messing around in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Social Security is its own agency, but Medicaid and Medicare fall under the “umbrella” of HHS – therefore being influenced by RFK Jr. Does that make you feel better? Well, between Musk and RFK it shouldn’t take a whole bunch more to send a “torpedo” into each of these programs. Nearly HALF of all Americans rely on one or more of these programs. In my case, I rely on Medicare and Social Security and I won’t be surprised when Musk/Kennedy mess them up. I’ve been paying into Medicare since its inception and I paid into Social Security for almost 55 years. Like MILLIONS of Americans, I don’t like what I’m seeing from the Dogeshits.

Final Thought: For all you MAGAs out there who are perpetually angry at “liberals” while your republican representatives in Congress (and, periodically, the “White House”) NEVER accomplish ANYTHING which might be of benefit to you – yet, you make it easy for them to keep getting your votes while almost NEVER even listening to you – and, then STEALING Trillions from ALL of us taxpayers each time they gain the “White House” – what will it take to get you to stop and think about what they’re doing to you? (And, of course, also, people like me) And, trust me, I “get” that NO ONE listens to you – but, the truth is President Biden was attempting to make things better in rural areas.

I’m just going to tell it to you straight. For all the power you SHOULD have in Congress you’re not getting much in return. In fact, it was President Biden who was actually doing MORE for people in rural areas, for example – people who vote republican in overwhelming numbers – with things like the Chip factories, or pushing high speed internet into rural locations (things Trump has probably already stopped) to name a couple – both those things designed to make things better in “red states.” Do you even realize it was happening – or if it’s already happened do you realize whose idea it was? Part of why things are so divided in this country is because you’re so gullible. Not only is Trump treating you as if you’re dumb as a rock, but so is Vladimir Putin.

And, Trust me – Putin could care less about you (or Trump). Putin’s goal is to undermine Western democracies and, sadly, you MAGAs are “ripe for the picking.” Now, we have a so-called president ordering people to be accosted on the street, put into shackles, and sent into the most convenient gulags allowing Musk/Trump to strut as if they’re some kind of tough guys. Trump is a weak hyper narcissistic LIAR who is a convenience for the fascists who wrote Project 2025. And, his co-president is simply hyper GREEDY being able to see a convenient way to eliminate federal investigations into his business practices (along with regulations) and to make himself even richer.

You MAGAs believe the Musk/Trump administration is “draining the swamp” – when, in reality a horde of BILLIONAIRES have descended on Washington DC like sharks who sense there’s blood in the water. Just think logically. When people like Musk, Bezos, and Zuckerberg (Suckerberg?) and other BILLIONAIRES are willing to throw MONEY at Trump and the republicans in Congress by the tens of MILLIONS – who are the swamp creatures? (Of course, Musk is throwing the money around by the HUNDREDS of millions) Do you actually believe they’re spending that money out of the kindness of their hearts? Like to make things better for YOU? Of course not – even you can see that!

By the time these BILLIONAIRES get through with what they’re doing to our government agencies I’m sure they believe things will just keep moving along except they’ll be even RICHER. They don’t seem to understand what they’re doing very likely is going to crash the stock exchange as opposed to triggering the great rise in their fortunes. (Ironically, it seems to me, the four years of President Biden may have been – at least for a few years – if worst comes to worst – the epitome of their great wealth. Of course, when you have no limit in the amount of MONEY you want to hoard, I suppose the grass always looks greener…….. You can fill in the blanks! Stay tuned…….

I have to add: Ask yourself why Musk/Trump want to eliminate the Department of Education – especially if you’re in a red rural area? (Most of America by land mass) Why does Trump exclaim “I love uneducated voters?” If you can’t figure that out, well, there is your answer. They treat you (and LIE to you) as if you’re STUPID. One of my prayers is you will stop proving them correct! One last thing, when they crash the stock market, it will be all those BILLIONAIRES buying up the scraps. Capiralism at its best!