Donald Trump...The anti-icon

An icon, when referring to an individual, is a person who is a widely recognized symbol of a specific set of beliefs, era, or lifestyle, embodying traits like consistency, influence, and uniqueness. They are looked up to with admiration for their accomplishments, someone with integrity. They have cultural impact, affecting how people think. Although some of this ideology, like widely recognized, specific beliefs, even influence, can be attributed to Donald Trump, we completely lose Dufus Rump when it comes to integrity.

Still, there is no doubt Trump has an effect on how certain people think, a sordid group of double-digits who can't think for themselves, nor do they have the ingenuity to act as a responsible individual. A group this country can do without. There is some of this gang who are turning against the Oval Office lunatic, as well as many congressional Republicans. And, when you are cornered with no other way out, you resort to any desperate moves you can make. Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor said...

it was “highly likely” Trump, 79, will exercise his pardon power to protect himself and his close circle from scrutiny.

“And then you know what our challenge will be, and I hope we’re up to the challenge,” Kirschner said. “We have to go into court, and we have to fight corruptly delivered pardons.”

Robert Davis says Trump is "sweating" over a new legal Epstein settlement...

"Bank of America is reportedly in talks with victims of disgraced financier Jeffrey 

Epstein to settle claims concerning the bank's connection to Epstein's sex trafficking operation."

Dufus Rump is still reeling from the testimony given by a victim who apparently bit his penis when he tried to force her to do oral sex. B of A is apparently trying to reach a settlement regarding it liability. Legal expert Joyce Vance says,,,

"That settlement should "raise the temperature" in the Trump White House because it shows the investigation is moving one step closer to shining a light on whatever it is Trump wants to hide."

And, as all these events occur and are covered in detail daily by the media, Donald Trump, completely lost in his thoughts of power and corruption, once again turns maliciously on the press as he proceeds with the Iran war. Margaret Sullivan in the Guardian says, "There’s nothing completely new in Donald Trump’s latest attacks on reporters." Adding...

"But they’re more extreme now and ever more indicative of what he wants: a docile press that provides propaganda – not factual journalism – for everything he does, including for his misguided war in Iran.

"He even suggested this week that news organizations could be charged with treason for, as he baselessly sees it, spreading false information and thus helping America’s enemies."

Trump isn't alone. Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, " threatened that media companies could lose their licenses if they didn’t get in line." This reeks of George Orwell's 1984 which...

"portrays media as a totalitarian tool used by Big Brother to enforce conformity, rewrite history, and manipulate reality via telescreens."

Do we really want to go down this road? And the answer from a sane population is obviously no. This all is somewhat diminished when we return to the White House maniac's Iran war. And although Dufus Rump has regularly tried to promote his war against the Iranians, at the same time minimizing its disastrous effect on Americans, as well as Middle Easterners, the Daily Beast says experts are warning...

"that President Donald Trump’s war in Iran could rattle the energy market for months to come because of a strike on a critical facility in the Middle East.

"An Iranian missile hit Ras Laffan in Qatar, home to the largest liquefied natural gas, or LNG, export facility in the world. In total, Ras Laffan supplies about a fifth of the world’s supply."

As a measure of reference, Ras Laffan has extensive damage and took three decades to complete. Gas prices in the U.S. and Europe have skyrocketed and could climb even more. 

Just recently Sen. Mark Kelly from Arizona revealed that Trump is selling ‘private’ national security briefings and presented receipts to confirm his charge. United States Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe were questioned about the Iran war, reported by Mary Sue. And then the subject was turned to Donald Trump’s corrupt practices in government. Followed by this...

"A particular moment that has been gaining significant attention online, especially on X (formerly Twitter), involves Senator Mark Kelly asking Tulsi Gabbard and John Ratcliffe to confirm whether they had seen the circular Trump sent to his donors, promising them access to classified briefings."

Both said they had not. while at the same time defending their boss over something they were supposedly unaware of. The whole thing escalated when both Ratcliffe and Gabbard further denied that Trump had even done what they were accusing him of. Kelly said that the document had been made public six days earlier and offered to provide a copy. The question was never answered whether Dufus Rump should profit from offering classified briefings to donors.

 

Donald Trump's diversion of Iran War won't hide Epstein, immigration murders and mixed economy

Epstein and Trump

You couldn't miss the new bronze statue of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein entitled "The King of the World," on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 10, 2026. What' more it has become impossible to ignore the fact that Dufus Rump will do anything take away the attention of the American public on Epstein, immigration murders and mixed economy going nowhere. Here's the scenario...

"Dubbed Operation Epic Fury, the Trump administration’s military campaign against Iran has been routinely mocked as “Operation Epstein Fury,” a reference to the ongoing scandal that has rocked Trump’s second presidency."

 Senator Chris Murphy, Connecticut Democrat, Trashes Trump as ‘Senile Old Man’  after secret war briefing. He said...

“This is the most incompetent, incoherent war America has fought in the last 100 years, and that’s saying a lot,” Murphy said, with his comments at the Capitol aired on CNN’s NewsNight on Thursday.

“This administration has no idea what they are doing. There is no viable war plan. They change their goals and their aims every single day,” Murphy added.

Of course, Donald Trump has never been accused of knowing what he is doing, embarking 

on whims that have placed America in a precarious position both domestically and internationally. Thomas Kika says in AlterNet, "Trump nosediving as his presidency is dragged down by 'failure after failure': analysis." He has basically lost control due to a combination of blunders launched solely to satiate his enormous ego and line his pockets where possible. And here are the results...

"Gas prices surging. Unemployment climbing. War with Iran threatens to engulf his presidency," Cheney wrote. "The fracturing of his political coalition. The collapse of his signature trade-negotiations-by-tariff strategy. Relentless scrutiny of the Epstein files. A public backlash to his agenda that could swamp Republicans in the midterms. Failure after failure to criminalize the conduct of his political adversaries."

And apparently Trump's co-conspirator in the Iran War, Netanyahu, has his own problems. Iran has threatened to assassinate Netanyahu, although there is a question if he is still alive, according to a suspicious video. Iran calls him a "child killer," but directs attention to a clip of the Israeli PM's national address that went viral. In his speech...

"there's an unusual moment in the video where Netanyahu appears to develop six fingers all of a sudden, sparking a lot of people online to wonder if the stream was generated using artificial intelligence and that the PM is actually dead."

As an example of Dufus Rump's stupidity and egotistical resistance to advice,...

"Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine told Trump in multiple briefings that U.S. officials long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones, and missiles to close the critical shipping lane."

It appears that Donald Trump was well aware of the risk but decided to proceed anyway, in my opinion as a result of an ego that constantly tells him that he is the king of the world. And, of course, we know what has happened, he recently demanded  NATO and China police the Strait of Hormuz. So far they aren't joining;  France and Italy have opened talks with Iran amid the oil scandal, leaving Trump humiliated; but here is the kicker, Iranian attack on US soil likely...

“It’s not a matter of if — it’s a matter of when,” retired Top Gun Navy fighter pilot Matthew “Whizz” Buckley told The New York Post, warning that Americans were vulnerable to Iranians hungry to retaliate after the US killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader and unleashed war across the Middle East.

Chief among the dangers are scores of Iranian agents who “likely” slipped into the US over the southern border and could be waiting for orders from handlers in Tehran to strike, Buckley said.

“There is probably thousands, if not tens of thousands of Iranian agents and sleeper cells in this country,” he said, adding that sources in Customs and Border Protection have ominously told him, “You wouldn’t believe how many Korans and prayer rugs we find in the desert.”

Elizabeth Warren says, "After Helping Convince Trump to Attack Iran, Kushner Solicits Billions for His Private Equity Firm." She continues...

“While US servicemembers die in another forever war in the Middle East, Donald Trump’s ‘peace envoy’ is raising money for his private equity firm.”

Kushner has been quietly working with Saudi Arabia in the background of Dufus Rump's shenanigans

Twins of corruption

since the first term of the Oval Office maniac. If Donald Trump eventually goes before war trials, Kushner's co-conspiring corruption with Donald Trump should also put him in line for conviction. Here's the scenario...

"Citing five unnamed people with knowledge of the talks, the Times reported that 'Affinity’s representatives have already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund,' Affinity’s largest investor. Saudi Arabia’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reportedly played a significant role in the behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign urging Trump to attack Iran—Saudi Arabia’s top regional rival."

And to cap it all off, the White House maniac said last Saturday that he "may strike Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub ‘just for fun’" Do you voters who put this moron in the White House, and you Republicans in Congress who are keeping him there heat this. Apparently stupidity reigns in this country under the letters G-O-P.

Is American democracy dead?

Let's start at the top. We know Donald Trump will never change, only get worse. The Republican Congress has made it clear they will not give up support for the Oval Office lunatic. The MAGA maggots are firmly entrenched in their following of Trump. And there is a combination gang out there like the apathetics, the double-digit voters who chose the White House maniac in 2024, and finally those who are completely clueless about politics and political parties. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Trump has been working on the destruction of our democracy since day one of his second term.

The Crew site says Donald Trump has been "dismantling our democracy, one piece at a time," and that it is important to keep a record as a reminder of the damage that has been done. Dufus Rump is changing democracy gradually so as not to alert those who aren't keen on current issues. Here's an AI analysis...

"Approximately 67% to 70% of Americans cannot name all three branches of government, and over 70% fail a basic civic literacy quiz. Furthermore, 27% of Americans follow national political news "not too closely" or "not at all," while about two-thirds feel exhausted by politics."

So when you combine the percentages who don't know what's going on with those who don't care what's going on, there is only a small group out there voting who place their votes with the knowledge of what they actually voted for. Based on these scary figures, we have ended up with Donald Trump in the White House and a Republican Congress so cowardly in their fear of Dufus Rump that any of his utterances becomes their goal. Here are more AI facts...

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, more than 70% of Americans fail a basic civics test.

Gallup News indicates that 27% of Americans follow political news "not too closely" or "not at all".

Pew Research Center notes that 22% of Americans cannot identify a single strength in the nation's political system.

Looking at the above, either the educational system has failed at teaching political science in schools, or

a majority of Americans are just turned off by their government. With 27% of the public virtually ignoring the political news, you end up with a large block of misinformed voters. And the Pew finding that 22% of Americans cannot identify a single strength in the nation's political system, indicates to me another large block that has basically given in to the destruction of the Donald Trump administration. All three items considered are competent confirmation that Americans have lost their dream.

Getting back to how Crew explains how Dufus Rump is dismantling our democracy, one piece at a time, there are four core main categories used to identify the onslaught Trump is making on U.S. freedom and justice. They are, Corruption, Weaponization of the Department of Justice and U.S. military, Regulatory Retaliation and Hiding or Distorting Legally Required Information. Starting with the first...

Corruption, "Trump's abuse of entrenched power for private or personal gain. Over the past 10 years, despite some attempts to fight corruption including the creation of a National Strategy on Countering Corruption, we have seen a precipitous worsening of corruption in the United States." This has expanded to enormous proportions during both Donald Trump administrations. Corruption, in my opinion, is one of the worst factors in the overthrow of democracy,

Weaponization of the Department of Justice and U.S. military, When the dictator looks inward to shore up his strengths, the first move is to make sure the legal arsenal is in place that will loyally support his every move. "Strong democracies have a robust civil society, including an active and engaged opposition. A network of constitutional and statutory laws, as well as executive branch policies rooted in the First Amendment, are designed to prevent politically motivated investigations and prosecutions and ensure that government law enforcement and military resources are not used to suppress dissent." Trump, however, has made the Executive Order (EO) the new way of governing, his ploy to eliminate Congress from the process. He relies strongly on the Dept. of Justice to back him up on every move.

Regulatory Retaliation, To begin with, Dufus Rump has taken away the independence of government agencies, "an independence which has all but evaporated thanks to a series of Supreme Court shadow docket decisions permitting the indiscriminate firing of independent agency heads." Donald Trump, using as an example the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to enact regulatory retaliation. If the White House maniac doesn't like what you are doing, vengeance and retribution will follow you everywhere you go.

Hiding or Distorting Legally Required Information, "Transparency is the currency of democracy, because it allows people to know that their government is acting honestly and with their best interests at heart." Add to that the fact that anything that does come from the Trump administration is misinformation...lie after lie, after lie, after lie, after lie...into ad infinitum. And transparency to Donald Trump is the release only of that information that both pleases and honors him. What we should expect: "This category therefore tracks government attempts to hide or misrepresent information that is supposed to be lawfully available, obscure reliable data or make government decisions in secret outside of the eye of the American public." 

Unless you are living under a rock, you know the latter couldn't be farther from the truth. This all screams the question of why anyone would want to live with an authoritarian government. Here's an AI answer...

"Some Americans express a desire for an authoritarian government or strongman leader primarily as a response to perceived threats to their economic stability, social status, and traditional way of life. This mindset is often driven by a need for order, safety, and conformity in a society seen as increasingly chaotic, unstable, or threatening."

My opinion is that many of these ne'er-do-wells and apathetics are just too dumb or too lazy to make a good life for themselves. That leaves those of us who still have the will to be free to fight on, and I do mean fight hard, in the war against autocracy. I urge you to read the Crew article for the extensive timeline it contains on all of the above categories.

American democracy is not dead...it's just snoozing,

Donald Trump administration Incompetence reincarnated from the Keystone Kops

Keystone Kops

Remember the Keystone Kops, a group of fictional, humorously incompetent, and bumbling policemen from the 1910 silent slapstick comedies? The big difference between these guys and the Trump gang is that the Keystone Kops created their comedy for the purpose of entertaining us. On the other hand, Donald Trump and his minions can be hilarious with their stupidity, but they are dead serious with their plan to destroy this country. Between Trump and his top honchos, the chaos and confusion in the American government today is completely unprecedented.

For starters, we're at war again, an unconstitutional move by Dufus Rump bypassing the legal way of going through Congress. He did it to satiate his ego and to appease another country's leader who is also out of control, Benjamin Netanyahu. Although the Democrats are voicing their opposition--but some say too little, too late--the jellyfish Republicans in Congress continue to maintain their silence while covertly supporting Trump the whole time. Will it take something like Lyndon B. Johnson's "Daisy" ad to shake the radical right loose?

And, just yesterday in The Daily Beast Donald Trump...

"claimed that the Iran War was “very complete” after reportedly discussing his plans for peace with Vladimir Putin."

Okay, starting in March, Trump and Putin are once again communicating, with the Kremlin describing

Trump...Putin

their relationship as "businesslike, pragmatic and trustworthy". Neither trusts each other, never have, never will. They have been vacillating on Ukraine for over four years, a situation Dufus Rump promised at the beginning of his second term in office, he would end in 24 hours. One might wonder now, will this end up in another TACO incident, 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' Should this happen in the Iran war, not only does the U.S. lose face, we also expose a completely incompetent Trump administration.

On Monday, the White House maniac said...

“I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.”

Weijia Jiang, senior White House correspondent for CBS News added,,,

"that the U.S. is ‘very far’ ahead of his initial 4-5 week estimated time frame.”

The Daily Beast likened this comment to the claim...

"of President George W. Bush’s boast of “mission accomplished” on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, six weeks after he launched the Iraq War. The conflict lasted another eight years before the U.S. finally withdrew in 2011."

As of March 10, 2026, the war involving Iran, the United States, and Israel has escalated into a multi-front conflict spanning several countries in the Middle East. The war has spread and also covers Lebanon, Gulf Countries (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar), Iraq, Maritime Routes (Strait of Hormuz & Indian Ocean), and Turkey. And has the Trump administration either forgotten, or is it just ignoring the fact that Iran has two very strong allies, Russia and China. Not sure what it will take for these two to step in but when it happens...annihilation and decimation.

And then there is Pete Hegseth, an American Army National Guard veteran, former second-rate Fox News host, who, by the grace of Donald Trump became head of the largest defense system in the world as Sec. Defense. He and Dufus decided the word "Defense" wasn't threatening enough so now they call it Sec. War. Hegseth graduated from Princeton so you might think there is some gray matter. Now wouldn't an educated man know that he is committing murder when he blows up innocent people, killing 157 off the coast of Venezuela. Of course, it was all ordered by Trump.

Yet, during all of Trump's war mayhem, including his continuing adoration of Vladimir Putin...

"The Washington Post reported last week that Russia is providing key intelligence about the location and movements of U.S. assets to its Iranian allies."

Indubitably, is there any way to address this with any kind of reasoning or common sense? To add some clarification to the dilemma, Donald Trump became the oldest U.S. president inaugurated at age 78, with concerns regarding his cognitive health by multiple medical care professionals, political commentators, and observers. Here's an observation from The New York Times...

"Throughout [Donald Trump's"] political career, critics, opponents, and some observers have used terms like 'nuts,' 'crazy,' 'unhinged,' or 'dangerous' to describe his behavior, speeches, and decision-making."

MAGA, the cowardly Republicans of Congress and a host of his minion supporters still think the man is sane, doing a great job, responsible for a good economy and numerous other accolades only a gang of double-digits could dream up. It is simply inexplainable how anyone could be allowed to continue on their job when they were a major fuck-up from day one. I am talking about Kristi Noem, the former Sec. Homeland Security. It is beyond me how Dufus Rump could have hired this imbecile to begin with. It's really obvious, loyalty is sacred to Trump.

And that brings up the Oval Office lunatic's new nomination for Noem's old job at DHS. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) a strong Trump loyalist, will take over the shambles from a completely incompetent Kristi Noem. Among other drawbacks, Mullin fully supported Dufus Rump's war on Iran. He voted against certifying 2020 election results and jumped on Trump's bandwagon about election fraud. Mullin is taking over a department that is currently shut down, in large part due to Noem's mishandling, including the deaths of two innocent American citizens by ICE.

We could use a round of the Keystone Kops to to get a laugh or two in all this misery.

When conservatives turn against their own

 I have followed Wm. Kristol for years and it wasn’t very long ago that I considered him an ultra conservative that would never chastise the Republican Party, especially a GOP president. Enter Donald Trump to the political arena with his lies, sexual improprieties, corruption and a fascist appetite to consume America. Kristol has been after Trump for some time now and, if Democrats had adopted his passion to rid the country of the Oval Office lunatic, the left could be celebrating by now.

In Kristol’s recent piece in THEBULWARK, he pulls words from Lewis Carroll’s poem, “Jabberwocky,” in Through the Looking Glass. The words are “O Frabjous Day,” to represent the success of the No Kings protests against the Donald Trump administration on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2025. The conservative praised the seven million people who turned out to march across the country. Here it is straight from Wm. Kristol…

You might think that I’m too old and too experienced—dare one say, too jaundiced—to have been moved by the “No Kings” protests. To be honest, I rather doubted I’d really be moved by them.

But moved I was. And as we milled around in the party atmosphere in “downtown” McLean—with inflatable characters prancing and witty signs waving and drivers’ horns honking—I thought of these lines from Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem, “Jabberwocky,” in Through the Looking Glass:

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”He chortled in his joy.

This, from a man who is a dedicated conservative but, at the same time, loves his country too much to allow a fellow-conservative to destroy it. When I think of the Republican Congress that is supposed to be one of the checks and balances in our democracy, and the way they are not only ignoring Donald Trump’s vagaries, but these morons are supporting him to the hilt. And when the House or Senate cannot bail out Trump, SCOTUS comes to his rescue.

Kristol says the No Kings protesters “assembled peacefully and patriotically to protest Donald Trump and reaffirm their allegiance to the American idea.” Then he quotes one of my favorite writers…

“That idea was nowhere better stated than by Thomas Paine in Common Sense: ‘For as in absolute governments the King is Law, so in free countries the law ought to be King; and there ought to be no other.’”

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense argued for American independence from Great Britain and was crucial in swaying public opinion during the Revolutionary War. Not that Trump has any common sense but the forces in motion in those days are very similar to the No Kings Protests today. And what is horrifying is the White House maniac wants to stay where he is forever with Elon Musk and Robert F Kennedy, Jr. even talking about how to preserve him for eternity. This from the Daily Beast…

“Donald Trump has made no secret of the fact that he likes the idea of a third term, but he’s

 

now hinted that he might have something even more permanent in mind.

“The president posted about his eternal leadership in a video on Truth Social Sunday, showing him ruling for thousands of years beyond the original 2028 cutoff.”

Trump is currently selling 2028 hats at his official merchandise store. That should be a clue. If that isn’t enough, Trump biographer Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast that he believed a Trump third term could be a “very real possibility.” Here’s what Wolff said…

Speaking on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff suggested that the president would do whatever he had to in order to retain his position.

“The problem with this is that an authoritarian breaks so many rules and makes so many enemies that in order to avoid retribution, he has to stay in power. That is the nature of the game that is being played,” he said.

There are so many things that could happen between now and 2028, even before the midterms next year. I don’t really have much hope that Republicans will ever change their spots as long as Donald Trump is around. There are, however, some cracks in the framework of the Oval Office lunatic’s malicious blueprint. Miles Bruner says he was an “accomplice” of the Republican Party for the last twelve years. The term “accomplice” is defined as a person who helps another commit a crime.

Bruner did a piece in THEBULWARK titled: “My Last Day as an Accomplice of the Republican Party.” The sub-headline was: “Why I’m leaving the GOP and why I’m urging my former colleagues to do the same.” Yes, that is hope, but you have to consider the position at which Bruner worked, compared to members of Congress and what they have to lose compared to him. Bruner quit his job in protest. Congress would most likely lose their jobs if they crossed Trump.

The former Republican writes about a cult in the GOP that has clearly turned to an authoritarian regime, “the worst of the last one hundred years.” The words from the man’s mouth…

"For over twelve years, I worked inside the Republican ecosystem, helping the party advance its goals in several fields, ranging from grassroots voter outreach to digital fundraising. I worked inside GOP circles through Trump’s takeover of the party, his initial downfall, and his resurgence in 2023–2024. At every step along the way, I rationalized, compartmentalized, and found excuses to stay tethered to the party, even as I grew to believe it was undermining the foundations of our constitutional republic. But over the last few months, the compartmentalization and coping stopped working to silence my conscience.

"And now, after more than a decade, I have decided I have finally had enough.

"I quit. I quit the Republican party and my job as an accomplice to the party in the throes of an authoritarian cult. Today, I resigned from my career as a senior fundraising strategist for one of the leading Republican digital fundraising firms in Washington, D.C."

WOW! I probably should stop right here and let you read his letter in THEBULWARK but I can’t resist pointing out more about why he did what he did. Bruner is not the first and he mentions Tim Miller and his book, Why We Did It, with the following blurb on Amazon…

“Former Republican political operative Tim Miller answers the question no one else has fully grappled with: Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism?”

Miller worked at the Senate and presidential level, Bruner on state-level campaigns, so between the two there are perspectives from both ends of the spectrum. I strongly suggest you read his letter in THEBULWARK. You might also want to get a copy of Miller’s book, Why We Did It. Now I’ll leave you with this from Bruner…

“MY GOAL IN QUITTING the party and writing this piece is twofold: first, to shed light on why someone would continue to work for an increasingly corrupt and authoritarian political party despite their divergent ethical and political beliefs; second, to convince any number of consultants, staffers, and former colleagues to follow their consciences and leave with their integrity still intact.”

My guess is it will take many turncoats like Wm. Kristol, Miles Bruner, and Tim Miller to defeat Trumpism. But at least it’s a start.

There is someone who could bring down the Trump administration

This was No Kings Day Oct. 18, 2025

No one can say it like Robert Reich, the man and his rhetoric, who could send Donald Trump and his minions packing.  Here's what he said on X to kick off the No Kings Protests...

"As we resist tyranny, America gains solidarity. As we gain solidarity, we build courage. As we feel courageous and stand up to Trump, we weaken him and his regime. Let's continue to build solidarity by peacefully opposing our tyrant-in-chief today at No Kings Day 2.0."

One can only hope that these protests will produce a decline in t-Rump's power, leading to a return to democracy. Millions of Americans hit the streets last Saturday in peaceful protest against a dictatorial government "in the spirit of a street party," as The Guardian described it. The idea was to counteract the balderdash from a moron sitting in the U.S. House Speaker's seat by the name of Mike Johnson. He called the No Kings Protest the “hate America” protests and was seconded by another moron, Steve Scalise, House majority leader. Not enough brains between these two to come in out of the rain.

Reich did a piece in The Guardian early in October professing leverage by the Democrats because of the shutdown of the U.S. government. Here's what's happened...

Agencies and departments designed to protect consumers, workers and investors are now officially closed, as are national parks and museums.

Most federal workers are not being paid – as many as 750,000 could be furloughed – including those who are required to remain on the job, like air-traffic controllers or members of the US military.

So-called “mandatory” spending, including Social Security and Medicare payments, are continuing, although checks could be delayed. The construction of Trump’s new White House ballroom won’t be affected.

The former Labor Secretary expresses his experience with shutdowns but claims this one is different. One reason, "Republicans used an arcane Senate procedure called 'reconciliation', which allowed the big ugly (Trump's big beautiful) to get through with just 51 votes rather than the normal 60 required to overcome a filibuster." The bill barely made it with J.D. Vance breaking the tie with no Democrat votes. This put everything in motion for a shutdown which started on October 1. Results of the shutdown...

"The big ugly fundamentally altered the priorities of the United States 

Robt. Reich and Trump's "Big Ugly"

government. It cut about $1tn from healthcare programs, including Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, meaning that health insurance premiums for tens of millions of Americans will soar starting in January.

"The big ugly also cut nutrition assistance and environmental protection, while bulking up immigration enforcement and cutting the taxes of wealthy Americans and big corporations."

The big ugly was inevitable with Donald Trump in the White House, but what is not inevitable is Trump staying in the White House. Here's the scenario...

Senate Democrats refused to sign on unless most of the big ugly’s cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act were restored, so health insurance premiums won’t soar next year.

Even if Senate Democrats had obtained that concession, the Republican bill to keep the government going would retain all the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations contained in the big ugly, along with all the cuts in nutrition assistance, and all the increased funding for immigration enforcement.

Enter the Trump troika, Stephen Miller, Russell Vought and J.D. Vance. Vought, and Elon Musk before him, have irresponsibly fired thousands of federal employees, then found it was necessary to hire many of these people back immediately. As Reich puts it, they are firing those in jobs they don't value like the   Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. They have seized appropriations approved by Congress which the experts say is unconstitutional. What will happen...

"All of this is illegal, but it seems unlikely that courts will act soon enough to prevent the administration from harming vast numbers of Americans."

So here is Robert Reich's answer to this fiasco...

"If tens of millions of Americans lose their health insurance starting in January because they can no longer afford to pay sky-high premiums, Trump and his Republicans will be blamed."

Democrats have won political battles on healthcare in the past...

"Over the last two decades, Democratic political wins on healthcare include the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the expansion of ACA premium tax credits, and the Inflation Reduction Act's provisions to lower prescription drug costs."

January isn't that far away but, in the meantime, the left must keep up and increase their efforts like the No Kings Protests. 

Be sure and see the documentary, 'The Last Class' examines the legacy of professor Robert Reich."

Don't miss the No Kings Protests tomorrow

U,S. House Speaker, Mike Johnson, has branded himself as a certified idiot and the GOP as scared beyond comprehension of tomorrow's No Kings Protests by saying, "We refer to it by its more accurate description, 'The Hate America Rally.' I'm not sure how anybody can refute that." Only a double-digit IQ would make a statement like that in view of what Donald Trump has done to destroy this country. And also the work desperate and sincere Americans have achieved to demonstrate the fact they are fed up with Donald Trump and his minions.

The points made by Johnson in the above article are so preposterous and pathetic that it shows they clearly understand the No Kings movement as being something that can bring down the Trump administration and the radical right with it. So be sure and check for your protest location here, and then turn out on Saturday for the big day.

All hail the Republicans of the future...Racists, Anti-semetics, Rapists, Homophobics...

 

Young Republicans are caught

...And all of them are Trump minions, coming from all over the country,  including New York, Kansas, Arizona and Vermont. There are 15,000 of these Trump wanna-bes in a political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old. In this instance, they were connecting through the social media site, Telegram. Here's what Telegram is all about...

"Although Telegram's web interface does not favor violent posts, but its platform has been used to host and spread them due to its past history of light content moderation and focus on user privacy. While Telegram's terms of service prohibit calls for violence, the platform has been criticized for being a hub for extremist groups who share violent content in private or semi-private channels that are harder for moderators to police effectively."

Just wanted to set the stage for what I described in the headline, young people who are racists, anti-semetics, rapists, homophobic and much, much more. It was a Politico exclusive with the Headline, ‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat, that exposed what we can expect from the future GOP. I have been blogging for several years, have seen Republicans say and do things that were incorrigible, to say the least, but never have I witnessed an admission like this. This shows just how stupid Republicans are; they were hoping they wouldn't get caught.

As Politico described it, "Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape." And J.D. Vance's reaction to the Young Republicans, "Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’" Here is some of what he said...

“The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys,” Vance said on “The Charlie Kirk Show.” “They tell edgy, offensive jokes. That’s what kids do. And I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke — telling a very offensive, stupid joke — is cause to ruin their lives.”

Here's a scenario of the incident...

"The messages, more than 2,900 pages of which were reviewed by POLITICO, included more than 250 slurs, an instance in which rape was called 'epic,' and one person saying 'I love Hitler.'”

How do you justify Racists, Anti-semetics, Rapists, Homophobics in any sense of these words? This is not the America I signed up for and not the America I wish to live in. It is Donald Trump's America, one that has consistently spiraled down since he returned to the White House. There was hope that, from t-Rump's actions the left would regain the House and Senate in 2026, the Oval Office in 2028 but then SCOTUS decided to come to the aid of Republicans, again, by eliminating...

"The last remaining piece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act – section 2, which empowers the federal government to protect voters from racial gerrymandering meant to dilute Black political power..."

 The gist of SCOTUS' actions is...

"A neutering by the Supreme Court of the Voting Rights Act’s last remaining major provision would potentially trigger a political avalanche — an event that starts narrow but gathers momentum as it spreads across the national map.

"In this case, the benefit would be to Republicans seeking to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives, perhaps for many years to come."

I have said this before and I will say it again, the only way Republicans know how to win elections is to cheat, but, in this case SCOTUS will throw this and future elections in their lap. But back now to Republican desecration of our democratic ideologies. Inside the office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-Ohio), was an American flag altered to include a swastika. You can see it here in another Politico piece. There's more...

"The flag is pinned to what appears to be a cubicle wall behind Angelo Elia, one of Taylor’s staffers. Alongside the flag — with altered red and white lines in the shape of a swastika — are pinned images, including a pocket Constitution and a congressional calendar."

Angelo Elia

Taylor claims he knows nothing about the flag but the X post, above, "the flag" clearly shows a young man in the insert. Taylor's explanation...

“I am aware of an image that appears to depict a vile and deeply inappropriate symbol near an employee in my office,” Taylor said in a statement. “The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms.”

Before closing this post, I want to show you what these young American Nazis said in their tirade, but, first, reactions from  a top Republican...

The Chair of the Kansas GOP party, Danedri Herbert, announced Tuesday that the state's Young Republicans chapter has been deactivated.

"These comments do not reflect the beliefs of Republicans and certainly not Kansas Republicans at large, who elected a Black chair a few months ago," the statement read in part. "As of today, the Kansas Young Republicans organization is inactive."

Here's one of the leaders of the Kansas Young Republicans, the group that was officially deactivated...

William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n--ga” and “n--guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”

Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chair of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.

And now some actual quotes from this dangerously misguided group...

...we are officially under consideration for a Trump endorsement.

I’m ready to watch people burn now.

you're giving nationals to much credit and expecting the Jew to be honest.

Great. I love Hitler.

I’d go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey (Black person) play ball.

But, within all the above quotes...

If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr.

The Politico piece is well worth reading to illustrate the horrible and vicious state of the Republican Party, a situation clearly orchestrated by Donald Trump.

 

Donald Trump for Nobel Peace Prize? It wasn't for dictators

Although a dictator has never been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, some were nominated like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Benito Mussolini. Another dictator by the name of Donald Trump was nominated by Florida House Representative, Anna Paulina Luna, for brokering a historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. What she doesn’t say in her nomination is that Donald Trump has reached the bottom of the barrel as a human being and as a leader. The Oval Office lunatic is accused of…

"a wide range of “atrocious acts” or abuses of power across his two non-consecutive presidencies and in his personal life. These allegations include inciting an insurrection, attempting to subvert the 2020 election, using his office for personal enrichment, and engaging in sexual misconduct. Legal experts and government watchdogs have described his actions as a threat to democratic norms and institutions."

 In legal and ethical abuses, Donald Trump…

• was convicted for falsifying business records
• he attempted to overturn the 2020 election
• he incited the January 6 Capitol attack
• accused of Improper handling of classified documents
• he used the office of the President office for financial benefit and emoluments
• New York authorities found Tax fraud for Trump’s political and business interest

And then there are the sexual misconduct allegations…

• E. Jean Carroll defamation and sexual abuse lawsuit
• Recording of lewd comments in 2005 (”grab ‘em by the pussy”)
• As of 2025, at least 28 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, including rape, kissing, and groping without consent

There is so much more, like branding the media fake news when it disagrees with him, siccing his AG, the bumbling Bondi, on all his enemies including James Comey and Letitia James, Illegal firing of federal workers during the government shutdown, and the illegal transfer of hundreds of individuals to a foreign prison without due process. Then there is one of t-Rump’s worst offenses, use of the government to hold onto power for his corruption and personal financial gain.

Pam Bondi

But his sending in of troops to the Washington, D.C. , Los Angeles, Portland, OR, and Chicago is solid evidence of Trump’s authoritarian takeover of this country. And, CNN reports…


”US President Donald Trump spoke on Friday with Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado after his administration denounced the committee awarding her the honor.”

Apparently Machado did speak with Trump but would give up nothing from the conversation. According to CNN, “A growing number of world leaders have also said he should win the award.” This because of his peace progress in GAZA. The way I view it, some of the world and a select group in the U.S. consider the GAZA news separate from all of the above, with that of the above completely disregarded when making their decision. Something that makes absolutely no sense to me.

How can one not impinge on the other? How can you qualify a head of state to receive a distinguished award for peace when he has knowingly plunged his country into ideologies that provoke Big Brother, a police state and the loss of democracy? The White House, of course, disagrees. Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung said to the BBC…

“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace. President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”

Have you ever heard such bullshit? Here are the points from Cheung that just scream at the havoc t-Rump is wreaking on America: Trump is a peacemaker; Trump ends many wars; Trump saves lives; and here’s my favorite, Trump has the heart of a humanitarian. However, there is one point made by Cheung that I fully agree with, there is no one like Trump. I don’t know how close the Nobel committee came to choosing Donald Trump but with a year to go, we can only hope.

Here’s a twist, at least I didn’t expect, from the winner, Machado…

Machado herself praised Trump on X following her win, writing that “I dedicate this prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support of our cause!”

Machado won her Nobel Prize for fighting the Venezuelan authoritarian government under Nicolás Maduro. Yet Donald Trump is in the final stages of setting up an autocratic dynasty in America. You have to wonder, is Machado stupid, is her cause a hoax, or has she been brainwashed like Trump’s MAGA Maggots? Agreed, it is only the sane who realize the disaster Trump has set in motion, and, again, we can only hope there are enough of us to prevail in 2026.

On the other hand, with Maria Corina Machado’s position on Donald Trump, I would say she is on her own.

Violence is not the answer...or is it?

Trump's own Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection

Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor at American University and founding director of PERIL, the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab. says...

"the data over the last decade shows the majority of political violence originated from right-wing and white supremacist groups."

According to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll, 30% of the American public feel it will be necessary to resort to violence to get the U.S. back on course. Within the three political groups, the Democrats take the lead in agreeing with this trend. 28% of Democrats share that view, up 16 points. Independents are up 7 percentage points in agreement, Republicans 3 points. Since it is the right-wing and white supremacist groups that commit a majority of political violence, no wonder the lack of concern. On the other hand, Democrats are genuinely frustrated with a Trump administration that is destroying our country.

There is still no proven motive for the killing of Charlie Kirk by Tyler Robinson, but, according to Robinson's mother, her son had left leanings. Robinson said Kirk spread too much hate, and Common Dreams exclaimed...

"We can condemn political violence and this hideous murder while also condemning Charlie Kirk for the rotten, vile hatred he fomented."

In addition to the Charlie Kirk assassination, you might recall the murder of a Democratic state legislator and her husband in Minnesota in June, somebody tossed a Molotov cocktail into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in April, he is a Democrat, and there were two assassination attempts against Donald Trump while he was running for election. Miller-Idriss says the latest poll findings “should be a real wake-up call.” Then she adds...

“It’s a horrific moment to see that people honestly believe that there’s no other alternative at this point than to resort to political violence,” Miller-Idriss said. “One of the things you really want to see right now is universal condemnation of the use of violence and de-escalation of rhetoric.”

Yes, that should be, but we have a Trump administration and his MAGA maggots aggressively pushing

Million MAGA march violence

violence on both the domestic and international arenas. Now, 28% of Democrats are ready to take up the mantle. This country is between the biggest rock and a hard place it has ever been, and, without any plan to solve its problems. Miller-Idriss cautions...

“It is really important to show and to document the rise in the left and left-wing extremism,” she said. “It still doesn’t reach the threshold of any legitimate researcher I know of saying it’s the biggest threat.”

The country is divided half and half over its concern for those most threatened by violence between public officials and protesters. Republicans are more inclined to worry about public officials, Democrats for protesters. Again Miller-Idriss...

"said Americans 'do not want to see rising political violence be used as an opportunity for political leaders of any platform, of any party, to suppress freedom of speech, to attack individuals for their ideas when those ideas are protected free speech in this country, because that is a slippery slope to authoritarianism.'”

Executive Order 14149, titled "Restoring Freedom of Speech and Ending Federal Censorship", is an executive order signed by Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, the day of his second inauguration. Yet trump tried to silence ABC's Jimmy Kimmel this past September for bad-mouthing him, by pressuring the network to cancel his show, which it did. Kimmel did go back on the air but the damage was done and Walt Disney, ABC's owner, is suffering zero traffic in their amusement parks. A classic example of how the public can right a wrong by asserting their right of protest.

PBS notes how the Trump gang went all out to suppress any negative efforts against Charlie Kirk after his death, threatening those who disobeyed their order. FCC Chair Brendan Carr wanted to punish ABC for Kimmel's comments on the air, but a hefty number of Americans disagreed with this nonsense...

"Nearly eight in 10 Americans said the U.S. has gone too far in restricting the right to freedom of speech, according to the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. Another 19% said the country has gone too far in expanding freedom of speech. Nearly a third of Republicans share that view."

Just as with voting, Republicans want to silence anyone who disagrees with them. 

In a recent social media post, someone, in responding to Trump demanding applause from the 800 assembled top military brass in Quantico, VA, gave a quote from George Orwell: "All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force." Donald Trump conned us through his first trip to the White House. This time he has decided that it is time for the fury of his long sought revenge.

Is Donald Trump possessed?

Sometime recently, Jeffrey Wilson did an essay titled, "Trump is Satan, Paradise lost in Washington, D.C.,"  and, as of today, there is no response from t-Rump. But Google's AI did point out an interesting comparison...

"In September 2025, after a South Park episode depicted him [Trump] in a relationship with Satan, the White House (then occupied by President Trump) publicly denounced the show. An official statement described the series as 'fourth-rate' and 'hanging on by a thread' in a 'desperate attempt for attention'".

And you remember the story of Dr. Faustus, who sold his soul to the devil for unlimited knowledge and magical power. Donald Trump probably never heard of the classic where Faustus served the demon Mephistopheles for 24 years, but ultimately his choice leads to damnation after his time expires. Trump serves no one but himself, but is this an indication there is a limit to the Oval Office lunatic's time, and could that be soon? The Answer site questions whether Donald Trump is the Anti-Christ...

"It is common for people to seek to demonize those with whom they disagree politically. Calling a person the Antichrist is essentially declaring him or her to be Satan incarnate. Some on the far right were, and still are, convinced that former President Barack Obama was or is the Antichrist. Those who disagree with the political views of President Donald Trump throw the Antichrist label at him as well. This political demonization is ridiculous, as the biblical indicators of who is the Antichrist have nothing to do with conservative or progressive politics."

But there is evidence the Bible is political in this AI analysis...

The Bible is not a political document in a modern sense, but its texts have significant political dimensions and have been used to shape political societies throughout history. It provides guidance on government, authority, and justice, leading to varied interpretations and applications over time.

This is all a roundabout way of answering the question of whether Donald Trump is possessed. So now try this. Could he be the host of Satan, giving himself the strength and ability to continue to perform on a daily basis, committing the horrific atrocities he does in the name of Lucifer? The man is a physical wreck but keeps going. Don't get me wrong, this is no excuse for t-Rump's barbarity. He has been a bad person, doing bad things as long as anyone can remember, but since his second return to the White House he has become, well, The Angel of Darkness.

Amy Hawk, author of The Judas Effect, was a Jesus-loving, white, evangelical, church-attending, and ministry-leading wife and mom until she saw the video of Donald Trump mocking a disabled journalist. She immediately turned her back on Trump, stunning her conservative evangelical community. Disoriented and confused by the church's embrace of a man who is the antithesis of Jesus, Hawk turned 

to the Scriptures for answers. Here are some excerpts from her findings...

"Not every world leader is chosen by God. If they were, the Bible would not issue so many warnings about false leaders. Proverbs 25:5 says, 'Remove the wicked from leadership and authority will be credible and God-honoring.'”

"Much of the church was besotted by his conservative promises, which desperately tumbled forth from his mouth in an attempt to cater to the religious right. Those bewitching promises were so bright and attractive, they blinded some Evangelicals from following standard biblical protocol for weighing a leader, which is to 'test the spirits.'”

Hawk also makes the obvious comparison between Adolph Hitler and Donald Trump with this conclusion...

"Hitler’s murderous cruelty was inhumane, demonic, and without rival. I don’t want to diminish it by comparing it to Trump. But as far as behavioral psychoanalysis goes, the similarities in their personalities are stunning. Numerous articles have been written on the likenesses between the two men. Peter Ross Range wrote, 'To any serious student of Hitler’s frightening and unforeseen rise to power in Germany, the recurring echoes in Trump’s speeches, interviews, and his underlying thinking have become too blatant to overlook.'”

Hawk mentions something I have never heard before, "Trump has an unusual cruel streak, which has been documented from an early age"...

"A Trump neighbor from Queens recalls the time she set her baby in his backyard playpen, went inside for a few moments, and came back out to find that five- or six-year-old Donald was throwing rocks at him. Early classmates and teachers remember Donald as aggressive, surly, mischievous, and a pain."

In the movie, The Exorcist, Linda Blair was exorcised by a Catholic priest to drive out the evil spirit in her body. The film's exorcism did not work for Blair, and if it were tried on Donald Trump, probably would fail. The main ingredient in eliminating the possession is for the person to want it to go away. Trump would not only not want it to leave him, the world's greatest grifter would figure out a way to sell exorcism to the public.

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