May 7, 2025

The Fear Factor

Note: This is a edited and rewritten version of an OP I posted here yesterday. For one thing, it's shorter (though I still can't call it short, lol)

Dictators are rarely popular for very long. They’re not bothered when the public turns against them, not until the people stand up to them. Dictators succeed at unpopular endeavors all of the time. Most Americans disapprove of Trump, but it hardly matters. For the most part he’s turned his attention away from swaying the electorate now. That phase is over, he got what he needed, which was never about winning majority support. It was always about building a fanatical, hyper loyal base.

Prior to Trump, America's political leaders more or less believed their power ultimately derived from the people, and that without wide public support, their rule would eventually collapse. But the National Rifle Association long ago established that fanatical single issue voters can steer our political system, and Trump spun the concept of single issue voting completely around. No one issue need hold sway, rather loyalty to a leader would prevail. MAGA voters became Trump’s political shock troops, and within the insular combat circles of Republican Party primaries, their single focus devotion to his wishes almost always carried the day.

Trump wasn't content with political shock troops however. He recruited physical ones as well, and his January 6th insurrectionist mob was just the most visible tip of the iceberg. How many fake swatting calls regarding public officials have been made to police stations across the nation? How many anonymous death threats have elected officials, and judicial officers, and election workers, and their families, received? Members of the Republican Party who cross Trump now understand that doing so puts the safety of their families at risk. The vigilantes of MAGA world have little patience with traitors.

Lisa Murkowski literally acknowledged her fear. Mitt Romney stated that he knew of Republican Senators who voted not to impeach Trump, following the insurrection, because of the danger their families would face had they voted to convict. Since Trump's violent thugs were released from jail, thanks to his recent presidential pardons, those fears have faces. One of America's two great political parties is now operating under full cult lock down.

With the Republican Party obediently subdued, Congress offers no checks on Trump's ambitions. The Courts for now are a work in progress, but Trump is in a position now to appoint dozens of new Federal Judges screened primarily for their loyalty to him. Meanwhile his administration initiates five new unconstitutional actions for each one the courts find time to weigh in on. And the option to ignore any Court ruling is never far from mind. The law offers little in the way of long term resistance to an aspiring dictator. It can be bent beyond all recognition to a dictator's will, once those who interpret it, enforce it, and mold it, become subservient to a strongman.

With the executive branch at his disposal, Trump has his hands on every lever of the administrative state, while usurping additional legislative authority daily. That enables Trump to shift his attention now toward power centers less reliably under his direct control, from Major Law Firms, to Leading Universities, to not as of yet MAGA dominated aspects of the media. The government is fully weaponized on Trump's behalf Trump has the capacity to potentially intimidate virtually any public or private institution or individual, without having to literally resort to threats of force. Threats to withhold funding can suffice. Or moves to revoke licenses, or block mergers, or to investigate a tax-exempt status. And vigilantes aren't always needed when the FBI is under your thumb.

With the mere wave, or waiver, of a tariff Trump can punish or reward corporate leaders who, acutely aware of Trump's vindictive nature, now scramble to be viewed favorably by him. Meanwhile the ultimate specter of state sanctioned physical force remains an arrow lying ready in Trump’s quiver. He continually shuffles the leadership of federal security and defense forces, seeking those who will reliably follow his orders. No doubt Trump keeps a copy of The Insurrection Act on his bed stand, where Mein Kampf reportedly once lay.

The classic Sci Fi series Star Trek Next Generation popularized a phrase, voiced via The Borg: "Resistance is futile." It is the call of all dictatorships, attempting to create a self-fulfilling prophesy. We are less than a tenth of the way into Trump's second administration. His assertion of unprecedented power is still tentative. Americans have not yet forgotten what a relatively free society feels like. Resistance is far from futile.

Choices being made daily will determine the outcome: Businesses deciding whether to still embrace diversity, equality and inclusion. Publishers and producers of newspapers and news shows deciding whether coverage likely to incite the wrath of the President ever sees the light of day. Each capitulation makes further ones more likely. Every act of defiance inspires others to do the same. We can lock our doors, curl up, and watch Netflix. Or we can go out into the streets instead.

May 6, 2025

Trump courts fear above all else

Dictators are rarely popular for very long. They maintain and consolidate power through intimidation, and ultimately through the power of the state wielded to penalize, then destroy, all opposition. Dictators succeed at unpopular actions all the time. They don't stop if the public turns against them, until the people stand up to them. Most people disapprove of Trump. That doesn't matter.

Trump for the most part has turned his attention away from swaying the electorate now. That phase is over, he already got what he needed, which was never about attaining majority support. It was always about building a fanatical, hyper loyal base. The National Rifle Association long ago demonstrated the power that fanatical single issue voters could wield inside our political system. Trump spun the concept of a single issue voter completely around, so that no issue itself held ultimate sway, rather it became loyalty to a specific leader that mattered. Trump created his political shock troops, and within the insular combat circles of Republican Party primaries, their single focus devotion to his wishes almost always prevailed.

Initially that mimicked conventional politics. Republicans who might have opposed Trump's picks for elected office stood down instead, rather than deal with the stress of an ugly campaign. Why bother, they might have thought? Wrong people have been elected before without our democracy being fundamentally threatened. But Trump wasn't content with just marshaling metaphoric political shock troops. He recruited physical shock troops as well, and his January 6th insurrectionist mob was just the most visible tip of the iceberg.

Prior to Trump America's political leaders more or less believed their power ultimately derived from the people, and that without public support, their rule would eventually collapse. Most gathered that support conventionally, through some elements of persuasion. Others manipulated public opinion to their favor, through propaganda, distortion of the truth, and/or by sowing divisions flamed by hatred. Trump falls in the latter group, but he differs from those who came before him. He's not trying to game the system, he's working to abolish it, so that he no longer needs public support to rule. His power is not drawn from the consent of the governed, increasingly it rests on fear.

How many fake swatting calls regarding public officials have been made to police stations across the nation? How many anonymous death threats have elected officials, and judicial officers, and election workers, and their families, received? How many false bomb threats? Hell, how many REAL bombs have been left, and/or Molotov cocktails thrown, and/or bullets fired into campaign offices around the nation? Not to mention vote tabulation centers put under siege, and even school boards physically menaced?

The law offers little in the way of long term resistance to an aspiring dictator. It can be bent beyond all recognition to a dictator's will, once those who interpret it, enforce it, and mold it, become subservient to a strongman.

With each consolidation of his growing power, Trump raises the stakes. Members of the Republican Party who cross Trump now understand that doing so puts the safety of their families at rusk. The vigilantes of MAGA world have little patience with traitors. Lisa Murkowski literally acknowledged her fear. Mitt Romney stated that he knew of Republican Senators who voted not to impeach Trump, following the insurrection, because of the danger their families would face had they voted to convict. Since Trump's violent thugs were released from jail, thanks to his recent presidential pardons, those fears have faces. One of America's two great political parties is now operating under full cult lock down.

With the Republican Party obediently subdued, Congress offers no checks on Trump's ambitions. The Courts for now are a work in progress, but Trump is in a position now to appoint dozens of new Federal Judges screened primarily for their loyalty to him. Meanwhile his administration initiates five new unconstitutional actions for each one the courts find time to weigh in on. And the option to ignore any Court ruling is never far from mind.

With the executive branch at his disposal, Trump has his hands on every lever of the administrative state, while usurping additional legislative authority daily. That enables Trump to shift his attention now toward power centers less reliably under his direct control, from Major Law Firms, to Leading Universities, to not as of yet MAGA dominated aspects of the media.

The government is fully weaponized on Trump's behalf. Used as a tool of suppression and retribution, it has enormous weight By wielding the power of the State, Trump has the capacity to potentially intimidate virtually any public or private institution or individual, without having to literally resort to threats of force. Threats to withhold funding can suffice. Or moves to revoke licenses, or block mergers, or to investigate a tax exempt status. And vigilantes aren't always needed when the FBI is under your thumb.

With the mere wave, or waiver, of a tariff Trump can punish or reward corporate leaders who, acutely aware of Trump's vindictive nature, now scramble to be viewed favorably by him. The private sector has begun bending to his will as well. Meanwhile the usefulness of physical force has never been forgotten. Trump continually shuffles the leadership of all security and defense forces, implanting those who will reliably follow his orders. No doubt Trump keeps a copy of The Insurrection Act on his bed stand, where Mein Kampf reportedly once lay. America as we know it is in transition. We are not yet in a dictatorship, but we are moving toward one.

The classic Sci Fi series Star Trek Next Generation popularized a phrase ominously voiced by The Borg: "Resistance is futile." It is the call of all dictatorships. If believed by enough of us it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. The foundation of a new American political system is actively being laid, but the concrete has not yet set.

We are less than a tenth of the way through Trump's second administration. It's assertion of unprecedented powers is still tentative It can still be countered. Resistance is far from futile, it is our only way forward. Americans have not yet forgotten what a relatively free society feels like. It can't be taken from us without a fight, and that's a fight we can and will win if enough of us refuse to retreat.

Thousands of choices are made daily that collectively will determine the outcome. Businesses must decide whether it's consistent with their values to openly pay tribute to diversity, equality and inclusion. Publishers of newspapers, and producers of news magazines, must decide whether or not to risk the wrath of a vengeful President by printing a scathing editorial cartoon, or airing a critical look at administration policies. Partners in major law firms can make concessions to avoid an Executive Order targeting them, or they can confront the unconstitutional basis of them in Court. Republican legislators and judges who still value a true democracy can act in accordance with their actual beliefs in order to preserve it, or prioritize their careers instead.

Every capitulation facilitates the next one. Each act of defiance inspires another.
All of us can go out into the streets. Or we can lock our doors, curl up, and watch Netflix instead, while hoping that the midterms can save us.

April 19, 2025

If there were a HPE purge of most libraries, 80% of the books would vanish

HPE* policies are embedded into virtually all American institutions. Immediate pervasive actions are needed to root this out.

*Homogeneous Privileged and Exclusive.

April 7, 2025

I hate it, but I'm rooting for a continuing Wall Street meltdown

Real people, working people and retirees, are getting hurt. I know that. And sure. all people are real, I know that too. I don't begrudge anyone wanting to take a long anticipated vacation cruise, or having the means to buy a weekend cottage on a lake. I'm of limited means and retired, so I get how important an adequately funded IRA can be. But the money anyone has invested in the stock market aren't the funds needed to put food on their table this week. Money held in stocks aren't earmarked to pay the rent this coming May 1st. I regretfully conclude that meaningful pain is needed to compel the people of our nation to take dramatic actions now. We can not wait for midterm elections. So let that pain manifest on Wall Street.

The truth is that our nation, and our world, was in crisis before Trump imposed his massive tarries. Climate change is pushing us toward an environmental catastrophe, and the United States government has retreated from our commitment to fighting it.. Democracies have been in retreat world wide, autocracies are marching full speed ahead, and the United States is rapidly becoming the major case in point.

Freedom and justice can be deemed God given rights, but God isn't defending them for us, we have to do that work ourselves. Wake up calls can't be polite in a time of crisis. It's too tempting to too many to simply hit the snooze alarm and roll over. People have to jump out of bed and mobilize before we're engulfed in a four alarm fire. At that point it's too late.

So let alarm bells ring on every floor. Let the sirens wail and automatic sprinkler systems drench us. There can't be business as usual if our businesses burn down.

April 4, 2025

Reality Endorsed Trump's Megalomania. Why Would He Listen To Anyone?

Trump companies declared bankruptcy six times, and continually had to be bailed out by mega banks, yet he managed to run for President posing as a highly successful businessman. Trump boasted he couldn't be corrupted because he was filthy rich and would bankroll his own campaign, and then bled dry the savings of thousands of supporters with dozens of email appeals for funds. He defeated high profile Republican Senators Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination after all of them called him scum, but they all licked his boots once he became President.

Trump started his first term as President by flouting his disregard for the U.S. Constitution's Emoluments Clause, rendering it arcane and unenforceable, establishing a precedent for how he would relate to other Constitutional impediments to his personal agenda going forward. Semi-independent voices inside the Republican Party during Trump's first time, like Senators Bob Corker and Jeff Flake, folded up shop and chose not to run for reelection. The same for Mitt Romney after a single term. Others, like Liz Cheney, were primaried out of office. Donald Trump has placed one of the oldest, largest and successful political parties in history completely under his thumb, something deemed unthinkable ten years ago.

Trump flipped 80 years of American foreign policy on its head, turning our allies into adversaries and our enemies into his personal friends, exchanging love letters with Kim Jong Un and showing admiration for ex KGB officer Vladimir Putin. Trump essentially was impeached for trying to overthrow the government, and then four years later got elected to lead it again. Once back in office he decapitated and decimated the ranks of the FBI, and our entire national security apparatus, which once raised red flags about the dealings Trump and his inner circle had with Russia. He's now purged the Justice Department of the strong voices it retained that once vigorously upheld the rule of law in America.

Time after time legal attempts to hold Trump accountable for his myriad serious misdeeds have been stymied in the courts, and ultimately rendered moot, if not formally dismissed, by "his" Department of Justice. Trump proclaimed that the 2020 election was stolen from him without offering a shred of proof. Numerous investigations and dozens of court rulings debunked his claim, but most Republicans now swear by his lies. The January 6th insurrection was viewed live by tens of millions of horrified Americans, yet Trump proclaims those who took part in it as American patriots, while pardoning all of them of even the most viscous violent crimes they participated in. Among those who now control Congress a few mild words of disapproval were voiced, but none that undermine steadfast loyalty shown to the man who would be dictator.

And the United States Supreme Court has ruled that Trump, unique among Americans, is immune to criminal prosecution for crimes that he commits while doing his job.

So why, one might ask, would Donald Trump care what others might think of the views he holds or acts on? Some say "it's only paranoia if it isn't true." The same might be said for megalomaniac delusions.

March 22, 2025

I believe this is what sets Bernie and AOC apart from most who now hold national positions with Democratic support

In a nut shell it's their explicit condemnation of rampant greed in America, and how that greed coupled with concentrated power is rapidly destroying the chance for most Americans to live decent lives. Note, I didn't say that they stand out from all elected Democrats in that regard, just from most. Further, I fully acknowledge that virtually all elected Democrats share a strong concern for the economic well being of both working and middle class Americans, and that their votes typically reflect those concerns.

What stands out for me about Bernie and AOC in particular, though, is their focus on the long term big picture, and their utter lack of moral ambiguity in regards to economic inequality. They are unafraid to call it blatant wholesale thievery by the top 1% of Americans at the expense of the bottom 90%, who increasingly must struggle to get by.

I'm going to use a photography metaphor here, and reference needing to choose which details constitute the foreground, and which the background, in the composition of a picture. Our side of the aisle, broadly speaking, pretty much agree on what the picture of America today encompasses, It's in the focus that differences emerge. Exposing and opposing greed is in the foreground of Bernie and AOC's messaging, it's not relegated to some corner in the background. In the finest tradition of the American Labor movement. they don't hesitate to loudly call out, "Whose side are you on?" They aren't cowered by the fear that they'll be called out for being "anti-business", because they stress the abject immorality inherent in allowing three hyper rich Americans to control more wealth than the bottom half of all our citizens combined. They do not shy away from emphasizing the obscene aspect of "obscene wealth."

Far too often I've heard leading Democrats go out of their way to assure the public at large that Democrats have no quarrel with anyone accumulating unlimited wealth, so long as they pay "their fair share" of taxes - defined for the most part as a fixed percentage of earned income, a percentage that has shrunken considerably since Reagan's "Revolution." Wanting to avoid being seen as "embracing class warfare" too easily results in unilateral rhetorical disarmament.

Most Americans are getting a very raw deal under this oligarchy, and virtually all of them know it. They aren't always as clear though on who is to blame. But Bernie and AOC leave little doubt on that. They paint our common enemies in bold colors and painstaking detail. They keep it front and center. And it isn't just Donald Trump and Elon Musk and whatever Republicans happen to be in office at the moment. The Gilded Age of a century past never ended in the dreams and aspirations of the amoral heirs of that prior oligarchy. Their continued greed increasingly bleeds vitality from the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans today.

Frankly, I'm mot surprised that Bernie and AOC's "Fight Oligarchy' campaign is resonating so strongly in parts of our nation no one would confuse with being solidly blue, that instead were purple or even red in the 2024 election. They are not mincing words. They are naming names and assigning blame. Bernie and AOC's straight forward indictment of greed at the expense of human needs, is breaking through.

March 14, 2025

If a Government shutdown actually would help Trump's ultimate agenda, Trump would have arranged it.

When the dust of conflicting arguments finally settles, that's the truth that stands. It would have been so easy for Republicans to make sure that their so called Continuing Resolution failed to clear the House. Johnson whipped the Republican caucus HARD to get it to pass. He could easily have let a few Freedom Caucus fanatics go astray, which would have killed it cold. If Trump's authoritarian power grab is made easier by a government shutdown, he simply could have guaranteed that it happen. If that was what he wanted he could have made it so, and not have risked having Democrats help keep the government open b allowing the "continuing Resolution" pass the Senate..

March 13, 2025

If for NO OTHER REASON, Dems must defeat the Repubs Continuing Resolution...

...because the House has language in it that blocks the ability of Congress to scale back or eliminate Trump's trade war tariffs. Americans already disapprove of those tariffs, and soon they will absolutely loathe them as their cost of living surges.

No longer will complaints mostly focus on the cost of eggs alone. Energy costs will rise. The cost of virtually any product made using metals will surge, food from Mexico and overseas will spike. Meanwhile the economy of every state that exports agricultural products will go into a tailspin.

Democrats can and should force votes on ending the trade wars. But they give up that right if the Continuing Resolution passes. Talk about unilateral disarmament!

March 13, 2025

Republicans don't grasp what's about to hit them

...if Trump doesn't pull the plug on his world wide trade war really soon. Increasingly, it's looking like he won't, probably because he knows he won't get away with spinning it as a win if he does. Earlier, he might have pulled that off, at least in the eyes of his base. Behind the scenes he could have worked out some face saving gestures that Mexico, Canada, and Europe might have allowed him, some minuscule concessions on their parts, that Trump could have inflated beyond all rational bounds to claim "victory." Now however he's poured so much gasoline on the fire that other nations increasingly are defiant. None trust Trump at his word, it is worth nothing. Why make concessions for good will when no good will will be given in return? More likely, sensing weakness, Trump would just stab them in the back,

Trump has boxed himself in with these trade wars, the only thing he is wired to do is escalate. He is psychologically incapable of a full scale retreat. Increasingly I believe America's recent strong allies will comprehend that the best way to neuter Trump is to turn the American public strongly against him. To make that happen, Americans need to suffer real economic pain, that can be pinned directly on Trump. The trade wars that Trump launched will do just that. Of course the people of our until recent allies will suffer also, but Trump has stoked Anti-American feelings inside all of those nations. They won't blink first, it has become almost a real war and they know that Trump must first be humbled, and then destroyed. They will blame Trump as well, not their own governments.

The plummeting stock market has broken through and captured the American public's attention, but that is just the opening act. Trade war sticker shock has yet to take hold. Prices are about to rise sharply for goods and services across the board. When they do, those who brought it on, Trump, Musk, and their sycophants in Congress, will face widespread public rage, and all their ravings against transgenders in women's sports will fail to deflect it.

February 21, 2025

A Modest Proposal: One Billion Dollar Political Campaign

Broadcast TV ads, Cable TV ads, Radio, social media, billboards, signs, mailers, bumper stickers, podcasts, phone banks, door knocking,, all of it. Everything that Democrats employ/deploy to wage a presidential election campaign; not just for a day, not just for a week, but sustained for several months. Starting now, we can't wait for. 2028.

Marshall McLuhan once famously said: ""The medium is the message" Of course the message conveyed by a major political campaign matters. But what will matter more is the fact that one occurs. One bearing witness to an existential crisis in America, not timed to a predictable regular political cycle. We have exited bushiness as usual, though not everyone has fully grasped that yet, not its deepest implications.

These are not normal political times. On some level everyone knows it, but it needs to dominate our national perception. Like the danger to the Union was made incontrovertible by the outbreak of the Civil War. Like the violent disintegration of the entire world order was brought home to Americans by the attack on Pearl Harbor. We are entering times like those, and we can't react as if the stakes were merely how can Democrats best position themselves to retake the House in 2026.

Better political minds than mine can craft the most effective talking points, visual imagery, dramatic theme music, slogans, settings, and the like. But the cost to average Americans, the price they will pay if the Trump regime and it's billionaire backers get their way, must be driven home forcefully, and an occasional snippet of an outraged and/or alarmed public figure broadcast on the evening news (or its modern equivalent) just doesn't cut it. This is the break glass moment, and people need to hear it shattering.

The scale of a campaign IS the wake up call for America, more so than the literal content of it. People MOBILIZE in the face of extreme threats, they don't rehash commentary on it. The scale of the reaction to Trump's unconstitutional seizure of power has to be commensurate with the gravity of the moment. It would be unprecedented for pro-democracy forces in America to commit to and launch a political messaging campaign equivalent to the blitzkrieg of a heated presidential campaign in the fall preceding a presidential election. The medium is the message. That's what an effective wake up call looks like.

For those who might say that the money is not there to pull that off now, what makes you think we will be in a better position to pull it off in 2028? We have all witnessed the corrosive influence of "obedience in advance." Trump is consolidating power daily, the more he accumulates the more likely others are to fall silent in the face of it. What good is it to keep your powder dry only to have it later confiscated by the enemy and added to his arsenal?