Is there any question that it takes a village to destroy a democracy? The first generation of Republican sellouts (snatched bodies!) included Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, along with such stalwart party prostitutes as Ted Cruz and the indomitable (insufferable) Lindsay Graham, who following the January 6^th Capitol insurrection completely reversed his condemnation of Donald Trump when confronted by an irate constituent at the airport.  Most of these people know better (many have said as much in private), but desperate to hang onto power, they bend to Trump’s misguided MAGA “base.” 

The second generation of lost souls, people like former A.G. Bill Barr and Governor Chris Sununu, both of whom have said disparaging things about Trump since he left office, now support him in a rematch with President Biden.  Why?  What’s driving their change of heart?  They claim to fear Biden’s so-called radical liberal/leftist policies more than they fear Trump.  Translation: they fear letting down the republican donor class far more than they fear the destruction of American democracy—just so long as their authoritarian leader supports that same donor class.  These people should know better, but like much of the MAGA base, they don’t put much stock in democracy anymore.

And let’s not forget the pathetic Trump sycophants who have been indicted one by one (e.g., Rudy Giuliani, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis). What attracted them to a man like Trump and why would they remain loyal to him unless they agreed with the awful venom he spews?  Even more perplexing are the people working for Trump’s 2024 campaign; what makes them think their fate will be any different from that of the last batch of suckers?  If Trump can’t pay his own legal bills, he’s unlikely to pay theirs.

The Economic Interests of the Top 1% have Melded with the Rage of White Christian Nationalism.

Politicians are always beholden to their benefactors, but what we have now is something very different.  The Republican donor class and all the snatched bodies know how horrible Trump is, that he’s a bogus conman and potential authoritarian who will put the entire American democratic experiment at risk, but they remain unphased.  I fear that what we have is the perfect melding of the selfish interests of the top 1% with the sudden growth of white Christian nationalism, the result of which is very different—far more dangerous and insidious—than the old ploy of simply using social issues (God, guns, and gays) to instill anger and fear in working class victims. . .  I mean voters.

But again, it takes a village to destroy a democracy, and when it comes to the breadth and scope of Trump’s enablers—from the Supreme Court to the hapless fools in the “clown car”—we should consider who is a victim and who is a perpetrator.  Sadly, many members of the “Grand Old Party” are willing to sacrifice anything and everything to defend white, Christian patriarchal America. I fear that is the overriding cultural imperative driving the MAGA Republican conspiracy against democracy—white Christian’s fear of losing control of their country per the “great replacement” theory.  And even worse, should all the spineless, soulless zombies fail to accomplish their task through the electoral process, a sizeable portion of Trump’s MAGA followers now say violence might be necessary to “save” America.

That should tell you something about the status of healthcare at the time the Arizona abortion law was enacted.  As for the status of women in 1864, things weren’t much better; they didn’t yet have the right to vote and weren’t equal to men under the law.  And Black people?  The U.S. Supreme Court’s 1857 Dredd Scott Decision declared them lesser beings unfit for citizenship, and the 13^th Amendment, which finally ended slavery, wasn’t passed until late 1865, following the Confederacy’s defeat.  Is it any wonder that an abortion law enacted in 1864 might be a trifle antiquated?  Thank goodness the world has changed since my day.

I’ve often spoken of MAGA’s nostalgic version of America’s past, including their desire to return to the idealized world portrayed in Little House on the Prairie. Putting aside the 300-year genocide of native Americans necessary to free up the land on which the little house sits, something conveniently missing from their romanticized version of history are the grave markers that often surrounded houses of that sort in the 19^th century.  While the graves sometimes contained grandma and grandpa, they most frequently contained children who died as infants, newborns, and even miscarriages.  And they also contained the bodies of women, the pioneer’s previous wives who had died during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly thereafter, as was frequently the case due to the lack of modern medical knowledge or care.

NEWSFLASH fanatical anti-abortion MAGAs—”women’s reproductive healthcare” isn’t just a catchy slogan dreamed up by pro-choice advocates to obscure the fact that abortion ends the life of the fetus.  Women’s reproductive healthcare is something that wasn’t available until recent decades and shouldn’t be taken for granted; without it women can suffer and die.

MAGAs Would Like to Take Us Back to the Days Before the Civil War.

It’s hardly surprising that right-wing MAGAs are happy with an abortion law dating back to 1864; they’d probably be happy with just about any law from that era.  They don’t want women to have equal rights, they don’t want African Americans or other people of color to have equal rights, and they certainly don’t want LGBTQ people to have equal rights.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Opposition to reproductive autonomy isn’t based on concern for the unborn, it’s based on the desire to maintain the patriarchal power structure—the notion that a woman is a child-bearing vessel rather than a human being who is a man’s equal.

Something else I’ve frequently spoken about is how MAGAs want to go back to the time before the civil rights era, back to the “happy days” of the 1950s. Well, once again the joke is on this humble spirit—the 1950s would hardly satisfy their obsessive need to go back in time.  If given the opportunity, as now presented in Arizona, they would like to take the country back to the days before the Civil War freed the slaves, even if it means sacrificing humankind’s progress during the last 160 years.  Never mind what life was really like for their ancestors, never mind all the graves surrounding that little house on the prairie.

Alas, the man knows no bottom and his lack of respect for his Christian “base” and their faith is boundless. He has the audacity to compare himself to Jesus Christ, while failing to live a single Christian virtue. He proudly casts himself as a Christ-like martyr (“I’m being indicted for you”), and some of his loyalists even say he was “appointed” by God and that his critics are trying to “crucify” him. No matter if all this godliness is in direct contrast to his threats and boast (“I am your retribution”), the base doesn’t seem to care.

Trump portrays himself as the defender of Christianity (the Bible debuting Easter week, no less!), while he is on trial for paying off a porn star he had an affair with. He says, “Christians are under siege in this country and we must protect content that’s pro-God,” but there is nothing pro-God about either his selfish life or his cruel policies. He claims the Bible is his favorite book and he has many in his home, but when asked about his favorite verse, he’s hard-pressed to respond, because he’s obviously never read the bible and has no intention of doing so anytime soon. (What happened to “thou shalt not lie”?)

Trump has Proclaimed Himself to Be God’s Chosen Emissary on Earth.

Putting the snake oil issue aside, inserting the text of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence in a “God Bless the USA Bible” is the ultimate gesture of Christian Nationalism, the very antithesis of separation of church and state. A sizeable portion of Trump’s white Christian base has decided that America was founded as a Christian nation, a notion about as valid as their belief the 2020 election was stolen. This humble spirit grew up in a devout church-going family and lived during the 19th century’s second and third “Great Awakenings,” but I’m here to tell you, these people have totally lost it!

If you look back on Trump’s life, it’s nothing but a series of grifts and frauds, and above all, a colossal failure. He has never contributed anything of value to anything or anyone, least of all the country or the MAGA supporters he so falsely purports to love. His life has played out like an over-the-top parody of the “American dream” that reminds this humble spirit of John Updike’s novels about a character named Rabbit Angstrom, a successful car salesman—Rabbit Run, Rabbit Redux, Rabbit is Rich, and Rabbit at Rest. And what has Trump given us? Rabbit Declares Corporate Bankruptcy Six Times (which includes a special bonus section, Rabbit Screws Over Atlantic City Contractors), Rabbit Grabs Women by Their P******, Rabbit Attempts a Coup, Rabbit Aspires to Becomes a Fascist Dictator, and, finally, out of desperation to stay out of prison, Rabbit Hawks Tacky Christian Nationalist Bibles.

Democrats not only have a messaging problem, but I fear that much of what they’re touting is nothing but nibbling around the edges of the overwhelming elephant in the (American) room—our ever-growing, incredibly dysfunctional, economic inequality.  Things like “shrinkflation” and junk fees are valid issues, but even something as important as reducing drug costs is relative minutia in an economic system that’s so out of whack it no longer works for most Americans.  The fact that corporations and the wealthy aren’t paying what Biden calls their “fair share” of taxes is a gross understatement.  But ever since the advent of Ronald Reagan’s “trickledown” economics in the 1980s—with help from globalization, automation and technology—nibble is pretty much all the Democrats can do—and in 2024 it’s at risk of coming up short.

Have you heard Trump’s speeches lately?  They’re nothing short of frightening, full of his trademark “retribution” and downright dystopian, including a “bloodbath.” Mostly he just rails incoherently for over an hour.  The rest of us may not understand much of what he’s talking about, but his diehard fan base laps it up.  They love him and sincerely believe he loves them in return.  If there’s one thing this humble sprit has learned in his 150+ years hovering about the earth is how hard it is to know anything for certain, but I’ll go out on a limb and say Donald Trump doesn’t love these people. (It’s doubtful he loves anyone except his vulgar, orange self.)

It’s Become a Cliché, but MAGAs Vote Against Their Own Economic Interests.

I’ve said it before, but I can’t say it enough: Biden and the Democrats claim to be defending “democracy” against Donald Trump and his MAGAS, but far too many Americans no longer think democracy is working for them, so why shouldn’t they turn to an authoritarian demagog, who at the very least speaks to their grievances?  Too many people think democracy just means being stuck in a system that’s hopelessly rigged against them. Maybe MAGAs vote against their own economic interests, but it’s the overwhelming conundrum we’re stuck in.  

It’s a sad state of affairs when the rest of us consider MAGAs—a sizeable portion of our fellow citizens—to be the American “Yahoos” (think Gulliver’s Travels, not a big tech company) about to overrun the castle gates (not an unreasonable fear given how they overran the U.S. Capitol on January 6), but that’s where we are. 

“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely. We didn’t get all the way there on January 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this.” He held up a cross necklace and continued: “After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America.”

Well, what a lovely sentiment.  Despite almost 200 years of observing humanity’s embarrassing foibles, this humble spirit can’t get over just how blatant these MAGAs are about their intention to dismantle America as we know it.  It’s hard to know where to begin, but once again I’m struck by their shameless audacity, their presumption that the rest of us will all sit idly by as they destroy our democracy—seemingly in favor of a theocracy (I’d say autocracy but note the reference to a “cross necklace”)—and burn our country to the ground.

The reason these people hate democracy and want to overthrow it is because they know they are a minority whose far-right, fascistic agenda can no longer prevail in a democratic system—unless, of course, they lie, cheat and steal (elections).  What I’ve never understood about the “Big Lie” or the January 6 insurrection is why MAGAs believe it’s acceptable to try to steal an election and, in effect, disenfranchise millions of their fellow citizens.  Donald Trump and his MAGAs clearly exemplify the adage, “if someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Who in Hell do MAGAs Think They are, Trying to Hijack America for Themselves?!

MAGAs not only want to dictate to the majority, somewhere along the way they decided they own the trademark on “America” and fervently believe that people who share their right-wing views are the only “real” Americans inhabiting (Sarah Palin’s) “real America,” presumably a place filled with white people who wish to return to a time before the Civil Rights era and relive “Happy Days” forever while they cling to a cross necklace. (Except for the ones still reliving “Little House on the Prairie” while clinging to a cross necklace.) The big question, of course, is what constitutes a “new American Republic,” the country they intend to force down our throats, and what will satisfy their obsessive desire for “retribution”?  I fear the answers aren’t pretty.

A good portion of their wish list is outlined in the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” including an almost 900-page “collective” document entitled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” screeds that lay their intentions bare and definitely show us who they are.  The 400 so-called “conservative scholars” who contributed to the latter’s authorship presumably think they have a “mandate” to “deconstruct the administrative state” even if it requires stealing the election.

Although it remains unclear just how this MAGA cult of real Americans has been “betrayed” and how far they will go to achieve satisfactory “retribution” for their many grievances, they make no secret that the remedy requires dominating and controlling the rest of us, our freedom be damned.  A project of that sort clearly entails taking things a good deal further than what’s included in Project 2025.  That’s where it gets scary—and why your humble spirit is glad to be up here rather than down there with you mortals.

As I’ve discussed before, it should be acknowledged that we have a tremendous problem at our southern border based on a confluence of factors, but MAGA fear of brown immigrants “invading” the country (“they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists,” etc.) is way overblown and clearly harkens back to white America’s primal fear of slave rebellions and Indian uprisings.  If there’s anything these people hate more than Critical Race theory (CRT) it’s facing the inescapable truth that white-skinned Europeans conquered North America for Christendom and grew wealthy and powerful because the “Cotton Kingdom” enslaved Africans for profit.  American school children were taught that everything their white Christian nation did was unquestionably noble and righteous, a fantasy-laden version of a history that wasn’t very pretty.  In fact, to their minds, “taming the wilderness” is at the very core of what made America great, and can seemingly make it “great again”—with the help of an authoritarian leader like Donald Trump.

MAGA Christian nationalism seeks to give that old fantasy-laden version of American history a new lease on life, the perennial lipstick on a pig. Perpetuating this fantasy is a terrible burden, a cross to bear, if you’ll pardon the terrible pun.  Perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect people to abandon a fantasy of such mythic proportions—the biggest lie among all America’s big lies—but forcing the rest of us to live in their fantasy is no less unrealistic.  In fact, if Donald Trump’s first term in office is any indication, it’s downright painful.

Trump’s Romance with Putin is an Ugly Symptom of White Christendom’s Battle Against Pluralist Democracy, the Non-White, the Woke, and the Inevitably Global.

MAGAs’ inability to confront the reality of history is driving them to seek the protection of a terrible demagogue, Donald Trump, who pretends to be their champion and savior. Trump not only doesn’t care about NATO or Ukraine’s destruction, as Putin’s most useful idiot (in a close race with Tucker Carlson) he’s happy to allow the murderous Russian dictator to restore the Russian empire, the world order of 75 years and the future of the NATO countries be damned.  Afterall, bombastic white men’s empires are something Trump’s stupid, narcissistic mind can easily relate to, and MAGAs don’t care if Putin is sending thousands of Russian soldiers to their death on behalf of a mythic “Russian motherland;” no, they see him as an ally in their battle against the non-white, the woke, the pluralist, and the inevitably global (never mind that Ukraine and the NATO countries are “whiter” than many of the far-flung ethnic Russians Putin is sacrificing on behalf of his war effort, something that is also fodder for a separate discussion, pardon another sad pun.) 

MAGAs are frightened and looking for a king who will protect them.  They consider anyone or anything that threatens their fantasy to be their enemy, and they’ll seemingly fight a holy war to the death to preserve it.  America fought a revolution to escape living under a monarchy, but now MAGAs want a king, whether it be Trump, Putin, or even Viktor Orban, Trump’s idol in Hungary (no, not Turkey, Donald!), any authoritarian white man they mistakenly think will fight for their, inevitably lost, cause.

Their latest threat of civil war is looming at the Texas border with Mexico, where the state’s governor, Greg Abbott, is defying a Supreme Court ruling to remove the razor wire he installed along sections of the Rio Grande River to prevent immigrant crossings.  Twenty-five Republican governors have agreed with Abbott’s stance and some are even threatening to send their state’s national guard troops to help protect the border and prevent federal interference.  In addition, numerous caravans of MAGA vigilantes are now heading to Texas to help “take back the border.” Texas has long been home to extreme right-wing secessionists who want to break away from the U.S., but clearly things have gotten out of hand.

The fact is, many of these people don’t care nearly as much about protecting America, or making it “great again,” as they want a white Christian nation, an aspirational fantasy that is threatened by the current wave of mostly “brown” immigrants. “Great again” has always been code for an idealized America that never was, and MAGAs make no secret they want a different nation than what America is and, more importantly, must strive to be.  Just as the Confederate Slave Power persuaded poor whites that a slave-owning aristocracy’s cause was their own, MAGAs are convinced their country is being invaded and they must fight to protect it.  As their cult leader Donald Trump said on the morning of January 6^th, “We fight like hell.  And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”   

MAGAs Can Fight Like Hell, at the Border and Elsewhere, but Unfortunately They’ve Already Lost Their Country.

Wake up, MAGA vigilantes, you’re defending a country that’s barely yours anyway; it’s been slipping away from you for quite a while.  America’s once mighty middle class has already been decimated and Donald Trump is the last person in the world to help you restore it. The “trickle down” economic policies that started under Ronald Reagan’s administration have shifted so much of the country’s wealth to the top 10%, the top 1%, the top .01% that, economically speaking, there’s not much left for the supposed “hoards” of brown people to take away from you. 

All that said, you don’t need to be a MAGA to feel like America is being invaded; it’s obvious we are being overwhelmed by the volume of immigrants coming across our southern border.  Cities like New York and Chicago are bursting at the seams and lack the resources required to handle the problem, while we are all but incapacitated to stem the flow of fentanyl into the country.  The list goes on, the negative consequences for our country almost as legion as the number of immigrants.  Everyone agrees the country’s immigration system is broken and needs a complete overhaul, but unfortunately Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress have shown that when push comes to shove they want a hot campaign issue rather than meaningful solutions.

Wake up, MAGAs!  If your fearless (cult) leader Donald Trump wasn’t happy to harm America in order to return to power and stay out of prison, you wouldn’t have to be hightailing it down to the southern border in a futile attempt to “make America great again.”

If you’ve read even a few of my journal entries, it should be fairly clear this humble spirit hates Donald Trump and disparage his MAGA “base” as much as anyone, but. . . if you want to empathize with MAGA grievance real quick, consider the annual “World Economic Forum” in Davos, Switzerland.  Forget about the “coastal elites,” the “liberal elites,” the “cosmopolitan elites” and all the other ridiculous boogeymen Trump and his Republican allies have created, the folks who visit Davos every year are the REAL elites, the true “globalists”—billionaires and centimillionaires, along with corporate chieftains (aka “titans of industry”), prominent diplomats and other government officials, NGO executives, international journalists, and a collection of assorted “thought leaders” tagging along in exchange for outrageous fees. My apologies if I left anyone out.

At the risk of sounding like a Fox “News” host, these are people who fly around the world on private jets, but upon arriving in Davos discuss “climate transition” and “decarbonization projects.” Except for the fact that many of the (mostly male) attendees are aging out, their culture and mentality appear remarkably similar to those of a bunch of precocious tech “bros” with no boundaries.  Many of them claim they want to “improve the state of the world,” (someone’s cautiously scaled-down version of “save the world”), but if that’s true, they might consider not doing the world so much harm in the first place.  They feign passionate concern for humanity, but many are the very people responsible for economic inequality throughout the world.  Vladimir Putin may be the person most responsible for the devastating increase in world hunger these last couple of years (based on reducing Ukraine’s grain shipments), but if the Davos crowd stopped exploiting their own elitist advantage, the state of the world would begin to improve and, in time, fewer people would need saving.

As One Pundit So Aptly Described Davos, “It’s Nothing but a Bunch of Rich People Licking Each Other Up and Down.”

The Davos crowd is generally opposed to regulation and lobbies for every benefit government can bestow on big business and the wealthy, most especially reducing their tax burden so they can stash even more money in places like the Cayman Islands and Switzerland (they probably visit their money while they’re in Davos).  And here’s where we have the opportunity to relate to our angry, aggrieved MAGA compatriots: above all, the folks at Davos fancy themselves better than everyone else and entitled to their lofty status in the world.  If these people don’t stir up grievance in you, nothing will.  If there’s anything that could unite all but the top 1% of the top 1% of polarized Americans, it’s anger directed at the Davos crowd.  

Apparently this year’s attendees generally consider the possibility of Donald Trump’s reelection a “geopolitical risk” to the world economy and thus a cause for serious concern.  Many of them benefited directly from Trump’s fraudulent “middle class” tax cut for the rich, but if Trump allows NATO to collapse and Putin overruns Europe, who’ll be there to protect their global economic interests?  But on the positive side, as Alex Soros, the son of MAGA world’s favorite boogeyman George Soros, said at this year’s forum, “Trump is already the president at Davos, which is a good thing because the Davos consensus is usually wrong.”

These People Don’t Care About Democracy or the Lives of Average People; They Just Want Money and Power and Gravitate to Whatever Candidate They Believe is Most Likely to Protect it.

Wishes for Donald Trump and MAGA: Putting aside the obvious—such as Trump not getting reelected and/or his MAGA base no longer believing his lies—in no particular order, here are some New Year’s resolutions, or rather New Year’s realizations, that Trump’s MAGA supporters might aspire to in 2024:

• It’s the top 1% who deserves their wrath, NOT liberal Democrats, coastal elites, immigrants, or people of color—most definitely not people of color.
• Giving up democracy in favor of a power-hungry authoritarian dictator only because they believe he will brutally enforce their own world view is not a wise long-term strategy.
• Gun owners are more likely to die from gun violence, including suicide, and continuing to increase the nation’s arsenal based on fear and paranoia of the “other” is a fool’s errand.
• They should accept the realities of American history, no matter how unpleasant they may find them, and stop obsessing over critical race theory (CRT), or at the very least, take the time to look it up on Wikipedia and understand what it really is.
• Just because they believe the current system is “rigged” against them—which it is, but by the top 1% rather than the Republican’s manufactured boogeymen—it doesn’t mean the 2020 election was “rigged” as Trump claims.  In particular, they might show a little respect for the 81,283,501 Americans who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and stop believing the “Big Lie.” Do they understand that trying to disenfranchise more than 81 million of their fellow citizens is awfully rude?!
• AND “country club Republican” MAGAs, who are willing to support Trump even though they should know better, shouldn’t put themselves and their fellow Americans at risk of authoritarianism simply because they (mistakenly) believe Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress are better for their investment portfolios.

The Gallant Pelham Would Like to Know What Your Wishes are for 2024.  Please let me know at @GallantPelham or [email protected].

Speaking of realizations. . . too many members of our political leadership, both Democrat and Republican, should acknowledge they are long past retirement age and need to make way for the younger generation.  People may be living longer, but young people shouldn’t be alienated from the democratic process because they feel like their representatives are from a different era (and planet).  Diane Feinstein, for example, may have been a great lady in her time, but no member of Congress should die in office at age 92.  

And lest this humble spirit be accused of being one-sided, here are some wishes for President Biden and the Democrats: Biden and his administration should realize that if they think a rising stock market improves the lives of everyday Americans, they have begun to think like country club Republicans, Ronald Reagan, and Milton Friedman. The vast majority of Americans could care less about traditional economic indicators, many of which are obsolete measurements anyway.  As I’ve said before, if people can’t afford groceries, rent, and gas, and see no hope for a better future, which right now many of them don’t, they’re not going to value “Bidenomics.” I wish the Democrats would find some competent communications professionals who realize that many young and working-class people are financially desperate and thus more interested in their immediate survival (making it through another week!) than preserving “American democracy.”

I’d feel lucky if any of these wishes come to pass before I die, but since I’ve already been dead for over 150 years, it’s a little late for that.  

Trump’s Conspiracy to Defraud America  

How fitting that the first of four charges included in the January 6 indictment against Donald Trump is “Conspiracy to Defraud the United States Government.” The man has been defrauding the entire world for most of his life. He’s the ultimate con-artist and grifter; his entire presidency and political career is one big grift. Read the article.

I’m Being Indicted for You (Yeah, sure)  

Trump wants us to believe he’s being persecuted by a “weaponized” DOJ and the “deep state,” despite having no evidence. He portrays himself as a martyred victim, claiming it’s really his MAGA followers the “deep state” is after, this being a common approach among demagogues and dictators. Read the article.

America’s Haves and Have Nots

America’s stark social and economic divide is more than just “inequality”—it’s a monumental, unbreachable chasm. We have one group that’s prospering in a knowledge-based, globalized economy, while another finds it increasingly difficult to survive, let alone prosper. Read the article.  

MAGA Republicans vs. the Majority of Americans

MAGA Republicans continue to assault the will of the majority, along with the rule of law, whenever they have the opportunity.  Waiting for the next shoe to drop from these MAGA extremists increasingly feels like a bad nightmare about Whac-A-Mole. Read the article.

MAGAs Can’t Handle the Truth

MAGAs not only don’t care if they’re blatantly lied to (e.g., Trump, Fox “News,” QAnon), they WANT to be lied to and even demand it. There’s no rational reason to still believe Trump won the 2020 election, but no matter, lies sooth them and give them strength to carry on. Read the article.

You Ain’t Supposed to Be Here

Sadly, there’s no denying that a significant portion of white America, especially those with a “MAGA” mentality, don’t want black or brown people in this country, plain and simple, and are perfectly happy to see them done harm whenever the opportunity arises. Read the article.

“Wokeness” Had Nothing to Do with It

In Mae West’s first film, 1932’s Night After Night, the nightclub hatcheck girl compliments Ms. West’s jewelry: “Goodness, what lovely diamonds!” To which Mae responds, “Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie.” That about sums up the Republican Party’s current obsession with “wokeness,” one more fabricated boogeyman that has very little to do with anything.  Rather than govern and tackle important issues—admittedly difficult given their donors’ marching orders are diametrically opposed to what’s good for the country—Republicans obsess over wokeness, a convenient catchall term used to describe any societal change their MAGA “base” fears or dislikes, which seemingly includes just about everything. Read the article.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous 2024!

One got the impression those three women would have damn well turned green and fallen over dead before they condemned what is clearly antisemitic hate speech.  It depends on the “context”?!  In what “context” would the indiscriminate mass murder of millions of people for no reason except their race, religion or ethnicity be acceptable?  Committing genocide is the absolute antithesis (on steroids!) of everything the Ivey League academe claims to stand for.  To put it mildly, it’s a far cry from progressive DEI, at least as I understand it. Talk about an embarrassment to three hallowed institutions!  It’s not very often that I agree with Elise Stefanik, but watching that hearing I wanted her to get up and smack those three silly fools senseless. 

This former Confederate officer can’t claim much expertise when it comes to the conflicts in the modern-day Middle East, but there is some consensus that Hamas is not synonymous with the Palestinian people, just as Netanyahu’s fanatical right-wing government (including its support of West Bank settlers!) should not be considered synonymous with the nation of Israel or the Jewish people.  Sadly, however, given the time and place from which I come, I do know a good deal about the subject of genocide.  Yes, unfortunately the slaughter of indigenous Americans—a long, slow process that took almost 300 years—was undeniably part of the world in which I lived. The farm where I grew up in northeast Alabama was on land that had belonged to the Muscogee (Creek) tribe until 1832, when President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal bill forced them out and sent them, along with four other tribes, to Oklahoma, a journey known as the “Trail of Tears,” on which it’s estimated that 13,000-17,000 people died a miserable death.  

Failing to Condone Genocide is Hardly Politically Correct or Woke.

When I was at West Point in the late 1850s, not a single cadet questioned the notion that America was a white man’s country in a white man’s world, and it was our prerogative to determine everyone else’s fate, whether it was bondage (for the “Negroes”) or confinement to a reservation or out-and-out slaughter (of the ”Indians”). Both prior to and after the Civil War, that terrible war in which I gained fame but lost my life, most newly graduated cadets were stationed on the “frontier,” where they were responsible for bringing “civilization” (i.e., reservations and/or slaughter) to the western states and territories.  

Case in point, I’m not very proud to say that one of my buddies at the “Point” was George Armstrong Custer of Little Big Horn fame.  Yeah, I died fighting for the Slave Power, and Custer (“Autie” as he was known to his friends) died fighting native Americans to near extinction.  This humble spirit is not only radically opposed to killing anyone based on their race, religion or ethnicity, but trust me when I tell you that committing genocide, as well as any and all crimes against humanity, may not do its perpetrators a check of a heck of a lot of good either.

Despite the White House claim that Bidenomics has created jobs and prosperity, a recent New York Times/Siena College poll found that 59% of voters in six key swing states had more confidence in Donald Trump’s ability to manage the economy than Joe Biden’s.  The administration’s positive numbers are real, but right now our country is so out of whack, so skewed to the interests of business and the wealthy, that many traditional economic measurements are no longer relevant to the middle class.  The fact is, Bidenomics has yet to improve the lives of most voters—groceries and gasoline still cost more than they did a year ago, average rent and mortgage rates are still up, and healthcare is more unaffordable than ever.

Traditional measurements simply don’t reflect the economy most Americans experience.  For example, in a country in which wealth is distributed as unequally as it is in the United States, the gross domestic product (G.D.P.) metric can be misleading, as it merges the entire spectrum of great riches and poverty.  And similarly, based on salaries not keeping up with inflation, paychecks are falling further behind for a growing number of households, no matter the record high job creation figures touted by the administration.  

The “Inflation Reduction Act” is Helping Drive the Clean Energy Economy, and that’s Great, but it’s Not Reducing Consumer Prices.

As terrible as the Trump presidency was, and despite the tremendous danger he poses to our country if he is reelected in 2024, we need to acknowledge that a large swath of Americans had it better under his leadership—or at least that’s how they feel.  Don’t misunderstand, the so-called “Trump economy” was a total fraud—his “middle class tax cut” only cut taxes for business and the wealthy while ballooning the federal deficit—but inflation and interest rates were low, the result being the middle class was better able to buy gas and feed their family, as well as purchase a car or even a house.

Unlike Trump, Biden’s policies have not exacerbated inequality—and some of them actually represent a substantive start toward reversing it—but many of its impacts are too abstract and too far out in the future to be appreciated by most voters.  Instead of pretending that impressive economic statistics trickle down to average Americans, the Democrats need to tout the administration’s more tangible achievements more aggressively—and fast!  Otherwise, this humble spirit fears the authoritarian threat to democracy known as Donald Trump will be back in office come 2025, and the fate of the Titanic, deckchairs and all, will be a metaphor for the entire country.

The crime dominated the New York headlines, inflaming racial tensions as police rounded up Black and Latino men and boys for interrogation, the “usual suspects” as it were.  Less than two weeks after the crime, Donald Trump, then at the height of his fame as a real estate tycoon, took out large newspaper ads in the form of an open letter and helped turn public opinion against Yusef and the other four suspects.

According to Trump, New York families of all races “have had to give up the pleasure of a leisurely stroll in the park at dusk” because of “roving thousands of wild criminals.” He claimed politicians were too concerned about police brutality to allow the “neighborhood cop” to protect the community, resulting in a “reckless and dangerously permissive atmosphere that allows criminals of every age to beat and rape a helpless woman.” He concluded by saying “these muggers and murderers should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.”

Donald Trump Played a Significant Role in the “Central Park Five” Case and is Long Overdue for Some of His Own Medicine.

Well, isn’t that rich?  Donald Trump talking about the rape of a helpless woman!  As for advocating “execution,” maybe we should give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he mistook them for five Black and Latino chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff.  God bless!  Of all the wealthy New Yorkers to make an investment in the wrongful conviction of Black and Latino men, what a coincidence that it was none other than Donald Trump!  Long before he championed the “birther” movement, called Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, and referred to Nazis and white nationalists as “very fine people,” he was already the champion of an ugly, racist cause.  And doesn’t the phrase, “should be forced to suffer” seem a disturbing harbinger of the sadistic anger he’s displayed since his 2020 defeat?  There’s hardly anyone left in America who Trump doesn’t hate and threaten with retribution should he be reelected, except for his MAGA followers, of course.

Not surprisingly, despite their exoneration, Trump continued to claim the five men were criminals who deserved to be locked up. (He just loves the notion of locking people up!) Trump has demonstrated repeatedly that he is a master of projection: he himself is the “wild criminal,” and because he’s a criminal, he assumes everyone else is; he accuses people of fraud and corruption because he knows he’s a corrupt fraud to the core; he tried to overthrow the results of the 2020 election and, sure enough, he now accuses President Biden and the DOJ of election interference; he claims he and his MAGA followers are the victims of a police state, but makes no secret of his desire to create a police state if he’s reelected. The list goes on.

How fitting that Trump now faces 91 indictments and may yet go to prison, never mind having lost much of the Trump “empire,” a business shown to have been built on lies and fraud. Talk about comeuppance and getting a taste of your own medicine!

The Gate of the Exonerated, the only addition to Central Park’s official entrance names since the 19th century, commemorates the experience of the Exonerated Five and honors all of those wrongly convicted of crimes.

Among his other far-right achievements, he led the Republican Study Committee, the largest group of conservatives in the House, which issued a plan to erode the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, and Medicaid.  He also celebrated the end of Roe v. Wade, suggested that abortion doctors be sentenced to hard labor, supported laws that criminalized gay sex, and wrote that gay marriage would “place our entire democratic system in jeopardy” as well as lead to pedophilia and people marrying their pets. 

But Johnson’s far-right, far-out opinions are merely symptoms of a more fundamental problem: like many MAGAs, Mike Johnson is a Christian nationalist; in fact, he may be the most extreme Christian nationalist Speaker of the House we’ve ever had.  

An Extreme Christian Nationalist is Now Second in Line to the Presidency.

Christian nationalists believe America was founded on God’s laws and the Constitution was written to reflect those laws (not true!). To their way of thinking, “freedom” means freedom to follow the law of THEIR God, not individual rights or the freedom to live as you please. No, to them, America is God’s country, a place THEIR Christian God has all the authority.  According to Katherine Stewart, the author of “The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism,” the movement is . . .

“a reactionary, authoritarian ideology that centers its grievances on a narrative of lost national greatness and believes in the indispensability of the “right” religion in recovering that lost greatness. This narrative always involves a narrative of unjust persecution at the hands of alien or “un-American” groups. The specific targets may shift.  Some focus their fears on the “homosexual agenda’; others target Americans of color or nonwhite immigrant groups; still others identify the menace with religious minorities such as Muslims, Jews and secular “elites or perceived threats against gender hierarchy and sexual order.  And of course, many take an all-of-the-above approach.”

Christian nationalists don’t want a democracy, they want a theocracy ruled by their Christian God.  And since God is oftentimes unavailable (he’s probably tied up in the Middle East and Ukraine), the next best thing is an authoritarian ruler like Donald Trump, someone who will use the threat of violence to defend their worldview at any cost. Trump may have been the least Christian president in our history, but they’re convinced he will bring the nation back to the Lord, and his opponents are enemies of God.  And as we’ve seen, and as Speaker Johnson’s has so clearly demonstrated, they’re willing to disregard the result of free and fair elections to keep their God in power.  

Christian Nationalists Want to Take America Back to a Time that Never Existed in Order to Preserve Their Mythical Christian Nation.

Given that most Americans don’t want to live under a theocracy, thank goodness, Christian nationalists feel they are in a battle against tyranny, that even the Bible may soon by outlawed.  And because they so desperately fear losing their majority status and the end of what they consider White Christian America, they subscribe to “replacement theory” and every type of cultural paranoia. They see themselves as the “real Americans” under attack from evil elites, such as globalists and socialists, who they believe are deliberately encouraging racial and religious diversity in order to challenge white Christian power. They’re threatened by everything and everybody, and like their hero, Donald Trump, they relish victimhood.  

Stewart also identifies the underlying structural realities in America’s political and economic life that have enabled Christian nationalism to flourish in recent years:

“The first is the growing economic inequality that has produced spectacular fortunes for the few, while too many ordinary families struggle to get by.  Leaders of the movement get much of their support from a cadre of super-wealthy individuals and extended families who are as committed to free-market fund fundamentalism as they are to reactionary religion. The donors in turn need the so-called values in order to lock down their economic agenda of low taxation for the wealthy and minimal regulation.”  

As much as this humble spirit agrees that economic inequality is the primary cause of America’s great divide and the rise of MAGA populism—and has written about it countless times—there is no question but that Christian nationalism—the idea that the United States is, and should always be, a white Christian nation—is also at the core of the MAGA movement.

Trump also thinks everything is about him. To his way of thinking, the catastrophe unfolding in Israel centers around his old grievance against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (perhaps the only authoritarian leader Trump doesn’t like). True to form, he knows next to nothing about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Israel’s 75-year history, or what’s at stake for the U.S. in the region.  Could he even find Israel on a map, let alone the Gaza Strip?  The man has shown time and again that he has no appreciation for the complexities of American history, so why should he have any understanding of the Middle East? 

As David A. Graham so aptly put it in his Atlantic article entitled “Trump’s Only Real Worldview is Pettiness,”

Trying to assess Trump as either pro-Israel or anti-Israel—or, for that matter holding any other coherent policy stance—misses the point. Trump has no true allies or ideological commitments. He is reactive, driven by personal grievance, knee-jerk contrarianism, and admiration for strength and violence. In this case, that means bearing an old grudge against Netanyahu, opposing whatever Joe Biden is doing, and being impressed by the ruthlessness of Hamas’s attacks.

“Pettiness” is the operative word here, closely followed by “no true allies or ideological commitments” and “admiration for strength and violence.” The man is more than just “transactional” (I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine), he looks at everything solely from the standpoint of whether it’s good for HIM or bad for HIM, whether his narcissistic purpose is served.  He’s loyal to nobody but demands total loyalty from others.  If a terrorist organization like Hezbollah serves his purpose at the moment, he gladly considers them “smart.” To Trump’s way of thinking, if you’re an enemy of his enemy (in this case Netanyahu), you’re just fine and dandy in his book.  

The Word “Transactionalist” Isn’t in the Dictionary, but it Should Be, Just to Define Trump’s Narcissistic Illness.  

It’s debatable whether Trump is immoral or totally amoral, but no matter, he has no concern or regard for anything or anybody besides himself (maybe he’s actually a full-fledged sociopath). He could care less what he’s done to anyone, from the many individuals he’s thrown under the proverbial bus (e.g., his Atlantic City creditors; his Georgia indictment codefendants) or the whole country as shown by his abject failure to handle the Covid pandemic. “It is what it is,” sums up the value he puts on other people’s lives.  It’s all about him—America, the Middle East, and the whole world be damned.

By any objective measure, Trump is a terrible racist, but when he denies his racism, in his own twisted, narcissistic way he’s telling the truth; he has no sincere, meaningful opinion or feelings about anything or anyone except his own self-worship and self-preservation, so how could he be a racist?  Still, given the opportunity to promote racist hatred to drum up support from his MAGA “base,” he does so without a second thought.  Indeed, to him it’s all part of the day’s transactions.  

Trump and his MAGA supporters are the barbarians attacking the castle gate, or rather, the insurgents attacking the Capitol fence, the barrier that protects the symbol and core of American democracy.  One might assume those inside the castle have the advantage, but that’s not necessarily the case.  The barbarians—whether defined by storming the U.S. Capitol or threatening their political opponents and government officials with violence—don’t have to worry about what they destroy, whether it be democracy, the rule of law, or the government itself.  Their primary objective has always been to attack and destroy the status quo, something conveniently branded as “draining the swamp.”

That’s not to say that much of the status quo isn’t long overdue for an overhaul (a little more social and economic equality would be nice!), but if you’re going to tear down everything in sight, you’d better have something to replace it with or you’re left with nothing, except maybe chaos and the end of America as we know it.  Since MAGAs don’t want government, don’t understand what it does, why it’s needed, or how it helped build modern America (programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid that many of them rely on to survive), it’s not surprising that their representatives in Congress have neither the desire nor the ability to govern.  Why would they care about shutting down the government if their objective is to destroy it?

There is finally some consensus that Trump can’t be treated like a traditional politician, that we mustn’t pretend the MAGA movement is politics as usual.  As Trump correctly observed during his 2016 campaign, he could shoot someone in the middle of 5^th Avenue and not lose any supporters.  As baffling as that seemed at the time, it turns out that the more people he shoots, or threatens to shoot, the more passionately devoted his supporters become.  Sadly, it’s clear that a significant segment of the American population has become so alienated from the mainstream that they just want to burn it all down and shoot everyone in sight.

How do You Shoot Someone in the Middle of 5^th Avenue While Simultaneously Upholding the Rule of Law?

Trump’s 91 criminal indictments, not to mention his civil trial in N.Y., which finally revealed that his business empire was a fraud, demonstrate he respects neither American democracy nor the rule of law.  But in order to destroy Trump, the castle/Capitol defenders (back in the 1960s they were called “the establishment”) have to follow the law and use the court system, a slow and arduous process. This gets to the double standard that protects Trump.  Not only do the defenders have to respect the rule of law and preserve their own institutional norms, but as demonstrated by the events of January 6, they have to keep the country running at the same time they do battle with the insurgents. 

By necessity, President Biden’s recent speech attacking MAGAs conformed to the language and decorum considered appropriate for an American president; he stopped short of “breaking his own institutional norms” (he didn’t even mention Trump by name).  As a result, he was constrained from telling the outright truth—that the supreme MAGA leader is a fraud, a conman, a criminal, a hateful racist, and the worst sort of raping misogynist—in short, a veritable modern American monster pandering to the worst devils of his followers’ nature.  

What could be more obvious than why Russian president Vladimir Putin is defending his old buddy, Donald Trump, and claiming the former president’s indictments are evidence the U.S. is corrupt and American democracy is a failure?  There is nothing Putin would like more than to have Trump get back in office and end America’s support for Ukraine, thus handing Russia a victory in its barbaric war of aggression.  Is there any question that Putin supported Trump for president in 2016 because he knew he would make a good Russian patsy? Putin wanted Trump to weaken NATO and the western alliance so he could have his way in Europe (e.g., Poland, the Baltics), and now, given the Russian military’s failure in Ukraine, he needs him more than ever.  

Nobody knows how many of his opponents Putin has disposed of during his reign of quiet terror.  Trump is an aspiring dictator who has threatened vengeance on his enemies if he is reelected. Talk about showing us who he is—we’d better damn-well believe him!  The horrible image displayed in Trump’s now infamous mugshot—an angry, vengeful force of “retribution” that will never be placated—tells us everything we need to know.  Do we really want an American version of Putin, with people being shot out of the sky and falling out windows at his whim?     

As Liz Cheney Said, “Putin has Now Officially Endorsed the ‘Putin-Wing’ of the Republican Party.”

The United Auto Workers’ strike—which presents the stark contrast between management and workers, profits and people—is another good example of reality finally coming into focus.  According to UAW president Shawn Fain, speaking of America’s three largest automakers:

“In the last decade, these companies made a quarter of a trillion dollars in profit.  In the last six months, they made $21 billion in profit.  In the last four years, the price of cars went up 30 percent.  CEO pay went up 40 percent.  No one said a word.  No one had any complaints about that . . . And then he went on to talk about the tremendous double standard that pervades our society . . . But now workers ask for their fair share of the fruits of their labor, and all of a sudden, it’s the end of the world.  They say if we strike it will wreck the economy.  It’s not that we’re going to wreck the economy.  We’re going to wreck their economy, the economy that only works for the billionaire class.  It doesn’t work for the working class.”

Never Mind Failing the Working Class, Trump’s “MAGAnomics” Didn’t Work for Anyone but the Top 1%.

Mr. Fain’s statement captures the crux of the “Trump economy,” a colossal fraud (based on a fraudulent “middle class tax cut”) that most certainly worked for the top 1% and the Republican donor class, but not the vast majority of Americans, who fell further behind as economic inequality worsened. Touted by the former president as “the greatest economy ever,” the tax cuts that financed it stuck the American Taxpayer (and future generations) with the largest deficit in American history. This is what President Biden labeled as “MAGAnomics” last week, a fraudulent exercise in “trickle down” economics that was financed on the backs of the American people, as per-usual.

Given the current threat to democracy, both in the U.S. and around the world, we can’t afford to ignore the clear choices before us.  Doctor Martin Luther King may have said the arc of the moral universe bends toward justice (maybe not Poirot’s version of justice, mind you), but rather than wait for a slowly bending arc we should take the initiative and act upon what we know to be true.

Hiding among this MAGA stereotype is the Republican donor class, especially a cadre of right-wing billionaires, along with some aging Reagan/Bush Republicans who feel threatened by everything that’s happened in the world since the civil rights movement of the 1960s and think Trump was good for their investment accounts.  The whole motley crew is at war with economic and social equality (democracy and the rule of law are just collateral damage), either because they’re desperate to hang on to their fleeting white privilege or because their shortsighted greed knows no bounds.  As I’ve said before, they want every dollar on the Monopoly board, their fellow citizens be damned.

The question remains as to why Trump’s GOP challengers steadfastly refuse to attack his dismal record in office, including:

• His disastrous handling of the Covid pandemic.
• His fraudulent “middle class tax cut” that lowered taxes for big business and the wealthy.
• He only completed a tiny portion of his border wall (and Mexico didn’t pay for it).
• “Infrastructure week” became a running joke while America crumbled.
• He never replaced Obama Care with something better, as he promised.
• His trade war with China did more harm than good.

And of course:

• Using his office to enrich himself and his family (Jared getting $2b from the Saudis, etc.)

The endless stoking of bigotry and racist hatred surely belongs at the top of the list, but since MAGAs consider that behavior to be among Trump’s most endearing qualities, for the sake of the argument let’s leave them off for now.

Trump’s GOP Challengers Would Rather Die Than Expose His Record.

Never mind his attempted coup or any of his other crimes (what a mockery of “innocent until proven guilty”!), just looking at the record it’s hard to understand why MAGAs want Trump back.  We know Trump’s challengers fear incurring his wrath, but if they can’t make a case for why he should be replaced, why should anyone, let along the MAGA faithful, be persuaded to change their allegiance?  Okay, maybe the Republican donor class doesn’t want to give up its tax cuts, but would they really care if Trump were attacked for some of his other failures?  

Trump’s GOP challengers are a bunch of weak cowards whose incompetent campaigns reinforce the ridiculous myth that he was a great president; they’re campaigning for the VP slot, a cabinet post, or a head start in 2028, none of which will save the country from another four years of Donald Trump.

The 98-page Georgia indictment against Donald Trump and his eighteen co-conspirators—no less worth the read than the 45-page January 6^th indictment brought by federal prosecutor Jack Smith—contains 41 counts, of which Trump is accused of the following 13:

• Violation of the Georgia RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations)
• Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer (3 counts)
• Conspiracy to Commit Impersonating a Public Officer
• Conspiracy to Commit Forgery in the First Degree (2 counts)
• Conspiracy to Commit False Statements and Writings (2 counts)
• Conspiracy to Commit Filing False Documents
• Filing False Documents
• False Statements and Writings (2 counts)

If you’re like this humble spirit, you’re not sure whether to be incredulous that a former President of the United States could ever be accused of such crimes or numb to the overwhelming evidence that such criminal activity represents a normal day in the life of a low-life grifter like Donald Trump.

Many of Trump’s ridiculous tweets made between the November 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection (all considered “overt acts in furtherance of the conspiracy”) have previously made the news and circulated on the Internet, but reading them afresh in one sitting reveals Trump as the nasty, incompetent, blithering fool that he is. They amount to nothing more than an exercise in throwing sh*t against the wall and hoping some of it sticks.

12/3/20: “Wow! Blockbuster testimony taking place right now in Georgia. Ballot stuffing by Dems when Republicans were force to leave the counting room. Plenty more coming, but this alone leads to an easy win of the State.”

12/3/20: “People in Georgia got caught cold bringing in massive numbers of ballots and putting them in ‘voting’ machines. Great job @BrianKempGA!”

12/6/20: “Gee, what a surprise. Has anyone informed the so-called (says he has no power to do anything!) Governor @BrianKempGA & his puppet Lt. Governor @GeoffDuncanGA, that they could easily solve this mess & WIN. Signature verification & call a Special Session. So easy!”

12/14/20: “What a fool Governor @BrianKempGA of Georgia is. Could have been so easy, but now we have to do it the hard way.  Demand this clown call a Special Session and pen up signature verification, NOW.  Otherwise could be a bad day for to GREAT Senators on January 5^th.”

12/30/20: “@BrianKempGA should resign from office. He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG!  Also won the swing states.”

12/30/20: “We now have far more votes than needed to flip Georgia in the Presidential race. Massive VOTER FRAUD took place . . .”

1/3/21: “I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter Fraud in Georgia.  He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under the table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state voters, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

In typical Trump fashion, he says whatever he wants to say whenever he feels like saying it, without regard to the truth or even the consistency of his lies.

“Just Say the Election was Corrupt and Leave the Rest to Me and the Republican Congressmen.”

-Trump speaking to his Acting Attorney General, Jeffrey Rosen

With no evidence to back up their claims, in early December one of Trump’s co-conspirators threw more sh*t against the wall:

• 2,506 felons voted illegally in Georgia.
• 66,248 underage people registered to vote before their 17^th birthday.
• 2,423 people who voted were not registered to vote.
• 1,043 people voted who were registered at an address that was a post office box.
• 10,315 or more dead people voted.

Without any attempt to match those previous claims, in early January, just several days before the Capitol insurrection, Trump made the following false statements and representations to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other Georgia state officials:

• Anywhere from 250,000 to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls in Georgia.
• Thousands of people attempted to vote and were told they could not because a ballot had already been cast in their name.
• 4,502 people voted who were not on the voter registration list.
• 904 people voted who were registered at an address that was a post office box.
• Ruby Freeman was a professional vote scammer and a known political operative.
• Ruby Freeman, her daughter, and others were responsible for fraudulently awarding at least 18,000 ballots to Joe Biden.
• Ruby Freeman stuffed the ballot boxes.
• Close to 5,000 dead people voted.
• Hundreds of thousands of ballots and been “dumped” into Fulton County and an adjacent county.
• He won the election in Georgia by 400,000 votes.

This list reads as if he made the numbers up on the spot or he was reading from a page of notes someone put down on his desk while he was on the phone.  Did it occur to the man that if his fictitious numbers constantly changed he’d lose any shred of credibility? (It remains unclear as to why, among all the Black female election workers in Georgia, Trump and his co-conspirators picked on Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss.)

It Seems More than a Coincidence that Trump’s MAGA Followers Smeared Human Excrement All Over the Capitol Walls on January 6^th.

Jack Smith’s indictment is an extremely well-crafted document that portrays Trump’s actions, as well as those of his six Co-Conspirators, as on par with perpetrators of a bad script conference.  Trump’s motley band of attorneys—Rudy Giuliani (once “America’s mayor” reduced to marketing cheap hair dye), John Eastman (in no way a leading Constitutional scholar, by the way), and Sidney Powell (voting machines courtesy of Hugo Chavez)—have been called the “clown car,” and this indictment proves the description is deserved.  

It’s hard to keep track of all the ridiculous failed “plans” this group hatched during those two months between the election and January 6.  Quotes like “Here’s the thing, the way this has morphed it’s a crazy play so I don’t know who wants to put their name on it,” pretty much say it all.  Riding along in the clown car bound for disaster we also have the ever-charming Jeffrey Clark, Trump’s (briefly) Acting Attorney General, who suggested using the Insurrection Act to call up the military and squelch potential riots should Trump succeed in overturning the election. This all despite Trump’s Deputy White House Counsel having told the president in December that “there is no world, there is no option in which you don’t leave the White House on January 20^th.” 

When All Else Failed, Trump’s “Dishonesty, Fraud, and Deceit” Ended in “Operation PENCE CARD” 

Although I understand why this indictment didn’t include charging Trump with sedition, I’m grateful and relieved the fourth count is “Conspiracy Against Rights”: “The defendant also pursued unlawful means of discounting legitimate votes and subverting election results,” including “a conspiracy against the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.” Nothing has irked this humble spirit more than the MAGA presumption that the rights of Biden voters didn’t matter.  We know Trump is a demented, power-hungry narcissist, but didn’t those people who attacked the Capitol, as well as those who subsequently supported their actions, realize that attempting to disenfranchise over 81 million of their fellow citizens was, at the very least, awfully rude, and likely to spark a good deal of anger in response?  As Count Four of the Indictment states, “Trump and his Co-Conspirators attempted to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate one or more persons in the free exercise and enjoyment of a right and privilege secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States—that is, the right to vote and have one’s vote counted.”

Based on what’s contained in the indictment, I’ll go out on a limb and say that members of the clown car and Clark are as good as toast.  As for Trump himself, his behavior is once again beyond the pale—unbelievable, indefensible, just get out your thesaurus and have at it.  Yale history professor Timothy Snyder put it this way: “That Trump will be tried for his coup attempt is not a violation of his rights. It is a fulfillment of his rights. It is the grace of the American republic. In other systems, when your coup attempt fails, what follows is not a trial.”