American authoritarian oppression - a long history

 The United States has always had two energies in its history - idealism and equality on one side, oppression and opportunism on the other - good America and bad America, it seems to me.

In the beginning, we had a country founded on the ideal that "all men are created equal" - equality is the dream of America.

But, also in the beginning the Founding Fathers had to allow slavery.  Slavery was the first brutal authoritarian oppression.  There was no democracy nor equality in the Southern Slave States.

Then we had President James Polk and Manifest Destiny - i.e. the idea that white Americans were properly blessed and destined to annihilate native Americans and take over all the land to the Pacific.  There was no democracy nor equality in the barbarous subjugation of the native Americans who were already here.

Then we had the Civil War and a brief freeing of the slaves in the south, only to have that freedom and equality taken away by the infamous Compromise of 1877 where a disputed presidential election was resolved by allowing the Republican, Rutherford B Hayes, to win the election in return for the removal of Federal Troops who were enforcing the reconstruction laws.  The result was nearly a century of brutal Jim Crow South where blacks did not vote, did not have rights under the laws, and were intimidated, crushed, lynched.  There was no democracy nor equality in the Jim Crow South.

Then we had the Women's RIghts Movement that finally gave women the right to vote in the 19th amendment in 1920.  This was democracy and equality.

Then there was the Civil Rights movement of the '50s and '60s culminating in the Voting Rights act of 1965 to protect the Constitutional amendments no. 14 and 15 allowing blacks to vote and have equal civil rights. This was democracy and equality.

Then there was the infamous Roberts Supreme Court that gutted the Voting RIghts act in Supreme Court edicts in 2013 and 2023. This was an attack on democracy and equality.

So, now, we have a new Republican in Name Only MAGA administration openly Ruling as a King, Ruling by Fiat, usurping Constitutional Congressional authorities by destroying Congressional laws and agencies at their destructive whim. Democracy and equality are being destroyed. Right now.  At the direction of a hostile foreign power, Russia, I believe.  It could be just stupidity and ignorance, but it seems to me to be too disciplined and focused to just be the blatherings of a nitwit.

Once the Orange Contagion is gone, his MAGA fanatics will still be with us. And what used to be our allies know it. How can they ever trust America again knowing that the millions of Americans who voted for, supported, and worshiped the Orange Contagion are still here. What will they do?  What need they do now?  

What used to be our allies will look to markets and supply chains outside the U.S.  They will need to develop their own nuclear weapons since it becomes obvious that this group of fools will not protect them.  They will fight any invasion of their territory by a nitwit led U.S.  

For now, there is a quick victory of authoritarianism over America.  It is not the first authoritarianism in America.  It is back again. This is horrifying to me.

But this is not the end of the story.  I truly believe that democracy and equality will prevail and that Goodness, Truth, and Beauty will triumph over the threats, violence, and fear of authoritarianism.

But it is ugly right now. We have work to do.  

Do we need to become a Parliamentary Country?

 I have never paid much attention to the parliamentary systems, but one thing I do notice is that when a current government is collapsing they can call for an election to replace it. But here? We’re stuck with a literal madman collapsing the country and perhaps the world, and we have no way of calling for a new election. 

What do we do?  We are left with a Republican Party that has disappeared and been overrun by an equally mad MAGA.  The only recourse is that MAGA impeaches him, finds him guilty, and removes him from office. What egregious atrocity could trigger that?  Invading Canada? Proof that he is a Russian Asset?  Hanging political opponents or critical journalists?  

What is it going to take?  This isn’t about a difference of political philosophy. This person is nuts. 

Trump joins Putin in attacking Ukraine

 It is more and more clear to me that the person Americans voted into the White House is a Russian asset.  Why do I think so? Because he just stopped America from sharing battlefield intelligence with Ukraine and the next day Russia launched a brutal attack on Ukraine without American intelligence to for-warn and inform their defense. In other words, the American Asset helped Russia attack Ukraine. So…

He is helping Russia conquer Ukraine. And…

He is actively ending American soft power by crippling USAID which is our providing food, healthcare, infrastructure assistance and compassionate aid to the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. And…

He is destroying the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the U.S. Intelligence services by installing leaders who are astonishingly unqualified and dedicated to the destruction of their capabilities in obeisance to the revenge lust of their deranged master. And…

He is gutting the various militaries of leadership under the fake cover story of getting rid of “DEI” appointments. This is like racists in the middle of last century getting rid of a Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, and Frank Robinson from baseball. And…

He is destroying the U.S economy with tariffs and inflation. 

I don’t need the testimony of former Russian spies saying he was recruited by Russia in 1987 and 2013. I can see the works of a Russian Asset every day. 

But the only way America and the world can be saved is if Republican MAGA impeaches him and convicts him, removing him from office. And that only happens if there is undeniable evidence that he is a Russian Asset. 

But, how many in the MAGA Congress and Senate are also compromised by Russia?

America is waking up. This shall not stand. 

Trump AND Vance - pledge their fealty to Putin in front of the world

 Simply one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen, since January 6, 2021, was that nauseating display of Trump AND Vance publicly trying to bully and humiliate Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy in the WHITE HOUSE OVAL OFFICE!!!!! Demanding that he capitulate to Putin because “he had no cards to play”

This was a world wide shouting declaration by TRUMP AND VANCE that America is completely aligned with Russian monster, Putin, in his invasion of Ukraine. 

I am ashamed of the America that put these filthy people in the White House. I find this nauseating. 

Zelenskyy said “I didn’t come here to play cards”.

It is going to take generations for America’s reputation to recover from the MAGA assault on its goodness, it’s character, it’s value to the world. 

America is reaping what it has sown. 

What fraud and waste?

 Let's call out the bullshit scam being told by the bullshit scam artists.  This MAGA/Trump/Musk firing federal workers is not about saving federal dollars. It is not about cutting waste and fraud. 

For Trump it is about destroying the U.S. as he is being directed by Putin. 

For Musk it is about privatizing these essential government services with him taking a cut off the top of every dollar so that he can become a multi-trillionaire. 

For Republicans it is a nearly century long effort to end aiding the middle class and poor so as to keep them downtrodden and desperate for and grateful for for any jobs from the wealthy. 

For MAGA it's just about being fooled by decades long Republican politicking against government waste. 

Say goodbye to rural hospitals and elderly managed care facilities. 

Couple of facts:

• First, only 3% of the federal budget pays for civilian federal employees.  This is a drop in the bucket. If you cut it in half you save about 1.5%. Big f'ing deal.

• Second, 50 years ago the federal workforce was about 2.8 million and today it is about 2.9 million per ChatGPT, and the U.S population has grown from 215 million to 330 million over that same 50 years. So the workforce has been essentially constant while the population grew 50%. 

So spare me the bullshit scam and lies. Of course there are some things you can find. They find anecdotal examples of abuse that do not tell the real story of the tremendous help government programs and government employees provide. It’s a con. 

Time for America to wake up and smell the stench of corruption that has taken over what used to be the Republican Party.

Is the Orange Fool actually Russian Asset Krasnov?

I think it is time to say the obvious.

There is no proof, but it would certainly explain pretty much everything about the current president if indeed he was recruited as a Russian (Soviet) asset in 1987 - as former Head of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee, Alnur Mussayev claims, and given the codename "Krasnov".  

Apparently, in 1987 the failing real estate developer was about one BILLION dollars in debt, went to the Soviet Union, and came back to New York and took $130,000 full page ads saying the U.S. should pull out of NATO. Really? And there was lots and lots of dirty Russian money given to him via a money laundering scheme into his properties over the years.  

Then, as we know all too well, during his first presidency he claimed that he "might not" honor article 5 of the NATO treaty to use the U.S. military to defend a NATO country if they were to be attacked by Russia.

Of course, we have seen him praise and defend Putin over and over. And, indeed, it was shown decisively in the Mueller Report that Russia aided in his 2016 successful presidential victory, although there was no evidence that he actively coordinated with nor collaborated in that attempt, he just welcomed it. Therefore, there was not enough to impeach and convict him on that count.

And he extorted Ukraine early in his first presidency, only to be impeached but acquitted by his subservient Republican Senate.

Don't forget that he withdrew U.S troops from Syria and invited Putin's Russia to take over, prompting the resignation of Jim Mattis, his Defense Secretary - and Russia did all it could to help the war criminal Assad to slaughter and stay in power. And to expand Russian control of the region.

Dan Coats, hard core conservative Republican who served as Director of National Intelligence in his first term, was deeply suspicious that Putin "had something" on the president, as there was really no other explanation as to why he would just do whatever Putin demanded of him.

And now, what we see in his second term is horrifying to me. He has committed the U.S. to be an ALLY of Russia in its attempted takeover of Ukrainian territory with its illegal invasion of three years ago.  

And he is attacking U.S. allies - Canada, Mexico, Panama, Denmark. He is unconstitutionally destroying government agency after government agency - notably the Department of Justice, the Department of Defense, the FBI, the IRS. Obliterating the Constitutional Separation of Powers.

It might not seem all that important, but he is destroying USAID, which provides charitable help around the world with food, medicine, and economic support to people and regions in dire need. There are two forms of U.S. power - hard power (military - and he is gutting the military leadership) and soft power (USAID - that shows the goodness of the U.S to the world). The total budget of USAID is less than 1% of the U.S. budget, so I do not believe for a moment that cost cutting is the reason. It is about destroying U.S. soft power.

Is he really the Russian Asset Krasnov? Or is he just a stupid, easily manipulated by Putin dumbass? It was nice to think he was only a psychopathic ignorant avaricious toxic narcissist (and he is), but now I think he actually is under the control of Putin, whose passionate goal is to destroy democracy and the rule of law in all of the world so that his corrupt regime and enormous graft and riches are not threatened. And, oh yes, so that Putin will go down in history as the greatest Russian ruler since Peter the Great as he reconquers the territory the Soviets lost in 1990.

So, why don't the Republican Congress and Senate fight him, refuse him, and say no? Well, some agree with him. Most do not but only say so in private. Maybe some are also under threat from Russia, but most certainly many of them have been given credible death threats to themselves and their families - from MAGA and maybe Russia as well. So, in addition to the threat of being primaried in the next election and losing their careers, they are under threat of death or violent harm. Just Mafioso stuff? or maybe Putin the killer threat? It is no mystery why those who oppose Putin die in obviously Putin ways - "falling off" balconies, being poisoned by openly Russian radioactive poisons - it's a blatant, "Yep it was me, Putin who ordered this" death. Over and over. In Russia, and in OTHER COUNTRIES as well.

It has been said many times that if you understand that his job is to destroy the U.S. as demanded by his boss, Putin, then everything he has done, and will do, makes total sense. He is Putin's puppet. And as long as he becomes richer and more famous, he thinks he is "a winner". Dumbass.

By the way, how on earth did the Russian KGB think that this nitwit would become president? It appears that what they did, and I imagine they still do, is find younger people that might have political ambitions, or have media persuasion, or who have possible military influence, and who are vulnerable to the many tools of Russian Kompromat (bribery, blackmail, entrapment, philosophical agreement, etc.) and recruit them hoping that some of them could help Russia in the future. They struck oil with Trump, but I would strongly suspect that there are at least a few in the MAGA leaders and influencers are also compromised, perhaps some are in the Congress or Senate. 

Russia is not good at many things, but they are masters at disinformation, propaganda, lies, "alternative realities" - and blackmail, extortion, threats, force. They’ve been doing it for a century. We are seeing fascism in action. Right here in "River City".

Ugly ugly ugly. 

But I believe America is waking up and smelling the stench of this putrid president and his corrupt band of MAGA shock troops, and perhaps the enemy behind them as well. 

Reincarnation?

 Trump always looked to me like a parody imitation of Mussolini with his jutting chin and pompous posturing…well…

Mussolini - died April 28, 1945

Trump - born June 24, 1946

If the orange menace actually is a quick reincarnation of Mussolini, he didn’t seem to learn anything between lifetimes. Mussolini was executed and hung upside down along with other fascists in public display. And, by the way, he was subservient to the bigger monster, Hitler. 

So, is the orange one Mussolini redux?  Thinking he just won’t make any mistakes of weakness this time? I don’t predict a happy future for this wanna be king. I do not expect he will trigger a war and be killed in retribution. I expect his attempted autocratic takeover and destruction of American democracy will fail. 

He thinks he was elected king of America.  America has something to say about that. 

Putin, Netanyahu, and a Dope walk into a bar…

 Netanyahu turns to the Dope and says “You could go down in history as the greatest man in the history of the Middle East by clearing out all the two million Palestinians in Gaza, and building a Miami Beach of hotels and beach mansions on the seashore.”  The Dope said “Can they be Trump Resorts?”  “Well” says Netanyahu “You drive a hard bargain, but OK”. And the Dope says “What a great genius am I, I’ll do it”

Then Putin turns to the Dope and says “You could be the Greatest Peacemaker in history by ending the vicious and barbaric Ukrainian bloody war against the great historic and peaceful and righteous empire of Russia”. The Dope says “I’ve got a great idea, I’ll stop any U.S. assistance to Ukraine and give Russia vital U.S Intelligence, and maybe some weapons too, to help our dear ally, Russia, take back the Russian territory of Ukraine. And the evil Nazi Ukrainians will be defeated, and their war criminal leaders will be tried and executed on worldwide TV, and the great Russian leader Putin will praise and thank the Great Peacemaker, Me. On worldwide TV.”

And the Dope says “What a genius I am. I will be the most important man in all the history books.  

Maybe even greater than Hitler”

Rabid vengeful Kash Patel confirmed as FBI Director

 The intimidated MAGA Republican Senate just confirmed the man sworn to serve his King Trumpy and persecute those who tried to hold him accountable for a few of his crimes. 

Look at his eyes…Charles Manson eyes. Not good for American Constitutional democracy.

All Hail The King…

 I have written over and over that the 2024 election was about one thing - saving democracy (and the rule of law, and the free press, and the separation of powers, and the Constitution, and an independent military - all the necessary institutions that comprise democracy).

Well, at least to one person, and his slavish MAGA Cult, it is clear that democracy is over and the reign of King Trumpy I has been enshrined. Proof?  How about this official message from THE WHITE HOUSE:

And this from his “X” account:

People try to convince themselves that this doesn’t mean what it obviously says. But I take it very seriously indeed. 

Was the congestion pricing experiment no good? I don’t care. That is for the City of New York to deal with. Not the a fetid king.

This delusional fool is on a path of destruction. 

Welcome to Potterville USA 2025

Welcome to Potterville USA 2025:

The purpose of Potterville is making the super-rich bigger and everyone else smaller. 

Constitution? They don’t need no stinkin’ Constitution….

Honorable courageous real Americans

In this disgraceful chapter of American history, with the Republic party overrun by white supremacist, theocratic, oligarchic autocrats, I pause to honor the dignity and courage of two of the greatest Americans - Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.  It is an honor to be part of the same nation where these two fierce giants rose up.

They brought the light, so can we.

Don’t let him confuse you

 David French made a clarifying observation - everything that Trump does is just one thing: he is saying I am your king, submit to me. 

It seems like there are so many things coming at us nonstop, from all directions, ever more illegal, unconstitutional, corrupt, stupid, nonsensical - pardoning criminals, firing essential workers, shutting down Congress authorized programs, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Gaza, tariffs, ending security protections, eliminating pennies, naming water, it goes on and on and….

But it is actually only one thing - I am your king and I CAN DO WHATEVER THE HELL I WANT, and you can’t stop me, so hahahahahahahaha….

But the orange HUMPTY DUMPTY is going to fall. Sooner would be better than later.  

By the way, why the hell is the Republican Congress just handing over their Constitutional powers to this moron?  I think death threats are involved.

I think the worm is going to turn, and once it does it will find out that THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES. 

Time to wake up

When Musk says he is Dark Maga - this is what he means - Tech-fascist destruction of democracy, here is the playbook:

1.  Campaign as autocrats - done and ongoing

2.  Purge the bureaucracy - happening now

3.  Ignore the courts - coming soon

4.  Co-opt Congress - done

5.  Centralize police and government powers - coming soon

6.  Shut down the media and elite educational institutions - happening and coming

7.  Turn out your violent people at stressful moments - happened and coming

This is the tried and true fascist playbook to destroy the democratic and political systems of a country. It is in motion.

But, who are the fascists?  Looks to me like there are more than one group - oligarchs, theocrats, and Jim Crow racists.  And, oh yes, Trump. Will they turn on each other? One can hope. 

Theocrats are clear they plan to purge the nation of sin and free it from the grip of Satan and enforce their warped view of a Christian nation on us all. 

The Jim Crow racists, who are mostly theocrats, want a Jim Crow nation where white men rule over their families, businesses, local, state, and federal governments. 

The oligarchs are doing the only thing they know how to do, become more and more and more and more wealthy and powerful. Plus, oh yes, if you are to believe their philosophical gurus like Belagi and Curtis Yarvin they are out to literally eliminate the country and establish tech-bro independent fiefdoms, each run by one of the tech billionaires, scattered across the nation.

Right now, Trump and Musk are illegally and unconstitutionally destroying the government, and Project 2025 will be installing rabid theocrats throughout. And, oh yes, Trump will destroy people he hates.

But, I think America is starting to realize what’s going on.  It’s time to wake up and smell the stench of fascism. 

The worship of power

 David French just recently wrote a quote that seems to me to summarize today’s terrible political moment:

“Those who worship power see compassion and empathy as weakness”

And there we have a one sentence synopsis of Trump and MAGA. 

They are going to fail, I believe, because they are going to destroy themselves. 

Welcome to Jim Crow America

At the direction of Donald Trump, whose father had once been arrested at a KKK rally in New York, the U.S. has revoked a 60-year-old executive order that protected equal opportunity in employment.  He has called for an end to all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This February 1, today, neither the Pentagon nor the State Department will recognize Black History Month. These are very loud statements of his ugly character. 

Showing his racism again, he immediately accused diversity hiring for the tragic accident of a helicopter and plane crash at the DC airport, long before an investigation into the crash had come to any conclusion. 

The Republican Party has been systematically impeding black voters ever since the racist Roberts Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights laws of the ‘60s. They have found their leader, and not only voted for him, but some literally worship him. 

The South has risen again - to be more specific, the Jim Crown South has risen again. 

It is a very, very ugly sight. 

Putin gets his American Secretary of Defense - Hegseth

 I believe that Putin controls Donald Trump.  He tells Trump what to do and Trump does it. Blackmail? Extortion? Bribery? Drugs? Threats?  Who cares?  

So Putin got what he wanted, a much weaker, much more incompetent, much more inexperienced American Secretary of Defense.  Did Putin pick out Hegseth?  Maybe Russian operatives just made little expert KGB trained “suggestions” through chosen influencers.  Hegseth is just one of a dozen MAGA nitwits that look good to the orange nitwit. So any would do.  

Congratulations Vladimir!  America has shot itself on the foot and is much, much, weaker with a Secretary of Defense who knows nothing of the intricacies of the world, or of the vast military, or of strategy, or of….just give him a drink and let him pretend to be really, really, really manly, manly, manly tough - oh so tough…see him do push-ups…

Next Putin conquest is the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, dedicated to sharing America’s military and intelligence secrets with her dear friend, Vladimir. 

And a fanatic, Kash Patel, to head the FBI and ignore protecting against foreign threats and pursue rabid attacks on the Justice system that dared to bring the deeply corrupt and dangerously fascistic politician to justice.  How dare they disrespect THE KING? 

Putin thinks he has been saved by his little puppet, Donny. 

Oh boy…

Bow down?

Please don’t be confused and think that Donald Trump is a politician that  has been elected to be president. In his mind he has been granted his God Given Right to be an autocrat for life. Screw the Congress, screw the courts, screw the Constitution, screw the media, screw the citizens, he sees himself doing “whatever the hell he wants” until he dies in office. 

Here is a clue. How autocrats project tyrannical power - giant sculptures while alive in office.  

America:

North Korea:

Bow down, submit, give in, give up, accept that you are powerless in the face of the all powerful god-leader.  That is, let the autocrat dominate … or, 

how about we take our power back?  

He targets those he hates

 The new president of the United States has removed the security protection from Bolton, Pompeo, and Hook.  Why? Because he knows Iran is trying to assassinate them in retaliation for the assassination of their leader, Soleimani. And because they said “bad things” about him. So he wants them to fear for their lives for not worshipping him. Or he wants them to be killed. Take your pick.

And the president of the United States removed security protection from Dr Fauci. Why? Same thing, because he was critical of Trump’s moronic mismanagement of the COVID pandemic. And he wants Fauci to fear for his life. So, he openly targets Fauci for some MAGA anti-Fauci who wants to please the president he worships to assassinate Fauci. Take your pick

I think we need to see this mentally ill man as a full blown murderous dictator dedicated to crushing all who he hates. And hate seems to be what he is made of.

Americans asked for this ugliness.  

Why the pardons?

What does an autocrat need in order to force his whims and will on an intimidated and submissive people? A fundamental tool is a civilian paramilitary to beat people up, threaten them, kill them if needed. 

Where have we seen this in the past?

• Black Shirts in Mussolini’s Italy
• Blue Shirts in Franco’s Spain
• Brown Shirts in Hitler’s Germany
• Silver Shirts in America’s American First Nazis in the 1930s

So, what color shirts will the J6 “Hostages” choose as they recruit those already undergoing paramilitary training in red area hills?  MAGA red?

Trump and MAGA are very clear that democracy and the rule of law have been crushed and replaced by the rule of Trump and the rule of MAGA and the rule of Theocracy and the rule of Oligarchy. 

Oops - too many rulers?  Do they first attack each other?  Remember that Stalin killed Trotsky, and Hitler killed Rohm. So I expect each to try to “get rid of” the others and take over.  Isn’t “taking over” what autocracy/fascism/authoritarianism all about?

We’ll see. 

America - sold!

Trump is sworn in. Count the billionaires!  Trump’s American government - of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires. The Party of Lincoln plummets to the depths of the Party of Trump.

All he’s got to say to his MAGA Cult is “Thanks suckers - and - send me more money.”

Now for the autocratic, oligarchic, theocratic choo choo train into the abyss of corruption. Hang on. 

These ugly people are as likely to destroy themselves as they are to destroy us, but it’s likely to get pretty ugly. 

Russia calls Trump the American Gorbachev

 Russians call Trump the American Gorbachev. That is not a compliment. It is a mocking of Trump. Putin sees Gorbachev as a disaster, as the leader who lost the Soviet Empire.

They clearly see Trump as the fool who will lose the American Empire. And they are right. 

Trump is actively destroying Pax Americana. He doesn’t even know what it is. It is the glue that kept the world from blowing itself up after the horrors of WWII.  It is the inspiration that protected and promoted democracy and the rule of law throughout the world. It was the Bullwark against autocracy in the world. 

But Trump is an autocrat himself. He admires and imitates autocrats. He intends to end democracy and the rule of law in America. He is succeeding. There’s lots of riches to me made by autocrats, doncha know?  Plus, the autocrat “gets to do whatever the hell he wants”.

Besides, it’s fun to be cruel; it’s a way to prove to your insecure self that you actually are a manly, manly man; it’s soooooo satisfying to crush people. 

My best hope is that he and his idiot administration will simply be too incompetent and bungling that they’ll just destroy themselves before they destroy America and the world. 

Are we in a democracy or an autocracy?

 It is clear to me that Trump thinks he WON and has been anointed as king, and he gets to do whatever the hell he wants - punish his "enemies", extort billions, and have everyone kiss his ring.

It is clear to me that theocrats think they WON and they have successfully overturned democracy and get to enforce their theocracy, and they get to do whatever the hell they want - control the sex lives of all of us.

It is clear to me that oligarchs think they WON and have captured the country to rule as an oligarchy, and they get to do whatever the hell they want - eliminate all regulations and constraints on their endless greed.  

It is clear to me that white supremacists think they WON and have finally put white men back in charge of America, and they get to do whatever the hell they want - crush the freedoms and powers of women and all non-white races.  

I think the rest of us think that we still live in a democracy where public opinion polls, midterm elections, helpful government programs, persuasive debates, attractive candidates, elections, the legal system and the Rule of Law still mean something. 

Trump will act like a king, theocrats will act like the Taliban, oligarchs will act like Musks, white supremacists will act like it’s Jim Crow. Looks like there will be a lot of combat between those convinced that the world has changed to be dominated by THEM, but not their rivals. If we’re lucky, it will be amusing. But it could get very violent. 

And the rest of us? Not sure, but I think the political and legal systems are likely to be ignored, at least for a while