“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely “
Lord Acton
President Trump is nakedly using tactics employed by Putin, Xi and other autocrats he so admires to exercise his insatiable quest for near total power;
Pay-to-play schemes to coerce some of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, corporations, law firms and media organizations …
“It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.”
Mahatma Gandhi
In most aspects of civilian, military and even government life, people are held accountable for their actions or inactions and the consequences which result from them. However, there is one arena where this otherwise universal axiom …
“If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower, June 5, 1944
Prior to the invasion of Normandy, Supreme Allied commander General Eisenhower, drafted a speech taking full and personal blame should the D-Day invasion turn into a military catastrophe, despite the fact it was …
I read the following excellent and timely opinion piece on The Chris Hedges Report/Substack. It is only the second piece written by a third party I have ever posted in nearly forty years f writing social and political commentary … and echoes many of the warning signs for the future …
“The Congress shall have power … To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal,”
U.S. Constitution – Article I Section 8
In 2024 Donald Trump campaigned on (a) an explicit repudiation of prior administrations’ efforts to affect regimes-changes or engage in subsequent nation-building and (b) a doctrine respecting the sovereignty of …
“When hypocrisy is a character trait, it also affects one’s thinking, because it consists in the negation of all the aspects of reality that one finds disagreeable, irrational or repugnant.
Octavio Paz
Amazingly, President Trump and many conservative Republicans have argued it should be solely up to parents to make decisions regarding …
Article I, Section 8 – U.S. Constitution
In President Trump’s unrelenting quest to reshape America’s representative democracy into a autocracy he simply ignores the Constitutional Article II limitations on his office, the role of the Legislative Branch, and the Rule of Law; while believing he is accountable to no one.
His ordering military …
“Partisanship, parochialism, excessive public debt, ambitious leaders who could come to power playing off our differences, and a poorly informed public who might sacrifice their own liberties to find relief from divisive politics”
George Washington
President Trump is absolutely correct … America has been and remains an exceptional nation!
Unfortunately, the president ignores …
“First came for the communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then …
“Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal,”
President Trump’s Executive Order to unilaterally
repeal energy and environmental regulations
Donald Trump’s insatiable thirst for and expansive interpretation of presidential power has been the defining characteristic since his inauguration. His issuances of daily, often legally-questionably, Executive Orders and Actions have …
“he who saves his country does not violate any law”
Donald Trump
His wildly inaccurate remark, “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president,” and embracing the label of “king” epitomizes Donald Trump’s exaggerated and narcissistic ego and disrespect for the Constitution!
Trump’s election …
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”
George Santayana
Retired General John Kelly and other senior Trump’s Administration officials confirm Donald Trump’s admiration of world leaders is limited to ruthless authoritarians including Putin, Xi, Orbán and Erdoğan, MBS, Kim Jong Un and even Hitler, whom he claims “did …
“A second Trump presidency is the most existential national security threat to our democracy in our lifetime. The global world order that the Greatest Generation fought and died for, then handed to us to sustain, will be severely damaged. Their sacrifices will be squandered if we aren’t there to defend …
'Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That's my worldview.'"
Speaker Mike Johnson
Newly-minted Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has made it clear his actions are driven by his faith and looks to the Gospels to form policy positions. Echoing evangelical and Christian Nationalists ideologies, he …
“I love the poorly educated”
Donald Trump (February 23, 2016)
It is not surprising the leading Republican presidential candidate limits his campaign stops to adoring crowds who, without any evidence, believe his lies about a stolen election, Democrats being socialists, the Justice Department has been weaponized, and his victimhood.
Discarding his vengeance-filled litany …
“I hate prejudice, discrimination, and snobbishness of any kind – it always reflects on the person judging and not the person being judged. Everyone should be treated equally.”
Gordon Brown
For nearly a century, successive Administrations championed the expansion of the rights of disenfranchised Americans, whether based on gender, race, nationality, religion, …
“There shall be one rule of Justice for the rich and the poor; for the favorite in Court, and the Countryman at the Plough.”
Samuel Adams
Trump avoided criminal liability during his presidency based on a Constitutionally-questionable 1973 DOJ memorandum which concluded “indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would impermissibly …
“The tyranny of the minority is infinitely more odious and intolerable and more to be feared than that of the majority.”
President William McKinley
Florida Governor and presidential wannabee Ron DeSantis’ anti “Woke” campaign is a series of undemocratic solutions in search of problems and “red meat” for GOP and MAGA conservatives. …
“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Article II, Section 4
During his 2016 presidential campaign, then candidate Trump bragged, “I could stand in the middle of 5th …
"The fabric of democracy is always fragile everywhere because it depends on the will of citizens to protect it, and when they become scared, when it becomes dangerous for them to defend it, it can go very quickly.".
Margaret Atwood
June 24, 2022
Dear President Biden:
Since January 2017, our fragile democracy has been, …
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson
Sadly, Republicans have stonewalled reasonable and meaningful, overwhelmingly popular gun control legislation, complaining about losing Constitutional Second Amendment rights. Yet, they’ve been quick to embrace a dangerous and delusional ex-president who frequently violated his Constitutional oath of …
“they are being treated so unfairly."
Donald Trump (January 29, 2022)
As the 2022 mid-term elections approach, Donald Trump continues to focus on his big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him!
Perpetuating allegations of election fraud, Trump has taken a page from “Mein Kampf’s” rulebook: never allow the public to …
“There are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual consent and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
James Madison
Given Mitch McConnell cannot prevent the Senate from voting on a House passed resolution to overturn President Trump’s declaration of a …
“You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.”
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
John Dowd’s, President Trump’s attorney, assertion, “The President cannot obstruct justice because he is the chief law enforcement officer … and has every right to express his view of any case,” is frightening to …