Monthly Archives: February 2025

We’ve Seen This Movie Before.

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If the actions of the current Trump administration seem vaguely familiar, it’s because we’ve already seen similar storylines.

Consider the movie Dave, in which a man without any relevant experience or qualifications finds himself in the White House through a series of misunderstandings and odd circumstances. There’s also Being There, the story of Chance, a simpleton who accidentally becomes one of the most powerful men in Washington.

Another apropos movie to consider is The Godfather, the story of a powerful crime boss who is ironically more empathetic and far more patriotic than Trump. Then there’s Joker, the story of a man who, after failing at his chosen profession, descends into mental illness and leads a violent revolution against the establishment. You could also add American Psycho, a movie about Patrick Bateman, a man completely devoid of empathy.

Finally, there’s A Clockwork Orange the story of a group of youthful dropouts known as droogs who go on a crime spree engaging in anti-social behavior.

Each of these films could be instructional in understanding the Trump administration, including the Felon-in-Chief, Musk and the rest of his DOGEbags, and the group of misfits who comprise the Trump cabinet.

Like Chance, Trump attained his position more by luck than qualifications. Like Dave, Trump is an opportunist. Like the Joker, Trump was a business failure before leading an attack on polite society. Like Michael Corleone, Trump is expert at using other people’s money and his position to extort and threaten. And similar to the character Bateman, Trump has been diagnosed as a malignant narcissist and sociopath.

Additionally, the droogs are roughly equivalent to Musk and his youthful group of nerds who have set about slashing and burning our most cherished institutions and belief systems.

Of course, Trump and Musk claim their actions are intended to save money and make your life better. But reality is quite the opposite. They’re reducing government services, starving the poor, deporting essential workers, alienating the U.S. from our longtime allies, and torching the planet in order to give themselves and their billionaire friends a $4.5 trillion tax cut.

Moreover, the firings of hundreds of thousands of federal employees and civil servants will add to the unemployment numbers. Likewise, the elimination of USAID, SNAP and school lunch programs will negatively impact those who grow our food. Cuts to VA will negatively affect veterans. The abolishment of DEI will impact people of color, women, and the disabled. The planned mass deportations will impact farms, food processors, restaurants, hotels and more. The massive tariffs on goods from our trading partners will raise prices for consumers. And the potential cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and even Social Security will be devastating for tens of millions of American citizens.

By the time Trump’s demolition squad is finished we’ll almost certainly be facing an inflationary recession – a recession that will be crippling to our economy and ordinary people.

But will Trump, Musk and their wealthy friends suffer along with you? No! Emphatically no! Indeed, the wealthy often create recessions by dumping their holdings during a strong stock market, so they can buy low after stock prices have tanked.

If Trump and his DOGEbags were serious about cutting waste and fraud, they’d be looking to cut Musk’s government contracts totaling more than $38 billion. And Trump would forgo his golf weekends, Super Bowl outings and costly excursions such as his multi-million-dollar victory lap around the Daytona Speedway, which have already cost more than the federal salaries cut.

Complex Problems: Part 5 – Urban/Rural Divide

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Let me begin by stating that I was raised on a farm. For the first 18 years of my life, farming was the only life I knew. Indeed, I fully expected to, one day, take over the family farm. It was only 160 acres in size, but it provided a reasonable living. Then I went to the state university where I was exposed to people from around the world and a vast array of other possible professions, which eventually led me to a degree in journalism and life in the city. After retiring, I returned to rural communities for several years.

All of this is to say that I believe I understand the unique issues facing people in both environments. And though the lifestyles are vastly different, the political views are worlds apart.

Reduced to stereotypes and generalities, people in the cities tend to think of their rural counterparts as uneducated country bumpkins. And people in rural communities tend to think of city dwellers as soft, overeducated, and overpaid elitists.

Of course, neither stereotype is true.

Today, many farms are large corporations with the family farmer operating as a combination farmhand, heavy equipment operator, veterinarian, mechanic, accountant, investment manager and CEO. And those living in small, rural communities are heavily entrepreneurial. Many have college degrees. They may own and operate a store, restaurant, hair salon, bank, car dealership or some other independent business. Many, like some of their big city counterparts, work in a big box store or manufacturing plant. And some drive many miles to the city to work in an office.

As for the city dwellers, many are office workers or work in warehouses and manufacturing plants. Others operate small businesses. Some drive delivery trucks. Indeed, there are a myriad of jobs. Percentage wise, very few are corporate executives. And because the costs are higher, most are hard-working people trying to eke out a comfortable living for their families.

So, as you can see, rural and urban people have more in common than they have differences. But when it comes to politics…

For one thing, in rural farming and ranching areas, guns and hunting are part of life. Many of the residents resent attempts to limit sales of guns and ammunition to solve what they consider big city crime. They falsely believe that they are overtaxed to subsidize big cities. (Actually, the reverse is true.) And, in rural areas, residents are more likely to belong to traditional churches which are central to many of life’s events: Weddings, funerals, fundraisers for neighbors down on their luck, holiday celebrations, etc.

In addition, the socioeconomic problems in rural areas are more extreme than in the city. It begins with consolidation. Today, Midwestern farms are upwards of 10 times larger than when I lived on the farm. That means there are roughly one-tenth of the number of jobs in rural towns. Their Main Streets are being hollowed out by Walmart, which based its growth model on competing with locally owned stores in small towns. Adding to the problem is our increased mobility. Rural consumers are often willing to drive long distances to shop in big cities for lower prices and greater selection.

Far too often, jobs in the few remaining rural manufacturing plants are exported to the cities, or worse…to foreign countries. There’s also the brain drain caused by many high school and college graduates leaving home for what they perceive as greater opportunities in cities.

All of this has led to the ongoing shrinkage of small towns. That is, unless they happen to be located within 30 or 40 miles of a large city. In those cases, they often become exurbs overwhelmed by development. As a result, the lifestyle they chose – the only lifestyle they know – is changing or dying. Their houses are declining in value. They feel trapped.

These problems are amplified by rightwing radio hosts and Fox News Channel. Almost all plumbers, carpenters, tradesmen and laborers take radios to their worksite. And, almost inevitably, those radios are tuned to the Mark Levins and the Alex Jones of the broadcast world who tell listeners their problems are caused by government, undocumented immigrants, DEI, city elites, and “libtards.” You’ll also hear radios in trucks and tractors tuned to the same hate-based “news” and “entertainment.” Likewise, local bars and cafes often have TVs permanently set to Fox News.

In other words, these people have become victims of propaganda. And extremists in the Republican Party (Are there any others?) are right there to take advantage.

So, where are the Democrats? They’re seldom anywhere to be seen…until election season. You see, nearly 20 years ago, the Democratic Party made the decision to invest its money where the most people are…in the cities. They pulled funding from rural counties. And they all but disappeared. The result was all too predictable.

That was evidenced when a couple of years ago, I volunteered to help with a Democratic booth at a couple of county fairs in reliably blue Minnesota. We were scoffed at, yelled at, labeled baby killers, and threatened by what I am sure are otherwise good people.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

We actually agree on most policies when they are not attached to party labels. We can have reasonable, albeit intense conversations with each other without threats and name-calling. All that’s required is respect for one another as fellow human beings. And for Democrats to be visible and available all year and every year. Not just preceding an election.

I believe the Democratic Party – in fact, both parties – would get far greater returns on their investments by operating and maintaining local offices, by holding meetings with constituents, by creating an ongoing dialogue with voters, than by spending billions on TV commercials.

A Return To The Gilded Age.

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During his second inaugural speech, Donald J. Trump, he of the golden toilets, announced that he would lead America into a “Golden Age.” What does that mean? Well, based on his executive orders to date and his roadmap called Project 2025, it appears that he wants to return the U.S. to the Gilded Age of the late 1800s when our economy was controlled by a small group of ruthless men who eventually became labeled Robber Barons.

In other words, the Gilded Age was a time when all the nation’s wealth trickled upward to the likes of Cornelius Vanderbilt, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould, Jim Fisk and others. Through a combination of inspiration, luck, and insatiable greed, these people created monopolies based on unfettered access to the continent’s natural resources. By 1890, one percent of American families controlled as much as 51 percent of the nation’s wealth. Most of the rest of the nation’s citizens, especially people of color and women, were relegated to a life of hardships and poverty.

That era only came to an end because of economic depression, exposure of corruption by courageous journalists, a populist movement that instituted regulations and antitrust laws, and the Second Industrial Age.

Trump’s so-called Golden Age promises to be worse.

To begin, in 2014 an extensive study determined that the United States could no longer be called a democracy, but an oligarchy – a government controlled by a few wealthy elites. And they have gained even more power under the new Trump administration. Indeed, his campaign was financed by billionaires such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos, all of whom were front and center at the inauguration.

Once in power, Trump appointed at least seven billionaires to powerful government positions. And who was the ally given the most power? Elon Musk, the world’s richest man with more than $400 billion in mostly government and Chinese money, who (coincidentally?) also donated the most to Trump’s campaign.

These unelected people are the ones who will benefit the most from Trump’s promise to cut taxes. These are the people who will reap the most rewards from a hollowed-out federal government that repeals regulations. These are the people who will benefit most from Project 2025’s planned attack on labor unions. These are the people who will remain unharmed by Trump’s trade war. And these people will almost certainly be among the very few who will benefit from the economic recession that almost certainly will result from Trump’s actions – actions that will lead to even more wealth disparity between billionaires and ordinary working people. (In 2023, the top one percent already controlled 30 percent of American wealth. And fifty percent of Americans controlled 97.5 percent of the wealth.)

Musk, aided and abetted by Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson and other congressional Republicans, is also the one given unparalleled power by the Felon-in-Chief to lead the ongoing coup against our government and the Constitution through the newly formed and unofficial agency called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk claims his agency should be pronounced “doej”, but it would be more aptly pronounced “douche”. And, without constitutional Article I authority, the lead douchebag has taken control of multiple agencies that are created and funded by Congress.

In just 14 days, Musk has taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and unconstitutionally shuttered the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He has also blocked communications between government agencies and the American citizenry – all without congressional approval.

Of course, there are precedents for these kinds of actions. We have seen them executed by dictators and fascists the world over. But they have never before been seen in the United States of America where we are now watching our once proud democracy circle down the drain of one of Trump’s golden toilets.