Trump Regime Prioritizing War Over Families.

The Trump regime has stated that the cost of its attacks on Iran cost $5.6 billion in advanced munitions for just the first two days. And it has been estimated that the ongoing war has cost our military more than $1 billion per day since. Given that the war is now in its eleventh day, that means we will have already spent roughly $14.6 billion. And that doesn’t include the $300 million cost of the three F-15s that were mistakenly shot down by Kuwait or the billions needed to rebuild or replace military installations in Bahrain, UAE, and Kuwait.

Of course, there’s also the $370 million cost of the military build-up prior to the war, including the operating costs of two carrier groups. Plus, the $11 billion for replenishing Israeli munitions sent to Israel without congressional approval and the proposed $50 billion bill being sought for replenishing our own munitions. All of which adds to our $1.8 trillion deficit and could have been far better used to provide affordable healthcare access and food for hungry Americans.

In addition, there’s the economic costs of the war – the lost oil production, the hikes in oil prices, and the increased costs you pay at the gasoline pump, all of which contribute to inflation.

And don’t forget the human costs of the war: The 170 schoolgirls killed by a U.S. Tomahawk missile, the likely thousands of Iranian civilians killed or displaced by U.S. and Israeli strikes, the seven U.S. soldiers killed by Iran, and the nearly 1 million Lebanese displaced by the Israeli bombing of Beirut.

And what has the war accomplished?

The Trump and Israeli regimes have killed the 86-year-old supreme leader along with much of Iran’s leadership only to see him replaced by a younger, more violent supreme leader. We likely haven’t seriously ended Iran’s desire to build nuclear weapons. (In fact, we probably have made them more committed to that goal than ever before.) We have further destabilized the region. We have caused serious damage to the environment. We have caused a large portion of Iran’s 90 million population to hate us. And we have almost certainly inspired more Iranians to commit acts of terrorism against us.

On the other hand, it did create a significant distraction from the Epstein files, it provided cover for the continued takeover of Palestinian lands in the West Bank, and it promises to keep Israel’s cabinet of genocidal war criminals in power for years to come.

Constitution? What Constitution?

In little more than one year, the Trump regime and the MAGA party have violated or proposed violations of an astounding number of the provisions of the United States Constitution – to the point that one wonders if it any longer has any meaning.

Article 1, Section 4 gives states control of elections, including the times, places and manner of holding elections. Yet Trump and the regime have ordered red states to redistrict in order to gain more congressional seats. The regime intends to limit early voting and mail-in ballots. Trump has also announced his intentions to nationalize elections. And others in the regime propose declaring a national emergency to suspend mid-term elections permitting MAGA to continue its control of Congress.

Article 1, Section 8 gives Congress the exclusive power to raise taxes, control spending, impose tariffs, control commerce with other nations, and to declare war. Yet Trump and his regime have usurped and violated every single provision of this section.

Article 1, Section 9 directs that the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus protecting individuals from unlawful detention shall not be suspended. Yet the regime’s private army consisting of ICE and CBP have routinely arrested citizens and noncitizens alike often moving them to out-of-state detention centers without the opportunity to call their families or lawyers.

Further, Trump and the regime have completely ignored the provision that “no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of any present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state.” Ignoring this clause, Trump and his family have accepted a $400 million Qatari jet, a $500 million UAE investment in Trump’s crypto venture, and at least $50 million of Saudi investments in the Trump organization!

Numerous news sources have calculated that Trump and his family have raked in at least $4 billion during the first year of his second term.

Article 2, Section 1 details compensation for the President and clearly states that he shall not receive any other emolument from the United States. Nevertheless, Trump continues weekend trips to his own golf resorts where he charges his security detail top dollar for their accommodations resulting in millions in profits for his family organization.

Article 2, Section 3 clearly states that the President shall see that all laws are faithfully executed. Instead, he and his regime routinely break laws, even ignoring the courts that have ruled against them.

1st Amendment states “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech.” Yet the regime has punished many of those who have spoken out against the Israeli genocide of Palestinians, even deporting students and noncitizens who were here legally.

1st Amendment also provides for freedom of the press. However, Trump and the regime have ordered the cancellation of Late Night with Stephen Colbert and the temporary removal of Jimmy Kimmel. The regime has also threatened media for truthful reporting that is unflattering to the Felon-in-Chief and used the FCC to directly influence the sale of Warner Brothers to a Trump supporter.

1st Amendment provides for the right of the people to peaceably assemble. But, in his first term, Trump ordered the military and police to violently attack peaceful protestors to clear the way for a photo op with a Bible in front of a church. Likewise, in his second term, the regime has encouraged ICE and CBP to attack legal observers overseeing immigrant detentions fatally shooting at least two of them.

4th Amendment states “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effect against unreasonable searches and seizures.” However, the regime has encouraged ICE and CBP to break down doors and remove residents without judicial warrants.

5th Amendment states “no person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” (Renee Nicolle Good, Alex Pretti and thousands of legal immigrants anyone?)

8th Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. But from videos and reports, nearly every ICE agent and detention center is in violation.

14th Amendment, Section 1 states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States.” Despite the obvious clarity of the wording, Trump is seeking to end birthright citizenship by Executive Order.

14th Amendment, Section 3 states that no person shall hold any office, civil or military, who, having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion. Yet the leader of the January 6 insurrection now sits in the overly gilded Oval Office.

14th Amendment, Section 4 states that “neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.” Yet Trump is demanding $230M from the DOJ for its investigations into his participation in the January 6 insurrection. He is also seeking $6M in legal fees from the State of Georgia for its investigation into Trump’s election interference. And Ashli Babbit’s family is being paid nearly $5M for her death while attempting to violently enter the House chamber during the insurrection.

15th Amendment ensures the right of black people to vote. But, for more than 40 years, the GOP (aka MAGA) has worked to make it increasingly more difficult for blacks in heavily Democratic areas to vote. And the Trump regime has demanded that MAGA-controlled states gerrymander districts in order to deny blacks equal representation.

19th Amendment gives women the right to vote. Yet the regime’s SAVE Act, if passed, would make it difficult for millions of women to vote.

22nd Amendment limits the President to two four-year terms. But Trump has often spoken about being President for life, and he and his supporters continue to suggest that there are ways around this amendment.

24th Amendment states that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged for failure to pay a poll tax or other tax. But, in effect, MAGA has created a version of the poll tax by requiring voter IDs in some states and making them increasingly difficult for working people to obtain by limiting the number of locations and closing them on weekends.

26th Amendment gives 18-year-olds the right to vote. But, again, MAGA has made it difficult for many to vote by refusing to accept college-issued IDs and requiring college students to vote in their parents’ home district.

And the Trump regime’s disdain for the law is not limited to violating the Constitution.

The regime has violated numerous laws, including the Hatch Act which forbids federal employees from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty. The regime violated the Impoundment Control Act, which requires the president to obtain congressional approval to withhold appropriated funds, when it blocked funds for governmental agencies, universities, research facilities and more. And it illegally dismantled independent agencies, such as USAID and the U.S. Institute of Peace without congressional approval.

In addition, Trump and the regime have committed a multitude of federal ethics violations, including misuse of federal resources for personal gain. (I’m thinking of you, Kash Patel, Kristi Noem, and Pete Hegseth.) Moreover, Trump and the regime continue to defy multiple court orders.

And unwilling to stop at breaking U.S. laws, Trump and his regime have broken international laws by kidnapping the president of Venezuela and pursuing an ill-conceived war against Iran led by the war criminal Netanyahu.

Tell me again: Which is the “Law and Order Party?”

A Democratic Project 2029.

The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 embraced by the Trump regime has made the US virtually unrecognizable by creating an autocratic oligarchy that panders to the wealthy and the powerful and erodes the individual rights guaranteed by our Constitution. And it’s likely to get much worse as Project 2025 is only roughly 50 percent implemented!

When a Democratic president and congressional majority is elected to supplant the MAGA miscreants (assuming we have free and fair elections), we need to be prepared to not only restore our democracy but to improve it with a Project 2029. MAGA has shown us the way to quickly reshape the US according to its ideology. Democrats must not shy away from doing the same. Following are my suggestions:

1 – Immediately nullify all of Trump’s Executive Orders.

2 – Pass legislation to restore all powers to the legislative branch as enumerated in the Constitution.

3 – Order the Attorney General (AG) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to begin prosecutions of those who participated in the Trump regime’s many violations of the Constitution.

4 – Pass legislation to eliminate immunity for all federal employees past, present and future.

5 – Order the AG and DOJ to begin prosecutions of all international war crimes, including those committed by the Trump and Netanyahu regimes.

6 – Reduce, restructure or eliminate DHS, ICE and CBP.

7 – Break up corporate monopolies. No company should ever control more than 10% of any industry.

8 – Impeach Justices Thomas and Alito for their inexcusable grift and unethical behavior and replace them with liberal justices. If necessary, increase the size of SCOTUS to 12 with nonpartisan appointments.

9 – Eliminate financial and weapons support for Israel’s Zionist government until such time it demonstrates respect for the human rights of all people under its control.

10 – To prevent corporations and billionaires from further corrupting our elections, pass legislation to repeal the decisions of Citizens United v FEC and Buckley v Valeo. Ban private campaign donations beyond $500 and provide government funding for all legitimate federal candidates so members of Congress can work instead of spending 40 percent of their time fundraising.

11 – Pass legislation to require every high school graduate to pass a thorough civics test.

12 – Pass legislation to eliminate the electoral college and make election day a national holiday. Automatically register all high school graduates and naturalized citizens to vote.

13 – Pass legislation reinstating the Fairness Doctrine to clearly label and separate opinion from news. Revoke the licenses of any media outlet that fails to do so.

14 – Pass legislation to fully restore all civil liberties, including a woman’s right to choose.

15 – Pass legislation to ban any convicted felon from holding public office.

16 – Pass legislation to place strict controls on government surveillance and invasions of privacy.

17 – Expand IRS, Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security regulators to catch fraudsters.

18 – Make the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes by eliminating tax loopholes.

19 – Eliminate all tax shelters, both on and offshore.

20 – Restore funding for the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health.

21 – Restore funding for public education and research grants for universities. Pass legislation to ban government funding of private religious schools.

22 – Enforce rules for churches and 501c3s that ban direct political engagement at risk of losing tax-free status.

23 – Pass legislation instituting term limits on Congress – 4 terms for the House, 3 terms for the Senate.

24 – Restore funding for USAID and other international aid groups, including the UN.

25 – Hold the Department of Defense accountable for failing audits and its inability or refusal to account for more than $21 trillion in spending.

26 – Create a humane and practical immigration policy that accepts refugees and asylum-seekers, that provides renewable work permits for necessary workers, and that provides a path to citizenship.

27 – Address homelessness and food insecurity by recognizing that no one who works or has a disability should be unhoused or hungry.

28 – Rejoin the Paris Climate Accords and aggressively address climate change.

29 – Move quickly to eliminate reliance on fossil fuels.

30 – Ban drilling and oil exploration on federal lands, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

31 – Claw back all emoluments gained by the Trump family and members of the regime. Pass legislation requiring that anyone who uses a public office for financial gain be fired and prosecuted.

32 – Pass legislation to reinforce separation of church and state.

33 – Restore an accurate account of US history, including the genocide of indigenous people, slavery and Jim Crow.

34 – Pass legislation restoring the Voting Rights Act.

35 – Pass legislation creating Medicare for all.

36 – Notify all federal employees that anyone who makes decisions based on politics and religion will be fired.

37 – Rebuild the East Wing of the White House and restore the Kennedy Rose Garden.

38 – Pass legislation reaffirming our commitment to NATO and all long-standing treaties.

39 – Remove the Trump name from every federal building and edifice and make it illegal to display the name on any structure other than portable toilets.

40 – Instead of an eternal flame, equip Trump’s eventual grave with modesty panels and a catchment basin for the legions of people who will want to piss on it.

Where Is Democratic Leadership?

As I’ve previously written, CBP and ICE have deployed 3,000 masked, heavily armed bullies to Minnesota, including the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and their suburbs. For weeks, they have been terrorizing residents by making arrests using illegal and unconstitutional tactics, often brutally ripping innocent citizens from their homes and cars. In the process, they are using an array of internationally banned chemical agents to punish onlookers who are hoping to hold the bullies accountable.

People – citizens and noncitizens alike – are understandably frightened. Businesses are suffering and many will not survive the siege.

During this assault, what have we heard from Democratic leadership? Crickets.

Minnesota state and city leaders have forcefully spoken out, even filing a lawsuit against DHS. Members of Minnesota’s Democratic caucus in Congress have spoken out. But Jeffries and Schumer? They seem unfazed by the unconstitutional actions of Trump’s personal assault team. No press conferences to denounce the situation. No media appearances. Indeed, it has been reported that neither Jeffries nor Schumer tried to convince their colleagues to block additional funding for ICE and CBP!

Why?

Why are Democrats not using every available parliamentary technique to block funding? (Perhaps Schumer should consult Mitch McConnell to learn how to fight the opposition party’s agenda.) Why are they not using every available opportunity to speak to the media? Why are they not screaming from the rooftops?

From the beginning of the Trump regime, Democratic leadership has conceded issue after issue to MAGA without so much as a stern speech on the floors of Congress in the middle of the night. All I see from national Democrats are emails asking for more money.

Meanwhile, the situation in Minnesota could not be more dire!

There are now hundreds, if not thousands of Anne Franks – legal immigrants afraid to leave home who are protected and supplied by neighbors. And, while Minnesota is suffering the brunt of the regime’s brutality, unless they are stopped, they will soon invade other cities and states with the same cruel tactics.

The regime’s disdain for our Constitution and the rule of law is not in question. It is not a matter of political conjecture. It is real. And the very future of our democracy is at a tipping point!

Yet our Democratic leaders seem unfazed. They seem to be content to wait for the midterms. But there is absolutely no certainty that Democrats will take control of Congress as the result of the elections. It’s possible, almost inevitable, that Trump and his regime will steal the elections. Trump has even talked about invoking the Insurrection Act and having the military seize ballot boxes.

We cannot allow that to happen. We must demand that our leaders speak up and fight back. If they won’t, we need new leaders!

The New Surveillance And Police State.

In recent years, the Republican Party and MAGA have constantly cried “Freedom”, believing that Democratic presidents were out to take away their liberty. But ironically, the people they voted for are the ones who are actually suspending the Constitution and taking away our freedoms.

Starting by suspending due process for immigrants, the Trump regime has quickly moved to attack the freedoms of citizens. It has attacked the First Amendment guarantees of free speech in government agencies, universities, and the media. It has violated the Fourth Amendment preventing unreasonable search and seizures, the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial, and the 14th Amendment that gives citizenship to all those born in the United States, leading to a case that is now before SCOTUS.

The regime has initiated numerous attacks on the 15th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote. Numerous individuals in the regime have openly discussed repealing the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. In addition, the regime has repeatedly discussed violating the 22nd amendment limiting all presidents, including Trump, to two terms.

And the regime is clearly only getting started.

Billionaire Peter Theil and his Palantir data mining company have helped construct a master government database of all US citizens enabled by the company’s numerous government contracts and Trump’s Executive Order to eliminate information silos. And the creation of the database and the accompanying surveillance network is happening faster than legislators can recognize the threat, let alone craft legislation to control it.

So, all of your personal data, including financial records, tax records, and medical records are all in one place, quickly accessible to anyone with clearance. And since the Trump regime has ordered states to turn over voting records, the database will likely include your party affiliation, political donations and voting history.

Additionally, Homeland Security and ICE are using more than 70,000 LPR (License Plate Reader) cameras to monitor the movements of undocumented immigrants. Of course, the cameras also allow the government to track movements of ordinary citizens, with the FBI and DHS using AI to sort through tips and social media to determine what they believe to be “threats.”

And the entire domestic surveillance network is shielded from oversight by “national security” exemptions.

At the same time, the regime is rapidly increasing the number of masked and armed ICE agents to roughly 30,000. It has also increased ICE’s budget for weapons by $71 million, a 700 percent increase.

But that shouldn’t worry us. We all trust that the Trump regime won’t use its database, cameras and secret police for political purposes, or to interfere with the liberties of American citizens. Right? Right? Right???

Donald J. Trump Guilty Of Sedition!

Those are the words we should have heard from a federal jury. But, on this anniversary of the insurrection of January 6th, we’re still waiting. Even worse, the leader of one of the ugliest days in our nation’s history sits in the now gold encrusted Oval Office immune from accountability despite the fact that the Select Committee on January 6th and Special Counsel Jack Smith have proven Trump’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Given that the MAGA-controlled Congress released Smith’s testimony on New Year’s Eve in hopes of burying it in the news cycle, I provide you with the following links to help you reach your own conclusion:

Bing Videos

House Judiciary Committee Releases Jack Smith Deposition Transcript | Lawfare

How Project 2025 Is Destroying America.

Remember Project 2025? You know, the plan that Trump denied any knowledge of during the campaign despite previously praising its authors by saying, “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do…”

Not surprisingly, many of its authors have been awarded key roles within the White House and government agencies. Indeed, Russell Vaught the key architect of the plan is now Washington’s most powerful man as director of the Office of Management and Budget. And, under his guidance, the Trump regime is radically changing (aka destroying) the federal government.

Far from making America great, it’s destroying the very fabric of our nation as surely as Trump demolished the East Wing of the White House. For example, here are some of the things the Trump regime has done by implementing Project 2025:

  • To ferret out alleged “widespread” waste and abuse, the Trump regime created DOGE, an unelected and unvetted group of twenty somethings who broke laws and violated the Constitution by firing government employees, shutting down numerous agencies, and blocking congressionally approved funding. Even more concerning, they allegedly downloaded the personal information of millions of Americans.
  • Church membership has been falling, so it is imposing Christianity into public schools and workplaces.
  • The rate of births among white Americans has dropped, so it calls for banning all abortions and using the Comstock Act to prevent the delivery of abortion drugs to individuals. It also calls for ending ACA funding of contraceptives.
  • Women and minorities have been gaining rights and positions of authority, so it is attacking DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs to keep them in their place. And to keep women in the home, it calls for ending subsidized day care and, instead, funding at-home daycare payments.
  • To push MAGA’s pro-birth ideology, it prohibited USAID from funding “sexual reproductive health and reproductive rights” and “gender equality” programs. As a result, the regime intends to incinerate nearly $10 million worth of taxpayer-purchased contraceptives.
  • Most highly educated voters support Democrats, so it’s attacking public K-12 education and universities. It is also eliminating the Department of Education.
  • Scientists support many Democratic goals like addressing the climate crisis, so it’s attacking science by defunding agencies like the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It has also withdrawn from the Paris Accords on Climate Change and canceled at least 130 climate and clean energy contracts.
  • The academic freedom of public and private universities permits professors to teach subject matter that is counter to the MAGA ideology, so it is using government contracts as leverage to eliminate DEI and other “woke” policies.
  • MAGA was furious over vaccine and mask mandates during the pandemic. So, Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization and, following Project 2025, he blocked much of the funding for National Institutes for Health and the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC has been decimated leaving us largely unprepared for the next health crisis.
  • Publicly supported independent media pose a threat to autocracy by presenting the unbiased truth, so it rescinded all federal funding for NPR and PBS.
  • The authors of Project 2025 believe we spend too much on foreign aid. So, it all but eliminated USAID and programs such as international disaster aid, food aid and family planning.
  • The Trump crime family has created its own highly speculative cryptocurrencies, so it has reduced regulations by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
  • Corporations have been restricted and held accountable for environmental abuses, so it calls for repealing many of the regulations and lessening protections for vulnerable species.
  • There has been recent growth in worker wages which has reduced corporate profits, so it is attacking labor unions and increases in minimum wages. It’s also increasing unemployment levels through tariffs and other means.
  • Renewables have been quickly replacing fossil fuels, so it calls for replacing incentives for renewables with even more incentives for oil, gas and (choke) coal.
  • The percentages of black and brown minorities have been increasing, so it has expanded ICE and CBP to detain and deport millions of Latinos and blacks. It has also deployed military to help guard our borders.
  • To ensure future MAGA control, it has encouraged MAGA-controlled states to implement extreme gerrymandering and to rig elections by changing voting laws.
  • Schools, museums and other institutions have increased our citizens’ understanding of the nation’s past excesses, such as ethnic cleansing, slavery, and Jim Crow, so it is banning books and rewriting history.
  • It recognizes that nonpartisan federal employees restrain authoritarian power, so it is firing thousands of government workers and replacing them with MAGA loyalists.
  • Government watchdogs, such as Inspectors General, impose ethical standards that restrain corruption, so they have been fired and replaced with loyalists.
  • Trump was furious at attempts to hold him accountable for crimes. So, longtime employees of the Department of Justice and FBI were fired to better weaponize the system against his investigators, prosecutors and political opponents.
  • An independent Congress and judiciary act as restraints to the executive branch, so the regime has taken control of Congress and SCOTUS to cede power to the executive branch.
  • The Constitution is the last barrier to autocracy, so it is simply ignoring it.

Addressing The Nation’s Real Problems.

MAGA (formerly known as the Republican Party) would have you believe that billionaires don’t have enough money, that multinational corporations don’t have enough power, that our debt is the result of giveaways to poor people, and that immigrants are destroying our nation.

Of course, the opposite is true.

In the meantime, our nation’s real problems and their underlying causes are being ignored by MAGA as well as by some politicians on the left side of the aisle. Indeed, most of the decisions made by the current MAGA regime are making the problems worse!

For example, outside of a widespread nuclear conflict, climate change is the greatest existential threat to the planet. The rise in global temperatures as the result of carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels is not only a threat to humanity in the form of more extreme weather events. It threatens most of the planet’s species. Scientists warn that failure to aggressively address climate change will result in the extinction of more than a million species within a few decades – species that not only make our planet more fascinating and enjoyable. Many of them are species that humans rely on for food. Yet the MAGA regime is eliminating every initiative intended to address the issue. It has revived the oil and coal industries and rolled back regulations on pollution and the emissions of greenhouse gases. At the same time, it has eliminated incentives for solar, wind generation, and electric vehicles.

Such madness will certainly make our planet less livable and cost many thousands of high-paying American jobs. Moreover, the failure to mitigate our changing climate will cost trillions more in rebuilding following storm disasters.

The MAGA intent to remove up to 12 million immigrants is another ongoing MAGA-fueled disaster. ICE has stated that it will remove 600,000 immigrants by the end of the year. In addition, it claims that 2 million immigrants threatened by ICE have left the US on their own. That’s 2.6 million workers. 2.6 million customers of American businesses, and 2.6 million neighbors and friends. And it begs the questions: Who’s going to harvest our fruits and vegetables? Who’s going to process our meat? Who’s going to cook our food, do our landscaping, clean our businesses and hotel rooms, or care for the elderly? The truth is, we need these workers, and our lives and economy will suffer without them.

Next on the list of our problems, but no less serious, is the ongoing consolidation of industries such as grain, meat, agriculture, groceries, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, media, trucking, banking, oil, real estate and more. In fact, most of our industries are controlled by fewer than a dozen corporations. This has led to the extreme wealth disparity in the US along with the near collapse of small and midsized cities and a press that has increasingly prioritized profits and political propaganda over news. In addition, price fixing is an almost inevitable consequence of corporate consolidation. And the political power wielded by these corporate leaders is overwhelming.

At the same time, our bought-and-paid-for government has looked the other way as billionaires and millionaires use their economic muscle to game the stock markets then hide their ill-gotten gains offshore to avoid taxes.

Other pressing issues are a healthcare industry that forces Americans to pay four times more per capita for care than every other advanced nation in the world. Artificial Intelligence is expected to eliminate up to 100 million jobs in the US. Our out-of-control military-industrial complex is given a trillion-dollar annual budget. Yet it has failed audits seven years in a row, and $21 trillion of its taxpayer money is unaccounted for!

Our public education system that was once the envy of the world is being attacked by MAGA. In addition, MAGA has attacked academic freedom leading to a brain drain as some of our best scientific minds leave the US for Canada and Europe. These attacks will have long-term effects, which will allow other nations to surpass our technology.

Not the least of our problems is our unhealthy relationship with guns. Indeed, guns are now the leading cause of death for children. And there are more than 500 mass shootings in the United States each year. MAGA tells us that’s the price of having the Second Amendment to prevent tyranny. Yet thanks to MAGA, a tyrant has taken over the White House without firing a shot.

MAGA: Making America Go Away

Far from making America great, the MAGA movement is making it unrecognizable. Indeed, it no longer resembles the vision of our forefathers.

Instead of embracing the nation’s motto: e pluribus unum (out of many, one), MAGA has divided us. In MAGA’s America, immigrants are vermin, political rivals are demonic, and news media are enemies of the people.

MAGA’s America is no longer a constitutional republic consisting of three distinct branches of government. The legislative has abdicated its powers to the executive. And the land’s highest court has given immunity to the executive for its illegal acts. His Royal Pain-in-the-Ass now controls most of the federal government, including the DOD, DOJ, and the FBI. And he is attempting to take over the last independent agency standing – the Federal Reserve.

MAGA’s America no longer serves as a beacon for immigrants. Instead, it locks immigrants (both legal and undocumented) in gulags and separates families. Instead of governing by the rule of law, MAGA’s America pardons criminals and imprisons the law-abiding. And instead of using our nation’s wealth to help the poor and needy, MAGA uses it to fill the bank accounts of Dear Leader and his billionaire friends.

MAGA’s America has shown contempt for the Constitution, defying our most cherished principles of freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of unreasonable searches and seizures.  MAGA has even suspended the right to due process for citizens and non-citizens alike. And thanks to SCOTUS, the ICEstapo is now free to stop and detain any brown or black person on the mere possibility that they are undocumented.

Instead of fighting fascists as our fathers and grandfathers did, MAGA’s America sends armed and masked gangs into the streets to spread terror.

Most worrisome of all, the MAGA movement is intent on limiting the right to vote. SCOTUS has already all but repealed the Voting Rights Act, which has led to extreme gerrymandering in the South. In many states, they have made it difficult to obtain voter IDs. They have tried to ban early voting, mail-in ballots, and electronic voting. Instead of encouraging citizens to vote in free and fair elections that are the hallmark of democracies, they strive to make voting more difficult in order to seize and maintain power.

This is no longer the America of your grandparents. Or of the Founders. In fact, it is only one or two steps away from total dictatorship – the kingdom of Trump.

Is it any wonder, many of the French now want us to return the Statue of Liberty, saying that America no longer represents the values that led France to gift it to the U.S. in the first place?