Category Archives: Elections

How Much Worse Can It Get?

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In just 10 months, the Trump regime has already implemented 48 percent of the actions outlined in Project 2025. Those changes have almost irreparably dimmed the shining city on the hill, previously known as United States of America. But if MAGA and the Trump regime are successful in implementing the entire plan, the nation will become unrecognizable, and our democracy may cease to exist.

Following are just some of the lowlights of the remaining 52 percent:

DHS & IMMIGRATION

  • End the Flores Settlement Agreement, which sets basic standards of care for immigrant children in custody.
  • Enforce income requirements for immigrants obtaining green cards and certain visas blocking entry for most refugees.
  • Repeal Section 235 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which protects unaccompanied minors who are seeking asylum.
  • Eliminate or significantly reduce the number of visas issued to foreign students.
  • End “chain” migration like that of Melania Trump’s parents who followed her to the U.S. as immigrants.
  • Break up the Dept. of Homeland Security or, at least, combine ICE and CBP to form a “Border Security and Immigration Agency”.
  • Block federal grants to sanctuary cities to ensure their cooperation with ICE.
  • Eliminate the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis making us more vulnerable to external threats.
  • Ban mixed-status families (citizens and noncitizens) from living in all federally assisted housing.

ECONOMY AND TREASURY.

  • Enact a two-income tax bracket system that will raise annual taxes by $3,000 for the median family of four.
  • Permanently reduce the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent making it lower than most advanced economies.
  • Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
  • Eliminate the Federal Reserve mission of full employment.
  • Abolish the Federal Reserve and move to a “free banking” system.
  • Repeal the Corporate Transparency Act which aims to combat money laundering.
  • Repeal key sections of Dodd-Frank Act that was passed following the Great Recession to make the financial system safer for consumers and taxpayers.
  • Withdraw from OECD, the intergovernmental organization that promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people worldwide.
  • Privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
  • Limit FHA mortgages to first-time buyers.
  • End cash grants to small businesses (including disaster aid).
  • Allow religious entities to receive Small Business Administration loans.
  • Abolish the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
  • Consider whether the Federal Trade Commission should enforce antitrust laws or even continue to exist.

ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT

  • Expand energy exploration in Alaska, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
  • Repeal the Inflation Reduction Act and rescind unobligated funds.
  • Repeal the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and rescind unobligated funds.
  • Eliminate carbon capture utilization and storage programs.
  • Restart the coal leasing program.
  • Eliminate the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
  • Eliminate all considerations of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Ensure liquified natural gas export applications are approved quickly without consideration of climate change.
  • Reverse Biden-era decisions to retire parts of the nuclear arsenal.
  • Reject the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for nuclear weapons.
  • Repeal the Antiquities Act of 1906 which gives presidents the power to create national monuments.
  • Repeal the Global Change Research Act of 1990 requiring research of climate change.
  • Eliminate the Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education.
  • Eliminate the Office of Children’s Health Protection.
  • Eliminate the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance.
  • Undermine the California waiver which allows the state to enact more stringent pollution reduction from vehicles.
  • Eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)

FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION

  • Limit campaign finance enforcement.
  • Raise contribution limits for election campaigns.

FEMA

  • Limit FEMA-issued grants to states that “comply with all aspects of federal immigration laws.
  • Shift the majority of FEMA’s preparedness and response costs to states and localities.
  • Privatize the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program.

INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

  • Re-negotiate intelligence sharing protocols with the EU.
  • Prohibit the intelligence community from monitoring domestic disinformation.

LABOR

  • Close the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; treat the participation in any DEI initiative as grounds for termination.
  • Reclassify thousands of federal employees making it easier to fire career civil servants.
  • Reduce federal employees’ pay and benefits.
  • Weaken or ban federal employee unions.
  • Privatize TSA screening.

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

  • Fund studies on the risks and complications of abortion.
  • Correct “misinformation” about the comparative health and psychological benefits of childbirth vs abortion.
  • Cut federal funding to states that do not provide detailed abortion reports.
  • Prohibit the use of “aborted fetal cells” in developing vaccines.
  • End taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood.
  • Withdraw Biden-era guidance that retail pharmacies must dispense abortion medication and contraception.
  • Eliminate the ACA’s requirement to cover the morning after pill.
  • Withdraw HHS funding, including 10% of Medicaid funds, from states that require private health insurance plans to cover abortion.
  • Restore religious and moral exemptions to the ACA’s contraception requirement.
  • Enforce the Comstock Act to prevent the distribution of abortion pills.
  • Reverse FDA approval of the mifepristone abortion pill or ban telehealth prescriptions and mailing of mifepristone.
  • Prevent the VA from covering abortion services even in cases of rape and incest.
  • End or limit fetal stem cell research and use.

USDA

  • Weaken regulations on baby formula.
  • Repeal or, at minimum, reform Dietary Guidelines.
  • Repeal the federal mandate to label genetically engineered food.
  • Prohibit schools from grouping together to utilize the Community Eligibility Provision that enables those in low-income areas to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.
  • End broad-based eligibility for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

VETERANS ADMINISTRATION

  • Reduce disability ratings for future claims, partially reduce for existing claims.
  • Sunset the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection.

How Project 2025 Is Destroying America.

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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.

MAGA: Making America Go Away

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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?

Dear Media: Stop Saying That Everything Trump Does Is Unprecedented.

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To the contrary, we’ve seen it all before – in countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Hungary, Turkey, Fascist Italy, and Nazi Germany to name a few. That’s because Trump is quite literally following the dictator’s playbook. That playbook goes something like this:

  1. You get elected to office any way possible. In 2016, Trump was helped by lies, an extensive propaganda network and foreign interference. In 2024, he was also aided by the opponents’ missteps.
  2. You expand your executive power by threatening members of Congress into compliance, by firing those who question orders, and by threatening to withhold congressionally approved funding to federal institutions in defiance of the Constitution.
  3. You replace nonpartisan government employees with loyalists and threaten others. In just 8 months, Trump pushed nearly 200,000 workers out of government agencies. And his entire cabinet consists of loyalists who constantly praise him.
  4. You challenge institutions and ignore long-standing traditions and norms. Trump has politicized every aspect of government and society. He punished any entity that supported DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). He withheld funding for USAID, WHO, and NIH, as well as research grants from academic institutions he considers liberal and those who refused to crackdown on Palestinian supporters exercising their right of free speech.
  5. You create fear and declare emergencies in defiance of the constitutional right to free assembly. In the wake of massive arrests in LA by masked and armed ICE agents, Trump illegally federalized the National Guard and deployed Marines onto the streets of the city.
  6. You openly defy the Constitution and the courts. Trump has signed Executive Orders that defy Article 1 of the Constitution, as well as the Emoluments Clause and the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments. He has also entertained the idea of violating the Nineteenth and Twentieth Amendments. And he has openly defied court orders, calling the courts “out of control.”
  7. You take control of law enforcement and create your own loyal militia. Trump’s loyal Attorney General and FBI director have politicized their agencies and opened investigations into Trump’s rivals as retribution. And the Secretary of Homeland Security and acting director of ICE have created the nation’s largest police force willing to arrest and confine both documented and undocumented immigrants, even U.S. citizens.
  8. You attack the media, the freedom of press and freedom of speech. Since he first announced his intent to run for president, Trump has labeled independent news organizations as “fake news.” He has vilified them as “enemies of the people” and filed enormous frivolous lawsuits against them. Additionally, he and his FCC chair have threatened networks and media owners resulting in the cancelation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel.
  9. You take control of the courts. Through the actions of Mitch McConnell and his appointments, Trump gained firm control of SCOTUS, which has given him immunity. His openly biased appointees now control at least two appellate courts and a large number of federal courts. And he has more than three years to further debase them.
  10. You vilify and threaten your opponents. Trump has long demeaned his rivals with childish nicknames. He blamed the murder of Charlie Kirk on “the left,” threatening to name liberal groups, including the Democratic Party, as terrorist organizations. And he demands that his DOJ investigate and convict all those who prosecuted him for his crimes and impeachments.
  11. You use your control of government to enrich yourself. In his previous term, Trump used his position to make millions from the very agency protecting him by constantly vacationing at his own resorts and charging the Secret Service inflated prices for its agents’ rooms. He’s continued that this term but expanded his greed by accepting a $400 million airplane from Qatar and a $2 billion UAE investment in his family’s cryptocurrency in exchange for access to our most advanced computer chips.
  12. You take over the education system by telling schools what they may and may not teach in order to control future generations. Trump has forced schools to rewrite history, to ban books with LGBTQ references, and to eliminate DEI programs in order to obtain federal funding. And his administration is now demanding that all schools include Charlie Kirk’s conservative Turning Point USA chapters.
  13. You take over the financial system. Not satisfied with control over Congress, SCOTUS and most government agencies. Trump is actively trying to take control of the independent Federal Reserve by attempting to fire one of its governors. If he succeeds, there will be nothing to prevent his manipulation of federal investments and currency.
  14. You rig or suspend elections. Now that Trump has control of the government, he is attempting to retain his power by rigging the midterm congressional elections through extreme redistricting of multiple red states. At the same time, he is trying to block or limit early voting, mail-in ballots, and the use of electronic voting machines. Failing that, he may try to suspend the elections or use ICE to block polling centers.
  15. Finally, you proclaim yourself “president for life” and suspend all freedoms. If you think that’s unlikely, consider the admiration Trump expressed after Xi was named China’s president for life.

There is absolutely nothing unprecedented by these actions. Every known dictator has resorted to them in one way or another. The only thing unprecedented is that no one has previously tried, let alone succeeded, in executing them here.

The Dishonest Reframing Of Operation Arctic Frost.

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With Senator Chuck Grassley’s description of an FBI and DOJ investigation targeting rightwing groups code-named “Artic Frost,” it would appear that the Biden administration had politicized and weaponized the government against Republican organizations.

But that narrative doesn’t fit the reality of the time.

Keep in mind that the operation began following a violent attempted coup at the nation’s capital and a coordinated attempt to overturn a free and fair election – all orchestrated by Trump and a variety of rightwing groups, including Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA. Indeed, prior to the insurrection, Kirk posted that Turning Point Action would send more than 80 busloads of Trump supporters to Washington, DC to “fight for the president.”

Other conservative groups conspired to illegally replace legitimate electors as part of the Stop The Steal scheme. And Trump, himself, was recorded demanding the Georgia Secretary of State to illegally “find” the 11,780 votes necessary to hand him the 2020 election.

All of that goes well beyond ordinary politics – well beyond Watergate. It undermines the very foundation of our nation and crosses the line into conspiracy to commit multiple felonies, including sedition.

To further put Operation Arctic Frost into context, the FBI had long ago identified rightwing groups as the most prolific source of domestic terrorism. {Think Timothy McVeigh’s bombing in Oklahoma City aimed at the FBI, a rightwing militia’s attempt to kidnap the Democratic governor of Michigan, and the murder of Minnesota Democratic legislator Melissa Hortman.)

In fact, over the past 10 years, rightwing extremists, including those who oppose abortion, immigrants, minorities, government and non-Christian religions have been responsible for 378 murders. These were all acts of terrorism.

That’s not to say that leftwing extremists haven’t committed acts of violence. But despite what Vice-President Vance says, they are comparatively rare.

Nevertheless, you can expect the Trump regime to use the murder of Charlie Kirk and the revelation of Operation Arctic Frost to justify further attacks on their political opponents. The regime has already shown contempt for the Constitution by governing in direct violation of the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th and 14th Amendments. And Trump seems determined to seek a third term in violation of the 20th Amendment.

It would not be surprising to see the regime try to arrest and silence opponents. And, given that there were no real consequences for January 6 due to court delays, the SCOTUS immunity ruling and presidential pardons, you can be certain that Trump will further attempt to rig the 2026 election in order to retain his grip on power.

The Don.

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That’s a title that has long been used to refer to the head of a mafia family – someone who is ruthless, obsessed with power and willing to use any means to obtain it, including violence.

And it can, quite rightly, be used to describe the felon in the White House.

Not only has he been found guilty of 34 felony counts, as well as sexual assault and defamation. His family organization was found guilty of running a fraudulent charity and a fraudulent university. Further, he was almost certainly saved from conviction of mishandling the nation’s secrets and of inciting an insurrection only through delay and his reelection.

This is a man whose parents were members of the KKK and who was mentored by Roy Cohn, chief counsel for the disgraced Sen. Joseph McCarthy and mob lawyer for mafia figures like Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante, John Gotti and Mario Gigante. He long palled around with crime figures, not the least of which were Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. He also worked with the mafia to build many of his projects in New York and New Jersey.

So, he clearly knows how mob bosses work, and he has embraced those habits in both his business and political lives. And now that he has again taken up residence in the White House, he is operating the government as his own personal crime syndicate.

Think the tariffs are intended to balance trade deficits? Think again. They are merely part of a mafioso-style shakedown of foreign countries in exchange for personal profits and gifts. Almost before the Capitol staff cleaned the grounds following his inauguration, he and his ethically challenged sons were in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE to close trade deals initiated by the Biden administration. But the real reason for their visit was personal – to cash in on multimillion deals for Trump hotels, Trump golf resorts and Trump bitcoin. As a side deal, he even accepted the gift of a $40 million jet from Qatar.

And that was only the start.

By threatening and imposing draconian tariffs on every other nation in the world, Trump began what amounts to a protection racket. (“That’s a nice little economy you have going there. It would be a shame to see something happen to it.”) The idea is to force other nations into submitting to a contract for Trump hotels or Trump golf resorts. A prime example is the Don’s deal with Vietnam. After imposing a 46 percent tariff on Vietnamese goods, he lowered the tariff to 20 percent in exchange for a $1.5 billion Trump golf resort.

Sure, the deal is in violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause. Sure, it means that you will pay 20 percent more for Vietnamese made goods. But you are only collateral damage. America…er…Trump first.

The Don is eagerly awaiting similar deals with other countries, which will almost certainly result in rising inflation and higher costs for you. But the Don is not working for you. As always, he only cares about himself. The New Yorker estimates that Trump and his family will collect more than $3.4 billion in such ill-gotten gains by the end of his second term. (I believe that to be a highly conservative estimate.)

Meanwhile, it’s you who will pay for the Don’s largess. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the economy is already dramatically slowing – a fact the Don doesn’t want you to know – and recent reports show that the producer price index, which measures the cost for wholesalers, rose nearly one percent last month. And, compared to a year ago, wholesale prices are up 3.3 percent!

Most of those price increases have yet to be passed on to consumers like you and me.

There’s more. Like every other crime boss, the Don is all about gaining and exerting power. He has already made Congress subservient to his whims. He already controls the majority of seats on the Supreme Court and a number of Appeals Courts. He controls a vast propaganda network. His cult also controls governorships and legislatures throughout the South and other portions of the no-longer-United-States. And he’s trying to exert that power to redistrict congressional seats and change voting laws to ensure that MAGA will control future elections.

The Don is also using his consiglieres and their soldiers in a blatant attempt to take over the streets of our cities to intimidate ordinary citizens and suppress dissent. He even has the world’s most powerful military at his disposal. A fact that must make all of the world’s other Dons envious.

How The U.S. Became An Oligarchy. And Some Thoughts On How To Change It.

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Over the past five decades, the American economy has dramatically changed for the benefit of the wealthy and large corporations in ways many don’t understand. This led to the hollowing-out of the middle class and an ever-increasing number of working poor.

Unfortunately, the few politicians who fight for American workers have necessarily focused on trying to deal with the symptoms of our rigged economy by funding food shelves, food stamps, school lunches, homeless shelters and more. But they have been unwilling or unable to address the underlying causes.

If we are to ever develop real solutions, we first must acknowledge how we got into this mess. This requires an understanding of economics and history beginning with the 1970s and 80s.

Trickle-Down Theory. It was in the 80s when one political party convinced voters that, if they wanted to prosper, they needed to embrace the widely disproved concept of trickle-down economics. A concept based on the belief that if you cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations, enough money will trickle down to the workers. So, the highest personal income tax rate was cut by 20 percent. And the highest capital gains tax (the source of funds for the wealthy) was cut by 8 percent.

At the same time, the IRS did away with tax write-offs for interest on car loans and other personal loans, except for mortgages. Of course, that had little negative effect on the wealthy. But it cost working Americans plenty. In addition, the government permitted credit card companies to dramatically increase interest rates – yet another blow to the working class.

Buying The Competition. Around the same time, large corporations found that it was often less expensive to buy their competition than to compete with them. That resulted in large corporations swallowing up small and mid-size companies, which led to less competition, higher prices, fewer jobs, and the destruction of the middle of our economy.

Compensation Based On Share Prices. At about that very same time, CEOs convinced their boards of directors to base their compensation on stock performance. The higher the company’s share price, the more they get paid. That, in turn, led to CEOs like Chainsaw Al Dunlap, a supposed “turnaround specialist.” In reality, he was a brand killer and a job killer. After taking control of companies, he almost immediately sold off resources and laid off employees. That drove up share prices, profits soared, and he padded his bank account. Unfortunately, it was all a fraud. Most of the companies were sold or closed their doors.

Exporting Jobs. The 1970s and 1980s also marked the beginning of the mass exodus of manufacturing jobs to Mexico, China and elsewhere. After all, in order to pump up stock prices, CEOs needed to cut costs. In developing countries, workers could be hired for a fraction of the cost of American workers. Moreover, there were no labor unions, and most workers were willing to work without healthcare and retirement benefits, which in the US roughly equaled salaries. Again, corporate and CEO profits soared.

End Of Pensions. Yet another development at the time was the 401(k). It was sold to voters as a supplement to traditional employee pension plans. But, almost as soon as it was passed by Congress, corporations began eliminating pensions. That left most workers with less retirement funds and benefits.

Consequences. The consequences of all this are the continuing consolidation of industries, increased prices, worse customer service, the disappearance of the American middle-class and the redistribution of wealth upward.

Also, the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has led to many news outlets becoming megaphones of propaganda for those politicians supported by the wealthy. And several decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States have permitted corporations and the wealthy to spend whatever it takes to buy the government they want. Putting this all together, it’s easy to see why our nation has become an oligarchy. But, instead of addressing these fundamental problems, politicians keep us distracted by their culture wars.

Possible Solutions. Now that you know how we got here, we can start to formulate solutions.

Personally, I’d begin with reinstating some form of Fairness Doctrine for electronic media, so we can all make decisions based on the same set of facts.

Next, following the lead of Teddy Roosevelt, I’d break up the most dominant corporations in every industry to increase competition and create jobs. I’d limit the number of brands and the percentage of sales for each corporation. And that would be quickly followed by increased taxes for the wealthy along with some sort of controls for executive compensation. (Incidentally, the best way to tax the oligarchs is to increase the capital gains tax on large sums.) Of course, that would also require doing away with tax shelters, both in the US and offshore.

I’d reinstate usury laws limiting the interest rates on all personal loans, including credit cards. I’d also require corporations with more than 50 employees to have employee representatives on their boards of directors.

And that’s just for starters.

What Did You Vote For?

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Did you vote for increased inflation and higher prices due to tariffs? Did you vote to pay higher taxes so that billionaires and multinational corporations could receive large tax cuts? Did you vote to increase the deficit and add trillions to the national debt? Did you vote to consolidate more power in the executive branch by taking power away from the courts and your elected representatives?

Did you vote to have unvetted 20-something-year-old geeks sort through all of your private information and cut thousands of federal jobs? Did you vote to make America more racist again by eliminating DEI programs and firing government and military leaders just because they are women or people of color? Did you vote to have inexperienced and unqualified people take control of government agencies?

Perhaps you voted to arrest and deport immigrants who are violent criminals, but did you vote for mass deportations of essential farm workers and those who work in meat processing plants? Did you want to see families torn apart? Did you vote to have your immigrant neighbors and community members arrested and deported without due process? Did you want to see innocent immigrants and US citizens imprisoned in El Salvador and beaten and tortured or thrown in concentration camps?

Did you vote for cruelty?

Did you vote to have masked men with military weapons kidnap working Americans without warrants? Did you vote to have armed military in our streets? Did you vote to have judges and congressional representatives arrested?

Did you vote to dispense with the rule of law?

Did you vote to deport Afghan interpreters who saved the lives of US troops? Did you vote for massive cuts to the Veterans Administration? Did you vote to see millions thrown off Medicaid, including elderly in senior care? Did you vote to make healthcare unaffordable for millions of your fellow Americans? Did you vote to close hundreds of rural hospitals? Did you vote to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control? Did you vote to cut medical research on cancer, Alzheimer’s and other diseases?

Did you vote to eliminate foreign aid programs that save millions of lives? Did you vote to alienate are most loyal allies, including Canada? Did you vote to make foreigners afraid to visit our country and to stop buying our products? Did you vote to end Voice of America? Did you vote to help Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians?

Did you vote to ignore climate change while cutting funds for NOAA and the National Weather Service and eliminating FEMA? Did you vote to increase the use of fossil fuels and lease public lands to oil companies?

Did you vote to lower taxes on gun silencers? To watch our leaders engage in massive bribery schemes and corruption? Did you vote to pardon the criminals who violently beat police and planned to hang the Vice-President and many in Congress on January 6? Did you vote to have the president pardon felons in exchange for presidential bribes? To sell green cards for millions of dollars?

Did you vote for increased attacks on freedom of the press and freedom of speech? Did you vote to undermine the US Constitution?

Maybe you didn’t intend to vote for many of those things. But if you voted Republican in 2024, that’s what you got. Indeed, that’s who you are. Because your vote is a reflection of you.

One Of The World’s Greatest Propaganda Machines.

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As a former writer, creative director and owner of ad agencies, I could be considered somewhat of an expert on propaganda. So, despite being appalled by the Republican Party’s policies and utter cruelty, I have long been impressed by its mastery of propaganda.

In advertising and marketing, we are taught that the best way to attack competitors who have failed to articulate and promote a clear and positive brand is to simply rebrand them. To portray the brand as too expensive, too weak, too out of step with the times.

In essence, that is what the Republican Party and its propaganda outlets have done to Democrats. And the Democratic Party made it easy. For much too long, Democrats have embraced the Will Rogers quote: “I’m not a member of an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” That may have been humorous and harmless when the party was at its peak in the days following FDR’s New Deal. But it’s toxic today.

Sure, the Democratic Party offers a big tent with room for lots of disparate groups and minorities. That’s good. But for decades, the Party has failed to articulate its core beliefs of equality and fairness; of establishing a government that serves all Americans, especially workers.

That made things easy for Republicans, their billionaire benefactors, and their propaganda machine.

For example, by embracing the Moral Majority and rebranding anti-abortionists as pro-life, Republicans were able to successfully portray Ronald Reagan, a Hollywood actor, as morally superior and more religious than President Jimmy Carter, a Baptist preacher. Republicans also took advantage of Reagan’s repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, which freed electronic media to conflate opinion with news, by embracing Rush Limbaugh and his golden microphone. Recognizing that emotions – particularly anger, hatred and fear – are good for ratings, Limbaugh and his Republican sponsors began hammering Democrats with a continuous stream of propaganda that would have made Nazi Germany’s Goebbels envious.

A seemingly endless stream of Rush imitators followed suit. And they were soon joined by Fox News Channel, which hired Republican media consultant, Roger Ailes, as CEO. While operating under the ironic slogan “Fair and Balanced”, Fox became the nation’s most powerful megaphone praising Republican ideologies and spreading disinformation.

More recently, websites, social media, and podcasts have caused the viewers, readers, and listeners to be further separated into ideological silos where unbiased reporters and factcheckers are unwelcome.

For decades, the ratings and readership of these propaganda outlets have soared as they have blamed gays, immigrants, transexuals and Democrats for all of our nation’s ills. The attacks on minorities, taxes, an over-reaching federal government, the courts, and education are particularly effective in rural areas where the population is mostly comprised of straight, white Christians…all of it is aided by our nation’s abysmal literacy record. (21 percent of U.S. adults are illiterate and 54 percent of U.S. adults are literate at a 6th grade level or below.)

The propaganda’s impact on rural areas has led to Republican control of the South and much of the Midwest as well as the U.S. Senate. It also greatly impacts presidential races as a result of the Electoral College.

Republican propaganda in the form of disinformation and misinformation has given us Q-anon, Pizzagate, and the January 6 insurrection. It has convinced a majority to believe that vaccines are more dangerous than guns, that politicians know more about healthcare than doctors, that the climate crisis is a hoax, and that white people are the victims of racism. More worrisome, it has given us a second Trump administration headed by a thrice-married, twice-impeached charlatan who should be serving time for 34 felonies, for trying to rig an election, for inspiring an insurrection and for mishandling highly classified national intelligence.

Now all of that hatred and cruelty has been unleashed to detain, arrest, deport and brutalize ordinary people whose only crime is to seek safety, a job, and a better life for their children. And they’re not the only victims. We all are.

If our ever-so-fragile democracy survives this moment, the Republican propaganda machine will be a case study in mass media, marketing, and political science classes for decades to come. Hopefully, those studying it will also find a way to better implement the antidote for propaganda – truth.

Imagine The Worst Thing That Can Happen To Our Country.

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Whatever scenario you come up with, the Felon-in-Chief will do worse. Since taking office, his actions have exceeded every worst-case scenario Democrats and even his own voters could have imagined.

For example, he didn’t just nominate a cabinet of staunch conservatives; he nominated unqualified and wholly incompetent extremists. He didn’t just pardon the January 6 insurrectionists that invaded the Capitol, he pardoned those who brutally beat cops.

He’s not just deporting immigrants who are violent criminals as he promised, he’s trying to deport law-abiding immigrants and lawful residents including essential workers, parents, children with cancer, educators, students, refugees, even US citizens.

He’s not just lining his pockets by peddling influence to international leaders, he’s lining the pockets of his entire crime family and his billionaire friends.

He’s not just reshaping the government; he randomly fired tens of thousands of nonpartisan federal workers so he could replace them with MAGA loyalists. He’s not only discriminating against minorities by banning DEI programs in the federal government, but he’s also punishing universities and corporations that fail to follow his lead. He not only purged black and female leadership from our military, he’s all but erased the civil rights movement and LGBTQ rights movement from history.

He’s not just calling news reporters and the media “enemies of the people,” he’s suing networks for reporting the truth and threatening to take away their broadcast licenses.

He didn’t just alienate our closest allies. He’s sucked up to some of our worst adversaries and dictators. He didn’t just invoke tariffs to protect American industries; he invoked tariffs on all goods entering the U.S. resulting in higher prices and increased inflation. And he’s not only pushing a bill to cut taxes on billionaires and multinational corporations, but he’s also raising taxes on workers and taking healthcare access away from millions of ordinary Americans.

His DOJ isn’t just investigating those who worked on his own criminal investigations, it’s now arresting political opponents and charging them with crimes. His DHS isn’t just sending the heavily armed ICEstapo into communities to arrest innocent workers, the Felon has unnecessarily sent National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles to incite protesters in hopes he can invoke the Insurrection Act. And according to his executive order, it’s obvious that he plans to send the military into any city he considers worthy of his ire.

He ordered a $40 million Soviet-style military parade to celebrate his birthday. That’s bad enough, but don’t be surprised if he orders the troops and tanks to stay in Washington to take over the city and threaten Congress. (He did, after all, direct his supporters to overturn the 2020 election and hang his disobedient VP.) He didn’t just have the DOGE bros collect personal data on every living American, he’ll likely use them to electronically rig upcoming elections.

And these are but a few examples. What’s the worst you can imagine? Almost certainly, it won’t be as bad as the eventual reality.