As Trump lies, democracy dies

 

 

“The most outrageous lies that can be invented will find believers if a man only tells them with all his might” - Mark Twain

Trump’s farcical display televised on July 16th, spewed previously debunked claims regarding his Big Lie and his current willingness to cancel the results of the 2026 elections that his Party’s majority will likely lose.  Knowing that he’ll face legal scrutiny for all of his violations of laws and enriching himself at tax payer expense, he wants to offset results that could lead to a third impeachment.   

His narrative that night pulled a page out of the McCarthy era where Movement conservatives championed by Barry Goldwater in the 1950’s and 1960’s called all Democrats Communists, with a capital “C”, to identify it with the Chinese communist threat at that time, as Heather Cox Richardson notes in her book, “DEMOCRACY AWAKENING: Notes on the State of America”.  

The “red scare”, as it was referred to, energized Conservatives to replace the fact-based liberalism of FDR, Truman and JFK, with Christian spirituality and free market capitalism: concepts that empowered wealthy businesses to form government policy they benefitted from. This plays in well with Trump’s support of the billionaire class.

It’s troublesome too that Trump has recently scheduled Kash Patel as FBI Director to visit Moscow a week before the mid-terms this year, for unfathomable reasons that suggests the pro-Putin Trump administration may conspire with the Kremlin to once again, intervene in our elections to favor a GOP victory

Trump has already attempted to silence the fourth estate through purchases of large entertainment venues that own media stations that call out his corruption.  His second administration has replaced the previous guard rails in his first presidency with mostly unqualified people in another attempt to overthrow our constitutional republic.    Todd Blanche vying for the Attorney-General seat and Jay Clayton for the Director of National intelligence are positioned to circumvent elections outcomes in congressional districts that don’t favor the GOP

His Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has been firing and demoting generals who aren’t willing to sign on to Trump’s grand delusions of Republican/MAGA power for a hundred years.  Hegseth would be a willing dupe to establish a formidable  paramilitary group to carry out assignments that would follow an autocratic ruling, imprisoning political dissenters without due process of the law.  And as an apparent fan of Rambo-style movies, Hegseth wants to build a more muscular, manly military that could be indoctrinated to carry out Trump’s strong-man rule.

If Republicans leaders fail to oppose illegal attempts to harass voters and cancel votes that favor the Democratic candidates, we could be faced with a fascist autocracy that would rival his autocratic heroes around the world.

Our political representatives need to hear from us loudly and often to have any chance of stopping this mad man’s fantasy.  If you’re not already, please get registered and vote this November.

Are we edging towards a theocracy

 

                                                                                

"the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations." - C.S. Lewis

 

Are evangelical churches in Texas failing to adequately indoctrinate the children of the state where they have to rely of legislation that allows them to push their religious views into our public school systems? It has been my experience that faith is best served up to those willing to consensually assimilate religious scripture into their hearts and minds rather than making their case in the form of restrictive codes, such as the Ten Commandments

The Texas state school board has opened its public school classrooms for a curriculum, that consists of “teachings by Jesus, stories such as the parable of the prodigal son, readings from the Psalms, and a unit on the Golden Rule.”  Though not mandated for all public schools, those often strapped for funds will likely jump on this wagon that offers up to a $60 incentive per pupil in the program.

A religious non-profit recently paid for and distributed some 1200 posters of the 10 commandments to Denton ISD.  Texas Senate Bill 10 “requires public schools to accept privately donated posters of the Ten Commandments …  and to display them in each classroom that does not already have one”.   The commandments are all about forbidding specific behaviors, intended to mold each generation in how not to behave, assuming proper behavior was a given.  

But we know that not all Christians practice what they preach and thus pass such misgivings on to their own children.  This becomes even more egregious if such people are cultural and political leaders, for they have domain over the narratives that are spread throughout our private and public institutions.  

Jesus the Nazarene, upon which the Christian faith is based, expressed his desire for his followers to follow the law of the Prophets in Matthew 5:17,  but throughout that parable, that is more popularly known as the sermon on the mount, he also wanted them to go beyond the negative expressions of Mosaic laws, putting love and compassion in the forefront.

However, once the institution of the Church began cherry-picking  scripture that served their political agendas, the example they set no longer encouraged exclusively the exuberance Jesus presented to the crowd that gathered on that Mount.  Religious leaders demanded obedience to rigid rules like the Ten Commandments that were used as a cudgel to keep followers in line.

This appeals to those who search for solace in familial terms as Frank Rich laid out following the horrors of 9/11.    It follows Plato’s parent-child analogy in his Crito. “In this formulation, the state is to the subject as the parent is to the child: as the child must obey the parent, so must the subject obey” (5)

This then is the appeal of Trump to evangelicals.  But they failed to see where this egomaniac would lead them.  He demands loyalty above all else as do the Christian nationalists and works to punish those who oppose him.  He’s become a comical creature they are now forced to stay aligned with, lest they look weak to those whom they have drawn into this dysfunctional family.

Imposing their religious views into our schools sets the stage for a fundamentalist drive to convert our democracy into a theocracy where cruel punishments not unlike those the Church imposed in middle ages, which in turn led to the notorious Inquisition  It’s hard to image our historical culture would fall for this, but where information for some relies more on feelings than facts, societies easily acquiesce for fear of public shame and ostracizing. 

When is enough enough?

 

If you still have any reservations as to the Trump administration’s corruption and incompetence, one only needs to look at the current bevy of Trump appointees who are guilty of some if not all of the Seven Social Sins.  

There was dog killer Kristi Noem’s extravagant and illegal expenses, squandered by her and her improper companion, Corey Lewandowski.  She was followed by Greg Bovino, Trump’s  inhumane ICE “commander-at-large”.  Then came the dismissal of Pam Bondi, with her apparent attempts to protect Trump from the remaining Epstein files and her virulent testimony before Congressional oversight committees, displaying some of the most unprofessional behavior ever as an unelected official.

And now there’s Trump’s Labor Secretary, Lori Chavez DeRemer, who can’t control her husband’s sexual proclivities toward her female staff, and who herself had “an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job” along with four others in her Department.

Next on the cutting block should be the FBI’s feckless Director for his excessive drinking and unexplained absences.  In an Atlantic story on the boozing Kash Patel, we learn that he would often “drink to the point of obvious intoxication” needing at times to be awakened out of his drunken stupors to attended scheduled meetings.

Many more have replaced qualified people with mostly unqualified wealthy corporate interests, selected by the Project 2025 contributors.  Actions that have eliminated many of the guard rails in place during Trump’s first administration to stop this petulant sociopath.

The silliness of Trump and his MAGA loyalists

 

 

In all of my comments about Trump and his loyal MAGA base, I never expected to win over the died-in-the-wool adherents of Trump’s autocratic moves.  These are treac erous people who frequently lack feelings of shame and guilt for their capitulation to undermine 250 years of constitutional democracy.  

They take pleasure in agitating what they refer to as the “woke” crowd and some may in fact relish the opportunity to have an autocratic strongman in power, though Trump in his ever debilitated state, is far from a strong man, physically and mentally.  You will find many of them who have lifted up the proclaimed man of God, Charlie Kirk, for his small-minded and hateful words expressed before his senseless assassination in September. (1) 

What I’m left with is akin to Gavin Newsome’s mockery style (2) of people who seek only to gain more power and enrich themselves at the expense of millions of low and middle income families, in red states as well as blue ones, conservatives as well as independents and liberals.  They are as much silly as they are threatening.  So hereafter I will point out how silly these wanna be authoritarians are and hope that the threat they pose to the rule of law will become self-evident.  

They started silly with declaring that the 2020 elections were stolen from them, in light of all the hard evidence to the contrary (3).  And even though Marjorie Taylor Green, aka MTG, recently sided with Democrats about keeping insurance prices stable, she will forever be remembered as the looney-toon that claimed “'Jewish Space Lasers' Caused California Wildfires”. (4)

That’s as far as I want to go in the near past on this subject.  The pages that such silliness would consume would be voluminous, and would merely serve as a non-narcotic sleep aid. So let’s just have ourselves a good laugh with the most recent absurdities.

Trump’s insane deportation policy has been randomly deporting people who do not fit his “worst criminals” scenario. (5)  Recently , after railing against Biden’s end to the Afghanistan war and leaving behind those Afghans who were U.S. assets, Trump’s administration is now dismantling programs created to assist Afghan allies, where American-friendly Afghan’s seeking asylum are now being deported back to a government that will surely execute them on their return (6)  Your first inclination may be to laugh before shaking your head in outraged bewilderment.

Then there’s the wild-eyed claims made about Independent candidate for New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has been accused of “wanting to enforce Shariah law” by MTG and Laura Loomer who said Mamdani is “literally supported by terrorists. NYC is about to see 9/11 2.0.” (7)

We can’t leave the vice-president out of this joke circus.  J.D. Vance thinks the Democrats shouldn’t be so easily offended by his words (8) but doesn’t think this applies to his angry, vengeful boss, who says Democrats are evil and enemies of the state. (9)

Lastly there was Pete Hegseth’s embarrassing diatribe before the military’s highest ranking officers, many who faced combat conditions over their decades of service, arrogantly presuming they lacked a true “warrior ethos”. (10)  As a combat Marine Corps veteran, I couldn’t help but chuckle at his attempt to disparage other warriors as if they were less than he was.  He showed a lack of esprit de corps who apparently held higher esteem for the draft dodger and man who once said that those who died in service were losers and suckers. (11)

This ludicrous behavior is that of the loser/bully type who when finally bested with facts over their inane assertions resort to words that are only meant to distract from their failure with truth such as "your mother wears army boots."  Childish in nature, it is the only reaction left to people who have yet to mature mentally and who desperately gravitate towards their loser peers.

Stay tuned for more silliness from those who assure us that the convicted felon and rapist was anointed by God, despite the fact that he is the antithesis of Jesus. (12)

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(1) https://www.snopes.com/collections/charlie-kirks-quotes-investigated/?_bhlid=0f3cd06438de94f83f005efe227202ae5cafee24
(2) https://www.thedailybeast.com/california-governor-gavin-newsom-mocks-donald-trump-and-benjamin-netanyahu-with-dumb-and-dumber-reference/ 
(3) https://factually.co/fact-checks/politics/2020-election-fraud-investigation-fe9b53
(4) https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/mtg-space-lasers/
(5)https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/migrants-in-u-s-legally-and-with-no-criminal-history-caught-up-in-trump-crackdown
(6) https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2025/10/14/trump-immigratio-afghanistan-asylum-deportation/
(7) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/13/opinion/zohran-mamdani-muslim-america-new-york.html
(8) https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/jd-vance-just-said-democrats-220358980.html?fr=yhssrp_catchall
(9) https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-tells-the-navy-to-view-half-the-country-as-the-enemy/ar-AA1NXrU0
 (10) https://www.msnbc.com/the-briefing-with-jen-psaki/watch/trump-hegseth-put-on-embarrassing-show-before-a-distinguished-military-audience-248800325877 
(11)  https://www.snopes.com/news/2023/10/04/donald-trump-call-troops-suckers-losers/ 
(12) https://www.closertotheedge.net/p/the-gospel-according-to-trump-100

The Audacity of Hubris

                                                

 

If Trump supporters really believe in their campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”, then are any of them willing to speak out against republican members of  the Judiciary Committee, who sat through a humiliating session with Trump’s pick for Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who refused to answer questions requiring a simple or yes or no response.(1)

She couldn’t give a simple yes or no when asked if Trump’s Border Czar took money from an undercover FBI agent last year, which was caught on video tape.  She couldn’t answer yes or no to Senator Sheldon’s question if there were pictures of Trump in the Epstein files she claimed to have of him sitting with partially naked girls, and failed to answer the simple query whether Trump ordered her to indict and prosecute two Democratic politicians and a former Republican Assistant AG.

All responses to Democratic members of the committee were often vile, unfounded accusations meant to shame them while holding Trump blameless for contempt for his contempt of the Constitution.
South Carolina candidate, Brandon Brown recently stated the obvious, declaring that “the Justice Department is being transformed into a political weapon.” (2)

We are now being ruled by a fascist autocrat who demands loyalty from every single member of his administration. (3)  He puts these people on display routinely as they engage in hyperbolic praise of the then dear leader. (4)  He speaks in the third person about himself because he believes his ideal of himself is without fault, while knowing full well he is the corrupt president ever that engages in deals using his position as president to enrich himself, family members and cronies wealthier. (5)

How does any of this make America great again?

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(1) https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/pam-bondi-senate-judiciary-hearing/

(2) https://brandonbrownforsc.substack.com/p/how-we-stop-pam-bondi-and-roll-back?publication_id=5600100&post_id=175624775&isFreemail=true&r=8pb8r&triedRedirect=true 

(3) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/donald-trump-white-house-loyalty-b2625363.html

(4) https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-cabinet-members-lavish-praise-1235416119/

(5) https://dennispcrawford.medium.com/trumps-culture-of-corruption-f6c0634f8053

Liberals are losing their first amendment rights

 

 

As one who holds liberal views, should I worry that I may be arrested for expressing views that conservatives feel are not protected under the 1st amendment to our Constitution?  as we have all recently witnessed , this became a reality after CBS fired Stephen Colbert and ABC just recently fired Jimmy Kimmel, both as a result of underlying threats from Trump and crony at the FCC. (1)

President Trump and his VP recently gave the green light for “right-wing extremists [to declare] open season on liberals and the left.” (2)  This has been an ongoing effort by Trump’s authoritarian edicts since his 2nd inauguration.  This includes many state and local governments, with Texas often in the forefront of violating the 1st amendment rights of millions who vote Democratic.  Liberal-leaning groups like MOVEON.org and the national INDIVISABLE organizations could be targeted for this assault.

It’s been a pattern of conservative commentators to suggest “that liberalism is tied to higher education because learning more about how the world works leads to a better understanding of political policy.”  (3)  That’s probably true but not in all cases, though I confess,  it was for me.  Liberals started finding their voices during the Vietnam era days where university campuses rallied students and staff to advocate for changes in foreign and domestic policies and the excesses of Presidential executive power.

Here in my hometown of Denton, Texas, DISD Education Commissioner Mike Morath “warned last week that educators who “posted and/or shared reprehensible and inappropriate content on social media” regarding the killing of conservative Charlie Kirk, “could face suspension or revocation of their teaching certificates.”   Though nothing has shown that these comments are “inappropriate”, it would likely be no different from the “hateful speech” of conservatives who viscerally call women who seek an abortion for an unwanted pregnancy, “BABY KILLERS”
and accuse  “liberal leftist” of hating God and “his word”, with their support to keep church and state separated and out of our public schools.

This follows on the heels of Gov. Abbot’s support for House Bill 4211 that masks the attempt to limit religious dwellings that are not  Christian.  The goal of this bill Abbot said was “to prevent ‘bad actors’ from using religious freedom to impose “segregation,” as he singled out an Islamic mosque in McKinney. (3)

Those alleged hateful words liberals are saying about Charlie Kirk are not ignoring that his violent death by an assassin, being the extreme version off quashing one’s free speech. But it is, none-the-less, speech that even CK himself said (4) was protected under the Constitution.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian, was in awe of Americans playing out their 1st amendment rights as he toured the relatively new nation in 1831, highlighting their “unlimited freedom to associate for political goals that prevents tyranny of the majority.”(5)  But it was the sentiment that was erroneously credited to Voltaire, a French writer and philosopher during the 18th century Enlightenment movement, who said “‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. (6)  
Hate speech does not kill, maim or destroy property.  It’s the actions taken by people, like 22-year old Tyler Robinson, who read such words that now threaten a liberal’s right to exercise his or her 1st amendment right. (7)   These are the actions of an autocratic state of mind that will eventually destroy our constitutional republic and leave our children and grand children oppressed by the will of a single narcissistic demagogue. 

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(1) https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/09/19/trumps-media-enforcer-is-relishing-his-jimmy-kimmel-moment/ 
(2) https://dentonrc.com/education/higher_education/university_of_north_texas/unt-system-will-keep-faculty-senates-with-tweaks-to-comply-with-new-state-law-limiting/article_fefba570-299c-4ec5-a9f1-4d3f3d8ebb0f.html#tncms-source=login  
(3) https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/04/13/higher-education-leads-to-liberalism/
(4) https://www.fastcompany.com/91403774/charlie-kirk-believed-in-free-speech-his-fans-are-getting-people-fired-for-exercising-theirs
(5) https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/alexis-de-tocqueville/
(6) https://checkyourfact.com/2019/09/17/fact-check-voltaire-disapprove-defend-death-right-freedom-speech/
(7) https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/09/19/charlie-kirk-death-free-speech/

Another page out of the autocrat’s playbook

“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders...tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.” - Hermann Goring

Adolph Hitler’s success was derived from his control of the public narrative. (1)  Similarly, Trump imitates this by deploying the National Guard in Democratically-controlled cities, based on bogus claims that these cities are experiencing out-of-control crime rates.  He’s lambasted the media as an “enemy of the state” and threatened traditional public and private institutions  who do not line up with his authoritarian inclinations.

Like Hitler’s Brown Shirts, Trump uses the military to intimidate any who oppose his imperial motives.  He ignores the courts and is puppeteer to Republicans in Congress and Red State legislatures.  His cruelty towards immigrants is becoming legend. (2)

Renaming the Defense Department as the War Department, along with an unlawful bombing of a suspected drug boat in international waters, is intended to display a macho image.  He ludicrously illustrates this with an “AI re-imagining of the war movie ‘Apocalypse Now,’ which he rebranded as ‘Chipocalypse Now’.” (3)

Many of his dogmatic supporters see him in a paternalistic fashion who will bring discipline to their fear of a chaotic world. (4)  They could be easily characterized as having “daddy issues” by some. (45  Trump’s own upbringing under a domineering father did little to help him establish any positive self-esteem.

But his own actions may be his undoing.  His relationships with pedophiles Epstein and Maxwell destroys any positive fatherly image, even by some of his strongest MAGA-ites.  The fate of our democratic republic waits to see if Trump’s supporters will remain loyal to the dubious father figure he so desperately needs them to see.

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(1)- https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zgtyvcw/revision/5 

(2) - https://immigrantjustice.org/blog/leading-with-cruelty-eight-impacts-of-trumps-first-day-executive-orders/
(3) - https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/unhinged-and-anti-american-critics-erupt-over-trumps-ai-generated-threat/
(4) - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-a-new-home/202407/what-donald-trumps-most-loyal-followers-may-have-in-common
(5) - https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2024/11/americas-daddy-issues-trump/680566/