'A Hard Day's Night'

I believe one of the things that many Americans failed to understand from the 2020 election was that our institutions had already partially failed us, having been irrevocably damaged during the first Trump term.

No amount of goodwill and faith in our justice system and lawmakers was gonna change that; we hadn’t, as a people or a party, done an accurate assessment of the damage done to our republic after January 6th, 2021 before moving on with the Biden agenda.

This is somewhat understandable given both the economic catastrophe and COVID crisis that Biden inherited from his disgraced successor. However, that oversight, in part, helped set the stage for Trump’s return when the ‘big lie’ became central to his lingering appeal and a touchstone of MAGA rhetoric.

You can’t go back to normal after a man as corrupt and violent - both towards democracy and the rule of law - as Donald Trump has been at the helm.

Trump is and always has been an agent of Putin, taking active measures to damage the U.S. and plunder its resources on behalf of own his family and his benefactors, such as Elon Musk and a close coterie of billionaires.

Trump needed to be held accountable - and his family’s affairs and business dealings held up to far greater scrutiny than they received.

Merrick Garland was not gonna get the job done; the fact that Biden didn’t recognize that or do anything about it when he could have will continue to haunt this republic, or what’s left of it, as Trump’s second term commences.

There’s a reason all of Trump’s administration picks are chaos agents or incompetents.

That’s what Putin wants - for the U.S. to cause chaos on the global stage - and make no mistake, Trump’s appointments will do just that, cause chaos.

The fact that so many of our fellow Americans have chosen this ‘America First’ platform led by Christofascist grifters and kooks is quote alarming.

Never before has a more dangerous group of men and women been in charge of the course of our nation. I am sure this keeps many in our foreign affairs community and certainly our allies up at night.

We have to remake the Democratic party for the battle ahead; business as usual will be nothing more than a death knell.

We need more protests and less pundits if we want to dig out of this hole - what choice do we really have except to pick up our shovels and get to work?

We just need to learn to work smarter. Less sizzle and more substance.

We are up against A LOT - and it is far from a fair fight when the other side lies with impunity and has billionaires buying votes.

But that is what we are up against - and we need to find an effective political strategy to fight back posthaste.

These are very bad men and women that are about to assume control of the USA; the world at large will pay an immediate price. Issues like climate change have lost all hope of the U.S. being any sort of ally in global climate agreements now that the ‘drill baby, drill’ guy is back.

Soon there will be two Americas; those being ground up by Trump and those rich enough to be oblivious to the suffering.

Violence is not redemption. There’s a lot of myths to American life that folks need to unlearn and this may be at the top of the list.

We owe it to ourselves to stand up, fight and make a REAL difference.

We also must endeavor not to lose our humanity in the process. As has been evidenced in the online fetishization of recent tragic events.

We are better than this as a people, even if perhaps some of us are not.

The bad actors who are making billions off of our suffering want violence and chaos; it will make it that much easier for their chosen ‘strong man’ to crack down on all of us.

Donald Trump fits the personality profile of a sadistic despot and would get supreme satisfaction from watching folks get executed for disobeying the state. He was itching to have U.S. troops shoot peaceful protesters - the folks who stopped him last time will be on the chopping block this time - and the replacements will be egging him on and ordering more bullets.

He is a very sick man, more so than most recognize.

His malignancies were reinforced by ABC News agreeing to settle his defamation lawsuit involving his rape case with E. Jean Carrol.

Donald IS an assailant, that is nothing a news organization should be afraid of saying; it is something that most of them were too timid to cover during his decades as a so-called ‘playboy’ in NYC. He wasn’t a playboy, he was predator.

Trump’s proclivities and sexual predation were no secret on the set of ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ so you can only assume they weren’t in newsrooms either but the mainstream media chose to ignore this in favor of articles on Hillary Clinton’s emails when he began his ascent into politics.

They still ignore it - but now they pay him millions of dollars instead of standing up to his bullying.

Now they will allow him to neuter and remake the fourth estate into his own propaganda arm if we are not careful. We can already see the pivot in cable to news to more Fox News-type, pro-MAGA content.

The New York Times wrote a front page article this weekend on how Trump stays up all night and failed to mention his stimulant (Adderall) addiction, which like his sexual predation, is no secret to anyone who knows him well and is being honest.

Trump is a drug-addicted, sexual predator who is as deeply corrupt and morally repugnant as any man this country has ever produced. How he was elected twice and still escapes honest scrutiny and inspires fear in the media should give us all pause - and allow us to recommit to fighting him.

The truth is a powerfully ally and that is why Trump is trying to punish those who speak it.

This will only continue.

I’ve had MAGA sending me rat poison in the mail for years now; you get used to the threats and learn to live with the fear they hope to inspire if you understand that principles and democracy are more important than a madman’s ego or a billionaire’s bottom line.

The decision to settle the ABC defamation case with Trump was obviously made in the (Disney) boardroom, where most weak decisions have their genesis in greed.

Trump is a very much a creature of capitalism and he will use greed against his enemies time and again. This attitude is part of what ABC condoned by ‘obeying in advance’. We must do better; it is incumbent upon all of us to right the ship.

We do that by clear-eyed, sober analysis of what is really happening in this moment and how can each of us make the next right decisions. We need corporations and journalists willing to withstand his bullying in pursuit of the greater good.

And if they won’t do it we must take this responsibility upon ourselves.

I will never stop speaking the truth as I see it when it comes to the misdeeds and malignant personalities of MAGA.

One step at a time as they say - that is how we move forward.

You fight with your feet by getting up and changing what you can for the better in this world. One day at a time.

You have to always keep in mind the ideals we are fighting for - that love and tolerance have a place in our society.

They can only do that when they have a home in your heart first.

Don’t block out the light - let it in.

Enjoy the season and thank you for all the support. Peace.