trump

Last T@#$% Column, promise

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I can’t resist talking about how happy billionaires are over the Trump presidency. They are all giddy with excitement. Jubilant.

Why? To the rest of us, the “game” of making money is nice and distracting, but most of us “work” to get money. We make things. We fix things. We help others make things and fix things. We might even talk about how others make and fix things.

Not so in the Game of Money (GOM). In GOM the idea is to make as much money FROM other people as possible, and it’s even better if you don’t have to do any work. The Stock market, for example. Even those of us who work for our money, know you can make big bucks by betting correctly in the Stock Market. But we are careful to bet because we know we can lose, and when a worker loses money, it hurts.

But in GOM, a billionaire can bet one of his millions on a stock and if the stock comes in, the billionaire makes more millions. If the stock loses, the billionaire lost .001% of his worth. No pain. Imagine how it warps GOM for un-rich players.

Trump intends to skew GOM so billionaires can make more money, more millions, more billions. Lower taxes for me mean about $100 extra a month in income. Lower taxes in the GOM world, mean millions of dollars in new income for the billionaires.

Wonder what they’ll do with all that money? I’ll tell you. Most re-invest in GOM and make more.

Anyone of us can enter the GOM but how many of us see value in work? In helping others? In getting things done? In getting things fixed and running? I’ll bet most of the Trump voters are hard-working people who want that extra $100 a month. Sadly, the cost of that bonus is going to be steep.

Will Rogers labeled it “Trickle Down Economics” in response to then-president Hoover’s policies. Ronald Reagan picked it up in the 1980’s. “Trickle Down Economics” pretty much means that when the billionaires have taken as much as they want, some of the rest might trickle down…

What’s different this time is we have a new class of billionaires who don’t even care about “The Trickle”. Trump and Musk and their ilk just want more. And now it’s not just money but power, too. They talk of buying up entire companies and industries so they can shut them down. Entire existing Departments of Government, too, Shut them down.

It’s important to remember history. In the history of Capitalist America, the only thing standing between billionaire wanna-be-kings, (Carnegie, Mellon, et. al.) are laws, regulations, and enforcement by a centralized, powerful government.

Can you see why the billionaires now want to control the government, too? I can.

God help us non-billionaires, even the Trump voters.

When will it end? Please…

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It’s been weeks since the election and I’ve repeatedly tried to think of something else.

But Trump’s Republican’s won’t let me. There is no doubt Trump is his own man and reshaped not just the republican Party but the entire democratic process, as well.

Republican are above the law. It doesn’t make any difference what Trump is charged with, it’s all political and doesn’t count. All that matters is winning elections. So what laws do count? And don’t forget a wise man once said “I could stand in the middle of 7th avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” He speaks the truth. Unless, of course he shot a Republican, and even then…

Trump’s new press secretary wants Saturday Night Live (SNL) and NBC charged with “something” for the cameo SNL gave Harris. The free publicity was against the law, the spokesman said. Wonder what The Fox/Trump News Channel thinks about a trial…

Hegseth, Fox/Trump’s latest nomination to a cabinet level post, is looking to “purge” generals from the Army. He isn’t looking for anyone who made a mistake, Hegseth is looking for generals who won’t do whatever Trump/Fox want.

Trump wants to declare a National Emergency and use the Armed Forces to deport illegal immigrants. He wants us to go to war against residents, illegal, only. Get your papers in order. Of course, white illegals may not have to worry so much…

RFK for Health and Human Services? Can even Republicans not see how bad this is for the country? The Senate Republicans are going to have do some real soul-searching.

Gaetz for the department of Justice? Actually, this one makes sense. Trump wants other criminals in his government to take the heat off Trump. Gaetz has already resigned his House of Representative post to effectively end the (Republican!) House investigation of him. It is what we legally call moot. Look it up. Definition, 2 by the way. Wonder how the 17 year old girl’s parents feel? Or voted.

In a world of intelligent Americans, Red or White, who care about this country, the law, the constitution and the lessons their kids can learn from public service, Trump should have lost the election to Commander, Biden’s Dog. Or in the primaries to Desantis. Or Haley. Or even Rama-something.

But no one cares, anymore, for anything. When you hear people talk about the loss of Democracy, this is what they mean. And it will go on for at least another 4 years. The WWE/Billionaire years.

Will we self-correct in the future? Can’t see it. Not until men become men, again. If someone shoots someone else in the middle of 7th Avenue, the shooter should go to jail. At least to trial, presumed innocent and all. And women? I wish you all the best in your future dealings with a Patriarchy built to last.

Pandoras out of the Box.

The Decline and Fall of America

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In 2024, 75 million Americans voted into office a man who admires and wants to be Putin. The remaining 270 million Americans had better decide, now, if they are going to let that happen.

Trump already told us he wants to be a dictator, if only for a day. But with MAGA Republicans running the Legislative and Judiciary Branches of our country who is going to prevent him from becoming the American Putin? The Founding Fathers set up three branches of government with checks and balances, to prevent a dictatorship. Our 2025 Executive Branch will decimate those checks and balances and consolidate all power in the Executive Branch.

Trump is free, now, to be who he really wants to be and his lawyers and other co-conspirators have already warned everyone in all branches of government there will be a purge of all who don’t adhere to the MAGA playbook. The Orange Billionaire who cares about the working people has enlisted Musk and other billionaires to be in charge of The Purge. Fox News was already the Propaganda Machine leading the shaping of American sentiment, urging Americans to believe in the cult of Trump, and in 2028, if not sooner, Trump will use the new Executive power to suspend all elections and remain in power for as long as he wants. Just like Putin. Trump does admire Hitler, but sees the Putin Strategy as the best way to end the American experiment in Democracy. And most of America’s billionaires feel the same way. With Trump in permanent control, American billionaires can become oligarchs, Lords of the Manor, and be free from laws and regulations, and taxes.

You 75 million Americans who voted for Trump, is this what you wanted? Remember how you voted because of the economy? Or the Border? Or against women? All distractions from what Trump really intends to do.

Dissent, non-conformity, disobedience to MAGA rules, all will be verboten and punished until America is no longer the home of the free. Or the brave. We will have Gulags, but by another name.

Most senior politicians, especially Republicans are well aware of the potential for the Putin Takeover to happen, but do they want to do anything about it? This threat to America is successful, so far, because of appeasement by Republican leadership, though their lack of a desire to stop Trump has resulted in great financial benefit for themselves. Buying off obstacles is a key part of the billionaires strategy. Continuing to reward them for their support is the second step. Who wouldn’t want to be an oligarch?

It is a billionaire’s world, now, unless some politicians get a backbone and stand up for the average American. The Supreme Court will not. The Senate will not. The House of Representatives will not.

And thus, the American Experiment ends. After 250 years. We had a good run. As the billionaire said after Trump won, “Buckle up, America.”

For me, my age means I’ll get to see the transformation from democracy to dictatorship but not live long enough to care. But you younger people…be aware and be careful. Russia is coming. Enjoy the remaining days of American Freedom.

Note the Constitution is not mentioned. It has become irrelevant.

Random Stuff

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The numbers have changed but not the result. Trump is now a million or so 2024 votes over his 2020 totals, and Harris is still over 10 million short of Biden’s record haul in 2020. With still, about 30 million registered who did not vote.

A billion is 1,000 millions. Can you imagine having one million dollars? It’s a lot of dollars. Now imagine having 1,000 times 1,000,000 dollars. From Forbes “Real time Billionaires List”, I learned there were 13 billionaires in the United States in 1980. In 1990, we had 66. In 2000, Forbes counted 298. In 2010, 404. In 2020 614, and in 2024, as of September 30, 2024 there were an astounding 801 billionaires in the United States of America. (I did not get into details of how they were measured or recorded, just assumed they were measured and recorded the same way each year, and adjusted for inflation over the last 44 years.) You can digest this fact anyway you want. But I know very few millionaires.

The Daily Show is doing its best to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the Trump victory. It is a comedy show, after all, so Jon Stewart put up the electoral map of Reagan’s 1984 victory. The entire United States was red with Republican victories, except for Minnesota. With population increases, it’s inefficient to compare POPULAR vote totals, but Reagan won the Electoral College in 1984, 525 to 13. The biggest win in recent history. Walter Mondale was the Democratic nominee who lost but he had Geraldine Ferraro, a woman, as his running mate. Reagan won and was a good president but I am personally going to suggest his huge margin of victory had a little to do with misogyny.

Will a woman ever become president? No. An Artificially Intelligent (AI) candidate will probably win before a woman does. The modern American Male is not secure enough in his masculinity to let a woman lead this country.

I try to watch a little of Fox news to keep abreast of their latest grievance campaign. Fox is the snarkiest, least inhibited of all the Fake Lame Stream Legacy Media sites and watching them work so hard at being offended is often comical. It’s going to be fun to see how they navigate a Trump presidency…again. Fox wasn’t ready for the first four years, but they’ll be all wound up, this time. It will make for good viewing.

Shervin Pishevar, a venture capitalist who supported Trump, says the tech sector will “do more in four years than we’ve done in the last 40 years” and American should “buckle up. It’s going to pretty exciting to see.” Note my prediction of an AI candidate in a preceding paragraph. I do know a well-educated, intelligent, adaptive citizenry should be able to handle all that change, right?

Politics…The Last Word…from me, anyway

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Since I distrust politicians, I distrust politics and view it from afar. This cycle I switched channels at every political commercial, boycotted punditry on every fake or real media site, and received accidental doses of politics by sitting to close too people in public places and articles in my peripheral vision. In short, I try not to waste too much time on crap at my age.

But time has taught me a lot about politics,…and people. Trumpism, for example, appears to be Reaganism on steroids. When you view the political arena from afar and over time, you realize life goes on at both the national level and the personal level. Trumpism will be gone in a maximum of 8 years, if not sooner, and what will take its place? A point to remember is even with control of most of the government, presidents still never get all the things they promise.

But if Trump is the new Reagan, it means America has swung back towards a new (old?) era of white insecurity. And especially white, male insecurity. Reagan won in 1980 with his “are you better off four years ago” approach appealing to a country being led out of The Great Depression of 1973 by the last, honest politician: Jimmy Carter. Reagan made Carter look like an incompetent fool. Parse that sentence and understand every word. Carter was not an incompetent fool and the recession he inherited was caused by the mostly Republican Administrations that preceded Carter: Nixon and Ford.

As America recovered in the late 70’s, Reagan criticized and whined, and touched the nerve of an electorate unaware of the reality, and they voted out Carter.

We’re at the same point, now. Biden inherited a mess from a Republican President who contemplated ingesting bleach to end The Covid Pandemic. Four years later the country is getting back on its feet and Trump (not Reagan) criticizes and whines and makes Biden look like a fool. Trump doused himself with more idiocy in a televised debate with The Biden Replacement, Harris: “They’re eating the dogs and cats.”

The American electorate has never been very logical about an election, or even voted for its own self-interest, so 2024’s results are not a surprise: men voted against a woman, woman voted for a misogynist, and lots of white males probably sat it out, unable to convince themselves a woman could lead this country.

The pundits will dissect all the activities, but the salient theme of the election was white insecurity. Embarrassed Trump supporters told me “Don’t listen to him” when Trump said something stupid. But listen to him, they did. Trump’s most powerful message was this, to the white insecurity: “I’ll fix it.” And people believed. Go figure.

Now, the feces will begin to impact the air circulator. Remember “I’ll build a wall and Mexico will pay for it.”? That incomplete wall added billions to the national debt. Reality is not just a hard pill to take for some, but for Republican voters, it is also something they easily forget. Or choose to ignore?

Time will tell, but Reagan did a decent job with his opportunity. Will Trump?

Peace, out, for politics. Back to my serene, graceful, blessed, normal trip to The End.

Wait. A word to the Evangelicals: good luck with The Second Coming and The Anointed One.

Trump won. So?

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Several of my friends posted “We are Doomed” on social websites. Are we?

First critical lesson from the election: this country will NEVER elect a woman. Females are 51 percent of the electorate and have never been in the Oval Office except to bring coffee, but the conservative female tribe is stronger than the all-female tribe. Many women voted for Trump, the obese, handsy billionaire, sexual assaulter instead of for a woman. Their choice. And many millions of men either sat it out or voted for Trump RATHER than for a “women”. Trump has now won 2 electoral college elections and one popular vote election over…women. That window is closed for good, ladies.

Second: Latino voters are just like white voters. Once they have made it, they don’t give a hoot about the fate of others. (FYI: look up definition of SONDER). How else to explain Trump’s increase in Latino voters weeks after he promised, on “day one”, to deport millions of immigrants. He’s only going to deport the millions of bad immigrants.

Hm. Maybe we are not doomed. Trump won, so we are spared the whining about a stolen election. That’s good, right? All those “election reforms” in swing states worked, yes?

Back in 2016, Donald became a surprise president and–as noted in earlier columns–he is not a stupid man. At that time, I hoped, even prayed, his victory would propel him into one of the greatest presidents, ever. Yes, I think he is capable.

It did not.

But that was because, as sharp as he is, he knew he needed an ignorant, riled up base to get a second term. As with most Republicans, his first thought was about getting re-elected and holding on to power. For fours years Donald played to that base, and he was voted out of office after an uneven, some say disastrous term in office. Time, of course, will judge.

Now, he doesn’t need that base any more. He’s done with elections, but he is not done with his legacy concern. He wants to be the best president, ever. And he can be. He is intelligent enough to know his base represents half of America, not all of it. There is a chance he will understand his last term of office, his last chance at a lasting, positive legacy, will mean something different in 2024 than it did in 2016. He is lucky to have a second chance at being a great leader. Let’s see how it goes.

To Evangelical Christians: Trump is not the Second Coming. Never was. And Harris is not the Anti-Christ. What the hell are you people doing? For once, see Jesus, read Jesus, and DWJWD. My, God.

For most Trump voters, think long and hard about your unwavering support of a billionaire president. It is so funny it’s sad, that working people worship him as a supporter of the working man. Let’s see how much money he and his family make off the second term, if he doesn’t care about his legacy. And no whining or lamenting when Trump chooses policies for the billionaires, instead of you. Let the union busting begin.

As for Law and Order? Simple. Be a billionaire, do whatever you want, and not only pardon yourself and get unwavering support from “law and order” voters, but let other billionaires in on the fun. Musk?

One last sentence about modern America, and it is NOT anyone’s fault: everything is now officially for sale and we’ll see, soon, how much democracy and the constitution are worth.

Huh. Never looked at it that way…

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In the current heightened political atmosphere, the misinformation and out right lies flying out over various media is intended to help one candidate or the other, right? A viral internet video, for example, “shows” Joe Biden not blink for over 45 minutes. The video says he’s been dead for 2 years. You weren’t going to vote for him anyway, were you.

Another video says Kamala Harris is really a man. Maybe she should embrace that one so she doesn’t lose the election because of misogyny.

These types of “attack” ads and videos are currently the sole property of the Right Wing media of American Politics. The Left does white-bread videos like “Trump hates immigrants”, or “Trump is a fascist.” The worst local ad I’ve seen, for example, says a local candidate thinks “Trump is a threat to Democracy”. Lines like that are water off Don’s back.

So what is the purposes of the Right Wing attack ads, hilarious videos, and wild conspiracies? Is it really political gamesmanship?

No. Its about money. Commerce, specifically, e-commerce.

American and foreigner entrepreneur have found the greatest marketing plan, ever: Market to MAGA world. A recent study found most of the frivolous and most outrageous videos and sites are tied to e-commerce platforms, and follow up the unreasonable stories with a chance for the reader to buy “gear”. Or Bitcoin. Or donate to a Super PAC not even related to the Trump Campaign. In fact, the Trump campaign seldom knows about these sites and their stories, at least Donald doesn’t. The sites and stories don’t always come from the Right Wing, they’re simply AIMED at the Right Wing. Enterprising somethings or others, (assuming they are human), know the MAGA world loves conspiracy, anger, and all around snarky, middle-school, mean-girl behavior. More importantly, these capitalist know MAGA-ites love to buy hats, and buttons, and banners, and gold sneakers, and Bibles, and “Let’s Go Brandon” T-shirts, among other things.

What a great plan. That fat nerd in his mom’s basement grinding out conspiracy videos is now making money. Maybe enough to move out of the basement?

It helps when MAGA world distributes the marketing by posting and reposting and asking us all “You’re all sheep. How can you not see what’s happening?”

Next time you see an outrageous video or news story, especially if its re-posted, try to get back to the source and see what they’re selling, beside bullshit.

In the mean, I’ll be looking for a way to cash in on the liberal market with some fearmongering of my own, with a link to my book sales on Amazon, as soon as I raise the price, and re-title them to something politically enticing.

The Great Divide, new version

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I was reading a great article about pig iron and how it got its name, when a strange idea struck: America IS divided but not by political party or economics, but by facts: Some like them, some don’t. The article about the iron was well written and laid out the story with a beginning, a middle, and an end, all supported by facts about making a hard, but cheap metal. In the background my tv was stuck on interviews with Trump supporters at his Madison Square Garden rally. And I’d just read an impassioned letter to the editor from a Trump supporter trying to get local voters to vote for a Trump surrogate.

It became apparent the Trump Train is all about feelings. The letter writer called the Trump surrogate “tough and empathetic”. Rally attendees talked about Trumps machismo, his manliness, his aura.

The Pig Iron story stood in stark contrast. The story was all facts. No feelings. For months the reason for Trump support was elusive. Just the fact he’d say one thing, do another, and then deny he said or did both, was disqualifying, in my eyes, for leadership of the free world. But it is what APPEALS to the Trumpers. One said “Trump’s shaking things up.”Another said “Liberals are mad because they can’t control Trump. He does whatever he wants.” Duh.

Suddenly, it’s full circle back to common sense, and I wonder if any Trump supporter ever really hears themselves, or pays attention to what they say. It’s unsaid whether Trump will keep shaking things up as a leader of all America, or if he’ll do whatever he wants to us all, and our institutions. Do Trump supporters think about that?

The other billionaire running for an office, Musk, has said when he gets into office there will be short-term pain for America as he guts the government. Yummy. I can’t wait to see that. Musk, who is giving away money, says America needs to be more fiscally responsible and he is the one to make it so. Say what?

The whole Trump campaign is like an R-Rated Abbot and Costello routine. “Who’s on first?”

“Why?”

“Cause I want to know.”

“No. Why is who’s on first.”

Trump is playing it close to the vest, but his noisy, power-drunk posse is already looking to reform the entire United States into Trump World. It will not be subtle, like last time when he put a billionaire hater of public education, Devoss, in charge of the Education Department. And put Mulvaney, who tried to de-fund the Consumer Protection Board under Obama, in charge of The Consumer Protection Board under Trump. Insult and injury to the American Consumer in one appointment.

This time it will be balls to the wall change. And he will still try to win, even if he loses the vote, a fair and accurate vote, denied by all the sore losers for over 5 years now.

So. Will there be anyone left who cares about facts? Maybe Vance, who whined that Democrats called Trump Hitler, when the only significant person on record calling Trump Hitler is…Vance.

Let the games begin. Literally.

Politics, the Modern Version

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As an Independent who skews Liberal, the opportunity to see Conservative values and policies is often an enlightening and rewarding experience.

I’ve worded that sentence in a precise, particular way, to highlight the dumb-ass nature of current American Politics. Talk to any Conservative who will admit to any Liberal Policy being worth a crap? And vice versa? No. If you’re a modern Republican Conservative, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. Oddly, if you are a Modern Liberal, anyone who doesn’t think like you is an idiot. When did all this happen?

The Traditional Values the Right likes to claim as their own, are Values shared by every Lefty Liberal I know. And how many Liberals want to take guns away from citizens? A better question is to ask how many Liberals actually own guns. A lot.

Let’s look at it this example: Today, a Conservative offers a 10 point plan for governance. A free thinking Liberal will probably admit (NOT out loud) he supports five of the points. In The Old Days of Political Action that was called a “Starting Point”. These days its is called…I don’t know what but since the ideas are “Labeled” as Con or Lib, zealous supporters of both fire up the insult engine and the discussion is over, except for the bleacher activity where each tries to pull the other’s pants down.

This crazy stuff started before Trump, but he gets props for understanding how to capitalize on an electorate of–suddenly–idiots. Since the 80’s there have been many strident, bombastic, conservative voices who made a great living telling the usually apprehensive Conservative population anything NOT Conservative was worthless. Gingrich, Limbaugh (Yes, the one Trump gave the American Medal of Honor to), Beck, and then O’reilly, and Hannity, all painted non-conservatives as Non-Americans. I never heard the same from any loud, famous, and ultimately wealthy voices on the Left, but maybe there was, most certainly in response, at some point.

Then Grover Nordquist, the famous anti-taxer, began his campaign of making Conservatives sign a Pledge (google the Taxpayer Protection Pledge) to Lower or even end, taxes. If a Conservative didn’t sign the pledge, the non-signer was voted out of office in the next primary season. Sound familiar? Right now, in this past primary year, Republicans urged all voters to ONLY vote for Trump-loving candidates.

So. Did the Liberal side sit on their asses? No. Now, any non-Liberal thought is a threat to Democracy, with the capital D, And “both-sideism” has become part of the modern political lexicon.

So here’s what is lost: a good, conservative idea during a Liberal Administration, and a good Liberal idea during a Conservative Administration. Neither will ever be considered. How about a thoughtful, intelligent, Conservative politician running for office in a Liberal Gerrymandered area? Or–again–vice versa?

I may have an idea how this crap started, but I’ve no idea how to end this. Anyone else?

All I can say for sure is America is NOT the land of responsible adults, anymore, and I suspect we all need to look in a mirror of our own, not our news silos.

As a humorous aside, Trump is not even a Conservative. Ask Grover.

Caveat: because of space, everything is over-simplified. Do your own research, especially into the Contract with America, 1994.

Contentment…again…

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There was a debate this past week. A big, momentous, ballyhooed debate.

“Balleyooed”. Say it three times really fast and it will make as much sense as both candidates did in the debate. There is probably a drinking game where you take a shot after every “talking point” (TP) a candidate uses. Their faces scrunch up in reply to questions, searching for an opening for the TP(Toilet Paper?).

Question from moderator: “Is the sky blue?”

First Candidate: “It will be in my administration, as we ban all dark clouds due to our climate and environmental initiatives, including banning all methane activity and inventing cars that run on rhetoric.”

Second candidate: “Never again should this administration be allowed to leave our borders open, and put the lives of innocent dogs and cats at risk.”

There is a good chance someone reading this might think those were actual answers. They are not. But our political system (here he goes, again) is not built to get the best possible candidate. Stupid people from one party make sure their stupidest candidate is selected. Then the other party outdoes them with a stupider candidate. Then the nation votes. After that, excellent, un-selected candidates from both parties work tirelessly in the Senate and House to clean up the mess. Actually, it never gets cleaned up, just swept under the rug of the future. (Research Immigration, a subject never fully addressed since our founding.)

The cynic in me has to admit the candidates might not be stupid. They simply understand the game: get people to vote for me. It doesn’t take a genius to see the winner of a popularity contest (Prom King or Queen?) is not going to solve the world’s problems. But just once it would be nice to hear a candidate say: “I don’t know, but we’ll work on it”, which is really what they mean with every answer.

Over the years I’ve beaten this subject to death but the statement needs repeating: it is the VOTER’S fault. We need to DEMAND better so we can’t complain too much when the crown is placed on the other parties candidate