President Trump says he is doing exactly what he said he’d do during his campaign to re-capture the Oval Office.

Fact check: This is mostly true.

But, for those who voted for Trump, did you elect him to do everything he said he’d do – from deporting possible legal immigrants to investigating and possibly throwing his perceived enemies in jail to, without seeming reason, firing federal employees providing important services to the taxpayers to starting a trade war? He did say he'd do those things.

Or, did you elect him to lower prices, inflation, and (further) secure the border?

You tell me, you voted for him.

Remember Trump saying he’d never read the Project 2025 roadmap that the Heritage Foundation wrote as a blueprint for Trump’s second term? It is a report that contains the most Draconian proposals possible and is an ultra-conservative’s dream of what a new U.S. government can be? I believe Trump when he said he never read it.

But I don’t believe he never thought he’d follow that roadmap.

Don’t think he is? Paul Dans was the chief architect of that report. When Dans’ draft became a political liability for Trump’s campaign, Dans was sent to campaign purgatory so Trump could get as much distance as possible between  the two of them.

Now Dans has told Politico, “It’s actually way beyond my wildest dreams … the way that they’ve been able to move and upset the orthodoxy, and at the same time really capture the imagination of the people, I think portends a great four years.”

You tell me if what he says is what you voted for.

I get that prices were high during the last administration, and they remain high today. I get that lowering them can’t be done overnight, despite what Trump promised on his campaign.

But did you vote for Trump to ignore court orders? Did you vote for secret signings of the enemies act as a reason to throw people out of the country without due process? Did you vote that disabled people not get access to events? Did you vote that a group of talented, hardworking kids who are musicians have their dreams dashed of playing a concert in Washington with their idols because of the DEI ban (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhwS06U1SnA)

Is that what you voted for?

Trust me, I get a lot of why MAGA followers are angry. They’re tired of not being heard, of feeling passed over – and they aren’t wrong. I don't as much understand why swing voters moved toward Trump. 

But did you vote to toss people out of the country without a fair hearing? I get that “criminals, murderers” and others have cheated their way into the U.S. And they are wrong to have to have done that.  And, of course, they should follow our laws to get in legally.

But are those the people we’re throwing out? I honestly don’t know because the government isn’t telling us. Instead, it’s signing secret orders behind closed doors, only disclosing them publicly when found out.

I can’t believe that’s what you voted for. That is not the American way.

Did you vote to have the richest man in the world – Elon Musk – use the same techniques he used in his companies to right-size the U.S. government?

Trust me, when he was doing that to Twitter and costing himself money, that was fine with me. He can run his companies however he chooses.

But not the U.S. government.

You and I own the U.S. government, not Musk.

He's like a bull(shit) in a china shop.

The U.S. government is not a business that is run on profit and loss. The government provides, or is supposed to provide, services necessary to run a fair society. Hard to make a profit doing that though it certainly can be run more efficiently.

Is there waste, fraud and abuse in the government? Of course, there is. But it doesn’t run in the trillions of dollars as Musk claims. If that was the case, don’t you think a bunch of other presidents – of both parties – would have found that “easy money” to cut long ago?

The current administration throws around words like corruption, crooked – please, just show us the proof of where it exists. I’m sure it does but show us the proof so we know. I learned long ago not to fully trust what some people say to me.  

So -- just show us the money and where it’s being wasted. Show us! Don’t claim it’s being wasted, prove it. Show enough respect to we the people that you trust us to see the truth.

If it is the truth.
 
 

 

If, and I stress “if,” one wanted to turn America’s world-leading democracy into a dictatorship or an autocracy over a short period of time, you might consider the following plan of attack:

• Put loyalists in charge of the intelligence services, the Justice Department, the FBI, and the military
  
• Fire the inspectors general who are responsible for identifying waste, fraud and abuse in your Administration
• Fire the top lawyers in your military who administer the military code of justice and prosecute and defend U.S. service members in military court
• Get out of jail any of your strongest supporters, who already have proven they will take up arms to fight for you
• Blow up the global alliance of like-minded democracies who have protected the world against dictators for 80 years, banding together militarily if necessary to stop the spread of despots
• Get in bed with the worst, murderous dictator in the world who has wanted nothing more than to break up the primary alliance against him and destroying your own country
  
• Lie to get elected, promising the working people a tax cut, all the while planning to give that tax cut only to the wealthiest in your kingdom
  
• Deny any knowledge of your sponsors' written and publicized plan to make over the country’s government from Day One and then follow that blueprint to its letter
  
• Take over one of the country’s leading, non-partisan arts institutions to control the type of art it offers to the public, one that only reflects your wishes
• Hand over the huge project of reducing the federal budget and organization to the richest man in the world who leads companies regulated by that same federal government and trust him to do the right things
  
• Lobby, from Day One, for serving beyond the Constitution’s allowed limit
• Lead the effort to rip apart the Constitution which you swore an oath to defend
  
• Use schoolyard insults against a U.S. ally who is trying to fight off a Russian dictator whose goal is to destroy his country and the United States of America
  
• Claim to be cutting waste, fraud and abuse but instead eliminate programs voted into law by a duly elected Congress, programs you simply disagree with
• Instill fear into anyone in your own party who dares to say anything that disputes you
• Put out official White House documents that state “Long Live the King,” referring to yourself
  
• Blackmail a country who is fighting off the United States primary enemy into handing over their rare earth minerals in return for your military support
• Limit the media’s access to the President because it doesn’t use the language you prefer

And, if you can get that done all within the first 100 days of your rule  ..

 Voila!
 

Did Donald Trump intentionally forget to put his hand on the Bible when being sworn in, or was the Bible back a couple rows where Elon Musk, the fascist-saluting richest man in the world, sat?

Musk later gave that Hitler-invoking salute twice during a speech at the Capital One Arena where 10s of thousands of Trump’s most ardent grassroots supporters waited for Trump to speak. 

Later, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of basically everyone charged for their role in the January 6th attack on our Capitol. Among them, people convicted not only of attacking law enforcement, spreading feces on the walls of the Capitol, flaunting their law-breaking audacity to literally sit in seats designated for government leaders and, most disgustingly, commuted sentences for people found guilty of sedition - those who planned the January 6 effort to block the election that was won by his predecessor.

I’m no fan of the myriad of pardons President Biden handed out in his last days in office.  Pardoning people convicted of drug crimes that, today, don’t exist seems fair to me.  I understand why he pardoned Anthony Fauci, Liz Cheney and others who haven’t been charged with crimes - but it sets a horrible precedent. Imagine our democracy exists four years from now and Trump, if he leaves office, uses the same logic for people he wants to avoid being charged or spending millions defending themselves. Shit show doesn’t cover it. 

Even Trump’s seemingly top advisors -  Vice President Vance and First Lady Melania Trump - advised not to pardon those who committed violence.  But Trump obviously wanted to ensure his private militia isn’t locked up if he needs them again. 

Heidi Beiruch, co-founder of the non-profit Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said those who received pardons and commutations, ”…are emboldened. They’re back, and I think it means that their ranks are going to grow, and we’re going to see them involved in all kinds of pro-Trump and other white supremacist activity and their slate has been cleaned.”

Day One was full of Trump talking, lying, celebrating. His new rich thanks to the Internet friends have come to heel. Given the opportunity, as has been his won’t, to compliment Russian Dictator Putin, he didn’t.  
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He seemed confident in not complimenting him. A good thing.  But the worry is it was because he, too, feels (overly) emboldened by his comeback.

Back on the key reason he was elected — the economy — he also signed an executive order commanding his Cabinet members to find ways to bring down costs for all Americans. Interestingly Trump’s people did not share details. 

That may be because if Cabinet departments had that ability, within our free market system, maybe other presidents would have done it before. ​