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IF you wanted to be a dictator, you could ...

2/22/2025

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!

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Most bizarre performance in an Oval Office in history - envelope please

2/12/2025

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The 30 minutes or so of performance by leading actor Elon Musk and barely supporting actor President Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office yesterday – as Musk babbled about all that he is doing as the leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), was the most bizarre the Oval Office has ever hosted.

The richest man in the world “explained” all that he is doing in his volunteer job to slash the federal budget by (not billions, not $500 billion, as was stated along the way) $1 trillion (!!!!) in a single year by stopping 150 year-old Social Security recipients from collecting their checks, to $50 million in condoms being given to the Taliban (oops, not really. He’s not perfect, mistakes will be made as he slashes spending), all while being as “transparent as possible,” according to Mr. Musk, “a special government employee,” which means he doesn’t have to release his personal information to see if there might be – no, there couldn’t be anyway, he’s Mr. Transparency! (he said so!) – conflicts of interest.

All that, and more, without producing a shred of evidence, without turning over to authorities the alleged crooks and civil servants they accused of breaking laws, without offering to testify before Congress, under oath about all they have found in their mere days of investigating the federal budget.

Oh, and “deleting,” as Musk put it, regulatory agencies that are, among other things, legally obligated to check up on potential irregularities by people (like Musk) who are operating in regulated areas.

That’s a lot in 30 minutes! And, all that playing into already perceived realities of millions of Americans who likely have never heard of the alphabet soup of agencies Mr. Musk is closing and think all government is made up of crooks trying to steal their tax dollars.

Uh, that is until those folks who are on disability begin to see their benefits cut, and wish they were among those who, as Trump said, sign a three-month contract with the government yet seem to keep getting checks for 20 years!!! All without the government ever auditing those accounts, or the Internal Revenue Service catching those millions of dollars they “earned” for doing nothing.

What a country!

Like the investigations into Trump’s behavior toward Russia or attempting to steal the 2020 election by causing an insurrection, the system is rigged!!!! People are being paid billions by the government for doing – nothing!!!

Look, sure there is waste, fraud and abuse in the government – that’s a reason those Inspectors General were created in every department to keep a watch for the fraud and waste. Oh, wait. Those are the folks Trump laid off a week or so ago, so no one is really watching for that anymore.

OK, but that's a reason the Legislative Branch was created to have oversight over the Executive. Oh, wait, the Speaker of the House has said he has no problem with it.

So, thank you, South Africa, for Elon Musk!! Another (white) immigrant who is saving our country from ourselves!!!

Oh, about that young man who bragged about being a “racist before it was popular” on social media? He worked for Musk at DOGE, after careers at two Musk-owned companies. He’s 25. He was fired for his tweets. There is justice.

Oh, wait, he’s being rehired because as Musk put it, "To err is human, to forgive divine.” Even a racist braggadocio.

For the record, his name is Marko Elez, so you can follow his no doubt still rising career and be aware of where he is all the time (no, I don’t say that so he can be harassed or threatened, just so we can all be following his no-doubt further successes along his way to Musk-dom).

The appearance by Musk, with (by the way) the President of the United States, came because of allegations Musk is acting with unchecked power and no accountability.

His standing alongside the Resolute Desk should give us confidence that he is now accountable.

And if you don’t believe that, you can follow the DOGE account on X, as he suggested, to see the accountability in 244 characters or less. Yay for technology!!!

We also should feel better now that Trump, who fortunately had that nose surgery so his schnoz wouldn’t grow every time he told a lie, has said he will, of course, follow court rulings but he will appeal, as is his right, if he thinks it’s appropriate.

Uh, but what happens when you run out of places to appeal, though?

Trump and his acolytes claim that by eliminating the federal government (in large measure) he is simply doing what he campaigned to do.

But while he did say some of that, most of us remember him promising primarily to stop illegal immigration and make America affordable again (OK, I made up that phrase, but the President is free to use it if he wants. Just, it won’t fit easily on those $40 hats he sells).

Also, let’s remember that when Musk’s role initially was announced by Trump months ago, he was to head an outside government advisory group that would make recommendations on how to reduce government spending. Not an inside-the government entity led by a “non-government employee” who now apparently has walk-in rights to see files not supposed to be seen by people without the proper clearances and put people on leave on the spot.

But, that’s being picky, I guess.

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Performance Art Worthy of No Awards

2/5/2025

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After the first two years of the second Trump administration, uh, I mean after a little over two weeks of the second Trump Administration, we are learning even more about the President’s Shock and Awwww approach to governing. It’s fast. It’s everywhere

And most of it is performance art.

How else to explain the wide and questionable tactics being used by co-President, I mean, the unelected, not vetted oligarch Elon Musk and his Kiddie Korps that make up the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which is working on eliminating departments at breakneck speed and questionable legality; the Senate confirmation of Cabinet member after Cabinet member whose loyalty is, first, to Trump, not the U.S. Constitution to whom they swear an oath; the proposed acquisitions of Greenland, the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico and the previously named Gaza Strip, now to become to the, well, Riviera of the Middle East, and, well, you get the picture.

And it's largely painted with smoke and mirrors.

Look at his primary foreign policy: Tariffs.

He first used them against our continental neighbors and allies, Mexico and Canada. The leaders of both countries won delays in the tariffs by (sort of) agreeing to certain things (they've mostly already done) and a further negotiation.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaun quickly agreed, on a call with Trump, to sending 10,000 national guard troops to the border. Fact is, Mexico already has 10,000 troops stationed at the border. That was done last year after pressure form the Biden Administration, a move which helped drive down the arrests of migrants to four-year lows.

She is letting Trump claim credit for it, so a “win” for the new President.

With Canada, the President “won” a concession when Canada said it would create a $1.3 billion border plan. That plan was announced on Dec. 18, six weeks before Trump announced his tariffs. And about the same amount of time before he took office.

Again, Trump is taking and being given credit for the “concession.”

How about that "water valve" in California? Acting on an order from Washington, the Army Corps of Engineers allowed water to flow down river channels for three days, into the network of engineered waterways that fan out among farm fields in the Joaquin Valley.

Thing is that water typically is sent to the Valley and its farmers in the summer. That release of water, when agriculture doesn’t require it, means the growers likely will have less water when they do need it.

The release was intended to make a political statement – to demonstrate that Trump has the authority to order federal dams or pumps to send more water as he directs. Bravo!

Another thing is that water released form those dams typically does not reach the Los Angeles area, which instead depends on supplies from the aqueducts of the State Water Project on the other side of the valley.

So, that water would have done nothing to help firefighters battling the LA fires. They literally were doing everything they could with everything available to stop the unprecedented fires.

By the way, the Joaquin Valley is about 360 miles from LA.

But, Trump can say (and believe) he “turned on the valve” as he (over) simply said California’s leaders should have done.

We’re skipping over for the moment Mr. Musk’s manhandling of the federal government, using tactics he applied when he took over Twitter too. A difference is, Twitter is about making money.

The U.S. Government is about providing services and protection to its people. Something Mr. Musk knows, and cares, nothing about.

There is no profit motive in the U.S. Government because that isn’t the goal, the goal is to protect and provide services to people, not line anyone’s pocket with profits. This is what over-wealthy people like Trump and Musk will never understand.

Their goal is to make money. Not provide services people need to live.

And they do not understand the difference because, well, empathy.

Trust me, we lived without Twitter/X before they existed, we’ll live when they die.

Moving to Gaza, Trump stood with the leader of Israel, both of whom should be focused on maintaining the ceasefire, and the release of hostages. Instead, Trump proposed a real estate project.

First, he said he’d move the Palestinians out of Gaza to an unnamed country (none of which have said they’d take them). There are millions of Palestinians who would take untold time to move – if they even wanted to move!

By the way, moving them is against international law but if Trump and his people are not afraid of U.S. law, why should they let “foreign law” stand in their way?

So, just to track Trump’s promises in this regard: he promised not to get U.S. military involved in more wars (but so far, he hinted at military missions to take over Panama’s Canal, Greenland and, now Gaza).

Second, he said he wanted to cut back on sending aid to other countries but it would take trillions to clean up and build his Riviera in Gaza.

Trump has always wanted to win the Nobel Prize, but this isn't going to get him there.

Since I started writing this, about an hour ago, the White House press secretary backed the White House away from the whole Gaza Redevelopment Project. Just another failed Trump building project.

Another dumb idea from this two-week old Administration.

In this case, very bad performance art.

Worthy of neither a Nobel nor an Oscar.

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IF you wanted to be a dictator, you could ...

Most bizarre performance in an Oval Office in history - envelope please

Performance Art Worthy of No Awards

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