November 16, 2024

Trump wants more than shock and awe attacks against illegals and their kin, he wants high profile takedowns of people whose names you know, by Hal M. Brown


This is the Wikipedia definition of shock and awe:

Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy's perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight.


Trump won't get over newspaper headlines like those he saw when he was arrested in the E. Jean Carroll case (above) until he has his revenge on those on his enemies list. He wants to see headlines like the one below only with photos of people like Jack Smith on them.


I have no doubt that Trump wants to make a huge show of dominance as soon as possible after he assumes the presidency. 

Trump ran on getting fictional thousands of dangerous rapists, human traffickers, and drug pushers here illegally out of the country. Let's face it, TV coverage of SWAT-type raids on houses is really hohum. Everyone has seen this on news, in movies, and on TV shows. Basically, if you've seen a few of these on TV you've seen them all. Of course Trump wants them becasue he needs them to convince his supporters he is following through on his promise. 

His designee for Border Czar Tom Homan vowed there will be "shock and awe" on day one of President-elect Donald Trump's administration when he takes charge of the border. 

What Trump needs to satisfy his lust for revenge and publicity may begin with a 3 AM SWAT type raid (roll cameras) on a suburban DC McMansion, but the money shots will be from the body cams worn by his goons breaking into the bedroom of one of his well known enemies, dragging them out of bed, cuffing them, and leading them outside in their pajamas where you can be sure there will be high definition cameras to capture every Trump-glorioius moment. Trump wants them to make the morning news on every TV station and be the above the fold picture illustration for the headline story in every newpaper.

I anticipate a day of dual shock and awe forays. It will involve raids on places where people who are known to be here illegally, and one or more raids on the homes of well known people who have gone against Trump. My hunch is that Jack Smith will be in the running to be the first notable person to be arrested. Gen. Mark Milley has also been mentioned as someone Trump may want to punish by recalling him to active duty and having him face a court martial for disloyalty.

I hope Michael Cohen has a top-notch legal team lined up to defend him because he not only played Brutus to Trump's Caesar but went on TV countless times to disparage him. I am sure Trump wants to see him punished.

I resist being crude in describing the visceral rush Trump will get out of seeing pictures like the AI one below. Let's just say this will get his juices flowing.

It wouldn't surprise me it Trump targets this church in my home state of Oregon, a sancturary state, which is offering a safe place to live for undocumented immigrants facing deportation. We know that there's no love lost between Trump and the city of Portland. See: Trump calls Portland a ‘burned down hulk of a city’ during interview.



Since his goons won't get any assistance from Oregon law enforcement he could try to send the Idaho National Guard if he wants to have such a massive roundup. If he does this it could be very interesting since, as I well know because I drive by one of their bases frequently and see long lines of their armored vehicles, we have our own large National Guard

I have no doubt that many of Trump's supporters will be as thrilled by his goon attacks as he is by watching him exact revenge on both the faceless people he has demonized and his well known enemies.

For more about what I think Trump has planned for his presidency read my blog from yesterday: Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (LINK)"






November 15, 2024

Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." By Hal M. Brown, MSW

 

I sleep worrying about what our country was becoming so I was up writing this between 11:30 PM and 3:30 AM.

When we lived near Boston and visited the city frequently we almost always paid our respects at the New England Holocaust Memorial. 

At the New England Holocaust Memorial you walk down a pathway over grates with steam representing smoke rising up and glowing fake coals, and you pass through tall glass towers etched with 6 million numbers representing those killed in the Nazi death camps. Each tower symbolizes a different major extermination camp (MajdanekChełmnoSobiborTreblinkaBełżec, and Auschwitz-Birkenau), as well as menorah candles, the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust (one million per tower), and the six years that the mass extermination took place, 1939-1945. 

You see the short version of the peom by German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, First They Came (Wikipedia) shown on the top of this page on a monument. The poem is about the silence of German intellectuals and clergy—including, by his own admission, Niemöller himself—following the Nazisrise to power and subsequent incremental  purging of their chosen targets, group after group. (Wikipedia)

Nazi Germany was predicted by the great American novelist Sinclair Lewis in 1935. More about than later. While there are many books written with a similar theme (see a list here) this one stands out to me.

Before I get into the book, let's look at the man just more than half of those who cared enough about the country to vote decided to elect and what, by every indication, he intends to turn this country into and how he is showing this with his nominess for the Cabinet and other top positions.

Trump, unlike Hitler, is not singling out people of a particular religion as his primary focus to demonize and destroy (Muslims aren't a high priority for him.) Like Hitler did, he is designating as enemies anybody who is against him. Aside from this difference, there are many parallels between what Hitler did as he rose to and assumed power and what Trump has done and is clearly telegraphing his intentions of doing once he becomes president.

On the Matt Distraction:

Considering the groundswell developing against Matt Gaetz being confirmed as Attorney General I view his nomination as just a distraction. I am assuming he doesn't make it. Trump won't go to the mat for Matt. I see it as having been a trial balloon for Trump to see just how far he could go. I view it as having been a way to distract from other nominees who would be easier to get confirmed.  

Trump has already shown us what he plans to do as president with his other selections. He does want to be dictator. He  wants to turn the country into a fascist autocracy. The more reasonable seeming nominees will be just as willing to do his bidding but they will be easier to get confirmed. He doesn't care how they follow out his orders. He just wants them to do what he tells them do do without objection.

For every off-the-wall person he picks who is rejected by the Senate you can bet he has someone waiting in the wings who will be as bad or worse.

Whether Trump achieves the implementation of Project 2025 lock, stock, and possibly smoking barrel in its entirety is irrelevant. He doesn't need a playbook passed to him by a bunch of think tank intellectuals who he probably has distain for anyway because of their highfalutin ways. I suspect he'd rather get his ideas from himself and his core of sociopaths like Steven Miller, Boris Epshteyn and whoever else reinforces his malevolent revenge crusade and his belief that only he has what it takes to be a dictator. 

He still may not have learned that he is easily manipulated by people who flatter him. Or he may not care. There seems to be list of those who are doing this for their own gain whether they like or admire him or not. This may include people like Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabard, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and no doubt many others who are vying for postions in his administration. Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon may have hopes of getting some kind of position or he may communicated with them and we know Trump has gotten ideas from them in the past. 

Trump is not that many steps away from being able to achieve his ultimate goals of turning the country into what would be the most prosperous and powerful authoritarian fascist dictatorship the world has ever seen.

It wouldn't take him long to get things underway. The mechanisms exist. There may be things the Democrats and a few Republicans can do to slow him down but there is little if anything that can be done to stop him. 

First, I see Trump getting his Cabinet in place and their begin to eliminate the departments Trump has promised to get rid of. Whoever ends up as Attorney General will start the revenge campaign.

Protests against all the draconian things Trump does will come from both the Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress, from the media, and from members of the public some of whom will be demonstrating in the streets.  Trump, the manic Machiavellian megalomaniac I wrote about yesterday wants to prove he is the all powerful furious fighter of a Führer. His image is vitally important to him. I don't know who he sees when he looks in the mirror or sees recent photos of himself, like those showing him bending over while putting with a visible fat butt , a protruding belly, and what appears to be a Dowager's Hump, it is not along the lines of the images of himself that he has on his trading cards. Looking as he does, not being able to fight off the ravages of aging, will psyschologically exacerbate his need to prove his manliness by behaving more as a ruthless bully.


Because the Supreme Court has given him immunity Trump feels emboldened. For now the Supreme Court thinks they have relevance because they are so niave that they don't think Trump wouldn't hesitate to disband them if it suited him... he may do this anyway because, basically, he won't need them if he gets the goverment he wants.

Consider the following list of the things I think Trump can do, or attempt to do, it he's thwarted in achieving his goals by getting people to roll over for him:

  1. Invoke the Insurrection Act
  2. Declare marital law
  3. Suspend habeous corpus under Article I, Section 9, Clause 2: (The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.) Reference
  4. Take control of the media so the only media is Trump run media
  5. Make it a  crime to question Trump policy
  6. Declare all registered Democrats to be enemies of the people including members of Congress and members of the judiciary.
  7. Use Schedule F or some other means (see article) to fire federal employees that don't meet a loyalty test and prove they believe in the values of MAGA.
  8. Declare the Constitution null and void 
  9. Declare MAGA as the new and only political party and require sworn membership for people to have the rights of citizenship.
  10. Either suspend Congress or make it a rubber stamp for appearances sake.
  11. Once the infrastructure and the personnel are in place to carry out deportations of those he deems to be illegally in the country it will begin in earnest. It will only be a trial run because once it is accomplished those personnel and the housing built to accommodate them in transit if deemed necessary, it will be used to round up and house those found guilty of crimes against MAGA tribunals for those acused of crimes againt the state.

In 1935 Sinlcair Lewis wrote "It Can't Happen Here." The first editon is shown on the top of the page.


This is from Wikipedia:

It Can't Happen Here is a 1935 dystopian political novel by American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who quickly rises to power to become the country's first outright dictator (in allusion to Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Nazi Germany).

The novel was published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, which was reported on by Dorothy Thompson, Lewis's wife. The novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government via self-coup and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Having previously foreshadowed some authoritarian measures to reorganize the government, Windrip outlaws dissent, incarcerates political enemies in concentration camps, and trains and arms a paramilitary force called the "Minute Men" (named after the Revolutionary War militias of the same name), who terrorize citizens and enforce the policies of a corporatistregime. One of Windrip's first acts as president is to eliminate the influence of Congress, which draws the ire of many citizens as well as the legislators themselves. The Minute Men respond to protests harshly, attacking demonstrators with bayonets. In addition to these actions, Windrip's administration, known as the Corpo government, curtails women's and minority rights, and eliminates individual states by subdividing the country into administrative sectors. The government of these sectors is managed by Corpo authorities, usually prominent businessmen or Minute Men officers. Those accused of crimes against the government appear before kangaroo courts presided over by military judges. A majority of Americans approve of these dictatorial measures, seeing them as painful but necessary steps to restore American power. 

I hope that across America that enough of the voters who bought into Trump's promises and lie and saw him as their savior and perhaps accepted that the country needed a more authoritarian leader than other presidents, but didn't think he'd ever turn into a despot will see that they were betrayed and deceived. 

Other than a military coup they only thing I can see happening to stop the Trump dictatorship juggernaut and the country becoming authoritariam and fascist is for Congress to be controlled by Democrats in two years. Even then the president holds incredible power. The Supreme Court would have to put the brakes on his attempts to ignore the Constitution. If Trump ignores their rulings against him or disbands them they become irrelevant. 

If if comes to pass, Trump's MAGA America won't go the way of Nazi Germany unless it allies itself with Russia and goes to war with NATO and other Democratic countries we now have treaties with even if Trump breaks them. This would be a true World War III.  If nuclear weapons were employed it could be the end of civilization.

A more likely outcome would be a United States which would be torn apart because the population is so equalty divided, at least now, to be 50/50 pro-Trumpism - pro-MAGA vis pro-democracy. There would be demonstrations and these would likely turn violent. 

Trump would try to use the military against civilians but there would be those who would refuse to follow orders which went against the Constitution they swore an oath to, and this could lead to actual civil war. Rather than this being a war between the northern and southern states it would be a war between the red states and the blue states. 

Not only would the National Guards of states take up arms against each other but I see entire divisions of active military taking one side or another. We could have bombing raids and missile attacks conducted against both sides. 

The Civil War was the deadliest of all American wars. No one disagrees with that. But how many died has long been a matter of debate. For more than a century, the most-accepted estimate was about 620,000 dead. A specific figure of 618,222 is often cited, with 360,222 Union deaths and 258,000 Confederate deaths. (Reference)

With modern weaponry there is no doubt the number of deaths and casualties would be in the millions and much of our infrastructure would be destroyed.

Does Trump, his minions, and the gullible and misguided people who vote for him not realize that changing a country from a democracy to a fascist autocracy will come with death and destruction.

George Santayana in 1905 first said it in several ways but the message is always the same:

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Winston Churchill had a slightly different version, as did a number of other well known people.

The basic message boils down this:

“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it!”

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.

Addendum: How long before I tune in to Morning Joe and see this?







November 14, 2024

Trump Cabinet Picks: Manic Machiavellian megalomaniac runs amok, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

Let me lean back this morning and light up my metaphorical Freudian cigar and try to burn back a few layers of the multiple layers that encircle the inner core of Donald Trump which fuel his nuclear reactor of a mind.

So far we have three Trump Cabinet picks that have caused pundits to speculate why Trump would select three uniquely unqualified people to serve in positions vitally important to the security of the country. 

When you consider that Pete Hegesth for Secretary of Defense is the least bad of the three (Update: Although as new information comes out you have to reassess him - read here) you have to wonder who could be worse than he is. Who is the second worst? That would be the nominee for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard who repeated Russian propaganda about Ukraine housing U.S.-funded bioweapons labs. Then we get to the top of the bottom and it is a mind blower, Matt Gaetz for Attorney General. (Update: We have just found out that even though she was on the plane with him when he made the selection Susie Wiles was not aware that he was going to do this. Read story)

There is well deserved hand wringing among Republican members of Congress over these choices. They bought it, Trump broke it, but they have to own it. Think of a sign in a pottery store: "If the owner breaks it, sorry sucker, you have to buy it."

Among the punditry there is speculation as to why Trump would have picked these people. I've heard some MSNBC panelists suggest this may have been a tactic on Trump's part so he would have one or more of them not get confirmed by the Senate to make way for a more qualifed person who would turn out to be just as bad  but more effective at being bad.

I propose that Trump's motivation was not strategic. I think he is in a manic state and wants to lash out at all of his critics. John Bolton said it well:

"I thought [Gabbard] was the worst Cabinet-level appointment in history until I heard the Matt Gaetz appointment," Bolton said. "Really, my reaction was that this is like the legend of Caligula, the Roman emperor who wanted to nominate his horse as a Roman consul. You had to be a Roman senator at the time to be a consul, and it was intended to show how demeaned and degraded the Roman Senate had become. RawStory

Trump is not just riding high on his victory. My assessment is that he is in a manic state. He feels he can do anything.

He's always been a megalomaniac. By "always" I don't mean just as an adult

A strict Freudian interpretation of Trump's megalomania is that he never fully resolved a normal stage of psychological development. Freud and Freudians believe that at a young age children go though a phase when they feel omnipotent. They believe that a "child lives in a sort of megalomania for a long period; he knows only one yardstick, and that is his own over-inflated ego ... megalomania, it must be understood, is normal in the very young child". (Wikipedia)

In normal psychosocial development children pass through the various phases or stages but some have portions of their personality fixated, or stuck, at some stages for reasons having to do with family dynamics too complex to go into here.

For more information read 

Freud’s Psychosexual Theory And 5 Stages Of Human Development


Here's an illustration from that article:

Click above to enlarge

In the above chart you can see how partial fixations in each phase can lead to characteristics we see in Tump.

Add to all of the above is that Trump is a psychopath. This is how psychoanalyst Dr. Justin Frank puts it in the Chauncey DeVega Salon article: 

"Criminal labels and orange jumpsuits": Experts on how Trump weaponizes his own fears.

Lacking a conscience or morality to limit his sadism, and believing in his worth above all others, leads Trump to think he has the right to destroy anyone who does not submit to him. Without the innate capacity for empathy toward others and a sense of right and wrong, Trump is an extreme outlier in human psychology.

DeVega himself wrote:

It is true that Donald Trump is a pathological liar. But he has been remarkably honest and transparent in his desires and plans to become America's first dictator and unleash a reign of revenge and tyranny.

The only way to understand Trump and what he does is to understand that the why. The only way to understand the why is to realize that Trump has a personality that fits what is called the Dark Triad. 

Wikipedia describes the dark triad as:

All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping. They are associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.
.


Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.


November 13, 2024

Who needed pro-Trump space aliens with mind control rays? by Hal M. Brown

The election was fair, at least it was fair in that there was no fraud. If you voted for one candidate or the other your vote was counted. If we consider the fact that Trump lied his ass off to convince many people to vote for him we might not want to use the word "fair" to describe the election.

Consider whether Obama's elections could have been considered fair if he was, as Trump claimed, really born in Kenya. Even though he won twice the elections wouldn't have been fair because he would have been ineligible to run. He would have won on the basis of a lie.

Let's go the the world of science fiction. What if the winning candidate was aided by outer space aliens who had mind-contolling rays on their space ships which caused undecided voters to go into a trance, believe things that weren't true, and vote for Trump?

If the aliens were advanced enough to cross light years to get to Earth it is logical to think they would have this kind of technology.

Perhaps we don't have to use a space alien analogy. What if the mind controlling pro-Trump rays included a TV station millions voters depended on for their news and opinion and their favorite social media platforms slanted their coverage to favor him and disparage Kamala Harris? Add to this that another country that favored him was able to plant unfavorable stories about Kamala Harris.

Who needs space aliens? 

Another the other hand...

What if Trump is really a shape-shifting alien himself?

(Illustrations by Perchance Photo AI)

Yesterday: As Trump rolls out his begunned MAGA tanks we'll have four years of looking for good news as his agenda fails

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website.

November 12, 2024

As Trump rolls out his begunned MAGA tanks we'll have four years of looking for good news as his agenda fails. By Hal M. Brown


There was some good news today with the announcment that the U.S. Supreme court refused to hear Mark Meadows case claiming he was acting in a official duty when he tried to overturn the Georgia election. Other news (below) shows that their are signs of early chaos in Trumpworld.

 Read: Supreme Court delivers legal blow to former Trump chief of staff


There will probably be bits of good news showing that everything isn't coming up roses for Trump in the next weeks but the main good news will come as we see the first signs that Trump's attempt to fulfill his so-called manadate to make over the country into a monarchy/dicatorship will flounder like a storm tossed pirate boat whose ruthless captain and bloodthirsty crew causes it to crash onto rocky shoals of reality.


I anticipate that Trump will roll out his begunned tank of revenge to seek out targets for their numerous cannons (above illustration). It will take awhile for them to open fire. When they do this the real life, real suffering, and real death implications of his policies where the point of what he does is a combination of self-agrandizement, revenge, and cruelty will gradually hit home and disgust more and more of those who voted for him.


Now a week after the election it is apparent that Trump will be engaging in all-out warfare against his enemies and the fires he will start will be the result of cannon fire starting a fiery fury.



I've been reading about some of the backlash already being reporting in Magnificant Magaland where everything isn't coming up milk and honey. 

First, considering my deciding to use tank to illustrate this blog, consider that Trump wants a military that is totally loyal to him, the US Constitution and adherence to The Military Code of Justice be damned, selected Pete Hegseth, who is a combat veteran and co-host on the weekend edition of “Fox & Friends,” to be his defense secretary.

How will the generals respond to having this 44 year old former Army captain as the Secretary of Defense?


Subject only to the orders of the president, the secretary of defense is in the chain of command and exercises command and control, for both operational and administrative purposes, over all service branches administered by the Department of Defense. Wikipedia

I guess this is Trump's image of the perfect soldier:


This is from his Wikipedia profile:

Hegseth has been active in conservative and Republican politics since his days as an undergraduate at Princeton University. In 2016, he emerged as a strong supporter and ally of Donald Trump's presidential candidacy, and served as an occasional advisor to Trump throughout the latter's presidency. He reportedly persuaded Trump to pardon three American soldiers accused or convicted of war crimes related to the shooting of non-combatants in Iraq. Hegseth, who was a platoon leader at Guantanamo Bay during his military service, defended the treatment of inmates detained there


How is it gong tp go over that Trump, as RawStory puts it, "a longtime Donald Trump friend, golf buddy and investor has been named as the new special envoy to the Middle East, Reuters reported Tuesday afternoon, and early reactions on social media noted he's pro-Israel, with one critic openly wondering if he'll facilitate a "water front housing development in Gaza." 

Perhaps most significant is that we have someone who is untouchable by Trump who will continue to wield real power. This is Jay Powell, head of the Federal Reserve who said he has no intention of stepping down and who can't be fired.

There also are a cadre of people who expect favors from Trump who may resent him if they don't get the rewards the think they deserve. They may decide to turn on him in various ways from annoying to to a bit more than bothersome. Consider what a woman scorned like Marjorie Taylor Greene may do if Trump doesn't elevate her to where she believes she deserves to be. As a member of the House she is one of several who were big-time MAGAs who Trump has to be careful of letting them leave their positions. This risks them being replaced by someone less loyal, or Heaven forbid, by a Democrat.

We see that what the future holds will be worse than Trump and his minions throwing metaphorical matches into dumpsters. However, I still think my dumpster blog is worth republishing. 

Below is what I wrote the day after he was declared the winner of the election. Instead of a tank festooned with cannons I used AI images of dumpster fires. 

Update: And then there's this (read NY Times article)

As part of his message, Mr. Ramaswamy (working with Elon Musk in the new Dept. of Goverment Efficiency) vowed to help take Mr. Trump’s promise to cut government even further. He proposed immediately eliminating the Education Department, the F.B.I. and the Internal Revenue Service by executive order. He said the federal work force should be cut by 75 percent in a mass layoff. And he said he would slash foreign aid to places like Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

Read Nov. 7 blog here:

Trump is going to do, or try to do, some things what will enrage half the nation. It will take time for him to start a full on dumpster fire.



Below are the article links.

The red, black, and blue headline articles on HUFFPOST above convey much of what I planned to write about today. As I wrote in my title, Trump is going to do, or try to do, some things what will enrage half the nation. Not only will this engender outrage among the millions of people who voted for Kamala, some who did so reluctantly because they were voting against Trump, but it will lead to many lawsuits. Some of these will end up in the Supreme Court which is considered by at least half the country as being not only in the bag for him but corrupt.

Some of what he intends to do will have an immediate effect. Examples of these will be his day one appointments or announcements. He could cement his critics view about Aileen Cannon being his tool by appointing her as Attorney General. He could announce that he has cut a deal with Putin for him to end the war in Ukraine by stopping all American aide and starting the process of pulling out of NATO.

I expect that we will hear soon, possibly today, a broad outline of what he calls his "day one" plan. I expect he will talk about his campaign promises and how he will make good on them. 

It will take varying periods of time for these to be fuel for the dumpster fire I expect his administration to turn into. If he follows though on his tariff plan, for example, it will take months for this to result in the cost of everyday items to increase.

Likewise, elimination of departments, Education and the two departments dealing with weather, this will take more time to have an effect on everyday people. If Trump actually follows through on his saying he might give RFK Jr. the authority to formulate health policy he might as well eliminate the The United States Department of Health and Human Services and the FDA. Again, the trickle down consequences for ordinary Americans will take time to be felt.

If Trump makes good on the Project 2025 plan to make as many positions in the federal goverment dependent on passing a loyalty test to Trump thousands of experts in many fields would lose their jobs.

Consider this (from USA Today)

Project 2025 calls for a major overhaul of the Justice Department, including a "vast expansion" of political appointees in the Civil Rights Division and the FBI.

Trump has similarly said he would bend the Justice Department to serve him politically – "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say, 'Go down and indict them,'" he told Univision in an interview last year. John Kelly, his former chief of staff, said Trump often described "constant and obsessive" ideas of using the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service to target his enemies.

Should Trump follow with this plan I would expect mass resignations. His cult may applaud this but, again, what will the rest of the nation think?

We also don't know what the leadership in the military will do if Trump tries illegally to invoke the Insurrection Act (read article) and use American solders on American soil.

We could have a mass exodus of dedicated and talented Americans who leave their jobs voluntarily or involuntarily. 

If all of these people lose their jobs they and their families will suffer economic hardship and members of their communities will feel for them. 

Trump's war against the LGBTQ+ community, his hysterical rhetoric and lies about forced child sex change and saying he'll make sure no schools will get federal funds if they teach anything about gender preferences will lead to most of Hollywood joining to vociferously condemn him. Not that it matters except to him, but he'll never get a true A lister to perform for him. 

Much of what Trump will do depends, as I wrote in my brief blog yesterday, on his need to get revenge against his enemies. If he decides to order the Justice Department to not only go after Hunter Biden but also after President Biden he will look to many people like a vindictive tyrant. While his cult will cheer him on with this we don't know if others who voted for him want to see him go after an 81 or 82 year old man who will have graciously attended his inauguation.  Trump was the first president in 150 years not to attend his successor's inauguration chosing instead to stay at Mar-a-Lago. 

I doubt Trump minds being called a tyrant. To him this characterization is probably a point of pride. However, I am quite sure he doesn't like being called a petty tyrant. Look this up in Google News (here)  He's already been called this many times. The more his tyranny looks petty the worse it is for his image among people who voted for him but weren't the hardcore Trumpers who want him to be both a tyrant and petty.

We don't know whether it will be a match, several matches, or spontaneous combustion that will start the dumpster fire. I am sure it will something or a combination of things we know Trump intends to do.

A dumpster fire begins as very small, but unless the fire department arrives in time it can get out of control. With Trump there's no fire department. If there was it would be in the form of the Supreme Court or Congress. There's no superpumper fire engine that can put out the conflagration his dumpster fire could ignite.


The country wouldn't literally burn. It would be American democracy that would go up in flames. This only could be stopped if things got so bad that in two years both the House and Senate ended up in Democratic Party control with enough Republicans in the Senate to have the 6o seats needed to convict Trump if he's impeached by the House.

If this was successful then they would have J.D. Vance to deal with.

Illustrations made by Perchance Photo AI

In the news today: How far will the Supreme Court go to promote trans ingnorance and anti-trans bigotry? By Hal M. Brown, MSW

Above:  Protesters of Kentucky Senate Bill SB150, known as the Transgender Health Bill, cheer on speakers during a rally on the lawn of the ...