Hal Brown's Substack (fomerly Hal Brown's Blog): Hal Brown

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October 31, 2025

A not so Happy Halloween: The Trickster Trump thugs have a message for kids. Eat your candy and breathe the tear gas. By Hal M. Brown

Not so Happy Halloween…

Last night I read this about my hometown: “Portland ICE protests leave nearby residents caught in chemical crossfire. And more.”

The article on the Oregon Live website included this photo:

I’d previously read about Gov. Pritzker asking for a pause in ICE enforcement in Chicago over Halloween weekend:

“Illinois families deserve to spend Halloween weekend without fear,” Pritzker wrote in a Wednesday letter to Noem. “No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick or treating in their own neighborhood.”

Yesterday I read Trump may walk into a Halloween trap set by Dem: analyst.

Excerpt:

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) issued an impassioned plea to the Trump administration Thursday to pause its immigration raids in Chicago, at least for Halloween, though one journalist and political analyst suspects the plea may also be a trap that could see the administration stumble into a self-inflicted political blunder.
In a letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Pritzker pleaded with the agency to halt its immigration raids in Chicago through the Halloween weekend, which kicks off Friday. His request comes just days after U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas at a children’s Halloween parade, and weeks after children were dragged from beds to U-Hauls by immigration officers during a raid.
“Illinois families deserve to spend Halloween weekend without fear. No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick or treating in their own neighborhood,” Pritzker wrote. “...Illinois children should not be robbed of their innocence. Let them enjoy a time-honored American tradition safely and peacefully. Please let children be children for one holiday, free from intimidation and fear.”

I thought I might write about it today and used AI to make some images of children in Halloween costumes wearing gas masks.

When I got up this morning I didn’t know what I was going to write about.

Then I read this:

Here’s the comment I posted (click here to enlarge)

I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to write about this. Then I looked at the images that came from Perchance AI and they were nothing short of horrible. I thought about the news about SNAP cuts:

These two stories mesh together. They add up to another demonstration of the brutal sadistic callousness of the the Trump administration.

Consider this:

This is what Republican strategist Lindy Li wrote comparing the 16 million children poised to lose food assistance on Saturday to “socialist beasts” during an appearance on Newsmax on Friday.

As for the total number of SNAP recipients – 42 million – Li questioned that they were even eligible for the program, but for those that were, suggested that they “start making better choices” so that they didn’t “have to rely on the government.”

I suppose the children who die because of the cuts to USAID assistance should have made better choices too.

Addendum/afterthought:

Let’s not forget that the estimated 61 people Trump killed on the speedboats were fisherman who needed the money paid by the actual drug criminals. It’s likely that most of them had families and children they were trying to feed. See: U.N. Human Rights Chief Says U.S. Strikes On Alleged Drug Boats Are ‘Unacceptable.

October 25, 2025

The ballroom, the threatening all caps posts, the blowing up men in boats, all are sideshows to the Trump damnatio ad bestias planned for main arena. This is the entire country.

I appreciate it when you share my posts. Click below:

Yesterday I wanted to lighten up a bit and I recommended you watch the excellent TV series starring Keri Russell, “The Diplomat.”

if you missed it's here

and you can read all my

Previous Substacks here

I’ve also been Substacking about Trump’s ballroom. I’ve written that I consider focusing too much on this as akin to paying attention to a circus sideshow while a group of sadistic psychopaths have taken over the main arena and are throwing their enemies to ravenous lions to entertain themselves and their equally psychopathic and sadistic fans. This train of thought led to the following exposition:

In ancient Rome there was a form of entertainment called “damnatio ad bestias,” which translates to “condemnation to beasts.” (See Wikipedia)

The painting on the top of the page is of Ignatious of Antioch. He was a Christian martyr who died for his beliefs at the hands of the Romans. You can read about him here.

Much has been written, including by me, comparing Trump to Hitler and other recent and living despots. I’ve seen a few pieces comparing him to Caligula. This makes sense since that Roman emperor was self-indulgent, cruel, sadistic, extravagant and sexually perverted. He eventually became an insane, murderous tyrant who demanded and received worship as a living god. He humiliated the Senate, and is said to have planned to make his horse a consul (reference). Here’s an article from The Guardian: “Donald Trump has ‘fascinating parallels’ with Caligula, says historian.”

I hadn’t seen anything comparing him to the even more ruthless and cruel Nero and Tiberius until I started this Substack. I found this:

I found another article in The Guardian which references Tiberius: “To understand Trump, we should look to the tyrants of ancient Rome.”

Okay, let me extricate myself from the historical weeds where I can only pretend to have any depth or breath of knowledge. I have lapsed into improv and I am in danger of sinking into word salad, or what Trump would call the weave, a lot of blather signifying not much of anything.

What I am really trying to get across, probably not all that effectively, is that we can’t let ourselves be distracted from all the cacophony and fireworks even if it is in the form of ICE agents teargassing citizens and shooting non-lethal ammunition at them and Trump’s blowing up boats. These displays are meant to be performances to distract us from what Trump intends to do once he gets the fuck-us-all ducks in a row.

Then we’re all Confit de Canard.

Chose whatever metaphor you want to, our being a duck dinner or lunch for the lions, there won’t be a damn thing we can do.

The only people who can save us once it gets that far were sitting in an auditorium at a Marine base in Quantico on Sept. 30th.

October 22, 2025

There was no Super Glue for Trump's fascistic "I'll only be dictator on the first day" boast to make it happen, so he's slowly adding fixative to Dictator Epoxy. Some glues are made for special purposes like for fabric, glass, and metal. None are made for metaphors.

I was inspired to write this after I read Jennifer Rubin’s Substack on The Contrarian this morning and added this comment:

Combine the White House demolitiion with everything else Trump has done and it is akin to adding fixative to the epoxy of fascistic control and we see it hardening before our eyes. That is MY metaphor. For more examples of the way I think, and how if differs from the relentless attempts at optimism from The Contrarians like Jennifer and Norm who I admire see my Substacks. I hoped for reality and less wishful thinking when I shelled out $500 to be a founding member. Please don’t dismiss me as a cranky 81 year old from the besieged city of Portland,

Epoxy glue works by mixing two components: an epoxy resin and a hardener. When combined, they undergo a chemical reaction that causes the mixture to cure and harden, forming a strong bond that can withstand heavy loads and resist environmental degradation. (From AI)

If Trump could have pulled off his dictatorship in the one day which he promised it would have been like him using Super glue. There are lots of them on the market:

This was the original and is still the best known:

Some are made for special purposes like for fabric, glass, and metal. None are made for metaphors.

They work by using a chemical called cyanoacrylate, which rapidly forms strong bonds when it comes into contact with moisture. This process, known as polymerization, creates long chains of molecules that effectively hold surfaces together almost instantly. (More AI)

(The two videos on the top of the page were made using Grok.)

He notes that Trump and his minions Peewee German Miller and ICE Barbie Noem are helping turn our Democracy into a fascist state. He doesn't mention Pam Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Steve Bannon, and Russ Vought. The later is often referred to as the key “toady” in Project 2025. He serves as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget though seems to be as much of an influential Trump whisperer as Miller.