A little something for readers to share with their Republican, Trump voting family and friends
a.k.a. Family Fued
TAT readers,
Phew, we have barely survived another week in the Trump/ Putin/ Musk/ Oligarchy coup. We are also very near the line that once crossed, will mean that we have lost our nation to evil and will require a civil war, to restore it. So, although I hear reports of “buyers remorse” from Trump voters, I still see zero support from them towards putting an end to this coup. Now, we are running out of time and it is time to ratchet up the pressure on those very voters, and to help them break free of the alternative reality they’ve been living in since 2015. Not to overstate the threat, I will simply say that our entire constitutional republic, is on life-support. I say again, this is NOT an overstatement or hyperbole.
The only questions are, 1. who understands just how close we are to a constitutional failure, and 2. what are they going to do about it? In order to prepare you to put pressure on family and friends, I thought today, I would give you some ammunition in framing your efforts to sway your errant family and friends.
Today, I will list some of the most prominent current Trump/ GOP threats, with some credible sources to what a vote for Trump stands for. As you read, share and/or discuss with those who voted for his and his equally immoral party, preface the items below with the phrase, “you voted for…” whatever the item on the list says. This is what many call, “tough love.” I simply call it being perfectly honest. As I have said often, I come from a part of the country where it was considered a social faux pas, to discuss religion and politics publicly. That rule, limited the type of interactions that we should have had with our Trump family and friends, a decade ago, but didn’t for the sake of “being polite.” I am guilty as well. Now, we have no choice. I have come to expect derision and being ostracized from some, simply for this honesty.
We are in such trouble now, that the only way out of this is to make the trumpsters in our lives, aware of what their vote is doing to all of us and the world. Are they truly proud of the death, chaos, tragedy and treason, that they imposed on all of us? How can they love and care for us if they support a monster and a party, wholly supportive of the devastation he leaves in his wake? They, did this and must now bear the responsibility to do their part, to right the ship. Every last one of them contributed to this coup by failing to be honest with themselves, and by extension, us. None of them could explain what Trump “policies” they liked or if asked, they could not produce a single source to support their so-called “beliefs.”
The rest of us paid the price and now, millions of human beings around the world are in acute danger, including ourselves at home. Many Trump/ GOP voters, are just coming to realize that we’ve been telling them the truth for well over a decade. I can assure you though, that there is zero joy in saying “I told you so” while that they burn America down around them, and us.
Of course we are furious with those people and rightly so, no matter how much we love and care for them. It is also our responsibility to tell them so. We can no longer afford to stay politely silent while that our entire republic, is being burned down around us. While that many are tragically, our closest family or friends, we also share some fault for not raising these issues prior. They, not you and I, have forced these tough, upcoming talks via their rigid and delusional acceptance of conspiracy theories and overt lies. We may still love these people dearly, but forgiveness at this point is a long way off and, I can assure you, that I will never forget.
Now, before I continue, a reminder to please include the phrase, “you voted for:” before each item.
Let’s roll,
This is the short list
You voted for:
You voted to ally America with Putin and China, both genocidal despots, and against our longtime, honorable and democratic allies.
The overthrow of our very constitution
Project 2025, which Trump, Musk and the GOP are implementing daily, violates our constitution in a variety of ways. The two most critical are:
Destroying the built-in checks and balances by moving the major power structures of government, into the Executive Branch. In other words, making Trump and his successors, “kings.”
Destruction of our First Amendment entirely, by limiting freedom of the press, removing the separation of church and state and threatening the right of citizens to assemble and demand redress from their government.
January 6th & Project 2025... two strategies, one objective... COUP
Trump’s and then NSA/ National Security Advisor, his campaign manager, Paul Manafort and others, have worked closely with Russian intelligence and influence operators at least since late 2014, all verifiable in classified and some unclassified reporting.
Just this past week, Trump shut down aid to Ukraine, attempted to bully her president into “surrendering” to Putin and demonstrated this treason in front of the entire world, on TV.
He also ordered that all Pentagon and IC/ Intelligence Community operations against Russia cease. This order has already resulted in the death of Ukrainian civilians.
A Russian cheerleader and likely Russian asset named Tulsi Gabbard, is who he appointed to be the new DNI, Director of National Intelligence
Kash Patel, now as FBI director, is an absurdly dishonest Trump loyalist that will never allow US domestic intelligence services to investigate any more Russian activities
If this isn’t “aiding and abetting the enemy, I don’t know what would be!
White Christian Nationalism
The Establishment Clause in our First Amendment, of the Bill of Rights, is perfectly clear about not having a state religion and yet, today’s Republican Party, led by Trump, doesn’t give a damn about setting an aberrant form of Christianity called CN/ Christian Nationalism as the the state religion.
What is Christian Nationalism and why it is a threat to democracy
“Christian nationalism is characterized by the following religious affirmations: - that the United States was founded as a Christian nation - that America is exceptional. - That is, God has given the United States particular blessings and privileges not available to people in other countries, and the nation must remain Christian in order for those blessings to continue - that only Christians are the proper custodians of this nation’s heritage; that Christianity (or a particular form of Christianity) should have privileged status in the United States, particularly in matters of law and political policy
- that, even when their presence is tolerated, people who practice other religions or none cannot be fully American — they are not welcomed, their voices are discounted, and they are not to be trusted with political and cultural leadership - that Christians in general and some Christians in particular should enjoy a level of legal protection not granted to those who practice other religions - that Christians have been made to suffer unjustly, leaving them no alternative but to respond with revolutionary zeal to preserve the United States as a great Christian nation. - THE DANGERS OF CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM IN THE UNITED STATES: A POLICY STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES - NCC/ National Council of Churches - 2021”
From the very beginning of his first candidacy, Trump has used violence and the threat of violence to intimidate anyone who got in the way of his selfish desires. His personal lawyer/ fixer, Michael Cohen testified to this in several legal proceedings and under oath.
Right wing violence in the Trump era has grown far out of proportion to all other forms of political violence combined.
Murdering millions around the world
Trump allying us with Russia, is also a de facto alliance with China on a variety of levels. Both are part of the Axis of Evil and now, because family and friends voted for Trump, we are now part of that Axis.
China is daily continuing their genocide against the Uyghur people and other minorities. This includes deaths, forced migration, concentration and work camps, forced sterilizations and far worse.
Russia is now in a three year genocidal invasion of Ukraine. Just like the Soviets, Putin is attempting to remove any vestige of Ukrainian culture from history and this includes conquer by rape, murder, destruction of Ukrainian cultural icons and mass murder. This is the second try to impose genocide on Ukraine, with the first being by the Soviets, in the early 1930s. Ukrainians know first hand, exactly what the GOP, refuses to understand.
A related issue is the decades long training of Middle Eastern terrorist organizations, including Iran, Hamas, Hizbollah etc. Hamas operatives prior to the Oct 7th attack on Israel, historically trained in Russia and Iran, primarily used Russian weapons and systems to massacre innocent Israelis. You cannot love and support Israel and support Trump and Putin at the same time. Putin’s Middle Eastern Policy, is decidedly pro-Hamas as well.
“On Friday, the day after intelligence sharing ceased, Russia carried out massive ballistic missile and drone strikes across Ukraine. Soon after the aerial attacks, Trump said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do”. Overnight strikes in eastern Ukraine on Saturday killed at least 14 people and wounded dozen more, including five children.” - Trump suspending US intelligence sharing is ‘suffocating’ Ukraine’s hope, says Ben Wallace - Sammy Gecolyler - The Guardian - March 8th, 2025
For example, when Russia launches planes, missiles and artillery, there is no way for Ukrainians to protect themselves or have early warning as they did when we provided high-level intelligence to our allies. Yes, our friends and family that voted for Trump, make Putin’s war crimes possible.
Increasing global human suffering exponentially
If you would like to see a tiny fraction of what Trump’s cancellation of USAID programs and projects are causing, I highly recommend reading the short AP article in this embedded link. It’s staggering and inhumane.
Fascism
Trump is a textbook fascist. Yes MAGA, words have real definitions, not the dishonest versions used by your precious GOP
On a scholarly list of global, fragile states, our nation is no longer the least fragile. We are now 141st of 179
Misogyny
The GOP’s insane DEI obsession is just one more element of a global, far-right ideology, with Russian ideology as the core.
Today, the AP/ Associated Press reported that the Pentagon had earmarked 26,000 alleged “DEI” photos and other recognition be removed. These are pictures, awards or recognition of women, people of color and other “firsts” that the entire GOP considers, DEI.
The GOP war on women and all things gender
Racism
It needs little introduction to understand, that today’s American right, is by far, the most aggressive, dangerous and lethal extremist movement in the country. It has been an increasing trend since 2007-8 and has grown exponentially, in the Trump era.
Trump, has close connections with and supports American racist movements, against any DEI type, certain types disabilities, any non-Caucasian and nearly all non-Christian Nationalist belief system. Yes, Trump voters support all of this as well.
An economy that only works for oligarchs
Across the spectrum of what economic gurus track, the US is worse off now, than when the presidential transition took place. Yes, inflation is up under Trump and the stock market has become a precarious investment. Market certainty is at it’s lowest, since the turn of the century, with the exception of the immediate, post 9-11 attack.
Not only is inflation and unemployment going up, but the oligarch class is doing better than ever, especially at opening the income disparity gap.
Few things unnerve the economy, like an erratic leader. Trump’s on again, off again tariff threats, are most likely attempts to manipulate the market, for insiders, but to the rest of us, unacceptable risk. His demands on business and corporations, are nonsensical and create more uncertainty. To make matters worse, undoing oversight from products and services, just makes all industries, more dangerous and less reliable.
I bet that you can’t wait to have an accident with your Tesla, because there was no technical oversight over their processes, working conditions and lowered standards. Yes, this is sarcasm.
Higher unemployment
Since January 20th, the inflation rate and unemployment numbers are increasing, not decreasing as promised. Tens of thousands of fired US government employees, will certainly make next month’s numbers even worse.
Summary
This is enough information for one day and in fact, maybe too much. The point is, that it is critical that those family members and friends that voted for Trump, understand that they are on the hook, for at least what is listed above. As for tracking everything, there is a website called the Tyranny Tracker, written by an excellent source and a highly recommended follow here on Substack, Olga Lautman.
In her publishing, Olga offers a day-by-day rundown of all that Trump, Musk and Putin are doing to us daily. Even for me, who has written about the combined Trump/ GOP/ Russian threat for over a decade, Olga’s work is remarkable. The depth of the depravity within the MAGA GOP, is obscene and due to the volume, most of the Trump transgressions, don’t make into our newsfeeds. Olga, fixes that problem by doing the hard work of pulling it all together for us.
My friends and family, whether you voted for Trump or against, my intention is to save this republic, for all of us. We cannot do this, while that some of those we hold dear, watch FOX or any similar. We cannot waste time arguing about Republican conspiracy theories. We can and must talk about our founders, what they stood for and what they refused to accept in the founding of this great republic. We can talk about real issues, but only with credible sources. It’s not that we don’t want to talk with our closest, it is that we don’t want to talk about MAGA alternative realities. Solving problems for our great nation, requires discussing my definition of truth; “Truth is all known facts, presented objectively and in context”.
Previous essays in the Coup Series:
Trump, Musk and the MAGA GOP's, coup attempt: fighting back! Part II in a series
Part III in the Coup series: The clock is ticking on Trump’s coup
As I have been writing in my “Coup Series,” I remind everyone, that the time to act is now, not tomorrow. If no one else is leading, then would you please lead? American history is replete with reluctant leaders that stepped up when no one else would. Part of our American DNA includes this gene.
Our immediate engagements are with family and friends. Next, your local elected representatives via public protests and with all media invited. We all must unite, ally ourselves with other true patriots and, “get into some good trouble.” And yes, target every single oligarch or oligarchical corporation that is profiting from their association with the Trump/ Musk/ Putin Mafia regime in Washington. We are running out of time.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend,
Paul
Sorry, my good friend, but no sale. You are sounding less like a seasoned professional analyst and more like that lunatic Congressman from Houston, Al Green. Since Democrat Party politicians, the party of Slavery, Secession, Segregation, and Sedition, have by their childish temper tantrums publicly diminished themselves from “... federal legislators to the level of graffiti artists” (to quote a prominent Constitutional lawyer) I will continue to remain a member in good standing with the Republican Party. When you get around to offering positive alternatives rather than just howling at the moon I will be more than willing to listen to a rational presentation.