And Humpty Trumpty had a great fall
We've reached the beginning of the end, of this cruel, unconstitutional, criminal administration.
TAT family and friends,
I cannot remember a time when I could bring you good news to begin and end a week during the Trump and MAGA era. This week though… this isn’t cheerleading, it’s reality. Today are my thoughts about entering this long sought phase for honest Americans. I am writing from a “stream of consciousness” point of view today. What follows is me just allowing my thoughts fall onto the keyboard without a filter. The suffering has been immense for those of us who adhere to our laws, constitution and true national values. Roughly a third of our voters, still remain under the spell of far-right propaganda, largely a transplanted from Russian far-right ideology, that prevents them from seeing reality and the truths about it. This will no longer help them and all because, Humpty Trumpty, is nearing a great fall.
Yes, it’s true that the walls are closing in on this administration and the Republican Party that enables his most cruel and corrupt behavior. Let’s also not forget that those billionaires and spineless media companies, are also beginning to see the end as well. We must never forget what these disgraceful men and women have imposed onto our republic. As we can see, the fallout from the Epstein files is globally shaking the core of governments and the reputations of soulless men guilty of viciously preying on our children. The cruel and illegal DHS/ ICE raids along with the Epstein issue are the primary reasons that the dam broke against Republicans and especially the administration.
Now, there’s no finger big enough to plug the holes in their fascist dam. This was all preventable and we must never forget who are to blame, including Republican voters. As I noted earlier in the week in an essay titled, How about a little good news to start the week, there are several categories of those we must hold accountable once we’ve restored our republic. Trump, the Republican Party and those voters who put him back into office anyway are the primary villains however, let’s not forget the oligarchs and the far-right majority on the Supreme Court either. Trump’s psychology renders him irredeemable and the same applies to every sitting Republican in Congress, and of course the voters who viciously defend him against the rest of us, their fellow Americans.
As I mentioned in last Tuesday’s essay, “GOP voters are adults and should have known better.” They all knew when they cast their ballots, that they voted for a lifelong sexual predator and probable pedophile. They knew he was as corrupt as the day is long. They knew he wouldn’t adhere to the law nor the constitution our laws are based on. Now… it is difficult to have any sympathy for most who will experience shunning in the post-Trump era. If they had stopped after the first administration, I’d give them a “mulligan” and like most of you, I did offer them a safe harbor. Every one of them betrayed that accommodation.
This week I believe was finally the straw that broke that poor proverbial camel’s back. The damage has been done. I have never been someone to hold a grudge but after the cruel and intentional dismantling of our republic, while robbing our Treasury blind and allying us with the “worst of the worst” world despots, I just may break my rule. I do my best to forgive, but can promise that I will never forget.
This week, the fallout from the small amount of Epstein files released is accelerating ever-faster, with each new revelation. Billionaires and Republicans are running scared, and they should be. It’s been a really bad week for the administration and now, the announcement that a second CSG/ Carrier Strike Group is headed towards the Middle East, makes one wonder if a “wag the dog” event against Iran, may be in store as a diversion from the blowtorch heat charring the hindquarters, after a few of the revelations this week.
Let’s look at a couple of these revelations, that I believe are hastening the end of this Republican nightmare faster than we thought possible.
Minnesota’s honest citizens booted Trump’s thugs out of Minneapolis by overtly demonstrating extraordinary courage and patriotism. These patriots are now all over the country in the face of DHS brutality and murders. Every city ICE visits, demonstrates the same as Minnesotans, courageously standing up for their guaranteed constitutional rights, against the violent and murderous operations by those who ignore the law. You can almost hear patriotic music playing in your heart, when watching decent Americans stand against tyranny.
Speaking of DHS, in today’s WSJ/ Wall Street Journal, the news section, not the opinion page where Rupert Murdoch’s far-right opinion writers have a safe harbor, an expose’ of Kristin Noem was devastating. Some of the allegations range from her reported affair with Corey Lewandowski, a long-time Trump sycophant to mocking a child with Downs Syndrome. Of course like much of the administration, he comes with long list of sexual harassment allegations against him, despite being married with children. Apparently he and Kristi’s affair is an open secret at DHS, according to credible reporting.
Kristi Noem needs no help in being unpopular. She turns the stomach of most decent Americans. She’s responsible not only for shooting her puppy, but now, also innocent Americans legally exercising their constitutional rights. The death toll continues to amount. She spends as freely with her new monstrous additional DHS funding as she does on her cosplay outfits at her ad nauseum photo ops. Thank goodness that DHS funding expires tonight at midnight, and there will be partial shutdowns at the agency beginning tomorrow.
I don’t have words for the lawless murders of innocent Americans in their own streets by these Executive Branch thugs, nor the constant unprovoked violent assaults on peaceful protesters exercising their First Amendment Rights.
As people have a chance to review the latest tranche of documents, the revelations are sheer depravity and the fallout has been swift, mostly outside the US. In this latest batch comes a whistleblower tip completely ignored by both Noem and Bondi, including an allegation of murder in Oklahoma of a 19-year-old Oklahoma woman who had called the sheriff to report that she’d been raped by both Epstein and Trump, in 2000.
Roughly a million mentions of Trump in the files and for those who have read some of them as I have, they would make any decent person break into tears, again, as I did. The victims were children and abused beyond anything most could even imagine, and I don’t recommend trying either. And yet, the overwhelming bulk of the files still have not been released and those that are… are in redaction hell. Don’t Republican voters love their daughters and granddaughters? These GOP members of congress, sure as hell don’t love ours.
And then there was the Pam Bondi trainwreck hearing that disgusted even some of her own party. An endless number of words have already been written by others describing her shrill, cruel display of indifference to the horrifically abused survivors, standing right behind her. By a show of hands, they courageously called out her overt dishonesty and Bondi refused to even look at them.
Jamie Dimon, CEO of Bank of America, is also back under fire for a couple of reasons.
First, his sworn testimony in a 2023 deposition about Epstein is now suspect of not being truthful.
Secondly, and this is the big one, Bank of America is being investigated for the countless transactions they made for Epstein, that were suspect or what should have been, “red flagged” for their suspicious nature.
Dimon is not alone either. There’s the Dubai Sultan, Ahmed Bin Sulayem who was forced out of his high position because in the files, he is quoted as saying to Epstein in an email, “I loved the torture video.”
Today high-powered counsel for Goldman-Sachs, Kathy Ruemmler was forced out due to her close association with Epstein, only beginning after he had already been convicted of child sex trafficking offences, the documents show.
A former Norwegian Prime Minister has already been charged, while others are under investigation.
In the UK, Peter Mandelson has been fired and resigns from the House of Lords
There is a very long list of the rich and powerful men and women under intense scrutiny, and as they should be. It is the cabal of the rich and powerful that put this criminal administration into power, as well as who profits from it. It is these folks that have undermined our republic and with Chief Justice John Roberts assistance, via his decision in the Citizens United case that permitted unlimited dark money into our politics.
Many of these rich and powerful men especially, are also the ones responsible for our affordability crisis. They rape children and then turn around and rape our wallets. Oligarchy is alive and well these days, much to the misfortune of the rest of us.
It’s been roughly 15 years since the Trump and MAGA insanity has infected our electorate and if we do not put an end to it now and plug the holes in our laws, we won’t just have an affordability crisis, we’ll be serfs. Honest Americans sense this deep in their patriotic hearts. It is that imaginary line I often reference, that Americans who abide by our founding values, will not allow enemies to cross, before we plant our feet and say, “no more.” I believe we are there right at this moment. That’s the American spirit that I was raised with and still believe with every fiber of my being.
As I noted on Tuesday, non-far-right social media now, is aggressively unkind to Republican candidates. They were smothered at last November’s elections. You can smell the fear on them and the administration. I will let you in on a little secret… the reason for all of the full-spectrum election suppression coming this administration is a strong indicator of that fear. If the administration had control and knew they could win, they wouldn’t care about the massive outpouring of righteous anger from the rest of us. The “resistance” is not a blue vs. red fight, it’s is a fight by honest Americans of all political stripes who will not back up one step further, no matter how aggressive Trump’s little Executive Branch of Brownshirts become. We aren’t having it anymore and will never back down.
Apparently, me writing stream of consciousness, leaves everyone with an already too long essay. I will wrap things up with a couple of admonitions about what we must do, if we are to not ever experience another Trump or MAGA-like party.
Summary
Some of this might seem painfully simple but if it were working, we would not be in this mess. These are listed in no particular order.
Do whatever it takes to reverse Citizens United and legislate laws that protect us from having our elections purchased by oligarchs and lesser billionaires.
As a follow up point to the first, streamline and adjust our tax code so it is fair, and doesn’t create anymore class-warfare. For example, if `Jeff Bezos can spend $50 million dollars on his wedding, he can pay his share of taxes.
Legislate an enforceable code of ethics for our Supreme Court. I could hardly be more disgusted with the blatant violations of ethics by mostly the Republican side. I would have said conservative, but Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch and of course Roberts have demonstrated far-right traits, not conservatism.
Make teaching a profession that people can live decently from and give them honest history to study, not this revisionist BS pushed by Republicans. Citizens must know who they are and where they hail from, in order to have a national identity that they will stand up for. There is no excuse for how far the US has fallen in global rankings regarding education. Here in Texas for example, we now have a disgraceful “biblical curriculum in public schools.” The state gives the schools that adopt it, more money than they give to those who don’t. Apparently, no Republican reads our constitution, and are thoroughly baffled by the Establishment Clause in our Bill of Rights, which separates religion from government.
Create and enforce anti-monopoly laws that work. Teddy Roosevelt got it. Trump and his enabling party, don’t want to, “get it.” This especially applies to our media. Media oligarchs control what we see, read, hear etc. They are largely responsible for the massive mis/ disinformation threat we suffer from as a nation. Keeping us at each other’s throats, makes them obscenely wealthy.
Either block off Wall Street and bulldoze it, or legislate firm and corruption-proof oversight, including the willingness to prosecute aggressively those who abuse our trust.
Last but not least is a personal pet peeve… stop paying congress when they shut down our government. Make them come to us to bless any raise they give themselves in the future, and if they commit felonies like insider trading, prosecute them instead of a slap on the hand or censure.
I’ve gone on long enough by now and so, I wish everyone a marvelous weekend. The momentum is now firmly with us. We must not let off the gas until they are gone. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could push Humpty Trumpty off his wall by our Fourth of July, 250th birthday?
Viva Libertad
Paul
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Excellent summaries, Paul, as usual, with the cartoons especially relevant.