The Trump, Musk, Putin and GOP coup, is really cultural genocide for our nation.
It gets much worse from here
TAT readers,
First, my apologies for less new content the past few days. It has been an extremely busy time on the home front. I have been working on Part VI, of the Coup Series, these past few days, but I’m not yet satisfied that it is up to my personal standards. It will come and soon. In fact, everything we must do to slow the ongoing coup, “must come soon.”
As always, I do all possible to keep my finger on the pulse of what is happening regarding our national security threats, both global and domestic. At the current moment, no threat outside of the US is as dangerous as the Trump, Musk, Putin administration. In just a few weeks, they have attempted to completely gut the US government, rendering it impossible to govern by any known standard. They’re removing our constitutional rights and our “checks and balances,” just as Project 2025’s transition plan called, the 180-day Playbook, said to do. To make matters even worse, they are engaged in a massive effort to erase our heritage.
Using my home state of Texas as an example of how GOP historical revisionism is being pursued, every single American, regardless of party or political belief system, should be furious and a bit afraid. For example, here in Texas, we not only have a new biblically based public school curriculum that the Texas Board of Education is bribing underfunded school districts with more state dollars per student, but there are also glaring omissions in other studies, like literature, history and social studies. My friends, this is Soviet Union, Third Reich-styled efforts to erase everything that came before, unless it suits the agenda of the ruling regime. Even then, it will often change as their selfish desires change.
Book banning is a communicable disease in Texas and just over a week ago, SB 13, a bill about book selection in public schools was headed to the Texas Senate for a vote, sure to be supportive of more book bans.
"Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said these efforts are being driven by advocacy groups that want many books on topics like race, history, sexual orientation and gender identity out of school libraries and out of reach for children. The result, she said, has been increased censorship in schools and public libraries nationwide." -Texas may change how schools select library books. Critics say it could lead to more bans. - Texas Tribune - Pavan Acharya - March 6th, 2025, ironically the anniversary of the battle of the Alamo, an iconic, Texas watershed moment
At the end of the day, today’s GOP is committing cultural genocide against their own nation and constituents. If we allow this to continue, the republic is lost. A nation’s identity represents their values and future intentions. When altered significantly, that original identity dies as surely as a human being. Cultures deprived of their identity, are cultures on the brink of extinction. We’ve seen this historically for millennia and in current times, in Russia, Russia’s cultural genocide of Ukraine and Xi’s China, depriving all Chinese other than Han, their own heritage. When cultural genocide is complete, a people, their language, beliefs, religion and traditions are gone… forever.
Historical revisionism has been around for millennia. We all remember from the movie, The Ten Commandments the scene where the Pharoh declares that the name of Moses shall be stricken from every appearance within Egypt.
"If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so!" Seti is grievously hurt, since he said that he had always loved him as a son, more than his own real son Rameses. So Seti imprisons him and orders his name stricken from all records and monuments, to be unspoken in Egypt forever thereafter." - The Ten Commandments - IMDB
This isn’t just a movie script’s dialogue but a known tactic for removing the name of a political upstart that challenged an existing king, Pharoh etc. To this day, some groups and organizations do this for members that speak about group insider information. Putin even did something similar when Gorbachev passed away. Putin denied him a high-profile state funeral and extremely limited coverage of his death.
More than any other defining feature, genocide is about removing the very existence of a person, state, leader or otherwise, from history, and like they never existed. Few US states have records or a way of focusing on all of the indigenous people who lived in the US prior to a European conquest.
This is nothing new for the GOP in the Trump era. They have either whitewashed, created a different narrative or simply erased history when it doesn’t suit their radical, far-right ideology. Below are a couple examples.
Trump's DEI orders: Some agencies scrub US history in response | AP News
Trump’s Plan to Rewrite the History of Jan. 6 | Brennan Center for Justice
Now, just today, the Trump administration that is shutting down the DOE/ Department of Education, announced that initial cuts were in the Civil Rights office, leaving discrimination cases in limbo. This is just another oblique shot at all Americans of color, ethnicity, or a religion other than White Christain Nationalism. A government of, by and for the people and where all are considered equal, no longer exists in Trump and Putin’s America.
It doesn’t just end with historical or traditional highlights but has now even extended to a banned list of words and terms, by the fascists running the nation. If you haven’t read 1984 by Vonnegut or not in a long while, you will find within a reread, intensely disturbing correlations to today’s GOP, serving their dear leader without hesitation. I have recently begun a reread, and it is difficult to read without chilling insights that run parallel to what Trump and Putin are doing, in Russia, the US and every nation that Russia exports their far-right ideology to. We see this in major players like China, Russia, India, N. Korea, Hungary etc. It’s easier to just call these nations and their leaders, the new Axis of Evil. Now, with control of Congress and several so-called, “red states" our history and iconic American heritage is disappearing faster than a meal in front of a starving dog.
Nations, like families have traditions, stories, anniversaries of important family events, etc. Remove all this and the family loses its identity. The same applies to nations, organizations, movements and companies. A core American value is that we have the right, to be do as we imagine, so long as it stays between our constitutional guardrails. Take this away and you’ve defeated at least a quarter of our American identity. Defeat the First Amendment and its Establishment Clause and we lost another 25%. Convert our true American values to the fake MAGA/ GOP version of God, Guns and Trump, and you’ve effectively blocked out any semblance of American identity. Within a generation or two, it no longer exists.
Erasing identity is what Putin has attempted in Ukraine and Xi in China... for decades. Both must have a homogenous identity in order to fulfill their fascist narratives. If you cannot picture what this looks like in your home, look no further than the ideology of the Third Reich pre and during WW II. China’s ascension narrative also requires that all China must be Han Chinese. All other minorities, like the Uyghurs, who are in work/ reeducation camps, dead or living a life of fear and humiliation, are virtual slaves and without a country or culture.
Is Putin’s brainwashing of Ukrainians into Russians even a crime?
Vladimir Putin’s Ukrainian genocide is proceeding in plain view - Atlantic Council
Russia Is Committing Cultural Genocide in Ukraine – Foreign Policy
Culture in the Third Reich: Disseminating the Nazi Worldview | Holocaust Encyclopedia
When you have been around war, insurgencies and unconventional warfare long enough, you get a sharp and painful sense of what tyrants and despots are trying to do. Ideology in the hands of aggressive and willfully ignorant audiences, is a powerful weapon. In Putin’s case, he not only demands that all Russians fall in step but his allies as well. Today’s GOP has been more than willing to embrace Putin, and for a very long time now.
The only way that our nation survives, is that those of us who are not seduced by the siren song of far-right ideology, stand up and hold tightly onto our heritage as Americans. So, here in TX, we have roving bands of MAGA Republicans assaulting school board meetings with racist, GOP ideology regarding public education. I have fought long and hard locally against a MAGA takeover of our local school district.
Fighting the MAGA crowd in order to protect Public Education.
Hostile Takeover, North East Independent School District vs. MAGA, PUFF and Moms for Liberty
These roving MAGA warriors, show up with printed-out scripts from their superiors, to read into the record. Of course, it is all utter road apples, spewed by the GOP but all the same, unopposed they have made inroads. In Narrative Warfare, whomever speaks often and first, tends to win the day, no matter how immoral. Those opposing Trump and Putin’s fascism, must show up and speak firmly in support of law, our constitutional rights and against the fascism of today’s GOP. Any truth erased or skewed, degrades our heritage. No heritage, no nation or “will to fight.”
We can easily see in Russian and their allied troops, nearly zero, “will to fight.” Every day, Russian casualties reflect the fact that they don’t know or understand what they are fighting for, nor… what their national values actually are. Putin doesn’t care and should our troops end up allied with Russian troops on the battlefield, they also wouldn’t understand their purpose. Never once in any of my combat deployments, have I been ambiguous as to my mission and why. The mission was to protect America, our citizens and the people of whichever country I was in at the time. Now, troops will not have this rock to lean on.
In a variety of potential situations and as we ebb slowly into Trump world, troops could either fight side-by-side with Russian or Chinese allies and have zero clue as to why. Siding with Putin and/ or Xi, means that we would oppose all of our historical allies. No wonder Europe and NATO are feeling exposed and at threat. The oath that all US enlisted troops and officers swear to, demands that we, “protect and defend the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.” How is this even possible should US troops be required to support Putin’s aggression against Ukraine and others? What if they were deployed domestically against US citizens in protest? This is what lies in store for US troops, if we do not course correct by eliminating a treasonous GOP administration and their anti-American ideology.
Growing up near Kent State and experiencing the National Guard shooting of Kent State students in the early seventies, is a scar for me and most my age or close to it. Personally, I do not see US troops being the arm of a Trump administration that operates against our own citizens, but hey, we are living in extraordinary times. The sixties and early seventies were at least as turbulent. The thought though, of deploying US troops against American citizens is not a path that most Americans would accept without substantial protest.
"On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students. The impact of the shootings was dramatic. The event triggered a nationwide student strike that forced hundreds of colleges and universities to close. H. R. Haldeman, a top aide to President Richard Nixon, suggests the shootings had a direct impact on national politics. In The Ends of Power, Haldeman (1978) states that the shootings at Kent State began the slide into Watergate, eventually destroying the Nixon administration. Beyond the direct effects of the May 4, the shootings have certainly come to symbolize the deep political and social divisions that so sharply divided the country during the Vietnam War era." - The May 4 Shootings at Kent State University: The Search for Historical Accuracy - Kent State University
What is Trump and Musk to do, if they cannot gain compliance from the majority of US citizens? As I often express to dear friends and colleagues, I believe that most Americans are approaching a level of intolerance that will trigger a national level opposition to the Trump/ Putin administration. In NW or Narrative Warfare, it’s not the facts that matter, it’s the national identity of freedom that comes easily to the surface. This of course means some level of Civil War. The sooner we act, the lower the chances of an actual shooting war. Americans do not want to wield lethal force against fellow citizens. I see this as also, a threshold that troops will not cross. This still leaves Trump his legions of far-right thugs like the Proud Boys, 3%ers and worse. They are no match for the overwhelming numbers of Americans of all parties, that will resist forcefully.
None of this means that events will unfold as I am suggesting. I am merely offering a perspective, founded on my professional career and my lifelong addiction to being a patriotic American. All of this leaves both Trump and Putin, in a bit of a dilemma. Americans will not tolerate what Putin does to his own citizens in Russia. This means that Trump will have to ratchet up the pressure onto the working classes. He has already begun this line of effort. Inflation is up, as much as the stock market is in decline. His only recourse is to use his substantial leverage over the Republican Party legislators to enact laws that put far more economic pressure onto US citizens. Between legislation by a Republican majority in both houses of congress, will result in a powerful backlash against the GOP.
You see, as we look forward, there is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. The key is to put so many Americans in the street, that their GOP congressmen and senators don’t dare to speak against them. This is where we need to be within the next 30 days or so. We must be loudly opposing Trump and Putin’s fascism en masse and in a sustained manner. There must be no doubt in every Republican congressman’s mind, that they will not win reelection by supporting Trump. Do this and we have a foothold on the beachhead of Trump’s fascist coup attempt.
I do realize that most Americans are not history buffs and some of what I am recommending, will not jump to the forefront of their minds. Still, peer pressure is a most powerful tool. Our collective, sustained voices against tyranny, is one of our most effective resistance tools. Use it and use it often. Do this not for a party but for our nation. Making this a left vs right, Dem vs. Rep or conservative vs. liberal fight, is a losing proposition. The answer is actually quite simple when you see it clearly. Stand up for real American values and help your family, friends and neighbors to do the same. Between our real values and those ensconced within our constitution and Bill of Rights, we have the verbal version of a nuclear weapon.
My fellow citizens, we can do this, but we must act, keep acting and grow louder in the process. I’m all in and hope that you will join me. Bullies are historically cowards, when faced with overwhelming odds.
My best for your evening
Paul