When Trump and the GOP lose, America and the world win

Now's the time to exploit those losses

Dear TAT readers,

Here we are at another hump day, celebrating another Trump/ GOP loss regarding Trump’s surrender in the Tariff war, that he started. As we continue to build our resistance to this treasonous (yes, I know the meaning of the word) administration, it is also important to keep an eye on whether the MAGA Republican coup is progressing or backsliding. In short, what we need to do in order to inform our resistance, is to keep a scorecard of wins and losses and assign values to which degree, each win or loss matters. At the moment and as a spoiler alert, the Trump/ GOP coup, is losing, but the operative question is, to what degree and why aren’t we exploiting those losses?

Last weekend, I joined the 50501 movement protests, here in San Antonio, in order to “take the pulse” of what the movement is all about. Sadly, the organizers, don’t do a great job of helping people find out about and/ or understand the specific mission of the movement. Due to my long career, that includes evaluating pluses and minuses of such campaigns, I came away with some specific concerns and also a feel for the high level of enthusiasm within the crowd. We must not let the fire of freedom burn out in the resistance, from a lack of informed expertise.

Overall, the movement gets a positive rating, but they are also hurting their own cause, due to some issues, long common with the Democratic Party. Those vulnerabilities are potentially significant enough to undermine the entire campaign. I will come back to the pros and cons later in today’s essay.

Now, let’s take a look at the administration’s losses, some of which are a significant threat to their coup, as well. The vulnerabilities in the GOP coup are mounting daily and Trump’s commitment to back off of his fully ignorant tariff war, is a powerful loss, but only if the opposition can exploit the vulnerability. In the language of influence operations, “exploit” means, to take advantage of your opposition’s mistakes, and to make them respond to your narratives. This is something that the Democratic party, has long misunderstood and their failure to wage sustained influence campaigns is one of their signature faults, among many.

This is also a good time to make it clear, that the 50501 movement in action at last Saturday’s protests in San Antonio’s City Plaza, had some speakers that were ultra progressive and with issues, mostly unpopular with most Americans. Conversely, there were also speakers not speaking at all about partisan issues, but solely for the recovery of a functioning constitutional republic. It is very important at this point, to offer some advice to the folks behind the movement that will doom it very soon, if they don’t make adjustments.

At last Saturday’s events, what impressed me was that folks respected the speakers and their right to speak at the rally. How very American. What gave me enormous professional concern, was that one special interest group in particular, made every effort to use the crowd for their own narrowly focused special interest. Tragically, this group also employed a fair number of false narratives and other forms of misinformation. They organized their speakers every other or every two speakers and made long, pleas for their own cause and mostly just that cause. This has always been an “Achilles Heel” for the Democratic Party, that they allow special interests to dictate agendas focused on special interests, rather than the primary agenda of their campaign. This is in my professional opinion, one of the major flaws of the party and keeps them from winning, far more often.

The DNC which has been a failure at campaigning for decades. They seem to not understand working class Americans and are evidently, incapable of talking with us in any meaningful way. This is not Kamala’s or Tim’s fault. It is the imbeciles who run the party’s campaigns. They don’t understand Narrative Warfare, which is the most powerful of all influence strategies, if understood. Dozens of daily texts begging for money by both parties is not only obnoxious, but not what our republic was designed for.

- Autopsy of the election day failure to protect our republic
- TAT/ Truth about Threats
- Cobaugh
- November 12th, 2024

Those who lead these special interests at protests are failures at understanding the big picture. In short, their selfishness in these protests run the risk of again sinking the entire opposition, composed of not only Democrats and progressives, but principled conservatives fed up with their traitorous party and independents. Every honest citizen matters at this stage of the crisis and selfishness is equal to executing the resistance. There was another group there sporting brightly colored shirts with sayings on them that are also triggers that most Americans would object to.

I want to be very clear about what I am saying in this last paragraph; that I respect as an American, that people can advocate for what they wish. The problem is when in crisis, don’t undermine support for the primary objective, by elevating your special interest above the central purpose! I’m not even saying not to advocate for your special interest, but if we are to succeed in recovering our republic, we must all focus on the primary objective, even if you put some time into your own personal interests. If we don’t focus, not one special interest will succeed, because this band of traitors in the GOP, will retain control of our nation.

I’m the last person to infringe on someone’s rights to speak in the public square but I’m also a pragmatic campaigner that knows better than to undermine our own cause with selfishness. I cannot speak for the other countless rallies around the country, but the vulnerabilities I witnessed here in San Antonio, could be lethal to the entire movement, and in a few short weeks.

I address this issue specifically in Part V of my coup series. Below is an excerpt. For those interested in the full series, the links are here below.

Previous essays in the Coup Series:

• Why won't the media call it a coup? Part I

• 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

• Part IV in the Coup series: Getting off of the couch

To be clear, I am not suggesting that anyone stop focusing on their individual special interests, but I am saying that pragmatically, the main focus must be on restoring a functioning republic. This is the singular, specific assignment. Everything else, comes second for the time being.

This is simply a matter of common-sense, availability of resources and time for most of us. Not one special interest group can succeed if we don’t get back onto a constitutionally firm foundation. So, if LBGT etc. is your focus, I applaud it but please, expend more time on restoring the republic so that we can focus on everyone’s special issues. If conservation or global warming is your thing, the same applies. Truthfully, there is only one focus at the moment… saving our republic. Only then can we make progress on other issues. If all of this sounds harsh, I apologize. From a working, influence operator, this is simply a matter of prioritizing when forced into a tightly time constrained, effort. Yes, we are time constrained and must act quickly. Working in some of the areas and regions that I worked on in uniform, led me to prioritize resources and time.

- Part V in the Coup Series: Understanding the Assignment
- TAT/ Truth about Threats
- Cobaugh
- March 6th, 2025

Now, let’s look at a simple scoreboard of sorts. First, Trump’s most serious, exploitable losses:

• Trump announcing that he will lay off of his unwarranted criticism of the Federal Reserve Board and that he will back down on tariffs is huge. His bullying didn’t work, outside of some insider trading profits for those in the know. His base, long believing Trump’s business skills to be infallible, watched in horror as their 401K’s tanked and businesses began screaming loudly and publicly, from the pain of an ignorant tariff war.

• SCOTUS, in an unexpected loss for Trump, shut down his deportations to El Salvador, at least for the time being

• In a unanimous ruling, SCOTUS, upheld the lower court ruling that the administration, must return Kilmar Abrego Garcia

• ICE arrests that violate the civil rights of a great number of detainees, has also seen the Supreme Court rain on their parade. It’s official, yes, every person has a right to due process.

  

• Republican congressmen and senators are taking a beating at home with no exceptions

• Trump and the GOP’s overtly racist acts are not flying with their entire base and even some hardcore MAGA Republicans, are beginning to see that they have been conned

• Trump allying America with Putin and by default, Xi as well is being perceived as treasonous in many circles, especially within the principled conservative crowd that is supporting resistance efforts

• Veterans are mostly turning on the Republican Party due to the racist treatment of our veterans, especially historical women and minority contributions

• Musk is finally being shuttled out of the administration, as predicted by a great many careful watchers, me included

This is just a short list, and most are more recent developments. Tragically, the San Antonio 50501 protest rally, mentioned almost nothing about these critical vulnerabilities to the coup. Critical Vulnerabilities in military planning parlance, means a serious blow to the opposition, that makes it hard to recover from.

Now, let’s take a look at some of the riskier vulnerabilities in the resistance.

• There is still no leadership of any relevancy

• The one movement of significance, the 50501 team have the previously discussed risks, in how they are run, and the fact that at least here in the San Antonio protests, the dominant voices are ultra progressive and not popular with the American people. The cause most organized at the rally and seemingly the dominant voice, wielded a fair amount of misinformation in their prepared speeches.

  • At this point in our national politics and while under fire daily from those who would strip us of our constitutional rights, letting ultra-progressive and dramatically less mainstream voices dominate, risks the growth and viability of the movement.

• Most mainstream media, continues to ignore the opposition other than token coverage

• There needs to be a focus on the Republican Party itself, in addition to Trump, Musk and Putin. They are the enablers and to date, there is paltry desire in the party to slow the Trump treason train. By only repeating the words Trump and Musk, we allow the GOP to escape without being branded as the party of overthrowing our republic. If the party didn’t support this administration, there would be no administration

• Resistance narratives are non-existent and as discussed, dangerously close to allowing the wrong voices to become the primary voice of resistance. The two special interest groups noted earlier, do not focus on the immediate threat, to restore our nation to a functioning republic.

• Where the hell are the media outlets friendly to truth? To date, the only primary news outlet with the courage to raise the issues truthfully and without hedging their bets, is the Associated Press. Of course, there are specific reporters and investigative reporters doing some fine work, but campaigning requires strategy, execution and dissemination infrastructure.

  

• Media is the missing infrastructure. Today’s far-right has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of dissemination spewing conspiracy theories in unison, 24/7.

• Fear is our most serious vulnerability

  • The cruel, unconstitutional chaos and daily statements intended to intimidate, have many cowering in their homes, leaving the country and generally afraid to speak up, even locally. That fear cannot be overcome, without leadership that points out just how much progress is being made.

  • Most courts are doing courageous work, but those decisions that buy us some time, are only temporary holding measures as demonstrated by the administration’s reluctance to ignore a unanimous SCOTUS ruling regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia. If we don’t show these courageous judges that the cavalry is coming with massive, properly focused protests, there will be little incentive for them to keep endangering themselves, their families and lives.

  

Summary

My family, friends and fellow citizens, this essay is a sober assessment of our current crisis, at this point in time. My observations are based on my long career in a field, that has taught me a great deal about seeing threats clearly, both pro and con.

The window of opportunity for more success, is narrowing. In these types of campaigns, timing is a primary factor. We cannot dilly-dally around, as the Democratic Party has done for decades. At this time, only they have the checkbook and infrastructure to help in any significant manner. Where the hell are they? All campaigns require regular assessments like this one, in order to make adjustments where required, for continued success.

The Republican coup, continues to make devastating mistakes, and that’s helpful but exploiting mistakes with targeted ads and slogans, is only part of what makes for success. What hell is the narrative of resistance? Who or what is in the background making decisions for 50501? Who is coordinating growth, media, leadership and so much more essential to success?

All resistance must remain, non-partisan for success. If anyone thinks it is a good idea to start tossing around “go blue” or those self-defeating garish yellow, “Occupy Democrats” memes, they are dead wrong. The Democratic Party is a lightning rod for the right to rally against. The cause is saving our constitutional republic, not another partisan showdown that has been utter failure for a couple of decades now. We must have leadership and someone that is accomplished, focused on problem solving with facts, not partisan interests and that is respected across the aisle with all types of moderates.

We have a little momentum and plenty of exploitable material, thanks to a self-destructive cabinet and party, that has republican congressmen and state officials hiding out due to the damage they empower. Now is the time to put a fire under their proverbial hindquarters. Who will do it? Who will lead it? Who will coordinate narratives and supporting messaging? Who in Congress can be swayed, etc."? These questions must be answered and within days, not weeks or months.

As for leadership, I would personally recommend USN ADM (R), William McRaven, if anyone could persuade him to take this on. I have worked for this extraordinary leader and can guarantee, that he won’t make ideological decisions. He studies, listens, looks at the intelligence and makes decisions. For the first time in our national history, since President George Washington left office, that we have an opportunity for a uniquely qualified, independent leader, not affiliated with either prominent political party. It’s also time for the usual pundits and DNC leadership to contribute quietly and stop listening to their failed experts. This era is so far removed from their traditional beliefs and tactics, that they don’t belong in leadership until they have the guts to acknowledge just how inept they are.

This essay is already longer than I had hoped for, so I will take my leave of you for today. Back on Friday with more insights. In the meantime, let’s get our stuff together and restore our republic, before it requires and actual civil war to do so.

All my best to you fine folks and thanks again for allowing me into your lives,

Paul