Always the Victim, the U.S. President

We must allow truth to emerge. Just imagine what would happen if just five MAGA Senators, five MAGA Congressman, and five SCOTUS members all decided to look our President in the eye and said as a group, “No more, Mr. President, we are taking back the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution as we practice our duty on behalf of “the people”. Trust me dear reader, those 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787 who gave “the people” the government, would applaud those 15 individuals as heroes from their graves.

It’s all a rigged system?

Dear readers, I am 88 years old and love my country and my God. I am too old to be silent because silence is a form of consent for the politics that is going on right before our eyes. It is profoundly strange to watch a President of the United States continually suggest that he is a “victim” on virtually all bad news that enters his daily life and lands on his desk. Is he just maybe a professional victim? The six bankruptcies in his earlier life were because of business opponents? The 3,400 lawsuits filed against his real estate company were all submitted by crooks? Losing his Atlantic City casino was the fault of the City Council members? His $25 million settlement paid to disgruntled Trump University students was just a group of lousy students out to make money? His Family Foundation, that paid a fine of $2,000,000 for improper abuse and had to be dissolved, was that just a political stance taken by the authorities in the state of New York? The $85 million two-part civil lawsuit for sexual assault, where a jury awarded in two parts, $85 million in damages. Was that all fake? The 34-count fraud case in May 2024 when he was found guilty by a jury and a judge, was that rigged? Those political scientists (over 100 in February 2024), that ranked him dead last on his first term out of all past Presidents in performance, were they just a bunch of liberals? The record-breaking national debt of $7.6 trillion in his first term as President, were those figures fake? This dear reader is not a complete list of all the contentions of wrong doing! (Fact check!) Don't forget he made many promises to end the wars in Ukraine and in Gaza. And finally, he has refused to fulfill his promise to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Now the doubling of his estate value in the past 12 months, is that supposed to be false? (Fact check!) His meme coin is bringing in millions, his $100,000 watches and his Bibles are bringing in so much money that you can change the name of the White House to the Casino Royale. None of this includes the dark money that has been derived from White House deals, the Mara Lago deals and the international deals. Is this a sad situation for the decent voter in the United States of America who wants transparency? You betcha! Dear reader please fact check and then fact check again! We need transparency, we need accountability, we won’t get it unless we demand it!

Now let's revisit the 2020 Presidential election. Remember that Joe Biden won the election that year, fair and square! They did not steal the election. There was no proof substantiated by facts and evidence that the Democrats stole that election. Sixty-two court cases found no wrongdoing. The Attorney General William Barr and the head of cybersecurity Chris Krebs, both said it was a fair election (shortly thereafter they were both fired for their failure to pass the MAGA loyalty test). But now dear reader if you believe that Joe Biden won the election fair and square, you are not going to be chosen for any appointment by President Trump! If you believe the insurrectionists that rioted and stormed the Capitol building were the “good guys” (even though they injured and were responsible for at least two deaths of Capitol police), then MAGA has a place on their team for you! Also remember that 50% of the Capitol police had voted for Donald Trump for President. The insurrectionists did extensive property damage to our Capitol building. Again, remember that when the 1,600 convicted insurrectionists were all pardoned two days after President Trump took office, 83% of the Americans polled disagreed with the pardons. These bizarre and weird lies that got us to this irregular and confusing time will no doubt have historians scratching their heads and rolling their eyes long into the future.

Dear reader, please note our President is consumed by the need to demand loyalty as the number one qualification to hold a job in the US Government. Loyalty to a President, not to the U.S. Constitution. Many MAGA Republicans being promoted have a difficult time passing “advice and consent” through the Senate. In fact some MAGA Chairmen are holding back witness information from the Democratic members of the committee. Is this dear reader anti-American and un-American? You betcha. MAGA Republicans cannot admit truth over the 2020 Presidential election, or they will be tossed out of their cult club. Is this a disheartening situation politically that the world is forced to observe? Yes, it is so sad because when serious political actions rely on embracing such false disinformation, it leads to artificial political outcomes, unworthy of legal merit.

Now let's take a look at tariffs, or as I called them “TERRORIFFS”. When I was in college in 1961 my economics professor said tariffs were a bad idea because most often, they interrupt the flow of goods between countries. They impose penalties and cause bad blood too often amongst the trading nations. Ben Franklin was for free trade. Warren Buffett is a free trader. We have many trading friends that are now looking at us skeptically. Now it appears the President plans on using tariffs as a means of punishment. If he disagrees with you politically like he does with Brazil, or Canada, he will manipulate tariffs. Is this a bad idea? I can think of nothing that is worse in the world of business with such an asinine approach! Our President consistently practices retribution and revenge, oddly aimed squarely at our allies and rarely against the common foes of the free world. He is subjecting many of our friends in the trading community to excessive stress. Is this nuts? Using tariffs as a political ploy is like playing the game of craps, rolling the dice and not realizing that some tosses you get “snake eyes” and in another toss you get “box cars”. These are dumb gambles to subject a free world to. Remember, the new spelling of tariffs, TERRORIFFS, may be the appropriate description six months from now.

You better fact check everything I've said because we are already beginning to see our friends in the free world withdrawing from the United States, especially in vacation travel. In July of 2025 Las Vegas suffered a 70% reduction in tourist trade over that of 2024. Canadian airlines are cutting back on flights to the United States. Foreign students are reevaluating entering American universities because of so many restrictions on travel. And they know now they will not be allowed to express First Amendment rights that were allowed in the past. Now we are no longer thought of as an open and friendly nation by far too many. We are losing former international allies and friends.

Let's examine SCOTUS and the several members that want to expand the powers of the Executive Branch. Where did this concept come from? Mostly from power and money forces. The Heritage Foundation, creators of Project 2025, the Federalist Society, and several ultra-conservative groups (including the Christian Nationalist), all thought that the liberals, progressives and what they call “wokes” were getting out of hand expanding government and our Institutions. The “wokes” were to blame. Don't forget Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli of England said over 150 years ago, “A conservative government is an organized hypocrisy.” We better find out quickly what our Institutions are used for, and created for, before the fabric of our Constitutional system is torn apart by ideology and DOGE nonsense instead of reason. The argument that “waste, fraud, and abuse” is rampant in all American Institutions is a sucker punch, not worthy to be accepted as fact. And now diversity, equity and inclusion are bad for America? This is goofy stuff folks. Teaching black history is bad? Banning books is a good thing? Remember in 1934, in Nazi Germany, "first they banned books, then they burned books, then they burned people". Odd things are happening in the banning of certain words. For example, in Florida the words “climate change” and “global warming” are forbidden to be used on Florida State Stationery. How in heaven’s name can any schoolteacher or professor employed in Florida, now take their state government seriously? Especially when you have to pretend that climate change is a hoax. Remember dear reader, we cite the trail of tears by Indian tribes from Georgia forced to walk to Oklahoma. So why can't we explain the history of slavery? Those Americans who don't feel blacks are fully entitled under the Constitution to legal rights and privileges are carrying around a costly bias. Bigotry costs our U.S. Treasury money when practiced.

Remember Thurgood Marshall in 1981 when he retired from SCOTUS said that he was afraid the future of SCOTUS was “more ideology over reason”. Also remember that Justice Sandra Day O'Connor regretted her vote over the Bush v. Gore case (giving the win to Bush). We must all encourage the rule of law to prevail in America! The lower courts are doing their very best to practice the rule of law. Let us applaud them!

Let's take a look at climate change. When oh when are we going to pivot off the constant petty politics and the horrible wars and get to the business of saving the environment and the natural world? The entire world is experiencing heat, rain bombs, glacial meltdown, and burning forests. Greenland is three times the size of Texas and has a glacial ice pack that is one mile deep. The problem? It is melting at an exponential rate, dumping cold fresh water into the Gulf Stream. Will it affect Europe if the Gulf Stream is interrupted? You betcha! And Europe will be a colder place in the winter. Now Alaska and Siberia are experiencing drunken forests caused by permafrost melting and making the ground unstable, meanwhile methane is being released into the atmosphere. Methane is five times stronger than CO2 in trapping heat. CO2 in the world is now above 425 PPM and climbing. The problem is the MAGA Republicans think it's all a “hoax” and God the creator will not allow a destruction of our unique Earth. So dear reader a gift from God that is recklessly being abused by us, is it not a problem to be repaired by us? What a strange world we are becoming, especially when many parents are not one bit concerned about the future life of their children and grandchildren. Now Europe and China are proudly switching to energy from the sun, from windmills and from hydrogen. Meanwhile we fiddle around trying to please the fossil fuel industry. The natural world is reacting to our dishonorable treatment.

Dear reader, “without a vision the people perish.” We are the leader of the free world, but now everything is a hoax? We absolutely must consider our duty to this Earth and to our children to follow. This third rock from the sun is truly a diamond of the trillions of floating planets throughout the universe. We had better find more wisdom right now!

Dear reader, I cannot finish without talking about immigration. Vice President JD Vance disagrees with Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV over the importance of considering immigrants with deference. He seems to believe that immigrants are way down the list as far as consideration in the scheme of things. We are a country of immigrants. Our country thrives on immigrants. Our farmers, our restaurants, our hotels and our construction companies need immigrants. These immigrants eventually become totally legal and they have children that grow up, go to college and become Senators, schoolteachers, professors and they all pay taxes! Immigrants are not the enemy of the people. Arresting immigrants using ICE officers that are getting $50,000 bonuses and wear masks is an abuse of governmental activity. It is a dam shame that America has resorted to sending immigrants, without due process, to prisons in foreign countries. What has happened to the fair-minded citizens of America? We are all participants in a rampage of cruelty if we keep silent on these harsh measures sponsored by President Donald Trump. Civility and the rule of law are not a form of weakness.

We must allow truth to emerge. Just imagine what would happen if just five MAGA Senators, five MAGA Congressmen, and five SCOTUS members all decided to look our President in the eye and said as a group, “No more, Mr. President, we are taking back the rule of law and the U.S. Constitution as we practice our duty on behalf of “the people”. Trust me dear reader, those 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787 who gave “the people” the government, would applaud those 15 individuals as heroes from their graves.

Opening Image: Adobe Stock, Stablediffusion.com, Saaria.com