So Far – America Under Trump

 

  Signal Chat Emoji                           HSI Secretary Noem visiting 

                                                                  a US… er… Salvadoran Prison 

                                                             where US deportees are incarcerated

So Far – America Under Trump

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

We live under a national security “come and get it” sieve where unambiguously classified detailed military attack plans are disseminated on unsecured personal smart phones on a mildly encrypted unapproved private platform (Signal) prior to a major Houthis attack by US forces. Among those receiving an invitation to the “Houthis PC small group” chat on March 13th was both a journalist from the Atlantic and US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. The former was not remotely part of the government, and the latter was in Moscow. Oh, and the above emoji was posted on that chat. So, when you hear the “national security” excuse/justification for Trump’s executive orders, keep in mind how loosely national security is regarded by the senior Trump appointees with the highest levels of security clearance.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made a mockery of our federal judicial system, which is constitutionally the full equal of both Congress and the Executive Branch. The administration has openly defied at least two direct federal court orders – one a request for information concerning when individuals were sent to El Salvador and the other a refusal to rehire wrongfully discharged federal employees – effectively a “dare” to the judiciary, despite Chief Justice John Roberts’ admonition to the Trump administration that the only proper response to such judicial directives is to appeal. We are in an unprecedented constitutional crisis!

Meanwhile. GOP Congressman (CA) Darrell Issa defied hundreds of his constituents, on March 23rd, gathered for a town hall meeting with their representative… he simply didn’t show up. But that did not stop this “empty chair” MAGA-man, echoing the President, from introducing federal legislation, probably unconstitutional, severely limiting federal judges’ rights to issue mandates and injunctions against federal officials or agencies. Issa may be involuntarily in his last term. House Speaker Mike Johnson even posited that Congress should consider reducing the number of federal courts.

Immigration Tsar, Tom Homan, also echoing the President, openly stated that he has no intention of allowing courts to limit his deportation efforts, is simply rounding up individuals, unilaterally and without sufficient proof, declaring them to be members of notorious gangs. With zero due process, there is unequivocal proof that there are numbers of such individuals shipped off and now living in prison hell (look behind Ms Noem in the picture above), who objectively are neither gang members nor have any criminal conviction. Trump already controls the MAGA-dominated Congress… Only the federal judiciary remains able to sustain the constitutionally expected guardrails against autocracy… and Trump finds that intolerable.

As Trump pledged to keep the United States out of more wars in distant lands, apparently that does not apply to his obsession with Greenland, currently a Danish territory that is likely to be granted independence. In a recent vote, 85% of the tiny population in that vast land made it clear that they did not want to be part of the United States. Nevertheless, presumably even that means invading the territory of a European member of NATO, “President Donald Trump said the U.S. will ‘go as far as we have to go’ to get control of Greenland, ahead of a planned visit to the Arctic island by Vice President JD Vance that has prompted criticism from Greenland and Denmark.” David Brennen on the March 27th GMA.com.

Telling Europe that there will be no trade negotiations until after US tariffs are fully operative, and warning against any agreement between Canada and Europe to impose a coordinated response to US tariffs, the US stock market continued its downward plunge, the real estate market tanked from the destabilized economy, a quarter of major corporations are freezing hiring plans (CNN, March 27th), tourism to the US off an astounding 8%+, and the US automotive sector is watching its business plans tank. Even Trump’s “drill baby drill” mantra is particularly unpopular with the Texas oil industry:

“The [oil company] executives, shielded by anonymity, bluntly criticized Trump in their responses to a survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from March 12 to March 20… ‘The administration’s chaos is a disaster for the commodity markets,’ one executive said. ’ ‘Drill, baby, drill’ is nothing short of a myth and populist rallying cry. Tariff policy is impossible for us to predict and doesn’t have a clear goal. We want more stability.’

“Several executives said Trump’s steel tariffs are raising their costs, making it difficult to plan for future projects… ‘Uncertainty around everything has sharply risen during the past quarter,’ another executive said. ‘Planning for new development is extremely difficult right now due to the uncertainty around steel-based products.’” NBC News, March 27th. The economy is in shambles, consumer confidence levels continue to fall, and people are not reacting well to most of the massive DOGE cuts to government services, from Social Security and the VA to air traffic controllers and national park rangers. With cuts to IRS, fat cats are celebrating the estimated 10% loss in net tax collections.

The raw hatred of Elon Musk, who in my opinion is suffering from Asperger Syndrome (a mild form of autism), is bubbling out all across the nation, evidenced by massive turnouts at town halls with a unified voice against Musk and DOGE… and even in one small special election in northern Pennsylvania in bright red district where Trump trounced Kamala Harris by a 15 point margin; even with massive GOP funds pouring in, a Democrat prevailed.

Trump has seen the writing on the wall: Republican candidates are not faring well with their own constituents, so he is demanding (via executive order and legislative support from House MAGA-maniacs) that election laws be changed to make voting hard or impossible for minorities and those with income levels likely to vote Democratic (via access and proof of citizenship requirement)… or he may have to cancel or delay the midterms, presumably for “national security” reasons. Trump has gone so far as to withdraw his nomination for UN Ambassador, NY state congresswoman, Republican Elise Stefanik, to avoid a probable losing battle in the resulting special election to replace her.

If you are among the MAGA crazies who believe God anointed Trump to be our supreme leader, you are probably cheering at Trump’s bumbling cloud with eternal hope for a silver lining. As JD Vance attacks Europeans as greater enemies than China or Russia, because they do not countenance Nazi hate speech and policies, you may join that 3% of Americans who support Vladimir Putin… versus the 80% who do not. And while Trump can fire Elion Musk and gain a nanosecond of relief, we do have to remember that Trump anointed Musk, supported him repeatedly and even presided over a Tesla promotion in front of the Whitehouse.

I’m Peter Dekom, and for those Democrats waiting for Trump to destroy himself and his credibility before acting in strong resistance, what more exactly do you need?!

Malignant Power-Hungry Idiots Breaking Everything They Touch - Including America

 

Popular Hat in Greenland after 

85% Reject Being Part of the US

Malignant Power-Hungry Idiots Breaking Everything They Touch - Including America

Facing Quarreling Powerless Democrats, Dazed and Confused

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

Give me a cadre of previously-ignored computer nerds, soaking wet behind the ears, pay them six figures, who are led by a charismatic (to them anyway) mega-billionaire suffering, in my opinion, from Aspergers Syndrome (expert in narrow fields like physics and engineering, but not in government or human relations)… and tell them they have the power to cut jobs, agencies, vendors to slice an unrealistic $2 trillion from the federal government. Insert picture of nerds rubbing their hands together, cackling at their power.

What do you get? Furious Americans from those who know Musk is intent on cutting Social Security (he calls it the biggest Ponzi scheme in America), Medicare and Medicaid while decimating staffing to that agency, to veterans who are watching similar staffing cuts in VA hospitals that were already overcrowded, to happy fat cats who know that staffing cuts at the IRS pretty assure that they won’t get audited, to delighted scammers, polluters and brutal employers who know the government agencies formed to control such horribles are either being defunded or shut down altogether or to discharged researchers find cures for cancel and other diseases. Obvious result: Majorie Taylor Greene enraptured; red state elected officials in hog heaven. Really? See below.

But these devious souls are finding ways to hide the truth, by simply lying or, more conveniently referencing “national security” to reject any inquiry as to the underlying facts. “The Trump administration told a federal judge on Monday night [3/24] that it would not disclose any further information about two flights of Venezuelan migrants it sent to El Salvador this month despite a court order to turn back the planes, declaring that doing so would jeopardize state secrets…

“For almost 10 days, the judge, James E. Boasberg of the Federal District Court in Washington, has been trying to get the Trump administration to give him information about the two flights in an effort to determine whether officials allowed them to continue on to El Salvador in violation of his order to have them return to the United States… But in a patent act of defiance, the Justice Department told Judge Boasberg that giving him any further information about the flights — which the Trump administration maintains were carrying members of a Venezuelan street gang called Tren de Aragua — would ‘undermine or impede future counterterrorism operations.’” Even as there is mounting proof that several deportees sitting in brutal Salvadoran prisons were neither members of that notorious gang nor ever convicted of any crime.

Note that congressional efforts to limit and control what kinds of decisions federal judges are permitted to make fly in the face of the constitutional separation of powers. Chief Justice John Roberts’ admonition against impeaching or otherwise limiting federal courts was not said in jest! If you’re wondering whether we are in a constitutional crisis, pretty clearly yes! For those who worry about leaking national security information in a court, the judge has the power to keep such information secure. Not that security seems to be a high priority anyway as an insecure mass interactive DNI text/chat inadvertently added a journalist to the advanced planning of the attack on Yemeni Houthis.

Not only is Greenland likely to remain either independent or part of Denmark, the Panama Canal will stay as part of Panama, and there is no shot that any part of Canada (much less the whole) will become part of the United States, although there is reverse yearning from “Cascadia” (shorthand for the American west coast) to join Canada. Whether its about playing tariff/sanctions game, withdrawing from international trade agreements and treaties, softly quitting NATO, fabricating violations from our once longstanding allies, there are no nations on earth that really trust the United States anymore, a trust that is not easily restored. And no, Donald, we do not want to become part of the British Commonwealth even if King Charles asks.

Is Europe even still an American ally at all? In fact, the more EU nations stand in favor of Ukraine and oppose American heavy-handed threats, the more popular their leaders are. In a recent poll, 74% of EU citizens believe that their country’s EU membership has truly benefited them, the highest such rating since the EU was formed. Canada and the UK have new liberal PMs, as their conservative parties (with close ties to Trump) went from almost certain victory to massive defeat in flames, all in reaction to Trump’s threats. Tourism to the United States is down; Americans traveling to once open entry to allied nations are facing new entry forms and approvals.

If you need evidence of our grassroots’ rejection of Elon Musk and his band if killer nerds, of Trump’s imperious takeover over Congress with the federal judiciary in his crosshairs, just look at the record-breaking turnouts at town halls (often “virtual” when elected Republicans fail to show up), the “fight oligarchs” tour by Bernie Sanders and AOC, and read the signs. How often do you see liberals and veterans holding up the same signs at the same gatherings?

As the fractious Democrats dither, their constituents are angry at the simmering nothingness of the Democratic responses. Are Dems scared of turning off the same fat cats who fund their campaign coffers, when they know most Americans do not want to become second class citizens to billionaires seeking tax cuts at their expense… as Trump’s appointees stumble at every level except blindly following their leader.

I’m Peter Dekom, and where are the Democrats, where is the million-citizen freedom and democracy march on Washington, D.C. with signs opposing the Trump/Musk cabal of autocrats and oligarchs… putting the fear of God (of continuing to hold office, at least) in the hearts of elected members of Congress who seem to have forgotten and abandoned their constituents in favor of a Trumpian dictatorship.

The Rise of Women in America – Talk to the Hand!

 

The Rise of Women in America – Talk to the Hand!

Man Up… and Step Down 

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

Women still trail men in the equal pay department, only 10% of the CEOs at major corporations are women, no matter the changes in opportunity and earning power, women are still the major keepers of the home and children, and that glass ceiling may be cracking a bit, but it is very much a continuing reality. However, is that a sustainable social structure? An aggregation of social realities – from the skews in education favoring women over men, the application of DEI to level the opportunity field for women from athletics to corporate hiring, to a rising fervor among women protesting (from me2#, abusive bosses to discriminatory pay/promotion practices), the MAGA redefinition of “woke” manhood, the impact of remote jobs (allowing women to care for their children at home which accelerated during the pandemic) the absurdly high costs and availability of viable childcare, and the sheer numbers of more qualified women – tells us that perhaps the future of America lies in their hands. Men: get used to it.

Sure, if Donald Trump does away with democracy, MAGA values will continue to be forced on the general public. Just listen to the rantings of VP JD Vance, particularly during the campaign. Using our declining birthrate (a reality for most developed countries), he expressed a need for America to return to traditional family values where either the mother or elderly family members fulfilled the childcare need. He didn’t mention that Trump’s immigration policies would only make childcare even more expensive.

Suggesting that a woman’s place is in the home, and that the Democrats exaggerate the degree of abusive marriages and domestic violence, he maintains that divorce should be much harder to obtain. Even as his own wife is a graduate of the Yale School of Law, Vance echoes the Trump mantra that the rise of women everywhere is merely the result of overzealous application of purported DEI mandates, now severely limited by the Supreme Court. Huh? And you got elected?

Writing for the March 18th Washington Examiner (a newspaper with a conservative bent), neuroscientist, Dr Debra Soh took on the obvious changes benefitting women, while examining the impact of these changes on men (a DEI bias against men touted by the Trump administration): “A new report from the Pew Research Center speaks to the differences between American girls and boys in their educational experiences. It revealed that female students (aged 13-17) outperform their male peers academically and in leadership roles.

“Teenage girls are also more likely to pursue higher education, with 60% reporting plans to attend college after graduating from high school, compared to only 46% of teenage boys. This is a continuation of a larger trend we’ve seen of young women outnumbering young men as university graduates.

“Why aren’t men pursuing higher education? Among adults who aren’t enrolled at university and who do not have a bachelor’s degree, roughly a third of men said they ‘just didn’t want to.’ In comparison, only 1 in 4 women said the same. These sex differences are also more pronounced among white individuals than black or Hispanic individuals.

“This problem begins long before students apply to university. The educational system acknowledges girls’ needs but not boys’. The system requires sitting at desks for hours instead of lessons incorporating physical movement and sensory activities (that engage all five senses). Boy-typical behavior is pathologized. This is reflected in an increased number of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnoses in males and a higher threshold for diagnosis in females. One in 6 students also reported that teachers favor girls.

“Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe too little emphasis is placed on encouraging boys to be leaders and to do well in school. But university campuses, like primary and secondary school classrooms, are deeply imbued with left-leaning political bias and diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that are especially hostile toward white and Asian men and conservatives.” Really? I argue that confusion in a rapidly changing world is the culprit.

As hands-on manufacturing has declined, agricultural harvesting and resource extraction have become increasingly automated, the rise of export-proof blue-collar jobs has been substantial. Skilled craftspeople in everything from the very physical building trades, with more regular hours, to automotive and equipment repair have risen in value.

Even in the military, there are a whole lot of college-educated men opting for the more hands-on enlisted ranks, noting that being elevated into the NCO ranks carries increases in pay and benefits that rival most junior and mid-level officers. When they leave the military, their skills translate well into the demands of private employers. Or, if a top enlisted soldier stays around long enough to be elevated to E-9 (in the Army, that’s a sergeant major), he or she carries the highest respect, even among commanding generals.

Soh continues: “Blue-collar professions currently make up 35% of the fastest-growing jobs, and more than 1.7 million new positions are expected by 2032. An added bonus is that due to the hands-on nature of their jobs, skilled laborers such as plumbers and electricians aren’t as easily replaced by artificial intelligence or automation.

“In today’s marketplace, it’s questionable whether a college degree maintains the same utility it once held. Only a third of college graduates under the age of 50 said their college experience was ‘extremely useful’ in helping them prepare for the workforce, compared with 45% of college graduates aged 50 and older.

“If men decide they are happier working in a blue-collar industry, they shouldn’t be castigated for this. But many male colleagues I’ve spoken to have abandoned academia in disciplines such as science, business, and law because they were unfairly penalized.” While I agree with that final conclusion, I still question why that glass ceiling remains, why women are not leading corporate America in greater numbers. Even Congress is more representative of female leadership: “A record 128 women are serving in the newly elected House, accounting for 29% of the chamber's total. In the Senate, women hold 25 of 100 seats.” Pew Research. Is this rise of qualified women over men just a swinging pendulum, a backlash that elected Trump… or the promise of a more systemic change? Time will tell.

Today, too many men don’t even want to step into the competitive corporate or senior professional world. That kind of job isn’t ever a 9-to-5 structure and is probably facing a real threat from AI systems focused on eliminating white-collar work. Even once coveted government white-collar jobs are viewed with a smug “bye-bye” smile from one of the most hated men in America: Elon Musk. Oh, he looked so manly holding a chainsaw on that political stage.

I’m Peter Dekom, and I suspect I am railing as much against putting people into immutable silos instead of looking at them as equal individuals.

A Monarchy Does Not Desire or Require Logic and the Rule of Law

 

A Monarchy Does Not Desire or Require Logic and the Rule of Law

Is the Supreme Court beginning to realize its Trump-empowerment misstep? 

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

"For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." 

 Chief Justice John Roberts, March 18th, in a rare statement to the President.

A pundits decry the Trump-destroying tariffs, forcing markets to plunge, recover a bit and then dive again, sooner or later those tariffs will be settled, but the underlying message will remain: All Americans, especially big business, now know that the economy is governed by the whims of an unreliable President. Economic instability will be here for a while, maybe for a very long while, as our traditional trading partners, including our allies that have been with us for decades if not centuries, no long trust our commitment to treaties we signed… and are actively designing a world where the United States cannot decimate their protective military shield or define global monetary and fiscal policies: like US defined trade exchanges, reserve currency status and location of major financial institutions. Does this force US enterprises in this sector to push more work into other countries? Finance is our biggest private market sector; manufacturing never will be.

The administration’s goal of reshoring manufacturing has several thorny side-effects, all resulting in serious price increases. The manufacturing that does return will be driven heavily by AI and robots, with a lot fewer jobs than we might expect. Since Mexico and Canada already deploy those robots in their plants, that just means moving those machines or buying better ones to be used here. Agricultural products keep our grocery shelves filled with fruits and vegetables which would otherwise be out of season. Bye-bye. Hello, cost increases!

Red state agricultural interests beg Trump for an exemption for back-breaking farm labor (and for those souls who endure work in slaughterhouses), jobs US citizens will not take at any price despite efforts to lure them with substantial pay. We decry a housing shortage, which has several causes (including rich people protecting their property values from low-income housing), but cutting out roughly 20% of the skilled and semiskilled craftsmen as well as unskilled workers from the construction trades will kick housing costs to an even less affordable level.

Everyone who just might need coverage from Medicaid or those who have spent decades paying a payroll tax to fund their Medicare and Social Security plan are watching idiots explain why decimating the middle- and lower-income class is the only way to save the system. Really? Did these greedy planners drop out of elementary school? Everyone knows that if you cannot balance your budget, indeed you do have to cut your costs… OR generate more revenue. Duh.

When Social Security was enacted back in 1935, the ratio of workers to retirees was overwhelmingly “workers.” Look at the above chart (prepared by Mercatus senior research fellow Veronique de Rugy); see the issue? A funding system that worked during the depression began unraveling after WW2. There was no way in hell to maintain Social Security by applying a clearly obsolete funding mechanism: there just aren’t enough workers in the system to support an economic model that stopped working in the 1980s!!!! Obviously, the government should examine which new or combined old system will fund Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid most efficiently. Takes cap off FICA? Raise taxes for those at the top? Cutting taxes for the rich benefits… er… only the rich.

DOGE, even in very recent court filings, maintain that Elon Musk is not part of DOGE… even though in his address to Congress, Trump thanked Musk as the head of DOGE. Since Donald Trump has purged truly competent lawyers from every agency, particularly the Department of Justice, replacing them mostly with second rate-hacks, legal Stepford Wives, who seem to be unable to present coherent arguments to presiding federal judges that support a vast array of Trump’s dictatorial Executive Orders. Like a flight totally controlled by US agents is no longer subject to any judicial order once it reaches international waters. Or that in his unfettered discretion, without limitation by statutes or courts, Trump can deport any non-citizen, even long-term green card holders… without any due process.

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy and asked each of his cabinet and agency heads to identify area where cut could be justified without serious negative consequences. The result: $400 billion ($750 billion in today’s dollars) removed from the budget, and his efforts pushed the “United States federal budget into surplus from fiscal years 1998 to 2001, the only surplus years since 1969. Debt held by the public, a primary measure of the national debt, fell relative to GDP throughout his two terms, from 47.8% in 1993 to 31.4% in 2001.” Wikipedia.

The Trump/Musk approach encompasses wonton meat-axe destruction as MAGA smiles with schadenfreude. Kind of like Russia’s Peter the Great, who spent hours watching people being tortured. They don’t even think about how much consumer spending power is being retracted from the economy as federal workers and vendors lose their power. Many are suing for lost pay as civil servants, and we know that this country will not meet citizen expectations for public services, from air traffic controllers, agencies that protect us from corporate scammers, unsafe food, drugs and polluters to the rangers who maintain our national parks.

So, we could use the Clinton approach in which the heads of federal agencies manage reductions (which, by the way, generated NO litigation) or the imperious Trump/Musk approach of major slashing first and thinking later. Firing the watchdogs (inspectors general) against waste and corruption has resulted in more direct control in the President to customize corruption amongst his designated rich loyalists. As bad as the international retaliation has been, as isolated we are from our purported allies, Trump lumbers and bumbles into is joyful bromance with autocratic leaders the world over. What do you expect from a President whose campaign message was: “I am your retribution!”?

I’m Peter Dekom, as bad as all of the above is and is likely to remain, Trump’s vicious attacks on judges, the judicial system and the Constitution itself erode the last viable guardrails against tyranny given to us by our founding fathers.

Pick the Worst People to Install Government Efficiency

  

Pick the Worst People to Install Government Efficiency

Could it be Silicon Valley Tech Bros?

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

There is a certain arrogance to Silicon Tech Bros, a passel of mega-wealthy folks who made billions and are still relatively young (even if they do not live in The Valley). There is a Tech Bros ethos that “we’re on the cutting edge of what’s next, and you’re not! Get out of our way!” Creative destruction is the underlying moto, and much like Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward program of the 1960s and his Cultural Revolution a decade later, remnants of the past must be destroyed or subjugated to evolve into a powerful future. How did that work out? It is an extension of the perpetual Trumpian claim, “Only I can fix it.” These oligarchs place technology first, but there is a Tech Backlash growing, as illustrated by the CEO of the “better, truer and friendlier” new alternative to X: Bluesky.

Writing for the March 11 FastCompany.com, Jessica Bursztynsky, explains: “Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took a clear swipe at Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg when she took the stage at the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin [mid-March] wearing a shirt that copied an infamous one he’d worn last year at a Meta product reveal event.

“Graber’s shirt read Mundus sine Caesaribus, or ‘A world without Caesars’ in Latin. It was the same design as Zuckerberg’s shirt from last year that read, Aut Zuck aut nihil, which is a play on the phrase, Aut Caesar aut nihil: Either Caesar or nothing… Graber’s not-so-subtle message seemed to be that decentralized platforms, like the one she’s building with Bluesky, prioritize users over the platform’s bottom-line interests.

“‘If a billionaire came in and bought Bluesky or took it over or, if I decided tomorrow to change things in a way that people really didn’t like, then they could fork off and go on to another application,’ Graber said while onstage. ‘There’s already applications in the network that give you another way to view the network or you could build a new one as well. And so that openness guarantees that there’s always the ability to move to a new alternative.’” And the reference to Zuckerberg’s mention of Caesar was not about a salad!

With Elon Musk’s status as the senior (richest and in charge of the federal bureaucracy, so far) Tech Bro, LA Times columnist writes Mark Z. Barabak (March 16th): “The recklessness and destruction of the tech mogul’s fancifully named DOGE is not a bug but a feature... Washington has never seen anything like the rule-breaking, power-taking, government-torching, protocol-scorching force of delighted havoc and gleeful mayhem that is Elon Musk.”

Relying heavily on University of Washington historian Margaret O’Mara’s 2019 book, “The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America,” Barabak continues: “there’s an attitude, a worldview and a fundamental set of principles that guide the tech industry and its progeny, like a secular catechism. O’Mara sees those beliefs very much in evidence at Musk’s fancifully named Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, and his wrecking-ball efforts to raze huge swaths of the federal government in a single, unfettered swoop.

Several elements are present and accounted for. The ‘techno optimism,’ as O’Mara described it, with its unshakable faith that technology is inherently good and will improve things — ‘even if there might be some collateral damage along the way.’ The drive to move quickly and scale rapidly, if recklessly. The importance of personal relationships, such as the transactional bromance between President Trump and Musk, who spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to put his ally back in the Oval Office.

“The two are masters of ‘the modern attention economy’ — getting people to sit up and take notice — ‘and have a kind of shamelessness,’ O’Mara said, ‘that is to their advantage, business-wise and politically right now.’… O’Mara’s book explains how the federal government built Silicon Valley, a fact many of its entrepreneurs and legends — basking in the reflection of their self-glorification — choose to ignore, or fail to understand. ‘That’s actually part of the secret,’ O’Mara said. ‘The indirect nature of the spending, the fact that it’s flowing through universities and private companies in way that is kind of stealthy and hidden.’” As they fight government research grants and subsidies, they ignore that is precisely how these Tech Bros were able to succeed.

There’s another phrase used to described Tech Bros – who believe that only they have the vision for the nation, and that all the regulations states and the federal government are imposing or trying to impose to “protect the public” – they are only one who should be the deciders: “Techno Fascists.” History repeats itself as this excerpt from Tim Brinkhof, writing for the March 16th The Daily Beast, illustrates:

“In February 1933, the future Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring sent out telegrams to 25 of Weimar Germany’s leading businessmen, inviting them to a secret meeting with Adolf Hitler —to discuss a potential alliance. Despite their growing success in the polls, the Nazi party was as good as broke, and desperately needed investment; Hitler was subsequently able to secure it by convincing his wealthy guests that they shared the same interests—stopping the spread of communism, protecting private enterprise and breaking up trade unions. More alluring still was his oxymoronic belief that “private enterprise cannot be maintained in a democracy.”

“The connection between German industrialists and Nazi leaders—until recently a grossly overlooked aspect in World War II studies—resembles the relationship that’s currently developing in the U.S. between MAGA Republicans and big tech CEOs, Silicon Valley elites and hedge fund moguls like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, the latter of whom not only facilitated Trump’s return to the presidency in part through his donations (and ownership of the social media platform X), but has since obtained a key role in the White House.

“As Musk’s DOGE continues to decimate the federal workforce—gutting anti-Trump opposition under the guise of making the country’s political apparatus more productive and cost-effective—many Americans are wondering what comes next. Historical precedent gives us a possible answer. It isn’t pretty.” Indeed, until their AI enabled robots take over from them, these Techo Fascists will run it all themselves. Enjoy their wonderful creative destruction. If you have Tesla, you can change the label if you want.

I’m Peter Dekom, we’ve shifted from “America First” to “Techno Fascists First”… when we should be guided by the “People First” tenet that declared the “We the people” would be free from a monarchical despot.

The Trump Playbook - Fabricate, Vilify, Divide, Conquer, Executive Order & Eliminate

   

The Trump Playbook - Fabricate, Vilify, Divide, Conquer, Issue Executive Orders & Eliminate

Then use the federal administrative agencies to overwhelm the judicial system 

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever there shall be a declared war between the United States and any foreign nation or government, or any invasion or predatory incursion shall be perpetrated, attempted, or threatened against the territory of the United States, by any foreign nation or government, and the President of the United States shall make public proclamation of the event, all natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government, being males of the age of fourteen years and upwards, who shall be within the United States, and not actually naturalized, shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and removed, as alien enemies.” 

Excerpt from the 1798 Act Respecting Alien Enemies

Four years plus of seething anger, an unrelenting cry of a “rigged election,” a campaign predicated on a commitment – “I am your retribution” – a massive agenda (the 900-page Project 2025), mildly denied, setting forth the path for Trump’s struggle against a “deep state,” combined with Trump’s ability to sell “a more efficient government, free of corruption and waste” to a gullible electorate… remind me of a fairly normal pattern to transition a representative democracy into an unabashed autocracy. Their deep state is replacing whatever deep state they believe existed.

As I listened to Donald Trump’s March 14th speech to senior officials and a substantial cadre of officials at the Department of “Justice,” I watched as Trump openly pressed the DOJ and the FBI, with full support from his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, to seek out, investigate, prosecute and imprison his political opponents, including prosecutors involved in Trump cases and a whole pile of individuals on his “enemies” hit list.

What is surprising to me was the disappearance of any pretense of shame and the scattered and most ineffective response of a highly divided Democratic Party. Bereft of direct power on national issues, that party is facing a harsh reality: the United States is not ready for the moral high ground embodied in DEI issues; the electorate is now narrow focused on economic issues. I support those DEI initiatives, the Progressive most basic platform, but if Democrats do not get elected, those initiatives will be obliterated even further. And the MAGA-controlled Congress is giddy with power. Focus on reducing taxes on billionaires while slamming the middle class and killing the most vulnerable “parasite class” of Americans, those living in poverty.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) voted for the stopgap Continuing Resolution as MAGA desired, extending the budget until September (with DOD increases and an empowerment for Trump to continue eviscerating federal agencies). Schumer felt a government shutdown would not only be blamed on Dems, but a stopped government would give the Musk axe-wielders free rein to designate the “essential” federal workers and to slice and dice the rest. The Dems were quickly at each other’s throats, since the CR passed and generated vote of thanks to Schumer from Trump. The majority of Dems felt betrayed.

After Trump openly attacked and severely limited necessary government contact against two prominent law firms (for representing Clinton and clients suing the government by reason of Trump policies, etc.) – that divide and conquer message that was heard across the legal community – but a federal injunction against that targeting was quickly followed by yet another executive order against a third prominent firm. What an effective way to remove due process from the system.

Indeed, Trump can swarm executive orders to dilute any effective overall response. Courts are increasingly attempting to allow some egregious assaults on our rights, and the First Amendment is facing a firestorm of conflict and controversy. In keeping with the autocrat’s playbook, muzzling and controlling the press and using a completely weaponized DOJ/FBI to crush anyone of stature who dares to challenge Trumpism… all the while using Musk as the tip of the spear… knowing, if necessary, Trump could throw him under the bus at any time.

The value of Musk’s corporate holdings was tanking even faster than the stock market drop. Tesla sales were plunging, and Tesla showrooms became convenient places for mass protests. Driving a Tesla, no matter the exculpatory bumper sticker, was now wildly interpreted as supportive of Trump, Musk and DOGE. MAGA zealots hated it so much that, well… “Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and her colleagues appear to be stepping up the pressure on the FBI and the Attorney General to investigate instances of Tesla vandalism as acts of domestic terrorism, which Donald Trump has championed.

“Tesla vehicles and dealerships have been increasingly targeted by vandalism and arson , and Tesla showrooms have become the focal point in growing protests against Elon Musk and his work dismantling the federal government in the Department of Government Efficiency.” The Independent, March 14th.

As tariffs and executive orders began to impact American in ways that were particularly costly to US businesses, a parade of wealthy donor-supplicants, marched into prized meetings with the President seeking waivers and exceptions, some of which were granted. In clear violation of statutes forbidding federal officers to market commercial products suggesting governmental support, Trump went into a full-on commercial in front of the White touting Tesla vehicles House (see above). The same way kings gave exclusive “patents” to favored noblemen.

So what do we have: our stock markets are falling, our “allies” are circling their wagons against us, thousands federal employees have become unemployed, sometimes decimating small communities dependent on that federal presence, we’ve flipped into a favored relationship with war criminal Vladimir Putin (over 80% of those polled neither trust nor like him), the DOJ and FBI have become Trump’s ultra “whatever you want” loyalists ready to investigate and arrest on command, and Trump’s crypto/merchandizing grift is in full swing. All the federal agencies that monitor fraud or serve as watchdogs for the public, a full wholesale elimination of federal Inspectors Generals who might have shut down Trump’s “my department store is open” market… and the list goes on and on and on… are gone or defunded. The IRS was purposely gutted to make detailed audit of billionaires almost impossible. Billionaires want “privatization” of federal programs… adding a nice profit margin to the grift.

I’m Peter Dekom, and if you follow the autocrats’ playbook and ignore “those who do not study history are condemned to repeat its mistakes,” you can watch the United States become an illiberal police state, with greatest levels of corruption and waste we have ever experienced.

Trump Autocracy 101: Hammering Home the Toxic MAGA Labels

Yes, it can happen here!

  

“America First” KKK March in 1925

Trump Autocracy 101: Hammering Home Toxic MAGA Labels

Radical Left, Stolen, Rigged, Woke, Rogue, Ripped Off, Unfair, Insane, Etc.

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

We were already fracturing as a viable single nation, the third most populous, even before the pandemic, but the government reaction to COVID may have been the final straw that truly set us apart. The vaccine program was magnificently successful; the lockdowns were not. But the fissures that evolved have become vast crevasses that may never be bridged. What became the new normal began as Citizens United v FEC (2010 Supreme Court ruling that effectively took the cap off rich SuperPAC campaigns funds), showed extreme “fringe” candidates, mostly on the right, where the money was.

By embracing these extreme views, candidates who could never have raised primary campaign money in the past found massive contributor support simply by embracing these extreme positions. It was the path from Republican to MAGA; Trump’s 2016 campaign legitimized lying, name-calling and embraced the once-ignored extremists. His 2024 victory cemented these tactics, elevated demonization as appropriate politics and targeted the federal government itself as the horrible “deep state.” So here we are. Bordering on if not already in a constitutional crisis.

The mega-rich have always found ways to turn what they perceived were “toxic labels” to defeat the pleas and plight of minorities, instead to prioritize the values of the wealthy. “Incent the job creators” and “a rising tide floats all boats” – a fiscal disaster every time tax cuts for the rich were passed – joined “creeping socialism,” the “radical left,” “outside, paid agitators,” “we are bankrupting America,” and “woke education is destroying our values” as MAGA/GOP mainstays, each false but very catchy. And if repeated enough, they have taken on the mantle of “truth.”

For example, the only reason Social Security is facing extinction is that the funding model on which it was based in 1935 – where there were dozens of workers carrying a single retiree – unraveled when there were only 3 or fewer workers per retiree. But if you hate that “deep state,” the only MAGA solution is to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to the bone or eliminate it under the guise of killing waste and corruption. The only viable solution is to increase funding.

As the Democrats flail in an amorphous soup of DEI, support unions, raise the minimum wage, stop subsidizing the billionaires and stop economic policies that cannot work, the overall vectors of massively cutting government spending and deportation of undocumented immigrants are MAGA goals with major popular support… even as Elon Musk wields DOGE his chainsaw decimation of everything from Veterans hospitals. calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme as hundreds of thousands of federal workers and several government agencies face termination. Musk is wildly unpopular as he implements policies with otherwise broad popular support, as grassroots sentiments, especially at the few GOP town halls that we’ve seem, strongly indicate.

While the nation’s economy tanks, Trump’s proposed solutions (including his salesmanship to get them accepted) are destabilizing us, turning our traditional trading partners and allies against us, and cannot work. The notion that we need to erect steep tariff walls because foreigners have been ripping us off is a figment of his imagination. “Bring manufacturing back to America” is his cry, even though nations with a large manufacturing base are economically worse off than nations that accept service sector predominance (from software, design services, financial platforms and expertise, entertainment, advisory services).

Excluding government and farm labor, manufacturing generally constitutes 10% or less of winning economies, and service sector values make up most of the rest. Even where there is manufacturing in developed countries, today most of the true value creation is robotic. We have that service sector advantage because our best universities, under attack by the Trump administration, have become the most reliable job creators in our nation… and constitute somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of the world’s top institutions of higher learning.

But Trump is a master salesman who believes “only I can fix it” using a very rich man evincing, in my opinion, a form of Aspergers Syndrome which imbues some into narrow focused brilliance (Musk’s engineering and physics expertise) but dramatically lacking in any other major skills, like organizing and motivating workers plus normal empathy, reflected very strongly in Musk’s own alienation from most of his children old enough to have an opinion.

The latest incarnation of Trump-world’s misused words go beyond his fight with the judiciary, which may destroy democracy, into a distorted notion of “fairness.” Writing for the March 23rd Los Angeles Times, Kevin Rector explains how extremely toxic economic policies, already failing dramatically, are sold under the misuse of the genuine notion of “fairness”: “In a sit-down interview with Fox News [in February], President Trump and his billionaire ‘efficiency’ advisor Elon Musk framed new tariffs on foreign trading partners as a simple matter of fairness.

“‘I said, ‘Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging,’ ’ Trump said of a conversation he’d had with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ‘I’m doing that with every country.’… ‘It seems fair,’ Musk said… Trump laughed. ‘It does,’ he said… ‘It’s like, fair is fair,’ said Musk, the world’s richest person… The moment was one of many in recent months in which Trump and his allies have framed his policy agenda around the concept of fairness — which experts say is a potent political message at a time when many Americans feel thwarted by inflation, high housing costs and other systemic barriers to getting ahead.

“‘Trump has a good sense for what will resonate with folks, and I think we all have a deep sense of morality — and so we all recognize the importance of fairness,’ said Kurt Gray, a psychology professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of the book Outraged: Why We Fight About Morality and Politics and How to Find Common Ground… ‘At the end of the day,’ Gray said, ‘we’re always worried about not getting what we deserve.’

“In addition to his ‘Fair and Reciprocal Plan’ for tariffs, Trump has cited fairness in his decisions to pull out of the Paris climate agreement, ban transgender athletes from competing in sports, scale back American aid to embattled Ukraine and pardon his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021… Trump has invoked fairness in meetings with a host of world leaders, including Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. He has suggested that his crusade to end ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ programs is all about fairness, couched foreign aid and assistance to undocumented immigrants as unfair to struggling American taxpayers, and attacked the Justice Department, the media and federal judges who have ruled against his administration as harboring unfair biases against him.

“Trump and Musk — through his ‘Department of Government Efficiency,’ which is not a U.S. agency — have orchestrated a sweeping attack on the federal workforce largely by framing it as a liberal ‘deep state’ that either works in unfair ways against the best interests of conservative Americans, or doesn’t work at all thanks to lopsided work-from-home allowances.

“‘It’s unfair to the millions of people in the United States who are, in fact, working hard from job sites and not from their home,’ Trump said… In a Justice Department speech this month, Trump repeatedly complained about the courts treating him and his allies unfairly, and reiterated baseless claims that recent elections have been unfair to him, too… ‘We want fairness in the courts. The courts are a big factor. The elections, which were totally rigged, are a big factor,’ Trump said. ‘We have to have honest elections. We have to have borders and we have to have courts and law that’s fair, or we’re not going to have a country.’”

In truth, American consumers have benefitted massively from cheap foreign imports, and the United States has been a blessed with a very successful revenue source from tourists. Post Trump’s inaugurations, costs are going up fast, foreign tourism is plunging losing billions of a once-steady revenue base and the “United” States has lost massive global power and influence as we trade our traditional allies for Vladimir Putin’s Russia. I also fear that we may never have open and free elections ever again.

I’m Peter Dekom, and American democracy is based on majority rule but not at the expense of certain basic and inalienable individual rights, yet without truth as the basis for voter choices, democracy doesn’t stand a chance.

Autocracy Attack Pattern: Media, Lawyers/Judges and Other "Terrorists"

 

Autocracy Attack Pattern: Media, Lawyers/Judges and Other “Terrorists”

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

“We all learned long ago, perhaps on the playground, that giving in to a bully only makes things worse. That is why it is shocking to see capitulation on the part of those being illegally bullied by President Trump. This will only embolden him.” 

Erwin Chemerinsky, constitutional scholar and dean of the UC Berkeley Law School.

If you disable loud voices against you, cut off the protectors of those voices, eliminate supporting funding for their institutions, you can vilify and even arrest people with decreasing risk. Or so you hope. Not good enough. But given Herr Trump’s dramatically successful bout against the above, his efforts have sent the Democratic Party into massive disarray. The only real evidence of resistance has been the surprisingly large turnouts at town halls, both formal and informal.

If the elected Democrats don’t know what to do, the people impacted by cuts to the VA as well as clear and unambiguous threats to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security, those who actually know that Russia has been our primary enemy for most of the last 80 years, clearly do. Above left is a typical GOP town hall (of which they are very few) with angry constituents, and above right is the “Fight Oligarchy” tour led by Bernie Sanders and AOC, drawing thousands of enraged Americans at every stop. Excuse the long blog today, but there is method in my madness.

As Tesla shareholders cry for Elon Musk’s ouster, Trump markets that vehicle array on the driveway in front of the White House, violating a host of statutes and historical practices. Sometimes, the White House seems like the Home Shopping Network. Bibles, NSF memorabilia, sneakers, expensive watches, crypto (which Trump once called a “scam”), sneakers and other “Trumpwear” and even a $5M visa/path to citizenship. Elon Musk brought a Silicon Valley mindset to Trump’s Washington. It’s been a disaster. But Trump has successfully made Musk his lightening rod… so does the negativity end when Musk announces he is returning to run his companies? He’s already grifted his way to billions and billions of dollars of government contracts.

I’ve already blogged on Trump’s efforts against media that have opposed him: shut down funding for publicly supported networks, reconfigure the FCC with people more likely to revoke broadcast licenses, vilify reporters and entire media entities, marginalize unfavorable media’s access to information, remove unfavorable facts and statistics from government websites and sue, sue, sue reporters and networks he does not like, particularly media companies with substantial non-media assets… extracting millions of dollars is settlements from many media outlets unwilling to take a stand… even though they would probably have won in court… with a little trepidation from a MAGA-leaning Supreme Court.

But what really terrifies me more is Trump’s unbridled use of executive orders and internal controls to attack some of the finest lawyers in the land. Trump seems to be saying: if your lawyers have litigated against issues I stand for, represented my opponents in any capacity or provided legal aid to those I have declared to be my enemy, I am coming to get you. Although courts have limited the severe restrictions Trump has placed on mega-legal powerhouse law firms Perkins Coie and Covington & Burling, the message to all law firms is beyond clear: I (Trump) have the entire DOJ and its resources to make your lives miserable even if you do take me to court, so respect my power over you! The DOJ are my, not America’s, lawyers now.

Indeed, government funded public defender programs are at risk, particularly when the indicted defendant is a member of a Trump-designated “terrorist” gang. “It should be boom times for the so-called white powder bar, as the practice of lawyering for the world’s most prolific drug pushers has been dubbed. But some veteran attorneys are proceeding with caution, warning of unforeseen consequences from Trump’s crackdown and preexisting conflicts that limit who can join certain cases… ‘This is sort of like a niche practice,’ said Bonnie Klapper, a former federal narcotics prosecutor turned defense attorney. ‘I guarantee you a lot of the usual suspects won’t be able to represent these people.’” Keegan Hamilton, LA Times, March 22nd. Government money used to pay “terrorists” counsel? One large law firm, fearing a mass exodus of clients using the firm in government matters, caved like a cowering Trumpian sycophant.

“Trump said Thursday [3/20] that the national law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP had reached a settlement with his administration. A week earlier, he had issued an executive order, ‘Addressing Risks from Paul Weiss.’ that revoked security clearances for all lawyers in the firm, ended its government contracts and limited access to federal buildings for those working at the firm.

“Why was Paul, Weiss targeted? The primary reason given was that one of its former partners worked in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and was part of the legal team that investigated Trump in the case that later resulted in his prosecution and conviction on business fraud charges. Also, the executive order says that a Paul, Weiss lawyer represented clients suing Jan. 6, 2021, rioters.

“This is nothing but blatantly illegal retribution. A federal judge in issuing a temporary restraining order against a similar Trump executive order directed at the law firm Perkins Coie, which had represented Hillary Clinton, said that action was an ‘extreme, unprecedented effort’ and that it ‘casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportion across the entire legal profession.’ The law is clear ‘that lawyers are not to be punished for representing clients or for their lawful advocacy.’

“But Trump on Thursday [3/20] said he was withdrawing the Paul, Weiss executive order and in exchange the firm would contribute $40 million in legal services to causes Trump has championed, including ‘the President’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.’.. This obviously only emboldens the president to target more law firms in shakedowns.” Chemerinsky

But even greater dangers are threatening our underlying institutions that have made America great; they include Trump’s cutting funding to universities with programs and degrees which Trump finds to be “woke” or antithetical to the America Trump is trying to redefine. He’s even cut funding ($175M) to his alma mater (U of Penn, where Wharton sits). Trump and his hench people are experts of using one issue to impose his will across many other arenas. “As of Friday [3/21], Columbia University has [capitulated to Trump demands]. On March 13, the Trump administration announced it was cutting off $400 million in federal money to Columbia citing ‘continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students,’ especially as to pro-Palestinian protests that occurred last spring.

“Such a cut in federal funds is illegal in many ways. The federal government’s claim was that Columbia violated Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in not adequately responding to a hostile environment against Jewish students. But Title VI requires ‘an express finding on the record, after opportunity for hearing’ of failure to comply with the statute, as well as ‘a full written report’ submitted to House and Senate committees at least 30 days before a cutoff takes effect.

“There was no hearing, no finding and no report by the Trump administration… The legal standard under Title VI is that a recipient of federal funds must not show ‘deliberate indifference’ to a hostile environment. Not only was there no such finding, given Columbia’s ultimately aggressive response to the pro-Palestinian demonstrations last spring, it is not plausible to say it was ‘deliberately indifferent.’... Also, as the Department of Education previously has made clear, a university cannot be required to stop speech that is protected by the 1st Amendment. That would be unconstitutional. Yet Columbia is being punished for adhering to that requirement.

“Let’s say Columbia had been found to have violated Title VI. The law says that the remedy, cutting off funds, must be ‘limited in its effect to the particular program, or part thereof, in which noncompliance has been so found.’ Instead, the Trump administration apparently planned to cut off funds affecting a broad swath of the university’s programs, including the medical school, which was far removed from the protests.

“Columbia had every reason to file suit, challenging the order. Instead, it conceded, amid claims that there was overlap between what Trump wanted and reforms it was already considering. The Trump administration’s demands included changing Columbia’s admissions criteria, establishing rules related to protest that could restrict student speech and putting Columbia’s Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies department under academic ‘receivership’ for at least five years, taking control away from its faculty, a potential violation of academic freedom.” Chemerinsky

I’m Peter Dekom, and kowtowing to a brutal autocrat may be less expensive and more efficient, avoiding a nightmarish battle, but the rippling impact of such surrenders threatens the very core of American priorities, safeguards and values… and dims our future growth and technological lead.