Government by Desperation

   

Government by Desperation

"This lunatic, Hakeem ‘Low IQ’ Jeffries, should be charged with INCITING VIOLENCE!"

Trump wrote on social media. May 7th

“The pope would rather talk about the fact that it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and I don’t think that’s very good… I think he’s endangering a lot of Catholics, and a lot of people, but I guess if it’s up to the pope, he thinks it’s just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” 

Trump’s May 4th false attribution to Pope Leo XIV

“I have already spoken from the first moment, ‘Peace be with you.’ The mission of the Church is to preach the Gospel, to preach peace. If anyone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so truthfully… The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt about that.” 

Pope Leo’s response

Virtually every facet of the MAGA/Trump movement today is driven by utter desperation. Trump knows he is wildly unpopular, that his signature “achievements” – the cut the tax for the super-rich “Big Beautiful Bill,” the massive cuts to popular federal programs (ACA subsidies, SNAP and medical coverage) to pay for the tax cut, cronyism/favoritism to big business, mimicking “Trump as Jesus” and building gaudy temples to himself (planting his name and likeness everywhere he can), his scandal-ridden political appointments, once again using tariffs to punish nations that do not tow the Trumpian line (especially once strong allies), more “Epstein leaks” pouring out, wealth-enhancing grift and corruption in the billions of additional Trump family net worth, cruelty to everyday undocumented workers and their families, his label-ridden language of “them vs us” divisiveness, his attempt to prosecute people who simply disagree with him, his one-way battle with the Pope, the huge deficits his programs have caused, and most of all, a very significant cost-increase from a unilaterally declared war on Iran – are now viewed by a majority of Americans as Trump’s litany of “shoot from the hip” failures.

As Trump seeks domestic and global recognition as a man of greatness, his efforts seem destined to have him be remembered as one of the greatest failed and corrupt presidents in our nation’s history. He’s like a tot knowing his toys and candies are about to be taken away for bad behavior seeking to force total control over his parents. And because Trump’s followers, who seem to be in total control of red state primaries, have become a self-imposed barrier to elected officials acting to fulfill their official fiduciary duty to the Constitution and all voters, Trump’s toxicity is excused, explained away (via twisted distortions and escalating lies) and reinforced without restraint. We’re in a mess that American voters seem to have embraced with the best intentions.

To understand how far apart Trump’s desired image has become separated from reality, take this simple “pre-Mother’s Day” moment at the White House (above right), where Donald and Melania Trump gathered to honor mothers of our military. “President Donald Trump and the first lady welcomed mothers of military service members to the White House on May 6. Melania Trump, a mother to Barron Trump, said mothers' love and power are at the heart of America's strength. She then introduced President Trump, who spoke on the ‘skirmish’ in Iran… A crowd at a military Mother's Day event laughed lightly when first lady Melania Trump referred to her husband's empathy.

"Most know my husband as the strong commander-in-chief, but his empathy transcends the role,’ she said as laughter bubbled up in the crowd, and she paused to look back at the president…. ‘And shape a caring leader who constantly remembers each and every American soldier is someone's child.’… The laughter grew louder as President Trump shrugged and the first lady smiled back at him.” Kinsey Crowley, writing for the May 7th USA Today.

Trump is using his cult-like MAGA control of primaries to rig future elections by any means possible. Hence, his pressure on red state legislatures to gerrymander Democrats out of office, grateful that his has the total support of the GOP majority in the Supreme Court, who just placed their seal of approval on partisan gerrymandering. And Trump is now extolling and inciting his captive DOJ to take political opponents out by embroiling even the most obviously innocent partisan players exercising their First Amendment rights in having to pay for the expensive legal process (“punishment by process”) even if their ultimate vindication is all but certain. Comey, Brennen, James, Kelly and now, as he argues that his fellow Democrats respond to Trump’s anti-Democratic efforts as political warfare: “Trump argued in a Truth Social post on Thursday [5/7] that House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, should be arrested after promoting "warfare" against Republicans just days before the assassination scare at the White House Correspondents” Association Dinner in April. Political warfare is not armed insurrection!!!

Meanwhile, with a Supreme MAGA conservative majority making a mockery of the 15th Amendment (literally intended to protect Black voters), allowing partisan gerrymandering even if it disenfranchised Black and Brown voters, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee and Democrat-controlled Virginia (with a lingering MAGA majority state Supreme Court hellbent on partisan exclusion of minority voters), quickly shifted perhaps enough House districts to hand the House of Representatives to the GOP, simply by excluding the votes of local Democrats. The same Republican Party that delivered a federal budget deficit that has now exceeds our annual GDP.

As FBI Director Kash Patel’s purported lapses in being able to attend to his duties, his alleged drinking problem, all as related to The Atlantic’s Sarah Fitzpatrick’s seemingly well-documented support for her embarrassing articles about Patel, pushed Patel both to file a defamation against that magazine and begin an FBI criminal investigation of Ms Fitzpatrick. To figure out who within the FBI was talking to Fitzpatrick, Patel has also ordered a number of polygraphs of his agents. Desperation using Trumpian attack response standards.

Yet Trump’s advisors have privately advised the President that his recent courses of action, supported by the GOP, may tank the midterms for Republican candidates regardless of Trump’s push for partisan gerrymandering. “The vast majority of Americans are suffering at the pump, the airport, or both—and they’re correctly blaming it on Trump. Trump and his Cabinet have continuously downplayed the negative impacts the war is having on fuel prices, with the president stating that these high prices are ‘a very small price to pay for getting rid of a [non-existent] nuclear weapon from people that are really mentally deranged.’ Americans don’t see it that way, especially if it means their plans get canceled. If the senseless death, destruction, and displacement in Iran and Lebanon weren’t enough to catalyze people against Trump’s war, paying hundreds of dollars for a vacation ticket might.” Malcolm Ferguson for May 7th The New Republic. And Trump totally is aware of this reality, as his desperation clearly illustrates.

I’m Peter Dekom, and we should all fear the decision-making of a President terrified of his plunging popularity and the negative effect it has on the GOP candidates who support him.