DEMOCRACY HAS FAILED AMERICA---AGAIN
by Douglas P. Horne, former Chief Analyst for Military Records, ARRB
It is 5:31 AM, EST on November 6, 2024, and Donald J. Trump has just become President Elect of the United States of America, in perhaps the biggest political comeback in American history; and on January 20, 2025, will become the 47th President of the United States. I don't think I will ever recover from the shock of this event, for it is a clear demarcation in American political history---an event that marks the descent of America into a dark abyss.
Our democracy has failed once before, in recent memory. Attend, readers: In 1940 and in 1941, with Western Civilization in clear danger before the onslaught of Nazi Germany, Americans did not want to fight. The most FDR could do was to persuade the American people and the Congress to provide "all aid short of war" to Great Britain, the only Western nation that had not succumbed to Nazi conquest. When Hitler's Germany turned on its temporary "ally," the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941, most Americans were content to sit back and watch while Germany and the USSR eviscerated each other. FDR granted Stalin's USSR Lend-Lease aid in November of 1941, a move that did not invoke any enthusiasm among the American people, or Congress. By the beginning of December 1941, 80% of the American people manifestly did NOT want to enter the European War, and did not want to fight Adolph Hitler's Germany, even though Nazi Germany was a serious threat to the world order and Western Civilization. The vast majority of Americans were content to cowardly keep our heads in the sand, and stay out of what was rapidly becoming the Second World War.
But Imperial Japan did us a favor, and attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, as they simultaneously opened their Far East offensive by attacking colonial possessions of the United States and Great Britain, and later, the Netherlands East Indies. With the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan FORCED the United States to do the right thing, and enter World War II and fight the Axis nations. America's cowardice and isolationism died overnight. Democracy had failed us, but Japan's desire for an expansionist empire forced our nation to act correctly, and join the side of light against the darkness.
So, the lesson here is that democracy does not always guarantee that nations will do the right thing, or make the proper choices. Which leads me back to the resurrection of Donald J. Trump, a politician who even the white nationalist Tucker Carlson of FOX NEWS internally labeled a "demonic force" shortly after the Jan 6, 2021 attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Tucker Carlson wrote in that same text message to his FOX colleagues that he hated Trump. [This was before Trump later seduced him and turned him into an ally.]
And of course, Donald Trump is indeed a demonic force. Let us examine why I state this:
-He has always been an open admirer of Adolph Hitler, the dictator who ruled Nazi Germany and took the world down the road to ruin in 1939. The war Hitler started ended up killing about 55-60 million people, and the racial Holocaust (programmed genocide) he was responsible for resulted in an additional 11.5 million deaths. Trump not only kept Hitler's political hate screed, Mein Kampf, on his bedside table (according to his first wife, Ivana), but openly complained to his White House Chief of Staff that he wished his generals were "more like Hitler's generals." Donald J. Trump has also expressed admiration for the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini (who was Hitler's role model), and he has used language employed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, calling the press in America the "enemy of the people."
-Trump is a divider, not a unifier, and has demagogued his way into power (twice now) through the continuous and clever use of hatred and fear of "the other." He has thus successfully appealed to the worst aspects of human nature, and has manipulated the electorate by stoking fear, anger, and hatred.
-He is a vulgar, obscene, and manipulative politician of the lowest character, with no sense of class or decency, who has always delighted in destroying political norms and in ignoring (and overturning) standards of civilized behavior.
-He is a pathological liar who knows no shame, and who sometimes does not appear to recognize reality, or the truth.
-He is profoundly ignorant of American and World History, knows he is, and is actually proud of his ignorance, like the "Know Nothings" of the 19th century in America. This allows him to rule "from his gut," i.e., make key and vital domestic and foreign policy decisions in an uninformed manner that is very dangerous for our country (and the world).
-He is a blatant racist and misogynist, and has openly catered to white nationalists in America.
-He is clearly in thrall to Vladimir Putin, the dictator of Russia, and openly admires other authoritarians like Xi of China, Kim Jong-Un of North Korea, and Orban of Hungary. Trump's former National Security Advisor, Dan Coates of Indiana, has stated that he believes Putin has compromising information on Trump---which ensures that Trump's foreign policy will always conform to Russia's wishes and Russia's advantage. In other words, Trump has been a de facto Russian asset since day one of his first administration (remember?).
-Trump has openly stated that he "wants to be a dictator, on day one" of his new Presidency. The recent Supreme Court ruling, on Presidential immunity for all official acts while in office, will greatly facilitate his desire to become an authoritarian ruler. Trump knows that he can never be prosecuted for any "official acts" that he commits while in office as the 47th President of the United States.
-Trump has stated that his political opponents are "the enemy within," and has indicated his desire to use the National Guard or the active duty military against his political opponents when necessary---for example, to quell demonstrations of free speech and peaceful protest. He has on many occasions stated that journalists he does not like should be jailed, and that TV networks he disapproves of should be shut down.
YOU ASKED FOR IT, MAGA VOTERS, AND "YOU ARE ABOUT TO GET IT," SO STRAP IN:
-Trump will, without a doubt, attempt to establish an American dictatorship, whether he will officially call it that, or not. He has openly stated this. I repeat, he will establish an American authoritarian regime that destroys all norms of free speech, and will effectively muzzle and suppress opposing political parties. It only took six months for Hitler to establish a dictatorship in Germany. [Read my previous posting dated October 28, 2024.]
-He will attempt to jail journalists, and will attempt to shut down unfriendly TV networks.
-He will conduct mass deportations (as promised) and will establish a network of internment camps where he will round up those being deported, in conditions that will not vary markedly from concentration camps. No one will have an open window into how the deportees are treated in those draconian camps; they will be run by the thug who was formerly the acting head of ICE.
-Trump's huge tariffs on all imported goods will result in massive effective sales taxes on these imported goods, costing the average American family about $4000.00 per year in additional costs. Why? Because the U.S. Govt has no power to tax foreign governments; tariffs are always imposed on THE IMPORTER (i.e., on Walmart, or Best Buy, for example); the U.S. companies importing these goods will immediately pass on these tariffs to consumers. Trump's statements that he will "collect the tariffs from China," for example, are a blatant lie, and he knows it. NO TARIFFS ARE EVER COLLECTED FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. All economists agree that tariffs are, in effect, a sales tax on consumers in the country imposing the tariff. The imposition of these draconian tariffs will drive inflation up again, and will end up creating a recession, in short order.
-Trump will renew massive tax cuts for billionaires (who don't need them), and will thus drive up the deficit again (just as he did with his tax cuts for the rich during his previous administration). The only way to ameliorate the effect of his tax cuts for the rich on the national deficit will be to cut social security and medicare benefits. Cutting social security and medicare is exactly what Republicans have hungered to do for decades, and what is called for in the draconian "Project 2025" agenda. If you are living on a modest, fixed retirement income like me, then BE AFRAID...BE VERY AFRAID.
-Trump will either formally pull out of NATO, or will make it clear that he will not necessarily honor Article Five of the NATO Charter. This will encourage continued aggression by Russia and will thus destabilize all of Europe.
-Trump will abandon Ukraine and will allow that brave nation to fall to Vladimir Putin's naked aggression. He and his V.P. elect, J.D. Vance, have made that very clear. I wonder what dirt Vladimir Putin has on Trump that causes Trump to turn America's foreign policy since the end of World War II upside down? The coming abandonment of NATO and Ukraine by the Trump administration will forever dishonor America, and will ensure that no European (or other) nations will ever trust us again. As a result of this abandonment, the world will become a much more unstable place. Just think, President Xi of China may even be emboldened to invade Taiwan, as well.
THE SHAME OF THOSE WHO VOTED FOR TRUMP
-Establishment political parties all over the Western World have fallen, one by one, in the wake of the economic dislocations (recession and inflation) that were the fallout from the worldwide COVID epidemic. But American voters who believe that a spoiled rich boy who was given over 400 million dollars by his father, and who has filed 6 bankruptcies, is a "good businessman" and would therefore be "better at managing the economy," are clearly IDIOTS. They are victims of the simplistic PR from a fake, so-called "reality TV show" [THE APPRENTICE] that created the false impression that Trump was a sagacious businessman. Believing that Trump is a good businessman is on a par with believing that "pro wrestling" is real, and is not a fake sport.
-The American voters who voted for Trump this time around did so largely because they did not want a woman President, and ESPECIALLY did not want a mixed race Black-Indian female President. This veto on Kamala Harris by the MAGA voters was partly a matter of "caste" (race), and partly a matter of misogyny and sexism. Half of the American electorate clearly is not ready for a female President, thus setting us apart from the rest of the Western World, which has already embraced female leadership in countless instances. Kamala Harris was also rejected as a matter of "caste," by which I mean the "white caste" that has been in a position of supremacy in America since its founding is profoundly uncomfortable with the changing demographics in America. After all, the election of Trump the first time around was an overt, blatant REACTION AGAINST Barack Obama, the first black American President. This rejection of Kamala Harris was a mass political judgment of just over half of the American electorate: "not again---we will not have another black President."
SUMMARIZING, AND REPEATING MYSELF: "AMERICA, YOU ASKED FOR IT, AND NOW YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT."
We are already in the process of losing our democratic form of government. That began with the attempted insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, instigated and led by Donald Trump. The further changes that occur beginning on January 20, 2025 may be irreversible. Once democracies disappear, it is often very difficult to get them back. TYRANTS DO NOT RELINQUISH POWER VOLUNTARILY.
The Vice President Elect, J.D. Vance, warned circa 2016 that he was a "never-Trumper," that Trump would be very bad for the American working class and would be "cultural heroin," and that Trump "could be America's Hitler," before he sold his soul to billionaire Peter Thiel, caved into Trump, and joined the Trump personality cult, to foster his own personal political advancement. J.D. Vance is the prime example of the very worst form of hypocrisy in American politics. He has no core values (anymore!), and unfortunately, will only be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Vance, since 2022, is now apparently just as bigoted as Trump, and just as much of a hater and a fear-monger; but Vance is actually nastier than Trump is, when he shovels his screed. Trump chose Vance as his running mate as the perfect shield against impeachment.
Donald Trump's electoral victory today is America's shame. EVERYONE who voted for the incoming 47th President will be complicit with the coming economic chaos, and the MAGA attempts to install an authoritarian regime in the United States. It will all be "on you," and you won't be able to blame it on anyone else---especially not on the Democrats. END
It is 5:31 AM, EST on November 6, 2024, and Donald J. Trump has just become President Elect of the United States of America, in perhaps the biggest political comeback in American history; and on January 20, 2025, will become the 47th President of the United States. I don't think I will ever recover from the shock of this event, for it is a clear demarcation in American political history---an event that marks the descent of America into a dark abyss.
Our democracy has failed once before, in recent memory. Attend, readers: In 1940 and in 1941, with Western Civilization in clear danger before the onslaught of Nazi Germany, Americans did not want to fight. The most FDR could do was to persuade the American people and the Congress to provide "all aid short of war" to Great Britain, the only Western nation that had not succumbed to Nazi conquest. When Hitler's Germany turned on its temporary "ally," the Soviet Union, on June 22, 1941, most Americans were content to sit back and watch while Germany and the USSR eviscerated each other. FDR granted Stalin's USSR Lend-Lease aid in November of 1941, a move that did not invoke any enthusiasm among the American people, or Congress. By the beginning of December 1941, 80% of the American people manifestly did NOT want to enter the European War, and did not want to fight Adolph Hitler's Germany, even though Nazi Germany was a serious threat to the world order and Western Civilization. The vast majority of Americans were content to cowardly keep our heads in the sand, and stay out of what was rapidly becoming the Second World War.
But Imperial Japan did us a favor, and attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, as they simultaneously opened their Far East offensive by attacking colonial possessions of the United States and Great Britain, and later, the Netherlands East Indies. With the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan FORCED the United States to do the right thing, and enter World War II and fight the Axis nations. America's cowardice and isolationism died overnight. Democracy had failed us, but Japan's desire for an expansionist empire forced our nation to act correctly, and join the side of light against the darkness.
So, the lesson here is that democracy does not always guarantee that nations will do the right thing, or make the proper choices. Which leads me back to the resurrection of Donald J. Trump, a politician who even the white nationalist Tucker Carlson of FOX NEWS internally labeled a "demonic force" shortly after the Jan 6, 2021 attempted insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Tucker Carlson wrote in that same text message to his FOX colleagues that he hated Trump. [This was before Trump later seduced him and turned him into an ally.]
And of course, Donald Trump is indeed a demonic force. Let us examine why I state this:
-He has always been an open admirer of Adolph Hitler, the dictator who ruled Nazi Germany and took the world down the road to ruin in 1939. The war Hitler started ended up killing about 55-60 million people, and the racial Holocaust (programmed genocide) he was responsible for resulted in an additional 11.5 million deaths. Trump not only kept Hitler's political hate screed, Mein Kampf, on his bedside table (according to his first wife, Ivana), but openly complained to his White House Chief of Staff that he wished his generals were "more like Hitler's generals." Donald J. Trump has also expressed admiration for the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini (who was Hitler's role model), and he has used language employed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, calling the press in America the "enemy of the people."
-Trump is a divider, not a unifier, and has demagogued his way into power (twice now) through the continuous and clever use of hatred and fear of "the other." He has thus successfully appealed to the worst aspects of human nature, and has manipulated the electorate by stoking fear, anger, and hatred.
-He is a vulgar, obscene, and manipulative politician of the lowest character, with no sense of class or decency, who has always delighted in destroying political norms and in ignoring (and overturning) standards of civilized behavior.
-He is a pathological liar who knows no shame, and who sometimes does not appear to recognize reality, or the truth.
-He is profoundly ignorant of American and World History, knows he is, and is actually proud of his ignorance, like the "Know Nothings" of the 19th century in America. This allows him to rule "from his gut," i.e., make key and vital domestic and foreign policy decisions in an uninformed manner that is very dangerous for our country (and the world).
-He is a blatant racist and misogynist, and has openly catered to white nationalists in America.
-He is clearly in thrall to Vladimir Putin, the dictator of Russia, and openly admires other authoritarians like Xi of China, Kim Jong-Un of North Korea, and Orban of Hungary. Trump's former National Security Advisor, Dan Coates of Indiana, has stated that he believes Putin has compromising information on Trump---which ensures that Trump's foreign policy will always conform to Russia's wishes and Russia's advantage. In other words, Trump has been a de facto Russian asset since day one of his first administration (remember?).
-Trump has openly stated that he "wants to be a dictator, on day one" of his new Presidency. The recent Supreme Court ruling, on Presidential immunity for all official acts while in office, will greatly facilitate his desire to become an authoritarian ruler. Trump knows that he can never be prosecuted for any "official acts" that he commits while in office as the 47th President of the United States.
-Trump has stated that his political opponents are "the enemy within," and has indicated his desire to use the National Guard or the active duty military against his political opponents when necessary---for example, to quell demonstrations of free speech and peaceful protest. He has on many occasions stated that journalists he does not like should be jailed, and that TV networks he disapproves of should be shut down.
YOU ASKED FOR IT, MAGA VOTERS, AND "YOU ARE ABOUT TO GET IT," SO STRAP IN:
-Trump will, without a doubt, attempt to establish an American dictatorship, whether he will officially call it that, or not. He has openly stated this. I repeat, he will establish an American authoritarian regime that destroys all norms of free speech, and will effectively muzzle and suppress opposing political parties. It only took six months for Hitler to establish a dictatorship in Germany. [Read my previous posting dated October 28, 2024.]
-He will attempt to jail journalists, and will attempt to shut down unfriendly TV networks.
-He will conduct mass deportations (as promised) and will establish a network of internment camps where he will round up those being deported, in conditions that will not vary markedly from concentration camps. No one will have an open window into how the deportees are treated in those draconian camps; they will be run by the thug who was formerly the acting head of ICE.
-Trump's huge tariffs on all imported goods will result in massive effective sales taxes on these imported goods, costing the average American family about $4000.00 per year in additional costs. Why? Because the U.S. Govt has no power to tax foreign governments; tariffs are always imposed on THE IMPORTER (i.e., on Walmart, or Best Buy, for example); the U.S. companies importing these goods will immediately pass on these tariffs to consumers. Trump's statements that he will "collect the tariffs from China," for example, are a blatant lie, and he knows it. NO TARIFFS ARE EVER COLLECTED FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. All economists agree that tariffs are, in effect, a sales tax on consumers in the country imposing the tariff. The imposition of these draconian tariffs will drive inflation up again, and will end up creating a recession, in short order.
-Trump will renew massive tax cuts for billionaires (who don't need them), and will thus drive up the deficit again (just as he did with his tax cuts for the rich during his previous administration). The only way to ameliorate the effect of his tax cuts for the rich on the national deficit will be to cut social security and medicare benefits. Cutting social security and medicare is exactly what Republicans have hungered to do for decades, and what is called for in the draconian "Project 2025" agenda. If you are living on a modest, fixed retirement income like me, then BE AFRAID...BE VERY AFRAID.
-Trump will either formally pull out of NATO, or will make it clear that he will not necessarily honor Article Five of the NATO Charter. This will encourage continued aggression by Russia and will thus destabilize all of Europe.
-Trump will abandon Ukraine and will allow that brave nation to fall to Vladimir Putin's naked aggression. He and his V.P. elect, J.D. Vance, have made that very clear. I wonder what dirt Vladimir Putin has on Trump that causes Trump to turn America's foreign policy since the end of World War II upside down? The coming abandonment of NATO and Ukraine by the Trump administration will forever dishonor America, and will ensure that no European (or other) nations will ever trust us again. As a result of this abandonment, the world will become a much more unstable place. Just think, President Xi of China may even be emboldened to invade Taiwan, as well.
THE SHAME OF THOSE WHO VOTED FOR TRUMP
-Establishment political parties all over the Western World have fallen, one by one, in the wake of the economic dislocations (recession and inflation) that were the fallout from the worldwide COVID epidemic. But American voters who believe that a spoiled rich boy who was given over 400 million dollars by his father, and who has filed 6 bankruptcies, is a "good businessman" and would therefore be "better at managing the economy," are clearly IDIOTS. They are victims of the simplistic PR from a fake, so-called "reality TV show" [THE APPRENTICE] that created the false impression that Trump was a sagacious businessman. Believing that Trump is a good businessman is on a par with believing that "pro wrestling" is real, and is not a fake sport.
-The American voters who voted for Trump this time around did so largely because they did not want a woman President, and ESPECIALLY did not want a mixed race Black-Indian female President. This veto on Kamala Harris by the MAGA voters was partly a matter of "caste" (race), and partly a matter of misogyny and sexism. Half of the American electorate clearly is not ready for a female President, thus setting us apart from the rest of the Western World, which has already embraced female leadership in countless instances. Kamala Harris was also rejected as a matter of "caste," by which I mean the "white caste" that has been in a position of supremacy in America since its founding is profoundly uncomfortable with the changing demographics in America. After all, the election of Trump the first time around was an overt, blatant REACTION AGAINST Barack Obama, the first black American President. This rejection of Kamala Harris was a mass political judgment of just over half of the American electorate: "not again---we will not have another black President."
SUMMARIZING, AND REPEATING MYSELF: "AMERICA, YOU ASKED FOR IT, AND NOW YOU ARE GOING TO GET IT."
We are already in the process of losing our democratic form of government. That began with the attempted insurrection on Jan 6, 2021, instigated and led by Donald Trump. The further changes that occur beginning on January 20, 2025 may be irreversible. Once democracies disappear, it is often very difficult to get them back. TYRANTS DO NOT RELINQUISH POWER VOLUNTARILY.
The Vice President Elect, J.D. Vance, warned circa 2016 that he was a "never-Trumper," that Trump would be very bad for the American working class and would be "cultural heroin," and that Trump "could be America's Hitler," before he sold his soul to billionaire Peter Thiel, caved into Trump, and joined the Trump personality cult, to foster his own personal political advancement. J.D. Vance is the prime example of the very worst form of hypocrisy in American politics. He has no core values (anymore!), and unfortunately, will only be a heartbeat away from the Presidency. Vance, since 2022, is now apparently just as bigoted as Trump, and just as much of a hater and a fear-monger; but Vance is actually nastier than Trump is, when he shovels his screed. Trump chose Vance as his running mate as the perfect shield against impeachment.
Donald Trump's electoral victory today is America's shame. EVERYONE who voted for the incoming 47th President will be complicit with the coming economic chaos, and the MAGA attempts to install an authoritarian regime in the United States. It will all be "on you," and you won't be able to blame it on anyone else---especially not on the Democrats. END