Tag Archives: politics

Just Plane Grift

Posted on May 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

I think we’re overloading our courts these days with much unconstitutional stream of consciousness from the White House disguised as executive “laws.” Normally there is an office of ethics attached to the Oval Office and an inspector general in most departments, if not all. They try to keep things on an even keel, but no, in this administration they’ve all been conveniently fired.

Accepting a $400 million plane from a foreign country for the president’s exclusive use, then GIVING it to him as a “golden parachute” to use for the rest of his life, with probably another couple hundred million upgrades tacked on for DOD/Secret Service must-haves, is just ludicrous. Illegal as hell, and criminally stupid.

Is this why Trump campaigned on “no tax on tips?” Four hundred million is a heck of a tip, Mr. President.

There are other reasons not to accept this bribe from Qatar, mainly involving national security. I’m sure Mr. Trump has never been a devotee of ancient myth or even Aesop’s fables, lest he take the morals of the stories to heart. You see, there was something called a Trojan horse. It was given as a beautiful gift, only to have the enemy’s army spill out from it’s insides and seize the day surreptitiously.

America decides how its president will get from place to place and with what security precautions, because safe leaders make for a safer country. I don’t know what security measures are on Air Force One, because I’m not supposed to know. ‘Nuff said. We don’t allow foreign nationals, royal families, to provide us with secure transportation for our president. That’s our job.

Acceptance of this gift would pose a severe ethical problem. I disagree with SCOTUS in its decision to allow and encourage dark money in elections as I believe all donors should be open and above board in public elections for publicly held office. That’s the reason we have FOIA and Open Meetings laws. What’s necessary now is for Congress to beef up transparency of money in politics, adding to the law provisions for self-funded presidential transition operations, inaugural committees and presidential libraries.

Why is the cabinet stuffed with billionaires who know nothing about the subject matter of their agencies? Grift, access to power and rolling back regulations on their individual industries. Look what Elon Musk’s several months slashing and burning government agencies has gotten him in terms of preferential treatment, his businesses are taking government contracts and easing regulations. His initial Trumpian investment of $200 million for the 2024 general election will be repaid in spades.

Forget about draining the swamp. The White House and this particular administration is the swampiest ever, with “mistakes” of having ethical people on board for Trump I conspicuously absent for the constant grift present in Trump II.

As to Qatar, thanks for the offer, but should be just a plane “no” from the White House. Oh, and Congressional leadership, you’d better wake up and start doing your job soon, or you won’t have one to come back to. Just a thought. Register to vote, and sign up everyone you know. Sanity and ethics must prevail. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

My Social Security

Posted on March 24, 2025 | Leave a comment

I’d just turned eleven when my youngest sister was born. Has nothing to do with anything but I used it to do more than just (unpaid) weekly chores from the Job Jar. I convinced my parents to hire me, as we were living ten miles outside of town, as their babysitter when they had to go to campus events. Fifty cents an hour to take care of my three year-old bro and the baby. Not bad as I was only getting fifty cents allowance per week!

At sixteen I got my working papers so I could get a real job during summers. Weeknights and weekends I was the neighborhood’s pre-eminent babysitter (having so many years valuable experience) and the price was now $1/hr. Now I was ready for big stuff, like teaching gymnastics and doing work for the college admissions office part-time. There was one part of my check receipt I didn’t understand. It was explained to me that by paying into this fund, when I was old I could get something called Social Security.

Fast forward to two years ago and there were serious decisions to be made, as serious as where to go to college and whom to marry. Infinite choices involving Medicare, and luckily we had a referral to a great broker who saw us through the decision-making process. Then when to take Social Security and I decided on my 65th birthday, and it actually started a couple of months later.

Interestingly, when I was indeed eligible, I got to sign into a portal called My Social Security. How quaint. Finally being able to see what I’d been paying for all these years. Then Donald Trump was elected. He still said he wouldn’t touch Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, but I didn’t believe anything he said his first term (or as early as the 1980’s when I was in NYC’s real estate industry).

Now Elon Musk is taking his chainsaw to the federal government and calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme. The acting director of the Social Security Administration says if Musk’s Minions can’t get access to my work, salary and healthcare history and other personal data he’ll lock SSA employees out of the computer systems and checks will stop going out. And billionaire Commerce secretary Lutnick says if anyone who doesn’t get a check in the mail calls to ask whey, they’re a fraudster.

But I’ve only been on it for a little over a year! After I’m done with automatic deductions for Medicare parts A, B and D there are only a few hundred dollars that usually goes for dog food and care (even the new rescue) and some bills. Yes, I would miss the payments if they were not received, and no, I am not a criminal, just a long-term payer into MY Social Security.

Congress, stop sitting on your thumbs and do something! Trump won with 75 million votes. At least 72.5 million Americans are on Social Security. Get it? We vote.

Telling us we can’t arrange for Social Security benefits without coming into an office is fine. Just don’t shut down the offices and turn off the phones. Is that really too much to ask? You should be more concerned about fraudsters using SSA info to scam seniors out of their checks than internal fraud. And how about the Musk Minions let loose around our sensitive information at the SSA? They’re not vetted or trained. And they care not a whit about our privacy.

Today, it was reported that our VP, the heads of military and intelligence agencies conducted a clandestine attack and planned it not over secure government means, but on a private system that included a reporter! Battle plans and all from DOD’s Pete Hegseth. There’s an arrogance and ignorance here that is heart-stopping. National security, privacy and public records laws broken willy nilly. This entire charade must stop. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Audiences of One

Posted on March 1, 2025 | Leave a comment

They’re a dangerous thing. Remember in Trump I, let’s say a lawmaker introduced a bill to name a bridge or holiday after our Dear Leader. That was pandering to an Audience of One. Alternatively, when Trump I chose to be needlessly cruel to [insert minority group name here] he was just “pandering to his base.”

Yesterday a new monster arrived on scene in Trump II. VP “Divan” Vance began a cruel attack on an ally trying to save his people with our and many nations’ assistance from a dictator who illegally attacked it three years ago. It was a calculated smear, and being Trump, of course filmed in its entirety in the Oval Office. Beneath our Prez and VP? Perish the thought!

The attack on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine was designed for a new Audience of One, Russia’s top spy Vladimir Putin, who is vaingloriously attempting to reunite the USSR as his legacy.

There are 330 million of us in the United States of America. We’ve chosen someone to lead our country who has just made a 180 degree turn in our decades-long foreign policy in order to cozy up to dictators instead of stand steadfast with our democratic allies. On television, for all to see.

What to make of it? Is it all a ploy in “the art of the deal?” I think not. It is not a peaceful maneuver in any way, shape or form. I see dollar signs where Russia’s currently held Ukraine territory contains more rare earth minerals than the parts of Ukraine that Ukraine still possesses and believe that these these sharks smell both blood and money in the water, or land as it may be.

When the president of the United States floats an AI vision of Trump’s Gaza resort with a gold statue of Trump, Elon Musk eating (?), and Trump and Putin on lounge chairs in the sun, we’re seeing a pretty rosy retirement for Messrs. Trump and Putin.

Add billions more in the U.S. from the working poor and disabled currently utilizing Medicaid and the rich will get even richer. Why not go whole hog and decimate Social Security and Medicare as well to get your tax cut for billionaires? As it is, elected Republicans are getting their feelings hurt so are being advised not to hold town halls in their districts that feature the general unease, incredulity and sometimes genuine horror of their gerrymandered voters.

Presidents are supposed to represent we, the people, not foreign dictators. Until now, that wasn’t too much to ask of our highest elected official. Suing to get our country back is not enough. As one of we the people, I’m fed up. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,

MAGA Glee

Posted on February 28, 2025 | Leave a comment

OK, I understand celebration of a successful election. I get it, having worked on a few myself, mainly the un-sexy parts of addressing mailers, doing neighborhood “lit drops” and doing door-to-door canvassing the last few weeks of a campaign.

This has gone too far. The willy-nilly purging of the federal administration as a “cover” for a multi-trillion dollar tax cut for the rich is not only illegal, it’s downright ugly. In order to demonstrate the evil-ness of federal workers and undocumented foreigners, the Trump administration has to liken them to Satan-worshippers or pet-eaters. And document everything in ICE reality shows with Kristi Noem or Phil Donahue. How about a gauntlet for fired employees at the exit of the federal building where they worked fifteen minutes ago, with whips and chains and video cameras to document everything?

Being fired is horrible. Being purposely made “other” by the purported Trump “waste-cutters” is outright wrong. Belittling federal workers as absent, do-nothings who don’t deserve a paycheck is mean. Imagine that you’re fired from your job. Do you want people on the streets and in print and video saying you deserved it for trying to cure Alzheimers, predicting what types of flu need to be protected against in next year’s vaccine, or how the weather might conspire to create massive hurricanes, droughts or wildfires in the future?

Imagine if it were cancer, instead of losing one’s job. Would you and your friends gather round and cheer that Jerry has cancer! Yea! He deserved it. Why? He borrowed one of my rakes fifteen years ago and when he brought it back it was bent. So he doesn’t deserve to live. Who cares about his wife and kids?

I don’t know many federal employees, but the ones I interact with most frequently are postal workers, at the main or satellite offices, or more often in the neighborhood delivering mail. Over the years they’ve all been very kind to me, even though I was nearly always walking a dog at the time of our encounters. And if I didn’t trust my own judgment of them, I do trust that of a dog. Dogs just know. My dogs have always loved our mail carriers, and have even sought them out on the street away from our home just to say hello.

[On a related note I believe it essential to have a dog to suss out your kid’s friends, and especially first dates as a teen, because they know who can be trusted and who cannot! Well, my last dog had one flaw in that regard. We were living 1/4 mile from downtown Houston with a great view of the skyline so there were always groups of foreign tourists milling around taking photos. She didn’t like people who walked with no immediate sense of purpose, amblers. Nope. But other than that, she was spot-on!]

Cheering the misfortune of fired federal workers is un-American. So please stop. They’re just regular people going about their jobs, which they deserve to get paid to perform. There is no “deep state” but there are laws that must be followed in order to fire certain workers and this politicized scattershot effort is not it, sending out form letters telling every probationary employee that their work is sub-par, sometimes not even addressed by name. Even after receiving awards and stellar reviews, probationary employees have all received the same form letter criticizing their performance and making it nearly impossible for them to gain future employment anywhere.

That’s not US, the United States. We don’t do that to people who take lower salaries in order to serve the public. You won the election. The time for gloating is over, and for blaming Joe Biden for everything that happens between sunup and sundown every day forward. The hard work of governing begins now (I’m talking about YOU, Congress, with the power of the purse that you’re not even pretending to defend). With great power comes great responsibility. Only if the Republicans are in the minority can they just say a big fat “NO” to every potential solution to America’s problems, like reducing the price of eggs. Get to work, and address the real needs of the American people, not just being fawning members of the Musk/Trump Retribution Tour’s Official Fan Club. Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

What Did I Do Last Week?

Posted on February 24, 2025 | 1 comment

Published regarding what really matters and all the things the Trump administration is doing wrong

Wrote to the city clerk where we married to make sure that if the Republicans pass new voter registration laws I’ll still be able to vote because my birth certificate has a different name than my passport and drivers license

Wrote my senators and congressman urging continued support of RSVP, the Seniors portion of AmeriCorps

Researched grant opportunities, analyzed organizational materials for RSVP

Participated in an “all hands on deck” activity at the ranch, actively helping save the life of a baby calf.

# # #

Let’s see. Most of those tasks were related to the federal government. I don’t work for the federal government! As a matter of fact, I don’t work for anyone! I’m retired.

I’m exhausted just trying to make sure that we don’t get killed in mid-air collisions, die of typhoid or scarlet fever, wake up to our military in our streets arresting us for exercising our first amendment rights, and assuring the continued right of married women who use their husband’s name, to vote.

I didn’t used to have to think about that stuff while booking a flight, exposing myself unwittingly to germs and unvaccinated people, crossing the town square to meet a friend or go to my regular polling place. We shouldn’t HAVE to think about that stuff every day, because that’s why we pay taxes!

I never wanted Donald Trump to occupy every facet of American life yet again, and I certainly didn’t invite Elon Musk to threaten my social security, medicare and overall privacy. Enough is enough!

Oh, Elon, I got in the assignment before midnight tonight, even though I didn’t know where to send it because I’m my own boss!!! Does that mean I get to live another day to face yet another federal crisis? Makes me wish mom and dad were still alive, so I could whine “is it four years yet?” Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

It’s Not ABOUT You!

Posted on February 10, 2025 | Leave a comment

Yes, Congressman. Yes, Senator who votes for every unqualified Trump candidate because you’re afraid that Elon Musk will fund a primary candidate against you next election. Democracy is about elections, not about permanent “safe” seats. You should want to fight for your right to represent the people. Then, when elected the most important things to remember at all costs are your oath to the Constitution of the United States of America, and your constituency. The Constitution gave you Article I and you’re throwing it away, and all your constituents, because you cower in awe and fear of two seriously flawed men.

It’s not ABOUT you, Mr. President, as you use the biggest bully pulpit (for now) the world has to offer as just that, a bully. You use a cudgel when a scalpel would suffice, annihilating entire departments that were created by the Article I Congress, not an Article II president, simply because you have a beef with them, or Elon Musk does in the case of USAID. You will die and your policies will only be remembered in history as the epitome of a cautionary tale, if we survive the next four years.

This is not cost-cutting at all, it’s vengeance at its most venal, and it must be stopped. Where are all these salaries going to go? Instead of stopping foreign wars our new president wants to start them in Panama, Canada, Mexico and anywhere else he thinks he can cow into submission. It’s all going into the Oligarchy Bro’s Tax Cut, we know. But he also wants a gilt-covered ballroom in the White House for $100 million dollars. How much food , clean water and AIDS protection can that alone buy in Africa?

Perhaps the courts can help. Perhaps the new administration will just say no, even to the Supreme Court. This entire debacle, however, is about us, and the price of eggs, and getting our social security checks on time. We’re the reason Donald Trump was elected and is breaking the federal government and serving up the tasty spoils to himself (family first, according to VP Vance) and his billionaire partners in crime. It’s up to us to do something about it.

Senators and Congresspeople, when the people rise up because we can’t afford food and medical care you will no longer be afraid of Elon Musk and his elf lords, because if our own president hasn’t unilaterally taken away the right of Americans to vote with Supreme Court acquiescence, we will vote and in numbers “like you’ve never seen before (to quote Trump).” And it won’t be for today’s spineless politicians who kissed the King’s jewel-encrusted ring and served him up a taxpayer-funded ermine-collared robe so he could perch upon and issue unequivocal diktats from his gaudy, Mar-a-Lago gilt throne.

It’s about US, WE THE PEOPLE! Let’s all be mugwumps, shall we? Look it up, 1884, Republican sect vehemently anti government corruption. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The Price of Eggs

Posted on January 26, 2025 | 1 comment

Since Trump II began less than a week ago, have you heard anything about lowering the price of eggs from inside the Beltway (Washington D.C. insiders, natch)? I’ve only heard rumblings from fellow shoppers, and my m-i-l when I told her that the brown, cage-free eggs were $1.50 less than the regular eggs. Shocking, indeed!

Instead we’ve had over 1,500 criminals let loose, persons who attacked police officers during an attempt to thwart Constitutionally mandated procedure of certifying votes of the Electoral College in 2020, and those who’ve physically harmed women and others from entering abortion clinics. Oh, and raids that scooped up legal and legal immigrants, American citizens and military personnel just to sort them out as to official status later. Oopsie!

I thought Trump II was about lowering prices and easing the lives of everyday Americans, like the campaign pledged to do On Day One. Yet all I hear about are about how excited we should be to have a drunk, sexual offender who mismanages small veterans’ organization budgets as our DOD chief.

If MAGA=GOP=Party Of The People, why is Rep. Andy Barr (R.. KY) demanding that his constituents, instead of getting cheaper eggs, get better tax treatment for depreciation of racehorses?

Now, I know that’s a valid concern for a majority of Americans. After all, if I can’t depreciate my racehorses fast enough, I might have to resort to polo again, and put off the Learjet upgrade I had my heart set on.

If you don’t think this is an oligarchy, with Elon Musk now peeing inside the tent rather than outside (inside he has access to all government data on all Americans, and perhaps other countries as well, that is not classified) I’ve a bridge to sell you.

Who wins in the end? Certainly not rural farmers counting on the CDC to let them know what’s happening with bird flu and their chickens, as well as potential spread of the virus to people. Not hushing it up like Trump I tried in vain to do with COVID.

The winners of this Trump specialty, the Zero Sum Billionaire Tax Cut Game, will certainly not help the working poor who already live in healthcare deserts and will now not have Medicaid. Or Seniors who depend on Social Security and Medicare. Or Veterans, for that matter, quitcher complainin’, all you did was lose your leg in the military action. It wasn’t a war, and also burn pits are nothing serious. Promise.

Wake up, America. It’s up to us to fix this mess. I don’t want a king in the White House. I certainly don’t want Donald Trump to have a third term handed to him on a silver platter. Congress might help a little if they realize that when their districts lose the Biden infrastructure funds they voted against but have taken credit for, their seats aren’t safe anymore. Ditto when Senators vote for completely inept leaders of key government institutions and a disaster strikes, as it inevitably will (nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition), and their response is unsurprisingly insppropriate… you get the picture.

Strap on your work boots (thought I was going to say gun, didn’t you?) and get involved. It’s now or never, folks. Nearly fifty years ago when my US/Canada family celebrated July 4, 1976, I never would have thought we could end up with our favorite pastime being hating other Americans or immigrants who want what we, as immigrants ourselves, have today. Hating people for worshipping another God or loving someone the hater deems “wrong.” Get involved. Tens of millions of eligible Americans are not registered to vote. That’s something positive to do. Register, and vote! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , ,

Erasing Biden

Posted on December 27, 2024 | Leave a comment

It started long before Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, but the plan is in full swing now. I fully expect the House Investigations Committee, and perhaps the Senate as well, to investigate Joe Biden from his vice-presidency onward, perhaps even his days in the U.S. Senate. For what, exactly?

Senescence. In order for Trump II to succeed, he has to make it seem like the life-changing legislation passed and implemented during the Biden administration happened under Trump I. We knew individual Republican candidates started taking credit for the Inflation Reduction Act as soon as their districts started getting the money. Now they can’t exactly repeal that and the Chips and Science Act just because they were Biden’s ideas. Why? Because red districts across the U.S. are raking in bucks for infrastructure, IT and solar projects.

Jm Comey’s Biden impeachment efforts garnered no smoke, much less fire, so the GOP needs to make sure Americans know that everything positive that was accomplished by the Biden administration was instead done by Trump 1 and then Trump II. Time to wipe Joe Biden from the U.S. history books, along with slavery and anything else that peeves white supremacists.

Let’s see what SCOTUS does when Trump II accuses Joe Biden, his family and White House staff of a multitude of purported sins/crimes. Trump has indemnity, and Supreme Court decisions are supposed to be apolitical and last beyond one administration, so is MAGA going to take this particular decision out for a spin?

Democrats wishing to run on the ACA, Covid stimuli packages, Chips and Science and infrastructure would be wise to credit Joe Biden for making the impossible possible due to his long tenure in the Senate and trust built over decades with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Let’s not deny the man the credit he’s due for over fifty years of service to our country.

I hope there are still some surprises up Joe Biden’s sleeve during the last few weeks of his presidency. I’ve a feeling he’s far from being down for the count so, don’t count him out just yet. Cheers! Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

Not Christmas Without Charlie Brown

Posted on December 26, 2024 | 1 comment

I admit it, I’m a Christmas purist. Keep all your Hallmark-ness about becoming a princess (what does that have to do with Christmas?) or finding love in [insert exotic destination here], every year for me it’s Rudolph, the Grinch and Charlie Brown and his sad little tree. I enjoy a world where the little guy, even a dorky little dentist, Cindy Lou Who and everyboy Charlie Brown get their day.

Perhaps the media all missed Charlie Brown this year, as I did, because I could only find it paid on all the channels I already pay for. Oh, it’s extra to see Charlie Brown at Christmas, you’ve only been a member here for 20 years so you have to pay extra now.

Anyone who’s ever seen a Charlie Brown episode knows that Lucy tees up a football and promises Charlie Brown she won’t snatch it away when he comes to kick it. No, I promise you won’t wipe out this time, trust me! Then she inevitably pulls it away. That’s life for Charlie Brown so why doesn’t our mainstream media get it yet? It’s been decades!

Donald Trump isn’t even president yet, but he’s threatening to take over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal. That is red meat to keep his base occupied while he gives away the store to his Broligarchy of Billionaires (BoB) and leaves the other 99.8% of us holding the bag. Be prepared to lose public education, healthcare, access to affordable meat and produce, and see your Social Security check dwindle before your eyes before it disappears entirely. All while the crazy weather becomes even more disastrous for the American people because this so-called gilded age will glorify the raping of our lands for fossil fuels “like you’ve never seen before.”

There’s a great scene in Charlie Wilson’s War where the late, great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman explains that if people are tittillated by sex and drugs on one hand, the manipulator can hide a battleship behind the other. Trump never fails to put a shiny object of adoration for his fans, of ridicule and derision by his critics, only to grift with the other hand. He tried to steal a presidential election, for heaven’s sake. He stole confidential documents that belong to you and me. He and his family have illegally made untold millions off the presidency and are poised to make even more in Trump II, with the BoB as his co-conspirators.

There will never be a budget reduction or lessening of the deficit. There is no Deep State, it’s just a ruse to dole out political patronage to the MAGA faithful. If anything, salaries for these 50,000 political hack positions will be increased. The BoB wants environmental, employment and other regulations to be axed, but that’s not going to save money either. Why? Because that’s not the point. Instead of draining the swamp, Trump brings it with him into every business enterprise, including his biggest ever, the presidency. There are no ethics rules, and SCOTUS has made sure that anything he does in office is protected.

Did you notice that we no longer have a glaring election integrity problem? We don’t, because Trump won. That means it was never an issue in the first place. Ditto “woke-ness,” which means whatever the person who says it wants it to mean, CRT (critical race theory, never a problem for high schoolers), and the threat that children will be irreparably harmed if school and public libraries (even bookstores) have books that mention gender or racial equality. Or if the two transgender athletes in a state ever wish to use a public restroom assigned to their assumed gender? Not an issue.

Political vendettas have existed as long as politics itself, and the flawed human beings who become politicians. We’re all flawed, silly, not just politicians, we just see their foibles. There’s not one angelic party and one run by the devil him/herself. I’m just mad at that guy for winning, so I’m gonna find a reason to toss him in jail or at least audit his taxes. I do believe in good and evil, but not a broad brush to say all Muslims are bad, or my mother treated me badly so let’s let all women die in hospital parking lots awaiting non-existent medical care.

Aptly, as we celebrated Jesus’ birth yesterday (between shopping for deals on Amazon), WWJD? Do unto others. Respect others. Help out your neighbor. Mentor a young person interested in your field. Say a kind word. Give to charity (a real one, not a PAC). Adopt that stray dog that’s been hanging around your yard for weeks (after you take the time to find out that he’s not lost, he’s abandoned). Stop doomscrolling for a day, hide your phone and take a walk in nature, or read a good book. You’ll be all the better for it. You read this blog and it offered some solutions instead of just ranting, see?

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year, use the time to spend with family, regroup, and get ready for 2025. Cheers! Dee

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Sky is Falling?

Posted on December 21, 2024 | Leave a comment

Imagine a hungry person steals a loaf of bread. Then someone who has no interest in the store, the bread or the thief demands immediate death by firing squad otherwise the town’s entire police department will be sacked. That’s what Elon Musk just did to the U.S. House of Representatives and its leader, Speaker Mike Johnson. Donald Trump isn’t even president yet, and Elon Musk is throwing his weight around, publicly calling out fellow Republican members and saying he’ll pay for primary challenges against anyone who doesn’t do his bidding.

Elon Musk didn’t get a single vote for president this year. He cannot, because he is South African. But he of billions of U.S. government contracts and companies regulated by the federal government, is dictating to Congress how to vote and whom to hire in the Trump administration. And Trump is letting him get away with it.

The federal workers who create cancer cures, predict the weather, or protect regular folks from financial scams are now the “deep state” but Donald Trump wants U.S. policy to be set by unelected billionaires who wouldn’t know how to find their way around a grocery store or how to put that nozzle in the gas tank of one of their luxury vehicles they’ve never driven because they have drivers and chefs for those menial tasks that are a part of our everyday lives.

President-elect Trump is using private emails (remember when he tried to put Hillary in jail for that?) and not allowing FBI background checks, so that prior to taking office, he is negotiating with foreign leaders on non-secure phones with potential staff who we don’t even know will pass necessary security clearances.

There is only one president at a time, and for the next several weeks that is Joe Biden. But Elon Musk has just endorsed a pro-Nazi political group in Germany, and wants to put as much as $100 million into an extreme right wing party in the UK to control the politics over there as well. Is this official U.S. policy? Is it Trump’s policy? Or is Elon just throwing his weight around because he can.

Like the supposed, alleged bread thief, the shop owner might have seen the criminal and describe the theft to the police. Or the police might have witnesses and begin an investigation, that may result in an indictment, hiring of counsel, a trial and potential conviction. People don’t just get the firing squad in the parking lot, with or without the evidence, the aforementioned loaf of bread.

If Elon Musk starts threatening to fund primaries with the first piece of legislation that comes up, before Trump is even president, what’s he going to threaten next? Sounds a lot like the sky is falling. There’s strength in numbers, Congresspeople. You have a job to do for your constituents. If you do it to their satisfaction, they might vote you back in no matter how much money Elon Musk throws at your opponent. Show some backbone. You get paid to fix your constituents’ problems. Do it. You’ve been able to just say no to Democrats for years. That’s easy. Governing is hard.

Step back and think. Does the average Trump voter have any idea yet that he’s going to strip us of our Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, reignite inflation and cost us enough in lost benefits and higher prices that will make the Biden years look positively Edenic.

The news will settle in slowly, but it might actually “take” this time, because these tariffs and tax cuts for the ultra-rich will impact all of us 99% in different ways. In rural areas where Trump support runs strong, cuts to health care and public education, combined with repercussions of trade wars, will hit especially hard. As an added bonus, the deficit will grow by trillions leaving our kids with the burden and a federal government staffed by Boss Tweed’s toadies will have to be remedied by a future administration, if there ever is one.

The best places for apolitical professionals are our military, our professional administrative agency staff, and most importantly our judges. After all, these mistakes have been made before, and historically things do not end well when democracies turn into broligarchies. And if you think Elon Musk incapable of the duties of POTUS, as a neophyte who doesn’t even know how a bill becomes a law, try adding the UK and Germany concurrently to his dictatorships and see what happens. Ah, isn’t politics fun? Dee

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , , , , ,