Over the last few days Donald Trump claimed Portland, OR is, "a war zone," and that over the weekend in Chicago 50 people were murdered. In both instances he has used these apocalyptic visions as his reason for sending in National Guard troops. (Which one supposes is better than Pete Hegseth's idea, which was to send the 82nd Airborne into the Windy City--the idea failed because others convinced Hegseth and presumably Trump the resulting publicity would be overwhelmingly negative.
In the, "Portland war zone," this weekend a total of two protesters were arrested. Over the last few months, depending on who is reporting, somewhere between 28 and 36 people have been busted during protests in front of the local ICE office. In Chicago during the same time, 19 people were shot--way too many, but hardly the Battle of the Bulge--two of them fatally. It's unclear where Trump came up with 50, but the odds are he just made it up. Hey, it's a nice round number and high enough to scare the bejeezus out of white people who don't actually live there.
If the President is successful--both Oregon and Illinois officials have taken the feds to court over the deployments--that would mean, there are units of National Guard troops preparing to occupy two American cities. They are already in a third, Memphis, TN, which is the only place the state's governor has willingly agreed to it.
All of the cities mentioned have democratic mayors and large minority populations. And all of them, Memphis included, will vote heavily for democratic candidates in 13 months. Unless of course everyone is in a federal prison camp somewhere, locked down due to martial law, or prevented by the United States military to vote for some other reason Trump's authoritarian cabal comes up with. Indeed, when it comes to rigging elections it's best to begin early and strike often.
As Woody Allen once reportedly said, "It isn't paranoia if they really are out to get you." And increasingly to millions of Americans it is it appears they really are out to get us.
It is doubtful Donald J. Trump came up with this plan. In fact, it is equally doubtful he has plotted out the mass firing of career federal civil servants so they can be replaced by MAGA loyalists. That doesn't mean he isn't fully on board with it--after all, what better way to prove the size of your cock than declaring martial law--but the Mango Mussolini simply doesn't have the eye for detail required for such undertakings. It is even a stretch to think his bellicose and xenophobic hit man Stephen Miller could handle it. (Let's face it the fucker is too weird. Besides he's best at execution, not planning.) Elon Musk might have been the guy, but his ego was too big for Trump to handle. The stage has to be solely Trump's, no other over cooked hams wanted.
No, Donald Trump has needed a surgeon who can slice and dice behind the scenes and who is smart enough to come up with a coherent plan to render Congress impotent while consolidating all power in the Oval Office. It would seem Trump has settled on his Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Russ Vought. Vought is the primary contributor to the Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025." That would be the same Project 2025 candidate Donald Trump repeatedly denied knowing anything about during the last presidential election.
Vought and Trump aren't strangers. The Director held the same position during the first Trump administration. Fortunately, back in those innocent days the President was held in relative check by others who actually understood how the American government works. As we all know too well, Brother Don no longer operates with those constraints. As a result, he has unleashed Vought to erase American democracy as we've known it.
According to a report by MSN since January, Russ Vought has, "Eliminated hundreds of regulations on the environment, health, transportation, and food and worker safety." He has also stopped the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. In addition, he is behind the slashing of foreign aid programs and is pushing for even more. Vought is also attempting to set up a legal battle in the courts to challenge congress' power to decide where and how federal money is to be spent.
The end game is plain to see. Russ Vought, through the cult of Donald Trump wants to make sure a far-right macho man remains in the White House eternally while Congress is reduced to a symbolic body kept around just for old time's sake. Meanwhile all real power flows from the President and the President alone. The rest of us, every man, woman, and child are on our own no matter what calamity befalls us.
Yes, it may not matter if Donald Trump is suffering simple cognitive decline, or in the throes of full-blown dementia. Thanks to people like Russ Vought the grand plan to perpetuate right wing power is quickly coming together. When Trump does go, the oligarchy will simply plug in a younger model.
Ladies and gentlemen, unless there is some meaningful political resistance to this right now, we are, quite decidedly, fucked.
10-6-25
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